2009, holy crap!

[imwalde]

Happy new year everyone! Or as they say here, guten Rutsch (it means good slip literally, like slip into the new year) or alles Gute zum Neujahr.

A friend had a party up on her roof (It's -7 out tonight!) with a 360 view of Vienna. And there were fireworks in every direction, 90% of it (legal here) private initiative of drunken celebrating Viennese. It's 215am here now, and they are still being shot off by people up on their roofs/balconies. So let me tell you, all the US laws against fireworks and how you need to be licensed/get a permit/have the barge be 500 yards away out in the water blah blah? BULLSHIT. If drunk Viennese can set a barrage like the blitz off from rooftops all over the densely populated/full of old buildings downtown and nothing bad happens, then there really don't need to be so many laws about it! Granted, I don't know if anyone blew off their hands or something, but no sirens and no fires, that I can say.

Anyhow, it's a tradition here at new years to give people a pig. There are stands that popped up all over Vienna selling little wooden/glass/clay/stuffed/plastic pigs in all shapes and sizes. You give them to people to wish them luck for the coming year.

I asked or tried to ask one of the sellers why pigs are considered lucky. Here is our conversation which transpired in German.

Me: Why a pig?
Her: For luck.
Me: Right, I know. But why a pig?
Her: (pause) For luck.

So I can shed no light on that mystery, I am afraid. Then again, I don't know why four leaf clovers are considered lucky either. Anyway, I'm off to bed, happy new year!

Comments

[a2zmom.livejournal.com]

Why a duck? (if you're not a Marx brothers fan, you won't get that.)

[imwalde.livejournal.com]

Is that from Duck Soup? I've never seen it. Although it's been on my radar since the AFI 100 Greatest Films list.

[a2zmom.livejournal.com]

It;s actually from a very early film of theirs called Cocoanuts. Here is the scene in its entirety:

Here's the whole gag:

[imwalde.livejournal.com]

Heee! It's deep water, that's why a duck.

What did we do before YouTube?

[a2zmom.livejournal.com]

That's a good question. The Marx brothers never fail to crack me up with the absolutely horrible puns and language jokes.

[franzeska]

Of dubious accuracy, perhaps, but: http://www.luckymojo.com/luckypig.html

[imwalde.livejournal.com]

ooooh, interesting, it does seem to fit. And there are lots of little pigs on clover, or clovers painted on pigs. Also? lady bugs. Lady bugs painted on pigs or sold by themselves, and sometimes the trifecta: a lady bug on a clover on a pig. Heh.