Shavuot שבועות

Last week, on the 19th, was Hag Shavuot חג שבועות (Hag = Holiday). As with all Jewish holidays, it started on the even at sundown. It's one of the three holidays during which the Israelites are supposed to pilgrimage to Jerusalem (Sukkot and Passover being the other two). You can probably thus figure out that it's kind of a big deal. Why? you ask. Well, I'll tell you (though the wiki link is obviously more complete).
It commemorates the anniversary of when God gave the Torah to the Israelites at Mount Sinai. As a result, it is during this holiday in a ceremony, that Jewish children receive their first Torah - though I can't remember at what age. I think I got mine when I was around 8 or so. The holiday is sometimes referred to as Hag Matan Torah חג מתן תורה (Holiday of the Giving of the Torah).
Shavuot is also known has Hag Haktzir חג הקציר (Holiday of the Harvest) and Hag Habikkurim חג הביכורים (Holiday of the First Fruits) - the explanation as to why can be found on wiki. This means a wonderful meal of dairy, fruits, and flowers in your hair! And everyone wears white. Because of the harvest significance, Shavuot is best celebrated on a kibbutz where agriculture is abundant, and ingrained in the lifestyle. So much so, that my maternal aunt asked to join me when I went to my paternal aunt's kibbutz to celebrate.

The eve was pretty quiet with a simple dairy dinner (Us Jews distinguish between a dairy meal and a meat meal. Kosher restaurants will have 2 separate menus, and often even separate dining halls, and certainly different kitchens).
I then joined my aunt in some dancing, rikudai am ריקודי עם (National Dances/Folk Dances). I didn't know most of them, but their easy enough to pick up. They all use similar steps and just repeat after 8 measures or so. Check out the videos :) I don't know if you can spot the man in the white shirt and black pants in the center, but he was the one who knew all the dances and taught us - or rather, we would just follow him and hope for the best.





The next day (the 19th, day of the holiday) I spent the morning cooking/baking with my aunt - cheesecake, lemon yogurt cake, borekas (puff pastry filled with cheese, meat, or potato - we went with cheese, tomato, mushroom, and olive), pasta, salad.... all sorts of yummies! Unfortunately, my maternal aunt, cousin, and cousin's kids didn't end up staying so there was lots of left over food - that I then took with me back to the kibbutz :)
















































During the day we made flower crowns, the kids enjoyed petting rabbits (some of which are my aunt's), made pitot (plural of pita), played in the kids area, and there was a nice ceremony marking the holiday. They talked about the harvest, walked calves across the stage, did some folk dancing with the kids, announced all the new births of the year, etc. It ended with a dance in which men wear mini-skirts. My aunt tells me that a group of comedians made it up, and it's spread around the country, preformed by locals during Shavuot just for fun.

Note: I wanted to put up the pita pictures in chronological order as my cousin's kid made it - but they loaded backwards and you all know how I feel about formatting on this blog. Sorry!

























































































































Well, I think that's enough about that topic :-P Hope my posts aren't too long for all of you!