On the eve of the Catholic feast of St Anthony (17 January), the Las Luminarias festival occurs in the village of San Bartolomé de Pinares in Spain. People ride horses through bonfires in order to rid the beasts of sin, purify them, and to give them protection for the coming year. Oh, yes… they cheat… they douse the horses in water before riding them through the fire. The locals build around 20 bonfires; around a hundred horses and riders take part. Don’t try this at home…
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Comments Off on 6 February 2019. Don’t Try This At Home… Las Luminarias Festival in Spain
President V V Putin greeted Russian Buddhists on the coming of the Lunar New Year and the beginning of the White month. The Kremlin website noted:
Drawing on the centuries-old historical, cultural, and spiritual traditions of their ancestors, Russian Buddhists celebrate this significant event widely. This holiday symbolises the renewal of man and nature, so, it’s common to sum up the year, sincerely wish each other health, and ask for fulfilment of one’s desires. People care for their loved ones and give alms to the needy. It’s important for the Buddhist community to participate actively in the life of our country, to strengthen their interaction with state and public organisations, to give much care to educating young people, and to implement popular charitable and educational initiatives. Such fruitful work deserves the deepest respect. I wish that the New Year would be successful and prosperous for Buddhist people.
A Soviet-built I-16 fighter of the Spanish Republican Air Force… Russia has had closer ties to continental Western Europe than the USA had or has… after all, Russians ARE Europeans!
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Ameno… “Disclose”… the lyrics are in Latin to a rock beat…
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No doubt, you’ve heard of the so-called “condemnation” of Russia by Western Europeans. Nothing is further from the truth… outside of government circles and the English-speaking minority, the majority of people don’t see Russia as an enemy. Indeed, in France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Greece, the majority of people are favourably disposed to Russians as compared to Americans. Here, French pop singer Vincent Niclo joins the MVD Ensemble… he’s made several recordings with this group. Most ordinary Europeans have no fear of or hatred of Russians… and Russians reciprocate their feelings (the ties are especially close in the case of Greeks and Italians).
Don’t believe everything that the media spews out or take credence in everything flogged on the internet…
The lyrics in English are:
Take me to the inside, absorb, take me Disclose, disclose, hiding, hiding oneself, take me Disclose, unperceived signs, disclose Tell me, tell me, warlike, spirit martyr, disclose
Disclose, disclose the silence, disclose take me, disclose take me Disclose soldier, take me away, disclose take me, disclose take me, take me soldier Disclose Disclose Disclose, emulate unperceived signs, disclose Tell me, tell me, warlike, spirit martyr, disclose
Disclose, disclose the silence, disclose take me, disclose take me Disclose soldier, take me away, disclose take me, disclose take me, take me soldier Take me, take me…
Disclose Disclose take Disclose take me Disclose take me
Disclose soldier, take me away, disclose take me, disclose take me Disclose, disclose, disclose, disclose take me Disclose Disclose take me Disclose Disclose soldier Disclose Disclose take me Disclose Disclose take me…
BMD
Comments Off on 6 May 2018. A Franco-Russian Collaboration… Vincent Niclo with the MVD Ensemble
N S Gumilyov isn’t well-known in English… poetry is notoriously hard to translate. Nikolai Stepanovich loved wordplay, and that’s almost impossible to render in another language. In the above quote, he played on the fact that мир means both “peace” and “world” in Russian… you can only trick out the meaning from the context. There’s much of that sort of thing in Gumilyov’s works… it’s why so many Russian-speakers love his poetry and writing.
BMD
Comments Off on 15 April 2018. N S Gumilyov on Peace and the World
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