Thursday, October 17, 2024

The Synagogue of Batumi in Georgia

 


On my journey through the Caucasus I visited many churches in Armenia and Georgia and also a synagogue, to be precise the Synagogue of Batumi (ბათუმის სინაგოგა) [1]. It was built in 1904, but was closed during the Soviet era from the end of the 1920s and later used as a sports facility. I remembered a visit to Leningrad, now St. Petersburg, where I had visited a Lutheran church  that had been altered to be a public swimming pool during the Soviet era [2]. The Synagogue of Batumi was handed back to the Jewish community of Batumi in 1993. It was then extensively renovated and painted white. The synagogue was reopened in 1998. The Batumi synagogue was added to the list of national monuments of Georgia in 2011.

There is not much to say about the interior. It's just a room where people (I guess men) meet to pray; there is an upper floor, traditionally for women. I was allowed to enter, but the young man who was controlling the entrance did not appear to be of Jewish faith, because he was not wearing a kippah (yarmulke). I was already wondering what the Jewish community in Batumi might be like. Later that day, just before I got to my hotel at the the circus, I saw an Orthodox Jew with his two daughters, aged around 9-11. The two girls were wearing identical clothes and I had seen something like this before in pictures of Orthodox Jewish families. But I had to be patient to answer my question about the Jewish community or the Jews in Georgia. However, I did find a very interesting article on Wikipedia in English about the history of the Jews in Georgia [3].



I would like to quote the first sentence of the Wikipedia article: “The Georgian Jews (Georgian: ქართველი ებრაელები, romanized: kartveli ebraelebi, Hebrew: יהדות גאורגיה, romanized: Yahadut Georgia) are a community of Jews who migrated to Georgia during the Babylonian captivity in the 6th century BCE.” The Jewish community in Batumi can therefore look back on a tradition that is 2,600 years old. This led to a distinction being made between traditions, as Ashkenazi Jews lived in Tblisi, for example, until the Soviet era. Of the approximately 60,000 Jews who lived in Georgia in the 1970s, most emigrated. In 2014, a census counted 1,405 Jews. In principle, the Jews in Georgia are one of the oldest Jewish communities in the world. For more on the history of the Jews in Georgia, please refer to the article on Wikipedia.

Traditionally, the Jews in Georgia spoke Judaeo-Georgian, known endonymically as Qivruli (Georgian:
ყივრული ენა) and also known as Gruzinic, which contains many loanwords from Hebrew. Yiddish is a West Germanic language that developed in a similar way, but in addition to loanwords from Hebrew, it also contains loanwords from other languages. Judaeo-Georgian is sometimes denied classification as a separate language because when spoken it is very similar to Georgian. But it is also a written language and, like Yiddish, is written using the Hebrew alphabet.
The Wikipedia article has the text “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity ...”.
The Latin transliteration of Judaeo-Georgian is:
Qvela adamiani ibadeba tavisupali da tanasc̣ori tavisi ɣirsebita da uplebebit. Mat minič̣ebuli akvt goneba da sindisi da ertmanetis mimart unda ikceodnenʒmobis sulisḳvetebit
The Latin transliteration of Georgian is:
q’vela adamiani ibadeba tavisupali da tanasts’ori tavisi ghirsebita da uplebebit. mat minich’ebuli akvt goneba da sindisi da ertmanetis mimart anda iktseodnen dzmobis sulisk’vetebit.
It looks very similar, but as far as I understand it is not the whole truth. Everyday language will differ more than it is the case with a text concerning human rights. I have tried to illustrate this for Mandarin and Cantonese by translating it using Google Translate [4]. While the political text written in Cantonese is quite understandable for someone who speaks Mandarin, this is no longer the case for the part of the text from the kitchen.
What I've done in the previous paragraphs, one could almost call this a digression.
There are still around 85,000 speakers of Judaeo-Gregorian, most of whom now live in Israel.

The Jewish community in Batumi has a very long history. It is nice that there is still a community in Batumi. And who knows whether it will not make history one day, because the consulate of the Iranian state Islamic Republic of Iran is only about 130 m away around the corner. Yes, I would like to suggest that Iran and Israel hold peace negotiations in Batumi; it is such a beautiful city on the Black Sea that such an endeavor should be promising [5].



Links and Annotations:
[1] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synagoge_Batumi The German article on Wikipedia is more extensive than the English article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batumi_Synagogue
[2] From Church to Swimming Hall and back again https://rheumatologe.blogspot.com/2013/03/from-church-to-swimming-hall-and-back.html
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judaeo-Georgian
[4] The US President has introduced the law to protect voles in Congress.
美國總統在國會提出了保護田鼠的法律。
Měiguó zǒngtǒng zài guóhuì tíchūle bǎohù tiánshǔ de fǎlǜ.
美國總統喺國會提出咗保護田鼠嘅法律。
mei5gwok3 zung2tung2 hai2 gwok3wui2 tai4ceot1 zo2 bou2wu6 tin4syu2 ge3 faat3leot6。
In the kitchen, the daughter accidentally had the soup spoon and that Dulcimer thrown into the trash bin.
在廚房裡,女兒不小心把湯匙和菜板丟進了垃圾桶。
Zài chúfáng lǐ, nǚ'ér bù xiǎoxīn bǎ tāngchí huo cài bǎn di ū jìnle lèsè tǒng.
喺廚房入面,個女唔小心將個湯匙同砧板丟咗落垃圾桶度。
hai2 cyu4fong4 jap6min6,go3 neoi2 m4 siu2sam1 zoeng1 go3 tong1ci4 tung4 baan2 diu1 zo2 lok6 laap6saap3 tung2 dou6。
[5] I know that I am a dreamer. [Scio me somniare.]
 
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Wednesday, October 16, 2024

Der Komet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS in der Eifel / With an English Translation: Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS in the Eifel Mountains

 


Nachdem es am Nachmittag aufgeklart hatte und nur noch wenige Wolken am Horizont waren, dachte ich mir, es wäre eine gute Gelegenheit, mir den Kometen C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS anzusehen. Und ich sollte nicht enttäuscht werden, ich konnte ihn mit bloßem Auge entdecken, besser ging es allerdings mit der Kamera [1]. Das Bild habe ich hier an den Anfang gesetzt.  Interessanterweise haben wir in der Eifel normalerweise kaum Lichtverschmutzung. Aber für diesen Kometen waren zwei Lichtquellen entscheidend, zum einen war es der Sonnenuntergang, die Dämmerung dauerte noch an, als der Komet sichtbar wurde, und zum andern der fast volle Mond. Trotzdem war der Komet gut zu sehen.

Der Komet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS [2] ist im Oktober 2024 auf der Nordhalbkugel mit bloßem Auge zu sehen und das kann ich bestätigen. Er ist der dritthhellste Komet der letzten hundert Jahre und wird deshalb zu den großen Kometen gezählt. Er wurde erst am 9. Januar 2023 von der Sternwarte am Purpurnberg (
紫金山), das liegt am Rand der Stadt Nanjing (南京市),  entdeckt.  Es war der chinesische Astronom Ye Quanzhi (chin. 叶泉志). Und man kann sich das genau bei Wikipedia ansehen. Was mich etwas überrascht hat, ist der Name des Kometen in der Transkription nach Wade-Giles. Die wird eigentlich kaum mehr verwendet, weil Pinyin eindeutiger ist und man sehr einfach mit Pinyin chinesische Zeichen mit dem Computer schreiben kann. Aber dessen ungeachtet, hat der Komet einen etwas komplizierten Namen bekommen. Er war am 12. Oktober, also vor 4 Tagen, der Erde am nächsten.  Nun wird er im Anfang November seinen nächsten Punkt zur Venus haben und irgendwann wird er auch wieder verschwinden und nicht mehr sichtbar sein. Die größte Helligkeit hatte der Komet mit -4 mag, bei der Entdeckung hatte er eine Helligkeit von 19 mag; das menschliche Auge kann bei optimalen Bedingungen astronomische Objekte bis zu einer Helligkeit von 6,5 mag wahrnehmen. Für die nächsten Tage, wenn der Himmel weiterhin wolkenfrei bleibt, sollte man unbedingt kurz nach der Dämmerung versuchen, ihn im Westen zu sehen.


Links und Anmerkungen:
[1] Daten zur Aufnahme: Panasonic DMC-TZ71 4.3 mm f/3.3 30s ISO 80
[2] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/C/2023_A3_(Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) – ich empfehle aber, sich die englische Seite von Wikipedia anzusehen, denn da ist eine Animation der Kometenbahn zu sehen: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C/2023_A3_(Tsuchinshan%E2%80%93ATLAS)


English Translation:

After the sky had cleared up in the afternoon and there were only a few clouds on the horizon, I thought it would be a good opportunity to take a look at the comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS. And I was not disappointed, I could see it with the naked eye, but it was better with the camera [1]. I put the picture at the beginning of this blog post. Interestingly, we normally have hardly any light pollution in the Eifel. But for this comet, two light sources were crucial, firstly, the sunset, twilight was still going on when the comet became visible, and secondly, the almost full moon. Nevertheless, the comet was clearly visible.

The comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS [2] will be visible to the naked eye in the northern hemisphere in October 2024 and I can confirm that. It is the third brightest comet of the last hundred years and is therefore counted among the large comets. It was only discovered on January 9, 2023 by the observatory on the Purple Mountain (
紫金山), which is on the outskirts of the city of Nanjing (南京市). The Chinese astronomer Ye Quanzhi (Chinese: 叶泉志) took the credit for the discovery. And you can look up more information on Wikipedia. What surprised me a little is the name of the comet in the Wade-Giles transcription. This is actually hardly used anymore because Pinyin is more clear and you can write Chinese characters very easily with Pinyin on the computer. But regardless of that, the comet has been given a somewhat complicated name. It was closest to Earth on October 12th, 4 days ago. Now it will have its closest point to Venus in early November and at some point it will disappear again and no longer be visible. The comet had its greatest brightness at -4 mag, when it was discovered it had a brightness of 19 mag; under optimal conditions, the human eye can perceive astronomical objects up to a brightness of 6.5 mag. For the next few days, if the sky remains cloud-free, you should definitely try to see it in the west shortly after dusk.

Links and Annotations:
[1] Data for the recording: Panasonic DMC-TZ71 4.3 mm f/3.3 30s ISO 80
[2]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C/2023_A3_(Tsuchinshan%E2%80%93ATLAS) – the english article on Wikipedia is better as it contains an animation of the comet's orbit.

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The Riga Cathedral and the Pipe Organ

 


My trip through the Baltic States lies already about 3 months in the past, but of course I am still far from finished putting everything I saw on paper or rather on a blog post. Yesterday I listened to a concert, a pipe organ concert in Riga Cathedral, which popped up by chance on Facebook. And that inspired me to write this blog post on the Riga Cathedral. The cathedral is a landmark and is featured in paintings, phographs and so on. I had already mentioned Riga Cathedral in a German text in August 2024 [1].

Riga had a wooden cathedral before the Riga Dom had been built [2]. The wooden structure was destroyed by a fire in 1215. The first bishop of Riga, Albert von Buxthoeven, laid the foundation stone for the cathedral and in 1226 it was completed to the point that a synod was already taking place there, welcoming a papal legate. However, in 1595 the region changed to the Lutheran confession and the cathedral wa handed over to the Evangelical Lutheran community. The Riga Dom is built of bricks as many churches and other buildings in the north of Europe anyway. If you look at the Hanseatic cities, you will find such buildings regularly.



Just so I don't forget, the cathedral in Riga also has excellent windows and in fact I am even more interested in stained glass than pipe organs. In the area where I live I can refer to a very good website [3], the one that explains the  stained glass windows and in particular researches which artists created these windows. I don't have such information for the cathedral in Riga. Nevertheless I also want to show a picture of one in this beautiful stained glass windows.

This brings me to the Walcker organ from the year 1883. The lavish early baroque facade of the predecessor instrument by Jakob Raab from Lübeck in 1601 was well preserved. The organ building company Walcker from Ludwigsburg built the current organ with a total of 6,718 pipes in the year 1882/883. Back in the day this organ has been the largest organ in the world.  Already during the period between 1601 and 1883, changes had to be made to maintain the instrument, but that digs to deep into the history of this organ. And of course, the Second World War did not completely pass the instrument, neither did the Soviet era. Nevertheless, for the 100th anniversary, the Walcker organ was restored in 1983 and 1984 by the Dutch organ building company Flentrop.


During my stay in Riga I was able to hear a short concert by Larisa Bulava [4], who played short pieces to introduce the organ to the audience. Now I have a live recording by Liene Andreta Kalnciema [5], who played “Toccata and Fugue in D minor BWV 565” by Johann Sebastian Bach on the organ of Riga Cathedral [6]. The recording lasts 9:17 minutes and those are minutes of time well spent. The transition from the toccata to the fugue will always stay in my memory.

I have two recommendations: visiting Riga Cathedral first of all and of course  taking the 9:17 minutes to listen to “Toccata and Fugue in D minor” played by Liene Andreta Kalnciema.



Links and Annotations:
[1] ReiseGedichte - #KurzGedichte - Riga
https://rheumatologe.blogspot.com/2024/08/reisegedichte-kurzgedichte-riga.html
[2] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dom_zu_Riga The German text is much longen and thus gives more information especially on the pipe organ. However there is a good text in English, too: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riga_Cathedral.   
[3] „Forschungsstelle Glasmalerei des 20. Jh. e.V.“ based in Mönchengladbach is a center for the documentation and research of stained glass. https://www.glasmalerei-ev-web.de/pages/b6742/b6742.shtml   
[4] „Larisa Bulava is a professor at the organ class of the Latvian Academy of Music.“ https://doms.lv/en/pages/190
[5] Liene Andreta Kalnciema is one of the most outstanding Latvian organists of her generation who has won a wide international recognition.“ https://doms.lv/en/pages/192  
[6] J.S. Bach Toccata and Fugue in D minor BWV 565 Liene Andreta Kalnciema live at Riga Cathedral https://fb.watch/vesFmoKKeF/  
 
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Tuesday, October 15, 2024

Sammelsurium (264) 15.10.2024

 


RückSchau
1724 [1]

Geburt von Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock (gest. 1803), GroßGedicht „Der Messias“ [2], das ich nicht gelesen habe.  

Ewigkeit
Was läuft denn da ab in der Ewigkeit? Warum fließt die Zeit dahin? Tick, Tack, Tick, Tack. Wenn man Zeit in die Ewigkeit schüttet, nimmt die Unendlichkeit dann zu?

VISA – das blödeste Angebot
VISA warb früher mit „Die Freiheit nehm ich mir“ und wie ich an die Karte gekommen bin, weiß ich nicht mehr. War früher praktisch wg. Hotels und deshalb habe ich sie auch noch. Jetzt aber bot man mir auf dem FlugHafen Frankfurt/M. (FRA) eine VISA Karte an. Ich sagte: „Ich habe bereits eine VISA-Card.“ Zur Antwort bekomme ich: „Aber die ist von einer ganz anderen Firma.“ Das ist das blödeste Angebot, das mir je untergekommen ist.

Boarding Groups
Mittlerweile hat man sich an die Boarding Groups auf den Bordkarten gewöhnt. Neu ist, daß man nicht mehr mit der falschen BordKarte ins Flugzeug gelassen wird. Das erleichtert das Boarding ungemein. Geht für alle schneller, aber bekanntlich muss der Mensch zu seinem Glück gezwungen werden. Höre ich GurtPflicht im Auto? Ich höre GurtPflicht im Auto.

Zeit
Die Zeit gibt nichts mehr her, denn alles, was in der Zeit war, wird ewig in der Zeit bleiben. Nichts geht verloren.  

Vorbilder
„Man schaffe die Vorbilder“, hat Erich Kästner 1954 gefordert. Man hat das nicht geschafft. Jeder sucht sich sein Vorbild aus einer Flut von Nichtigkeiten -:  Jungs mit schlabrigen Hosen, Frauen mit Palästinensertüchern,  Drogenabhängige oder die Verführer von MAGA oder AFD. Nun ist es zu spät für Vorbilder. Der Zug ist abgefahren. Welchen Zug aber können wir noch nehmen?  

Kreischen
Als Kind mußte ich häufiger zum ZahnArzt, schon wegen der ZahnKlammer zum Richten der Zähne. Man saß im Wartezimmer und hörte die Bohrer, aber auch von der JustitianStraße das Kreischen der StraßenBahn, wenn sie um die Kurve fuhr. Ab und zu wurde einer der Delinquenten in einen  BehandlungsRaum eskortiert. IrgendWann, nach wer weiß wie vielen StraßenBahnen, die kreischten wie Frauen bei einem Beatles-Konzert, war die Reihe an mir.

Gärtnern
Wer meint, ein PflanzHolz aus EschenHolz mit MessingSpitze für 40€ zu benötigen, der sollte es vielleicht doch mit dem Gärtnern ganz sein lassen

Scherben
Brennnessel -: Brennessel, Brennnessel. BrennNessel. BrennNessel, BrennNessSel. Wer jetzt nicht lacht, ist selber schuld (EssSel, Essel, Esel).
Georgien und Armenien -: Giorgio Armani
Studiosus wirbt mit -: IntensiverLeben, aber darin steckt auch IntensivErleben.
Ho, Ho, Ho (bald wieder)
    Ho, Ho, Hosianna (aber immer)
        Ho, Ho, Ho Chi Minh (nie wieder)
Samsung – hamstrung
Nixen können nicht knixen.



Links und Anmerkungen:
[1] Werner Stein: Kulturfahrplan. Die wichtigsten Daten der Kulturgeschichte. Von Anbeginn bis heute. Deutsche Buch-Gemeinschaft, Berlin und Darmstadt 1946/1957. S. 832.
[2] Beginnt so:
„Sing', unsterbliche Seele, der sündigen Menschen Erlösung,
Die der Messias auf Erden in seiner Menschheit vollendet,
Und durch die er Adam's Geschlecht zu der Liebe der Gottheit,
Leidend, getödtet und verherrlichet, wieder erhöht hat.“
http://www.zeno.org/Literatur/M/Klopstock,+Friedrich+Gottlieb/Gedichte/Der+Messias/Erster+Theil/Erster+Gesang


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Haiku for National Haiku Writing Month – October 2024 First Half

 


National Haiku Writing Month has been founded by the well known haiku poet Michael Dylan Welch. The goal is to write at least one haiku a day. National Haiku Writing Month is in its 14th year. [1] I enjoy writing to the prompts on Facebook. Here are some interesting links: [2]. Our daily writing prompter is Rowan Beckett Minor [3], prompting for us for the second time. Thanks a lot, Rowan! I started a few day late as I had been off the grid (travelling).

黃河遠上白雲間,
一片孤城萬仞山。
羌笛何須怨楊柳,
春風不度玉門關。
出塞。
王之渙。
Where the Yellow River meanders above the clouds –
The strip of a lonely city in the high mountains.
How can the (Qiang) flute not lament under the willows,
For the spring wind will not cross the Jade Gate Pass.
Beyond the Border
Wang Zhihuan [4]



on the grave
dead leaves and drizzle
who cares six feet under
~ Grave

it's raining again
the football field is a swamp
tits at the food ball
~ Food

the creaking door
it isn't in a horror movie
it's HORROR
~ Creak

the tradewind
brushes the coconut trees
my dreams sail on
~ Trade

a howl from the woods
something IS approaching
I see your creature
~ Cryptid/Monster

almost empty
the bus reaching the transfer
void of desire
~ Transportation

flascs full of
potions and luring perfums
the art of love
~ Potion

golden poplar leaves
falling through the blue sky
what a treasure!
~ Tax/Money



Links and Annotations:
[1] National Haiku Writing Month https://www.facebook.com/NaHaiWriMo  
[2] „To help with haiku fundamentals, please have a look at "Becoming a Haiku Poet" at https://www.graceguts.com/essays/becoming-a-haiku-poet. And please review the "Haiku Checklist" at https://www.graceguts.com/essays/haiku-checklist.
[3] Meet the prompters: https://www.nahaiwrimo.com/meet-the-prompters/rowan-beckett-minor  
[4] Wang Zhihuan is a poet of the Tang Dynasty and lived from 688 to 742. He was born in what is now Shanxi, Jiangxian (
山西绛县); which is northwest of Xi'an (西安), in the area from where the Yellow River flows west. 萬仞 means 10,000 ren () - an archaic unit of length, 3 chi () are 1 m, 7-8 chi are a ren. Only two poems were included in the anthology 300 Poems of the Tang Dynasty (唐詩三百首). A total of six of his poems are preserved in the collection Complete Poems of the Tang Dynasty (全唐詩) from 1706. The Qing Emperor Kang Xi (清康熙) commissioned it in 1705 and the anthology was published in 1706. It contains 48,900 poems by 2,200 poets in over 900 volumes. The main compiler was Peng Dingqiu (彭定求), who lived from 1645-1719, others were named: Shen Sanzeng, Yang Zhongna, Wang Shihong, Wang Yi, Yu Mei, Xu Shuben, Che Dingjin, Pan Conglu, Zha Siyu and others (沈三曾、楊中訥、汪士鋐、汪繹、俞梅、徐樹本、車鼎晉、潘從律、查嗣瑮等).

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Grusinian or Better Georgian Tea

 


Recently I've written a blogpost on tea in German with the same title [1]. It is also an account on my recent travels through Georgia, so I tranlated and enhanced the German text into what follows.

Since I was travelling through Georgia, I read up on Georgian tea, which is not that easy [2]. Georgia used to be the fifth largest tea producer in the world, but I'm getting ahead of myself here. Older readers may still know the tea as Grusinian tea, which goes back to the Russian term (Грузинский чай), but it's better to say Georgian tea (in Georgian:
ქართული ჩაი), which is pronounced "kartuli chai".

The German Wikipedia article has a paragraph about Georgian tea [3], in which we learn that tea has been grown in Georgia in its own hybrids since the middle of the 19th century, that this tea had gained popularity, and that during the Soviet Union up to 152,000 tonnes (new estimation) were produced annually. The market and cultivation collapsed with the downfall of the Soviet Union and again during the Caucasus War in 2008. The Georgian tea producer Gurieli is once again growing tea near Zugdidi, mainly for the Georgian market. Zugdidi (Georgian:
ზუგდიდი) [4] is a small town in western Georgia, on the border with Abkhazia and is about 110 m above sea level. But that doesn't mean anything, because the altitude rises quickly to the east of the town, so it is difficult to judge the quality of the tea from Zugdidi's altitude.

There are two articles on Wikipedia in Russian and Georgian that are very different from each other and that I had translated in order to be able to evaluate them [5]. I have also evaluated commercial sites on the Internet [6]. In this context, I would like to point out the two articles about old tea tins from Georgia [7]. And I've found now, looking more into English articles one overview article by Paul Rimple on a commercial site called „culinary backstreets“: „Something Brewing: Georgia’s Tea Renaissance“ [8].



I have to choose from the extensive history of tea cultivation and there are four phases: the very early, when tea arrived in Georgia (19th century), the early 20th century, the Soviet era and the state of tea in Georgia today.
The first tea bushes were planted in 1809 in Mamiya V. Guriel's garden. The Guriel brand is now Georgia's leading tea producer. Miha Eristavi smuggled seeds from China and established the first tea plantation in Georgia's west in 1847, because the climate was favorable. In the second half of the 19th century, the construction of the railway line proved to be an important factor in the development of the tea regions. I had previously read similar thoughts about India and Ceylon [9].
At the end of the 19th century, Lao Jinzhao came to Georgia at the age of 23 and devoted himself to tea cultivation there. He came from a Chinese noble family, but I have not been able to find the correct Chinese spelling of his name; I've tried several combinations of Chinese characters, but could not find him mentioned in Chinese. Some of his personal items are on display in the Ajara Museum in Batumi [10]. In 1900, his tea won at the Paris World Exhibition.
There were already tea plantations at the beginning of the Soviet era, which were expanded in the 1930s. In the 1970s, two developments could be observed: in addition to the increase in the volume of Georgian tea production, there also was a progressive loss of quality. During the mechanical tea harvest, not only the upper, young leaves and tips were harvested, but also the lower, old and coarse leaves, and sometimes even twigs. In addition, harvesting also took place during wet weather, which of couse reduces the quality of the tea.
After independence, sales markets disappeared and many plantations became overgrown. In 1993-1995 and 2008, the wars led to a drastic reduction in tea production. Today, if you look carefully at the landscape, you drive past old plantations by bus or train; sorry no pictures, I've just checked the memory card for failed and uncopied pictures from the bus. A lot of infrastructure has been lost. The recultivation of the overgrown tea fields is hardly affordable for a farmer with a normal income. In addition to the economic consequences, there are also social consequences, because tea-growing culture was an essential part of life and identification in many villages.

Today, tea is being grown again in Georgia, mainly for domestic consumption, which has not yet been met, and little for export, from which the country's economy could benefit. Traditionally, more green tea was produced than black tea. There was also very little yellow tea. There are also organic teas, which are produced by at least one small company. Paul Rimple writes about „ an old Georgian technique, by using a wide-bottomed glass wine decanter for extraction control“ and serving the tea into wine glasses. Tea is widely served in glass instead of porcelain in Europe as well the Middle East including Turkey.

Georgia's black tea tastes mild and a little sour. „You gotta try it!“



Links and Annotations:
[1] Grusinischer oder besser georgischer Tee https://rheumatologe.blogspot.com/2024/10/grusinischer-oder-besser-georgischer-tee.html
[2] OK, you can make it easy for yourself, but then you won't learn much. And I'm not one of those people who make it too easy for themselves.
[3] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schwarzer_Tee#Georgien The article is in German and is the section on Georgian tea, which the English article does not have.
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zugdidi
[5] https://ka.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E1%83%A5%E1%83%90%E1%83%A0%E1%83%97%E1%83%A3%E1%83%9A%E1%83%98_%E1%83%A9%E1%83%90%E1%83%98 and https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%93%D1%80%D1%83%D0%B7%D0%B8%D0%BD%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B8%D0%B9_%D1%87%D0%B0%D0%B9
[6] https://www.georgia-insight.eu/georgien/kueche/tee and https://www.die-teeseite.de/tee-aus-georgien.php
[7] https://www.tea-terra.ru/2013/07/02/1766/#more-1766 and https://radion-gz-china.livejournal.com/256671.html
[8] https://culinarybackstreets.com/cities-category/tbilisi/2018/something-brewing/ Published on February 06, 2018.
[9] William H. Ukers, All About Tea, 2 volumes. New York 1935. May now be viewed in digital form: https://www.univie.ac.at/Geschichte/China-Bibliographie/blog/2018/03/22/ukers-all-about-tea/
[10] https://ajaramuseums.ge/en/museums/brothers/Lao-Jin-Zhao-and-Georgian-tea and
https://ajaramuseums.ge/en/museums/brothers/Personal-belongings-of-Lao-Jinjao
PS: The first picture shows flowers on a tea bush in Batumi's Botanical Garden.
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Monday, October 14, 2024

The Adventures of Chinese Alcoholic Beverages

 


I was leafing through old documents again and came across some labels from spirits bottles that I had collected while studying in Taiwan - over 40 years ago. Back then, we liked to drink the odd wine as students, although the term wine is a bit of a stretch, as these wines usually contain 30% to even 92% alcohol. We tried out different types. Some of these alcoholic beverages are no longer available. They are even sold at top prices even in faulty bottles. So I was interested in what we had actually drunk back then, because at dinner we were asked: Do you dare to eat that [這個你敢不敢吃?]. There is always a note on the labels: 建設台灣,復興中華。[Build Taiwan, renew China.]

Before I started studying in Taiwan, I visited Hong Kong once and brought a bottle of Wu Chia Pi Chiew [
五加皮酒] with me back home. Together with my father we poured ourselves the 54% herbal liquor, toasted each other, and drank it. Then we looked at each other to see if we hadn't drunk something that you usually put parts of a watch in to clean them. I looked at the label again and said: "Yes, yes, this is herbal liqueur for drinking."

The first picture shows Tiger Bone Wine [
虎骨酒]. It was only available in stores as an exception. I was told that tiger bones had to be imported from Thailand first. Wikipedia reports that tiger bones are a necessary ingredient and the manufacturing process takes eight years [1]. I don't remember the taste. I wouldn't drink it today either.


The next picture shows two labels. The left label belongs to sorghum schnapps - Gaoliang [高粱酒]. I remember the taste exactly. It has a strange aftertaste that stays with you for a long time. I think it would have had around 50% alcohol content. At a friend's wedding party, I drank a special 63% alcohol content gaoliang schnapps with him and his father-in-law, a baker. And yes, I also remember the headache. More about this liquor can be found on Wikipedia [2]. A special Gaoliang comes from the island of Kinmen [金門], perhaps also known as Quemoy, which was particularly popular and of which I once got a bottle. In the shop you could see how the stock disappeared within a day.

The next label shows ginseng wine [
參茸酒]. Perhaps someone has read the book “The Teahouse of the August Moon” by Vern Sneider [3], because in it ginseng wine is added to the tea. It is a spirit that is said to have health benefits (“lack of Qi”). Incidentally, it is also said to be good for dripping vaginal discharge.


The next label shows dragon and phoenix wine [龍鳳酒]. This only has 30% alcohol because it is very popular with women. It consists of herbs that are used in Chinese medicine and are infused with Kinmen Gaoliang [金門高粱酒]. Let us remember the words of the great Chairman Mao Zedong [毛泽东], who said: “Chinese medicine is a great treasure-house!” [中国医药学是一个伟大的宝库].


Now let us come to Meigueilujiu [玫瑰露酒]. This is a schnapps that I did not find particularly strong, but it still had around 50% alcohol content. Meiguei is the rose and the schnapps had a rose aroma. I just remembered a hit song from 1940 that Yao Lee [姚莉] had sung: “Rose, Rose, I love you” [玫瑰玫瑰我愛你] [4]. And here's another extra that I just looked up because I suspected it but didn't remember: the song was played in the movie "The Pillow Book" by Peter Greenaway [5].


The last label shows Changchun wine [長春酒]. Changchun means something like eternal spring and is a city in northeast China where the temperature sometimes drops below -20° C in winter. But the city has nothing to do with the spirit. It is a herbal schnapps that was prepared according to a secret recipe [6]; black beans, angelica root, wolfberry and others are said to have been used. Changchun wine has been available in Taiwan since 1967, but according to my research, production was stopped in 1985 [7].

My advice: only try a small amount at a time. And definitely don't mix everything together.

Links and Annotations:
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiger_bone_wine
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaoliang_liquor
[3] This is a wonderful comedy, so I would like to read the book again in the near future (I only have the German translation). Vern Sneider: “Die  Geishas des Captain Fishby” (original title: The Teahouse of the August Moon). Bertelsmann, Gütersloh 1958.
[4] Yao Lee (Chinese:
姚莉) lived from 1922 to 2019. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yao_Lee  and you can listen to the song here: 姚莉-玫瑰玫瑰我愛你 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-vv-tgoab0  
[5] “The Pillow Book is a 1996 erotic Drama film written and directed by Peter Greenaway, which stars Vivian Wu as Nagiko, a Japanese model in search of pleasure and new cultural experience from various lovers." lovers." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pillow_Book_(film) 
[6]
https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hant/%E9%95%BF%E6%98%A5%E8%8D%AF%E9%85%92 You can read there: 依祖傳秘方生產長春藥酒 [producing Changchun medicinal wine according to ancestral secret recipe].
[7] https://www.p9.com.tw/forum/forumtopic.aspx?id=201204

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