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Edington said:
Happy long weekend, British MaidenFans. Let drinking commence :cheers:
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Also in UK a long weekend? On Friday we have Dragon Boat Festival, which occurs the 5th day of the 5th lunar month each year. Celebrating the death of a 4th Century BC poet apparently, in a river of Hunan. Others say it was another man or beautiful woman elsewhere, but in all cases there was a river involved, a death, and the 5th day of the 5th lunar month.
 
____no5 said:
Also in UK a long weekend? On Friday we have Dragon Boat Festival, which occurs the 5th day of the 5th lunar month each year. Celebrating the death of a 4th Century BC poet apparently, in a river of Hunan. Others say it was another man or beautiful woman elsewhere, but in all cases there was a river involved, a death, and the 5th day of the 5th lunar month.
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The Queen’s platinum Jubilee means we get a couple of days off to celebrate. I like the vagueness of your river moon death holiday.
 
Boroking said:
The Queen’s platinum Jubilee means we get a couple of days off to celebrate. I like the vagueness of your river moon death holiday.
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No it's not vague, just in some provinces they celebrate different person. Mainly it's Qu Yuan they celebrate, the 4th BC poet in Hunan. In Suzhou (most beautiful city) it's Wu Zixu and Zhejiang (province exactly south of Suzhou city) Cao E, the beautiful girl.

When I first was explained the origin of the public holiday I was surprised they celebrate a) a poet b) someone who died 2300 years ago. Usually public holidays are events max. 200 -300 years old since most of modern countries aren't that old.

I mean what are the oldest countries? China > Japan > Denmark > Russia > Spain > UK > US > France.
More or less? Russia is debatable to be older than Spain and France in some regards could be considered older than Japan. I'm no expert but you get the point.

Strictly speaking UK could be the oldest, followed by US.
 
Edington said:
Surely the clue's in the name? :lol:
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Yes and no - I mean the idea of "a queen mother" meaning a former queen (with a small "q") who is now the mother of the current King or Queen (big "K" or "Q") has been around for a while but "The Queen Mother" as a title is something she pretty much invented for herself, and this is why in the UK when we speak of "The Queen Mother" we almost always mean specifically her (and of course "The Queen Mum" is always her). And the kid in question had never heard of her.

He was born in 2000 so would have been only 2 when she died but even so I was surprised he'd never even heard of her. What is this country coming to ... ::)
 
____no5 said:
No it's not vague, just in some provinces they celebrate different person. Mainly it's Qu Yuan they celebrate, the 4th BC poet in Hunan. In Suzhou (most beautiful city) it's Wu Zixu and Zhejiang (province exactly south of Suzhou city) Cao E, the beautiful girl.

When I first was explained the origin of the public holiday I was surprised they celebrate a) a poet b) someone who died 2300 years ago. Usually public holidays are events max. 200 -300 years old since most of modern countries aren't that old.

I mean what are the oldest countries? China > Japan > Denmark > Russia > Spain > UK > US > France.
More or less? Russia is debatable to be older than Spain and France in some regards could be considered older than Japan. I'm no expert but you get the point.

Strictly speaking UK could be the oldest, followed by US.
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I meant no insult. I just like the idea that there is a public holiday based on a poet (perhaps) that has a different origin story from region to region. The day is important, but there is debate over why it is important. I like that. Holidays are usually so definite.
 
Boroking said:
I meant no insult. I just like the idea that there is a public holiday based on a poet (perhaps) that has a different origin story from region to region. The day is important, but there is debate over why it is important. I like that. Holidays are usually so definite.
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I get it now. No insult (obviously) taken. Yeap, agreed. In some ways here is more of a culture (or a continent) than a country. And those details indicate a very old culture. Public holiday for a 2300 year old event!

Btw, I'm looking fwd to this holiday. Yesterday, first day "free" after 80 days of lockdown I worked for like.. 16 hours!
 
____no5 said:
I get it now. No insult (obviously) taken. Yeap, agreed. In some ways here is more of a culture (or a continent) than a country. And those details indicate a very old culture. Public holiday for a 2300 year old event!

Btw, I'm looking fwd to this holiday. Yesterday, first day "free" after 80 days of lockdown I worked for like.. 16 hours!
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You have earnt your day off, I hope it is filled with joy. China is a nation that is so ancient you could debate for hours when it officially started. So it makes sense that there are overlapping stories for various myths, legends or holidays. I find China rather fascinating. It has withstood natural disasters and civil wars that have such staggering death tolls it’s hard to comprehend. But yet it sustains
 
____no5 said:
Are you a teacher?
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(sorry I missed this) No I'm not a teacher, I'm an accountant. The kid in question is one of the junior members of our team and the subject just came up in conversation while we were talking about the Jubilee. (I mentioned the Queen Mother and he just said "who?!!?")
 
Boroking said:
You have earnt your day off, I hope it is filled with joy. China is a nation that is so ancient you could debate for hours when it officially started. So it makes sense that there are overlapping stories for various myths, legends or holidays. I find China rather fascinating. It has withstood natural disasters and civil wars that have such staggering death tolls it’s hard to comprehend. But yet it sustains
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Agreed. I feel grateful to have experienced the Far East.
The first unification of China happened by Emperor Qin Shi Huang in 3rd Century BC. The one that built the terracotta army for his grave, in the city of Xi'an. Exactly after him, the Han took over and gave their name to the entire nation. It's never too clear with those things, but I'll take him as the milestone.

Xi'an is exactly the type of China that I like. A Silk Road station, in the crossroads of civilisations. Typically cities with great cuisine.
 
Black Abyss Babe said:
Yesterday at work I had to explain to one of the "kids" who the Queen Mother was. Ye gads I feel old ... :facepalm:
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You mean old Lord Glemis' little lass? My, they grow up so quickly.


However, as for explaining to kids, you can always say "remember that film about that chap who didn't want to stammer because Hitler didn't? That Helena Bonham Carter there? There you go."

But then again, that film is already 12 years old by now and although it got an Oscar, it was already during the Academy's current twilight years when it ceased to be in any way relevant, so I don't know if it would help.
 
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JudasMyGuide said:
However, as for explaining to kids, you can always say "remember that film about that chap who didn't want to stammer because Hitler didn't? That Helena Bonham Carter there? There you go."
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That also was mentioned in the conversation (though not by me, by someone from another team who overheard and came over to "help" :lol:) - kid hadn't actually seen that film but had heard of it.

Explaining who she was in terms of who she was related to wasn't difficult but you can never prompt someone to "remember" something they genuinely never knew. There are two sides to why I said it made me feel old:

1) People who were massively prominent and often in the prime of life during my formative and teenage years are now dying off (usually, though not alway, from old age/natural causes), and
2) Sufficient time has since passed for the younger generation to have never heard of these people.

A sobering reminder that, however old we may think we are, non of us are getting any younger ... :blink:
 
The fact that my e-mail app has an ominous, threatening sound whenever a new mail arrives doesn't help me with my anxieties.
Or maybe I just interpret that sound as ominous and threatening.
 
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