Ringing in 2007 - The View from Down South

I guess this always happens when the House isn't sitting... am feeling the lack of good political fodder to blog about... I mean other than a little floor crossing, a little cabinet shuffling, and a little Baird looking at some dead trees, I'm kind of feeling uninspired with the Canadian political scene at the moment (if any one has some tips, blogging suggestions, topics, etc – I’d be v grateful).

Anyway, so I thought I’d use this lull to talk about how they ring in the New Year down South in that beautiful country that is Brazil. So here it is:

Five Steps for A Successful Brazilian New Year’s Celebration

1) Dress in white - (not quite sure the origins of this – but it is supposed to bring you good luck...)

2) Eat turkey - (now I don’t know if this is a Brazilian nation wide tradition – I think it’s actually specific to the people I was staying with – we had three turkeys actually – two BBQ (hmm another interesting recipe that’d be good to share with my US Marine turkey frying friend) and one oven baked (the BBQ ones were actually better than the oven one...)

3) At midnight run down to the beach and after the countdown jump seven waves and make seven wishes (one for each wave) – (Actually surprising how hard it is to come up with seven wishes… guess I should count myself lucky...)

4) Put candles in the sand - (also not sure of the origins but something to do with bringing more luck - Some people put candles in little tiny boats and send them floating into the sea...)

5) Kiss as many people as possible - (uh, no explanation needed there...)

Enjoy!