Your Culture!

[Sebatianos]

OK, the idea is simple.
There are so many people on abandonia from all over the world, that I'm sure everybody has a story, a legend, or just a silly superstition they's like to share and we'd all learn more about other cultures in the process.

So here goes:
I'm from Slovenia, and we have a really wierd legend about our "national hero" called Kral Matjaz.
The story says he was a good king, who fought off Turks and brought eternal freedom to our land. Then he went to sleep in a cave and when his beard will grow so long it will run around him for seven times, he'll wake up and correct all the wrongs, that will happen in between.

OK, but here's the historical fact: this was actually Matias Korvin (a real Hungarian king) who really fought the Turks but lost. He forced Slovenes to pay taxes to him even though he never was a sovregin of any of the teritories that are now a part of Slovenia.

Who's next?
Wanna hear legends!!!

[Havell]

There's something like that in England, one of our king's, Richard the Lionheart (a Frenchman incidentally) his reputation is of a good strong and wise king. In reality, nothing could be further from the truth, he never set foot in England himself, he just fought wars in the middle east and when he needed money he taxed us English into poverty. There's no real mythology around him but his body is buried in London and his heart in Paris.

[Sebatianos]

Originally posted by R Havell@Nov 11 2004, 01:37 AM
There's no real mythology around him but his body is buried in London and his heart in Paris.
Richard the Lionhearted? No mythology?
The entire story of Robin Hood deals with the crusades of Richard and his taxations (just goes to show the story is really unfair towards prince John)!

[Puffin]

In Iceland, we have many stories about elves and trolls and stuff. The elves are usually said to live in rocks, but still there's this old tradition about the new year.
Not many people do it anymore, but my family does :bleh:

At midnight new years eve, one of the family walks around the house, saying:
"Komi ?eir sem koma vilja, fari ?eir sem fara vilja".
it means something like that:
"Come they who want to come, leave they who want to leave".

So, the story says, that elves move on the new year. And by walking around and saying this, we're keeping them happy ;)

Of course, we also have the crazy santas I wrote about in Jokes :w00t:

[Havell]

Originally posted by Sebatianos+Nov 10 2004, 11:43 PM****</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Sebatianos @ Nov 10 2004, 11:43 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> ******QuoteBegin-R Havell@Nov 11 2004, 01:37 AM
There's no real mythology around him but his body is buried in London and his heart in Paris.
Richard the Lionhearted? No mythology?
The entire story of Robin Hood deals with the crusades of Richard and his taxations (just goes to show the story is really unfair towards prince John)! [/b][/quote]
That's not a myth, that's a legend :sneaky: It just proves my point about Richard the Lionheart being remembered a a good king when he wasn't.

[Milos]

I'm from Serbia and we had a hero Marko Kraljevic and he has a horse Sarac and he was killing Turks and that's all I know about him.
Also there vas Milos Obilic(like my name) who was captured in a great Kosovo battle,and he asked to be brought to sultan(thats like king) and when he came to sultan he bravely sacreficed his life and killed sultan with his hidden knife( I don't know how he smuggled it).
And that's all I know but there is probably more because I didn't payed attension on history classes. :bye:

[Rogue]

C'mon,
you guys (Serbs) should have much more interesting miths.

Don't have to look in history books, just tell about victory over NATO in 1999. :D :D

[Milos]

And about battle at Kosovo field(kosovo polje), that was the last battle before five century ocupation of serbia by turks.Until today is not known who actually won that battle, but Serbs were much less in nimbers but given turks a fair fight,Serbs were heavily armored with large swords and flails unlike the turks who were lightly armored and with ligth scimitars wich together with superior numbers led them to "victory" :not_ok: .
And during that long ocupation Serbs had made many ressistance groups(ustanike,hajduke ,uskoke) and also made two large rebelions(ustanak) driven turks from, first led by Karadjordje and second led by Milos Obrenovic(not Obilic).
At the end turks were driven from serbian land and never returned( i think).

There was a book called "Na Drini cuprija" full of legends and myths written by Ivo Andric who receved Nobel prize for that book.It is about bridge who survived many years(hundreds) and seen many legends battles myths historical moments and so on.Nice book for those who love that kind of stuff.

I cannot write any more

:bye:

[Milos]

That was trully a victory.Nato who was so excited about their F-117 receved such a blow when we shot down tree of them with our low tech equipment,and many more other planes wich cost them more than they did damage to us.

They said that F-117 was "invisible", and we said "sorry for shooting him down we didn't see him"

There is lot about that but I can't write all.

[Rogue]

Do you know who all fought against Turks??

And it looks like only in Serbia it's not known who won that battle (until today?)

That's a real myth and reason Serbs are not so sure is because they rewrite their history very often. :D

History is not written by writing down folks songs (that's the way Serbian history is written).

LOL

[Milos]

That is true about folksongs, they are very stupid and hard to understand, so everybody reads them in their own way, so history is changed.

But there was more turks and we had moral victory :D

[Rogue]

Originally posted by Milos@Nov 10 2004, 07:49 PM
That was trully a victory.Nato who was so excited about their F-117 receved such a blow when we shot down tree of them with our low tech equipment,and many more other planes wich cost them more than they did damage to us.

They said that F-117 was "invisible", and we said "sorry for shooting him down we didn't see him"

There is lot about that but I can't write all.
:roflol:

What is source for 3 F117???

Also, have you guys won all 4 wars in 90's? ;) :D

[Milos]

What do you mean by "what is the source"

And what four wars, there was only two(i think), what four do you mean :blink:

[Rogue]

Only couple people killed in Slovenia, so that can and can not count as war. But let's count (there were tanks on the streets).

1. Slovenia
2. Croatia
3. Bosnia
4. Kosovo
5. NATO

Probably you are too young to remember all that.

Sources are like news agencies, TV stations, newspapers. And it is important to know who controlled these sources at the time.

Sorry to be a bit :ot: but this is one of many myths that we fought in 90's. :angry: :D

[Milos]

I don't know about Slovenia,and Kosovo isn't really a war there are forces of KFOR and not our military so the albanians are crossing the border and killing our people and we can do nothing about that, and if continues that way we will loose Kosove to albanians.
About Bosnia and Croatia that was kinda related.

So actually we won and didn't won some these wars.
And that wars killed a crap out of my country so we CANT BY ORIGINAL GAMES BECAUSE WE DONT HAVE MONEY :ranting: :ranting: :ranting:

[Rogue]

You did not say which one you guys won. ;)

Real reason you guys did all that wars was greed. Not to mentioning having Slobodan Milosevic for president all that years. (everythyng realy started on Kosovo mid 80's with Milosevic's speach)

[Milos]

When you have someone like that on position you can't easily get rid of him.
And we actually didn't won any of these wars but we fought very good.

That about Kosovo begun long ago when Tito was on power and that is a long story wich truth is not known.And albanians are not wright to clai Kosovo it is our land and not theirs. :rifle:

Our country was big and strong before it collapsed, it all happened when Tito died but he was a comunist and it is better that way.

[Milos]

And about Milosevic, he remained on position because people fanatilcy loved him, and that is a point when democracy is wrong.

One philosopher once said( I think Heracles) "Democracy is wrong because a lot's of people who are voting are not enough smart and wise to make wrigth choice".

So people mindlessly voted for Milosevic, and also he faked elections.

[Rogue]

Originally posted by Milos+Nov 10 2004, 08:23 PM****</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Milos @ Nov 10 2004, 08:23 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>And we actually didn't won any of these wars but we fought very good.[/b]
Milos,
Just to explain you, and the people who do not know. Serbs took over ex. Yugoslavian army and with all that power destroyed most of Bosnia and half of Croatia. In Kosovo there was not much to destroy, so they just killed a lot of 'Kosovars' (people from Kosovo, who are mostly Albanians) and Milosevic tried to move Serbs from the other part of ex. YU to change statistics…

******QuoteBegin-Milos
And albanians are not wright to clai Kosovo it is our land and not theirs.* :rifle:[/quote]
Once Milosevic said: 'If there is one Serb grave, that land belongs to Serbs'

This relay is mythology at full, that couple millions of people do not know what was happening just couple hundred miles from their home, and very often that they ignore facts and logic just to satisfy their will.

:blink:

[Rogue]

Originally posted by R Havell@Nov 10 2004, 06:37 PM
There's something like that in England, one of our king's, Richard the Lionheart (a Frenchman incidentally) his reputation is of a good strong and wise king. In reality, nothing could be further from the truth, he never set foot in England himself, he just fought wars in the middle east and when he needed money he taxed us English into poverty. There's no real mythology around him but his body is buried in London and his heart in Paris.
Back to the topic. :) At least.

There was nice show on History channel (one of my favorites :)) about him and his life. In reality he was alcoholic, nothing really brave about him. Also there was a genocide in one of the city he conquer under his command, but at the end he made peace with Arabs by marrying sister or daughter (can’t remember correctly) of one of Arabs leaders.

Interesting story, and interesting myth.

[Sebatianos]

Milos, Anubis!!!
Guys, I think you both should know that the events you're talking about are quite painful and happened only about 10 years ago (when people are imotionally involved, they can't thinks reasonly), and that's why no research was done about those things!
Now I can asure you, that all those things started back in the time when Turks came to the Balkans and continued for about 500 years and are still not over!!!
So better leave it at that and don't fight over it.
But I must say, I'm glad you both remained CIVIL about it!

OK, here's a non-military legend from Slovenia, to return back to the topic:
There is a 'legendary' creature called "JEZERNIK" - that would be the man in the lake.
He ilives in a lake and if you look at your reflection (and the water gets wavey) you can see him. Then, you better run or else he'll grab you and take you to the bottom of the lake, where you'll have to play in his orchestra. He's actally very bored, because in rivers and springs the water is flowing and 'jumping' over the rocks - thus making water music. But not in lakes, tkat's why he kidnaps people to play for him!

[Puffin]

This is a pic of my great great (couple of times more great) grandfather!
I have a list, that shows that I'm a direct decendant of him!
(Not an interesting list, just some stupid names! :blink: )

His name is Egill Skallagrímsson. He committed his first murder at the age of 3! There was a great story written about him, and it is widely known.

Egils saga (http://www.northvegr.org/lore/egils_saga/index.php)

He's pretty cool....! :w00t: :whistle:

[FreeFreddy]

Originally posted by Puffin
This is a pic of my great great (couple of times more great) grandfather!
I have a list, that shows that I'm a direct decendant of him!
(Not an interesting list, just some stupid names!* :blink:* )

His name is Egill Skallagrímsson. He committed his first murder at the age of 3! There was a great story written about him, and it is widely known.

Egils saga

He's pretty cool....!* :w00t:* :whistle:
Wow, that's impressive. Interesting to know who were your predecessors. :D
Here in Russia there's a legend about Ilja Muromez, that was a great and mighty hero and had 2 friends that were mighty heroes too. Don't remember that exactly now, but there were stories about how he alone fought Mongoles when they came to Russia. His fought once against Throttle the Robber (I hope it's translated correctly, throtthe is that beautifully singing bird that everyone should know) whose whistle could throw the mightiest man over. But Ilja Muromez could withstand his whistle and finally defeated him. Those legends are based upon wars of all Russians with the Mongoles and the stories about Ilja Muromez against Throttle the Robber came from those prototypes.
Also there are stories about Oleg (don't know many details here) that fought agains the Hozars that conquered and robbed Russia. Those stories were rewritten by Pushkin too, I have his book here, but it's long time ago now that I read it...

[Yamcha]

So here is ny legend (or myth).It's actualy about a sort of wine.

100 years after the foundation of Bulgaria in 681 we haven't got kings or tzars we had Hans to rule us.At this time the Han was named Krum.He had a problem with his soldiers cuz they were getting drunk and then they couldn't fight.So he told to cut down all the wines at the balkans.But there was woman who saved a little piece of wine.The years were passing well till one day a dragon came to terrorize our lands.Many mans were killed by the draggon till the boy of the woman with the wine decided to fight the draggon.Before leaving his mother gave him of her wine.With the power of wine the boy wich was called Mavrud(you'll never find that name today in Bulgaria LOL )vanquished the draggon and became a national hero.The Han asked him how did he managed to do this then he revealed the secret.The Han decided to call the wine on his name and there's how is made the Mavrud wine :kosta:

[Unknown Hero]

OK! I'm from Croatia, Split. There are not many people that know about this legend, but it says that Emperor Diocletian (who built Diocletian's palace in Split in 304.A.D.) in his dungeons ordered to some architechts to build a pipe from which will (when he opens it) come out fish when he's hungry! Split is coastal city, so that's why he thought that fish can come out from pipe!




About war in Croatia...Serbia lost, cause today Croatia is independent from Serbia. There are many theories about what happened in this war, like:
- many of Croatian generals killed Serb's civilians who surrendered
- and on the other hand many Serbian soldiers did terible things to Croatian civilians (assault on Vukovar and such things)

The point is that no one can really find out what happened, and the media in Croatia says how Serbians burned our vilages, while media in Serbia says how Croatians burned Serbian vilages. The national hate is growing up, and that is not good. BTW I personaly don't hate Serbs, and I have few friends that are serbs!

[Unknown Hero]

@Anubis
Where are you come from? And what about some legends...

[Stroggy]

hmmm.

Well here in Antwerp there are a few myths... like how the city got its name.

The story goes that somewhere in Brabant (name of a geographical area in Belgium) there stood a castle next to the river Scheldt (river Scheldt is the river that runs through Antwerp and also the reason Antwerp became such a rich city near the end of the Dark Ages... until the Spanish general Sfernize (sp?) closed it)
In that castle lived a huge giant named Druon Antigoon.

This nasty giant demanded a toll from every passing ship. if the captain could not pay this outrageous toll the giant would cut the captain's hand off and throw it into the river.

One day a roman soldier named Silvius Brabo passed. The giant demanded Brabo pay the toll. Brabo refused and fought the giant.
Brabo eventually cut the giant's hand off and threw it into the river.

and since in dutch hand is 'hand' and throw is 'werpen' the name of the city became handwerpen... or in old Belgiant dialect: antwerpen

While this is obvious total bullshit, statues of Brabo and Antigone can be found everywhere in the city.
There is even a huge statue showing the slain Antigone and Brabo holding the Giant's hand up in the air.
During the summer water comes out of Antigone's arm and disembodied hand to simulate the blood.



Another myth is much more famous since it rivals literary works like Dante's: Divina Comedia, according to a lot of experts.

I'm talking about the story of Reinaerdt the Fox (or perhaps stories)
while this is, in many ways, a fable set in the region of the province of Antwerp. It also gives a very panoramic view of the medieval society. It shows corrupt and powerhungry nobility and clergy, and only a criminal like Reinaerdt can outwit them.

The (real) story, while very entertaining, is not suitable for children (these days the story is relayed to children in a much more toned-down version. it has been 'disneyed' :angry: )

But really it does contain quite a few revolting, yet amusing, scenes.

[Milos]

About war in Croatia...Serbia lost, cause today Croatia is independent from Serbia. There are many theories about what happened in this war, like:
- many of Croatian generals killed Serb's civilians who surrendered
- and on the other hand many Serbian soldiers did terible things to Croatian civilians (assault on Vukovar and such things)

That is true about bith sides saying their version of truth.And I to don't hate Croats because that was older generations war and not mine and we shouldn't live in the past and suffer the mistakes that our fathers and grandfathers made, I hope that other Serbs and Croats feal the same. :ok:

[Milos]

For Anubis where are you from if it is not a secret :bye:

[Yamcha]

Hey I saw that casttle it was like the castle of Gulivair. Netr the port :w00t:

[Timpsi]

We Finns have The Kalevala. It's a national epoch in the Iliad & Odyssey style and can be compared even to the Bible in many ways. It describes the birth of the world, the Finnish myths, and many heroic tales.

We also have our own folklore with gods, demigods, magic, occult and so on.

The English version of Kalevala can be found from http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/kveng/ , and there's an ugly but informative website about the ancient myths at http://www.finnishmyth.org/

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE ("The Ancient Finnish Myths Database")</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>"Finns have the power of darkness, Finns are wizards"
This was the cry of the Viking warriors who feared nothing...
nothing but the power of the Finns in their dark forests.[/b][/quote]

:Titan:

[Morrin]

EDIT: OH! There was a description of kalevala already! :D But here is the post anyway

--

Im from Finland

Propably the the only and one talebook of finland is "Kalevala" where even J.R.R. Tolkien took some elements like singing spells.

Kalevala is a mythos or talebook of a person called "Vainamoinen" (a's are with dots and o's are with dots). The tale begings from creation of world where bird called "Sotka" lays eggs to the island which was actually a leg of mother sea (or something). Sotka incubated the eggs and the eggs become so hot that the leg had to withdraw to sea and therefore the eggs broke and formed lands.

Vainamoinen was a bloke aight. He possessed a skill of singing people to swamp and stuff. I haven't completed the book singe it's very heavy to read and it's written in form of poetry.

Kalevala is perhaps the only thing remained in finnish "culture". Some say that finland is the most american country in europe (but still small and pathetic piece of shit).

[Morrin]

UKKO

Oh, Ukko, You mightiest of all!
To You we are drinking this sacred toast, brewed from your corn.
To You, our father, we are drinking to unite You with all the living and all our dead.
Ukko, You are the mightiest of all,old man of the sky.
Accept these riches in the vakka.
We give them to You as we know You shall give us plenty.
The seed has been sown.
Now raise the cloud, bring the rain.
In rain You come, in thunder we hear the strikes of your golden club when You thresh in your fiery drying-house.
Above the clouds You dwell, in the center of the sky, ruler of the rain and winds.
We seek Your help in despair and danger.
Our hunters seek Your help.
You can raise the game, You can bring the bear to us, as a gift from You.
And for your help, the wives giving birth cry out.

Jesus christ! I hope crusades never reached finland. That is heavy shit!

[Rogue]

@unknown_here and milos

I am from Bosnia, and I was 20 years old when war begun. I don’t need news to know what happened, simply because I was there. After concentration camp (Keraterm, if the name tells you anything) I was transferred to Croatia, from where I emigrated first to Germany, then to USA. Lost a lot of family members and friends, and know what and how happened. (first hand, how they say it here)

And now about the story from my country. There is a nice story about women called Hasanaginica (wife of Hasanaga) who dropped dead at the time of her second wedding when her ex-husband called children in the house, telling them that she does not have a heart. It’s kind a long story. (poem)

[Sebatianos]

Originally posted by Gekko@Nov 11 2004, 03:17 PM
Some say that finland is the most american country in europe.
I guess many people in many countries say that (about their own country). The thing is, that poeple don't read enoguh and don't listen to folk tales anymore. Most people rather watch TV (and since Hollywood makes movies based mostly on Anglo/American legends - and even those not accurately) people know only what they see - not their own culture,
Hope this thread will help a bit (both with cultural awarenes, and understaning each other).

[Rogue]

In my country they used to say 'You work like a black man' for a man that works a lot and hard. :huh:

After couple months in USA, most people do not say that any more, as those don't work a shit. LOL

[Maikel]

Originally posted by Stroggy@Nov 11 2004, 10:00 AM
hmmm.

Well here in Antwerp there are a few myths... like how the city got its name.

The story goes that somewhere in Brabant (name of a geographical area in Belgium) there stood a castle next to the river Scheldt (river Scheldt is the river that runs through Antwerp and also the reason Antwerp became such a rich city near the end of the Dark Ages... until the Spanish general Sfernize (sp?) closed it)
In that castle lived a huge giant named Druon Antigoon.

This nasty giant demanded a toll from every passing ship. if the captain could not pay this outrageous toll the giant would cut the captain's hand off and throw it into the river.

One day a roman soldier named Silvius Brabo passed. The giant demanded Brabo pay the toll. Brabo refused and fought the giant.
Brabo eventually cut the giant's hand off and threw it into the river.

and since in dutch hand is 'hand' and throw is 'werpen' the name of the city became handwerpen... or in old Belgiant dialect: antwerpen

While this is obvious total bullshit, statues of Brabo and Antigone can be found everywhere in the city.
There is even a huge statue showing the slain Antigone and Brabo holding the Giant's hand up in the air.
During the summer water comes out of Antigone's arm and disembodied hand to simulate the blood.



Another myth is much more famous since it rivals literary works like Dante's: Divina Comedia, according to a lot of experts.

I'm talking about the story of Reinaerdt the Fox (or perhaps stories)
while this is, in many ways, a fable set in the region of the province of Antwerp. It also gives a very panoramic view of the medieval society. It shows corrupt and powerhungry nobility and clergy, and only a criminal like Reinaerdt can outwit them.

The (real) story, while very entertaining, is not suitable for children (these days the story is relayed to children in a much more toned-down version. it has been 'disneyed' :angry: )

But really it does contain quite a few revolting, yet amusing, scenes.
The story I heard about antwerpen is that 2 important people held a running contest, the one who where the first to lay his hand on the city walls of antwerpen would claim the city. One of the 2 guys was a couple of meters behind, so he cut of his hand and threw it at the wall before the other could touch it :D . That''s what a tourist guide in Antwerp told me at least

[Stroggy]

First time I heard that story.
The brabo story is the one I've always heard from teachers and guides

[bohor]

ok I would like to tell you a legend about a great great man called Marco Kralyewitch...
He lived in the middle ages, in the Balkans, somewhere around Kosovo. He had a horse called Sharatz with whom he would share everything, expecialy booze aka rukeeya. He and hes horse were apparently VERY strong.. Marco could plow stone raods instead of field and could jump (with his horse) over seven meter high spears. .....
END OF PART ONE!
more will come in short...

[Rogue]

You sure that mostly was not a wine instead of 'sljivovica'? ("vino pije kraljevica marko, pola pije, pola sarcu daje..." :D what kind of Serb are ya if you don't know your own legends??? :bleh: :tomato: :D )

[Sebatianos]

Yup, the story of Kraljevic Marko is a folk tale all right!
Do tell us more...
I never heard/read the whole thing.

[Rogue]

Sebatianos,
have you ever seen 'audicija' from Bosnia?

[Sebatianos]

Sorry to say I haven't. I heard a lot about it thoug, but the only two perfomence I knew off were sold out!

[Sebatianos]

Originally posted by Anubis@Nov 18 2004, 07:41 PM
You sure that mostly was not a wine instead of 'sljivovica'? ("vino pije kraljevica marko, pola pije, pola sarcu daje..."* :D* what kind of Serb are ya if you don't know your own legends???* :bleh:* :tomato:* :D )
In the profile says he's from Zagreb.

[bohor]

Originally posted by Anubis@Nov 18 2004, 05:41 PM
You sure that mostly was not a wine instead of 'sljivovica'? ("vino pije kraljevica marko, pola pije, pola sarcu daje..." :D what kind of Serb are ya if you don't know your own legends??? :bleh: :tomato: :D )
well, yes, ehm... you see Im not really a whole serb... Im just half of it, the other half is a croat... that would explain my ignorance :whistle:
but I have an even better question: what kind of croat/slovenian are you, when you know what kind of drink was drinking one of the greatest serbian legends?! :bleh:

...and now for the long expecting and worldwide knowing
PART TWO of the TALES OF MARCO KRALYEWICH
...now as I mentioned in part one, Marco was really strong! He was seen dragging an ox across his shoulders or braking a tree with he's BARE hands!! Ofcourse srenght was only one of the things that helpped him to defeat his enemies: he also had a great flail (which contained sixtysix "bumps") and ofcourse there was his trusty and noble steed: his horse (not a donkey) Sharatz. Now Sharatz wasn't Marco's first horse. He had many horses before him, but non of them couldn't carry him for a long period of time. He discovered sharatz in one quite interesting way. One day during his travels and adventures, Marco noticed a small leppered young male horse in a company of some gypsies... Not judging by the looks Marco thought that this horse would fitt him. He took the horse by his tail and tryed to spin him around above his head (as he did with all the horses that he tested), only this time the horse didn't move an inch! So Marco bought the horse from the gypsies, cured him from the lepper and taught him to drink wine (not rukeeya).
And thus, this concludes this chapter...
Stay patient as the third sequel of TALES OF MARKO KRALYEWICH is coming, also known as PART THREE where we will demystifize the death of one of the greatest (living?!) legends...

[Rogue]

croat/slovenian :roflol: :kosta:

To much :smoke: or :drunk: ???

Got me there! :tomato: :bleh: (be back after laugh attack! LOL )

[Sebatianos]

I think he confused the two of us!

[Rogue]

Originally posted by Sebatianos@Nov 18 2004, 02:20 PM
I think he confused the two of us!
God knows... :D

I was couple times in Slovenia, that counts? LOL

[Unknown Hero]

It does! You are 0.001% Slovenian :roflol:

I didn't come here to spam! Here's the story my professor of Geography (the best professor in school and around) told us about:

In one village in Croatia, there were four main (rich) families.
First (M1 family) had a son, who was just about to marry a doughter from second (F1 family). But as son of third (M2 family) fancied F1's doughter, he swithed her for doughter of fourth (F2 family), so son of M1 family married a doughter from F2 family instead of F1 family. He recognized the trap, but he said: "Since I can't have F1's doughter, it's better anything than nothing, so he didn't complied, and everyone was happy!


I hope you understood this story, as I tried to write it the best way I can.

[Rorture]

I'm from Australia and there aren't many legends here (except for those of the Aboriginals - whose legends I cannot recall, but I dpo remember some of them having the most interesting morales as far as the environment is concerned)

There is one legendary figure, though, whom dates back to only the end of the 19th century. His name was Ned Kelly. I don't know how many of you europeans would have heard of him, but here, he's all over the place.

Ned was a bushranger (a highwayman, basically), famous for his wearing of a custom-made body suit that consisted of a breastplate and a helmet that look like a bucket with a long eye-slit. During his short life, he robbed a heck of a lot of coaches, killed three policemen in cold blood (although the exact details of the motives and the events around these killings is still debated by many armchair historians) and was eventenually captured after a legendary standoff at a place called glenrowan (after which he was hung).

Although, the strange thing about this is that he is only remembered by history for commiting violent crimes. Some historians have illustrated him as a martyr for the underdogs the irish community (of which I am descended from, adding another interesting personal fact, my ancestor, an irishman, was one of the cops that ned shot), whom were shat on by the british in the early days. There have been a number of movies made about him, the latest of which starred heath ledger and orlando 'legolas' bloom.

Australia tends to idolize it's famous criminals, being a nation that arose from a penal colony. The latest legendary criminal is a man called 'chopper reid' whom rose to fame at the end of the twentieth century. He was a hitman from the melbourne underworld whom cut his ears off in jail. In the early nineties, when he ws serving another sentence for murder, he wrote an autobiography and a few crime novels, instantly earning him the status of a nation-wide celebrity. There was a movie made abut him, called 'chopper' and starring eric bana (whom played the Hulk in the recent ang lee movie)

Yet, despite our criminal history, australia is not that criminal a place. Here, in canberra, we hear about murders commited in melbourne and sydney. The underworld is lame, consisting of a bunch of wnnabe godfathers whom have recently started killing each other in our biggest 'gang-war' yet (20 people down so far over a ten year period- laugh your asses off all americans, please). The only real criminals are international gang members, whom tend to quietly import drugs and not make any sort of a scene. Yet we have based our culture almost solely around criminals like ned kelly (politicians here often pretend to fight for the 'underdog' whlst happily raising our taxes and taking away our benefits). I think all of this is incredibly stupid, my country is lame, peoples, llame, I tell you.

actually, one thing i forgot to mention in my rantings is that the real underdogs nowadys are the native aboriginals, whom are living in fourth world conditions (there society is going downhill, not gradually developing like third world ones). They are constantly losing support from the government, have massive alcohol problems throughout their society (they've only been drinking for maybe a hndred and fifty years, unlike those of european and asian descent, whom have been drnking for thousand) and they are subject to the most horrific acts of racil vilification by mainstrem society ('abbo is almost an accepted word in most conversation). There re changes that need to be made in my country! fast! :Titan:

[wendymaree]

Hey, cool thread and great answer, Rorture. There were some things I wasn't aware of myself even though I'm an Aussie.

There aren't many different/individual things about the Australian culture as we import most of it from the U.S. and the UK. It is a real melting pot of cultures as we have a lot of people originally from overseas living here. The last time I was in Sydney, Chatswood, at the shopping centre, I literally didn't see one Australian there. Everyone walking down the street was Asian. And many of the smaller shops had signs written in another language. I like this mingling of cultures and races. It makes for a rich cosmopolitan society. I wish our society concentrated more on the arts, though, than sport.
Not a big fan of anything sporty, but I'm in a minority of one, I think.

EDIT:

I so agree with your last words about the Aborigines, Rorture. Why there is so much angst and mis-information about this race I can't understand. My mother is afraid to walk down a street if she spots a small group of them. And a neighbour of mine (who normally is the nicest and most sensible of people) will tell anyone who'll listen that the aborigines should be lined up and shot. I haven't met many from the Aboriginal race myself, but the ones I have met have been delightful. And very arty and talented. And not interested in sport. heheh

[Maerlyn]

Im with you on the sport wendy - cant stand it.

[Maerlyn]

Originally posted by Rorture@Nov 26 2004, 06:05 AM

Here, in canberra, we hear about murders commited in melbourne and sydney. The underworld is lame, consisting of a bunch of wnnabe godfathers whom have recently started killing each other in our biggest 'gang-war' yet (20 people down so far over a ten year period- laugh your asses off all americans, please). The only real criminals are international gang members, whom tend to quietly import drugs and not make any sort of a scene.* I think all of this is incredibly stupid, my country is lame, peoples, llame, I tell you.


How little you know.

And dont refer to it as your country when you put it down unreasonably.

Also, like Americans can laugh their asses off at anything, except possibly themselves.

[Puffin]

I know Ned Kelly, I saw the Heath Ledger / Orlando Bloom movie :bleh:

A friend of mine lived in Australia for a semester, recently, he also showed me some photos, from this museum about Ned. In the prison, if I'm not mistaken...
That was pretty cool!

[Rorture]

It is my country, I was born here, I work here, I pay my taxes and I make contributions to the running of this society. When I speak, I speak as a member of democratic society, and when I say that the country is going to hell, I say it out of concern as a member of this society. The often-used ideal that I should worship my society no matter the wrongs it perpetrates is in direct contrast to the democratic ideals this society supposedly upholds.

I'm sorry if you were offended by my words, Maerlyn, I assure you none was intended. That it is my stance and in my belief, anyone should have the right to criticize their own country and still call it as such.

[Maerlyn]

You can criticize your country, yes - but alot of what you said is simply not true.

Your remark about gangland activites is from an outsider's perspective, you only know what you hear in the news or whatever. If that isnt true and you claim you have other sources, they are wrong or you simply misunderstood.

I have experience with this stuff, and it is larger and more serious than you believe.

Ofcourse you have the right to your own opinion, but you havent got all the facts.

As for the aboriginies, i agree with what you said on that subject.

[Sebatianos]

Maybe this should move to another thred, but I think music is a big part of culture too, so here's a traditional Slovene song: Bela nedelja (http://www.abandonia.com/~sebatianos/Other%20stuff/Bela%20nedelja%20-%20Vlado%20Kreslin.mp3).
It's about a girl who died on her weading day and the guy is hopeing to join her soon!

[Puffin]

Hey, I found good pics of the Icelandic santa claus's!!

Jólasveinar (http://jol.ismennt.is/myndasafn3.htm)

Askasleikir: He who licks the "ask" (things icelanders used to eat from)
Grýla and Leppalú?i: The parents of the santa clauses
Gátta?efur: Sniffs, smells, through doors
Bjúgnakr?kir: Steals sausages
Gluggag?gjir: Window peeker
Kétkrókur: Steals meat
Hur?askellir: Slams doors
Pottasleikir: Licks cooking-pots
Kertasníkir: Steals / begs for candles
Skyrgámur: Eats a lot of Skyr (traditional icelandic food)

not on the pictures are:

Giljagaur: he has very long legs, i'm not sure what his name means :tomato:
Stúfur: Really short. The smallest of them all.
?vörusleikir: Can't translate it :ranting:
Stekkjastaur: Can't translate it either :cry:


Then I can't forget the christmas-cat :bleh:

[Ioncannon]

the only Polish legend I know of is how the capital Warszawa (spelling?) was settled. Something about a mermaid tellin some dude to settel there and that she would protect the sity or something./ There is a statue of a mermaid in Warsaw. LOL I read somewere they want to make her boobs bigger :roflol:

[Rorture]

Originally posted by Ioncannon@Nov 28 2004, 04:18 AM
the only Polish legend I know of is how the capital Warszawa (spelling?) was settled. Something about a mermaid tellin some dude to settel there and that she would protect the sity or something./ There is a statue of a mermaid in Warsaw. LOL I read somewere they want to make her boobs bigger :roflol:
Now that would be legendary :ok:

[Stroggy]

Originally posted by Ioncannon@Nov 28 2004, 04:18 AM
I read somewere they want to make her boobs bigger :roflol:
Nothing like preserving ones heritage