UKRAINE

Ukraine  

Ukraine is a beautiful country, in the Eastern part of Europe. Its largest city and capital of the country is Kiev. You can see its beautiful sites by watching the following video. 

The territory of modern Ukraine has been inhabited by the Neaderthals since 40.000BC! Mammoths and ancient horses have also been discovered in archeological excavations.  Modern human settlements date from 32.000BC! Through a long history of invasions, occupations and many turbulant years, hard times during the World Wars and many more, Ukraine achieved its independence in August 1991.

The Ukrainian Flag

The Ukrainian Coat of Arms

A lot can be said about its traditions and customs, literature and music. It's tradiotinal folk dance is called Hopak. Isn't it amazing? They are so skilled and very beautiful! This is the Ukrainian National Folk Dance Ensemble Pavlo Virsky, Kyiv. Ukrainian folk dance Hopak. I wish I could dance like that.

Ukrainian easter traditions have their own distinct character. Ukrainian easter eggs 'pysansky' are incomparable. Check the follwing photo, have you seen more beautifully decorated eggs?

But how are the Ukrainian people themselves? We hope we learn more about them through our correspondance.

LOCAL CUSTOMS AND TRADITIONS

Easter traditions around Europe

For the Western European Christian world, today, 21st April, is Easter Day. For the Eastern European Christian world it will be in a week, 28th Apirl. Why are they celebrated different days? The Easter date is based on a lunisolar calender which means that it depends on the cycle of the moon. Another issue is that the Eastern and the Western Christian Church use different calenders.

Easter is basically the essence of the christian religion. 

Many traditions are connected to the celebration of Easter. One of them is painting Easter eggs. In Greece we dye Easter eggs red, as we associate them to the red blood of Jesus. There is also a story which says that, a woman who was carrying eggs, wouldn't believe that Christ was resurrected. So she said " if what you are telling me is true then let my eggs turn red", and they did!

 

Some women put a leaf for decoration when they dye them and the shape of  the leaf stays on the painted egg. 

 

The holy week before Easter day is called "Big Week". People go to church and listen to the Evangellia (scriptures of the Apostoles) from the priests. The night of Resurrection or Anastasis (Big Saturday), we take an egg with us in church and when the priest says "Christos Anesti", we tap our eggs with each other to find the strongest one. The symbolism is that of defeating death.

 

This is only one of the Greek Easter traditions. Other countries also have the tradition of Easter eggs which are decorated in more elaborate and decorative ways. In Ukraine, Romania and Poland easter eggs are beautifully decorated with geometrical shapes, flowers and many beautiful colours. 

 

It is an art in itself. The Ukrainian easter eggs are called Pysansky. I am sure there are many more interesting traditions associated with easter from all our partner countries Germany, France, Spain, Poland, Serbia, Czeck Rep. and Italy, enough to fill a whole blog and not only a simple daily post.  

Easter in Italy, in Germany, in Poland, in Spain, in Ukraine, in Serbia, in the Czeck Rep., in Greece, in France.

You could find the following recipes and try them: Easter Bread (tsoureki), easter soup (magiritsa), easter cookies (paschalina koulourakia). 

REUNION ISLAND

So far but still so close to our hearts.

An american proverb says "To a friend's house the road is never long", meaning that the expectation of meeting a dear friend, make the distance not a problem. Thus is the feeling with our dear pen -friends at the Reunion Island, part of the European Union due to the fact that it is part of France! Yes, the beautiful island near Madagaskar, in the Indian Ocean, is not "far" and even more we share the same time zone. The only thing that actually changes is that it is located in the Southern hemisphere, meaning that when it is winter in Europe, it is summer in the Reunion Island.

 

It's official name is Réunion. An active volcano stands out in the island and plays a very important role to its geomorphology and of course the inhabitants lives. Its rich soil and vegetation benefit from the volcanic residue. When it was discovered by the Portuguese in the early 16th century, it was uninhabited. Later on it was claimed by France, which established its first colony there. The French named it Bourbon and they imported slaves from Africa to work at the suger plantations.The island was renamed in 1793 into Réunion. The population of the island is comprised by an ethnic mix, due to immigrants who chose the island to live, over a long period of time. So French, Africans, Chinese, Malays and Malabar Indians form  a beautiful population with so many different influences which give to the island a unique ethinic identity of 839,500 people.  The island's economy is dominated by the sugarcane industry, and its main exports include sugar, seafood, rum, and vanilla. Tourism, especially from Europe, is a significant economic factor. The capital of the island is Saint-Denis with a population of 148,000 inhabitants. Euro is the currency of their economy and the official language is French and Creole. The National Day of the island is the 14th July, as it is in all France and its regions. Religions in the island are the Catholic, Hindu and Muslim basically depending on the people's origin.

The island is governed by beautiful colours and beautiful wild nature. In the ocean beautiful whales and dolphins roam in the waters, with their supreme majestic beauty.

Humpback whales

Dolphins

Indulge your eyes in the amazing beauty of the island and think, isn't it a paradise on Earth!!!!!

Those who wish to learn more about the island's fauna and flora, visit the following link. Fauna and flora Reunion Island.


Source: world atlas

TRADITIONAL TASTES AND DISHES

Your partner's world in your palate!

Recipes from the countries we correspond.

One of the first things we do when we try to learn about other cultures is to taste some of their traditional dishes. Through taste we feel to share an experience, first hand. We feel that a part of that culture is being revealed to us, through our palate. It is true that every country's cuisine, does reveal a part of a culture. Is it really true? When we say Italy, we think pizza or pasta. When we say Greece, tourists think of moussaka and feta cheese. When we think of Turkey, hmmm, I don't know what tourists think about Turkey, what I know is that we share many dishes and their names, due to the historical meeting of the two cultures. For me Turkey is spices, eggplants, pasturma pies or bourek and baklava and, and, endless tastes. We also share many recipes with the countries of the Balkans, like many the types of pies, like cheese pie, spinach pie, bougatsa and many others. What dishes do you associate with Serbia, Poland, Ukraine, Spain, France, Czeck Rep. I hope I don't forget any one of us, partners. So here is one from Greece:

We call it "κεφτέ" but I know our dear neighbours call it "kiofte". It is "keftedes me z'mi" as my grandmother used to call it or "kefte with sauce in english". It is served with whatever you like, rice, potatoes, spaghetti, mashed potatoes and a lot of bread to dip it in the sauce. It is easy to cook. You could try it yourselves!

 

Ingredients:

Meatballs (keftedes) 

minced meat (beef, or half beef half pork, your choice)
1 egg
2 table spoons vinegar
2 table spoons olive oil
2 pieces of stale bread, without the hard part, dumped in water (press to strain excess water)
2 onions
fine chopped spearmint
salt and pepper
flour and olive oil for frying


Sauce:

1 - 2 fine chopped garlic cloves
3 ripe tomatoes grated
1 table spoon tomato pourre disolved in a little water
1/2 teaspoon of sugar
some vinegar
salt and pepper


Preparation:

1. Mix all the kefte ingredients in a bowl and knead it. Leave it in the fridge for 1 hour.
2. Knead the keftedes in balls (not very small, not too big) and roll them over the flour.
3. As soon the olive oil is heated, fry the meatballs well. Take them out and dry them from excess oil on a plate with kitchen paper.
4. After we finishe frying, we take out of the pan the excess oil and fry the garlic. Add the tomatoes and the toamto paste. Then add the salt and pepper, the vinegaar and the sugar. Let the sauce be cooked until it boils.
5. When it starts turning into sauce, add the meatballs in and let them boil for a little while.
6. Serve with rice (pilafi), fried potatoes, or spaghetti, or whatever you like most. 

ΚΑΛΗ ΟΡΕΞΗ

 

POLAND

Discovering more places, making new friends, meeting other cultures!!!

There are so many new friends, there are so many new things to learn. Another group of pen friends, comes from Poland and we are happy to have pen friends from two regions of Poland. The first group of friends comes from Gorlickie and only they can tell us if what we write here is right or wrong. Polish is a language we are not familiar with in my country Greece, how it sounds or it is read. Our only source of information at this point is wikipedia and the internet. I hope that gradually, with the exchange of letters, we will learn more about this place, country, culture and their lives. We will learn from our friends themselves. If we make mistakes of course we expect you to correct the information we upload.

So the country is Poland and this is a map of it, with its many districts.

From a first look at the map we undestand that Poland borders Russia, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, Slovakia, Czeck Republic and Germany. Wow! That is a big country! We shouldn't forget that in the North it opens to the Baltic Sea. Warsaw is its capital. What we know about Poland is mostly connected to the history of the 20th century and the Second World War. But still we know only a very small part of it. 

Those who are familiar with classical music know about its famous classical music composers such as Frederique Chopin (1810-1859) or Ignacy Jan Paderewski (1864-1941).

Polish folk culture is really interesting but also very beautiful. Bright colours characterise their traditional costumes and beautifully embroidered flowers. The costumes slightly differ depending on the area they are from. 

 

 

Of course we should not forget traditional music and dances which people love to listen and dance in every occasion. The following dance the "Krakoviak" national dance.

The distric of Gorlice is in the south eastern part of the distric of Krakow and Poland itself with a number of 29.500 inhabitants. It is situated in two river valleys and surrounded by ranges of the Carpathian mountains.

 

The coat of arms of Gorlice is the symbol of a standing lion, holding two keys. 

What does it symbolise our dear pen friends? 

Here is a photo of the city of Gorlice.

Source of information and photos: wikipedia

Our other friends from Poland come from another district, alittle bit northern, in a place close to Lublin.

 

And this is their coat of arms or otherwise herald. We realise that both coats of arms have got a lion on them!

Only we noticed that this lion has got two tails. How strange! Another symbol, we wonder what does it stand for?

Here is a short video of our beautiful neighbourhood. Can you spot our school? Yes, that's it!  Szkoła Podstawowa.

Do you like it?

Hmmm. Read our blog carefully, there is a quiz coming soon. Let us see how much you have learnt about your pen friends countries and they are sooooo many!!!! Don't worry, it will only be fun! The more you help, the more interesting it will get!

Source of information: Wikipedia
Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange 
Travel Poland

ESKISEHIR, TURKEY

A beautiful envelope from Turkey arrived, Eskisehir. We don't know anything about the city, just a few things from our history book, Eskisehir - Afion Kara Hissar, and many of us only its name. We would love to learn more from you, about you. We found a few videos on youtube, and we found out a beautiful modern city, with beautiful old neighbourhoods and bazars, parks, buildings. What can you tell us dear pen friends? Do you think they are representative of your city or there are sides you would wish to show us? We can't wait to learn more about you, the Heart of Anatolia!

Encyclopaedia Brittanica says about Eskisehir: "A city n the west central Turkey, 200km west of Ankara, lies along the Porsuk River. Located near the site of the ancient Phrygian city of Dorylaeum, the present city probably began in Byzantine times as a cluster of settlements around hot springs. The scene of a Crusader victory over the Seljuq Turks in 1097, it came under Ottoman control near the end of the 13th century. The city expanded with the coming of the railway in the late 19th century and the immigration of Turks from the European provinces of the Ottoman Empire in the early 20th century. Despite its name (Turkish: “Old City”), most of the city was rebuilt after its destruction in the Turkish War of Independence (1919–22).

Eskişehir is divided into a commercial and industrial section, situated on low ground, and a residential quarter that occupies higher ground. One of the largest industrial centres in Turkey, it produces sugar, textiles, bricks, cement, chemicals, processed meerschaum, and railway and agricultural equipment. It also has aircraft workshops and is a centre for cotton research. It is a rail junction on the lines between Istanbul and Ankara and between Istanbul and Baghdad. Eskişehir is the seat of the University of Anatolia (1958). Pop. (2000) 482,793; (2013 est.) 659,924."

 I can only redirect you to the Turkish site of HOME TURKEY where you can find some more information.

AFRAGOLA, ITALY

Afragola and the Naples area

On Thursday the 28th we received our first letters from our pen friends from Italy, Afragola, Naples. We were so happy. Our first letters from Italy. So we started looking for information to learn more about them and where they live. Through our research we made some connections. Greek love making connections! You will find out soon.

Afragola Herald and the Municipality of the city.

We found out that Afragola, Naples, in the area of Campania Italy, is a city of 63.000 inhabitants which was founded in the middle ages, although they also archeological findings which prove that the the area was inhabited since the Bronze Age. It was inhabited by ancient Italic people called Samnites. At some point Samnites alied with the Greek King Pyrrhus, King of Epirus against the Romans until King Pyrrhus left and the Romans invaded the area.

Map of the area

What we found really interesting though is the following:
The surrounding area, Naples, Cumae and the island of Ischia, in the Gulf of Napoli. Why we found intersting the facts we found? During the second Greek colonisation in the Meditarranean area, in the 8th century B.C., organised groups o people, with ships of those times, left the Greek island of Evia, from the cities of Cymi (Cumae) and Chalkida, and founded colonies in many places. One of those places was the island of Ischia opposite Naples. Later on they founded the city of Cumae and later on the 4th to the 3rd centrury B.C the city of Naples. The Greeks who settled in the area, brought with them the alphabet and technology. This is also sited in Virgil, who says that Daedalus, after he fled from Crete, he landed in the area, and as an archmechanic, he taught Italic people of the area how to use technology. Even though this is a myth, we know that myths always have some hidden historical facts.

The island of Ischia

Why is this interesting? Some other people, from the island of Evia, the city of Chalkida, with their ships, in the 7th century B.C., founded the ancient Akanthos, which is the ancient name of the area our school is, Ierissos! Who knows, an ancient link might be hiding there between us. Do you think that could really be? We can't wait to hear your side of the story. And of course the modern facts of the city of Afragola.

Ancient Cumae in the coast of Naples

Second Greek colonisation in the 8th century B.C.

On the sign you can rad the name of Daedalus.

Ancient Greek temple of Poseidon in Parco Paestum

Parco Archeologico Paestum 
Source: Wikipedia
Calabrian traditional cuisine