August 31, 2009 | Filed Under Civil War | No Comments
Lanterns have always been an inherent part of the Chinese culture. A Chinese and his lantern are inseparable. Even on the brightest moonlight, Chinese consider it their duty to provide themselves with artificial light; and it is an interesting spectacle at a large fire at night to see streets filled with crowds holding lanterns aloft.
Held on the fifteen day of the first month of the Lunar Year, the Lantern Festival, also known as Yuan Xiao Festival (in Chinese, Yuan means month, Xiao means night) is always celebrated under a full moon, marking the end of Chinese New Year festivities. The Lantern Festival usually takes place in October when the weather gets cooler. At that night, thousands of colorful lanterns walk in the Chinese streets, people eat glutinous rice ball (yuanxiao), moon cakes, or cakes in the shape of horse, fish, rabbit, flowers or goddesses with fillings of sugar, orange peel, melon seeds, ham, or almonds and get together in a blissful atmosphere.
There are many legends associated to the origin of the Lantern Festival. The most common is related with the religious worship of Taiyi, the God of Heaven. Believing that Taiyi could control human lives with his sixteen dragons and bring favorable weather and good health to human instead of storms, famine, drought and plague, Emperor Qin Shi Huang, the fist emperor to unite China, organized splendid ceremonies each year. Since 104BC, Lantern Festival has become one of the most important celebrations in China.
Bearing a significance of cultural element more than a pure celebration of gala performance, the Lantern Festival owes its formal instigation to the introduction of Buddhism in Chinese culture. Emperor Ming (28-75 AD) of the Han Dynasty (206BC-220AD) issued an order to burn the light on the fifteen day of the first month of the Lunar Year to spread Buddhism. According to tradition, celebrations were lasting three days and included banquets with a view to the moon. Besides, the influence of Indian Buddhism during the Han Dynasty featured the concept of Moon Rabbit. Also known as Jade Rabbit, the rabbit in the moon signifies immortality by standing under a magical cassia tree.
At the times of the Tang Dynasty (618AD - 907AD), the Lantern Festival was celebrated with Chinese people lighting lanterns and placing them in front of their house doors to create a luminous atmosphere. The significance of the lanterns at that period can be found at their relation to the nature as, in majority, their portrayals and shapes were illustrating agricultural produce from all over the land.
During the Sung Dynasty (906AD – 1279AD), Chinese people were floating lanterns on streams and rivers to guide the spirits of those who had drowned.
At the times of the Ming dynasty (1368AD-1644AD), people were decorating houses and gardens with lanterns and they were playing tom-toms and gongs to celebrate the Lantern Festival.
Lanterns provide great insight into Chinese history. Many of them portrayed surnames in bold Chinese calligraphy in one side and picturesque drawings on the other. Originally, such lanterns were made to differentiate families of villagers and insinuate their social status. Over time, lanterns served as number plates and doorbells as well as identifiers of a particular household or simply as lighters.
One of the most important connotations of lanterns was their view as symbols of enlightenment and blessing. Many Chinese believed that by lighting a lantern they were sending away the darkness of ignorance. Besides, the Chinese word for lantern is ‘deng’ which sounds similar to ‘deng’ referring to male authority in the household. Therefore, many Chinese hung lanterns outside their household to invite fertility and prosperity into the family.
Because of their major significance, lanterns were crafted based on the different occasions they were used for. For example, in the ancient times, dragons were the exclusive privilege of the imperial family and symbolized the divine, depriving civilians from using them. Today, lanterns are made of bamboo strips, fruits skins or leaves depending on the area and the materials available.
Also, the lanterns were inherently associated to the primary functions of the Festival, namely gathering, praying and thanksgiving. The evening before the Festival, friends would gather to eat together and drink tea or wine. The night of the Lantern festival offerings would be placed on an altar decorated with the picture of the Moon Rabbit. Praying would complete the ceremony which would be conducted by women as the moon is associated with yin, the feminine force.
Besides entertainment and beautiful lanterns, one major event taking place in the Lantern Festival is the lion dance. Being a fine traditional dance derived from the Three Kingdoms Period (220-280), the lion dance echoes the skills of the dancers focusing on the animal resemblance. Performing amusing acting makes spectators have fun and enjoy Lantern Festival even more. Besides, in ancient Chinese tradition the lion symbolizes strength and boldness and protect people. Therefore, a performance of lion dance signifies a happy and fortunate life.
Another folk event is walking on stilts that originates to the Spring and Autumn period (770BC - 476BC). Performers walk on stilts and do extremely difficult moves by impersonating clowns, fishermen and monks and performing humorous acts.
I work as a financial and investment advisor but my passion is writing, music and photography. Writing mostly about finance, business and music, being an amateur photographer and a professional dj, I am inspired from life.
Being a strong advocate of simplicity in life, I love my family, my partner and all the people that have stood by me with or without knowing. And I hope that someday, human nature will cease to be greedy and demanding realizing that the more we have the more we want and the more we satisfy our needs the more needs we create. And this is so needless after all.
Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/history-articles/the-significance-of-the-lantern-festival-in-chinese-culture-1178087.html
August 29, 2009 | Filed Under Civil War | No Comments
America provided supplies for both France and Great Britain, especially to France. Great Britain could go to any part of the world for their imports, but France did not have very many ships and needed the United States to supply this need. Now, American merchants really prospered from the war in Europe. From 1789 to 1805 American imports and exports quadrupled, and most of this business was with France.
This alarmed Great Britain and they were now determined to put a block in America’s trade agreement with France. They felt that this relationship of America with France would be a threat to them, and they also feared the United States becoming to great of a competitor for British merchants. So in 1807, the British enacted the Orders in Council calling for a halt of any American ships entering a French port. Now, this action was not intended to be an aggressive measure against the United States, but, it was due to Great Britain’s war with France. However, the Orders, were in violation of American foreign policy, called freedom of the seas.
Both Great Britain and France had blockades in force, making it unsafe for American vessels at sea. President Jefferson felt that the only thing to do was to pull back all American ships from the high seas, and then toward the end of 1807 he asked Congress to vote for an embargo that would prevent American foreign trade to any nation. So, President Jefferson along with Congress agreed to abandon our freedom of the seas in an attempt to avoid war.
Now, in 1808, James Madison was elected president, and he desired to restore American rights on the high seas, using diplomacy in an attempt to not go to war. In 1809, the Non-Intercourse Act replaced the Embargo Act, which allowed American merchants to trade with other nations, but not with Great Britain or France. But this was totally unacceptable with the Americans. They wanted to be able to trade with the British and the French as well, and pressured Congress to change this Act. In 1810, the Intercourse Act was allowed to expire. Then, the President signed a new law demanding that Great Britain and France end their embargo against America, and in return, there would be no trade with the other power.
Then, Great Britain began to suffer great economic hardships. So, on June 16, 1812, Parliament was pressured to withdraw the Orders in Council that had hindered American trade and freedom of the seas. Great Britain’s need for American trade convinced them to meet the demands of President Madison. However, this decision was a little too late. Just two days later, America being unaware of Parliament’s decision, declared war on Great Britain. But the reason for the War of 1812 was not only over the right for freedom of the seas, but there were a number of other reasons for the War of 1812.
The first reason was over land. Pioneer farmers would settle in a certain area, work the land down to nothing and then move west in search of more land. The farmers in the northwest moved north into lower Canada. Then the farmers in the south desired to move into Florida, and felt that a war with Great Britain would make it easier to do so. The second reason was that Americans resented how Great Britain would seize our American sailors for public use and for the disrespect toward the flag. The third reason was there was a serious Indian problem. Why was this? The Indians were only defending the land that belong to them, which was being taken away by the white Americans. The fourth reason was the fur trade. Canadian fur traders wanted to protect their industry from the pioneers in the south, so they looked to the Indians for help. This alarmed the settlers and they decided to go into Canada mainly to stop any type of a treaty between the British and Indians.
But, when President Madison spoke to Congress, his main reason for the need to go to war against Great Britain was the violation of an American principle called the freedom of the seas. He stressed the problem of the continued blockade of American ships and the use of our American seamen for public display. So, the sad fact is this, because of it being impossible for Great Britain to inform America of the suspension of the Orders in Council two days earlier, a war was started, which would go on for more than two years!
My name is Meredith Miller. I am a former teacher of a private christian school. I enjoy studying and doing research on various subjects. History was one of my majors in college and I very much enjoy reading and writing about this subject-called history. I suppose my favorite time period in past history is the Civil War.
Author Link: http://www.millerdoctorofphilosophy.com
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August 27, 2009 | Filed Under Civil War | No Comments
Dracula or Vlad the Impaler was the son of Vlad Dracul (1436-1442; 1443-1447) and grandson of Mircea the Old (1386-1418). Vlad Dracul was dubbed a knight of the Dragon Order by the Hungarian king. All the members of the order had a dragon on their coat of arms, and that is what brought him the nickname of Dracul (the Devil). Vlad the Impaler used to sign himself Draculea or Draculya - the Devil’s son -, a name which was distorted into Dracula.
Dracula’s renown reached the West through the Saxons from the Transylvanian towns of Brasov (Kronstadt) and Sibiu (Hermannstadt), who often gave shelter to those who claimed the Wallachian throne. In order to escape the peril of losing his throne, Vlad would punish the Saxons. Sibiu and the neighbouring area were pillaged and burnt down by Vlad, and many Saxons were impaled. The same happened to the Saxon merchants who came on business to Târgoviste.
In fact, Vlad was called Tepes (the Impaler) only after his death (1476). He ruled in Wallachia between 1456-1462 and in 1476. In 1462, having been defeated by the Turks, Vlad took refuge in Hungary. In 1476, with the help of the Hungarian king Matia Corvin and the Moldavian prince Stephen the Great, Vlad took over the Wallachian throne again for a month. A battle followed, during which Vlad was killed. His body was buried in the church of the Snagov Monastery, on an island near Bucharest. His body lies in front of the altar. In 1935, a richly dressed but beheaded corpse was exhumed at Snagov, a fate known to have overtaken Dracula, whose head was supposedly wrapped, perfumed and dispatched as a gift to the Turkish sultan.
They say that impalling was one of Dracula’s favourite punishments, but he was not the only one who made use of it at the time. Other German and Spanish princes would do the same. He used the method for boyars, thieves and criminals, Turks, Saxons and those who conspired against him; more than once it happened that a whole forest of sharp stakes with enemies’ heads would rise around Târgoviste, the capital of Wallachia at the time.
Horrified by these atrocities, the Saxons printed books and pamphlets in which they told about Vlad’s cruelty. These booklets also reached Germany and Western Europe, where Dracula became known as a bloody tyrant.
In 1897, the Irish writer Bram Stoker published Dracula, which made Vlad the Impaler famous world-wide. Stoker read the stories about Dracula printed in the 15th and 16th centuries and was struck by his acts of cruelty. He decided to make him his character; he also read several books about Transylvania (a name of Latin origin, meaning “the country beyond the forests”), and thought that this “exotic” land would make a proper setting for Dracula’s deeds.
In fact, Stoker used Vlad only as a source of inspiration, since in his novel, Dracula is not prince Vlad the Impaler, but a Transylvanian count living in a mysterious castle where he lured his victims. His story takes place in the Bistritza area, and the castle lies near the Bârgau Pass (in the Carpathian Mountains). As Stoker had never visited Transylvania, most places and happenings were pure fiction.
Legend and true history about Dracula intermingle and are being kept alive by tourist destinations like the Monastery of Snagov near Bucharest, or Bran Castle near Brasov
Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/history-articles/dracula-between-myth-and-reality-1147668.html
August 26, 2009 | Filed Under Civil War | No Comments
The Great Wall of China is a series of stone and earthen fortifications in China, built, rebuilt, and maintained between the 5th century BC and the 16th century to protect the northern borders of the Chinese Empire during the rule of successive dynasties.
Several walls, referred to as the Great Wall of China, were built since the 5th century BC. The most famous is the wall built between 220 BC and 200 BC by the first Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang; little of it remains; it was much farther north than the current wall, which was built during the Ming Dynasty.
The Great Wall is the world’s longest human-made structure, stretching over approximately 6,400 km (4,000 miles) from Shanhaiguan in the east to Lop Nur in the west, along an arc that roughly delineates the southern edge of Inner Mongolia, but stretches to over 6,700 km (4,160 miles) in total. It is also the largest human-made structure ever built in terms of surface area and mass. At its peak the Ming Wall was guarded by more than one million men. It has been estimated that somewhere in the range of 2 to 3 million Chinese died as part of the centuries-long project of building the wall.
The first major wall was built during the reign of the First Emperor, the main emperor of the short-lived Qin dynasty. This wall was not constructed as a single endeavor, but rather was created by the joining of several regional walls built by the Warring States. It was located much further north than the current Great Wall, and very little remains of it. A defensive wall on the northern border was built and maintained by several dynasties at different times in Chinese history. The Great Wall that can still be seen today was built during the Ming Dynasty, on a much larger scale and with longer lasting materials (solid stone used for the sides and the top of the Wall) than any wall that had been built before.
The primary purpose of the wall was not to keep out people, who could scale the wall, but to insure that semi-nomadic people on the outside of the wall could not cross with their horses or return easily with stolen property. The Chinese were already familiar with the techniques of wall-building by the time of the Spring and Autumn Period, which began around the 7th century BC. During the Warring States Period from the 5th century BC to 221 BC, the states of Qi, Yan and Zhao all constructed extensive fortifications to defend their own borders. Built to withstand the attack of small arms such as swords and spears, these walls were made mostly by stamping earth and gravel between board frames.
Qin Shi Huang conquered all opposing states and unified China in 221 BC, establishing the Qin Dynasty. Intending to impose centralized rule and prevent the resurgence of feudal lords, he ordered the destruction of the wall sections that divided his empire along the former state borders. To protect the empire against intrusions by the Xiongnu people from the north, he ordered the building of a new wall to connect the remaining fortifications along the empire’s new northern frontier.
Transporting the large quantity of materials required for construction was difficult, so builders always tried to use local resources. Stones from the mountains were used over mountain ranges, while rammed earth was used for construction in the plains. The peasants who died working were buried inside the wall, to be unearthed later by archaeologists. There are no surviving historical records indicating the exact length and course of the Qin Dynasty walls. Most of the ancient walls have eroded away over the centuries, and very few sections remain today. Possibly as many as one million people died building the Wall under the Qin Dynasty.
Later, the Han, Sui, Northern and Jin dynasties all repaired, rebuilt, or expanded sections of the Great Wall at great cost to defend themselves against northern invaders.
The Great Wall concept was revived again during the Ming Dynasty following the Ming army’s defeat by the Oirats in the Battle of Tumu in 1449. The Ming had failed to gain a clear upper-hand over the Mongols after successive battles, and the long-drawn conflict was taking a toll on the empire. The Ming adopted a new strategy to keep the nomadic Mongols out by constructing walls along the northern border of China. Acknowledging the Mongol control established in the Ordos Desert, the wall followed the desert’s southern edge instead of incorporating the bend of the Huang He.
Unlike the earlier Qin fortifications, the Ming construction was stronger and more elaborate due to the use of bricks and stone instead of rammed earth. As Mongol raids continued periodically over the years, the Ming devoted considerable resources to repair and reinforce the walls. Sections near the Ming capital of Beijing were especially strong.
Towards the end of the Shun Dynasty, the Great Wall helped defend the empire against the Manchu invasions that began around 1600. Under the military command of Yuan Chonghuan, the Ming army held off the Manchus at the heavily fortified Shanhaiguan pass, preventing the Manchus from entering the Liaodong Peninsula and the Chinese heartland. The Manchus were finally able to cross the Great Wall in 1644, when the gates at Shanhaiguan were opened by Wu Sangui, a Ming border general who disliked the activities of rulers of the Shun Dynasty. The Manchus quickly seized Beijing, and defeated the newly founded Shun Dynasty and remaining Ming resistance, to establish the Qing Dynasty.
Under Qing rule, China’s borders extended beyond the walls and Mongolia was annexed into the empire, so construction and repairs on the Great Wall were discontinued. A counterpart wall to the Great Wall in the south was erected to protect and divide the Chinese from the ’southern barbarians’ called Miao (meaning barbaric and nomadic).
Another notable section lies near the eastern extremity of the wall, where the first pass of the Great Wall was built on the Shanhaiguan (known as the “Number One Pass Under Heaven”), the first mountain the Great Wall climbs. Jia Shan is also here, as is the Jiumenkou, which is the only portion of the wall that was built as a bridge. Shanhaiguan Great Wall is called the “Museum of the Construction of the Great Wall”, because of the Meng Jiang-Nu Temple, built during the Song Dynasty.
Before the use of bricks, the Great Wall was mainly built from earth, stones, and wood.
During the Ming Dynasty, however, bricks were heavily used in many areas of the wall, as were materials such as tiles, lime, and stone. The size and weight of the bricks made them easier to work with than earth and stone, so construction quickened. Additionally, bricks could bear more weight and endure better than rammed earth. Stone can hold under its own weight better than brick, but is more difficult to use. Consequently, stones cut in rectangular shapes were used for the foundation, inner and outer brims, and gateways of the wall. Battlements line the uppermost portion of the vast majority of the wall, with defensive gaps a little over 30 cm (one foot) tall, and about 23 cm (9 inches) wide.
The steps that form the Great Wall of China are very steep and tall in some areas. Tourists often become exhausted climbing the wall and walk no more than a kilometre or two (around a mile).
Condition
While some portions north of Beijing and near tourist centers have been preserved and even reconstructed, in many locations the Wall is in disrepair. Those parts might serve as a village playground or a source of stones to rebuild houses and roads.
Sections of the Wall are also prone to graffiti and vandalism. Parts have been destroyed because the Wall is in the way of construction. No comprehensive survey of the wall has been carried out, so it is not possible to say how much of it survives, especially in remote areas. Intact or repaired portions of the Wall near developed tourist areas are often frequented by sellers of tourist kitsch.
More than 60 kilometres (37 mi) of the wall in Gansu province may disappear in the next 20 years, due to erosion from sandstorms. In places, the height of the wall has been reduced from more than five meters (16.4 ft) to less than two meters. The square lookout towers that characterize the most famous images of the wall have disappeared completely. Many western sections of the wall are constructed from mud, rather than brick and stone, and thus are more susceptible to erosion.
The materials used are those available near the site of construction. Near Beijing the wall is constructed from quarried limestone blocks. In other locations it may be quarried granite or fired brick. Where such materials are used, two finished walls are erected with earth and rubble fill placed in between with a final paving to form a single unit. In some areas the blocks were cemented with a mixture of glutinous rice and eggwhite.In the extreme western desert locations, where good materials are scarce, the wall was constructed from dirt rammed between rough wood tied together with woven mats.
The Wall is included in lists of the “Seven Medieval Wonders of the World” but was of course not one of the classical Seven Wonders of the World recognized by the ancient Greeks. The Wall was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987.
There is a longstanding disagreement about how visible the wall is in space. Richard Halliburton’s 1938 book Second Book of Marvels said the Great Wall is the only man-made object visible from the moon. This myth has persisted, assuming urban legend status, sometimes even entering school textbooks. The Great Wall simply cannot be seen by the unaided eye from the distance of the moon. Even its visibility from near-earth orbit is questionable.For more
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August 26, 2009 | Filed Under Civil War | No Comments
Are you hungry for information about the Blitz of England trivia? Of the many horrific wartime occurrences that have taken place throughout history, The Blitz of England was, by far, one of the most devastating. The Blitz began in London on the 7th of September in 1940, amidst World War II, and did not end until the 10th of May, 1941. During this time, the people of London endured an amazing 57 days of continuous bombings from those fighting for Nazi Germany. This repetitive bombing strategy was Hitler’s way of scaring the civilians, as well as the government, into submission by decreasing their morale. However, regardless of the number of bombs dropped on any given city, the death and devastation that surrounded them, and the impending German invasion on their doorstep, the British refused to surrender.
Of course, there would be much more information in the Blitz of England quiz. For instance, though it does seem that the concentration of the Blitz was on London, this was not the only city bombed. Several cities and even smaller towns throughout Britain were hit as well. Plymouth, Birmingham, Liverpool and Belfast were just a few of the cities that took a beating. Yet, there was another city, the city of Hull, which ran a close second with London in terms of the number of bombs dropped on cities throughout the country.
Of course, the Blitz of England trivia would not be complete without knowledge of the actual casualties. Over the course of 8 months, the civilian casualty count rose to more than 43,000. Almost half of the civilian deaths were from London alone; a devastating loss for any city. But, the number of injured was much higher, with many reports stating that the count was somewhere near 450,000. Though the numbers were much lower than what the Ministry of Health had predicted, the war was not yet over.
Several of the country’s more important buildings were lost or severely damaged during the Blitz of England. Among them were the British Museum, Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Euston Station, the Houses of Parliament, Manchester Cathedral, Nottingham Trent University, St. Ann’s Church, St. Paul’s Cathedral, The Cathedral Basilica of St. Chad, Westminster Abbey, and the great Westminster Hall, among others.
As the Blitz of England was an introduction to what Hitler had in store for the country, many more blitz attacks would occur during the following 3 years; pushing the death toll higher. Yet, to this date, there has never been an attack ranking in such severity as the Blitz of England on English soil.
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August 25, 2009 | Filed Under Civil War | No Comments
Ballet dancing first flourished in the courts of Italy following the Renaissance. Upon marrying Henry II, Catherine de Medici took the art of court entertainment with her to France. It is from her great Ballet Comique de la Reine of 1581 that the birth of ballet is usually dated.
Courtiers and even monarchs took part in these court entertainments. The movements were stately, and fitting the etiquette of the court. The performances usually took place in either the ballroom or the great courtyards. Courtiers and honored guests watched from raised platforms.
In those days the court dress did not permit ladies to move with the freedom that they do today, and in most cases their faces, feet and legs could not be seen. Men had a lot more freedom of movement, as tights were a regular part of court dress.
In 1669, Louis XIV set up a dancing academy called the Paris Opera, but it was many years before ballet dancing as we know it today developed. During the early 18th century, professional ballerinas started emerging, however they still looked like court ladies partnered by court gentlemen.
Marie de Camargo started developing the role of ballerina by creating the first entrechat, which is a step where the ballet dancer jumps straight up into the air and beats her feet. To show this off the skirt was permitted to be raised a little.
Marie Salle was the other great ballerina of the age and went a step further to dance her ballet Pygmalion wearing only a thin muslin shift. Paris society found this too scandalous and she had to take her art to London where she continued performing at Covent Garden in 1734.
By the middle of the 18th century, ballet dancing was still rather stifled and ballerina’s still wore heavy dresses and masks to hide their features. The ballet dances and stories were always about gods and goddesses and told by a mixture of mime, music and speech.
When Jean-Georges Noverre published his ideas about how ballet should develop as a separate art in 1760, Paris did not receive them warmly. He did however manage to put some of them to practice while working in Stuttgart, but it was his pupils who developed them fully.
One of his pupils Jean Dauberval produced a charming ballet La Fille Mal Gardee, which is still very popular today.
During the French Revolution, the Romantic Movement in literature, music and painting grew and from that grew the romantic age of ballet dancing. Marie Taglioni created the role of La Sylphide about a woodland sprite that tempts a young Scottish farmer away from his earthly love. Her technique was strong and she could stand on Pointe and with her immediate success, she became the ballerina of the age.
Other supernatural beings were created after that including Ondine, a water sprite. This role was re-created by Frederick Ashton for Margot Fonteyn over a hundred years later. The last great ballet of this age was Giselle, before this creative phase came to an end.
Auguste Bournonville was the son of a ballet master, who created his own version of La Sylphide in 1836. He then went on to produce a stream of ballets in which he used colorful and lively national dances. This trend then followed in ballets you see today
Marius Petipa’s collaboration with Tchaikovsky gave the world some of its most popular ballet music like Swan Lake and The Nutcracker. To find out more about ballet dancing visit http://balletdancing4U.blogspot.com
Michel Maling
Passionate about Dancing, Scrapbooking and building a powerful online business to help others make their financial and personal dreams come true.
http://ashes2riches.com
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August 23, 2009 | Filed Under Civil War | No Comments
May the hour soon come when none of our people can be found in Vancouver, or any other large city, except for a few missionary companions. I am anxious at the thought of a Mennonite `proletariat’ in the city. May the Lord guide us back into a quiet country life, and help us to serve Him in simplicity… I must report some shadows, some stumbling and falling. Two of our young friends have fallen as deep as a girl can fall. The slippery sheet of temptations in a large city is treacherous, especially when it is a port city…. I looked up (a young woman) and found her reading a novel. In answer to my question, she admitted to attending the cinema, the filth hole of the city…. I cannot refrain from pleading with parents, “Don’t send your daughters to the city unless you are in dire straits” (Protocol, November 1942).
Who were these “daughters” in the city? Why did they relinquish their families and their cherished, rural way of life? Despite the warning of Brother Jacob Thiessen to Mennonite Brethren at the General Conference in November 1942, it is evident from historical records and personal accounts that hundreds of young Mennonite women came to Vancouver in the late 1920’s to work as domestic servants in the homes of wealthy families. Most were adolescents - some as young as thirteen. They slept in bus depots, parks and train stations until they moved into the home of an employer. Some arrived directly from Russia, having survived the Revolution and Civil War. Some had families, distant relatives and friends in the rural areas to depend on, but others had no connections, no jobs, and no parents. These young women were the first to break through the barriers of city living and significantly affect the settlement patterns of British Columbia. These women, along with their matrons, were considered to be the first urban missionaries in Canada.
The movement of women to the city was driven by the desperate financial need of their families and the guarantee of employment. Mennonite women were highly marketable and greatly desired as servants by the British. The demand for them far outweighed the supply. Domestic work was ideologically suited for single women who had the stamina, standards of cleanliness and purity of morals required by upper-class families. Although most Mennonite women did not speak English, their skin was white and they could be taught to emulate “Britishness”. They were hard-working and their lifestyles were as clean as their floors.
Due to the large number of women moving to the city, it was not long before they began to live together. The women needed each other for financial, moral and spiritual support. It is clear through the interviews of the Mennonite women who worked as domestics in Vancouver that the first Mädchenheim (Girls’ Home) began at 6363 Windsor Street in the mid 1920’s. The women named the residence the “Bethel Home” and in collaboration with the first matron, Sister Elizabeth Rabsch, they modeled the newly formed community after the Winnipeg Girls’ Home. Although the Mennonite Brethren Church must have been aware of the Home’s existence in Vancouver, the first recorded comment is only found in June, 1931. The Minutes of the Mennonite Brethren Conference of BC state that “many positive comments have been made about the Girls’ Home in Vancouver”.
One of these positive aspects about the Bethel Home was that it was maintained financially by the women. Although wages were minimal, the women paid for the heat, light, rent and telephone service. The remaining salaries were returned to their destitute families who needed to pay the “travel debt” to the Canadian Pacific Railway. The Minutes of the General Conference of November, 1933 state that, “To date, the girls have taken care of the operational expenses of the Home. The girls who support their parents with their hard-earned money, feel it is often a heavy burden to come up with all the finances for the upkeep of the Home”. One woman recalled how their matron, Olga Berg, heated the house only on Thursdays afternoons when all the young women visited the Home. Although Olga had arthritis and needed the warmth to reduce her pain, she insisted on contributing to the upkeep of the Home in this way. The churches responded with financial support for the matrons, fruits, vegetables and clothing. They also appointed a minister to make monthly visits to the Home “with a special emphasis on soul-care” (Nov. 1933).
Through their thrifty practices and the help of the church community, the women managed to save enough money to purchase the house they had previously rented, build an addition and buy the adjacent lot. One matron reported in February, 1937 that, “Our oldest sister who is 63 contributed such a large sum that numerous others were put to shame”. But the house was too small and decrepit. Due to this predicament, the Bethel Home of Vancouver moved to 595 East 49th Avenue in 1943. At this location, it carried out its function: it was an employment agency, a hostel for orphans and refugee women, and a support centre for hundreds of young Mennonite domestic workers.
In considering the impact of these Mennonite women on the City of Vancouver, it is important to comprehend the number of women associated with the Bethel Home. In May 1934, fifty-three women were registered. In 1936 the number had grown to eighty one. At its peak in 1956, three hundred and fifty Mennonite women were matched with 1700 employers. The Bethel Home was also overflowing with permanent residents. Matron Tina Lepp reported that “Presently, we have ten girls who have no parents and no home” (June 1936). In another instance, fifteen women were turned away for lack of room.
How could the Bethel Home possibly respond to all the needs of these women? The primary responsibility lay on the shoulders of the matrons who considered it to be their “service to God”. The matrons cooked meals for the permanent residents, managed the Home’s finances, coordinated the employers and employees, escorted the young women to their new places of work, and organized the maintenance of the house. One matron remembers carrying wood and coal from the backyard into the basement and stoking the furnace. The result was a warm house, but “the curtains collected so much coal dust… they always had to be washed”. Another matron contributed eighty dollars from outside jobs that she donated to the treasury of the Home so the payments could be made. Many matrons shared the load. Sister Rabsch, Olga Berg, Maria Thiessen, Katharina Lepp, Sara Wiens, Tina Goossen, Betty Esau, Susie Warkentin, Tina Krause and Elsa Isaak all reflected a clear sense of “calling” to their work. Many of them referred to themselves as servants of God with a strong sense of their function as missionaries in the “evil” city of Vancouver.
Within this frame of reference, the matrons provided protection for the young women in their care. The nature of the protection was two-fold: they guarded the young women from harassment in the workplace, and they regulated their behaviour within a tight parameter of social and moral controls. The motto of the “Bethel Home” describes the phenomenon well. “Thou God seest me” was a metaphor which assured them of Divine protection on one hand and of an internal surveillance device on the other. The motto insured that “a girl from Coaldale would never wear a dress with just little flaps over her arms” and that “we wouldn’t do anything in Vancouver that we wouldn’t do at home”.
This regulation, guidance and protection occurred primarily on Thursdays. It was the only “maid’s day-off”. The girls came from all over the city with sack-lunches. They came to visit, share stories of their week, listen to a sermon and occasionally have a picnic. Board games were not allowed for they could induce loud laughter. The girls were to be “Die stille im Lande” (the quiet ones in the land), but this did not deter the strengthening of the bond of sisterhood between them. A matron remembers “the hard, backless wooden benches lining every room. Some girls sat on beds. There were hardly any chairs…but no one seemed to mind. This was a place where we belonged”. One fifteen year old worked in North Vancouver and although it was a long trip by ferry and tram, she never missed a Thursday. The bond of sisterhood was strong and the isolation experienced by most women was relieved only by the Thursday visits.
“We always had a pleasant haven to go to, to share our burdens and experiences with all the other girls. We made many new friends, some which remained for the rest of our lives. Thursday afternoons, maid’s day-off, were great times! When the evening was over, we’d take the bus together back to our places of work. If a girl got sick, she was looked after [...] The Home was a great boon to hundreds of girls and will never be forgotten. We needed each other then and the Mädchenheim was our oasis in the desert.”
Yet in spite of the strong bond between the women, the large number of domestic workers needed, and the efficient operation of the Bethel Home - it was closed. In 1961, a notice from the Conference of Mennonite Brethren was handed to the resident matron. The notice of closure gave the women one month to vacate the premises. The new Bethel Home was to function as lodging for university students. The matron recalled her anguish. “One month! After all those years! We still had 600 employers to match with workers”. But the matrons, residents and women employees associated with the Bethel Home did not consider protesting the order. They had embodied the values of submission, keeping the peace and obeying those in authority over them. The packing and sorting of thirty years of memories began without question. In the process, many valuable records, photographs and artifacts were lost or destroyed. The final report of the General Conference in June 1961 states, “At present, our Mädchenheim is not functioning in any capacity”.
One women’s poignant reflection reveals the ambiguity surrounding the closure of a community which had functioned competently for over thirty years.
“Where could we go on our days off? We couldn’t afford to go to restaurants. I remember when it closed. We were all lost. The Home was supposed to be for young people now. Of course, we girls were welcome to go there, but we didn’t feel comfortable with them. I don’t think they enjoyed our company either. Now there was a husband and wife, boys and girls. I remember the first Thursday after it closed. We came to the corner of Fraser Street. What should we do? Where could we stay? The men thought it didn’t pay well anymore, not enough to pay the matron. But we could have paid her! Maybe the young people needed it more because we were smarter by then.”
Many questions emerge about the nature and necessity of this Home, questions of authority, of audience, of modes of communication - questions of how Mennonite women have come to be who they are throughout history and how this implicates future generations of women.
However, in spite of the unanswered questions, it is evident that a historically responsive and powerful unity among Mennonite women has risen out of the shared experience of the Bethel Home. It is also evident that the phenomenon of this “Girls’ Home” will validate Mennonite women’s historical role as urban pioneers as they entered the frontiers of an “evil” city
Ruth is an instructor of Rhetoric and Writing at the University of British Columbia, a researcher and historian. Her primary research has been conducted in the field of rhetoric and discourse analysis in an English Department, but her interest in historical documents and their linguistic implications remains dominant.http://gulagletters.com
Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/history-articles/daughters-in-the-city-1144954.html
August 21, 2009 | Filed Under Civil War | No Comments
