Dreamtime

Being Austrian it may be presumptuous of me to post a text about Dreamtime on my blog. After all I’ll have to write about the mythology and religious belief of the first human beings that set foot on the Australian continent ten thousands of years ago and whose descendants keep living there, some proudly holding on to their traditions or even reviving them, others adjusted to the Anglo-American lifestyle. Moreover I’ve never been to Australia and never got a chance to exchange ideas with someone belonging to her Aboriginal peoples.

So how can I possibly know what I’m writing about? Well, I’ll have to rely on my memory of information that I heard about the Dreamtime somewhere some time (which fits well into the oral tradition) and on the internet that allows us to travel fast and without effort almost everywhere at any time – like in a dream.

There’s much more behind the Dreamtime than the word itself expresses. It really comprises the spiritual, natural and ethical system of the Aboriginal universe that has been handed down from one generation to the next through a number of stories told in the form of song, music, dance and pictures. The Aboriginal Dreamtime myths explain the creation of the world and the origin of life, thus the beginning of time and of knowledge. There is the Sacred World of Dreamtime and there are a physical and a human world, all of them interconnected through dreams. The Dreamtime was, is and will be forever. For a European it's difficult to understand and impossible to summarise in a few words, but for the Aboriginal peoples it's part of their daily lives and not just their heritage. It's a pity that in our part of the world so little is known about the Dreamtime myths, but there are books full of them for those who are open-minded and interested. I picked out one that seems to be quite good.

For first-hand information on Dreamtime be so kind as to visit the website of the
Aboriginal Australia Art & Culture Centre in Alice Springs, Australia:

http://aboriginalart.com.au.

The Vienna Opera Ball

Ash Wednesday is once again around the corner which means that Carnival is soon coming to a close and so is the ball season, at least here in Austria. Tonight, as always on Thursday preceding Shrove Tuesday, the most festive and most famous Austrian ball is held at the Vienna State Opera. The auditorium is transformed into a large ballroom where aproximately 5000 guests will come together. As always young ladies in long white gowns and young gentlemen in tuxedos with tail and white ties, the debutantes, will open the ball to the tunes of Carl Michael Ziehrer's Fächerpolonaise.

The Vienna Opera Ball has a long history. Its roots date back to the eighteenth century before today's opera house had even been built. The whole event reminds of the days when Vienna was still the mondane capital of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. The black-yellow age of the Habsburg Empire, or more precisely of Emperor Franz Joseph and Sisi, is past as Joseph Roth lamented so brilliantly in Radetzky March (1932) and in The Emperor's Tomb (1938), but the Austian ball culture has survived. So has the very strict dress code: only floor-length ball gowns and tuxedos with tail are accepted at the Vienna Opera Ball which gives the event a fairy-tale like air.

The original opera house was designed by the architects August Sicard von Sicardsburg and Eduard van der Nüll and opened in 1869. Only some years later ball festivites were allowed at the then Royal and Imperial Court Opera, a tradition that was resumed shortly after World War I and the collapse of the monarchy. The first Vienna Opera Ball as we know it today was held in 1935 and suspended during the years of World War II. The already then famous opera house was severely damaged in the last bombings of 1945, only two months before Austria surrendered and the war ended. The auditorium and the stage were completely destroyed by flames and it took almost ten years to rebuild them similar to the original. In 1955 the Vienna State Opera was reopened and in 1956 the first Vienna Opera Ball was held after Austria's rebirth.

The Vienna Opera Ball has become an internationally renowned event that every year attracts celebreties from around the globe. Politicians, aristocrats, industrialists, businessmen, actors, journalists, artists,... and wonnabes come together at the ball. The Austrian Public Broadcast ORF transmitts the ball live and millions of people follow the polonaise and the interviews with famous guests worldwide. Many Austrians dream of attending the Vienna Opera Ball at least once in their lives although it's a tremendously expensive pleasure. The mere entrance ticket costs 250 Euros per person while the best boxes are available at 18,500 Euros.

As for me, I could hardly care less about this ball! I'm no fan of big events like this - too crowded, too loud, too meaningless. I prefer taking my time for something useful like writing this blog.

For last year's opening of the Vienna Opera Ball please follow the link to youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EQlT0MIUpYhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EQlT0MIUpY

Candlemas - Farewell to Christmas

Yesterday I received a Christmas card from a friend who had been too busy to take care of it at the usual time. It was a rather unexpected and nice surprise although I must admit that it felt a bit odd to start into the second month of the year with wishes for a merry Christmas. Then I remembered that according to Roman Catholic tradition the Christmas season wasn’t really over. Candlemas was still to come – today on 2 February.

However secular I and many Austrians may be today, the Christian heritage is still strong here, especially regarding old customs. In fact, there are several customs regarding Candlemas that are still practiced in some places, and I don’t mean in church. It’s true that for me Candlemas is of no importance at all and I reckon that many people in my country haven’t even heard of the feast. I too didn’t have a clue what it actually was about until I looked it up in a book.

Candlemas is celebrated exactly forty days after Christmas. According to the information handed on to us from our forefathers and clergy, it’s the day when Mother Mary had to make an offering to God in order to regain her purity after having given birth. Despite the Christian background of Candlemas the origins of this feast of Purification are – like so often – pagan; to be precise they date back to the days of the ancient Roman Empire or even before. Christian tradition adopted the old pagan customs and just gave them a new meaning.

In church the priest blesses candles on 2 February, namely all candles needed during the whole year. The blessed candles stand for a year full of light, protection and consolation. In some rural areas Candlemas singers or fiddlers go from door to door and collect money for things that need to be bought or repaired in the local church. In return for the donations (and the refreshments that they have been offered) they sing songs.

2 February also is an important day in peasants’ weather maxims. There are many different verses known that link the weather conditions of the day with the duration of winter. Summing up it may be said that all of them predict a long winter if it’s fine and mild at Candlemas. By the way, I was surprised to learn that the origins of the American Groundhog or Marmot Day can be traced back to the weather maxims circulating in Austria and other German-speaking areas of Europe.