The first recorded use of "golden" as a color name in English was in the year 1300 to refer to the element gold and in 1423 to refer to blonde hair.
Provinces of Cuba
Cuba is divided into fourteen provinces and one special municipality.
From west to east, Cuba's provinces are:
Cuba's "special municipality" is the "Isla de la Juventud" ("Island of Youth"), known until the 1970s as the "Isla de Pinos" ("Isle of Pines") and previously as "Evangelista", "Isle of Santiago" and "Isle of Parrots".
Prior to 1976, Cuba was divided into the following provinces (from west to east):
These provinces were used to be the following areas on the map: Pinar del Rio (item 2), La Habana (items 1, 3, 4), Matanzas (5), Las Villas (approximately 6, 7, and 8 on map), Camaguey (roughly 9 and 10) and Oriente (11, 12, 13, 14 and 15).
"Pop. = Population. Source: Cuba census 2002"
Singing
Singing means making music with the voice. Singing is probably the way that music started many thousands of years ago. When people sing they make their voices go high or low. If they do this in a way that uses notes of a scale then they make tunes, called songs. A song, very broadly, is a musical piece, produced by the voice with distinct and fixed pitches and patterns of sound and silence and a variety which often includes repetition.
Many birds also sing. They are the passerines, a very large order often called the songbirds.
When people sing they use the air in the lungs. The pressure of the air that comes out of the lungs can be controlled with several respiratory muscles, including the muscle called the diaphragm which goes across the front of the body below the ribs. People who have singing lessons spend a lot of time practising “breath control”.
The air comes through the throat where the larynx is like a reed on a clarinet: it vibrates, controlling the passage of air, and this makes the note higher or lower depending on how it is controlled.
The sound comes into the mouth which is space where the sound can be made bigger (it “resonates”). Professional singers even learn to think of the whole head as a resonator. They sometimes talk about the “mask”, i.e. they imagine a mask in front of the face and this makes the sound bigger. The sound then comes out of the mouth so that it can be heard.
Singing is different from speaking because of the special way the vocal cords in the throat are used.
Most people can sing notes which cover more than an octave. People who sing a lot will probably be able to sing over two octaves. Singers can be called according to whether they have higher or lower voices: soprano, mezzo-soprano and contralto for women, tenor, baritone or bass for men. Some men are able to train their voices to sing alto by using a falsetto voice. Children’s voices are often called treble.
There are lots of different singing styles in the world. Each one has a different technique. In Western classical music singers learn to sing in a bel canto voice which uses lots of resonance in the head and makes a smooth sound. Bel canto was used in Italian opera. Later, in the 19th century, Richard Wagner wrote operas in which the singers needed to be more dramatic. Opera singers today can have different kinds of voices: bel canto, lyrical, dramatic, coloratura (extremely high and light) etc.
In church choirs the singers are often trained to use a lot of head voice because this sounds beautiful in large cathedrals.
Pop singers generally have a different technique: their singing is more from the throat. They do not need to develop powerful voices like opera singers because they sing into microphones so that their voices are electronically amplified (made louder).
Voices singing music from different parts of the world may sound very different. Chinese singing sounds nasal (through the nose). In Mongolia there is a technique of overtone singing which sounds rather like a finger being rubbed against the rim of a wineglass. In Switzerland men often yodel.
Rap is a kind of singing in which the rhythm is the most important thing. The pitch is high and low, but not to any particular notes. Scat singing is rather like rap.
Acappella singing is vocal music specifically without instrumental accompaniment. The name is from Latin "a" (without) and "cappella" (musical accompaniment).
Cantata is a term that exclusively refers to accompanied singing, which is the exact opposite of Acappella.
Singing is something that can be enjoyed by everybody. A group of people singing together is often called a choir. People can sing in choirs or smaller groups or on their own (solos). People can sing for their own enjoyment (e.g. in the shower), or they can practise hard and sing in concerts to an audience.
Singing can be done alone ("a cappella") or it can be "accompanied" (usually with musical instruments).
Some people say they are “tone-deaf”, meaning that they cannot sing in tune. But almost everybody can learn to sing if they try hard enough.
Amish
The Amish are a group of people who live according to the Anabaptist tradition. They have a common history with other Baptist movements, such as the Mennonites.
The Amish are known for simple lifestyle, plain dress, and reluctance to adopt many conveniences of modern technology. The history of the Amish church began with a schism in Switzerland within a group of Swiss and Alsatian Anabaptists in 1693 led by Jakob Ammann. Those who followed Ammann became known as Amish. In the second half of the 19th century, the Amish divided into Old Order Amish and Amish Mennonites. During the 20th century, the Amish Mennonites assimilated, and took several of the conveniences modern technology has to offer. The Old Order Amish on the other hand, kept much of their traditional culture. When people speak of Amish today, they usually mean the Old Order Amish. There were other smaller splits as well. At the end of the 20th century, there were about 18 bigger groups of Amish.
Many of them emigrated to the United States. Today, most of the Amish live in Pennsylvania (Lancaster County), Indiana and Ohio, in the United States. This can still be seen with family names. In Lancaster County, almost 25 percent of the Amish have the name Stoltzfus (or Stoltzfoos), other common Amish names are Byler, Fisher, Petersheim, Lapp and King. In LaGrange, Indiana, most are named Borntrager, Miller or Schrock. In Allen County, Adams County, Indiana the names Graber, Grabill/Kraybill and Schwartz are common.
Many Amish people prefer simple lifestyles. They are usually farmers. Many of the old order Amish saw that between the two world wars, cars became more common. This automatic mobility weakened the sense of belonging together, and owning a car was a means to stand out from the community. For this reason, many groups forbid car ownership, they are less sceptical about using a car. Amish often live alongside other Engilsh settlers. In areas, where there are many Amish, there is also a number of taxi services, who will drive Amish people around.
Many Amish settlements are not connected to the electricity network. When they need electricity, they usually produce it themselves, often with diesel-powered engines. Many Amish do not allow posing for photographs; they say it is against their sense of humility and not standing out from the others. They are usually less strict about appearing on a photograph, where the person is not the subject of the picture).
Generally, they are friendly people in that they will wave to someone passing by. However, they live in rural Amish communities which are separate from mainstream American society. It is against their religion to pose for photographs. Often they will turn their head down and to the side if someone aims a camera in their direction.
Married men are not allowed to shave their beards, but they are also not allowed to have moustaches. Only unmarried men shave their faces.
Amish characters are in the movie Witness, starring Harrison Ford and Kelly McGillis.