Global Holidays and Celebrations

[Lenny]

Thanks for the play by play, Wavewright! I'd heard the Yule Goat was destroyed by birds this year, but seeing it is another thing.


Happy new year, everyone!

[thorny]

Happy new year to all!

[Buteo]

To all those here and to all that are dear to you, a happy new year!

[Róisín]

Buteo, we used to hang deer carcasses for the birds in Gippsland and the Snowy Mountains, but did so more often in Southern Hemisphere winters. The birds appreciated it, especially the magpies, crows, kookaburras, mountain jays and native ravens, as well as the small birds.

And a happy, safe and prosperous New Year to all! May this year be better than the last few!

[wavewright62]

I'm glad you appreciated the screenshots of the Gävlebocken, Lenny, so I will post one last one. (YouTube's live stream is already taken down, but the town's feed is still up on the morning of 2 January their time).  Our poor sorry goat can't even keep up their red garters anymore.  Last go 'round on the huge civic bird feeder :

[JoB]

Last go 'round on the huge civic bird feeder

So, what do we send next, beavers or termites?

[dmeck7755]

I wonder if they will sift their straw for next year

[JoB]

I wonder if they will sift their straw for next year

The straw this year remained unthreshed because of the heavy rains making the plants unsuitable for harvest+sale, which is unlikely to happen all to often in the first place.

Apart from that, straw usually is a by-product of farming cereals (which, I assume, will always imply that there are local bird species willing to eat the grain). If I were with the Southern Merchants, I'd want to research whether straw can be made from non-appetizing plants instead, so as to have a plan B for the next no-thresh-um year. Construction cost cutting obviously is not the foremost necessity in erecting the Gävle Goat, after all ...

[Róisín]

I suppose they have considered using rushes or reeds cleared from waterways? Or what we do for the ‘Gurt ‘Normous Bonfire’ at the Mylor English Ale where the giant which is burned is mostly made of bamboo and garden prunings in a frame?

[Keep Looking]

Happy lunar new year to everyone! Welcome to the year of the dragon!

[Róisín]

Indeed, this is new year for a number of cultures. May the Year of the Dragon be kind!

[wavewright62]

May your (lunar) new year be blessed and prosperous.

[thorny]

Happy New Year to all those celebrating; and may the year be good to all whether celebrating today or not.

[Róisín]

And today is Valentine’s Day. I have never understood why Christians celebrate love on the Festival of such an unhappy saint as Valentine. My own culture has such a celebration on the night of the first full moon of Spring, but I suppose it takes all kinds. It’s an interesting world.

[dmeck7755]

i prefer lunar new year.

Happy new year!!