I attended a lovely celebration on the weekend. a young friend of mine recently began menstruating and she and her mother threw a small party to celebrate.
Is this not the loveliest idea?
my friend and her mother invited a few close female friends and relatives for the afternoon.
we all wore red and brought red food to share. One friend who is Japanese Canadian brought red beans and rice which is a traditional celebratory food in Japan. Along with red Jello, red salsa and chips, red candy, strawberries and chocolate, and a red (well, dark pink) cake, we had pink champagne and pomegranate juice.
one cannot forget crafts at a gathering of women and girls! we each thought of a word to describe our friend and we made her a t-shirt using freezer paper stencils.
we also gave her a few token gifts (she reportedly said to her mother, "If I have to do this for the next 40 years I want presents.") I gave her this necklace-
which is supposed to represent a pomegranate. I latched on to the idea of a pomegranate necklace because the fruit is a symbol of fertility. until she is ready to have babies, i hope that she will be blessed with fertility in her ideas, her relationships, and her creativity.
i thought it was such a lovely celebration. it was so great to turn an event that is usually thought of with embarrassment and shame into one that was celebrated with joy and love.
