We bid farewell to 2023 with celebrations in all latitudes

Dec 13, 2023 | News | 3 comments

Tags: ALMA

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December is here. A month full of celebrations with which we remember many festivities commemorated by some of our foreign colleagues at the end of the year.

This was the case of Ruediger Kneissl, our Science Operations Astronomer, who celebrated the reunification of East and West Germany on October 3, 1990.

As he tells us, on that day the national anthem is sung at official events with music from Joseph Haydn’s Emperor’s Quartet, but most people celebrate it with festivities of their own choice. Ruediger likes to “go and enjoy the Oktoberfest in my hometown Munich, which has a long tradition and fortunately coincides with October 3. It’s something like a fonda,” he adds.
The festival, which commemorates the fall of the Berlin Wall, has a very special place in Ruediger’s memory: “The best memory of the origin of the holiday is when as a student I was visiting back in Germany from Cambridge, England, and seeing family in East Berlin, standing there on the eastern side of Brandenburg Gate on New Year’s eve 1989 with people around me crying of joy, an unforgettable moment for most”.
Shortly thereafter, on October 5, Republic Day was celebrated in Portugal, a date that marks the end of its monarchy in 1910 and is well known to Hugo Messias, an astronomer who is part of the Array Optimization Performance Group.

However, Hugo assures that April 25 is a much more important date for most, because it celebrates the so-called “Carnation Revolution”, when in 1974 the military staged a coup d’état and put an end to a 41-year dictatorship in the Iberian country.

“It meant the return to democracy. And it still touches people, for example, my parents who are now 60 years old were in college. So, basically, many people who are still alive felt that change of freedom,” Hugo points out.

It is so called because on that day, when a lady selling carnations realized that the revolution was starting, she put a carnation in the mouthpiece of a military man’s machine gun, becoming a symbol of that day. An iconic flower that for Hugo is very relevant: “From a certain moment I started to keep carnations on the windshield of my car. I would leave them there and during the year the carnations would dry up. And the other day, I went to Portugal, opened a compartment inside my mother’s car and there were the carnations,” he says.
According to Hugo, every April 25, “E Depois Do Adeus” by Paulo de Carvalho, and “Grândola, Vila Morena” by Zeca Afonso – songs that in 1974 gave the signal to start the revolution – are played on the radio, while people march through the streets filled with carnations.

“The nice thing is that this party usually brings together all generations, even those who did not go through the dictatorship, but usually feel it through their dads,” Hugo concludes.

Within the same month, October 10, is the Taiwan National Day, a cause for celebration for Chin-Shin Chang our Science Archive Content Manager, although she prefers to celebrate Lunar New Year, February 10.

“It’s the biggest celebration in Taiwan. During this time, there are usually more than a week of national holidays. Like Christmas in Chile, we celebrate with the family, enjoy fine cuisine and often take vacation trips during this special time,” says Chin-Shin.

Each family has its own must-have dishes during this time, with great variety. However, the must-have is fish, and with a special rule: at the end of the meal, the fish cannot be finished, and some must be left on the plate. A tradition that is related to a linguistic explanation: “In Taiwanese, fish is pronounced like ‘remains’ so having some fish remaining in the dish means that every year we’ll always have more than enough food remaining in the family,” Chin-Shin describes.
For Chin-Shin, “the best part is that on this day, all members of the family will gather and celebrate. When I was still in school, my family used to go abroad to travel around right after the New Year’s Eve’s dinner. Those trips were my fondest memories during this time of the year,” she concludes.
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3 Comments

  1. Carla Crovari
    Carla Crovari on December 14, 2023 at 1:38 pm

    Que buen reportaje, y gracias por compartir sus festividades!

    Reply
  2. Juande santander-vela
    Juande santander-vela on December 14, 2023 at 2:12 pm

    I want to add to the congratulations from Carla! It is great to know about the different cultures that make up this massive international project!

    Reply
  3. Isabel Fuenzalida
    Isabel Fuenzalida on December 15, 2023 at 3:43 pm

    Thank you for sharing your festivities!

    Reply

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