Die Weihnachtsgurke-Truth or Urban Legend?

Growing up on Long Island and fascinated by the German language (although I ended up studying French in school instead) and being of German descent, I had always heard about the "German Christmas Pickle Tradition". 

 

The story I had always heard was that in Germany, a dry pickle was hidden in the Xmas tree. Supposedly the child who finds the pickle will have great luck for the coming year.

 

This year, I decided to finally put a glass pickle ornament on my tree and then research (just because a pickle ornament is really cool). Much to my dismay, I have found that this “may” only be a urban legend. Here are a few of the myths/backstories:

 

-West Germans have said that East Germans may have had nothing more than pickles to decorate their Christmas trees with after WW II (but East Germans refute this).

 

-Some claim that the custom is observed in the small German town of Höxter. The problem is, no one from this town has ever said they know of such a custom.

 

-Another claim is that this traces back to a Bavarian-born ancestor who fought in the American Civil War. Starving, he begged for a pickle before he expired. A guard give a pickle to him and supposedly, he garnered enough strength to go on.

 

-Another claim originated from Berrien Springs, MI. When Spanish boys traveling home from boarding school for the holidays stopped at an inn for the night, the innkeeper stuffed them in a pickle barrel. St. Nicholas stopped at the same inn and freed the boys.

 

Regardless whether this is urban legend or part of German history, this Christmas tradition has taken on a life of its own. Every Christmas store has glass pickle ornaments for sale. Even the Dollar Tree!

Tibet, Dharamsala and The Dalai Lama

 

I climbed to Dharamsala too
I did
I met the highest lama
His accent sounded fine
To me, to me

-Vampire Weekend

Three places I am looking forward to visiting are Tibet (because of it’s rich Buddhist history and it’s excellent energy regardless of the Chinese occupation), Dharamsala, India (because it is the adopted homeland of the Tibetan people and also has a beautiful energy about it) and Nepal (the birthplace of the Buddha).

While I have very strong feelings about Tibet, this blog entry is not a political commentary and my brief description barely scratches the surface of this sad ordeal. That said, let’s move along.

Tibet is situated between China and Nepal and is often referred to as the “Roof of the World”. When one talks about Tibetan history, they are really referring to the history of Buddhism in Tibet due to the strong role that the religion has played in developing the culture and due to the fact that all major historians of the country were Buddhist monks.

Dharamsala is a mountain retreat in the Dhauladhar range in India but it’s best known as the place of refuge for the Tibetan community and the new home of the Dalai Lama. It is frequented by many tourists each year.

The population is little more than 19,000 and the languages spoken there are Himachali, Hindi and English.

In 1855, Dharamsala was founded. The British used it as a summer retreat to escape the intensely hot summers.

In 1950, a year after the communists had assumed power in China, they invaded Tibet, their smaller and weaker neighbor. In 1959, Tibet was annexed, the capital of Lhasa was overtaken by the Chinese and this forced the 14th Dalai Lama and his government to abandon their land. Since then, Tibet has ceased to exist as an independent nation.

During these troubled days, no country would risk the wrath of the growing Republic of China to offer shelter to the Tibetans. India, however, came to the rescue of the Tibetan community and since 1960, they have lived in Dharamsala. It appears that Dharamsala has recaptured the deeply religious feelings, lush locale and peacefulness that Tibet once provided.

The Chinese occupation led to "an estimated one million Tibetans dead from imprisonment and starvation. Tibet's 6,254 monasteries are gutted and in ruins." The Dalai Lama best sums up the situation, "The Chinese claimed that they came to Tibet to 'liberate' us from the past and modernize the country. In fact they have brought the greatest suffering to our nation in its 2100 years of history."

Many people feel visiting Tibet is a slap in the face to the exiled Tibetans (as all the money spent goes to the Chinese people and Chinese government). The Dalai Lama expresses a different belief; he feels that individual travelers to Tibet support the Tibetan cause.

Earlier this morning, I read an article that touched my heart. Inspired by the regret expressed by his terminally ill father that he would never again walk on Tibetan soil, the artist Tenzing Rigdol arranged for Tibetan soil to be brought to Dharamsala. This artist hatched a plan to get the soil from “deep inside Tibet” and bring it to Dharamsala via Nepal.

This was a very bold move. Rigdol commented that "My dad and other relatives would say that, before they died, they wanted to step [once more] on Tibetan soil," and "After my father passed, I remembered what he had said."
 
A young man who was there reported, "I was there the first morning. People were crying and getting very emotional. I was born in India. This was the chance to walk on Tibetan soil."

A tub of the Tibetan soil  was sent to the Dalai Lama. The next morning, it was returned with the word "Tibet" drawn by a finger in the Tibetan script.

10 things to be grateful for when you think there is nothing…

 

I absolutely love Thanksgiving. But, holidays can be difficult for some people. Especially when they are at a time in their lives where their life situation/finances/love life/job situation is not where they’d like it to be. Often times, we get lost in what we wish we had/where we are lacking instead of focusing on what is already here. Now.

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I’d like to remind everyone of some of the things we often take for granted but owe a huge debt of gratitude for whether we are sick, struggling, lonely, unemployed, lost, hopeless, hopeful or extremely content.

-You woke up this morning;

-You had food to eat for breakfast when many did not;

-Your home is warm and has power;

-You have legs for walking, eyes for seeing and hands for holding;

-The sun rose this morning to light your world and it will, hopefully, set this evening to darken your world;

-Whether they are here with you or departed, whether they properly showed it or not,  your parents loved you and you are here because of them;

-You can speak, smell, hear, think, jump, cry…FEEL;

-You can laugh and be joyful;

-There IS an “interconnectedness” between every human being in this world…You Are Not Alone;

-You are here…ALIVE...NOW…and that, above all else, you matter.

No matter where your life circumstances led you tomorrow on Thanksgiving, you have a lot to be grateful for...

Global Days of Gratitude

 
Thanksgiving is an American holiday and is a tradition that began in 1621, as a day of gratitude. Thanksgiving was proclaimed as a holiday in 1777 by the Continental Congress. In 1941, the U.S. Congress proclaimed that the fourth Thursday of November is the official day to celebrate Thanksgiving Day.

Although Thanksgiving is an American-specific holiday, countries around the world show their gratitude on special days, as well.

Canada’s Thanksgiving is called the Fete de Grace, or Harvest Home Festival and falls on the same day as Columbus Day in the United States. It is an annual Canadian holiday to give thanks at the close of the harvest season

In Asia, Japan celebrates Labor Thanksgiving Day (勤労感謝の)on November 23. It is an occasion for commemorating labor and production and giving one another thanks. Local elementary students create drawings and bring them to the local police station.

The Chinese celebrate Chung Ch'ui (which literally means “the middle of Autumn”) during harvest time. It is celebration of the birth of the moon. Chinese people pay visits to their older relatives, do housekeeping, visit tombs, set up altars for the ancestors and eat moon cakes.

In Brazil, every fourth Thursday of November, the Dia Nacional de Acao de Gracas is celebrated. According to my research, when the “Ambassador of Brazil visited U.S. at the invitation of National Cathedral of Washington, D.C., he was enamored by the concept of Thanksgiving and brought it to his homeland.”

In Switzerland, the Federal Day of Thanks, Penance, and Prayer (Eidgenössischer Dank- Buss- und Bettag), is celebrated on the 3rd Sunday in September each year. This is considered a high holy day.

Germany gives thanks during Erntedankfest, which occurs on the 1st Sunday in October. This holiday celebrates the end of harvest time and involves the creation of displays of fruit, bread and grains that are set up to show gratitude for God’s grace and kindness. Afterwards, all the produce is donated to the needy.

In the British Isles, they celebrate Lammas Day, one of the oldest medieval festivals. It is a feast with pagan origins. The end of the growing season and the gathering of the harvest are celebrated. Bread is baked and placed it on church altars as offerings and dolls are made out of grain. These dolls are then planted in the spring to ensure a plentiful crop.

South Africans celebrate Incwala in December. This festival is also called the Festival of the Fruits and lasts for six days. Priests gather foam and salt water from the ocean, men cut down branches of the Lusekwane tree and there is lots of dancing and chanting.

In Israel, Sukkoth is celebrated at the end of September-early October. This holiday is named for the huts used by Mohammed and the Israelites as they wandered for forty years in search of the promised land. Each year, families create these small huts, fill them with fruits and vegetables and then they eat dinner in these huts for the first two nights of this eight day festival.

Thanksgiving Day is celebrated in Liberia on November 3 and it shadows the same traditions of the American Thanksgiving day. Liberia was founded in the XIX century by freed slaves from the United States. Because of this, Liberia was never under the power of Europe like other African countries. Liberia became colonized under the American Colonization Society between 1821 and 1822 and it was intended to be a place for slaves freed in the United States and that wanted to immigrate to Africa in search of more personal freedom and equality as citizens. So, on Thanksgiving Day, the Liberians show gratitude to God and America for their freedom and for the creation of Liberia.

Certain holidays are specific to certain countries but gratitude is expressed globally. It appears that the one thing that all the countries have in common is that the more gratitude you show for what you have, the more that comes to you...

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

About Polish...

I have always loved the Polish language. All the Ws, the consonants and the interesting punctuation. It has always been one of my favorite languages to work with during my 16 years in the localization industry. I am finally at a point where I can tell the difference between Czech and Polish by sight but it did take a few years. I can also tell the difference by sound between Russian and Polish but they sound very similar and this also has taken many years!

Having two children who are half-Polish and were blessed with a long surname that can be hard to spell, I decided to delve into the language and find out more about it.

Polish is spoken by 50 million people and is part of the western branch of Slavic languages, and belongs to the Indo-European family, along with Slovak and Czech. Although there was pressure from non-Polish administrations in Poland to suppress the native language, Polish is currently the largest, in terms of speakers, of the West Slavic group. It is also the second most widely spoken Slavic language, preceded only by Russian.

Polish is the official language obviously of Poland but it is also spoken as a second language in some parts of Russia, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine and Kazakhstan. This is due to migration of the Polish people and border changes after World War II.

Interesting facts about the Polish language:

-          There is no " Q ", " V " or " X " in the Polish alphabet.

-          Many words in the Polish language were borrowed from German due to its close proximity.

-          The Polish call their language język polski or polszczyzna.

-          Slovak is similar to Polish as German is to Swiss German, with more than 70% of vocabulary shared.

-          Polish and Russian are like Spanish and Italian, with 55-60% of vocabulary similar

-          While Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian use the Cyrillic script, Czech and Polish use the Latin-based script.

-          The Polish have a special fondness for English and it is the most popular foreign language in Poland.

Some common Polish phrases:

Dzien dobry : good day
Dobry wieczor : good evening
Dobranoc : good night
Czesc : hi / hello
Do widzenia : good bye
Prosze : please
Dziekuje : thank you
Dzieki : thanks (less formal)

The origins of Dano-Norwegian (Bokmål)

I was recently asked by a client to provide a “Dano-Norwegian” medical translation. Since I had never worked with this dialect/language before, this led me on a quest for information and of course, a new blog entry.

Norway has two official written languages, Bokmål (Dano-Norwegian) and Nynorsk (New Norwegian). According to my research, they are given equal status and are both used in public administration, in education and on TV/radio. Books, magazines and newspapers are published in both languages.

Dano-Norwegian is an official literary form of Norwegian based on written Danish. In other words, it is a Norwegian variant of the Danish language and predecessor of the Bokmål written standard of the modern Norwegian language. It is a form of Danish with Norwegian pronounciation and minor local differences. It is what is called a koiné language (this is a language/dialect that occurs or is created due to contact between two dialects of the same language). “A koiné variety emerges as a new spoken variety in addition to the originating dialects; it does not change any existing dialect. This separates koineization from normal evolution of dialects.”

Up until the 13^th century, the language spoken in Norway was "Old Norwegian".  In 1380, Norway entered into a union with Denmark. By the early 1600s, the United Kingdoms of Denmark and Norway (1536-1814) was formed. This koiné language evolved during this time. The official language of the time was Danish. The urban elite in Norway spoke Dano-Norwegian. In 1814, the two countries separated. At that time, Dano-Norwegian was still the official language of Norway.

During the 20^th century, a new approach was taken with written Norwegian to reflect the urban and rural jargon of that country. The first Norwegian successor to Dano-Norwegian was known as Riksmål (literally "national language"). Since 1929, this official written standard has been known as Bokmål (literally "book language”). According to my research, Riksmål officially changed its name to Bokmål after a proposition to use the name Dano-Norwegian lost with a single vote in the Lagting (a chamber in the Norwegian parliament). Later attempts to bring it closer to and eventually merge it with the other Norwegian written standard, Nynorsk (literally “new Norwegian”), constructed on the basis of Norwegian dialects, have failed due to widespread resistance.

In The Phonology of Norwegian, Gjert Kristoffersen writes that:

"Bokmål [...] is in its most common variety looked upon as reflecting formal middle-class urban speech, especially that found in the eastern part of Southern Norway, with the capital Oslo as the obvious centre. One can therefore say that Bokmål has a spoken realisation that one might call an unofficial standard spoken Norwegian. It is in fact often referred to as Standard Østnorsk ('Standard East Norwegian')."

While researching, I happened to find some interesting Dano-Norwegian facts:

-The famous Ibsen works, “A Doll’s House”, “Hedda Gabler”, “An Enemy of the People” among others were originally written in Dano—Norwegian. 

-The Norwegian National Anthem (“Ja, vi elsker dette landet”) was originally written in Dano-Norwegian as that was frequently used in Norway at the time. A more modern version has evolved over the years.