Following YonderStar

Our virtual world tour continues with Christmas in the Philippines. Christmas is the most important holiday in the Philippines and celebrations officially begin each year on December 16th. Filipinos tradition involves 9 pre-dawn early morning masses with the first mass on December 16th and the last of the series of masses held on Christmas day. The Open House tradition called Noche Buena features Filipino Christmas foods of  Bibingka (a coconut rice cake) and Puto Bumbong (also a rice …

Our next world tour stop - Poland! Poland has a beautiful tradition of putting on Christmas nativity pageants and also displaying Christmas manger scenes or Jasełka. One of my favorite Christmas traditions in Poland is the spreading of hay beneath the Christmas Eve tablecloth to remind everyone of the birth of Jesus in the manger. After fasting all day on Christmas Eve, the Wigilia feast begins. Fish is served at the Wigilia dinner and after a long meal, families typically attend midnight m …

The art of fritware pottery has a long history and has been created in the middle east since the 13th century. Frit (ground glass), 85-90% ground quartz and a small amount of clay are fired together at high temperatures. The ground glass melts to bind the quartz together and form the finished piece. This gorgeous fritware nativity scene is handmade in Turkey and features red tulips. Tulips are native to Turkey and the name tulip is derived from the Turkish word tulbend (or turban) …

Wow - this incredible mechanical nativity scene located in Třebechovice pod Orebem in the Czech Republic is on my list of places I would LOVE to visit. Known as Probošt's mechanical Christmas crib, this stunning nativity was declared a cultural monument of the Czech Republic in 1999.  Here is a video you can watch of the nativity in action. It's truly amazing! It took over 40 years to create this carved wooden nativity display which includes more than 2000 carve …

Orthodox Christians in Ukraine (and around the world) celebrate Easter Sunday today, April 19th. What are the traditions of the Orthodox Easter celebration in Ukraine? Many churches hold an overnight church service leading into Easter Sunday, however Orthodox churches have no seats so most families with small children attend a sunrise service on Easter Sunday. Paska (sweet egg bread) and krashanky (dyed Easter eggs) are Ukrainian Easter traditions that are often practiced here in the US as …