{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember - Soulemama

Celebrating Matariki - Colourful Lanterns

Matariki is almost here!  Winter is officially too.  This mornings walk on the beach in the fine, crisp weather was refreshing and rejuvenating, evoking much reflection and gratitude for where we live, how we live and what we love.  And so is the meaning of Matariki - what an awesome time of year!

"During Matariki, we celebrate our unique place in the world. We give respect to the whenua (land) on which we live, and admiration to our mother earth, Papatūānuku.

Throughout Matariki, we learn about those who came before us. Our history, our family, our bones.

Matariki signals growth. It's a time of change. It's a time to prepare, and a time of action. During Matariki, we acknowledge what we have and what we have to give.

Matariki celebrates the diversity of life. It's a celebration of culture, language, spirit and people.

Matariki is our Aotearoa Pacific New Year."  (an explanation from The Maori Language Commission)

It really excites me that we in Aotearoa have an opportunity to reflect at this time of year on our past and future.  Almost six months from our summer New Year celebrations we get a chance to ignite or reignite our aspirations.

Matariki describes the dawning of the cluster of stars also known as Pleiades - the seven sisters.  From the Maori perspective they are a whanau of seven - Mother and six daughters.

This Mummy and her one daughter have been making lanterns as one way of celebrating Matariki.

The lanterns are glass jars, covered in torn tissue paper of various colours and lit by a tea light candle.  Beautiful and simple.  A great result can be achieved by someone as little as K or as old as her Mumma!!

Our lanterns light our dinner table and perch upon our night blue voile.  I have just started making my own voile, inspired again by the Steiner.  K just loves her colourful voile - to dance with, to dress up in, as blankets for her babies, to make huts.......and more!

This weekend will mark the beginning of Matariki celebrations with a new moon.  Why not make some lanterns to light your way while you star gaze or make a star shaped kite to fly or take a walk in our beautiful country and reflect on where we have come from and what our future might hold - our iti whanau will be x

The Easter Hare is Here!!

Finally, we have a festive/seasonal setting for our table!  This was a goal I made in my first blog post at the beginning of the year.

Here he is... the Easter Hare!  Complete with eggs and a grassy patch.

I wanted this to double as story props for K and I to play out this part of Easter.  This morning she put her toys to sleep in her home made hut, while she and the Easter Hare hid the eggs for them to find.  Very special to watch as she tried to ram the hare, grassy patch, toys and eggs in her basket for Easter!

I have been reading a enlightening book about rhythms, seasons and festivals from our Steiner Playgroup library.  It is chocca full of history about celebrations and festivals, seasons, recipes, poems, stories and crafts.  Our Easter Hare has been knitted, while the eggs were crocheted using Kate's pattern from Greedy for Colour.   Thanks Kate!  I  became a little braver again this time round with my crochet and tried to modify patterns to make a smaller egg and the grassy patch.

Easter Hare ... not Easter Bunny?  Well apparently the hare was the original creature to be given the  responsibility to deliver the hope of new life (represented by the egg).  The Hare possessed qualities such as speed, agility, is transient, is bold and courageous in his upright stance. His long ears suggest a wide and intelligent interest in the world and in folklore he is invested with the virtue of self-sacrifice.  I guess you need those strong qualities to deliver the sign of new life and so I would like to try and recognise that by celebrating the Easter Hare with our family. It has already been hard though because the bunny is so widely accepted as the creature with which we celebrate Easter.  Not to worry, it is the qualities and virtues of the symbol that I am most excited about.

I am really looking forward to Easter with our family this year.  I will post some of more of our traditions before then.  Hope you are enjoying the build up to a lovely family holiday too x

Oat Dear it's Autumn!

Autumn brings many gorgeous seasonal changes.  Sadly, I have learned over the years that my body doesn't like autumn and I seem to suffer from Seasonal Affect Disorder.  May be not this year as I am pregnant and SAD passed me over when I was pregnant with K.  Nevertheless,  oat recipes and doses of oats are added to everything - with their nutty flavour, iron giving properties and SAD combatting, nourishing goodness.

K and I tucked into porridge with honey and almonds. Yum.

Then we whipped up a batch of Blueberry, Oat and Chocolate Chip cookies. This recipe was an adapted version of this apricot and oat recipe from the Australian Taste website.  Super yum.

And then because our weather is rainy and dreary, and we had friends and their moving house team to nourish we made bagels with an oat and seed topping!

Our friends have successfully moved in and while they unwrap and unpack we will head back into the kitchen to make them some casserole love!

I would love to know your favourite oat recipe x

Personal note - must work on my photography!!