St. Patrick's Day in South Africa

I am not Irish, but growing up in the New York metropolitan area and going to Catholic school in the shadow of the Empire State Building meant one thing on St. Patrick's Day. Marching in and / or watching the annual St. Patrick's Parade on Fifth Avenue in New York City.  Later when I came of (drinking) age it also meant enjoying some time along parallel Third Avenue where there was an Irish bar or pub about every 3 feet from 33rd Street to 81st Street. I know because I stopped in for a pint in each and every one of them one St. Patrick's Day when I was young and foolish.

Donegal cottage

Over the years I managed to be in many other US cities with large Irish populations on St. Patricks's Day and was able to see how they celebrate. My sister lived in Chicago where the city dyes its river green for its annual St. Patrick's Day celebration and parade. Savannah does the same with their many park fountains and Indianapolis dyes its main canal green too. New Orleans holds a mini-Mardi Gras parade with floats bearing beads and other green swag. Denver holds the biggest St. Paddy's Day parade west of the Mississippi. Huge Irish populations in Washington DC and Boston guarantee that the streets are paved with a green stripe and their parades and parties are legendary. The White House dyes its fountain green too! Even San Francisco turns its City Hall green on St. Patrick's Day and puts on its own parade and Irish festival along with dozens of individual block parties.

Powerscourt

For 15 years, when one or both of my sons attended a private school in New Jersey, their spring break was consistently the middle two weeks of March. That meant their vacations almost always included March 17. As a result, we have spent many St. Patrick's Days outside the New York metropolitan area. On beaches in Hawaii, Costa Rica and Mexico, in sailing ports in the Caribbean, in Disneyworld, on ski slopes in Colorado and in the desert in Sedona. Every place celebrated in its own unique way, but celebrate they did. (We had planned to spend one St. Patrick's Day in Dublin itself, but the first Gulf War broke out in January that year and we decided to postpone our England and Ireland Spring Break visit to another time.)



And with all our mid-March travels, we learned you don't really need a parade or a festival to celebrate St. Patrick's Day like they do in New York. All you really need are some Irish people, corned beef and cabbage and a pint of Guinness. Preferably with a shamrock foam finish.

Irish people and a couple of Italians

 

Last year I spent St. Patrick's Day at the Jersey Shore (parade, bagpipes, kilts, Guinness) and later that night at our friends the McMenamys' annual St. Patrick's Day party (corned beef and cabbage and more Guinness Black and Tans).

After Hurricane Sandy destroyed the beach and boardwalk in Seaside Heights a few months before and put the famous rollercoaster in the drink, Seaside's parade honored the thousands of fire fighters and other first responders who came to the aid of Jersey Shore residents and business owners in the wake of Sandy. It was a triumph!

Happily for me St. Patrick's Day is not just celebrated in Ireland and the US but in cities all over the world. Definitely in places where there is a large Irish population like Sydney and London. But even where there is not a history of mass Irish immigration - like Rio, Paris and Cairo - people celebrate on March 17. Turns out everyone wants to be Irish on St. Patrick's Day!


In preparation for the big day, I looked to see how St. Patrick's Day will be celebrated in South Africa. I found that Cape Town and not Joburg has the most showy St. Patrick's Day celebration. Cape Town turns Table Mountain green on March 17. What a sight that must be! There isn't an actual parade but there are plenty of parties and Irish festivals planned including one outdoors at the V&A waterfront. I can't be there, but my sometime-guest-blogger and full-time husband Vince will!

Joburg doesn't put on a parade either, but you can still enjoy a Guinness on tap in any number of Irish pubs and shebeens on St. Patrick's Day. And even get some corned beef and cabbage at the weekend-long Montecasino or Emporer's Palace Irish Festivals. Jozi and Éirinn go Brách!

Christmas Eve Mass at Regina Mundi

Christmas is BIG with my people and celebrating Mass on Christmas Eve is a BIG part of it. As our holiday plans started to take shape, we began to think about where we should celebrate this, our first Christmas Eve Mass in South Africa.

the creche in St. Patrick's Cathedral

When Vince and I were first married, my family celebrated Christmas Eve Midnight Mass in the church where Vince and I were wed, St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City. We would go to an early dinner in the city, see a Broadway musical, and then walk over to Fifth Avenue and get in the queue for Midnight Mass. Cue the light atmospheric snowfall.




  
 
After our sons were born - and baptized at St. Patrick's Cathedral - we moved to Westfield, NJ and joined our first local parish there. St. Helen's became our Christmas Eve home for many years. Vince sang and played guitar in the Music Ministry. I was a Eucharistic Minister. 

We both taught Sunday School. Vince and Ed Ruhno taught our son Alex's and Ed's son Mike's class. Joy Urbanski and I taught our son Nick's and Joy's son Mike's class and we did it next door to each other at St. Helen's Parish Center. The boys took part in the Nativity play every year and the 3:45 Children's Christmas Eve Mass became our annual routine.

  

Once our boys grew up and the Children's Mass at St. Helen's was no longer age-appropriate, we started a new tradition. We would go down the shore to our beach house and cook a traditional Italian Christmas Eve dinner of seven fishes there by the sea. But first we would celebrate Christmas Eve Mass in the home of our friends, the D'Alessandro's on the beach in Mantoloking, NJ. Mass was said in their generously sized living room in front of a wall of picture windows overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.

Vince was Music Minister again and I served Communion along with my friend, Carolyn and her brother Chris D'Alessandro and whoever else was a Eucharistic Minister in the house that year. Father Kevin, a retired priest friend of the D'Alessandro's, said Mass. The D'Alessandro grandchildren did the readings and brought up the gifts of bread and wine for consecration. The house was usually filled with dozens and dozens of neighbors and friends. Maybe 100 people or so. It was magical!
 

with Carolyn in front of the huge center hall tree

It felt a lot like what I imagine the first Masses must have felt like for the early Christians. Simple, spiritual and said in someone's home. Our sons would usually wait go to Midnight Mass back at St. Helen's which is a tradition they always enjoyed. Most of the time Vince would go with them for a second Christmas Eve Mass and I would stay at home and finish my last minute gift wrapping!



 
Last year - our last Christmas Eve in the USA - we could not celebrate Mass with the D'Alessandro's in their Mantoloking beach house. The Jersey Shore had been hit hard by Hurricane Sandy just months before and Mantoloking in particular was devastated by the super storm. The town was pretty much shut down for Christmas. There were not even essential services like electricity and water in much of the town. We were very sad. 

Cast adrift, we opted to celebrate Christmas Eve Mass instead back in old New York at St. Patrick's Cathedral. In a way, it was like coming full circle on our Christmas Eve Mass celebrations. (Mantoloking by the way is well on its way to a total recovery and will be even better than ever!)

Here in Johannesburg, we usually attend Sunday Mass at either one of two local Roman Catholic Churches. Our Lady of Lourdes in Rivonia or The Church of the Immaculate Conception in Rosebank. But on a recent tour of Soweto, we saw the church that would be the site of our first Christmas Eve Mass in South Africa, Regina Mundi.

Regina Mundi is the largest Roman Catholic Church in South Africa. Located in Moroka in Soweto, the Church first wrote its name in South Africa's history books during Apartheid, when it opened its doors to anti-apartheid groups and provided shelter to activists.

During the June 16, 1976 student uprisings, protesting students fled to Regina Mundi from Orlando Stadium to escape the police's bullets and teargas canisters.

bullet hole disguised as a flower

The police followed the students into the church, firing live ammunition and damaging the marble altar and crucifix. Bullet holes are still visible in the church ceiling. And broken marble on the entry floors and the damaged statue of Jesus Christ in the foyer provide tangible evidence of the violence of these police raids and the ensuring rush to evacuate the building.

the damaged statue

Due to the role it played as a place of gathering for the people of Soweto in the years before, during, and after the anti-apartheid struggle, it is often referred to as "the people's church" or "the people's cathedral". From 1995 to 1998, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu presided over the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings at Regina Mundi.

a tribute to Nelson Mandela

Later, in 1997, Nelson Mandela established 30 November as "Regina Mundi Day" to honour the church.

We simply could not think of a better place to celebrate our first Christmas Mass in a South Africa. Full stop. The Mass was long. Three hours long in fact. And it was mostly in Zulu. We had been to a Zulu Mass in Rosebank before so we sort of knew what to expect. Lots of  music, lots of dancing, lots of spirit. But the choir music sung in this acoustically superior cathedral was unbelievably beautiful and the spirituality in the room was palpable.




At one point as the choir and congregants were parading and dancing up the long center aisle to bring up the gifts, we saw the most amazing scene unfold in the Sanctuary. A little boy - a toddler really - broke away from his parents and slowly climbed the 15 steps up to the Altar where Father Sebastian was standing up top before descending to accept the gifts. The little toddler handed the priest his security blanket.

Father Sebastian accepted it graciously, blessed the little boy, and put the blanket on the stool next to him. He was like the Little Drummer Boy giving his prized possession to the baby Jesus, the newborn King. Adorable!

our Christmas card from Regina Mundi

After Mass all the visitors were asked to stand up and introduce themselves to the congregation! Good thing we didn't skip out on the Recessional. Everyone turned, looked at us and waited for us to stand. Clearly everyone had noticed us. I believe we may have been the only white people in the place! We were not the only visitors though. People were there from all over Africa. Zimbabwe. Nigeria. Ghana. This was "Africa's church" too.

We were rewarded with a Christmas Card from Father Sebastian and Regina Mundi. I will cherish it and the memory always.

All Hallows' Eve

front stoop in Fanwood

It's October. Halloween is a few weeks away. And yet there are none of the usual cues to help get me into the spirit of the spirit world. The crisp chill in the air. The sound of raking leaves. (Can't stand the unfortunate racket of the leaf blower however!) The spicy smells of autumn baking. The yellow, red and orange splendor of the turning autumn leaves.

front stoop in Manhattan

Bittersweet, corn stalks, pumpkins and gourds. Purple and orange mums. The haunted graveyards set up on people's front lawns. Candy corn and caramel apples. The pumpkin spice latte at Starbucks.

They would be out of place here. It is spring in South Africa. But unfortunately purple jacaranda, orange birds-of-paradise and magenta bougainvillea do not conjure up Halloween for me.

our unworn 2012 costumes: a small game hunter & lions

Halloween is my hands-down-favorite holiday of the year. (I know I say that about every holiday but this time I mean it!) I think it might be because I am a scaredy cat in real life. Can't watch horror films or read murder mysteries. Too real. I like "controlled" fright with a guaranteed safe outcome. Fun houses, Disney's Haunted Mansion and Halloween.

I especially love dressing up for Halloween parties and masquerades. Going on ghost walks and haunted house tours. Pumpkin picking and hay rides. Decorating for trick or treaters. Watching the Greenwich Village Freak Parade. Carving Jack o' Lanterns to light up the stoop on Halloween and then to float candlelit on the lake the next night.

Last year we were totally ripped off by a be-atch named Sandy who came roaring into the the tri-state area of NY, NJ, and CT with punishing winds, driving rain and crippling storm surge just days before Halloween. She left us all flooded and powerless, with dangerous power lines and branches dangling over sidewalks and roads. The Wicked Witch of the Nor'east.

The Governor of New Jersey canceled Halloween! The Mayor of New York canceled the Greenwich Village Parade! Justifiably so because it was too dangerous to trick or treat, much less be out on the street, but still ... it was a cruel Halloween Trick!

This year I will not be in the northeastern Unites States for Halloween. :( But nor will I be in Africa. I will be "out of Africa" on Halloween so I won't be even be able to see how - or even if - South Africa celebrates my favorite holiday. (They must. There are so many English people here!) So I guess Halloween 2013 will be another non-event for me.

This is when I wish I had my library of photo albums so that I could reminisce with my photographs from Halloweens past. I have great pictures from the celebrations at home and in "Halloween places" like Salem, MA and Sleepy Hollow, NY. I will just have to be satisfied with perusing my extensive Facebook cache of pictures to get my Halloween fix this year. (Thank goodness I uploaded all those pictures on Facebook. They have been fueling this blog!)

Here are some ...

w Lauren & Susan

Autumn bounty on display at Gramercy Tavern after a Big Onion Walking Tour of Gramercy Park.

Autumn display at the stable where my niece Aly keeps her horse and takes her riding lessons.

Serge & the autumn leaves.

Guy Fawkes Day bonfires on the beach with the British expat meet-up group in SF.

I like to visit cemeteries such as Pere Lachaise, Recoleta and Alexander Nevsky when I travel (but never alone!) One of the most beautiful and peaceful spots is this one, America's first garden cemetery, the Mount Auburn in Boston.

It's always Halloween at the Edward Gorey House on Cape Cod!

 A favor from a Gorey-themed Halloween Party.

I loved our annual leaf-peeping trips to Vermont with the boys.

Happy Hallo-wiener

the first year we had the puppies, of course they were hot dogs!

London's Corinthia Hotel Halloween Tea ...

scanned leaves from my favorite Japanese Maple tree

front row @ the Greenwich Village Freak Parade

 I was a pumpkin!

Thriller! On parade!

An early Halloween in Lyndhurst: my sister Cheryl was a bunny rabbit; I was Ringo and my brother Bob was Robin Hood.

Aly and me

A couple of cowgirls @ the St. Barnabas October Tails Halloween Puppy Parade in Verona. Serge and Lou were Texas Wieners that year.

@ a Halloween Party: Elvira (Adria), Countess Dracula (me), Count Dracula (Mark R.), Church Lady (Dede) and Billy Joel (Mark McM.)

St. Michael's Halloween parade: Babydoll (Karen), Witch (me)

@ the Macabre Flashlight Tour at the Mutter Museum at the College of Physicians of Philadelphia. Lots of skeletons and weird things preserved in formaldehyde. In the dark!

@ "Sleep No More", an interactive performance of Macbeth in NYC; afterwards I didn't sleep for days!

More Halloween party: The Draculas, Church Lady and the Ghost of Elvis Presley (Vince).

Halloween dinner was traditionally Baked Ham and Colcannon.

and for dessert, skull cupcakes with frosting brains!

Bloody skull shots.

treats for the neighborhood kids: Siamese twin gingerbread men.













The Dachs-hounds of the Baskervilles keep an eye out for trick-or-treaters.

Autumn bounty on the back stoop.

Wet leaves on the conservatory roof made great decorations.

Treats.

The glorious Highlands of NJ.

Cobwebs and spiders come as free Halloween decorations with a 200+ year old house.That's a real one in the center who came to join his mates affixed to the glass on the front door fanlight.

@ the Day of the Dead celebration, the Mission District, San Francisco.














Ready for the Fanwood Halloween Parade. A fire hydrant (me), Natasha the Brittany (Nick), Boris the English Springer Spaniel (Alex), Bubble Bee (Tori) with our dogs Boris and Natasha who are wearing Alex and Nick's pajamas. I always "made" - more like fabricated - my sons' and my costumes at home. My favorites are tucked away in my "costume trunk" in storage.

The jack o' lantern float at Echo Lake Park.











Luckily I did bring my copies of The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Arsenic and Old Lace. That should do the trick!


Happy Halloween!