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Published: March 20th 2009
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Harmony Day is officially tomorrow, but we celebrated it at our work place today. The basic idea being to promote diversity, build cultural and racial harmony and have some fun!
The small group I work with decided that we would grab a map of the world and put a dot on it to show where we were born, plus where our ancestors originated from before Australia. We also all prepared a dish based on the same theme to share at lunch and pinned a few photos on the wall of the places that are dear to us.
Before sampling the food, we all made a short speech about our heritage, the dish that we prepared and anything else we wanted to share with each other. The little speeches and stories were like a quick trip around the world before lunch - plus there were some interesting stories ...
Patrick from the Philippines, told us that in his town of birth there is a legend that during the civil war there (I think he said civil war?) his town was spared serious damage because it was somehow protected by something weird to do with an immaculate conception that had
occurred in the town. This story was just accepted on face value by all, including Patrick, until he got a job with the local government and discovered that the town was actually ringed by 3 or 4 military bases and it was more likely spared heavy fighting because of this than any other reason.
Eddie, who traces his roots to Sheffield in the UK, told an amusing tale of how his grand mother as somehow involved in the shooting down of a Nazi bomber over Sheffield, which unfortunately turned out to be a returning British bomber - oops!
We also got the inside story on some other exciting places like .... Santiago, Hamburg, Mumbai, Ermington, Jakarta, Belle Mare, Luzon, Taree and Niedermorschwihr and countries such as Scotland, Lebanon, Iraq and of course Australia!. That was really entertaining and reminded us all why Australia is such a great place to be.
My little speech went as follows (please excuse my less than perfect French, Alsatian and English) ...
"Mon arrière grandpère est venu en Australie d'Alsace en 1893. J'ai petites cousins en France, à Niedermorschwihr, prés de Colmar en Alsace. J'essaye de rendre visite à mon famille Pat & Noel
the orange dot on Pat's forehead = a bit of a joke as orange is he official Harmony Day colour en Alsace chaque deux années. J'ai fait cuire un plat traditionnel d'Alsace .... Baeckeoffe ou Potée Boulangère ou Bakers Stew ... "
I then explained in English (as my brain had run out of french on the spot) ...
"Baeckeoffe was traditionally cooked in Alsace on washing day when the women of the village would take the stew to the local bakery to be cooked, while they did their washing. This was usually done on a Monday." I then tried to astound my small audience with my huge knowledge of the Alsatian language (huge should read almost non-existent) and stated that ....
"E dooder hund bisst nemmi" That, I think, roughly translates to
"a dead dog no longer bites". Exactly where, when or why I learned that saying and retained it in the cobwebbed recesses of my brain I do not know. It was probably while drinking Schnàps.
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