The Developing Soul Stirs in the Light of the Winter Solstice by CYNTHIA WALLENTINE from the Soft Grey, out of the Dim Into the Dawn, It Slips
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
ISSUE 23 VOLUME 1 Proudly Serving Celts in North America Since 1991 DECEMBER 2014/JANUARY 2015 A SEXUAL ASSAULT arrest in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan may lead to developments in the high profile disappearance of a pregnant hairdresser in Ireland 18 years ago. Fiona Pender, a 25-year-old hairdresser and part-time model, was last seen August 22, 1996 in Tullamore, Ireland. She was seven months pregnant when she disappeared. [See page 23] The Developing Soul Stirs in the Light of the Winter Solstice By CYNTHIA WALLENTINE From the soft grey, out of the dim into the dawn, it slips. The thin edge of the developing season, the emerging soul, is looking to become new again. Samhain, with its darkness is passing. Exhausted from the involution, time has worn itself away, and looks to the be- ginning of another season. A myriad of winter festivals reflect the physical nature of our brightest daytime star, the sun. Reaching its southern limit at 3:03 PM PST on December 21, the sun takes its shortest step of the year – and returns. COVER ARTWORK: By Mary MacArthur This promised return of light, as illumi- nation, heat or truth touches all souls, setting a pattern for each day, season and belief. For we who still walk this earth, in won- At the winter Solstice, all that is old der tale and in personal life, the light becomes new. There are few who do has come a long way, from there to here. not draw strength from the sight of light Crossing mountain, ocean and plain, it in the darkness. One small light, one President Obama imposed candle, can draw and hold the attention traversed time to meet you and unfold of many. But there is more to the deal. in the coming year. sweeping immigration reforms As you stand in this place and watch it on November 20, easing the The origins of many common festival threat of deportation for some traditions are found in the responsibili- arrive, so you shall stand next year and watch it move off, continuing its end- 4.7 million undocumented immi- A SPECTACULAR scene takes place each year on the last ties felt by our forbears to speed sup- Tuesday of January when a replica Viking ship is set ablaze at port to that newly born sun. It is a two- less journey from here to there, leaving grants, including an estimated way street. you forever changed. the Up Helly Aa fire festival on the Shetland Islands off Scotland 50,000 Irish living in the U.S. to celebrate their Viking heritage. [Read more on page 9] Evergreen trees, festooned with figures Just as the path of the sun dims and [Read more on page 27] of luck, love and baubles of glass form brightens, so does ours. The moment a bridge between heaven and earth. of winter Solstice is one of emergence, as close as your next breath or as far Mail Agreement: Publication While grounding the divine, these deco- as 93,000,000 miles into space. 40009398 rations and festivities reflect illumina- In the distance, something is waiting. tion upward, lending strength to the Our Special Annual young light. Reciprocity. It is a turn – of life, season, fortune, or maybe just a phrase. It may change Winter traditions and religious practices your life, in fact it probably will. Both Christmas Greeting honor the hope of this world, the return new and old, it is coming. Blessings of Section - Page 15 of light from the darkness. the winter Solstice to you and yours. PAGE 2 www.celtic-connection.com DECEMBER 2014/JANUARY 2015 Irish-Canadian journalist Kathy Gannon honoured with the 2014 press freedom award TORONTO – Irish-Canadian Associated Press re- Carol Off she was sure that she and Niedringhaus were going to die before porter Kathy Gannon was honoured in Toronto with they reached the hospital. “All I kept the 2014 Tara Singh Hayer Memorial Award for cour- thinking is ‘I want to go peacefully’.” Tragically, Anja Niedringhaus did not age in reporting. survive the attack. But on December 3, her photography was celebrated at Gannon serves as special regional cor- Both veteran AP journalists on assign- the Canadian Journalists for Free Ex- respondent for Pakistan and Afghani- ment, the women were covering the run- pression gala in Toronto, where Kathy stan for The Associated Press. up to the Afghan national elections. The Gannon was presented with the press nearest hospital was a 45-minute drive freedom award. In April this year, an Afghan police of- away. ficer opened fire on Gannon and Gannon has covered the region for the Pulitzer-prize winning photographer In her first radio interview since the AP as a correspondent and bureau Anja Niedringhaus. attack, Gannon tells As It Happens host chief since 1988, a period that spans the withdrawal of Russian soldiers from Afghanistan, the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, the bitter Afghan civil war between Islamic factions and the rise and fall of the Taliban. Gannon was the only Western journal- ist allowed in Kabul by the Taliban in PHOTO: AP File Photo, 2012 the weeks preceding the 2001 U.S.- British offensive in Afghanistan. A KABUL court announced Wednesday, July 23, 2014, that the Afghan police officer charged with killing Associated Press pho- In addition to her coverage of South tographer Anja Niedringhaus, right, and wounding veteran AP cor- Central Asia, she has covered the Mid- respondent Kathy Gannon, left, has been convicted and sentenced dle East, including the 2006 Israeli war to death. against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, and war in northern Iraq. del: From Holy War, to Holy Terror, Her brothers Robert and Terry, both A native of Timmins, Ontario, she was 18 Years Inside Afghanistan, an ex- retired, were prominent in their fields the city editor at the Kelowna Courier amination of the Taliban and post- and her sister, Patricia Ann, was a nurse DEIRDRE and Brian O’Ruairc of the Irish Club of White Rock in British Columbia and worked at sev- Taliban period, published by Public Af- in Canada’s north for 40 years. were overnight recently in Port Townsend, Washington, where eral Canadian newspapers before her fairs. Gannon is married to highly regarded they came across a lovely little Celtic shop called Wandering career took her overseas. She has lived Gannon is the youngest of six children. Pakistani architect and artist Naeem Angus. Deirdre says, “great store with a wonderful selection of in Israel, Japan, Pakistan and Afghani- Her brother Brian, now retired, and her Pasha, and has a stepdaughter, Kyla Irish stuff.” Pictured here holding a copy of the November 2014 stan. late brother Lorne were also respected Pasha. issue of The Celtic Connection is Deirdre O’Ruairc with Debbie In 2005 Gannon authored I is for Infi- journalists. and Maxx Sonandre and Tracey Williamson of the Wandering Angus. TARA SINGH HAYER MEMORIAL AWARD TARA SINGH HAYER, publisher and founder of the Indo-Canadian Times, was shot to death execution-style while getting out of his car in the ga- A Child’s Christmas in Wales rage of his home in Surrey, B.C. on November 18, 1998. Hayer was a vocal opponent to violence in the Sikh separatist move- “It snowed last year too: I made a snowman ment. He was also due to give valuable testimony for the prosecution in and my brother knocked it down the bombing of Air India Flight 182 in 1985. and I knocked my brother down and then we had tea.” – Dylan Marlais Thomas [1914 - 1953] Following his death his statement to the RCMP became inadmissible as A Child’s Christmas In Wales evidence and was later cited as a reason why the suspects in the bomb- [Over 60 years after Dylan Thomas’ death, his writing is just as loved ing were eventually acquitted in 2005. now as it was then. The Swansea-born writer died in New York on No- vember 9,1953, aged just 39, but by that time he had already written works including Under Milk Wood, A Child’s Christmas In Wales, Por- ABOUT OUR COVER ARTIST trait of the Artist as a Young Dog and Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night. MARY MACARTHUR is our cover artist this month. She graduated from The University of St. Thomas and the Glassell School of Art in His influence has continued to be felt by writers and artists down the Houston, Texas, having studied theology, life drawing, English and generations and he is celebrated each year in his home town with the painting. annual Dylan Thomas festival. This event took on special significance in 2014 – the centenary of his birth.] Since then she has been working freelance design and illustration and has illustrated two books, Clare’s Costly Cookie by Julie Kelly and Life is Crumbly by Jansina Grossman. Mary is on a quest to become an illustrator and religious artist. For more about her work, see: http://snowflakeclockwork.blogspot.ca. THE CELTIC CONNECTION ISSUE 23 VOLUME 1 - Established in 1991 #452 - 4111 Hastings Street, Burnaby, B.C. V5C 6T7 Tel: (604) 434-3747 • www.celtic-connection.com Maura De Freitas - Publisher - • E-Mail: [email protected] Catholine Butler - Advertising - • E-Mail: [email protected] Colleen Carpenter - Copy Editor • Ainsley Baldwin - Ad Production Distribution: Arlyn Lingat • Tom Butler • Allison Moore • Linda Robb • Frank Dudfield in Surrey • Neville Thomas in Burnaby & Coquitlam • Eifion Williams in Burnaby & Coquitlam • Doug Medley in North Vancouver • Gabriel Clark in Coquitlam & Port Moody • Joanne Long in Mission • Bill Duncan in Maple Ridge • Deirdre O’Ruaric, Ray & Mary Fynes, Gerry O’Keefe in White Rock • Nanci Spieker and Heather Murphy in Seattle • Oliver Grealish in Edmonton.