Genuinely Hope "JD Vance Killed The Pope" Becomes A Legit, Widespread Rumor. I Hope The Whitehouse Has

it bothers me that you often don't really hear about people having a "favorite album" the way they might have a favorite movie or favorite video game

worst part of being fictionkind is when there are so so many tags you need to block

Recently, I was thinking about kin lives especially in the context of fictionkin and how the community often discusses events we see in canon – adjacency or divergence, and additionally creates concepts of validity around that. How even the most adjacent timelives will never be exactly the same, because media is a narrative, not a lifetime. 

A movie, show or book will only ever show the important aspects of a narrative, events will be reduced to their necessities, never shown in their entirety. When you consider a lifetime and all the moments in that; every thought, feeling, conversation, action — all these little features of living day-to-day. Life is so full and abundant. Metaphorically, media is like telling someone about a conversation you had. All the important aspects to make a point will be shared, but the smaller aspects, every thought, reaction, words that weren't recalled still happened. They were part of your life, even if unspoken. 

This doesn't even just apply to “these events happened but information is missing” — which may be true — but also that lives are made of constant events, and with kin lives, every moment was lived. The narrative we see might not be the most important aspects of that life, the moments that mean the most, the biggest joys or pains. It will never convey the depth of every relationship, time spent on each hobby, build-up of emotions, small habits and actions, the raw abundance of being alive. 

I think recognising this both personally and as a community is helpful in understanidng our relationship with our kins, but also dynamics within communities and how we discuss both these lives and media. It would also offer a lot more sympathy towards ourselves and others, or reduce validity politics both interpersonally and within ourselves. To remember we lived. 

swapswap

I feel like the thing thats really different about the polish trans experience is that because the language is heavily gendered and asking about a persons gender is very much not normalized, now that my body looks mostly androgynous people started referring to me with grammatical forms that have never been uttered by human tongue before. Last week a woman couldn’t decide what gender I was so after trying several she settled on speaking to me in plural and infinitive

the moulting weaner has a joyous demeanor

Childhood AU where Mykola spends his traditional Christmas together with Fyodor <3

This month I decided to learn more about traditional Ukrainian Christmas and it inspired me to draw this! (I know some people still celebrate on January 6th/7th and others on December 24th/25th, I just happened to choose the latter as an approximate timing for this post but you can interpret which time Fyolai would celebrate it yourself!)

Before I summarize the details, I want to thank my Ukrainian followers for sharing their cultural knowledge and experience with me. During this research, getting personal insight was definitely the most interesting part. This art wouldn't have been possible without you!🫶

(Usernames are from instagram)

navrotskaya_o

_.corpsebreath

vlannya

asmeirs

its_aoiii_

verrrrrsss

anblu3b3rry

yulwist

kratki.yy

fierumi

maisy_lmao

quakos_tacos

rabendaa_

violetta.meuv__

dead_soul.505

soukoku_silly

chibiiiisan

jennieswife228

_mireyaax_

tammsino

tired._.doodles

spark.tears

lil.patison

0rokapi

kumialt

hunkxaa

chamomile_ginger

just.arlye.cos

makotwr

safarinbae

vsrgdaa

mariia.demikh

sevvyalive

stasi.iiii

barbaarism

chunitska_

fiewzz

aki_niko_official

oladivani

Some elements in these drawings include:

• the 12 dishes: In the first picture 12 dishes are served, symbolizing the 12 apostles and the 12 months of the year. Due to fasting the dishes must be lean, meaning they shouldn't contain meat, milk or eggs (fish is an exception). The dish in front of Fyodor is the main Christmas dish: kutya (кутя), a wheat porridge with poppy seeds, honey, raisins etc.

Other examples on the table are uzvar (узвар, a dried fruit compote), borscht (борщ), vareniki (вареники) pampushky (пампушки) and more.

For more details about this tradition, see:

https://1plus1.ua/novyny/menu-na-rizdvo-2022-aki-12-strav-na-svatvecir-gotuut-ta-so-kozna-z-nih-simvolizue

https://visitukraine.today/uk/blog/67/svyatkuvannya-rizdva-v-ukraini-golovni-tradicii-ta-simvoli

https://klopotenko.com/12-rizdvyanyh-strav-dlya-proektu-vid-romana-do-jordana/

• Didukh (Дідух): The decoration next to Mykola made from ears of grain (e.g. wheat) is called "didukh". Traditionally, it's made from the last harvested sheaf of ears of grain and symbolizes fertility and strength of the earth. It also honors ancestry.

https://suspilne.media/352410-rizdvani-tradicii-so-simvolizue-diduh-v-ukrainskij-kulturi-rozpovila-etnologina/

• The "spider" (Павук Різдвяний): The decoration hanging from the ceiling (made from straw) is considered a "talisman" and a "symbol of the universe", protecting the household from evil spirits.

http://che.cn.ua/index.php/all-news/item/6807-rizdvianyi-pavuk-vidhaniaie-zlykh-dukhiv-i-zabyraie-nehatyv#:~:text=%C2%AB%D0%9F%D0%B0%D0%B2%D1%83%D0%BA%D1%96%D0%B2%C2%BB%20%D0%BD%D0%B5%20%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B0%D0%BB%D0%B8%20%D0%B7%20%D0%B4%D0%BE%D0%BC%D1%83,%D1%81%D0%BF%D0%B0%D0%BB%D0%B8%D0%B2%D1%88%D0%B8%20%D0%B9%D0%BE%D0%B3%D0%BE,%20%D0%B7%D0%BD%D0%B8%D1%89%D1%83%D0%B2%D0%B0%D0%BB%D0%B8%20%D0%B2%D0%B5%D1%81%D1%8C%20%D0%BD%D0%B5%D0%B3%D0%B0%D1%82%D0%B8%D0%B2.

• Christmas carols (Колядки): The second drawing depicts Mykola and Fyodor caroling, the act of going from house to house to sing carols with a big star (зiрка) symbolizing the star of Bethlehem. This star spins and can look vastly different, I personally loved seeing all kinds of different designs people made for it. Usually you can receive sweets or money from the people you sing for. (There is also a tradition, though not seen in the drawing but still worth mentioning, called "вертеп", where children go caroling while being dressed up as characters from the Nativity scene. There are so many sides to this tradition it would never fit in this caption, but I recommend looking further into it if you haven't heard of it yet, as with any other tradition mentioned here!)

https://pon.org.ua/novyny/10042-tradycii-ta-zvychai-koliaduvannia-v-ukraini.html

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C1C704jLSm1/?igsh=MTM3ZjZic2R2N291Mg==

Keep in mind that Ukrainian culture (like any culture) is diverse. Details and terms can vary depending on the region, religion, time and household preferences! Additionally, there are of course overlaps with other cultures and some things may be familiar to non Ukrainians as well.

Please be respectful in the comments 🫶