Reformation Day

For many Protestants, particularly Lutherans, Reformation Day is one of the most important holidays, next to Christmas and Easter. Reformation Day is celebrated on the last Sunday in October and honors the beginning of the Reformation, commemorating Martin Luther's posting of ninety-five theses at the entrance to the Castle Church in the town of Wittenberg, Germany, in AD 1517. 

Luther, an Augustinian monk, doctor of theology, and resident of Wittenberg, is considered by Protestants to have rediscovered the fundamental tenants of Christian faith, thereby setting the stage for a confrontation within the Church that would eventually lead to the Reformation.  Reformation Day also celebrates the religious, social, and political changes brought about by the Reformation.

I found a site that listed the 95 theses here. 

For our craft we made little hammers.  The kids selected corks from the giant stash I have managed to save over the years and popsicle sticks from my recycle cabinet.  I cut a slit through the corks for them and they slid the sticks through to make a hammer.  Then they decorated as they wished.  When finished they were ready to be little Martin Luthers, or as they prefered, Thor.

Corks and sticks

Carefully cutting the cork

Hammer almost done.

Posing away with his finished product.

For Reformation day food I decided to make a German dish since Martin Luther was from Germany.  If your kids are like mine, they love sweet fruits and bacon.  So I decided to give this traditional German soup a try.  I had thought about doing spatzle because everyone loves noodles- but thought this soup sounded more adventurous.  Turns out I should have stuck with Noodles:)  My oldest wouldn't even touch it, but happily ate the left over bacon.  My adventurous middle child tried it and gave a large yuck!  The baby picked out the bacon and ate.  So the real story here is that we are genetically all in favor of bacon but this soup was a no go for us.  To be fair I did not totally follow the directions.  Boiling bacon for 2 hours was not in our time frame so if I had done that rather then pan fry and add drippings to the water maybe some things would have come out differently- if you manage to have a tasty outcome let me know where I went wrong!

Nordfriesische Birnensuppe

Ingredients (Serves Four)

• 400g smoked bacon
• 500ml water
• 500g pears
• 100g raisins
• 500ml buttermilk
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 3 tablespoons sugar

Method

Bring the water with the bacon to boil, cover and cook for two hours. Peel the pears and remove their cores, then slice them into rings. Remove the bacon from the water, add the pears and raisins and let them cook for about ten minutes. Meanwhile, mix the buttermilk, flour and sugar. Pour into a pot and heat while stirring, then add to the pears and raisins and let them steep for another ten minutes. Cut the bacon into four pieces, put them on four bowls and pour the hot pear soup on top. 

Started out promising bacon and pears.

Look at the kids face- he can barely hold it:)

I suggest bratwurst or spatzle for your German food for reformation day, but at least our craft was super easy and a crowd pleaser.  Thanks for reading! 

Installation of Scriptures as Guru Granth

October 20th, Sikhs honor the Installation of the Scriptures as Guru Granth. On this day in 1708, the tenth Guru, Guru Gobind Singh, announced that he would be the last in a line of living Sikh Gurus. The sacred collection known as the Adi Granth was officially installed as the everlasting Guru, named Guru Granth Sahib.  Among sacred texts around the world, the Adi Granth is unique in several ways: It contains wisdom from esteemed members of other religions, was compiled by multiple faith leaders and now is seen as the head of Sikhism itself—the faith’s central guru or teacher.

Sikhism rejects idol worship, so the Guru Granth Sahib is not worshipped as an idol, but rather emphasis is placed on respect of the book for the writings which appear within. Guru Granth Sahib is a collection of devotional hymns and poetry which proclaims God, lays stress on meditation on the True Guru (God), and lays down moral and ethical rules for development of the soul, spiritual salvation and unity with God.  The book contains messages such as: all people of the world are equal; women are equal to men; there is one God for all; one should speak and live truthfully; and all should live in God’s will/order. 

Rather then do a craft for this holiday the boys and I listened to some of the stories found here.  

For our food we made heart cookies recipe found here.  There weren't any traditional foods listed for this holiday but I did find these on a sikhism website.  They were very simple and are kind of in between a cookie and a biscuit. 

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 cup butter

Method:  

1. Mix together the three ingredients
2. Mold dough into desired shapes.  We did hearts and the letter H. 
3. Bake cookies for about 10 min at 375F. 

He wanted into the ingredient picture- with a dimpled grin like that how can I say no?  Also my middle child is not himself unless there is marker or paint somewhere on his face.

Mixing the ingredients

Shaping the cookies and smashing them with measuring cups.

Posing with a cookie.

That's it!  Such an easy yet tasty recipe. 

Birth of the Báb

Thousands of Bahá'í followers around the world celebrate the birth of the Báb on October 20th. Báb, which literally translates as 'the gate', was a prophet and forerunner of the Bahá'í revelation. Likened to John the Baptist some two thousand years before, the Báb called on people to purify themselves for the coming of the messenger of God, whom Bahá'í believe to be Bahá'u'lláh, who was initially a follower of Báb and through whom the Bahá'í faith was founded.

Although there are many stories of the Báb's childhood and his many good qualities, very little is known of his birth. He was born on 20th October 1819 in Shiraz, Persia (now Iran) as Siyyid 'Ali-Muhammad. He was the son of a mercer of Shiraz, Siyyid Muhammad-Ridá, and his wife Fátimih-Bagum who were both descedants of the Prophet Mohammad.  The Báb's father died when he was very young and he was put into the care of his uncle, Hájí Mírazá 'Alí.

There is no established tradition in which his birth is celebrated except that this is one of the nine Holy Days on which work is to be suspended. The day is a simple and joyous event that will begin with prayers and devotional readings and develop into some kind of festive social gathering either at home or in a place of worship. The festival is celebrated, in the spirit of the Bahá'í, to be open to all.

Bahá’ís believe that there is one God, that all humanity is one family, and that there is a fundamental unity underlying religion. They recognize that the coming of Bahá'u'lláh has opened the age for the establishment of world peace, when, as anticipated in the sacred scriptures of the past, all humanity will achieve its spiritual and social maturity, and live as one united family in a just, global society.

I had to think about how to explain to the boys about the birth of  Báb holiday-because it was a new holiday and new religion to me.  I told them that Bahá’ís believe that the Báb came to prepare the followers of the religion for who was coming.  The Báb had to make sure everything was ready so that the religion would be ready to be started.

Craft: 

Since the five pointed star is often used as a symbol of the Báb, you can have lots of fun with star craft activities! 

We dug out some leftover sticks from cake pops and got out the washi tape to make a star.

Supplies

Tape sticks together the same way you would draw a star.

Sticks taped into star shape.

Wrap in washi tape.

Finished covered star. 

For our food project I was inspired by this article.  While searching for information about the Báb I saw this article about an orange tree that grew from the seeds of an orange tree that had been in front of the Báb's home.  Since I didn't see a traditional meal to celebrate Birth of the Báb, I thought something with orange in it would be nice.  So to change things up a bit we did an Orange Creamsicle float fromMartha Stewart but it quickly turned into just ice cream topped with oranges since the tonic water gave too bitter a taste for the kiddos.

Scooping some vanilla ice cream.

Mandarin oranges added to ice cream and some tonic water.

It's bitter!

After skipping the tonic water the ice cream and oranges were approved!

Thanks for reading!

Eid al-Adha

At the end of the Hajj (annual pilgrimage to Mecca), Muslims throughout the world celebrate the holiday of Eid al-Adha (Festival of Sacrifice). 

During the celebration of Eid al-Adha, Muslims commemorate and remember Abraham's trials.  One of Abraham's main trials was to face the command of Allah to kill his only son. Upon hearing this command, he prepared to submit to Allah's will. When he was all prepared to do it, Allah revealed to him that his "sacrifice" had already been fulfilled. He had shown that his love for his Lord superceded all others, that he would lay down his own life or the lives of those dear to him in order to submit to God.

For Eid al-Adha Muslims may themselves slaughter an animal such as a sheep, camel, or goat. This action is very often misunderstood by those outside the faith.  Often, the meat from the sacrifice of Eid al-Adha is mostly given away to others. One-third is eaten by immediate family and relatives, one-third is given away to friends, and one-third is donated to the poor. The act symbolizes a willingness to give up things that are of benefit to the devotee, in order to follow Allah's commands. It also symbolizes a willingness to give up some of a devotees own bounties, in order to strengthen ties of friendship and help those who are in need. Believers recognize that all blessings come from Allah, and they should open their hearts and share with others.

For others the sacrifice may be more symbolism - a willingness to make sacrifices in life.  Perhaps small sacrifices, giving up things that are fun or important.

When explaining this one to the boys, I just said that for this holiday believers believe God asked one of his followers to give up something he really loved, and because the follower believed that God would only ask this if there was a good reason the follower decided he would do what God had asked- and then when God saw he was willing to give up what he loved God decided that he could keep this thing since he had shown his faith to God.  

I was having a hard time coming up with a craft- but many of the sites I looked at for Eid al-Adha crafts suggested making a sheep.  I wasn't sure about this at first, seemed not right to make a cute sheep project and then cook up lamb, but I was also lost for any other ideas so we drew a sheep.   I had planned a cotton ball sheep project but the boys wanted to draw, so we still used a cotton ball and pulled out the googly eyes to complete our simple black and white drawing.

Draw out sheep with some googly eyes.

Adding the cotton ball body.

Completed sheep-simple yet adorable. 

For our meal I wanted to make a lamb dish and I found this yummy sounding recipe here.   Again searching for new ingredients in a foreign language made this quite the challenge for me.  So I adapted the recipe to use what I had or could easily get my hands on.

Ingredients:

• Lamb
• spices (we used ginger, cinnamon, black pepper, cloves) 
• olive oil
• onions
• dates
• almonds

Method:

1. The night before we cooked I rubbed the spices into the lamb.  I didn't really measure just kind of sprinkled away.
2. The next day I drizzled some olive oil into the bottom of my baking dish threw in some chopped onion and laid the lamb in the middle.   Placed into the oven that was set just under 400F.
3. After 15 minutes I flipped the lamb and then let cook for an hour. 
4. After an hour I put in 2 cups of water, several dates, and a handful of almonds.  (The boys ate the rest that weren't cooked.) 
5. I let it cook another 45 min.  If water gets low you can add a little more for the sauce. 
6. When it was done I took it out and let cool a little and let the boys snack away.  The baby and my middle child ate up a bunch right away and both were fans of the dates and almonds too.  My oldest refused to eat it because suddenly he thought the dates looked gross- oh well adventures in getting my kids to eat everything continues!

Sorry to say I did not have many pictures of us cooking this meal.  I did however get a quick click of the final product.    

Our version of "Moroccan lamb"