The Bitter and the Sweet

According to David, an ever present theme in Jewish culture is the mixing of the bitter with the sweet. Times of celebration are also times of mourning. The sweet fruits and nuts of the passover seder are always alongside bitter herbs to represent the celebration of redemption and freedom and the agony of generations of slavery. Even Jewish-Kurdish kubah soup, a new staple in our culinary repertoire made with beets and savory meat filled dumplings, is a delicious paradox of both sour and sweet. This week's secular holidays are a perfect example of this tradition.

Today is Memorial Day, which started last night at dusk with one minute of eerie air raid sirens. This is a day to remember the sacrifice of soldiers of the Israeli Army, victims of terror, and the members of the resistance movement during the British Mandate. (I for one am a bit tossed up in the whole Jewish resistance movement thing; only two years later than Israel's independence, India jettisoned the British with a policy of non-violence. Blowing up a hotel full of people is not exactly something I would glorify. But this is besides the point of this post and is, literally, history.)

Today at dusk, there will be a ceremony to the end the sober Memorial Day and start the big party of Independence Day which continues through Wednesday. I just checked and there are events scheduled until 3:30 am tonight, and that isn't even the party for the "youth". Tomorrow, the parks will be full of families with wee hibachis roasting kebabs (this activity seems especially popular with the Arab community). There will be concerts and street exhibits and a bunch of museums will be free.

And I, I will not be getting any more TEM done as the nanocentre will be closed. Again. After two weeks of passover and my vacation coming up, for the love of Mike, I just want to get some work done!

On the holidays I will really be getting in the spirit by mixing the sweetness of seeing a free concert in the park with the bitterness of TEM-less frustration.