Culture of Hulstria and Gao-Soto

Greater Hulstria has no single common culture that all peoples with in its boarders share. Instead, Greater Hulstria is dominated by three cultures, Hulstrian, Gao-Showa, and a hybrid culture of the first two termed "Gishoton". Hulstrian culture is by far the most dominant of the three with nearly 80% of the population claiming to be Hulstrian. Gao Showa culture, while not the dominant culture, has remained strong even though it historically has constantly been under fire from Hulstrian ethnocentrists. However in more modern times, the Hulstrian have seem to have decided that since the Gao Showa are not actively trying to undermine them as they once use to, they and their culture are no longer as threatening.

Food & Drinks
Greater Hulstria offers plenty of cuisine. The Hulstrian culinaries offer pork, beef, and poultry; duck, goose, and turkey are also well enjoyed. Game meats, especially boar, rabbit, and venison are also widely available around the year in the nation. Lamb and goat are additionally available, but are not very popular for most Hulstrians. Vegetables are often eaten in stews or vegetable soups, but can also be served as a side dish. Carrots, turnips, spinach, peas, beans, and many types of cabbage are very common; Sauerkraut is especially popular. A wide variety of cakes and tarts are prepared throughout the country, most commonly made with fresh fruit. Apples, plums, strawberries, and cherries are used regularly on cakes; Cheesecake is very popular and almost always made with quark. Doughnuts (which have no hole) are usually balls of dough with jam or other fillings inside, and are known as Berliner, Kreppel or Krapfen depending on the region. Eierkuchen are large, relatively thin pancakes. Hulstrians enjoy over 20 types of beer, including Weizen, Roggenbier, and Rauchbier. Hulstrians are known and praised for their love for beer; breweries are very common in the Crownland of Hulstria and pubs are favoriate social hangouts for adults. Gao-Showans enjoy a drink called soki, which is hot beer but are not known to be much drinkers as Hulstrians. As for the Wlesh, there are a number of Welsh beers but they lean to enjoy wine more; vineyards are most commonly associated with the Welsh population of the country.

Coffee drinking is most assiocated with Hulstrians while tea is popular with the Welsh and Gao-Showan; hot chocolate is widely popular with Hulstrians as well.

As for the Gao-Showan population of Greater Hulstria, the Gao-Showan culinaries offer seafood, including many types of fish. Anchovy Bass, particularly Striped bass, Bluefish, Butter fish, Blowfish, Eel, Flounder, Grouper, Haddock, Halibut, Herring, Kingfish, John Dory, Lamprey, Mullet, Sanddab, Sardine, Salmon, and Tuna are popular. Lobster, Sushi, Shrimp, Clam, Oyster, Octopus, Mussel, Snail, Squid, Scallop, and Uni are other popular seafood dishes. These seafoods are usually combined in soup and rice dishes, with rice being an important item in Gao-Showa diets.

The Welsh are known for their beef and dairy cattle, but best known for its sheep, and thus lamb is the meat traditionally associated with Welsh cooking in Greater Hulstria. Specific dishes associated with the Welsh include Bara brith, "speckled bread," which is a sweetbread which is traditionally made with raisins, Zante currant, and candied peel. Cawl is a Welsh stew with lamb and leeks. Cockles are very popular in Wales and served in a variety of ways although usually steamed. Crempogs are Welsh buttermilk pancakes. Faggots are Welsh pork meatballs. Glamorgan sausage is cheese in breadcrumbs in the shape of a sausage. Laverbread is a Welsh seaweed delicacy. Welsh cakes are small cakes cooked on a bakestone. Lob Scows is a popular stew in Holyhead and Anglesey, a version of the Liverpudlian 'Scouse'. Welsh rabbit, or Welsh rarebit, is toast with cheese and butter. The Clark's Pie, an internationally famous pie first produced in Marchau.

Cuisines and beverages from all over the world can be found in some form in Hulstria.

Hulstrian Holidays
Christmas

December 25th Christmas is celebrated in very traditional ways. Families gather Christmas Eve for the traditional Christmas Eve dinner consisting of roast goose, mashed potatoes, and all the fixins. Christmas morning the children often awake very early to see what the Weihnachtsmann(Santa Claus) has brought them. They wake up their parents and rush down to see their presents under the Christmas Tree. Later in the day families travel to a relative's house for Christmas Dinner. Of course the reason for Christmas is the birth of Jesus Christ, and many families attend church either Christmas Eve or Christmas Day or both.

Easter

Varies according to Church Calender, Easter is also celebrated in the tradition fashion. The "Easter Bunny" hides plastic eggs in the family's yard. The family goes to church and once they return the children begin to hunt for the eggs. Often children are also given Easter Baskets filled with candy by relatives. After the fun and games, families go to Easter Dinner at another family member's house. The dinner can consist of anything from deviled eggs, salads, and cookies, generally centered around a Ham.

Hulstria Day

July 23rd Hulstria Day is the most patriotic day of the year. On this day the people hold picnics, pool parties, parades, and barbecues. Once the Sun goes down, fireworks light up the sky and often run continuously from dusk to dawn.

Remembrance Day

December 26th Remembrance Day is the day after Christmas. It use to be a normal day, however, after the Christmas Day Bombings it became one of the most solemn days of the year. It was picked as the day to remember the bombings by the Imperial Government because they couldn't make Christmas the national day of remembrance. Many people spend the entire day in Church.

Constitution Day

The Eighth Day of June of every year is known as Constitution Day in order to celebrate the ratification of the Constitution of the Imperial Crownlands of Greater Hulstria. All government offices, local and federal, except those vital to public safety, are closed throughout the course of the day.

Gao-Showa Festivals
Setsubun

The Setsubun celebrations occur at the beginning of each season. The festival starts with a visit to temples where priests throw edible charms to the gathered crowd. Prayers are said and the charms used to cast the spirits accumulated over the season from the home to allow the spirits of the new season to enter.

The charms are then eaten whilst facing the compass direction associated with the season.

Urabon

Urabon is celebrated from mid July to mid August and largely concerns the veneration of the dead. The way this is observed varies from region to region but most areas celebrate in the evening with a festival of the local community with usual fairground attractions. This is generally followed in the evening with fireworks displays and stargazing at which large amounts of alcohol are consumed.

Shogatsu and Omisoka

Shogatsu and Omisoka are the festivals of the new year and these days happens between the 31st of December and the 3rd of January. On the 31st families will meet at their clan shrine to take part in new years chanting and prayers with the temple priests. At midnight a bell is rung and the people return home for the night. From the 1st-3rd of January extended families will meet for a feasts games. Gifts are often exchanged. Toward the end of this period the heads of clans will meet with the Emperor as a, now largely traditional, form of parliament.

Sports
Due to Hulstria's sub-artic climate and long winters, winter sports are widely popular to citizens. This is shown in the nation's national sport, curling, which originated in Greater Hulstria and is a highly popular pastime amongst nearly all the people in the matopm; the Hulstrian National Curling Team has won several regional and national awards for curling, many consider the NCT one of the best curling teams in the world. Skiing is enjoyed by many citizens as well, especially in the Crownland's of Hulstria, Mitrana, and Hilgar. Other highly popular sports include Ice Hockey, Ice Fishing, and cross country.

Hulstria has a temperate climate during the late spring, summer, and early autumn, and during these months many people play rugby and football, whilst most winter sports continue at indoor facilities during the off season. In recent years Baseball has become a popular amateur sport especially in urban/city areas. Swimming is also a very popular sport. During the summer, boating and boat racing are celebrated in Budenlar and Kuratha, the only two Crownland's with a sea coast.

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