Pre-made piñatas are readily available online for purchase and these Zebra versions are more typically black and white. For those creative people who wish to make their own, more festive looking Zebra piñata, ‘Pinata Boy’ (a Chemistry Professor and children’s book writer in Texas) offers detailed, step-by-step instructions on how to make a colourful Rainbow Zebra Piñata. Its bright, cheerful finish is the perfect piece for party entertainment.

Unlike many traditions, Wendy Devlin explains how this custom is not restricted to one time of year and was originally a religious symbol which is now lost. She delves into the history of the piñata in some depth which makes for an interesting read in Mexico Connect.

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Zebra Piñata

It turns out that it is a huge celebration held in early September of local produce where vegetables, fruits and seeds are used to create beautiful art pieces. Many of the towns and villages work for months putting together magnificent floats for this unique event made entirely of fruits and vegetables and the results are extraordinary.

Naturally, I particularly fell in love with the ‘Zebra’ float and the amount of detail in this design is mind boggling. You have to remember that this is only ONE float that I am focussing on, the others in the parade are just as creative and detailed!!!

If I was travelling to the Netherlands, I would most definitely time it to be there for this festival. Seeing these enormous works of art in person would be a memorable experience. I  very much doubt anyone would see so many fruits, vegetables and seeds gathered on such scale in the one place at the one time as in the Fruit Corso in Tiel.

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Fruit Corso in Tiel

Easter is another religious based celebration which has become somewhat commercialised. I have been most fortunate to have grown up with a European background where the symbolism of Easter was more than just chocolate easter eggs.

I will always remember the  night before Easter when my father would prepare the dye for the hard boiled eggs in separate pots on the stove and we would dye the eggs first: some red, some blue, some green and some yellow. Sometimes we would mix the colours to make orange or purple. After the eggs had been dyed, we would either scratch designs and patterns on them or even use textas to draw patterns on the egg. When the designs were finished, we rubbed lard over the eggs to give them a beautiful shine.

On Easter Sunday, our creative efforts from the night before were displayed proudly on the kitchen table with eggs and ham our typical Easter breakfast food and there was always plenty of it (too bad if you did not like eggs or ham – LOL)!!!

According to Wikipedia, the symbolism of the egg in Christian practice has a specific meaning:

The egg is widely used as a symbol of the start of new life, just as new life emerges from an egg when the chick hatches out. The egg is seen as symbolic of the grave and life renewed or resurrected by breaking out of it. The red supposedly symbolizes the blood of Christ redeeming the world and human redemption through the blood shed in the sacrifice of the crucifixion. The egg itself is a symbol of resurrection: while being dormant it contains a new life sealed within it.

Having said that, there is also the pagan connection to Easter and Stella Woods describes this in her article:

Easter, Eostre or Ishtar?

By Stella Woods
March 2008

Did you know that Easter Sunday always falls on the Sunday after the first full moon of the northern hemisphere spring? This full moon is known as the paschal moon and also marks Pesach, the Hebrew name for Passover. Because Jesus was crucified on a Friday and resurrected the following Sunday during the eight day Jewish holiday of Passover (the first eight days after the first full moon of spring) Christians take the paschal moon, the equinox and the Julian calendar to fix the date of Easter, which varies from year to year. Good Friday this year falls on the 21st March and Easter Sunday on the 23rd. The 2008 paschal full moon is on Easter Saturday in the sign of Libra.

The Catholic Encyclopaedia tells us that Easter is named after an Anglo-Saxon goddess, Eostre, goddess of the dawn, but in fact the real origins of Easter and its story of death and resurrection date back much further.

In 3000 BCE, Inanna the Sumerian goddess was worshipped throughout the Mesopotamian world (modern day Iraq) as the main deity. The Akkadians called her Ishtar, the word from which Easter is derived. Inanna-Ishtar’s closest western equivalents are the Greek and Roman goddesses, Aphrodite and Venus. Inanna-Ishtar was worshipped as the Queen of Heaven and her principal symbols were the Moon and Venus, the morning and evening star. Eight was the number sacred to Venus, being the number of years it took the planet to return to the exact same point in the zodiac on the exact same date and the goddess was often depicted as an eight pointed star.

One of the most important myths about Inanna-Ishtar is the Sumerian story of ‘Inanna’s Descent to the Underworld’. According to the myth, the goddess plans to visit the underworld ruled by her dark sister Ereshkigal. After dressing in jewels and fine clothing, Inanna descends and is met by Ereshkigal’s servant, who at each of the seven gates to the underworld removes one of her garments. Finally she approaches her sister naked and humiliated. An angry Ereshkigal orders that she be killed and hangs her body on a peg to rot. After three days Inanna’s servant becomes worried by her absence and fashions little creatures who descend unseen to the underworld with materials to breathe life back into the goddess. They resurrect her and she reascends to heaven.

There are many variations on this myth, but its importance lies in the theme of death and rebirth. At the time of the new moon, the moon (Inanna) disappears from sight for three days as she conjuncts the Sun and is then revealed again. Similarly, the planet Venus (Inanna) disappears from sight when moving from being the Morning Star (rising before the Sun) to the Evening Star (setting after the Sun). On a physical level Inanna’s rebirth heralds the coming of spring (remember these myths are set in the Northern hemisphere where Easter is in spring). On a psychological level, Inanna’s descent to meet her dark sister Ereshkigal represents the encounter with our shadow side or unconscious. When we return to the light after a period of darkness, we have the opportunity to become whole. This same theme is reflected in the tarot card of the Hanged Man who voluntarily hangs upside down in an act of sacrifice as a prelude to death and transformation.

Note the similarities between the Inanna-Ishtar myth and the story of Jesus. As Ishtar descended, she was stripped and humiliated; Jesus was stripped, beaten and humbled. Ishtar was killed and hung on a stake; Jesus was hung on a cross. Ishtar was resurrected after three days; Jesus rose from the dead on the third day. Both achieved eternal life. Easter is in fact the same story as Ishtar.

For many of us festivals such as Easter and Christmas have lost their original meaning and simply become holidays or times of conspicuous consumption. We do not realise that in celebrating Easter, we are participating in an age-old ritual celebrating the return to the light after a period of darkness and death.

Christianity has had many turbulent transitions throughout history and the pagan influence of Easter is not really surprising. What is most important, is the meaning Easter has for each of us individually and to our dearest ones. It is a time for giving and sharing and focussing on being thankful for what we do have rather than complaining about what we don’t have.

I wish all who cross my path a very special, spiritual, Happy Easter.

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Easter ritual

That is one of my favourite quotations on the theme of love and I had it engraved on a Russian wedding ring I gave to my husband six years ago.

Ignoring the present day commercialism, what does Valentine’s Day mean to you? For some it may be a joyous occasion, for others it may be full of sadness, and then there are those who totally resent the day for a number of reasons. Expectations can be very high for some people as we allow ourselves to get caught up in the hype of this day thus losing the underlying meaning of it.

For me it an important day to acknowledge my loved one and not necessarily through commercial means i.e. jewellery and/or roses with exorbitant price tags because retailers mark up their products for this occasion. The day is more symbolic in nature, therefore over-expenditure is not expected nor required. Small gifts and/or gestures are perfectly acceptable. Take time to show you care and appreciate your partner. We live such busy lives in this day and age and it is far too easy to get caught up in the rush of things and unintentionally forget what is really important to us. Just saying I love you can make a world of difference.

Remember, it is the thought that counts on occasions like this and you do not have to do much to make your significant other happy. As the saying goes:

It isn’t the big pleasures that count the most;
it’s making a great deal out of the little ones.

~ Jean Webster ~

Want to know more about Valentine’s Day? The following links are full of interesting information:

• Valentine’s Day from Wikipedia
• The History of Valentine’s Day
• Virtual Museum in Canada

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Valentine’s Day