Rama Navami: Honoring the birthday of India’s Rama

April 08, 2014 by Leave a Comment

TUESDAY, APRIL 8: For more than a week, starting with the Hindu new year Ugadi, families across India celebrate the April 8 birthday of Lord Rama. Hindu descriptions of Rama vary, but he generally is described as a divine of Vishnu, the supreme deity in Hinduism. Lord Rama certainly is one of the most popular deities in India and his annual festival is a time for recalling ancient Indian stories about him.

The Ramayana, or Rama’s Journey, is one of the greatest masterpieces in world literature—and a great epic in India’s sacred traditions. Written down in sanskrit about 2,500 years ago, the Ramayana is made up of 24,000 verses. Lengthy readings and recitations from the epic are a beloved part of this season each year.

Inspiring readings, decorations and fasting are traditional preparations for the birthday on April 8, this year. While Rama’s story is not widely known in the U.S., his image is echoed in other Asian cultures and also reportedly was an inspiration for the blue figures in James Cameron’s 2009 movie, Avatar.

Care to dig further into the vast riches of the Ramayana? Wikipedia has a fairly extensive introduction to the epic.

Observances vary widely by region. This year, The Hindu newspaper reported on one center in  Coimbatore, a city in southern India, where an 18-day celebration of Rama Navmi is underway! If you live near an Indian temple in the West, you are likely to see local Hindu communities planning all-day services for this special period of the year.

(Originally published at readthespirit.com, an on line magazine covering religion, spirituality, values and interfaith and cross-cultural issues.)

Qing Ming: Chinese on the move to honor ancestors

April 05, 2014 by Leave a Comment

SATURDAY, APRIL 5: English spellings of the holiday vary, but newspapers in Asia are clear in reporting the most important news at this time of year: Watch out for traffic congestion and travel safely! Huge numbers of Chinese families are heading home to reconnect with their families and honor their ancestors at this time of year.

In the past, other English phrases have been used to describe this holiday: Wikipedia’s entry lists many names, including the Clear Bright Festival and Grave Sweeping or Grave Tending Day. The scale of annual ceremonies honoring ancestors has grown to elaborate heights in some eras—and shrunk in others—over many centuries. Chinese writers claim that the annual observance has continued in various forms for nearly 3,000 years!

Today, popular springtime customs associated with Qing Ming include kite flying, time spent with family, picnics and other outdoor gatherings near sites associated with ancestors. As spring flowers are blooming, many enjoy the sights and smells. Chinese news media already are featuring photos of families enjoying flowering trees in parks.

APRIL themes: Autism, Jazz, Poetry, Arab Americans and more

April 01, 2014 by Leave a Comment

APRIL 2014: Americans will hear a lot this month about everything from jazz, poetry, Arab Americans, frogs and kites—to foods including Brussel sprouts and cabbage. Here are just some of the dozens of special month-long themes …

AUTISM AWARENESS MONTH

The Autism Society offers a resource page for the April observance, including the recommendation that supportive men and women display the puzzle-piece autism-awareness logo. The Society says: “The Autism Awareness Puzzle Ribbon is the most recognized symbol of the autism community in the world. Autism prevalence is now 1 in every 88 children in America. Show your support for people with autism by wearing the Autism Awareness Puzzle Ribbon—as a pin on your shirt, a magnet on your car, a badge on your blog, or even your Facebook profile picture—and educate folks on the potential of people with autism!”

JAZZ APPRECIATION MONTH

The coolest news from Washington D.C., this April, is that the Smithsonian is kicking off Jazz Appreciation Month (JAM) by receiving jazz legend John Coltrane’s “Selmer Mark VI tenor saxophone, made in Paris about 1965, the year that A Love Supreme was released. The saxophone is one of three principal saxophones Coltrane played and will be on view in the Smithsonian’s American Stories exhibition.” (Unfortunately, the newly donated sax won’t make it onto public display until June.) Check news outlets in your part of the U.S. for special jazz programs this month. Look for events labeled with the appropriate acronym “JAM.” Plus, you may want to join the several thousand people who already have “liked” the Facebook page for Jazz Appreciation Month, a page that includes some photos of Contrane’s sax.

NATIONAL POETRY MONTH

Nearly two decades ago, in 1996, The Academy of American Poets introduced National Poetry Month. The group was founded in 1934 and now gives away some of the most sought-after awards in poetry each year. The Wikipedia entry for the special month points out some of the past observances, including: the Empire State Building turning on blue lights in honor of the month, special White House programs and special distributions of poetry books. Look for regional events in our area through schools, libraries and bookstores. Here is the official 2014 National Poetry Month page, including a copy of this year’s poster, at the Academy site.

ARAB AMERICAN HERITAGE MONTH

Relatively new in the long list of month-long themes is Arab American Heritage Month. Check schedules in your region for schools, libraries and community groups that may be scheduling programs. If you are coming to Michigan, visit the Arab American National Museum.

The following programs are just a handful of the many April themes promoted in various parts of the U.S.: Parkinson’s Awareness Month, Holy Humor Month, National Frog Month, National Kite Month—and many foods are honored, including Brussel Sprouts and Cabbage Month.

(Originally published at readthespirit.com, an on line magazine covering religion, spirituality, values and interfaith and cross-cultural issues.)

Ugadi or Yugadi: It’s a new year for millions in India

March 31, 2014 by Leave a Comment

MONDAY, MARCH 31: Some of the world’s oldest cultures start a new year with the return of the sun to the Northern Hemisphere, as many did around the Equinox. But, millions of men and women across India celebrate Ugadi (or Yugadi) based on the start of the Saka or Indian national calendar, an ancient system of marking time that balances both lunar and solar cycles. This year, the Saka calendar places Ugadi, which literally means “the beginning of an age,” on March 31.

In India, families clean their homes, make decorations of fresh mango leaves, prepare special foods and offer traditional prayers for the new year. In some communities, there may be a public reading of a thoughtful forecast for the new year.

The Hindu newspaper has been reporting on a wide range of public programs tied to the holiday: Sports and traditional dance festivals, plus an essay contest about ways young people can contribute in a positive way to Indian society.

The most common holiday food is Ugadi Pachadi (spelling varies), a sweet and tart blend of at least a half dozen ingredients that are popular in India and symbolize sadness, happiness, anger, fear, disgust and surprise. It’s not an easy dish to prepare in most American homes, since ingredients such as neem buds (from a tree in the mahogany family) and jaggery (a dark brown, unrefined form of sugar) aren’t common in the US.

(Originally published at readthespirit.com, an on line magazine covering religion, spirituality, values and interfaith and cross-cultural issues.)

Orthodox Christians move to Great Lent with Meatfare and Cheesefare Sundays, then Clean Monday

March 03, 2014 by Leave a Comment

The Lenten season begins for hundreds of millions of Eastern Christians, also known as Orthodox Christians, through a series of traditional steps to prepare for this Great Fast …

  • SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 23: Meatfare Sunday or Sunday of the Last Judgment. Preparing for the “Great Fast” of Lent, this is the last day that meat can be eaten until Pascha (Easter on April 20 this year)—but dairy products still are allowed for another week.
  • SUNDAY, MARCH 2: Cheesefare Sunday or Forgiveness Sunday. This is the last day that dairy products can be consumed until Pascha. The spiritual focus of this Sunday liturgy is on “forgiveness,” an appropriate theme to remember as these Christians enter this long period of prayer and reflection.
  • MONDAY, MARCH 3: Clean Monday is the beginning of the “Great Fast” of Lent. Let the kites fly! And—read further to learn about Lagana, a seasonal bread known throughout Greece as the taste of Clean Monday.
  • EAST & WEST and the unity of Easter: Western Christians begin their Lenten season this year with Ash Wednesday on March 5. In this year (2014), the celebration of Easter—or Pascha in Orthodox terms—is shared by the world’s 2-billion Christians, East and West. But the centuries-old East-and-West differences in calculating Easter’s date won’t unify the Christian world again until Easter 2017—and then Easter 2025 and 2028.

Prayerful Attention to Tradition: To many Americans, this Great Fast may sound extreme. Another way to think about it, though, is as a healthy season of Mediterranean eating. Whole grains and vegetables dominate in recipes associated with Great Lent. Of course, some families from an Orthodox background skip the fasting rules—just as many Western Christians overlook their own far-less-restrictive fasting traditions. But, observant Orthodox families around the world do change their eating habits, each year, in the weeks leading to Pascha.

During the fast, Eastern Christians avoid: meat, fish, dairy products, eggs, wine and oil. There are traditional exceptions within the Orthodox calendar. Wine and oil are permitted on all Sundays during this period, for example. And an ancient tradition—the feast of the Annunciation—is considered so sacred that it always falls on March 25, even during Great Lent. That feast recalls Mary receiving news that she would be the mother of Jesus, nine months later. Thus, on Tuesday March 25, this year—fish, wine and oil are permitted for the feast.

THERE’S AN APP FOR THAT

HOW DO WE KEEP TRACK? Here at ReadTheSpirit online magazine, how do we cover this complex season? Well, thanks to longtime reader David Adrian, each year, we receive the kind of Orthodox wall calendar that many congregations provide to their faithful. That’s one way.

The other is via smartphone apps. Our favorite is the Greek Orthodox Calendar app, developed by Tsolias Software. The app shows us each day’s spiritual resources at a glance, including colorful little icons of the food groups permitted that day. (There are lots of fasting days in the Orthodox calendar, each year, and the app keeps track of all the rules.) We also have heard strong reader recommendations of the apps developed in cooperation with the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. And, if you want a “free” app, we’ve heard that the Orthodox Calendar by David Ledselidze is pretty useful, as well. Plus, Ledselidze’s app has more resources of special interest to Russian Orthodox men and women.

WHY KITES?

Considering the strict nature of this fast—the cheery celebration of Clean Monday may seem jarring. Congregations are reminded, however, that it is important to remain outwardly pleasant during the fasting period. The passage of Matthew 6, verses 14-21, is read to drive home this spiritual lesson. It says, in part: “And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting.”

The most common Clean Monday vista in Greece is a blue sky full of colorful kites. Families pack up traditional Lenten foods for a picnic. It’s a national holiday, so most workers and students have the day free.

TASTE CLEAN MONDAY: LAGANA

The traditional Greek Orthodox taste of Clean Monday is a sesame-topped bread called Lagana—usually made long and fairly flat, and ideally a very tasty bread. It’s also true that some home cooks produce something more akin to a giant, crunchy breadstick—but, if prepared properly, this is a delicious bread.

Want a recipe that’s likely to produce the tastier variety? There are many online, but we especially like this photo-illustrated, step-by-step recipe from The Greek Vegan. Beyond the helpful photos, here’s another reason we like this particular website’s approach to the recipe: These days, a lot of online recipes wink at the restrictions of the Great Fast and include oil in the ingredients. The Greek Vegan recognizes that this is a serious issue for many Christians and explains how to make this bread—in the traditional oil-free way.

THE STORY OF THE PRETZEL

Long associated with the Lenten season, the Pretzel stretches back more than a millennia. Today, columnist Suzy Farbman tells the … twisted history of this popular treat.

(Originally published at readthespirit.com, an on line magazine covering religion, spirituality, values and interfaith and cross-cultural issues.)

Presidents Day, aka Washington’s Birthday (and Lincoln’s too!)

February 17, 2014 by 1 Comment

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2014: “Washington’s Birthday,” a federal holiday popularly known as Presidents Day (punctuation of the day’s name varies).

FEBRUARY 12: Abraham Lincoln’s birthday in 1809.

FEBRUARY 22: George Washington’s birthday in 1732.

Once upon a time, Americans marked the birthdays of two of our most beloved presidents each February. During the Christmas season, families who watch the 1942 musical Holiday Inn (the first film in which Bing Crosby sang White Christmas) know that Bing’s Vermont-based inn hosted separate celebrations for each presidential birthday. Through the 1950s and 1960s, millions of American school children cut up construction paper and made faces of both presidents on two different days.

Today, American culture tends to smoosh both men (and sometimes even more presidents) into something called “Presidents Day,” but that isn’t the name of the federal holiday that falls on February 17 this year. That’s still officially called “Washington’s Birthday”—even though the current version of Washington’s Birthday never seems to fall on his actual birth date. If this sounds like a classic example of D.C. bureaucracy … well … consider …

WAHINGTON’S BIRTHDAY
Our first president’s birthday was declared a holiday by the U.S. Congress in 1879. Nearly a century later, in 1971, the Uniform Monday Holiday Act began moving the first president’s birthday around the calendar to ensure that, each year, workers would get a three-day weekend.

LINCOLN’S LIMITED BIRTHDAY
To make matters more confusing, Lincoln’s Birthday is an official February 12 holiday in a handful of U.S. states ranging from California to Connecticut and, of course, including Illinois. Given the deep regional divisions following the Civil War, the entire nation wasn’t likely to celebrate the 16th president’s birthday. Currently, Arizona, Missouri and West Virginia are about as far South as Lincoln’s statewide birthday celebrations extend.

AN INSPIRING LOOK AT LINCOLN’S VALUES
For Lincoln’s birthday in 2014, Lincoln scholar Duncan Newcomer takes an inspiring look at what Abraham Lincoln would say about American values, today. What values? Newcomer uses the 10 core values documented in a new book by University of Michigan sociologist Dr. Wayne Baker and compares that list of 10 with Lincoln’s life and legacy. (Because this is a sesquicentennial era of the Civil War, ReadTheSpirit has many Lincoln-related resources.)

HOW SHOULD YOU SPELL THIS HOLIDAY?
Take your pick—and, students, follow your teachers’ instructions. Some gurus of the English language still insist that the popular holiday should be spelled Presidents’ Day with an apostrophe. But, the widely used Associated Press Stylebook says: No apostrophe is needed.

TASTE OF PRESIDENTS DAY

FeedTheSpirit columnist Bobbie Lewis offers a creative—and oh so yummy—solution to celebrating both presidents! She’s got a recipe for a Cherry and Apple Pie (plus a story about her own holiday memories and how they affected her appearance on the Jeopardy! game show).

CELEBRATING:
SHOP … SHOP … SHOP
(AND GO TO SCHOOL?)

Each year, as government offices, banks and other organizations close down for the holiday—retailers do their best to rack up mid-winter sales. Beyond department stores and shopping centers, General Motors is running a Presidents Day sale through the end of February, aimed especially at moving full-sized pickup trucks at Chevrolet and Buick-GMC dealers. Check Sunday newspapers on February 16 for a load of advertisements!

Clearly our 30th president (Cal Coolidge) was onto something, when he told the American Society of Newspaper Editors in 1925: “The chief business of the American people is business.”

FRESH IDEAS
Every year, ideas surface for expanding the observance. The Buffalo News, this year, argues that residents in that part of New York state should honor two often-forgotten presidents: Millard Filmore (No. 13) and Grover Cleveland (No. 24), the two men who made it from Buffalo all the way to the White House. No word yet on whether that particular observance will go viral in western New York.

BACK TO SCHOOL?
Public schools usually close on Presidents Day, but this year a growing number of school districts in the northern states are planning to stay open to make up for the extra “snow days” these districts already have taken in this especially bitter winter season.

VISIT ONE OF OUR NATION’S PARKS
Here’s a treat for your family … The National Park Service has announced: “All 401 national parks will provide free admission to everyone February 15-17 to honor our nation’s leaders and their accomplishments. Visit one of the scores of national parks with a direct connection to a president, including birthplaces, homes, monuments, memorials, and historic sites. … Check the calendar of events to find special activities taking place in national parks across the country.”

(Originally published at readthespirit.com, an on line magazine covering religion, spirituality, values and interfaith and cross-cultural issues.)

Tu B’Shevat (or Tu Bishvat) celebrates renewal of life

January 15, 2014 by Leave a Comment

SUNSET WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 15, to SUNSET THURSDAY, 16: This week, we welcome two Jewish friends of ReadTheSpirit to tell the story of this minor-yet-fascinating holiday. First, we hear from scholar and author Joe Lewis, who many of our readers know as the husband of FeedTheSpirit columnist Bobbie Lewis. And, yes, Bobbie Lewis has contributed her own Tu B’Shevat column—with a delicious recipe!

Here’s Joe Lewis …

Tu B’Shevat is a mystery for American readers in northern states! How can we pretend that this is a new year for trees when the ground is frozen solid?

“Ahhh,” the Rabbi explains, “That’s a good question. But, in Israel spring has come, the northern hillsides are about to be carpeted with delicate wildflowers, and the trees are in bud.”

“But Rabbi, that’s nuts! How can you say the trees are in bud when the Hebrew calendar floats to and fro against the solar calendar by three weeks or so?”

Here the Rabbi avoids the question and says: “Hmmm, nuts?! Yes, we celebrate the almond blossoms which appear early, and we eat almonds and other fruits of the land of Israel. Even if (the Rabbi continues) spring has not arrived where we live, we mark the return of spring to the land we consider holy. And don’t forget that golden almond blossoms embellished the menorah in our wilderness sanctuary (Ex. 25:31-40), and almond blossoms budded overnight to confirm Aaron’s priestly authority (Num. 17:8).” (What student can persist against this sea of allusions?)

By the 15th of the month of Shevat, Israel’s winter rains are generally completed, and in ancient times this marked the end of one agricultural year and the beginning of the next. Since farmers were supposed to “tithe” each year’s produce, and to let a tree grow for three years before harvesting its fruit, they needed to know the start of the year: the fifteenth of Shevat was the date.

After the destruction of the Temple and the expulsion of most Jewish people from their ancient land, many countries did not allow Jewish people to own land or farm it. Unable to celebrate as farmers, our longing for our land was heightened. The land, its rituals and its fruits (the “seven species” of Deut. 8:8) accrued mystical significance. And when the Jewish people returned to the land and recovered their own state, our mystical yearnings bore reality, for now we could grow and enjoy the fruits of the land.

Today, many communities celebrate the day with a meal enjoying fruits such as nuts and dates. It’s called a Tu B’Shevat Seder, and it’s a time to consider our connection to and responsibility for the land of Israel and for the planet we share with every living being. (Remember to read Bobbie Lewis’s column about a Tu B’Shevat Seder.)

What about the “Tu” in “Tu Bishvat”? The ninth and sixth letters of the Hebrew alphabet form “Tu” and represent 15. Why not use the tenth and fifth letters? Oh, that’s one of the names of God, so in Hebrew counting 15 is 9+6 and never 10+5.

The Hebrew calendar has its own logic, though some might say that Hebrew dates are—well, nuts.

(If you like this piece, you can learn more about Joe Lewis’s work in producing Jewish guides to prayers and rituals written to include people who don’t speak or read Hebrew.)

Here’s Rabbi Bob Alper …

Bob is the author of our new book: Thanks. I Needed That. He added this Tu B’Shevat story:

To be perfectly honest, the minor Jewish holiday of Tu B’Shevat never spoke to me nearly as much as other Jewish holidays did.

Until I cut down a tree.

Last summer it was time to take down a huge maple in our yard. I had my old chainsaw sharpened, cleared brush around the tree’s wide base, and, just before pulling the starter cord, enticed our dog into the house. I realized that a dog who doesn’t understand “fetch” and “stay” probably doesn’t know how to respond appropriately and quickly to “timber.”

The tree went down smoothly—landing only 90 degrees from my carefully planned target area. Fortunately, we’re rural enough so there were neither wires nor buildings in the way.

Then commenced the clean-up, a task I thought I could handle fairly quickly. Here’s where I developed an unanticipated new respect for that simple tree. It took days. The lovely branches, for years just part of the beautiful scenery, required hours of chainsawing, dragging, and, at the last, splitting, before the lawn was once again empty, the branches piled behind the small cemetery on our property, and the large pieces split, transported, and added to our woodpile.

I gained a new perspective about why trees should be celebrated and valued in community events such as Tu B’Shevat or its secular parallel, Arbor Day. That maple provided decades of shade and beauty, many years of maple sugar, and now, at the last, fuel for our winter.

And throughout my days of toil, I continually thought of the words carved on a board above the dining hall fireplace at the camp I attended as a kid: “He who chops his own wood, warms himself twice.”

 (This column originally published at ReadTheSpirit, an online magazine covering religion, spirituality, values and interfaith and cross-cultural issues.)