Divine Spirits of Providence

The immense and fighting spirit, still,
Shall quicken and control.

Living they were the land, and dead,
Their soul shall be her soul.


[Music: 'Moonlight Sonata' by Daniel Pollack]

Vancouver Winter Olympics - February 12-28

It's hard to believe that it has already been almost four years since the Torino games of 2006. I can recall when the USA woman's Alpine skiing team was ready to compete and the famed American skier Picabo Street said flatly that she was unimpressed by the immaturity of the no-name American team. Shortly thereafter, twenty-one year old Julia Mancuso from Reno won the gold in the Giant slalom. The Italian fans responded by cheering for "Mancuso."

In the following several years since then, Julia has not lived up to her performance in Torino. It should be interesting to see if she responds well as she did last time to the big event. Some athletes do their best when everything is on the line. It's the same concept as someone who is a great performer in practice, but can't seem to duplicate it when it counts; while other athletes are the exact opposite, rising to the occasion. Of course, she's only twenty-five, and has struggled with injuries.

Interestingly, in 2009, American skier Lindsey Vonn, from St. Paul, has exploded onto the scene with two gold metals in Val d'Isère (Downhill & Super-G). She appears to be the best woman's American skier now. She is also twenty-five.

Alpine people in Italy always have a good showing in the winter games. There are also heavy mountains in other parts of the peninsula as well.

The Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics will take place from February 12-28, and will be aired on NBC.
http://www.vancouver2010.com/
http://www.nbcolympics.com/

Julia Mancuso, 2006 Olympic gold medalist in Torino (Giant slalom), from Reno, Nevada.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Mancuso
http://www.juliamancuso.com/

Lindsey Vonn, 2009 double gold medalist in Val d'Isère (Downhill & Super-G), from St. Paul, Minnesota.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindsey_Vonn

Lindsey Vonn, Julia Mancuso, who's hotter?

Winnili Tribe III: Life in Ancient Scandinavia

Prior to the fourth century A.D., the ancestors of the Langobards lived in the harsh Scandinavian landscape.

[Music: 'Beauty of Mother Nature' by Hagalaz Runedance]

World Padanian Nation: Argentina-USA Kindred

World Padanian Nation: Argentina-USA Kindred

To Padanian-Argentinian and Padanian-American kindred and friendship.

Argentina, largely the Buenos Aires province, tended to attract immigrants from the Lombardo-Venetian and Trentino regions; while the United States, largely northern California, tended to attract immigrants from Liguria and Tuscany. Some of our families and clans ended up in both locations, yet we've lost our historical memory of this connection. However, the same ancestry, the same people.


[Music: 'Crimson Tears' by Sindustry]

Walla Walla Italian Heritage Festival

A nice video of the Walla Walla Italian Heritage Festival. We have tried to be a little bit more careful in making sure that we don't leave the impression that we have some link to people in Walla Walla. It seems obvious that this small community is overwhelmingly of what we call "northern nations" decent. We would like to have links there at some point.

Once again, the definition of a "Padanian-American" is a European-American who has genuine roots in the "northern nations" (Tuscany, the Veneto, etc.). So, under this definition, a person could be partly Sicilian, Euro-Portuguese, Russian, Greek, etc., and be Padanian-American.

Majestic Lynx returns to Langbard!

Lynx back in Italy

Collared animal wanders in from Switzerland

Italy News Agency article link

Linda Brown - April 4, 2008

(ANSA) - Bolzano, April 4 - The lynx has returned to Italy after being wiped out 100 years ago, the forestry service said Friday.

The reappearance of one of the wild cats in the northern Italian mountains, which has wandered in from neighbouring Switzerland, was an event ''of exceptional interest and value,'' it said.

The service noted the lynx had lived in the Alps from earliest recorded history until it was exterminated by hunters and sheep farmers in the early 20th century.

The presence of the lynx in the Val di Non mountains has been detected thanks to a signalling collar slipped onto the animal in Switzerland last month.

Lynxes became extinct in that country at about the same time as they did in Italy but were successfully re-introduced in the 1970s.

The feline was sporadically spotted there until the mid-1990s but after that it disappeared again.

A predator at the top of the mountain food chain, the lynx poses no danger to humans.

The Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) is a medium-sized cat native to European and Siberian forests, where it is one of the predators. The Eurasian lynx is the biggest of the four species of lynx. All have short tails, characteristic tufts of black hair on the tip of the ears and a ruff under the neck which has black bars, resembling a bow tie. The Eurasian lynx has grey to reddish fur with black spots. It is mainly nocturnal and lives solitarily as an adult. Lynxes prey on hares, rabbits, rodents, foxes, roe deer and reindeer. As with other cats, going for larger prey presents a risk to the animal. There are three other species of lynx: the Iberian (Spanish) lynx, the Canadian lynx and the bobcat.

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From Flickr user nerudagirl:

During the centuries this has been a fiercly hunted down Cat, only to from time to time having become close to extinction here, in Sweden ..Even our vikings (Brutes as they were) made a great trade with the furs. A beautiful magnificent Cat......

In the 15'th century the Royal Court appointed special Hunters focusing on Lynx alone more or less to supply the Royal family & the Court with Lynx fur to use for bedding...

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*9-19-10 Addition: It's interesting to note that in the same way that the lynx has returned to the Italian Alps via Switzerland, bears have returned to Switzerland via the Italian Alps. Actually bears are making a comeback in all of central Europe from resettlement projects in Italy, Austria, and France. Wolves also are making a comeback. It would be so nice if there were a little bit more room for bears, wolves, and lynxes in Europe, rather than trying so hard to squeeze in as many of the world's eight or so billion people as possible. What about the right of the animals to inhabit their rightful territory?

The Great Bear Comeback (Spiegel)

Bears may be back in Swiss Alps (BBC)

Wolves, Bears Make Comeback in Europe (Deutsche Welle)

Wolves Make a Comeback (ABC News)

[Music: 'All I Live For' by Stigma]

Gallia Cisalpina IV: Gaulish Harvest Festival of Samonios

Gallia Cisalpina IV: Gaulish Harvest Festival of Samonios

Samhain

The Gaulish calendar appears to have divided the year into two halves: the "dark" half, beginning with the month Samonios (the October/November lunation), and the "light" half, beginning with the month Giamonios (the April/May lunation). The entire year may have been considered as beginning with the "dark" half, so that the beginning of Samonios may be considered the Celtic New Year's day. The celebration of New Year itself may have taken place during the "three nights of Samonios" (Gaulish trinux[tion] samo[nii]), the beginning of the lunar cycle which fell nearest to the midpoint between the autumnal equinox and the winter solstice.

The lunations marking the middle of each half-year may also have been marked by specific festivals. The Coligny calendar marks the mid-summer moon (see Lughnasadh), but omits the mid-winter one (see Imbolc). The seasons are not oriented at the solar year, viz. solstice and equinox, so the mid-summer festival would fall considerably later than summer solstice, around 1 August (Lughnasadh). It appears that the calendar was designed to align the lunations with the agricultural cycle of vegetation, and that the exact astrological position of the Sun at that time was considered less important.

[Music: 'Loreley' by Blackmore's Night]