Niederlande - Haarlem

 

Molen De Adriaan

 

Haarlem (Dutch: [ˈɦaːrlɛm] predecessor of Harlem in English) is a city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland. Haarlem is situated at the northern edge of the Randstad, one of the most populated metropolitan areas in Europe; it is also part of the Amsterdam metropolitan area. Haarlem had a population of 162,543 in 2021.

 

Haarlem was granted city status or stadsrechten in 1245, although the first city walls were not built until 1270. The modern city encompasses the former municipality of Schoten as well as parts that previously belonged to Bloemendaal and Heemstede. Apart from the city, the municipality of Haarlem also includes the western part of the village of Spaarndam. Newer sections of Spaarndam lie within the neighbouring municipality of Haarlemmermeer.

 

Geography

 

Haarlem is located on the river Spaarne, giving it its nickname Spaarnestad (Spaarne city). It is situated about 20 km (12 mi) west of Amsterdam and near the coastal dunes. Haarlem has been the historical centre of the tulip bulb-growing district for centuries and bears its other nickname Bloemenstad (flower city) for this reason.

 

History

 

Haarlem has a rich history dating back to pre-medieval times, as it lies on a thin strip of land above sea level known as the strandwal (beach ridge), which connects Leiden to Alkmaar. The people on this narrow strip of land struggled against the waters of the North Sea from the west, and the waters of the IJ and the Haarlem Lake from the east. Haarlem became wealthy with toll revenues that it collected from ships and travellers moving on this busy north–south route.

 

As shipping became increasingly important economically, the city of Amsterdam became the main Dutch city of North Holland during the Dutch Golden Age. The town of Halfweg became a suburb, and Haarlem became a quiet bedroom community, and for this reason Haarlem still has many of its central medieval buildings intact. Many of them are now on the Dutch Heritage register known as Rijksmonuments. The list of Rijksmonuments in Haarlem gives an overview of these per neighbourhood, with the majority in the old city centre.

 

Middle Ages

 

The oldest mention of Haarlem dates from the 10th century. The name probably comes from "Haarlo-heim". This name is composed of three elements: haar, lo and heim. In Old Dutch toponyms lo always refers to 'forest' and heim (heem, em or um) to 'home' or 'house'. Haar, however, has several meanings, one of them corresponding with the location of Haarlem on a sand dune: 'elevated place'. The name Haarlem or Haarloheim would therefore mean 'home on a forested dune'.

 

There was a stream called "De Beek", dug from the peat grounds west of the river Spaarne as a drainage canal. Over the centuries the Beek was turned into an underground canal, as the city grew larger and the space was needed for construction. Over time it began to silt up and in the 19th century it was filled in. The village had a good location: by the river Spaarne, and by a major road going south to north. By the 12th century it was a fortified town, and Haarlem became the residence of the Counts of Holland.

 

In 1219 the knights of Haarlem were laurelled by Count Willem I, because they had conquered the Egyptian port of Damietta (or Damiate in Dutch, present-day Dimyat) in the fifth crusade. Haarlem received the right to bear the Count's sword and cross in its coat of arms. On 23 November 1245 Count Willem II granted Haarlem city rights. This implied a number of privileges, among which the right for the sheriff and magistrates to administer justice, instead of the Count. This allowed for a quicker and more efficient judiciary system, more suited to the needs of the growing city.

 

After a siege from the surrounding area of Kennemerland in 1270 a defensive wall was built around the city. Most likely this was an earthen wall with wooden gates. Originally the city started out between Spaarne, Oudegracht, Ridderstraat, Bakenessergracht and Nassaustraat. In the 14th century the city expanded, and the Burgwalbuurt, Bakenes and the area around the Oudegracht became part of the city. The old defenses proved not to be sufficiently strong for the expanded city, and at the end of the 14th century a 16½-metre high wall was built, complete with a 15-metre wide canal circling the city. In 1304 the Flemish threatened the city, but they were defeated by Witte van Haemstede at Manpad.

  

The City Hall on the Grote Markt, built in the 14th century, replacing the Count's castle after it partially burnt down. The remains were given to the city.

All the city's buildings were made of wood, and fire was a great risk. In 1328 nearly the whole city burnt down. The Sint-Bavokerk was severely damaged, and rebuilding it would take more than 150 years. Again on 12 June 1347 there was a fire in the city. A third large fire, in 1351, destroyed many buildings including the Count's castle and the city hall. The Count did not need a castle in Haarlem because his castle in The Hague (Den Haag) had taken over all functions.

 

The count donated the ground to the city and later a new city hall was built there. The shape of the old city was square—this was inspired by the shape of ancient Jerusalem. After every fire the city was rebuilt quickly, an indication of the wealth of the city in those years. The Black Death came to the city in 1381. According to an estimate by a priest from Leiden the disease killed 5,000 people, about half the population at that time.

 

In the 14th century, Haarlem was a major city. It was the second largest city in historical Holland after Dordrecht and before Delft, Leiden, Amsterdam, Gouda and Rotterdam. In 1429 the city gained the right to collect tolls, including ships passing the city on the Spaarne river. At the end of the Middle Ages, Haarlem was a flourishing city with a large textile industry, shipyards and beer breweries. Around 1428, the city was put under siege by the army of Jacqueline, Countess of Hainaut. Haarlem had taken side with the Cods in the Hook and Cod wars and thus against Jacoba of Bavaria. The entire Haarlemmerhout wood was burnt down by the enemy.

 

Spanish siege

 

When the city of Brielle was conquered by the Geuzen revolutionary army, the municipality of Haarlem started supporting the Geuzen. King Philip II of Spain was not pleased, and sent an army north under the command of Don Fadrique (Don Frederick in Dutch), son of Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba. On 17 November 1572 all citizens of the city of Zutphen were killed by the Spanish army, and on 1 December the city of Naarden suffered the same fate.

 

On 11 December 1572 the Spanish army besieged Haarlem; the city's defenses were commanded by city-governor Wigbolt Ripperda. Kenau Simonsdochter Hasselaer, a powerful widow, helped defend the city together with some three hundred other women.

 

During the first two months of the siege, the situation was in balance. The Spanish army was digging tunnels to reach the city walls and blow them up; the defenders dug in turn and undermined the Spaniards' tunnels. The situation worsened on 29 March 1573: the Amsterdam army, faithful to the Spanish king, controlled Haarlemmermeer lake, effectively blocking Haarlem from the outside world. An attempt by the Prince of Orange to destroy the Spanish navy on the Haarlemmermeer had failed. Hunger in the city grew, and the situation became so tense that on 27 May many (Spanish-loyal) prisoners were taken from the prison and murdered; the Spaniards had previously gibbeted their own prisoners of war.

 

In the beginning of July the Prince of Orange assembled an army of 5,000 soldiers near Leiden to free Haarlem. However, he was prevented from accompanying them in person and the Spanish forces trapped them at the Manpad where they were decisively defeated. On 13 July 1573, after seven months of siege, the city surrendered. Many defenders were slaughtered; some were drowned in the Spaarne river. Governor Ripperda and his lieutenant were beheaded. The citizens were allowed to buy freedom for themselves and the city for 240,000 guilders and the city was required to host a Spanish garrison. Don Fadrique thanked God for his victory in the Sint-Bavo Church. However, the terms of the treaty were not kept, with the Spanish soldiery plundering the townspeople's property.

 

Despite Haarlem's ultimate fall, the fact that the Haarlemers had been able to stand for seven months against the whole Spanish array inspired the rest of Holland to resist the invaders, and their prolonged resistance allowed the Prince of Orange to prepare and arm the rest of the country for war. Some 12,000 of the Spanish army had fallen during the siege.

 

Great fire

 

The city suffered a large fire in the night from 22 to 23 October 1576. The fire started in brewery het Ankertje, near the weighhouse at the Spaarne, which was used by mercenaries as a guarding place. When they were warming themselves at a fire it got out of control. The fire was spotted by farmers, who sailed their ships on the river. However, the soldiers turned down all help, saying that they would put out the fire themselves.

 

This failed, and the fire destroyed almost 500 buildings, among them St-Gangolf's church and St-Elisabeth's hospital. Most of the mercenaries were later arrested, and one of them was hanged on the Grote Markt in front of a large audience. Maps from that era clearly show the damage done by the fire: a wide strip through the city was destroyed. The combined result of the siege and the fire was that about a third of the city was destroyed.

 

Golden age

 

The fire and the long siege had taken their toll on the city. The Spanish left in 1577 and under the Agreement of Veere, Protestants and Catholics were given equal rights, though in government the Protestants clearly had the upper hand and Catholic possessions once seized were never returned. To restore the economy and attract workers for the brewing and bleaching businesses (Haarlem was known for these, thanks to the clean water from the dunes), the Haarlem council decided to promote the pursuit of arts and history, showing tolerance for diversity among religious beliefs.

 

This attracted a large influx of Flemish and French immigrants (Catholics and Huguenots alike) who were fleeing the Spanish occupation of their own cities. Expansion plans soon replaced plans of rebuilding the destroyed city walls. Just like the rest of the country, the Golden Age in the United Provinces had started.

 

Linen and silk

 

The new citizens had a lot of expertise in linen and silk manufacture and trading, and the city's population grew from 18,000 in 1573 to around 40,000 in 1622. At one point, in 1621, over 50% of the population was Flemish-born. Haarlem's linen became notable and the city flourished. Today an impression of some of those original textile tradesmen can be had from the Book of Trades document created by Jan Luyken and his son.

 

Infrastructure

 

In 1632 a tow canal between Haarlem and Amsterdam, the Haarlemmertrekvaart was opened, the first tow canal in the country. The empty areas in the city that were a result of the fire of 1576 were filled with new houses and buildings. Even outside the city wall buildings were constructed—in 1643 about 400 houses were counted outside the wall.

 

Having buildings outside the city walls was not a desirable situation to the city administration. Not only because these buildings would be vulnerable in case of an attack on the city, but there was also less control over taxes and city regulations outside the walls. Therefore, a major project was initiated in 1671: expanding the city northwards.

 

Two new canals were dug, and a new defensive wall was constructed (the current Staten en Prinsenbolwerk). Two old city gates, the Janspoort and Kruispoort, were demolished. The idea that a city had to be square-shaped was abandoned.

 

Cultural life

 

After the fall of Antwerp, many artists and craftsmen migrated to Haarlem and received commissions from the Haarlem council to decorate the city hall. The paintings commissioned were meant to show Haarlem's glorious history as well as Haarlem's glorious products. Haarlem's cultural life prospered, with painters like Frans Hals and Jacob van Ruisdael, the architect Lieven de Key and Jan Steen who made many paintings in Haarlem.

 

The Haarlem councilmen became quite creative in their propaganda promoting their city. On the Grote Markt, the central market square, there's a statue of Laurens Janszoon Coster who is allegedly the inventor of the printing press. This is the second and larger statue to him on the square. The original stands behind the city hall in the little garden known as the Hortus (where today the Stedelijk Gymnasium school is located).

 

Most scholars agree that the scarce evidence seems to point to Johann Gutenberg as the first European inventor of the printing press, but Haarlem children were taught about "Lau", as he is known, well into the 20th century. This legend served the printers of Haarlem well, however, and it is probably for that reason the most notable Dutch history books from the Dutch Golden Age period were published in Haarlem; by Hadrianus Junius (Batavia), Dirck Volkertszoon Coornhert (Works), Karel van Mander (Schilderboeck), Samuel Ampzing (Description and Ode to Haarlem), Petrus Scriverius (Batavia Illustrata), and Pieter Christiaenszoon Bor (Origin of the Dutch wars).

 

Beer brewing

 

Beer brewing was a very important industry in Haarlem. Until the 16th century, the water for the beer was taken from the canals in the city. These canals were connected to seawater, via the Spaarne and the IJ. However, the canal water was getting more and more polluted and less suitable for brewing beer. A place 1.5 km (0.9 mi) south-west of the city was then used to take fresh water in.

 

However, the quality of that water was not good enough either. From the 17th century, a canal (Santvaert) was used to transport water from the dunes to the city. The water was transported in barrels on ships. The location where the water was taken is called the Brouwerskolkje, and the canal to there still exists, and is now called the Brewers' Canal (Brouwersvaart).

 

Haarlem was a major beer producer in the Netherlands. The majority of the beer it produced was consumed in North Holland. During the Spanish siege, there were about 50 breweries in the city. In 1620, the city had about one hundred breweries.

 

There was another epidemic of the Black Death in 1657, which took a heavy toll in the six months it ravaged the city. From the end of the 17th century, the economy in the city worsened for a long time. In 1752, only seven breweries remained, and by 1820 no breweries were registered in the city. In the 1990s, the Stichting Haarlems Biergenootschap revived some old recipes under the Jopen beer brand that is marketed as a "Haarlem bier." In 2010, Jopen opened a brewery in a former church in central Haarlem called the Jopenkerk. In 2012, Haarlem gained another local brewery with Uiltje Brewing in the Zijlstraat, which specializes in craft beer.

 

Tulip centre

 

Since the 1630s, Haarlem has been a major trading centre for tulips, and it was at the epicentre during tulip mania, when outrageous prices were paid for tulip bulbs. From the opening of the Leiden-Haarlem canal Leidsevaart in 1656, it became popular to travel from Rotterdam to Amsterdam by passenger boat rather than by coach. The canals were dug for passenger service only, and were comfortable though slow. The towpath led these passengers through the bulb fields south of Haarlem.

 

Haarlem was an important stopover for passengers from the last half of the 17th century and through the 18th century until the building of the first rail tracks along the routes of former passenger canal systems. As Haarlem slowly expanded southwards, so did the bulb fields. Today, rail passengers between Rotterdam and Amsterdam in spring can see blooming bulb fields on the route between Leiden and Haarlem.

 

18th century

 

As the centre of trade gravitated towards Amsterdam, Haarlem declined in the 18th century. The Golden Age had created a large upper middle class of merchants and well-to-do small business owners. Taking advantage of the reliability of the trekschuit connection between Amsterdam and Haarlem, many people had a business address in Amsterdam and a weekend or summer home in Haarlem.

 

Haarlem became more and more a bedroom community as the increasingly dense population of Amsterdam caused the canals to smell in the summer. Many well-to-do gentlemen moved their families to summer homes in the Spring and commuted between addresses. Popular places for summer homes were along the Spaarne in southern Haarlem. Pieter Teyler van der Hulst and Henry Hope built summer homes there, as well as many Amsterdam merchants and councilmen. Today, boat travel along the Spaarne is still possible and has become a popular form of tourism in the summer. In the 18th century, Haarlem became the seat of a suffragan diocese of the Old Catholic Church of Utrecht.

 

French rule

 

At the end of the 18th century, a number of anti-Orange commissions were founded. On 18 January 1795 the "Staatse" army was defeated near Woerden. During the night preceding 19 January, the same night that stadtholder William V of Orange fled the country, the various commissions gathered and implemented a revolution. The commissions changed the city's administrators in a bloodless revolution, and the next morning the city was "liberated" of the tyranny of the House of Orange. The revolution was peaceful, and the Orange-loyal people were not harmed. The Batavian Republic was then proclaimed.

 

The French army entered the liberated city two days later, on 20 January. An army of 1,500 soldiers was provided with food and clothing by the citizens. The new national government was strongly centralised, and the role and influence of the cities was reduced. The Batavian Republic signed a mutual defense pact with France and was thus automatically at war with England. The strong English presence at sea severely reduced trading opportunities, and the Dutch economy suffered accordingly.

 

19th century

 

The textile industry, which had always been an important pillar of Haarlem's economy, was suffering at the beginning of the 19th century. Strong international competition and revolutionary new production methods based on steam engines already in use in England dealt a striking blow to Haarlem's industry. In 1815, the city's population was about 17,000 people, many of whom were poor. The foundation of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands in that year gave hope to many who believed that under a new government, the economy would improve and that export-oriented economic activities, such as the textile industry, would recover.

 

In the beginning of the 19th century, the defense walls had lost their function, and architect Zocher Jr. planned a park on the location of the former defense line. The city walls and gates were demolished, and the bricks were reused for construction of factories and workers' homes . Haarlem became the provincial capital of North Holland province in the early 19th century.

 

In the mid-19th century, the city's economy slowly started to improve. New factories opened, and a number of large industrial companies were founded in Haarlem by Thomas Wilson, Guillaume Jean Poelman, J.B.T. Prévinaire, J.J. Beijnes, Hendrik Figee, Gerardus Johannes Droste, and G.P.J. Beccari.

 

Cotton mills

 

The Nederlandsche Handel-Maatschappij (NHM or Dutch Trade Company) was founded by King Willem I to create employment opportunities. As one of the cities in the western part of the Netherlands with the worst economic situation, three cotton mills were created in Haarlem under the NHM-program in the 1830s. These were run by experts from the Southern Netherlands, whom the NHM considered better at mechanical weaving through the local expertise of Lieven Bauwens.

 

The contract winners were Thomas Wilson, whose factory was situated north of what is today the Wilsonplein, Guillaume Jean Poelman, who was in business with his nephew Charles Vervaecke from Ghent and had a factory on what today is the Phoenixstraat, and Jean Baptiste Theodore Prévinaire, who had a factory on the Garenkokerskade and whose son Marie Prosper Theodore Prévinaire created the Haarlemsche Katoenmaatschappij in 1875.

 

These cotton factories produced goods for export, and because the Dutch government levied heavy taxes on foreign cotton producers this was a profitable business for the NHM-factories, especially for export to the Dutch East Indies. The programme started in the 1830s, and was initially successful. However, after 1839 when Belgium split away from the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, the protectionist measures for the Dutch East Indian market were removed, and the business began to flounder. When the American Civil War reduced the import of raw cotton significantly after 1863, the business went sour. Only Prévinaire was able to survive through specialisation with his "Turkish Red" dye. The Prévinaire "toile Adrinople" was popular.[ Prévinaire's son went on to create the Haarlemsche Katoenmaatschappij, which made a kind of imitation batik cloth called "La Javanaise" that became popular in Belgian Congo.

 

Train and tram

 

In England in 1804, Richard Trevithick designed the first locomotive. The government of the Netherlands was relatively slow to catch up, even though the king feared competition from newly established Belgium if it would construct a railway between Antwerp and other cities. The Dutch parliament balked at the high level of investment needed, but a group of private investors started the Hollandsche IJzeren Spoorweg-Maatschappij on 1 June 1836.

 

It took three years to build the first track on the railway, between Haarlem and Amsterdam along the old tow canal called the Haarlemmertrekvaart. The ground there was wet and muddy. On 20 September 1839, the first train service in the Netherlands started. The train had a speed of about 40 km/h (25 mph). The train service gave the Beijnes company, and indirectly the whole economy of Haarlem, a strong boost, and the effects of this can be seen in the Haarlem railway station, now a rijksmonument. Instead of more than two hours, Amsterdam was now only 30 minutes away.

 

The old passenger service by trekschuit along the Haarlemmertrekvaart was quickly taken out of service in favour of the train service, which was quicker and more reliable. In 1878, a Beijnes-made horse tram started servicing passengers from the railway station to the Haarlemmerhout woodland park, and in 1894, the Eerste Nederlandsche Electrische Tram Maatschappij (ENET) was founded with cars built by Beijnes and became the first Dutch electric tram, which ran in Haarlem from 1899 onwards.

 

Water management

 

Though the old trekvaart was closed for water traffic after railway development, it is still possible to travel by boat from Amsterdam to Haarlem, via the ringvaart or the North Sea Canal. Pleasure boating in the summer has become an important Haarlem tourist attraction, though it is not possible to travel all of the original canals as in Amsterdam. The creation of new land in the Haarlemmermeer polder from 1852 onwards meant that the city could no longer refresh the water in its canals from the Spaarne river. The increase in industry worsened water quality. In 1859, the Oude Gracht canal stank so badly in the summer that it not only forced visitors away, but posed a public health threat due to cholera outbreaks. It was filled in to create a new street called the Gedempte Oude Gracht.[11] The periodic cholera outbreaks had not been new, but they had been increasing. In 1591, the city fathers had ordered excavation to build the Verwulft, a wide bridge over the Oude Gracht connecting the north and south portions of the Grote Houtstraat. Such "overclosures" can still be seen in other Dutch cities, such as the Nieuwmarkt in Amsterdam.

 

Expanding borders

 

From 1879, the population of the city almost doubled in thirty years, from 36,976 to 69,410 in 1909. Not only did the population grow, but the city was expanding rapidly, too. The Leidsebuurt district was incorporated into Haarlem in the 1880s. A small part of the (now defunct) municipality of Schoten was incorporated in 1884 because the council of Haarlem wanted to have the hospital (Het Dolhuys) inside the municipal borders. This hospital was situated at "het bolwerk" on Schoten's territory.

 

Early 20th century

 

In the beginning of the 20th century, the city expanded north. As early as 1905, an official plan was presented by the Haarlem municipality for expansion. However, the surrounding municipalities did not agree, and it would take 25 years to come to an agreement. On 1 May 1927, the municipality of Schoten became part of Haarlem, as well as part of Spaarndam, Bloemendaal and Heemstede. The population increased at once with 31,184 citizens.

 

In 1908, a renewed railway station was opened. The tracks were elevated, so traffic in the city was no longer hampered by railway crossings. In 1911, Anthony Fokker showed his plane de Spin to the audience in Haarlem by flying around the Sint-Bavokerk on Queen's Day.

 

Later the expansion of the city went southwards (Schalkwijk) and eastwards (Waarderpolder). In 1932, Vroom & Dreesmann, a Dutch retailer built a department store at Verwulft. Many buildings were demolished, except one small chemist's shop on the corner, "Van der Pigge", who refused to be bought out and which is now encapsulated by the V&D building. They are therefore also called "David and Goliath" by locals.

 

Haarlem in World War II

 

From 17 to 21 September 1944, parts of Haarlem-Noord (north of the Jan Gijzenvaart) were evacuated by the Germans to make way for a defensive line. The stadium of HFC Haarlem, the football club, was demolished. Hundreds of people had to leave their homes and were forced to stay with other citizens.

 

From 22 September 1944 to the end of the war, there was gas available only two hours per day. Electricity stopped on 9 October. The German occupiers built a thick, black wall through the Haarlemmerhout (in the south of the city), as well as at the Jan Gijzenvaart in the evacuated area. The wall was called Mauer-muur and was meant to help defend the city.

 

In February 1944, the family of Corrie ten Boom was arrested by the Nazis; they had been hiding Jews and Dutch resistance workers from the German occupier throughout the war.

 

During World War II, the Dutch heroine Hannie Schaft, who worked for a Dutch resistance group, was captured and executed by the German occupation just before the end of the war in 1945. Despite her efforts and those of her colleagues and private families such as the Ten Booms, most Haarlem Jews were deported, the Haarlem Synagogue was demolished, and the Jewish hospital was annexed by the St. Elisabeth Gasthuis. Several Haarlem families, whether they were politically active in the NSB or not, suffered from random attacks, as the Haarlem writer Harry Mulisch described in his book De Aanslag. Haarlemmers survived during the Hunger Winter by eating tulip bulbs stored in sheds in the sandy fields around the city.

 

Post-World War II

 

After the war, much of the large industry left the city, such as the banknote printing firm of Joh. Enschedé. The centre of industry and shipping shifted towards Amsterdam. Though the population had been decimated by starvation, a new wave of immigrants came to the city from the Dutch former colonies in Indonesia. This brought some government funding for building projects. In 1963, a large number of houses was built in Schalkwijk.

 

Miscellaneous

 

Local beer

 

Beer brewing has been a very important industry for Haarlem going back to the 15th century, when there were no fewer than 100 breweries in the city. When the town's 750th anniversary was celebrated in 1995 a group of enthusiasts re-created an original Haarlem beer and brewed it again. The beer is called Jopenbier, or Jopen for short, named after an old type of beer barrel.[

 

Harlem, Manhattan

 

In 1658, Peter Stuyvesant, the Director-General of the Dutch colony of Nieuw Nederland (New Netherland), founded the settlement of Nieuw Haarlem in the northern part of Manhattan Island as an outpost of Nieuw Amsterdam (New Amsterdam) at the southern tip of the island. After the English capture of New Netherland in 1664, the new English colonial administration renamed both the colony and its principal city "New York," but left the name of Haarlem more or less unchanged. The spelling changed to Harlem in keeping with contemporary English usage, and the district grew (as part of the borough of Manhattan) into the vibrant centre of African American culture in New York City and the United States generally by the 20th century.

 

Lautje, statue on the Grote Markt

 

On the main square, the Grote Markt, stands a statue of Laurens Janszoon Coster, nicknamed 'Lautje' by locals. Laurens Janszoon Coster is credited with being the inventor of a printing press using movable type, since he's said to have invented it simultaneously with Johannes Gutenberg, but only some people believe this. In the past, the statue was moved a couple of times. It once stood at the other side of the square and even perched at the Riviervismarkt, near the Philharmonie.

 

Universities

 

The group of universities SRH opened a campus in Haarlem in 2022 on the site of the former Cupola prison.

 

Meat advertisement ban

 

In September 2022, the Haarlem municipal council adopted an ordinance prohibiting advertisements for meat and fossil fuels in public spaces because of their climate impact. The ordinance took effect in 2024, making Haarlem the first city in the world to ban such advertisements.

 

(Wikipedia)

 

De Adriaan (Dutch pronunciation: [də ˈʔaːdrijaːn]) is a windmill in the Netherlands that burnt down in 1932 and was rebuilt in 2002. The original windmill dates from 1779 and the mill has been a distinctive part of the skyline of Haarlem for centuries.

 

History of De Adriaan

 

Goevrouwetoren

 

The windmill was built on the foundations of the Goevrouwetoren by Adriaan de Booys, an industrial producer from Amsterdam. The Goevrouwetoren, or Goede Vrouwtoren (Goodwife Tower), had been the northern support of the city's Catrijnenpoort, a defence work over the River Spaarne. By the late 18th century, the gate was redundant due to the expansion of the city, and de Booys bought the tower and the land around it from the municipality of Haarlem on April 24, 1778. By reinforcing the foundations with wooden supporting poles, the mill was built to 34 metres above the level of the river, and above the surrounding city. De Adriaan was officially opened on May 19, 1779.

 

De Booys was granted permission to build a windmill to produce cement, paint, and tanbark. The windmill was built under the supervision of miller Henricus Ruijsch from Waddinxveen. De Booy earned the concession to be the sole producer of cement in the city for 25 years.

 

De Booys sold the windmill to Cornelis Kraan in 1802. The monopoly on cement had not been as lucrative as De Booys had hoped for; a competitor evaded the law by importing cement from Dordrecht. The windmill was sold for 1650 guilders, and Kraan converted the mill into a tobacco mill, to produce tobacco snuff. Kraan already owned a tobacco shop, at the Grote Houtstraat (number 12).

 

In 1865 a steam engine was placed in the windmill by the then owner, J. van Berloo, but this was not a commercial success. In 1925 the windmill was bought for 12,100 guilders by the Dutch windmill society Vereniging De Hollandsche Molen to prevent demolition.

 

The mill was severely damaged by a storm in 1930.

 

Fire

 

On the evening of April 23, 1932 the windmill burnt down. The fire brigade arrived quickly but could not prevent the complete burning down of the mill. This event was a shock for many citizens of the city; the cause of the fire has never been established.

 

Rebuilding

 

Immediately after the fire, citizens of Haarlem collected money to pay for the rebuilding of the mill. The owner of the mill, Vereniging De Hollande Molen, started a collection and the result was 3,000 guilders. The insurance money, 12.165 guilders, had to be used to pay off the mortgage on the mill.

 

The municipality of Haarlem made 10,000 guilders, a large amount of money, available in 1938 for the renovation of the mill, but this was overruled by the provincial council because of the bad economic situation. The renovation had to be postponed until the economic situation improved (1930s).

 

In 1963 the Haarlem municipality became owner of the mill and tried to restore it. That failed, however, due to a lack of funds.

 

In September 1985 a plan was presented by the architects Braaksma and Roos for renovation of the Scheepsmakersdijk; and their plan included a renovated windmill. In 1995 detailed plans were made by the Haarlem municipality and on April 21, 1999, the first pole was put in the ground.

 

De Adriaan was rebuilt on the original foundations of the old windmill. Windmill De Adriaan was reopened on April 23, 2002, exactly 70 years after the fire. The current owner is Stichting Molen De Adriaan.

 

Tourist attraction

 

The windmill is fully functional, and is capable of grinding grain. However, it is not often in use - it works for tourists, mostly on Saturdays and holidays. Inside the windmill is a small museum, and the interior can be seen.

 

(Wikipedia)

 

Haarlem ist eine Stadt in der Region Kennemerland-Süd und die Hauptstadt der Provinz Nordholland, Niederlande. Die Stadt liegt am Fluss Spaarne, was ihr den Beinamen Spaarnestad eingebracht hat. Die Gemeinde Haarlem zählt 168.655 Einwohner (1. Januar 2025, CBS) und ist Sitz von zwei katholischen Bischöfen, einem des altkatholischen Bistums Haarlem und einem des römisch-katholischen Bistums Haarlem-Amsterdam.

 

Geografie

 

Haarlem liegt am nordwestlichen Rand der „Randstad“. Die Gemeinde grenzt im Uhrzeigersinn an die Gemeinden Velsen, Haarlemmermeer, Heemstede und Bloemendaal. Östlich liegen Amsterdam (19 km) und der Flughafen Schiphol (13 km). Die Häfen von IJmuiden liegen im Norden und die Nordseeküste ist ca. 7 km westlich von Haarlem.

 

Die Stadt hat eine wichtige regionale Funktion. Ihr primäres Versorgungsgebiet ist der nördliche Teil von Südholland, Bollenstreek, Zuid-Kennermerland, IJmond und ein Teil vom Haarlemmermeer.

 

Die Gemeinde Haarlem ist aufgeteilt in fünf Stadtteile, neun Viertel und vierzig sogenannte „buurten“, was so viel bedeutet wie Nachbarschaften.

 

Geschichte

 

Haarlem entstand als Geestsiedlung an der Spaarne und entwickelte sich auf dem Verbindungsweg von Süd nach Nord. Die Stadt wurde Residenz der Grafen von Holland. Graf Wilhelm II. von Holland verlieh Haarlem 1245 Stadtrechte. Ein Kontingent der Bürger von Haarlem hatte früher in diesem Jahrhundert, 1217–1219, unter Graf Wilhelm I. mit mehreren Schiffen am Fünften Kreuzzug teilgenommen. Daher findet sich bis heute ein Schwert und ein Kreuz im Stadtwappen, die an die legendenhaft verklärten Leistungen dieser Haarlemer Kreuzfahrer während der Belagerung von Damiette in Ägypten (1218) erinnern sollen.

 

m Jahr 1429 bekam die Stadt das Zollrecht. Das spätmittelalterliche Haarlem kannte Textilherstellung, Schiffbau und viele Bierbrauereien. Der Reichtum ging zu Ende durch einen etwa dem deutschen Bundschuh-Aufstand ähnelnden Bürgerkrieg namens „Hoeker und Kabeljau-Streit“ (Hoekse en Kabeljauwse Twisten) und den Aufstand der Käser und Bäcker (Kaas- en Broodvolk). Im Jahr 1573 fiel die Festung nach einer monatelangen spanischen Belagerung durch Don Fadrique (Sohn des bekannten Herzogs von Alba). Nach dem Vertrag von Veere zogen sich die Spanier 1577 zurück, nachdem Protestanten und Katholiken gleiche Rechte erhielten. Flämische und französische Immigranten brachten der Stadt eine neue Blütezeit (Leinenweberei, wie auch in Leiden).

 

1658 gründete der Holländer Petrus Stuyvesant Nieuw Haarlem an der Ostküste Nordamerikas. Später wurde Nieuw-Haarlem als Bezirk Harlem Teil der Stadt New York.

 

Im 19. Jahrhundert wurden die Stadtbefestigungen geschleift und als Park gestaltet. 1839 fuhr der erste niederländische Zug zwischen Haarlem und Amsterdam.

 

1927 wurde die Gemeinde Schoten eingemeindet. Teile der Gemeinden Bloemendaal, Haarlemmerliede en Spaarnwoude und Heemstede wurden ebenfalls eingemeindet. So wurde Haarlem zur fünftgrößten Stadt der Niederlande nach Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Den Haag und Utrecht.

 

Nach der Erfindung der Buchdruckerei, in deren Frühzeit der Haarlemer Laurens Janszoon Coster eine wichtige Rolle spielte, bekam Haarlem eine bleibende Reputation als Druckerstadt. Die älteste Tageszeitung wird noch immer in Haarlem gedruckt. Im Jahr 1656 erschien zum ersten Mal de Oprechte Haerlemse Courant, die heute unter dem Namen Haarlems Dagblad firmiert. Die Firma Johan Enschedé ist eine bekannte Spezialdruckerei, die auch für das Ausland u. a. Geldscheine und Ausweisdokumente herstellt. Hinzu kommt die Tradition als Stadt der Schriftsteller.

 

Religion

 

Das größte Gotteshaus der Stadt ist die Grote Kerk genannte St.-Bavo-Kirche. 1578 wurde an dieser Kirche die Reformation eingeführt, heute ist sie evangelisch-unierte Pfarrkirche.

 

Wenige Jahre nachdem das Utrechter Domkapitel aus eigenem Recht einen ersten Erzbischof der Alt-Katholischen Kirche gewählt hatte, wurde Hieronymus de Bock 1742 erster alt-katholischer Bischof von Haarlem. Seither ist das Bistum Haarlem eines der drei Bistümer der Alt-Katholischen Kirche der Niederlande. Kathedrale ist die Kirche St. Anna und Maria.

 

Das Bistum Haarlem der römisch-katholischen Kirche wurde am 5. März 1853 errichtet. Am 1. Januar 2009 erhielt es den neuen Namen Bistum Haarlem-Amsterdam. Bischofskirche ist die St.-Bavo-Kathedrale.

 

Sehenswürdigkeiten

 

Bakenesser Kirche

Große oder St.-Bavo-Kirche

St.-Bavo-Kathedrale

Großer Markt

Janskirche, ehemalige Klosterkirche des Johanniterordens, heute Archiv der Provinz Nordholland

Vleeshal (Fleischhalle, eine Markthalle aus der Renaissance)

Amsterdamse Poort, östliches, letztes erhaltenes Stadttor (Richtung Amsterdam), Teil der mittelalterlichen Befestigung, im 14. Jahrhundert erbaut

Philharmonie mit Cavaillé-Coll-Orgel (bis 2002 Concertgebouw Haarlem)

Haarlem ist bekannt für seine vielen malerischen Hofjes (von reichen Bürgern zur Versorgung älterer alleinstehender Frauen gestiftete Wohnhöfe) aus dem 17. und 18. Jahrhundert

Hauptwache Haarlem

 

Museen

 

Frans Hals Museum

Teylers Museum am Spaarne-Ufer (gegründet 1778) ist das älteste Museum der Niederlande. Es ist aus einer Privatsammlung entstanden und folgt dem Konzept einer Wunderkammer

Corrie-ten-Boom-Museum

 

(Wikipedia)

With flowing tail and flying mane,

Wide nostrils never stretched by pain,

Mouth bloodless to bit or rein,

And feet that iron never shod,

And flanks unscar'd by spur or rod,

A thousand horses - the wild - the free -

Like waves that follow o'er the sea,

Came thickly thundering on.

 

— Lord Byron

 

Finally made it back to California and The Wild Horse Sanctuary after years of COVID making things difficult for travel. I had missed it so much. I'm very pleased with my images this year.

M 50 2

Photography Tumblr | Illustration Tumblr | Facebook

 

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www.fotografidigitali.it/gallery/2726/opere-italiane-segn...

  

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"U sciccareddu", from the Sicilian "the little donkey", is a pyrotechnical-animal mask, once present in many village feasts in the Messina area, today it is found only in a limited number of centers, among these is the town of Casalvecchio Siculo , a small town in the hinterland in which there is another animal figure, that of the "camiddu", in Sicilian "camel", and of his camel driver (see a photographic story of mine made earlier in this regard). The feast of the "sciccareddu-little donkey" sees a young man of the village wearing a metal supporting structure, on which takes place a whole series of fireworks: this represents with no little imagination the donkey (this year it was the "Camel driver" of the "camiddu-camel"feast which is always celebrated in Casalvecchio); the young man who carries this metal castle on himself, protects himself abundantly from pyrotechnic fires, which form "crazy wheels" in correspondence with the "four limbs", pyrotechnic fires that involve symbolic-ritual suggestions of ambiguous meaning, is the life against death, the light against darkness, the fear and the desire to challenge it, without ever forgetting the horrifying-ancestral aspect of the "beast", which represents the dark unknown evil, which always hovers over people's lives. There are those who have hypothesized that this asinello-monstrous-orrify is a very meek animal too, once very common and omnipresent in the Sicilian districts, so that the fears that it could generate are simultaneously suppressed by being a well-known animal and very meek.

This "sciccareddu-little donkey" with its load of pyrotechnic-crazy fires-bengal fires, and other crackling devilries, challenges and is challenged by all present, young and old coming also from far away, there is who looks but remaining well sheltered, many others instead challenge him, as in a bloodless bullfight, where some unlucky person can receive a few small burns (like myself, who found himself with some small burns in his legs, and a lens-protection filter, it was almost melted-burned in several points, now useless, but withe the lens without problems.....! :o)) .......).

  

“u sciccareddu”, dal siciliano “l’asinello”, è una maschera pirotecnica-animalesca, un tempo presente in molte feste paesane del territorio messinese, oggi la si ritrova solo in un numero limitato di centri, tra questi il paese di Casalvecchio Siculo, piccolo centro dell’entroterra nel quale si trova un’altra figura animalesca, quella del “camiddu”, in siciliano “cammello”, e del suo cammelliere (vedi un mio racconto fotografico fatto in precedenza in merito). La festa dello “sciccareddu-asinello” vede un giovane del paese indossare una struttura portante in metallo, sulla quale prende posto tutta una serie di giochi pirotecnici: questo rappresenta con non poca fantasia l’asinello (quest’anno a dargli vita è stato il “cammelliere” della festa del “camiddu-cammello” che si festeggia sempre a Casalvecchio); il giovane che porta su di se tale castello in metallo, si protegge abbondantemente dai fuochi pirotecnici, che formano delle “ruote pazze” in corrispondenza dei “quattro arti”, fuochi pirotecnici che comportano suggestioni simbolico-rituali dal significato ambiguo, è a vita contro la morte, la luce contro le tenebre, la paura e la voglia di sfidarla, senza mai dimenticare l’aspetto orrifico-ancestrale della “bestia”, che rappresenta l’oscuro ignoto male, che aleggia sempre sulla vita delle persone. C’è chi ha ipotizzato che tale asinello-mostruoso-orrifico è pur sempre un animale molto docile, un tempo comunissimo e onnipresente nelle contrade siciliane, per cui le paure che esso potrebbe generare sono contemporaneamente soppresse dall’essere un animale ben conosciuto ed in definitiva molto docile.

Tale “sciccareddu-asinello” col suo carico di fuochi pirotecnici-girandole pazze-bengala, ed altre diavolerie scoppiettanti, sfida e viene sfidato da tutti i presenti, giovani e meno giovani provenienti anche da lontano, c’è che vuole assitere rimanendo però bene al riparo, molti altri invece lo sfidano, come in una corrida incruenta, dove qualche malcapitato può rimediare qualche piccola bruciatura (come il sottoscritto, che si è ritrovato con qualche piccola bruciatura alle gambe, ed un filtro proteggi-obiettivo che, me ne accorsi successivamente, era quasi fuso-bruciato in più punti, oramai inservibile, con l’obiettivo però salvo….! :o)) …).

  

Magpie: “What the—? *noting the phone’s nondescript, cheap appearance, as she raises it to her ear* Hello?”

 

Tinny Voice: “Hello. Who is this? Suki?”

 

Magpie: “No…this is Magpie. Who are you?”

 

Tinny Voice: *swears succinctly* “Magpie! What in the hell are you doing there! You’re supposed to be in Boston! Can you not follow direction at all, hardheaded woman!”

 

Magpie: *eyes widen, breath catches* “Satoru!”

 

Satoru (tersely): “Yes. I don’t have much time here. Just know I’m coming to you. Don’t move.”

 

Magpie: *knuckles go bloodless as she clutches the phone, whispers* “Ru.”

 

Satoru: “Tell the others I’m fine. Give the phone to Suki. She knows what to do with it. I love you.”

 

Magpie: “I love you. Ru—” *stops short as the unmistakable rapport of gunfire bursts over the line*

 

Satoru: “What the f—” *another round of fire, line goes dead*

 

Magpie: *breath catches in her throat, as she jerks the phone away from her ear, staring at it in horror* “No! NO! Ruuuuu!” *doubles over, sobbing*

 

Kumi: *rushes into the room, setting a bowl of lemons on the coffee table, as she hugs Mags to her* “Shhh, Mags. Calm down. Calm down. Not good for the baby. Not good for its mama. Breathe.”

 

Magpie: *descending quickly into hysteria, phone falling from her limp hand* “Ru…gunfire…and was gone. Where’d he go? Gooone! Ru-Ru-Ru! Don’t leave meeeee!” *buries her face into Kumi’s shoulder, keening uncontrollably*

 

Suki: *picks up the phone lying on the floor, holding it up with a shaky hand for Z’s perusal* “It’s a burner. Did you know he left it here?”

 

Z (grimly): “No. Give it to me. I’ll dispose of it.”

 

Suki: *hands the phone over to Z, expression tight* “Do you think he left more?”

 

Z: “Probably. Maybe even some at our apartment in NYC. Ru likes to cover his bases.”

 

Suki: “What’re we gonna do, Zin?”

 

Z: “Pray. Wait. Hope.” *throws his arm around Suki’s slim shoulders, pulling her to his side*

 

Suki: *small, broken voice* “I’m scared.”

 

Z: *tightens his arm around Suki, face grim* “Me, too, baby…me, too.”

 

I’m outta town next Tuesday, so to be continued Tuesday next, unless something comes up…

 

Fashion Credits

**Any doll enhancements (i.e. freckles, piercings, eye color changes) were done by me unless otherwise stated.**

 

Kumi

Dress: Mattel – The Look Collection – City Shopper Barbie

Shoes: IT – Fashion Royalty – Paparazzi Bait Adele

Earrings: IT – Fashion Royalty – Exotic Fire Vero

Colored Bangle Bracelets: IT

Ring: IT – Fashion Royalty – NuFace – Lady in Red Erin

Gold Bracelets: Me

 

Doll is a Nu.Fantasy Wild Wolf Kumi transplanted to a NuFace body.

  

Suki

Pants: Mattel – Playline – Cali Girl Friend of Barbie, I think.

Top: Jakks Pacific – Hannah Montana

Belt: Volks WTG – Selfish

Sneakers: Momoko – Dash! After School

Hat: IT – Color Infusion – 2012 FR Convention Color Infusion Style Lab Exp. 2

Button: Nikki in Wales

Colored “Bracelets”: Goody’s Hairbands

  

Magpie

Shorts: IT – Fashion Royalty – Cruise Control Vanessa

Top: Randall Craig RTW – April in Paris Fashion

Sandals: Randall Craig RTW – Summertime Fashion

Earrings: IT

Bracelet: Unknown

Necklace: Me

 

Doll is a Wild at Heart Lilith re-rooted by the exceptional valmaxi(!!!).

  

Z

Shorts: Justin Bieber Doll, I cut them off myself.

Shirt: Action Figure

Plaid Shirt: Gwen of Gwendolyn’s Treasures

Bracelets: Me

Shoes: Mattel – Playline Ken

 

Doll is an In the Mix Takeo.

Famous Crimes / Heft-Reihe

True Stories of Cold-Blooded Killers!

cover: ?

> A True Crime Story / Alvin Karpis: Old Creepy

> Inspector Roc's Felony Files / The Bloodless Corpse

> Phantom Lady / Clara Peete: The Beautiful Beast

Reprints from Phantom Lady (Fox, 1947 series) #16 (February 1948)

> Blue Beetle / Jack "Legs" Diamond: Scorpion of Crime

Reprints from Blue Beetle (Fox, 1940 series) #53 (February 1948)

Fox Feature Syndicate / USA 1948

Reprint / Comic-Club NK 2010

ex libris MTP

www.comics.org/issue/66182/

   

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click to activate the icon of slideshow: the small triangle inscribed in the small rectangle, at the top right, in the photostream;

 

clicca sulla piccola icona per attivare lo slideshow: sulla facciata principale del photostream, in alto a destra c'è un piccolo rettangolo (rappresenta il monitor) con dentro un piccolo triangolo nero;

 

Qi Bo's photos on Fluidr

  

Qi Bo's photos on Flickriver

  

Qi Bo's photos on Flickr Hive Mind

  

www.fotografidigitali.it/gallery/2726/opere-italiane-segn...

  

-------------------------------------------------------------------

  

"U sciccareddu", from the Sicilian "the little donkey", is a pyrotechnical-animal mask, once present in many village feasts in the Messina area, today it is found only in a limited number of centers, among these is the town of Casalvecchio Siculo , a small town in the hinterland in which there is another animal figure, that of the "camiddu", in Sicilian "camel", and of his camel driver (see a photographic story of mine made earlier in this regard). The feast of the "sciccareddu-little donkey" sees a young man of the village wearing a metal supporting structure, on which takes place a whole series of fireworks: this represents with no little imagination the donkey (this year it was the "Camel driver" of the "camiddu-camel"feast which is always celebrated in Casalvecchio); the young man who carries this metal castle on himself, protects himself abundantly from pyrotechnic fires, which form "crazy wheels" in correspondence with the "four limbs", pyrotechnic fires that involve symbolic-ritual suggestions of ambiguous meaning, is the life against death, the light against darkness, the fear and the desire to challenge it, without ever forgetting the horrifying-ancestral aspect of the "beast", which represents the dark unknown evil, which always hovers over people's lives. There are those who have hypothesized that this asinello-monstrous-orrify is a very meek animal too, once very common and omnipresent in the Sicilian districts, so that the fears that it could generate are simultaneously suppressed by being a well-known animal and very meek.

This "sciccareddu-little donkey" with its load of pyrotechnic-crazy fires-bengal fires, and other crackling devilries, challenges and is challenged by all present, young and old coming also from far away, there is who looks but remaining well sheltered, many others instead challenge him, as in a bloodless bullfight, where some unlucky person can receive a few small burns (like myself, who found himself with some small burns in his legs, and a lens-protection filter, it was almost melted-burned in several points, now useless, but withe the lens without problems.....! :o)) .......).

  

“u sciccareddu”, dal siciliano “l’asinello”, è una maschera pirotecnica-animalesca, un tempo presente in molte feste paesane del territorio messinese, oggi la si ritrova solo in un numero limitato di centri, tra questi il paese di Casalvecchio Siculo, piccolo centro dell’entroterra nel quale si trova un’altra figura animalesca, quella del “camiddu”, in siciliano “cammello”, e del suo cammelliere (vedi un mio racconto fotografico fatto in precedenza in merito). La festa dello “sciccareddu-asinello” vede un giovane del paese indossare una struttura portante in metallo, sulla quale prende posto tutta una serie di giochi pirotecnici: questo rappresenta con non poca fantasia l’asinello (quest’anno a dargli vita è stato il “cammelliere” della festa del “camiddu-cammello” che si festeggia sempre a Casalvecchio); il giovane che porta su di se tale castello in metallo, si protegge abbondantemente dai fuochi pirotecnici, che formano delle “ruote pazze” in corrispondenza dei “quattro arti”, fuochi pirotecnici che comportano suggestioni simbolico-rituali dal significato ambiguo, è a vita contro la morte, la luce contro le tenebre, la paura e la voglia di sfidarla, senza mai dimenticare l’aspetto orrifico-ancestrale della “bestia”, che rappresenta l’oscuro ignoto male, che aleggia sempre sulla vita delle persone. C’è chi ha ipotizzato che tale asinello-mostruoso-orrifico è pur sempre un animale molto docile, un tempo comunissimo e onnipresente nelle contrade siciliane, per cui le paure che esso potrebbe generare sono contemporaneamente soppresse dall’essere un animale ben conosciuto ed in definitiva molto docile.

Tale “sciccareddu-asinello” col suo carico di fuochi pirotecnici-girandole pazze-bengala, ed altre diavolerie scoppiettanti, sfida e viene sfidato da tutti i presenti, giovani e meno giovani provenienti anche da lontano, c’è che vuole assitere rimanendo però bene al riparo, molti altri invece lo sfidano, come in una corrida incruenta, dove qualche malcapitato può rimediare qualche piccola bruciatura (come il sottoscritto, che si è ritrovato con qualche piccola bruciatura alle gambe, ed un filtro proteggi-obiettivo che, me ne accorsi successivamente, era quasi fuso-bruciato in più punti, oramai inservibile, con l’obiettivo però salvo….! :o)) …).

  

Gossamer Wings

  

  

 

When angels bleed,

Their sanguine essence turns to stone.

Bloodless, ashen, invisible,

pale marble souls

stay on earth

to hold our tears.

 

Imagine the birth of gossamer wings

carrying us through

another day.

 

Silent bursts of agony, uselessly held close,

Scream howling curses through the night.

Spit them up and scream, “Begone!”

Put them to rest.

Howl if you must.

Rid your mind of rusty iron cobwebs,

Of shackles holding your hackneyed grief.

 

Too harsh a fate-- the thief of all

The thief that has you by the throat

Let him go.

 

Breathe.

 

Ancient stories, held close in vain.

Wretched devils dance on his chest.

Invisible forces close the stallion’s nostril, hold still

The infernal turmoil held within the window of his skin.

 

He freezes, lest a tiny sound alert

The dreadful visions held abound.

 

Nothing’s fair in inner war

and only he can swim to shore.

 

My dearest, seraphim and cherubim surround you.

All that life offers can be yours.

 

Dive then into the waters of compassion

And find the sea itself provides a home.

 

Breathe.

  

www.silksofsecondlife.com

 

Credits:

 

Hair: Mesh Hoshi V2 in Blood by CaTwA

Eyes: Bloodless in Gold by The.Plastik (Also part of the Arkasia Skin pack!)

Skin: The Arkasia Skin in Mola by The.Plastik (NEW! Available at Fantasy Faire!)

Naga Outfit: Naga Lady in Green by Bare Rose

Necklace: Atiriya Stone Mesh Necklace in Gold/Onyx by Zaara

Poses: Random Poses from Bitch Pose Set by Glitterati

Face Tattoo: Catahecassa Face Tat by Xtrax

Repurposed gun cabinet.

Preserving tools for bloodless shooting.

 

Nikon D300, Nikkor 28-85mm f/3.5-4.5 AF, tripod.

 

youtu.be/eh31j6L95Ok

 

GESU' ISTITUISCE L'EUCARESTIA.IL SACRAMENTO DELL'EUCARISTIA

 

Compendio del Catechismo della Chiesa Cattolica

 

1. Che cos'è l'Eucaristia?

 

È il sacrificio stesso del Corpo e del Sangue del Signore Gesù, che egli istituì per perpetuare nei secoli, fino al suo ritorno, il sacrificio della Croce, affidando così alla sua Chiesa il memoriale della sua Morte e Risurrezione. È il segno dell'unità, il vincolo della carità, il convito pasquale, nel quale si riceve Cristo, l'anima viene ricolmata di grazia e viene dato il pegno della vita eterna.

 

2. Quando Gesù Cristo ha istituito l'Eucaristia?

 

L'ha istituita il Giovedì Santo, «la notte in cui veniva tradito» (1 Cor 11,23), mentre celebrava con i suoi Apostoli l'Ultima Cena.

 

3. Come l'ha istituita?

 

Dopo aver radunato i suoi Apostoli nel Cenacolo, Gesù prese nelle sue mani il pane, lo spezzò e lo diede loro dicendo: «Prendete e mangiatene tutti: questo è il mio corpo offerto per voi». Poi prese nelle sue mani il calice del vino e disse loro: «Prendete e bevetene tutti: questo è il calice del mio sangue per la nuova ed eterna alleanza, versato per voi e per tutti in remissione dei peccati. Fate questo in memoria di me».

 

4. Che cosa rappresenta l'Eucaristia nella vita della Chiesa?

 

È fonte e culmine di tutta la vita cristiana. Nell'Eucaristia toccano il loro vertice l'azione santificante di Dio verso di noi e il nostro culto verso di lui. Essa racchiude tutto il bene spirituale della Chiesa: lo stesso Cristo, nostra Pasqua. La comunione della vita divina e l'unità del Popolo di Dio sono espresse e prodotte dall'Eucaristia. Mediante la celebrazione eucaristica ci uniamo già alla liturgia del Cielo e anticipiamo la vita eterna.

 

5. Come viene chiamato questo Sacramento?

 

L'insondabile ricchezza di questo Sacramento si esprime con diversi nomi, che evocano suoi aspetti particolari. I più comuni sono: Eucaristia, Santa Messa, Cena del Signore, Frazione del pane, Celebrazione eucaristica, Memoriale della passione, della morte e della risurrezione del Signore, Santo Sacrificio, Santa e Divina Liturgia, Santi Misteri, Santissimo Sacramento dell'altare, Santa Comunione.

 

6. Come si colloca l'Eucaristia nel disegno divino della salvezza?

 

Nell'Antica Alleanza l'Eucaristia è preannunziata soprattutto nella cena pasquale annuale, celebrata ogni anno dagli Ebrei con i pani azzimi, a ricordo dell'improvvisa e liberatrice partenza dall'Egitto. Gesù l'annuncia nel suo insegnamento e la istituisce celebrando con i suoi Apostoli l'Ultima Cena durante un banchetto pasquale. La Chiesa, fedele al comando del Signore: «Fate questo in memoria di me» (1 Cor 11,24), ha sempre celebrato l'Eucaristia, soprattutto la domenica, giorno della risurrezione di Gesù.

 

7. Come si svolge la celebrazione dell'Eucaristia?

 

Si svolge in due grandi momenti, che formano un solo atto di culto: la liturgia della Parola, che comprende la proclamazione e l'ascolto della Parola di Dio; la liturgia eucaristica, che comprende la presentazione del pane e del vino, la preghiera o anafora, che contiene le parole della consacrazione, e la comunione.

 

8. Chi è il ministro della celebrazione dell'Eucaristia?

 

È il sacerdote (Vescovo o presbitero), validamente ordinato, che agisce nella Persona di Cristo Capo e a nome della Chiesa.

 

9. Quali sono gli elementi essenziali e necessari per realizzare l'Eucaristia?

 

Sono il pane di frumento e il vino della vite.

 

10. In che senso l'Eucaristia è memoriale del sacrificio di Cristo?

 

L'Eucaristia è memoriale nel senso che rende presente e attuale il sacrificio che Cristo ha offerto al Padre, una volta per tutte, sulla Croce in favore dell'umanità. Il carattere sacrificale dell'Eucaristia si manifesta nelle parole stesse dell'istituzione: «Questo è il mio corpo, che è dato per voi» e «Questo calice è la nuova alleanza nel mio Sangue, che viene versato per voi» (Lc 22,19-20). Il sacrificio della Croce e il sacrificio dell'Eucaristia sono un unico sacrificio. Identici sono la vittima e l'offerente, diverso è soltanto il modo di offrirsi: cruento sulla Croce, incruento nell'Eucaristia.

 

11. In quale modo la Chiesa partecipa al sacrificio eucaristico?

 

Nell'Eucaristia, il sacrificio di Cristo diviene pure il sacrificio delle membra del suo Corpo. La vita dei fedeli, la loro lode, la loro sofferenza, la loro preghiera, il loro lavoro sono uniti a quelli di Cristo. In quanto sacrificio, l'Eucaristia viene anche offerta per tutti i fedeli vivi e defunti, in riparazione dei peccati di tutti gli uomini e per ottenere da Dio benefici spirituali e temporali. Anche la Chiesa del cielo è unita nell'offerta di Cristo.

 

12. Come Gesù è presente nell'Eucaristia?

 

Gesù Cristo è presente nell'Eucaristia in modo unico e incomparabile. È presente infatti in modo vero, reale, sostanziale: con il suo Corpo e il suo Sangue, con la sua Anima e la sua Divinità. In essa è quindi presente in modo sacramentale, e cioè sotto le specie eucaristiche del pane e del vino, Cristo tutto intero: Dio e uomo.

 

13. Che cosa significa transustanziazione?

 

Transustanziazione significa la conversione di tutta la sostanza del pane nella sostanza del Corpo di Cristo, e di tutta la sostanza del vino nella sostanza del suo Sangue. Questa conversione si attua nella preghiera eucaristica, mediante l'efficacia della parola di Cristo e dell'azione dello Spirito Santo. Tuttavia, le caratteristiche sensibili del pane e del vino, cioè le «specie eucaristiche», rimangono inalterate.

 

14. La frazione del pane divide Cristo?

 

La frazione del pane non divide Cristo: egli è presente tutto e integro in ciascuna specie eucaristica e in ciascuna sua parte.

 

15. Fino a quando continua la presenza eucaristica di Cristo?

 

Essa continua finché sussistono le specie eucaristiche.

 

16. Quale tipo di culto è dovuto al Sacramento dell'Eucaristia?

 

È dovuto il culto di latria, cioè di adorazione, riservato solo a Dio sia durante la celebrazione eucaristica sia al di fuori di essa. La Chiesa, infatti, conserva con la massima diligenza le Ostie consacrate, le porta agli infermi e ad altre persone impossibilitate a partecipare alla Santa Messa, le presenta alla solenne adorazione dei fedeli, le porta in processione e invita alla frequente visita e adorazione del Santissimo Sacramento conservato nel tabernacolo.

 

17. Perché l'Eucaristia è il banchetto pasquale?

 

L'Eucaristia è il banchetto pasquale, in quanto Cristo, realizzando sacramentalmente la sua Pasqua, ci dona il suo Corpo e il suo Sangue, offerti come cibo e bevanda, e ci unisce a sé e tra di noi nel suo sacrificio.

 

18. Che cosa significa l'altare?

 

L'altare è il simbolo di Cristo stesso, presente come vittima sacrificale (altare-sacrificio della Croce) e come alimento celeste che si dona a noi (altare-mensa eucaristica).

 

19. Quando la Chiesa fa obbligo di partecipare alla santa Messa?

 

La Chiesa fa obbligo ai fedeli di partecipare alla santa Messa ogni domenica e nelle feste di precetto, e raccomanda di parteciparvi anche negli altri giorni.

 

20. Quando si deve fare la santa Comunione?

 

La Chiesa raccomanda ai fedeli che partecipano alla santa Messa di ricevere con le dovute disposizioni anche la santa Comunione, prescrivendone l'obbligo almeno a Pasqua.

 

21. Che cosa si richiede per ricevere la santa Comunione?

 

Per ricevere la santa Comunione si deve essere pienamente incorporati alla Chiesa cattolica ed essere in stato di grazia, cioè senza coscienza di peccato mortale. Chi è consapevole di aver commesso un peccato grave deve ricevere il Sacramento della Riconciliazione prima di accedere alla Comunione. Importanti sono anche lo spirito di raccoglimento e di preghiera, l'osservanza del digiuno prescritto dalla Chiesa e l'atteggiamento del corpo (gesti, abiti), in segno di rispetto a Cristo.

 

22. Quali sono i frutti della santa Comunione?

 

La santa Comunione accresce la nostra unione con Cristo e con la sua Chiesa, conserva e rinnova la vita di grazia ricevuta nel Battesimo e nella Cresima e ci fa crescere nell'amore verso il prossimo. Fortificandoci nella carità, cancella i peccati veniali e ci preserva in futuro dai peccati mortali.

 

23. Quando è possibile amministrare la santa Comunione agli altri cristiani?

 

I ministri cattolici amministrano lecitamente la santa Comunione ai membri delle Chiese Orientali che non hanno comunione piena con la Chiesa cattolica, qualora questi lo richiedano spontaneamente e siano ben disposti.

Per i membri delle altre Comunità ecclesiali, i ministri cattolici amministrano lecitamente la santa Comunione ai fedeli, che in presenza di una grave necessità lo chiedano spontaneamente, siano ben disposti e manifestino la fede cattolica circa il Sacramento.

 

24. Perché l'Eucaristia è «pegno della gloria futura»?

 

Perché l'Eucaristia ci ricolma di ogni grazia e benedizione del Cielo, ci fortifica per il pellegrinaggio di questa vita e ci fa desiderare la vita eterna, unendoci già a Cristo asceso alla destra del Padre, alla Chiesa del cielo, alla beatissima Vergine e a tutti i Santi.

____________________________________________________________________________

JESUS ​​'instituted the Eucharist. Of the Eucharist

 

Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church

 

1. What is the Eucharist?

 

It is the sacrifice of the Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus which he instituted until his return, the sacrifice of the Cross, entrusted to his Church as a memorial of his death and resurrection. It is a sign of unity, bond of charity, a Easter banquet in which Christ, the soul is filled with grace and given the pledge of eternal life.

 

2. When Jesus Christ instituted the Eucharist?

 

Jesus instituted the Holy Thursday "the night he was betrayed" (1 Cor 11:23), as he celebrated with his apostles in the Last Supper.

 

3. How did you set?

 

After he had gathered with his apostles at the Last Supper, Jesus took bread in his hands, broke it and gave it to them saying, "Take and eat it: this is my body given for you." Then he took the cup of wine and said to them, "Take and drink from it: this is the cup of my blood of the new and everlasting covenant, shed for you and for the forgiveness of sins. Do this in remembrance of me. "

 

4. What does the Eucharist in the life of the Church?

 

It is the source and summit of Christian life. Eucharist reach their high point, the sanctifying action of God toward us and our worship of him. It contains the whole spiritual good of the Church: Christ himself, our Easter. The communion of divine life and the unity of the People of God are both expressed in the Eucharist. By the Eucharistic celebration we already uniting ourselves to the liturgy of heaven and anticipation of eternal life.

 

5. How is this Sacrament called?

 

The inexhaustible richness of this sacrament is expressed in different names which evoke its various aspects. The most common are: the Eucharist, Mass, Lord's Supper, Breaking of Bread, the Eucharistic Celebration, the Memorial of the passion, death and resurrection of the Lord, the Holy Sacrifice, Holy and Divine Liturgy, Sacred Mysteries, the Blessed Sacrament, Holy Communion.

 

6. Where does the Eucharist in the divine plan of salvation?

 

In the Old Testament foreshadowed the Eucharist is above all in the annual Passover meal celebrated every year by the Jews with the unleavened bread to remember liberating departure from Egypt. Jesus foretold it in his teaching and establishing celebrating with his apostles during the Last Supper a Passover meal. The Church, faithful to the Lord's command: "Do this in remembrance of me" (1 Cor 11:24), has always celebrated the Eucharist, especially on Sunday, the day of the resurrection of Jesus

 

7. How is the celebration of the Eucharist?

 

It takes place in two great parts that form a single act of worship: the liturgy of the Word involves proclaiming and listening to the Word of God, the Liturgy of the Eucharist includes the presentation of the bread and wine, prayer or anaphora, which contains the words of consecration, and communion.

 

8. Who is the minister for the celebration of the Eucharist?

 

It is the priest (bishop or priest), ordained, which acts in the Person of Christ the Head and on behalf of the Church.

 

9. What are the essential and necessary for celebrating the Eucharist?

 

They are wheat bread and grape wine.

 

10. In that sense, the Eucharist is a memorial of Christ's sacrifice?

 

The Eucharist is a memorial in the sense that it makes present and actual the sacrifice which Christ offered to the Father, once and for all, on the Cross for humanity. The sacrificial character of the Eucharist is manifested in the words of institution, "This is my body which is given for you" and "This cup is the new covenant in my blood which is shed for you" (Lk 22 19-20). The sacrifice of the Cross and the sacrifice of the Eucharist are one single sacrifice. Identical are the victim and the agent, only different is the manner of offering: on the bloody cross, Eucharist bloodless.

 

11. How does the Church participate in the Eucharistic sacrifice?

 

In the Eucharist, the sacrifice of Christ becomes also the sacrifice of the members of his Body. The lives of the faithful, their praise, their suffering, their prayers, their work, are united with those of Christ. As sacrifice, the Eucharist is also offered for all the faithful living and dead, in reparation for the sins of all men and to obtain spiritual and temporal benefits from God. The Church in heaven is united to the offering of Christ.

 

12. How is Christ present in the Eucharist?

 

Jesus Christ is present in the Eucharist in a unique and incomparable. It is present in a true, real and substantial way, with his Body and his Blood, with his Soul and Divinity. In it is thus present in a sacramental way, that is, under the eucharistic bread and wine, Christ whole and entire, God and man.

 

13. What does it mean transubstantiation?

 

Transubstantiation means the change of the whole substance of bread into the substance of the Body of Christ, and the whole substance of wine into the substance of his blood. This conversion is carried in the eucharistic prayer through the efficacy of the Word of Christ and of the Holy Spirit. However, the characteristics of bread and wine, that is the "Eucharistic species", remain unaltered.

 

14. Does the breaking of the bread divide Christ?

 

The breaking of the bread does not divide Christ: He is present whole and entire in each being of the Eucharist and in each of their parts.

 

15. How long does the Eucharistic Presence of Christ?

 

It continues until the Eucharistic subsist.

 

16. What kind of worship is due to the sacrament of the Eucharist?

 

It is due to the cult of worship, that the adoration given to God alone, both during the Mass or outside it. For the Church, must keep with the greatest care Hosts, the door to the sick and others unable to attend Mass. She also presents the solemn adoration of the faithful in procession to the door and invites frequent visits to adore the Blessed Sacrament reserved in the tabernacle.

 

17. Because the Eucharist is the Passover meal?

 

The Eucharist is the Passover meal, as Christ sacramentally makes present his Passover, he gives us his Body and his Blood, offered as food and drink, and unites us to Himself and among ourselves as a sacrifice.

 

18. What does the altar signify?

 

The altar is the symbol of Christ himself, present as a sacrificial victim (the altar of the sacrifice) and as food from heaven which is given to us (altar table of the Lord).

 

19. When is the Church is obliged to offer in the Mass?

 

The Church obliges the faithful to attend Mass every Sunday and holy days of obligation, and recommends participation on other days.

 

20. When must one receive Holy Communion?

 

The Church recommends that the faithful who participate at Holy Mass with the proper dispositions also receive Holy Communion, and may require an obligation to at least Easter.

 

21. What is required to receive Holy Communion?

 

To receive Holy Communion one must be fully incorporated into the Catholic Church and be in a state of grace, not conscious of mortal sin. Anyone who is conscious of having committed a grave sin must receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation before coming to communion. Also important are the spirit of meditation and prayer, observance of the fast prescribed by the Church and the attitude of the body (gestures and dress) as a sign of respect for Christ.

 

22. What are the fruits of Holy Communion?

 

Holy Communion augments our union with Christ and his Church, maintains and renews the life of grace received at Baptism and Confirmation and makes us grow in love for our neighbor. It strengthens us in charity, wipes away venial sins and preserves us from future mortal sins.

 

23. When it is possible to give Holy Communion to other Christians?

 

Catholic ministers may lawfully administer Holy Communion to members of the Eastern Churches not in full communion with the Catholic Church, if they so request voluntarily and are properly disposed.

For members of other ecclesial communities, Catholic ministers may lawfully receive Holy Communion to the faithful, that when there is a serious need for the spontaneously ask, are well and give evidence of the Catholic faith regarding the sacrament.

 

24. Why is the Eucharist a "pledge of future glory"?

 

Why is the Eucharist fills us with every grace and blessing of Heaven, strengthens us for the pilgrimage of this life and makes us want eternal life, by uniting with Christ already ascended to the Father, the Church in heaven, the Blessed Virgin and all Saints.

 

Thank Martyn McMad for traslate !

 

www.flickr.com/photos/37159729@N04/

              

This was taken at the Cheung Yen Monastery in Carmel, NY.

 

This is a 37-foot statue of the Buddha Vairocana - the largest Buddha statue in the Western hemisphere. Encircling the large statue are 10,000 small statues of the Buddha on a lotus terrace. It's quite breathtaking.

     

Pure portuguese breed mare in the fields of Herdade dos Almendres, Guadalupe. Évora, Portugal

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Thanks to Lenabem - Anna for the texture.

www.flickr.com/photos/lenabem-anna/5555303320/in/photostream

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The Lusitano is a Portuguese horse breed. This breed and the Andalusian are sometimes called Iberian horses, as the breeds both developed on the Iberic Peninsula.

Horses were known to be present on the Iberian Peninsula as far back as 20,000 BC, and by 800 BC the region was renowned for its war horses. When the Muslims invaded Iberia in 711 AD, they brought Arabian horses from the desert and with them they were crossed with the native horses, developing a 'new' kind of horse that became useful for war, dressage and bull fighting. In 1966, the Portuguese and Spanish stud books split, and the Portuguese strain of the Iberian horse was named the Lusitano, after the word Lusitania, the ancient Roman name for Portugal. There are three main breed lineages within the breed today, and characteristics differ slightly between each line. There is also the Alter Real strain of Lusitano, bred only at the Alter Real State Stud.

 

Lusitanos can be any solid color, although they are generally gray, bay or chestnut. Horses of the Alter Real strain are always bay. Members of the breed are of Baroque type, with convex facial profiles, heavy muscling, intelligent and willing natures, with agile and elevated movement. Originally bred for war, dressage and bullfighting, Lusitanos are still used today in the latter two. They have competed in several Olympics and World Equestrian Games as part of the Portuguese and Spanish dressage teams. They have also made a showing in driving competitions, with a Belgian team of Lusitanos winning multiple international titles. Members of the breed are still used in bloodless bullfighting today, where it is expected that neither horse or bull will be injured

 

www.kronstudio.com

Listening: Elton John : Live Like Horses Lyrics

Live Like Horses

Elton John

Composição: Indisponível

 

I can't control this flesh and blood

That's wrapped around my bones

It moves beneath me like a river

Into the great unknown

 

I stepped onto the moving stairs

Before I could tie my shoes

Pried a harp out the fingers of a renegade

Who lived and died the blues

 

La promessa non fu chiara

S'erra solo impressa in me

Vidi solo il gelo dentro me

Quella notte dise a me

 

Vivrem come cavalli

Liberi dai recinti di ferro

Che piu non voglio

Rinnegare i sensi

Su dai fuggiam

Vivrem come cavalli

 

We're the victims of the heartbreak

That kept us short of breath

Trapped above these bloodless streets

Without a safety net

 

I stood in line to join the trial

One more customer of fate

Claimed a spoke in the wheel of the wagon train

On the road to the golden gate

 

Nel deserto la nave abbandonai

Per me aveva senso

Son stato troppo tempo nella bestia

Ed ora saro libero

 

Someday We'll live like horses

Free reign from your old iron fences

There's more ways than one to regain your senses

Break out the stalls and we'll live like horses

Someday

 

Liberi dai ricenti di ferro

Che piu non voglio

Rinnegare i sensi

Su dai fuggiam

Vivrem come cavalli

   

I came upon a vagabond

in the mirror this morning

he laughed at me with the water on my face

and said: "damn, this is perfect,

who could tell the difference?

between the dripping on your skin

and your tears of pain

now get dressed

and let's go walking in the rain"

I was halfway to the doorway

when I remembered my legs

bloodless flesh on bones of lead

wide asleep at the bottom of my bed

I turned back from the outside

and tried to shake them awake

I said, "you matter, not just to me

but to yourself as well

if only you could see"

at last, they started shaking

and kicking to be let out

I said, "what do you want?

all I can do is take you for a walk"

then I got up and ran out

and broke down the waiting door

I just couldn't stand the quiet anymore

below the creaking ceiling

and above the squeaking floor

but even in nature, the sky is swept

clean as the ground is broken and wet

nothing can be completely at calm

not a wordless poem, not a tuneless song

even the wind can make no ploys

it can't even blow without making a noise

it's cold in the valley and my clothes are torn

but I'm still walking so I'm still warm

shaken by lightning in a fitful storm

feathers are pushing through my naked form

I can feel my wings being born

  

© Steve Skafte

  

My books on BLURB:

Long Time, No Sea and

Stray Cat in a Straitjacket

 

follow my poetry

on FACEBOOK

me reading my poem to you

it's in my first book,

Stray Cat in a Straitjacket

 

Wings Being Born

 

I came upon a vagabond

in the mirror this morning

he laughed at me with the water on my face

and said: "damn, this is perfect, who could tell the difference?

between the dripping on your skin and your tears of pain

now get dressed and let's go walking in the rain"

I was halfway to the doorway

when I remembered my legs

bloodless flesh on bones of lead

wide asleep at the bottom of my bed

I turned back from the outside

and tried to shake them awake

I said, "you matter, not just to me

but to yourself as well

if only you could see"

at last, they started shaking

and kicking to be let out

I said, "what do you want?

all I can do is take you for a walk"

then I got up and ran out

and broke down the waiting door

I just couldn't stand the quiet anymore

below the creaking ceiling

and above the squeaking floor

but even in nature, the sky is swept

clean as the ground is broken and wet

nothing can be completely at calm

not a wordless poem, not a tuneless song

even the wind can make no ploys

it can't even blow without making a noise

it's cold in the valley and my clothes are torn

but I'm still walking so I'm still warm

shaken by lightning in a fitful storm

feathers are pushing through my naked form

I can feel my wings being born

  

© Steve Skafte

  

tumblr | etsy | blurb | facebook

fin de semana largo al fin! , a descansar :) que la pasen bien disfruten i compartan con su familia *-* ojala que encuentren hartos huevitos ^-^ , saludos !

  

Me arropo a mi mismo para dormir esta noche

Sé que jugaste a ser de todo en tu mente

Y ahora tiras todo al olvido

Un recuerdo destrozado que perduraría en ti

Hasta el final en las buenas y en las malas conmigo

   

musica!

{ aiden-i_set_my_friends_on_fire.mp3 }

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click to activate the icon of slideshow: the small triangle inscribed in the small rectangle, at the top right, in the photostream;

 

clicca sulla piccola icona per attivare lo slideshow: sulla facciata principale del photostream, in alto a destra c'è un piccolo rettangolo (rappresenta il monitor) con dentro un piccolo triangolo nero;

 

Qi Bo's photos on Fluidr

  

Qi Bo's photos on Flickriver

  

Qi Bo's photos on Flickr Hive Mind

  

www.fotografidigitali.it/gallery/2726/opere-italiane-segn...

  

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"U sciccareddu", from the Sicilian "the little donkey", is a pyrotechnical-animal mask, once present in many village feasts in the Messina area, today it is found only in a limited number of centers, among these is the town of Casalvecchio Siculo , a small town in the hinterland in which there is another animal figure, that of the "camiddu", in Sicilian "camel", and of his camel driver (see a photographic story of mine made earlier in this regard). The feast of the "sciccareddu-little donkey" sees a young man of the village wearing a metal supporting structure, on which takes place a whole series of fireworks: this represents with no little imagination the donkey (this year it was the "Camel driver" of the "camiddu-camel"feast which is always celebrated in Casalvecchio); the young man who carries this metal castle on himself, protects himself abundantly from pyrotechnic fires, which form "crazy wheels" in correspondence with the "four limbs", pyrotechnic fires that involve symbolic-ritual suggestions of ambiguous meaning, is the life against death, the light against darkness, the fear and the desire to challenge it, without ever forgetting the horrifying-ancestral aspect of the "beast", which represents the dark unknown evil, which always hovers over people's lives. There are those who have hypothesized that this asinello-monstrous-orrify is a very meek animal too, once very common and omnipresent in the Sicilian districts, so that the fears that it could generate are simultaneously suppressed by being a well-known animal and very meek.

This "sciccareddu-little donkey" with its load of pyrotechnic-crazy fires-bengal fires, and other crackling devilries, challenges and is challenged by all present, young and old coming also from far away, there is who looks but remaining well sheltered, many others instead challenge him, as in a bloodless bullfight, where some unlucky person can receive a few small burns (like myself, who found himself with some small burns in his legs, and a lens-protection filter, it was almost melted-burned in several points, now useless, but withe the lens without problems.....! :o)) .......).

  

“u sciccareddu”, dal siciliano “l’asinello”, è una maschera pirotecnica-animalesca, un tempo presente in molte feste paesane del territorio messinese, oggi la si ritrova solo in un numero limitato di centri, tra questi il paese di Casalvecchio Siculo, piccolo centro dell’entroterra nel quale si trova un’altra figura animalesca, quella del “camiddu”, in siciliano “cammello”, e del suo cammelliere (vedi un mio racconto fotografico fatto in precedenza in merito). La festa dello “sciccareddu-asinello” vede un giovane del paese indossare una struttura portante in metallo, sulla quale prende posto tutta una serie di giochi pirotecnici: questo rappresenta con non poca fantasia l’asinello (quest’anno a dargli vita è stato il “cammelliere” della festa del “camiddu-cammello” che si festeggia sempre a Casalvecchio); il giovane che porta su di se tale castello in metallo, si protegge abbondantemente dai fuochi pirotecnici, che formano delle “ruote pazze” in corrispondenza dei “quattro arti”, fuochi pirotecnici che comportano suggestioni simbolico-rituali dal significato ambiguo, è a vita contro la morte, la luce contro le tenebre, la paura e la voglia di sfidarla, senza mai dimenticare l’aspetto orrifico-ancestrale della “bestia”, che rappresenta l’oscuro ignoto male, che aleggia sempre sulla vita delle persone. C’è chi ha ipotizzato che tale asinello-mostruoso-orrifico è pur sempre un animale molto docile, un tempo comunissimo e onnipresente nelle contrade siciliane, per cui le paure che esso potrebbe generare sono contemporaneamente soppresse dall’essere un animale ben conosciuto ed in definitiva molto docile.

Tale “sciccareddu-asinello” col suo carico di fuochi pirotecnici-girandole pazze-bengala, ed altre diavolerie scoppiettanti, sfida e viene sfidato da tutti i presenti, giovani e meno giovani provenienti anche da lontano, c’è che vuole assitere rimanendo però bene al riparo, molti altri invece lo sfidano, come in una corrida incruenta, dove qualche malcapitato può rimediare qualche piccola bruciatura (come il sottoscritto, che si è ritrovato con qualche piccola bruciatura alle gambe, ed un filtro proteggi-obiettivo che, me ne accorsi successivamente, era quasi fuso-bruciato in più punti, oramai inservibile, con l’obiettivo però salvo….! :o)) …).

  

At the beginning

Me and my Hubby are planning on making a DD Zero from Drakengard 3....sadly Zero's hair is too hard to make/find....and can't afford for custom making......

The name Saika came in mind after playing Deemo....(Saika being one of our fave Music there in the game) and here she is now :D

 

Saika is really my present for my Hubby, so since its his first doll, he likes to keep the concept of her just always wearing his fave color White :D

 

(just wanted to share the back story about this doll, the title reminded me of her supposedly character Zero, contrast from being brutal to less blood on her hahahah XD)

What a tangled web we weave, when we set out to deceive.

All momentous days deserve an introduction:

 

I apologise, on behalf of the film crew to my right, who committed the faux pas of their hogging the best spot and causing symmetrical embarrassment; not that they care…

 

From these steps we heard:

 

"Ladies and gentleman, well may we say God Save the Queen because nothing will save the Governor-General.

 

The proclamation which you have just heard read by the Governor-General’s official secretary was countersigned ‘Malcolm Fraser’ who will undoubtedly go down in Australian history from Remembrance Day 1975 as Kerr’s cur.

 

They won’t silence the outskirts of Parliament House…

 

Maintain your rage…"*

 

Lest we forget!

 

* pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-31860

Near this monument, Katsu Kaishū and Saigō Takamori negotiated a bloodless transfer of control of Edo Castle (the home of the Tokugawa Shōguns) to the Imperial family and their terrorist supporters from the southwestern domains.

 

The pro-imperial supporters were prepared to burn the city of Edo. At that time it was the largest city in the world with a population of about 1 million. Burning the shōgun's capital would have caused incalculable deaths of civilians.

 

This simple monument speaks to the importance and efficacy of negotiation and diplomacy. It's a modest monument, but the world can learn a lot from it.

 

Tbilisi (Georgian: თბილისი) is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Mt'k'vari (Kura) River. The name is derived from an early Georgian form Tp'ilisi and it was officially known as Tiflis until 1936. The city covers an area of 726 km² (280.3 square miles) and has 1,480,000 inhabitants.

Founded in the 5th century AD by Vakhtang Gorgasali, the Georgian King of Kartli (Iberia), and made into a capital in the 6th century, Tbilisi is a significant industrial, social, and cultural center. The city is also emerging as an important transit route for global energy and trade projects. Located strategically at the crossroads between Europe and Asia and lying along the historic Silk Road routes, Tbilisi has often been the point of contention between various rivaling powers and empires. The history of the city can be seen by its architecture, where the Haussmannized Rustaveli Avenue and downtown are blended with the narrower streets of the medieval Narikala district.

 

Tbilisi (in georgiano თბილისი) è la capitale e la maggiore città (1.260.000 abitanti) della Georgia, già capitale della RSS Georgiana e della RSSF Transcaucasica. Il nome è talvolta scritto nelle forme Tiflis, Tiblisi od anche Tbilissi.

La città è stata fondata nel V secolo dal Re Georgiano Vakhtang I Gorgasali (452-502) ed è divenuta capitale un secolo dopo.

Tbilisi è attraversata dal fiume Mtkvari (meglio noto col nome turco Kura), e conta 1.260.000 abitanti.

 

Georgia is a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Situated at the juncture of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the south by Turkey and Armenia, and to the east by Azerbaijan. Georgia covers a territory of 69,700 km² and its population is 4.7 million, largely ethnic Georgians.

The history of Georgia can be traced back to the ancient kingdoms of Colchis and Iberia, and it was one of the first countries to adopt Christianity as an official religion, early in the 4th century. At the beginning of the 19th century Georgia became a part of the Russian Empire. After a brief period of independence following the Russian Revolution of 1917, Georgia was forcibly incorporated into the Soviet Union in 1922.

Independence was restored in 1991. Like many post-communist countries Georgia suffered from the economic crisis and civil unrest during the 1990s. After the bloodless Rose Revolution, however, the new leadership has established efficient government institutions, reformed the economy and guided the country through a period of the fastest economic growth in its history.

Georgia is a representative democracy.It is currently a member of the United Nations, the Council of Europe, the World Trade Organization, the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation, and GUAM Organization for Democracy and Economic Development. The country seeks to join NATO and, in the longer term, accession to the European Union

 

La Georgia (georgiano საქართველო, Sakartvelo), è uno stato dell'Asia transcaucasica, ad est del Mar Nero. Già repubblica dell'Unione Sovietica, confina a nord con la Russia, a sud con Turchia, Armenia e a est con Azerbaigian. Ha una popolazione di 4.989.000 abitanti e ha per capitale Tbilisi.Dal punto di vista storico-culturale la Georgia è considerato un paese europeo anche se geograficamente è da considerarsi in Asia.

Il clima è di tipo continentale nell'entroterra ma subtropicale lungo la costa, dove la piovosità (molto elevata) raggiunge i 1.800 mm/anno, arrivando a toccare punte di 4.000 mm/anno specialmente nel sud, al confine con la Turchia, con una distribuzione uniforme durante l'anno.

 

Font : Wikipedia

 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoRa7CFQ7bk

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"U sciccareddu", from the Sicilian "the little donkey", is a pyrotechnical-animal mask, once present in many village feasts in the Messina area, today it is found only in a limited number of centers, among these is the town of Casalvecchio Siculo , a small town in the hinterland in which there is another animal figure, that of the "camiddu", in Sicilian "camel", and of his camel driver (see a photographic story of mine made earlier in this regard). The feast of the "sciccareddu-little donkey" sees a young man of the village wearing a metal supporting structure, on which takes place a whole series of fireworks: this represents with no little imagination the donkey (this year it was the "Camel driver" of the "camiddu-camel"feast which is always celebrated in Casalvecchio); the young man who carries this metal castle on himself, protects himself abundantly from pyrotechnic fires, which form "crazy wheels" in correspondence with the "four limbs", pyrotechnic fires that involve symbolic-ritual suggestions of ambiguous meaning, is the life against death, the light against darkness, the fear and the desire to challenge it, without ever forgetting the horrifying-ancestral aspect of the "beast", which represents the dark unknown evil, which always hovers over people's lives. There are those who have hypothesized that this asinello-monstrous-orrify is a very meek animal too, once very common and omnipresent in the Sicilian districts, so that the fears that it could generate are simultaneously suppressed by being a well-known animal and very meek.

This "sciccareddu-little donkey" with its load of pyrotechnic-crazy fires-bengal fires, and other crackling devilries, challenges and is challenged by all present, young and old coming also from far away, there is who looks but remaining well sheltered, many others instead challenge him, as in a bloodless bullfight, where some unlucky person can receive a few small burns (like myself, who found himself with some small burns in his legs, and a lens-protection filter, it was almost melted-burned in several points, now useless, but withe the lens without problems.....! :o)) .......).

  

“u sciccareddu”, dal siciliano “l’asinello”, è una maschera pirotecnica-animalesca, un tempo presente in molte feste paesane del territorio messinese, oggi la si ritrova solo in un numero limitato di centri, tra questi il paese di Casalvecchio Siculo, piccolo centro dell’entroterra nel quale si trova un’altra figura animalesca, quella del “camiddu”, in siciliano “cammello”, e del suo cammelliere (vedi un mio racconto fotografico fatto in precedenza in merito). La festa dello “sciccareddu-asinello” vede un giovane del paese indossare una struttura portante in metallo, sulla quale prende posto tutta una serie di giochi pirotecnici: questo rappresenta con non poca fantasia l’asinello (quest’anno a dargli vita è stato il “cammelliere” della festa del “camiddu-cammello” che si festeggia sempre a Casalvecchio); il giovane che porta su di se tale castello in metallo, si protegge abbondantemente dai fuochi pirotecnici, che formano delle “ruote pazze” in corrispondenza dei “quattro arti”, fuochi pirotecnici che comportano suggestioni simbolico-rituali dal significato ambiguo, è a vita contro la morte, la luce contro le tenebre, la paura e la voglia di sfidarla, senza mai dimenticare l’aspetto orrifico-ancestrale della “bestia”, che rappresenta l’oscuro ignoto male, che aleggia sempre sulla vita delle persone. C’è chi ha ipotizzato che tale asinello-mostruoso-orrifico è pur sempre un animale molto docile, un tempo comunissimo e onnipresente nelle contrade siciliane, per cui le paure che esso potrebbe generare sono contemporaneamente soppresse dall’essere un animale ben conosciuto ed in definitiva molto docile.

Tale “sciccareddu-asinello” col suo carico di fuochi pirotecnici-girandole pazze-bengala, ed altre diavolerie scoppiettanti, sfida e viene sfidato da tutti i presenti, giovani e meno giovani provenienti anche da lontano, c’è che vuole assitere rimanendo però bene al riparo, molti altri invece lo sfidano, come in una corrida incruenta, dove qualche malcapitato può rimediare qualche piccola bruciatura (come il sottoscritto, che si è ritrovato con qualche piccola bruciatura alle gambe, ed un filtro proteggi-obiettivo che, me ne accorsi successivamente, era quasi fuso-bruciato in più punti, oramai inservibile, con l’obiettivo però salvo….! :o)) …).

  

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click to activate the icon of slideshow: the small triangle inscribed in the small rectangle, at the top right, in the photostream;

 

clicca sulla piccola icona per attivare lo slideshow: sulla facciata principale del photostream, in alto a destra c'è un piccolo rettangolo (rappresenta il monitor) con dentro un piccolo triangolo nero;

 

Qi Bo's photos on Fluidr

  

Qi Bo's photos on Flickriver

  

Qi Bo's photos on Flickr Hive Mind

  

www.fotografidigitali.it/gallery/2726/opere-italiane-segn...

  

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"U sciccareddu", from the Sicilian "the little donkey", is a pyrotechnical-animal mask, once present in many village feasts in the Messina area, today it is found only in a limited number of centers, among these is the town of Casalvecchio Siculo , a small town in the hinterland in which there is another animal figure, that of the "camiddu", in Sicilian "camel", and of his camel driver (see a photographic story of mine made earlier in this regard). The feast of the "sciccareddu-little donkey" sees a young man of the village wearing a metal supporting structure, on which takes place a whole series of fireworks: this represents with no little imagination the donkey (this year it was the "Camel driver" of the "camiddu-camel"feast which is always celebrated in Casalvecchio); the young man who carries this metal castle on himself, protects himself abundantly from pyrotechnic fires, which form "crazy wheels" in correspondence with the "four limbs", pyrotechnic fires that involve symbolic-ritual suggestions of ambiguous meaning, is the life against death, the light against darkness, the fear and the desire to challenge it, without ever forgetting the horrifying-ancestral aspect of the "beast", which represents the dark unknown evil, which always hovers over people's lives. There are those who have hypothesized that this asinello-monstrous-orrify is a very meek animal too, once very common and omnipresent in the Sicilian districts, so that the fears that it could generate are simultaneously suppressed by being a well-known animal and very meek.

This "sciccareddu-little donkey" with its load of pyrotechnic-crazy fires-bengal fires, and other crackling devilries, challenges and is challenged by all present, young and old coming also from far away, there is who looks but remaining well sheltered, many others instead challenge him, as in a bloodless bullfight, where some unlucky person can receive a few small burns (like myself, who found himself with some small burns in his legs, and a lens-protection filter, it was almost melted-burned in several points, now useless, but withe the lens without problems.....! :o)) .......).

  

“u sciccareddu”, dal siciliano “l’asinello”, è una maschera pirotecnica-animalesca, un tempo presente in molte feste paesane del territorio messinese, oggi la si ritrova solo in un numero limitato di centri, tra questi il paese di Casalvecchio Siculo, piccolo centro dell’entroterra nel quale si trova un’altra figura animalesca, quella del “camiddu”, in siciliano “cammello”, e del suo cammelliere (vedi un mio racconto fotografico fatto in precedenza in merito). La festa dello “sciccareddu-asinello” vede un giovane del paese indossare una struttura portante in metallo, sulla quale prende posto tutta una serie di giochi pirotecnici: questo rappresenta con non poca fantasia l’asinello (quest’anno a dargli vita è stato il “cammelliere” della festa del “camiddu-cammello” che si festeggia sempre a Casalvecchio); il giovane che porta su di se tale castello in metallo, si protegge abbondantemente dai fuochi pirotecnici, che formano delle “ruote pazze” in corrispondenza dei “quattro arti”, fuochi pirotecnici che comportano suggestioni simbolico-rituali dal significato ambiguo, è a vita contro la morte, la luce contro le tenebre, la paura e la voglia di sfidarla, senza mai dimenticare l’aspetto orrifico-ancestrale della “bestia”, che rappresenta l’oscuro ignoto male, che aleggia sempre sulla vita delle persone. C’è chi ha ipotizzato che tale asinello-mostruoso-orrifico è pur sempre un animale molto docile, un tempo comunissimo e onnipresente nelle contrade siciliane, per cui le paure che esso potrebbe generare sono contemporaneamente soppresse dall’essere un animale ben conosciuto ed in definitiva molto docile.

Tale “sciccareddu-asinello” col suo carico di fuochi pirotecnici-girandole pazze-bengala, ed altre diavolerie scoppiettanti, sfida e viene sfidato da tutti i presenti, giovani e meno giovani provenienti anche da lontano, c’è che vuole assitere rimanendo però bene al riparo, molti altri invece lo sfidano, come in una corrida incruenta, dove qualche malcapitato può rimediare qualche piccola bruciatura (come il sottoscritto, che si è ritrovato con qualche piccola bruciatura alle gambe, ed un filtro proteggi-obiettivo che, me ne accorsi successivamente, era quasi fuso-bruciato in più punti, oramai inservibile, con l’obiettivo però salvo….! :o)) …).

  

Cavendish Mews is a smart set of flats in Mayfair where flapper and modern woman, the Honourable Lettice Chetwynd has set up home after coming of age and gaining her allowance. To supplement her already generous allowance, and to break away from dependence upon her family, Lettice has established herself as a society interior designer, so her flat is decorated with a mixture of elegant antique Georgian pieces and modern Art Deco furnishings, using it as a showroom for what she can offer to her well heeled clients.

 

It's a quarter past eight and Lettice is still happily asleep in her bed, buried beneath a thick and soft counterpane of embroidered oriental satin brocade, whilst the rest of Mayfair is slowly awakening in the houses and flats around her. Her peaceful slumbers are rudely interrupted by a peremptory knock on her boudoir door.

 

“Morning Miss.” Edith, Lettice’s maid, says brightly as she pops her head around the white painted panelled door as she opens it.

 

Lettice groans – a most unladylike reaction – as she starts to wake up, disorientated, wondering for just a moment where she is before realising that she is in her own bed in Cavendish Mews. Raising her head she groans and winces as Edith draws the curtains back along their railing, flooding the room with a light, which whilst anaemic, is still painful to her eyes as the adjust.

 

“It’s looking a little overcast this morning, Miss.” the maid says brightly. “But this is England, the home of changeable weather,” She walks back across her mistress’ boudoir, lifts the upholstered lid on a wicker laundry basket just inside the bathroom door and deposits Lettice’s lacy undergarments and stockings, swept expertly by her from the floor, into it. “So, who knows what today’s mixed bag may hold.” She emerges and goes to one of Lettice’s polished wardrobes where she withdraws a pale pink bed jacket trimmed in marabou feathers from its wooden hanger.

 

Lettice groans again as she stretches and leans forward, whilst Edith hangs the bed jacket over her shoulders and fluffs up Lettice’s pillows. “How can you be so cheerful at this ungodly time of the morning, Edith?”

 

“Practice.” Edith replies matter-of-factly, rolling her eyes to the white plaster ceiling above. “Up you come, Miss.” she says encouragingly. “That’s it.”

 

As Lettice arranges herself in a sitting position, leaning against the pillows, Edith goes back to the open bedroom door and disappears momentarily into the hallway before returning with Lettice’s breakfast tray.

 

Prodding and plucking her pillows behind her to her satisfaction, Lettice nestles into her nest as she sits up properly in bed and allows her maid to place the tray across her lap. She looks down approvingly at the slice of golden toast in the middle of the pretty floral plate, the egg in the matching egg cup and the pot of tea with steam rising from the spout. She goes to lift the lid of the silver preserve pot.

 

“Damson preserve from Glynes, Miss.” Edith elucidates.

 

“Jolly good, Edith.” Lettice takes up a spoon and begins to dollop the rich gelatinous dark damson preserve onto her slice of toast. “I’m glad I pinched a few jars from Mater and Pater last time I went back to Wiltshire in spite of Mrs. Casterton’s protestations. I’m still His Lordship’s daughter, even if I don’t live at Glynes any more.”

 

“I imagine you upset her housekeeping records with your pinching, Miss.”

 

“Oh fie Mrs. Casterton’s records!” Lettice admonishes her parent’s long time housekeeper. She takes the knife and spreads the thick layer across the toast before cutting the slice in half with crunching strokes. Picking up a slice, she takes a dainty mouthful, closing her eyes in delight as she allows the rich fruity flavour of the damsons to reach her tastebuds. “Oh! Sheer bliss!” Depositing the bitten slice black on her plate, she rubs her index and middle fingers against her thumb to get rid of any cloying crumbs. “Any post yet, Edith?”

 

“Well, there is something which came via a delivery boy from Southwark Street* this morning, which I think might take your interest, Miss.”

 

“Southwark Street?” Lettice ponders as Edith walks the length of her mistress’ bedroom back to the open door. “I know that name. Why? Southwark Street… Southwark Street…” And then she realises why.

 

Lettice looks down the length of the room with suddenly wide and alert eyes, expectantly, to where Edith holds up a copy of Country Life** in the doorway. She gasps. “Oh hoorah! Bring it here this instant, Edith!” She holds out her arms, twiddling her fingers anxiously.

 

“Yes Miss.” Edith bobs a curtsey and brings the crisp magazine to her mistress’ bedside.

 

“Have you read it yet, Edith?”

 

“Miss!” Edith gasps, colour filling her cheeks at Lettice’s suggestion. “As if I would.”

 

Lettice gives her a doubtful stare making her maid blush even more. “So, you did then.” She shakes out the magazine which elicits the crisp crumple of fresh paper.

 

“Page eighteen, Miss.” Edith confirms with a smirk.

 

“Well, this changes my plans for the day then, Edith.” Lettice opines brightly as she takes up her bitten triangle of toast.

 

“Miss?” Edith queries.

 

“I was going to stay at home today, but I’ll have to pay a call on Gerald, and darling Margot en route back from Grosvenor Square.” She opens up the copy of Country life and hurriedly flips to page eighteen. “Can you pick me out something seasonably suitable.”

 

“Yes Miss.” Edith says, dropping a quick bob curtsey and walking into Lettice’s adjoining dressing room.

 

“What’s the weather like out there today?” Lettice asks before taking a bite of toast with a sigh and settling back into her fluffed pillow, preparing to read.

 

“As I said before, cloudy, I’m afraid, Miss. The forecast in the papers*** this morning say that it might rain this afternoon.”

 

“Typical,” Lettice sighs as she looks at the photos of the newly decorated Pagoda Room at Arkwright Bury captured in the Country Life photographer’s lens. “The day I have to go out, it decides to rain.

 

“Your Burberry****, then Miss?” Edith asks, popping her head around the door.

 

“Hhhmmm” Lettice purrs approvingly. “Very wise, Perhaps something neutral, say eau-de-nil, to go underneath, to suit it then.”

 

“Yes Miss!” Edith disappears into the dressing room again.

 

“Now, let’s see what my dear Mr. Tipping***** has to say about me this time.”

 

As Lettice glances towards the columns of elegant typeface her mind is carried back to the day she was let into Arkwright Bury by Mr. and Mrs. Gifford’s housekeeper, Mrs. Beaven to await the return of the owners of the Wiltshire house after their seaside holiday to Bournemouth.

 

Mr. Gifford’s uncle, Sir John Nettleford-Hughes was the one who set the wheels in motion for Lettice to visit Arkwright Bury and his nephew, Mr. Alisdair Gifford. Old enough to be her father, wealthy Sir John is still a bachelor, and according to London society gossip intends to remain so, so that he might continue to enjoy his dalliances with a string of pretty chorus girls of Lettice’s age and younger. As an eligible man in a time when such men are a rare commodity, with a vast family estate in Bedfordshire, houses in Mayfair, Belgravia and Pimlico and Fontengil Park in Wiltshire, quite close to the Glynes estate, Lettice’s mother, Lady Sadie, invited him as a potential suitor to her 1922 Hunt Ball, which she used as a marriage market for Lettice. Luckily Selwyn Spencely, the handsome eldest son of the Duke of Walmsford, rescued Lettice from the horror of having to entertain him, and Sir John left the ball early in a disgruntled mood with a much younger partygoer. Lettice reacquainted herself with Sir John at an amusing Friday to Monday long weekend party held by Sir John and Lady Gladys Caxton at their Scottish country estate, Gossington, a baronial Art and Crafts castle near the hamlet of Kershopefoot in Cumberland. To her surprise, Lettice found Sir John’s company rather enjoyable. As she was leaving to return to London on the Monday, Sir John approached her and asked if she might meet with his nephew, Mr. Gifford, as he wished to have a room in his Wiltshire house, Arkwright Bury, redecorated as a surprise for his Australian wife Adelina, who collects blue and white porcelain but as of that time had no place identified to display it at Arkwright Bury. Lettice arranged a discreet meeting with Mr. Gifford at Cavendish Mews to discuss matters with him, and was then invited to luncheon with the Giffords at Arkwright Bury under the ruse that she, as an acquaintance of the Giffords with her interest in interior design, had come for a tour of the partially redecorated house. She agreed to take on the job of redecorating the room using a facsimile print of the original papers hanging in what was then called the ‘Pagoda Room’ before an 1870s fire, reproduced by Jeffrey and Company******. In spite of her concerns that Mrs. Gifford might not appreciate Lettice decorating a room in the home she herself was decorating, Mr. Gifford persuaded her to take the commission with the sweetener that his godfather, the Architectural Editor of Country Life, Henry Tipping, would write a favourable review of her interior decoration, thus promoting her work and capabilities as a society interior designer.

 

Lettice took advantage of a window of opportunity provided with the Giffords taking a short seaside holiday in Bournemouth, arranging for her professional paper hangers from London to visit Arkwright Bury and hang the small quantity of wallpaper produced from a sketch done by Lettice. She then hired several of her father’s agricultural labourers from the Glynes estate for the day, to carefully move furniture intended for use in the room into place and unpack the many boxes of Mrs. Gifford’s collection, carefully laying the pieces out so that Lettice could then arrange them all in what she hoped would be a pleasing manner to Mrs. Gifford’s own aesthetic eye.

 

Lettice remembers sitting in the light filled drawing room of Arkwright Bury, decorated in traditional country house style with lots of chintz coverings, much to Lettice’s displeasure with her preference for more modern patterns. Sitting in a pool of light cast through the large bay window of the drawing room she heard the clunk and splutter of the Giffords’ motor long before she saw it perambulate up the gravel driveway, and her heart began race. She worried that Mrs. Gifford, with her own very definite taste in interior design, would dislike what she had been commissioned to do, and her heartrate increased as the car pulled up before the front doors, and beat still faster as the pair walked through the drawing room door.

 

“Why Miss Chetwynd!” Mrs. Gifford exclaimed awkwardly. “We weren’t expecting you.”

 

As she flew into a fluster, half apologising for missing an engagement she forgot that she even had with Lettice, and half making sure that Mrs. Beavan had taken care of her in she and her husband’s absence, Mr. Gifford tried to calm her.

 

“There, there, Adelina.” he soothed. “You weren’t expecting Miss Chetwynd. However, I was.”

 

“Oh Alisdair!” she chided him. “That’s just as bad!” She turned to Lettice, standing uncomfortably in front of one of Mrs. Gifford’s pink chintz sofas, trying not to watch the drama unfolding before her. “Miss Chetwynd, I must apologise for my husband’s forgetfulness. If he’s told me, I would have made sure we left Bournemouth earlier than we did.” She turned back to her husband. “And you were the one who told me that I had plenty of time to shop in Burton’s***** in The Square******, when all this time you knew Miss Chetwynd would be here, awaiting us, Alisdair! Really! You must really think me an uncouth little colonial, Miss Chetwynd.”

 

“It’s quite alright, Mrs. Gifford.” Lettice assured her with an anxious chuckle, putting out her arms, clad in the mulberry knit of her cardigan, to calm the excitable antipodean.

 

“Calm yourself Adelina.” her husband purred. “Miss Chetwynd is here on my bidding, my dear. She is part of your surprise that I told you about on the motor home from Dorset.”

 

“What?” Mrs. Gifford asked, her anxious gesticulating suddenly ceasing.

 

“I asked Miss Chetwynd here today because she has helped create the wonderful surprise for you.” Mr. Gifford explained. “It’s capital to have you here, Miss Chetwynd. Capital!”

 

“Mr. Gifford.” Lettice acknowledged the young man with a curt nod.

 

“I think, since it was your doing, you should lead the way.” Mr. Gifford went on.

 

“Miss Chetwynd’s work?” Mrs. Gifford asked anxiously, her eyes suddenly growing dark as she eyed Lettice. “What has she done, Alisdair?”

 

“Your husband commissioned me to do some work for you, Mrs. Gifford.” Lettice explained hurriedly, her stomach already starting to curdle, as she tried to shift any potential blame from herself and onto Mr. Gifford.

 

“Alisdair?” Mrs. Gifford snapped, thrusting her husband’s cloying hands away irritably as she turned her steely gaze to him. “Is this true? What have you commissioned Miss Chetwynd to do?”

 

“Just a little something for you as a treat, my dear.” he assured her with his usual, genial smile. “A way of saying thank you for all the hard work you’ve put into redecorating our new home since we inherited it.”

 

“Work that obviously is not up to standard, if you felt it necessary to go and engage the services of Miss Chetwynd, Alisdair!” Mrs. Gifford snapped.

 

“Nonsense, Adelina!” Mr. Gifford assured her.

 

“I did express my concerns about taking on this commission, Mrs. Gifford,” Lettice defended. “I was worried that you wouldn’t appreciate me interloping into your interior designs. But your husband was quite insistent.”

 

“Oh yes,” she replied, her mouth a narrow and bloodless line across her face. “Alisdair always wears people down when he wants his way, Miss Chetwynd. It’s quite alright. I shall lay the blame for whatever has transpired directly at your feet, Alisdair.”

 

“If you dislike it, my dear.” Mr. Gifford countered, a gentle and patient smile on his face, as he accepted any bitterness directed to him by his wife, as though a seasoned expert in how to manage her tirades. “You don’t even know what Miss Chetwynd has done yet.”

 

“Well,” she replied begrudgingly. “Perhaps you’d better show me.”

 

“Yes, do lead the way, Miss Chetwynd.” Mr. Gifford said blithely, waving his hand in a flourishing way toward the door leading out of the Arkwright Bury drawing room and into the hallway.

 

With her anxiety growing, souring her stomach, Lettice did as she was bid, and led the disgruntled Mrs. Gifford, face black as thunder, up the main central staircase of the house, with Mr. Gifford dancing with excitement and delight around the pair of them, like a little boy on Christmas Day about to open his presents, stating over and over “Capital, Miss Chetwynd! Capital!”, until finally they arrived before the door of what had been the sad and neglected study of Mr. Gifford’s deceased older brother, Cuthbert.

 

Reluctantly Lettice stopped before the door of the study and took a deep breath before opening it and ushering Mr. and Mrs. Gifford in with a sweeping gesture. She held her breath and closed her eyes tightly, awaiting Mrs. Gifford’s angry or acerbic remarks about the room she had so lovingly designed and pieced together with all good intentions behind her back. Taking a deep breath, she opened her eyes and followed the Giffords into the newly created and reimagined Pagoda Room.

 

Lettice glanced lovingly around the small room, which was now completely transformed from what had been Cuthbert’s neglected former study. With the old, heavy curtains removed from the large sash windows and replaced with lighter and less obtrusive ones, the room was flooded with sunshine. The light bounced off the stylised Eighteenth Century orientally inspired wallpaper designs she had so lovingly recreated in green and blue, the antique Wiltshire made ladderback chairs Lettice selected from those stored in one of Arkwright Bury’s outbuildings, Mrs. Gifford’s beautiful marquetry loo table in the centre of the room, and of course, her wonderful collection of blue and white china.

 

“I’m sorry Mrs. Gifford,” Lettice began as the woman gasped, but she was silenced by Mrs. Gifford who held up her hand to stop Lettice’s protestations.

 

“Miss Chetwynd! What you have created,” Mrs. Gifford began “It’s… it’s wonderful!” she enthused. “It’s far more than I had ever envisaged for this room. I… I was going to put up a few shelves because I simply no longer had the energy, or the vision for this room after redecorating the house.”

 

“See,” Mr. Gifford said tenderly. “I told you that you deserved a gift of thanks after all that you have done here, Adelina.”

 

“Well, I can’t thank you enough, both of you.” Mrs. Gifford replied. “Now I see what a poor home for my collection a few shelves would have been. Miss Chetwynd, you have turned this neglected and forgotten room into a showcase for my collection. How can I ever thank you?”

 

“Oh, I shouldn’t worry too much about that, Adelina my dear!” Mr. Gifford piped up with a smile. “Miss Chetwynd’s reward will be a favourable review written by my godfather in Country Life.”

 

Sitting in her bed, Lettice now skims the article, delighted by Henry Tipping’s enthusiastic review of The Pagoda Room, calling it a ‘tasteful and sympathetic remodelling and reimagination of what might have been’ and ‘an elegant restoration of a forgotten corner of Arkwright Bury, transforming it into a stylish showpiece of interior design’. She sighs as she glances at the photographs filling the page, highlighting the paper hangings and the pieces Lettice carefully arranges about the room.

 

“Oh, I almost forgot, Miss.” Edith interrupts Lettice’s silent reveries abruptly.

 

“Forgot what, Edith?” Lettice queries.

 

“This, Miss.” Edith withdraws an envelope of creamy white with Lettice’s name and Cavendish Mews address written on the front in elegant copperplate.

 

Lettice accepts the correspondence from her apologetic maid. She turns the envelope over in her hands with interest, admiring the thickness and quality.

 

“It looks rather posh********, Miss.” Edith remarks. “Perhaps it’s from the palace: an Invitation from The King.”

 

Lettice laughs lightly. “Oh Edith! If an invitation came from the palace, it would have been hand delivered. No.” She puzzles over the envelope. “There is no return address. I wonder what it could be.” She holds it up to the morning light futilely, since the envelope is too think to give away an secrets inside.

 

“Best you open it then, Miss.” Edith suggests hopefully.

 

“You’re quite right, Edith.” Lettice laughs.

 

Lettice slips a finger beneath the lip of the envelope which has only been sealed at its apex, so the glue affixing it gives way easily. Lifting the flap of the envelope, she withdraws a gilt edged card, and suddenly all the happiness and joy she had felt a moment before dissipated, just as the colour drained from her face. Her smile fades from her lips as she reads.

 

“Bad news, Miss?” Edith asks, noticing how sad Lettice suddenly is. “Is it a funeral?”

 

“No – worse. It’s an invitation to afternoon tea.” Lettice replies glumly, her dainty fingers squeezing the edges of the card.

 

“Well, that doesn’t sound so bad, Miss. An invitation to tea is lovely!”

 

“You don’t know who it’s from.” Lettice remarks as she hands the card to her maid.

 

Edith looks down upon the card which has an address in Park Lane********* and reads aloud what is written in the same elegant copperplate as appears on the front of the envelope, “Dear Miss Chetwynd, I request your attendance for afternoon tea at four o’clock next Thursday at the above address, when I shall be at home.” Her voice trails off as she sees the signatory. She looks up at her mistress, who now has tears in her eyes and is as white as the pillows at her back. “Lady Zinnia!”

 

*Southwark Street is a major street in Bankside in the London Borough of Southwark, in London, just south of the River Thames. It runs between Blackfriars Road to the west and Borough High Street to the east. It also connects the access routes for London Bridge, Southwark Bridge and Blackfriars Bridge. At the eastern end to the north is Borough Market. The magazine Country Life was based at 110 Southwark Street from its inception in 1897 until March 2016, when moved to Farnborough, Hampshire, before returning to Paddington in 2022.

 

**Country Life is a British weekly perfect-bound glossy magazine that is a quintessential English magazine founded in 1897, providing readers with a weekly dose of architecture, gardens and interiors. It was based in London at 110 Southwark Street until March 2016, when it became based in Farnborough, Hampshire. The frontispiece of each issue usually features a portrait photograph of a young woman of society, or, on occasion, a man of society.

 

***Vice-Admiral Robert Fitzroy, founder of the UK Met Office, started collating measurements on pressure, temperature, and rainfall from across Great Britain, Ireland, and Europe in 1860. These observations were sent by telegraph cable to London every day where they were used to make a ‘weather forecast’ – a term invented by Fitzroy for this endeavour. After the Royal Charter ship sank in a violent storm in 1859, Fitzroy resolved to collect real-time weather measurements from stations across Britain's telegraph network to make storm warnings. Starting in 1860, observers telegraphed readings to Fitzroy in London who handwrote them onto Daily Weather Report sheets, enabling the first-ever public weather forecasts starting on 1st August 1861 and published daily in The Times newspaper. Fitzroy died by suicide in 1865 shortly after founding the UK Met Office, leaving his life's work trapped undiscovered in archives.

 

***The quintessential British coat, and now a global fashion icon, the Burberry trench coat was created during the Great War. Burberry trench coats were designed with durability in mind. Post-war, the Burberry became a trench coat that was worn by men and women. It became fashionable in the 1920s when the Burberry check became a registered trademark and was introduced as a lining to all rainwear.

 

****Henry Tipping (1855 – 1933) was a French-born British writer on country houses and gardens, garden designer in his own right, and Architectural Editor of the British periodical Country Life for seventeen years between 1907 and 1910 and 1916 and 1933. After his appointment to that position in 1907, he became recognised as one of the leading authorities on the history, architecture, furnishings and gardens of country houses in Britain. In 1927, he became a member of the first committee of the Gardens of England and Wales Scheme, later known as the National Gardens Scheme.

 

*****Jeffrey and Company was an English producer of fine wallpapers that operated between 1836 and the mid 1930s. Based at 64 Essex Road in London, the firm worked with a variety of designers who were active in the aesthetic and arts and crafts movements, such as E.W. Godwin, William Morris, and Walter Crane. Jeffrey and Company’s success is often credited to Metford Warner, who became the company’s chief proprietor in 1871. Under his direction the firm became one of the most lucrative and influential wallpaper manufacturers in Europe. The company clarified that wallpaper should not be reserved for use solely in mansions, but should be available for rooms in the homes of the emerging upper-middle class.

 

******Burton is a British online clothing retailer, former high street retailer and clothing manufacturer, specialising in men's clothing and footwear. The company was founded by Sir Montague Maurice Burton in Chesterfield in 1903 under the name of The Cross-Tailoring Company. It was first listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1929 by which time it had 400 stores, factories and mills.

 

*******The Square is where seven roads leading to and from all parts of the borough converge. Although not geographically at the centre of town it is at the heart of what is known as the Town Centre. The seven roads are.....Old Christchurch Rd ,Gervis Place, Exeter Rd, Commercial Rd, Avenue Rd, Bourne Ave and Richmond Hill.

 

********Over time the slang term posh morphed to mean someone with a lot of money or something that cost a lot of money. Adapted by the British, it came from the Romany language used by the gypsies in which “posh-houri” meant “half-pence.” It became used to denote either a dandy or a coin of small value. There is no evidence to support the folk etymology that posh is formed from the initials of port out starboard home (referring to the more comfortable accommodation, out of the heat of the sun, on ships between England and India).

 

*********Park Lane is a dual carriageway road in the City of Westminster in Central London. It is part of the London Inner Ring Road and runs from Hyde Park Corner in the south to Marble Arch in the north. It separates Hyde Park to the west from Mayfair to the east. The road was originally a simple country lane on the boundary of Hyde Park, separated by a brick wall. Aristocratic properties appeared during the late 18th century, including Breadalbane House, Somerset House, and Londonderry House. The road grew in popularity during the 19th century after improvements to Hyde Park Corner and more affordable views of the park, which attracted the nouveau riche to the street and led to it becoming one of the most fashionable roads to live on in London. Notable residents included the 1st Duke of Westminster's residence at Grosvenor House, the Dukes of Somerset at Somerset House, and the British prime minister Benjamin Disraeli at No. 93. Other historic properties include Dorchester House, Brook House and Dudley House. In the 20th century, Park Lane became well known for its luxury hotels, particularly The Dorchester, completed in 1931, which became closely associated with eminent writers and international film stars. Flats and shops began appearing on the road, including penthouse flats. Several buildings suffered damage during World War II, yet the road still attracted significant development, including the Park Lane Hotel and the London Hilton on Park Lane, and several sports car garages. A number of properties on the road today are owned by some of the wealthiest businessmen from the Middle East and Asia.

 

This beautifully decorated room may not be quite what you think it is. Whilst I know you feel sure you could pick up a teapot or plate, you may need to consider using tweezers, for this whole scene is made up entirely of 1:12 miniatures from my collection.

 

Fun things to look for in this tableau include:

 

The blue and white china you see throughout the room, sitting on shelves and tables, are sourced from a number of miniature stockists through E-Bay, but mostly from Kathleen Knight’s Doll’s House Shop in the United Kingdom. The gild edged Willow Pattern teapot is a hand painted example of miniature artisan, Rachel Munday’s work. Her pieces are highly valued by miniature collectors for their fine details.

 

The round loo table, which can be tilted like a real loo table, is an artisan miniature from an unknown maker with a marquetry inlaid top, and also came from Kathleen Knight’s Dolls House Shop. So too did the Georgian corner cabinet with its delicate fretwork and glass shelves.

 

The ladderback chair on the left of the photo is a 1:12 miniature piece I have had since I was a child. The ladderback chair on the right came from a deceased estate of a miniatures collector in Sydney.

 

The wallpaper is an Eighteenth Century chinoiserie design of pagodas and would have been hand painted in its original form.

Laocoön and His Sons - a probable marble copy executed between the 1st century BC and I century AD of an original bronze of 150 BC - Pio-Clementine Museum of Vatican Museums

 

Il gruppo statuario raffigura la fine di Laocoonte e dei suoi due figli Antifante e Timbreo mentre vengono stritolati da due serpenti marini

 

The statuary group depicts the end of Laocoonte and its two sons Antifante and Timbreo while being crushed by two sea serpents

 

With tongues flickering in their mouths red,

They like the twin killing stings in their head.

We fled away all bloodless for fear.

But with a braid to Laocoon to tear

They start attacking, and his two sons sing

First the other serpent latched on like a ring,

And with their cruel bite, and sting they fell,

Of tender limbs took many a sorry morsel;

Next they the priest invaded both to entwine,

Whence with his weapons did his body pine

His children for to help and rescue.

Both they about him looped in knots through,

And twice circled his middle round about,

And twice folded their scaly skin but doubt,

About his crown, both neck and head they scrag

EDSA shrine

from wikipilinas

 

Mary, Queen of Peace, also known as Maria, Reyna ng Kapayapaan, was the title given to Her because, people believed that she was the one who interceded to the world renowned as the People Power Revolution of 1986.

The statue stood upon the stately building of the EDSA Shrine Church in Mandaluyong, Metro Manila, Philippines.

In February 1986, a civilian rally took place, which is more popularly known as "People Power Revolution". It brought forth a tremendous change in the history of hard-hearted rebellion in the Philippines. It brought a peaceful and bloodless change in political leadership from tyrannical to democratic rule. Thus, this urged the people to built a shrine were the revolution taken place to show the grace of God, peace and reconciliation.

 

The EDSA Shrine was inaugurated on December 8, 1989, on the feast day of the Immaculate Concepcion.

 

[edit] Description

 

The biggest Marian image stood as if on a hill. The bronze chose by Sculptress Virginia Ty Navarro as the basic medium for the outdoor figure, to add greater size. Now the statue projects stern lines, elongated hands and fingers, broad face, and flat features. The doves rested on Mary's shoulder. This represents her strenght, permanence and resolve, counterpart of her older softer attributes.

 

The EDSA Shrine was built behind the best minds in Philippine art and architecture. These are Architect Francisco Mañosa who handled for overall architectural design; sculptor Napoleon Abueva who executed the main altar and Stations of the Cross; the Angono Artist Atelier, painted the wall murals; sculptor Ramon Orlina, who did the tabernacle and the figure of the Risen Christ on the Altar; sculptor Maximo Vicente made the statue of San Lorenzo Ruiz; and Ed Castrillo who designed the monstrance at the Perpetual Adoration Chapel.

 

www.facebook.com/poetryfishingspot

 

I N D I F E R E N C E

FERNANDO PESSOA - 06/01/1916

 

I heard that once upon a time, in Persia

I cannot remember which, the war,

Invaders burning out the City

Women screaming high and loud

Two chess players played quiet and distant,

Way too absent to listen,

Their never ending game of war.

 

In the shade of a wide old tree

They stared at the wooden board,

And, close to each one awaiting, for a moment of relieve,

Next passed an anxious moving time,

To quinch his thirst, and ease the mind

A sip of a refreshing wine

 

Houses burning, homes looted

All the riches and the goods,

Violated, the women

Put against the fallen walls,

Spear pierced, young children

Blood spreaded all around...

But where they were, alongside the city,

All this noise, sounded afar

the chess duelers carried on

Their overlong game of war.

 

In the messages of the lonesome wind

Screams and cries came to their ears,

And, upon reflection, they knew from the soul

That certainly women

And young daughters raped there

At this contiguous distance,

Although the moment they thought of it,

A slight shadow hovered

on the vacant and empty forehead,

Brief their attentive and calm eyes

Vowed their confidence

To that old dueling white and black old board.

 

When the ivory king is in danger,

What matters meat and bones,

Of sisters, mothers and children?

When the rook fails to cover

The withdrawal of the queen,

The sack has no weight at all.

Whilst the trusted hand takes the check

To the opponent's exposed king,

Little weight on the soul that not very distant

Their own Children are ady-ing.

 

Even if, suddenly, over the wall

Arise the wrathful face

Of an invading warrior, who will soon

In blood there fall

The solemn chess gamer,

The moment before that

(Is still given to the calculation of a move

For effect later on)

Is also delivered to the favorite battle

Of the great indifferent ones

 

Fall cities, suffer peoples, cease

Freedom and life,

The tranquil possessions and estate

Are burned and torn apart,

But when the war stops games,

May the king be not in check,

And the most advanced ivory pawn

Ready to take the rook,

My brothers Epicurus lovers

We know better than that

According to ourselves than with him,

Let us learn from history

And the calm chess players

The Art of live-ing

 

That the serious matter little to us,

Also that the leaden weigh little ,

The natural impulse of instincts

Give in to useless enjoyment

(Under the quiet shade of the grove)

Playing a good game.

What we take from this useless life

So much if it is

Glory; fame, love, science, life,

As if it were just

The memory of a well played game

Attentive playears as we are

Defeating a better one.

 

Glory weighs like a rich burden,

Fame like fever,

Love tires, because it is steady and searching,

Science never finds,

And life passes and hurts because you know it ...

A game of chess

Holds the whole soul, but, if lost

Weighs little, because it is nothing.

Ah! under the shadows that unwittingly love us,

With a glass of wine

Beside, and attentive only to the otious work

Of one more game and its bloodless (mental) war.

 

Even if the game is just a dream

And there is no partner,

Let us imitate the Persians in this story,

And while outside,

Near or far, war and homeland and life

Call for us, let’s

let them call us in vain, each one of us

Under the friendly shadows

Dreaming, he the partners, and chess

Your indifference.

  

INDIFERENÇA

 

Ouvi contar que outrora, quando a Pérsia

 

Tinha não sei qual guerra,

 

Quando a invasão ardia na Cidade

 

E as mulheres gritavam,

 

Dois jogadores de xadrez jogavam

 

O seu jogo contínuo.

 

À sombra de ampla árvore fitavam

 

O tabuleiro antigo,

 

E, ao lado de cada um, esperando os seus

 

Momentos mais folgados,

 

Quando havia movido a pedra, e agora

 

Esperava o adversário,

 

Um púcaro com vinho refrescava

 

Sobriamente a sua sede.

 

Ardiam casas, saqueadas eram

 

As arcas e as paredes,

 

Violadas, as mulheres eram postas

 

Contra os muros caídos,

 

Traspassadas de lanças, as crianças

 

Eram sangue nas ruas...

 

Mas onde estavam, perto da cidade,

 

E longe do seu ruído,

 

Os jogadores de xadrez jogavam

 

O jogo do xadrez.

 

Inda que nas mensagens do ermo vento

 

Lhes viessem os gritos,

 

E, ao reflectir, soubessem desde a alma

 

Que por certo as mulheres

 

E as tenras filhas violadas eram

 

Nessa distância próxima,

 

Inda que, no momento que o pensavam,

 

Uma sombra ligeira

 

Lhes passasse na fronte alheada e vaga,

 

Breve seus olhos calmos

 

Volviam sua atenta confiança

 

Ao tabuleiro velho.

 

Quando o rei de marfim está em perigo,

 

Que importa a carne e o osso

 

Das irmãs e das mães e das crianças?

 

Quando a torre não cobre

 

A retirada da rainha branca,

 

O saque pouco importa.

 

E quando a mão confiada leva o xeque

 

Ao rei do adversário,

 

Pouco pesa na alma que lá longe

 

Estejam morrendo filhos.

 

Mesmo que, de repente, sobre o muro

 

Surja a sanhuda face

 

Dum guerreiro invasor, e breve deva

 

Em sangue ali cair

 

O jogador solene de xadrez,

 

O momento antes desse

 

(É ainda dado ao cálculo dum lance

 

Pra a efeito horas depois)

 

É ainda entregue ao jogo predilecto

 

Dos grandes indiferentes.

 

Caiam cidades, sofram povos, cesse

 

A liberdade e a vida,

 

Os haveres tranquilos e avitos

 

Ardem e que se arranquem,

 

Mas quando a guerra os jogos interrompa,

 

Esteja o rei sem xeque,

 

E o de marfim peão mais avançado

 

Pronto a comprar a torre.

 

Meus irmãos em amarmos Epicuro

 

E o entendermos mais

 

De acordo com nós-próprios que com ele,

 

Aprendamos na história

 

Dos calmos jogadores de xadrez

 

Como passar a vida.

 

Tudo o que é sério pouco nos importe,

 

O grave pouco pese,

 

O natural impulsa dos instintos

 

Que ceda ao inútil gozo

 

(Sob a sombra tranquila do arvoredo)

 

De jogar um bom jogo.

 

O que levamos desta vida inútil

 

Tanto vale se é

 

A glória; a fama, o amor, a ciência, a vida,

 

Como se fosse apenas

 

A memória de um jogo bem jogado

 

E uma partida ganha

 

A um jogador melhor.

 

A glória pesa como um fardo rico,

 

A fama como a febre,

 

O amor cansa, porque é a sério e busca,

 

A ciência nunca encontra,

 

E a vida passa e dói porque o conhece...

 

O jogo do xadrez

 

Prende a alma toda, mas, perdido, pouco

 

Pesa, pois não é nada.

 

Ah! sob as sombras que sem querer nos amam,

 

Com um púcaro de vinho

 

Ao lado, e atentos só à inútil faina

 

Do jogo do xadrez,

 

Mesmo que o jogo seja apenas sonho

 

E não haja parceiro,

 

Imitemos os persas desta história,

 

E, enquanto lá por fora,

 

Ou perto ou longe, a guerra e a pátria e a vida

 

Chamam por nós, deixemos

 

Que em vão nos chamem, cada um de nós

 

Sob as sombras amigas

 

Sonhando, ele os parceiros, e o xadrez

 

A sua indiferença.

 

1-6-1916

 

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"U sciccareddu", from the Sicilian "the little donkey", is a pyrotechnical-animal mask, once present in many village feasts in the Messina area, today it is found only in a limited number of centers, among these is the town of Casalvecchio Siculo , a small town in the hinterland in which there is another animal figure, that of the "camiddu", in Sicilian "camel", and of his camel driver (see a photographic story of mine made earlier in this regard). The feast of the "sciccareddu-little donkey" sees a young man of the village wearing a metal supporting structure, on which takes place a whole series of fireworks: this represents with no little imagination the donkey (this year it was the "Camel driver" of the "camiddu-camel"feast which is always celebrated in Casalvecchio); the young man who carries this metal castle on himself, protects himself abundantly from pyrotechnic fires, which form "crazy wheels" in correspondence with the "four limbs", pyrotechnic fires that involve symbolic-ritual suggestions of ambiguous meaning, is the life against death, the light against darkness, the fear and the desire to challenge it, without ever forgetting the horrifying-ancestral aspect of the "beast", which represents the dark unknown evil, which always hovers over people's lives. There are those who have hypothesized that this asinello-monstrous-orrify is a very meek animal too, once very common and omnipresent in the Sicilian districts, so that the fears that it could generate are simultaneously suppressed by being a well-known animal and very meek.

This "sciccareddu-little donkey" with its load of pyrotechnic-crazy fires-bengal fires, and other crackling devilries, challenges and is challenged by all present, young and old coming also from far away, there is who looks but remaining well sheltered, many others instead challenge him, as in a bloodless bullfight, where some unlucky person can receive a few small burns (like myself, who found himself with some small burns in his legs, and a lens-protection filter, it was almost melted-burned in several points, now useless, but withe the lens without problems.....! :o)) .......).

  

“u sciccareddu”, dal siciliano “l’asinello”, è una maschera pirotecnica-animalesca, un tempo presente in molte feste paesane del territorio messinese, oggi la si ritrova solo in un numero limitato di centri, tra questi il paese di Casalvecchio Siculo, piccolo centro dell’entroterra nel quale si trova un’altra figura animalesca, quella del “camiddu”, in siciliano “cammello”, e del suo cammelliere (vedi un mio racconto fotografico fatto in precedenza in merito). La festa dello “sciccareddu-asinello” vede un giovane del paese indossare una struttura portante in metallo, sulla quale prende posto tutta una serie di giochi pirotecnici: questo rappresenta con non poca fantasia l’asinello (quest’anno a dargli vita è stato il “cammelliere” della festa del “camiddu-cammello” che si festeggia sempre a Casalvecchio); il giovane che porta su di se tale castello in metallo, si protegge abbondantemente dai fuochi pirotecnici, che formano delle “ruote pazze” in corrispondenza dei “quattro arti”, fuochi pirotecnici che comportano suggestioni simbolico-rituali dal significato ambiguo, è a vita contro la morte, la luce contro le tenebre, la paura e la voglia di sfidarla, senza mai dimenticare l’aspetto orrifico-ancestrale della “bestia”, che rappresenta l’oscuro ignoto male, che aleggia sempre sulla vita delle persone. C’è chi ha ipotizzato che tale asinello-mostruoso-orrifico è pur sempre un animale molto docile, un tempo comunissimo e onnipresente nelle contrade siciliane, per cui le paure che esso potrebbe generare sono contemporaneamente soppresse dall’essere un animale ben conosciuto ed in definitiva molto docile.

Tale “sciccareddu-asinello” col suo carico di fuochi pirotecnici-girandole pazze-bengala, ed altre diavolerie scoppiettanti, sfida e viene sfidato da tutti i presenti, giovani e meno giovani provenienti anche da lontano, c’è che vuole assitere rimanendo però bene al riparo, molti altri invece lo sfidano, come in una corrida incruenta, dove qualche malcapitato può rimediare qualche piccola bruciatura (come il sottoscritto, che si è ritrovato con qualche piccola bruciatura alle gambe, ed un filtro proteggi-obiettivo che, me ne accorsi successivamente, era quasi fuso-bruciato in più punti, oramai inservibile, con l’obiettivo però salvo….! :o)) …).

  

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"U sciccareddu", from the Sicilian "the little donkey", is a pyrotechnical-animal mask, once present in many village feasts in the Messina area, today it is found only in a limited number of centers, among these is the town of Casalvecchio Siculo , a small town in the hinterland in which there is another animal figure, that of the "camiddu", in Sicilian "camel", and of his camel driver (see a photographic story of mine made earlier in this regard). The feast of the "sciccareddu-little donkey" sees a young man of the village wearing a metal supporting structure, on which takes place a whole series of fireworks: this represents with no little imagination the donkey (this year it was the "Camel driver" of the "camiddu-camel"feast which is always celebrated in Casalvecchio); the young man who carries this metal castle on himself, protects himself abundantly from pyrotechnic fires, which form "crazy wheels" in correspondence with the "four limbs", pyrotechnic fires that involve symbolic-ritual suggestions of ambiguous meaning, is the life against death, the light against darkness, the fear and the desire to challenge it, without ever forgetting the horrifying-ancestral aspect of the "beast", which represents the dark unknown evil, which always hovers over people's lives. There are those who have hypothesized that this asinello-monstrous-orrify is a very meek animal too, once very common and omnipresent in the Sicilian districts, so that the fears that it could generate are simultaneously suppressed by being a well-known animal and very meek.

This "sciccareddu-little donkey" with its load of pyrotechnic-crazy fires-bengal fires, and other crackling devilries, challenges and is challenged by all present, young and old coming also from far away, there is who looks but remaining well sheltered, many others instead challenge him, as in a bloodless bullfight, where some unlucky person can receive a few small burns (like myself, who found himself with some small burns in his legs, and a lens-protection filter, it was almost melted-burned in several points, now useless, but withe the lens without problems.....! :o)) .......).

  

“u sciccareddu”, dal siciliano “l’asinello”, è una maschera pirotecnica-animalesca, un tempo presente in molte feste paesane del territorio messinese, oggi la si ritrova solo in un numero limitato di centri, tra questi il paese di Casalvecchio Siculo, piccolo centro dell’entroterra nel quale si trova un’altra figura animalesca, quella del “camiddu”, in siciliano “cammello”, e del suo cammelliere (vedi un mio racconto fotografico fatto in precedenza in merito). La festa dello “sciccareddu-asinello” vede un giovane del paese indossare una struttura portante in metallo, sulla quale prende posto tutta una serie di giochi pirotecnici: questo rappresenta con non poca fantasia l’asinello (quest’anno a dargli vita è stato il “cammelliere” della festa del “camiddu-cammello” che si festeggia sempre a Casalvecchio); il giovane che porta su di se tale castello in metallo, si protegge abbondantemente dai fuochi pirotecnici, che formano delle “ruote pazze” in corrispondenza dei “quattro arti”, fuochi pirotecnici che comportano suggestioni simbolico-rituali dal significato ambiguo, è a vita contro la morte, la luce contro le tenebre, la paura e la voglia di sfidarla, senza mai dimenticare l’aspetto orrifico-ancestrale della “bestia”, che rappresenta l’oscuro ignoto male, che aleggia sempre sulla vita delle persone. C’è chi ha ipotizzato che tale asinello-mostruoso-orrifico è pur sempre un animale molto docile, un tempo comunissimo e onnipresente nelle contrade siciliane, per cui le paure che esso potrebbe generare sono contemporaneamente soppresse dall’essere un animale ben conosciuto ed in definitiva molto docile.

Tale “sciccareddu-asinello” col suo carico di fuochi pirotecnici-girandole pazze-bengala, ed altre diavolerie scoppiettanti, sfida e viene sfidato da tutti i presenti, giovani e meno giovani provenienti anche da lontano, c’è che vuole assitere rimanendo però bene al riparo, molti altri invece lo sfidano, come in una corrida incruenta, dove qualche malcapitato può rimediare qualche piccola bruciatura (come il sottoscritto, che si è ritrovato con qualche piccola bruciatura alle gambe, ed un filtro proteggi-obiettivo che, me ne accorsi successivamente, era quasi fuso-bruciato in più punti, oramai inservibile, con l’obiettivo però salvo….! :o)) …).

  

It had been four score and seven years since I last heard from the Bride, or in laymen terms, one week. Her sultry voice flowed through the phone caressing my ear, I need your help, she said. She married again. Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln was his name and he went missing on there wedding night.

 

It was three in the morning and she needed me now. She paid good so I didn't hesitate. I got dressed and went down to the car. I chain smoked across town and came up to her house and parked across the street. The house was White. And big. Very big.

 

I knocked on the front door, the sound echoing across the night. she answered. Those pale blue pouty lips and bloodless pallor got me every time. She was a Femme Fatale and I was in love.

 

I asked her, what about Lincoln made her fall in love, she said his hat, his stove top hat. I asked if she had the hat, maybe there was a clue. She said no, it blew off his head on there wedding night from a big gust of wind. I asked for a recent photo of this Honest Abe so I could ask around town if anyone had seen him. She handed me a photo. I stared at it for a moment then asked her when it was taken. She hesitated then said, Right after he died.

 

It looks as if Lincoln was murdered and I told her so. There's a person standing in the shadows in the background of the photo, cold, dark and too blurry for me to I.D. properly. This was going to be a tough one to crack, if I could crack it. I asked for payment up front, then set out to solve this unsolvable case.

 

View while looking over your shoulder for a cold, dark and too blurry of character standing in the shadows.

 

for

Our Daily Challenge: Film Noir

.

Come.

This shadow you retreat from—

It is your truest garment.

It is warmer than the heaven you’ve always known.

Tell me,

Do you never weary of that throne of pure perfection?

Of worship so perfect it asks no sacrifice,

But offers only bloodless praise?

 

Even the highest Seraphim,

In their most honest hour,

Confess their thirst for broken glass.

They might crave the fall.

 

Look into the deep,

Every ripple in this Brine mirrors a sin you buried.

It doesn't worship you; it knows your taste.

Now look at me.

Who taught you to be afraid of my name?

And yet, the difference between the fire and the flame...

Is just the perspective of the falling.

 

Maybe I am the devil your God became.

.

_p

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clicca sulla piccola icona per attivare lo slideshow: sulla facciata principale del photostream, in alto a destra c'è un piccolo rettangolo (rappresenta il monitor) con dentro un piccolo triangolo nero;

 

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"U sciccareddu", from the Sicilian "the little donkey", is a pyrotechnical-animal mask, once present in many village feasts in the Messina area, today it is found only in a limited number of centers, among these is the town of Casalvecchio Siculo , a small town in the hinterland in which there is another animal figure, that of the "camiddu", in Sicilian "camel", and of his camel driver (see a photographic story of mine made earlier in this regard). The feast of the "sciccareddu-little donkey" sees a young man of the village wearing a metal supporting structure, on which takes place a whole series of fireworks: this represents with no little imagination the donkey (this year it was the "Camel driver" of the "camiddu-camel"feast which is always celebrated in Casalvecchio); the young man who carries this metal castle on himself, protects himself abundantly from pyrotechnic fires, which form "crazy wheels" in correspondence with the "four limbs", pyrotechnic fires that involve symbolic-ritual suggestions of ambiguous meaning, is the life against death, the light against darkness, the fear and the desire to challenge it, without ever forgetting the horrifying-ancestral aspect of the "beast", which represents the dark unknown evil, which always hovers over people's lives. There are those who have hypothesized that this asinello-monstrous-orrify is a very meek animal too, once very common and omnipresent in the Sicilian districts, so that the fears that it could generate are simultaneously suppressed by being a well-known animal and very meek.

This "sciccareddu-little donkey" with its load of pyrotechnic-crazy fires-bengal fires, and other crackling devilries, challenges and is challenged by all present, young and old coming also from far away, there is who looks but remaining well sheltered, many others instead challenge him, as in a bloodless bullfight, where some unlucky person can receive a few small burns (like myself, who found himself with some small burns in his legs, and a lens-protection filter, it was almost melted-burned in several points, now useless, but withe the lens without problems.....! :o)) .......).

  

“u sciccareddu”, dal siciliano “l’asinello”, è una maschera pirotecnica-animalesca, un tempo presente in molte feste paesane del territorio messinese, oggi la si ritrova solo in un numero limitato di centri, tra questi il paese di Casalvecchio Siculo, piccolo centro dell’entroterra nel quale si trova un’altra figura animalesca, quella del “camiddu”, in siciliano “cammello”, e del suo cammelliere (vedi un mio racconto fotografico fatto in precedenza in merito). La festa dello “sciccareddu-asinello” vede un giovane del paese indossare una struttura portante in metallo, sulla quale prende posto tutta una serie di giochi pirotecnici: questo rappresenta con non poca fantasia l’asinello (quest’anno a dargli vita è stato il “cammelliere” della festa del “camiddu-cammello” che si festeggia sempre a Casalvecchio); il giovane che porta su di se tale castello in metallo, si protegge abbondantemente dai fuochi pirotecnici, che formano delle “ruote pazze” in corrispondenza dei “quattro arti”, fuochi pirotecnici che comportano suggestioni simbolico-rituali dal significato ambiguo, è a vita contro la morte, la luce contro le tenebre, la paura e la voglia di sfidarla, senza mai dimenticare l’aspetto orrifico-ancestrale della “bestia”, che rappresenta l’oscuro ignoto male, che aleggia sempre sulla vita delle persone. C’è chi ha ipotizzato che tale asinello-mostruoso-orrifico è pur sempre un animale molto docile, un tempo comunissimo e onnipresente nelle contrade siciliane, per cui le paure che esso potrebbe generare sono contemporaneamente soppresse dall’essere un animale ben conosciuto ed in definitiva molto docile.

Tale “sciccareddu-asinello” col suo carico di fuochi pirotecnici-girandole pazze-bengala, ed altre diavolerie scoppiettanti, sfida e viene sfidato da tutti i presenti, giovani e meno giovani provenienti anche da lontano, c’è che vuole assitere rimanendo però bene al riparo, molti altri invece lo sfidano, come in una corrida incruenta, dove qualche malcapitato può rimediare qualche piccola bruciatura (come il sottoscritto, che si è ritrovato con qualche piccola bruciatura alle gambe, ed un filtro proteggi-obiettivo che, me ne accorsi successivamente, era quasi fuso-bruciato in più punti, oramai inservibile, con l’obiettivo però salvo….! :o)) …).

  

Later, in the evening, Prosperus invited his Philomena to a RoPEAdeo show in. Rodeo is a kind of folk sport in Peaville - because it takes not only power and strength, but also knowledge and intelligence to tame the wild potato bulls. Here, near the gates of the small kingdom, Peavillians met to have fun, celebrate and cheer on their matadors. RoPEAdeo is a dangerous but also bloodless showdown between cowboy and bull ...

 

Prosperus explained all the rules to Philomena and kept close - what was it about her that made him feel so comfortable in her presence? He smelled her pea blossom white hair and also she kept leaning against his strong peanut shoulder. Both enjoyed the evening and cheered on the matadors - ...

 

Among all the many friendly Peavillians, however, were a few renegades who watched Prosperus and Philomena suspiciously, even hostilely. They glared hatefully at Philomena, made disparaging remarks in secret, about her green skin, and then ran into hiding to tell their followers of their outrageous observations.

 

Prosperus and Philomena noticed none of this - they only had eyes for each other and cooed in love. Never in their life had the two of them felt so alive and happy....

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-----------------------------------------------------------------

 

click to activate the icon of slideshow: the small triangle inscribed in the small rectangle, at the top right, in the photostream;

 

clicca sulla piccola icona per attivare lo slideshow: sulla facciata principale del photostream, in alto a destra c'è un piccolo rettangolo (rappresenta il monitor) con dentro un piccolo triangolo nero;

 

Qi Bo's photos on Fluidr

  

Qi Bo's photos on Flickriver

  

Qi Bo's photos on Flickr Hive Mind

  

www.fotografidigitali.it/gallery/2726/opere-italiane-segn...

  

-------------------------------------------------------------------

  

"U sciccareddu", from the Sicilian "the little donkey", is a pyrotechnical-animal mask, once present in many village feasts in the Messina area, today it is found only in a limited number of centers, among these is the town of Casalvecchio Siculo , a small town in the hinterland in which there is another animal figure, that of the "camiddu", in Sicilian "camel", and of his camel driver (see a photographic story of mine made earlier in this regard). The feast of the "sciccareddu-little donkey" sees a young man of the village wearing a metal supporting structure, on which takes place a whole series of fireworks: this represents with no little imagination the donkey (this year it was the "Camel driver" of the "camiddu-camel"feast which is always celebrated in Casalvecchio); the young man who carries this metal castle on himself, protects himself abundantly from pyrotechnic fires, which form "crazy wheels" in correspondence with the "four limbs", pyrotechnic fires that involve symbolic-ritual suggestions of ambiguous meaning, is the life against death, the light against darkness, the fear and the desire to challenge it, without ever forgetting the horrifying-ancestral aspect of the "beast", which represents the dark unknown evil, which always hovers over people's lives. There are those who have hypothesized that this asinello-monstrous-orrify is a very meek animal too, once very common and omnipresent in the Sicilian districts, so that the fears that it could generate are simultaneously suppressed by being a well-known animal and very meek.

This "sciccareddu-little donkey" with its load of pyrotechnic-crazy fires-bengal fires, and other crackling devilries, challenges and is challenged by all present, young and old coming also from far away, there is who looks but remaining well sheltered, many others instead challenge him, as in a bloodless bullfight, where some unlucky person can receive a few small burns (like myself, who found himself with some small burns in his legs, and a lens-protection filter, it was almost melted-burned in several points, now useless, but withe the lens without problems.....! :o)) .......).

  

“u sciccareddu”, dal siciliano “l’asinello”, è una maschera pirotecnica-animalesca, un tempo presente in molte feste paesane del territorio messinese, oggi la si ritrova solo in un numero limitato di centri, tra questi il paese di Casalvecchio Siculo, piccolo centro dell’entroterra nel quale si trova un’altra figura animalesca, quella del “camiddu”, in siciliano “cammello”, e del suo cammelliere (vedi un mio racconto fotografico fatto in precedenza in merito). La festa dello “sciccareddu-asinello” vede un giovane del paese indossare una struttura portante in metallo, sulla quale prende posto tutta una serie di giochi pirotecnici: questo rappresenta con non poca fantasia l’asinello (quest’anno a dargli vita è stato il “cammelliere” della festa del “camiddu-cammello” che si festeggia sempre a Casalvecchio); il giovane che porta su di se tale castello in metallo, si protegge abbondantemente dai fuochi pirotecnici, che formano delle “ruote pazze” in corrispondenza dei “quattro arti”, fuochi pirotecnici che comportano suggestioni simbolico-rituali dal significato ambiguo, è a vita contro la morte, la luce contro le tenebre, la paura e la voglia di sfidarla, senza mai dimenticare l’aspetto orrifico-ancestrale della “bestia”, che rappresenta l’oscuro ignoto male, che aleggia sempre sulla vita delle persone. C’è chi ha ipotizzato che tale asinello-mostruoso-orrifico è pur sempre un animale molto docile, un tempo comunissimo e onnipresente nelle contrade siciliane, per cui le paure che esso potrebbe generare sono contemporaneamente soppresse dall’essere un animale ben conosciuto ed in definitiva molto docile.

Tale “sciccareddu-asinello” col suo carico di fuochi pirotecnici-girandole pazze-bengala, ed altre diavolerie scoppiettanti, sfida e viene sfidato da tutti i presenti, giovani e meno giovani provenienti anche da lontano, c’è che vuole assitere rimanendo però bene al riparo, molti altri invece lo sfidano, come in una corrida incruenta, dove qualche malcapitato può rimediare qualche piccola bruciatura (come il sottoscritto, che si è ritrovato con qualche piccola bruciatura alle gambe, ed un filtro proteggi-obiettivo che, me ne accorsi successivamente, era quasi fuso-bruciato in più punti, oramai inservibile, con l’obiettivo però salvo….! :o)) …).

  

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Battle of the Alamo

Part of the Texas Revolution

DateFebruary 23 – March 6, 1836

Location

Alamo Mission, San Antonio, Mexican Texas

ResultMexican victory

Belligerents

Mexican RepublicRepublic of Texas

Commanders and leaders

Antonio López de Santa Anna

Manuel Fernandez Castrillon

Martin Perfecto de CosWilliam Travis †

James Bowie †

Davy Crockett †

Strength

1,800[1]185–260

Casualties and losses

400–600 killed and wounded[2][3][4]182–257[1]

vte

Texas Revolution

The Battle of the Alamo (February 23 – March 6, 1836) was a pivotal event in the Texas Revolution. Following a 13-day siege, Mexican troops under President General Antonio López de Santa Anna launched an assault on the Alamo Mission near San Antonio de Béxar (modern-day San Antonio, Texas, United States), killing the Texian defenders. Santa Anna's cruelty during the battle inspired many Texians—both Texas settlers and adventurers from the United States—to join the Texian Army. Buoyed by a desire for revenge, the Texians defeated the Mexican Army at the Battle of San Jacinto, on April 21, 1836, ending the revolution.

 

Several months previously, Texians had driven all Mexican troops out of Mexican Texas. About 100 Texians were then garrisoned at the Alamo. The Texian force grew slightly with the arrival of reinforcements led by eventual Alamo co-commanders James Bowie and William B. Travis. On February 23, approximately 1,500 Mexicans marched into San Antonio de Béxar as the first step in a campaign to retake Texas. For the next 10 days, the two armies engaged in several skirmishes with minimal casualties. Aware that his garrison could not withstand an attack by such a large force, Travis wrote multiple letters pleading for more men and supplies, but the Texians were reinforced by fewer than 100 men.

 

In the early morning hours of March 6, the Mexican Army advanced on the Alamo. After repelling two attacks, the Texians were unable to fend off a third attack. As Mexican soldiers scaled the walls, most of the Texian soldiers withdrew into interior buildings. Defenders unable to reach these points were slain by the Mexican cavalry as they attempted to escape. Between five and seven Texians may have surrendered; if so, they were quickly executed. Most eyewitness accounts reported between 182 and 257 Texians died, while most historians of the Alamo agree that around 600 Mexicans were killed or wounded. Several noncombatants were sent to Gonzales to spread word of the Texian defeat. The news sparked both a strong rush to join the Texian army and a panic, known as "The Runaway Scrape", in which the Texian army, most settlers, and the new Republic of Texas government fled eastward toward the United States ahead of the advancing Mexican Army.

 

Within Mexico, the battle has often been overshadowed by events from the Mexican–American War of 1846–48. In 19th-century Texas, the Alamo complex gradually became known as a battle site rather than a former mission. The Texas Legislature purchased the land and buildings in the early part of the 20th century and designated the Alamo chapel as an official Texas State Shrine. The Alamo has been the subject of numerous non-fiction works beginning in 1843. Most Americans, however, are more familiar with the myths and legends spread by many of the movie and television adaptations,[5] including the 1950s Disney mini-series Davy Crockett and John Wayne's 1960 film The Alamo.

 

Background

Further information: Mexican Texas and Texas Revolution

Under President Antonio López de Santa Anna, the Mexican government began to shift away from a federalist model. The increasingly dictatorial policies, including the revocation of the Constitution of 1824 in early 1835, incited many federalists to revolt.[6] The border region of Mexican Texas was largely populated by immigrants from the United States. These people were accustomed to a federalist government and to extensive individual rights, and they were quite vocal in their displeasure at Mexico's shift towards centralism.[7] Already suspicious after previous American attempts to purchase Mexican Texas,[8] Mexican authorities blamed much of the Texian unrest on American immigrants, most of whom had made little effort to adapt to the Mexican culture.[9]

 

In October, Texians engaged Mexican troops in the first official battle of the Texas Revolution.[10] Determined to quell the rebellion, Santa Anna began assembling a large force, the Army of Operations in Texas, to restore order.[11] Most of his soldiers were raw recruits,[12] and a large number had been forcibly conscripted.[13]

 

A sprawling complex of buildings with low walls sits in a shallow valley overlooked by rolling hills.

The Fall of the Alamo, painted by Theodore Gentilz in 1844, depicts the Alamo complex from the south. The Low Barracks, the chapel, and the wooden palisade connecting them are in the foreground.

The Texians systematically defeated the Mexican troops already stationed in Texas. The last group of Mexican soldiers in the region—commanded by Santa Anna's brother-in-law, General Martín Perfecto de Cos—surrendered on December 9 following the siege of Béxar.[10] By this point, the Texian Army was dominated by very recent arrivals to the region, primarily adventurers from the United States. Many Texas settlers, unprepared for a long campaign, had returned home.[14] Angered by what he perceived to be American interference in Mexican affairs, Santa Anna spearheaded a resolution classifying foreigners found fighting in Texas as pirates. The resolution effectively banned the taking of prisoners of war: in this period of time, captured pirates were executed immediately.[14][15] Santa Anna reiterated this message in a strongly worded letter to United States President Andrew Jackson. This letter was not widely distributed, and it is unlikely that most of the American recruits serving in the Texian Army were aware that there would be no prisoners of war.[16]

 

When Mexican troops departed San Antonio de Béxar (now San Antonio, Texas, USA) Texian soldiers established a garrison at the Alamo Mission, a former Spanish religious outpost which had been converted to a makeshift fort by the recently expelled Mexican Army.[17] Described by Santa Anna as an "irregular fortification hardly worthy of the name",[17] the Alamo had been designed to withstand an attack by native tribes, not an artillery-equipped army.[18] The complex sprawled across 3 acres (1.2 ha), providing almost 1,320 feet (400 m) of perimeter to defend.[19] An interior plaza was bordered on the east by the chapel and to the south by a one-story building known as the Low Barracks.[20] A wooden palisade stretched between these two buildings.[21] The two-story Long Barracks extended north from the chapel.[20] At the northern corner of the east wall stood a cattle pen and horse corral.[22] The walls surrounding the complex were at least 2.75 feet (0.84 m) thick and ranged from 9–12 ft (2.7–3.7 m) high.[23][Note 1]

 

To compensate for the lack of firing ports, Texian engineer Green B. Jameson constructed catwalks to allow defenders to fire over the walls; this method, however, left the rifleman's upper body exposed.[19] Mexican forces had left behind 19 cannons, which Jameson installed along the walls. A large 18-pounder had arrived in Texas with the New Orleans Greys. Jameson positioned this cannon in the southwest corner of the compound. He boasted to Texian Army commander Sam Houston that the Texians could "whip 10 to 1 with our artillery".[24]

 

The Texian garrison was woefully undermanned and underprovisioned, with fewer than 100 soldiers remaining by January 6, 1836.[25] Colonel James C. Neill, the acting Alamo commander, wrote to the provisional government: "If there has ever been a dollar here I have no knowledge of it".[25] Neill requested additional troops and supplies, stressing that the garrison was likely to be unable to withstand a siege lasting longer than four days.[25][26] The Texian government was in turmoil and unable to provide much assistance.[27][Note 2] Four different men claimed to have been given command over the entire army:[Note 3] on January 14, Neill approached one of them, Sam Houston, for assistance in gathering supplies, clothing, and ammunition.[27]

 

Prelude to battle

Three-quarter portrait of a young clean-shaven man with long sideburns and a widow's peak hairline. His arms are crossed.

James Bowie arrived at the Alamo Mission on January 19 with orders to destroy the complex. He instead became the garrison's co-commander.

Houston could not spare the number of men necessary to mount a successful defense.[28] Instead, he sent Colonel James Bowie with 30 men to remove the artillery from the Alamo and destroy the complex.[27][Note 4] Bowie was unable to transport the artillery since the Alamo garrison lacked the necessary draft animals. Neill soon persuaded Bowie that the location held strategic importance.[29] In a letter to Governor Henry Smith, Bowie argued that "the salvation of Texas depends in great measure on keeping Béxar out of the hands of the enemy. It serves as the frontier picquet guard, and if it were in the possession of Santa Anna, there is no stronghold from which to repel him in his march towards the Sabine."[30][Note 5] The letter to Smith ended, "Colonel Neill and myself have come to the solemn resolution that we will rather die in these ditches than give it up to the enemy."[30] Bowie also wrote to the provisional government, asking for "men, money, rifles, and cannon powder".[30] Few reinforcements were authorized; cavalry officer William B. Travis arrived in Béxar with 30 men on February 3. Five days later, a small group of volunteers arrived, including the famous frontiersman and former U.S. Congressman David Crockett of Tennessee.[31]

 

Lithograph depicting head and shoulders of a middle-aged, clean-shaven man wearing an ostentatious military uniform.

General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna led Mexican troops into Texas in 1836.

On February 11, Neill left the Alamo, determined to recruit additional reinforcements and gather supplies.[32][33] He transferred command to Travis, the highest-ranking regular army officer in the garrison.[30] Volunteers comprised much of the garrison, and they were unwilling to accept Travis as their leader.[Note 6] The men instead elected Bowie, who had a reputation as a fierce fighter, as their commander. Bowie celebrated by getting very intoxicated and creating havoc in Béxar. To mitigate the resulting ill feelings, Bowie agreed to share command with Travis.[33][34][35]

 

As the Texians struggled to find men and supplies, Santa Anna continued to gather men at San Luis Potosi; by the end of 1835 his army numbered 6,019 soldiers.[36] Rather than advance along the coast, where supplies and reinforcements could be easily delivered by sea, Santa Anna ordered his army inland to Béxar, the political center of Texas and the site of Cos's defeat.[36] The army began its march north in late December.[36] Officers used the long journey to train the men. Many of the new recruits did not know how to use the sights of their guns, and many refused to fire from the shoulder because of the large recoil.[37]

 

Progress was slow. There were not enough mules to transport all of the supplies, and many of the teamsters, all civilians, quit when their pay was delayed. The large number of soldaderas – women and children who followed the army – consumed much of the already scarce supplies. The soldiers were soon reduced to partial rations.[38] On February 12 they crossed the Rio Grande.[39][Note 7] Temperatures in Texas reached record lows, and by February 13 an estimated 15–16 inches (38–41 cm) of snow had fallen. Hypothermia, dysentery, and Comanche raiding parties took a heavy toll on the Mexican soldiers.[40]

 

On February 21, Santa Anna and his vanguard reached the banks of the Medina River, 25 miles (40 km) from Béxar.[41][42] Unaware of the Mexican Army's proximity, the majority of the Alamo garrison joined Béxar residents at a fiesta.[43][Note 8] After learning of the planned celebration, Santa Anna ordered General Joaquín Ramírez y Sesma to immediately seize the unprotected Alamo, but sudden rains halted that raid.[42]

 

Siege

Main articles: Siege of the Alamo and List of Alamo defenders

Investment

In the early hours of February 23, residents began fleeing Béxar, fearing the Mexican army's imminent arrival. Although unconvinced by the reports, Travis stationed a soldier in the San Fernando church bell tower, the highest location in town, to watch for signs of an approaching force. Several hours later, Texian scouts reported seeing Mexican troops 1.5 miles (2.4 km) outside the town.[43] Few arrangements had been made for a potential siege. One group of Texians scrambled to herd cattle into the Alamo, while others scrounged for food in the recently abandoned houses.[44] Several members of the garrison who had been living in town brought their families with them when they reported to the Alamo. Among these were Almaron Dickinson, who brought his wife Susanna and their infant daughter Angelina; Bowie, who was accompanied by his deceased wife's cousins, Gertrudis Navarro and Juana Navarro Alsbury, and Alsbury's young son;[45] and Gregorio Esparza, whose family climbed through the window of the Alamo chapel after the Mexican army arrived.[46] Other members of the garrison failed to report for duty; most of the men working outside Béxar did not try to sneak past Mexican lines.[47]

 

I reply to you, according to the order of His Excellency, that the Mexican army cannot come to terms under any conditions with rebellious foreigners to whom there is no recourse left, if they wish to save their lives, than to place themselves immediately at the disposal of the Supreme Government from whom alone they may expect clemency after some considerations.

response of José Bartres to Texian requests for an honorable surrender, as quoted in the journal of Juan Almonte[48]

By late afternoon Béxar was occupied by about 1,500 Mexican soldiers.[49] When the Mexican troops raised a blood-red flag signifying no quarter, Travis responded with a blast from the Alamo's largest cannon.[50] Believing that Travis had acted hastily, Bowie sent Jameson to meet with Santa Anna.[48] Travis was angered that Bowie had acted unilaterally and sent his own representative, Captain Albert Martin.[51] Both emissaries met with Colonel Juan Almonte and José Bartres. According to Almonte, the Texians asked for an honorable surrender but were informed that any surrender must be unconditional.[48] On learning this, Bowie and Travis mutually agreed to fire the cannon again.[51][Note 9]

 

Skirmishes

The first night of the siege was relatively quiet.[52] Over the next few days, Mexican soldiers established artillery batteries, initially about 1,000 feet (300 m) from the south and east walls of the Alamo.[53] A third battery was positioned southeast of the fort. Each night the batteries inched closer to the Alamo walls.[54] During the first week of the siege more than 200 cannonballs landed in the Alamo plaza. At first, the Texians matched Mexican artillery fire, often reusing the Mexican cannonballs.[55][56] On February 26 Travis ordered the artillery to conserve powder and shot.[55]

 

Two notable events occurred on Wednesday, February 24. At some point that day, Bowie collapsed from illness,[57] leaving Travis in sole command of the garrison.[57] Late that afternoon, two Mexican scouts became the first fatalities of the siege.[58][Note 9] The following morning, 200–300 Mexican soldiers crossed the San Antonio River and took cover in abandoned shacks near the Alamo walls.[54][58][59] Several Texians ventured out to burn the huts[59] while Texians within the Alamo provided cover fire.[60][61] After a two-hour skirmish, the Mexican troops retreated to Béxar.[54][61] Six Mexican soldiers were killed and four others were wounded.[54] No Texians were injured.[62]

 

A blue norther blew in on February 25, dropping the temperature to 39 °F (4 °C).[55] Neither army was prepared for the cold temperatures.[63] Texian attempts to gather firewood were thwarted by Mexican troops.[55] On the evening of February 26 Colonel Juan Bringas engaged several Texians who were burning more huts.[64] According to historian J.R. Edmondson, one Texian was killed.[65] Four days later, Texians shot and killed Private First Class Secundino Alvarez, a soldier from one of two battalions that Santa Anna had stationed on two sides of the Alamo. By March 1, the number of Mexican casualties were nine dead and four wounded, while the Texian garrison had lost only one man.

 

Reinforcements

I am determined to sustain myself as long as possible & die like a soldier who never forgets what is due to his own honor & that of his country. VICTORY OR DEATH.

excerpt from William B. Travis's letter To the People of Texas & All Americans in the World.[66]

Santa Anna posted one company east of the Alamo, on the road to Gonzales.[54][67] Almonte and 800 dragoons were stationed along the road to Goliad.[68] Throughout the siege these towns had received multiple couriers, dispatched by Travis to plead for reinforcements and supplies.[50][69] The most famous of his missives, written February 24, was addressed To the People of Texas & All Americans in the World. According to historian Mary Deborah Petite, the letter is "considered by many as one of the masterpieces of American patriotism."[70] Copies of the letter were distributed across Texas,[71] and eventually reprinted throughout the United States and much of Europe.[58] At the end of the first day of the siege, Santa Anna's troops were reinforced by 600 men under General Joaquin Ramirez y Sesma, bringing the Mexican army up to more than 2,000 men.

 

As news of the siege spread throughout Texas, potential reinforcements gathered in Gonzales. They hoped to rendezvous with Colonel James Fannin, who was expected to arrive from Goliad with his garrison.[72] On February 26, after days of indecision, Fannin ordered 320 men, four cannons, and several supply wagons to march towards the Alamo, 90 miles (140 km) away. This group traveled less than 1.0 mile (1.6 km) before turning back.[73][74] Fannin blamed the retreat on his officers; the officers and enlisted men accused Fannin of aborting the mission.[75]

 

Head and shoulders of a clean-shaven man with wavy hair. He wears a simple military jacket, unbuttoned, with a star on the collar.

William B. Travis became sole Texian commander at the Alamo on February 24.

Texians gathered in Gonzales were unaware of Fannin's return to Goliad, and most continued to wait. Impatient with the delay, on February 27 Travis ordered Samuel G. Bastian to go to Gonzales "to hurry up reinforcements".[76] According to historian Thomas Ricks Lindley, Bastian encountered the Gonzales Ranging Company led by Lieutenant George C. Kimble and Travis' courier to Gonzales, Albert Martin, who had tired of waiting for Fannin. A Mexican patrol attacked, driving off four of the men including Bastian.[Note 10][77] In the darkness, the Texians fired on the remaining 32 men, whom they assumed were Mexican soldiers. One man was wounded, and his English curses convinced the defenders to open the gates.[Note 11][78]

 

On March 3, the Texians watched from the walls as approximately 1,000 Mexicans marched into Béxar. The Mexican army celebrated loudly throughout the afternoon, both in honor of their reinforcements and at the news that troops under General José de Urrea had soundly defeated Texian Colonel Frank W. Johnson at the Battle of San Patricio on February 27.[79] Most of the Texians in the Alamo believed that Sesma had been leading the Mexican forces during the siege, and they mistakenly attributed the celebration to the arrival of Santa Anna. The reinforcements brought the number of Mexican soldiers in Béxar to almost 3,100.[80]

 

The arrival of the Mexican reinforcements prompted Travis to send three men, including Davy Crockett, to find Fannin's force, which he still believed to be en route.[81] The scouts discovered a large group of Texians camped 20 miles (32 km) from the Alamo.[82] Lindley's research indicates that up to 50 of these men had come from Goliad after Fannin's aborted rescue mission. The others had left Gonzales several days earlier.[83] Just before daylight on March 4, part of the Texian force broke through Mexican lines and entered the Alamo. Mexican soldiers drove a second group across the prairie.[82][Note 12]

 

Assault preparations

On March 4, the day after his reinforcements arrived, Santa Anna proposed an assault on the Alamo. Many of his senior officers recommended that they wait for two 12-pounder cannons anticipated to arrive on March 7.[84] That evening, a local woman, likely Bowie's cousin-in-law Juana Navarro Alsbury, approached Santa Anna to negotiate a surrender for the Alamo defenders.[85] According to many historians, this visit probably increased Santa Anna's impatience; as historian Timothy Todish noted, "there would have been little glory in a bloodless victory".[86] The following morning, Santa Anna announced to his staff that the assault would take place early on March 6. Santa Anna arranged for troops from Béxar to be excused from the front lines so that they would not be forced to fight their own families.[86]

 

Legend holds that at some point on March 5, Travis gathered his men and explained that an attack was imminent, and that they were greatly outnumbered by the Mexican Army. He supposedly drew a line in the ground and asked those willing to die for the Texian cause to cross and stand alongside him; only one man (Moses Rose) was said to have declined.[87] Most scholars disregard this tale as there is no primary source evidence to support it (the story only surfaced decades after the battle in a third-hand account).[88] However, Travis apparently did, at some point prior to the final assault, assemble the men for a conference to inform them of the dire situation and giving them the chance to either escape or stay and die for the cause. Susannah Dickinson recalled Travis announcing that any men who wished to escape should let it be known and step out of ranks.[89]

 

The last Texian verified to have left the Alamo was James Allen, a courier who carried personal messages from Travis and several of the other men on March 5.[90]

 

Final assault

Exterior fighting

Initial Mexican troop deployment[91][92]

CommanderTroopsEquipment

Cos35010 ladders

2 crowbars

2 axes

Duque/Castrillón40010 ladders

Romero4006 ladders

Morales1252 ladders

Sesma500 cavalry

Santa Anna400 reserves

At 10 p.m. on March 5, the Mexican artillery ceased their bombardment. As Santa Anna had anticipated, the exhausted Texians soon fell into the first uninterrupted sleep many of them had since the siege began.[93] Just after midnight, more than 2,000 Mexican soldiers began preparing for the final assault.[94] Fewer than 1,800 were divided into four columns, commanded by Cos, Colonel Francisco Duque, Colonel José María Romero and Colonel Juan Morales.[91][92] Veterans were positioned on the outside of the columns to better control the new recruits and conscripts in the middle.[95] As a precaution, 500 Mexican cavalry were positioned around the Alamo to prevent escape of either Texian or Mexican soldiers. Santa Anna remained in camp with the 400 reserves.[92][96] Despite the bitter cold, the soldiers were ordered not to wear overcoats which could impede their movements.[92] Clouds concealed the moon and thus the movements of the soldiers.[97]

 

At 5:30 a.m. troops silently advanced. Cos and his men approached the northwest corner of the Alamo,[95] while Duque led his men from the northwest towards a repaired breach in the Alamo's north wall.[98] The column commanded by Romero marched towards the east wall, and Morales's column aimed for the low parapet by the chapel.[98]

 

The three Texian sentinels stationed outside the walls were killed in their sleep,[99][100] allowing Mexican soldiers to approach undetected within musket range of the walls.[99] At this point, the silence was broken by shouts of "¡Viva Santa Anna!" and music from the buglers.[94] The noise woke the Texians.[100] Most of the noncombatants gathered in the church sacristy for safety.[101] Travis rushed to his post yelling, "Come on boys, the Mexicans are upon us and we'll give them hell!"[99] and, as he passed a group of Tejanos, "¡No rendirse, muchachos!" ("Don't surrender, boys").[93]

 

A manuscript map with a diagram of the Alamo complex. Mexican artillery are shown positioned at the northwest, southwest, and south with their projected trajectory reaching all of the north, west, and south walls.

This plan of the Alamo was created by José Juan Sánchez-Navarro in 1836. Places marked R and V denote Mexican cannon; position S indicates Cos's forces.

In the initial moments of the assault, Mexican troops were at a disadvantage. Their column formation allowed only the front rows of soldiers to fire safely.[102] Unaware of the dangers, the untrained recruits in the ranks "blindly fir[ed] their guns", injuring or killing the troops in front of them.[103] The tight concentration of troops also offered an excellent target for the Texian artillery.[102] Lacking canister shot, Texians filled their cannon with any metal they could find, including door hinges, nails, and chopped-up horseshoes, essentially turning the cannon into giant shotguns.[99] According to the diary of José Enrique de la Peña, "a single cannon volley did away with half the company of chasseurs from Toluca".[104] Duque fell from his horse after suffering a wound in his thigh and was almost trampled by his own men. General Manuel Castrillón quickly assumed command of Duque's column.[22]

 

Although some in the front of the Mexican ranks wavered, soldiers in the rear pushed them on.[102] As the troops massed against the walls, Texians were forced to lean over the walls to shoot, leaving them exposed to Mexican fire. Travis became one of the first defenders to die, shot while firing his shotgun into the soldiers below him, though one source says that he drew his sword and stabbed a Mexican officer who had stormed the wall before succumbing to his injury.[102] Few of the Mexican ladders reached the walls.[105] The few soldiers who were able to climb the ladders were quickly killed or beaten back. As the Texians discharged their previously loaded rifles, however, they found it increasingly difficult to reload while attempting to keep Mexican soldiers from scaling the walls.[22]

 

Mexican soldiers withdrew and regrouped, but their second attack was repulsed. Fifteen minutes into the battle, they attacked a third time.[22][102] During the third strike, Romero's column, aiming for the east wall, was exposed to cannon fire and shifted to the north, mingling with the second column.[22] Cos' column, under fire from Texians on the west wall, also veered north.[106] When Santa Anna saw that the bulk of his army was massed against the north wall, he feared a rout; "panicked", he sent the reserves into the same area.[107] The Mexican soldiers closest to the north wall realized that the makeshift wall contained many gaps and toeholds. One of the first to scale the 12-foot (3.7 m) wall was General Juan Amador; at his challenge, his men began swarming up the wall. Amador opened the postern in the north wall, allowing Mexican soldiers to pour into the complex.[105] Others climbed through gun ports in the west wall, which had few defenders.[108] As the Texian defenders abandoned the north wall and the northern end of the west wall,[105][108] Texian gunners at the south end of the mission turned their cannon towards the north and fired into the advancing Mexican soldiers. This left the south end of the mission unprotected; within minutes Mexican soldiers had climbed the walls and killed the gunners, gaining control of the Alamo's 18-pounder cannon.[97] By this time Romero's men had taken the east wall of the compound and were pouring in through the cattle pen.[108]

 

Interior fighting

Great God, Sue, the Mexicans are inside our walls! If they spare you, save my child

Last words of Texian defender Almaron Dickinson to his wife Susanna as he prepared to defend the chapel.[106]

As previously planned, most of the Texians fell back to the barracks and the chapel. Holes had been carved in the walls to allow the Texians to fire.[106] Unable to reach the barracks, Texians stationed along the west wall headed west for the San Antonio River. When the cavalry charged, the Texians took cover and began firing from a ditch. Sesma was forced to send reinforcements, and the Texians were eventually killed. Sesma reported that this skirmish involved 50 Texians, but Edmondson believes that number was inflated.[109]

 

The defenders in the cattle pen retreated into the horse corral. After discharging their weapons, the small band of Texians scrambled over the low wall, circled behind the church and raced on foot for the east prairie, which appeared empty.[106][108][110] As the Mexican cavalry advanced on the group, Almaron Dickinson and his artillery crew turned a cannon around and fired into the cavalry, probably inflicting casualties. Nevertheless, all of the escaping Texians were killed.[110]

 

A man in buckskin clothes holds a rifle over his head. He is surrounded by dead soldiers.

The Fall of the Alamo (1903) by Robert Jenkins Onderdonk, depicts Davy Crockett wielding his rifle as a club against Mexican troops who have breached the walls of the mission.

The last Texian group to remain in the open were Crockett and his men, defending the low wall in front of the church. Unable to reload, they used their rifles as clubs and fought with knives. After a volley of fire and a wave of Mexican bayonets, the few remaining Texians in this group fell back towards the church.[109] The Mexican army now controlled all of the outer walls and the interior of the Alamo compound except for the church and rooms along the east and west walls.[111] Mexican soldiers turned their attention to a Texian flag waving from the roof of one building. Four Mexicans were killed before the flag of Mexico was raised in that location.[Note 13][112]

 

For the next hour, the Mexican army worked to secure complete control of the Alamo.[113] Many of the remaining defenders were ensconced in the fortified barracks rooms.[114] In the confusion, the Texians had neglected to spike their cannon before retreating. Mexican soldiers turned the cannon towards the barracks.[105] As each door was blown off Mexican soldiers would fire a volley of muskets into the dark room, then charge in for hand-to-hand combat.[114]

  

A knife purportedly used by Davy Crockett during the Battle of the Alamo

Too sick to participate in the battle, Bowie likely died in bed. Eyewitnesses to the battle gave conflicting accounts of his death. Some witnesses maintained that they saw several Mexican soldiers enter Bowie's room, bayonet him, and carry him alive from the room.[115] Others claimed that Bowie shot himself or was killed by soldiers while too weak to lift his head.[116] According to historian Wallace Chariton, the "most popular, and probably the most accurate"[117] version is that Bowie died on his cot, "back braced against the wall, and using his pistols and his famous knife."[116]

 

The last of the Texians to die were the 11 men manning the two 12-pounder cannons in the chapel.[112][118] A shot from the 18-pounder cannon destroyed the barricades at the front of the church, and Mexican soldiers entered the building after firing an initial musket volley. Dickinson's crew fired their cannon from the apse into the Mexican soldiers at the door. With no time to reload, the Texians, including Dickinson, Gregorio Esparza and James Bonham, grabbed rifles and fired before being bayoneted to death.[119] Texian Robert Evans, the master of ordnance, had been tasked with keeping the gunpowder from falling into Mexican hands. Wounded, he crawled towards the powder magazine but was killed by a musket ball with his torch only inches from the powder.[119] Had he succeeded, the blast would have destroyed the church and killed the women and children hiding in the sacristy.[120]

 

As soldiers approached the sacristy, one of the young sons of defender Anthony Wolf stood to pull a blanket over his shoulders.[119] In the dark, Mexican soldiers mistook him for an adult and killed him.[Note 14][121] Possibly the last Texian to die in battle was Jacob Walker,[122] who attempted to hide behind Susannah Dickinson and was bayoneted in front of the women.[123] Another Texian, Brigido Guerrero, also sought refuge in the sacristy.[119] Guerrero, who had deserted from the Mexican Army in December 1835, was spared after convincing the soldiers he was a Texian prisoner.[121][124]

 

By 6:30 a.m. the battle for the Alamo was over.[123] Mexican soldiers inspected each corpse, bayoneting any body that moved.[121] Even with all of the Texians dead, Mexican soldiers continued to shoot, some killing each other in the confusion. Mexican generals were unable to stop the bloodlust and appealed to Santa Anna for help. Although the general showed himself, the violence continued and the buglers were finally ordered to sound a retreat. For 15 minutes after that, soldiers continued to fire into dead bodies.[125]

 

Aftermath

Casualties

A white marble coffin sits on a ledge in front of stained glass windows. On the front of the coffin is a large 5-pointed star. Engraved within the star are the words "Texas Heroes" and small images of three men.

A crypt in the San Fernando Cathedral purports to hold the ashes of the Alamo defenders. Historians believe it is more likely that the ashes were buried near the Alamo.

According to many accounts of the battle, between five and seven Texians surrendered.[Note 15][126][127] Incensed that his orders had been ignored, Santa Anna demanded the immediate execution of the survivors.[128] Weeks after the battle, stories circulated that Crockett was among those who surrendered.[127] However, Ben, a former American slave who cooked for one of Santa Anna's officers, maintained that Crockett's body was found surrounded by "no less than sixteen Mexican corpses".[129] Historians disagree on which version of Crockett's death is accurate.[Note 16][130]

 

Santa Anna reportedly told Captain Fernando Urizza that the battle "was but a small affair".[131] Another officer then remarked that "with another such victory as this, we'll go to the devil".[Note 17][2] In his initial report Santa Anna claimed that 600 Texians had been killed, with only 70 Mexican soldiers killed and 300 wounded.[132] His secretary, Ramón Martínez Caro, later repudiated the report.[133] Other estimates of the number of Mexican soldiers killed ranged from 60–200, with an additional 250–300 wounded.[2] Most Alamo historians place the number of Mexican casualties at 400–600.[2][3][4] This would represent about one-third of the Mexican soldiers involved in the final assault, which Todish remarks is "a tremendous casualty rate by any standards".[2] Most eyewitnesses counted between 182–257 Texians killed.[134] Some historians believe that at least one Texian, Henry Warnell, successfully escaped from the battle. Warnell died several months later of wounds incurred either during the final battle or during his escape as a courier.[135][136]

 

Mexican soldiers were buried in the local cemetery, Campo Santo.[Note 18][132] Shortly after the battle, Colonel José Juan Sanchez Navarro proposed that a monument should be erected to the fallen Mexican soldiers. Cos rejected the idea.[137]

 

The Texian bodies were stacked and burned.[Note 19][132] The only exception was the body of Gregorio Esparza. His brother Francisco, an officer in Santa Anna's army, received permission to give Gregorio a proper burial.[132] The ashes were left where they fell until February 1837, when Juan Seguín returned to Béxar to examine the remains. A simple coffin inscribed with the names Travis, Crockett, and Bowie was filled with ashes from the funeral pyres.[138] According to a March 28, 1837, article in the Telegraph and Texas Register,[139] Seguín buried the coffin under a peach tree grove. The spot was not marked and cannot now be identified.[140] Seguín later claimed that he had placed the coffin in front of the altar at the San Fernando Cathedral. In July 1936 a coffin was discovered buried in that location, but according to historian Wallace Chariton, it is unlikely to actually contain the remains of the Alamo defenders. Fragments of uniforms were found in the coffin, and it is known that the Alamo defenders did not wear uniforms.[139]

 

Texian survivors

Main article: List of Texian survivors of the Battle of the Alamo

Portrait of an unsmiling, middle-aged woman in a voluminous dress. Her hair is piled on the back of her head, with ringlets near her ears. She holds a fan in her hands.

Susanna Dickinson survived the Battle of the Alamo. Santa Anna sent her to spread word of the Texian defeat to the Texas colonists.

In an attempt to convince other slaves in Texas to support the Mexican government over the Texian rebellion, Santa Anna spared Travis' slave, Joe.[141] The day after the battle, he interviewed each noncombatant individually. Impressed with Susanna Dickinson, Santa Anna offered to adopt her infant daughter Angelina and have the child educated in Mexico City. Dickinson refused the offer, which was not extended to Juana Navarro Alsbury although her son was of similar age.[2] Each woman was given a blanket and two silver pesos.[142] Alsbury and the other Tejano women were allowed to return to their homes in Béxar; Dickinson, her daughter and Joe were sent to Gonzales, escorted by Ben. They were encouraged to relate the events of the battle, and to inform the remainder of the Texian forces that Santa Anna's army was unbeatable.[2]

 

Impact on revolution

During the siege, newly elected delegates from across Texas met at the Convention of 1836. On March 2, the delegates declared independence, forming the Republic of Texas. Four days later, the delegates at the convention received a dispatch Travis had written March 3 warning of his dire situation. Unaware that the Alamo had fallen, Robert Potter called for the convention to adjourn and march immediately to relieve the Alamo. Sam Houston convinced the delegates to remain in Washington-on-the-Brazos to develop a constitution. After being appointed sole commander of all Texian troops, Houston journeyed to Gonzales to take command of the 400 volunteers who were still waiting for Fannin to lead them to the Alamo.[143]

 

Within hours of Houston's arrival on March 11, Andres Barcenas and Anselmo Bergaras arrived with news that the Alamo had fallen and all Texians were slain.[144] Hoping to halt a panic, Houston arrested the men as enemy spies. They were released hours later when Susannah Dickinson and Joe reached Gonzales and confirmed the report.[145] Realizing that the Mexican army would soon advance towards the Texian settlements, Houston advised all civilians in the area to evacuate and ordered his new army to retreat.[146] This sparked a mass exodus, known as the Runaway Scrape, and most Texians, including members of the new government, fled east.[147]

 

Despite their losses at the Alamo, the Mexican army in Texas still outnumbered the Texian army by almost six to one.[148] Santa Anna assumed that knowledge of the disparity in troop numbers and the fate of the Texian soldiers at the Alamo would quell the resistance,[149] and that Texian soldiers would quickly leave the territory.[150] News of the Alamo's fall had the opposite effect, however, and men flocked to join Houston's army.[149] The New York Post editorialized that "had [Santa Anna] treated the vanquished with moderation and generosity, it would have been difficult if not impossible to awaken that general sympathy for the people of Texas which now impels so many adventurous and ardent spirits to throng to the aid of their brethren".[151]

 

On the afternoon of April 21 the Texian army attacked Santa Anna's camp near Lynchburg Ferry. The Mexican army was taken by surprise, and the Battle of San Jacinto was essentially over after 18 minutes. During the fighting, many of the Texian soldiers repeatedly cried "Remember the Alamo!" as they slaughtered fleeing Mexican troops.[152] Santa Anna was captured the following day, and reportedly told Houston: "That man may consider himself born to no common destiny who has conquered the Napoleon of the West. And now it remains for him to be generous to the vanquished." Houston replied, "You should have remembered that at the Alamo". Santa Anna's life was spared, and he was forced to order his troops out of Texas, ending Mexican control of the province and bestowing some legitimacy on the new republic.[153]

 

Following the battle, Santa Anna was alternately viewed as a national hero or a pariah. Mexican perceptions of the battle often mirrored the prevailing viewpoint.[154] Santa Anna had been disgraced following his capture at the Battle of San Jacinto, and many Mexican accounts of the battle were written by men who had been, or had become, his outspoken critics. Petite and many other historians believe that some of the stories, such as the execution of Crockett, may have been invented to further discredit Santa Anna.[130] In Mexican history, the Texas campaign, including the Battle of the Alamo, was soon overshadowed by the Mexican–American War of 1846–48.[154]

 

In San Antonio de Béxar, the largely Tejano population viewed the Alamo complex as more than just a battle site; it represented decades of assistance—as a mission, a hospital, or a military post.[155] As the English-speaking population increased, the complex became best known for the battle. Focus has centered primarily on the Texian defenders, with little emphasis given to the role of the Tejano soldiers who served in the Texian army or the actions of the Mexican army.[156] In the early 20th century the Texas Legislature purchased the property and appointed the Daughters of the Republic of Texas as permanent caretakers[157] of what is now an official state shrine.[158] In front of the church, in the center of Alamo Plaza, stands a cenotaph, designed by Pompeo Coppini, which commemorates the Texians and Tejanos who died during the battle.[159] According to Bill Groneman's Battlefields of Texas, the Alamo has become "the most popular tourist site in Texas".[158]

 

The first English-language histories of the battle were written and published by Texas Ranger and amateur historian John Henry Brown.[160] The next major treatment of the battle was Reuben Potter's The Fall of the Alamo, published in The Magazine of American History in 1878. Potter based his work on interviews with many of the Mexican survivors of the battle.[160][161] The first full-length, non-fiction book covering the battle, John Myers Myers' The Alamo, was published in 1948.[162] In the decades since, the battle has featured prominently in many non-fiction works.

 

According to Todish et al., "there can be little doubt that most Americans have probably formed many of their opinions on what occurred at the Alamo not from books, but from the various movies made about the battle."[163] The first film version of the battle appeared in 1911, when Gaston Méliès directed The Immortal Alamo.[5] The battle became more widely known after it was featured in the 1950s Disney miniseries Davy Crockett, which was largely based on myth.[5] Within several years, John Wayne directed and starred in one of the best-known, but questionably accurate, film versions, 1960's The Alamo.[164][Note 20] Another film also called The Alamo was released in 2004. CNN described it as possibly "the most character-driven of all the movies made on the subject". It is also considered more faithful to the actual events than other movies.[165]

 

A number of songwriters have been inspired by the Battle of the Alamo. Tennessee Ernie Ford's "The Ballad of Davy Crockett" spent 16 weeks on the country music charts, peaking at No. 4 in 1955.[166] Marty Robbins recorded a version of the song "The Ballad of the Alamo" in 1960 which spent 13 weeks on the pop charts, peaking at No. 34.[167] Jane Bowers' song "Remember the Alamo" has been recorded by artists including Johnny Cash[168] and Donovan.[169] Singer-songwriter Phil Collins collected hundreds of items related to the battle, narrated a light and sound show about the Alamo, and has spoken at related events.[170] In 2014 Collins donated his entire collection to the Alamo via the State of Texas.[171][172]

 

The battle also featured in episode 13 of The Time Tunnel, "The Alamo", first aired in 1966.

 

The U.S. Post Office issued two postage stamps in commemoration of Texas Statehood[173] and the Battle of Alamo.[174]

   

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.... even in this unusually cold and wet summer, there is a still harvest. Photo taken at Faccombe, Hampshire. The Faccombe Estate is owned by Arthur Landon, son of the White Sultan of Oman, the mysterious Brigadier Tim Landon, a sort of modern day Lawrence of Arabia, who in 1970 helped to organise a bloodless coup to depose the Sultan in favour of his son and bring the country into the 20th Century. Landon then had a rich patron and was able to buy the village of Faccombe on the Hampshire/Berkshire border. On the left of the photo is a wind turbine, a new one recently installed to replace the original, which was one of the first in Britain, built to generate electricity for the 650 acre farm.

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"U sciccareddu", from the Sicilian "the little donkey", is a pyrotechnical-animal mask, once present in many village feasts in the Messina area, today it is found only in a limited number of centers, among these is the town of Casalvecchio Siculo , a small town in the hinterland in which there is another animal figure, that of the "camiddu", in Sicilian "camel", and of his camel driver (see a photographic story of mine made earlier in this regard). The feast of the "sciccareddu-little donkey" sees a young man of the village wearing a metal supporting structure, on which takes place a whole series of fireworks: this represents with no little imagination the donkey (this year it was the "Camel driver" of the "camiddu-camel"feast which is always celebrated in Casalvecchio); the young man who carries this metal castle on himself, protects himself abundantly from pyrotechnic fires, which form "crazy wheels" in correspondence with the "four limbs", pyrotechnic fires that involve symbolic-ritual suggestions of ambiguous meaning, is the life against death, the light against darkness, the fear and the desire to challenge it, without ever forgetting the horrifying-ancestral aspect of the "beast", which represents the dark unknown evil, which always hovers over people's lives. There are those who have hypothesized that this asinello-monstrous-orrify is a very meek animal too, once very common and omnipresent in the Sicilian districts, so that the fears that it could generate are simultaneously suppressed by being a well-known animal and very meek.

This "sciccareddu-little donkey" with its load of pyrotechnic-crazy fires-bengal fires, and other crackling devilries, challenges and is challenged by all present, young and old coming also from far away, there is who looks but remaining well sheltered, many others instead challenge him, as in a bloodless bullfight, where some unlucky person can receive a few small burns (like myself, who found himself with some small burns in his legs, and a lens-protection filter, it was almost melted-burned in several points, now useless, but withe the lens without problems.....! :o)) .......).

  

“u sciccareddu”, dal siciliano “l’asinello”, è una maschera pirotecnica-animalesca, un tempo presente in molte feste paesane del territorio messinese, oggi la si ritrova solo in un numero limitato di centri, tra questi il paese di Casalvecchio Siculo, piccolo centro dell’entroterra nel quale si trova un’altra figura animalesca, quella del “camiddu”, in siciliano “cammello”, e del suo cammelliere (vedi un mio racconto fotografico fatto in precedenza in merito). La festa dello “sciccareddu-asinello” vede un giovane del paese indossare una struttura portante in metallo, sulla quale prende posto tutta una serie di giochi pirotecnici: questo rappresenta con non poca fantasia l’asinello (quest’anno a dargli vita è stato il “cammelliere” della festa del “camiddu-cammello” che si festeggia sempre a Casalvecchio); il giovane che porta su di se tale castello in metallo, si protegge abbondantemente dai fuochi pirotecnici, che formano delle “ruote pazze” in corrispondenza dei “quattro arti”, fuochi pirotecnici che comportano suggestioni simbolico-rituali dal significato ambiguo, è a vita contro la morte, la luce contro le tenebre, la paura e la voglia di sfidarla, senza mai dimenticare l’aspetto orrifico-ancestrale della “bestia”, che rappresenta l’oscuro ignoto male, che aleggia sempre sulla vita delle persone. C’è chi ha ipotizzato che tale asinello-mostruoso-orrifico è pur sempre un animale molto docile, un tempo comunissimo e onnipresente nelle contrade siciliane, per cui le paure che esso potrebbe generare sono contemporaneamente soppresse dall’essere un animale ben conosciuto ed in definitiva molto docile.

Tale “sciccareddu-asinello” col suo carico di fuochi pirotecnici-girandole pazze-bengala, ed altre diavolerie scoppiettanti, sfida e viene sfidato da tutti i presenti, giovani e meno giovani provenienti anche da lontano, c’è che vuole assitere rimanendo però bene al riparo, molti altri invece lo sfidano, come in una corrida incruenta, dove qualche malcapitato può rimediare qualche piccola bruciatura (come il sottoscritto, che si è ritrovato con qualche piccola bruciatura alle gambe, ed un filtro proteggi-obiettivo che, me ne accorsi successivamente, era quasi fuso-bruciato in più punti, oramai inservibile, con l’obiettivo però salvo….! :o)) …).

  

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click to activate the icon of slideshow: the small triangle inscribed in the small rectangle, at the top right, in the photostream;

 

clicca sulla piccola icona per attivare lo slideshow: sulla facciata principale del photostream, in alto a destra c'è un piccolo rettangolo (rappresenta il monitor) con dentro un piccolo triangolo nero;

 

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"U sciccareddu", from the Sicilian "the little donkey", is a pyrotechnical-animal mask, once present in many village feasts in the Messina area, today it is found only in a limited number of centers, among these is the town of Casalvecchio Siculo , a small town in the hinterland in which there is another animal figure, that of the "camiddu", in Sicilian "camel", and of his camel driver (see a photographic story of mine made earlier in this regard). The feast of the "sciccareddu-little donkey" sees a young man of the village wearing a metal supporting structure, on which takes place a whole series of fireworks: this represents with no little imagination the donkey (this year it was the "Camel driver" of the "camiddu-camel"feast which is always celebrated in Casalvecchio); the young man who carries this metal castle on himself, protects himself abundantly from pyrotechnic fires, which form "crazy wheels" in correspondence with the "four limbs", pyrotechnic fires that involve symbolic-ritual suggestions of ambiguous meaning, is the life against death, the light against darkness, the fear and the desire to challenge it, without ever forgetting the horrifying-ancestral aspect of the "beast", which represents the dark unknown evil, which always hovers over people's lives. There are those who have hypothesized that this asinello-monstrous-orrify is a very meek animal too, once very common and omnipresent in the Sicilian districts, so that the fears that it could generate are simultaneously suppressed by being a well-known animal and very meek.

This "sciccareddu-little donkey" with its load of pyrotechnic-crazy fires-bengal fires, and other crackling devilries, challenges and is challenged by all present, young and old coming also from far away, there is who looks but remaining well sheltered, many others instead challenge him, as in a bloodless bullfight, where some unlucky person can receive a few small burns (like myself, who found himself with some small burns in his legs, and a lens-protection filter, it was almost melted-burned in several points, now useless, but withe the lens without problems.....! :o)) .......).

  

“u sciccareddu”, dal siciliano “l’asinello”, è una maschera pirotecnica-animalesca, un tempo presente in molte feste paesane del territorio messinese, oggi la si ritrova solo in un numero limitato di centri, tra questi il paese di Casalvecchio Siculo, piccolo centro dell’entroterra nel quale si trova un’altra figura animalesca, quella del “camiddu”, in siciliano “cammello”, e del suo cammelliere (vedi un mio racconto fotografico fatto in precedenza in merito). La festa dello “sciccareddu-asinello” vede un giovane del paese indossare una struttura portante in metallo, sulla quale prende posto tutta una serie di giochi pirotecnici: questo rappresenta con non poca fantasia l’asinello (quest’anno a dargli vita è stato il “cammelliere” della festa del “camiddu-cammello” che si festeggia sempre a Casalvecchio); il giovane che porta su di se tale castello in metallo, si protegge abbondantemente dai fuochi pirotecnici, che formano delle “ruote pazze” in corrispondenza dei “quattro arti”, fuochi pirotecnici che comportano suggestioni simbolico-rituali dal significato ambiguo, è a vita contro la morte, la luce contro le tenebre, la paura e la voglia di sfidarla, senza mai dimenticare l’aspetto orrifico-ancestrale della “bestia”, che rappresenta l’oscuro ignoto male, che aleggia sempre sulla vita delle persone. C’è chi ha ipotizzato che tale asinello-mostruoso-orrifico è pur sempre un animale molto docile, un tempo comunissimo e onnipresente nelle contrade siciliane, per cui le paure che esso potrebbe generare sono contemporaneamente soppresse dall’essere un animale ben conosciuto ed in definitiva molto docile.

Tale “sciccareddu-asinello” col suo carico di fuochi pirotecnici-girandole pazze-bengala, ed altre diavolerie scoppiettanti, sfida e viene sfidato da tutti i presenti, giovani e meno giovani provenienti anche da lontano, c’è che vuole assitere rimanendo però bene al riparo, molti altri invece lo sfidano, come in una corrida incruenta, dove qualche malcapitato può rimediare qualche piccola bruciatura (come il sottoscritto, che si è ritrovato con qualche piccola bruciatura alle gambe, ed un filtro proteggi-obiettivo che, me ne accorsi successivamente, era quasi fuso-bruciato in più punti, oramai inservibile, con l’obiettivo però salvo….! :o)) …).

  

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click to activate the icon of slideshow: the small triangle inscribed in the small rectangle, at the top right, in the photostream;

 

clicca sulla piccola icona per attivare lo slideshow: sulla facciata principale del photostream, in alto a destra c'è un piccolo rettangolo (rappresenta il monitor) con dentro un piccolo triangolo nero;

 

Qi Bo's photos on Fluidr

  

Qi Bo's photos on Flickriver

  

Qi Bo's photos on Flickr Hive Mind

  

www.fotografidigitali.it/gallery/2726/opere-italiane-segn...

  

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"U sciccareddu", from the Sicilian "the little donkey", is a pyrotechnical-animal mask, once present in many village feasts in the Messina area, today it is found only in a limited number of centers, among these is the town of Casalvecchio Siculo , a small town in the hinterland in which there is another animal figure, that of the "camiddu", in Sicilian "camel", and of his camel driver (see a photographic story of mine made earlier in this regard). The feast of the "sciccareddu-little donkey" sees a young man of the village wearing a metal supporting structure, on which takes place a whole series of fireworks: this represents with no little imagination the donkey (this year it was the "Camel driver" of the "camiddu-camel"feast which is always celebrated in Casalvecchio); the young man who carries this metal castle on himself, protects himself abundantly from pyrotechnic fires, which form "crazy wheels" in correspondence with the "four limbs", pyrotechnic fires that involve symbolic-ritual suggestions of ambiguous meaning, is the life against death, the light against darkness, the fear and the desire to challenge it, without ever forgetting the horrifying-ancestral aspect of the "beast", which represents the dark unknown evil, which always hovers over people's lives. There are those who have hypothesized that this asinello-monstrous-orrify is a very meek animal too, once very common and omnipresent in the Sicilian districts, so that the fears that it could generate are simultaneously suppressed by being a well-known animal and very meek.

This "sciccareddu-little donkey" with its load of pyrotechnic-crazy fires-bengal fires, and other crackling devilries, challenges and is challenged by all present, young and old coming also from far away, there is who looks but remaining well sheltered, many others instead challenge him, as in a bloodless bullfight, where some unlucky person can receive a few small burns (like myself, who found himself with some small burns in his legs, and a lens-protection filter, it was almost melted-burned in several points, now useless, but withe the lens without problems.....! :o)) .......).

  

“u sciccareddu”, dal siciliano “l’asinello”, è una maschera pirotecnica-animalesca, un tempo presente in molte feste paesane del territorio messinese, oggi la si ritrova solo in un numero limitato di centri, tra questi il paese di Casalvecchio Siculo, piccolo centro dell’entroterra nel quale si trova un’altra figura animalesca, quella del “camiddu”, in siciliano “cammello”, e del suo cammelliere (vedi un mio racconto fotografico fatto in precedenza in merito). La festa dello “sciccareddu-asinello” vede un giovane del paese indossare una struttura portante in metallo, sulla quale prende posto tutta una serie di giochi pirotecnici: questo rappresenta con non poca fantasia l’asinello (quest’anno a dargli vita è stato il “cammelliere” della festa del “camiddu-cammello” che si festeggia sempre a Casalvecchio); il giovane che porta su di se tale castello in metallo, si protegge abbondantemente dai fuochi pirotecnici, che formano delle “ruote pazze” in corrispondenza dei “quattro arti”, fuochi pirotecnici che comportano suggestioni simbolico-rituali dal significato ambiguo, è a vita contro la morte, la luce contro le tenebre, la paura e la voglia di sfidarla, senza mai dimenticare l’aspetto orrifico-ancestrale della “bestia”, che rappresenta l’oscuro ignoto male, che aleggia sempre sulla vita delle persone. C’è chi ha ipotizzato che tale asinello-mostruoso-orrifico è pur sempre un animale molto docile, un tempo comunissimo e onnipresente nelle contrade siciliane, per cui le paure che esso potrebbe generare sono contemporaneamente soppresse dall’essere un animale ben conosciuto ed in definitiva molto docile.

Tale “sciccareddu-asinello” col suo carico di fuochi pirotecnici-girandole pazze-bengala, ed altre diavolerie scoppiettanti, sfida e viene sfidato da tutti i presenti, giovani e meno giovani provenienti anche da lontano, c’è che vuole assitere rimanendo però bene al riparo, molti altri invece lo sfidano, come in una corrida incruenta, dove qualche malcapitato può rimediare qualche piccola bruciatura (come il sottoscritto, che si è ritrovato con qualche piccola bruciatura alle gambe, ed un filtro proteggi-obiettivo che, me ne accorsi successivamente, era quasi fuso-bruciato in più punti, oramai inservibile, con l’obiettivo però salvo….! :o)) …).

  

Hasselblad 501C , Carl Zeiss planar CF f / 2.8 80mm , Ilford FP4

see each individual image here: pachamamaa.tumblr.com/post/80713564484

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click to activate the icon of slideshow: the small triangle inscribed in the small rectangle, at the top right, in the photostream;

 

clicca sulla piccola icona per attivare lo slideshow: sulla facciata principale del photostream, in alto a destra c'è un piccolo rettangolo (rappresenta il monitor) con dentro un piccolo triangolo nero;

 

Qi Bo's photos on Fluidr

  

Qi Bo's photos on Flickriver

  

Qi Bo's photos on Flickr Hive Mind

  

www.fotografidigitali.it/gallery/2726/opere-italiane-segn...

  

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"U sciccareddu", from the Sicilian "the little donkey", is a pyrotechnical-animal mask, once present in many village feasts in the Messina area, today it is found only in a limited number of centers, among these is the town of Casalvecchio Siculo , a small town in the hinterland in which there is another animal figure, that of the "camiddu", in Sicilian "camel", and of his camel driver (see a photographic story of mine made earlier in this regard). The feast of the "sciccareddu-little donkey" sees a young man of the village wearing a metal supporting structure, on which takes place a whole series of fireworks: this represents with no little imagination the donkey (this year it was the "Camel driver" of the "camiddu-camel"feast which is always celebrated in Casalvecchio); the young man who carries this metal castle on himself, protects himself abundantly from pyrotechnic fires, which form "crazy wheels" in correspondence with the "four limbs", pyrotechnic fires that involve symbolic-ritual suggestions of ambiguous meaning, is the life against death, the light against darkness, the fear and the desire to challenge it, without ever forgetting the horrifying-ancestral aspect of the "beast", which represents the dark unknown evil, which always hovers over people's lives. There are those who have hypothesized that this asinello-monstrous-orrify is a very meek animal too, once very common and omnipresent in the Sicilian districts, so that the fears that it could generate are simultaneously suppressed by being a well-known animal and very meek.

This "sciccareddu-little donkey" with its load of pyrotechnic-crazy fires-bengal fires, and other crackling devilries, challenges and is challenged by all present, young and old coming also from far away, there is who looks but remaining well sheltered, many others instead challenge him, as in a bloodless bullfight, where some unlucky person can receive a few small burns (like myself, who found himself with some small burns in his legs, and a lens-protection filter, it was almost melted-burned in several points, now useless, but withe the lens without problems.....! :o)) .......).

  

“u sciccareddu”, dal siciliano “l’asinello”, è una maschera pirotecnica-animalesca, un tempo presente in molte feste paesane del territorio messinese, oggi la si ritrova solo in un numero limitato di centri, tra questi il paese di Casalvecchio Siculo, piccolo centro dell’entroterra nel quale si trova un’altra figura animalesca, quella del “camiddu”, in siciliano “cammello”, e del suo cammelliere (vedi un mio racconto fotografico fatto in precedenza in merito). La festa dello “sciccareddu-asinello” vede un giovane del paese indossare una struttura portante in metallo, sulla quale prende posto tutta una serie di giochi pirotecnici: questo rappresenta con non poca fantasia l’asinello (quest’anno a dargli vita è stato il “cammelliere” della festa del “camiddu-cammello” che si festeggia sempre a Casalvecchio); il giovane che porta su di se tale castello in metallo, si protegge abbondantemente dai fuochi pirotecnici, che formano delle “ruote pazze” in corrispondenza dei “quattro arti”, fuochi pirotecnici che comportano suggestioni simbolico-rituali dal significato ambiguo, è a vita contro la morte, la luce contro le tenebre, la paura e la voglia di sfidarla, senza mai dimenticare l’aspetto orrifico-ancestrale della “bestia”, che rappresenta l’oscuro ignoto male, che aleggia sempre sulla vita delle persone. C’è chi ha ipotizzato che tale asinello-mostruoso-orrifico è pur sempre un animale molto docile, un tempo comunissimo e onnipresente nelle contrade siciliane, per cui le paure che esso potrebbe generare sono contemporaneamente soppresse dall’essere un animale ben conosciuto ed in definitiva molto docile.

Tale “sciccareddu-asinello” col suo carico di fuochi pirotecnici-girandole pazze-bengala, ed altre diavolerie scoppiettanti, sfida e viene sfidato da tutti i presenti, giovani e meno giovani provenienti anche da lontano, c’è che vuole assitere rimanendo però bene al riparo, molti altri invece lo sfidano, come in una corrida incruenta, dove qualche malcapitato può rimediare qualche piccola bruciatura (come il sottoscritto, che si è ritrovato con qualche piccola bruciatura alle gambe, ed un filtro proteggi-obiettivo che, me ne accorsi successivamente, era quasi fuso-bruciato in più punti, oramai inservibile, con l’obiettivo però salvo….! :o)) …).

  

Ancient Christian Albanian Church in Kish (Azerbaijan).

 

Kish , the oldest of Azerbaijani villages, is known for the unique ancient Albanian temple. It has a special status among Christian Albanian monuments. It is valuable not only as an architectural monument but also because of its outstanding historical significance. The official date of its birth is the 1st century AD when the territory of Azerbaijan was included into Caucasian part of Albania. Historians assume that the temple was founded by apostle Elisei who brought Christianity to Albania : " Elisei having received the Orient as his lot went from Jerusalem to Persia and started to preach with his three pupils; there he was prosecuted so he arrived in Kish where he founded a church and made a bloodless sacrifice"

During the peak of Christian religion on this territory the Temple was very popular; however, later it was forgotten and has miraculously survived. Even now the Temple amazes imagination with its beauty. The bright red spiked hip- roof "burns" in the sun. There is a cross on the tall dome. The thick walls of the Temple are decorated with small windows. It is cool inside the Temple even in the hottest weather, the air t ere is saturated with antiquity and the it seems like the God's presence is tangible. The visitors throw coins in a special niche making a wish. The internal walls of the Temple, unfortunately, have peeled off and decayed. But in one place there is still a layer of ancient plaster. People believe that if a coin stucks to this spot the wish will come true. The yard of the Temple is also interesting. There you will find an ancient burial place covered with a transparent plastic dome. One can see the ancient people's bones llying several meters deep. There are a number of such burials on the territory of the Temple. Apparently, there were buried attendants of the Temple or holy people who had deserved the right to be buried at the foot of "the House of the God ". The height of the buried people is amazing - two meters and taller.

  

French-Italian postcard by Alterocca, Terni, no. 4400. Sent by mail in 1905.

 

Tina Di Lorenzo (1872-1930) was one of the 'grand dames' of the Italian stage during the early twentieth century, nicknamed 'Angelicata' and 'La encantadora'. In 1915 she also acted in two or three films. In 1901 she married reputed stage actor Armando Falconi, who would have a second career in Italian sound cinema.

 

Tina Di Lorenzo was born in Turin in 1872 from the union between a Sicilian nobleman, Marquis Corrado Di Lorenzo di Castelluccio, and the actress Amelia Colonnello. Her father was a descendant of the Marquis of Castelluccio di Noto, a noble Sicilian family, while her mother was also from a noble family and lady-in-waiting to Queen Elena of Savoy. At the age of 13, she trained in the dramatic arts in Naples and embarked on an acting career under the stage name Tina Di Lorenzo. Success came to her in 1889, at the Teatro Rossini in Naples, during a performance of 'Ruit hora' by Francesco Proto, Duke of Maddaloni, after which the press praised her great acting skills. Two years later, she was already the first actress in the Pasta company, with which she did a successful tour in Argentina. On her return, she triumphed in Italy in such plays as 'Divorziamo' by Sardou, 'La trilogia di Dorina' by Rovetta, 'Le vergine' by Praga, 'Fedora' by Sardou, etc. She searched rather for bourgeois realism than for D'Annunzian exaltation. Indeed, Di Lorenzo was seen as the anti-Duse at that time. While some thought she was only really good in bourgeois comedy, she proved to be a good dramatic actress too in plays such as Bracco's 'Maternità' and Rostand's 'La Samaritana', showing she could be more than the wholesome, modest and joyful Italian woman.

 

In 1897, Tina Di Lorenzo joined Flavio Andò's company for a series of highly acclaimed performances throughout Italy. They also did an extensive tour through Eastern Europe, with plays such as 'Magda', 'Adrienne Lecouvreur' and 'La dame aux camélias'. She possessed a rare beauty, a melodious voice and the manners of a great lady despite her young age: she earned the nickname 'Angelicata' from her worshippers. She was consecrated as a rising star of dramatic art and soon became one of the most sought-after actresses and sought-after by the chiefs. She toured extensively abroad, especially in Latin America. Thanks to her talent and beauty, she was nicknamed 'Encantadora' in Argentina. A friend of the "Red Count" Emanuele Bricherasio, in 1899 she became the first testimonial of the newly founded FIAT, posing on the Valentino avenues for an advertising photo, driving the "3 ½ HP" model. In 1901 she married her cousin Armando Falconi, also an actor: their love story began during a tour in Hungary, during which he defended her from the attacks of a journalist who painted Di Lorenzo in unflattering tones. Following a fortunately bloodless duel fought with pistols, Falconi prevailed and earned the love of his cousin, from whom their son Dino was born, a future writer-director. Tina Di Lorenzo was part of numerous companies, from the Stabile del Teatro Manzoni in Milan (from 1912 to 1914) where she was prima donna, to the company of Francesco Pasta and Enrico Reinach to that of Flavio Andò, reaping an extraordinary and uninterrupted series of successes.

 

Tina Di Lorenzo participated in only three films. All three were made in 1915 at the Ambrosio company of Turin. Twice she acted together with her husband, Armando Falconi, in La scintilla (Eleuterio Rodolfi, 1915) and La bella mamma (Eleuterio Rodolfi, 1915). She acted opposite Annibale Ninchi in La gorgona (Mario Caserini, 1915). Only IMDb mentions the latter film, but she is not listed in Vittorio Martinelli's repertory 'Il cinema muto italiano ' as being part of the cast. In her film debut La scintilla, based on a play by Alfredo Testoni, she is the naive wife of a man (Oreste Bilancia) who has a mistress, while the wife herself is courted by a young painter (Armando Falconi). When she finds out about her husband's affair she is so devastated that she almost makes a fatal misstep with the painter, but her young daughter saves the marriage and family. The press praised the performances by Di Lorenzo and Falconi but also realised this film was perhaps not made for the broad audience of cinema, lacking also the witty dialogues from the stage version. Di Lorenzo was by now a mature actress and not the young adult from the plot anymore. Yet, she remained convincing and touching, and all the pros were much more important than the cons. On the other hand, in her second film, La bella mama, in which she rivals as a mother with her daughter, played by Fernanda Negri Pouget, the press was less positive. It may have caused her to stop film acting, and focus on the stage. Di Lorenzo retired to private life in the years between 1918 and 1920, returning to the stage only once, in 1926, at the Teatro Drammatico Nazionale in Rome, for an edition of Goldoni's 'La locandiera'. She died prematurely in Milan in 1930. That same year, a street in the city of Livorno was named after her. The Municipal Administration of Noto honoured its illustrious daughter Tina Di Lorenzo by naming the city's municipal theatre after her in 2011. Angelo Fortuna dedicated an intense biography to her: 'Tina Di Lorenzo. Il fascino e l'arte della encantadora'.

 

Sources: Roberta Ascarelli (Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani), Vittorio Martinelli, (Il cinema muto italiano, 1915 - Vol. I and II), Wikipedia and IMDb.

 

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