Category Archives: Holidays

These are posts that focus on a religious holiday, state holiday or public celebration of some kind

Gung hey fat choy! Happy New Year!

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There was a new moon in late December so the second new moon after the Winter Solstice falls on January 23rd this year. That means that Monday marks the lunar new year.

Gung hey fat choy! Happy New Year!

People all over Asia celebrate the lunar new year. Since I live near Little Saigon, I’ve seen all the little pastries and moon pies arrive in the shops. Even non-Asians get into the spirit of the holiday. Water Dragon decorations can be seen far and wide across San Francisco – even the windows of an optometrist shop in the Mission District are decked out for the holiday.

I don’t know why the Southwest Airlines Chinese New Year Parade is next month and not next weekend. I thought the new year festival lasted a week. Perhaps the parade marks the end of the lunar month.

Over 100 contingents will participate in the Southwest Airlines Chinese New Year Parade this year. It’s been a San Francisco tradition since just after the Gold Rush and one I look forward to every year. As far as I know it’s the only nocturnal parade in San Francisco and there are tons of parades and marches around here.

When the weather is good hundreds of thousands of people come to watch the parade on the street and many more tune in to watch it on San Francisco Bay Area television. Will I see you there?

MLK Jr Day – Follow Your Conscience

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“Cowardice asks the question: “Is it safe?”
Expediency asks the question: “Is it politic?”
Vanity asks the question: “Is it popular?”
But consciences asks the question: “Is it right?”

And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but one must take it because one’s own conscience tells one what is right.”

- Martin Luther King Jr.

Queen’s Day In San Francisco

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Kaas Meisje Q

Kaas Meisje Q

In the Netherlands the current queen’s mother’s birthday is a huge excuse to party. The event is called Koninginnedag or in English, Queen’s Day. The current queen’s birthday is in January so like the British monarch she has two official birthdays – her actual birthday and the Queen’s Day party to celebrate her birth.

Because the royal family’s surname is Orange-Nassau the whole country gets decked out in orange. It is also the only time of year that people are allowed to sell stuff without a retail license so the last weekend in April has something for everyone – yard sales all over the country and lots of drinking in the streets.

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EASTER: Hunky Jesus 2011

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In one of my favorite “Only In San Francisco” events, the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence host an Easter Sunday party in the park. They have games and activities for little kids and the Sisters set up a stage in Dolores Park and local bands like Ejector perform and the people bring blankets and picknics.

The highlight of the afternoon for me is the Easter Bonnet Contest and the Hunky Jesus Contest. Both shows allow people to exhibit exuberant displays of creativity. You can tell some of these queens spend days working their hot glue guns assembiling their elaborate hats, helmets and head ornaments.

I look forward to the Hunky Jesus Contest to see what themes people will come up with. The best need little to no explanation – like the double cross Jesus with two guys on an H shaped cross – or this year’s Obviously Drunk Redneck Jesus. The video below features most of this year’s contestants and the winner…

 

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EASTER: Finally Here!

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As the Son rose, she rounded the corner

Seeing that the stoned had rolled their last spliff and the ravers had dispersed, she approached with trepidation.

Mistaking the DJ for a gardener because of the fresh blooms depicted on his shirt, she asked him, “Where has all the music gone?”

“To the after-party…”

He continued, “Don’t hang here coz I have not yet ascended, you can get a ride with your friends. Go and tell the others the good news.”

 

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Earth Day 2011

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I’ll admit I used to care more about Earth Day but honestly Green Fatigue set in for me about a decade ago and now I just can’t be bothered to do anything all that special to mark the day.

I used to think that every little bit helps but as time progressed and things have gotten worse, my understanding has evolved. All the focus on recycling or planting trees feels too much like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. Drastic times call for drastic measures and until we have free and fair publicly funded elections in the United States, I don’t think we’ll really see much substantive progress on environmental issues.

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Sixth Sunday Of Lent – Pennies From Heaven

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Palm Sunday marks Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover holiday. In all four Gospels Jesus performs various healings and teaches by way of parables while in Jerusalem, until the Last Supper.

I chose today’s song, Pennies From Heaven by Inner City to represent Palm Sunday because it outlines a more expansive understanding of the Joy we began to cultivate last week. There are many gifts of Spirit and we can use them to reach out to those around us to help alleviate suffering.

Peace is one of the gifts specifically mentioned in this song as is faith and the loving understanding born of a heart-to-heart conversation.

I’ve seen this song become a catalyst for transformation where once people danced in their own separate expressions and halfway through this song hundreds of people join hands and sway with people lined up at bathroom and bar put their arms around each other and sing along.

Just reach out and help them do the best you can
No-one said we could solve every problem

I love how the lyrics portray a realistic and practical application of sharing our gifts of Spirit, our pennies from heaven. “No one said we could solve every problem” but we can still reach out and try.

 

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Fifth Sunday Of Lent – Unspeakable Joy

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This is the time in the Lenten seson when everything seems in flux. It’s warm then cold, sunny then raining… most buds are showing but not yet open while there are also more flowers around than just a few weeks ago…

With so much inconsistancy around us I can see why it’s all too easy for some to vascillate and waiver in our lenten commitment.

I chose today’s song to represent this point in our preparation for Easter because it reminds me that regardless of external conditions, my internal state is wholly determined by me and through the grace of God I can be happy and joyful no matter what is going on…

When darkness thinks that it’s outdone me,
I must remember that the greater love’s inside me

Joy is related to happiness, but it is a deeper experience. Happiness is fickle, shallow, and fleeting. As the word itself implies, happiness is associated with happenings, happenstance, luck, and fortune. If circumstances are favorable, you are happy; if not, you’re unhappy. It’s an outward focus to determine one’s inward state.

In the search for happiness a person focuses upon himself, but joy moves a person out of a self-centered preoccupation and into a wider experience of connection. Joy is an experience which connects us to that which is “Greater” than we are. It’s an inward state that bubbles up and overflows outward.

 

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Fourth Sunday Of Lent – River Of Love

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If we allow it, love can wash over us like a flowing river taking with it all of the slights, hurts, pains and misunderstandings that keep us isolated from one another and from our true selves.

The song “River Of Love (Full Intention Club Mix)” by British act Roachford is so uplifting during the Lenten season because it reminds us of the cleansing, healing power of love. Jesus’ baptism foreshadows his resurrection and both occasions mark a step up to a new level of awareness and a higher consciousness. Our personal journey of preparation for Easter’s renewal must include a baptism of love that cleanses and forgives everything holding us back.

 

 

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EASTER: Third Sunday Of Lent – Believe

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So simple, so pure and so basic… why don’t you believe?

Spring cleaning can happen on many levels. After sealing up our homes to keep warm all winter, early spring is a great time to air things out and clean things up for the summer fun that will soon be here.

Lent is the perfect time to do a mental, emotional and spiritual cleaning as well as a physical cleaning. To do this we have to examine our beliefs and the attitudes, actions and conditions they create.

“Belief is a beauty thing”
-Simple Minds

Faith is always active, always working because it’s a basic human faculty. Do you put your faith in the evening news and their opinions about a fear-based world? Or do you put your faith in the inner whispers of your heart that reflect the joy and love that surrounds you. Do you judge by outer appearances or do you trust in unseen forces… what do you believe?

 

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EASTER: Second Sunday Of Lent – Someday

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Today is not only the second Sunday of the Lenten season, it’s also the Vernal Equinox. Today the darkness and light are equally balanced and though it might be imperceptible to most people, tomorrow is the first day since last September where the light of day overtakes the darkness of night.

Someday by Ce Ce Rogers

I chose this song for this point in my Easter series because we’re still closer to the start than the end of Lent and Easter still seems a bit far-off and remote, like it will only happen, “Someday.”

In our Easter preparations, this is the point where faith has to kick in to maintain the momentum that our initial burst of enthusiasm began.

Our faith that someday Easter will arrive is mirrored in the song’s faith in a future day of equality. When Ce Ce sings, “I’ll go to South Africa and be called a man” we can rejoice because that is true now though it wasn’t true in 1987 when the song was first written.

We are still working on the other issues mentioned in the song but at least we can see progress and it bolsters our faith that we will achieve the rest of the goals set before us.

 

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EASTER: First Sunday Of Lent – Bring The Joy

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The first Sunday of Lent this year is also the start of Daylight Savings Time. So this year we are celebrating the joyful rebirth of the sun and the Son.

To begin the first full week of Lent, I turn again to Arnold Jarvis. His sultry yet soulful voice is so amazing and he always seems to choose spiritually uplifting material. I turn to this song in times of struggle or upset to remind me of the gifts of Spirit that are all ways available: peace, love and joy.

Arnold Jarvis – The Joy You Bring

With the song’s repetition of the Golden Rule to “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” I think it does a great job of recalibrating my focus and that is what the Lenten season is all about really to discipline and focus ourselves for the rebirth of Spirit at Easter.

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EASTER: Ash Wednesday – Take Some Time Out

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Lent in the Christian tradition covers the period leading up to the Easter holiday. Different denominations calculate lent differently and they all have their own way of celebrating it or not as each congregation stipulates.

Marked as a period of preparation, believers use prayer, penitence, alms-giving and self-denial to develop an appreciation of the Easter miracle which forms the basis of Christian faith.

This symbolic recreating of Jesus’ experiences in the desert always reminds me of Arnold Jarvis’ beautiful song, “Take Some Time Out.” Unlike the vast majority of gay men, I always seem to gravitate towards a male vocal. Sure, I love a diva wailing and riding those notes too but a strong male vocal like Arnold’s can always stir my soul. I’ve often considered him one of the most under rated voices to contribute to the dance music family.

Originally released in 1987, the vocals just sum up that incredible feeling and spirit of early House Music – spreading a universal message of sharing and loving, accompanied by a masterful soundtrack.

 

 

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