Princess Nakamaru of Japan

3 Kings Day --- A very Mexican Tradition :)

 

After New Year's Day, Mexican families still have a very special date to commemorate and enjoy.  On January 6, most of the Hispanic world celebrates El Dia De Reyes, the Epiphany, remembering the day when the Three Wise Men following the star to Bethlehem, arrived bearing their treasured gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh for the Baby Jesus. 

 The Reyes Magos In La Alameda                                         

A couple of days earlier, the children write their letters to the Wise Men, or to their favorite Rey Mago: Melchor, Gaspar, or Baltasar, asking for the presents they would like to receive.

During the evenings before the great celebration on January 6, families go to the Alameda, in Mexico City, a beautiful park that dates back to the Colonial era. There, every year, hundreds of stands are placed with food, toys and best of all, there are sets, where the children can have their picture taken with the Three Kings of the Orient.

Hundreds of multicolored balloons, filled with helium, are sold during the season, so the little ones can attach their letters to them, and have them fly, up to the sky, carrying all their wishes with them.

 If they forgot their letters at home, there is no need to worry, there are also salesmen that offer writing paper and envelopes specially designed for the occasion and addressed to the Reyes Magos. This lovely tradition of going to the Alameda park is passed on from one generation to another.  I have a picture of my husband, when a small child, with the Reyes Magos, set on a photo-album alongside some photographs of my children with them.

January 6, Dia de Reyes                                                           

On the night, of January 5, the figurines of the Three Wise Men are added to the nativity scene. Before going to bed the children place their old shoes under their bed or in the living room, where the Wise Men will leave them their presents.  Some also place outside the house, some hay and a bucket with water for the animals, and even some cookies and milk for Melchor, Gaspar and Baltasar.

You can feel the excitement building up!  With twinkling eyes, the children eagerly, and constantly ask what time it is, wishing for time to fly so they could open their presents.

Reluctantly they go off to bed.As soon as they wake up, which is earlier than any other day,  they run to see the gifts that the  Three Magi left for them. Happiness overflows every Mexican home.
   
The children spend the day playing and admiring each other’s presents, sharing them with friends, talking about how they were able to hear or see the Reyes Magos when they arrived at their home, how one of them heard the camel’s footsteps, how the other saw a shining crown in the dark night! Meanwhile, adults prepare for the Merienda de Reyes, an early evening dinner that friends and families share to celebrate the Epiphany.

Rosca de  Reyes       
                                                      
People go to the markets and stores to get the needed ingredients to prepare the feast. All over the country, in every city  and in every little town,  bakeries offer the Rosca de Reyes, an oval sweetbread, decorated with candied fruit.  There are Roscas of all sizes, very small ones for two or three people and up to the ones that will delight more that twenty people.

The Merienda de Reyes is truly a multicultural event.   The Spaniards brought the tradition of celebrating the Epiphany and sharing the Rosca to the New World.  The Rosca is served along with Tamales, made of corn which was the pre-Hispanic food per excel lance, and hot chocolate.  Chocolate is also a gift from the native peoples of the New World.

Hidden inside this delicious Rosca, a plastic figurine of the Baby Jesus. The Baby is hidden because it symbolizes the need to find a secure place where Jesus could be born, a place where King Herod would not find Him.

Each person cuts a slice of the Rosca .  The knife symbolizes the danger in which the Baby Jesus  was in. One by one the guests carefully inspect their slice, hopping they didn't get the figurine. Whoever gets the baby figurine shall be the host, and invite everyone present to a new celebration on February 2, Candelaria  or Candle mass day, and he also shall get a new Ropón or dress for the Baby Jesus of the Nativity scene.

The Mexican Christmas season is joyously extended up to February 2 ! - when the nativity scene is put away, and another family dinner of delicious tamales and hot chocolate  is served with great love and happiness.

Rosca de Reyes --- Three Kings Bread

Total Time: 2 hr 15 min

Prep  35 min

Inactive 1 hr 0 min

Cook 40 min

Ingredients

• 1 (1/4-ounce) packet active dry yeast
• 1/4 cup warm water
• 1/4 cup dried figs, cut into strips, plus more for garnish
• 1/4 cup candied orange peel, cut into strips, plus more for garnish
• 1/4 cup candied lemon peel, cut into strips, plus more for garnish
• 1/4 cup chopped candied cherries, plus more whole for garnish
• 2 tablespoons light rum
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 1/2 to 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 large eggs, divided
• Water

Directions

In a small bowl, combine the yeast and warm water; stir to blend. Let stand until the yeast comes alive and starts to foam, about 5 to 10 minutes. 

Put all of the candied fruit in small bowl and drizzle the rum on top. Let stand for 15 minutes to 1 hour to infuse the flavor.


In a small pot, warm the milk over medium heat. Add the sugar, butter, vanilla, cinnamon, and salt.


In a large bowl, mix 3 1/2 cups flour, 2 eggs, yeast mixture, milk mixture, and the rum soaked candied fruits, mixing very well until the dough gathers into a ball. If the dough is too wet, Add additional flour, a little at a time, if needed to form a soft dough. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until it's smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Put the ball of dough back into the bowl and cover with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel and set aside in a warm spot to rise for 1 hour.


Remove the dough from the bowl and knead on a lightly floured surface. Using your palms, roll the dough into a long rope. Shape the coil into a ring, sealing the ends together. Insert a little doll or coin into the bread from the bottom, if desired. Line a baking pan with aluminum foil and coat with nonstick cooking spray. Carefully transfer the dough ring to the prepared baking pan.


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.


Beat the remaining egg in a small bowl with 1 tablespoon of water to make an egg wash, and brush the top of the bread. Decoratively garnish the top of the bread with more candied fruit and bake for 35 to 40 minutes until the cake is golden.


Cool on a wire rack before slicing.


Cook's Note: Let your guests know there is a little doll or coin inserted inside.

Moon and Sea

After a long time of absence, I am here... and I ask for your forgiveness, Gods and Goddesses, angels and demons, because I have left this blog so unattended for so long.

Life has been somewhat slow... and maybe the reasons I have not focused my energies on this blog were that I wanted to do some self-inspection and see what the heck was going on inside my soul that seemed to have me in a very sad, very depressed mood. It eventually has started to get clear... and I think that my next road trip will finally put an end to a circle of vices that I want to get rid of. Past lovers, past energies, bad auto-mojo, and clean my aura. I think I've been carrying baggage that does not belong to me for far too long. I want to leave it behind, maybe the Lord of the Sea can help me dispose of it.


Why do we do this? We cling on to things for so long that it comes a time when we can no longer carry them around... and even when we are well aware of it, we still do it. As if it was a curse, or something we are meant to do. This is one of the reasons -- I think -- that we cannot move on and be happy. Small resentments become big stone crosses, heartbreaks become bitter acid that eats away parts of our souls... True, it is not easy to forget about them and move on... but if we could only apply a small part of that effort (the effort we make to carry around all the bad energy, all the bad memories, the bad spirits) on to healing our souls, hearts and energies... a brighter world would be upon us. So I shall go to the sea, and leave my baggage behind... those who want me to do the same for them, I know you'll know how to find me.


I am thankfull for thy followers to this blog. I will try not to let it alone for so long anymore.

Many Blessings!

The Witch's Path (Highlights)

Our path is not an easy one to take. It is filled with many obstacles, some within ourselves, others from the intolerance from people around us. However, it is how we handle these stones that makes us wiser as we grown within our path as we are individuals who seek knowledge, balance, and peace. In our never-ending task of self-discovery, our life becomes one filled with wonder, joy, passion, and fire to live our lives as witches that we are.

Being aware of our feelings is the essential key to master our soul and thus reach the point of self-loving we need in order to counsil others on this path. Remember that witchcraft rituals are ruled by the principle of "in perfect love", which means that if you cannot love yourself you'll never generate a feeling of perfect love for a ritual; and just as they say that if you cannot love yourself how do you expect others to love you, it is also true that if you cannot love thyself you cannot expect to feel the love back from the God and Goddess around you. Love yourself in order to love others; respect yourself in order to respect others and their views. Take responsability for your words, thoughts and actions for they are powerful tools that can either create or destroy the energy of those around you. Self-awareness stimulates a desire for respect and self-esteem.

Have love for life. Laugh. Have  a good sense of humor. The world is a place of wonder and magic.




Source:
The Inner Temple of Witchcraft
by Christopher Penczak

The Side Effect of Positive Thinking

I have a class every Saturday morning. Today, in it, we started discussing about what is a positive attitude and why shoud we have this in our every day lives. One of my classmates said that the situation today was enough to be a negative force -- how was it that we could have a positive attitude in such a negative world.

It is true. Sometimes we feel as if the universe is against us; as if the Powers that Be are plotting around their cauldron, stirring it and laughing at the plans that get ruined, the lovers we don't get, the raises we don't obtain, the cars we drive, the life we're supposed to live. But it's also true that in every waking moment, the miracle of life is within us, and as such, the love of the Goddess and the Virtue of the God is also within.

My aunt Nina used to tell me a story. She said that when she was a little girl, her ink bottle spilled all over her school work and that she was so upset about it she started to cry. My grandmother then looked at her and insted of conforting her she said, "Do you think that tears are going to clean everything up? Okay - cry then". My aunt was so angry that she stopped crying. My grandmother then pulled on her ears to make her cry, "Cry! Cry harder! All the problems in the world will be solved with you crying!" After this, my grandmother looked at the mess and told her, "So you see? Your tears did nothing to clean the mess, did nothing to return the ink in the bottle, and did nothing to make your homework again. So you have two choices: keep crying over nothing or actually DO something about it."

True fact, I told my classmate, that we live in a non-optimistic day an age. But crying and complaning about it will do little close to nothing to make things better. A positive attitude CAN go a long way. It doesn't mean that you have to go all smiles, all the time. It will, however, give you a broader perspective of what to expect from life. The secret of life, I said, is to keep in mind that happiness is not a THING, a ONE THING: it's a series of events, of little moments in your life, that shine through and remind you of how good it is to feel alive. If all you do is play the victim, complain, see things for how dark they are, or how bad they are, or how terrible they look, then you will probably not going to realize the moments you were happy.

Not everyone achieves this. And it's not an easy thing to achieve. You can say that it's easy for me to say --- but it wasn't easy to get to this point in my life. I had to go through a lot of personal change for me to finally realize this. And once I realized it, came the other factor: the will to accept the fact that I was wrong in many things and that other people were right. This is probably the hardest thing to do.

So... start your path today. It's never too late to realize you too have the right to be happy. That no matter what, you always have the second shot at life. A positive attitude brings back a lot of life's gifts and joys.

My path, my way

I am a witch. There, I've said it. With all full letters, W I T C H. To say this implies all the complicated explanations I have to make to my aunts who are determinated to save my soul from damnation... but, as they say, "if I go to hell, at least I'm going honest".

My love for animals and their magic led me to become a veterinarian and then to get a specialty in natural and homeopathic veterinary medicine. In my country, that's the same thing as to say that I am some sort of witchdoctor who heals animals with blood and voo-doo rituals... Yes, we are still pretty closed-minded here in Mexico.

My branch is to be eclectic. I respect all branches of magic and I respect all other faiths as long as they respect mine.

My familiar's name is Mikuni. She's a year old cat now, and she is the sunshine in my household. The only ones who seem to have problems with her are the faeries who live in my backyard because Mikuni enjoys sleeping on top of their homes...

This blog is created for the sole purpose to plunge all I know here for others to find. I will also post some interesting articles that I have found around the web, giving the all-too deserved credit to their authors and linking the pages in which I have found them. The blog roll will be filled with pages in which witchcraft and wicca come together in the midst of knowledge. I will accept critics and I promise to answer all questions with respect. I ask for nothing more.

The beginning is here. Slowly but surelly, this blog will grow. Com'on in, enjoy the ride. Welcome to a blog filled with magic, love, music, food, friends, knowledge, wisdom, and good faith. This is Acbal's Moon, and we're all welcome to it.