Because I love Serbia...

...I dubbed today ''Serbia day''.

After all, today (February 15th) is the day the nation celebrates its independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1804. 

A worthy date to remember, certainly. 

And since Serbia boasts some of my most favorite dances, folk costumes (clothing), songs, language, and scenery, not to mention the food, or the fact that it was my birthday theme two years ago....I tried to celebrate Serbia in my own way today.

 We didn't have an all-day party or time-consuming banquet, but I made crêpes for breakfast (palachinke in Serbian), because they are a favorite Serbian dessert. And we just finished (7 pm) eating a Serbian/Balkan style supper of chicken marinated overnight in lemon/garlic/paprika, with a fresh salad of tomatoes/onion/green peppers/parsley/olive oil/salt/kefir (It was supposed to have cucumbers and yogurt as well, but we ate them yesterday. That always happens.);

with bread and garlicy baked cubed potatoes.  

Of course, we listened to one of my Serbian folk dance music CDs while eating. :)

Since I have each of our favourite countries' biggest national holiday marked on the calendar in my room, I'm hoping to continue doing mini celebrations for each country. Maybe we'll even take some minutes watching our favorite dances from each corresponding country...

My sisters and I have been studying and learning a certain Serbian dance (one of many!) and its so much fun. All these dances from Eastern/Southern Europe are amazing.

Just amazing! (and beautiful, I think)

I hope you enjoy the following two clips which I found.

First video is of a wedding dance, and the second one is an amazing energetic dance typical of Serbian next-to-Bulgaria regions. I know they are different from maybe what you are used to enjoying, but try a little....see what you think! :)

Serbian costume from region of Nisava river valley, next to Bulgaria

The above and following photos are from my Birthday in 2010. :)
My Mum and Nikola had already made me my dream Serbian costume (in pictures) in 2005. But I was able to again fit into it on my 19th birthday. :) (It's a forgiving outfit- the only problem was that I had grown a few inches, and I found to my surprise that the original waistline had between 2007 and 2010 become an untraditional empire waistline! Haha. New Serbian portraits this spring are a must though, as we have since let out the hem quite a bit)

Dancing Serbian dances :)

Ahh...delightful September birthday memories!




Serbian designs on coat

Nikola made all the designs on the back of the coat! She is planning on doing a series of interesting costume posts on her blog soon. Then we will show pictures of the original costume, and our rendition....:)

Serbia=plums!

Young dried cornstalks from my garden add a harvest touch to the Serbian table

Serbia!



My favorite doll in a beautiful costume from the Vlach region (up in the mountains) of Serbia!
My sister Nikola made this as a surprise for my birthday. I love displaying my dolls in the little costumes we make for them, based on traditional clothing! The Vlach costume is one of my favorites.



Nikola posing in her Sumadija costume

Below....pictures of Serbian costumes/dances from the Duquesne University Tamburitzans



(Dances from Sumadija, Serbia. My sister Nikola's costume (see above pictures) is based on this one!)

Nick Jovonovich- a Serbian-American performer

We love Serbian music!



... and Lastly, some pictures which are not taken by us, but which I like :)

Beautiful :)

Serbian flag

....

I hope you enjoyed this little glimpse of ''Serbia''!

(the cultural side, at least! :))

Love from ......MAPЖOЛEHA

(yes! that's my name in Serbian)

Tamburitzans....

A highlight of our each year, and of each November, is going to see the Duquesne University Tamburitzans (visit their home page here) perform!!!

Words can't describe how marvelous and spectacular their shows are! I can hardly choose a favorite season, and come away each year's show thinking they only get better and better!

We just attended a show (the 75th season show!) last Saturday, and oh! it was splendid! I said I don't choose favorites, but it was one of them. :) I can't wait to see it on video when it is made....and I took some great pictures, I think.

Until I get those uploaded and edited, here are finally last season's pictures!!! I love them. I hope you enjoy them too! I'd love to hear which ones you like, or which costumes you like.

First: Some pictures from the Croatian numbers of the program...

 Another great part in the dance!

Oh...another favorite picture of a favorite dancer: Natalka Karaman (who is Ukrainian)

 Next....some Serbian pictures: (note: we love the women's costume so much, Nikola made it for herself :) I'll have to show you sometime....)

A favorite- Nick Jovonovich. He's a wonderful singer!

We got a picture with him this year.

Filip Petrovski (Macedonian) and Nick J. singing a Serbian ballad.

Love this picture of Natalia, Julia, Christine and Yulia.

This Serbian dance has very precise and intricate footwork. When the ladies spin or turn quickly, their striped pleated butterfly skirts at the back flare out beautifully. (That's what their doing in this picture...)

Another favorite Tammie, Natalia Tarasiuk (Ukrainian) leading the girls. One thing we've always loved about this costume are the aprons, which are each different and works of art in themselves; as well as the stunning black and gold vests.

The intricate and enthusiastic ending to the dance!

Below: a couple close-ups of instruments, taken by Sam

We always love men's dances from Hungary or Romania! In this impressive, competitive dance, there were 2 gypsy men, two hungarians and two slovaks, (or rather, the Tammie men were representing those regions) and it was neat to see the different styles come together...Plenty of slapping and stamping, and amazing footwork!

Srjan Males (A Serbian, acting as Slovakian)

Patrick Vetter playing clarinet. (I don't know about you, but clarinet has got to be one of my favorite instruments!)

Following are pictures from the Macedonian portion of the show....

One great thing about the Tamburitzans is how the performers are constantly changing each season, and although we miss favourite and talented senior performers, the freshmen arrive, bringing with them their own particular brilliant talents, oftentimes bringing new aspects and twists to the show!. I don't think the Tamburitzans have had a drum solo or duet piece in the last several years, and certainly nothing like how freshman Mitko N. (Macedonian- standing on drum) plays! It was amazing watching and listening to how he and Andrew D. made those drums sound out! It was great! There's nothing like a Macedonian or Armenian or Serbian drum!

BEAUTIFUL!

As you may remember, Macedonia is mentioned a couple times in the Bible, in the apostle Paul's epistles.

Macedonian dances, like Bulgarian, and Serbian are amazing! They usually have energetic endings too.

Macedonian Mitko again

Following, is one of my absolute favorite pictures! I wish all of you could have seen this lovely, graceful dance- dance of the Armenian princesses! (I'm glad, Meghan, that you have seen it, and know what I mean!)

(Natalia, Marija, and Iryna- three lovely Ukrainian ballerinas dancing the elegant Armenian princesses dance)

There was also a men's Armenian dance, which was as masculine as the womens' dance was graceful! The men were amazing as they peformed this shepherd's dance full of great backflips, jumps and even dificult spins on the knuckles of the toes!

The finale of the first half was a splendid Slovakian mountain dance....

The Slovak shepherd's dance here was meant to emulate the majestic eagle flying above the Tatra mountains...

An exciting part in the dance!!!

Ukrainian Marija K. at the end of the dance

Another Slovak picture- I LOVE twirling pictures!

Following are some...Hungarian  dance pictures! We love this Hungarian dance! Stamping and slapping and twirling and singing....just so cheerful!

My sister Jessie has home-made rendition this costume- I will have to show you a picture sometime! Nikola also made this costume for my favorite doll.....I love costumes! In this one, the white skirt is pleated so fine that you can hardly tell- but when the girls twirl, it flares out splendidly!

Marija and Srdjan

See- isn't it pretty when they twirl? (Oh! I didn't think I had a picture of these two sisters- but here they are, although back to back- Julia and Emily Khninicky! :))

Next, pictures from the womens' Bulgarian dances!

There is nothing like Bulgarian dances- they are incredibly energetic!

In the Bible, the region ''Thrace''' or ''Trakia'' is in present-day Bulgaria.

I have only one picture to share with you from the Russian dance, which was a charming duet, including fun dance steps like the one below, where the man twirls the girl, as in the following picture....I want to try that- but I don't know how I would keep my balance...

Everyone loves Ukrainian dances....

This was a good choice for the Tammies this year, too, since they have several Ukrainian performers in the ensemble these seasons....

The girls in front are Iryna, Natalka and Natalia (some favorites of ours! :))

The girls' parts in the dance are similiar to ballet, and indeed, most Ukrainian girls grow up learning both Ukrainian folk dances as well as ballet!

Following, pictures from the grand finale of the show! 'Twas a Romanian dance; vibrant, energetic, fast-paced!

Thank you, Tamburitzans, for that wonderful show!!!!

My dear readers, please visit the link at beginning of post!

Each of these pictures are my private property, and I am using them for promoting this wonderful group,

The Duquesne University Tamburitzans!

I hope these pictures inspired you to look into the group yourselves- go see a show this season! Each season, although different, is just as wonderful as the last.

Coming in a month or so....pictures from THIS season's (75th- 2011-2012) show!

Have a lovely week!