Cultural information
There’s been a lot of excitement in the air this past week. It’s Fasching season. You’ve all heard of Mardis Gras in New Orleans and Carnivale in Venice. Coming from the Latin carne vale, meaning without meat, it is the traditional start to the Lenten season preceding Easter and dates back to the Middle Ages. […]
Karneval? Fasching? Or Fastnacht? Read More »
Do you remember what you wanted to be when you were a child? At one point, I wanted to be a veterinarian, then later a lawyer. After joining the debate team in middle school, I discovered the theatre department. This was what I wanted to do. And while I loved debate and did well, being
What do I want to be? Read More »
Whether you celebrate Imbolc, St. Brigid’s Day, Candlemas, Groundhog’s Day, or all of them, the beginning of February is a busy time on the calendar. So where did these all originate? I’ll start with the easy one; Groundhog’s Day. This celebration began in the United States in 1887. It seems to have nothing to do
I sat down today to write this week’s blog post about the Roman ruins we found in The Netherlands last week. Then the doorbell rang, and Widgit, the dog, went crazy. He usually barks, but this time he was excited. Opening the door, I saw four local children dressed in the robes of the magi.
While many Americans celebrated Thanksgiving and feasted on turkey with all the trimmings, Dave and I explored the Weihnachtmarkt, or Christmas Markets, in Germany. These typically open on the first weekend of Advent and some run through Epiphany on 6 January. The first documented Christmas Market was in Dresden Germany in 1434. This was a
It’s time for Gluhwein! Read More »
During my time as an interpreter with the 7th Virginia Regiment, my favorite topic was plants and their edible and medicinal uses. Our food displays were split into soldier’s rations and the items found in a typical home at that time of year. At any given event, children came up to look and ask questions.
Every so often, the poem, The Englishman’s Nightmare, by Tom Anderson Cairns makes the rounds. It is usually printed on tea towels and coffee mugs and tells the tale of an Englishman coming home after a hard day’s work. Everywhere he turns, he admires his modern conveniences, and while he is so proud of them,
When the Europeans arrived on the continent, they did not find the gold and silver they sought. Nor did they find exotic spices. But what they did find was an abundance of food, much of which they had never seen before. Many foods commonly eaten today were indigenous to the Americas. Whether they were first
Food, Glorious Food! Read More »
November is Native American Heritage Month. So for this month, my posts will concentrate on this theme with a different topic each week. As someone who enjoys learning about other cultures, I find language is particularly important, as it plays a significant role in any society. It is the method by which people communicate and
The Tracks We Leave Read More »
Folk traditions help you learn about different cultures. Our village celebrated Kirwa (kir-vah) this past weekend, a uniquely Bavarian tradition. So I decided to see if I could describe it to someone who had never attended one. At a glance, it looks like a miniature Oktoberfest with bratwurst and beer, singing and dancing. Initially, they