The Countess

THE COUNTESS

(A movie based on the life of Erzebet Bathory 1560-1614)

“History is a tale told by the victors. Barbaric warriors, mad kings, and greedy traitors. Maybe most of our histories are made of fables fabricated by those glorious victors. ” 

Istvan Thurzo in “The Countess” the movie.

Elizabeth (Erzebet) Bathory is very popular as one cruelest woman in the history. She was said to have murdered more or less 650 women “only” because she was greedy of youth and beauty. One accident that was caused by the splashes of one maid’s blood to her face – that she thought it had remarkable effect to make her skin look younger, softer, and fresher – triggered this heartless cruel act of hers.

Some articles in the internet do not explain what caused her greed of youth and beauty. However, the movie “The Countess” illustrated it. At her 39 years of age, Erzebet fell in love with a gorgeous man who was 18 years younger. His name was Istvan. They both were depicted to very passionately love each other. However, Istvan’s father – Gyorgy Thurzo who also wanted to marry Erzebet for power and wealth, not for love – tried his best to stop their passionate love, accusing that Erzebet only played his son’s heart. Meanwhile, Erzebeth’s most trusted ‘accomplice’ – Darvulia – also doubted Istvan’s true love. “Young people easily change their minds. He will find another woman soon,” said Darvulia to Erzebet.

Istvan’s disappearance without letting her know what was going on and Darvulia’s remarks made the tough Erzebet relent. She blamed her age. She believed if only she were younger, Istvan would not leave her. Therefore, when finding out that the blood of young virgin girls could make her skin look younger and softer, Erzebet started to be thirsty of those unfortunate girls’ blood.

As a child, Erzebet was raised to have cruel and merciless heart. Since she was very young, she was ‘trained’ to see merciless treatment toward poor peasants who happened to do crimes. When she was a teenager, she fell in love with a boy coming from a poor peasant family. As a result, the boy was tortured to death before Erzebet’s own eyes, while the baby she had from the boy was taken away directly after Erzebet gave birth.

Erzebet married the Hungarian baron Franz (Ferenc) Nadasdy at 15 – their marriage had been planned since Erzebet was born – and had three children from him. Nadasdy died after he returned from a war against the Turk. As a great warrior, from the war he gained a lot of wealth that Erzebet inherited after his death. Despite the fact that in that era a woman could not become a proprietor of wealth, the King could not object it since he had a lot of debt to Erzebet after the Turkish wars.

Erzebet’s murderous act was ‘safe’ until her accomplices started arresting daughters of lesser nobility. Gyorgy Thurzo – aiming to get more power and wealth – reported to the King about it while convincing him that by taking Erzebet to court would make his debt to the widow of Nadasdy gone. Conspiracy.

History is indeed written by the victors?

Erzebet is a loser then. History has made her notorious.

LG 15.36 040212

Religious Studies Classes in Primary School

Last semester I had an assignment to teach SOSE class (Society and Environment ... it can be considered equal to IPS subject in national school in Indonesia) in grade 4. As I wrote in one previous post, the materials to be discussed in the beginning of the book were about religions. (check this link) However, in the following chapters, the discussion was more on society.

This semester I no longer got that SOSE class in grade 4. However, I was assigned to handle ‘religion’ subjects in grade 3, 4, 5, and 6. As the teaching material, I downloaded it from this link. It means during this semester those classes will discuss – at a glance – Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Sikhism.

Below is my record of talking about ‘Buddhism’ in grade three and four. FYI, none of the students is Buddhist.

“Why are we discussing Buddhism, Miss? Are you Buddhist?” one student asked me.

So I answered that I was not Buddhist and during the religion subject, we would discuss some religions, such as Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, etc, not just one particular religion in order that they know some other religions too, not just their own.

Two things that attracted as well as surprised the students were
•    Buddhists don’t have God to praise
•    Buddhists do not know the existence of heaven and hell

It is easily concluded the cause why they find the two things above strange is because they have been raised in families where the parents adhere to Abrahamic religions – such as Christianity and Islam. I have never found any student who is a Jewish yet. Abrahamic religions have similarities on the teachings about the existence of God and heaven and hell.

“Then who created the universe if there is no God according to Buddhists?” one student in grade 4 asked.

Luckily one topic of SOSE grade 4 we discussed last semester was about how this universe was created in Australian Aborigine people’s belief. It started with:

“Time began when the supernatural beings awoke and broke through the surface of the earth. ...”

The supernatural beings mentioned were not related by any deity or god that then were praised or worshiped by human beings. Therefore, I reminded the students on our discussion last semester. There are in fact many groups of people in the world who have their own knowledge on how this universe was created at the very first place where they do not related it to god. When the students cannot understand how those people think about the creation of the universe without involving any god, they had better be wise to think that it is possible for those people not to believe any god’s involvement in the existence of the universe. Then it is the best to respect each other’s belief.

“If Buddhist people do not believe in heaven and hell, so where will the dead go?” was another question.

Reincarnation and ‘moksha’ are the two words to answer that question. The main symbol of Buddhism is the wheel of life which symbolizes the cycle of life and rebirth. Buddhist people believe in being born again after death. They will get a better life if in the present life they are good people. On the contrary, they will get worse life if they are bad people. Or even worse they will not be born as human being, maybe an animal.

And when someone has a perfect life – where the life of Siddhatta Gotama is used as one example – he or she will ‘moksha’ after death, just ‘gone’ in the air, he or she will no longer be born.

“What kind of life did Siddhatta Gotama have?” asked one student.

The material explained a little:

“He lived in the fifth century BC and was a prince born into a rich family. He had an easy life. However when he saw the suffering of old age, sickness and death, he decided to renounce his life in the palace and live among the holy men of the day in search of truth and enlightenment.”

To explain further I said Siddhatta Gotama was a rich prince that then left his wealth because he thought it was not fair to live such an easy life while poverty and sickness was everywhere.

“What? Is he crazy or something? I don’t get it!” the same student commented.

“Miss, it is difficult for me to believe in such teachings,” another student responded. Her parents are church activists.

Then I said to the students that the knowledge about Buddhism in religion class (later also other religions) is only for them to know and understand. It is not always to believe in.

GL7 13.23 19/01/12

Black Friday

I am pretty much sure that this year is the first year I heard this term “Black Friday”. (“Hellooo ... where have I been before?”  ) I instantly got attracted by this ‘occasion’ because it was very much connected to the Thanksgiving Day!

When I was pursuing my study in American Studies Graduate Program in Gadjah Mada University (2002-2005), I ‘(un)luckily’ attended the ‘commemoration’ of Thanksgiving Day at least twice, if I am not mistaken. In the first commemoration, the students of my batch (2002) made a small drama illustrating the coming of the ‘Pilgrims’ – the first settlers migrating to American land – by Mayflower ship. The Pilgrims then were helped by the Native American tribe to survive by planting corns, potatoes, etc as well as fishing. (poor those migrating British people didn’t know how to cultivate lands because they did not have lands in their home country). No Pocahontas was narrated in the story though.  (Too bad, I do not have the pictures of our performance. I got only a little role, but in fact what Ibu Tati said was correct, I will always remember the commemoration.)

Black Friday 2011

The problem was as far as I remember, during my study, my classmates and I never talked about ‘Black Friday’. What the heck is this? Why ‘suddenly’ appeared this year in my life? I was thinking that perhaps this capitalist day started booming in America after I finished studying in American Studies Program.

Thank to the huge library in the internet. It is very easy for me to find the little history of Black Friday.

Wiki said that Black Friday is one day after Thanksgiving Day in every year when most major retailers open extremely early, often at 4 a.m. or earlier, and offer promotional sales to kick off the shopping season. Although it is not a holiday, some non-retail employers give their employees the day off, to increase the number of potential shoppers. “It has routinely been the busiest shopping day of the year since 2005,” Wiki claimed. Nevertheless, the use of the term in fact started before 1966 in Philadelphia and began to see broader use outside Philadelphia around 1975.

Belanja Lebaran 2009

Well, many people say that Thanksgiving Day can be compared to Lebaran holiday in Indonesia in the case of ‘mudik’ (it is said that on Thanksgiving Day many family members hold special dinner so that they will go home from wherever they live in order to gather with the parents and siblings), Black Friday is also similar to some days before Lebaran holiday where many retailers offer special promotional sales so that many people will buy a lot of things to welcome Lebaran. Even the government also obliges all companies to give annual bonus to the employees so that they can become more consumptive in this special holiday. The difference between shopping before Lebaran holiday and Black Friday is that for Lebaran holiday, people buy mostly clothes, shoes, or maybe bags (I cited my own habit LOL), maybe then people also buy some other stuff, such as electronic things or furniture, while on Black Friday, American people willingly wait for hours before some retailers open to get best buy for electronic things as the main target.

Well, if in the beginning Thanksgiving Day was not necessarily related to consumptive things, but the capitalism wants to make use of the occasion to get as much as profit, Lebaran holiday that I know has been always related to being consumptive since I was a kid. But I understand if my parents always wanted to buy new clothes for their kids since their financial condition enabled to do it only on Lebaran with the annual bonus my late dad got from his job.

P.S.:
just a piece of thought
#menulis agar tetap bisa eksis dan narsis :-p
GL7 11.05 071211

The two pics were taken from here and here

The Burning Plain

the poster of the movie

Is a woman still a woman without her breasts?

Apparently this case – breast cancer – triggered an affair between Gina (Kim Basinger) and Nick Martinez (Joaquim de Almeida); this affair then made them die in a fiery explosion in a trailer where they usually had dates. The death of these two people who were deeply in love made their kids lose their mother (Gina had 4 children) and father (Nick had 2 children).

Gina

If the reason is clear why Gina was involved in an affair with Nick – a married man – the movie doesn’t give clear illustration why Nick did that. Although Gina lost her left breast due to cancer, Nick loved her passionately; always gave her warm sensation and sexual satisfaction every time they dated. This was absolutely very contradictory to Gina’s husband who lost his passion toward his wife. Doesn’t everybody deserve to have and enjoy wonderful lovemaking with someone they love? Someone who has successfully made them accepted and loved just the way they are?

Without Gina and Nick’s knowing, Mariana (Jennifer Lawrence) – Gina’s eldest daughter – knew their affair. She even found out the place where they dated: a trailer located in a very spacious open plain. This made Mariana lose her respect toward her mother. In order to make Gina ‘come back’ to be a loyal wife to her father and a caring mother to the children, Mariana did something to stop the affair between her mother and Nick that accidentally killed them both.

young Mariana and Santiago

Deeply devastated due to the accident that made the two families hated each other, Mariana surprisingly accepted Santiago’s invitation – one son of Nick – to have a date. Not long after that, Mariana and Santiago (J.D. Pardo) even fell in love with each other and ‘copied’ what their parents did: having a forbidden love affair. When Mariana’s father found out this affair, he would kill Santiago. However, before this happened, Mariana asked Santiago to run away together. They went to Mexico to continue their life.

Mariana gave birth to a daughter that in fact made her very worried if the daughter would grow up to be like her. To avoid that, she even left the two-day baby girl with her dad.

In order to leave her dark past, Mariana changed her name to be Sylvia (Charlize Theron). She lived an economically successful life with her restaurant. Obviously, her beauty charmed many men so she had a lot of one-night-stand dates. She did not want to have one steady boyfriend because she was even worried to be heart-broken. She did not want to walk in her mother’s path either – let’s say by having a long-lasting relationship with John, one employee in the restaurant, who was married.

Sylvia in one attempt to commit suicide

Despite her success, the dark past kept following her: killing her mother and her boyfriend, breaking her father’s heart by having an affair with Santiago, leaving the family to live together with Santiago until she left her baby. No wonder if once in a while Sylvia looked depressed and wanted to commit suicide.

Meanwhile, in Mexico, Santiago got a very serious accident. Worried that something bad would take his life, Santiago asked his friend, Carlos to look for Mariana in order that Mariana (alias Sylvia) would take care of their only child, Maria.

Could Carlos find Mariana? Would he successfully beg her to come back to Santiago, especially to take care of Maria, the daughter that she left for more than a decade?

Maria, the daughter of Mariana and Santiago

Additional note:

It is quite interesting to pay attention to the ‘affair’ between Sylvia (Charlize Theron) and John (John Corbett), her own workmate. John who was married looked so possessive and jealous every time he saw Sylvia intimate with a guy. One time when she was dating one customer of her restaurant, John could not control himself. He embarrassed Sylvia by scolding her, in front of that guy, “Is that what you do? Fuck any guy you wanna fuck? And then just go?”

Sylvia responded, “Don’t mess up with my life, John. You don’t have me! Just overcome your own problem with your wife!”

Nevertheless, when one time Sylvia ‘challenged’ him to run away together, to leave everything they owned at that time, John refused. It proved that John was not different from any other man who dated Sylvia: only to have fun. The difference was if other men didn’t show exaggerating possessive character, John annoyingly did.

GL7 10.30 251111

Not Knowing is Better than Knowing?

I have been bothered by this 'contemplative' statement of my own, especially since the end of 2007 due to 'something unhappy' happened. (You can click the following site not-knowing.)

And this morning, this statement haunted me again while I was discussing 'Prejudice and Discrimination' in Christianity and Hinduism, in 'Religious Studies' class of grade 11. (I downloaded the material from Religious Studies ) To start the discussion, I gave two questions to discuss in pairs/small groups:

1. In Christianity, women cannot become priests.

2. In Hinduism, women are as important as men but they have different roles.

FYI, there were seven students in the class, three boys and four girls. One is from Denmark -- a brand new student -- while the others are Indonesian.

Point number 1: Women cannot become priests in Christianity.

The only student from Denmark -- a girl -- directly criticized this statement because she said she found many women becoming priests. She perhaps thought that this 'prohibition' was 'practiced' only in Indonesia. Therefore, I asked her to check the material where she read:

Women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the Law says. If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church.

1 Corinthians 14:34-35

I divided the class into three small groups; the four girls worked in two pairs and the three boys in one group. The two pairs consisting of girls did not agree with the statement that women cannot become priests. They simply said that women are supposed to be equal with men. If a woman has as much knowledge and education as men, she can become priest for sure. The boys agreed that women cannot become priests because 'they look weird to be priests'. :)

And my time to 'bubble' came although I did not want to talk a lot. In the past even only some 'chosen' people could understand the Bible because it was not yet published in a language where 'common' people understood. Those 'chosen' people obviously were men because only men could study that special language. Only men got education in the past because education was expensive.

Then men -- using their male life experiences -- interpreted the so-called holy book. This inevitably resulted in gender-biased 'readings' where one of them was 'only men can become priests'.

The discussion then led us to talk a little about the struggle of Kartini. Now women in the whole world can get education as high as they want therefore women can become anything that they want.

Point number two: women are as important as men but they have different roles.

Pay attention to the word 'but'. As a language teacher, the word 'but' can always show the different treatment. Since the material mentioned

The Ramayana (Hindu text) tells the story of Lord Rama and his wife, Sita. Women are encouraged to be good wives and mothers and to follow the example of Sita.

I asked the students whether they were familiar with the story of Ramayana. Unfortunately, none of them has ever heard or red the story about Rama and Sita. Therefore, in short, then I narrated the story about Sita was kidnapped by an ugly giant called 'Dasamuka' (ten heads) in Indonesian version. After struggling to get Sita back, in fact, Rama did not believe that Sita was loyal to him. To test the wife's loyalty, Rama asked Sita to commit suicide. (Am I right? LOL.)

The end of this so-called fairy tale shocked my students since it did not end happily. Does this mean in Hinduism women must always be ready to commit suicide like what Sita did when the husband asked her to do so? The discussion made me remember the practice of 'suttee' in India long time ago (although I heard that it is still sometimes practiced in some minor ethnic groups in India?) where the wife had to throw her body to the fire to burn herself when the husband died. Everyone can guess how the information about 'suttee' practice shocked my students.

Can we still say that women are as important as men in Hinduism? (I am truly asking not judging.)

GL7 09.35 191011

I Need a Lamp

I NEED A LAMP IN FRONT

There was once a rich old man who did not like to give his money to charity. He had a good son who always told his dad that he should give his money away in the way of Allah. 

The old man told his son that he could give it all away after his death.

The son told him that it would be too late for the father, for he should give it away now to be able to get the benefits in the hereafter.

The old man just would not listen.

One night the old man wanted to go out. It was very dark so he asked his son to carry a lamp and walk in front of him so he would be able to see.

The son obeyed his father but halfway he started walking behind his dad.

His father said:

“Why have you gone behind me? I can’t see! I need the lamp in front.”

The son said:

“Father! That’s exactly what I have been telling you. If you want light in the hereafter you have to give away what you have in the way of Allah before you die and not after.”

The old man finally understood what his son had been trying to tell him.

*copied from Society and Environment book D

Religious Studies Class

RELIGIOUS STUDIES CLASS

My experience in teaching ‘Religious Studies’ subject in one class of primary school (grade 4 now) is absolutely very different from the one of senior high school I have had since a year ago. (FYI, I did not teach the ‘religion’ or ‘humanities classes when the grade 4 students were still in grade 3.)


First, the teaching material.

Second, maturity. Maturity here can be in psychological/mental state. However it can also refer to maturity in the experience of practicing the religious teachings.


THE TEACHING MATERIAL

For the class in senior high school, I downloaded the material from http://bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/rs/ The first topic is about ‘Knowledge, Faith, and Belief’. The discussion on “Why believe?” and “What is truth?” is expected to make the students (in Indonesia where the atmosphere in society is more to ‘religious’ than in other countries, let’s say in Britain) think critically. Why believe in something we never see? Truth in one aspect – for example ‘historical’ truth – can be something else when viewed using ‘scientific’ truth. Truth in ‘films’ (or aesthetic) can be only imaginary when seen from another point of view.

For the class in primary school, I got a book entitled ‘Society and Environment’ book D. The first topic is “Famous People”. We discussed Mother Teresa (a very devoted Christian from India), Ian Kiernan (an environmentalist from Australia) and Eddie Mabo (a hero for the aboriginal people’s rights ). The interesting thing from this first topic is that we related these three people with their beliefs. We compare a Christian, an environmentalist and a human right hero at the same ‘level’ of belief.

The following topic in senior high class is ‘Beliefs about God’ in five different religions (Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Sikhism). As we all know the three religions – Christianity, Islam, and Judaism have one root – from Abraham – so that they are called ‘Abrahamic Faiths’. Hinduism is non Abrahamic Faith, while Sikhism is the mixture of Islam and Hinduism. Therefore the understanding of ‘God’ in the three religions is similar to each other since they have one root: they believe in one God. They are also called monotheist religions. Hinduism is of course very different although in the website it is also stated that Hindus believe in one true God but their God has many different forms. Meanwhile, Sikhism is also monotheist.

The following topic in grade 4 class is the discussion on Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and Aboriginal Beliefs Customs and Religion. There is no explanation why Judaism is not included. The topic of Aboriginal Beliefs must be chosen to introduce this ‘native’ of Australian beliefs to children. (FYI, the book is published in Australia for Australian schools’ market.) The main discussion on the three religions are background/history, beliefs, practices and laws, also important texts/symbols.

There are eleven students in grade 4 where most of them are raised in Christian families. Two students have Islamic upbringing. Two students have Indian blood and one of them has Australian blood.

MATURITY

It is much more challenging to handle the religious studies class in  primary school rather than in senior high in my opinion. Last week I got a new class (grade 11) to teach religious studies subject. The first time I entered the classroom, I directly asked the students, “Why do you need to study other religions you do not adhere?” I got a unison answer, “In order that we respect other people’s religions.” The second question, “Do you have any idea why religions exist? Try to use the perspective of a non-believer because it is also important that we respect his/her choice to be a non-believer just like a non-believer also must respect the believers.”

No one answered my question.

“Have you ever thought a possibility that religious teachings are in fact only for those who cannot control the negative drives inside themselves? People who already have a high control on themselves do not need any religious/moral teachings. They know what to do and they know what to leave. The most important thing is that they do not harm others. They do not do anything harmful toward themselves either.”

“Is that why people in other countries who are non-believers do not necessarily do crimes?” one student asked.

“There! You got the point!” I strengthened her remark.

Based on the students’ maturity, I find it easy to express my opinon. However, I could not easily comment when some weeks ago a student in grade 4 said, “I don’t want to be a Muslim, Miss. It is so hard. I don’t want to be punished after death.” (Background: he is a Muslim because he follows his mother’s religion. His dad – an expatriat – apparently is not a Muslim.) I was totally speechless. I felt not right if I ‘blatantly’ exposed my agnostic view. I would not be able to say anything if the students would tell their parents, “Miss Nana, my religion teacher, said that religious teachings are not important for people who bla bla bla ...” and perhaps it would ignite the parents’ anger because I was trying making their kids agnostic.

(Info: the background of the statement of one Muslim student of mine was the reading passage entitled “I need a lamp in front”.)

Meanwhile when discussing “Aboriginal Beliefs, Customs, and Traditions” I found it challenging to make the students understand the way Aboriginal people view the creation of this universe because these people do not believe in one God. It is somewhat ‘absurd’ for them to imagine that this universe existed without God working for six days. I also encouraged the students to view this belief as valuable to believe as their knowledge from religious teachings (the so-called God created the earth in six days, and on the sevent day God rested. Then God created Adam and Eve bla bla bla ...)

However, in short, I am of opinion that teaching Religious Studies subjects is always challenging and satisfying. If only I can help create a more peaceful Indonesia when my students grow up that no need to fight over religions.

GL7 14.24 200911