Why Reinvent the [Angels'] Wheel?

Reposted from last year's feast of the Archangels, but with some updates!


Once again, the Feast of the Archangels (St. Michael, St. Raphael and St. Gabriel) finds me hosting playgroup. It is such a wonderfully fun and easy feast to celebrate with children of all ages, even little ones. And, since we've been in three different places, with three different groups, there is no guilt about repeating crafts and snacks. Not to mention it makes the life of a mama at the end of her pregnancy/of a newborn much, much easier!

The snack of course will again be angel food cake! I briefly toyed with the idea of making it from scratch, since I actually have the proper pan now, but did you know it calls for twelve egg whites? What do you do with all those yolks? Food Lion it is!

When my kids get a little bigger I plan to add devil's food cake as well, to have a tasty discussion of good vs. evil, St. Michael and the heavenly host casting Lucifer down into hell, etc. Nothing says heaven will be victorious like multiple kinds of cake! :)

For a craft activity, inspired by angelic visions and various crafty items in Michaels, we are going to again glitter pre-drawn magnets, as shown below. I bought glue with a brush and glitter and six angel wood cutouts. I stuck magnet strips on the back and wrote a little prayer on each angel, pertinent to who they were to portray. I also drew their symbols on with Sharpies - fish for St. Raphael (patron of travelers), lily for St. Gabriel (messenger Angel - and by "lily," I mean "generic flower") and of course, sword for St. Michael.

Luckily the Archangels are certain not to mind repeated ideas on their feast - really, this makes it kind of a tradition!