Finest Posts - April 2017 Nominations

Dear IL Members,

April is a busy month for the school-going children getting ready to wind up an academic year and enjoy the summer vacation. After facing a strong winter, human beings, animals and plants eagerly look for the shiny days ahead. The longer days have begun in the Northern-hemisphere with adjustment of the clock by an hour which is passionately called "Daylight savings" making people understand that saving time is more valuable than anything else.

Why this month is called "April"? The Romans gave this month the Latin name Aprilis but the derivation of this name is uncertain. The traditional etymology is from the verb aperire, "to open", in allusion to its being the season when trees and flowers begin to "open", which is supported by comparison with the modern Greek use of ánixi (opening) for spring. Since some of the Roman months were named in honor of divinities, and as April was sacred to the goddess Venus,, her Veneralia being held on the first day, it has been suggested that Aprilis was originally her month Aphrilis, from her equivalent Greek goddess name Aphrodite (Aphros), or from the Etruscan name Apru.

What is so special about April?

Easter week is a big deal across the Spanish-speaking world but, an ocean apart, it’s Antigua and Seville that celebrate it with the most gusto. In the Americas, Antigua really comes alive during Semana Santa, when the streets are covered in breathtakingly elaborate alfombras (carpets) of colored sawdust and flower petals.

The largest religious gathering on earth occurs four times every 12 years, when tens of millions of Hindu pilgrims come together to take a ceremonial dip in the sacred Ganges, Shipra or Godavari Rivers. Locations for the gathering hopscotch across the plains between Allahabad, Haridwar, Ujjain and Nasik, cities where drops of the nectar of immortality were spilled from its kumbh (pitcher) during a battle between demi-gods and demons.

Bisket Jatra heralds the start of the Nepali New Year is celebrated with the most aplomb in Bhaktapur. In one of the most exciting annual events in the Kathmandu valley, a huge and ponderous chariot carrying images of the god Bhairab is hauled by dozens of villagers to Khalna Tole.

Love is in the air in this courtship ritual in eastern Guizhou, Shidong, China when young Miao (or Hmong) women and men set about finding themselves partners through the medium of sticky rice.

The Lunar New Year in Thailand marks a time when the country literally goes to water. Part a time of respect and part riot, Songkran is an occasion when images of the Buddha are ‘bathed’ and young Thais seek the blessing of their elders by pouring scented water over their hands (a ceremony known as rod nahm dum hua).

Where else would you want your jazz than in the city that spawned it? After Mardi Gras, ‘Jazz Fest’ is New Orleans’ second-biggest reason to party, a feel-good musical smorgasbord served up on more than 10 stages across two weekends. Jazz Fest began as a celebration of the city’s 250th birthday in 1968, an event that attracted musicians such as Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and Dave Brubeck.

It is a shorter month with 30 days, may I request the IL members to nominate the Finest Posts as usual early enough to encourage the writers here in IL? It doesn't matter in which forum you find those gems, please bring them on to the FP section. I would like to emphasize that our collective objective is to encourage new members to write and share their experiences without any fear of judgment and existing members to feel at home forever. The FP forum winners' announcements is an initiative by the administrators to encourage the IL members to contribute actively and are selected out of the nominations made by the IL members and frankly, it is the members encouragement through responses that motivate the writers to contribute more and more. Only one is declared as a Finest Post and one as Finest Narration each month. But there are no restrictions that a thread has to be nominated only once or only in the month in which it is written.

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Please note that posts and threads from the sub-forums Express Cafe, Forward Messages & Jokes, Online Games & Puzzles are not for nomination.

To familiarize yourselves with FP and its nominating process, please check this link: Finest Posts of IL
Each member is allowed to nominate up to 4 posts only.
This ensures that each of us have a hand in deciding the winning post as we will filter our choice more closely, thus making the winner more significant.

The nominations will be closed on the last day of every month. Simultaneously, the nomination thread for the following month will be opened on the First day of that month.

In case of nominating Feedback, please remember to add a link to the feedback post and not to the original post.

The following gives step-wise on adding links to your nominations –

- To add a link to the original post that you are nominating:
How to add a "Link" in my post?

- To add a link to the Feedback post that you are nominating:
How do I create a link to an existing message posted in IL?"

 

I am here to nominate @Cheeniya's (Cheeniya Sir) Counselling For The Divorce Prone!. Most of his threads are always humorous and this one is very special. I have to keep my lunch aside to read the whole thread as I was laughing all the time. My wife doesn't feel good about me, if I laugh on my own sitting in front of the computer. I definitely don't want to create grounds for her to divorce me.

Viswa