Fallon's Town Talk: Christmas songs in early November prove jarring
Halloween wasn’t over before Christmas merchandise was on the shelves.
Halloween wasn’t over before Christmas merchandise was on the shelves of shops throughout the land. We’ve become used to that over the last decade. However, even the recent headlong rush to make Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, which has become the latest USA commercial fad to take root in Ireland, the official start of Christmas in Ireland has been surpassed this year.
I was lucky enough to be in Thurles on the first weekend of this month and some of the big stores were advertising their Black Friday bargains. Black Friday deals are now being extended for all of November. It can be disconcerting, but not as jarring or annoying as hearing ‘Come All Ye Faithful’ being piped through the speakers in a sports store. Whatever about Slade, Wizzard and Wham! booming out, an actual proper Christmas carol didn’t sound right.
The era when December 8th was the official start of the Christmas shopping season seems quaint and long ago. And yet, in typical Irish fashion, this modern commercial onslaught sits side by side with long-lasting traditions. One of the reasons people in the past didn’t speak much about Christmas during November was that it was, and remains, the month for honouring the dead.
For Christians, November is the month for remembering the souls in Purgatory while for over 100 years the Sunday closest to Armistice Day (November 11th) has been the day when many nations around the world commemorate their war dead.
Last Sunday, in the Sacred Heart Church in Roscommon, the 11.30 mass was in memory of all those who have died in the parish in the last 12 months. It was startling to realise how many people have passed away in Roscommon in the last year. The congregation was enormous, right up there with those at the Christmas ceremonies. It was a solemn but impressive ceremony.
At the weekend, news emerged of another death with the passing of former TD, Louis Belton. Louis represented the Roscommon/Longford constituency from 1997 to 2002. I have fond memories of that marathon count as the 1997 campaign was the first time I covered a General Election. It was a memorable, thrilling campaign that saw Denis Naughten elected for the first time and Belton take a second seat for both Fine Gael and for Longford. The other two TDs elected were the Fianna Fáil duo of former Taoiseach Albert Reynolds and Seán Doherty. Of course, both of those political titans are also now deceased.
The uncomfortable, unsettled nature of the Roscommon-Longford alliance meant that the affable Louis’s profile in Roscommon wasn’t that high during the subsequent Dáil term. However, at the time, and has been readily apparent since his death was announced, Louis Belton was liked and admired on all sides of the political divide. That is a notable legacy for any politician.
As I write this week’s column Storm Debi is making its first stirrings. We have become blasé about weather warnings over the last few years, but a red wind warning still manages to grab the public's attention. Hopefully, by the time the Herald hits the streets, Storm Debi will have passed without doing too much damage.
Arnold Schwarzenegger has been back in the news recently as he has launched a book and is the subject of a Netflix documentary. Arnie is one of the greatest Hollywood action stars of the last 40 fours but he has also had a dramatic political career that saw him serve as Governor of California from 2003 to 2010.
Schwarzenegger was only the second non-American born governor of the state; the other was a Roscommon man called John G. Downey from Castlesampson, Taughmaconnell in 1862. At the time, Arnie was often mocked as a politician because of his Hollywood background. However, his brand of moderate Republicanism proved popular and led to speculation that Schwarzenegger would have become president if he hadn’t been precluded from running because he was born in Austria.
Of all the interviews with Arnie, one that stood out for me was with a British political podcast in which he confidently predicted that Donald Trump would not win the 2024 presidential election, which will take place this time next year. Schwarzenegger is one of the few informed observers who is adamant US voters won’t return Trump to the White House.
Just last week, a poll had Trump ahead of sitting president Joe Biden in five out of the six swing states that will decide the election. At a time of turmoil in world politics, many will hope that Arnie’s Terminator-like certainty proves prophetic.
