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Photo by Hiro Chang, Presidio of Monterey Public Affairs
The Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center opened its doors to the public on May 15 for its annual Language Day event.
The event showcased the cultures of the different departmental languages being taught here through dance, skits and fashion shows.
Exhibits were also presented throughout the school grounds with local Monterey ethnic vendors selling their local cuisines to the customers.
Nearly 2,000 high school students and teachers attended Language Day.
“In all my work, there’s a discussion between intimacy and space. How someone occupies a space, and how their body language changes the mood of that space.” Are You Having Fun Yet by Christine Wu (1/5)
PRESIDIO OF MONTEREY, Calif. – More than 3,000 students from across California visited the Presidio of Monterey on May 13 for DLIFLC’s Language Day. Students, educators and other participants were treated to stage performances, classroom displays and ethnic cuisine, highlighting the cultures of the many foreign languages taught here.
Official Presidio of Monterey Web site
Official Presidio of Monterey Facebook
PHOTO by Steven L. Shepard, Presidio of Monterey Public Affairs.
This gentleman used to play music in the streets of Thessaloniki between 2008-10. He crafted his string instrument out of a tin olive oil bucket and thus did with his language. A very Beckettian language, out of which I inferred he came from Bucharest. I eventually lost track of him until I met him again around 2011-12 in Pazardzhik, Bulgaria, carrying the very same instrument. Hugged him, asked to take a picture, he was extremely happy.
Αυτός ο κύριος έπαιζε μουσική στη Θεσσαλονίκη μεταξύ 2008-2010. Είχε φτιάξει το όργανό του από έναν τενεκέ λαδιού (φαίνεται στη φωτογραφία). Του είχα πιάσει συζήτηση, νομίζω πώς όπως έφτιαξε το όργανό του, έτσι είχε φτιάξει και τη γλώσσα του - εντελώς δική του, αλλά με κάποια στοιχεία που αναγνώριζα. Σαν τη γλώσσα του Μπέκετ ενίοτε. Κατάλαβα πως ήταν από το Βουκουρέστι. Κάπου τον έχασα. Είχα βρεθεί στο Πάζαρτζικ στη Βουλγαρία το 2011-2 και τον πέτυχα εκεί. Με το όργανο που έφτιαξε στην Ελλάδα. Τον αγκάλιασα και χάρηκε πολύ και δέχτηκε να τον τραβήξω αυτήν τη φωτογραφία.
5th grade; for help with thinking of topics to write about in reading journal.
Printables for this can be found at my page at HSLaunch.
PRESIDIO OF MONTEREY, Calif. -- The Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center held its 73rd Anniversary Ball on Nov. 1st, with more than 350 faculty, staff, students, alumni and friends in attendance. The event, sponsored in part by the DLI Alumni Association and Foundation, was held at the Naval Postgraduate School's historic Herrmann Hall, in Monterey. The guest speaker for the event was Ambassador Daniel Smith, Deputy Secretary for Intelligence and Research from the Department of State.
Official Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center Web site
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PHOTO by Lopez Photography
This is also from an older shoot; I think this was shot in 2012 but I may be wrong. The piece that she is wearing is a necklace that I made to sell, and consequently never got around to selling. Woe is me!
PRESIDIO OF MONTEREY, Calif. -- More than 60 Soldiers from Company F, 229th Military Intelligence Battalion, participated in military operations training with foreign language integration at an Army training site located on the former Fort Ord July 19. The Soldiers' primary objective at the Military Operations on Urban Terrain (MOUT) training site was to locate and recover service members from a simulated helicopter crash while traversing an approximately 1.5-mile course that had the squads gathering intelligence from locals in a variety of foreign languages, responding to direct and indirect fire, encountering improvised explosive devices and clearing buildings.
Official Presidio of Monterey Web site
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PHOTO by Steven L. Shepard, Presidio of Monterey Public Affairs.
Former Foreign Secretary William Hague opened a new language centre in the Foreign Office in London, 19 September 2013.
www.gov.uk/government/news/foreign-secretary-boosts-langu...
PRESIDIO OF MONTEREY, Calif. -- The 26th commandant of the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center retired during a ceremony on Soldier Field here April 18. Retired Brig. Gen. Russell D. Howard officiated the ceremony in which Col. Danial D. Pick was recognized for his nearly three decades of Army service. Pick, a graduate of the DLIFLC Basic Arabic Course, speaks Arabic, Persian-Farsi, Persian-Dari and Assyrian. Prior to taking the position of DLIFLC commandant on May 6, 2010, Pick served as the director of the Army’s Foreign Area Officer program here.
Official Presidio of Monterey Web site
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PHOTO by Steven L. Shepard, Presidio of Monterey Public Affairs.
A1 board showing research and techniques observed using direct observation drawing in costume for contemporary garments. The board also contains links to contemporary designers who have used ruffles in their designs.
Origins of Consciousness and Language Acquisition.
Line map shewing the manner in which we acquire fixated consciousness through lingustic conditioning of child mind by surrounding cultural inputs.
Starting with non-linguistic sensory organisation and differentiation (top left) then moving into tone-meaning, basic tone-signature then 'word' association in sensory processes and acquisition of associative memory.. The basic building blocks.
The we move into acquisition of rudimentary grammar, action/reaction, mimickry, rudimentary causality and self awareness.
This followed by expanding vocabulary, symbol/reading skills and formal primary education.
Our conceptual frameworks derive from these early experiences AND the structure of the native language we inhabit.
in fundamental perception
there are events
occurences
without subject
or object
noun
or verb
yet in the parthogenesis
of naming
differentiation
separation
the illusion
the observer and the observed
arise
and persist
so long as the noise
the naming
persists
until reunion
when the dewdrop
rejoins the ocean
the rainbow rewoven
You will have to blow this photograph up ins size in order to make it remotely comprehensible.
'Seek ye first the Kingdom of Heaven, and al these things shall be added unto you...'
PRESIDIO OF MONTEREY, Calif. - More than 70 service members from the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center volunteered over the weekend during the final two days of the Sea Otter Classic. The 4-day bicycling and outdoor sports festival is held annually each spring at Laguna Seca and on public lands of Fort Ord. DLIFLC volunteers performed a variety of functions including access control, safety monitoring, registration as well as timing and scoring for bicycle races. Volunteers were given a free t-shirt, 4-day festival pass and provided lunch in return for their services. The 2013 Sea Otter Classic attracted an estimated 55,000 spectators and more than 9,000 competitors, it is the largest consumer bike exposition in North America.
Official Presidio of Monterey Web site
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PHOTO by Steven L. Shepard, Presidio of Monterey Public Affairs.
Joan Capote's Abstenencia (politica) at the Museum of Fine Arts. Capote (who lives in Havana) "cast the hands of many individual Cubans in specific gestures. He then assembled them to spell the word 'politics' in sign language."
So excellent the graffiti artists in Berlin, someone painted a table of all the articles in German. Artist unknown. Found painted on the wall of the church at Herrfurthplatz, Berlin-Neukölln.
PRESIDIO OF MONTEREY, California -- The 2018 Language Day celebration was held by the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center at the Presidio of Monterey, May 11. Language Day is open to the public and attended by schools across the nation to promote an understanding of diverse customs and cultures from around the world. Approximately 6,000 people attended this annual event featuring cultural displays, activities and international ethnic cuisine served by local vendors.
Official Presidio of Monterey Web site
Official Presidio of Monterey Facebook
PHOTO by Steven L. Shepard, Presidio of Monterey Public Affairs.
PRESIDIO OF MONTEREY, Calif. – More than 3,000 students from across California visited the Presidio of Monterey on May 13 for DLIFLC’s Language Day. Students, educators and other participants were treated to stage performances, classroom displays and ethnic cuisine, highlighting the cultures of the many foreign languages taught here.
Official Presidio of Monterey Web site
Official Presidio of Monterey Facebook
PHOTO by Steven L. Shepard, Presidio of Monterey Public Affairs.
The Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center held their annual Language Day 2016 at the Presidio of Monterey, California, May 13 to promote and encourage cultural understanding and customs from around the world.
Approximately 5,000 people attended the event, which features cultural displays and activities as well as ethnic foods served by local international vendors on the Presidio’s Soldier Field every year.
(Photo by Amber K. Whittington)
. . . 2. 3. 2007 - this is the first day of a funeral ceremony in Bori for a High Class Woman. She died on 18. 1. 2007 at the age of 85 years. The ceremony will last for one week. Today we will see the showing of the water buffalos, pigs, cow, horse, deer and chicken. All these animals are offered to be the servants of the died woman in her new life after death in Puya. We will see buffalo fighting. Men bet for the winner of those fightings. Two buffalos fight each other - the one running away lost the fight!
If you wonder why the quality of the pictures is a little less: these are no photographs - it all are snapshots of my videos! So sorry for the less resolution, but I think, they are worth to be shown.
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The Toraja are an ethnic group indigenous to a mountainous region of South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Their population is approximately 1,100,000, of whom 450,000 live in the regency of Tana Toraja ("Land of Toraja"). Most of the population is Christian, and others are Muslim or have local animist beliefs known as aluk ("the way"). The Indonesian government has recognized this animist belief as Aluk To Dolo ("Way of the Ancestors").
The word toraja comes from the Bugis Buginese language term to riaja, meaning "people of the uplands". The Dutch colonial government named the people Toraja in 1909. Torajans are renowned for their elaborate funeral rites, burial sites carved into rocky cliffs, massive peaked-roof traditional houses known as tongkonan, and colorful wood carvings. Toraja funeral rites are important social events, usually attended by hundreds of people and lasting for several days.
Before the 20th century, Torajans lived in autonomous villages, where they practised animism and were relatively untouched by the outside world. In the early 1900s, Dutch missionaries first worked to convert Torajan highlanders to Christianity. When the Tana Toraja regency was further opened to the outside world in the 1970s, it became an icon of tourism in Indonesia: it was exploited by tourism developers and studied by anthropologists. By the 1990s, when tourism peaked, Toraja society had changed significantly, from an agrarian model - in which social life and customs were outgrowths of the Aluk To Dolo - to a largely Christian society. Today, tourism and remittances from migrant Torajans have made for major changes in the Toraja highland, giving the Toraja a celebrity status within Indonesia and enhancing Toraja ethnic group pride.
ETHNIC IDENTITY
The Torajan people had little notion of themselves as a distinct ethnic group before the 20th century. Before Dutch colonization and Christianization, Torajans, who lived in highland areas, identified with their villages and did not share a broad sense of identity. Although complexes of rituals created linkages between highland villages, there were variations in dialects, differences in social hierarchies, and an array of ritual practices in the Sulawesi highland region. "Toraja" (from the coastal languages' to, meaning people; and riaja, uplands) was first used as a lowlander expression for highlanders. As a result, "Toraja" initially had more currency with outsiders - such as the Bugis and Makassarese, who constitute a majority of the lowland of Sulawesi - than with insiders. The Dutch missionaries' presence in the highlands gave rise to the Toraja ethnic consciousness in the Sa'dan Toraja region, and this shared identity grew with the rise of tourism in the Tana Toraja Regency. Since then, South Sulawesi has four main ethnic groups - the Bugis (the majority, including shipbuilders and seafarers), the Makassarese (lowland traders and seafarers), the Mandarese (traders and fishermen), and the Toraja (highland rice cultivators).
HISTORY
From the 17th century, the Dutch established trade and political control on Sulawesi through the Dutch East Indies Company. Over two centuries, they ignored the mountainous area in the central Sulawesi, where Torajans lived, because access was difficult and it had little productive agricultural land. In the late 19th century, the Dutch became increasingly concerned about the spread of Islam in the south of Sulawesi, especially among the Makassarese and Bugis peoples. The Dutch saw the animist highlanders as potential Christians. In the 1920s, the Reformed Missionary Alliance of the Dutch Reformed Church began missionary work aided by the Dutch colonial government. In addition to introducing Christianity, the Dutch abolished slavery and imposed local taxes. A line was drawn around the Sa'dan area and called Tana Toraja ("the land of Toraja"). Tana Toraja was first a subdivision of the Luwu kingdom that had claimed the area. In 1946, the Dutch granted Tana Toraja a regentschap, and it was recognized in 1957 as one of the regencies of Indonesia.
Early Dutch missionaries faced strong opposition among Torajans, especially among the elite, because the abolition of their profitable slave trade had angered them. Some Torajans were forcibly relocated to the lowlands by the Dutch, where they could be more easily controlled. Taxes were kept high, undermining the wealth of the elites. Ultimately, the Dutch influence did not subdue Torajan culture, and only a few Torajans were converted. In 1950, only 10% of the population had converted to Christianity.
In the 1930s, Muslim lowlanders attacked the Torajans, resulting in widespread Christian conversion among those who sought to align themselves with the Dutch for political protection and to form a movement against the Bugis and Makassarese Muslims. Between 1951 and 1965 (following Indonesian independence), southern Sulawesi faced a turbulent period as the Darul Islam separatist movement fought for an Islamic state in Sulawesi. The 15 years of guerrilla warfare led to massive conversions to
CHRISTIANITY
Alignment with the Indonesian government, however, did not guarantee safety for the Torajans. In 1965, a presidential decree required every Indonesian citizen to belong to one of five officially recognized religions: Islam, Christianity (Protestantism and Catholicism), Hinduism, or Buddhism. The Torajan religious belief (aluk) was not legally recognized, and the Torajans raised their voices against the law. To make aluk accord with the law, it had to be accepted as part of one of the official religions. In 1969, Aluk To Dolo ("the way of ancestors") was legalized as a sect of Agama Hindu Dharma, the official name of Hinduism in Indonesia.
SOCIETY
There are three main types of affiliation in Toraja society: family, class and religion.
FAMILY AFFILIATION
Family is the primary social and political grouping in Torajan society. Each village is one extended family, the seat of which is the tongkonan, a traditional Torajan house. Each tongkonan has a name, which becomes the name of the village. The familial dons maintain village unity. Marriage between distant cousins (fourth cousins and beyond) is a common practice that strengthens kinship. Toraja society prohibits marriage between close cousins (up to and including the third cousin) - except for nobles, to prevent the dispersal of property. Kinship is actively reciprocal, meaning that the extended family helps each other farm, share buffalo rituals, and pay off debts.
Each person belongs to both the mother's and the father's families, the only bilateral family line in Indonesia. Children, therefore, inherit household affiliation from both mother and father, including land and even family debts. Children's names are given on the basis of kinship, and are usually chosen after dead relatives. Names of aunts, uncles and cousins are commonly referred to in the names of mothers, fathers and siblings.
Before the start of the formal administration of Toraja villages by the Tana Toraja Regency, each Toraja village was autonomous. In a more complex situation, in which one Toraja family could not handle their problems alone, several villages formed a group; sometimes, villages would unite against other villages. Relationship between families was expressed through blood, marriage, and shared ancestral houses (tongkonan), practically signed by the exchange of water buffalo and pigs on ritual occasions. Such exchanges not only built political and cultural ties between families but defined each person's place in a social hierarchy: who poured palm wine, who wrapped a corpse and prepared offerings, where each person could or could not sit, what dishes should be used or avoided, and even what piece of meat constituted one's share.
CLASS AFFILIATION
In early Toraja society, family relationships were tied closely to social class. There were three strata: nobles, commoners, and slaves (slavery was abolished in 1909 by the Dutch East Indies government). Class was inherited through the mother. It was taboo, therefore, to marry "down" with a woman of lower class. On the other hand, marrying a woman of higher class could improve the status of the next generation. The nobility's condescending attitude toward the commoners is still maintained today for reasons of family prestige.
Nobles, who were believed to be direct descendants of the descended person from heaven, lived in tongkonans, while commoners lived in less lavish houses (bamboo shacks called banua). Slaves lived in small huts, which had to be built around their owner's tongkonan. Commoners might marry anyone, but nobles preferred to marry in-family to maintain their status. Sometimes nobles married Bugis or Makassarese nobles. Commoners and slaves were prohibited from having death feasts. Despite close kinship and status inheritance, there was some social mobility, as marriage or change in wealth could affect an individuals status. Wealth was counted by the ownership of water buffaloes.
Slaves in Toraja society were family property. Sometimes Torajans decided to become slaves when they incurred a debt, pledging to work as payment. Slaves could be taken during wars, and slave trading was common. Slaves could buy their freedom, but their children still inherited slave status. Slaves were prohibited from wearing bronze or gold, carving their houses, eating from the same dishes as their owners, or having sex with free women - a crime punishable by death.
RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION
Toraja's indigenous belief system is polytheistic animism, called aluk, or "the way" (sometimes translated as "the law"). In the Toraja myth, the ancestors of Torajan people came down from heaven using stairs, which were then used by the Torajans as a communication medium with Puang Matua, the Creator. The cosmos, according to aluk, is divided into the upper world (heaven), the world of man (earth), and the underworld. At first, heaven and earth were married, then there was a darkness, a separation, and finally the light. Animals live in the underworld, which is represented by rectangular space enclosed by pillars, the earth is for mankind, and the heaven world is located above, covered with a saddle-shaped roof. Other Toraja gods include Pong Banggai di Rante (god of Earth), Indo' Ongon-Ongon (a goddess who can cause earthquakes), Pong Lalondong (god of death), and Indo' Belo Tumbang (goddess of medicine); there are many more.
The earthly authority, whose words and actions should be cleaved to both in life (agriculture) and death (funerals), is called to minaa (an aluk priest). Aluk is not just a belief system; it is a combination of law, religion, and habit. Aluk governs social life, agricultural practices, and ancestral rituals. The details of aluk may vary from one village to another. One common law is the requirement that death and life rituals be separated. Torajans believe that performing death rituals might ruin their corpses if combined with life rituals. The two rituals are equally important. During the time of the Dutch missionaries, Christian Torajans were prohibited from attending or performing life rituals, but were allowed to perform death rituals. Consequently, Toraja's death rituals are still practised today, while life rituals have diminished.
CULTURE
TONGKONAN
Tongkonan are the traditional Torajan ancestral houses. They stand high on wooden piles, topped with a layered split-bamboo roof shaped in a sweeping curved arc, and they are incised with red, black, and yellow detailed wood carvings on the exterior walls. The word "tongkonan" comes from the Torajan tongkon ("to sit").
Tongkonan are the center of Torajan social life. The rituals associated with the tongkonan are important expressions of Torajan spiritual life, and therefore all family members are impelled to participate, because symbolically the tongkonan represents links to their ancestors and to living and future kin. According to Torajan myth, the first tongkonan was built in heaven on four poles, with a roof made of Indian cloth. When the first Torajan ancestor descended to earth, he imitated the house and held a large ceremony.
The construction of a tongkonan is laborious work and is usually done with the help of the extended family. There are three types of tongkonan. The tongkonan layuk is the house of the highest authority, used as the "center of government". The tongkonan pekamberan belongs to the family members who have some authority in local traditions. Ordinary family members reside in the tongkonan batu. The exclusivity to the nobility of the tongkonan is diminishing as many Torajan commoners find lucrative employment in other parts of Indonesia. As they send back money to their families, they enable the construction of larger tongkonan.
WOOD CARVINGS
To express social and religious concepts, Torajans carve wood, calling it Pa'ssura (or "the writing"). Wood carvings are therefore Toraja's cultural manifestation.
Each carving receives a special name, and common motifs are animals and plants that symbolize some virtue. For example, water plants and animals, such as crabs, tadpoles and water weeds, are commonly found to symbolize fertility. In some areas noble elders claim these symbols refer to strength of noble family, but not everyone agrees. The overall meaning of groups of carved motifs on houses remains debated and tourism has further complicated these debates because some feel a uniform explanation must be presented to tourists. The image to the left shows an example of Torajan wood carving, consisting of 15 square panels. The center bottom panel represents buffalo or wealth, a wish for many buffaloes for the family. The center panel represents a knot and a box, a hope that all of the family's offspring will be happy and live in harmony, like goods kept safe in a box. The top left and top right squares represent an aquatic animal, indicating the need for fast and hard work, just like moving on the surface of water. It also represents the need for a certain skill to produce good results.
Regularity and order are common features in Toraja wood carving (see table below), as well as abstracts and geometrical designs. Nature is frequently used as the basis of Toraja's ornaments, because nature is full of abstractions and geometries with regularities and ordering. Toraja's ornaments have been studied in ethnomathematics to reveal their mathematical structure, but Torajans base this art only on approximations. To create an ornament, bamboo sticks are used as a geometrical tool.
FUNERAL RITES
In Toraja society, the funeral ritual is the most elaborate and expensive event. The richer and more powerful the individual, the more expensive is the funeral. In the aluk religion, only nobles have the right to have an extensive death feast. The death feast of a nobleman is usually attended by thousands and lasts for several days. A ceremonial site, called rante, is usually prepared in a large, grassy field where shelters for audiences, rice barns, and other ceremonial funeral structures are specially made by the deceased family. Flute music, funeral chants, songs and poems, and crying and wailing are traditional Toraja expressions of grief with the exceptions of funerals for young children, and poor, low-status adults.
The ceremony is often held weeks, months, or years after the death so that the deceased's family can raise the significant funds needed to cover funeral expenses. Torajans traditionally believe that death is not a sudden, abrupt event, but a gradual process toward Puya (the land of souls, or afterlife). During the waiting period, the body of the deceased is wrapped in several layers of cloth and kept under the tongkonan. The soul of the deceased is thought to linger around the village until the funeral ceremony is completed, after which it begins its journey to Puya.
Another component of the ritual is the slaughter of water buffalo. The more powerful the person who died, the more buffalo are slaughtered at the death feast. Buffalo carcasses, including their heads, are usually lined up on a field waiting for their owner, who is in the "sleeping stage". Torajans believe that the deceased will need the buffalo to make the journey and that they will be quicker to arrive at Puya if they have many buffalo. Slaughtering tens of water buffalo and hundreds of pigs using a machete is the climax of the elaborate death feast, with dancing and music and young boys who catch spurting blood in long bamboo tubes. Some of the slaughtered animals are given by guests as "gifts", which are carefully noted because they will be considered debts of the deceased's family. However, a cockfight, known as bulangan londong, is an integral part of the ceremony. As with the sacrifice of the buffalo and the pigs, the cockfight is considered sacred because it involves the spilling of blood on the earth. In particular, the tradition requires the sacrifice of at least three chickens. However, it is common for at least 25 pairs of chickens to be set against each other in the context of the ceremony.
There are three methods of burial: the coffin may be laid in a cave or in a carved stone grave, or hung on a cliff. It contains any possessions that the deceased will need in the afterlife. The wealthy are often buried in a stone grave carved out of a rocky cliff. The grave is usually expensive and takes a few months to complete. In some areas, a stone cave may be found that is large enough to accommodate a whole family. A wood-carved effigy, called Tau tau, is usually placed in the cave looking out over the land. The coffin of a baby or child may be hung from ropes on a cliff face or from a tree. This hanging grave usually lasts for years, until the ropes rot and the coffin falls to the ground.
In the ritual called Ma'Nene, that takes place each year in August, the bodies of the deceased are exhumed to be washed, groomed and dressed in new clothes. The mummies are then walked around the village.
DANCE AND MUSIC
Torajans perform dances on several occasions, most often during their elaborate funeral ceremonies. They dance to express their grief, and to honour and even cheer the deceased person because he is going to have a long journey in the afterlife. First, a group of men form a circle and sing a monotonous chant throughout the night to honour the deceased (a ritual called Ma'badong). This is considered by many Torajans to be the most important component of the funeral ceremony. On the second funeral day, the Ma'randing warrior dance is performed to praise the courage of the deceased during life. Several men perform the dance with a sword, a large shield made from buffalo skin, a helmet with a buffalo horn, and other ornamentation. The Ma'randing dance precedes a procession in which the deceased is carried from a rice barn to the rante, the site of the funeral ceremony. During the funeral, elder women perform the Ma'katia dance while singing a poetic song and wearing a long feathered costume. The Ma'akatia dance is performed to remind the audience of the generosity and loyalty of the deceased person. After the bloody ceremony of buffalo and pig slaughter, a group of boys and girls clap their hands while performing a cheerful dance called Ma'dondan.
As in other agricultural societies, Torajans dance and sing during harvest time. The Ma'bugi dance celebrates the thanksgiving event, and the Ma'gandangi dance is performed while Torajans are pounding rice. There are several war dances, such as the Manimbong dance performed by men, followed by the Ma'dandan dance performed by women. The aluk religion governs when and how Torajans dance. A dance called Ma'bua can be performed only once every 12 years. Ma'bua is a major Toraja ceremony in which priests wear a buffalo head and dance around a sacred tree.
A traditional musical instrument of the Toraja is a bamboo flute called a Pa'suling (suling is an Indonesian word for flute). This six-holed flute (not unique to the Toraja) is played at many dances, such as the thanksgiving dance Ma'bondensan, where the flute accompanies a group of shirtless, dancing men with long fingernails. The Toraja have indigenous musical instruments, such as the Pa'pelle (made from palm leaves) and the Pa'karombi (the Torajan version of a jaw harp). The Pa'pelle is played during harvest time and at house inauguration ceremonies.
LANGUAGE
The ethnic Toraja language is dominant in Tana Toraja with the main language as the Sa'dan Toraja. Although the national Indonesian language is the official language and is spoken in the community, all elementary schools in Tana Toraja teach Toraja language.Language varieties of Toraja, including Kalumpang, Mamasa, Tae' , Talondo' , Toala' , and Toraja-Sa'dan, belong to the Malayo-Polynesian language from the Austronesian family. At the outset, the isolated geographical nature of Tana Toraja formed many dialects between the Toraja languages themselves. After the formal administration of Tana Toraja, some Toraja dialects have been influenced by other languages through the transmigration program, introduced since the colonialism period, and it has been a major factor in the linguistic variety of Toraja languages. A prominent attribute of Toraja language is the notion of grief. The importance of death ceremony in Toraja culture has characterized their languages to express intricate degrees of grief and mourning. The Toraja language contains many terms referring to sadness, longing, depression, and mental pain. Giving a clear expression of the psychological and physical effect of loss is a catharsis and sometimes lessens the pain of grief itself.
ECONOMY
Prior to Suharto's "New Order" administration, the Torajan economy was based on agriculture, with cultivated wet rice in terraced fields on mountain slopes, and supplemental cassava and maize crops. Much time and energy were devoted to raising water buffalo, pigs, and chickens, primarily for ceremonial sacrifices and consumption. Coffee was the first significant cash crop produced in Toraja, and was introduced in the mid 19th century, changing the local economy towards commodity production for external markets and gaining an excellent reputation for quality in the international market .
With the commencement of the New Order in 1965, Indonesia's economy developed and opened to foreign investment. In Toraja, a coffee plantation and factory was established by Key Coffee of Japan, and Torajan coffee regained a reputation for quality within the growing international specialty coffee sector Multinational oil and mining companies opened new operations in Indonesia during the 1970s and 1980s. Torajans, particularly younger ones, relocated to work for the foreign companies - to Kalimantan for timber and oil, to Papua for mining, to the cities of Sulawesi and Java, and many went to Malaysia. The out-migration of Torajans was steady until 1985. and has continued since, with remittances sent back by emigre Torajans performing an important role within the contemporary economy.
Tourism commenced in Toraja in the 1970s, and accelerated in the 1980s and 1990s. Between 1984 and 1997, a significant number of Torajans obtained their incomes from tourism, working in and owning hotels, as tour guides, drivers, or selling souvenirs. With the rise of political and economic instability in Indonesia in the late 1990s - including religious conflicts elsewhere on Sulawesi - tourism in Tana Toraja has declined dramatically. Toraja continues to be a well known origin for Indonesian coffee, grown by both smallholders and plantation estates, although migration, remittances and off-farm income is considered far more important to most households, even those in rural areas.
TOURISM AND CULTURAL CHANGE
Before the 1970s, Toraja was almost unknown to Western tourism. In 1971, about 50 Europeans visited Tana Toraja. In 1972, at least 400 visitors attended the funeral ritual of Puang of Sangalla, the highest-ranking nobleman in Tana Toraja and the so-called "last pure-blooded Toraja noble." The event was documented by National Geographic and broadcast in several European countries. In 1976, about 12,000 tourists visited the regency and in 1981, Torajan sculpture was exhibited in major North American museums. "The land of the heavenly kings of Tana Toraja", as written in the exhibition brochure, embraced the outside world.
In 1984, the Indonesian Ministry of Tourism declared Tana Toraja Regency the prima donna of South Sulawesi. Tana Toraja was heralded as "the second stop after Bali". Tourism was increasing dramatically: by 1985, a total number of 150,000 foreigners had visited the Regency (in addition to 80,000 domestic tourists), and the annual number of foreign visitors was recorded at 40,000 in 1989. Souvenir stands appeared in Rantepao, the cultural center of Toraja, roads were sealed at the most-visited tourist sites, new hotels and tourist-oriented restaurants were opened, and an airstrip was opened in the Regency in 1981.
Tourism developers have marketed Tana Toraja as an exotic adventure - an area rich in culture and off the beaten track. Western tourists expected to see stone-age villages and pagan funerals. Toraja is for tourists who have gone as far as Bali and are willing to see more of the wild, "untouched" islands. However, they were more likely to see a Torajan wearing a hat and denim, living in a Christian society. Tourists felt that the tongkonan and other Torajan rituals had been preconceived to make profits, and complained that the destination was too commercialized. This has resulted in several clashes between Torajans and tourism developers, whom Torajans see as outsiders.
A clash between local Torajan leaders and the South Sulawesi provincial government (as a tourist developer) broke out in 1985. The government designated 18 Toraja villages and burial sites as traditional tourist attractions. Consequently, zoning restrictions were applied to these areas, such that Torajans themselves were barred from changing their tongkonans and burial sites. The plan was opposed by some Torajan leaders, as they felt that their rituals and traditions were being determined by outsiders. As a result, in 1987, the Torajan village of Kété Kesú and several other designated tourist attractions closed their doors to tourists. This closure lasted only a few days, as the villagers found it too difficult to survive without the income from selling souvenirs.
Tourism has also transformed Toraja society. Originally, there was a ritual which allowed commoners to marry nobles (puang) and thereby gain nobility for their children. However, the image of Torajan society created for the tourists, often by "lower-ranking" guides, has eroded its traditional strict hierarchy. High status is not as esteemed in Tana Toraja as it once was. Many low-ranking men can declare themselves and their children nobles by gaining enough wealth through work outside the region and then marrying a noble woman.
WIKIPEDIA
Photo by Hiro Chang
The Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center opened its doors to the public on May 15 for its annual Language Day event.
The event showcased the cultures of the different departmental languages being taught here through dance, skits and fashion shows.
Exhibits were also presented throughout the school grounds with local Monterey ethnic vendors selling their local cuisines to the customers.
Nearly 2,000 high school students and teachers attended Language Day.
The language of the message on the card is Czech. The card is addressed to a student in "Pisek," which was a city in Bohemia (the present-day Czech Republic).
Many, MANY thanks to Olmin, who translated the text and by so doing determined where the photograph was probably taken, to whom the postcard was addressed, and that the rank of the officer in photo was lieutenant.
Olmin (from below): It is definetely written in Czech language. I'm not sure but I think it was sent from K.u.k. military unit somewhere in Herzegovina (present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina) to town Písek, Bohemia (present-day Czech Republic) because in text is written "herzegovinian horse". I try to translate it but I apologize in advance for my English.
Address:
Esteemed gentleman
Mr M. Košatka, student (maybe Kósatka but less likely)
Písek
Jeronýmova street
Text:
Our little herzegovinian horse whereon sitting a mister Lieutenant.
Love to all family.
(and at end is author's signature which is unreadable to me)
As an added bonus from Olmin's wonderful translation, I was able to determine the breed of the beautiful (although somewhat short-legged) little horse. He is a Bosnian Mountain Horse (sometimes called a Bosnian-Herzegovinian Mountain Horse). To see a modern-day photograph of a Bosnian Mountain Horse, click on the link below. cache.daylife.com/imageserve/05j69N38y29HU/610x.jpg
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Bosnian Mountain Horse
Origin: Yugoslavia
Aptitudes: Riding, pack, driving
Average Height: 12.3 to 14.3 hands
Population Status: Common
Originating in the Balkans and closely related to the Hutsul or Hucul of Romania and the Myzequea of Albania, the Bosnian is a small, compactly built horse. The small horse breeds found in the Balkans are all thought to be close descendants of the Tarpan with varying degrees of Mongolian influence. Horses of the area were influenced during the Roman occupation of the Balkan penunsula, and when the Turkish cavalry of the Ottoman Empire overtook the area, the blood of the eastern horses was infused. By the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries there were several types found within the Bosnian Breed, but not all were considered to be improvements.
Since 1900 the breeding of Bosnian horses has been selective and controlled and the rustic, hardy qualities of this small horse have been preserved. Bosnian horses are bay, brown, black, grey, chestnut, palomino, or dun in color.
This is a strongly made horse. The head is somewhat heavy with a straight profile and small ears. The eye is large and expressive. The neck is short and muscular with a full mane; withers are moderately pronounced; the back short and straight; the croup slightly sloping; the chest deep and wide; and the shoulder long and sloping. The legs are short and strong, well muscled, with broad joints and clean, strong tendons. The hoof is well formed and very hard.
Bosnian horses are bred in large numbers in Yugoslavia and are sill very much in use on farms and for transport. Stallions are strictly controlled by the state, while ownership of mares is left to private breeders. The breed has been used for centuries for transport in the mountains and is surefooted and hardy.
The breed is quite popular in Germany, where numbers are increasing steadily.
(From the International Encyclopedia of Horse Breeds by Bonnie Lou Hendricks 1995)
The Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center held their annual Language Day 2016 at the Presidio of Monterey, California, May 13 to promote and encourage cultural understanding and customs from around the world.
Approximately 5,000 people attended the event, which features cultural displays and activities as well as ethnic foods served by local international vendors on the Presidio’s Soldier Field every year.
(Photo by Amber K. Whittington)
PRESIDIO OF MONTEREY, Calif. -- The 2014 Korean Hangul Day Award Ceremony for the Yonsei University Writing Contest and the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center Korean Video Contest was held inside the Tin Barn Oct.9. This year’s award recipients representing DLIFLC were: Seaman Lexus Porter, Airman 1st Class Daniel Krall, Pfc. Brent Faurie, Airman 1st Class Richard Vanoverloop, Staff Sgt. Darren Cohen, Staff Sgt. Richard Rah, Airman 1st Class Taylor Purvis, Capt. Todd Boese, Capt. Harper Foley, Pfc. Ollice Page and Airman 1st Class Tommaso Carli. DLIFLC has participated for more than a decade in partnership with the Yonsei University Alumni Association of Southern California. The contest is open to all non-native speakers learning Korean and is used to promote the continuing study and development of the foreign language learning of Korean.
Official Presidio of Monterey Web site
Official Presidio of Monterey Facebook
Photo by Michael Beaton, Presidio of Monterey Public Affairs.
Dunk Island, known as Coonanglebah in the Warrgamay and Dyirbal languages, is an island within the locality of Dunk in the Cassowary Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. It lies 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) off the Australian east coast, opposite the town of Mission Beach. The island forms part of the Family Islands National Park and is in the larger Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area.
The island is surrounded by reefs and has a diverse population of birds. The Bandjin and Djiru peoples once used the island as a source for food. Europeans first settled on the island in 1897. Dunk Island was used by the Royal Australian Air Force during World War II. In recent years the island and its resort facilities have been adversely affected by both Cyclone Larry and Cyclone Yasi.
The traditional Aboriginal owners of Dunk Island are the Bandjin and Djiru people, who have lived in this area for tens of thousands of years. After the sea level rise, they paddled to the islands in bark canoes to gather food and materials. The Warrgamay and Dyirbal name for Dunk Island is Coonanglebah, meaning "The Island of Peace and Plenty". It received its European name from Captain Cook, who sailed past it on 8 June 1770, remarked that it was a "tolerable high island" and named it after George Montague-Dunk, 2nd Earl of Halifax (a former First Lord of the Admiralty).
Europeans settled the nearby mainland during the 1800s, seeking gold, timber and grazing land. In 1848, John MacGillivray studied the fauna and flora of the island while HMS Rattlesnake was anchored off the island for ten days. He subsequently wrote of its natural features in the Narrative of the Voyage of HMS Rattlesnake, published in England in 1852.
Dunk Island, eight or nine miles in circumference, is well wooded—it has two conspicuous peaks, one of which (the North-West one) is 857 feet in height. Our excursions were confined to the vicinity of the watering place and the bay in which it is situated. The shores are rocky on one side and sandy on the other, where a low point runs out to the westward. At their junction, and under a sloping hill with large patches of brush, a small stream of fresh water, running out over the beach, furnished a supply for the ship, although the boats could approach the place closely only at high-water. — John MacGillivray, Narrative of the Voyage of HMS Rattlesnake
Edmund Banfield
In 1897, suffering from work anxiety and exhaustion, and advised by doctors that he had just six months to live, writer Edmund James Banfield moved to Dunk Island with his wife Bertha – so becoming the island's first white settlers. Previously a journalist and senior editor with the Townsville Daily Bulletin for fifteen years, Banfield let the tranquillity of this unspoilt tropical paradise weave its magic and he lived on Dunk Island for the remaining 26 years of his life until his death in 1923.
A small hut built with the assistance of an Aborigine called Tom was the Banfields' first home. Over a period of time they cleared four acres of land for a plantation of fruit and vegetables. Combined with their chickens, cows and goats as well as the abundance of seafood and mangrove vegetation, they lived very self-sufficiently. Fascinated by Dunk Island's flora and fauna Banfield meticulously recorded his observations and went on to write a series of articles about island life under the pseudonym Rob Krusoe. He was further inspired to write a full-length book entitled Confessions of a Beachcomber (1908). The book became a celebrated text for romantics and escapists and established Dunk Island's reputation as an exotic island paradise.
In the ensuing years, Banfield wrote several other books about Dunk including My Tropical Isle (1911) and Tropic Days (1918). In these he shared the secrets of nature that he had uncovered and described the customs and legends of the Aboriginal people on the island. E. J. Banfield died on 2 June 1923 and his final book Last Leaves from Dunk Island was published posthumously in 1925. His widow remained on the island for another year before moving to Brisbane where she died, ten years after her husband. Today both are buried on the trail to Mt Kootaloo.
Commencement of the resort and World War II
The island was bought in 1934 by Captain Brassey and Banfield's bungalow provided the basis for the beginnings of a resort. The resort was commenced in 1936. The Royal Australian Air Force occupied Dunk Island during World War II, building its airstrip in 1941. They installed a radar station on the island's highest point a year later, which was then dismantled when the war ended in 1945.
Post-war development of the resort
The Brassey family returned to run the resort for a period at the end of the war. The island then went through a succession of owners. In 1956, Gordon & Kathleen Stynes purchased it and relocated their family there from Victoria. They then redeveloped and upgraded the resort's facilities to establish the island as a tourist destination. As a result, Dunk Island became a popular destination for celebrities[11] including Sean Connery, Henry Ford II, and Australian Prime Ministers Harold Holt and Gough Whitlam. The Stynes Family owned and operated the island and resort until 1964, when it was sold to Eric McIlree, founder of Avis Rent-A-Car.
In 1976, Trans Australia Airlines purchased Dunk Island. Ownership passed to Qantas in 1992, following its merger with Australian Airlines. On 24 December 1997, the island was purchased by P&O Australian Resorts, which was acquired by Voyages in July 2004. In September 2009, both Dunk and Bedarra island resorts were purchased by Hideaway Resorts, a wholly owned subsidiary of Pamoja Capital.
Artists' colony
Dunk Island was also home to a small community of artists who lived, worked and showcased their work to many international and local visitors on a property on the southern side of the island. The Colony was established in 1974 by former Olympic wrestler Bruce Arthur, who died at his home on Island in March 1998 and continued to operate under resident metalsmith Susi Kirk until Cyclone Larry damaged much of the colony. Kirk continued to live at the colony until Cyclone Yasi destroyed her home in 2011, and has subsequently continued to live and work on Dunk Island as the last member of the artist colony.
After Cyclone Yasi, 2011–2020
After Cyclone Yasi, Dunk Island was bought by Australian entrepreneur Peter Bond and redevelopment of the resort commenced in 2014. This redevelopment never took place.
In September 2019 Mayfair 101, an Australian family-owned investment conglomerate led by James Mawhinney, purchased Dunk Island. Mayfair 101 also secured over 250 properties on mainland Mission Beach as part of its estimated AUD1.6 billion 10-15-year plan to restore the region. Mayfair 101 was awarded the Dunk Island Spit tender on 14 November 2019 by the Cassowary Coast Regional Council, providing the opportunity for Mayfair 101 to negotiate a 30-year lease over the iconic Dunk Island Spit. The island's redevelopment is being undertaken by Mayfair 101's property division, Mayfair Iconic Properties, which has established a team based at Mission Beach to undertake the significant rejuvenation of the region.
In August 2020, the previous owners of the island, Family Islands Operations, owned by the family of Australian businessman Peter Bond repossessed the island after the owners Mayfair 101 failed to meet their payment obligations.
Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunk_Island
Image source: Queensland State Archives Item ID ITM435811 Islands - Barrier Reef
Publication: [1948?]
Language(s): English
Format: Still image
Subject(s): Libraries, Medical,
Library Materials,
Library Technical Services,
National Library of Medicine (U.S.)
Genre(s): Pictorial Works
Abstract: Interior view: Processing section staff working at their desks. Typewriters are on desks and Valeta Richel's desk is in front of the bookshelves that line the back walls.
Extent: 1 photographic print : 21 x 26 cm.
Technique: black and white
NLM Unique ID: 101445598
NLM Image ID: A017010
Permanent Link: resource.nlm.nih.gov/101445598
1560. Bare feet and filthy clothes on one hand, and imperious overbearing body language on the other.
This photograph says everything about why there was eventually a mutiny on Australia's first flagship: the silly question of the men demanding more Shore Leave to entertain family and friends on their return from the war was almost incidental.*
* PLEASE SEE IMPORTANT COMMENTS FROM ONE OF OUR MOST IMFORMED AND DEDICATED EX-RAN RESPONDENTS, LES ROBERTS, IN COMMENTS BELOW, ADDED IN BY KOOKABURRA FROM A PRIVATE E-MAIL. LES FEELS - PROBABLY JUSTLY - THAT I HAVE BEEN MUCH TOO HARSH IN MY 'INSTANT' OR KNEEJERK REACTION' [MY WORDS] TO THIS PHOTOGRAPH, AND I GUESS IS SAYING [CORRECTLY] THAT I'VE NOT PROPERLY UNDERSTOOD THE PAY PARADE PROCEDURE TAKING PLACE HERE.
THIS IS A LONG AND COMPLEX ENTRY THAT HAS ELLICITED A LOT OF COMMENT, AND I DON'T QUITE KNOW HOW TO UNSCRAMBLE IT TO ACCOMMODATE THIS ALTERNATIVE VIEWPOINT FROM A TRUE NAVY MAN. SO I'VE ADDED THIS AS A 'LAST WORD' TYPE COMMENT, NOMINALLY UNDER MY KOOKABURRA USER NAME, BUT AS STATED, IT RECORDS LES'S VERY VALUABLE EXPLANATION OF A PAY PARADE AND WHAT IS GOING ON HERE. K,
The original entry continues ...
Again and again, in both the young Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Canadian Navy [as it was once called] , there was a clash of class and cultures in the period when their ships were still mainly run by British officers. Mutinies also occurred in the Royal Indian Navy [as it once was] and in the late-emerging Royal New Zealand Navy, under somewhat different circumstances.
There were at least half a dozen 'mutinies,' or crew protests over various conditions, in the RAN during WWII - and a similar number in the Royal Canadian Navy - which experienced a really odd peacetime spurt of it again in the late 1940s, leading to Rear Admiral E.R. [Rollo] Mainguy's landmark Inquiry.
The 1949 Mainguy Report on 'certain "Incidents" on HMCSs ATHABASKAN, CRESCENT and MAGNIFICENT' can be read here:
www.navalandmilitarymuseum.org/resource_pages/controversi...
This is not meant to be an attack on the 'Mother Navy' and its ancient traditions, but clearly an unsatisfactory situation of 'foreign' control would prevail until the naval colleges of Australia and Canada began to turn out complete generations of their own officer class, and men that shared their own distinctive national values.
Even then, in the Canadian case, the Maingay Report suggests inherited RN attitudes towards the men by Canadian officers needed reform - and got it.
Canadian author Alan Filewood, in his work 'Theatre, Navy and The Narrative of 'True Canadianism', raised the question of whether RCN meant the 'Royal Canadian Navy' or the 'Royal Colonial Navy.' In that work Filewood asserted that the last issue — an assertion of "an uncaring officer corps harbouring aristocratic British attitudes inappropriate to Canadian democratic sensitivities" — went beyond the question of sailors' morale and touched on the basic identity of the Canadian Navy and indeed, on the national identity of Canada as a whole.
'It was to have ramifications in the process undertaken in later decades, painful to many of the officers concerned, of deliberately cutting off many of the British traditions in such areas as ensigns and uniforms.'
At its best, which was usual, the interaction between the Royal Navy and its Dominion offshoots worked fraternally and wonderfully well. At its worst - which was also somewhat too often - it was disastrous.
On Christmas night - Boxing Day, 1941, in Cairns Harbour, the commanding officer of the Armed Merchant Cruiser HMAS WESTRALIA, Captain Hudson, RN, had bridge wing machine-guns trained on his own crew, who - with the ship run out of fresh food after trooping duties to Timor - had been fed only prunes and rice for weeks. Naturally, dysentry was rife.
As he approached Cairns the ship's aircraft was flown off ahead to order fresh food supplies. But when Christmas lunch arrived, it was the Prunes and Rice Special again. Then the men were refused Christmas Day shore leave...
Don't ask what happened. The Frame-Baker 'Mutiny' book source for this says HMAS WESTRALIA's logs for Christmas 1941 have simply disappeared from the RAN's records, and the outcome of that particular incident is simply not known here.
Photo: RAN Naval Historical, it appeared in Ross Gillett's book 'Australian and New Zealand Warships 1914-1945' [Doubleday, Sydney 1983] - taken from a p25 montage.
A two-part COMPENDIUM of 100+ HMAS AUSTRALIA [I] images on the Photostream begins at pic NO. 5476, here:
www.flickr.com/photos/41311545@N05/6785541017/in/photostr...