The mystery of existence

Lucian Blaga-  a poet, philosopher, translator, and dramatist, Romanian writer Lucian Blaga (1895–1961) narrowly missed winning the 1956 Nobel Prize for Literature because of Soviet government interference. Blaga created the field of philosophy of culture and the concept of Mioritic Space, both of which became key concepts in the development of a Romanian national identity. I don't want to describe his poetry because I think his poem speaks for itself. :) 

I do not destroy the crown of miracles of the world
and I don’t kill
by my mind the mysteries I come across
along with my path
in the flowers, in the eyes, on the lips or graves.
Others’ light
suffocate the spell of the incomprehensible hidden
in deepness of dark,
but me,
with my light I increase the world’s mystery -
and the way the moon by its white rays
do not diminish, but shivering
increases the mystery of night,
the same way I enrich the dark horizon
by deep shivers of sacred mystery
and all that is impossible to understand
becomes more incomprehensible
under my eyes -
since I love
flowers and eyes and lips and graves.

Source: encyclopedia.com

Nuieluşa- workshops of Romanian traditional decoration

On 5 December 2014 in the lobby of Collegium Novum took place the workshops of Romanian traditional decoration, organized by the Students Scientific Society UAM.

Nuieluşa is a decoration made of twigs and various additives: ribbons, bows, strings, etc., It is prepared on Day of Santa Claus. Nuieluşele are preparing throughout Romania, and are giving for your loved ones, friends. Undoubtedly, there are not many countries in Europe, but also in the world that can boast of such kind of tradition. What can we learn from the Romanians is the ability of the joy of the small things that make up the amazing atmosphere. In fact, to do the decoration we needn't many things, and it's not just about the materials, but about commitment, joy and smile. That's all we have tried to transmit all our participants. See yourself if we managed to do this ...;)

Endangered Languages

According to the report prepared by UNESCO, by the end of this century half of 6000 languages will disappear. Currently 96% of languages spoken throughout the earth are used by only 3% of people. There are languages that use only a few people. The highest number of languages that are endangered, was recored in Australia - namely the Aboriginal population. The situation is very similar in Equatorial Africa and Amazonia. The scientists estimates show that every two weeks dies one language with the oldest inhabitants who know the language's rules. Obviously disappearing languages are replaced with the most popular: English, Chinese or Spanish.

It is interesting that  two years ago Google has created a special Internet platform called ”Endangered Languages Project”. On this site you can search and post audio and video recorded in endangered languages. According to UNESCO, in Poland are threatened two languages: Kashubian and Silesian.

Source: nesweek  

Psycholinguistics

 

There is no coincidence that English people are known by privacy, Polish people by honesty and Japanese by respect for the others. The differences between peoples come from the first language: structure, grammar, words. In the book "Through the Language Glass. How Worlds Colour Your Wold” dr Guy Deutscher states that the language we speak creates in our brain certain schemes and evaluation of reality. Therefore, the word "bridge" for Spanish is associated with strength, but for Germans with elegance. In most European languages, not just people, but the words have a specific gender and phenomena that influence our perception. Death in Polish is feminine, so death’s imagine is an old woman with a scythe in hand, while in German is masculine (der Tod), in English, there is no gender, so it looks like skeleton. The importance of gender things show cartoons, dubbed in different languages, for example in French fork will be dubbed by a woman, while in Polish by a man. That shows that by learning languages we don’t only discover different cultures. Moreover, that’s the best key to understanding the world.

Source: nesweek.pl

The true face of Dracula

Dracula is a horror novel written by the Irish writer Bram Stoker, published in England in 1897. That’s why many of us thinks that Dracula is only a vampire. However, the true is that Dracula is also historical figure and namely it is Vlad III the Impaler. He lived in the fifteenth century and, as it can be assumed from his nickname, he wasn’t very mild king. Everyone thinks his castle is in Bran, but in fact it’s in Poenari. He was often capricious ruler, he was as cruel as he could impaled mice when he was closed in the dungeon. Currently, in Romania Dracula's character is used to drive tourism. Romanians approach him with respect, treating him as an important figure in their history, often as a national hero. 

Romanian king, Vlad Impaler

Castel of Dracula

The real castle of  Dracula

Source: www.info.ebran.ro

Have to be death really sad? ;) – Merry Cemetery

As we know, the death in Europe is associated with sadness, tears and with all this negative emotions. I suppose many of you don’t know that in Romania there is a Merry Cemetery.  Moreover, such kind of cemetery is the only one in Europe. The Merry Cemetery is located in Săpânța, in a small village in north of Romania and it was created by Ioan Stan Patraş.

The most interesting thing is the fact that on every grave is painted and described the history of life of citizen. The crosses are made of wood, and the graves are painted in blue. Everything is richly decorated with floral and geometric motifs, that undoubtedly makes Merry Cemetery a piece of art.

Do you think is it good idea or cemetery should be related to the seriousness? ;)

Sources: http://www.libertas.pl/sapanta_wesoly_cmentarz_rumunia_przewodnik.html, www.atlasobscura.com, activenews.ro, danielapetrache.ro

What Romania means?

I’m not able to count how many times somebody asked me: “why do you study Romanian”? It’s quite funny because until this day I’m still thinking it’s the same when somebody asks a cobbler why makes he shoes. I think it comes to us because of some reason and we can’t explain why some things happen in our life. Like I already sad, I don’t hide that I’m amazed of this country because I know it’s something that has changed my life, something that let me find my space only for me. I can’t explain this passion for Romania, but I can close it. That’s why this blog will be some kind of journey about Romanian culture: amazing literature, music, monuments, traditions and many other elements that formed Romania.

First step in this adventure is The Festival of Cultures of European Regions - Romanian Wallachia, which took place since Tuesday until Sunday. There were many events: films, performances, classes of Romanian language and many other. Together with one of my friends, Justyna, we organized workshops for children in Konin and also in Poznań. 

However, today I post one song of Romanian ethno-jazz singer, considered as representative of the new Romanian jazz, which concert took place on Saturday in Poznan. Enjoy it! ;)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3h-5d5xgI0s 

Something about me...

 Something about me...

Romania, 2014

First of all, at the beginning I would like to introduce myself. My name is Anna Gartych and I live in Jędrzejewo- in the small vilage 90 km far from Poznań. I’m fourth year student of Romanian philology and first year student of accounting in business. I work as well in a company and as the Romanian language translator and I translate many texts about Romanian stock exchange. I have a twin sister, which is a student of journalism. I have an older sister and an older brother as well. A model for me in life is my grandmother which is 95 years old, she’s amazing and she supports me in every decision in my life. I like play basketball, because I played ten years in basketball team. Recently I started to play the guitar. I’m amazed of Romanian literature and in general of Romanian culture. I’ve been in Romania three times and I still want to come back there. I’m very optimistic person which enjoys the life in every moment. I’m also very stubborn, if I have a purpose in life, I try to achieve it. The most important in life for me is respect for the other person. I have learned three year French, and now I restart to learn English. It’s will be some kind of challenge for me, but like always I will try to do my best ;)