Greetings at the beginning of the month of April, a month that precedes the arrival of the rains, and which is generally characterized by the traditional manifestations in my country, Venezuela; and it is that we are a Catholic country, in which the Calendar of Catholic Festivities marks many of the national holidays and holidays, and Easter is one of the most important of these celebrations, since we remember the Passion of Christ and his Resurrection. And to talk about Easter, here I am again to participate in the initiative that my friend @mypathtofire offers us every week. Here I share the invitation he made:
Easter, in theory, should be a time of reflection, self-knowledge and reinforcement of faith through connection with our beliefs, making rituals that go from prayers, processions, visits to temples, to the elaboration of special food, (sweet and salty), the practice of traditional games, among others. Before, (I'm talking about the 20th century), if you were very Catholic, it was a time of much prayer, of sexual abstinence, you didn't even bathe during Easter, you didn't sweep your home either, you didn't cook until after sunset; therefore, several meals were prepared in advance to only be reheated when dinner time arrived. Already during Lent, Catholics prepared themselves through an almost vegetarian diet, where the consumption of red meat was not allowed, and on Fridays the food was strictly vegetarian, so the observance of the Easter rules was easier. Of course, I'm talking about very Catholic people, very believers and not the entire population was or is like that, I could say that only a minority complied with all these customs.
Currently in my country, there are fewer people who conceive Holy Week as a time of faith and reflection, and it is common to see people celebrating, going to the beach (it has always been like this, the beach was the ideal destination this season ), or to rivers, fields, etc., and I make the caveat that since there is no gasoline and everything is very expensive, many people cannot vacation or travel. Of course, there is also a significant percentage of the population that attends religious services, processions, and in many Venezuelan homes special food is cooked (within the possibilities, because with hyperinflation it is difficult to maintain customs). What I have noticed is that there are fewer children playing tops, whirligigs, metras or flying kites; before this was very common, festivals and traditional game competitions were promoted in schools, not anymore; in fact, currently in my country, due to the fact that teachers receive pyrrhic salaries that do not even reach $30 per month, the educational system is paralyzed, as a protest, classes are not being taught at practically any educational level.
After this introduction, I am going to respond to two of the ideas that @mypathtofire raises in his invitation post, and these are:
What is important to you about this celebration?
Are there any special foods that you prepare or eat?
What is important to you about this celebration?
At this point in my life, when I am already a grown adult, my priorities are very specific, the meaning that Holy Week has for me may be very different from what it had decades ago. At this moment, I like to observe even more than I usually do (I am very observant of people), but more than others, I like to observe myself, question myself, understand why there are things that are not very pleasant in my daily life, knowing what my strengths are and what could be my weakest or darkest points. I also like to be grateful, because certainly in my life there are countless people, situations, places and things to which I give gratitude. But at the same time, I try to do this self-inventory as closely connected to my spiritual beliefs; and although I am Catholic, I am not 100% practicing; and part of this lack of practice was accentuated by the pandemic and I have not reconnected again. I do try to maintain certain customs, especially those that are linked to traditional foods, as I will tell you below.
Are there any special foods that you prepare or eat?
In each area of Venezuela, there are emblematic dishes of Holy Week, both sweet and salty, although there are some that are common throughout the country, but each region gives it its distinctive touch. Although I am in a transition process towards veganism, which is slow due to economic circumstances and access to food; it is also necessary to indicate the only person in my family who is on this path is me, none of the rest is even vegetarian; but as I always say and emphasize, this is a choice that depends on the free will of each person and I am not the one to force another to make this decision. That being the case, I prepare non-vegan food, and within the gastronomy of Easter, there are dishes that can be made vegan, and sometimes I cheat, hahahaha, and when they realize it, it's too late, hahahahaha. For example today, I made fish cake, of course I made two: a large one with sardines and a small one with vegetables for me, and it was difficult to cheat here, because of the characteristic flavor of the fish. But there are also other dishes, such as sweets, which are typical of this week, such is the case of papaya sweet, rice with coconut (or with milk), fritters in syrup, guava shells, sweet and plum marapa, mango jelly, and many more; I do these more frequently. Maybe tomorrow or Friday, I'll make an Easter cake without eggs or cheese (it's salty), that recipe can be made vegan. Next I am going to share some traditional sweet recipes:
This has been my participation in the weekly activity proposed by @mypathtofire, where I tell you part of what Easter is for me. A big hello to all.
Image sources
The photo is by Unsplash (see the link).
The dividers used are courtesy of @eve66 who shares beautiful designs that embellish the layout of our post.
In case it is required to use the content or images of this post and of my other publications, I would appreciate if you could refer to my authorship (Fabiola Martínez) and cite the corresponding link. Thanks.
@mypathtofire offers us every week. Here I share the invitation he made:
