Start a Family Holiday Tradition of Lighting an Advent Wreath

Lighting candles on an Advent Wreath during the four weeks leading up to Christmas has been tradition for many Catholic and Protestant families since sometime before the Middle Ages. The tradition emerged in central Europe where December evenings were cold and dark and gathering together sharing the warm light of candles to pray was appealing to many. The Advent Wreath itself is steeped in Christian symbolism. Lighting candles and reciting the prayers each night of Advent preceding Christmas day instills excitement and anticipation for the special day of Christ's birthday. Children are especially found of Advent Wreaths as they can create an interactive prayer process leading up to Christmas which in itself is very exciting to the little ones.

Decorating and lighting the Advent Wreath is an experience which all members of the family can take part and the activity can reinforce and teach some important aspects of the Christian faith. The circular wreath is the most prominent symbolism represented in the Advent Wreath. The circular wreath represents the never ending love of God and also everlasting life. The evergreens which comprise the wreath also represent everlasting new life and the word Advent is derived from the Latin phrase ad-venio or "to come to" which is the English translation. Advent wreaths are often decorated with pine cones, seed pods, or nuts to further the symbolism of the resurrection and everlasting life.

There are many family activities which can be associated with an Advent tradition where even the youngest family member participates. Children can take part in gathering the materials to decorate the wreath from the back yard, a local park, nature preserve, or even excess clippings from the local Christmas tree lot. Our family assigns a week for each child to lead the decorating scheme for the wreath on their assigned week and the kids are very excited about putting their personal touch on the wreath for their week. Children can also be asked to recite the Advent prayer which changes each week along with the lighting of a new candle each week. The color of the candle assigned for the week is also coordinated with the priest's vestments for the that week. There are three purple candles and one pink one. The pink is lit on the third week of Advent coordinated with the pink vestments associated with Gaudete Sunday. The purple candles represent the weeks of prayer, penance, and preparatory sacrifices associated with the weeks leading up to Christmas. The pink candle is lit on the third week in anticipation and celebration of Christ's pending birth.

Gathering as a family to light the Advent Wreath is a tradition you and your family will remember for years to come. Little children are naturally excited four weeks before Christmas and the growing magnitude of light that builds as another candle is lit on a new week only adds to the excitement. Purchasing a sturdy Advent candle base which can be used each Christmas will ensure the practice is repeated each year. Decorating the wreath and leading the recital of the prayers will be a faith building experience for young and old. Lighting the Advent Wreath has been a beloved tradition for many Christians for over 1000 years. Isn't it time you take the lead in beginning this excellent holiday tradition with your family?

Ryan E. Johnston
Advent Wreath Craftsman
http://www.advent-wreaths.com/

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Selecting The Right Funeral Homes For Final Goodbyes

Families who have lost loved ones many times are overwhelmed with grief. This sadness may prevent them from knowing how to proceed with plans for the lost person's final arrangements. However, selecting the right funeral homes might prove to be valuable in helping the family find closure while giving that deceased individual dignity in his or her departure from this life. Directors at these businesses help people through the entire planning process.

In fact, some people plan their own funerals before they die. As individuals near senior citizen age, they often think about their mortality and how they would like to be remembered. They also fear that they without final plans they will leave their children and spouse with a large financial burden. Thus, they often choose to plan and pay for their services in order to spare their relatives this sad burden.

People too often prefer a funeral home that can cater to the family's religious preferences. Some religions, including Catholicism and Judaism, have specific guidelines for funerals. Directors at these businesses who are aware of these mandates and how can implement them into the deceased's final service provide comfort and direction for the family and friends who have gathered to grieve.

In some instances, however, people choose cremation rather than buried. Individuals who would rather forgo a large service in lieu of cremation select businesses that have crematories. An on-site crematory spares the survivors the cost of having their deceased transported between facilities. In most cases, the person's ashes are able to be prepared quicker and be given to the family in a timelier manner than if the individual had to be sent to another place to be cremated.

Others prefer not to have a service at all and do not leave specific instructions about their burial. Because they do not want to have a funeral, these people's families might look to the director for guidance on how best to bury their loved ones. Directors many times are able to find an available cemetery plot and then proceed with a quick burial.

The indigenous as well need to have timely burials. Homeless people many times do not have families or friends. Likewise, they also do not have money to buy their own funerals.

As such, cities will pay these businesses to care for the dead in a respectful manner and then perhaps bury that person in an unmarked grave. An unmarked plot is also known as a pauper's grave, as the person buried in it was not financially able to buy his or her own grave, nor buy a marker for it.

Selecting the right funeral homes helps people go through the process of planning final arrangements and then saying goodbye to their lost friend or family member. Directors of these facilities have a responsibility to provide guidance in such arrangements and even help people who want to choose and pay for their own services before their deaths. Staff in these businesses helps all sorts of people, from the very religious to the area's homeless.

http://goarticles.com/article/Selecting-The-Right-Funeral-Homes-For-Final-Goodbyes/5155969/

Obatala The Father of All Orishas

For a long period of time, we lived in a world that was strictly physical. We believed that if we couldn't see it, touch it, or smell it, that it just didn't exist. Of course the mystics always knew that there was an invisible world. They knew about energy and quantum physics long before any scientist had ever looked through a microscope.

We can see this in many of the creation stories in the Yoruba pantheon. Obatala, the father of all orishas; is also known as the deity of purity, peace, and creation. He descended from the heavens onto to earth on an iron chain. This story can be interpreted in two ways. It can symbolize the concept of manifestation. It can also represent the biological makeup of human beings. Today, we understand that DNA is a genetic code that houses information that is past down from one generation to the next.

Practioners in the Yoruba religion seemed to have understood this concept as well. When examined under a microscope DNA looks very much like a chain or a double sided helix. Today, scientists understand that a person's DNA code is pretty much set in stone. However, there are external factors that influence the behaviors of DNA.

Epigenetics instructs DNA on how to behave. It works, very much like a light switch, turning our DNA codes on and off. If we are overeating, epigenetics will instruct DNA to increase fat cells. If we are dieting, epigenetics will instruct our DNA to shrink fat cells. It can instruct our bodies to increase the production of cancer cells, or decrease cancer cells. A great way to think of epigenetics is to imagine that your body runs like a corporation. There is an executive board, which responds to the external economical environment. There are the middlemen, line managers who supervise the workers. Lastly, there are the workers, who don't think. They just take orders without thought or question.

The corporate executives decide that they need to lay-off workers because of a recession. The executives don't do the dirty work; they send the middleman or the line managers to do the firing. Workers get laid off, and the ones that remain are doing twice the work. The same thing happens in our body. We are the executives of our bodies and how we respond to our environment has a direct effect on us. Feelings of scarcity induce high levels of stress. We innately send signals to the middlemen to instruct our cells to stop working at optimum levels. As a result, other parts of our body have to pick up the slack. This is why people who are severely depressed are sluggish and lethargic.

In a nutshell, our thoughts can make us sick, or better. Positive thoughts, feelings, and actions allow the body to work at optimum levels. We need to understand the adverse consequences of negative thinking. We must call upon Obatala, the orisha of purity, wisdom, and whiteness to cleanse our negative thoughts, so we can be pure again and realign with nature.

http://goarticles.com/article/Obatala-The-Father-of-All-Orishas/5164082/