Wild, Hybrid and Cultivated - Blog on the bridge between botany, languages and marketing communications
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by Karen Andrews
London staged its first Spanish cultural festival this Bank Holiday weekend. Feria de Londres is more accurately described as an Andalusian festival. A lot of the culture that the British attribute to Spain originates from Andalucia.
Picnic of Churros at London's Tower Bridge, Feria de Londres
The 2-day Feria de Londres was staged on Potters Fields - the green space between London's iconic Tower Bridge and City Hall. I arrived just as Tower Bridge opened to let the Dixie Queen paddlesteamer pass underneath. I captured this and a sample of the Andalusian festivities on the video below.
Dancing in the 'Spanish' sunshine
The long queue for paella at the Feria de Londres!
The sun blazed down throughout my visit on the happy crowd enjoying the Spanish food, music and dancing.
Karen Andrews is a freelance French to English translator, transcreator, content writer and editor. She has a strong background in global marketing.
In eager
anticipation of Euro 2016 in France, the French Institute’s Ciné Lumière held a
series of films and talks. The series was entitled “Art and Football: A Perfect
Match?”
Introducing On the Road with Sócrates at Ciné Lumière
I attended the
first film and talk: On the Road with Sócrates
(Sur la route avec Sócrates). During the 2014 World Cup, Dany Cohn-Bendit
headed to Brazil. His original plan involved meeting up with his friend, the famous
Brazilian football player, Sócrates. Unfortunately, Sócrates died in 2011.
Instead Dany toured Brazil in a mobile home painted in his honour (see tweeted
photo below). He met up with many people who knew Sócrates.
Dany travelling in Brazil with Sócrates in spirit
Dany discussed the
impact of football on Brazil. Two moments stood out in the film. The first was
a visit to the indigenous boy who appeared as a mascot on the pitch – unfurling
a protest banner unseen by the world’s TV cameras.
The second was the
agony on Brazilian faces in a café as their team lost 1-7 to Germany in the
semi-final. As an England supporter, I am accustomed to the agony of watching
my national team. (Please Euro 2016 spare us penalties). The agony on the faces
of Brazilians accustomed to winning in style was one of the film’s most
powerful sequences. You could feel every goal go in with every Brazilian wince.
No need to see the game on screen at all.
Dany Cohn-Bendit was
present during the film. He discussed Sócrates, how the film was made and its
special moments afterwards.
Talk
with Dany Cohn-Bendit after the film at Institut Français
Underdogs
triumph
The UEFA European
Championship is an incredible tournament. It has had many great moments in the
past. It’s good for football when the underdogs win – as when Denmark won
unexpectedly in 1992 or when Greece won in 2004.
I treasure memories of watching Euro 1996 at Wembley. It is great when the home nation
qualifies for the later stages. Then the whole nation gets excited – including those
not normally interested in football. Flags appear in every window and on every vehicle.
Euro
2016
I’m looking
forward to a fantastic tournament in France for Euro 2016. Let’s have a great
championship played in the best spirit of the game.
The opening match
is France v. Romania on 10th June. England and Wales play their
first matches the day after. Just days away… Allez les bleus!
The humour
continued in the Dutch Embassy’s language and culture taster class. Dutch was
followed by Frisian. It is the second official language of the Netherlands. It
is spoken in Friesland in the northern part of the country. Old Frisian is the
closest language to Old English.
Duco
Dr Doekele van
Oostrum introduced the Europe House audience to his native tongue. Frisian is a
language that he only generally gets to speak with his family. This
presentation was the first that he had ever carried out bearing his birth name
of Doekele. In order to survive in the Dutch-speaking world, his parents had
advised a switch to “Duco”. Little did they realise that the Dutch have a tendency
to call their dogs “Duco”.
Duco is not a
language teacher. Instead he teaches American English literature at the
University of Sheffield. He relished the chance to explain his native culture
to us. He interspersed his tales with snippets of the Frisian language.
Culture and Flag
Frisian is not
just another of the Dutch dialects. Friesland has a strong cultural history. It
has its own flag (above). Its seven symbols, commonly mistaken for hearts,
represent lily pads.
History and Legend
There is no
getting away from the fact that Duco’s ancestors were a violent, bloodthirsty
people. The Frisian Pagans fought ferociously to keep their independence from
both government and religion.
Today’s Frisians
are fiercely proud of defeating the Romans in AD28. They scared the Romans off for good. They never came back.
Everyone knows their Tacitus.
The Frisians
brutally killed anyone who got too close to them. St Boniface was killed by the
Frisians. Even dragons daren’t venture
near Friesland according to legend.
The most important
figure in Frisian history is Grutte Pier (Big Peter). He was a
pirate by the name of Piers Gerlof Donia (1480-1520). His long sword can be
found in the Frisian cultural museum.
Status and PR
Duco attributed
the official status of the Frisian language to good PR. Friesland boasts the
oldest Dutch University dating back to 1581. The language is taught in primary
school. It can even be found in Google Translate – although as a linguist it is
hard to know whether to congratulate or commiserate with the Frisians on this
point.
Twitter shot of Duco presenting Frisian Cultural Heritage
Language and Heritage
Friesland has its
own radio and TV stations. There are dual language signs in Frisian cities.
Ûs Mem
When the British
think of Frisians, we think of Frisian cows first of all. It was therefore a
surprise that the second most famous figure was a statue of a cow. Frisians traditionally
refer to her as “Our Mother” (Ûs Mem).
Sport and Singing
Sport is an
important part of Frisian culture. A gruelling 220km ice skating race is a
revered tradition - though a rare event. It depends on the icy conditions. There
was a massive gap between 1963 and 1985. In one famous race out of 1600
starters only 100 finished. Duco likened the Dutch ability to watch such
skating races endlessly to the British ability to watch cricket.
Other Famous Frisians
Many renowned
Frisians were skaters – including one world champion, a housewife and mother,
who defeated a field of much younger women.
We all knew at
least one Frisian – the famous spy Mata Hari from Leeuwarden.
We also heard
about hand tennis matches and boat races with low keels. Heerenveen football
matches are great occasions at which to speak and sing only in Frisian. Duco
played us some Frisian songs. He pointed out how much easier it would be for us
to speak than Dutch.
Frisian Sayings and Song
Duco likened the
character of the Frisians to Brits from Yorkshire. They are pragmatists and
prone to understatement. We learnt some great Frisian sayings including:
Foar de kofje net eamelje – don’t whine before coffee
Duco ended by
playing a song to illustrate the beauty of his native language. Hallelujah is sung by
Nynke Laverman:
