fbicc region 6 newsletter - Flow Blue International Collectors Club

FBICC REGION 6 NEWSLETTER
January 1, 2016
RINGING IN THE NEW YEAR
IN THIS NEWSLETTER:
Happy New Year 2016
A Rose by Any Other Name…
Traditions
Other Announcements
FLOW BLUE CLUB
CALENDAR
Region 2 Meeting: Galena, IL
May 13-14, 2016
FBICC Convention: St. Louis, MO
July 21-24, Renaissance St. Louis
Airport Hotel
I am a child of the sixties, as most of you can guess. It was a simpler time
back then, and growing up in a small town in a working class family, there
were no big New Year’s Eve parties. We might have family members stop by
the house during the day, or more than likely, we would visit aunts and
uncles, grandparents and cousins. I remember several years when my two
older sisters and I spent the night at Grandma and Grandpa Nine’s house.
We would stay up watching television until midnight. At the stroke of
midnight we opened up a bottle of Teem soda pop, poured it in glasses that
looked like champagne glasses, and pretended that we were grownups
toasting the New Year. We normally watched “Holiday Inn” with Fred Astaire
and Bing Crosby. To this day, I still love watching that movie, along with
“White Christmas”. Well, throughout the years, I have attended more New
Year’s Eve parties than I can remember, but none are as memorable as those
that we spent during our formative years. Now, we are lucky to be awake
when they drop the ball in Times Square. This year, the first New Year that
we are spending in our new house, may be spent watching the snow fall.
Maybe we will spot a lone deer crossing the drive. Hopefully we will have
power! Whatever happens, we will be together and thank our lucky stars for
surviving a rough year. We don’t know what the New Year will bring, but our
hope is that it will bring much joy to all our friends, family, and especially our
fellow flow blue members. Have a Happy New Year! (Judy)
“Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let every New Year find you a
better man (woman).” --- Ben Franklin
HISTORY OF THE ROSE PARADE
For many people, New Year’s Day is a day of relaxation, and what better way to relax than to
watch College Football bowl games. It seems as though there are bowl games for everything
these days, but the Rose Bowl Game is the granddaddy of them all. The Rose Bowl Game is an
annual college football bowl game, usually played on January 1 at the Rose Bowl stadium in
Pasadena, CA. The Rose Bowl is nicknamed "The Granddaddy of Them All" because it is
the oldest bowl game. It was first played in 1902, and has been played annually since 1916.
Since 1945, it has been the highest attended college football bowl game. It is a part of the
Tournament of Roses, "America's New Year Celebration", which also includes the historic
Tournament of Roses Parade. Here is a bit of history on the Rose Bowl Parade.
This event began as a promotional effort by Pasadena's distinguished Valley Hunt Club. In the winter of 1890, the club
members brainstormed ways to promote the "Mediterranean of the West." They invited their former East Coast neighbors
to a mid-winter holiday, where they could watch games such as chariot races, jousting, foot races, polo and tug-of-war
under the warm California sun. The abundance of fresh flowers, even in the midst of winter, prompted the club to add
another showcase for Pasadena's charm: a parade would precede the competition, where
entrants would decorate their carriages with hundreds of blooms. The Tournament of
Roses was born.
"In New York, people are buried in snow," announced Professor Charles F. Holder at a
Club meeting. "Here our flowers are blooming and
our oranges are about to bear. Let's hold a festival to
tell the world about our paradise."
During the next few years, the festival expanded to
include marching bands and motorized floats. The
games on the town lot (which was re-named
Tournament Park in 1900) included ostrich races, bronco busting demonstrations and
a race between a camel and an elephant (the elephant won). Reviewing stands were
built along the Parade route, and Eastern newspapers began to take notice of the event.
In 1895, the Tournament of Roses Association was formed to take charge of the
festival, which had grown too large for the Valley Hunt Club to handle.
The Tournament of Roses has come a long way since its early days. The Rose Parade’s elaborate floats now feature hightech computerized animation and exotic natural materials from around the world. Although a few floats are still built
exclusively by volunteers from their sponsoring communities, most are built by professional float building companies and
take nearly a year to construct. The year-long effort pays off on New Year’s morning, when millions of viewers around
the world enjoy the Rose Parade.
Pictured above (from top): Ashburton, Beauty Rose, and Blue Rose (all by WH Grindley), Dudley by Myott, Delaware by
J&G Meakin, and Clarendon by William Brownfield and Sons. All have roses in the design.
NEW YEAR TRADITIONS AND SUPERSTITIONS
How many of these superstitions or traditions have you heard about, or tried?
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1. A common superstition specific to New Year's Day concerns a
household's first visitor of the year—tradition states that if a tall, dark-haired
stranger is the first to walk through your door, called the First Footer or
Lucky Bird, you'll have good luck all year.
2. Don't let anything leave the house on New Year's, except for people.
Tradition says: don't take out the trash and leave anything you want to take
out of the house on New Year's outside the night before. If you must remove
something, make sure to replace it by bringing an item into the house.
3. These policies of balance apply in other areas as well—avoiding paying
bills, breaking anything, or shedding tears.
4. In coastal regions, running into a body of water or splashing water on
one another, symbolizes the cleansing, "rebirth" theme associated with the
holiday.
5. Some foods considered "lucky" to eat include: Circular shaped foods,
Black-eyed peas with rice (Hopping John), Cabbage, Pork, and Fish
6. New Year’s in France: The French typically celebrate New Year's with a
feast and a champagne toast, marking the first moments of New Year's Day
with kisses under the mistletoe, which most other cultures associate with
Christmas celebrations. The French also consider the day's weather as a
forecast for the upcoming year's harvest, taking into account aspects like
wind direction to predict the fruitfulness of crops and fishing.
New Year’s in the Philippines: celebrations are very loud, believing that the noise will scare away evil beings. There
is often a midnight feast featuring twelve different round fruits to symbolize good luck for the twelve months of the
year. Other traditional foods include sticky rice and noodles, but not chicken or fish because these animals are food
foragers, which can be seen as bad luck for the next year's food supply.
New Year’s in Greece: Greeks celebrate New Year's Day with card games and feasting. At midnight, the lights are
turned off, followed by the Basil's Pie, which contains a coin. Whoever gets the piece of pie containing the coin
wins luck for the next year.
New Year’s in Spain: Spaniards celebrate New Year's Day with the custom of eating twelve grapes, each eaten at a
clock-stroke at midnight.
Cold-water plunges: In colder countries close to water, such as Canada, parts of the United States, the United
Kingdom, and the Netherlands, it is customary to organize cold-water plunges. These plunges and races, sometimes
called a Polar Bear Plunge, often raise money for charity or awareness for a cause.
New Year's has been a festival of rebirth and reflection, allowing people all over the world to celebrate another great
year. New Year's Song, "Auld Lang Syne," is sung at the stroke of midnight in almost every English-speaking
country in the world to bring in the New Year. At least partially written by Robert Burns in the 1700's, it was first
published in 1796 after Burns' death. Early variations of the song were sung prior to 1700 and inspired Burns to
produce the modern rendition. An old Scottish tune, "Auld Lang Syne" literally means "old long ago," or simply,
"the good old days."
That’s all for now. Many Blessings for a wonderful, safe New Year. We may have to forgo a regional meeting
this year, but for those of you living in the Northern areas of Region 6, we would still like to pick a date to get
together for an open house at the Boyer residence. This would be a 3-day weekend (arriving Friday, Saturday
get-together, and Sunday departure), possibly in early May (after the weather warms up). Let me know if any of
you would be interested in getting together in the Coeur d’Alene area. Also, look for news of the 30th
anniversary convention in St. Louis in July of 2016. Hopefully some of you will be able to attend this special
convention! Please contact Kim and I if you have any questions regarding our club.
Reminder: don’t forget to turn in your membership dues!
Best Wishes,
Kim and Judy Boyer