Tag Archives: culture

Focus on culture: Martenitsa and Baba Marta (Bulgaria)

Author: Gustav @ Flickr, via Wikipedia Commons

Today’s blog post continues our culture series about interesting customs from all over the world and takes us to Bulgaria again and to Baba Marta Day with its Martenitsi which is celebrated on 1 March.

According to Bulgarian folklore Баба Марта, Baba Marta or ‘Grandma March’, is a grumpy old lady who is grudging at her two brothers and whose mood is said to determine the weather, so the sun only shines when she is smiling. There are different versions of the Baba Marta tale. One of them relates that Baba Marta is doing her spring cleaning on this day: While she is shaking her feather-filled blanket, all the feathers come out of it and fall down to Earth as the last snow of the year. This version of the tale has parallels to the German folktale of Mother Hulda (‘Frau Holle‘).

Bulgarians celebrate 1 March by observing the centuries-old custom of exchanging Мартеници Martenitsi in order to ask Baba Marta for mercy, in the hope that winter will pass faster and spring come sooner.

A Martenitsa (Bulgarian: мартеница, Macedonian: мартинка) is a small woollen ornament, made of red and white interwoven yarn, which usually takes the shape of two dolls, a male and a female. These are called Пижо и Пенда (Pizho and Penda): The male Pizho is predominantly white, while the female Penda is predominantly red and wears a skirt. Sometimes, the Martenitsi just take the shape of a red-and-white interwoven ribbon. The Martenitsi are good luck charms symbolizing health and happiness for the year and are said to protect against evil spirits. They are also a reminder that spring is near.

Author: Petko Yotov, via Wikipedia Commons Pizho and Penda

Traditionally, they are given away as gifts to friends and family, i.e. not bought for oneself, and are worn around the wrist or attached to one’s clothes for a certain period of time, usually until the first signs of spring appear, e.g. the sightings of a swallow, a stork or a crane, or blossoming trees. Then the Мартеници (Martenitsi) are removed. In the small mountain villages, people also decorate their homes and domestic animals with the Martenitsi. There are different rituals associated with the removal of the Martenitsi, which are different in every region. Some people tie their Martenitsi on a branch of a fruit tree, thereby also giving the tree the good luck that comes from the charm.Other people lay their Martenitsi under a rock, in the belief that the insect that will be closest to the charm the next morning will determine the owner’s health and luck for the rest of the year: If the insect is a worm червей or a larva ларви, the coming year will be full of success and health; if it is an ant мравка, the person will have to work hard to be successful; however, if the insect is a spider паяк, the person may not enjoy success or good health in the year to come.

The red and white colours of the charms are also associated with a colour symbolism: white бял symbolizes purity and red червен life and passion. At its origin, the custom therefore symbolized the cycles of life and death, good and evil, and of sorrow and happiness in human existence. White originally also stood for Man and the power of the sun, and under Christian influence came to stand for virginity and integrity and was the colour of Christ. Red stood for Woman and health, being a symbol of blood, conception and birth. The colours of the Martenitsi also symbolize Mother Nature: white symbolizes the purity associated with melting snow, while red stands for the colour of the setting sun.

Author: Danielgrad via Wikipedia Commons Magnolia full of tied Martenitsa, in Veliko Tarnovo (Велико Търново)

The custom of exchanging Martenitsi is thought to have been inspired by an incident in the life of Bulgaria’s first Khan Аспарух (Asparuh), who sent a white string to his wife to let her know that he survived a battle.

A similar tradition also exists in the Republic of Macedonia, as well as in Albania, Northern Greece, Romania and Moldova. Its origin derives from ancient pagan agricultural cults of nature common to the Balkan Peninsula. The specific ritual of tying red-and-white woolen strings suggests Thracian, Hellenic or even Roman origins of the tradition.

Is there a similar tradition associated with spring in your country or region? Tell us about it in the comments! 🙂

Focus on architecture: Trulli

Author: Marcok via Wikipedia Commons Trulli along Via Pertica in Alberobello, Bari, Italy

Today’s blog post is taking us to Apulia (Puglia), a region in Southern Italy, and to a type of architecture that is specific to the Valle d’Itria in the Murge area of this region: the so-called Trulli. Districts made up of trulli can be found especially in the town of Alberobello in the province of Bari.

Trulli had their origin as temporary field shelters or storehouses and as permanent dwellings of agricultural labourers. The italianized term ‘trullo‘ derives from the dialect word truddu, referring to a dry stone hut, which in turn comes from the Greek word τρούλος, cupola. Trulli are basically round or square dwellings whose internal space is covered by a dry stone corbelled or keystone vault. A trullisto or trullaro in Italian is a stonemason specializing in the construction of these trulli. Trulli were formerly known under the local term casedda (pl. casedde) (Italian casella, pl. caselle).

Trulli were built singly or in groups of up to five, sometimes also as a cluster of a dozen as farmyard buildings, but for a single rural family. The houses were made from local materials, which were either hard limestone or calcareous tufa, using the technique of dry stone masonry, i.e. without any mortar or cement. Dry-stone walls are also used in the surrounding area to separate fields. Trulli are on average 0.80 m to 2.70 m wide and between 1.60 m to 2 m high (from ground level to the beginning of the vault). Each conical roof covers one room, but sometimes there are arched alcoves which provide additional space and were often used as bedrooms, with a curtain hung in front of them.

Author: Marcok via Wikipedia Commons Spaccato di un trullo in Alberobello (modello in scala)

The region were the trulli are located, the Murgia, is a karst plateau. This had implications for the construction: As winter rains immediately drain through the soil into fissures in the strata of limestone bedrock, there is no permanent surface water, and any water needed for living must therefore be caught and collected in catchment basins and cisterns.Trulli were started by digging a cistern (cisterna), and the excavated stones were then used to build the dwelling itself; the cistern was topped with a lime-mortared barrel vault or dome, above which was often the floor of the dwelling.

The roofs consist of two parts: an inner layer of limestone voussoirs, crowned by a keystone, and an exterior layer of limestone slabs which are slightly tilted outward, to make sure that rain can drain off and that the house is watertight. At the top of the conical roof, there is usually a pinnacolo, or pinnacle, made from sandstone, which takes various shapes, e.g. a cone, sphere, disk, bowl, or polyhedron, etc. which is the signature of the stonemason who built the trullo.

Author: Luuuceee via Wikipedia Commons Cime dei Trulli in Alberobello

Both the exterior wall, and often also the interior of the trullo, were rendered with lime plaster and whitewashed for protection against drafts. Heating came from an open fireplace, whose flue was concealed in the masonry and the high chimneys were made from stone. However, trulli are difficult to heat because of their design, since warm air will rise up into the interior cone and so the houses will become unpleasantly cold during the winter, as well as condensing moisture. The thick walls will keep the dwellings pleasantly cool in the summer months though.

Some of the conical roofs have a symbol painted on it, e.g. Christian symbols such as a simple cross, a cross on a heart pierced by an arrow (representing Santa Maria Addolorata, or Our Lady of Sorrows), or a circle divided into four quarters with the letters S-C-S-D in them (for Sanctus Christus and Sanctus Dominus or the initials of Santo Cosma and Santo Damiano, two local saints), a dove symbolising the Holy Spirit, etc. These symbols are not ancient, but date from the late 20th century, when they were added when the roofs were repaired.

Author: Niels Elgaard Larsen via Wikipedia Commons Trulli in Alberobello

The trulli‘s archaic form is related to the Sardinian nuraghe, the Balearic talayots and the sesi of Pantelleria.

Focus on culture: Jól in Iceland

800px-Grassodenhäuser Today’s blog post will take us to Iceland and to some special Icelandic Jól (or Christmas) customs. Jól is based on the Old Norse religious festival called Yule.

Jól is celebrated on 24 December, but the Jól season includes events over several weeks: Aðventa (advent, the four Sundays preceding jól), aðfangadagskvöld (Yule eve), jóladagur (Yule day), annar í jólum (Boxing day), gamlársdagur (old years day), nýársdagur (New Year’s Day) and þrettándinn (the thirteenth, and final day of the season).

The main event is Aðfangadagskvöld or Christmas Eve, when people meet for a Yule meal and exchange gifts. However, on the 13 days before December 24 the Yule lads or jólasveinar come into the towns from the mountains to give children that have behaved well small gifts. These they leave in shoes that have been placed near the window or on the window sill during the thirteen nights before Christmas Eve. Every night, a different Yule lad comes to visit, leaving either small gifts for well-behaved children, or a rotten potato if the child was naughty.

The Yule Lads, jólasveinarnir or jólasveinar, are figures from Icelandic folkore who in modern times have taken on the role of an Icelandic version of Santa Claus. There are thirteen jólasveinar. Originally, they were portrayed as mischievous pranksters who would steal from or harass the rural population, but in modern times they have been taking on a more benevolent role comparable to that of Santa Claus. They either wear late medieval Icelandic clothing or Santa Claus costumes. The jólasveinar are traditionally said to be the sons of the mountain-dwelling trolls Grýla and Leppalúði, and are often depicted with the Jólakötturinn or Yule cat.

The jólasveinar have descriptive names conveying their mode of operation and each day, a new lad arrives:

December 12 Stekkjarstaur (‘Sheep-Cote Clod’), harasses sheep but is impaired by his stiff peg-legs; leaves Dec.25

December 13 Giljagaur (‘Gully Gawk’), hides in gullies, waiting for an opportunity to sneak into the cowshed and steal some milk; leaves Dec. 26

December 14 Stúfur (‘Stubby’), unusually short, steals pans to eat the crust left on them; leaves Dec. 27

December 15 Þvörusleikir (‘Spoon-licker’), steals Þvörur (a type of wooden spoon – þvara- with a long handle) to lick them, is extremely thin due to malnutrition; leaves Dec. 28

December 16 Pottaskefill (‘Pot-scraper’), steals leftovers from pots; leaves Dec. 29

December 17 Askasleikir (‘Bowl-licker’), hides under beds waiting for someone to put down their ‘askur‘ (a wooden bowl with a lid), which he then steals; leaves Dec. 30

December 18 Hurðaskellir (‘door-slammer’), likes to slam doors, especially at night; leaves Dec. 31

December 19 Skyrgámur (‘Skyr-gobbler’), loves skyr (an Icelandic cultured dairy product which has the consistency of strained yoghurt, but a much milder taste); leaves Jan. 1

December 20 Bjúgnakrækir (‘sausage-swiper’), hides in the rafters and snatches sausages that were being smoked; leaves Jan. 2

December 21 Gluggagægir (‘window-peeper’), a voyeur who would look through windows in search of things to steal; leaves Jan. 3

December 22 Gáttaþefur (‘doorway-sniffer’), has an abnormally large nose and an acute sense of smell which he uses to locate laufabrauð (leaf-bread, an Icelandic specialty); leaves Jan. 4

December 23 Ketkrókur (‘meat-hook’), uses a meat hook to steal meat; leaves Jan. 5

December 24 Kertasníkir (‘candle-stealer’), follows children in order to steal their candles (which in olden days were made of tallow and thus edible); leaves Jan. 6

The Yule lads are often associated with the Jólakötturinn or Jólaköttur, or Yule Cat, a monster from Icelandic folklore, which is a huge and vicious cat said to lurk about the snowy countryside during Christmas time and eat people who have not received any new clothes to wear before Christmas Eve. The Yule Cat is the pet of the giantess Grýla and her sons, the Yule Lads. In former times, the threat of being eaten by the Yule Cat was used by farmers as an incentive for their workers to finish processing the autumn wool before Christmas. Those who participated in the work would get new clothes as a reward, but those who did not would get nothing and would therefore be preyed upon by the cat. The cat has alternatively been interpreted as merely eating away the food of those without new clothes during Christmas feasts. The tradition has its origin in the 19th century.

On January 6, Icelanders celebrate Þrettándinn (the thirteenth of jól), the last day of Christmas. It is celebrated with elf bonfires and elf dances. Families come together to have dinner and light fireworks. People also go into a corner of their houses and shout out the following folklore poem to drive out evil spirits and invite good spirits and elves:

Komi þeir sem koma vilja (those come who want)

Fari þeir sem fara vilja (those go who want)

Mér og mínum að meinalausu (neither hurting myself nor my family)

Another Icelandic jól custom is the preparation of laufabrauð or ‘Leaf-bread’, which a kind of very thin pancake with a diameter of about 15 to 20 cm (6 to 8 inches), which is decorated with leaf-like, geometric patterns and fried briefly in hot fat or oil. Here is a video showing how it is made: https://youtu.be/OCeUnjax-7w

Here is a recipe for Laufabrauð (‘leaf bread’): http://jol.ismennt.is/english/laufabraud-joe.htm

Icelandic: Different words for snow

Author: Andreas Tille via Wikipedia Commons Eyjafjallajökull

Since it is now winter in the Northern hemisphere, today’s blogpost will take us to the very North of Europe, namely to Iceland (or Ísland), and I will share some Icelandic words for different types of snow. 🙂

snjór or snær = snow

hjarn = crust of snow, or snow that does not melt in summer

lausamjöll = powder snow

mjöll and ný snævi = new-fallen snow

krap = slush

fönn = drifted heap of snow, snow-wreath, or snow that does not melt in summer

Author: Sb2s3 via Wikipedia Commons

There are also different words for different types of snowfall in Icelandic:

snjókoma or fannkoma = snowfall

snjómugga = a small snowfall

hundslappadrífa = very heavy snowfall with large snowflakes in calm weather

kafald or kóf = thick fall of snow

ofanbylar = snowfall in a wind

skafrenningur = drifting snow

hraglandi = sleet, or cold drizzling shower

bylur or hríð = snowstorm

drífa = snow-drift

él = a sudden fall of snow or hail, or hailstorm

fjúk = drift, drifting snow-storm

Focus on art: Japanese aesthetics and design principles

Author: Stephane D’Alu, via Wikipedia Commons
日本・京都の龍安寺石庭
Dry Garden in Ryoanji (Kyoto, Japan)

Today’s blog post is taking us to Japan and to Japanese notions of aesthetics and beauty which are fundamentally different from western notions of beauty in art.
Unlike in the West, in Japan the concept of aesthetics is not seen as separate and divorced from daily life, but as an integral part of it. Japanese aesthetics has its roots in Shinto-Buddhism 神道 Shintō , with its emphasis on wholeness in nature and its celebration of nature and the landscape, as well as its emphasis on ethics, as well as Zen Buddhism 禪 and its philosophy. In Buddhism, everything is considered as either dissolving into ‘nothingness’ or the ‘void’ or evolving from it, whereby this void is, however, not a sort of ‘empty space’, but rather a space of potentiality from which things can grow and come into being and later return to it – everything is in transience and constant change.
Japanese concepts of aesthetics are based on the ancient ideals of wabi (transient and stark beauty), sabi (the beauty of aging and of natural patina) and Yūgen 幽玄 (subtlety and profound grace).
Wabi-sabi represents an aesthetic understanding based on the acceptance of transience and imperfection, an appreciation of the beauty of things which are imperfect, incomplete and impermanent. Things in decay or those in bud are evocative of wabi-sabi and are therefore appreciated. The concept of wabi-sabi is derived from the Buddhist teaching of the three marks of existence (三法印 sanbōin ), which include impermanence (無常 mujō), emptiness or the absence of self (空 kū ) and suffering (苦 ku ). This notion of an aesthetic based on imperfection stands in direct contrast and opposition to the western understanding of beauty and aesthetics based on the ancient Greek ideal of perfection. Moreover, Japanese aesthetic ideals have an ethical connotation, since the aesthetic concepts are not only found in nature, but are also evocative of virtues of human character and appropriateness of behaviour. It is therefore believed that the appreciation and practice of art can instil virtue and civility in people.
The concept of wabi-sabi evolved from two different but related concepts, those of wabi and sabi, whose meanings overlapped and converged over time until they unified into the new combined concept of wabi-sabi (わび・さび or侘・寂). Wabi わび originally referred to the experience of loneliness of living in nature remote from the rest of society, whereas sabi (寂) means ‘withered’, ’lean’ or ‘chill’. There is an interesting phonological and etymological connection to the Japanese word sabi (錆), meaning ‘to rust’. While the two Kanji characters as well as their meanings are different ( ‘rust’, sabi), the original spoken word, which is pre-kanji or yamato-kotoba, is believed to be one and the same.
In Japanese aesthetics, wabi now connotes a quality of rustic simplicity, of understated elegance, quietness and freshness, and can be applied to both natural and human-made objects. Wabi can also refer to the imperfect quality of any object, due to limitations in design and quirks and anomalies arising from the process of manufacture and construction which add uniqueness to the object, in particular also with respect to unpredictable or changing conditions of usage. Sabi refers to the beauty or serenity that comes with age, and to the limited life-span of any object whose impermanence is evidenced in visible repairs and in its patina and wear.
Wabi-sabi has come to be defined as ‘flawed beauty’ and its characteristics include asymmetry, simplicity, irregularity, asperity or roughness, austerity, intimacy, modesty and economy, as well as an appreciation of the integrity of processes and of natural objects. The concept also has connotations of solitude and desolation.
Some examples illustrating the concept of wabi-sabi are chips or cracks in an item of pottery, which make the object more interesting and confer a greater meditative value onto it, the colour of glazed items which changes over time, as well as materials like wood, fabric and paper which exhibit visible changes over time, but also natural phenomena like falling autumn leaves.

Author: ottmarliebert.com via Wikipedia Commons, wabi-sabi bowl

A related design concept is the principle of miyabi ( 雅), which means ‘elegance’, ‘courtliness’ or ‘refinement’ and is sometimes translated as ‘heart-breaker’. It has its origins in the aristocratic ideals of the Heian era (平安時代 Heian jidai ), which prescribed the elimination of anything which was vulgar, unrefined, absurd, crude or rough and aimed for the polishing and refinement of manners and sentiments. Miyabi is closely connected to the notion of Mono-no-aware もののあわれ ( 物の哀れ, lit. ‘the pity of things’), a bittersweet awareness of the transience of things.
Wabi-sabi can be achieved through the seven aesthetic principles derived from Zen philosophy:
– Kanso (簡素) – simplicity; a clarity achieved through the omission of everything that is non-essential resulting in a plain, simple and natural manner
– Fukinsei (不均整) – asymmetry or irregularity; the notion of controlling balance in a composition via irregularity and asymmetry. An example for this principle is the Ensō (円相 circle) in brush painting (sumi-e 墨絵 or suibokuga 水墨画 ), also known as the Zen circle, which is often painted as an incomplete and unfinished circle, symbolizing the imperfection that is part of existence, as well as the absolute, the void, enlightenment, elegance and the universe itself. Some artists practice painting an ensō daily as a meditative spiritual Zen exercise. One of the aims of fukinsei is that by leaving an item incomplete, the beholder is given the opportunity to participate in the creative act by supplying the missing symmetry.

Author: Kanjuro Shibata, via Wikipedia Commons
Ensō (円相)

– Shizen (自然 , lit. ‘nature’) – naturalness; an absence of pretense or artificiality. An example for this principle is the Japanese garden日本庭園 nihon teien, whose intentional design based on naturally occurring rhythms and patterns, is, though ‘of nature’, also distinct from it.
– Yūgen (幽玄 , lit. ‘mystery’) – subtlety, profundity or suggestion; the term is derived from Chinese philosophical concepts and meant ‘dim’, ‘mysterious’ or ‘deep’ . Yūgen shows more by showing less and by limiting the information. The power of suggestion that visually implies more by not showing everything leaves things to the imagination, thereby enhancing their effect. Yūgen is the subtle profundity of things that is only vaguely suggested and is beyond what can be expressed in words, yet is of this world. Examples for yūgen are the subtle shades of bamboo on bamboo, to watch the sun set behind a mountain, to gaze after a ship that slowly disappears behind the horizon or to contemplate the flight of a flock of birds. Yūgen is a profound, mysterious sense of the beauty of nature and the sad beauty of human suffering.
– Datsozoku (脱俗) – break or freedom from habit or routine, transcending the conventional. A feeling of surprise that arises from unexpected breaks in a pattern or a break from the ordinary. An interruptive break in a design.
– Seijaku (静寂) – tranquillity, stillness, solitude or an energized calm, in which one can find the essence of creative energy. An example for seijaku is meditation or the feeling one may have in a Japanese garden.
– Shibui (渋いadjective, lit.‘bitter tasting’)/shibumi (渋み noun) or shibusa (渋さ noun)– austerity, simple, subtle and unobtrusive beauty, beauty by understatement, elegant simplicity, minimalism. The term originally referred to a sour or astringent taste. Examples are objects which appear to be simple overall, but which include subtle details like textures, which balance simplicity with complexity, offering an appearance of which one does not tire but whose aesthetic value grows over time as one finds new meanings in its subtleties. Shibusa-objects circumscribe a fine line between contrasting aesthetic principles like restrained and spontaneous, or elegant and rough.

Another concept of Japanese aesthetics is the principle of iki ( いき, often written 粋), which has an etymological root meaning ‘pure’ or ‘unadulterated’ and a connotation of having an ‘appetite for life’, which is an expression of originality, simplicity, sophistication and spontaneity, and is emphemeral, straightforward, measured and unselfconscious. Iki can be expressed in the human appreciation of natural beauty or as a trait of human character or through artificial phenomena exhibiting human will or consciousness , but does not occur as such in nature. Iki is a broad term referring to qualities that are aesthetically pleasing, refinement with flair, or a tasteful manifestation of sensuality. The concept of iki is thought to have formed among the urban mercantile class (Chōnin 町人 townspeople) in Edo 江戸(lit. ‘bay entrance’ or ‘estuary’) in the Tokugawa period ((徳川時代 Tokugawa jidai 1603–1868).

Balinese: language and mythology (the world turtle Bedawang)

Today’s blog post is taking us to South East Asia, to the Indonesian island of Bali and its language, Basa Bali. Balinese is an Austronesian language, like Indonesian, and is spoken by about 3 million people on the island of Bali and in parts of Indonesia like western Lombok and some villages in Sulawesi, where many Balinese anak Bali live. Virtually all people in Bali also speak Bahasa Indonesia, the national language, except for some old people. While the grammatical structures of Indonesian and Balinese are quite similar, the vocabulary of both languages is quite different. Balinese has many words of Sanskrit, Farsi, Tamil as well as Javanese, Dutch and Portuguese origin, reflecting the Hindu background of Balinese society. A particularity of Balinese is its two levels of social distinction, which each has its own set of parallel vocabulary and which reflect both the social status of the speaker as well as that of the person addressed. Biasa or common words are used by people of equal social status and they reflect informality and intimacy among the speakers. In contrast, halus or refined words reflect formality and distance among the speakers. There are, however, only a certain number of words that are different in both language levels, mainly those concerning human beings, while most words can be used for both levels. Topics that are considered very halus, like religion, always require the use of halus words. The Balinese are predominantly Hindus and the traditional Balinese social structure is therefore based on the Hindu caste system. However, ‘caste’ in Bali is not at all based on rigid distinctions and restrictions of occupations as in India, it merely reflects a notion of general social status, which in turn is reflected in the language. The 4 castes are:

Brahmana , the highest caste and those of priests (Brahmin in India), the name of members of this caste starts with Ida Bagus (m) or Ida Ayu (f);
ksatria the second caste and ruler and warrior caste (Kshatriya in India), the name of members of this caste starts with Anak Agung or Cokorda/Tjokorde Gde (m) or Tjokorde Istri (f);
wesia the third caste and that of merchants and officials (weysha in India), the name of members of this caste starts with I Gusti ;
and the sudra or rice farmers’ caste (shudra in India, the non-caste). Only about 7 % of the anak Bali belong to the triwangsa or the three higher castes, while the large majority, more than 90%, belong to the sudra caste.

Generally, people of a lower caste will ‘speak upward’ to a member of a higher caste, i.e. they will choose the more refined halus words. Likewise, a member of a higher caste will ‘speak down’ to a member of a lower class, that is, choose the common biasa words. So a farmer speaking to another farmer would use biasa words, and a member of a high caste speaking with another high class individual would use halus words. However, a farmer speaking with or referring to a member of the high class would use halus words.

Here is an example:

Biasa level: Dadi tawang adane? May I know your name? (Indonesian: Bisa saya tahun nama Anda?) Adan tiange…. Jerone nyen? My name is…. What’s yours? (Indonesian: Nama saya….. Anda siapa?)

Halus level: Dados uningin parabe? May I know your name? (Indonesian: Bisa saya tahun nama Anda?) Parab tiange….. Sira parab jerone? My name is…. What’s yours? (Indonesian: Nama saya…. Anda siapa?)

Biasa level: Ene poh. Luung sajan. (Indonesian: Ini mangga. Bagus sekali.) This is a mango. It is very good. Ene biu. (Indonesian: Ini pisang) This is a banana.

Halus level: Niki poh. Becik pisan. (Indonesian: Ini mangga. Bagus sekali.) This is a mango. It is very good. Niki pisang. (Indonesian: Ini pisang) This is a banana.

As you can see from the last example, there are often two different words for the same thing, like here the word for ‘banana’ which is biu on the biasa level, but pisang on the halus level of speech. The same thing is true for the expression ‘This is….’, which is ‘niki…..’ on the halus level, but ‘ene…’ on the biasa speech level.

Author: chensiyuan, wikipedia Commons

Here are some words typical of Balinese culture:

Odalan temple festival (halus word only)

Pedanda Brahmana priest (pandit in India)

Meru wooden, pagoda-like building with grass roof, named after the holy Mount Meru in India

Naga mythological snake or dragon

Pura puseh temple for the divine ancestors

Pura dalem temple for the dead in the underworld

Another particularity of the Balinese is that people are named according to their order of birth in their family. The names are the same for both males and females, but as an indicator of gender the particle i is used for males and ni for females before the name. Here are the names for members of the farmer caste:

Wayan for the first-born of a family (I Wayan/ Ni Wayan)

Made for the second child

Nyoman for the third child Ketut for the fourth child

A further cultural peculiarity is that the anak Bali will always give directions according to the four directions of the compass instead of using ‘left’ and ‘right’.

North = kaja South = kelod West = kauh East = kangin (all biasa words)

This has interesting implications: While kaja generally means ‘inland, towards the mountains’ ‘in the direction of Gunung Agung‘, the highest and holy mountain of Bali (a prosperous direction), in Southern and Central Bali it therefore means ‘north’ but in Buleleng in Northern Bali it means ‘south’! The same goes for kelod, which means ‘towards the sea’ (a disastrous direction): in Southern and Central Bali it refers to the ‘south’, while in Buleleng in Northern Bali it means ‘north’!

Balinese also has an old indigenous script, the Carakan script:

the old Balinese script, the Carakan alphabet

Bali also has a very rich mythology. According to the Balinese creation myth, in the beginning of time, only the world snake Antaboga existed. During a meditation, Antaboga created Bedawang or Bedawang Nala, a giant turtle who carries the world on her back. Two snakes or dragons (naga) lie on Bedawang’s shell, as well as the Black Stone, which is the lid of the underworld. All other creations sprang from Bedawang. When Bedawang moves, there are earthquakes and volcanic eruptions on earth.
Bedawang = boiling water Nala = fuel
Bidawang means ‘turtle river’ in the Banjar language
The goddess Setesuyara and the god Batara Kala, the creator of light and earth, rule over the underworld. Above the world, there is first a layer of water, then a layer of moving sky, where Semara, the god of love lives. Above this floating sky there is the dark blue sky with the sun and the moon. Yet again above this sky, there is the scented sky full of fragrant flowers, the abode of the human-headed bird Tjak (Cak), of the snake Taksaka and of the Awan-snakes (falling stars). The ancestors live in a fiery sky, located above the scented sky. The abode of the gods forms the final and uppermost layer of the sky.
Etymology: a = not, Ananta = endless, never exhausted, boga = food
Anantaboga = endless food, food that never gets exhausted

A rather good online dictionary for Balinese: http://dictionary.basabali.org/Main_Page

Author: Tropenmuseum Amsterdam, Wikipedia Commons
the turtle Bedawang Nala and the snake Ananthabhoga

Author: Tropenmuseum, Wikipedia Commons
Wayang figure representing Batara Kali

Cultural and educational TV in French and German “arte”

For those of you who would like to improve or practice their hearing comprehension in French or German, but who do not like the usual low-quality programs of mainstream television and who prefer to watch educational programs and documentaries about culture, history, politics, geography, sciences and topics of current interest and good movies, the French-German cultural TV station “arte” might be interesting for you. All their programs are translated into both languages and can be watched via the internet (you can choose the language on-screen after starting a program).

Pour la version française: www.arte.tv/guide/fr/plus7/

Und für die deutsche Version: http://www.arte.tv/guide/de/plus7/

(Note: These links might not work for all countries)

Polyglottando

A blog about languages, multilingual living and cultural diversity