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FAINTING GOATS

9/1/2023

With the millions of kinds of creatures on this earth, it could take a few lifetimes to hear of them all, much less to learn about them. But when my son and his wife told me they were staying at an animal sanctuary which had, among other things, fainting goats, I have to admit that I was bit put out.
Image Source: pinterest.com/574631233687719039/

It took me eighty-three years to hear about fainting goats? What have I been doing with my life?

And then I learned that this variety of goat serves no different purpose than any other goat other than to be studied for scientific research. Leave it to the Americans! I don’t believe that it was bred for that purpose but there you are…!

THE MYOTONIC GOAT
Myotonic, not bionic. This doesn’t have anything to do with superhero goats, either.
◄ mage Credit: Redleg at English Wikipedia
Image Source: commons.wikimedia.org/2005183

Myotonia is a medical term meaning the inability to relax voluntary muscle after vigorous effort.

This Tennessee-bred goat is characterized by a hereditary condition called myotonia congenita that causes it to stiffen or fall over when excited or startled. It is also known as the fainting goat, falling goat, stiff-legged goat or nervous goat.

Fainting Goats were first brought to Marshall County, Tennessee, in the 1880s, by a farmer named John Tinsley, but no one is admitting from whence they came. A fainting goat was donated to A. & M. College in Texas (1929), by a Dr. White who stated he had seen them in Egypt, However, the Hippocratic Corpus (4th Century BC) includes analogies between goats ‘that spasm’ and humans with certain illnesses, so they must have been around for a while. Now, most of them are in Marshall County, Tennessee.

With a population of slightly over 34,000 people in 2020, Marshall County, Tennessee has one claim to fame: The Annual Goats, Music, and More Festival.

Image source: goatsmusicandmore.blogspot.com/

SCIENTIFIC IMPORTANCE
The myotonic goat was first described in modern scientific literature early in the 20th century. Several research studies were done in the 1920s and 1930s which were important to clarifying the role of chloride in muscle excitation and contributing to understanding the physiological basis of this condition. The mutation in the goat gene that causes their muscle stiffness wasn’t discovered until 1996, several years after the equivalent gene had been discovered in humans and mice.

Congenital Myotonia also exists in humans and is known as chloride channel disorder. In humans and goats, the condition can range from mild to severe and doesn’t control daily living. Both goat and human can go about a normal life. While there is no cure or treatment for a congenital condition, there are ways to control and manage symptoms.

WHAT HAPPENS?
Myotonia is simply a genetic stress response to a startling situation.

When something startles or excites these goats, the muscles of the fainting goats freeze for about ten to twenty seconds. The younger animals stiffen and fall over. Older animals can get used to their problem and can learn to stay upright. Their muscles still tense up and freeze, but they might be able to mitigate or prevent the fall, staying on their feet until the condition relaxes. The goat, when in this condition, doesn’t feel pain, and even though its body is paralyzed the goat remains conscious.

Source of Images: https://izismile.com/2010/fainting_goatsT

The operator of the Animal Sanctuary told my family that his goats got used to familiar loud, startling sounds after a while, and his female goats only have fainting episodes when pregnant. The goats live with it and live like any other normal goat.

Without going into a medical discussion of the genetic defect which I don’t pretend to understand, here is a fairly simplistic description about what happens.

Imagine how it feels to be startled. You feel the visceral reaction with your muscles tensing and body parts seeming to move around inside. Then you may cry out. Your brain has sent a signal to “Freeze; there is a potential threat.” In about three seconds of receiving the first signal, your muscles get a second signal to relax. Then your body kicks into fight or flight mode.

In normal goats, the initial tensing is followed by an almost-immediate relaxing of the affected muscles which allows the animal turn and run away from a perceived threat. With myotonia congenita, however, the muscles tense and stay tensed for 10 to 20 seconds before slowly relaxing. The muscles of the myotonic goat got the signal to tense but it continues with “keep tensing”, not the “relax” which normally comes quickly. The animal panics and collapses on its side, still stiff. The reason this happens is the genetic disorder part that’s complicated.

Source of Images: damnfreshpics.blogspot.com/fainting-goats

Watching it happen can be very funny, although I feel a little ashamed about posting the links. Fortunately, the experience is painless to the goat, and they don’t seem to get hurt. It still seems a little mean-spirited to make them faint and then laugh.

https://youtu.be/NmMKaBL7mks
https://youtu.be/YI4hzzepEcI
https://youtu.be/7TuyqX_Udb8

CHARACTERISTICS
There are physical differences between this breed and others. They have wider, stockier bodies, larger heads, heavier mass, and high muscle density.Fainting goats are said to be quieter than other breeds, but from watching the videos, they look rather energetic. They are vigilant and very trainable, highly adaptable to low-input farmlands and foraging, and very good with children.The animals come in various sizes and almost all goat colors, from 60 to 175 pounds and are about 20 inches tall. The males are often twice as big as the females. They are not as good at jumping or climbing as other breeds and less capable from escaping their pens.

They have a higher meat-to-bone ratio than their normal-sized kin and less fat. However, because of their high risk status, fainting goats are currently listed as “recovering” by The Livestock Conservancy, so they’re not slaughtered as often as other breeds. It is perfectly safe to eat their meat.

Most goats are horned, and their horns vary from large and twisted to small and simple; most have short hair but long-haired goats are not unusual. They live for ten to twelve years.

Image Source: learnnaturalfarming.com/fainting-goat Image Source: modernfarmer.com/can-eat-fainting-goats/

AT RISK
Fainting Goats are generally adored by their owners, fainting notwithstanding. Unfortunately, within the last five years, the Fainting Goat has been listed as “at risk” in the database of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations which means the breed itself has a low enough population that it is threatened. According to the International Fainting Goat Association, there are around 10,000 fainting goats in the world.

JUST SAYIN’!
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fainting_goat
httpswww.pinterest.compin724516658777221584
http://damnfreshpics.blogspot.com/2010/10/fainting-goats.html
https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/why-do-goats-faint-and-scream.html
https://learnnaturalfarming.com/fainting-goat-characteristics/
https://petkeen.com/fainting-goats/
https://www.thoughtco.com/fainting-goat-4691940
https://weirdcooldumb.com/fainting-goats-origin-term-scapegoat/
https://modernfarmer.com/2014/07/can-eat-fainting-goats/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_and_Agriculture_Organization
https://acreagelife.com/hobby-farming/5-things-you-might-not-know-about-fainting-goats/
Photos only
https://www.instagram.com/p/CXKgxhrtQKa/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=73d0248d-8fcf-4f3e-bb19-6c4c9ac2f620
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=fainting+goats&qpvt=fainting+goats
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/574631233687719039/
http://goatsmusicandmore.blogspot.com/

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THE BEE'S KNEES

8/11/2023

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THE BEE’S KNEES
If anyone these days wants to call you “The Bee’s Knees” ‒ which is unlikely ‒ ask them to find another term of endearment to designate you as the “favorite” or “coolest” person they know. Bees do have knees, but based on the photo below, the nicest inference that can be made is that you need to shave your legs. The worst? You tell me.

The Bee’s Knees – Image Source
photocontest.smithsonianmag.coml/bees-knees

At least “cat’s pajamas” could be cute.
The Cat’s Pajamas – Image Source:
mashable.com/archive/cats-in-pajamas

But this blog isn’t about bee’s knees or cat’s pajamas. It is about
honey bees.

NATIONAL HONEY BEE DAY
In 2023, National Honey Bee Day occurs August 19. The event was started in 2009 by a small group of beekeepers who petitioned for and obtained a formal proclamation by the USDA honoring honey bees and beekeeping.

Although this observance day was created primarily to focus on the honey production and bee keeping industry, the day also provides an opportunity to foster awareness among the general public of the importance of the honey bee to human society.

July 10 is Don’t Step on a Bee Day, created by Thomas and Ruth Roy is a reminder to be mindful of honey bees and their importance to our ecosystem. In addition, my personal advice is not to sit on a bumble bee in shorts. I did when I was seven and it’s one of the least pleasant of my childhood memories.

Okay. Most people know about honey bees, but there are many interesting things about them you may not know.

ANCIENT HISTORY
Scientists claim that bees have been producing honey for at least 150 million years, so they were around when the first homosapiens developed about 300,000 years ago. A cave in the Iberian System Mountain Range has been discovered with a painting of prehistoric humans gathering honey. The drawing has been dated from 7,500 to 15,000 years ago.

There were airtight vats of honey discovered in King Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922. That honey was still edible despite 2,000 thousand years beneath the sands of Egypt. However, In 2003, in the Country of Georgia, an oil pipe installation unearthed honey estimated at 5,500 years old. This honey was also still edible. Most of us know the honey bee is the only insect that makes food humans can eat, and the antioxidant it contains improves brain functions. Through the ages, all the world’s major religions have paid homage to the significance of the honey bee to human societies.
▲ A person collecting honey from a beehive in a 8,000-year-old
prehistoric cave painting in the l’Aranya Caves, Valencia, Spain Common Honey Bee ▼
mage source: pinterest.com/pin/184295809740881720/ Image Source: britannica.com/animal/honeybee

THE NATURE OF HONEY BEES
Science has identified over 20,000 species of bees (genus Apis), and the honey bee, among the 7 species and 44 subspecies, is the most important to humans. According to The National Wildlife Foundation, the honey bee originated in Eurasia and was not native to North America. Honey been were imported to North America from Europe in the 17th Century.

Like all insects, bees have six legs. They also have two wings and five eyes ‒ two, large, compound eyes and three simple eyes (or ocelli), located on top of the head. Keen eyesight is complemented by two sensitive odor-detecting antennae. Bees have ten times as many scent receptors as they do taste receptors, which makes it clear that pheromones play a strong role in the day-to-day life of bees.

Honey bees never sleep and can fly fifteen to twenty miles per hour. Their wings beat 11,400 times in one minute, making them noisy. You may hear the bee before you see it. On every foraging trip, a bee will visit 50-100 flowers to collect nectar.

Honey bees live only six weeks. The first three weeks worker bees spend working in the hive. The last three weeks of live are spent collecting and delivering nectar. A single bee will produce only 1½ teaspoons of honey during its life (i.e. approximately 4/1000 of a teaspoon of honey per day). honeybeehobbyist.com/how-much-honey-do-bees-make/

The drones (male bees) do pretty much nothing except attempt to mate with the queen.
The queen’s purpose is reproduction. She will only leave the hive once in her lifetime to mate. Of course, she is the largest bee in the hive, the other residents being workers and drones. She can lay up to 2,000 eggs per day, twice her own body weight. In her lifetime she will lay about 800,000 eggs. The queen can also select the gender of the larvae. Most larvae that will be produced will be female.

The worker bees and drones’ diet is made up of honey and pollen. Honey provides high energy while the proteins in pollen provide essential amino acids. The queen diet is rich in honey providing fertility. Royal jelly is produced only for the queen to eat giving her added carbohydrates.

IMPORTANCE OF HONEY BEES
Although honey bees produce honey and other products, the most important contribution of bees is the pollination of food crops. This process is what later yields fruits, vegetables, and seeds. Eighty percent of the pollination of the fruits, vegetables and seed crops in the U.S. is accomplished by honeybees.

Image Source: worldatlas.com/honey-bees Image Source: wildlifewelcome.com/bees/

Contrary to the scare over colony collapse disorder the early in the 21st century, human food supply and survival is not dependent on honey bees. The most important food crops for humans do not require bees for their pollinations, or any insects for that matter. Grains such as wheat, corn, and rice are all grasses and are wind-pollinated. Others crops propagate through cuttings. Yams, sweet potatoes, and potatoes propagate through tubers.

However, of those crops which do require bee pollination, squash and pumpkins are important food sources for millions of people around the world. The rest are primarily fruits and nuts, and while they are important to nutrition and overall food supply, human survival doesn’t depend on them. Also, crops requiring bee pollination don’t depend entirely on the honey bee, since other bees perform the same function.

However, reliable sources indicate that the disappearance of the honey bee could cause the total loss of at least seven major crops in the United States whose commercial pollination is done using honey bees.

BEE COMMUNICATION
Bees have a complex method of communication with each other. The sole purpose of the communication is focused on the good of the hive. The bees exchange information that either leads to increased nectar collection or better processing of available nectar into honey for the hive. It also allows for warnings and alarms. Bee communicate through three methods.

● Strong smells: Bees release pheromones, each with a specific meaning, to communicate. Example: When bees have to use their stinger, the action of stinging triggers information being sent to other bees in the colony.

● Dances
•The waggle dance: The bee “waggle dance“ occurs to signal to each other where to find more nectar. The dance can provide directional information, how far away the new food source is from the colony, quality of the resource, and other information necessary for distributing work through the hive.

mage Source: beeswiki.com/how-do-bees-communicate/

• The tremble dance: This dance signals to other workers that is it time to help process more nectar. It can also be a signal to other workers that there is so much honey that more foraging members are needed.

● Scent memory: Bees carry the scent of other flowers with them back to the hive, assisting the other workers in being able to find the new food source.

Each hive has its own scent. The hive’s guard bees check for a certain pheromone to be present for all bees in hive and other bees without those scents are considered outsiders and denied access.

There is an alarm pheromone which is utilized to alert and immobilize bees to possible threats to the hive. The alarm pheromone is so strong that beekeepers have to use smoke in order to keep the bees calm.

HONEY AND OTHER PRODUCTS
● HONEY
We all know about honey made by bees. Yum! So, while we gulp down honey in all sorts of easy ways, a hive of 50,000 honey bees had to fly over 55,000 miles to gather 5.93 pounds of nectar from 1,185,000 flowers to make 5.4 gallons of honey in a year.

Bees are known to raid other hives and steal honey. Bees “rob” honey from other bees if honey from another hive is available (say, if a beekeeper leaves a hive open), or if times are lean. However, if a guard bee from the robbed hive catches an interloper (detecting the foreign smell of the intruder), the two will engage in battle—stinging to the death.

If the robber makes it into the hive unnoticed, she will gain the scent of the hive (and learn the entrance well enough) that she can come in and out without being detected as an intruder.

● MEAD
Mead is a product made from fermented honey. Mix the fermented honey with water and mead yeast and you have “the drink of the Gods.” It is sometimes called, incorrectly, honey wine. Honey wine has 20% less honey.

● BEE POLLEN
Bees gather bee pollens which they use to made bee bread, a food source for bees. Bee farmers set up pollen traps at the entrances of beehives to collect the small balls of pollens that are attached to the bee’s legs. Pollens are used for medical purposes such as reducing inflammation, strengthening the immune system, fighting bacterial infections, and other health supplements. Bee with Pollen Sac -- Image Source: stakich.com/?afmc=8b

● BEES WAX
Younger worker bees produce beeswax from their abdominal glands for the purpose of building the walls of the honeycomb. Beeswax is one of the most common, most practical, and most multi-purpose bee products. It is used in cosmetic products such as lip balms, body butters and moisturizers, or even for pharmaceutical purposes to heal itch, scrapes and burns. Beeswax is also used to make candles and to polish wood.

● ROYAL JELLY
Royal jelly is produced by nurse bees which secrete this white fluid from their head glands for the queen bee to eat. It is highly nutritious which enables the bees to grow fast. It may be beneficial for human health as well and is used more in traditional medicine than Western medicine.

Although more scientific research is needed for its effect on humans, there is a possibility that royal jelly can help to reduce allergic reactions, aid in the neural system and improve cognitive functions. It also contains probiotics that may aid in the health of the tract connecting human’s digestive organs. Royal jelly may also increase collagen production to provide a more youthful appearance. Lastly, royal jelly may also help in the Royal Jelly in the hive
healing of wounds due to the presence of Image Source: bing.com/images/search?views.com
fibroblasts.” manukahoney.com.sg/bee-products

● PROPOLIS
Propolis is a mixture of resins and sap from flowers and trees combined the secretions and beeswax of worker bees. The bees use it to seal openings in their beehive for protection, and especially when their hives are situated on trees where ants and insects are common. Ants and insects will get entrapped within the sticky liquid when they try to enter the beehive.

It is known to humans for its antiseptic and antibacterial properties, and is often used for sore throats, ulcers, and on wounds. It is available in three forms such as tablets, pills, and liquids.

CONSERVATION STATUS
Regardless of what you may have heard, honey bees are not on the endangered list. However, it is true that eight other species of bees have been placed on this endangered list dues to habitat loss.

The Washington Post did an extensive study, published in 2017, that shows the numbers of bees close to historical highs. USDA reports that the number of honey bee colonies in the US on April 1, 2021, was 2.86 million colonies. Honeybees are not endangered, mainly because they are globally distributed and primarily managed by beekeepers. www.treehugger.com/honeybees-endangered

The numbers of honey bees are determined by the number of beekeepers. Because most bee keeping in the US is commercial business, the business owners take steps to assure adequate numbers and have more capability to protect the bee from loss of habitat.
Just because the honey bee is not at risk of extinction ← there are more honey bees on the planet today than at any time in history. scientificamerican.com/honey-bees/ ←. that is no reason to ignore the potential impacts of pollution, pesticides, pathogens, and parasites.

WORDS OF WARNING: THE AFRICANIZED HONEY BEE
Africanized Honey Bees are a hybrid species of bee, derived from a combination of the original African subspecies and European honey bees. When they were introduced to Brazil in 1956, twenty-six swarms escaped quarantine and have spread across parts of South America, Central America and the American Southwest.

They are dubbed as “Killer Bees” because of their aggressive behavior. Unfortunately, these bees do not look any different from ordinary honey bees.

Africanized honey bees are more likely to sting in defense and will travel up to half a mile when provoked … in other words they will chase after you if you irritate them. They tend to swarm in large numbers, and when subjected to loud noises or vibrations, these bees become incredibly agitated and attack anything within a 75-foot radius. Their aggressive behavior makes them a risk to human health and agriculture, as they have been known to behave unpredictably when disturbed or threatened. In humans, this can result in severe stings leading to anaphylactic shock and other injuries.

Africanized Honey Bees are known for superior resistance to disease and improved capabilities in gathering nectar while producing more honey than other bee species. For that they are becoming popular with beekeepers. Finally, it’s important to contact local authorities if you suspect there is an active hive located nearby since only professionals should attempt to remove it safely and effectively

WORLD BEE DAY
There is a World Bee Day which takes place on May 20 for the purpose of raising awareness of the essential role bees, and other pollinators play in keeping people and the planet healthy. The date coincides with the birthday of Anton Janša, who in the 18th century pioneered modern beekeeping techniques in his native Slovenia and praised the bees for their ability to work so hard while needing so little attention.

JUST SAYIN’ !
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Honey_Bee_Day
https://www.treehugger.com/are-honeybees-endangered-5119259
https://www.nwf.org/Home/Magazines/National-Wildlife/2021/June-July/Gardening/Honey-Bees
https://www.boredpanda.com/honey-bee-population-increase/?utm_source=bing&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=organic
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-problem-with-honey-bees/
https://www.thereisadayforthat.com/holidays/usa/national-honey-bee-day
https://nypost.com/2021/09/18/why-the-honey-bee-apocalypse-is-based-on-a-lie/
https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/why-are-honey-bees-important-to-us.html
https://foe.org/blog/why-are-bees-important/
https://english-grammar-lessons.com/bees-knees-meaning/
https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/the-bees-knees.html
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/why-are-bees-important-to-humans
https://www.planetbee.org/why-we-need-bees
https://wildlifewelcome.com/bees/are-honey-bees-endangered/
https://kare.co.nz/honey-bees/interesting-facts-about-honey-bees/
https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/why-bees-are-essential-people-and-planet
https://a-z-animals.com/blog/discover-the-oldest-honey-ever-found-from-king-tuts-tomb/
https://bigislandbees.com/blogs/bee-blog/14137349-interesting-bee-honey-facts
https://english-grammar-lessons.com/bees-knees-meaning/
https://supersimple.com/article/10-fun-facts-about-bees/
https://manukahoney.com.sg/bee-products-other-than-honey/
https://www.thoughtco.com/fascinating-facts-about-honey-bees-4165293
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/honey-cave-painting
https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/why-are-honey-bees-important-to-us.html
https://www.nwf.org/Educational-Resources/Wildlife-Guide/Invertebrates/Bees

https://beeswiki.com/how-do-bees-communicate/#:~:text=There%20are%20three%20primary%20methods%20of%20bee%20communication%3A,being%20able%20to%20find%20the%20new%20food%20source.

https://theconversation.com/when-did-we-become-fully-human-what-fossils-and-dna-tell-us-about-the-evolution-of-modern-intelligence-143717

https://honeybeehobbyist.com/how-much-honey-do-bees-make/#:~:text=How%20much%20honey%20does%20a%20bee%20make%20in,produce%205.4%20gallons%20of%20honey%20in%20a%20year.

Photos
https://photocontest.smithsonianmag.com/photocontest/detail/bees-knees-1/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Honey_Bee_Day
https://www.britannica.com/animal/honeybee
https://wildlifewelcome.com/bees/are-honey-bees-endangered
https://stakich.com/?afmc=8b
https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=OqxI%2feS4&id=
http://www.buzzingacrossamerica.com/2015/12/propolis-glue-of-hive.html

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WORLD UFO DAY: July 2

6/30/2023

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WORLD UFO DAY: New Implications
World UFO Day, July 2, was established back in 2001 when a group of UFO enthusiasts, believed to be led by UFO researcher Haktan Akdogan, proposed establishing a day dedicated to the study and exploration of UFOs to raise awareness about their existence and their potential implications.
Image Source: wallpapercave.com/world-ufo-day

The observation day is celebrated by some on June 24, the date of pilot Kenneth Arnold reported what is generally considered to be the first widely reported UFO sighting in the United States. Most people celebrate the event on July 2, the date of the supposed UFO crash in Roswell, New Mexico in 1947.

Whichever you choose to celebrate, the day is set aside as a time for people throughout the globe to come together to share experiences and knowledge of this international phenomenon. In the past it has offered an opportunity to consider the government's role in UFO sightings and cover-ups, as well as the impact of UFOs on popular culture and media. But the stated goal is “to raise awareness of ‘the undoubted existence of UFOs’ and to encourage governments to declassify their files on UFO sightings.”

THIS AIN’T YOUR GRANDMA’S UFO
“Poppycock!” you say ‒ or maybe something more colorful ‒ but UFOs are very real.
Image Credit: CNN
Image Source: edition.cnn.com/2023/china-russia-partnership

Needless to say, in 2023 many don’t take this observation day very seriously, but the recent incident of the large Chinese spy balloon shot down after moving across the United States this February awakened the general public to a new and different perspective.

“Unidentified” only means that the person viewing the object doesn’t know what it is, not that it isn’t real. Also, it doesn’t mean the object is question is alien, in the sense of “not of this earth.” There is a whole lot of stuff in the atmosphere around earth that we need to be worried about, and not all of it originates in the United States.

UAP IS THE NEW UFO
“It’s a bird!”
“It’s a plane!”
“Nope. It’s a UAP!”

The old term Unidentified Flying Object (UFO) was coined in 1953 by writer Donald Keyhoe in an issue of Air Line Pilot. The term became more widespread during the 1950s, after the Roswell Incident, at first in technical literature, but later in popular use.

The less popular term Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) was first used by the United States Air Force in 1953 to replace the term “flying saucers” which had become associated with reports of extraterrestrial spacecraft. To be consistent with the recent changes in the National Defense Authorization Act, NASA now will be calling UAPs Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena instead of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena. In the 21st century, the new name is more accurate as the photo shows. A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.
Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena - Image source: youtube.com/watch?v=QIdjitjnT2c

THE FLYING SAUCER
Humans have been intrigued with the idea of other world civilizations since ancient times, but the idea became a big deal in about the mid-20th century.

The interest is believed to have sparked with a pilot named Kenneth Arnold who was flying a small plane near Mount Rainier in Washington state in June 1947. As he was flying, he spotted a glint or shine that made him think he might be headed for a collision with another aircraft. According to his report, when he looked carefully he saw what he described as nine very odd-shaped vessels flying in formation.

After landing, he reported his sightings to authorities at a nearby airport and eventually talked to some reporters. When a reporter asked Arnold to describe how the things moved, he said, “they flew like a saucer would if you skipped it across water.” The journalists came up with a headline about “flying saucers” even though Arnold never uttered the phrase himself. pbs.org/newshour/nation/history-of-ufos

THE ROSWELL INCIDENT
A month later, the Roswell, New Mexico incident brought “flying saucers” again into the public eye. Britannica.com describes the Roswell incident as beginning when rancher W.W. (“Mac”) Brazel, discovered some unusual debris near Roswell. He took it to the Sheriff who informed the Roswell Army Air Field (RAAF).

“After collecting the wreckage, the RAAF issued an extraordinary press release that stated that a ‘flying disc’ had been retrieved from a local ranch. The Roswell Daily Record immediately picked up the press release, and on July 8 the story was printed with the headline ‘RAAF Captures Flying Saucer On Ranch in Roswell Region.’”

In less than twelve hours the Air Force changed its story to recovery of a weather balloon carrying a radar target. By then, no one believe the Air Force announcements, and K-Boom!

Cover up! What would you expect? The event fueled a nationwide conspiracy theory involving UFOs and extraterrestrials.

Image Source: https://cleverjourneys.com/roswell/ Image Source: bibliotecapleyades.net/exopolitica/
Material gathered from ruins of crash

In 1994 the Air Force admitted that the recovered material was, in reality, from a U.S. spy balloon, part of top-secret Project Mogul, which sought to detect Soviet nuclear bomb tests. I'm not sure if anyone believes that either. We will probably never know the truth, no matter what it was.

However, the outcome remains a connection in people’s minds between flying saucers and dead aliens, and unidentified objects in our heavens…i.e. not taken seriously by most. But in this day of space travel, drones, artificial intelligence, space debris, etc. we need to adopt a new attitude.

THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE
So, what is the truth? “Not of this earth” aliens we don’t know about yet, although that possibility has not been discarded by serious scientists or military personnel, but there is a lot we do know about.

Long after the Roswell incident disappeared from the rearview mirror, sighting reports continued to come in from around the world on a consistent basis and there are people and programs who monitor these and identify ‒ at least attempt to identify, using modern technology ‒ the “unidentified.” While most sightings have a logical explanation, if not a positive identification, there are still a few which remain mysteries.

A report released by the Pentagon in 2021 identified over 140 instances that showed inexplicable events in the sky, and Navy test pilots testified they had frequently had encounters with strange craft off the US Coast. theguardian.com/world/whistleblower-ufo

The 2022 Annual Report on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, released by Office Of The Director Of National Intelligence (ODONI), shows 366 UAP incidents newly reported by credible sources.
● 163 were characterized as being sightings of balloons or “balloon-like entities”
● 26 were found to be “unmanned aircraft systems” (drones)
● 6 were attributed to pilots misidentifying airborne clutter, such as plastic bags, which is a constantly growing problem for another discussion.
● 171 UAP reports remain "uncharacterized", as the AARO artfully describes it, and some were found to demonstrate “unusual flight characteristics or performance capabilities, and require further analysis.”

Government reports fail to mention alien visitors or spaceships from other worlds when referencing the unexplained sightings. Instead, the driving force behind the continued need to examine the phenomena is an understandably serious concern that the sightings could be linked to the intelligence gathering capabilities of foreign countries.

WE ARE NOT ALONE
Humans on earth have a lot of company in their sky in the form of at least a zillion satellites of our own making for many uses including spying, drones, space junk including whole ships down to lost wrenches and gloves, plastic bags, kites, satellites that are ready to fall out of orbit, one moon, and perhaps, among the other traffic, an alien or two.

Finally, government is taking the matter seriously ‒ or at least letting the public know they are taking it seriously ‒ and has appointed an Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force (UAPTF) to keep an eye on our skies, whether the threats be man-made, natural phenomena or alien. Removal of some of the stigma of reporting a UAP has resulted in more credible sources making such reports. Following is a small sampling of sightings and incidents.

● 1966: The Muscarello Exeter incident
In 1965, Norman Muscarello, a hitchhiker, was in Exeter, New Hampshire when he saw five strange red flashing lights in the woods. “TV station WMUR recounts, the source of the lights suddenly came towards him at a frightening speed. Muscarello dove into a ditch to avoid being hit before flagging down a motorist. The police investigated the area, and they, too, saw the same aircraft with the same bright red lights speed off out of sight. Today, the event is celebrated with a yearly Exeter UFO Festival. This sound pretty iffy to me. Any excuse for a party!

● 1978: Frederick Valentich Disappearance

Frederick Valentich, an Australian pilot, disappeared on 10-21-1978 while he was flying a Cessna 182L over the Bass Strait. He encountered something he couldn’t identify and notified air control that there was a strange vessel the likes of which he had never seen before, circling him, as if taunting him. “It is hovering and it is not an aircraft,” he said in his communication.
Image Source: sott.net/article/Frederick-Valentich
Then air control lost contact and Valentich was never heard from or seen again. This sighting was investigated but this remains one of those unexplained events.

● 1986: Japanese Airlines Flight 1628
On November 17, 1986 Japan Airlines cargo flight 1628 took off from Paris headed for Japan, transporting a cargo of Beaujolais wine.

Over Alaska the Japanese crew witnessed two unidentified objects to their left. “These abruptly rose from below and closed in to escort their aircraft. Each had two rectangular arrays of what appeared to be glowing nozzles or thrusters, though their bodies remained obscured by darkness. When closest, the aircraft's cabin was lit up and the Japanese captain could feel their heat on his face.” en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan_Air_Lines_1628

After the two craft departed, a larger third aircraft appeared and followed. The pilot reported the incident to the Anchorage Air Traffic Control who requested an incoming United Airlines flight to confirm the unidentified traffic, but when it and a military craft sighted JAL 1628, no other craft was visible. The sighting lasted 50 minutes. The Japanese aircraft made an emergency landing at Anchorage. The ground crew there corroborated the sighting the third craft. A three-month FAA investigation of the incident ascribed the sighting to a “split radar image.” However, the sighting and report findings have been controversial ever since.

● 2004: The USS Nimitz Encounter (San Diego, CA)
On November 14, 2004, the USS Princeton, part of the USS Nimitz carrier strike group, encountered an unknown craft on radar 100 miles off the coast of San Diego. The crew had been tracking objects that appeared at 80,000 feet and then plummeted to hover right above the Pacific Ocean. It had been a routine operation but soon emerged as one of the best documented UFO sightings of the 21s century.

“When two FA-18F fighter jets from the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz arrived in the area, they first saw what appeared to be churning water, with a shadow of an oval shape underneath the surface. Then, in a few moments, a white Tic Tac-shaped object appeared above the water. It had no visible markings to indicate an engine, wings or windows, and infrared monitors didn't reveal any exhaust. When an attempt was made to intercept the craft, it accelerated away, reappearing on radar 60 miles away. It moved three times the speed of sound and more than twice the speed of the fighter jets.” history.com/news/ufo-sightings-credible-modern

At the time, the Navy did little to investigate the incident, and although a lot of military personnel knew about it, it was “swept under the rug.” At least there is no government explanation of the event for public consumption.

● 2006: O’Hare International Airport
While preparing for Flight 446 to depart from Chicago, twelve United Airlines employees ‒ and a few witnesses outside the airport ‒ noticed a dark grey metallic craft hovering over gate C17 at around 4:15 pm.
Image Credit: https://i.pinimg.com/
Image Source: trueactivist.com/legitimate-ufo-sightings

Witnesses said the object hovered for about five minutes, then accelerated upward where it broke a hole in the clouds‒ enough that pilots and mechanics could see the blue sky. The news report became the most-read story on The Chicago Tribune’s website to that date and made international news. However, because the UFO was not seen on radar, the FAA called it a “weather phenomenon” and declined to investigate.

● 2019: California

The Pentagon confirmed that the footage -- which shows three pyramid-shaped objects hovering over the USS Russell -- was authentic and originated with a U.S. Navy pilot. However, the U.S. Government has not provided an explanation for these objects. However, it's plausible that these UFOs are just planes.

Image Credit: Salvatore Giusa
Image Source: salvatoregiusa24.blogspot.com

● 2021: New Mexico
The pilot of American Airlines flight 2292 from Ohio to Arizona reported “a long cylindrical object” flying over his plane. American Airlines and the FAA confirmed that the report was genuine but had no further information. The FAA reported they didn’t see any object on their radarscopes. There were no military tests being conducted in the area at the time. According to MetaBunk, this "missile type of thing" was most likely a Leer jet.

● 2021: Across the Eastern United States
Sightings of a strange string of lights in the night sky were reported by the hundreds of people from Texas to Wisconsin during the first week of May 2021. Image Source: youtube.com/watch?v=pU0YRBUUwEc

According to the press officer for the American Astronomical Society, Dr. Richard Fienberg, these
objects are Starlink Satellites. He told Associated Press that, "The way you can tell they are Starlink satellites is they are like a string of pearls, these lights travelling in the same basic orbit, one right after the other."

Many sightings are attributed to Elon Musk’s satellite internet services which originate from single geostationary satellites that orbit the planet at 35,786 km. Starlink is a constellation of thousands of satellites that orbit the planet much closer to Earth, at about 550km, and cover the entire globe.

A Starlink Satellite - Image Source: teslarati.com/spacex-starlink-satellite

● 2021 - New Jersey
On July 14, 2021, about a quarter after midnight, drivers on the New Jersey Turnpike were awed by the sight of strange orange-and-yellow lights in a V formation over the Arthur Kill Waterway.

Among witnesses were members of the Carteret Police Department. The air traffic controllers denied that an airplane or space flight could cause such mysterious lights. However, the New York Strange Phenomena Investigators received the FAA radar data that indicated the UFO sightings. To date I could find official identification of the source.
Image source: ufo-sightings-weekly.blogspot.com/

HOW TO CELEBRATE THE DAY
If you are looking for an excuse, or opportunity, to go slip off...
● to a conference and be challenged by serious discussion about UAPs…

● to have a drink with a bunch of friends....

WORLD UFO DAY IS AVAILABLE!
JUST SAYIN’!
Sources:
https://www.history.com/topics/paranormal/history-of-ufos
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jun/06/whistleblower-ufo-alien-tech-spacecraft
https://www.rd.com/list/most-chilling-ufo-sightings/
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/nasa-panel-hold-first-public-meeting-ufo-study-ahead-report-2023-05-31/
https://www.britannica.com/event/Roswell-incident
https://trueactivist.com/the-most-recent-legitimate-ufo-sightings-t2/19/
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/a-brief-cultural-history-of-ufos-from-secret-soviet-weapons-to-alien-visitors
https://cleverjourneys.com/2021/05/28/10-most-interesting-facts-about-ufo-crash-from-roswell/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pU0YRBUUwEc
https://www.starlink.com/technology
https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-starlink-satellite-upgrade-more-bandwidth-more-beams/
Photos only
https://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/exopolitica/esp_exopolitics_ZZZZI.htm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrW0PKahSXo
https://www.sott.net/article/321640-Frederick-Valentich-disappearance-Inspiration-for-new-TV-drama-in-Australia
https://salvatoregiusa24.blogspot.com/2021/04/la-us-navy-fa-trapelare-il-filmato-di.html
https://www.businessinsider.com/star-wars-celebration-mos-eisley-cantina-2015-4
https://www.iheart.com/content/2019-09-17-navy-confirms-ufo-videos-show-unidentified-aerial-phenomena/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan_Air_Lines_Cargo_Flight_1628_incidenthttps:/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan_Air_Lines_Cargo_Flight_1628_incident
https://www.narcap.org/blog/definition-of-uap#:~:text=A%20simple%20review%20of%20the%20internet%20archives%20will,term%20%E2%80%9CUAP%E2%80%9D%20has%20been%20in%20use%20ever%20since.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/nasa-team-begins-study-of-ufos-180980997/#:~:text=A%20team%20of%20NASA%20researchers%20has%20just%20begun,in%20mid-2023%2C%20according%20to%20a%20statement%20from%20NASA.
https://www.news.com.au/technology/science/space/teacher-reveals-creepy-details-of-aussie-ufo-sighting-in-rare-audio/news-story/134d4d8c78eba477b460e97241fb26bb
https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/2314065/establishment-of-unidentified-aerial-phenomena-task-force/#:~:text=The%20Department%20of%20Defense%20established%20the%20UAPTF%20to,potentially%20pose%20a%20threat%20to%20U.S.%20national%20secur
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/02/02/china/china-russia-partnership-one-year-blinken-intl-hnk-mic/index.html?bt_ee=A1Wn4z+srS/F14KQN9/4BbbH4TBmeq7P
https://www.history.com/news/ufo-sightings-credible-modern#The%20Lights%20Above%20The%20New%20Jersey%20Turnpike
https://www.bdebate.org/en/news/international-center-scientific-debate-becomes-bdebate-boost-projection-its-international

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HAPPY RAINFOREST DAY: June 22

6/4/2023

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WORLD RAINFOREST DAY
On June 22 every year the world sets aside this day to learn about the rainforests and to acknowledge their importance.

According to Nationaltoday.com, “World Rainforest Day aims to encourage people to learn more about rainforests and join efforts to protect and preserve these forests for generations to come. Rainforests have been disappearing and taking the rich diversity of flora and fauna with them because of increasing deforestation and climate change. World Rainforest Day was instituted to halt this disappearance by reminding people of the importance of rainforests.”

WHAT IS A RAINFOREST?
A rainforest is a region with a thick, evergreen canopy of tall trees in areas of constant precipitation. The canopy is a stratum of branches and leaves on the highest trees. The canopy can be about 100 feet above the ground or more, and is not the location where most plants and animals live.

Image Source: https://www.shutterstock.com/borneo Image source: https://emozzy.com/Daintree
Rainforest/

LAYERS OF THE RAINFOREST

Emergent layer ►

The Canopy ►
The Understory ►

The Forest Floor ►

In many places in a rainforest the sunlight does not reach the ground, which is overgrown with a tangled growth of vines, shrubs, and small trees, often called jungles when the leaf canopy is lost or thinned. This is where we find most of the plant and animal species of the rainforest.

Tropical rainforests have an annual precipitation of between 98 inches (over 8 feet) and 177 inches (14 feet 9 inches) per year but it isn’t seasonal, but year round. Precipitation varies for temperate rainforests where the rainfall is seasonal.

Scientists agree that nearly half of the Earth’s plants and animals live in rainforests. Many of them are vulnerable and can survive only in this habitat.

WHERE ARE RAINFORESTS LOCATED?
Rainforests are found on every continent in the world except Antarctica. However, some are temperate rainforests

Rainforests of the World
Image Source: https://scienceworldbiomes.weebly.com/tropical-rainforest.html

Tropical rainforests are located between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, typically between 10°N and 10°S of the Equator, where temperatures stay near 82°F throughout the year.

Temperate rainforests are located in temperate regions between the tropics and the poles with high rainfall of more than 55 inches per year and average temperatures between 39 and 54°F. These rainforests may receive moisture from fog and snow as well. While tropical rainforests have little differentiation between seasons, temperate rainforests have seasonal variations.

They can exist in very small areas, if the environment is correct. When visiting Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe, I learned that the plume of spray from the waterfall, which is over a mile wide on the Zambezi River, creates a small rainforest of about 600 acres growing alongside and opposite the falls.

Rainforest along the rim opposite the falls
Image Source: commons.wikimedia.org/Victoria,_Zambia

WHAT IS THE IMPORTANCE OF THE RAINFORESTS?
In the past, it was generally believed the most important factor about rainforests was their contribution to the world’s oxygen supply (sometimes called “turn over”). Today, while there stills seems to be general agreement among scientists that the rainforests are of importance to the world, there is a definite split between those experts who believe in a much higher contribution of the world’s oxygen generated by rainforests than others.

Emozzy.com indicates that, “Rainforests are responsible for 28 percent of the planet’s turnover, sometimes misnamed oxygen production, [4%] by managing them through carbon dioxide photosynthesis and breathing.”
ttps://emozzy.com/top-10-largest-and-popular-rainforests-in-the-world/

However, Sarah Sambolich, NBC Naturalist, writing for a 2014 publication in Newportbay.org, states, “There is a misconception that the rainforests contribute significantly to the oxygen we breathe. In reality, the animals and microscopic life living in the rainforest consume most of the oxygen. As a result, the net production of oxygen by the rainforest or any forest is actually close to zero.” newportbay.org/ask-a-naturalist

She goes on to point out that the belief that 20% of the Earth’s oxygen supply is contributed by rainforests is incorrect and notes that the Amazon rainforests has been plagued by fires that reduce the oxygen supply for the ecosystem.

One of the most important worldwide functions is the rainforest’s ability to absorb carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, and increase local humidity. Rainforests play an important role in stabilizing the climate and maintaining the water cycle.

On a more local scale, they also protect against flood, drought, and erosion, and are a resource for food, medicine, and other products.

THE BIGGEST TROPICAL RAINFORESTS

Forest of the Amazon (South America)
Size: 2,250,000 square miles
Type: Tropical
Location: Brazil (60% of forest), Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia,
Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana

Image Source: La Historia con Mapas Image Source: https://www.lonelyplanet.com/

Image Source: https://emozzy.com/Amazon/

The Republic of Congo (Africa)
Size:                    687,262 square miles
Type:                   Tropical
Location: Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Central
                            African Republic, Cameroon, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea

Image Source:lahistoriaconmapas.com/ Image Source: https://emozzy.com/Amazon/

African forest elephant in Lekoli River, Odzala-Kokoua National Park, Republic of the Congo.
Image Credit: Photo / Getty
Image Source: nzherald.co.nz/world/the-congo-rainforest

Australiasia Region
Size: About 303,000 square miles
Type: Tropical
Location: Australiasia is a bit confusing. It is billed as the third largest rainforest, but exactly what area it includes depends on the source you are using.

One group of references describe it as non-contiguous rainforests in a region incorporating New Guinea, Northeastern Australia and strings of smaller islands that used to be connected to one another during the Ice Age. One variation to the non-contiguous group also indicated New Zealand.

The other definition is a contiguous rainforest on the island of New Guinea, which is split into two territories: The eastern half is part of Papua New Guinea, and the western half is part of Indonesia. This island covers about 303,000 square miles.

Image Credit: Posnov / Getty Imag.
Image Source: mapquest.com/
amazing-rainforests-inaustralia/ ►

The Daintree Rainforest (approximvately 463 square miles in size) on the north-east coast of Australia is part of the world’s oldest continually surviving tropical rainforest. It is thought to be 6-10 times older than those found in the protected areas of the Amazon and have stood for 150 million years.

The ecosystems of the Daintree Rainforest are some of the most complex on Earth. Its plant diversity and structural complexity is unrivalled on the arid Australian continent.

Unfortunately, the UNESCO protected area does not extend to all of the Daintree with residential development, climate change and invasive plants and species all a threat.

Sundaland Rainforest
Size:                    197,000 square miles
Type:                   Tropical
Location:   Malay Peninsula on mainland Southeast Asia and the nearby islands
                            of Sumatra, Java and Borneo. It spans several countries: Indonesia,
                            Malaysia, Brunei, Thailand and Singapore.

Sundaland (also called Sundaica or the Sundaic region) probably will not be show on your home atlas. It comprises the portion of South-eastern Asia which was a larger land mass for the last 2.6 million years during ages when sea levels were lower. It includes Bali, Borneo, Java, and Sumatra in Indonesia, and their surrounding islands.

Image Source: sites.google.com/a/lincoln.edu.gh Image Source: novasutras.org/sundaland/

Between 2002 and 2019, Sundaland lost the largest share of the world’s primary forest cover. Borneo has lost 15% of those forests, and Sumatra has lost 25%.

WHAT IS CAUSING THE LOSS OF THE RAINFORESTS?
The loss of almost every habitat in the world is primarily due to the growth of the human population and our lack of environmental conservation in the process of growth. In the past we might have written that last off to ignorance but that it no longer an excuse.

The main causes of loss of rainforest are:

● Agriculture, including unsustainable agriculture and pastoral farming.

●Logging, including illegal logging and logging for valuable trees like mahogany.

●Mining, including mining for natural resources such as iron ore, copper, tin, aluminium, manganese and gold.

● Industrial development.

● Large dams

It is not hard to see where and why the conflicts occur. The question is, what are we going to do about it?

JUST SAYIN’ !
Sources:
https://nationaltoday.com/world-rainforest-day/
https://www.bioexplorer.net/world-rainforests.html/#11_Khao_Sok_National_Park_Asia
https://www.livescience.com/largest-rainforests-in-the-world#New%20Guinea%20Rainforest
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sundaland
https://scienceworldbiomes.weebly.com/tropical-rainforest.html
https://www.nationalgeographic.org/activity/save-the-plankton-breathe-freely/

https://emozzy.com/top-10-largest-and-popular-rainforests-in-the-world/#:~:text=Top%2010%20Largest%20Rainforests%20in%20the%20World%201,8%208.%20The%20Island%20of%20Borneo%20More%20items

https://www.bioexplorer.net/world-rainforests.html/#:~:text=Top%2014%20Rainforests%20in%20the%20world%201.%20Pacific,Congo%20Rainforest%20%28Africa%29%208.%20Sapo%20National%20Park%20%28Africa%29

https://www.atlasandboots.com/travel-blog/largest-rainforests-in-the-world/#:~:text=The%20largest%20rainforests%20in%20the%20world%201%201.,Forests%20Size%3A%20222%2C100%20km%202%20...%20More%20items

PHOTOS
https://novasutras.org/earths-three-green-hearts/sundaland/
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Borneo_rainforest.jpg
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/782993085199870523/
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cataratas_Victoria,_Zambia-Zimbabue,_2018-07-27,_DD_04.jpg
https://sites.google.com/a/lincoln.edu.gh/biodiversity-hotspots-lcs-ess/sundaland
https://novasutras.org/earths-three-green-hearts/sundaland/
https://www.lahistoriaconmapas.com/
https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/405
https://www.getyourguide.com/amazon-rainforest
https://www.twinkl.co.th/resource/t2-g-022-tropical-rainforests-world-map
https://rainforests.mongabay.com/kids/elementary/401.html
http://animalplantsrainforest.blogspot.com/2011/12/four-layers-of-rainforest.html
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/countries-with-rainforests
https://www.bing.com/aclk?ld=e8DF40J-TX7yv-FaSUTCb5_TVUCUx4QBA-NARAkE4GTCdvy-utgXiKEvU_qYRdXqui3yjfY0_p60bg6GBkC19hcHDsfVEVaFt3fNMvhMZfkMwVCjGmwdL-SFYljCWDde5CbPwFuzBE1-IaSNlnhW0A2TYRPNPfQyHA0TTKvUURjCaLDhgLV06b1JD5EIxRSVuwd2V0BA&u=aHR0cHMlM2ElMmYlMmZ3d3cu
https://www.getyourguide.com/-l145846/-tc190/?cmp=bing&campaign_id=434111532&adgroup_id=1251244854682616&target_id=dat-2330002578451843%3Aloc-190&match_type=b&ad_id=78202963710333&msclkid=73c1da513ff01e14e20abe269d47ce34&loc_physical_ms=77160&feed_item_id=
https://www.shutterstock.com/search/borneo-rainforest-plant?c3apidt=71700000071414271&gclid=e5f902822a9a167053de66f589ad381c&gclsrc=3p.ds&kw=%2Fsearch%2F&msclkid=e5f902822a9a167053de66f5
https://newportbay.org/ask-a-naturalist-do-phytoplankton-produce-more-oxygen-than-a-rainforest-if-so-does-the-oxygen-they-produce-go-into-the-atmosphere-or-does-it-just-remain-dissolved-in-the-ocean/#:~:text=There%20is%20a%20misconception%20that%20the%20ra
https://www.internetgeography.net/topics/where-are-tropical-rainforests-located/
https://www.lonelyplanet.com/articles/amazon-rainforest-fire
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/the-congo-rainforest-is-losing-its-ability-to-absorb-carbon-dioxide-thats-bad-for-climate-change/ELHHO2N3RA72X77MLTRXBEP4U4/?c_id=2&objectid=12314071

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WORLD DRACULA DAY: May 26

5/1/2023

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THE ORIGINAL NOVEL
Although Bram Stoker’s novel “Dracula” has been reknowned since it was published in 1897, World Dracula Day wasn’t created until 2012 by the Whitby Dracula Society. The day has been celebrated annually world-wide since then.

Abraham (Bram) Stoker (1847-1912) ▼
◄ Christopher Lee Image Source: https://www.biography. Movie: Horror of Dracula, 1958 com/authors-writers/bram-stoker

Why?

Because “Dracula” is one of the most famous Gothic literary works in the world, and the day celebrates the cultural importance that Bram Stoker’s novel has had over the last century.

Ironically, the author, Bram Stoker ‒ born in Dublin, Ireland ‒ while on vacation in a town named Whitby (North Yorkshire, England), found the name Dracula in the public library and, according to one reference, assumed it means devil in Romanian. The Whitby Dracula Society Facebook page says the novel was inspired by the Gothic architecture of Whitby Abbey combined with Transylvanian folklore.

Whitby Abbey, Whitby, England   Whitby Abbey, Whitby, England
Image Source: https://www.bing.com/images/      Image Source: https://commons.wikimedia
search?view=detailV&ccid   .org/w/index.php?curid=124664624

The novel is presented in an epistolary style, the plot being narrated as entries in personal journals and diaries, letters, and newspapers articles. “It tells the story of a solicitor called Jonathan Harker who visits Count Dracula at his castle in the Carpathian Mountains in order to help him purchase a house near London. While there, Harker discovers Dracula’s vampirism and manages to escape the castle alive after Dracula himself flees to England and plagues the town of Whitby. Manhunters, led by Abraham Van Helsing, hunt down Dracula and kill him in the end.”

The novel was well received, although many critics found it too frightening and too risqué. The Inquiriesjournal.com says “Dracula” is not just any “piece of cult-spawning” fiction “but rather a time capsule containing the popular thoughts, ideas, and beliefs of the Victorian era that paints an elaborate picture of what society was like for Bram Stoker’s generation.” http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/

The character Count Dracula has subsequently inspired 43 sequels and thirty different film versions of the story, although Dracula himself rarely appears the same way twice. He has evolved with the society around him. His physical traits, powers and weaknesses have morphed to suit cultural and political climates from the Victorian era to the Cold War. Count Dracula continues to be a work in progress.

The American edition of the original "Dracula" came out in 1899, and it has been translated into nearly every language including Icelandic. However, it was not published in Romania until 1990. That seems a little weird.

Bram Stoker didn’t make a fortune from the novel. When published in 1897, it cost six shillings. Today, a first edition would cost a collector in the neighborhood of $8,000. Stoker didn’t earn any royalties for the first one thousand sales of “Dracula”, but it has never been out of print since it was published. https://nationaltoday.com/world-dracula-day/

COUNT DRACULA ’S CASTLE
While the character Count Dracula was inspired by the real historical figure Vlad III, Prince of Wallachia, the castle that is Dracula’s fictional Transylvania abode, called Bran Castle ‒ BraN Castle not BraM ‒ is located in Romania, tucked away in the Carpathian Mountains near the city of Brasov.

This famous medieval castle sees over 800,000 visitors each year and is a must-visit attraction when visiting this part of the world. It was originally built as a wooden lookout tower in 1212 a.d. when the Teutonic Knights kept an eye on trade routes in the area that were often under threat.

The wooden castle was destroyed by the Mongols in 1242 but was later rebuilt in stone in the 14th century. The first documented records a castle in this location are dated 1377.
King Louis I of Hungary gave permission for Saxon settlers to build this castle with their own funds as a defense against the Ottoman Empire. It later became a prominent strategic fortress and customs post on the mountain pass between Transylvania and Wallachia.

This was around the time that Vlad Tepes was a Prince of Wallachia and many believe that he had a connection with Bran Castle. However, Bram Stoker, the author of Dracula, never set foot in it, and it is merely a rumor that Vlad Tepes visited only once. https://www.npr.org/templatesRomanian

Bran Castle, Romania
Image Source: https://www.bing.com/Bram

Queen Marie of Romania made significant improvements to the castle in the 19th-century and made it a royal residence. She lived here until her death in 1938. Her daughter, Princess Ileana, resided there afterward and established a hospital at Castle Bran during World War II.

After the Russians took over Romania, the country fell to the Red Army and converted to Communism. Michael I of Romania abdicated the throne, and Princess Ileana and the Romanian royal family were exiled from the country in 1948. Bran Castle then became a museum.

Princess Illeana only returned to Romania in 1990. The family finally was able to take back their legacy in 2005. In 2009, the castle was owned by Archduke Dominic of Austria-Tuscany, but it was recently sold to an architect from New York.

VLAD TEPES, PRINCE OF WALLACHIA ‒ "VLAD THE IMPALER"
The historical namesake of Count Dracula, “was not a vampire, did not drink blood, and didn't worship the devil,” but he was pretty scary without all that. Unfortunately, he did many unthinkable things and probably wracked more misery, discontent, and death than any real vampire might have.

Vlad Tepes (Vlad III) was born in 1431 to a noble family at the point in history when the Christian Holy Roman Empire was fighting with the Muslim Ottoman Empire. Wallachia was caught in the middle. (Wallachia is now a region of Romania named Muntenia). Vlad Tepes’s father, Vlad II Dracul (which references say means ''dragon''), was a member of the secret order of the dragon, created by the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire ‒ although some say it was Vlad Dracul who founded the order.

One theory is that Dracula means ''son of Dracul''. Some references claim the name Dracula is literally translated in Gaelic as Drac Ullah meaning "bad blood", while other subscribe to the original story that it means “devil” in Romanian. Other translations say the “Devil” in Romanian is damerla or daly..

Vlad Tepes lived his adult life in Wallachia, which is not even in Transylvania. There were periods when he was in imprisoned with his younger brother in Pest and Visegrad [in Hungary].

Wallachia in the 1400’s
Image Source: https://travelgudier.com/wallachia/

There was a great deal of bloodshed in this part of the world in the mid-thirteenth century involving the Ottoman Empire, Hungry, Wallachia, and the Transylvanian Saxons. Vlad took captives to Wallachia and had them impaled in public. During his reign, impalement was his favorite method of execution, which resulted in his moniker “The Impaler”.

While many have deemed Vlad III a just ruler and a realistic tyrant who punished criminals appropriately, local legends and German and Slavic folklore include tales such as the burning of the lazy, the poor, and the lame, and the execution of a woman who had made her husband too short a shirt. So, at least among some, he was regarded as everything evil, cruel, and bad, which is his primary connection to the fictional Count Dracula, the vampire. That’s it!

◄ Image Credit: Ambras Castle portrait of Vlad III (c. 1560),
reputedly a copy of an original made during his lifetime
Image Source: https://worldcometomyhome.blogspot.com/vlad-impaler.

WHY “DRACULA” IS IMPORTANT IN LITERATURE
The novel “Dracula” is set in the Victorian era and depicts popular beliefs and values of the strongly conservative times when Stoker penned the novel. The role of women in this society was quite limited, and any topic related to sexuality was verboten. The norm was to encourage an overall chaste and modest lifestyle, and the resistance of inevitable temptation was glorified. Social standards were strict for both men and women, but men enjoyed many more freedoms than females including the role of male superiority. The general idea prevailed that women who failed to resist temptation were possessed by evil, the work of Satanic powers. There was also a fascination with the occult and supernatural.
http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/bram-stokers-dracula

● “Dracula” incorporated many ideas and inferences that challenged Victorian mores, shocked and intrigued readers. It presented ideas that carried the shock factor into the next century.

● The novel’s main influence is that it placed the vampire at the centre of popular culture, in part because of the popularity which resulted in many new versions and new stories, plus films on TV and cinema.

● Although Bram Stoker didn’t invent the vampires or the surrounging myths, he more or less defined the rules and nature of the phenomenon with his own inventions, such as the vampire’s fear of crucifixes, of garlic, of running water, that it has no reflection in mirrors, that it can turn into a bat, that its blood sucking will turn victims into vampires, and several other rules. These are features we still find in modern vampire stories, although the rules are sometimes subverted by, for example, a vampire protagonist being able to overcome the crucifix phobia.

Dracula can't see his own reflection in the mirror because he is a reflection of the culture around him. Ever since Bram Stoker penned Dracula in 1897, the vampire's image has been a work in progress.

● Critics have classified “Dracula” as a genre novel but it falls into so many of their categories – vampire literature, horror fiction, gothic novel, invasion literature, crime, mystery, the supernatural – that categorization is problematic. It is much more than that – a fine novel, dealing with Victorian sexuality, British culture, and more, and, moreover, it is a significant addition to the novel genre in its own right.

● Stoker’s personification of Count Dracula is unique in that he is seen in the story as a person as well as a vampire, with his own looks, character, and motivations. The descriptions ‒ physical, demeanor, emotional ‒ are both chilling and captivating, resulting from Stoker’s excellent attention to telling details.

If you have seen one of the movies or read one of the books, most probably you haven’t read the original book. You should!

JUST SAYIN’

Sources:
https://nationaltoday.com/world-dracula-day/
https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11688859
https://www.npr.org/2008/03/21/88416912/in-dracula-a-metaphor-for-faith-and-rebirth
https://thirdeyetraveller.com/visit-draculas-castle-romania-bran-castle/
romaniatourism.com/dracula-legend.html
https://www.history.com/topics/folklore/vampire-history
https://www.livescience.com/24374-vampires-real-history.html
https://www.livescience.com/40843-real-dracula-vlad-the-impaler.html
https://blog.continentalcurrency.ca/vampires-transylvania/
https://hoiabaciu.wixsite.com/project/about?lightbox=dataItem-ji4m2faz2
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/poenari-castle-vlad-the-impaler
https://mybestplace.com/aroundtheworld/en/hoia-baciu-haunted-forest-of-mystery-in-transylvania/
http://horrorfuel.com/2018/01/15/supernatural-natural-hoia-baciu-forest/
http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1678/bram-stokers-dracula-a-reflection-and-rebuke-of-victorian-society
https://travelgudier.com/wallachia/
https://www.biography.com/authors-writers/bram-stoker
https://worldcometomyhome.blogspot.com/2017/11/romania-vlad-impaler-1431-147677.html
https://www.insider.com/dracula-movies-tv-shows-actors
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vlad_the_Impaler
https://study.com/academy/lesson/draculas-influence-on-pop-culture-literature-the-modern-vampire.html
https://atmosphericlights.com/was-dracula-real-separating-fact-from-fiction/

https://myliterature.net/faq/how-is-dracula-important-to-literature/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CDracula%E2%80%9D%20is%20considered%20to%20be%20one%20of%20the,way%20that%20made%20them%20seem%20like%20real%20creatures.

https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5434726#:~:text=The%20Romanian%20government%20today%2C%20handed%20back%20the%2014th,prince%20did%20once%20stop%20by%20for%20a%20visit.

https://www.npr.org/2008/10/30/96282132/defining-dracula-a-century-of-vampire-evolution#:~:text=Dracula%20gradually%20became%20the%20most%20significant%20work%20of,all%20that%20was%20threatening%2C%20powerful%2C%20alluring%20and%20evil.

https://atmosphericlights.com/how-stoker-constructed-the-character-of-dracula/#:~:text=Overall%2C%20Bram%20Stoker%E2%80%99s%20description%20of%20Dracula%20is%20both,of%20the%20most%20iconic%20characters%20in%20horror%20literature.

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FATHER OF THE CLICHÉ

3/31/2023

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AND THE WINNER IS…
Ah, Ha! At last, the Literary Police have rooted out the culprit. It is now time for the Father of the Cliché to take his punishment. William Shakespeare, please stand up and face judgment!

“Most Influential Writer in the English Language”

“TO THINE OWN SELF BE TRUE”
[Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 3]
William Shakespeare (baptized 26 April,1564 – 23 April, 1616) was the English playwright, poet and actor who is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist.

Born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon, England, his career began in London as an actor. He was soon renowned as a significant playwright and poet as well, and his influence on the English language has extended far beyond that time period and straight into our modern age.

Wm. Shakespeare’s Birthplace – Stratford-upon-Avon
Now a private residence
Image Source: dreamstime.com/stock-photos-stratford-shakespeares-birthplace

Shakespeare, known as the “Bard of Avon” or just “The Bard”, wrote and/or collaborated on 39 plays, 154 sonnets, three long narrative poems, and a few other works, some of uncertain authorship. All of these have been translated into nearly every language in the world. Most of his works were written between 1589 and 1613.

Even after four hundred plus years, and the advent of some pretty great writers, he remains arguably the most influential writer in the English language, and his works continue to be studied and reinterpreted.

Shakespeare has a special knack for bringing to the surface the inherent human weaknesses that drive most of his writings. The best of his tragedies exhibit these well. In addition to his impact on writing and the handling of content, his works contributed significantly to the standardization of grammar, spelling, and vocabulary.

EVERYONE HAS A PAST
Everyone and everything has a past, including the English language.
Ever since the first remnants of spoken language appeared somewhere around 50,000 years ago, languages have diverged into various veins which have since evolved into the 6,500 languages we have today.

According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, English “really took off” in the 5th century when three Germanic tribes [the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes”] crossed the North Sea and invaded Britain. Up until that point the inhabitants of Briton spoke dialects of the Celtic language. The invasions drove many of the Celts north to what is now Scotland, Wales, and Ireland where dialects of the Celtic language survived.

● Old English
Old English developed during the period between the 5th and the 11th centuries, beginning with the invasion of the Germanic tribes. Throughout the 8th to 10th centuries, England experienced invasions from Viking tribes, ending with the (French) Norman invasion of England in 1066.

The word England and English originated from the Old English word Engla-land, literally meaning “the land of the Angles” where they spoke Englisc. Old English is largely unintelligible to speakers and readers of modern English. For Example:
“Fæder ure şu şe eart on heofonum, si şin nama gehalgod” translates to ““Our father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name”, the first line of the Lord’s prayer. shortform.com/blog/evolution-of-english-language/

Old English gradually supplanted the old Latin and Celtic influences in England. Interestingly, the latter linguistic traditions left few personal or place-names today have Latin or Celtic antecedents.

● Middle English
Norman French, not English, was the language of the ruling elite in England for centuries after the Norman Conquest. Largely left to its own devices, English developed organically during the Middle Ages. Although Middle English suffered from lack of standardization, it is when English developed many of its more recognizable features.

By the mid-14th century, English had reasserted itself as a language of government and law, due to the fact that the political links between England and France were severed over the course of the centuries. Moreover, there was a shift in the character of written English. Although Medieval English dialects could vary widely even across short distances, the language was becoming more standardized. That process was long and uneven, but the spoken language started to sound more like the present-day English language.\

● Early Modern English
The changes in the English language during this period occurred from the 15th to mid-17th Century, and signified not only a change in pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar itself but also the start of the English Renaissance.

The printing press, first introduced in England by William Caxton in 1476, allowed Early Modern English to become mainstream. The printing press was key to standardizing the English language through distribution of the English Bible.

“ALAS, POOR YORICK”
THE BARD ARRIVES
Onto this scene bursts one William Shakespeare. At the time William Shakespeare did most of his writings [1589 thru 1613], the English language was undergoing serious changes due to contact with other nations through war, colonization, and the likes. No dictionaries had yet been written and most documents were still written in Latin.

These changes were further cemented through Shakespeare and other emerging playwrights who found their ideas could not be expressed through the English language currently in circulation. Thus, the “adoption” of words or phrases from other languages were modified and added to the English language, creating a richer experience for all concerned.
The Bard is credited for having contributed 1,700 words to the English language because he was the first author to write them down. At least as many phrases, and probably more, originated in his works and expressed ideas in new ways.

Where ever they came from, Shakespeare wrote down new words and phrases and was able to share them with the general public through the theater. They stuck and many became popular. Over the last four hundred years English speakers and writers have used them ad infinitum.

GRAMERCY! THOU DOTH QUOTETH SHAKESPEARE
Without realizing it, you probably quote Shakespeare more often than you believe. English speakers can’t hold a conversation without a quote or two. Take a look at the abbreviated list of words and phrases that Shakespeare was first to conceive of, say, use in a particular form, use with his particular meaning, and so on. And the most important thing, he wrote them down and communicated them.

As well as inventing completely new words, he used existing words in inventive new ways. For example he was the first person to use 'friend' as a verb, as well as 'unfriended’ (Twelfth Night) and from 'gloom' he invented the word 'gloomy' (Titus Andronicus).

The following is an abbreviated list of words and phrases Shakespeare coined in this plays. They are in no particular order.

● all that glitters isn’t gold
● all the world’s a stage
● archvillian
● as good luck would have it
● assassination
● at one fell swoop
● a tower of strength
● a foregone conclusion
● a tongue in your head,
● a laughing stock
● a sorry sight
● a stony-hearted villain
● bloody-minded|
● a blinking idiot
● by jove
● barefaced
● be all and end all
● be that as it may
● bedazzled
● been hoodwinked
● been in a pickle
● belongings,
● break the ice
● breathe one’s last
● brevity is the soul of wit
● but me no buts
● catch a cold
● cold-blooded
● cold comfort
● clothes make the man
● danced attendance on your lord and master
● disgraceful conduct
● dog will have his day
● dead as a doornail
● eyesore
● eaten out of house and home
● elbow room
● eventful
● fair play
●fancy-free
● flesh and blood
● flaming youth
● foregone conclusion
● for goodness sake
● fool you, for it is
● foul play
● frailty, thy name is woman
● give the devil his due
● good riddance
● gone in the twinkling of an eye
● green eyed monster
● had short shrift
● heart of gold
● heartsick
● hot-blooded
● housekeeping
● inaudible
● in a pickle
● in stitches

● it smells to heaven
● it’s Greek to me
● it is all one to me
● it is high time
● knitted your brows
● lackluster
● laughed yourself into stitches
● leapfrog
● lie low
● live long day
● lived a fool’s paradise
●long-haired
● made a virtue of necessity
● manager
● method in his madness
● mind’s eye
● ministering angel
● more sinned against than sinning
● more in sorrow than in anger
● mum's the word
● naked truth
● neither a borrower nor a lender be
● neither here nor there
● o lord
● one fell swoop
● outrageous fortune
● pitched battle
● primrose path
● played fast and loose
● seen better days
● send me packing
● slept not one wink
● stood on ceremony
● strange bedfellows
● swagger
● the course of true love never did run smooth
● teeth set on edge
● that is the long and the short of it
● the devil incarnate
● the lady doth protest too much
● the milk of human kindness
● the game is up
● the truth will out
● the world’s your oyster
● to give the devil his due
● to budge an inch
● tongue-tied
● towering passion
● too much of a good thing
● till the crack of doom,
● tut, tut!
● uncomfortable
● vanished into thin air
● what the dickens
● wear one’s heart on one’s sleeve
● witching time of the night
● without rhyme or reason
● your wish is father to the thought
● There's method in my madness
● Wild-goose chase

Granted, the above is far from a complete list of clever phrases coined by the Bard. However, many of these phrases meet the definition of clichés, yet only nine of them appeared on a list of 681 clichés writers should never use. Stunned, I collapsed, but recovered sufficiently to type, “Maybe the Literary Police are wrong!” Mayhaps not all our clichés come from Shakespeare.

How many cliché phrases can you pick out of the list? No insult intended to the list of clichés I used, but c’mon. How can the phrases “Clothes make the man,” “In one fell swoop,” or “Strange bedfellows” not be cliché?

An Elizabethan play Elizabethan Theater - Image Credit: Artist J. Beaven:
Image Source: pinterest.com/pin/17310779793801123/ Image Source: bookpalace.com/acatalog/info_BeavenTheatreLL.html

“SOME HAVE GREATNESS THRUST UPON 'EM."
To put things in context, remember that in Elizabethan England the live stage was the mass entertainment of the people. That’s important for two reasons. First, because these plays were considered by the more elite population as low-brow and rather crude, sort of like mud-wrestling, and definitely not considered high art. Yet Shakespeare wrote for those who were educated and those who were not. The educated would understand his subtle jokes about politics, the court, and the double entendre of the more common words with sexual meanings. The “groundlings” appreciated the more vulgar jokes.
And indeed, Shakespeare’s uncensored plays were rife with “sexual language full of innuendo and rudeness” and the commoners loved it. rsc.org.uk/shakespeare/language/slang-and-sexual-language

Second, theater was the only source of public entertainment of this sort, and to keep the customers coming, the playhouses needed a lot of playwrights and new material all the time. The playwrights had plenty of competition. Not being “high art”, plays were disposable. Scripts belonged to the play houses which had little motivation to make copies for someone to flitch. Often playwrights collaborated on scripts for the theater and might not get credit for their work.As early as 1598 Shakespeare was lauded by others for his work and his reputation as a playwright and poet grew. Even His greatest contemporary rival, Ben Johnson, praised his comedies but took issue with his tragedies. While he received a large amount of praise, Shakespeare was certainly not revered in his lifetime, and others claimed he “wanted art”, meaning he lacked skill.

Image Source: historyanswers.co.uk/shakespeares-first-folio

Because of the publication of Shakespeare’s “First Folio” ‒ a collection of his plays‒ published seven years after his death (1623), the Bard had a huge advantage over his peers whose works have largely been lost to posterity.

“BEWARE OF JEALOUSY: IT IS THE GREEN-EYED MONSTER”
“Around 230 years after Shakespeare's death, doubts began to be expressed about the authorship of the works attributed to him. Proposed alternative candidates include Francis Bacon, Christopher Marlowe, and Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford. Several "group theories" have also been proposed.

All but a few Shakespeare scholars and literary historians consider it a fringe theory, with only a small minority of academics who believe that there is reason to question the traditional attribution, but interest in the subject, particularly the Oxfordian theory of Shakespeare authorship, continues into the 21st century.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shakespeare

JUST SAYIN’ !
□
Sources:
https://www.thoughtco.com/list-of-phrases-shakespeare-invented-2985087#:~:text=The%20Most%20Popular%20Shakespearean%20Phrases%20A%20laughing%20stock,Merry%20Wives%20of%20Windsor%29%20A%20sorry%20sight
https://www.bardweb.net/content/ac/shakes-peers.html#:~:text=The%20publication%20of%20the%20First%20Folio%20in%201623,a%20genre%20and%20Shakespeare%27s%20relation%20to%20his%20peers.
https://www.oxfordinternationalenglish.com/a-brief-history-of-the-english-language/
https://www.thoughtco.com/events-history-of-the-english-language-1692746
https://www.thoughtco.com/top-shakespeare-quotes-2833137
https://www.languagetrainers.com/blog/shakespeare-still-has-it-10-words-he-invented-which-we-still-use-today/#:~:text
https://nosweatshakespeare.com/resources/shakespeare-phrases/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shakespeare
https://englishliterature.education/william-shakespeare/#:~:text
https://www.rsc.org.uk/shakespeare/language
https://www.rsc.org.uk/shakespeare/language/slang-and-sexual-language
https://theshakespearean.com/educational-resources/lesson-plans/the-language-of-shakespeare/#:~:text
https://www.grammarly.com/blog/how-the-english-language-is-shakespeares-language/
https://www.teck-translations.com/how-shakespeare-changed-the-english-language/
https://www.shortform.com/blog/evolution-of-english-language/
https://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photos-stratford-shakespeares-birthplace-image1890493
https://writers.com/how-to-avoid-cliches-in-writing#:~:text=
https://www.bardweb.net/content/ac/shakes-peers.html#:~:text=
https://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/life-and-times/critical-reputation/
https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/947.William_Shakespeare
https://www.historyanswers.co.uk/medieval-renaissance/2-million-copy-of-shakespeares-first-folio-discovered/
https://www.msn.com/en-us/entertainment/news/10-of-shakespeare-s-most-famous-quotes/ar-AA15spbK#:~:text=What%20are%20Shakespeare%E2%80%99s%20most%20fa

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GRANNY MYTHBUSTER is “MAD FOR PLAID”

3/3/2023

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Anderson (m) Bruce of Kinnaird (a) Campbell Dress (a) Campbell Dress (m) Gordon Dress (a) Gordon Dress (m) Macdiamid

Updated 03/03/2023 / Originally posted 2018

MAD FOR PLAID
March is the month designated month to celebrate the textile pattern “plaid”. Primarily associated with Scottish culture, Tartan — or plaid, as it is called in North America — is a particular twill weaving pattern of multicolored and crisscrossing horizontal and vertical bands, i.e. two sets of stripes at right angles. An individual tartan - with its color palette and stripe widths - is called a “sett”.

This pattern, a fall and winter wardrobe staple, is found today all over the world. Although it is claimed by some that plaids originated as a way to distinguish Scottish clans in battle, when I traveled in Scotland, a guide explained that Clan plaids were really the product of the 19th century mercantile industry. An advertising ploy!

What a buzz kill!

I assumed the "Clan Plaid" story is what most people believe, so I put on my Granny Mythbuster disguise to find out. Digging up the origins of traditions and languages is never short and sweet. And, as a general principle, never believe what a tour guide tells you.

IT IS WHAT IT IS…MAYBE
If you look up the words tartan and plaid on merriam-webster.com/dictionary/, these are the definitions you will get.
● “tartan (n)
1.= a plaid textile design of Scottish origin consisting of stripes of varying width and color usually patterned to designate a distinctive clan.
2a.) = a twilled woolen fabric with tartan design
2b. = a fabric with tartan design
2c. = a garment of tartan design.”

● “plaid (n)
1. = a rectangular length of tartan worn over the left shoulder as part of the Scottish national costume.
2 a. = a twilled woolen fabric with a tartan pattern
2 b. = a fabric with a pattern of tartan or an imitation of tartan.
3a. = TARTAN sense 1 [Don't ask me. I have no idea what this means]
3b. = a pattern of unevenly spaced repeated stripes crossing at right angles.”

In other words, a Tartan is a pattern and a Plaid is a piece (usually large) of tartan cloth.

IF YOU ARE SCOTTISH…

“Plaid” Means "A Blanket"
In North America we often – mistakenly-- use the term plaid to mean tartan. The word plaid -- derived from the Scottish Gaelic word plaide, which means blanket – is a tartan cloth worn over the shoulder as a kilt accessory or a plain blanket such as one would put on a bed.

◄ Soldiers from a Highland Regiment circa 1744.
Image Credit: image scanned from “Clans and Tartans,
Collins Pocket Reference”
Image Source: commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=47104132

The earliest written use of the word plaid is a 1510 entry in the account of the diocese of Dunkeld, referring to an expense of two shilling for dying four ells of “pladis”. An "ell" was a length of 37.2 inches.

According to Danny Lewis, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/, the word “Plaid only replaced tartan once the patterns became popular with British and American textile manufacturers who would recreate fabrics that looked like tartans, but without centuries of symbolic meaning embedded in their clothing.”

“Tartan” Means A Pattern
The word tartan means a woven fabric made of crisscrossed horizontal and vertical bands in multiple colors; alternating bands pre-dyed threads woven with warp and weft at right angles to each other. This creates a distinctive pattern of squares called a sett.

Diagram of weaving a tartan plaid
Source of Images: bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=Gotc0Gfp&id

In North American we not only use the word plaid to mean the pattern -- instead of tartan -- , but the term no longer applies only to woven cloth.

EARLIEST ORIGINS OF TARTAN WEAVE
Even though evidence of the Celtic tartan dates back to the 3th century, the oldest example of a tartan fabric goes back at least 3,000 years. It was found buried with the remains of “Cherchen Man,” a 6 foot tall mummy of Caucasian descent found in Turkestan in the western Chinese desert. The man was found buried wearing a red twill tunic and tartan leggings, the earliest example of tartan ever discovered.

Source of Images: eternalcivilizations.blogspot.com/2019/cherchen-man

According to the textile historian E. J. W. Barber, the Hallstatt culture of Central Europe, which is linked with ancient Celtic populations and flourished between the 8th and 6th centuries BC, produced tartan-like textiles. Other finds have been made in Europe and Northwestern China.

Cherchen Man/ Ur-David -- mummy found in Cherchen, located in current Xinjiang region of China. The mummy is a member of the group known as Tarim mummies.

Image Source: economist.com/china/2012/fast-and-loose

SCOTTISH TARTANS
The earliest documented tartan in Britain, known as the "Falkirk" tartan, dates from the 3rd century AD. It was uncovered at Falkirk, Scotland, near the Roman-built Antonine Wall. The fragment of tartan cloth was stuffed into an earthenware pot containing almost 2,000 Roman silver coins. It is now in the National Museum of Scotland

Remains of the only original Falkirk tartan – Image Credit: Fickr-
Image Source: oldest.org/culture/tartans/

Registered “recreation” of the Falkirk tartan - Image Source:tartanregister.gov.uk/tartanDetails

So this pattern of weaving has existed in Scotland since the third century, and I assume it was used, along with others, through the centuries. The original goat-like sheep of ancient Scotland provided the fibers from which wool fabrics were made. The sheep were black, brown, or white. Thus, the early tartans were made of combinations of these colors.

Presumably, weaving skills were passed down from mother to daughter, and over time a particular design came to be associated with a specific district and possibly with an individual clan. Eventually, these local patterns became synonymous with the regional clans scattered throughout Scotland,

At some point, weavers began to dye yarn, which resulted in new or at least brighter patterns. Even then, the dyes, which come from local and accessible plants and minerals, likely determined the colors and still identified the wearer of a tartan to the district.

Image Credit and Source: By derivative work:
Celtus Scottish soldiers in service of Gustavus Adolphus,_1631.j
ttps://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5042497

SCOTTISH CLAN TARTANS - IT’S ALL POLITICS
Like everything, it’s all politics. Clan Tartans as we know them today are thought to originate in Scotland in 16th century. In 1703, Martin wrote A Description of the Western Islands of Scotland, in which he noted that the tartans could be used to distinguish inhabitants of different regions. That was the beginning of a more formal recognition of a clan association with a particular tartan.

At that time, tartan designs were produced by local weavers for local tastes using the dye materials of the local area. The patterns and colors were the choice of the weaver and people picked and wore those based on personal preference.

During the Scottish Rebellion of 1745, tartan was used in the uniforms of the leading Scottish military troop, The Royal Highland Regiment, or the Black Watch. The green and dark blue patterns became strongly associated with rebellion. However, depictions of the Battle of Culloden in 1746 show the monarchy’s forces battling against the clansmen, all wearing different tartans.

David Morier's An incident in the rebellion of 1745. Black Watch Tartan-ancient

After Scottish forces were defeated at the Battle of Culloden in 1746, the monarchy adopted the Dress Act of 1746, banning tartans (except for British military uniforms) for nearly a century. By the time the law was repealed, tartan kilts were no longer the ordinary dress of the highlands. The tartan kilt was, however, adopted as the symbolic national dress of Scotland, which revived interest in tartans and one’s Scottish heritage.

According to Wikipedia – who agrees with my tour guide in Scotland – the clan tartans date no earlier than the beginning of the 19th century. They are an invented tradition.

THE "BOTTOM" LINE
“The clashingly exuberant history of tartan’s history is a jumble of fact with outrageous fiction. Nearly everything you think you “know” about tartan was invented, then furiously believed until fact seemed pale and unsporting in comparison.”

According to Wikipedia – who agrees with my tour guide after all – the clan tartans date no earlier than the beginning of the 19th century. They are an invented tradition. Nonetheless, today the Tartans represent the pride the Scottish have in their ancestral warrior clans, family, and Gaelic culture … the pattern, the idea of tartans in the abstract.
It’s all about what it means!

And speaking of “bottoms”, the topic of “underwear beneath the kilt” -- so often a cause for humor -- is a relatively modern development. In the past men wore nothing. This is still true of several Scottish regiments, apart from some sentries and dancers, on whom the kilt might fly up. Most other people wear shorts or pants, according to personal taste."
http://www.kinnaird.net/tartan.htm

JUST SAYIN’
□
2023 Sources
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tartan
https://eternalcivilizations.blogspot.com/2019/01/cherchen-man-cherchen-man.html
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/539024649135050696/
https://www.scotsman.com/arts-and-culture/history-tartan-falkirk-mod-1488081
https://www.tartanregister.gov.uk/tartanDetails?ref=1146
https://www.oldest.org/culture/tartans/
https://www.ibtimes.com/what-do-scots-wear-under-their-kilts-lot-nothing-2428643

Photos only
Scanned from “Clans and Tartans, Collins Pocket Reference, George Way of Plean and Romilly Squire, Harper Collins, Glasgow 1995 ISBN 0-00-470810-5., Public Domain.”
https://www.pinterest.com/annbharrison/men-in-kilts/
http://www.theconomist.com/china/2012/fast-and-loose

2018 Sources: [Some no longer available]
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/brief-history-plaid-180957342/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tartan
https://psmag.com/social-justice/that-plaid-tho
https://startupfashion.com/fashion-archives-history-plaid/
http://www.kinnaird.net/tartan.htm
http://www.scotclans.com/scottish-clans/tartan-pattern-book/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plaid
http://www.ancient-wisdom.com/chinacherchen.htm
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/plaid
https://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2015/10/plaid-tartan.html

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MEET THE PLAYERS: Top Black Classical Musicians

2/3/2023

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BLACK HISTORY MONTH
Not long ago my book club chose to read The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb ‒ himself a black classical violinist ‒ about a young black boy, Ray MacMillian who falls in love with classical music and playing the violin. However, Ray is a black kid with a beat-up, cheap school rental. Teachers won’t give him attention because he’s black, and they don’t believe that he can possibly master classical music.

In an interview, Slocumb states that only 1.8% of the classical music performers, directors, and composers are black and about 25% are other people of color. That intrigued me. Statistics can be deceiving, and I wondered how that number compared with other professional endeavors.

After all, 67% of all players in the NFL are black. That fact by itself says one thing. If you add on other pieces of the picture – the facts that there are no black owners, and there was only one general manager, Ozzie Newsome, who became an NFL team's first black General Manager in 2002, one gets a different impression. Now add on the fact the Newsome is now an Executive Vice President. What does that mean?

A different perspective, indeed.

CLAWING YOUR WAY TO THE TOP
Studies show that only about 2% of practitioners of any profession manage to claw their way to the top of the hierarchical heap. Being someone who scrambled to reach a higher level in my own profession, I can attest that women have to work harder, longer, and be twice as good as any man to have the same position. I’m white, so I can only imagine how much harder it is for blacks and other people of color.

Another part of the equation is the size of the heap we’re talking about. When it comes to just classical musicians, conductors, and composers – that is, excluding all the support and other staff involved in classical music – the total number of people is, undoubtedly, smaller number than the total number of people in some other professions, such as scientific researchers… which one survey puts at six million. Granted, there are many fields of research, but there are also various fields of classical music to pursue… but I doubt the total is anywhere near six million. Unfortunately ‒ or maybe fortunately, since my math is more than rusty ‒ I do not have the numbers to do the math.

But there is no doubt that prejudice is still alive and well and still making it much harder for people of color to break the chromium [the hardest know metal] ceilings. Yet there are those who are doing in anyway, despite the odds. Meet the top players in today’s classical music, taken primarily from: https://www.dandelionchandelier.com/2022/02/22/top-black-classical-musicians/ .

CONDUCTORS

Roderick Cox
The 2018 recipient of the Sir George Solti Conducting Award, Roderick Cox, is at the very top of the list of classical musicians today. Originally from Macon, Georgia, he has worked with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Cleveland Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Sphinx Symphony Orchestra, and many other musical groups.

Image Credit: Roderick Cox. Courtesy Photo.
Image Source: dandelionchandelier.com/top-black-classical-musicians/

2022 includes debuts with the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Seattle and New World Symphonies, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, Malmo, Kristiansand and Lahti Symphony Orchestras. He is also the founder of the Roderick Cox Music Initiative. It is an organization that provides young musicians of color with the funding necessary to provide instruments and instruction on their paths to success.

Tania Leόn
A composer and conductor of considerable acclaim, Tania León and her signature sound can be found throughout the world of classical music. As a conductor, she has performed with the Symphony Orchestra and Chorus de Marseille, and the Symphony Orchestra of Johannesburg – among many others.

Tania León speaks at the premiere of her piece “Stride,” commissioned by the New York Philharmonic to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment.
Image Credit: Chris Lee/Courtesy New York Philharmonic
Image Source: dandelionchandelier.com/top-black-classical-musicians/

Her work has been commissioned and performed by groups such as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and the Cincinnati Symphony. Her opera Scourge of Hyacinths, based on a play by Wole Soyinka, has been performed twenty times across multiple continents.

Jonathon Heyward
The 2020 recipient of the Sir George Solti Career Assistant Award, Jonathon Heyward is a conductor to watch. Originally trained as a cellist and chamber musician, Heyward has gone on to appear as the Los Angeles Philharmonic Dudamel Coducting Fellow.

Image credit: Jonathon Heyward. Courtesy Photo. (cropped)
Image Source: dandelionchandelier.com/top-black-classical-musicians/

CELLISTS

Sheku Kanneh-Mason
Though only twenty-one years old, Kanneh-Mason garnered global acclaim when he performed a cello piece and the royal wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Susses. After winning the 2016 BBC Young Musician Competiton, Kanneh-Mason went on to release two albums, and to play with many of the most renowned orchestras around the world. He is currently a full-time student at the Royal Academy of Music.
Image Credit: Sheku Kanneh-Mason. Courtesy Photo. (cropped)
Image Source: dandelionchandelier.com/top-black-classical-musicians/

He comes from a talented family and all of his six siblings share his exceptional musical talents. In December 2019 they all played as a family on stage at the Royal Variety Performance, amazing the audience with Vittorio Monti’s Czárdás. Sheku made his New York recital debut at Carnegie Hall that same month in a program he shared with his sister Isata.

VIOLINISTS

Daniel Bernard Roumain
Both a composer and a violinist, Daniel Bernard Roumain is a household name in the world of classical music, having appeared everywhere from American Idol to the Sydney Opera House. He is known both for his prowess as a musician, and also his work as an activist.

Image Credit: Daniel Bernard Roumain. Courtesy Photo. (cropped)
Image Source: dandelionchandelier.com/top-black-classical-musicians/

Not only has he composed countless award-winning pieces, receiving recognition for his artistry across genres, but he has also made his mark by serving on the Board of Directors for the American League of Orchestras, and the advisory committee for the Sphinx Organization.

Jessie Montgomery
A violinist and composer, Jessie Montgomery was raised on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, the child of a musician. A recipient of the Leonard Bernstein award, she is a chamber musician and an educator, as well as a former composer-in-residence for Sphinx Virtuosi, the touring company of the Sphinx Organization.

Image Credit: Jessie Montgomery. Courtesy Photo. (cropped)
Image Source: dandelionchandelier.com/top-black-classical-musicians/

Her work has been commissioned by prestigious orchestras across the country, including the New York Philharmonic, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and the San Francisco Symphony. In 2021, she was named the Mead Composer-in-Residence of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Ashleigh Gordon
As well as being an internationally regarded violist, Ashleigh Gordon is also the co-founder of Castle of Our Skins. It is an organization devoted to supporting and celebrating black artists, past and present, through both education and performance.

Image Credit: Ashleigh Gordon. Courtesy Photo. (Cropped)
Image Source: dandelionchandelier.com/top-black-classical-musicians/

Based out of Boston, they are a major voice in classical music, and Gordon is the leading force behind them. She herself has performed in festivals throughout the United States and Europe, making her recognized equally as a talented musician and as a voice for social change.

Aaron Dworkin
A giant in the world of classical music, President Barack Obama made Aaron Dworkin his first appointment to the National Council on the Arts. A MacArthur Fellow, Dworkin is an author, artist, and violinist, and an educator and a dean for the University of Michigan’s School of Music.

Image Credit: Aaron Dworkin. Courtesy Photo (cropped)
Image Source: dandelionchandelier.com/top-black-classical-musicians/

He is also the founder of the Sphinx Organization, a Detroit-based group that aims to use diversity in art as a method of transforming people’s lives.

COMPOSERS

Jonathan Bailey Holland
Perhaps one of the best-known composers in the classical world, Jonathan Bailey Holland's legendary music has been commissioned by ensembles across the United States, including by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra, and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra.

Image Credit: Jonathan Bailey Holland. Courtesy Photo.
Image Source: dandelionchandelier.com/top-black-classical-musicians/

A native of Flint, Michigan, Holland was awarded a commission by the Isabells Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston to compose a piece inspired by John Singer Sargent’s dance-inspired painting, “El Jaleo.”

Notably, he served as the first composer-in-residence with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, from 2018 to 2019. His pieces draw inspiration from many genres, including jazz, hip hop, and other classical works.

PIANISTS

Damien Sneed
From piano and vocals, to composition and conducting, to working with icons like Aretha Franklin and Stevie Wonder – it seems like Damien Sneed has done it all. Winner of the Sphinx Medal of Excellence, he’s also known as the founder of the Chorale Le Chateau – a group that performs vocal interpretations of Renaissance literature.

Image Credit: Damien Sneed. Courtesy Photo (cropped).
Image Source: dandelionchandelier.com/top-black-classical-musicians/

Most recently, Sneed embarked on a 36-city North American tour titled, “We Shall Overcome: A Celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The tour coincided with the 35th Anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

VOCALISTS AND OPERA SINGERS

Julia Bullock
A classical singer originally from St. Louis, Missouri, Julia Bullock has completed residencies with the San Francisco Symphony and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Image Credit: Julia Bullock. Courtesy Photo
Image Source: dandelionchandelier.com/top-black-classical-musicians/

A soprano, Bullock is a founding member of the American Modern Opera Company and has also starred in numerous operas herself, including Le Nozze di Figaro and The Magic Flute. Alongside Joyce DiDonato and Jakub Józef Orliński, Bullock starred in a new production of Handel’s Theodora at Royal Opera House in the beginning of 2022. She also released a debut solo album later that year.

Lawrence Brownlee
Tenor Lawrence Brownlee has been universally praised as one of the stars of the current opera scene. He has starred in numerous performances, including The Barber of Seville, La Cenerentola, and Donizetti’s La Favorite.

Image Credit: Lawrence Brownlee. Courtesy Photo
Image Source: dandelionchandelier.com/top-black-classical-musicians/

You can regularly find him performing with the most prominent opera houses all over the world. For the 2021-22 season, he debuted as Platée in Rameau’s opera “Platée” with the Opera National de Paris.

JUST SAYIN'
Sources:
https://www.dandelionchandelier.com/2022/02/22/top-black-classical-musicians/
https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/black-musicians-pioneering-in-classical-music/#:~:text
https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/black-composers-who-made-classical-music-history/
https://www.nateholdermusic.com/post/12-black-female-classical-composers-you-need-to-know
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:African-American_classical_musicians
https://www.nateholdermusic.com/post/12-black-male-classical-musicians-you-need-to-know
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_African-American_women_in_classical_music
https://www.blackpast.org/global-african-history/people-global-african-history/black-composers-and-musicians-classical-music-history/

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FATHER OF THE CLICHE

1/6/2023

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AND THE WINNER IS…
Ah, Ha! At last, the Literary Police have rooted out the culprit. It is now time for the Father of the Cliché to take his punishment.

William Shakespeare, please stand up and face judgment!

“TO THINE OWN SELF BE TRUE”
William Shakespeare (baptized 26 April,1564 – 23 April, 1616) was the English playwright, poet and actor who is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist.

Born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon, England, his career began in London as an actor. He was soon renowned as a significant playwright and poet as well, and his influence on the English language has extended far beyond that time period and straight into our modern age. He has been called by many a scholar and linguist, “Most Influential Writer in the English Language.”

Wm. Shakespeare’s Birthplace – Stratford-upon-Avon
Now a private residence
Image Source: dreamstime.com/stock-photos-stratford-shakespeares-birthplace

Shakespeare, known as the “Bard of Avon” or just “The Bard”, wrote and/or collaborated on 39 plays, 154 sonnets, three long narrative poems, and a few other works, some of uncertain authorship. All of these have been translated into nearly every language in the world. Most of his works were written between 1589 and 1613.

Even after four hundred plus years, and the advent of some pretty great writers, he remains arguably the most influential writer in the English language, and his works continue to be studied and reinterpreted.

Shakespeare has a special knack for bringing to the surface the inherent human weaknesses that drive most of his writings. The best of his tragedies exhibit these well. In addition to his impact on writing and the handling of content, his works contributed significantly to the standardization of grammar, spelling, and vocabulary.

EVERYONE HAS A PAST
Everyone and everything has a past, including the English language. Ever since the first remnants of spoken language appeared somewhere around 50,000 years ago, languages have diverged into various veins which have since evolved into the 6,500 languages we have today.

According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, English “really took off” in the 5th century when three Germanic tribes [the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes”] crossed the North Sea and invaded Britain. Up until that point the inhabitants of Briton spoke dialects of the Celtic language. The invasions drove many of the Celts north to what are now Scotland, Wales, and Ireland where dialects of the Celtic language survived.

● Old English
Old English developed during the period between the 5th and the 11th centuries, beginning with the invasion of the Germanic tribes. Throughout the 8th to 10th centuries, England experienced invasions from Viking tribes, ending with the (French) Norman invasion of England in 1066.

The words England and English originated from the Old English word Enga-land, literally meaning “the land of the Angles” where they spoke Englisc..

Old English is largely unintelligible to speakers and readers of Modern English. For example: “Fæder ure şu şe eart on heofonum, si şin nama gehalgod” translates to “Our father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name”, the first line of the Lord’s prayer. shortform.com/blog/evolution-of-english-language/

Old English gradually supplanted the old Latin and Celtic influences in England. Interestingly, the latter linguistic traditions left few personal or place-names today have Latin or Celtic antecedents.

● Middle English
Norman French, not English, was the language of the ruling elite in England for centuries after the Norman Conquest. Largely left to its own devices, English developed organically during the Middle Ages. Although Middle English suffered from lack of standardization, it is when English developed many of its more recognizable features.

By the mid-14th Century, English had reasserted itself as a language of government and law., due to the fact that the political links between England and France were severed over the course of the centuries. Moreover, there was a shift in the character of written English.

Although Medieval English dialects could vary widely even across short distances, the language was becoming more standardized. That process was long and uneven, but the spoken language started to sound more like the present-day English language.

● Early Modern Middle
The changes in the English language during this period occurred from the 15th to mid-17th Century, and signified not only a change in pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar itself but also the start of the English Renaissance.

The printing press, first introduced in England by William Caxton in 1476, allowed Early Modern English to become mainstream. The printing press was key to standardizing the English language through distribution of the English Bible.

“ALAS, POOR YORICK”
Onto this scene bursts one William Shakespeare. At the time William Shakespeare did most of his writings [1589 thru 1613], the English language was undergoing serious changes due to contact with other nations through war, colonization, and the likes. No dictionaries had yet been written and most documents were still written in Latin.

These changes were further cemented through Shakespeare and other emerging playwrights who found their ideas could not be expressed through the English language currently in circulation. Thus, the “adoption” of words or phrases from other languages were modified and added to the English language, creating a richer experience for all concerned.
The Bard is credited for having contributed 1,700 words to the English language because he was the first author to write them down. At least as many phrases, and probably more, originated in his works and expressed ideas in new ways, and old words with new meanings.

Where ever they came from, Shakespeare wrote down new words and phrases and was able to share them with the general public through the theater. They stuck and many became popular. Over the last four hundred years English speakers and writers have used them ad infinitum.

GRAMERCY! THOU DOTH QUOTETH SHAKESPEARE
Without realizing it, you probably quote Shakespeare more often than you believe. English speakers can’t hold a conversation without a quote or two. Take a look at the abbreviated list of words and phrases that Shakespeare was first to conceive of, say, use in a particular form, use with his particular meaning, and so on. And the most important thing, he wrote them down and communicated them in his plays..
.
As well as inventing completely new words, he used existing words in inventive new ways. For example he was the first person to use 'friend' as a verb, as well as 'unfriended’ (Twelfth Night) and from 'gloom' he invented the word 'gloomy' (Titus Andronicus).

The following is an abbreviated list of words and phrases Shakespeare coined in this plays. They are in no particular order.

● all that glitters isn’t gold
● all the world’s a stage
● archvillian
● as luck would have it
● assassination
● at one fell swoop
● a tower of strength
● a foregone conclusion
● a tongue in your head,
● a laughing stock
● a sorry sight
● a stony-hearted villain
● bloody-minded|
● a blinking idiot
● by jove
● barefaced
● be all and end all
● be that as it may
● bedazzled
● been hoodwinked
● been in a pickle
● belongings,
● break the ice
● breathe one’s last
● brevity is the soul of wit
● but me no buts
● catch a cold
● cold-blooded
● cold comfort
● clothes make the man
● danced attendance on your lord and master
● disgraceful conduct
● dog will have his day
● dead as a doornail
● eyesore
● eaten out of house and home
● elbow room
● eventful
● fair play
●fancy-free

● flesh and blood
● flaming youth
● foregone conclusion
● for goodness sake
● fool you, for it is
● foul play
● frailty, thy name is woman
● give the devil his due
● good riddance
● in the twinkling of an eye
● green eyed monster
● had short shrift
● heart of gold
● heartsick
● hot-blooded
● housekeeping
● inaudible
● in stitches
● it smells to heaven
● it’s Greek to me
● it is all one to me
● it is high time
● knitted your brows
● lackluster
● laughed yourself into stitches
● leapfrog
● lie low
● live long day
● lived a fool’s paradise
● long-haired
● made a virtue of necessity
● manager
● method in his madness
● mind’s eye
● ministering angel
● more sinned against than sinning
● more in sorrow than in anger
● mum's the word

● naked truth
● neither here nor there
● o lord
● one fell swoop
● outrageous fortune
● pitched battle
● primrose path
● played fast and loose
● seen better days
● send me packing
● slept not one wink
● stood on ceremony
● strange bedfellows
● swagger
● the course of true love never did run smooth
● teeth set on edge
● that is the long and the short of it
● the devil incarnate
● the milk of human kindness
● the game is up
● the truth will out
● the world’s your oyster
● to give the devil his due
● to budge an inch
● tongue-tied
● towering passion
● too much of a good thing
● till the crack of doom,
● tut, tut!
● uncomfortable
● vanished into thin air
● what the dickens
● wear one’s heart on one’s sleeve
● Wild-goose chase
● witching time of the night
● without rhyme or reason
● your wish is father to the thought

Granted, the above is far from a complete list of clever phrases coined by the Bard. However, many of these phrases meet the definition of clichés, yet only nine of them appeared on a list of 681 clichés writers should never use.

Stunned, I collapsed, but recovered sufficiently to type, “Maybe the Literary Police are wrong!” Mayhaps not all our clichés come from Shakespeare.

How many cliché phrases can you pick out of the list? No insult intended to the list of clichés I used, but c’mon. How can the phrases “Clothes make the man,” “In one fell swoop,” or “Strange bedfellows” not be cliché?

An Elizabethan play Elizabethan Theater
Image Source: pinterest.com/pin/17310779793801123/ Image Credit: Artist J. Beaven -- Image Source: bookpalace.com/acatalog/info_BeavenTheatreLL.html

Not being “high art”, plays were disposable. Scripts belonged to the play houses which had little motivation to make copies for someone to flitch. Often playwrights collaborated on scripts for the theater and might not get credit for their work.
Image Source: historyanswers.co.uk/shakespeares-first-folio

As early as 1598 Shakespeare was lauded by others for his work and his reputation as a playwright and poet grew. Even His greatest contemporary rival, Ben Johnson, praised his comedies, although he took issue with his tragedies.

Because of the 1623 publication of Shakespeare’s “First Folio” ‒ a collection of his plays‒ published seven years after his death, the Bard had a huge advantage over his peers whose works have largely been lost to posterity.

"BEWARE OF JEALOUSY: IT IS THE GREEN-EYED MONSTER”
Around 230 years after Shakespeare's death, doubts began to be expressed about the authorship of the works attributed to him. Proposed alternative candidates include Francis Bacon, Christopher Marlowe, and Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford. Several "group theories" have also been proposed.

All but a few Shakespeare scholars and literary historians consider it a fringe theory, with only a small minority of academics who believe that there is reason to question the traditional attribution, but interest in the subject, particularly the Oxfordian theory of Shakespeare authorship, continues into the 21st century.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shakespeare

JUST SAYIN’ !
□
Sources:
https://www.thoughtco.com/list-of-phrases-shakespeare-invented-2985087#:~:text=The%20Most%20Popular%20Shakespearean%20Phrases%20A%20laughing%20stock,Merry%20Wives%20of%20Windsor%29%20A%20sorry%20sight
https://www.bardweb.net/content/ac/shakes-peers.html#:~:text=The%20publication%20of%20the%20First%20Folio%20in%201623,a%20genre%20and%20Shakespeare%27s%20relation%20to%20his%20peers.
https://www.oxfordinternationalenglish.com/a-brief-history-of-the-english-language/
https://www.thoughtco.com/events-history-of-the-english-language-1692746
https://www.thoughtco.com/top-shakespeare-quotes-2833137
https://www.languagetrainers.com/blog/shakespeare-still-has-it-10-words-he-invented-which-we-still-use-today/#:~:text
https://nosweatshakespeare.com/resources/shakespeare-phrases/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shakespeare
https://englishliterature.education/william-shakespeare/#:~:text
https://www.rsc.org.uk/shakespeare/language
https://www.rsc.org.uk/shakespeare/language/slang-and-sexual-language
https://theshakespearean.com/educational-resources/lesson-plans/the-language-of-shakespeare/#:~:text
https://www.grammarly.com/blog/how-the-english-language-is-shakespeares-language/
https://www.teck-translations.com/how-shakespeare-changed-the-english-language/
https://www.shortform.com/blog/evolution-of-english-language/
https://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photos-stratford-shakespeares-birthplace-image1890493
https://writers.com/how-to-avoid-cliches-in-writing#:~:text=
https://www.bardweb.net/content/ac/shakes-peers.html#:~:text=
https://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/life-and-times/critical-reputation/
https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/947.William_Shakespeare
https://www.historyanswers.co.uk/medieval-renaissance/2-million-copy-of-shakespeares-first-folio-discovered/
https://www.msn.com/en-us/entertainment/news/10-of-shakespeare-s-most-famous-quotes/ar-AA15spbK#:~:text=What%20are%20Shakespeare%E2%80%99s%20most%20fa

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MORE UNIQUE CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS

12/23/2022

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Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone!

Every country has their own traditions related to their religious celebrations. Following are a few with unique Christmas traditions. Many traditions are centuries old, but some new ideas catch on quickly and become new traditions within a few years or decades.

REPUBLIC OF CATALONIA
“Feliz Navidad” - [Spanish]
“Bon Nadal" - [Occitan and Catalan]
“Felibres Nadal” - [Aranese]

Catalonia was part of Spain but the 2006 Statute of Autonomy adopted by the Spanish government gave Catalonia the status of a semi-independent, self-governing Republic, but always under the laws of Spain. There are two Christmas traditions that are unique to Catalonia and the Aragon region.

● Tió de Nadal [The Christmas Log]
One of the most important Christmas traditions in Catalan culture is the Tió de Nadal [Christmas Log], also known as simply Tió or Tronca. The tradition dates back many centuries to the time when logs were burned in the fireplace to give light, shelter and warmth. The tradition of placing a log in your house to burn during the holidays somehow evolved into Tió de Nadal.

The contemporary Tió is a hollow wooden log with eyes, nose, and mouth painted on one end. He wears a red barretita, a traditional 19th century hat worn by men. It also has two or four stick legs and a big smile. Starting on the 8th of December, the day of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, Catalonian kids place the Tió in the house, cover it with a blanket and give it something to eat it every night during the month.

The whole point of this process is to make Tió warm, feed it and basically take good care of it until Christmas day. The parents usually replace the Tió for a bigger one from time to time making it look like it is growing. On Christmas day, the fully grown Tió is then placed in the center of the room, and children gather around it, singing songs and hitting the log with sticks. If they “do good job”, they get their presents.

● The Cagener [The Pooper]
A somewhat disrespectful tradition in Catalan Christmas culture is the Pooper. Basically a figurine to be hidden somewhere in the nativity scenes, the Caganer is a figure of a Catalan man, wearing traditional Catalan clothes, squatting with his trousers around his ankles and taking a poop.

◄Typical small figurine for nativity scene
Image source: pinterest.com/301881981267185779/

However, these figurines have become very popular and you can find a replica of almost anyone you can think of, including Donald Trump and Queen Elizabeth. There are also full scale or larger statues put up in malls and other public places.

COLUMBIA
“Feliz Navidad” [Spanish]

● Día de las Velitas
In Colombia, Día de las Velitas [Day of the Little Candles] initiates the Christmas celebrations on December 7. The streets, houses, and other buildings are decorated with lanterns and candles to begin the festive season.
Image Source: soycolombiano.com/dia-de-las-velitas

COSTA RICA
“Feliz Navidad” [Spanish]

Costa Ricans hit the beach in December and celebrate Christmas with exuberance. Bright lights and festive music fill the air as the country becomes even more vibrant. At the center of the celebrations are the traditional nativity scenes called “Portals.” Small toys and fruit are commonly laid in front of Portals as a small offering.

● Festival of Lights
The highlight is the Festival of Lights in the form of a parade with dancers, bands, and floats, all glowing with lights.

◄ Image Source: costaricantimes.com/costa-rica-christmas

CZECH REPUBLIC
“Veselé Vánoce" [Czech]

● The Shoe Toss
Feeling lonely this Christmas? Czech women use this Christmas ritual to see what lies in store for their love life in the coming year. .Standing with their backs to their front doors, unmarried ladies toss their shoes over their shoulders. If one lands with its toe pointing towards the door, the woman will supposedly get married within the next 12 months.

● Finding a Star in an Apple
A typical household scent at this time of year comes from the baking of štrůdl, strudel, a home-made cake consisting of apples and cinnamon. With all those apples around, it is tradition, upon finding a star at the center of an apple, to believe you will have good health in the coming year.

Image Credit: Pixabay, author: 743976.
Image Source: discoverwalks.com/czech-christmas-traditions

FRANCE
“Joyeux Noel!” [French]

● Nativity Scenes
The French go "Creche Crazy," and are wild about Nativity scenes. You find them everywhere. In addition to the usual figures, all sort of other people [called Santons] are present, such as the baker, the street sweeper, the butcher, street vendors, and so on.

Crèche filled with figures Americans cannot recognize! The santons of Provence include not only the Holy Family, the Magi and the shepherds, but the whole village who has come to worship the Baby Jesus!
Image Source: confessionsofaplateaddict.blogspot.com/french-nativity-sceneor

● Shoes on the Harth
On Christmas eve, children put their shoes on the hearth for Santa to fill.

● Le Réveillon / New Year's Eve
In addition to the Christmas Eve banquet called Le Réveillon, the French traditionally have 13 desserts to symbolize Christ and the 12 apostles at the last supper.

GERMANY
“Frohe Weihnachten!” [German]
“Froehliche Weihnachten!”

● Advent
Advent, which starts four Sundays before Christmas, is the beginning of the holiday season for Germans. An Advent Calendar is used as a countdown to December 25. It is often a: wreath of fir tree branches with four advent candles or a fir branch decorated with 24 decorated bags or boxes hung from it, each marked with the day and holding a small present. The Advent calendar tradition supposedly dates back to the 1850s.

● Shoes outside
German children leave a shoe outside the house on December 5th which is then filled with sweets overnight. Naughty children awake to find a tree branch in the shoe instead!

● Hiding A pickle
It's a very old Christmas Eve tradition in Germany to hide a pickle (of the ornament variety) in the branches of the Christmas tree. In the morning, the child who finds it first gets a special gift from Santa, while the first adult traditionally gets good luck for the coming year.

ICELAND
“Gleðileg jól!” [Icelandic]

Christmas in Iceland is known as "Yule" or "Jól" and originated as the ancient winter solstice celebrations which were absorbed into early Christian tradition. Yule includes New Year through Epiphany.

● Jólakötturinn, The Yule Cat
Children in Iceland are warned that if they don’t finish their work on time or don’t behave, they will be stalked by Jólakötturinn, the enormous Yule Cat, who eats children [and sometimes adults] who don’t receive any new clothes before Christmas night.

This legend has its roots in a time in the middle ages when Iceland had established itself as a producer of wool cloth. First, it was common for households to have a large furry cat [probably to control rodents]. Second, everyone needed warm clothing due to the weather. Third, wool production was vital to the economy and everyone in the household had to work hard to make the wool cloth. Image Credit: PBC
Image Source: boredpanda.com/icelandic-legend-yule-cat

Christmas gifts during this period were sparse and usually consisted of a piece of wool clothing, and even that was possible only if everyone completed the work on time. Hence, the legend was born and has carried on through the centuries.
Jólakötturinn is not a nice kitty!

● The 13 Yule Lads
The 13 Yule Lads are the sons of Grýla, half ogre and half troll. And she is very bad news. Grýla and her family live high in the mountains with a huge furry cat. [You guessed it… the Yule Cat!] Around Christmas time, when the food supply is running low, she sends her 13 lads down the mountain and into town to look for children who misbehave.

The first lad leaves twelve days before Christmas, and each day another lad goes down to the town, until on Christmas day all thirteen have arrived. The first lad then returns up the mountain with bags of misbehaving children. Each day, one of the brothers returns home until on January 6, they have all arrived with their bags of naughty children. [Presumably, the ogress and the cat have also been hunting during this time.]

Then Grýla takes the children out of the bags and cooks them alive in a huge caldron, making a stew. The family eats the stew for the rest of the cold season.

The tale got so scary that in 1746 the Icelandic government stepped in and parents were officially banned from frightening their children with tales of the Yule Lads and their gruesome family.

Today Grýla and the 13 Yule Lads have been reinvented as mischievous benevolent Christmas icons.

Imag Sourcee: meer.com/en/thirteen-yule-lads

ISLE OF MAN
“Merry Christmas”

The languages spoken on the Isle of Man are English and Manx English. Manx English [also called Anglo Manx] differs widely from any other dialect of English. However, Manx English is in decline, so most people would Merry Christmas.
Location map – Isle on Man ►
Image Credit: Cnbrb [Public Domain]
Image Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?
● Hunting the Wren
Originally Hunting the Wren was quite a blood thirsty Christmas ritual, where gangs would scour the countryside looking for the tiny "sacred" birds to trap and kill it as a sacrifice, before it was plucked and buried in the local church with much pomp and ceremony. The feathers were spread around for good luck.

In 2022 it is a more humane activity. Instead of hunting the wren by beating the bushes, people go around in groups making noise with sticks and singing. The wren is represented by an artificial bird which is the centerpiece for a "bush" which consists of two wooden hoops placed on top of a pole, covered with ribbons and evergreens. The pole is carried from house to house. The theory as to why the wren is targeted for 'revenge' is that it's the reincarnation of an enchantress who lured Manx men to their deaths. The good luck feathers have been replaced by ribbons.

● Eating Raw Whale Skin With Blubber And Moldy Birds
Sounds totally yucky, but this moldy birds isn't some dead turkey that's been left in the trash to decay. Moldy bird is a great delicacy in Green-land called Kiviak, and it is the centerpiece of the Christmas feast.
Image Source: travelfoodatlas.com/kiviak-greenland-inuit-delicacy

Kiviak is made with a small bird called an auk which has been preserved in the hollowed-out body of a seal, buried for several months, and then eaten once it's decomposed. Still sounds yucky, but what do I know.

Another treat on the menu is mattak, made from the skin and blubber of a whale and usually eaten raw, although sometimes it is deep-fried and munched on with soy sauce.
Suaasat is a barbecued caribou soup includes berries and apples with a crisp topping making for the sweet part of the feast.

IRELAND
“Nollaig Shona” [Galic]

Ireland celebrates Christmas in the same way people in the UK and US do, but still have some of their own traditions.

● Meat Pie and Guinness
On Christmas, instead of leaving out milk and cookies for Santa, its tradition to leave out meat pie and a glass of Guinness.

● A Morning Swim
Dublin celebrates Christmas morning with a swim in the sea. The 40 Foot in Sandycove near Dublin is the area where hundreds of brave swimmers dive into the freezing waters all for the sake of charity.

Image Source: globalexperiences.com/christmas-around-world

● Women’s Christmas
Holidays celebrations come to an end on January 6, called Little Christmas or Women’s Christmas. Men take over the household duties for the day, while women go out with their friends and family to celebrate. On the same day, the tree is taken down, and the decorations are put back into storage.

MEXICO
“Feliz Navidad” [Spanish]

● The Night of the Radishes / Noche de Rábanos
On December 23, The Night of the Radishes, an annual Christmas time event, is held in the city of Oaxaca, not far from Mexico City. Here artists display statues and scenes carved out of radishes and compete for prizes. The carvings may be anywhere in size from a small figurine to nativity scenes of all sizes, to figures and scenes bigger than life. .

Part of the fun is being able to watch craftsmen at their work, showing the skill needed for such carvings. The contest now attracts more than 100 competitors and thousands of visitors.

Credit for Images: Getty Images
Sources of Images: theculturetrip.com/mexico/festival-of-radishes/

The tradition of holding an yearly radish carving competition dates back to 1897 when Oaxaca City’s mayor, Francisco Vasconcelos, decided to make the contest part of that year’s Christmas market, which sold traditional flowers, herbs and ingredients for holiday dishes as well as decorations for the home. Because radishes had always been integral to Oaxaca’s Christmas cuisine as both an essential ingredient and a decorative garnish, the radish contest was seen as a fun way to promote local agriculture. Everyone loves it.

NEW ZEALAND
“Meri Kirihimete!" [Maori]

Even though Christmas comes in the summer in the southern hemisphere, the European traditions of the Christmas trees, snow, and Santa Claus, are familiar but have local twists. The native Maori have influenced some of the Christmas traditions. Notice how the gingerbread cookies mimic Maori Haka dancers with fierce expressions.

Image Source: postkiwi.com/2007/gingerbread-haka/ Image source: thinglink.com/1098832104315158529

Haka is a Māori war dance that was traditionally saved for the battlefield. The action-packed dance is a display of strength and pride, which includes powerful stomps of the feet, wide eyes and the well-known tongue poking.

NORWAY
“God jul” [Norwegian]

While Norway is predominantly a Christian country, Christmas wasn’t celebrated here until about the 10th and 11th centuries. Before then, people celebrated yuletide in the middle of the winter, and drank beer in honor of the Norse gods, waiting for the warmer weather to return.
● Advent
Advent is a preparation period before December 25 which starts four Sundays before Christmas. On the first Sunday before Christmas, people light the first purple candle which represents hope. On the second Sunday of Advent people light the first and the second purple candles, which represent love and peace. On the third Sunday of Advent, people light the first and second purple candles and then the pink candles. These represent joy. On the fourth Sunday, the first three candles and the fourth white candle are lit, representing Jesus Christ, the light of the world.

● The Nisse
A nisse [nisser = plural] is a mythological creature from Scandinavian folklore, similar to a garden gnome or a goblin. According to tradition, they are present in farmhouses where they act as guardians of those living there and even occasionally help with house chores.

They were believed to be the ‘soul’ of the first person living in the property, and are described as small creatures resembling old men with long beards and red conical caps. Today, they have been assimilated into Christian culture in Scandinavia and appear in Christmas tales, decorations, and cards. Santa Claus, known in Norwegian as Julenisse, is himself a sort of nisse.

Image Source: target.com/s/norwegian+gnomes
● Lille Juaften
December 23, Norwegians celebrate Lille Julaften, or Little Christmas Eve, a time when the family comes together to clean and decorate the house and tree. Ornaments include heart-shaped Christmas baskets filled with goodies, paper chains, and On Norwegian flags, pepperkakehus, or gingerbread houses, which Norwegians refrain from eating before the end of the Christmas season. Julaften [Christmas Eve] is the main day of celebration for Norwegians.

RUSSIA
“с Рождеством” [Russian]
"S rozhdyestvom Hristovym” [Congratulations of the birth of Christ!]
The Soviet Union suppressed the practice of Religion in Russia. Since it was banned, Christian people didn’t partake of the religious part of Christmas -- or did so secretly in their homes -- but they ingeniously incorporated many of the traditions into New Year’s celebrations.

Today, Christmas in Russia is most widely celebrated on January 7 because the Russian Orthodox Church adheres to the Julian calendar, which is 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar. Preceding the Russian Orthodox Christmas, New Year's Day is on January 1 and is often considered the more important holiday.

● Ded Moroz / Father Frost
The Russian Santa Claus is named Ded Moroz, or Father Frost. On New Year's Eve, he places presents for children under the New Year tree [as opposed to a Christmas tree].

He is accompanied by Snegurochka, a snow maiden said to be his granddaughter. He carries a staff; dons a red, blue, silver, or gold coat lined with white fur; and wears valenki, traditional felt boots made of wool. Unlike Santa, Ded Moroz is tall and thin—and instead of traveling via sleigh, he gets around Russia by taking a troika, a vehicle led by three horses.

Typical depiction of Father Frost and granddaughter
Image Source: shutterstock.com/search/father-frost?c3apidt=

SLOVAKIA
“Veselé Vianoce” [Slovakian]

● Loksa Pudding Tells Fortunes
In Slovakia and parts of Ukraine it is traditional to have pudding at Christmas. So far nothing unusual. However, the dessert is said to have guessing skills. The oldest member of the family throws the Loksa pudding onto the ceiling with a spoon; the more it sticks, the happier it will be for the family in the next year

REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA
"Geseënde Kersfees" [Afrikaans]
"UKhisimusi omuhle" [Zulu]
“Krismesi emnandi” [Xhosa]
"Le be le keresemese e monate" [Sotho]

Similar to New Zealand and Australia, Christmas is a summer holiday in South Africa. Most of the Christmas traditions are based on Dutch and British heritage from the time the area was settled in beginning in the mid-sixteen hundreds.

The Republic of South Africa has population of 55 million inhabitants of diverse cultures, religions, origins, and languages, of which Bantu-speaking people number 35 million. Only some are originally from that area; others have come from other regions. Some of the major ethnic South Africans include Zulu, Basotho, Venda, Xhosa.

● Picnics and Bar-B-Que
Some people start the morning with a church service, while others get straight to opening their Christmas presents. After the morning of activities, friends and families gather together for a Christmas lunch or dinner, followed by some backyard games like cricket, or a well-earned nap!

● Santa’s sleigh is drawn by Giraffes, not reindeer.

Image Source: Image Credit: Dan Cross,Durban interaksyon.philstar.com/christmas/ Source of Images: ▲ sapeople.com/christmas-in-cape-town ▲

● Crispy Caterpillars
Rather than pass around the cheese board on Christmas Day, South Africans choose to snack on caterpillars from the Emperor moth.

Image Source: dailymail.co.uk/Deep-fried-caterpillars

SPAIN
“Feliz Navidad” [Spanish]

● National Lottery
The Christmas celebrations begin on the 22nd of December with Spain’s National Christmas Lottery which has been held every year since 1812. The winning numbers, which are contested for by millions, are sung by children in a televised performance.

● The Three Kings
In Spain Christmas has nothing to do with Santa Claus. Instead it is the Three Kings or the Three Wise Men (Reyes Magos - Melchior, Baltazar and Gaspar) who bring the presents to well-behaved children at Christmas time. On the night of January 5th you’ll likely see massive Three Kings parades through towns and cities as families and friends get together to mark the occasion.

SWEDEN
“God Jul" [Swedish]

● Festival of St. Lucia
In Sweden the Christmas festivities start with the St. Lucia ceremony on December 13, the Winter Solstice on the old Julian calendar. Image Source: lehighvalleylive.com/lucia_fest

The youngest girl in each family dresses in white with a red sash and wears a crown of evergreens with tall candles attached to it. Small children now use battery candles, but real ones are used after about 12-years-old.

Originally Catholic, St. Lucia was a young saint from Italy who became convicted for illegal witchcraft. In Sweden, she is celebrated in December in the form of young girls dressing up as her and singing to an audience at schools, work places, and nursing homes.

UKRAINE
"З Різдвом” [Ukrainian]

Ukrainians actually have two Christmases. One on December, 25, which is Catholic Christmas, and another one is on January, 7, which is Orthodox Christmas.

● Decorating With Spider Webs
The Ukranian custom of adorning the Christmas tree with a fake spider and web is believed to bring good luck and stems from an old tale. According to ancient folklore, there once was a widow living in her cramped, cold hut with her children. One day, a pinecone dropped from the tree outside and took root. The children, excited by the prospect of a tree for Christmas, tended the seedling and made plans about how they would decorate the tree. Poverty was a way of life for the small family, and when Christmas approached, the widow knew that they would not be able to decorate the tree. The children and the widow accepted their fate and went to bed on Christmas Eve, the tiny tree branches bare.

The household’s spiders heard the children’s sobs and spun intricate webs on the tree. On Christmas morning, the children cried, “Mother, mother wake up and see the tree. It is beautiful!” She rose to find that during the night a spider had spun its web around the fragile branches. As the rays of the sun crept along the floor and silently climbed the tree, the glow touched the threads of the web turning each one into silver and gold, and, as the story goes, from that day forward the widow never wanted for anything. The Ukranian custom of adorning the Christmas tree with a fake
Image Source: spider and web is believed to bring good luck.
ssjosephandcabriniparish.weconnect.com/

VENEZUELA
“Feliz Navidad” [Spanish]

Some traiitions are centuries old, others take hold very quick.
● Roller Skating To Church
In the capital city there is a popular tradition involving large number of people roller skating to the early morning church services throughout the Christmas period. The city even closes the roads off specially to allow for the unconventional commute.

.According to Hispanic Culture Online, children are put to bed earlier than normal the night before to give them enough strength to wake up and attend the Mass. Afterwards, those who attended apparently all go out, eat tostados and drink coffee.

Image Credit: Getty Images
Image Source:
thesun.co.uk/christmas-traditions

WALES
“Nadolig Llawen” [Welsh]

● Mari Lwyd / Y Fari Lwyd
The ancient custom of Mari Lwyd is used to mark the passing of the darkest days of midwinter.The Mari Lwyd is a wassailing folk custom from South Wales which entails the use of an eponymous hobby horse made from a horse's skull mounted on a pole and carried by an individual hidden under a sackcloth.

This tradition was first recorded in writing in 1800, described as a Christmas tradition performed by groups of men who would accompany the horse on its travels around the local area. The makeup of such groups varied, but all typically included an individual to carry the horse, a leader, and individuals dressed as stock characters such as Punch and Judy.

The men would carry the Mari Lwyd to local houses, where they would request entry through song. The householders would be expected to deny them entry, again through song, and the two sides would continue their responses to one another in this manner. If the householders eventually relented, the team would be permitted entry and given
Image Source: marilwyd.wordpress.com/2016/ food and drink.

Look around. The world has so many interesting things to offer.
"MERRRY CHRISTMAS" from SAN DIEGO, CA, USA

JUST SAYIN'!
Sources:
https://www.smallworldfs.com/en/blog/hispanic-christmas-traditions#:~:text=For%20Spanish%20speaking%20countries%20Christmas%20is%20especially%20important,Colombia%20they%20all%20celebrate%20Christmas%20with%20different%20traditions.
https://www.globalexperiences.com/blog/christmas-around-world
https://www.countryliving.com/entertaining/g4933/christmas-traditions-around-the-world/
https://www.thesun.co.uk/fabulous/1960812/christmas-traditions-strangest-world/
https://theculturetrip.com/europe/norway/articles/how-to-celebrate-christmas-in-norway/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mari_Lwyd
https://marilwyd.wordpress.com/2016/05/18/welcome/comment-page-1/
https://clrn.org/lifestyle/the-8-strangest-christmas-traditions-in-the-world/#:~:text=The%20strangest%20Christmas%20customs%20in%20the%20world%201,probably%20especially%20scared%20of%20cats.%20...%20More%20items
https://www.expatica.com/fr/lifestyle/holidays/christmas-in-france-871680/#:~:text=Christmas%20in%20France%3A%20a%20guide%20to%20French%20Christmas,...%208%208.%20Table%20decoration%20...%20More%20items
https://www.tripsavvy.com/russia-christmas-traditions-1502306#:~:text=Christmas%20Traditions%20in%20Russia%201%20Russian%20Christmas%20Religious,Christmastide%20...%205%20Christmas%20Gifts%20From%20Russia%20
Photos and more
http://www.soycolombiano.com/dia-de-las-velitas-tradicion-en-colombia/
https://www.costaricantimes.com/watching-the-costa-rica-christmas-festival-of-lights/58200
https://www.discoverwalks.com/blog/10-czech-christmas-traditions-that-you-will-love/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalonia
https://staybarcelonaapartments.com/blog/catalan-christmas-traditions-barcelona/
https://widowcranky.com/2017/12/15/el-caganer-catalan-tradition/
https://www.lehighvalleylive.com/events/2010/12/lucia_fest_at_muhlenberg_colle.html
https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/leisure/2019/05/20/the-haka-new-zealands-fearsome-dance-of-war/
http://www.thinglink.com/scene/1098832104315158529
https://interaksyon.philstar.com/trends-spotlights/2018/12/25/141150/look-christmas-day-celebrations-around-the-world/
https://www.globalexperiences.com/blog/christmas-around-world
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manx_English
https://isleofmanhotels.com/hunt-the-wren-ancient-manx-tradition-celebrated/
https://www.transceltic.com/blog/isle-of-man-annual-hunt-wren-performed-torrential-rain
https://theculturetrip.com/north-america/mexico/articles/a-uniquely-oaxacan-festival-night-of-the-radishes/
https://www.renestance.com/blog/meet-the-santons-a-french-traditional-nativity-scene/
https://confessionsofaplateaddict.blogspot.com/2008/12/my-french-nativity-sceneorsantons-de.html
https://ssjosephandcabriniparish.weconnect.com/blog/view/trivia-ukrainian-christmas-tree-ornament
https://travelfoodatlas.com/kiviak-bizarre-greenland-inuit-delicacy
https://www.target.com/s/norwegian+gnomes?ref=tgt_adv
https://christmasgenius.com/christmas-in-greenland-xmas-traditions/#:~:text=Other%20Greenlandic%20traditional%20Christmas%20activities%20that%20people%20maximize,Ice-fishing%202%20Dog-sled%20races%203%20Greenland%20cultural%20
https://vidviday.ua/blog/en/ukraine-traditions-holidays/#:~:text=Ukrainian%20Christmas%20traditions%20Ukrainians%20actually%20have%20two%20Christmases.,follow%20regularly%20are%20Christmas%20dinner%25

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