September 01, 2008
Sand Sculpture World Championship, Canada, Sep
http://www.worldeventsguide.com/event.ehtml?o=1706
01-30 Sep 2008
Harrison Hot Springs, Vancouver, Canada
Much more than a mere bucket and spade event, "Harrisand" is the World Championship of Sand Sculpture and the exhibition of finished sculpture is Western Canada's largest outdoor art show. Raising sand castles to a higher plane, these creations begin as columns of dampened, hard-packed sand tamped in wooden forms. The artists create realistic figures and complex scenes and tableaux using carving tools, usually achieving a high degree of realism. The competition is divided into the doubles category, solo master and team-100-hour. After the prizes are awarded, the sculptures remain in-situ as a temporary exhibition for a full month
Lake Harrison (Venue)
Getting There
Road: Harrison Hot Springs is a 90-minute drive east of Vancouver. Exit 135 (Bridal Falls) from highway 1 to Agassiz, then highway 9 north to Harrison Hot Springs
Posted by chek at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
May 28, 2008
Barcelona Bridal Week
http://www.moda-barcelona.com/en/index.asp
Barcelona Bridal Week - Noviaespana
May 27 - Jun 1, 2008
A total of 42 prestigious national and international companies will be revealing the latest bridal wear trends at PASARELA GAUDÍ NOVIAS
The next edition of PASARELA GAUDÍ NOVIAS, to be held between May 27 and 30, will herald a milestone in its trajectory in terms of the number and quality of its participants. The modern and cutting-edge pavilion 8 of the Gran Via venue of Fira Barcelona, the work of the Japanese artist Toyo Ito, will bring together a total of 42 national and international companies of worldwide prestige, projecting, once again, the image of Barcelona as an international capital of bridal fashion.
Some of the new sign-ups for this event include CHRISTIAN LACROIX MARIÉE who, through ROSA CLARA, will be showcasing his new bridal collection. And it will be precisely the ROSA CLARA company which, on Tuesday May 27, will officially open this brilliant edition of PASARELA GAUDÍ NOVIAS, which will close its eighteenth edition on Saturday May 31 with collections by PRONOVIAS, MANUEL MOTA, VALENTINO and ELIE SAAB in shows for clients only.
Other novelty in this edition is the new HAUTE COUTURE PLATFORM, a newly created group comprised of select Catalan firms engaged in festive wear, such as ANGELITA MORILLO, EVA MARTÍNEZ, FRANS BAVIERA, JOAQUIN PEREZ VALETTE, MARTI FELEZ, PIEDAD RODRÍGUEZ and TERESA RIPOLL. They have all chosen the prestige and high media impact of PASARELA GAUDÍ NOVIAS for their collective social and media debut.
For men, mention should be made of the presence of MIQUEL SUAY, DUYOS and DEVOTA & LOMBA who, together with other companies who are already veterans at the show, such as FUENTECAPALA, ANTONIO MIRO or JAVIER ARNAIZ, will be showcasing their particular and creative vision of bridegroom fashion.
The novelties conclude with some new names engaged in festive and ceremonial fashion, such as the firm from the Canary Islands, M & M or the Catalan GRACIA GALINDO.
Posted by chek at 02:47 PM | Comments (0)
April 28, 2008
Miss Universe Canada
http://www.beautiesofcanada.com/index.htm
Toronto, April 28th, 2008
Samantha Tajik was crowned the 57th annual Miss Universe Canada
Other Iranians among the contestants:
Mona Nikkhah
Pauline Ranjbar
Sahra Khoshnavazi
Tanya Razi
An ecstatic Tajik, 25, outshone more than 60 delegates from across the country to capture the crown before hundreds of black-tie supporters at the Winter Garden Theatre, on Yonge St.
"I want to thank my family and friends for all their support," she said. "I look forward to the Miss Universe pageant in Vietnam."
Outgoing Miss Universe Canada 2007, Toronto's Inga Skaya, 22, said, "It's been a life-altering experience for me."
Tajik will represent Canada at the July 14 Miss Universe 2008 pageant in Vietnam, and has won the use of a car for a year, jewellery and trips.
Montreal, March 11th to 22nd, 2006
23 year old Sanaz is in her last year at the University of Toronto, double majoring in Economics and Art History. Upon completion of her Honours Bachelor of Arts degree she plans on pursuing a Doctoral degree in Museum Studies. Sanaz holds a second degree Black Belt in karate, is an international instructor and competitor, and is currently ranked as the 7th top female karate competitor in the world.
Sanaz spends her free time painting, volunteering as a docent at the Bata Shoe Museum and dedicating her time to raising funds and awareness for the Canadian Breast Cancer Fund, the YMCA of Greater Toronto and for the United Way.
Posted by chek at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
April 15, 2008
Sand Sculpture Exhibition, France, Apr - Aug
http://www.mediafaxfoto.ro/photos.php?search%5Btitle%5D=FRANCE-TOURISM-SAND-SCULPTURE-FESTIVAL&search%5Bmode%5D=list&search_section=home
Le Touquet Paris-Plage
Northern France
April 04, 2008 - August 31, 2008
More than 120.000 visitors are expected for the African Safari Sand Sculpture Exhibition, with more than 200 sculptures following the traces of one of the most ancient people, the Masai.
Posted by chek at 05:07 PM | Comments (0)
September 18, 2007
Lantern Celebration, Hong Kong, Sep
http://www.discoverhongkong.com/eng/heritage/festivals/he_fest_mida.jhtml
2007: Sep 23 - Oct 7
Mid-Autumn Lantern Celebration
Hong Kong pays homage to the Harvest Moon with a spectacular 15-day Mid-Autumn Lantern Celebration filled with excitement and colour as families and friends gather to eat mooncakes and bask in the glow of the golden orb. This heart-warming celebration is a wonderful blend of ancient Chinese fable, beautifully crafted lanterns, scrumptious food and fun for everyone.
Posted by chek at 04:33 PM | Comments (0)
August 29, 2007
La Tomatina, Spain, Aug
http://www.latomatina.com/
On the last Wednesday of August, at the peak of tomato season, the village of Bunol, Spain stages a tomato war.
For two hours, the otherwise sober citizenry happily pelt each other with ripe, red fruit and the streets turn into rivers of tomato juice.
Picture this. You spend the morning enjoying pitchers of Sangria, toasting friends and enjoying the warming Spanish sun. You're dressed in your whitest of whites. You make your way out to the city's central street. After several valiant attempts, some drunkard is able to climb the greased flagpole and remove a large ham from the top of it. That means it's GO TIME!
Posted by chek at 02:39 PM | Comments (0)
August 27, 2007
Notting Hill Carnival, UK, Aug
http://www.nottinghillcarnival.biz/
Bank Holiday weekend
Posted by chek at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
July 21, 2007
Lantern Festival
http://www.luminaravictoria.com/
Luminara Victoria, 3rd Saturday of July
Rain or Shine
Beacon Hill Park and St. Ann's Academy
Presented by The Inter-Cultural Association of Victoria, this enchanted evening is an inspiring blend of cultural traditions from around the world, that has become a favorite summertime tradition in Victoria; this marks the seventh year of what has become a much anticipated and well-loved summertime event.
Luminara is a free event, but public support helps make it possible.
Posted by chek at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
June 17, 2007
Sandstation, Berlin, Jun
http://www.reuters.com/news/video?videoId=57196&videoChannel=3
Jun 17 - International artists show off their skills at 'Sandsation' a sand sculpture festival in Berlin, Germany.
Tonnes of sand were dumped outside Berlin's main train station, and all for the sake of art.
Artists from across the globe took to the sand in order to create their masterpieces.
The sculptures ranged in size and detail, but all artists were working intensely to produce a sculptor that represented this years theme, paradise.
Posted by chek at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
March 01, 2007
Holi, Festival of Colors, March
http://www.thecolorsofindia.com/
2008: March 22, Saturday
2007: March 04, Sunday
2006: March 15, Wednesday
Calendar
India's riotous festival of colour prompts health, security warnings
Posted by chek at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
December 21, 2006
Shab-e Yalda, Dec 21
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yalda
Etymology of Anar
Bowlful of fruity meaning: Part 1
December 1, 2005
iranian.com
This is the time of the year when the fruit bowl that sits atop the eating counter in my kitchen begins to reflect the autumnal colors outdoors. In this still life the color orange is represented by the seedless narengi (tangerine), the mellowing bananas provide the browning yellow. But dominating it all in color and presence is the anar (pomegranate). I love pomegranate. Unlike any other fruit, perhaps with the exception of coconut or pineapple, it requires labor and precision in bringing its marvelous rewards to the lips. And, boy, is it ever worth it!
In my recipe, I first seed the pomegranate in a bowl that is nestled deep in the sink in order to avoid an excessive marking of the surroundings with the microscopic squirts of the juice. An average size pomegranate yields a few hundred fleshy vesicles (douneh). I then slice up a narengi or two and add it to the seeds. A dash of salt and pinch of golpar later – I am ready for a mouthwatering experience. What I like most about this concoction is that it assembles in most complimentary way all the four basic tastes -- the sweet and sour of the tangerine and pomegranate, salinity of salt, and bitterness of golpar. The dictionary defines golpar as Persian marjoram, origan, mountain-pride, angelica. But like gojeh (green baby plum) golpar defies definition, it is experienced.
In Farsi, the word for pomegranate is anar, for which the poetic nar is a contraction. The pomegranate blossom is appropriately called golnar (also gol-e anar,nargol), literally, flower (gol) of pomegranate.
According to Encyclopaedia Britannica, the Punica granatum is the size of a large orange and its skin color ranges from brownish yellow to red; it is considered indigenous to Iran and early on its cultivation encircled the Mediterranean and extended through Arabian Peninsula, Afghanistan and India. Regardless, due to its caloric content, if memory serves, anar is classified in the Iranian culinary folklore as a garmi (warm) fruit.
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word pomegranate in English consists of derivations from the Latin ponum (fruit) and granatum (grainy, seedy). In Old French, the fruit was called pomme granatum in which pomme had come to mean apple and granatum (Italian: granata; Spanish: granada) referred perhaps less to the seedy nature of the fruit but rather its place of origination in Granada. In modern French the fruit is called simply grenade.
According to Encyclopaedia Britannica, the city of Granada in southern Spain owes its name either to the Spanish granada (pomegranate), a locally abundant fruit that appears on the city’s coat or arms, or to the Moorish name from the place that was Karnattah (Gharnatah) possibly meaning “hill of strangers.” My money is on the first explanation, which could interpret the Moorish name of the place as a corruption of the place’s Spanish name having something to do with the pomegranate.
Because pomegranate is indigenous to Iran one naturally tends to assume that the Farsi word anar should be Persian. In Arabic the word anNar means fire and, according to the Dictionary of Islam, it occurs in the Koran very frequently for hell. According to my Haim Farsi-Inglisi Dictionary, in Farsi too the word nar means fire and its plural niran means hell. From my childhood, however, I recall the saying that anar mieveh beheshtist (pomegranate is a paradisiacal fruit).
Exactly how the presumptively infernal fruit became suddenly heavenly was not clear to me until now. According to the hadith (Islamic parables), per Encyclopaedia Britannica, the Prophet Mohammad remarked, “Eat the pomegranate, for it purges the system of envy and hatred.” My guess is that the Prophet’s urging was necessary in order to educate the hoards that had considered the fruit hellish, evil! The fact of the hadith, if it is to be believed, makes a strong case for the Farsi word anar to be of Arabic origin. Not!
The key to understanding nar or anar as a Persian word is in the adjective anaryn, which, according to Haim, is synonymous with zang, a general word in Persian for oxidization of many different substances.
The color of iron rust is the same as the brownish-reddish color of the pomegranate skin. I posit that in Persian the word for brownish-reddish rust would have been anar, from which derived anaryn (rusty). It would have been made up of anar, plus yn, like in rang (color) and rangyn (colorful). The relation between the Arabic anNar (fire) and Persian anar (pomegranate) could therefore be coincidental. I tend to think that Arabic, in which the common word for fire is harq, probably derived the word anNar from the Persian anar, which reminded the Arabic speaker of the color of fire. That Arabic would be receptive to taking in the Persian anar is evident in Arabic word narjyl from the Persian nargyl, meaning coconut. Another example of Arabicization of a Persian fruit name is narenj, which in Persian is narang.
More about narangi and porteghal, next week.
Narangi and Porteghal
Bowlful of fruity meaning: Part 2
December 12, 2005
iranian.com
The narangi (variation: narengi) that adorns my fruit bowl this time of year is also a perennial favorite. As a child, I often raided the hospitality room and polished bowlful of the fruit in short order. In Istanbul, I recall, I’d eat an entire bagful of the stuff on the way back from the market!
There is no single meaning for narangi in English. Take your pick from among mandarin, tangerine, clementine and others and, as the line from a Billy Joel song paraphrases, “it is all narangi to me!” There reason for this is simple. The Occidental names for this fruit rely on the distinguishing marks of geography (places of origin like China or Tangiers) or the people who developed or introduced a particular variety (such as the French missionary in Africa, Father Clement). But in Persian the fruit narangi gets its name from one thing that all narangis, regardless of origin, share -- the color orange.
The etymology of narangi is fascinating. Before I begin on this explication, I remind the reader of the conclusion of the earlier piece (Part I) that anar in Persian meant the color of metal rust (brownish-red) whence derived the Persian name for the fruit anar (pomegranate) and Arabic anNar for fire.
I believe the fruit name narangi derived its name from the combination of the Persian anar (rust-color) and rang-i (color). It eventually became narangi for the name of the fruit and also for the color orange. In Farsi we recognize the word narenji as the name for the color “orange,” which narenji derived from the Persian narangi, from the Persian citrus fruit narang. However, the Persian citrus fruit known as narang was not the fruit presently known as narangi. The word narang applied to a fruit we know presently in its Arabicized form of narenj, a sour orange.
The word narang (narenj) was therefore the earliest Persian word for today’s fruit that we call in Farsi and some other languages as porteghal (sweet orange). According to a source introduced to me by the Iranian scholar M. Saadat-Noury, the term porteghal or a variation of it is in use in more than a dozen languages, including Amharic, Arabic, Bulgarian, Farsi, Gaelic, Georgian, Greek, Romanian and Turkish (See http://www.uni-raz.at/~katzer/engl/ Citr_sin.html). According to this source, this variety of the citrus fruit (sweet orange) derives its name from the country of its origin Portugal. The country of Portugal got its name from the ancient Roman name of Portus Cale for the city and region of Porto.
The aforementioned connection of Portugal with sweet orange (porteghal) is further buttressed by the fact that there is actually a variety of the fruit called “Portugal orange” as there is one called Seville orange, which is actually closer in taste (bitter/sour) to the Iranian narenj. Because of these connections to the country of Portugal, I am therefore reluctant to go beyond the mere fantasy that perhaps the term porteghal, too, may have originated in Iran, and quite separately from the Portugal connection. Many years ago, I had heard or read somewhere that the term porteghal derived form the Persian por for “full,” and teghal (or toghal) for “seeds” in an Iranian dialect, perhaps Tabari or Giylaki. I have not been able to reconfirm this and therefore leave it out there for further speculation by others.
In Portugal, however, the name for the fruit orange is Laranja, Laranja doce for sweet orange. In Spain, the fruit is called naranja. Either way, my suspicion is that the fruit arrived on the Iberian Peninsula by the Moors, who brought there the word narenj, the Arabicized of the Persian narang. The influence of narang as the name for the color “orange” is present in such formations as pomaranc or variation of it in Czech, Polish, Slovak and Slovenian languages – in all the term translates to “orange color apple.” In Dutch, German, Russian and other languages the name for the fruit “orange” is apfelsine, in which the reference is to “Sina/China apple.” In Spanish, bluntly, sweet orange is known also as “naranja china.”
In Sanskrit the word for the fruit orange was naranga, as it is in Hindi (narangi), Urdu (narangi) and Gujarati (naringi) In the Caucasus, it is narich and narinjh in Armenian, narinc in Azari, and narinjhis in Georgian.
It is mentioned by the aforementioned orange website that the word naranga probably was not originally a Sanskrit word. This said, then probably the word entered into Sanskrit from the Persian. While the fruit “orange” itself is said variously to have originated from northern India (Oxford E.D.) or from the Malay area in Southeast Asia (Encyclopaedia Britannica), where in Malayalam the fruit “orange” is called narakam, northern Iran is (or used to be in my childhood) a very productive citrus bearing area. There is no reason to believe that the fruit orange (narang) would not have emanated from ancient Iran.
Regardless of where the fruit orange grew or whence it came or spread, it is a point of Iranian pride to point once again to yet another case of the Persian in English. The word for the fruit and color “orange,” according to Oxford English Dictionary, ultimately derives from the Persian narang.
I close this foray into language and meaning with an assignment of sorts as if conducting a class in the subject. Here is the inquiry: In light of the matters discussed in the essays on Anar and this one, is the English word henna of Persian origin? Here is what I believe and if it is sufficiently convincing then the answer for now must be in the affirmative. If there is another point of view, I am all ears.
The Oxford English Dictionary says that henna is from the Arabic, as does the Farsi-Inglisi Haim Dictionary. That said, is henna existentially Arabic or has gone into Arabic from Persian? In Farsi we say hana, sounding it like hava, for air. It is a plant (Egyptian Privet, Lawsonia inermis), whose leaves and shoots are used to make cosmetics or to dye parts of the body reddish orange. In Iran, nails and hair are often dyed with hana. The act of applying hana has varying verb forms -- hana bastan (to bind in hana), hana gozashtan (to apply hana) and hana nahadan (to place hana). All three verbs are Persian and there is no verb-conjugated form of hana.
This indicates to me that the status of hana in Persian is a noun, with the term hanai-i as its sole derivative meaning “color of hana.” Perhaps the earliest, possibly pre-Islamic, use of hana in Persia is evidenced in the ceremony of hana bandan. According to Haim, hana bandan (literally, binding in hana) is the feast on the eve of a wedding-day, celebrated by the groom’s side and it is so called because the bridegroom’s side sends hana for the bride. Among the Persian Jews (who were in Iran long before Islam showed up) the hana bandan is celebrated by the bride’s family.
Having briefly place hana in the Persian cultural context, here is why I think the word is of Persian origin. The color of hana is similar to that of anar (pomegranate) and narang (narenj, sour orange). Because I have established already that both came from the proto-word anarang (color of rust, anar), I am inclined to postulate that hana too must have contained some reference to “rust.” The Persian word for iron is ahan. This substance would have been known to the early man in its naturally occurring oxidized (rusted) state. If anar meant rust (as I have postulated) then ahan-anar would have been “iron rust.” From that would have come ahan-anar-rangi the ultimate proto-word for items that were orange, reddish yellow, brownish red in color.
About
Guive Mirfendereski is a professorial lecturer in international relations and law and is the principal artisan at trapworks.com. Born in Tehran in 1952, he is a graduate of Georgetown University's College of Arts and Sciences (BA), Tufts University's Fletcher School (PhD, MALD, MA) and Boston College Law School (JD). He is the author of A Diplomatic History of the Caspian Sea
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Moon was in love with the Sun, but he couldn't meet her. He always wanted to wake up earlier to catch the Sun at dawn, but he never succeeded. Moon found a solution; he hired a star, the star that always appears beside the Moon, to wake him up.
Finally, one night the star informed Moon that Sun was coming and Moon went to meet her. They fell in love and Moon prevented Sun from leaving. They forgot about their jobs and Sun rose later than usual.
According to this Persian myth, since that night the Moon and the Sun meet each other one time a year during "Yalda," a night that is the longest night of the year.
In the Mithraism religion Yalda is the birth of Mehr or Mithra, a Sun god. For the past 7,000 years Iranian people have celebrated the Eve of Yalda on Dec. 21.
Yalda, a Syric word imported into the Persian language by the Syric Christians means birth (tavalud and melaad are from the same origin). It is a relatively recent arrival and it is refereed to the "Shab e Cheleh Festival" a celebration of Winter Solstice on December 21st. Forty days before the next major Persian festival "Jashn e Sadeh" this night has been celebrated in countless cultures for thousands of years. The ancient Roman festivals of Saturnalia (God of Agriculture, Saturn) and Sol Invicta (Sun God) are amongst the best known in the Western world.
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This year, let us celebrate it for what it really is. It was originally the Yule or Yalda festival meant to commemorate the birth of the Sun God Mithra. I personally believe it may have had something to do with the Ice Age, which bedeviled ancient nature worshippers for so long that the day following the Winter Solstice, when days start getting longer, the day light is born once again, that day was the happiest day of the year for our freezing pagan ancestors and celebrated accordingly.
Many of the original pagan symbols survive in what has come to be known as Christmas such as: holly, ivy, mistletoe, yule log, the giving of gifts, decorated evergreen tree, magical reindeer, etc.. Most Christians know that December 25th is not the actual date of Jesus's birth. But to call it "Christmas" stretches the limits of irony as early Christians, even some today, did their best to abolish it. Polydor Virgil, an early British Christian, said "Dancing, masques, mummeries, stageplays, and other such Christmas disorders now in use with Christians, were derived from these Roman Saturnalian and Bacchanalian festivals; which should cause all pious Christians
eternally to abominate them."
In Massachusetts, Puritans unsuccessfully tried to ban Christmas entirely during the 17th century, because of its heathenism. The English Parliament abolished Christmas in 1647. Some contemporary Christian faith groups do not celebrate Christmas to this day including the Worldwide Church of God (before its recent conversion to Evangelical Christianity) and the Jehovah's Witnesses. In fact, I suspect that the last pagan holdouts supported the switch to "Christmas" in an effort to save their celebration from being eradicated entirely by the Holy Roman Empire.
In a compromise, the Catholic Church, in the beginning of the 4th century CE, agreed to celebrate the birthday of Yeshua of Nazareth (later known as Jesus Christ) on December 25th, three days removed from its original Yule date. Eastern churches followed suit and began to celebrate Christmas after 375 CE. Ireland started in the 5th century. The church in Jerusalem started in the 7th century. Austria, England and Switzerland in the 8th. Slavic lands in the 9th and 10th centuries.
Regardless of its origins, it's a great time to wish friends and family joy, prosperity and good health for the coming year.
Happy Yule,
Cyrus Kar
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Yule
by Mike Nichols
Our Christian friends are often quite surprised at how enthusiastically we Pagans celebrate the 'Christmas' season. Even though we prefer to use the word 'Yule', and our celebrations may peak a few days BEFORE the 25th, we nonetheless follow many of the traditional customs of the season: decorated trees, carolling, presents, Yule logs, and mistletoe. We might even go so far as putting up a 'Nativity set', though for us the three central characters are likely to be interpreted as Mother Nature, Father Time, and the Baby Sun-God. None of this will come as a surprise to anyone who knows the true history of the holiday, of course.
In fact, if truth be known, the holiday of Christmas has always been more Pagan than Christian, with it's associations of Nordic divination, Celtic fertility rites, and Roman Mithraism. That is why both Martin Luther and John Calvin abhorred it, why the Puritans refused to acknowledge it, much less celebrate it (to them, no day of the year could be more holy than the Sabbath), and why it was even made ILLEGAL in Boston! The holiday was already too closely associated with the birth of older Pagan gods and heroes. And many of them (like Oedipus, Theseus, Hercules, Perseus, Jason, Dionysus, Apollo, Mithra, Horus and even Arthur) possessed a narrative of birth, death, and resurrection that was uncomfortably close to that of Jesus. And to make matters worse, many of them pre-dated the Christian Savior.
Ultimately, of course, the holiday is rooted deeply in the cycle of the year. It is the Winter Solstice that is being celebrated, seed-time of the year, the longest night and shortest day. It is the birthday of the new Sun King, the Son of God -- by whatever name you choose to call him. On this darkest of nights, the Goddess becomes the Great Mother and once again gives birth. And it makes perfect poetic sense that on the longest night of the winter, 'the dark night of our souls', there springs the new spark of hope, the Sacred Fire, the Light of the World, the Coel Coeth.
That is why Pagans have as much right to claim this holiday as Christians. Perhaps even more so, as the Christians were rather late in laying claim to it, and tried more than once to reject it. There had been a tradition in the West that Mary bore the child Jesus on the twenty-fifth day, but no one could seem to decide on the month. Finally, in 320 C.E., the Catholic Fathers in Rome decided to make it December, in an effort to co-opt the Mithraic celebration of the Romans and the Yule celebrations of the Celts and Saxons.
There was never much pretense that the date they finally chose was historically accurate. Shepherds just don't 'tend their flocks by night' in the high pastures in the dead of winter! But if one wishes to use the New Testament as historical evidence, this reference may point to sometime in the spring as the time of Jesus's birth. This is because the lambing season occurs in the spring and that is the only time when shepherds are likely to 'watch their flocks by night' -- to make sure the lambing goes well. Knowing this, the Eastern half of the Church continued to reject December 25, preferring a 'movable date' fixed by their astrologers according to the moon.
Thus, despite its shaky start (for over three centuries, no one knew when Jesus was supposed to have been born!), December 25 finally began to catch on. By 529, it was a civic holiday, and all work or public business (except that of cooks, bakers, or any that contributed to the delight of the holiday) was prohibited by the Emperor Justinian. In 563, the Council of Braga forbade fasting on Christmas Day, and four years later the Council of Tours proclaimed the twelve days from December 25 to Epiphany as a sacred, festive season. This last point is perhaps the hardest to impress upon the modern reader, who is lucky to get a single day off work. Christmas, in the Middle Ages, was not a SINGLE day, but rather a period of TWELVE days, from December 25 to January 6. The Twelve Days of Christmas, in fact. It is certainly lamentable that the modern world has abandoned this approach, along with the popular Twelfth Night celebrations.
Of course, the Christian version of the holiday spread to manycountries no faster than Christianity itself, which means that 'Christmas' wasn't celebrated in Ireland until the late fifth century; in England, Switzerland, and Austria until the seventh; in Germany until the eighth; and in the Slavic lands until the ninth and tenth. Not that these countries lacked their own mid-winter celebrations of Yuletide. Long before the world had heard of Jesus, Pagans had been observing the season by bringing in the Yule log, wishing on it, and lighting it from the remains of last year's log. Riddles were posed and answered, magic and rituals were practiced, wild boars were sacrificed and consumed along with large quantities of liquor, corn dollies were carried from house to house while carolling, fertility rites were practiced (girls standing under a sprig of mistletoe were subject to a bit more than a kiss), and divinations were cast for the coming Spring. Many of these Pagan customs, in an appropriately watered-down form, have entered the mainstream of Christian celebration, though most celebrants do not realize (or do not mention it, if they do) their origins.
For modern Witches, Yule (from the Anglo-Saxon 'Yula', meaning 'wheel' of the year) is usually celebrated on the actual Winter Solstice, which may vary by a few days, though it usually occurs on or around December 21st. It is a Lesser Sabbat or Lower Holiday in the modern Pagan calendar, one of the four quarter-days of the year, but a very important one. This year (1988) it occurs on December 21st at 9:28 am CST. Pagan customs are still enthusiastically followed. Once, the Yule log had been the center of the celebration. It was lighted on the eve of the solstice (it should light on the first try) and must be kept burning for twelve hours, for good luck. It should be made of ash. Later, the Yule log was replaced by the Yule tree but, instead of burning it, burning candles were placed on it. In Christianity, Protestants might claim that Martin Luther invented the custom, and Catholics might grant St. Boniface the honor, but the custom can demonstrably be traced back through the Roman Saturnalia all the way to ancient Egypt. Needless to say, such a tree should be cut down rather than purchased, and should be disposed of by burning, the proper way to dispatch any sacred object.
Along with the evergreen, the holly and the ivy and the mistletoe were important plants of the season, all symbolizing fertility and everlasting life. Mistletoe was especially venerated by the Celtic Druids, who cut it with a golden sickle on the sixth night of the moon, and believed it to be an aphrodisiac. (Magically -- not medicinally! It's highly toxic!) But aphrodisiacs must have been the smallest part of the Yuletide menu in ancient times, as contemporary reports indicate that the tables fairly creaked under the strain of every type of good food. And drink! The most popular of which was the 'wassail cup' deriving its name from the Anglo-Saxon term 'waes hael' (be whole or hale).
Medieval Christmas folklore seems endless: that animals will all kneel down as the Holy Night arrives, that bees hum the '100th psalm' on Christmas Eve, that a windy Christmas will bring good luck, that a person born on Christmas Day can see the Little People, that a cricket on the hearth brings good luck, that if one opens all the doors of the house at midnight all the evil spirits will depart, that you will have one lucky month for each Christmas pudding you sample, that the tree must be taken down by Twelfth Night or bad luck is sure to follow, that 'if Christmas on a Sunday be, a windy winter we shall see', that 'hours of sun on Christmas Day, so many frosts in the month of May', that one can use the Twelve Days of Christmas to predict the weather for each of the twelve months of the coming year, and so on.
Remembering that most Christmas customs are ultimately based upon older Pagan customs, it only remains for modern Pagans to reclaim their lost traditions. In doing so, we can share many common customs with our Christian friends, albeit with a slightly different interpretation. And thus we all share in the beauty of this most magical of seasons, when the Mother Goddess once again gives birth to the baby Sun-God and sets the wheel in motion again. To conclude with a long-overdue paraphrase, 'Goddess bless us, every one!'
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See also:
Faale Hafiz
Posted by chek at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
October 05, 2006
Blue Moon
http://www.infoplease.com/spot/bluemoon1.html
There are in fact two definitions for a blue moon.
According to the more recent definition, a blue moon is the second full moon in a calendar month. For a blue moon to occur, the first of the full moons must appear at or near the beginning of the month so that the second will fall within the same month (the average span between two moons is 29.5 days). May or June 2007 will have two full moons: the first on June 1, the second on June 30—that second full moon is called the blue moon.
An older definition for the blue moon is recorded in early issues of the Maine Farmer's Almanac. According to this definition, the blue moon is the third full moon in a season that has four full moons.
Blue Moons 2004–2010
Second full moon in month
Jul 31, 2004
Jun 2007
Dec 2009
Third full moon in a season of four full moons
Aug 2005
May 2008
Nov 2010
Posted by chek at 11:24 AM | Comments (0)
July 16, 2006
World Body-painting Championships
http://www.bodypainting-festival.com/
World Body-painting Championships
Seeboden, Austria
Jul 16 - 23
180 artists from 40 nations will compete with brush, sponge and airbrush to create the best designs in front of an audience of 25,000.
Posted by chek at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
May 24, 2006
Sex Theme Park, London, Sep 7-Aug 7
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/5012334.stm
Amora - The Academy of Sex and Relationships
At the Trocadero in Piccadilly, London's West End
he 10,500sq-ft exhibit is designed to "separate fact from myth and educate everyone into being better lovers".
Tickets: £15 (18 and over)
Organisers expect to attract more than 600,000 visitors within the first year.
Posted by chek at 12:14 PM | Comments (0)
May 09, 2006
Keukenhof - Dutch Garden, Mar 23 - May 29
http://www.iranian.com/Seifikar/2006/May/Tulips/index.html
Mar 23 - May 29
Lisse, Netherlands
Keukenhof, is one of the world's largest and most beautiful and spectacular flower gardens. It is more than 55-years old.
Situated about an hour from Amsterdam and outside of the town of Lisse, this year, some seven million bulbs are blooming in the 32-hectare (80 acres) springtime park.
Posted by chek at 01:46 PM | Comments (0)
March 18, 2006
Chekonim's Birthday, Mar 18
http://www.chekonim.com/
Chekonim is 3 Years Old
Annual Report
| Year | Visitors | Page Views | Posts | Comments | Authors |
| 2007 | 10,620 | 24,000 | 161 | 1 | 10 |
| 2006 | 7,860 | 23,000 | 390 | 1 | 10 |
| 2005 | 7,850 | 21,000 | 1020 | 12 | 5 |
Mar 2007:
Rangineh is among those who joined our team this year.
Mar 2006:
It's been one year since we started Chekonim.
I would like to thank KP for her active role and congratulate her on winning the title of "Author of the Year".
Posted by chek at 11:59 PM | Comments (1)
February 25, 2006
Carnival, Brazil, Feb
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/4759980.stm
Amid beating Samba drums, Mayor Cesar Maia handed over the keys to the city to the Carnival King or Rei Momo.
The Sambadrome, a 700-metre avenue, in the capital, Rio de Janeiro, hosts the country's grandest celebrations and parades on Sunday and Monday.
The government is promoting safe sex during the next five days of revelling and is distributing 25m free condoms.
Posted by chek at 01:47 PM | Comments (0)
February 21, 2006
Mother Language Day - Feb 21
http://webworld.unesco.org/imld/
International Mother Language Day
21 February 2005
See also:
Persian or Farsi
Posted by chek at 01:24 AM | Comments (0)
February 06, 2006
Sapporo Snow Festival, Feb 6-12
http://www.snowfes.com/english/
Feb. 6-12, 2006
Posted by chek at 02:50 PM | Comments (0)
January 26, 2006
Cirque du Soleil
http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/CirqueDuSoleil/en/showstickets/default.htm
Cirque du Soleil comes to the Bay Area
San Francisco (Nov. 11 to Jan. 8)
San Jose (Jan. 19 to Mar. 5, 2006)
Tickets are
Regular: $85, $76, or $45.
Student: $76.5, $68.5, or $40.5
Upgrade to better seats for FREE
Posted by chek at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
January 11, 2006
Miss Canada, 2005
http://www.pictorialtoronto.com/archives/2005/10/miss_canada.html
Miss Canada, 2007, 1st Runner Up (Photo)
Gala event at Casino de Montreal.
BBC article, Ramona in China
BBC article, Ramona is Miss World Canada
Semi-Finalists in Swim Suits
Miss World Semi-Finalists from the Americas
Miss Canada (Ramona Amiri) and Miss Mexico/Miss World Americas (Dafne MOLINA LONA)
Miss World Voting
The on-line voting process for Miss World pageant has begun. You may visit www.missworld.tv and vote for Ramona Amiri! (CANADA - Ramona Rina AMIRI) It's a dollar for a vote and the money will go directly to charity. Let's start a WAVE for our pretty Iranian-Canadian girl.
Miss Canada, 2005
Miss World Canada 2005, Ramona Amiri, Iranian girl who lives in Vancouver, was elected last night. After that she told the audience: "Work like you don't need the money, love like you've never been hurt, dance like no one's watching." It's for the second time that an Iranian born girl is being elected as Miss Canada. Nazanin Afshar Jam - Miss Canada 2004 - was the first Iranian girl who got this title and now Ramona Amiri has got it for the second time.
Vote for Miss Canada (closed)
See also:
Miss World .tv
Miss World Wide Web
Posted by chek at 06:29 PM | Comments (0)
October 25, 2005
Miss Europe, 2005
http://stockweddings.com/misseuro/01.htm
Miss Germany 2004 is Miss Europe 2005
36 beauties from all over Europe took part in the final of Miss Europe 2005 contest that was held in Paris on March 12.
Last year's Miss Germany, 22-year-old Shahrivar Shermine of Iranian origin has become the winner of the crown and 50,000-euro prize. The 174-cm-tall brunette (5'9'') who weighs 53 kg has just finished her university studies, speaks German, Farsi, English and French, and enjoys horse-riding and swimming.
Other finalists were Miss France, Miss Slovakia and Miss England.
Among the judges of the contest, broadcasted in more than 50 countries, were Slovak top-model Adriana Karembeu, fashion designer Paco Rabanne, singer Charles Aznavour, photographer Jean-Daniel Lorieux, former Miss France and Miss Europe Elodie Gossuin and president of modeling agency Metropolitan Michel Levaton.
See also:
Miss Canada (2005, and 2003)
Posted by chek at 06:26 PM | Comments (0)
September 24, 2005
152-mile Spartathlon race
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4298146.stm
Ancient Greek run tests athletes
More than 250 long-distance runners are taking part in one of the world's toughest races - following in the footsteps of a legendary Greek soldier.
The 152-mile (246km) Spartathlon race began at the foot of the Acropolis early on Friday morning.
Runners have just 36 hours to complete the route from Athens to Sparta, which Pheidippides reputedly took in 490BC to get troop reinforcements.
The modern equivalent was started in 1982 by British soldier John Foden.
What is now considered one of the greatest challenges for long-distance runners starts on the last Friday each September at around 0700 (0400 GMT).
Greek runner Yiannis Kouros holds the record for the fastest time, completing the course in 1984 in 20 hours, 25 minutes.
Posted by chek at 05:57 PM | Comments (0)
July 14, 2005
San Fermin, Pamplona, July
http://www.sanfermin.com
Fiesta de San Fermin
Running of the Bulls
For most of the year, Pamplona is just like any other Spanish provincial town. But in July Pamplona is transformed into the focus of a cosmopolitan bacchanal. The annual nine-day festival of San Fermin, which concludes today, draws the curious, the naive and the foolhardy from around the world to run through the streets pursued by six fighting bulls.
A rocket would signal that the bulls had been released, heralding an 850-metre charge through Pamplona's winding streets to the bullring.
. The San Fermin festival began in the 16th Century
. It is named after the patron saint of the diocese of Pamplona
. The bulls run through the streets in the morning and fight in the bullring in the afternoon
. Pamplona's population of 200,000 swells with up to two million visitors over the weekend
. Its all-night parties are as famous as its bulls
. Jumping off a fountain into the arms of waiting friends is a recent tradition
. The Cardinal bull run rule - when you go down, stay down
. There have been 13 deaths since 1924
San Fermin Travel Guide - English, Espanol, Euskaraz
Pictures
2006 Video
2005 Galeria
2005 bbc
Posted by chek at 02:34 PM | Comments (0)
July 01, 2005
CHIN BIKINI, July 1st
http://www.chinradio.com/special_events_page.php?id=17
Canada Day Weekend
Toronto
Preliminaries begin May 9th
Posted by chek at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
May 31, 2005
Miss Canada, 2003
http://www.iranian.ws/cgi-bin/iran_news/exec/view.cgi/1/910
Gorgeous Nazanin crowned world's princess
Dec 8, 2003
North Van's Miss Canada crowned World's princess UBC (University of British Columbia) graduate Nazanin Afshin-Jam takes first runner-up at Miss World By Stuart Hunter
With a global television audience of two billion people watching, a Canadian beauty was crowned yesterday. But all North Vancouver's Nazanin Afshin-Jam, 24, wanted after being named first runner-up in the Miss World competition in the southern Chinese resort city of Sanya was a Krispy Kreme doughnut, said her beaming older sister 'Naz'. "We're really proud of her," said Naz, 29, the elder of the two children of 'Jaleh' and 'Afshin Jam', who flew to China to watch their youngest, nicknamed "Nini," as she scored the highest-ever ranking for a Canadian woman in the Miss World contest. "She accomplished a lot in her life to warrant where she is today. This is one of the best experiences of her life." Miss Ireland, 19-year-old Rosanna Davison -- the daughter of Lady in Red songsmith Chris De Burgh -- won the Miss World crown. Afshin-Jam took second-place honours. China's Guan Qi was third in the field of 106 contestants. Afshin-Jam won the Miss World Canada crown in October in Toronto. Born in Iran, Afshin-Jam fled her homeland with her family after the fall of the shah. Although fiercely proud of her Canadian nationality, the Kitsilano Secondary grad who graduated from the University of B.C. with a double major in international relations and political science, also remains a role model for Persian women. "She's had thousands of e-mails from Persian women from around the world telling her how proud they are of her," Naz said. "They are proud that a Persian woman can speak with such a strong voice." Not only is the five foot seven inch, brown-eyed beauty a model and actor, but Afshin-Jam has pilot licences for powered aircraft and gliders. She also holds the highest rank possible in the Royal Canadian Air Cadets and she speaks four languages -- English, French, Farsi and Spanish. She has training in singing, dance, public speaking and bush survival skills, and lists kayaking, sailing and go-kart racing as her favourite sports. She works with the Red Cross teaching kids about global issues such as poverty and child hunger. And, Naz adds with a laugh, her sister is single. Afshin-Jam is taking a year off from her broadcast journalism studies at the B.C. Institute of Technology to fulfil her role as Miss World Canada. In the future, she hopes to emulate one of her heroes, journalist Christiane Amanpour, as a foreign correspondent.
Afshin-Jam slated to return to B.C. today. And then there's the little matter of that doughnut. "She said she can't wait to have a Krispy Kreme," Naz said. "And she wants to meet Nelson Mandela." The Miss World pageant marked the first time China has hosted an international beauty contest. A $15.5-million tiara-shaped convention hall was built for the event, which China hopes will boost tourism in the palm-dotted resort city on the island province of Hainan. Contest judges included film star Jackie Chan and Sex and the City author Candace Bushnell. There were no disruptions at this year's event, unlike last year, when the contest had to be moved from Nigeria to London after deadly rioting between Muslims and Christians. MISS NINI Nickname: Nini Favourite junk food: Chocolate Lava Cake Favourite colour: Fuchsia Favourite smell: Vanilla Favourite soul food: "Too many choices" Favourite magazine: National Geographic Favourite music: Spanish-Arab fusion Favourite book: Mahatma Gandhi by Mahatma Gandhi Person You Would Most Like to Meet: Nelson Mandela
Posted by Chekonim at 03:24 PM | Comments (0)
May 21, 2005
Cannes Film Festival
http://www.festival-cannes.org/index.php?langue=6002
58th Cannes Festival
11th to 22nd May 2005
* Palme d'Or: "The Child" by Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne
* Grand Prix: "Broken Flowers" by Jim Jarmusch
* Best Actress Award: Hanna Laslo in "Free Zone"
* Best Actor Award: Tommy Lee Jones in "The Three Burials Of Melquiades Estrada"
* Best Director Award: "Hidden" by Michael Haneke
* Best Screenplay Award to Guillermo Arriaga for "The Three Burials Of Melquiades Estrada"
* Jury Prize: "Shanghai Dreams" by Wang Xiaoshuai
* Camera d'Or Winner: "The Forsaken Land" and "Me And You And Everyone We Know"
* Short Film Palme d'Or: "Podorozhni" ("Wayfarers") by Igor Strembitskyy / Special Mention: "Clara" by Van Sowerwine
Posted by chek at 04:10 PM | Comments (0)