Monthly Archives: October 2015

It is Halloween, the time of year when pumpkin sales go through the roof, children go trick or treating and when those celebrating dress up as witches, skeletons, ghosts and other mythical creatures.

If pumpkin sales are an accurate guide, Halloween is steadily growing in popularity in Australia — a trend many believe is from the US.

Australia’s biggest supplier of jack-o’-lantern pumpkins, Stackelroth Farms near Bowen in Queensland, says it is only 14 years since it planted the very first crop in Australia from seed sourced in the US.

Already this year, in the space of barely four weeks, the farm has sold 500 tonnes of jack-o’-lanterns in Australia (at an average of five kilograms each, that is about 100,000 pumpkins), to customers including the big supermarket chains Coles and Woolworths.

US holiday has Celtic pagan origins

Despite its huge popularity in the US, Halloween is widely believed to have its origins in a Celtic pagan festival known as Samhain (pronounced “sow-en”) that dates back more than 2,000 years.

According to the website Irish Genealogy Toolkit, “Sam” translates as summer, and “hain” means end in the Irish language.

In Celtic times, October 31 was the end of the year and Samhain was the end of summer, when crops had been harvested and the darkest period of the year began.

Even today Samhain is the Irish name for the 11th month, November.

Samhain is historically seen as a mostly Irish festival, but it was also celebrated by Celts in Scotland and other parts of the British Isles and northern Europe.

Because pagan life revolved around the harvest, Samhain was the time of year when the earth was dying. Livestock was either brought in to shelter or slaughtered.

Hence the festival had an emphasis on death. Many Samhain rituals were based on superstition. Celts believed the souls of their ancestors would return to their homes and that malevolent spirits wandered the Earth.

They would light bonfires and burn effigies as a form of sacrifice. Gifts and food were offered to honour the dead or appease evil spirits and ensure a bountiful harvest the following year.

Many Halloween historians believe this custom is the origin of today’s trick or treating.

Similarly, many Celts wore masks or costumes to disguise and protect themselves from the malevolent spirits or stop the dead from recognising those individuals they had disliked during life.

Celtic tales are full of mystical creatures like fairies, demons and pagan gods, often with evil or magical powers. Many historians believe they are the origin of Halloween’s more sinister side.

Christians gave demonic holiday its name

The name Halloween has its roots in early Christianity.

Religious historians say the Roman Catholic Church, in an effort to convert pagans, deliberately chose the first day of Samhain, November 1, as All Saints Day to honour those saints who did not already have a day of their own.

The mass became known as “Allhallowmas” — or the mass of those who are hallowed.

October 31 became All Hallows Eve, and today Halloween.

One Roman ritual was a festival celebrating Pomona — a goddess of fruits such as apples.

Traditional Halloween games such as apple-bobbing are believed to have had their origin in this period. A form of apple-bobbing, called snap apple, is still one of the most popular Halloween games in Ireland.

Children are blindfolded and have to bite an apple suspended on a string or floating in a basin.

‘Stingy Jack’ may have started pumpkin tradition

So why is Halloween synonymous with the pumpkin?

One English historian Ronald Hutton says “turnips or mangel wurzels, hollowed out to act as lanterns and often carved with grotesque faces”, were used at Halloween, or Samhain, in Ireland and Scotland.

Others say the tradition comes from an ancient Irish myth about a man named Stingy Jack, who was condemned to walk for eternity between heaven and hell with only a hollowed-turnip lantern to light his way.

Either way, without doubt the traditions of Halloween spread to the US with the huge waves of Irish immigrants fleeing Ireland during the famine of the 1840s and 1850s.

Since then, America has adapted Halloween and its rituals as a proudly American tradition. Pumpkin pie is a distinctly American dish.

The Irish today also celebrate Halloween with bonfires, costumes and pumpkins. But the traditional Halloween dinner in Ireland is “colcannon” — a dish of potatoes, cabbage and onions.

It possibly originated from an earlier tradition where the poor would go door to door to ask the rich for food or money — another precursor to trick or treating.

Similarly, Barm Brack is a sweet bread eaten at Halloween, containing coins or a small object inside and used to tell fortunes.

Sometimes it is a ring, and whoever pulls the ring from their dinner is predicted to marry within a year.

The Halloween tradition is still relatively new in Australia. One vegetable seller in Sydney says he has sold jack-o’-lantern pumpkins for less than 20 years.

But pumpkin farmers say they have already made changes to adapt the Halloween tradition to the Australian climate.

Jack-o’-lantern pumpkins have grown as a pre-winter crop for generations in the US and northern hemisphere. But in Australia, Halloween falls at the end of winter.

Stackelroth Farms says it has spent years researching and developing a variety of jack-o’-lantern that grows and ripens at the opposite end of year.

source:abc.net.au

Olympiakos made it two wins of three in the Euroleague with victory at Armani Milano on Friday, one day after Panathinaikos got demolished by Barcelona in Spain.

Featuring an improved Vassilis Spanoulis, who notched up 14 points in Milan, Olympiakos won 71-66 in Italy in a tight game where the Reds had the upper hand almost throughout after overcoming an early Armani lead.

The Greek champion had a 62 percent rate in two-pointers, against Armani’s 41 percent, making the most of its attacks at a court where it usually has problems.

Patric Young was the top scorer for the Reds with 18 points.

Barcelona outclassed Panathinaikos on a particularly poor night for the Greens in Spain, scoring a 25-point win (77-52) that has marked a season-low for the Greek league leader to date.

Panathinaikos only tried to match its host in the third period, reducing its deficit to seven points (48-41), before surrendering to the might of the Catalans.

Worse, influential forward James Gist – scorer of 13 points on the night – returned with an injury that is ruling him out for the next couple of weeks.

In the Eurocup on Wednesday Aris scored a precious win at Unics Kazan in overtime (74-73) and AEK beat another Russian team, Nizhny Novgorod 87-70 at home. PAOK lost 100-80 at home to Besiktas.

source:ekathimerini.com

Σοκαρισμένοι από τις εικόνες της απόλυτης σκληρότητας που αντικρίζουν καθημερινά με τις σορούς προσφύγων που ξεβράζονται στα νερά του Αιγαίου, οι εθελοντές της Λέσβου στέλνουν τη δική τους κραυγή αγωνίας για την κατάσταση που βιώνουν καθημερινά και φωνάζουν ότι είναι μόνοι και αβοήθητοι.

Κάτοικοι του νησιού, ψαράδες, δημοσιογράφοι και διεθνείς εθελοντές κατηγορούν τις ευρωπαϊκές κυβερνήσεις και τους διεθνείς οργανισμούς για την αποτυχία τους να προστατέψουν τις ζωές χιλιάδων προσφύγων που καθημερινά διασχίζουν το επικίνδυνο πέρασμα από την Τουρκία, πετώντας το μπαλάκι στις τοπικές κοινωνίες.

Άνθρωποι από κάθε σημείο του πλανήτη έχουν φτάσει στο νησί, καθοδηγούμενοι από την δική τους προσωπική ευαισθησία, για να βοηθήσουν όλους εκείνους τους ανθρώπους που κυνηγούν το όνειρο της Ευρώπης και που πολλές φορές δεν καταφέρνουν να το αγγίξουν.

Οι New York Times φιλοξενούν μαρτυρίες-σοκ από τους εθελοντές που βρίσκονται στη Λέσβο και παλεύουν για να σώσουν ανθρώπινες ζωές.

«Υπάρχουν ολόκληρες σειρές μισοπεθαμένων παιδιών, που τα κρεμάμε ανάποδα για να τους βγάλουμε το νερό από τα μικροσκοπικά πνευμόνια τους» γράφει στην σελίδα της στο Facebook η Τρέις Μάιερς, εθελόντρια από την Βρετανία. «Έχουμε ασθενοφόρα, θρηνούμε, είμαστε τρομοκρατημένοι. Η όλη κατάσταση είναι βδέλυγμα για την ανθρωπότητα» συνεχίζει.

«Σήμερα είναι μέρα θανάτου» γράφει σε άλλη της ανάρτηση η κ. Μάιερς, περιγράφοντας τις αγωνιώδεις προσπάθειες των εθελοντών να σώσουν ανθρώπινες ζωές. «Μια γυναίκα έχασε το μωρό της και το σύζυγό της, μια άλλη είδε το τρίχρονο παιδί της να πεθαίνει μπροστά στα μάτια της και το άλλο της παιδί να μεταφέρεται στο νοσοκομείο».

«Αυτοί οι άνθρωποι χρειάζονται βοήθεια. Η Ελλάδα χρειάζεται βοήθεια και εθελοντές τώρα. Τα άτομα που διαχειρίζονται αυτή την κρίση λειτουργούν χωρίς καμία υποστήριξη από τις κυβερνήσεις και αυτό είναι εξωφρενικό. Είναι ακατανόητο οι κυβερνήσεις να επιτρέπουν τόσο πόνο» συνεχίζει.

Πάνω από 300.000 πρόσφυγες από τη Συρία, το Ιράκ και το Αφγανιστάν, έφτασαν φέτος στη Λέσβο. Κάτοικοι και τουρίστες ρίχνονται στη μάχη της διάσωσης, δίνοντας τη δική τους ηχηρή απάντηση στην απουσία δράσεων από κυβερνήσεις και διεθνείς οργανισμούς.

«Δεν μπορεί ο ΟΗΕ να κάνει κάτι;» αναρωτιέται ο Παναγιώτης Κουτσός, ψαράς στο επάγγελμα. «Είμαι μέσα στο νερό μέρα και νύχτα και δεν μπορώ να βλέπω παιδιά να πνίγονται. Εμείς εδώ στη Λέσβο δεν είμαστε κακοί άνθρωποι. Προσπαθούμε να κάνουμε το καθήκον μας. Είναι θέμα ανθρωπιάς. Μόνο που οι δυνάμεις που έχουμε δεν είναι αρκετές».

Ο Πίτερ Μπουκάρτ, επικεφαλής της οργάνωσης του Παρατηρητηρίου Ανθρωπίνων Δικαιωμάτων, παραδέχεται πως είναι μεγάλη η συμβολή των ισπανών εθελοντών στη διάσωση προσφύγων. Πρόκειται για μέλη της οργάνωσης «ProActiva Open Arms».

«Είδαμε 300 ανθρώπους να ουρλιάζουν μέσα στη θάλασσα, ζητώντας απεγνωσμένα βοήθεια, ο ένας κολλημένος πάνω στον άλλο για να μην πνιγούν» λέει ο Όσκαρ Καμπς, ισπανός ναυαγοσώστης.

Ο ίδιος εμφανίζεται ιδιαίτερα επικριτικός κατά του νορβηγικού πληρώματος της Frontex. «Το μόνο που έκαναν ήταν να ρίξουν σχοινιά στη θάλασσα λες και γύριζαν ταινία» λέει, ενώ δηλώνει εντυπωσιασμένος από τις προσπάθειες των ελλήνων και τούρκων ψαράδων που «σώζουν πολλούς ανθρώπους».

«Ντρέπομαι για την Ευρώπη. Εμείς έχουμε γκρεμιστεί σωματικά και ψυχολογικά» πρόσθεσε ο ισπανός ναυαγοσώστης.

Ο Έρικ Κέμπσον, βρετανός γλύπτης που μαζί με την οικογένειά του ζει εδώ και 16 χρόνια στη Λέσβο, τους τελευταίους μήνες έχει αφιερωθεί στο να βοηθάει πρόσφυγες ακόμη και όταν ο καιρός αγριεύει.

Εξοργισμένος από την αδράνεια των διεθνών οργανώσεων αναφέρει: «Αυτές οι οργανώσεις έχουν εκατομμύρια και είναι άδικο να πέφτει το βάρος στους ώμους των κατοίκων. Ορισμένες φορές η συμπεριφορά τους είναι αηδιαστική. Είμαστε στην Ευρώπη και όλα τα φώτα πέφτουν πάνω τους» τονίζει.

Πηγή:in.gr

The rising death toll in the Aegean, where at least 35 people drowned on Friday while trying to reach Greece, prompted Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to lash out at countries within the European Union that he believes are not doing enough to help tackle the crisis.

“I feel ashamed as a member of this European leadership, both for the inability of Europe in dealing with this human drama, and for the level of debate at a senior level, where one is passing the buck to the other,” Tsipras told Parliament.

His outburst came after more boats carrying refugees and migrants sank near Greek islands. There were several children among those who drowned.

More than 100 children and infants have drowned in the Aegean over the last two months. Tsipras accused some European officials of not caring about these deaths and “crying crocodile tears” over them.

He said that Greece would continue to provide assistance and dismissed the idea that his government was seeking something in return.

“Greece is in crisis. We are a poor people, but we have retained our values and humanity, and we aren’t claiming a single euro to do our duty to people who are dying in our back yard,” Tsipras said.

Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias also called on the EU to take greater responsibility for the problem.

“Some member-states cannot just think that this is not a European problem but one that five or six countries have to deal with,” he said following a meeting in Athens with Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto.

“Instead of attacking and criticizing each other, it is very important we find common solutions,” said the visiting envoy, who also told Kathimerini that his government favors the creation of a European agency to guard the EU’s borders that would help Greece patrol the Aegean.

Spyros Galinos, the mayor of Lesvos, which has seen the biggest influx of all the Aegean islands, called on European officials to reach an agreement with Turkey for refugees to be processed on the neighboring country’s soil.

“Refugees have to be registered in Turkey so we prevent so many people from drowning,” he said. “Our mortuary is full of dead bodies and we have to get a license to create a new area where the dead can be buried.”

Galinos suggested that if the EU is not able to secure the cooperation of Turkey, then passenger ships have to be sent across the Aegean to pick up the refugees and bring them to Lesvos, where they can be registered.

“We are not talking about managing a problem, we are talking about stopping a crime,” he said.

source:ekathimerini.com

A MAN attacked by a shark near Albany says his speargun saved his life after he escaped with a stomach wound that needed stitches.

Norman Galli, 50, says he was lucky to be alive after being bitten by what he believes to be a great white while spearfishing early on Friday afternoon.

The attack happened at Bald Island, east of Cheynes Beach and about 60km east of Albany where teenager Jay Muscat was killed just after Christmas last year.

Mr Galli, a spearfisherman for 42 years and an experienced diver, told Seven News only his speargun stopped the shark from crushing and killing him.

“(I was) swimming right up next to the island when all of a sudden, without seeing anything, I got hit on the right hand side with a great force,” the Attadale man said.

He alerted two friends he had been fishing with on a nearby boat and presented to Albany Regional Hospital, where he received seven stitches to his stomach.

“Without a doubt the speargun saved my life, it was in my right hand and that’s what saved my life,” he said.

“Spearfishermen, we always say, the shark that is going to bite you is probably the one you don’t see and I can honestly say I did not see this shark at all.

“I’m a very lucky man, i’ve bought two lotto tickets and I’m just really grateful.”

Mr Galli was discharged from the hospital at about 3.30pm.

A worker at Cheynes Beach Caravan Park, who did not want to be named, confirmed the man had been spearfishing off the far end of Bald Island.

She said he was calm after walking out of the ocean and was driven to hospital by a friend.

“He’s got minor injuries,” she said.

“No ambulances were called — nothing like that.

“They just took themselves in. They didn’t even ask for bandage.”

The size and species of the shark has not been confirmed. The Department of Fisheries is continuing to investigate the incident.

source:theaustralian.com.au