When I put something online that is date-specific it is absolutely certain that there will be a lot of (annoyed) reactions. Especially, noticeably, from USA.
When I put up the (ever-popular) April First article, immediately the reaction from USA was “It is March 31”. I guess these people think that the rest of the planet should wait until April 2, when it is finally April 1 in USA, until we put up our date-specific post?! [I daren’t suggest these people think the world is flat].
It happens when I put up a saint’s feast day, or another liturgical day…
My favourite reaction this year (I won’t embarrass him publicly by putting the link, but his comments are public online) is a reaction, not from USA but from UK, someone explaining “the new day starts somewhat earlier in the southern hemisphere”! When I tried to point out that the planet doesn’t rotate from south to north, he insisted that he had evidence for his thesis: “It’s still 31 March here in the UK”! But Brazil and Argentina start the day after UK – and they are in the Southern Hemisphere…
There is a (serious) liturgical point here: We in NZ are conscious that we begin the world’s celebrations. As we, here, light the new fire, for example, at the Easter Vigil, we are conscious that we begin the world’s celebration of the Resurrection. As the sphere rolls on, the celebration is picked up with the fire lit in Sydney and South Korea, in Jakarta and then in Kolkata, Jerusalem, Cape Town, Warsaw, Ouagadougou, and yes, the UK, Rio de Janeiro, Sucre, and then, finally USA begins – to complete the day. As people light the new Easter fire in Los Angeles are they not conscious of this glorious relay of torch-passing that has preceded them as, on our rotating planet, Christians light thousands upon thousands of fires – our united Resurrection challenge to the planet’s darkness? USA completes the planet’s day – a privilege every bit as great as Aotearoa New Zealand’s honour to start it. And we also need every other person in this chain along the way.
So, April Fools lies behind us. Archaeologists Find Q was the most-visited post on my website ever. Still being visited, it looks to be somewhere between 40,000 and 50,000 visitors, with more than 100,000 viewing it on facebook. Thank you to all who shared it (on facebook around 700 shares), including Evangelical Textual Criticism. The server coped until it got to a visit a second. Regulars know, one of the goals I have is to finish the rebuild of the RapidWeaver parts of the website all to WordPress and then move the website to a server that will cope with the large numbers that the site sometimes gets and then people find that they cannot get on.
As for other April Fools’ jokes – I really liked Illustrated Children’s Ministry Unveils Groundbreaking New Summer Curriculum: An Illustrated Leviticus and Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music adds fish to Eucharist for trial use.
Oh – and remember, people in USA (and UK), your April Fools’ jokes arrive for the rest of us (the majority of us), on the planet, on April 2. We don’t get snarky with you. We still laugh.
I hope, if you appreciated this post today, that you share it (facebook and so on). And do remember to like the liturgy facebook page, use the RSS feed, and sign up for a not-very-often email, … And if you enjoyed the April Fools post, you can, of course, look up previous years by using the Archive of Posts date on the right-hand column.
The problem with the internet is it so US centric. I despair at nice people who have no understanding of the rest of the world and think their nation is perfect in every way despite grubby $1 bank notes, refusing to go metric, adding taxes after the goods are purchased, still signing for credit cards,seem to have never heard of PIN. The list goes on. When I travel to the USA it is like going back in time. Lovely scenery, usually nice people but still in the dark ages in systems.
The time I told a lady I was an Australian (I have since become a Kiwi) and her reply was “How quaint” says it all.
I have experienced the same comments because I post from Adelaide. Saints days in particular get the “Duh! That is not until tomorrow,” response.
But the date related responses don’t bother me nearly as much as those who say I have no right to tell stories that do not appear in the Bible
You mean we all don’t live in the same time-zone?
Huh…!
😉
Enjoy your work, as always!!
Peter Carey
http://www.santospopsicles.blogspot.com
Thanks, Peter. It has been a while… Easter Season Blessings!
Umm, according to my time zone map, Tonga is ahead of you.
And the Line Islands are ahead of Tonga, Robert. Easter Season Blessings!
Dear Bosco, does this post have anything at all to do with the existence of a political party called ‘New Zealand First’ ?
Jokes aside; I suppose things have to happen first, somewhere, and it might just as well be in ‘Godzone country’.
I have lived in New Zealand: I have lived in the UK: I have spent plenty of time in other time zones too, often with family and friends in different ones to me.
One verse of a famous evening hymn always helps me recall our Lord’s sovereignty over us all:
The sun that bids us rest is waking
Our brethren ’neath the western sky,
And hour by hour fresh lips are making
Thy wondrous doings heard on high.
Thanks, Ian – a lovely hymn reminder. Easter Season Blessings.
New Zealand is no longer the first in the world to celebrate anything. Western Samoa and Tokelau have had that role since they switched to UTC + 13 in 2011. (ref: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-16351377)
Yes, Mary, I have written about that a number of times on this site, including Samoa now leads liturgical world, and of course the effect this had (that I had predicted) on Seventh Day Adventists. Easter Season Blessings.