Category: General Interest Articles

Articles of general interest on no particular subject

Happy New Year

2009

Happy New Year

New Year traditions and celebrations vary enormously across the globe. This is perfectly illustrated by countries in Asia. China and India for example are among many countries who celebrate New Year on dates other than January 1, which has been widely used since the official adoption of the Gregorian calendar from 1582. As in the other continents, Asian New Year celebrations reflect a huge range of cultural and religious differences.

The Chinese New Year, also known as the Lunar New Year, occurs every year on the new moon of the first lunar month. The exact date can fall any time between January 21 and February 21 (inclusive) of the Gregorian Calendar. In the Chinese lunar calendar, following a twelve year cycle, each of the 12 years is named after an animal. Lord Buddha asked all the animals to come to him before he left the earth. Only 12 animals came to wish him farewell, and as a reward Buddha named a year after each one.

New Year is a very important Chinese celebration. Chinese families travel far and wide to be together. In fact, Chinese New Year leads to the biggest movement of people on any one day during specific dates in the year. People carry lanterns and join in a huge parade led by a silk dragon, the Chinese symbol of strength. According to legend, the dragon hibernates most of the year, so people throw firecrackers to keep the dragon awake. 2019 will be the year of the pig.

The Balinese New Year, based on the Saka Calendar is called Nyepi, and it falls on Bali’s

Lunar New Year (around March). It is a day of silence, fasting, and meditation; observed from 6am until 6am the next morning. Nyepi is a day reserved for self-reflection and as such, anything that might interfere with that purpose is restricted. Although Nyepi is primarily a Hindu holiday, non-Hindu residents of Bali observe the day of silence as well, out of respect for their fellow citizens. Even tourists are not exempt. Although free to do as they wish inside their hotels, no one is allowed onto the beaches or streets, and the only airport in Bali remains closed for the entire day. The only exceptions granted are for emergency vehicles carrying those with life-threatening conditions and women about to give birth.

In Thailand, a special three-day water festival on April 13–15 marks Songkran, the Buddhists’ celebration of the New Year. Parades feature huge statues of Buddha that spray water on passers-by. In small villages, young people throw water at each other for fun. People also release fish into rivers as an act of kindness. During Songkran, people tie strings around each other’s wrists to show their respect. The strings are supposed to be left on until they fall off naturally.

Europeans of course are no different when it comes to unique New Year traditions. For Italians, new beginning means getting away from everything old and useless, so on New Year’s Eve they throw out of the window their old furniture or other discarded things, like old clothes or dishes. So, if you ever want to spend the holiday there, be careful while walking on the streets, especially in the south, where this tradition is particularly popular.

 

 

THE MIRACLE OF THE CHRISTMAS TRUCE 1914

This photograph shows German and British soldiers standing together on the battlefield near Ploegsteert, Belgium, during the Christmas Truce. On the far right a football match between Allied and German soldiers was supposed to have taken place during the Christmas Truce. How much truth is there in all this?
On a frosty, starlit Christmas Eve in 1914 a miracle took place on the Western Front. Peeking over their trenches for what must have been the first time in weeks, British soldiers were surprised to see Christmas trees lit with candles on the parapets of the enemy’s trenches. A melody drifted over the darkness of ‘No Man’s Land.’ Men of the British Expeditionary Force heard German troops in the trenches opposite them singing carols and patriotic songs and saw lanterns and small fir trees along their trenches. Carols and messages began to be exchanged between the trenches. First “Silent Night,” then “God Save the King.” This was followed by the cry of “You no shoot, we no shoot!” The Christmas Truce was a brief, spontaneous cease-fire that spread up and down the Western Front in the first year of World War I. The incident has become a symbol of peace and goodwill.
Letters home reported the wonder of the Christmas Truce. Corporal Leon Harris, 13th Battalion, London Regiment wrote, “This has been the most wonderful Christmas ever. We were in the trenches on Christmas Eve and about 8.30 p.m. the firing was almost at a standstill. Then the Germans started shouting across to us, “Happy Christmas”.
In his letter home, Rifleman C.H. Brazier commented on soldiers leaving their trenches and entering ‘No-Man’s Land.’ “Half-way (across) they were met by four Germans. They gave our fellows cigars and a bottle of wine and were given a cake and cigarettes. When they came back I went out with some more of our fellows and we were met by about 30 Germans, who seemed to be very nice fellows. I got one of them to write his name and address on a postcard as a souvenir. All through the night we sang carols to them and they sang to us.”
British and German soldiers met and exchanged gifts, took photographs and some played impromptu games of football. One British Officer even claimed his regiment actually had a football match with the Germans who beat them 3-2. The incident was famously remembered by Edmund Blackadder in the funny and poignant final episode of Blackadder Goes Forth. “I was never offside! I could not believe that decision!”
Most historians think it was unlikely that there was actually a football match between the Allies and Germans and emphasise other features of the Truce. Both sides took the opportunity to bury casualties and repair trenches and dugouts. After Boxing Day, meetings dwindled. In any case, the Christmas Truce was not observed everywhere along the Western Front. Some fighting continued and casualties did occur on Christmas Day. Some officers were unhappy at the Truce and worried that it would undermine fighting spirit. After 1914, the High Commands on both sides tried to prevent any truces on a similar scale happening again. Despite this, there were some isolated incidents of soldiers

(this article is incomplete)

 

 

MILK DELIVERIES

MILK
Ron may no longer be delivering the milk around the area but the company Bright & Early still are. Their aim is to attempt to deliver to all their customers before 7am to make sure everyone has milk in time for breakfast.
If you are a past customer or new to the area and would like fresh bottled milk on your door step contact Bright & Early on 0345 606 3606 or at www.milkandmore.co.uk.

 

 

HAVE YOURSELF A STRESS-FREE CHRISTMAS

 

HAVE YOURSELF A STRESS-FREE CHRISTMAS

The Christmas season is almost upon us and the shops are filling with colourful decorations and enticing gifts, (as well as some rather annoyingly repetitive music!!) As wonderful as this time of year can be, the extra work for family, preparing meals, and present-buying, can all cause extra stress. It is important to take time out for ourselves to unwind. Regular exercise and relaxation practices can really help to ground you, put things in perspective and allow you to further enjoy the festive season. Looking after yourself can help you to look after others.

As the weather cools down, and the days shorten, outdoor exercises are somehow far less appealing. It is tempting to hide ourselves beneath jumpers and jackets and not bother to exercise, but the cold weather is no excuse to stop caring for our bodies.

Cold weather can worsen stiff joints and chronic aches and pains, so having a routine of gentle exercise and stretching can really help. Maintaining an exercise routine can also elevate your mood and so is the perfect antidote to chase away the winter blues that can creep in during the dark and cold winter months.

With over twenty years of teaching experience, Julia Wylie is bringing her own blend of “Stretch and Relax” classes to the Wenvoe Community Centre. Starting December 5th. Come along on Wednesday mornings at 10:00am for just over an hour of gentle stretches and guided relaxation. Designed to leave you feeling refreshed and relaxed, these classes are suitable for all levels including total beginners.

“Stretch and Relax” classes for December will be on December 5th, 12th and 19th. There will be no classes December 26th or January 2nd, and classes will resume in the New Year on January 9th.

There is no need to book; just come along. Bring an exercise mat or yoga mat if you have one, and some water to drink. (I have a few spare mats that I can lend people.)

Wishing you a very happy and stress-free holiday season!

Julia

 

 

MEMORIES OF CHRISTMAS PAST

I was brought up in a mining community where, following the 1926 strike until well into the Thirties, there was quite a lot of poverty. Perhaps you would like to know what Christmas was like when I was a little girl.
People had very little money to spend on Christmas, which in those days was completely different from what it is today. There was not the preparation and buying from October onwards. A week or two before Christmas day we would start making our own streamers from bits of coloured paper; mostly we would make paper chains. The majority of people were quite poor, so we didn’t have as many presents as children have today. For instance we didn’t get anything from Aunts & Uncles because every family could only afford a little extra for food. We just got one present from Father Christmas and our stocking.
Dad’s relatives had a farm in Ireland, so we were luckier than a lot of families as they always sent us a goose; they would put it on the overnight boat & we would get it off the train from Fishguard the following morning, Christmas Eve. Our local grocer would take his horse and cart to the station and collect parcels off the train and he would come around the streets delivering. We children would be quite excited, dancing in the road, waiting for him to arrive.
Mam & Dad would tell us to hang up our stockings beside the big open fireplace and then we would go to bed. They would then take out what money they had managed to save and go to Tonypandy shopping at 10 o’clock. The shops would still be open and they would be able to pick up bargains and some luxuries to eat. When they finished their shopping they would go to midnight mass, so by the time they walked home it would be 2a.m.
Gran lived with us and it would be her job to feather, clean and prepare the goose and stuff it ready for the oven.
Of course we were always awake very early Christmas morning, to delve in our stockings and see what Father Christmas had brought. We usually had an apple, an orange, a couple of nuts and one small present. We didn’t feel hard done by because we had so little, as everyone had the same, and it was more than we normally had; so Christmas still had magic about it.
About 7o’clock we would walk with Dad to the ‘Bakehouse’. People had no central heating so on a very cold morning we would feel we were in wonderland seeing all the different intricate patterns Jack Frost would leave on the windows.
We didn’t have gas or electric cookers in those days. We had a black grate with an open fire and a small oven beside it, which would take a long time to warm. The ‘Bakehouse’ as we called it was the local bakery; they made bread and cakes. On Christmas Eve the women would take their Christmas cakes to be cooked slowly during the night. Then early Christmas morning the men would take their fowl in its roasting dish & for sixpence (old money) Mr James, the Bakehouse owner, would cook our goose for us, so we could use our fire and oven for cooking vegetables.
We would then go to mass and Father would give all us children an orange or a few sweets as we came out. I suppose that when we got home from church we would have our Christmas dinner but I don’t really remember much about eating everything; else was too exciting.
After dinner we would play games or Dad would do Irish jigs or he would play his melodeon for us to dance to the music. All the excitement of Christmas was just the same as it is today. You see there will always be a spirit of Christmas if you look for it.
We would all go to bed very tired, but very happy.
Today one of my fondest memories is the excitement of walking that 300 yards or so on a crisp early Christmas morning, with Dad, taking the goose to be cooked. The delicious smells from the Bakehouse would greet you long before you reached it.

25TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION

25TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION

 

In 1988, as part of a youth club community project, Vic Reed the youth club leader, encouraged local young people to take on the role of publishers, printers and distributors of a “What’s On” publication; a previous single sheet of information had originally been produced by a, short lived, local group of Venture Scouts.

Vic constructed a printing room within the Wheelright Shop, adjacent to the Church Hall. Using stencils and Rono printing machines, along with plenty of black ink, a small monthly magazine appeared for the next five years until Vic moved from the village.

A small team consisting of Eileen Callely, Marilyn Case, Colin Jenkins, Ann Miller and Ian Moody agreed to continue publishing a village magazine. They changed the design to an A4 format and had the journal printed professionally. The first 400 copies rolled off the presses and were distributed in October 1993. Now a quarter of a century later with a ‘New Team’, plus one old stager, we are printing over 700 copies of our 25th Christmas edition.

It is thanks to all of you out there who supply the many various interesting items of text each month, and our 39 dedicated distributors, that the magazine has survived these many years to arrive on your doorstep at the start of each month.

 

‘The Team’ (see below) wish you all a Merry Christmas and a very article productive New Year.

 

 

 

 

OXFAM PENARTH VINYL STOCK HITS ROCK BOTTOM!

 

OXFAM PENARTH VINYL STOCK HITS ROCK BOTTOM!

The Oxfam Shop in Penarth continues to receive an amazing response to the vinyl records it has for sale in its shop. We now have a good number of regular customers who come in to the shop looking for records to add to their collection. The down side to this is that we regularly run out of stock to price up and put on display! Are you having a clear out before Christmas and have some vinyl records you no longer play or want? If so, we would love you to think of donating them to the Oxfam shop in Penarth. We are interested in records of any genre whether they be LP's EP's or singles. We guarantee to get the best possible prices for any records you donate. As I live in Wenvoe I can pick up any of your donations. We would also be delighted to accept CD's, cassettes/tapes, DVD's, sheet music, music books and old musical instruments whether working or not. You can either ring the shop to arrange a pick up or direct with myself. Thank you. Oxfam Shop Penarth: 02920 706358 or Nigel Billingham Oxfam Music Volunteer 02920 594708

 

 

 

Change

If you’re unaware as to who Brett Kavanaugh is, I’m sure you’ve not glanced at the news recently. The Supreme Court nominee, accused of attempted sexual assault, who despite the odds, became a Supreme Court Justice and proved that in America, when a woman accuses a man of sexual misconduct, she is the liar. A pattern we have unfortunately seen repeated time and time again.

Dr Christine Blasey Ford had received “actual threats to her safety and her life” before appearing in front of the Senate judiciary committee to testify against the then-nominee Kavanaugh. Despite numerous witnesses to the attempted assault, including a high school friend of Kavanaugh’s who is alleged to have been present in the room during the attempted assault, Ford’s accusation was dismissed as being ‘politically charged’ by many. But the theme of dismissing sexual assault claims as ‘lies’ or ‘opportunistic’ isn’t new, and neither is it uncommon. The world has a problem believing a claim of sexual misconduct, and I don’t know why. According to a 2015 report by the National Sexual Violence Resource Centre, the prevalence of false reporting sexual violence in the United States is only between 2% and 10%. Considering that the report also states, “a study of eight U.S. communities, which included 2,059 cases of sexual assault, found a 7.1% rate of false reports” why can’t we believe the people who are brave enough to come forward to speak about their trauma?

Three women including Ford came forward to accuse Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct. There is no excuse of ‘it was a mistake he made once’ (an incredibly weak excuse at that – rape is rape, attempted rape is no different; that’s not a mistake, that’s a choice to violate someone) Kavanaugh had a pattern of violating women. And still, the highest court in America took his side.

In 2017, Brett Kavanaugh was on the DC Circuit Court of Appeals and ruled against a 17-year-old undocumented teenager who was attempting to obtain an abortion. Jane Doe, who did not want her identity revealed throughout the case, arrived in the

United States without her parents and was taken into the U.S. Custody. She was pregnant and was aiming to exercise her constitutional right to obtain a legal abortion; this right extends not only to United States citizens, but also foreigners within the US. Kavanaugh had delayed her ability to obtain a legal abortion and claimed that the government should not facilitate her abortion, but at 15 weeks pregnant, her window was closing. Kavanaugh stated “she is pregnant and has to make a major life decision”, but his action in ruling against her plea seems to claim that he believed having an abortion was more life altering than having a child which would have been unwanted, and a child Jane Doe would have been unable to financially support. Jane Doe eventually obtained the right to legally obtain an abortion within the United States, but it was she who gained much of the backlash for the decision, not those who voted against her. A tweet by Teen Vogue columnist, Lauren Duca stated “It seems to me that when Brett Kavanaugh attempted to deny a 17-year-old immigrant an abortion, he believed that the decisions you make as a minor ought to have lifelong consequences. Let’s treat him the same way”.

Let's treat him the same way. The old 'boys will be boys' line is dated and inexcusable. Kavanaugh's actions in the attempted sexual assault when he was a teenager doesn't mean he can't still be held accountable for his actions now. Jane Doe will be seen as the immigrant who got rid of her baby, and yet Brett Kavanaugh's attempted sexual assault and the many claims which have also come to light have been dismissed and he now holds a position of power high enough to be influential in cases such as his in the future. And you know which way he'll vote then. America's poor judgement seems sewn into its history; a man who was accused of rape is now their President, their history of gun violence is unchanged and they are breaking their own record year after year with the worst mass shootings in American history. It's shocking that a man like Kavanaugh could go through such a heavily-followed case which included numerous allegations of sexual misconduct and still be awarded with one of the highest seats at the table. It's shocking. But it's not surprising.

From the Harvey Weinstein story of last year, to the MeToo campaign, to the Kavanaugh case, the world has proven that barely anyone believes those who have accused others of sexual misconduct. We typically believe the accused, and I’m sick of it.

I believe her. I believe him. I believe those who have come forward with their stories. Sexual misconduct is a matter which shouldn’t be taken lightly. But it’s a topic where we have consistently let down those who must fight to even be heard. Please let it stop.

By Tirion Davies

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