Croatia is a high-income country as well as member of the United Nations, the Council of Europe, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, NATO, the World Trade Organization, CEFTA, and is an elected member of the UN Security Council for the 2008–09 term. The country is also a candidate for membership of the European Union, and a founding member of the Union for the Mediterranean upon its establishment in 2008.

The haggis is a traditional Scottish dish memorialised as the national dish of Scotland by Robert Burns’ poem Address to a Haggis in 1787. Haggis is traditionally served with “neeps and tatties” (Scots: swede, yellow turnip or rutabaga and potatoes, boiled and mashed separately) and a “dram” (i.e. a glass of Scotch whisky), especially as the main course of a Burns supper. However it is also often eaten with other accompaniments, or served with a whisky-based sauce.

In the absence of hard facts as to haggis’ origins, popular folklore has provided more fanciful theories. One is that the dish originates from the days of the old Scottish cattle drovers. When the men left the highlands to drive their cattle to market in Edinburgh the women would prepare rations for them to eat during the long journey down through the glens. They used the ingredients that were most readily available in their homes and conveniently packaged them in a sheep’s stomach allowing for easy transportation during the journey. Other speculations have been based on Scottish slaughtering practices. When a Chieftain or Laird required an animal to be slaughtered for meat (whether sheep or cattle) the workmen were allowed to keep the offal as their share.

A frequent tale is that a “Haggis” is a small Scottish animal with one set of legs longer than the other so that it can stand on the steep Scottish Highlands without falling over. According to one poll, 33% of American visitors to Scotland believe haggis to be an animal.

The coat of arms of Slovakia is composed of a silver (argent) double cross, elevated on the middle peak of a dark blue mountain consisting of three peaks. It is situated on a red (gules) early gothic shield. Extremities of the cross are amplificated, and its ends are concaved.This symbol represents the Slovak country and history. The double cross is a symbol of its Christian faith and the hills represent the three symbolic mountains of the Tatra, Fatra and Mátra (the last one is in northern Hungary).

One of the modern interpretations of the double cross is that it represents Slovakia as an heir and guardian of Christian tradition, brought to the region 12 centuries ago by St. Cyril and St. Methodius, two missionaries from the Byzantine Empire.

The three mountains/hills represent the three mountains (actually mountain ranges) Tatra, Matra and Fatra (the middle one in present-day Hungary) which symbolized the northern mountainous part of the Kingdom of Hungary, the region where Slovaks live. (The Slovak Republic, however, does not include the Matra range.) This interpretation is probably the oldest and most frequent one – it can be traced back to the 16th century, but stems probably from the 15th century. According to István Werbőczy’s “Tripartitum” from 16th century, the heaps represent the mountains in this order.

The Slovak Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe with a population of over five million and an area of about 49000 square kilometres (19,000 sq mi). Slovakia borders the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south. The largest city is its capital, Bratislava. The second largest city is Košice. Slovakia is a member state of the European Union, NATO, UN, OECD, WTO, UNESCO and other international organizations.

Ice hockey is played on a large flat area of ice, using a three inch (76.2 mm) diameter vulcanized rubber disc called a puck. This puck is often frozen before high-level games to decrease the amount of bouncing and friction on the ice. The game is contested between two teams of skaters. The game is played all over North America, Europe and in many other countries around the world to varying extent. It is the most popular sport in Canada, Finland, Latvia, the Czech Republic, and in Slovakia.

The governing body is the 66-member International Ice Hockey Federation, (IIHF). Men’s ice hockey has been played at the Winter Olympics since 1924, and was in the 1920 Summer Olympics. Women’s ice hockey was added to the Winter Olympics in 1998. North America’s National Hockey League (NHL) is the strongest professional ice hockey league, drawing top ice hockey players from around the globe. The NHL rules are slightly different from those used in Olympic ice hockey: the periods are 20 minutes long, counting downwards. There are three periods.

Ice hockey sticks are long L-shaped sticks made of wood, graphite, or composites with a blade at the bottom that can lie flat on the playing surface when the stick is held upright and can curve either way, legally, as to help a left- or right-handed player gain an advantage.

There are early representations and reports of ice hockey-type games being played on ice in the Netherlands, and reports from Canada from the beginning of the nineteenth century, but the modern game was initially organized by students at McGill University, Montreal in 1875 who, by two years later, codified the first set of ice hockey rules and organized the first teams.

Ice hockey is played at a number of levels, by all ages.

Field hockey is played on gravel, natural grass, sand-based or water-based artificial turf, with a small, hard ball. The game is popular among both males and females in many parts of the world, particularly in Europe, Asia, Australia, and South Africa. In most countries, the game is played between single-sex sides, although they can be mixed-sex.