Steve's sandbox

Tag: celebrations

  • Peter Horton – Spain, March 2016

    ¡Que viene Semana Santa!

    Ya está la temporada de fiesta y feria aquí en Andalucia, esperamos semana santa e ya hemos tenido carnaval pero los andaluces quieren celebrar más, por eso cada pueblo tiene su propio celebraciones. Este fin de semana por ejemplo, me voy a Casas Viejas con uno de mis compañeros de rugby para celebrar su fiesta de la independencia desde el próximo pueblo Benalup. Para ser sincero, esta fiesta no tiene un gran historia, pero se celebra porque en 1991 se separaban los dos pueblos, e ya está. Pero voy yo para ver los pueblos blancos y disfrutar de los toros y la música andaluza.

    Además había un montón de noticias sobre el 23F este mes; significa el 23 de Febrero cuando había un golpe de estado después del muerte de Franco. El 23 de Febrero 1981 fue un intento fallido a prevenir la vota a elegir Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo cómo primero ministerio del país. Este golpe vino debido a muchas razones pero lo más importante fue que algunos en el ejército no quería cambio después de Franco porque les perderían tanto: dinero, casas, poder, etc,. Se paraba gracias al rey que transmitía en la television que denunciaba este golpe al estado y decía que España quería cambio.

    A mí me parece que he mejorado mucho mi español oral porque este mes en trabajo hemos cambiado un poco lo que estaba haciendo. Este mes he tenido que andar alrededor de la ciudad buscando muchos bares y restaurantes para hablar con los dueños sobre aspectos de marketing. Es decir que en el colegio queremos crear una tarjeta de descuento para nuestros estudiantes e yo he tenido que negociar con los varios empresarios sobre las ofertas que podríamos recibir por grupo de estudiantes. Yo diría que eso es lo más interesante aspecto de mi trabajo hasta ahora porque puedo hablar más y tengo la autoridad a encontrar mis propias ofertas para la escuela, me ha gustado mucho!

     

    Easter is coming!

    Now is the party and celebration season here in Andalusia, we are waiting for Easter and we have already had Carnaval but the Andalusians want to celebrate more, therefore each village has its own festivities. This weekend for example, I am going to Casas Viejas with one of my rugby teammates in order to celebrate the villages independence from the neighbouring town of Benalup. To be completely honest this party doesn’t have a long and interesting history but it is celebrated because in 1991 the two towns separated, and that is all. But in any case, I am going in order to see the white villages and enjoy the bulls and some typical andalusian music.

    In addition, there was a huge amount of news about 23F this month; this stands for 23rd of February when there was a coup d’etat after the death of Franco. On the 23rd February 1981 there was a failed attempt to block the vote to elect Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo as the prime minister of the country. This coup came about because of a variety of reasons, but one of the most important was that there were some senior members in the armed forces that didn’t want change after Franco because they were set to lose so much: money, land, power, etc,. Thankfully, it was stopped because the King sent out a television broadcast in which he denounced the coup d’etat and proclaimed that Spain wanted change.

    I think that I have improved my spoken Spanish a lot this month because we have changed what I’m doing a little bit. This month I am having to walk around the city searching for bars and restaurants to speak with their owners about marketing. In the school at the moment we want to make a discount card for our students and I have had to negotiate with various businesses about the offers and discounts that we would be able to receive per group of students. I would say that this has been the most interesting aspect of my work so far because I am able to speak more and I have the authority to find my own offers for the school, I really have enjoyed it a lot.

  • Emily Martin, China – January 2015

    Emily Martin, China

    庆祝圣诞节在中国

     

    虽然中国是一个历史上有宗教迫害，名义上无神论的国家，圣诞节现在 很流行。在每个购物中心里你看见圣诞节树， 每个商店 充满趁圣诞节折的顾客。不过，圣诞节的庆典一定有阴暗面。

    中国政府强制各种各样的限制，从在北京城市里禁止基督教颂歌到禁止某种的圣诞节饰。我们看不见传统基督教饰装饰圣诞节树 – 红心和可爱的动物代替金星和牧羊人。最惊爆的例子是’SantaCon’ – 每年大学学生（大部分是西方人）穿着圣诞老人服装在北京旅行以让人分享圣诞节的喜悦。我们看见穿着制服以及穿着便衣警察从早到晚围观他们。

    限制庆祝圣诞节可能是政府试着牵制基督教不停地兴起的方法。基督教正在以空前的速率方兴未艾。因为许多基督会众暗中聚集，估计现在的中国基督者数目不等从六百万到一千万。有的人认为在中国，基督者数目比共产党员的多。政府围观政府管理的教堂，可是当局不干涉这些教堂的事情，以及当局视而不见非法的教堂。中国政府和基督教的矛盾一定让政府忧虑。的确，亘古通今宗教是专制国家的罩门。

    虽然当局镇压圣诞节的宗教方面，当局一定不镇压圣诞节的经济方面。挥霍无度的西式联欢以及给礼物一定繁荣经济。圣诞节的 经济价值一定对当局重要得不能完全禁止庆祝圣诞节。但是很严重，奇异的圣诞节限制表示宗教的权力受到中国政府的崇敬。

     

    ENGLISH TRANSLATION

    Christmas in China

    Despite being a nominally atheist state with a dark history of religious persecution, particularly of Christians, Christmas is booming in China. Christmas trees appeared in every shopping mall and shops were filled with customers taking advantage of Christmas promotions. However, there is a darker side to the festivities.

    A multitude of prohibitions and restrictions on celebrations are enforced, from a ban on carol singing within the city of Beijing to restrictions on the type of decorations allowed. Traditional religious decorations were noticeably absent from public trees, with stars and shepherds replaced by hearts and cute animals. Perhaps the most striking example is that of SantaCon – when (mostly Western) students dress up in Santa costumes and travel round Beijing spreading Christmas cheer. Both uniformed and suspected plain-clothed police were watching them closely throughout the day.

    This careful control of Christmas is seemingly an attempt by the state to curb the seemingly unstoppable rise of Christianity. The religion is growing at an unprecedented rate in China. Due to the underground nature of many churches, estimates of the current number of Christians in China vary widely from 60 million to 100 million, with some claiming that there are now more practicing Christians in China than there are members of the Communist party. While the government carefully watches, but does not interfere too much with the state approved churches, and turns a blind eye to the underground ones for now, it is undoubtedly concerned by the rise of a potential rival ideology. Indeed, religion has been the Achilles heel of authoritarian states throughout history.

    While the religious aspect of Christmas may be discouraged by the state, the materialistic aspect is certainly not. Extravagant Western-style celebrations and gift giving give the Chinese people a chance to spend some of their growing wealth, undoubtedly giving the economy a boost.

    While the economic value of Christmas is undoubtedly valued by the state too much to completely ban celebrations, the strict, seemingly bizarre restrictions are perhaps testament to the healthy respect of the government for the power of religion.