Na Zdorovije! To Your Health!

There's nothing so unwelcome as a summer cold.  Except maybe a "back to school" one.  Often, among the back to school items that are on sale now, it is typical to find tissues among the pencils and paper!  It seems that just as we are winding down the summer fun and looking forward to the structure and order of a new school year, everyone comes down with the sniffles.  It has always been this way, even in the times of the early church!  The Horologion tells that, in an effort to ward off these late summer and early fall illnesses, the people of Constantinople would begin a period of veneration of the Holy Cross beginning on August 1 and continuing until the feast of the Dormition on August 15.  Every year, on the evening of July 31, the relic of the true cross would be taken out of the church's treasury and solemnly processed throughout the streets of Constantinople and enthroned on the altar of the Hagia Sophia, the Church of Holy Wisdom.  The relic would be processed and presented to the people for veneration daily until the Dormition feast.   The cross is, indeed, a good thing to contemplate when facing illness.  It reminds us that our God does truly understand suffering, that He knows our pain and our human aversion to it, and that He can either alleviate it, or use it for some further good if we unite our sufferings to His.  We need to remind ourselves of these things, and teach our children to understand them as well.

As a homeschool family, we are always looking for ways to enlighten our children to the ways of God as they come up in everyday life.  This is another powerful example of the wisdom of the Church in organizing the calendar to help us come to know God in the seasons He created.  This Wednesday evening, our family will observe the feast of the Procession of the Cross by taking our own cross from the family icon corner and processing it throughout the house, while praying for good health for the coming year.  As the younger girls are developing their hand-sewing skills, we will plan to craft a wreath of felt roses this week, to adorn the cross...pictures to follow!  During the next two weeks, we will do some things to prepare our family for the coming cold and flu season like making aroma tablets to have on hand for opening stuffy sinuses  in the shower, making and preserving some honey-lemon marmalade to add by the spoonful to our tea when we are sick, and stocking our medicine cabinet and first aid kit with medical necessities and a few herbal remedies like slippery elm bark for sore throats and elderberry syrup to stave off a threatening cold.  As we work on these little projects, we will post how-to's and pictures so you can join in if you wish!

It is also interesting that August 1 was also the day that the people of our early Church designated to collect and bless new honey.  Raw honey is one of our family's favorite ways to prevent seasonal allergies from becoming too tough to handle.  We will stock up on this as well!  Our people knew how great the anti-bacterial properties of honey were at preserving food and often incorporated it into their baked goods so that they could be taken on long journeys without the risk of spoilage.  We will also make some of these honey biscuits, or medovniky during the next few weeks...again, pictures and recipe to follow!  By the way...it's a perfect time for homeschoolers to do a unit study on bees!  Or maybe on folk medicine and herbal remedies!  When you homeschool EVERYTHING becomes a unit study!

Time is moving along too quickly for me and my children are growing up too fast.  it came to my attention recently that I have nearly 20 years experience teaching the faith to my own children, and I have collected quite a number of novel ways in which to do so!  It is my hope to share how my family observes the liturgical year with lesson plans, games, crafts, recipes, all which have been helpful in solidifying our Byzantine Catholic faith in the minds of my children.  I often wished I had "known then what I know now" and I hope the things I have learned can be of help to other families who want to do the same.

God bless!