033 november torrevieja outlook

Torrevieja Outlook

Nº 33 - November 2016

033 November 2016

Calendar – fiestas – Cocentaina fair – Benidorm in fiesta – For Musicians – A Brave Smile – Desiderata – Happens to all of us – A word from a dying man – Paying out – Ferocious Fugu – Technology Slave? – Solidarity calendar outlets – All Alone Am I..- Chaplains on Both Sides – Fighters in the Shadows – Remembrance Concert – Tapas Time – Bulls Rushing Around – Scandinavians Hospital – Parking is a pain – BlaBlaCars – Christmas Dates – Registry – Jab Time – All Saints Day – All Souls Day – Christmas gift ideas

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Spain has fiestas all the time, somewhere. But not all are fun, November is a month of remembering. November the 1st is a public holiday in the whole of Spain. This festival of the 1st November is a bit different from all the others as it is not normally a time for feasting as people remember the dead members of their family. For some it is a feast when some people do not mourn, but celebrate the life of a loved one and this concept of rejoicing about a person’s life and what they have achieved is coming more and more to the front of Christian thinking. A life to celebrate and rejoice in what a person has achieved and endured.

There is little doubt that the feast of All Saints is a day par excellence for flower power.

Florists stock up for the seasonal rush of flower buying, as people remember those who have died and hopefully gone on to better pastures. This is a time of sincere emotions and honest memories. It is a time to think about just why are we here? It is a time to remember good and bad periods in our life. It is a time to remember love. It is a time of religious and spiritual reflection: “From where did I come? Why am I here? Where am I going?”

1st Nov.

All Saints Day is a public holiday when people visit the cemeteries.

Special day in Orihuela and Dénia. Some towns, including Torrevieja have a free bus service to the local cemetery.

1st week a Feria is held in Villena.

1 - 3rd Nov. Medieval market of La Fira de Tots els Sants is held in Cocentaina.

7 - 10th Patronal fiestas in L’Alfàs del Pi. 2nd weekend patronal fiestas lasting five days in Benidorm.

3rd weekend Festa de la Carxofa in Benidorm.

Romería in La Nucia to the San Rafael sanctuary.

22nd Nov. Teulada celebrates the fiesta of Santa Catalina.

24th Nov. Pinoso has hogueras and on 25th a procession in honour of Santa Catalina.

28th - 30th Fiestas and romería in Tibi.

The Saturday nearest to the 28th similar fiestas in Onil.

30th Nov., Saint Andrew fiesta in Almoradí.

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In Alicante cemetery groups from various countries gather to celebrate the anniversary of the termination of the first war. One such group is the UFACRE/CEAC with representatives from Germany, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Spain, France, Britain, Luxembourg. Several Consuls also attend this remembrance ceremony. Another group is the UniĂłn Francesa de Antiguos Combatientes Residentes en EspaĂąa and again consuls will be represented.

Along the Costa Blanca another British and Allied group hold remembrance services to honour those who have died in conflicts. This is the British Legion, an international group that has raised funds since 1918 to help those who have been injured in active service or who have run into difficulties since their military service.

These services are definitely not to honour war, but rather to honour ordinary men and women who have died in the service of others trying to make this world a safer and better place for their children and grandchildren.

There has been no truth to an internet rumor that some places would not be selling poppies.

The British Legion need all the money they can raise to helping disabled servicemen. The war did not end in 1945, but British servicemen has continued to serve their country and the international community in various conflicts as well as policing missions and life-saving missions. And they continue to die and be injured.

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Cocentaina Medieval Fair This fair brings together the cultures of Christian, Arab, Mudejar and Gitano, that coexisted quite happily centuries ago. Each year there are over 900 exhibitors from small stallholders to l a rg e international firms.

In 1912 it was considered in the category of Interés Turístico Nacional and is not only traditional crafts, but modern inventions can be found in this fair in its 671st edition.

It begins on 30 October to 1 November with an expected half a million of visitors.

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Benidorm Fun Fiestas

by Dave Stewart

Benidorm starts its annual patronal fiestas on 11th November with the fiesta queens switching on the street lighting where later the various clubs (peñas) will process. The annual Benidorm fiestas take place in honour of the town’s patron Saints ‘la Virgen del Sufragio’ and ‘San Jaime Apóstol’ and begin on the second

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Friday of the month ending on the Wednesday. The streets are transformed for the entire event with floral decorations, lively musicians, open-air theatre, firework displays and religious parades.

Celebrations finish in a huge parade of beautifully decorated floats early in the evening of the Wednesday followed by a fantastic firework display from Playa de Poniente.

Everyone on the floats are in fancy dress and as is the custom, throw thousands of sweets into the crowd. Many British holiday makers turn out to see this even so if you’re on holiday with children tell them to take a carrier bag to collect them. Usually the British themselves extend the fiesta unofficially to the Thursday when many bars hold fancy dress parties.

These are longstanding fiestas dating back to March 1740 at least. Originally the feast day was held in March,but as this was a busy period for the fishermen it was moved to November. The story is that a storm blew a foreign ship on to the shore, but the people decided to burn it in case there were any infectious diseases. Lo and behold in the sales was a statue of the Virgen Mary that was placed in a specially built shrine adjacent to the church. A reenactment of this episode is staged every year on Playa de Poniente as part of the celebrations.

During these days there are many events running alongside, such as the huge funfair and a Music Festival. On midday Saturday 12th there is BELL RINGING and spectacular "AIR BOMBING" from Plaza Castelar, done by “PIROTECNIA VALENCIANA”, announcing the start of the fiestas. In calle Mayor there is a tapestry of flowers and every day a noisy muscatel of fireworks. On the Tuesday there is a special requiem mass at San Jaime Church where those lost at sea are remembered with flower gardens thrown into the sea afterwards.

Re-enanctment of the statue find. aormi@icloud.com

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Saint Cecilia Patron of musicians

22nd November is a feast kept by many musicians as it is the date of their patroness, Saint Cecilia. Her story is a love story.

In the fourth century a Greek religious romance on the Loves of Cecilia and Valerian was written in glorification of virginal life with the purpose of taking the place of then-popular sensual romances.

Consequently, until better evidence is produced, we must conclude that St. Cecilia was not known or venerated in Rome until about the time when Pope Gelasius (496) introduced her name into his Sacramentary.

The story of St. Cecilia is not without beauty or merit. She is said to have been quite close to God and prayed often: In the city of Rome there was a virgin named Cecilia, who came from an extremely rich family and was given in marriage to a youth named Valerian. She wore sackcloth next to her skin, fasted, and invoked the saints, angels, and virgins, beseeching them to guard her virginity During her wedding ceremony she was said to have sung in her heart to God and before the consummation of her nuptials, she told her husband she had taken a vow of virginity and had an angel protecting her.

Valerian asked to see the angel as proof, and Cecilia told him he would have eyes to see once he travelled to the third milestone on the Via Appia (Appian Way) and was baptized by Pope Urbanus.

Following his baptism, Valerian returned to his wife and found an angel at her side. The angel then crowned aormi@icloud.com

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Cecilia with a chaplet of rose and lily and when Valerian's brother, Tibertius, heard of the angel and his brother's baptism, he also was baptized and together the brothers dedicated their lives to burying the saints who were murdered each day by the prefect of the city, Turcius Almachius. (on saints see later article) Both brothers were eventually arrested and brought before the prefect where they were executed after they refused to offer a sacrifice to the gods.

As her husband and brother-in-law buried the dead, St. Cecilia spent her time preaching and in her lifetime was able to convert over four hundred people, most of whom were baptized by Pope Urban.

Cecilia was later arrested and condemned to be suffocated in the baths. She was shut in for one night and one day, as fires were heaped up and stoked to a terrifying heat - but Cecilia did not even sweat.

When Almachius heard this, he sent an executioner to cut off her head in the baths.

The executioner struck her three times, but was unable to decapitate her so he left her bleeding and she lived for three days. Crowds came to her and collected her blood while she preached to them or prayed. On the third day she died and was buried by Pope Urban and his deacons. May sound a bit weird, but I was reading recently about a murdered priest in Indonesia and the people came and collected his blood as he lay dying, relics seems to a built in thing.

St. Cecilia is regarded as the patroness of music, because she heard heavenly music in her heart when she was married, and is represented in art with an organ or organ-pipes in her hand.

Hopefully next year we will have a real organ in the la Inmaculada Church as most of the pipes have been installed.

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Keeping a brave smile on things

Tasha Lynch has been living on the Costa Blanca since 2012. Like most of us her life has been turned around. Except in her case it has been a trying time. She was rushed into Torrevieja hospital a year ago with breathing difficulties and over the next few weeks she was fighting for her life.

A battery of tests showed that Tasha had three incurable diseaseshemiplegic migraines, myasthenic crisis and transverse myelitis. She has been in and out of hospital since then and is fully dependent on medical equipment to help her through normal body functions, including no mobility below the waist and is blind in her left eye. aormi@icloud.com

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She has a very positive attitude and a wicked sense of humour, backed by loving support from her family and friends.

Tasha is in ongoing chemotherapy treatment to keep her three main infirmities under control.

Hemiplegic migraine is a rare and serious type of migraine headache.

Many of its symptoms mimic those common to stroke; for example, muscle weakness can be so extreme that it causes a temporary paralysis on one side of your body, which doctors call hemiplegia. Myasthenic crisis is a complication of myasthenia gravis characterized by worsening of muscle weakness, resulting in respiratory failure that requires intubation and mechanical ventilation.

Transverse myelitis is a neurological disorder caused by inflammation across both sides of one level, or segment, of the spinal cord. The term myelitis refers to inflammation of the spinal cord; transverse simply

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describes the position of the inflammation, that is, across the width of the spinal cord. Attacks of inflammation can damage or destroy myelin, the fatty insulating substance that covers nerve cell fibres. This damage causes nervous system scars that interrupt communications between the nerves in the spinal cord and the rest of the body.

I saw Tasha recently in hospital and she has to have help in feeding.

People have been extraordinarily supportive and have bought a special designed Peugeot Express.

She was awarded the Pride of Spain Outstanding Bravery Award by the Costa Blanca People.

It is obvious that Tasha has an ongoing battle and is in need of a lot of support which is where you come in.

Go to www.paypal.com and log in.

Click on “money” in the top menu and then on “send money”.

Select “Send money to friends and family” and enter the email address tasha@spain-buddy.com Click “Next” and enter the amount you would like to contribute and follow the steps indicated.

If that sounds too complicated send an email to tasha@spainbuddy.com and you will receive instructions.

Andy Lynch also has some solidarity calendars for sale for the funds, only 5 euros..

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It Happens to all of Us. bu Pat Hynd

This month the accent in the Torrevieja Outlook magazine is on living and dying. Every year Spanish towns centre of attention is in the cemeteries.

People visit the tombs of their loved ones, cleaning the stonework and decorating with flowers. There are two special days - the 1st and 2nd - All Saints Day and All Souls Day. A Mass will be celebrated for those who have been buried there and is a celebration of their lives. Many families make a party of it by bringing a picnic, meeting people they haven't seen for a long time.

Torrevieja cemetery was originally constructed in 1898, though there was a previous one roughly where the Rambla Juan Mateo is today, but as the town grew so the need for a cemetery further away from houses. Previously it was customary to have burial places in churches, but as hygiene knowledge grew there was a realization of the dangers attached to rotting corpses.

The present cemetery is under going a third enlargement, this time making use of around 3,000 square metres with enough niches to keep the town going for another twenty years. The present project includes new toilets, an oven for burning rubbish such as flowers, more trees, new paving.

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A word from a dying man

On 13th September Jonathan Riley-Smith, a distinguished historian wrote about how in the run up to his death after a prolonged illness had affected him. Basically he was offering advice to others who are dying.

With November concentrating our senses on the only certainty in life, namely our death, we produce excerpts of his letter.

“Death is not only unavoidable but necessary; and how we die is, at least in part, determined by our choice. If, like me, you are faced with terminal illness, be thankful that you have not died suddenly. You may have been one of those who, in the belief that they would be spared suffering, wanted to pass away quickly and without warning. If so, you have been ignoring the effect that such an event would have on your family, the chaos you would certainly have left behind and the burdensome and expensive work of tidying up that would have been imposed on others.

You have been privileged and it is important that you should make use of this grace to set your affairs in order.

If you are, like me, a Christian, you have been given the opportunity to prepare yourself to meet your creator. Catholics have always prayed to be spared ‘a sudden and un-provided death.’ Bear in mind that God has some purpose for you. Take full advantage of the sacraments.”

“Be glad too, that the warnings you have had will allow you to come terms with your condition. You must try to be at peace. A good death can provide comfort for your family, but it needs a contribution from yourself aormi@icloud.com

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as well as the assistance of medicine. This is hard advice. It is easier for old men like me to follow it than the young, who are bound to feel unfairly treated by providence. Nevertheless you must be reconciled to your end as far as possible. Avoid anger or regrets. Do not despair. Enjoy the life left to you and be grateful for it.”

“You will have found already that in the moments after you heard the doctors’ report, any idea of a future was driven from your mind. No other option was left to you than to live day by day. I was astonished how quickly I came to terms with this. I should have lived every moment as though it was my last throughout my life, but I had pursued my career on the assumption that I would survive almost for ever. Now, with the evaporation of the future, the present moment became so precious that I wondered why I had let it fly by. My senses were intensified. My curiosity was sharpened. The beauty of natural objects and the vividness of my surroundings were enhanced. You will discover yourself embracing this vision, which is the one we had as children, lost with age and have now recovered. It is exhilarating and rewarding.

The annihilation of your future should not prevent you from setting yourself some short-term goals. These can be related to your work, to your interests, or to the issues you do not want to leave unresolved on death.

Write your memoirs. Take up painting. You must remain active and involved as long as you can.

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Do not let the acceptance of death become a surrender to it. We all dread the prospect of pain. Modern medicine cannot entirely relieve us of it although my experience is that it can be made bearable and that, as so often inn life, expectations are worse than reality.”

“One hears regularly of those for whom life has become so atrocious that they want a legitimate means to end it. Their despair and the compassionate support of their carers are understandable and moving, but life is a precious gift from God and as Christians we believe that we have no right to dispose of it as we please. And whether or not we are attached to a religion, it is counter-productive for most of us to believe that we should be able to end our lives at will. There are dangers in manufacturing its closure, however attractive this may seem to be.

A feature of the condition in which we find ourselves is that we are often subjected by well-meaning relations and friends to bizarre advice and quack remedies. Do not allow yourself to be tempted by nostrums that never work and make our reconciliation to our illness harder by presenting us with apparently easy solutions. It is cruel to offer forlorn hope in this way. It is best for us to follow the advice of doctors, whose treatment is at leas based on science.”

“In the initial stages of my disease, it was not my religion that comforted me; it was the recognition of my condition that heightened my attachment to religion. In other words, that yearning for something beyond myself found expression in the strengthening of my faith. In the end, of course, faith and illness become so intertwined that each becomes part of the other.”

“Remember that all your life has been a preparation for an event which is as significant as your birth and is far more important than your birthday. You are about to pass on to another plane and into another world.”

Treat your death as a celebration. Take and interest in it. Plan your funeral as carefully as you would the wedding of one of your children. Take care to leave your closest relations with good memories of your ending. Your fortitude will ensure that that they will remember you with pride and affection, and that they will pray for you. Remember that death is no barrier to prayer.“

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PAYING AT THE END—OR BEFORE

by Dave Stewart

It is normal in Spain to buy a funeral insurance policy for burial. Most big companies offer systems where you can make one large payment, or annual ones or even monthly payments. This is very useful as it takes away unnecessary stress at the loss of a loved one as these are usually fitted out to suit individual requirements.

For example, one cover could be for removal of the body by a funeral director to the tanatorium, a couple of cars, flowers, announcement in local newspaper, coffin bearers, a priest or minister to offer a service, and most important death certificate. It may also include the cost of a niche in the wall for a deceased, although some town halls do operate rental system. A ten year rental plan for a niche can set you back cost 3,500 euros and depends on many factors including the place you are being buried. In Barcelona it will set you back around 6,500 euros. There are different prices as well for a coffin which will be at least 750 euros.

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Extra clauses, such as taking a corpse back to a home country can be introduced at a cost. Some British companies operate this for an all inclusive price. Like every you pays for what you gets. So check the small print. An example is that it may say the transfer of a body to a tanatorium. But this is just one trip and sometimes a hospital will arrange to transfer a body the nearest sanatorium and you find you have to pay extra for another transfer to a nearby tanatorium, between 900 euros and 1,800 euros.

In UK a report

into the cost of funerals finds the allowance for poor families is inadequate The government fund to help poor families manage the cost a “simple” funeral is not sufficient for even a basic ceremony, MPs have found.

A report by the Work and Pensions c o m m i t t e e published shows that the allowance provided by the government to support families on low incomes has not risen in over a decade, even though the cost of a funeral increased by £140 to an average of £3,702.

The Social Fund Funeral Payments (SFFP) – a means-tested benefit – has been frozen at £700 since 2003.

The amount of support claimants can receive to cover the cost of a grave and burial fee, and a crematorium fee is uncapped, but the other costs associated with funerals – such as a coffin, flowers, funeral director fees and a hearse – must be covered by the £700 fund. aormi@icloud.com

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Even "simple" funerals cost over £1,200 now, the committee said.

The report, entitled Support for the Bereaved, recommends that the Department for Work and Pensions negotiates and agrees the reasonable cost of a simple funeral with the relevant industry bodies and then adjusts SFFP accordingly.

The current system requires applicants of SFFP to commit to the expense of the funeral before having a clear idea of whether they are eligible for help. This is leading some claimants into unforeseen debt, the report said.

The cross-party committee heard of "distressing circumstances", including families who were denied their loved one's ashes because of a shortfall in the final payment.

Labour MP Frank Field, chair of the committee, said the "opaque and outdated" system was hitting vulnerable people on low incomes.

"Funeral payments for those who can prove they are entitled - and that is a very uncertain and onerous process - now fall far short of covering even a basic funeral,"

he said.

"We do not want a return to the spectre of miserable 'pauper's funerals'."

So-called ‘pauper’s funerals’ are funerals paid for by the local authority when the deceased dies with no remaining family, or when their remaining family cannot afford to pay for burial or cremation costs. A separate report in Scotland said that the cost is double what it was in 2006 now standing at £3,800.

The report said that individuals should be encouraged to make provision for their funerals and not rely on the state for support.

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FEROCIOUS FUGU

by Dave Stewart

Fugu is the Japanese word for pufferfish and the dish prepared from it, normally species of genus Takifugu, Lagocephalus, or Sphoeroides, or porcupinefish of the genus Diodon. Fugu can be lethally poisonous due to its tetrodotoxin; therefore, it must be carefully prepared to remove toxic parts and to avoid contaminating the meat The restaurant preparation of fugu is strictly controlled by law in Japan, and several other countries, and only chefs who have qualified after three or more years of rigorous training are allowed to prepare the fish.

Domestic preparation occasionally leads to accidental death. Fugu prices rise in autumn and peak in winter, the best season, because they fatten to survive the cold. Since 1958, fugu chefs must earn a license to prepare and sell fugu to the public. This involves a two- or three-year apprenticeship.

A dish of fugu typically costs between approx. US$20 and approx. US$50; a full-course fugu meal (usually eight servings) can cost approx. US$100– 200).The expense encourages chefs to slice the fish very carefully to obtain the largest possible amount of meat. The special knife, called fugu hiki, is usually stored separately from other knives in case of accidents.

What has this to do with Spanish cooking? Nothing really, apart from the fact that this fish has appeared in the last few years in the Mediterranean having swum across the sea, through the Suez Canal and

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into the Mediterranean. Denia fishermen have caught a few examples and a dead one was washed ashore at La Mata beach earlier in the year.

Biologists think pufferfish, also known as blowfish, developed their famous “inflatability” because their slow, somewhat clumsy swimming style makes them vulnerable to predators. In lieu of escape, pufferfish use their highly elastic stomachs and the ability to quickly ingest huge amounts of water (and even air when necessary) to turn themselves into a virtually inedible ball several times their normal size. Some species also have spines on their skin to make them even less palatable.

A predator that manages to snag a puffer before it inflates won’t feel lucky for long.

They have long, tapered bodies with bulbous heads. Some wear wild markings and colors to advertise their toxicity, while others have more muted or cryptic coloring to blend in with their environment.

The puffer fish, any one of the family of tetraodontidae, protects itself in the wild by gulping down water and swelling up its belly to make itself look bigger. It does this because, apparently, it can't find a way to communicate the simple message, "I am poisonous." These fish are considered the second most poisonous vertebrates in the world. They contain a toxin 1,200 more deadly than cyanide. It's in their skin, their ovaries, their gonads, and their liver. One fish can kill thirty people.

Tetrodotoxin is a neurotoxin, meaning it takes out the nervous system as it moves through the body. This may sound like a relatively painless death, with the brain going offline quickly. That's not the case. The toxin starts with the extremities. The first place people notice it is in the lips. Then the fingers. There's a tingling numbness, and a loss of control. This is a sign that it's time to get to the hospital. The toxin moves inwards from there, taking out the muscles, often causing weakness, while paradoxically bringing on vomiting and diarrhea. Then tetrodotoxin hits the diaphragm.

This is the large, muscular membrane in the chest that lets the lungs breathe in and out. The respiratory system is paralyzed while the person is still fully conscious. Eventually the toxin does get to the brain, but only aormi@icloud.com

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after the person involved has felt their body being paralyzed completely, entombing them inside. Even then, some people aren't lucky enough to completely lose consciousness. There are people who report being conscious, either occasionally or continually, throughout their coma.

They range in size from the 1-inch-long (2.5-centimeter-long) dwarf or pygmy puffer to the freshwater giant puffer, which can grow to more than 2 feet (61 centimeters) in length. They are scaleless fish and usually have rough to spiky skin. All have four teeth that are fused together into a beaklike form.

Puffer fish cannot quickly escape predators, but by inflating themselves, they can quickly become much larger than some predators can eat, and their blowing-up action may scare some away. Puffer fish puff up as a defense mechanism, as a way to scare off rivals and as a way to attract a mate. The body of a puffer fish can swell to over two and a half times its original size as a way to scare off predators. Any time a puffer fish is severely frightened it will puff itself up to look larger.

Bandō Mitsugorō VIII, an famous actor, deliberately ordered four fugu livers to feel the rush and claimed the poison wouldn't hurt him. He died seven hours later.

So should you see a pufferfish, either in the sea or lying on a beach, don't touch it and contact lifesaving authorities or 112. The Guardia Civil have a division called SEPRONA that deals with the environment and the treatment of animals.

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ARE YOU A SLAVE TO TECHNOLOGY?

by Dave Stewart

i-

Communication with others is a paramount necessity of humanity. If we want to live in peace with each other then we have to talk, have dialogue and discussion to sort out any problems. However, it is a different story when we rely on technology alone, via our emails, i-Pods, Phones, Twitter, Facebook and all the other nets of Internet.

We are in danger of losing personal contact, face to face dialogue, and referring everything to faceless technology.

Anyone who feels obliged to respond immediately to text messages knows how easy it is to surrender freedom to the mobile phone. Anyone who has ever has ever “surfed the ’net” and then wondered where the last 90 minutes—or 190 minutes—went, knows that computers can lead us around in far more subtle and dangerous ways than merely obligating us to correspond.

Often science fiction depicts us as being part of a civilisation that interacts via machinery, and idea that has been around for over a century. When computers became common over a generation ago, their makers promised more efficient living and thus more leisure time. True? Or false? How are you fixed, or are you being fixed.

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G.K. Chesteron wrote this a long time ago in the Illustrated London News, March 1, 1925: “[T]here is another strong objection, which I, one of the laziest of all the children of Adam, have against the Leisure State. Those who think it could be done argue that a vast machinery using electricity, waterpower, petrol, and so on, might reduce the work imposed on each of us to a minimum. It might. But it would also reduce our control to a minimum. We should ourselves become parts of a machine, even if the machine only used those parts once a week. The machine would be our master, for the machine would produce our food, and most of us could have no notion of how it was really being produced.”

He could have been writing about Charlie Chaplin’s “Modern Times” in which his iconic Little Tramp character struggles to survive in the modern, industrialized world.

I personally used to love seeing the postman deliver a written letter, something that was very personal as someone had bothered to sit down and put their thoughts in writing for me to read. And still love to see Eva, my post lady, knock on the door with a missive for me – even though it’s just from the bank. But the art of writing is fast disappearing, as we no longer write, we use word processing - a device that has fundamentally altered a human act.

I must admit I love my computer as it is so easy to move phrases or paragraphs around, but one cannot help wonder how much spellcheck and its word suggestions has limited us as writers. How often do we repeat the same words without coming up with some brilliant phrase that can stun the reader and enlighten his/her mind. Punctuation, capitalization, salutations, and spelling are casualties of e-mail, and the deliberately misspelled shorthand of text messaging commonly appears in the writing assignments of students. Internet chat-rooms, comment aormi@icloud.com

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threads, and Web forums are the graveyards of grammar and—even worse —human interaction.

Skype and Facetime are two systems that enable us to actually talk and see one another, so that can be a good thing. Unfortunately, being in Spain as I often work almost naked at my computer, I really don’t want anyone seeing me face to face, wrinkles and all.

Our conversations are rendered more trivial as we use these communications devices, and our relationships are similarly rendered more abstract.

Face-to-face conversation gave way to telephone chats, which have been replaced by email messages and text shorthand. People imagine they are building relationships in chat forums that have often proved dangerous, especially for the younger female of our species.

I’m pleased to see that there are some apps appearing that help us to achieve a balance, such as GPS for the Soul, or BOND which makes us easy to send personalised hand-written notes and even gifts from your phone.

Mindfulness is a growing market and there are several places on Internet that offer techniques and courses. Or meditation apps such as Headspace or Sacred Space which aim at getting people to take ten minutes out of their timetable to use meditation techniques to relax our minds and make us think just what are we all about? What are we here for?

aormi@icloud.com

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Be like the modern Peter Pan and do something radical. Throw your iPod and your smartphone in the nearest body of water. Check your e-mail only once or twice a day, and do not check it at home. Wait a few days before answering an e-mail; how often is it something that really requires an urgent and immediate reply? Use formal salutations and closings when writing e-mails. Do not send an e-mail when the matter can be discussed face to face. Talk to your spouse/girl friend and write letters instead of sending e-mails. Do not use e-mail for thank-you notes. Set your home free from broadband Internet access. Do not answer the phone after 8 p.m. Stop downloading songs from iTunes. Throw your television in the street.

“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in awhile, you might miss it.” Ferris Beuller.

aormi@icloud.com

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The 2017 solidarity calendar is once again available to buy for a token five euros donation. This is the 12th calendar in this series that Andy Ormiston has been able to produce this charity calendar thanks to the support of sponsors Alamo Costa Blanca Inmobilaria, Atlas Seguros, Aroca & Sequier abogados, Currency Direct and Mapfre (Brithol) Insurance.

E very year there is a theme and this coming year it is dedicated to the front cover la Bella Lola as an homage to the women of the area.

There are over 70 photos in the calendar, many donated by local photographers Raquel López Martinez, Joaquin Carrion, Fernando Guardiola, Javier Francisco Torregrosa, Nicolás García Villalgordo, Tomas Ortiz Mendiluces and Phil Friar. Once again Andy Ormiston has done the research and his friend Carlos Garcia prepared the layout.

La Bella Lola calendar is full of information about fiestas in the region and each page has a section outlining these, although the main fiestas and bank holiday, not only in Spain, but in the U.K. and Ireland, are noted.

As many of you know extra pages are usually devoted to culture or fiestas and this year it’s dedicated to those who bring the international language aormi@icloud.com

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THE LOVELY GARDENS OF THE OFFICES OF AROCASEQUIER ABOGADOS WAS THE SETTING FOR THE CALENDAR PRESENTATION

of music into our lives, music that enlivens the spirit and our self-esteem – bands, orchestras, musicians, dance and theatrical groups. There are so many that we haven’t space to put every group. In his presentation Andy Ormiston remarked, “As I’ve said the calendar is dedicated to women and many of these musical associations have women as the backbone”.

The calendar has notes in both English and Spanish and the monthly photos have a caption in both languages which is a reflection on women’s involvements in that particular month.

It is a very bright and colourful calender in A3 size and has a spiral binding making it easy to hang up on the wall. The daily boxes have room for most appointments such as birthdays or hospital, but most months also have a separate Notes section.

It makes an ideal Christmas gift and is on sale from over two dozen associations who benefit by being able to keep the sales money as the printing and other costs are covered by the sponsors. It costs five euros and is money well spent as it is there for you all year round.

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After, the presentation three donations were made from the main sponsors Aroca Sequier and Currency Direct. Three associations benefited from a cheque of 3,,200 euros each.

The beneficiaries of the donations are:HELP association of the Vega Baja is the oldest British group that has been helping foreigners who find themselves in difficulties and need of advice.

They have a close contact with the British Consulate and often can help in a variety of problems. They operate from two centres, one in Torrevieja and the other in San Miguel.

AFA is well known to the community at large, as it is the Alzheimer’s association of the Vega Baja with a Day Centre permitting carers and families a respite from the difficult task of looking after family members with this disease. It enables patients to experience the support of trained therapists and carers to curtail the memory loss experienced.

CARITAS offers support to those well less off in our community, especially those without a roof over their heads, supplies clothing and blankets, food and advice. Every Catholic parish has a branch of Caritas but this donation was made to the small church branch of the Virgen del Carmen at playa los Locos.

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WHERE CAN I BUY A CALENDAR? ASILA in the plaza de Molina where the windmill is located.

REACH OUT in calle Bella Antonia and in their other shop at Doña Sinforosa.

Costa Blanca People office in C. Quesada will have them on sale to benefit Reach Out. – Samaratins at the Punta Marina shopping centre – AEEC Pink Ladies centre Flamenca Beach Commercial Centre, AGE CONCERN shop behind Torrevieja bus station and at the centre in La Siesta.

RE-UNITE International at Villamartin – AFA – shop in Torrevieja centre, in the street behind the main church.

NUEVA FRATERNIDAD – will sell them at various outdoor events HELP – on sale at their centres in San Miguel de las Salinas, LOS MONTESINOS and in Torrevieja centre.

CRUZ ROJA – don’t sell them but use them as Christmas gifts for the housebound they visit.

STROKE SUPPORT – will sell them at different events.

RUTAS DE SAL – for La Mata volunteers.

REGALOS DE AMOR – will sell them at various functions.

RBL ORIHUELA COSTA – The British Legion sell them in aid of the poppy appeal.

RBL TORREVIEJA ALSO FOR POPPY APPEAL. K9 – At La Marina and Almoradi shops AEEC TORREVIEJA – in their centre at calle Torrevenses Ausentes ALAMO COSTA BLANCA will have some on sale for a charity of their choice at their office in calle Joaquin Chapaprieta next to the indoor market La Plasa. .

AROCA SEQUIER – will have some at their main office in Rocajuna for a charity of their choice.

CARITAS VIRGEN DEL CARMEN – will have them on sale after Sunday masses STAGESTRUCK - will have them on sale at their various shows and concerts including Aladdin on 17th November. .

If anyone has problems buying a calendar then contact Andy Ormiston at aormi@hotmail.com aormi@icloud.com

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All Alone Am I Since You Said Goodbye

by Pat Hynd

There are now more and more men suffering from loneliness as they reach old age alone, according to new research. The Emerging Crisis for Older Men research, found that the number of older men living alone is increasing and suffering, especially those men who have depended on their wives for social contact. Many widows and widowers suffer from loneliness and depression after a bereavement, although women tend to cope better than men.

In general, men find it difficult to talk about their feelings and as they become older it is not easy to strike up new friendships, which exacerbates a sense of isolation. Living in Spain, often far away from family members in UK, builds up this feeling of being all alone. So what's to be done?

It is important to keep busy, perhaps join a club, God knows there seem to be limitless activities available in the Expat community here. Helping others is a well known adage to help yourself and build one's self-esteem.

Another recommendation for a man is to get another wife, accepting her as she is without comparison to the deceased wife. But it is an important decision and not to be rushed into and how grown up children may react as often they feel their beloved mother is aormi@icloud.com

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being replaced in their father's sentiments. If the new wife has had a previous happy marriage then both must be careful to start a fresh life together with joint decisions, sharing memories, but not comparing each other in a bad light. In this case its paramount that they should do things together whether its travelling and exploring Spain, playing a sport that both can enjoy and within their limitations, joining an association as a team, as a couple. Dine out together regularly or with friends. Try to create new dreams together.

A man needs to be a bit more like a woman in that with a bereavement its important to be able to talk about one's feelings and the sense of loss. Most other men will understand, some will have experiences similar to your own. In Spain there are several associations for Solos that can help out and in La Siesta Church and the Anglican Church bereavement groups.

There is no shame in showing personal feelings; one of the first things newcomers from Britain experience in Spain is a kiss on both cheeks and how the Spanish are more tactile and readily show their emotions, which British men may feel embarrassed about but is very natural and appreciated by others.

Keep your sense of humour as people tend to shy away from a grump. But BEWARE of false friends who only hang out with you for free drinks.

A boon nowadays is modern devices of communication which can be a huge benefit to the elderly. It is an incredibly interesting way to keep in touch and feel more connected with family, distant friends and what is happening in the world around us. Computers, tablet and Smartphones can be gateways to new, exciting interests and knowledge. Many elderly have even found it within themselves to write poetry, a novel or their own life story.

Life does not end with the death of a lifelong partner, but opens a gate to new exciting opportunities - remember you're never too old to learn!

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Military Chaplains on both Sides

by Andy Ormiston

November is a time we remember our armed forces and the sacrifices they make. In this article I’d like to look at how the German side coped with death in battle by offering religious comfort to troops. The first English military-oriented chaplains were priests on board proto-naval vessels during the eighth century AD. Land based chaplains appeared during the reign of King Edward I, although their duties included jobs that today would come under the jurisdiction of military engineers and medical officers. A priest attached to a feudal noble household would follow his liege lord into battle. In 1796 the Parliament of Great Britain passed a Royal Warrant that established the Army Chaplains' Department in the British Army. The Department was awarded its "Royal" prefix in 1919 in recognition of their chaplains' service during World War I. The war brought denominations and faiths together as never before, and nowhere was this more pronounced than in the chaplaincy service of that great multi-cultural army.

German chaplains The Germans were little different as priests would accompany their lords into the battlefield encouraging the soldiers that God was on their side.

But by the 20th century German military chaplains had grades of their own, they were not given any military rank and served both land and air forces. They wore chaplain’s badges and flashes on a plain uniform: Catholic military chaplains wore a regulation pectoral crucifix around their necks. The German navy introduced a full-time naval chaplaincy in 1937. The Nazi ideology was pagan at its core and the elite SS units never allowed chaplains.

One of the most notable German priests was Rupert Mayer, S.J. A lot of his life's work was dedicated to helping immigrants. From 1914, Fr. Mayer was a volunteer chaplain in the First World War, initially assigned to a military hospital; however, he wished to be closer to the soldiers and was sent to the fronts in France, Poland and Romania as chaplain to a division of soldiers. He became a legendary figure, held in great esteem by both Catholic and non-Catholic soldiers. When there was fighting at the front Fr. Mayer aormi@icloud.com

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would be found crawling along the ground from one soldier to the next talking to them, listening to them and administering the Sacraments to them. When he was warned that he was putting his own life in danger through such activities, he replied simply, "My life is in God's hands".

In December 1915 Fr. Mayer was the first chaplain to win the Iron Cross for bravery in recognition of his work with the soldiers at the front. In December 1916, he lost his left leg after it was injured in a grenade attack. He returned to Munich to convalesce and was nicknamed the Limping Priest. He worked with clerical retreats as a preacher, and as of 1921 as a leader of the Marian Sodality Congregation in Munich.

In 1929 he was one of the first to recognise the dangers of Adolf Hitler and Nazism and challenged Nazi policy with his preaching of Christian principles. It was inevitable that he would come in conflict with the Nazi movement. In 1937, he found himself in "protective custody" for six months, and for seven months after that, he was in Sachsenhausen concentration camp. He was released from there as he was so well known the Nazis did not want him to die and be recognised as a martyr, and also on the condition of a broad ban on preaching. Until the liberation by the US forces in May 1945, he lived in Ettal Abbey. An American Officer returned him to Munich, where he received a hero's welcome. Father Rupert Mayer died on 1 November 1945 of a stroke, while he was celebrating morning Mass, on the feast of All Saints' Day in St. Michael's in Munich.

Facing the congregation his last words were "THE LORD, THE LORD, THE LORD".

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White Fathers working in Africa

Jesuits were prominent as chaplains on both the Allied front and the German side and often facing each other across the trenches. Fr. Mayer was at the Somme and on the other side of the field was the famous Irish chaplain Fr. Willie Doyle with the Irish troops.

Chaplains came from religious orders and dioceses. The White Fathers is a Society of priests of different nationalities who are not a religious Order in the strict meaning of the term. They take their title from the white robes that they used in the African sun. They are ordained to be missionaries dedicated to Africa, originally in Algeria. Most German priests of the White Fathers who were called up in Germany served as medical assistants and nurses, not as official military chaplains.

Franz Justus Rarkowski, S.M., became ordained as the Catholic military "Field Bishop" of Nazi Germany in 1938 until 1945 after the concordat between the Vatican and the Third Reich. Interestingly Catholic chaplains operating in the Far East were given the authority to carry out the sacrament of Confirmation. This was normally a functions of bishops, but Archbishop Francis Roberts S.J of Bombay, who was one of the most down to earth priests I have ever come across, and he gave the authorization.

After ordination in 1939, Gotthard Dorn (1913-2002) served briefly as official (civilian) chaplain to a military hospital in Marburg. He was conscripted in 1941 and sent to the

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Franz Justus Rarkowski, S.M.

Russians front, he was released in 1945, returning to his chaplaincy in Marburg.

Another was Theodore Hรถning (1909- 1943) who was mobilized on the outbreak of war and died in a railway accident in 1943. Significantly, in the light of Nazi policy, he had been offered the opportunity of becoming a divisional military chaplain, on condition that he left the Society of Missionaries of Africa.

This he refused to do and so he remained a simple soldier. At least three other Missionaries of Africa were appointed chaplains to fellow prisoners of war by their Allied captors.

Fr. Peter Klein (1911-1980) served as a nurse on the Russian front in 1941. There he carried out the successful evacuation of a hospital threatened by the Russians. His divisional commander recommended him for a decoration, but the Nazi authorities refused to honour a priest. In 1945 he was taken prisoner by the Americans in France. In 1946 he was appointed chaplain in the POW camp and looked after twenty thousand Catholic prisoners, giving them an hour of catechism each day and hearing confessions for another hour. He was released in June 1946.

While 95% of all Germans were Christians,the totalitarian national-socialistic government of the German Reich tried to weaken the authority and influence of the churches over their German adherents. Besides the international Jewish question, the international character of the Catholic church was another challenge. A number of Catholics who

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devoutly resisted the Nazis, suffered imprisonment and hardship. The case was solved by the Reichskoncordat (1933) between the Holy See and Nazi Germany. The government of the German Reich early established a pastoral ministry for the German army and the Reichsconcordat settled the appointment of an army bishop.

Therefore, the military chaplains could more freely operate out of the Catholic hierarchy.

Franz Justus Rarkowski, S.M., became ordained as the Catholic military "Field Bishop" of Nazi Germany in 1938 until 1945. German military chaplains did not get into the ordinary military rank system, they had ranks of their own. The chaplains had a plain uniform with flashes and badges, and the Catholic military chaplains additionally had a crucifix necklace.

While the Nazi ideology was at its core pagan (the elite SS units never allowed chaplains), 95% of Germans were baptized Christians. German soldiers during the Nazi era continued to belong to the churches and had the words "Gott mit uns" (God with us) on their belt buckles. “Being a chaplain in the German army had always been a prestigious position and the Nazis wanted people who represented that old military tradition and not those who sow discord or division. They wanted people who were not troublemakers

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Bookshelf

by Pat Hynds

Fighters in the Shadows

As it is November I’d like to look at a couple of books, new and old, that relate to the Spanish in WW2. De Gaulle had his own tilt on the story of the French Resistance movement. After the war the French tended to believe that the Resistance liberated the country, with some help from the Allies, and save for “a handful of wretches,” to use the words of General Charles de Gaulle, the rest of France’s citizens behaved like true patriots.

In his new book, “Fighters in the Shadows: A New History of the French Resistance”, British history professor Robert Gildea denies this portrait of the occupied years of France by the Germans.

Rather than calling it the French Resistance, this expert on the subject likes to talk about “resistance in France” because of the enormous amount of foreigners who joined the fight against Nazism – including thousands of Spanish Republican fighters.

His book takes a look at some of the forgotten heroes of that time: not just the Spaniards fleeing Franco, but also Jews from Poland and Romania, Communists and women, whose role as resisters has been consistently undervalued.

Fighters in the Shadows, which is scheduled for release in France in the spring of 2017, has already received critical acclaim in The Economist and The New York Review of Books, where it was reviewed by the great Vichy historian Robert O. Paxton.

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Coming in at 650 pages, Gildea’s new work is the most comprehensive written to date with a critical approach to the 1940-1944 period in France.

The Spanish Republicans who had joined the Allies were involved in the liberation of Toulouse, on August 19, 1944, which was coordinated by forces led by Jean-Pierre Vernant. Southern regions such as Périgord and cities like Foix were entirely liberated by the Spaniards, a fact that De Gaulle never fully appreciated.

As I haven’t been able to read this new book I can’t comment any further.

But there was another Spanish Errol Flynn character named Richard Sicre.

Agent Richard Sicre (later Sickler) fought with Esquerra Republic in Barcelona, fled to France after war and was arrested by French; put in a concentration camp, but escaped. He went to England where he was accepted and became trained as a home guard and where he met the English poet Robert Graves. The two became lifelong friends.

In 1941 Ricardo set sail for the United States, leaping from the ship in New York harbour and swimming to shore to evade immigration officials as he lacked a visa. But in USA, and after Pearl Harbour had dragged the Americans into the World War, Sicre attracted the attention of the OSS. He was sent to North African Algiers to spy on Southern Spain and in 1943 landed three lots of arms and agents onto a Spanish beach. He had aormi@icloud.com

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recruited and trained ex-Republicans with radios and the Operation Banana was born, but turned out to be a bit like the chaotic Bay of Pigs.

After being betrayed at least six of his men were executed and others died fighting the Guardia Civil.

Patrick K. O’Donnell, in “Operatives, Spies, and Saboteurs”, provides a remarkable description of Sicre:

“By the summer of 1942 … the OSS had several black bag jobs in play … A young Spaniard, Ricardo Sicre, penetrated the Spanish embassy (in Washington). Sicre, described as ‘the handsomest man …,’ and equipped with wads of money, first seduced the embassy’s unsuspecting secretaries, then his team broke into the embassy at night. After cracking the safe, the men carried out four large suitcases of photographed documents.”

According to O’Donnell, Sicre later set up a training school for spies who crossed the Spanish border into Vichy, France. When American forces occupied France, Sicre “would team up with an American OSS agent named Betty Lussier After war he became a successful businessman and socialite hanging out with famous people like Hemingway, Ava Gardner, Grace Kelly and Picasso.

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For a great deal of the time as a spy Sicre was with Betty Lussier who was born in Canada, but raised on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Her father, born in the U.S. but a Canadian citizen, was a farmer famous from his service as a fighter pilot in World War I, experience having a direct impact, both as pilot and farmer, on his daughter.

Learning to fly at the tender age of sixteen, and possessing a British passport by virtue of being born in Canada, Lussier applied and was

accepted as a pilot for Britain’s Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) of the Royal Air Force in World War I. Soon bored by the pedestrian task of shuttling aircraft and passengers between English airfields and denied, as a woman, the opportunity to ferry combat aircraft to the Continent following the Dday landings, Betty resigned and was accepted for service with the U.S. Office of Strategic Services (OSS), America’s wartime spy service.

The British had broken the German military intelligence code and agreed to share it with the OSS. Lussier was one of the first Americans to decode German messages and deliver the information to combat units, a delicate and high-responsibility task. It was an assignment that would take her first to North Africa, and later to liberated southern France. In France, she would team up with aormi@icloud.com

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Richard Sickler, an OSS counterintelligence agent whom she had met in Algiers. Her memoirs mention a dangerous incident in Algiers when she accompanied Sickler on a visit to the casbah, the Arab quarter. Upon encountered threatening Arabs, Sickler pulled out his .45 and they backed out the door.

chatting to Ava Gardner

In her book she omits the fact that she had married her superior, “Richard Sickler”. Their marriage was in defiance of OSS policy that a married couple could not serve in the same theatre. By war’s end, Sicre held an army commission, had been awarded a Bronze Star, received American citizenship, and had himself a new bride. The couple took up residence in Madrid where Betty eventually delivered four sons. He did return with great success to the import-export business; among other enterprises he had the concession for J&B whisky. He was at one point described as among the “most wealthy men in Spain”.

Betty eventually became bored with Madrid’s social life and so the onetime farmer’s daughter took off to Morocco, sans Ricardo (who had been seen with Ava Gardner at bull fights), to teach the natives how to raise hybrid corn. She tells of that experience in “Amid My Alien Corn”, published in 1957.

The Sicres eventually moved to Switzerland and then to Manhattan, before divorcing when their four sons completed college.

Ricardo died in 1993 in Maryland, possibly at the Lussier farm. He left behind “The Tap on the Left Shoulder”, an autobiographical novel published in 1950 that tells the story of a young Spaniard who fought on the side of the Spanish Republic but was wrongly accused of being a Communist. He criticizes the United States for failing to came to the aid of the Republic against Franco.

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Dear Music Lovers, REMEMBRANCE DAY CONCERT Centro Ecumenico - Cristo Resucitado - 6th November The above concert, which is similar in style to last year's hugely successful concert, will again feature two of the leading choirs on the Costa. These are:- the ORIHUELA COSTA MALE VOICE CHOIR (now with 30 harmonious men) and the Chamber Choir IN HARMONY (again with 30 of the finest local ex-pat mixed singers). Both choirs will be conducted by NIGEL HOPKINS, and accompanied by Philip Mitchell on the piano.

Both choirs will sing an entirely new programme of popular and classical music, with songs ranging from the Hippopotamus Song to Nessun Dorma! The finest soprano soloists will be featured ... along with Nigel Hopkins, who will sing several popular numbers himself.

SING-A-LONG. By public request this concert will feature a sing-along medley of Wartime songs in which the audience may participate ... and the proceeds will be split between the Church, and the Male Voice Choir's continuing support of the AECC in Alfaz del Pi. Tickets (10€) are available from La Ponderosa Gift Shop at La Zenia - or from choir members. Please remember that with limited seating it is always a good thing to get your tickets early!

The (now famous) IN HARMONY CHRISTMAS CONCERT will take place on Sunday 11th December ... a date for your diaries ..... and further details will follow.

Hope to see you soon ! Happy Listening!

This is a send only address. If you wish to contact me please reply to: stevehors@gmail.com

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OF SPANISH RECIPES

by Pat Hynd

TAPAS TIME

Many Spanish meals can be used a tapas, so here are some suggestions.

A "San Jacobo" is a popular "merienda" (afternoon snack) or tapa in most of Spain. It consists of a slice of cheese between 2 slices of cooked ham, which is breaded and then fried. It is delicious when the outside is crispy, while the cheese inside melts between the slices of ham.

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8 slices (about 4" x 4") of cooked ham 4 thin slices cheese 1/2 cup unbleached white flour 1/2 cup bread crumbs 2 eggs 2 Tbsp water 8 oz (1/4 liter) olive oil for frying

Ingredient: Ham slices should not be paper-thin. The slices should be thick enough to handle without tearing while handling. Use any soft cheese that melts easily.

Lay 4 slices of ham on a clean work surface. Lay a cheese slice on each ham slice and another slice of ham on top.

Break the eggs into a medium size bowl or a small, open baking dish with a flat bottom.

Add milk to eggs and whip together.

Put flour and bread crumbs onto a plate and mix together.

Pour enough oil into a medium frying pan to completely cover the bottom. Heat on medium. When oil is hot, bread the ham and cheese: Dip the ham and cheese into the beaten egg and then dredge in the flour and bread crumb mixture.

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Fry the San Jacobo in the oil until golden brown and turn over and fry on second side. Remove from the frying pan and place on a paper towel.

An alternative is to use a couple of pancakes

During the festival of San Pedro in Burgos, this tapa is popular. It is simple to make, using a slice of pork loin, pancetta and a mushroom grilled on a bamboo skewer.

Serve on a slice of rustic bread with a glass of Spanish wine. Loin of pork in Spain is a great buy as it is easily cooked in a variety of recipes and fairly cheap with no waste.

- 4 slices (1/2-inch thick) boneless pork loin - 1 slice of pancetta - 4 whole small white mushrooms - 4 slices rustic baguette 1/2 roasted red pepper (optional) Soak the bamboo skewers for approximately 30 minutes in water, so that when placed on grill they do not burn.

Cut the slice of pancetta into quarters. Rinse the mushrooms thoroughly.

Lightly salt both sides of each pork loin. Slide each onto the bamboo skewers.

Carefully slide on the quarter slice of pancetta and the whole mushroom. aormi@icloud.com

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Place skewers over a medium hot grill and cook the loin for approximately 5 minutes on each side, until cooked.

Remove the skewers from the grill and place on top of bread slices. Serve hot.

Serving Suggestion: If you like, top with a strip of roasted red pepper.

This next recipe is popular in the region of Castilla-Leon. Cubes of pork are marinated overnight in a spicy mixture of paprika, garlic, and white wine. Then the pork is quickly stir-fried and served with bread and/or fried potatoes.

This is a versatile dish that can be adjusted to suit your tastes, if you do not eat pork, you may substitute beef for another meat.

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2 lbs lean pork, cut into 1 inch cubes 1 Tbsp hot paprika 2 Tbsp sweet paprika 3 cloves of garlic, diced very small or put through a garlic press - 1 cup white wine - Pinch of oregano - Pinch of salt French-style bread and/or fried potatoes to accompany 1. Place cubes of pork in a large mixing bowl. Sprinkle hot paprika, sweet paprika, oregano, and garlic over top.

Mix with a wooden spoon or your hands.

2. Add the white wine and mix thoroughly. Cover tightly with a lid or plastic wrap. Place in refrigerator for at least 24 hours.

3. After the meat has marinated, place 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil in a large frying pan and heat on medium heat. Remove meat from refrigerator and fry in pan.

Salt to taste.

It can also be BBQ by simply sliding meat cubes on skewers and grill, careful not to overcook.

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A bit more meaty is "Chuletas de cerdo a la Madrilena," as the name implies is from Madrid, Spain. It is an easy and quick recipe, prepared in about 30 minutes. Paprika, onions and garlic smother pork chops. Served with mashed or roast potatoes, it is a delicious Spanish dish, especially in fall or winter.

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2 cloves garlic 4 sprigs parsley 1 medium onion 1 tbsp Spanish sweet paprika 5 tbsp olive oil 4 pork loin chops (5 oz each) salt and pepper to taste

This recipe serves 4.

Note: Use either pork chops or boneless pork loin chops sliced about 1/3-1/2 inch thick.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Finely chop the garlic, parsley and onion. Mix together in a medium mixing bowl. Season with the paprika, pepper and salt. Moisten the mixture with 3

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tablespoons of olive oil. Don't add too much oil - it should be a fairly thick consistency.

Grease a roasting pan with oil or line it with aluminium foil.

Season the chops, covering them with the mixture and place in roasting pan.

Spoon any remaining onion mixture between the chops.

Roast in a hot oven at 425 degrees for 12 minutes. Turn chops over, piling the onion mixture on top of the chops again and roast another 12-13 minutes. If pork is cooked, but onion mixture is not fully cooked, quickly sautĂŠ onion mixture in a heavy-bottomed frying pan until cooked.

Serve chuletas de cerdo a la madrilena, spooning the herb sauce on top.

Serve with mashed potatoes or roasted paprika potatoes on the side for a wonderful Spanish dinner.

Empanada murciana At the recent presentation of the Solidarity Calendar 2017 our hosts, Aroca Sequier Abogados, provided a splendid buffet that included two types of empanadas. One was stuffed with meat and the other a tuna based pie. Here is a tuna filled recipe that includes some of the wonderful vegetables form the Murcia fields.

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100 g peas 1 hard boiled egg

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1 glass of vino blanco

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salt

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1 glass of olive oil aceite

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300 g flour

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200 g tuna

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a couple of medium sized tomatoes about one cup of lard.

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Pastry - place in a bowl the flour, wine, oil, lard, salt and sweet pepper, mix together and leave to rest.

For filling – chop the tomato and the red pepper.

Divide the pastry in two and roll each piece into a round. Place some of the filling inside, and brush the edges with milk and crimp the edges together. Prick a little with a fork so the pastry doesn’t rise too much. Eggwash the pastry and put in an oven 180º until it is Golden. Serve hot or cold.

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Bulls Rushing Around Spain

by Dave Stewart

October is a month dedicated to cancer awareness and it turned out to be a special month for Dave Bull and his son Mitch.

They both rode around Spain on motorbikes to raise awareness and funds for the Spanish Cancer Association (AEEC).

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As you can see it was an arduous although picturesque route that took them around the frontiers of Spain, with a diversion to Madrid to the British Embassy where they team dup with a couple of volunteers from the Samaritans organization as Dave is a patron for the Torrevieja area branch.

They started out from home in El Altet on 27th September to Alicante with an entourage of motorbikes wishing them a safe journey, and then on to Guadalest. where they stopped at the motorbike museum and a quick photo with the owner. They used camping sites wherever possible to cut costs, the member of the team who ate less was Jared their mascot teddy bear.

The Bulls first night out was camping in Valencia. They were able to take in many monumental sites such as the Sagrada Familia basilica in Barcelona. On the fourth day they were entering the Pyrenees for Andorra, entering France on Day 5 and enjoying some spectacular countryside. Another encounter was the famous route the Camino de Santiago and Pamplona, famous for its own bulls, then on through the Basque countryside. Passing through Bilbao and admired the Guggenheim Museum and the tram line.

Lots of things happened to the hardy couple - wet through at night, airbed puncture, poor signals for communication, with an early start each morning and slumping for apples in Galicia. A new tent bought in Torrevieja’s twin town, Ourense, aormi@icloud.com

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Dave and Mitch meet up with Samaritan volunteers at the British Embassy in Madrid. was not up to the weather conditions as they neared Salamanca.

By Day 14 the Bull family were at Badajoz, with a quick trip into Portugal, en route to Huelva and a quick check up at a Harley Davidson workshop . A break in Seville where Jared was able to horse about.

Then phone accident. But making new friends at Gibraltar before driving through famous landscapes of Andalucia such as the Sierra Nevada.

A welcome break at the thermal baths in Puerto de Mazzaron i n a hostal.

Day 22 w a s another troubling day with some mechanical problems. Then onto Cartagena and San J a v i e r , nearing home to a welcome at the Samaritans office in Punta Marina and back to their own beds. Well done Dave and Mitch for setting an example and raising awareness for cancer.

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Scandinavians Support War Victims

by Andy Ormiston

In 2012 the former building of the Alcoy's Technical Institute returned into a hospital for the filming of several scenes of the movie "Atraco", film of the Catalan producer Eduard Cortés, with actress Amaia Salamanca as a nurse.

A few months after the beginning of the war in 1936, both Norway and Sweden constituted committees of help for Spain. These, there were stimulated by social and political organizations of varied nature, generally progressive, and collected monetary funds for the humanitarian help the Spanish people.

According to Ángel Beneito Lloris (historian of Alcoy who has published a book on this topic), the joint Scandinavian committee contacted in February, 1937 the secretary of health, Federica Montseny, offering a complete hospital valued for approximately 250.000 coronas to attend to the injured men of the war front. In exchange, the northern ones only asked for a space suitable and far removed from the front. After shuffling different options, the Republic selected a building of recent

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construction in Alcoy (in the rear), that was destined to shelter the Industrial School and ready for inauguration.

Sweden and Norway operated a joint hospital in Alcoy, opened on 25th April 1937, that was noted for the efficiency of the 30 or so volunteer doctors and nursing staff, as every wounded patient was first scrubbed down with soap before being treated. The idea, funding and management of the hospital was organised by Dr. Kristian Gleditsch and Nina Haslund and was located in a newly constructed building, the Edificio Viaducto originally intended to be an Industrial School. It had 700 beds, a modern portable X-ray unit and a group of ambulances. Internationally renowned Doctor Manuel Bastos Ansart, specialist in orthopaedics, led the surgeons. He was also a specialist in war wounds and after the war was imprisoned for helping the enemy by the Franco troops with a sentence of 12 years and one day.

His sentence was commuted to working in the Hospital Provincial de Castellรณn .

When he died in 21 January 1973 he had been awarded many prizes for his work including the prestigious Premio Virgilio of Spain.

The Scandinavians also arranged for imported condensed milk that benefited thousands of children and Nina Haslund organised fortnightly deliveries of ten tons of cod liver oil for Spanish children to supplement their meagre diet.

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Staff at the Scandinavian Hospital in Alcoy

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Kristian Gleditsch and Nina Haslund

"

The hospital had to be evacuated in 1938 once the bombing started in Alcoy, where there were 10 large shelters to accommodate 13,500 people. Alcoy was bombed five times and once the town fell to the forces of Franco the building was partly used as a prison. Most of the patients were translated to military hospitals in Ontinyet and Villajoyosa.

Nina Haslund was a remarkable person who fought for women’s rights and commented how impressed she was by the stoic attitude of the Spanish working class. She was born in Musgo, Norway in 1908 and died in Oslo in 1996. She lived in several towns of the Republic during the civil war and later, in Norway when the Germans invaded, was instrumental in rescuing the Norwegian treasury on board a British ship and several fishing boats in 1940. Even as an old woman she fought for nuclear disarmament.

After the Scandinavians had to leave as the war was getting to close, the new center was named A Military Hospital Base, and it received patients and injured men until October 16, 1938, when it was attacked in the fourth bombardment that aormi@icloud.com

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Alcoy suffered. A few missiles exploded next to the hospital, though there wre no mortal victims, the sanitary authorities decided to evacuate the hospital, moving the patients to other two centers of campaign in Onteniente and Villajoyosa. In this moment the hospital had approximately 700 beds and approximately 685 patients.

After the war the Franco government used the building as a prison until 1943 where it was again taken over by the Education Ministry and the previous cells turned again once more into classrooms and laboratories.

There was a safe and busy Military International Hospital in Ontinyent in the former La Concepción Colegio of the Franciscans, under the direction of two excellent doctors, Albert Marteaux and surgeon Fernand Neuman.

Most towns, including Torrevieja, had branches of the Socorro Roja Internacional. At the end of the war in other parts of Spain many members of this organization, including doctors and nurses, were taken out of their hospital and clinics, then executed by Nationalist forces and buried in unmarked communal graves. This on-the-spot judgment and execution was very common at the end of the war on both sides. Discrimination against families of known communists continued until well after the war. With the memory of anti-clerical discrimination and destruction by anarchists and communists of the early Republican days, proFrancoists had no pity for the losers. It was dangerous to be known as a “rojo” or be aormi@icloud.com

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a family member of one, and often people were denounced to the police as being "reds" out of personal spite. There are many instances when mothers were told that their newborn child had died at birth, or had been taken away to be baptized, and they never saw their child again: these “lost children” were adopted or fostered by some other family who could give the child a “better future”. This attitude continued for a couple of decades after the war. In the first decade of the 21st century people were still trying to find out who their real parents could have been once they discovered they had been adopted, resulting in several court cases as well as exhumation of graves.

Kristian Gleditsch in 1919, enrolled at the Norwegian Institute of Technology and graduated as a civil engineer in 1923. He studied further in France until 1925. He worked for the Norwegian Mapping and Cadastre Authority. He was also active in the Communist Party of Norway, but was excluded in 1929 because of his membership in Mot Dag. He worked as an editor of science articles in the working class encyclopedia Arbeidernes leksikon from 1932 to 1936, and worked in the publishing house Arbeidermagasinets Forlag in the same period. He also wrote books.

From 1936 to 1937 he was a secretary for the Norwegian support committee for Spain, which sided with the Second Spanish Republic.

He also chaired the Norwegian Students' Society in 1934 and 1937. In February 1934 he married fellow activist Ingrid Margaret Haslund (1908–1996), better known as Nini Haslund Gleditsch. The Norwegian Communist party arranged a great amount of provisions to be sent to Spain. They also provided 24,000 ampoules of morphine, 70,000 flasks of ether, 20,000 packets of bandages, 80 complete sets of surgery equipment. Hundreds of volunteers went round the Norwegian streets and houses collecting supplies.

In Sweden similar events were organized under the guidance of 431 local committees, over 3,,000 public meetings and 500 solidarity fiestas.

Basically the working class responded even though Sweden had gone aormi@icloud.com

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through a recession and the country was declared neutral in the civil war.

Kristian Gleditsch had to leave Norway in 1940 due to the German occupation of Norway, and was among those who oversaw the flight of the Norwegian National Treasury. He settled in the United Kingdom with his wife, and worked in the Ministry of Defence from 1940 to 1943 and for the Norwegian High Command from 1943 to 1945. He was decorated with the Defence Medal 1940–1945 and was declared a Member of the Order of the British Empire. After the war, in 1945, he returned to Norway and was appointed director of Norges Geografiske Oppmåling, a position he held until 1971. He chaired the Norwegian Geographical Society from 1949 to 1953. He was also involved in the Norwegian development aid project in Kerala, as chairman of the aid foundation Indiafondet from 1958 to 1962. Gleditsch was decorated as a Commander of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav in 1970. He died on 7 April 1973 in Oslo.

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Parking is a Pain We often seeing cars driving around in circles in the town centre as their drivers look for a free parking place.

Our photo shows the paying parking areas sign in Torrevieja illuminating the number of free spaces available at any one time. Parking is always a preoccupation for motorists so parking in the streets is a great attraction as it is free, but attention has to be paid to restriction yellow lines. Even more motorists are showing selfishness when parking cars on pedestrian crossings or places where disability ramps are. Recently The mayor announced that there was no restrictions against motor homes parking in the streets. Torrevieja has almost two hundred parking places for persons with reduced mobility and these places are marked and should be respected by other motorists. As a person with reduced mobility I notice defects in the streets probably more than others. Getting off pavements and down ramps can be a real nightmare. Drive with attention and park with respect.

TORREVIEJA HAS CREATED, IN THE RECENT PAST, 37 NEW PARKING SPACES FOR PEOPLE WITH REDUCED MOBILITY In this way, Torrevieja has today a total of 193 parking place for persons with reduced mobility aormi@icloud.com

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BlaBlaCars

by Dave Stewart

Blablacar is a French service of shared vehicles that makes it possible that persons who want to move to the same place at the same moment can organize travelling together. It allows sharing basic expenses of the trip (fuel and road tolls) and is considered environmentally friendly by cutting the emissions of greenhouse gas.

The social network was initially called Comuto, but changed to the more friendly Blablacar, emphasizing the aspects of socialization and conversation during the distances. My friend Lola uses it to travel between Madrid and Torrevieja and as she is a very sociable person it suits her fine as she can talk and not pay much for the distance travelled. It may be a different car and driver on the return trip with different people, but it does open up the way to make new friends. The service is accessible via the web, mobile and also via apps for iOS and Android.

The idea of connecting persons who want to travel together arose in France at the beginning of 2009 and thanks to the development of social networks increased by means of Internet. It started in Spain in 2010 and since then the social network has been spreading over Great Britain, Italy, Portugal, Benelux, Poland, Germany, Russia, Ukraine, India, Croatia, Serbia, Hungary and Romania. One of the principal motives for the expansion has been the economic one of sharing expenses.

Some people use it in conjunction with Airbnb which is a peer-to-peer online marketplace and homestay network that enables people to list or rent short-term lodging in residential properties, with the cost of such accommodation set by the property owner. The company receives aormi@icloud.com

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percentage service fees from both guests and hosts in conjunction with every booking. It has over 2,000,000 listings in 34,000 cities and 191 countries. Airbnb was founded in August 2008, is headquartered in San Francisco, California, and is privately owned and operated.

Back to BlaBla Car. The people who want to find a car that shares the same destination, trip and the expenses, and those who have a vehicle to share, must register. Both the procedure of recording and other processes are realized on-line by means of the use of applications for computer and smartphone. Passengers can choose which driver to travel with and where to meet up. BlaBlaCar endeavours to check out each driver’s suitability and always asks for the opinion of the passenger after a journey.

A driver has to register with the social platform and, in general has to cover any extra expenses such as a breakdown. So it is important that an insurance policy covers breakdown and repatriation of driver and passengers. Nevertheless, in case of accident, the driver is the person in charge of his passengers and it is his insurance that covers all the passengers, as if they were persons of the family, for example.

Having said that the company does have an extension designed to drive with this system in conjunction with AXA with a 24-hour service, including legal advice. If a passenger forgets a personal object in the car during a trip in car shared with on-line reservation, the driver must call to the telephone number 91 111 69 92 to request the coverage of the transfer.

In Spain the BlaBlaCar system has encountered some judicial fights.

Notably was its raison d’être namely a mere social network that acts of aormi@icloud.com

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intermediary between individuals and not as a company of travellers' professional transport.

Also it rejected that users make a profit, since, due to the control of rates by the company, "it is practically impossible that they could obtain a benefit of the distance,� that they realize to compensate the expenses not only for petrol, but for wear of the components of the car, insurance, taxes, tolls, etc. When a trip is published in the web, BlaBlaCar recommends a price for every distance, calculated in order that the drivers do not obtain earnings, in agreement with the legislation.

In Madrid at a regular BlaBlaCar meeting point, inspectors checked out 18 drivers and took only two to court for making a profit. According to the BlaBlaCar these two drivers achieved earnings or a benefit of only 2 and 3 Euros, respectively in one year, according to a study entrusted by the platform.

The effective average contribution per passenger is 5,2 cents per kilometre, opposite to 6 cents suggested by the platform, and 19 cents fixed by the Tributary Agency when it calculates fees for distance in kilometres. With these numbers, and bearing in mind that the occupation happens to be an average 1,67 passengers for each journey, the effective collection that every driver collects is 8,7 cents a kilometre, according to BlaBlaCar. The judge of Mercantile number 2 of Madrid has rejected the request to suspension of BlaBlaCar enabling the 2,5 million users in the whole Spain to continue, at least for the moment.

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A Christmas Date

by Pat Hynd

No, not a blind date, but a sweet date. The trees are now full of autumn fruit and nuts, especially the date bearing palm trees.

Although most of the dates eaten at Christmas come from Algeria, Spain has a thriving date industry. Elche is noted for its palm groves and the farmers company, Datelx, estimates a crop of between three thousand and four thousand kilos. This is down on last year but will still be good quality, even though the humid and hot weather is not good for ripening the fruit.

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Registry

by Andy Ormiston

Having become a grandad recently it is nice that I am able to write about registering a birth at first hand.

But first registering a death. If you have a good funeral insurance policy the insurers will register the death in Spain and get copies of the death certificate. It is advisable to get extra copies as everyone wants an original document. If you are registering a death that occurred in Spain then go online to register the death in Britain www.gov.uk/register-a-death. Things have been simplified this past year for registering births, marriages and deaths.

What happens if someone dies and has no assets? Provided the deceased has registered on the town’s padron then it is the duty of the local council to cover basic burial costs. For information about donating bodies or organs in Spain then information is available a the National Transplant Organization site www.ont.es.

Being married in Spain has also become easier as there is a tendency for bride and groom (and a bridal party) to go off abroad to be wed and celebrate. Marriages made in Spain can be registered with the British registry online at www.gov.uk/notarial-anddocumentary-services-guide-for-spain.

Finally registering a birth has become easier. In Torrevieja the hospital will register the birth and have the relevant documents signed by the parents. It was a drag before as parents had to go personally to register at the Juzgados. My daughter phoned the consulate to ask what she needed to do, thinking it was a journey to the consulate or embassy and was pleasantly surprised to find that everything can be done on internet, including a child’s passport. This service is available at www.gov.uk/register-a-birth.

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Jab Time

by Pat Hynd

At this time of year it is highly recommended for people in certain classes to have a anti-flu vaccination. It is not necessarily to prevent people having the flu but to prevent complications for those considered to be at high risk such as diabetics, heart condition, or those working with the ill such as doctors and nurses, but also carers and hospital staff in general.

In Spain the anti-gripe jab is free and each health authority provides a certain number of vaccinations. The clinic will give you an appointment and you join the crowd on the appropriate day and the nurse will call out the names. It s a very quick process with very few problems. Sometimes it is likely to have flu reactions but this is only your body coping with the vaccination.

Influenza reacts differently with different people depending on age, medical complaints, pregnancy, children. If you have any doubts ask your doctor. If you are a private patient the the chemist can sell vaccinations that are injected by ATS qualified nurses.

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2nd November - All Saints Day

by Andy Ormiston

At the beginning of November we have two days that are often confused.

November 1st is dedicated to All Saints, that is all those who lived holy lives and are now in a heavenly state. Not to be confused with the 2nd November, which is dedicated to All Souls, that is, those who have died but not quite made the grade for heaven. In Spain it is a public holiday.

This fest has led to innumerable artists feeling inspired.

Although millions, or even billions of people may already be saints, All Saints' Day observances tend to focus on known saints --that is those recognized in the canon of the saints by the Catholic Church, but I am sure many people will recognise their Mothers as Saints. Most certainly the leading saint is Mary the mother of Jesus - who is not a divinity.

Personally speaking I always think of both my parents on this day and hopefully other members of my family are with them.

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All Saints' Day is commemorated by members of the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church as well as some protestant churches, such as, Lutheran and Anglican churches. Pope Boniface IV, who consecrated the Pantheon at Rome to the Virgin Mary and all the Martyrs on May 13 in 609 AD, formally started All Saints’ Day. Boniface IV also established All Souls' Day, which follows All Saints. The choice of the day may have been intended to co-opt the pagan holiday "Feast of the Lamures," a day which pagans used to placate the restless spirits of the dead. In Ireland, the Church celebrated All Saints' Day on April 20, to avoid associating the day with the traditional harvest festivals and pagan feasts associated with Samhain, celebrated at the same time. On the other hand in Ireland, the Church celebrated All Saints' Day on April 20, to avoid associating the day with the traditional harvest festivals and pagan feasts associated with Samhain, celebrated at the same time.

Following the Protestant Reformation, many Protestants retained the holy day, although they dismissed the need to pray for the dead. Instead, the day has been used to commemorate those who have recently died, usually in the past year, and to remember the examples of those who lived holy lives. Protestants generally regard all true Christian believers as saints and if they observe All Saints Day at all they use it to remember all Christians both past and present. In the Acts of the Apostles St. Paul is always calling other people still alive as Saints. In the United Methodist Church, All Saints' Day is celebrated on the first Sunday in November. In some congregations, a candle is lit by the Acolyte as each person's name is called out by the clergy. It is held, not only to remember Saints, but also to aormi@icloud.com

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remember all those that have died that were members of the local church congregation. Eastern Christians of the Byzantine Tradition follow the earlier tradition of commemorating all saints collectively on the first Sunday after Pentecost, All Saints' Sunday.

Holy day customs vary around the world. In the United States, the day before is Halloween and is usually celebrated by dressing in costumes with themes of death commonly associated and asking for treat or trick.

Portugal, Spain and Mexico, traditional practices include performance of the play, "Don Juan Tenorio" and flower offerings in memory of the dead.

A great time for florists. All Saints' Day occurs on the same day as the Mexican "Dia los Innocentes" a day dedicated to deceased children.

Across much of Europe, the day is commemorated with offerings of flowers left on the graves of the dead. In Eastern Europe, candles are lit on graves instead of offerings of flowers. In some places, such as the Philippines and Spain, graves can be painted and repaired by family members and a picnic shared. In Mexico, the Day of the Dead holy days extends from October 31 through November 2. The Mexican Day of the Dead holiday has spread in popularity into parts of the United States and across Latin America. Many of these practices blur the distinction between All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day. Halloween is actually Hallow evening or Holy Evening the vigil of November 1st All Saints Day.

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All Souls Day 2nd November

by Andy Ormiston

The 2nd November is a different day dedicated to remembering those who have died. People who are martyred for their faith are considered to have gained sainthood. Wherever there is a belief in the continued existence of human personality through and after death, religion naturally concerns itself with the relations between the living and the dead. And where the idea of a future judgment or a Resurrection of the Dead or of Purgatory exists, prayers are often offered on behalf of the dead to God who tends to see things of an eternal perspective as opposed to our rather limited vision of life here and now. The setting aside of a particular day for praying not for certain named individuals but for whole classes of the departed or for the dead in general cannot be traced to the earliest Christian centuries, but was well established by the end of the first millennium.

The three largest religions – Jewish, Christian and Muslim all come from Abrahamic roots and all have a custom of praying for their dead.

In Judaism, prayers for the dead form part of the Jewish services. The prayers offered on behalf of the deceased consist of: Recitation of Psalms; Reciting a thrice daily communal prayer in Aramaic which is known as Kaddish. Kaddish actually means "Sanctification" (or "Prayer of Making Holy") which is a prayer "In Praise of God"; or other special remembrances known as Yizkor; and also a Hazkara which is said either on the annual commemoration known as the Yahrzeit as well on Jewish holidays.

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contains the following passage: "Have mercy upon him; pardon all his transgressions . . . Shelter his soul in the shadow of Thy wings. Make known to him the path of life."

For Christians a passage in the New Testament which may refer to a prayer for the dead is found in 2Â Timothy 1:16-18, which reads as follows: "May the Lord grant mercy to the house of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain, but when he was in Rome, he sought me diligently, and found me (the Lord grant to him to find the Lord's mercy on that day); and in how many things he served at Ephesus, you know very well."

It is not stated that Onesiphorus, for whom Saint Paul prayed, was dead, though some scholars infer this, based on the way Paul only refers to him in the past tense, and prays for present blessings on his household, but for him only "on that day".

Prayer for the dead is well documented within early Christianity, both among prominent Church Fathers and the Christian community in general. In Eastern Orthodoxy Christians pray for "such souls as have departed with faith, but without having had time to bring forth fruits worthy of repentance" Among Church writers Tertullian (†230) is the first to mention prayers for the dead: "The widow who does not pray for her dead husband has as good as divorced him". This passage occurs in one of his later writings, dating from the beginning of the 3rd Century. Eastern and Oriental Orthodox believe in

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the possibility of situation change for the souls of the dead through the prayers of the living, and reject the term "purgatory".

Prayers for the dead are always included in the Catholic daily Mass offering.

The present Code of Canon Law of the Catholic Church states that, unless the person concerned gave some signs of repentance before death, no form of funeral Mass may be offered for notorious apostates, heretics and schismatics; those who for anti-Christian motives chose that their bodies be cremated; and other manifest sinners to whom a Church funeral could not be granted without public scandal to the faithful. But there is nothing to say that people may not pray for them considering an all-merciful God. In a recent Vatican document cremation guidelines state that ashes cannot be scattered or kept at home, but rather stored in a sacred, church-approved place. Ashes must be stored in a sacred place, such as a cemetery, respecting the idea that the Holy Spirit lives in each person and, therefore, his/her body.

“We come from the earth and we shall return to the earth,” a church spokesman said. “The church continues to incessantly recommend that the bodies of the dead be buried either in cemeteries or in other sacred ground.”

A bishop may allow ashes to be kept at home only in extraordinary cases, the instructions state. aormi@icloud.com

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During the slaughter of the First World War, Pope Benedict XV on 10 August 1915, allowed all priests everywhere to say three Masses on All Souls' Day. The two extra Masses were in no way to benefit the priest himself: one was to be offered for all the faithful departed, the other for the Pope's intentions, which at that time were presumed to be for all the victims of that war. The permission remains.

The Church of England's 1549 Book of the Common Prayer still had prayer for the dead. Many jurisdictions and parishes of the Anglo-Catholic tradition continue to practice prayers for the dead, including offering the Sunday liturgy for the peace of named departed Christians and keeping All Souls' Day. The Episcopal Church's 1979 Book of Common Prayer includes prayers for the dead. The prayers during the Sunday Eucharistic Liturgy include intercessions for the repose of the faithful departed. Furthermore, most of the prayers in the burial rite are for the deceased.

According to the Catechism in the 1979 Book of Common Prayer, "We pray for (the dead), because we still hold them in our love, and because we trust that in God's presence those who have chosen to serve him will grow in his love, until they see him as he is."

Lutheran Church

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Among continental Protestants its tradition has been more tenaciously maintained. During Luther's lifetime, All Souls' Day was widely observed in Saxony although the Roman Catholic meaning of the day was discarded; ecclesiastically in the Lutheran Church, the day was merged with, and is often seen as an extension of All Saints' Day to console women whose children were not born and baptized, Martin Luther wrote in 1542: "In summary, see to it that above all else you are a true Christian and that you teach a heartfelt yearning and praying to God in true faith, be it in this or in any other trouble. Then do not be dismayed about your child or yourself. Know that your prayer is pleasing to God and that God will do everything much better than you can comprehend or desire. Lutherans do not pray for the souls of the departed.

When a person dies his soul goes to either heaven or hell. There is no second chance after death. In the Catholic Church there is an idea of a Baptism of Intent or of Desire, that parents intended baptism for a dead infant.

Free churches Prayer for the dead is not practiced by members of free churches. For example, members of the Baptist churches hold that "dead men receive no benefit from the prayers, sacrifices, &c. of the living.

Methodist Church John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church, stated that: "I believe it to be a duty to observe, to pray for the Faithful Departed".

The LatterDay Saints Church has a number of sacred ordinances and rituals that are performed for the dead. The chief among these are baptism for the dead and the sealing of the dead to families.

Many of the European traditions reflect the dogma of purgatory. For example, ringing bells for the dead was believed to comfort them in their cleansing there, while the sharing of soul cakes with the poor helped to buy the dead a bit of respite from the suffering of purgatory. In the same way, lighting candles was meant to

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kindle a light for the dead souls languishing in the darkness. Out of this grew the traditions of "going souling" and the baking of special types of bread or cakes.

In Tirol, cakes are left for them on the table and the room kept warm for their comfort. In Brittany, people flock to the cemeteries at nightfall to kneel, bareheaded, at the graves of their loved ones, and to anoint the hollow of the tombstone with holy water or to pour libations of milk on it. At bedtime, the supper is left on the table for the souls.

In Bolivia, many people believe that the dead eat the food that is left out for them. In Brazil people attend a Mass or visit the cemetery taking flowers to decorate their relatives' grave, but no food is involved.

In Malta many people make pilgrimages to graveyards, not just to visit the graves of their dead relatives, but to experience the special day in all its significance. Visits are not restricted to this day alone. During the month of November, Malta's cemeteries are frequented by families of the departed.

Mass is also said throughout the month, with certain Catholic parishes organising special events at cemetery chapels.

In Islam, Muslims of their community gather to their collective prayers for the forgiveness of the dead, a prayer is recited and this prayer is known as the aormi@icloud.com

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Salat al-Janazah (Janazah prayer). Dogma states it is obligatory for every Muslim adult male to perform the funeral prayer upon the death of any Muslim.

In Hinduism there are funeral speeches with prayers for the dead.

Buddhism Along reading Buddhist sutras such as Sutra of The Great Vows of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, Amitabha Sutra or Diamond Sutra, Ritsu offer refuge, Pure Land Buddhists nianfo or chant Pure Land Rebirth Dhāraṇī and Tibetan Buddhists chant Om mani padme hum repeatedly. Prayers such as Namo Ratnasikhin Tathagata are for animals. In Christianity it is becoming more common to believe that animals will also reach heaven, although dogmatic teaching preaches they unlike humans they do not have eternal souls.

Buddhists believe that we may return to Earth a an insect or other animal to compensate f o r e a r l i e r misdemeanors hence the emphasis on not stepping on any insect. aormi@icloud.com

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Virginia Ingram

Facebook:Virginia’s Torre Star Buys

v.ingram8@g.mail 678 444 832

With Christmas around the corner here are some ideas for gifts, either a treat for yourself or for others. Virginia Ingram is the local registered supplier for Kleenex products that supply direct a wide variety of products for every room in the house and garden. Lots of Christmas Ideas. Here are just a few.

Contact Virginia for more information. 678 444 832

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