Dance around the world: waltz, ballet, Bachata, B-boying

Waltz

The waltz is a ballroom and folk dance from around the 16th century with evidence of it found in several European countries including France, Germany, Austria and England.



Ballet

Ballet is a formalized kind of performance dance, which originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century, and which was further developed in France, England, and Russia as a concert dance form.





Bachata

Bachata is a style of dance that accompanies the music of the same name. It has its origins in the Dominican Republic.The dance is a four-step beat achieved with a walking Cuban hip motion, and a unique “pop”.



B-boying (Breakdance)

B-boying, commonly referred to as breakdancing, is a style of dance that was created, and developed as part of hip-hop culture among African Americans, and later on Latino American youths in New York City.

Get to know German music!

Here are the top 5 German (we have omitted the non-German ones) songs in the music charts at the moment. To see the top 20, click here. We are by no means saying that this is all there is to German Music, this is just what the German public are loving at the moment!

Mehrzad Marashi - Don't Believe



Lena - Satellite



Mark Medlock - Real Love



Unheilig - Geboren Um Zu Leben



Blümchen - Boomerang

The Massacre of Casinga

Cassinga Day is a national public holiday in Namibia remembering the Cassinga massacre. Occurring on 4 May yearly, the day "remembers those (approximately 600) killed in 1978 when the South African Defence Force attacked a SWAPO base (refugee camp) at Cassinga in southern Angola". Commemorations are marked yearly by ceremonies at Heroes Acre, outside of Windhoek. These ceremonies are attended by many important national political figures, including Presidents Hifikepunye Pohamba and Sam Nujoma.

At daybreak on May 4, 1978, South African planes flew over Cassinga, a Namibian refugee camp in southern Angola. Claudia Ushona, who was then a sixteen-year old refugee living in the camp, recalls, “We were gathered outside to salute the flag when we saw white things falling from the sky. We thought it was our president [Sam Nujoma, president of SWAPO] sending

us candy. We were eager to see him. We said, ‘The president is coming! And he is bringing us candy!’ We were living in a refugee camp, we were all dreaming of the candy the president would bring us. But they were bombs."

After the bombs came the paratroopers. This was the massacre of Cassinga– more than 600 Namibians, mostly women and children were slaughtered by the soldiers of Apartheid. A United Nations delegation that visited Cassinga a few days later reported: "What the South Africans did was criminal in legal terms and savage in moral terms. It reminds us of the darkest moments in modern history."

Western governments barely reacted to the massacre. In the UN Security Council, the United States and its allies opposed sanctions against South Africa. President Jimmy Carter, self-styled champion of human rights, told reporters, "The South Africans claim that it was just a retaliatory raid against the SWAPO forces who had invaded Namibia with small strikes, and they’ve claimed to have withdrawn and have not left any South African forces in Angola. So we hope it’s just a transient strike in retaliation and we hope it’s all over."

A few weeks after the massacre, the first group Namibian children, six hundred strong, most of whom were survivors of Cassinga, arrived in Cuba to study and grow up far from the South African bombs. The Cuban embassay said 'No other country in the world opened its doors so widely and so generously to the Namibian refugees'.

A Cuban unit that had been based at Tchamutete, 16 kilometers south of Cassinga, immediately advanced under the strafing and bombs of the South African planes to confront the aggressor; 16 soldiers died and more than 80 were wounded. Looking back, the South African historian of the operation wrote in 1982, "the South Africans who monitored their approach with such foreboding that day pay tribute to the courage of the Cubans who pushed forward in spite of the imminent danger of being knocked out by aircraft against which they had no defenses at all."

A decade later, on May 4, 1988, the South African Defense Force (SADF) celebrated the tenth anniversary of the massacre with a military parade in the northern Namibian town of Oshakati. General Ian Gleeson, chief of staff of the SADF, boasted that the raid had been "the most successful paratroop operation of its kind anywhere in the world since World War Two." The parade was "an impressive show of strength," the Johannesburg Star noted, but the Namibian people commemorated the massacre with an unprecedented show of defiance. Holding black banners with the words, "Cassinga, 1978-88 – We remember," demonstrators congregated in massive rallies and marched through the streets of Katatura, the black township adjoining white Windhoek, and other Namibian towns, defying rubber bullets and teargas. "Only when Namibia is independent will there be no more Kassingas," the General Secretary of the Council of Churches in Namibia declared. "It makes us weep more bitterly when we know that the Western countries which like to speak so loudly of democracy and human rights (Britain, United States and Germany) actually collaborate with South Africa to perpetuate our suffering and delay our independence. We refuse to accept their hypocritical excuses that we, the Africans, would suffer most if mandatory sanctions are imposed on South Africa. We refuse to be consoled by spokespersons of these governments until these governments have become reasonable in terms of human rights. ... We cry and refuse to be comforted because we value and respect life, liberty, freedom and independence of all our people. We are children of God who are entitled to take our rightful place as a free people amongst the nations."

Politically, the operation was a disaster for South Africa. Although one of the parabats was specifically tasked to take photographs and media releases managed in order to counter hostile claims of killing innocent civilians, it was SWAPO that made the first announcements about the attack, as operations in the border areas were continuing. This caught the South Africans by surprise, as they were expecting SWAPO to downplay the raid. Instead, SWAPO maxmised the propaganda opportunity, describing the base as a refugee camp and claiming the SADF had slaughtered 600 defenceless refugees. Despite armaments being found and photographed at Cassinga, and documents to the contrary, the International Red Cross stated that the camp was in fact both a refugee camp and a military base. The bodies were buried in two mass graves at Cassinga, with gruesome pictures of them being used very effectively by SWAPO for propaganda purposes.

Image of SWAPO propaganda with images from the massacre

Information from:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassinga_Day

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassinga_massacre

http://emba.cubaminrex.cu/Default.aspx?tabid=6027

Labour Day Around The World!

Labour Day or Labor Day is an annual holiday celebrated all over the world that resulted from the labour union movement, to celebrate the economic and social achievements of workers. The majority of countries celebrate Labour Day on May 1, and it is popularly known as May Day and International Workers' Day, while some celebrate on the first Monday of September.The celebration of Labour Day has its origins in the Eight-hour day movement, which advocated eight hours for work, eight hours for recreation, and eight hours for rest.

Image: Labour day in Scandinavia

Most countries celebrate Labour Day on May 1, known as May Day and International Workers' Day. In Europe the day has older significance as a rural festival which is predominantly more important than that of the Labour Day movement. The holiday has become internationalised and several countries hold multi-day celebrations including parades, shows and other patriotic and labour-oriented events. However, in Northern Europe, Walpurgis Night is celebrated on the preceding night and this holiday merges with the Labour Day in some countries.

May 1 is a national holiday in Albania, commemorating the Workers' Movement. During Socialist Albania, the Politburo organised pompous parades on the main boulevard of Tirana. Since the collapse of communism, however, unions organise occasional peaceful protests.

Celebrating the Australian labour movement, the Labour Day public holiday in Australia is fixed by the various state and territory governments, and so varies considerably. In both Queensland and the Northern Territory, it is the first Monday in May.

Labour Day in China is a major holiday carrying comparable significance as the National Day, which occurs on October 1, and the Spring Festival on the first day of the first lunar month.

May 1 is declared a holiday in France. The French also celebrate Le jour du muguet. Workers and students sell lily of the valley on the streets and from door-to-door to collect funds for unions and associations.

In Germany, Labour Day was established as an official holiday in 1933 after the Nazi Party rose to power. It was supposed to symbolise the new-found unity between the state and the German people. However, just one day later on May 2, 1933, all free unions were outlawed and destroyed. But since the holiday had been celebrated by German workers for many decades before the official state endorsement, the Nazi attempt to appropriate it left no long-term resentment.

In Greece, May 1 is a state holiday. Left-wing parties invariably refer to it as a "strike" instead, organizing commemorative marches throughout the country.

1 May (Día del Trabajo) is a public holiday in Guatemala. Celebrations mainly in Guatemala City with a parade held by General Workers Union and left wing parties.

India started observing Labour week beginning on May 1, 1927. However, Labour day in India is not a national holiday, but is confined to specific states. In Maharashtra and Gujarat (States in India), Labour week also coincides with 'Maharashtra Divas' and 'Gujarat Divas' (respectively, Maharashtra Day and Gujarat Day) because the states of Maharashtra and Gujarat were created on the same week in 1960.

In the Islamic Republic of Iran (1979–present), Labour Day (May 1) is a holiday according to Article 63 of the Iranian labour law and it is officially celebrated to acknowledge the workers contribution to economy as an important group of society by ceremonial events.

In Ireland, Labour Day falls on May Day which is a public holiday.

In Israel May 1 is not officially celebrated, but each year the socialist and Marxist youth movements arrange a parade in Tel Aviv.

In Italy, May 1 is a national holiday and demonstrations by trade unions are widespread. Since the 1990s, the unions have organised a massive free concert in Rome, with attendances topping a million people.

In 1961, Jamaican Chief Minister Norman Washington Manley proposed the replacement of Empire Day with Labour Day, a celebration in commemoration of May 23, 1938, when Alexander Bustamante led a labour rebellion leading to Jamaican independence. Until May 23, 1971, Labour Day was primarily a trade unions celebration with public rallies and marches. On occasion, opposing trade unions clashed on this day, so in 1972, Jamaican Prime Minister Michael Manley promoted Labour Day as a showcase for the importance of labour to the development of Jamaica, and a day of voluntary community participation to beneficial projects. Since then, Labour Day has not only been a public holiday, but also a day of mass community involvement around the country.

1 May (L-Ewwel ta' Mejju or Jum il-Ħaddiem) is a public holiday in Malta. Celebrations mainly in Valletta held by General Workers Union and Malta Labour Party.

In Mexico, Labour Day, El Día del Trabajo, is a public, federal holiday held on May 1.

Every May 1 in the Philippines, labour unions march from the Mabuhay Rotonda in the Quezon City-Manila border to Plaza Miranda to Mendiola Bridge to protest anti-labour practices and to denounce the seating president. The only exception was on May 1, 2001, during EDSA III uprising, where the protest is not related to Labour day but to unseat the president. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo declared a State of Rebellion pursuant to Proclamation No. 38 and lifted the order on May 7, 2001.

In Syria, May 1 is a public holiday to appreciate the important rule of labourers in the society

In Trinidad and Tobago, Labour Day is celebrated every June 19. This holiday was proposed in 1973 to be commemorated on the anniversary of the 1937 Butler labour riots.

In Turkey, May 1 is celebrated as Labour and Solidarity Day, valid from 2009 and its public holiday.

Information from:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labour_Day

http://www.nordicdesignblog.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/53000928-d70153bb10.jpg

Walpurgisnacht (Witches' Night)

Walpurgis Night (Walpurgisnacht) is a traditional religious holiday of pre-Christian origin, celebrated today by Christian as well as non-Christian communities, on April 30 or May 1 in large parts of Central and Northern Europe. Early Christianity had a policy of 'Christianising' pagan festivals so it is perhaps no accident that St. Walpurga's day was set to May 1. Historically Walpurgisnacht is derived from various pagan spring customs. Bonfires were built to keep away the dead and chaotic spirits that were then widely believed to walk among the living. This is followed by the return of light and the sun as celebrated during May Day, although bonfires and witches are more closely associated with Easter (especially in Ostrobothnia, Finland) and bonfires alone with midsummer in the rest of Finland.

In Estonia, Volbriöö is celebrated throughout the night of April 30 and into the early hours of May 1, where May 1 is a public holiday called "Spring Day" (Kevadpüha). Volbriöö is an important and widespread celebration of the arrival of Spring in the country. Influenced by German culture, the night originally stood for the gathering and meeting of witches. Modern people still dress up as witches to wander the streets in a carnival-like mood.

In Finland, Walpurgis day (Vappu) is, along with New Year's Eve and Juhannus, the biggest carnival-style festival held in the streets of Finland's towns and cities. The celebration, which begins on the evening of April 30 and continues to May 1, typically centres on copious consumption of sparkling wine and other alcoholic beverages. Student traditions, particularly those of the engineering students, are one of the main characteristics of "Vappu". Since the end of the 19th century, this traditional upper-class feast has been appropriated by university students. Many graduates from lukio, and thus traditionally assumed as university students or alumni, wear a cap. The cap of the engineering students is distinguished by a pom-pom hanging from it. One tradition is to drink sima, a home-made mead, along with freshly cooked doughnuts.

In Germany, Walpurgisnacht, the night from April 30 to May 1, is the night when witches are reputed to hold a large celebration on the Blocksberg and await the arrival of Spring.In some parts of northern coastal regions of Germany, the custom of lighting huge fires is still kept alive to celebrate the coming of May, while most parts of Germany have a derived Christianized custom around Easter called "Easter fires". In rural parts of southern Germany it is part of popular youth culture to play pranks such as tampering with neighbours' gardens, hiding possessions, or spraying graffiti on private property. These pranks occasionally result in serious damage to property or bodily injury. One of the best places to celebrate Walpurgisnacht is the town of Thale, where not-so-pagan hordes of 35,000 or more arrive for colourful variety events and the Walpurgishalle museum tells you all you need to know about sacrifices, rituals and local myths. People dress as witches and toss away all reserve as they dance around fires.

In Sweden, Walpurgis Night (Swedish: Valborgsmässoafton or simply Valborg) has become a public holiday. The forms of celebration in Sweden vary in different parts of the country and between different cities. Sir James George Frazer in The Golden Bough writes that "The first of May is a great popular festival in the more midland and southern parts of Sweden. On the eve of the festival, huge bonfires, which should be lighted by striking two flints together, blaze on all the hills and knolls". One of the main traditions in Sweden is to light large bonfires, a custom which is most firmly established in Svealand, and which may have begun in Uppland during the 18th century: "At Walpurgis (Valborg), farm animals were let out to graze, and ever since the early 18th century bonfires (majbrasor, kasar) have been lit to scare away predators". In Southern Sweden, an older tradition, no longer practised, was for the younger people to collect greenery and branches from the woods at twilight: these were used to adorn the houses of the village. The expected reward for this task was to be paid in eggs. Singing traditional songs of Spring is widespread throughout the country. In Uppsala students also go rafting in Fyrisån on home-made and often humorously decorated rafts. Several nations also hold "Champagne Races" where students go to drink and spray champagne or sparkling wine on each other. The largest celebration is in Stockholm’s Skansen open-air museum, where a festive concert runs from mid-afternoon to around midnight. In Gothenburg, students from the Chalmers University have for the last century conducted the Cortège parade, with floats showing mock scenes from major events over the past year. More than 200,000 people line the streets to view the parade.

April 30 is "pálení čarodějnic" ("burning of the witches") or "čarodějnice" in the Czech Republic, the day that winter is ceremonially brought to an end, by the burning of rag and straw witches or just broomsticks on bonfires around the country. The festival offers Czechs the chance to eat, drink and be merry around a roaring fire.

Information from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walpurgis_Night
http://journals.worldnomads.com/worldfestivals/post/29465.aspx

Today's celebrations April 30th!

Today is...

Children's Day in Mexico

King's Birthday in Sweden

Koninginnedag (Queen's Day) in the Netherlands

Liberation Day in Vietnam

Mangé les Morts in Haiti

May Day Eve in Finland

Queen Beatrix's Birthday in Curacao

Queen's Birthday in St. Martin

Queen's Day in Aruba, Bonaire, Saba, St. Eustatius

Rincon's Day in Bonaire

Walpurgis Night in Sweden

Walpurgisnacht (Witches Night) in Germany

Beltane (Northern Hemisphere) in Paganism

Samhain (Southern Hemisphere) in Paganism

Today's celebrations April 21st!

Today is...

Independence Hero Tiradentes in Brazil

John Muir Day in the United States of America

Kartini Day in Indonesia

Kindergarten Day in Germany

National Tree Planting Day in Kenya

Queen's Birthday in the Falkland Islands

Queen's Birthday (actual date) in the United Kingdom

San Jacinto Day (Texas) in the United States of America

International Creativity and Innovation Day

First day of Ridvan (Declaration of Bahaullah) in the Baha'i religion

Is nationalism a progressive or reactionary doctrine?

Heater said that there are three paradoxes of nationalism: it is a force for either peace or violence, democracy or dictatorship and is both progressive and reactionary. The progressive aspects in this sense would be forward looking while the reactionary would be backward looking and even seek to turn the clock back to a previous era.

The basic belief of nationalism is that the nation is or should be the central principle of political organisation. On a basic level, nations are cultural entities, collections of people bound together by shared values and traditions, although there is no set of components that establish where and when a nation exists. Nations usually share a common history and tradition and their national identity is preserved by recalling past glories, suggesting a reactionary view. However nationalist feelings may be based more on future expectations than on shared memories or a common past, creating a progressive view of the nation. This is most evident in the USA, a ‘land of immigrants’ where events like the War of Independence have no direct relevance for most Americans whose families arrived centuries after these events occurred.

These progressive and reactionary views of the nation are most clearly demonstrated in the rival inclusive and exclusive concepts of the nation. Exclusive concepts of the nation are reactionary as they stress the importance of ethnic unity and a shared history, viewing national identity as given and unchanging. Inclusive concepts are progressive as they highlight the importance of civic consciousness and patriotic loyalty, suggesting that nations may be multi-ethnic, multi-racial and multi-religious.

As well as progressive and reactionary view of the nation, there are progressive and reactionary views of national identity. Primordialist approaches to nationalism portray national identity as historically embedded and characterised by deep emotional attachments that resemble kinship ties. This is a reactionary view as it implies that there is little difference between ethnicity and nationality. In contrast situationalist approaches to nationalism suggest that national identity is forged in response to changing situations and historical challenges. This is a more progressive view as Ernest Gellner suggested that nations coalesced in response to particular social conditions and circumstances and implies that the national community is deeprooted and enduring.

Although the theme of the nation is divided with both progressive and reactionary aspects, the nationalism core theme of self-determination is undeniably progressive. Self-determination sprang up during the French Reolution as Jeans-Jacques Rousseau argued that government should be based on the indivisible collective will of the entire community, not the absolute power of a monarch. The form of nationalism that emerged was based on the vision of a people or nation governing itself. In this tradition, national identity is the desire to attain or maintain political independence, expressed in the principle of national self-determination. The goal of nationalism is therefore the founding of a nation-state, which may involve a process of unification where a collection of separate political entities are integrated into a single state or achievement of independence. As the goal of nationalism is progressive, you could argue that the entire doctrine is progressive. However, there are many different forms of nationalism and not all of them seek to achieve this goal in a progressive manner.

There are three forms of nationalism: ethnic, cultural and political. Cultural nationalism emphasizes the strengthening or defence of cultural identity over overt political demons. It is based on a romantic belief in the nation as a unique historical and organic whole. Cultural nationalism is a reactionary form of nationalism because of its emphasis on history. Ethnic nationalism differs from cultural nationalism in that ethnicity is loyalty towards a distinctive population, cultural group or territorial area. It is still reactionary however as its racial overtones give it an exclusive character. Political nationalism on the other hand is progressive as it is defined by the progressive principle of self-determination and emphasizes civic loyalty and political allegiance rather than on cultural identity. Eric Hobsbawm argued that a belief in historical continuity and cultural purity was a myth created by nationalism.

Of the four traditions of nationalism, liberal nationalism is by far the most progressive as they believe that nations are equally entitled to the right of self-determination and their ultimate goal is the construction of a world of independent nation states. Conservative nationalism on the other hand cares less about universal self-determination and are appealed to nationalism because of tradition and history making it more reactionary. It is essentially nostalgic and backward-looking, reflecting on a past age of national glory and being against immigration and supranationalism. Expansionist nationalism is by far the most reactionary tradition of nationalism because of its belief in chauvinism, that nations are not equal in their right to self-determination. Chauvinism is also a breeding ground for racialist theories as it is often stimulated by negative integration, the portrayal of another nation or race as a threat or an enemy. Nevertheless it is progressive as nationalist enthusiasm was provoked by arbitrary expansion or imperial conquest. Pan-Germanism desired a German dominated Europe. Anti-colonial nationalism is progressive in its desire for independence and social revolution while post-colonial nationalism is reactionary, rejecting Western culture and seeking to revert to the culture before the West colonised the area.

There are so many forms and traditions within nationalism and it has such a subjective nature that it cannot be generally termed as being either a progressive or reactionary doctrine. It contains clear cut examples of both, giving it an almost schizophrenic political character.

The Forgotten Holiday: Pancake Day February 16!

Looking at today's celebrations, I realised one was missing that we are celebrating in the UK: PANCAKE DAY! I have contacted earthcalender.net, who we use to get the information on Holidays, and have told them to add it to their list!

In the UK Shrove Tuesday is also known as Pancake Day because it is the one day of the year that nearly everyone eats a pancake!

It was originally a religious day, as the last day before the Christian lent. It was a tradition to eat pancakes on this day as it was seen as your last chance to indulge yourself and use up the foods that aren't allowed during lent such as fat, butter and eggs. Today, however, most people celebrate Pancake Day just for the pancakes and do not recognise it as a religious event. I know a huge and dedicated fan of Pancake Day and she is an Atheist!

Shrove Tuesday is always 47 days before Easter Sunday so the date varies from year to year and falls between 3rd February and 9th March.

A pancake is a thin, flat cake made of batter and fried in a pan. Usually once it is cooked people put caster sugar or lemon juice over the pancake . You can also add things like berries, golden syrup, jam and melted chocolate.

Quite a few different countries celebrate Shrove Tuesday, or Pancake Day, but perhaps have different names for it. They are all listed below:

UK, Ireland, Australia: Shrove Tuesday or Pancake Day

Brazil: Terça-feira Gorda (Fat Tuesday) - the final day of Brazilian carnival

Greece: Apocreas (from the meat) they also don't eat meat during lent

Sweden: Fettisdagen - Fat Tuesday

USA: In Catholic and French-speaking parts of the US it is called Mardi Gras

Germany: Fastnacht (Also spelt "Fasnacht", "Fasenacht", "Fasteloven" (in the Rhine area) or "Fasching" in Bavaria.)

France: Mardi Gras (Grease or Fat Tuesday)

Iceland: Sprengidagur (Bursting Day)

Comedy Comparisons: The Office

In 2001 British comedy The Office, created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, aired on BBC 2 for the first time. The show ran until 2003 and in that time became one of the most successful British comedy exports of all time. The programme takes the form of a mockumentary (a fictional documentary) about a regular office.

Due to it's success, many countries created their own versions of the series and below are clips from the original, followed by clips from versions by other countries. What is most interesting here is the style of comedy that has been adapted in each country and the similarities in format, plot and characters. Unfortunately it hasn't been possible to find ones with English subtitles, however, you can interpet a lot from the body language and actions of the actors so even if you can't understand what they are saying, you will still be able to notice similarities.

The Office - UK

Le Bureau - France (no subtitles)



Stromberg Themen - Germany (no subtitles)



Os Aspones - Brazil (no subtitles)



La Job - French Canadian (No subtitles)



The Office - the United States



Have you watched any of the different Office episodes before? What did you think? Leave a comment and let us know!