Bring Out Your Dead- In Honor of Grave Sweeping Day

Tomorrow is Ching Ming Festival in Hong Kong. A lovely little holiday that happens twice a year *correction, grave sweeping happens twice a year, the other holiday is called Chuen Yuen. Thanks Miko!* so that you can sweep the graves of the dead in your family, pay your respects, have a picnic in a graveyard and spend some time talking memories of people who have left our world for a better one. It is in honor of Ching Ming Festival that I make this post. It's not a flashy festival and is often overshadowed by close holidays to it. (Like this year with Easter.) It doesn't have any commercial Hallmark cards with it. (Can you imagine?) Ching Ming literally means "Clear Brightness". It's important to honor what has died in the past so that we can look upon everything that is being born new with clear eyes. Pretty ideas, right?

According to Feng Shui principles the graveyards must be well kept and have certain items. Such as: something red, a water element close to it, better feng shui for the dead is found away from noise, etc. You can find more details about the feng shui principles of grave yards in china online. I learned a lot by just googling it. But if someone tells you that you have a ghost in your vagina, RUN!!!!!

A Guide to Mardi Gras

I lived in Lousisiana for two years in Grad school. Best thing about living in Louisiana is the food AND the fact we get a week off in February to celebrate Mardi Gras. Mardi Gras or Fat Tuesday is a holiday that is derived from the French Carnivale. It happens on the eve before Ash Wednesday which is the beginning of Lent for all Catholics. Because Catholics must abstain from pleasures during Lent, Mardi Gras is an evening where one is supposed to revel in pleasure (because you're about to give something up.) A lot of people forget that Mardi Gras is a religous based holiday and it only has such as large base in New Orleans due to the fact that a large population of New Orleans is still Catholic.

Mardi Gras is some form or another is also celebrated in Belgium, Amsterdam and Italy with their traditional Carnivales which happen at a similar time. There is also gay Mardi Gras in Sydney, Australia where they take the day of Mardi Gras and use it as a venue for their yearly Gay Pride festival. 

TRADITIONS- AND WHAT THEY MEAN