Five Favorites

Today I'm stepping in for Heather and guest hosting Five Favorites. And my good friend Laura is stepping in for me with this guest post. If you've never visited her blog, get thyself over to This Felicitous Life. She covers topics profound and mundane, and it's always a great read. I promise.

So, without further ado, here's Laura.

Non-Conventional Book Club Picks

“Why have you put ‘Wine for Her?’” she asked. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means that these are wines that women are more likely to enjoy,” said Bruce. . . .

“And why do you think women would want different wine from men? Do they have different taste buds?”

“Yes,” he said. “Women like sweeter wine. And they like bottles with more feminine labels. Everybody knows that.”

--Alexander McCall Smith, Espresso Tales

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Books with "discussion questions" at the end strike me as the literary equivalent of a "Wines for Her" shelf. I feel condescended upon, stereotyped: Woman In A Book Club = chick who probably can't finish the book, much analyze it herself, and just shows up for the wine. Grrr.

That's not to say there aren't plenty of good books that have discussion questions at the end. Still, it's a strike against them to me.

In that spirit, here are five non-conventional book club picks that my book club and I have enjoyed over the years.

The Children of Men by P.D. James: Apocalyptic thriller, a real page turner. Chilling, yet completely non-religious, vision of a world that stops having children. Don't judge the book by the movie based on it, which is very different.

The Book of Judith (in the Catholic Bible): Many Bible verses used in honor of the Blessed Virgin are taken from this book. What you might not guess is that Judith was one badass chick, who uses questionable tactics to defend her people. This book raises some puzzling moral questions that are fascinating to discuss.

Blood Brothers: The Dramatic Story of a Palestinian Christian Working for Peace In Israel by Elias Chacour: A short, autobiographical account of a Melkite Catholic Archbishop, whose community was uprooted from their homeland when he was a child, during the founding of Israel. He weaves his story in with reflections on the Beatitudes and his own quest for peace between Jews and Palestinians.

The Next Step In the Dance by Tim Gautreaux: This book has lots of conventional chick-lit ingredients- -a good-hearted, hard-headed woman and the man who loves her. But it's a beautifully written, clear- eyed look at marriage (my previous review is here), in the Southern literary tradition, with some tall- tale elements thrown in. Delicious.

Emotional Vampires: Dealing With People Who Drain You Dry by Albert Bernstein: This is psychology/ self-help in a funny, helpful format. This should be required reading for everyone entering the workforce, but if you didn't read it then, read it in your book club!

Happy reading!

Thanks for joining us for Five Favorites again this week! Let's hear some of your favorites!

Laura Recommends

Since today is Friday, I thought it would be appropriate to share this guest post from our good friend Laura. If spring is the time of love, then surely weekends are the time of movies. Said no poet ever. But you catch my drift.

I don’t know if it’s something to do with summertime or what, but these days all I want from a movie is a good laugh. I want to be entertained, I want to feel good, I want to be distracted from the stresses of everyday life. But I don’t find myself laughing if a movie is dumb or too slapsticky, or too too vulgar. So, if you feel like some lighthearted cinema, here are some suggestions spanning the last three decades:

1. Green Card

“In order to retain her beautiful rent-controlled Manhattan apartment, a beautiful, socially-conscious American woman (Andie MacDowell) has to be married, so she decides to marry a burly French composer (Gerard Depardieu), who is eager to earn a green card so he can stay and work in America.” 

Why don’t they make romantic comedies like this anymore? Maybe it’s just my massive girl crush on Andie MacDowell, but I found this a charming little story. (Also, early 1990s cinema is an interesting history-of-fashion lesson. Shapeless, ankle-length jumpers—did you know they actually were fashionable at one time?)

2. Girl Most Likely
One of many in the painful-reunion-of-dysfunctional-family-members genre, this one is much better than most of its peers. The film is guilty of some casting sins that are my pet peeves: the actress who plays the mom is only fifteen years older than the actress playing her daughter, and the same “mom” is only six years older than the “younger man” she is dating. Nevertheless, Kristen Wiig, Matt Dillon, and Annette Bening all are perfect in their roles, I think. The ending is goofy and implausible but hilarious and perfect and warmed my heart.

3. What to Expect When You’re Expecting
I wasn’t going to bother this one because it got horrible reviews. But then a very smart friend of mine recommended it, pointing out how it touched on huge life events she had been through—pregnancy, birth, infertility, adoption, miscarriage . . . . It’s all very lighthearted but still sensitive. It’s pretty goofy at times, but man, Chris Rock is so so funny (and, in this movie, you won’t have to wash your ears out with soap after watching him).


4. Mean Girls
This has become a quasi-classic but I only recently saw it. High school movies are kind of like sci fi to little, home-schooled me. Thrilling and terrifying and intriguing at the same time. All those cliques! Where would I have fit in? I like to think I would have been at least a band geek, but I’d probably be one of the Girls Who Eat Their Feelings. I’m making this sound depressing, but really, it’s funny and clever and ends on an upbeat note. Plus: Tina Fey wrote the screenplay, and co-starred along with Amy Poehler. What’s not to love?

5. Sixteen Candles
Speaking of high school flicks, can you belief this one came out thirty years ago? Thirty years??!! Was I the last one on earth to watch this? If not, I recommend it. It is filled with teenagers obsessing about sex. Still, there’s something innocent about it compared to more recent high-school themed movies (for instance, Easy A and Brick). It’s a fun blast from the past with a classic, oft-imitated romantic ending with Hollywood’s most perfect hunk.

6. It’s Complicated
Meryl Streep is so classy and wonderful and funny, playing a woman who finds herself in an affair with the loser she divorced long ago. Alec Baldwin is . . . well, his character brings several words to the tip of my tongue but I shan’t write them on Mary’s classy blog. Anyway, he plays a guy you love to hate. It made me gasp and cringe but mostly it made me laugh.

And with that, I wish you many laugh-filled evenings!

Laura is a Catholic Christian, a mother, a part-time lawyer, and a recovering overthinker. She writes monthly here at Atelier on books and culture, and blogs regularly at This Felicitous Life.

Books and Culture With Laura

Of Books and Men

by Laura Scanlon

It’s what’s on the inside that counts. 

Don’t judge a book by its cover. 

Appearances are deceiving.

The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion provides a delightful illustration of the truth behind these clichés. The book’s protagonist is Don Tillman, a brilliant but extremely awkward professor. Don, the book implies, has Asperger Syndrome but doesn’t know it.

If you or I were to meet Don, we probably wouldn’t like him much. He makes rude, inappropriate comments. He doesn’t laugh at other people’s jokes. He comes off as an argumentative know-it-all. He dresses funny.

Because he narrates the novel, however, we see Don for who he really is. We see his steady nature, his dedication, his capacity for love and self-sacrifice. We understand the logic behind his bizarre behavior. We understand why so many social mores elude him, and we ache at the pain he feels but doesn’t show.

A woman named Rosie enters Don’s world. She is intelligent and beautiful but not at all what Don imagined his ideal wife to be. She shakes up his world and he falls in love. (You’ve seen the basic plot line already in one or two or a dozen romantic comedies, but don’t let that deter you.)

We hope that Rose will look past the awkwardness and realize what a great guy Don is. We hope she learns to love him for who he is. (Hint: she does.)

The Rosie Project brought to mind a book I read a while ago, Marry Him: The Case for Settling for Mr. Good Enough, by Lori Gottlieb. (Checking it out from the library as a married woman was rather embarrassing for me. I suppose it would be embarrassing for a single woman as well. . . . It would be even more embarrassing for a man. It’s just an all-around embarrassingly-titled book, and the author got some flak for it. But I digress.) 

In Marry Him, the author recounts wasting her younger years in dating sexy, exciting, yet unsuitable men. She bypassed potential spouses who were steady, kind, and responsible because she focused on external qualities that, too late, she realized were not so important after all.

The “settling” that Ms. Gottlieb proposes does not entail resigning oneself to an unhappy marriage. Rather, it’s about looking past the exterior qualities that don’t last and focusing on the interior qualities that do. It is about Rosie learning to love Don, and vice versa.

While thinking about these books, I look over at the guy who is sitting next to me in bed playing Starcraft on his laptop. And I want to kick myself. So often I am blinded by the dirty socks on the floor and the [list of my husband’s annoying yet harmless proclivities that I shall not publicize]. In the day to day of marriage and parenting I look over (or worse, take for granted) my husband’s patience, his love, his work ethic, and the scores of other reasons he was a good catch.

Thank you, Mr. Simsion and Ms.Gottlieb, for two therapeutic kicks in the pants. And for making them so fun to read. 

Laura is a Catholic Christian, a mother, a part-time lawyer, and a recovering overthinker. She writes monthly here at Atelier on books and culture, and blogs regularly at This Felicitous Life.

Books and Culture With Laura

A Review: Women Food and God
by Laura Scanlon

I’ll start with the ending of Women Food and God, by Geneen Roth. Once a woman finds peace with food, the author proposes, a woman realizes that “God has been here. She is you.”

No . . . no. She’s not. That is to say, I’m not. Thanks all the same.

That being said: I found a lot of value in what Ms. Roth writes about women and food, even if I find the parts on God a bit lacking.

The author asks rhetorically, “What has hunger got to do with food?” For women who struggle with food obsessions (the author posits that over fifty percent of American women do), eating has everything to do with spiritual hunger but is unhealthily disconnected from physical hunger.

Ms. Roth explains that women overeat to distance themselves from their feelings and to seek happiness that eludes them elsewhere. “Women turn to food when they are not hungry because they are hungry for something they can’t name: a connection to what is beyond the concerns of daily life.” On the other extreme, some women diet compulsively seeking a sense of control and validation. “Diets are the outpicturing of your belief that you have to atone for being yourself to be worthy of existing.”

Both behavior patterns, the author explains, are forms of food obsessions and allow us to check out of life. “Obsession . . . creates a parallel world, a hologram of emotions . . . . There is madness in obsession, yes, but its value is that it drowns out the madness of life.”

Ending the obsession, according to Ms. Roth, comes through awareness: awareness of one’s feelings, of one’s true nature and, at the simplest level, one’s own body and sensations of hunger. In this regard, Women Food and God reminds me of French Women Don’t Get Fat, by Mireille Guiliano, and its motto of “pay attention.” The answer, according to Ms. Roth is to be aware and live fully the present moment you are in, no matter how mundane or unpleasant.

One of Ms. Roth’s illustrations on this point struck me: “If you focus on getting the dishes done so that your kitchen will be clean, you miss everything that happens between dirty and clean. . . . And when you miss those moments because you’d rather be doing something else, you are missing your own life.” There are plenty of kitchen- cleaning (and laundry folding and child-corralling) moments when I inhale a handful or three of M&Ms, or gobble the kids’ leftovers, even though I’m not the least bit hungry. Instead I eat to distract my senses from the drudgery, to avoid giving the task any more attention than absolutely necessary.

Moreover, the passage reminds me of a similar scene in One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp. One Thousand Gifts does not address food compulsion at all and is explicitly Christian, as opposed to the Buddhist perspective of Women Food and God. Both books, however, address the authors’ grappling with emptiness and finding fulfillment through awareness and gratitude.

I wash dishes. . . . A soap bubble bursts next to my skin. A soap bubble, skin of light and water and space suspended in sphere. Who has time for that? . . . When I fully enter time’s swift current, enter into the current moment with the weight of all my attention, I slow the torrent with the weight of me all here. . . . I only live the full life when I live fully in the moment. . . . This is where God is.

Reading Women Food and God has challenged me to be more aware of each and every moment of my day, to practice gratitute for each moment, to discern true physical hunger and not abuse food as an anesthetic. I find these challenges especially suitable now, as Lent begins. While Women Food and God is not exactly Lenten spiritual reading (please understand I’m really not reviewing it to recommend it as spiritual reading) . . . I am grateful for the challenge.


Laura is a Catholic Christian, a mother, a part-time lawyer, and a recovering overthinker. She writes monthly here at Atelier on books and culture, and blogs regularly at This Felicitous Life. 

Books and Culture With Laura

Uncomfortable Kisses From Katie

by Laura Scanlon

I’ve been reading Kisses for Katie. It’s an amazing memoir of a young woman named Katie Davis who, at eighteen years old, left a life of privilege in the United States to live in Uganda. Now in her early twenties, she calls Uganda her home, has founded a ministry there, and is in the process of adopting thirteen little girls. Thirteen!

Her story is amazing all right. But Katie Davis and I could never hang out.

She makes a commitment to be “Mommy” to these little girls. She does this without knowing how she will support them, while still promising her parents to come back to the United States, while still in a relationship with her boyfriend back in the States.

Katie writes about letting Jesus in and having her heart explode.
Just reading her story makes my head explode.

She makes me uncomfortable.

John Paul II once told a group of young people, “You were not made for comfort.”

Oh, but Your Holiness, you don’t know me personally. I am made for comfort! Really I am.

My current state in life gives me an out. I certainly can’t leave my own little girls and pack up and head to Uganda. Whether or not I’ve been entirely brave up until now, my calling for the time being is clear enough.

But it’s easy for me to get comfortable and justify it. I “need” to sleep in frequently so I’m not grumpy with my family. I “need” a comfortable house in which to care for them. I “need” coffee and chocolate and dinners out. I “need” a nice new purse. I need a nice life, dang it!

I’m not entirely ashamed of my comforts. Especially not the sleep.

But thanks to Katie Davis, now I’m just a bit uncomfortable.

Laura is a Catholic Christian, a mother, a part-time lawyer, and a recovering overthinker. She writes monthly here at Atelier on books and culture, and blogs regularly at This Felicitous Life. 

Books and Culture with Laura

An American Schlump Tries Parisian Chic On For Size

by Laura Scanlon

Encouraged by Lessons From Madame Chic, I recently picked up Parisian Chic: A Style Guide by Ines de la Fressange. The author - France’s self-proclaimed icon of chic - promises, “You don’t need to be born in Paris to have Parisian style.”

When I was growing up in the 1990s in the Deep South, style was simple: shoes match purse; fingernail polish matches toenail polish matches lipstick; earrings match necklace; necklace matches dress, dress matches eyeshadow.

So this idea of Parisian chic intrigues me but is more than a little foreign.

The author insists, “Don’t go for the head-to-toe! . . . We are all just steps from a fashion faux pas but the true Parisian will find a way to snatch a triomphe de style from the jaws of disaster.”

But how? Often enough, my outfits approach the jaws of disaster and then jump right in.



I read on, hoping for enlightening details:

• “Effortless style’ often takes, as it says, relatively little effort. All you really need is loads of self-confidence and a smile.”

So far so good. But . . .

• “Appearing to try too hard is very uncool: everyone knows the Parisian buys truckloads of fashion magazines to keep abreast of current trends, but she never lets it show!”

I don’t know, that sounds like effort to me!

• One basic is a “man’s blazer.” “Belt it,” the author says, and wear with jeans.

Like this:

Hmm:

I think I’m missing something.

The photos in this book make one lesson very clear: To look Parisian, try to be tall, thin, sixteen, with great hair, and high cheekbones.

Well, I’ll work on it. In the mean time, the author says to wear . . .

• “A parka over a little chiffon dress,”

• “Knee-high cashmere socks in all colors (khaki, raspberry, turquoise),”

• “Military medals and badges in place of a brooch,”

• “Your teenage son’s shirt with a push-up bra underneath,” but not

“cropped t-shirts,” or “too-tight shirts that gape,”

• Penny loafers, which are “absolutely essential” to the Parisian’s shoe

collection. “Team with chunky socks and jeans just short of your ankle.” 

Check! I’ve done that last one!

Kind of:

• Another staple is a navy sweater. “Understated, but more sophisticated than a plain black sweater. (Admit it: sometimes black sweaters are just too easy!)”

So . . . “effortless” is good, but “too easy” is bad. I’m confused.

• Navy blue is “risk free.”

Phew! I’m glad something is . . . .

• “Unless you wear it with yellow (in which case you are sailing dangerously close to the band colors of a certain Swedish furniture store).”

Well, drat, there goes my favorite outfit. Ikea, here I come.

Perhaps I should stop poring over the text and simply use the illustrations for guidance. 

Chic?

Hmm. Not so chic.

I give up, Ms. Fressange! I think you Frenchwomen really do have a certain je ne sais quoi that we Americans can never attain.

And perhaps that’s the whole point?


Laura is a Catholic Christian, a mother, a part-time lawyer, and a recovering overthinker. She writes monthly here at Atelier on books and culture, and blogs regularly at This Felicitous Life. 



Guest Post: Ana Jorda on Lincoln and Les Mis

Today we have a guest with us, a certain Ana Jorda. I have known Ana at a distance for years; she is the mother of one of my dearest friends. Recently, I happened upon her new blog, sunsettling, and I immediately fell in love with her writing style. Terse and poetic, slightly reminiscent of Nicole Krauss, it's the style I would choose to write myself, if such things were left up to the individual and not to God. Without further ado:

Hadn't been in a movie theatre for a year. Just saw two films in one week. Lincoln and Les Miserables. Two different impacts.

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Lincoln. Coolest intensity. Different shades of grays. Plus lots of white and black. Tremendous acting. Main and secondary actors surpassing one another. Close ups. Unapologetic ageing faces. Ode to Age. To Wrinkles. Life's maps. Some might say a man's movie. Mostly male actors. War plus the politics of war. Although Lincoln's wife made herself noticed. Yelling, crying. Strong, bossy witty. Force of nature. This a film for men and women. Abolition of slavery linked to the end of civil war a story for all. Lots of dialogue. Chaos, battles on the field and off. Surprise, humor, intelligence, stength, frailty, tenderness. Someone knows what to do with a camera, script, actors. With a team that put together a story fit to be told. Century's spiritual state of the country. Hollywood still able to deliver. When it wants to.

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Les Miserables a.k.a as Les Mis. Americans abbreviate French word that only French can pronounce to catchy cool nickname. Les Mis another impact. Different. Explosion. Of color. Passion. Heart wrenching intensity. More close ups. Top actors. Young, beautiful. But miserable. Ode to Misery. To the Poor. And they can sing. Captivating song after song. Telling compelling story. Bravo to all. Lovestruck girl with tiniest waist. Fantines's devastating disillusionment. Inspector's inner torture. Bravo to actors-singers. No easy feat. Brutal aesthetics in more ways than one. Not for the faint of heart. Last but not least, a spiritual film. No fear here calling God by name. Portraying priest compassionate imitator of Christ. Setting tone for storyline. Thief turned mayor main spiritual character throughout - good looking man of God. Bravo Hollywood for being true to V. Hugo.

Thought most films today not worth seeing.
These two proved me wrong.
New Year surprise.
Still the right stuff out there.

Happy New Year. Go see them!

About Ana: Spanish/English teacher interpreter-translator, author, poet, mom, nana as in Ananana, daughter, friend, occasional piano player and photographer, early bird who lived in different countries-cultures, traveled, learned four languages and can't wait to see what happens next.

Pics Sartorialist Style - Men

Merry Christmas! I hope that all of you good readers are still enjoying the Christmas season. As for me, I have and am. For today's post, we are joined by my sister Elizabeth,

My sis Liz, in case you didn't know...

for some Sartorialist style pics. I love seeing street style photos, and Liz captured some great shots in her European travels.  

Enjoy!

Rome, Italy

Vienna, Austria

Salzburg, Austria

Krakow, Poland

Krakow, Poland

Rome, Italy

My favorite thing about each of these looks is that the men seem as though they dressed with intention, without looking contrived or less than masculine. What do you think?

Guest Post: A Mom's Midnight Musings

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Once you see something, you can never unsee it, so be very careful with your mind and those in your care.

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Always keep a book, some paper and a pen in your purse, backpack or car. You never know when you will be stuck waiting somewhere and if you can put that time to good use you won't be so aggravated.

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Love has a lot to do with perspective. Does love mean gifts, candy, flowers? Actually, I did receive flowers once... 27 years ago... It was a miniature rose bush which my husband planted outside and then promptly ran over with a tractor, because he forgot it was there.  But my husband does get up every day at 4:30 a.m. to get ready for work to support our family. He checks my car's tires and adds oil, to make sure I'm safe. He even let my mom move in with us (his suggestion).  And as Phil from Duck Dynasty said (and I paraphrase), You know your woman loves you when she cooks the squirrels you bring home. I have cooked squirrel, deer, frog, turtle, and groundhog (twice!). There is a whole lot of love in this house!

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If you want to read a book that will make you think, and touch your deepest emotions (and cause you to mail copies to your friends), read anything by Michael O'Brien. Check out his website here.

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Mary's favorite Michael O'brien oeuvre

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Some of you may know my oldest daughter, Mary Boctor, or my youngest, Virginia Ertel, or both. They do not have the same parents. It isn't because of death, divorce, or remarriage. Its just that no siblings have the same parent (except for twins... maybe)  My DNA stayed the same, but everything else changed in that ten year span between their births. I used to wonder how kids from the same family could be so different, and now I know - different parents!

Meet Virginia. You already know what Mary looks like.

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Everyone needs a go to meal - something they can whip up in a minimum amount of time using items commonly found in their pantry. It is for those days when a doctor's visit ends up involving a side trip to the hospital for x-rays, or you pop in to see a friend and lose track of time, or college kids show up unexpectedly (and famished). Here is my go to meal: 

1 1/2 - 1 3/4 C instant rice (cooked, leftovers are even better)

1 jar salsa

1 can black beans (drained and rinsed)

1 can corn (drained)

Mix all the above ingredients. Put in a baking dish and cover with your favorite grated cheese. Bake at 350* for 20 minutes. Serve with soft flour tortilla shells or corn chips with additional salsa and sour cream on the side.

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Every kitchen needs a rocking chair. It is good for the soul and whatever else ails you.

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Similar to the old fashioned rocker that has been in the kitchen for years.

BONUS

Never, ever, ever pour cool liquid into a hot glass dish. It is amazing into how many pieces one dish can shatter, and how far those missiles can shoot. Not to mention that certain floor coverings will melt! Don't ask me how I know.

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My mom, Andrea Ertel, writes from southeastern Indiana. Her educational background is in special education, but she gets her street cred from successfully rearing seven amazing children (okay, I'm a little biased...). She has influenced me more than any other woman, both by her words and her actions. Love you, Mom!

Guest Post: Sarah on Spain's National Day

Today we have a dear, dear friend of mine joining us for a guest post. Sarah Metts writes from Denver, Colorado where she currently resides with her husband Patrick, and their son Jack. Her educational background includes history and counseling, and she spent a portion of her childhood in Spain. Sarah has taught me so much about living well and living beautifully. Please welcome Sarah.

Sarah and her beautiful family.

And I couldn't resist. School days.

Mary, thank you so much for asking me to write a guest post for your amazing blog! I have enjoyed reading your posts so much over the last few weeks, and I always find myself wondering--what took you so long to start doing this??? You are such a beautiful person on the inside and on the outside, and your sense of style is impeccable. . . I have so much to learn from you!

Now, since Mary is the expert on all things fashionable, I will leave that to her. I just want to take this opportunity to share with all of you a little about one of my favorite countries, since today, October 12, just so happens to be the national day of Spain. This is their Fourth of July, their day to celebrate all things Spanish. It also happens to be the date that Christopher Columbus discovered the new world, but to find out the real reason that today is Spain’s national holiday, you would have to go back even further than that, all the way back to around the year 40 A.D.

A few years before St. James was martyred in Jerusalem (44 A.D.) he travelled to Spain to preach the good news. He and his disciples were not meeting with much success, so as they were walking along the banks of the River Ebro one starry night, near present day Zaragoza, he prayed for help. Our Lady, who was still living in Jerusalem at that time, appeared to him, seated on a throne surrounded by angels, and she told St. James she had come to help. She asked that a church be built on the spot in her honor, where the faithful would receive all the graces they asked of her Son through the invocation of her name. She said that he would be successful in converting Spain and she gave him a small wooden statue of herself holding the baby Jesus in her arms, on a pillar of Jasper. She promised him that this pillar would endure, with the holy faith, until the end of time.

"La Pilarica"--the statue given to St. James by Our Lady, almost 2,000 years ago.

As she promised, this statue is still venerated in the beautiful basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar in Zaragoza, Spain. It is affectionately known by the Spanish people as La Pilarica (“the little pillar”—it is only about 6 inches tall), and it has survived wars with the Romans, Goths, and Moors. Miraculously, although it is over 1,900 years old, it shows no sign of decay. During the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) three bombs were dropped on the Basilica, but none of them exploded. These bombs are on display in the Basilica, and they are a vivid testament to the power of Our Lady’s promise. She is the patroness of Spain, and her feast day is celebrated on October 12, which is why this is their national holiday.

More than 30 priests celebrate Mass with the Archbishop of Zaragoza.

While all of this is an incredible story, it is not the most amazing part of the devotion to Our Lady of the Pillar to me. The best part, the very best part, is to see the way the Spanish people, particularly the Zaragozans, are devoted to her. This devotion is really not something that we can understand as Americans, we Americans who are not even supposed to wish each other a “Merry Christmas” anymore.

The dresses worn for the feast day range from the typical flamenco dresses worn by these to women. . .

to the more traditional regional dress shown on this adorable little girl.

Today, in the city of Zaragoza, 400,000 people (that’s 5 ½ football stadiums full of people) will travel from all over Spain to bring Our Lady flowers. First of all, the celebration starts on the 3^rd of October, and lasts for nine days. But today, they will get dressed up in traditional suits and dresses (or they will be dressed to the nines), they will bring their babies, they will send groups from tiny villages, they will stand in line all day, starting at dawn, and they will sing the traditional regional songs of Aragon (called “jotas”) to her, all day long. The sheer joy and love for her that you can see on this day on the faces of the people there is incredible. This devotion is not just part of their religion. It is intricately woven into their patriotism, their family life, their work, their culture, their history, and their identity. My family and I were lucky enough to go to Zaragoza last year for the festival, and here is a short video my husband took of the celebration (the mountain of flowers you see is in front of a larger replica of “La Pilarica” that is placed outside of the Church, where pilgrims place the flowers they have brought for her):

Happy feast day, and Our Lady of the Pillar, pray for us!