title: Slavic paganism

text: Ethnography in late-nineteenth-century Ukraine documented a "thorough synthesis of pagan and Christian elements" in Slavic folk religion, a system often called "double belief" (Russian: "dvoeverie", Ukrainian: "dvovirya"). According to Bernshtam, "dvoeverie" is still used to this day in scholarly works to define Slavic folk religion, which is seen by certain scholars as having preserved much of pre-Christian Slavic religion, "poorly and transparently" covered by a Christianity that may be easily "stripped away" to reveal more or less "pure" patterns of the original faith. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union there has been a new wave of scholarly debate on the subjects of Slavic folk religion and "dvoeverie". A. E. Musin, an academic and deacon of the Russian Orthodox Church, published an article about the "problem of double belief" as recently as 1991. In this article he divides scholars between those who say that Russian Orthodoxy adapted to entrenched indigenous faith, continuing the Soviet idea of an "undefeated paganism", and those who say that Russian Orthodoxy is an out-and-out syncretic religion. Bernshtam challenges dualistic notions of "dvoeverie" and proposes interpreting broader Slavic religiosity as a "mnogoverie" ("multifaith") continuum, in which a higher layer of Orthodox Christian officialdom is alternated with a variety of "Old Beliefs" among the various strata of the population.


title: Slavic paganism

text: According to Ivanits, nineteenth- and twentieth-century Slavic folk religion's central concern was fertility, propitiated with rites celebrating death and resurrection. Scholars of Slavic religion who focused on nineteenth-century folk religion were often led to mistakes such as the interpretation of "Rod" and "Rozhanitsy" as figures of a merely ancestral cult; however, in medieval documents Rod is equated with the ancient Egyptian god Osiris, representing a broader concept of natural generativity. Belief in the holiness of "Mat Syra Zemlya" ("Damp Mother Earth") is another feature that has persisted into modern Slavic folk religion; up to the twentieth century, Russian peasants practiced a variety of rituals devoted to her and confessed their sins to her in the absence of a priest. Ivanits also reports that in the region of Volodymyr old people practiced a ritual asking Earth's forgiveness before their death. A number of scholars attributed the Russians' particular devotion to the "Theotokos", the "Mother of God", to this still powerful pre-Christian substratum of devotion to a great mother goddess.


title: Slavic paganism

text: Ivanits attributes the tenacity of synthetic Slavic folk religion to an exceptionality of Slavs and of Russia in particular, compared to other European countries; "the Russian case is extreme", she says, because Russia—especially the vastness of rural Russia—neither lived the intellectual upheavals of the Renaissance, nor the Reformation, nor the Age of Enlightenment, which severely weakened folk spirituality in the rest of Europe.


title: Slavic paganism

text: Slavic folk religious festivals and rites reflect the times of the ancient pagan calendar. For instance, the Christmas period is marked by the rites of "Koliada", characterised by the element of fire, processions and ritual drama, offerings of food and drink to the ancestors. Spring and summer rites are characterised by fire- and water-related imagery spinning around the figures of the gods "Yarilo", "Kupala" and "Marzanna". The switching of seasonal spirits is celebrated through the interaction of effigies of these spirits and the elements which symbolise the coming season, such as by burning, drowning or setting the effigies onto water, and the "rolling of burning wheels of straw down into rivers".


title: Slavic paganism

text: Since the early twentieth century there has been a reinvention and reinstitutionalisation of "Slavic religion" in the so-called movement of "Rodnovery", literally "Slavic Native Faith". The movement draws from ancient Slavic folk religion, often combining it with philosophical underpinnings taken from other religions, mainly Hinduism. Some Rodnover groups focus almost exclusively on folk religions and the worship of gods at the right times of the year, while others have developed a scriptural core, represented by writings purported to be centuries-old documents such as the "Book of Veles"; writings which elaborate powerful national mythologemes such as the "Maha Vira" of Sylenkoism; and esoteric writings such as the "Slavo-Aryan Vedas" of Ynglism.


title: Slavic paganism

text: Linda J. Ivanits reconstructed a basic calendar of the celebrations of the most important Slavic gods among East Slavs, based on Boris Rybakov's studies on ancient agricultural calendars, especially a fourth-century one from an area around Kyiv.


title: Slavic paganism

text: The Old Russian architecture of churches originates from the pre-Christian Slavic ""zodching"" ( - construction). This pagan style had a great influence on the entire architecture of ancient Russia, including the structure and decoration of churches and the art of icon painting.


title: Slavic paganism

text: The peculiarity of ancient Russian architecture was also manifested in the appearance of the domes themselves, the most famous of which is the onion dome.


title: Slavic paganism

text: The historian suggests that the orientation of ancient Russian architects on pagan foundations is explained primarily by the difference in building materials: in Byzantium, the construction of temples was carried out from stone and marble, while in ancient Russia wooden architecture prevailed. This choice of material also led to the emergence of many architectural trends, including the so-called "". The earliest wooden churches in shape and plan were a square or oblong quadrangle with a tower-shaped dome planted on it, similar to those that were placed in ancient Russian fortresses. Above the dome, under the cross, another chapter was being built, resembling an onion.


title: Slavic paganism

text: Outside and inside the temples were decorated with various carvings, often in the traditions of the pagan style. Later, this tradition was transferred to the stone church architecture.


title: Slavic paganism

text: A distinctive feature of the Old Russian architectural thinking was the attraction to high-rise composition. This was manifested not only in the creation of tower-like churches (moreover, the "polydoming" and pyramidal composition, which was absent in the Byzantine culture, was highly appreciated), but also in the choice of a high place for religious buildings.


title: Slavic paganism

text: Most often, the vaults in the Old Russian churches are represented in the form of "kokoshniks" (semicircular vaults with a protruding sharp middle) and "zakomara" (semicircular protruding end of the outer section of the wall).


title: Slavic paganism

text: Meanwhile, Christianity had an impact on the Old Russian funeral rites: corpse-burning was replaced with burial. However, among the common population, there is a memory of triangular mounds piled up over the burned body of the deceased. Later, this custom developed into the construction of a "roof" over the cross, the so-called "golubets".


title: Slavic paganism

text: This style gained immense popularity in the Russian Empire, thereby reviving in the form of Neo-Russian architecture.


title: Ballon d'Or Dream Team

text: The Ballon d'Or Dream Team is an all-time all-star team published by "France Football" on 14 December 2020 after conducting an internet poll of fans to select a football dream team starting from October 2020. The final team was selected by 140 "France Football" correspondents around the world. A second and a third team were also published.


title: Ballon d'Or Dream Team

text: The nominations were announced from 5 October 2020 through 19 October 2020. The winners were revealed in 14 December 2020 and lined up in a 3–4–3 formation. Brazil was the country with the highest number of nominated players (20 athletes), ahead of Italy (16), Germany (13), Netherlands (12), Spain (8), England and France (7).


title: Sam's Club

text: Sam's West, Inc. (doing business as Sam's Club) is an American chain of membership-only retail warehouse clubs owned and operated by Walmart Inc., founded in 1983 and named after Walmart founder Sam Walton as Sam’s Wholesale Club. , Sam's Club ranks second in sales volume among warehouse clubs with $57.839 billion in sales (in fiscal year 2019) behind rival Costco Wholesale.


title: Sam's Club

text: , Sam's Club operates 600 membership warehouse clubs in the United States in 44 states, Puerto Rico and the U.S Virgin Islands. The only states where Sam's Club does not operate are Alaska (all three locations in that state closed in 2018 as part of a plan to close 63 clubs), Massachusetts (its last remaining location in that state, located in Worcester, closed in 2018 as part of a plan to close 63 clubs), Oregon, Rhode Island (the state's only location, in Warwick, closed in 2016 as part of a plan to close 269 stores globally, including four U.S. clubs), Vermont, and Washington (all three locations in that state closed in 2018 as part of a plan to close 63 clubs), as well as the District of Columbia. Walmart International also operates Sam's Club stores in Mexico and China. It has 167 locations in Mexico, and 39 in China. Grupo Big, formerly Walmart Brazil, which was de-consolidated from Walmart in August 2018, also operates Sam's Clubs in Brazil. Locations generally range in size from , with an average club size of approximately . From 2003 to 2009 Sam's Club had 6 locations in Canada.


title: Sam's Club

text: On January 11, 2018, Sam’s Club announced the permanent closure of select stores. In a number of cases, employees showed up to work and found the doors locked and a notice saying that the store would soon be liquidated. Walmart eventually told "Business Insider" that 63 Sam’s Club stores would begin liquidating across the country, including in Alaska, Arizona, California, Illinois, New York, Ohio, and Texas.


title: Sam's Club

text: According to "Business Insider", the Sam's Club closings and plans to convert some stores into e-commerce fulfillment centers as announced in January 2018 are part of Walmart's growing commitment to online retailing that will allow it to better compete with rival Amazon.


title: Sam's Club

text: Sam Walton opened the first Sam's Club on April 7, 1983, in Midwest City, Oklahoma, 21 years after he founded Walmart.


title: Sam's Club

text: In 1987, Sam's Club made its first acquisition by purchasing West Monroe, Louisiana-based SuperSaver Wholesale Warehouse Club; the purchase expanded the chain by 24 locations. The stores were owned by Alton Hardy Howard and his son John.


title: Sam's Club

text: In 1989, Sam's Club entered New Jersey with a club in Delran in a former Two Guys/Jefferson Ward store. This was Walmart's first expansion into the Northeast. The first Walmart discount store (now expanded into a Supercenter) in New Jersey opened in 1991 in Turnersville. The company entered the Pennsylvania market in 1990.


title: Sam's Club

text: In 1993, Walmart acquired PACE Membership Warehouse from Kmart and converted many (but not all) PACE locations into Sam's Clubs.


title: Sam's Club

text: Sam's Club entered the Canadian market in Southern Ontario (all but one in the Greater Toronto Area/Golden Horseshoe) in 2003.


title: Sam's Club

text: The latest flagship club opening , was in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The largest Sam's Club is located in Pineville, North Carolina with of retail space that was formerly an Incredible Universe.


title: Sam's Club

text: In December 2007, Sam's Club launched a new slogan, "Enjoy the Possibilities". Since then it became an official advertising slogan, mentioned in television and radio advertisements, but it is not mentioned on its website. , the "Enjoy the Possibilities" slogan was no longer in use. Sam's Club launched their latest slogan "Savings Made Simple" in the fourth quarter of 2009.


title: Sam's Club

text: Starting in April 2007, there was speculation of a possible sale or spinoff of Sam's Club from parent company Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. At Walmart's 2007 annual shareholder's meeting in June, management said that Sam's Club is not for sale, although they did not say they are not considering a spinoff.


title: Sam's Club

text: On February 26, 2009, Walmart Canada announced that it would be closing all six of its Canadian Sam's Club locations. This was part of Walmart Canada's decision to shift focus towards supercentres, but some industry observers suggested that the operation was struggling in competition with Costco and the non-membership The Real Canadian Superstore (known as Maxi & Cie in Quebec), that had a well-established history in the country. Sam's Club also rebranded the two as yet unopened locations as new Walmart Supercentres. In January 2010, it was announced that ten clubs would be closing, including four in California. At the same time, Sam's opened six new clubs at various locations in the United States.


title: Sam's Club

text: On January 24, 2010, it was announced that approximately 11,200 Sam's Club employees would be laid off. The layoffs resulted from the decision to outsource product sampling duties to an outside company (Rogers, Arkansas-based Shopper Events, which already performs in-store product demonstrations for Walmart) and to eliminate New Business Membership Representative positions throughout the chain. Most of the laid-off employees were part-time and represented about 10% of the total Sam's Club workforce.


title: Sam's Club

text: Rosalind Brewer was named as the new CEO for Sam's Club, a change that came into effect on February 1, 2012.


title: Sam's Club

text: On January 24, 2014, it was announced that Walmart will cut 2,300 jobs at the underperforming Sam's Club locations.


title: Sam's Club

text: On January 11, 2018, Walmart announced that 63 Sam's Club locations in cities including Memphis, Houston, Seattle, and others would be closing. Some of the stores had already liquidated, without notifying employees, some employees learned by a company-wide email delivered January 11. All of the 63 stores were gone from the Sam's Club website as of the morning of January 11, 2018. Walmart said that ten of the stores will become e-commerce distribution centers and employees can reapply to work at those locations. "Business Insider" magazine calculated that over 11,000 workers will be affected. On the same day, Walmart announced that as a result of the new tax law, it would be raising Walmart starting wages, distributing bonuses, expanding its leave policies and contributing toward the cost of employees' adoptions. Doug McMillon, Walmart's CEO, said, "We are early in the stages of assessing the opportunities tax reform creates for us to invest in our customers and associates and to further strengthen our business, all of which should benefit our shareholders."


title: Sam's Club

text: In Midland, Texas, a Sam's Club store was the site of a violent stabbing that wounded three family members, including two young children. The suspect, a 19-year-old who allegedly stabbed the family due to fearing they had symptoms of COVID-19, and were of Asian American descent. He was sentenced in 2022 to 25 years imprisonment.


title: Sam's Club

text: Like other warehouse clubs, Sam's Club sells most of its merchandise in bulk and directly off pallets. The clubs are arranged like warehouses, with merchandise stocked in steel bins. Products sold include jewelry, designer goods, sunglasses, crystal, and collectibles, electronics, floral, apparel, food, and meats. Most locations have Pharmacy, Tire and Battery, Photo (as of late 2019, photo was cut from most clubs), Bakery, Optical, Café, and Floral departments. Sam's Club markets items under the private labels Simply Right, Member's Mark, Bakers & Chefs, Daily Chef, Sam's Club, and Richelieu Foods, a private label manufacturer of frozen pizza, salad dressing, sauces, marinades, condiments, and deli salads. Sam's Club does not sell the Sam's Choice or Great Value brands that are available in Walmart stores.


title: Sam's Club

text: Sam's Club opened their first Business Center in Houston, Texas, in August 2008. Converted from an existing Sam's location, the Business Center is similar in concept to Costco's Business Centers.


title: Sam's Club

text: In January 2010, the company announced it would be closing its Business Center, along with nine other clubs across the United States.


title: Sam's Club

text: In Houston, Sam's Club opened Más Club in August 2009, a club geared towards the Hispanic population. Membership in Más Club was separate from membership in Sam's Club. The store eventually began a liquidation sale in December 2013, and was closed in February 2014.


title: Sam's Club

text: In October 2018, Sam's Club opened Sam's Club Now, a "mobile-first" retail store where customers use the Sam's Club Now mobile app to scan and pay for merchandise. Customers can also order items ahead of time with same-day curbside pickup at the store. The Sam's Club Now store is located in Dallas, TX.


title: Sam's Club

text: Membership is required to purchase at Sam's Club (except at the cafe, eye exams in Optical, and the pharmacy where federal law prohibits sales of prescription drugs to members only, as well as liquor and gasoline in some states). A 10% surcharge is added (except where forbidden by local laws, such as in Elmsford, NY, CA, SC) to the prices for non-members, except for alcohol items, cafe, and pharmacy items where available. All memberships fees are 100% guaranteed at any point of time in the membership tenure.


title: Sam's Club

text: Memberships can be renewed online, by mail, at the in-club Membership Services desk or any cash register, and at new ATM/Membership kiosks available in select locations.


title: Sam's Club

text: In the United States, Sam's Club memberships are divided into two categories: Club and Plus, each with an annual fee. Plus is the more comprehensive membership plan, that includes Cash Rewards, extra savings in Pharmacy and Optical centers, free shipping on items purchased from their website, and (at some clubs) early shopping hours before the store is opened to the public.


title: Sam's Club

text: Sam's Club locations, as well as their online storefront (samsclub.com), accept Sam's Club (online and in-store) and Walmart credit cards (in-store only), American Express, Discover Card, MasterCard, Visa, debit cards (PIN-based, except MasterCard and Discover, which also can be signature-based), Sam's Club and Walmart and gift cards and egift cards, cash, or checks. , EBT SNAP benefits are accepted in-store. In the past, Visa credit cards were not accepted, except at gas stations because of the high processing fees compared with Walmart's discounted rates with MasterCard.


title: Sam's Club

text: In 2016, Sam's Club rolled out a mobile application that allows users to scan items while they shop and pay for them, skipping the checkout line. By December 2016, the app could be used at all locations in the United States. In 2019, the dedicated scanning app was deprecated, and its features were incorporated into the main Sam's Club app.


title: Sam's Club

text: Sam's Club offers store credit lines to individuals and businesses linked to the member's membership card. As of June 2014, Sam's Club discontinued offering the Sam's Discover card and now offers a Sam's Club MasterCard or Sam's Club Consumer Card that can be used at Sam's Club. Both cards are issued by Synchrony Bank and the Sam's Club MasterCard is accepted anywhere MasterCard is accepted worldwide. Sam's Club MasterCard offers a cash back program of 3% for eligible purchases for Plus members (1% for Club members), 5% (Up to $6,000 a year then 1% thereafter) on gasoline, 3% on dining and travel and 1% on all other purchases. Sam's Club is also the first merchant in the United States to offer EMV (Europay/MasterCard/Visa) chip-enabled cards.


title: Sam's Club

text: Sam's Club is facing a boycott from some Chinese consumers due to taking Xinjiang-produced goods off the shelves. A number of Chinese consumers have already cancelled or suspended their membership cards.


title: Extraordinary Attorney Woo

text: Extraordinary Attorney Woo () is a 2022 South Korean television series starring Park Eun-bin in the title role, along with Kang Tae-oh and Kang Ki-young. It follows Woo Young-woo, a female rookie attorney with autism spectrum disorder, who is hired by a major law firm in Seoul. Being different from her neurotypical peers, her manner of communication is seen by them as odd, awkward, and blunt. With each legal case and through her intelligence and photographic memory, she becomes an increasingly competent attorney.


title: Extraordinary Attorney Woo

text: The show aired on ENA from June 29 to August 18, 2022, every Wednesday and Thursday at 21:00 (KST), for sixteen episodes. It is also available for streaming on Netflix in selected regions.


title: Extraordinary Attorney Woo

text: "Extraordinary Attorney Woo" set the record for the highest ratings in ENA history. It received audience acclaim, with its final episode recording 17.5% nationwide ratings, making it the seventh highest-rated drama in Korean cable television history and sixth highest-rated television drama by number of viewers.


title: Extraordinary Attorney Woo

text: "Extraordinary Attorney Woo" tells the story of Woo Young-woo, a lawyer with autism spectrum disorder who is raised by her single father. She grows up with one friend at school, Dong Geu-ra-mi, an oddball girl who protects her from school bullies. She graduates at the top of her law school class at Seoul National University. Because of her condition, no one will hire her. However, through a connection of her father's, she obtains her first job at Hanbada, a large Seoul law firm. Attorney Woo’s intelligence and photographic memory help her to become an excellent lawyer, as she is able to recall laws and everything she reads, sees, or hears perfectly.


title: Extraordinary Attorney Woo

text: Being different from neurotypical peers, her manner of communication is initially seen as odd and awkward, and her strong emotional intelligence remains unrecognized. But as the series progresses, many of the people she meets, such as her supervising lawyer, Jung Myung-seok, her law school classmate and peer, Choi Su-yeon, and legal support staffer Lee Jun-ho adjust to her as she learns her craft as a rookie attorney. But she also encounters people who are prejudiced against her and others with disabilities.


title: Extraordinary Attorney Woo

text: Many of the legal cases in the series involve finely balanced legal issues and sometimes difficult ethical questions. Attorney Woo's approach is often unique and helps resolve cases in unexpected ways. One storyline about Young-woo's parents runs through the series and involves the rivalry between two major law firms, both chaired by female attorneys, Han Seon-young, CEO of Hanbada, and Tae Soo-mi, CEO of Taesan.


title: Extraordinary Attorney Woo

text: Another theme that runs through the series is Young-woo's strong interest in whales and other marine mammals. Her tendency to analogize situations she faces in her professional and private life with the lives and characteristics of whales and dolphins often surprises and confounds the people who surround her. Her eureka moments often coincide with fantasizing about these creatures.


title: Extraordinary Attorney Woo

text: On August 17, 2022, president Lee Sang-baek of AStory, the production company for "Extraordinary Attorney Woo", confirmed that the drama would be renewed for a second season. Season 2 is expected to premiere in 2024.


title: Extraordinary Attorney Woo

text: The show's soundtrack album peaked at number twelve on the weekly Circle Album Chart, and as of September 2022, 12,198 copies had been sold.


title: Extraordinary Attorney Woo

text: The first episode of "Extraordinary Attorney Woo" recorded a nationwide viewership rating of 0.9%. By the third episode, which reached 4.0%, it set the record for the highest rating in ENA's history.


title: Extraordinary Attorney Woo

text: The series was the most viewed non-English show globally on Netflix for the weeks of July 4–10 and July 11–17, logging 23.9 million and 45.5 million hours viewed and ranking in the top ten in 12 and 22 countries, respectively. For the week of July 18—24, it was the second most-watched non-English show, gathering 55 million of viewing hours. It was also the most-watched series in eight countries and appeared in the top ten in 27 others. The series returned to the top of the chart for the week of July 25–31, with 65.5 million viewing hours, and was the most-watched show in nineteen countries, while ranking among the top ten in 25 more. "Extraordinary Attorney Woo" continued to top the charts for another six consecutive weeks after its finale, garnering 348.15 million viewing hours.


title: Extraordinary Attorney Woo

text: On July 6, 2022, AStory announced that the series would be adapted into a webtoon of the same name. Serialized into sixty episodes, drawn by illustrator HwaUmJo, and written by Yuil, it will be available in Korean, English, Japanese, and Chinese.


title: Extraordinary Attorney Woo

text: On September 6, it was confirmed that the remake was offered in approximately ten countries and is currently in discussion.


title: Oiran

text: The term originated in Yoshiwara, the red light district of Edo in the 1750s, and is applied to all ranks of high level courtesans in historical Japan.


title: Oiran

text: The services of were well known for being exclusive and expensive, with typically only entertaining the upper classes of society, gaining the nickname for their perceived ability to steal the hearts and match the wits of upper-class men. Many became celebrities both inside and outside of the pleasure quarters, and were commonly depicted in ukiyo-e woodblock prints and in kabuki theatre plays. were expected to be well versed in the traditional arts of singing, classical dance and music, including the ability to play the and the koto, and were also expected to converse with clients in upper class and formalised language.


title: Oiran

text: Though regarded as trend setting and fashionable women at the historic height of their profession, this reputation was later usurped in the late 18th through 19th centuries by geisha, who became popular among the merchant classes for their simplified clothing, ability to play short, modern songs known as on the , and their more fashionable expressions of contemporary womanhood and companionship for men, which mirrored the tastes of the extremely wealthy, but for lower class merchants, who constituted the majority of their patronage.


title: Oiran

text: The popularity and numbers of continued to decline steadily throughout the 19th century, before prostitution was outlawed in Japan in 1957. However, the remaining in Kyoto's Shimabara district were allowed to continue practising the cultural and performing arts traditions of their profession, and were declared a "special variety" of geisha. In the present day, a handful of , who do not engage in prostitution as part of their role, continue to perform in Kyoto, alongside a number of reenactors elsewhere in Japan who perform in reenactments of the courtesan parades known as .


title: Oiran

text: The word comes from the Japanese phrase which translates loosely to "the lass at our (my) place." When written in kanji, the word consists of two characters: , meaning "flower", and meaning "leader" or "first." Though only the highest ranking prostitutes of Yoshiwara were technically known as , the term is now widely applied to all.


title: Oiran

text: Compared to , whose primary attraction was the sexual services they offered, , and particularly , were first and foremost entertainers. In order to become an , a woman first had to be educated in a range of skills from a relatively young age, including (Japanese tea ceremony), (flower arranging) and calligraphy. also learned to play the , , (hand drum), and . Clients expected to be well read, able to converse and write with wit and elegance, and able to match them in intellect in conversation.


title: Oiran

text: Within the pleasure quarters, an 's prestige was based on her beauty, character, education and artistic ability, which was reflected in the number of ranks falling in the category of . An , unlike geisha or common prostitutes, could be promoted or demoted by the owner of her brothel, and commonly inherited a upon gaining promotion to a higher rank; these names, exclusively the property of the brothel owner, typically carried the prestige of the person who held it previously, and brothel owners commonly chose only those of similar countenance and reputation to inherit them. were written in kanji, and were typically more elaborate than the average woman's name of the time, holding meanings taken from poetry, literary history and nature; were rarely passed from one directly down to their apprentice.


title: Oiran

text: The appearance of was markedly different from that of both geisha and the average woman, reflecting the upper class tastes and expectations of their customers; by the height of their profession at the beginning of the Edo period, wore upwards of eight large (hair ornaments), typically made from tortoiseshell, silver, gold and gemstones, in their large, elaborate and heavily waxed hairstyles; these hairstyles, all with different names and meanings, were worn to represent different ranks, seasons and occasions.


title: Oiran

text: An 's outfit consisted of a number of layered kimono; the outermost kimono would usually be a heavily-decorated silk brocade garment known as the , which would feature a heavily padded hem. Though were also worn by noblewomen and, towards the end of the Meiji period, began to be worn by some brides, the worn by were far more excessive and loud. These featured elaborate, traditional and auspicious designs, such as dragons, butterflies, arabesque rondels, pine, plum and bamboo, woven and embroidered in heavy gold and silver thread.


title: Oiran

text: This would be worn unbelted over the top of the underkimono, which featured a patterned design only on the lower skirt, and resembled a (underkimono; part of kimono underwear) otherwise. The ensemble was belted with an tied at the front. During the Edo period, this became both wider and stiffer, adding weight and discomfort. became known for wearing a specific style of known as the , which presented a large, flat surface on which large designs would be decorated.


title: Oiran

text: When parading or otherwise walking, wore – tall pauwlonia wood clogs with three "teeth". Though lightweight for their size, these would prevent an from taking anything other than small, slow footsteps when walking; would thus walk in with a sliding, figure of 8 () step, with two manservants (known as ) assisting her. generally did not wear socks, with her bare foot considered to be a point of eroticism in her outfit. In total, a formal parade outfit worn by an could weigh in excess of , often weighing as much as , and would require great assistance to put on.


title: Oiran

text: The highest rank of courtesan was that of , followed by . Unlike courtesans of a lower status, had sufficient prestige to refuse clients, and did not engage in sex work as a rule, unlike courtesans of lower rank. Their high status also


title: Oiran

text: made the services of extremely pricey – a 's fee for one evening was between one and one , three , well beyond a labourer's monthly wage and comparable to a shop assistant's annual salary.


title: Oiran

text: Though many courtesans could be registered in one area, extremely few reached status; a guidebook published in 1688 listed the contemporary numbers of high-ranking courtesans in comparison to all the courtesans listed in one area:


title: Oiran

text: A Yoshiwara guidebook published in 1792 listed the six extant ranks of , including and , who had, by the time of the guidebook's publication, been dormant, with no courtesans in these roles in Yoshiwara, for 30 years:


title: Oiran

text: In 1761, the last of Yoshiwara retired, marking the end of the and ranks in that pleasure quarter, though both and continued to work in Kyoto and Osaka. The word therefore appeared in Yoshiwara as a polite term of address for any remaining woman of courtesan rank.


title: Oiran

text: The profession of arose in the early Edo period (1600–1868), following the introduction of laws restricting brothels to bounded pleasure quarters known as in roughly 1600, sometimes restricting brothels to literal walled-in districts. These quarters were often placed at some distance from the centre of the attached town or city, and the legal status and location of these districts changed on a number of occasions throughout the following centuries; on occasion, some were closed and their inhabitants either sent to live or work in another, larger red light district.


title: Oiran

text: The three best-known districts historically were Shimabara in Kyoto (which also housed geisha until the 1970s), Shinmachi in Osaka and Yoshiwara in Edo (present day Tokyo). Over time, these districts rapidly grew into large and self contained neighbourhoods, containing a number of different forms of entertainment outside of prostitution including performances and festivals. Geisha – whose profession came into existence in the late 18th century – also occasionally worked within these districts, as edicts passed at various times restricted them from working outside of officially designated red light areas.


title: Oiran

text: Outside of their physical presentation, the traditional aesthetics of the and their attire bled into other aspects of the Edo period; within Yoshiwara, eventually became the main source of entertainment, performing and entertaining at parties for guests. Scholar Jonathan Clements emphasised the striking presence of the outside of their quarters, where a parading 's slow movements, brightly-coloured and layered clothing, and lacquered hair provided a source of titillation for "the implications of Edo life [to be] so devoid of women." As a larger than life figure, historical accounts of the oiran recall the transferral of respectable house names as tangible products for potential clients, as well as signifiers of rank for established providers. This resulted in a widespread desire for anonymity for the mostly male population within Yoshiwara. Specialized products, such as hats, medicinal intervention, and the newly developed medium of kabuki encompassed the centricity of the red-light district economy, while also supporting anonymity of its patrons. Thus, the mythical persona for the did not only extend to physical interactions with her, but embodied one's journey through Yoshiwara itself. Outside of prostitution and the arts, the aesthetic reverence utilised to distinguish different classes of the became a vehicle for other means of aesthetic expression.


title: Oiran

text: This had a profound impact on the economy, while also reflecting a point of contention between the upper and lower classes of Edo. Yoshiwara, known as "the place without night", represented one of the new places in which "high" culture was able to mingle with that of the lower classes, forging a new aesthetic environment within Edo society alongside their mingling. Another nickname for the Yoshiwara was "ukiyo", a Buddhist word that meant suffering world, which, when written in new characters, came to mean "floating world". This would also later influence the creation of ukiyo-e woodblock prints. Laura W. Allen, the curator of Japanese art at the Asian Art Museum describes the aesthetic intervention as "ignoring the problems that might have existed in a very strictly regulated society and abandoning yourself, bobbing along on the current of pleasure."


title: Oiran

text: Because of their isolation, the rigidity of their contracts as courtesans – which often ran for 10–15 years before ending their involvement with the profession – and their inability to leave the pleasure districts, became steadily more traditional, outdated and ritualised, further and further removed from popular society and bound by their strict rules of etiquette, behaviour and speech. This, combined with their relative financial inaccessibility to most people, created a vacuum of entertainment for the rising merchant classes, whose relatively high wealth and relatively low social status left them unable to hire , thus leading to the decision to patronise the greatly more accessible and less expensive geisha instead.


title: Oiran

text: Over time, also lost their celebrity status in wider society, and came in part to be seen less as highly cultured courtesans reflecting formal, high class standards of speech and appearance, and more as caged women unable to leave the pleasure districts and chained to the debts they owed to their brothel. The preservation of the appearance of had also not reflected changes in fashion – as the profession of geisha had evolved and become increasingly popular, the authorities had sought to clamp down on the profligate and wealthy tastes of the merchant classes, leading to a number of dress edicts that changed popular aesthetics and led to the rise of subdued and cultivated aesthetics such as , which categorically did not reflect or resemble.


title: Oiran

text: Similarly, the entertainment that offered had mostly remained unchanged since generations of courtesans previous. Though played the , they did not play the popular and contemporary tunes composed for it, and instead stuck to longer ballads such as , which had refined, but restrained, lyrical content. This was in contrast to the favoured and sung by geisha, whose lyrical content was often heartfelt and honest.


title: Oiran

text: In the years that declined, the geisha profession was born and grew increasingly stronger, contributing in part, if not in majority, to this decline.


title: Oiran

text: Geisha were, officially-speaking, considered to be a relatively low-class form of entertainment, and as such, were not patronised by the upper classes, who were officially supposed to patronise instead; however, during the Edo period, geisha came to represent the tastes of the merchant classes, whose low social status and high financial freedom left them free of social obligations to uphold the status of a samurai family that men of the upper classes were commonly beholden to.


title: Oiran

text: As the merchant classes throughout Edo-period society grew in wealth and profligacy, they became the main source of income for geisha, who represented social and financial accessibility in a way that did not. Geisha were cheap to patronise, informal to converse with, required few introductions before entertaining a customer and both played and sang the most popular songs of the time. Through various dress edicts aimed at controlling the merchant classes and thus preserving the appearances and social status of the upper classes, extravagant or obvious displays of wealth had been outlawed and driven underground, bringing aesthetics such as into popularity, which geisha came to both represent and champion. A geisha's loyalties were also held to be more true, as geisha could choose whom they wished to entertain, and geisha became the subject of many popular romantic stories.


title: Oiran

text: Though geisha also worked within the pleasure districts that did – at times forbidden to work outside of them – as the profession developed, laws regarding the separation of the two professions were passed. This, over time, ironically led to exaggerate and exacerbate the differences between geisha and , heightening the popularity of the former and leading to the eventual destruction of the latter. Geisha were forbidden to dress elaborately, in the manner of , and were not allowed to sleep with their customers. Geisha were registered at a separate registry office, and if an accused a geisha of stealing a customer, she would be fully investigated, with the potential to be forbidden from working if found guilty.


title: Oiran

text: Though geisha and were likely to be at least in part indentured to their houses, geisha were not considered to be the same kind of physical property that were considered to be by their employers. Though were unable to leave their pleasure quarters and could be, if not in the highest ranks, forced to entertain whichever customers the head of her brothel demanded she entertain, geisha were allowed to both leave their houses and choose which patrons she wished to entertain, leading to the rise of adages comparing the loyalties of an with square eggs, the punchline being that neither were things that existed. Though many geisha went into debt or held at least some debt with their , few found themselves in the same situation of financial domination and ownership that were almost entirely bound to.


title: Oiran

text: Towards the end of the Edo period, continued to dwindle in popularity as the geisha grew in numbers, accessibility, and appeal. By the beginning of the Meiji period, official attitudes towards legalized prostitution within Japan had changed owing to the country's increasing international presence. Towards the end of the 19th century, geisha had replaced as the entertainer and companion of choice for the wealthiest in Japanese society, with the central appeal of having grown increasingly remote from everyday life.


title: Oiran

text: continue to entertain in a similar manner to geisha, with fewer than five left in modern-day Kyoto. The last remaining house is located in Shimabara, which lost its official status as a for geisha in the late 20th century. However, some still recognize Shimabara as a , with the number and activities of slowly growing. The few remaining women still currently practising the arts of the , without the sexual aspect, do so as a preservation of cultural heritage rather than as a profession or lifestyle.


title: Oiran

text: The is an annual event held every April in Bunsui, Niigata Prefecture (now part of the city of Tsubame). The parade, which takes place in spring, historically re-enacts the walk made by top courtesans around their district in honour of their guests. The modern parade features three women dressed as in full traditional attire with approximately 70 accompanying servants. The , who are named Shinano, Sakura, and Bunsui, walk with the distinctive slow gait of wearing . Due to the event's popularity in Japan, organizers are often inundated with applications to be part of the parade as one of the three or as a servant. is a shortened form of , it is also known as the Dream Parade of Echigo ().


title: Oiran

text: The Ōsu Street Performers' Festival is an event held around Ōsu Kannon Temple in Nagoya yearly around the beginning of October. The highlight of this two-day festival is the slow procession of through the Ōsu Kannon shopping arcade. Thousands of spectators crowd the shopping streets on these days to get close enough to photograph the and their retinue of male bodyguards and entourage of apprentices (young girls in distinctive red kimono, wearing (white face paint) and loose, long black hair).


title: General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

text: The General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, more commonly called the General Secretary was the leader of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU). From 1929 until the union's dissolution in 1991, the officeholder was the recognized leader of the Soviet Union. Officially, the General Secretary solely controlled the Communist Party directly. However, since the party had a monopoly on political power, the General Secretary had executive control of the Soviet government. Because of the office's ability to direct both the foreign and domestic policies of the state and preeminence over the Soviet Communist Party, it was the "de facto" highest office of the Soviet Union.


text: Before the October Revolution, the job of the party secretary was largely that of a bureaucrat. Following the Bolshevik seizure of power, the Office of the Responsible Secretary was established in 1919 to perform administrative work. After the Bolshevik victory in the Russian Civil War, the Office of General Secretary was created by Vladimir Lenin in 1922 with the intention that it serve a purely administrative and disciplinary purpose. Its primary task would be to determine the composition of party membership and to assign positions within the party. The General Secretary also oversaw the recording of party events, and was entrusted with keeping party leaders and members informed about party activities. When assembling his cabinet, Lenin appointed Joseph Stalin to be General Secretary. Over the next few years, Stalin was able to use the principles of democratic centralism to transform his office into that of party leader, and eventually leader of the Soviet Union.


text: Prior to Lenin's death in 1924, Stalin's tenure as General Secretary was already being criticized. In Lenin's final months, he authored a pamphlet that called for Stalin's removal on the grounds that Stalin was becoming authoritarian and abusing his power. The pamphlet triggered a political crisis which endangered Stalin's position as General Secretary, and a vote was held to remove him from office. With the help of Grigory Zinoviev and Lev Kamenev, Stalin was able to survive the scandal and remained in his post. After Lenin's death, Stalin began to consolidate his power by using the office of General Secretary. By 1928, he had unquestionably become the "de facto" leader of the USSR, while the position of General Secretary became the highest office in the nation. In 1934, the 17th Party Congress refrained from formally re-electing Stalin as General Secretary. However, Stalin was re-elected to all the other positions he held, and remained leader of the party without diminution.


text: In the 1950s, Stalin increasingly withdrew from Secretariat business, leaving the supervision of the body to Georgy Malenkov, possibly to test his abilities as a potential successor. In October 1952, at the 19th Party Congress, Stalin restructured the party's leadership. His request, voiced through Malenkov, to be relieved of his duties in the party secretariat due to his age, was rejected by the party congress, as delegates were unsure about Stalin's intentions. In the end, the congress formally abolished Stalin's office of General Secretary, although Stalin remained one of the party secretaries and maintained ultimate control of the party. When Stalin died on 5 March 1953, Malenkov was considered to be the most important member of the Secretariat, which also included Nikita Khrushchev, among others. Under a short-lived troika consisting of Malenkov, Beria, and Molotov, Malenkov became Chairman of the Council of Ministers, but was forced to resign from the Secretariat nine days later on 14 March. This effectively left Khrushchev in control of the government, and he was elected to the new office of First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union at the Central Committee plenum on 14 September that same year. Khrushchev subsequently outmanoeuvred his rivals, who sought to challenge his political reforms. He was able to comprehensively remove Malenkov, Molotov and Lazar Kaganovich (one of Stalin's oldest and closest associates) from power in 1957, an achievement which also helped to reinforce the supremacy of the position of First Secretary.


text: In 1964, opposition within the Politburo and the Central Committee, which had been increasing since the aftermath of the Cuban Missile Crisis, led to Khrushchev's removal from office. Leonid Brezhnev succeeded Khrushchev as First Secretary, but was initially obliged to govern as part of a collective leadership, forming another troika with Premier Alexei Kosygin and Chairman Nikolai Podgorny. The office was renamed to General Secretary in 1966. The collective leadership was able to limit the powers of the General Secretary during the Brezhnev Era. Brezhnev's influence grew throughout the 1970s as he was able to retain support by avoiding any radical reforms. After Brezhnev's death, Yuri Andropov and Konstantin Chernenko were able to rule the country in the same way as Brezhnev had. Mikhail Gorbachev ruled the Soviet Union as General Secretary until 1990, when the Communist Party lost its monopoly of power over the political system. The office of President of the Soviet Union was established so that Gorbachev could still retain his role as leader of the Soviet Union. Following the failed August coup of 1991, Gorbachev resigned as General Secretary. He was succeeded by his deputy, Vladimir Ivashko, who only served for five days as Acting General Secretary before Boris Yeltsin, the newly elected President of Russia, suspended all activity in the Communist Party. Following the party's ban, the Union of Communist Parties – Communist Party of the Soviet Union (UCP–CPSU) was established by Oleg Shenin in 1993, and is dedicated to reviving and restoring the CPSU. The organisation has members in all the former Soviet republics.


title: EuroTrip

text: EuroTrip is a 2004 American sex comedy film directed by Jeff Schaffer and written by Alec Berg, David Mandel, and Schaffer. It stars Scott Mechlowicz, Jacob Pitts, Michelle Trachtenberg, Travis Wester, and Jessica Boehrs (in her film debut). Mechlowicz portrays Scott "Scotty" Thomas, an American teenager who travels across Europe in search of his German pen pal, Mieke (Boehrs). Accompanied by his friend Cooper (Pitts) and twin siblings Jenny and Jamie (Trachtenberg and Wester), Scott's quest takes him to England, France, the Netherlands, Slovakia, Germany, and Italy, encountering awkward, humorous, and embarrassing situations along the way.


title: EuroTrip

text: In the town of Hudson, Ohio, Scott "Scotty" Thomas is dumped by his girlfriend Fiona immediately after his high school graduation at the beginning of the film. With his best friend, Cooper Harris, Scotty attends a graduation party that evening, where the band performs a song detailing the affair Fiona was having with the band's singer. Scotty returns home drunk and angry and reads an email from his German pen pal, Mieke—who Scotty calls "Mike"—expressing sympathy for Scotty and suggesting they meet in person. Cooper suggests that "Mike" may be a sexual predator and Scotty tells Mieke to stay away from him. Scotty's younger brother, Bert, informs him that "Mieke" is actually a common German feminine name. Realizing that he had mistaken her name and that he has feelings for Mieke, Scotty tries to contact her again, but finds that Mieke has blocked his email address. Scotty decides to travel to Europe with Cooper to find Mieke and apologize in-person.


title: EuroTrip

text: Scotty and Cooper first arrive in London, where they befriend a Manchester United football hooligan firm, led by Mad Maynard. After a night of drinking, Scotty and Cooper wake up on a bus on their way to Paris with the hooligans. In Paris, they meet up with their classmates, Jenny and Jamie, fraternal twins who are touring Europe together. Jenny and Jamie decide to accompany Scotty and Cooper to find Mieke in Berlin. The group travels to Amsterdam, where Jamie is robbed while receiving oral sex in an alley, losing everyone's money, passports, and train tickets. They attempt to hitchhike to Berlin, but due to a language misunderstanding, they end up in Bratislava. Finding a great exchange rate with the U.S. dollar, the group goes to a nightclub. Drunk on absinthe, Jenny and Jamie make out with each other, witnessed by Scotty and Cooper, and are horrified when they realize what they are doing. The next day, a Slovak man drives them to Berlin, where they learn that Mieke has left with a summer tour group, and will be reachable in Rome for only a short time. Jamie sells his Leica Camera for plane tickets to Rome to find Mieke.


title: EuroTrip

text: In Rome, the group heads to Vatican City, where Mieke is touring before her summer at sea. Inside the Vatican, Scotty and Cooper search for Mieke and accidentally rings the bell that signals the Pope has died. Scotty appears on a balcony and spots Mieke in the cheering crowd below, who have mistaken him for the newly elected pope; all this happens while the current pope is watching everyone. The Swiss guards realizes what is going on and detain Scotty and Cooper for their actions. However, the Manchester United football hooligans from London suddenly appears at the Vatican and tells the guards to release Scotty and Cooper. Scotty finally introduces himself to Mieke and confesses his love. Mieke is happy to see him, and they have sex in a confessional booth before she leaves on her trip. On the flight back to Ohio, Jenny and Cooper give into their urges and have sex in the plane's lavatory, while Jamie stays in Europe after being hired by Arthur Frommer.


title: EuroTrip

text: Scotty moves to Oberlin College in the fall term to begin his studies. During his phone conversation with Cooper, who is dating Jenny, Cooper asks what Scotty's new roommate looks like. Mieke knocks on the door of his room, having been assigned to the same room because of another misunderstanding about her name. Scotty and Mieke embrace and get into bed together, with Cooper calling for Scott on the other end of a still-open cell phone call and the film's closing with the Absinthe Green Fairy wondering at his own lack of a sex life.


title: EuroTrip

text: The cast also includes Vinnie Jones as Mad Maynard (leader of the Manchester United football hooligans), Lucy Lawless as Madame Vandersexxx (a sex-club dominatrix), Patrick Malahide as Arthur Frommer, Diedrich Bader as Mugger, Fred Armisen as Creepy Italian Guy, Kristin Kreuk as Fiona (Scotty's ex-girlfriend), Nial Iskhakov as Bert Thomas (Scotty's younger brother), Matt Damon as Donny (Fiona's new boyfriend), J. P. Manoux as Robot Man, and Steve Hytner as the Absinthe Green Fairy. Jeffrey Tambor (uncredited) and Cathy Meils were cast as Mr. and Mrs. Thomas, respectively.


title: EuroTrip

text: Writers Mandel, Berg, and Schaffer all directed, but only Schaffer could achieve director credit. All scenes were filmed in Prague, Czech Republic, especially in the streets close to the Rudolfinum. The opening scenes set in Ohio were filmed at the International School of Prague. The scene where the main characters are boarding at the Paris railway station was filmed in Prague's main railway station (Hlavní nádraží). The scene inside Vatican City was actually filmed in Prague's National Museum. The scenes with a German lorry driver were taken at the then-unfinished D5 motorway near Pilsen. Damon was filming "The Brothers Grimm" in Prague and agreed to play the punk singer; as he wore a wig for "Grimm", Damon could shave his head for "EuroTrip".


title: EuroTrip

text: Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives "EuroTrip" a 47% rating based on 120 reviews, and an average of 5.1/10. The site's critical consensus says, "A trip worth taking if one's not offended by gratuitous nudity and bad taste." On Metacritic, the film scored 45 out of 100 based on 30 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".


title: EuroTrip

text: In her review for "Salon", Stephanie Zacharek wrote, "The giddy ridiculousness of "Eurotrip" is a pleasant surprise: The picture starts out slow and unsteady in its rhythms. But just when you begin to wonder if it’s ever going to get funny, or if it’s going to be merely desperate all the way through, it lifts off like a wobbly helicopter—and somehow it keeps flying."


title: EuroTrip

text: In the "New York Times", Elvis Mitchell wrote that "almost every girl in the movie with fewer than 10 lines to speak has to take her top off." In his review for "Village Voice", Michael Miller criticized the film for its "constant anxiety that women might turn out to be men and vice versa."


title: EuroTrip

text: The film was released in the United States and Canada on February 20, 2004, in 2,512 theaters. Over its opening weekend, the film grossed $6.7 million. It went on to gross $17.8 million in the United States and Canada and $3 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $20.8 million.


title: EuroTrip

text: The film was released on DVD in the U.S. on June 1, 2004, in an R-rated theatrical version (90 minutes) and an "Unrated" extended version (92 minutes). The theatrical version was released on Blu-ray in 2013. The “Unrated” extended edition was released on Blu-Ray in 2022


title: EuroTrip

text: Although not as successful at the box office as the producers' "Road Trip" (2000), "EuroTrip" did well on home video and became a cult classic. Ultra Culture blogger Charlie Lyne, who introduced a screening of the film in 2011 at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, wrote in 2012 that ""EuroTrip" is satire at its most brazenly self-loathing and audaciously entertaining".


title: EuroTrip

text: Damon reportedly has said that despite appearing in notable films like "Saving Private Ryan", "The Talented Mr. Ripley", and the "Bourne" franchise, fans often repeat "Scotty doesn't know!" to him.


title: Parallelogram

text: In Euclidean geometry, a parallelogram is a simple (non-self-intersecting) quadrilateral with two pairs of parallel sides. The opposite or facing sides of a parallelogram are of equal length and the opposite angles of a parallelogram are of equal measure. The congruence of opposite sides and opposite angles is a direct consequence of the Euclidean parallel postulate and neither condition can be proven without appealing to the Euclidean parallel postulate or one of its equivalent formulations.


title: Parallelogram

text: By comparison, a quadrilateral with just one pair of parallel sides is a trapezoid in American English or a trapezium in British English.


title: Parallelogram

text: The etymology (in Greek παραλληλ-όγραμμον, "parallēl-ógrammon", a shape "of parallel lines") reflects the definition.


title: Parallelogram

text: A simple (non-self-intersecting) quadrilateral is a parallelogram if and only if any one of the following statements is true:


title: Parallelogram

text: Thus all parallelograms have all the properties listed above, and conversely, if just one of these statements is true in a simple quadrilateral, then it is a parallelogram.


title: Parallelogram

text: All of the area formulas for general convex quadrilaterals apply to parallelograms. Further formulas are specific to parallelograms:


title: Parallelogram

text: A parallelogram with base "b" and height "h" can be divided into a trapezoid and a right triangle, and rearranged into a rectangle, as shown in the figure to the left. This means that the area of a parallelogram is the same as that of a rectangle with the same base and height:


title: Parallelogram

text: The base × height area formula can also be derived using the figure to the right. The area "K" of the parallelogram to the right (the blue area) is the total area of the rectangle less the area of the two orange triangles. The area of the rectangle is


title: Parallelogram

text: The area of a parallelogram with sides "B" and "C" ("B" ≠ "C") and angle formula_6 at the intersection of the diagonals is given by


title: Parallelogram

text: When the parallelogram is specified from the lengths "B" and "C" of two adjacent sides together with the length "D" of either diagonal, then the area can be found from Heron's formula. Specifically it is


title: Parallelogram

text: where formula_9 and the leading factor 2 comes from the fact that the chosen diagonal divides the parallelogram into "two" congruent triangles.


title: Parallelogram

text: Let vectors formula_10 and let formula_11 denote the matrix with elements of a and b. Then the area of the parallelogram generated by a and b is equal to formula_12.


title: Parallelogram

text: Let vectors formula_13 and let formula_14. Then the area of the parallelogram generated by a and b is equal to formula_15.


title: Parallelogram

text: Let points formula_16. Then the area of the parallelogram with vertices at "a", "b" and "c" is equivalent to the absolute value of the determinant of a matrix built using "a", "b" and "c" as rows with the last column padded using ones as follows:


title: Parallelogram

text: Also, side "AB" is equal in length to side "DC", since opposite sides of a parallelogram are equal in length.


title: Parallelogram

text: Therefore, triangles "ABE" and "CDE" are congruent (ASA postulate, "two corresponding angles and the included side").


title: Parallelogram

text: Since the diagonals "AC" and "BD" divide each other into segments of equal length, the diagonals bisect each other.


title: Parallelogram

text: Separately, since the diagonals "AC" and "BD" bisect each other at point "E", point "E" is the midpoint of each diagonal.


title: Parallelogram

text: Parallelograms can tile the plane by translation. If edges are equal, or angles are right, the symmetry of the lattice is higher. These represent the four Bravais lattices in 2 dimensions.


title: Parallelogram

text: An automedian triangle is one whose medians are in the same proportions as its sides (though in a different order). If "ABC" is an automedian triangle in which vertex "A" stands opposite the side "a", "G" is the centroid (where the three medians of "ABC" intersect), and "AL" is one of the extended medians of "ABC" with "L" lying on the circumcircle of "ABC", then "BGCL" is a parallelogram.


title: Parallelogram

text: The midpoints of the sides of an arbitrary quadrilateral are the vertices of a parallelogram, called its Varignon parallelogram. If the quadrilateral is convex or concave (that is, not self-intersecting), then the area of the Varignon parallelogram is half the area of the quadrilateral.


title: Parallelogram

text: For an ellipse, two diameters are said to be conjugate if and only if the tangent line to the ellipse at an endpoint of one diameter is parallel to the other diameter. Each pair of conjugate diameters of an ellipse has a corresponding tangent parallelogram, sometimes called a bounding parallelogram, formed by the tangent lines to the ellipse at the four endpoints of the conjugate diameters. All tangent parallelograms for a given ellipse have the same area.


title: Parallelogram

text: It is possible to reconstruct an ellipse from any pair of conjugate diameters, or from any tangent parallelogram.


title: Kalash people

text: The Kalasha (Kalasha: کالؕاشؕا, romanised: "Kaḷaṣa)", or Kalash, are an Indo-Aryan indigenous people residing in the Chitral District of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. The Kalash population in Pakistan numbers only in a few thousands, making them one of the smallest ethnic minorities in Pakistan.


title: Kalash people

text: They are considered unique among the people of Pakistan. They are also considered to be Pakistan's smallest ethnoreligious group, and traditionally practice a religion which some authors characterise as a form of Ancient Hinduism. During the mid-20th century an attempt was made to force a few Kalasha villages in Pakistan to convert to Islam, but the people fought the conversion and, once official pressure was removed, the vast majority resumed the practice of their own religion. Nevertheless, some Kalasha have converted to Islam, despite some being shunned afterward by their community for having done so.


title: Kalash people

text: The term is used to refer to many distinct people including the Väi, the Čima-nišei, the Vântä, plus the Ashkun- and Tregami-speakers. The Kalash are considered to be an indigenous people of Asia, with their ancestors migrating to Chitral valley from another location possibly further south, which the Kalash call "Tsiyam" in their folk songs and epics. Some of the Kalash traditions consider the various Kalash people to have been migrants or refugees. They are also considered by some to have been descendants of Gandhari people.


title: Kalash people

text: The neighbouring Nuristani people (including the Kalasha-ala) of the adjacent Nuristan (historically known as Kafiristan) province of Afghanistan once had the same culture and practised a faith very similar to that of the Kalash, differing in a few minor particulars.


title: Kalash people

text: The first historically recorded Islamic invasions of their lands were by the Ghaznavids in the 11th century while they themselves are first attested in 1339 during Timur's invasions. Nuristan had been forcibly converted to Islam in 1895–96, although some evidence has shown the people continued to practice their customs. The Kalash of Chitral have maintained their own separate cultural traditions.


title: Kalash people

text: The culture of the Kalash people is unique and differs in many ways from the many contemporary Islamic ethnic groups surrounding them in northwestern Pakistan. They are polytheists who follow a sect of Ancient Hinduism. Nature plays a highly significant and spiritual role in their daily life. As part of their religious tradition, sacrifices are offered and festivals held to give thanks for the abundant resources of their three valleys. Kalasha Desh (the three Kalash valleys) is made up of two distinct cultural areas, the valleys of Rumbur and Bumburet forming one, and Birir Valley the other; Birir Valley being the more traditional of the two.


title: Kalash people

text: Kalash mythology and folklore has been compared to that of ancient Greece, but they are much closer to the Hindu traditions in other parts of the Indian subcontinent. The Kalash have fascinated anthropologists due to their unique culture compared to the rest in that region.


title: Kalash people

text: The Kalasha language, also known as Kalasha-mun, is an Indo-Aryan language whose closest relative is the neighbouring Khowar language. Kalasha was formerly spoken over a larger area in south Chitral, but it is now mostly confined to the western side valleys having lost ground to Khowar.


title: Kalash people

text: There is some controversy over what defines the ethnic characteristics of the Kalash. Although quite numerous before the 20th century, the non-Muslim minority has seen its numbers dwindle over the past century. A leader of the Kalash, Saifulla Jan, has stated, "If any Kalash converts to Islam, they cannot live among us anymore. We keep our identity strong." About three thousand have converted to Islam or are descendants of converts, yet still live nearby in the Kalash villages and maintain their language and many aspects of their ancient culture. By now, "sheikhs", or converts to Islam, make up more than half of the total Kalasha-speaking population.


title: Kalash people

text: For this reason, they are known in Chitral as "the Black Kafirs". Men have adopted the Pakistani shalwar kameez, while children wear small versions of adult clothing after the age of four.


title: Kalash people

text: In contrast to the surrounding Pakistani culture, the Kalasha do not in general separate males and females or frown on contact between the sexes. However, menstruating girls and women are sent to live in the "bashaleni", the village menstrual building, during their periods, until they regain their "purity". They are also required to give birth in the bashaleni. There is also a ritual restoring "purity" to a woman after childbirth which must be performed before a woman can return to her husband. The husband is an active participant in this ritual.


title: Kalash people

text: Girls are initiated into womanhood at an early age of four or five and married at fourteen or fifteen. If a woman wants to change husbands, she will write a letter to her prospective husband informing him of how much her current husband paid for her. This is because the new husband must pay double if he wants her.


title: Kalash people

text: Marriage by elopement is rather frequent, also involving women who are already married to another man. Indeed, wife-elopement is counted as one of the "great customs" ("ghōna dastūr") together with the main festivals. Wife-elopement may lead in some rare cases to a quasi-feud between clans until peace is negotiated by mediators, in the form of the double bride-price paid by the new husband to the ex-husband.


title: Kalash people

text: Kalash lineages ("kam") separate as marriageable descendants that have separated by over seven generations. A rite of "breaking agnation" ("tatbře čhin") marks that previous agnates ("tatbře") are now permissible affines ("därak" "clan partners"). Each "kam" has a separate shrine in the clan's "Jēṣṭak-hān", the temple to lineal or familial goddess "Jēṣṭak".


title: Kalash people

text: The historical religious practices of neighbouring Pahāṛi peoples of Nepal, Kashmir, Uttarakhand, and Himachal Pradesh are similar to those of the Kalash people in that they "ate meat, drank alcohol, and had shamans". In addition, the Pahāṛi people "had rules of lineage exogamy that produced a segmentary system closely resembling the Kalasha one".


title: Kalash people

text: The three main festivals (khawsáṅgaw) of the Kalash are the "Chilam Joshi" in middle of May, the "Uchau" in autumn, and the "Caumus" in midwinter. The pastoral god Sorizan protects the herds in Fall and Winter and is thanked at the winter festival, while Goshidai does so until the Pul festival (pũ. from *pūrṇa, full moon in Sept.) and is thanked at the Joshi (joṣi, žōši) festival in spring. Joshi is celebrated at the end of May each year. The first day of Joshi is "Milk Day", on which the Kalash offer libations of milk that have been saved for ten days prior to the festival.


title: Kalash people

text: The most important Kalash festival is the Chawmos (cawmōs, "ghona chawmos yat", Khowar "chitrimas" from *cāturmāsya, CDIAL 4742), which is celebrated for two weeks at winter solstice (c. 7–22 December), at the beginning of the month "chawmos mastruk". It marks the end of the year's fieldwork and harvest. It involves much music, dancing, and goats killed for consumption as food. It is dedicated to the god Balimain who is believed to visit from the mythical homeland of the Kalash, "Tsyam" (Tsiyam, tsíam), for the duration of the feast.


title: Kalash people

text: At "Chaumos", impure and uninitiated persons are not admitted; they must be purified by waving a fire brand over women and children and by a special fire ritual for men, involving a shaman waving juniper brands over the men. The 'old rules' of the gods (Devalog, dewalōk) are no longer in force, as is typical for year-end and carnival-like rituals. The main Chaumos ritual takes place at a Tok tree, a place called Indra's place, "indrunkot", or "indréyin". Indrunkot is sometimes believed to belong to Balumain's brother, In(dr), lord of cattle.


title: Kalash people

text: The men must be divided into two parties: the pure ones have to sing the well-honored songs of the past, but the impure sing wild, passionate, and obscene songs, with an altogether different rhythm. This is accompanied by a 'sex change': men dress as women, women as men (Balumain also is partly seen as female and can change between both forms at will).


title: Kalash people

text: At this crucial moment the pure get weaker, and the impure try to take hold of the (very pure) boys, pretend to mount them "like a hornless ram", and proceed in snake procession. At this point, the impure men resist and fight. When the "nagayrō" song with the response "han sarías" (from *samrīyate 'flows together', CDIAL 12995) is voiced, Balumain showers all his blessings and disappears. He gives his blessings to seven boys (representing the mythical seven of the eight Devalog who received him on arrival), and these pass the blessings on to all pure men.


title: Kalash people

text: In myth, Mahandeu had cheated Balumain from superiority, when all the gods had slept together (a euphemism) in the Shawalo meadow; therefore, he went to the mythical home of the Kalash in Tsiyam (tsíam), to come back next year like the Vedic Indra (Rigveda 10.86). If this had not happened, Balumain would have taught humans how to have sex as a sacred act. Instead, he could only teach them fertility songs used at the Chaumos ritual. He arrives from the west, the Bashgal valley, in early December, before solstice, and leaves the day after. He was at first shunned by some people, who were annihilated. He was, however, received by seven Devalog and they all went to several villages, such as Batrik village, where seven pure, young boys received him whom he took with him. Therefore, nowadays, one only sends men and older boys to receive him. Balumain is the typical culture hero. He told people about the sacred fire made from junipers, about the sowing ceremony for wheat that involved the blood of a small goat, and he asked for wheat tribute (hushak) for his horse. Finally, Balumain taught how to celebrate the winter festival. He was visible only during his first visit, now he is just felt to be present.


title: Kalash people

text: During the winter the Kalash play an inter-village tournament of Chikik Gal (ball game) in which villages compete against each other to hit a ball up and down the valley in deep snow.


title: Kalash people

text: Kalasha traditional music mainly consists of flute-like instruments (usually high in pitch), singing, poetry, clapping and the rhythmic playing of drums, which include the:


title: Kalash people

text: The Kalash people are primarily practitioners of the traditional Kalash religion, which is a sect of Ancient Hinduism however a sizeable minority have converted to Islam. According to Michael Witzel, the traditional Kalash religion shares "many of the traits of myths, ritual, society, and echoes many aspects of Hindu Rigvedic religion". Kalash culture and belief system differ from the various ethnic groups surrounding them but are similar to those practised by the neighbouring Nuristanis in northeast Afghanistan before their forced conversion to Islam.


title: Kalash people

text: Various writers have described the faith adhered to by the Kalash in different ways. Michael Witzel describes both pre-Vedic and Vedic influences on the form of ancient Hinduism adhered to by the Kalash.


title: Kalash people

text: The isolated Kalash have received strong religious influences from pre-Islamic Nuristan. Richard Strand, a prominent expert on languages of the Hindu Kush, spent three decades in the Hindukush. He noted the following about the pre-Islamic Nuristani religion:


title: Kalash people

text: "Before their conversion to Islâm the Nuristânis practised a form of ancient Hinduism, infused with accretions developed locally. They acknowledged a number of human-like deities who lived in the unseen Deity World (Kâmviri "d'e lu"; cf. Sanskrit "deva lok'a-")."


title: Kalash people

text: Noted linguist and Harvard professor Michael Witzel summarises the faith practised by the Kalash with this description:


title: Kalash people

text: Mahandeo is a deity whom the Kalash pray to and is known as "Mahadev" in other languages of the Indian subcontinent in modern Hinduism.


title: Kalash people

text: Certain deities were revered only in one community or tribe, but one was universally revered as the Creator: The ancient Hindu god Yama Râja called imr'o in Kâmviri. There is a creator god, appearing under various names, no longer as Father Heaven, but as lord of the nether world and of heaven: Imra


title: Kalash people

text: (*Yama Rājan), Māra 'death' (Nuristani) He (Yama rajan) is a creator deity called "Dezau" (ḍezáw) whose name is derived from Indo-European *dheig'h 'to form' (Kati Nuristani dez 'to create', CDIAL 14621); Dezauhe is also called by the Pashto term "Khodai". There are a number of other deities, semi-gods and spirits.


title: Kalash people

text: Michael Witzel claims there is an Indra-like figure, often actually called Indr (N., K.) or Varendr (K., waræn, werín, *aparendra). As in the Veda, the rainbow is called after him. When it thunders, Indra is playing Polo. Indra appears, however, in various forms and modern 'disguises', such as Sajigor (Sajigōr), also called Shura Verin. The shrine of Sajigor is in Rumbur valley.


title: Kalash people

text: Warén(dr-) or In Warīn is the mightiest and most dangerous god. Even the recently popular Balumain (baḷimaín, K.) has taken over some of Indra's features: He comes from the outside, riding on a horse. Balumain is a culture hero who taught how to celebrate the Kalash winter festival (Chaumos). He is connected with "Tsyam", the mythological homeland of the Kalash. Indr has a demon-like counterpart, Jeṣṭan, who appears on earth as a dog; the gods (Devalog, Dewalók) are his enemies and throw stones at him, the shooting stars.


title: Kalash people

text: Another god, Munjem Malék (munjem 'middle'; malék from Arab. malik 'king'), is the Lord of Middle Earth and killed, like the Indra, his father. "Mahandeo" (mahandéo, cf. the Nuristani Mon/Māndi), is the god of crops, and also the god of war and a negotiator with the highest deity.


title: Kalash people

text: "Jestak" (jéṣṭak, from *jyeṣṭhā, or *deṣṭrī?) is the goddess of domestic life, family and marriage. Her lodge is the women's house (Jeṣṭak Han). "Dezalik" (ḍizálik), the sister of "Dezau" is the goddess of childbirth, the hearth, and of life force; she protects children and women. She is similar to the Nirmali (Indo-Iranian *nirmalikā). She is also responsible for the Bashaleni lodge.


title: Kalash people

text: There also is a general pattern of belief in mountain fairies Suchi (súči), who help in hunting and killing enemies, and the Varōti (called vātaputrī in Sanskrit), their violent male partners of Suchi, reflecting the later Vedic (and typical medieval Kashmiri) distinction between Apsaras and Gandharva. They live in the high mountains, such as Mount Kailash like "Tirich Mir", but in late autumn they descend to the mountain meadows. The Jach (j.ac.) are a separate category of female spirits of the soil or of special places, fields, and mountain pastures.


title: Kalash people

text: In line with Ancient Hinduism, the Kalasha people believe in one God (known as Brahman in both the pre and post-Vedic periods) with reverence to minor 'gods' (Deva) or more aptly known as celestial beings. They also use some Arabic and Persian words to refer to God.


title: Kalash people

text: Krumai is the goddess of the mountain Tirich Mir. She appears in the form of a wild goat, and she is associated with childbirth.


title: Kalash people

text: In one legend, she disturbed the other gods, and was chased by Imra, who threw her into a fast river. Krumai jumped up the river and ran up the cliff, causing the cliff's shape with her hooves. She revealed her true form and prepared a feast for the other gods, and they accepted her into their pantheon.


title: Kalash people

text: These deities have shrines and altars throughout the valleys, where they frequently receive goat sacrifices. In 1929, as Georg Morgenstierne testifies, such rituals were still carried out by Kalash priests, "ištikavan" 'priest' (from ištikhék 'to praise a god'). This institution has since disappeared but there still is the prominent one of shamans (dehar). Witzel writes that "In Kalash ritual, the deities are seen, as in Vedic ritual (and in Hindu Pūjā), as temporary visitors." Mahandeo shrines are a wooden board with four carved horse heads (the horse being sacred to Kalash) extending out, in 1929 still with the effigy of a human head inside holes at the base of these shrines while the altars of Sajigor are of stone and are under old juniper, oak and cedar trees.


title: Kalash people

text: Horses, goats and sheep were sacrificed. Wine is a sacred drink of Indr, who owns a vineyard (Indruakun in the Kafiristani wama valley contained both a sacred vineyard and shrine (Idol and altar below a great juniper tree) along with 4 large vates carved out of rocks)—that he defends against invaders. Kalash rituals are of the potlatch type; by organising rituals and festivals (up to 12; the highest called biramōr) one gains fame and status. As in the Veda, the former local artisan class was excluded from public religious functions.


title: Kalash people

text: There is a special role for prepubescent boys, who are treated with special awe, combining pre-sexual behaviour and the purity of the high mountains, where they tend goats for the summer month. Purity is very much stressed and centered around altars, goat stables, the space between the hearth and the back wall of houses and in festival periods; the higher up in the valley, the more pure the location.


title: Kalash people

text: By contrast, women (especially during menstruation and giving birth), as well as death and decomposition and the outside (Muslim) world are impure, and, just as in the Veda and Avesta, many cleansing ceremonies are required if impurity occurs.


title: Kalash people

text: Crows represent the ancestors, and are frequently fed with the left hand (also at tombs), just as in the Veda. The dead are buried above ground in ornamented wooden coffins. Wooden effigies are erected at the graves of wealthy or honoured people.


title: Kalash people

text: Located in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan the Kalash people live in three isolated mountain valleys: Bumburet (Kalash: '), Rumbur ('), and Birir (""). These valleys open towards the Kunar River, some 20 km south (downstream) of Chitral,


title: Kalash people

text: The Bumburet and Rumbur valleys join at (1,640 m), joining the Kunar at the village of Ayrun (, 1,400 m) and they each rise to passes connecting to Afghanistan's Nuristan Province at about 4,500 m.


title: Kalash people

text: The Birir Valley opens towards the Kunar at the village of Gabhirat (, 1,360 m). A pass connects the Birir and Bumburet valleys at about 3,000 m. The Kalash villages in all three valleys are located at a height of approximately 1,900 to 2,200 m.


title: Kalash people

text: The region is extremely fertile, covering the mountainside in rich oak forests and allowing for intensive agriculture, although most of the work is done not by machinery, but by hand. The powerful and dangerous rivers that flow through the valleys have been harnessed to power grinding mills and to water the farm fields through the use of ingenious irrigation channels. Wheat, maize, grapes (generally used for wine), apples, apricots and walnuts are among the many foodstuffs grown in the area, along with surplus fodder used for feeding the livestock.


title: Kalash people

text: The climate is typical of high elevation regions without large bodies of water to regulate the temperature. The summers are mild and agreeable with average maximum temperatures between . Winters, on the other hand, can be very cold, with average minimum temperatures between . The average yearly precipitation is .


title: Kalash people

text: Genetic analysis of Y-chromosome DNA (Y-DNA) by Firasat, Khaliq, "et al". (2007) on Kalash individuals found high and diverse frequencies of these Y-DNA Haplogroups: L3a (22.7%), H1* (20.5%), R1a (18.2%), G (18.2%), J2 (9.1%), R* (6.8%), R1* (2.3%), and L* (2.3%). The relative lack of Steppe-related Y haplogroups, as well as the abundance of South Asian paternal ancestry, stands in contrast to other ethnic groups of Chitral region.


title: Kalash people

text: Genetic analysis of Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) by Quintana-Murci, Chaix, "et al". (2004) stated that "the western Eurasian presence in the Kalash population reaches a frequency of 100%" with the most prevalent mtDNA Haplogroups being U4 (34%), R0 (23%), U2e (16%), and J2 (9%). The study asserted that no East or South Asian lineages were detected and that the Kalash population is composed of maternal western Eurasian lineages (as the associated lineages are rare or absent in the surrounding populations). The authors concluded that a western Eurasian maternal origin for the Kalash is likely.


title: Kalash people

text: A study of ASPM gene variants by Mekel-Bobrov, Gilbert, "et al". (2005) found that the Kalash people of Pakistan have among the highest rate of the newly evolved ASPM Haplogroup D, at 60% occurrence of the approximately 6,000 year-old allele. The Kalash also have been shown to exhibit the exceedingly rare 19 allele value at autosomal marker D9S1120 at a frequency higher than the majority of other world populations which do have it.


title: Kalash people

text: A study by Rosenberg, Mahajan, "et al". (2006) employing genetic testing among the Kalash population concluded that they are a distinct (and perhaps aboriginal) population with only minor contributions from outside peoples. In one cluster analysis the Kalash formed one cluster, the others being Africans, Europeans, Middle Easterners, South Asians, East Asians, Melanesians, and Native Americans.


title: Kalash people

text: A study by Li, Absher, "et al". (2008) with geneticists using more than 650,000 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) samples from the Human Genome Diversity Panel, found deep rooted lineages that could be distinguished in the Kalash. The results showed them clustered within the Central / South Asian populations The study also showed the Kalash to be a separated group, having no membership within European populations.


title: Kalash people

text: Lazaridis et al. (2016) further notes that the demographic impact of steppe related populations on South Asia was substantial. According to the results, the Mala, a south Indian Dalit population with minimal Ancestral North Indian (ANI) along the 'Indian Cline' have nevertheless ~ 18 % steppe-related ancestry, showing the strong influence of ANI ancestry in all populations of India. The Kalash of Pakistan are inferred to have ~ 50 % steppe-related ancestry, with the rest being of Iranian Neolithic, Onge and Han.


title: Kalash people

text: According to Narasimhan, Patterson, "et al". (2019), the Kalash were found to possess the highest ANI ancestry among the population samples analysed in the study.


title: Kalash people

text: A study by Ayub, Mezzavilla, "et al". (2015) found no evidence of their claimed descent from soldiers of Alexander. The study, however, found that they shared a significant portion of genetic drift with MA-1, a 24,000 year-old Paleolithic Siberian hunter-gatherer fossil and the Yamnaya culture. The researchers thus believe they may be an ancient north-drifted Eurasian stock from which some of the modern European and Middle Eastern population also descends. Their mitochondrial lineages are predominantly from western Eurasia. Due to their uniqueness, the researchers believed that they were the earliest group to separate from the ancestral stock of the modern population of the Indian subcontinent estimated around 11,800 years ago.


title: Kalash people

text: The estimates by Qamar, Ayub, "et al". (2002) of 20%–40% Greek admixture in the Kalash has been dismissed by Kivisild, Rootsi, "et al". (2003) stating that:


title: Kalash people

text: "Discover" magazine genetics blogger R. Khan has repeatedly cited information indicating that the Kalash are part of the South Asian genetic continuum, with no Macedonian ethnic admixture, albeit shifted towards the Iranian people.


title: Kalash people

text: A study by Firasat, Khaliq, "et al". (2006) concluded that the Kalash lack typical Greek Haplogroups such as Haplogroup 21 (E-M35).


title: Kalash people

text: Historically a goat herding and subsistence farming people, the Kalasha are moving towards a cash-based economy whereas previously wealth was measured in livestock and crops. Tourism now makes up a large portion of the economic activities of the Kalash. To cater to these new visitors, small shops and guest houses have been erected, providing new luxury for visitors of the valleys. People attempting to enter the valleys have to pay a toll to the Pakistani government, which is used to preserve and care for the Kalash people and their culture.


title: Kalash people

text: After building the first road which could be driven on by 4wD vehicles in the Kalasha valleys in the mid-1970s the people are engaged in other professions including tourism and joining the military, police and border force.


title: Kalash people

text: The Kalash are considered to be an indigenous people of Asia, with their ancestors migrating to Afghanistan from a distant place in South Asia which the Kalash call "Tsiyam" in their folk songs and epics. This site is said to be near Jalalabad and Lughman according to Morgenstierne.


title: Kalash people

text: Per their traditions, the Väi are refugees who fled from Kama to Waigal after the attack of the Ghazanavids. Per the traditions of the Gawâr, the Väi took the land from them and they migrated to the Kunar Valley. According to Strand, the Askun-speaking Kalash probably later migrated from Nakara in Laghman to lower Waigal. The Čima-nišei people took over their current settlements from the indigenous people. The people Vânt are refugees who fled from Tregam due to invasions. According to Kalsha traditions, some of the Väi who ritually hunted a golden bird every year at a place presently called Râmrâm in Kunar, settled there after failing to find their quarry and became the speakers of the Gawar-Bati language.


title: Kalash people

text: Shah Nadir Rais formed the Rais Dynasty of Chitral. The Rais carried out an invasion of Southern Chitral which was back then under Kalasha rule. Kalasha traditions record severe persecution and massacres at the hands of Rais. They were forced to flee the Chitral valley and those that remained while still practising their faith had to pay tribute in kind or with Corvée labour. The term "Kalasha" was used to denote all the "Kafir" people in general; however, the Kalasha of Chitral weren't considered to be "true Kafirs" by the Kati people who were interviewed about the term in 1835.


title: Kalash people

text: The Kalash were ruled by the Mehtar of Chitral from the 18th century onward. They have enjoyed a cordial relationship with the major ethnic group of Chitral, the Kho who are Sunni and Ismaili Muslims. The multi-ethnic and multi-religious State of Chitral ensured that the Kalash were able to live in peace and harmony and practice their culture and religion. The Kalasha were protected by the Chitralis from Afghan Raids, who also generally did not allow missionaries in Kalash. They allowed for the Kalasha to look after their matters themselves. The Nuristani, their neighbours in the region of former Kafiristan west of the border, were converted, on pain of death, to Islam by Amir Abdur-Rahman of Afghanistan in the 1890s and their land was renamed.


title: Kalash people

text: Prior to that event, the people of Kafiristan had paid tribute to the Mehtar of Chitral and accepted his suzerainty. This came to an end with the Durand Agreement when Kafiristan fell under the Afghan sphere of Influence.


title: Kalash people

text: Prior to the 1940s the Kalash had five valleys, the current three as well as Jinjeret kuh and Urtsun to the south. The last Kalash person in Jinjeret kuh was Mukadar, who passing away in the early 1940s found himself with no one to perform the old rites. The people of Birir valley just north of Jinjeret came to the rescue with a moving funeral procession that is still remembered fondly by the valleys now converted Kalash, firing guns and beating drums as they made their way up the valley to celebrate his passing according to the old custom.


title: Kalash people

text: The Kalash of Urtsun valley had a culture with a large Kam influence from the Bashgul Valley. It was known for its shrines to Waren and Imro, the Urtsun version of Dezau, which were visited and photographed by Georg Morgenstierne in 1929 and were built in the Bashgul Valley style unlike those of other Kalash valleys. The last Shaman was one Azermalik who had been the Dehar when George Scott Robertson visited in the 1890s. His daughter Mranzi who was still alive into the 1980s was the last Urtsun valley Kalash practising the old religion. She had married into the Birir Valley Kalash and left the valley in the late 1930s when the valley had converted to Islam. Unlike the Kalash of the other valleys the women of Urtsun did not wear the Kup'as headdress but had their own P'acek, a headress worn at casual times, and the famous horned headress of the Bashgul valley, which was worn at times of ritual and dance. George Scott Robertson put forth the view that the dominant Kafir races like the Wai were refugees who fled to the region. The Kafirs are historically recorded for the first time in 1339.


title: Kalash people

text: Being a very small minority in a Muslim region, the Kalash have increasingly been targeted by some proselytising Muslims. Some Muslims have encouraged the Kalash people to read the Koran so that they would convert to Islam. The challenges of modernity and the role of outsiders and NGOs in changing the environment of the Kalash valleys have also been mentioned as real threats for the Kalash.


title: Kalash people

text: During the 1970s, local Muslims and militants tormented the Kalash because of the difference in religion and multiple Taliban attacks on the tribe lead to the death of many, their numbers shrank to just two thousand.


title: Kalash people

text: However, protection from the government led to a decrease in violence by locals, a decrease in Taliban attacks, and a great reduction in the child mortality rate. The last two decades saw a rise in numbers.


title: Kalash people

text: In recent times the Kalash and Ismailis have been threatened with death by the Taliban, the threats caused outrage and horrified citizens throughout Pakistan and the Pakistani military responded by fortifying the security around Kalash villages, the Supreme Court also took judicial intervention to protect the Kalash under both the ethnic minorities clause of the constitution and Pakistan's Sharia law penal code which declares it illegal for Muslims to criticise and attack other religions on grounds of personal belief. The Supreme Court termed the Taliban's threats against Islamic teachings. Imran Khan condemned the forced conversions threat as un-Islamic.


title: Kalash people

text: In 2017, Wazir Zada became the first Kalasha man to win a seat in the Provincial Assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He became the member of the Provincial Assembly (PA) on a minority reserved seat.


title: Kalash people

text: In November 2019, the Kalash people were visited by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, as part of their Pakistan tour and they saw a traditional dance performance there.


title: Kalash people

text: The Kalash people are often referred to as Kalash Kafirs by the local Muslims and have been subjected to increasing incidents of killings, rape and seizure of their lands. As per the Kalash, forced conversions, robberies, and attacks endanger their culture and faith. Kalasha gravestones are desecrated and the symbolic carved horses on Kalasha altars are destroyed.


title: Jacob Bertrand

text: Jacob Bertrand (born March 6, 2000) is an American actor who began his career as a child actor appearing in the 2009 film "Duress" and playing guest roles on television series such as "The Cape" and "The Middle". He is known for playing the titular character in the 2014 Disney XD series "Kirby Buckets," and Jack Malloy in the 2016 Disney Channel Original Movie "The Swap". Since 2018, Bertrand has played the series regular role of Eli "Hawk" Moskowitz in the YouTube Premium and Netflix series "Cobra Kai".


title: Jacob Bertrand

text: Prior to his work for Disney, Bertrand had several roles in Nickelodeon productions. He was a regular on the sitcom "Marvin Marvin", voiced the main character Gil in Season 2 of the animated series "Bubble Guppies", appeared as a minor character on the teen sitcom "iCarly", and co-starred as Charlie on the fantasy-comedy film "Jinxed". Since 2018 he has appeared in the YouTube Premium/Netflix television series "Cobra Kai".


title: Gérard Louis-Dreyfus

text: Gérard C. Louis-Dreyfus (21 June 1932 – 16 September 2016), also known as William, was a French-American businessman. His net worth was estimated at $3.4 billion by "Forbes" in 2006. He was the chairman of Louis Dreyfus Energy Services and the great grandson of Léopold Louis-Dreyfus, founder of Louis Dreyfus Group. He is the father of actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus.


title: Gérard Louis-Dreyfus

text: Louis-Dreyfus was born in Paris in 1932. His great-grandfather Léopold Louis-Dreyfus founded the Louis Dreyfus Group in 1851. His mother, Dolores Porges (née Neubauer; 1905–1987), was American-born, the daughter of a Brazilian father and a Mexican mother. His father, Pierre Louis-Dreyfus, (1908–2011), was a Frenchman who headed the Louis Dreyfus group. His father, who was Jewish, fought in the French Resistance during World War II; his mother was Catholic. He has one sister, Dominique Cornwell. In 1940, Louis-Dreyfus moved to the United States with his mother after her divorce from Pierre. By 1945, he had adopted the name William as a symbol of his integration into American society.


title: Gérard Louis-Dreyfus

text: After graduating from Duke University and Duke University School of Law, Louis-Dreyfus worked at the law firm of Dewey Ballantine, New York, before joining Louis Dreyfus in 1965.


title: Gérard Louis-Dreyfus

text: Louis-Dreyfus was chairman of the Poetry Society of America from 1998 to 2008. He had poems published in publications such as The Hudson Review. Louis-Dreyfus died at his home in Mount Kisco, New York on 16 September 2016 at the age of 84. His daughter Julia dedicated her 2016 Emmy win to her late father.


title: Gérard Louis-Dreyfus

text: In October 2012, Dreyfus published a full page ad in "The New York Times" titled "A Call To Arms To The Wealthy To Protect The Right To Vote" encouraging wealthy people in the United States to fight voter suppression. Dreyfus himself donated $1 million.


title: Gérard Louis-Dreyfus

text: Louis-Dreyfus was married twice. In 1955, he married Judith LeFever; they had one daughter, actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus (born January 1961) before divorcing in 1962.


title: Gérard Louis-Dreyfus

text: In 1965, he married Phyllis Blankenship; they had two daughters, both social workers: Phoebe Émilie Dominique Louis-Dreyfus Eavis (born May 1968) and Emma R. Louis-Dreyfus (born on 16 June 1974; died on 13 August 2018). In 1996, Phoebe married English financial journalist Peter Eavis at St. Matthew's Episcopal Church in Bedford, New York. He also had a son, Raphael Penteado.


title: Gérard Louis-Dreyfus

text: One cousin is Jean Louis-Dreyfus, grandson of the family business founder, Léopold Louis-Dreyfus. Another cousin is Robert Louis-Dreyfus, the former chief executive officer of Adidas and ex-Chairman of French football club Olympique de Marseille.