WORLD EVENTS in May

May 1 – May Day. May Day is usually celebrated on May 1. It is an ancient northern hemisphere spring festival. It is also a traditional spring holiday in many cultures and includes dancing, singing, and mountains of food and drink. In the late 19th century, May Day was chosen as the date for International Workers’ Day by the Socialist International, a loose collaboration of socialist, labour and communist groups.

May 2 – World Asthma Day. This is an annual event organized by the Global Initiative for Asthma to improve asthma awareness and care around the world.

May 3 – Two Different Coloured Shoes Day. This day recognizes the uniqueness and diversity of humanity. The simple act of purposely wearing two different colored shoes demonstrates the courage to take a risk and step outside one’s comfort zone. This probably won’t be too difficult for most women who seem to have a multitude of colourful shoes to choose from, but for the average man who only has a couple of pairs of shoes, and usually they’re the same colour, this could be quite difficult.

May 4 – Star Wars Day. Yes, yes, “May the Fourth be with you”. This was quite clever when it was first bandied around seventeen years ago but it’s getting rather tired now. Perhaps you can respond with, “And May the Fist be with you.”

May 5 – International Tuba Day. The stereotype for tuba players is that they have no real musical talent, no personality, just big, fat bodies with puffy cheeks and powerful lungs. Apparently, tuba players are feeling a little unloved as we now have a tuba appreciation day. As far as I’m concerned, I think the Beatles summed it up best in one of their songs where the line was “Oompah, oompah, stick it up your joompah!”

May 8 – No Socks Day. For those of you who are hard of reading, the word is socks not jocks. I just thought it would be good to clarify that important point. Why we would be told to wear no socks when winter is just around the corner is a little baffling so it must be a northern hemisphere day that has crept south. “What’s the reason?” I hear you ask. It’s a good question because there isn’t one.

May 9 – Public Gardens Day. Public gardens, which we could easily take for granted, provides a place for people to play and relax and also give a town an air of serenity. They break up what would otherwise be an endless row of buildings with a colourful, floral centrepiece

May 10 – Windmill Day. Quaint, rustic windmills slowly turning with the wind are a pleasant, relaxing sight to behold. The giant wind turbine monstrosities that tower over the landscape aren’t. I suppose it’s a choice between eye pollution or air pollution.

May 11 – Eat What You Want Day. Fact No. 1 – You’re never going to look like the models on the cover of the magazines. Even they don’t look like themselves (courtesy of air brushing). Fact No. 2 – A gluten free diet is only useful if you’re allergic to gluten. Fact No. 3 – Our bodies require protein and fat to function properly. Fact No. 4 – Celebrities make a lot of money promoting the latest fad diet. So, on this day, kick all of that to the kerb and eat something that you really want without the slightest feeling of guilt. Enjoy!

May 13 – Leprechaun Day. Leprechauns are well-known for hiding their gold and are notoriously hard to see, let alone catch. So, forget about getting rich by catching a leprechaun and instead start saving for your own pot of gold. If you saved the money you spent on that $5 cup of coffee each day you would have $1,300 in your pot at the end of the year. May 14 – Chicken Dance Day. This song by a struggling Dutch band was originally called ‘The Duck Dance’ but when it was brought to Okterberfest in 1981 (because alcohol and the dance were made for each other), there was a complete lack of duck costumes, so it became ‘The Chicken Dance’. Anyway, let’s see some courageous, sober, chickens dancing around Tatura on this day, and rest assured, we’ll be laughing with you, not at you, truly.

May 16 – Drawing Day. Drawing Day is all about sharing your inner creativity with the world. Whether it is crayon, pencil, or charcoal, just let it all out and have fun, and best of all, there are no batteries required. Unfortunately, some of us are artistically challenged, and as I’m one of them, I’ll leave the drawing to others. My drawing ability was so bad at school, my grade six teacher brought in the school psychiatrist to have a chat with me in order to find out if I was disturbed. Fortunately, I didn’t tell him about the voices in my head and was released back into society. May 19 – Bike to Work Day. This is a good idea for a bit of exercise and clean, fresh air in the lungs. Perhaps not such a good idea if you live in Melbourne.

May 24 – World Tiara Day. Why is it that only princesses get to wear tiaras? Let’s put an end to this royal snobbery and make it an everyday dressing accessory for the woman (or man) in the street. Don’t dream it, do it!

May 26 – World Lindy Hop Day. Requiring a great deal of fitness and energy, this dance originated in black communities in Harlem, in New York City during the ‘Roaring Twenties’. As we’re now living in the ‘Boring Twenties’, perhaps it’s time to put a little fun in our lives with this frenetic and occasionally frenzied dance that is likely to leave you exhausted, but don’t worry: you only need to do it once every year. Some say the name commemorates Charles Lindbergh’s 1927 ‘hop’ across the Atlantic in a plane.

May 29 – World Composting Day. Compost is an eco-friendly, cheap and effective option for fertilising your garden and plants but unfortunately not enough of us do it. This day serves as a reminder to recycle your waste food and scraps and get back closer to nature. If it was good enough for our ancestors, then it should be good enough for us.

May 30 – World No Tobacco Day. The title speaks for itself. If you’ve been thinking about giving up the smokes, then perhaps this is the catalyst you’ve been waiting for. As I said before, don’t dream it, do it! Your body will thank you and so will everyone else.

- John Kriesfeld

SUDOKU No. 81

Send ‘er down Hughie.

The Bureau of Meteorology was caught in a storm of its own making recently when it issued a press release requesting people no longer refer to them as either “BoM” or the Weather Bureau.

They requested to either be referred to by their full name or alternatively, “The Bureau”. The staff at the BoM are scientists, not weather forecasters or the weathermen, and believe they need a nickname reflecting their status.

Their request was greeted by scorn and more than a little mirth by people who perceived, both, that spending around $200,000 was a waste of money and that the BoM had failed to understand what every schoolchild knows: you do not get to choose your own nickname. In Australia, you are given a nickname by a third party. Friends, enemies, sometimes schoolteachers, will isolate something in your appearance, behaviour or name and assign you a nickname that reflects that. Sometimes the nickname sticks and sometimes it doesn’t, but one thing is certain and that is that asking people to stop calling you that nickname will almost guarantee that the nickname will be yours forever!

Under no circumstances can someone request a cool-sounding nickname and “The Bureau” clearly falls into this category. It’s like the new guy at the footy club trying to establish a nickname like ‘Maverick’ or ‘Diesel.’ It is not going to happen. Whether you love or hate them, nicknames stick.

If you look at the team sheet of any local football club, posted in the window of the community’s General Store, you will be hard pressed to identify half the team, unless you are familiar with their nicknames.

Some nicknames are given because of behaviour: Autumn Leaves: always falling down; Killer, the local butcher, Sherlock, the smart, nerdy bloke or Knuckles, tough guy. Some nicknames are based on appearance: Curly, the owner of this nickname can have either curly or straight hair, or none! Slab, appearance or drinking prowess, or Slim, normally a tall person but it can be ironic, ditto Shorty. And of course, redheads can become Bloodnut or Bluey or Ranga.

Some nicknames come from peoples’ profession or passion: Tractors or Toot and some just arise from the Australian habit of adding a “y” or an “azza” to the first part of any name at all: Bazza, Shazza, Spenny, Davy. The Bible is full of people who became known by their nicknames. In the Old Testament it was usually God who gave out the nicknames. After some mystical encounter or incident, the subject would be renamed, often based on a pun of their name or that reflected the nature of the encounter.

The great patriarch of Israel, originally called Abram, meaning ‘Father’, becomes Abraham,

‘Father of a Multitude’, signalling his new role as heir of many nations.

Jacob was a twin who, according to the biblical story, was born holding on to his brother’s heel. Jacob means “supplanter, deceiver” and, true to his name, Jacob grew up as a conniver, deceiver, and cheat, eventually through those means, steals his brother’s position as heir to the birthright.

Much later in life Jacob wrestles with a man, who was possibly God, at a key transition point in his life. God gives Jacob a new name: Israel, saying “Because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.”

(Genesis 32:28)

In the New Testament, Jesus was fond of giving nicknames to his disciples. Most famously Simon the fisherman is named “Rocky” (Peter means Rock) because of his strong and stubborn nature. James and John were call the “Sons of Thunder”. There was also Simon, “The Zealot” and Thomas, “The Twin”.

The important thing with a nickname is to lean into them, like a rip. By that I mean don’t fight it. You may not like it but fighting it will only make it stick harder.

At their best, a nickname reveals to us something that others see in us that we may not see in ourselves. While it can seem like they will be with us forever, most will fade away as we get older, move away and our friendships and jobs change.

My father wasn’t a particularly religious man. He rarely went to church, and he said the evening grace before our meal at a breakneck speed but he always said a prayer as it started to rain. There would be dark clouds building, growing higher and higher in the summer sky. Thunder would rumble in the distance, the wind would blow harder, gusting through the trees and then the crack of nearby lightning would signal the start of a summer downpour. As the big drops of rain would start to pound on the corrugated roof, my father would exclaim, “Send ‘er down Hughie!”

I am not sure why God got the nickname ‘Hughie’ but it’s a name that has stuck for many Australians. I like to think it’s an affectionate name for a benevolent God. It may sound a little disrespectful, but it is in keeping with Jesus advising us to begin our prayers, not with the big, formal names for God, but with the informal family name ‘Abba, Daddy’. It’s a nickname that deserves to stick!

This is the gospel, and it’s good news.

Brian Spencer, Minister, Tatura Uniting Church

Have some news to share? Send it to info@tatbulletin.com.au ministry in different contexts, I have always begun each Sunday by thanking God for the opportunity and freedom to meet together. I never once thought that this would change in a peaceful democratic country like Australia. These are exceptional times.

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