Learn Something New Everyday with Dani X

Sunday, December 31, 2017

Today I Learned about Weird New Year's Eve Traditions in Pennsylvania

Posted by Dani

Happy New Year, everyone! In honor of the new year, I decided to learn about some of the very strange and amusing traditions of my fellow Pennsylvanians. Starting with the one I grew up with and remember, pork and sauerkraut on New Year's Day. I've never been a fan of sauerkraut and after learning how it's made, I like it less.

Sauerkraut is made from cabbage that ferments in brine for six to eight weeks. The lore behind sauerkraut is that the green of it brings a long life and luck with money. The reason we do sauerkraut is because the cabbage crops would be taken in right around this time of year. Apparently, pork is cooked because we want to be like the pigs and root forward to the new year. Chicken would be the opposite because they scratch backward.

I also learned about the weird things we drop or raise at Midnight on New Year's Eve. Some I already knew, for instance Harrisburg drops a strawberry and Hershey raises a kiss. Dillsburg lowers a pickle. But there were so many other objects I didn't know about!

Carlisle drops a car, in honor of all the car shows that Carlisle hosts. Kennett Square, the self-proclaimed mushroom capital of the world, drops a mushroom. Pittsburgh raises a ball made out of recycled materials in order to show they want to be a green city.Mechanicsburg drops a wrench. I didn't know Mechinicsburg was actaully named that because of all the mechanics who settled and founded the city!

A place I now want to visit is Shenandoah where they lower pierogi and kielbasa! Shenandoah has an early drop time so you can take your kids. Lancaster and York both drop roses and here's something I find very interesting that I already knew. In England there was the war of the roses between the red rose house of Lancaster and and white rose house of York, so now Lancaster lowers a red rose and York lowers a white.

Lebanon lowers a 16 foot piece of Lebanon bologna, which I also want to see! Another one I would visit is Bethlehem, home of the marshmallow peeps, they drop a peep and like Shenandoah, they have an early drop for the kids to join in. Pottsville is home to Yuengling Lager, raises a giant beer bottle as a toast for the new year. Beavertown has a beaver mascot called Bucky who lowers from the sky at midnight.

A town called McClure drops a kettle every year to honor their Bean Soup Festival and Fair. In Duncannon they drop a sled, modeled after the Lightning Guider sled that was made in Duncannon from 1904 to 1990.

No matter what you drop or who you're with I wish everyone a happy new year!

Sources: 

Abrams, Mark 2017 December 29 Unique New Year's Eve Traditions Found in PA Towns

Orso, Anna 2015 December 31 Pork and Sauerkraut on New Year's Day: Why the PA Dutch believe it's your luckiest meal of the year

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Saturday, December 30, 2017

Wednesday, December 27, 2017

Today I Learned about Marlene Dietrich

Posted by Dani

Hello everyone! Today we are learing about a very amazing person. I was inspired by google and today being the anniversary of Marlene Dietrich's birthday, I decided it would be exciting to learn about her! Marlene was born in Schoneberg in Germany in 1901. She had a father, mother and sister but her father passed away in 1907. Her mother remarried but later her step-father would die in World War I.

When she was a young girl, she loved to play the violin and wanted to go to a very good German music school but after a wrist injury, she could no longer play. Luckily, she also had interest in theater and dance. She applied to Reinhardt's School, though she didn't get accepted at first. While she waited she made her first appearance on stage as a chorus girl in 1921. The year after, she was in her first movie. She was involved in many German films, one where she played opposite of Rudolf Sieberwhich. She would marry him and they had the only child they ever would. Her name was Maria.

While continuing to appear in German films, she would go through countless affairs with people of both gender. Her big break came when Austrian filmmaker Josef von Sternberg was looking for an insanely sexy woman to play cabaret star Lola Lola in his move the Blue Angel. Lola Lola was the type of woman men would do anything for because of their love for her and Sternberg needed the perfect actress. Initially when she did her screen test, Marlene didn't impress the people working for the director. But when Sternberg saw her himself, he knew she was the woman for this role. The Blue Angel became an international success. Paramount Pictures in Hollywood saw her talent and signed her to their studio. In 1930 in spring, she came to Hollywood.

Probably best known for the role she would portray in 1930, Marlene appeared in Morocco. In this film debut in America, she dressed as a man and kissed a woman! It was sensational performance and would earn Marlene her only Academy Award Nomination. Morocco earned the studio 2 million dollars, which is quite a lot, especially in the 30s!

For the next five years, Dietrich continued to work with director Sternberg. Though their films were set abroad, they always filmed in the studio. Sternberg was such a talented director that he made Marlene look more amazing than she already was with his genius film work. Because of Marlene's ability to be both deeply sensual and beautiful as well as make a stand in her pants, ties and blazers, she was widely loved by both sexes. Men wanted to be with her and women wanted to be her.

Unfortunately, from about 1935 to 1937, Dietrich starred in some big box office flops, costing the studio big loses to the point that Paramount bought out the last of her contract. Against all the odds, Marlene came back with a bang in the movie See What the Boys in the Back Room Will Have. She delivered one of her best performances as a saloon entertainer. Though her career began to dwindle at the start of World War II, she continued to have affairs with famous people. These included John Wayne, Gary Cooper, German cabaret singer Margo Lion, female speedboat racer Marion Carstairs, Yul Brynner, George Bernard Shaw, Cuban writer Mercedes de Acosta and John F. Kennedy. Throughout all her affairs, she remained married to Sieberwhich.

Universal signed Dietrich in 1940, bringing her to the top again. She made a few films that failed to impress. But even with her career lagging again, Marlene would become hugely involved in the efforts of World War II. She sold the most bonds of any other celebrity, perfomed for the USO and even created propaganda radio broadcasts. For all she did for the war, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. She said this was her proudest moment of her whole life.

When her daugther gave birth in 1948, Marlene was called “the world's most glamorous grandma”. Though she was aging, Dietrich wouldn't quit acting. She starred in Alfred Hitchcock's Stage Fright in 1950. Hollywood failed to give her consistent work, so she went on to start a stage show, touring the world. Her act was her singing some of her most popular songs in beautiful dresses and then for the second half, dressing like a man and singing songs made for male singers.

While she was doing her stage work, she still made some movies occasionally. Marlene made a rather nice job in Witness for the Prosecution in 1957 and later would regain her former film glory in the movie Judgment at Nuremberg in 1961. Both were courtroom dramas in which she showed her undeniable talent. Her last screen appearance was in a German film in 1978.

Throught the 60s and 70s, Dietrich performed her stage show in places all over the world! During a performance in Jerusalem, she broke an uspoken taboo about singing in German in Israel. When she performed in Germany, the people thought her a traitor since she was clearly with America during the war. She had a show on Broadway in 1967, which earned her a Tony Award. The Broadway show was made into a television special called Marlene Dietrich: I Wish You Love.

About this time, her health began to go downhill. She was using alcohol and painkillers in an attempt to ease the pain of an earlier injury and the abuse of the substances made her health worse. Marlene needed skin grafts after an accident from falling off the stage and breaking her leg. She was forced to retire by this injury. She lived the rest of her life in seclusion, moving to Paris where she died in 1992 at the age of 90.

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Monday, December 25, 2017

Today I Learned About Christmas in Greece

Posted by Dani

Merry Christmas everyone! I'm writing this ahead of time to post on Christmas Day so I don't miss a day of learning with you guys! Today we learn about Christmas in Greece! On Christmas Eve, boys will go out caroling in the street. They have a little band along with a triangle and drum and their songs are called kalanda. Sometimes they also have little model boats they have painted gold and decorated with nuts. This carrying of a boat is an old Greecian Island tradition. If the boys entertain well, they are given money or nuts, candy or dried figs.

In Greece Christmas trees are popular nowadays, but a traditional decoration they had instead is a small wooden bowl that has a piece of wire hanging fom the rim. This wire has a sprig of basil and a wooden cross through it. They keep water in the bowl to make sure the basil is kept alive. Every day someone in the family, often the mother, dips the cross and basil in holy water and sprinkles it around the house for protection.

This small daily blessing is supposed to keep away Καλλικάντζαρος (bad spirits) away. These spirits only appear from Christmas to Epiphany and are believed to come from the center of the earth to get into homes through the chimney. They do bad things like putting out the fire or making food go bad. Keeping a fire burning is another way to keep the spirits away.

A beautiful sight to behold is the gigantic ship that is erected in the city of Thessaloniki, the second largest city in all of Greece! The ship is three masted and several stories tall, it's all lit up with white lighting and I would personally love to go see it! I'm very impressed by this. They ciy also does a big Christmas tree, but who doesn't this time of year?

Midnight Mass is nearly mandatory for Greeks and after this they go home to end their fast over Advent. They will break their fast with a delicious Christmas Day meal. They main dish is usually pork or lamb which is over a spit or oven roasted. This is usually served with spinach and a cheese pie. I want to try this dinner! Of course for desert they have baklava, another personal favorite of mine. There is a pastry called Kataifi which is made with filo dough that's flavored with syrup and honey. I really want to try Greecian Christmas foods!

For eating and for decoration they have Christmas bread called Christopsomo. This a sweet bread with orange, cloves and cinnamon for flavoring. They make a cross on the top of the bread which is always made on Christmas Eve. As they say in Greece, Kala Christougenna

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Sunday, December 24, 2017

Today I Learned About Christmas in Kenya!

Posted by Dani

Is everyone excited? It's Christmas Eve and we have more to learn! We will cover another place I didn't know celebrated Christmas. We're visiting Kenya today! Like pretty much every other country that celebrates Christmas, Kenyans spend this time with their families. This means many of them travel from the cities they now live in to the humble villages they grew up in. Some other people have their whole big family in the city with them and get to stay right there with them. Christmas is usually the only time these big families get to spend together, so they really enjoy the time they have.

Christmas in Kenya is a very colorful affair. Houses and churches put up balloons, paper decorations, ribbons, flowers and green leaves! And everything they hang is bright and beautiful! Some of the people have a Cypress tree instead of a fir. Because it's far too warm for real snow, many storefronts have fake snow outside. Santa might even be inside one of the stores!

Speaking of Santa, this is one of my favorite new things to learn today, in Kenya, Santa might arrive by camel, bike or even Land-rover! I want to see pictures of Santa ridining in his Land-rover into town!

Christians and sometimes others attend a midnight church service. They have hymns and carol singing. There's usually a play like the Christmas Story, dancing and poems being read. After this, they all return home and have time with their family to be together and enjoy each other's company. In the cities, carloing has become quite poplular!

On Christmas Day they have wonderful foods. They barbecue meat of beef, chicken, goat or sheep. They eat this with rice and a flat bread called chapati. There is a big Christmas meal they call Nyama Choma. The people bring a beer and the tribe they are from determines what special foods they eat that day. City folk have a Western style Christmas Cake but not out in the rural areas.

Kenyans exchange small gifts or food rather than anything big. There are also gifts for them provided by Christan missionaries. Boxing Day is a public holiday, which is another day from being with your family and visiting friends. As they say in Kenya, Heri ya Krismasi !

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Saturday, December 23, 2017

Today I Learned About Estonian Christmas

Posted by Dani

Hello everyone! Today we're learning about another Christmas tradition. Today we travel to the small country of Estonia. This country is one of the many who begin with Advent. Here the children put their stockings up on a window ledge. An elf visits every day from Advent to December 24^th and brings them candy. Christmas Eve is a time when families all get together. Santa visits on Christmas Eve and he asks the families to tell him a poem and he will give them their present.

Christmas trees are a popular decoration in Estonia. A couple days before Christmas, they decorate the Christmas tree. The country of Estonia and the country of Latvia both lay claim to having the first publically displayed Christmas tree! I wonder which is actually true! The Estonians say their public Christmas tree was in Tallinn but Latvia claims it was in their city of Riga.

The people of Estonia have a veritable feast on Christmas day. They mostly like to eat blood sausage which is actually made with blood as well as oats and pork. Some other foods traditionally eaten are gingerbread, tangerines and sauerkraut. They have a drink like the Glogg of the Swedish that is mulled wine. They will have tons of servings of food that day, from seven to nine or even twelve so they have good luck for next year. The food must stay on the table overnight. No one should look under the table because this place was where the spirits dwelled. As they say in Estonia, Rõõmsaid Jõulupühi

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Friday, December 22, 2017

Christmas in Greenland

Posted by Dani

Hello! Today we are going to learn about the Christmas traditions of Greenland. Greenland is home to Polar Inuit villages where the families like to visit with the others and have little parties. When they get together they drink coffee and have cakes and they exchange gifts. The most common gifts are sealskin mittens, model sledges or pairs of polished walrus tusks. The walrus tusks sound fun to me! In the village everyone will get a gift and the children go to house to house, singing carols. On Christmas Eve, most of the people go to church, often in their national dress. Men will wear white anoraks that are only ever used for special occasions like this one.

In Greenland, it's too cold to grow Christmas Trees, so they import them from Denmark. Their trees are lit up with candles and they hang bright ornaments. Occasionally they will have tiny sealskin pants on their trees which are called kamik. Trees in Greenland are brought in on December 23^rd. Those who don't have an imported tree make a traditonal tree made with driftwood and decorated in heather.

Because Greenland is so very dark all the time, they have a practice of lighting up the skies a bit with bright stars hung in windows. All the villages have their own Christmas Tree on a hill where it can be seen by the whole town. These are always erected to be ready for Advent to begin. Greenland also celebrates St. Lucia's Day, which I covered in detail recently for Swedish Christmas tradtions.

Ok, this is where Christmas in Greenland loses me. They have some very weird foods they enjoy for the holidays, like whale skin with a strip of blubber called Mattak. Apparently this tastes like coconut, but I would not take them up on it if offered. The people also eat something called kiviak which is the raw flesh of a bird called the auk. They bury this for months whole and covered in sealskin. It actually decomposes! They like to eat suaasat which is a soup that's made of barbecued caribou and raw or cooked fish.

On Christmas night, they have a time where the men are now to pamper the women by personally serving the food to them, even going so far as to stir the meal for them! After the Christmas meal, games are played.

Greenland is the country that says where Santa Claus goes for his vacation! He has a summer home near the town of Uummannaq. There are two languages spoken in Greenland, Inuit/Greenlandic and Danish. So Juullimi Pilluarit or Glaedelig Jul!

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Thursday, December 21, 2017

Christmas in Pakistan

Posted by Dani

Hello everyone! Today I decided to learn about a place I didn't know had Christmas traditions! Today we learn about Pakistan! December 25^th is a public holiday in Pakistan but it's for a different reason than Christmas. It's for the birthday of Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan. This is another country where Christians make up a very small part of the country. But Pakistan has over 162 million people, so there are still about 5 million Christians. Most of the Christians live quiet poorly in the countryside.

In Lahore, at the St. Anthony's Church, there is a big procession to the church . People walking to the church for services will take hours to get there. The Pakistani Christians are very enthuiastic about the service. During Advent there are spiritual seminars that help the people get ready for Christmas. Christmas is called Bara Din, meaning Big Day in Urdu and Punjabi.

In many of the Chirstian areas, during the last week of Advent, there are a lot of carols sung. The groups go from one home to another and sing, the families who are home offere something in return for the songs. Usually this is money collected for charitity or the church.

Churches are filled to bursting on Christmas Eve for the Midnight Mass. Choirs sing hymns and in some places following the solemn ceremony there are fireworks! On that evening, people dance and exchange their gifts. Santa Claus is called Christmas Baba in Pakistan! I like this term for him quite a lot!

On Bara Din, the Christians go back to church for that day's services. The people dress in their most beautiful and colorful clothes. The church courtyard is used for soicalizing following the service. Where people will get food from stalls and enjoy the atmosphere. On the evening of Bara Din, the people spend it with there families and usually have good food. 

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Wednesday, December 20, 2017

Christmas in Sweden!

Posted by Dani

Today we are going to learn about Christmastime in Sweden! The main holiday celebrated in December there is called St. Lucia's Day which is held on December 13^th. This is a very old celebration which started with stories told by monks to the children. St. Lucia was a very good, young Christian girl but she was martyred in 304.

The story most known is about her bringing food to the persecuted Christians in Rome, who were hiding under the catacombs to stay alive. She wore candles on her head so she could carry the food and things with both hands. Her saint name actually means light. The day of December 13^th is the shortest day of the year, the Winter Solstice. The former pagan festival of lights that was practiced on the solstice has been turned into the new St. Lucia Day.

The day is celebrated with all the girls dressing up in a white dress with a red sash and a crown of candles upon her head. Children below 12 usually have electric candles on their heads, but many older wear real candles on their head! Just thinking about that much danger on my head makes me nervous! The crown they wear is made of Ligonberry branches which are an evergreen plant and symbolize new life in winter.

Aside from there being a St. Lucia for each school and town and village, a national St. Lucia is chosen. She is tasked with doing good deeds such as visiting nursings homes and hospitals and singing a song about St. Lucia while she hands out ginger snap biscuits called Pepparkakor.

Some small children, with the help of their parents, dress up as St. Lucia as well. The young boys can dress up as Stjarngossar, which translates to star boys and the girls may be tarnor, St. Lucia without the candles. On St. Lucia Day, the most traditional food to eat is called Lussekatts. These are buns made just for that day, flavored with saffron and dotted with raisins. Lusskatts are eaten for breakfast.

Christmas Eve is also very important, when they have their main Christmas meal. This meal is called a Julbord, which is a buffet eaten at lunchtime. Cold fish is a big part of this, with herring , gravlax (salmon which has been cured in sugar, salt and dill) or smoked salmon.

Other foods that are included are cold meats like turkey, roast beef and julskinka, Christmas ham. They have cheeses, liver pate, salads, pickles and many types of bread and butter. They also eat meatballs, Prinskorv (sausages), kaldomar (meat stuffed cabbage rolls and jellied pigs feet. Lutfisk is a dried cod served with a white sauce, is a big part of the meal as well as revbenspjall (oven-roasted pork ribs).

They also eat vegetables like potatoes, red cabbage or a dish called Janssons Frestelse which is matchstick potatoes layered with cream, onion and anchovies that is baked to be golden brown. There's also dopp I grytan, meaning bread dipped in broth and juices left from the ham. The desert could be a selection of sweet pastries, pepparkakor or home made sweets! They have something called glogg to wash everything down with and it is a sweet mulled wine. They might also have risgryngrot (rice porridge), that is covered with Hallonsylt (raspberry jam) or sprinkled with some cinnamon. I don't think I have enough family to share that much food! The Swedes must be very hungry people.

When they are done with the big feast, presents get exchanged on Chirstmas Eve and early in the morning of Christmas Day, they go to church. A very interesting tradition on Christmas Eve afternoon is for everyone to watch Donald Duck cartoons! From it's start in 1959 at 3:00pm on Christmas Eve until now, the television station TV1 shows the Disney special From All of Us to You. The title in Swedish is Kalle Ank Och Hans Vanner Onskar God Jul, the meaning of the Swedish title is Donald Duck and his friends wish you a Merry Christmas. Almost half of the population watches it every year!

Another tradition I personally find quite interesting is the practice of making straw goats outside their houses to guard the Christmas Tree! Straw is also used in the homes as a decoration, to remind everyone that Jesus was born in a manger. A city called Galve has a giant straw goat built every year at the start of Advent. It's stand 43 feet tall and takes two days to erect! It is made with a metal structure for support and straw on the outside. This tradition has been in practice since 1966. The firs Gavle Yule Goat was burned down on New Year's Eve 1966 and ever since, it's been a target for vandals. In the 51 years it's been erected, it's only survived throughout Christmas and to New Year's 12 times. Last year it was only standing for two days before it was burnt!

The Santa Claus of Sweden is called Jultomten or Tomten, this means the Christmas Gnome. He is helped by fellow gnomes or elves called Nissar or Nissor depending on the gender. The end of Christmastime is January 13^th and is called Tjugondag Knut (Twentieth Day Knut) and is named after a Danish Prince Canute Lavard. On this day, the people take their Christmas Tree down and all leftover cookies and sweets are eaten. God Jul!

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Monday, December 18, 2017

Thursday, December 14, 2017

Today I Learned About German Christmas Tradtions

Posted by Dani

Fröhliche Weihnachten! I'm back to learning something new everyday and today's subject is Christmas traditions in Germany! The most important part of German Christmas is the Advent. Some advents are made of cardstock and others are made of a wreath of fir with twenty-four bags or boxes on it. Each of these items has a small gift inside. There's another fir branch ring that has four candles in it which is called Advent Kranz. At German churches, they light a candle for each day of the Advent.

Another imporatant part of tradition is the Christmas tree. Sometimes, if there are children in the house, the parents will decorate the tree in secret on Christmas Eve. Some parts of Germany read the Bible and sing Christmas songs like Ihr Kinderlein Kommet, Stille Nacht and O Tannenbaum. Christmas Eve is the day when Germans exchange Christmas presents.

Christmas Day is called Erste Feiertag which means the first celebration and December 26^th is called Zweite Feiertag which means second celebration. Boxing day there is called Zweiter Weihnachtsfeiertag. Germany is known for hand blown glass ornaments they imported to the US in 1880, in the Woolworth stores. The Christmas Pickle “tradition” Americans claim to be a German tradition, is actually a myth.

In the south east part of Germany, children write to das Christkind/Christkindl asking for presents, rather than to their Santa Clause. The letters they send are decorated with sugar being glued to the envelope to make it look pretty and sparkle. These letters are left on tha windowsill at the beginning of Advent.

Das Christkind means the Christ Child but Germans don't really mean this to be baby Jesus. Das Christkind is usually described as a young girl, with “Christ like” qualities. In Nur every ynburgear a girl is chosen to be the Christkind in a parade. She has blond, long, curly hair, a gold crown, a white and gold dress and sometimes wings. This tradition is similar to St. Lucia in Sweden.

The Nurnburg Christkind has many official duties to perform such as opening the Christmas market on the Friday before Advent starts, visiting hospitals, old people's homes and children's nurseries. She also appears on television giving interviews and visiting other cities.

Der Weihnachtsmann or Santa Claus brings presents on Christmas Eve, with some people writing to him as well as the Christkind. There are some people who believe Weihnachtsmann brings gifts and some say Christkind does this. Along with hoping for presents from these two beings, children hope that Der Nikolaus will bring little gifts like candy and chocolates on December 6^th which is St. Nicholaus Day. He arrives between the 5^th and 6^th at night and puts presents into the shoes of the children.

Some parts of Germany have the myth of Knect Ruprect or Krampus as well, who accompanies Nikolas. Krampus is said to be a big horned monster who carries chains and is clothed in only rags. He is there to punish the bad children and scare little children into behaving. Other parts of Germany share the Black Peter legend of Holland but there's is called Shcwarzer Peter. In the north west part of Germany, Santa is joined by a man in furs called Belsnickel.

There is a Catholic tradition of Sternsinger or star singers who go from home to home, singing carols and collect charity mony. The singers are children, with three dressing up like the Wise Men and one carries a star on a stick as a symbol of the Star of Bethlehem. These singers visit houses between December 27^th and January 6^th. They leave a signature in chalk over the door of every house they visit. You are not to remove the sign , it must fade on it's own. Usually it's faded away but Epiphany on January 6^th.

The Christmas meal in Germany usually is made of carp or goose. There is a very popular yeast bread eaten at this time called Stollen. Sounds delicious, doesn't it? I wouldn't mind having Christmas in Germany!

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