The Easter Walk

There are certain moments from my childhood, that I will never forget. It's sweet memories and they make me all warm inside. Though Christmas is still one of my favorite memories, Easter could be right behind it....

It seems that Easter is not a big deal here in America. So far, I don't have a specific time that is dear to my heart - YET! I DO want to change that. I DO want my kids to remember Easter as family time with family traditions, not just Easter egg hunts and Easter service in church. Not that it is not important to teach them what Easter really means - believe me, Coqui's schooling this week was heavy on the Easter story! But it is also a time for family.

So my family would gather together, usually on Saturday or Sunday, though there was not a set day for this, and we would read this poem written by, probably, THE most famous German writer. It's Goethe, who wrote Faust. Now, I think most of you have at least heard of him. So in the book Faust, there is a poem called "The Easter Walk". It's a beautiful poem that we all read, one after the other. After sooooo many years, I can still recite it by heart. So today, I wanted to share that with you, first in German, in it's original language, and then I found a translation online  - so you would understand what it means.

Vor dem Tor

Vom Eise befreit sind Strom und Bäche
Durch des Frühlings holden, belebenden Blick,
Im Tale grünet Hoffnungsglück;
Der alte Winter, in seiner Schwäche,
Zog sich in rauhe Berge zurück.
Von dort her sendet er, fliehend, nur
Ohnmächtige Schauer körnigen Eises
In Streifen über die grünende Flur.
Aber die Sonne duldet kein Weißes,
Überall regt sich Bildung und Streben,
Alles will sie mit Farben beleben;
Doch an Blumen fehlts im Revier,
Sie nimmt geputzte Menschen dafür.
Kehre dich um, von diesen Höhen
Nach der Stadt zurück zu sehen!
Aus dem hohlen finstern Tor
Dringt ein buntes Gewimmel hervor.
Jeder sonnt sich heute so gern.
Sie feiern die Auferstehung des Herrn,
Denn sie sind selber auferstanden:
Aus niedriger Häuser dumpfen Gemächern,
Aus Handwerks- und Gewerbesbanden,
Aus dem Druck von Giebeln und Dächern,
Aus der Straßen quetschender Enge,
Aus der Kirchen ehrwürdiger Nacht
Sind sie alle ans Licht gebracht.
Sieh nur, sieh! wie behend sich die Menge
Durch die Gärten und Felder zerschlägt,
Wie der Fluß in Breit und Länge
So manchen lustigen Nachen bewegt,
Und, bis zum Sinken überladen,
Entfernt sich dieser letzte Kahn.
Selbst von des Berges fernen Pfaden
Blinken uns farbige Kleider an.
Ich höre schon des Dorfs Getümmel,
Hier ist des Volkes wahrer Himmel,
Zufrieden jauchzet groß und klein:
Hier bin ich Mensch, hier darf ichs sein!

(Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust I)

From Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: "Faust", translation by Edgar Alfred Bowring, 1853

From the ice they are freed, the stream and brook,
By the Spring's enlivening, lovely look;
The valley's green with joys of hope;
The Winter old and weak ascends
Back to the rugged mountain slope.

From there, as he flees, he downward sends
An impotent shower of icy hail
Streaking over the verdant vale.
Ah! but the Sun will suffer no white,

Growth and formation stir everywhere,
'Twould fain with colours make all things bright,

Though in the landscape are no blossoms fair.
Instead it takes gay-decked humanity.

Now turn around and from this height,
Looking backward, townward see.

Forth from the cave-like, gloomy gate
Crowds a motley and swarming array.

Everyone suns himself gladly today.
The Risen Lord they celebrate,

For they themselves have now arisen
From lowly houses' mustiness,
From handicraft's and factory's prison,
From the roof and gables that oppress,

From the bystreets' crushing narrowness,
From the churches' venerable night,
They are all brought out into light.
See, only see, how quickly the masses
Scatter through gardens and fields remote;
How down and across the river passes
So many a merry pleasure-boat.

And over-laden, almost sinking,
The last full wherry moves away.
From yonder hill's far pathways blinking,
Flash to us colours of garments gay.

Hark! Sounds of village joy arise;
Here is the people's paradise,

Contented, great and small shout joyfully:
"Here I am Man, here dare it to be!"

HAPPY EASTER from my family to yours!

A Boy for a King

I started a new project - something that was requested by my son.

He wanted a king's custome.

So I went online to look for a cape and pants and a shirt. It took me, surprisingly, a long time to find something that sounded easy enough to recreate and that I liked.
For the cape, I kind of followed THIS tutorial.

I think it turned out pretty good. He can use it both sides, in blue or in red. He loves it....

For the pants, I kind of followed THIS tutorial. I know I keep saying 'kind of' - I am just not that good in following all the directions - I want to add a personal note to the stuff that I am making.
And for the tunic, I used THIS. It was not as hard as I thought it would be. Actually, the shirt took me much less time than those pants.

I learned alot doing this costume. The cape was so easiest to do, for sure. It's just cutting the right lengths of the fabric and sewing it together, adding the ties in the process.
The pants took me a long time, but they are not that hard. I felt that the fabric, which is just plain solid cotton, was too thin. I mean these are play pants that will (hopefully) get a lot of usage, so I needed them a bit thicker. So I doubled the fabric. Actually, my thought was to make them in such a way that he could use either side, yellow or blue. But I just couldn't figure it out with the seems, so I gave up. It took me enough time to figure out the pattern in general.
The shirt was the hardest, especially because I jumped in the 'cold water' with the sleeves. I had never done sleeves before, but I thought a king's tunic without sleeves would just be 'royally' wrong.

The thing that I am most proud of is that I actually made my own bias tape this time, for the shirt's neckline and the sleeves. They sell bias makers in the store, but you can make it with your plain old iron at home. So that's what I did. It wasn't as hard as anticipated. I liked that it was not so thick to work with, because you know, you are working with alot of layers when using bias tape. It work out great.

And here is my happy model - he is excited that I finally finished it, because this was one of those projects that I kept procrastinating with for over a month.