Right now Catholics are in Lent - a penitential time in preparation for Easter - so my pain, and especially my inability to do my usual work is fitting for this time. Thinking about Easter and the coming feast days helps get my mind off my back issues.
During this month of St. Joseph it's traditional for homes and/or Parishes to have a St. Joseph Altar or a table or shrine in his honor - his feast day is March 19th. Right now this is especially important as he is the Patron Saint and Protector of the Church (and of families, fathers, homes and workers and other countries and other causes) and the Church is electing a new Pope.
Our Parish has a St. Joseph Altar (in Parishes they usually take an entire room) traditionally filled with great - mostly Italian -desserts and other traditional foods (see the book, a must have for pictures, history and recipes, titled St. Joseph Altars, by Kerri McCaffety - www.amazon.com). These foods are afterwards given to the poor along with food from our pantries and food gift cards. A simple St. Joseph shrine using a picture or Holy Card and flowers, etc., can be put in a home or apartment whether your Parish does an Altar or not. You can hand out food to your neighbors, or the local food bank too.
Each year I've been making Springerle Cookies (a dense cake/cookie) from reproduction molds made from original and very old carved wooden molds in European museums. Some of the molds are Medieval and were handed out by the Guilds as gifts to celebrate the feast day of their patron saint - like this intricate cookie mold (6 inch diam.) from the Baker's Guild in an area, probably from the 1600's.
What I love about these molds is they don't need decorating, they have a story, the molds will last a lifetime, cost relatively little and the finished cookie looks astounding and lasts a long time. There are many types of cookie molds - from simple designs to elaborate ones. The St. Nicholas molds are wonderful! You can see or buy cookie molds at www.houseonthehill.net and wood carved molds at www.cookiemold.com. Generally, the deeper the carving, the better the mold. The following book is the cookie mold encyclopedia with recipes, history and pictures: Baking With Cookie Molds, Anne Watson at www.amazon.com.
So, to contribute to the St. Joseph Altar in my low energy way I am making some Springerle cookies and some molded chocolate candies - also low energy - just melt and pour. These candy molds as well as the cookie molds, can also be used with paper sculpting or beeswax to make cards, ornaments, and so on.
They are about $2 each and also available at www.amazon.com under (Religious) Chocolate Candy Molds. There's two candy molds for the 12 days of Christmas, which have to be searched for under '12 days, etc.' and also search for 'Jesus and Mary chocolate candy mold' for the one on the left below under 'Jesus, etc.'
As for St. Patrick's Day, which is also coming - (March 17th) in Lent before Easter, years ago Liz and I made these pins (I never seem to have green clothes on that day) from buttons, scraps of material and holy medals and I'm going to fix them up: replace ribbon and maybe add a trinket.
By the way, St. Patrick was not a drunk, fat, leprechaun! He was a brave and fearless defender of the Catholic faith. He is a Saint of the Catholic Church, who is honored for converting the brutal pagan tribes of Ireland after escaping from there as a slave, and being educated and trained to the priesthood and eventually made a Bishop. He is the Patron Saint of Ireland. The shamrock symbol associated with him is a representation of the three persons of the one God. His prayers and letters are still in print although he was born in 387 AD.
Happy Feast Days!
xox
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