[Anunevagnei/Updated 24 March 2021]
[Izboljagontei/Under Development]
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This page offers brief snapshots of a few selected aspects of Sovermian culture. As anyone knows who has encountered another culture, it can be a lifelong endeavor to become bicultural. Sovermians generally attempt to navigate cultural differences between Sovermia and the United States with humor and grace. Treat opportunities to experience another culture with respect and curiosity, and you will enrich your own life while also serving as an unofficial goodwill ambassador between cultures.
1) The Sovermian dorva oak
2) Polnei Menota — the Full Moon festivals
3) Devra va and vas
4) The Sovermian Code: the Dvei Ortvas — “Two Principles” of Sovermian kultura
5) The Sovermian Flag
6) Anthem: Masei Djuvalinja “Our Horizon”
7) A Taste of Demarchy
8) The Sovermian Calendar
1) The Sovermian dorva oak
The tree Sovermians call the dorva (oak) has long been a favored national symbol in many lands, including England, Germany, Wales, Estonia, Jordan, France and Serbia. The oak genus quercus is prevalent throughout the northern hemisphere, with the greatest concentration of varieties in North America and in China. The wood is renowned for its strength, durability and beauty when finished. Aptly do Sovermians call a strong and resolute person dorvokerdei “oakhearted”.
Oak mast — fallen acorns — are a high-energy food source for pigs, among the few species that can safely handle the high levels of tannins. These same tannins also make the tree and wood resistant to many pests. Long associated in myth and legend with lightning and thunderstorms, the oak has been shown in some recent studies to attract more lightning strikes than any other tree.
2) Polnei Menota — our Full Moon festivals
Sovermians often celebrate the Full Moon by albosteda “eating white” — white foods, in keeping with the whiteness of the moon. Some have noted the similarities between this cultural observance and the Italian mangiare in bianco, though the latter is generally a folk remedy for general malaise — eating plainly, without (rich) sauces to interfere with easy digestion.
While foods for the Full Moon include both traditional recipes and customs unique to individual families, most Sovermians will choose their ingredients from among milk, cream, cheese, egg whites, potatoes, rice, pasta, bread, fish, pork, chicken and — stretching the color associations only a little — pears, apples, lychee fruit, cauliflower, radishes, white wine, etc. Certainly one can craft satisfying foods from these varied ingredients.
Given the busy-ness of modern life, most Sovermians don’t practice the all-night vigils once associated with the full moon, but many will stay up later than usual, telling stories, lighting candles, singing and playing music, etc. Moon-viewing parties wait until menotora moonrise to begin, and can become quite lively. If you’re visiting, consider it an honor to be invited to spend an evening with Sovermians during polnei menota.
(The “Republic of Sovermia” header of Sovermia Online includes a small image of a crescent moon under the “o” of Sovermia.)
3) Devra va and vas
Like many other languages, and unlike English, Devra distinguishes the informal/singular va “you” and the formal/plural vas “you (all)”. Thus we have German du and Sie, French tu and vous, Russian ti ты and vi вы, Chinese ni and nin, etc. Using them appropriately — vas with one or more adults you don’t know well, or in formal situations with everyone, and va with children, close friends, partners, etc. — is a mark of respect. When in doubt, simply use vas. Children may giggle at you, but adults will smile in nostalgia at you for being an itnovremuka — loosely, a respectful and honorable person in speech.
Younger speakers of Sovermian celebrate the day they feel close enough to become vavokvontas — literally, “va-sayers” — with each other. When someone says to you Vavokve ma — “Use va with me” — you’re relaxed enough that you may now also clasp forearms (which Sovermians prefer over Western-style handshakes) at hello and goodbye. Note that (older) vas-speakers, however, usually bow.
4) The Sovermian Code: the Dvei Ortvas or “Two Principles” of Sovermian kultura.
We could summarize the Sovermian Code as “Honor your commitments” and “Respect the boundaries”. These two essential principles — in Devra, dvei ortvas — surface in most cultures, often in common law and in tradition, and sometimes more explicitly in moral or religious codes. Think of them as a kind of “minimum daily requirement” for any society to function.
In his book Whatever Happened to Justice? (Bluestocking Press; rev. ed. 2004) author Richard Maybury cites a version of them which he calls the “two laws”. He summarizes them like this: “Do all you have agreed to do” — oinimei ortva, the first principle — and “do not encroach on other persons or their property” — dvimei ortva, the second principle.
Together these two principles sum up many moral codes quite succinctly, appearing in almost every culture we know about. They address contract and tort law — agreements and acceptable social behavior. Another version of the second principle: “my freedom ends where yours begins; yours ends where mine begins”. While the two principles do not detail all that a person may want to do to lead a whole and fulfilling life, Sovermians find many people respond to these two principles instinctively. That is, on hearing them, they may begin to expand on them, or fill in details and examples from their own experience.
The Sovermian Constitution foregrounds their importance: “… therefore we derive by elaboration from these goals and understandings a compendium of laws, including both obligations and rights, in order to assess our past deeds, guide our present choices, and shape and realize our future hopes”.
One who understands the cultural and human centrality of the dvei ortvas is an ortvuka — a dedicated explorer of these principles in all of life. Such a pursuit is a defining characteristic of Sovermia and its citizens.
Some Sovermians go further, finding in dvei ortvas an important key to living well. My highest freedom and yours are intertwined in remarkable and profound ways. While Sovermian law guarantees freedom of religion, many Sovermians follow a way of life growing from their deepening understanding of ortvukosta, a path that seeks to demonstrate and practice these principles in all of life.
5) The Sovermian Flag
The Sovermian flag consists of a “twilight blue” field with a centered white Glagolitic S or Ⱄ.
This single letter from the Glagolitic alphabet, historically used to write Old Church Slavonic, remains a curious feature of Sovermian culture which no one has yet explained satisfactorily.
Because of the visual distinctiveness of the script, some Sovermians have taken to writing Devra using a modified form of the alphabet. (Here for example is “Sovermia” in that script: ⰔⰑⰂⰅⰓⰏⰋⰀ.) Occasionally, bilingual Devra and English posters and signs have been seen in the nation.
6) Anthem: Masei Djuvalinja “Our Horizon”
Many Sovermians will confess — the irony isn’t lost on them — that the last stanza of our anthem in its English translation has become as popular as a stand-alone poem and chant as its Devra original:
Sir nu surdunit masei djuvalinja,
an morga ja lubomes va, ker budis
ir vidit ker soivunit usra minvu —
novokve masei tura ja sa nudis.
[Vocaroo recording of Devra lyrics]
If our horizon narrows now to darkness,
o country that we love, may you awake
and see that dawn delays its coming merely —
your people hear you, struggle for your sake.
7) A Taste of Demarchy
The influence of demarchy [link to illustrated brochure] pervades Sovermian political thought. Sovermian citizen and political author Michelle Brinser (1944-2018) was a trenchant critic of the anti-democratic tendencies of the modern State. The child of German and Austrian immigrants, she notes, in a now-famous paragraph:
“Too often [mengitmodu], the state or nation as a source of personal identity is an exercise in arbitrary and arrogant exclusivity. As a unit [sarka] of economic activity and mutual benefit it is demonstrably inefficient; as a protector and guarantor of rights to its citizens [nomorgukas] it is prejudiced and inconsistent; as a realization of high ideals and purposes it is grievously corrupt [skazmu polputei]; and as an agent of the will of its citizens it is rigidly bureaucratic and unresponsive. Further, its means of self-perpetuation [svoduvaga] are themselves self-destructive of its professed goals.” – Brinser, M. Demarhja: Tojei Kva? (Gelnopolja: Roaring Mouse Press, 2002). Translated as Demarchy: What Is It?
8) 2021 Sovermian Calendar
Like many calendars, the Sovermian calendar distinguishes between migvontei and stanontei dinas — moving and fixed days. (The dates of the full moons polnei menotas, for example, shift with each new year.)
JANUARY
1 January: Polnei Menota/Full Moon and Nevei Vetsadina/New Year’s Day
8 January: Nortonei Dina/Emperor Norton Day
28 January: Polnei Menota
FEBRUARY
2 February: Purification and Presentation Day
4 February: Dvimei Nortonei Dina/Norton Day 2
27 February: Polnei Menota/Full Moon
MARCH
20 March: Vesrei Somonokta/Spring Equinox
28 March: Polnei Menota/Full Moon
APRIL
1 April: Voinadina/War Day
13 April: Barbarei Proitnadina/Barbarous Ancestors Day
27 April: Polnei Menota/Full Moon
MAY
1 May: Majadina/May Day
26 May: Polnei Menota/Full Moon
15-29 May: Dekpenkvodinas/The “15 Days of May” — Springfest/Vesrafesta
JUNE
20 June: Gurmostei Solastata/Summer Solstice
24 June: Polnei Menota/Full Moon
JULY
24 July: Polnei Menota/Full Moon
AUGUST
1 August: First Harvest
7 August: Constitution Day and 21st Year of Sovermia
22 August: Polnei Menota/Full Moon
SEPTEMBER
1 September – 31 October: Sovermjei Seksodekoinei (The “Sovermian 61” days)
6 September: Anustatagadina/Refoundation Day
11 September: Torradina/Tower Day
21 September: Polnei Menota/Full Moon
22 September: Esunei Somonokta/Autumn Equinox
OCTOBER
19-22 October: Kvetrodinei Festa/4-day Festival
20 October: Polnei Menota/Full Moon
31 October-2 November: Solvojagnukei Dinas (Three-day Festival/All Saints)
NOVEMBER
19 November: Snubadina/Marriage Day; Polnei Menota/Full Moon
DECEMBER
2 December: Parusja/Advent
17 December: Rumijadina/Rumi Day
19 December: Polnei Menota/Full Moon
21 December: Gimei Solastata/Winter Solstice
25 December: Kristagenta/Christmas