Diwali and the Celtic New Year

Winter 2024 in Ireland. As usual the Celtic New Year begins on November the 1st.

And, this year, it corresponds with the festival of light, Diwali which is the Hindu festival of lights. There are variations of this festival celebrated in other Indian religion as well.

The actual date of Dawili changes a little each year as its based on lunar variations.

This year it is celebrated at our Halloween, and into the Celtic New Year.

(Thu, Oct 31, 2024 – Fri, Nov 1, 2024)

In the both the Celtic and other Indian cultures, Night PRECEEDS Day.

The start of every day actually begins with that good nights sleep!

That makes sense to me.....

Of course it's also the time to gather in and make preserves for that hibernation.

I've already stocked up on Apple Jelly as you can see from the last blog so this year I'll try something (new for me) a fruit CHEESE.

The folk at Garden Allotment are much, much, more advanced on this topic and I've linked to them above.

I'll let you know how I get on.. at the time of writing I'm heading out for a 'nylon' sieve.. any excuse to enjoy a browse in the my local kitchen shop.

I'll use the crab-apples and pears that my own trees have produced this year for my Cheese. It'll be nicely matured for my Christmas Cheese Board.

Well I've found a sieve. Having checked with my cookery book it seems important that it's nylon to prevent the fruit juice from discolouring which can happen with a metal sieve. I'm going to add a couple of cinnamon sticks to the pear windfalls and the crab-apple that I've collected over the season.

There's plenty here for this which is a point of gratitude as I've only a balcony and a tiny space to grow the fruit trees.

We can also make use of the glass jelly mould that I thrifted during the Summer (seen in the first picture above) as the cookery book suggests that if they are oiled the cheese can be turned out. Hope this is the case because it'll look very nice sliced and served or given as gifts.