One of the good things about developing a holiday tradition is that you don't have to get as quite as stressed over things after you've done it a couple of times. We know what we are doing and how it will be done. We know what we are cooking for the most part. We just make little adjustments so that things are more enjoyable. This year I'm going to pick up some more universal prizes, maybe notebooks and novelty gifts, so that everyone can play. Corey wants to bring his dartboard this year and teach the kids to throw darts. I'm trying to get him to bring the throwing axes and knives too. We will still have the tessarae (dice) too.



So, I will be cooking-



Sausage babies, of course. We tell the story of Saturn/Cronos, and how he swallowed his children out of fear, only to have Jupiter take him out in the end. I love this part.



Corn on the cob and popcorn. Saturn is a corn god, even though the word corn now means something different than it did in ancient Rome. Maize will work for our purposes!





Roasted pork roast, a variation of a roman recipe that I have made a few times. It has cumin and honey, and is yummy.



Probably some rosemary and garlic focaccia bread too.



Looking forward to it!

Because this came up while Rose and I were studying one day, here are some of the Latin words used in Harry potter, and some that are Latin inspired (Latinate):



From about.com, by N.S.Gill:



* Accio (p. 582) Latin - I summon

* Aguamenti (p. 606) not Latin - although Agua comes from Aqua which is Latin for water.

* Alohomora (p. 159) unknown - supposed to unlock a door.

* Amortentia (p. 185) - a potion for love based on the Latin amor=love.

* Anapneo (p. 144) Greek - I recover breath (clears the breathing).

* Avada Kedavra (p. 596)- death spell/curse, not Latinate.

* Crucio (p. 598) Latin - I torture/crucify.

* Diffindo (p. 220) Latin - I divide.

* Episkey (p. 157) Greek - (episkeuo) I repair (to mend Harry's broken nose).

* Felix felicis (p. 187) Latin for fortunate, lucky, or happy, but also the biological name for a cat. Felix is the nominative singular, and felicis is the genitive singular.

* Impedimenta (p. 599) Latin plural of impedimentum, which means obstacle, hindrance, impediment. In Latin, the plural often means baggage. This is used as a jinx.

* Incarcerous (p. 575) Latinate - the ending is English. In carcer would mean in prison.

* Imperius (p. 42) Latinate based on the word imperium which meant power.

* Inferi (p. 62) Latin - Inhabitants of the Underworld.

* Langlock (p. 420) Not Latin. Locking of tongue against the roof of the mouth. Probably based on a connection between lingua and language.

* Levicorpus (p. 238) Latin - Levis=light and corpus=body so the spell lifts a body.

* Liberacorpus (p. 239) Latin - counterspell to levicorpus, libera= free, so liberacorpus frees the body.

* Lumos (p. 62) Latinate - lumen=light and lumos is a light-creating spell.

* Muffliato (p. 238)? From email:

Muffliato: I'd like to support one participant's idea on "muffliato" since you are still hesitant. It seems to be a Latinated form of the English "muffle", made to look like the rare but here very fitting imperative of the third person. "muffle" has only a Middle English root, according to MerriamWebster. Actually, these hybrids are what I find so amusing about JKRowling's creations.

- Angelika Goldmann

* Oppugno (p. 302) Latin - I fight against.

* Petrificus Totalus (575) Latin - totally made into a stone.

* Protego (p. 180) Latin - I protect.

* Reducto (p. 594) Latin - I lead back or withdraw

* Relashio (p. 211) ?

* Rennervate (p. 574) Latinate with an extra "n" from nervus for sinew, muscle, or nerve.

* Reparo (p. 206) Latin - I recover (renew).

* Sectum sempra (p. 518) Latinate - may mean cut forever.

* Specialis Revelio (p. 193) Latinate - specialis=particular in Latin, and revelio evidently means "I reveal".

* Tergeo (p. 162) Latin - I rub clean, wipe, polish.

* Veritaserum - Latinate - means truth serum.



The page numbers refer to the first instance of the Latin spell -- at least the first instance that I noticed.

The following email makes some further suggestions about the etymology of words used in the Harry Potter books:

She uses a large variety of others Latinic languages and not in its original in Latin. See, as an example, the spell "taranta allegra". "Tarantela" is a folklore dance of Italy that uses basically the legs. "Allegre" means "happy" in Italian. She then played with the two words and created "taranta allegra", a spell that makes a person lost control of its legs.



~~~{Of course if you know me, you know I know more about this dance than most people! I already wrote to the author of the article about this, but here's what I said: the Tarentella is both a modern couples dance and an old world trance dance tied to the heat of summer and unrequieted love. In any case, the dancer, either male or female, when performing this dance, is called the Taranta. I've no way of knowing if this was known by Rowling, but it suits the title of the spell, Taranta Allegra, 'Happy{spider}Dancer'.}~~~



On the names it also occurrs: Dumbledore, for instance, has a French radical that means light, and "Albus" means "white" in Latin. "Rubeus", first name of Hagrid, is a Latinic name derived from "robustu", wich means "strong", "with vigour". Severus came from the Latin "Severu", wich means "severe" (the English word has a Latinic origin, also). Lupin, for instance, derive from the Latin "lupo", with the meaning of "wolf". Lucius, Remus and Sirius are Latinic names also, and Draco is the word "dragon" in Latin.

-Marcos

Wiccan symbol at Nativity scene damaged by vehicle



7:27 AM EST, December 11, 2007



OLEAN, N.Y.



Police are investigating vandalism aimed at a symbol of the Wiccan religion set up next to a Nativity scene in front of city hall.



Officials in this city 60 miles south of Buffalo say someone in a pickup truck backed over the Wiccan pentacle around 10:15 p.m. Monday, then sped off.



The pentacle, a pentagram within a circle, was placed last weekend near the Nativity scene Olean Mayor David Carucci allowed to be set up outside city hall last month.



Some Olean residents complained that placing the Nativity scene on government property raised issues over the separation of church and state. Carucci responded by allowing members of other faiths to display their symbols on city property during special times of celebration.



The pentacle was then set up by April Garlow, a Wiccan.



Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

They came out beautiful, even better than I'd hoped-the detail is very nice and crisp. A couple of people told me they were sad they missed the first order, but it's cool, I will be doing another one! This way I got to get a look at what we were getting first, which is good.



We have zip hoodies for 40 (printed on back), shirts for 20, and tanks for 15, plus 5 bucks shipping if you are not local. I can get just about any size. Proceeds will help cover the printing fees and troupe costume and CD costs. Let me know what you want and I will get right back to you! The color is pale green on black. These are high quality screenprinted items, not transfers. If you bought anything from the old shirts and stuff, let me know and I will give you a discount this time!

Today I picked up my awesome hippie hoodie from Hummblebee. I love it, and there will be pics of it on her website soon. She really does awesome work, if hippie stuff makes you smile, give her a looksee.



The Stellaluna shirts are in, but I didn't find out until I got home, and they were closed. I hope they turned out well, I want everyone to be happy--including me! I'm going to try and get down there tomorrow.



I've never been really interested in the Tudor period, I think the dresses are pretty, but I had no inclination to wear one. But since I've been watching the Tudors I've dusted off the Tudor costume books at the back of my shelf, and I'm reading a book about Anne Boleyn. I'm so easily suckered in by a hot Henry VIII! Not to mention the uber hot Henry Fitzroy on Blood Lines. Too many Tudors, not enough cookies.



Random photo of the day: