I agree that it is a stunt to show off what money can do. But I
thought it was an odd choice for a PR stunt by a Muslim country.
Dubai may have the money and the world's tallest building but do
they have this charming tradition?
http://www.clayscorner.com/new-years-eve.shtml
Ken
--
---------------------------------------------------------------
Kenneth M. Steele, Ph.D. steel...@appstate.edu
Professor
Department of Psychology http://www.psych.appstate.edu
Appalachian State University
Boone, NC 28608
USA
---------------------------------------------------------------
On 1/1/2014 10:45 AM, Mike Palij wrote:
On Wed, 01 Jan 2014 06:30:54 -0800, Ken Steele wrote:
Best wishes to all.
And an idle question. I was stunned to see on CNN the
New Years fireworks display coming from Dubai UAE.
When did such fireworks' displays become a global
requirement/competition?
Or is it that I don't watch enough TV?
Perhaps you don't watch enough TV but you ask an appropriate
question, if I may re-phrase it: Why would an Islamic country
celebrate a holiday that marks another religion's holy day (believe
it or not, January 1 commemorates the circumcision of Jesus -- ask
your Lutheran and Anglican friends about it), especially when
Muslims follow a lunar calendar that causes New Year Day to
vary from year to year? For more on New Year's Eve, see the
Wikipedia entry:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Year%27s_Eve
NOTE: December 31 is also known as St. Sylvester's Day;
this is for Tipsters living in Daytona who may need a reason to
party on New Year's Eve. ;-)
There's a section on New Year's celebration in Dubai but
since it is associated with the world's tallest building, the
Burj Khalifa, this suggests that celebration of January 1 as
New Year's day is of recent vintage; see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Year%27s_Eve#United_Arab_Emirates
There is an entry on Wikipedia that provides more info on the
history of observing New Year's Day; see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Year%27s_Day
Quoting from the above entry:
|History
|
|In Christendom, under which the Gregorian Calendar developed,
|New Year's Day traditionally marks the Feast of the Circumcision
|of Christ, which is still observed as such by the Anglican Church
|and the Lutheran Church.
|
|Mesopotamia ( Iraq ) created the concept of new year celebration
|2000 B. C. [4] [5] The Romans dedicated New Year's Day to Janus,
|the god of gates, doors, and beginnings for whom the first month of
|the year (January) is also named. After Julius Caesar reformed the
|calendar in 46 BC and was subsequently murdered, the Roman Senate
|voted to deify him on the 1st January 42 BC[6] in honor of his life
|and his institution of the new rationalized calendar.[7] The month
|originally owes its name to the deity Janus, who had two faces, one
|looking forward and the other looking backward. This suggests that
|New Year's celebrations are founded on pagan traditions. Some have
|suggested this occurred in 153 BC, when it was stipulated that the
|two annual consuls (after whose names the years were identified)
|entered into office on that day, though no consensus exists on the
|matter.[8] Dates in March, coinciding with the spring equinox, or
|commemorating the Annunciation of Jesus, along with a variety of
|Christian feast dates were used throughout the Middle Ages, though
|calendars often continued to display the months in columns running
|from January to December.[citation needed]
With respect to Islamic practices in the Middle East, the entry
says:
|Hijri New Year in the Islamic culture is also known as Islamic
|new year (Arabic: رأس السنة الهجرية Ras as-Sanah al-Hijriyah)
|is the day that marks the beginning of a new Islamic calendar
|year. New Year moves from year to year because the Islamic
|calendar is a lunar calendar. The first day of the year is observed
|on the first day of Muharram, the first month in the Islamic
calendar.
As I watched the celebration in Times Square on TV, I noticed
that there were short pieces on the celebration in Dubai which
I thought was odd. But things got clearer when it was announced
that the Dubai crowd was attempting to set a Guinness world
record for fireworks displays (which I think they may have gotten).
Given that Dubai has the tallest building in the world and some
other record setting achievements, I think the firework's display
on New Year's Eve was just a PR stunt to get world attention
for Dubai's achievements. The NYC Times Square celebration
will never match that because having a gigantic fireworks display
in the middle of Manhattan makes no sense and is potentially
a very dangerous thing (limited fireworks in Times Square is also
a recent development).
So, perhaps fireworks in Dubai on New Year's Eve can be interpreted
as saying "See what a lot of money can do?"
-Mike Palij
New York University
m...@nyu.edu
--------- Original Message --------
On 1/1/2014 9:03 AM, Mike Palij wrote:
Best Wishes to All in this New Year (even if you don't recognize
this as an "official" start of a New Year -- you know who you are)!
Make sure you write down your resolutions for the new year, such
as:
(1) Lose weight and exercise more
(2) Read those journal articles/books that you've been stacking away
(3) Write more stuff for publication, including the old stuff
that you've
"filed" away -- there are new venues for getting stuff out
(4) Take a moment to catch your breath, be in moment, and try to
reach that island of happiness even if for a brief period of time
(5) Be nicer to other Tipsters (regardless of whether they deserve
it)
(6) and so on.
Make sure you write your resolutions down and post them in a place
where you can see them everyday because if the past is any guide,
it will be only a few weeks before you stop trying to achieve
them . ;-)
Try to rest up unless, of course, you decided to teach that "Winter
Break" course which starts tomorrow (Jan 2) -- don't let the regret
set in too soon for having made that decision. ;-)
But if you fail in keeping your resolutions and things don't turn
out
the way you expect, just keep one thing in mind:
New episodes of the "WALKING DEAD" in February! ;-)
I apologize to the Tipsters who are trying to read this through the
haze of a hangover (you know who you are ;-).
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