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PGB Photographer & Creative - © Philip Romeyn - Phillostar Gone Ballistic 2020 - Photo may not be edited from its original form. Commercial use is prohibited without contacting me.
Formed 1.5 billion years ago from a dome of molten magma, the large granite boulders at Elephant Rocks State Park resemble a train of pink elephants. The reddish or pink granite has been quarried in this area since 1869, and has provided red architectural granite for buildings all across the country, particularly in nearby St. Louis, Missouri. Stones unsuitable for architectural use were made into paving stones that were used on the streets of St. Louis, as well as the wharf along the Mississippi River. The granite from this area is commercially known as Missouri Red monument stone.
One of the largest boulders, named “Dumbo,” measures 27 feet tall, 35 feet long and 17 feet wide, tipping the scales at a hefty 680 tons.
Elephant Rocks State Park was created in 1967 following donation of the land by geologist John Stafford, and is managed by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. It is located in Iron County, Missouri, and is part of the Saint Francois Mountains, which rise over the Ozark Plateau in southeastern Missouri. This mountain range is one of the oldest exposures of igneous rock in North America. The park has a one-mile paved Braille Trail designed for people with visual and physical disabilities.
© All rights reserved - - No Usage Allowed in Any Form Without the Written Consent of the photographer, Mark Schuver.
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Time to get off the bay -- its not practical to be around with that furious funnel forms.
Pambato Reef
Honda Bay, Puerto Princesa
Palawan, Philippines
www.lne.es/oviedo/2009/09/21/obra-piedad-formara-parte-re...
El escultor Santiago de Santiago, con obras en medio mundo, regresó ayer a Oviedo. Y no viene para un tema baladí, sino para presentar la estatua que ocupará el lugar de la fuente de la plaza Longoria Carbajal. Una reproducción que forma parte de una exposición que se inaugurará hoy en el Café Español y el en Ayuntamiento.
-Una vez más visita Oviedo.
-Porque la estatua de Mavi se nos va y viene «La Piedad», que formará parte de la reforma que se va a hacer en la plaza de Longoria Carbajal.
-Toda una incógnita...
-Va a ser la estatua más querida para los ovetenses, aunque su nombre representa algo que puede parecer muy doloroso, pero que es simplemente muy sentimental.
-¿Cómo será la estatua?
-Es una mujer que está en una postura muy acogedora, muy significativa, que inspira un cariño especial porque se la ve profundamente preocupada por algo. Espero que sea un éxito, porque fue elegida por un grupo reducido de gente de Oviedo, entre los que, por supuesto, estaba el Alcalde.
-¿Cómo va a ser esta estatua que ocupará el lugar de la fuente?
-Estará en posición reclinada, construida en bronce, y se colocará, más o menos, según la estructura que dejen en la plaza, en una situación físicamente paralela a la instalación de ahora. Al fondo estará lo que quede de la fuente, y de cara al público, la escultura.
-¿Qué quiso representar con esta obra?
-Un sentimiento. Está un poco arrodillada en el suelo, en una actitud como de sentimiento profundo por un tema de amor.
-La figura femenina es una constante en su obra.
-Porque no sé si es la culpable o la promotora de toda la vida, de lo bueno y de lo malo. La mujer es el regalo del hombre con los reglones torcidos... y que no falte.
-¿Qué representa para usted poner una estatua en Oviedo, donde hay muchas y de artistas tan importantes como Botero?
-Es una ciudad en la que ya tengo algunas obras, y después es un lugar de referencia para mí, donde también tengo parte de mi vida y muchos amigos. Ahora estoy aquí, porque ocurrió este curioso percance de la fuente.
-Tiene estatuas y monumentos repartidos por todo el mundo, de México a Japón, pasando por Rusia, Dinamarca y China, entre otros países.
-Un buen día cogí el mapamundi y dibujé una línea entre México, España y Japón, tres países muy distantes pero dominantes culturalmente. En este viaje estoy trabajando en países que pueden aportar mucho a la Humanidad. No obstante, para mí Oviedo siempre será una referencia.
«Espero que sea un éxito, porque la estatua fue elegida por un grupo reducido de gente de Oviedo»
Affiche de l'exposition "Formes utiles" organisée en 1949-1950 par l'Union des Artistes Modernes (UAM)
Musée des arts décoratifs, Paris
musearti.hypotheses.org/tag/formes-utiles-objets-de-notre...
Avec René Herbst, Pierre Chareau et Eileen Gray, Charlotte Perriand est un des membres fondateurs de l'UAM (Union des artistes modernes) en 1929, présidée par l'architecte Mallet-Stevens.
Shiva, meaning "The Auspicious One"), also known as Mahadeva ("Great God"), is a popular Hindu deity. Shiva is regarded as one of the primary forms of God. He is the Supreme God within Shaivism, one of the three most influential denominations in contemporary Hinduism. He is one of the five primary forms of God in the Smarta tradition, and "the Destroyer" or "the Transformer" among the Trimurti, the Hindu Trinity of the primary aspects of the divine.
Shiva has many benevolent and fearsome forms. At the highest level Shiva is limitless, transcendent, unchanging and formless. In benevolent aspects, he is depicted as an omniscient Yogi who lives an ascetic life on Mount Kailash, as well as a householder with wife Parvati and his two children, Ganesha and Kartikeya and in fierce aspects, he is often depicted slaying demons. Shiva is also regarded as the patron god of yoga and arts.
The main iconographical attributes of Shiva are the third eye on his forehead, the snake Vasuki around his neck, the crescent moon adorning, the holy river Ganga flowing from his matted hair, the trishula as his weapon and the damaru as his instrument.
Shiva is usually worshiped in the aniconic form of Lingam. Temples of Lord Shiva are called shivalayam.
ETYMOLOGY & OTHER NAMES
The Sanskrit word Shiva (Devanagari: शिव, śiva) comes from Shri Rudram Chamakam of Taittiriya Samhita (TS 4.5, 4.7) of Krishna Yajurveda. The root word śi means auspicious. In simple English transliteration it is written either as Shiva or Siva. The adjective śiva, is used as an attributive epithet not particularly of Rudra, but of several other Vedic deities.
The other popular names associated with Shiva are Mahadev, Mahesh, Maheshwar, Shankar, Shambhu, Rudra, Har, Trilochan, Devendra (meaning Chief of the gods) and Trilokinath (meaning Lord of the three realms).
The Sanskrit word śaiva means "relating to the God Shiva", and this term is the Sanskrit name both for one of the principal sects of Hinduism and for a member of that sect. It is used as an adjective to characterize certain beliefs and practices, such as Shaivism. He is the oldest worshipped Lord of India.
The Tamil word Sivan, Tamil: சிவன் ("Fair Skinned") could have been derived from the word sivappu. The word 'sivappu' means "red" in Tamil language but while addressing a person's skin texture in Tamil the word 'Sivappu' is used for being Fair Skinned.
Adi Sankara, in his interpretation of the name Shiva, the 27th and 600th name of Vishnu sahasranama, the thousand names of Vishnu interprets Shiva to have multiple meanings: "The Pure One", or "the One who is not affected by three Gunas of Prakrti (Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas)" or "the One who purifies everyone by the very utterance of His name."Swami Chinmayananda, in his translation of Vishnu sahasranama, further elaborates on that verse: Shiva means "the One who is eternally pure" or "the One who can never have any contamination of the imperfection of Rajas and Tamas".
Shiva's role as the primary deity of Shaivism is reflected in his epithets Mahādeva ("Great God"; mahā "Great" and deva "god"), Maheśvara ("Great Lord"; mahā "great" and īśvara "lord"), and Parameśvara ("Supreme Lord").
There are at least eight different versions of the Shiva Sahasranama, devotional hymns (stotras) listing many names of Shiva. The version appearing in Book 13 (Anuśāsanaparvan) of the Mahabharata is considered the kernel of this tradition. Shiva also has Dasha-Sahasranamas (10,000 names) that are found in the Mahanyasa. The Shri Rudram Chamakam, also known as the Śatarudriya, is a devotional hymn to Shiva hailing him by many names.
The worship of Shiva is a pan-Hindu tradition, practiced widely across all of India, Nepal and Sri Lanka.
ASSIMILATION OF TRADITIONS
The figure of Shiva as we know him today was built up over time, with the ideas of many regional sects being amalgamated into a single figure. How the persona of Shiva converged as a composite deity is not well documented. According to Vijay Nath:
Visnu and Siva [...] began to absorb countless local cults and deities within their folds. The latter were either taken to represent the multiple facets of the same god or else were supposed to denote different forms and appellations by which the god came to be known and worshipped. [...] Siva became identified with countless local cults by the sheer suffixing of Isa or Isvara to the name of the local deity, e.g., Bhutesvara, Hatakesvara, Chandesvara."
Axel Michaels the Indologist suggests that Shaivism, like Vaishnavism, implies a unity which cannot be clearly found either in religious practice or in philosophical and esoteric doctrine. Furthermore, practice and doctrine must be kept separate.
An example of assimilation took place in Maharashtra, where a regional deity named Khandoba is a patron deity of farming and herding castes. The foremost center of worship of Khandoba in Maharashtra is in Jejuri. Khandoba has been assimilated as a form of Shiva himself, in which case he is worshipped in the form of a lingam. Khandoba's varied associations also include an identification with Surya and Karttikeya.
INDUS VALLEY ORIGINS
Many Indus valley seals show animals but one seal that has attracted attention shows a figure, either horned or wearing a horned headdress and possibly ithyphallic figure seated in a posture reminiscent of the Lotus position and surrounded by animals was named by early excavators of Mohenjo-daro Pashupati (lord of cattle), an epithet of the later Hindu gods Shiva and Rudra. Sir John Marshall and others have claimed that this figure is a prototype of Shiva and have described the figure as having three faces seated in a "yoga posture" with the knees out and feet joined.
This claim has been criticised, with some academics like Gavin Flood and John Keay characterizing them as unfounded. Writing in 1997 Doris Srinivasan said that "Not too many recent studies continue to call the seal's figure a 'Proto-Siva'", rejecting thereby Marshall's package of proto-Siva features, including that of three heads. She interprets what John Marshall interpreted as facial as not human but more bovine, possibly a divine buffalo-man. According to Iravatham Mahadevan symbols 47 and 48 of his Indus script glossary The Indus Script: Texts, Concordance and Tables (1977), representing seated human-like figures, could describe Hindu deity Murugan, popularly known as Shiva and Parvati's son.
INDO-EUROPEAN ORIGINS
Shiva's rise to a major position in the pantheon was facilitated by his identification with a host of Vedic deities, including Purusha, Rudra, Agni, Indra, Prajāpati, Vāyu, and others.
RUDRA
Shiva as we know him today shares many features with the Vedic god Rudra, and both Shiva and Rudra are viewed as the same personality in Hindu scriptures. The two names are used synonymously. Rudra, the god of the roaring storm, is usually portrayed in accordance with the element he represents as a fierce, destructive deity.
The oldest surviving text of Hinduism is the Rig Veda, which is dated to between 1700 and 1100 BCE based on linguistic and philological evidence. A god named Rudra is mentioned in the Rig Veda. The name Rudra is still used as a name for Shiva. In RV 2.33, he is described as the "Father of the Rudras", a group of storm gods. Furthermore, the Rudram, one of the most sacred hymns of Hinduism found both in the Rig and the Yajur Vedas and addressed to Rudra, invokes him as Shiva in several instances, but the term Shiva is used as an epithet for the gods Indra, Mitra and Agni many times. Since Shiva means pure, the epithet is possibly used to describe a quality of these gods rather than to identify any of them with the God Shiva.
The identification of Shiva with the older god Rudhra is not universally accepted, as Axel Michaels explains:
Rudra is called "The Archer" (Sanskrit: Śarva), and the arrow is an essential attribute of Rudra. This name appears in the Shiva Sahasranama, and R. K. Sharma notes that it is used as a name of Shiva often in later languages.
The word is derived from the Sanskrit root śarv-, which means "to injure" or "to kill", and Sharma uses that general sense in his interpretive translation of the name Śarva as "One who can kill the forces of darkness". The names Dhanvin ("Bowman") and Bāṇahasta ("Archer", literally "Armed with arrows in his hands") also refer to archery.
AGNI
Rudra and Agni have a close relationship. The identification between Agni and Rudra in the Vedic literature was an important factor in the process of Rudra's gradual development into the later character as Rudra-Shiva. The identification of Agni with Rudra is explicitly noted in the Nirukta, an important early text on etymology, which says, "Agni is also called Rudra." The interconnections between the two deities are complex, and according to Stella Kramrisch:
The fire myth of Rudra-Śiva plays on the whole gamut of fire, valuing all its potentialities and phases, from conflagration to illumination.
In the Śatarudrīya, some epithets of Rudra, such as Sasipañjara ("Of golden red hue as of flame") and Tivaṣīmati ("Flaming bright"), suggest a fusing of the two deities. Agni is said to be a bull, and Lord Shiva possesses a bull as his vehicle, Nandi. The horns of Agni, who is sometimes characterized as a bull, are mentioned. In medieval sculpture, both Agni and the form of Shiva known as Bhairava have flaming hair as a special feature.
INDRA
According to Wendy Doniger, the Puranic Shiva is a continuation of the Vedic Indra. Doniger gives several reasons for his hypothesis. Both are associated with mountains, rivers, male fertility, fierceness, fearlessness, warfare, transgression of established mores, the Aum sound, the Supreme Self. In the Rig Veda the term śiva is used to refer to Indra. (2.20.3, 6.45.17, and 8.93.3.) Indra, like Shiva, is likened to a bull. In the Rig Veda, Rudra is the father of the Maruts, but he is never associated with their warlike exploits as is Indra.
The Vedic beliefs and practices of the pre-classical era were closely related to the hypothesised Proto-Indo-European religion, and the Indo-Iranian religion. According to Anthony, the Old Indic religion probably emerged among Indo-European immigrants in the contact zone between the Zeravshan River (present-day Uzbekistan) and (present-day) Iran. It was "a syncretic mixture of old Central Asian and new Indo-European elements", which borrowed "distinctive religious beliefs and practices" from the Bactria–Margiana Culture. At least 383 non-Indo-European words were borrowed from this culture, including the god Indra and the ritual drink Soma. According to Anthony,
Many of the qualities of Indo-Iranian god of might/victory, Verethraghna, were transferred to the adopted god Indra, who became the central deity of the developing Old Indic culture. Indra was the subject of 250 hymns, a quarter of the Rig Veda. He was associated more than any other deity with Soma, a stimulant drug (perhaps derived from Ephedra) probably borrowed from the BMAC religion. His rise to prominence was a peculiar trait of the Old Indic speakers.
LATER VEDIC LITERATURE
Rudra's transformation from an ambiguously characterized deity to a supreme being began in the Shvetashvatara Upanishad (400-200 BCE), which founded the tradition of Rudra-Shiva worship. Here they are identified as the creators of the cosmos and liberators of souls from the birth-rebirth cycle. The period of 200 BCE to 100 CE also marks the beginning of the Shaiva tradition focused on the worship of Shiva, with references to Shaiva ascetics in Patanjali's Mahabhasya and in the Mahabharata.
Early historical paintings at the Bhimbetka rock shelters, depict Shiva dancing, Shiva's trident, and his mount Nandi but no other Vedic gods.
PURANIC LITERATURE
The Shiva Puranas, particularly the Shiva Purana and the Linga Purana, discuss the various forms of Shiva and the cosmology associated with him.
TANTRIC LITERATURE
The Tantras, composed between the 8th and 11th centuries, regard themselves as Sruti. Among these the Shaiva Agamas, are said to have been revealed by Shiva himself and are foundational texts for Shaiva Siddhanta.
POSITION WITHIN HINDUISM
SHAIVISM
Shaivism (Sanskrit: शैव पंथ, śaiva paṁtha) (Kannada: ಶೈವ ಪಂಥ) (Tamil: சைவ சமயம்) is the oldest of the four major sects of Hinduism, the others being Vaishnavism, Shaktism and Smartism. Followers of Shaivism, called "Shaivas", and also "Saivas" or "Saivites", revere Shiva as the Supreme Being. Shaivas believe that Shiva is All and in all, the creator, preserver, destroyer, revealer and concealer of all that is. The tantric Shaiva tradition consists of the Kapalikas, Kashmir Shaivism and Shaiva Siddhanta. The Shiva MahaPurana is one of the purāṇas, a genre of Hindu religious texts, dedicated to Shiva. Shaivism is widespread throughout India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, mostly. Areas notable for the practice of Shaivism include parts of Southeast Asia, especially Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia.
PANCHAYATANA PUJA
Panchayatana puja is the system of worship ('puja') in the Smarta sampradaya of Hinduism. It is said to have been introduced by Adi Shankara, the 8th century CE Hindu philosopher. It consists of the worship of five deities: Shiva, Vishnu, Devi, Surya and Ganesha. Depending on the tradition followed by Smarta households, one of these deities is kept in the center and the other four surround it. Worship is offered to all the deities. The five are represented by small murtis, or by five kinds of stones, or by five marks drawn on the floor.
TRIMURTI
The Trimurti is a concept in Hinduism in which the cosmic functions of creation, maintenance, and destruction are personified by the forms of Brahmā the creator, Vishnu the maintainer or preserver and Śhiva the destroyer or transformer. These three deities have been called "the Hindu triad" or the "Great Trinity", often addressed as "Brahma-Vishnu-Maheshwara."
ICONOGRAPHY AND PROPERTIES
ATTRIBUTES
Shiva's form: Shiva has a trident in the right lower arm, and a crescent moon on his head. He is said to be fair like camphor or like an ice clad mountain. He wears five serpents and a garland of skulls as ornaments. Shiva is usually depicted facing the south. His trident, like almost all other forms in Hinduism, can be understood as the symbolism of the unity of three worlds that a human faces - his inside world, his immediate world, and the broader overall world. At the base of the trident, all three forks unite.
Third eye: (Trilochana) Shiva is often depicted with a third eye, with which he burned Desire (Kāma) to ashes, called "Tryambakam" (Sanskrit: त्र्यम्बकम् ), which occurs in many scriptural sources. In classical Sanskrit, the word ambaka denotes "an eye", and in the Mahabharata, Shiva is depicted as three-eyed, so this name is sometimes translated as "having three eyes". However, in Vedic Sanskrit, the word ambā or ambikā means "mother", and this early meaning of the word is the basis for the translation "three mothers". These three mother-goddesses who are collectively called the Ambikās. Other related translations have been based on the idea that the name actually refers to the oblations given to Rudra, which according to some traditions were shared with the goddess Ambikā. It has been mentioned that when Shiva loses his temper, his third eye opens which can destroy most things to ashes.
Crescent moon: (The epithets "Chandrasekhara/Chandramouli") - Shiva bears on his head the crescent moon. The epithet Candraśekhara (Sanskrit: चन्द्रशेखर "Having the moon as his crest" - candra = "moon"; śekhara = "crest, crown") refers to this feature. The placement of the moon on his head as a standard iconographic feature dates to the period when Rudra rose to prominence and became the major deity Rudra-Shiva. The origin of this linkage may be due to the identification of the moon with Soma, and there is a hymn in the Rig Veda where Soma and Rudra are jointly implored, and in later literature, Soma and Rudra came to be identified with one another, as were Soma and the moon. The crescent moon is shown on the side of the Lord's head as an ornament. The waxing and waning phenomenon of the moon symbolizes the time cycle through which creation evolves from the beginning to the end.
Ashes: (The epithet "Bhasmaanga Raaga") - Shiva smears his body with ashes (bhasma). The ashes are said to represent the end of all material existence. Some forms of Shiva, such as Bhairava, are associated with a very old Indian tradition of cremation-ground asceticism that was practiced by some groups who were outside the fold of brahmanic orthodoxy. These practices associated with cremation grounds are also mentioned in the Pali canon of Theravada Buddhism. One epithet for Shiva is "inhabitant of the cremation ground" (Sanskrit: śmaśānavāsin, also spelled Shmashanavasin), referring to this connection.
Matted hair: (The epithet "Jataajoota Dhari/Kapardina") - Shiva's distinctive hair style is noted in the epithets Jaṭin, "the one with matted hair", and Kapardin, "endowed with matted hair" or "wearing his hair wound in a braid in a shell-like (kaparda) fashion". A kaparda is a cowrie shell, or a braid of hair in the form of a shell, or, more generally, hair that is shaggy or curly. His hair is said to be like molten gold in color or being yellowish-white.
Blue throat: The epithet Nīlakaṇtha (Sanskrit नीलकण्ठ; nīla = "blue", kaṇtha = "throat"). Since Shiva drank the Halahala poison churned up from the Samudra Manthan to eliminate its destructive capacity. Shocked by his act, Goddess Parvati strangled his neck and hence managed to stop it in his neck itself and prevent it from spreading all over the universe, supposed to be in Shiva's stomach. However the poison was so potent that it changed the color of his neck to blue. (See Maha Shivaratri.)
Sacred Ganges: (The epithet "Gangadhara") Bearer of Ganga. Ganges river flows from the matted hair of Shiva. The Gaṅgā (Ganges), one of the major rivers of the country, is said to have made her abode in Shiva's hair. The flow of the Ganges also represents the nectar of immortality.
Tiger skin: (The epithet "Krittivasana").He is often shown seated upon a tiger skin, an honour reserved for the most accomplished of Hindu ascetics, the Brahmarishis.
Serpents: (The epithet "Nagendra Haara" or 'Vasoki"). Shiva is often shown garlanded with a snake.
Deer: His holding deer on one hand indicates that He has removed the Chanchalata of the mind (i.e., attained maturity and firmness in thought process). A deer jumps from one place to another swiftly, similar to the mind moving from one thought to another.
Trident: (Trishula): Shiva's particular weapon is the trident. His Trisul that is held in His right hand represents the three Gunas— Sattva, Rajas and Tamas. That is the emblem of sovereignty. He rules the world through these three Gunas. The Damaru in His left hand represents the Sabda Brahman. It represents OM from which all languages are formed. It is He who formed the Sanskrit language out of the Damaru sound.
Drum: A small drum shaped like an hourglass is known as a damaru (ḍamaru). This is one of the attributes of Shiva in his famous dancing representation known as Nataraja. A specific hand gesture (mudra) called ḍamaru-hasta (Sanskrit for "ḍamaru-hand") is used to hold the drum. This drum is particularly used as an emblem by members of the Kāpālika sect.
Axe: (Parashu):The parashu is the weapon of Lord Shiva who gave it to Parashurama, sixth Avatar of Vishnu, whose name means "Rama with the axe" and also taught him its mastery.
Nandī: (The epithet "Nandi Vaahana").Nandī, also known as Nandin, is the name of the bull that serves as Shiva's mount (Sanskrit: vāhana). Shiva's association with cattle is reflected in his name Paśupati, or Pashupati (Sanskrit: पशुपति), translated by Sharma as "lord of cattle" and by Kramrisch as "lord of animals", who notes that it is particularly used as an epithet of Rudra. Rishabha or the bull represents Dharma Devata. Lord Siva rides on the bull. Bull is his vehicle. This denotes that Lord Siva is the protector of Dharma, is an embodiment of Dharma or righteousness.
Gaṇa: The Gaṇas (Devanagari: गण) are attendants of Shiva and live in Kailash. They are often referred to as the bhutaganas, or ghostly hosts, on account of their nature. Generally benign, except when their lord is transgressed against, they are often invoked to intercede with the lord on behalf of the devotee. Ganesha was chosen as their leader by Shiva, hence Ganesha's title gaṇa-īśa or gaṇa-pati, "lord of the gaṇas".
Mount Kailāsa: Mount Kailash in the Himalayas is his traditional abode. In Hindu mythology, Mount Kailāsa is conceived as resembling a Linga, representing the center of the universe.
Varanasi: Varanasi (Benares) is considered to be the city specially loved by Shiva, and is one of the holiest places of pilgrimage in India. It is referred to, in religious contexts, as Kashi.
LINGAM
Apart from anthropomorphic images of Shiva, the worship of Shiva in the form of a lingam, or linga, is also important. These are depicted in various forms. One common form is the shape of a vertical rounded column. Shiva means auspiciousness, and linga means a sign or a symbol. Hence, the Shivalinga is regarded as a "symbol of the great God of the universe who is all-auspiciousness". Shiva also means "one in whom the whole creation sleeps after dissolution". Linga also means the same thing—a place where created objects get dissolved during the disintegration of the created universe. Since, according to Hinduism, it is the same god that creates, sustains and withdraws the universe, the Shivalinga represents symbolically God Himself. Some scholars, such as Monier Monier-Williams and Wendy Doniger, also view linga as a phallic symbol, although this interpretation is disputed by others, including Christopher Isherwood, Vivekananda, Swami Sivananda, and S.N. Balagangadhara.
JYOTIRLINGA
The worship of the Shiva-Linga originated from the famous hymn in the Atharva-Veda Samhitâ sung in praise of the Yupa-Stambha, the sacrificial post. In that hymn, a description is found of the beginningless and endless Stambha or Skambha, and it is shown that the said Skambha is put in place of the eternal Brahman. Just as the Yajna (sacrificial) fire, its smoke, ashes, and flames, the Soma plant, and the ox that used to carry on its back the wood for the Vedic sacrifice gave place to the conceptions of the brightness of Shiva's body, his tawny matted hair, his blue throat, and the riding on the bull of the Shiva, the Yupa-Skambha gave place in time to the Shiva-Linga. In the text Linga Purana, the same hymn is expanded in the shape of stories, meant to establish the glory of the great Stambha and the superiority of Shiva as Mahadeva.
The sacred of all Shiva linga is worshipped as Jyotir linga. Jyoti means Radiance, apart from relating Shiva linga as a phallus symbol, there are also arguments that Shiva linga means 'mark' or a 'sign'. Jyotirlinga means "The Radiant sign of The Almighty". The Jyotirlingas are mentioned in Shiva Purana.
SHAKTI
Shiva forms a Tantric couple with Shakti [Tamil : சக்தி ], the embodiment of energy, dynamism, and the motivating force behind all action and existence in the material universe. Shiva is her transcendent masculine aspect, providing the divine ground of all being. Shakti manifests in several female deities. Sati and Parvati are the main consorts of Shiva. She is also referred to as Uma, Durga (Parvata), Kali and Chandika. Kali is the manifestation of Shakti in her dreadful aspect. The name Kali comes from kāla, which means black, time, death, lord of death, Shiva. Since Shiva is called Kāla, the eternal time, Kālī, his consort, also means "Time" or "Death" (as in "time has come"). Various Shakta Hindu cosmologies, as well as Shākta Tantric beliefs, worship her as the ultimate reality or Brahman. She is also revered as Bhavatārini (literally "redeemer of the universe"). Kālī is represented as the consort of Lord Shiva, on whose body she is often seen standing or dancing. Shiva is the masculine force, the power of peace, while Shakti translates to power, and is considered as the feminine force. In the Vaishnava tradition, these realities are portrayed as Vishnu and Laxmi, or Radha and Krishna. These are differences in formulation rather than a fundamental difference in the principles. Both Shiva and Shakti have various forms. Shiva has forms like Yogi Raj (the common image of Himself meditating in the Himalayas), Rudra (a wrathful form) and Natarajar (Shiva's dance are the Lasya - the gentle form of dance, associated with the creation of the world, and the Tandava - the violent and dangerous dance, associated with the destruction of weary worldviews – weary perspectives and lifestyles).
THE FIVE MANTRAS
Five is a sacred number for Shiva. One of his most important mantras has five syllables (namaḥ śivāya).
Shiva's body is said to consist of five mantras, called the pañcabrahmans. As forms of God, each of these have their own names and distinct iconography:
Sadyojāta
Vāmadeva
Aghora
Tatpuruṣha
Īsāna
These are represented as the five faces of Shiva and are associated in various texts with the five elements, the five senses, the five organs of perception, and the five organs of action. Doctrinal differences and, possibly, errors in transmission, have resulted in some differences between texts in details of how these five forms are linked with various attributes. The overall meaning of these associations is summarized by Stella Kramrisch:
Through these transcendent categories, Śiva, the ultimate reality, becomes the efficient and material cause of all that exists.
According to the Pañcabrahma Upanishad:
One should know all things of the phenomenal world as of a fivefold character, for the reason that the eternal verity of Śiva is of the character of the fivefold Brahman. (Pañcabrahma Upanishad 31)
FORMES AND ROLES
According to Gavin Flood, "Shiva is a god of ambiguity and paradox," whose attributes include opposing themes.[168] The ambivalent nature of this deity is apparent in some of his names and the stories told about him.
DESTROYER AND BENEFACTOR
In the Yajurveda, two contrary sets of attributes for both malignant or terrific (Sanskrit: rudra) and benign or auspicious (Sanskrit: śiva) forms can be found, leading Chakravarti to conclude that "all the basic elements which created the complex Rudra-Śiva sect of later ages are to be found here". In the Mahabharata, Shiva is depicted as "the standard of invincibility, might, and terror", as well as a figure of honor, delight, and brilliance. The duality of Shiva's fearful and auspicious attributes appears in contrasted names.
The name Rudra (Sanskrit: रुद्र) reflects his fearsome aspects. According to traditional etymologies, the Sanskrit name Rudra is derived from the root rud-, which means "to cry, howl". Stella Kramrisch notes a different etymology connected with the adjectival form raudra, which means "wild, of rudra nature", and translates the name Rudra as "the wild one" or "the fierce god". R. K. Sharma follows this alternate etymology and translates the name as "terrible". Hara (Sanskrit: हर) is an important name that occurs three times in the Anushasanaparvan version of the Shiva sahasranama, where it is translated in different ways each time it occurs, following a commentorial tradition of not repeating an interpretation. Sharma translates the three as "one who captivates", "one who consolidates", and "one who destroys". Kramrisch translates it as "the ravisher". Another of Shiva's fearsome forms is as Kāla (Sanskrit: काल), "time", and as Mahākāla (Sanskrit: महाकाल), "great time", which ultimately destroys all things. Bhairava (Sanskrit: भैरव), "terrible" or "frightful", is a fierce form associated with annihilation.
In contrast, the name Śaṇkara (Sanskrit: शङ्कर), "beneficent" or "conferring happiness" reflects his benign form. This name was adopted by the great Vedanta philosopher Śaṇkara (c. 788 - 820 CE), who is also known as Shankaracharya. The name Śambhu (Sanskrit: शम्भु), "causing happiness", also reflects this benign aspect.
ASCETIC AND HOUSEHOLDER
He is depicted as both an ascetic yogi and as a householder, roles which have been traditionally mutually exclusive in Hindu society.[185] When depicted as a yogi, he may be shown sitting and meditating. His epithet Mahāyogi ("the great Yogi: Mahā = "great", Yogi = "one who practices Yoga") refers to his association with yoga. While Vedic religion was conceived mainly in terms of sacrifice, it was during the Epic period that the concepts of tapas, yoga, and asceticism became more important, and the depiction of Shiva as an ascetic sitting in philosophical isolation reflects these later concepts. Shiva is also depicted as a corpse below Goddess Kali, it represents that Shiva is a corpse without Shakti. He remains inert. While Shiva is the static form, Mahakali or Shakti is the dynamic aspect without whom Shiva is powerless.
As a family man and householder, he has a wife, Parvati and two sons, Ganesha and Kartikeya. His epithet Umāpati ("The husband of Umā") refers to this idea, and Sharma notes that two other variants of this name that mean the same thing, Umākānta and Umādhava, also appear in the sahasranama. Umā in epic literature is known by many names, including the benign Pārvatī. She is identified with Devi, the Divine Mother; Shakti (divine energy) as well as goddesses like Tripura Sundari, Durga, Kamakshi and Meenakshi. The consorts of Shiva are the source of his creative energy. They represent the dynamic extension of Shiva onto this universe. His son Ganesha is worshipped throughout India and Nepal as the Remover of Obstacles, Lord of Beginnings and Lord of Obstacles. Kartikeya is worshipped in Southern India (especially in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka) by the names Subrahmanya, Subrahmanyan, Shanmughan, Swaminathan and Murugan, and in Northern India by the names Skanda, Kumara, or Karttikeya.
Some regional deities are also identified as Shiva's children. As one story goes, Shiva is enticed by the beauty and charm of Mohini, Vishnu's female avatar, and procreates with her. As a result of this union, Shasta - identified with regional deities Ayyappa and Ayyanar - is born. Shiva is also mentioned in some scriptures or folktales to have had daughters like the serpent-goddess Manasa and Ashokasundari. Even the demon Andhaka is sometimes considered a child of Shiva.
NATARAJA
he depiction of Shiva as Nataraja (Tamil: நடராஜா,Kannada: ನಟರಾಜ, Telugu: నటరాజు, Sanskrit: naṭarāja, "Lord of Dance") is popular. The names Nartaka ("dancer") and Nityanarta ("eternal dancer") appear in the Shiva Sahasranama. His association with dance and also with music is prominent in the Puranic period. In addition to the specific iconographic form known as Nataraja, various other types of dancing forms (Sanskrit: nṛtyamūrti) are found in all parts of India, with many well-defined varieties in Tamil Nadu in particular. The two most common forms of the dance are the Tandava, which later came to denote the powerful and masculine dance as Kala-Mahakala associated with the destruction of the world. When it requires the world or universe to be destroyed, Lord Śiva does it by the tāṇḍavanṛtya. and Lasya, which is graceful and delicate and expresses emotions on a gentle level and is considered the feminine dance attributed to the goddess Parvati. Lasya is regarded as the female counterpart of Tandava. The Tandava-Lasya dances are associated with the destruction-creation of the world.
DAKSHINAMURTHY
Dakshinamurthy, or Dakṣiṇāmūrti (Tamil:தட்சிணாமூர்த்தி, Telugu: దక్షిణామూర్తి, Sanskrit: दक्षिणामूर्ति), literally describes a form (mūrti) of Shiva facing south (dakṣiṇa). This form represents Shiva in his aspect as a teacher of yoga, music, and wisdom and giving exposition on the shastras. This iconographic form for depicting Shiva in Indian art is mostly from Tamil Nadu. Elements of this motif can include Shiva seated upon a deer-throne and surrounded by sages who are receiving his instruction.
ARDANARISHVARA
An iconographic representation of Shiva called (Ardhanārīśvara) shows him with one half of the body as male and the other half as female. According to Ellen Goldberg, the traditional Sanskrit name for this form (Ardhanārīśvara) is best translated as "the lord who is half woman", not as "half-man, half-woman". According to legend, Lord Shiva is pleased by the difficult austerites performed by the goddess Parvati, grants her the left half of his body. This form of Shiva is quite similar to the Yin-Yang philosophy of Eastern Asia, though Ardhanārīśvara appears to be more ancient.
TRIRUPANTAKA
Shiva is often depicted as an archer in the act of destroying the triple fortresses, Tripura, of the Asuras. Shiva's name Tripurantaka (Sanskrit: त्रिपुरान्तक, Tripurāntaka), "ender of Tripura", refers to this important story.[216] In this aspect, Shiva is depicted with four arms wielding a bow and arrow, but different from the Pinakapani murti. He holds an axe and a deer on the upper pair of his arms. In the lower pair of the arms, he holds a bow and an arrow respectively. After destroying Tripura, Tripurantaka Shiva smeared his forehead with three strokes of Ashes. This has become a prominent symbol of Shiva and is practiced even today by Shaivites.
OTHER FORMS, AVATARS IDENTIFICATIONS
Shiva, like some other Hindu deities, is said to have several incarnations, known as Avatars. Although Puranic scriptures contain occasional references to "ansh" avatars of Shiva, the idea is not universally accepted in Saivism. The Linga Purana speaks of twenty-eight forms of Shiva which are sometimes seen as avatars. According to the Svetasvatara Upanishad, he has four avatars.
In the Hanuman Chalisa, Hanuman is identified as the eleventh avatar of Shiva and this belief is universal. Hanuman is popularly known as “Rudraavtaar” “Rudra” being a name of “Shiva”. Rama– the Vishnu avatar is considered by some to be the eleventh avatar of Rudra (Shiva).
Other traditions regard the sage Durvasa, the sage Agastya, the philosopher Adi Shankara, as avatars of Shiva. Other forms of Shiva include Virabhadra and Sharabha.
FESTIVALS
Maha Shivratri is a festival celebrated every year on the 13th night or the 14th day of the new moon in the Shukla Paksha of the month of Maagha or Phalguna in the Hindu calendar. This festival is of utmost importance to the devotees of Lord Shiva. Mahashivaratri marks the night when Lord Shiva performed the 'Tandava' and it is the day that Lord Shiva was married to Parvati. The holiday is often celebrated with special prayers and rituals offered up to Shiva, notably the Abhishek. This ritual, practiced throughout the night, is often performed every three hours with water, milk, yogurt, and honey. Bel (aegle marmelos) leaves are often offered up to the Hindu god, as it is considered necessary for a successful life. The offering of the leaves are considered so important that it is believed that someone who offers them without any intentions will be rewarded greatly.
BEYOND HINDUISM
BUDDHISM
Shiva is mentioned in Buddhist Tantra. Shiva as Upaya and Shakti as Prajna. In cosmologies of buddhist tantra, Shiva is depicted as active, skillful, and more passive.
SIKHISM
The Japuji Sahib of the Guru Granth Sahib says, "The Guru is Shiva, the Guru is Vishnu and Brahma; the Guru is Paarvati and Lakhshmi." In the same chapter, it also says, "Shiva speaks, the Siddhas speak."
In Dasam Granth, Guru Gobind Singh have mentioned two avtars of Rudra: Dattatreya Avtar and Parasnath Avtar.
OTHERS
The worship of Lord Shiva became popular in Central Asia through the Hephthalite (White Hun) Dynasty, and Kushan Empire. Shaivism was also popular in Sogdiana and Eastern Turkestan as found from the wall painting from Penjikent on the river Zervashan. In this depiction, Shiva is portrayed with a sacred halo and a sacred thread ("Yajnopavita"). He is clad in tiger skin while his attendants are wearing Sodgian dress. In Eastern Turkestan in the Taklamakan Desert. There is a depiction of his four-legged seated cross-legged n a cushioned seat supported by two bulls. Another panel form Dandan-Uilip shows Shiva in His Trimurti form with His Shakti kneeling on her right thigh. It is also noted that Zoroastrian wind god Vayu-Vata took on the iconographic appearance of Shiva.
Kirant people, a Mongol tribe from Nepal, worship a form of Shiva as one of their major deity, identifying him as the lord of animals. It is also said that the physical form of Shiva as a yogi is derived from Kirants as it is mentioned in Mundhum that Shiva took human form as a child of Kirant. He is also said to give Kirants visions in form of a male deer.
In Indonesia, Shiva is also worshiped as Batara Guru. His other name is "Sang Hyang Jagadnata" (king of the universe) and "Sang Hyang Girinata" (king of mountains). In the ancient times, all kingdoms were located on top of mountains. When he was young, before receiving his authority of power, his name was Sang Hyang Manikmaya. He is first of the children who hatched from the eggs laid by Manuk Patiaraja, wife of god Mulajadi na Bolon. This avatar is also worshiped in Malaysia. Shiva's other form in Indonesian Hindu worship is "Maharaja Dewa" (Mahadeva). Both the forms are closely identified with the Sun in local forms of Hinduism or Kebatinan, and even in the genie lore of Muslims. Mostly Shiva is worshipped in the form of a lingam or the phallus.
WIKIPEDIA
El dic sec Joubert, St. Nazaire. Aquest fou l'objectiu de la Operation Chariot, una de les més espectaculars operacions britàniques de la Segona Guerra Mundial. L'objectiu era destruir aquest dic sec, per evitar que els alemanys reparessin a França els seus cuirassats. Els britànics escolliren empotrar-hi un anticuat destructor carregat amb més de 3 tones d'explosius! El pla, tot i que molt arriscat, fou un èxit i aquesta porta externa del dic sec fou esberlada, enviant a l'infern uns 400 alemanys com a bonus de l'operació!
St. Nazaire és una ciutat portuària aparentment grisa i industrial. Certament fou arrasada durant la II Guerra Mundial. Però la culpa de tanta destrucció comporta el seu actual interès turístic. Al seu centre podeu visitar un immens búnquer de submarins alemanys. St. Nazaire també fou l'escenari d'un dels combats més espectaculars de la guerra, el Raid de St. Nazaire (Operació Chariot).
ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint-Nazaire_%28Loira_Atl%C3%A0nti...
ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atac_a_Saint-Nazaire
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This is the scenario of the biggest and most dramatic commando raid of all WW2, the St. Nazaire Raid. It's objective was to destroy the Normandie (or Joubert) dry dock. The only way to do it they found was to crash an old RN destroyer to it, packed with 3 tons of hight explosive!! The daring plan worked, and the dock gate (plus 400 germans) were blown away.
St. Nazaire is, at first look, a grey and ugly french industrial harbour. Yet it is a very interesting visit for WW2 tourism. It not only has a huge and impressive german U-boat base, but also was the scenario of a spectacular commando raid in 1942, the Operation Chariot (aka the St. Nazaire Raid).
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint-Nazaire
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Nazaire_Raid
www.combinedops.com/St Nazaire.htm
Here's a great docu about it:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=axHjSxFyfuo&feature=related
Here's a model of the destroyer HMS Campbeltown crashed to the lock before it blown up:
www.modelshipgallery.com/gallery/dio/hms/campbeltown-400-...
A couple of magnificent thunderclouds popped up this evening beyond the lake in Rusk County. They caught the last rays of the sun and lit up the sky. This chronicles the development of one of these storms.
Ellsworth Kelly (1923-2015)
Left: Concorde V (1976)
Oil on canvas, two joined panels
Right: Dark Gray with White Triangle I (1977)
Oil on canvas, two joined panels
Exhibition "Form into Spirit: Ellsworth Kelly's Austin"
Austin: Blanton Museum of Art
The River Ericht is a river in Perthshire, Scotland formed from the confluence of the rivers Blackwater and Ardle at Bridge of Cally.
It runs south for around 10 miles before discharging into the River Isla, and eventually the River Tay. The river cuts through the impressive Craighall Gorge before dissecting the burgh of Blairgowrie and Rattray.
The fast running water of the river was once used to power several textile mills. Game fishing for salmon and trout is possible on some stretches with an appropriate licence.
Blairgowrie and Rattray is a twin burgh in Perth and Kinross, Scotland. Locals refer to the town as "Blair". Blairgowrie is the larger of the two former burghs which were united by an Act of Parliament in 1928 and lies on the southwest side of the River Ericht while Rattray is on the northeast side. Rattray claims to be the older and certainly Old Rattray, the area round Rattray Kirk, dates back to the 12th century. New Rattray, the area along the Boat Brae and Balmoral Road dates from 1777 when the River was spanned by the Brig o' Blair. The town lies on the north side of Strathmore at the foot of the Grampian Mountains. The west boundary is formed by the Knockie, a round grassy hill, and Craighall Gorge on the Ericht. Blairgowrie and Rattray developed over the centuries at the crossroads of several historic routes with links from the town to Perth, Coupar Angus, Alyth and Braemar. The roads to Coupar Angus and Braemar form part of General Wade's military road from Perth to Ayrshire then over the tiny bridge to the hill Fort George. The town's centrepiece is the Wellmeadow, a grassy triangle in the middle of town which hosts regular markets and outdoor entertainment.
The name Blairgowrie means "Plain of Gowrie" in Scottish Gaelic, in which language it is spelt Blàr Ghobharaidh or Blàr Ghobhraidh. The name Rattray is Raitear in Gaelic, and may derive from an English language cognate of Gaelic ràth meaning "fortress" plus a Pictish term cognate with Welsh tref meaning "settlement".
The area around Blairgowrie has been occupied continuously since the Neolithic, as evidenced from the Cleaven Dyke, a cursus monument 2 miles (3 kilometres) south-southwest of the town, as well as a Neolithic long mortuary enclosure 4 miles (6 kilometres) west-southwest at Inchtuthil. Several stone circles of this age can also be found in the area, notably the circle bisected by the road at Leys of Marlee, 1 mile (1.5 kilometres) west of Blairgowrie.
Numerous Neolithic and Bronze Age artifacts have been found in the immediate area, including a number of flint arrowheads, spearheads, knives and scrapers found at Carsie, 1⁄2 mile (800 metres) south of Blairgowrie, and which are now displayed at Perth Museum, and bronze axes, and a bronze sword now in Kelvingrove Museum, Glasgow.
The remains of a Roman legionary fort can be found 4 miles (6 kilometres) west-southwest of Blairgowrie at Inchtuthil, dating from the decade 80-90. Unencumbered by subsequent development, this is considered to be one of the most important archaeological sites in Britain
Pictish remains are in abundance in this part of Scotland and one of the largest collections of Pictish sculptured stones is housed 5 miles (8 kilometres) east of the town at the Meigle Sculptured Stone Museum. The size of the collection, all of which were found in Meigle, suggests this was an ecclesiastical centre of some importance in the 8th to 10th centuries.
From around 1600 to the beginning of the 19th century, Blairgowrie had a fairly stable population, recorded at 425 inhabitants in the first Statistical Account in 1792. The second Statistical Account of 1853 notes a disproportionate increase due to an influx of families attracted by the expanding textiles industry.[15] Gaelic was declining but still partially spoken in the upper part of the parish at that time, with all speaking English.
Blairgowrie was made a barony in favour of George Drummond of Blair in 1634 by a royal charter of Charles I, and became a free burgh in 1809. In 1724 the military road from Coupar Angus to Fort George which passes through the town on the line of the A923 and A93 was completed.
The town expanded hugely in the 19th century thanks to the employment provided by the many textile mills which were built along the River Ericht, all now closed. By 1870 there were 12 mills along the river employing nearly 2,000 men and women and the population had increased from 400 in the 1700s to 4,000. The disused mill buildings can be seen from the riverside walk west from the bridge and from Haugh Road to the east . Keithbank Mill has been converted to apartments.
Soft fruit growing, mainly raspberries and strawberries developed in the 20th century and became a very important part of the town's economy with Smedleys opening a cannery in Haugh Road, Adamsons a jam factory in Croft Lane and huge quantities of table berries and pulp being despatched to markets and jam factories throughout Britain. Berry pickers were brought in by bus from Perth and Dundee, and large encampments were set up on farms for pickers from further afield, mainly from the Glasgow area, who made this their annual holiday. They were joined by the travelling community who congregated here for the berry season. One of the best examples was the Tin City at Essendy, which housed workers in a complex of tin huts with its own chapel, post office, shop, kitchens, etc. The Tin City has gone but now every fruit farm has an extensive well appointed caravan site to house the hundreds of Eastern European students who arrive every summer to pick the fruit.
The coming of the railway revolutionised the textile and soft fruit trade. Blairgowrie railway station was the terminus of a branch from Coupar Angus on the Scottish Midland Junction Railway, later part of the Caledonian Railway. The last train ran in the 1960s, and the extensive railway yards are now the site of the Tesco supermarket and Welton Road industrial estate.
Blairgowrie had a busy livestock market at the bottom of the Boat Brae but this closed in the 1960s and is now the site of the Ashgrove Court sheltered housing complex.
Blairgowrie and Rattray Districts Cottage Hospital opened in May 1901, but its foundation can be traced back to 1882 when the idea for such a hospital was put forward by Mrs Clerk-Rattray. On her death she bequeathed £25 which was to be given to such an institution if it was ever founded. However attempts over the next few years to raise subscriptions to found the hospital failed. Eventually land for a hospital was gifted by Mrs Macpherson of Newton Castle and subscriptions were raised to found the hospital. As well as these monetary donations, furnishings for the hospital were provided while the architect Lake Falconer took no fee for his work on the hospital. At the time of opening it had two large wards. It is now known as Blairgowrie Community Hospital. In 2014 a £2.36 million refurbishment project saw the development of a purpose built in-patient GP unit and other new units added to the site.
A short distance upstream from the bridge on the riverside path is Cargill's Leap where Donald Cargill, a minister and covenanter, escaped Government troops by jumping over a narrow part of the River Ericht.
North of Rattray, occupying a dominating position on the edge of Craighall Gorge above the river Ericht, is Craighall Castle, the ancestral home of the chieftain of Clan Rattray. The castle is no longer occupied by a Rattray, having been sold in 2010.
On the west side of Blairgowrie are Newton Castle, home to the chieftain of Clan Macpherson, and Ardblair Castle, home to the Blair Oliphant family.
The surrounding area is still the soft fruit centre of Scotland, and the local population increases greatly in summer when the Eastern European students arrive to harvest the fruit which traditionally consisted of raspberries and strawberries but now includes a wider range with cherries, blackberries, blueberries, gooseberries etc. The extensive use of poly tunnels and raised beds has greatly extended the growing season with fruit available from May until October.
Other major industries include Castle Water, Proctor Insulation, Tayside Contracts, Graham Environmental, Davidsons chemist headquarters and various fruit processing and freezing plants. The industrial estate on Welton Road houses many small businesses.
The town has two main motor dealerships and several independent garages.
The local weekly newspaper is the Blairgowrie Advertiser, locally known as "the Blairie", which is now produced and printed in Perth by Trinity Mirror Group. The Blairie has a long history and was originally produced and printed in the old printworks in Reform Street where the original print machines are still mothballed.
There are regular Saturday outdoor markets in the Wellmeadow with stalls offering local produce and crafts.
Blairgowrie's town centre has a range of independent shops, craft workshops, restaurants and pubs. National retailers include Tesco, Sainsbury's, Co-op and Boots. The Angus Hotel and Royal Hotel cater for local customers, tourists and a large number of bus parties who use the town as a touring base.
The new Blairgowrie Campus opened in Elm Drive in 2009 incorporating Newhill Primary and St Stephens RC Primary. Newhill primary holds about 360 children while St Stephens RC primary is a smaller unit holding about 70 pupils. Rattray Primary serves children on that side of the river. Blairgowrie High School in Beeches Road provides secondary education for all round the area. The adjacent Recreation Centre has a pool and leisure facilities and is scheduled for replacement in the near future. The disused former Hill Primary School was the subject of a controversial but ultimately unsuccessful attempt by The Ericht Trust to provide a community centre but it has now been sold for conversion to housing as has the former St Stephen's RC primary school in John Street.
Stagecoach provide all the bus services to and from Blairgowrie with routes to Perth, Dundee, Alyth, Coupar Angus, Dunkeld, Aberfeldy, Kirkmichael and Glenshee as well as a circular town service. The nearest railway stations are Perth and Dunkeld & Birnam and the nearest airport is Dundee. Services to Perth and Dundee are frequent. The bus station is located in the Wellmeadow.
Churches represented are Church of Scotland (Blairgowrie and Rattray Parish Churches), St Stephen's RC, St Catherine's Episcopalian, Evangelical Church, Jehovah's Witnesses, Church on the Way, Lifeplus Church, Methodist Church and Plymouth Brethren.
In 1996, Blairgowrie hosted the Royal National Mòd, a festival of the Scottish Gaelic language. Since then the town has featured bilingual street signs, in English and Gaelic.
Notable people
David Laird Adams (1837–1892) theologian
Nora Calderwood (1896–1985), mathematician, born in Blairgowrie
Donald Cargill (1619–1681), Covenanter, born in Rattray
Andy Clyde (1892–1967), actor
Jake Findlay (born 1954), professional footballer, most notably for Luton Town, born in Blairgowrie
Alan Gifford (1911–1989), American-born film and television actor, died in Blairgowrie
Hamish Henderson (1919–2002), poet, folk singer, and activist, born in Blairgowrie
Sir William Alan Macpherson of Cluny (1926–2021), British High Court judge, and the 27th Hereditary Chief of Clan Macpherson, born in Blairgowrie
Gavin Pyper (born 1979), racing driver, born in Blairgowrie
Prof Robert Alexander Robertson FLS FRSE (1873–1935), botanist, born in Rattray
Lt Col Alexander Dron Stewart FRSE (1883–1969), born in Blairgowrie
Blairgowrie and Rattray is home to the Scottish Junior Football East Region Premier League side Blairgowrie F.C. as well as the Scottish Amateur Football Association sides Rattray A.F.C. and Balmoral United A.F.C. which play in the Perthshire Amateur League.
Blairgowrie Rugby Club was founded in 1980 (originally as Blairgowrie High School FP RFC) and as of 2019, plays in the Caledonia Regional League Caledonia League 1. The team is based within the John Johnston Coupar Recreational Park on Coupar Angus Road, which formed part of an old berry farm which was bequeathed to the town in the 1970s for use as a sports and recreational facility.
Blairgowrie Golf Club was founded in 1889. There are now two 18-hole courses, Rosemount and Lansdowne, and a 9-hole course.
The Glenshee Ski Centre in Glenshee (Scottish Gaelic: Gleann Sith, "Glen of the Fairies"), is some 18 miles (29 kilometres) north at the Cairnwell Pass on the A93 Braemar road, which is the highest public road in the UK.
Blairgowrie is normally considered the start and finish of the marked 64-mile (103-kilometre) Cateran Trail long-distance walk which follows a circular route through Glenericht and Strathardle to Bridge of Cally, Kirkmichael and Enochdhu, over Ben Earb to Spittal of Glenshee, through Glenshee and Glenisla to Kirkton of Glenisla and Alyth and finally back to Blairgowrie. The trail is divided into five stages and can easily be walked in five days or less, although winning teams in the annual "Cateran Yomp" regularly complete it in under eleven hours.
The traditional ball game of Rattray no longer takes place, but the Rattray silver ball, the trophy retained by the winners, is still in existence. It is believed to have been donated by Sylvester Rattray of Nether Persie who became minister of Rattray in 1591 and continued there until his death in 1623. The Rattray silver ball is now kept at Perth Museum and Art Gallery.
Blairgowrie Highland Games are held annually on the first Sunday of September in Bogles Field on Essendy Road. It is noted for its Hill Race and its mass tug o'war where as many contestants as possible from Blairgowrie and Rattray compete against each other.
The evening before is known as Braemar Night with entertainment in the Wellmeadow and fireworks along the river. This tradition started in the 1960s to encourage travellers returning from the Braemar Highland Games (then held on a Thursday), which attracted huge numbers of visitors due to the attendance of the Royal Family, to stop in the town and quickly grew into a huge programme of entertainments, pipe bands, fireworks, funfairs etc., drawing tens of thousands not only returning south from Braemar but on special excursions from Perth and Dundee.
When Blairgowrie Games restarted in the 1980s, the Braemar Games had moved to the first Saturday in September, and the following day seemed an appropriate date for Blair Games. Braemar Night has evolved into a more refined smaller all-day event aimed at locals but is still extremely popular. The main feature and finale is a spectacular firework display along the River Ericht which draws large crowds onto the bridge, which is temporarily closed, and along the riverside areas.
"Snow Road" Blairgowrie is the southern point of the Cairngorm National Park Snow Road tourist route which runs through Glenshee, Braemar, Ballater and Tomintoul to its northern end at Grantown-on-Spey. The route includes the highest point on the UK road system at the Cairnwell Pass and the Cockbridge to Tomintoul road over the Lecht Pass which is well known on winter road reports as one of the first to be closed by snow.
Twin cities
Pleasanton, California, United States
Cowansville, Quebec, Canada
Fergus, Ontario, Canada
Brebières, Pas-de-Calais, Hauts-de-France, France
Namesakes
Blairgowrie, a seaside town south of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, and Blairgowrie, a suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa, were named after the town.
The Highlands is a historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Highlands and the Lowlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Scots language replaced Scottish Gaelic throughout most of the Lowlands. The term is also used for the area north and west of the Highland Boundary Fault, although the exact boundaries are not clearly defined, particularly to the east. The Great Glen divides the Grampian Mountains to the southeast from the Northwest Highlands. The Scottish Gaelic name of A' Ghàidhealtachd literally means "the place of the Gaels" and traditionally, from a Gaelic-speaking point of view, includes both the Western Isles and the Highlands.
The area is very sparsely populated, with many mountain ranges dominating the region, and includes the highest mountain in the British Isles, Ben Nevis. During the 18th and early 19th centuries the population of the Highlands rose to around 300,000, but from c. 1841 and for the next 160 years, the natural increase in population was exceeded by emigration (mostly to Canada, the United States, Australia and New Zealand, and migration to the industrial cities of Scotland and England.) and passim The area is now one of the most sparsely populated in Europe. At 9.1/km2 (24/sq mi) in 2012, the population density in the Highlands and Islands is less than one seventh of Scotland's as a whole.
The Highland Council is the administrative body for much of the Highlands, with its administrative centre at Inverness. However, the Highlands also includes parts of the council areas of Aberdeenshire, Angus, Argyll and Bute, Moray, North Ayrshire, Perth and Kinross, Stirling and West Dunbartonshire.
The Scottish Highlands is the only area in the British Isles to have the taiga biome as it features concentrated populations of Scots pine forest: see Caledonian Forest. It is the most mountainous part of the United Kingdom.
Between the 15th century and the mid-20th century, the area differed from most of the Lowlands in terms of language. In Scottish Gaelic, the region is known as the Gàidhealtachd, because it was traditionally the Gaelic-speaking part of Scotland, although the language is now largely confined to The Hebrides. The terms are sometimes used interchangeably but have different meanings in their respective languages. Scottish English (in its Highland form) is the predominant language of the area today, though Highland English has been influenced by Gaelic speech to a significant extent. Historically, the "Highland line" distinguished the two Scottish cultures. While the Highland line broadly followed the geography of the Grampians in the south, it continued in the north, cutting off the north-eastern areas, that is Eastern Caithness, Orkney and Shetland, from the more Gaelic Highlands and Hebrides.
Historically, the major social unit of the Highlands was the clan. Scottish kings, particularly James VI, saw clans as a challenge to their authority; the Highlands was seen by many as a lawless region. The Scots of the Lowlands viewed the Highlanders as backward and more "Irish". The Highlands were seen as the overspill of Gaelic Ireland. They made this distinction by separating Germanic "Scots" English and the Gaelic by renaming it "Erse" a play on Eire. Following the Union of the Crowns, James VI had the military strength to back up any attempts to impose some control. The result was, in 1609, the Statutes of Iona which started the process of integrating clan leaders into Scottish society. The gradual changes continued into the 19th century, as clan chiefs thought of themselves less as patriarchal leaders of their people and more as commercial landlords. The first effect on the clansmen who were their tenants was the change to rents being payable in money rather than in kind. Later, rents were increased as Highland landowners sought to increase their income. This was followed, mostly in the period 1760–1850, by agricultural improvement that often (particularly in the Western Highlands) involved clearance of the population to make way for large scale sheep farms. Displaced tenants were set up in crofting communities in the process. The crofts were intended not to provide all the needs of their occupiers; they were expected to work in other industries such as kelping and fishing. Crofters came to rely substantially on seasonal migrant work, particularly in the Lowlands. This gave impetus to the learning of English, which was seen by many rural Gaelic speakers to be the essential "language of work".
Older historiography attributes the collapse of the clan system to the aftermath of the Jacobite risings. This is now thought less influential by historians. Following the Jacobite rising of 1745 the British government enacted a series of laws to try to suppress the clan system, including bans on the bearing of arms and the wearing of tartan, and limitations on the activities of the Scottish Episcopal Church. Most of this legislation was repealed by the end of the 18th century as the Jacobite threat subsided. There was soon a rehabilitation of Highland culture. Tartan was adopted for Highland regiments in the British Army, which poor Highlanders joined in large numbers in the era of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars (1790–1815). Tartan had largely been abandoned by the ordinary people of the region, but in the 1820s, tartan and the kilt were adopted by members of the social elite, not just in Scotland, but across Europe. The international craze for tartan, and for idealising a romanticised Highlands, was set off by the Ossian cycle, and further popularised by the works of Walter Scott. His "staging" of the visit of King George IV to Scotland in 1822 and the king's wearing of tartan resulted in a massive upsurge in demand for kilts and tartans that could not be met by the Scottish woollen industry. Individual clan tartans were largely designated in this period and they became a major symbol of Scottish identity. This "Highlandism", by which all of Scotland was identified with the culture of the Highlands, was cemented by Queen Victoria's interest in the country, her adoption of Balmoral as a major royal retreat, and her interest in "tartenry".
Recurrent famine affected the Highlands for much of its history, with significant instances as late as 1817 in the Eastern Highlands and the early 1850s in the West. Over the 18th century, the region had developed a trade of black cattle into Lowland markets, and this was balanced by imports of meal into the area. There was a critical reliance on this trade to provide sufficient food, and it is seen as an essential prerequisite for the population growth that started in the 18th century. Most of the Highlands, particularly in the North and West was short of the arable land that was essential for the mixed, run rig based, communal farming that existed before agricultural improvement was introduced into the region.[a] Between the 1760s and the 1830s there was a substantial trade in unlicensed whisky that had been distilled in the Highlands. Lowland distillers (who were not able to avoid the heavy taxation of this product) complained that Highland whisky made up more than half the market. The development of the cattle trade is taken as evidence that the pre-improvement Highlands was not an immutable system, but did exploit the economic opportunities that came its way. The illicit whisky trade demonstrates the entrepreneurial ability of the peasant classes.
Agricultural improvement reached the Highlands mostly over the period 1760 to 1850. Agricultural advisors, factors, land surveyors and others educated in the thinking of Adam Smith were keen to put into practice the new ideas taught in Scottish universities. Highland landowners, many of whom were burdened with chronic debts, were generally receptive to the advice they offered and keen to increase the income from their land. In the East and South the resulting change was similar to that in the Lowlands, with the creation of larger farms with single tenants, enclosure of the old run rig fields, introduction of new crops (such as turnips), land drainage and, as a consequence of all this, eviction, as part of the Highland clearances, of many tenants and cottars. Some of those cleared found employment on the new, larger farms, others moved to the accessible towns of the Lowlands.
In the West and North, evicted tenants were usually given tenancies in newly created crofting communities, while their former holdings were converted into large sheep farms. Sheep farmers could pay substantially higher rents than the run rig farmers and were much less prone to falling into arrears. Each croft was limited in size so that the tenants would have to find work elsewhere. The major alternatives were fishing and the kelp industry. Landlords took control of the kelp shores, deducting the wages earned by their tenants from the rent due and retaining the large profits that could be earned at the high prices paid for the processed product during the Napoleonic wars.
When the Napoleonic wars finished in 1815, the Highland industries were affected by the return to a peacetime economy. The price of black cattle fell, nearly halving between 1810 and the 1830s. Kelp prices had peaked in 1810, but reduced from £9 a ton in 1823 to £3 13s 4d a ton in 1828. Wool prices were also badly affected. This worsened the financial problems of debt-encumbered landlords. Then, in 1846, potato blight arrived in the Highlands, wiping out the essential subsistence crop for the overcrowded crofting communities. As the famine struck, the government made clear to landlords that it was their responsibility to provide famine relief for their tenants. The result of the economic downturn had been that a large proportion of Highland estates were sold in the first half of the 19th century. T M Devine points out that in the region most affected by the potato famine, by 1846, 70 per cent of the landowners were new purchasers who had not owned Highland property before 1800. More landlords were obliged to sell due to the cost of famine relief. Those who were protected from the worst of the crisis were those with extensive rental income from sheep farms. Government loans were made available for drainage works, road building and other improvements and many crofters became temporary migrants – taking work in the Lowlands. When the potato famine ceased in 1856, this established a pattern of more extensive working away from the Highlands.
The unequal concentration of land ownership remained an emotional and controversial subject, of enormous importance to the Highland economy, and eventually became a cornerstone of liberal radicalism. The poor crofters were politically powerless, and many of them turned to religion. They embraced the popularly oriented, fervently evangelical Presbyterian revival after 1800. Most joined the breakaway "Free Church" after 1843. This evangelical movement was led by lay preachers who themselves came from the lower strata, and whose preaching was implicitly critical of the established order. The religious change energised the crofters and separated them from the landlords; it helped prepare them for their successful and violent challenge to the landlords in the 1880s through the Highland Land League. Violence erupted, starting on the Isle of Skye, when Highland landlords cleared their lands for sheep and deer parks. It was quietened when the government stepped in, passing the Crofters' Holdings (Scotland) Act, 1886 to reduce rents, guarantee fixity of tenure, and break up large estates to provide crofts for the homeless. This contrasted with the Irish Land War underway at the same time, where the Irish were intensely politicised through roots in Irish nationalism, while political dimensions were limited. In 1885 three Independent Crofter candidates were elected to Parliament, which listened to their pleas. The results included explicit security for the Scottish smallholders in the "crofting counties"; the legal right to bequeath tenancies to descendants; and the creation of a Crofting Commission. The Crofters as a political movement faded away by 1892, and the Liberal Party gained their votes.
Today, the Highlands are the largest of Scotland's whisky producing regions; the relevant area runs from Orkney to the Isle of Arran in the south and includes the northern isles and much of Inner and Outer Hebrides, Argyll, Stirlingshire, Arran, as well as sections of Perthshire and Aberdeenshire. (Other sources treat The Islands, except Islay, as a separate whisky producing region.) This massive area has over 30 distilleries, or 47 when the Islands sub-region is included in the count. According to one source, the top five are The Macallan, Glenfiddich, Aberlour, Glenfarclas and Balvenie. While Speyside is geographically within the Highlands, that region is specified as distinct in terms of whisky productions. Speyside single malt whiskies are produced by about 50 distilleries.
According to Visit Scotland, Highlands whisky is "fruity, sweet, spicy, malty". Another review states that Northern Highlands single malt is "sweet and full-bodied", the Eastern Highlands and Southern Highlands whiskies tend to be "lighter in texture" while the distilleries in the Western Highlands produce single malts with a "much peatier influence".
The Scottish Reformation achieved partial success in the Highlands. Roman Catholicism remained strong in some areas, owing to remote locations and the efforts of Franciscan missionaries from Ireland, who regularly came to celebrate Mass. There remain significant Catholic strongholds within the Highlands and Islands such as Moidart and Morar on the mainland and South Uist and Barra in the southern Outer Hebrides. The remoteness of the region and the lack of a Gaelic-speaking clergy undermined the missionary efforts of the established church. The later 18th century saw somewhat greater success, owing to the efforts of the SSPCK missionaries and to the disruption of traditional society after the Battle of Culloden in 1746. In the 19th century, the evangelical Free Churches, which were more accepting of Gaelic language and culture, grew rapidly, appealing much more strongly than did the established church.
For the most part, however, the Highlands are considered predominantly Protestant, belonging to the Church of Scotland. In contrast to the Catholic southern islands, the northern Outer Hebrides islands (Lewis, Harris and North Uist) have an exceptionally high proportion of their population belonging to the Protestant Free Church of Scotland or the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland. The Outer Hebrides have been described as the last bastion of Calvinism in Britain and the Sabbath remains widely observed. Inverness and the surrounding area has a majority Protestant population, with most locals belonging to either The Kirk or the Free Church of Scotland. The church maintains a noticeable presence within the area, with church attendance notably higher than in other parts of Scotland. Religion continues to play an important role in Highland culture, with Sabbath observance still widely practised, particularly in the Hebrides.
In traditional Scottish geography, the Highlands refers to that part of Scotland north-west of the Highland Boundary Fault, which crosses mainland Scotland in a near-straight line from Helensburgh to Stonehaven. However the flat coastal lands that occupy parts of the counties of Nairnshire, Morayshire, Banffshire and Aberdeenshire are often excluded as they do not share the distinctive geographical and cultural features of the rest of the Highlands. The north-east of Caithness, as well as Orkney and Shetland, are also often excluded from the Highlands, although the Hebrides are usually included. The Highland area, as so defined, differed from the Lowlands in language and tradition, having preserved Gaelic speech and customs centuries after the anglicisation of the latter; this led to a growing perception of a divide, with the cultural distinction between Highlander and Lowlander first noted towards the end of the 14th century. In Aberdeenshire, the boundary between the Highlands and the Lowlands is not well defined. There is a stone beside the A93 road near the village of Dinnet on Royal Deeside which states 'You are now in the Highlands', although there are areas of Highland character to the east of this point.
A much wider definition of the Highlands is that used by the Scotch whisky industry. Highland single malts are produced at distilleries north of an imaginary line between Dundee and Greenock, thus including all of Aberdeenshire and Angus.
Inverness is regarded as the Capital of the Highlands, although less so in the Highland parts of Aberdeenshire, Angus, Perthshire and Stirlingshire which look more to Aberdeen, Dundee, Perth, and Stirling as their commercial centres.
The Highland Council area, created as one of the local government regions of Scotland, has been a unitary council area since 1996. The council area excludes a large area of the southern and eastern Highlands, and the Western Isles, but includes Caithness. Highlands is sometimes used, however, as a name for the council area, as in the former Highlands and Islands Fire and Rescue Service. Northern is also used to refer to the area, as in the former Northern Constabulary. These former bodies both covered the Highland council area and the island council areas of Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles.
Much of the Highlands area overlaps the Highlands and Islands area. An electoral region called Highlands and Islands is used in elections to the Scottish Parliament: this area includes Orkney and Shetland, as well as the Highland Council local government area, the Western Isles and most of the Argyll and Bute and Moray local government areas. Highlands and Islands has, however, different meanings in different contexts. It means Highland (the local government area), Orkney, Shetland, and the Western Isles in Highlands and Islands Fire and Rescue Service. Northern, as in Northern Constabulary, refers to the same area as that covered by the fire and rescue service.
There have been trackways from the Lowlands to the Highlands since prehistoric times. Many traverse the Mounth, a spur of mountainous land that extends from the higher inland range to the North Sea slightly north of Stonehaven. The most well-known and historically important trackways are the Causey Mounth, Elsick Mounth, Cryne Corse Mounth and Cairnamounth.
Although most of the Highlands is geographically on the British mainland, it is somewhat less accessible than the rest of Britain; thus most UK couriers categorise it separately, alongside Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man, and other offshore islands. They thus charge additional fees for delivery to the Highlands, or exclude the area entirely. While the physical remoteness from the largest population centres inevitably leads to higher transit cost, there is confusion and consternation over the scale of the fees charged and the effectiveness of their communication, and the use of the word Mainland in their justification. Since the charges are often based on postcode areas, many far less remote areas, including some which are traditionally considered part of the lowlands, are also subject to these charges. Royal Mail is the only delivery network bound by a Universal Service Obligation to charge a uniform tariff across the UK. This, however, applies only to mail items and not larger packages which are dealt with by its Parcelforce division.
The Highlands lie to the north and west of the Highland Boundary Fault, which runs from Arran to Stonehaven. This part of Scotland is largely composed of ancient rocks from the Cambrian and Precambrian periods which were uplifted during the later Caledonian Orogeny. Smaller formations of Lewisian gneiss in the northwest are up to 3 billion years old. The overlying rocks of the Torridon Sandstone form mountains in the Torridon Hills such as Liathach and Beinn Eighe in Wester Ross.
These foundations are interspersed with many igneous intrusions of a more recent age, the remnants of which have formed mountain massifs such as the Cairngorms and the Cuillin of Skye. A significant exception to the above are the fossil-bearing beds of Old Red Sandstone found principally along the Moray Firth coast and partially down the Highland Boundary Fault. The Jurassic beds found in isolated locations on Skye and Applecross reflect the complex underlying geology. They are the original source of much North Sea oil. The Great Glen is formed along a transform fault which divides the Grampian Mountains to the southeast from the Northwest Highlands.
The entire region was covered by ice sheets during the Pleistocene ice ages, save perhaps for a few nunataks. The complex geomorphology includes incised valleys and lochs carved by the action of mountain streams and ice, and a topography of irregularly distributed mountains whose summits have similar heights above sea-level, but whose bases depend upon the amount of denudation to which the plateau has been subjected in various places.
Climate
The region is much warmer than other areas at similar latitudes (such as Kamchatka in Russia, or Labrador in Canada) because of the Gulf Stream making it cool, damp and temperate. The Köppen climate classification is "Cfb" at low altitudes, then becoming "Cfc", "Dfc" and "ET" at higher altitudes.
Places of interest
An Teallach
Aonach Mòr (Nevis Range ski centre)
Arrochar Alps
Balmoral Castle
Balquhidder
Battlefield of Culloden
Beinn Alligin
Beinn Eighe
Ben Cruachan hydro-electric power station
Ben Lomond
Ben Macdui (second highest mountain in Scotland and UK)
Ben Nevis (highest mountain in Scotland and UK)
Cairngorms National Park
Cairngorm Ski centre near Aviemore
Cairngorm Mountains
Caledonian Canal
Cape Wrath
Carrick Castle
Castle Stalker
Castle Tioram
Chanonry Point
Conic Hill
Culloden Moor
Dunadd
Duart Castle
Durness
Eilean Donan
Fingal's Cave (Staffa)
Fort George
Glen Coe
Glen Etive
Glen Kinglas
Glen Lyon
Glen Orchy
Glenshee Ski Centre
Glen Shiel
Glen Spean
Glenfinnan (and its railway station and viaduct)
Grampian Mountains
Hebrides
Highland Folk Museum – The first open-air museum in the UK.
Highland Wildlife Park
Inveraray Castle
Inveraray Jail
Inverness Castle
Inverewe Garden
Iona Abbey
Isle of Staffa
Kilchurn Castle
Kilmartin Glen
Liathach
Lecht Ski Centre
Loch Alsh
Loch Ard
Loch Awe
Loch Assynt
Loch Earn
Loch Etive
Loch Fyne
Loch Goil
Loch Katrine
Loch Leven
Loch Linnhe
Loch Lochy
Loch Lomond
Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park
Loch Lubnaig
Loch Maree
Loch Morar
Loch Morlich
Loch Ness
Loch Nevis
Loch Rannoch
Loch Tay
Lochranza
Luss
Meall a' Bhuiridh (Glencoe Ski Centre)
Scottish Sea Life Sanctuary at Loch Creran
Rannoch Moor
Red Cuillin
Rest and Be Thankful stretch of A83
River Carron, Wester Ross
River Spey
River Tay
Ross and Cromarty
Smoo Cave
Stob Coire a' Chàirn
Stac Polly
Strathspey Railway
Sutherland
Tor Castle
Torridon Hills
Urquhart Castle
West Highland Line (scenic railway)
West Highland Way (Long-distance footpath)
Wester Ross
Grace Bruce at Judgement Day 2011.
(C) Matt Giles Photography. No unauthorised usage alowed without prior written permission
..., as in these extremely functional parts of the car wash. Without these, your car would never get clean.
Ornamentation has a lot more panache than using the spray wand.
Worlds End pub sign , Knaresborough Yorkshire showing Mother Shipton it sited across the road from Mother Shiptons Cave near to the River Nidd where there is a petrifying well which has been a tourist attraction since 1630
Ursula Southeil (c. 1488 - 1561) , the legendary soothsayer and prophetess who exhibited prophetic and psychic abilities from an early age, writing prophecies in the form of poems, not much different than the cryptic Quatrains of Nostradamus
The first publication of her prophecies, which did not appear until 1641, eighty years after her death, contained a number of mainly regional predictions. this was followed by another edition in 1684. This stated that she was born in Knaresborough in a cave and was reputed to be hideously ugly. The woman who delivered Ursula', spoke of a smell of sulphur and a great crack of thunder as the child came into the world.
In 1512 aged 24 she married Toby Shipton, a local carpenter, near York Some say she had bewitched him, as she was too hideous for him to be attracted to her. They lived in Knaresborough, he died 2 years later.
Ursula had told fortunes and made predictions throughout her life. They lived in Knaresborough, but had no children, Her power to see into the future made her well known not only in her home town but throughout England.
Her legend was passed on through oral traditions, perhaps sometimes embellished. Many of her visions came true within her own lifetime
In subsequent centuries her predictions alluded to the tthe defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 , he Great Fire of London in 1666 - Samuel Pepys whilst surveying the damage to London caused by the Great Fire, in the company of the Royal Family, discussed her prophecy of the event.
She also prrdicted the Dissolution of the Monasteries. This led to the redistribution of the wealth and land held by the monasteries to the emerging middle class and the existing noble families.
Also modern technology - planes, submarines, telephone / internet etc
"Then upside down the world shall be and gold found at the root of tree
All England's sons that plough the land shall oft be seen with Book in hand
The poor shall now great wisdom know great houses stand in farflung vale all covered o'er with snow and hail
A carriage without horse will go, disaster fill the world with woe.
in London, Primrose Hill shall be In centre hold a Bishop's See
Around the world men's thoughts will fly quick as the twinkling of an eye.
And water shall great wonders do how strange. And yet it shall come true.
Through towering hills proud men shall ride no horse or ass move by his side.
Beneath the water, men shall walk shall ride, shall sleep, shall even talk.
And in the air men shall be seen in white and black and even green
A great man then, shall come and go for prophecy declares it so.
In water, iron, then shall float as easy as a wooden boat
Gold shall be seen in stream and stone
In land that is yet unknown. and England shall admit a Jew
You think this strange, but it is true
The Jew that once was held in scorn shall of a Christian then be born.
A house of glass shall come to pass in England. But alas, alas
A war will follow with the work where dwells the Pagan and the Turk
These states will lock in fiercest strife and seek to take each others life.
When North shall thus divide the south and Eagle build in Lions mouth
Then tax and blood and cruel war shall come to every humble door.
Three times shall lovely sunny France be led to play a bloody dance
Before the people shall be free three tyrant rulers shall she see.
Three rulers in succession be each springs from different dynasty.
Then when the fiercest strife is done England and France shall be as one.
The British olive shall next then twine In marriage with a german vine.
Men walk beneath and over streams fulfilled shall be their wondrous dreams.
For in those wondrous far off days the women shall adopt a craze to dress like men, and trousers wear and to cut off their locks of hair
They'll ride astride with brazen brow as witches do on broomstick now.
And roaring monsters with man atop does seem to eat the verdant crop
And men shall fly as birds do now and give away the horse and plough.
There'll be a sign for all to see be sure that it will certain be.
Then love shall die and marriage cease and nations wane as babes decrease
And wives shall fondle cats and dogs and men live much the same as hogs.
In nineteen hundred and twenty six build houses light of straw and sticks.
For then shall mighty wars be planned and fire and sword shall sweep the land.
When pictures seem alive with movements free when boats like fishes swim beneath the sea,
When men like birds shall scour the sky then half the world, deep drenched in blood shall die.
For those who live the century through in fear and trembling this shall do.
Flee to the mountains and the dens to bog and forest and wild fens.
For storms will rage and oceans roar when Gabriel stands on sea and shore and as he blows his wondrous horn old worlds die and new be born.
A fiery dragon will cross the sky six times before this earth shall die
Mankind will tremble and frightened be for the sixth heralds in this prophecy.
For seven days and seven nights Man will watch this awesome sight. The tides will rise beyond their ken to bite away the shores and then the mountains will begin to roar
And earthquakes split the plain to shore. and flooding waters, rushing in will flood the lands with such a din
That mankind cowers in muddy fen and snarls about his fellow men. He bares his teeth and fights and kills and secrets food in secret hills and ugly in his fear, he lies to kill marauders, thieves and spies.
Man flees in terror from the floods and kills, and rapes and lies in blood And spilling blood by mankinds' hands will stain and bitter many lands
And when the dragon's tail is gone, Man forgets, and smiles, and carries on to apply himself - too late, too late for mankind has earned deserved fate.
His masked smile - his false grandeur, will serve the Gods their anger stir. and they will send the Dragon back to light the sky - his tail will crack upon the earth and rend the earth
And man shall flee, King, Lord, and serf.
But slowly they are routed out to seek diminishing water spout And men will die of thirst before the oceans rise to mount the shore. And lands will crack and rend anew You think it strange. It will come true.
And in some far off distant land some men - oh such a tiny band , will have to leave their solid mount and span the earth, those few to count,
Who survives this (unreadable) and then begin the human race again. But not on land already there but on ocean beds, stark, dry and bare
Not every soul on Earth will die as the Dragons tail goes sweeping by. Not every land on earth will sink but these will wallow in stench and stink of rotting bodies of beast and man
Of vegetation crisped on land.
But the land that rises from the sea will be dry and clean and soft and free of mankinds' dirt and therefore be the source of man's new dynasty.
And those that live will ever fear the dragons tail for many year
But time erases memory You think it strange. But it will be.
And before the race is built anew a silver serpent comes to view and spew out men of like unknown to mingle with the earth now grown Cold from its heat and these men can enlighten the minds of future man to intermingle and show them how to live and love and thus endow
The children with the second sight. a natural thing so that they might grow graceful, humble and when they do the Golden Age will start anew.
She also said ” The world shall end when the High Bridge is thrice fallen”. flic.kr/p/bb8R48
The High Bridge at Knaresborough has fallen twice so far….
Bain News Service,, publisher.
G. Rimini
[between ca. 1920 and ca. 1925]
1 negative : glass ; 5 x 7 in. or smaller.
Notes:
Title from unverified data provided by the Bain News Service on the negatives or caption cards.
Forms part of: George Grantham Bain Collection (Library of Congress).
Format: Glass negatives.
Rights Info: No known restrictions on publication. For more information, see George Grantham Bain Collection - Rights and Restrictions Information www.loc.gov/rr/print/res/274_bain.html
Repository: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA, hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print
Part Of: Bain News Service photograph collection (DLC) 2005682517
General information about the George Grantham Bain Collection is available at hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.ggbain
Higher resolution image is available (Persistent URL): hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ggbain.35142
Call Number: LC-B2- 5859-4
This stairwell is of part of the riverside approach to the National Theatre.
The Royal National Theatre (generally known as the National Theatre) in London is one of the United Kingdom's three most prominent publicly-funded performing arts venues, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal Opera House. Internationally, it is known as the National Theatre of Great Britain.
From its foundation in 1963 until 1976, the company was based at the Old Vic theatre in Waterloo. The current building was designed by architects Sir Denys Lasdun and Peter Softley and structural engineers Flint & Neill and contains three stages, which opened individually between 1976 and 1977. It overlooks the River Thames in the South Bank area of central London.
The style of the building was described by Mark Girouard as "an aesthetic of broken forms" at the time of opening; however, architectural opinion was split. Even enthusiastic advocates of the Modern Movement such as Sir Nikolaus Pevsner have found the Béton brut concrete both inside and out overbearing. Most notoriously, Prince Charles described the building in 1988 as "a clever way of building a nuclear power station in the middle of London without anyone objecting". Sir John Betjeman, however, a man not noted for his enthusiasm for brutalist architecture, was effusive in his praise and wrote to Lasdun stating that he "gasped with delight at the cube of your theatre in the pale blue sky and a glimpse of St. Paul's to the south of it. It is a lovely work and so good from so many angles...it has that inevitable and finished look that great work does."
Despite the controversy, the theatre has been a Grade II* listed building since 1994. Although the theatre is often cited as an archetype of Brutalist architecture in England, since Lasdun's death the building has been re-evaluated as having closer links to the work of Le Corbusier, rather than contemporary monumental 1960s buildings such as those of Paul Rudolph. The carefully-refined balance between horizontal and vertical elements in Lasdun's building has been contrasted favourably with the lumpiness of neighbouring buildings such as the Hayward Gallery and Queen Elizabeth Hall.
It is now in the unusual situation of having appeared simultaneously in the Top 10 "most popular" and "most hated" London buildings in opinion surveys. A recent lighting scheme illuminating the exterior of the building, in particular the fly towers, has proved very popular, and is one of several positive artistic responses to the building.
Béton brut is architectural concrete left unfinished or roughly-finished after casting and left exposed visually. The imprint of the wood or plywood formwork used for forming is usually present on the final surface.
The use of béton brut was pioneered by Auguste Perret and other modern architects. It flourished as a part of the brutalist architecture of the 1960s and 70s. - details from Wikipedia.
aka; "Mercury"
Common Household Materials-#4
I accidently destroyed my rig right after shooting this, so I'll have to rebuild it before continuing the series.
5D4-20210710-3472-A3
Johann Jakob Lutz - Bern, Ratsprozession am Ostermontag 1789, auf der Münsterplattform, Feste, fand in dieser Form von 1720-1797 statt
"De tudo o que se faz na vida, ficam três coisas:
a certeza de que estamos sempre começando;
a certeza de que é preciso continuar;
a certeza de que podemos ser interrompidos antes de terminar...
Fazer da interrupção um caminho novo,
fa
zer da queda um passo de dança,
do medo uma escada,
do sonho uma ponte,
da procura um encontro."
By Luciana Angarten
I could spend all day photographing these marvelous birds. They are so quick and so vocal and it's a real experience to get close and hear all the chatter!
Left : a pot in the shape of a cow, perhaps simply illustrating the common joy in seeing loved livestock appear in everyday objects. It would be pleasant to think that the verracos were likewise simply decorative elements to follow pastoral life in croft, castro and village, but this would neither explain the back pits or the patterns of damage. Also, granite is not clay, and the great amount of time spent carving even the smallest verraco might seem excessive for just such an 'ornamentation' to have lasted for between 4 and 500 years without phasing into a symbol of power. Finding a function for verracos that enhances the lives of the people who take the time to first make or 'buy' them, and then damage some, but not all of them them - again and again and again, seems to be a desired solution.
The central image is from a find I posted in August 2020 of cups integrated into the pedestal of a clapper bridge aside the hamlet of Fariza in the Sayago region (see below for a more detailed post). The bridge is down river from a second site seen aside the village of Argañín. This site (also posted below) is thought to be from the first ages of metal, so from prior to the ages of the verraco. If the function of the cups can be understood, then it might be possible to conject that it was logical and appropriate to add the old ways of cup usage to the new ways of verracos.
The right-hand image was taken outside of the walls of the castro of Yaca de Yeltes. We see a field of planted stones. The area stops and starts and does not seem to be a residue of a general fortification. A verraco was found in soil between the stones. Understanding how these rough standing stones might have related to verracos is of interest.
When you look for the original find locations of currently known examples, blur often creeps in, as verracos were regularly taken to local villages squares, used as building materials and associated with burial. Selected persons who die after spending a life working and living around verracos would surely be respected with the gift idea of being buried next to an example, and the juxtaposition of grave and verraco may not reveal how the form originally energised peoples and cultures in their everyday. Egypt saw household objects as grave goods and a dedicated funeral statue of a loved pastoral animal next to a grave with multiple bashes to the hoof and nose area seems like a topsy-turvy idea.
AJM 18.11.21
PGB Photographer & Creative - © Philip Romeyn - Phillostar Gone Ballistic 2021 - Photo may not be edited from its original form. Commercial use is prohibited without contacting me.
museumPASSmusees 2021 - BAM - Fernando Botero - Au dela des formes
BAM (Beaux-Arts Mons)
Pour la premiere fois en Belgique, dans le cadre de la Biennale d'Art et de Culture de la Federation Wallonie-Bruxelles a Mons, le BAM consacre au peintre et sculpteur colombien Fernando Botero une vaste retrospective du 9 octobre 2021 au 30 janvier 2022.
Depuis ses recherches de jeunesse, peu connues du grand public, jusqu'aux oeuvres iconiques de la maturite, dont des toiles recentes presentees pour la premiere fois, cette exposition d'envergure brassera l'ensemble de la carriere de l'artiste.
Reputee pour ses personnages aux formes rondes et voluptueuses, l'oeuvre de Botero est le resultat d'une recherche exigeante et determinee, dans lequel l'artiste s'est engage il y a plus de 70 ans.
A l'heure ou, plus que jamais, le sens commun est en peril, l'exposition interroge la maniere dont une oeuvre, bien que personnelle et situee, parvient a developper un langage universel et accessible. Le parcours emportera les visiteurs dans l'univers foisonnant de Botero, inspire tant par l'art precolombien et l'iconographie populaire que par les muralistes mexicains ou l'art de la Renaissance italienne.
L'exposition Fernando Botero. Au-dela des formes rassemblera des oeuvres importantes empruntees a de prestigieux musees, comme le Gunggenheim de New-York, dont des peintures historiques rarement montrees au public europeen. Des toiles, dessins et sculptures appartenant a des collections privees internationales, notamment de Colombie, seront egalement presents.
Au centre du parcours d'exposition, une quinzaine d'oeuvres issues des collections meconnues du BAM illustreront les inspirations majeures de l'artiste colombien autour de differentes thematiques : natures mortes, nus, scenes de genre...
( 200 musees
Des maintenant, vous pouvez visiter tous les musees participants pendant un an. Pas une fois, mais aussi souvent que vous le souhaitez !
297 expositions
Vous pouvez egalement visiter les expositions temporaires des musees participants gratuitement ou a un tarif fortement reduit.
1 pass musees
Tout ceci avec seulement 1 pass.