Nasreddin Hodja
The people in Turkey are very familiar with the jokes and stories of Nasreddin Hodja. Since their childhood, people have been hearing these jokes all along. They are part of the Turkish culture. The whole thing began with a man called Nasreddin Hodja who has lived in central Turkey, in the small town called Aksehir. The jokes were part of his daily life and they became accepted and welcomed by the public since his time.He was a man with great humor, he was very clever and had an answer to almost all the problems and the dilemmas of his time. Even today, about 600 years after he has lived and passed away, people in Turkey still laugh and think about his tricks, common sense, anecdotes and ingeniousness.
Common Turkish citizens and every institution of the Turkish society has received a criticism or remark from his philosophical mind. He did not spare his satire for the state, religion, culture or habits. All of the human psychology and social weaknesses received their part of laugh from him. He has seen the human element in each aspect of the everyday life and has used his wit to make everybody aware of the other side of reality. That is why his jokes are still alive today.
He has lived in 13th century according to some stories, but still lives among the Turkish people with his jokes. According to historical documents from Turkey, they are not very sure of his exact birth date or exactly how he lived. According to some other stories, he was in life when Tamerlane invaded Anatolia in 15th century and was born at Sivrihisar. People from this town have been well known for their ridicule and uniqueness.
Nasr-ed-Din means "Victory of Faith", Hodja means the "Master" or "Teacher". He has received this honorable title later in his life.
His father was a religious leader called "Imam" (leader of the public prayers in the mosque) and he was also qualified to become "Kadi" which is the person who distributes the religious law. Between July 5-10 of each year, the International Nasreddin Hodja Festival takes place in Aksehir, where his tomb is. Turkish artists have used Nasreddin Hodja in theater pieces, music, movies, cartoons and paintings.
Today these jokes belong to Turkish people and the world. His stories reflect not only his life as a native of Anatolia but also his time and the life of the Turkish people living at that time in Anatolia. His jokes and stories are told today by the people of different countries and his jokes have been translated to many languages.
Nasr-ed-Din means "Victory of Faith", Hodja means the "Master" or "Teacher". He has received this honorable title later in his life.
His father was a religious leader called "Imam" (leader of the public prayers in the mosque) and he was also qualified to become "Kadi" which is the person who distributes the religious law. Between July 5-10 of each year, the International Nasreddin Hodja Festival takes place in Aksehir, where his tomb is. Turkish artists have used Nasreddin Hodja in theater pieces, music, movies, cartoons and paintings.
Today these jokes belong to Turkish people and the world. His stories reflect not only his life as a native of Anatolia but also his time and the life of the Turkish people living at that time in Anatolia. His jokes and stories are told today by the people of different countries and his jokes have been translated to many languages.
BULGARIA
Radoy Ralin
...whose real name was Dimitar Stefanov Stoyanov, was born in Sliven, some 190 miles east of Sofia, in 1923. He came from a literary and artistic background, his father being the owner of the Modern Art printing house and bookshop in Sliven. He was educated in local schools and even in the 1930s began writing poetry and film scripts.
In addition to being a playwright he was also active in the theatre world and was a co-founder of Sofia’s Satirical Theatre in 1953. In addition to plays and poetry he wrote many novels and his work has been translated into 37 languages. He himself translated Pushkin, Goethe and Molière into Bulgarian. He wrote the scripts for many films, particularly after 1976 when he worked for Bulgarian Cinematography.
Ralin was a man of many talents but his epigrams were perhaps his most accessible accomplishment, his most famous probably being, “I am not afraid of the Minister of Culture. I’m afraid of the culture of the minister.”
In addition to being a playwright he was also active in the theatre world and was a co-founder of Sofia’s Satirical Theatre in 1953. In addition to plays and poetry he wrote many novels and his work has been translated into 37 languages. He himself translated Pushkin, Goethe and Molière into Bulgarian. He wrote the scripts for many films, particularly after 1976 when he worked for Bulgarian Cinematography.
Ralin was a man of many talents but his epigrams were perhaps his most accessible accomplishment, his most famous probably being, “I am not afraid of the Minister of Culture. I’m afraid of the culture of the minister.”
Adam Mickiewicz
Adam Bernard Mickiewicz (December 24, 1798 – November 26, 1855) was a Romantic poet, writing in the Polish language, and described variously as a Pole, a Lithuanian or a Polish-Lithuanian. He is one of Poland's Three Bards – a national poet of Poland and one of the greatest Slavic language poets alongside Alexander Pushkin. He has also been described as a transformation poet and Slavonic bard. He was the most prominent creator of Romantic drama in Poland, compared both at home and in Western Europe to Byron and Goethe. He is known primarily as the author of the poetic novel Dziady and national epic Pan Tadeusz, which is considered the last great epic of Polish-Lithuanian noble culture. Mickiewicz's other influential works include Konrad Wallenrod and Grażyna. All served as inspiration during regional rebellions and as foundations for the concept of Poland as "the Christ of Nations."Mickiewicz was active in the struggle to achieve independence for his homeland, then part of the Russian Empire. Having spent five years in internal exile in central Russia for political activities, he left the Empire in 1829 and spent the rest of his life in exile, settling first in Rome, later in Paris, where he became professor of Slavic literature at the Collège de France. He died, probably of cholera, at Constantinople in the Ottoman Empire, where he had gone to help organize Polish forces to fight against Russia in the Crimean War. His remains were later moved to Wawel Cathedral in Kraków, Poland.
ANGLIA
King Arthur
King Arthur was a legendary British leader of the late fifth and early sixth centuries, who, according to Medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the early sixth century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and his historical existence is debated and disputed by modern historians. The sparse historical background of Arthur is gleaned from various sources, including the Annales Cambriae, the Historia Brittonum, and the writings of Gildas. Arthur's name also occurs in early poetic sources such as Y Gododdin.
The legendary Arthur developed as a figure of international interest largely through the popularity of Geoffrey of Monmouth's fanciful and imaginative 12th-century Historia Regum Britanniae (History of the Kings of Britain). Some Welsh and Breton tales and poems relating the story of Arthur date from earlier than this work; in these works, Arthur appears either as a great warrior defending Britain from human and supernatural enemies or as a magical figure of folklore, sometimes associated with the Welsh Otherworld, Annwn. How much of Geoffrey's Historia (completed in 1138) was adapted from such earlier sources, rather than invented by Geoffrey himself, is unknown.
Although the themes, events and characters of the Arthurian legend varied widely from text to text, and there is no one canonical version, Geoffrey's version of events often served as the starting point for later stories. Geoffrey depicted Arthur as a king of Britain who defeated the Saxons and established an empire over Britain, Ireland, Iceland, Norway and Gaul. Many elements and incidents that are now an integral part of the Arthurian story appear in Geoffrey's Historia, including Arthur's father Uther Pendragon, the wizard Merlin, Arthur's wife Guinevere, the sword Excalibur, Arthur's birth at Tintagel, his final battle against Mordred at Camlann and final rest in Avalon. The 12th-century French writer Chrétien de Troyes, who added Lancelot and the Holy Grail to the story, began the genre of Arthurian romance that became a significant strand of medieval literature. In these French stories, the narrative focus often shifts from King Arthur himself to other characters, such as various Knights of the Round Table. Arthurian literature thrived during the Middle Ages but waned in the centuries that followed until it experienced a major resurgence in the 19th century. In the 21st century, the legend lives on, not only in literature but also in adaptations for theatre, film, television, comics and other media.
PORTUGALIA
João Baptista da Silva Leitão de Almeida Garrett
João Baptista da Silva Leitão de Almeida Garrett was born João Leitão da Silva in Porto as the son of António Bernardo da Silva Garrett, a Fidalgo of the Royal Household and Knight of the Order of Christ whose mother was the daughter of an Irish father born in exile in France and an Italian mother born in Spain, and wife Ana Augusta de Almeida Leitão .At an early age, around 4 or 5 years old, he changed his name to João Baptista da Silva Leitão, adding a name from his godfather and altering the order of his surnames.Although he did not take active part in the Liberal Revolution that broke out in Porto in 1820, he contributed with two patriotic verses, the Hymno Constitucional and the Hymno Patriótico, which his friends copied and distributed in the streets of Porto. After the "Vilafrancada", a reactionary coup d'état led by the Infante Dom Miguel in 1823, he was forced to seek exile in England. He had just married the beautiful Luísa Cândida Midosi who was only 12 or 13 years old at the time and was the sister of his friend Luís Frederico Midosi, later married to Maria Teresa Achemon, both related to theatre and children of José Midosi (son of an Italian father and an Irish mother) and wife Ana Cândida de Ataíde Lobo. While in England, in Edgbaston, Warwickshire, he began his association with Romanticism, being subject to the first-hand influences of William Shakespeare and Walter Scott, as well as to that of Gothic aesthetics. In the beginning of 1825, Garrett left for France where he wrote Camões and Dona Branca – both poems are usually considered the first Romanticist works in Portuguese literature. He returned to Portugal, where he settled for two years and founded the newspapers O Portuguez and O Chronista. Under the rule of King Miguel of Portugal, he was again forced to settle in England, publishing Adozinda and performing his tragedy Catão at the Theatre Royal in Plymouth .
Garrett published Romanceiro e Cancioneiro Geral, a collection of folklore; two years later, he wrote the first volume of his historical novel O Arco de Santana.
Garrett died of cancer in Lisbon 1854. He was buried at the Cemetery of Prazeres and his remains were transferred to the national pantheon in the Jerónimos Monastery, where they rest near to those of Alexandre Herculano and Luís Vaz de Camões.
UNGARIA
Matthias Corvinus
Matthias Corvinus (Hungarian: Hunyadi Mátyás or very rarely Corvin Mátyás) (23 February 1443 – 6 April 1490), also called the Just in folk tales, was King of Hungary and Croatia from 1458, at the age of 14 until his death. After conducting several military campaigns he became also King of Bohemia, (1469–1490) and Duke of Austria.His famous army, called the Black Army guarded the country against the Turkish troops. He died in Vienna. He is our most popular king who was the hero of several Hungarian folktales and anecdotes – he travelled the country and helped poor people.
