Easter: D.I.Ys and Ovos Demais

Unfortunately, being so far from home makes it near impossible to spend holidays with family but that didn’t stop me from spending Easter with loved ones this year. I had quite a lovely traditional Easter celebration in southern Brazil with the warm and welcoming family of a friend. Participating in holiday festivities with my friend’s family made me realize that regardless of location, language or family size, there is a familiar warmth that can be found in the nucleus of every family holiday celebration.

There are so many great craft possibilities during Easter time, so when I wasn’t borrowing someone else’s family, I was thinking up Easter projects that involved a little creativity, a few cultural traditions, and a lot of fun. That’s when I settled on my first project- “The Fruit Bearing Egg”…

During Easter in Brazil, it is quite common to walk into any ordinary supermarket and suddenly find yourself in a forest of low-hanging bright and shiny plastic-wrapped chocolate eggs of all sizes. The chocolate egg shells can be filled with anything from little candies to toys and even jewelry. I love the buzz that surrounds these eggs but I found most of them to be quite pricey, especially considering that what was inside most of the eggs did not quite appeal to me. Therefore, I decided to make my own chocolate egg and fill it with chocolate dipped fruit! My vote says it was the best decision of the week. Not to mention, quite the money saver!

(supermarket during Easter time)

 Although I made a bit of a mess, making the chocolate egg was quite simple really and my friends LOVED it. Just some cut fruit, sprinkles, and a few bars of melted chocolate (I’m a lover of dark chocolate but the white chocolate and milk chocolate added a little pupil appeal). It turned out to be an absolutely delectable bouquet full of fresh strawberries, bananas, mangos, a pineapple, orange slices, and kiwi. Yum!

My second project for the day was “Petaled Eggs” which were also pretty simple and so fun to make!

Even though the rain has hardly ceased since Saturday night, I woke up on Sunday morning determined to go flower picking as a little reminder of Easter back home. It is autumn down here but I have grown up recognizing Easter as the official arrival of spring and the return of all the beautiful hues that make up my father’s garden back home. After my brief nature walk in search of “wild” growing flowers, I returned home with a good sized bundle and put them in a basket. Seeing as it is Easter, I thought that it would make more sense to put decorated eggs in the basket, but the flowers were so presentable, so I decided to take the best of both worlds and cover the eggs in my recently collected flowers. 

All I needed for this project was:

1. A variety of multi-colored flowers (I had to leave mine out to dry for a few hours)
2. Hardboiled eggs
3. Adhesive (I used simple white, clear-dry school glue)

 Directions:

1. Boil eggs and let cool and dry.
2. Use your fingers or a small paintbrush to rub a good layer of glue on the egg in the spot you want to stick the flower.
3. Very lightly spread glue onto the edges of the flower to ensure that it sticks completely and set the completed egg aside to let dry.

*It might be best to seal the flowers if you just happen to have clear nail polish around. I didn't and everything turned out fine.

Boom! It’s that easy.

This project kinda made me wish that egg decorating was a year-round activity. Oh, the ideas for next year are already swirling in my head!

Anyway, I hope you lovelies have a wonderful, love-filled, chocolate-filled holiday. Until next time!

With infinite love,

The Frohemian

Carnaval in Southern Brasil: Novo de novo

As a lovely friend described of her years of growing up in Brazil and actively participating in Carnaval festivities: Brazilian Carnaval celebration is a reminder to enjoy everyday and bring your light to an increasingly dim world. Briefly set aside the burdens of life and heavy judgments. It is a time to take down walls of social normalcy, mingle with people from all walks of life, form friendships, and share love (if only fleeting).

Yes, I prefer endless nature to endless crowds, salty waves of ocean water to sound waves of loud music, a nice cup of green tea to beer, but there is something about cultural celebrations that ignites my more festive side which is exactly what Carnaval did.

New year. New cities. New adventures. I have this feeling that I could celebrate Carnaval every year for the rest of my life and still feel as if it were an entirely new experience. That is because there isn’t just one type of Brazilian Carnaval celebration.

Throughout the country there is a myriad of ways to commemorate the literal “farewell to meat" and although samba culture may be somewhere in the heart of each celebration, I have experienced that there is far more to Carnaval than Rio de Janeiro or scantily clad women in heels that strike like lightening. 

I find the origins of Brazilian Carnaval to be absolutely stunning- a beautiful and lively cultural mash-up that can be quite reflective of the population. Cities heavily influenced by Portuguese, West African, German, Indigenous, or Italian heritage for example may have their own take on the country’s biggest celebration.

This year, I celebrated Carnaval in a couple of different cities in the south of Brazil- each with their own flair. In one city, I spent the day getting lost in a crowd of unfamiliar faces at an open street concert. The afternoon started off with little trace of the forthcoming Carnaval activities but as the afternoon carried on, the street was met with all types of characters- mermen, superheroes, and I swear I gave a horse head a peck on his/her muzzle.


Samba played loudly from musicians performing atop a high charged truck known as a trio elétrico. I danced danced danced alongside friends both new and old. My hands reaching towards the sky as confetti and bubbles unremittingly fell onto my feather clad, war-paint ridden body. My clumsy, uncoordinated feet stumbled in attempts to keep up with the rhythmic patterns of the tamborims and surdos accompanied by the agogôs, cuíca, and all that is the vivacious sound of samba.

On the final day of Carnaval, I traveled to another city where I was absolutely blown away by the magnitude of the celebration. I had been to this little Portuguese settled town before and I was quite charmed by its quaintness and tranquility but during Carnaval, the city transformed. I arrived in the beginning of the night and the streets were absolutely buzzing with people of all ages. Children flocking together, causing minor havoc and enjoying different sweets, families sitting along the busy streets perched in beach chairs and enjoying the sights before them, people of all ages happily engaged before the commencement of what could best be described as a “people’s parade”.

At around midnight, a loud banging of drums indicated that the procession was about to begin. The temporary street dwellers cleared to the surrounding sidewalks and all that could be seen at the end of the street was a file of brilliantly dressed dancers of all ages accompanied by dazzling floats and musicians. The overarching theme of this “escola de samba” parade was magic in every form and oh what a spectacular theme it was. Each group of performers told a different story about magic, from lighthearted fairytales to ominous fables- even Harry Potter made a brief appearance amidst the sea of samba dancing witches and wizards.

After about 45 minutes, the choreographed dancers made their exit but it was hardly the end of the procession. Immediately following behind the final performers, the crowd began to join in the parade as if they were summoned to take over the streets with their own style of dance. Suddenly, I found myself completely submersed in a sea of people. Open space could not be seen for miles. People talking, dancing, singing, drinking, laughing, flirting- the night had officially begun. I was definitely out of my element and enjoying every minute of it. Again, I found my feet trying to keep up with the rhythm of the music but they simply could not. However, the rhythm of my heart was finally beginning to catch on and that was all I needed.

With all of the colors, endless high energy, kind hearts, and cultural harmony, I found Carnaval to be nothing short of a four day celebration overflowing with inspiration.

 With infinite love,

 

The Frohemian

(The photos in this post were taken by me and my amazingly talented friend Cez)

Springtime Love

Turkey

 (Ahh, Spring Weddings)

 (Blue Mosque- Istanbul/Constantinople)

Spain

(Alhambra- Granada)

Tunisia

 (...She clearly understands my love for elaborate doors- true friend)

Well, Spring has officially arrived up here in the northern hemisphere!

For reasons known only to Mother Nature, spring has always had this magical way of awakening my long-rested mind and body and propelling me into a state of alertness and full activity. It feels as if the world around me is stretching, yawning, and waking up with me. 

The semester really started to speed up, as it does at the beginning of every spring season. Work has been crazy all around, since catching the spring vibe, and there will be no slowing down until spring returns to her tri-season hibernation and allows summer to grace the world with her warm, relaxed demeanor.

Since my move from Europe, it’s been an interesting adventure trying to run a small business while studying, pretending to be the least bit tech savvy and keeping up with my other occupations. Luckily, I have been somewhat productive!

Anyway, as I have said multiple times now, I really love this whole blogging thing and the idea of connecting with people from all over the world so I hope to stick with it regardless of my tech-deficiencies, personal pandemonium, and internet bouts. It may not be as frequent as I’d like but as long as I know there are others who actually want to make a worldly connection with my quirky, dorky, culture-obsessed mind then I shall connect on.

The Springtime pics above were taken by me and the Euro Beauts of Relative Culture who believe in the power of travel and opportunity, the importance of connecting with the world, and contributing to a Relative Culture of beauty! If you are a Relative Culture Beaut or you just have some awesome pics from your neck of the woods or travels 'round the world, please send them my way so I can post them and we can all bask in the beauty that the world has to offer!

With infinite love,

The Frohemian

 

The World Looks Quite Green Today

St. Patrick's Day around the world:

Bucharest, Romania

Chicago, USA

 

Niagra Falls, Canada

Cape Town, South Africa

Pisa, Italy

Rio De Janeiro, Brazil

Amman, Jordan

Sydney, Australia

Dubai, UAE

Giza, Egypt

London, England

Madrid, Spain

Tokyo, Japan

Dublin, Ireland

It appears that St.Patrick's day has brought together countries and cultures from all over the world in order to celebrate and (more or less) preserve the proud Irish culture. Naturally, Relative Culture had to get in on the Americanized-version of this cultural harmony- just a little. 

(Labels: Shirt- American Apparel, Shoes- Nike, Shorts- H&M, Socks- Victoria Secret, Jewelry- Relative Culture)

Well, if you all are anything like me then you have probably spent years sporting an assortment of seemingly-Irish paraphernalia or avoiding a piercing pinch by wearing green that was found in a pile of "recently rummaged" forgotten garments without really knowing how this celebration came about.

There are plenty of stories surrounding St. Patrick. Some stories involve the kidnapping and multiple enslavements of the Saint, which is said to be true, whereas other stories tell a tale of a man who banished all snakes from Irish lands, which has not quite been proven ;-). However true the tales may be, St.Patrick is best known for being a British Christian missionary and spreading the word of Christ and Catholicism to the people of Ireland. St.Patrick's day is celebrated on the day of his death. 

Well there ya have it! Now, I shall leave you with a Happy St. Patrick's day and an old Irish Proverb:

"Your feet will bring you to where your heart is" 

 With infinite love,

 

The Frohemian