All Entries in the "Culture" Category

My thoughts on Australia Day

If you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!What does Australia Day mean to me (other than being a holiday)?
Seriously, although I live in Queensland, I did not move here for the sand and surf despite this being one of our main assets on the Gold Coast (hence [...]

Feeling patriotic?

Feeling patriotic as our national day draws closer? Challenge yourself with this Australia Day Quiz. How much do you really know about this country you live in?
Speaking of country, one of my favourite poems is ‘My Country’ by Dorothea Mackellar published in 1908. The second stanza is the one we are most familiar with and [...]

Zebra Piñata

The Christmas season is fast approaching and it always makes me think of the festive customs from other cultures. Although my background is of slavic origin, I feel a strong connection with Italian culture and also have an interest in Spanish culture. One Spanish custom I am intrigued with is the tradition of the Piñata, [...]

Fruit Corso in Tiel

I was sent a Powerpoint Presentation of the 2007 Fruit Corso held in a Dutch town called Tiel in the province of Gelderland. I was unaware of this annual event and immediately did some research online to find out more.
It turns out that it is a huge celebration held in early September of local produce [...]

Remembering on Anzac Day

My father at the age of 17,  joined and fought with the Partisans in what was then known as Yugoslavia during the Second World War. His contribution to the war effort in his country of birth made me more aware of the sacrifices many people made in war time to help us live better [...]

Holocaust Remembrance Day

It is now more than 60 years after the Second World War in Europe ended. This is in memory of the six million Jews, 20 million Russians, 10 million Christians and 1,900 Catholic priests who were murdered, massacred, raped, burned, starved and humiliated with the German and Russian Peoples looking the other way!

According to About.com, [...]

Easter ritual

Easter is another religious based celebration which has become somewhat commercialised. I have been most fortunate to have grown up with a European background where the symbolism of Easter was more than just chocolate easter eggs.
I will always remember the  night before Easter when my father would prepare the dye for the hard boiled eggs [...]

Fish trap made from rocks 1,000 years ago

In this day and age we have become accustomed to the convenience and ease which technology affords us and we forget that not so long ago, life was not so convenient.
Fishing is not a hobby of mine and never was, even though I was taught how to use a fishing rod in my childhood. I [...]

Valentine’s Day

“Love in its essence is spiritual fire.”
~ Swedenborg ~
That is one of my favourite quotations on the theme of love and I had it engraved on a Russian wedding ring I gave to my husband six years ago.
Ignoring the present day commercialism, what does Valentine’s Day mean to you? For some it may be a [...]

Friday the 13th

Superstitions are not a modern phenomenon and have plagued the mind of society for centuries such as the number 13, often referred to as ‘The Devil’s Dozen’. Wikipedia states that there is no written record of a Friday the 13th superstition prior the the 19th century and depending upon your viewpoint, is either seen as [...]

The face of Cleopatra

I have had an interest in Egyptian history since I was very young and the beauty of Cleopatra, the Queen of Egypt, has held a source of fascination to us for centuries. Now scientists recreate the first true image of the legendary beauty and we do not have use our imagination to visualise this.
It is [...]