WHEREVER YOU ARE, I HOPE YOU ARE OKAY

Hello,

Happy Thursday, its Dan and my 24^th day of hunkering down.  Here in Virginia the wind is howling, but feels great with our sliding glass door open.  Dan is out on the porch rocking on his chair reading Become A Better You, while the breeze is passing over him.  Music from the chimes with birds chirping, thankful for the little things.

Notice with amazement and gratitude, the countless blessings that surrounds you.  Take time today to go out on your porch, open a window, go out in your back yard, or if you can go for a walk down your road and listen to the sounds that we take for granted. The joy that mother earth provides us continues to amaze me.

I have been reminiscing the time that we have spent living in Mexico.  This holy week is celebrated big time and we loved participating with the culture.   Easter is one of the most important Christian festivals, celebrated all over the world wherever people following Christianity reside. It is considered to be one of the most auspicious days of the Christian calendar as this is the day of the resurrection of Jesus Christ after crucifixion. On this occasion, the followers of Christianity pray in church and also, celebrate the day as a day of merry making and joyous festivities. Though major rituals and traditions of Easter remain the same throughout the world, you can observe a little variation as per the local traditions. Read this article to know about the Easter celebrations in Mexico.

Easter celebration in Mexico is a fusion of Christian rituals and native Indian traditions. In the days of imperialism, the Christian missionaries as a part of their effort to convert non- Christian Indians to Christianity, allowed indigenous people to blend their customs with Easter rites, and many of these customs appear in passion plays. But in the face of a cultural onslaught from American media vehicles, many of Mexico's age-old traditions are falling out of favor in large cities such as Guadalajara.

Easter in Mexico is a little different from the rest of the world. In Mexico, it is a combination of Semana Santa (Holy Week - Palm Sunday to Easter Saturday) and Pascua (Resurrection Sunday until the following Saturday). On Palm Sunday people use elaborately woven palms. Weavers ply their craft outside churches, and worshipers follow the priest into church with the woven fronds. Later, those palms are traditionally hung on the doors of Mexican homes to ward off evil.

In many communities across Mexico, locals stage Passion Plays depicting Biblical events such as the Last Supper, the Betrayal, and the Procession of the 12 Stations of the Cross, the Crucifixion and the Resurrection. The enactments are often spectacularly staged, costumed and acted, with volunteers preparing for their roles for nearly the full year leading up to Semana Santa. In many communities, flagellation along with real crucifixion is included. The performances are often wondrously dramatic, costumed and enacted, with contestants planning for their roles for about a year leading up to Semana Santa.

The most spectacular of Easter traditions in Mexico is the burning of a Judas effigy filled with firecrackers. This custom, which takes place Holy Saturday, was outlawed in Guadalajara in the 1960s when several people died from a massive explosion, but it still continues in rural areas. Judas effigy is now a popular way to express anguish over some contemporary person, frequently an unpopular politician. So, every year it becomes interesting to see who gets burnt in effigy this seasons’ ‘Sábado de Gloria’.

TO ALL MY FRIENDS, FOLLOWERS AND RELATIVES WHEREVER YOU ARE, I HOPE YOU ARE OKAY. 

A while back I posted an article around Easter, that I thought would be worth posting.  What is Easter without Easter eggs.  I remember when I was growing up and even when our daughter was growing up, the Easter egg hunts.  Dan would go out to the back yard and hide eggs for Danielle to find. 

MONDAY, APRIL 18, 2011

DYE EASTER EGGS NATURALLY WITH BEETS, ONIONS AND BLUEBERRIES

4/15/2011 3:28:36 PM

By Robyn Griggs Lawrence

Tags: naturally dyed Easter eggs, chemical-free Easter eggs, natural dyes, Herb Companion, Robyn Griggs Lawrence

Robyn Griggs Lawrence - When I was a kid, in the chemical-intensive 1960s and 1970s, we thought nothing of using artificial food coloring and those little dye tablets to give our Easter eggs festive hues. Back then, we didn’t know that chemical dyes could cause ADHD, harm development, ignite hyperactivity, compromise immune systems and cause sterility. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention even found links between food coloring and asthma, allergic reactions and lead poisoning, Brianne DiSylvester reports in Organic Authority. I’m not taking the risk, especially when dying eggs with herbs and food is so much more fun.

Herbal dye plants, used traditionally to color fibers, give hard-boiled eggs an earthier tone than never-from-nature candy-colored synthetics. Just follow these simple instructions from the experts at Herb Companion for gorgeous, nontoxic, festive Easter eggs.

Hard boil eggs.

Bring each dye ingredient (listed below) to a boil with 2 cups of water; strain the dyes into cups and allow to cool.

Add 2 tablespoons of vinegar to each cup of dye.

Dip the eggs into the cups, submerging each egg completely until it reaches an appealing color. Leave eggs in the dye longer for deeper colors. If one color doesn’t darken as you’d like, set the cup with the dye and the egg in the refrigerator for a few hours. Try using two different dyes on one egg to create different colors, or dye half of each egg in a different color.

Natural Color

Gold: Handful of yellow onion skins

Yellow: 2 tablespoons turmeric, 1/2 cup dried marigolds, goldenrod or cosmos, or a handful of carrot tops

Green: Handful of coltsfoots

Blue: Handful of wood or 2 cups chopped red cabbage*

Pink: 2 cups chopped beets

Purple: 1 cup frozen blueberries

Brown: 2 tablespoons coffee grounds or 4 black tea bags

* For best results with this color, add botanical to the water while cooking eggs.

I read this book around the time that I was diagnosed with cancer that had this saying which helped me get by through my cancer and wanted to share.  If you are going through hard times during this time of uncertainty, remember you are not alone.

MY FLESH IS THE MANIFESTATION OF THE SPIRIT IN MY BODY.

IT IS KEPT PERFECT THROUGH THE LAW OF GOD.

IN MY FLESH SHALL I SEE GOD.

THE MANTLE OF FLESH IS PERFECT AND COMPLETE HERE AND NOW.

IT IS ONE WITH THE BODY OF GOD, AND CANNOT BE SICK, NOR SUFFER.

MY FLESH IS PERFECT.

Until tomorrow, have a peaceful holy week.

LAUGH OF THE DAY