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Exploitant : RATP Cap Bièvre
Réseau : IDF Mobilités – Bièvre
Ligne : 9
Lieu : Gare d'Antony (Antony, F-92)
Lien TC Infos : tc-infos.fr/vehicule/28350
L' éternel problème du travail des enfants dans les pays aux faibles revenus. Ici, il s'agit d'une exploitation strictement familiale. Des lois internationales tentent de lutter contre ce fléau. Mais elles sont très difficiles à appliquer tant cette pratique est répandue dans le tiers-monde. Et tant les contrôles sont difficiles.
Le Château de Josselin est situé à Josselin, commune française du département du Morbihan en Bretagne.
Guéthénoc, vicomte de Porhoët, de Rohan et de Guéméné, membre de la famille des comtes de Rennes, aurait construit un premier château vers l'an 1008. Il exploitait un site de haute valeur militaire et commerciale comprenant un surplomb rocheux dominant en à-pic la rivière Oust. L'existence depuis le IXe siècle d'un pèlerinage à la Basilique Notre-Dame du Roncier (tous les huit septembre) ajoute beaucoup à la richesse des habitants et de leurs seigneurs. Ce pélerinage est d'ailleurs le plus important du Morbihan, après celui de Sainte-Anne-d'Auray.
En 1154, Eudon de Porhoët, beau-père, régent et tuteur du jeune duc de Bretagne, Conan IV, rassemble des seigneurs bretons pour priver son beau-fils de ses droits. Il sera défait par Henri II Plantagenêt, roi d'Angleterre et nouveau duc d'Anjou, auprès duquel s'était réfugié Conan IV. Henri II viendra en personne diriger la démolition du château et faire semer du sel dans les ruines.
Détail de la statue équestre d'Olivier de Clisson
Olivier V de Clisson, qui acquiert la seigneurie en 1370, reconstruit une imposante citadelle munie de huit tours et d'un donjon de 90 mètres. Il marie sa fille, Béatrix, à Alain VIII de Rohan, héritier des vicomtes de Rohan, dont le château était à une vingtaine de kilomètres.
En 1488, le duc de Bretagne François II prend le château et le démolit partiellement. Sa fille, Anne de Bretagne, le restitue à Jean II de Rohan, arrière-petit-fils d'Olivier de Clisson.
Celui-ci le transforme et construit dans l'enceinte un logis de plaisance avec une très belle façade de granit sculpté qui est un des premiers exemples de la Renaissance en France, car il avait fait venir des artistes et ouvriers italiens. Par reconnaissance, il fait sculpter de nombreux A surmontés d'une cordelière, emblème de la Duchesse-Reine.
Bannis de Josselin du fait de leur adhésion au protestantisme, les Rohan doivent laisser le gouverneur de Bretagne, le duc de Mercœur, faire de leur château une base pour la Ligue opposée au nouveau roi Henri IV.
En 1603, lors de l'érection de la vicomté de Rohan en duché-pairie par le roi Henri IV, Henri II de Rohan transfère le siège de son pouvoir au château de Pontivy. Le cardinal de Richelieu fait démanteler en 1629 le donjon et quatre et tours et annonce au duc Henri II, chef des insurgés protestants: « Monseigneur, je viens de jeter une bonne boule dans votre jeu de quilles ! »
Au XVIIIe siècle, le château n'est plus occupé et il devient prison et entrepôt pendant la Révolution et l'Empire. En 1822, la duchesse de Berry, lors de sa tournée aventureuse, convainc le duc de Rohan de le restaurer.
Il est actuellement toujours habité par le quatorzième duc de Rohan, Josselin de Rohan, sénateur, ancien président de la région Bretagne de 1992 à 2004, membre de l'UMP et fidèle de Jacques Chirac .
On peut visiter la cour et quelques pièces du rez-de-chaussée où sont exposés des meubles anciens (dont la table ayant servi à la signature de l'édit de Nantes), des portraits familiaux, des cadeaux royaux et une statue équestre d'Olivier V de Clisson par Emmanuel Frémiet. Dans les anciennes écuries a été installé le Musée de poupées.
L'imposante citadelle munie de huit tours et d'un donjon de 90 mètres date du XVe siècle a été partiellement détruite et un logis de plaisance avec une très belle façade de granit sculpté, un des premiers exemples de la Renaissance en France le remplace et a été restauré au XIXe siècle.
Le jardin à la française créé au début du XXe siècle par le paysagiste Achille Duchêne s’étend devant la façade Renaissance du château. Les buis et des ifs taillés encadrent les pelouses.
Une roseraie a été aménagée en 2001 sous le direction du paysagiste Louis Benech. Elle comporte 160 rosiers appartenant à 40 variétés différentes
Un parc à l'anglaise lui aussi créé par le paysagiste Achille Duchêne et revu par Louis Benech s'étend au pied des remparts, le long d’un cours d’eau. Ce parc présente des espèces rares d’azalées, de camélias et de nombreux rhododendrons et des arbres centenaires. Il est ouvert au public pour les Journées du Patrimoine et Rendez-vous au jardin .
le chateau de Josselin est très lié à l'alchimie notamment ses cheminées et sa cour extérieure sur le parc.Il s'inscrit dans le patrimoine de Brocéliande qui n'appartient pas qu'aux druides .En effet , il est tout à fait possible de lire de maniere alchimique la vita merlini de G. de Monmouth ainsi que le mythe de Brocéliande lui même.. et si on suit le parcours des salles du chateau on s'aperçoit que ce dernier met en évidence une progression alchimique qui peut se retrouver dans la chevalerie et dans les degrés d'élévation maçonnique , car le corrélat est précisément dans ce savoir acquis par le premier des Josselin .
Source wikipedia
Exploitant : Transdev TVO
Réseau : R'Bus (Argenteuil)
Ligne : 1
Lieu : Gare d'Argenteuil (Argenteuil, F-95)
Lien TC Infos : tc-infos.fr/id/27846
. . . 3. 3. 2007 - this is the second day of a funeral ceremony in Bori for a High Class Woman. She died on 18. 1. 2007 at the age of 85 years. The ceremony will last for one week.
If you wonder why the quality of the pictures is a little less: these are no photographs - it all are snapshots of my videos! So sorry for the less resolution, but I think, they are worth to be shown.
_____________________________________
The Toraja are an ethnic group indigenous to a mountainous region of South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Their population is approximately 1,100,000, of whom 450,000 live in the regency of Tana Toraja ("Land of Toraja"). Most of the population is Christian, and others are Muslim or have local animist beliefs known as aluk ("the way"). The Indonesian government has recognized this animist belief as Aluk To Dolo ("Way of the Ancestors").
The word toraja comes from the Bugis Buginese language term to riaja, meaning "people of the uplands". The Dutch colonial government named the people Toraja in 1909. Torajans are renowned for their elaborate funeral rites, burial sites carved into rocky cliffs, massive peaked-roof traditional houses known as tongkonan, and colorful wood carvings. Toraja funeral rites are important social events, usually attended by hundreds of people and lasting for several days.
Before the 20th century, Torajans lived in autonomous villages, where they practised animism and were relatively untouched by the outside world. In the early 1900s, Dutch missionaries first worked to convert Torajan highlanders to Christianity. When the Tana Toraja regency was further opened to the outside world in the 1970s, it became an icon of tourism in Indonesia: it was exploited by tourism developers and studied by anthropologists. By the 1990s, when tourism peaked, Toraja society had changed significantly, from an agrarian model - in which social life and customs were outgrowths of the Aluk To Dolo - to a largely Christian society. Today, tourism and remittances from migrant Torajans have made for major changes in the Toraja highland, giving the Toraja a celebrity status within Indonesia and enhancing Toraja ethnic group pride.
ETHNIC IDENTITY
The Torajan people had little notion of themselves as a distinct ethnic group before the 20th century. Before Dutch colonization and Christianization, Torajans, who lived in highland areas, identified with their villages and did not share a broad sense of identity. Although complexes of rituals created linkages between highland villages, there were variations in dialects, differences in social hierarchies, and an array of ritual practices in the Sulawesi highland region. "Toraja" (from the coastal languages' to, meaning people; and riaja, uplands) was first used as a lowlander expression for highlanders. As a result, "Toraja" initially had more currency with outsiders - such as the Bugis and Makassarese, who constitute a majority of the lowland of Sulawesi - than with insiders. The Dutch missionaries' presence in the highlands gave rise to the Toraja ethnic consciousness in the Sa'dan Toraja region, and this shared identity grew with the rise of tourism in the Tana Toraja Regency. Since then, South Sulawesi has four main ethnic groups - the Bugis (the majority, including shipbuilders and seafarers), the Makassarese (lowland traders and seafarers), the Mandarese (traders and fishermen), and the Toraja (highland rice cultivators).
HISTORY
From the 17th century, the Dutch established trade and political control on Sulawesi through the Dutch East Indies Company. Over two centuries, they ignored the mountainous area in the central Sulawesi, where Torajans lived, because access was difficult and it had little productive agricultural land. In the late 19th century, the Dutch became increasingly concerned about the spread of Islam in the south of Sulawesi, especially among the Makassarese and Bugis peoples. The Dutch saw the animist highlanders as potential Christians. In the 1920s, the Reformed Missionary Alliance of the Dutch Reformed Church began missionary work aided by the Dutch colonial government. In addition to introducing Christianity, the Dutch abolished slavery and imposed local taxes. A line was drawn around the Sa'dan area and called Tana Toraja ("the land of Toraja"). Tana Toraja was first a subdivision of the Luwu kingdom that had claimed the area. In 1946, the Dutch granted Tana Toraja a regentschap, and it was recognized in 1957 as one of the regencies of Indonesia.
Early Dutch missionaries faced strong opposition among Torajans, especially among the elite, because the abolition of their profitable slave trade had angered them. Some Torajans were forcibly relocated to the lowlands by the Dutch, where they could be more easily controlled. Taxes were kept high, undermining the wealth of the elites. Ultimately, the Dutch influence did not subdue Torajan culture, and only a few Torajans were converted. In 1950, only 10% of the population had converted to Christianity.
In the 1930s, Muslim lowlanders attacked the Torajans, resulting in widespread Christian conversion among those who sought to align themselves with the Dutch for political protection and to form a movement against the Bugis and Makassarese Muslims. Between 1951 and 1965 (following Indonesian independence), southern Sulawesi faced a turbulent period as the Darul Islam separatist movement fought for an Islamic state in Sulawesi. The 15 years of guerrilla warfare led to massive conversions to
CHRISTIANITY
Alignment with the Indonesian government, however, did not guarantee safety for the Torajans. In 1965, a presidential decree required every Indonesian citizen to belong to one of five officially recognized religions: Islam, Christianity (Protestantism and Catholicism), Hinduism, or Buddhism. The Torajan religious belief (aluk) was not legally recognized, and the Torajans raised their voices against the law. To make aluk accord with the law, it had to be accepted as part of one of the official religions. In 1969, Aluk To Dolo ("the way of ancestors") was legalized as a sect of Agama Hindu Dharma, the official name of Hinduism in Indonesia.
SOCIETY
There are three main types of affiliation in Toraja society: family, class and religion.
FAMILY AFFILIATION
Family is the primary social and political grouping in Torajan society. Each village is one extended family, the seat of which is the tongkonan, a traditional Torajan house. Each tongkonan has a name, which becomes the name of the village. The familial dons maintain village unity. Marriage between distant cousins (fourth cousins and beyond) is a common practice that strengthens kinship. Toraja society prohibits marriage between close cousins (up to and including the third cousin) - except for nobles, to prevent the dispersal of property. Kinship is actively reciprocal, meaning that the extended family helps each other farm, share buffalo rituals, and pay off debts.
Each person belongs to both the mother's and the father's families, the only bilateral family line in Indonesia. Children, therefore, inherit household affiliation from both mother and father, including land and even family debts. Children's names are given on the basis of kinship, and are usually chosen after dead relatives. Names of aunts, uncles and cousins are commonly referred to in the names of mothers, fathers and siblings.
Before the start of the formal administration of Toraja villages by the Tana Toraja Regency, each Toraja village was autonomous. In a more complex situation, in which one Toraja family could not handle their problems alone, several villages formed a group; sometimes, villages would unite against other villages. Relationship between families was expressed through blood, marriage, and shared ancestral houses (tongkonan), practically signed by the exchange of water buffalo and pigs on ritual occasions. Such exchanges not only built political and cultural ties between families but defined each person's place in a social hierarchy: who poured palm wine, who wrapped a corpse and prepared offerings, where each person could or could not sit, what dishes should be used or avoided, and even what piece of meat constituted one's share.
CLASS AFFILIATION
In early Toraja society, family relationships were tied closely to social class. There were three strata: nobles, commoners, and slaves (slavery was abolished in 1909 by the Dutch East Indies government). Class was inherited through the mother. It was taboo, therefore, to marry "down" with a woman of lower class. On the other hand, marrying a woman of higher class could improve the status of the next generation. The nobility's condescending attitude toward the commoners is still maintained today for reasons of family prestige.
Nobles, who were believed to be direct descendants of the descended person from heaven, lived in tongkonans, while commoners lived in less lavish houses (bamboo shacks called banua). Slaves lived in small huts, which had to be built around their owner's tongkonan. Commoners might marry anyone, but nobles preferred to marry in-family to maintain their status. Sometimes nobles married Bugis or Makassarese nobles. Commoners and slaves were prohibited from having death feasts. Despite close kinship and status inheritance, there was some social mobility, as marriage or change in wealth could affect an individuals status. Wealth was counted by the ownership of water buffaloes.
Slaves in Toraja society were family property. Sometimes Torajans decided to become slaves when they incurred a debt, pledging to work as payment. Slaves could be taken during wars, and slave trading was common. Slaves could buy their freedom, but their children still inherited slave status. Slaves were prohibited from wearing bronze or gold, carving their houses, eating from the same dishes as their owners, or having sex with free women - a crime punishable by death.
RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION
Toraja's indigenous belief system is polytheistic animism, called aluk, or "the way" (sometimes translated as "the law"). In the Toraja myth, the ancestors of Torajan people came down from heaven using stairs, which were then used by the Torajans as a communication medium with Puang Matua, the Creator. The cosmos, according to aluk, is divided into the upper world (heaven), the world of man (earth), and the underworld. At first, heaven and earth were married, then there was a darkness, a separation, and finally the light. Animals live in the underworld, which is represented by rectangular space enclosed by pillars, the earth is for mankind, and the heaven world is located above, covered with a saddle-shaped roof. Other Toraja gods include Pong Banggai di Rante (god of Earth), Indo' Ongon-Ongon (a goddess who can cause earthquakes), Pong Lalondong (god of death), and Indo' Belo Tumbang (goddess of medicine); there are many more.
The earthly authority, whose words and actions should be cleaved to both in life (agriculture) and death (funerals), is called to minaa (an aluk priest). Aluk is not just a belief system; it is a combination of law, religion, and habit. Aluk governs social life, agricultural practices, and ancestral rituals. The details of aluk may vary from one village to another. One common law is the requirement that death and life rituals be separated. Torajans believe that performing death rituals might ruin their corpses if combined with life rituals. The two rituals are equally important. During the time of the Dutch missionaries, Christian Torajans were prohibited from attending or performing life rituals, but were allowed to perform death rituals. Consequently, Toraja's death rituals are still practised today, while life rituals have diminished.
CULTURE
TONGKONAN
Tongkonan are the traditional Torajan ancestral houses. They stand high on wooden piles, topped with a layered split-bamboo roof shaped in a sweeping curved arc, and they are incised with red, black, and yellow detailed wood carvings on the exterior walls. The word "tongkonan" comes from the Torajan tongkon ("to sit").
Tongkonan are the center of Torajan social life. The rituals associated with the tongkonan are important expressions of Torajan spiritual life, and therefore all family members are impelled to participate, because symbolically the tongkonan represents links to their ancestors and to living and future kin. According to Torajan myth, the first tongkonan was built in heaven on four poles, with a roof made of Indian cloth. When the first Torajan ancestor descended to earth, he imitated the house and held a large ceremony.
The construction of a tongkonan is laborious work and is usually done with the help of the extended family. There are three types of tongkonan. The tongkonan layuk is the house of the highest authority, used as the "center of government". The tongkonan pekamberan belongs to the family members who have some authority in local traditions. Ordinary family members reside in the tongkonan batu. The exclusivity to the nobility of the tongkonan is diminishing as many Torajan commoners find lucrative employment in other parts of Indonesia. As they send back money to their families, they enable the construction of larger tongkonan.
WOOD CARVINGS
To express social and religious concepts, Torajans carve wood, calling it Pa'ssura (or "the writing"). Wood carvings are therefore Toraja's cultural manifestation.
Each carving receives a special name, and common motifs are animals and plants that symbolize some virtue. For example, water plants and animals, such as crabs, tadpoles and water weeds, are commonly found to symbolize fertility. In some areas noble elders claim these symbols refer to strength of noble family, but not everyone agrees. The overall meaning of groups of carved motifs on houses remains debated and tourism has further complicated these debates because some feel a uniform explanation must be presented to tourists. The image to the left shows an example of Torajan wood carving, consisting of 15 square panels. The center bottom panel represents buffalo or wealth, a wish for many buffaloes for the family. The center panel represents a knot and a box, a hope that all of the family's offspring will be happy and live in harmony, like goods kept safe in a box. The top left and top right squares represent an aquatic animal, indicating the need for fast and hard work, just like moving on the surface of water. It also represents the need for a certain skill to produce good results.
Regularity and order are common features in Toraja wood carving (see table below), as well as abstracts and geometrical designs. Nature is frequently used as the basis of Toraja's ornaments, because nature is full of abstractions and geometries with regularities and ordering. Toraja's ornaments have been studied in ethnomathematics to reveal their mathematical structure, but Torajans base this art only on approximations. To create an ornament, bamboo sticks are used as a geometrical tool.
FUNERAL RITES
In Toraja society, the funeral ritual is the most elaborate and expensive event. The richer and more powerful the individual, the more expensive is the funeral. In the aluk religion, only nobles have the right to have an extensive death feast. The death feast of a nobleman is usually attended by thousands and lasts for several days. A ceremonial site, called rante, is usually prepared in a large, grassy field where shelters for audiences, rice barns, and other ceremonial funeral structures are specially made by the deceased family. Flute music, funeral chants, songs and poems, and crying and wailing are traditional Toraja expressions of grief with the exceptions of funerals for young children, and poor, low-status adults.
The ceremony is often held weeks, months, or years after the death so that the deceased's family can raise the significant funds needed to cover funeral expenses. Torajans traditionally believe that death is not a sudden, abrupt event, but a gradual process toward Puya (the land of souls, or afterlife). During the waiting period, the body of the deceased is wrapped in several layers of cloth and kept under the tongkonan. The soul of the deceased is thought to linger around the village until the funeral ceremony is completed, after which it begins its journey to Puya.
Another component of the ritual is the slaughter of water buffalo. The more powerful the person who died, the more buffalo are slaughtered at the death feast. Buffalo carcasses, including their heads, are usually lined up on a field waiting for their owner, who is in the "sleeping stage". Torajans believe that the deceased will need the buffalo to make the journey and that they will be quicker to arrive at Puya if they have many buffalo. Slaughtering tens of water buffalo and hundreds of pigs using a machete is the climax of the elaborate death feast, with dancing and music and young boys who catch spurting blood in long bamboo tubes. Some of the slaughtered animals are given by guests as "gifts", which are carefully noted because they will be considered debts of the deceased's family. However, a cockfight, known as bulangan londong, is an integral part of the ceremony. As with the sacrifice of the buffalo and the pigs, the cockfight is considered sacred because it involves the spilling of blood on the earth. In particular, the tradition requires the sacrifice of at least three chickens. However, it is common for at least 25 pairs of chickens to be set against each other in the context of the ceremony.
There are three methods of burial: the coffin may be laid in a cave or in a carved stone grave, or hung on a cliff. It contains any possessions that the deceased will need in the afterlife. The wealthy are often buried in a stone grave carved out of a rocky cliff. The grave is usually expensive and takes a few months to complete. In some areas, a stone cave may be found that is large enough to accommodate a whole family. A wood-carved effigy, called Tau tau, is usually placed in the cave looking out over the land. The coffin of a baby or child may be hung from ropes on a cliff face or from a tree. This hanging grave usually lasts for years, until the ropes rot and the coffin falls to the ground.
In the ritual called Ma'Nene, that takes place each year in August, the bodies of the deceased are exhumed to be washed, groomed and dressed in new clothes. The mummies are then walked around the village.
DANCE AND MUSIC
Torajans perform dances on several occasions, most often during their elaborate funeral ceremonies. They dance to express their grief, and to honour and even cheer the deceased person because he is going to have a long journey in the afterlife. First, a group of men form a circle and sing a monotonous chant throughout the night to honour the deceased (a ritual called Ma'badong). This is considered by many Torajans to be the most important component of the funeral ceremony. On the second funeral day, the Ma'randing warrior dance is performed to praise the courage of the deceased during life. Several men perform the dance with a sword, a large shield made from buffalo skin, a helmet with a buffalo horn, and other ornamentation. The Ma'randing dance precedes a procession in which the deceased is carried from a rice barn to the rante, the site of the funeral ceremony. During the funeral, elder women perform the Ma'katia dance while singing a poetic song and wearing a long feathered costume. The Ma'akatia dance is performed to remind the audience of the generosity and loyalty of the deceased person. After the bloody ceremony of buffalo and pig slaughter, a group of boys and girls clap their hands while performing a cheerful dance called Ma'dondan.
As in other agricultural societies, Torajans dance and sing during harvest time. The Ma'bugi dance celebrates the thanksgiving event, and the Ma'gandangi dance is performed while Torajans are pounding rice. There are several war dances, such as the Manimbong dance performed by men, followed by the Ma'dandan dance performed by women. The aluk religion governs when and how Torajans dance. A dance called Ma'bua can be performed only once every 12 years. Ma'bua is a major Toraja ceremony in which priests wear a buffalo head and dance around a sacred tree.
A traditional musical instrument of the Toraja is a bamboo flute called a Pa'suling (suling is an Indonesian word for flute). This six-holed flute (not unique to the Toraja) is played at many dances, such as the thanksgiving dance Ma'bondensan, where the flute accompanies a group of shirtless, dancing men with long fingernails. The Toraja have indigenous musical instruments, such as the Pa'pelle (made from palm leaves) and the Pa'karombi (the Torajan version of a jaw harp). The Pa'pelle is played during harvest time and at house inauguration ceremonies.
LANGUAGE
The ethnic Toraja language is dominant in Tana Toraja with the main language as the Sa'dan Toraja. Although the national Indonesian language is the official language and is spoken in the community, all elementary schools in Tana Toraja teach Toraja language.Language varieties of Toraja, including Kalumpang, Mamasa, Tae' , Talondo' , Toala' , and Toraja-Sa'dan, belong to the Malayo-Polynesian language from the Austronesian family. At the outset, the isolated geographical nature of Tana Toraja formed many dialects between the Toraja languages themselves. After the formal administration of Tana Toraja, some Toraja dialects have been influenced by other languages through the transmigration program, introduced since the colonialism period, and it has been a major factor in the linguistic variety of Toraja languages. A prominent attribute of Toraja language is the notion of grief. The importance of death ceremony in Toraja culture has characterized their languages to express intricate degrees of grief and mourning. The Toraja language contains many terms referring to sadness, longing, depression, and mental pain. Giving a clear expression of the psychological and physical effect of loss is a catharsis and sometimes lessens the pain of grief itself.
ECONOMY
Prior to Suharto's "New Order" administration, the Torajan economy was based on agriculture, with cultivated wet rice in terraced fields on mountain slopes, and supplemental cassava and maize crops. Much time and energy were devoted to raising water buffalo, pigs, and chickens, primarily for ceremonial sacrifices and consumption. Coffee was the first significant cash crop produced in Toraja, and was introduced in the mid 19th century, changing the local economy towards commodity production for external markets and gaining an excellent reputation for quality in the international market .
With the commencement of the New Order in 1965, Indonesia's economy developed and opened to foreign investment. In Toraja, a coffee plantation and factory was established by Key Coffee of Japan, and Torajan coffee regained a reputation for quality within the growing international specialty coffee sector Multinational oil and mining companies opened new operations in Indonesia during the 1970s and 1980s. Torajans, particularly younger ones, relocated to work for the foreign companies - to Kalimantan for timber and oil, to Papua for mining, to the cities of Sulawesi and Java, and many went to Malaysia. The out-migration of Torajans was steady until 1985. and has continued since, with remittances sent back by emigre Torajans performing an important role within the contemporary economy.
Tourism commenced in Toraja in the 1970s, and accelerated in the 1980s and 1990s. Between 1984 and 1997, a significant number of Torajans obtained their incomes from tourism, working in and owning hotels, as tour guides, drivers, or selling souvenirs. With the rise of political and economic instability in Indonesia in the late 1990s - including religious conflicts elsewhere on Sulawesi - tourism in Tana Toraja has declined dramatically. Toraja continues to be a well known origin for Indonesian coffee, grown by both smallholders and plantation estates, although migration, remittances and off-farm income is considered far more important to most households, even those in rural areas.
TOURISM AND CULTURAL CHANGE
Before the 1970s, Toraja was almost unknown to Western tourism. In 1971, about 50 Europeans visited Tana Toraja. In 1972, at least 400 visitors attended the funeral ritual of Puang of Sangalla, the highest-ranking nobleman in Tana Toraja and the so-called "last pure-blooded Toraja noble." The event was documented by National Geographic and broadcast in several European countries. In 1976, about 12,000 tourists visited the regency and in 1981, Torajan sculpture was exhibited in major North American museums. "The land of the heavenly kings of Tana Toraja", as written in the exhibition brochure, embraced the outside world.
In 1984, the Indonesian Ministry of Tourism declared Tana Toraja Regency the prima donna of South Sulawesi. Tana Toraja was heralded as "the second stop after Bali". Tourism was increasing dramatically: by 1985, a total number of 150,000 foreigners had visited the Regency (in addition to 80,000 domestic tourists), and the annual number of foreign visitors was recorded at 40,000 in 1989. Souvenir stands appeared in Rantepao, the cultural center of Toraja, roads were sealed at the most-visited tourist sites, new hotels and tourist-oriented restaurants were opened, and an airstrip was opened in the Regency in 1981.
Tourism developers have marketed Tana Toraja as an exotic adventure - an area rich in culture and off the beaten track. Western tourists expected to see stone-age villages and pagan funerals. Toraja is for tourists who have gone as far as Bali and are willing to see more of the wild, "untouched" islands. However, they were more likely to see a Torajan wearing a hat and denim, living in a Christian society. Tourists felt that the tongkonan and other Torajan rituals had been preconceived to make profits, and complained that the destination was too commercialized. This has resulted in several clashes between Torajans and tourism developers, whom Torajans see as outsiders.
A clash between local Torajan leaders and the South Sulawesi provincial government (as a tourist developer) broke out in 1985. The government designated 18 Toraja villages and burial sites as traditional tourist attractions. Consequently, zoning restrictions were applied to these areas, such that Torajans themselves were barred from changing their tongkonans and burial sites. The plan was opposed by some Torajan leaders, as they felt that their rituals and traditions were being determined by outsiders. As a result, in 1987, the Torajan village of Kété Kesú and several other designated tourist attractions closed their doors to tourists. This closure lasted only a few days, as the villagers found it too difficult to survive without the income from selling souvenirs.
Tourism has also transformed Toraja society. Originally, there was a ritual which allowed commoners to marry nobles (puang) and thereby gain nobility for their children. However, the image of Torajan society created for the tourists, often by "lower-ranking" guides, has eroded its traditional strict hierarchy. High status is not as esteemed in Tana Toraja as it once was. Many low-ranking men can declare themselves and their children nobles by gaining enough wealth through work outside the region and then marrying a noble woman.
WIKIPEDIA
. . . 2. 3. 2007 - this is the first day of a funeral ceremony in Bori for a High Class Woman. She died on 18. 1. 2007 at the age of 85 years. The ceremony will last for one week. Today we will see the showing of the water buffalos, pigs, cow, horse, deer and chicken. All these animals are offered to be the servants of the died woman in her new life after death in Puya. We will see buffalo fighting. Men bet for the winner of those fightings. Two buffalos fight each other - the one running away lost the fight!
If you wonder why the quality of the pictures is a little less: these are no photographs - it all are snapshots of my videos! So sorry for the less resolution, but I think, they are worth to be shown.
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The Toraja are an ethnic group indigenous to a mountainous region of South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Their population is approximately 1,100,000, of whom 450,000 live in the regency of Tana Toraja ("Land of Toraja"). Most of the population is Christian, and others are Muslim or have local animist beliefs known as aluk ("the way"). The Indonesian government has recognized this animist belief as Aluk To Dolo ("Way of the Ancestors").
The word toraja comes from the Bugis Buginese language term to riaja, meaning "people of the uplands". The Dutch colonial government named the people Toraja in 1909. Torajans are renowned for their elaborate funeral rites, burial sites carved into rocky cliffs, massive peaked-roof traditional houses known as tongkonan, and colorful wood carvings. Toraja funeral rites are important social events, usually attended by hundreds of people and lasting for several days.
Before the 20th century, Torajans lived in autonomous villages, where they practised animism and were relatively untouched by the outside world. In the early 1900s, Dutch missionaries first worked to convert Torajan highlanders to Christianity. When the Tana Toraja regency was further opened to the outside world in the 1970s, it became an icon of tourism in Indonesia: it was exploited by tourism developers and studied by anthropologists. By the 1990s, when tourism peaked, Toraja society had changed significantly, from an agrarian model - in which social life and customs were outgrowths of the Aluk To Dolo - to a largely Christian society. Today, tourism and remittances from migrant Torajans have made for major changes in the Toraja highland, giving the Toraja a celebrity status within Indonesia and enhancing Toraja ethnic group pride.
ETHNIC IDENTITY
The Torajan people had little notion of themselves as a distinct ethnic group before the 20th century. Before Dutch colonization and Christianization, Torajans, who lived in highland areas, identified with their villages and did not share a broad sense of identity. Although complexes of rituals created linkages between highland villages, there were variations in dialects, differences in social hierarchies, and an array of ritual practices in the Sulawesi highland region. "Toraja" (from the coastal languages' to, meaning people; and riaja, uplands) was first used as a lowlander expression for highlanders. As a result, "Toraja" initially had more currency with outsiders - such as the Bugis and Makassarese, who constitute a majority of the lowland of Sulawesi - than with insiders. The Dutch missionaries' presence in the highlands gave rise to the Toraja ethnic consciousness in the Sa'dan Toraja region, and this shared identity grew with the rise of tourism in the Tana Toraja Regency. Since then, South Sulawesi has four main ethnic groups - the Bugis (the majority, including shipbuilders and seafarers), the Makassarese (lowland traders and seafarers), the Mandarese (traders and fishermen), and the Toraja (highland rice cultivators).
HISTORY
From the 17th century, the Dutch established trade and political control on Sulawesi through the Dutch East Indies Company. Over two centuries, they ignored the mountainous area in the central Sulawesi, where Torajans lived, because access was difficult and it had little productive agricultural land. In the late 19th century, the Dutch became increasingly concerned about the spread of Islam in the south of Sulawesi, especially among the Makassarese and Bugis peoples. The Dutch saw the animist highlanders as potential Christians. In the 1920s, the Reformed Missionary Alliance of the Dutch Reformed Church began missionary work aided by the Dutch colonial government. In addition to introducing Christianity, the Dutch abolished slavery and imposed local taxes. A line was drawn around the Sa'dan area and called Tana Toraja ("the land of Toraja"). Tana Toraja was first a subdivision of the Luwu kingdom that had claimed the area. In 1946, the Dutch granted Tana Toraja a regentschap, and it was recognized in 1957 as one of the regencies of Indonesia.
Early Dutch missionaries faced strong opposition among Torajans, especially among the elite, because the abolition of their profitable slave trade had angered them. Some Torajans were forcibly relocated to the lowlands by the Dutch, where they could be more easily controlled. Taxes were kept high, undermining the wealth of the elites. Ultimately, the Dutch influence did not subdue Torajan culture, and only a few Torajans were converted. In 1950, only 10% of the population had converted to Christianity.
In the 1930s, Muslim lowlanders attacked the Torajans, resulting in widespread Christian conversion among those who sought to align themselves with the Dutch for political protection and to form a movement against the Bugis and Makassarese Muslims. Between 1951 and 1965 (following Indonesian independence), southern Sulawesi faced a turbulent period as the Darul Islam separatist movement fought for an Islamic state in Sulawesi. The 15 years of guerrilla warfare led to massive conversions to
CHRISTIANITY
Alignment with the Indonesian government, however, did not guarantee safety for the Torajans. In 1965, a presidential decree required every Indonesian citizen to belong to one of five officially recognized religions: Islam, Christianity (Protestantism and Catholicism), Hinduism, or Buddhism. The Torajan religious belief (aluk) was not legally recognized, and the Torajans raised their voices against the law. To make aluk accord with the law, it had to be accepted as part of one of the official religions. In 1969, Aluk To Dolo ("the way of ancestors") was legalized as a sect of Agama Hindu Dharma, the official name of Hinduism in Indonesia.
SOCIETY
There are three main types of affiliation in Toraja society: family, class and religion.
FAMILY AFFILIATION
Family is the primary social and political grouping in Torajan society. Each village is one extended family, the seat of which is the tongkonan, a traditional Torajan house. Each tongkonan has a name, which becomes the name of the village. The familial dons maintain village unity. Marriage between distant cousins (fourth cousins and beyond) is a common practice that strengthens kinship. Toraja society prohibits marriage between close cousins (up to and including the third cousin) - except for nobles, to prevent the dispersal of property. Kinship is actively reciprocal, meaning that the extended family helps each other farm, share buffalo rituals, and pay off debts.
Each person belongs to both the mother's and the father's families, the only bilateral family line in Indonesia. Children, therefore, inherit household affiliation from both mother and father, including land and even family debts. Children's names are given on the basis of kinship, and are usually chosen after dead relatives. Names of aunts, uncles and cousins are commonly referred to in the names of mothers, fathers and siblings.
Before the start of the formal administration of Toraja villages by the Tana Toraja Regency, each Toraja village was autonomous. In a more complex situation, in which one Toraja family could not handle their problems alone, several villages formed a group; sometimes, villages would unite against other villages. Relationship between families was expressed through blood, marriage, and shared ancestral houses (tongkonan), practically signed by the exchange of water buffalo and pigs on ritual occasions. Such exchanges not only built political and cultural ties between families but defined each person's place in a social hierarchy: who poured palm wine, who wrapped a corpse and prepared offerings, where each person could or could not sit, what dishes should be used or avoided, and even what piece of meat constituted one's share.
CLASS AFFILIATION
In early Toraja society, family relationships were tied closely to social class. There were three strata: nobles, commoners, and slaves (slavery was abolished in 1909 by the Dutch East Indies government). Class was inherited through the mother. It was taboo, therefore, to marry "down" with a woman of lower class. On the other hand, marrying a woman of higher class could improve the status of the next generation. The nobility's condescending attitude toward the commoners is still maintained today for reasons of family prestige.
Nobles, who were believed to be direct descendants of the descended person from heaven, lived in tongkonans, while commoners lived in less lavish houses (bamboo shacks called banua). Slaves lived in small huts, which had to be built around their owner's tongkonan. Commoners might marry anyone, but nobles preferred to marry in-family to maintain their status. Sometimes nobles married Bugis or Makassarese nobles. Commoners and slaves were prohibited from having death feasts. Despite close kinship and status inheritance, there was some social mobility, as marriage or change in wealth could affect an individuals status. Wealth was counted by the ownership of water buffaloes.
Slaves in Toraja society were family property. Sometimes Torajans decided to become slaves when they incurred a debt, pledging to work as payment. Slaves could be taken during wars, and slave trading was common. Slaves could buy their freedom, but their children still inherited slave status. Slaves were prohibited from wearing bronze or gold, carving their houses, eating from the same dishes as their owners, or having sex with free women - a crime punishable by death.
RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION
Toraja's indigenous belief system is polytheistic animism, called aluk, or "the way" (sometimes translated as "the law"). In the Toraja myth, the ancestors of Torajan people came down from heaven using stairs, which were then used by the Torajans as a communication medium with Puang Matua, the Creator. The cosmos, according to aluk, is divided into the upper world (heaven), the world of man (earth), and the underworld. At first, heaven and earth were married, then there was a darkness, a separation, and finally the light. Animals live in the underworld, which is represented by rectangular space enclosed by pillars, the earth is for mankind, and the heaven world is located above, covered with a saddle-shaped roof. Other Toraja gods include Pong Banggai di Rante (god of Earth), Indo' Ongon-Ongon (a goddess who can cause earthquakes), Pong Lalondong (god of death), and Indo' Belo Tumbang (goddess of medicine); there are many more.
The earthly authority, whose words and actions should be cleaved to both in life (agriculture) and death (funerals), is called to minaa (an aluk priest). Aluk is not just a belief system; it is a combination of law, religion, and habit. Aluk governs social life, agricultural practices, and ancestral rituals. The details of aluk may vary from one village to another. One common law is the requirement that death and life rituals be separated. Torajans believe that performing death rituals might ruin their corpses if combined with life rituals. The two rituals are equally important. During the time of the Dutch missionaries, Christian Torajans were prohibited from attending or performing life rituals, but were allowed to perform death rituals. Consequently, Toraja's death rituals are still practised today, while life rituals have diminished.
CULTURE
TONGKONAN
Tongkonan are the traditional Torajan ancestral houses. They stand high on wooden piles, topped with a layered split-bamboo roof shaped in a sweeping curved arc, and they are incised with red, black, and yellow detailed wood carvings on the exterior walls. The word "tongkonan" comes from the Torajan tongkon ("to sit").
Tongkonan are the center of Torajan social life. The rituals associated with the tongkonan are important expressions of Torajan spiritual life, and therefore all family members are impelled to participate, because symbolically the tongkonan represents links to their ancestors and to living and future kin. According to Torajan myth, the first tongkonan was built in heaven on four poles, with a roof made of Indian cloth. When the first Torajan ancestor descended to earth, he imitated the house and held a large ceremony.
The construction of a tongkonan is laborious work and is usually done with the help of the extended family. There are three types of tongkonan. The tongkonan layuk is the house of the highest authority, used as the "center of government". The tongkonan pekamberan belongs to the family members who have some authority in local traditions. Ordinary family members reside in the tongkonan batu. The exclusivity to the nobility of the tongkonan is diminishing as many Torajan commoners find lucrative employment in other parts of Indonesia. As they send back money to their families, they enable the construction of larger tongkonan.
WOOD CARVINGS
To express social and religious concepts, Torajans carve wood, calling it Pa'ssura (or "the writing"). Wood carvings are therefore Toraja's cultural manifestation.
Each carving receives a special name, and common motifs are animals and plants that symbolize some virtue. For example, water plants and animals, such as crabs, tadpoles and water weeds, are commonly found to symbolize fertility. In some areas noble elders claim these symbols refer to strength of noble family, but not everyone agrees. The overall meaning of groups of carved motifs on houses remains debated and tourism has further complicated these debates because some feel a uniform explanation must be presented to tourists. The image to the left shows an example of Torajan wood carving, consisting of 15 square panels. The center bottom panel represents buffalo or wealth, a wish for many buffaloes for the family. The center panel represents a knot and a box, a hope that all of the family's offspring will be happy and live in harmony, like goods kept safe in a box. The top left and top right squares represent an aquatic animal, indicating the need for fast and hard work, just like moving on the surface of water. It also represents the need for a certain skill to produce good results.
Regularity and order are common features in Toraja wood carving (see table below), as well as abstracts and geometrical designs. Nature is frequently used as the basis of Toraja's ornaments, because nature is full of abstractions and geometries with regularities and ordering. Toraja's ornaments have been studied in ethnomathematics to reveal their mathematical structure, but Torajans base this art only on approximations. To create an ornament, bamboo sticks are used as a geometrical tool.
FUNERAL RITES
In Toraja society, the funeral ritual is the most elaborate and expensive event. The richer and more powerful the individual, the more expensive is the funeral. In the aluk religion, only nobles have the right to have an extensive death feast. The death feast of a nobleman is usually attended by thousands and lasts for several days. A ceremonial site, called rante, is usually prepared in a large, grassy field where shelters for audiences, rice barns, and other ceremonial funeral structures are specially made by the deceased family. Flute music, funeral chants, songs and poems, and crying and wailing are traditional Toraja expressions of grief with the exceptions of funerals for young children, and poor, low-status adults.
The ceremony is often held weeks, months, or years after the death so that the deceased's family can raise the significant funds needed to cover funeral expenses. Torajans traditionally believe that death is not a sudden, abrupt event, but a gradual process toward Puya (the land of souls, or afterlife). During the waiting period, the body of the deceased is wrapped in several layers of cloth and kept under the tongkonan. The soul of the deceased is thought to linger around the village until the funeral ceremony is completed, after which it begins its journey to Puya.
Another component of the ritual is the slaughter of water buffalo. The more powerful the person who died, the more buffalo are slaughtered at the death feast. Buffalo carcasses, including their heads, are usually lined up on a field waiting for their owner, who is in the "sleeping stage". Torajans believe that the deceased will need the buffalo to make the journey and that they will be quicker to arrive at Puya if they have many buffalo. Slaughtering tens of water buffalo and hundreds of pigs using a machete is the climax of the elaborate death feast, with dancing and music and young boys who catch spurting blood in long bamboo tubes. Some of the slaughtered animals are given by guests as "gifts", which are carefully noted because they will be considered debts of the deceased's family. However, a cockfight, known as bulangan londong, is an integral part of the ceremony. As with the sacrifice of the buffalo and the pigs, the cockfight is considered sacred because it involves the spilling of blood on the earth. In particular, the tradition requires the sacrifice of at least three chickens. However, it is common for at least 25 pairs of chickens to be set against each other in the context of the ceremony.
There are three methods of burial: the coffin may be laid in a cave or in a carved stone grave, or hung on a cliff. It contains any possessions that the deceased will need in the afterlife. The wealthy are often buried in a stone grave carved out of a rocky cliff. The grave is usually expensive and takes a few months to complete. In some areas, a stone cave may be found that is large enough to accommodate a whole family. A wood-carved effigy, called Tau tau, is usually placed in the cave looking out over the land. The coffin of a baby or child may be hung from ropes on a cliff face or from a tree. This hanging grave usually lasts for years, until the ropes rot and the coffin falls to the ground.
In the ritual called Ma'Nene, that takes place each year in August, the bodies of the deceased are exhumed to be washed, groomed and dressed in new clothes. The mummies are then walked around the village.
DANCE AND MUSIC
Torajans perform dances on several occasions, most often during their elaborate funeral ceremonies. They dance to express their grief, and to honour and even cheer the deceased person because he is going to have a long journey in the afterlife. First, a group of men form a circle and sing a monotonous chant throughout the night to honour the deceased (a ritual called Ma'badong). This is considered by many Torajans to be the most important component of the funeral ceremony. On the second funeral day, the Ma'randing warrior dance is performed to praise the courage of the deceased during life. Several men perform the dance with a sword, a large shield made from buffalo skin, a helmet with a buffalo horn, and other ornamentation. The Ma'randing dance precedes a procession in which the deceased is carried from a rice barn to the rante, the site of the funeral ceremony. During the funeral, elder women perform the Ma'katia dance while singing a poetic song and wearing a long feathered costume. The Ma'akatia dance is performed to remind the audience of the generosity and loyalty of the deceased person. After the bloody ceremony of buffalo and pig slaughter, a group of boys and girls clap their hands while performing a cheerful dance called Ma'dondan.
As in other agricultural societies, Torajans dance and sing during harvest time. The Ma'bugi dance celebrates the thanksgiving event, and the Ma'gandangi dance is performed while Torajans are pounding rice. There are several war dances, such as the Manimbong dance performed by men, followed by the Ma'dandan dance performed by women. The aluk religion governs when and how Torajans dance. A dance called Ma'bua can be performed only once every 12 years. Ma'bua is a major Toraja ceremony in which priests wear a buffalo head and dance around a sacred tree.
A traditional musical instrument of the Toraja is a bamboo flute called a Pa'suling (suling is an Indonesian word for flute). This six-holed flute (not unique to the Toraja) is played at many dances, such as the thanksgiving dance Ma'bondensan, where the flute accompanies a group of shirtless, dancing men with long fingernails. The Toraja have indigenous musical instruments, such as the Pa'pelle (made from palm leaves) and the Pa'karombi (the Torajan version of a jaw harp). The Pa'pelle is played during harvest time and at house inauguration ceremonies.
LANGUAGE
The ethnic Toraja language is dominant in Tana Toraja with the main language as the Sa'dan Toraja. Although the national Indonesian language is the official language and is spoken in the community, all elementary schools in Tana Toraja teach Toraja language.Language varieties of Toraja, including Kalumpang, Mamasa, Tae' , Talondo' , Toala' , and Toraja-Sa'dan, belong to the Malayo-Polynesian language from the Austronesian family. At the outset, the isolated geographical nature of Tana Toraja formed many dialects between the Toraja languages themselves. After the formal administration of Tana Toraja, some Toraja dialects have been influenced by other languages through the transmigration program, introduced since the colonialism period, and it has been a major factor in the linguistic variety of Toraja languages. A prominent attribute of Toraja language is the notion of grief. The importance of death ceremony in Toraja culture has characterized their languages to express intricate degrees of grief and mourning. The Toraja language contains many terms referring to sadness, longing, depression, and mental pain. Giving a clear expression of the psychological and physical effect of loss is a catharsis and sometimes lessens the pain of grief itself.
ECONOMY
Prior to Suharto's "New Order" administration, the Torajan economy was based on agriculture, with cultivated wet rice in terraced fields on mountain slopes, and supplemental cassava and maize crops. Much time and energy were devoted to raising water buffalo, pigs, and chickens, primarily for ceremonial sacrifices and consumption. Coffee was the first significant cash crop produced in Toraja, and was introduced in the mid 19th century, changing the local economy towards commodity production for external markets and gaining an excellent reputation for quality in the international market .
With the commencement of the New Order in 1965, Indonesia's economy developed and opened to foreign investment. In Toraja, a coffee plantation and factory was established by Key Coffee of Japan, and Torajan coffee regained a reputation for quality within the growing international specialty coffee sector Multinational oil and mining companies opened new operations in Indonesia during the 1970s and 1980s. Torajans, particularly younger ones, relocated to work for the foreign companies - to Kalimantan for timber and oil, to Papua for mining, to the cities of Sulawesi and Java, and many went to Malaysia. The out-migration of Torajans was steady until 1985. and has continued since, with remittances sent back by emigre Torajans performing an important role within the contemporary economy.
Tourism commenced in Toraja in the 1970s, and accelerated in the 1980s and 1990s. Between 1984 and 1997, a significant number of Torajans obtained their incomes from tourism, working in and owning hotels, as tour guides, drivers, or selling souvenirs. With the rise of political and economic instability in Indonesia in the late 1990s - including religious conflicts elsewhere on Sulawesi - tourism in Tana Toraja has declined dramatically. Toraja continues to be a well known origin for Indonesian coffee, grown by both smallholders and plantation estates, although migration, remittances and off-farm income is considered far more important to most households, even those in rural areas.
TOURISM AND CULTURAL CHANGE
Before the 1970s, Toraja was almost unknown to Western tourism. In 1971, about 50 Europeans visited Tana Toraja. In 1972, at least 400 visitors attended the funeral ritual of Puang of Sangalla, the highest-ranking nobleman in Tana Toraja and the so-called "last pure-blooded Toraja noble." The event was documented by National Geographic and broadcast in several European countries. In 1976, about 12,000 tourists visited the regency and in 1981, Torajan sculpture was exhibited in major North American museums. "The land of the heavenly kings of Tana Toraja", as written in the exhibition brochure, embraced the outside world.
In 1984, the Indonesian Ministry of Tourism declared Tana Toraja Regency the prima donna of South Sulawesi. Tana Toraja was heralded as "the second stop after Bali". Tourism was increasing dramatically: by 1985, a total number of 150,000 foreigners had visited the Regency (in addition to 80,000 domestic tourists), and the annual number of foreign visitors was recorded at 40,000 in 1989. Souvenir stands appeared in Rantepao, the cultural center of Toraja, roads were sealed at the most-visited tourist sites, new hotels and tourist-oriented restaurants were opened, and an airstrip was opened in the Regency in 1981.
Tourism developers have marketed Tana Toraja as an exotic adventure - an area rich in culture and off the beaten track. Western tourists expected to see stone-age villages and pagan funerals. Toraja is for tourists who have gone as far as Bali and are willing to see more of the wild, "untouched" islands. However, they were more likely to see a Torajan wearing a hat and denim, living in a Christian society. Tourists felt that the tongkonan and other Torajan rituals had been preconceived to make profits, and complained that the destination was too commercialized. This has resulted in several clashes between Torajans and tourism developers, whom Torajans see as outsiders.
A clash between local Torajan leaders and the South Sulawesi provincial government (as a tourist developer) broke out in 1985. The government designated 18 Toraja villages and burial sites as traditional tourist attractions. Consequently, zoning restrictions were applied to these areas, such that Torajans themselves were barred from changing their tongkonans and burial sites. The plan was opposed by some Torajan leaders, as they felt that their rituals and traditions were being determined by outsiders. As a result, in 1987, the Torajan village of Kété Kesú and several other designated tourist attractions closed their doors to tourists. This closure lasted only a few days, as the villagers found it too difficult to survive without the income from selling souvenirs.
Tourism has also transformed Toraja society. Originally, there was a ritual which allowed commoners to marry nobles (puang) and thereby gain nobility for their children. However, the image of Torajan society created for the tourists, often by "lower-ranking" guides, has eroded its traditional strict hierarchy. High status is not as esteemed in Tana Toraja as it once was. Many low-ranking men can declare themselves and their children nobles by gaining enough wealth through work outside the region and then marrying a noble woman.
WIKIPEDIA
Exploitant : Cars Lacroix
Réseau : ValParisis
Ligne : 30-11
Lieu : Gare d'Ermont – Eaubonne (Ermont, F-95)
Lien TC Infos : tc-infos.fr/id/40549
Colombia, 20 to 22 November 2011: UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and renowned American actor Danny Glover visited Colombia to support protecting children from commercial sexual exploitation. At La Boquilla centre for sexually exploited children, in Cartagena, he met children and community members working to keep the city’s growing number of sex tourists from gaining access to other vulnerable children.
© UNICEF/ Marco Dormino
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The castle has been the seat of the Percy family since Norman times. By 1138 the original motte and bailey castle, with wooden buildings, was replaced with stone buildings and walls. In 1309 the keep and defences were made even stronger by Henry de Percy. The castle then stayed unchanged for 400 years. By the 18th century it had fallen into ruins. The keep however was then turned into a gothic style mansion by Robert Adam. In the 19th century the Duke of Northumberland carried out more restoration of the castle.
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ALNWICK CASTLE, THE CASTLE, STABLE COURT AND COVERED RIDING SCHOOL INCLUDING WEST WALL OF RIDING SCHOOL
Heritage Category: Listed Building
Grade: I
List Entry Number: 1371308
National Grid Reference: NU 18685 13574
Details
This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 05/10/2011
NU 1813 NE 2/1 NU 1813 SE 1/1 20.2.52. 5330
Alnwick Castle The Castle, Stable Court and Covered Riding School including West Wall of Riding School
GV I
Alnwick Castle has work of every period on the line of the original motte and bailey plan. By 1138 a strong stone built border castle with a shell keep in place of the motte, formed the nucleus of the present castle with 2 baileys enclosing about 7 acres. The curtain walls and their square towers rest on early foundations and the inner gatehouse has round-headed arches with heavy chevron decoration. The Castle was greatly fortified after its purchase by Henry de Percy 1309 - the Barbican and Gatehouse, the semi-circular towers of the shell keep, the octagonal towers of the inner gateway and the strong towers of the curtain wall date from the early to mid C14. Ruinous by the C18, the 1st Duke had it rehabilitated and extended by James Prince and Robert Adam, the latter being mainly concerned with the interior decoration, very little of which remains except for fireplaces in the Housekeeper's and the Steward's Rooms and for inside the present Estates Office range. Capability Brown landscaped the grounds, filling in the former moat (formed by Bow Burn). The 4th Duke employed Anthony Salvin 1854-65 at the cost of £1/4 million to remove Adam's fanciful Gothic decoration, to restore a serious Gothic air to the exterior and to redesign the state rooms in an imposing grand Italian manner. The Castle is approached from Bailliff gate through the crenellated Barbican and Gatehouse (early C14): lion rampant (replica) over archway, projecting square side towers with corbelled upper parts, fortified passage over dry moat to vaulted gateway flanked by polygonal towers. Stone figures on crenellations here, on Aveners Tower, on Record Tower and on Inner Gateway were carved circa 1750-70 by Johnson of Stamfordham and probably reflect an earlier similar arrangement. In the Outer Bailey to the, north are the West Garrett (partly Norman), the Abbott's Tower (circa 1350) with a rib vaulted basement, and the Falconer's Tower (1856). To the south are the Aveners Tower [C18], the Clock Tower leading into the Stable Yard, the C18 office block, the Auditor's Tower (early Clk) and the Middle Gateway (circa 1309-15) leading to the Middle Bailey. The most prominent feature of the Castle on the west side is the very large Prudhoe Tower by Salvin and the polygonal apse of the chapel near to it. In the Middle Bailey, to the south are the Warders Tower (1856) with the lion gateway leading by a bridge to the grand stairs into the walled garden, the East Garrett and the Record Tower (C14, rebuilt 1885). In the curtain wall to the north are 2 blocked windows probably from an early C17 building now destroyed and the 'Bloody Gap', a piece of later walling possibly replacing a lost truer; next a small C14 watch tower (Hotspur's Seat); next the Constable's Tower, early C14 and unaltered with a gabled staircase turret; close by is the Postern Tower, early C14, also unaltered.'To the north-west of the Postern Tower is a large terrace made in the C18, rebuilt 1864-65, with some old cannon on it. The Keep is entered from the Octagon Towers (circa 1350) which have 13 heraldic shields below the parapet, besides the agotrop3ic figures, and a vaulted passage expanded from the Norman gateway (fragments of chevron on former outer arch are visible inside). The present arrangement of the inner ward is largely Salvin's work with a covered entrance with a projecting storey and lamp-bracket at the rear of the Prudhoe Tower and a corbelled corridor at 1st floor level on the east. Mediaeval draw well on the east wall, next to the original doorway to the keep, now a recess The keep, like the curtain walls, is largely mediaeval except for some C18 work on the interior on the west and for the Prudhoe Tower and the Chapel. The interior contrasts with the rugged mediaeval exterior with its sumptuous Renaissance decoration, largely by Italians - Montiroli, Nucci, Strazza, Mantavani and inspired from Italian sources. The chapel with its family gallery at the east end has 4 short rib vaulted bays and a shallow 3-light apse; side walls have mosaics, covered now with tapestry. The grand staircase With its groin vaulted ceiling leads to the Guard Chamber from which an ante-room leads west into the Library (in the Prudhoe Tower) and east into the Music Room (fireplace with Dacian captives by Nucci). Further on are the Red Drawing Room (caryatid fireplace by Nucci) and the Dining Room (ceiling design copied from St Lorenzo f.l.m. in Rome and fireplace with bacchante by Strazza and faun by Nucci). South of the Middle Gateway are Salvin's impressive Kitchen quarters where the oven was designed to burn a ton of coal per day. West of the Stable Courtyard, with C19 Guest Hall at the south end, is the C19 covered riding school, with stable to north of it, and with its west wall forming the east side of Narrowgate. The corner with Bailliffgate has an obtuse angled tower of 2 storeys, with a depressed ogee headed doorway from the street, and merlons.
Listing NGR: NU1863413479
historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/137130...
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ALNWICK CASTLE
Heritage Category: Park and Garden
Grade: I
List Entry Number: 1001041
National Grid Reference: NU1739315366, NU2254414560
Details
Extensive landscape parks and pleasure grounds developed from a series of medieval deer parks, around Alnwick Castle, the seat of the Percy family since the C14.
Between 1750 and 1786, a picturesque landscape park was developed for Hugh, first Duke of Northumberland, involving work by James Paine, Robert Adam, and the supervision of work by Lancelot Brown (1716-83) and his foremen Cornelius Griffin, Robson, and Biesley in the 1760-80s, working alongside James and Thomas Call, the Duke's gardeners. During the C19 each successive Duke contributed and elaborated on the expansive, planned estate landscape, within which the landscape park was extended. This was accompanied by extensive C19 garden works, including a walled, formal flower garden designed in the early C19 by John Hay (1758-1836), and remodelled mid C19 by William Andrews Nesfield (1793-1881).
NOTE This entry is a summary. Because of the complexity of this site, the standard Register entry format would convey neither an adequate description nor a satisfactory account of the development of the landscape. The user is advised to consult the references given below for more detailed accounts. Many Listed Buildings exist within the site, not all of which have been here referred to. Descriptions of these are to be found in the List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest produced by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport.
HISTORIC DEVELOPMENT
In the C13, Hulne Park, West Park, and Cawledge were imparked within the Forest of Alnwick. Hulne Park lay to the north-west of Alnwick Castle and Cawledge to the south and south-east. By the late Middle Ages, Hulne Park extended to 4000 acres (c 1620ha) enclosed by some 13 miles (c 21km) of wall. It was stocked with some 1000 fallow deer and a tower at Hulne Priory served as a hunting lodge. The parks formed the basis of Alnwick Park, landscaped by Sir Hugh Smithson (1714-86) who in 1750 became Earl of Northumberland, inheriting his father-in-law's northern estates. Prior to this, from 1748 he and his wife, Elizabeth Seymour (1716-76), had lived at Stanwick, Yorkshire (qv) and at Syon Park, London (qv), where they had already established a reputation for gardening, attested by Philip Miller's dedication, in 1751, of his Gardener's Dictionary to the Earl.
Together they embarked on an ambitious scheme to restore the Castle, develop the grounds and estate, and restore the Percy family traditions and identity at Alnwick. Those employed at Alnwick were also involved elsewhere on the Northumberland estates: James Paine, architect at Syon House, Daniel Garrett, architect at Northumberland House, the Strand (1750-3), Robert Adam, architect at Syon (1762-9), Lancelot Brown, landscape architect at Syon Park (1754-72).
In 1751, Thomas Call (1717-82), who had been the Earl's gardener at Stanwick, prepared a scheme for the parklands and pleasure grounds, including a plan for Brizlee Hill (the south part of Hulne Park). Call and his relation James, working at Alnwick by 1756, were responsible for the development of Hulne Park over twenty years. The date and extent of Lancelot Brown's involvement at Alnwick is uncertain, although his foremen Griffin, Robson, and Biesley worked at Alnwick with teams of men between 1771and 1781 and records shown that they also worked alongside Call and his men (in 1773 for example, Call had a team of sixty men and Biesley one of seventy-eight).
Hulne Park was developed as a picturesque pleasure ground with extensive rides, follies, and the enhancement of natural features. A characteristic of the Duke's scheme was his recognition of antiquarian sites within the landscape, which were embellished. Thus in 1755, Hulne Priory was purchased to become the focal point of Hulne Park. A garden was made within the cloister walls and, from c 1763, the priory became the gamekeeper's residence, with a menagerie of gold and silver pheasants. Statues of friars cut by the mason Matthew Mills were set in the landscape. In 1774, a medieval commemorative cross to Malcolm Canmore (listed grade II), situated at the northern entrance to the North Demesne, was restored.
Following the Duchess' death in 1776, the Duke decorated all her favourite locations with buildings, some being ideas she had noted in her memoranda. Work also included other notes and ideas the Duchess had had, including the ruin at Ratcheugh Crag and some ninety-eight drives and incidents.
Plans for the parklands at the North Demesne, Denwick, and Ratcheugh Crags were developed in the late 1760s, although in the case of the North Demesne some parkland planting had been undertaken by 1760, and the major work undertaken in the early 1770s is that attributed to Brown, mainly on stylistic grounds.
During the C19, under the second Duke (1742-1817) the parks were extended, this including the purchase of Alnwick Abbey and part of its estate. The complex of drives was also extended and this was accompanied by extensive plantations, including the large Bunker Hill plantation central to the north area of Hulne Park, named to commemorate the Duke's action in 1775 in the War of American Independence. Most significantly, between 1806 and 1811, building centred on construction of a perimeter wall, defining the boundary of Hulne Park, and lodges and gateways at entrances to the parks. The carriage drives were extended, necessitating the construction of bridges over the River Aln. These schemes were implemented by estate workers, local masons, and David Stephenson, the Duke's architect.
As the Castle had no formal flower gardens, John Hay was commissioned between 1808 and 1812 to design pleasure gardens to the south-east of the Castle, linking it with a new walled garden at Barneyside, furnished with a range of hothouses, glasshouses, and pine pits. These were extended in the 1860s when Anthony Salvin, employed in the restoration of the Castle, built a gateway between the inner bailey and the pleasure gardens. Nesfield designed a scheme for the walled gardens to be developed as an ornamental flower and fruit garden, with a large central pool, conservatory, and a series of broad terraces and parterres. The Alnwick scheme can be compared to Nesfield's in the precincts of Arundel Castle, West Sussex (qv), in 1845.
Alnwick Castle, parks and estate remain (2000) in private ownership, the latest significant developments being the replanting and restoration of the North Demesne (1990s) and plans to completely remodel the walled garden.
SUMMARY DESCRIPTION
Alnwick Castle parks cover a tract of countryside encircling Alnwick town on its west, north, north-east, and south sides. The land is a mixture of contrasting landscape types, with high heather moorland and the rough crags of the Northumbrian Sandstone Hills sweeping down to the improved pasture lands along the wooded Aln valley. The parks exploit the boundaries of these distinctive landforms where the rugged moorland gives way to the pastoral, rolling landscape of the Aln, on its route to the sea. In the west parklands the river is confined between hills, and in places has incised deep, narrow valleys while in the east the landscape is more open.
The registered area of 1300ha is bounded on its north-east side by the Hulne Park wall, west of the Bewick to Alnwick Road (B6346). The west side of the area here registered follows field boundaries to the west of Shipley Burn, starting at Shipley Bridge, and then turns south-west at a point c 1km south of the bridge. It then runs for south-west for c 2.3km, to the west of Hulne Park, before crossing the River Aln and running parallel to Moorlaw Dean for c 1.2km, on the west side of the burn. The southern area is defined by Hulne Park wall running around the south point of Brizlee Wood then in a line due east, south of Cloudy Crags drive, to cross the Stocking Burn and reach Forest Lodge. The boundary then defines the north-western extent of Alnwick town and, crossing the Canongate Bridge, the southernmost extent of the Dairy Grounds.
To the east of the Castle the registered area takes in the entire North Demesne bounded on its north by Long Plantation, a perimeter belt which lies on the south side of Smiley Lane and then extends eastwards to meet the junction of the B1340 and A1 trunk road. The A1 has effectively cut through the North Demesne from north to south and, although physically divorcing the two areas, they are still visually conjoined. Defined on its north side within the hamlet of Denwick by tree belts, the park extends eastwards for 1km before cutting across southwards to meet the River Aln at Lough House. This latter stretch is bounded by a perimeter belt. The south boundary of the North Demesne follows the river in part, before meeting the Alnwick to Denwick road (B1340). To the south, the Castle gardens are delimited from the town by property boundaries along Bondgate. An outlying area of designed landscape at Ratcheugh is also included.
A complex series of drives is laid throughout the parks, particularly in Hulne Park. A series of thirty standing stones stand at the beginning of the drives or where they converge. These are inscribed with the names of the drives and act as signposts.
Alnwick Castle (1134 onwards, c 1750-68 by James Paine and Robert Adam, 1854-6 by Anthony Salvin, listed grade I) lies on the high ground on the south side of the Aln valley, commanding views to the north, east, and west. To the south is Alnwick town but the landscape is designed so that the town is not in view of the Castle. The principal views from the Castle lie over the North Demesne.
The North Demesne originally included Denwick Park (they have now been divided by the A1 road), and together these 265ha form the core parkland designed by Brown. Perimeter tree belts define the park, and clumps and scatters of specimen trees ornament the ground plan. The Aln has been dammed to give the appearance of an extensive, natural serpentine lake, with bridges as focal points: the Lion Bridge (John Adam 1773, listed grade I) and Denwick Bridge (1766, probably also by Adam, listed grade I). A programme of replanting and restoration of the North Demesne is under way (late 1990s).
The medieval deer park of Hulne extended to the north of the Shipley Road (outside the area here registered). Hulne Park is now 1020ha and is in agricultural and forestry use. The principal entrance from Alnwick town is Forest Lodge, the only extant part of Alnwick Abbey. Hulne Park is completely enclosed by an early C19 perimeter wall, c 3m high with shaped stone coping and buttresses every 20m. Nearly 5km of wall lies alongside roads, 5km across fields, and 5km defines perimeter woodland and moorland from the enclosed park.
The park design consists of a series of oval-shaped enclosures, defined by tree belts vital for shelter. The highest point is in the west area of the park, from where there are long-distance views east to the sea. The River Aln winds its way through the park via a series of contrasting steep valleys and flatter lands. The valleys are emphasised by planting on the upper slopes, while the lower areas are encircled with designed plantations to emphasise the river's meanders and ox-bow lakes.
Picturesque incidents survive at Nine Year Aud Hole, where the statue of a hermit (late C18, listed grade II) stands at the entrance to a natural cave along Cave Drive, and at Long Stone, a monolith standing high on the west side of Brizlee Hill, with panoramic views over Hulne Park to the north-west. The picturesque highlight is Hulne Priory (original medieval buildings, C18 alterations and enhancements, all listed grade I), which includes a summerhouse designed by Robert Adam (1778-80, listed grade I) and statues of praying friars erected in the Chapter House (late C18). The Priory's picturesque qualities are well appreciated from Brizlee Tower (Robert Adam, listed grade I), built in 1781 to commemorate the creation of the Alnwick parks by the first Duke and Duchess, a Latin inscription stating:
Circumspice! Ego omnia ista sum dimensus; Mei sunt ordines, Mea descriptio Multae etiam istarum arborum Mea manu sunt satae. [Look about you. I have measured all these things; they are my orders; it is my planning; many of these trees have been planted by my own hand.]
Brizlee is sited on a high point which can be seen in views north-west from the Castle, mirroring views north-east to the 'Observatory' on Ratcheugh Crag, a sham ruined castle sited as an eyecatcher on high ground and built by John Bell of Durham in 1784 (plans to further elaborate it were designed by Robert Adam).
Another principal feature of Hulne Park is a series of regular, walled enclosures (the walls set in ditches with banks cast up inside the compounds) which line Farm Drive, the central road through the park, north-westwards from Moor Lodge. This functioned as the third Duke's menagerie, and is still pasture.
The 15ha Dairy Ground links Hulne Park and the North Demesne. It principally consists of the Aln valley north-west of the Castle, stretching between Canongate Bridge and Lion Bridge, laid out as pleasure gardens. Barbara's Bank and the Dark Walk are plantations laid out with walks on the steep slopes with a Curling Pond to the north of the Aln.
The walled garden of 3ha lies to the south-east of the Castle, reached by the remains of C19 pleasure gardens laid out on the slopes above Barneyside. After the Second World War use of the glasshouses ceased, and until recently (late 1990s) the Estate Forestry Department used it. The earthwork terraces and remnants of specimen planting of Nesfield's scheme survive.
REFERENCES
Note: There is a wealth of material about this site. The key references are cited below.
The Garden, 5 (1874), pp 100-1, 188; 20 (1881), pp 155-6 Gardeners' Chronicle, ii (1880), pp 523-4, 587; ii (1902), pp 273-4 J Horticulture and Cottage Gardener 15, (1887), pp 296-8 P Finch, History of Burley on the Hill (1901), p 330 Country Life, 65 (22 June 1929), pp 890-8; 66 (6 July 1929), pp 16-22; 174 (4 August 1983), p 275 D Stroud, Capability Brown (1975), pp 103-4 Garden History 9, (1981), pp 174-7 Capability Brown and the Northern Landscape, (Tyne & Wear County Council Museums 1983), pp 19, 22-3, 27, 42 Restoration Management Plan, Alnwick Castle, (Land Use Consultants 1996) C Shrimpton, Alnwick Castle, guidebook, (1999)
Description written: August 2000 Resgister Inspector: KC Edited: June 2003
historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/100104...
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Exploiting candid and silhouette photography :). A couple sharing a light moment soon after sunrise at Nandi Hills, Bangalore.
No GRAPHICS in your comments please, thank you!
Le Château de Josselin est situé à Josselin, commune française du département du Morbihan en Bretagne.
Guéthénoc, vicomte de Porhoët, de Rohan et de Guéméné, membre de la famille des comtes de Rennes, aurait construit un premier château vers l'an 1008. Il exploitait un site de haute valeur militaire et commerciale comprenant un surplomb rocheux dominant en à-pic la rivière Oust. L'existence depuis le IXe siècle d'un pèlerinage à la Basilique Notre-Dame du Roncier (tous les huit septembre) ajoute beaucoup à la richesse des habitants et de leurs seigneurs. Ce pélerinage est d'ailleurs le plus important du Morbihan, après celui de Sainte-Anne-d'Auray.
En 1154, Eudon de Porhoët, beau-père, régent et tuteur du jeune duc de Bretagne, Conan IV, rassemble des seigneurs bretons pour priver son beau-fils de ses droits. Il sera défait par Henri II Plantagenêt, roi d'Angleterre et nouveau duc d'Anjou, auprès duquel s'était réfugié Conan IV. Henri II viendra en personne diriger la démolition du château et faire semer du sel dans les ruines.
Détail de la statue équestre d'Olivier de Clisson
Olivier V de Clisson, qui acquiert la seigneurie en 1370, reconstruit une imposante citadelle munie de huit tours et d'un donjon de 90 mètres. Il marie sa fille, Béatrix, à Alain VIII de Rohan, héritier des vicomtes de Rohan, dont le château était à une vingtaine de kilomètres.
En 1488, le duc de Bretagne François II prend le château et le démolit partiellement. Sa fille, Anne de Bretagne, le restitue à Jean II de Rohan, arrière-petit-fils d'Olivier de Clisson.
Celui-ci le transforme et construit dans l'enceinte un logis de plaisance avec une très belle façade de granit sculpté qui est un des premiers exemples de la Renaissance en France, car il avait fait venir des artistes et ouvriers italiens. Par reconnaissance, il fait sculpter de nombreux A surmontés d'une cordelière, emblème de la Duchesse-Reine.
Bannis de Josselin du fait de leur adhésion au protestantisme, les Rohan doivent laisser le gouverneur de Bretagne, le duc de Mercœur, faire de leur château une base pour la Ligue opposée au nouveau roi Henri IV.
En 1603, lors de l'érection de la vicomté de Rohan en duché-pairie par le roi Henri IV, Henri II de Rohan transfère le siège de son pouvoir au château de Pontivy. Le cardinal de Richelieu fait démanteler en 1629 le donjon et quatre et tours et annonce au duc Henri II, chef des insurgés protestants: « Monseigneur, je viens de jeter une bonne boule dans votre jeu de quilles ! »
Au XVIIIe siècle, le château n'est plus occupé et il devient prison et entrepôt pendant la Révolution et l'Empire. En 1822, la duchesse de Berry, lors de sa tournée aventureuse, convainc le duc de Rohan de le restaurer.
Il est actuellement toujours habité par le quatorzième duc de Rohan, Josselin de Rohan, sénateur, ancien président de la région Bretagne de 1992 à 2004, membre de l'UMP et fidèle de Jacques Chirac .
On peut visiter la cour et quelques pièces du rez-de-chaussée où sont exposés des meubles anciens (dont la table ayant servi à la signature de l'édit de Nantes), des portraits familiaux, des cadeaux royaux et une statue équestre d'Olivier V de Clisson par Emmanuel Frémiet. Dans les anciennes écuries a été installé le Musée de poupées.
L'imposante citadelle munie de huit tours et d'un donjon de 90 mètres date du XVe siècle a été partiellement détruite et un logis de plaisance avec une très belle façade de granit sculpté, un des premiers exemples de la Renaissance en France le remplace et a été restauré au XIXe siècle.
Le jardin à la française créé au début du XXe siècle par le paysagiste Achille Duchêne s’étend devant la façade Renaissance du château. Les buis et des ifs taillés encadrent les pelouses.
Une roseraie a été aménagée en 2001 sous le direction du paysagiste Louis Benech. Elle comporte 160 rosiers appartenant à 40 variétés différentes
Un parc à l'anglaise lui aussi créé par le paysagiste Achille Duchêne et revu par Louis Benech s'étend au pied des remparts, le long d’un cours d’eau. Ce parc présente des espèces rares d’azalées, de camélias et de nombreux rhododendrons et des arbres centenaires. Il est ouvert au public pour les Journées du Patrimoine et Rendez-vous au jardin .
le chateau de Josselin est très lié à l'alchimie notamment ses cheminées et sa cour extérieure sur le parc.Il s'inscrit dans le patrimoine de Brocéliande qui n'appartient pas qu'aux druides .En effet , il est tout à fait possible de lire de maniere alchimique la vita merlini de G. de Monmouth ainsi que le mythe de Brocéliande lui même.. et si on suit le parcours des salles du chateau on s'aperçoit que ce dernier met en évidence une progression alchimique qui peut se retrouver dans la chevalerie et dans les degrés d'élévation maçonnique , car le corrélat est précisément dans ce savoir acquis par le premier des Josselin .
Source wikipedia
. . . 3. 3. 2007 - this is the second day of a funeral ceremony in Bori for a High Class Woman. She died on 18. 1. 2007 at the age of 85 years. The ceremony will last for one week.
If you wonder why the quality of the pictures is a little less: these are no photographs - it all are snapshots of my videos! So sorry for the less resolution, but I think, they are worth to be shown.
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The Toraja are an ethnic group indigenous to a mountainous region of South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Their population is approximately 1,100,000, of whom 450,000 live in the regency of Tana Toraja ("Land of Toraja"). Most of the population is Christian, and others are Muslim or have local animist beliefs known as aluk ("the way"). The Indonesian government has recognized this animist belief as Aluk To Dolo ("Way of the Ancestors").
The word toraja comes from the Bugis Buginese language term to riaja, meaning "people of the uplands". The Dutch colonial government named the people Toraja in 1909. Torajans are renowned for their elaborate funeral rites, burial sites carved into rocky cliffs, massive peaked-roof traditional houses known as tongkonan, and colorful wood carvings. Toraja funeral rites are important social events, usually attended by hundreds of people and lasting for several days.
Before the 20th century, Torajans lived in autonomous villages, where they practised animism and were relatively untouched by the outside world. In the early 1900s, Dutch missionaries first worked to convert Torajan highlanders to Christianity. When the Tana Toraja regency was further opened to the outside world in the 1970s, it became an icon of tourism in Indonesia: it was exploited by tourism developers and studied by anthropologists. By the 1990s, when tourism peaked, Toraja society had changed significantly, from an agrarian model - in which social life and customs were outgrowths of the Aluk To Dolo - to a largely Christian society. Today, tourism and remittances from migrant Torajans have made for major changes in the Toraja highland, giving the Toraja a celebrity status within Indonesia and enhancing Toraja ethnic group pride.
ETHNIC IDENTITY
The Torajan people had little notion of themselves as a distinct ethnic group before the 20th century. Before Dutch colonization and Christianization, Torajans, who lived in highland areas, identified with their villages and did not share a broad sense of identity. Although complexes of rituals created linkages between highland villages, there were variations in dialects, differences in social hierarchies, and an array of ritual practices in the Sulawesi highland region. "Toraja" (from the coastal languages' to, meaning people; and riaja, uplands) was first used as a lowlander expression for highlanders. As a result, "Toraja" initially had more currency with outsiders - such as the Bugis and Makassarese, who constitute a majority of the lowland of Sulawesi - than with insiders. The Dutch missionaries' presence in the highlands gave rise to the Toraja ethnic consciousness in the Sa'dan Toraja region, and this shared identity grew with the rise of tourism in the Tana Toraja Regency. Since then, South Sulawesi has four main ethnic groups - the Bugis (the majority, including shipbuilders and seafarers), the Makassarese (lowland traders and seafarers), the Mandarese (traders and fishermen), and the Toraja (highland rice cultivators).
HISTORY
From the 17th century, the Dutch established trade and political control on Sulawesi through the Dutch East Indies Company. Over two centuries, they ignored the mountainous area in the central Sulawesi, where Torajans lived, because access was difficult and it had little productive agricultural land. In the late 19th century, the Dutch became increasingly concerned about the spread of Islam in the south of Sulawesi, especially among the Makassarese and Bugis peoples. The Dutch saw the animist highlanders as potential Christians. In the 1920s, the Reformed Missionary Alliance of the Dutch Reformed Church began missionary work aided by the Dutch colonial government. In addition to introducing Christianity, the Dutch abolished slavery and imposed local taxes. A line was drawn around the Sa'dan area and called Tana Toraja ("the land of Toraja"). Tana Toraja was first a subdivision of the Luwu kingdom that had claimed the area. In 1946, the Dutch granted Tana Toraja a regentschap, and it was recognized in 1957 as one of the regencies of Indonesia.
Early Dutch missionaries faced strong opposition among Torajans, especially among the elite, because the abolition of their profitable slave trade had angered them. Some Torajans were forcibly relocated to the lowlands by the Dutch, where they could be more easily controlled. Taxes were kept high, undermining the wealth of the elites. Ultimately, the Dutch influence did not subdue Torajan culture, and only a few Torajans were converted. In 1950, only 10% of the population had converted to Christianity.
In the 1930s, Muslim lowlanders attacked the Torajans, resulting in widespread Christian conversion among those who sought to align themselves with the Dutch for political protection and to form a movement against the Bugis and Makassarese Muslims. Between 1951 and 1965 (following Indonesian independence), southern Sulawesi faced a turbulent period as the Darul Islam separatist movement fought for an Islamic state in Sulawesi. The 15 years of guerrilla warfare led to massive conversions to
CHRISTIANITY
Alignment with the Indonesian government, however, did not guarantee safety for the Torajans. In 1965, a presidential decree required every Indonesian citizen to belong to one of five officially recognized religions: Islam, Christianity (Protestantism and Catholicism), Hinduism, or Buddhism. The Torajan religious belief (aluk) was not legally recognized, and the Torajans raised their voices against the law. To make aluk accord with the law, it had to be accepted as part of one of the official religions. In 1969, Aluk To Dolo ("the way of ancestors") was legalized as a sect of Agama Hindu Dharma, the official name of Hinduism in Indonesia.
SOCIETY
There are three main types of affiliation in Toraja society: family, class and religion.
FAMILY AFFILIATION
Family is the primary social and political grouping in Torajan society. Each village is one extended family, the seat of which is the tongkonan, a traditional Torajan house. Each tongkonan has a name, which becomes the name of the village. The familial dons maintain village unity. Marriage between distant cousins (fourth cousins and beyond) is a common practice that strengthens kinship. Toraja society prohibits marriage between close cousins (up to and including the third cousin) - except for nobles, to prevent the dispersal of property. Kinship is actively reciprocal, meaning that the extended family helps each other farm, share buffalo rituals, and pay off debts.
Each person belongs to both the mother's and the father's families, the only bilateral family line in Indonesia. Children, therefore, inherit household affiliation from both mother and father, including land and even family debts. Children's names are given on the basis of kinship, and are usually chosen after dead relatives. Names of aunts, uncles and cousins are commonly referred to in the names of mothers, fathers and siblings.
Before the start of the formal administration of Toraja villages by the Tana Toraja Regency, each Toraja village was autonomous. In a more complex situation, in which one Toraja family could not handle their problems alone, several villages formed a group; sometimes, villages would unite against other villages. Relationship between families was expressed through blood, marriage, and shared ancestral houses (tongkonan), practically signed by the exchange of water buffalo and pigs on ritual occasions. Such exchanges not only built political and cultural ties between families but defined each person's place in a social hierarchy: who poured palm wine, who wrapped a corpse and prepared offerings, where each person could or could not sit, what dishes should be used or avoided, and even what piece of meat constituted one's share.
CLASS AFFILIATION
In early Toraja society, family relationships were tied closely to social class. There were three strata: nobles, commoners, and slaves (slavery was abolished in 1909 by the Dutch East Indies government). Class was inherited through the mother. It was taboo, therefore, to marry "down" with a woman of lower class. On the other hand, marrying a woman of higher class could improve the status of the next generation. The nobility's condescending attitude toward the commoners is still maintained today for reasons of family prestige.
Nobles, who were believed to be direct descendants of the descended person from heaven, lived in tongkonans, while commoners lived in less lavish houses (bamboo shacks called banua). Slaves lived in small huts, which had to be built around their owner's tongkonan. Commoners might marry anyone, but nobles preferred to marry in-family to maintain their status. Sometimes nobles married Bugis or Makassarese nobles. Commoners and slaves were prohibited from having death feasts. Despite close kinship and status inheritance, there was some social mobility, as marriage or change in wealth could affect an individuals status. Wealth was counted by the ownership of water buffaloes.
Slaves in Toraja society were family property. Sometimes Torajans decided to become slaves when they incurred a debt, pledging to work as payment. Slaves could be taken during wars, and slave trading was common. Slaves could buy their freedom, but their children still inherited slave status. Slaves were prohibited from wearing bronze or gold, carving their houses, eating from the same dishes as their owners, or having sex with free women - a crime punishable by death.
RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION
Toraja's indigenous belief system is polytheistic animism, called aluk, or "the way" (sometimes translated as "the law"). In the Toraja myth, the ancestors of Torajan people came down from heaven using stairs, which were then used by the Torajans as a communication medium with Puang Matua, the Creator. The cosmos, according to aluk, is divided into the upper world (heaven), the world of man (earth), and the underworld. At first, heaven and earth were married, then there was a darkness, a separation, and finally the light. Animals live in the underworld, which is represented by rectangular space enclosed by pillars, the earth is for mankind, and the heaven world is located above, covered with a saddle-shaped roof. Other Toraja gods include Pong Banggai di Rante (god of Earth), Indo' Ongon-Ongon (a goddess who can cause earthquakes), Pong Lalondong (god of death), and Indo' Belo Tumbang (goddess of medicine); there are many more.
The earthly authority, whose words and actions should be cleaved to both in life (agriculture) and death (funerals), is called to minaa (an aluk priest). Aluk is not just a belief system; it is a combination of law, religion, and habit. Aluk governs social life, agricultural practices, and ancestral rituals. The details of aluk may vary from one village to another. One common law is the requirement that death and life rituals be separated. Torajans believe that performing death rituals might ruin their corpses if combined with life rituals. The two rituals are equally important. During the time of the Dutch missionaries, Christian Torajans were prohibited from attending or performing life rituals, but were allowed to perform death rituals. Consequently, Toraja's death rituals are still practised today, while life rituals have diminished.
CULTURE
TONGKONAN
Tongkonan are the traditional Torajan ancestral houses. They stand high on wooden piles, topped with a layered split-bamboo roof shaped in a sweeping curved arc, and they are incised with red, black, and yellow detailed wood carvings on the exterior walls. The word "tongkonan" comes from the Torajan tongkon ("to sit").
Tongkonan are the center of Torajan social life. The rituals associated with the tongkonan are important expressions of Torajan spiritual life, and therefore all family members are impelled to participate, because symbolically the tongkonan represents links to their ancestors and to living and future kin. According to Torajan myth, the first tongkonan was built in heaven on four poles, with a roof made of Indian cloth. When the first Torajan ancestor descended to earth, he imitated the house and held a large ceremony.
The construction of a tongkonan is laborious work and is usually done with the help of the extended family. There are three types of tongkonan. The tongkonan layuk is the house of the highest authority, used as the "center of government". The tongkonan pekamberan belongs to the family members who have some authority in local traditions. Ordinary family members reside in the tongkonan batu. The exclusivity to the nobility of the tongkonan is diminishing as many Torajan commoners find lucrative employment in other parts of Indonesia. As they send back money to their families, they enable the construction of larger tongkonan.
WOOD CARVINGS
To express social and religious concepts, Torajans carve wood, calling it Pa'ssura (or "the writing"). Wood carvings are therefore Toraja's cultural manifestation.
Each carving receives a special name, and common motifs are animals and plants that symbolize some virtue. For example, water plants and animals, such as crabs, tadpoles and water weeds, are commonly found to symbolize fertility. In some areas noble elders claim these symbols refer to strength of noble family, but not everyone agrees. The overall meaning of groups of carved motifs on houses remains debated and tourism has further complicated these debates because some feel a uniform explanation must be presented to tourists. The image to the left shows an example of Torajan wood carving, consisting of 15 square panels. The center bottom panel represents buffalo or wealth, a wish for many buffaloes for the family. The center panel represents a knot and a box, a hope that all of the family's offspring will be happy and live in harmony, like goods kept safe in a box. The top left and top right squares represent an aquatic animal, indicating the need for fast and hard work, just like moving on the surface of water. It also represents the need for a certain skill to produce good results.
Regularity and order are common features in Toraja wood carving (see table below), as well as abstracts and geometrical designs. Nature is frequently used as the basis of Toraja's ornaments, because nature is full of abstractions and geometries with regularities and ordering. Toraja's ornaments have been studied in ethnomathematics to reveal their mathematical structure, but Torajans base this art only on approximations. To create an ornament, bamboo sticks are used as a geometrical tool.
FUNERAL RITES
In Toraja society, the funeral ritual is the most elaborate and expensive event. The richer and more powerful the individual, the more expensive is the funeral. In the aluk religion, only nobles have the right to have an extensive death feast. The death feast of a nobleman is usually attended by thousands and lasts for several days. A ceremonial site, called rante, is usually prepared in a large, grassy field where shelters for audiences, rice barns, and other ceremonial funeral structures are specially made by the deceased family. Flute music, funeral chants, songs and poems, and crying and wailing are traditional Toraja expressions of grief with the exceptions of funerals for young children, and poor, low-status adults.
The ceremony is often held weeks, months, or years after the death so that the deceased's family can raise the significant funds needed to cover funeral expenses. Torajans traditionally believe that death is not a sudden, abrupt event, but a gradual process toward Puya (the land of souls, or afterlife). During the waiting period, the body of the deceased is wrapped in several layers of cloth and kept under the tongkonan. The soul of the deceased is thought to linger around the village until the funeral ceremony is completed, after which it begins its journey to Puya.
Another component of the ritual is the slaughter of water buffalo. The more powerful the person who died, the more buffalo are slaughtered at the death feast. Buffalo carcasses, including their heads, are usually lined up on a field waiting for their owner, who is in the "sleeping stage". Torajans believe that the deceased will need the buffalo to make the journey and that they will be quicker to arrive at Puya if they have many buffalo. Slaughtering tens of water buffalo and hundreds of pigs using a machete is the climax of the elaborate death feast, with dancing and music and young boys who catch spurting blood in long bamboo tubes. Some of the slaughtered animals are given by guests as "gifts", which are carefully noted because they will be considered debts of the deceased's family. However, a cockfight, known as bulangan londong, is an integral part of the ceremony. As with the sacrifice of the buffalo and the pigs, the cockfight is considered sacred because it involves the spilling of blood on the earth. In particular, the tradition requires the sacrifice of at least three chickens. However, it is common for at least 25 pairs of chickens to be set against each other in the context of the ceremony.
There are three methods of burial: the coffin may be laid in a cave or in a carved stone grave, or hung on a cliff. It contains any possessions that the deceased will need in the afterlife. The wealthy are often buried in a stone grave carved out of a rocky cliff. The grave is usually expensive and takes a few months to complete. In some areas, a stone cave may be found that is large enough to accommodate a whole family. A wood-carved effigy, called Tau tau, is usually placed in the cave looking out over the land. The coffin of a baby or child may be hung from ropes on a cliff face or from a tree. This hanging grave usually lasts for years, until the ropes rot and the coffin falls to the ground.
In the ritual called Ma'Nene, that takes place each year in August, the bodies of the deceased are exhumed to be washed, groomed and dressed in new clothes. The mummies are then walked around the village.
DANCE AND MUSIC
Torajans perform dances on several occasions, most often during their elaborate funeral ceremonies. They dance to express their grief, and to honour and even cheer the deceased person because he is going to have a long journey in the afterlife. First, a group of men form a circle and sing a monotonous chant throughout the night to honour the deceased (a ritual called Ma'badong). This is considered by many Torajans to be the most important component of the funeral ceremony. On the second funeral day, the Ma'randing warrior dance is performed to praise the courage of the deceased during life. Several men perform the dance with a sword, a large shield made from buffalo skin, a helmet with a buffalo horn, and other ornamentation. The Ma'randing dance precedes a procession in which the deceased is carried from a rice barn to the rante, the site of the funeral ceremony. During the funeral, elder women perform the Ma'katia dance while singing a poetic song and wearing a long feathered costume. The Ma'akatia dance is performed to remind the audience of the generosity and loyalty of the deceased person. After the bloody ceremony of buffalo and pig slaughter, a group of boys and girls clap their hands while performing a cheerful dance called Ma'dondan.
As in other agricultural societies, Torajans dance and sing during harvest time. The Ma'bugi dance celebrates the thanksgiving event, and the Ma'gandangi dance is performed while Torajans are pounding rice. There are several war dances, such as the Manimbong dance performed by men, followed by the Ma'dandan dance performed by women. The aluk religion governs when and how Torajans dance. A dance called Ma'bua can be performed only once every 12 years. Ma'bua is a major Toraja ceremony in which priests wear a buffalo head and dance around a sacred tree.
A traditional musical instrument of the Toraja is a bamboo flute called a Pa'suling (suling is an Indonesian word for flute). This six-holed flute (not unique to the Toraja) is played at many dances, such as the thanksgiving dance Ma'bondensan, where the flute accompanies a group of shirtless, dancing men with long fingernails. The Toraja have indigenous musical instruments, such as the Pa'pelle (made from palm leaves) and the Pa'karombi (the Torajan version of a jaw harp). The Pa'pelle is played during harvest time and at house inauguration ceremonies.
LANGUAGE
The ethnic Toraja language is dominant in Tana Toraja with the main language as the Sa'dan Toraja. Although the national Indonesian language is the official language and is spoken in the community, all elementary schools in Tana Toraja teach Toraja language.Language varieties of Toraja, including Kalumpang, Mamasa, Tae' , Talondo' , Toala' , and Toraja-Sa'dan, belong to the Malayo-Polynesian language from the Austronesian family. At the outset, the isolated geographical nature of Tana Toraja formed many dialects between the Toraja languages themselves. After the formal administration of Tana Toraja, some Toraja dialects have been influenced by other languages through the transmigration program, introduced since the colonialism period, and it has been a major factor in the linguistic variety of Toraja languages. A prominent attribute of Toraja language is the notion of grief. The importance of death ceremony in Toraja culture has characterized their languages to express intricate degrees of grief and mourning. The Toraja language contains many terms referring to sadness, longing, depression, and mental pain. Giving a clear expression of the psychological and physical effect of loss is a catharsis and sometimes lessens the pain of grief itself.
ECONOMY
Prior to Suharto's "New Order" administration, the Torajan economy was based on agriculture, with cultivated wet rice in terraced fields on mountain slopes, and supplemental cassava and maize crops. Much time and energy were devoted to raising water buffalo, pigs, and chickens, primarily for ceremonial sacrifices and consumption. Coffee was the first significant cash crop produced in Toraja, and was introduced in the mid 19th century, changing the local economy towards commodity production for external markets and gaining an excellent reputation for quality in the international market .
With the commencement of the New Order in 1965, Indonesia's economy developed and opened to foreign investment. In Toraja, a coffee plantation and factory was established by Key Coffee of Japan, and Torajan coffee regained a reputation for quality within the growing international specialty coffee sector Multinational oil and mining companies opened new operations in Indonesia during the 1970s and 1980s. Torajans, particularly younger ones, relocated to work for the foreign companies - to Kalimantan for timber and oil, to Papua for mining, to the cities of Sulawesi and Java, and many went to Malaysia. The out-migration of Torajans was steady until 1985. and has continued since, with remittances sent back by emigre Torajans performing an important role within the contemporary economy.
Tourism commenced in Toraja in the 1970s, and accelerated in the 1980s and 1990s. Between 1984 and 1997, a significant number of Torajans obtained their incomes from tourism, working in and owning hotels, as tour guides, drivers, or selling souvenirs. With the rise of political and economic instability in Indonesia in the late 1990s - including religious conflicts elsewhere on Sulawesi - tourism in Tana Toraja has declined dramatically. Toraja continues to be a well known origin for Indonesian coffee, grown by both smallholders and plantation estates, although migration, remittances and off-farm income is considered far more important to most households, even those in rural areas.
TOURISM AND CULTURAL CHANGE
Before the 1970s, Toraja was almost unknown to Western tourism. In 1971, about 50 Europeans visited Tana Toraja. In 1972, at least 400 visitors attended the funeral ritual of Puang of Sangalla, the highest-ranking nobleman in Tana Toraja and the so-called "last pure-blooded Toraja noble." The event was documented by National Geographic and broadcast in several European countries. In 1976, about 12,000 tourists visited the regency and in 1981, Torajan sculpture was exhibited in major North American museums. "The land of the heavenly kings of Tana Toraja", as written in the exhibition brochure, embraced the outside world.
In 1984, the Indonesian Ministry of Tourism declared Tana Toraja Regency the prima donna of South Sulawesi. Tana Toraja was heralded as "the second stop after Bali". Tourism was increasing dramatically: by 1985, a total number of 150,000 foreigners had visited the Regency (in addition to 80,000 domestic tourists), and the annual number of foreign visitors was recorded at 40,000 in 1989. Souvenir stands appeared in Rantepao, the cultural center of Toraja, roads were sealed at the most-visited tourist sites, new hotels and tourist-oriented restaurants were opened, and an airstrip was opened in the Regency in 1981.
Tourism developers have marketed Tana Toraja as an exotic adventure - an area rich in culture and off the beaten track. Western tourists expected to see stone-age villages and pagan funerals. Toraja is for tourists who have gone as far as Bali and are willing to see more of the wild, "untouched" islands. However, they were more likely to see a Torajan wearing a hat and denim, living in a Christian society. Tourists felt that the tongkonan and other Torajan rituals had been preconceived to make profits, and complained that the destination was too commercialized. This has resulted in several clashes between Torajans and tourism developers, whom Torajans see as outsiders.
A clash between local Torajan leaders and the South Sulawesi provincial government (as a tourist developer) broke out in 1985. The government designated 18 Toraja villages and burial sites as traditional tourist attractions. Consequently, zoning restrictions were applied to these areas, such that Torajans themselves were barred from changing their tongkonans and burial sites. The plan was opposed by some Torajan leaders, as they felt that their rituals and traditions were being determined by outsiders. As a result, in 1987, the Torajan village of Kété Kesú and several other designated tourist attractions closed their doors to tourists. This closure lasted only a few days, as the villagers found it too difficult to survive without the income from selling souvenirs.
Tourism has also transformed Toraja society. Originally, there was a ritual which allowed commoners to marry nobles (puang) and thereby gain nobility for their children. However, the image of Torajan society created for the tourists, often by "lower-ranking" guides, has eroded its traditional strict hierarchy. High status is not as esteemed in Tana Toraja as it once was. Many low-ranking men can declare themselves and their children nobles by gaining enough wealth through work outside the region and then marrying a noble woman.
WIKIPEDIA
Exploitant : Transdev TVO
Réseau : R'Bus (Argenteuil)
Ligne : 5
Lieu : Gare de Sartrouville (Sartrouville, F-78)
Lien TC Infos : tc-infos.fr/id/35642
Exploitant : Transdev TVO
Réseau : R'Bus (Argenteuil)
Ligne : 1
Lieu : Gare d'Argenteuil (Argenteuil, F-95)
Lien TC Infos : tc-infos.fr/id/27846
Visite d'une exploitation agricole sur terrain sableux et argileux : coupe et observation du sol. Cours d'écologie, séminaire « Terres » portant sur la reconnaissance des principaux types de sols de parcelles agricoles.
Sonchamp 78-Yvelines France
ALEXANDRIA, VA: National Center for Missing & Exploited Children: December 2022 Board Meeting ( NCMEC 2022 Claire Edkins)
Digital Media Technical Exploitation Instructor Christopher Esposito leads a class on computer forensic examination to US Army ROTC Cadets during the NFSTC@FIU 2018 Biometrics Internship. Photo by Michelle Chernicoff
Exploitant : Keolis CIF
Réseau : Navette Substitution SNCF Île-de-France
Ligne : Navette Transilien H
Lieu : Gare d'Épinay – Villetaneuse (Épinay-sur-Seine, F-93)
Genero Productions were contracted by the ICT Exploitation Division of the Welsh Government in the delivery of the E-Crime Wales conference which took place at Cardiff’s City Stadium. This fascinating conference featured speakers from South Wales Police, Barclaycard, Microsoft and Blackberry.
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Le HSBC PARIS SEVENS (8 au 10 juin 2018 au Stade Jean-Bouin) a officiellement été lancé aujourd’hui à Paris à la Région Île-de-France.
A cette occasion les 16 capitaines hommes et 12 capitaines femmes des équipes participantes au tournoi ont pris la pose autour du trophée de la compétition dans les jardins du Musée Rodin, Paris (Crédit Photo : I.PICAREL/FFR). Ils ont ensuite rejoint les locaux de la Région Île-de-France, partenaire de cette étape parisienne, situés dans le 7ème arrondissement.
Le HSBC Paris Sevens
Ultime étape du circuit mondial de rugby à 7, le HSBC Paris Sevens se déroulera au stade Jean-Bouin à Paris, du vendredi 8 au dimanche 10 juin 2018. Tournoi mixte pour la première fois de son histoire, le HSBC Paris Sevens 2018 accueille les meilleures équipes masculines et féminines du monde.
Avec 79 matches entre 28 équipes en 3 jours, le spectacle sera non-stop sur la pelouse du Stade Jean-Bouin. Dernier tournoi de la saison, les titres des circuits mondiaux masculin et féminin se joueront donc au HSBC Paris Sevens. Les tribunes et le Village des Supporteurs seront également en ébullition pendant 3 jours, avec de nombreuses animations « CRAZY RUGBY » qui seront proposées à tous les spectateurs !
Le programme :
• Vendredi 8 juin de 14h à 21h40 > tournoi Féminin (ouverture des portes au public à 13h30)
• Samedi 9 juin de 9h à 23h > tournoi mixte (ouverture des portes au public à 8h30)
• Dimanche 10 juin de 8h45 à 19h40 > phases finales féminines et masculines (ouverture des portes au public à 8h15)
Le World Rugby Sevens Series 2017-2018 est la 19e édition de la compétition la plus importante du monde de rugby à sept. Elle se déroule du 1er décembre 2017 au 10 juin 2018. L'Afrique du Sud est tenante du titre et l'Espagne est l'équipe promue de la saison.
Au mois d'avril se déroulent les Jeux du Commonwealth 2018 où dix équipes des World Rugby Sevens Series participent. La compétition enchaine ensuite avec la Coupe du monde de rugby à sept en juillet 2018.
Chaque étape est un tournoi se déroulant sur deux ou trois jours, entre le vendredi et le dimanche. À chaque étape est convié une équipe qui ne possède pas le statut d'équipe permanente, portant le nombre total d'équipes à seize.
En fonction du résultat du tournoi précédent, ou du classement de la saison passée pour le premier tournoi de la saison à Dubaï, les équipes sont réparties en chapeaux avant tirage au sort pour former quatre poules de quatre équipes. Chaque équipe joue les trois autres membres de sa poule et un classement est établi, tout d'abord sur le nombre de points (victoire 3 points, nul 2 points, défaite 1 point) puis sur le goal-average général. Les deux premiers de chaque poule passent en quart de finale de la Cup ou tournoi principal et les deux derniers passent en quart de finale du Challenge Trophy. Les équipes vaincues en quart de finale sont alors reversées en demi-finales de classement, respectivement pour la cinquième et treizième place. Les équipes battues en demi-finales ne disputent pas de petite finale de classement et remportent le même nombre de point, sauf pour les équipes battues en demi finales de Cup qui disputeront un dernier match de classement pour la troisième place.
Chaque rencontre, y compris la finale depuis l'édition 2016-2017, se dispute en deux fois sept minutes.
Créée en 2016, l’étape parisienne de rugby à 7 rassemble, de ce vendredi à dimanche, les meilleures nations mondiales pour décider du vainqueur du circuit mondial. Une belle vitrine pour la discipline dans un pays qui ne jure que par le XV.
Dixième étape de la saison, le Paris Sevens clôture ce week-end le circuit mondial de rugby à 7, réunissant les 16 meilleures nations du monde aux quatre coins de la planète. De vendredi à dimanche, dans l’enceinte du Stade Jean Bouin, les équipes masculines feront le spectacle à travers une discipline méconnue en France mais très appréciée dans de nombreux pays. Et, pour la première fois cette année, les équipes féminines ouvriront les festivités.
Une véritable fête du rugby à 7, discipline olympique depuis 2016 et en plein boom grâce à la vitrine que lui ont offert offert les Jeux de Rio. Chez les hommes, outre les nations majeures de l’Ovale comme la Nouvelle-Zélande, l’Australie, l’Angleterre ou les Fidji, le Kenya, le Canada ou encore l’Espagne font leur trou et voient dans cette discipline une chance de développer un sport mineur dans leur pays. Chez les femmes, la Chine, le Japon ou la Russie figurent dans le top 12.
Le crazy rugby à la fête
Créée en 2016, l’étape parisienne est également l’occasion pour la France de développer la discipline dans un pays qui ne jure que par le XV. «Nous sommes fiers de soutenir financièrement ce tournoi et de permettre qu’il existe», a tenu à rappeler le vice-président de la région Île-de-France, Patrick Karam. Et de poursuivre. «La région est également présente dans la sensibilisation. Vendredi, 360 lycéens pourront découvrir la discipline grâce à de nombreuses animations. Il est important pour nous de tout faire pour développer cette pratique, en vue de Paris 2024», a-t-il poursuivi, alors que la conférence de presse de présentation se tenait dans les locaux de la région, dans le 7e arrondissement parisien.
Dernière étape de la saison, le tournoi parisien représente en tout cas une belle vitrine pour la discipline, dans une ville au rayonnement mondial. «C’est formidable de pouvoir clôturer la saison dans une ville aussi magnifique, chez un hôte comme la France», ajoute de son côté Douglas Langley, directeur du tournoi et membre de World Rugby. «Nous nous réjouissons d’avance de ce week-end de ‘crazy rugby’», conclut-il. Et c’est bien là l’atout majeur de la discipline. Spectaculaire, chaque rencontre offre de nombreux essais et des sprints permanents.
Les Bleues veulent briller
Le public parisien, qui vient en nombre à chaque édition, est adepte de cette discipline. Le Stade Jean Bouin était plein en 2016 et 2017, et l’édition 2018, même s’il reste encore des places à vendre, ne dérogera certainement pas à la règle. Pourtant, ce ne sont pas les résultats des Bleus qui font venir les supporters. Malgré une 3e place en 2016, et une 5e en 2017, l’équipe masculine connaît une saison compliquée. 12e sur 16 au classement, les Bleus n’ont pas fait mieux que 7e cette année lors des neuf précédents tournois du circuit.
«Même si nos chances sont moindres, on rentre dans ce tournoi pour le gagner, et on a la chance d’avoir le soutien du public avec nous», déclare Manoël Dall’igna, capitaine de France 7. «Ces deux dernières années on a eu des supers résultats ici et on compte sur le 8e homme pour faire aussi bien», termine-t-il. Cette période de creux, due en partie à de nombreux départs en retraite en 2016, ne touche pas les féminines. 3e du circuit mondial, les coéquipières de Fanny Horta visent le podium à Paris. «On a reçu beaucoup de messages de soutien de la jeune génération, et on veut vraiment profiter de ce soutien pour garder la dynamique de la saison et faire un nouveau podium», confie la capitaine.
Mises en valeur ce week-end, les Bleues représentent «la véritable locomotive du 7 en France avec une très belle réussite sportive», estime Christophe Reigt, manager des équipes de France à 7. Suffisant pour développer la discipline en France ? Quoiqu’il en soit, avec cette étape parisienne, la Fédération se démène pour populariser le 7 dans l’Hexagone, avec un objectif majeur en ligne de mire : les Jeux olympiques de Paris en 2024.
The HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2018 Awards in Paris brought a fitting end to an enthralling season which saw South Africa and Australia crowned men’s and women’s series champions respectively.
It’s been one of the most competitive seasons on record as both the women’s and men’s series were decided by just two-point differences.
South Africa fought an incredible battle with Fiji in the men’s series to retain their title with victory at the final round in Paris, while Olympic champions Australia won their second overall title ahead of rivals New Zealand on the women’s series after reaching the podium at every one of the five rounds.
The end of season awards provided a chance to celebrate the men’s and women’s sevens players, coaches and teams that are the stars, ambassadors and role models of the sport.
World Rugby Chairman Bill Beaumont said: “It has been another tremendous year for the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series, which continues to go from strength to strength.
“I hugely admire the skill and physicality of rugby sevens and thank the players for their outstanding commitment which makes the series such a success. It is great to see the series capturing the imagination on and off the field with year-on-year increases in attendances, broadcast and fan-engagement figures, and that is a great testament to the players, coaches, host unions and everyone involved with the events.
“Rugby sevens took a quantum leap when it joined the Olympic programme in 2016 and now we look forward to a Rugby World Cup Sevens in San Francisco in just 40 days time in an iconic city and a market with great potential. It promises to be a thrilling and spectacular event.”
the workload. It is a blessing for me to be standing here.”
Rookies of the Year
Eroni Sau is the second Fijian to be named Rookie of the Year for the men’s series after being a clear winner in the fan vote ahead of his compatriot Alosio Naduva and Australia’s Ben O’Donnell. The 28-year-old featured in all 10 rounds in his debut season, using his powerful physique to score 37 tries.
France’s Coralie Bertrand, meanwhile, claimed the women’s accolade, having featured in all five rounds and helped Les Bleues enjoy their best season, reaching a first-ever Cup final in Kitakyushu and semi-finals in Langford and Paris to clinch the series bronze medal.
Fair Play Award
This award, selected by the match officials, recognises the teams who showcase rugby’s values of integrity, passion, solidarity, discipline and respect. Japan were awarded the women’s accolade after an event that saw them lose their core team status on the series, with Kenya the men’s recipients following an exciting season which saw them reach the final in both Vancouver and Hong Kong.
Roche’s kick with the final play of the match against England to snatch the bronze medal for invitational team Ireland at the HSBC London Sevens was a clear winner of the men’s award, beating Fijian Alosio Naduva’s last-gasp winning try against Australia in the Singapore Cup final and Matias Osadczuk’s break and calm head to send Renzo Barbier over for the winning try in Argentina’s Cup semi-final against South Africa in Las Vegas.
Capgemini Coach of the Series
Another inaugural category, selected by the series’ global innovation partner Capgemini, was won by New Zealand women’s coach Alan Bunting after successive victories in the last three rounds of the series in Japan, Canada and France as well as the Commonwealth Games title in April.
South Africa coach Neil Powell, who guided the Blitzboks to retaining their series title, picked up the men’s coach of the series award and paid tribute to his victorious team: “The mental focus and composure they showed was fantastic, all credit to the boys for believing in their success. We had everything to play for and the team did an incredible job, not just today but over the whole season.
“I also want to congratulate Fiji on an amazing season, they were phenomenal.”
DHL Impact Player
The race to be named DHL Impact Player of the Year in both the men’s and women’s series went right down to the final matches. In total 16 players from 12 nations won tournament awards during this season’s series.
New Zealand’s Michaela Blyde was delighted to win the women’s award: “This is pretty special. I’m shocked and truly grateful. I put this down to my teammates who create the opportunities for me and I thank them.”
La Fédération française de rugby organise, du 8 au 10 juin au stade Jean-Bouin, à Paris 16e, un tournoi international de rugby à 7 masculin et féminin, étape du HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series.
Cette manifestation sportive, soutenue par la Région à hauteur de 170.000€, va rassembler 28 équipes internationales, qui s'affronteront au cours de 45 matchs masculins et 34 matchs féminins.
Le public pourra découvrir à cette occasion, jusque dans sa pratique féminine, une discipline largement méconnue.
Quant au stade Jean-Bouin, qui est l'un des sites retenus pour les JO Paris 2024, il pourra mettre en avant sa capacité d’accueil de 20.000 spectateurs.
Ce tournoi constituant la 10e et dernière étape du circuit mondial, il s'achèvera avec la remise des titres de champion et championne du monde de rugby à 7.
En soutenant l'organisation de tels grands événements sportifs franciliens, la Région Île-de-France renforce chaque fois un peu plus l'attractivité de ses territoires tout en assurant son rayonnement à l'échelle internationale.
Le titre HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series a été décidé de façon spectaculaire après que l'Afrique du Sud a battu l'Angleterre 24-14 en finale du HSBC Paris Sevens pour décrocher la médaille d'or et conserver son titre de série.
Au cours d'une des années les plus compétitives de l'histoire de la série, le titre est allé jusqu'au tout dernier match puisque l'Afrique du Sud avait besoin d'une victoire en tournoi pour dépasser les Fidji dans le classement de la série.
L'Afrique du Sud a terminé la série en tête avec 182 points, suivie des Fidji qui ont remporté l'argent avec 180 points et la Nouvelle-Zélande avec 150 points après avoir remporté la médaille de bronze à Paris avec une victoire de 38-5 contre le Canada dans la troisième place
Les champions de la série de l'année dernière, l'Afrique du Sud, ont devancé l'Espagne 15-10 en quart de finale avec un essai à la cinquième minute de Justin Deguld, après que les pointages aient été 10-10 à la fin du temps réglementaire. Les Blitzboks sud-africains ont ensuite trouvé leur rythme en demi-finale avec une victoire complète de 24-12 contre la Nouvelle-Zélande grâce à deux essais de l'impressionnant Dewald Human, 23 ans, qui a fait ses débuts il y a deux mois à Hong Kong .
Humain était de nouveau en forme de but en finale et était ravi d'être élu Joueur de la Finale: "Ca a été une expérience fantastique ici à Paris, je me suis appuyé sur moi et j'ai apprécié chaque minute sur le terrain. sommes très heureux de la victoire. "
Le capitaine de l'équipe sud-africaine, Philip Snyman, a ajouté: "Nous voulions aller jouer au rugby et nous concentrer sur ce que nous pouvions contrôler: les gars ont joué un rugby phénoménal et ont fait honneur à l'équipe. C'est un sentiment incroyable de représenter un pays si merveilleux et les gens de chez nous n'ont jamais cessé de croire en nous et de nous soutenir. "
Fidjiens ont raté l'occasion de remporter le titre plus tôt dans la journée alors qu'ils ont été vaincus 19-17 par une équipe d'Angleterre pleine d'entrain dans un quart de finale à couper le souffle. Le capitaine de l'équipe d'Angleterre, Tom Mitchell, a complété un mouvement de 26 passes pour marquer dans les dernières secondes du match et mettre un terme à la récente domination des Fidji qui les avait vaincus lors des quatre dernières manches de la série.
Les Fidjiens se sont rétablis pour battre l'Irlande 38-5 et les États-Unis 28-7 pour terminer cinquième à Paris et mettre la pression sur l'Afrique du Sud pour la finale mais finalement ce n'était pas suffisant et les Fidjiens ont été obligés de se contenter des dix tours.
L'Angleterre a produit une autre performance puissante en demi-finale avec une victoire convaincante de 26-12 contre le Canada pour atteindre sa première finale de la série 2017-18, mais ils ont été incapables de faire face aux Blitzboks en finale alors que les hommes d'Afrique du Sud couraient vainqueurs devant une foule parisienne bruyante.
Équipe Invitational L'Irlande a battu 19-5 du quart en quarts de finale, mais après sa médaille de bronze à Londres la semaine dernière, les Irlandais se sont montrés assez prometteurs au cours des deux derniers tours un brillant avenir dans le rugby à sept.
L'Argentine a remporté le Challenge Trophy, décerné à l'équipe terminant en neuvième position, après avoir vaincu le Pays de Galles 33-26.
Toute l'attention se tourne maintenant vers la Coupe du monde de rugby à sept 2018 à San Francisco du 20 au 22 juillet, où 24 équipes masculines et 16 équipes féminines s'affronteront pour devenir championnes du monde au cours de trois journées d'action excitantes.
1. L'AFRIQUE DU SUD : UN TOURNOI À L'IMAGE DE LEUR SAISON
« C'est un tournoi à l'image de leur saison. L'Afrique du Sud gagne le premier tournoi et se retrouve à des moments compliqués. A Paris, elle était en délicatesse en poule, perd contre l'Ecosse (12-14), se met en danger contre l'Espagne en quart de finale (15-10 dans les prolongations, ndlr). Ce n'était pas évident car l'équipe avait dans un coin de la tête que c'était fini par rapport à la saison. Et derrière ça, ils arrivent à se remobiliser après la défaite des Fidji. La défense, c'est la clé des Sud-Africains avec 85% de plaquages réussis et surtout un trio qui a été magique avec Philip Snyman, Ruhan Neil et Werner Kok : 60 plaquages à eux trois. Ce sont les joueurs qui ont été majeurs sur l'ensemble du tournoi. Ils ont un jeu de passes assez nul : 172 passes en six matches, soit 28 en moyenne par match (le Canada en a 307 en six matches, soit 51 en moyenne par rencontre, ndlr). »
2. LES FIDJI À DEUX POINTS DU LEADER
« Ils manquent un peu le tournoi. Ils avaient la possibilité de passer, mais ils ont laissé beaucoup d'énergie dans la poule. La défaite contre le Kenya (19-22) leur fait du mal, ils ont du faire un match plein face à la Nouvelle-Zélande. Ils sont plutôt adeptes à gérer les phases de poule et à accélérer sur les play-offs, donc c'était un peu dur pour eux de retrouver l'énergie nécessaire et de trouver en quart de finale une équipe anglaise qui a été assez incroyable sur la possession de balle. Malgré leur 5e place à Paris, les Fidji ont le titre qui leur passe sous le nez par pas grand chose (deux points derrière l'Afrique du Sud, ndlr).
« Il y a eu de grosses lacunes sur les coups d'envoi : 16% des coups d'envoi récupérés, ce qui est très faible quand on connait la capacité des Fidji (22% en moyenne sur la saison, ndlr). Et alors qu'ils sont les maîtres à jouer dans les turnovers, là ils n'ont récupéré que cinq ballons dans le tournoi de Paris (et en ont perdu six, ndlr). En comparaison, l'Afrique du Sud en a récupéré 14. Les Fidjiens sont très forts sur la récupération de ballon, mais les équipes adverses ont été assez lucides et leur ont donné que peu de ballons. Du coup, les Fidjiens n'avaient pas beaucoup de munitions pour scorer car les équipes en face ont su s'adapter. »
3. L'ANGLETERRE, TOUJOURS PRÉSENTE DANS LES GRANDS MOMENTS
« L'Angleterre fait un très bon tournoi. Sans être exceptionnels, ils ont réussi à passer la phase de poule. Derrière, ils font un exploit contre les Fidji (17-19 en quart de finale, ndlr), puis une défaite en finale contre l'Afrique du Sud 14-24). Ils doivent leur tournoi grâce à un réalisme incroyable : 20 possessions de balle sur 23 dans les 22 mètres ; 87% de réalisme dans les 22 m adverses. Norton, Bibby, Mitchell ont su actionner le jeu anglais. Défensivement, Harry Glover a été l'un des meilleurs joueurs du tournoi. Il n'a que 20 ans et est en train d'exploser et de devenir un joueur majeur sur le système anglais (22 plaquages). Il a supporté l'équipe d'Angleterre sur ce tournoi.
« Ils sont toujours là dans les grands moments : finaliste aux JO, médaille de bronze aux Commonwealth... Ils étaient 9e mondial et ils terminent à la 5e place du classement mondial, sur le fil, à un point de l'Australie (à un point d'écart). Le prochain objectif c'est la Coupe du Monde et en 2019 la quatrième place. Leur saison est parfaitement maîtrisée du point de vue gestion, même s'ils n'ont pas démarré très fort. »
4. L'IRLANDE A SA PLACE SUR LE WORLD SERIES
« Encore une fois elle a montré ses capacités de performance sur le World Series. Elle a été pragmatique. Le rugby à 7, c'est de l'endurance et du cardio. Ils montrent des atouts dignes d'un top 3 du Worl Series. Ils font plus de points que la Russie en deux tournois et sont 15e au classement, juste derrière le Pays de Galles. Défensivement ils sont en tête du classement et Harry McNulty est leur leader défensif (18 plaquages).
« Ils n'ont pas fait le World series en entier, mais c'est une équipe qui est très rigoureuse défensivement. Ils ont étouffé en phase de poule (14-5 sur l'Espagne, 19-19 sur le Pays de Galles et 24-14 sur l'Australie, ndlr). Et même en changeant cinq joueurs de l'effectif initial, ils arrivent toujours à être au haut niveau et à passer le cap et à être performant. L'Irlande a fait une très grosse performance à Paris et sera très dangereuse à la Coupe du Monde.
« Leur objectif numéro 1, c'est l'Europe Series ; le Paris Sevens n'était pas ciblé et pourtant ils y arrivent. Ils battent tout le monde en poule. »
5. L'ESPAGNE : DANGER EN DEVENIR
« Ils gagnent l'Australie (17-10), puis le Pays de Galles (21-14) et font surtout un match monumental contre l'Afrique du Sud en quart de finale où ils perdent à la dernière seconde (15-10). Ils ont encore fait une très belle saison, malgré le manque de réalisme : 45% de réalisme, elle score 10 fois sur 22 (45%). C'est dire tout le potentiel offensif qu'elle a !
« C'est une équipe qui a beaucoup le ballon. Le jour où elle va être efficace offensivement, elle va être dangereuse. »
6. LE CANADA A RÉUSSI À PASSER LE CUT DES DEMI-FINALES
« Le Canada s'est qualifié encore une fois en demi-finale sur le World Series où elle s'incline 26-12 face à l'Angleterre. C'est une quatrième place au Paris Sevens après avoir été impressionnante en phase de poule. Elle n'a eu que 11 pénalités dans le tournoi. Elle a une justesse technique incroyable avec seulement 12 fautes de main sur l'ensemble du tournoi, soit deux par match, ce qui est très propre.
« C'est un jeu de quinziste. Le Canada fonctionne en mode quinziste, mais score derrière. Hirayama a été le meilleur joueur en offload, Douglas a cassé la ligne huit fois, Connor Braid ballon porté... « Le Canada a réussi à passer ce cut pour les demi-finales. »
7. LA FRANCE EN PANNE
« Elle avait réussi à réunir son effectif au complet malgré la blessure de Manoël Dall'Igna. Elle attendait depuis longtemps le tournoi de Paris. Au premier jour, elle est à sa place et a du mal à performer face à l'Angleterre (21-28), aux USA 12-26) et à l'Argentine 28-26) qui sont au-dessus. Elle a réussi à débloquer son compteur de victoires en battant l'Argentine.
« Elle a montré beaucoup de faiblesse défensive, avec 5,4 plaquages manqués par match, contre 3,4 pour l'Espagne. C'est le chantier numéro un pour que la France puisse repasser en Cup.
« En attaque, elle est efficace, même si le point noir est le coup d'envoi : trois manqués contre le Pays de Galles. Quand on n'a pas les ballons en conquête, c'est très compliqué de pouvoir rivaliser. C'est l'équipe qui a été le plus pénalisée du tournoi : 18 pénalités.
« Malgré tout, l'équipe de France a réussi à contenir et n'a pas pris 40-0 comme sur d'autres tournois. La ferveur populaire a permis à la France de rester concentrée à chaque match. Elle a joué avec ses armes et s'est faite contrer par meilleur que soit. »
Exploitant : Cars Lacroix
Réseau : ValParisis
Ligne : 30-05
Lieu : MJC (Sartrouville, F-78)
Lien TC Infos : tc-infos.fr/id/30655
For any form of publication, please include the link to this page:
This photo has been graciously provided to be used in the GRID-Arendal resources library by: Bounford.com and UNEP/GRID-Arendal
Animals exploited without the use of hormones or steroids still don't want to die for anyone's unnecessary pleasures. Go vegan!
Purist speech bubble!
This exploits the small connection point found on some hairpieces (think Friends and Belville, and Pirate/Castle figures with feathers), which is the right size for the weird ends of hot dogs. For whatever reasons, this seems to make a sturdier connection to a pirate hat than to Friends' hairpieces.
It was found that hot dogs have a peg this size (and apples a hole for it) back in this photo, which looks ridiculous but is actually real:
www.flickr.com/photos/mclegoboy/15401444331/in/788191@N24/
...if we were smart, we'd make a handy reference for whatever this size is called, all the things that have this "peg", and all the things that it'll fit into. For now, here's an application.
My old 1984 Alembic Series II "Exploiter" bass. The height-adjustable nut seen here. Someone at Alembic should have been given the Nobel Prize for the design of this nut.
I had this bass built in the summer of 1984. The only options (besides the walnut/maple/purple heart construction) were graphite rods in the neck and a neck shaped like a Rickenbacker 4001 that I'd been very comfortable playing. This is still the most musical bass I've ever owned, but it also weighs so much that it's seen relatively little use.
FORT ROYAL - 1979-2003
Cie Générale Maritimes C.G.M.
Navires conçus pour être exploités sur la ligne des Antilles en remplacement des anciens navires polythermes de la Compagnie Générale Transatlantique. Les commandes de ces navires ont été confirmées aux Chantiers de France Dunkerque. Le FORT ROYAL est le premier des deux PCRP.
1978 le 20 avril : mise sur cale
1978 le 2 décembre : Lancement
1979 du 5 au 9 juin : Essais en mer.
1979 le 15 juin : Navire recetté et pris en charge.
CARACTÉRISTIQUES :
Navire à long gaillard avant s'étendant au-dessus des cales 1 et 2. Ils possèdent une double coque qui s'étend de chaque bord, du peak avant et s'élevant du double fond au pont supérieur. La partie supérieure de chacune de ses doubles coques constitue une galerie technique.
Toutes les cales sont équipées de glissières à conteneurs. Le nombre total de conteneurs en cales est de 616 EVP (cales 1 à 6 contiennent chacune 2 travées pour conteneurs 20 pieds. Les cales 7 à 9 une travée pour conteneurs 40 pieds) Tous les conteneurs peuvent être réfrigérés à partir de gaines de réfrigération)
Longueur hors-tout : 210 m Overall lengh
Longueur entre perpendiculaires : 198 m Lengh between perpendiculars
Longueur pour la classification : 198,630 m Classification length
Largeur hors membres : 32,20 m Moulded width
Creux sur quille au pont supérieur : 18,800 m Moulded depth
Tirant d'eau au franc-bord d'été : 11,020 m Draft at summer waterline
Port en lourd correspondant : 20.508 tonnes Correponding deadwight capacity
Tirant d'eau d'exploitation : 9 m Operaying draft
Vitesse au tirant d'eau d'exploitation : 22,27 noeuds Speed at operating draft
Puissance correspondante : 30.600 cv Corresponding power
Vitesse maxi aux essais sur ballast à 36.000 cv 23,90 noeuds Max speed during tests on ballast at 36,000 h.p.
Rayon d'action : 9.500 milles Range
Jauge brute internationale : 32.184 tonneaux GRT
Jauge nette internationale : 16.238 tonneaux NRT
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PROPULSION :
2 appareils propulsifs entièrement indépendants entrainant deux hélices monoblocs 4 pales Diamètre 6 m
2 moteurs semi-rapides de marque STEM PIELSTICK type 12 PC4 V 570 – 4 temps simple effet réversibles, suralimentés.
Puissance maximale continue par moteur : 18.000 cv
Puissance en service par moteur : 15.300 cv
Vitesse maximale de rotation des moteurs : 400 t/mn
Vitesse de rotation des lignes d'arbres : 122 t/mn
Moteur alimentés en F.O. lourd viscosité 3.500 s/Redwood
Transmission puissance du moteur à la ligne d'arbre par amortisseur de vibration (Damper), et par un G.F.L. destiné à diminuer les efforts en cas de délignage.
Réducteur épicycloïdal à trois satellites MPU70W avec butée incorporée.
Frein à air comprimé de type UNICUM 60 VC 1600
Afin de permettre la marche sur une ligne d'arbre à faible allure, une butée auxiliaire et un tourteau d'accouplement avec un frein manuel.
Production de vapeur par 2 chaudières de récupération 7 bars et 3,5 tonnes de production
1 chaudière de mouillage à 7 bars et 5 tonnes de production
6 diesels alternateurs de 1420 kW - Alternateurs 1.420 kW 440 volts 60 Hz triphasé
Marque AUT du Bureau Veritas
PRODUCTION FROID :
Descente et maintien en froid commandé à la COGER pour 138 conteneurs de 40 pieds et 616 de 20 pieds isolés thermiquement Produits congelés à -25°c – Produits réfrigérés -2° et + 8° Bananes à +12°c
126 gaines associées aux piles de conteneurs alimentent et reprennent l'air de chaque conteneur.
Ventilateurs assurant un taux de brassage de l'air de 80 en grande vitesse (bananes)
Dans un local dédié à la réfrigération des conteneurs:
5 groupes de refroidissement de saumure fonctionnant au fréon R22.
Puissance moteur 750kW 1800 t/mn – 1.750.000 fg/h
5 condenseurs refroidis à l'eau de mer.
5 évaporateurs de saumure.
5 pompes de saumure de chacune 400 m3/heure
5 pompes eau de mer de chacune 272 m3/h
126 régulateurs de température d'air de soufflage avec précision à+ ou – 0,1°c (précision pour transport des bananes)
ITINÉRAIRE:
Le Havre – Montoir- Le Verdon – Fort de France – Le Havre Rotation complète Le Havre – Le Havre 27 à 30 jours
Shipwrecks
By the middle of the 1850s the settlement and exploitation of the lands along the southern fringe of Georgian Bay had sparked a rise in the volume of commercial shipping.
Cabot Head stood abreast of the Bay’s principal shipping route. From the Tobermory narrows the inbound passage to the head of the Bay, or to ports such as Owen Sound or Collingwood, brings the rocky shore below the Head uncomfortably close.
Inevitably, this turn in the coast was regarded by the sailor with apprehension, and justifiably so as events would show.
The earliest marine disaster known to have occurred in the vicinity of Cabot Head involved a small schooner owned by George Newcombe, of Owen Sound, on December 11, 1856.
Another wreck linked to the Georgian Bay fishery took place in 1863 when the 10-ton schooner Pioneer, owned by John Frame, of Colpoys Bay, was lost in the entrance to Wingfield Basin.
October of 1884 was one of the worst months in the long chronicle of Bruce Peninsula marine disasters. The barque Arabia went down off Echo Island, near Tobermory, on the 5th and not far to the northeast on the 22nd the schooner Golden West was lost at Snake Island. While the West was breaking up on a reef off that desolate place, the three-masted Shandon, laden with coal from Ashtabula, Ohio, for Owen Sound, was struggling in deep water in the same storm not far away.
On October 7, 1886, the lumber-laden Bentley, Captain Read, was sailing alone from Parry Sound to Oswego, N.Y., when a gale drove her into the shallows near Cabot Head.
In the meantime, the same storm completed the destruction of the John Bentley. The small steambarge Kincardine was launched at Port Dalhousie in 1871. The sinking of the Mary Ann Hulbert was the worst schooner disaster in the history of Lake Superior. The tragedy was compounded by the later realization that only the name of the captain was known, leaving the families and friends of the others always to wonder what became, of their loved ones who disappeared in 1883. While the remains of the Cabot Head shipwrecks lie almost entirely hidden beneath the surface of Georgian Bay, one old hulk has defied storm and fire and time and is readily visible, tucked away in the northwest corner of Wingfield Basin.
from:
Friends of Cabot Head Lighthouse
July 20, 2016--New York City-- Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced that the Task Force to Combat Worker Exploitation has directed 1,547 businesses to pay nearly $4 million in back wages and damages to more than 7,500 workers since its inception in July 2015. The Governor also announced several initiatives to improve worker health and safety, including a multi-agency investigation into the exploitation of dry cleaning workers and a coordinated effort to ban harmful chemicals, such as perchlorethylene (PERC), that are commonly used in the industry. Additionally, the state will launch a new $5 million grant program and RFP for non-profit organizations to expand services to help exploited workers. (Don Pollard/Office of the Governor)
Exploitant : Transdev Marne-la-Vallée
Réseau : IDF Mobilités – Marne-la-Vallée
Ligne : 34
Lieu : Gare de Val d'Europe (Serris, F-77)
Lien TC Infos : tc-infos.fr/vehicule/32362
The London School of Exploitation Under Occupation: London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) Students Stand Against Exploitation and Corporate Education: Vera Anstey Suite: Old Building, London School of Economics, London, March 20, 2015.
Statement from the Occupation:
Why we are occupying
We have have occupied the Vera Anstey Suite, the central meeting room of the university administration, to demand a change to the current university system.
LSE is the epitome of the neoliberal university. Universities are increasingly implementing the privatised, profit-driven, and bureaucratic ‘business model’ of higher education, which locks students into huge debts and turns the university into a degree-factory and students into consumers. LSE has become the model for the transformation of the other university systems in Britain and beyond. Massive indebtedness, market-driven benchmarks, and subordination to corporate interests have deeply perverted what we think university and education should be about.
We demand an education that is liberating – which does not have a price tag. We want a university run by students, lecturers and workers.
When a University becomes a business the whole of student life is transformed. When a university is more concerned with its image, its marketability and the ‘added value’ of its degrees, the student is no longer a student - they become a commodity and education becomes a service. Institutional sexism and racism, as well as conditions of work for staff and lecturers, becomes a distraction for an institution geared to profit.
We join the ongoing struggles in the UK, Europe and the world to reject this system that has changed not only our education but our entire society. From the occupations in Sheffield, Warwick, Birmingham and Oxford, to the ongoing collective takeover of the University of Amsterdam– students have made clear that the current system simply cannot continue.
We are not alone in this struggle.
Why Occupy?
In this occupation we aim to create an open, creative and liberated space, where all are free to participate in the building of a new directly democratic, non-hierarchical and universally accessible education: The Free University of London.
The space will be organized around the creation of workshops, discussions and meetings to share ideas freely. Knowledge is not a commodity but something precious and valuable in its own right. And we hope to prove, if only within a limited time and space, that education can be free.This liberated space should also be a space for an open discussion on the direction this university and our educational system as a whole is heading. We want to emphasise that this process is not only for students, and we encourage the participation of all LSE staff, non-academic and academic.
We base our struggle on principles of equality, direct democracy, solidarity, mutual care and support. These are our current demands which we invite all to openly discuss, debate and add to.
1 - Free and universally accessible education not geared to making profit
We demand that the management of LSE lobby the government to scrap tuition fees for both domestic and international students.
2 - Workers Rights
In solidarity with the LSE workers, we demand real job security, an end to zero-hour contracts, fair remuneration and a drastic reduction in the gap between the highest and lowest paid employees.
3 - Genuine University Democracy
We demand a student-staff council, directly elected by students and academic and non-academic staff, responsible for making all managerial decisions of the institution.
4 - Divestment
We demand that the school cuts its ties to exploitative and destructive organisations, such as those involved in wars, military occupations and the destruction of the planet. This includes but is not limited to immediate divestment from the fossil fuel industry and from all companies which make a profit from the Israeli state’s occupation of Palestine.
5 - Liberation
We demand that LSE changes its harassment policy, and to have zero tolerance to harassment.
We demand that LSE does not implement the Counter Terrorism Bill that criminalises dissent, particularly targeting Muslim students and staff.
We demand that the police are not allowed on campus.
We demand that LSE becomes a liberated space free of racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia and religious discrimination.
We demand that the school immediately reinstates the old ethics code and makes it legally binding, in line with the recently passed SU motion.
We demand that the school ensures the security and equality of international students, particularly with regards to their precarious visa status, and fully include them in our project for a free university.
Exploitant : Transdev Marne et Morin
Réseau : Pays de Meaux
Ligne : 03
Lieu : Gare de Meaux (Meaux, F-77)
Liens TC Infos :
94560 : tc-infos.fr/id/51908
Using pioneering new technologies in Superfoods and nutrition, CFTRI has developed amazing new products which are on show at CFTRI stall at Pragati Maidan:
· Chia and Quinoa based Chocolates and Laddoos;
· Omega-3 enriched ice-cream;
· Multigrain banana bar
· Fruit juice based carbonated drinks.
New Delhi, 24th November, 2016: CSIR-Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI), the premier national institute for food technology is exhibiting a range of new agri-products now grown in India, called Superfoods that bring health and nutrition best practices to everyday eating and living to the common man. The exhibits by CFTRI at the Trade Fair at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi both impress and surprise with the range and scope of their utility and potency.
The Indian population is presently going through a nutrition transition and there is an increase in incidence of diabetes, impaired heart health and obesity while there is still rampant malnutrition in the nation.
Keeping in mind an effective solution needed to address these concerns, CSIR-CFTRI is working on bringing Superfoods to the Indian population. CFTRI works on various facets of food technology, food processing, advanced nutrition, Superfoods and allied sciences. Superfoods are foods which have superior nutrition profiles which upon regular consumption can help improve health and wellness of the consumer.
CFTRI has developed the agro-technology for growing Superfoods viz. Chia and Quinoa in Indian conditions. Chia is the richest source of omega-3 fats from a vegetarian source and Quinoa has excellent protein quality and low glycemic load carbohydrates. Comprehensively, Chia and Quinoa have potential to improve population health and both blend seamlessly into traditional food preparations.
CSIR-CFTRI also infuses the spirit of entrepreneurship in their students. One of the doctoral students after completing her academic program started her own technology provider start-up company, Oleome Biosolutions Pvt Ltd. In a global first, CSIR-CFTRI in collaboration with Oleome, has developed a 100% vegetarian, Omega-3-enriched Ice cream called “Nutriice” using Chia oil.
CSIR-CFTRI is also in the process of the final phase of testing of diacylglycerol (DAG) oil, a unique cooking oil that has “Anti-Obesity” functionalities. One can consume it as part of daily regular diet and while the oil is available as energy but does not get stored as fat in our bodies. The final phase of human clinical trial is presently under progress.
CFTRI has also designed and developed snacks with advanced nutrition designs to support the nutrition needs of growing children. These have been implemented in the aganwadi levels to complement the existing government mid-day meal and will be scaled up soon. The products, such as Nutri Chikki with spirulina, rice beverage mix, high protein rusk, energy food, nutri sprinkle, seasame paste and fortified mango bars have been well received by the children and the anganwadis alike. Multi-grain Banana bar is a new addition to in this product portfolio.
Another exciting area of multidisciplinary research being done at CSIR-CFTRI is on nanotechnology, food technology and nutrition. Nanomaterials are known for their characteristic properties and CSIR-CFTRI is working on the use of nanoparticles for various applications. One of our interesting developments is the design and development of food packaging material with nanoparticles with antimicrobial and antioxidant properties to improve shelf-life of processed foods.
CSIR-CFTRI is also working on “Smart Foods” to answer specific needs of the consumer. These promising and specifically designed innovations are being developed for better sleep, better skin health, improved digestion, better cognitive performance and better stress management. The high science is brought into a simple food product, like a cereal bar which helps one to be more attentive over the day, or a unique dosa mix that helps in working out better at the gym with lower perceived exhaustion and even a special soup to help sleep better at night!
Speaking on the sidelines of the CSIR-CFTRI exhibition at Pragati Maidn, Prof. Ram Rajasekharan, Director, CFTRI said “Our mandate is to find innovative solutions to India agricultural and nutritional challenges. Our aim is to develop products to make Indian agriculture productive, efficient and at a consumer level gradually replace drugs with foods that will promote better health and wellness. We strive to deliver our best in improving food security and nutrition security, also developing a stronger, smarter and healthier India”.
About CSIR-CFTRI:
CSIR − Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI), Mysore (A constituent laboratory of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, New Delhi) came into existence during 1950 with the great vision of its founders, and a network of inspiring as well as dedicated scientists who had a fascination to pursue in-depth research and development in the areas of food science and technology.
CSIR-CFTRI is today a large and diversified laboratory headed by Prof. Ram Rajasekharan, Director, CSIR-CFTRI. Presently the institute has a great team of scientists, technologists, engineers, technicians, skilled workers, and support staff. There are seventeen research and development departments, including laboratories focusing on lipid science, molecular nutrition, food engineering, food biotechnology, microbiology, biochemistry, food safety etc.
The institute has designed over 300 products, processes, and equipment types. It holds several patents and has a large number of high impact peer reviewed journal articles to its credit. India is the world's second largest food grain, fruit and vegetable producer, and the institute is engaged in research and development in the production and handling of grains, pulses, oilseeds, spices, fruits, vegetables, meat, fish, and poultry.
The institute develops technologies to increase efficiency and reduce postharvest losses, add convenience, increase export, find new sources of food products, integrate human resources in food industries and develops solutions to improve the health and wellness of the population.
CFTRI has a vast portfolio of over 300 products, processes and equipment designs, and close to 4000 licensees have availed themselves of these technologies for commercial exploitation. The achievements have been of considerable industrial value, social importance and national relevance, and coupled with the institute's wide-ranging facilities and services, have created an extensive impact on the Indian food industry and Indian society at large.
The London School of Exploitation Under Occupation: London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) Students Stand Against Exploitation and Corporate Education: Vera Anstey Suite: Old Building, London School of Economics, London, March 20, 2015.
Statement from the Occupation:
Why we are occupying
We have have occupied the Vera Anstey Suite, the central meeting room of the university administration, to demand a change to the current university system.
LSE is the epitome of the neoliberal university. Universities are increasingly implementing the privatised, profit-driven, and bureaucratic ‘business model’ of higher education, which locks students into huge debts and turns the university into a degree-factory and students into consumers. LSE has become the model for the transformation of the other university systems in Britain and beyond. Massive indebtedness, market-driven benchmarks, and subordination to corporate interests have deeply perverted what we think university and education should be about.
We demand an education that is liberating – which does not have a price tag. We want a university run by students, lecturers and workers.
When a University becomes a business the whole of student life is transformed. When a university is more concerned with its image, its marketability and the ‘added value’ of its degrees, the student is no longer a student - they become a commodity and education becomes a service. Institutional sexism and racism, as well as conditions of work for staff and lecturers, becomes a distraction for an institution geared to profit.
We join the ongoing struggles in the UK, Europe and the world to reject this system that has changed not only our education but our entire society. From the occupations in Sheffield, Warwick, Birmingham and Oxford, to the ongoing collective takeover of the University of Amsterdam– students have made clear that the current system simply cannot continue.
We are not alone in this struggle.
Why Occupy?
In this occupation we aim to create an open, creative and liberated space, where all are free to participate in the building of a new directly democratic, non-hierarchical and universally accessible education: The Free University of London.
The space will be organized around the creation of workshops, discussions and meetings to share ideas freely. Knowledge is not a commodity but something precious and valuable in its own right. And we hope to prove, if only within a limited time and space, that education can be free.This liberated space should also be a space for an open discussion on the direction this university and our educational system as a whole is heading. We want to emphasise that this process is not only for students, and we encourage the participation of all LSE staff, non-academic and academic.
We base our struggle on principles of equality, direct democracy, solidarity, mutual care and support. These are our current demands which we invite all to openly discuss, debate and add to.
1 - Free and universally accessible education not geared to making profit
We demand that the management of LSE lobby the government to scrap tuition fees for both domestic and international students.
2 - Workers Rights
In solidarity with the LSE workers, we demand real job security, an end to zero-hour contracts, fair remuneration and a drastic reduction in the gap between the highest and lowest paid employees.
3 - Genuine University Democracy
We demand a student-staff council, directly elected by students and academic and non-academic staff, responsible for making all managerial decisions of the institution.
4 - Divestment
We demand that the school cuts its ties to exploitative and destructive organisations, such as those involved in wars, military occupations and the destruction of the planet. This includes but is not limited to immediate divestment from the fossil fuel industry and from all companies which make a profit from the Israeli state’s occupation of Palestine.
5 - Liberation
We demand that LSE changes its harassment policy, and to have zero tolerance to harassment.
We demand that LSE does not implement the Counter Terrorism Bill that criminalises dissent, particularly targeting Muslim students and staff.
We demand that the police are not allowed on campus.
We demand that LSE becomes a liberated space free of racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia and religious discrimination.
We demand that the school immediately reinstates the old ethics code and makes it legally binding, in line with the recently passed SU motion.
We demand that the school ensures the security and equality of international students, particularly with regards to their precarious visa status, and fully include them in our project for a free university.
Children across Greater Manchester have watched a compelling play warning them about criminal exploitation from county lines organised crime groups.
Greater Manchester’s Programme Challenger – a joint partnership to tackle serious and organised crime together – funded Rochdale-based theatre company Breaking Barriers to deliver the series ‘Crossing the Line’ to children in year six at 50 primary schools.
Over a month the play was rolled out to schools in Bury, Salford, Stockport, Tameside and Trafford for children to learn how to spot the signs of exploitation to prevent and protect them from criminal gangs seeking to recruit them as drug mules.
The production explores grooming through a monologue from an 18-year-old man and his younger brother aged 15. He talks about the criminal gang members trying to give him gifts in return for running their drug errands.
‘Crossing the Line’ also incorporated discussions with the children to teach them about healthy choices and relationships, learning to say no, how to handle pressure from older people as well as educate children on where to go for help and advice if they have concerns.
One of the pupils who watched the play said: “The play has helped me see how criminal gangs can manipulate you by trying to make you feel special and part of their family, then force you to do things for them.
“It has taught me to never join a gang as it could harm your future and instead to stay in school, get a good education and job.
“If someone finds themselves in this situation, they should speak to anyone they can trust, such as their mum or dad, a teacher, the police or even Childline.”
A county line is the advertisement of class A drugs via a mobile phone, known as a ‘graft line’, the drugs are then moved by dealers from one area to another as well as to other places across the country.
The organised crime groups will often exploit children to transport the drugs and money profited from its supply.
Detective Chief Inspector Claire McGuire, from Programme Challenger’s Organised Crime Coordination Unit, said: “Young and vulnerable children are sadly targeted and groomed by county lines criminal networks to be recruited to travel across the country to deliver drugs and money.
“They can find themselves in situations that often seem impossible to get out of which can have a detrimental impact on their life and their future.
It’s therefore imperative we intervene as soon as possible, inform children early on to prevent this from happening and protect them from the harm caused by organised criminality.
“Breaking Barriers work is a creative way to grab a child’s attention, it educates and engages with them on the signs to look out for and where to turn to for help and advice. The feedback we have had from them, and the teachers has been brilliant.”
Deputy Mayor for Policing, Crime, Criminal Justice and Fire, Bev Hughes, said: “We must educate children early on the signs of criminal exploitation and this work is vital in doing that.
It’s great to see such a creative play being used to deliver an important message and schools have been a wonderful support with this.
Lots of young people across Greater Manchester are now more aware of the signs of criminal exploitation and know help and support is available to them.”
Parvez Qadir, Director of Breaking Barriers, said: “Crossing the Line tackles difficult themes around grooming and exploitation used by criminal gangs to control young people to travel their drugs for them. Using the power of creativity,
I wrote the piece to tour in schools to educate, inform and offer safe pathways for young people out of child criminal exploitation.
“The facilitated workshop is a safe place for difficult questions for young people, teachers and parents to discuss those
themes.
I hope “Crossing the Line” can educate young people to make safe and healthier choices.”
. . . 2. 3. 2007 - this is the first day of a funeral ceremony in Bori for a High Class Woman. She died on 18. 1. 2007 at the age of 85 years. The ceremony will last for one week. Today we will see the showing of the water buffalos, pigs, cow, horse, deer and chicken. All these animals are offered to be the servants of the died woman in her new life after death in Puya. We will see buffalo fighting. Men bet for the winner of those fightings. Two buffalos fight each other - the one running away lost the fight!
If you wonder why the quality of the pictures is a little less: these are no photographs - it all are snapshots of my videos! So sorry for the less resolution, but I think, they are worth to be shown.
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The Toraja are an ethnic group indigenous to a mountainous region of South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Their population is approximately 1,100,000, of whom 450,000 live in the regency of Tana Toraja ("Land of Toraja"). Most of the population is Christian, and others are Muslim or have local animist beliefs known as aluk ("the way"). The Indonesian government has recognized this animist belief as Aluk To Dolo ("Way of the Ancestors").
The word toraja comes from the Bugis Buginese language term to riaja, meaning "people of the uplands". The Dutch colonial government named the people Toraja in 1909. Torajans are renowned for their elaborate funeral rites, burial sites carved into rocky cliffs, massive peaked-roof traditional houses known as tongkonan, and colorful wood carvings. Toraja funeral rites are important social events, usually attended by hundreds of people and lasting for several days.
Before the 20th century, Torajans lived in autonomous villages, where they practised animism and were relatively untouched by the outside world. In the early 1900s, Dutch missionaries first worked to convert Torajan highlanders to Christianity. When the Tana Toraja regency was further opened to the outside world in the 1970s, it became an icon of tourism in Indonesia: it was exploited by tourism developers and studied by anthropologists. By the 1990s, when tourism peaked, Toraja society had changed significantly, from an agrarian model - in which social life and customs were outgrowths of the Aluk To Dolo - to a largely Christian society. Today, tourism and remittances from migrant Torajans have made for major changes in the Toraja highland, giving the Toraja a celebrity status within Indonesia and enhancing Toraja ethnic group pride.
ETHNIC IDENTITY
The Torajan people had little notion of themselves as a distinct ethnic group before the 20th century. Before Dutch colonization and Christianization, Torajans, who lived in highland areas, identified with their villages and did not share a broad sense of identity. Although complexes of rituals created linkages between highland villages, there were variations in dialects, differences in social hierarchies, and an array of ritual practices in the Sulawesi highland region. "Toraja" (from the coastal languages' to, meaning people; and riaja, uplands) was first used as a lowlander expression for highlanders. As a result, "Toraja" initially had more currency with outsiders - such as the Bugis and Makassarese, who constitute a majority of the lowland of Sulawesi - than with insiders. The Dutch missionaries' presence in the highlands gave rise to the Toraja ethnic consciousness in the Sa'dan Toraja region, and this shared identity grew with the rise of tourism in the Tana Toraja Regency. Since then, South Sulawesi has four main ethnic groups - the Bugis (the majority, including shipbuilders and seafarers), the Makassarese (lowland traders and seafarers), the Mandarese (traders and fishermen), and the Toraja (highland rice cultivators).
HISTORY
From the 17th century, the Dutch established trade and political control on Sulawesi through the Dutch East Indies Company. Over two centuries, they ignored the mountainous area in the central Sulawesi, where Torajans lived, because access was difficult and it had little productive agricultural land. In the late 19th century, the Dutch became increasingly concerned about the spread of Islam in the south of Sulawesi, especially among the Makassarese and Bugis peoples. The Dutch saw the animist highlanders as potential Christians. In the 1920s, the Reformed Missionary Alliance of the Dutch Reformed Church began missionary work aided by the Dutch colonial government. In addition to introducing Christianity, the Dutch abolished slavery and imposed local taxes. A line was drawn around the Sa'dan area and called Tana Toraja ("the land of Toraja"). Tana Toraja was first a subdivision of the Luwu kingdom that had claimed the area. In 1946, the Dutch granted Tana Toraja a regentschap, and it was recognized in 1957 as one of the regencies of Indonesia.
Early Dutch missionaries faced strong opposition among Torajans, especially among the elite, because the abolition of their profitable slave trade had angered them. Some Torajans were forcibly relocated to the lowlands by the Dutch, where they could be more easily controlled. Taxes were kept high, undermining the wealth of the elites. Ultimately, the Dutch influence did not subdue Torajan culture, and only a few Torajans were converted. In 1950, only 10% of the population had converted to Christianity.
In the 1930s, Muslim lowlanders attacked the Torajans, resulting in widespread Christian conversion among those who sought to align themselves with the Dutch for political protection and to form a movement against the Bugis and Makassarese Muslims. Between 1951 and 1965 (following Indonesian independence), southern Sulawesi faced a turbulent period as the Darul Islam separatist movement fought for an Islamic state in Sulawesi. The 15 years of guerrilla warfare led to massive conversions to
CHRISTIANITY
Alignment with the Indonesian government, however, did not guarantee safety for the Torajans. In 1965, a presidential decree required every Indonesian citizen to belong to one of five officially recognized religions: Islam, Christianity (Protestantism and Catholicism), Hinduism, or Buddhism. The Torajan religious belief (aluk) was not legally recognized, and the Torajans raised their voices against the law. To make aluk accord with the law, it had to be accepted as part of one of the official religions. In 1969, Aluk To Dolo ("the way of ancestors") was legalized as a sect of Agama Hindu Dharma, the official name of Hinduism in Indonesia.
SOCIETY
There are three main types of affiliation in Toraja society: family, class and religion.
FAMILY AFFILIATION
Family is the primary social and political grouping in Torajan society. Each village is one extended family, the seat of which is the tongkonan, a traditional Torajan house. Each tongkonan has a name, which becomes the name of the village. The familial dons maintain village unity. Marriage between distant cousins (fourth cousins and beyond) is a common practice that strengthens kinship. Toraja society prohibits marriage between close cousins (up to and including the third cousin) - except for nobles, to prevent the dispersal of property. Kinship is actively reciprocal, meaning that the extended family helps each other farm, share buffalo rituals, and pay off debts.
Each person belongs to both the mother's and the father's families, the only bilateral family line in Indonesia. Children, therefore, inherit household affiliation from both mother and father, including land and even family debts. Children's names are given on the basis of kinship, and are usually chosen after dead relatives. Names of aunts, uncles and cousins are commonly referred to in the names of mothers, fathers and siblings.
Before the start of the formal administration of Toraja villages by the Tana Toraja Regency, each Toraja village was autonomous. In a more complex situation, in which one Toraja family could not handle their problems alone, several villages formed a group; sometimes, villages would unite against other villages. Relationship between families was expressed through blood, marriage, and shared ancestral houses (tongkonan), practically signed by the exchange of water buffalo and pigs on ritual occasions. Such exchanges not only built political and cultural ties between families but defined each person's place in a social hierarchy: who poured palm wine, who wrapped a corpse and prepared offerings, where each person could or could not sit, what dishes should be used or avoided, and even what piece of meat constituted one's share.
CLASS AFFILIATION
In early Toraja society, family relationships were tied closely to social class. There were three strata: nobles, commoners, and slaves (slavery was abolished in 1909 by the Dutch East Indies government). Class was inherited through the mother. It was taboo, therefore, to marry "down" with a woman of lower class. On the other hand, marrying a woman of higher class could improve the status of the next generation. The nobility's condescending attitude toward the commoners is still maintained today for reasons of family prestige.
Nobles, who were believed to be direct descendants of the descended person from heaven, lived in tongkonans, while commoners lived in less lavish houses (bamboo shacks called banua). Slaves lived in small huts, which had to be built around their owner's tongkonan. Commoners might marry anyone, but nobles preferred to marry in-family to maintain their status. Sometimes nobles married Bugis or Makassarese nobles. Commoners and slaves were prohibited from having death feasts. Despite close kinship and status inheritance, there was some social mobility, as marriage or change in wealth could affect an individuals status. Wealth was counted by the ownership of water buffaloes.
Slaves in Toraja society were family property. Sometimes Torajans decided to become slaves when they incurred a debt, pledging to work as payment. Slaves could be taken during wars, and slave trading was common. Slaves could buy their freedom, but their children still inherited slave status. Slaves were prohibited from wearing bronze or gold, carving their houses, eating from the same dishes as their owners, or having sex with free women - a crime punishable by death.
RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION
Toraja's indigenous belief system is polytheistic animism, called aluk, or "the way" (sometimes translated as "the law"). In the Toraja myth, the ancestors of Torajan people came down from heaven using stairs, which were then used by the Torajans as a communication medium with Puang Matua, the Creator. The cosmos, according to aluk, is divided into the upper world (heaven), the world of man (earth), and the underworld. At first, heaven and earth were married, then there was a darkness, a separation, and finally the light. Animals live in the underworld, which is represented by rectangular space enclosed by pillars, the earth is for mankind, and the heaven world is located above, covered with a saddle-shaped roof. Other Toraja gods include Pong Banggai di Rante (god of Earth), Indo' Ongon-Ongon (a goddess who can cause earthquakes), Pong Lalondong (god of death), and Indo' Belo Tumbang (goddess of medicine); there are many more.
The earthly authority, whose words and actions should be cleaved to both in life (agriculture) and death (funerals), is called to minaa (an aluk priest). Aluk is not just a belief system; it is a combination of law, religion, and habit. Aluk governs social life, agricultural practices, and ancestral rituals. The details of aluk may vary from one village to another. One common law is the requirement that death and life rituals be separated. Torajans believe that performing death rituals might ruin their corpses if combined with life rituals. The two rituals are equally important. During the time of the Dutch missionaries, Christian Torajans were prohibited from attending or performing life rituals, but were allowed to perform death rituals. Consequently, Toraja's death rituals are still practised today, while life rituals have diminished.
CULTURE
TONGKONAN
Tongkonan are the traditional Torajan ancestral houses. They stand high on wooden piles, topped with a layered split-bamboo roof shaped in a sweeping curved arc, and they are incised with red, black, and yellow detailed wood carvings on the exterior walls. The word "tongkonan" comes from the Torajan tongkon ("to sit").
Tongkonan are the center of Torajan social life. The rituals associated with the tongkonan are important expressions of Torajan spiritual life, and therefore all family members are impelled to participate, because symbolically the tongkonan represents links to their ancestors and to living and future kin. According to Torajan myth, the first tongkonan was built in heaven on four poles, with a roof made of Indian cloth. When the first Torajan ancestor descended to earth, he imitated the house and held a large ceremony.
The construction of a tongkonan is laborious work and is usually done with the help of the extended family. There are three types of tongkonan. The tongkonan layuk is the house of the highest authority, used as the "center of government". The tongkonan pekamberan belongs to the family members who have some authority in local traditions. Ordinary family members reside in the tongkonan batu. The exclusivity to the nobility of the tongkonan is diminishing as many Torajan commoners find lucrative employment in other parts of Indonesia. As they send back money to their families, they enable the construction of larger tongkonan.
WOOD CARVINGS
To express social and religious concepts, Torajans carve wood, calling it Pa'ssura (or "the writing"). Wood carvings are therefore Toraja's cultural manifestation.
Each carving receives a special name, and common motifs are animals and plants that symbolize some virtue. For example, water plants and animals, such as crabs, tadpoles and water weeds, are commonly found to symbolize fertility. In some areas noble elders claim these symbols refer to strength of noble family, but not everyone agrees. The overall meaning of groups of carved motifs on houses remains debated and tourism has further complicated these debates because some feel a uniform explanation must be presented to tourists. The image to the left shows an example of Torajan wood carving, consisting of 15 square panels. The center bottom panel represents buffalo or wealth, a wish for many buffaloes for the family. The center panel represents a knot and a box, a hope that all of the family's offspring will be happy and live in harmony, like goods kept safe in a box. The top left and top right squares represent an aquatic animal, indicating the need for fast and hard work, just like moving on the surface of water. It also represents the need for a certain skill to produce good results.
Regularity and order are common features in Toraja wood carving (see table below), as well as abstracts and geometrical designs. Nature is frequently used as the basis of Toraja's ornaments, because nature is full of abstractions and geometries with regularities and ordering. Toraja's ornaments have been studied in ethnomathematics to reveal their mathematical structure, but Torajans base this art only on approximations. To create an ornament, bamboo sticks are used as a geometrical tool.
FUNERAL RITES
In Toraja society, the funeral ritual is the most elaborate and expensive event. The richer and more powerful the individual, the more expensive is the funeral. In the aluk religion, only nobles have the right to have an extensive death feast. The death feast of a nobleman is usually attended by thousands and lasts for several days. A ceremonial site, called rante, is usually prepared in a large, grassy field where shelters for audiences, rice barns, and other ceremonial funeral structures are specially made by the deceased family. Flute music, funeral chants, songs and poems, and crying and wailing are traditional Toraja expressions of grief with the exceptions of funerals for young children, and poor, low-status adults.
The ceremony is often held weeks, months, or years after the death so that the deceased's family can raise the significant funds needed to cover funeral expenses. Torajans traditionally believe that death is not a sudden, abrupt event, but a gradual process toward Puya (the land of souls, or afterlife). During the waiting period, the body of the deceased is wrapped in several layers of cloth and kept under the tongkonan. The soul of the deceased is thought to linger around the village until the funeral ceremony is completed, after which it begins its journey to Puya.
Another component of the ritual is the slaughter of water buffalo. The more powerful the person who died, the more buffalo are slaughtered at the death feast. Buffalo carcasses, including their heads, are usually lined up on a field waiting for their owner, who is in the "sleeping stage". Torajans believe that the deceased will need the buffalo to make the journey and that they will be quicker to arrive at Puya if they have many buffalo. Slaughtering tens of water buffalo and hundreds of pigs using a machete is the climax of the elaborate death feast, with dancing and music and young boys who catch spurting blood in long bamboo tubes. Some of the slaughtered animals are given by guests as "gifts", which are carefully noted because they will be considered debts of the deceased's family. However, a cockfight, known as bulangan londong, is an integral part of the ceremony. As with the sacrifice of the buffalo and the pigs, the cockfight is considered sacred because it involves the spilling of blood on the earth. In particular, the tradition requires the sacrifice of at least three chickens. However, it is common for at least 25 pairs of chickens to be set against each other in the context of the ceremony.
There are three methods of burial: the coffin may be laid in a cave or in a carved stone grave, or hung on a cliff. It contains any possessions that the deceased will need in the afterlife. The wealthy are often buried in a stone grave carved out of a rocky cliff. The grave is usually expensive and takes a few months to complete. In some areas, a stone cave may be found that is large enough to accommodate a whole family. A wood-carved effigy, called Tau tau, is usually placed in the cave looking out over the land. The coffin of a baby or child may be hung from ropes on a cliff face or from a tree. This hanging grave usually lasts for years, until the ropes rot and the coffin falls to the ground.
In the ritual called Ma'Nene, that takes place each year in August, the bodies of the deceased are exhumed to be washed, groomed and dressed in new clothes. The mummies are then walked around the village.
DANCE AND MUSIC
Torajans perform dances on several occasions, most often during their elaborate funeral ceremonies. They dance to express their grief, and to honour and even cheer the deceased person because he is going to have a long journey in the afterlife. First, a group of men form a circle and sing a monotonous chant throughout the night to honour the deceased (a ritual called Ma'badong). This is considered by many Torajans to be the most important component of the funeral ceremony. On the second funeral day, the Ma'randing warrior dance is performed to praise the courage of the deceased during life. Several men perform the dance with a sword, a large shield made from buffalo skin, a helmet with a buffalo horn, and other ornamentation. The Ma'randing dance precedes a procession in which the deceased is carried from a rice barn to the rante, the site of the funeral ceremony. During the funeral, elder women perform the Ma'katia dance while singing a poetic song and wearing a long feathered costume. The Ma'akatia dance is performed to remind the audience of the generosity and loyalty of the deceased person. After the bloody ceremony of buffalo and pig slaughter, a group of boys and girls clap their hands while performing a cheerful dance called Ma'dondan.
As in other agricultural societies, Torajans dance and sing during harvest time. The Ma'bugi dance celebrates the thanksgiving event, and the Ma'gandangi dance is performed while Torajans are pounding rice. There are several war dances, such as the Manimbong dance performed by men, followed by the Ma'dandan dance performed by women. The aluk religion governs when and how Torajans dance. A dance called Ma'bua can be performed only once every 12 years. Ma'bua is a major Toraja ceremony in which priests wear a buffalo head and dance around a sacred tree.
A traditional musical instrument of the Toraja is a bamboo flute called a Pa'suling (suling is an Indonesian word for flute). This six-holed flute (not unique to the Toraja) is played at many dances, such as the thanksgiving dance Ma'bondensan, where the flute accompanies a group of shirtless, dancing men with long fingernails. The Toraja have indigenous musical instruments, such as the Pa'pelle (made from palm leaves) and the Pa'karombi (the Torajan version of a jaw harp). The Pa'pelle is played during harvest time and at house inauguration ceremonies.
LANGUAGE
The ethnic Toraja language is dominant in Tana Toraja with the main language as the Sa'dan Toraja. Although the national Indonesian language is the official language and is spoken in the community, all elementary schools in Tana Toraja teach Toraja language.Language varieties of Toraja, including Kalumpang, Mamasa, Tae' , Talondo' , Toala' , and Toraja-Sa'dan, belong to the Malayo-Polynesian language from the Austronesian family. At the outset, the isolated geographical nature of Tana Toraja formed many dialects between the Toraja languages themselves. After the formal administration of Tana Toraja, some Toraja dialects have been influenced by other languages through the transmigration program, introduced since the colonialism period, and it has been a major factor in the linguistic variety of Toraja languages. A prominent attribute of Toraja language is the notion of grief. The importance of death ceremony in Toraja culture has characterized their languages to express intricate degrees of grief and mourning. The Toraja language contains many terms referring to sadness, longing, depression, and mental pain. Giving a clear expression of the psychological and physical effect of loss is a catharsis and sometimes lessens the pain of grief itself.
ECONOMY
Prior to Suharto's "New Order" administration, the Torajan economy was based on agriculture, with cultivated wet rice in terraced fields on mountain slopes, and supplemental cassava and maize crops. Much time and energy were devoted to raising water buffalo, pigs, and chickens, primarily for ceremonial sacrifices and consumption. Coffee was the first significant cash crop produced in Toraja, and was introduced in the mid 19th century, changing the local economy towards commodity production for external markets and gaining an excellent reputation for quality in the international market .
With the commencement of the New Order in 1965, Indonesia's economy developed and opened to foreign investment. In Toraja, a coffee plantation and factory was established by Key Coffee of Japan, and Torajan coffee regained a reputation for quality within the growing international specialty coffee sector Multinational oil and mining companies opened new operations in Indonesia during the 1970s and 1980s. Torajans, particularly younger ones, relocated to work for the foreign companies - to Kalimantan for timber and oil, to Papua for mining, to the cities of Sulawesi and Java, and many went to Malaysia. The out-migration of Torajans was steady until 1985. and has continued since, with remittances sent back by emigre Torajans performing an important role within the contemporary economy.
Tourism commenced in Toraja in the 1970s, and accelerated in the 1980s and 1990s. Between 1984 and 1997, a significant number of Torajans obtained their incomes from tourism, working in and owning hotels, as tour guides, drivers, or selling souvenirs. With the rise of political and economic instability in Indonesia in the late 1990s - including religious conflicts elsewhere on Sulawesi - tourism in Tana Toraja has declined dramatically. Toraja continues to be a well known origin for Indonesian coffee, grown by both smallholders and plantation estates, although migration, remittances and off-farm income is considered far more important to most households, even those in rural areas.
TOURISM AND CULTURAL CHANGE
Before the 1970s, Toraja was almost unknown to Western tourism. In 1971, about 50 Europeans visited Tana Toraja. In 1972, at least 400 visitors attended the funeral ritual of Puang of Sangalla, the highest-ranking nobleman in Tana Toraja and the so-called "last pure-blooded Toraja noble." The event was documented by National Geographic and broadcast in several European countries. In 1976, about 12,000 tourists visited the regency and in 1981, Torajan sculpture was exhibited in major North American museums. "The land of the heavenly kings of Tana Toraja", as written in the exhibition brochure, embraced the outside world.
In 1984, the Indonesian Ministry of Tourism declared Tana Toraja Regency the prima donna of South Sulawesi. Tana Toraja was heralded as "the second stop after Bali". Tourism was increasing dramatically: by 1985, a total number of 150,000 foreigners had visited the Regency (in addition to 80,000 domestic tourists), and the annual number of foreign visitors was recorded at 40,000 in 1989. Souvenir stands appeared in Rantepao, the cultural center of Toraja, roads were sealed at the most-visited tourist sites, new hotels and tourist-oriented restaurants were opened, and an airstrip was opened in the Regency in 1981.
Tourism developers have marketed Tana Toraja as an exotic adventure - an area rich in culture and off the beaten track. Western tourists expected to see stone-age villages and pagan funerals. Toraja is for tourists who have gone as far as Bali and are willing to see more of the wild, "untouched" islands. However, they were more likely to see a Torajan wearing a hat and denim, living in a Christian society. Tourists felt that the tongkonan and other Torajan rituals had been preconceived to make profits, and complained that the destination was too commercialized. This has resulted in several clashes between Torajans and tourism developers, whom Torajans see as outsiders.
A clash between local Torajan leaders and the South Sulawesi provincial government (as a tourist developer) broke out in 1985. The government designated 18 Toraja villages and burial sites as traditional tourist attractions. Consequently, zoning restrictions were applied to these areas, such that Torajans themselves were barred from changing their tongkonans and burial sites. The plan was opposed by some Torajan leaders, as they felt that their rituals and traditions were being determined by outsiders. As a result, in 1987, the Torajan village of Kété Kesú and several other designated tourist attractions closed their doors to tourists. This closure lasted only a few days, as the villagers found it too difficult to survive without the income from selling souvenirs.
Tourism has also transformed Toraja society. Originally, there was a ritual which allowed commoners to marry nobles (puang) and thereby gain nobility for their children. However, the image of Torajan society created for the tourists, often by "lower-ranking" guides, has eroded its traditional strict hierarchy. High status is not as esteemed in Tana Toraja as it once was. Many low-ranking men can declare themselves and their children nobles by gaining enough wealth through work outside the region and then marrying a noble woman.
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