This year, I used natural plant dyes. Try to guess which ingredients I used. And what kind of grass is that in the second photo?🪺🌿🌿😌
Давайте поиграем😏🪅
В этом году я использовала натуральные красители из растений. Попробуйте угадать, какие ингредиенты я использовала. И что это за трава такая на второй фотографии? 🪺🌿🌿😌
Much to Algy's surprise, a good proportion of the emerging blossom on the great white cherry trees had escaped damage in the recent weather outrages, and despite gales, hailstorms and unseasonable snow, enough blooms remained to make a pretty show in the right light, although there were petals and whole clusters of flower buds scattered far and wide on the ground as well.
So when the sun decided to shine on Sunday morning, and the sky turned a rarely-seen and delightful blue, Algy decided to indulge in his Sunday reading beneath the canopy of beautiful white flowers while he had the chance, for the weather birds had told him that there would be more strong winds and showers of sleet later in the day, and who knew how long the blossom could last…
Hopping up into the tree, Algy tried to settle himself into the crook of a large branch, but soon discovered that balancing a book of verse on his knees while perching in such a position was not entirely straightforward, especially when the wind tended to blow with sudden unexpected gusts.
After a while, however, Algy managed to achieve an acceptable degree of stability, and looking through the poems in the book he selected his favourite for this particular season and situation, although he hoped very much that the cherry would not literally be hung with snow, as it had been a couple of days ago…
And as some of Algy's friends in countries which follow the Orthodox Christian calendar are celebrating Easter today, rather than last week, Algy dedicates this poem especially to them…
Loveliest of trees, the cherry now
Is hung with bloom along the bough,
And stands about the woodland ride
Wearing white for Eastertide.
Now, of my threescore years and ten,
Twenty will not come again,
And take from seventy springs a score,
It only leaves me fifty more.
And since to look at things in bloom
Fifty springs are little room,
About the woodlands I will go
To see the cherry hung with snow.
[Algy is reading the poem Loveliest of trees from the collection A Shropshire Lad by the late 19th century/early 20th century English poet and classical scholar A E Housman.]
16th April 2023: The 1906 church of Saint Michael in Komyshuvakha, Zaporizhzhia Oblast, Ukraine after being destroyed by russian bombing at Orthodox Easter.
International Paschal Greetings for the Great and Holy Pascha!
The 'Paschal greeting', often referred to as the Easter Acclamation in western Christianity, is a common greeting during the Easter liturgical season-- or, outside of, if you feel like getting spicy with tradition. In the greeting, the first person approaches someone and says 'Christ is Risen' (inspired by the words of the angel in Matthew 28:5-6) and in response, the second person answers 'Indeed He is Risen!' (Inspired by the spreading of the news of the resurrection in Luke 24: 14-35).
While shared in many liturgical denominations, in the Orthodox Church the Paschal greeting carries a greater cultural weight. It is a heartfelt acknowledgement of the Great and Holy Pascha-- after all, He is Risen indeed!' The Orthodoxy Church of America's website provides an impressively long list of ways to say the Paschal greeting in many languages, which I would like to share with everyone on this Great and Holy Pascha, from my western Church to yours. If you do not see your language, feel free to add on;I will edit the original post to add it! Everything is alphabetized A->Z and all languages listed are spelling in their English translation (sorry!)
English – "Christ is risen! Indeed, He is risen!"
Russian – Христос воскресе! Воистину воскресе! (Khristos voskrese! Voistinu voskrese!)
Ukrainian – Христос воскрес! Воістину воскрес! (Khrystos voskres! Voistynu voskres!)
Arabic (standard) – !المسيح قام! حقا قام (al-Masīḥ qām! Ḥaqqan qām!) or !المسيح قام! بالحقيقة قام (al-Masīḥ qām! Bi-l-ḥaqīqati qām!)
Armenian – Քրիստոս հարյա՜վ ի մեռելոց: Օրհնյա՜լ է Հարությունը Քրիստոսի: (Khristos haryav i merelotz! Orhnyal e Harouthyoune Khristosi!) – (Lit: Christ is risen! Blessed is the resurrection of Christ!)
Basque – Cristo Berbistua! Benatan Berbistua!
Belarusian – Хрыстос уваскрос! Сапраўды ўваскрос! (Khrystos uvaskros! Saprawdy wvaskros!)
Czech – Kristus vstal z mrtvých! Vpravdě vstal z mrtvých!
Chinese (Anglican): 基督復活了！基督果然復活了！
Danish – Kristus er opstanden! Sandelig Han er Opstanden!
Dutch – Christus is opgestaan! Hij is waarlijk opgestaan! (Netherlands) or Christus is verrezen! Hij is waarlijk verrezen! (Belgium)
Esperanto – Kristo leviĝis! Vere Li leviĝis!
Estonian – Kristus on üles tõusnud! Tõesti, Ta on üles tõusnud!
Fijian – Na Karisito tucake tale! Io sa tucake tale!
Filipino (Tagalog) – Si Kristo ay nabuhay! Totoo! Siya nga ay nabuhay!
French – Le Christ est ressuscité! En verité il est ressuscité! or Le Christ est ressuscité! Vraiment il est ressuscité!
German – Christus ist auferstanden! Er ist wahrhaftig auferstanden!
Gikuyu – Kristo ni muriuku! Ni muriuku nema!
Hawaiian – Ua ala hou ʻo Kristo! Ua ala ʻiʻo nō ʻo Ia!
