Qingming Festival (清明节): Chinese Grave Sweeping

Today was the Qingming Festival in China. The Qingming Festival roughly translates as "The Clear and Bright Festival." As the Chinese use a different calendar than we do in the U.S., the festival is always on the 104th day after the Winter Solstice. During this festival many Chinese to pack a picnic lunch, including sweets, and hold a picnic on the graves of their ancestors. They then clean the graves which usually become overgrown during the rest of the year and offer special food to their ancestors. The festival dates back to 732 B.C.E. to stop the practice of wealthy families honoring their ancestors with frequent, extravagant rituals.             

            Many Chinese believe that in the afterlife, their ancestors have 'live' again but  in a new place. They also believe that their ancestors have the ability to interfere in the affairs of the living. To aid their ancestors in their new 'life' and to give their ancestors things that the families feel that they would want in the afterlife, the families burn Joss Paper which originally was money printed especially for the dead and has no value on Earth. Many Joss Paper bank notes are known as Hell Bank Notes—which sounds really funny to us.
            During the 1840s, Christian missionaries in China told the Chinese that non-Christians go to hell. The Chinese misunderstood the missionaries and thought that "hell" meant the neutral afterlife, which is typical of the Chinese beliefs. The money is only good for the dead at the "Bank of Hell." The practice of burning paper goods has grown enormously and now families can burn not only fake paper money but paper checks, paper mache models of sports cars, ipods, credit cards, and an array of modern things. It is considered very unlucky to keep a Joss Paper item in your house.
            It was a homework assignment for me to go home and burn a Joss Note. My sister graciously helped me with the burning of it in the back yard (water standing by.)




           It is an interesting festival. I do like the concept behind the festival: If you do not honor your parents, your children will not honor you. It is one of the most important holidays in China. I think my sister had a lot of fun. I originally wasn't going to burn the Joss Note as it was a neat keepsake to have, but my professor really stressed how disrespectful and vile it is in the Chinese culture to keep it. I hope you enjoyed reading about this unique festival. 
  

Happy Easter

Happy Easter from the world's cutest bunny, Boo (okay, I might be a slight bit biased.)

Boo is an advocate for chocolate Easter Bunnies. As a rescue bunny, she highly encourages people to buy their children chocolate bunnies for Easter and not real bunnies. She acknowledges that people buy bunnies because they are cute and they think that they will not be hard to take care of. When the people get bored of their bunnies, a lot just let them go outside, not realizing that a lone, domesticated bunny will die.  You can read more about the "Make Mine Chocolate" bunny campaign. Happy Easter!

Trip to Ridley Creek State Park and Making Vegetarian Dumplings

     Yesterday was such a beautiful day. Andy and I went for a walk at Ridley Creek State Park. The park is very beautiful. The area has been inhabited since the late 1600s and stone remnants of the period are scattered throughout the woods. There is a 4.3 mile paved walkway throughout woods and many dirt trails. Some historical structures to look out for include an early 1900s pump house( recently hit by a tree,) an early 1900s swimming pool, and the "Russell Cemetery" (1820-1861, There is an amusing bit of folklore about one occupant of this cemetery: Jesse Russell. Jesse Russell, a fox hunter, died on the 12th of September in1820 when he was 42 years old. It is said that he was buried standing up so as to better hear his hunting hounds after death.   

     We stayed on the paved trail mostly, only going into the woods once or twice to see some of the ruins. We ended up seeing lots of animals, including two snakes.

 

One time I was jogging in the woods with my mother. I saw a large snake sunbathing across the path. I pointed it out to my mother as "Snake!! Run!!" She took my advise and ran...right past the snake. So we were stuck in the woods with a huge snake in between us. Eventually another jogger convinced me that if I just ran past, it wouldn't eat me--which I was sure it wanted to do. :D I did run past and it didn't eat me.

The one snake Andy and I saw was a cute little garter snake, the other seemed a little bigger, but we didn't get a good look at it. It was a really nice day to walk and the trees create a canopy of shade.


Andy was nice enough to make vegetarian Chinese Dumplings with me yesterday too. Ever since I have become a vegetarian, I have missed the pork dumplings in Chinese restaurants (it's only been about 9 months.I barely have missed meat at all.) We used this recipe from the food network. This was our first time, next time we make these, we plan on using a hot pepper and less cilantro. They did turn out nice looking and were very tasty.

Stinging Nettle: A Plant with 1,000 Uses

"Tender-handed stroke a nettle, And it stings you for your pains; Grasp it like a man of mettle, And it soft as silk remains. 'Tis the same with common natures, Use 'em kindly, they rebel; But, be rough as nutmeg-graters, And the rogues obey you well," - Aaron Hill, 1750

 Spring is finally here, I was helping out at the Colonial living history farm where I work. I was anxious to see how it changed over the winter and to see all of the animals. Along the path up to the farmhouse, we have stinging nettle growing along our split rail fence. They are just springing up, the best time to eat them. At this stage they don't sting because the poison fulled barbs have not developed fully. 
      Stinging Nettle (Urtica dioica), is a plant native to Europe, North America and Asia. It is commonly considered a nuisance, like poison ivy, due to the fact that its leaves have thousands of tiny hollow needles filled with chemicals that will be transferred into your skin if you touch it. It has been used since the Bronze Age to make cloth, green dye, twine, fishing nets, vegetarian rennet (to help make cheese,) and was even eaten as a vegetable. If you boil stinging nettle, it will not sting when you eat it.

      Stinging Nettle was popular in folk medicine and folklore. It is one of the 9 herbs listed in the10th century, Anglo-Saxon 9 Herbs Charm.  Robert Kay Gordon, an English Literature professor and author claimed this poem was "clearly an old heathen thing which ha[d] been subjected to Christian censorship." The poem describes mixing herbs together to create medicine. Perhaps the mixture really worked as Nettles are still used in medicine today, some examples can be seen at the University of Maryland website. A reading of the 9 Herbs Charm can be heard at Anglo Saxon Aloud. According to Irish Tradition, 3 bowls of Nettle Soup, when eaten in the month of May, will prevent rheumatism for the year. A recipe for Irish Nettle Soup can be found at Soup Kitchen Recipes.
     Nettles had been used to make a cheaper form of linen in Medieval and Colonial times.  In the 1850s, Germany used Nettles to make high quality paper and later used nettle fiber during WWI to make military uniforms, the uniforms were made up of 85% nettles due to the cotton shortage.

      If you are among the brave and are considering trying to eat Stinging Nettle, The Bottle Inn, in Marshwood, England hosts a national raw nettle eating contest in which the contestants can numb their tongues with nothing but beer. It sounds painful to me! (Especially when they talk about facial paralysis.)

For those interested in growing their own heirloom Nettles for soups and salads, Local Harvest, sells seed packets. I was so happy to be back on the farm. I was glad to see the animals again, they are getting so big, especially the pigs. I had to clean out the kitchen in the farmhouse but it was worth it to see all of the people I hadn't seen all winter. I guess if I want to try some Nettle, now would be the time to do it. I don't know if I am that brave, just yet. 

How to Set a 19th Century Dinner Table for a Dinner Party

I have been thinking of hosting a Victorian dinner party. It's just a notion in my head right now, but I thought I should at least look into the proper way to entertain. I love the cartoon on the left, it was printed in Harper's Weekly in 1861. The large hoop skirts were condemned by many publications but still remained "all the rage" during the war. It also shows the alternating male and female seat situation, proper for the time. Not only were men and women integrated but couples were also split up in an attempt to make conversation more lively. Not sitting next to the person you came with forces everyone to be social and get to know each other. :D I think a fun dress-up dinner by candle and lamp light with some Strauss playing quietly in the background would be appreciated. Although, I would feel bad as I have never been a hostess before and know absolutely nothing about wine and would prefer not to serve it.     

I have been reading up on entertaining in Practical Cooking and Dinner Giving By Mary Foote Henderson, published in 1876 (excerpts on setting the table below:)

• "Put a thick baize under the table-cloth. This is quite indispensable. It prevents noise, and the finest and handsomest table - linen looks comparatively thin and sleazy on a bare table."
• "At a dinner party, place a little bouquet by the side of the plate of each lady, in a small glass or silver bouquet - holder. At the gentlemen's plates put a little bunch of three or four flowers, called a boutonniere, in the folds of the napkin. As soon as the gentlemen are seated at table, they may attach them to the left lapel of the coat."
• "Put as many knives, forks, and spoons by the side of the plate of each person as will be necessary to use in all the different courses. Place the knives and spoons on the right side, and the forks on the left side, of the plates. This saves the trouble of replacing a knife and fork or spoon as each course is brought on."
•  "Place the napkin, neatly folded, on the plate, with a piece of bread an inch thick, and three inches long, or a small cold bread roll, in the folds or on the top of the napkin."
• "Put a glass for water, and as many wine-glasses as are necessary at each plate. Fill the water-glass just before the dinner is announced, unless caraffes are used. These are kept on the table all the time, well filled with water, one caraffe being sufficient for two or three persons. All the wine intended to be served decanted should be placed on the table, conveniently arranged at different points." Caraffes were used at all of the restaurants in Ireland to hold water. They looked very picturesque on the tables and were helpful as you didn't have to ask for water.   
• "At opposite sides of the table place salt and pepper stands, together with the different fancy spoons, crossed by their side, which may be necessary at private dinners, for serving dishes."
• Select as many plates as will be necessary for all the different courses. Those intended for cold dishes, such as salad, dessert, etc., place on the sideboard, or at any convenient place. Have those plates intended for dessert already prepared, with a finger-bowl on each plate. The finger-glasses should be half filled with water, with a slice of lemon in each, or a geranium leaf and one flower, or a little boutonniere: a sprig of lemonverbena is pretty, and leaves a pleasant odor on the fingers after pressing it in the bowl. In Paris, the water is generally warm, and scented with peppermint. 
• "The warm dishes—not hot dishes—keep in a tin closet or on the top shelf of the range until the moment of serving. A plate of bread should also be on the sideboard.
• Place the soup-tureen (with soup that has been brought to the boiling-point just before serving) and the soup-plates before the seat of the hostess." This is to keep the dishes warm. 
• "Dinner being now ready, it should be announced by the butler or dining-room maid. Never ring a bell for a meal. Bells do very well for country inns and steamboats, but in private houses the menage should be conducted with as little noise as possible."
• "Each dish is served as a separate course. The butler first places the pile of plates necessary for the course before the host or hostess. He next sets the dish to be served before the host or hostess, just beyond the pile of plates. The soup, salad, and dessert should be placed invariably before the hostess, and every other dish before the host. As each plate is ready, the host puts it upon the small salver held by the butler, who then with his own hand places this and the other plates in a similar manner on the table before each of the guests. If a second dish is served in the course, the butler, putting in it a spoon, presents it on the left side of each person, allowing him to help himself. As soon as any one has finished with his plate, the butler should remove it immediately, without waiting for others to finish. This would take too much time. When all the plates are removed, the butler should bring on the next course. It is not necessary to use the crumb-scraper to clean the cloth until just before the dessert is served. He should proceed in the same manner to distribute and take off the plates until the dessert is served, when he can leave the room."
• "If one has nothing for dinner but soup, hash, and lettuce, put them on the table in style: serve them in three courses, and one will imagine it a much better dinner than if carelessly served."

This will be fun if I can convince someone to be my "butler" for a night. :D Unlikely. It sounds fun planning the whole thing from the menu items to the guests and the entertainments. There are a lot of war scenarios for the men to enjoy, I think dragging those men to a fancy dinner party would be a delight to all of the ladies who can never take part in the military aspects of reenacting. I'm still debating on whether to host this at night at a reenactment or at my house, perhaps for my birthday. I'm excited at the idea nonetheless.