Dasara

Dasara is the end of, or sometimes known as a part of, Navaratri. The 10th day is in honor of Durga Devi. The basic purpose behind this festival is to worship the feminine principle of the Universe in the form of the divine mother. The essence of the Navaratri and Dasara celebration at a social level is to remind & respect all the women who are the guardians of the family, culture, and national integrity. Dasara is also a holiday to remind all to take lead in times of crisis, to guide humanity towards the path of social justice, righteousness, equality, love, and divinity.

On the day of Dasara, statues of the Goddess Durga are submerged in the river waters. These statues are made with the clay & the puja if performed. Puja is the act of showing reverence to a god, a spirit, or another aspect of the divine through invocations, prayers, songs, and rituals. An essential part of puja for the Hindu devotee is making a spiritual connection with the divine. Most often that contact is facilitated through an object: an element of nature, a sculpture, a vessel, a painting, or a print.

I did two version of this craft. One made a small bow and the other a large. We did the small version first. Using skewer sticks and rubber bands. However once it was done- it just seemed a little too dangerous for use around the baby, so we did another bow with a stick and a longer rubber band. The second one turned out much nicer and I am actually letting the kids play with it.

To make - cut a rubber band in half and tie the rubber band to each ends of the stick. Done! Of course I got out the washi tape to give just a little something extra! For arrows we actually have been flinging angry birds from a board game we have laying around or sticks left over from a cake pop experiment.

First version made with skewer stick with pointy ends cut off.

For our food we made "corn rolls." The recipe we were inspired from can be found here.

For our version:

Ingredientswere:

can of corn
half can of green chilis
ground pepper
1/2 cup flour
salt

oil for pan frying

bread crumbs

1/4 cup gram flour

1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
salt
2 cups water

Method:

Mix the corn and chilis and blend together with hand mixer or blender.

2. Add mixture to 1/2 cup flour and salt. You can add spices here if desired. set aside.

3. Make batter with the gram flour, flour, baking soda, salt, and water.

4. Using corn, chili, and flour mixture make 1 inch diameter balls then dip into batter mixture and coat with bread crumbs.

5. Fry bread crumb covered rolls until all sides are golden brown.

Frying.  Apologies for state of my stove top. — Frying. Apologies for state of my stove top.

6. When finished you can eat as is or dip in a sauce of your choosing.

The kids liked these- which is not surprising with the sweetness of the corn and the pan fried fatty goodness. Enjoy your Dasara holiday and thank you for reading!

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Waqf al Arafa

Hajj, which is the fifth pilar of Islam, is the pilgrimage to Mecca, occurring on the 7th-12th days of the month of Dhu al-Hajja in the Islamic calendar. This is the largest annual pilgrimage in the world, and all able-bodied Muslims are required to participate at least once in their lifetimes. Several rituals are performed during this pilgrimage, including walking counter-clockwise seven times around the Kaaba, a cube-shaped building representing the Muslim direction of prayer, and drinking from the Zamzam well. Waqf al Arafa is the Islamic observance day during Hajj when pilgrims pray for forgiveness and mercy. Pilgrims stay awake at night to pray on the hill of Arafat, the site where Muhammad delivered his last sermon.

Waqf al Arafa/Day of Arafa is significant in that it is said that a Muslim who fasts for this holiday receives atonement for the both; previous year’s and the coming year’s sins. Hajj is performed for many spiritual reasons. The first, to follow in the footsteps of Muhammad, Ibrahim (Abraham), and Ismail. Another, Hajj is a virtual simulation of the journey to the afterlife.

I found a nice, easy to understand explanation of Hajj here

For the boys I said this is a holiday for people who are Muslim to make a trip to the sites that are important to their religion. I told them these sites are important because some of the important things that happen in Islam occurred at these sites. They wanted to know what the sites were so I read them this:

The sites are:

Holy Mosque in Makkah (Mecca)- The holiest shrine of Islam, the Kaaba (more information in the link- is what Muslims are expected to face when they are praying), is situated at the heart of the Holy Mosque's courtyard.
Prophet's Mosque in Medina (which contains the tomb of the Prophet Mohammed and is therefore one of Islam's most sacred shrines.)
Arafat- here Muslims believe Adam and Eve, separated for 200 years following their expulsion from the Garden of Eden, recognized each other and were reunited. Here too they were forgiven by Allah.
Muzdalifah- is a valley between Mina and Mount Arafat where pilgrims on Hajj spend the night and gather pebbles to hurl at the pillars of Mina.
Mina- lies between Mecca and Muzdalifah. Here there are white pillars representing the devil which pilgrims cast the pebbles they gathered at Muzdalifah.

For our craft we decided to make a pinwheel. I had debated about something involving throwing pebbles- but I have a highly impressionable 18 month old who already likes to throw things so pinwheel won. While our pinwheels sometimes go around more then 7 times, I did like that the edges of the pinwheel would be circling around the center piece- which helped give a visual of a pilgrim circling the Kaaba. We even made our pinwheels turn counter clockwise.

For our pinwheels we used paper, rulers, and paper fasters. For decoration purposes we used crayons and, my favorite, washi tape.

To begin we folded down the corner of our standard size paper to make a square by cut off the excess rectangle.

I then told the boys to decorate, but they wanted to draw after we had made the pinwheel. So first we folded the square in half the opposite way from the original fold so that we would have guiding lines for our next cuts. Then we drew a circle around the center of the square (about an inch maybe inch and a half diameter) and cut down our guidelines until we reached the circle.

Cutting along the lines to the center circle.

Once the cuts were made the boys folded the corners down to the center of the circle and secured the ends with tape.

Next step was to put the fastener through the middle of the pinwheel. I had to cut a small hole to get through the tape.

Finally we put the fastener through the wheel and then through the hole in the ruler. We fastened the clip leaving room for the wheel to be able to move without much resistance. Then we watched our pinwheels spin counter clockwise!

When researching Hajj, I saw that often people will travel with bread, although devotees will have places to eat as there are food stands and restaurants ready to serve those who are completing the Hajj. For our food I decided to give a popular Middle Eastern bread a try, the pita. I again looked to smittenkitchen for the recipe. I did not tweak it-as it was my first attempt at pita, so for the directions go to the link!

Our experience with the recipe:

I had my middle son help with all the measuring and he happily threw everything into the mixer.

He also was happy to get to work the mixer, as his older brother seems to always make it there first. We mixed the first 20 seconds with the paddle and then ten minutes with the hook. I have never seen my Kitchenaid move so much before as it did during that ten minutes of kneading. However all the hard work was worth it as the dough was very soft.

After the kneading we put the dough in a covered container and I drizzled some of the oil my husband bought for me on his last trip to Jordan over the top of the dough and put it into the fridge over night. I took a few peeks and smooshed the bread down to make sure it wasn't growing too much.

The next day was go time. So we preheated the oven for an hour before cooking time and got to work with working and waiting and working and waiting for the dough to be right.

Rolling is incredibly exciting sometimes.

This recipe was a bit putsy at times, so I was hoping the end result would be worth it. It was. The bread was totally delicious although the first few batches I did not get to rise. I think its because my dough was in a chilly metal bowl and took a little longer to warm to the proper temperature. The last few breads that went into the oven seemed to work the best. The dough was incredibly soft from being at more of a room temperature and they puffed up wonderfully. I also had flipped some of the pita and found they turned out nicer if I did not flip them. They were so tasty- and I will definitely be making these again!

Our final bread, complete with pockets- although in photo it looks a little like naan.

That's all for Waqf al Arafa or Hajj- stay tuned for Eid al-Adha. Thanks for reading!

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Navaratri

Navaratri (nine nights) is one of the Hindu festivals. Navaratri takes place at the beginning of October around harvest time and, as the name implies, this festival is celebrated for nine days.

There were many different explanations of this holiday and it was difficult to know what to say on this page. It seems different regions have different twists on this holiday. So the two main themes I saw when researching this holiday were:

1) The explanation of the holiday is one of good conquering over evil.

According to the Hindu legend, a demon by the name of Mahishasura had earned favor from Lord Shiva after a long penance. Lord Shiva was so overwhelmed with his devotion that he granted him a boon – no man or deity could kill him. Mahishasura, pleased with his boon started reigning terror over the Universe. Lord Brahma, Vishnu and Shiv created a female deity, who had the ultimate power, was radiant and extremely beautiful.

She was named Durga, or Shakti or Pavrati, and the Lords bestowed upon her their weapons which symbolize her ten hands – Indra’s Vajra, Shiva’s Trishul, Vishnu’s Sudarshan chakra, Varun’s conch, Agni’s spear, Vasuki`s snake, Yama’s iron rod, sword and shield, Vishwakarma’s axe and finally Lord Himavat gifted her with her jewels and a lion to ride on.

When Mahishasura and Durga met in battlefield, she kept defeating demon after demon which enraged him and he changed into a buffalo. Durga’s lion engaged the buffalo in a battle and Durga killed Mahishasura. Thus, we call her “Mahishasuramardini”. The battle went on for nine days and nine nights, hence the name ‘Navratri’. - See more here

2) Navaratri is about celebrating the Supreme Goddess in her different forms. The holiday is divided into sets of three days to adore different aspects of the supreme goddess. On the first three days, the Mother is invoked as powerful force called Durga, in order to destroy all impurities, vices and defects.. Durga is one of the many incarnations of Shiva's wife. She is also known as Parvati (see the post on Ganesh Chaturhi). The next three days, the Mother is adored as a giver of spiritual wealth, Lakshmi , who is considered to have the power of bestowing on her devotees inexhaustible wealth. The final set of three days is spent in worshipping the mother as the goddess of wisdom, Saraswati. In order have all-round success in life, one would need the blessings of all three aspects of the divine mother (http://hinduism.about.com/od/festivalsholidays/a/navaratri.htm) .

During Navaratri, some devotees observe a fast and prayers are offered for the protection of health and property. It is a period of introspection and purification, Navaratri is traditionally an auspicious time for starting new ventures. Some celebrate it by buying new clothes, eating specially prepared food and sweets and by dancing.

I also saw several sites that said planting seeds is a part of the holiday. Seeds are planted on the first day and then they will have sprung up in sprouts by the 9th and these sprouts are then plucked and given to guests as a sign of a blessing from God.

To explain to the boys I kept it simple. I said this holiday is about celebrating the Mother in the Hindu religion, and it celebrates different sides of the Mother. All people have different parts of themselves, the one that is a child, or a friend, or a thinker, or an artist- and this holiday celebrates those different sides of the main Mother figure in Hindusim. I also said it is a holiday that celebrates good things being more powerful then bad things. So even when bad things happen we can learn from our mistakes and do better the next time. Anything else I think would have been a little too abstract for them.

For our craft we decorated flower pots as a nod to the planting of seeds tradition. So instead of planting seeds we made a wind chime. You will need a few different sizes of flower pots, some paint, and some rope. I was hoping to have 9 pots for the 9 days, but alas only 6 were available- so that'w what we used.

I had all three of the boys paint the flower pots. There was some wild mixing and some careful painting, along with some finger painting- but together they make a wonderful wind chime.

Next let the pots dry. For assembly put a rope through the largest pot first and make a loop from which your wind chime can be hung. Then thread the long rope through each of the holes in the pots and knot the rope where you want each pot to sit.

For our food. I decided to go savory on this one. This was my first attempt at cooking with Paneer. Again living in Germany and not being so awesome at the German language I had to guess what was Paneer-like cheese. This time I got lucky on the first try, unlike my attempt at whipped cream when we made our Confucius birthday cake, and it turned out really yummy. All three of the boys ate it up for lunch and my husband ate the leftovers, so this will go into our regular rotation. We were inspired by this recipe here. I made a few changes because of what we had or rather didn't have in the pantry.

Ingredients:

paneer or another cheese that won't melt immediately when heated and has a texture similar to firm tofu.
can of tomato puree
dash of cloves
dash of cinnamon
1 tsp cumin
black pepper
2 tomatoes diced
grated tsp of fresh ginger
3 green chilies
1 tbsp olive oil

Method:

Cut the paneer or cheese into 1” cubes. Cut each tomato into 8 parts. Deseed and chop the green chilies.

Heat the olive oil and add the ginger. Saute the ginger and add the tomato puree.

Add the spices and 1 cup water and bring to a boil. Add the cheese cubes and allow to simmer for 5-6 mins. Add the tomatoes and simmer for 2-3 mins. Serve hot.

At the end of Navarati is the holiday of Dasara, so stay tuned for the Dasara food and craft!

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St. Francis of Assisi Day

St. Francis of Assisi day celebrates St. Francis of Assisi who is the patron Saint of animals and the environment. This is not a major Catholic holiday, but St. Francis of Assisi is probably one of the most well known Saints. Often you see pictures of Saint Francis with animals and in particular with wolves or birds. My Nana has a bird bath of Saint Francis in her backyard. St. Francis was born into a wealthy family as Giovanni Francesco Bernardone in 1181 and lived a life of privilege but after having a vision embraced a life of simplicity and poverty. He was known for his love of nature and all creatures and by actually following all that Jesus said and did. St. Francis and his followers lived in poverty and gave up all material possessions. Francis is considered the founder of all Franciscan orders and the patron saint of ecologists and merchants. The current Pope chose his name after St. Francis of Assisi.

Many Catholic churches welcome pets on St. Francis Day to be blessed, and patrons reflect on the importance of all beings in creation.

I told the boys that this holiday was about a man who lived to help out all creatures of earth and decided to give away everything he had so that he could dedicate his life to help other people. My Middle son said he sounded like a nice guy:)

Our craft and food was one project- Bird seed cookies. While not a food for us it should be a good snack for the birds. We followed the recipe for bird seed cookies found here.

Ingredients:

3/4 Cup flour

1/2 cup water
1 envelope unflavored gelatin
3 TBS Karo corn syrup
4 cups of wild birdseed

Method:

We selected some cookie cutters and then got down to business of making these "cookies"

My middle son scooped the flour into a mixing bowl and then added the water, packet of gelatin, and karo syrup, and mixed it all up.

Then my oldest dumped in a bag of bird seed and he mixed that up.

Then we lined a cookie sheet with parchment paper and laid out the cookie cutters we wanted to use. The boys scooped the seed mix into the cookie cutters. Then I used a chopstick to make a hole in each cookie.

Filling cookie cutters with the mixture.

After the cookie cutters were all full I moved the cookies to the counter so they could harden over night. The next morning we popped the cookies out of the cookie cutters and we threaded yarn through the holes.