St.Nicholas Day !

St. Nicholas, Sviatyij Mykolai, comes to Ukraine on December 6th (or the 19th in the Orthodox Julian calendar). It is a happy day with visiting and sleigh rides. Schools have plays telling Nicholas stories and the saint visits local churches. Dressed as a Byzantine bishop, the good saint is often accompanied by angels. He quizzes children on their catechism before giving gifts. St. Nicholas Day is the main day for gift-giving, though gifts are also becoming associated with Christmas Day. Today many Ukrainian churches have St. Nicholas celebrations to help children understand that the holy man Nicholas came long before Santa Claus.In Lviv one hundred and fifty volunteers prepare gifts for thousands of less fortunate children across Ukraine through the St. Nicholas Travels Around Ukraine campaign. The effort, organized by the Ukrainian Catholic University along with other organizations, collects gifts, then selects and packages them for delivery on Mykolaya, December 19. The program began in 2000.
St. Nicholas is the focus of seasonal charity in Kiev. The "Help St. Nicholas—Make a Child's Dream Come True" provides fifteen locations to collect toys, warm clothing, and books for children who are orphaned, in hospital, or from low-income families. Beginning on St. Nicholas Day, December 19th, the good saint has a house in Taras Shevchenko Park where children may attend free theatrical shows and receive a gift from St. Nicholas.
St. Nicholas history in Ukraine goes back to the 10th and 11th centuries. In churches, his icons are prominently placed on the iconostas, usually next to Jesus, the Mother of God, or the patron saint of the church. His icons were found also in nearly every home. In the mountains of western Ukraine where the Hutzels named the four seasons of the year after saints, winter honors St. Nicholas.
Ukrainian folk tradition recognizes two Saint Nicholas figures: "cold Nicholas" and "warm Nicholas."
Cold Nicholas, the familiar winter saint, is believed to bring the first snow by shaking his beard. In Western Ukraine accompanied by angel and devil figures, he is celebrated with gift-giving as described above. As the patron saint of spinning, yarns and thread were brought to church to "add to his beard."

Celebrated in the spring, warm Nicholas, patron saint of farming, is said to walk the land to dry overly wet areas and dampen the dry. On the festival horses begin grazing in the fields, sheep are sheared, and buckwheat sowed. In port areas the festival focuses on Nicholas as patron saint of the seas. Cossacks, like the Greeks, take St. Nicholas icons when sailing the treacherous Black Sea.

In his annual statement wishing Ukrainian children a happy St. Nicholas Day, Ukrainian President Yushchenko, said, "Let God guard you and give you happiness, joy and hope. Let his divine blessing follow you in your life." He continued, "Ukrainians have [venerated] Saint Nicholas as the patron saint of children since olden days. He makes us believe our most cherished dreams will come true one day, endows our hearts with kind feelings and inspires us to do good."*

The President also takes part in the chairty "Sing a Song to St. Nicholas" on 19 December. He wished that "on this festive day, not a single Ukrainian family or child was forgotten by St. Nicholas." He gave holiday gifts and book certificates to the children.

Interesting Facts About Our Sleep

It is possible to talk for hours about why we like sleeping and what is a good sleep like. Below, there are a number of interesting facts and information about our sleep.

Statistics says that the Spaniards usually sleep 40 minutes less than other European nations do, and the French sleep the longer: up to 9 hours a day.
An average person spends up to 26 years of his/her life sleeping.
The older we become, the less time we need for restful sleeping.
All people without exception see dreams while they sleep. Some people just can not remember their dreams sometimes.
Not every person can see colorful dreams. The experts say that only 80% of people can see colorful dreams, and the rest 20% see the dreams in black and white.
Blind people also can see dreams.
Dreams can sometimes help to foresee coming diseases. For example, if a person sees in his/her dream that his/her throat is damaged or injured, it can be understood as a sign of a coming flu or cold.
While we snore we do not see dreams.
20% of traffic accidents happen due to sleep deprivation or related problems.
There is a type of phobia called somniphobia, when people are afraid of falling asleep.
According to a recent study, those who sleep 6-7 hours a day have lower risks of premature death than those who sleep more than 8 hours a day.
According to the Guinness World Record book, the longest period without sleep was 18 days, 21 hours and 40 minutes.

Lemberg

Lviv History

According to the ancient chronicles Lviv was founded in 1256 by the Prince of Qalicia and Volyn Danylo Romanovych, who named the town in honour of his son Lev. The centre of old Lviv was on the site of today's Old Rynok Square. Situated on the crossroads of trade routes, Lviv grew fast, and soon became an important centre of commerce and crafts. Its location in the middle of Galicia-Volyn principality gave the town a considerable strategic value. In 1272 Prince Lev transferred the capital of the principality from Qalych to Lviv. In 1349 Lviv was captured by the Polish King Kazimierz HI, who ordered it to be moved more to the south. The new town was built to the plan of a traditional European settlement: a central square surrounded by living quarters and fortifications.

Not only merchants were attracted by the wealth of Lviv. In those days Tatars, Moldavians, Turks, rebellious Polish nobility were attacking Lviv, and the defences were a vital matter. Basically the system of fortifications was completed in 1445; it comprised the Higher and Lower Defence Walls with a ditch between them; a deep moat filled with water, which protected the town on the northern, eastern and southern sides; a defence rampart, 16 metres high; the High and Low Castles. The river and impassable swamps shielded Lviv from the west. However, with the advent of firearms, such fortifications could afford little protection, and they underwent drastic alterations. High walls were replaced by lower and thicker ones; in place of towers with narrow embrasures, designed mainly for archers, there appeared basteas (semicircular defence structures with an open space in place of a roof on the top), two of which have been preserved until the present day (in Pidvalna Street and in Brativ Rogatyntsiv Street); earthworks became very common. The last significant addition to the town defences was the Royal Arsenal, constructed in 1639-1669 (13 Pidvalna Street). 

The High Castle, built by the Polish King Kazimierz III, heavily fortified and located on a steep hill, 300 metres high, remained inaccessible for more than 300 years. It was only in 1648 that the High Castle was seized for the first time, by the Cossacks of Maxym Kryvonis. In 1672 Turks captured it almost without a fight. Later, little was done to save the Castle from decay, and in the 1870s it was dismantled, with a segment of its southern wall being preserved.

The Lower Castle, famous for its beauty, rebuilt after 1565 to replace earlier wooden ones, was located on the site presently occupied by the national Museum and Maria Zankovetska Theatre. Here in 1537 King Sigismund I the Old signed the Order which put an end to the absolute monarchy in Poland. The Swedish King Karl XII stayed in the Lower Castle in 1704 after capturing the city. A royal residence, the Castle also served as a prison for Polish nobility. 

The devastating fire of 1527 razed Lviv to the ground, leaving only two structures: the Town Hall and one other building; the survival of the latter was attributed to the protection of the Holy Virgin. So intense was the fire, that it destroyed even stone structures and melted church bells and artillery guns. Although the ban imposed on wooden construction in 1540 was not too strictly observed, the buildings which appeared later were largely built of stone. The most common type of building was a three-storeyed one, with three windows on each floor. The walls were covered with carpets, which later gave way to plaster. Furniture, mostly made of oak, solid, intricately carved and lavishly decorated; oriental carpets on the floor; kitchenware of silver and tin (which used to be almost as expensive as silver); glassware, often of coloured glass; clocks in bronze or gilded wood — these were to show the wealth of a house-owner. Paintings and books were not scarce in the town. Preference was given to Italian and Dutch painting; libraries with dozens or hundreds of volumes were quite common. The largest known library, with 1,200 books, belonged to John Alembek, the author of the first description of Lviv (1618), who died in 1636.

Without sanitation, the town was prone to epidemics. From the 14th to the 18th centuries 51 epidemics were recorded in Lviv. The largest toll was taken by the so called Black Years of 1620-1623, when two-thirds of the local population died. Food was plain as elsewhere in those days; the typical menu consisted of cereals and vegetables. Fish was very popular. Trade in salted fish was one of the main sources of income for the Lviv treasury, with quality control being stringent. Only two species of fish out of dozens produced were awarded a quality certificate. Oriental spices, extremely expensive in Europe (for example, black pepper cost twice as much as gold in Western Europe), were cheap and accessible in Lviv, which was one of the few cities enjoying the right to the exclusive storage of oriental goods, which meant that such goods were to be sold to the local people for prices set by Lviv. In case of non-compliance, the whole caravan was confiscated.

Local town people loved good drinks. Among the popular drinks in Lviv were gorilka mead. Wine was very common. In addition to wine which came from Greece, Spain, Italy and Hungary, the city was manufacturing its own wine: vineyards were planted on the site of today's Lysenko Street and Klepariv. But the favourite drink was beer, which in those days was exported even to Bavaria. It took six weeks to transport Lviv beer there, and it did not spoil. Hardly any modern drink would stand such a test. Disturbances were quelled in the city by local guards called "tsipaky". The name came from their main weapon, a military frail, in Ukrainian called "tsip". There were 24 of them. Although their formal task was to patrol the city gates at night, in fact, they acted as a city police force. In case of serious riots, four haiduks, personal guards of the town Burgomaster, intervened. Court decisions were carried out by an executioner, whose nickname, the Man Mot Too Kind, became his formal title. The job was not badly paid; however, very few volunteered to take that position, as the holder, together with his family, was doomed to general hatred and contempt.

Little is known about what Lviv cemeteries of 14th-18th centuries looked like. There were seven cemeteries located near the churches. The Catholics were buried next to the Catholic cathedrals; the cemeteries of the Assumption Church and of the Armenian Cathedral served as a burial ground for the Orthodox and for the Armenians, respectively. The Jewish cemetery, dating from the 14th century and destroyed by the Nazi in the beginning of the 1940s, occupied the site of the present Krakiwsky Market. The rich were buried in church basements; the poor — near the church. The tombstones, made of bronze, marble or alabaster, usually presented a sleeping man or woman. Such tombstones can be seen in the Roman Catholic Cathedral, the Jesuit and the Dominican Churches. The coffin carried a tomb portrait, which after the funeral was moved to the church. The collections of Lviv History Museum and of Lviv Picture Gallery contain about 10 such portraits by unknown masters, which still impress the viewer with their vivid colours and deep psychological insight. Cemeteries, located on 36 hectares of the enclosed space, presented a danger to the health of people, and in 1783, on the order of Joseph II, they were dismantled and moved outside the city's boundaries: only one — Lychakivsky cemetery — has been preserved until the present day.

 

My Shopping

Today I’m going to buy a present for my best friend Mary. So I’ve decided to go to the Department Store, one of the most deserved in our city. Nowadays supermarkets and department stores are becoming more popular where people can reserve time and find a necessary good. I’ve got not much time, because she’s throwing a party at 6 p.m. and now is 3 p.m., so I must hurry up!

So here I am. This Department Store is very huge and I hope I’ll find something suitable and useful for her.  On the top floor I see a large shop with flowers and souvenirs. I’m going to buy a big bunch of pink orchids (her favorite flowers). So, I’ve paid my cheque and now I am going to the first floor to the Haberdashery Shop Gifts! It’s amazing shop where you can find everything you want irrespective of price.

I want to buy leather purse for her, but there are so many various purses that I need a help of shop assistant. It’s not very expensive, but very modern and beautiful. Now I wonder what color she preferred, black, red or brown? Probably I’ll buy black one.

Next what I’m going to buy is a birthday cake. I find myself in the bakery, where I’ve recently ordered the cake. Here it is! Smells very tasty.

Oh, and I’ve forgot to buy a new evening dress! I better hurry up to the boutique on the last floor. A shop assistant helped me to find my size and after trying on I’ve bought a little black evening dress. Now I’m waiting for my taxi. All shopping is done successfully!

Sweeney Todd

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUbf2Dj2oIU


Wow! Another challenge for Johnny! 

Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 26 Coronation Mozart

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32gsiqbjbk8



This little girl is a child Genius! This remarkable piano genius is Aimi Kobayashi.
Her many YouTube videos begin at age 3.  Aimi is now 15. She has performed with orchestras in many countries since age 11.