Príspevky: 16
Jazyk: English
patrik (Zobraziť profil) 15. decembra 2010 15:09:54
Ironchef (Zobraziť profil) 15. decembra 2010 15:39:54
patrik:We celebrate Dec. 15 as Zamenhof Day, but not all are comfortable about this; since it honors a man, who could been seen by outsiders as a cult figure...I think that "political correctness" that says we cannot celebrate one man's birthday over another's is sheer craziness. It is the same way that in the USA, "Happy Holidays" has become the "safe" way to talk about Christmas/Hanukkah and Kwanzaa because large corporations are scared of offending any one group or leaving out someone.
I do not think we need other Esperanto holidays; we all have holidays and festivals in our own cultures/countries to celebrate and there's nothing wrong with sharing those and even "esperantizing" them if we wish to. We're supposed to be culturally linked through Esperanto anyway, not alienated or realigned by it. The more we learn about each other's beliefs and cultures, the better.
Feliĉan Esperanto-Tago!
Bonan naskiĝtagon Doktoro Zamenhof!
tommjames (Zobraziť profil) 15. decembra 2010 16:00:02
My own preference would be for an "Esperanto Day" on July 26th to celebrate the publishing of the Unua Libro. The fact Z published said book under a pseudonym may lend credence to the idea he would have been against his own deification in a "Zamenhofa Tago".
jan aleksan (Zobraziť profil) 15. decembra 2010 16:02:41
tommjames:I think it's fairly lamentable that Z's birthday is celebrated in this way. Not out of political correctness, but mainly because I think Z himself would have resisted it. And forcefully so.+1
My own preference would be for an "Esperanto Day" on July 26th to celebrate the publishing of the Unua Libro. The fact Z published said book under a pseudonym may lend credence to the idea he would have been against his own deification in a "Zamenhofa Tago".
erinja (Zobraziť profil) 15. decembra 2010 16:14:01
The fact is that this is a very "festive season" and lots of people are looking to celebrate something around this time. If Zamenhof's birthday weren't around this time, I think many Esperanto clubs would have some sort of Christmas (or New Year's) party instead. Zamenhof's birthday provides an Esperanto-related "excuse" for a party.
Celebrating the birthday versus the book's day doesn't much bother me one way or the other. We celebrate Martin Luther King Jr's birthday with a day off in order to remember the ideas that King believed in, not in order to idolize him as a person. And "Zamenhof banquets", though they have Zamenhof's name in the title, mainly involve poetry readings in Esperanto and other themes of Esperanto culture and literature -- not sitting around talking about how great Zamenhof was.
gyrus (Zobraziť profil) 15. decembra 2010 17:08:38
biguglydave (Zobraziť profil) 15. decembra 2010 17:17:06
tommjames:I think it's fairly lamentable that Z's birthday is celebrated in this way. Not out of political correctness, but mainly because I think Z himself would have resisted it. And forcefully so.I think that this is an important observation. Since we pay so much attention to the preservation of his "creation", let's continue that focus by celebrating the Unua Libro.
Demian (Zobraziť profil) 15. decembra 2010 17:31:03
erinja:...I think many Esperanto clubs would have some sort of Christmas (or New Year's) party instead. Zamenhof's birthday provides an Esperanto-related "excuse" for a party...I agree with you and deziras al vi bonan Zamenhofan Tagon aŭ Esperantan Tagon.
..and "Zamenhof banquets", though they have Zamenhof's name in the title, mainly involve poetry readings in Esperanto and other themes of Esperanto culture and literature -- not sitting around talking about how great Zamenhof was.
jan aleksan (Zobraziť profil) 15. decembra 2010 18:15:15
erinja:I have a funny feeling that if Zamenhof's birthday were in July, and if the first book were published in December, we would celebrate the first book's publication rather than the birthday.It make sense, but note that july the 26th can occur during a summer esperanto event. Next year it will be during UK. Doesnt it a great occasion too?
The fact is that this is a very "festive season" and lots of people are looking to celebrate something around this time.