My Multi-culture Universe: February 2024

Saturday 17 February 2024

07-021 disORIENTation

07-021
disORIENTation

Buying a busking CD is rather hit or miss. This applies to Hong Kong. This applies to Germany as well.

Busker in Marienplatz

Buskers are everywhere in Marienplatz. Most of them sing very well or play very good music. But only a few of them sell CDs. We are living in the 2020s. Everything goes cyber. It is a world dominated by Instagram and Tik Tok. Most people don’t even have a working CD player at home.

Gypsy woman busking outside Hugendubel bookstore at Marienplatz

But I still like CDs. They give me a feeling of “owning” the music. It happened that after visiting the Jüdisches Museum München, I found this couple playing music outside the department store Ludwig Beck. They played so well and attracted a crowd of audiences. And they sold CDs. I told myself, “I mustn’t miss this chance!”

Ludwig Beck at Marienplatz

Their music is so good!

But when I was about to pull out my wallet, I realized that I didn’t have any small change. During my whole week in Munich, I had hardly spent any cash. I paid almost everything by credit card. I was still carrying those 50 EURO banknotes that I got from the bank in Hong Kong.

I quickly went into the U-bahn station nearby and grabbed a bottle of water, paying cash. But when I came back to Ludwig Beck with some changes on hand, they were gone! I was gone for just 2 minutes, but they were already gone. I tried walking around for 20 minutes but could not find any trace of them. I did not even get their name. There was not even a chance for me to buy their CD from eBay.

Luckily, I got another chance of acquiring a busking CD in Germany earlier that week. In one of the nights out with my colleagues, I met an old man playing an accordion outside Frauenkirche. He played very well. And he also sold CDs. Since I was with my colleagues, I quickly grabbed a CD from him and left. I had no chance of taking any photo of him. I was amazed. He said “Xie! Xie!” to me. I was talking to him in English. I don’t know why he know that I was a Chinese.

The CD album "disORIENTation"

Only after I came back to Hong Kong, did I have time to really listen to his music and find out what his CD was about.

The title of the CD is called “disORIENTation”. The music was recorded in Church Town Studios of Munich some 20 years ago, in 2004. And the CD was not performed by a single person but by a group called The Bridge Ensemble. “disORIENTation” is their second, and probably the last album. It contains 20 tracks with titles like Bulgar, Dimitrio, Nostalgia, Libertango, and Sherele. The album features instruments such as accordion, bayan, cello, clarinet, double bass, dulcimer, guitar, keyboards, percussion, and violin.

Inside of the CD

The Bridge Ensemble was formed in 2000 by Adam Mazurek. The group consists of artists who are “searching for the sources of culture in the traditions of various nations and ethnic groups.” At the time of recording, there were 10 artists in the group, old and young, men and women. There were members from Poland, Germany, Ukraine, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, and Belarus. They play various styles of music, such as Sephardic, Polka, Klezmer, Armenian, Greek, and Balkan.

The title “disORIENTation” was referred to the then world situation. “Disorientation in the world has reached a critical level”, as stated in the CD insert. Looking back to what it said 20 years ago, their prediction was surprisingly true.

I found that the album was also religious. Not only did there are Jewish music in the album. The cover picture was adapted from the Quran “The Paradise found under the feet of good people.”

The backcover of the CD says its cover picture is adapted from the Koran

I guess the accordionist I met was Alexander Schamigov. Too bad that I had no time to talk with him longer. If I had been given the chance, I would definitely have asked him where the other members in the ensemble were.

Now, his CD is sitting next to my Hi-Fi, together with the other 2 CDs of Pepito. I am happy to acquire it into my collection.

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07-020 Jewish bookshop

07-020
Jewish bookshop

Like many museums, the Jewish Museum of Munich has a souvenir shop located right at the entrance. Sometimes, the souvenir shop is the only area in a museum that can make money. It is also a place where visitors can get in touch with some “eccentric” knowledge that cannot be displayed in the proper exhibits.

Literatur Handlung, the Jewish bookstore

The souvenir shop inside the Jewish Museum of Munich is not very large, but the items inside are interesting. Let me show you around.

Books and Toys

The souvenir shop sells many books. The museum calls it a bookshop rather than a souvenir shop. However, most of the publications sold there are in German.

Books selling in Literatur Handlung are mainly German

There is an interesting section that sells Jewish toys. Many Christian families bring their kids to children’s church from a young age, hoping their kids can grow up in a Christian environment. The same applies to Jewish parents. In the toy section, you can find a Chanukah sticker book, a Chanukah jigsaw puzzle, a Chanukah memory game, a sing-along dreidel, magnetic Hebrew alphabet letters, a plastic Passover seder food set, and more.

Toys in Chanukah theme

More toys in Jewish theme

Plastic Passover seder food set and plastic shofar

Judaica

The most attractive part of the souvenir shop is the Judaica section, or Jewish ceremonial art. Judaica are beautifully made, but most of them are sold at an expensive price. For example, a metal Hanukkah menorah is sold for EUR 99. A ram horn shofar made by the famous Bar-Sheshet and Ribak families is sold for EUR 69.

Hanukkah menorah, Shofar, and others

Torah pointers, Passover Seder plate, and others

More expensive Judaica were displayed on the window

Prices were not shown. You need ask.

Some items can be easily identified. For example, the menorah and shofar mentioned above, or the Torah pointers and Passover Seder plate in the photo below. But for some of the items, I have no idea what they are. Since the items sold in the souvenir shop are not part of the exhibit, the shop won’t tell you what they are selling. You can ask, though. But I prefer to do my own research to find out.

I am going to share with you what I have found out. To my surprise, some of the items are not even Biblical!

Mezuzah

I know what a mezuzah is. I visited Jerusalem in 2008. On the trip, I saw many Jewish people touching a mezuzah and kissing their fingers. I asked a lady the purpose of doing this. Maybe she could not speak much English; she just told me “Lucky! Lucky!”.

Mezuzah

A mezuzah is a piece of parchment inscribed with specific Hebrew verses from the Torah, which Jewish followers of Rabbinical Judaism affix to the doorposts of their homes. It is based on the Hebrew Bible Deuteronomy:

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. (Deuteronomy 6:4-9, NIV)

However, are the Bible verses really asking people to nail a mezuzah on every doorpost? I seriously doubt that. My conviction is that these verses should be interpreted allegorically, not literally. God is asking His followers to follow His words not only in our home, but always. He asks us to remember His Bible verses while leaving our home, while greeting other people outside, and while travelling. Most mezuzot are made of metal or wood. The parchment stored inside the mezuzah is not visible from outside.

The Bible is supposed to be read, not to be adored. I know a brother in church who really writes down Bible verses and sticks them on his main door to remind himself to remain righteous whenever leaving his home. This is what the Bible teaches. Putting a parchment inside a box and hanging it on the doorpost simply misses the point. And kissing a mezuzah won’t bring you any luck.

Hamsa

Not to be confused with Hamas, whom the Israelis hate most, the hamsa is a palm-shaped amulet popular throughout North Africa and in the Middle East and commonly used in jewelry and wall hangings.

Scholars suggest that the hamsa may have originated from ancient Mesopotamia, the birthplace of Abraham, the patriarch of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The hamsa may be a symbol of the goddess Tanit, who was worshipped by the Phoenicians and the Carthaginians. Tanit was associated with the moon, fertility, and protection, and may have influenced the later conception of the hamsa as a sign of divine guidance and luck. The biblical connection of the hamsa is more or less close to zero. Jews attribute it to the hand of Miriam, the sister of Moses and Aaron, who was a prophetess and a leader of the Israelites during the Exodus. Miriam is revered in Judaism for her role in saving Moses from the Nile, singing a song of praise after crossing the Red Sea, and providing water for the people in the desert. Miriam’s hand may symbolize her courage, faith, and wisdom, as well as her protection from the evil eye.

Hamsa and Naẓar

Christians interpret the hamsa as the hand of Holy Mary. Muslims interpret the hamsa as the hand of Fatima, the daughter of Muhammad, the founder of Islam. However, the hamsa does not appear anywhere in the Bible or in the Quran. Remember, God called Moses to leave Mesopotamia to worship Him alone. If the hamsa is related to Mesopotamian pagan worship, it is a big no-no to embrace it into the religion of God.

It is difficult to pinpoint the exact time when hamsas emerged in Jewish culture, though it is clearly a symbol of Sephardic nature nowadays. You can find hamsas in the form of a ceramic table decoration, a bookmark, or a keychain. The price of a hamsa ranges from a few Euros to around fifty, depending on the quality.

Naẓar

Naẓar or eye bead is an eye-shaped amulet believed by many to protect against the evil eye. The bead is made of a mixture of molten glass, iron, copper, water, and salt, ingredients that are thought to shield people from evil.

The belief in the evil eye among humans has existed since prehistory, and amulets to protect against it have been found dating back to about 5,000 years ago.

The naẓar is found in many cultures in the Mediterranean region, the Balkans, the Middle East, Central Asia and South Asia. It has become an item of popular culture in modern Turkey. A friend of mine visited Turkey many years ago. He bought me an eye bead as a souvenir. Thinking of its relationship with pagan worship, I threw the eye bead away. I was surprised to see that the naẓar has also become a part of Jewish culture.

These items are adorable, but I did not buy any. Price is one reason. Also, I am not a Jew. Bringing them back home would only add more dust collectors to my small house. I already have plenty of dust collectors at home.

Items on the upper shelf are expensive.
But items underneath are selling at a much cheaper price.

However, not all Judaica found in the shop are expensive. There is a section near the cashier that sells Judaica, along with other Jewish accessories, at a more reasonable price.

Kippah and other Jewish accessories

Dreidel

A four-sided spinning top, played during the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah, the dreidel is a Jewish variant of the teetotum, a gambling toy found in Europe and Latin America. The dreidel is a dice game, and technically, a gambling game, although people also play the game with chocolate instead of money.

Dreidel

Each side of the dreidel bears a letter of the Hebrew alphabet: נ‎ (nun), ג‎ (gimel), ה‎ (hei), ש‎ (shin). According to a tradition first documented in 1890, the game was developed by Jews who illegally studied the Torah in seclusion as they hid, sometimes in caves, from the Seleucids under Antiochus IV.

Some rabbis ascribe symbolic significance to the markings on the dreidel. A gematria reading yields the number 358, identical to the value of the four letters used to spell “Moshiach” (Messiah).

I have thought about buying a dreidel for a long time. They are widely available on Amazon. It is a Jewish game, but most dreidels are made in China. It seems there is no reason to purchase an Israeli game from America when the item itself is made just a hundred miles away from my hometown. I was in a Jewish museum and now I had a reason to buy one.

I will write a post about the dreidel when I have time.

Red thread

To be honest, I did not know what it was in the first place. I had not heard of Kabbalah or red thread or string until I found out about it from the internet.

Red Thread

Red string is a type of talisman that some people wear as a bracelet or band on the wrist. It is believed to have various meanings and purposes, such as protection, faith, good luck, strength, and connection. Red string is often associated with Kabbalah, a mystical form of Judaism, but it can also be found in other cultures and traditions.

There is only one place in the Bible that mentions red string. It is in Genesis:

When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb. As she was giving birth, one of them put out his hand; so the midwife took a scarlet thread and tied it on his wrist and said, “This one came out first.” But when he drew back his hand, his brother came out, and she said, “So this is how you have broken out!” And he was named Perez. Then his brother, who had the scarlet thread on his wrist, came out. And he was named Zerah. (Genesis 38:27-30)

However, the Bible only mentioned the use of red thread to identify the twins. It did not mention that wearing a red thread would bring good omen. Anyway, wearing red thread has become a popular culture, even outside Israel.

The certificate of the red threads

The certificate is about the size of a prayer card.
Bible verse Numbers 6:24 יְבָרֶכְךָ֥ יְהוָ֖ה וְיִשְׁמְרֶֽךָ is quoted on the other side.

I bought a pack of 5 red threads. And it came with a certificate. The threads are blessed by, I don’t know who.

In addition, I also bought a prayer card. I have written 2 posts about prayer cards, one for ordinary prayer cards and the other for third class relics prayer cards. I am happy to acquire a Jewish prayer card in my collection.

Jewish prayer card, in Hebrews

The other side is the English translation.
The card is Traveler's Prayer.

That is all I want to share in this post. I found that I learned a lot from that visit.

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04-024 Snake soup

04-024
Snake soup

After talking about the exotic special menu of our local Pizza Hut, I am going to show you what authentic snake soup looks like. Normal Chinese restaurants do not serve snake soup or snake meat very often. Snakes are mainly served in specialty restaurants dedicated to serving snake soup.

Snake soup

Snake soup used to be more popular in the old days. It has become less popular now, especially among the young people. Due to the decline of the popularity, finding a snake restaurant in the city is not always an easy task.

On the new year’s day of 2024, I had a chance to visit one of the snake restaurants. The shop’s name is Snake King Kau, located in Kennedy Town, one of the old districts of Hong Kong.

Snake King Kau

The restaurant is very small in size. It does not even have a proper restaurant license. A food producer license is all they have. This means they cannot put more than 8 seats inside the restaurant. They mainly serve takeaway, though dine-in is also welcome.

The choice of food is limited. They sell mainly snake soup and snake broth. In addition, they also sell glutinous rice with Chinese sausages, chicken rice with snake sauce, and, if you are a meat lover, deep-fried snake nuggets. For those who do not like eating snake, they offer preserved duck leg with rice, mutton with rice, boiled vegetable, and Chinese herbal tea. Last, but not the least, they also sell Chinese herbal tea. I will explain what herbal tea is later.

The combo menu

Let us have a look at their prices. From left to right, the combo menu shows:

Large size snake soup & Glutinous rice with Chinese sausages - $130
Small size snake soup & Glutinous rice with Chinese sausages - $82
Snake broth & Glutinous rice with Chinese sausages - $58
Large size snake soup & Chicken rice with snake sauce - $140
Small size snake soup & Chicken rice with snake sauce - $92
Snake broth & Chicken rice with snake sauce - $68
Deep fried snake nuggets - $80

The à la carte menu

On the à la carte menu, from left to right, it shows:

Large size snake soup - $100
Small size snake soup - $52
Snake broth - $28
Tortoise soup - $52
Chicken rice with snake sauce - $50
Preserved duck leg with rice - $50
Glutinous rice with Chinese sausage - $33
Boiled vegetable - $25

On the last row at the bottom of the menu, it says $12 for an extra piece of Chinese sausage or Chinese black pudding.

In addition, there are some special menus on the wall.

Chinese herbal tea Sang Ji Sheng

One of them is the Chinese herbal tea menu. The herb for making the tea is called taxillus chinensis. Taxillus chinensis, also known as mulberry mistletoe or Sang Ji Sheng 桑寄生 in Chinese, is a parasitic plant that grows on the branches of trees, especially mulberry trees. It has been used for medicinal purposes for hundreds of years in traditional Chinese medicine. The main function of taxillus chinensis is to nourish the liver and kidney, strengthen the bones and muscles, expel wind and dampness, and prevent miscarriage. It also has various pharmacological effects such as anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anticancer, and antihypertensive.

It costs $22 for a bowl of taxillus chinensis herbal tea and $26 if you want to add an egg to it.

HKD 600 for a pot of turtle soup

What could be more exotic than snake meat? How about turtle! We use softshell turtle, mixed with Chinese medicine, to make a soup. It costs $600 for one pot, enough for a whole family.

Tortoise Jelly and Tortoise Soup

Another menu item, less exotic but still unusual, is tortoise jelly and tortoise soup. Both sell for $52 each. There is no tortoise meat in the jelly or the soup. We only use the shell of the tortoise. No, they are not vegetarian.

You don’t have to worry about eating snake meat by mistake when you are in the city. Snake meat is very expensive. In fact, some unscrupulous snake restaurants may replace snake meat with chicken or pork in your soup. But at Snake King Kau, you were given a choice. If you don’t trust them, you can buy a whole frozen snake and take it home to cook it yourself. They sell them for $250 per snake.

HKD250 for a frozen snake

Let me show you what a bowl of snake soup looks like. On the table of a snake restaurant, there are normally some condiments. You will find pepper, Chinese vinegar, lemongrass (inside the tin box) and fried dough (inside the plastic box). Depending on your preference, some people like to mix them into the snake soup. I only like adding lemongrass to the soup, not the others.

Condiments to mix with snake soup

Lemongrass

Fried dough

This is what snake soup looks like. I ordered a small bowl. The size is not too large, only around 400ml. It is a thick soup with shredded snake meat, chicken, pork, fish maw, black fungus, and other ingredients. Like the snake soup pizza, not all the meat inside the bowl is snake. Snake meat has a very special texture and can be easily distinguished. The meat is rather tasteless though.

Can you see the texture of snake meat?

As a traditional snake restaurant, there is more to explore inside Snake King Kau. Apart from those special menus, you can also find photos and newspaper clippings hung on the wall. They show the brave history of the restaurant owner. You can see how many big snakes were hunted down by Mr. Kau in the past.

The restaurant is also a showroom of Mr. Kau's brave history in snake hunting

On the shelf of Snake King Kau, there are bottles of wine, made with snakes or other animals, such as deer tails, lizards or mice. Chinese believe that these exotic ingredients have magical power, especially for men. The wine is limited production and is stored inside recycled Blue Girl beer bottles. (Yes, Mr. Kau likes Blue Girl.) Some of them do not even have labels. Their prices are also expensive. A bottle of snake wine costs $160 to $180, depending on their function. A bottle of deer tail wine costs $300.