under: EXPO Day
The literary piece that had been analyzed by the members of the Colombia Expo group can be has no official designation in the website, but it can be aptly titled as The Origin of Colombian Emeralds. Judging by the heading, it is inferred that the text is a legend. Written by the Muzo Indians, the date of its creation can be approximated sometime around the Age of Exploration due to the parallelism of certain major aspects to elements found in the Genesis, namely as to how the first human beings were created. This, along with the idea of Zarbí and how ‘His blood was converted into a torrent of water that flooded Muzo’s land’ and how Fura’s ‘screams of pain perforated the echoes of the silent jungle and broke into millions of multicolor butterflies’ as his ‘torrent of tears were transformed by the sun into a mountain rage of emeralds’. Overall, it is obvious that the story is centered around the genesis and beginning of the many things created shortly after the beginning of life and time itself.
Since most Pre-Colombian Indian tribes are pagan and worshipped nature, it can be inferred the Spanish conquistadors had already discovered South America, and had begun spreading Catholicism. There are discrepancies as to how these facts are presented, but those errors may be attributed to the miscommunication between the Indians and the Spanish. Possibly even the translations, as the story was found in Spanish and translated from that. Many simple miscommunications could be made through a translation as this. For example, in the end of the story, it talks about Tena’s death and Fura’s pain but the translation from Spanish verbs makes it seem that Tena was the one who’s screams became butterflies and who’s tears became emeralds, while, in actuality, it is Fura’s, but through Spanish translators, the story appeared to say ‘she’ instead of the intended ‘he’.
Through this part in the story, it is clear that disloyalty is frowned upon, but in the end, all life is loved. Just like Fura was furious that Tena betrayed him. And in the end, Zarbí realizes the troubles he brought to Tena and Fura. It is clear that the people in Colombia believe in faith, faithfulness and loyalty towards others. They definitely believe in punishment as a result of breaking faith or becoming traitorous. However, they also appear open and inviting towards strangers. Just as Tena was open to the newcomer/stranger Zarbí. This may also be misleading due to the fact that Tena also fell in love with Zarbí and ended up having an affair. It is not absolutely clear that Tena was in love from the moment she saw Zarbí but maybe she fell in love after meeting him and accepting him into her life.
Throughout the entire tale, there are scattered clues as to the culture and beliefs of the Muzo Indians. Firstly, it can be said with conviction that they practiced a monotheistic religion since only one god or deity, Are, was mentioned in the story. Despite his status as the creator of the first humans Are was believed not to be omnipotent as the other gods in other major religions today. Furthermore, he was thought of as a gargantuan male, a physical being not a spiritual entity as displayed in the quote, “…great creator of the territory and the Muzo’s land was formed by a fabulous and aerial God… walking through with slow movements, the creation of mountains and valleys took place depending on the immensity of the space and the speed of his movements…” In fact, the Muzo Indians may have been convinced that even humans, male particularly in the story, also have the power over matter as it can be found in the quote, “… Tena sought his revenge and converted Zarbí into a naked rocky terrain over a long distance of land…” In this tale, Tena, a mere human, was able to transform another human being into a mountain range. This aspect of the story may have been influenced by the witch doctors within the tribe of the Muzo Indians since they were believed to possess magic powers, and by allowing Tena to have superhuman capabilities; their position of regard in the tribe would strengthen. Secondly, fidelity between man and wife must have been an extremely vital and adhered to rule within the Muzo Indian community as it was in the legend. After the creation of Tena and Fura, Are had only lain down one law that the couple should obey no matter must. This situation is very much like the one between God and Adam and Eve in the Bible. Again, the great influence of Christianity can be seen in the story. Lastly, the Muzo Indians thought Are to be a harsh, yet somewhat forgiving as displayed in these excerpts, “Love had to be unique and exclusive between each one. This rule had to be ordered; otherwise, the infidelity would become for both into oldness and death…” and “Fura and Tena were finally forgiven by the god Are, and were put to a “permanent guard of storms…” These citations states that Are is cruel enough as to punish both people even if only one of them commits the infraction, and magnanimous enough to forgive them in the end.
The climate is tropical and life there is difficult do to the common storms and rainfall.This is shown through the description of the creation of the floods. Also, it is clear that there are nearby mountains, that would clearly keep the rain clouds above the forrested land at the base of the mountains. The story does not mention anything about clothing but we inferred that the cloths were made from animal hide and other natural resources found in their environment. The reason we came to this conclusion was because in the story, Tena, Fura and Zarbí were clearly nomads. Zarbí in particular as he was the one wandering the forest before he was found by Tena. This nomadic style of living would clearly rise the need for carrying weapons and obtaining proper hunting skills for survival.
This legend is very roughly translated from the Spanish language as evident in the choice of adjectives to describe particular nouns, and the way in which sentences are structured. But the language or dialect used in the story was more likely to be a Muzo Indian dialect rather than Spanish just by observing the characters’ name.
The primitives and the limited knowledge of the creator of this legend can be observed from the story. The folklore straightforwardly stated that the first two human beings in the world, but presented another character, Zarbí, who was spawned from a rare race, implying that he had numerous ancestors which contradicts the statement about Tena and Fura being the first humans that walked the earth. More plot holes can be seen throughout the text, indicating the willingness of the creator of this legend to disregard the line between reality and fantasy just to explain the unaccountable phenomenon of the Colombian emeralds, and educate your marriage couples about the importance of fidelity.
Source: Delgadillo, Pable. “Legend and History of Colombian Emeralds.” Esmerald. 15 May 2008 .
under: Language Arts
Bogotá, Colombia – The surrender this week of a leading commander of Colombia’s leftist rebels is the latest in a string of devastating blows to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) that has been fighting to take power for more than 40 years.
to read the rest of this article click here
under: Current events
Bogotá, Colombia – The surrender this week of a leading commander of Colombia’s leftist rebels is the latest in a string of devastating blows to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) that has been fighting to take power for more than 40 years.
to read the rest of this article click here
under: Current events
Kayla McDonald’s Analysis on Informational Text about Colombia
Killer Sound
On April 28, 2006, Kevin Sites, journalist and author of the yahoo blog site, ‘In The Hot Zone’ traveled to Colombia to investigate the effects of the war on drugs. In this article, he tells about a man named Cesar Lopez, who, after witnessing a bombing at a club, realized that he saw a soldier holding a gun the same way he was holding his guitar. Subsequently, Cesar decided to turn ‘objects of destructiveness into objects of constructiveness’ and build his Winchester Lever Action Rifle into Read More…
under: Language Arts
Fact book page for P.E.
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Country: Colombia |
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Group Members: Reed, Miguel, Mari Toni, Kayla |
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Practical Sport / Activity associated with the above country: Salsa |
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History of the sport activity: The Salsa is a dance that was thought to be evolved from the big band swing era. Salsa dancing began in Cuba and then spread across the rest of Latin America. Eventually, it was incorporated into many other dance styles. Now, across Latin America, there are many types of salsa dancing. However all have originated from the Cuban Salsa. For example, Colombian Salsa restricts movement of the upper body and seems tenser, while Cuban Salsa, like swing, is very free-flowing.
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Factors making the sport or activity relevant to the country: it is one of if not the most popular dances in Colombia. This dance is originally a Spanish dance but when the Spanish controlled Colombia the Colombians adopted it and made it their own. The Colombian vision of the salsa has more spice to it and is known as the Colombian salsa swing or lingo. This version is unique to Colombia that’s why it is relevant to this country.
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| Social factors to the country (For example: number of participants, professional and amateur leagues, finance, government influences): RULES: The rules- Each couple must consist of one male and one female. The number of Competitors at each of the preliminary heats is strictly limited. Places will be allocated on a first come first served basis. If no prelims, deadline for entry to the actual final will be Saturday 3rd December. After the preliminary rounds are over, contestants eligible for the Final round must not change partners. The judges will appreciate the diversity of salsa dancing; therefore any style of salsa will be permitted i.e. Cuban, LA, New York, on1 or on2 etc. Competitors must show proper etiquette during all stages of the contest by refraining from distracting behavior as other competitors are dancing. Judges decisions are FINAL. Salsa champs reserve the right for any Photography or filming to be permitted on the Final day. Which is held at the Leas Cliff Hall, Folk stone.· For safety measure, Air steps (please see “Definitions” above for accuracy of terms) will not be allowed in the preliminary rounds.· During the final round Air steps (please see “Definitions” above for accuracy of terms) will be allowed. Please note that no penalty points will occur if contestants do not execute Air Steps. Dips, Drop and/ or Leans (please see “Definitions” above for accuracy of terms) of any kind will be permitted with no limitation in both the preliminary rounds and the final round. S.S.C reserves the right to change the programmed and competition if necessary without consultation. The event will be recorded by film, video and photograph; these may be used for S.S.C promotional purposes without any obligation. S.S.C will not accept responsibility for loss or injury to persons or possessions in relation to this event. There will be no refund for couples who pull out of this event after 3rd December 2006. |
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under: Uncategorized
Mari Toni’s Analysis of a Fictional Text about Colombia
Posted by: toni61 | May 19, 2008 | 1 Comment |Individual Analysis of Fictional Text from Colombia
By: Mari Toni Fernandez – Block G
The text I have analyzed, Origin of Colombian Emeralds, is formatted in such a way that it is presented as a legend. First told by the native Indians that inhabited the eastern branch of the Colombian Andes in Muzo, it can be inferred that the date of the creation of the story can be placed in somewhere in between the commencement of the Age of Exploration, in which European conquistadors begun to travel the world, and before the entire Central America was completely colonized Read More…
Mari Toni’s Analysis of an Informational Text about Colombia
Posted by: toni61 | May 14, 2008 | No Comment |Analysis of an Informational Text about a Country
By: Mari Toni Fernandez – Block G
The text I have analyzed, Q&A: Colombia’s Civil Conflict, is structured as a news article, answering frequently question regarding the turbulent political atmosphere in Colombia. Posted in the official website of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), there was no name of the writer accompanying the article, but presumably the author is a staff journalist. And because of that, it is safe to assume that the journalist is from outside the country. This information is significant because the writer’s role as an outsider would imply that the purpose of this article is to inform the public and Read More…
under: Language Arts
Songs of Love, Peace and Land Mines
Phrase: “A Dios Le Pido” [I Ask of God]
Artist
Dying for a better world
Insignificant to many, but famous to some
Outlying in the vast world
Sings about beliefs of
under: Social Studies
