Tag Archives: holiday

BOOK: “Cajun Night Before Christmas” by Trosclair

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Cajun Night Before Christmas (The Night Before Christmas Series)Cajun Night Before Christmas by Trosclair
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Publisher Site — Pelican Books

As it happens, I was just in New Orleans during Christmas and stumbled onto this book, which is well regarded regionally but pretty much unheard of beyond. It is essentially the poem “A Visit from Saint Nicholas” (a.k.a. “Twas the Night Before Christmas,”) but conveyed in the Cajun dialect, featuring a Santa that is a bit scruffier and who is transported by alligators rather than reindeer. It adds a bit of humor as well as regional flavor to the poem. As one would expect, it’s illustrated in the style of a children’s story book.

If you find yourself in bayou country during the holiday season, I’d highly recommend you give it a read.

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PROMPT: Invent a Holiday

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Invent a holiday! Explain how and why everyone should celebrate.

National Slap an Idiotic Billionaire Day. A day during which anyone can open-hand slap any billionaire who says anything radically divorced from reality or which – despite all necessary resources to self-educate – shows a woeful lack of understanding of how the world works. (Doing so without repercussion, provided one uses only the force generated by one’s own musculature.)

It’s not that I’m anti-billionaire, but I have noticed a striking number of people who’ve amassed tremendous sums of money but who couldn’t pass sophomore economics without a daddy buying a library.

PROMPT: Celebrate

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Daily writing prompt
How do you celebrate holidays?
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Well, if someone else is doing fireworks, I’ll go see, but I value my fingers and hearing too much to DIY it. But there is nothing like fireworks on Easter to warm the heart. Or on Arbor Day, or National Salsa Dancing Day (March 11th, mark your calendars. Also, don’t confuse it with National Salsa Day — honoring the spicy condiment on May 1st.) Nothing says holiday like fireworks.

PROMPT: Favorite Holiday

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Daily writing prompt
What is your favorite holiday? Why is it your favorite?
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Probably New Years as it’s the only one that there’s some excitement about no matter where one is in the world — even nations that have their own calendar celebrate it as a secondary new year. No use in getting too attached to single-country holidays if you’re a traveler, it just creates melancholy.

Also, because it’s not one of those roaming holidays that’s on a different date each year. Those are too hard to keep track of.

DAILY PHOTO: Scenes from Diwali 2023, Bangalore

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PROMPT: Holiday Invention

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Invent a holiday! Explain how and why everyone should celebrate.

Mad Saints Day. In honor of all the crazy sages throughout history (e.g. Hanshan, Diogenes the Cynic, Ikkyu, St. Isadora, Drukpa Kunley, Nasreddin, Milarepa, William Blake, etc.)

It’s celebrated by violating some societal convention that doesn’t have direct adverse health and safety consequences (This is not “The Purge.”) Of course, violating even the most absurdly arbitrary societal convention will cause many people to freak out, so the other element of celebrating Mad Saints Day is just getting the f@$& over it.

DAILY PHOTO: The Colors of Holi

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Taken in October of 2013 in KR (City) Market in Bangalore.

Taken in October of 2013 in KR (City) Market in Bangalore.

As I skipped posting Daily Photos over the weekend, I’m posting two today–in honor of a Western and an Indian holiday respectively.  Holi is the festival of colors, and today one can see plenty of people with faces and clothing powdered in vivid colors. In the markets one sees these conical piles of color defying gravity in a most stubborn fashion. FYI- Today isn’t the day to wear your finest, pristine white dress shirt.