Tag: Christmas

Community, knowledge, Wellness

Little Candles Day

dianangelika0607

07/12/20

Today is December 7th and in my country, Colombia we celebrate the Day of the Little Candles. Colombia is a country with many religious celebrations and today is in honor of the Virgin Mary and her Immaculate Conception.

The celebration of the Night of the Little Candles dates to December 7, 1854, when Pope Pius IX defined as dogma the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary, published in his Apostolic constitution Ineffabilis Deus. In anticipation of this decision, people lit candles and paper lanterns to show their support and belief in this idea.

In Colombia, as in many places all over the world, this announcement was observed by lighting candles. The Catholic Church of Colombia kept the celebration alive and made an annual tradition of lighting candles the night of December 7. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day_of_the_Little_Candles)

This day is the official start of the Christmas season in my country. It’s an important celebration because families do gatherings and go outside on the streets and turn on lanterns and candles. Many of them cook delicious and traditional plates like buñuelos, natilla, hojuelas, rice pudding or cookies with wine. It’s amazing to see all houses with candles and feeling the vibe of the Christmas season.

However, this year is something special and some celebrations will be virtual or different due to the pandemic time, in my case is my first Christmas without my mom because she passed away in last December and it’s really tough. I remember she always asked me before this date: What are we doing today? What are we going to cook? She always enjoyed these celebrations and she was like a star because her personality had light and she was the center of my family and I suppose that today she will be present like the sparkle of one of those candles.

So, this a year of reflection as I mentioned in my previous writing and the celebrations will be different for sure but the most important thing is to have the best thoughts and energy for our love ones. Wishing to all my friends and relatives a beautiful Day of the Little Candles, enjoy this time but with responsibility and taking care of yourself, I know we will have better times and remember that the darkest hour is just before the dawn.   

DARR.

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Tis The Season

dianangelika0607

27/11/20

It’s November and we’re close to the end of the year. This year has been something special with a lot of challenges, changes and learnings.

I was thinking that time flies and I remember the celebrations when I was child and I was with my cousins surrounding the Christmas tree and waiting for the gifts at midnight. Also, it was a pleasure to see the fireworks and to play with the sparkles and other pyrotechnic games. Enjoying the Christmas carols and eating buñuelos and natilla, traditional Colombian food during this season. It’s really remarkable how those celebrations strengthen family ties and show the value of having special people close to us. However, the circumstances can change and at the present with pandemic time those gatherings and encounters face to face are difficult. In my case, I have a family far away from me and I have to think that our Christmas will be virtual and it’s strange, isn’t it? This period of time is teaching us to be creative, resilient and with a tough mental capacity to face those situations. There are people who don’t care about this reality but to others it is important to be close to their beloveds due to their traditions or culture. Nonetheless, sometimes it is complicated to have what we want for example: the last iPhone, the beautiful dress from the store or the trip to that stunning beach, there are cases where we need to wait.

Sometimes I believe this is a period of reflection and some people say that is a message from nature or the environment, where we need to change our selfish, violent and give a damn attitude. I know there are people who don’t care about anything and they have the most incredible and odd behaviors. From time to time I watch the news and I believe that I’ve seen everything when suddenly I watch another incredible headline with weird histories and I say to myself “That’s why this is happening to us”. I know! Human behavior is really complex but our environment and reality can help to trigger mental diseases. By the way, I invite you to read my post called Mental Health in Pandemic time that has relation to this topic: https://dianix.news.blog/2020/10/31/mental-health-in-pandemic-time/?

Anyway, Christmas is a time of peace, love and reflection. This year we need to make the most out of it, 2020 has been a year which invites us to reflect a lot. It’s possible that some projects and goals that we had this year will need to wait but I’m sure that we developed other skills and achieved new targets.

I believe that everything has an explanation and if this is not the case then it has a lesson and this year is a period of teachings, adaptation, reinvent and meditation for sure.

Finally, I want to dedicate this post to the special people who I know: my dad, husband, relatives, friends and global citizens. I wish you the best today and always. Take care of yourself in this last season.   

DARR.