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