2019/05/30 Dabadaba

 

HOMESHAKE

 

Antolatzailea: Dabadaba

 

Laguntzaileak:Donostia Kultura

 

Argazkilaria: Josu De La Calle

AN IN DEPTH LOOK AT CORVUS CORONE & OBSERVATIONS ON MY RESIDENT THREE

  

LEGEND AND MYTHOLOGY

By Paul Williams

  

Crows appear in the Bible where Noah uses one to search for dry land and to check on the recession of the flood. Crows supposedly saved the prophet, Elijah, from famine and are an Inuit deity. Legend has it that England and its monarchy will end when there are no more crows in the Tower of London. And some believe that the crows went to the Tower attracted by the regular corpses following executions with written accounts of their presence at the executions of Anne Boleyn and Jane Gray.

  

In Welsh mythology, unfortunately Crows are seen as symbolic of evilness and black magic thanks to many references to witches transforming into crows or ravens and escaping. Indian legend tells of Kakabhusandi, a crow who sits on the branches of a wish-fulfilling tree called Kalpataru and a crow in Ramayana where Lord Rama blessed the crow with the power to foresee future events and communicate with the souls.

  

In Native American first nation legend the crow is sometimes considered to be something of a trickster, though they are also viewed positively by some tribes as messengers between this world and the next where they carry messages from the living to those deceased, and even carry healing medicines between both worlds.

  

There is a belief that crows can foresee the future. The Klamath tribe in Oregon believe that when we die, we fly up to heaven as a crow. The Crow can also signify wisdom to some tribes who believe crows had the power to talk and were therefore considered to be one of the wisest of birds. Tribes with Crow Clans include the Chippewa (whose Crow Clan and its totem are called Aandeg), the Hopi (whose Crow Clan is called Angwusngyam or Ungwish-wungwa), the Menominee, the Caddo, the Tlingit, and the Pueblo tribes of New Mexico.

  

The crow features in the Nanissáanah (Ghost dance), popularized by Jerome Crow Dog, a Brulé Lakota sub-chief and warrior born at Horse Stealing Creek in Montana Territory in 1833, the crow symbolizing wisdom and the past, when the crow had become a guide and acted as a pathfinder during hunting. The Ghost dance movement was originally created in 1870 by Wodziwob, or Gray Hair, a prophet and medicine man of the Paiute tribe in an area that became known as Nevada.

  

Ghost dancers wore crow and eagle feathers in their clothes and hair, and the fact that the Crow could talk placed it as one of the sages of the animal kingdom. The five-day dances seeking trance, prophecy and exhortations would eventually play a major part in the pathway towards the white man's broken treaties, the infamous battle at Wounded knee and the surrender of Matȟó Wanáȟtaka (Kicking Bear), after officials began to fear the ghost dancers and rituals which seemed to occur prior to battle.

  

Historically the Vikings are the group who made so many references to the crow, and Ragnarr Loðbrók and his sons used this species in his banner as well as appearances in many flags and coats of arms. Also, it had some kind of association with Odin, one of their main deities. Norse legend tells us that Odin is accompanied by two crows.

  

Hugin, who symbolizes thought, and Munin, who represents a memory. These two crows were sent out each dawn to fly the entire world, returning at breakfast where they informed the Lord of the Nordic gods of everything that went on in their kingdoms. Odin was also referred to as Rafnagud (raven-god).

  

The raven appears in almost every skaldic poem describing warfare. Coins dating back to 940's minted by Olaf Cuaran depict the Viking war standard, the Raven and Viking war banners (Gonfalon) depicted the bird also.

  

In Scandinavian legends, crows are a representative of the Goddess of Death, known as Valkyrie (from old Norse 'Valkyrja'), one of the group of maidens who served the Norse deity Odin, visiting battlefields and sending him the souls of the slain worthy of a place in Valhalla. Odin ( also called Wodan, Woden, or Wotan), preferred that heroes be killed in battle and that the most valiant of souls be taken to Valhöll, the hall of slain warriors.

  

It is the crow that provides the Valkyries with important information on who should go. In Hindu ceremonies that are associated to ancestors, the crow has an important place in Vedic rituals. They are seen as messengers of death in Indian culture too.

  

In Germanic legend, Crows are seen as psychonomes, meaning the act of guiding spirits to their final destination, and that the feathers of a crow could cure a victim who had been cursed. And yet, a lone black crow could symbolize impending death, whilst a group symbolizes a lucky omen! Vikings also saw good omens in the crow and would leave offerings of meat as a token.

  

The crow also has sacred and prophetic meaning within the Celtic civilization, where it stood for flesh ripped off due to combat and Morrighan, the warrior goddess, often appears in Celtic mythology as a raven or crow, or else is found to be in the company of the birds. Crow is sacred to Lugdnum, the Celtic god of creation who gave his name to the city of Lug

  

In Greek mythology according to Appolodorus, Apollo is supposedly responsible for the black feathers of the crow, turning them forever black from their pristine white original plumage as a punishment after they brought news that Κορωνις (Coronis) a princess of the Thessalian kingdom of Phlegyantis, Apollo's pregnant lover had left him to marry a mortal, Ischys.

  

In one legend, Apollo burned the crows feathers and then burned Coronis to death, in another Coronis herself was turned into a black crow, and another that she was slain by the arrows of Αρτεμις (Artemis - twin to Apollo). Koronis was later set amongst the stars as the constellation Corvus ("the Crow").

  

Her name means "Curved One" from the Greek word korônis or "Crow" from the word korônê.A similar Muslim legend allegedly tells of Muhammad, founder of Islam and the last prophet sent by God to Earth, who's secret location was given away by a white crow to his seekers, as he hid in caves. The crow shouted 'Ghar Ghar' (Cave, cave) and thus as punishment, Muhammad turned the crow black and cursed it for eternity to utter only one phrase, 'Ghar, ghar). Native Indian legend where the once rainbow-coloured crows became forever black after shedding their colourful plumage over the other animals of the world.

  

In China the Crow is represented in art as a three legged bird on a solar disk, being a creature that helps the sun in its journey. In Japan there are myths of Crow Tengu who were priests who became vain, and turned into this spirit to serve as messengers until they learn the lesson of humility as well as a great Crow who takes part in Shinto creation stories.

  

In animal spirit guides there are general perceptions of what sightings of numbers of crows actually mean:

  

1 Crow Meaning: To carry a message from your near one who died recently.

 

2 Crows Meaning: Two crows sitting near your home signifies some good news is on your way.

 

3 Crows Meaning: An upcoming wedding in your family.

 

4 Crows Meaning: Symbolizes wealth and prosperity.

 

5 Crows Meaning: Diseases or pain.

 

6 Crows Meaning: A theft in your house!

 

7 Crows Meaning: Denotes travel or moving from your house.

 

8 Crows Meaning: Sorrowful events

  

Crows are generally seen as the symbolism when alive for doom bringing, misfortune and bad omens, and yet a dead crow symbolizes potentially bringing good news and positive change to those who see it.

  

This wonderful bird certainly gets a mixed bag of contradictory mythology and legend over the centuries and in modern days is often seen as a bit of a nuisance, attacking and killing the babies of other birds such as Starlings, Pigeons and House Sparrows as well as plucking the eyes out of lambs in the field, being loud and noisy and violently attacking poor victims in a 'crow court'....

  

There is even a classic horror film called 'THE CROW' released in 1994 by Miramax Films, directed by Alex Proyas and starring Brandon Lee in his final film appearance as Eric Draven, who is revived by a Crow tapping on his gravestone a year after he and his fiancée are murdered in Detroit by a street gang. The crow becomes his guide as he sets out to avenge the murders.

  

The only son of martial arts expert Bruce Lee, Brandon lee suffered fatal injuries on the set of the film when the crew failed to remove the primer from a cartridge that hit Lee in the abdomen with the same force as a normal bullet. Lee died that day, March 31st 1993 aged 28.

  

The symbolism of the Crow resurrecting the dead star and accompanying him on his quest for revenge was powerful, and in some part based on the history of the carrion crow itself and the original film grossed more than $94 Million dollars with three subsequent sequels following.

  

TAKING A CLOSER LOOK

  

So, let's move away from legend, mythology and stories passed down from our parents and grandparents and look at these amazing birds in isolation.

  

Carrion crow are passerines in the family Corvidae a group of Oscine passerine birds including Crows, Ravens, Rooks, Jackdaws, Jays, Magpies, Treepies, Choughs and Nutcrackers. Technically they are classed as Corvids, and the largest of passerine birds. Carrion crows are medium to large in size with rictal bristles and a single moult per year (most passerines moult twice).

  

Carrion crow was one of the many species originally described by Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus (Carl Von Linne after his ennoblement) in his 1758 and 1759 editions of 'SYSTEMA NATURAE', and it still bears its original name of Corvus corone, derived from the Latin of Corvus, meaning Raven and the Greek κορώνη (korōnē), meaning crow.

  

Carrion crow are of the Animalia kingdom Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Passeriformes Family: Corvidae Genus: Corvus and Species: Corvus corone

  

Corvus corone can reach 45-47cm in length with a 93-104cm wingspan and weigh between 370-650g. They are protected under The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 in the United Kingdom with a Green UK conservation status which means they are of least concern with more than 1,000,000 territories.

  

Breeding occurs in April with fledging of the chicks taking around twenty nine days following an incubation period of around twenty days with 3 to 4 eggs being the average norm. They are abundant in the UK apart from Northwest Scotland and Ireland where the Hooded crow (Corvus cornix) was considered the same species until 2002. They have a lifespan of around four years, whilst Crow species can live to the age of Twenty years old, and the oldest known American crow in the wild was almost Thirty years old.

  

The oldest documented captive crow died at age Fifty nine. They are smaller and have a shorter lifespan than the Raven, which again is used as a symbol in history to live life to the full and not waste a moment!

  

They are often mistaken for the Rook (Corvus frugilegus), a similar bird, though in the UK, the Rook is actually technically smaller than the Carrion crow averaging 44-46cm in length, 81-99cm wingspan and weighing up to 340g. Rooks have white beaks compared to the black beaks of Carrion crow, a more steeply raked ratio from head to beak, and longer straighter beaks as well as a different plumage pattern.

  

There are documented cases in the UK of singular and grouped Rooks attacking and killing Carrion crows in their territory. Rooks nest in colonies unlike Carrion crows. Carrion crows have only a few natural enemies including powerful raptors such as the northern goshawk, the peregrine falcon, the Eurasian eagle-owl and the golden eagle which will all readily hunt them.

  

Regarded as one of the most intelligent birds, indeed creatures on the planet, studies suggest that Corvids cognitive abilities can rival that of primates such as chimpanzees and gorillas and even provide clues to understanding human intelligence.

  

Crows have relatively large brains for their body size, compared to other animals. Their encephalization quotient (EQ) a ratio of brain to body size, adjusted for size because there isn’t a linear relationship is 4.1.

  

That is remarkably close to chimps at 4.2 whilst humans are 8.1. Corvids also have a very high neuronal density, the number of neurons per gram of brain, factoring in the number of cortical neurons, neuron packing density, intraneuronal distance and axonal conduction velocity shows that Corvids score high on this measure as well, with humans scoring the highest.

  

A corvid's pallium is packed with more neurons than a great ape's. Corvids have demonstrated the ability to use a combination of mental tools such as imagination, and anticipation of future events.

  

They can craft tools from twigs and branches to hook grubs from deep recesses, they can solve puzzles and intricate methods of gaining access to food set by humans,and have even bent pieces of wire into hooks to obtain food. They have been proven to have a higher cognitive ability level than seven year old humans.

  

Communications wise, their repertoire of wraw-wraw's is not fully understood, but the intensity, rhythm, and duration of caws seems to form the basis of a possible language. They also remember the faces of humans who have hindered or hurt them and pass that information on to their offspring.

  

Aesop's fable of 'The Crow and the Pitcher, tells of a thirsty crow which drops stones into a water pitcher to raise the water level and enable it to take a drink. Scientists have conducted tests to see whether crows really are this intelligent. They placed floating treats in a deep tube and observed the crows indeed dropping dense objects carefully selected into the water until the treat floated within reach. They had the intelligence to pick up, weigh and discount objects that would float in the water, they also did not select ones that were too large for the container.

  

Pet crows develop a unique call for their owners, in effect actually naming them. They also know to sunbathe for a dose of vitamin D, regularly settling on wooden garden fences, opening their mouths and wings and raising their heads to the sun. In groups they warn of danger and communicate vocally.

  

They store a cache of food for later if in abundance and are clever enough to move it if they feel it has been discovered. They leave markers for their cache. They have even learned to place walnuts and similar hard food items under car tyres at traffic lights as a means of cracking them!

  

Crows regularly gather around a dead fellow corvid, almost like a funeral, and it is thought they somehow learn from each death. They can even remember human faces for decades. Crows group together to attack larger predators and even steal their food, and they have different dialects in different areas, with the ability to mimic the dialect of the alpha males when they enter their territory!

  

They have a twenty year life span, the oldest on record reaching the age of Fifty nine. Crows can leave gifts for those who feed them such as buttons or bright shiny objects as a thank you, and they even kiss and make up after an argument, having mated for life.

  

In mythology they are associated with good and bad luck, being the bringers of omens and even witchcraft and are generally reviled for their attacks on baby birds and small mammals. They have an attack method of stunning smaller birds before consuming them, tearing violently at smaller, less aggressive birds, which is simply down to the fact that they are so highly intelligent, and also the top of the food chain.

  

Their diet includes over a thousand different items: Dead animals (as their name suggests), invertebrates, grain, as well as stealing eggs and chicks from other birds' nests, worms, insects, fruit, seeds, kitchen scraps. They are highly adaptable when food sources grow scarce. I absolutely love them, they are magnificent, bold, beautiful and incredibly interesting to watch and though at times it is hard to witness attacks made by them, I cannot help but adore them for so many other and more important reasons.

  

OBSERVATIONS ON THE PAIR IN MY GARDEN

  

Known mostly for my landscape work, Covid-19 changed everything for me photographically speaking thanks to a series of lock downs which naturally impeded my ability to travel. I began to spend more time on my own land, photographing the wildlife, and suddenly those wildlife photographs began to sell worldwide in magazines and books.

 

Crows have been in the area for a while, but rarely had strayed into my garden, leaving the Magpies to own the territory. Things changed on 19th May 2021 when a beautiful female Carrion crow appeared in the Chestnut tree in my neighbour's garden. She watched me as I cut the grass and dug the borders and began to take some of the food that I put down for the other birds. Within a few days she began to appear regularly, on occasions stocking up on food, whilst other times placing pieces in the birdbath to soften them. She would stand on the birdbath and eat and drink and come back over the course of the day to eat the softened food. Naturally I named her Sheryl (Crow).

  

Shortly afterwards she brought along her mate, a tall and handsome fella, much larger than her who was also very vocal if he felt she was getting a little too close to me. I named him Russell (Crow). By now I had moved from a seated position from the patio as an observer, to laying on a mat just five feet from the birdbath with my Nikon so that I could photograph the pair as they landed, scavenged and fed.

  

Sheryl was now confident enough to let me be very close, and she even tolerated and recognized the clicking of the camera. At first, I used silent mode to reduce the noise, but this only allowed two shooting frame rates of single frame or continuous low frame which meant I was missing shots. I reverted back to normal continuous high frames, and she soon got used to the whirring of the mechanisms as the mirror slapped back and forth.

  

Russell would bark orders at her from the safety of the fence or the rear of the garden, whilst she rarely made a sound. That was until one day when in the sweltering heat she kept opening her beak and sunning on the grass, panting slightly in the heat.

  

I placed the circular water sprayer nearby and had it rotating so that the birdbath and grass was bathed in gentle water droplets and she soon came back, landed and seemed to really like the cooling effect on offer. She then climbed onto the birdbath and opened her wings slightly and made some gentle purring, cooing noises....

  

I swear she was expressing happiness, joy even....

  

On another blisteringly hot day when the sprayer was on, she came down, walked towards it and opened her wings up running into the water spray. Not once, but many times. A further revelation into the unseen sides to these beautiful birds came with the male and female on the rear garden fence. They sat together, locked beaks like a kiss and then the male took his time gently preening her head feathers and the back of her neck as she made tiny happy sounds.

  

They stayed together like that for several minutes, showing a gentle, softer side to their nature and demonstrating the deep bond between them. Into July and the pair started to bring their three youngsters to my garden, the nippers learning to use the birdbath for bathing and dipping food, the parents attentive as ever. Two of the youngsters headed off once large enough and strong enough.

  

I was privileged to be in close attendance as the last juvenile was brought down by the pair, taught to take food and then on a night in July, to soar and fly with its mother in the evening sky as the light faded. She would swoop and twirl, and at regular intervals just touch the juvenile in flight with her wing tip feathers, as if to reassure it that she was close in attendance.

  

What an amazing experience to view. A few days later, the juvenile, though now gaining independence and more than capable of tackling food scraps in the garden, was still on occasions demand feeding from its mother who was now teaching him to take chicken breast, hotdogs or digestive biscuits and bury them in the garden beds for later delectation.

  

The juvenile also liked to gather up peanuts (monkey nuts) and bury them in the grass. On one occasion I witnessed a pair of rumbunctious Pica Pica (Magpies), chasing the young crow on rooftops, leaping at him no matter how hard he tried to get away. He defended himself well and survived the attacks, much to my relief.

  

Into August and the last youngster remained with the adults, though now was very independent even though he still spent time with his parents on rooftops, and shared food gathering duties with his mum. Hotdog sausages were their favourite choice, followed by fish fingers and digestive biscuits which the adult male would gather up three at a time.

  

In October 2021, the three Crows were still kings of the area, but my time observing them was pretty much over as I will only put food out now for the birds in the winter months. The two adults were still here in December and now taking the food that I put out to help all birds survive in the winter months. They also had a pair of Magpies to compete with now.

  

Late February 2022 and Cheryl and Russell and their youngster were still with me, still dominant in the area and still taking raw chicken, hotdogs, biscuits and fat balls that I put out for them. Today I saw them mating for the first time this year in the tree and the cycle continues.

  

By October 2022 the pair had successfully reared a new baby who we nicknamed Baboo, and the other youngster flew the coup. The three now recognised our car returning from weekends away, and would immediately sit on the fence or in the tree to make me aware it was time to feed them. They were enjoying sausages, hotdogs, raw chicken, fish and especially lumps of cheese, but life was hard as they aged with daily morning and evening tussles in the air with invaders and intruders hoping to take their land.

  

Russell picked up an injury during one fight and hobbled about for a few weeks before fully recovering, though a slight limp remained long-term, but Sheryl was visibly ageing and struggled at times to gain height from a vertical ground take off. I placed a garden chair near the house and she would often jump onto the top and then onto the fence and then the roof in stages.

  

Baboo became the dominant garden watcher, swooping in to take advantage of the food I put out, though he now faced competition from a gaggle eight resident Magpies, and gulls which seemed to have adopted the area, and brave enough to snatch food from under his nose and eat on the grass in his presence. The three crows still held on to our garden and the territory and loved cheese, hot dogs, raw chicken, fish fingers and digestive biscuits and also mixed nuts, crusty bread and cakes and fat from steak or gammon plus fish skin from salmon or haddock. But by December 13th 2022, feeding became almost impossible as Black headed gulls (Chroicocephalus ridibundus), Herring Gulls (Larus argentatus) and Common Gulls (Larus canus), seemed to take up residence, swooping from nowhere in dozens as soon as I tried to feed the crows and Magpies. I had to wait until any of my three crows were nestled in the Chestnut tree which seeps into my garden, before throwing food out to them, watching as they grabbed what they could, followed by the resident Magpies, before the gulls began to swoop once more!

  

The three crows could visibly recognise my car and know if we were returning home, and call each other, and wait for me to feed them. They enjoyed Tesco finest mince pies, tinned Salmon steaks, fatballs and raw meatballs over the festive period, and Sheryl particularly loved her mature cheddar cheese in large chunks. Into February, March and April 2023 and the morning skirmishes with bands of four or more outsider crows grew in regularity and intensity. Russell and Sheryl are by now getting older, at least into their third year, probably fourth or more, and the battles must have been getting harder to win.

I was lucky enough to catch Sheryl teaching her youngster the art of flying which was amazing to witness, and stopped a five strong rival attack of adult crows on poor upturned, defenceless Baboo, possibly saving him from injury and death. Russell picked up another leg injury short term and had to defend the territory frequently.

In May 2023 the pair had another baby and Baboo was forced to leave, with mum and dad teaching the nipper to come to my garden for feeding. By July 2023 the nipper was adult sized and doing well and both parents still in control of the neighbourhood, now two years and two months since first visiting me.

Into 2024, and by late January the adults were getting kinda friendly, mating time is upon us and the youngster is fending more for itself now. It's almost three years since this beautiful adult pair graced my garden, and still they love hotdogs, raw chicken and scraps and look incredibly healthy. February and all three still come every day for hotdogs and digestive biscuits and look in fine form, still having daily aerial battles for supremacy in the area. Health wise, both adults look strong and healthy, beautiful sheen to plumage and age seems not a problem to them. By March 21st 2024, the yougster had been sent packing and mum and dad were 'loved up', lots of beaking and being together and gathering twigs and nesting material.

On 15th April 21st I saw Russell just once when he swooped in and grabbed some sausages, and after that I did not see the adults. The yongster was occasionally around but nervous.By July 2024 the adults were still coming for food, but less frequently, and were far less trusting of me, keeping a distance and flying off if they felt I was too close. The close bond seemed to end back in June 2023 when we arrived back after six weeks visiting family in British Columbia, Canada, and has never equalled what it was before that trip. Still feeding them in August.

 

Corvus Corone.... magnificently misunderstood by some!

  

Paul Williams June 4th 2021 (Updated on August 9th 2024)

 

©All photographs on this site are copyright: ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2021 & GETTY IMAGES ®

  

No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams). No image may be used as source material for paintings, drawings, sculptures, or any other art form without permission and/or compensation to ©DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams)

 

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Nikon D850 Focal length 600mm Shutter speed: 1/1000s (Mechanical shutter) Aperture f/6.3 iso200 Hand held with Tamron VC Vibration control set to ON in position 1 14 Bit uncompressed RAW NEF file size L (8256 x 5504 pixels) FX (36 x 24) Full frame Focus mode: AF-C AF-Area mode: 3D-tracking AF-C Priority Selection: Release. Nikon Back button focusing enabled 3D Tracking watch area: Normal 55 Tracking points Exposure mode: Manual exposure mode Metering mode: Matrix metering White balance on: Auto1, 0, 0 (4910k) Colour space: RGB High ISO NR: On (Low) Active D-Lighting: Auto Vignette control: Normal Picture control: (SD) Standard (Sharpening +3 Clarity: +1.00)

  

Tamron SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2. Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Lee SW150 MKII filter holder. Lee SW150 95mm screw in adapter ring. Lee SW150 circular polariser glass filter.Lee SW150 Filters field pouch. Hoodman HEYENRG round eyepiece oversized eyecup.Mcoplus professional MB-D850 multi function battery grip 6960.Two Nikon EN-EL15a batteries (Priority to battery in Battery grip). Black Rapid Curve Breathe strap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag.

     

LATITUDE: N 51d 28m 28.20s

LONGITUDE: E 0d 8m 10.50s

ALTITUDE: 54.0m

  

RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF FILE: 90.60MB

PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 36.20MB

    

PROCESSING POWER:

 

Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.018 (18/02/20) LF 1.00

 

HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit Version 1.4.1 (18/02/2020). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit Version 1.6.2 (18/02/2020). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 2.4.5 (18/02/2020). Nikon Transfer 2 Version 2.13.5. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.

   

Genoese Dialect Actor

Vlnenik, from the local dialect word for wool, vlna (standard vuna) A woven and densely pleated wool back apron work as part of the festive summer costume in Timok region of Eastern Serbia. Village Vratarnica near Zaječar. Fell out of use at the turn of the 20th century, so this is late 19th very early 20th century.

Aberdeen Wild Dolphins 2014. One of my faves with some of the local words we like using round these parts!

The Trinkie, (Dialect word for trench.) A tidal swimming pool just south of Wick in Caithness Scotland. This is the open day.

The famous Dorset poet wrote in his native dialect. He stands proud in stone outside this fine church in Dorchester. Camera: Contax G2.

Italy. Florence - Firenze.

 

Orsanmichele (or "Kitchen Garden of St. Michael", from the contraction in Tuscan dialect of the Italian word orto) is a church in the Italian city of Florence. The building was constructed on the site of the kitchen garden of the monastery of San Michele, which is now gone.

 

Located on the Via Calzaiuoli in Florence, the church was originally built as a grain market in 1337 by Francesco Talenti, Neri di Fioravante, and Benci di Cione. Between 1380 and 1404 it was converted into a church used as the chapel of Florence's powerful craft and trade guilds. On the ground floor of the square building are the 13th-century arches that originally formed the loggia of the grain market. The second floor was devoted to offices, while the third housed one of the city's municipal grain storehouses, maintained to withstand famine or siege. Late in the 14th century, the guilds were charged by the city to commission statues of their patron saints to embellish the facades of the church. The sculptures seen today are copies, the originals having been removed to museums

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orsanmichele

  

Lots of fresco work and fragments, mostly of Saints and worthies on columns and in the quadrants of the six domes, all by Jacopo dal Casentino.

www.churchesofflorence.com/centre.htm

Italy. Florence - Firenze.

 

Orsanmichele (or "Kitchen Garden of St. Michael", from the contraction in Tuscan dialect of the Italian word orto) is a church in the Italian city of Florence. The building was constructed on the site of the kitchen garden of the monastery of San Michele, which is now gone.

 

Located on the Via Calzaiuoli in Florence, the church was originally built as a grain market in 1337 by Francesco Talenti, Neri di Fioravante, and Benci di Cione. Between 1380 and 1404 it was converted into a church used as the chapel of Florence's powerful craft and trade guilds. On the ground floor of the square building are the 13th-century arches that originally formed the loggia of the grain market. The second floor was devoted to offices, while the third housed one of the city's municipal grain storehouses, maintained to withstand famine or siege. Late in the 14th century, the guilds were charged by the city to commission statues of their patron saints to embellish the facades of the church. The sculptures seen today are copies, the originals having been removed to museums

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orsanmichele

  

The Società Dantesca Italiana officially came into existence in Florence on July 31st. 1888 in the "Sala di Leone X" in Palazzo Vecchio, where its founding statute was approved and where Pietro Torrigiani, the mayor of Florence, was nominated provisional (and subsequently honorary) President.

 

In 1904, came the purchase of the Palagio dell’Arte della Lana, a building which is architecturally linked to the national monument of Orsanmichele. In the Palagio the public and scholarly activities of the Society have taken place and they still do so.

www.dantesca.it/eng/

Chulachomklao of Siam Pāḷi Tipiṭaka, B.E.2436 (1893)

 

The errata

 

"Pāḷi" is an old Indian dialect of the mass, spoken in the Indian Subcontinent over 3,000 years ago. During the lifetime of the Buddha, Pāḷi was the Dhamma-language of the Buddhist teaching and thus finally became the written medium of Buddhist scripture, the Tipiṭaka.

 

During an early period, Pāḷi Tipiṭaka was committed to memory and was propagated by Theravāda Buddhist monks orally from generation to generation. It was first written on palm leave some 400 years after the demise of Buddha or in the first century BC.

 

The first written Pāḷi Tipiṭaka took place in old Sri Lanka when the entire Tipiṭaka was inscribed on palm leaves --in Sinhalese script-- for the first time. Consequently, the Tipiṭaka on palm leave was the conventional depository of the Buddhist Theravāda scripture for over 2000 years.

 

In 1893, King Chulalongkorn Chulalongkorn of Siam revolutionised the traditional Buddhist depository convention --the King published the Tipiṭaka in Book-form for the first time. In stead of inscribing the sacred Pāḷi texts by hand in old Khmer script, the King ordered a new edition, totaling 39 volumes, to be printed in modern-typeface of the Siam script.

 

With the efficiency of printing technology of the day, such as, Western printing machinery and local book-binding in Bangkok, these newly edited Siam-script Tipiṭakas were sent as royal gifts to 260 institutes across five continents in 1896.

 

in 2007 Dhamma Society completed the digital preservation project of this historic set and published the digital preservation edition in 40 volumes, entitled Chulachomklao Pāḷi Tipiṭaka : A Digital Preservation Edition 2008. A version with English introduction will appear in 2009. See detail at : www.tipitakahall.net

 

Digital Archives from the Dhamma Society's World Tipiṭaka Project in Roman Script, 1999-2007.

 

Tipitaka International Council B.E.2500 (1956)

World Tipitaka Edition in Roman Scrip 1956-2005

Tipitaka Studies Reference 2007

Royal Patron of Tipitaka

www.dhammasociety.org/mds/

 

พระไตรปิฎกปาฬิ "ฉบับจุลจอมเกล้าบรมธัมมิกมหาราช ร.ศ.112 อักษรสยาม" ชุด 39 เล่ม จัดพิมพ์โดยพระบาทสมเด็จพระจุลจอมเกล้าเจ้าอยู่หัว ในปี พ.ศ. 2436 โดยใช้เวลาดำเนินการปริวรรตจากอักษรขอมและเปลี่ยนเป็นการจัดพิมพ์ด้วยเครื่องพิมพ์บทกระดาษ เป็นฉบับพิมพ์ชุดแรกของโลก

 

พระไตรปิฎก จปร. อักษรสยาม ได้มีการพระราชทานไปทั่วกรุงสยามและในประเทศต่างๆ ใน 5 ทวีป ทั่วโลก นับเป็นพระธัมมทานที่สำคัญยิ่งในประวัติศาสตร์พระพุทธศาสนาเถรวาท ดังเช่นที่พระเจ้าอโศกบรมธัมมิกมหาราชได้ทรงทำการสังคายานาพระไตรปิฎกในชมพูทวีปและได้ส่งพระธัมมทูตไปเผยแผ่จำนวน 9 สายในอดีต

 

Arles, Bouches-du-Rhône (France).

 

CASTELLANO

El río Ródano (en francés Rhône; en occitano: Ròse; Roine; en arpitano: Rôno; en alemán dialectal: Rotten) es un río de Suiza y Francia, que nace en el macizo de Furkapass (2.108 m) en los Alpes Lepontinos, (Suiza). En su curso alto corre entre los Alpes berneses al norte y los Alpes valesanos al sur, con dirección NE a SE-E y penetra en el lago Lemán. Después de salir del lago, comienza su curso medio recorriendo las estribaciones occidentales de los Alpes, gira su rumbo al confluir con el Saona, su principal afluente, y toma dirección sur pasando finalmente a través de la llanura de Languedoc y desemboca en el mar Mediterráneo en el golfo del Leon (en francés Golfe du Lion), donde forma un extenso delta.

 

En su curso se encuentran las ciudades de Ginebra, Lyon, Valence, Aviñón y Arlés.

 

Más info: es.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%B3dano

 

-------------------------

 

ENGLISH

The Rhone (French: Rhône, IPA: [ʁon]; German: Rhone; Walliser German: Rotten; Italian: Rodano; Arpitan: Rôno; Occitan: Ròse) is one of the major rivers of Europe, rising in Switzerland and running from there through southeastern France. At Arles, near its mouth on the Mediterranean Sea, the river divides into two branches, known as the Great Rhone (French: Grand Rhône) and the Little Rhone (Petit Rhône). The resulting delta constitutes the Camargue region.

 

In French, the adjective derived from the river is rhodanien, as in le sillon rhodanien (literally "the furrow of the Rhone"), which is the name of the long, straight Saône and Rhone river valleys, a deep cleft running due south to the Mediterranean and separating the Alps from the Massif Central.

 

More info: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhone

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La reflexión: www.santimb.com/2011/12/le-rhone.html

Blaj (Romanian pronunciation: [blaʒ]; archaically spelled as Blaş, Hungarian: Balázsfalva; German: Blasendorf; Transylvanian Saxon dialect: Blußendref) is a city in Alba County, Transylvania. It has a population of 20,758 inhabitants.

Blaj is first mentioned in 1271 as Villa Herbordi, after the deed of a Count Herbod. In 1313, the domain passed to Herbod's son Blasius Cserei. Started as a hamlet for the twenty families of servants of the noble's court, it was awarded town status on May 19, 1737.

Blaj is the principal religious and cultural center of Greek Catholics in Transylvania. The Greek Catholic Church originates from the 17th century, when Transylvania was conquered by the Habsburgs.

The first public school in Romanian language was established in Blaj in 1754. Blaj was the first place to have Romanian written with Latin alphabet instead of Cyrillic in which it had traditionally been written. Blaj was also a center for the Romanian Age of Enlightenment, being the founding site of the “Şcoala Ardeleană” society that promoted the Roman cultural heritage of the Romanians. Thus Blaj gained the nickname "The Little Rome".

The “Field of Liberty” (Romanian: Câmpia Libertǎţii) in Blaj is the symbol of Romanians’ fight for national rights. It was the place where two national assemblies of the Romanian inhabitants of Transylvania where held during the 1848 Revolution.

During the communist reign, the Greek Catholic Church was banned while priests and believers were subject to persecutions.

The “0” Kilometer Milestone is a symbol of Blaj as craddle of history.

 

Sources/Read More:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blaj

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanian_Church_United_with_Rome,_G...

 

it's cold today (milanese dialect)

The dialect name for pineapple sounds like 'fortune comes'. These are ornamental pineapples. Only a fraction of the size of supermarket variety. My mother has a few pots in her balcony.

Laveno-Mombello ( Lavén Mumbèl in Varese dialect) is an Italian municipality of 8,405 inhabitants in the province of Varese in Lombardy . The municipality, located on the shores of Lake Maggiore , was born in 1927 from the merger of the municipalities of Laveno, Mombello on Lake Maggiore, Cerro on Lake Maggiore .

 

It borders to the north-east with Castelveccana , to the east with Cittiglio , to the south-east with Caravate , to the south with Leggiuno and Sangiano , and to the west with Lake Maggiore and therefore Piedmont .

 

It is one of the largest ports of call on the lake: in addition to the tourist port, there is a landing stage from which ferries carrying cars leave all year round for Verbania - Intra .

 

The center of the town is located in a large natural inlet, facing Verbania-Intra. At the northern and southern ends of the gulf there are two forts. On the north hill is Garibaldi's fort, surrounded by a park.

 

To the east, just above the town, is the imposing Sasso del Ferro mountain . By means of a basket lift you reach the top of the mountain, from which you can enjoy a panorama that sweeps over the lake and the pre-Alps, up to Milan .

 

History

In the municipality there are traces of historical settlements dating back to antiquity: in Mombello , in fact, there are traces of stilt houses dating back to 3000 BC

 

The name Laveno derives from that of the Roman commander Titus Labieno , who had his camp here and who had a clash with the Gauls on the Mombello hill ; from here also comes the name Mombello, "hill of battle", in Latin mons belli .

 

In medieval times it was a village inhabited by fishermen. The most important noble families linked to Laveno were the Visconti and the Borromeo , to whom the territory was enfeoffed, the Tinelli di Gorla, the Guilizzoni counts and the Sessa de Ceresolo , masters of the Ceresolo in Cerro hamlet. From the nineteenth century onwards it hosted the famous ceramic factories, among the largest in Europe. The factories, now closed, have nevertheless given rise to a ceramic museum, one of the most interesting museums in the city.

 

The municipality of Laveno-Mombello was created in 1927 by the merger of the municipalities of Cerro Lago Maggiore , Laveno and Mombello Lago Maggiore.

 

Symbols

The coat of arms and banner were granted by royal decree of 22 May 1933.

 

« Truncated : at the first in gold, at the eagle in black, with lowered flight, crowned with the same, resting on a capital, holding a bundle of lightning in its claws, loaded in the heart with a silver shield, with a crown of old-fashioned gold and surmounted by a silver star (Laveno); to the second in red, to the golden eagle, crowned with the same (Mombello). External ornaments from the Municipality.»

 

The banner is a blue cloth richly decorated with silver embroidery and bearing the municipal coat of arms with the inscription centered in silver: "MUNICIPALITY OF LAVENO MOMBELLO".

 

Monuments and places of interest

Religious architecture

The church of S. Maria in Ca' Deserta in Laveno: of remote origin, it is mentioned in a document from 1081 in which it appears to have been donated to the monastery of Cluny, together with some land. In ancient times it was dedicated, in addition to Santa Maria, also to Saints Michael and Peter. It was erected as a parish , detaching itself from the Pieve di Leggiuno , perhaps already between the 12th and 13th centuries, but in any case by the 15th century. Following the transfer of the parish title, in the 17th century, to the more central church of San Giacomo, it was progressively abandoned. Completely rebuilt in 1756 based on a design by the architect Gioachino Besozzi , it was flanked in the 19th century by the municipal cemetery. On the facade, on the sides of the entrance, there are two frescoed lunettes: the one on the right dates back to the seventeenth century and depicts Saint John the Evangelist; the one on the left, representing the Virgin, is of fourteenth-fifteenth century style and could probably belong to the ancient Romanesque church. The interior, with a single nave, stands out for the beauty and refinement of the decorations. The main altar preserves the statue of the Assumption, to which the church is dedicated; the side altars are dedicated respectively to Saint John the Baptist and the Holy Crucifix. In the churchyard in front of the church there are the aedicules of the Via Crucis which house ceramic tiles by the artist Oreste Quattrini (1990). The church serves exclusively as a cemetery.

The provost church of Saints Philip and James in Laveno (Old Church): the first information about the parish church of Laveno dates back to 1315. Originally dedicated to Saint James and, perhaps, to Saint John, it was initially a simple chapel . For convenience, as it was central to the village, it was erected as a parish at the behest of San Carlo Borromeo, but in fact there is no precise information regarding the transfer of the parish title from the church of Santa Maria to San Giacomo. The parish title appears for the first time only in 1671. The current building, dedicated to the Holy Apostles Philip and James, is the result of a series of expansions, the most important carried out in 1832 with the addition of the side nave dedicated to the Sacred Heart , on the site of the ancient oratory of the confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament. The church therefore has an asymmetrical plan, with two naves in sober neoclassical style. Inside, the organ created by the Varese native Eugenio Biroldi in 1825 and restored by the Mascioni organ house in 1986 is of great value. It is often valorised through concerts, including those of an international level, having been included for three consecutive years in the prestigious review of the Settimane Musicali of Stresa and Lake Maggiore . The church also preserves a seventeenth-century wooden statue dedicated to the Madonna del Transito and the vault frescoes created in 1907. The main altar has a beautiful wooden frontal at the base and the imposing neoclassical temple with columns with the statue of Saint John the Baptist at the top . She was elevated to the rank of provost in 1969. The ancient exposed stone bell tower, symbol of Laveno, raised in 1898 and equipped with a neo-Romanesque style belfry and conical spire, is about thirty meters high. The remarkable concert of five bells in low C was cast in 1954 by the Capanni foundry in Castelnovo ne' Monti (RE) after the removal for war reasons of the old nineteenth-century bronzes from the Mazzola foundry in Valduggia , in Valsesia .

The church of Sant'Ambrogio a Laveno (Chiesa Nuova): with its imposing size, it characterizes the panorama of the lakeside town. It was built between 1933 and 1940 based on a design by the architect Paolo Mezzanotte , but was actually completed in the sixties . Consecrated by Cardinal Ildefonso Schuster on 6 June 1940, it has a grandiose Greek cross interior with a central dome. The frescoes are by Innocente Salvini (1961), the external terracotta sculptures by Egidio Casarotti (1962).

The church of the Immaculate Conception : located near the parish church of Laveno, it dates back to 1728 and was commissioned by the noble Ferdinando Tinelli. Restored in 1980, it has a small centrally planned interior. The main altar is made of masonry, with an eighteenth-century frontal. The wooden altarpiece, shaped like a drape, contains an eighteenth-century canvas with the image of the Virgin. A crucifix is ​​placed on the triumphal arch. Above the entrance there is a choir without an organ .

The oratory of S. Rocco : located in the historic center of Laveno, next to Villa Tinelli, it constitutes the private chapel. Dating back to the 18th century, it is a small building with an unusual octagonal plan.

The parish church of Santa Maria Ausiliatrice in the Ponte di Laveno hamlet, dating back to 1930.

The parish church of the Invention of Santo Stefano in Mombello: the church is of Romanesque origin, as attested by the descriptions of the pastoral visits of San Carlo and the stones at the base of the bell tower. It was a building with three naves of the basilica type with three frescoed apses , wider than long, in whose left nave was inserted the shaft of the current bell tower, significantly modified later. The church was rebuilt with a single nave in 1600 as attested by a plaque inside it, when it detached itself from the Leggiuno matrix and became a parish church. In 1913 it was extended towards the square and equipped with its current imposing façade , the work of Paolo Besozzi. The spacious interior preserves a splendid apse entirely frescoed in around 1612 by Giovanni Battista De Advocatis , the same one who created the frescoes in the sanctuary of Santa Caterina del Sasso. Also noteworthy is the seventeenth-century golden wooden altar, renovated at the beginning of the twentieth century. Other notable works are the Rosary Chapel, with a very spectacular baroque apparatus, the 1874 organ by the Varese brothers Pietro and Lorenzo Bernasconi and the ceramic tiles of the baptistery created by the Mombellese artist Albino Reggiori in 2003. The bell tower is equipped of five bells in E flat, cast in 1948 by the Bianchi foundry in Varese .

The oratory of Santa Maria di Corte in Mombello: mentioned in the 13th century, it is a small church dedicated to the Purification of the Virgin Mary, set in a very interesting urban context. Inside, completely restored, there is a 16th century fresco.

The oratory of San Michele : small building located at the highest point of Mombello, near the Rocca hamlet. It was rebuilt in the eighteenth century on the area of ​​an older oratory in a state of abandonment.

The church of Saints Nazario, Celso and Defendente in Ceresolo: this is probably the oldest religious site in the municipality, certainly before 1000. The small church, formerly the parish church of Cerro and Ceresolo, was rebuilt around the 16th century. The beautiful Romanesque stone bell tower with mullioned windows survives.

The church of the Beata Vergine del Pianto in Cerro : the current parish church is the backdrop to the small square of the small lakeside village with its simple facade and the slender bell tower with the particular brick belfry. Renovated in the mid-nineteenth century, it has a small nave decorated with twentieth-century stuccoes and frescoes by the painter Orlando Tommasi .

 

Other places of interest

the Villa De Angeli-Frua : nestled in the eighteenth-century urban fabric of Laveno, overlooking the Gulf, is the current municipal headquarters.

The Ex Palazzo Comunale : imposing corner building right in front of the lake, located in Piazza Italia. It was built in 1878 based on designs by the architect Marco Porta , expanding the old Austrian arsenal. Today it houses some municipal offices and commercial activities under its arcades.

The Palazzo del Bostano in Mombello: it is a sixteenth-century former convent that belonged to the humiliated . It was later also used as a brewery.

The Guilizzoni-Perabò Palace in Cerro : the imposing frontispiece of the palace dominates the Cerro lakefront. The internal courtyard is surrounded by the beautiful loggia. It is home to the International Museum of Ceramic Design (MIDC).

 

Poggio Sant'Elsa : is a town located behind Laveno, on the slopes of Monte Sasso del Ferro , at an altitude of 974 m above sea level. It can be reached via a cableway and from the arrival terrace of the cable car you can enjoy a wide panorama of Lake Maggiore, Monte Rosa and the Alps, up to the plain.

Villa Fumagalli , in via Labiena, built in 1935 by Piero Portaluppi

Villa Bassani , an early twentieth century work by the architect Giuseppe Sommaruga .

San Michele barracks , part of the system of Austrian fortifications built in 1854 to defend the border with the Savoy state. It was the headquarters of the Italian Ceramics Society until 1898, then again a barracks (1915-1918) and a sailing centre. It is currently the headquarters of the Italian Naval League .

Headquarters of the Italian Ceramics Society , Via Buozzi 1, designed by Piero Portaluppi (1925), currently awaiting redevelopment.

 

Natural areas

The Sentiero del Verbano begins from Laveno , which constitutes the first realization of the Vie Verdi dei Laghi project and led to the definition of a path that links the municipalities of Sesto Calende and Laveno-Mombello passing through Taino , Angera , Ranco , Ispra , Brebbia , Besozzo , Monvalle and Leggiuno . This path is identified with the acronym VB on all vertical signs. The Verbano path has a total length of 49.6 km. Already from the first meters of the path, on the lakeside near the pier, it is possible to admire a spectacular panorama facing the opposite shore of the lake: clearly visible are Mottarone, Piancavallo and the Monte Rosa group. Leaving the town centre, the path climbs up Mount Brianza from which it is possible to appreciate a view from above of Laveno-Mombello which, as demonstrated by the morphology of its coasts, constitutes a natural port of rare beauty. After crossing the hamlet of Chiso you enter a wooded area where you can see, in addition to centuries-old chestnut trees, also sections of old dry stone walls, evidence of a certain symbiosis between the local inhabitants of the past and their territory. The path continues towards Cerro, a small town once linked to fishing activities on the lake. At Palazzo Perabò it is possible to visit the Civic Earthenware Collection. It is a museum dedicated to ceramics, one of the oldest and most characteristic manufacturing productions of Laveno-Mombello. Moving away from the coast, just outside the town centre, we enter what is one of the most naturalistically interesting areas of the entire Laveno area: the peat bog.

Furthermore, the Santa Caterina ring extends from Laveno, in the coastal strip between Laveno and Monvalle, involving what can be considered the historical-architectural jewel of the province of Varese: the Hermitage of Santa Caterina del Sasso located in the municipality of Leggiuno . In addition to it you have the opportunity to admire the small nucleus of Cerro with its panoramic lakefront and the Ceramics Museum. All the sites of great interest interspersed with panoramic windows among the most beautiful in the whole of Verbano. The path can be closed in a loop along part of the Verbano Ridge which leads back to Laveno-Mombello.

 

Culture

Library

Housed in the Villa De Angeli-Frua, with its over 50,000 volumes it is one of the largest in the province of Varese .

 

MIDeC – International Ceramic Design Museum

Property of the Municipality of Laveno Mombello, it was founded in 1971 and is open to the public in the sixteenth-century Palazzo Perabò in Cerro di Laveno. It collects the production of the Società Ceramica Italiana factory since its foundation.

 

Anthropic geography

According to the municipal statute , the territory of Laveno-Mombello includes the hamlets of Laveno, Mombello , Cerro and Ponte.

 

Economy

Laveno was a famous center for the production of ceramics in the 19th and 20th centuries , since 1856, when Carnelli, Caspani and Revelli, former employees of the Richard ceramic factory in Milan, founded the CCR ceramic company which later became known as Società Ceramica Italiana , in the sheds of a former glass factory, in the San Michele area. Merged into the Richard-Ginori group , the major factories closed their business in the nineties. There is a museum on the history of ceramics located on the lakeside, in the hamlet of Cerro.

 

Currently the Laveno industry has developed in the field of paper mills.

 

The industrial area of ​​Laveno today hosts several small and medium-sized companies in the manufacturing and metalworking sectors. The economy is based heavily on tourist activities, especially in the summer season; Every year, the Lavenese Ferragosto attracts several thousand people to the Lungo Lago who come to watch the fireworks display.

  

Infrastructure and transport

Roads

The municipality is crossed by the following roads:

 

State road 394 of Eastern Verbano .

SP ex SS 394 towards Eastern Verbano: Cittiglio - Laveno-Mombello

SP 32 of the Two Parishes (Laveno-Mombello - Travedona Monate)

SP 69 of Santa Caterina (Sesto Calende - Luino)

Urban mobility

Interurban transport in Laveno-Mombello is carried out with scheduled bus services guaranteed by Autolinee Varesine on behalf of the Insubria Public Transport Consortium .

 

Railways

In Laveno there are two railway stations:

 

Laveno-Mombello FS : managed by RFI .

Laveno-Mombello FN : managed by Ferrovienord , it is the terminus of the line to Saronno .

Lake navigation

Near the station managed by Ferrovienord, there is the landing stage where the navigation lines of Lake Maggiore land .

 

Administration

The municipality is part of the Regio Insubrica working community, a cross-border cooperation body that federates some provinces of Lombardy and Piedmont and the Swiss Canton of Ticino [

 

Lake Maggiore or Verbano ( Lagh Magior in Lombard and Piedmontese ) is a pre-Alpine lake of fluvioglacial origin in the Italian geographical region . Its shores are shared between Switzerland ( Canton Ticino ) and Italy (provinces of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola and Novara , in Piedmont , and Varese , in Lombardy ).

 

The name Maggiore derives from the fact that it is the largest of the lakes in the area, but among the Italian lakes it is the second in surface area after Lake Garda (as well as the second in depth after Lake Como ). In the past it was joined to Lake Mergozzo , from which it was separated due to the formation of the Fondotoce Plain .

 

Lake Maggiore is located at a height of approximately 193 meters above sea level . Its surface area is 212 km² , most of which, approximately 80%, is in Italian territory. It has a perimeter of 170 km and a length of 64.37 km (the largest among Italian lakes); the maximum width is 10 km and the average width is 3.9 km. The volume of water contained is equal to 37.5 billion m³ with a theoretical replacement time of approximately 4 years. The hydrographic basin is approximately 6,598 km² of which 3,229 are in Italian territory and 3,369 in Swiss territory (the ratio between the surface area of ​​the basin and that of the lake is 31.1). The maximum altitude of the catchment basin is Punta Dufour in the Monte Rosa massif (4,633 m above sea level), while the average altitude is 1,270 m above sea level. The basin is characterized by the existence of around thirty artificial reservoirs with a collection of approximately 600 million of m³ of water which, if released simultaneously, would raise the lake level by approximately 2.5 m. The maximum depth is approximately 370 m (in the cryptodepression between Ghiffa and Porto Valtravaglia ) which is therefore 177 m below sea level.

 

The major tributaries are the Ticino , the Maggia , the Toce (which receives the waters of the Strona torrent and therefore of Lake Orta ) and the Tresa (in turn an emissary of Lake Lugano and fed by the Margorabbia ). The major tributaries have a different flow pattern, while Ticino and Toce, which have a catchment basin at high altitudes, reach a maximum flow in the period between May and October coinciding with the melting of snow and glaciers ; the other tributaries have a trend strongly influenced by rainfall . Minor tributaries are the Verzasca , Cannobino , San Bernardino , San Giovanni , Giona and Boesio streams . The only emissary is the Ticino which flows from the lake to Sesto Calende .

 

Envoys

Bardello

Boesio

Mergozzo Canal

Cannobino

Erno

Fraud of Caldè

Fraud of Porto Valtravaglia

Jonah

Maggia

Molinera

Monvallina

Riale Corto

Riale del Molino

Riale del Roddo

Riale di Casere

Rio Ballona

Rio Colmegnino (or Rio di Colmegna)

Rio Colorio

Rio dell'Asino

Rio Molinetto

Rio Valmara

Rone

San Bernardino

Saint John

San Giovanni di Bedero

Thick Forest

Stronetta

Tiasca

Ticino

Toce

Aquanegra stream

Tresa

Trigo

Versella or Varesella

Verzasca

Vevera

 

Geology

The origin of Lake Maggiore is partly glacial, as evidenced by the layout of the hills formed by moraine deposits of a glacial nature, but it is ascertained that the glacial excavation took place on a pre-existing river valley, the profile of the lake in fact has the typical V shape of river valleys.

 

Baveno pink granite was widely used as a building material in the past . Furthermore, the ancient construction uses of Angera stone are known (used for example in classical antiquity and in the medieval period), while the Caldè limestone quarries provided for many centuries the raw material for the lime with which high-rise buildings were built. Lombardy and Piedmont: thanks to the ease of transport by boat, first on the lake, then on the Milanese canals

 

Lake Maggiore is characterized by cold winters, but milder than inland, and moderately snowy (with average accumulations of 10 cm for each snowfall and sometimes even higher than 30 cm up to a maximum of 50 cm), summers are moderately hot, humid and stormy, the average temperature in January is around 2 degrees centigrade, with peaks of 3 degrees on the northern side of the Borromean Gulf (due to the extensive exposure to the sun), night temperatures can drop below 0, up to -10, but very rarely go below this value. In summer the average temperatures are around 22 degrees centigrade, with daytime peaks rarely exceeding 32 degrees. Proceeding towards the internal valleys the temperatures gradually become more rigid. The area is very rainy and sometimes, especially in intermediate seasons, floods can occur. The temperature of the surface waters (up to 2 meters deep) of the lake reach winter peaks of 5-6 degrees, while in summer they reach an average of 22-24 degrees.

 

Some statistics on Lake Maggiore . It should be noted that during lean periods the water level between Locarno and Sesto Calende can vary by 1 cm, while during floods up to 30 cm

 

Like all pre-Alpine lakes, Lake Maggiore is crossed, especially in the summer, by two types of prevailing winds, one which blows in the morning from the mountains towards the plain (called moscendrino as it comes from the Monte Ceneri Pass , sometimes tramontana ) and a small breeze that blows from the plain to the mountains especially during the afternoon (called inverna ). These constant winds make the pre-Alpine lakes an excellent field for practicing sports that use the wind, such as sailing and windsurfing . Lake Maggiore has some particular points, especially in the upper part, where the mountains squeeze together to form a narrow valley in which these winds blow very strongly.

 

Then there are other winds typical of this lake such as the winter wind , which blows from the south-west and generally brings storms, the major one , which comes from the north-east and is very dangerous as it agitates the lake a lot, the valmaggine which blows slightly from the valleys behind Locarno , the mergozzo , which blows especially at night, from the north-west

 

In Lake Maggiore there are many large, small or tiny islands , divided between 8 in Piedmont, 2 in Switzerland and 2 in Lombardy, for a total of 12.

 

Borromean Islands

Beautiful island

Isola Madre

Isola dei Pescatori (or Isola Superiore or Isola Superiore dei Pescatori)

Islet of San Giovanni

Malghera islet (or rock).

Brissago Islands

San Pancrazio Island (or Big Island)

Island of Sant'Apollinare (or Isolino)

Castles of Cannero

Isolino Partegora

Sasso Galletto

Between Stresa and Verbania there is the Borromean archipelago: Isola Madre (the largest in the lake basin), Isola Bella and Isola Superiore dei Pescatori (also known more simply as Isola dei Pescatori or Isola Superiore)

 

Opposite the Swiss town of Ronco sopra Ascona are the two islands of Brissago, the larger of which hosts a botanical garden.

 

In front of the coast of Cannero Riviera there are the three emerged rocks called Castelli di Cannero: the major rock, totally occupied today by the Vitaliana war artefact, a fortress commissioned by Count Ludovico Borromeo starting from 1518, the minor rock, on which the ruins of the so-called "prisons" stand, but in fact a small advanced tower with a falconette gunboat garrisoning the southern canal port, and finally the little rock (towards Maccagno ) of the "Melgonaro", on which only a stunted but tenacious plant grows fascinated poets and engravers such as Piero Chiara , Marco Costantini , Carlo Rapp .

 

Finally, we must mention the small island of San Giovanni in front of Verbania (famous because it was the residence of the orchestra director Arturo Toscanini in the seventeenth-century Palazzo Borromeo for many years ), the small island of La Malghera also known as Isola delle Bambole , among 'Isola Bella and that of the Fishermen and therefore the Isolino Partegora in the small gulf of Angera .

 

History:

The finds and evidence found tell us that following the actual creation of the lake, with the complete retreat of the ice, the surrounding area was inhabited by nomadic groups , who used the territory mainly as a place for hunting and supplies.

 

In the Chalcolithic historical period, the first residential areas were built in the immediate vicinity of the lake and from that moment there was a slow consolidation of sedentary groups .

 

On the shores of the lake, the Golasecca culture developed between the 9th and 4th centuries BC , a Celtic -speaking Iron Age civilization . The Golasecchians advanced as far as some areas of present-day Lombardy , only to be pushed back again to their western borders by the descent of the Celts into the Italian peninsula , probably the population of the Taurine Gauls .

 

The Gauls therefore had supremacy over the lake territory until the advance of the Romans who turned the Piedmont and Lombard areas back into provinces of the empire . The " Verbanus Lacus " (name given to it by the Romans, from which the nomenclature Lake Verbano will probably derive ) or " Lacus Maximus " (another name even attributed to it by Virgil ) will remain firmly in the hands of the Roman Empire . In Roman times, navigation along the lake experienced particular development, so much so that ships could descend the Ticino and thus reach Pavia , from where they could reach, thanks to the Po , as far as the Adriatic Sea . It is no coincidence that the excavations of the Angera settlement have brought to light finds that show strong connections between the lake and the upper Adriatic. This shipping line experienced particular development during the early Middle Ages , when Pavia was the capital of the Lombard kingdom first and then of the kingdom of Italy.

 

To arrive at a period of rebirth of the cities on the lake we had to wait until the Middle Ages , which led to the creation of villages, castles and in general a very different example of the physiognomy of inhabited places.

In this period the area around the lake, as well as numerous territories in the surroundings of Milan , passed into the hands of various families such as the Della Torre , the Visconti , the ruling house of the Habsburgs from 1713 and in particular the Borromeo family , which had enormous influence for many years on Lake Maggiore, starting from the acquisition of the fiefdom of Arona in 1445. Another very illustrious lineage that had a great influence in the medieval era is that of the Marquises Morigi or Moriggia, who received numerous territories from the Viscontis such as the degagne of San Maurizio and San Martino, the Valtravaglia which were nicknamed "Morigie lands". Over the centuries the families of Borromeo and Morigi fought bitterly for hegemony over these lands. The Borromeo themselves also had, between 1523 and 1524, actual armed clashes against Francesco II Sforza who on several occasions sent troops and armed ships against the Borromeo fortresses located on the islands of Cannero . Other noble families linked to the territory since the Middle Ages were the Besozzi , the Sessa , the Luini and the Capitanei of Locarno.

 

Starting from the 14th century, navigation along the lake was also exploited to transport the heavy blocks of marble coming from Candoglia and other quarries located in the surroundings of the lake towards the two main Lombard construction sites of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance: the cathedral of Milan and the Charterhouse of Pavia

  

kalat sa dagat means swimmer's leftovers, responsibility for a clean shoreline

Galinoporni (Greek: Γαληνόπορνη; Turkish: Kaleburnu) is a village in Cyprus, located on the southern side of the Karpas Peninsula. Galinoporni is under the de facto control of Northern Cyprus. As of 2011, it had a population of 333.

 

The village has always been exclusively populated by Turkish Cypriots. It has a permanent population but is also inhabited in the summer months by villagers who emigrated to the United Kingdom as a result of the Cyprus Dispute.Cypriot Turkish is the most commonly spoken dialect, though most elderly inhabitants can speak and understand both Turkish and Greek, with some speaking Greek as a first language.

 

The surroundings of the village host two Bronze Age sites: in Kraltepe the remains of a palace have been excavated, whose dwellers had trade contacts with the eastern coast of the Mediterranean sea around 1200 BC.[5] In Nitovikla there is a fortress dating back to 1500 BC, whose citadel has been erected in the style of the Hittitian fortress of Hattusa in Anatolia. Moreover, in Avtepe there is an important group of caves.

 

Northern Cyprus, officially the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), is a de facto state that comprises the northeastern portion of the island of Cyprus. It is recognised only by Turkey, and its territory is considered by all other states to be part of the Republic of Cyprus.

 

Northern Cyprus extends from the tip of the Karpass Peninsula in the northeast to Morphou Bay, Cape Kormakitis and its westernmost point, the Kokkina exclave in the west. Its southernmost point is the village of Louroujina. A buffer zone under the control of the United Nations stretches between Northern Cyprus and the rest of the island and divides Nicosia, the island's largest city and capital of both sides.

 

A coup d'état in 1974, performed as part of an attempt to annex the island to Greece, prompted the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. This resulted in the eviction of much of the north's Greek Cypriot population, the flight of Turkish Cypriots from the south, and the partitioning of the island, leading to a unilateral declaration of independence by the north in 1983. Due to its lack of recognition, Northern Cyprus is heavily dependent on Turkey for economic, political and military support.

 

Attempts to reach a solution to the Cyprus dispute have been unsuccessful. The Turkish Army maintains a large force in Northern Cyprus with the support and approval of the TRNC government, while the Republic of Cyprus, the European Union as a whole, and the international community regard it as an occupation force. This military presence has been denounced in several United Nations Security Council resolutions.

 

Northern Cyprus is a semi-presidential, democratic republic with a cultural heritage incorporating various influences and an economy that is dominated by the services sector. The economy has seen growth through the 2000s and 2010s, with the GNP per capita more than tripling in the 2000s, but is held back by an international embargo due to the official closure of the ports in Northern Cyprus by the Republic of Cyprus. The official language is Turkish, with a distinct local dialect being spoken. The vast majority of the population consists of Sunni Muslims, while religious attitudes are mostly moderate and secular. Northern Cyprus is an observer state of ECO and OIC under the name "Turkish Cypriot State", PACE under the name "Turkish Cypriot Community", and Organization of Turkic States with its own name.

 

Several distinct periods of Cypriot intercommunal violence involving the two main ethnic communities, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, marked mid-20th century Cyprus. These included the Cyprus Emergency of 1955–59 during British rule, the post-independence Cyprus crisis of 1963–64, and the Cyprus crisis of 1967. Hostilities culminated in the 1974 de facto division of the island along the Green Line following the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. The region has been relatively peaceful since then, but the Cyprus dispute has continued, with various attempts to solve it diplomatically having been generally unsuccessful.

 

Cyprus, an island lying in the eastern Mediterranean, hosted a population of Greeks and Turks (four-fifths and one-fifth, respectively), who lived under British rule in the late nineteenth-century and the first half of the twentieth-century. Christian Orthodox Church of Cyprus played a prominent political role among the Greek Cypriot community, a privilege that it acquired during the Ottoman Empire with the employment of the millet system, which gave the archbishop an unofficial ethnarch status.

 

The repeated rejections by the British of Greek Cypriot demands for enosis, union with Greece, led to armed resistance, organised by the National Organization of Cypriot Struggle, or EOKA. EOKA, led by the Greek-Cypriot commander George Grivas, systematically targeted British colonial authorities. One of the effects of EOKA's campaign was to alter the Turkish position from demanding full reincorporation into Turkey to a demand for taksim (partition). EOKA's mission and activities caused a "Cretan syndrome" (see Turkish Resistance Organisation) within the Turkish Cypriot community, as its members feared that they would be forced to leave the island in such a case as had been the case with Cretan Turks. As such, they preferred the continuation of British colonial rule and then taksim, the division of the island. Due to the Turkish Cypriots' support for the British, EOKA's leader, Georgios Grivas, declared them to be enemies. The fact that the Turks were a minority was, according to Nihat Erim, to be addressed by the transfer of thousands of Turks from mainland Turkey so that Greek Cypriots would cease to be the majority. When Erim visited Cyprus as the Turkish representative, he was advised by Field Marshal Sir John Harding, the then Governor of Cyprus, that Turkey should send educated Turks to settle in Cyprus.

 

Turkey actively promoted the idea that on the island of Cyprus two distinctive communities existed, and sidestepped its former claim that "the people of Cyprus were all Turkish subjects". In doing so, Turkey's aim to have self-determination of two to-be equal communities in effect led to de jure partition of the island.[citation needed] This could be justified to the international community against the will of the majority Greek population of the island. Dr. Fazil Küçük in 1954 had already proposed Cyprus be divided in two at the 35° parallel.

 

Lindley Dan, from Notre Dame University, spotted the roots of intercommunal violence to different visions among the two communities of Cyprus (enosis for Greek Cypriots, taksim for Turkish Cypriots). Also, Lindlay wrote that "the merging of church, schools/education, and politics in divisive and nationalistic ways" had played a crucial role in creation of havoc in Cyprus' history. Attalides Michael also pointed to the opposing nationalisms as the cause of the Cyprus problem.

 

By the mid-1950's, the "Cyprus is Turkish" party, movement, and slogan gained force in both Cyprus and Turkey. In a 1954 editorial, Turkish Cypriot leader Dr. Fazil Kuchuk expressed the sentiment that the Turkish youth had grown up with the idea that "as soon as Great Britain leaves the island, it will be taken over by the Turks", and that "Turkey cannot tolerate otherwise". This perspective contributed to the willingness of Turkish Cypriots to align themselves with the British, who started recruiting Turkish Cypriots into the police force that patrolled Cyprus to fight EOKA, a Greek Cypriot nationalist organisation that sought to rid the island of British rule.

 

EOKA targeted colonial authorities, including police, but Georgios Grivas, the leader of EOKA, did not initially wish to open up a new front by fighting Turkish Cypriots and reassured them that EOKA would not harm their people. In 1956, some Turkish Cypriot policemen were killed by EOKA members and this provoked some intercommunal violence in the spring and summer, but these attacks on policemen were not motivated by the fact that they were Turkish Cypriots.

 

However, in January 1957, Grivas changed his policy as his forces in the mountains became increasingly pressured by the British Crown forces. In order to divert the attention of the Crown forces, EOKA members started to target Turkish Cypriot policemen intentionally in the towns, so that Turkish Cypriots would riot against the Greek Cypriots and the security forces would have to be diverted to the towns to restore order. The killing of a Turkish Cypriot policeman on 19 January, when a power station was bombed, and the injury of three others, provoked three days of intercommunal violence in Nicosia. The two communities targeted each other in reprisals, at least one Greek Cypriot was killed and the British Army was deployed in the streets. Greek Cypriot stores were burned and their neighbourhoods attacked. Following the events, the Greek Cypriot leadership spread the propaganda that the riots had merely been an act of Turkish Cypriot aggression. Such events created chaos and drove the communities apart both in Cyprus and in Turkey.

 

On 22 October 1957 Sir Hugh Mackintosh Foot replaced Sir John Harding as the British Governor of Cyprus. Foot suggested five to seven years of self-government before any final decision. His plan rejected both enosis and taksim. The Turkish Cypriot response to this plan was a series of anti-British demonstrations in Nicosia on 27 and 28 January 1958 rejecting the proposed plan because the plan did not include partition. The British then withdrew the plan.

 

In 1957, Black Gang, a Turkish Cypriot pro-taksim paramilitary organisation, was formed to patrol a Turkish Cypriot enclave, the Tahtakale district of Nicosia, against activities of EOKA. The organisation later attempted to grow into a national scale, but failed to gain public support.

 

By 1958, signs of dissatisfaction with the British increased on both sides, with a group of Turkish Cypriots forming Volkan (later renamed to the Turkish Resistance Organisation) paramilitary group to promote partition and the annexation of Cyprus to Turkey as dictated by the Menderes plan. Volkan initially consisted of roughly 100 members, with the stated aim of raising awareness in Turkey of the Cyprus issue and courting military training and support for Turkish Cypriot fighters from the Turkish government.

 

In June 1958, the British Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, was expected to propose a plan to resolve the Cyprus issue. In light of the new development, the Turks rioted in Nicosia to promote the idea that Greek and Turkish Cypriots could not live together and therefore any plan that did not include partition would not be viable. This violence was soon followed by bombing, Greek Cypriot deaths and looting of Greek Cypriot-owned shops and houses. Greek and Turkish Cypriots started to flee mixed population villages where they were a minority in search of safety. This was effectively the beginning of the segregation of the two communities. On 7 June 1958, a bomb exploded at the entrance of the Turkish Embassy in Cyprus. Following the bombing, Turkish Cypriots looted Greek Cypriot properties. On 26 June 1984, the Turkish Cypriot leader, Rauf Denktaş, admitted on British channel ITV that the bomb was placed by the Turks themselves in order to create tension. On 9 January 1995, Rauf Denktaş repeated his claim to the famous Turkish newspaper Milliyet in Turkey.

 

The crisis reached a climax on 12 June 1958, when eight Greeks, out of an armed group of thirty five arrested by soldiers of the Royal Horse Guards on suspicion of preparing an attack on the Turkish quarter of Skylloura, were killed in a suspected attack by Turkish Cypriot locals, near the village of Geunyeli, having been ordered to walk back to their village of Kondemenos.

 

After the EOKA campaign had begun, the British government successfully began to turn the Cyprus issue from a British colonial problem into a Greek-Turkish issue. British diplomacy exerted backstage influence on the Adnan Menderes government, with the aim of making Turkey active in Cyprus. For the British, the attempt had a twofold objective. The EOKA campaign would be silenced as quickly as possible, and Turkish Cypriots would not side with Greek Cypriots against the British colonial claims over the island, which would thus remain under the British. The Turkish Cypriot leadership visited Menderes to discuss the Cyprus issue. When asked how the Turkish Cypriots should respond to the Greek Cypriot claim of enosis, Menderes replied: "You should go to the British foreign minister and request the status quo be prolonged, Cyprus to remain as a British colony". When the Turkish Cypriots visited the British Foreign Secretary and requested for Cyprus to remain a colony, he replied: "You should not be asking for colonialism at this day and age, you should be asking for Cyprus be returned to Turkey, its former owner".

 

As Turkish Cypriots began to look to Turkey for protection, Greek Cypriots soon understood that enosis was extremely unlikely. The Greek Cypriot leader, Archbishop Makarios III, now set independence for the island as his objective.

 

Britain resolved to solve the dispute by creating an independent Cyprus. In 1959, all involved parties signed the Zurich Agreements: Britain, Turkey, Greece, and the Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders, Makarios and Dr. Fazil Kucuk, respectively. The new constitution drew heavily on the ethnic composition of the island. The President would be a Greek Cypriot, and the Vice-President a Turkish Cypriot with an equal veto. The contribution to the public service would be set at a ratio of 70:30, and the Supreme Court would consist of an equal number of judges from both communities as well as an independent judge who was not Greek, Turkish or British. The Zurich Agreements were supplemented by a number of treaties. The Treaty of Guarantee stated that secession or union with any state was forbidden, and that Greece, Turkey and Britain would be given guarantor status to intervene if that was violated. The Treaty of Alliance allowed for two small Greek and Turkish military contingents to be stationed on the island, and the Treaty of Establishment gave Britain sovereignty over two bases in Akrotiri and Dhekelia.

 

On 15 August 1960, the Colony of Cyprus became fully independent as the Republic of Cyprus. The new republic remained within the Commonwealth of Nations.

 

The new constitution brought dissatisfaction to Greek Cypriots, who felt it to be highly unjust for them for historical, demographic and contributional reasons. Although 80% of the island's population were Greek Cypriots and these indigenous people had lived on the island for thousands of years and paid 94% of taxes, the new constitution was giving the 17% of the population that was Turkish Cypriots, who paid 6% of taxes, around 30% of government jobs and 40% of national security jobs.

 

Within three years tensions between the two communities in administrative affairs began to show. In particular disputes over separate municipalities and taxation created a deadlock in government. A constitutional court ruled in 1963 Makarios had failed to uphold article 173 of the constitution which called for the establishment of separate municipalities for Turkish Cypriots. Makarios subsequently declared his intention to ignore the judgement, resulting in the West German judge resigning from his position. Makarios proposed thirteen amendments to the constitution, which would have had the effect of resolving most of the issues in the Greek Cypriot favour. Under the proposals, the President and Vice-President would lose their veto, the separate municipalities as sought after by the Turkish Cypriots would be abandoned, the need for separate majorities by both communities in passing legislation would be discarded and the civil service contribution would be set at actual population ratios (82:18) instead of the slightly higher figure for Turkish Cypriots.

 

The intention behind the amendments has long been called into question. The Akritas plan, written in the height of the constitutional dispute by the Greek Cypriot interior minister Polycarpos Georkadjis, called for the removal of undesirable elements of the constitution so as to allow power-sharing to work. The plan envisaged a swift retaliatory attack on Turkish Cypriot strongholds should Turkish Cypriots resort to violence to resist the measures, stating "In the event of a planned or staged Turkish attack, it is imperative to overcome it by force in the shortest possible time, because if we succeed in gaining command of the situation (in one or two days), no outside, intervention would be either justified or possible." Whether Makarios's proposals were part of the Akritas plan is unclear, however it remains that sentiment towards enosis had not completely disappeared with independence. Makarios described independence as "a step on the road to enosis".[31] Preparations for conflict were not entirely absent from Turkish Cypriots either, with right wing elements still believing taksim (partition) the best safeguard against enosis.

 

Greek Cypriots however believe the amendments were a necessity stemming from a perceived attempt by Turkish Cypriots to frustrate the working of government. Turkish Cypriots saw it as a means to reduce their status within the state from one of co-founder to that of minority, seeing it as a first step towards enosis. The security situation deteriorated rapidly.

 

Main articles: Bloody Christmas (1963) and Battle of Tillyria

An armed conflict was triggered after December 21, 1963, a period remembered by Turkish Cypriots as Bloody Christmas, when a Greek Cypriot policemen that had been called to help deal with a taxi driver refusing officers already on the scene access to check the identification documents of his customers, took out his gun upon arrival and shot and killed the taxi driver and his partner. Eric Solsten summarised the events as follows: "a Greek Cypriot police patrol, ostensibly checking identification documents, stopped a Turkish Cypriot couple on the edge of the Turkish quarter. A hostile crowd gathered, shots were fired, and two Turkish Cypriots were killed."

 

In the morning after the shooting, crowds gathered in protest in Northern Nicosia, likely encouraged by the TMT, without incident. On the evening of the 22nd, gunfire broke out, communication lines to the Turkish neighbourhoods were cut, and the Greek Cypriot police occupied the nearby airport. On the 23rd, a ceasefire was negotiated, but did not hold. Fighting, including automatic weapons fire, between Greek and Turkish Cypriots and militias increased in Nicosia and Larnaca. A force of Greek Cypriot irregulars led by Nikos Sampson entered the Nicosia suburb of Omorphita and engaged in heavy firing on armed, as well as by some accounts unarmed, Turkish Cypriots. The Omorphita clash has been described by Turkish Cypriots as a massacre, while this view has generally not been acknowledged by Greek Cypriots.

 

Further ceasefires were arranged between the two sides, but also failed. By Christmas Eve, the 24th, Britain, Greece, and Turkey had joined talks, with all sides calling for a truce. On Christmas day, Turkish fighter jets overflew Nicosia in a show of support. Finally it was agreed to allow a force of 2,700 British soldiers to help enforce a ceasefire. In the next days, a "buffer zone" was created in Nicosia, and a British officer marked a line on a map with green ink, separating the two sides of the city, which was the beginning of the "Green Line". Fighting continued across the island for the next several weeks.

 

In total 364 Turkish Cypriots and 174 Greek Cypriots were killed during the violence. 25,000 Turkish Cypriots from 103-109 villages fled and were displaced into enclaves and thousands of Turkish Cypriot houses were ransacked or completely destroyed.

 

Contemporary newspapers also reported on the forceful exodus of the Turkish Cypriots from their homes. According to The Times in 1964, threats, shootings and attempts of arson were committed against the Turkish Cypriots to force them out of their homes. The Daily Express wrote that "25,000 Turks have already been forced to leave their homes". The Guardian reported a massacre of Turks at Limassol on 16 February 1964.

 

Turkey had by now readied its fleet and its fighter jets appeared over Nicosia. Turkey was dissuaded from direct involvement by the creation of a United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) in 1964. Despite the negotiated ceasefire in Nicosia, attacks on the Turkish Cypriot persisted, particularly in Limassol. Concerned about the possibility of a Turkish invasion, Makarios undertook the creation of a Greek Cypriot conscript-based army called the "National Guard". A general from Greece took charge of the army, whilst a further 20,000 well-equipped officers and men were smuggled from Greece into Cyprus. Turkey threatened to intervene once more, but was prevented by a strongly worded letter from the American President Lyndon B. Johnson, anxious to avoid a conflict between NATO allies Greece and Turkey at the height of the Cold War.

 

Turkish Cypriots had by now established an important bridgehead at Kokkina, provided with arms, volunteers and materials from Turkey and abroad. Seeing this incursion of foreign weapons and troops as a major threat, the Cypriot government invited George Grivas to return from Greece as commander of the Greek troops on the island and launch a major attack on the bridgehead. Turkey retaliated by dispatching its fighter jets to bomb Greek positions, causing Makarios to threaten an attack on every Turkish Cypriot village on the island if the bombings did not cease. The conflict had now drawn in Greece and Turkey, with both countries amassing troops on their Thracian borders. Efforts at mediation by Dean Acheson, a former U.S. Secretary of State, and UN-appointed mediator Galo Plaza had failed, all the while the division of the two communities becoming more apparent. Greek Cypriot forces were estimated at some 30,000, including the National Guard and the large contingent from Greece. Defending the Turkish Cypriot enclaves was a force of approximately 5,000 irregulars, led by a Turkish colonel, but lacking the equipment and organisation of the Greek forces.

 

The Secretary-General of the United Nations in 1964, U Thant, reported the damage during the conflicts:

 

UNFICYP carried out a detailed survey of all damage to properties throughout the island during the disturbances; it shows that in 109 villages, most of them Turkish-Cypriot or mixed villages, 527 houses have been destroyed while 2,000 others have suffered damage from looting.

 

The situation worsened in 1967, when a military junta overthrew the democratically elected government of Greece, and began applying pressure on Makarios to achieve enosis. Makarios, not wishing to become part of a military dictatorship or trigger a Turkish invasion, began to distance himself from the goal of enosis. This caused tensions with the junta in Greece as well as George Grivas in Cyprus. Grivas's control over the National Guard and Greek contingent was seen as a threat to Makarios's position, who now feared a possible coup.[citation needed] The National Guard and Cyprus Police began patrolling the Turkish Cypriot enclaves of Ayios Theodoros and Kophinou, and on November 15 engaged in heavy fighting with the Turkish Cypriots.

 

By the time of his withdrawal 26 Turkish Cypriots had been killed. Turkey replied with an ultimatum demanding that Grivas be removed from the island, that the troops smuggled from Greece in excess of the limits of the Treaty of Alliance be removed, and that the economic blockades on the Turkish Cypriot enclaves be lifted. Grivas was recalled by the Athens Junta and the 12,000 Greek troops were withdrawn. Makarios now attempted to consolidate his position by reducing the number of National Guard troops, and by creating a paramilitary force loyal to Cypriot independence. In 1968, acknowledging that enosis was now all but impossible, Makarios stated, "A solution by necessity must be sought within the limits of what is feasible which does not always coincide with the limits of what is desirable."

 

After 1967 tensions between the Greek and Turkish Cypriots subsided. Instead, the main source of tension on the island came from factions within the Greek Cypriot community. Although Makarios had effectively abandoned enosis in favour of an 'attainable solution', many others continued to believe that the only legitimate political aspiration for Greek Cypriots was union with Greece.

 

On his arrival, Grivas began by establishing a nationalist paramilitary group known as the National Organization of Cypriot Fighters (Ethniki Organosis Kyprion Agoniston B or EOKA-B), drawing comparisons with the EOKA struggle for enosis under the British colonial administration of the 1950s.

 

The military junta in Athens saw Makarios as an obstacle. Makarios's failure to disband the National Guard, whose officer class was dominated by mainland Greeks, had meant the junta had practical control over the Cypriot military establishment, leaving Makarios isolated and a vulnerable target.

 

During the first Turkish invasion, Turkish troops invaded Cyprus territory on 20 July 1974, invoking its rights under the Treaty of Guarantee. This expansion of Turkish-occupied zone violated International Law as well as the Charter of the United Nations. Turkish troops managed to capture 3% of the island which was accompanied by the burning of the Turkish Cypriot quarter, as well as the raping and killing of women and children. A temporary cease-fire followed which was mitigated by the UN Security Council. Subsequently, the Greek military Junta collapsed on July 23, 1974, and peace talks commenced in which a democratic government was installed. The Resolution 353 was broken after Turkey attacked a second time and managed to get a hold of 37% of Cyprus territory. The Island of Cyprus was appointed a Buffer Zone by the United Nations, which divided the island into two zones through the 'Green Line' and put an end to the Turkish invasion. Although Turkey announced that the occupied areas of Cyprus to be called the Federated Turkish State in 1975, it is not legitimised on a worldwide political scale. The United Nations called for the international recognition of independence for the Republic of Cyprus in the Security Council Resolution 367.

 

In the years after the Turkish invasion of northern Cyprus one can observe a history of failed talks between the two parties. The 1983 declaration of the independent Turkish Republic of Cyprus resulted in a rise of inter-communal tensions and made it increasingly hard to find mutual understanding. With Cyprus' interest of a possible EU membership and a new UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 1997 new hopes arose for a fresh start. International involvement from sides of the US and UK, wanting a solution to the Cyprus dispute prior to the EU accession led to political pressures for new talks. The believe that an accession without a solution would threaten Greek-Turkish relations and acknowledge the partition of the island would direct the coming negotiations.

 

Over the course of two years a concrete plan, the Annan plan was formulated. In 2004 the fifth version agreed upon from both sides and with the endorsement of Turkey, US, UK and EU then was presented to the public and was given a referendum in both Cypriot communities to assure the legitimisation of the resolution. The Turkish Cypriots voted with 65% for the plan, however the Greek Cypriots voted with a 76% majority against. The Annan plan contained multiple important topics. Firstly it established a confederation of two separate states called the United Cyprus Republic. Both communities would have autonomous states combined under one unified government. The members of parliament would be chosen according to the percentage in population numbers to ensure a just involvement from both communities. The paper proposed a demilitarisation of the island over the next years. Furthermore it agreed upon a number of 45000 Turkish settlers that could remain on the island. These settlers became a very important issue concerning peace talks. Originally the Turkish government encouraged Turks to settle in Cyprus providing transfer and property, to establish a counterpart to the Greek Cypriot population due to their 1 to 5 minority. With the economic situation many Turkish-Cypriot decided to leave the island, however their departure is made up by incoming Turkish settlers leaving the population ratio between Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots stable. However all these points where criticised and as seen in the vote rejected mainly by the Greek Cypriots. These name the dissolution of the „Republic of Cyprus", economic consequences of a reunion and the remaining Turkish settlers as reason. Many claim that the plan was indeed drawing more from Turkish-Cypriot demands then Greek-Cypriot interests. Taking in consideration that the US wanted to keep Turkey as a strategic partner in future Middle Eastern conflicts.

 

A week after the failed referendum the Republic of Cyprus joined the EU. In multiple instances the EU tried to promote trade with Northern Cyprus but without internationally recognised ports this spiked a grand debate. Both side endure their intention of negotiations, however without the prospect of any new compromises or agreements the UN is unwilling to start the process again. Since 2004 negotiations took place in numbers but without any results, both sides are strongly holding on to their position without an agreeable solution in sight that would suit both parties.

This is the only performance of Cantonese Chinese Opera in George Town, Penang during the Festival of the Hungry Ghos from Thursday August 20 till Friday September 18, 2009.

The carnival of Offida (in dialect offidano "Lu bov fint" and "Li Vlurd").

The Carnival takes place every year according to a ritual set by tradition: officially begins on January 17, the day of Saint Anthony the Abbot, and ends the day of the Ashes.

On the Friday (the first afternoon) a rudimentary bove (bull) consisting of a wooden and iron frame, covered with a white cloth and carried by a couple of men, starts to wander through the central streets of the town.

In the Palazzo Popolo the crowd, dressed with the guazzarò, a very simple white and wide dress once used for country work, encourage the bull with screams and shouts giving rise to movements that are very reminiscent of a bullfight. The chaos caused by sudden changes of direction, chases and shouts of the crowd also generate moments of tension and panic usually resolved with hilarity also thanks to another fundamental ingredient of the party that is red wine (and vin cotto), consumed copiously by all the participants. In the dark, tiredness and glamor dictated by repeated drinking, the party ends with the symbolic killing of the bull where they are made to touch the horns on a column of the town hall. The final act is a procession of the dead bull through the streets of the village singing the anthem of the carnival Offidano.

Rangiroa (en el dialecto local Ragiroa o Ra'iroa) es un atolón de las Tuamotu, en la Polinesia Francesa. Está situado al noroeste del archipiélago, a 350 km de Tahití. Sus coordenadas son: 15°05′S 147°48′O

 

Es uno de los atolones más grandes del mundo, con un total de 1640 km²; de superfecie, y una laguna de 78 km de largo con una profundidad entre 20 y 35 m. El escollo está formado por 241 islotes y bancos de arena de un ancho de entre 300 y 600 m. Hay cuatro pasos entre el océano y la laguna. Los dos más importantes están al norte, junto a las villas de Avatoru y Tiputa que concentran la mayor parte de la población. Con 2.145 habitantes (censo de 1996) es el atolón más poblado de las Tuamotu. La población vive del turismo, la pesca y el cultivo de perlas negras.

Tambis purchased in Hong Kong.

 

This fruit is called Watery Rose Apple or Tambis in Waray or Cebuano dialects in the Philippines (scientific name: Syzygium aqueum). This species brush cherry tree is commonly found in the Visayas region of the Philippines.

 

Here Are The Benefits That The Rose Apple Fruit Gives To Our Health

 

Rose apple which is also known as water apple or “tambis” is a watery fruit that is native to Eastern Australia. This bell-shaped fruit has shinny skin that may vary from light pink to red or yellow and green. Its white flesh contains lots of juice and is foamy.

 

This fruit is actually very rich in fibers, proteins, vitamins and iron. It brings lots of benefits to our health and here are some of them: The risk of breast cancer on women may be reduced by including low-fat foods in the diet and rose apple could be a great food for that.

 

Store the seeds of rose apple fruit for at least 4 days and grind it into fine powder. Add the powder in a glass of water and give to the person suffering from diarrhea.

 

The sweet and pleasant smell of rose apple, plus its juice, help reduce the body temperature.

 

It is rich in Vitamin C which helps reduce the cholesterol in the body.

 

If you love eating this fruit, you will love it even more after knowing this.

 

Finally, proof positive that “tambis” and “makopa” for Visayans at least, are distinct yet closely related fruit. It all started out with this first post several years ago, which referred to both of these species as tambis, as I had always done as a child. Then, one of my readers was perturbed by my lack of tambis/makopa knowledge, so I did a follow up post here(worth reading if you are really interested in the difference between the two fruit) to positively identify the scientific names of both fruit. That same reader sent me some photos many months ago but I couldn’t figure out how to get them into a publishable form, so I had to wait until I got my hands on both fruit at the same time (which isn’t so easy as the seasons apprarently barely overlap). Tambis, on the left in the photo above or water apple or syzgium aqueum and makopa, on the right or malay apple or syzgium malacenssis…

 

You can clearly see from the cross-section cuts that the skin, shape and seed of the fruits differ, and I have to say I am partial to the taste of tambis, with the thin skin and often refreshing and sweetish pulp while the makopa is denser, and at least the ones I tried, less tasty. But I have to add that I saw lots of brilliant looking makopa on a recent trip to Vietnam and Cambodia so maybe those would have tasted better than the ones I have eaten here…

 

For many folks on the island of Luzon, they would refer to either of these fruits as makopa, and if a perusal of neighborhood trees is a good sample, I think there are more “tambis”trees than “makopa” trees in Manila and the surrounding areas. What’s the big deal anyway? Just one of accuracy… And as I mention in earlier posts, even the venerable Doreen Fernandez and Desmond Tate seem to have missed the subtle distinction between the two fruit… so if they were a bit confused, what about the rest of us?

  

The Norfolk naturalist who inspired Ted Ellis. His real name was Arthur Patterson but he used 'Knowlittle' as his nom de plume. He was a considerable word-smith. Here is one of his poems which employs the Norfolk dialect:

 

Another Song of Another Norfolker

 

Bor, I never cood arn much money,

No matter how 'ard I try'd;

But never wor short o' dumplins

Or a good owd eel well fry'd.

 

Bor, I ha' found owd Norfolk frindly,

An' I married a Norfolk gal,

An' when I cum off o' the marshes,

I've found her a good owd pal.

 

Law! I ha' lived wi' monkeys,

And worked where the lions roar,

But I longed tu heer t' owd curlews

"Whaup" front o' th' houseboat door.

 

So I drifted back tu owd Norfolk,

And heer I intend tu 'bide;

For the bards, an' t' fishes, an' people

Of Norfolk, air all my pride.

 

When Broadland is left for Jordan,

And Charon cum over th' styx,

Du delve a deep hole in owd Norfolk

Whose sile wi' my ashes shell mix.

 

Manarola (Manaea in the local dialect) is a small town, a frazione of the comune (municipality) of Riomaggiore, in the province of La Spezia, Liguria, northern Italy. It is the second smallest of the famous Cinque Terre towns frequented by tourists.

 

Manarola may be the oldest of the towns in the Cinque Terre, with the cornerstone of the church, San Lorenzo, dating from 1338. The local dialect is Manarolese, which is marginally different from the dialects in the nearby area. The name "Manarola" is probably dialectical evolution of the Latin, "magna rota". In the Manarolese dialect this was changed to "magna roea" which means "large wheel", in reference to the mill wheel in the town.

 

Manarola's primary industries have traditionally been fishing and wine-making. The local wine, called Sciacchetrà, is especially renowned; references from Roman writings mention the high quality of the wine produced in the region. In recent years, Manarola and its neighboring towns have become popular tourist destinations, particularly in the summer months. Tourist attractions in the region include a famous walking trail between Manarola and Riomaggiore (called Via dell'Amore, "Love's Trail") and hiking trails in the hills and vineyards above the town. Manarola is one of the five villages. Mostly all of the houses are bright and colourful.

 

Manarola was celebrated in paintings by the artists Llewelyn Lloyd (1879-1949) ("I ponti di Manarola" [:The Bridges of Manarola, 1904] and "Tramonto a Manarola" [:Sunset at Manarola, 1904] and Antonio Discovolo (1874–1956).

 

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

St Peter, Levington, Suffolk

 

A nice piece of Suffolk dialect, the failure to decline the third person of the verb.

 

I'd been feeling out of sorts for a while. Even Saturday's bright sunshine couldn't shake me out of my depressed lethargy. I don't know what it is - a bit fluey, under the weather, maybe just a bad cold. I had big ambitions to do a bike ride around Huntingdon, with the intention of visiting Little Gidding, but reports of flooded rural lanes put me off, and in the event I did not leave the house at all.

 

I got up early on Sunday, and as the day lightened it revealed a wondrous frozen landscape after a night of sub-zero temperatures. By nine o'clock I ws on my bike, cycling out of Ipswich by the back door through Nacton and out to Levington, where St Peter is one of my favourite churches of all. I feel closer to God in there than in most churches.

 

I spent about half an hour there - I had known there would not be a service on because when I passed neighbouring Nacton church there was one on there - and then I headed across the A14 to Bucklesham.

 

There was another service on at Bucklesham, so I pottered around in the graveyard for a while, and then headed back into Ipswich, remembering to pick up some cat food from Aldi on re-entry.

Indian Accent | London | 04/21/18

Lou Stejskal

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Klagenfurt Am Wörthersee, Carinthia, Republic Of Austria.

 

Klagenfurt am Wörthersee (official name; until 2008 and further briefly just Klagenfurt , Slovenian Celovec ob Vrbskem jezeru ) is a large city in the south of Austria and the state capital of the Austrian state of Carinthia . In the local Bavarian-Austrian dialect her name is pronounced Klognfuat . With 104,332 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2023), it is the largest city in Carinthia and the sixth largest city in Austria . The urban area is located in the center of the Klagenfurt Basin and currently has an area of ​​120 km².

 

Klagenfurt was first mentioned in documents in 1192/1199 and was of little relevance until Maximilian I donated the city to the Carinthian estates in 1518. This donation and the subsequent Protestant Reformation movement of the 16th century meant a steep rise for the city: Klagenfurt became the capital of Carinthia, and numerous buildings that are still important today, such as the country house and the cathedral, were built.

 

Today the statutory city of Klagenfurt is the seat of, among other things, the Carinthian state government , the Klagenfurt-Land district administration , the Diocese of Gurk , the Alpine-Adria University of Klagenfurt , the Gustav Mahler Private University of Music , an international airport and a location for the Carinthian University of Applied Sciences as well as numerous other companies and institutions, including those of the Carinthian Slovenes . Klagenfurt is also important for tourism due to its attractive city center with squares and old town buildings as well as cultural offerings and proximity to Lake Wörthersee .

 

Geography

Location

Klagenfurt is located on the Klagenfurter Feld in the center of the Klagenfurt Basin and extends for around 15 km in a north-south and east-west direction. The city covers the entire eastern shore of Lake Wörthersee, the areas north of it are part of the Feldkirchen-Moosburg hill country and the Glantal mountain country. Parts of the northern district of Wölfnitz already belong to Zollfeld , the south of Klagenfurt lies at the foot of the Sattnitz ridge.

 

The city center is about 450 m above sea level; The highest point within the municipality is the Ulrichsberg at 1022 m above sea level. A. , the deepest is the Gurkerbrücke (420 m) on the eastern border of the city.

 

Around a third of the 120 km² municipal area is designated as agricultural area (33.4%) or forest (32.9%). 19.3% of Klagenfurt's area is used as building land , 2.2% is water and 1.3% is gardens. The remaining 10.9% fall under “other types of use”, which includes, among other things, transport routes , mining areas and wasteland .

 

The Adriatic is only about 150 kilometers away from Klagenfurt; Trieste can be reached via the motorway in around two hours.

 

Geology

The entire Klagenfurt Basin was filled by the Drau Glacier during the Ice Age . After the ice masses melted, alluvial fans of the Glan formed the subsoil of today's northern urban area and the Zollfeld, consisting of Ice Age gravel. At the same time, Lake Wörthersee was created, which around 4,000 years ago reached into today's city center, where a large moor area was formed through gradual silting up . The hills in the north of the city consist mainly of old crystalline mica schists and Paleozoic phyllites , green slates and limestone, while the Sattnitz ridge south of Klagenfurt consists of conglomerates .

 

Bodies of Water

In the north of the city, the Glan flows through Klagenfurt in a west-east direction, in the east the Gurk touches the Hörtendorf district , shortly before it joins the Glan in Ebenthal . There are two canals in the city center that were artificially created in the 16th century: the Lendkanal , which still connects the center with Lake Wörthersee today, and the Feuerbach , which is now almost completely absorbed into the city's underground sewer system. Flowing through the southern districts, the 8.8 km long Glanfurt (popularly “Sattnitz”) drains Lake Wörthersee into the Glan. Other, smaller rivers include the Kerbach, the Raba and the Struga, Wölfnitz and Viktringer Bach.

 

The entire eastern shore of Lake Wörthersee belongs to the urban area of ​​Klagenfurt, which has used the name of the lake in its own name since mid-2007. There are also a number of ponds in Klagenfurt. The Hallegg ponds , which lie in a nature reserve below Hallegg Castle , are among the largest.

 

City structure

Until 1848, the urban area only included today's Inner City ; with the formation of political communities in Austria, the immediately adjacent four suburbs (St. Veiter, Völkermarkter, Viktringer and Villacher Vorstadt) were added to Klagenfurt in 1850. Apart from a smaller city expansion in 1893, Klagenfurt only reached its current size in the 20th century through the incorporation of previously independent communities in 1938 (districts IX to XII) and 1973 (districts XIII to XV).

 

The four districts of the inner city roughly form a square made up of squares that are numbered clockwise starting at the top left (in the northwest corner). The next four districts (5-8) enclose the square in a roughly circular shape, the numbering starts at the top, in the north and goes to the right. The same applies to the larger districts 9 to 12, which in turn form a belt of sectors in the main cardinal directions. The three outermost and youngest districts, like all zones, are numbered to the right, but stand out discreetly like wings and are therefore not connected to each other; The count now starts in the south (southwest) with 13, runs through 14 in the northwest to the relatively small 15th district in the east.

 

The city consists of a total of 25 cadastral municipalities , in brackets the unofficial Slovenian names and the areas in hectares (as of December 31, 2021):

 

Bubble Village ( Blaznja vas , 241.49 ha)

Ehrenthal (548.85 ha)

Goritschitzen ( Goričica , 571.21 ha)

Großbuch (446.46 ha)

Großponfeld (664.94 ha)

Gurlitsch I* (632.51 ha)

Hallegg ( Helek , 425.55 ha)

Hörtendorf ( Trdnja vas , 946.61 ha)

Klagenfurt (629.53 ha)

Kleinbuch (220.95 ha)

Lendorf ( Dhovše , 579.55 ha)

Marolla (977.91 ha)

Nagra (201.44 ha)

Neudorf ( Nova vas , 658.90 ha)

St. Martin near Klagenfurt (349.02 ha)

St. Peter am Karlsberg (353.84 ha)

St. Peter near Ebenthal (358.99 ha)

St. Peter near Tentschach (246.63 ha)

St. Ruprecht near Klagenfurt (653.30 ha)

Stone ( Zakamen , 267.30 ha)

Tentschach (222.56 ha)

Viktring ( Vetrinj , 369.22 ha)

Waidmannsdorf ( Otoče , 422.75 ha)

Waltendorf ( Vapoča vas , 442.94 ha)

Welzenegg (579.38 ha)

* (Gurlitsch II is a cadastral community in the neighboring community of Krumpendorf.)

Climate

Klagenfurt has a temperate continental climate with relatively large temperature fluctuations between the seasons. Due to the inversion weather conditions prevailing in the Klagenfurt Basin, an above-average and often long-lasting formation of haze and fog is typical for this area. In early and mid-autumn this is predominantly ground fog, while in late autumn and winter mostly high-level fog occurs. A general lack of wind is also characteristic. The winters, which are cold compared to the Austrian average, can be temporarily alleviated by the foehn through the Karawanken Mountains to the south .

 

The long-term mean annual temperature (determined between 1961 and 1990) is 7.7 °C. The average temperature in Klagenfurt in 2007 was 9.7 °C.

 

History

Origin of name and founding legend

Etymologically, the name Klagenfurt has a Romanesque origin and came into German via Slovenian. Heinz-Dieter Pohl has linguistically reconstructed the formation of the Slovenian name Celovec for Klagenfurt, first documented in 1615 as V Zelovzi . The starting point for this was a Romanesque l'aquiliu meaning “place by the water” - but what was meant was not Lake Wörthersee, but the River Glan . The original Romansh form was initially transformed into la quiliu and adopted into Slavic without an article. According to phonetic laws, it became cvilj- . This was expanded with the ending -ovec , which is common in field and place names, which created Cviljovec . The similar-sounding Slovenian word cvilja meant something like 'lamentation'. In Slovenian, the name Cviljovec was reinterpreted in folk etymology as the “place of laments ”, which is reflected in German in the loan translation Klagenfurt. Other derivations are therefore not applicable, such as the one advocated by Eberhard Kranzmayer about a lament woman cvilja (= lament), one of the legendary Slavic ford and water women who did their laundry at streams and springs wash and mourn deaths, or from the Glan, according to which a Glanfurt would be the origin of the name. What is overlooked is that there actually is a river called Glanfurt , which was called Lanquart until the 16th century and is now also called Sattnitz (Slovene: formerly: Lank(a)rt, today: Sotnica, or more commonly: Jezernica = Seebach). . It is the outflow of Lake Wörthersee.

 

An even older derivation, which comes from the time of humanism, names the Latin name of the Roman city Claudiforum or Forum Claudii as the original name and refers to Roman sources. The name Klagenfurt is said to have developed from this. In fact, a Roman city, Virunum , founded by the Emperor Claudius , existed north of the present urban area. Today it is clear that Forum Claudii was an alternative name for Virunum and that there was no Roman city in the area of ​​today's Klagenfurt.

  

Lindwurm fountain : representation of the founding legend

The founding legend of Klagenfurt tells of a dragon that lived in a swamp and fed on people from the surrounding towns who approached it. The monster could only be killed through a trick: a tower was built, at the top of which an ox was chained as bait, the chain also being equipped with a large hook. When the dragon came out of its swamp to eat the ox, it got caught on the chain and was killed. This legend finds its heraldic expression in the city coat of arms of Klagenfurt and its artistic expression in the Lindwurm fountain .

 

Early settlements in today's urban area

The first traces of clearing and settlement in today's urban area date back to the period between 4000 and 2000 BC. Evidenced by finds in Lendorf, Waidmannsdorf and Viktring. Traces of settlements can be found from the Bronze Age ( dugout tree finds in the moor at the foot of the Sattnitz) as well as the urn field culture and the Hallstatt period (Wölfnitz and Waidmannsdorf). For a long time, only areas that towered over the marshy landscape in which today's city center is located were considered as settlement areas. The hills in the north of today's urban area were particularly suitable for this.

 

and the early

There is no evidence of any significant settlements in the area of ​​today's Klagenfurt in ancient times . The center of power for this region both during the Celtic Noricum period and during the period of Roman occupation, which began in 45 BC. From the 6th century BC to the 6th century ( Virunum ), it was located on the Zollfeld north of today's Klagenfurt . Nevertheless, sporadic Roman settlements arose here too, for example on the Spitalsberg the remains of a villa and graves from Roman times were found

 

Unlike many towns in Carinthia, where evidence of the immigration of Slavs into the area of ​​today's Carinthia, which took place from the end of the migration , can also be proven using place names, there is hardly any evidence of this in Klagenfurt. Nevertheless, it is assumed that today's urban area was connected to the Carolingian-Franconian Palatinate of Karnburg (Civitas Carantana), which was built around the year 828. In the course of the Christianization of Carinthia, the church foundations of Maria Saal in Zollfeld by the diocese of Salzburg and Maria Wörth were significant, but there is no evidence of any foundations on the eastern bank of Lake Wörthersee at this time.

 

After Carinthia was made a duchy within the Holy Roman Empire in 976, numerous monasteries were founded in the 11th century. But it was only in the first half of the 12th century that Klagenfurt became important: the Spanheimers , who had been wealthy in Carinthia since the middle of the 11th century and were the Carinthian dukes between the years 1122 and 1279, had gradually acquired parts of today's city area . Count Bernhard founded the Cistercian monastery of Viktring in 1142 and initiated settlement in its surroundings.

 

Founding of the city

The Carinthian dukes Hermann († 1181) and Bernhard von Spanheim († 1256) are considered the founders of Klagenfurt. Hermann is seen as the founder of the Klagenfurt market, which was built on the southern edge of the Zollfeld in the area of ​​today's Spitalsberg . This settlement was first mentioned between June 1192 and March 1199 as the monastery of St. Paul was granted toll exemption “in foro Chlagenuurt”. However, the newly founded town was in the flood plain of the Glan and was repeatedly flooded. Bernhard von Spanheim took this as an opportunity to re-establish the settlement in a flood-proof area in 1246. Klagenfurt was rebuilt in the area around today's Old Square and received city rights in 1252.

 

To protect the city, a castle (first mentioned in documents in 1268) and a six meter high city wall were built, in front of which a four meter deep and ten meter wide ditch was dug. The castle probably stood on the site of today's country house and was administered by ministerials who were called castle keepers (“castellanus de Chlagenfurt”). The first documented priest in Klagenfurt (Dominus Friedericus, 1255) was still vicar of Maria Saal . The first church in Klagenfurt was probably today's parish church of Klagenfurt-St. Egid , who was the patron saint of St. in the 14th century. Egidius accepted (documented 1347); The Holy Spirit Church with a cemetery and hospital was built outside the city walls (documented in 1355 and 1381).

 

Klagenfurt had only a small population compared to other cities in Carinthia and remained in the shadow of the capital St. Veit and the commercial center of Villach until the 16th century .

 

Donation of Klagenfurt to the estates

At the beginning of the 16th century, Carinthia only played a minor role within the inner Austrian states, because for long stretches the office of governor was not even occupied. The Roman-German king and later emperor Maximilian I came to their extensive inheritance after the Gorizia people died out in 1500. On the one hand, the absence of a sovereign helped the Carinthian estates to gain a stronger political position, but on the other hand, they had to struggle with peasant revolts at the time, which flared up again in the country in 1515 and during which the state capital St. Veit proved to be less than reliable.

 

In 1514 Klagenfurt was almost completely destroyed by fire. The estates asked the emperor, who had now also become sovereign, to give them the city in order to turn it into a bulwark against enemies from within and without. Maximilian complied with this wish, in the “Gabbrief” of April 24, 1518, he donated the city, including the castle and citizens, to the estates, while at the same time revoking all civil privileges.

 

The estates rebuilt the city and commissioned Domenico dell'Allio to plan city fortifications . The financing of this undertaking was significantly supported by Ferdinand I's leasing of the sovereign mint in 1529 and its relocation from St. Veit to Klagenfurt soon afterwards. The Lend Canal , an artificial waterway from Lake Wörthersee to the city, had already been created in 1527 and was used to transport goods, flood the moat and serve as a fire-fighting water reservoir. A second, much smaller canal, the so-called Feuerbach , brought Glanwasser into the city, which was available in two open channels and was also used to transport waste. The previous “Galgentratte” became the new center of the city as “Neuer Platz”. The streets around it were laid out in a checkerboard pattern. Important representative buildings such as the country house (from 1574) and today's cathedral (from 1581), which was built as a Protestant church, were built. In 1587, due to the ever-increasing tasks of the city administration, the judge and council asked the estates to appoint a mayor. As a result, Christoph Windisch (* ? – † 1597) was appointed the first mayor of the corporative city of Klagenfurt. By the end of the 16th century, Klagenfurt had grown into the most modern and strongest fortress city in the region.

 

Burgfriedstein at the Sattnitzbauern onQuellenstrasse

The city's sphere of influence included extensive areas of the hinterland and smaller towns outside the city fortifications. They formed the Klagenfurt castle keep , which was administered by the city judge. It stretched from St. Primus in the north to the swampy landscape of Glanfurt in the south and from the Glan in the east to the village of Waidmannsdorf in the west of the city. Not a single castle was built in this area; the noble residences of this type were all outside the keep boundaries.

 

Reformation and

In the course of the second half of the 16th century, large parts of the population and almost all of the Carinthian estates had joined the Lutheran Reformation movement ; in Klagenfurt one can speak of a consistently Protestant population as early as the 1570s.

 

The new doctrine was proclaimed both in St. Egid and in the Church of the Holy Spirit, and the newly built Trinity Church, later the Catholic cathedral, was also used as a Protestant church after its completion. While the Catholic Habsburgs, as sovereigns, were initially almost powerless in the face of this development, from around 1580 they initially hesitantly implemented the Counter-Reformation together with the Catholic Church in 1595, then with all their might after Archduke Ferdinand came to power. Citizens were given the choice of returning to Catholicism or leaving the country, books were burned and Protestant churches were temporarily closed.

 

The Trinity Church, which was closed in November 1600, was given to the Jesuits and reopened by them in April 1604 and consecrated to Saints Peter and Paul. Above all, the Jesuits, but also other orders that were part of the Counter-Reformation, shaped the intellectual and cultural development as well as with numerous new church and monastery buildings (St. Mary's Church with Franciscan monastery in 1617, Capuchin church and monastery in 1646, redesign of St. Egid and St . Peter and Paul etc.) the face of the city.

 

After the Jesuit order was abolished in 1773, Klagenfurt became the seat of the Gurk Cathedral Chapter in 1787/93.

 

End of Estate Rule, French Wars and March Revolution

The estates had already lost power with Maria Theresa's administrative reform . Since 1748, the city administration was no longer subject to the estate councilors and the burgrave . State authorities had taken their place. The state of Carinthia was divided into three districts and the “castle” was now the seat of a district office. In 1782, Klagenfurt lost its position as state capital after Joseph II placed all of Carinthia administratively under the Gubernium of Graz.

 

The square, planned layout of the old city center, shown here on a map from around 1735 with the city walls and city gates razed in 1809, can still be clearly seen on today's plans.

During the Napoleonic Wars, Klagenfurt was occupied by French troops in 1797 and in 1805 and 1809/1810. Before they left, Napoleon's Württemberg sappers blew up the city walls. The Völkermarkter Tor was the only one of the city gates that remained intact, but it had to give way to road expansion in 1867. Massive causeway bridges were built in place of the blown-up city gates. Today only a small remnant of the fortification wall and the city moat remains. However, the location of the city walls can still be clearly seen on today's “ring” around the city center.

 

Even though there were only sporadic acts of war in the country during the wars, this period and the years that followed marked an economic decline. From an urban planning perspective, however, the demolition of the fortifications also opened up new perspectives. A city map from 1827 shows the merging of the city center with its four suburbs: St. Veiter, Völkermarkter, Villacher and Viktringer Vorstadt. In addition to the formation of districts, Klagenfurt was also a vital city in the pre-industrial period in terms of its social structure, its culture and its relationship to the surrounding area.

 

On the political stage, Klagenfurt and the now divided Carinthia were of little importance during the Metternich era . This was only to change again after the revolutionary year of 1848 , when Carinthia became an independent crown state again with the headquarters of a state parliament and a state government in Klagenfurt. After Klagenfurt became a city with its own statute in 1850, the second city expansion took place after more than 300 years as part of the general restructuring of the state and the country and the associated creation of local communities as the smallest self-governing bodies.

 

However, the hoped-for unification of Klagenfurt with numerous surrounding towns did not initially materialize; the neighbors saw no advantage in this and preferred status as an independent rural community. In addition to the inner city, the new municipality only comprised its four suburbs, including the “rural town of Spitalmühle”. Not even the entire truce had come to Klagenfurt: even the Kreuzbergl area of ​​the “Wölfnitzberg” remained in the cadastral community of St. Martin and became part of the new local community of St. Martin near Klagenfurt . In 1850, the first Klagenfurt local council chose the 51-year-old lawyer Andreas Koller , who had just been awarded the Knight's Cross of the Franz Joseph Order , as city leader.

 

Technological age

In 1863, Klagenfurt was connected to the Southern Railway network , and the resulting economic stimulus made Klagenfurt the center of Carinthia. The outdated, damaged water pipe, fed by the Feuerbach and the Sattnitz springs, was taken over by the city and improved. In 1864, Ferdinand Jergitsch founded the first volunteer fire department in Carinthia, a model organization for numerous cities in the k. u.k. Monarchy. The city ditches were partly filled in and built over, the agricultural area was expanded through drainage and the city was enlarged, including the former suburbs and surrounding communities, first to the east and later to the west towards Lake Wörthersee.

 

In the course of the busy construction activity, the Protestant Johanneskirche (1863–1866), the Carinthian State Museum (1884), the large school buildings (Hasner, Benedictine and West schools, secondary school, trade school, “Kucherhof” agricultural school), the state hospital (1895) and the new “Jubiläumsstadttheater” (1910). The economic rise was also documented by the first Carinthian state exhibition in 1885, at which 1,329 exhibiting companies presented their services to around 100,000 visitors. This laid the foundation for today's Klagenfurt Trade Fair.

 

In 1896, however, the city administration rejected the electrification of the city and the establishment of a railway directorate in Klagenfurt. Only after long negotiations was the basis for a power grid laid. In 1903, the city's streets received electric lighting instead of the incandescent gas lights that previously illuminated the streets. The horse-drawn tram set up in 1891 was replaced by the electric Klagenfurt tram from 1911 onwards . The railway management, on the other hand, had now established itself in Villach , making its western neighbor a “railway town”.

 

The First World War and its consequences for Klagenfurt

The First World War interrupted the city's rise. After Italy entered the war in 1915, Klagenfurt was not directly on the front of the mountain war and was therefore spared from the immediate war, but was subsequently flooded by returning soldiers. 2,214 people from Klagenfurt died as soldiers during the war. In addition, the SHS state that emerged after the end of the war claimed parts of southern Carinthia and Lower Styria, relying on the Slovenian population. His troops crossed the demarcation line and occupied Klagenfurt on June 6, 1919. For security reasons, the Carinthian state government had recently been temporarily relocated to Spittal an der Drau and later to St. Veit an der Glan. The troops had to withdraw again at the end of July 1919 after a referendum was held at the Paris Peace Conference on the fate of the disputed areas. The plebiscite of October 10, 1920 ultimately resulted in a clear majority for Carinthia and the Republic of Austria.

 

The economic consequences of the war - inflation and high unemployment - initially slowed down the further development of the city, which at times was unable to pay even the wages of its employees.

 

Period of National Socialism and the Second World War

With the “annexation” of Austria to the German Reich, Klagenfurt became the capital of the Carinthian district on March 12, 1938 ( Reichsgau from March 1, 1938 ). From October 1, 1938, East Tyrol and from April 17, 1941, Mießtal , which fell to Yugoslavia in 1918, and parts of Upper Carniola were also administered from Klagenfurt. Under the National Socialist mayor Friedrich von Franz, all previously published newspapers were discontinued and replaced by the Carinthian Grenzruf . The New Square was renamed Adolf-Hitler-Platz . In addition, numerous other squares and streets in the city were given the names of Nazi greats.

 

The young, small Jewish community in Klagenfurt (1934: 269 religious Jews) was almost completely wiped out during this time. During Kristallnacht on November 9, 1938, citizens of Klagenfurt devastated the prayer house in Platzgasse (which was later completely destroyed in a bombing raid), demolished Jewish apartments and desecrated the Jewish cemetery in St. Ruprecht. The bank accounts of the Jews in Carinthia were blocked, but the money is said to have been used in collaboration with the religious community to cover the travel costs of the emigrating Jews. Of all the Jews who were expelled from Carinthia or who emigrated “voluntarily”, 45 certainly died, but probably more died. Most of the Jews who remained in Klagenfurt were later arrested and deported to concentration camps; only a few were able to save themselves after 1939. In 1951 there were only nine Jewish citizens left in Klagenfurt.

 

On October 15, 1938, the previously independent community of Sankt Ruprecht and the towns of Sankt Peter, Annabichl and Sankt Martin as well as parts of the communities of Krumpendorf , Lendorf, Hörtendorf , Viktring and Maria Wörth were incorporated. This meant that the urban area grew from 618 hectares to 5,613 hectares (around nine times as much), and the population rose from 30,000 to over 50,000.

 

In the Lendorf district, prisoners from the Mauthausen concentration camp built a barracks and a “ Junker school ” for the Waffen-SS . The Klagenfurt-Lendorf concentration camp subcamp was located in the courtyard of today's Khevenhüller barracks.

 

After there had already been a smaller attack by the 9th US Air Fleet on Klagenfurt Airport in September 1943 , the first bombs fell on built-up urban areas on Sunday, January 16, 1944, at 11:41 a.m. The main targets were the area around the main train station and the tobacco factory on Kempfstrasse, where part of German aircraft production had been relocated from Wiener Neustadt to Klagenfurt. In three waves of attacks, 90 bombers dropped around 1,200 high-explosive bombs over the city. There were 234 deaths, 73 seriously injured and around 1,800 homeless people.

 

This attack was followed by 48 more by April 26, 1945, 12 of which were major attacks in which a total of 2,000 tons of bombs were dropped. At the end of the war, 3,413 houses and 9,672 apartments had been destroyed. 60 percent of Klagenfurt's apartments were destroyed and 510 people were killed. 1665 Klagenfurt residents died as soldiers during the war.

 

Post-war and present

On May 8, 1945, British troops reached the city a few hours before the units of the Yugoslav armed forces and the Yugoslav partisans. The communist leadership of Yugoslavia under Marshal Tito , with the support of the Soviet Union , claimed Klagenfurt and large parts of Carinthia for themselves, but they encountered resistance from the British. However, the British were unable to prevent residents of the Klagenfurt district from being kidnapped by Yugoslav partisans.

 

Klagenfurt was part of the British zone until the end of the occupation in Austria in 1955. The English War Cemetery on Lilienthalstraße is still a reminder of this today.

 

In 1947, Austria's first district heating power plant was built in Klagenfurt, in 1955 the country's first high-rise building was built and in 1961, Wiener Gasse, together with Kramergasse, became the first designated pedestrian zone in Austria, which was soon expanded to include Alter Platz. The botanical garden , founded in 1862, was moved from Mießtalerstrasse to the former quarry on Kreuzbergl in 1958. The creation of the cathedral square by demolishing the Jesuit barracks , which had been damaged in the war, caused controversial discussions in the 1960s .

 

Science & Technology Park

A focus of city policy in the post-war period was the reconstruction and expansion of the school and university systems. With the establishment of the Federal High School for Slovenes in Klagenfurt in 1957, one of Austria's obligations in the State Treaty of 1955 was fulfilled. In addition, other educational centers were built with the aim of offering several training focuses for students in Klagenfurt, including the music high school in Viktring and the Mössingerstraße federal school center, which houses an HTL and a high school. The University of Education Sciences was founded in 1970, which subsequently became what is now the University of Klagenfurt .

As a result of the incorporation of four large neighboring communities ( Viktring , Hörtendorf , Wölfnitz and St. Peter am Bichl with the Ulrichsberg ) as well as some areas of neighboring communities ( Ebenthal , Maria Wörth , Poggersdorf , Liebenfels ) as part of the municipal reform in 1973, the municipal area became In 1938 it was expanded again significantly, by a good double, and reached its current size of 12,030 hectares.

 

Mosaic coat of arms for UEFA Euro 2008

On July 3, 2007, the local council decided to rename the city of Klagenfurt to “Klagenfurt am Wörthersee”, this was confirmed by the Carinthian state parliament. It was hoped that this would increase the city's marketing value. Critical voices, however, emphasized that Klagenfurt has only been located on Lake Wörthersee since the beginning of the 20th century through property purchases and that it has little in common with Lake Wörthersee in terms of cultural history.

 

The Wörthersee Stadium was rebuilt between 2006 and 2008 for the 2008 European Football Championship , and three preliminary round games took place in the stadium.

 

In 2015, Klagenfurt am Wörthersee was awarded the honorary title of “ Reformation City of Europe ” by the Community of Evangelical Churches in Europe .

The sign is written in Neapolitan dialect of Italian

Schweighouse-sur-Moder (en allemand Schweighausen, prononcé en dialecte local "Schweighüse") est une commune française, située dans le département du Bas-Rhin et la région Alsace. Avant le 8 septembre 1949, la commune se nommait officiellement Schweighausen. Le 5 mars 1949, son conseil municipal ayant décrété que ce nom sonnait "trop allemand", pris la résolution de changer la dénomination du village en "Schweighouse-sur-Moder". Outre la question de la sonorité allemande, une raison invoquée fut reliée à un projet de création d'un grand cimetière national français sur le territoire de la commune, et au fait que l'orthographe "Schweighausen" aurait pu poser des problèmes aux visiteurs de l'intérieur, en raison de la présence d'une commune homonyme en Haute-Alsace. Néanmoins, ce projet de cimetière tomba aux oubliettes, et le nom resta comme il est aujourd'hui.

 

Le nom peut être décomposé en deux termes allemands : "Schweige ", à savoir "bétail" et "Haus ", à savoir "maison, demeure". En moyen haut-allemand, le pluriel en est "Husen " tandis que, en allemand contemporain, cela donne plutôt "Hausen ". On retrouve les différentes formes en Alsace, en plus des formes ayant résulté des différents processus de francisation : "House " ou "Hause ". Orthographié "Schweighouse" ou "Schweighausen", le nom du village peut se traduire par "maisons au bétail" (au pluriel).

 

Le village a un homonyme dans le Haut-Rhin : Schweighouse-Thann.

 

Les armes de Schweighouse-sur-Moder se blasonnent ainsi : « de sinople à la tour crénelée d'or maçonnée de sable ».

 

Source wikipedia

"Cape Matapan (Greek: Κάβο Ματαπάς, or Ματαπά in the Maniot dialect), also named as Cape Tainaron (Greek: Ακρωτήριον Ταίναρον), or Cape Tenaro, is situated at the end of the Mani Peninsula, Greece. Cape Matapan is the southernmost point of mainland Greece, and the second southernmost point in mainland Europe. It separates the Messenian Gulf in the west from the Laconian Gulf in the east.

 

"Cape Matapan has been an important place for thousands of years. The tip of Cape Matapan was the site of the ancient town Tenarus, near which there was (and still is) a cave that Greek legends claim was the home of Hades, the god of the dead. The ancient Spartans built several temples there, dedicated to various gods. On the hill situated above the cave, lie the remnants of an ancient temple dedicated to the sea god Poseidon (Νεκρομαντεῖον Ποσειδῶνος). Under the Byzantine Empire, the temple was converted into a Christian church, and Christian rites are conducted there to this day. Cape Matapan was once the place where mercenaries waited to be employed.

 

"At Cape Matapan, the Titanic's would-be rescue ship, the SS Californian, was torpedoed and sunk by German forces on 9 November 1915. In March 1941, a major naval battle, the Battle of Cape Matapan, occurred off the coast of Cape Matapan, between the Royal Navy and the Italian Regia Marina, in which the British emerged victorious in a one-sided encounter. The encounter's main result was to drastically reduce future Italian naval activity in the Eastern Mediterranean.

 

"More recently a lighthouse was constructed, but it is now in disuse."

 

Source: Wikipedia

Logotype for dialect magazine.

 

Featured on Logomoose.com - "a showcase for the very best logos from all over the world." www.logomoose.com/logo-design/dialect-magazine/

Lundi 26 janvier 2010, présentation et séance de dédicace à la Maison de l’Alsace, "Le gardien des âmes" par l’auteur Pierre KRETZ

  

Un Alsacien se terre dans sa cave parmi les fantômes du passé…

 

Un grand roman sur le poids de la guerre et le difficile travail de mémoire en Alsace

 

- Par l’auteur du best-seller Quand j’étais petit, j’étais catholique.

- Des soldats de 14-18 à la fin de la guerre d’Algérie en passant par les Malgré Nous, l’histoire de plusieurs générations d’Alsaciens.

 

Grave, sans tabou et pourtant plein d’humour, un texte sensible et poignant sur tout ce qui contribue à l’identité alsacienne : la langue, les changements successifs de nationalité, la dérision…

  

L’OUVRAGE

 

Voici le roman qui manquait à l’Alsace ! Voici une œuvre littéraire qui en dit bien plus sur une histoire malmenée et sur une mémoire meurtrie que tant de livres de souvenirs ou d’érudition. Dans un long monologue sans complaisance, non dénué de tendresse et d’humour, un homme raconte pourquoi il s’est retiré du monde. Volontairement reclus dans la cave de sa maison familiale, au cœur d’un petit village alsacien semblable à tous les autres, entouré de photos et de documents, il s’est transformé en « gardien des âmes », celles des soldats disparus en Russlànd, des femmes restées seules, des anciens de la guerre d’Algérie. En cherchant à renouer, dans une impossible psychanalyse, les fils d’une histoire familiale déchirée par les violences de l’histoire, il fait revivre les figures de ses proches, parents et amis d’enfance. Sa confession, belle et envoûtante, ouvre les portes d’un apaisement, d’une sérénité lucide. D’une réconciliation.

Avec ce roman tendu comme un arc et émouvant comme un coucher de soleil, Pierre Kretz exprime la forte humanité qui avait séduit les nombreux lecteurs de Quand j’étais petit, j’étais catholique.

 

Aux Éditions La Nuée Bleue : www.nueebleue.com

  

L’AUTEUR

 

Né en 1950 à Sélestat, Pierre Kretz a exercé pendant 25 ans la profession d’avocat à Strasbourg. Parallèlement, il a initié de nombreuses aventures théâtrales, principalement en dialecte alsacien, en tant que comédien, auteur et metteur en scène.

  

Maison de l’Alsace (Maison régionale pour promouvoir l’Alsace à Paris)

39, Avenue des Champs-Élysées

75008 PARIS

Métro : lignes 1 et 9 Franklin D. Roosevelt

Bus : lignes 32 et 73 La Boétie - Champs-Élysées

Parking : rue Pierre Charron

Tél. : 01 53 83 10 10

E-mail : info@maison-alsace.com

www.maison-alsace.com

Knucker is a dialect word for a kind of water dragon, living in knuckerholes in Sussex, England. The word comes from the Old English nicor which means "water monster" and is used in the poem Beowulf.

 

The most famous Knucker lived, according to legend, at Lyminster. The Knucker apparently caused a lot of trouble, consuming local livestock and even villagers, and so it was decided to slay the monster. A number of different legends recount how this was done.

 

One version has the dragon slain by a knight-errant after the king of Sussex offered his daughter's hand in marriage to whoever rid them of the beast. Legend says that after marrying the princess, the knight settled in Lyminster and his gravestone, the Slayer's Slab, can be seen in Lyminster church.

 

An alternative legend has the dragon outwitted by a local farmer's boy, called Jim Pulk or Jim Puttock, said in some versions to be from Wick, after the Mayor of Arundel offered a reward. He killed the dragon by cooking it a giant poisoned pie, which he took to the knuckerhole on a horse and cart. The dragon ate up pie, horse and cart. When it had expired the boy returned and cut off its head. In some versions he then dies himself, probably of the same poison he used on the dragon, though this is possibly a later addition designed to explain the Slayer's Slab.

 

It was believed that knuckers could be found at knuckerholes in various places in Sussex, including Lyminster, Lancing, Shoreham and Worthing.

A bull is an intact (i.e., not castrated) adult male of the species Bos taurus (cattle). More muscular and aggressive than the females of the same species (i.e. cows proper), bulls have long been an important symbol in many religions, including for sacrifices. These animals play a significant role in beef ranching, dairy farming, and a variety of sporting and cultural activities, including bullfighting and bull riding.

 

Due to their temperament, handling of bulls requires precautions.

 

Nomenclature

See also: List of animal names

The female counterpart to a bull is a cow, while a male of the species that has been castrated is a steer, ox, or bullock, although in North America, this last term refers to a young bull. Use of these terms varies considerably with area and dialect. Colloquially, people unfamiliar with cattle may also refer to steers and heifers as "cows", and bovines of aggressive or long-horned breeds as "bulls" regardless of sex.

 

A wild, young, unmarked bull is known as a micky in Australia.[3] Improper or late castration on a bull results in him becoming a coarse steer, also known as a stag in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. In some countries, an incompletely castrated male is known also as a rig or ridgling.

 

The word "bull" also denotes the males of other bovines, including bison and water buffalo, as well as many other species of large animals, including elephants, rhinos, seals and walruses, hippos, camels, giraffes, elk, moose, whales, dolphins, and antelopes.

 

Characteristics

Bulls are much more muscular than cows, with thicker bones, larger feet, a very muscular neck, and a large, bony head with protective ridges over the eyes. These features assist bulls in fighting for domination over a herd, giving the winner superior access to cows for reproduction. The hair is generally shorter on the body, but the neck and head often have a "mane" of curlier, wooly hair. Bulls are usually about the same height as cows or a little taller, but because of the additional muscle and bone mass, they often weigh far more. Most of the time, a bull has a hump on his shoulders.

 

In horned cattle, the horns of bulls tend to be thicker and somewhat shorter than those of cows, and in many breeds, they curve outwards in a flat arc rather than upwards in a lyre shape. It is not true, as is commonly believed, that bulls have horns and cows do not: the presence of horns depends on the breed, or in horned breeds on whether the horns have been disbudded. (It is true, however, that in many breeds of sheep only the males have horns.) Cattle that naturally do not have horns are referred to as polled, or muleys.

 

Castrated male cattle are physically similar to females in build and horn shape, although if allowed to reach maturity, they may be considerably taller than either bulls or cows, with heavily muscled shoulders and necks.

 

Bulls become fertile around seven months of age. Their fertility is closely related to the size of their testicles, and one simple test of fertility is to measure the circumference of the scrotum; a young bull is likely to be fertile once this reaches 28 centimetres (11 in); that of a fully adult bull may be over 40 centimetres (16 in). Bulls have a fibroelastic penis. Given the small amount of erectile tissue, little enlargement occurs after erection. The penis is quite rigid when not erect, and becomes even more rigid during erection. Protrusion is not affected much by erection, but more by relaxation of the retractor penis muscle and straightening of the sigmoid flexure. Bulls are occasionally affected by a condition known as "corkscrew penis". The penis of a mature bull is about 3–4 cm in diameter, and 80–100 cm in length. The bull's glans penis has a rounded and elongated shape.

 

Misconceptions

A common misconception widely repeated in depictions of bull behavior is that the color red angers bulls, inciting them to charge. In fact, like most mammals, cattle are red–green color blind. In bullfighting, the movement of the matador's cape, and not the color, provokes a reaction in the bull.

 

Management

Beef production

Other than the few bulls needed for breeding, the vast majority of male cattle are castrated and slaughtered for meat before the age of three years, except where they are needed (castrated) as work oxen for haulage. Most of these beef animals are castrated as calves to reduce aggressive behavior and prevent unwanted mating, although some are reared as uncastrated bull beef. A bull is typically ready for slaughter one or two months sooner than a castrated male or a female, and produces proportionately more and leaner muscle.

 

Frame score is a useful way of describing the skeletal size of bulls and other cattle. Frame scores can be used as an aid to predict mature cattle sizes and aid in the selection of beef bulls. They are calculated from hip height and age. In sales catalogues, this measurement is frequently reported in addition to weight and other performance data such as estimated breed value.

 

Temperament and handling

Adult bulls may weigh between 500 and 1,000 kg (1,100 and 2,200 lb). Most are capable of aggressive behavior and require careful handling to ensure the safety of humans and other animals. Those of dairy breeds may be more prone to aggression, while beef breeds are somewhat less aggressive, though beef breeds such as the Spanish Fighting Bull and related animals are also noted for aggressive tendencies, which are further encouraged by selective breeding.

 

An estimated 42% of all livestock-related fatalities in Canada are a result of bull attacks, and fewer than one in 20 victims of a bull attack survives. Dairy breed bulls are particularly dangerous and unpredictable; the hazards of bull handling are a significant cause of injury and death for dairy farmers in some parts of the United States. The need to move a bull in and out of its pen to cover cows exposes the handler to serious jeopardy of life and limb. Being trampled, jammed against a wall, or gored by a bull was one of the most frequent causes of death in the dairy industry before 1940.[1] With regard to such risks, one popular farming magazine has suggested, "Handle the bull with a staff and take no chances. The gentle bull, not the vicious one, most often kills or maims his keeper".

 

Handling

In many areas, placing rings in bulls' noses to help control them is traditional. The ring is usually made of copper, and is inserted through a small hole cut in the septum of the nose. It is used by attaching a lead rope either directly to it or running through it from a head collar, or for more difficult bulls, a bull pole (or bull staff) may be used. This is a rigid pole about 1 m (3 ft) long with a clip at one end; this attaches to the ring and allows the bull both to be led and to be held away from his handler.

 

An aggressive bull may be kept confined in a bull pen, a robustly constructed shelter and pen, often with an arrangement to allow the bull to be fed without entering the pen. If an aggressive bull is allowed to graze outside, additional precautions may be needed to help avoid him harming people. One method is a bull mask, which either covers the bull's eyes completely, or restricts his vision to the ground immediately in front of him, so he cannot see his potential victim. Another method is to attach a length of chain to the bull's nose-ring, so that if he ducks his head to charge, he steps on the chain and is brought up short. Alternatively, the bull may be hobbled, or chained by his ring or by a collar to a solid object such as a ring fixed into the ground.

 

In larger pastures, particularly where a bull is kept with other cattle, the animals may simply be fed from a pickup truck or tractor, the vehicle itself providing some protection for the humans involved. Generally, bulls kept with cows tend to be less aggressive than those kept alone. In herd situations, cows with young calves are often more dangerous to humans. In the off season, multiple bulls may be kept together in a "bachelor herd".

 

Artificial insemination

Many cattle ranches and stations run bulls with cows, and most dairy or beef farms traditionally had at least one, if not several, bulls for purposes of herd maintenance.[32][33] However, the problems associated with handling a bull (particularly where cows must be removed from his presence to be worked) has prompted many dairy farmers to restrict themselves to artificial insemination (AI) of the cows. Semen is removed from the bulls and stored in canisters of liquid nitrogen, where it is kept until it can be sold, at which time it can be very profitable; in fact, many ranchers keep bulls specifically for this purpose. AI is also used to improve the quality of a herd, or to introduce an outcross of bloodlines. Some ranchers prefer to use AI to allow them to breed to several different bulls in a season or to breed their best stock to a higher-quality bull than they could afford to purchase outright. AI may also be used in conjunction with embryo transfer to allow cattle producers to add new breeding to their herds.

 

Relationship with humans

Aside from their reproductive duties, bulls are also used in certain sports, including bullfighting and bull-riding. They are also incorporated into festivals and folk events such as the Running of the Bulls and were seen in ancient sports such as bull-leaping. Though less common than castrated males, bulls are used as draught oxen in some areas. The once-popular sport of bull-baiting, in which a bull is attacked by specially bred and trained dogs (which came to be known as bulldogs), was banned in England by the Cruelty to Animals Act 1835.

 

As with other animals, some bulls have been regarded as pets. The singer Charo, for instance, has owned a pet bull named Manolo.

 

Significance in human culture

Sacred bulls have held a place of significance in human culture since before the beginning of recorded history. They appear in cave paintings estimated to be up to 17,000 years old. The mythic Bull of Heavens plays a role in the ancient Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh, dating as far back as 2150 BC. The importance of the bull is reflected in its appearance in the zodiac as Taurus, and its numerous appearances in mythology, where it is often associated with fertility. See also Korban. In Hinduism, a bull named Nandi, usually depicted seated, is worshipped as the vehicle of the god Shiva and depicted on many of the images of that deity.

 

Symbolically, the bull appears commonly in heraldry. Bulls appears as charges and crests on the arms of several British families. Winged bulls appear as supporters in the arms of the Worshipful Company of Butchers. In modern times, the bull is used as a mascot by both amateur and professional sports teams.

 

Bulls also have a special significance in Spanish culture, where the Running of the Bulls celebration occurs every year in summer. During this festival, a group of human runners called "mozos" try to outrace a group of bulls running behind them, while large crowds watch the entire race.

 

A popular NBA team, the Chicago Bulls, features the bull as its mascot.

 

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the slideshow

  

Qi Bo's photos on Fluidr

  

Qi Bo's photos on Flickriver

  

Qi Bo's photos on FlickeFlu

  

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From 19 to 21 August 2016 in the Sicilian town of Ali, there was the so-called "Great Feast" ("Festa Ranni" in Sicilian dialect) in honor of their patron Saint Agatha.

 

The feast, which lasts three days, it is called "Feast Ranni" (Great Feast) to emphasize the exceptional nature of the event, since it falls only once every ten years. Preparations officially begin early as a month before and are involved both the "ciliary" (ie families entrusted from time to time, which shall prepare at their own expense at the solemn celebration for Her Patron Saint), both the "Deputation of St. Agatha" collaborating with the parish priest, plays a role during the organizational phase.

 

The passage of the Holy Relics of the Martyr Agatha in the village of Ali (Messina) in their return to Catania, on the morning of August 17 of the year 1126, it was for this Sicilian center an extraordinary and grandiose event, that led to the building of the great Mother Church , which took place in the sixteenth century; then the celebration of the annual festival but especially the so-called "Great Feast", which recalls the three-day feasts taking place in the city of Catania.

  

We don't known the origins of this ancient feast, whose complex ritual was entrusted, almost to the present day only to the oral tradition; Father Seraphim of Ali (junior) speaks in 1754, in his book "Of story of Ali and his territory".

Long and laborious preparations are assigned to two groups each formed by twelve families belonging to two different districts of the country, they receive instructions to draw up each other's "Ciliium of Bread" and the other the "Cilium of Girls". These families are appointed by the Deputation of St. Agatha (Advisory body that exercises within the Church Mother, economic and organizational functions) and by the parish priest.

The names of the families of "ciliary", as they are called, are made known by the parish priest, after the morning Mass of the 5 February of the current year.

  

Traditionally the families of "Ciliium of Girls" traveling in neighboring countries (Fiumedinisi, Itala and Ali Terme) with the sound of the accordion and tambourine, to communicate the imminent date of the festivities and take offerings and gold jewelry in part borrowed, in part donated, to adorn the "Cilium of Girls".

Liturgical events are intertwined with the traditional folk feast. The Feast attracts many faithful and many emigrants who, for the occasion, return to their native village of Ali. The last day of celebration the two Ciliums and the float of St. Agatha are carried in procession through the city.

 

Postscript: This report is dedicated to the German family of Jewish origin, consisting of father, mother and two children, on a boat they decided to take his own life to escape their Nazi persecutors, by binding them all together, and weighted with stones, they threw themselves off the waters of Mazzaro (Taormina); they were later fished out by now without life, by local fishermen: in the "graveyard of foreigners" of Taormina, now for ever and ever close together, they rest in peace.

  

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Dal 19 al 21 Agosto 2016 nel paese Siciliano di Alì (Messina) si è svolta una caratteristica festa, della quale propongo un report fotografico.

 

La Festa , durata infatti tre giorni, è denominata "Festa Ranni" (Festa Grande) per porre in risalto l'eccezionalità del fenomeno e la grandiosità dell’evento, poiché essa ricade una sola volta ogni dieci anni. I preparativi iniziano ufficialmente già un mese prima e vedono coinvolti sia i “ciliari” (cioè le famiglie incaricate di volta in volta e scelte a rotazione, che provvedono a preparare a proprie spese la festa solenne per la Santa Patrona, con l’allestimento dei due “cilii” ovvero le due “vare” anche intese come “cerei”), sia la “Deputazione di S. Agata” che collaborando con il Parroco, svolge un ruolo durante la fase organizzativa.

 

Il passaggio delle Sacre Reliquie della Martire catanese dal paese di Ali (Messina) nel rientro loro verso Catania, la mattina del 17 agosto dell’anno 1126 , fu per questo centro Siciliano un evento straordinario e grandioso, che portarono alla edificazione della grande Chiesa Madre, avvenuta nel XVI secolo, quindi alla celebrazione della festa annuale ma soprattutto della così detta “Festa Ranni”, che ricorda i tre giorni di festa che avvengono nella città di Catania.

  

Oscure sono le origini e le antiche modalità di svolgimento di questa festa, il cui complesso rituale è stato affidato, fin quasi ai nostri giorni esclusivamente alla tradizione orale, Padre Serafino d’Alì (junior) ne parla nel 1754, nel suo libro “Della storia di Alì e suo territoro”.

Lunghi e laboriosi sono i preparativi affidati a due gruppi formati ciascuno da dodici famiglie appartenenti a due diversi quartieri del paese, che ricevono l’incarico di allestire l'uno il "Cilio del Pane" e l'altro il "Cilio delle Ragazze". Queste famiglie vengono nominate dalla Deputazione di S. Agata (Organo consultivo che esercita all’interno della Chiesa Madre, funzioni economico-organizzative) e dal Parroco, e la loro scelta segue una rotazione tale che nel corso degli anni nessun nucleo familiare, e di conseguenza nessun quartiere, ne rimane escluso.

 

I nomi dei "Ciliari", così vengono denominati, vengono resi noti dal Parroco, al termine della messa mattutina del 5 Febbraio dell’anno prestabilito per la Festa.

 

Come già detto sopra, ogni gruppo provvede autonomamente ad allestire l'uno il "Cilio del Pane" l'altro il "Cilio delle Ragazze".

  

Per tradizione le 12 famiglie di “ciliari delle ragazze”, anche loro sempre accompagnate da un nutrito gruppo (soprattutto giovani), si recano nei paesi vicini (Fiumedinisi, Itala e Alì Terme) a suon di fisarmonica e tamburello, per comunicare l’imminente data dei festeggiamenti e per raccogliere offerte e monili d’oro in parte in prestito, in parte ceduti, per adornare il “cilio delle ragazze”.

Le manifestazioni liturgiche si intrecciano con quelle folkloristiche; la festa richiama numerosi fedeli e parecchi emigrati che, per l’occasione, fanno ritorno al paese natio di Alì. L’ultimo giorno di festa i due cilii ed il fercolo di S. Agata vengono portati in processione lungo le vie cittadine.

Post scriptum: questo report lo dedico alla famiglia tedesca di origine ebrea, composta da padre, madre e da due bambini, che su di una barca decise di togliersi la vita per sfuggire ai loro persecutori nazisti, essi legandosi tutti tra di loro, ed appesantiti con pietre, si gettarono al largo delle acque di Mazzarò (Taormina); essi vennero poi ripescati, oramai senza vita, dai pescatori locali: nel “cimitero degli stranieri” di Taormina riposano le loro spoglie mortali.

  

Rangiroa (en el dialecto local Ragiroa o Ra'iroa) es un atolón de las Tuamotu, en la Polinesia Francesa. Está situado al noroeste del archipiélago, a 350 km de Tahití. Sus coordenadas son: 15°05′S 147°48′O

 

Es uno de los atolones más grandes del mundo, con un total de 1640 km²; de superfecie, y una laguna de 78 km de largo con una profundidad entre 20 y 35 m. El escollo está formado por 241 islotes y bancos de arena de un ancho de entre 300 y 600 m. Hay cuatro pasos entre el océano y la laguna. Los dos más importantes están al norte, junto a las villas de Avatoru y Tiputa que concentran la mayor parte de la población. Con 2.145 habitantes (censo de 1996) es el atolón más poblado de las Tuamotu. La población vive del turismo, la pesca y el cultivo de perlas negras.

The Japanese word Gyōza (ギョーザ, ギョウザ) was derived from the reading of 餃子 in the Shandong Chinese dialect (giaozi) and is written using the same Chinese characters.

 

The most prominent differences of Japanese-style gyōza from Chinese style jiaozi are the rich garlic flavor, which is less noticeable in the Chinese version, and the fact that Japanese gyōza are very lightly flavored with salt, soy, and that the gyōza wrappers are much thinner. They are usually served with soy-based tare sauce seasoned with rice vinegar and/or Rāyu (known as chili oil in English, làyóu (辣油) in China). The most common recipe found is a mixture of minced pork, cabbage, and Nira (Chinese chives), and sesame oil, and/or garlic, and/or ginger, which is then wrapped into thinly-rolled dough skins. In essence, gyōza are a cross between pierogi and egg rolls.

 

Gyōza can be found in supermarkets and restaurants throughout Japan. Pan-fried Gyōza are sold as a side dish in almost all ramen and Chinese restaurants.

 

The most popular preparation method is the pan-fried style called Yaki-gyōza (焼き餃子), in which the dumpling is first fried on one flat side, creating a crispy skin. Then, water is added and the pan sealed with a lid, until the upper part of the gyōza is steamed. Other popular methods include boiled Sui-gyōza (水餃子) and deep fried Age-gyōza (揚げ餃子).

 

Store bought frozen dumplings are often prepared at home by first placing them in a pot of water which is brought to a boil, and then transferring them to a pan with oil to fry the skin.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiaozi

Photographed near Hallplatz.

 

"Nuremberg (/ˈnjʊərəmbɜːrɡ/ NURE-əm-burg; German: Nürnberg [ˈnʏʁnbɛʁk]; in the local East Franconian dialect: Nämberch [ˈnɛmbɛrç]) is the largest city in Franconia, the second-largest city in the German state of Bavaria, and its 545,000 inhabitants make it the 14th-largest city in Germany.

 

Nuremberg sits on the Pegnitz, which carries the name Regnitz from its confluence with the Rednitz in Fürth onwards (Pegnitz→ Regnitz→ Main→ Rhine→ North Sea), and on the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal, that connects the North Sea to the Black Sea. Lying in the Bavarian administrative region of Middle Franconia, it is the largest city and unofficial capital of the entire cultural region of Franconia. The city is surrounded on three sides by the Reichswald, a large forest, and in the north lies Knoblauchsland (garlic land), an extensive vegetable growing area and cultural landscape.

 

The city forms a continuous conurbation with the neighbouring cities of Fürth, Erlangen and Schwabach, which is the heart of an urban area region with around 1.4 million inhabitants, while the larger Nuremberg Metropolitan Region has a population of approximately 3.6 million. It is the largest city in the East Franconian dialect area (colloquially: "Franconian"; German: Fränkisch).

 

Nuremberg and Fürth were once connected by the Bavarian Ludwig Railway, the first steam-hauled and overall second railway opened in Germany (1835). Today, the U1 of the Nuremberg Subway, which is the first German subway with driverless, automatically moving railcars, runs along this route. Nuremberg Airport (Flughafen Nürnberg "Albrecht Dürer") is the second-busiest airport in Bavaria after Munich Airport, and the tenth-busiest airport of the country.

 

Institutions of higher education in Nuremberg include the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg), Germany's 11th-largest university, with campuses in Erlangen and Nuremberg and a university hospital in Erlangen (Universitätsklinikum Erlangen), Technische Hochschule Nürnberg Georg Simon Ohm and Hochschule für Musik Nürnberg. The Nuremberg exhibition centre (Messe Nürnberg) is one of the biggest convention center companies in Germany and operates worldwide.

 

Nuremberg Castle and the city's walls, with their many towers, are among the most impressive in Europe. Staatstheater Nürnberg is one of the five Bavarian state theatres, showing operas, operettas, musicals, and ballets (main venue: Nuremberg Opera House), plays (main venue: Schauspielhaus Nürnberg), as well as concerts (main venue: Meistersingerhalle). Its orchestra, the Staatsphilharmonie Nürnberg, is Bavaria's second-largest opera orchestra after the Bavarian State Opera's Bavarian State Orchestra in Munich. Nuremberg is the birthplace of Albrecht Dürer and Johann Pachelbel. 1. FC Nürnberg is the most famous football club of the city and one of the most successful football clubs in Germany. Nuremberg was one of the host cities of the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

 

Franconia (German: Franken, pronounced [ˈfʁaŋkŋ̍]; Franconian: Franggn [ˈfrɑŋɡŋ̍]; Bavarian: Frankn) is a region of Germany, characterised by its culture and Franconian dialect (German: Fränkisch).

 

Franconia is made up of the three Regierungsbezirke of Lower, Middle and Upper Franconia in Bavaria, the adjacent, Franconian-speaking, South Thuringia, south of the Thuringian Forest—which constitutes the language boundary between Franconian and Thuringian— and the eastern parts of Heilbronn-Franconia in Baden-Württemberg.

 

Those parts of the Vogtland lying in Saxony (largest city: Plauen) are sometimes regarded as Franconian as well, because the Vogtlandian dialects are mostly East Franconian. The inhabitants of Saxon Vogtland, however, mostly do not consider themselves as Franconian. On the other hand, the inhabitants of the Hessian-speaking parts of Lower Franconia west of the Spessart (largest city: Aschaffenburg) do consider themselves as Franconian, although not speaking the dialect. Heilbronn-Franconia's largest city of Heilbronn and its surrounding areas are South Franconian-speaking, and therefore only sometimes regarded as Franconian. In Hesse, the east of the Fulda District is Franconian-speaking, and parts of the Oden Forest District are sometimes regarded as Franconian for historical reasons, but a Franconian identity did not develop there.

 

Franconia's largest city and unofficial capital is Nuremberg, which is contiguous with Erlangen and Fürth, with which it forms the Franconian conurbation with around 1.3 million inhabitants. Other important Franconian cities are Würzburg, Bamberg, Bayreuth, Ansbach and Coburg in Bavaria, Suhl and Meiningen in Thuringia, and Schwäbisch Hall in Baden-Württemberg.

 

The German word Franken—Franconians—also refers to the ethnic group, which is mainly to be found in this region. They are to be distinguished from the Germanic people of the Franks, and historically formed their easternmost settlement area. The origins of Franconia lie in the settlement of the Franks from the 6th century in the area probably populated until then mainly by the Elbe Germanic people in the Main river area, known from the 9th century as East Francia (Francia Orientalis). In the Middle Ages the region formed much of the eastern part of the Duchy of Franconia and, from 1500, the Franconian Circle. The restructuring of the south German states by Napoleon, after the demise of the Holy Roman Empire, saw most of Franconia awarded to Bavaria." - info from Wikipedia.

 

Summer 2019 I did a solo cycling tour across Europe through 12 countries over the course of 3 months. I began my adventure in Edinburgh, Scotland and finished in Florence, Italy cycling 8,816 km. During my trip I took 47,000 photos.

 

Now on Instagram.

 

Become a patron to my photography on Patreon or donate.

Of course the Menorcans have to speak some lingo that only Menorcans speak.

The Orkney Dictionary wis set furth bi The Orkney Language & Culture Group (Kirkwal) in 1996. (ISBN 0 9529324 0 7).

 

This dictionar gies the by-leid, or dialect, as spoken in the Orkney Isles.

Photie bi Dr Dauvit Horsbroch.

This Chinese Opera is performed in the Teochew - another Chinese dialect found in the Southern part of China.

En dialecto Cumanagoto “Chakau” significa “Arena”, y hace referencia al suelo del fértil valle que era dominado por el cacique.

Chacao tiene como punto de partida la vida del cacique Chacao: valiente jefe indígena de origen Caribe, temido y respetado por los conquistadores españoles, que controlaba amplias zonas del centro y este de lo que hoy conocemos como el valle de Caracas.

Según cuenta la tradición, Chacao entregó su vida durante un ataque a un campamento de soldados españoles, al rescatar a dos niños indígenas que fueron secuestrados por los conquistadores para provocar la confrontación con el jefe indígena. Durante la batalla, Chacao logra liberar a los pequeños pero cae herido de muerte, acabando así con el último bastión de resistencia indígena en Caracas.

Al fundar la ciudad de Caracas, el 25 de julio de 1567, el conquistador Diego de Losada incluyó en su jurisdicción a esa fértil llanura, que muchos visitantes, como el barón Alejandro Von Humboldt, llegaron a considerar como sitio ideal para la conformación de una ciudad.

El primer asentamiento criollo en la zona se fundó casi un siglo después, debido a la inmigración de damnificados del terremoto de San Bernabé, que dejó a Caracas en ruinas el 11 de junio de 1641.

Con la entrada en vigencia de la reforma de la Ley Orgánica de Régimen Municipal del 15 de junio de 1989, la figura del Distrito Sucre desaparece, naciendo el Municipio Sucre actual, el cual es desmembrado de su parte occidental, creándose así tres nuevos municipios foráneos: Baruta, El Hatillo y Chacao.

Newcastle Road, Sunderland

Photo by Mike Pearce

 

VN

Vρ = 50%

Decile 1

 

Mobile shop name

 

Bait

Bill Griffiths’ Dictionary of North East Dialect defines bait (sometimes spelled 'bate') as ‘a portable meal’ (2011:6). This seems to be how the word is being used on the side of a mobile food stall in Sunderland.

 

In modern Standard English the word is used to describe food used to lure prey, particularly in the context of fishing. Its origins lie in the Old English noun bát – ‘what can be bitten’ (i.e. ‘food’), which derives from the past tense of bítan (‘bite’). Cognate with bát are the Old Norse nouns beit ('pasturage') and beita ('food'). The link with animal feed is significant, since – as the Oxford English Dictionary records – historical evidence suggests that bait is often used to describe food for domestic animals, particularly horses.

 

What is now generally regarded as the North East sense of bait once had a wider geographical spread. Joseph Wright, in Volume 1 of the English Dialect Dictionary (1898) defines bait as a ‘workman or labourer's meal in the middle of the day’ and cites evidence for its occurrence in this sense in locations as far apart as Northumberland and Sussex.

 

Interestingly, nineteenth-century lexicographical sources record bait- occurring in a number of compounds: Wright gives bait-bag, bait-house, bait-irons, bait-poke, and bait-time. To this list we can now add -box.

  

References

 

Griffiths, B. 2011. A Dictionary of North East Dialect (3rd edition). Alnwick: Northumbria Press.

Wright, J. 1898. The English Dialect Dictionary, Vol. I. Oxford: Henry Frowde.

Oxford English Dictionary Online.

The indigenous Kaqchikel people here, in central Guatemala, speak the Kaqchikel (Kachiquel) dialect.

 

IMG_8474 R2

 

En dialecto Cumanagoto “Chakau” significa “Arena”, y hace referencia al suelo del fértil valle que era dominado por el cacique.

Chacao tiene como punto de partida la vida del cacique Chacao: valiente jefe indígena de origen Caribe, temido y respetado por los conquistadores españoles, que controlaba amplias zonas del centro y este de lo que hoy conocemos como el valle de Caracas.

Según cuenta la tradición, Chacao entregó su vida durante un ataque a un campamento de soldados españoles, al rescatar a dos niños indígenas que fueron secuestrados por los conquistadores para provocar la confrontación con el jefe indígena. Durante la batalla, Chacao logra liberar a los pequeños pero cae herido de muerte, acabando así con el último bastión de resistencia indígena en Caracas.

Al fundar la ciudad de Caracas, el 25 de julio de 1567, el conquistador Diego de Losada incluyó en su jurisdicción a esa fértil llanura, que muchos visitantes, como el barón Alejandro Von Humboldt, llegaron a considerar como sitio ideal para la conformación de una ciudad.

El primer asentamiento criollo en la zona se fundó casi un siglo después, debido a la inmigración de damnificados del terremoto de San Bernabé, que dejó a Caracas en ruinas el 11 de junio de 1641.

Con la entrada en vigencia de la reforma de la Ley Orgánica de Régimen Municipal del 15 de junio de 1989, la figura del Distrito Sucre desaparece, naciendo el Municipio Sucre actual, el cual es desmembrado de su parte occidental, creándose así tres nuevos municipios foráneos: Baruta, El Hatillo y Chacao.

The Japanese word Gyōza (ギョーザ, ギョウザ) was derived from the reading of 餃子 in the Shandong Chinese dialect (giaozi) and is written using the same Chinese characters.

 

The most prominent differences of Japanese-style gyōza from Chinese style jiaozi are the rich garlic flavor, which is less noticeable in the Chinese version, and the fact that Japanese gyōza are very lightly flavored with salt, soy, and that the gyōza wrappers are much thinner. They are usually served with soy-based tare sauce seasoned with rice vinegar and/or Rāyu (known as chili oil in English, làyóu (辣油) in China). The most common recipe found is a mixture of minced pork, cabbage, and Nira (Chinese chives), and sesame oil, and/or garlic, and/or ginger, which is then wrapped into thinly-rolled dough skins. In essence, gyōza are a cross between pierogi and egg rolls.

 

Gyōza can be found in supermarkets and restaurants throughout Japan. Pan-fried Gyōza are sold as a side dish in almost all ramen and Chinese restaurants.

 

The most popular preparation method is the pan-fried style called Yaki-gyōza (焼き餃子), in which the dumpling is first fried on one flat side, creating a crispy skin. Then, water is added and the pan sealed with a lid, until the upper part of the gyōza is steamed. Other popular methods include boiled Sui-gyōza (水餃子) and deep fried Age-gyōza (揚げ餃子).

 

Store bought frozen dumplings are often prepared at home by first placing them in a pot of water which is brought to a boil, and then transferring them to a pan with oil to fry the skin.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiaozi

Dumenza ( Duménsa in Varese dialect ) is an Italian municipality of 1,438 inhabitants in the province of Varese in Lombardy .

 

It is made up of the hamlets of Runo , Due Cossani , Stivigliano, Trezzino, Vignone and Torbera and other various localities.

 

Physical geography

The territory is crossed by the Rio Colmegnino , which originates in the locality of Regordallo ( Due Cossani ) from Mount Colmegnino and flows into Lake Maggiore at the level of the Colmegna di Luino hamlet . However, the valley dug in this way takes the name of Val Dumentina (also called Valle Smeralda due to its green colours). To the north of Colmegnino stands Monte Lema , which with its 1624 meters above sea level is an excellent panoramic peak, the highest in the Luinese area, served by a cable car on the Swiss side , from Miglieglia . In fact, Dumenza borders Switzerland and hosts a pedestrian crossing in Palone (Dumenza). To the north, however, it borders Val Veddasca , which can be accessed by continuing along provincial road 6.

 

Origins of the name

Various theories justify the toponym . The most probable is that it derives from a person's name: in the lists of "fires" (i.e. families) of the municipality, the name Dugmentio appears among some heads of families . It could derive from dux mensae or from loco mensa . In fact, only in one historical document, from another municipality, does it appear as Locomenza .

 

History

Two stone brackets decorated with human faces, found by the parish priest Parapini in the church, date back to 909. They are now found at the base of the tower. But these districts are already mentioned in an 18th century document which testifies how King Liutprand donated the lands of Valtravaglia to the monastery of San Pietro in Ciel d'Oro in Pavia .

 

The bell tower of the church of San Giorgio , in Runo , seems to have had a military role in the period preceding the year one thousand , during the various barbarian invasions : the road, in fact, which led from Varese to Luino and then to Dumenza, was the only one that accessed Bellinzona , as the long lake did not exist. It was probably part of a system of towers along these valleys, of which Runo's is the only one surviving.

 

From the 16th century it was under the lordship of the rich and powerful Moriggia family .

 

In the Napoleonic era the municipality annexed Runo for the first time . The first city council was elected in 1821 . In 1928 fascism gave the municipality its current extension by incorporating Due Cossani and Runo.

 

Monuments and places of interest

The church of San Nazario.

The church of the Immaculate Conception (of the former institute of the Ursuline nuns).

The church of San Giorgio in Runo

The historic center of Dumenza is characterized by rural houses with large sunny balconies.

 

Stivigliano maintains its medieval conformation intact, with narrow streets and houses close together. An old turret [6] is visible overlooking the Val Dumentina, evidently for military purposes.