Freude Schoener: Celebrating the New Year in Florence

Annamaria on Monday

Over the next several weeks, I will be traveling in Italy and France, and I am hoping to take you with me.  Here is an account of my first joyful hours on this longest trip of my life so far.

Arriving from New York by way of Madrid on New Year's Eve, I had just enough time to unpack, grab a coffee and a snack and gussy myself up for the festivities, delightfully arranged by my Florentine friends.

Good-bye to 2015

On may way to meet them at the Ponte alle Grazie,
I passed the via Calzaiuoli ......

and through the Piazza della Signori, where the revelers were gathering.

And then along the Arno, with San Miniato upon the distance...

and the old tower lit with changing colors.

We arrived at Maggio Musicale Fiorentino's new, beautiful opera house, just three years old.

Nicoletta and Paola with your reporter in the lobby.

My ticket to a heavenly performance of Beethoven's 9th.

Before the concert, a lively, clear, detailed introduction by a musicologist.

Afterwards, the orchestra, soloists, and chorus accept enthusiastic kudos from the audience.

Back at my place, we sit down to a lovely dinner, planned and prepared by
Nicoletta and Paola, beginning with antipasti and a lovely Sauterne, and including
a main course of lentils and cotechino--the traditional good luck New Year's
meal of the Italians--to bring health and prosperity in the year ahead.

And of course a lovely dessert and bubbly.

At One AM there were still throngs along the street below my windows...

 I gazed at the view from my sitting room (where I sit now
writing this blog).  In the wee hours the orchestra in the piazza
serenaded me with some of my absolute favorites from the film
scores of the great Ennio Moricone.  I only hope these great joys
are a harbinger of what's to come for us all and our world in 2016.

January 1

A New Year's Day treat of major proportions.

If you haven't seen this film, correct your error immediately.  It is brilliant.  I think it is Spielberg's best.  The screen play is fabulous and the art direction splendid.  To say nothing of the great actors and editing.  I know.  I am gushing.  See and then decide if I am wrong.  Best of all is the theme, showing how wrong a people can go if they succumb to fear and fear-mongering.  The film is historical, but this is the story that had to be told RIGHT NOW.  THIS MINUTE!!

Which brings me back to Beethoven and his choice of Schiller's Ode to Joy as the text of the sublime final movement of his masterpiece.  For you to enjoy today, I have chosen my fellow New Yorker's genius conducting of the Vienna Philharmonic.  Music and musical performance do not get better than this.

Here are some thoughts to ponder while you wait for it to boot up:  

This symphony could never move us as it does without the human voices.   Let your mind dwell on their words.  "Joy, beautiful spark of Gods....Be embraced, millions/This kiss to the entire world....Those who dwell in the great circle/Pay homage to sympathy/It leads to the stars...Endure courageously, millions!/Endure for a better world...All sinners shall be forgiven/And hell shall be no more...."

Happy New Year, my dear, dear friends.

To Beginnings...New and Old

--Susan, every other Sunday

Happy New Year, everyone!

People get reflective at New Year's time, and the evidence is everywhere. People post good wishes and resolutions (some serious...others, not so much) on social media sites and blogs, and "Top-X lists" are everywhere.

As long as people have tracked the year with calendars, and perhaps before, new years are a time for new beginnings...meaning that, while some of our traditions are new, others are centuries old.

Prior to the Meiji Restoration in 1868, the Japanese celebrated New Year according to the lunar calendar (like the Chinese, and many other Asian countries do). However, in 1873, the Japanese government decided to recognize both the Gregorian New Year (January 1) and the lunar new year--and many households still celebrate both.

In Japan, the New Year carries its own set of traditions--some new, and others centuries old:

Shrine Visits

Many people visit one or more shrines on New Year's day (or in the days that follow) to leave offerings and pray for the gods' protection in the coming year.

The brightly-colored strings are actually origami (folded paper) prayer chains, popular at New Year's.

Poetry

Traditional Japanese poetry features heavily in many celebrations, particularly those which have a reflective or seasonal component. Given that the turn of the year involves both, it's hardly surprising that samurai often composed special poems to celebrate the New Year, particularly haiku and renga (a form of collaborative poetry that gave birth to the haiku form).

A picture, not a poem. But this caption is Haiku. Happy New Year, All.

Modern Japanese poets also often write special verses to celebrate or welcome the new year, and people often read or reflect on poetry during the final days of the year and the first days of the new one.

Games and Kites

As in the West, Japanese people often gather to celebrate the new year, and both adults and children like to play games at New Year's time. Cards and board games are popular, as is kite flying. (Kites are particularly popular in Japan, and flown on many different occasions)

Hanafuda - a traditional Japanese card game.

New Year's Postcards (Nengajō)

The custom of sending New Year's cards originated hundreds of years ago, but blossomed in popularity during the Meiji Restoration (after 1868) because of the introduction of postcards. Like Western Christmas or Holiday cards, nengajō contain pretty pictures and holiday greetings, but nengajō differ from Western cards in a couple of very important ways.

First, nengajō should be handwritten, generally in the sender's own best handwriting.

My handwriting sucks. Instead, please accept this photograph of a seahorse.

Also, nengajō are supposed to arrive precisely on January 1 (or, before the Meiji era, on lunar New Year's Day). Japanese post offices accept nengajō for mailing for several weeks in November and December, and as long as the cards are marked "nengajō" and placed in the proper postal drops, the post office guarantees New Year delivery.

Finally, nengajō are not sent to anyone who had a death in the family during the previous year, in recognition of the family's mourning. (Some people even send special cards--again, available through the Japanese post office--to friends and relatives following a death in the family, in order to ensure they're not on the nengajō list for the coming year.)

Osechi-ryōri (New Year Foods)

Like many cultures, the Japanese eat special dishes on New Year's day, and during the first few days of the new year, to bring good health and good fortune in the coming year. The Japanese custom of eating osechi began during the Heian Period (794-1185), and the most traditional foods have changed very little since that time.

Not a New Year's cake. I bought it in the train station in Tokyo. However, it was quite delicious.

Among the most popular items: sweet cakes, seaweed, prawns (cooked with heads and tails on, they look like elderly, bearded men bent over at the waist--symbolizing a wish for long life), broiled fish cakes, oranges, and zone, a clear broth (in some places, miso soup) with grilled mochi.

And Money for the Kids...

As in China, children traditionally receive colorful paper envelopes filled with money from friends and relatives during the New Year celebration. The amount in the envelopes varies widely, but traditionally the envelopes are supposed to hold the type that folds as opposed to the type that jingles.

The kind that folds.

New Year customs exist in every culture, and with good reason. The turn of the year represents a new beginning, full of potential, as well as a chance to reflect on the years we've lived.

I hope 2016 lives up to that potential for every one of you, in wonderful ways, and I hope we'll see you here frequently at Murder is Everywhere.

The Misguided.

Jeff—Saturday

First things first:  A very Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year to each of you in 2016 and far, far beyond.

I planned on offering a photo essay of Greece and spent time researching various sites offering stunning photos. Then I did something I often do when researching a subject: I did a control test, in this instance to see if I could trust the the sites’ descriptions of places depicted in the photos that I did not know by taking a look at how they described places I knew well.

That’s when I came across this Exhibit A, captioned, “House on Mykonos.”

Well, I guess in a way you could call it a “house” but only in the sense it’s a house of the Lord, for what it actually shows is the rear of perhaps the most photographed church in the Cyclades, the five-churches-in-one, 15^th Century icon of Mykonos—Paraportiani.  I know it well, as its front side appears on the cover of the Greece-published versions of my first Andreas Kaldis novel.

That rather decided stumble on the part of the photo editor got me to thinking about how much easier it is to research these days, and how much easier it is to be misled. I just finished the first solid draft of my next book—taking place on Santorini—and as well as I might think I know the island (compared to someone who’s never been there:)), there are for sure myriad historical details of which I’m blissfully ignorant and must turn to reference materials for guidance; a particularly trusting endeavor considering how many of the original tracts are in Greek.

So, on my trip to Santorini this past summer, I acquired five solid historical and tourist-directed books I was assured covered the details I sought. And they did. That’s the good news.  The bad news is they didn’t always agree.  Dates, architectural styles, names, and even distances were up for grabs on places I’d planned on using in the book. I guess you could say I had authority for whatever I might like to say, but that wasn’t how I looked at it.   

Basic intellectual disagreements I could accept, but some of the differences struck me as simply lazy or sloppy research habits undertaken by someone just trying to churn out a guidebook.  By tossing out guesswork they obfuscated the truth for all who followed.  You couldn’t tell which version was correct simply by the number of publications that agreed because it was obvious that some had borrowed from another’s work and did that mean the original was the respected authority on the subject or just that the repeater simply relied on the first authority he found?

And let’s not get into Wikipedia, which as much as I run to it (don’t we all) for a general, quick and dirty take, is just as besieged with false gods as the ancient Minoans—or so the guide books say.

Let’s just say I think I got it right, but if I didn’t, at least I’m admitting my work is fiction.  Having vented, permit me to post some of the photos, for though the captions may be wrong—which is why none is repeated here—they show the true majesty of Greece.  Come visit…with or without a guidebook.  You’ll love it.

—Jeff

2015-2016...welcome to the New Year

The first blog of the new year  should be full of fun and frivolity. 

This blog is waterlogged and a wee tad  tired.

I have been absent from the blogsphere as one of the disadvantages of the international workplace is that   my colleagues all go home over the festivities and I am left treating all their patients. Which is  a bit like being left holding the baby but slightly less smelly. Slightly.

As you will know, Zoe country  has been pelted  by floods.  There is one hotel there that has been flooded four times in the last month. That  was hurricane Desmond. Then hurricane Frank came along and caused this in  the shopping centre up the road.

And this was Alan's journey  to work...

This was deepest Dundee...

Glasgow

my journey  to work.....

Bits of Scotland are now falling off.

The clinic is open to 9pm on a Wednesday so there was  hasty rearrangement of clinics to get everybody in early. My normal Wednesday ( 10-3) was a 7.30am to 8pm.

Chocolate is a marvellous thing. 

As you know I am veggie and thinking of going vegan in 2016. But I make an exception for Hogmanay and I will be eating one of these----- farmed Haggis (as regular blog readers will know).

The French  have got in on the act and have started breeding these below, Hagglings. They are  supposed to be very tasty and slightly milder ( less peppery I guess) than the  more mature ones above.

This is how I  will be eating it - with clapshot (mashed tatties and neeps)

But seriously, I have just learned that the Uk, this year, spent more money by card than we did by cash. And that was a first!

The biggest trends of the Uk shopping experience,  apart from getting wet  in the queue to buy wellies, were as follows. How many did my fellow bloggers buy...

1) A fitness DVD  ( not me )

2) A Nutribullet ( not me )

3) A spiraliser ( I don't know what that is so I presume that I don't have one. Unless it is an intestinal worm in which case I might not know I have one. And even if I did I would not blog about it) There sales went up by 1400% on Amazon UK in 2015.

4) 50 Shades of Shit..sorry Grey, shifted 125 million copies. ( not me )

5) Beard oil. 52% of Brits ( mostly blokes I presume) grew a  beard in 2015 and were told they needed beard oil. Don't ask, I have no idea. There was no such thing as beard oil in 2010.

6) Athleisurewear. That is not a typo, it's a new word for being smart while you exercise and this is a huge industry now. Me? When  I go out running I look like fat nan the boxer so  I am not going to add insult to injury by paying good money  to look that  bad.

7) Grey hair dye- sales up 82%.  It's now trendy to be grey!

8) Coconut water, sales up 400% in Uk in 2015. I tasted it in Vancouver, it tasted as though it had been strained through the athletic support of a Turkish Wrestler. Vile. Try Irn Bru instead, it might be bad for you but it certainly adds girders to the little life you might have left.

9) 5 out of Amazon's top ten books were..... adult colouring books. Because of mindfulness.

These people should go out FOR A WALK AND LOOK AT TREES.

10) The Uk discovered Prosecco. I am very guilty of this.....oops. Sales up from 2.8 million bottles to 28 million in the uk in the last ten years. Much of that is down to me.

 Sadly, John Lewis Stores  have ceased to sell bookcases as there is no real need for them in the modern home. We are all Kindlely and electronic now. I have plenty bookcases, in fact I have not enough .. books are everywhere in my house...

On a better note, the  rest of the UK followed Scotland's lead in  making a charge of 5p for every carrier bag used. Result? A 78% drop in the number of bags used. Which is good for the environment.

Here is a wee message for Evka the wondrous. I say that  because I am often left wondering what he is going  on about...

Hope you had a good one, and welcome to the other side. 

Caro Ramsay  01 01 2016

Happy New Year

Stan - Thursday

Wishing you, your families, and friends a healthy, happy, and fulfilling New Year.  I hope that the stroke of midnight brings sanity to the world, stability to the displaced, and compassion to all.

Cheers!