[wordup] Bring on the ginger summit!

[Adam Shand]

Well that totally scoops my idea for a regular ginga lunch.

Why isn't *having* ideas enough?  Doing them is such a hassle ... :-)

Adam.

Via: Amy Shand <amy at shand...>
Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8245290.stm

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People get red-dy

By Clare Spencer
Breda, Netherlands
The idea of a ginger festival may sound like little more than a bit of  
fun, but when 3,000 redheads came together for a recent gathering it  
became a bonding experience.

Bart Rouwenhorst steps on to his crane and slowly rises above his  
ginger empire. A sea of redheads all dressed in white look up from the  
park below and follow his instructions to wave at the 20 or so  
photographers and cameramen.

The photo shoot is the culmination of celebrations for Redhead Day -  
an annual day - which has spilled across a weekend - to mark all  
things ginger, paid for by the local government in Breda, a city in  
the south east of the Netherlands.

But for its founder, Mr Rouwenhorst, who is notable for his blond  
rather than ginger locks, it is the pinnacle of his efforts so far to  
champion the ginger-hued among us. A mechanical engineer by day, Mr  
Rouwenhorst is also an amateur painter and it's this sideline which  
first awoke his interest in those of fair skin and flame hair.

Finding himself drawn to the aesthetic qualities of redheads, he  
advertised for 15 ginger models to paint - only to be deluged with e- 
mail responses. The 15 turned into 150, whom he photographed. But when  
many of those who didn't get selected voiced their disappointment, Mr  
Rouwenhorst decided to make an annual event of the redhead gathering.

Five years on, it has grown into a huge festival of ginger self- 
affirmation, overtaking the city centre for one weekend every September.

"We have families with children, we have older people who were teased  
as children and then we have many proud women who come to the  
festival. They know they are fantastic and they just come to feel  
great."

Driven out

The promise of this amber spectacle also appeals to the more muted- 
mopped mainstream - with an estimated 7,000 non-redhead spectators  
attending.

But the initiative is firmly with the redheads. And there is much  
common ground. Men and women sporting a spectrum of ginger, from  
strawberry blonde to rich ochre, swap stories of being picked on in  
the playground, discrimination in the wider world - a family in  
Newcastle claimed they were driven from their home because of anti- 
ginger abuse in 2007 - and the whys and wherefores of raising a ginger  
brood.
Walking round the city, redheads smile and laugh with one another.  
Since this is a celebration of gingerism, an army of hairdressers,  
makeup artists and cameramen have been drafted in to prepare for the  
fashion shoot, treating redheads like celebrities. The dermatologist's  
class - redheads tend to have very fair skin - is so popular it has to  
move to the main part of Breda's cathedral to accommodate all those  
who want to attend.

Mr Rouwenhorst marvels at the innate connection between members of one  
of the most genetically distinctive yet disparate groups in the world.

"When people come together as redheads, they just look at each other,"  
he says. "They have a certain bond. And I think this whole event will  
some day expand to multiple events, maybe across the world. I think  
the ginger community will start."

Strong people

It's a far-sighted pronouncement. Do people with red hair really want  
to seek out the company of those with similar colouring?

This exclusive community is already functioning and making money for  
Brigitte van Hengel. She runs a ginger modelling agency and is looking  
to add a ginger-only theatre company.

Ms van Hengel, whose reddish locks are somewhat faded, seeks out  
redheads not just for their aesthetic qualities - but their character  
traits too. Most have had to put up with bullying, she says, which in  
turn has made them strong and proud characters.

Behind the scenes at the fashion show civil servant Anneloes Rynders  
is preparing for the catwalk. While being sown into her dress by the  
designer Marian Kastelein, she tells a story of an uncomfortable  
childhood that is shared by many at the festival.

"In my youth it wasn't nice to be different. It changed around the age  
of 16 or 17. I got more confidence, I went out and got attention -  
because I'm a redhead. I stopped being ashamed. It's actually nice to  
stand out in a crowd."

Ms Rynders prefers being unusual and doesn't like the idea of an  
exclusively ginger community. However, she is disappointed that none  
of her children has ginger hair, so welcomes the idea that such a  
place may spawn more ginger offspring.

Alan Petrie has travelled from Aberdeen to research the possibility of  
starting a ginger community in Scotland. Curiosity drove him to the  
event but he is going away with a sense of belonging.

"I came here because I wanted to see if people with red hair would  
like to meet each other - we could take that back home and see if it  
worked on a more local level. I think redheads do enjoy being together  
and not being the odd one out."

He is particularly concerned about discrimination against his ilk,  
which he thinks isn't taken seriously.

"After an anti-ginger South Park episode, Kick a Ginger Day started in  
Canada and someone was seriously hurt. When it was revealed that one  
of the Big Brother contestants was dying his hair and underneath he  
was ginger he got shouted abuse I can't repeat, when he was evicted.  
If he was black the people shouting this would have been arrested."

Ironically, claims of racial discrimination were also invoked when Mr  
Rouwenhorst investigated the possibility of getting his festival noted  
in the Guinness World Records. Redheads, he was told, were considered  
a minority by its editors, who will not record events based on racial  
characteristics.

Certainly, there's little taste for any sort of genetic purity at the  
event. The majority of redheads appear happy to accommodate those of  
the brown, black and fair-haired persuasion. Even the organisers  
insist that cafes don't restrict their free drink offers to natural  
redheads - but include those who dyed their hair for the day.

So has this year's festival helped foster a sense of ginger belonging?

Thorger Enge Herrara, who grew up in Mexico, says redheads are so  
unusual in his homeland that when he sees one they exchange  
pleasantries and he buys them a drink.

"It doesn't happen so often. It's not a community where I'm from  
because it's so rare."

For this weekend, though, Mr Herrara is understanding what it's like  
to be one of a crowd rather than a curiosity.