November 1, 2016 - All Saint's Day Around the World, World Vegan Day AND a Halloween Recap

Elisa's Daily Scoop
NEXT TRIP DEPARTS IN: STILL DECIDING

All Saints Day Worldwide

Hey there!! Lots to tell you today, so allow me to get right to it!

Yesterday was a fun-filled day celebrating Halloween on my end.

The girls started their day "dressed down" for school (they are required to wear uniforms) in celebration of Halloween - that is, as long as they wore black and/or orange - which they did.

I took the time while they were in school to visit my parents, who have both been under the weather with terrible colds - my dad had a relapse.

From there, I made a pit stop at Starbucks for a little morning snack.  I wanted to celebrate with all things "Pumpkin" yesterday, so, I indulged in a pumpkin scone!  

Unfortunately, my little doggie, Punkin got a-hold of it, which I briefly left on my snack table in the den having only taken a few bites, alas, it was gone - fully consumed by the little beast!
(I guess she wanted to celebrate too!)

I made a special dish - Pumpkin Risotto, which was complete in time for the girls' return from school to Gianna's delight!  She and I chowed down a heaping helping each.  We both liked it but agreed that risotto prepared with butternut squash is much tastier.

Kelsey and I headed to the grocery store, since I hadn't as yet stocked up on candy for the trick-or-treaters.

Since Gianna was going out to trick-or-treat with her friends and Kelsey decided not to, she was quite concerned with the candy I was purchasing since that was to be her answer to trick-or-treating - lol.  She was very instrumental in the candy selection which included the snickers variety pack and flavored tootsie rolls.

My Halloween Kitty and doggie (c)travelincousins.com

Gianna looked adorable as a cat and she and her friends went trick-or-treating by our house for a few hours. Apparently, they were all satisfied with their candy and had worked up an appetite.  

Mom (me) went to get them Chinese food, which they ate while watching Mean Girls (for the 100th time), munching away.

All the girls eating after some tiring trick-or-treating (c)travelincousins.com

This kids are off from school today in celebration of All Saints' Day.

All Saints' Day is a Christian festival celebrated in honour of all the saints, known and unknown.

According to timeanddate.com, there are a few ideas on the background of this holiday...

"According to some sources, the idea for All Saints' Day goes back to the fourth century when the Greek Christians kept a festival on the first Sunday after Pentecost (in late May or early June) in honor of all martyrs and saints.

Other sources say that a commemoration of “All Martyrs” began to be celebrated as early as 270 CE, but no specific month or date is recorded.

Pope Gregory IV made All Saints' Day an authorized holiday in 837 CE. It is speculated that the chosen date for the event, November 1, may have been an attempt to supplant pagan festivals that occurred around the same time."

(wiki.com)

Today, in the West, it is celebrated on 1 November by the Roman Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion, the Methodist Church, the Lutheran Church, and other Protestant churches.

The Eastern Orthodox Church and the Eastern Catholic churches celebrate it on the first Sunday after Pentecost, which is 49 days after Easter, in the Spring.

All Saints' Day (November 1st) and All Souls' Day (November 2nd) are closely linked with Halloween, which is a shortened for the name “All Hallows' Eve” and is the night before All Saints' Day. 

Christian celebration of All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day stems from a belief that there is a powerful spiritual bond between those in heaven, and the living.

Although All Saints' Day is not a public holiday in the United States, it is a national holiday in many historically Catholic countries around the world and celebrated in a variety of ways around the world...
 
In the Latin American culture, both All Saints' and All Souls' Day celebrations are linked as part of the Day of the Dead, also known as Día de los Muertos.

In Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Chile, France, Hungary, Italy, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Malta, Peru, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Spain, and the state of Louisiana, people take flowers to the graves of dead relatives. In some parts of Portugal, people also light candles in the graves.

Portuguese children celebrate the Pão-por-Deus tradition (also called santorinho, bolinho or fiéis de Deus) going door-to-door, where they receive cakes, nuts, pomegranates, sweets and candies. This occurs all over Portugal.

In France, the day is known as La Toussaint. Flowers, namely, Chrysanthemums, or wreaths called 'couronnes de toussaints' are placed at each tomb or grave. The following day, 2 November (All Souls' Day) is called Le jour des morts, the Day of the Dead.

In Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Finland, Catholic parts of Germany, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Serbia and Sweden, the tradition is to light candles and visit the graves of deceased relatives.

La Tousssant (france.com)

Filipinos traditionally observe this day by visiting the family dead to clean and repair their tombs. Offerings of prayers, flowers, candles, and even food are made.

​Chinese Filipinos additionally burn incense and kim. Many also spend the day and ensuing night holding reunions at the graves, playing games and music, singing karaoke, and feasting

The Doughnut Plant with a variety of locations throughout NYC (credit: doughnutplant.com)

Getting back to today...

As for my gang, we will be celebrating today by going to visit my Aunt Ro in Astoria and enjoying a wonderful brunch!

However, I do have something amazing planned for after our meal...a visit to The Doughnut Plant in Long Island City!  I'll be writing all about his place in a future Foodie Friday feature.  Not only does this place offer yeast, cake and filled doughnuts in a variety of flavors, but they also have added Vegan options as well!!!

​Cannot wait!!

Gotta get shakin' here.  Back atcha tomorrow!!

-E
xoxo

Tanya's Daily Scoop
NEXT TRIP DEPARTS IN: 3 DAYS

What a Day

Well Hello Hello!

What a Day it is...
It's the beginning of a new month.   It's All Saints Day.    It's World Vegan Day.      And it's the kick off to World Vegan Month!

Happy All Saints Day

Happy World Vegan Day

And it's the day after a very fun filled night of playing dress-up for Halloween!

Hallo (Hello) (c)travelincousins.com

The beginning of the day was rather usual, and lacking festiveness. But come nightfall is when we (well rather our alter personalities) come alive as we dress up to the nines and get ready to parade our neighborhood.

We had Chaplin as an adorable little Jasmine from Disney's Aladdin. But not only that, we also had her tiger Raja, and a bodyguard (played by her mom Jet, and dad Andrew)

The Aladdin cast (c)travelincousins.com

A beautiful Swan from Swan Lake played by Mika.

My nieces (c)travelincousins.com

And then we had some characters from past and present video games - Master Chief from Halo played by Dominic. Mario and Bowser from Mario Brothers played by Brigitte and Houston.

Ready set go! (c)travelincousins.com

Fight! (c)travelincousins.com

Video Games come to life (c)travelincousins.com

And my dear Cosette joined forces with me and Dave B. in celebrating Oktoberfest and donning our lederhosen as German Beer Garden girls and boy.

The Germans (c)travelincousins.com

Guten Abend (Good Evening) (c)travelincousins.com

For all those concerned - Cosette is holding and drinking Butter Beer - which is not Beer whatsoever (c)travelincousins.com

Being German (c)travelincousins.com

The kids were all adorable, and we all have a blast seeing each other in our chosen costumes of the year!

Costumed cousins (c)travelincousins.com

Costumed Cousins (c)travelincousins.com

Happy Halloween! (c)travelincousins.com

Next came our parade of costumes as we go door to door showing off to the neighborhood and letting the little ones go trick or treating from door to door.

Our group (c)travelincousins.com

Me and my sisters (c)travelincousins.com

From house to house (c)travelincousins.com

Trick or treat (c)travelincousins.com

Now as for today, Elisa has taken the time to explain All Saints Day to you, and I will explain World Vegan Day...

According to Wikipedia:
World Vegan Day is an annual event celebrated by vegans around the world on 1 November. It was established in 1994 by Louise Wallis, who was then Chair of The Vegan Society, United Kingdom, to commemorate its 50th anniversary and in 2014 the 70th anniversary of the terms 'vegan' and 'veganism' and the establishment of The Vegan Society. In 2016 it is the 72nd year of the term veganism. 

Vegans around the world come together to celebrate the benefits of veganism for human health, animals and the environment. They hold street stalls about veganism, host vegan potluck events and plant memorial trees for World Vegan Day.

Speaking in 2011 Louise Wallis said: "We knew the Society had been founded in November 1944 but didn’t know the exact date, so I decided to go for 1 November, partly because I liked the idea of this date coinciding with Samhain/Halloween and the Day of the Dead - traditional times for feasting and celebration, both apt and auspicious.

History of World Vegan Month according to daysoftheyear.com
World Vegan Month was established in 1994 to commemorate the forward movement of the ideology, as well as the creation of The Vegan Society in the UK in November 50 years prior. Given the number of eaten dead, the date was selected to fall in line with Halloween and the Day of the Dead to honor those animals who had already passed under the unnecessary cause of supporting human life.

Vegans know there is a better way, and that the composition of the human body for being omnivores is something that, with time, can slowly be eliminated, rending our incisors as unnecessary as the appendix. All over the world there are celebrations and festivals being held that help bring together vegans and share diet tips and ways to replace their long lost meat. Bacon substitutes, sausage substitutes, even honey and butter substitutes have been devised so that they can embrace their idealism without having to give up the best of what was left behind.

In the early days of the Vegan movement these opportunities weren’t available, and they had to subsist on purely vegan options with no meat substitutes or anything to stand in for the foods that their contemporaries were consuming. The modern day allows Vegans to truly enjoy the broad range of foods the world has to offer, and substitutions for those that involve animal cruelty.
A cruelty free world isn’t far away!

How can you celebrate World Vegan Month:
As we mentioned above, there are a ton of vegan options in the world, especially festivals and gathers where recipes and food secrets are exchanged.
It goes a lot further than just food options too, everything from lipstick to deodorant has been guilty of containing animal products, and there was little on the shelf that wasn’t tested on animals. Now you can get educated on which ones are safe and which foods are the most delicious. Let World Vegan Month expand your palate and your sense of social responsibility!

As for today, I need to do a bit of shopping and Cosette has a Horseback riding lesson. Then later on I'm gonna be glued in front of the boob-tube and rooting the Cubs on to hopefully their 3rd win in these World Series games and Dominic also is back at his night classes.

Well I hope that I entertained and educated you somewhat today. I also hope that you have a wonderful day, and I'll see you back here tomorrow!

Tootles Poodles,
-T