all my friends have evergreens and figurines (Givingstide)
The evergreen wreath over the hearth of the Oak & Iron is a familiar sight in its own way; she's gone to so many winter parties and gatherings with similar decorations. Zivia gives it a faintly rueful smile as she comes in, and gets down to greeting friends and neighbors with hugs and handclasps and good wishes. She's brought her own food -- a sizeable chicken sandwich on homemade bread and a wrapped jar of noodle soup -- but she's happy to sit at the long tables with everybody else and partake of the hot tea, the music, and the convivial festive atmosphere.
And she's brought gifts, too. Maybe one of them is for you?
look out the window, there's snow all around (Mourner's Night)
Unlike the Givingstide celebration, the Mourner's Night procession is unequivocally a religious observance, down to someone standing in for the goddess. Zivia weighs the options and comes to a decision she can work with: she does not join or stand to watch the procession itself, but she does come to the cemetery some time after its arrival, to spend some time with those who are remembering the dead, on this communal yahrzeit.
You could ask about her own dead, but there's no guarantee she'll be willing to talk about that.
and it shines forever faithful (Interfaith Holidays)
Every night from the twenty-fifth to the second, Zivia is at the temple's interfaith space, to light the menorah or to watch someone else light and answer amein to the blessings, to sing Haneiros Hallalu and Maoz Tzur and trade melodies. She tells a few more stories beyond what's in the basic book to anyone interested, including sharing the origin story of dreidels and teaching the game to a crowd of local children. (The children don't get all the stories, though; the story of Yehudit and Holofernes is reserved for slightly older audiences.)
And of course, she joins Cecil at the frying booth at the Winter Market, because fried food is the best winter holiday tradition and she'll stand by that.
Zivia Birnbaum | OC | OTA
The evergreen wreath over the hearth of the Oak & Iron is a familiar sight in its own way; she's gone to so many winter parties and gatherings with similar decorations. Zivia gives it a faintly rueful smile as she comes in, and gets down to greeting friends and neighbors with hugs and handclasps and good wishes. She's brought her own food -- a sizeable chicken sandwich on homemade bread and a wrapped jar of noodle soup -- but she's happy to sit at the long tables with everybody else and partake of the hot tea, the music, and the convivial festive atmosphere.
And she's brought gifts, too. Maybe one of them is for you?
look out the window, there's snow all around (Mourner's Night)
Unlike the Givingstide celebration, the Mourner's Night procession is unequivocally a religious observance, down to someone standing in for the goddess. Zivia weighs the options and comes to a decision she can work with: she does not join or stand to watch the procession itself, but she does come to the cemetery some time after its arrival, to spend some time with those who are remembering the dead, on this communal yahrzeit.
You could ask about her own dead, but there's no guarantee she'll be willing to talk about that.
and it shines forever faithful (Interfaith Holidays)
Every night from the twenty-fifth to the second, Zivia is at the temple's interfaith space, to light the menorah or to watch someone else light and answer amein to the blessings, to sing Haneiros Hallalu and Maoz Tzur and trade melodies. She tells a few more stories beyond what's in the basic book to anyone interested, including sharing the origin story of dreidels and teaching the game to a crowd of local children. (The children don't get all the stories, though; the story of Yehudit and Holofernes is reserved for slightly older audiences.)
And of course, she joins Cecil at the frying booth at the Winter Market, because fried food is the best winter holiday tradition and she'll stand by that.