Crabs and Beer!

It’s Christmas Eve – a holiday in many countries and observed in many more. Many businesses will close early and government offices are closed in some places.

Christmas Eve marks the culmination of the Advent period before Christmas that started on the fourth Sunday before Christmas Eve. Many churches will mark the end of Advent with midnight church services.

In Latin America, Christmas Eve marks the end of a nine-day period before Christmas, called ‘Las Posandas’ which represents the none months of labour for the Virgin Mary before she gave birth to Jesus.

On the night of Christmas Eve, children around the world will leave food and drink for whoever will come to their house and bring them presents. Who this is, depends on what part of the world you live. It might be Santa Claus or Father Christmas; but in Switzerland, it will be the Christchild who delivers the presents. In Denmark, it’s the Christmas elf; in Sweden, it’ll be a small man and in Finland, it’ll be the Christmas goat!

In Latvia, the custom is that you can open the presents under the Christmas Tree after the Christmas Eve dinner, with a slight twist – before you take your gift, you’ll have to recite a small poem. A unique tradition of Christmas decoration in Ireland is a large white candle which is placed at the entrance of the house or in a window. This candle is lit by the youngest child on Christmas Eve. This is a symbol to welcome the Holy Family and the candle can only be extinguished by a girl or a woman named Mary.

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And some Christmas music!

It’s a holiday in Macau today to celebrate the Winter Solstice (which occurred Saturday). In Chinese, Dongzhi (‘dongzhi’ in Mandarin and ‘dung zi’ in Cantonese) means ‘extreme of winter’ and the Dongzhi festival marks the Winter Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere.

The winter solstice occurs when the earth is tilted at its maximum annual angle away from the sun creating the day with the shortest amount of daylight. The solstice marked the middle of winter in many ancient cultures. Solstice literally means ‘the standing still of the sun’ as the sun appears to do just that on sunrise on the solstice before it rises ever so slightly south on the next day.

Noting the arrival of the shortest day, was a time for celebration. Of course, winter wouldn’t end for several months, but to know that you were past the middle and that the dark, cold nights would start to get shorter is an event that has been marked by feasts and rituals since the dawn of civilization.

This turning point of the year is an important aspect of Dongzhi with a traditional custom in parts of China being that on Dongzhi everyone turns one year older.

Certainly, the festival is a time to gather with your family and a common activity in southern China is the making and eating of a sweet soup containing balls of glutinous rice, called tangyuan. The spherical tangyuan, which can be stuffed with meat, some kind of sweet paste, or without filling, symbolize fullness and completeness.

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There are so many memes like this…

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More Christmas music! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cp4eXzIp2uM

Today is National Mourning Day, a public holiday in Panama. The holiday commemorates the Panamanians who died during the 1989 U.S. invasion of the country.

The United States invaded Panama on December 20th 1989, in an operation codenamed Operation Just Cause. The U.S. stated the operation was “necessary to safeguard the lives of U.S. citizens in Panama, defend democracy and human rights, combat drug trafficking, and secure the neutrality of the Panama Canal as required by the Torrijos–Carter Treaties”. It represented the largest United States military operation since the Vietnam War. 

On December 29th 1989, the United Nations General Assembly approved a resolution calling the intervention in Panama a “flagrant violation of international law and of the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of the States”. A similar resolution was vetoed in the Security Council by the United States, the United Kingdom, and France.

About 300 Panamanian soldiers and 214 civilians were killed during the invasion, according to official estimates, while the U.S. military reported 23 deaths among its troops. Human rights groups believe the number of Panamanian dead could be higher.

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More Christmas music!!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTx-sdR6Yzk

Today is Goa Liberation Day, a public holiday in Goa. It marks the liberation of Goa from Portuguese control in 1961.

Located on the west coast of India, Goa is the smallest state in India.

By the end of the 15th century, Portuguese explorers, such as Vasco da Gama, had discovered a new sea route to India, making Goa an attractive base for the new trade routes. In 1510, the Portuguese overthrew the ruling Bijapur sultan Yusuf Adil Shah with the help of a local ally, establishing a permanent settlement in Goa. This was the beginning of Portuguese rule in Goa that would last for over 450 years.

Goa prospered, becoming the largest city in Asia for a time, with a population of over 40,000. It became known as ‘Rome of the East’ and boasted over 300 churches.

By the middle of the 18th century, Portuguese Goa had expanded to most of its present-day state limits. Though they lost other possessions in India, the borders of Portguese control stabilised, forming the Estado da Índia Portuguesa or State of Portuguese India, of which Goa was the largest territory.

After India gained its independence from the British in 1947, India requested that Portuguese colonies on the Indian subcontinent be ceded to India. In line with the approach of the Estado Novo government regarding its overseas territories, Portugal refused to negotiate on the sovereignty of its Indian territories. The Portuguese argued that India had no rights to this territory because the Republic of India did not exist at the time when Goa came under Portuguese rule

On 19 December 1961, the Indian Army invaded with Operation Vijay. The operation took 36 hours and ended with the surrender of the Portuguese Governor General Vassalo da Silva and the annexation of Goa, and of Daman and Diu islands into the Indian union. Goa, along with Daman and Diu, was organised as a centrally administered union territory of India.

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There are names…

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Planning…sometimes a good thing

Today is the birthday, in 1952, of Walter Murphy, American composer, arranger, pianist, musician, songwriter who is best known for the instrumental ‘A Fifth of Beethoven’, a disco adaptation of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony which topped the charts in 1976 and was featured on the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. Murphy has written music for numerous films and TV shows, including The Tonight Show, Looney Tunes, Family Guy, American Dad!, Ted, and Ted 2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAuqQr5YtjY

Today is Incwala Day in Eswatini. Incwala is Eswatini’s most important cultural event and celebrates the start of the harvest season. In the run-up to the festival, men journey to the coast of Mozambique to gather water.

It is only after the king eats the first fruit that the people can partake of the harvest. This is why the festival is sometimes called the ‘First Fruits Festival’, but that event takes place on the fourth day and the festival extends over six days, full of rituals and traditions developed over many centuries:

Day 1: Fetching the Lusekwane (sickle bush)

Unmarried male youths set off from the Queen Mother’s village and march 50 kilometres to cut branches of the “lusekwane” under the light of the full moon.

Day 2: Dropping the Lusekwane

The boys place their “lusekwane” branches in the national cattle byre/kraal. The elders weave these branches in between the poles of the “inhlambelo” – the king’s private sanctuary.

Day 3:

In the morning, young boys cut branches of the “black imbondvo” (red bushwillow) and these are added to the “inhlambelo”. In the afternoon, the king is receives traditional medicines in his sanctuary.

Day 4: Eating the First Fruits and Throwing the Gourd

The main day and the public holiday: all the key players perform in a spectacular pageant inside the cattle byre; the king and regiments appear in full war-dress.

Day 5: Day of Abstinence

Day 6: Day of the Log

The regiments march to a forest and return with firewood. The elders prepare a great fire in the centre of the cattle byre. On it, certain ritual objects are burnt, signifying the end of the old year, while the key players dance and sing inside the byre. The king remains in seclusion until the next full moon, when the “lusekwane” branches are removed and burnt.

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Having a bad day…

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Today is the birthday, in 1941, of Sam Andrew, Janis Joplin Band, (1971 US No.1 single ‘Me And Bobby McGee’, 1971 US No.1 single ‘Pearl’). Andrew was also Music Director of the musical Love, Janis, based on the life of Janis Joplin. He died on February 12, 2015, following complications from open-heart surgery due to a heart attack suffered ten weeks prior. Note that this song was her only number 1 and was released posthumously. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7CtqwyxHM0