On Holiday, New Year's Parties, Division and some Brief Observations
On Holiday
I should probably begin by sadly noting that James Brown has died, which is an unfortunate start to any holiday. However, December the 25 th is fairly dismal occasion in these parts, compared to the traditional observances found in America. I used to complain about the commercialization of Christmas in America, but frankly, any commercialization here would be welcome. Here in the borders, Christmas is not as big a deal as New Year's. Possibly the relegation to red-headed stepchild is due to the Orthodox Church's use of the Julian Calendar, so Christmas comes in the New Year, but I think it might be a Soviet legacy. Of course, people are aware that it is Christmas in other places (some of them, anyway; a friend of mine just told me her host family was skeptical), but even my host mother said 'Merry Christmas!' yesterday. I felt bad explaining that it was only Christmas Eve, but the television would have told her sooner or later. Anyway, as a kindness to me (I think), the family decided to put up their New Year tree today.
'New Year tree?!' I hear you splutter. 'What kind of rip-off is that? That's like having Christmas and eating it too!' Well, perhaps, but it's very festive, and as my only connection to Western-style holidays, I am not complaining. The yolka (ёлка), as it is called, is a dead ringer for a Christmas tree, and I dig it 100% percent. This being the middle of the country, there is little Catholic influence, for which I am surprisingly sorry. I knew, of course, that Old Style Christmas was January 7, but I approached it in much the same way Americans approach most cultural differences. Sure, Asians/Jews say that the New Year is lunar and in February/September/October, but everyone knows that the real new year begins with January (whatever that actually means). To have people talk to me about my Christmas, as though it were some folly to be humored…that was entirely new.
And, if you were curious- I was sworn in on Thursday, and am now a full Peace Corps Volunteer. I have moved to my permanent site in Central Strana, and am looking forward to cultural observations and improvements in my teaching abilities for the next two years. Look me up, if you're ever in the area.
Monday, 25th December, 2006
On New Year's parties
I went to a faculty New Year's party and honestly, it was awesome. I have never attended a teacher's Christmas party, but I can only assume it is much more staid. For starters, I'm pretty sure that American adults do not dance, or if they do, it is self-conscious and to the music of their own youth. Stranian teachers (like most people in this country) actually party, and at all ages, too. Have you ever seen an American grandmother take shots? Of vodka? I've seen it here.
The other big difference was that there were only four men at the party: the director, two husbands of teachers, and the dj. Becoming a teacher in Strana is a lot like joining a sorority; out of a hundred teachers, only seven or eight are men. As one of the young English teachers put it, "We party without husbands." And do they ever! Not only were women well into middle age cutting a rug (and to techno!), they were doing it in stilettos! I don't think I can do that now, and I am pretty much the baby of the faculty. All the same, I'm happy I got to take part in the midwinter revels.
Thursday, 28th December, 2006
Brief Observations
–Like English, Russian has words for 'whence,' 'whither,' and all the other words that accompany them (hence, thither, etc.). Unlike English, modern Russian uses them regularly.
-Montenegro is a literal translation of the country's name in Serbo-Croatian. I discovered this, trying to figure out what country could possibly be named Чорногорія, or Black Mountain.
–In some ways, this is the world we dreamed of as little girls. In this country, men help you into your coat, open doors and carry things for you. You, in turn, are allowed to wear all of the things you wanted as a child- sequins and ruffles on everything, and no one to tell you that if you want to be taken seriously, understatement is a good first step. While this still feels strange, it's vindication for my six year old self who just wanted rhinestones on her clothes like the other little girls, but was forbidden because her father didn't approve.
On Division
People speak of divides between East and West, and locate the rift in various physical partitions: the Iron Curtain, the Berlin Wall, and so forth (I am speaking, of course, of Europe only; I could not begin to contrast Europe and Asia). All classifications are arbitrary anyway, and inevitably wrong, but I think that East and West differ along more religious lines, believe it or not. This is not to say that worship is necessarily an important aspect of either culture, but the Christianities here cast long shadows.
The effects of Christianity manifest themselves here in subtle ways. The least notable, and yet widest ranging consequence of Eastern Christianity is the alphabet. The majority of Slavic languages use the Cyrillic alphabet, because these lands were brought to Christianity by the Greek monks Cyril and Methodius. They are also predominantly Orthodox (Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Yugoslavia, Macedonia, Bulgaria, and Bosnia-Herzegovina). Logically, this means that I consider Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Croatia to be Western countries, but face it, they are. They are prime holiday destinations for most of Western Europe and when I was in Croatia, they said 'Ciao!' when I entered the store.
Furthermore, most of those countries understand Protestantism. Generally speaking, here in the East, people assume I am Catholic because of when I celebrate Christmas (actually, they usually assume I am Jewish because of my name, but this is neither here nor there). Whereas, the Czechs produced a Protestant reformer, Jan Hus, over a hundred years before Martin Luther was ordained. Explaining differences between non-Orthodox denominations is one of the more difficult things I have had to do. For most people (who are fairly indifferent to religion), there is православная and there is not. Hard as it may be to believe, the division that was one of the defining separations of Western Europe, and by which much bloodshed can be accounted for, simply isn't a concept where I live.
Thursday, 4th January, 2007
I should probably begin by sadly noting that James Brown has died, which is an unfortunate start to any holiday. However, December the 25 th is fairly dismal occasion in these parts, compared to the traditional observances found in America. I used to complain about the commercialization of Christmas in America, but frankly, any commercialization here would be welcome. Here in the borders, Christmas is not as big a deal as New Year's. Possibly the relegation to red-headed stepchild is due to the Orthodox Church's use of the Julian Calendar, so Christmas comes in the New Year, but I think it might be a Soviet legacy. Of course, people are aware that it is Christmas in other places (some of them, anyway; a friend of mine just told me her host family was skeptical), but even my host mother said 'Merry Christmas!' yesterday. I felt bad explaining that it was only Christmas Eve, but the television would have told her sooner or later. Anyway, as a kindness to me (I think), the family decided to put up their New Year tree today.
'New Year tree?!' I hear you splutter. 'What kind of rip-off is that? That's like having Christmas and eating it too!' Well, perhaps, but it's very festive, and as my only connection to Western-style holidays, I am not complaining. The yolka (ёлка), as it is called, is a dead ringer for a Christmas tree, and I dig it 100% percent. This being the middle of the country, there is little Catholic influence, for which I am surprisingly sorry. I knew, of course, that Old Style Christmas was January 7, but I approached it in much the same way Americans approach most cultural differences. Sure, Asians/Jews say that the New Year is lunar and in February/September/October, but everyone knows that the real new year begins with January (whatever that actually means). To have people talk to me about my Christmas, as though it were some folly to be humored…that was entirely new.
And, if you were curious- I was sworn in on Thursday, and am now a full Peace Corps Volunteer. I have moved to my permanent site in Central Strana, and am looking forward to cultural observations and improvements in my teaching abilities for the next two years. Look me up, if you're ever in the area.
Monday, 25th December, 2006
On New Year's parties
I went to a faculty New Year's party and honestly, it was awesome. I have never attended a teacher's Christmas party, but I can only assume it is much more staid. For starters, I'm pretty sure that American adults do not dance, or if they do, it is self-conscious and to the music of their own youth. Stranian teachers (like most people in this country) actually party, and at all ages, too. Have you ever seen an American grandmother take shots? Of vodka? I've seen it here.
The other big difference was that there were only four men at the party: the director, two husbands of teachers, and the dj. Becoming a teacher in Strana is a lot like joining a sorority; out of a hundred teachers, only seven or eight are men. As one of the young English teachers put it, "We party without husbands." And do they ever! Not only were women well into middle age cutting a rug (and to techno!), they were doing it in stilettos! I don't think I can do that now, and I am pretty much the baby of the faculty. All the same, I'm happy I got to take part in the midwinter revels.
Thursday, 28th December, 2006
Brief Observations
–Like English, Russian has words for 'whence,' 'whither,' and all the other words that accompany them (hence, thither, etc.). Unlike English, modern Russian uses them regularly.
-Montenegro is a literal translation of the country's name in Serbo-Croatian. I discovered this, trying to figure out what country could possibly be named Чорногорія, or Black Mountain.
–In some ways, this is the world we dreamed of as little girls. In this country, men help you into your coat, open doors and carry things for you. You, in turn, are allowed to wear all of the things you wanted as a child- sequins and ruffles on everything, and no one to tell you that if you want to be taken seriously, understatement is a good first step. While this still feels strange, it's vindication for my six year old self who just wanted rhinestones on her clothes like the other little girls, but was forbidden because her father didn't approve.
On Division
People speak of divides between East and West, and locate the rift in various physical partitions: the Iron Curtain, the Berlin Wall, and so forth (I am speaking, of course, of Europe only; I could not begin to contrast Europe and Asia). All classifications are arbitrary anyway, and inevitably wrong, but I think that East and West differ along more religious lines, believe it or not. This is not to say that worship is necessarily an important aspect of either culture, but the Christianities here cast long shadows.
The effects of Christianity manifest themselves here in subtle ways. The least notable, and yet widest ranging consequence of Eastern Christianity is the alphabet. The majority of Slavic languages use the Cyrillic alphabet, because these lands were brought to Christianity by the Greek monks Cyril and Methodius. They are also predominantly Orthodox (Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Yugoslavia, Macedonia, Bulgaria, and Bosnia-Herzegovina). Logically, this means that I consider Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Croatia to be Western countries, but face it, they are. They are prime holiday destinations for most of Western Europe and when I was in Croatia, they said 'Ciao!' when I entered the store.
Furthermore, most of those countries understand Protestantism. Generally speaking, here in the East, people assume I am Catholic because of when I celebrate Christmas (actually, they usually assume I am Jewish because of my name, but this is neither here nor there). Whereas, the Czechs produced a Protestant reformer, Jan Hus, over a hundred years before Martin Luther was ordained. Explaining differences between non-Orthodox denominations is one of the more difficult things I have had to do. For most people (who are fairly indifferent to religion), there is православная and there is not. Hard as it may be to believe, the division that was one of the defining separations of Western Europe, and by which much bloodshed can be accounted for, simply isn't a concept where I live.
Thursday, 4th January, 2007
posted by Life Called | 12:27 PM
1 Comments:
Riveting. Interesting. Intelligent. Your blog has been duly bookmarked.
I hope my train commentary was ambiguous enough for you not to any any offense. In fact it has received the most attention from my readership; your plight, and the plight of many others, has been found most entertaining. But we might be of a different opinion..
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