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Spring does NOT start in February!

Written by Joerg Steegmueller
Spring does NOT start in February!

Badly educated event organisers and media outlets will tell you about the “Start of Spring” this week, but don’t fall for that! Together with your primary school teachers they are just badly educated. ;-) Met Eireann points out year after year that Spring starts in Ireland on 01 March and NOT on 01 February. But the misinformation is is persistent. Met Eireann is using the meteorological start of spring and that is definitely not in February but in March as you can read here.

In the rest of Europe, Spring starts – based on the astronomical calendar – even later, on 21 March. Only Ireland is different in whole Europe and how did that happen? Well, the “mistake” in Ireland goes back to the ancient celts, who ignored meteorology and astronomy and had a completely different way of looking at things. The year for example started on 01 November and the day started and ended at sunset. So they were not really wrong, but they used different definitions.

If your day still starts at sunset and your year starts on 01 November, then it’s perfectly fine to start Spring on 01 February in your world. But if you have modernised your views and start your year on 01 January and start the day at midnight, then it is time to update your view of the seasons as well! ;-)

General, Irish, Odd, Society, , , ,

This 1916 thing!

Written by Joerg Steegmueller
This 1916 thing!

So, it is 2016 and all you read and hear in news and newspapers about is 1916. Dublin City, Dun Laoghaire, the libraries, RTE, all newspapers and radio and TV stations are constantly referring to it and if it wasn’t for the speculations about the date for the next general elections, they would probably probably give it even more airtime and print centimetres. …and even the Dublin Event Guide (for Free Events) is filled with (free!) events that make a big story about this year a long long time ago.

So what is this 1916 thing?

If you had hoped you will get through 2016 without having to think about it, I have no good news for you. Actually, my recommendation is that you do read a little about it and maybe go to one or two (or more of the talks) so that you understand what and why people make such a big issue about it.

The event is big in Irish History and if you are not from Ireland, you might be surprised when you find out that it was a total failure and still it is such a big thing 100 years later. It was an attempt to get rid of the British occupiers, but it was badly planned and had no much support in the normal Irish population and after a few days of fighting and a LOT of deaths on both sides, the Irish fighters surrendered.

So we are celebrating this failure in 2016? No, not exactly! We are commemorating! (A small difference.) And the importance of the event comes from what came from it not what it was in 1916. Put in simple terms, you could say that it was the start of what resulted in Ireland’s Independence from Britain. So without the failure in 1916, Ireland possibly would have never (or much later) become a Republic.

The fuzz that is made about 1916 this year might appear to be unproportionally big and you could think that more fuzz should be made about the SUCCESSFUL steps to independence, but when people die for an idea, then this often leads to a certain heroification and that will be a more or less strong component of this year’s commemorations.

By the way: Not everyone agrees fully with that heroification and you might find some talks that look at the role of the leaders of the Rising in a slightly more critical way.

So, inform yourself about this piece of history of the country you live in, so that you can form your own informed opinion about the events this year.

A good starting point for finding out more is via this Google driven tour

Dublin, Events, Politics, Society,

Festival Sponsorship not the way it should be?

Written by Joerg Steegmueller
Festival Sponsorship not the way it should be?

Junior Minister Michael Ring (Tourism & Sport) has announced which festivals will get funding from Failte Ireland this year and there are some oddities among them. In total 23 national festivals and events are getting 1.8mio in 2016, but some should get (a lot) less and others should get more. Have a look at the list here, before you continue reading so that you can form your own opinion first.

One single festival takes the majority of money and really just leaves crumbs for the rest: The St. Patrick’s Festival sucks up a whole 1 mio and I really don’t think it is worth that amount. While the parade has significantly improved from the parades 10 or 20 years ago, it has come to a standstill for many years now. There is no more improvement and year after year, the same formula with just slight alterations will be applied. The festival route is still too short for the amount of people that would like to see something and are left bitterly disappointed and the festival would definitely benefit from an overhaul. Sure, there are still up to approximately 300,000 people on the streets for it (don’t believe the 500k lie!!) but in terms of cultural value, the St. Patrick’s Day Festival is definitely not the top event!

And a little further down the list, there are these four:
Ireland BikeFest EUR 30,000
Bloomsday EUR 25,000
City Spectacular EUR 25,000
Rock n Roll, Dublin Half Marathon EUR 20,000

The Bikefest hasn’t really impressed in recent years and 30k seems relatively high for that, where the Bloomsday uses up 25k is difficult to see and that the 100% commercial Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon gets ANY funding is extremely surprising. But the City Spectacular on the other hand, which is one of the, if not THE best event in Dublin only gets 25k!? That’s odd!! They deserve a LOT more!

Dublin, Events, Politics, Society, , , , ,

The Randomness of Life…and Religion!

Written by Joerg Steegmueller
The Randomness of Life…and Religion!

Due to some random coincidences, you were created by your parents. It could have easily happened that no child or a different child had been created at that time, but it was you! Wherever you are born/grew up is also random! Sure, there might be logical or explainable conditions that influenced it, but in the bigger picture it was a coincidence and that’s why I would call “random”.

Depending where you grew up, you might or might not celebrate Christmas and even if you celebrate Christmas, depending on where you (or your parents) grew up, you might or might not believe that there is a Santa Claus.

I never knew about Santa Claus until I was at least 15 years of age and he never brought me any presents. Instead it was the Christchild (Christkindel) that brought the presents! Like most of you I celebrate the start of the new year on 01 January and the next year is the 2016th in my world. But if you are Chinese or Russian or many other nationalities, then the year starts on a completely different day or has a different number. How random!

They are all relatively harmless randomnesses, but think about this:

Due to coincidences both of my parents are catholic and as a consequence of them, I also became a catholic. Neither me not my parents decided to chose one religion over another because we thought it is “better” or “righter”, no, it was total randomness. If I had been born to Indian parents, I might be Hindu or if I had been born to Arab parents, I probably would be a Muslim.

So with that in mind, it is a total coincidence what religion you belong to (if you still “belong” to the religion of your parents and haven’t changed it on the way). Yet, people of some religions feel superior or “righter” when they compare themselves to people of another religion. We even judge other human beings based on such a random coincidence? For example: “Christian good? Muslim bad?”

For 2016, we should all become more aware of the randomness in life and base our judgement on acts/deeds/decisions that a person takes, not on the coincidental religion of their parents or grandparents!

Odd, Other, Society

Ireland, a (catholic) banana republic?

Written by Joerg Steegmueller
Ireland, a (catholic) banana republic?

Let me start with a disclaimer: I am catholic and I do go to church. I am very much what strict catholics call an “a la card” catholic. I choose some elements for me and ignore others. And most importantly I am a strong proponent of tolerant acceptance of all religions and other believes and of complete separation of religious and state matters. But at the same time I am German and that means that rules are needed and these rules should be clear and non-quibbleable (I made that non-existing word up…so much about sticking to strict rules, right? ;-) )

With that in mind, imagine my shock and abhorrence when I read on Friday on the RTE News website (www.rte.ie/news/vote2015/2015/0522/7030), that bibles were provided to Polling Stations in cases “where a presiding officer asks a voter with no identification to swear an oath”!

WHAT???

So, you find a polling card that is not yours and for which you clearly have no identification and you will be allowed to vote just by putting your hand on a book and declaring that you are that person?? I so hope that I got that wrong!?

Because if I didn’t get it wrong, I should leave my passport at home next time I travel and ask for a bible at Dublin airport.

What Banana republic do we live in where a) you are allowed to vote without and identification, b) where a religious book and a few words count more than a formal, state issued document and c) where the Department of Environment explains that as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

To buy a phone and get services from a company, I need an ID and also a proof of address. To vote in a constitution changing referendum, I just need a book and a promise. *shaking head*

What if I am a Trekkie? Will then a Star Trek DVD replace the book? Or as Rastafarian? Just bring the Holy Piby?

It gets better!! It seems there is a bit of a preference for catholicism, because if you are not religious you can just “make an affirmation” says the Department of Environment, you don’t even need a book! I should try that next time I am at a traffic checkpoint: “I can positively affirm that my name is Enda Kenny…and that I will pay that speeding ticket when you send it to me.”

Looks like a Banana Republic to me!!!

Elections, Irish, Justice, Odd, Politics, Society, , , ,
 
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