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Titanic Band Played on

By Joni Scott | September 16, 2024

As the doomed Titanic neared its final moments, the Titanic Band Played on. As they boarded the glamorous unsinkable liner, never did these young musicians consider this seaboard work assignment would be their last. They were all still young men. Wallace Hartley, the bandmaster was only 33 years old. He was from Yorkshire and engaged to be married. Hartley and the other band members boarded as second-class passengers assigned to E deck. There were two rooms each for five musicians next to the potato washroom. But only eight bandsmen boarded. Edwina Troutt, survivor enjoyed hearing them practice. She was also on E deck.

The band played as the rich ate

Although their quarters were far from glamorous, the band had to dress up in suits and ties and play in the First-Class lounges where the cream of New York and Philadelphia society gathered. The talented band could play anything and well. There repertoire extended to over 300 pieces which they had to know by heart. No music sheets were allowed. Divided into a deck trio and a saloon orchestra, the men played throughout the meals and soirees of the five-day voyage. The quintet played at luncheon in the First-Class Dining Saloon at the foot of the Grand Staircase. There was a grand piano there for this purpose. Double doors opened from the staircase into the lovely saloon room.

Palm Court musicians

Women wore the Paris fashions of the day and men wore the standard black evening suit even at lunch. The quintet would not be visible as the rich passengers entered for lunch. As paid servants rather than celebrity players they were required to play discreetly from behind palm fronds of the potted plants. This gave rise to the expression Palm Court Musicians. Music onboard ships was a tradition dating from the 1850s when White Star and its rival Cunard arranged entertainment aboard their ships. In the afternoons, the quintet band played brisk polkas, waltzes and ragtime in the lounge and in the reception area outside the Dining Saloon after dinner.

For those in peril on the sea.

The trio which included one of the pianists mainly played for First Class in the A la Carte restaurant and the Cafe Parisien. Their music was more continental in flavour due to the French cellist and the Belgian violinist. Both the trio and quintet were very popular with the passengers. They requested pieces and songs for them to play. The quintet also played for the Sunday church service onboard. Survivors remember the hymns, Oh God Our Help in Ages Past and Eternal Father, Strong to Save. The last line of this one is ‘For those in peril on the sea.’

A last-minute assignment to Titanic

Wallace Hartley, the bandmaster had not wanted to come onboard the Titanic. He had just left the Mauretania and wanted to go home to see his family and fiancée, Maria Robinson. But fate would have it that the Titanic bandmaster had just become a father and was not sailing on the Titanic maiden voyage. he went home to meet his new child instead. Wallace Hartley was asked to fill his position for the trip. It was an honour to be asked to be bandmaster on the biggest ship in the world, especially for its first voyage. So why did Wallace hesitate?

Hartley hesitated

A few reasons. He was happy working on the Mauretania where he knew and liked the other ‘boys.’ Secondly, getting to the Titanic on time would be a rush and he would have no leave with his family. Also, the train fare to Southhampton was expensive and not subsidised by the company. Over the next day, Hartley decided to accept the position. Perhaps he was offered some money to entice him? His musician friend Ellwand Moody felt nervous about travelling on such a big ship and said, ‘No, thanks.’ The men said goodbye in Liverpool.

Wallace Hartley made his way to Southhampton alone and sailed on the ill-fated Titanic the next day. He had never met any of his fellow bandsmen before. Wallace was a violinist and there were two others both in their early twenties. One of them had never played on a ship before but had spent six years studying at the Conservatoire in Liege. There were two pianists. One had just transferred from the Carpathia which would later come to Titanic’s rescue but too late. There were two cellists and a bass player also making his first Atlantic crossing.

Rivalry for the Atlantic passenger market.

Some passengers and the public had been nervous about a ship so big. But the media of the time and the White Star Line who built her, promoted her as unsinkable. However, anyone with a scientific or engineering background could see there was a limit to the size of ships. Bigger and bigger was not always the answer to supremacy of the seas. The Cunard and White Star Lines were competing for the Atlantic passenger market. There were no airlines in those days. The only way to get from Europe to America was by ship. The Titanic had everything a ship could have. Except a pair of binoculars and enough lifeboats. But nobody was focusing on these. Instead, they marvelled at the Grand Staircase, the restaurants, the gymnasium, the Turkish Baths and the swimming pool. And the food.

The last evening onboard

Dinner the last evening was as sumptuous as ever. First Class enjoyed oysters, filet mignon, Waldorf Pudding and ice cream which was a treat back then. There were no doubt other courses of soup and fish, but survivors remembered these first items. The binoculars were onboard for the lookout, but they were locked in a cupboard because the officer with the key had been transferred at the last minute to another ship. Fortunate man. Without these Frederick Fleet had to peer into the inky blackness of the night. When he suddenly saw a huge grey shape looming ahead, his response was delayed enough to result in the entire starboard of the ship scraped the iceberg. The ship was going too fast in an ice field. Warnings by telegram from other ships had been ignored. Much of an iceberg is submerged and this is what did the damage to the Titanic. A 300-foot gash opened on the side of the mighty liner. The sea gushed in and quickly flooded the first five compartments.

Titanic is doomed

Watertight compartments did not go all the way to the top so as each compartment filled it flowed over into the next. The ship was doomed and listing towards the bow and starboard side. Already boilermen and mail workers had drowned. It was 11.40pm, 14 April 1912. The realisation was slow to sink in both for the crew and passengers. Denial is the first stage of shock. At 12.05am Captain Smith reluctantly ordered the lifeboats to be uncovered. He knew the boats were only enough for half of the people on board. The passengers did not know. Only after the ship’s motors stopped and the boat developed a lean did they start to worry.

The band played on

The band kept playing despite the lack of passengers on deck. Many were already in bed or below deck. It was a very cold moonless night. The musicians always wore their blue tuxedo suits with green lapels and White Star badges. At 12.45 am as lifeboats were hauled over the side, the quintet and trio played together, all though one pianist sat out as there was only one piano in the lounge area. Later they moved outside as that is where passengers were gathering and later panicking. The pianists could not play as the piano was inside. As the night was very cold, the remaining musicians donned their overcoats to play.

As the ship listed the cellists and bass player could not sit to use their instruments. It was the three violinists who continued. Distress signals had reached a few ships. Carpathia was on the way but would take four hours at top speed. Lifeboats left half empty. Women of the Titanic were either fearful of the long drop to the sea or did not want to leave their husbands and sons. Only at 12.30 did anyone consider third class passengers. There were no assigned lifeboats for them. neither could they easily access the first- and second-class boat decks where the boats were being loaded.

By 12.45 am it was obvious to all onboard that the ship was sinking. The water had reached C deck. Yet the band played on.

The band were heroes of the sinking

At 2.05am, the last lifeboat left. Some people had jumped into the sea in a desperate attempt to swim and reach the lifeboats as many had few onboard. The only third-class woman to survive the jump reported still hearing music. Other survivors report hearing music at 2.10 am. By then the deck was steep as the stern rose and bow sank as well as a severe lean to starboard or right side. The selflessness of the band did not go unnoticed. They emerged as heroes of the sinking. None of the band survived to tell their story or set the record right as to their last tune played.

Nearer my God to Thee

Legend has it that it was Nearer my God to Thee, a favourite hymn of Walaace Hartley. Others maintain it was the soothing tune, Autumn. Despite their dedication to duty, some say until the water reached their knees, the band made an attempt to save themselves in the dying moments of the ship. Wallace Hartley strapped his beloved violin to his chest and either jumped or went down with the ship. The cries of the 1500 people without a lifeboat to save them lasted an hour. Only thirteen of them made it into a lifeboat. The rest died not from drowning, but from the cold of the water. Nearly all the bodies had life buoys attached that kept the bodies afloat for the rescue and recovery boats.

The retrieval shipmen recovered Wallace Hartley’s body and returned it via three forms of transport to his grieving family. Wallace had a hero’s funeral in his hometown and remained a hero of the undying Titanic legend. A memorial fund erected a statue to the bandmaster in his native Colne in Yorkshire. Maria, Wallace’s fiancée, never married. She tended his grave and cherished his violin for the rest of her life.

If you like this post, find more detail in the book, A Hymn for Eternity by Yvonne Carroll.

Joni Scott is an Australian author with five published novels. Three are historical fiction. The first, Whispers through Time is set at the time of the Titanic sinking. Joni also writes a history blog with posts like this. She has written three others on the Titanic sinking.

See more at joniscottauthor.com.

All about Jigsaws

By Joni Scott | August 18, 2024

I’m a self-confessed jigsaw addict.

Every time I dissemble a completed jig saw puzzle, I tell myself, ‘Well, that was a waste of time’. I could have cleaned the whole house, written five chapters of my novel or completed an aerobic exercise regime. That would be something to show for the time I frittered away playing with tiny pieces of cardboard.

But a few weeks later, there I am again, opening another box, sorting the pieces into straight edges then colours, assembling an image to match the one on the box lid. The problem is, I have over fifty puzzles stacked in a cupboard, friends and family keep giving me more for gifts and also used puzzles are remarkably cheap at op shops. Lately I decided to stack some of my puzzles in decorative piles in the sunroom. I chose the Parisian ones for this and added a picture of Paris above them on the wall. Paris is always a good idea! So Audrey Hepburn said.

Apparently, I am not alone in my hobby if you can call it that. During Covid lockdowns many people discovered the joys of puzzles and maybe books too, as they struggled to fill their days inside. My interest in puzzling goes way back but welcome all you new puzzlers. Your puzzle collection will never be lacking. There is a great variety to choose from.

All shapes and sizes

Jigsaws come in all shapes, sizes and piece numbers. The most popular is the 1000-piece format but some die hard addicts go for larger piece numbers. Children’s puzzles vary between 100 and 500 and feature bigger pieces. Mind you, when we are older it can be harder to see the detail of the small 1000 puzzle pieces, so this is a bit puzzling in itself. I think child puzzle piece size is more about stopping kids eating the pieces rather than for their eyesight or dexterity. Once while engaged in a puzzle, a visiting Jack Russel jumped up and ate a bunch of the pieces of my puzzle in progress. He thought they were dog chow. His disappointment was obvious as he spat out a mess of chewed up cardboard. My completed puzzle was not complete but featured random holes thanks to little Toby. So be wary of small canines.

The most popular puzzle shape is the rectangle, but I have square, round, amorphous and even edgeless puzzles. I once had a 3D one of an English village. There are also puzzles with no pictures to guide you. Agatha Christie ones like this teasing aspect.

If you’re looking for a jigsaw puzzle with a difference, a Quordle jigsaw may be for you. The pieces are “different” with curves, and many are shaped in the form of animals and plants. I was fortunate to receive one as a gift so did not have to buy. They are quite expensive due to their hand-crafted wooden pieces.

History of jigsaws

Jigsaw puzzles originated in 18th-century England as educational devices to teach geography to children. The invention is attributed to John Spilsbury, a London mapmaker. It was 1760 and John had the bright idea of pasting a paper map onto wood board and then using a fretsaw or jigsaw he cut the map into portions. The wooden pieces were given to students to be reassembled. A great interactive hands on geography lesson. How clever. I doubt today’s kids would be much good at this. Maps of the world are rarely in classrooms now.

Once this concept seemed a success, manufacturers used dissected pictures covering such subjects as history, the alphabet, botany, and zoology. The use of scenic pictures began in the 1860s and ’70s, in Great Britain and the USA. Jigsaws became popular in the early 1900s and had a revival in the Great Depression of the 1930s as an inexpensive amusement. By then the whole process of manufacture was automated not by hand. We witnessed another revival during the Covid pandemic when outdoor amusement and social interaction was limited.

During WWII wood was in short supply so cardboard took its place. Puzzles of this era usually featured scenes of battles or warships and airplanes. I guess even the guys got involved then. With the advent of movies and cartoons, these became the subject of jigsaws too. Children particularly liked the cartoon scenes. Daffy Duck, Bugs Bunny, Tweety being firm favourites. Jigsaws also featured nursery rhymes, alphabets, poems and even times tables. Being a chemist, I had to have one of the Periodic Table of elements. It even has an accompanying quiz, so you get to learn some chemistry while you have fun.

Jigsaws and Covid

We witnessed another jigsaw revival during the Covid pandemic when outdoor amusement and social interaction was limited. I did a few myself during this time. It would have been good to have a few during my lockdown in Italy and France in early 2020. My husband and I became stranded in Europe in March 2020. We travelled for medical reasons to a clinic in Genova Italy. I had severe CRPS at the time and went for a cure. But Covid erupted while I was in hospital, and we became stuck, landlocked by closed borders. A puzzle or two then would have been excellent to while away the months in lockdown in a foreign country. But the shops closed and deliveries not happening. You know how it was.

Instead, I wrote a book, The Last Hotel, about strangers meeting at Nice airport as they tried to scramble home. It was not easy to get a flight, nigh impossible for many, so these strangers, us included, had to wait it out at hotels. But they kept closing too. Hence my book, The Last Hotel, written in lockdown for the lack of jigsaws. What else could a girl do? My characters however do have jigsaws. They are the strangers who took refuge in the only hotel left open, a pensione. They become a united family of strangers who have to get along until the lockdown order is lifted. A jigsaw or two, yes please. There is a jigsaw scene in this book. Even the young characters in the novel join in to sort the colours, the edges and find the missing pieces. It’s a bonding activity.

Jigsaws involve teamwork, mental gym and they are fun in a very tame way. Amusement for all ages.

Puzzles everywhere

I used the concept of a jigsaw in my first historical novel. A woman from the present puzzles together the bare facts of her Edwardian ancestry. It is a dual timeline novel called Whispers through Time. Once you start looking, life offers many types of puzzles. Crosswords, Suzuko and Rubik’s Cube are all puzzles. Learning anything can be like doing a puzzle. Languages, mathematics to name a few. You don’t have to be in a nursing home to sit and do puzzles. In fact if you do lots then you won’t end up with dementia in a nursing home.

Vive le jigsaw!

Puzzles live on despite the digital age. You can do all sorts online. There are word puzzles like Wordle, and you can even do a jigsaw online. I’ve never tried as I feel enough of my life is online. I want to escape the computer not embrace it. But I guess if you are stranded without the real thing like I was you could puzzle away via the net. I never thought of this at the time. Internet was a bit dicey anyway.

So, the history of puzzles is not over yet. From the first puzzles invented in ancient Roman and Egyptian times, we have been puzzling away for a long, long time now and still going. Puzzles are good therapy for the mind. They keep you thinking, reasoning and the spatial aspect of puzzles is particularly good. Plus, there is the hand eye co-ordination, a bonus.

Photo by Mikayla Townsend on Unsplash

Joni Scott is an Australian writer. She has four published novels. Two are historical and two contemporary. They are all set in exotic locations so you get to armchair travel as you read and learn stuff. see them on joniscottauthor.com.

All about Colour

By Joni Scott | August 10, 2024

Colour is Everywhere

We are so used to colour in our everyday life that we take it for granted and don’t realise its effects on our choices and our psyche. When we dress, decorate our house, prepare and choose our food, we unconsciously engage with colour choices.

Unlike animals we see in glorious technicolour due to the rods and cones, the light receptors in our eyes. Cones are the ones that detect and interpret colour so we are lucky to have these little guys.

What is Colour?

So now you know how we see colour, but let’s understand exactly what colour is. Here, it gets a bit scientific, but hang in there, the fun bits will come.

We are surrounded by all sorts of invisible waveforms called the electromagnetic spectrum. There are x-rays, infra-red, ultraviolet or UV, lots of different waves that are like, the now ubiquitous wi-fi, which is everywhere. These waves have different wavelengths. The shorter the wavelength, the more intense the wave is and the more damaging to human tissue, eg x rays.

Visible light is one such band of waves that varies from violet at 400, to red at 700 nanometres in wavelength. A nanometre is only very small, 1,000,000,000 smaller than a meter. Way back, Sir Isaac Newton studied light and discovered its ability to break into seven colours as it passes through a refractive glass prism.

After it rains, there are water droplets in the air that act as tiny prisms, splitting the light and creating the beautiful phenomenon of the rainbow. Science after all, is just a confirmation to understand the wonderful natural world.

Science also tells us that we see different coloured objects, due to the wavelength of the light reflected from that object, because all other wavelengths or colours have been absorbed. So, a red apple is red because only the red wavelength is reflected our way into our eyes and processed by our cone receptors. White objects reflect all light wavelengths and black objects absorb them all. This also explains why white is cooler to wear and black warmer.

Colour as Therapy

So why do different things reflect different coloured light? Well, that’s a good question and at the same time a mystery. Answers vary from God made it so, to complicated explanations on the matter of various substances. Just be happy with the fact that the trees are green because their leaves reflect only green light which is proven to be a restful colour for us humans.

Blue and green, the colours of nature, are good for us. We feel this when we enter a natural area or sit under trees. Their light, and also emitted oxygen as they photosynthesize, are good for us.

This brings us to the subject of colour therapy or chromotherapy, using colour to heal or motivate. ‘Chromo’ refers to colour, so chromotherapy is therapy using colour to heal physical, mental, and spiritual issues. Dating back to ancient times, colour therapy is one of the most holistic and simplest therapies involving immersion of the human body with light of assorted colours.

All light forms have varying wavelengths and frequencies so light is a vibrational energy. Different colours affect our body cells in different ways. Chromotherapy uses this concept to adjust our creativity, energy, and mood, clearing stress and inducing restfulness and balance.

Your personal palette

Finding your own therapeutic and beautifying colour palette is fun. I had mine done years ago and used this experience to explain it in my latest book, Colour comes to Tangles. I include an excerpt here as it is self-explanatory and saves me reinventing the colour wheel, so to speak.

Vidisha the colour therapist character treats her client, Tanya to the ‘colour me beautiful’ ‘discovery process.

Excerpt from Colour Comes to Tangles by Joni Scott

“Vidisha draped a brilliant piece of pink cloth around my shoulders. ‘Now, there, that is better. Notice how your skin glows and your eyes shine?’

She removed and then replaced the large silk scarf. Yes, there was a difference, and it was not just the covering of my embarrassingly stained shirt. I definitely looked better in pink. My eyes seemed greener and my skin glowed.

Then the pink disappeared, and Vidisha draped me with a shimmering turquoise. ‘Oh, that is beautiful!’ I exclaimed. ‘And now you look beautiful, Tanya. This colour is lovely on you.’

I blushed. Beautiful? How could I be beautiful when my reflection seemed so plain compared to Vidisha’s exotic appearance? There seemed no comparison.

‘Tanya, you are, I believe, a spring personality. Adventurous, brave, and fun-loving.’

‘I am?’

‘Yes. But to confirm this, we will drape you in a few wrong colours. Red and navy blue, even black.’

She drew away my beautiful cape of turquoise and draped me with red, then navy and lastly black. None of these colours liked me. I looked drab and dull, as if the sun had gone behind a cloud.

‘Oh,’ is all I could say.

‘Yes, oh. Now some magic again!’ A soft, lemon yellow appeared around my shoulders and again softened my face and I glowed again.

‘There we go. Now your homework, Tanya, is to go home to your cupboard and take out the right colours for you according to this chart. I want you to only wear these until our next session and let us see how you feel. If you don’t have any of these colours, then you may need to buy a few shirts or drape yourself in a scarf. Your skirt or pants can be a different colour but nothing too different. No red, navy or black. Denim is acceptable though.”

Suggested reading (as well as my book!) is The Little Book of Colour by Karen Haller. Karen is a world renowned colour expert and her book is not only fascinating reading but beautifully colourful as well.

They may be able to point you to happiness so you can skip along the yellow brick road like Dorothy. Don’t forget to take Toto, though, animals are great therapy too. A topic for another day. Joni Scott is an Australian writer with four published novels. Her website is joniscottauthor.com.

Sisters as Rivals

By Joni Scott | June 26, 2024

Recently, I have posted about the Romanov sisters. This proved to be a very popular post so I thought to expand on the subject of sisters. The Romanov sisters were also royalty and suffered a terrible fate because of their status. Read about these beautiful young grand duchesses in my recent posts on the Russian royal family and these tragic sisters. They seemed to get along well but Anastasia the youngest may have been a bit of a brat. She was the naughtiest of the mostly very well behaved and family orientated sisters.

Rivalry between writing sisters

The arts abounds with famous sisters. The Bronte sisters, Anne, Charlotte and Emily shared a love of writing. maybe they shared a sense of rivalry as to who could write the best story? I know it was Agatha Christie’s big sister madge who challenged Agatha to write a crime novel. She did well, didn’t she. Writing over 80 novels and stories as well as plays, Agatha Christie became the most read and published novelist of all time.

I love the fictional sisters of Little Women and how they mostly got along just fine for four sisters with different temperaments. There are hints at jealousy and competitiveness but nothing too savage happens. maybe because it is fiction. But not all sisters have happy relationships. No one can be more annoying than a little sister trying to take the limelight or steal your boyfriend. Jealousy is a big issue that often ignites a lifetime of rivalry.

Movie Star rival sisters

In the case of movie star sisters, Joan Fontaine and Olivia de Havilland, the enmity was fierce. They competed at star level and never softened their fierce jealousy of each other.

The Olsen twins, Mary Kate and Ashley made their acting debut while babies. They share an even more special sister bond, that of twins. Venus and Serena Williams are sisters at a unique competitive level, that of gold medals. They mostly leave their rivalry on the courts. Then there’s the Kardashian sisters competing for the best curves.

Have you heard of Zsa Zsa and Eva Gabor? They were two sisters out of a trio of Hungarian born sisters. Magda is lesser known though she married actor, George Sanders, her little sister’s cast-off husband. Zsa Zsa, the middle sister competed with Eva for men, money and beauty. Though the sisters married multiple times, Zsa Zsa was the only one to have a child. The Gabor sister act was an act to follow in the 1940’s and 50’s. They were always in the news, a bit like the Kardashians of today.

In the 1930s, The Andrews Sisters, Patty, Maxene and Laverne were another sister trio, a singing group famous for ‘Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy’ and other swing hits during WWII. They rated as the best-selling of all female vocal groups. Despite singing beautifully together and selling 75 million records, they started a fight in 1937 though they stayed as an act until 1967 when Laverne died.

Birth order and rivalry of sisters

Birth order does seem to have an effect on how sisters get along. The order of birth also is said to determine the personality of a child. First born children are usually more sensible, calm and conservative compared to their younger sisters. This is because their parents often spend more time on the discipline side of parenting. Later children meet laxer parenting as the parents run out of puff with a larger brood to control. Little sisters often get to do things their older sisters could not at the same age. this explains the claim that little sisters are spoilt.

As a a younger sister, I can see this. My sister claims I was spoilt and she had a tougher time. However, I have always looked up to my big sister and listened to her advice. I even wrote her into my first book as a character! Whispers Through Time also tells the story of two sisters, my grandmother and great aunt who emigrated to Australia in 1912. They had a special bond through life though their lives took different directions. One married an itinerant worker and the other a rich doctor, but they stayed connected through their shared ordeals during World War One and Two.

Novels about sisters.

In the third book in this series, Last Time Forever, a sense of rivalry that must always have been there, rises to the fore. The sisters have a falling out later in life. Watch out for this last book in the sister trilogy. It’s at the publishers now. But meanwhile if you like stories of sisters and historical fiction, read the others, Whispers through Time and Time, heal my Heart.

Joni Scott is an Australian author with four published novels: Whispers through Time, The Last Hotel, Colour Comes to Tangles and her latest historical WWI drama, Time Heal my Heart. Joni has her own website; https://joniscottauthor.com.

Fashionable Discomfit

By Joni Scott | June 8, 2024

For many centuries women lived in a state of fashionable discomfit. Restricted physically as well as socially, women wore strangling whalebone corsets (see bunnycorset.com.)

The feminine corset became popular for women in the French court of the 1500s but originated in Italy. Catherine de Medici is credited as the designer. The idea was to fine tune a woman’s attractiveness by making her waist as small as possible and flatten her stomach.

These undergarments choked their waists into tiny unnatural measurements to achieve the desired hourglass figure and fashionable discomfit.

For centuries, a woman walked in beauty but also in pain, just like the Japanese women who for centuries had bound feet so they would look dainty. Never mind that walking was torture. Hence the shuffled gait of traditional Japanese women. Victorian corsets were the Western equivalent of this Eastern fashionable discomfit.

The corset evolves

From the 16th century to the 19th, the corset became firmer in its vice like grip on the female form. Whale bones hardened the original firm fabric sleeve encasing the midriff. Corsets forced ribs down and compressed stomachs. Another word for a corset became ‘stays’ as the middle of a woman’s body was not allowed to move.

Gradually by Edwardian times, the corset became more of a support for the bust and was a shorter version of its predecessors. By then steel as well as whalebone provided the support of the corset fabric.

Layers of Fashionable Discomfit

In the Edwardian years of the early 1900s, a British woman needed time to dress. She had to plan the event and needed a maid to help. First there were layers of undergarments, a petticoat, chemise, and drawers or pantaloons.

Then the dreaded corset that would cinch her middle in its whalebone vice-like grip. Countless whales gave their lives so women worldwide could achieve a 55 cm or 21-inch waist measurement. The corset did not just clamp a woman’s middle section as it was laced but propelled the bust forward to balance the bunched bustle of the dress over the buttocks.

This bustle padded out the derriere to a shapely but large bump, something akin to the present Kardashian penchant for a large bottom.

The health effect of corsets

Long-term wearing of a corset deformed the ribs and misaligned the spine. All in order to have a more ‘civilized form’. The constriction also led women to have breathing issues, causing a woman to feel faint or swoon. Certainly, she could not overexert herself while wearing one as the ribs could not move to inflate her lungs for a deep breath. Such enforced shallow breathing can affect all organs and their supply of oxygen. An imprint of the corset could be found on the liver and kidneys on autopsy of females of that time period.

One woman jokingly wrote, “It is important to note, that pregnancy has a similar effect on displacing a woman’s internal organs.” Women loosened their corset during later pregnancy but this apart from sleeping was the only time in a fashionable woman’s lifetime. Even when corsetry went out of fashion during the Roaring Twenties or Jazz Age, most older women retained them as an essential undergarment.

But that was not the end of the fashionable discomfit. There’s more to come.

Garters and Hatpins Complete Fashionable Discomfit

Elastic garters burnt into a woman’s thigh to keep stockings in place. Tight high-heeled boots, often laced, encased her feet making walking painful. Just to add to the long process of dressing. Then ladies added a large wide-brimmed hat with lots of fluffy feathers, flowers or artificial fruit and a deadly hat pin to keep the decorations or accompanying veil and scarf in place.

Now, hat pins were dangerous, a hazard to passing pedestrians. Often people in crowds scored a hatpin when least expecting an aerial attack. A device called an acorn became fashionable to have on the end of the point of the pin to protect other people.

For fashionable ladies, readymade clothes were not available to buy in the shops. Most women ordered their outfits from dressmakers who required 18 personal body measurements, plus height and weight to fashion an outfit.

Handbags and Hankies

And what about handbags you might ask? Where did a woman keep her small change and hanky? Apparently, men kept coins in their watches which popped open at the back and women wore a muff chain that fastened around their neck. This chain extended through a furry sleeve or glove, called a muff into which the wearer could insert both hands. Inside was a small pocket where such items as coins and hankies could lodge. Mystery solved.

But I just have to share this fascinating snippet about the origins of the hanky or handkerchief. Bobby Pin Blog at Vintage Hairstyling.com cites Marie Antoinette as the inventor of the lady’s hanky. Marie, an Austrian princess was so upset on the long trip from her homeland to France to marry Louis XVI, that she tore a strip of lacy petticoat to dab her tears. And oh, poor Marie how, years later, did she stem her tears as she climbed the scaffold of the guillotine in 1793, as a victim of the French Revolution?

However, the vintage style blogger though, as rapt as me in this story, does admit that upon further research the hanky dates to Roman times when it was a multi-functional piece of rag to dab not just tears but sweat and well, whatever. Say no more. But apparently Marie’s royal husband decreed that hankies should be square, as wide as they are long, probably the most useful shape. Can’t imagine round or triangular ones.

Liberation from fashionable discomfit

The change in women’s corsetry reflects the changing status of women in society, so fashion is a part of our history. During WWI metal was in short supply. The steel casing of corsets was part of the drive for metal meltdown to make much needed weapons. The corset of the post WWI era evolved again to cater for the straight form fashion of the Jazz Age flappers. Suddenly a small waist was not desirable, nor a shapely bosom. However, corsets were stiff still to flatten a woman’s natural curves. Then due to women’s involvement in the workforce and fighting of WWII, such garments became less and less a staple of women’s undergarment fashion. Eventually, the corset evolved into the brassiere and a woman’s waist was finally freed.

But according to bunnycorset.com corsets are still fashionable for occasional wear. Brides like to wear one under their wedding gown or later as a tantalizing bedroom outfit. They certainly are sexy and accentuate a woman’s shape. Without the tight lacing at the back, they can even be comfortable.

Do you like Victorian or Edwardian history? Stories about real women? Then try my historical novel series about two sisters based on a true story. Whispers Through Time, Time Heal my Heart and Last Time Forever tell the story of the lives and loves of Francesca and Winnie in the era of The Titanic sinking, World War One and Two and beyond to 1950. Set in Sydney, Australia and Europe.

Before a woman could have a voice, she had to free her body. Every woman deserves a voice, and each voice is unique. Find your voice and use it for good. Many women through century have defied a man’s world to add their voice for changes to patriarchal society. I feature some on this blog. See website link below.

Joni Scott is an Australian author with four published novels; Whispers through Time, Time Heal my Heart, Colour comes to Tangles and The Last Hotel. See website https://joniscottauthor.com.

The Great Gatsby and all that jazz

By Joni Scott | May 26, 2024

The Great Gatsby novel showcases the rich but disenchanted youth of the 1920s Jazz Age. In fact, it was its author, F.Scott Fitgerald who coined the term The Jazz Age when he wrote his short story Tales of the Jazz Age. So, what was this Jazz Age and when did it occur? Let’s explore The Great Gatsby and all that jazz. Though not popular on release, the novel is now a staple bestseller worldwide and heralded as a wonder of American literature for its depiction of the American Dream.

What was The Jazz Age?

The Jazz Age was a time of musical innovation, namely the blues, brass music, ballads and ragtime also called the Harlem Renaissance. The music began in New Orleans in the late 19th century as an expression by oppressed African Americans It became more widespread through speak easy joints and radio. The music attracted the attention of the white population and became the means for returned soldiers and the young to celebrate their freedom at the end of WWI. In time it became the worldwide soundtrack for the 1920s.

Who embraced the Jazz era?

It was mostly the young who embraced the jazz movement. Adolescents at the time became known as the Jazz Generation and the returning soldiers became known as The Lost Generation. Both groups enjoyed this rebellion against the previous more serious generation of their parents. Not only did they dance till dawn to the great music but they drank and exhibited risky behaviour. Dancing on tables, sliding down bannisters, riding on taxi roofs, they partied all night. Even their manner of dressing was considered scandalous. Especially for the women. Abandoning corsets and bodily constraints, young women wore sack like dresses with higher hemlines. They also cut their hair into chic bob style and wore jewelled headbands around their foreheads.

What was it like?

Despite prohibition in America, liquor was surprisingly easy to obtain. Smoking was also the go especially for women who had never smoked before. Another risky behavior in the eyes of the older generation. But possibly the riskiest was the free sex embraced. With the stirrings of votes for women worldwide, women suddenly wanted it all. They had worked as equals during the war doing men’s work so why should they now return to the kitchen and domestic sphere? They wanted to be Thoroughly Modern Millies or flappers. This last term refers to the dance style where dance partners appear to flap. The Charleston and The Black Bottom were very energetic dances.

The Jazz Age was fast-paced

Along with the fast dances and energetic jazz beats was a tide of rising consumerism. Radios, planes and cars were very exciting additions to everyday city life. The economy seemed to be booming and many invested in stocks and bonds. It was a time of optimism and hopefulness. Not only were the musicians transmitting these vibes, but writers and artists joined the energetic craze sweeping the world.

F. Scott Fitzgerald

F. Scott Fitgerald, the writer of The Great Gatsby was born in 1896 in Minnesota, USA. His family were not rich and so his early love, Ginerva King rejected his courtship overtures. Devastated, he enlisted in the army since WWI was in progress. While at Camp Sheridan, awaiting deployment he met southern belle, Zelda Sayre, the 17-year-old daughter of a wealthy man. They fell in love but again Fitzgerald was rejected for lack of money and status. Determined he took to writing as he enjoyed it and had a talent. His short stories made money, so then he turned his hand to novels.

This Side of Paradise

Fitzgerald’s debut novel, This Side of Paradise, published 1920, was an instant success. Suddenly money poured in, and he was over the moon because Zelda accepted his marriage proposal. They married in 1920 and lived in luxury at The Biltmore Hotel, partying like there was no tomorrow. In 1921 their first and only child Frances was born. She would always be called Scottie.

The Beautiful and The Damned

This was the title for his second novel published in 1922 about an artist and his flapper wife. Fitzgerald’s writing was again quite biographical they moved to Great Neck, Long Island. Across the bay was the classy Manhasset Neck. The situation would be used to model East and West Egg in his third novel, The Great Gatsby. The Beautiful and the Damned was not as well received as his first novel and money became scarce.

The Great Gatsby

Needing a break and inspiration, they moved to Paris in 1924. Many Americans gathered there to write and paint. He met Hemingway and the arty set and worked on his third novel which would become The Great Gatsby. Originally entitled Trimalchio then West Egg, it took off to a rocky start. Eventually his publisher, Schribners. insisted on the title The Great Gatsby after the main character, Jay Gatsby. Another intervention also paid off. Cugat, a Barcelonian artist responded to a commission to paint the book cover. His mesmerising image of giant tearful eyes overlooking a Coney Island Fair pleased Fitzgerald so much that he reworked the plot to include a roadside poster with similar large eyes near the turnoff past the Wilson garage. This is just one case of the brilliant use of symbolism in the novel.

Not a success

The Great Gatsby was not a success on release in 1925. Critics cited the improbable plot. They missed the symbolism entirely and were unappreciative of the beautiful prose and characterization. The book only ever made the author $2000 in his lifetime and sold only 20,000 copies. Some reviewers despaired of the lack of decent characters, especially a female one that readers could relate to. The shallow, vain and cruel Daisy Buchanan was not popular. She was neither the everywoman or a heroine to the mainly female reading audience.

But later became one

However since, Jay Gatsby’s attempt to raise himself up to nouveu riche standards is seen as the embodiment of The American Dream. Ie Anyone can make it in America. With the vision of distance, time has enriched the message taken from the novel and the public enjoyment of its story and prose. Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda both died young, unhappy and apart. Zelda had mental problems and ended her days at 47 years in a fire in a sanitorium. Fitzgerald died in 1940 three years earlier at just 44 years in 1940 from alcohol abuse and its related health issues. He published one book more in 1934, Tender is the Night. Interestingly, it was written in Beaulieu-sur-Mer, the location of one of my own novels, The Last Hotel. Another, The Last Tycoon, published after his death due to Edmund Wilson completing the manuscript.

Although Fitzgerald also wrote many short stories and Hollywood film scripts to keep himself and Zelda afloat financially, he was never a success in the literary world until after his death. During WW2, soldiers were given free copies of The Great Gatsby to read, and this kick-started an appreciation of this book and his writing. By 1960, The Great Gatsby was selling 100,000 copies per year. Now it has sold 30 million copies and is available in 42 languages. I guess the people of Fitzgerald’s own time were not ready for his work. The Jazz age with its sad optimism was too close and his message and prose fell on deaf ears. At the time the flawed characters of Gatsby and Daisy were not popular. Perhaps they were too real and like themselves. People wanted romantic escapism not reality. That is understandable! In the 1930s in the grip of The Great Depression, people wanted to escape or be cheered up.

Joni Scott is an Australian writer with four published novels. See her books and more on

The young Anzacs

By Joni Scott | May 5, 2024

Who were the young Anzacs who gave their lives for king and country? The answer is they were the ‘everyman’ and sadly the ‘every boy.’ Together the enlisted men and boys would make up The Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, ANZACS for short. Some were as young as fourteen, most were in their late teens or early twenties. There was no checking of birth certificates as men enlisted. The armies of Australia and its neighbor, New Zealand were eager to send as many troops as possible to help Britain defend itself and half of Europe.

These young Anzacs from the distant colonies of Mother England answered the call to duty. Fuelled by the spirit of adventure and patriotism, they enlisted early in the 1914 war, The Great War as it was first called. Most had never been overseas and so the prospect of a paid ‘holiday’ abroad with macho mates was exciting. Plus being part of a war would be something to talk about for the rest of their lives. And didn’t the young girls love a fellow in uniform!

But all too soon they found themselves on the tragic beaches of Gallipoli. After just a few months of training in Egypt, they were sent to the slaughter. Gallipoli is a peninsular not a town and is near the ancient ruins of Troy.

Not how they imagined war

The Anzacs first deployment to active service was not how they imagined. It was not the grand glorious adventure that they enlisted for. Instead, it was a hopeless situation and many young lads expecting to be home for Christmas would never return to Australia. It was 25 April 1915. Numbering 16,000, the Australian and New Zealanders tried to disembark from the ships under a hail of munition fire from the enemy.

The Anzac troops were literally sitting ducks. Before they even made it to shore after disembarking the boats, they were mown down by the gunfire from the Turks above. Those who managed to reach the beach had no shelter still. There was little overhang from the steep cliffs, so safety was a fair distance from shore. It was 25 April 1915. Numbering 16,000, the Australian and New Zealanders tried to disembark from the ships under a hail of munition fire from the enemy.

Did the young Anzacs regret coming to war?

How many of these young Anzacs then wished they were home with their parents or still working as a jackeroo on the outback sheep station? Despite their hardiness acquired from work in the harsh environment of Australia and New Zealand, nothing could prepare them for this situation. The Turks who were meant to be unaware of the beach landings and also poorly armed with weapons were quite simply not. On the rugged steep cliffs, they were well positioned above the newcomers, and despite the rumours, had machine guns.

A plan that went terribly wrong

The plan went terribly wrong. It was both poorly thought through and poorly executed. The troop numbers were less than planned and they landed at the wrong cove where the terrain was impossibly steep. Plus, the Turks were well armed and in position waiting. There was no element of surprise as originally intended. No minor scuffle and victory.Instead it became one of the most costly campaigns of the war, in terms of men killed and reputations in tatters.

Winston Churchill had been the instigator of the plan. He foresaw establishing a sea route from the Mediterranean to Russia. This mighty empire was the third and strongest part of the allied Entente along with France and Britain. This intended sea route could only be secured if the Allies could secure the Gallipoli peninsula which was a part of the Ottoman Empire. Once achieved by a brief scuffle with the Turks, The Dardanelles strait would be under Allied control and a way onwards to Russia established.

The dead are remembered

But it didn’t go that way at all. After nine months of ghastly hostilities, the Allies finally had to concede defeat and admit their loss. They withdrew in December 1915 leaving behind 70000 dead. The Turks did not fare much better with 60000 dead. Today these men lay in the cemetery at Lone Pine where a ceremony is still held each year to remember their sacrifice. Since the tragedy April 25 has been called Anzac Day and is a date of remembrance both at home in Australia and New Zealand and in Gallipoli in modern day Turkey.

The day is remembered with a dawn service in many parts of the world but certainly in Australia and Turkey. It is held at dawn because this was when the troops first tried to land on the beaches. The holiday is not a celebration of war at all. Rather it is a day to hope that never again will so many fine young men die for so little. Nothing was achieved by the costly campaign. Turkey did not get ousted from the war, neither did the British clear a ship route to Russia.

Origin of the word ANZAC

The acronym is attributed to Major General William Birdwood and dates to Cairo in 1915 before the troops sailed to Gallipoli. The last true Anzac soldier was Alexander Campbell who died in 2002 aged 103. At just 16, he joined the army straight from school. Arriving October 1915 at Gallipoli he became a stores carrier. Young and agile, he ran up and down the rugged cliffs. Invalided home after the troop evacuation, he was discharged in 1916. The Australian War Memorial website has much information on men who served. The war memorial in our capital Canberra is also an amazing and moving place to visit.

The young Anzacs were volunteers

The men and boy Anzacs were volunteers. Conscription did not exist for WWI because so many were happy to go willingly to war. There was no need. Although Billy Hughes, the prime minister, made two attempts to introduce it via referendum. Both times in 1916 and 1917 the public voted a decided ‘No’. These men and boys gave their tomorrow for our today. Snuffed out in their youth so we could be free. How few are those who appreciate this sacrifice.

The government barred Aboriginal Australians from enlisting. However, about a thousand of them did. If light skinned their presence in the ranks was undetected. It took many years before their service became recognised.

The Anzac Biscuit

On a lighter note, is the interesting origin of the Anzac biscuit. A staple in supermarkets and a standard recipe in cookbooks, it is made with butter, oats, coconut, sugar, flour and golden syrup. The original version was less sweet, much harder and square not round. Men accidentally broke their teeth on them. An army ration, they were suitable more for making porridge or thickening stew or even fried as fritters. Later, mums and sisters back home modified the recipe to be more biscuit like. They sent the biscuits in tins to their loved ones. The ingredients especially the sugar content made the biscuits travel well.

If you like stories about this time in history, you will enjoy my WWI novel based on a true story. Time heal my Heart is such a story of love, loss and sacrifice.

Joni Scott is an Australian writer with an interest in history. She has four published books, two historical, two contemporary. Meet Joni and her books on her website, jonisscottauthor.com.

A railway journey through time

By Joni Scott | April 12, 2024

From the 19th century on the achievements and inventions of the human race transformed the world. Suddenly there were new ways to communicate and move around. So began a railway journey through time. Up until the age of steam engines, most people lived in the area where they had been born and rarely went further than a day’s journey from home.

The first railway journey

Steam was first used in engines for the emerging factories of the Industrial Revolution. Then later it was used to power boats. But only when the engines became smaller could they be used on wheels and the idea of railways developed. George Stephenson engineered a railway from Liverpool to Manchester using his son, Robert’s engine called The Rocket. It opened in 1830.

The Stephenson’s then built a longer line connecting London and Birmingham. The excitement caught on and soon the pair were helping other countries develop railways. This led the chairman of the modern British Rail to comment that the whole world travels on a branch line of the Liverpool to Manchester original.

No stopping the railway

Once the railways came, there was no stopping their momentum. They carried goods to and from factories and eventually displaced the canal system of transport. They carried people to cities for work and business and the ordinary folk to seaside locations for recreation. The countryside was linked by the networks and huge viaducts built to span gullies and rivers. Railways brought prosperity to isolated towns and scenic coastlines. Everyone wanted to take a railway journey.

An ode to the railways

Another son of a Stephen, Robert Louis Stevenson of Treasure Island book fame penned a poem, an ode to railways. It is called From a railway carriage and starts like this.

Faster than fairies, faster than witches,
Bridges and houses, hedges and ditches.
And charging along like troops in a battle
All through the meadows the horses and cattle:
All of the sights of the hill and the plain
Fly as thick as driving rain;
And ever again, in the wink of an eye,
Painted stations whistle by.

I love the pace and the rhyme. Quite catchy as poems used to be before free verse. I used part of this as a header for one of my chapters in my historical series novel, Time Heal my Heart. It seemed apt for the time of the early 20th century when railways moved to the suburbs. Before people had cars they moved around on bicycle, tram, bus and train.

Railways take priority

Let’s continue our railway journey through time. Once railway networks extended anything in their way had to move. They seemed to have priority. The whole of the St Pancras cemetery had to move and be relocated for the Northern London line. Thomas Hardy before he was a famous novelist worked on this project. he positioned all the gravestones around a giant oak tree that is now known as The Hardy Tree. This story features in my novel Whispers through Time.

Likewise, when Sydney some years later had to build a suburban network, the Devonshire Street cemetery had to be moved to allow for the Central Station. Today many bodies still lie below the bustling station. The moving of a cemetery is very disrespectful. Corpses in various stages of decay are hauled from their resting places to a new site of mass burial. Headstones were left behind.

So, as you see there was no progress like rail progress. Today we see a similar process as green energy transmission lines take precedence and crush all in their path as they proceed through farmland and towns. I wonder what history will make of this in years to come.

Railways in America and Europe

The railway journey craze spread to America and Europe. Following the example of Britain, they forged ahead with steam driven rail networks. The American pioneer Colonel John Stevens (another son of Stephen!) oversaw the first rail carriages pulled by horse and wagon. A faster and wider form of transport was sorely needed in such a vast country as America.

Europe was not far behind. France, by 1832, had a line between St Etienne and Lyon. Originally intended to transport coal it turned to passenger transport as well. Belgium and Germany followed with industry then passenger transport as the rage caught on. Politics and commerce spurred on even greater railway building projects. The vast continents of Africa and Russia benefited like America from this new form of transport. Ports could be linked to cities and one end of an empire connected to another. So developed the Trans-Siberian network and parts of the trans-Africa network. Terrain and colonial acquisitions stopped this latter vast project from succeeding.

The famous Orient Express

Europe being smaller concentrated more on passenger services. The idea of linking Paris to Constantinople (modern Istanbul) resulted in The Orient Express. It was the baby of a Belgian, Georges Nagelmackers who had already launched an international line from Ostend to Brindisi in Italy. But for the orient line the railway had to cross six nations. Not so easy plus the line was nearly 3000km long. It would cross Germany, Austria, Hungary, Serbia, Romania and Bulgaria on the way to where east meets west, Constantinople.

It first left Le Gare de l’Est on October 4, 1883 on its way east. The last part of the journey was by boat though because the line was yet unfinished. Six years later it finally made the whole trip in three and a half days. That was marvellous in itself but what captivated the public was the sheer opulence of the train. Its sleeping compartments panelled with teak had marquetry inlays and water faucets. Guards for each compartment saw to all their passenger’s needs. Hot showers were available in a rear coach. There were also dining cars serving cocktails and fine cuisine, a smoking room and even a library.

The trip was very popular as it was much quicker than the boat alternative. The Orient added other routes to Milan and Venice plus from Constantinople you could connect to transport to Syria and Baghdad. Agatha Christie took this trip in 1928 after her traumatic marrige ending. She ran off and had a fantastic adventure which fuelled a few novels like Death on the Nile and Death in Mesopotamia. She met her second husband, Max Mallowan on a dig on a second trip there.

The Blue Train to the Riviera

Another glamorous train in France was Le Train Bleu which linked the port Calais with Paris then to the Riviera. In the early 1900s this was a favourite with socialites who would disppear to the Riviera for the season. Coco Chanel loved this train. It had blue sleeper cars with gold trim, hence its name. Only during the war years did it stop the night service to Marseilles, Nice and Menton.

Eventually with the desire for fast travel, trains grew out of vogue and air travel was the go. But some services like The Orient Express are so popular for romance and nostalgia reasons that they are making a comeback. The Orient Express is due to travel again this year.

Everything old is new again! If you love the Riviera, read my novel, The Last Hotel set there. A modern tale with old fashioned glamour and romance. Trains feature in all my books. I love trains so have my characters moving around on them. In my historical novels they have no choice.

Joni Scott is an Australian author with four published books. See more on her website.joniscottauthor.com

Philoxenia and the kindness of strangers.

By Joni Scott | April 5, 2024

Whilst at a book signing recently a customer browsing books nearby approached me with a book in hand. Unexpectedly, he asked what the title Philoxenia, a seat at my table. meant. Maybe he thought seeing as I was an author, I would know the meaning of the obviously foreign word in the title.

I eyed the attractive cover which featured a bowl of olives and a plate of rustic bread.”It looks like it is a Greek cookbook,” I commented. This was confirmed by the nature of the author’s names, Kon and Sia Karapanagiotidis. Delightfully long Greek names. The man smiled but still hovered. I had not answered his question. What does the word Philoxenia mean?

What does philoxenia mean?

I looked at the word again and recognised within it two smaller Greek words. They are ‘philos’ meaning friend and ‘xenos’ meaning stranger. “I think it means ‘the love of strangers'” I said, “but as it is obviously a cookbook, not sure if I am right.”

“I will google it,” he offered. Why he didn’t do this in the first place, I did wonder. Maybe he just wanted company or a chat with a ‘xenos’, a stranger like me. Or was I starting to look like a Miss Marple in my autumn years? No, that can’t be it, surely not, he is too young to be an Agatha Christie fan like me.

“It means hospitality or kindness to strangers,” he announced, flashing his phone towards me. “Ah!” I replied, “That makes sense. What a lovely word with a special meaning. We have both learnt something today. Thank you!” The stranger now a little less of a stranger, smiled. he had a lovely smile that further brightened my morning. Smiles are like that, aren’t they. So much better than frowns or blank stares! You feel less invisible.

Becoming more visible thanks to philoxenia

At book events, even though you are meant to be increasing your visibility as an author, you can feel very invisible. Folk wander by immersed in their own world, fair enough, I guess. But I always smile and say ‘good morning’ but many just give me a blank stare or grunt in return. Not practising philoxenia obviously. My new word.

The stranger stayed. His name was Brad. We chatted about food which made me a tad hungry as I had rushed to get here and not had breakfast. Then we chatted about travels another wonderful engaging topic. He like me had travelled widely and now we had our word, we extolled on the hospitality or philoxenia we had both experienced abroad. We had both been adopted for meals by Greek and Italian families we had randomly met. Yes, these lovely Europeans like to share their wonderful earthy cuisines with strangers. Meals made from the most basic of ingredients, fresh from the market and transformed into luscious comforting and delicious dishes for all to share. I remembered that I had included a chapter about this phenomenon in my latest book, Time Heal my Heart.

Philoxenia and the English man

In Chapter 27, I think it is, the characters Oscar and Luigi retire from the exhausting Giro d’Italia bike race of 1914 (the most difficult race ever) They visit Luigi’s uncle and aunt in nearby Florence. There in the courtyard garden, they are plied with plates of steaming spaghetti to reinvigorate their stiff aching limbs. There in the garden, Oscar the Englishman marvels at the ‘philoxenia’ of Luigi’s family. Estranged from his own family in London, he has been a runaway for years and not even informed his parents where he is. How different is this happy, loving family sharing a splendid meal under a splendid tree in beautiful Florence.

Oscar will remember his sojourn in Florence for years to come. His time there with this family and their philoxenia prefaces the horror of the years to come. Even though Oscar and Luigi have no idea at this time, the world is about to erupt into war. In a few weeks’ time as they travel to Sarajevo, they will coincide with its outbreak, the opening shots fired by Gavrilo Princip that will echo around the world.

How a sandwich led to the outbreak of WWI

And this is another foodie story because Gavrilo would not have shot Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie if he hadn’t stopped for a sandwich at Moritz Schiller’s delicatessen! Now that’s a story in itself. See above link to Gavrilo Princip to read about this amazing coincidence that changed the lives of millions. I could not resist having my boys Oscar and Luigi also eating a salami sandwich nearby. A sort of Forest Gump moment. They become firsthand witnesses of the shot that lights the powder keg and boom! we have a world war. The first one ever. They called it The Great War. But it was not so great if you became embroiled in it as millions worldwide did. Oscar escapes the rising tensions by taking off to Argentina, but Luigi stays and takes the confusing consequences of his country changes sides during the war.

Philoxenia rules the day!

Now I have come a long way off topic and away from my chance meeting in the bookshop. What happened, you might ask if you made it this far? (having survived my digressions and rants) Well done you. My stranger now not a stranger stayed to chat as I said and this led, I believe to other people thinking I was worth talking to and maybe not so invisible, so a few people hovered. They picked up and turned over my books to read the blurb on the back cover. Two wondered off to the counter with copies of The Last Hotel, my bestseller. Not everyone wants a signature and mine is not flash since I have CRPS in my right hand.

Thanks to the kindness of a stranger and later a few more strangers who stopped by, I had a lovely afternoon in Rosetta’s Bookshop, Maleny in the lovely hinterland of Queensland, Australia where I live. If you are ever here in our great southern land make sure to visit the Sunshine Coast Hinterland where you can view from a distance The (stunning) Glasshouse Mountains to the south. In Maleny and nearby Montville you can experience the hospitality or philoxenia of Queenslanders! There are many cafes, cheeseries and wineries where you can share a bowl of olives and some rustic bread just like the Greeks do.

Joni Scott is an Australian writer. See website joniscottauthor.com to read her history blog and find her books.

The Origins of Easter

By Joni Scott | March 29, 2024

While researching for my second novel, I learnt about the origin of the word Easter and the different tradition in France where this novel, The Last Hotel is set.

The English word Easter is derived from ‘Eostre’, the name of a pre-Christian goddess associated with spring and fertility. Easter occurs at the spring equinox when the day is divided into equal periods of night and day. Spring in the northern hemisphere is a season of new life for plants and animals. Hence the bunnies, chicks and eggs of Easter celebrations in the Western world.

Easter and the natural world

Religious festivals are often connected to the natural world and its seasons. Before all the modern gadgets, electricity and devices, man was more in tune with the natural world. When the sun set the only light was from the moon until the sun rose again. Imagine that. Today you have to take a camping trip to a remote area to experience that. Even then some fellow campers could bring along televisions etc. Don’t you hate that. Why go camping??!

In the non-English speaking world, Easter is called by derivatives of the word Passover which is the festival in Hebrew Culture celebrating the liberation of the Jews from Egypt. (Book of Exodus). The word Pascha comes from the Hebrew Pesah. Unleavened or unrisen bread is eaten in the form of matzo. Jewish people and others enjoy matzo ball soup which is quite delicious.

The trial and crucifixion of Jesus occurred at Passover, so his death and resurrection coincide with Passover. His death is honored on Good Friday and his rebirth on the Easter Sunday. These same days became associated with the pagan festivities of the time celebrating renewal and rebirth. This explains the origins of Easter.

Easter is both a happy and sad time

In the Christian calendar, Ash Wednesday precedes Good Friday by about six weeks and is the start of Lent. This traditionally is a time of fasting and prayer leading up to Easter.

Not all Christians observe the Lent ritual. Ashes were used in ancient times to express grief and sorrow and placed on the head.

In the Christian tradition, Easter is both a sad and joyous date on the calendar. It marks the death but also the resurrection of Jesus. As Easter is determined by the moon and seasons, the actual calendar date varies from year to year.

What is the Holy Week?

Jesus Christ entered Jerusalem triumphant and feted on Palm Sunday, the Sunday before the day that would become known as Easter Sunday.

This is the beginning of Holy Week. The Last Supper took place on the Thursday, Maundy Thursday when Jesus ate with his disciples. That night he prayed long into the night in the Garden of Gethsemane. Judas, one of his disciples, betrayed him. He fell out of favor with authorities, and they crucified and buried him on Good Friday.

According to the Bible, Jesus rose from the dead three days later, on Easter Sunday, signaling the victory of life over death and the promise of eternal salvation for believers. Believing in his deity as the son of God, and trusting in his guidance, guarantees you forgiveness of your sins and life everlasting in heaven.

Christians attend church services at Easter. The Good Friday service is a solemn service that usually follows the 14 stations of the cross as Jesus made his way carrying the heavy cross to his place of crucifixion.

On Easter Sunday, the service is by contrast joyful celebrating his rising or resurrection. Both services involve participation in special liturgies and hymns. Some churches also hold Easter processions and pageants, reenacting the events of the resurrection. This is particularly so in the Philippines where the Holy Week is celebrated.

Easter, a time of hope and renewal

Easter is a holiday rich in history and tradition. It is intercultural around the world. Whether you celebrate it for its religious significance or its cultural significance, it is a time of renewal and hope, a time to celebrate the arrival of spring or hope and the promise of new life.

Later as children became a distinct entity not just little adults, mythical bunnies were added from German folklore to deliver sweet nougat or chocolate eggs to ‘good’ children just as Santa Claus rewarded them at Christmas. In Europe, it is also traditional to paint eggshells and hang the pretty eggs as a display.

In France chocolate bells also feature as a tradition to connect with the joyful ringing of church bells on Easter Sunday.

From Christian sorrow and joy, church services to family gatherings or Easter eggs brought by the Easter bunny, Easter is a time to come together with loved ones and rejoice in the blessings of life and be grateful.

Happy Easter!

photo source

Joni Scott is an Australian author with four published novels: Whispers through Time, The Last Hotel, Colour Comes to Tangles and Time, Heal my Heart. Joni has her own website; https://joniscottauthor.com.