Page 8 - САЗА КУРИЛЬСКАЯ
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LEGENDS AND TAILS: The Phillippine myth tells us a                                S o ,    t h e    b a m b o o    b e l o n g s    t o    t h e    f a m i l y    o f
             beautiful story: once upon a time the sea and the sky got in                       c e r e a l s .   The  speed  at  which  bamboo  grows  is  also
             an argument, trying to decide who was more powerful and                            incredibly  surprising.  Japanese  say  that  you  can
               stronger. Trying to assert its dominance, the sea splashed                       actualy  see  the  bamboo  growing  if  you  look  long
                 the sky with sea foam. In response, the sky threw rocks                        enough.  One  of  the  Japanese  bamboo  species  has
                 and dirt into the sea. The rocks formed the islands, and                       a  growth record  of  1,2  m  per  day, which  is  5  cm  per
               one of them bore a strange plant with many leaves but no                         hour.    It takes  5  to  6  weeks  for  the bamboo  to  reach
                   branches. This was the first bamboo in the world. Tie                        its  adult  state  and  height  of  18-22  metres.  Bamboo
               passed by, and the giant bird sat on the bamboo, pecking                         can be truly gigantic.
              at its first knot, and the knot burst open. releasing the first                      The average height of bamboo varies and is usually at
                man.  The bird pecked through the second knot, and the                          10-20  metres,  however  the  biggest  and  tallest  bamboo
                     first woman stepped out of it. The bamboo is often                         species from Brazil can reach 33 cm wide and 40 metres
                     considered the most powerful divine plant. A great                         tall.
                 number of island tribes still use it as a lucky charm or a                        The bloom season is unique for bamboo too. It blooms
                                               protective amulet. They                          once in a lifetime and then dies. And there is more: once
                                               believe    that    bamboo                        the  blooming  starts,  every  single  bamboo  plant  around
                                               strengthens your  spiritual                      blooms at once, no matter how big the area is.
                                               connection  with    nature,                       Bamboo  bloom  season
                                               protects  the  owner  from                        almost  always  means
                                               disasters and bad  luck.                          hunger  and  illnesses
                                                                                                 for other plants around.
                                              INTERESTING  FACT:                                 FACT             FILE:
                                              Some      surprising    facts                      There                are
                                              about  bamboo  can  help  us                       approximately       140
                                              understand       what       a                      bamboo  species  in  the
                                              wonderful  plant  we  are                          world. They are mainly
                                              talking  about.  Who  would                        plants  from  tropical
                                              have  thought  that  this                          and          subtropical
                                              herbaceous     plant    with                       regions. In our country
                                              lignified stems is actually a                      wild  bamboo  grows
                                              close  relative  to  wheat,                        only on island Sakhalin
                                              rice, corn and oats.                               and Kuril Islands.





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