This month, as part of my year of biblical womanhood, I’m submitting to taharat hamishpach, or “family purity,” as described in Leviticus 15-18. This means I am ceremonially unclean for a total of twelve days. For those twelve days I can have no physical contact with my husband (no sex, no hugging, no affectionate pats on the back), and no physical contact with men (no handshakes, no high-fives, no passing of items like salt and pepper shakers). I cannot attend official religious services, and anything I sit on is considered unclean, so I've taken to carrying around my Rhea County High School Golden Eagle stadium seat cushion everywhere I go.
As a nod to the storied “red tents” of the biblical matriarchs (which scholars are uncertain actually existed), I spent the first three days and two nights of my niddah (“removal/separation”) camping out in the front yard. Thankfully, the weather was fantastic and I slept surprisingly well. But that didn’t keep a few wild hyenas—which I’ve been told were more likely cats—from scaring the crap out of me in the middle of the night.
On the upside, this is the first time I’ve ever woken up for the sunrise on Easter Sunday!
So Happy Easter from the Red Tent. Even here...especially here... I am so thankful that He is risen.
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So what’s the most unusual Easter you’ve celebrated?
Note: I'm about to upload a bunch of photos from the project to my Facebook page if you want to see some from our Passover seder and my "month of modesty."