Measured in terms of the people who observe it with some degree of
feeling, today is arguably New Zealand's most holy day. Also, I
imagine, Australia's. This morning many thousands of New Zealanders
gathered together before dawn to remember events that happened on the
other side of the world 90 years ago. And many more will read and
listen again to the accounts of what they are already familiar with,
and
watch ceremonies on TV broadcast from far away.

Unlike some other national holidays, this one always occurs on the
actual date. Essentially all shops are closed by law for the morning -
it takes a lot to keep a Kiwi away from shopping. There are bugles and
prayers and incantations that are by now burned into the national
psyche* - and a select group of people over 80 years old have a
special place,
because the last of the group of even more select even older people
finally died a few years ago.

For those outside New Zealand who are interested in finding out what
it's all about, some fascinating reading can be obtained by searching
the web for terms such as below. Numbers are the number of Google
Strikes


739,000        Gallipoli
118,000        Gallipoli 1915
    1,360        "Johnny Turk" - few but interesting (note two n's)
    5,540        "Chunuk Bair" - Especially special to NZ
 58,300         ANZACS - good cross section
12,700         Gallipoli "Winston Churchill" - with good reason


Russell McMahon
April 25th
________________________________


* " ...They shall not grow old, as we grow old; age shall not weary
them, nor the years condemn, at the going down of the sun and in the
morning we will remember them. ... "


-- 
http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive
View/change your membership options at
http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist