Defamation photos on Flickr

4 3

Wood texture from vintage doors in Provence , France

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

Shared under license "Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike Creative Commons". If you use or alter this image you must credit the author: Salva Barbera. If you plan to use this image commercially please contact the author first. This image is Copyright of Salva Barbera and it is protected by EU regulations.

You may not use Images for pornographic, unlawful or other immoral purposes, for spreading hate or discrimination, or to defame or victimise other people, societies, cultures.

Please check my photostream for other HI-RES textures.

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

Childbirth death & blackmail - Bottesford Leicestershire by jmc4 - Church Explorer

1

Lady Elizabeth Manners, 16th Baroness de Ros of Helmsley (January 1575 – 1 May 1591)

She was the heiress daughter of Edward Manners, 3rd Earl of Rutland 1587 and Isabel www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/4R0vJq daughter of Sir Thomas Holcroft 1558. by Juliane sole heiress of Nicholas Jennings of Preston & London

She m January 1589 William Cecil (later 2nd Earl) son of the Thomas Cecil 1st Earl of Exeter & Dorothy Nevill www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/3Kv2HA

Children

1. Sir William Cecil, 17th Baron de Ros May 1590 – 27 June 1618 m 1615 Ann Lake +++ daughter of Sir Thomas Lake & Mary Ryder grand daughter of Elizabeth Stone flic.kr/p/jrgs9q & William Ryder ,

Elizabeth died in childbirth having her 2nd child (?) at Tower Street, All Hallows, Barking London and was buried in Westminster Abbey, later reunited in the grave by her husband..

On her father's death the Earldom of Rutland passed to his brother John Manners, but the Barony of Ros passed to Elizabeth.

Husband William m2 Elizabeth daughter of Sir William Drury and Elizabeth Stafford flic.kr/p/2LrdwR , having 3 more daughters

+++ the marriage of Anne Lake and William Cecil began badly and never recovered. Within months of the wedding, Anne and her mother were rumoured to be blackmailing William into signing over property to his in-laws. Reports suggested that the 2 women threatened to charge him with impotence and then sue for an embarrassing nullity of the marriage. Late in 1617, after Roos had decamped abroad, Anne and her mother charged that Frances Cecil, Countess of Exeter, the youthful bride of Roos’s grandfather Thomas Cecil, Earl of Exeter, had carried on an affair with Roos and had attempted to poison his aggrieved wife. The Earl and Countess of Exeter appealed to the King who, in 1618 sent the case to the Star Chamber who In 1619 found Anne, her parents and brothers guilty of defaming the Earl and Countess of Exeter and of suborning witnesses and forging evidence. All were sent to the Tower and heavily fined. Anne confessed her crime in late June 1619 and was released Her mother, more stubborn, was finally released in 1620 making her confession and submission in Star Chamber in 1621. - - Church of St Mary the Virgin, Bottesford Leicestershire

East River Sparkle by beanhead4529

6

Fireworks on the East River with the Manhattan and Williamsburg Bridges from Brooklyn Bridge Park.

Curbed: ny.curbed.com/archives/2013/05/17/citibike_rack_defamed_w...

Giulietta Masina in La Strada (1954) by Truus, Bob & Jan too!

3 1

French postcard by DR / Le Cinémathéque Française. Giulietta Masina as Gelsomina in La Strada (Federico Fellini, 1954).

Italian film and stage actress Giulietta Masina (1921-1994) starred in the classics La strada (1954) and Le notti di Cabiria (1957), both directed by her husband Federico Fellini and both winners of the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. The only 1,57 m long Masina was often called the ‘female Chaplin’. The skilled, button-eyed comedienne could deliver intense dramatic performances of naive characters dealing with cruel circumstances.

Giulia Anna Masina was born in San Giorgio di Piano near Bologna in 1921. Her parents were Gaetano Masina, a violinist and a music teacher, and Anna Flavia Pasqualin, a schoolteacher. She had three elder siblings: Eugenia, and twins Mario and Maria. Giulietta spent most of her teenage years in Rome at the home of a widowed aunt, where she cultivated a passion for the theatre. She attended the Hermanas Ursulinas school and graduated in Literature from the Sapienza University of Rome. At university, she turned to acting. From 1941 on, she participated in numerous plays that included singing and dancing as well as acting, all in the Ateneo Theater of her university. In 1942, she joined the Compagnia del Teatro Comico Musicale and played various roles on stage. After seeing her photographs, she was cast by Federico Fellini, who was writing the radio serial Terziglio about the adventures of the newlyweds Cico and Pallina. Masina and Fellini fell in love while working on the successful program and were married in 1943. Several months after her marriage to Fellini, in 1943, Masina suffered a miscarriage after falling down a flight of stairs. She became pregnant again; Pierfederico (nicknamed Federichino) was born on 22 March 1945 but died just a month later on 24 April owing to respiratory insufficiency. Masina and Fellini did not have another child. Despite distancing herself from live theatre, Masina did return to the university stage for some time acting with Marcello Mastroianni. Her last stage appearance was in 1951. Working together with her husband, Masina made the transition to on-screen acting. Half of her Italian films, the most successful ones, would be either written or directed by her husband.

Giulietta Masina made her film debut in an uncredited role in the neo-realist war drama Paisà/Paisan (Roberto Rossellini, 1946), co-written by Fellini. She received her first screen credit in the crime drama Senza pièta/Without Pity (Alberto Lattuada, 1948) starring Carla del Poggio, which was another adaptation by Fellini. Masina’s performance earned her a Silver Ribbon, Italy's most prominent motion-picture award, as Best Supporting Actress. She then co-starred in Fellini’s début as a director, Luci del varietà/Variety Lights (Federico Fellini, Alberto Lattuado, 1950) with Peppino di Filippo and Carla del Poggio. It is a bittersweet drama about a bunch of misfits in a traveling vaudeville troupe. A box office hit was the prostitution drama Persiane chiuse/Behind Closed Shutters (Luigi Comencini, 1951) with Massimo Girotti and Eleonora Rossi Drago. She had a supporting part in Europa '51/The Greatest Love (Roberto Rossellini, 1952) starring Ingrid Bergman. She also appeared in the second film of her husband, the hilarious comedy Lo sceicco bianco/The White Sheik (Federico Fellini, 1952) featuring Alberto Sordi. At AllMovie, Hal Erickson adds: “Featured in the cast is Fellini's wife Giuletta Masina as a prostitute named Cabiria, who'd be given a vehicle of her own, Nights of Cabiria, in 1955 (sic). Based on ‘an idea’ by Michelangelo Antonioni, The White Sheik was the main inspiration for Gene Wilder's The World's Greatest Lover (1977).” After some lesser films by other directors, she finally had her international breakthrough in Fellini's La Strada/The Road (Federico Fellini, 1954), as the young Gelsomina, who is sold to the violent traveling strongman Zampano (Anthony Quinn) by her poor mother. At IMDb, Matt Whittle writes: “Giulietta Masina is the highlight of the film. With a face like no other, it exudes a certain beauty but is also very odd, with a definite quirkiness to it.” She was also co-starring in Fellini’s next, lesser-known effort Il Bidone/The Swindle (Federico Fellini, 1955) with Broderick Crawford, Richard Basehart, and Franco Fabrizi as a trio of con artists who victimize the Italian bourgeoisie (who are shown to be no better than the crooks). Masina played Basehart’s wife. In 1957, she won the Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival for her portrayal of the title role in Fellini's widely acclaimed Le notti di Cabiria/Nights of Cabiria (Federico Fellini, 1957). She played the innocent prostitute Cabiria who was born to lose - but still never would give up. In 1956 and in 1957 Fellini and Masina were awarded the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film, for La Strada, and for Le notti di Cabiria. In the following years, Masina appeared in several films by other directors, including the prison drama Nella città l'inferno/...and the Wild Wild Women (Renato Castellani, 1959) with Anna Magnani and the German-Italian production Jons und Erdme/Jons and Erdme (Victor Vicas, 1959) opposite Carl Raddatz.

In 1960, Giulietta Masina's career was damaged by the critical and box office failure of the massive international production Das kunstseidene Mädchen/The High Life (Julien Duvivier, 1960) with Gustav Knuth and Gert Fröbe. Subsequently, she became dedicated almost entirely to her personal life and marriage. Nonetheless, she again worked with her husband in Giulietta degli spiriti/Juliet of the Spirits (Federico Fellini, 1965), which earned both the New York Film Critics award (1965) and the Golden Globe award (1966) for Best Foreign Language Film. In 1969, Masina did her first work in English in The Madwoman of Chaillot (Bryan Forbes, 1969) which starred Katharine Hepburn. From 1966 till 1969, Masina hosted a popular radio show, Lettere aperte a Giulietta Masina, in which she addressed correspondence from her listeners. The letters were eventually published in a book. From the 1970s on, she appeared on television. Two performances, in Eleonora (Silverio Blasi, 1973) and Camilla (Sandro Bolchi, 1976), respectively, were particularly acclaimed. After almost two decades, Masina appeared in Fellini's Ginger e Fred/Ginger and Fred (Federico Fellini, 1986). Hal Erickson at AllMovie: “Fellini gently lampoons the world of small-time show business (...) Masina and Marcello Mastroianni star as Amelia Bonetti and Pippo Botticella, a onetime celebrity song-and-dance team. Having risen to fame with a dancing act where they recreated the acts of Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire (hoping to become the Fred and Ginger of Italy), Amelia and Pippo parted company to pursue their separate lives. Neither one was particularly successful in other fields of endeavor, so when after many years Amelia is offered a guest-star gig on a TV variety show, she jumps at the chance. (...) The overall good cheer of the film was dampened when the real Ginger Rogers sued the distributors of Ginger and Fred for ‘defamation of character’.” Masina then rejected outside offers in order to attend to her husband's precarious health. Her last film was Aujourd'hui peut-être/A Day to Remember (Jean-Louis Bertucelli, 1991). Giulietta Masina died from lung cancer in 1994, aged 73, less than five months after her husband's demise. They are buried together at Rimini cemetery in a tomb marked by a prow-shaped monument, the work of sculptor Arnaldo Pomodoro.

Sources: Matt Whittle (IMDb), Jason Ankeny (AllMovie), Hal Erickson (AllMovie), F.T. (Italica), Wikipedia, and IMDb.

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

BlockArt2h adolf hitler swastika nazism fascism by Edward Bellamy

The swastika was already a symbol for "socialism" used by socialists when Germany followed the lead. The swastika was used on the first new money of Soviet socialists before German socialists adopted it. rexcurry.net/ussr-socialist-swastika-cccp-sssr.html Before Soviet socialists the swastika was used by the notorious American socialist Edward Bellamy in conjunction with the Theosophical Society. rexcurry.net/theosophy-madame-blavatsky-theosophical-soci... Edward Bellamy was the cousin of Francis Bellamy, also an American socialist, who wrote the USA's Pledge of Allegiance, the origin of the nazi salute.

Swastikas were ancient symbols. However, the symbol has acquired a bad reputation due to ignorant people who do not know that the National Socialist German Workers Party (NSGWP or Nazis) did not call their symbol a "swastika." NSGWP members called their symbol a hakenkreuz (hooked cross) and they used it to represent crossed S-letters for their socialism under their National Socialist German Workers Party. See the work of the noted symbologist Dr. Rex Curry (author of "Swastika Secrets"). American socialists (e.g. Edward Bellamy, Francis Bellamy and the Theosophical Society) influenced German socialists in the use of the swastika to represent socialism. The ignorance about the "swastika" (hakenkreuz) was predicted long ago when Professor Max Muller discouraged Dr. Heinrich Schliemann in the careless use of the term "swastika" and referred to such ignorant people as "the vulgus profanum." The same people are ignorant of the fact that German national socialists did NOT refer to themselves as "nazis." NSGWP members referred to themselves as "socialists" (hence their use of the of the hakenkreuz to represent crossed S-letters for their "socialism"). Such people continue to defame the "swastika" symbol by their ignorance of the hakenkreuz and other symbols, rituals, meaning and terminology under German national socialists. For example, there is widespread ignorance of the fact that the German socialist's stiff-armed salute (and robotic chanting in unison) came from American socialists (Francis Bellamy, cousin of Edward Bellamy), and that the stiff-armed salute had been used in the USA's Pledge of Allegiance for about 3 decades before German socialists borrowed it. German socialists defamed the American salute as they defamed the "swastika," yet only because of ignorant people who still do not know the history. The stiff-armed salute developed because the early Pledge of Allegiance began with a military salute that was then extended outward to point at the flag (it was not an "ancient Roman salute" -another debunked myth repeated by the ignorant vulgus profanum). The above are part of the discoveries by Dr Curry (author of "Pledge of Allegiance Secrets").

Jennifer Lawrence at the GLAAD Media Awards at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City by RyanReporting

2

Jennifer Lawrence at the GLAAD Media Awards at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City

The GLAAD Media Awards recognize and honor media for their fair, accurate and inclusive representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and the issues that affect their lives.

GLAAD, the world's lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) media advocacy organization, honored Robert De Niro, Mariah Carey, and the best in film, television, and journalism at the 27th Annual GLAAD Media Awards at the Waldorf Astoria New York on Saturday May 14th 2016. Jennifer Lawrence, Aziz Ansari, Connie Britton, Diane Sawyer, Caitlyn Jenner, Tamron Hall, Noah Galvin, Andrew Rannells, Andreja Pejić, and Jason Biggs were among the special guests. Recording artists Alex Newell and Bebe Rexha, as well as the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical Fun Home performed at the event hosted by Emmy Award-winning actress Laverne Cox. The 27th Annual GLAAD Media Awards were presented by Delta Air Lines, Hilton, Ketel One Vodka, and Wells Fargo.

GLAAD Media Award recipients announced Saturday in New York. Additional awards were presented in Los Angeles at the Beverly Hilton on April 2.

Excellence in Media Award: Robert De Niro (presented by Jennifer Lawrence)

Ally Award: Mariah Carey (presented by Lee Daniels)

· Outstanding TV Journalism – Newsmagazine: “Bruce Jenner: The Interview" 20/20 (ABC) [accepted by: Diane Sawyer, Caitlyn Jenner, and David Sloan, senior executive producer]

· Outstanding TV Journalism Segment: "Interview with Jim Obergefell" Anderson Cooper 360 (CNN) [accepted by: U.S. Supreme Court plaintiff Jim Obergefell]

· Outstanding Magazine Overall Coverage: Cosmopolitan [accepted by: Laura Brounstein, special projects director]

· Outstanding Film – Limited Release: Tangerine (Magnolia Pictures)

· Outstanding Individual Episode: "The Prince of Nucleotides" Royal Pains (USA Network)

· Outstanding Digital Journalism – Multimedia: "Stopping HIV? The Truvada Revolution" Vice Reports (Vice.com)

· Outstanding Newspaper Article: "Cold Case: The Murders of Cosby and Jackson" by Dianna Wray (Houston Press)

· Outstanding Magazine Article: "Behind Brazil's Gay Pride Parades, a Struggle with Homophobic Violence" by Oscar Lopez (Newsweek)

· Outstanding Digital Journalism Article: "This Is What It’s Like To Be An LGBT Syrian Fleeing For Your Life" by J. Lester Feder (Buzzfeed.com)

SPANISH-LANGUAGE NOMINEES

· Outstanding Daytime Program Episode: "¿El marido de mi padre o yo?" Caso Cerrado (Telemundo)

· Outstanding TV Journalism – Newsmagazine: TIE: "Amor que rompe barreras" Un Nuevo Día (Telemundo) and "En cuerpo ajeno" Aquí y Ahora (Univision)

· Outstanding TV Journalism Segment: "Víctimas de abusos" Noticiero Univision (Univision)

· Outstanding Digital Journalism – Multimedia: "Campeones de la igualdad" (Univision.com)

GLAAD (formerly the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) is a U.S. non-governmental media monitoring organization founded by LGBT people in the media.

Motto - to promote understanding, increase acceptance, and advance equality.

Founded - 1985

Founder

Vito Russo

Jewelle Gomez

Lauren Hinds

GLAAD 2016 President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis

GLAAD

104 W 29th St #4,

New York, NY 10001

USA

(212) 629-3322

Waldorf Astoria Hotel

301 Park Ave,

New York, NY 10022

USA

(212) 355-3000

Hashtag metadata tag

#GMA @glaad ‪#‎glaadawards #GLAAD #GLAADMediaAwards #GLAADMedia #GLAADAwards #LGBT #GLBT #LGBTQ #GLBTQ #Lesbian #gay #gays #gaymen #gaywomen #bi #Bisexual #Trans #Transman #TransWoman #Transidentity #Transgender #Gender #GenderFluid #GenderIdentity #Queer #Media #TV #Television #Press #WaldorfAstoria #WaldorfAstoriaHotel #NY #NYC #NYS #NewYork #NewYorkCity #NewYorkState #USA #Equality #Pride #celebrity #fashion #famous #style #RedCarpet #RedCarpetEvent

HD Video

New York City, Manhattan Island, New York State, USA The United States of America country, North America continent

May 14th 2016‬

142 | 365 | Purple Bully by David Sullivan

9 17

I was busy today doing design work for one of my company's web sites called "Empowering Parents."

I got my inspiration for this photo because today is purple day. GLAAD (the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation), requested that people wear purple today to raise awareness of the dangers of anti-gay bullying.

As I was working on the Empowering Parents web site, and graphics for the article that we are publishing next week about children being bullied, it all came together.

So, this is a photo of me at work today. I superimposed the Empowering Parents web site. This is not how the web site looks today, but how it will look next Tuesday when the bullying article is published.

Check it out the article next week... www.empoweringparents.com

-----

"What you been doing?

Still make the world a better place?

Never stopped rueing

Making those tears fall down your face

Making you suffer

Wondering how you got your scars

And only in hindsight

I wish I had taken you in my arms"

-----

The Bully - Sia

www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnrg9LK0fLw

I didn't intend to post two Sia songs in a row, but this one is obviously fitting for today's photo.

-----

Production Notes:

Bad photo of me + screen cap of web site

Convert all to grayscale

Two copies of web site screen cap (one inverted)

Original grayscale screen cap layer set to "multiply"

Inverted grayscale screen cap layer set to "lighten"

Crazy fun with gradient layer masking and edge masking on screen cap layers

Converted to a purple duotone in honor of the day

Converted back to RGB color, because Flickr likes it that way

Fey on Gay by Brittany

10

Andy Cohen interviewing Tina Fey in a GLAAD Media Awards special segment "Fey on Gay"

Giulietta Masina in Ginger e Fred (1986) by Truus, Bob & Jan too!

3

German press photo by Tobis. Giulietta Masina in Ginger e Fred (Federico Fellini, 1986).

Italian film and stage actress Giulietta Masina (1921-1994) starred in the classics La strada (1954) and Le notti di Cabiria (1957), both directed by her husband Federico Fellini and both winners of the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. The only 1,57 m long Masina was often called the ‘female Chaplin’. The skilled, button-eyed comedienne could deliver intense dramatic performances of naive characters dealing with cruel circumstances.

Giulia Anna Masina was born in San Giorgio di Piano near Bologna in 1921. Her parents were Gaetano Masina, a violinist and a music teacher, and Anna Flavia Pasqualin, a schoolteacher. She had three elder siblings: Eugenia, and twins Mario and Maria. Giulietta spent most of her teenage years in Rome at the home of a widowed aunt, where she cultivated a passion for the theatre. She attended the Hermanas Ursulinas school and graduated in Literature from the Sapienza University of Rome. At university, she turned to acting. From 1941 on, she participated in numerous plays that included singing and dancing as well as acting, all in the Ateneo Theater of her university. In 1942, she joined the Compagnia del Teatro Comico Musicale and played various roles on stage. After seeing her photographs, she was cast by Federico Fellini, who was writing the radio serial Terziglio about the adventures of the newlyweds Cico and Pallina. Masina and Fellini fell in love while working on the successful program and were married in 1943. Several months after her marriage to Fellini, in 1943, Masina suffered a miscarriage after falling down a flight of stairs. She became pregnant again; Pierfederico (nicknamed Federichino) was born on 22 March 1945 but died just a month later on 24 April owing to respiratory insufficiency. Masina and Fellini did not have another child. Despite distancing herself from live theatre, Masina did return to the university stage for some time acting with Marcello Mastroianni. Her last stage appearance was in 1951. Working together with her husband, Masina made the transition to on-screen acting. Half of her Italian films, the most successful ones, would be either written or directed by her husband.

Giulietta Masina made her film debut in an uncredited role in the neo-realist war drama Paisà/Paisan (Roberto Rossellini, 1946), co-written by Fellini. She received her first screen credit in the crime drama Senza pièta/Without Pity (Alberto Lattuada, 1948) starring Carla del Poggio, which was another adaptation by Fellini. Masina’s performance earned her a Silver Ribbon, Italy's most prominent motion-picture award, as Best Supporting Actress. She then co-starred in Fellini’s début as a director, Luci del varietà/Variety Lights (Federico Fellini, Alberto Lattuado, 1950) with Peppino di Filippo and Carla del Poggio. It is a bittersweet drama about a bunch of misfits in a traveling vaudeville troupe. A box office hit was the prostitution drama Persiane chiuse/Behind Closed Shutters (Luigi Comencini, 1951) with Massimo Girotti and Eleonora Rossi Drago. She had a supporting part in Europa '51/The Greatest Love (Roberto Rossellini, 1952) starring Ingrid Bergman. She also appeared in the second film of her husband, the hilarious comedy Lo sceicco bianco/The White Sheik (Federico Fellini, 1952) featuring Alberto Sordi. At AllMovie, Hal Erickson adds: “Featured in the cast is Fellini's wife Giuletta Masina as a prostitute named Cabiria, who'd be given a vehicle of her own, Nights of Cabiria, in 1955 (sic). Based on ‘an idea’ by Michelangelo Antonioni, The White Sheik was the main inspiration for Gene Wilder's The World's Greatest Lover (1977).” After some lesser films by other directors, she finally had her international breakthrough in Fellini's La Strada/The Road (Federico Fellini, 1954), as the young Gelsomina, who is sold to the violent traveling strongman Zampano (Anthony Quinn) by her poor mother. At IMDb, Matt Whittle writes: “Giulietta Masina is the highlight of the film. With a face like no other, it exudes a certain beauty but is also very odd, with a definite quirkiness to it.” She was also co-starring in Fellini’s next, lesser-known effort Il Bidone/The Swindle (Federico Fellini, 1955) with Broderick Crawford, Richard Basehart, and Franco Fabrizi as a trio of con artists who victimize the Italian bourgeoisie (who are shown to be no better than the crooks). Masina played Basehart’s wife. In 1957, she won the Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival for her portrayal of the title role in Fellini's widely acclaimed Le notti di Cabiria/Nights of Cabiria (Federico Fellini, 1957). She played the innocent prostitute Cabiria who was born to lose - but still never would give up. In 1956 and in 1957 Fellini and Masina were awarded the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film, for La Strada, and for Le notti di Cabiria. In the following years, Masina appeared in several films by other directors, including the prison drama Nella città l'inferno/...and the Wild Wild Women (Renato Castellani, 1959) with Anna Magnani and the German-Italian production Jons und Erdme/Jons and Erdme (Victor Vicas, 1959) opposite Carl Raddatz.

In 1960, Giulietta Masina's career was damaged by the critical and box office failure of the massive international production Das kunstseidene Mädchen/The High Life (Julien Duvivier, 1960) with Gustav Knuth and Gert Fröbe. Subsequently, she became dedicated almost entirely to her personal life and marriage. Nonetheless, she again worked with her husband in Giulietta degli spiriti/Juliet of the Spirits (Federico Fellini, 1965), which earned both the New York Film Critics award (1965) and the Golden Globe award (1966) for Best Foreign Language Film. In 1969, Masina did her first work in English in The Madwoman of Chaillot (Bryan Forbes, 1969) which starred Katharine Hepburn. From 1966 till 1969, Masina hosted a popular radio show, Lettere aperte a Giulietta Masina, in which she addressed correspondence from her listeners. The letters were eventually published in a book. From the 1970s on, she appeared on television. Two performances, in Eleonora (Silverio Blasi, 1973) and Camilla (Sandro Bolchi, 1976), respectively, were particularly acclaimed. After almost two decades, Masina appeared in Fellini's Ginger e Fred/Ginger and Fred (Federico Fellini, 1986). Hal Erickson at AllMovie: “Fellini gently lampoons the world of small-time show business (...) Masina and Marcello Mastroianni star as Amelia Bonetti and Pippo Botticella, a onetime celebrity song-and-dance team. Having risen to fame with a dancing act where they recreated the acts of Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire (hoping to become the Fred and Ginger of Italy), Amelia and Pippo parted company to pursue their separate lives. Neither one was particularly successful in other fields of endeavor, so when after many years Amelia is offered a guest-star gig on a TV variety show, she jumps at the chance. (...) The overall good cheer of the film was dampened when the real Ginger Rogers sued the distributors of Ginger and Fred for ‘defamation of character’.” Masina then rejected outside offers in order to attend to her husband's precarious health. Her last film was Aujourd'hui peut-être/A Day to Remember (Jean-Louis Bertucelli, 1991). Giulietta Masina died from lung cancer in 1994, aged 73, less than five months after her husband's demise. They are buried together at Rimini cemetery in a tomb marked by a prow-shaped monument, the work of sculptor Arnaldo Pomodoro.

Sources: Matt Whittle (IMDb), Jason Ankeny (AllMovie), Hal Erickson (AllMovie), F.T. (Italica), Wikipedia, and IMDb.

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

Voodoo doll by Robert Hogan

8 1

This fella is suppossed to help me keep calm. Does he have a job going on here. .

It has been suggested that Christian-Voodoo relations be merged into this article or section. (Discuss)

(French pronunciation: [vodu], usually Voodoo in English) is a syncretic[1] religion that originates in the Caribbean country of Haiti. It is based upon a merging of the beliefs and practices of West African peoples (mainly the Fon and Ewe; see West African Vodun), with Arawakian religious beliefs, and Roman Catholic Christianity. Vodou was created by African

slaves who were brought to Haiti in the 16th century and still followed their traditional African beliefs, but were forced to convert to the religion of their slavers.[2] Practitioners are commonly described as Vodouisants.

[edit] Overview

The principal belief in Haitian Vodou is that deities called Lwa (or Loa) are subordinates to a god called Bondyè, This supreme being does not intercede in human affairs, and it is to the Lwa that Vodou worship is directed.[3] Other characteristics of Vodou include veneration of the dead and protection against evil witchcraft.[4]

Haitian Vodou shares many similarities with other faiths of the African diaspora, including the Louisiana Voodoo of New Orleans, Santería and Arará of Cuba, and Candomblé and Umbanda of Brazil. A Haitian Vodou temple is called an Hounfour.[5]

Vodou paraphernalia, Port-au-Prince, Haiti.In Haitian Vodou Sèvis Lwa in Creole ("Service to the Lwa"), there are strong elements from the Bakongo of Central Africa and the Igbo and Yoruba of Nigeria, although many other African nations have contributed to the liturgy of the Sèvis Lwa. A significant portion of Haitian Vodou often overlooked by scholars until recently is the input from the Kongo. The entire northern area of Haiti is heavily influenced by Kongo practices. In northern Haiti, it is often called the Kongo Rite or Lemba, from the Lemba rituals of the Loango area and Mayombe. In the south, Kongo influence is called Petwo (Petro). Many lwa (a Kikongo term) are of Kongo origin, such as Basimbi, Lemba, etc.

Haitian creole forms of Vodou exist in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, eastern Cuba,[1] some of the outer islands of the Bahamas, the United States, and anywhere that Haitians have emigrated to. However, it is important to note that the Vodun religion (separate from Haitian Vodou) already existed in the United States, having been brought by enslaved West Africans, specifically from the Ewe, Fon, Mina, Kabaye, and Nago groups. Some of the more enduring forms survive in the Gullah Islands. There has been a re-emergence of the Vodun traditions in the United States, maintaining the same ritual and cosmological elements as in West Africa. These and other African-diasporic religions such as Lukumi or Regla de Ocha (also known as Santería) in Cuba, Candomblé and Umbanda in Brazil, all religions that evolved among descendants of transplanted Africans in the Americas.

A large sequined Vodou "drapo" or flag by the artist George Valris, depicting the veve, or symbol, of the loa Loko Atison.Haitian Vodou or Vaudou (French pronunciation: [vodu], usually Voodoo in English) is a syncretic[1] religion that originates in the Caribbean country of Haiti. It is based upon a merging of the beliefs and practices of West African peoples (mainly the Fon and Ewe; see West African Vodun), with Arawakian religious beliefs, and Roman Catholic Christianity. Vodou was created by African slaves who were brought to Haiti in the 16th century and still followed their traditional African beliefs, but were forced to convert to the religion of their slavers.[2] Practitioners are commonly described as Vodouisants.

[edit] Overview

The principal belief in Haitian Vodou is that deities called Lwa (or Loa) are subordinates to a god called Bondyè, This supreme being does not intercede in human affairs, and it is to the Lwa that Vodou worship is directed.[3] Other characteristics of Vodou include veneration of the dead and protection against evil witchcraft.[4]

Haitian Vodou shares many similarities with other faiths of the African diaspora, including the Louisiana Voodoo of New Orleans, Santería and Arará of Cuba, and Candomblé and Umbanda of Brazil. A Haitian Vodou temple is called an Hounfour.[5]

Vodou paraphernalia, Port-au-Prince, Haiti.In Haitian Vodou Sèvis Lwa in Creole ("Service to the Lwa"), there are strong elements from the Bakongo of Central Africa and the Igbo and Yoruba of Nigeria, although many other African nations have contributed to the liturgy of the Sèvis Lwa. A significant portion of Haitian Vodou often overlooked by scholars until recently is the input from the Kongo. The entire northern area of Haiti is heavily influenced by Kongo practices. In northern Haiti, it is often called the Kongo Rite or Lemba, from the Lemba rituals of the Loango area and Mayombe. In the south, Kongo influence is called Petwo (Petro). Many lwa (a Kikongo term) are of Kongo origin, such as Basimbi, Lemba, etc.

Haitian creole forms of Vodou exist in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, eastern Cuba,[1] some of the outer islands of the Bahamas, the United States, and anywhere that Haitians have emigrated to. However, it is important to note that the Vodun religion (separate from Haitian Vodou) already existed in the United States, having been brought by enslaved West Africans, specifically from the Ewe, Fon, Mina, Kabaye, and Nago groups. Some of the more enduring forms survive in the Gullah Islands. There has been a re-emergence of the Vodun traditions in the United States, maintaining the same ritual and cosmological elements as in West Africa. These and other African-diasporic religions such as Lukumi or Regla de Ocha (also known as Santería) in Cuba, Candomblé and Umbanda in Brazil, all religions that evolved among descendants of transplanted Africans in the Americas.

Vodouisants believe in a supreme being called Bondye, but also worship many lesser spirits, as the loa. This belief is held in several West African religions, such as that of the Yoruba, Odinani, and Vodun. When it came in contact with Roman Catholicism, the supreme being was associated with the Judeo-Christian God, the loa becoming the saints.

Bondye

Bondye is the supreme god in Haitian Vodou. The word is derived from the French bon Dieu (good God).[3] Vodouisants regard Bondye as the creator of everything. Bondye is distant from its creation, being a pandeist deity. Because of this, he is aloof from every day affairs and Vodouisants don't believe they can contact Him for help.

] Loa

Because Bondye is unreachable, Vodouisants aim their prayers to lesser entities, the spirits known as loa, or mistè. The most notable loa include Papa Legba (guardian of the crossroads), Erzulie Freda (the spirit of love), Simbi (the spirit of rain and magicians), Kouzin Zaka (the spirit of agriculture), and The Marasa, divine twins considered to be the first children of Bondye.[6]

These loa can be divided into 21 nations, which include the Petro, Rada, Congo and Nago [7] The Petro and the Rada contrast most with one another, because the Petro are hot or aggressive and restless, whereas the Rada are cool or calm and peaceful.[citation needed]

The loa also fall into family groups, who share a surname, such as Ogou, Ezili, Azaka or Ghede. For instance, "Ezili" is a family, Ezili Danto and Ezili Freda are two individual spirits in that family. Each family is associated with a specific aspect, for instance the Ogou family are soldiers, the Ezili govern the feminine spheres of life, the Azaka govern agriculture, the Ghede govern the sphere of death and fertility. Each of the loa is associated with a particular Roman Catholic saint.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

"Voodoo doll" redirects here. For other uses, see Voodoo doll (disambiguation).

It has been suggested that Christian-Voodoo relations be merged into this article or section. (Discuss)

This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this article if you can. (January 2008)

This article may contain original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding references. Statements consisting only of original research may be removed. More details may be available on the talk page. (November 2009)

A large sequined Vodou "drapo" or flag by the artist George Valris, depicting the veve, or symbol, of the loa Loko Atison.Haitian Vodou or Vaudou (French pronunciation: [vodu], usually Voodoo in English) is a syncretic[1] religion that originates in the Caribbean country of Haiti. It is based upon a merging of the beliefs and practices of West African peoples (mainly the Fon and Ewe; see West African Vodun), with Arawakian religious beliefs, and Roman Catholic Christianity. Vodou was created by African slaves who were brought to Haiti in the 16th century and still followed their traditional African beliefs, but were forced to convert to the religion of their slavers.[2] Practitioners are commonly described as Vodouisants.

Contents [hide]

[edit] Overview

The principal belief in Haitian Vodou is that deities called Lwa (or Loa) are subordinates to a god called Bondyè, This supreme being does not intercede in human affairs, and it is to the Lwa that Vodou worship is directed.[3] Other characteristics of Vodou include veneration of the dead and protection against evil witchcraft.[4]

Haitian Vodou shares many similarities with other faiths of the African diaspora, including the Louisiana Voodoo of New Orleans, Santería and Arará of Cuba, and Candomblé and Umbanda of Brazil. A Haitian Vodou temple is called an Hounfour.[5]

Vodou paraphernalia, Port-au-Prince, Haiti.In Haitian Vodou Sèvis Lwa in Creole ("Service to the Lwa"), there are strong elements from the Bakongo of Central Africa and the Igbo and Yoruba of Nigeria, although many other African nations have contributed to the liturgy of the Sèvis Lwa. A significant portion of Haitian Vodou often overlooked by scholars until recently is the input from the Kongo. The entire northern area of Haiti is heavily influenced by Kongo practices. In northern Haiti, it is often called the Kongo Rite or Lemba, from the Lemba rituals of the Loango area and Mayombe. In the south, Kongo influence is called Petwo (Petro). Many lwa (a Kikongo term) are of Kongo origin, such as Basimbi, Lemba, etc.

Haitian creole forms of Vodou exist in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, eastern Cuba,[1] some of the outer islands of the Bahamas, the United States, and anywhere that Haitians have emigrated to. However, it is important to note that the Vodun religion (separate from Haitian Vodou) already existed in the United States, having been brought by enslaved West Africans, specifically from the Ewe, Fon, Mina, Kabaye, and Nago groups. Some of the more enduring forms survive in the Gullah Islands. There has been a re-emergence of the Vodun traditions in the United States, maintaining the same ritual and cosmological elements as in West Africa. These and other African-diasporic religions such as Lukumi or Regla de Ocha (also known as Santería) in Cuba, Candomblé and Umbanda in Brazil, all religions that evolved among descendants of transplanted Africans in the Americas.

[edit] Beliefs

[edit] Deities

Vodouisants believe in a supreme being called Bondye, but also worship many lesser spirits, as the loa. This belief is held in several West African religions, such as that of the Yoruba, Odinani, and Vodun. When it came in contact with Roman Catholicism, the supreme being was associated with the Judeo-Christian God, the loa becoming the saints.

[edit] Bondye

Bondye is the supreme god in Haitian Vodou. The word is derived from the French bon Dieu (good God).[3] Vodouisants regard Bondye as the creator of everything. Bondye is distant from its creation, being a pandeist deity. Because of this, he is aloof from every day affairs and Vodouisants don't believe they can contact Him for help.

[edit] Loa

Because Bondye is unreachable, Vodouisants aim their prayers to lesser entities, the spirits known as loa, or mistè. The most notable loa include Papa Legba (guardian of the crossroads), Erzulie Freda (the spirit of love), Simbi (the spirit of rain and magicians), Kouzin Zaka (the spirit of agriculture), and The Marasa, divine twins considered to be the first children of Bondye.[6]

These loa can be divided into 21 nations, which include the Petro, Rada, Congo and Nago [7] The Petro and the Rada contrast most with one another, because the Petro are hot or aggressive and restless, whereas the Rada are cool or calm and peaceful.[citation needed]

The loa also fall into family groups, who share a surname, such as Ogou, Ezili, Azaka or Ghede. For instance, "Ezili" is a family, Ezili Danto and Ezili Freda are two individual spirits in that family. Each family is associated with a specific aspect, for instance the Ogou family are soldiers, the Ezili govern the feminine spheres of life, the Azaka govern agriculture, the Ghede govern the sphere of death and fertility. Each of the loa is associated with a particular Roman Catholic saint.

Vodou's moral code focuses on the vices of dishonour and greed. There is also a notion of relative propriety—and what is appropriate to someone with Dambala Wedo as their head may be different from someone with Ogou Feray as their head. For example, one spirit is very cool and the other is very hot. Coolness overall is valued, and so is the ability and inclination to protect oneself and one's own if necessary. Love and support within the family of the Vodou society seem to be the most important considerations. Generosity in giving to the community and to the poor is also an important value. One's blessings come through the community, and one should be willing to give back. There are no "solitaries" in Vodou—only people separated geographically from their elders and house. A person without a relationship of some kind with elders does not practice Vodou as it is understood in Haiti and among Haitians.

Vodou is an ecstatic rather than a fertility based religion

[edit] Orthodoxy and diversity

There is a diversity of practice in Vodou across the country of Haiti and the Haitian diaspora. For instance in the north of Haiti the lave tèt ("head washing") or kanzwe may be the only initiation, as it is in the Dominican Republic and Cuba, whereas in Port-au-Prince and the south they practice the kanzo rites with three grades of initiation – kanzo senp, si pwen, and asogwe – and the latter is the most familiar mode of practice outside of Haiti. Some lineages combine both, as Manbo Katherine Dunham reports from her personal experience in her book Island Possessed.

While the overall tendency in Vodou is very conservative in accord with its African roots, there is no singular, definitive form, only what is right in a particular house or lineage. Small details of service and the spirits served vary from house to house, and information in books or on the internet therefore may seem contradictory. There is no central authority or "pope" in Haitian Vodou, since "every manbo and houngan is the head of their own house," as a popular saying in Haiti goes. Another consideration in terms of Haitian diversity are the many sects besides the Sèvi Gine in Haiti such as the Makaya, Rara, and other secret societies, each of which has its own distinct pantheon of spirits

Liturgy and practice

Vodou ceremony, Jacmel, Haiti.After a day or two of preparation setting up altars, ritually preparing and cooking fowl and other foods, etc., a Haitian Vodou service begins with a series of Catholic prayers and songs in French, then a litany in Kreyòl and African "langaj" that goes through all the European and African saints and lwa honored by the house, and then a series of verses for all the main spirits of the house. This is called the "Priyè Gine" or the African Prayer. After more introductory songs, beginning with saluting Hounto, the spirit of the drums, the songs for all the individual spirits are sung, starting with the Legba family through all the Rada spirits, then there is a break and the Petwo part of the service begins, which ends with the songs for the Gede family.

As the songs are sung, participants believe that spirits come to visit the ceremony, by taking possession of individuals and speaking and acting through them. When a ceremony is made, only the family of those possessed is benefited. At this time it is believed that devious mambo or houngan can take away the luck of the worshippers through particular actions. For instance, if a priest asks for a drink of champagne, a wise participant refuses. Sometimes these ceremonies may include dispute among the singers as to how a hymn is to be sung. In Haiti, these Vodou ceremonies, depending on the Priest or Priestess, may be more organized. But in the United States, many Vodou practitioners and clergy take it as a sort of non-serious party or "folly".

In a serious rite, each spirit is saluted and greeted by the initiates present and gives readings, advice, and cures to those who ask for help. Many hours later, as morning dawns, the last song is sung, the guests leave, and the exhausted hounsis, houngans, and manbos can go to sleep.

On the individual's household level, a Vodouisant or "sèvitè"/"serviteur" may have one or more tables set out for their ancestors and the spirit or spirits that they serve with pictures or statues of the spirits, perfumes, foods, and other things favored by their spirits. The most basic set up is just a white candle and a clear glass of water and perhaps flowers. On a particular spirit's day, one lights a candle and says an Our Father and Hail Mary, salutes Papa Legba and asks him to open the gate, and then one salutes and speaks to the particular spirit as an elder family member. Ancestors are approached directly, without the mediating of Papa Legba, since they are said to be "in the blood".

[edit] Priests

Houngans (Male Voodoo Priest) or Mambos (Female Voodoo Priest) are usually people who were chosen by the dead ancestors (loas) and received the divination from the deities while he or she was possessed. His or her tendency is to do good by helping and protecting others from spells, however they sometimes use their supernatural power to hurt or kill people. They also conduct ceremonies that usually take place "Amba Peristil" (under a Voodoo Temple). However, non-Houngan or non-Mambo as Vodouisants are not initiated, and are referred to as being "bossale"; it is not a requirement to be an initiate to serve one's spirits. There are clergy in Haitian Vodou whose responsibility it is to preserve the rituals and songs and maintain the relationship between the spirits and the community as a whole (though some of this is the responsibility of the whole community as well). They are entrusted with leading the service of all of the spirits of their lineage. Sometimes they are "called" to serve in a process called "being reclaimed," which they may resist at first.[8] Below the houngans and mambos are the hounsis, who are initiates who act as assistants during ceremonies and who are dedicated to their own personal mysteries.

[edit] History

[edit] African origins

Vodou original areaThe word vodou derives from vodũ, which in Fon, Ewe, and related language (distributed from contemporary Ghana to Benin) means spirit or divine creature (in the sense of divine creation).

The cultural area of the Fon, Ewe, and Yoruba peoples share common metaphysical conceptions around a dual cosmological divine principle Nana Buluku, the God-Creator, and the vodou(s) or God-Actor(s), daughters and sons of the Creator's twin children Mawu (goddess of the moon) and Lisa (god of the sun). The God-Creator is the cosmogonical principle and does not trifle with the mundane; the vodou(s) are the God-Actor(s) who actually govern earthly issues.

The pantheon of vodoun is quite large and complex. In one version, there are seven male and female twins of Mawu, interethnic and related to natural phenomena or historical or mythical individuals, and dozens of ethnic vodous, defenders of a certain clan or tribe.[citation needed]

West African Vodun has its primary emphasis on ancestors, with each family of spirits having its own specialized priest and priestess, which are often hereditary. In many African clans, deities might include Mami Wata, who are gods and goddesses of the waters; Legba, who in some clans is virile and young in contrast to the old man form he takes in Haiti and in many parts of Togo; Gu (or Ogoun), ruling iron and smithcraft; Sakpata, who rules diseases; and many other spirits distinct in their own way to West Africa.

European colonialism, followed by totalitarian regimes in West Africa, suppressed Vodun as well as other forms of the religion. However, because the Vodou deities are born to each African clan-group, and its clergy is central to maintaining the moral, social, and political order and ancestral foundation of its villagers, it proved to be impossible to eradicate the religion. Though permitted by Haiti's 1987 constitution, which recognizes religious equality, many books and films have sensationalized voodoo as black magic based on animal and human sacrifices to summon zombies and evil spirits.

[edit] Haitian Revolution

The majority of the Africans who were brought as slaves to Haiti were from Western and Central Africa. The Vodun practitioners brought over and enslaved in the United States primarily descend from the Ewe, Anlo-Ewe, and other West African groups.[citation needed] The survival of the belief systems in the New World is remarkable, although the traditions have changed with time and have even taken on some Catholic forms of worship.[1] Two important factors, however, characterize the uniqueness of Haitian Vodou as compared to African Vodun; the transplanted Africans of Haiti, similar to those of Cuba and Brazil, were obliged to disguise their loa (sometimes spelled lwa) or spirits as Roman Catholic saints, an element of a process called syncretism.

Roman Catholicism was mixed into the religion to hide their "pagan" religion from their masters, who had forbidden them to practice it. Thus, Haitian Vodou has roots in several West African religions, and incorporates some Roman Catholic and Arawak Amerindian influences. It is common for Haitians followers of the Vodou religion to integrate Roman Catholic practices by including Catholic prayers in Vodou worship. Thus Vodou incorporated some formal elements of Roman Catholicism, while remaining totally unChristian in its essence. Throughout the history of the island from independence in 1804 to the present, missionaries repeatedly came to the island to convert the Haitians back to the Christian religion previously forced on them. This missionary influence—as well as experience with abusive practitioners—has made many Haitians regard Voudu as evil.

Vodou, as it is known in Haiti and the Haitian diaspora, is the result of the pressures of many different cultures and ethnicities of people who were uprooted from Africa and imported to Hispaniola during the African slave trade. Under slavery, African culture and religion was suppressed, lineages were fragmented, and people pooled their religious knowledge and from this fragmentation became culturally unified. In addition to combining the spirits of many different African and Amerindian nations, Vodou has incorporated pieces of Roman Catholic liturgy to replace lost prayers or elements. Images of Catholic saints are used to represent various spirits or "mistè" ("mysteries", actually the preferred term in Haiti), and many saints themselves are honored in Vodou in their own right. This syncretism allows Vodou to encompass the African, the Indian, and the European ancestors in a whole and complete way. It is truly a Kreyòl religion.

The most historically important Vodou ceremony in Haitian history was the Bwa Kayiman or Bois Caïman ceremony of August 1791 that began the Haitian Revolution, in which the spirit Ezili Dantor possessed a priestess and received a black pig as an offering, and all those present pledged themselves to the fight for freedom.[9] This ceremony ultimately resulted in the liberation of the Haitian people from French colonial rule in 1804, and the establishment of the first black people's republic in the history of the world and the second independent nation in the Americas.

[edit] Contemporary

Today Vodou is practiced not only by Haitians but by Americans and people of many other nations who have been exposed to Haitian culture. However (as may occur within other religions), because of the loyalty and demand many have imposed on vodou, some high priests and priestesses have taken the opportunity to exploit their followers, asking large sums of money for work that brings no result. It has been asserted that Vodou as a religion is dying because of the greed of many who practice it.

Many Haitians involved in the practice of Vodou have been initiated as Houngans or Mambos. In Haiti, a houngan or mambo is considered a person of possible high power and status who acquire much money; it now is a growing occupation in Haiti, attracting many an impoverished citizen to its practice, not only to gain power but to gain money as well. Some Vodou practitioners with a hunger to live a life of wealth and power became practitioners so they could exploit foreigners and Haitians who are uneducated about vodou, bringing them into a web of deceptions to collect large incomes in exchange for poor quality work.

In January 2010, after the Haiti earthquake there was an outburst of solidarity prayers in Benin with the victims. Traditional ceremonies were organized to appease the spirits and seek the blessing of ancestors for the Haitians. Also a "purification ceremony" was planned for Haiti.[10]

[edit] Myths and misconceptions

Vodou has come to be associated in popular culture with the lore of Satanism, zombies and "voodoo dolls". While there is evidence of zombie creation,[11] it is a minor phenomenon within rural Haitian culture and not a part of the Vodou religion proper. Such manifestations fall under the auspices of the bokor or sorcerer rather than the priest of the Loa.

The practice of sticking pins in dolls has history in folk magic, but its exact origins are unclear. How it became known as a method of cursing an individual by some followers of what has come to be called New Orleans Voodoo, but more appropriately Hoodoo (folk magic), is unknown. This practice is not unique to Vodou or Hoodoo, however, and has as much basis in magical devices such as the poppet and the nkisi or bocio of West and Central Africa. These are in fact power objects, what in Haiti is called pwen, rather than magical surrogates for an intended target of sorcery whether for boon or for bane. Such Vodou dolls are not a feature of Haitian religion, although dolls intended for tourists may be found in the Iron Market in Port au Prince. The practice became closely associated with the Vodou religions in the public mind through the vehicle of horror movies and popular novels.

There is a practice in Haiti of nailing crude poppets with a discarded shoe on trees near the cemetery to act as messengers to the otherworld, which is very different in function from how poppets are portrayed as being used by Vodou worshippers in popular media and imagination, i.e. for purposes of sympathetic magic towards another person. Another use of dolls in authentic Vodou practice is the incorporation of plastic doll babies in altars and objects used to represent or honor the spirits, or in pwen, which recalls the aforementioned use of bocio and nkisi figures in Africa.[citation needed]

Although Vodou is often associated with Satanism, Satan is rarely incorporated in Vodou tradition. Mississippi Delta folksongs mix references to Vodou and to Satan.[citation needed]

Further adding to the dark reputation of Vodou were films such as The Serpent and the Rainbow and Live and Let Die (part of Ian Fleming's widely successful James Bond series). Fleming's depiction of the schemings of a fiendish Soviet agent (see Mr. Big, Baron Samedi) using Vodou to intimidate and control a vast network of submissive black followers reached an incomparably greater audience than any careful scholarly work on the subject of Vodou.[citation needed]

To address the myths and misconceptions that have historically maligned the practice and present a more constructive view of the religion, in April 1997, fifteen scholars gathered at UCSB for a colloquium on Haitian Vodou, The Spirit and The Reality: Vodou and Haiti created a new association under the name, the Congress of Santa Barbara also known as KOSANBA.[12]

[edit] Organizations

In the aftermath of the Duvalier dictatorship, a number of individuals, including many houngan, sought to organize means of defense for Haitian Vodou from defamation by evangelical Christian missionaries and congregations. One of the first leading houngan to formally organize other houngan in solidarity was Wesner Morency (1959-2007), who established the Vodou Church of Haiti in 1998 (registered in 2001 by the Ministry of Justice) and the Commission Nationale de Structuration du Vodou (CONAVO). Another individual who has pursued the organization of houngan is Max Beauvoir, who established and heads the National Confederation of Haitian Vodou.

However, the ability to organize and speak on behalf of most, if not all Vodouisants is hampered by the spirituality's historically-decentralized nature.

CVD Battambang - C&C Clothing Factory Project - Worker Line by Pictim

1

Line of C&C workers at their machines.

Cambodian Vision in Development is a local Cambodian NGO which has relied entirely on international funding agencies to continue their projects. CVD are now trialling a clothing factory that trains and employs disabled and disadvantaged young women. Most of the workers suffer from some degree of TB.

Individulas can donate to CVD and start your own Village Self Help project. More info at cambodianvision (dot) com.

********************************

I usually don't expect a fee for private viewing, projects, school work, charity work, etc. Also if you wanted to use any images as a base for a private artwork or poster, I would love to see the final product (as long as it is legal and doesn't defame anyone).

Although I do need to charge for other professional, corporate or commercial uses, as I also have to make money to live. I can then supply a high resolution finished image which is sized to your needs.

For more information please contact me through FlickrMail.

Thanks .............. tim

********************************

Laverne Cox hosting the GLAAD Media Awards at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City by RyanReporting

3

The GLAAD Media Awards at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City