Everything you always wanted to know about Pashto but were afraid to ask

Pashto (pronounced “peshto”) is the Iranian language of the Pathans. It can also be transliterated to be Pushto, Pakhto, Pukhto, Pashtu, Paxto or Pushtu.

Also known as “Afghani” and “Pathan” and a member of the southeastern Iranian branch of Indo-Iranian languages, Pasto is spoken in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran. There are three dialects of Pashto: Northern Pashto, spoken mainly in Pakistan; Southern Pashto, spoken mainly in Afghanistan; and Central Pashto, spoken mainly in Pakistan. There are also Pashto communities in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

There are approximately 35-45 millions speakers of Pashto in the world. In 1936, it was made, by royal decree, the official language of Afghanistan. Since that time, the spelling has been revised quite a bit and today, both Dari and Pashto are the official languages of Afghanistan.

Like Urdu and Farsi, Pashto derives its alphabet from the Arabic alphabet (and the Arabic alphabet derives itself from the Persian alphabet) but it is almost completely modified as Pashto, unlike Arabic, is not a Semitic language.

Among the US military, Pashto is a popular language to learn because it’s easier to learn than Arabic. U.S. soldiers have also used various handheld devices to speak Pashto and Dari in Afghanistan. 

Pashto is a subject-object-verb language where adjectives come before nouns. There is also gender specificity for nouns and adjectives and an intricate verb system with several tenses.

I think Pashto looks a bit like Thai. Here is a sample of some common software UI terms in Pashto:

·         Online (په کرښه)

·         Website (ګورتځاى)

·         Email (برېښليک)

·         Browser (لټونګر)

·         Message (پېغام)

·         Font (ليکبڼه)

·         Software (پوستکالى)

·         Login (ننوتل)

·         Logout (وتل)

·         Username (کارن نوم)

·         Password (شفر)

It's a Dragon Year! 龙年

In the Chinese calendar, it is the year 4710, and the Year of the Dragon(龙年).  So popular and important is a “Dragon Year”, that the Chinese birthrate increases. The dragon is the more powerful and blessed of the other 11 animals so it is considered a very important year to have a child or to start something new.

Joining the dragon in the 12 year cycle of animals is the rat, the ox, the tiger, the rabbit, the snake, the horse, the sheep/goat, the monkey, the rooster, the dog and the pig.

The Chinese New Year will be celebrated on January 23, 2012 as the date is based on the Chinese Lunar Calendar. It is the biggest holiday celebrated among Chinese people. It originally lasted for four weeks but now it usually lasts about 3-4 days.

Houses will be cleaned, windows will be painted red, dumplings will be eaten, flowers will be placed as a decoration, symbols of the dragon will be everywhere and red envelopes with money will be given out to children for luck and prosperity in the new year. Fireworks are usually on hand to wake up the dragon so he will bring spring rain to the crops and to scare away any misfortune.

Why is the dragon so revered and special? It is the only animal in the Chinese zodiac that is not real. Over 4,000 years ago, there were many tribes in China. The tribes had animals as emblems. Two of the larger tribes unified and chose the dragon as their symbol. Today, the Han Chinese still call themselves the descendants of the dragon.

The dragon also is seen as a power king who is made up of many different animals such as the tiger, snake, fish and eagle.

My son happened to be born during the last dragon year. I’ll expect big things from him now!

新年快乐!

Hogmanay, the Scottish New Year's Eve

Scotland is the birthplace of "Auld Lang Syne" and also the home of Hogmanay (hog-mah-NAY). Hogmanay is the Scot’s word for the last day of the year and is the wild and crazy Scottish New Year's celebration. It is celebrated on December 31. According to my research, before 1600, the New Year officially started in Scotland on March 25! In 1599, James VI, the King of Scots, changed this to January 1.

There are many rituals and customs associated with Hogmanay. The most popular custom is the practice of “first-footing” which starts immediately after midnight. This involves being the first person to cross the threshold of a friend's or neighbor's house and often involves the giving of gifts such as shortbread, whiskey or black bun (a fruit cake). These gifts are supposed to bring luck to the giftee. The first-foot is supposed to set the luck for the rest of the year. Traditionally, tall dark men are preferred as the first-foot.

One of the local customs in northeastern Scotland is "fireball swinging". This involves making a Scottish fireball consisting of wire filled with old newspaper, sticks, rags, and other dry flammable material to a chain or rope. After the clock strikes midnight, revelers swing these fire-lit balls overhead.

The Hogmanay custom of singing “Auld Lang Syne” has now become common in many countries. "Auld Lang Syne" is a poem reinterpreted by Robert Burns and it later became a song. All the revelers stand together, cross arms and hold hands while singing after the clock strikes midnight.

Sounds like the Scots have more fun on New Year’s Eve than we do!

The Happiness Project of 2011

 January 2011-Not so happy!

Around this time in 2010, I had decided to be happy every single day in 2011. I’ve never been what I used to call "the happy idiot" type, smiling and upbeat every day but after a few years of major emotional turmoil, I had decided that 2011 was the year I'd "take back the happy". This was before I had heard of the book, “The Happiness Project” and months before I had read it (and I highly recommend this book to everyone).  This happy type of person is actually the furthest thing from an idiot and probably a lot smarter than most of us.  They.just.are.happy. Period. End of story.

I say that I wasn’t the "happy" type but one of my close friends once asked me why my profile picture on Facebook (at the time) was a non-smiling picture of me.  She mentioned that I am always smiling and laughing and that it made no sense to have a non-smiling profile picture. I think she said something to the effect that I never see you "without a smile on your face". 

After really thinking about it, I decided that what had made me truly happy 30 years ago would probably still make me happy now. Horseback riding, roller skating, walking everywhere I could, reading and snow tubing. After looking over this list, aside from the reading, I realized I am a very physically-oriented person with abundant energy to spare. When I do any of these things, I feel complete joy. Pure bliss. The world falls away.

Everyone should have that kind of joy in their life. Very often, people look for it only in their love lives/in another person. We all know the type. The type of person who can never be alone because they look for other people to fill them and give them these experiences. These people never do what they really want to and never experience what really gives them joy because they settle for getting it secondhand from someone else and then, they, you know, DIE. Never realizing their own bliss.

I soon realized that all these things (with the exception of horseback riding as I had been riding without fail for 11 years after giving up this passion of mine in my early 20s) had fallen by the wayside.

Not only did I get in better shape (mentally and physically) but I met a lot of really cool people along the way. Some younger, some much older, but all people I would not have gotten to know if I had not reclaimed the things I loved. All with an interesting story but all very positive people.

It started with walking in the snow in January as I grew tired of being in the gym and seeing the same faces and wanted to breathe fresh air. I started with walking one mile or so a day and as the seasons changed, I was up to six miles a day. I found that I loved seeing the birds and all the different trees and flowers. Then  I soon started hiking. Everywhere. All the local state parks. I found that I really love to hike.  This was a huge surprise to me.

As I started walking to the local library from my house (about 5 miles roundtrip), I discovered again how much I loved to read and how important the library is to a community and I became involved with the library and read more this year than I have in a very long time. I learned that there is no reason to ever spend a penny on a book; the library can find you anything you want and need.

When I turned 40, I rented a roller rink and had a huge party there. I skated for 5 hours straight. The Mexican food and the margaritas could not even get me to stop. I felt pure joy all night. I said to myself, I want to do this again. Did I? No. Not until 2011. Being in the rink makes me feel young, alive, happy...essentially 12 again! Having my daughter along for the ride is just the icing on the cake filled with exercise, fun, socialization and joy. I’ve found that there are many adults-men and women-who love to skate and I also found out that everything you can do on ice skates; you can do on roller skates. Every Saturday morning is spent roller skating now. I’ve met people my own age who love it as much as I do and I’ve even met people in their 70s this year who still skate.

I have also spent less time with the "Why are you doing that?", "Why don’t you do this?", "Are you sure that's good for you?" people.  People that think that it is their job to help me with the "closure" of my current situation. Sorry, people. I am all done talking about that. I’ve moved on. Why haven’t you? It's really so 2007, don't you think?

I also gave up meat, caffeine, diet soda, alcohol and most dairy products. It really changed the way I felt-inside and out. I recharged my dormant spiritual side and started meditation and self-Reiki treatments daily. I reconnected with others by taking classes and started learning Chinese.

So, as the last few days of 2011 roll in, I can honestly say that I have had a wonderful year. I haven’t said that in a very long time. A year filled with less tears, more joy, more bliss, more energy, more love and a greater understanding of the interconnectedness between us all.

Here’s to 2012. May it be a positive one for all of you. Happy New Year!

November 2011-Happy!

Happy Horrordays!

 

I admit it. I had never heard of the Krampus until this year. How did I miss this? I love Christmas; I love all things horror. I hang Santa skull ornaments, Day of the Dead, zombies, aliens, half-eaten gingerbread men and skeletons on my Christmas tree. I do also have angels, bells, reindeer, snowmen and all those other “appropriate” Christmas ornaments. My daughter so loves all the nonsense I hang on the tree, she is presenting this "Christmas tradition" to her class this week. Let's see how that goes. However, I digress: How did I not know about the Krampus?!!?

In Alpine countries, the Krampus (known as many other names, including Knecht Ruprecht, Certa, Perchten, Black Peter, Schmutzli, Pelznickel and Klaubauf) is St. Nick’s traveling companion on December 6 (in some traditions, he comes out the night before on December 5). St. Nick takes care of the good kids; the Krampus, the bad. Kind of like good cop, bad cop. It seems to be most common in  Austria, Slovenia, Hungary and Croatia.

He is usually seen as a terrifying, incubus-like, goat-headed devil. He’s also pretty scary to look at. His job is to take the bad children (you know, the ones who have not been nice, as the song goes) down to hell in baskets after hitting them with chains and switches. Very, very creepy.

Tens of thousands of years ago, the Europeans celebrated mummery (a performance by people wearing masks and costumes) during the Winter Solstice. People would up dress up as animals and mythical characters and walk in parades and create plays. The most common costumes at that time were Old Man Winter and a horned Goat-Man. These were early predecessors of St. Nick and the Krampus.

The Krampus gets his name from "Krampen," the old German word for claw. In the mid-1950s, educators feared that the Krampus might scar children for life. However, in modern times, the Krampus has been mellowed down, with drunken adolescent boys dressing like goat-men and marching in a parade.

When St. Nick “came to America” in the 19^th century, he became Santa Claus, his look changed, he lost Krampus and the only thing that bad American kids now receive is coal in their stocking. A hell of a lot better than being dragged away in a basket!

Dalahäst

 

Every day, I walk about 5 miles. There is a house in town that I pass daily that has a red Dala Horse as its street address sign. I have always known that these equine symbols are Swedish but I did not know their significance. I love horses and I love to blog, so of course, a new blog entry was born.

Since Viking Times, the horse has been considered a holy animal. The Dala Horse (Dalahäst) is a very popular Swedish souvenir.  The name comes from Dalarna, in central Sweden. 

During the long Swedish winters, long ago, the forerunner to the Dala Horse was created using simple tools. It was only natural that a horse would be a popular model to craft as the horse was invaluable in those days.

According to the story, in 1716, while King Charles XII of Sweden was at war with other parts of Europe, many soldiers stayed in the Mora section of Sweden. Rumor has it that one such soldier carved a Dala Horse from some scrap wood. Since red was a color readily available from a nearby copper mine, he painted it red and gave it to one of the children in the house.

The Dala Horse gained popularity when it was chosen by the National Crafts Union for part of the Swedish display at the Paris Exposition in the mid-19th century.  Skills for creating the Dala Horse creation have been passed from generation to generation. It is one of the few folk traditions of Sweden still living.

The Dala Horse of today is still made by hand, with pine and takes about 9 different people to create. The village of Nusnäs, in Dalarna, is considered by some to be the home of the only authentic Swedish Dala Horses, with over 250,000 Dala Horses produced there annually.

Heri za Kwanzaa

 

Kwanzaa is celebrated around Christmas time but it is not a holiday dedicated to gift giving. Kwanzaa is not a religious celebration, either. It is a commemoration of heritage and togetherness. Family and friends find Kwanzaa to be a time of sharing and being together.

Kwanzaa was created by Dr. Maulana Karenga in 1966. Karenga said that he wanted to "give black people an alternative to the existing holiday and an opportunity to celebrate themselves and history, rather than simply imitate the practice of the dominant society.” It is celebrated via song, dancing and recitation of poem. The word Kwanzaa comes from the Swahili phrase matunda ya kwanza (first fruits of the harvest).

Kwanzaa is built on seven principles that are commonly known as "Nguzo Saba". These are:

1. umoja - unity
2. kujichagulia - self-determination
3. ujima - collective work and responsibility
4. ujamaa - cooperative economics
5. nia - purpose
6. kuumba - creativity
7. imani - faith

Kwanzaa celebrations usually last seven days, from December 26 to January 1. Each of the seven days of the celebration is dedicated to one of the seven principles. Every day, a candle is lit that represents each principle.

Some symbols of Kwanzaa include a decorative mat on which other symbols are placed, corn, a kinara (a candle holder for seven candles), a communal cup for beverages, gifts, a poster of the seven principles, and a black, red, and green flag. The symbols were designed to convey the seven principles.

Kwanzaa observers decorate their households with art, colorful African cloth (kente) and fresh fruit. The women wear kaftans. The greeting each day during Kwanzaa is Habari Gani (What’s the news?)

On the evening of Kuumba (December 31) there is a feast called Karamu. This is the main focus of Kwanzaa where cultural expression is encouraged. Karamu generally brings everyone closer to their roots and involves a welcoming statement, remembering ancestors, assessing current situations, a recommitment to values, rejoicing, a goodbye statement, and a call for greater unity.