The Blue Planet Project: June 2005

Wednesday, June 29, 2005

Greek phrases and proverbs, full of water

(This is a work of the Greek Comenius team)

Friday, June 24, 2005

Paradoxes and puzzles

1. A magic water-lily
There is a magic water-lily in a lake which can double its surface everyday. Therefore it can cover the whole surface of the lake in 20 days. How many days are needed so that the water-lily covers half the surface of the lake?

Answer
Don’t be in a hurry to answer-think first!
You could start by wondering 1) about the growth rate of the water-lily. 2) which its initial surface was and more other details. Nothing, like that! Let’s start all the way round! Think of the last day and the day before it!
On the 20th day the whole lake will be covered. On the 19th day, since it doubles everyday , the water-lily will have covered half the surface of the lake. You see! The has automatically been solved! In 19 days the water-lily can cover half the surface of the lake.

2. The newly weds and the crocodiles!
Three newly-wed couples were walking through the jungle when they came to a river which was very deep and wide.
To make matters worse, the river was full of hungry crocodiles. There was only one boat which could carry only three passengers at the time. But there were more to face. The three husbands were so envious that there was no chance to let their wives to be with another man either in the boat or anywhere else without their presence.
Try to find a way so that the three couples will be able to cross the river safely making the fewest possible boat-trips.

Answer
Let’s use some symbols to make the problem easier to understand. We simply symbolize the three couples as Aa, Bb, and Cc. The capital letters correspond to the men where the small ones to the women.
At first, the three women use the boat to cross the river. Next, the woman “a” goes back and stays on the bank of the river until the three men, A, B, C cross the river . Five boat-trips were enough for all of them to cross the river safely.

3. The frog and the well
Persistently looking for water a frog fell accidentally in well which was 20 meters deep. Trying to get out of the well it followed some kind of a weird procedure. During the day it climbed three meters up whereas the night it fell 2 meters down. How many days on the whole did the frog to get out go the well?

Answer
May be someone could think that since the frog climbs 3 meters up in the day, 2 meters down in the night then in one whole day it goes 1 meter up. Therefore it will need 20 days not the whole.
But, let’s go to the end of the 5th day, for example. How many meters has it moved up? Obviously 5 meters.. At the end of the 18th day? 18 meters, of course! That is the 19th day it will have covered three more meters, which means it will have managed to get out of the well. Someone may say that at the end of the 17th day it will have climbed 17 meters, consequently on the 18th day it will cover three meters more and will come out of the well. Wrong! It will be at the same height as the mouth of the well. Nobody can be sure it will jump out of the well!!!

4. Houses and taps
There are three houses and three taps. Try to connect the tap A with the house G, the tap B with the tap F and the tap C with the house G. The connecting lines can be of any kind still they can’t be intersected in any possible way, which means they shouldn’t intersect another house or tap and also be out of the black frame. It’s believed that there is no solution to this problem. What do you believe?

Answer
The solution is well presented in the sketch given below. What do you say now, can you connect every tap with any house? No matter how much you will try, you won’t succeed. This problem has no solution!

5. A bath full of water
What weighs more:
a) a bath full of water
b) a bath full of water and a body floating on the surface or
c) both weigh exactly the same?

Answer
You may think that the bath with a body in it should weigh more. But in this case this bath contains less water than the one which is full of water. But can the quantity of water which is displaced by the body be made up for?
Yes, because the body displaces so much water as it is the body’s weight, that’s why the body floats. Therefore both weigh the same!

(This is a work of the Greek Comenius team)

Thursday, June 16, 2005

Italian experience from Romania

(Dambovicioara cave)

(Apa Brasov enterprise)

(A typical old house)

(Rucar Watermill)

(The Watermill)

(Dambovicioara Trout Nursery)

(A countryside landscape)

(Vidraru dam)

(Monastery of Curtea de Arges)

(Rucar school)

(Romanian traditional performance)

(Lecture at school)

(Bucarest)

(The Comenius partners)

This is a photographic album made by the Italian team about the project meeting in Romania (Rucar-April 18-21, 2005)

Monday, June 13, 2005

"In memoriam" of the lost sailors. Brunno Island of the Gothenburg Archipelago. Photo by Mr. Panayiotis Giakis, Principal of the 8th Unified Lyceum of Ioannina

Gothenburg harbour, Sweden. Photo by Mr. Panayiotis Giakis, Principal of the 8th Unified Lyceum of Ioannina

Friday, June 10, 2005

The Greek Ancient Myths

Ιn the Greek Ancient myths we can usually find the value of the life-giving power and the great influence of the water element on the life and religion of people. When the three twelve gods, Zeus, Poseidon and Hades shared the world among themselves, it fell on Zeus to be the ruler of the sky, Hades of the underworld and Poseidon of the sea.
With his trident he agitated the sea, sank the ships and calmed it down again and gave peacefulness and joy to the sailors, who were crossing the seas.
Being the god of the sea, Poseidon can travel on his gold chariot through the waves without even being wet. At the same time dolphins come up to the surface from the bottom of the sea, bounding with joy around their god’s chariot.
According to the Greek myths the Greeks believed that Poseidon was responsible for a series of geological and other similar phenomena like:

a) the formation of the earth’s surface with mountains, valleys, islands, channels. So Poseidon cuts pieces from the land and creates Sardinia, Evia, Cyprus, the channel of Corinth.

b) The earthquakes, the cracks of the earth, the landslides and the disasters. So when Poseidon walks, the mountains are trembling, when he shakes the Earth he causes a sensation of terror and the underworld and the underworld appear.

c) “The water systems” and the passages on the surface of the earth and under it, the rivers, the springs, the lakes, the floods.
So Poseidon with his trident makes the cracks on the rocks and springs gush out, such as on the rock of the Acropolis in Athens after a quarrel with Athena, in Argolida for Amymone’s sake, he floods places like Thriasio Field in Attica and places in Ethiopia and Troy, he dries up the river Inachos or he appears himself in the form of the river.

d) The world of the sea with the untamed and terrifying powers for man and unpredictable dangers for the navigation. So Poseidon is raised by a daughter of the Ocean, he pairs off with Thetis, who is a sea spirit and he is married to Nireas’ daughter, Amphitrite and rewards the dolphin which helped to this union, he has a lot of the descendants who are all sea spirits, he saves Orestis on the sea, and harasses Ulysses who blinded Cyclops’ son, Polyphemus.
All these myths show that the Greeks’ misfortunes at sea are the result of the God’s rage for actions which are against his will.
In the age long imagination the waters gush out from the depths of the earth as well as the rapid streams of the rivers and the waves of the sea are combined with horses and bulls, animals which are characterized by dash. In this way the horse and the bull are always present in the myth and the worship of Poseidon.
So according to the myths Poseidon is born in the form of a foal, is transformed into a horse, becomes the father of uncontrollable horses, like Pegasus. For this reason Poseidon lets a bull come out of the waves which causes great trouble to the Cretans and the Athenians and gets involved in the life of Minos and Minotaur.
Due to the relationship between Poseidon and the sea we can easily explain the importance of the dolphin and the sea monsters in the myths about the god. The former is related to good news and the latter to floods and disasters.
Both from Poseidon’s sea personality and his being responsible for disasters, his relation to the Lost Atlantis city can be clearly explained.

The Sea Monsters

Long before Poseidon became the master of the sea, in the imagination of the Greeks there had been many sea sprits, males such as Nireas, Triton, Proteus and females like Thetis, Leucothea, Scylla and Charybdis.
The main common characteristics among there ancient sea spirits are the following:

Τhey knew the depths and the secrets of the sea
They could predict the future and
They had the magic power to be transformed into animals, plants, natural phenomena like wind, water and fire.

All these sea spirits were very popular and filled the fishermen and sailors with awe. As there was no scientific knowledge about navigation, the sailors begged these spirits to help them by sharing their wisdom and magic power with them so that they could predict the weather conditions at distant seas and avoid any possible dangers during their voyage.

Among the water spirits Proteus is of great importance in the cosmogonic myth which leads to the scientific thought. As well as his name Proteus which means “The First” that is “The Firstly Born” and his great ability to be transformed into any form he liked, reveal an age-old cosmogonic perception on the “first” form in the genetic procedure of the world.
This form has born all the other forms the world consists of, that is the first form of matter which has its own transformations and these transformations result in all the other forms of the world.
The authenticity of this cosmogonic perception on the form of Proteus is based in the idea of the genetic power of water.

Scylla and Charybdis

Leaving the island of Circe, Odysseus, listens to her advice about the rest of his trip. He will pass through huge stones, steep rocks where not even a bird can fly through, no ship could ever avoid sinking with all hands on board in the inferno of the waves and flames.
There are two reefs. One of them reaches the sky and black clouds cover its peak. In the middle of this reef there is a cave where Scylla lives. It is a roaring monster with twelve feet up in the air, six necks each of them of different length with awful heads at the end. Each mouth has three jaws which look like death.
Hidden in the Cave she catches dolphins, dogfish and other sea monsters with her deadly jaws. She also catches as many sailors as her heads from the passing ships.
The other reef is a wild fig tree and Charybdis is sitting under it vomiting black water. Three times a day she slurps all the water and three times she vomits it again. If, by any chance, someone is around when she slurps the water, it is sure that he can’t escape even if Poseidon himself would like to save him.
The passage of Scylla and Charybdis is located either at Bosporus or outside the Mediterranean near the Canary Islands, but most people claim that it is the Straight of Sicily.

Αn episode from Odyssey

(This text is studied and analyzed by the students in the Ancient Greek class of our Lyceum. Here is its English translation by Samuel Butler)

Book 5
...[282] But lord Poseidon, who was returning from the Ethiopians, caught sight of Odysseus a long way off, from the mountains of the Solymi. He could see him sailing upon the sea, and it made him very angry, so he wagged his head and muttered to himself, saying, heavens, so the gods have been changing their minds about Odysseus while I was away in Ethiopia, and now he is close to the land of the Phaeacians, where it is decreed that he shall escape from the calamities that have befallen him. Still, he shall have plenty of hardship yet before he has done with it."
[291] Thereon he gathered his clouds together, grasped his trident, stirred it round in the sea, and roused the rage of every wind that blows till earth, sea, and sky were hidden in cloud, and night sprang forth out of the heavens. Winds from East, South, North, and West fell upon him all at the same time, and a tremendous sea got up, so that Odysseus’ heart began to fail him. "Alas," he said to himself in his dismay, "what ever will become of me? I am afraid Calypso was right when she said I should have trouble by sea before I got back home. It is all coming true. How black is Zeus making heaven with his clouds, and what a sea the winds are raising from every quarter at once. I am now safe to perish. Blest and thrice blest were those Danaans who fell before Troy in the cause of [kharis] the sons of Atreus. Would that had been killed on the day when the Trojans were pressing me so sorely about the dead body of Achilles, for then I should have had due burial and the Achaeans would have honored my name [kleos]; but now it seems that I shall come to a most pitiable end."
[313] As he spoke a sea broke over him with such terrific fury that the raft reeled again, and he was carried overboard a long way off. He let go the helm, and the force of the wind was so great that it broke the mast half way up, and both sail and yard went over into the sea. For a long time Odysseus was under water, and it was all he could do to rise to the surface again, for the clothes Calypso had given him weighed him down; but at last he got his head above water and spat out the bitter brine that was running down his face in streams. In spite of all this, however, he did not lose sight of his raft, but swam as fast as he could towards it, got hold of it, and climbed on board again so as to escape drowning. The sea took the raft and tossed it about as Autumn winds whirl thistledown round and round upon a road. (It was as though the South, North, East, and West winds were all at once tossing it back and forth.)

[333] When he was in this plight, Ino daughter of Cadmus, also called Leukothea, saw him. She had formerly been a mere mortal, but had been since raised to the rank of a marine goddess. Seeing in what great distress Odysseus now was, she had compassion upon him, and, rising like a sea-gull from the waves, took her seat upon the raft.
[339] "My poor good man," said she, "why is Poseidon so furiously angry with you? He is giving you a great deal of trouble, but for all his bluster he will not kill you. You seem to be a sensible person, do then as I bid you; strip, leave your raft to drive before the wind, and swim to the Phaeacian coast where better luck awaits you. And here, take my veil and put it round your chest; it is enchanted, and you can come to no harm so long as you wear it. As soon as you touch land take it off, throw it back as far as you can into the sea, and then go away again." With these words she took off her veil and gave it him. Then she dived down again like a sea-gull and vanished beneath the seething dark waters...

(This is a work of the Greek school of Ioannina)

Wednesday, June 08, 2005

Water- Old Romanian Religious And Mythological Symbol

Long before it became a research subject for men of science or a source of inspiration for painters, musicians or poets and writers, water had been a religious and mythological symbol. People have always benefited from it, but it was also transfigured into myths and legends.
In the orthodox religion, water is the symbol of being purified from sins, and also of death and Ressurection. During the baptism ceremony, while being three times sunk into holy water and through prayers, the newly-born child gets forgiveness for his ancestors’ sins and it is spiritually re-born through Jesus Christ.
Water has the same purifying power during other moments of the religious ritual, being known as ,,holy water” (in Romanian ,,agheasma mare” and ,,agheasma mica”). The word ,,agheasma” comes from Greek and means ,,being hallowed”. The main part of the ritual is the prayer for getting water hallowed. During the ceremony, the priest sinks three fingers of his right hand into water (symbolyzing the Holy Cross) and pronounces some sacred words.
Then, using a bunch of basil, the believers are sprinkled with holy water, just as things and places in the house, in order to get purified and to be shared divine faith. This is the way to remake the bundle between human and divine. A special moment in the orthodox rituals is hallowing water on Epiphany Eve and Day, which sends us back to the time when John the Baptizer baptised Jesus Christ in the Jordan river.
Water hallowed this way is used in different ways: to baptize believers, to bless their houses, to be sprinkled over the things and people that have to be exorcised, purified or blessed. The water hallowed on Epiphany has curative powers, mentioned in the special prayer pronounced then.
Believers take a sip of it in the morning, before eating anything, on Lent days or on holidays, in fact, wherever they want to get rid of some heart pressure or they need to have their body cured. If it gets too old, it will be thrown away in clean places where it can’t be defiled.
The above mentioned ideas are just some of the significances water has as related to different stages of the orthodox rituals. A comparative study of the symbol of water in different religious cults would be of great interest. There are a lot of changes in the world, generations succeed one another as time passes, but these symbols will not perish. They will last as long as there are people living on this planet.
Beyond being a religious symbol, water has become an element of spirituality, as it is present, both as a motive and as an element, in the customs and traditions that people obey and celebrate from birth till death.
As for us, the Romanians, our customs and traditions, deeply rooted in our conscience, define us and, at the same time, differenciate us from other peoples.
Water is a magical element in the Romanian fairy-tales which one can find having two forms: living water and dead water. Through water, the fairy-tale heroes experience the miracle of death and ressurection. As such, faith is prolonged into myth.
At drought time, Romanian peasants invoke beneficial rain through a special ritual which might have its origin in an antique faith in a mighty goddess of waters. The participants to the ritual dress up a nine or ten-year-old girl in clothes made of leaves, branches and weeds. Dressed that way, the ,,nymph” walks through the village, followed by a group of children who sing, dance and invoke beneficial rain, while pronouncing ritual words, meant to make the sky open its gates and send the rain down on Earth. Villagers stand by the gates of their houses in order to welcome the procession and pour water over the head of the girl dressed in leaves and branches. This very old ritual is called ,,Paparuda”.
There are other customs which make people use water in a symbolic way.
For instance, the day after Easter Day, young men, dressed in their finest clothes, join together in small groups and wander all over the village roads, get into the houses where there are young girls and women and sprinkle water over their heads. Before doing that, they respectfully ask for permission to get in and, usually, they recite a short poem in which the hostess is compared to a flower which has to be watered in order not to fade.
Another popular belief says that, if a girl wants to find out who her husband will be, she has to look, at midnight, into a fountain and, like in a bright projection, the face of the man predestined to her will be reflected in the water( which functions like a mirror).
Fountains usually symbolize life, creation and continuity. A fine legend says that an artist, called Manole, was asked to build a matchless monastery. But what he and his men built during the day, crumbled at nightime. Manole had a terrible dream: he was told he would have to sacrifice a human being if he wanted to finish his monastery. The first human being to come was Ana, Manole’s wife. He had to wall her in. Consequently, he was able to finish the building. The prince who had ordered the monastery to be built asked him if he could build another one, equally beautiful. With the vanity typical to any gifted artist aspiring to perfection, Manole answered he could. His vanity lost him, as the prince ordered the scaffolding to be removed, so Manole and his men remained on the roof. They made themselves wings and tried to fly down, but, obviously, they crashed and died. On the place where Manole fell down, there arose a fountain, symbol of life and of the perpetuation of creative spirit.
Romanian popular mediaeval culture has a series of mythological themes related to water and the beings that populate it. For instance ,,stima apelor”, some kind of local nymph that lives in every water, either a pond, a river or a lake. She would be a beautiful white silky-skinned woman, slim and good-looking. She should wear a popular costume. When she gets into the water she turns into a being half-woman, half-fish. When she gets angry, she arises the waters and floods the land. The man who is bewitched by her, leaves everything and everybody and throws himself into the water. He will be devoured by this nymph (we can easily identify ressemblances with the mermaids in the Greek mythology).
The popular traditions also refer to water spirits populating the depth of water, where there would be a rich underwater life, quite similar to terrestrial life, with people, animals and plants. Those underwater people can’t speak, are not unkind and never harm others.
Water has a special significance in exorcising. For doing proper exorcism, water should be taken from special places: clean untouched water for a beneficial effect and foul nasty smelling water for doing harm.
For instance, for curing headaches, one should take some small pieces of burning coal, put them into holy water and pronounce the magic words suitable to the situation. The spell is said to be effective when the ,,patient”, after drinking the water in small sips, will start yawning and being sleepy.
The possible interpretations and significance which popular mentality confers to water are almost uncountable. In the present essay, we have approached to only some of them.
The importance of water in the Romanians’ lives is also obvious at the language level. There are a lot of phrases and phraseological constructions containing the word ,,apa" (=water). Here are some of them:

a fi o apa si-un pamant = to be alike
apa de ploaie =nonsense
a bate apa in piua = to draw water in a sieve
a intra la apa = to shrink (proper sense)
= to get into hot water (figurative sense)
a baga (pe cineva la apa) = to trick somebody into trouble
a nu avea nici dupa ce bea apa = to be starving, to be as poor as a church-mouse
ca pe apa = fluently, by heart
a lasa (pe cineva) in apele lui = to leave somebody alone/in peace, not to trouble somebody
a nu fi in apele lui = to be in a bad mood
a-i veni cuiva apa la moara = to find it convenient
a-i lua cuiva apa de la moara = to cut the ground from somebody’s
feeta-i lasa (cuiva) gura apa = to make one’s mouth water