BELGIUM EARLY BELGIUM BELGIUM DURING WW 2 DESPITE

BELGIUM

EARLY BELGIUM • •

• BELGIUM DURING WW 2 DESPITE BEING NEUTRAL AT THE START OFWORLD WAR II, BELGIUM AND ITS COLONIAL POSSESSIONS FOUND THEMSELVES AT WAR AFTER THE COUNTRY TH WAS INVADED BY GERMAN FORCES ON 10 MAY 1940. AFTER 18 DAYS OF FIGHTING, IN WHICH BELGIAN FORCES WERE PUSHED BACK INTO A SMALL POCKET IN THE NORTH-EAST OF THE COUNTRY, THE BELGIAN MILITARY SURRENDERED TO THEGERMANS, BEGINNING AN OCCUPATION THAT WOULD LAST UNTIL 1944. • THE SURRENDER ON 28 TH MAY WAS ORDERED BY KING LEOPOLD III WITHOUT THE CONSULTATION OF HIS GOVERNMENT AND SPARKED A POLITICAL CRISIS AFTER THE WAR. DESPITE THE CAPITULATION, MANY BELGIANS MANAGED TO ESCAPE TO THEUNITED KINGDOM WHERE THEY FORMED A GOVERNMENT AND ARMY-IN-EXILE ON THEALLIED SIDE.

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WHAT LANGUAGES ARE SPOKEN IN SPAIN, BELGIUM AND ROMANIA? By Alexandru Popovici

1. SPAIN Official language : Spanish Other languages : Asturian, Catalan, Basque, Galician, Aranese, Aragonese, Extremaduran, Fala.

2. BELGIUM Official languages : Dutch, French, German. Other languages : West Flemish, Limburgish, Luxembourgish.

3. ROMANIA Official language : Romanian Other language : German, Hungarian, Ukrainian, Serbian, Russian, Croatian, Bulgarian, Turkish, Moldovia.

Traditional food in Romania, Belgium and Spain project done by Ana Maria Picioroaga

Traditional food in Belgium

1. Meal Crevette Grise / Grijze Granalen: you can find tomate crevette, fresh tomatoes stuffed with a prawn salad, croquettes of crevette (garnaalkroket in Flemish) or eaten peeled as a snack, with beer. This shrimps were traditionally harvested all along the Belgian coast by fishermen on horseback, and is still practised in the coastal village of Oostduinkerke and forms part of UNESCO's list of intangible cultural humanity heritage.

Moules frites: About 30 million tons of moules frites are eaten every year in Belgium (that’s 3 kilos a person), in a season that runs from September to February. The most common way to cook them is in white wine, shallots, parsley and butter (la marinere) although other recipes replace the wine with Belgian beer, add cream (la crème), or use a vegetable stock. Dispense with cutlery and eat as the Belgians do – use an empty shell like a pair of tweezers to scoop out the mussels. Ham and endive gratin: A Flemish speciality, endive (which the Belgians call wifloof, chicon or ‘white gold', or some know as chicory), has a distinctive, tangy flavour and is used in appetizers/starters, soups, salads and main courses alike. Ham and endive gratin is a dish that combines this leafy vegetable with a regional cheese and prime boiled ham, traditionally served with mashed potato. Interestingly, all the endives sold in mainstream shops in the US are imported from Belgium.

2. Dessert Gaufre/Wafel: Belgian waffles are nothing like what you find in North America. The most common waffle you can find in Belgium is called the Liege waffle. It’s richer and denser than other waffles because it’s made with buttery brioche dough and chunks of pearl sugar that caramelize on the crust when cooked.

The chocolate: Belgium is well-known for its delicious chocolate. If you visit Belgium, you can see everywhere chocolate-shops. There are over 2000 chocolatetiers in Belgium and there are some of them, which has their own family-recept for over a hundred years. Mattentaart: Mattentaarten are small, round sweet puff pastry cakes with a light, airy filling of mattenbrij or curd cheese. The cakes are the speciality of the city Geraardsbergen in the Flemish Ardennes.

Traditional food in Spain

1. Meal Tortilla: The Spanish omlette is found in almost every bar. The best ones come from slow-cooking caramalised onion and potato in olive oil, which later creates a soft-sweet centre once egg is added and it is cooked into a thick omelette, almost like a cake.

Croquettes: Each is made to the establishment's own – sometimes secret – recipe, combining ingredients such as jamon (cured ham) or bacalao (Atlantic cod fish) with béchamel sauce, which is then breaded and fried. The creamy cheese (queso) croquettes pack a smooth flavour, or try the croquettes of local sweet-spiced black sausage (morcilla) or Spanish blue cheese (queso de Cabrales) for unique Spanish flavours. Pisto- Spanish ratatouille: This vegetarian top Spanish dish is for all ages, eaten in Spain as a tapa, appetizer, a side dish to meat, or even as a meal with a fried egg on top or chorizo. It's a Spanish ratatouille of tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, onions, garlic, and of course, olive oil.

2. Dessert Flan- Custard with Caramel Sauce and more: The classic flan is vanilla egg custard, topped with caramel sauce. It is one of the most popular desserts, served everywhere in Spain. Vanilla is the classic or traditional flavor.

Churros- Spanish Fritters: "Churros" are fried dough fritters, which look almost like French fries. The best way to explain them is to say that they are the Spanish equivalent of doughnuts. Instead of a little ring like a doughnut, a "churro" is normally long and relatively straight, with ridges. After frying, they are cut into lengths and topped with sugar or honey. Polvorones- Almond cookies: Ranking right up there with mantecados, rich and crumbly "polvorones" are a delicious cookie, especially popular during the Christmas season. The name comes from the word "polvo, " meaning dust. They are so delicate that they appear to be dust, and must be handled carefully.

Traditional food in Romania

1. Meal Cabbage rolls: Cabbage rolls are made of ground meat (usually pork, but also beef, sheep, poultry, or even fish) mixed with rice and other ingredients and rolled into cabbage leaves. In some regions cabbage rolls are served with cooked corn meal and sour cream. It’s known as “sarmale” in Turkey, Bulgaria, Serbia, Macedonia, Palestine, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Greece and the Republic of Moldova.

Corn meal with salty cheese and sour cream (Called as “Mămăligă cu brânză și smântână”): Mămăligă” is the name of a food made from boiled corn meal similar to polenta. Traditionally, cornmeal is used to be cooked in salty water in a cast iron cauldron. Layers of cheese added to the cooked cornmeal and a sour cream topping make this specialty a delicious entrée or side dish. Beef salad ( “Salată boeuf”): Despite its French name, this food is traditional in Romania, and it originates from the Salade a la Russe or Russian salad. The Romanian beef salad consists of boiled and cubed carrots, parsley roots, eggs, potatoes and beef, enriched with pickles and peas, and mixed with mayonnaise.

2. Dessert Papanash with cow cheese and blueberries (“Papanași cu brânză de vaci și afine”): ”Papanasi” is a dessert made from sweet cow cheese, served with marmalade or jam, and powdered sugar.

Sweetbread (“Cozonac de casă”): To bake a truly delicious sweetbread always represents a challenge. Old experts say that the quality of the flour used is very important, but kneading the dough with a firm hand baking the bread in a tightly closing oven makes a significant difference as well. Sweet dough figurines (“Mucenici moldovenești”): Sweet dough figurines are a dessert baked for a traditional holiday to celebrate the first 40 martyrs of Jesus. In the honor of the martyrs, women from Moldova bake 40 figurines from dough using a recipe resembling that of sweetbread.

TRADITIONAL DANCE Project realized by Andrei Carausu

1. ”BRASOVEANCA” Brasoveanca is a traditional Romanian dance which has its origins in Ardeal. It is a dance for couples, slow at the beginning, but the rhythm is getting faster as the time passes. Although at first sight it seems very simple, this dance requires some practice because the lack of a perfect timing with the others can cause unpleasant incidents. People dancing “Brasoveanca”

2. ”FLAMENCO” It is considered being a mix of cultures , such as Andaluzian, Arabic, Islamic and Gypsy. As the time passed, there appearead another improvisation, flamenco having today over 50 musical styles. These are classified by the rhythm and by the geographic region. Flamenco dancer in traditional dress

3. ”BAL FOLK” Bal Folk is a dance event for folk dance and folk music in a number of European countries, mainly in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Italy. It is also known as folk bal. Dancing to folk music has been gaining popularity since the 1970 s. The traditional dances come primarily from the French tradition, with additions from all parts of Europe. There are numerous organisations that host such dance events monthly and at a lot of folk festivals there are both concerts and dances.

Thank you for your attention!

CUSTOMS AND TRADITIONS IN ROMANIA, BELGIUM AND SPAIN

CUSTOMS AND TRADITIONS IN ROMANIAN CULTURE

1 Easter customs and traditions There are many Easter customs and traditions in Romania. Many of them are still kept alive but many where lost during time. Easter is probably the most important Christian Holiday. Easter is always celebrated on a Sunday. Monday and Tuesday are also holidays. The week afterwards is called the “Easter Week” or the “Bright Week”. “Bright” because by coming from the dead, Jesus Christ has enlightened the world. The week before Easter is called the “Holy Week”. During the Holy Week, there were preparations to be made. For the Holy Easter everything needed to be in order and the houses cleaned up. People had to prepare the food as well, so they used to dye the eggs and to sacrifice the lamb. Traditionally, until Holy Thursday, men worked in the fields. From that moment on, men were involved in house tasks as well. They used to sacrifice the lambs or the pigs, to sweep the courtyard and to prepare their holiday clothes. As for food Easter customs, everyone prepared paskha and sponge cakes as well as lamb steak and lamb pie. It was also called the Easter Lamb. Coloured eggs, especially red, were offered on Spring Equinox during Roman times.

2. Traditions and customs in Romania during Christmas holidays Christmas is the first celebration from the cycle of New Year celebrations. In Romania, it is celebrated according to the new style on 25 th December, and according to the old one, on 7 th January. In rural areas there is no family which does not prepare itself for Christmas. Regarding the Christmas holidays, the most wonderful tradition is caroling. The carols are songs with which the children, the young people and even the old people greet the coming of Christ on earth. The group singers is received in the house or in the garden and then the children start to sing carols. At the end of the carol singing, the band of carolers will receive the reward. In the old times they received bagels, nuts, apples, cake. Now they are rewarded with money.

3. Dragobete – the Romanian Valentine`s Day Dragobete was, and hopefully shall remain one of the most beautiful Romanian traditional holidays, in which the human feelings and the rhythms of nature are intertwined. Unfortunately, after the 90 s`, the Romanian traditional holiday has been slowly replaced by an imported holiday, the commercial stance of Saint Valentine, which has nothing in common with the tradition of the Romanian people.

CUSTOMS AND TRADITIONS OF BELGIUM

1. Masked, orange-pelting figures at Carnival de Binche The small Walloon town of Binche celebrates by trotting out bizarre figures in colorful outfits wearing wax masks and weaving bundles of willow twigs. Folkloric as can be, the tradition has been around since the 14 th century. Nobody knows where the strange creatures called ‘Gilles’ come from – or why they insist on pelting the crowd with oranges – but as far as entertainment and identity-building go (the whole town works together to put on a show), this is one for the books.

2. Saint Nicholas, a second Santa Belgian and Dutch kids count their lucky stars for getting to greet Saint Nicholas or ‘Sinterklaas’ and his batch of presents every year before Christmas even arrives. A kind of second Santa, the good old man and his helper Black Pete visit every single house, in a single night, where kids have been good throughout the year. On the morning of December 6 th, kids wake up to presents they’ve often asked for in a letter to ‘De Sint. ’ While there has been some controversy brewing around the figure of Black Pete (whose face is black from all of the soot in the chimneys that he slides down to deliver presents) in the last couple of years, Sinterklaas remains a beloved Belgian tradition.

3. Songs and candy on Old Year’s Day Though it’s hard for most non-natives to wrap their heads around, Flemish kids in the regions of the Kempen and the Hageland (and a few small regions in the Netherlands) actually go trick-or-treating on Old Year’s Day. There are no ghosts or vampires involved like with American Halloween, but candy-givers do get treated to short songs wishing them a happy new year. One of the cuter (and rhyming) songs features a pig with four feet and a tail, its charm sadly lost in translation. Most kids keep at it until noon, occasionally passing home to unload some of the sweet treats and warm up with hot cocoa.

CUSTOMS AND TRADITIONS OF SPAIN

1. Bullfighting in Spain Along with eating tapas, drinking sangria and watching flamenco, watching a bullfight is in many people's 'must do' list when they visit Spain. But where should you see a bullfight? Find here a list of some of the major bullfighting festivals as well as information on some of the most popular cities for watching a bullfight in Spain. Animal rights activists argue that the practice is barbaric and that the animal suffers extensively during the ritual. They also differentiate between killing for meat - considered to be a necessity, and killing for fun.

2. Soccer in Spain Bullfighting as a pastime may be dying, but soccer most certainly is not. Also known as fútbol locally, soccer takes on a quasi-religious significance in the lives of Spanish males from the age of 5 to 100. With two of the most successful teams in European soccer, any sports fan should check out Spain's fútbol heritage. Head to a sports bar to watch a game live or even visit one of the stadiums if you want to see this national tradition in person.

3. Festivals in Spain The Spanish eating, drinking, and dancing culture steps up a gear when there's a festival happening—and festivals happen year-round in Spain. Every town or village has a local fiesta, at which point the locals don't just eat and drink because it's fun, they do so because it would be un-Spanish not to. There a number of strange Christmas traditions and fiestas in Spain as well as several that celebrate the cultural heritage of the region.