Showing posts with label Spain. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Spain. Show all posts

May 17 - Galician Literature Day in Spain


Posted on May 17, 2022


This is an update of my post published on May 17, 2011:




Did you know that some people living in Spain speak the language of Galician?


This language is closely related to Portuguese... so does that give you a clue to the whereabouts of the Spanish region of Galicia?

If you guessed it was in the northwestern part of Spain, you are right.

The Galician Academy wanted to honor its native language and the literature written in it, so in 1963 it set up this holiday, on the hundredth anniversary of the publishing of the first work written in Galician, Rosalio de Castro's Canteres gallegos.


Every year a different Galician author is honored. Isn't that a nice idea for a holiday?

  • If you had to honor a writer from your little corner of the world, who would you choose?
     
  • Do you even know where the authors whose books you enjoy live?
     
  • Can you use Google to find an author who lives in your state or province?

    I found two super famous authors in just a few seconds, but I live in the large and populous state of California! I dug a little deeper and found Octavia Butler, a woman who wrote science fiction and who grew up in Pasadena - and I am a woman who writes science fiction and grew up in Pasadena! I am of course millions of steps lower in accomplishment than Ms. Butler!!!




Other Southern California authors include Amanda Gorman...




...and Scott O'Dell.



  • Which author from your state or nation would you want to honor with a holiday?

Celebrate!

Read, read, read. What a nice way to spend a day!










(Third Sunday in May)




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October 25 - Happy Birthday, Pablo Picasso

 Posted on October 25, 2021


This is an update of my post published on October 25, 2010:





Born on this day in 1881, the famous Spanish artist we celebrate today was christened Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso. 

I cannot figure out why we don't use his whole name when referring to him!

Considered a revolutionary artist, Picasso co-founded the Cubist movement but painted and drew in many styles over the course of his life.


These self-portraits were painted by Picasso at ages
18 (left), 25 (middle), and 90 (right).



Above, an early portrait by Picasso.
Below, a later Picasso portrait.



Picasso grew up and studied art in Spain, but he moved to Paris, which was then the art capital of the world, in 1900. While there Picasso lived in so much poverty, he had to burn much of his art just to stay warm! By 1901 Picasso moved back to Madrid, Spain, and luckily he found patrons who believed in him and bought his art: American writer Gertrude Stein and her husband and brother.

It is thought that Picasso made around 50,000 (!!!) artworks in his long (91 year) life. That includes paintings and drawings, of course, but also sculptures and ceramics and prints. He is thought to have painted more than 1,800 paintings. 

  • Look at this very short YouTube video of Picasso painting. Notice how free his brush strokes are as he sketches the figures he will paint....

  • Here is a video showing soooo many different artworks created by Picasso. You can see that, at the beginning of his art career, Picasso proved he could draw and paint things in the style of realism. But he went on to play with perspective and proportion and and and...

  • One thing Picasso is famous for is being able to abstract the most important features of a creature or object. This series of bulls shows you that (1) he could draw and paint in a realistic way, but also that (2) you can recognize a Picasso-drawn bull AS a bull even if it is highly abstract.


  • For another taste of Picasso, check out this short time-lapse video. Notice that the artist sometimes added shading and color and details that dramatically changed the look and feel of his original drawing.

  • Try your hand at adding more and more details to a drawing or painting, just as Picasso did. Check out this time-lapse “doodle” for inspiration.




Learn more!


Squidoo has a fun webpage about Picasso. Lots to click and see and read! 

Here are some coloring pages of Picasso artworks. Enjoy! 

For more Picasso links, check out this earlier post.




 















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September 10 - Gibraltar National Day

Posted on September 10, 2021


This is an update of my post published on September 10, 2010:




Gibraltar is a British overseas territory located at the northern side of the “gateway” to the Mediterranean Sea. The southern side of the gateway is Morocco, Africa—and the two sides are separated by a narrow neck of water called the Strait of Gibraltar.

The strait is almost 9 miles (more than 14 kilometers) wide.


Gibraltar-as-British-territory is a peninsula of land that juts out from Spain. Spain ceded the territory to Britain in 1713, after a war—but of course now Spain wants it back. However, the people who live in the area—about a quarter of whom are ethnic Britons and a quarter of whom are ethnic Spaniards—want to remain associated with the UK rather than change to Spanish rule (at least, 99% of them want that, according to the latest referendum).
Look how close Europe and Africa are
at the strait of Gibraltar!


Can you imagine how important Gibraltar is (and how especially important it was when sea travel dominated, because there was no such thing yet as air travel)? For military and trade, it was important to control access to the Mediterranean and to Western Asia and Northern Africa—and so it was a huge boon to England that it could have a Royal Navy base there.


Did you know...?








  • The only wild monkeys in Europe are the Barbary macaques of Gibraltar.

  • The most famous landmark in Gibraltar is the Rock of Gibraltar (also known simply as The Rock), which is a monolithic chunk of limestone that towers over the land and sea.


  • The Rock of Gibraltar is famous for having been carved into by the British military for use during World War II. Check out the plans for the "Stay Behind Cave"!!



  • The Rock of Gibraltar is one of the two "Pillars of Hercules." Hercules was an ancient Greek hero who supposedly connected the Mediterranean Sea to the Atlantic Ocean by smashing through a mountain that separated these two bodies of water. In other words, the story claims that Hercules formed the strait with his mighty whackings and crackings.

    The story goes on to say that two promontories on either side of the strait were all that was left of the original mountain—the Rock of Gibraltar, on one side, and either Monte Hacho or Jebel Musa, on the other. (A promontory is a large mass of land that overlooks flatter land or a body of water.)


One version of the story says that the pillars were marked with a message warning sailors to go no further. In other words, stay in the safer, warmer Mediterranean rather than sailing into the stormy, colder Atlantic.


Learn more...

  • Here is a glossary of geographic terms, including peninsula and strait, meant for fairly young children. 


Also on this date:







































Anniversary of the completion of Guinea-Bissau's War of Independence








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