The Man from Mosel River

Another year has passed and again we celebrated the life and the work of the great Scots poet. Last Saturday about 100 Scots and their friends got together for a memorable Robert Burns supper. As always its great to celebrate with my fellow Celts though I hardly understand their language. Our Chieftain, Mrs Alexandra Faulds, presided over the ceremony when she gave the address to the haggis.

“Ye Pow’rs wha mak mankind your care,
and dish them out their bill o’fare,
auld Scotland wants nae skinkink ware,
that jaups in luggies: but, if ye wish gratefu’ prayer,
gie her a haggies!”

Thats what Robert Burns wrote.

I do not want to repeat the whole program here, please allow me to draw attention to some selected highlight. As last year, Christ Tait had come as a Robert Burns impersonator and he did a great job. The highlight for me was Julie Mobbs and her presentation of songs of Burns. She has a great voice and sang like an angel. Even for non-Scots the address to a toothache though difficult to understand, was a further delight. Pipe music was provided by the Edinburgh Chevaliers. Interesting speeches entertained the crowd.

Chris Tait as Robert Burns

We drank wine from Argentina and whiskey from Scotland (which made me forget what wine we drank). I would like to end with another quote from Robert Burns:

“Whatever mitigates the woes, or increases the
happiness of others, this is my criterion of goodness;
and whatever injures society at large, or an individual in it,
this is my measure of iniquity.”

Hail the great Poet of the Scots and to another successful, prosperous and happy year.

Congratulations to the Java St Andrew Society, its chieftain and its members for organizing this wonderful evening.

Postscript: When we get home after a Robert Burns Supper, we usually put on the music of Eddie Reader who “Sings the songs of Robert Burns” which is a great collection of marvelous music. I can only recommend it.

With some imagination (and abstractions and maybe omissions) James Blunts song could be easily interpreted as a hymn to a town. Of course I then think of my hometown Trier.

St. Peter Fountain

I enjoyed the time I could spend in its confines during my two month stay in Germany tremendously and I tried to be there as often as possible. “Augusta Treverorum”, a more than 2,000 year old jewel of the wine cities in Europe, is increasingly attractive to me, the older I get. The main market square (Hauptmarkt) is what I would like to introduce to you today. Its a splendid location. Some call it one of Germany’s most beautiful town squares. It is located at the centre of the city only a few blocks south from the Porta Nigra on Simeonstrasse, the pedestrian shopping street. The city received the market rights in 958 AD from Archbishop Heinrich I and a market cross on a granite pedestal from Roman times was erected to this effect. In about 3 m height an inscription says “Henricus archiepiscopus Treverensis me erexit”, which loosely translates as something like ‘Archbishop Heinrich erected me’.

Another jewel on the square is the St Peter Market Fountain. It was created in the 1595 and shows St. Peter with the key of the city on top and it incorporates statues that symbolize justice, fortitude, temperance, and prudence. The surrounding houses date from different architectural periods among them renaissance, baroque, classicism and late historicism. The old main police station and the former Domhotel are built in a neo-renaissance style. The gate to the market church St. Gangolf shows baroque features.
Another architectural marvel is the old citizens house, called ‘Steipe’ dating back to 1430 and the ‘Red House’.

Main market square (Hauptmarkt) with market cross and ‘Steipe’ building and droves of tourists

Frequently, I visit the many wine bars and country inns. But I also take long strolls to look around town. My curiosity is endless. Moreover, I also admit to following to a certain extent the traits of my childhood and youth. Then all kinds of things come to mind, sounds, smells, faces, moves, music, short encounters, and many more. Human memory is such a fickle thing but stimulated in the right way it sometimes yields interesting results.

Replica of the buildings of the ‘Steipe’/’Red House’ ensemble in Trier

Hope to see you soon in Trier.

You might have seen my blog entry about the Celtic god of the vintners, Sucellus. Guess what? He’s got a ‘wife’ or should I better say, a companion? A consort seems to be the right word.

I do not know how gods treat their wifes/consorts and how it all works out but according to Gaulish religion, Nantosuelta is the goddess of nature, earth, fire and fertility.

She is usually depicted with holding a pole with a model of a house to indicate a domestic function (sometimes a bee hive). Also in Lusitanian mythology she is the goddess of nature.

Her symbol is the raven which links her to the dead and the underworld. Often she is depicted holding a ‘cornucopia’, a hollow, horn shaped wicker basket (also called ‘horn of plenty’ or ‘horn of Amalthea’) and a symbol of food and abundance. The ‘cornucopia’ is often associated with the harvest season and, suprise surprise, with Thanksgiving.

A couple of reliefs and statues have been found near Metz/France and in Alsace. They usually show her with Sucellus. Whereas there are many images of Sucellus found on the internet, there are only very few available for Natosuelta.

Nantosuelta and Sucellus (source: wikipedia)

Nantosuelta and Sucellus (Source: http://www.cetnet.org.uk)

Nantosuelta and Sucellus (Source: http://www.crdp-strasbourg.fr)

This is the ‘modern’ Nantosuelta in bronze.

Source: “Nantosuelta”, bronze H 40 cm by Claudine Leroy-Weil (born 1950 at Neuilly-sur-Seine), at http://www.galeriedessablons.com

While in Australia in July this year, we went to a couple of live music events in country pubs, which was great fun. We listened to various singers and bands while downing a glass of beer and/or wine. The quality of the music was usually excellent. In the Toolangi Tavern for instance, we were very surprised when on a Wednesday we went for dinner and were netertained by a jazz band. I also loved to listen to the young singers in the St. Andrews pub after the closure of the St. Andrews market, but equally enjoyed the seasoned band named “The Heartstarters” playing on a Sunday afternoon on the balcony of the Grand Hotel in Healesville. Here the grandchildren of the band members danced enthusiatically as did the many old folks present. It’s also a great diversion for working people who have sufficient time to get ready for their Monday jobs, since this is an afternoon affair. I can only recommend these kind of events, especially since nowadays many pubs carry an excellent selection of local Australian wines.

The jazz band at the Toolangi Tavern

Life music at the St. Andrews pub

The ‘Heartstarters’ at the terrace of the Grand Hotel

Legends in their own lifetime: Margit Adam, Brett Travis, Michael Meinhold enjoying the music at The Grand Hotel in Healesville

It was a Friday evening and I wanted to do something special. Therefore I went to have dinner at the “Station Rolandseck”, a converted train station now housing an art museum and gallery and of course a restaurant. Behind the historic building is a new gallery, the Hans Arp Museum (www.arpmuseum.org), which was recently completed and opened by the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, on 28th of September.

Hans or Jean Arp was a French-German painter, sculptor and poet (16.09.1886-07.06.1966). He was a co-founder of Dadaism, but was also involved in the surrealist school of art and with a group called ‘abstraction creation’. Arp led a very interesting life and his works are breathtaking. If you are interested please visit the various webpages with reviews of his works. It’s a worthwhile undertaking.

The Hans Arp Museum (right) and Rolandseck Station (left) seen from the ferry

I sat outside on the large balcony of the restaurant with a splendid river view enjoying the autumn sunset. I ordered a delicious mushroom pasta and drank another delicious wine from the Ahr, a 2005 Heimersheim Pinot Noir from the Nelles winery (www.weinhaus-nelles.de). Drinking good wine and smoking a wonderful cigar I sat contemplating the river, the surroundings and its history. If the river could talk we would hear the most magnificent stories, sad as well cheerful ones of ancient times , peopled with quite exotic figures.

I imagined that I sat in this place about 2000 years ago as a Roman centurio looking at the riverbank opposite of Rolandseck where the barbarian Germans would wait and plan to cross the river and besiege our fortifications. I would have certainly drunk something “winy” maybe sweetened with honey or mead.

Travelling forward in time to 200 years ago, I would now have come back as a French soldier, maybe an officer, in the army of Napoleon Bonaparte. I would have found that the wine quality had improved considerably. As a good French nationalist I might have had problems praising the German wine. I would look to the opposite side of the Rhine river, disgusted at the prospects of meeting fierce resistance from German troups who would try to prevent the French and their allies from crossing and moving East.

I also had to confront the prospects of crossing the river later that evening. Now it is the year 2007 and instead of being on horseback I can cross by ferry. This time it is in peaceful circumstances; I just want to reach my lodgings in Bad Honnef to get ready for another day of learning.

The view from the terrace over Rhine and Seven Rock mountains