Ten' soseda

Jan. 5th, 2009

S nastupayushim Rozhdestvom!

For my friends, a few Romanian Christmas carols:

</div>

Tags: holidays, my music

Link | Leave a comment | Add to Memories | Tell a Friend

Apr. 27th, 2008

Paskha

Pozdravlyayu vseh pravoslavnyh!

Tags: holidays, religion

Link | Leave a comment | 13 comments | Add to Memories | Tell a Friend

Jan. 7th, 2008

Yolochkie igrushki

"How should feminists decorate their homes and trees for the holidays?" asks someone on Yahoo Answers Singapore. "No balls on the tree, I would think", is the answer considered the best by some admin of the section "Gender & Women's Studies" in Yahoo Answers. Some folks thought that such a question is a joke, some got annoyed and the rest entered the game and offered funny ideas - severed testicles to hang on the tree, figurines of feminists, like an Oprah made of sticks and mud, or no ornaments at all, since Christmas celebrates the birth of a male historical and religious figure and must be a boycotted by a true feminist.
Political correctness usually engenders jokes (no pun intended); it's hilarious to apply gender concepts to decorations and Christmas trees. But it's not always so funny, at least when instead of a Christmas tree there is a generic "holiday tree" meant to preserve neutrality towards all religions - or a "winter tree", as in our Communist past, with red stars instead of glass angels. It's enough anyway that globalization hurts now the aesthetics of the festive tree: we have, for example, little Santas with oblique eyes and little plastic birds with fur tails, all made in China.
But add religious fervor to political correctness and you'll have the kitschiest of the kitschy, offered by a store specialized in Christian merchandise. An ornament featuring an unborn baby with a gun - a symbol of the pro-life and patriotic duty to give birth to the future soliders of the country, the ones that will defend democracy and fight terrorism wherever the state sends them.



Well, if we talk about military-themed Christmas trinkets, there can be things that simply use the theme for creative reasons, without wanting to support any cause - like the ornaments below. The designer chose to pack them in wooden military boxes, adding fun to the offer.
And I would add even a peace dove on the top of the tree.


Vseh s Rozhdestvom!

Tags: holidays, religion

Link | Leave a comment | 12 comments | Add to Memories | Tell a Friend

Dec. 31st, 2007

Novogodnyi sbornik

This is a hand-made (=by mytza) compilation of 12 Romanian songs. Enjoy!

S Novym Godom, druzya!



http://ifolder.ru/4789723
(49 MB)

Tags: holidays, my music

Link | Leave a comment | 8 comments | Add to Memories | Tell a Friend

Dec. 28th, 2007

Nenamerennyi ekumenizm

This is a traditional carol, sung by the choir of the Romanian Patriarchy, and I'm glad to offer it to all of you who expect Christmas or already have celebrated it.
Now the interesting part is that, for unknown reasons, the original poster of this song uses a picture that has nothing in common with the Patriarchy or the Orthodox Church. It is the altar of the Saint Joseph Catholic cathedral in Bucharest, as it looks these days, right after Christmas. Most probably, the original poster didn't know about that; he/she just wanted to have images of Romanian churches (there are 5 or 6 such carols on Youtube) and didn't pay too much attention to the choice.
I shouldn't be so surprised by this confusion - but the last few years were hardly a time of harmony between the Orthodox Church (majoritary) and the Catholic one. Old writings about the heresy of praying together with Catholics are now fashionable among some Orthodox elites, and there are people who even talk about returning to the "old style" (where Christmas is celebrated on January 7), in an effort to escape as much as possible the influence of the West. Because Orthodoxy is seen as the sole weapon capable to defend the national soul menaced by an atheistic/Catholic/Protestant European Union who wants to impose its values of political correctness and destroy local traditions everywhere. And then there are economic reasons - many rural communities are annoyed by the requests for retrocession of Catholic buildings and other assets now used by Orthodox communities. All in all, the visit of Pope John Paul II in Bucharest, in 1999, seems now almost a fiction, like the idea of using the word "ecumenism" without stirring controversy.
So I find a good reason to smile about this carol with Orthodox singers and Catholic illustration. I like to see the Christian denominations together again and peacefully sharing the atmosphere of major Christian holidays. Even accidentally, like here on Youtube.

Tags: holidays, religion

Link | Leave a comment | 4 comments | Add to Memories | Tell a Friend

Apr. 9th, 2007

S prazdnikom Paskhi

http://www.resurse-ortodoxe.com/users/bumbacel/multimedia/audio/Sfanta%20Manastire%20Sihastria/Sfanta%20Manastire%20Sihastria.htm

Tags: holidays

Link | Leave a comment | Add to Memories | Tell a Friend

Apr. 1st, 2007

Vhod Gospoden v Ierusalim

http://www.vatican.va/music/cappella-musicale/inno_della_porta_santa/01-AudioTrack%2001.mp3

Tags: holidays

Link | Leave a comment | Add to Memories | Tell a Friend

Mar. 1st, 2007

Dlya moi frendy

March 1 is the day of Martisor (=little March), a Romanian tradition that marks the arrival of spring. Originally, a "martisor" was a kind of amulet, in most cases a small silver coin, that had to be worn for a few days (I guess the rule was 12 days), especially by children and women, to bring good luck for the rest of the year. The "martisor" had to be hanged by the neck or tied to the wrist with red and white wool yarns. Today, the wool yarns have become fine silky threads tied into a bow, while the old coins are replaced by small decorations made of metal, ceramic, wood or plastic - symbols of spring or good luck: four-leaf clovers, horseshoes, little chimney sweepers, chicken, snowdrops and so on.
The craftsmen (people who compete fiercely for this niche market) sell them usually through small jewellery shops or directly on the street, but I saw the item "martisor" even on eBay. Sometimes, the wild imagination of craftsmen leads to peaks of kitsch, such as glittering feathers, shells painted in all the colors of the rainbow or even phallic symbols. And indeed, some men are quite uncomfortable with this day, because offering a "martisor" to women is an inescapable social ritual, in no way different from the one of March 8. Moreover, in some circles, the day of Martisor means very expensive gifts and parties - some kind of rehearsal for March 8.
Fortunately, there are people who keep this custom for what it is - wishing good luck to the dear ones and telling them that, well, it's spring again. 

( Pozdravlyayu vseh! Vesna nachalas! )

Tags: holidays

Link | Leave a comment | 24 comments | Add to Memories | Tell a Friend

Dec. 30th, 2006

So starym godom

mood: hopeful

Well, better later then never - it's the New Year's Eve vacation.
Before Christmas, I had a day or two of shopping and walking through the city. And after many months of existing almost like an abstract being, mostly in relationship with the computer and with virtual goods, the very act of buying or browsing books, DVDs and CDs seemed a weird, ancient luxury. When you live most of the time among electronic texts, newspapers, books and use to entertain yourself with mp3s and videos circulated from computer to computer, there is an unexpected pleasure to handle again paper books, albums and films in their nice, untouched cases and with their printed booklets.
Perhaps it’s only the pleasure of variation, perhaps is the nostalgia for a freer period of my life, or maybe it has to do with some unconscious feeling of safety: even if I save all my virtual treasures on disks, I still can’t escape the sensation that all these files are rather ephemeral shadows of knowledge that can dissapear in any moment. I wouldn’t compare this to a trip to the mountains without a car, since I myself can’t conceive to go to the mountains otherwise than without any car :) but maybe there’s something in common between all things that make you get your feet back on the ground - in all the senses :)
There’s the theory that people get happier when they are free to choose one single song instead of a whole CD or when they can quickly search in electronic articles or books instead of browsing the paper files of a printed book. Well, the theory is right, but the practice of using the traditional cultural goods, the traditional way, is even better :) Sometimes it becomes a privilege to read books, the same way you did some years ago, when you could afford to spend time for this, or to unseal a CD case and hear the disk on an usual player, which was not made for mp3s.
I know that what I say is very banal, because such complaints about virtual culture are usually made by people who have all the time in the world for reading or who hate computers. But, you know, when you want to have the best of both worlds and love them equally, you risk to be told as I was these days: oh, give me a break, when you know that you can download almost anything, why you need to go and buy CDs? (And no, we didn’t talk about piracy and copyrights.)
My dear frendz, have a New Year full of wonderful books, music and movies! And may you enjoy them, both the printed and the virtual ones :)
S nastupayushim!

 

Tags: holidays, internet & lj

Link | Leave a comment | 18 comments | Add to Memories | Tell a Friend