Thursday, January 28, 2010

Sometimes, no not sometimes, always it has been little stuff that brightens the day. Today it was the snowfall. When I woke up and saw a light blanket of snow clinging to every horizontal surface, from the narrow metal balustrade, to the spidery thin branches of the trees on the side of the mountain, I felt great. There was a quickness in my movements as I got dressed to go out for my morning walk. The stray snowflakes drifting down enveloping me with a softness associated with snow, making my heart sing. Only yesterday, I felt how will I last 2 years in my chosen self-imposed exile/adventure!
Today, my thoughts are about the stillness of the morning and the assets of my adopted city dressed in their finest. How familiar I have become with this place; the streets, the stray dogs, the people, the many fruit stands and their owner's, the couple of bakeries I frequent and the super market cashier's! This is my home for two years and I feel a pull-push relationship with it.
I love the fantastic views of the mountains sheltering this valley! I walk through the small pine forest on the small hill (mountain?) south of the town, less than 5 minutes walk from my house. It's dark green color set against the brown of the local oak and other trees is now a familiar place, as familiar as the wooded paths, the beach and the streets of LF. Today's snow cloaks the dark green and brown with a white coat, while the spring and summer wildflowers and other small animals that take shelter here have yet to reveal themselves to me. I remember how delighted my friend and I were when we spotted a deer, a fox or a coyote in the forested streets of LF-LB. Those thoughts remind me that I am in no hurry to go home, at least not yet, not till my work here is finished and I have experienced all the seasons.
Yesterday I learned about about a village close by which has fields of mountain tea on one side of the valley and berry bushes on the other side. Now I have something else to look forward to - accompanying my new friends to their village during those months and hiking up to those fields. So today it no longer feels like exile, but an adventure that is just starting

Friday, January 15, 2010

Stara Nova Godina

On the Eve of Stara Nova Godina
Don’t know where to begin – but I tell you Macedonians know how to party!
Vevcani, (pronounced Vevchani) a little village close to famous Lake Ohrid at the foothills of a mountain range and at start of some spectacular hiking trails hosts a carnival to coincide with the eve of the orthodox New Year, known as Stara Nova Godina. It is also the home to one of the many clear water springs in the country, which starts from a grotto like cave and is a real picturesque site, together with the winding up and down streets of the village that is litter free, with well-maintained homes and public buildings.
This festival has become a national tourist hotspot for this time of the year and known to be second only to the 1400-year-old carnival that takes place each year in February (this year on the 16th) in the southeastern city of Strumica.
To my great delight, as my friend and I were searching for restroom facilities, we stopped by the local municipal building, only to find a lavish spread laid out for lunch for the visitors on the terrace overlooking the street below before the start of the parade. A bonus!
After refreshments we walked about to the spectacular springs and made our way down to the main carnival parade route mingling with carnival participants, as they were getting ready for the parade. Finally the carnival parade started around 2 pm. Parades are fun and this carnival was even more fun, as there were no strict police pushing one behind ropes along the sidewalk. People were calm, even though inebriated and quite content to move back and forth to let the carnival parade participants interact with the bystanders to ‘sell fictitious wares’ and to allow people to step into the parade with them for unique photo-ops. It was a great advantage to be among volunteers who have attended this festival before, as I learned that I could move in and out of the ‘entries’ taking some memorable pictures. The TV’s channel’s covering the event censored a couple of “entries” which would be considered ‘x-rated’ and forbidden from a family carnival as this one was back home. Even though I took plenty of pictures, I too censored them from my album postings on picasa and facebook.
As this day was the eve of ‘Vasilitsca’, a religious new year, the church back home in my city always has a big bon-fire and pro-slava (celebration). A big bonfire and a meal is laid out for all citizens in the lawn at night. Though we got home by 8 pm, we found that the church celebration over, but numerous private homes and some neighborhoods had their own bonfires celebrating past midnight to welcome the ‘new year’! My friend and I walked about till it was time for bed.

On the day of Stara Nova Godina, one department at the municipality has a celebration similar to the work Christmas parties back home, commencing after a half-day’s work. Thus lunch was a long drawn out affair in one of the offices, big for 4 – 5 people but quite a tight space with 10-15 individuals, with catered food and drinks, including alcoholic beverages. It is a tradition at this gathering to serve burek, with two of the pieces each embedded with a coin. The two individuals who discover it in their meal are chosen to be godparents for the next year’s celebrations and are responsible for the catering. The computer speakers were used to provide traditional music from you-tube video sites and as soon as the traditional ‘ora’ music started, a few peers started the ora. It was pretty crammed in the office space, but I participated fully in these celebrations enjoying every minute of it and more than likely have made many more friends among my peers and colleagues! It was hard to get back to work after the lunch, so I concentrated on transferring photo’s from my camera to computer to web albums! Поминав супер! Тоа е се!

Friday, January 8, 2010

Not Everything is Serious


A silly dog in town has befriended my walking partner and me. It is a stray and we have no idea where it spends the night. My friend remembers it as an excitable, hyperactive puppy. It still is very excitable and on some days, when we are out walking, we cringe when we hear the whining, not quite a barking sound, because it has found us. The dog then comes bounding up, jumping up and down, excited and happy, but with a totally irritating, high-pitched bark that makes every head in the vicinity turn towards us! I have given him the name Glupo, meaning silly.
Glupo walks along with us and when it spots another dog; there are many stray dogs, he starts off his funny barking, trying to chase the other dogs away – the cheek! This drowns out any conversation and all our shooing and even throwing pebbles at him doesn’t chase him away. Acquaintances’ aren’t convinced that we have never fed him. On the days that he has followed us out on the trail, he is quiet and stays close to us, but in town he is a real nuisance.
One day on trail he was so scared, he walked so close to my heels that his nose bumped into me many times! One could say this is a good example of “worming your way into someone’s affection”. Another day, he was chased off my street with another friend’s dog that I didn’t see him for 5 days. Unfortunately, he has built up his courage and is back again. Ce la vie!

New Year, Badnik and Bozhik

The following are my first impressions of many of the religious traditions. They are presented without doing any additional research, so they may contain errors and omissions, for which I apologize. I just feel honored and privileged to have had the opportunity to be invited to and included as a family member during this time.
New Year
Macedonian’s are predominantly orthodox Christians and my city has one church, St Bogodorica. There are also a couple of other sites, each called a church, though in reality an outdoor shrine, with no structure to hold a congregation. On Sunday Jan 3, I attended a service. The Macedonian prayers had already commenced and the few people in attendance, both men and women were standing to the right, facing the altar. On the left of the church, closer to the entrance was a small pulpit also facing the altar. Between it and the altar was a wooden, scaled model of the church itself. The right side of the church had no such adornments and has the single wood burning stove to warm the interior of the church, which may explain why the people were standing on that side.
In the center of the church, under the painted dome was a glass-topped table with a painting of the Virgin Mary (St. Bogodorica). People had tucked in money in the frame. Between this table and the altar, on either side rested circular (approx 1 ½ ft in diameter) iron candleholders mounted on semi-ornate iron stands. There was a third candleholder, set before reaching the center alongside a beautifully painted, wooden self-contained altar. Beyond the two candleholders was a wooden panel, along the width of the church screening the inner altar from the main church space and seen through a window shaped opening. This panel was filled with pictures of saints. The priest has access to the altar through a swinging wooden half-door. During these prayers, he was standing in the church space facing the altar.
Inside the main hall, off the right corner nearest to the entrance was a glass-fronted case with items available for church service. My friend purchased a few candles, lighted them with the flame of the existing candles and placed them in front two candleholders, then moved among the pictures of some of the saints’ to place an offering, before moving to my side. Soon the prayers ceased and the priest crossed the half-door into the altar space and with an incense holder; called a candelo – a golden cup hanging on three chains, about 18 inches in length, filled with smoking basil, and started a new set of prayers, making a pendulum-like motion with the holder towards the altar. Soon he turned and was lost to sight and re-emerged from a door to our left, led by the senior priest and another person. They walked he length of the little church and turned towards the altar and continued sprinkling the incense towards the cross and image of Christ. After completing a sequence of prayers, he turned and sprinkled the incense/blessing towards the parishioners. We left soon after, before the conclusion of the prayers.
Badnik
Early morning on Christmas Eve, January 6 by the orthodox calendar, prior to the beginning of the service, soon after the churchmen swept and cleaned the church, a box of dried basil and end branches with leaves of the local oak (dabh) was brought to the altar. The priest, dressed in the priestly robes, blessed the offering (sounded amazingly like a Sikh prayer!) after which the boxes were laid in the main body of the church. Each of us took a stalk of basil and the twig of oak leaves for our homes. For Christmas dinner, the centerpiece consists of this dabh, and nestled in the leaves are the walnuts, hazelnuts, apples, mandarin oranges and bananas and some candy. These are left on the table overnight as an offering of thanks to God. Again it reminded me of the traditional Indian religious practice of offering food to God – a thanks and blessing for the bountiful edible items for nourishment. The western “grace” is only a prayer of thanks sans food.
Therefore on reaching home, I took down my ‘Christmas’ decorations and replaced them with the ‘traditional orthodox Christian’ dabh and the fruits and nuts. Christmas eve dinner is a family event, not unlike the tradition in America. Prior to dinner, quite unlike “grace”, the mom took the oak, basil, bread and wine to the front door, inviting the presence of God at the meal. We then started the meal with a very traditional thick soup made of lentils. Lentils, as was explained to me, when eaten on Christmas brings a year of wealth and prosperity! I of course sampled every item served of what was a true vegetarian meal. The faithful maintain a dietary custom and abstain from eating any meat, eggs, milk, butter or cheese on Fridays. This diet is also maintained on certain other religious days of which I am not quite clear about, but was evident for Christmas Eve. Fish is not considered a meat product and was on the menu.
As I was asked to join one families’ dinner table, I thought it wise to visit all my friends and wish them personally for Christmas prior to dinner. As this day happened to coincide with my birthday, I was overwhelmed by their kindness and generosity in presenting me with birthday gifts.
On Bozhik as Christmas day is called, I did not go to the church for early morning service, as I accompanied my family, who had lost their father a couple of years ago, to the cemetery. I understand this is to include the departed in the Christmas meal. They had prepared a meal that could be eaten without a dinner service and included bread, meats, cookies, fruits and nuts, as well as wine and the local brandy called rakhia. The cemetery full of families, at each site, each family had spread a tablecloth on the grave and laid out the meal. The wine and brandy close to the headstone, along a small altar to light and place candles. People were dressed in somber colors and voices were low. There was visitation, lighting of candles and expressions of condolences. Though some food was consumed, it was primarily exchanged with the visitation. After about 2 hours, we packed, cleaned and swept the site and left and had our breakfast at home.