Having witnessed my own ability to not see things directly in front of me I will refrain from casting the first plastic easter egg.
Even when your task is to scan the ground, looking for brightly colored plastic eggs?
Candy! Candycandycandycandy!
And, uh, Jesus, of course. My father gave a nicely ecumenical grace at Easter dinner, in deference to our Jewish and Muslim guests. We had a lovely cake.
In all fairness, I think it's interesting insofar as it tells you developmentally how their brains scan and identify incoming information.
We had ham and a bizarre grace my son learned in school.
I tried to go to several stores today, and to my surprise they were all closed. I don't remember Easter as having been so closely observed in the past. They may have been closed in commemoration of Armenian genocide -- this seems at least as likely, given the neighborhoods in which I sought to shop.
Relatedly, lamb cake pans are expensive. I need to start practicing, as my sister gave a thumbs-up to my idea of a red velvet l.c. next year, when she will be an Anglican and expected to celebrate such holidays.
7: Ham is cured pork. The grace involved blessing plants, but not actual food and was said, unprompted, by a four-year old who thought (correctly) he'd get ham quicker if grace was done right away.
Have you not been looking for (say) a (child's) puzzle-piece amidst other toys and not seen it despite dedicated searching?
Sure. I even lose my keys nearly every day, when they're sitting isolated on the counter or kitchen table. Are you trying to deprive me of joy I find in laughing at children?
Maybe those "color all round objects in this picture red" exercises actually accomplish something!
12: Not all nipples are red, euro-centrist.
They are once I'm done with them, cowboy.
You guys, Apo's talking about cats.
Relatedly, lamb cake pans are expensive
I made lamb shanks and lamb stew, but it didn't occur to me to make lamb cake.
My mom calls me Lambikins affectionately.
I commented to my mom that I thought it was kind of a dick move for people to eat ham on Easter. Then she served ham. Oops.
23: I have a friend who made a rabbit! My grandma heard about it and thinks he's really disturbed.
it was kind of a dick move for people to eat ham on Easter
How come this?
27: I was mostly pulling my mom's chain about Jesus being Jewish and having had a crappy Passover that year, but I think she took me seriously.
The range of languages in which the word for Easter is derived from Latin for Passover is intriguingly irregular. The Romance languages are pretty uniform, but the root bleeds over into the Germanic languages (except English and German), the Celtic languages, Russian (but few of the other Slavics)...
29: Why is this night different from all other nights?
We had a lovely cake.
That doesn't sound very deferential to your Jewish guest(s).
I tried to go to several stores today, and to my surprise they were all closed. I don't remember Easter as having been so closely observed in the past.
A lot of stores in my neighborhood were closed too, which is especially weird because it's heavily Jewish. I suspect they were just looking for an excuse to close to save on labor costs since the economy continues to struggle.
since the economy continues to struggle.
Quit struggling, economy! Stand still and let me do up your jacket, already.
Earlier today, I tried to argue that we should dismember our resident chocolate Easter bunny in order that, absent the eggs, we could at least have my niece hunt some fucking chocolate up.
The idea was not well-received. I guess my bro didn't feel that having melting chocolate limbs secreted in portions of his condo would be a positive.
We had an awesome Easter brunch though. Waffles with fruit and fresh whipped cream, sausage rounds, omelettes, the goddamned works. And for the first time in weeks it isn't fucking snowing.
Thank you, zombie-Jesus. I accept you as my personal Gourd and Behaviour, zombie-Jesus. You are the man.
Have you guys seen this ridiculous new passport application the State Department wants to institute? It's so insane I can't quite believe it's not some kind of hoax, but some of the links seem to go to real government websites.
"Guys" in the gender-inclusive sense, of course.
Also, I somehow feel kind of guilty about not having had time to read most of the comments here for the last week or two.
Good Friday! Friday! Getting Crucified Day!
39: No doubt it totes has bipartisan support. Though I'm sure Obama will make a ripping good speech about it.
I like speeches.
Oh, and disclaimer on 37.last: I know the "zombie-Jesus" thing is super offensive to practising Christians, and its meant purely tongue in cheek. It is not intended as a statement of fact about any actual Christian belief.
Intriguing factoid from my Pops today: apparently the translators of the "American Bible" have determined all the business about a "virgin birth" emerged from a mistranslation of a word meaning "maiden," not "virgin." Can anyone verify this? For once, I don't have the gumption to do the Net-research myself.
39: After the US spends 18 years feeding some kid, we can't just let them fly to Belize or something before harvest.
Getting Crucified Day!
If your Jesus and you know it clap your hands.
42.2: That "controversy" has been around a long time. Here is the Wikipedia article on "almah" the original Hebrew word.
42.last: It is not a new idea. As I understand it, the issue isn't so much mistranslation as ambiguous translation.
I'd feel bad about pwnage if "your" was how you contract "you are."
My family always had ham for Easter, and somehow I picked up on the idea that it meant that w00! we don't have to keep kosher because of Jesus. And I always though of it as kind of a dick move, albeit a tasty one.
Honestly, eating lamb on Easter is much worse (although still tasty). Behold, the Lamb of God, so tenderly roasted.
I should still be shamed that you had a link and were faster.
And eating your peeps on Easter is worst of all.
39: I'm pounding out an angry comment on regulations.gov (though I had to get the actual proposed form from elsewhere).
My family always had ham for Easter, and somehow I picked up on the idea that it meant that w00! we don't have to keep kosher because of Jesus.
I've always sort of assumed this is why ham is traditional on Easter, but I've never actually looked into it.
52: That takes care of that problem. Next.
Does anyone know where to get the text of Public Law 94-521? GPO only goes back to the 104th Congress, and Lexis to the 100th.
39: only lawyers (who saved a pdf of their character and fitness application) will have passports, i guess.
39: Not a hoax, but not widely required.
Please don't say that about lamb, Dave. You are ruining all of my childhood memories. The perfect Easter dinner is roast lamb with mint jelly or mint sauce, potatoes, and strawberry shortcake for dessert.
I know the hospital I was born in, but who the fuck knows the names of the doctors providing pre- and post-natal care.
What's wrong with eating symbolic Jesus? That's two thirds of the Christian religious observances anyway. Also, lamb is really good -- we had a nice big leg with lots of garlic and rosemary, mashed potatoes, grilled veggies, roasted cauliflower, and apple/sour cherry crisp for dessert.
Happy Śmigus-Dyngus or lany poniedziałek
If you are in Poland watch yourself when walking under balconies or really anywhere and carry a change clothes with you. The ones you have on will be soaked. But then if you were staying with any Poles you'd know this from the moment your hosts woke you up pouring water all over you. The traditional whipping of girls legs by their suitors is now largely obsolete.
45, 42.2: Interesting. When people talk about the "virgin/maiden" controversy, I always assumed they were talking about a problem in translation from a Biblical language to a modern one. But really it is a problem with the transition from the Hebrew of the old testament to the Greek of the New. Also, based on wikipedia, the Hebrew doesn't seem ambiguous at all, and the Gospel of Matthew is just confused.
39/52/et seq: yeah, I just sent an angry comment, too; even if it's only for 1% of those who renew, I don't like it. Perhaps this is my paranoia, but it seems like these questions--particularly those concerning lifetime work & residence history, & circumstances of birth--are more about trapping people into leaving out something, or unintentionally getting something wrong, thereby giving the government an excuse to deny them a passport / hit them for perjury without much bother.
In other Easter dinner news, I commented that Amtrak runs a train from [Place A] to [Place B], and my brother, his girlfriend, and my father snickered. Confused, I asked, " Do I need to look up 'run a train' on Urban Dictionary?" which was answered in the affirmative. The things you can learn at family dinner.
The traditional whipping of girls legs by their suitors is now largely obsolete.
They still do this in my wife's village in the Czech Republic, although not as much as I gather they once did. I've only been there are Easter once but the boys in the village had elaborate switches [willow?].
That's helpful, but the people who can't provide sufficient proof of citizenship are often people born outside of institutions or unrecorded (they're the ones required in the form to give all that detail about the circumstances of their birth), and such people would have much greater than average problems in digging up this information. (Not to mention it assumes everyone has the wherewithal to contact their parents and get all this information from them, which is squicky if, for example, there's a history of abuse.)
I agree with Minivet in 69. I'm just not sure what the use-case is supposed to be here, if it's not "we don't really like the cut of your jib, so to speak, and this way we can stop you from travelling and/or hassle you for perjury." Against this you might say that they can already do this with the whole no-fly list / 'Secure Flight' program, but doing it this way would let them A. be more proactive and B. give them redundant capacity if the no-fly lists are ever successfully challenged in court or otherwise being politically untenable.
I've had probably my best Easter ever, spending Good Friday and Easter Sunday in Port Talbot (rundown steel town on south Wales coast) watching Michael Sheen's Passion Play. Was fucking amazing. Go and read about it and look at pictures.
As for egg hunts - my 10 year old son hates them, can't ever find any eggs and then gives up in a sulk. And won't accept clues.
65: They certainly are not changing any teachings. Plus The Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition renders almah as "young woman" in the text but explains in a footnote that the word also means "virgin." And as the "Immaculate Conception" illustrates, the language needed to hang a belief on can be rather indirect.
65.last: Also, based on wikipedia, the Hebrew doesn't seem ambiguous at all, and the Gospel of Matthew is just confused.
IANAL but this is not necessarily a foregone conclusion, a lot of threads like this about it. Some of it getting into the weeds of Aramaic roots and who actually spoke what when and where*, and why the Septuagint was created at all.
*So it could even be a "pop v. soda" kind of thing ...
They also changed out the word "booty" in the newest text.
I couldn't help reading the the passport stuff in the context of the birther crap. So many of the questions are exactly the kind of thing that have been "asked" about Obama to generate fear, uncertainty and doubt.
41: Good Friday! Friday! Getting Crucified Day!
Our usual Easter discussion during which I try to educate the skeptical, sarcastic heathens with whom I am forced to live took a similar turn yesterday. In particular, "Good" Friday led to a round of TGIF, "It's a good Friday*" jokes and the like.
*"Please wish Jesus into the cornfield, Anthony."
"Please wish Jesus into the cornfield, Anthony."
I like your family.