Public Address | Cafe | Busytown: Trick or treat (Electoween 08)

Emma Hart

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 13:57:02 +1300

Flax lanterns in the shape of stars?

What a fantastic idea. My daughter would love to do that.

Sacha

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 13:54:42 +1300

Why does it have to be a vege? I quite liked the watermelon idea.

Amy Gale

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 08:31:44 +1300

Just name the vege to carve out and light with candles....the humble kumara?

Kumara might be a bit small for people within a couple of standard deviations of normal clumsiness. Taro are better on the size front, but both suffer from the problem of having fairly uniform interiors instead of…

Emma Rogan

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 13:07:37 +1300

Hear, hear. I'd leave Xmas where it is, but Matariki has the makings of a true national day/month, and without the surrounding commercial crapfest.

EXACTLY. Good idea. Just name the vege to carve out and light with candles....the humble kumara?

Sacha

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 09:40:53 +1300

Did anyone catch the re-run of the Temple Grandin doco "The Woman Who Thinks Like a Cow" recently? Great to see that she has carved out a life that suits her temperament and talents – with a decent education as the backbone. Vids here, including that doco.

This election still seems…

Hilary Stace

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 08:50:59 +1300

That teaching to the test is what National is proposing here. The linking with funding is likely to follow. As well as turning kids in general off learning it is particularly inappropriate for children with different learning styles or special educational needs. Temple Grandin condemns its effect on kids with…

Ben Austin

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 07:50:20 +1300

I was at a Halloween party in London last night where there was a Palin/McCain duo. Needless to say they were very popular and there are no doubt many photos of them floating about the internet now.

Kyle Matthews

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 00:21:38 +1300

Although I did once see a fancy ceremonial helmet in a museum in, I think, Copenhagen which had a decent pair of horns.

Presumably not a viking – might be a pre-Viking Bronze age helmet. Or Germanic.

The wings on the helmets was a Celtic thing. Gauls, such as our…

Islander

Sun, 02 Nov 2008 21:38:05 +1300

fires/bonfires/wildfires like fireworks- *have to be* part of winter solstice & especially Matariki (we used to have fires on the tops of certain hills (puketapu – there's one near Palmerston still so called, and others round the south)) – "feeding the stars" was the literal translation, and a very old lady…

David Hamilton

Sun, 02 Nov 2008 21:05:37 +1300

nothing in Hamilton to mark it? that's just wrong

Actually in an odd confluence of topics I was in Norway over winter so I would have missed it even if there was something going on. Google says there was. I reckon a huge bonfire down by the lake would be…

Islander

Sun, 02 Nov 2008 16:10:36 +1300

O, if it was the same museum in Copenhagen – totally devoted to weaponry? Including shot-towers, assassins' crossbows, Meschersmidts (sp.?) and executioner's swords? wherein I once spent a truly awed afternoon – boring the piss out my publisher & my mother who both wisely took off for shopping & early dinner-yep, there…

richard

Sun, 02 Nov 2008 15:29:27 +1300

Ah. Little known fact about Vikings: Despite the repetitive images, Vikings never had horns on their helmets.

Certainly unknown on the streets of New Haven, I can promise you that.

Although I did once see a fancy ceremonial helmet in a museum in, I think, Copenhagen which had a decent…

Islander

Sun, 02 Nov 2008 14:26:19 +1300

Ur Sacha – Hogmanay is definitely celebrated when it's always been celebrated – 31st December...we still do the whole bit, piece of coal,first-footing, dark-haired man first across the threshold, a dram & feast-cakes for the visitors...but that midwinter feast thing is quite recent (within the past couple of decades) and looks…

Sacha

Sun, 02 Nov 2008 14:08:28 +1300

Matariki celebrations seem to have more of a foothold with northern iwi and a presence in the Auckland region, for instance. No idea why.

Interesting that from what has been said here, Hogmanay in our south is celebrated at the mid-winter season – when most of our other northern-hemisphere-derived holidays…

Kyle Matthews

Sun, 02 Nov 2008 14:05:11 +1300

Ta! Although sadly nine out of ten people we passed said "Ooh, look at the Vikings," and the other one was invariably a European of some sort...

Ah. Little known fact about Vikings: Despite the repetitive images, Vikings never had horns on their helmets.

Islander

Sun, 02 Nov 2008 13:50:40 +1300

Matariki is certainly 'a variable feast' – for some iwi it's the first rising of the star group before sunrise; others will use different stars...the Midwinter thing (I dont know a Dunedenite who would call it Hogmanay, and I have a lot of family in or around Otepoti) initially was…

Paul Campbell

Sun, 02 Nov 2008 12:59:23 +1300

we celebrate mid winter's (I guess as a sort of 'Hogmanay') as one would in the southern hemisphere – I think technically when Matariki is celebrated depends on your Iwi – some actually the rise of the first new moon after the first sighting of the Matariki (the Pleiades), some…

Islander

Sun, 02 Nov 2008 12:50:55 +1300

"Here in Dundedin we celebrate both Hogmanay and Matariki – it seems to me like a waste and divisive in the community to do the two celebrations within days of each other..."

Ur, did you mean Christmas and Hogmanay?

Hogmanay = the last day of the year
Matariki = the…

Gareth Ward

Sun, 02 Nov 2008 11:46:40 +1300

Asterix and Obelisk is superb. Nice work...

For an 11 year old, this kid has a sound grasp of the issues.

I misread his no-spaces monkeysortycoons as monkey-sorty-coons which had me concerned for a second or two... Worked out the better placing of those spaces now though!

giovanni tiso

Sun, 02 Nov 2008 11:45:22 +1300

I like the idea of dumping QB weekend in favour of Matariki

Ah, but then we'd get the Matariki weekend sales and that would make me cry. I agree that it has to be properly reclaimed and rediscovered (nothing in Hamilton to mark it? that's just wrong) but Islander is…

Paul Campbell

Sun, 02 Nov 2008 11:28:22 +1300

We were discussing this at a party last night (you have to give the Green Party one thing they do know how to do the 'party' bit right, and have the coolest music) ....

Xmas in summer is something we've made our own, there's no reason to move it to…

David Hamilton

Sun, 02 Nov 2008 10:36:20 +1300

re. Matariki..ABSOLUTELY I'll be signing that petition.
One of my problem with winters in NZ has always been the lack a real heartwarming celebration in the middle of winter that cuts the cold/ rainy season in half.

Had to look it up to be honest but we should definitely…

giovanni tiso

Sun, 02 Nov 2008 09:04:31 +1300

I'm having halloween in the northern hemisphere with my kids that are now really getting it and going to an international school with lots of american kids so we had a proper halloween and I carved my first pumpkin.

I trust you were quite safe and nowhere near Piazza Navona.…

Kirsten Brethouwer

Sun, 02 Nov 2008 06:07:49 +1300

peppers make cool little lanterns and start smelling nicely like roast pepper after a little while.

I'm having halloween in the northern hemisphere with my kids that are now really getting it and going to an international school with lots of american kids so we had a proper halloween and…

Jolisa

Sun, 02 Nov 2008 04:03:00 +1300

Asterix & Obelix? You nailed it.

Ta! Although sadly nine out of ten people we passed said "Ooh, look at the Vikings," and the other one was invariably a European of some sort...

Jolisa

Sun, 02 Nov 2008 03:58:42 +1300

Oh, agreed. I love the winter holidays, all that fire and atmosphere, lengthening shadows and flickering jack-o-lanterns.

We get so short-changed in the southern hemisphere. Guy Fawkes' Day in particular was always a bit of a bust, and while I love a summery Christmas, you don't get to do the…

Islander

Sat, 01 Nov 2008 22:54:51 +1300

Best celebrations/holidays are those we just go do-here, Matariki and Hogmanay (you've got that nice wee time between'em) along with birthdays, The Season, & such, are how *we* celebrate The Year- everybody makes their own up-

I do think a national holiday should be celebrated during our winter- and Matariki is…

Sacha

Sat, 01 Nov 2008 22:36:01 +1300

Might be one sensible thing to use a referendum for.

Kerry Weston

Sat, 01 Nov 2008 22:32:17 +1300

No public celebrations of Matariki in my neck of the woods :-( too bloody dour and conservative. I've had the odd bonfire at home, but it was too wet and slushy this year. If enough communities celebrate, maybe it will become a new national holiday by popular will – everyone…

Sacha

Sat, 01 Nov 2008 22:24:30 +1300

Keri, don't tell me yr keyboard is on the way out as well as the lemon's power supply.. :)

Islander

Sat, 01 Nov 2008 22:18:09 +1300

Matariki. with fireworks. is already the celebration pf choice= among US! ALL of US!
OK. any pf us=

Kerry Weston

Sat, 01 Nov 2008 22:17:01 +1300

Going for Matariki – replacing QB – would be a great moment in national togetherness, a declaration of independence in choosing our own celebrations, thank you very much.

Kerry Weston

Sat, 01 Nov 2008 22:13:15 +1300

I believe they do a good job of Matariki in Napier – bonfires on the beach, sculptural stuff, lotsa food, fireworks, music....everyone getting cuddled up by the fire or dancing to get warm. Some of that haunting bone flute music round midnight to wind things down....

Scrumpy, mulled wine, star…

giovanni tiso

Sat, 01 Nov 2008 22:07:57 +1300

in fact, I reckon we should replace Xmas with Matariki. Public holiday too.

Hear, hear. I'd leave Xmas where it is, but Matariki has the makings of a true national day/month, and without the surrounding commercial crapfest.

Sacha

Sat, 01 Nov 2008 22:03:34 +1300

Keep Xmas, replace Queen's Birthday – haven't met a single person who cares about that one other than as a day off. One or two of those in mid-winter would be most welcome (which I suspect was part of the motivation behind xmas).

Kerry Weston

Sat, 01 Nov 2008 22:00:15 +1300

What I'd really like is for Matariki to be an official holiday.

Yeah! Proper time of the year for a decent feast, fireworks, singing and dancing and carrying on.... in fact, I reckon we should replace Xmas with Matariki. Public holiday too.

Sacha

Sat, 01 Nov 2008 21:43:20 +1300

What I'd really like is for Matariki to be an official holiday. About time we had a local one rather than all those northern hemisphere imports.

Sacha

Sat, 01 Nov 2008 21:41:51 +1300

Seasonally appropriate with a side order of sacrilege...

I quite like the balance of superimposing a pagan festival back onto easter.

Sam F

Sat, 01 Nov 2008 21:24:37 +1300

I think we need a movement to move Halloween in NZ to the end of April – not only will it be dark and scary but pumpkins will be in season

I like your line of thinking. How about Good Friday? Seasonally appropriate with a side order of sacrilege...

Sacha

Sat, 01 Nov 2008 21:12:29 +1300

I like John's watermelon idea. It could make all hallows eve more locally relevant.

Islander

Sat, 01 Nov 2008 20:48:08 +1300

love the cosytumes for your boys Jolissa (I am a devout fan of Obelisk in the original! – and other incarnations-)- but truth is, Halloween means diddly squat to ANZers.

So, Paul C, it's a lost cause here, entirely commercially – and unsuccessfully – driven. It just doesnt FIT with…

JohnAmiria

Sat, 01 Nov 2008 20:40:30 +1300

When we were travelling in India with the kids we carved water melons – they work great – but with a redder glow

As much as I'm opposed to embracing this BS American tradition called Halloween I'm willing to concede that the horse has already bolted.

So if we are to…

3410

Sat, 01 Nov 2008 20:00:02 +1300

Asterix & Obelix? You nailed it.

Jackie Clark

Sat, 01 Nov 2008 19:24:33 +1300

For an 11 year old, this kid has a sound grasp of the issues

Superb, Stephen. Great logic he has.

Paul Campbell

Sat, 01 Nov 2008 19:07:53 +1300

sigh – Halloween may be the one thing I really really miss about living in the US – with little kids it was just the most wonderfull occasion – we got to go out and meet our neighbours – all the houses are lit up with real pumpkins, the kids…

Stephen Judd

Sat, 01 Nov 2008 18:05:52 +1300

For an 11 year old, this kid has a sound grasp of the issues.

Raymond A Francis

Sat, 01 Nov 2008 17:30:09 +1300

Americans, got to love them
Mad as meat axes

Why don't they have their elections on Saturday like us?

Public Address

Sat, 01 Nov 2008 17:30:08 +1300

Discussion from blog post.