Talk politics.

Greetings, comrades! We've talked in previous years about May 24, which is a huge holiday for about a quarter billion people around the world, those using the Cyrillic alphabet. While it may seem a bit alien to people in the West who aren't familiar with it, it's actually very similar to the Latin script, because they both emerged from the Greek alphabet (in fact, Cyrillic letters are even closer to Greek than the Latin ones, and even their order in the alphabet is much more similar). Most people in the West associate this alphabet with Russia, I suppose, although it was neither created there nor was it originally spread from there - it's just that Russia is the biggest and most influential Slavonic country at the moment, hence the association (and all the jokes and memes, particularly ones related to the so called Faux Cyrillic). There are some variations of the script varying from country to country, serving the specific phonetic needs of each country, but in general, the basis of the alphabet is shared by all nations who use it.

Anyway; the story behind the creation and adoption of the Cyrillic alphabet has been discussed at great length here, so I'm not going to occupy you with it again. You can read it in more detail under that link and in the links provided there. This is just a short greeting to all folks of Slavonic origin and background, and everyone using or familiar with the Cyrillic alphabet in general, and of course to those appreciating Slavonic culture and tradition. To all: NAZDRAVE / CHEERS!

To all our Talkpolitics denizens and their families and friends, I wish great holidays, and a much, MUCH happier year 2021. In this extraordinary time, family is more important than ever. And what could be a more "family" holiday than Christmas Eve? So here are a few cool Christmas Eve customs that come to mind.

( Read more... )

Hello, my bored geeks history junkies! There are dates and events in history which serve as a lesson and give precious examples that could be emulated throughout the ages. It's those events that often keep a nation going in hard times - it's enough to recall them and you can feel part of a greater good, and have new inspiration. Today is one such date for my country. See, I live in a tiny Balkan country with enormous and turbulent history, a country that's now only a shadow of what it used to be before, many many centuries ago. But the memory remains and it's probably what keeps my people going, despite the immense troubles we've gone through.


( History can be complicated, but the lessons are really simple )