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Sirin
Sirin () is a mythological creature of Russian legends, with the head of a beautiful woman and the body of a bird (usually an owl), borrowed from the siren of the Greek mythology. According to myth, the Sirin lived in Iriy or around the Euphrates River. History The legend of Sirin might have been introduced to the Rus' by Persian merchants in the 8th–9th centuries. In the cities of Chersonesos and Kiev she is often found on pottery, golden pendants, even on the borders of Gospel books of the 10th–12th centuries. Due to this history, Russian culture has experienced a very strong correlation with the Byzantine Empire through its steppes, the Volga River and Dnieper River. Pomors often depicted Sirin on the illustrations in the Book of Genesis as birds sitting in paradise trees. Later, in the 17th–18th centuries, the image of Sirin changed and she started to symbolize world harmony (as she lives near paradise). People in those times believed only happy people could hear ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vladimir Nabokov
Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov ( ; 2 July 1977), also known by the pen name Vladimir Sirin (), was a Russian and American novelist, poet, translator, and entomologist. Born in Imperial Russia in 1899, Nabokov wrote his first nine novels in Russian (1926–1938) while living in Berlin, where he met his wife, Véra Nabokov. He achieved international acclaim and prominence after moving to the United States, where he began writing in English. Trilingual in Russian, English, and French, Nabokov became a U.S. citizen in 1945 and lived mostly on the East Coast before returning to Europe in 1961, where he settled in Montreux, Switzerland. From 1948 to 1959, Nabokov was a professor of Russian literature at Cornell University. His 1955 novel ''Lolita'' ranked fourth on Modern Library's list of the Modern Library 100 Best Novels, 100 best 20th-century novels in 1998 and is considered one of the greatest works of 20th-century literature. Nabokov's ''Pale Fire'', published in 1962, ranked 5 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paradise
In religion and folklore, paradise is a place of everlasting happiness, delight, and bliss. Paradisiacal notions are often laden with pastoral imagery, and may be cosmogonical, eschatological, or both, often contrasted with the miseries of human civilization: in paradise there is only peace, prosperity, and happiness. Paradise is a place of contentment, a land of luxury and fulfillment containing ever-lasting bliss and delight. Paradise is often described as a "higher place", the holiest place, in contrast to World (theology), this world, or underworlds such as hell. In eschatological contexts, paradise is imagined as an Entering heaven alive, abode of the virtuous dead. In Islam, Judaism, and Christianity, heaven is a paradisiacal belief. In Hinduism and Buddhism, paradise and svarga, heaven are synonymous, with higher levels available to beings who have achieved special attainments of virtue and meditation. In old Egyptian beliefs, the underworld is Aaru, the reed-fields of ide ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
March Fires
''March Fires'' is the fourth studio album by the Australian alternative rock band Birds of Tokyo. It was released on 1 March 2013 in Australia, North American, and Europe, through EMI. It is the band's second major-label studio album release, after 2010's ''Birds of Tokyo'' and is also the first album by the band not to feature founding member Anthony Jackson, who left in 2011. His replacement, Ian Berney, makes his debut appearance on the album as the band's new bassist. ''March Fires'' received positive reviews, and the album became the band's first number-one album on the ARIA Albums Chart. It also marked the group's international album chart debut, reaching number 26 in New Zealand. Recording Birds of Tokyo began recording their fourth studio album in February 2012, which mostly took place in Los Angeles, California. The band recorded over a six-month period, lasting until July. Kingsize Studio and the Hobby Shop in Eagle Rock, along with the Sound Factory and Oceanway S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Birds Of Tokyo
Birds of Tokyo are an Australian alternative rock band from Perth. Their debut album, ''Day One (Birds of Tokyo album), Day One'', gained them domestic success, reaching number three on the AIR Charts, AIR Independent Album charts and spending a total of 36 consecutive weeks in the top ten. In 2008, the band released ''Universes (album), Universes'', which made it to number three on the ARIA charts, Australian ARIA Albums Chart. 2010 saw their self-titled third studio release, ''Birds of Tokyo (album), Birds of Tokyo'', spend over eight months on the Australian top 20, peaking at number two on the ARIA Albums Chart. The double-platinum album received the 2010 ARIA Award for Best Rock Album and in early 2011, the band's breakthrough hit "Plans (song), Plans" ranked number four on Triple J's Hottest 100. The album's follow-up single, "Wild at Heart (Birds of Tokyo song), Wild at Heart", reached number one on the country's national airplay chart and won the band an APRA Award. I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Viktor Vasnetsov
Viktor Mikhaylovich Vasnetsov (; 15 May (New Style, N.S.), 1848 – 23 July 1926) was a Russian artist who specialised in mythological and historical subjects. He is considered a co-founder of Russian folklorist and romantic nationalistic painting, and a key figure in the Russian Revivalist movement. Biography Childhood (1848–1858) Viktor Vasnetsov was born in the remote village of Lopyal in Vyatka Governorate in 1848, the second of the seven children (his only sister died 4 months after her birth). His father Mikhail Vasilievich Vasnetsov (1823–1870), known to be philosophically inclined, was a member of the priesthood, and a scholar of the natural sciences and astronomy. His grandfather was an icon painter. Two of Mikhail Vasnetsov's six sons, Viktor and Apollinary Vasnetsov, Apollinary, became remarkable painters, three becoming schoolteachers and one a Russian folklorist. It was in Lopyal that Viktor started to paint, mostly landscapes and scenes of village life. Recal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lubok
A ''lubok'' (plural ''lubki''; ) is a Russian popular print, characterized by simple graphics and narratives derived from literature, religious stories, and popular tales. ''Lubki'' prints were used as decoration in houses and inns. Early examples from the late 17th and early 18th centuries were woodcuts, followed by engravings or etchings, and from mid-19th century lithography. They sometimes appeared in series, which might be regarded as predecessors of the modern comic strip. Cheap and simple books, similar to chapbooks, which mostly consisted of pictures, are called lubok literature (). Both pictures and literature are commonly referred to simply as ''lubki''. The Russian word ''lubok'' derives from ''lub'' - a special type of board (secondary phloem) on which pictures were printed. Background Russian ''lubki'' became a popular genre during the last half of the 17th century.Dianne Ecklund Farrell, Farrell, Dianne Ecklund. "Medieval Popular Humor in Russian Eighteenth-Century ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nikolay Klyuev
Nikolai Alekseevich Klyuev (, ; 22 October 1884 – 23/25 October 1937), was a notable Russian poet. He was influenced by the Symbolism (arts), symbolist movement, intense nationalism, and a love of Russian folklore. Born in the village of Vytegorsky District, Koshtugi in Olonets Governorate (now Vologda Oblast) near the town of Vytegra, Kluyev rose to prominence in the early twentieth century as the leader of the so-called "peasant poets". Kluyev was a close friend and mentor of Sergei Yesenin. Arrested in 1933 for contradicting Soviet ideology, he was shot in 1937 and rehabilitated posthumously in 1957. Homosexuality Klyuev was Homosexuality, homosexual and had love affairs in Vytegra in the immediate post-revolutionary years, before he settled in Saint Petersburg in the 1920s. Nevertheless, by the 1920s the evidence of active homosexual relationships become more evident in the account of his life, as well as his poetry. In 1928, he met his great love, Anatoly Kravchenko, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ephrem The Syrian
Ephrem the Syrian (; ), also known as Ephraem the Deacon, Ephrem of Edessa or Aprem of Nisibis, (Syriac: ܡܪܝ ܐܦܪܝܡ ܣܘܪܝܝܐ — ''Mâr Aphrêm Sûryâyâ)'' was a prominent Christian theology, Christian theologian and Christian literature, writer who is revered as one of the most notable hymnographers of Eastern Christianity. He was born in Nisibis, served as a deacon and later lived in Edessa. Ephrem is venerated as a Christian saint, saint by all traditional Churches. He is especially revered in Syriac Christianity, both in East Syriac Rite, East Syriac tradition and West Syriac Rite, West Syriac tradition, and also counted as a Holy and Venerable Father (i.e., a sainted monk) in the Eastern Orthodox Church, especially in the Slovak tradition. He was declared a Doctor of the Church in the Catholic Church in 1920. Ephrem is also credited as the founder of the School of Nisibis, which in later centuries was the center of learning for the Church of the East. Ephrem wrot ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Slavic Fairies
Other than the many gods and goddesses of the Slavs, the ancient Slavs believed in and revered many supernatural beings that existed in nature. These supernatural beings in Slavic religion come in various forms, and the same name of any single being can be spelled or transliterated differently according to language and transliteration system. Vila ''Vila'' ( pl. ''vile'', Slovak/Czech ''víly'') is a fairy that is similar to a nymph, identified as a nymph by the Greek historian Procopius; their name comes from the same root as the name of Veles. They are described as beautiful, eternally young, dressed in white, with eyes flashing like thunders, and provided with wings, and blonde hair. They live in the clouds, in mountain woods or in the waters. They are well-disposed towards men, and can turn themselves into horses, wolves, snakes, falcons and swans. The cult of the Vilas was still practised among South Slavs in the early twentieth century, with offerings of fruits and flow ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heresy
Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, particularly the accepted beliefs or religious law of a religious organization. A heretic is a proponent of heresy. Heresy in Heresy in Christianity, Christianity, Heresy in Judaism, Judaism, and Bid‘ah, Islam has at times been met with censure ranging from excommunication to the death penalty. Heresy is distinct from apostasy, which is the explicit renunciation of one's religion, principles or cause; and from blasphemy, which is an impious utterance or action concerning God or sacred things. Heresiology is the study of heresy. Etymology Derived from Ancient Greek ''haíresis'' (), the English ''heresy'' originally meant "choice" or "thing chosen". However, it came to mean the "party, or school, of a man's choice", and also referred to that process whereby a young person would examine various philosophies to determine how to live. The word ''heresy'' is usually used within a C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alkonost
The Alkonost is a legendary woman-headed bird in Slavic folklore. Alkonost is more likely an individual character, as was noted in some legends about this bird. Folklore The name of the Alkonost came from a Greek demigoddess whose name was Alcyone. In Greek mythology, Alcyone was transformed by the gods into a kingfisher. Alkonost makes amazingly beautiful sounds, and those who hear these sounds forget everything they know and want nothing more ever again. She lives in the underworld with her counterpart, the Sirin. The Alkonost lays her eggs on a beach and then rolls them into the sea. When the Alkonost's eggs hatch, a thunderstorm sets in and the sea becomes so rough that it becomes impossible to traverse. She is also the sister of other birds from Slavic mythology, such as Rarog and Stratim. According to folk tales, at the morning of the Apple Feast of the Saviour day, Sirin flies into the apple orchard and cries sadly. In the afternoon, the Alkonost flies to this plac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
