sacred heART

Holy Week is the sixth and last week of Lent - beginning with Palm Sunday and concluding on Holy Saturday. Sunday to Sunday to celebrate the Christian festival of the week, culminating in Easter - here is the story explained in classic images. 

fresco of the trial and beating of Jesus - 17th century, St. John the Baptist Church 

The Passion of Christ (from Latin patior - "to suffer, bear, endure") is the short final period before the death of Jesus, described in the four canonical gospels.

midwinter vigil

Yule is a twelve-day festival beginning December 20th - Mother’s Night, when the celebration of Yule officially starts.

This is the day known as Mōdraniht in Old English, and Mother’s Night in modern - we honor and offer thanks to our female ancestors, those who watch over our families and help us in times of need.

Edgewater, New Jersey, 20 December 2023

The winter solstice is often seen as the pivot on which the year rotates, the shortest day followed by the longest night after which the days grow longer again. The solstice is a pause at the darkest part of the year. The power of incubation and Gaia’s darkness are gratefully honored at this festival as the Sun returns.

year end 2023

The holy days are the oasis of our soul where we ritually recalibrate ourselves - express our full spectrum of expression, our innate being, in worship and devotion. Rejoice! For the Light is birthed once more as we rediscover body and divinity are one and the same. 

There is the breath of the holy passes our lips - a kiss of renewal on every brow, a cry of awareness kindled, the fresh taste of wonder ignites awe - sparking joy within, reborn on this day.

cathedral in Imus, Cavite

Infused with joy and sublime gratitude, our choices and actions made more potent. Rites of celebration and honor open the weave - inviting all the tender ways of the sacred. The unbroken ancestral connection back to ourselves.

grace & gratitude

A great people traveled from the north and west. For many, many years they moved across the land, leaving settlements in rich river valleys as others moved on. Reaching the eastern edge of the country, some of these people settled on the river later renamed the Delaware. 

Others moved north and settled in the valley of a river where the waters, like those in their original homeland, were never still. They named this river Mahicannituck and called themselves the muh-he-con-neok, the people of the waters that are never still…

Henrik Hudson Entering New York Harbor by Edward Moran

Chronicled by late-1700s Mohican historian Hendrick Aupaumut, tells the story of the people who truly discovered America, including the river valley in which we now live. 

The names of the river and valley were usurped by a man named Hudson, whose people came from the east and nearly obliterated a history that stretches back perhaps 13,000 years.

value & importance of consciousness

For last year's Epiphany post, wonder | wander | women had yet to absorb the full impact of the January 6 riot at the Capitol by Republican cronies and Donald Trump supporters. 

January 6 riot at the Capitol - Samuel Corum/Getty Images

On today's Feast of the Epiphany, we are reminded that an insecure ruler was so threatened by the birth of an infant that he tried to overthrow the result by putting a hit out on a lone newborn.

Attack on the Capitol a year ago. Erin Schaff/The New York Times

The word epiphany is defined as that moment of sudden understanding or becoming conscious of something valuable or important. Much of 2020 caused epiphanies to be revealed and manifested to us in so very many ways. 

holiday countdown

Contrary to popular belief, the theory that the lyrics to “The 12 Days of Christmas” are coded references to Christianity, has been debunked. 

While it posits that the song was written to help Christians learn and pass on the tenets of their faith while avoiding persecution - the song really isn't a coded primer on Christianity. 

celebrating online, 2020

Forever the irreverent resisters, wonder | wander | women created our own version this year to celebrate our reunion Stateside - finally, COVID be damned! The Countdown begins. . . .now. 

Pentatonix version of 12 Days of Xmas

On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me. . . .a partridge in a pear tree.

The partridge in a pear tree of course represents Mahala - only and fave spawn of Issa. Whose arrival Stateside is the best Christmas gift for us both.

a truth giving holiday

Thanksgiving is the third in a line of problematic holidays of the fall season — holidays that may seem harmless, but that actually have a grave effect on the well-being of Native Americans. 

Thanksgiving myths vs Indigenous history

The other two are Columbus Day and Halloween. From the second Monday of October to the fourth Thursday in November, Native Americans are hammered with a barrage of racially offensive, culturally appropriative, and historically inaccurate tall tales. 

Thanksgiving Story | Smithsonian Channel

The list is extensive - Columbus Day parades, statues, speeches, and sales; offensive Halloween costumes; Pilgrim and Indian paraphernalia; and of course, all the parties, events, and classroom activities that our children are subjected to. 

August 2020 world wide events

wonder | wander | women are happy to include all and enjoy wide and diverse occasions to celebrate. August is a month that packs many special holidays - both enjoyable and solemn.

Religious festivals, stellar sights, harvest celebrations, cultural extravaganzas - even with most of the public gatherings significantly scaled down due to travel restrictions or pandemic lockdowns - communities and families gather together more intimately.

Perseid Shower - Tucson AZ - Eliot Herman

Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas!!! This Christmas we greeted faraway families and celebrated with friends as the winter got chillier than ever.

Photo by Jamie Kurihara

mixed blessings

wonder |wander | women are always eager and excited to honor and celebrate a variety of diverse occasions, traditions or beliefs.

Back home on Negros Island

We were born and raised in a mixed household. Filipino by birth nationality. Spanish on our grand/father's side. Chinese on our grand/mother's side. Benedictine Catholic in education. Taoist in practical application.

East Coast, United States

Now that we have relocated to the western hemisphere we added the celebration of Jewish holidays as well. We are all too happy to be celebrating the new year three times each year now - on January 1, on Chinese New Year and on Rosh Hashanah.

London, United Kingdom

wet & wild weather

As Spring moves to Summer this Memorial Day weekend, wonder | wander | women tumble like dandelion fluff through weird weather fluctuations.

room with a view - on a blue vs a gray day

Sudden thunderstorms have us panting in greenhouse tropical heat and humidity one minute. The next moment we are chilled and clammy, shivering as temperatures drop drastically.

MAY feasting flavors & festivities

Only on our eighth day of May and wonder | wander | women have been celebrating each day with fun and festive feasts.

May 1 - May Day, Beltane, US Labor Day 

life along the Hudson River

The US half of wonder | wander | women has lived in Hudson County for ten years now. We easily cross the Hudson River countless times through its bridges and tunnels to get our New York City fix. 

Autumn - On the Hudson River, 1860 by

Jasper Francis Cropsey

The proud consensus is that life along either side of the Hudson River is best highlighted in autumn - leaf peeping season in these parts. When the leaves start changing their colors in brilliant hues of yellow, orange and red the whole landscape shines in a blaze of glory. 

Discovery of the Hudson River, 1874 by Albert Bierstadt

September | signs & symbols

September has always been a special month for wonder | wander | women. For may reasons, both personal and more.

Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry

Starting with September 1 - Mahala's birth day and Issa's labor day. We never tire of the specialness of this day for us. It truly is life changing for us both.

At the Met entrance for Heavenly Bodies

September 1 also marks the beginning of the meteorological autumn in the Northern hemisphere and the beginning of the meteorological spring in the Southern hemisphere.

holidays with friends

This year in London was all about partying with friends! Having family a Skype or Facebook call away eases some of the loneliness of living overseas, but having friends living in the same city means that the holidays don't have to be lonely at all.

Somerset Skate: a holiday tradition

Every winter season a tradition pops up at some of London's more popular tourist attractions. The Museum of Natural History, Broadgate Circle, and Somerset House (among other places) open their courtyards to host ice skating!

partying at the Freemasons Hall, London

wonder | wander | women are professed lifelong bookworms and nerds and landing a job at Blackwell, London's venerable and beloved iconic bookstore, was like manna from heaven. 

Mahala at work

Then Blackwell opened its branch attached to the Wellcome Collection, which we eagerly dove into. We truly were in seventh heaven, exploring common and obscure links between the art and science of medicine and clinical practice through the ages.

Wellcome Collection museum and library building facade.

Thus does an avaricious trivia collector and book lover transform into a story seller and events programmer. We have developed an outstanding range and varied expertise from this incredible well of knowledge we are exposed to and immersed in.

holiday preparations

'Tis the season to plan parties! Everyone is getting ready for holiday celebrations and pre-holiday celebrations. People are planning flights and get-togethers, practicing their special dishes and holiday 'looks'. Cafés replaced the pumpkin spice lattes of autumn with their 'Christmas menu' and it's a joy for wonder | wander | women to discover who puts the most marshmallows in their hot chocolate.

We vote for Benugo.

Thanksgiving : truth & consequence

Last year's Thanksgiving post by wonder | wander | women seems so very far away and removed from the world we live in today.

So much has happened in the intervening year, much of which has left us astonished and astounded, bemused and bewildered, righteous and raging. A world where much has dimmed and dulled.

Happy Holidays!

Some friends in the more suburban reaches of Greater London invited us for a glorious Christmas weekend. We spent three days in the company of dear friends and revelled in eating, drinking, playing 'auntie' to our friends' children, and enjoying time with people we love but don't seem to see often enough.

Picture courtesy of Jamie Kurihara, via Facebook