Smile if a Bird Poops on You

The Peace Corps provides trainees with a booklet on Albanian culture.  I have shared some of my favorite tidbits below.

Things that made me smile:

• "The butterfly is believed to be a representative of the human soul.  Whenever a butterfly is coming around you or sitting on your hand, it means a human soul (especially a relative) is visiting you.  Don't try to kill the butterfly; it will bring you bad luck.  Try to understand the message it brings to you and then set it free."
• Albanians LOVE fireworks and New Year's
• Albanians celebrate every holiday, regardless of their professed religion (read: potentially many extra days off work)

Things that made me think:

•  "The Albanian language is entirely distinct from the tongues spoken by neighboring nationalities.  This language is particularly interesting as the only surviving representative of the so-called Thraco-Illyrian group of languages, which formed the primitive speech of the inhabitants of the Balkan Peninsula."
• "The Albanian language affords the only available means for a rational explanation of the names of the ancient Greek gods as well as the rest of mythological creations, so as exactly to correspond with the characteristics attributed to these dieties by the men of those times.  The explanations are so convincing as to confirm the opinion that the ancient Greek mythology had been borrowed, in its entirety, from the Illyrian-Pelasgians."
• Zeus survives today as Zot (Albanian word for God)
• His most famous oracle and supposed original place of worship was at Dodona in present-day Albania
• The invocation of his name is the common form of oath among modern Albanians
• Athena, goddess of wisdom as expressed in speech, would evidently owe its derivation to the Albanian "E Thena" which simply means "speech."
• Thetis, goddess of water and sea, probably derives from "Det" meaning "sea."
• Ulysses, or in Greek Odysseus, means "traveler" in Albanian.
• Their first king was Hyllus, "the star," closely related to the Greek god Helios, "the sun."
• Albanians are believed to be descendants of the ancient Illyrians whose culture likely originated in the Stone Age and manifested itself in present-day Albanian territory toward the beginning of the Bronze Age (approximately 2000 BCE).  They were a conglomeration of tribes that inhabited the western part of the Balkans. 
• Albanians have been legendary for their hospitality and wartime bravery since antiquity.
• Illyrian women were afforded near-equal status to men, even becoming heads of local federations and in one case queen, Catherine the Great of Illyria.
• Shiqperia (Albanian for Albania) likely means "land of Eagles."
• Currently about 1/2 of Albania's traditional territory belongs to its neighbors.
• Blood feuds (to learn more, read Broken April by Ismail Kadare)
• Some proverbs/expressions:
• "Trimi i mirë me shokë shumë."  The brave person has a lot of friends.
• "Kush i bën gropën shokut bie vetë brenda."  Whoever digs a hole for his friend ends up falling into it himself."
• "S'bëhet vreshti me urata po me shata e lopata."  A vineyard is not done by blessings but by way of a shovel.
• "Nga e thëna në të bërë është në mes një mal i tërë."  There is a mountain between saying and doing.
• "Puna e rinisë, jorgani i pleqërisë."  Working when you are young is the comforter of old age.
• "Jeto sikur do Vdesesh nesër, mëso sikur do jetosh gjithmonë."  Live as if you will die tomorrow; learn as if you will live forever.

 Things that made me scratch my head:

• As of 1946, as mush as 85% of the population was illiterate, princially because schools using the Albanian language had been practically non-existent in the country before independence in 1912.  (Greedy/hostile neighbors and invaders tried their best to kill the language over the last 600 years.)
• Albania is a land where it is not uncommon to see a relatively thuggish-looking guy belting out the latest Rhianna song. 
• Bad luck omens:
• "When an owl comes and stands on the roof of your house, it means bad luck for you.  If that owl starts to sing it is a bad sign and means that something bad is going to happen."
• "If a dog howls at night, it means someone will die."  (If this were true, all of Albania would be dead in a week.)
• Good luck signs:
• a baby pees on you
• a bird poops on you
• you find a horseshoe
• you see a spider - the bigger the better
• garlic in the pocket keeps away the "evil eye" (and many a Westerner)
• "In preparation for the expected invasion of American and Russian troops, Albanian factories produced 180,000 concrete bunkers by 1985, in addition to millions of 6 foot high concrete poles topped with iron spikes to impale invading paratroopers.  The port city of Durrës (Albania's second largest) had live ammunition invasion simulations every 8 weeks in which the entire population was evacuated to the surrounding villages."