Rumors of our demise are somewhat overstated. But the next piece here has some learning and some more research to be done, so it’s taking longer than I thought. Learning comes slower these days; I think my brain’s getting full. Or stuck. Or something. Anyway, here’s a sneak preview. And …
(Or words to that effect, since I don’t speak Mandarin…) The actual translation is more or less “Best wishes and Congratulations. Have a prosperous and good year.” So we’ll go with that. I changed direction last week and took cameras to the Lunar New Year Festival at Viet Hoa Center …
It’s taken a wee bit longer to get to this than I’d planned. Life does that. I talked earlier about Las Pastorelas; now I’d like to go one step back from that and present a few things from Las Posadas. The reenactment of Las Posadas (Posada is Spanish for “inn” …
A little over a year ago, early in December of 2014, I read on a website that Mission Espiritu Santo in Goliad was hosting a Pastorela, a Shepherds’ Play, for Christmas, and knew that was my next trip. I’d learned about Pastorelas some time in the Long Ago, but never …
I have to admit I’ve never put any significant time into studying the Hindu religion. It’s always seemed sort of like the protocols of the British Monarchy: Complex, convoluted, multi-layered, and something I wasn’t ever likely to need to know. But like the British Monarchy, when it comes time for …
It’s like St. Patrick’s Day, but without the green beer. It’s what a national holiday looks like when it’s celebrated in another country by large groups of people, most of whom have at best a marginal tie to the Auld Sod or La Patria Hermosa. In short, it’s an excuse …
I made it about 50 yards before they got me. I’d stopped by the side of a food booth, which was selling things I couldn’t pronounce, talking with a elderly gent I’d met somewhere before. We were both trying to sort out “where do we know each other from?” when, …
Every year, sometime in the early part of April, on an actual date determined by the lunar calendar, Vietnamese Buddhists celebrate the festival of Quan Am, the Mother of Compassion. (She’s also known as Kwan Yin in China and Kwannon in Japan.) In Houston, the Vietnam Buddhist Center gets in …
Fourth of January last I saw a Facebook post from This Guy I Know, saying that Pancho Claus was going to spend the Sixth of January with some of his homies and a few Kingly types hitting several of the Mambo’s restaurants in the area to celebrate the day with …