Happy Cinco de Mayo!!!!

Mucho gusto!

From Wikipedia:

Cinco de Mayo ("The Fifth of May" in Spanish) is primarily a regional, and not a federal, holiday in Mexico; the date is observed in the United States and other locations around the world as a celebration of Mexican heritage and pride. It commemorates an initial victory of Mexican forces led by General Ignacio Zaragoza Seguín over French forces in the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862.

Cannot resist a factoid!

And now I am late. Have a good weekend everyone!

Tomorrow: Bunday!


by xclara_bowx

There is a lot of winter holiday activity today but I wanted to do a thing for the Winter Solstice. I know many people are into this. I like the fact that it marks the turning of the season. Way cool.

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And now on to the parties. Almost every culture has some form of celebration to mark the solstice.

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Hanukkah post to follow. This was a long factoid but I did not want to leave anything out. Read what you want. The aurora borealis picture is from Getty Images.

Cheers.

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This information is from wikipedia mainly and is spotty or inconsistent in places. The part on Wiccan practices seems inadequate and customs vary widely from group to group or person to person. No offense to anyone's belief's is intended. This is just to give a general idea of what is out there.
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Dreidel is essentially a gambling game. You spin the top and act according to the letter you get. I have found a pretty concise explanation and posted it here. People play with candy, pennies, or other kinds of things of little value. Hannukah gelt is something else they might play with too. That is chocolate money used specifically for Hanukkah.

( The Dreidel GameCollapse )

And now for a little history of the dreidel. You know me...it is surprising where this originates given all the myths I have heard. So read on...

( The origins of the dreidel...Collapse )

And finally...the Dreidel Song. Who could forget that. It is an annoying little ditty that all of us who went through childhood as Jews and to Hebrew School had to learn and sing. *cringe*

Just giving you the text here. No dreidel post is complete without it.

( The Dreidel SongCollapse )

( The lighting of the menorah...Collapse )

All factoid info is from Wikipedia.

Here is the introduction to the holiday. Most agree that it is not a religiously significant holiday. This first entry is the backstory so to speak, the history of it all. Throughout the week I will post traditions and songs and and other things. This is all because I am a geek. *grin*

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Alright. About the war thing. Now, they say Jews "do not glorify war" but look at the old testament. It is all about war. And Israel---cha. I am just saying. I do not think modern Jews are a peace loving people. Just my opinion. One could call Israel one of the more aggressive nations on this planet. Discuss.

Today is the first day of Hanukkah, the festival of Lights. So get ready. Eight days. I will attempt to post for eight days on this subject. Just little things. Huzzah. The first factoid will come out later today.

*grin*

Dia de los Muertos....

So I got the skinny from the baristas at the cafe. Today is the Day of the Dead in Mexico and many Latin countries. This is a very cool holiday and worthy of a factoid. Again Wikipedia is my friend. This holiday seems to recognize death and honors the lives of the deceased.

What Wikipedia does not say is that the first day of the celebrations are set aside for remembering Los Angelitos...the little ones, the children who have died. The second day, November 2nd is for all others. I found some cool artwork on-line and wanted to show you all some of the really neat statues that I have seen done but I could not find anything that looked good or reproduced well. The art that is here shows you how the motif of the skeleton is incorporated into the artwork. Pretty neat. They also use bright colors as a celebration of life.

( Factual Info on Dia de los MuertosCollapse )

And now for the artwork....

( Click for the bright colors...Collapse )

Thank you for reading and enjoy this day. It is an interesting time to reflect and think about our lives and the spirit world around us.

Yes, I am back with some factoids for you. Tis the season of death and the spirit world. Oooo. So here is some information for you to chew on. Lots and lots. This one is from Wikipedia. I *heart* Wikipedia. Includes some info on Samhain and all sorts of cross-cultural stuff...more to follow.

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It is the 17th anniversary of the Loma Prieta earthquake. That happened in 1989, five years before I moved here but every calls that the last "big one" here. Time for a factoid.


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This earthquake is never far from people's minds here so I thought I would post something about it. This is why I freak out when the little quakes hit. O.o

Fear not: Dudesday post is next.

I like facts....facts like me. I used to be a public school teacher. Hoo. Wikipedia is a dangerous thing as you can find everything on there. Also keiliss told me of the Thor thing and I wanted to know more so now you shall know more. *beams*

( Thor's DayCollapse )

Thursday in some other languages:
Afrikaans: Donderdag
French: Jeudi
German: Donnerstag
Spanish: Jueves
Swedish: Torsdag*

This site is useful for looking up things in other languages: http://www.yourdictionary.com/languages.html

So there you go....

*from ford_of_bruinen

So I missed your Yom Kippor factoid so I will make up for it with Sukkot! The festival of booths.

Overview: Sukkot basically commemorates the period of time after the Jews left Egypt and escaped slavery. They wandered in the desert and had to live in temporary dwellings or sukkahs. In observance of this, Jews recreate the structure and dwell in it.

The holiday actually started at sundown last night. My neighbors here are building a sukkah in our yard. *bouncey*. How exciting.

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Well. Time for a factoid. It is Jewish holiday time! L'shona tova! It is the year 5767! Wahooo.

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What would you do without me?

Thaba Labohlano!!!!

In other words...HAPPY FRIDAY!!! Weeeee!!!

And the contest is on. First one to guess it wins an icon of their choice. Come now. I have given almost everyone their icons and they are spiffy! *preens* So let's have some guesses.

So I am recovering nicely from the dental nightmares. I really am. I ate pasta for lunch having starved last night. I could only have liquids really and a yogurt really late. I am on the big ibuprophen and those are niiiiiice. They really should sell them in this 600 mg size. I likes it a lot.

When you go in for a root canal they make you sign this legal document. It basically says that they can take your tooth out under certain conditions. Man that would have sucked to lose the tooth. I sat there praying that they would not have to take it. I suppose if it is damaged or cracked they cannot repair it. I had my fingers crossed in my lap the whole time, I kid you not. Childish, but true. Well, it worked and they did not have to extract it. I was so relieved. I almost kissed the dentist.

I just ate a big plate of pasta from Gypsy's Trattoria. I was so hungreh. I feel better. They over cook it at this place so it was plenty soft on the mouth. I can eat normal food tonight so I am having shrimp and steak at a friend's house. She was a little upset with me last night that I could not go eat with them but the mouth was in no shape for chewing.

We are going to watch Steve Martin's Shopgirl and have a relaxing night.

( Shopgirl still...Collapse )

Have a good weekend y'all. Will update if I have time or anything enlightening to say. Not that anything here is brilliant anyway. You should be happy. I was going to post factoids about root canals and decided not too! Heh. *evil
grin*

Saturday Edit:

So the movie was good. Claire Danes is cute and *spoiler*

( SpoilerCollapse )

So here is the language answer. The above phrase is in:

>Sesotho...

Sesotho sa Leboa (Northern Sotho) to be precise the language spoken in Lesotho. See below:

( About Lesotho...Collapse )

All those who guessed can have an icon. So send me an e-mail about what you would want for a subject. I will wait to hear from you. Cheers.

I need more coffee. I just had a lovely nap on the couch. It truly was lovely.

So in keeping with my habit of presenting factoids on holidays, I thought I would present some for this one. Thank you Wickipedia. I love that site.

( History of the 4th of JulyCollapse )

Simple enough, eh. So I was supposed to go to Alameda Naval Base to picnic today but we all realized it would be too darned cold down there. It really would. So we are going to the outside fair in Montclair Village and will watch the fireworks from my friend's house. We are getting KFC and not BBQ-ing. We decided it was too much work to cook for ourselves. Slobs that we are. How very un-american. He he he.

And Moses warned the Pharoah about the plagues...he said..."You better let us outta here or...whoa...". Did he listen. Nuh uh.

Something like that. Anyway. God let fly with some nasty ole stuff on the Egyptians. It was highly unpleasant and totally gnarly. After the last and worst one the dude finally like...got with the program.

( Bad things happen when you have slaves...Collapse )

I apologize for the lateness of this factoid. I was stuck inside writing elves all day.