Summer
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Solar Disk for the Summer Solstice
Each year at the solstice, I make a sun mandala of grapevine with two cross arms. The outer circle represents the wheel of the year, and the arms of the cross symbolize the four seasons. I hang it high in my apple tree to remind me of summer all year long.
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Tanzaku for Tanabata
Tanzaku are a petition to the Shinto kami- the spirits of nature and one's ancestors. When I write a tanzaku, then, I am petitioning God, so I am thoughtful about what I ask for.
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Dorodango (Shiny mud ball) for New Lotus Moon
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Rakhis for Raksha Bandhan
A rakhi is like a friendship bracelet, made with braided embroidery floss, silk thread, and with a decoration shaped like a flower in the middle. Before the festival, the markets in India are filled with dazzling rakhis, in different sizes, colors and shapes, embellished with beads, gold or silver threads, or satin ribbons.
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Clay Ganesha for Ganesh Chaturthi
In Hindu tradition, one gains blessing and protection by making eye contact with the image of a god. For this reason, it is common to buy clay sculptures or plaques of your favorite gods. Terracotta Ganesha figures are sometimes very large. The potter makes them of thin slabs of clay, and presses carved stamps into the soft clay to make designs.
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Corn husk dolls for the Ripe Corn Festival
Native American children's toys and dolls are often intentionally made of perishable materials like corn husks, palm leaves, or bundled pine needles; as the child grows up, the toy naturally ages, falls apart, and returns to the earth.
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Rangoli design for Navratri
Rangolis are rice flour designs, made on the floor or a metal plate. At Navratri a new design might be made each day, with dots, squares, flowers, birds, and so on- each one designed to welcome the spirit of the Goddess.
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Peace paintings for the International Day of Peace
Each year I choose a project for Peace Day. One year we made peace flags; once I invited friends to watch a video about Peace Day; and once we made a peace poster in my art class. Last year I found the website for Pinwheels for Peace, and I was inspired to make pinwheels with one of my students. (That project is described here.) This year we painted for peace.
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Fall
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Straw doll for Autumn Equinox
Wheat and straw weaving is an ancient art form, done all over the world, as a symbol of the harvest. The custom in Europe was to make a straw figure out of the last sheaf of wheat that was harvested, so the spirit of the grain had a place to live through the winter. Then it was planted again in the spring.
I usually make a simple straw figure with just a few stalks of straw and scraps of fabric.
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Rangoli for Navratri
Navratri comes in the spring and fall. Rangolis are rice flour designs, made on the floor or sometimes on a metal plate. This rangoli shoes the feet of Lakshmi, the Goddess of success.
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Floating lanterns for the Mid-Autumn Festival
Lanterns are a key part of the Mid-Autumn Festival. Some families make handmade lanterns, including small lanterns to float, like these waterlily lanterns.
A Prayer Stick for Indigenous Peoples Day
A prayer stick is a southwest Native American tradition; it’s a stick made as a prayer or wish.
Diya Lamps for Diwali
The word Diwali is short for Deepavali, which translates into "row of lamps"; people set out hundreds of small diya lamps filled with oil for this festival, to celebrate the triumph of good over evil.
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Runes for Winter Nights
Runes are an ancient writing system created about 100 - 200 AD by Germanic tribes and spread all over middle and northern Europe by the migration of these tribes. They are found inscribed onto stone, bone, and metal, and were used for poems and ornamentation, as well as divination.
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Paper banners and skeleton sculptures for the Day of the Dead
The ofrenda needs delicate cut paper banners on the front edge, on the wall behind, and on the ceiling overhead.
Almost every year we make new skeleton sculptures to put on the ofrenda. It's tricky, but so much fun!
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Advent wreath for Advent
The advent wreath custom began in Germany in the 1600’s, but the symbols of the advent wreath are powerful and ancient.
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First week of Advent:
Plant paper white bulbs now to (hopefully) bloom indoors at Christmas (about 4-6 weeks).
Luminaries
This simple recycle craft is a nice gift as well as a good advent decoration.
This simple recycle craft is a nice gift as well as a good advent decoration.
Each year I make a few more reusable fabric bags to hold gifts. I think everyone appreciates my wish to conserve paper, and they can save the bags to wrap their own gifts next year.
Evergreens are a symbol of eternal life, and also symbolic protection against trouble. Today I bring the protective spirit of nature inside
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Second week of Advent:
Time to start to stockpile small gifts to give to neighbors and friends, and to use as stocking stuffers.
Traditionally, it was St. Francis of Assisi who made the first crèche, in honor of animals who shared the stable with the baby Jesus.
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Fourth week of Advent
I still need some stocking stuffers- These bath balls are a lot of fun in a hot bath, and very soothing.
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Winter
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Plum Tree Calendar for the Winter Solstice
Before the Winter Solstice, people in China sometimes paint a plum tree with 81 white flowers. The plum blossom symbolizes longevity, hope, courage, and the promise of spring. They color one flower red each day. At the end of nine-times-nine days, 81 red blossoms will welcome the spring!
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Prayer Feathers for Soyal
This is a traditional Native American charm. Hang the feathers in a tree branch or someplace outside where Brother Wind can touch them.
Each time Brother Wind moves, your feathers move also, and your dreams and hopes are carried to the sky. Your prayer feathers might also reach out to others so that their hopes and dreams are carried to the sky.
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3 King's and 1 Befana for Twelfth Night
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For New Years:
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Chinese writing and Omamori for Kakizome Day
I like to make my goals visible, so I made this collage postcard of my 2018 resolutions to pin to my bulletin board.
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Chinese writing and Omamori for Kakizome Day
Kakizome means "first writing". Today people all over Japan will take time to use a brush and sumi ink to write out a favorite quote or phrase- the first calligraphy of the new year.
Kakizome is a way to express your positive wishes for the New Year.
Starting at dawn on New Year’s Day, Japanese people flock to shrines and temples to offer prayers and wishes for the New Year. While there, each person buys a new omamori, a traditional Japanese cloth charm, and returns last year’s omamori to be burned.
3 King's and 1 Befana for Twelfth Night
Very little is known about the Magi, except that they were of a class of priestly scholars, probably from Persia. Colorful legend has given them names and made them symbolic of all the races of the world; even their number- three- is pure myth.
Women paint new rangoli designs each day for Pongal, onto the floor or the ground outside. Rangoli painting is an art handed down from mother to daughter in all parts of India.
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For Martin Luther King Day:
For Martin Luther King Day:
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Rangoli for Vasant Panchami
People make rangoli designs on the ground in front of the door of the house with rice flour and flower petals, to welcome Saraswati.
The Bridget’s cross is an ancient symbol of the sun and the seasons. It's hung by the door or in the rafters to protect the house from fire, which is always a threat in Irish houses with thatch roofs.
Or you can make one using pipe cleaners- easy enough even for the six-year-olds in the group! Instuctions are here.
For Chinese New Year:
Chinese families love to hang colorful Nian-hua (New Year pictures) all through the house before Chinese New Year. These are also called "happy and lucky pictures", because they show symbols of the things folks long for in the new year: Good-luck, wealth, long life, and happiness.
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| My students make their own nian-hua showing what we want the new year to bring us. |
Beautiful Chinese calligraphy is another traditional decoration at the New Year, especially the fu character, which means luck.
It is traditional at the Chinese New Year to give these red envelopes to children and young single people. Most Asian stores carry them in an assortment of designs, or you can always make your own.
Today it's traditional to hang new papercut pictures all over the house. They are sometimes called huang hua, window flowers, because they are glued directly on to the windows. They hang also on the ceiling, walls, doors, mirrors, and lanterns.
The prosperity tree, or money tree, is a tree-shaped charm with coins for leaves, meant to help bring wealth and good fortune to the family.
Effigy doll for Maslenitsa
The Maslenitsa doll is a representation of Jarilo's sister, named Morena or Marzanna, the goddess of death, winter and nightmares. The symbolism is of death and rebirth: Burning away the winter so that spring can return.
The effigy can be any size, from a small doll to a life-sized statue.
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Garden Markers for St. Dorothy's Day:
I decided to mark out where some plants will go as spring comes, so I made some garden markers...
A screen mask for Mardi Gras:
The Cajun celebration today in rural Louisiana is called the Courir (pronounced Coo-REER) de Mardi Gras, or the Mardi Gras Run. It’s a begging ritual, similar to Halloween; people ride around the countryside on horses, wearing masks and costumes, and beg for ingredients to make a gumbo.§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§
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| Paper spring in action! |
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Hina Dolls for Hina Matsuri:
In the days leading up to Hina Matsuri, children display a collection of dolls, including the emperor and empress dolls with many attendants. These hina dolls are often very elaborate, but children also make simple dolls, using origami paper for beautiful kimonos.
You might also like to make these beautiful paper boats to carry your dolls away.
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Wear the green for St. Patrick's Day:
In Ireland, it’s an old custom to wear a shamrock or a green ribbon pinned to your clothes on St. Patrick’s Day. This year I made a shamrock pin.
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Spring
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Prepare the Sabzeh for Nowruz:
These sprouted seeds are called the sabzeh in Iran, a symbol of new life. Lentils or wheat are traditional; I planted a mixture of wheat and rye grain that I had in the cupboard for a cover crop.
After two weeks the sprouts are tall enough to make a good show. To prepare them for the table, we wrap them up with a red ribbon.
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Make a rangoli for Navratri:
Rangolis are rice flour designs, made on the floor or sometimes on a metal plate. At Navratri, Hindus make a new design each day- with dots, squares, flowers, steps, birds, the names of Shakti, designs from Shakti's hands, patterns of her trident and, on the ninth day, the Lotus of the goddess's heart.
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A Palm Cross for Palm Sunday:
As Jesus entered Jerusalem the gathered people threw down palm fronds before him, which were a symbol of triumph, and the national emblem of an independent Palestine.
It's a custom on Palm Sunday for many Catholics to receive palms at mass (which have been blessed) and then weave them into various shapes. I decided to weave some crosses, but I didn't have any palm fronds, so I tried some other kinds of leaves- the green cross is made from fresh day lily leaf, and the other two are bamboo leaves.
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Cascaróne Eggs for Carnival or Easter:
Mexican children make a large number of cascarónes at Carnival, Easter and also at birthdays and weddings. These confetti-filled eggs are easy to make, and then you sneak up on someone, holding a cascaróne hidden in your hand, and smash it (gently) on your victim’s head like a miniature piñata!
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I have three favorite natural egg dyes, made with onion skins, red cabbage, and turmeric.
Pysanky Eggs
In Eastern Europe eggs are decorated with the wax resist method. Very complex designs are created with many layers of wax and dye. People give pysanky to friends at Easter as a good-luck token.
In Eastern Europe eggs are decorated with the wax resist method. Very complex designs are created with many layers of wax and dye. People give pysanky to friends at Easter as a good-luck token.
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Gold Ingots (Yuan Bao) for Ch'ing Ming:
One tradition on Ch'ing Ming is to burn fake money for the deceased to use in the afterlife. This comes in the form of printed paper money and folded gold ingots, called yuan bao. They ar easy to fold, once you get the hang of it.
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Sand pagoda for Songkran:
It's a tradition at Songkran to bring bowls of sand to the temple to replace what you might have accidentally carried away on the bottom of your shoes. People then used the sand to build sand pagodas in the temple courtyard to make merit.
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Mother's Day heart pillows:
These sweet pillows have a pocket on the front to hold Mother's Day coupons or other small gifts.
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The Otomi Indians of Mexico are famous for their textiles. They use a special kind of satin stitch that only appears on one side of the cloth, called the Otomi Stitch, or the herringbone.
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Flower Vases for Shavuot:
In order to maintain a link with the agricultural nature of the festival, I decorate the house with flowers and greens.
We made some beautiful vases with recycled peanut butter jars, and filled them with flowers for the table.
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A lantern for Wesak:
Many Buddhists in Asia decorate for Wesak with flags and elaborate lanterns. Here are instructions for a tissue paper lantern called an atapattama. The frame is made with bent wire and masking tape, covered with tissue paper.
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Mendhi Designs for Eid al-Fitr
During the Eid celebration some people decorate their hands with patterns called mehndi. They might also decorate their feet or even their foreheads!
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Xiangbao Sachet for Dragonboat Festival:
At the start of summer Chinese mothers tie xiangbao (pronounced shang-bow) sachets around the necks of children, to keep illness and bad spirits away. Xiangbao are usually silk, and they come in any imaginable shape and size- a simple pouch, butterflies, hearts, animals- and they often have an embroidered design and a long red tassel.
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