History

Defining Kyrgyz Identity

The fact that I find it difficult to define myself as a Kyrgyz person occurred to me  only when I moved to London. Not only most people around me find it difficult to pronounce Kyrgyzstan, most of them have no idea what Kyrgyzstan is. The fact that I am Asian, Muslim and speak Russian doesn’t make it any easier.  So the question occurred, how do I accurately describe myself as a Kyrgyz person?

By now I have realized that it’s impossible to do it without a lengthy introduction into Kyrgyz History, because after all identity is shaped by culture, and culture is shaped by history, well, and many other components. (more…)

Fátima: the most famous Portuguese centre of Christian pilgrimage

October is Virgin Mary’s month. In Portugal, it’s time to pay a special visit to Our Lady of Fátima sanctuary, in Cova de Iria (Leiria). There, especially on the 13, we will find Catholics from all over the world celebrating the last appearance of the Virgin Mary in October 1917.

The Three Shepherd Children

According to the Catholic Church, Nossa Senhora de Fátima (Our Lady of Fatima) appeared to three shepherd children on the 13th day of six consecutive months in 1917, starting on May,13 and ending on October,13. The three children were Lúcia Santos and her cousins, Jacinta and Francisco Marto.

Jacinta died in 1920 and Francisco in 1919. The siblings were victims of the great influenza epidemic that swept through Europe in 1918. Sister Lúcia, born in 1907, became a Carmelite nun in a monastery in Coimbra and died six years ago. (more…)

A Canadian Thanksgiving: Yes, it’s our own holiday

Thanksgiving. The major Fall holiday in North America. Instantly, you may picture a feast of food, pilgrims in black hats, and, in recent years, a start to the Christmas shopping mania. Nope. Sorry, that’s our neighbours to south: that’s American Thanksgiving. I’m here to talk about Canadian Thanksgiving. To be honest, I barely even know what a pilgrim is.

Canadian Thanksgiving, firstly, happens over a month earlier, in October. It is held the second Monday in October each year, so the exact date changes. This Thanksgiving will be held on October 10, 2011. Why the date difference between America and Canada? Well, Thanksgiving has very pagan roots. The founders of Canada were settlers who lived off of the land. The fall is the time for harvest. The farms are ripe with food and everything must be picked before the first frost comes and ruins the crops. This time of year would be celebrated with a huge feast of all the freshly picked food. Thus, the holiday is timed around the harvest itself, and being north of America, Canada has shorter summer seasons and experiences its harvest earlier in the year.

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Camila O’Gorman, the romantic heroine of Argentina

Camila O’Gorman is one of the most famous romantic heroines of Argentina. Her ill-fated romance with Father Uladislao Gutiérrez was the scandal of the century. They defied the moral and social conventions of the time and caused a big uproar.

Camila O’Gorman by Leon Pallière

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Snapshots of Argentinean rural towns

In Argentina, many rural towns grew around railway stations and were mainly named after early settlers. Most towns thrived in the first half of the 20th century and started to decline when rail lines were shut down and services stopped.

Nowadays, although agriculture is still their mainstay, tourism plays a very important role in the local economy as well. City dwellers come to these towns for the day to eat great food, cleanse their lungs with fresh air and relax away from the hustle and bustle of big cities.

Uribelarrea is located about 120 kilometres southwest of the city of Buenos Aires. It was founded in 1890 by Miguel Nemesio de Uribelarrea. The disused train station is now the home of the local police .

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Poetry and music: a Portuguese liaison

Portuguese, also called A Língua de Camões in honour of our greatest poet Luiz Vaz de Camões -author of the famous epic Os Lusíadas (The Lusiads) about the great Portuguese discoveries in the 16th century-, is a language of poets celebrated through music since medieval times.

Modern Portuguese dates from the 16th century and has its origins in Galaico-Português, or Old Portuguese, a West Iberian Romance language spoken in the northwest area of the Iberian Peninsula. Our strong connection between poetry and music dates from the final years of the 12th century until the middle of the 14th century, when Galaico- Português was used for literary purposes in the cantigas d’ amor (male-voiced love lyric), the cantigas d’ amigo (female-voiced love lyric), and the cantigas d’ escarnho e de mal dizer (including a variety of genres from personal invective to social satire, poetic parody and literary debate). The video below is an example of a cantiga d’amigo.

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