This is the tenth installment in our Days of Wine and Music series. Once again, we will provide our readers with more information on the Republic of San Marino, before we turn our attention in subsequent installments to the wines of the country and one winemaker-musician in particular. In this entry we will not include information that can be readily obtained from an encyclopedia; e.g., population stats, area, GDP. That’s a funny measure of economic health, isn’t it? (Sorry, couldn’t resist that.) Instead, we will include whatever strikes our fancy.
San Marino is noted for its stamps. Every philatelist knows this. The postage stamp above is especially interesting. It uses humor—or more precisely, ridicule—to convey its anti-smoking message. This Sammarinese classic is known as the “facial ashtray stamp.” Killing with laughter is a most effective technique. Just ask Nietzsche about that one.
Napoleon—you know, that guy who, according to one theory, was killed by his own wallpaper (readers can check out this fascinating tidbit on their own)—was not interested in conquering San Marino in what would have been a Mouse That Roared thing in reverse. His stated reason: “Why, it’s a model republic!”1
Finally, for all those, this writer included, in the Tribe of Celts, it should be of more than passing interest that we left our linguistic mark on the native language of the republic, Sammarinese. The language “stands apart…due to complex historical and geographical factors, including a Celtic substratum from the pre-Roman and Roman times….”2
1Tull, A.C., “Those Beautiful Little Countries,” Alive (June 2015).
2Montanari, S. “Sammarinese, the Endangered Language of the Republic of San Marino: A Preliminary Study of Documentation and Description,” Dialectologia et Geolinguistica (November 2018).
Napoleon picture: Napoleon I – Virtual Library of Bibliographical Heritage, Spain – CC BY.
https://www.europeana.eu/item/109/https___hispana_mcu_es_lod_oai_bvpb_mcu_es_490087_ent0
Dear Readers: We will soon be approaching the Doyo-no Ushi-no-Hi (土用の丑の日), a day on which eel (unagi) is customarily eaten to rejuvenate the body during the hot, enervating days of summer. This special day falls between July 18 and August 8. One can easily determine what the official date is in any given year by observing the long lines that form outside the shops or stalls of eel merchants and restaurants specializing in this delicacy.
We did a series on eel a couple of years ago, and those who missed it at that time can easily locate it in the archive. More importantly, however, is the exceptional work being done by Mr. Koji Ikuma on his Unfamiliar Japan Tours website. We encourage our readers to explore the entire site, but if time constraints prevent you from doing so, do not miss his “Hamamatsu Unagi Diary.” This is a well researched work in progess, and every entry is a fascinating revelation about the world of eels, which, aside from being a delicious fish, is almost intentionally secretive. Indeed, this is how Patrik Svensson puts it in The Book of Eels: Our Enduring Fascination with the Most Mysterious Creature in the Natural World (Ecco/HarperCollins, 2019), who asserts that eels are “secretive in a way that comes across as deliberate and preordained.” Let’s face it, these babies don’t flaunt it on YouTube.
The link to Ikuma-san’s “Hamamatsu Unagi Diary” is here https://uj-tours.com/unagi-hamamatsu/
Drinking Japan 