Wordless Wednesday 5 December – Green Buddy Bear

Here’s another Bear whose origin is not too hard to guess, which makes him a good choice for Wordless Wednesday:

Republic of Ireland

Artist: Shaun Patrick Dolan

The Buddy-Bear for Ireland is represented as a “Leprechaun” taken from an Irish legend. Leprechauns are aloof elves who live in Ireland on their own, spending their time making shoes. They possess hidden pots of gold and are extremely honest. The saying goes that it means luck to see a leprechaun and if caught, the leprechaun will reveal the whereabouts of his treasure. However, if the captor’s eyes leave the leprechaun (and often he tricks them into looking away), he vanishes and all hopes of finding the treasure are lost.

Decorating the leprechaun’s clothes are two major symbols of Ireland: the Celtic cross depicting a country steeped in history and the Shamrock symbolising trinity. The colour green is connected with hope and nature.

My aim was to produce a humorous Buddy Bear, which would evoke the warmth and friendliness of the Irish people.

Shaun Dolan

 

I have at least one Blogger Buddy in Ireland: Eva Ason.
She’s an artist herself… Check out her watercolours here.

Our World Tuesday 4 December–United Buddy Bears

Another bear it’s not too hard to guess the origin of, but I have to say that apart from the flag, I was a bit puzzled about the meaning of its attire. What do you think?

 

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

My first associations went to the song “Rule Britannia, Britannia rule the waves”… But here is what the artist herself says:

Artist: Marilyn Green

“My bears are really furry teddy bears dressed up as sheikhs, playfully wrapped into a Union Jack of the United Kingdom that has been ruffled by the wind. --- During the 20th century the Empire changed into the Commonwealth of Nations, an alliance of mainly independent states. Through its history, but also through its language the UK has brought together a large number of diverse nationalities and cultures and has become more multicultural than most other countries. --- I hope that this humorous playing with symbols contributes to finding a deeper understanding.”

Read more at the United Buddy Bears homepage.

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I’m pre-scheduling this post, but intend to link up to
Our World Tuesday + Ruby Tuesday

Mosaic Monday 3 December – United Buddy Bears

USA

Without keeping any exact statistics, I dare say that the United States must be the nation where I have the most blogging buddies.

USA no doubt also has the most unmistakable Buddy Bear in the whole BB exhibition. I don’t think any further introduction of the inspiration for this bear is needed.

The name of the artist is Bill C. Ray. Looking him up, I find that he was born in Alaska, but lives in Berlin, Germany. You can see more of his work here.

In the Buddy Bears exhibition, USA is surrounded by

Uruguay (South America)

Uzbekistan (Central Asia)

Artist: Miu Mau
”The Uzbek bear is a woman called Banu, which means "respectable woman" or "Grand Lady". She is a work of art and a lucky charm at the same time, because it's traditional in Uzbekistan that all the jewellery and works of art in a house also function as protective charms.”

I don’t think I know any bloggers from those countries, but as there are more bears than there are days in December, I thought I might include a couple of “extras” now and then…

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Linking to Mosaic Monday

2 December 2012 – Buddy Bear/Sweden

SWEDEN

Let’s start with the Swedish Buddy Bear,
painted by Laila Olofsson.

Why is he wearing a nightshirt??

The clue is found in a little note on the side:

The artist got her inspiration for this bear from a popular Swedish sing-along summer waltz (Sjösala vals) from 1941 by Evert Taube (1890-1976).

Sjösala was the name of the Taube family’s summer house, located in the idyllic Stockholm archipelago. The lyrics describe a man, Rönnerdal, jumping happily out of bed on an early summer morning, running outside in his nightshirt, dancing in the field, enjoying the birds and nature. He puts a chain of daisies on his head and dances back in to wake up the rest of his family with music. His children think he looks like a bride with the nightshirt and the flowers on his head.

You can listen to the song at YouTube, sung by Evert’s son Sven-Bertil Taube, at a public sing-along concert:
http://youtu.be/97waCi-fkMo

1 December 2012 – The Buddy Bears Have Arrived

The Buddy Bears are here, and I went to attend the opening of the exhibition in the Town Square today.

“The United Buddy Bears – The Minis” will be visiting us during the month of December 2012.

The exhibition includes 108 bears from different countries, each painted by an artist from that country.

The proceeds from connected activities will go to charity organisations that help children in need.

 

Die goldene Regel: Behandle jeden anderen Menschen wie Du selbst behandelt werden möchtest. (German text)

The Golden Rule: Treat every other person as you yourself would like to be treated.

The locally painted Big Buddy Bear (I showed you the artist at work in a recent post).
This one will be staying in our city after the exhibition.

My Advent Calendar * this year will be to present one Buddy Bear every day until Christmas on this blog – with their countries of origin. As there are a lot more bears than there are days in December, I’ve decided to start with some countries where I know I have friends and fellow bloggers; and then we’ll see… Maybe I’ll also include some countries that I know very little or nothing at all about!

Wishing you Happy Advent Time with Big Bear Hugs…

Monica

 

*Traditional Advent calendars here take the form of a large rectangular card with 24 windows; one for each day of December leading up to Christmas Day. Each window opens to reveal an image or poem, or lottery number. Some calendars have a small gift concealed in each window, such as a toy or a chocolate item.