#aphaskevent

Hello Derp and thank you for an interesting question!

Yes, flowers are indeed significant in our culture. They were often used during various rituals, especially those that were connected with family and marriage. Flowers were an important part of different ancient cults that worshipped life, motherhood and life-giving properties of earth. Nowadays flowers are also significant, but in a slightly different way. They are considered to be a good gift for almost every occasion.

And now let’s talk about some flowers - symbols of Ukraine!

Волошка (centaurea) symbolizes love, politeness, kindness, beauty and youth. The blue plant has a strong scent and is also considered to be a medical herb. Centaurea was used to decorate churches and crosses. If a young girl died, people would make flower crowns with them and put those on her head.

Барвінок (periwinkle) is another traditional flower, which stands for happiness, eternity and the undying memories. People often associated it with the beginning of spring. Soon it became a symbol of life and people started to grow these flowers in their gardens. Periwinkle was used to provide protection to everyone that needs it.

Мальва (malva, mallow) means love for your Motherland. They served as a reminder about home for people who left their native place. A lot of people decorated their houses with these flowers.

Even though it is not a flower, калина (viburnum) is an important plant that symbolizes Ukraine itself. There is even a saying: “Без верби та калини нема України” (There is no Ukraine without willow and viburnum). The viburnum and its vibrant colours symbolize life, fire, blood. It also represents home, family, a special bond between different generations and everything that is dear to us. There are a lot of beautiful legends about this plant, so it is clear why Ukrainians love the viburnum so much! :D 

And that’s it for today! I hope that the information was helpful. If you have any questions about my country, make sure to ask them! I will be glad to answer. Goodbye!

P. S. This post is brought to you by @aphaskevent ! There you can find a lot of interesting answers about various countries of the world. Thank you for organizing this wonderful event! 

Hello there! :D

Aaah well, I don’t really consider myself to be a big expert on Irish dancing or to be very knowledgeable on the technicalities of Irish step dancing. However since I’m a big history nerd, I can offer you a brief history on Irish dancing and how step dancing fits in the whole picture?  ;w;

(video of step dancing from 1972)

There is surprisingly not much that is known of Irish dancing in medieval Ireland and earlier. Therehave been quite a few references to it in written records throughout the centuries, but we know little of how these dances would have looked like back then.

We are first able to start working with known dance forms from the 12thcentury onward. Withthe Norman invasion of Ireland in the 12th century, various Normancustoms were introduced to the country. Among them was the Carol, a type of dancein which the leader sang in the middle of a circle of dancers who would reply tothe leader’s song. This dance was often performed in Irish towns that had beenconquered by the Normans. It is believed that the Carol introduced the concept of circledances in Ireland, although it isn’t completely certain that native forms ofcircle dances didn’t exist previously. However the Carol seems to have stuckaround for some time and perhaps popularized the concept of circle dances.  

 In the 16thcentury there were three types of Irish dances that were the most oftenmentioned: the Irish Hey, the “Rince Fada” (Irish for long dance) and the Trenchmore. 

- The Irish Hey was a type of circle dance that involved dancers wounding in andaround their partners. It was a forerunner of the reel, which is stillperformed in Ireland to this day. (the video above is an example of a treble reel, one of the evolved dance forms of the Irish Hey)

- The Rince Fada was typically done in two longlines, one line with women and the other with men. Hence the name “long dance”. :P The video is a pretty good example of how this dance would go, though usually there are more participants.

- The Trenchmore was apparently an Irish dance that was adapted for the Englishinvaders, being derived from an older type of Irish peasant dance. This dancewas very popular with the English, to the point that they brought it back tothe court of Queen Elizabeth. This video is a reconstruction of how it would have looked like, to my knowledge the Trenchmore hasn’t survived otherwise.

By the 18th century the jig was well established inIreland. Other popular dance steps included slip jigs, double jigs, slides,mazurkas and polkas. From around the 1750s to the early 1900s, travelling dancemasters were going from village to village, teaching various forms of dancesand steps. Step dancing in particular was widely taught in all parts ofIreland. Another type of dance that was taught during thistime was the reel, the whirling or spinning dance. Travelling dancemasters usually would spend a couple of weeks in each village, staying with alocal family. In return for the lodging, they would teach dancing free ofcharge to the family members.  

Inthe 19th and 20th centuries, the most popular dancesthroughout Ireland were sets and half sets. A good example of a set dance canbe seen in this video:

Setdances were brought over to Ireland and England by the armies of the Duke ofWellington returning home from the Napoleonic wars in 1816. This militaryorigin can be seen in the names given to certain dance movements. Beingoriginally derived from the French quadrille, set dances in Ireland developedfurther to better suit native Irish rhythms.

Dancesused to be commonly hosted in people’s houses but this practice would decreasewith the appearance of commercial dance halls and changes in travel,communication and lifestyle by the mid-20th century. However anotherfactor that is thought to have majorly contributed to the decline of housedances was the passing of the Public Halls Dance Act in 1935, which made thehosting of unlicenseddances illegal. House dances as they hadbeen known previously would disappear almost completely afterwards. A survivingrelic of this custom is the Irish word “céilí”, which refers to “an informalsocial gathering (at a neighbour’s house)” but now the word is mostly used to describean organized dancing session.

TheGaelic League, in their goal of re-establishing the Irish language and culturein the country, went on to ban their members from participating in dances thatwere regarded as being foreign introductions. One of the dances that werebanned was set dancing, which was regarded by the Gaelic League as being tooEnglish.

Stepdancing would instead be encouraged by the Gaelic League and this form ofdancing would become heavily popularized during the 20th century. Throughout the 20th century,the competitive solo form of step dancing would evolve. This would lead to step dancing becomingcodified and certain styles being standardised. (particularly styles from thesouthern areas of the country) Informal competitions for students of variousdance masters were held between towns for several years but the Gaelic Leagueheld the first organised competition in 1897. The Gaelic League would create in1927 An Coimisiún Le RincíGaelacha (The Commission of Gaelic Dances), a separate body that would be incharge of organising dances and contributing to the further standardisation ofIrish dances. This organisation wouldalso start holding examinations and giving certifications to dance teachers. 

Inthe recent years, older and freer forms of step dancing have started to betaught at summer schools and festivals. Showslike Riverdance would also revolutionize Irish dancing by returning to moretraditional step dance forms and move away from the rigid competitive forms. The video below shows the interval act of the 1994 Eurovision show, which is considered to be truly historic as it introduced Irish dancing (particularly step dancing!) to a global stage. This act not only managed to attract new fans to this dance form, but it also reinvigorated traditional Irish dancing and has contributed to the bright and vibrant culture it is today.   

Whereare the arms in Irish dancing?

So this is probably a question that has baffled many people when on the subject of Irish traditional dancing: Why is there little to no arm movement in Irish dances, particularly in step dancing?

Aaaahif only there was a straightforward answer to why arm movements became absent fromIrish dancing. The silliest explanation I’ve seen states that when the Englishbanned the Irish language and other forms of cultural expression, the Irish decidedto not only dance inside their houses, but to do so without using their arms sothat any Englishman passing by wouldn’t know the Irish were dancing.

A more likely explanation is due to lack of space back then. Local venues wereusually small, so travelling dance masters reportedly taught the steps bydemonstrating on tabletops, or even on top of barrels! If this was the case,these masters would have had to hold their arms rigidly at their sides and wereunable to do any kind of lateral movement. Later when there were larger venues,various regional styles evolved to include more movement of the body but armmovements never fully caught on.  

Anotherpossible explanation relates to the state of the stage, or a lack thereof. Mostplaces lacked a hard surface to dance on properly, so people often unhingeddoors and lay them on the ground to dance on. Doors didn’t offer a lotof space and so due to having a small “stage”, it didn’t favour using the armsmuch. Instead, people would favour dances that showed off the quick and intricatemovements of the feet.

Addingon to this explanation, there is a belief that in earlier competitions a danceteacher decided to have his students perform with arms purposefully heldrigidly to the sides to draw more attention to the steps. According to thisbelief, those students were praised for their movements and won thecompetition, which led to other teachers and dancers adopting this trend and iteventually became part of the standard of Irish dances.

I’mnot certain about the validity of this last explanation as we are not givennames, dates or any kind of specifics for that matter. But I could believe thatthe trend of not using the arms grew gradually and not one, but several danceteachers began to forgo arm movements completely and it eventually became thestandard.  

Inany case, we don’t have a straightforward answer to why arms fell out of use inIrish dances. The most likely explanations show that lack of space (and/or lackof a proper stage) led to arm movements being an underdeveloped aspect intraditional dances and with the establishment of dancing competitions, thenon-usage of the arms probably became deliberate. 

SPANISH LEGENDS AND MYTHOLOGY 

Hello! Sorry for taking so long to answer. Unfortunately, this theme is not my specialty at all, but I’ll try my best to give you a decent answer :’D 

PRE-ROMAN IBERIANS

Little is known about Iberian customs and beliefs. They had a very rich and flourishing culture and social life, but all the written testimony had been lost due to the fact that their writing has not bee de-codified yet. Apparently they were polytheists and, according to the late chronicles of roman historians during the invasion, had received a lot of religious influence from Phoenicians and Greeks, their permanent trade partners for centuries. There had been some discoveries like The Lady of Baza and the Lady of Elche that suggest a strong leadership by Priestesses in the religious life. 

As for mythology, it had been heavily inspired by the Helenic beliefs about this part of the world. According to Carthaginian chronicles there used to be a temple where the “Columns of Heracles” were supposed to be, at the edge of the Strait of Gibraltar. Hannibal Barca is said to have sworn eternal hate to Rome in that temple. One of the theories also say that he gave name to the city of Barcelona and the Columns of Heracles are still present in the Spanish Crest of Arms. 

Still, most of the known Iberian mythology is like: “here supposedly be a rock where something happened according to other people.” 

A myth/legend/weird history thing worth mentioning though is Tartessos:

TARTESSOS

Tartessos is, crudely said, the Iberian Atlantis. Although to be fair Atlantis was probably made up by Plato but Tartessos has been definitively proven to have been real in the recent research. The problem is that nobody knows where the heck it was. 

Supposedly it was a great coastline civilization miles ahead of its surrounding regions and of their time, with a rich culture and technology, that just disappeared without leaving any trace. It’s fall is mostly consistent with the fall of Phoenicia, around the Vth century BC. 

Some theories say that Tartessos had been wiped out by a Tsunami, since its a region of heavy seismic activity, others that it just died out with the end of the Phoenician commerce or that the surrounding cultures caught up and they stopped being special, thus just mixing around and disappearing. 

In any case, it’s a mystery! 

THE CELTIC NORTH-WEST

Their legends and mythology are far clearer, more documented, and survive to this day. However, I don’t think I can surprise you with any of them because (according to my tour guide in Santiago) most of them can be found in other regions of Celtic descend, specially in Ireland. 

Of the most “recent” (middle ages) The Holy Procession (the procession of the dead dressed in white that you can find walking around at midnight) comes to mind, also the meigas, sort of witches, and bruixas, their nice, cool equivalent that people liked. 

St. JAMES THE MOOR-SLAYER

This is an individual legend but it’s very important. So, in Galicia they say rest the bones of the Apostle St. James (Santiago), which turned it into the hotspot for pilgrimage, specially after the Muslims in the east cut the christian pilgrimage routes to Jerusalem and started killing the pilgrims. So like, the next best option, and way safer, was the restplace of St. James, crossing the territories of the Catholic Kingdoms of Hispania. 

PS: Leaving aside the fascinating legend of how his rests got there (it involves a stone boat, a couple of bulls and a truckload of scallops), the first touristic-guide in the world is believed to be a guide to the way of St. James, the Codex Calixtinus, written around the year 1135.

According to the Legend, the Asturian King Ramiro I was visited by the Apostle Santiago clad in battle wear the night before a big battle with the moors, and the next day, at the battlecry of “Santiago!” the troops of Ramiro won a seemingly impossible battle. From then on and through the centuries variations of “For Spain and for Santiago!” (Santiago and charge, Spain!, For Santiago and the Spains!, etc…) became the official cry of the Spanish Army and the apostle Santiago is the patron Saint of Spain. 

PS: Around the same period we also find a lot of legends and lore related to the Templars and the military orders of the Peninsula (Santiago, Calatrava, Alcántara, Montesa in Spain and Avis in Portugal) 

THE LOVERS OF TERUEL

Sometimes called “the Spanish Romeo & Juliet” it’s in my opinion a way better story, not only it has been proven to have elements of truth in it, but because nobody is fucking 13! 

Funnily enough for a short while this legend had been accused of being a copy of one included in the Decameron of Boccaccio until it had been discovered that the first instances of it date back to a whole century before the Decameron was written, so it may have been actually the other way ‘round. 

Anyway, the events were supposed to have happened in the city of Teruel in the year 1217. A young boy Diego (sometimes called Juan) of the Marcilla family and the girl Isabel of the Segura family, grew up playing together and when their teenage hormones hit hard, fell in love. 

However, even though the Marcilla family was important, it was not as important as the Segura family and Diego was the second son, meant to inherit nothing. There was no way he could marry the only daughter and heiress of the Segura family. So he struck a deal with her father: he’d go to war (meaning la Reconquista) fight hard, rise in rank and earn a world of wealth in five years. If in that time he returned rich, he’d marry Isabel. 

So he left. Passed some years, Isabel’s father started insisting in her to get married but, and here comes my favorite part, she refused on the premise that she had to remain a maiden until 20, because no woman should get married before she learned how to manage a household. And her father, as any good middle-ages dad, that loved and respected his daughter, agreed with her. 

However, when the five years passed and Diego didn’t return, Isabel believed him dead and agreed to marry Don Pedro of Azagra. However, right after the ceremony, Diego returned with great riches! Too late tho. His beloved was already married. 

So he sneaked up into her and her husband’s bedroom at night and asked her for a kiss: “kiss me, for I’m dying!”. She refused on the terms that she would not be unfaithful to her husband, he asked her again and she refused again. 

So Diego just dropped dead of heartache. 

Isabel woke up her husband and told him what happened. He was like “but why didn’t you kiss him?!” so she told him she hadn’t wanted to betray her husband, so he was “you truly are a woman worth of praise.” 

They sneaked him out of their home in the middle of the night and left him in a local church, so the husband wouldn’t get blamed for his death. 

The next day the funeral ceremony took place and Isabel came, dressed in her wedding gown, and leaning over Diego’s body gave him the kiss that she had refused him in life. 

And then she also fell dead. 

The husband then told everyone in the church their story and the town agreed to bury them together, so at least in death they would be side by side. 

Their inexplicably mummified bodies were discovered in 1555 during repair works at the San Pedro church, in Teruel, next to a document dating to the formerly stated year, corroborating the popular legend. 

Since with time the fame of this story spread around Spain. The mummies now lay in a chapel and in marble tombs with exquisitely sculpted lids by the artist Juan de Ávalos y Taborda.

Written as a part of the @aphaskevent

Country embassy: Spain (in case it wasn’t clear… xD) 

Hi there ! Thank for your question ! Oh there is so much to talk about, so let’s start with the beginning, shall we ?

Where does it come from ? :

Most civilisations had been using cereals to make some kind of bread early on in Antiquity (and even before that), but they didn’t have a leavening agent so it looked more like a cake or a gruel. The first hints of leavened bread using yeast, closer to what we know today, could date back to aroud 4000 BC in Egypt. From there, it progresively spread around the Mediterranean, to Greece and then Rome. Some gaulish tribes, who were using flat unleavened bread, learnt leavening techniques through commerce with the Romans, and this knowledge later spread through the entire gallo-roman territory after Julius Cesar’s conquest in 52 BC. Bread has remained a basis of people’s diet in France ever since, especially thanks to the importance of agriculture in the country. (So thank you Rome I guess !)

Religion :

France was a catholic country from the early Middle Ages to the early 20th century. Catholicism is still the main religion in the country and has had an undeniable influence on french culture over the centuries. Therefore bread was also very important as a symbol, as it represents the body of the Christ in the Bible. 

Worth a revolution ? :

Though it’s far from being the only one, bread is on of the reasons for the French Revolution in 1789. Back then, the nobles ate white bread made from the finest flour and much more expensive, while the rest of the population ate brown bread made from whole flour and sometimes using other cereals than wheat, and the poorest usually could not afford an entire loaf. The situation already wasn’t great, but in 1788 and 1789, harvests were spoiled by harsh winters. Because of an important tax on windmills productin and cereals entering a city, prices went up, bread became unaffordable and some people started using unusual ingredients to make bread like… sawdust ! In the meantime, nobles in Versailles didn’t lack anything and had access to as much bread as they wanted. On the 5th of October 1789, 7000 to 8000 parisians, mainly women, marched to Versailles demanding bread for their families. This eventually led to the king being brought back to Paris and signing the Declaration of the Rights of Men and of the Citizen. (PS : Marie-Antoinette never said “Let’s give them cake !”)

And today ? :

Though bread consumption has decreased a lot in the last hundred years, it is still a main ingredient of french diet. It is served with every meal, from breakfast to dinner. When travelling, we are often surprised to have to pay for it in restaurants in other countries because, in France, bread is served for free !

Boulangerie and Boulangers :

La boulangerie is the place where you can buy bread. Nowadays all supermarkets also sell bread for it has a reputation of being of a lesser quality so many people still go to the traditional shop. There is a boulangerie in almost every city, town and village in France and there can be a fiece competition between shops close to each other. Nearly every boulangerie is also a bakery, where you can find pâtisseries and viennoiseries such as croissants, pain au chocolats and many other delicious things. A boulangerie, in Vannes :

Le boulanger (fem: la boulangère) is the person who makes the bread. People in France tend to have respect for this job since it is a hard one. Boulangers have to wake up very early to prepare fresh bread for the morning, it can be very physical and not always very profitable. Yet we couldn’t do without them. Bread is typically made three times a day, around 7am, midday and 6pm, basically once for every meal. But it can be less or more depending on the number of clients.

Boule or Baguette ? :

What ?! The famous stereotype of the french baguette is fake ? Well, not really. Actually the word baguette refers to a shape and not a recipe, so there are many different ones ! The other popular shape is la boule, which is in fact the traditional round loaf of bread. Both shapes can be made from various different flours though it’s usually a white wheat flour. Add to it water, salt and leavening made from yeast and you’ve got the basic ingredients for any bread.

There are different theories as to why the baguette was created. One of them is that it was invented for Napoleon’s army as it was easier for the soldiers to carry it. Another says it was invented during the creation of the parisian metro. Workers often got into fights with each other and since they carried a knife with them to cut their loaf of bread, the man in charge of the construction ordered the creation of a bread people could break with their bare hands so they wouldn’t bring potential weapons in the galleries.

As I said before, there can be many recipes of baguette. The cheapest one is called the classique, which you can find anywhere but it’s not very good in my opinion. The others are called traditional baguette, and they usually taste better. Some boulangers have their own recipe but others use approved or pattented recipes such as la tradition, la croquise,etc. 

Look what I got this morning ! A tradition, and a croissant :

Even on TV ! :

I think we’ve already established that bread is a pretty serious subject in France. But did you know we even have a tv show about it ? No of course you didn’t ! There are many competitions that reward the best boulangers of the country and one of them is a televised competition between 64 candidates called La Meilleure Boulangerie de France. It airs one one of the main tv channels, and just begun its fifth season this september.

Sayings and expression : 

Here are a few common expressions using the word for bread, pain, as further proof of its cultural importance.

Avoir du pain sur la planche - To have bread on the board/table : To have a lot of work ahead. Comes from the fact that making bread takes a lot of time and work.

Gagner son pain - Earning one’s bread : Earning enough to live / having a salary. Simply comes from the fact that bread is a daily food and considered a bare minimum.

Mettre un pain à quelqu’un - To put a bread to someone : Punching someone. I guess it comes from the shape of a loaf of bread resembling the shape of a fist… I can’t really explain that one. Just try to visualise hitting someone with a loaf of bread.

Did you know ?

In France, you’re not supposed to bite directly in the bread when eating. Most people don’t follow that rule in their daily life, but in a formal environment, you’re supposed to break it into small bits with your hands, it’s more refined.

I’ve heard you’re supposed to bite the end of the baguette, called le croûton, when you buy it before getting home. I’ve nerver seen people actually doing that when growing up but apparently it’s a thing… in Paris at least.

France isn’t the country with the largest variety of bread, that’s actually Germany.

For more information : 

On the history of bread in France, from Antiquity to the 17th century : (I only put the link to the first page)

http://leslefts.blogspot.fr/2015/01/french-bread-history-bread-of-gauls.html

On french daily habbits, a video of the mini-series “What the Fuck France” by Paul Taylor : 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOl3EWowQ_c

I hope this wasn’t too long ! I tried to cover everything but if you see something missing, don’t hesitate to add it ! (I may or may not edit this with drawings when I have more time !)

Hello! It is Sunday 27/ 8/ 2017 and this is your reminder that the Sign-Up Form is open to the Ambassadors of the Hub!

Sia, I am on desktop. Where is it?

That’s simple for you tesoro! You just click into the icon and enter the blog’s desktop theme (like, you know, the big whole page). In the left sidebar there is a page called “Sign-Up Form!”. You click that page, obviously. 

There you go, you are halfway there. Take a breath, emotionally prepare yourself, re-think your options, eat lunch, cry- do whatever you want in between. After you do your thing, send me your answers to the form via the inbox or by messaging. If you haven’t had a message from me in aproximately 1 day then I haven’t received your sign-up and you need to re-do it :’(

May the force be with you and we shall interact later!

B-but I am on mobile. How?!

First of all; I would not recommend it. However there are two ways to achieve signing up for the event via mobile.

A) You text this blog and I do the job for you (I send you the form, you reply)

B) You enter the blog’s page via Google Chrome (or any internet search machine in your phone). The url is the same (Just search aphaskevent and the page will show up). Toggle the bar with the pages unti you find the one called “Sign-Up Form!”. You copy (or memorize) the information needed and submit your answers in the Inbox section or via messaging. Either way works.

If you haven’t received a message from me in approximately 1 day confirming your participation then something went wrong. You resend the ask/message and woop you are in the game lad.

Alright!! Thank you for the question :D As soon as I saw it I knew that this was going to turn into me raiding our fridge and taking photos of everything in it. Or, well, everything that was neither a common food pretty much everywhere, like eggs or milk, nor something that was unique to this particular household rather than to all of Russia, like my liquorice and avocados.

Warning: this is a long and image heavy post. My apologies.

First, some raw materials, so to say:

Left to right: Капуста (kapusta) - cabbage is eaten raw, salted, leavened, and as part of various dishes. Творог (tvorog) - quark is a good breakfast food, plain or with honey or jam, also gets used in baking sometimes. Редис (redis) - radish is almost always of the red variety and is almost always eaten raw, sometimes in salads.

There was no свёкла (svyokla) - beetroot in our fridge at the moment, because all of it went into this:

Yup! That’s борщ (borsh’)! (or borsch or borschcht or whatever monstrous way you spell it with Latin alphabet) It’s still a common dish in an average Russian household (mun herself is not a fan tho). The colour is off because I was too lazy to heat it up, but trust me, it is very much red.

The jar is there to prop up the lid, but it’s actually a Russian staple in itself - homemade jam (in this case, black currant) stuffed into a container emptied of its original contents (in this case, pickled suillus mushrooms).

Now for something that no борщ is complete without:

Ah, yes, сметана (smetana) - sour cream! Russians love to eat it with everything, be it meat or soup or dessert, as evidenced by the fact that I found three (3!) packs of it in our fridge. But then again, if you look closely, you can see that all of them are expired, so maybe not so much love after all? Certainly not from me :P Into the trash it goes.

Continuing the weird dairy lineup:

Простокваша (prostokvasha) - soured milk and сгущёнка (sgushyonka) - condensed milk! I wouldn’t touch the former with a ten foot pole, but the latter is the light of my life and the joy of my childhood. Not pictured here but also quite well-liked in Russia - ряженка (ryazhenka) and кефир (kefir).

There’s not much “national identity” in our main courses, so I didn’t bother taking any photos of them. You can expect cutlets, sausages, all kinds of fried meat and fish, with potatoes, macaroni, vegetables and buckwheat as side dishes both in cafeterias and in home cuisine.

Next is kind of a pitiful sight:

Because there’s only one блин (blin, plural form - blini) left D: But you can still see the thickness, or lack of it, more like. You eat these thin holey pancakes by rolling them up with some filling and/or dipping them in something. They’re good with honey, caviar, baked ham and the aforementioned quark, sour cream, jam and condensed milk. Blini are actually super beloved and have an entire holiday based around them; more on that some other time.

And finally, some desserts:

Just some candy and what is probably the most recognisable chocolate in all of Russia - Алёнка (Alyonka).

Almost forgot about this, but... Hey, how many types of plain bread rings made of almost nothing but flour, yeast and water can one culture tolerate as a dessert? Apparently at least three:

Behold! Баранки (baranki), сушки (sushki) and бублики (bubliki) (not actually pictured here, since they have the shortest shelf life and the nearest stores were all out). Their biggest differentiating factors are their size and hardness (from smallest and hardest to largest and softest: sushki, baranki, bubliki), but overall they are very similar and very bland. Still nice to have with tea, which, btw, is the most popular drink in Russia.

I'll start off with showing what the grades are by age, then going on to subjects.

Kindergarten- Age 4~ Junior Kindergarten and Age 5~ Senior Kindergarten

Then you go into grade school, and marking starts. Grade 1- Age 6 Grade 2- Age 7 Grade 3- Age 8 Grade 4- Age 9 Grade 5- Age 10

Going into grade 6, some public schools go into middle schools for grades 6-8, but most stay in one school until seconds school.

Grade 6- Age 11 Grade 7- Age 12 Grade 8- Age 13

Grade 9 (or grade 8 in some regions) marks the beginning of secondary school, or high school. High School lasts from grades 9-12, and sometimes an extra grade 13.

After high school, you have the option to go to college, university or go into the workforce. College is more “average” education, while university is much more intense post secondary education, and you need a very high grade average to be accepted.

In grade school, the subjects are: •Mathematics •Science •English (Literacy) •History •Geography •Art •The Arts (Music, Drama, dance) • Physical Education •Religion (In the catholic schools) •French (Starting anytime inbetween Grade 4or Grade 8)

In Secondary School, the subjects are the same, but have different ones depending on your school and your area. Some of those extra subjects include Business, Technology, and much more in the arts, as well as having subjects go into the different strands you want to study post-secondary, like biology, chemistry, or engineering or geometry.

A lot of stuff I found was about Mt. Fuji, but I’m going to try to share some about lesser known volcanoes too! (On a side note, trying to find stuff on these gods/goddesses were a PAIN because there are so many characters named after them from TV shows to games and I want to find the original gods but nooooo when I just type their names, I get characters -_-)

Anyways, I’m going to start at the folktale 竹取物語 (Taketori Monogatari) or the Tale of the Bamboo Cutter (also known as かぐや姫の物語, “Kaguya-Hime no Monogatari”, the Tale of Princess Kaguya).  The story goes that this one bamboo cutter finds a shining stalk of bamboo. He cuts it open and there’s a thumb-sized girl!!! So he takes her home and raises her with his wife as his own kid. Since then, whenever he cuts a stalk of bamboo, he finds gold nuggets inside, and he becomes rich. Girl eventually grows up to be a regular-sized, absolutely stunningly beautiful woman, and everyone falls in love with her. 5 princes ask for hand in marriage, she says no. Emperor asks and she says no. Why? Because she’s a princess from the moon and must return to the moon soon. When her moon-friends came to pick her up, she wrote a letter to the Emperor and left the elixir of immortality. Emperor’s super sad bc the love of his life just dumped him (That’s Rough Buddy™), so he orders that the letter and the elixir be burnt at the tallest mountain (which, you guessed it, is now known as Mt. Fuji!) in hopes that Moon Princess gets the message.So what does this story have to do with volcanoes and myths? Well, that’s where (according to legend) that the word immortality or 不死 (fushi) became the name of the mountain.

Another myth related to volcanoes is the one about the birth  (and death) Kagutsuchi, the god of fire (see where I’m going?). In the myth, Kagutsuchi’s birth caused Izanami’s death, and so the angry husband/brother, Izanagi, killed Kagu (and honestly that’s fine because gods are some angry piss-babies). Now, this is where the English and Japanese pages differ: In the Japanese pages, it says that the body and blood of Kagutsuchi created more deities while the English page says that the body created 8 volcanoes and the blood created more deities. After a little more digging (and input from my weeb-ass, booknerd bf) I’ve linked the disconnect to the fact that each mountain/volcano (however small) has its own deity associated with it. Honestly, the only reason I’m including Kagu’s story is to insert this image:

source (x)

Speaking of fire, everyone loves setting stuff on fire, right? If festivals are more up your alley than stories, you’d like the Aso Fire Festival. It’s a festival that’s held in Kumamoto prefecture in Kyushu, near Mt. Aso which is the largest active volcano in Japan (and among the largest in the world!). The main event is Dai Himonjiyaki. They burn 火 (the Chinese character for “fire”) into the side of the mountains Ojodake and Hondaka (which are not part of the five peaks that are part of the central cone group of Aso, but still a part of the Aso caldera). At some angles, the two “fire”s line up to create 炎 (Chinese character for “flame”). The festival is held mostly for tourism, but the origins were actually (sort of) important. They would set fire to the plains to maintain the pasture grass, and they basically said “well we’re setting fire to things anyways, let’s make a party out of it and get money too!” This festival is held in mid March, but I’d be weary of visiting since this active volcano last erupted in October of 2016 (while Fuji, the “active” volcano last erupted in the early 1700s).