SAMHAIN

As you might know, today is SAMHAIN (spoken saoin) - or let's say Halloween for those who do not speak Gaelic!

In Germany we do not really celebrate Samhain, as it has no tradition here, even though you can now also see pumpkins everywhere and people start decorating everything like in America. I find that a bit rediculous, as it has nothing to do with the original and is now only a huge "merchandising thing".

Two years ago I had to honor to celebrate the real "Samhain" at Lough Gur - one of the largest stone circles in Ireland. But first of all, let me tell you a bit about the Irish tradition:

The Celtic tradition is often closely related to the Celts’ religion and their belief in the Otherworld (Tir na n-Óg = Land of Youth). The Otherworld is home to the divine Tuatha Dé Danann ; they ruled what could be called “invisible” regions below the ground and islands beyond the sea. Life in the Otherworld was joyful and most pleasant; it was a world of peace and harmony. They spent most of their time with hunting and feasting, for food and drink never got short there. The Otherworld is also called the Land of the Living (Tír inna mBeo), for sickness and decay are unknown. Sometimes it is referred to as Tír inna mBan (Land of Women), because women were numerous and very beautiful there.
The fairy-woman Niamh described the Otherworld like this:

“It is the most delightful land of all that are under the sun; […] Honey and wine are plentiful there; no wasting will come upon you with the wasting away of time; you will never see death or lessening. You will get feasts, playing and drinking; you will get sweet music on the strings; you will get silver and gold and many jewels […]”

It is said that there were invisible barriers to keep the mortals out of the Otherworld, but stories tell of heroes that entered it by accident or were led there by fairy creatures. It could be reached through a cave, through a lake or e.g. through magical mist. The Tuatha De Dannan, however, could move freely between the two worlds and on the feast of Samhain (31st of October); the boundaries vanished altogether and the sídhs (entrances to the Otherworld) lay open.

Samhain was the greatest of all feasts during the year and was situated exactly half way between Autumn Equinox (21st of September) and Winter Solstice (21st of December). This was a very dangerous time for mortals and they preferred to stay at home, for when the spirits left the Otherworld they often caused chaos through their magic and played tricks on the mortals. Therefore this feast was also called Oíche na Sprideanna (the Tuatha Dé Dannan wander about on this night) or Oíche na haimléise (night of chaos).

Among other things, the Tuatha Dé Dannan were responsible for the growth of the crops; on this night they collected their dues for an extensive harvest. If they were treated in a friendly manner, they would be happy and make sure the people would get a good harvest next year. If they were treated badly, the Tuatha Dé Dannan would curse the land and the crops would fail.

It is obvious how important the Otherworld was for the mortals. Excavations show that the Celts believed in some kind of life after death and that the souls of the dead could still control their bodies in the hither world. Domestic artefacts of all kinds have been found in several graves. The Otherworld therefore was not just the place for the Tuatha Dé Dannan, but also for the dead. Not only humans and gods, but pigs, dogs and swans, to name only a few, were associated with the Otherworld. At supernatural feasts the two worlds would come together.

Sounds familiar? Well, now you know why children (even here in Bamberg) knock on your door and want sweets!


So on Samhain we went to Lough Gur with our Irish Heritage Lecturer Dr. Seán Ó Duinn, an Irish monk. We built a fire and then he told us about the Celtic traditions. We had to walk round the fire three times - anti-clockwise for course - and he spoke an "enchantment" to sooth the Tuatha dé Dannan and thank them for the last year and ask for their protection for the following year.

It was great fun, I can tell you! And it was also a bit spooky, as it was foggy and it all had a kind of mystic aura!

No matter what you are doing today, remember this:

Fines

Well, I already told you that I was caught speeding a few weeks ago. Yesterday my parents visited me here in Bamberg and brought me "THE LETTER" with my terrible crimes!

It is really rediculous: I was caught with 110 km/h where there were allowed 100 km/h. With the tolerance reduction I was finally 6 (in words SIX) km/h too fast and now guess what I had to pay? 10 Euros!

It seems to me that the administration effort to place a policemen at the road, to make a picture and to send me a letter cost more than 10 Euros, don't you think so? Okay, to be honest, I don't know if it will happen again, but now I am asking myself what I was so worried about!

Pain

Usually objects, events or even people can be 'a pain in the a**', but last week I had to realize, that there can be a real pain in my ... bottom.

Okay, it was my own fault. A good friend of mine convinced me to join one of the sport courses at university. Right, no problem or so I thought. Last Wednesday was THE day and we went to one of the big gyms at the univisty to join our course: Volleyball for beginners.

I played Volleyball at school for 2 years, but I stopped playing about 6 years ago with fatal results. The two hours of training were great and we had a lot of fun. But the pain was immanent: only a few hours after the course I was not able to flex my fingers anymore and next morning there was this horrible pain in my bottom. Otherwise I felt fine, just a bit exploited!

Oh well, I guess I will go there again next Wednesday - hopefully I get used to play again very soon, otherwise I will have to live with this pain in the a** for a long time....

Corfu - the last!

Oh well, our holidays on Corfu were just fantastic. We visited many places and met nice people. Our hotel was great and the landscape more than beautiful. First we were a bit disappointed - for we had planned to go to Andalusia/Spain, but it was too expensive - but now we do not regret anything. Corfu is definitely a place worth visiting.

Unfortunately time flies when one is on holidays and I wished I could just take a break at the beach. Bamberg is nice, but no coast and no sea anywhere near. Sad. Still, there is autumn to come and I quite like this time of the year with all the coloured leaves. Oh well, but there are exams to come quite soon and I guess I will spent most of the next few weeks indoors, but that can't be helped. I just hope that my body is recovering soon enough and get over the coming weeks.

Thanks to Hildegard I had a great time and I enjoyed every single second of our holiday on Corfu! And yes, that was the only day it was raining!

Evenings on Corfu

Sunset at the beach...

... and after sunset activities!

Shakespeare My Love

Without words...

And a little riddle for you: Spot the mistake!

Canal d'Amour and other attractions

On this picture you see the famous Canal d'Amour!

Legend has it, that every unmarried woman who is swimming through it and is wishing for a man, will soon afterwards step infront of the altar! But as you can see, Corfu has another peculiarity. For unlike in other parts of the world here the sea level is falling instead of rising - so there was no swimming through the Canal d'Amour, there was NO Water!

Anyway, Hildegard and I decided that it might also work when you walk through it - and so we did! Well, I guess better than nothing!

One of these days we also went to see the "Sissy" residence on Corfu with the huge Achilles statues (search the statue on the picture!). In Germany and Austria - someone told me that it is the same in France? - people are a bit crazy about Sissy, which is known to the rest of the world as Queen Elisabeth of Auttria/Hungary with her husband Franz. There is a film or better three films about her life with Romy Schneider. These films are shown every Christmas on German TV. They are a bit corny, but I loved them when I was young. The real Elisabth spent some of her holidays here and parts of the films were filmed there. Others might know it from the James Bond "For your eyes only"!

We also went hiking or better, we were walking along the coast to a little taverna in a small village called Boukari. The weather was fine that day, not too hot. The way was not too steep and we were walking through the more rural parts of Corfu with little villages and far from the huge tourist hotels.

I love fresh fish and this taverna is famous for its fish dishes. First of all they take you to the kitchen, where you can pick your "personal" fish. I never had such a good fish in my whole life, even though I still don't know what kind of fish it was. The only thing I know is that it was eating smaller fish, for it definitely had two rows of sharp teeth! And we also had one of these delicious Greek salads!

But we also visited some of the other attractions on the island. When you are on Corfu you have to visit the highest mountain with its monastery. They are not quite sure about the actual hight of the Pantokrátor - it varies between 902 and 911 meters. The monastery and the small church are from the 17th century. More than a century the monastery was deserted, but since 1998 it is inhabited again during the summer months by one monk. The view is fantastic, but unfortunately there were still some clouds around, due to the storm the day before. From there you can see the whole island and also Albania and the Greek mainland.

















We also visited Panagia Theotóku tis Paleokastritsas, another monastery on the cliffs. For those who know German: Das weiße Kloster der Allerheiligen Gottesgebärerin von Paleokastritsa. This is the most visited attraction on whole Corfu. At the moment there are still about 10 monks in the monastery, all studied theologians which is quite unusual in Greece.

This is the only monastery in Greece which is not afraid of "dying out", all the monks are very young - mostly younger than 30 and very respected! The gardens are cared for by the villagers. The monastery was founded in the 12th century, but the houses you can see today are from the 18th century. The church is famous for its icons, some of them from the 15th century. But the view is also fantastic - cliffs, deep blue sea - I want to go back!!!!

Corfiot peculiarities

Corfu is obviously an island and it seems that people on islands develop peculiar habits - just think about the English and the Irish ;-)

First of all, every fourth man on the island is called Spiros, so there is a Spiros in every family. By the way, the female version is Spiridula! This is all due to their local saint who is called St. Spyridon!
Born in Cyprus, St Spyridon was the son of a poor family who was eventually ordained as Bishop of Trimythous. He lived and died in Cyprus, performing miracles all his life. When the Saracens invaded the island, the Cypriots opened his grave in order to move his bones to Constantinople; they found his body was still intact, while a scent of basil emanated from the tomb. After the Fall of Constantinople in 1453, the Corfiot priest Georgios Kalohairetis took Spyridon's remains to Corfu, bequeathing them to his children.


Okay, this is not peculiar, every country has its saint - but they carry his coffin round the town four times a year in a huge procession. This is definitely a bit strange, isn't it?

But there is something else about the name Spiros. We were told that there is no word for "waiter" in Greek. So just shout "Spiros" when you want something and you can be sure that one of the guys will turn round, for there is a chance of 99% that one of them is really called Spiros!

Let me tell you about another peculiarity. In Germany local busses are hardly on time, but they will stop when you give them a signal. On Corfu they just pass without stopping when the bus driver thinks that the bus is already too full. Annoying, I can tell you - but fortunately there might be another bus in half an hour, so just hope that there are not too many tourists wanting to go to Kékira!

Driving on Corfu is an experience, I can tell you. If you need a place to park your car - just use your warning lights and leave your car at the road site! We hired a car which was already a bit damaged: one of the flashing lights was broken, quite a few scratches and donts.... And here it is, our "Schnüffelchen":



Right, this is a silly name, but we watched a documentary about a couple who went round the world in their car - in the 60s in a Goggomobil! We were fascinated and therefore our Renault Clio was baptized "Schnüffelchen".

Next time I am going to tell you a bit about the places we were able to visit with the help of Schnüffelchen. Be prepared for a few "Sissy" (Queen Elisabeth of Austria/Hungary)stories, "just stones", monasteries, mountains and fascinating views!

Corfu - the first!

Now it is time to tell you a bit about my holidays on Corfu.We spent 14 days in a 4**** Hotel in Moraitika on the south eastern coast of the island.

Corfu is gorgeous place - 3 million olive trees and 113 000 islanders on an island which is only 641 square kilometres. Kékira is the capital and it is especially charming with the small alleyways and little shops and tavernas everywhere - at least when you get past all the souvenir shops. The old town bears definite signs of the Venetian conquerors and does not really look Greek. Even though it was already mid of September when we arrived, the island was still green, due to the high humidity and the huge number of olive trees.

Unfortunately most of the beaches are not sandy but pebbly. For sandy beaches one has to drive to the western coast of the island. There are no hotels on the western coast, as they do not have any freshwater there. So the beaches are quite deserted and absolutely beautiful, especially at this time of the year when the high season is already over. The water had 24°C, so quite warm, at least for me - for Hildegard it was a bit too cold!

The landscape is quite varied and I had never thought that the island is so mountainous. The coastline changes every few kilometres. One time it is sandy and flat, another time one will find high cliffs or the olive groves reach right down to the pebbly beach.
We also went hiking one day or at least we tried. Unfortunately we were spectators of the worst storms in twenty years for 2 days and after 5 minutes we were soaking wet!
But apart from these two days, our holidays were great - sunshine and 30°C.

The cursed 7th year!

It has been quite some time since my last blog and I wanted to write something about my holidays on Corfu, but then something else came to my mind - or actually I was forced to think about speed limits instead of holiday adventures!


Oh well, it seems that I have finally arrived in my cursed 7th year of having my driving licence. Apart from a minor accident - I have to stress, it was NOT my fault - I had hardly any contact with the police. One police officer stopped me because he thought I looked too young to be allowed to drive. Another time I was the first to arrive after an accident and because one of my friends had spilled some beer on my trousers, the police officer thought I was drunk myself, which I was not!

And now, I finally had a picture of me and my car taken, which will cost me probably 30 Euros!

I am usually not speeding, which is quite impossible with a Ford Fiesta (max. 160 km/h downhill) anyway ... but I was happy because I had no lorry infront of me and I was late and thinking about other things and ... well, the next thing I saw was a red speed camera light - and my speed indicator showed 120 km/h - more or less! It was not one of these stationary ones, so at least I had no warning, but it is embarrassing anyway. So I will end up with a fine and I had to confess to my father, for it is his car and so the letter will end up in his letter box!

But I guess we will all end up with one of these letters once in our life - and I am sure some already have - and my 7th year was just the right time to get one!