How the New Year is celebrated in different cultures

For example, our close neighbours, the Armenians, have as many as three New Years! There is a holiday with all the famous symbols we know: Christmas tree, presents, Santa Claus, Snow Maiden, drinking songs. All is the same as we have, except the songs bear a unique local colour. This New Year is celebrated in the night of December 31 to January 1. This version of the holiday is the latest one, as it arose only in the late 18th century.

Amanor is a more ancient Armenian feast having its superstitions and symbols. It is a cheerful and bright celebration. On Amanor the traditional Armenian holiday tree is dressed up, and people make wishes. On this day, March 21, the Armenians celebrate the awakening of nature, the work of the farmer and ask the gods for a bountiful harvest.

Machu Picchu - History of the Discovery

Ancient cities seldom remain undestroyed till the present days. The descendants usually inherit foundations hidden under the ground and stone fragments, by which one can restore the image of the former buildings only by a great power of imagination. But when the first European climbed up to the top of Machu Picchu he suddenly saw streets and houses, temples and plazas beneath him: they looked exactly as they had been built by “the descendants of the Sun”, the Inca.

Machu Picchu is sometimes named "The hidden city of the Inca”. It remained in oblivion for almost 400 years: since the time the inhabitants had left the city till the day when the research expedition led by Hiram Bingham appeared in the region. Machu Picchu was not mentioned in the Spanish chronicles and was forgotten by the Inca’s descendants.

Augmented Reality – The Future Is Near

n the future we imagined being children, it was possible to fly, communicate through holograms and see through walls. We grew up, the future has come – and it turned out to be more fantastic than our wildest dreams. Almost everything has become possible due to the interpenetration of reality and virtuality.

Fictional universes were the first to arise in the virtual world; people could live a completely new virtual life there. In these imaginary worlds people created a lot of 3D models in a very short time. But the reality is much more interesting than any fantasy and the real objects gradually began to penetrate the virtuality. Vizerra project, for example, creates replicas of the world's landmarks.