With Advent, comes many, many of our favorite feast days. And with feast days in our home, comes special food. It seems that my kids have come up with a special meal for every saint on the calendar. This month we've had, St. Francis Xavier (a patron of one child), and Chinese food, St. Nick and Mediterranean food, St. Juan Diego, Mexican. Later this week we will have St. Lucy, sweet rolls, Our Lady of Guadalupe, more Mexican food. The saints are cause for great celebrations, or mini-celebrations as often as we can have them.
The food really adds to the celebration. First of all, it heps the kids remember the feast days of a good number of saints, simply because they like the food they think of with that saint. Second, they are able to learn a little geography. Third, knowing about where the saint is from has helped them to think of the people still there. It leads to conversations and remembering of forgotten history lessons. We had a great talk about Turkey and the Byzantine Empire on the feast of St. Nick. We remember to pray for the Mexican people on the feast of Juan Diego, and are more thankful for the many abundances we have in the US.
I've used the book, A Continual Feast for some of the recipes, but usually make up a few recipes. We try to come up with cultural recipes, like for St. Mary of Egypt, Kusherie, a lentil dish from Egypt; or for St. Josemaria (and the many feast days we celebrate for him) Paella or tapas. It becomes a challenge for me, but worth every minute. I hope the memories made with the meals will help my kids remember the saints in their lives as they grow. The simple act of cooking is feeding them in soul as well as body.
2 comments:
I will have to look up that cookbook. After 9 years of homeschooling our feast days have gotten ho-hum although I hate to say it.
It's a great cookbook! Most HS bookseller have it, too. Not a low fat recipe in the while thing, either. Lots of nice recipes you can serve at afternoon tea.
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