Drowning Marzanna on Spring Equinox

There are many pagan traditions in Poland that are still celebrated.

One of them is drowning or first setting on fire and then throwing into water effigy of Slavic goddess Morana (Marzanna). The ritual takes place on the 21st of March which is a day of spring equinox.

Marzanna is a goddess of death, rebirth of nature, and dreams. And the ritual is to bring plentiful of harvest in the coming seasons. We no farmers but we did it symbolically anyway.

Drowning Marzanna is no easy task... but we eventually succeeded.

Yes, yes we did pollute this pond!
But we are also the ones to clean it in the upcoming cleaning actions.
It is a plan of our forest community.
We cannot clean the Earth but we can take care of the forest we live in. 

On a way back we sang on repeat the song "Marzanno". Kids loved it because of the catchy chorus that can be translated to: "Marzanno, Marzanno, you winter maiden, today we will drown you because we don't want winter." 

1. Wiosna już nadchodzi,

     zima odejść nie chce,

      nocą jeszcze mrozi,

      śniegiem prószy jeszcze.

Marzanno, Marzanno,

ty zimowa panno,

dziś cię utopimy,

bo nie chcemy zimy.

2. Odpłyń wraz z lodami,

     daleko do morza,

      niechaj wreszcie przyjdzie

     do nas wiosna hoża.

I couldn't help thinking that it is a song promoting violence towards females. I might be exaggerating. It surely is just an innocent song for kids about drowning an effigy, right... right? One last thought. My son who is disturbingly impressed with bad-guys and has to be constantly checked for as he has bursts of aggression (nothing unusual in terrible twos and yet again...) was very impressed with this tradition. It all does make me wonder.

one day in traditional Japanese kimono

While traveling in Japan I have visited Kyoto. Kyoto is a fantastic city with infectious cultural vibe. People even from Japan go there to experience Japanese traditions. One way of letting oneself immerse completely in the culture is of course to wear traditional clothes, in this case it is of course a kimono.

I have rented kimono for a whole day and got a bit of makeup and hairstyle done to create a coherent look.
I wasn't alone. Kyoto is a city filled with people wearing kimonos. It was a great experience and brought me closer to people around me.
I am glad I did it.

Kimono is still worn to special occasions like weddings, birthdays, etc.

Raya at KLCC

Hari Raya starts with few intensive days of celebration just after Ramadan.
However, visiting friends and open house events take up to a month.
During that time cafes and malls will be decorated with green Lanterns - embellishments in a shape of Ketupat (rise in a young coconut leaves) and if you lucky you can come across some life traditional music performances.

There is ongoing project in Kuala Lumpur to have everywhere a skywalk. Here is one that connects hotels near  KLCC with Pavilion at Bukit Bintang.

Impiana hotel where I enjoyed my Hari Raya weekend.

I love city landscapes like that.

Green Lanterns in a shape of Ketupat.

Malay house in a mall.

Life music - I have enjoyed it a lot!

I was sipping on my tea at KLCC Starbucks and admiring this city landscape...

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri.

Raya at University

Our department organized Raya for us. 

We were served chicken rendang and chicken satay with peanut sauce with sticky rice. Both dishes are sweat in taste, of course spicy but very very good! Those two I am gonna miss for sure when I am back in Europe.

Eid ul-Fitr (Eid) - Hari Raya

I have eaten a lot during Raya.
It was all delicious and for a surprise of my hosts I had no stomach problems.
In some way I actually think it is easier to eat food during Raya than what we serve during Christmas.
Here you travel from house to house during one day so it is enough you take a little bit of everything and everyone understands.
Christmas are like a food competition you sit done by the table and eat until you drop ;)

Holidays like Raya are fantastic. You meat friends, family and just relax and enjoy seeing people you love.
I always eat as much as I can and do not worry about belly getting bigger and bigger...
However, when the new days come I quickly go for a exhausting training to the gym!
You want to eat till you drop you need to train till you drop as well ;)

Chicken soup with fish cake. Delicious!

Layer cakes are very popular. My favorite from those I tried was a two layer cheese cake. Very creamy sweet chocolate part balanced with a bit sour plain part!

I ate almost all black and white pieces of cake!

Pulut Lepa.

Rendang is a typical Raya meat dish eaten with a pulut lepa - a glutinous rice flavored with coconut milk and barbecued in bamboo leaves.

In a jars with cookies one can find huge variety of cookies where most traditional ones are: kuih bahulu - mini sponge cakes, and kuih loyang - honeycomb cookies.

In a jars are cookies, next to them rendang and on a right side pulut cut in cubes.

During Raya kids and those unmarried get small envelopes with money. In every house host will distribute them. I was lucky to get one too :)

My Raya present.