Seachain Aroon's Page

When? On the 6th of September 2008, at 2:00 pm

Where? At Joe B. Barnes Park in Midwest City.

From I-40 take the Air Depot exit and go east on SE 29th until you get to Midwest Boulevard. Turn north on Midwest Boulevard. Turn right at Reno Avenue. The entrance to the park is to the right before the 2nd traffic light.You will find us at the last pavilion on the left-hand side, before the soccer field.

"Obzhynky" is the Ukrainian Thanksgiving, and the culmination of the harvest. The basic word is "zhaty," to reap, to harvest. From it we have "zazhynky" - the first reaping, "zhnyva" - harvest, "obzhynky" - the harvest feast and "zhentsi" - the reapers.

The root of the word means "to cut." If we were to transport ourselves to early pre-industrial agricultural times, before combines and other modern farm equipment, we would know that the harvest cannot be completed in a day or two, especially when you're reaping with sickles and scythes.

It is traditional to assign special names to each full moon of the year, although the rule for determining which name will be assigned has changed over time. An ancient method of assigning names is based upon seasons and quarters of the year. For instance, the Egg Moon (the Full Moon before Easter) would be the first moon after March 21st, and the Lenten Moon would be the last moon on or before March 21st. Modern practice, however, is to assign the traditional names based on the Gregorian calendar month in which the full moon falls. This method frequently results in the same name as the older method would, and is far more convenient to use.

The most apparent characteristic of Minoan religion was that it was polytheistic and matriarchal, that is, a goddess religion; the gods were all female, not a single male god has been identified until later periods.
 It is not easy to describe the nature of the mother-goddess of Crete.
There are numerous representations of goddesses, which leads to the conclusion that the Cretans were polytheistic, while others argue that these represent manifestations of the one goddess.

After the crop has been gathered they hold their most notable feast, the one which the greatest number of people attend. Then only one or two stay in each house to take care of the aged and infirm. Notice is given through the messengers some days beforehand so that each may send his offering for the feast. Six days prior to this time, the men meet at the house of the captain (where there is a small temple and where a spot has previously been cleaned). The old men pray and distribute the warm drinks of foamy laurel tea.