This Sunday is the great feast of Easter, the high point of the Christian calendar (nb: Eastern Orthodox Christians will celebrate Easter on Sunday, May 1). Easter celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ and ends the season of Lent, which began on February 10.
The final week of Lent is called “Holy Week” and the three days preceding Easter are referred to the “Holy Triduum,” which consists of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday. These three days which recount the final three days of Jesus’ life are marked by Christians around the world by religious observances, fasting, pilgrimages, and acts of repentance.
Ending this intense period of devotion is the Great Vigil on the eve of Easter. Christian communities around the world celebrate Easter Sunday with grand religious processions, the giving of small gifts, and feasts with family and friends. If you are celebrating Easter, we wish a most joyous feast!
Learn more about the “Holy Week” and Easter:
- Holy Week – PBS
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2016/03/18/march-29-2013-holy-week/15473/ - During Holy Week, Christians across globe observe Jesus’ final days (Photos) – PBS
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/holy-week-around-world/ - Easter Celebrations Through the Centuries – NPR
http://www.npr.org/2011/04/22/135632851/easter-celebrations-through-the-centuries - Beyond Bunnies: The Real Meaning Of Easter Season
http://www.npr.org/2011/04/18/135517274/beyond-bunnies-the-real-meaning-of-easter-season - Easter Feast Essentials – New York Times
http://cooking.nytimes.com/topics/easter
Image credit: Calvin Institute of Christian Worship via Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0.
Having begun this Monday (February 8), celebrations marking Year of the Monkey will continue for the next two weeks. Often referred to as “Chinese New Year”, the Lunar New Year is celebrated throughout Asia. In Vietnam, Lunar New Year is celebrate as Tết.
Animals from the Chinese zodiac are associated with each new year.. This year is the Year of the Monkey. The Chinese zodiac has a 12 year cycle, so the next Year of the Monkey will be in 2028.
Fireworks, feasts, family reunions and parades are some of the well-known festivities associated with the Lunar New Year. However, there are a great many traditions associated with the Lunar New Year that are centuries old, such as the hanging of traditional ‘new years’ poems, cleaning the home, the receiving new clothes and getting one’s haircut.
If you are celebrating Lunar New Year, we wish safe travels and much joy and prosperity this year! 恭贺新禧 Happy New Year!
Learn more about Lunar New Year:
Lunar New Year 2016: Facts, Dates, And Ancient Traditions (Huffington Post)
Stories about Chinese New Year (NPR.org)
Lunar New Year in pictures (BBC.com)
Photo credit: Poa Mosyuen, used with permission under Creative Commons license
Happy Holidays from HHSL
All of us at the Hirsh Health Sciences Library would like to wish everyone good cheer and relaxation as this term and year come to a close. Happy Holidays!
You’re hard at work preparing for finals, but that doesn’t mean you have to miss out on holiday cheer! Take a break, stretch your legs, and head down to the library service desk on Thursday or Friday afternoon. We’ll have the supplies for graham cracker gingerbread houses, coffee-filter snowflakes, and more!
Image by Dean Michaud (originally posted to Flickr as Gingerbread House) [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons
This Sunday (December 6) at sundown (that’d be approximately 4:11pm) marks the first night of Hanukkah, an eight-day Jewish holiday, also known as the “festival of lights.” Hanukkah commemorates the re-dedication of the holy temple in Jerusalem following the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire in the year 2nd century B.C.E.
Jewish communities around the world celebrate Hanukkah by spending time with family and friends, lighting menorahs, partaking in the dreidel game and enjoying delectable treats, such as latkes, doughnuts, and kugels.
Want to learn more about Hanukkah? Check out the following resources:
The Revolt of the Maccabees: The True Story Behind Hanukkah (Haaretz Newspaper)
http://www.haaretz.com/jewish/features/.premium-1.630770
Hanukkah Lights: Stories of the Season (National Public Radio)
http://www.npr.org/series/hanukkah-lights/
Hanukkah Recipes (The New York Times)
http://cooking.nytimes.com/tag/hanukkah
How to Play The Dreidel Game (video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iS24dsLTuW0
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Image source: DCMinyan_Hanukkah.JPG/Creative Commons
Hirsh Health Sciences Library would like to wish you a happy and healthy Thanksgiving! We’re thankful for all the wonderful students, staff, and faculty of Tufts University and Tufts Medical Center.
We’d like to remind you that the library will be closing at 2pm tomorrow, Wednesday 11/25 and will reopen at 10 am on Sunday 11/29. Hope you have a wonderful break!
It’s that wonderful time of the year again. Yes, that’s right. It’s turkey time! Starting at 12pm this Thursday 11/19 and Friday 11/20, you can stop by the Library Service Desk and create your own feathered friend to bring home to Mom (or back to your study carrel). We’ll have a variety of materials out so you can create anything your heart desires, from the simple and majestic hand turkey (our personal favorite) to 3D pinecone poultry. Don’t have time to delve into a craft? Just lend a hand–we only need the outline!–to the giant library turkey we plan to make.
See you there!
In case you’ve been buried under exams and course work, Halloween is this Saturday! And as an added bonus, Sunday, November 1st marks the end of Daylight Savings, which means an extra hour to sleep!
So, what are you doing this Halloween? Are you dressing up? Giving out treats? Partying? Have a date with the living dead (aka, a fellow grad student 🙂 )?
Well, however you choose to celebrate, the Hirsh Library wishes you a spooky and safe Halloween!
For a treat, check out these awesome videos from the American Dental Association. And oh yeah –BOO!
We spoke too soon! It would seem that chilly weather is back for a bit. But there’s one benefit to this unwelcome temperature drop: fresh baked goods hot out of the oven are appealing again. And conveniently, there’s a holiday on June 6th that encourages enjoying just that: National Applesauce Cake Day.
Not familiar with it? Neither were we, but it seems that The Internet is. While the origins of National Applesauce Cake Day are unknown, it is agreed that June 6th is the day to celebrate it. The consensus seems to be that it’s a celebration of the humble and delicious Applesauce Cake, which was lauded as a patriotic dessert during World War I and the Depression. It could be easily made at home and was more economical than other types of cakes, since applesauce reduces the amount of butter, sugar, and eggs needed in a recipe.
Easy and cheap? Sounds perfect for a busy student on a budget. Applesauce is also a healthier alternative to oil in a recipe or a vegan-friendly replacement for eggs and butter.
Intrigued? CNN has a brief discussion of the holiday and some tips for homemade applesauce and National Day Calendar has some recipe suggestions.
Let us know if you have any recipe suggestions or know of another wacky food-related holiday!
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