After many years living here, we have discovered the importance in our culture of observing religious holidays. As a Westerner we have a certain emotional response to how you celebrate appropriately. The sentiment is the same here as well, but it comes from practices that are very different from the Western tradition. I'll share two with you. First of all, attending religious ceremonies is huge. Where in our tradition there isn't a service on Christmas Day, here there are multiple services. In addition to the Sunday before Christmas, after Christmas, and after New Years, there are services Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Years Eve, and New Years Day. Each on of these is at least 2 hours long - sometimes 3! In this culture who is present and who isn't are clearly noticed (and noted). This year we did our very best to attend all the Christmas services (but were worn out by the time the New Years ones rolled around). :) Second in importance is the tradition of v...
The stories and thoughts of living in between two homes.