Not for the faint of heart

My friend Plamen sent me this photo to show me what my folks and I missed out on by coming into town a little too late. Bummer.

A more family-friendly entry

This is where we were...Not too shabby.

Killing Pigs

So, my kids are getting more and more geared to the coming vacation. This is obvious through their constant tangents, laziness and, let's face it, fist fighting.

But my 7b class got onto a pretty funny tangent today I let them run with for a while...But first let me recount a recent experience.

For those who are unaware, one of the long-standing Bulgarian Christmas traditions is the slaughtering of a family pig. It's a day of family togetherness, along the lines of going into the woods to find the perfect tree. Only this is in their yards, and it is much more...bloody.

I woke up this Saturday to the screaming of a neighbor's pig. Of course I rushed to the balcony to watch. It was a cold morning, gloomy, thick frost on the ground, but that made it perfect.

They were dragging the pig out of the pigpen, and he seemed to know what was coming. He was screaming and kicking and being more violent than any pig has the right to be. The men of the family brought him to the center of the courtyard and laid down on him to keep him still.

Then they began the cut. Across the throat. Slow, deliberate. The screaming is indescribable if you've never heard it. But then it happens...the moment of recognition and resignation. As the blood begins to collect on the cement, the crying stops, the thrashing slows. This might be due to the encroaching weakness from loss of blood, but I like to think that in some cosmic way the pig realizes he is fulfilling his destiny...This family has nourished him, and now he must nourish the family. The moment of death is obvious (a total-body jerk), and as soon as the pig is dead he is hoisted onto a table and the skin is blow torched off of his bones. His fat is stewed. His meat is divided up into portions. His ears are given to the kids to chew on. And when that family eats the meat it is not just meat, but rather an animal they raised and knew and cared for.

But enough of that...Back to my 7b class.

This is my class of 13 boys and 2 girls, and today was a very "boy day." While they were working in their notebooks, one kid asked another kid when his family was killing the pig. The other kid replied they had killed one over the weekend, and planned to kill another this coming weekend. Another boy asked one of the girls when her family planned to kill some of their rabbits. She said soon, to which another boy said that all of his family's rabbits had been taken down by some disease in September. The girl then looked at me and said, in Bulgarian, "Killing rabbits is the worst. They sound like children screaming."

The boys started to laugh at my mildly shocked expression and began to throw their killing stories out to me. One boy's family, apparently, had gotten their pig so fat this year that it would have taken too long to bleed out, so they shot him. (All the boys then started holding their arms like they had shotguns and went POW POW while laughing.) Another kid informed us that once his family had killed a pregnant pig, and the baby meat was the best he'd eaten ever. (The kids all nodded knowingly with this one.)

After I had had my fill of these killing stories, I forced them back on task for a while. But I can't help remarking that even though it wasn't an entirely productive class, it was an amusing one.

Good Christian Friends, Rejoice

Good Christian friends, rejoice
With heart and soul and voice;
Give ye heed to what we say: News! News!
Jesus Christ is born today!
Ox and ass before him bow,
And he is in the manger now.
Christ is born today, Christ is born today.

Good Christian friends, rejoice
With heart and soul and voice;
Now ye hear of endless bliss: News! News!
Jesus Christ was born for this!
He hath opened heaven's door,
And ye are blest forever more.
Christ was born for this! Christ was born for this!

Good Christian friends, rejoice
With heart and soul and voice;
Now ye need not fear the grave: News! News!
Jesus Christ was born to save!
Calls you one and calls you all
To gain his everlasting hall.
Christ was born to save! Christ was born to save!

Hark! the Herald Angles Sing

(Song 2....All three verses rock.)

Hark! the herald angles sing,
"Glory to the newborn king;
Peace on earth, and mercy mild;
God and sinners reconciled!"
Joyful, all ya nations rise!
Join the triumph of the skies!
With the angelic host proclaim,
"Christ is born in Bethlehem!"
Hark! the herald angles sing, "Glory to the newborn king!"

Christ, by highest heaven adored,
Christ, the everlasting lord;
Late in time, behold him come,
Offspring of the virgin's womb.
Velied in flesh, the Godhead see.
Hail the incarnate deity,
Pleased with us in flesh to dwell, Jesus our Emmanuel.
Hark! the herald angels sing, "Glory to the newborn king!"

Hail, the heaven-born Princ eof Peace!
Hail the son of righteousness!
Light and life to all he brings,
Risen with healing in his wings.
Mild he lays his glory by,
Born that man no more may die,
Born to raise the sons of earth,
Born to give us second birth.
Hark! the herald angles sing, "Glory to the newborn king!"

The start of something gooooood

Being raised in both a musical and Methodist home (and one in which my father firmly believed in singing all verses of songs), hymns are as integral a part of my make-up as my blood type. It is no surpise, then, that I find the most inspiring texts for a Christian soul are the lyrics of old time Christmas hymns and carols.

Unfortunately, I believe that the tunes are so familiar to us they begin to loose their meaning. WHen was the last time you really truly listened to yourself singing a Christmas carol? When was the last time you thought about the meaning of the words, instead of just belting out the long-remembered melody?

In the interest of resurrecting these great works of Christian art in this, one of the great Christian seasons, I will daily (okay, maybe not daily, but frequently) update this blog with the text of one of my favorite carols. Read them and think about them. I hope they make Christmas more meaningful for you.

So, carol 1: It Came Upon the Midnight Clear
(text written by poet Edmund Sears in 1849, based on text from Luke 2:8-14) I like to pay special heed to the third and fourth verses.

It came upon the midnight clear, that glorious song of old,
From angels bending near the earth to touch their harps of gold:
"Peace on the Earth! Goodwill toward men, from Heaven's all-gracious King!"
The world in solemn stillness lay to hear the angels sing.

Still through the cloven skies they come with peaceful wings unfurled,
And still their heavenly music floats o'er all the weary world.
Above its sad and lonely plains, they bend on hovering wing,
And ever o'er its Babel sounds the blessed angels sing.

And ye, beneath life's crushing load, whose forms are bending low,
Who toil along the climbing way with painful steps and slow,
Look now! For glad a golden hours come swiftly on the wing.
O rest beside the weary road and hear the angels sing!

For lo! the days are hastening on, by prophet seen of old,
When with the ever circling years shall come the time foretold
When peace shall o'er all the earth its ancient splendors fling
And the whole world send back the song which now the angels sing.