Two Chances for a White Christmas
Welcome to long overdue blog posts, the holiday edition.
Host grandma, with turkey / Live turkey in a bag / stuffing balls, a Moldovan invention.
We Americans kicked off the already notoriously long winter holiday season in Moldova a few weeks earlier than normal, back in November, with many Thanksgiving celebrations. Last year, Peace Corps gathered all the volunteers in the capital and we celebrated together. This year, becuase of security concerns, we were not able to do that. Thus, this year became my first official thanksgiving dinner that I cooked! Okay, well maybe it wasn't "official" as there was no Pecan Pie, but I did make corn bread, turkey (which I caught alive from my neighbor!), mashed potatoes and stuffing (it is hard to make stuffing in a toaster oven!). I invited over the volunteers who are in my region of Moldova and a lot of my Moldovan friends. I think it was quite the success, if I do say so myself. We took turns saying things we were thankful for -- nothing burned -- although my host mother did get really stressed out about cleaning our house (normal) and about not having enough food -- we did have enough, just it was not NEARLY as much food as Moldovans would have put on the table. Plus my host mom thought all our receipes were "simple" and wanted to add mayonnaise to the corn and make the turkey into some kind of casserole (who eats baked poultry on a CELEBRATION, she asks?) All and all it was a great day, lots of work -- but fun. Thanks to Aunt Jo for the recipes, and Jenn for the stovetop (in case my masterful stuffing didn't turn out). Who would have known, when I arrived in Moldova, I couldn't make slice and bake without burning them! It kind of makes me look forward to going to America where they actually have inter esting ingredients readily available!
the volunteers from my region / our feast!
Next on our holiday list is my FAVORITE Moldovan holiday, St. Andrei on the 14th of December. On this holiday, for no apparent reason that anyone can explain to me, besides "tradition," young men steal the gates off of the houses of single girls. Now last year, when this wonderful holiday occurred, I had only lived in Singerei for one month, and thus was not included in the games. This year, I woke up to a missing gate and an angry host mother. I, being the naive American, assumed the "boys" would just return our gate that evening. No, not how the game goes. We had to spend a few hours that day wandering around to find the "gates"... we eventually found them in a pile on the grape fields at the end of town. That was a lot of walking... My host mother apologized for being mad though. She only has two sons, and always allowed her sons to go gate stealing, but never had to be on the other end of this game. I loved it. Gates, as you can tell from my pictures, surround almost every Moldovan house -- help keep the chickens where they are supposed to be, I guess. Too bad they are so elusive in America -- becuase this would be a fun tradition to bring back.
Next on the holiday list comes St. Nicholas, where children leave out there shoes and St. Nick puts candy in them. Not too much to tell about this day, except that the kids were all hyped up on sugar all day. Also, the school in our town held a Christmas show / concert. It was really fun and funny as they did both skits and songs (traditional and modern). I love the traditional Moldovan costumes. And at the end of the concert they gave me, as their guest from abroad, a necklace made of bread -- It symbolizes always being connected, both with Moldova and with the earth -- and never going hungry.
Carolers. / me and my half eaten necklace.
Host grandma, with turkey / Live turkey in a bag / stuffing balls, a Moldovan invention.
We Americans kicked off the already notoriously long winter holiday season in Moldova a few weeks earlier than normal, back in November, with many Thanksgiving celebrations. Last year, Peace Corps gathered all the volunteers in the capital and we celebrated together. This year, becuase of security concerns, we were not able to do that. Thus, this year became my first official thanksgiving dinner that I cooked! Okay, well maybe it wasn't "official" as there was no Pecan Pie, but I did make corn bread, turkey (which I caught alive from my neighbor!), mashed potatoes and stuffing (it is hard to make stuffing in a toaster oven!). I invited over the volunteers who are in my region of Moldova and a lot of my Moldovan friends. I think it was quite the success, if I do say so myself. We took turns saying things we were thankful for -- nothing burned -- although my host mother did get really stressed out about cleaning our house (normal) and about not having enough food -- we did have enough, just it was not NEARLY as much food as Moldovans would have put on the table. Plus my host mom thought all our receipes were "simple" and wanted to add mayonnaise to the corn and make the turkey into some kind of casserole (who eats baked poultry on a CELEBRATION, she asks?) All and all it was a great day, lots of work -- but fun. Thanks to Aunt Jo for the recipes, and Jenn for the stovetop (in case my masterful stuffing didn't turn out). Who would have known, when I arrived in Moldova, I couldn't make slice and bake without burning them! It kind of makes me look forward to going to America where they actually have inter esting ingredients readily available!
the volunteers from my region / our feast!
Next on our holiday list is my FAVORITE Moldovan holiday, St. Andrei on the 14th of December. On this holiday, for no apparent reason that anyone can explain to me, besides "tradition," young men steal the gates off of the houses of single girls. Now last year, when this wonderful holiday occurred, I had only lived in Singerei for one month, and thus was not included in the games. This year, I woke up to a missing gate and an angry host mother. I, being the naive American, assumed the "boys" would just return our gate that evening. No, not how the game goes. We had to spend a few hours that day wandering around to find the "gates"... we eventually found them in a pile on the grape fields at the end of town. That was a lot of walking... My host mother apologized for being mad though. She only has two sons, and always allowed her sons to go gate stealing, but never had to be on the other end of this game. I loved it. Gates, as you can tell from my pictures, surround almost every Moldovan house -- help keep the chickens where they are supposed to be, I guess. Too bad they are so elusive in America -- becuase this would be a fun tradition to bring back.
Next on the holiday list comes St. Nicholas, where children leave out there shoes and St. Nick puts candy in them. Not too much to tell about this day, except that the kids were all hyped up on sugar all day. Also, the school in our town held a Christmas show / concert. It was really fun and funny as they did both skits and songs (traditional and modern). I love the traditional Moldovan costumes. And at the end of the concert they gave me, as their guest from abroad, a necklace made of bread -- It symbolizes always being connected, both with Moldova and with the earth -- and never going hungry.
Carolers. / me and my half eaten necklace.
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, January 08, 2008 at 4:59 PM.
