Courtyard 🎄 Christmas Time

Courtyard 🎄 Christmas Time

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Winter 🌟Holidays ⛄️

⛄️ Celebrate The Holidays!  ⛄️

“Winter” holidays that are celebrated

around the world this time of year. 

Here are 8 holidays that you probably have wondered about!

Hannukah (Chanukah) 

Hannukah, or festival of lights, begins December ??  and will continue for 8 days, where each night, another candle on a menorah will be lit. Prayers, small gifts, and fried food are enjoyed during this special time.   

Fun Fact: the Dreidel, or Sevivon, was used to study the Land of Israel when it was illegal to study this under the Greek/Syrian rule.

Yule 

Yule or Yuletide, is a German, Nordic, and Wiccan traditional holiday that is often similar to our modern pagan Christmas experience here in the U.S. It represents the dark half of the year succumbing to the light, or the Darkest Night. Famous commonalities of the Yule are the Yule Log, holly, mistletoe, evergreen wreaths, and pointsettias.

Dōngzhì  冬至 

Celebrated around December 22nd, this is another version of celebrating Winter Solstice among different Asian countries. This version of Solstice honors the relationship of Yin and Yang. Dumplings are often eaten on this day. Yum!

Boxing Day 

This is always marked on my calendar, but what on earth is this holiday for ?? Celebrated on December 26th in the U.K. and Ireland (among others), it is the Feast Day of St. Stephen, patron saint of horses. It is a time to acknowledge horse racing and fox hunting. Banks in these countries recognize it as a federal holiday. Although in the U.S., it is often viewed as a huge commercial day to return that ugly sweater your neighbor thought you might want and get a Keurig instead.

Kwanzaa 

Celebrating its 51st anniversary, Kwanzaa, or “first fruits”, lasts from December 26th- January 1st. This holiday is celebrated among the African and African-American community to acknowledge family, friends, and all of the good things in life. This holiday was acknowledged during the Black Freedom Movement in the U.S. by Dr. Maulana Karenga, but has been around since the Egyptians!

Human Rights Day 

Celebrated on December 10th 2017, is a non-religious, non-cultural day of recognition founded by the UN to honor the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This observance recognizes the goals and mission of the UN to meet political, civic, economic, social, and cultural needs of all human beings around the world.

Dia de Los Reyes

“Three Kings Day” celebrated on January 6th or on the Epiphany according to the Catholic Church. This is when the Wise Men came to visit the baby Jesus to present the gifts. In Spain, there are parades and adults often give children candies in shoes that they leave out. In other Hispanic cultures, pan dulce  or sweet bread is made with a plastic baby Jesus placed somewhere in the dough; should someone find the baby, they are obligated to bring bread for next year!

 

Bodhi Day 

Although not celebrated until January 24th, 2018 (via Google), this holiday is celebrated by those belonging to the Buddhist faith. This is a religious observance of the Buddha’s enlightenment and awakening. This holiday is acknowledged in China, Japan, Korea and Vietnam. Candles are lit for 30 days to acknowledge the enlightenment and rice and milk are often eaten on this day since it was the first meal the Buddha ate after his Enlightenment.

 

Christmas

Christmas is an annual holiday commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ. This is a festival that is marked by fun, frolic, reverence, celebrations, parties, family fun, catching up to make up your lost times, love, friendship, kids, Santa Claus and many more lovely feelings.
It is the time when the heart gives out delicious fragrances, the fireplace assumes primary importance, the homes goes through decorations makeover, the wardrobes stocking up on latest fashion. Christmas is celebrated across the globe, irrespective of religion, making it truly the greatest festival on Earth.

Dancing Christmas Lights

 

https://magicofchildlife.wordpress.com/2017/12/01/celebrate-the-holidays/

AMNH 🎁Origami 🎄Holiday

🎄Origami Holiday Tree 🎄

American Museum of Natural History

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An annual tradition, the delightfully decorated Origami Holiday Tree has marked the start of the holiday season at the Museum for more than 30 years.

The tree is decorated with handmade origami models inspired by items in the permanent halls, current exhibitions, and Museum collections. Volunteers began folding in March to complete the hundreds of creations displayed on the tree.

During the holiday season, knowledgeable volunteers will be on hand to teach visitors of all ages the art of origami folding.

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Origami Holiday Tree 2011
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On the morning of Monday, November 21, the Origami Holiday Tree was lit in the first-floor Grand Gallery by the 77th Street exit. The display pays tribute to some of the Museum's "biggest and best" displays, with ornaments that include a blue whale, highlights from The World's Largest Dinosaurs, and a space shuttle as a nod to the Museum's latest special exhibition, Beyond Planet Earth: The Future of Space Exploration.

Celebrating sheer size and scope, these origami models represent some of the largest natural and cultural exhibits on display throughout the Museum. 

Watch the video or see  a few of the ornaments.

Credits: Photography: Andrew Cribb

Music: Josh Rutner Quintet

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The Origami Holiday Tree

• Location: Astor Turret on the fourth floor
• November 20, 2017—January 7, 2018

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Visit the American Museum of Natural History this holiday season to see one of New York’s most beloved displays, the Origami Holiday Tree—an annual tradition for more than forty years. Produced in partnership with OrigamiUSA, the tree is delightfully decorated with more than 800 hand-folded paper models created by local, national, and international origami artists.

Feeling crafty? Volunteers from OrigamiUSA will be on hand at the Museum to teach paper folding to visitors of all ages.

The Origami Holiday Tree is a beloved annual Tradition at the Museum.

AMNH/D. Finnin

One 13-Foot Tree, 1,000 Origami Models: 

A Spectacular Museum Tradition

Early each year, as the days begin to get a bit longer and the first signs of spring crop up in Central Park, Ros Joyce and Talo Kawasaki, volunteers from OrigamiUSA and the designers of the Museum’s Origami Holiday Tree start planning for the year ahead.

They begin combing the Museum’s halls in search of inspiration—going from floor to floor to decide on a perfect theme and to find just the right exhibits to re-create as origami models on the tree.

Precedent is no limit: “Often,” says Joyce, “we see something in the Museum that we want on the tree that has never been folded, so we have to design a model and find a way to fold it.”

With a theme in place, in April the team is ready for action. Lists of models are compiled, paper of many colors and textures is purchased, and volunteers—both children and adults—are enlisted from all over the world and as far away as Japan to fold the intricately complex models—some of which can take days or even weeks to perfect. Eventually, the volunteers create hundreds of new models.

After months of folding, in late September the origami pieces begin arriving at the Museum, where the nonprofit OrigamiUSA is housed, just in time for Joyce and Kawasaki to sift through the archives to see which additional models they will need to fill out the tree. The Origami Holiday Tree has been a feature of the Museum’s winter season for more than 40 years; with more than four decades of origami neatly stashed in ten large boxes there is no shortage to the selection.

Some of the highlights include a forty-year-old model of a pterosaur, an extinct vertebrate that was the first to evolve powered flight folded for one of the first origami trees in the early 1970s; a ferocious saber-tooth tiger, and a giant star mobile made up of more than 30 smaller pieces that decorates the top of the tree.

Once the model selections have been made Joyce and Kawasaki begin finalizing the arrangement and their sketches for the tree. “Ultimately we look at the color, size, and texture,” Joyce explains. “We sketch to see how the models are going to fit together to give the tree depth and shape.”

With the final decisions made, after nearly a year of preparation, Joyce, Kawasaki, and the team have only four days to decorate the 13-foot tree before the crowds begin lining up the Monday before Thanksgiving. “It’s a long process but it’s a labor of love,” Joyce says. “In the end it’s all worth it to see the kids and adults light up when they see the tree year after year.”

https://www.amnh.org/explore/origami-at-the-museum/origami-holiday-tree/the-making-of-the-origami-holiday-tree

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Origami Holiday Tree 2016
Interview w/ Co-Designer & Tour:
Museum of Natural History NYC
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1. https://www.amnh.org/explore/origami-at-the-museum
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3. https://www.amnh.org/explore/origami-at-the-museum/origami-holiday-tree
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5. https://www.amnh.org/calendar/origami-holiday-tree

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December❄2019

December 🎄 2019
 

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🎃 Halloween 🕸

Rosh Hashanah * Jewish New Year Begins

The Jewish New Year Begins
1st of Tishrei, 5780

At sundown on Sunday, Sept. 29 2019,
Ends at sundown on Tuesday, Oct. 1. 2019

Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish New Year.

Begins at sunset on Sunday, September 9, 2018
Ends at nightfall on Tuesday, September 11, 2018

Though Rosh Hashanah literally means "head of the year," the holiday actually takes place on the first two days of the Hebrew month of Tishrei, which is the seventh month on the Hebrew calendar. This is because Rosh Hashanah, one of four new years in the Jewish year, is considered the new year of people, animals and legal contracts. In the Jewish oral tradition, Rosh Hashanah marks the completion of the creation of the world.

Rosh Hashanah is the beginning of the Jewish High Holy Days, or Yamim Noraim (the "Days of Awe"), and is followed 10 days later by Yom Kippur, the "day of atonement." The Mishnah refers to Rosh Hashanah as the "day of judgment," and it is believed that God opens the Book of Life on this day and begins to decide who shall live and who shall die. The days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are viewed as an opportunity for Jews to repent (teshuvah, in Hebrew) and ensure a good fate.

Jews traditionally gather in synagogues on Rosh Hashanah for extended services that follow the liturgy of a special prayerbook, called a mahzor, that is used during the Days of Awe. At specific times throughout the service, a shofar, or ram's horn, is blown. The mitzvah (commandment) to hear the shofar, a literal and spiritual wake-up call, is special to this time of year.

The new year is the only Jewish holiday that is observed for two days by all Jews (other holidays are observed for just one day within the Land of Israel) as it is also the only major holiday that falls on a new moon. 

A common greeting on Rosh Hashanah is shana tovah u'metukah, Hebrew for "a good and sweet new year." 

Many traditional Rosh Hashanah foods - apples and honey, raisin challah, honey cake and pomegranate - are eaten, in part, for this reason. 

Crostini Di Fegatini

Get the Crostini di Fegatini recipe
 Pretty close to your usual chopped liver, just gussied up a bit.
Roasted Radish Flatbread With Ricotta And Honey 
Get the Roasted Radish Flatbread with Ricotta and Honey recipe from Bev Cooks

Joan Nathan's Chosen Matzo Ball Soup

Get  
Joan Nathan's Chosen Matzo Ball Soup recipe from Food52

Rosh Hashanah Recipes

http://allrecipes.com/recipes/holidays-and-events/rosh-hashanah
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List of Dates
Rosh Hashana begins on:

• Sun, 29 September 2019 at sundown (1st of Tishrei, 5780)
• Fri, 18 September 2020 at sundown (1st of Tishrei, 5781)
• Mon, 06 September 2021 at sundown (1st of Tishrei, 5782)
• Sun, 25 September 2022 at sundown (1st of Tishrei, 5783)
• Fri, 15 September 2023 at sundown (1st of Tishrei, 5784)
• Wed, 02 October 2024 at sundown (1st of Tishrei, 5785)
• Mon, 22 September 2025 at sundown (1st of Tishrei, 5786)
• Fri, 11 September 2026 at sundown (1st of Tishrei, 5787)
• Fri, 01 October 2027 at sundown (1st of Tishrei, 5788)

Happy 4th of July