Polish-Americans celebrate the end of Lent with Dyngus Day. Read more here.
Hat tip: Mary Knieser
Image (“Polka to Victory!”) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com
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Many Washingtonians spent last Friday night and Saturday morning at African American churches observing Watch Night, a New Year’s Eve celebration little known outside of the black community, even though a painting of such a prayer meeting by New England artist William Tolman Carlton (above) hangs in the White House.
In 19th century England and America the secular celebration of New Year’s Eve was called “Watch Night” – Winslow Homer’s illustration in the January 5, 1861 Harper’s entitled “The Georgia Delegation in Congress Seeing the Old Year Out “ is subtitled “Watch Night.” The New Year’s Eve religious services called Watch Night developed in the Methodist Church in Britain as an occasion for the Covenant Prayer, through which believers re-commit themselves to God.
If asked about your New Year’s Resolutions for 2011, the best response is “I am far from perfect, but self-criticism sessions went out with Chairman Mao. So Happy New Year, and let’s have another drink.”
If friends and family insist you make resolutions, perhaps at gunpoint, you may benefit from this list of the Top 10 Best New Year’s Resolutions Ever:
The 2010 White Shoe Season, which commenced on May 31st, ends this Monday, September 6th. Persons wearing white shoes in the continental United States past that date are assumed to be illegal aliens from the Southern Hemisphere, and will be treated accordingly. You have been warned.
Have a happy Labor Day.
Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com
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The 2010 Smithsonian Folklife Festival begins today on the National Mall. The free event is a highlight of Washington’s summer. Dates: June 24 to 28 and July 1 to 5.
This year, visitors can experience the cultures of Mexico and the DC area’s Asian Pacific American communities and peek into the workings of the Smithsonian itself. There are special evening events, including this Saturday’s concert by Haitian artists Boukman Eksperyans and Tines Salvant (Saturday, June 26, 6PM). Be sure to pick up a program book and learn more about the people you meet and what you see, hear, and taste.
Rice (Oryza sativa)
Calas (pronounced ca-LA) are fritters made from cooked rice and flour. They were sold in the streets of New Orleans by vendors, women of color, often slaves (who had Sundays free), and remained part of old-time home cooking for many Gulf Coast families of African descent. The recipe may have been modified in the New World, but the term and concept are said to have been brought to Louisiana by slaves from Ghana.
Photogenic Olympic™ skier Lindsey Vonn has created a culinary opportunity, trying to heal her bruised leg by applying fresh curd cheese. She calls the soft stuff by it’s Austrian name, topfen, but the cheese is also known as quark, quarg, Tvaroh, Tvorog and curd-cheese. Fresh cheese aroma is too subtle for a marketable celebrity fragrance, so it’s time to profit by cookin’ up some celebrity ski cheese recipes.
Many Washingtonians spent Thursday night and Friday morning at African American churches observing Watch Night, a New Year’s Eve celebration little known outside of the black community, even though a painting of such a prayer meeting by New England artist William Tolman Carlton (above) hangs in the White House.
The Day of the Dead (El Día de los Muertos) or All Souls Day is November 1st this year, a Sunday. Here in Washington, DC the Mexican Cultural Institute (Instituto de México, 2829 16th Street, NW) commemorates the occasion with a traditional Altar de Muertos, as designed by Mexican paper artist Humberto Spíndola.
The day is celebrated and appreciated throughout the blogosphere. Start with Ladislao Loera, Mary Andrade, Carlos Miller and the staff of the Arizona Republic, or Jo Tuckman of The Guardian.
UPDATE:
Nice feature on the holiday in Paris, from NPR’s Elinor Beardsley.
Holiday news and photos from the Phillipines, Poland, New Orleans, and Belgium.
Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com
Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.
UCLA has stripped another tradition from Academe, one started way back in 2002: the Underwear Run. Is nothing sacred?
Seven years ago, on the Wednesday before final exams, 13 students in boxers and briefs ran across campus, from the corner of Gayley Avenue and Strathmore Place to the intramural field. This has been repeated every trimester, three times a year, and become a popular tradition. Too popular, say school officials.
The last UCLA Underwear Run, a herd of bra-and-panty and négligée- and skivvy-clad runners, numbered 7,000, many from other colleges. School officials are pulling the plug, citing reports of injuries, alcohol-fueled fights, and vandalism. A smaller Undie Run at Chapman University (which seems older than the UCLA trot) resulted in $19,000-worth of damage to an Orange, California fountain.
