So, as I mentioned in my last post I am working on some exhausting genealogy work for my father’s side of the family.  Well, I figured I’d start it off by a brief introduction to my family’s ethnicity as it is a little unknown Slavic ethnicity that very few actually know about.  If you’d like, and I highly suggest you check it out at least for the music I’ve posted, the entry is here. 

I’ve given a very brief explanation of geographic origin, language, and music.  Unfortunately, I cannot give you much more until I learn more of it, which obviously will come with time for me and you. *smile* 

But please, do check it out at least for the music as they are great no matter the fact you probably won’t understand the words.  There are links given at the bottom also if you’re curious to know much more.  There are still many more great links out there I just didn’t post last night on that entry.  But when you read it, you’ll know my future plans.  *wink*

Cheers!

So I just wanted to let readers know that I’ve started an entire section on my blog called Ancestral Me which documents my travels while I hunt for knowledge of my heritage – predominantly on my father’s side of the family.

I will generally make a small note, similar to this one, when I’ve added or updated content within the section.  So if you are subscribed to the blog already, then you’ll always know when I’ve posted something there.

I hope you enjoy this as much as I will!  Cheers!

I found this great picture on Facebook the other day.  I would credit the creator if I knew who it was:

When I saw this, I had to sit back and think about my own baggage.  I know when I moved to Serbia to be with my love, I had a lot.  I had brought literal luggage as I was moving here, but the excess baggage was 10x heavier.  My previous relationship (along with all of them really) had me carrying around a house-load of excess baggage.  I was insecure about myself, had severe trust issues, had troubles communicating (almost unheard of for people who love words!), and soooo much more. 

After doing a very personal evaluation of myself, I can confidently say I’ve shed some pounds!!! But I haven’t shed them by myself completely.  I can owe much of my weight loss to my amazing boyfriend.  He let me throw all my baggage at him, didn’t judge me for it, pinned me down when I wanted to scream and go into panic mode, and in general saved my sanity I believe.  I’m confident in my relationship for the first time in a LONG time.  February will make 2 years we’ve been together and he’s already had all of my sh*t in his face and he’s handled it like a man.  Thank God!  Now, things are better. 

But – he isn’t the one that did it.  I did it.  He just helped me by realizing it was baggage and made sure I dealt with it instead of trying to keep it in the closet of our relationship.  Fashion trends change and generally we change a few pieces (minimum) in our wardrobe.  Same goes for relationships.  We keep the things we like, that fit us well, and shed the things that don’t fit well anymore and find something new!  We have to do that with the experiences in life.  We gain something from every person we meet.  We have to realize whether it fits us or not.  If it doesn’t, junk it!  Don’t give it to someone else.  This is where second-hand is NEVER good.  

Getting rid of the excess is a personal task, though.  You have to do it.  Only you.  No one else can do it.  Others can assist to make sure you don’t ignore it or pack it back up, but they can’t throw it out for you. 

Do you have excess baggage?  Have you assessed what does and doesn’t look good on you?  Have you managed to weed through it all and free yourself of everything you don’t like – or maybe most of it?  If so, how did you do it?  What advice would give others trying to shed their ‘pounds’ and find the new them? 

The Romanov Family

So, if you’re reading this then I can assume that you know me at least vaguely.  Something you may not know though is that I am a Slavophile.  By Slavophile I mean having a deep admiration of anything Slavic.  I have been like this for a VERY long time.  It stems from my heritage as a Rusyn. Though I grew up thinking my father’s family was Ukrainian but that’s a different story for a different time. 

So, the fact I live in a Slavic country is just freaking a dream come true honestly.  I cannot express the joy it brings me, let alone finding an amazing Serb I want to spend the rest of my life wife (something that if know me VERY well could be hard to grasp).  But today, I was on YouTube helping a dear friend of mine have a few extra selections in her song bank for a website she is creating.  This website (under-construction) is geared to being all natural with yourself.  Appreciating your God-given beauty and not dampening it with chemicals and heavy make-up.  However, I was completely distracted when I could a song from the Dreamworks movie Anastasia.  Of course, this movie is based on the tragic horror in Russian history when the Romanov family was killed off.  Belief is Anastasia managed to live through the gun down due to gems that were tucked in her dress.  The possibility would have been amazing if they ever did find her, if she truly lived.  I do remember watching a documentary as a little girl about an old woman who was believed to have been her.  The studies were conducted and many tests were run.  Nothing ever came up positive that they acknowledged to the public.  Though, they did mention that her ears matched every photo of the Grand Duchess.  Funny thing about this fact – ear shape and structure do not change unless you have surgery or something happens in life.  I grew up hoping she was though I knew nothing would be done to honor her heritage if so.  

Anyway… today, I stumbled onto a song from the Dreamworks movie.  I love this song called “Once Upon a December.”  However, today I found it in Russian.  I have to share it with you because it is the absolute best way to enjoy a Dreamworks song about a Russian tragedy – in Russian!!  The video not only has a Russian singer, Russian subs and pronunciation, but also has the English subs also. 

So I’m sharing this gem of a song with you because I’ve listened to it about 10 times in a row now.  And will listen once more in a minute.

Once Upon a December in Russian

Срећан Бадњи Дан и Срећан Божић!

Today for most Orthodox Christians around the world is Christmas Eve.  We celebrate the holidays based on the Old Calendar also known as the Julian Calendar.  Here in Serbia, there are a plethora of traditions – some of which are altered, not practiced, and some protected more than president. 

Today, January 6, is Christmas Eve or as called here in Serbian – Badnji Dan / Бадњи Дан.  People will gather at Churches today to burn the branches of young oaks called badnjak.  As described on the extremely thorough Wikipedia page on Badnji Dan, it states:

The tree from which the log is cut, preferably a young and straight oak, is ceremonially felled early on the morning of Christmas Eve. The felling, preparation, bringing in, and laying on the fire, are surrounded by elaborate rituals, with many regional variations. The burning of the log is accompanied by prayers that the coming year brings food, happiness, love, luck, and riches. The log burns on throughout Christmas Day, when the first visitor strikes it with a poker or a branch to make sparks fly, requesting that the family’s happiness and prosperity be as abundant as the sparks. Another type of the badnjak that has developed among the Serbs has mostly replaced the traditional log, whose burning is usually unfeasible in modern homes. It is a cluster of oak twigs with brown leaves attached, with which the home is decorated on the Eve.

And also…

They interpret the badnjak as an incarnation of the spirit of vegetation, and as a divinity who dies by burning to be reborn, to whom sacrifices and prayers were offered for the fertility of fields, the health and happiness of the family. The burning symbolized sunshine, securing the vitalizing power of the sun in the coming year. The custom that a family brings a log into the house and burns it on Christmas Eve is attested among other South Slavic peoples, with similar names for the log.

Last year, I experienced my first Badnji Dan celebrations and tonight the experiences will continue.  Here are a couple photos of the fires at our Church in Banjica.

Click to view slideshow.

Last year, my boyfriend was the polažajnik on Christmas Day for a friend of ours’ family.  The polažajnik is the first male that enters the home on Christmas Day who is said to “will summon prosperity and well-being for their household in the ensuing year.”  The polažajnik is traditionally supposed to approach the family’s fireplace, where the log from the night before was placed, poke at the badnjak repetitively getting it to spark and say:

Колико варница, толико среће у овој кући. 
Колико варница, толико у домаћинском џепу новаца.
Колико варница, толико у тору оваца.
Колико варница, толико прасади и јагањаца.
Колико варница, толико гусака и пилади,
а највише здравља и весеља.

 

How many sparks, that much happiness in this house.

How many sparks, that much money in the household head’s pocket.

How many sparks, that many sheep in the pen.

How many sparks, that many pigs and lambs.

How many sparks, that many geese and chickens,

and most of all, health and joy.

In smaller villages, the tradition of ‘strong water‘ is carried out by a female in the household.  ” After she puts by the water an ear of maize and a bunch of basil which she has brought from home, she collects water with a bucket, and takes it home to her family. This water collected on early Christmas morning is called the strong water, and is believed to possess a special beneficial power. Each member of the family washes the face with it, and drinks it before breakfast; infants are bathed in it. On her way back home, the girl who carries the strong water picks several cornel or willow twigs, with which children are lightly struck that morning. This is intended to strengthen their health.”  Unfortunately, the tradition of strong water is almost not practiced within larger towns and cities. 

The list of traditions is endless really!  And they vary from region to region.  The links I’ve included throughout the post will give greater explanations and understandings of all traditions practiced and not.  Even in the US (and other Serbian populated areas) many of this traditions are still carried out.  Here is the site of Baba Mim who thoroughly documents many Serbian traditions practiced both in Serbia and in the US.

So for those today who will be partaking in the festivities of the Orthodox calendar – Срећан Бадњи Дан и Бадње Вече! And tomorrow Срећан Божић!!!

• Personal Facebook account where I have 2 pages tied to it.
• 3 twitter accounts (personal, company, Serbian blog)
• 2 Klout accounts (personal and company)
• Google + (personal and company page)
• WordPress (two blogs here)
• Company site (which also has a blog)
• Guest blog I need to write on with a partnering company
• Another WordPress blog I run for an animal rescue back home

And this is just the basics.  This doesn’t include the time and energy I spend on lesson plans for my private student, and soon to be conversational lessons I will start teaching at a language school here in Belgrade next week.  Nor does this include the writing jobs I do for a living, on top of a novel I’ve started and another I might start soon!

Looking at all this now in ‘writing’ makes me dizzy.  And sadly, I hate being this connected to the electronic world.  I don’t mind Facebook as that’s how I keep up with friends and family back home and all over the world now.  But the rest is mostly for my company…  And soon, I hope to have some progressive talks with a friend about opening a language school within the next year or two here in Belgrade.

Anyone have a good stress reliever and organizer!? I think I’m in need of it now!! ^_^

Inspired by a status I saw a while back on Facebook…

“Why do parents teach their children about Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny if they don’t exist?”

Now, I have many different opinions of this.  I’m just curious about others.  But here are my thoughts on it.

Most of us grew up being told about Santa or the Easter Bunny.  None of us were probably damaged permanently when our parents told us they didn’t really exist or when we just figured it out as we got older.  However, I’m curious about why we do this in general.  I would say ‘why do we tell our kids something like Santa or the Easter Bunny exist? Does this help them have greater imaginations?” It’s definitely not a sin or crime for a child to have an imagination.  It should honestly be encouraged more through reading books, but does Santa Claus help the imagination?  The Easter Bunny? Do believing in them help or hurt our children?  Is it teaching about believing in something in general?  If that’s why we do it then why not focus more on religious/spiritual figures? (Which is what my friend’s status referred to – teaching children about Christ instead of Santa or the Easter Bunny.)  Or just traditional values and moral standards instead of imaginary characters.  But I have to ask again – is there any real harm in growing up with the belief in Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny?

Now, my next curious aspect deals with the religious folk – especially Western Christians.  Now, while writing this I’m thinking about Christians, Santa Claus, and the Easter Bunny in the US as every country is different when it comes to these aspects and I’m most familiar with the US as I was born and raised there.  In the US, especially the South where I’m from, the religious freaks come out on holidays.  I find it fascinating how so many ‘devout’ Christians raise their children with Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny.  I find it humorous the more ‘devout’ the Christian is as these two figures have NOTHING to do with Christianity but instead have pre-Christian roots.  Now, I’m still referring to the US here because here in Serbia (and probably many other countries) even though there are many traditions within the Orthodox faith that are non-Christian rooted, the followers know their origins in a way of honoring and remembering their culture and history of their people.   But in the US, it’s not that way.  Most even have crazy concepts of how eggs, bunnies, and Santa Claus fit into their Christian beliefs. So again – why do you use Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny with our kids?  And for the more religious – why isn’t more emphasis placed on Christ/God instead?

In general, I know half the problem/situation is that Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny are a marketing ploy anymore.

This is a big problem with many aspects of modern cultures and societies.  But even still – what’s the reasoning for the parents in teaching children about Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny?  Parents could affect the marketing issue if they truly wanted.

I won’t lie – I don’t want to see Santa or the Bunny disappear or become something of myths and legends but why do we focus on so much on these types of characters with our children?  They don’t teach our children about manners, values, and morals.  We generally use these as techniques of bribery – be good or (insert character) won’t bring you any presents/treats .  Do we not know how to parent anymore that we must resolve to bribery with our children?

I know there is no right or wrong answer to these questions and thoughts.  I’m just very curious to know your opinion.

And for the record – my kids will probably know all about the Easter Bunny and Santa but they aren’t really emphasized the same here in Serbia as in the US.

Every year since around 2006, I’ve been challenging people to forego the idea of a resolution, and instead, to come up with 3 words that will help you define your goals and experiences for the coming year.

He expanded his idea of just three words to explaining those three words thanks to a post he read over at Fitarella.

So all day, I’ve sat about thinking of my three words and what they would be.  And I think I’ve figured them out.  So here goes:

Temple – Yes, I know Brogan had ‘temple’ also but it’s true for me, too.  For me, temple means getting a grasp on my spiritual side again; taking care of my body best possible where I will continue with my personal training and try to regularly include yoga and other avenues into my gift to my body; and strengthening my mind in various ways.

Language – I live in a foreign country that I feel at home in.  The plan is to live here permanently.  While I’ve been poking at the language, this year I will grab it by the horns and own it.  But I will also do the same with my mother tongue with my writing desires.  This year is about words – the written and the learned.  So bring on the Serbian lessons and bring on the writing goals and challenges I know I will face.

Balance – Something I’m horrible at – even sometimes with the physical balance of standing upright. I can be a bit clumsy.  But I’m really referring to balancing my life and my goals. Balancing my time for work and play.  Balancing my mind and body and not working against either of them.  Balancing my beliefs that I used to feel were at war internally at times and recently realized they were more in-tuned than I knew – and now truly finding a balance between all facets of my life.

So I think I know where my year will lead me.  Where will yours lead you?  What are your three words for 2012?

All I ask is that everyone be safe and happy this weekend!  If you drink, don’t drive!  Enjoy the time with friends and family!  And let the new year be the best yet for you and yours!!!

Many people say obsessions are unhealthy, but I think it depends on the extremity of the obsession.   Of course, I’m slightly justifying my own obsessions by that statement, obviously.  I’ve always known I had a deep appreciation and love for fantasy creatures like vampires, fae, and similar.  However, my obsessive behavior spills out into other facets of my life.  Music. Dancing. Talking. And a most recent rekindling of love – anime.  I haven’t watched anime in a long time as it is a pain in the ass to get your hands on in Memphis and is generally quite pricey!

But thanks to the wonderful world of the internet, there are multiple ways to keep up with such fixations.  Now there are places like Anime Freak TV that allow you watch episodes online or read mangas at Anime Planet and all for free!!  Recently, I’ve picked up where I left off in many anime series I had wanted to see before the US sucked even more with canceling shows or not even bringing them to the US.  I’ve gotten my fix of the first season of Vampire Knight (what better than vampires and anime!?!) and will start the second season soon.  Then there is Akira, Ah! My Goddess, Magic Knight Rayearth, Vampire Hunter D / Bloodlust, and even a couple quirky and loveable movies like Kiki’s Delivery Service.

Are these kinds of obsessions really that unhealthy?  They aren’t obsessions like cocaine or alcohol!  I mean, I love to watch a good cartoon or read a great book that I can’t put down! What’s wrong with that?

Anything you have obsessive issues with?