Happy Boongo Day

Happy Family Day (Canada)

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Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Mother’s Day!

For the original purpose of the hollidayThe “Mother’s Day Proclamation” by Julia Ward Howe was one of the early calls to celebrate Mother’s Day in the United States. Written in 1870, Howe’sMother’s Day Proclamation was a pacifist reaction to the carnage of theAmerican Civil War and the Franco-Prussian War. The Proclamation was tied to Howe’s feminist belief that women had a responsibility to shape their societies at the political level.

Mother’s Day Proclamation

Arise, then, women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts,
Whether our baptism be of water or of tears!

Say firmly:
“We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage, for caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
We, the women of one country, will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs.”

From the bosom of the devastated Earth a voice goes up with our own.
It says: “Disarm! Disarm! The sword of murder is not the balance of justice.”
Blood does not wipe out dishonor, nor violence indicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil at the summons of war,
Let women now leave all that may be left of home for a great and earnest day of counsel.

Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means
Whereby the great human family can live in peace,
Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
But of God.

In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
That a general congress of women without limit of nationality
May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient
And at the earliest period consistent with its objects,
To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international questions,
The great and general interests of peace.

 

Happy New Year!

Happy Halcyon Days!

Very lazy this year – in th spirit of Halcyon. But the cabbage is fermenting in the jars for Solstice sarmale and I am copying last year Halcyon entry

Once upon a time, people were attuned to the signs of nature and adapting their lives to them. Instead of cutting mountain tops and digging holes in the oceans, they were paying attention and being inspired.

When they were seeing in the North that the daylight grew shorter, they knew to save their energy those shortest days of the year (except for the shortest one when they celebrated the return of the light)

When sailors this time of year were seeing the first Halcyons building nests on the sea (King Fisher), they knew the seas will be calm for the next 2 weeks, while they were hatching their eggs.

And when they were paying attention to these interesting goings on, they were inspired to make up stories to explain the strangeness.

Once upon a time there were a Queen and King who loved each other very much.

Alcyone was the daughter of Eolus (the winds God) and Ceyx was the son of Eosphorus (the Morning Star). And for some reason, they indulged in a little role playing pretending they were Zeus and Hera – although those two were hardly a couple to be emulated, why him with the cheating and her with the jealousy.

And imitation is not always flattery, not with the vengeful Hera. They decided to punish the blasphemers  – and a thunderbolt hit the ship Ceyx was sailing in (thrown by Zeus

who had much to make up for to Hera).

Alcyone’s grief moved them however so they commuted the death sentence into metamorphosis instead.

So,  both the dead husband and the grieving wife became very alive birds,

who immediately went on building nests on the sea (where all this was taking place), and started a family.

And since this was a moment of mercy from the gods, the waters calmed down for the duration.

I am sure that at the time the myth was considered a cautionary tale against hubris. But for me it’s still the triumph of love over death (and unreasonable godly wrath).

And how poetic that the daughter of the winds and the son of the Morning Star are Halcyons nesting on the sea during the mysteriously 2 weeks of calm during winter time?

So, for all those reasons, I like to turn to the mindset of these olden days and not allow the storms of life to touch my nest – at least for the following two weeks, until the sun comes back long enough to help us cope.

So, until that time comes, be cool!

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Happy Halloween from a certain experiment in alternate realities

. .

Happy Anniversary Dorina & Costel!

Happy Father’s Day!

adding this as a bonus

Happy (early) Mother’s Day!

My flowers from Brian came today so I’ll celebrate longer!