Bulgaria The Golden Traditions.Nestinarstvo is a unique phenomenon, which still remains unveiled; a mystery posing many unanswered questions.In Strandzha Mountain the celebration begins in the Sunday before St.St. Constantine and Helena’s Day.In the past the inhabitants of several villages used to gather at “The Big Ayasma” near the area of Vlahov Dol. The area was also called “Odarchetata” (an”odarche” means a small bed in Old Bulgarian), because of the availability of five plank-beds, one for each of the five villages (Gramatikovo, Slivarovo, Bulgari, Kosti and Kondolovo) that most often practiced the ritual.Nowadays the ritual also includes visiting the saint patrons’ holy springs (”ayasmas”), carrying of the icons of the two saints (St.St.Constantine and Helena), animal offering, and serving of ritual breads. The people who attend
the ceremony ascend the plank bed, turn to East, cross themselves, light up a candle and stick it into one of the small metal crosses spread over the bed. Many people leave woven kerchiefs and gifts, hung on the parapet of the plank-bed.Sometimes the nestinars “get” their “fits” there.On the Thursday before the 3rd and 4th of June, they celebrate the so-called “Little Constantine” (”Kourbaneto”). In the early morning of that day the churchwarden (”vikilin”, “e’pitrope”) goes to the saint patron’s chapel, and isted by two or three other men, slaughters a lamb. The meat is usually boiled in the fireplace of the “konak”. When it is cooked, the churchwarden tolls the bell, and all the people of the village gather at the chapel. Then they start their walk to the holy spring, with the purpose to clean it. Candles are lit and the place is swept with beech-tree foliage. After that the “vikilin” opens the lid of St.Constanine’s spring, throws a coin for happiness and starts filling the vessels, brought by the people. So that they can drink and wash themselves with the holy water, in order to be healthy in the days to come. Then each of them is served a helping of the boiled mutton. St.Constantine’s Day begins with a new succession of ritual acts. The morning starts with the “dressing” of the nestinar icons (the so-called “tail-end kunizmi/kumizmi”), after they have been taken to the “konak”. The “dressing” ritual includes the following steps: first, the “icons’ shirts” are censed by the chief priestess, then they are handed to the “vikilin” who puts them on the icons.
Once the icons “have been dressed”, they are “ready to head for the holy spring” in a solemn procession. There they are “bathed” – their handles are cleaned with the holy water of the “ayasma”. “Horo” dances are played, songs are sung and ritual breads are served.Nestinars often are “obsessed” on the way to the chapel and back to the village and at the spring as well.At noon the stacking of the nestinar fire begins. In line with some old records, nestinars did not start the dance until twelve carts of wood had not been burnt. Now the quantity of wood used is dramatically less.At dusk the culmination of the nestinar complex ensues. The nestinars (later the only female nestinar) go to St.St. Constantine and Helena’s
“konak”. There praying in front of the icons of the two saints, they breathe in the smoke of burning incense. When darkness descends upon the earth all the villagers gather, the musicians come and the procession heads for the fire. They walk in the following order: first is the churchwarden, followed by the boys who carry the icons, then, the nestinars, the musicians, and finally the rest.Embers spread in a circle, Bulgari Village
After they arrive at the fire, they form a cordon, encircling the already- spread embers. The “nestinar obsession” reaches its peak.With whoops the nestinars get onto the embers. First they always trace a cross. After that they walk at random. The skill to walk on embers (without being burnt) is the most impressing and important one. Some medical specialists have observed that the skin of the nestinars’ feet is very delicate, without callosities. Despite the different duration of the dances on embers (not less than 10 min.), the nestinars’ feet remain intact, without a slight trace of cauterization. It has been proved that a callosity is not a protection because very often some nestinars “bury” their feet ankle-deep in the embers. There exist some psychological theories of the observed phenomenon, but they do not provide satisfactory explanations. The famous Bulgarian specialist Doctor Garvalov has stated that callosities are cornea
layers that can burn much faster than normal skin.
Duration : 0:4:27
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In 2008, three Baltic countries — Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia — will celebrate 90 years since their independence. Year 2008 will also be significant for Latvia as around 35 000 participants will gather in our capital Riga for the XXIV Song and XIV Dance Celebration. It is not just a festival — the tradition goes back for 135 years and in 2003 together with Lithuanian and Estonian Song and Dance tradition it was recorded in the UNESCO list of Masterpieces of Oral and Intangible Cultural Heritage.
http://www.dziesmusvetki2008.lv/index.php?&99
Duration : 0:2:43
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Bulgaria The Golden Traditions.Nestinarstvo is a unique phenomenon, which still remains unveiled; a mystery posing many unanswered questions.In Strandzha Mountain the celebration begins in the Sunday before St.St. Constantine and Helena’s Day.In the past the inhabitants of several villages used to gather at “The Big Ayasma” near the area of Vlahov Dol. The area was also called “Odarchetata” (an”odarche” means a small bed in Old Bulgarian), because of the availability of five plank-beds, one for each of the five villages (Gramatikovo, Slivarovo, Bulgari, Kosti and Kondolovo) that most often practiced the ritual.Nowadays the ritual also includes visiting the saint patrons’ holy springs (”ayasmas”), carrying of the icons of the two saints (St.St.Constantine and Helena), animal offering, and serving of ritual breads. The people who attend
the ceremony ascend the plank bed, turn to East, cross themselves, light up a candle and stick it into one of the small metal crosses spread over the bed. Many people leave woven kerchiefs and gifts, hung on the parapet of the plank-bed.Sometimes the nestinars “get” their “fits” there.On the Thursday before the 3rd and 4th of June, they celebrate the so-called “Little Constantine” (”Kourbaneto”). In the early morning of that day the churchwarden (”vikilin”, “e’pitrope”) goes to the saint patron’s chapel, and isted by two or three other men, slaughters a lamb. The meat is usually boiled in the fireplace of the “konak”. When it is cooked, the churchwarden tolls the bell, and all the people of the village gather at the chapel. Then they start their walk to the holy spring, with the purpose to clean it. Candles are lit and the place is swept with beech-tree foliage. After that the “vikilin” opens the lid of St.Constanine’s spring, throws a coin for happiness and starts filling the vessels, brought by the people. So that they can drink and wash themselves with the holy water, in order to be healthy in the days to come. Then each of them is served a helping of the boiled mutton. St.Constantine’s Day begins with a new succession of ritual acts. The morning starts with the “dressing” of the nestinar icons (the so-called “tail-end kunizmi/kumizmi”), after they have been taken to the “konak”. The “dressing” ritual includes the following steps: first, the “icons’ shirts” are censed by the chief priestess, then they are handed to the “vikilin” who puts them on the icons.
Once the icons “have been dressed”, they are “ready to head for the holy spring” in a solemn procession. There they are “bathed” – their handles are cleaned with the holy water of the “ayasma”. “Horo” dances are played, songs are sung and ritual breads are served.Nestinars often are “obsessed” on the way to the chapel and back to the village and at the spring as well.At noon the stacking of the nestinar fire begins. In line with some old records, nestinars did not start the dance until twelve carts of wood had not been burnt. Now the quantity of wood used is dramatically less.At dusk the culmination of the nestinar complex ensues. The nestinars (later the only female nestinar) go to St.St. Constantine and Helena’s
“konak”. There praying in front of the icons of the two saints, they breathe in the smoke of burning incense. When darkness descends upon the earth all the villagers gather, the musicians come and the procession heads for the fire. They walk in the following order: first is the churchwarden, followed by the boys who carry the icons, then, the nestinars, the musicians, and finally the rest.Embers spread in a circle, Bulgari Village
After they arrive at the fire, they form a cordon, encircling the already- spread embers. The “nestinar obsession” reaches its peak.With whoops the nestinars get onto the embers. First they always trace a cross. After that they walk at random. The skill to walk on embers (without being burnt) is the most impressing and important one. Some medical specialists have observed that the skin of the nestinars’ feet is very delicate, without callosities. Despite the different duration of the dances on embers (not less than 10 min.), the nestinars’ feet remain intact, without a slight trace of cauterization. It has been proved that a callosity is not a protection because very often some nestinars “bury” their feet ankle-deep in the embers. There exist some psychological theories of the observed phenomenon, but they do not provide satisfactory explanations. The famous Bulgarian specialist Doctor Garvalov has stated that callosities are cornea
layers that can burn much faster than normal skin.
Duration : 0:7:46
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Celebrating a decade of anime with some popular Anime characters, Dance Dance Revolution Style(haruhi, lucky star, clannad, one piece etc).
Get yourself this piece of anime history; Download the HQ Mpeg4 Version here (and see alot of ‘unseen’ detail in this awesome AMV):
http://www.animemusicvideos.org/members/members_videoinfo.php?v=162077
(on that page, click on one of the indirect links to DL)
Windows Vista 64 Bit with 4GB RAM was needed to handle the project file this big. Vista or XP 32 bit + 4GB RAM simply won’t even load half the project.
For a sneak peak at the timeline coding at what was involved at making this AMV, visit:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/Terryh1984/Behind-the-scenes-Celebrating_a_dec.jpg
The blank 6 mins at the end were to focus all of youtube’s video bitrate/bandwidth to the first 4 mins so the images appear better. Without it, this video appeared extremely blurry.
This is a Fanmade AMV in tribute to the wonderful anime and song it uses and the original anime creators. No copyright infringement is intended and I do not claim ownership of any of any audio or video scenes, title or characters used in it. This is a free amv and i don’t profit from this financially.
If you like it, i’m happy for you to re-upload it on YouTube or anywhere you want at your own discretion- just don’t cut out the credits section.
You can DL the FLV version here: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=YYW06SSL
Enjoy, and plz share and re-upload 
I don’t think you can’t actually play this as a DDR game as the arrows are more for special effects.
This video was originally intended to be practice box for my next AMV.(Eg; the 3D lighting on the Hair and Faces of some characters); so don’t expect a story, just a technical whirlpool of colours
#1st Place – Melbourne Anime Festival 2008, Anime Banzai 2009, Anime Boston 2009
Thanks to everyone who voted!
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Past honours
#2 – Top Favorites (Today) – Film & Animation – Australia
#4 – Most Discussed (Today) – Film & Animation – Australia
#3 – Top Rated (Today) – Film & Animation – Australia
#3 – Top Favorited (This Month) – Film & Animation – Australia
#7 – Top Rated (This Month) – Film & Animation – Australia
#6 – Top Favorites (Today) – Australia
#9 – Top Favorites (This Week) – Film & Animation – Australia
#10 – Top Rated (This Week) – Film & Animation – Australia
#12 – Most Discussed (This Month) – Film & Animation – Australia
#16 – Top Rated (Today) – Australia
#19 – Top Favorites (Today) – Film & Animation
#31 – Most Discussed (This Week) – Film & Animation – Australia
#31 – Top Favorited (This Month) – Australia
#11 – Most Discussed (This Month) – Australia
#44 – Top Favorites (This Week) – Australia
#49 – Top Favorites (This Month) – Film & Animation – Australia
#51 – Top Rated (Today) – Film & Animation
#64 – Most Viewed (Today) – Film & Animation – Australia
#62 – Top Rated (This Month) – Film & Animation – Australia
#77 – Most Viewed (This Month) – Film & Animation – Australia
#66 – Top Rated (This Month) – Australia
#62 – Top Favorited (This Month) – Film & Animation
Duration : 0:11:0
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CELEBRATE JESUS CELEBRATE!
Duration : 0:1:10
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