Walking Down Memory Lane with St. Nina, "Mother of Georgia"

Tonight, I've been taking a walk down memory lane, looking back at how we've observed St. Nina's feast day since our family re-committed to celebrating each of our Name Days and enjoyed our first St. Nina family feast in 2013. 

That year, our annual celebrations kicked off in a rather smoky kitchen, because, sometimes, new recipes don't cook up quite the way you expect them to do so.

Still, we enjoyed learning more about St. Nina and tasting dishes inspired by the cuisine of the Republic of Georgia.

Since, then, we've continued to mark St. Nina's feast day with prayers, food, and celebration each year.

In 2014, we did so as a family.

First, though, the children practiced practical life skills, climbing up to the kitchen sink...

...to work as a team, freeing delicious pomegranate seeds.

One also concentrated on slicing cucumbers...

.... to make a traditional Georgian salad,

... while another sliced and dicde mushrooms...

.... for a Georgian-inspired dish.

Still, a third happily chopped walnuts...

...to candy and enjoy.

Then, they all helped prepare traditional corn bread...

...bean dishes, and more,

which all resulted in a full spread Georgian-inspired dishes to enjoy together...

...after prayer, finding where St. Nina may have been born and where she traveled to...

... and giving our own Nina her very own homemade "book" about St. Nina, because she had been asking why we don't have any books about her name saint. 

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We have since found two published children's books for our girl:

Saints Lives and Illuminations contains a St. Nina page...

...and The Life of Saint Nina is an entire rhyming children's book about her!

In 2015, we had a lot going on right before St. Nina's feast day and could not do much preparation, but that did not keep us from celebrating our girl's beloved name saint.

We just had to get a little creative about food choices, which resulted in us making a makeshift "St. Nina Cross" our of gluten-free toast...

... to eat with preserves (popular in Georgia) and sides of grapes (because St. Nina had a grapevine cross) and salad with walnuts and pomegranates (because both of these are common in Georgian cuisine).

A simple meal served on special dishes made everyone happy!

In 2016, we again found ourselves scrambling, trying to fit a feast day celebration in between pre-scheduled commitments, so we went even simpler - and delectably sweet!

You can never go wrong with sundaes made with blue and red berries (since St. Nina is often depicted in these colors) and walnuts (since St. Nina is considered the "mother of Georgia", having converted many there to Christianity, and walnuts are popular in Georgian cuisine.)

Yes, our sundaes were a hit!

Then, last year, in 2017, we had to go even simpler for St Nina's Day.

Nana was quite ill, so we traveled to see her one last time, and, thus, our typically festive St. Nina Day observances were put on hold.  Basically, we recalled the day, with a simple, "It's your Name Day," and prayer with our girl and allowed her to indulge in a rare treat of potato chips (because salty fried potatoes are common in the Republic of Georgia) as a happy "high" on an otherwise mostly low day when we were making prayerful and emotional goodbyes to our Nana.  

Nana passed but a week later  -  God rest her soul - and we would appreciate continued prayers as the first anniversary of her passing nears.  Thank you.

We also invite you to join us in praying for the intercession of St. Nina:

St. Nina, like you, 

may we endure hardships with faith, 

be a healing balm to others, spiritually and physically,

and glorify God in all we do and say,

growing in holiness.

Also like you, may we have a transforming effect on others through our witness. 
St. Nina, please intercede for us 

that God may save our souls.

If you would like to know more about St. Nina, visit our St. Nina Name Day post from 2013, where you'll find more information and links and, also, view this brief video, which offers a summary of St. Nina's life:

We'd love to hear your favorite prayers, resources, recipes, and traditions related to St. Nina and wish you a blessed ad beautiful St. Nina feast day.

St. Nina, pray for us.

John the Baptist's Life in Food and Water Balloon Games? You Bet!

Three years ago, I recommitted to celebrating our family's Name Days and Baptism Anniversaries.  This year, our local Catholic homeschool community committed to celebrating at least one saint day a month together.  This past week, those two commitments converged and what resulted was a fun, faith-filled party!

I had planned for our group John the Baptist party to proceed, in order, with:

• an opening prayer

• a picture book and chat about St. John the Baptist

• a hands-on Baptism learning tray

• snacks

• water balloon fun

• free play 

However, hungry bellies demanded flexibility in the flow of the day.  Since the Saint Day celebration began right after an outdoor rocketry class that had gone a bit long, it made sense to kick off with food first.

John the Baptist Fare

We opened the celebration with a chat about John the Baptist using food as a teaching tool.  Basically, all the children gathered around a picnic table on which our party fare was laid out and, after praying the Sign of the Cross, I wondered aloud what connection some of our snacks might have to John the Baptist.  Based on the children's responses and some Q&A led by me, we were able to highlight some of John the Baptist's life story.

Among the John the Baptist-related fare were:

St. John's Honey and Fruit of the Spirit

John the Baptist is said to have eaten wild honey and locusts in the wilderness, so I brought raw local honey to put in a bowl and some fruits for dipping in it.  I asked others to contribute fruit, too.  With these as a focal point, we chatted about how John the Baptist lived in the wilderness and how, when he began to teach and baptize people, others thought that, perhaps, he was the Messiah.  However, John said, "I am baptizing you with water, but one mightier than I is coming... He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit..." (John 3:16)  We, then, talked a bit about modern baptism,
 
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Iced Honey-Lavendar-Lemon Tea

Nina helped me prepare a simple honey-lavender-lemon tea by boiling water, squeezing lemons, and then adding the juice of the lemons, some raw, local honey and lavendar to the tea, before refrigerating and icing it.  The honey reminded us of John the Baptist's diet and the sweetness of faith; the lemon reminded us of the sourness of sin made sweet by accepting faith, repenting and practicing Reconciliation; and the sweet fragrance of lavender reminded us of the sweetness of Jesus coming to be with us on earth.  


Unfortunately, I forgot to bring our lovely glass pitcher and some pretty paper cups, so the tea would look lovely for serving.  Luckily, it was just as refreshing served from my friend's plastic pitcher into recycled baby food jars!

Jesus Being Baptized in the Jordan River Juice Wigglers

I made "John and Jesus at the Jordan" using the same juice wiggler recipe that I typically use, but sans any honey or maple syrup since the organic apple juice I chose for it was sweet enough!  (I opted for apple juice because (a) it has no dye in it the way blue drinks would and (b) the Jordan River often looks brown in pictures.)
 
I wanted to lay the Jesus figurine we have from our Galilee Boat with Apostles Play Set into the river, but I could not find it.  So I used one of the apostle figurines as Jesus instead and, then, stood the Noah figurine from our Noah's Ark Play Set next to him as John the Baptist.  This should have been easy, but - oops! - when I went to lay "Jesus" in what I thought was a cooled and half-gelled "Jordan" river, I took the dish of wigglers out of our fridge too quickly only to discover the Jordan was still in total liquid flow form.  Thus, a wave of it landed all over my fridge and floor.  What a mess! Thankfully, there was still plenty left to gel to act as a focal point for telling what is perhaps the most popular Bible story related to John the Baptist.

Trinity Pretzels

We had both gluten-full and gluten-free pretzels, which, I had initially thought might be used made to make "locusts" a la Catholic Cuisine's ideas.  However, when the aforementioned kitchen mishap occurred, I decided I wasn't up for more food crafting. Thus, the pretzels simply became another way of pointing us to the Trinity, just as John the Baptist pointed folks towards God.

Circle Time

Once the children filled bowls or plates with snacks, they were invited to come sit on some blankets in the shade with me where we prayed grace, read about John the Baptist and took turns using a Baptism Tray.

I had brought both The Loyola Treasury of Saints and Jesus and John the Baptist with me to the party to share with the children.  However, given the young age of some of the children who came to the celebrate, I opted to read only Jesus and John the Baptist since it had more illustrations.  
 

As we read, I paused often to discuss the significance of certain events within John's life.  I also opted to wrap our reading up before the final pages of the book in respect for our younger and more sensitive children.  I did not feel that some were ready to process the gruesome death John the Baptist faced, but rather concluded by saying the John the Baptist left this earthly life and entered Heaven.

After the story, I brought out a Baptism Learning Tray.  It was absolutely beautiful to see how engaged the children - young and older - were in the presentation I gave, which was quite similar to the one I offered my own children when I first put together a tray like this in 2013.  It was equally as heart-warming to witness each child take such care in baptizing our "baby", who they collectively named Jeffrey Andrew John Jesus.

John the Baptist's Life in Water Balloon Games

Finally, it was time for the water balloon games that the children had waited so patiently for as all our balloons were filled!  Each game was designed to remind the children of a part of John the Baptist's life story.

Mute Like John's Dad

Before the first game, I asked the children if they recalled who John the Baptist's parents were - Zacharias and Elizabeth.  We recalled how an angel appeared to Zacharias and told him that Elizabeth would have a son and that they must call him John, how Zacharias thought his wife was too old to conceive a child, and how Zacharias then was struck dumb until after John's birth.  In memory of the birth of the conception of John, the children were challenged to move water balloons from one bucket to another, making sure each child touched each balloon and not talking at all. 

That done with relative ease, they then were challenged to move the balloons back to the initial bucket without using their voices or their hands!

Leaping in the Womb

Before our next game, the children recalled the story of the Visitation.  We talked about how John and Jesus were cousins and how when Mary, withchild with Jesus, and Elizabeth, carrying John, met, John lept in Elizabeth's womb.

To recall this story, the children were challenged to hop, with a water balloon betwixt their knees, as fast as they could.

Two Tunics

For our third game, we recalled how John the Baptist was a great teacher who pointed the way toward Jesus.  We remembered how he said, "Whoever has two tunics should share with the person who has none. And whoever has food should do likewise." (John 3:11)

Then, in teams, we attempted to toss and catch water balloons using large tee shirts.  It was so much fun! 

Baptism with Water

 

Finally, we discussed again how John the Baptist baptized people in water while Jesus came to baptize us in the Spirit.  In honor of this, we had a free-for-all balloon baptism battle!

After that, the fellowship, fun and water play continued.

What a fun event it was!  Perhaps something we enjoyed will inspire a future faith-based event for you and yours.

What are some of your favorite John the Baptist books, activities, games and resources?

A GFCF St. Nina's Feast Day Tea

Please forgive the haziness of the photos in the post.  Between the poor quality of our camera and the smoke created when cooking corn cakes on the griddle between coming home from one activity and running out to work, the photos of our tea came out poorly.  They will, still, offer inspiration, I hope.

Another of our name days crept up on me this past week, and since I am re-committed to celebrating all of our family Name Days , I spent early Monday morning before the kids were awake gathering information to inspire a menu for a St. Nina tea.  This was not an easy task.  

 

I found no information online about how St. Nina’s day is traditionally celebrated and even discovered that, January 15, the date I had noted on my calendar as St. Nina’s feast day may or may not be correct.  But, more on the date question later.  First, let me share ideas for celebrating a St. Nina Feast Day Tea so others may enjoy doing so next year (or even later this year, depending on which of the many possible dates for celebrating St. Nina you would like to do so on.)

Decoration

Icon images on candles the color of St. Nina's clothing

• Print out favorite images of St. Nina to frame or put on glass candle holders, as we did.
• Since St. Nina is often depicted with a grapevine cross an a scroll, decorate the table with a cross made of twigs and a scroll of paper.
• Light a candle, since St. Nina spread the light and love of the Gospel.

GFCF Tea Time Fare

Ready to feast!

Any Georgian recipe will work, since St. Nina is patron to the country of Georgia. 

After researching Georgian fare, which I was hitherto unfamiliar with, my mouth watered and I decided that we will be adding Georgian foods to our meal rotation for a while since I want to explore many of the delicious-looking recipe that I found. 

For our tea this past week, which we had planned as a “lunner” tea (late lunch, early dinner), I decided on:

• grapes, since one of St. Nina’s symbols is a grapevine cross.

grapes left on their vines

• grape juice, for similar reasons.
• pomegranate juice, because pomegranates seem to be a part of some Georgian recipes.
• a quickie adaptation of honey candied walnuts, because Gregorian churkkhela looks far too complicated to make, but caught the kids’ eyes when they awoke while I was planning the tea and a quickie version of Gozinaki seemed much easier.

These were quick, easy and delicious.

• pomegranate seeds (for produce power, as pomegranate seemed to play into Georgian recipe fare.)

Oh, to find an easy way to get these out!

• Georgian Salad with Walnut Dressing from the Blissful Beet, which we did because we like to be plant-strong here.

It tastes far better than it looks.

• Mchadi corn cakes (because Luke always wants “a starch” and this one was an easy Georgian one to make, even if it was a bit dry.

I don't advise rushing these and cooking them on a cast iron griddle.  Smoke WILL happen.  Oops!

• Soki from the Georgia Georgian site, which we easily adapted to casein-free.

Again, it tasted so much better than it looked.

• chocolate almond milk (because no no "tea" in our home is complete without it according to our kids)
• GFCF toast (because the kids were still hungry)
• blueberries (for one of St, Nina's apparent colors), tomatoes and cucumbers (because the kids don't like dressed salads)

for the picky eaters

Other good options might be:

• this kidney bean dish.
• GFCF adaptations of any of the traditional Georgian foods listed on Wikipedia, such as Dolma or Lobio, both of which I would like to try sometime.
• Chicken Satsivi, as found on Nami-Nami, which looks delicious.
• Vegetarian Pkhali from the Traveler’s Lunchbox.

Prayer

Nina also gave thanks for grapes, which were here favorite part of our tea menu.

• Pray for the people of Georgia, who St. Nina is patron to.
• Pray to St. Nina, perhaps with the brief prayer shown at Come and See Icons.

Possible Activities

 

 
• Read the Hymn of Praise and watch the youtube video featuring images of St. Nina at Mystagogy, an Orthodox website.
• With older children or younger children who can handle it, watch the trailer to St. Nino, a movie that is in the works (or maybe already produced.  I am trying to figure that out still.)  (My kids actually wanted to watch this and liked it.  I just had them turn away during certain part.)
• Craft stick or twig crosses with the horizontal piece pointing down modeled after St. Nina’s grapevine cross, which is depicted and described at Wikipedia.  (Nina and I made twig crosses without pointed down cross bars, using twigs and floss.)
• Paint or color images of St. Nina based on the many icons for her.  (We did not do this this year since we had a busy day.)
• Since Georgia is the country that St. Nina is patron to, look the country of Georgia up on a map and, then search online or in a book for interesting facts about the country.  (My son’s favorite book for looking up country’s lately is the Not For Parents Travel Book, which he got from his godmother for his birthday.  It has some “gross” facts, but Mike and I enjoy reading it to Luke and his sibling anyway.)
• Do copywork of some of the verses said to have been on St. Nina’s scroll and then roll the papers into scrolls.  (We did not do this either, but I plan to next year.)
• Listen to a Gregorain Chant while viewing images of St. Nina and the countryside on YouTube.  (We did this in the morning, not at the tea.)
• Explore icon colors.  St. Nina is often depicted in red and blue.  (Nina not only asked me why Nina wears these colors, but if she could wear the colors for the day, too.  It led us into researching a bit about iconography and the meanings of colors.  If anyone knows of a trusted resource for exploring iconography and the meanings of colors used for St. Nina and other saints, I would appreciate it.  Please leave the name or link in the comments.)

 

Date Question

Jack doesn't care when we celebrate the day.  He just liked the corn cakes slathered with GFCF "butter".

St. Nina is honored in the Orthodox tradition for converting much of the country of Georgia to Christianity.  One Orthodox organization I found offered a thorough biography of St. Nina and listed her feast day as January 14.  Another, which offered a briefer bio, seconded that date.  However, then a site I stumbled into called Mystagogy stated that the Orthodox church in Georgia marks St.  Nina’s feast day “twice a year:  on June 1 – the Entrance of St. Nina to Georgia and on January 27 – the day of her passing away.”  Hmm... I decided to try searching “Catholic” and “St. Nina” instead of just “St. Nina” to see if I could discern a more “correct” date to celebrate my little girl’s namesake.

 

Doing so, I found Saints.SQPN,  a Catholic site which listed St. Nina’s feast days as January 14 and 27, much like Mystagogy did and Catholic Online, which went the non-commital route and simply listed St. Nina’s feast day as “January”.

 

Oddly, I also found information about St. Nina’s Feast Day date at Yeah Baby.  There, there were  a variety of Name Day dates based on what country the saint is celebrated in, but none for American Catholics.  (For the record, after viewing the list, I was tempted to delay our celebration until July 12, since that is when St. Nina’s feast day is celebrated in Slovakia and since one of the reasons we chose the name Nina for our little girl is because it is a saint’s name, a Slovak name – which would honor part  Daddy’s heritage – and an Italian nickname – which would honor part of my heritage.  But, I had already mentioned to our Nina that her Name Day was coming up.

 

So, I turned to Wikipedia, which although hardly a definitive source, gave me some insight into both when to celebrate St. Nina and what the differences between the Roman Catholic view of St. Nina and the Orthodox one are.

 

Then, curious if I could find more about the Catholic take—or even a “correct” Catholic day for honoring St. Nina, I tried searching the Vatican website.  The only mention I was able to find about St. Nina was in the Address of John Paul II to Ilia II, Catholicos Patriarch of the Ancient Apolistic Church of Georgia.  It did not help me with the date question much, but it did corroborate the fact that St. Nina was a great evangelist.  (The mention was that, “In time of peace and in times of persecution alike your Church has born a faithful and exemplary witness to the Christian faith and the Christian sacraments, a witness borne by many holy men and martyrs from the days of St Nina onwards.”)

 

Perhaps with further research at the Vatican site and elsewhere I could determine the actual date on the Catholic calendar for celebrating St. Nina, but since I did not have time for that on Monday morning, I went with the 15^th for this year since that was what I had on the calendar and would welcome anyone who knows about St. Nina to leave me information about in a comment.  I want to know more about my little girl’s namesake.

 

Luke, too, preferred the corn cakes over everything... Well, everything except the juice and chocolate milk.  For our kiddoes, such sugary drinks are a favorite indulgence on feast days.

Do you celebrate Name Days in your house?  How?  Also, can you offer any insights about when to celebrate St. Nina or share stories and resources about her?  

 

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