Share Your Culture Thread

Daz

Right. So, this ideas' been lurking around in my mind for a while now. I thought: AP has members from all over the world. And since all countries are different, and I'm a sucker for history and culture, I could mush it into a thread.

So, it goes like this: In your post you illuminate a cultural aspect of your choosing, something unique and defining for your country. It could be anything; what you eat on christmas eve, your most cherished national Hero, movies, music, what you look like at your soccer games etc.
It can also be mentality and historically defining events.

The idea is to gradually make a tourist guide for your country.

Example:

FOOD:
Rugbrød and Leverpostej (lit: rye-bread and Liver Paste)

The bread:

With Leverpostej:

Rye bread is pretty much Denmarks national lunch food, and I have yet to find it anywhere outside DK but Danish resorts. The entire danish lunch culture is placed on putting specially designed foodstuffs on Rye Bread; anything from herrings to chocolate to sausages.
One of these things is Liver Paste, which is made of mushed swine liver (we're big on pigs here)
Rye bread is made from Flour, rye corns, and beer.

ATTRACTIONS:
Den Lille havfrue (the little mermaid)

Denmarks most famous attraction. It's about 2 meters tall including the stone, is based on Hans Christian Andersens fairy tale, and If you ask me, is the sorriest national symbol ever. It is almost constantly surrounded by a crowd of dissapointed japanese tourists.
However, it recently got renewed attention, when it's head was sawed off and stolen. This has happened at least twice the last 10 years.

That's all there is to it.
Ready? Go!

lorenzo

One of the unique aspects of our culture is that we always copy everyone elses idea.
I hate Filipino movies nowadays, too much noob made special effects.

Yoska

I have been there and seen The Little Mermaid! But, Daz, you should mention Roskilde too.

Uh, nothing interesting can't be said about Finland. We have… snow? You know, the white stuff which falls from the sky.

Lieju

@Yoska:

We have… snow? You know, the white stuff which falls from the sky.

Don't forget Lordi.

Or mämmi.

Yoska

Snow, a KISS rip off and a food which looks like a poop. I feel so proud now.
Edit: This is mämmi, or eastern pudding:

I think the picture speaks for it's self but think of rey bread gone bad.

Daz

Are Mämmi the those white "mumi trolls"? That series scared me silly as a kid.
Oh, and Aren't you The Land of Nokia as well? :P

And Yoska, I could never forget Roskilde Festival. I just thought I'd fuse it with my planned upcoming introduction to danish beer/alcohol-culture!

Edit: I would like to see this poop-troll-food

Lieju

@Yoska:

Snow, a KISS rip off and a food which looks like a poop. I feel so proud now.

You should.

I hate mämmi, though.

http://www.dlc.fi/~marianna/gourmet/mammi.htm
Looks appetising, doesn't it?

LaCaSiNa

What is this attitude towards Finland? I love this country! And I love Tampere, too. I go crazy in Helsinki already so I wonder if my head would explode in, for example, New York.

But anyway, this thread was about sharing ones culture so I may as well do that too. I'm still young and maybe not be able to tell much, but oh well. God forgive me if I remember this wrong, but Finland gained independence in 1917 and has suffered from civil war and two wars against the Soviet Union. During the cold war Finland succeeded in pleasing the Soviet Union and thus maintaining it's independence. The land itself is very old(we have even been to the equator!) and flat and stable and it isn't located near any cracks between tectonic plates. The landscape is beautiful and Finland is often called "the land of thousands of lakes". Finland gets warmth from the Gulf Stream and all four seasons are clearly recognizable.

Nowadays Finland is know for it's rock bands, designs, nightless nights, Lapland and artists. If you'd ask me about typical Finnish products, I'd say Marimekko, Fazerin sininen and Finnish vodka.

EDIT: I can't stand mämmi either. It's disgusting… but Finnish Christmas food traditions I do enjoy.

Lieju

@LaCaSiNa:

What is this attitude towards Finland?

That's the good old Finnish negativity.

@LaCaSiNa:

The land itself is very old(we have even been to the equator!) and flat and stable and it isn't located near any cracks between tectonic plates. The landscape is beautiful and Finland is often called "the land of thousands of lakes". Finland gets warmth from the Gulf Stream and all four seasons are clearly recognizable.

Geological facts are not a part of culture…
I mention Rapakivi granite anyway.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapakivi

And that the bedrock in Finland is among the oldest in the world. It was largely formed under highly varying geological conditions between 1,500 and 3,000 million years ago. Most of our bedrock consists of acidic intrusive igneous and metamorphic rocks, notably granites. The bedrock is largely intact, though there are fracture zones and old fault lines in places.

Aldrich

At least we're not england.

Cap'n Carter

McDonald's and FOX.

raj

Daz

@Yoska:

This is mämmi, or eastern pudding/mammi.jpg

That doesn't look that bad; It looks like a chocolate cake I tried to make once. Finland doesn't seem that bad - come to think of it, isn't Nightwish from Finland?

Strange_One

@Cap'n:

McDonald's and FOX.

That…. about covers it.

I like to eat this, though. No idea where it came from, but it's sold here.

Eh. I live in Georgia, hot and humid and full of gang members and racists. This, this and this though make me like it here.

Grits and boiled peanuts look somewhat nasty but are, in reality, amazingly delicious… Chitlins, on the other hand… no thanks.

(my amazingly pale Jawja white girl hands on display)

You guys should be proud of snow, all we ever get is ice and mosquitos. …Haha, at least Savannah's nice. Went there not long ago, though, and despite the pretty there were still gang signs and crap.

As far as real culture… apart from the metro Atlanta area of shootings and crap, and the superreligious rednecks in the more country regions... Just like the rest of the US, really.

Yoska

@Lieju:

That's the good old Finnish negativity.

I call it the good ol' Finnish realism. I mean, come on, who cares if we have the world's oldest bedrock :sideways: when Frenchman has a huge phallic symbol called Eiffel Tower?

@Daz:

That doesn't look that bad; It looks like a chocolate cake I tried to make once

Believe me, it tastes nothing like that. The colour is the only common thing with chocolate. I think it is eatable after you put enough sugar and milk on it - it can even be good - but most people can't stand it.

Before you were thinking about Moomins by Tove Jansson. Moomins were made into an animation by Japanese which is probably what you have seen too. I have actually been rereading the original childrens books. Which reminds me, there was this internationally acclaimed Danish writer but his name has escaped me. It was something like "Peter Hög" but when I try to google him I get no real results.

Christiania would be a worth of telling about too. You know, that freetown thing you have in Copenhagen.

Daz

Heh, it seems you've seen all the worthwhile things in Denmark - Christiania was on my list too. Did you visit Copenhagen and Roskilde festival on a summer vacation or something?

@Yoska:

Which reminds me, there was this internationally acclaimed Danish writer but his name has escaped me. It was something like "Peter Hög" but when I try to google him I get no real results.

You're thinking of Peter Høeg (hoeeg), a pretty famous author I think…his most internationally known work is Miss. Smillas Sense of Snow, because it got a movie based on it.

Now, on for a culture lession on

DANISH ALCOHOL MENTALITY:
In three words: We love it. Simple as that.
I don't have the statistics at the moment, but I believe the average dane has an alcohol consumption higher than most other places in the world. Wich is kinda depressing, really.
We start as early as 6th grade (12 years), and even with the introduction of Brezzers and Smirnoff and whatnot, it's all about the Beer. It's cheap, get's the job done, and has enough drinking games based on it that a compendium would beat Harry Potter in lenght. Our national beers are Carlsberg and Tuborg. Wich leads me to:

EVENT: Roskilde Festival
Danish beer culture is propably best viewed at the annual Roskilde Festival, which is all about beer. Music is secondary.
people of all ages gather in crude and often disgusting camps, live without changing their clothes or taking a bath for days, and pretty much live off beer in amazing quantities. A large group of visitors prefer the no-musical warmup days, because it's a 4 day long party with 100000 guests.
And when they music starts, people are still drunk.

A cherished tradition is making a "carpet" for the camps out of bottle caps. beer crates are the most common type of chair, people dig cooling holes for the bottles, and some people rely on the refund to get their ticket home.

The amazing thing about Roskilde is: it's like wondering into another world. A world of peace, love and friendliness. Beacuse despite all the drinking, fights and robberies are extremely rare. You can just walk into a random camp anytime, yell CHEERS! and make 10 new friends in 5 seconds.
come to think of it, it's kinda like an enlarged Christiania.

Pictures:

! The Main stage: http://www.gadling.com/media/2006/05/roskilde.jpg
! A small view of "smatten" (the often moist and muddy "residential area"): http://www.kopenhagen.dk/fileadmin/oldsite/interviews/images/roskilde3_0603/roskilde060304_420.jpg

DeadJustice

@Strange_One:

That…. about covers it.

I like to eat this, though. No idea where it came from, but it's sold here.

Eh. I live in Georgia, hot and humid and full of gang members and racists. This, this and this though make me like it here.

Grits and boiled peanuts look somewhat nasty but are, in reality, amazingly delicious… Chitlins, on the other hand… no thanks.

[qimg]http://i12.tinypic.com/2z9cpqd.jpg[/qimg]
(my amazingly pale Jawja white girl hands on display)

[qimg]http://i18.tinypic.com/2lc0md3.jpg[/qimg]
You guys should be proud of snow, all we ever get is ice and mosquitos. …Haha, at least Savannah's nice. Went there not long ago, though, and despite the pretty there were still gang signs and crap.

As far as real culture… apart from the metro Atlanta area of shootings and crap, and the superreligious rednecks in the more country regions... Just like the rest of the US, really.

I live outside of Macon and I pretty much agree with most of what you said. In fact there's a boiled peanut cart down the street from I live.

Lieju

@Yoska:

I mean, come on, who cares if we have the world's oldest bedrock :sideways: when Frenchman has a huge phallic symbol called Eiffel Tower?

But will the Eiffel Tower still exist, let's say, 1000 million years from now?

Strange_One

@DeadJustice:

I live outside of Macon and I pretty much agree with most of what you said. In fact there's a boiled peanut cart down the street from I live.

You can get them canned everywhere, too, but it's not half as good as the "fresh" ones (swimming in dirt for several hours a day xD).

I forgot RC cola and moon pies (moon pies are wonderful), but that's more of a deeper south Georgia thing.

In a Tanger Outlet somewhere here, there's a Jeff Foxworthy store. It's kinda cute, but… evidently the guy has his own brand of beef jerky.

Roz

Here is my culture. :3

Yoska

Lieju, äh, I don't know. Kysyt vähän liian vaikeita . But if we still care about having contries and borders after 1000 million years I will be disappointed.
@The:

You're thinking of Peter Høeg

Thanks. He has been in my "to read" list but now I actually know how the name is written.

I have never been in Roskilde but I might go there if I ever get to do my world touring. The last and the only time that I have been in Danmark was when I was like 9 year old so Legoland was enough wild for me back then. Irish people still beat you guys in drinking though.

LaCaSiNa

@Lieju:

Geological facts are not a part of culture…

My apologies, I got a little carried away. Just thought I'd mention it.

Speaking of Finnish rock bands, yes, Nightwish is from Finland. When Tarja Turunen was kicked out of the band I was truly shocked. I'm eager to hear the new vocalist. Other Finnish rock bands(or less rock, you be the judge) are HIM, Apocalyptica, Children Of Bodom, Poets of the Fall, Hanoi Rocks and, of course, Lordi.

Oh yeah, Finland also has Santa Claus in Korvatunturi! And Conan O'Brien is a Golden God here.

Taleran

nuff said?

Taz

Strange_One

@Taleran:

nuff said?

I never understood that. Blubber, igloos, and dogsleds…? Those stereotypes have never existed, not here at least.

Cap'n Carter

The only way I can explain/show good American, southern-y food…

Taleran

@Taz:

thats Aldrich…..duh

Strange_One

@Cap'n:

-Cracker Barrel-

I have a Cracker Barrel beanie babie somewhere. And one of those games they have at the tables, I bought it in the store, it's that triangle thing with the pegs.

I love the orange soda stuff they have.

Cap'n Carter

I used to be able to get down to a single peg each time. Now I can usually get two, but when I went a few weeks ago I got back down to 1 again (I wish I took a picture).

Captain Kuro

I used to play with the pegs all the time when I went.

Carly

SEATTLE

FOOD
Fish, pho noodles

DRINK
Coffee, though there's a sickening prevalence of light beer around here

MUSIC
Jazz, grunge, t-t-t-t-techno

CLIMATE
drizzle with a chance of rain

Cap'n Carter

You forgot to mention the flannel and cut up jeans.

And speaking of Cracker Barrel, I've been there twice in the past 2 or 3 weeks. A few weeks back with my friend (when I beat those fucking pegs), and today with my mom. I got chicken and dumplings this time, and it was far superior to the country fried steak I had today.

I had cider both times, however, and it was awesome.

God, I love cider.

Bounty1Berry

My region's specialties:

-Regularly threatening to secede from the union as a futile attempt to make a point.

-Being at the bottom of national rankings

-Having areas 20 km in diameter in major cities where the only sign you're not in Mexico is the colour of the currency and the licence plates.

-Running the air conditioner non-stop.

Greg

I come from a land some call 'New Jersey'.

In this strange and mysterious place, the letter 't' does not exist when present in the middle of a word. It is instead replaced by its relative 'd'. Furthermore, the letter combination 'or' as in 'terminator' does not exist. Instead it becomes 'terminater'.

This renders certain words in our vocabulary incomprehensible to foreign ears. For instance, 'doctor' becomes 'docder'.

A strange and mysterious land indeed.

GearSecond

Here in America(Specifically Southern California)

For food we like Hamburgers, hotdogs, and seafood, although not surprisingly only some people eat it often, but at least half like it and will eat it.

For drinks, beer, Coca-cola, and pepsi(often many have a favorite) are the most often seen, although there's lots of bottled water, and energy drinks floating around. Especially bottled water.

We don't really have landmarks down here. We have Disneyland and Hollywood though.

Most people are total morons, and idiots, who believe whatever they are told(except friends and neighbors, they take most of what they say with a grain of salt) especially if it's on the news. Lots of people think small-time and at the most talk about the country as a whole. Only countries with important events are mentioned otherwise.

Oh yes, we have a stereotype for everything. If it exists, you bet we have some related generic idea of what it is. Ninjas? They all jump out in black uniforms and go "WAAATAAAAH!!' although it may change to orange jumpsuits with Naruto getting so popular. Pirates? Arr they be walkin' aroun' with there peg legs, hooks, an' eye patches, with parrots on their shoulders, me hearties! And all canadians talk funny, have pet beavers, and are lumberjacks, eh?

Oh yeah, lots of places around here, have signs in many Asian languages, especially Korean. Most of them are trashy though.

Lots of people who play video games, but most treat it like a thing people do and something for fun, usually only have one console or a handheld, and it'd sorta a minor thing for most people.

mr_bushido

I live in Houston, Texas. Here is our culture…

and while I don't have that god-awful accent, a shit-ton of ppl here do…

GearSecond

You guys aren't all a bunch of cowboys down in Texas?

DANG STEREOTYPES!

Guy sounds like a mix between a gang member in Los Angeles and the standard "texas cowboy accent".

if I ever have to listen to that guy talk again, I think I'm gonna find a nice tall building to jump off.

mr_bushido

Haha, yeah Houston is the antithesis of the stereotypical Texas cowboy scene. It's ubergangsta.

Strange_One

@Cap'n:

(when I beat those fucking pegs)

That and the store are, like, half the reason we go there.

My Georgain native friend and I sound like

. Apart from the occasional y'all or ain't in the conversation, we don't really fufil the "HOWDY Y'ALL CITAYFOLKS, A-HYUK HYUK HYUK :B" stereotype.

Haha, I bet Atlanta is more gangsta than Houston.

mr_bushido

Doubtful… We have more rappers than just Lil' John. Also, the 5th Ward is infamous... it's like the Compton of the South.

EDIT: Why are we arguing over which town is more gangsta??? lol

komikero008

for food:

ever heard of "balut"? :ninja:
i think they ate it on survivor once for the challenge. can't remember which season, though.

Lieju

@komikero008:

for food:

ever heard of "balut"? :ninja:
i think they ate it on survivor once for the challenge. can't remember which season, though.

What country would you be from, then?

Somewhere from Asia?
Since Wikipedia tells me balut are considered delicacies of Asia and especially the Philippines, Cambodia, and Vietnam.

Strange_One

@komikero008:

for food:

ever heard of "balut"? :ninja:
i think they ate it on survivor once for the challenge. can't remember which season, though.

Are those the, uh, baby-bird-in-shell things? Or am I totally off?

People down here, well, way out in the country, eat opossum. I've heard it's greasy.

@mr_bushido:

Doubtful… We have more rappers than just Lil' John. Also, the 5th Ward is infamous... it's like the Compton of the South.

EDIT: Why are we arguing over which town is more gangsta??? lol

Haha. Well I've never been to Houston, but anywhere within miles of Atlanta people blast rap music from their cars, there are gangs and drivebys, etc.

komikero008

What country would you be from, then?

Somewhere from Asia?
Since Wikipedia tells me balut are considered delicacies of Asia and especially the Philippines, Cambodia, and Vietnam.

Philippines.

@Strange_One:

Are those the, uh, baby-bird-in-shell things? Or am I totally off?

People down here, well, way out in the country, eat opossum. I've heard it's greasy.

yeah, the baby-bird-in-the-shell-things … ^_^;
it's the first thing that i remembered upon reading the title. (my history teacher'll probably kill me...)

opossum. O.O
also heard some people eating frogs (not actually part of culture, i think) they said it tastes like chicken.

Mizu Patsy

Northern Ireland, anyone? Broken glass, bomb scares, shaven-headed children telling you to fuck off if you look at them…
Screeching, harpy-like girls getting groped by mooing, earringed boys on every street corner, ever-present rain failing to wash the cigarette butts and chip papers away...

I love it here, but I really couldn't tell you why.

Greg

Of course in the land of New Jersey we also call refreshments like Sprite, Pepsi, Coke, etc. by their true name:

Soda

Cap'n Carter

I don't get why people always try to act like that's something special about their area, when the only people who use "pop" are in Minnesota and those other weirdo north midwest states.

taboo

@bushido: Heh, I always say 'chunk the deuce' but I never knew it was a TX thing…

Though I do call all forms of soda, 'coke.'

raj

raj's culture presentation part II

Strange_One

@Greg:

Of course in the land of New Jersey we also call refreshments like Sprite, Pepsi, Coke, etc. by their true name:

Soda

That's what I call it, too.

Some people here call everything coke, but I don't like coke so I either ask for a soda or something by its specific name (like Vaults. oh man I love those things. Is vault available outside of the US?).

There's a teacher here from Illinois or somewhere, she said something about "pop" and confused us (I misheard and thought she was talking about popcorn).