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Hollywood Fails to Anticipate Afghan Views on Dishonor in Filming of Kite Runner. The movie version of the excellent and hugely popular novel by Khaled Hosseini was filmed with an Afghan cast. Some of the actors, including the boy who plays the lead role, didn’t completely understand some of the plot elements before [...] Read More »

Many cultures color eggs to celebrate Easter and other holidays. It’s easy to experiment with natural dyes to color your eggs – you probably already have many of these in the kitchen. You can use these techniques on either hard-boiled eggs, or on empty eggshells that have been blown out and rinsed. [...] Read More »

These are the thin Russian pancakes served at Maslenitsa, or Pancake Week. They are traditionally served with sour cream, jams and honey, but feel free to experiment with fillings that include salmon or caviar! This recipe makes about 20 blini. Ingredients: 2 eggs 1 tablespoon white sugar 1/3 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup all-purpose flour 2 1/2 cups milk 1 tablespoon [...] Read More »

Made from recycled, varnished paper, jewelry made from colorful Jungle Beads make a great holiday gift.  The people at Life in Africa are selling the beads to help feed war-affected children in Gulu, in Northern Uganda, and their 4-day international shipping policy will get them to you in time for the holidays if you order [...] Read More »

Advent Calendars are used to count down the days in December leading up to Christmas. This matchbox version is easy to make if you have the materials, and can be re-used year after year. Materials: Christmas fabric or paper, cardboard, 25 matchboxes, foil or other decorated paper to wrap the matchboxes, string to hang [...] Read More »

Advent Calendars are used to count down the days in December leading up to Christmas. Here are two easy and quick ways to make your own Advent calendar: Make a Paper Chain Advent Calendar: Create a paper chain with 25 loops, creating each loop with a strip of paper that you can decorate with seasonal [...] Read More »

Here’s another easy way to make a lantern that you can light with a tea candle (careful!) or glow stick for festivals such as the Harvest Moon Festival or St. Martin’s Day. This will give you a cylindrical lantern that is easy to decorate in many different ways. You’ll need: a cheese container -- the round, [...] Read More »

If you’d like to make your own Chinese Mooncakes to celebrate Harvest Moon Festival, try this simple recipe from Shanghai, which can be made with ingredients that are relatively easy to find. Mooncakes are traditionally made using carved wooden molds with intricate patterns, but you can simply shape the dough into circles about 3 [...] Read More »

Here's an easy way to make a lantern that you can light with a tea candle (careful!) or glow stick for festivals such as the Harvest Moon Festival or St. Martin's Day. This is good to make with older children but will need supervision since it does involve some cutting. You'll need: an empty [...] Read More »

There are many holidays, such as the Harvest Moon Festival (Chinese, Vietnamese), St. Martin's Day (German) and Chinese New Year, in which Lanterns play a role. We're going to publish some ideas on how to make your own lanterns to celebrate these Fall and Winter holidays. Easy Paper Lanterns You need: colored construction paper, scissors, [...] Read More »