MAKING INCENSE

Incense is burned in a Buddhist temple. Photograph: Anuruddha Lokuhapuarachchi/ Reuters

Whilst shop-bought incense is a lovely way to scent your house, there is something much more personal and enjoyable about making your own. Making a basic incense is much easier than you would think.

First, you need to decide what you want to use. You can make a range of fragrant herbs, flowers, dried peels, spices and barks into incense depending on what is available to you; you could even harvest herbs from your own garden and make your incense from seed to smoke all by yourself.

Experiment with different combinations depending on which smells you enjoy; you might, for example, make a cinnamon, clove and dried orange peel blend for the festive season or use a mixture of cinnamon and vanilla for a warm, homely scent. You could even add some citronella to your mix to make a home-made insect repellent.

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THE PUSH: With five ways to honor (and make it through) the limbo of Winter’s End

We Revelers in the New Old Tradition recognize a time of year we call “The Push,” which begins around February 1st and extends all the way to the Spring Equinox on or around March 21st. Admittedly, The Push is not a holiday you will find on any calendar outside of our tradition. You will not find its name on any government list of holidays. Nor will you find The Push mentioned in any text book, “A People’s History of…” or otherwise. No, The Push is unique to this band of merry makers and takes its cues from the times when we could all use a little help getting through what needs gettin’ through.

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ABORIGINES LOVE ICE SKATING: New Old News Feed (January 25, 2010)

Russian dance “tribute” to Aborigines offensive to Aborigines (shocker!)

“They have got the whole thing wrong,” said Stephen Page, artistic director of the respected indigenous group, the Bangarra Dance Company. Page said there were no traditional movements in the routine, the music sounded more like it came from India or Africa than Aboriginal Australia and the body paint looked like “a three-year-old child had drawn it on….”

For doubters, think of it this way: Imagine you are Italian. And then some “black kids” come to your door smothered in grease, wearing giant mustaches, and dressed in pizza costumes saying “Eh… look-a at-a me-a… I’m-a an a Italian-a.” Then imagine all but twenty “real Italians” remain in the world because the rest were killed by State-sponsored genocide. You’d be a little antsy too.

Plus: Uganda doesn’t like living gay people; the mixed messages of war; a 16-year-old girl sets sail around the world; and most American’s dislike Islam (and the Jews)…

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