Easter Sangria & Goddesses

Yesterday, my abuelita called ME and asked ME a recipe. If you only knew my abuelita. I suddenly feel like I'm starting to deserve the title of firstborn daughter in a Mexican family: my own grandmother, family matriarch, culinary goddess, asked me for a recipe. My time has come: it has been verified by the ultimate authority that I know something about what goes on in kitchens.

Okay, so it's just a sangria recipe with like two steps. I made it this past Christmas and to my surprise (it was my first crack at making the stuff) the whole family loved it. Though this version is traditionally a winter drink, my abuelita wants to make it for Easter dinner tomorrow and thus it has been deemed appropriate for springtime as well. Although perhaps I should be keeping this recipe a secret (soon I'll have to start putting together secret recipes to hand down to my children and grandchildren), I do actually think it's delicious and that *you* should benefit from it. Without further ado, here ya go. Appreciate that I translated it because originally I had it written in Spanish. :)

Easter/Christmas/Anytime Sangria

Ingredients:

•1 cup apple juice
•¼ cup white sugar
•4 cloves
•3 blood orange, cut into thin slices
•2 lemons, cut into thin slices
•2 3'' cinnamon sticks
•1 Bartlett pear cut into ½’’ cubes
•1 bottle fruity red wine
•½ cup Gran Marnier
•2 cups of Gingerale

Combine all ingredients except Gingerale in a large pitcher/pot/any kind of container that will hold it all and fit in your fridge. Cover and refrigerate for at least a few hours, ideally overnight. When ready to serve, remove cloves and add Gingerale. Enjoy! Drink a lot!

Notes:
If you don't have Gran Marnier...any other kind of orange liqueur will do.
If you don't have blood oranges...regular old orange oranges are fine.
If you don't have Gingerale...Martinelli's, Sprite, any other sparkling citrusy juice will work.
If you don't have a bottomless fund for wine...try a 2010 Liberte Cabernet from Paso Robles, $10 at Trader Joe's.

On the same note, tomorrow's Easter! This has been kind of a cool week for me where special occasions are concerned. We had the first full moon of Spring and T and I passed the 2.5 years together mark, and now tomorrow we have this awesome holiday that is supposed to be about Jesus Christ rising from the dead but is like 75% pagan tradition. Eggs and bunnies are not a Christian thing! They're a *spring* thing, recognized by numerous cultures throughout history and the world.

Eostre, Eos, & Ishtar:
And the word Easter? From the obscure germanic goddess known as Eostre, or Ostara, though the latter name applies more to the Spring equinox and modern Wiccan tradition. I say obscure because the goddess rarely appears in mythology, and is known mainly for being Easter's namesake. She is said to represent dawn, and new beginnings. This could be a connection to the greek goddess of dawn, Eos. What can be said about her with certainty is that, simply, she is a Springtime goddess, and those are typically associated with abundance, fresh starts, fertility, etc.

Curiously, there is also an Assyrian/Babylonian fertility goddess with a similar name, Ishtar. Northern European and North African/Eastern Mediterranean mythology seem worlds apart; however, if Eostre is in fact associated with the Greek goddess Eos, she could be a bridge or common link between the two. All three are associated with the morning star and Springtime.

After writing this from memory (I'm going to abandon all humility here and tell you that I have an almost embarrassingly extensive knowledge of mythology), I googled the idea and found that I'm not alone in thinking they're related. Aha.

[note: despite this "extensive knowledge" that I apparently have, in my first publishing of this post I wrote that Ishtar was an Egyptian goddess. Wrrrrooongg. Although Ishtar was the foundation for another Egyptian fertility goddess, they are not the same thing. Trust me, I'm thoroughly embarrassed]

Anyway, Happy Easter everyone! I'm off to have my very own Easter egg hunt set up by my little sister. Wish me luck.

xoxo
Maralah