winter

How time flies! I'd wanted to put up a post around mid-winter, which we celebrate in Dunedin with a wonderful pagan procession. Actually, when this winter carnaval first started it was strenuously opposed by the religious community because it was considered too pagan. Dunedin can be dourly Presbyterian. As for all major Dunedin town festivities the activities take place on or around the Octagon, presided over by the Robert Burns statue and surrounded by the Cathedral and Town Hall. This is a picture of all three:


The winter carnival highlight is a lantern procession, followed by fireworks. In past years we have walked in the procession, with lanterns made by the grandchildren, but this year we watched. I did take photos last year, but can't find them, so I will use photos from the carnival website.
You can see more here. The 2009 photos are not up yet. The procession is always in white, at least most of it (the winter spirits) and is accompanied by drummers and dancers.

Meanwhile we have had our once a year big dump of snow, when the whole of Dunedin comes to a standstill, because a) we put grit on the roads once snow and ice cover it (rather than salt before the snow and ice settle, as they do in Europe) and b) because Dunedin is a hill town and most people need to come down some sort of steep slope to get to town. It's wonderful: the schools are closed, most buses do not run, and many people cannot get to work. If they do try, they slither down the slopes and crash into other cars parked on the side of the road. The children come out and play in the streets, make snowmen and throw snowballs. The men who cannot get to work watch over the children and stand talking to each other. Everyone is cheerful and talks to their neighbours. Here are some pictures taken from my house. You can see that the snow goes right down to town level.



Further to my Antarctica stories, I saw a wonderful National Geographic documentary the other day called Expedition Antarctica, about the census of Antarctic marine life (CAML) (the official website). Not only did the images of the journey remind me of my own 'cruise' to Antarctica, but the images of the creates found in the southern seas are really amazing. Here are a couple:


I recommend you do a search on Google Images for 'antarctic marine life' to see more of images from the documentary.