Tuesday, January 05, 2010

JANUARY 2010

Wednesday January 6th, and 20th at 10:15 am our Morning Coffee at The Rooms Restaurant on the 4th floor of The Rooms Museum. You may wish to spend part of the morning exploring some of the new exhibits, or you may decide to return on Wednesday evenings when attendance to the Museum is free. The coffee mornings provide the best informal way to meet other members, connect with kindred spirits, or suggest themes for future socials. If the present gathering cannot satisfy your curiosity, the following ladies are always ready to answer questions regarding the Newcomers’ Club and our activities:

Michelle Lacroix 738-7123 Hana Semerad 738-0266

AROUND TOWN

See The City of St. John’s Welcomes You site for all the cultural events January offers. Try to welcome
in the new year watching the fireworks at Quidi Vidi. Living as we do in the most easterly location in North America, New year arrives here first. Although the festive season is over, January offers many diversions on stage. The Rising Tide Revue 09 takes centre stage at the Arts and Culture Centre on January 7-10 and 13-16 before it tours the remaining five provincial A&C Centres.
Buddy Wasisname and the Other Fellers perform on the evenings of January 26-30.
c2c theatre presents A Beautiful View by Daniel MacIvor on the evenings of January 20-24

Newfoundland Corner by Hana Semerad

If the wind blows south on New Year’s night a warm and sunny year will follow

CFA’s relocating to the Rock from snow free places usually hope for white Christmas, and this year they rewarded early; snow started falling on Sunday, December 6, and by the time it stopped falling on Monday, St. John’s residents without snow blowers had ample opportunity for rigorous exercise, as they were attempting to clear their driveways of 39.4 centimeters, a record daily accumulation. Under similar conditions in the 1800’s the locals would have sported confirmations, ladies would have needed more than one cloud and cod socks would not have done.
January’s arrival did not used to mean the end of celebrations and merriment. You could be visited by idle janneys through Old Christmas Eve, when, it was believed, the cattle fell to their knees and prayed. Old Christmas Day falls on January 6th, the day recognized on the Gregorian calendar as start of Epiphany season.
New Year celebrations leave many just able to navigate, perhaps with their heads feeling right logy. The season of overindulgence is behind us. We need moderation, no more duffs for a while, or at least till Easter. We need clear heads to be able to keep our eyes on the weather of the first 12 days of January, because the weather for the first 12 days of January indicates the weather for the next 12 months. Mind you, even clear heads will not be able to change what nature has in store for us, so why not forget the monitoring of conditions in the first part of January and make the best of it. After all, as Newfoundlanders are fond of saying, “If you don’t like the weather, wait 5 minutes, it is likely to change.”

The following are definitions of colloquial expressions from the Dictionary of Newfoundland and Labrador by Ron Young used in this issue of the Signal

Confirmations – button-up shirts and ankle-length drawers sewn together to make one garment. Often they were made of flour sacks
Cloud – a lady’s shawl, scarf or head covering
Cod socks – also cossocks – long rubber boots cut off at the ankles
Idle janneys – mischievous or naughty mummers
Old Christmas Eve – January 5th
Old Christmas Day - used to be celebrated on January 6th before the calendar changed in 1752
Just be able to navigate - intoxicated
Heads feeling right logy – having hangovers