Haggis: From the stomach to the stomach.

Haggis is a traditional Scottish dish that looks like a big sausage composed of a type of pudding made from the heart, liver and lungs of a sheep or lamb combined with oats, suet, onion, herbs and spices. The mixture is packed into the animal’s stomach and boiled for one to two hours.

Some food historians agree that it was a peasant food and a popular dish for poor people because it was very cheap for being made from parts of a sheep (the most common livestock in Scotland). It would have been a wonderful way to feed a group and to make sure no meat went to waste.

Haggis is traditionally served with Tatties (mashed potatoes) and Neeps (turnip or swede) at Burns supper, every year on January 25th, to commemorate the born of a Scotland’s national poet, Robert Burns, who wrote the poem “Address to Haggis” in which he declares his love for the “great chieftain o’ the puddin’ race” and glorifies what was a poor man’s food into a dish greater than any French ragout or fricassee, that’s why he became a national hero and haggis’ profile soon soared.

Perhaps more than any other food, Haggis has an exceptionally bad reputation. Even importing real Scottish Haggis to the United States has been illegal since 1971 because of a ban on foods containing sheep’s lungs.

In my opinion is a really disgusting dish and I would never taste it, not just because I’m vegetarian but if the innards haven’t a good cleaning could transmit virus to the people who eat them, because some filters the “trash” of the animal’s body and could have residues. Anyway I think is a very curious food and I dare you to taste it! 

- More about Haggis: Why would you eat that? -

The matchmakings in Ireland

Can you imagine yourself searching for a boyfriend or girlfriend in a traditional event made only for this? Depending on the culture that you live in perhaps this can sound a little weird or promiscuous to you, but in Ireland there is a tradition which has been very popular in the city of Lisdoonvarna for the last couple of hundred years.

From August, 28^th to October, 4^th, you can enjoy the most famous matchmaking festival from Ireland in Lisdoonvarna. You can dance, do horse racing, go to concerts, and meet a lot of new people. However, it’s not necessary that you go there to look for a spouse or courtship, thousands only go to have fun and do things without commitment.

Imagine if you could choose a lot of pubs to get in and have conversations with a lot of different people of your interest, where your age, sexuality, likes or dislikes don’t matter, because it’s a normal tradition. And the best part of it is that time doesn’t even matter, because the music carries on until the early hours!

Maybe if you think about the way that you typically use to meet people in your culture this might seem a big promiscuous to you or perhaps it might seem as a great option. But try to imagine if you would have any sort of relationship with anyone in a tradition like this.

The most famous matchmaking festival is organized by Mr. Will Daly, who is known for having facilitated around 3.000 marriages (no official record) and having attracted 60.000 people in the last matchmaking festival. In his festival, new things started to happen such us gay, bisexual and transgender weekends, but despite the fact that Mr. Daly is an elderly person, he said that “everyone should be in love, all their lives.”

Exotic species in New Zealand

Besides the incredible landscapes that make New Zealand a major tourist destination stands out also, in my opinion, the fauna that exists there, since it has unique species of animals in the world, among them is the “Kiwi”. The kiwi is not fruit commonly known because is a native nocturnal flightless bird with a long curved beak of the island, which is the official mascot and national symbol of the country. Its wings are only about 3 centimeters long and are useless, completely hidden under the feathers. The kiwi has no tail but does have very strong, muscular legs, which make up about a third of the bird’s total body weight, that are used for running and fighting.

In the same country also has the tuatara, are among New Zealand’s most famous animals, second only to kiwi. They are representative of ancient reptile that lives on earth today. They are called living fossils because they can live over 100 years, but are only found on offshore islands. 

The weta is an endemic insect with 190 million year old fossils, they look scary and are good fighters, but are not dangerous to humans. The weta have become icon for invertebrate conservation in New Zealand because many species are threatened or endangered. There are more than 70 species of weta in New Zealand, 16 of which are at risk.   

On the marine life we can find Hector’s and Maui’s Dolphin that can only be found off the Northland coast, recognisable by their rounded black dorsal fin. They are the most endangered marine mammal with less than 100 survivors and also they are the most smallest dolphin in the world.  Maui dolphins and Hector’s dolphins may look identical, but they are physically and genetically different from each other. Maui dolphins have larger skulls than Hector’s dolphins overall, and a longer, wider rostrum.

Well, it is true that there are many more species of animals in New Zealand, but these are the ones who most caught my attention.

Rastafari movement in Jamaica

The Rastafari movement is originally found in Jamaica and was founded by Leonard Percival Howell in 1932. Is a religion and a lifestyle that involves every aspect of the follower.

Rastafari began with Leonard P. Howell and his street preaching to lift the spirits of the enslaved black men and women from Kingston to St Thomas. He spoke out against the wrongs of the crown and colonial Jamaica against the men women and children of Africa stolen, sold and enslaved in Jamaica for hundreds of years.

The Rasta believes in peace and they are constantly trying to preach down violence. This want for world peace is heard often in the Rasta’s Reggae music. Another important thought is the protest against authority and structure.

A lot of people’s understanding of Rasta only goes as far as to think that Rasta are people that live in Jamaica, smoke weed, and have Dreadlocks. Buy with this research we can see that is so much more than that and we can leave all the stereotypes that we had. In reality is a way of life, a social movement, as well as a mindset.

Say goodbye to stereotypes:

1. Not all smoke marijuana.
2. Don’t call them “Rastafarians” you see, Rastafari actually don’t like being referenced that way at all. The reason for this stems from their philosophy. Rastas believe that “ians” and “isms” represent the corrupt system that oppresses people all over the world.
3. You have to black to be a true Rasta – This is an absolute myth! Many Rasta are of “mixed race” many Rastafari are Caucasian, some Asian, some African, some East Indian. Rastafari comes from all ethnic backgrounds!
4. They take care very much of their body because they believe that their body is a temple.
5. They don’t use long hair because is a style, they deeply believe that their hair is a connection with the mother earth.

The United State of America- Discrimination problem against black people

Discrimination problem against black people 

The racial discrimination has been an issue since 1954, where it was created the “separate but equal “doctrine, this doctrine justify discrimination and segregation towards black people, having white and black people the same “service” , for example the school , but they had to be separate . A few weeks ago, I saw a movie called “The butler”, in this film I noticed the segregation against these people, in one of the scene from this movie, a group of black people came into a cafeteria and sat down in the place that was for white people, a waiter from the cafeteria say to them that they can´t sit down in that place so they have to change to be served. This group wasn’t changed of place, instead they held up in them sites, while the white people attacked them, shouted at them and threw them things.

It was surprising to me, what people did to others, treating them as if they were trash just because they have different skins colour, different beliefs, etc. The whole world is globalizing, and that means we have different cultures all over the world, I can understand why people continue to segregate others for being different, we all born like human being. Nowadays, people can´t stop talking about the conflict where a police officer killed an African American boy in the south of California because the police officer thought that this African American guy had a gun, but when this boy said to the man that he hasn´t got a gun, the police officer just shout him for no reason, my questions are, where are the limits in this situation? Is really necessary kill a person because a don´t like them? , how can we live in a world full of anger between human kinds? , why we put our envy against humanity? 

This topic always called my attention, because this discrimination problem is not only in the United State of America, but also in other countries, Chile one of them. The society was change since a few years ago and still has this issue. We need to change our mind, our way of thinking, we need to respect and love the person next to us, we all are human, we make mistakes and we are not perfect. We don’t need a civil right to treat a person better; we need to treat a person better because we are human beings.

Scotland & The thistle

The thistle is a spiny plant that has a pink flower, this plant is very common in the world, even existing in our country Chile. This flower as been chosen how the national flower of Scotland, national symbol and also this plant takes part of the old order of chivalry Scotland, call “ the order of thistle”. But, why is this simple plant something so important for the Scottish?

The history or legend, because we don´t know if is 100% true or not, it says that near of the 1263 in a battle that was for recovery of territories by Scots, territories that in this moment was property of the Norwegian. The Norwegian army decided attack at the Scottish army in the night and in a cowardly way by easy victory, so for not to make noise, they decided take off your shoes and walk barefoot in the direction of the opponent, but they couldn’t imagine what would happen neither the flora that there had, a men of the Norwegian army stomped one of the million the thistle that there had, this thistle provoke that the men felt a lot of pain that made her scream very strong, this cry alert at the Scottish army that the Norwegian pretended attack silently, so they could react in time and win the battle.

Now, imagine us if in Chile we were to be guided by this tipe of events for choose national symbols, we would be full, for example: if we using the “Fenix Capsule” that rescued the 33 miners, if using smalls “Esmeraldas” because it was part of win in the “Battle of Iquique” or maybe pictures of “Farkas” because he “help” in all catastrophe of Chile... Just imagine!

The Caribbean - Steel Pan Drum

Steel Pan Drum 

The steel pan drum is a idiophone instrument invented in the country of Trinidad and Tobago in The Caribbean, originally it’s made of a 55 gallon drum of oil, by sinking the bottom of the drum into a concave shape with different clefts that makes the different notes.

The first steel pan drum were invented in 1800’s by native slaves which played it in the Carnival in the island, since then the instrument is evolving until now.

In that time the colonialists thinks that with the steel pan the slaves send secret messages to each other to make a revolution, so the colonialists banned the instrument.

In the Second World War the Carnivals were forbidden and with that the first pannists could make changes in the instrument, tuning the sounds, etc.

Nowadays the steel pan drum is a very important instrument, in fact is the national instrument of Trinidad and Tobago, and now exists different types of pans with different sounds and notes. There exist the High Tenor (soprano pan), Low Tenor, Double Tenor, The Double Second Pan, The Quadrophonic Pan, The Guitar Pan, The Cello Pan, The 4 Pan Bass or Six-Pan Bass. Each one of those are used to make different sounds in a  Steel Band the make different rhythms and play different songs, including vocals but just with steel pans’ sounds as you can see in this video: Sounds of Steel - Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough (Steel Pan Drum)

I hope you enjoy the video and realize that this instrument is very important to the culture of The Caribbean is old and it was made by the slaves of the island and it’s important because in the time of colonialism, there was many slaves in the island and this is a instrument  that evolves with the salves and now is part of the Caribbean people. Also is the principal sound in Calypso music.

By: Katherine Peña Villavicencio