20.2 - Rookie at the Top - Helen A's Task: Bird's Wedding

[SRC Moderator, Moderator]

20.2 - Rookie at the Top - Helen A's Task: Bird's Wedding

On January 25, 2020, the Wendish people near Dresden, Germany, will celebrate Bird's Wedding. This is the night which comes six weeks before the hatching of this year's baby birds.

My mother's ancestors are the Wendish people. They are a small group of Slavic Lutherans, who maintain their culture as they are surrounded by the German population.

Let's think about some of these cultural groups.
Read one book which includes in the title/subtitle one of the following words: Aborigine/Aboriginal, Hmong, Mien, Bedouin, Wend/Wendish, Sami/Lapp/Laplander, Aleut, Inuit, Amish.
Plurals and Possessives are fine.
Ex. Growing Up Aboriginal in Australia, The Latehomecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir, The Amish Midwife

[Helen]

Helen A.

(reserved)

[Helen]

Helen A.

(reserved)

[SRC Moderator, Moderator]

This help thread is open.

[TraceyL]

Oof this one is tough. I have lots of books written by Aboriginal or Inuit authors, but those words aren't in the title. Tricky :)

[Dee]

Tracey wrote: "Oof this one is tough. I have lots of books written by Aboriginal or Inuit authors, but those words aren't in the title. Tricky :)"

Ditto unless I want to go Amish romance - I have Amish a lot in series titles too

[Joanne]

I just found a book at my library if it interests either of you
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures

[Marie (UK)]

I found Beneath the Ice: In Search of the Sami in my library and it is nice and short. I have so many long books i had to find something more petite

[Bea]

I am going with Making Payments: An American Indian, the Vietnam War, Laos, and the Hmong. Bought from US Amazon Kindle for $0.98.

[Helen]

This is one of the books most Wendish families enjoy:


In Search of a Home: Nineteenth-Century Wendish Immigration

and I enjoyed:

It Must Be the Noodles: & Other Wendish Stories from Mama’s Texas Kitchen

Another short-book possibility is :

Wendish Texans!

[Christine]

I was initially stumped by this task, but then I was astounded to discover that I actually own a Kindle book that fits this task! Thought I'd share: Burke and the Bedouin

Helen A, that was a charming tradition you referenced. It's always fun to learn about other cultures through the SRC tasks. Thanks for sharing!

[Helen]

Thanks, Christine!

I love learning about other cultures, too!

Helen A.

P.S. The children set out little plates on the porch the night of the 24th, and the "birds" leave them treats like candy corn and date bars, from their wedding reception, in the morning!

[Meg]

Awesome, I just borrowed Growing Up Aboriginal in Australia and was trying to find a task to fit it!

[Book Concierge]

Joanne wrote: "I just found a book at my library if it interests either of you
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures"

EXCELLENT book!

[Christine]

Joanne wrote: "I just found a book at my library if it interests either of you
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures"

Book Concierge wrote: "EXCELLENT book!"

Oh, that does look good. I might have to read that one instead. Thanks for the recommendations!

[Helen]

Meg,

I'm glad to be of help!

Helen A.

[Aprilleigh]

Is "Aleutian" excluded on purpose, or just overlooked?

[Helen]

Aprilleigh wrote: "Is "Aleutian" excluded on purpose, or just overlooked?"

Hi, Aprilleigh,

"Aleutian" usually refers to the geographical island range, the Aleutian Islands. This task only refers to cultures of people, like the Aleut and Inuit tribes of Alaska and Canada.

Also, I had to pick cultures I thought would be best for the task, so I had to leave out hundreds of them!

There are plenty of books in the typical library which easily meet the requirement, though!

Helen A.

[Aprilleigh]

Fair enough, it answers my question.

For the record, Aleutian can refer to the people who inhabit those islands, as well as their language and the various geographical features of the area. But if you're attempting to exclude anything that isn't specifically about their culture rather than the area itself, this is probably the easiest way to do it. :)

You must live in an area with more interest in these cultures because my library system (nearly 80 libraries, including a fair number of school libraries) has nothing to offer for any of these cultures except Amish (I don't count children's books that are either too short or *way* below the AR requirements). I have to admit I'm really shocked how little I found. I figured some would be hard to find, but Inuit and Aleut seemed like something I wouldn't have trouble with.

And the biggest problem I'm having with Amish is most of the titles I have easy access to are subtitled "Amish-country" rather than "Amish" - this one definitely is going to be a challenge.

[Helen]

Thanks for letting me know!

I live in an area which has enough books, that when I put the word "Amish" in to the catalog, I get many more than 57 books, of which 15 have the word "Amish" in the title or the subtitle. Two of the first ten books under "Aborigine" qualified for the challenge.

Helen A.

[Aprilleigh]

I'll find one, I just need to weed through the pile of books that won't work or I wouldn't read on a bet (Amish-themed romances between Amish and English are apparently trendy, but I'd very much rather not - it's one of the reasons I really wanted to use Aleut or Unuit instead of Amish).

I might have to resort to a kindle title, if only because that opens up another 7 library systems to me.

[Sandy, Moderator Emeritus]

Aprilleigh wrote: "I'll find one, I just need to weed through the pile of books that won't work or I wouldn't read on a bet (Amish-themed romances between Amish and English are apparently trendy, but I'd very much ra..."

Two mentioned here about the Hmong sound very interesting and both are at my library.

[Aprilleigh]

Sandy wrote: "Aprilleigh wrote: "I'll find one, I just need to weed through the pile of books that won't work or I wouldn't read on a bet (Amish-themed romances between Amish and English are apparently trendy, b..."

I only saw the one Helen mentioned, so I went back and looked again - thanks Sandy, my library has The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures - I missed it the first time because it's in the subtitle and I was skimming titles looking for something that wasn't for children. On hold now.