PUCK hooleys, druids, snap-dragon, Sun-worship: June 21st and it's that time of year again. Up in Scandinavia, freshwater shrimps are eaten as toasts are drunk to the long and dying light.
Here? True to form, we take the optimistic approach and make more of the shortest day. Far better to sink into deep depression when December sun fails to strike the Newgrange chamber. Fatalism is still that great national pursuit.
But then, these solsticial celebrations are open to interpretation, as an experienced sailor and moonwatcher, Tony Geraghty, reminds me twice a year. Midsummer may mark the longest period of daylight, but the earliest sunrise and latest sunset do not synchronise. From about June 16th - Bloomsday the mornings begin to get darker, whereas the sunset closes in only after the 21st. The "mean" - when there is an equal period of day-light either side of noon - occurs around June 26th ... when we are also promised the formation of a new government.
One man hoping that this administration will last its term is a weary Dublin City Sheriff; Brendan Walsh. "Shattered" may have been understating his condition when he eventually emerged from the RDS in Ballsbridge, Dublin, this time last week. Homes and marriages were under serious pressure; some enumerating staff wondered if they would ever see the sun again. Yet, in spite of John Gormley's call at the Dublin South-East recount, the sheriff does not believe that traditional voting methods should be scrapped just yet.
Spoiled votes
There were 18,000 spoiled votes recorded around the 41 constituencies during this election, which is about average, at 1 per cent of total poll. Among those cast in the RDS was one signed "sincerely Samantha" but she failed to leave her phone number or address. Mr Walsh is not convinced that electronic methods would eradicate mistakes, and the costs could outweigh the benefits. He requires 750 tables with two staff each in six Dublin constituencies during a vote. Come new technology, that's 5,000 programmed computers around the country.
Record still stands
One certainty after this last election is that the Byrne-Briscoe battle count record of 1992 still stands. The Agony and the ex-TD was how the longest recount came to be remembered after ten long days and nights. Though Dublin South-East 1997 posed a stiff challenge, Dublin South-Central still retains its proud place in history. "This will be like the GPO and 1916; everyone will be claiming that they were here," the former Democratic Left MEP, Des Geraghty, said when the tussle for a fourth seat between Fianna Fail's Ben Briscoe and his party's Eric Byrne finally ended in Briscoe's favour.
Beards were grown then, mistletoe matches made, and turkeys ordered for an approaching Christmas, long after other successful candidates were busy posting out their Leinster House-stamped seasons' greetings. There was even a campaign slogan for the count staff: "Release the RDS 24". By the time a result was eventually confirmed, someone had totted up 98 hours of counting and checking all that without a magnifying glass.
Mr Briscoe, former Dublin lord mayor and former amateur boxer, even received some unusual fan mail - Mass cards expressing sympathy over his plight. "Maintaining equilibrium is the key," he told me, recalling another close shave when he came in on the eighth count in the old constituency of Rathmines West. Around the sixth count, he was close to tears as he was pushed to the limit. That was 1977, and the threat had come from the Labour Party's Mrs Mary Robinson.
Sean Sherwin, Fianna Fail's national organiser, who was there this time to give the Progressive Democrats plenty of moral and practical support, never seemed to weary back ink 1992. He was shadowed by Pat Farrell, general secretary, and the party director of elections, Dr Michael Woods. Democratic Left's equivalent was an irrepressible Michael Taft, supported by an army of tally staff and supporters from as far away as Cork.
Relief tally team
Only a percentage of the papers were at issue, but by day nine they looked as if they could fall apart. Trays of sandwiches had vanished. Eric Byrne was able to tighten his belt. Fianna Fail brought in a relief tally team from the Kevin Barry party cumann at UCD. Though lively and enthusiastic, they did not endear themselves to the deputy returning officer, John Ross. This was not an "election convention", they were told, when ordered to take down their "shrine" to Sean Lemass.
On day ten - happy release - came the final call by a margin of just five votes. Mr Ross, by now a television celebrity, went hunting for participants' autographs. Eric Byrne took defeat in good grace. The successful Fianna Fail candidate did not gloat or crow, in fact, Mr Briscoe even refused to write "TD" after his name until he was certain of the result. Only then did he scribble it down, adding one word "just".