My personal blog as a 'grown-up' Goth and Romantic living in the Highlands of Scotland. I write about the places I go, the things I see and my thoughts on life as a Goth and the subculture, and things in the broader realm of the Gothic and darkly Romantic. Sometimes I write about music I like and sometimes I review things. This blog often includes architectural photography, graveyards and other images from the darker side of life.

Goth is not just about imitating each other, it is a creative movement and subculture that grew out of post-punk and is based on seeing beauty in the dark places of the world, the expression of that in Goth rock. It looks back to the various ways throughout history in which people have confronted and explored the macabre, the dark and the taboo, and as such I'm going to post about more than the just the standards of the subculture (Siouxsie, Sisters of Mercy, Bauhaus, et al) and look at things by people who might not consider themselves anything to do with the subculture, but have eyes for the dark places. The Gothic should not be limited by what is already within it; inspiration comes from all places, the key is to look with open eyes, listen carefully and think with an open mind..

Wednesday, 1 January 2014

Happy New Year

Happy New Year! 
Bonne Année! 
(In French because of the HouseCat's French connections and family) 
Athbhliain faoi mhaise dhaoibh!
(Irish Gaelic, in honour of Raven's family)
Blwyddyn Newydd Dda!
(In Welsh, thanks to Raven who lived most of his life in Wales)
Bliadhna Mhath Ùr dhuibh uile!
(Scottish Gaelic  because I live in Scotland)
I celebrated the solar New Year 11 days ago -the Solstice - as I am Pagan. I hope the festive season has been good for all of you, with that covering everything between Thanksgiving and Imbolc! (More festivities to be had!) I hope you had a good time, whatever it is you celebrate, from Solstice to Christmas to Festivus to New Year. Also feel free to contribute what festive greetings are like in your native language if it isn't already here. Next Year might be a bit more diverse!

I'd like to hear about what my readers did - if you have blogged about it, link in the comments, or if not, feel free to tell me about it. 


Have a picture of me at my Dad's house, feeding my over-sized cat Kuro from the palm of my hand. I went to England for a week to visit my family and friends there, and went on a plane for the first time that I know of (I think I may have been on a plane as a baby, but I was too young to know what was going on) despite being terrified! I have conquered my fear of airports and aeroplanes! I had a quiet Christmas with my Dad, and a busy week visiting everyone I knew within in a 20 mile radius of my Dad's house, which is a LOT of people. I got mostly chocolate as festive gifts, so my New Year's resolution to eat more healthily is not starting well... 
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3 comments:

  1. Laura Morrigan1 January 2014 at 17:14

    Blwyddyn Newydd Dda to you too! I have Scottish and Welsh heritage, and I would love to be able to speak some Welsh! I just say Happy Christmas, and Happy Litha/ Yule, (because Australia is in Summer right now, and we had summer solistice recently). For me it is mostly about family and desperately trying to find people presents they might like, ha ha. Oh, and eating too much.

    I love oversized cats! I want one of my own one day!

    Happy New Year! I need to eat better too! I threw out the remainder of my chocolate, I was feeling so sick!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The HouseCat1 March 2014 at 14:33

      Raven has sort of ended up in a trinity (triquetra?) of Celtic cultures, being an Irish person who lived most of his life in Wales and lives in Scotland! I have family connections to the Breton region of France, which has its own Celtic language, more similar to Welsh and Manx than Irish or Scottish Gaelic, but after making a brief attempt to learn it, I gave up. Raven has slowly been teaching me snippets of Welsh. I've mostly got "point at things and name them in Welsh", and a few useful phrases, so not very much!.

      Present buying is haaaaaaaaaard!

      Kuro was a tiny cat when we got him, and we didn't think he would grow very big... We were SO wrong! He's huge. He'd be very good for cuddling if he wasn't so bad-tempered and anti-social.

      Delete
  2. Nightwind2 January 2014 at 12:26

    Happy New Year to you as well!

    ReplyDelete

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