Mother’s Day from Then to Now

Text by Helen Lepp Friesen

Historians maintain that Mother’s Day originated many centuries ago during Greek and Roman festivals. Greeks dedicated their annual spring festival to Rhea, the mother of many deities. Ancient Romans made offerings to their Mother of Gods, Cybele. Christians originally celebrated Mother’s Day on the fourth Sunday during Lent to honour the mother of Christ, Mary. In England this day was later called Mothering Sunday and was extended to honour all mothers.

In the late 1800’s Anna Jarvis, an Appalachian woman, in efforts to raise awareness for the needs in her community, organized a day called Mother’s Work Day. Anna Jarvis died in 1905 but her daughter, also Anna, campaigned to continue her mother’s work by lobbying businessmen and politicians to create a holiday to honour mothers. In 1908 a church in West Virginia celebrated their first Mother’s Day. At this service Anna handed out white carnations. They were her mother’s favourite flower.

In 1914, Mother’s Day became a national holiday. People observed Mother’s Day by attending church services, writing letters, poems, and later sending cards, flowers and presents. This tradition continues to the present day.

Mother’s Day is celebrated the second Sunday in May and is the busiest time of the year for restaurants and telephone lines as sons and daughters around the world take time to express gratitude to their mothers.

Here are some ideas for intangible Mother’s Day gifts whose worth cannot be measured in price tags:

Find out what your mother’s favourite music was when she was younger. Then look for the album and serenade her on Mother’s Day or request her favourite radio station to play a tune from it.

Since restaurants are often crowded on Mother’s Day, make her favourite food, pack it in a basket and head out to a park for a Mother’s Day picnic.

Make a treasure hunt for your Mother and send her scurrying around the house and yard to find the present you got her.

Get your mother flowers that she can later plant outside so she can enjoy them for a whole season.

The Art of Ukrainian Egg Painting – Pysanky

Text by L. Baker

Pysanky, or the art of Ukrainian egg painting, is a 2000 year old art form which transforms an egg into an incredibly detailed work of art. The artist will begin with a raw white egg which is a symbol of life and rebirth. They typically use heated bees wax to draw intricate designs onto the shell. After the designs are etched onto the egg, it is then bathed in a series of dyes. The design progresses with additions after each dye color. Once the design is completed, the wax is removed, polyurethane protection is added and the raw egg is blown from the shell. This process can take several hours and can be a very delicate, detailed job, but the end results are spectacular.

Ukrainian Egg symbols and colors have special meanings.
Yellow denotes youth, happiness, and love.
Light blue denotes sky with its life-giving air and good health.
Red indicates sun, happiness in life, hope and passion.
Orange is for the everlasting sun.
Brown represents the earth bringing forth bounty.
Pink indicates success.
Light green denotes breaking or shackles and freedom from bondage.
Dark red represents harvest, gathering fruit in the fall.

There are some essential tools used in Pysanky. The Kitschy, a tool with a various drawing ends attached to a brass handle (you can also purchase electric ones). It is used to draw the beeswax designs on the egg. Another important tool is an Egg Lathe, an instrument which holds each end of the egg firmly in place to make it easier to draw the designs on the surface. An egg blower instrument can also come in handy; it saves on sore cheeks and dizziness. Other essentials are drying racks, paper towels, a Bunsen burner or small hand propane torch, vinegar (to put in the dye), beeswax, polyurethane, a pencil and of course – your egg. Any egg can be used, even Ostrich eggs.

Place your clean and dried egg in the Egg Lathe and begin to draw your grid on the outer shell. With the Kitschy, cover the grid with beeswax and place it in the dye baths until your eggs patterns and colors are complete. Hold your egg over the hand torch flame and let the wax melt. Once the wax is melted, wipe it off thus allowing the colors to show through. Once your patterned and colored egg is done then blow out the insides of the egg and seal it with polyurethane or varnish.

These eggs are stunningly beautiful and can be used as Christmas tree decorations, home ornaments or special gifts.

The Inventor Next Door

Text by Jonathan Thiessen

Just outside Blumenort along the #12 Highway lays Blue Ridge Enterprises. A small but growing business, Blue Ridge Enterprises has developed a solid reputation for providing a variety of services to the local area. Besides steel sales and repair, they offer custom fabrication and ornamental ironworks while also manufacturing a farm medication mixer, the Medimix that is used in farms across the country. Brian Thiessen has grown his business from a farm sideline to a full-time endeavour, making full use of skills learned both on the farm and in the machine shop.

Brian has always had a fascination with inventions. As a teenager, he entered numerous magazine contests offering small cash prizes for new inventions. One invention of Brian’s, a soap dispenser for the milk house, netted a hefty prize of $25 and publication in Goodyear Magazine. This was convincing proof that inventions not only could be fun, but profitable. Brian dreamed of one day taking one of his inventions and seeing it through to manufacture.

Brian’s mechanical inclinations didn’t go unrecognized. He fondly recalls being asked by his father to stay home from school one day so that he could help fix seeding equipment. Later, Brian honed his machining skills at Friesen Machine Works, where he worked for several years in the seventies. As a full-time farmer and part-time manufacturer, he repaired machinery and fabricated penning, feeders, and steel tube canvas shelters. Farming always provided ample fodder for invention.

Brian’s dream as a teenager was to be fulfilled in the Medimix. The Medimix was born out of frustration. Medicators are designed to dose out medication with very little effort by the farmer, yet the medication they dose is often sludgy and inconsistently mixed. At worst, farmers resort to mixing medication in a five gallon pail with a stick, but the medication inevitably settles as the day progresses. The Medimix was a simple solution to a problem that had never been properly addressed. Rather than mixing with a stick and pail, the Medimix keeps medication thoroughly mixed with a mixing motor that is automatically activated at timed intervals throughout the day.

First conceived and built in 1990, the Medimix has since become a fixture in farms from northern Alberta to southern Ontario. Recently, Brian has been pushing into the American market, a potential market ten times the size of Canada’s. Should the Medimix be embraced in America as it has been in Canada, it will prove, once again, that inventions can be both fun and profitable!

Blue Ridge Enterprises has allowed Brian to fulfill a dream. Besides manufacturing his own inventions, he offers a wide range of custom fabrication for local industries and farms. Blue Ridge also offers a wide range of custom ornamental ironworks. If it’s made of steel, Blue Ridge Enterprises can make it.

For more information, about the Medimix go to: www.medimix.ca.

SIGNAL LIGHTS – FRIEND OR FOE?

Text by L. Baker

Is there anything more annoying than following a vehicle which has had their signal light on for five blocks? Actually yes there is; a vehicle that turns directly in front of you without signaling at all, causing you to jam on your brakes!

Every year there are cases of serious traffic accidents which could have been prevented if proper signaling was used. We are all guilty at some point or another of signaling offenses. These offenses aren’t just annoying, they have the potential to cause harm to us and others around us.

Let’s take a look at some of the basic signaling practices.

1) A vehicle should signal at least 3 hydro poles before making any turn. Cancel the turn immediately after turning. When signaling too quickly you risk having the driver behind you run into you.

2) Ensure your correct signal light is on; ex: when turning left, check to make sure your left signal is on. People sometimes put on the right signal then turn left causing very serious accidents.

3) When stopped on the roadside remember to signal as you are preparing to return to traffic.

4) Always signal before you pull out of your lane to pass a vehicle and then signal as you are pulling in front of them.

5) Remember to signal when you are changing lanes or gliding onto a ramp way.

When you head out for a drive remember you are steering a 1200lb machine that could cause serious harm to yourself or others. Take your road safety very serious and be a responsible driver, use your signal lights.

Highway Tractor – Driver Education

Text by Pat Gerbrandt

There is a critical shortage of highway tractor drivers throughout North America and there is a good indicator that the need for such training will only increase.

Free Eagle prides itself on quality instruction and offers one-on-one training. The minimum 40-hour instruction time is all in-truck. Drivers begin directing one of five company owned rigs, complete with trailer, on gravel roads near the Blumenort head office. As soon as they are ready to venture further, the trainers take their charges onto the highways, continuing to guide them as they eventually navigate city streets in Steinbach. The next stage is driving in Winnipeg.

While some drivers are able to learn enough to pass the government road test within 2-3 weeks, many require a longer time. Safety is of prime concern as drivers shift their way through all the steps of handling highway tractors.

A familiarity with operating heavy equipment is a definite asset, and instructors can quickly tell if a student has natural ability for highway driving. The best drivers are those who have keen ability to anticipate what will happen all around and how to navigate every intersection. Potential students can find out if they really want to drive by accompanying qualified drivers on at least one or two runs. (Most companies which allow passengers require a signed waiver releasing the company from any liability in case of an insurance claim.) Then they must pass the written government test and obtain a physician’s health certificate. Books and medical forms are available from any MPIC outlet or the Motor Vehicle Branch.

During the summer, there may be a waiting time of up to three weeks, but that change as cooler weather sets in.

Many people dream of trucking. They are lured by the prospect of a good income (potentially as high as $75,000 annually) and by what are perceived as the adventurous nature of the job. Drivers need to consider being gone from home a lot. If a child is sick at home, the driver can’t just park the truck in Texas and hurry back. He or she has to bring the truck home, and that may mean going to Vancouver or Toronto first.” Family and social life are curtailed by the demands of long-distance driving. According to latest statistics, 43% of long distance drivers quit after six months; more than 70% after their first two years in the industry.

Students of all ages, ranging from 18 to past 60, continue to look for the training that will put them in the driver’s seat.