Newfoundland and Labrador - The Codfish That Didn't Get Away

I know.........let's go have a picnic at the lighthouse!

Canadian folk are a happy lot. Patriotic, proud and big-hearted, the latter never better evidenced than during the events and aftermath of 11 September 2001 when the small town of Gander, Newfoundland found itself temporary host to seven thousand stranded airline passengers. The hospitality and friendship exhibited by the townsfolk at that time later came to be celebrated in the hit musical Come from Away, a Newfoundland and Labrador term for an outsider or visitor, someone not from the province. 

Podcasters Nick and Amy Thomson were therefore two such "come from aways" as they embarked on an epic road trip around Atlantic Canada, the easternmost region of the country and closest point between Canada and the UK. Visitors they might have been but they were warmly welcomed and all it cost NIck was a snog with a codfish, part of the Newfoundland Screech-In ceremony.

But what is the Newfoundland Screech-In ceremony?

What is Newfoundland Screech?

Why do you always find the locals in the kitchen at parties? 

And will Nick ever learn how to pronounce Newfoundland?

For answers to these and other questions, click here to listen to Atlantic Canada - Come From Away, part of the Atlantic Canada podcast series.

Incidentally, here's a picture of Nick kissing that codfish. Although with that black bin bag it's wearing it looks more like a turtle. The codfish that is. Not Nick. Either way, I'm not sure who is the more disgusted by this act of animal cruelty. Nick, the lady in the background, or the codfish?