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Post by Sabine on Dec 12, 2005 16:58:34 GMT 2
Christmas is "gezellig", what I most like about christmas are all those nice little lights everywhere, in the christmastree, before windows and everywhere else, it makes me really happy
What I hate about christmas is that stupid f#$#ing song of Mariah Carey .... Oh damn I hate it !
Edit : the Dutch word gezellig means something like pleasant or enjoyable, but those 2 words don't describe what I feel when I think about the word gezellig ...
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Post by teuton on Dec 12, 2005 17:28:57 GMT 2
I du understand "gezellig", we have got the same expression in German
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Post by Sabine on Dec 12, 2005 18:23:12 GMT 2
I du understand "gezellig", we have got the same expression in German hehe great maybe "gezellig" is a secret international word that no-one knows or something But I seriously never knew that gezellig was also a german word ...
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Post by janneke on Dec 12, 2005 18:37:08 GMT 2
English translation of: "gezellig" = cosy and is a very common used word, I don't think it's that secret And German and Dutch are very related to eachother when it comes to some words.
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Post by thyr on Dec 12, 2005 19:11:56 GMT 2
A little accident... ;D
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Post by teuton on Dec 12, 2005 23:12:19 GMT 2
So, I did a lot of afford and finally enden by being able to post this huge piece of composed English words concerning christmas^^
I like Christmas.
When I think of Christmas, I think of the cottage in our inner city (random fact: Bielefeld, my city, is as big as Helsinki^^) selling warm mead. I always have great conversations with the guy who sells it due to his impressing knowledge on norse mythology and his good taste of music. Heading further for the central market, I think of the spicy smell of "Glühwein" (spicy wine, served warm) and the guy on the left who sells pendants, like symbols of Mjölnir or Pentagramms. Nice guy, weird haircut. Continueing, I see the cottages selling candied almonds which taste incredibly good. Far beyond the first central market I see the cottage selling Hot-Dogs with fried or crispy onions. This cottage belongs to some Poles, and, since I can speak their language, I get a Hot-Dog for free quite often. In the whole city there are about 100 cottages selling more or less useful stuff and things to eat.
Christmas can also be stressful. Right now, I am waiting for my money. Having received it, a every-year ritual will take place. Me and my cousin jump into the crowdy inner city to do our christmas shopping for the whole family. If you do not pay attention, you get easily rid of 100 or 200 €. Additionally, in most cases I do not know what to buy, so I always have to decide first what to buy not to disappoint any of my family members.
So, after having baked lots of cookies and having prepared lots of things, there is finally christmas eve. The whole family comes together and have a great dinner with lots of beer and wine and mead. Being drunk, we start distributing the presents.It is always the one who drunk the most who distributes them because he is the only one in the room who can sit all the time. Others have to run for stuff in order to open their presents. And just like last year you can get very pissed: My little sister did nit take care so that she broke the present I bought her...so at christmas you see the money you worked for so hardly just flowing away. Sad story. My sister is always the one who is the most disappointed when she gets her presents. Last year, well, just like every year, she got a new mobile phone. It was the one she wanted, but it was the wrong colour. So she started crying in despair and I could hardly prevent her from throwing the precious masterpiece of modern electronics on the ground. As drunk as I was, I was able to catch it, unfortunately I fell on the ground quite hardly and I almost broke my hand. But since the injury was not as severe as it seemed to be, we could bring the ceremony to an end. As my sister did not want the phone, I took it and sold it and bought a new, better one. Just my luck.
In conclusion concerning christmas you can say: Same shit, different year.
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Post by Winterdeath on Dec 12, 2005 23:30:41 GMT 2
I like christmas, Presents are obviously the best part! I like the weeks leading upto christmas the most, getting the decorations up and so on
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Post by Jarkko on Dec 13, 2005 9:21:54 GMT 2
In old Finnish folklore christmas is called kekri or köyri. The Finnish verb köyriä actually means "having sex", and they are connected to each other. Köyri has always been a very fertile time.. Well, there's no doubt about köyriminen. Very nice indeed. But as far as I know kekri or köyri has nothing to do with Christmas. Kekri was/is in the beginning or mid November when people were celebrating the years harvest. It also marked the end of the year and in some beliefs the dead could not pass to the other side until the year had changed so kekri was also very spiritual time. Kekri is therefore also connected to original Halloween, the Hallow's Eve. Just to stay on topic, here are my thoughts about Christmas: I don't believe in God or Jesus Christ. I don't believe in the ideology of the Christian church. Therefore Christmas means nothing spiritual to me. However, Christmas is a good time to be with your close ones and at least once a year remember also the not so close ones. However, I think that this is something we should do everyday throughout the year. We should always remember our close ones, friends and relatives, and act like it was Christmas everyday. One day, when I am not here anymore, my friends will not remember me because of what I did on Christmas, they will, I hope, remember me from what I was and did between the Christmas eves. j.
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Post by Humppaporo on Dec 13, 2005 11:54:52 GMT 2
When I was little, for me christmas was a huge decorated tree which smells deliciously to far woods. I was always sitting under it, looking at the green branches and sparkling decoration, taking the resin of the tree, till my fingers stuck together. My brother and me played with the little figures from the stable . Around these christmas days my father was hardly at home, because he had to play the endless J.S. Bach’s Mattheus passion many times (he was solo cello player in an orchestra). We didn't give each other presents with christmas, that we did on December 5th, 'Sinterklaasavond' another really nice traditional celebration. At christmas we always went for a long walk in the woods. Afterwards we had some hot chocolate or Irish coffee. At Christmas my father cooked. Usually he hardly had any time for that, but he always made a huge delicious salat, stewed chicken, fresh bread, sauces etc. A family tradition was to draw and write the menu's for this evening. We played word games with the menu items, and twisted the words to change their meaning. We also always had one or two guests at this evening. Acquaintances who could not celebrate christmas with family for several reasons. Of course, there was enough beer and wine to drink and lots of candles. My father was brought up in a strict Catholic family, but he never put any pressure on us, My mother came from an atheist family. Both thought we had to choose/decide for ourselves. Sometimes we visited churches, but only for the art, not for religious purposes. Now I’m in charge, and christmas means to me having a great evening with family/friends. (Before my father dies two years ago, all of our small family gathered here at christmas). I put out all electric lights and light candles everywhere in the whole house. Sometimes we make a fire outside to sit there for a while (when it’s not too cold) or take a walk in the dark. We always eat vegetarian on this evening (a huge cheese soufflé, mushroom pie, cranberries, fresh baked bread, and more good stuff) because when I once prepared a duck the children (little then) were all tears, because they liked ducks and could not stand to eat it. Also they thought it a very unholy and rude behaviour to eat animals on this celebration. Since that time we don’t eat meat at celebrations. Maybe odd, but this is delicious too and feels good. Christmas doesn’t have a religious meaning to me. I believe someone like Jesus existed and also that he was a very special human (human indeed!). I believe in forces and powers of nature, and that’s all. The strongest there is! *never thought I could tell this much about X-mass, must be the inspiring music of Tapio Rautavaara, I’m listening too right now, suits the atmosphere!*
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Post by HerraHirwi on Dec 13, 2005 13:34:23 GMT 2
In old Finnish folklore christmas is called kekri or köyri. The Finnish verb köyriä actually means "having sex", and they are connected to each other. Köyri has always been a very fertile time.. Well, there's no doubt about köyriminen. Very nice indeed. But as far as I know kekri or köyri has nothing to do with Christmas. Kekri was/is in the beginning or mid November when people were celebrating the years harvest. It also marked the end of the year and in some beliefs the dead could not pass to the other side until the year had) changed so kekri was also very spiritual time. Kekri is therefore also connected to original Halloween, the Hallow's Eve. Kekri is connected to both Finnish joulu (Finnish Christmas) and pyhäinmiestenpäivä - traditions (original Halloween). For an ancient Finns they were the same. It was the celebration of the years harvest and the time when families and people gathered together (as nowadays in Christmas). When Christianity arrived, the place of the original kekri or köyry stayed in the place of Halloween, but many traditions and beliefs ended up to Christmas celebration, and thus the modern Finnish Christmas has maintained many things from the original köyry. For more reading about the subject I recommend the book of Timo Heikkilä's: Aurinkolaiva. It's the good outlook to ancient Finnish world and beliefs and folklore. ~Regards: Student of the Finno-Ugric Faculty
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Post by Jarkko on Dec 13, 2005 17:39:33 GMT 2
~Regards: Student of the Finno-Ugric Faculty I actually knew that you were studying something like that and wasn't really going to argue on kekri. However, I had never heard that there was a connection between kekri and Christmas. And are you actually saying that there was a Finnish Christmas before the Christian one? j.
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Post by HerraHirwi on Dec 13, 2005 18:59:57 GMT 2
And are you actually saying that there was a Finnish Christmas before the Christian one? Before Christian arrival we had kekri, which was the greatest celebration in the year with mid-summer. When the Christians came, the place, of the kekri stayed, and became to pyhäinmiestenpäivä, but many rituals and inner concept of kekri became a big part of joulu (=which is what I meant by "Finnish Christmas", and which is already explained in the previous post). To make a long story short: from the kekri was born both pyhäinmiestenpäivä and joulu. Ie. the Finnish word for Santa Claus, joulupukki, comes from it. In the rituals of köyri, a goat called köyripukki (= literally "a köyri goat) had a significant role in it. EDIT: www.kolumbus.fi/sagafre/Kekri.html (the text is in Finnish)
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Post by Sabine on Dec 13, 2005 20:03:09 GMT 2
And are you actually saying that there was a Finnish Christmas before the Christian one? I thought the before the Christianity there was a pagan celebrationday, but for the christians was it easier to take over the pagan celebrationdays, than to start new ones, and that also counts for Christmas, I'm not very common with the Bible and stuff, but they told me that Jesus was born somewhere in summer ... (I hope you understand it, because my English sucks at this point)
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Post by HerraHirwi on Dec 13, 2005 20:06:27 GMT 2
I thought the before the Christianity there was a pagan celebrationday, but for the christians was it easier to take over the pagan celebrationdays, than to start new ones, and that also counts for Christmas -- For Finns this celebrationday was kekri as explained above..
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Post by teuton on Dec 14, 2005 16:02:37 GMT 2
Oh man, I am disappointed. Nobody made any comment on my huge masterpiece of my christmas experiences even though I worked so hard on it *cry* No, let's stop joking. I guess christmas has been invented by christians. Even if there were similar celebaration in old finland, nothing had a connection to the christian ceremony of celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. My point of view
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