The cultural exchange thread.

[Beren3000]

I got this idea from a discussion Rian and I were having in the Gen. Lit forum.
We're all from different countries, how about if each one shares a certain myth, a funny anecdote, an interesting fact or even some traditions and customs specific to their country?

I'll start it off. I come from Egypt; here's one of our famous myths:

The Myth of Isis and Osiris:
Isis, Osiris and Seth were siblings, sons of the goddess Hathor (IIRC) which is the goddess of (procreative) fertility and "patron goddess" of pregnant women. Osiris fell in love with, and married, Isis his own sister (apparently such a thing was common at the time). Seth, green with envy, decided to murder his brother. In order to do so, he threw a great party and invited many people among whom was Osiris. Seth's party suprise was a precious coffin which he offered as a gift to whoever of the audience would fit inside it. (Death was sacred to the Ancient Egyptians, so such a gift would be considered a great honor). Needless to say, he had the coffin tailored to fit only Osiris. So each of the audience tried the coffin on (go figure ) and when Osiris went in, Seth locked the coffin up and had his brother killed.
Legend goes on to tell that he chopped up Osiris' body into pieces and scattered them in various parts of the Nile (Egypt's only river, and the longest in the world!). Isis, learning of that, endeavoured to bring together all the pieces of Osiris' body but she found one piece to be missing: the phallus! Tradition goes that it was swallowed by a crocodile in the Nile and that's why Ancient Egyptians reverred the crocodiles (I think!). So she used her "magic" powers to create another phallus for Osiris and then she revived him for the sole purpose of impregnating herself with a son that would eventually avenge his father. Osiris dies then and becomes the constellation Orion and the god of the Underworld. (Indeed it was believed that the souls of all the dead Pharaohs went up to one of the three stars know as Orion's belt, and the Great Pyramids are meant to be an accurate representation of these three stars). Isis then bore Osiris' son, Horus, who killed Seth thus avengeing his
father. Afterwards, Isis had many "medical" powers attributed to her and had the title "queen of the sky" among others. Horus became the protector of the pharaohs and it was believed that each pharaoh was a descendant of Horus.

Hope that wasn't too long!
Waiting to hear your stories

[Radagast]

World's Shortest War

On August 27th, 1896, a British battle fleet delivered Said Khalid, the pretender Sultan of Zanzibar, an ultimatum to vacate his palace. When he refused, fighting broke out. Hostilities peaked at 9:15 and ceased at 9:40 when Zanzibar surrendered. The war was over in 38 minutes, its turning point the sinking of Zanzibar's only warship, the aging Glasgow, with two shells.

As a final insult, local residents were ordered to pay for the ammunition used in the destruction of the Sultan's palace.

[Beren3000]

Here's a quickie:

-Ancient Egyptians were said to put a mummy at the table each time they ate, so that they would remember the fleeting nature of life and enjoy it while it lasts.

Also...thanks for sharing that, Rad. Hope others will join in soon!

[jerseydevil]

There is a New Jersey legend dating back from the early 1700's. Supposedly in 1735 a woman - Mrs. Leeds of Smithville was having a 13th child. She was tired of having children and cursed it during childbirth and said "I wish it was the devil" At which point when the child was born it sprouted wings - killed several people in the birthing room and flew out the window. Ever since it has terrorized and been seen thourghout New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York. There are of course several variations on the legend - but that its the most common one.

The devil stilll resides in New Jersey within the forests of the Pine Barrens that cover nearly 1/3 of New Jersey. We used to tell horror stories about the Jersey Devil on the school bus - so I decided to use it as my user name.

That, by the way, in case peope don't know - is why our professional hockey team is called the New Jersey Devils. It has nothing to do with the satanic variety - although I am waiting for an outcry from the hard core religious people.

If you want more info - check out this website - Devil Hunters

Also there is a cool movie called the Last Broadcast - it came before The Blair Witch Project and is much better - but it's about a couple of people in search of the New Jersey Devil.
Last Broadcast DVD


Oh here's a website for the Pine Barrens where the Jersey Devil lives - NJ Pine Barrens

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This was taken from the "Origin of a Name (User Name)" thread with some minor changes.

[Beren3000]

Thanks for sharing that legend, JD. I have already checked the website from your sig. Sounds interesting! What's your opinion about it?

THIS IS MY 500TH POST!!!

[Mercutio]

I heard a program done by a English prof. at Univ. of DE-- He was talking about legends in Delaware and their basis in actually history. I won a free book of his at the program.

Anyway, legend has it that there was this little kid who would eat absolutely anything. He ended up swallowing Mason's (or was it Dixon?; as in the Mason-Dixon line) chronometer, which was at the time just being invented back in England too. I think up until this point its actually facts. Supposedly, the chronometer kept ticking inside of him. When he got married, his wife heard it and thought he was possessed/demon/something like that and left him. When he died, he was buried in a little cemetary in Landenberg, PA (about 10 min. from DE). To this day people claim that you can go to his grave, put your ear down to it, and hear the ticking. One of my friends lives about 5 minutes from it so we planned to go up sometime.