Cynthia Collins's Blog, page 5
December 19, 2013
The Nutcracker: From Wooden Doll to Endearing Christmas Ballet
It’s that time of year when ballet companies perform The Nutcracker while wooden dolls, dressed for sentry duty, keep a watchful eye on hearth and home as part of the Christmas tradition. How these wooden figures and the subsequent ballet became such an endearing part of the Christmas season is a story that goes back to the Middle Ages.
Read full article here. (Written for the Guardian Liberty Voice, Cynthia Collins, Dec. 9, 2013).
December 6, 2013
‘The Sound of Music’ vs Maria von Trapp’s Real Life
Von Trapp Family Singers
The Sound of Music by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein is the story of Maria von Trapp and the Trapp family in the years prior to World War II. The general ideas are there but Hollywood changed a lot of the details in the interest of “poetic” or “creative” license.
Read full article here. (Written for the Guardian Express, Cynthia Collins, Dec. 4, 2013)
Salzburg Austria’s ‘Sound of Music’
Nonnberg Abbey, Salzburg
Salzburg, Austria, was the location for exterior scenes in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s 1965 musical motion picture, The Sound of Music. Tours give visitors the chance to see various places used in the movie from the panoramic views to the buildings dating back several centuries. These locations not only provide a backdrop for the Hollywood version of the story of the Von Trapp family in pre-World War II Austria but offer a history of Salzburg, itself.
November 30, 2013
Pilgrim Love Story: John Alden and Priscilla Mullins
John Alden and Priscilla Mullins
The love story of John Alden and Priscilla Mullins is the most famous of all the Mayflower Pilgrims. It has been passed down through generations and romanticized in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s narrative poem, The Courtship of Miles Standish.
Read full article here. (Written for the Guardian Express, Cynthia Collins, Nov. 28, 2013)
November 27, 2013
Pocahontas Diplomacy Bridge to Peace
Pocahontas (Thomas Sully, 1852)
When English ships reached Virginia in 1607, a young Powhatan woman named Pocahontas used diplomacy as a bridge to peace between the colonists and Native Americans. She was only 11 or 12 at the time but she is credited with saving the life of Captain John Smith and aiding the Jamestown colony.
Read full article here. (Written for the Guardian Express, Cynthia Collins, Nov. 26, 2013)
November 15, 2013
Museum Serves History and Traditional Native American Food
Traditional Native American food will be served to visitors in a historic setting at the Pequot Museum in Mashantucket, Connecticut, over Thanksgiving weekend, Saturday, Nov. 30. From 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., Toni Weeden of the Narragansett tribe will be preparing dishes over an open fire at the museum’s Farmstead which has two acres of plants, herbs and trees used by Pequot families for centuries.
Read full article here. (Written for the Guardian Express, Cynthia Collins, Nov. 14, 2013)....
Mayflower Carried Pilgrims to Cape Cod, Not Original Destination
When the Mayflower neared America’s coastline on Nov. 9, 1620, she had carried the Pilgrims to Cape Cod and not the original destination. The entire voyage, beginning with the departure from England, was filled with delays. Each portion of the delayed journey created higher risks for the passengers, crew and the ship.
Read full article here. (Written for the Guardian Express, Cynthia Collins, Nov. 8, 2013).
November 14, 2013
Pilgrim Hall Museum to Display First Thanksgiving Documents
The Pilgrim Hall Museum in Plymouth, Massachusetts, will give visitors a rare opportunity to see original documents and signatures of Pilgrims who celebrated the first Thanksgiving in 1621. These items will be on display for two days only, Thursday, Nov. 28 (Thanksgiving Day) and Friday, Nov. 29 from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Read full article here. (Written for the Guardian Express, Cynthia Collins, Nov. 4, 2013)
November 2, 2013
Dublin’s Bram Stoker Festival Rises to Spotlight Dracula
Dublin’s Bram Stoker Festival came to a close on Monday, Oct. 28, after a three-day event that put the author and his most famous book, Dracula, in the spotlight. Over 20,000 visitors filled the city streets, wearing masks and capes and other costumes, celebrating frightful sights and sounds as the world’s most famous vampire joined in the Halloween fun.
Read full article here. (Written for the Guardian Express, Cynthia Collins, Oct. 30, 2013)
Halloween Combination of Two Worlds
Cliffs of Moher
Halloween is a combination of two worlds on several levels. It is a mix of pagan and Christian; the living and the dead; ancient and modern civilizations; folklore and history. The origin of Halloween dates back to ancient times to the Celtic festival of Samhain. This pagan celebration marked the end of the harvest season on the last day of October.
Read full article here. (Written for the Guardian Express, Cynthia Collins, Oct. 27, 2013)
