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fuck-the-gender · 1 year

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Mama ŠČ!: whatever could it mean?

i'm not really your eurovision girlie BUT! this year few songs captured my attention. to nobody's surprise, one of them is mama ŠČ! by let 3. this beautiful performance is so packed that at first watch it just looks like a nonsensical chaos so it's time for some good ol' analysis!

!DISCLAIMER! I AM NOT CROATIAN AND I DIDN'T TALK TO THE BAND. EVERYTHING HERE ARE JUST MY THOUGHTS

1. The band

what even is let 3? well, the word 'let' translates to 'flight' and i didn't dig deeper. sorry. the band itself is more interesting anyway.

they are a croatian rock band formed in 1987 in then-yugoslavia. since then they released ten albums and have become quite popular in croatia and other countries on balkan. they are mostly known for their controversial, avantgarde, vulgar and obscene performances. the eurovision one is tame for them. seriously, read their wiki, it's great.

2. The title

on to the song itself now! let's begin with the name. 'mama šč'. what? right of the bat we are intrigued. what the hell is 'šč'? one meaning could be щ. this is a letter of cyrillic script, which is used in russia, ukraine, bulgaria and some other countries. 'šč' is this letter written in latin script according to the ukrainian pronunciation, which is a nice little tidbit i learned from wikipedia. i also learned that the band itself provided non-sensical answers when asked about the meaning, but as they say, it may not be that deep, but the ground is soft and i'm ready to start digging. also also, the phrase 'šč!' is kind of a post-pandemic catchphrase for the band, with its origin being a video of the band's bassist balancing a shoe on his head.

now, 'mama'. the word itself is not difficult to understand, but it also has a symbolic meaning. you see, the title of 'mother' is often assigned to russia. this started in the medieval times, but was popularized and extensively used during the soviet era by the bolsheviks. this imagery, along with the theory of panslavism, was and sometimes still is used to support russia's role as the superior slavic country, which should take other slavs 'under it's wings'. it's also a term of endearment, which has become quite bitter

with this knowledge i think we can confidently say that the name of the song could refer to russia, with its imperial tendencies, and ukraine. i know, how shocking, i bet you wouldn't guess that.

3. The lyrics

we're finally really getting into it! the first three verses go like this:

Mama kupila traktora ŠČ! Mama kupila traktora ŠČ! Mama kupila traktora Trajna-nina Armagedon nona ŠČ!

'mama kupila traktora' translates to 'mommy's bought herself a tractor'. we already established the relationship between russia and the word, so let's assume that by 'mama' the song means the country.

so she's bought herself a tractor. good for her! except the tractor could be a metaphor, too. you see, one of the most popular brands of tractors in croatia is belarus produced in, you guessed it, belarus. so when the band sings 'mama's bought herself a tractor', they are also singing 'russia's bought itself belarus'. the words are somewhat ironic, since belarus' prezident has in october given russia's prezident a fucking tractor for his birthday, so he didn't even have to pay for it. also also, just a cherry on top, remember what ukrainian farmers used to tow russian armed vehicles? tractors.

if we take a more literal look at these lyrics, we get a picture of 'mama' buying a tool to help her and her family with farming. by the way, do you know who is one of the biggest producers of wheat inthe world? russia.

the next line is a little bit more complicated for non-croatians, but i have something. according to a comment under this video, 'trajna nina nena' is a popular croatian lullaby. so they swapped the 'nena' with 'armagedonona', which turned the meaning to an 'armageddon lullaby'. also, 'nena' means 'grandma' in croatian and i have seen people translate this line as 'armageddon grandma', which could allude to the soviet union, if we take russia today as the 'mother'. granny end-of-the-world kinda thing.

on to the next verse!

Mama ljubila morona ŠČ! Mama ljubila morona ŠČ! Mama ljubila morona Trajna-nina Armagedon nona

it's pretty similar to the first two, but the key line is different. 'mama ljubila morona' translates to 'mama kissed the moron'. who could it be, i wonder. combined with the previous verses, we get the picture of 'mama' buying 'tractor' for her 'moron' whom she loves. by the way this scenario is presented it's clear that the band doesn't agree with 'mama' or the 'moron', but it also could be read as russia and its people being in a sort of abusive or toxic relationship with the 'moron', as he is the one who's being referred to with unflattering term.

both verses are broken up with the 'šč' sounds. Here i will take the liberty to paste the lead singer's answer regarding this letter:

“5000 years older than the first alphabet found, it is the oldest letter. Now we will send our alphabet from Dora into orbit by spaceship. When Armageddon on Earth subsides, the rocket will return and bring the first alphabet again.”

Take from that what you will.

next we have something i would dare to call the bridge:

A b c č ć d dž đ e f g h i j k l lj m n nj o p r s š t u v z ž Mama, mama, mama, ja se idem igrat’ Mama, idem u rat

first, let's look at the alphabet. here i will again draw from the comment section of the previously aforementioned video. according to one comment, the nonsensical spelling is supposed to symbolize the creation of a 'new soviet union', represented by the 'šč'. they also mention that the 'šč' could be a parody of the letter z, which you can see on russian tanks deployed in ukraine. but i also saw a comment under a reddit post saying that it's just a croatian alphabet.

here i think is a good place to point out the origins of this song. you see, mama ŠČ! wasn't written for eurovision. it's actually part of a bigger project, an anti-war rock opera, and was inspired by another croatian artist, who wrote songs for croatian production of the play 'mother courage and her children', specifically by the lyrics 'buy me, mama, one little war'.

'ja se idem igrať' translates to 'i'm goin to play' and 'idem u rat' to 'i'm going to war'. this sounds like it is sung by a child, as well as all of the song up to this point, with the use of nursery rhyme and the childish word 'mama'. but here, the atmosphere of the song changes, it becomes more chaotic and aggressive. the child is excited to go play, to go to war. if we look at dictators, majority of them were recruiting children through insane amounts of propaganda. many of those kids actually were excited to go kill. or it's possible, that the child in the song is not a child at all, but rather a childish dictator, who sees war as play. this would be inline with the band's statement, in which they addressed the song to 'all those, who think that planet is their toy'.

whoosh, that's a lot! but we're almost there:

Onaj mali psihopat Mali podli psihopat Krokodilski psihopat Mama, idem u rat

'that little psychopat, little evil psychopat, crocodile-like psychopat, mama, i'm going to war'.

well who could they possibly mean by that. fun fact, that gentleman-sitting-over-there (as our geography teacher refers to him, while pointing at moscow) is noticeably short.

the 'crocodile-like' part could refer to few things. firstly, boris johnson said that talking to russia's prezident about peace is like 'talking to a crocodile while it has your leg in its jaws'. another one is 'crocodile tears', which could be connected to the image of eager children going to war in the bridge and how the dictator cries crocodile tears over them when they die. and lastly, 'krokodil' is a street name of the drug desomorphine, also called 'russian magic' or 'poor man's heroin'. this drug is quite popular in russia and it's, well, not good. so yeah, they could be calling the dictator a psycho on drugs.

one thing to note, however, is that this chorus is really angry and is sung by a dude dressed like stalin. one way that leaders justify their occupation efforts is by questioning the competency of the other nation's leaders. we see it in ukraine, how russia claims to be 'liberating it' from a 'fascist regime'. if we go with the interpretation that the song is sung by a dictator, then we get a picture of him singing those words about the leader of the country that he's trying to conquer, while to us viewers it seems that he's singing defacto about himself. it's a double edged sword.

so if we put it all together, it's a song inspired by nursery rhymes and the play 'mother courage', through another artist, about a child, or a childish dictator going to war. numerous lyrics point at russia, but some things are still vague enough that it could be applied to any bloodthirsty, war-hungry dictator. but this piece is not only a song, it's a performance.

4. The visuals

first, the costumes!

beautiful, isn't it? these costumes symbolize the four riders of apocalypse ('glad' - hunger, 'rat' - war, 'smrt' - death and 'kuga' - the plague), however, they added a fifth one, HDZ, which is a croatian political party, who is supposedly 'corrupt as hell'. the prime minister from this party was arrested for corruption, so i'm inclined to believe it.

when i was showing the clip to my mom, she stopped it here, looked at me and said 'that's stalin'. it's actually kind of scary, how much it looks like those stalin-cult-propaganda posters.

few things about this.

the performer in the background is croatian drag queen jovanka broz tituka. her name is a pun on jovanka broz, probably the most famous yugoslavia's first lady, and the word for prostitute. she is featured even more in the videoklip, it's great.

the composition of the projection is very similar to the typical composition for soviet propaganda posters. they use this format in the videoklip, too

and the moves of the dancer are literally military march. so they took the things that soviet union is recognized for (propaganda and military power) and made them into a perfect parody performed by a drag queen. it's mocking in the best way possible, because queer people are heavily persecuted in russia, so here their symbols of power are made into a laughing stock by a member of the very group they hate. it feels like a resistance, like a reclamation.

it wouldn't be let 3 if they didn't perform in drag. the mocking-military theme continues, since they are wearing uniforms painted and tailored to look like dresses.

but who's that guy in black? he's actually not a member of the band. he's another croatian artist, žanil tataj žak. this is not his first time doing a collaboration with the band. he looks like some kind of evil wizard, with how he creeps in from behind with missiles and then stands behind the band

just look at that dude. the word on his forehead is 'njinle'. it's written in šatrovački, which is an argot developed by some subcultures in yugoslavia and was used as a device of secret communication. when you switch the letters, you get 'lenjin'. so yeah, a crazy evil wizard.

the missiles are quite self-explenatory, we all know what that gentleman has in his military arsenal. here, however, i don't feel like they are portrayed like a thread, but rather like another mockery. i think this screenshot summarizes my thoughts on them pretty well

also this is possibly my favorite thing ever: five dudes marching in a drag costumes of military uniforms, singing the 'psychopat' chorus. it's a mockery, beautiful and gorgeous mockery of military might and war.

and the whole performance is finished by the band striping down to their undies while in the back a giant projection of jovanka dances among their flying heads. what a ride. i've read somewhere that the faces on their undershirts are young them, but it could be wrong. and of course the saluting. the final nail in the coffin of dictatorship's dignity.

i love this piece of art. it's ridiculous, because that's what it's meant to be, because it wants you to look at this caricature of power and military might and realize how stupid and pointless it is. it made people angry, but it was supposed to do that, because it's a satire and good satire always angers those who feel threatened by it.

10/10

(here and here are the videos, here's some article)

#eurovison 2023 #let 3 #mama šč #croatia #esc 2023 #song analysis #thoughts #long post #sorry got the brain zoomies #ill prolly do similar thing to the czech song

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fioredistella · 6 months

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Belarus has for a long time associated herself more with the peasantry or common people. She doesn't care for putting on airs and doesn't see herself as a fancy person and isn't really rich herself anyway so it's not something that speaks to her.

When she was young from the time of the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth she lived away from nobility and she has been close to the land. She saw herself as one of the peasantry and began to slowly disdain nobility as time went on, and by the time of the Russian Empire did not really care for the royal family whatsoever, with her feelings ranging from apathetic to disdainful depending on the time period.

For a period of time she was also even a serf for a long time staring from around the time of Tsarina Catherine. Under the Russian empire serfs were generally tied to the land at first but then became practically slaves by the 18th century, however she wasn't treated as horribly as she could have been treated even if she wasn't treated well or really as an autonomous being. She mostly served as a servant doing manual labor as well as a figure for entertainment after she was taught to dance and sing during her stays with Russia.

She also enjoys being around nature and has no problem getting dirty and she has a talent and love for farming, gardening, and enjoys walking around in her forests enjoying the trees and hunting for mushrooms. She also has a great love of animals as well and they themselves are fond of her, they don't fear her and even wild animals like the wisent approach her readily and she has a cat of her own at home. Sidenote, she also likes tractors and owns one herself.

#hetalia #aph belarus #hws belarus

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redfield-by · 23 days

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#беларусь #belarus #мтз #tractor #mtz

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beauty-and-passion · 1 year

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Eurovision 2023: 38 songs, first impressions

Wake up, bitches, it’s Eurovision time… AGAIN!

There’s only one word I can use to describe my first listening of the year of those 38 songs and it’s “surprising”. I was surprised. In more ways than one.

So let’s not waste any more time and let’s talk about these songs.

As per every year, obligatory disclaimer: I have listened to these songs just once, so do not take my words as my final decision. I can still change my mind, after listening to them more times. But for now, here are my thoughts.

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ITALY

I know half of Italy will kill me and the other half will tell me I understand nothing, but I don’t particularly like Mengoni. He’s not a bad singer, he has a good voice and the song isn’t bad either. It’s just... okay. Maybe the chorus could’ve been more powerful. Maybe he could’ve written something different than another love song. I just don’t particularly vibe with it.

Vote: just okay

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LATVIA

Well, since he asked so kindly, I won’t wake up and I’ll keep sleeping during this boring song.

Vote: Be careful what you ask for

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UNITED KINGDOM

Here’s the first surprise of this year. The UK sent a great song: not just a good one, not just an okay one. A great one. And I love it! It has a lot of 90s dance vibes, but only the best ones and I approve.

Also, I love that this song is a revenge. Why feel bad or make a scene, when you can expose your cheating boyfriend through a song everyone can listen/dance to? Way to go, queen.

Vote: Revenge is best served in the UK

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SLOVENIA

Last year’s song was a snoozefest, this year is way better. I still forgot it after my first listening and it’s not in my top 10 either, but at least I can listen to it more than once without falling asleep.

Also, extra points for singing again in their native language. Great job, Slovenia, you deserve points just for that.

Vote: singing in your language should automatically give you access to the finals. That’s the rule, I decided it

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ICELAND

That’s not a bad song, but it’s something already listened to. I mean, at first I thought it was Sweden’s entry, because of how generic it sounded.

At least it’s better than last year.

Vote: I miss the BDSM club from two years ago

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CROATIA

A sudden vibe. Mentions of mothers and tractors. Armageddon-granny. Morons. I glanced at the video and saw a Stalin-looking guy. Funny weirdos dancing. The fricking alphabet. The war. And then, the line: “That little psychopath”. And I was like: wait, is this a parody of Stalin?

And then, I started laughing.

It was pretty clear that there’s more than meets the eye in this song. So I searched for the meaning and found an interesting article on the Eurovision website, in which the band explained just a few details - like the tractor line: it is actually a reference to Belarus and Russia’s relationship (read it, it��s quite interesting).

I know some stupid people (read: the jury) won’t appreciate this song and that’s a shame because it deserves love. It follows the “Keep the Eurovision weird” memo, it has funny people, biting satire and all the vibes. What else do you need?

Vote: top 5 because I Say So

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PORTUGAL

Please remember that, when I listen to these songs the first time, I put the playlist on and do my chores while listening. So when I listened to this one, I thought it was very interesting and what a nice rhythm! That’s definitely an east European country. But which one?

And then, to my utter surprise, I checked the video title and saw it was Portugal’s entry.

I’ve always hated everything Portugal sent, because if it wasn’t bad, it was the most boring thing known to mankind.

But this year, a miracle happened. They finally (FINALLY!) sent a good song. A song with a rhythm and their own language.

I am baffled. What happened in Portugal? Did they wake up from a dream? Did everyone just regain their hearing? Did someone teach them what “rhythm” is?

Vote: A Christmas miracle in May! A Christmas miracle!

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MALTA

The sax got my attention, the rhythm kept me around.

Good job, Malta boy.

Vote: Maltese people are sorcerers because they always bring a good song.

__________

ROMANIA

Just to give you an idea of how forgettable is this song: when I finished listening to all 38 songs, I forgot it even existed. And I didn’t even realize it was Romania’s entry, until I checked again to write this post.

Vote: I miss the vampires

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POLAND

It’s not a bad song. It has a good rhythm, but it’s not this incredible. It’s just... okay?

I know I said this before, but this song also sounds like something I listened to before, so it’s only fitting.

Vote: I thought it was a bad entry from Spain. It ended up being a mediocre one from Poland

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SAN MARINO

That’s very kind of San Marino to bring something that will go to the bottom of the chart.

Vote: Someone should occupy those positions, after all

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AUSTRIA

A song about Edgar Allan Poe: this alone deserves top 5.

But if that’s not enough for you, the lyric is also a satire of the music industry and the rhythm is just too catchy to ignore it. Everyone should appreciate it.

Vote: Top 5 now

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AUSTRALIA

The song was bringing me joy, then the screamo moment gave me even more joy.

Great singer, great rhythm, great band, great everything. After some weak years, Australia brought back a great song and I’m in love once again.

Vote: the most European country of all shows us why we made a good choice inviting it to our party

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SERBIA

This is the second song about sleeping but while the first one made me want to go to bed, this one got my attention.

Also, it’s probably a reference to the current political situation - so the feeling is much more understandable.

In addition to that, the song has a perfect mix of creepiness, awareness and weirdness. And the lyric isn’t entirely in English either, which is always appreciated.

Vote: What did I say before? Native language -> instant finals. And this one is weird and interesting, so it deserves a good position too

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CZECH REPUBLIC

My sister won't stand in the corner Nor will she listen to you

I think these first two lines are enough to explain this song, its meaning and why it was blocked in Russia and Belarus 4 hours after the premiere.

If it’s not enough, consider that this song isn’t just in Czech, but in FOUR languages. It has parts in Ukrainian, Bulgarian and English too. It’s a literal Slavic hymn to the Slavic family.

And if it’s still not enough, then there’s also a great rhythm that will instantly get your attention.

This song doesn’t deserve the top because I say it, but because it’s a magnificent love letter to a Slavic country from its sister and a powerful scream against war.

Vote: This should be the winner. Period

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ISRAEL

The first mention of a unicorn made me think maybe I heard it wrong. The second mention left me puzzled.

And in the end, she didn’t even end up with a unicorn horn on her forehead. I’m disappointed.

Vote: I miss Czech already

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SWEDEN

As said before, when I listen to these songs for the first time, I don’t check the name or the country: I just put the playlist on. So when I listened to this one, I thought: “man, this is bad. The poor singer can’t even spell the words or reach her notes”.

Then I glanced at the video, read the name and found out it was Loreen.

I know half of the world will probably kill me, but I don’t like Loreen. I don’t think she’s this good. I’d much rather listen to a singer who can spell words and not mumble them for three minutes. She has good vocals, fine, but the words - or even the letters are non-existent. I have to read subtitles to understand what she’s trying to say. And she’s talking in English, not in some weird language.

But even if she spoke in another language… how’s that possible I can’t understand A SINGLE LETTER? I can understand letters in languages I don’t know, why she’s the only one I can’t understand? What, I’m deaf only to her? Or she’s the one who’s not able to properly spell words?

And before any of you says anything: I know she did the same during Euphoria, but at least I could get some words during the chorus. This time? I literally have no idea what she said. I can’t even tell you a single letter. Not a word, a LETTER. To me, she sounds drunk. Or like a person who doesn’t know English and is trying to repeat the words of an English song, without knowing them.

The world loves her and she will probably get a high position in the final chart because her and because Sweden is everyone’s favourite even when it brings trash. But if someone from another country brought this, they would never go past the semifinals. Just saying.

Vote: stop mumbling, sis, I can’t understand a single thing

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FRANCE

Great song, again! Amazing rhythm, lyrics in French (as they should rightfully be), and a singer with a lot of style. It deserves a good place and lots of love.

Vote: flat hat my beloved

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THE NETHERLANDS

The Netherlands did a miracle last year and brought a wonderful song in their own language. This year they forgot everything they learned and brought a generic ballad in English.

Next.

Vote: :(

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ARMENIA

She wrote a song for her future lover. And maybe it’s her voice, maybe it’s the softness of the chorus, but I like the soft, innocent vibes it gives me.

Not my personal favorite, but it’s a heartwarming song with a nice rhythm and I don’t feel like making too much fun of it.

Vote: we can have a soft song, once in a while. As a treat

__________

FINLAND

Thank goddess, one of the Nordics got the memo to sing in their language and Finland delivered it with a great song!

The rhythm is on point, it makes you want to dance and the lyric is in Finnish, which makes me very happy, because I don’t remember having listened to it before.

Vote: what a pleasant surprise!

__________

SPAIN

The title itself is a noise, the song contributed to it.

It gave me a headache and it’s a shame because the rhythm is good, it’s in Spanish and it could’ve been way more enjoyable with fewer vocals.

Vote: EYAYAYEYAYYEAYEAYEYAEYAEAE

__________

GEORGIA

I had the biggest deja-vu while listening to this song because it sounds like something I’ve already listened but I don’t remember exactly when.

I just remember it sounded better from start to end and not only during the chorus.

Vote: could’ve been better

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LITHUANIA

Thank you, Lithuania, for bringing your language once again. I truly appreciate it - even if it’s mixed with English.

If you bring a good song too next time, I would be even more grateful.

Vote: after Portugal’s miracle, I believe everyone can bring a good song

__________

UKRAINE

When I listened to it, I thought it was Sweden. And then, to my utter surprise, it was Ukraine.

The guy is a good singer. And I checked the lyric too: pretty good, message loud and clear.

But that’s not the Ukrainian rhythm. It has nothing of Ukraine, except for a few lines. And I know they probably wanted something different, but this… this is too bland and generic. This is forgettable, while the previous years have been amazing.

I don’t know, maybe they didn’t want to win again, but just to deliver a powerful message?

Vote: it could’ve been way WAY better, considering it’s coming from Ukraine

__________

SWITZERLAND

Last year, Switzerland brought a song that was more of a torture, rather than a song. This year, they learned from their mistakes and gave us something amazing.

The singer is young, but he has a mature voice and a powerful message. The lyric is perfect in its simplicity. And the rhythm isn’t bad either.

Vote: good job, Switzerland! A couple of years like this and I may forgive you for that torture you brought last year

__________

AZERBAIJAN

And there it is, my second deja-vu. I am sure I already listened to this song once, the rhythm is just too familiar.

Vote: Not cool, Azerbaijan. Not cool.

__________

GREECE

Greece should be banished from Eurovision, until they learn they should bring the Greek language and Balkan rhythm back. Until that moment, they don’t deserve anything, especially if they deliver this boring ball of nothing.

Vote: at least this guy seems Greek, unlike the Nordic girl from last year

__________

CYPRUS

It’s another English song and it has nothing of the Balkan rhythm. AND YET, it’s better than the Greek one.

Vote: it’s still possible to write a good song if you try. And at least Cyprus is trying

__________

ALBANIA

It’s very... Albanian. And not in a bad way! The rhythm, the lyric, everything screams Albania and it does it in a way that makes this song interesting and worth listening to more times.

Vote: maybe not my favorite, but definitely more interesting than Greece and Cyprus

__________

BELGIUM

90s vibes again. And, once again, the best ones only.

Vote: Belgium always makes something worth the finals

__________

GERMANY

Germany finally realized what Eurovision is about: blood and glitter. And rock. And fire. And weirdness. And a surprisingly wholesome song.

I am in love with everything.

Vote: Germany is finally learning and I am proud of them

__________

IRELAND

Man-Curtain left Australia to reach Ireland and brought a song much more interesting compared to last year’s.

Vote: Ireland and Belgium, they always have an interesting entry

__________

MOLDOVA

And here to the left, you can see two of Eurovision’s most beloved traditions: Moldova bringing something weird/good and a song about a rave in the forest.

Moldova delivered hard and this song is immediately top 3. The rave, the vibes, the rhythm, the flute, accompanied by a good-looking guy and stunning women: everything is on point.

I'm in love.

Vote: Moldova always understands the assignment

__________

NORWAY

Two months ago I was on the internet, minding my own business, when I saw an AMV with a great song. I immediately fell in love and put it in my personal playlist. It was interesting and with great vibes how could I ignore it?

Now imagine my surprise when this song started and hey, the first notes sound familiar. Then the singer drops the first “she” and I immediately jumped up and said: “Wait, is this Queen of Kings?!”

So… do I like it? Heck, I liked this song even before knowing it was Norway’s entry, of course I like it! It’s one of my favorites! And yes, I still love it.

Vote: my opinion might change about the other songs, but be sure it won’t change about this one

__________

DENMARK

This guy is apparently a Tiktoker and this explains why the lyric sounds so perfect for that app and so bland in general.

It doesn’t explain why he looks so bored, tho.

Vote: when he bit his lip I cringed so hard, it went around the world and hit me again in the back

__________

ESTONIA

She has a great voice. But hey, some years ago Estonia sent a female soprano singer, so I suppose that great female voices are a must for them.

Also, the song is very nice, the rhythm is good and the message is good too. I would like to see it in the finals.

Vote: the piano isn’t on fire. But hey, at least it’s covered in roses.

#beauty talks about stuff #eurovision #eurovision 2023 #this year is going to be good #or at least decent #Ithere are very faw bad ones #the others are mediocre or acceptable #so it won't be a snoozefest #I hope

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blueiskewl · 1 year

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17th-Century Coin Hoard Discovered in Poland

A metal detectorist in Poland looking for tractor parts on a farm discovered a 400-year-old coin hoard instead.

A metal detectorist searching for discarded tractor parts on a Polish farm discovered a completely different type of valuable metal: A spectacular hoard of 17th-century coins buried beneath the soil.

The hoard — a vast stash of about 1,000 copper coins — was found in late February near the small village of Zaniówka in eastern Poland, near the borders with Belarus and Ukraine, by a local man, Michał Łotys.

Łotys was using a new metal detector to find spare parts for his sister's tractor; and so when the instrument started beeping in one of the farm's fields, he scraped away a layer of the topsoil. That revealed the coins spilling out of a broken clay "siwak" — a jug in a local style with one handle and a narrow neck.

Using a metal detector to search for buried relics without a permit is illegal in Poland, and so Łotys contacted archaeologists in the nearby city of Lublin, about 95 miles (150 kilometers) southeast of Warsaw, who visited the farm the next day.

Their investigations showed that the location of the hidden hoard was clearly outlined on the surface of the soil, which indicated it had been buried there intentionally, according to a report in the Polish news outlet The First News.

Buried hoard

Dariusz Kopciowski, the director of Lublin's heritage conservation agency, announced in a Facebook post on March 2 that the hoard has about 1,000 Polish and Lithuanian copper coins minted in the 17th century.

Oxidation after roughly 400 years in the ground means all the copper coins are now colored green; and many have corroded together in layers. But about 115 of the coins are loose, and the entire hoard weighs about 6.6 pounds (3 kilograms), Kopciowski noted.

Investigations show most of the coins were created between 1663 and 1666 in mints in Warsaw; Vilnius in Lithuania; and Brest, which is now in Belarus but was then part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

According to the Polish metal detectorist website Zwiadowca Historii, such coins are known as "boratynki" after Tito Livio Burattini, who was the manager of the Kraków mint at that time.

Burattini, an Italian, was a famed inventor and polymath who introduced copper coins to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth because they were much cheaper to make than the existing silver coins of the realm; and because its treasury was devastated after years of war with Sweden, Russia and Cossacks.

The "boratynki" coins were initially popular, although Burattini was later accused of debasing the copper metal they were made of and reaping huge profits.

For a start, they weren't very valuable, which meant they could be used in everyday transactions; the entire hoard of 1,000 copper coins from Zaniówka would buy only "about two pairs of shoes" at the time, although they're worth more now as historical relics, Zwiadowca Historii reported.

The Zaniówka coin hoard will now be transferred to specialists at a museum in the nearby city of Biała Podlaska for further investigations, Kopciowski said.

Fragments of the broken clay jug and several pieces of fabric from the time were also found at the site, he said in the statement.

By Tom Metcalfe.

#17th-Century Coin Hoard Discovered in Poland #coins #copper coins #ancient coins #metal detector #metal detector finds #archeology #archeolgst #history #history news #ancient history #ancient culture #ancient civilizations

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tomorrowusa · 1 year

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Putin probably won’t be watching Eurovision 2023

For starters, Russia has been banned from Eurovision for its unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine. And the logo for Eurovision 2023 includes the colors of the Ukrainian flag. 🇺🇦

Ukraine won Eurovision 2022 and the winner of the previous Eurovision gets to be the host of the following Eurovision. But because Putin is still bombing schools, maternity hospitals, museums, and playgrounds in Ukraine it was decided to hold it in Liverpool in the Ukraine-friendly UK.

Although Sweden (which wants to join NATO) is regarded as the favorite for 2023, Ukraine itself still has a chance to win.

But it’s the Croatian entry which will make Putin throw empty vodka bottles across his long table at the TV screen.

The band Let 3, who have been on the Croatian music scene for decades, have a song which is a thinly veiled attack on Putin.

Eurovision 2023 Croatia Profile: 'Mama ŠČ!' by Let 3

'Mama ŠČ!' was written by Damir Martinović and Zoran Prodanović. It is an anti-war song, according to the band and they say that the "šč" is in the song because:

"'Šč' is the first letter of the oldest alphabet in the world. After Armageddon, which will happen sooner or later, a rocket will land on the ground, which will contain the first alphabet".

The band claims that the song is a metaphor for the Russian Federation, and that they are mocking dictators for being "childish". There is thought that the tractor, which is mentioned numerous times in the song, symbolises Alexander Lukashenko, Belarusian president, who has supported Russia's invasion of Ukraine, by gifting a tractor to Vladimir Putin for his 70th birthday. The song criticises both leaders, calling them "psychopaths". The song, can, of course be interpreted in many different ways.

This song even got the attention of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.

[T]he artist from Croatia, Let 3, who is playing a song called “Mama ŠČ”, a critique of the war in Ukraine that portrays Vladimir Putin in Russia and Alexander Lukashenko in Belarus as children who think that the world is their toy. Dressed as former dictators in drag next to fake nuclear weapons, the song goes, “Armageddon granny / that little psychopath / a little vile psychopath.”

In all its satirical anti-Putin and anti-Lukashenko glory, here is “Mama ŠČ!” by Let 3.

youtube

In case you’re wondering, ŠČ is a phoneme that occurs in Slavic languages, For example: In Ukrainian and Russian it is written щ; in Polish it’s szcz; in other Slavic languages using Latin script (like Croatian) it is šč.

The way that Let 3 pronounce ŠČ in the song is not that difficult – in case you wish to sing along.

Start with the English phrase fresh cheese. Then snip off the bits at each end so that you're left with freshcheese. Too many English speakers underestimate their ability to pronounce foreign words – but that’s another story.

So if you don’t know who to vote for but really wish to stick it to Putin and his Belarusian puppet Alexander Lukashenko, vote for Croatia.

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mariacallous · 2 years

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Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has called for schoolchildren to be mobilised to harvest apples and potatoes.

Lukashenko said it was "savagery" that children could not be used to help with the country's agricultural industry.

"What kind of example are we going to set for our schoolchildren, our children?" he told a government meeting on Monday.

"They say it's exploitation, but what kind of exploitation is it if a person goes to work for five or six hours?"

"It will be happiness for the parents and good physical training for the children."

Schoolchildren and students were previously mobilised to help farmers harvest crops in the former Soviet Union (USSR).

The Belarusian president -- a former Soviet manager at a collective farm -- is known for his verbal outbursts and radical proposals.

In 2020, Lukashenko recommended that a daily glass of vodka and fieldwork on a tractor would help cure COVID-19.

The Belarusian President has also accused Ukraine of "provocations" by sending 15,000 troops to the border area to build defences and conduct reconnaissance.

Belarus allowed its ally Moscow to station troops in the country for its invasion in February but Lukashenko has said he was not planning a mobilisation of military forces to support Moscow.

The 68-year-old has ruled with an iron fist since 1994 and has faced unprecedented opposition protests since his disputed re-election in 2020.

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itsyveinthesky · 2 years

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Putin received a tractor from Belarus and the partial destruction of the Kerch bridge on his birthday.

#war in ukraine #ukraine #russia #belarus #putin #crimea

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thesumlax · 2 years

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So I`ve been taking venlafaxine for quite a while, and aside from allowing me to properly function as a human being, it has an interesting side effect of sending the dream-generating parts of the brain into overdrive. Unfortunately, it does not improve the ability to remember the dreams, so these are all that`s left from a truly massive amount of ideas...

1) A cetacean with messed up eyes that produces glowing purple slime from its back, mainly for communication. It has two related species that are mostly blind and use their slime (one`s green, the other`s blue) to construct nets for hunting. These dolphreaks apparently inspired some legendary sea serpent, though the legends actually made them less weird (unsurprisingly).

2) Apparently a very large fly (like a medium-sized bird or smth). Very dangerous, presumably beacuse it`s venomous. Also very intelligent and has a habit of deliberately attacking people who know what it is and try to avoid it.

3) A sapient echinoderm that uses three of its arms as "heads". Despite the obvious differences in... everything, they seem to live in apartments very similar to human ones.

4) There was an underwater landscape full of some Spore-looking creatures, this is the only one I remember.

5) Possibly the same dream as the previous one, this large black worm with translucent green and blue entrails was apparently some sort of video game controller. Like, you dissect and manipulate its guts to play - I don`t know how it`s supposed to work.

6) The monstorus earth whale, a terrifying predator that swims rapidly through the earth. In this exact pose, yes, sticking vertically out of the ground. Eventually it transformed into an absolutely enormous magma beast, kinda split up and fused seamlessly with the surrounding rock and magma. It was fought by a weirdly agile cartoonish Godzilla and, I kid you not, Aleksander Lukashenko, the president of Belarus, who was piloting a bizarre transforming robot tractor of his own design - №7 is an approximation of what that may have looked like.

8) Kaiju transformation of some alien guy - the most interesting part is how his eyestalks turned into serpents.

9) There was a massive line-up picture depicting several related families of Lovecraftian gods and monsters. This is the only one I remembered.

10) This one`s very fuzzy, but I think there was this scuzzy bird, with cartoonish and ridiculous appearance but also terrifyingly large, just standing motionless in the sea. Completely ossified and sessile, it relied on its flying offspring to feed it.

11) This Dark Souls-looking executioner guy was actually just a costume used in a school play. Despite the ridiculously high quality of the suit itself, they were armed with a regular cheap hatchet.

12) Apparently an ice-themed member of a set of elemental dragon creatures, colored blue with yellow fringes. Bizarrely, its main power has nothing to do with ice - it`s producing these edible "fruits" (№13). I don`t really remember the other dragons, but I think several of them were depicted like №14.

15) A "gorgon" that was playable in some kind of monster arena fighting game. Had multiple skins, one of which was identified as a "vampire" due to its unusual dentition (№16).

17) A hypnagogic picture (possibly a DeviantArt post) of an entity identified as "Tdirr Ilbot, the Horse Dragon". Their integument was like a green and brown moss or lichen, and their faces were featureless black glass orbs. I think "Horse Dragon" is their job title.

#my art #sketches #dreams

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