Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Мартеница

The last few days the whole city was turning red and white. In the Netherlands that would usually mean that some soccer team is playing an important match. Not on the Balkans (Bulgaria, Moldova, Romania). Here it is a pagan tradition related to the transformation from winter to spring. It is called Martenitsa in Bulgaria, and Mărţişor in Romania and Moldova. Friends give each other red and white dolls, bracelets or other tokens in red (sun, or Mars) and white (snow or peace) on 1 March.

The colours signify the fight between the snow and the sun. The transition from winter to spring. The tokens are meant to give luck and healh to the people wearing them.

Interestingly enough Sofia saw its first snow this season on 27 February. And it instantly disappeared. The temperature was rising above 10 degrees again today, the sun already seems to have won even before Martenitsa started.

Monday, February 26, 2007

Away, but feels like home

When I was flying to Sofia this morning, I read the following sentence in the inflight magazine: Човекът е човек, когато е на път, or a man is only a man when he is travelling. So travelling it is. I had never been here before, but somehow it seems all too familiar. The langauge, the customs, the way people react. Feels like many places I've been to recently. But still, it's the little differences.

I hope I'll be able to tell when I leave again from here in some days!

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

(in)famous Dutch: who killed Pushkin?

According to the official version Alexander Pushkin was mortally wounded and died after he fought a duel with Georges d'Anthès, 170 years ago last week. Georges d'Anthès, aristocrat, was the protégée, fosterson and later heir of the Dutch ambassador Baron Van Heeckeren, after which he would call himself Georges-Charles de Heeckeren d'Anthès.

Both the relationship between the Baron and his protégée and the reasons for the duel, have caused gossip. Last week Komsomolskaya Pravda quoted recent research into the matter. It says that the alleged reason for the duel, a meeting between d'Anthès and Pushkin's wife took place only after d'Anthès married the poet's sister-in-law.

The article suggests that instead a gay intrigue involving d'Anthès, Van Heeckeren and others led to the poet's death.

(thanks to Coen)

Saturday, February 10, 2007

Russian Pride

(This entry is not about Moscow Pride - although that might also deserve attention in the blogosphere - but about the pride of the Russians.)

Yesterday an article appeared, in which 75% of Russians are quoted to find that Russia has its own way and almost 50% see the EU as a threat. Interesting quotes such as “benefits come from the West, but the Truth lives in Russia” are found there.

Another interesting finding is that “although it has been possible for Russians to go abroad for fifteen years, 42% of Russians would say The Netherlands and Holland are different countries”. Funny question to ask, it seems the investigators who made the survey had no access to Wikipedia.

The article explains Russian self-centeredness from long isolation. Themes pretty much confirmed in my 1909 guide book. It has an article on National Pride (Nationalstolz). That article makes a distinction between the higher social classes (said not to have a strong national pride) and the ordinary Russian (said to believe the Russians were blessed by God more than other peoples.) The latter group even believed that the Saints spoke Russian, and the book warns the Germans not to discuss the national origin of the national patron Saint Nicholas with ordinary farmers. Interestingly enough the book claims that St. Nicholas was an Italian. Wonder where they got that from. It even warns to stay away from discussions about the military or politics. Talking too much about that might have lead to being considered a spy a hundred years ago!

The article points to another article about Slavophilism, the movement thought to believe that Western civilisation was shaped around three themes: the Catholic church, ancient Roman culture and invasionist politics. The Russian peoples however submitted voluntarily to their overlords, the Varangians. This created a harmony between the different classes in society, the church and the Tsar. This harmony was destabilised by Peter the Great, who introduced Western ideas about nobility. The true Russian spirit was said to have survived amongst the commoners. They were the representatives of the true Russian spirit, as passed down from generation to generation. The spirit consists of spiritualism, trust in the government and obedience.

It would be interesting to see if the features described above made the Russians susceptible to Socialism. There should be at least some studies. I did not find much online, although my searches did yield some other interesting facts.

UPDATE: see what I mean?