GREEN Craftivist

VISITA IGLESIA is a Roman Catholic tradition when the faithful visit and pray the Way of the Cross in different churches during the Holy Week, usually on Maundy Thursday or Good Friday. I had the opportunity to join the Bicol Society of Austria in their Visita Iglesia activities in Vienna during this year's Holy Week. This is their way of gathering fellow Filipinos together to strengthen friendships and keep alive Philippine religious traditions and practices in this predominantly Roman Catholic city in Europe which they now call home. WHY VIENNA HAS MANY BEAUTIFUL CHURCHES Vienna was the center of the Habsburg monarchy from 1273 to 1918 which championed Roman Catholicism and repressed the Protestant Reformation.   For this reason, many beautiful cathedrals, basilicas, chapels and other churches were built in Vienna almost adjacent to each other.  Compared to the Philippines where we need to take long rides from one church to another to complete ...

Have you visited Vienna in Austria?   Vienna is not only about beautiful churches, centuries-old architecture, famous painters and composers as well as rich cultural and historical heritage for which it is known for.   It is also big on greening, organic food production, and ensuring constant supply of quality fruits and vegetables from within the city. AGRICULTURE IN VIENNA Vienna is the national capital of Austria and the biggest of its nine states. The city is 414.6 km2 where 14% is devoted to growing fruits and vegetables of which 13% are grown organically. While it is described as the “ cultural capital of Europe ” and a “ metropolis with unique charm, vibrancy and flair ,” it also supplies 1/3 of the volume of vegetable consumption of the city with a population of 1,931,593 residents at the beginning of 2022.  Imagine vegetable and fruit farms in the inner parts of a first world city that has been capturing the first spot in the Global Liveability I...

When was the last time you visited the grave of a deceased family member or friend? O ur desire to immortalize the memory of departed loved ones through burial methods and symbolic structures can be traced to the olden days when burial caves, underground chambers, pyramids, catacombs, temples, hanging or floating coffins were built to protect the remains of the dead and give closure to those left behind. As years went by and population grew, new architectural concepts for burial places were established where the remains of loved ones can be laid to rest and visited by family and friends any day of the year.  Thus, we saw the rise of private cemeteries, memorial parks, columbarium and mausoleums inspired by burial caves not only  to augment the shortage of interment spaces in public cemeteries but also to provide comfort and convenience with a sense of exclusivity to visiting relatives and friends. The beauty and serenity (and for some the festive atmosphere) of these places ha...