Saint Edmund Parish Echoes - St. Edmund Parish

6Helpful Holiday Hints for Grieving Individuals1. Recognize and acknowledge that you are grieving.• Be gentle with yourself.• Understand that your energies are naturally directed towardyour loss and your healing. So you may not havethe energy you’re accustomed to having this year.• Avoid caustic people; you don’t need the aggravation.• Let people know it’s okay to talk about the deceased ifit really is. Otherwise direct them away from the topic bytelling them you want to catch up on what is going on intheir lives.2. Anticipate the day.• If it’s too soon or too painful, don’t go or don’t participate.Send your regrets; people who care about you will understand.• Remember that sometimes the anticipation is far worsethan the actual day.• How have you observed this day in the past? Recall thisday from the past when you shared it with your loved oneand acknowledge the ways in which it will be differentthis year.• Identify the people, traditions, and activities that areimportant to you regarding to this day.• Consider creating some new traditions.3. Make a plan you can be comfortable with.• Eliminate the unnecessary and the too painful.• Find a way to honor your relationship and your memories,a way to include your loved one in the spirit of thisday. If doing this will involve others, it‘s best to talk itover with them beforehand so they are not taken by surprise;if necessary, compromise to come to a comfortableconclusion.4. Provide a cushion or buffer for yourself on this day.• Tell your best friend or confidante how you are feelingabout this day, as well as how you are going to getthrough it. Ask him/her to stay close for support throughoutthe day.• Build in some alone-time, quiet-time or time when theexpectations you or others have for you can be suspendedin order to give you time to tend solely to your emotionalneeds.5. Keep your options open.• Sit in the back or near a door.• Have an escape route planned along with a get away car(ride home) and driver in case things get to be more thanyou can handle.• Make it known that you will leave if you need to; giveyourself permission to do this without recrimination ifyou find it necessary.6. Remember that it won’t be this hard next year.Our Jewish Friends Celebrate PassoverPassover is the 8 day observance commemorating thefreedom and exodus of the Israelites from Egyptian rule.Passover begins on the 15th night of the Jewish month ofNissan, this year (2001) the first night of Passover beginsat sundown on Monday, March 25.The Pharaoh had decreed that all Jewish male babies wereto be killed because he felt that the Jewish people werebecoming too strong. One couple decided to try to savetheir infant son. They put him in a basket, and floated himon the river. He was rescued by Pharaoh's daughter. Shecalled him Moses, which means, take from the water andshe raised him as her own. When Moses grew up, he hadmuch empathy for the Jewish slaves, and when he foundout that he was a Jew, he wanted to help his people. Hetried to get the Pharaoh to free the Jewish slaves, but thePharaoh refused. Moses had a special relationship withGod.There were 10 plagues (Blood, Frogs, Lice, Beasts, CattleDisease, Boils, Hail, Locusts, Darkness, Slaying of theFirstborn) placed upon Egypt, but still the Pharaoh wouldnot let the Jews go. Finally, after the 10th plague, he relented.The Jews gathered up their belongings quickly noteven having time for their bread to rise, so they had tobake it and take it the way it was. This is why the Jewishpeople eat matzah during Passover. While fleeing, Pharaohchanged his mind, and sent his army after the Jews tobring them back. God parted the Red Sea for them tocross, and as soon as they were safely to the other side,the waters closed, drowning the Egyptian soldiers. TheJews were saved.Passover is celebrated today in homes by having a seder.Seder means order, and the Passover story is read in aspecial order from the book called a haggadah. Haggadahmeans "to tell" and the Jewish people tell the story oftheir (and our) ancestors, and remind themselves that theyare now a free people. There are different parts of the sederand during the meal, they eat traditional and symbolicfoods that remind of the adversity of their people. One ofthe things that is done is to dip a spring vegetable into saltwater. The vegetable is a sign of spring, or rebirth, andthe salt water represent the tears of the slaves. They eatbitter herbs, to remind them of the bitterness of slavery.They eat a special mixture, called Charoset, which ismade of apples, nuts, wine, and cinnamon that remindsthem of the mortar from which the slaves made theirbricks. The name Passover comes from when the Angelof Death passed over the Jewish homes because beingforewarned, they put lambs blood on their doors, so thatdeath would spare their first born child.Nancy HershThe Kid's Domain, www.kidsdomain.com(c) 2001 Attitude Network, Ltd., part of theglobe.com network