Young Writers Society

Hey, Slavs

Hey, Slavs,
The spirit of our grandfathers is still alive,
As long as the hearts of their sons
Beat for the people.

Lives, lives the Slavic spirit,
It will live for ages!
The Hell's abyss threatens in vain,
The fire of thunder is in vain.

Let all above us now
be shattered by a storm.
Cliffs crack, oaks break,
Let the earth quake.

We're standing firmly like mountains,
Damned be the traitor of his homeland!


I am proclaiming a pan-Slavic movement within YWS. If enough support comes through here, I may opt for a usergroup. But rather than make one right away and just have it dead, taking up Nate's space, this shall be the Pan-Slavic thread of YWS.
So...yeah! Basically this is a gathering of Slavs and Slavic admirers (eg. those who wish to learn more of the Slavic peoples, nations, histories etc.). Slavic haters...well I can't stop you from posting rants here can I?! Haha. So, introduce yourselves, which Slavic state constitutes as your blood-nation, which Slavic nations you admire so-on so-forth. It perhaps is a well known fact that all Slavs experienced a common experience-Communism (though the Jugoslavs were the odd ones out...). Don't be dettered!

I might be slavic... My mother's grandfather was a travelling circus clown, and would never say where he was from. He would always say "we are Americans now."
His name was Greenfield, or something similar. Definately a white guy that was not brittish.

Ahh, interesting Lama! Perhaps Greenfield was an adopted name? I can't really help you, as there isn't much info to go on!


I suppose I shall post what I didn't have time to yesterday:
As far as I know, and now perhaps a good handful of you, I am half Croatian and Slovenian. My heart, though, goes out to all Slavic nations. Which is why I'm a pan-Slav enthusiast (duh!)! My one wish is for enmities between Slavic states to be vanquished, despite the past, and reconcile. First and foremost I want the Croats and Serbs to reconcile. That means putting the grievances of WW2 and the recent Yugoslavian war behind. It's too easy to think that once the generation that lived through them die, reconcilition shall be achieved. And it's laughable to think that just because the states of Serbia and Croatia 'apologize' that the people shall follow suite. Just bring up such a topic to either peoples. No. There has recently been a large surge of post-war Croatian nationalism. A strange phenomenon indeed! They're actually selling Ustasha clothing and memorabilia (including pictures of the Croatian Ustash facist leader Ante Pavelic) at Church picnics. I have one, in fact, that says
Za Dom! Spremni! (For the Fatherland! Ready!) the equivalent of Sieg Heil! (Hail Victory). Nostalgism only, my dear YWSers! I don't adorn it much beyond Croatian gatherings. Ah, hear me rambling!

A little history of the Pan-Slavic movement:

The founder of the Pan-Slavic ideology was a 16th century Croat by the name of Vinko Pribojevic(h). A Dalmation Croat born on the island of Hvar (a beautiful island I might add!). His speech on the 'Origin and Glory of Slavs' is basically what brought the ideology to light.
Juraj(Yurai) Krizhanitch, a Catholic Croat missionary of the 17th century, was a Pan-Slavist. He went to Russian in an attempt to unite the Western and Eastern churches, a noble attempt, and was sent to Siberia as a result. He told the Czar that Slavs needed to be the counter to Germanization.
The first Pan-Slavic convention was in 1848, in Prague, when Europe was rocked by revolts. This was headed and attended by mostly Czechs. Nearing and during WW1, Russia used Pan-Slavism as a tool of Russian Imperialism. This would re-emerge during the Soviet era. The Pan-Slavic colours are Blue-White-Red (not necessarily in that order); the Pan-Slavic anthem is Hey, Slavs (seen in the first post). It was originally under the title "Hey, Slovaks" as it was written by a Slovak in the 19th century. It was the national anthem of Yugoslavia.

Probably german or polish, if anything. Probably not adopted, though its possible.

Well Greenfield sounds English...Unless of course there was a father Greenfield ^^;;

Probably because he came through Ellis Island. He was definately not english, however.

Yay! My family is Czech! There are actually still Frantas and Spachiks (sp?) still living here in Mt. Vernon. I have a cousin in the Czech Villiage near Cedar Rapids, I think.

Anyway, my grandmother used to sing this sweet song to me about a mouse that runs to hide and it ends up being your armpit and then you get tickled. But I never learned it. Sad me! I wish I could find it.

I look like a Slav. Short, white, roundish...that's me!

I'm a big mix of things, i'm German, Russian, Italian, and so on, but i'm also Polish and Czech.

Grandmother's maiden name is Simon, but she's from Germany. Grandfather's name is Fritz, but that's also German.
Other Grandfather's name is Frelich, but i'm not sure what that is.

What countries are considered Slavic?

(Eastern Europe, Mesh - da? In no particular order, off the top of my head: Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Czech Republic, Ukraine, Croatia, Slovakia, Romania, Russia, Hungary...two... more? I think. Pardon me losing them. 0o' Tired.)

Russian here, Bjorn. Leastways, very much from my mother. ^_^ Ya zavut, Imp...ee ya ruskaya. Bloody transliteration.

Heehee, just checking. I'm Russian, Ukrainian and Polish (for sure), and then it's either Lativan or Lithuanian, or maybe both. No-one really seems to know on that count.

Parts of Germany are considered Slavic.

LamaLama 1st post - Ah, I see. Maybe it's a bad thing, I mean, the whole emphasis of the American nationality and American state and so-forth, and the Americanization of immigrants. That would impede on the ideology of the liberal age of today. And maybe it's also a good thing, seeing as the country would be divided by many different ethnic groups-it certainly sometimes shows in gang violence. Certainly further back in time things weren't as liberal, and 'liberalism' back then would seem, in many cases, like conservatism today My cousin still has his Croatian passport. New laws will require him to get a Canadian one soon, but for the apprx. 16 years he's lived here, he retained a Croatian passport. Sorry, rambling. Maybe it was an Anglicization of his former name?: Zelenopolje? Although I've certainly never heard a surname like that!... And I've heard strange and stranger... Zelengaj maybe... My mother's maiden name is Zelko... But I'm not sure if the root(:lol:) of it is zelen(green).

Galatea: Ah, Czech! Lucky you! Your near ancestors held the first Pan-Slav convention. And from what I hear Prague is a wonderful city. I'm certainly going there. My last year English teacher is Czech. In fact, she was born and lived there until she was 6-7 I think. Her first name is like...Manushka or something like that..... Have you realized it yet? She's an immigrant...and she's an English teacher! And you'd never know she wasn't born and lived in Canada most of her childhood. That perfect and accent free her English is. Boy was she a tough marker, and yet I felt emancipated by that fact. Not very many teachers truly mark as they 'should'. Many teachers are lax or lenient, and while it is good at times, it makes for a lax and lenient future... I'll this with a question, Galatea. Does the word 'mish' ring a bell?

Nai: Hrrm. For 'Frelich' it all depends wether the 'lich' is German pronounciation (Fre-LICK) or Slav pron. (Fre-LITCH). However it certainly sounds German to me.

Imp: Hungarians are actually, and suprisingly (given their encirclement by Slavic states, and Romania) related to the Finns and those of the Baltic States. Hungarian falls under the Finno-Uguric language group. But I do much prefer Finnish over Hungarian, the latter sounding much cruder to me than the more musical Finnish Lithuania is considered a Baltic state, meaning their ancestors were Baltic peoples. Latvians are also descended from the Baltic tribes, and related to the Finns and Lapps. I give it to you only because during Soviet hegemony many Russians settled in the area-the Baltic states don't very much enjoy Russia, and don't get me started on Finland (after all it was allied with Germany in the Second WW just to get back at Russia); and the Latvian language has heavy Slavic/Russian influence (just look/listen to it-I recommend Skyforger!).

Which brings me to Mesh: The following are states that are entirely ethnically, or mostly ethnically, or historically Slavic, and to make it easier, I shall break them up in their three major and apprx. divisions: South-Slavic: Slovenia (also considered 'West' and/or Central Slavic', part due to nearly a millenia of Austrian rule), Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia (not to be confused with the ancient Grecian state, once holding hegemony over a large part of the Middle-East [Alexander...]), Bulgaria (Slavicised and Christianized upon their arrival to the Balkans, previously Islamic);
West or Central Slavic: Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland;
East Slavic: Ukraine, Belorussiya ("White Russia" [Belgorod, Russia "White City; Belgrade, Serbia "same as above"]), Russia.
LamaLama: Right you are! The main ones are Sorbs, then Pomeranians.

ello, I'm from Slovakia

*ecthelion berlinian accent*

LIES!!

Okay, fine, partial truths. ^_~ The way you said it, made it sound like we're directly from Slovakia. To uh... whom it may concern: we're 1/2 third-generation Slovakian-American, 1/4 German-American and 1/4 Pennsylvania Dutch.

Hideous, I know.

But Slavs rock, of course. ^_^