Celebrating

“It is a serious thing just to be alive
on this fresh morning, in this broken world.”
Mary Oliver

We know that New Zealand was the first country to give women the vote – 19 September, 1893, and we are vocal in celebrating this.

Now we have more reasons to celebrate. Our Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern has been named in FortuneMagazine‘s list of the world’s greatest leaders.

She came second only to Bill and Melinda Gates, well known and acknowledged for the great charity work they do and in particular their involvement in vaccines for the poor and work against poverty.

Ms Ardern is the only elected official in the top ten. ‘”Jacinda Ardern had already broken new ground as a pregnant woman – and then a new mother – leading a nation. And this year, the 38-year-old Prime Minister showed the world her fullness as a leader as she deftly, empathetically, and humbly navigated New Zealand through the worst terror attack in its history, after 50 were killed at two mosques in Christchurch in March,” the Fortune profile read.

She has also been featured  in Time Magazine‘s list of the most influential people of 2019.

Her blurb is written by London Mayor Sadiq Kahn, who writes how Londoners were “heartbroken to wake up to news of the horrific terror attack in Christchurch, shocked by the callous targeting of innocent civilians for no reason other than their faith”.

Kahn states that Ardern’s leadership since then “has been an inspiration to us all”.

And we find she is also featured in Forbes Magazine’s list of TheMost Powerful Women  in the World. Angela Merkel has remained at the top spot since 2006 and we celebrate this for her. She is, Forbes said  the ”de facto leader of Europe, leading the region’s largest economy after steering Germany through financial crisis and back to growth.”

Our Prime Minister is at 29 and of her Forbes said she had used her platform to “create a path for other women” to follow in her footsteps and, at age 38, was the youngest female leader in the world and New Zealand’s youngest PM in 150 years.

So while she wasn’t my choice for leader of our small nation, she is doing very well and has become a world leader in a very short time. I hope this continues for her.

End of bragging and politics for today.

Here it is Easter Saturday. When I grew up and when I first came to New Zealand, Easter was celebrated with church services. That was more important than the easter bunny, eggs and buns. But that has changed. Our country is no longer considered a Christian country. New Zealand is home to a diverse range of religious groups, including Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, Sikhs and Jews, as well as Christians. Twenty five languages are spoken amongst our very mixed community now and the reason for Easter has fallen into the background.

So commercialism once again thrives. Shopping trolleys are full of Hot Cross buns (although last year there was a movement to change the name), Easter eggs and bunnies.

And now I could like to wish all my friends Happy Easter however you celebrate it.

 

 

 

 

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Twelve Days of Christmas New Zealand Style

I read and enjoyed this post from Judy at A Daily Thought.

Our friends at Wikipedia tell us

“In England in the Middle Ages, this period was one of continuous feasting and merrymaking, which climaxed on Twelfth Night, the traditional end of the Christmas season. In Tudor England, Twelfth Night itself was forever solidified in popular culture when William Shakespeare used it as the setting for one of his most famous stage plays, titled Twelfth Night. “

Then I thought I would share with those of you in other parts of the world the New Zealand version of Twelve Days of Christmas.  By the way did you know that traditionally the first day of Christmas was Christmas Day, so the twelfth would be January 6th the day in which all decorations were removed from the house?

On the first day of Christmas
My true love gave to me
A pukeko in a ponga tree

Pukeko

On the second day of Christmas
My true love gave to me
Two kumera
And a pukeko in a ponga tree

On the third day of Christmas
….
and so on, until…

On the twelfth day of Christmas
My true love gave to me
Twelve piupius swinging
Eleven haka lessons
Ten juicy fish heads
Nine sacks of pipis
Eight plants of puha
Seven eels a swimming
Six pois a twirling
Five – big – fat – pigs!
Four huhu grubs
Three flax kits
Two kumera
And a pukeko in a ponga tree!
Eight plants of puha
Seven eels a swimming

Traditional pois dancing

Definitions

Pukeko = type of bird found in NZ
Ponga Tree = a fern tree that grows in NZ
Kumera = a yellow sweet potato with a purple inside core
Piuspius = a skirt made from strips of flax. They look like hula skirts. They’re worn by the Maori (indigenous people of NZ) during certain dances and special celebrations.
Haka = war chant/dance
Pipis = small shellfish
Puha = a type of sow thistle that is eaten as a vegetable in NZ
Pois = Maori word for ball – they’re two balls on the end of two ropes and they’re twirled around making patterns during some Maori dances
Huhu = a small edible grub or beetle found in NZ.

This is a funny version of the 12 days – please watch and listen to it.

Here in New Zealand we have Boxing Day as a National Holiday.  Boxing Day is the day following Christmas Day, when traditionally, servants and tradesmen would receive gifts from their  employers; this was known as a “Christmas box”.  We also have the 2nd day of January as a holiday but of course, shops are only closed for Christmas Day and January 1st so many retail workers don’t enjoy these days off.

So there you have even more  useless information to store in your head.  But perhaps if you play Trivial Pursuit over the holiday period some of this may come in handy.

It just leaves me now to say to all of my friends out in the blogosphere may you have a Happy and Safe Christmas wherever you are celebrating it and a New Year filled with all that you wish for.

Related articles

• Twelve Days of Christmas (myownheart.me)
• Twelve Days of Christmas (gusgus64.wordpress.com)

Celebrating a Milestone

This was yesterday’s blog but for whatever reason WordPress didn’t publish it so there will be two posts today.

Posted – January 11, 2012

Today I had no hesitation when I sat down at the computer to write my blog. No problem with water aka thoughts rushing to find a safe place. I knew exactly what I was going to write about.

When I started on my blogging journey way back on March 1, 2011 I didn’t know how much fun I would have in writing every day or how many friends I would make in this blogging world.

Well today, I have reached 100 followers and I would like to thank you all for reading and following and commenting from time to time. I really appreciate all of you. Many of the blogs I follow have a greater number of subscriptions but I am very excited at reaching this milestone.

Over the months I have read blogs from people whose lives are so different to mine. Most live in other countries and are of a different age group (well how many have reached my VAST age?). Many have young children and their days are taken up with all the busyness that accompanies families. Some are looking at retirement and how they will fill in their time once they do retire. Some are battling demons either within themselves or from actions of others, and others are living their daily lives with vigour and excitement greeting each day with enthusiasm. I do know that some have health problems and in one case in particular, these problems are the basis of his daily (and sometimes more than once daily) blog posts.

There are a number of writers that I follow and some of whom follow me. Some are writers of fiction and some of fact, and in a couple of cases have had books published this year. Congratulations to each of them.

So to all of you who follow my blogs and those of you whose blogs I follow thank you for the support offered unconditionally over the past months. Here I have to say that in receiving over 3,000 comments on the posts I have only ever received one that I didn’t want to publish – apart that is from all the spam.

And today I received another award – thank you Linda Cassidy Lewis for the nomination. Have you read Linda’s book “The Brevity of Roses”? It’s a great read and should be on your reading list.

In accepting an award I am called upon to nominate others to receive it and also to tell some things about myself. Well I have so many wonderful blogs that I follow that I will once again, just direct you to my blog roll. If any of these are new to you please do visit them. I always find something new in their blogs. And as for me, I have told you about myself in my posts and on my page Meet Judith Baxter, so I really think there is nothing more to add.

And because it’s a lovely day of celebration and sunshine. And because I have only 2 more weeks tomorrow to wear my big red Santa boot, I offer you once again, my special rainbow. Please accept it and make it yours. And if anybody wants to use it in a blog post, please feel free to do so.

My rainbow