By John Ivanko •
December 16, 2009
We arrived just as the sun was setting over the rolling, snow-covered hills of southwestern Wisconsin, an auburn glow fading as the sun became masked by clouds rolling in from the west. My family, including my mom, passed through the doors of the red, 5,500 square foot, barn-like Farwell Hall of the Folklore Village, located just outside Dodgeville. We were here to usher in the holidays by celebrating Saint Lucia’s Day one day early (in Sweden, it’s held on December 13).
Greeted by Melissa Leef, our convivial host and guide for the afternoon’s Swedish Sankta Lucia program, my family planned on staying for their community potluck, a St. Lucia candlelight ceremony with a singing performance by costumed children, and an evening of dance (with the guidance of a dance instructor-caller) later that evening. The evening program turned out to be a blend of the traditional rural Wisconsin “house party” – for which we host at least once a year at our Inn Serendipity – and small town community gatherings common among church or other social groups.
With all the talk of sales, black Friday, Cyber Monday, and such, the program offered by the Folklore Village harkened to a time where the holidays we’re less about stuff and more about love, sharing, and community.
By Lisa Kivirist •
December 3, 2009
Don’t call me Scrooge, but it took me till my thirties to confront the fact that I don’t honestly like most traditional holiday foods. Gingerbread? I’d prefer chocolate any day. Eggnog? Pour me a daiquiri. And don’t get me started on fruitcake.
During my childhood and for years after, guilt motivated my holiday food choices. I felt compelled to please and fit the traditional cookie cutter mold, loading my plate with ethnic specialties from my Baltic roots that I couldn’t pronounce and smiled as well-intended relatives asked for confirmation.
As I came of age into marriage and parenthood, motivated by the fact that my waistline clearly indicated I had a finite daily calorie count allotment, holiday priorities changed. The more I wrote about and advocated within the food scene, I rekindled the celebratory side of food. Eat to enjoy, share and make merry. Not because your mother spent all day making Latvian blood sausage.
Don’t get my wrong; I love the Christmas season with all the sugarcoated trimmings. I’ve just realized the importance of placing holiday food traditions back on the celebratory pedestal, based on my and my family’s own terms. Take a twist on tradition this season and form your own fresh holiday food memories. Here are four tips to get you cooking:
By Tara Benwell •
December 1, 2008
When I was a kid we had a felt advent calendar. My mom always packed it away with the Christmas tree decorations, so every year when we put up our tree in mid December it was my job to pin the first two weeks of ornaments on the felt tree. For the rest of the month whoever got to the calendar first would pin up a new ornament. Not only was it part of our tradition, it was a handmade craft that my grandmother made.
My own kids only know the store bought advent calendars. They expect chocolate.
By Dave Harcourt •
November 14, 2008
Note: This article is part of EcoWorldly’s series on food and agriculture around the world. In the spirit of Thanksgiving, this week EcoWorldly writers are exploring environmental issues related to bringing food from the farm to your dinner plate and looking at food and farming in other cultures and countries around the world. Subscribe to our RSS feed by email to get all of these, plus our regular stories about the environment from writers living on six continents.
The majority of Thanksgiving dinners in South Africa would be based on a very large serving of Mielie Pap, accompanied by a vegetable stew and possibly a small portion of meat. That is if it were celebrated here!
Mielie Pap is a thick white porridge produced from maize meal and is the main staple of the majority of the people of South Africa. This is especially true of poorer rural people who might aspire to bread and rice but need to rely on maize because of its low price and the fact that they are able to produce and process maize in the household. The dominance of maize in the diet of South Africans is reflected by the fact that on average one third of South African’s calorie intake is supplied by maize.
We arrived just as the sun was setting over the rolling, snow-covered hills of southwestern Wisconsin, an auburn glow fading as the sun became masked by clouds rolling in from the west. My family, including my mom, passed through the doors of the red, 5,500 square foot, barn-like Farwell Hall of the Folklore Village, located just outside Dodgeville. We were here to usher in the holidays by celebrating Saint Lucia’s Day one day early (in Sweden, it’s held on December 13).
