Month: July 2020

Carinthian Summer Music Festival

For six weeks spanning July and August, the world’s most renowned conductors and orchestras perform in various locations in the Austria’s southernmost province, Carinthia. Ossiach Abbey, an 11th-century monastery, has remained a main venue site since it hosted the first Carinthian festival, in 1969. Ensembles play at the abbey’s church and its baroque hall, Villach‘s Congress Centre, and Glanegg Castle, as well as other scenic settings throughout the mountainous province. The Festival has built its musical reputation on the rare genre known as the “church opera.” Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Wookey Hole Caves

The Wookey Hole Caves of Southwest England have been visited by humans for some 50,000 years for uses ranging from shelter and burial to aging cheddar cheese. They were not extensively explored until the past century, however, because most of the passages are underwater. Archeologists have since discovered Iron-Age artifacts and evidence of a Romano-British cemetery there. One well-known feature of the caves is the Witch of Wookey Hole, a rock formation supposedly explained by what local legend? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

British Open

The British Open is the oldest and one of the most prestigious international golf championship tournaments in the world. It began in 1860 at the then 12-hole Prestwick course in Scotland and is now rotated among select golf courses in England and Scotland. The Open has a special cachet for golfers since Scotland is considered, if not the birthplace of golf, the place where it developed into its present form played with ball, club, and hole. The game may actually have originated in Holland, where they called it kolven, but golf in Scotland goes back before 1457. Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Szczerbiec

The sole surviving piece of the original Polish crown jewels, the Szczerbiec—or “Notched Sword”—is the ceremonial sword that was used to crown Polish kings from 1320 to 1764. Legend states that it was given by an angel to King Boleslaw, who chipped it on the gates of Kiev in 1018, yet the sword only dates to the 13th century, raising questions about the veracity of the tale. Looted by Prussian troops in 1795, the sword was not returned until 1928. Why is there a slit on its blade below the hilt? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Feast of the Giglio (Brooklyn)

The feast days of Our Lady of Mount Carmel (July 16) and Paulinus of Nola (June 22) are celebrated together by Italian Americans at the parish of Shrine Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Brooklyn, New York. The highlights of the festival are the two processions of the giglio (Italian for “lilies”), a huge tower about six stories high and decorated with lilies. On July 16, the statue of Our Lady of Mount Carmel is placed atop the giglio and paraded through the parish streets accompanied by a marching band and the singing of the Giglio Song (“O’ Giglio ‘e Paradiso”). Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

The Cigar-Box Guitar

The cigar-box guitar is a primitive, usually homemade, string instrument that uses a cigar box as a resonator. It originated in the southern US at around the time that the modern cigar box was introduced—about 1840. Other salvaged materials, such as screen wire (for strings) and broomsticks (for necks), are also often used in the making of these instruments. Recently, there has been revival of cigar-box instruments. What world-famous musicians have jumped on the cigar-box guitar bandwagon? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Crusaders Take the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem (1099)

Built in the 4th century by Constantine, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem is the supposed location of Jesus’ tomb. The holy site was captured and partially destroyed numerous times, and, in 1096, the First Crusade was launched in part to recapture it. In 1099, Crusaders poured into Jerusalem, killed its non-Christian population, and took the church. It was rebuilt, and has since been carefully divided among quarreling Christian factions. Who has traditionally kept the key? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary