Mary Kenny
The grandchildren are getting all ready for Hallowe’en with their witches and warlocks and wizards’ costumes. Let’s not rain on their parade, I ponder. The turning of the seasons has to be marked by some ritual and if it’s a pagan one – which has endured and even been re-invigorated – then that’s the way things go.
And Hallowe’en does seem to chime, even internationally, with the time of year. Mexico’s colourful Day of the Dead celebrations take place on November 1-2, being a melange of Christian remembrance for All Souls and All Saints, and older folklore.
I think my residual resistance to the Hallowe’en festivities really lies with the relentless merchandising associated with all festivities now: the distasteful preparations for Christmas that begin in August, the Valentine cards and greetings that pop up as soon as New Year is over, the commercialising of mother’s day, father’s day and every other day. We are nagged into joining rituals that some of us remember in simpler version, or even as voluntary gestures.
But I mustn’t be crabby. Rites of passage will be observed and they are merely being re-invented with added branding and merchandising.
The glass is half full
If I were an Irish politician, or MEP, and if I were asked about Ireland’s position on the Brexit negotiations, I’d say this: “Ireland is a dynamic modern country, with a young, educated population, and we are confident that we can play a constructive role in moving this forward.
“We have deep historical – and religious – links with Continental Europe, and strong cultural, commercial and familial links with the United Kingdom. We also have a border on our island. We will defend our country’s interest by finding ways to solve a difficult problem and we are in a unique position to advise the remaining EU members and the UK. Norway has well-managed borders with Sweden, Finland and Russia and this is an example that goodwill can support a solution.”
Emphasise the positive!
Insider information on Catalan attitude most revealing
Colm Tóibín, the Wexfordman, has been speaking knowledgeably on the BBC about Catalonia. He explained that the current Catalan independence movement derives from their language revival, undertaken since the 1970s. The renaissance of Catalan has been so successful that there is minimum linguistic contact now between Catalonia and the rest of Spain. Catalans take their holidays “anywhere but Spain”.
A study should be done on how the Catalans revived their language. Admittedly, it is not as different from Spanish (my son Patrick knows some Catalan) as Irish is from English. It’s also not unlike French. We have a children’s book in the house in Catalan called ‘L’Arbre Vell’, which is pretty close to the French version of the old tree, ‘L’Arbre Veil’.
Colm noted that few Catalans had sided with Franco in the Spanish Civil War: indeed not. Catalonia was fiercely Republican in the 1930s, and secularist, too, banning Mass, and prohibiting parents from baptising their children. Marriage was abolished, until women came to the view that they were being used as concubines. An interesting history indeed.