the Land of Joy and Sorrow

Friday, April 11, 2014

Unexpected Easter traditions -- Easter Witches!!!

Easter has always been one of the favorite celebrations in our house -- colorful crafts, garden treasure hunts, delicious baked treats, not to mention all the minty-fresh patches of green crowned by startling fresh blooms and those dizzying new smells in the air! Coming on the heels of the Spring Equinox, Easter unrolls its grassy carpet for warm weather, gentle sunshine and much needed after-winter breath of loveliness and hope. It also packs a cartload of well beloved traditions. And while some of these traditions and symbols are all too familiar -- painted eggs, plush bunny decorations, flower door wreaths awash in pastels, delectable anthropomorphic concoctions in nearly every store window -- others are, well, not.

One of the most fun and unexpected Easter tradition has to be this -- Easter Witches! Yes, Witches! In Sweden and parts of Finland, on a Thursday before Easter Sunday, little girls dress as påskkärring (pohsk-shar-ing – Easter witches), donning rags, shawls, and kerchiefs and going door to door with their copper kettles, wishing folk a “Glad Påsk!” (Happy Easter!) and, in turn, receiving treats. The tradition is said to take roots in an old belief that witches would fly to Blåkulla mansion the Thursday before Easter to party with the Satan. In order to drive them off, Swedes would light fires -- a practice honored today by the bonfires and fireworks across the land leading up to Sunday -- or (if no ready kindling is easily found) give them treats, because, naturally, all good witches have a bit of a sweet tooth. And, probably, a weakness for chocolate. Fine, dark chocolate that they secretly boil in their kettles with a little milk, curry powder, honey and cardamom pods cackling and smacking their lips in anticipation. I know, if I were a witch, I'd carry spiced hot chocolate by kettle-fulls to keep me toasty-cozy on my broom. Also, a purse-full of cinnamon buns for dunking as I spiral higher into the shimmery pollen of the blossoming stars.

Wee Easter Witches on a prowl!

More Easter Witches!!! Love those freckles!

Finns decorate willow branches at Spring Equinox with feathers and brightly colored paper.

"Easter Witches" deliver the branches and recite a poem in exchange for candy/treats.

Homemade Easter Witch ornaments -- ooh, I know what Dasha and I are doing on Easter eve!

Easter Witch race...because really, why not?

All images via Pinterest

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

One of Life's Small Magics.

Small magic comes in all shapes, forms and colors. It nests in our minds and our bellies. Hovers at our lips, curls up on our tongue, whispers against our ears, sparkles in our eyes. Our lives brim with various oddly-shaped, sized and scented magics and all we have to do is take a moment to revel in their glow. Laughter is one of these magics. My absolute favorite. Take a moment. Or two. Start small -- smile. Let your smile push its way up your cheeks, nestle in your chest, tickle your ribs, teasing out those first tentative wisps of giggles. Let their chime rattle your belly, shake your shoulders, send your body a-tremor. Feel the joy bloom at your center, warm and tingling, starbursting up to the crown of your head, down to your tippy toes, building like a held breath. Throw back your head. Laugh. It's so, so easy.

I love laughing. Everything about it. The feel of it, the sound, the lightness. It is the bubbling of the soul, a festival of senses, the voice of one's heart soaring. Laughter smooths our aches and hurts, alleviates the sorrow of our disappointments, lifts the oppressing burden of grief and fear, eases our memories, takes the edge of those sharp experiences that diminish, wound or terrify us. Laughter gives us the wings to raise above the gravity of existence. It breaks the scabs of our hurts open allowing the pain to escape and the healing to begin. What's more, the mere act of laughing opens up your mind to happiness, rewires your emotions. (It actually affects you brain's serotonin levels in a positive way, making you feel good.) An illusion that becomes a reality. A true magic.

Decades ago, I read somewhere that it takes twice as many facial muscles to cry than to laugh or smile. How wonderful is that? Imagine all the wrinkles we're not going to get if all we do is laugh, the only creases in our skin worn by grins, while are souls remain crisp and unrumpled as freshly ironed linens. And even if it's untrue and smiling does line one's face, I'd prefer that all my wrinkles stem from laughter rather than from the frowns or lips twisted in disdain. Joy wrinkles I can live with. Joy wrinkles I can appreciate. Did I mention that laughter makes you loose weight? Well, it does! As you let out your most guttural, gut busting laugh, your abdominal muscles contract, burning calories. So much better than doing sit-ups.

And if we have someone in our lives to share in the laughter, someone who tugs our grins wider, who kindles our snorts into full-fledged cackles, who makes us chortle, titter, giggle or chuckle, we must treasure and cherish that person or creature for a miracle that they are.

So go on and laugh...uproariously, giddily, pealing, crowing, snorting...
eyes shut and mouths opened...

Laugh until your head and your soul grow lighter

and you heart flutters like a winged creature.

Let out a full-bellied, throaty, genuine burst of merriment!

And if laughter is the sound of your spirit rejoicing,
laugh and make the world's brightest music!

All images via Pinterest

Monday, March 24, 2014

On Hope and HEAs...

"If happy ever after did exist

I would still be holding you like this..." ― Maroon 5, Payphone

Ah, the HEAs. As we submerge ourselves in the wondrous worlds of storytelling, we expect them. We crave them. We count on them. To see the heroes triumph and the villains fall is a need deeply ingrained in our subconscious. We've been conditioned to expect this outcome ever since we were trusting toddlers and listening to our favorite fairy tales. It is a fantasy that enchants us and gives us comfort. More importantly, it gives us hope. As satisfying as inhaling deeply on a warm, breezy day, pumping our lungs full of spring. After all, hope is that inhale; it sustains us, drives us forward, moves us past challenges and disappointments of every day life, pumps our sails full of courage to reach for our dreams. Hope is a powerful force! It is also remarkably resilient and will survive almost anything. Even hard lessons taught to us by experience. Often, it is so incessant that it borders on insanity.

Case in point. No matter how many times I watch Romeo and Juliet films -- Franco Zeffirelli's moving rendition of the classic tale, Baz Luhrmann's shocking punkish extravaganza, writer Julian Fellowes' gorgeously filmed vision -- each and every one of them makes me bawl. Because each and every time, I feel the impossible hope that today, the story might be told differently, that today, Juliet and her Romeo might get their Happily Ever After. At my age, I really should know better. They die and the tears come flowing. Last weekend, I dragged my thirteen-year-old (the age of Juliet!) Ptichka into this madness, and we both got misty-eyed at the end of the movie and had to console ourselves with Dove dark chocolate hearts. Lots of hearts. Chocolate cures all woes. Chocolate and hope.

Dasha loved the film. Surprisingly, her favorite character was not swoony Romeo or sweet Juliet, but Romeo's scheming, well-meaning confidante Friar Laurence played by delightful Paul Giamatti. I watched her watching the story with bated breath, saw that bright, fervent light shine beneath her eyelashes and felt an invisible thread of hope tying us together, connecting us; though at times, I couldn't keep from mumbling under my breath, "Darn kids! If only they had better parental supervision!"

Coincidentally, Dire Straits' Romeo & Juliet happens to be one of my all-time favorite songs. It's just so beautiful, so romantic and absolutely perfect for those of us who ardently believe in HEA, even if it is only a faint flicker of hope far off on the horizon.