The Legend of St. Valentine

The Valentine's Day that we celebrate today concerning Romantic love came about probably in the late Middle Ages. This day of Romance has only an ounce of similarity to the original meaning of who Saint or Saints Valentine was or were. One thing is known is that Valentine or Valentinus was the name of several Christian saints martyred in ancient Rome.

I have an old Hallmark Valentine card with the story of one of these martyrs. Since I do not have time to put the story into my own words, I will begin it below from a website I found it on. This is the exact same version word for word of the story of St. Valentine that is on my card.

Story of St. Valentine

"The story of Valentine's Day begins in the third century with an oppressive Roman emperor and a humble Christian Martyr. The emperor was Claudius II. The Christian was Valentinus.
Claudius had ordered all Romans to worship twelve gods, and had made it a crime punishable by death to associate with Christians. But Valentinus was dedicated to the ideals of Christ; not even the threat of death could keep him from practicing his beliefs. He was arrested and imprisoned.

(continue)

Romance: Not Welcome In Saudi Arabia

Seems that even the concept of a red rose is a threat to morals in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Read here what the moral police is doing to make sure there are no thoughts of Romance for Valentine's Day.

In preparation for Thursday, Emma Alvarez has posted about that loveable bad boy of mythology and symbol of love and Valentines, Cupid. In my next post I will write about the legend of St. Valentine.

FYROM/Macedonian Bellydance?!!!

I love bellydance or oriental dance. I think it is a great exercise for women. Marvelous for the figure!

Here in my town there is one place which regularly offered bellydance classes on different levels. Places like the YWCA (Young Women's Christian Association) and The University Georgia's Continuing Education Center occasionally offers classes.

I own bellydance exercise video cassettes and a DVD by bellydancing twins Veena and Neena Bidasha and Suhaila Salimpour . I think bellydance should be learned by all women in America. Too many of us have been come so liberated that we lack that grace and femininity and Romantic aspect that I feel a woman needs in the way she moves. I have noticed graceful aspects in women while living in Turkey and Botswana. You rarely see it here.

The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia is a Balkan nation bordered by Albania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro, and Greece. The country's population consists of Macedonians who are Slavic people, Albanians, Turks, Romani people (Gypsies), Serbs, Valachs (similar to the Romanians) and others. I never expected that Macedonia has a tradition of bellydance. Usually when one thinks of bellydance the Middle East, Turkey, and on slim occasions India are thought of. Bellydance is rooted in these countries, but it also has roots in Macedonia and Greece.

Bellydance probably was brought to the Balkans by the Romani people. The art of bellydance is thousands of years old originating from tribal, temple, ritual, and social dances and even in exercises to prepare women for childbirth. Two years ago when looking for CDs to add to my collection of Arabic music I ran across this unexpected find. Below I have included two videos of bellydancers in possibly Macedonia. Notice that Balkan bellydance music has slight similarities in rhythm to Middle Eastern bellydance music, but the instrumentation is different. Brass instruments like trumpets, saxophones, trombones, and clarinets are played in this form of bellydance music. Macedonian bellydance was a refreshing surprise for me. If you notice in the two clips at the end, there is a kind of vivaciousness in Macedonian bellydance that you do not see in its' Middle Eastern or Indian counterparts.

I learned in Turkey that though there are plenty of places to see bellydance especially in cities like Istanbul, Turks are not interested. Why? Their answer is, "That is for the tourists."

I have not gone to a bellydance performance yet in Turkey, but in 2006 I went to a bellydance charity performance here in my town to benefit African children. The dancers performed mainly Indian forms of bellydance.

The Latest Bonaparte

This man is the pretender to the imperial throne of France, but he knows there will be no imperial throne again. The age of the old empires ended with the first world war. Nevertheless, His Imperial Highness Charles Marie Jerome Victor Napoleon is the great great great nephew of Napoleon I. The remaining bloodline of the Bonapartes comes from Napoleon's youngest brother Jerome and his second wife from which Prince Charles Napoleon comes. I plan in a future post to write about Jerome's American connection.

Prince Charles Napoleon who was born in 1950 in France holds a doctorate in economics from the Sorbonne. He is an author, essayist, and a politician. Over the years he has worked in banking, financial planning, and real estate. He has been married twice and has four children. In Ajaccio, Corsica which is the birthplace of his great grandfather and uncle, Prince Charles Napoleon has also been politically active.

Can you see a resemblance between him and his great grandfather Jerome?

King Ludwig II and My Two Favorite Castles

19th century/Basje posted on her delightfully informative blog on the Victoria Era an article today about a German king whom some call "Mad King Ludwig." If the term "mad" or "insane" are too harsh for him, Ludwig II of the Bavaria (1845-1886) was certainly an eccentric and a Romantic. He commissioned several fairy tale like castles, but the most famous of them all is Neuschwanstein Castle which is my first favorite castle in the world. The official website for the castle can be visited here.

Ludwig was inspired to build Neuschwanstein because of his friendship with the composer Richard Wagner.

My second favorite castle is the Alcazar or Segovia Castle in Segovia, Spain.

The Alcazar was first built during Moorish times. Over the centuries it was repeatedly renovated. Throughout the Middle Ages it was the favorite residence of the rulers of Castile. It was also one of the key fortresses in the defense of the region. One of the last major renovations was done during the reign of Philip II.

(As an aside, I am trying to finish a rather bland biography of the life of this king. The book is written by Henry Kamen who presents a different portrait of the king than the usual one of the cold-blooded, religious fanatic making human torches of heretics whereever he was present. The traditional Philip that has come down to us is the one more recently presented in the movie Elizabeth: The Golden Age starring Cate Blanchette and the Spanish actor Jordi Molla as Philip. What is wrong with Kamen's book is that it speaks too much about King Philip's administrative duties, particularly about his always being flooded with paper work. Otherwise, I have read worse. Still this one has been a slow go.)

Neuschwanstein and the Alcazar are in my opinion examples of perfect castles. Both are built on high, which give them an otherworldly affect. Both look like they came straight out of a fairytale. I hope that I can eventually visit both castles one day.

Carla Bruni: The Finale

Okay, I am going to leave Carla Bruni alone after this. I have low rated her enough, so now I will say a few positive things about her in closing. Instead of condemning her (which she probably gets all the time) some of us of the female sex need to sit her down and tell her in a kind manner to try and meet a sweet natured, mature guy who loves her for herself and not as a trophy or sex icon. She should drop the eternal boy types off her list and get her a real man. And if she is thinking about reforming Nicholas, guess again. Too many women think they can reform bad boys, or in Nick's case an old bad boy. Men have to see the need to reform.

Fellow blogger Internation Musing/Hans posted more private photos of the new first lady of France yesterday. In looking for more interesting photos of her, I found her own website on which one of her songs is played. I actually like the song and the layout of her website. Her voice is rather good, with a kind of mellow huskiness. Hans did say she is multi-talented.

Here is the Carla Bruni website with more of her private photos. She has even put some of Emily Dickinson's and Christina Rossetti's poems to music. These two women were exact opposites to her in behavior, but she must identify with them in a way, because why would she bother to put some of their poems to music? Perhaps she has a hidden wish to be a little purer.

Even though I disagree with her lifestyle and life decisions, I have to admit the woman is intriguing.

Here are more photos of her alone and with Sarko in Egypt.