From the Desk of your PCA Team ..... This weekend is Valentine's day. A day, though not a national holiday, is celebrated with lots of red and hearts. The second celebration is of Vasant Panchami. Do you know the background to either of the two festivals? Today, we thought to give you some background for both of these festivals. Valentines Day There is no evidence of any link between St. Valentine's Day and the rites of the ancient Roman festival, despite many claims by many authors. The celebration of Saint Valentine did not have any romantic connotations until Chaucer's poetry about "Valentines" in the 14th century. Popular modern sources claim links to unspecified Greco-Roman February holidays alleged to be devoted to fertility and love to St. Valentine's Day, but prior to Chaucer in the 14th century, there were no links between the Saints named Valentinus and romantic love. Earlier links as described above were focused on sacrifice rather than romantic love. In the ancient Athenian calendar the period between mid-January and mid-February was the month of Gamelion, dedicated to the sacred marriage of Zeus and Hera. In Ancient Rome, Lupercalia, observed February 13–15, was an archaic rite connected to fertility. Lupercalia was a festival local to the city of Rome. The more general Festival of Juno Februa, meaning "Juno the purifier" or "the chaste Juno", was celebrated on February 13–14. Pope Gelasius I (492–496) abolished Lupercalia. Some researchers have theorized that Gelasius I replaced Lupercalia with the celebration of the Purification of Mary in February 14 and claim a connection to the 14th century's connotations of romantic love, but there is no historical indication that he ever intended such a thing. Also, the dates don't fit because at the time of Gelasius I the feast was only celebrated in Jerusalem, and it was on February 14 only because Jerusalem placed the Nativity on January 6. Although it was called "Purification of Mary", it dealt mainly with the presentation of Jesus at the temple. The Jerusalem's Purification of Mary on February 14 became the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple on February 2 as it was introduced to Rome and other places in the sixth century, after Gelasius I's time. Alban Butler in his Lifes of the Principal Saints (1756–1759) claimed without proof that men and women in Lupercalia drew names from a jar to make couples, and that modern Valentine's letters originated from this custom. In reality, this practice originated in the Middle Ages, with no link to Lupercalia, with men drawing the names of girls at random to couple with them. This custom was combated by priests, for example by Frances de Sales around 1600, apparently by replacing it with a religious custom of girls drawing the names of apostles from the altar. However, this religious custom is recorded as soon as the 13th century in the life of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, so it could have a different origin. Vasant Panchami
Vasant Panchami is the Hindu festival that highlights the coming of spring. This festival is usually celebrated inMagh, which is between the months of January and February in Gregorian calendar. It is celebrated in countries such as India.
Vasant Panchami is a famous festival that marks the end of the winter season and ushers in the springtime. Sarasvati is the Hindu goddess of the Vasant Panchami festival. Young girls wear bright yellow dresses and participate in the festivities. The color yellow holds a special meaning for this celebration as it signifies the brilliance of nature and the vibrancy of life. The whole place bursts with yellow during the festival.
People dress in yellow and they offer yellow flowers to others and to the gods and goddesses. They also prepare and feast on a special pastry called kesar halwaor kesar halva, which is made from flour, sugar, nuts, and cardamom powder. This dish also includes saffron strands, which gives it a vibrant yellow color and mild fragrance. During the Vasant Panchami festival, India’s crop fields are filled with the color yellow, as the yellow mustard flowers bloom at this time of the year. Pens, notebooks, and pencils are placed near the goddess Devi's feet to be blessed before they are used by students.
Public Life
Vasant Panchami is a public holiday. Government offices, schools, colleges do not operate on the day. However, at the same time, private offices are operational. Public transport also operates throughout the day but there is heavy traffic congestion during to processions at various places.
Background
The celebration of the Vasant Panchami is centered on the Hindu goddess Sarasvati. Sarasvati is the goddess of wisdom. She embodies the different facets of learning such as the sciences, arts, crafts and skills. She is said to be calm and collected. She is often pictured seated on a lotus or a peacock, wearing a white dress.
Symbols
The Goddess Sarasvati is the goddess of intellect and learning. She has four hands which symbolize ego, intellect, alertness and the mind. She carries a lotus and scriptures in two of her hands and she plays music on the veena (an instrument similar to a sitar) with her other two hands. She rides on a white swan. Her white dress is a symbol for purity. Her swan signifies that people should have the ability to discern the good from the bad.
The goddess Sarasvati, sitting on a lotus, symbolizes her wisdom. She is also well-versed in the experience of truth. When the goddess is seen sitting on a peacock, it is a reminder that a strong ego can be held back by wisdom.
Vasant Panchami Observances
Note: Individuals can take a limited number of restricted holidays but government offices and most businesses remain open. This system gives individuals the flexibility to take time off to celebrate a holiday within India's vast religious and cultural society. Whichever festival or both, if you celebrate, do enjoy it over this week.
Signing off for this week.......
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Upcoming Events February 25, 2016 - Westin Hotel - Cooking Demo
--------------------------- Connect Magazine
AISConnect magazine comes out in the month of April this year. It is a magazine created by the parent community for the parent community. If you have an interest in writing, editing, creating layouts for this magazine, please email us at pca@aisch.org.
Junior Master Chef
Objective: The idea is to create a Junior Master Chef for Chennai whose model can be recreated and reproduced year after year. This is a manner to create an avenue for children to learn different cooking techniques and enjoy the process of cooking. These skills will also teach kids different food palates such that they can appreciate foods from different regions of the world.
Background: We would like to give children the opportunity to cook with culinary masters in their respective fields, so that children can learn a range of techniques. With each technique, a master can expand on it, which the children can begin to understand which they can incorporate into their lives. The different cooking techniques would be:
There are three types of cooking methods to remember:
1)Dry-heat Cooking Method
2)Moist-heat Cooking Method
3)Combination Cooking Method
Foods can be cooked in air, fat, water or steam. That's it. When we say that, we're talking about the mediums required to transfer heat to your foods. Convection, conduction, and radiation.
Dry-Heat Cooking
Dry-heat cooking methods are those that utilize air or fat. These are broiling, roasting, grilling, baking, sautéing, pan-frying and deep-fat frying. Foods cooked using this method have a rich flavor due to the caramelization and browning of the foods.
Moist-Heat Cooking
Moist-heat cooking uses water or steam. They include poaching, boiling, steaming and simmering. We use moist-heat cooking to emphasize the natural flavor in foods.
Combination Cooking
Combination cooking are methods that incorporate both dry- and moist-heat cooking. The two most important methods are braising and stewing.
Braising, 50% submerged and 50% exposed, is a combination cooking method. 1
Training:
Children, who wish to take part in the competition, need not have any cooking skills. They children will be taught the skills necessary for the competition. There will be classes given over weekends in different hotels across Chennai. Children with their parents’ permission will declare their desire to take part of the competition. After declaration, parents of the children will be responsible to sign up their children in a minimum of five (5) classes up to the full course of technique classes given to children. Each class will have a base cost of Rs.1000/person. (Note: Children as well as their parents can take part of the class. The cost will be the same for both the parent and the child for each class.) After each class, there will be lunch served for all attending. Payment for technique classes will have to be done before classes begin. It cannot be done the day or week of the class. This is a requirement, so that commitment to the hotel partners is known for advance. This is a must, which cannot be changed.
Showing interest for the competition can be done either at the beginning of the season, or up to the date of the 3rd class. Competitors cannot enter the competition after the 3rd class. This will give disadvantage to the child, which we strongly advise against.
There is an initial payment for taking part in the competition of Rs.1500. This will be collected by the AISC PCA. This will be utilized by the PCA for purposes of the competition.
Divisions: There are two divisions for the Junior Master Chef. The first division will be Junior, which will encompass ages 7-11 years. The second division will be Senior, which will encompass ages 12-18. Each division will be shown the different cooking techniques.
The Junior division will be tested on 3 main dishes in total. First the Junior division will be given two recipes to create two dishes, of which one will be a main course. The second time, the Junior division will be given a surprise set of items from which they will create a singular dish which can be an appetizer, main or dessert item of their choice.
The Senior division will be tested in 5 different dishes. The Senior division will be given three recipes to create three dishes which is an appetizer, a main course, and a dessert. The second time, the Seniors will be given a few sets of surprise items from which they will need to create two dishes. One can be an appetizer or a dessert and one will have to be a main course.
Competition:
Competition will be held over a two days over a Saturday and Sunday. Currently, we are looking at the dates of April 9th and April 10th. This may be updated to be in May 14 - 15, based on other variables.
PCA Ball Date Change We have had to change the PCA ball from April 9th to May 7, 2016. We have had to do so for the following reasons: 1) we needed a location which could house up to 350+ persons as this is the 20th anniversary ball. Thus we look forward to even more participation this year. 2) we needed something which fit into a budget of rs.3500-3800/ticket for food. 3) we wanted a place that gave us either liquor in the meal price, or was going to give us good pricing for drinks overall. 4) we needed a place that gave us a good selection of food. Given these requirements, our teams did a lot of research collecting different price quotations from multiple hotels. Two hotels only give us the space - Leela and ITC. For our original date, April 9, 2016, ITC was booked. We approached Leela and got a price that was well out of our budget. Thus we approached ITC, and got a price, which fulfilled all of the requirements, but a month later. Thus as a group of nearly 30 persons, we decided that we will choose ITC on May 7th. We look for you all to join us for the PCA BALL on May 7, 2016.
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