View allAll Photos Tagged Periphery
Walking in The Periphery.
© Gianni Paolo Ziliani Street Photographer.
(i-Phone Photo).
I always try the sound of real life, for understand myself.
247 Deaderick Ave. in the Historic Mechanicsville Neighborhood in Knoxville TN.
Mechanicsville was established in the late 1860s to house skilled laborers who came to work in the many factories that sprang up along Knoxville's periphery.
Post-Civil War railroad (re)construction lured heavy industry to this area, starting with the Knoxville Iron Company, which built a massive foundry just southeast of Mechanicsville. When the neighborhood acquired its name in the 19th century, the word "mechanic" typically referred to factory workers. Mechanicsville was developed during this period to provide housing for Welsh iron specialists and African-American laborers working at Knoxville Iron and other area factories.
Drakolimni (= Dragon lake) is the name of several alpine or sub-alpine lakes in northwestern Greece Epirus periphery. According to local folktales the lakes used to be inhabited by dragons that fought each other by throwing pines and rocks and thus created the peculiar landscape and gave their names to the lakes. Drakolimni of Tymfi resides at an altitude of 2100m above sea level, on the mountain range of Tymfi and is inhabited by a species of alpine newt, called drakakia by the locals. According to local sources, the newts' resemblance to small dragons gives the lake its distinctive name.
…and this was my most difficult capture to get. Not to capture, but to reach that sliver of paradise we had to go through a kind of hell. To set things straight, when I say WE I mean WE. Most people traveling light, with only their clothes in their backpacks or with no backpacks at all reach that place in 5 hours of fairly easy uphill track (or even less, we met people that jogged that track just for fun). Well, let me give you the version of two mildly to seriously out of shape and heavily packed photographers carrying with them all of their photographic equipment (to talk with numbers that’s translated to 25 kilos for male photographer *KirlianCamera and 15 kilos for female photographer me –that’s just a little less than one third of my weight)...
Alarm clock set at 7.30 am, arrival at the nearest village at 9.00am. We saddle up and start walking. First half hour is a mere torture to me as what starts as a merely annoying pain at my right shoulder becomes a stab real fast. I keep fumbling and messing with my backback straps, tightening some and loosening up some until I find a comfortable combination at last. We carry on panting laboriously, tongues lolling out of our mouths; we do innumerable stops to catch our breath and I use each of these stops to munch enthusiastically through our supplies of food not because I’m hungry but because I want to lighten up my burden. Fortunately at some point the carbohydrates I have consumed kick in and I feel much better, find a reasonable pace and 6 hours later we reach the refuge and collapse on the front porch unable to shoo away the horses that come to greet us, sniff, lick and nibble at our bags. After a hot drink and a tasty dinner we sleep like logs.
That was not the end, the lake still lay ahead of us and we set off to explore it and time ourselves on the next morning. Stop clock verdict: 2 hours. Which means that since we want a sunrise at the land of the dragons we wake up at 3.30am, leave by 4.00 am, snow sparkling like diamond dust under our headlights, moon shining behind the peak of Astraka, mildly worried about wolves and bears waiting for their nicely wrapped up in isothermal clothes take-away breakfast. We reach the lake in our usual, unbecoming fashion (panting laboriously, tongues hanging out of our mouths etc etc) just in time to catch the first light touching the peaks before it was snuffed out by a heavy cloud right behind us.
Do I dare do it again? H E L L, Y E S!!!
I love the Christmas of the suburbs, where the spaces expand and give us chromatic and luminous overlaps that are impossible elsewhere
"Grand Prismatic Tourists"
alternatively titled: "When life gives you lemons..."
One of my most-anticipated stops on our recent Yellowstone vacation was the Grand Prismatic Spring. Over the years, I'd seen so many photos of this spectacular searing pool with its vibrant, radiating colors of blue, aqua, green, yellow, orange and finally ending in red or even crimson toward the periphery that I HAD to see it for myself.
When I finally arrived I was disappointed.
The low angle of the sun (which I originally thought would be an asset to photographing this location), and the abundance of moist air wafting up from the waters surface acted as a waving white vapor curtain - obscuring my vision from seeing all but a small sliver of the vibrant hues i'd been yearning to see. My trip here was a bust!
....or was it?
As I stood there feeling sorry for myself, I noticed the other tourists - seemingly having a similar problem, moving higher and lower, left and right, closer and further away in a seemingly choreographed fashion in an effort to see more of the spring. Watching them became quite entertaining for me and with that i realized that my little side-trip here may not be lost. The tourists struggling like I did to see through the veil WAS the photo. It captured, not the natural beauty of the spring, but rather that particular moment in time which can be just as interesting. So, I pulled back down the boardwalk and waited for just the right moment to hit the shutter. "Grand Prismatic Tourists" is the result.
On the periphery of Katwaria Sarai village’s main parking lot is a large tomb. Like many other tombs in this part of Delhi, this too houses an unknown occupant – one whose grave seems to have long disappeared. The tomb is from the Lodi period. With the arched panels and niches decorating its façade and the stone dome which rises from a sixteen-sided drum, the tomb would have once been impressive. Now, unfortunately, it has been reduced to being a gateway. Of the four arched doorways that would originally have opened on to the cardinal directions, two have been bricked up because of new neighbouring buildings. The other two doorways form a convenient passage through the village allowing the tomb to be used as a storeroom for odds and ends.
Source WMF.
© Ben Heine || Facebook || Twitter || www.benheine.com
_______________________________________________
Of course, I took this picture in Paris. I wanted to give a
different view of the Tower. It's so high, it touches the clouds.
Panoramic view of Paris from the Eiffel Tower
_______________________________________________
For more information about my art: info@benheine.com
_______________________________________________
The Eiffel Tower
A poem by Kiran Keswani
Standing beneath it to see
The beauty of its structure.
A complex lattice.
It is a beautiful form.
The stairs through the tower
A great experience.
The structure all over you.
Each step up, you are
Into the structure more and more.
An experience
Different from standing on the ground.
Viewing the form
Above the rivetting, the nuts and bolts.
The view from each landing
Also of Paris.
But more fascinating, to look inwards
Into the structure of the tower.
On each landing, to read
A brief historical note about the tower
As tourists rush by
As children screaming, find their way up.
On the first level
More about the Paris you can see afar.
Benches along the periphery.
The fine detail of the steps.
Sitting in the centre, against railing.
The bookshop.
The post-office
From where we send a letter home
Just to say we are at the Eiffel Tower now.
Where we write the postcard
Get it stamped
And then ask for it back
Because we forget to mention that
We are sending postcard from Eiffel Tower.
The films about the tower
The Eiffel tower in the movies
Circuses and fests around the Tower
The panaromic views
Moving along two walls
Two walls at right angles
And the film moving
From one wall into the other.
I look at the corner
To see what happens there
How do the pictures turn
The Eiffel Tower at night
And so on and on
The three-dimensional stories in the view-holes
About Eiffel supervising the execution of the work
Gustave Eiffel on the construction site.
-----------------
The poem appeared on www.gibson-design.com
Periphery needs a separate eye. Imagine an eye that sees beyond the peripheral, sees in every dimension and space; a double-jointed alphabet of language.
Cruising southbound near Pleasant View, KS on a sunny Sunday, July 16, 2023 morning, southbound CPKC manifest train M262 is seen crossing one of the many gravel roads in this area.
Re-modification of SweetFX
Too bad poses seem so stiff in this. Not really any idle animations to take advantage of..
Game: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Taken using Hattiwatti's Cinematic Tools for freecam, depth of field control and fog + custom SweetFX
© David K. Edwards. The wonderful rose-pink sandstone of which the spectacular ruin at Petra is happily composed.
Located in Sagittarius, part of the Milky Way
One hour of total exposure
Gain 300, temp -10
Calibrated in Nebulosity
The 6A2 field flattener is working well with flat stars on the periphery.
The Weald /ˈwiːld/ is an area in South East England situated between the parallel chalk escarpments of the North and the South Downs. It crosses the counties of Sussex, Hampshire, Kent and Surrey. It has three separate parts: the sandstone "High Weald" in the centre; the clay "Low Weald" periphery; and the Greensand Ridge, which stretches around the north and west of the Weald and includes its highest points. The Weald once was covered with forest, and its name, Old English in origin, signifies "woodland". The term is still used today, as scattered farms and villages sometimes refer to the Weald in their names.
Etymology
The name "Weald" is derived from the Old English weald, meaning "forest" (cognate of German Wald, but unrelated to English "wood", which has a different origin). This comes from a Germanic root of the same meaning, and ultimately from Indo-European. Weald is specifically a West Saxon form; wold is the Anglian form of the word.[1] The Middle English form of the word is wēld, and the modern spelling is a reintroduction of the Anglo-Saxon form attributed to its use by William Lambarde in his A Perambulation of Kent of 1576.[2]
In the Anglo-Saxon period, the area had the name Andredes weald, meaning "the forest of Andred", the latter derived from Anderida, the Roman name of present-day Pevensey. The area is also referred to in Anglo-Saxon texts as Andredesleage, where the second element, leage, is another Old English word for "woodland", represented by the modern leigh.[3]
The adjective for "Weald" is "Wealden".
Geology
Geology of south-eastern England. The High Weald is in lime green (9a); the Low Weald, darker green (9). Chalk Downs, pale green (6)
The Weald is the eroded remains of a geological structure, an anticline, a dome of layered Lower Cretaceous rocks cut through by weathering to expose the layers as sandstone ridges and clay valleys. The oldest rocks exposed at the centre of the anticline are correlated with the Purbeck Beds of the Upper Jurassic. Above these, the Cretaceous rocks, include the Wealden Group of alternating sands and clays – the Ashdown Sand Formation, Wadhurst Clay Formation, Tunbridge Wells Sand Formation (collectively known as the Hastings Beds) and the Weald Clay. The Wealden Group is overlain by the Lower Greensand and the Gault Formation, consisting of the Gault and the Upper Greensand.[4]
The rocks of the central part of the anticline include hard sandstones, and these form hills now called the High Weald. The peripheral areas are mostly of softer sandstones and clays and form a gentler rolling landscape, the Low Weald. The Weald–Artois Anticline continues some 40 miles (64 km) further south-eastwards under the Straits of Dover, and includes the Boulonnais of France.
Many important fossils have been found in the sandstones and clays of the Weald, including, for example, Baryonyx. The famous scientific hoax of Piltdown Man was claimed to have come from a gravel pit at Piltdown near Uckfield. The first Iguanodon was identified after a Mary Mantell unearthed some fossilised teeth by a road in Sussex in 1822. Her husband, Gideon Mantell, noticed they were similar to modern iguana teeth but many times larger; this important find led to the discovery of dinosaurs.[5]
History
Prehistoric evidence suggests that, following the Mesolithic hunter-gatherers, the Neolithic inhabitants had turned to farming, with the resultant clearance of the forest. With the Iron Age came the first use of the Weald as an industrial area. Wealden sandstones contain ironstone, and with the additional presence of large amounts of timber for making charcoal for fuel, the area was the centre of the Wealden iron industry from then, through the Roman times, until the last forge was closed in 1813.[7] The index to the Ordnance Survey Map of Roman Britain lists 33 iron mines; and 67% of these are in the Weald.
The entire Weald was originally heavily forested. According to the 9th-century Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the Weald measured 120 miles (193 km) or longer by 30 miles (48 km) in the Saxon era, stretching from Lympne, near Romney Marsh in Kent, to the Forest of Bere or even the New Forest in Hampshire.[8] The area was sparsely inhabited and inhospitable, being used mainly as a resource by people living on its fringes, much as in other places in Britain such as Dartmoor, the Fens and the Forest of Arden.[8] The Weald was used for centuries, possibly since the Iron Age, for transhumance of animals along droveways in the summer months.[8] Over the centuries, deforestation for the shipbuilding, charcoal, forest glass, and brickmaking industries has left the Low Weald with only remnants of that woodland cover.
While most of the Weald was used for transhumance by communities at the edge of the Weald, several parts of the forest on the higher ridges in the interior seem to have been used for hunting by the kings of Sussex. The pattern of droveways which occurs across the rest of the Weald is absent from these areas.[8] These areas include St Leonard's Forest, Worth Forest, Ashdown Forest and Dallington Forest.
The forests of the Weald were often used as a place of refuge and sanctuary. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle relates events during the Anglo-Saxon conquest of Sussex when the native Britons (whom the Anglo-Saxons called Welsh) were driven from the coastal towns into the recesses of the forest for sanctuary,:
A.D. 477. This year came Ælle to Britain, with his three sons, Cymen, and Wlenking, and Cissa, in three ships; landing at a place that is called Cymenshore. There they slew many of the Welsh; and some in flight they drove into the wood that is called Andred'sley.[9]
Until the Late Middle Ages the forest was a notorious hiding place for bandits, highwaymen and outlaws.[10]
Settlements on the Weald are widely scattered. Villages evolved from small settlements in the woods, typically four to five miles (six to eight kilometres) apart; close enough to be an easy walk but not so close as to encourage unnecessary intrusion. Few of the settlements are mentioned in the Domesday Book; however Goudhurst's church dates from the early 12th century or before and Wadhurst was big enough by the mid-13th century to be granted a royal charter permitting a market to be held. Before then, the Weald was used as summer grazing land, particularly for pannage by inhabitants of the surrounding areas. Many places within the Weald have retained names from this time, linking them to the original communities by the addition of the suffix "-den": for example, Tenterden was the area used by the people of Thanet. Permanent settlements in much of the Weald developed much later than in other parts of lowland Britain, although there were as many as one hundred furnaces and forges operating by the later 16th century, employing large numbers of people.[7]
In 1216 during the First Barons' War, a guerilla force of archers from the Weald, led by William of Cassingham (nicknamed Willikin of the Weald), ambushed the French occupying army led by Prince Louis near Lewes and drove them to the coast at Winchelsea. The French narrowly escaped starvation due to the arrival of a French fleet. William was later granted a pension from the crown and made warden of the Weald in reward for his services.
In the first edition of On The Origin of Species, Charles Darwin used an estimate for the erosion of the chalk, sandstone and clay strata of the Weald in his theory of natural selection. Charles Darwin was a follower of Lyell's theory of uniformitarianism and decided to expand upon Lyell's theory with a quantitative estimate to determine if there was enough time in the history of the Earth to uphold his principles of evolution. He assumed the rate of erosion was around one inch per century and calculated the age of the Weald at around 300 million years. Were that true, he reasoned, the Earth itself must be much older. In 1862, William Thomson (later Lord Kelvin) published a paper "On the age of the sun's heat", in which – unaware of the process of solar fusion – he calculated the Sun had been burning for less than a million years, and put the outside limit of the age of the Earth at 200 million years. Based on these estimates he denounced Darwin's geological estimates as imprecise. Darwin saw Lord Kelvin's calculation as one of the most serious criticisms to his theory and removed his calculations on the Weald from the third edition of On the Origin of Species.[11]
Modern methods show the Weald to be between 20 and 30 million years old.[citation needed]
Geography
The Weald begins north-east of Petersfield in Hampshire and extends across Surrey and Kent in the north, and Sussex in the south. The western parts in Hampshire and West Sussex, known as the Western Weald, are included in the South Downs National Park. Other protected parts of the Weald are included in the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. In extent it covers about 85 miles (137 km) from west to east, and about 30 miles (48 km) from north to south, covering an area of some 500 square miles (1,300 km2). The eastern end of the High Weald, the English Channel coast, is marked in the centre by the high sandstone cliffs from Hastings to Pett Level; and by former sea cliffs now fronted by the Pevensey and Romney Marshes on either side.
Much of the High Weald, the central part, is designated as the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Its landscape is described as one of
rolling hills, studded with sandstone outcrops and cut by streams to form steep-sided ravines (called gills); small irregular-shaped fields and patches of heathland, abundant woodlands; scattered farmsteads and sunken lanes and paths.[12]
Ashdown Forest, an extensive area of heathland and woodland occupying the highest sandy ridge-top at the centre of the High Weald, is a former royal deer-hunting forest created by the Normans and said to be the largest remaining part of Andredesweald.[13]
There are centres of settlement, the largest of which are Horsham, Burgess Hill, East Grinstead, Haywards Heath, Tonbridge, Tunbridge Wells, Crowborough; and the area along the coast from Hastings and Bexhill-on-Sea to Rye and Hythe.
The geological map shows the High Weald in lime green (9a).
The Low Weald,[14] the periphery of the Weald, is shown as darker green on the map (9),[15] and has an entirely different character. It is in effect the eroded outer edges of the High Weald, revealing a mixture of sandstone outcrops within the underlying clay. As a result, the landscape is of wide and low-lying clay vales with small woodlands (“shaws”) and fields. There is a great deal of surface water: ponds and many meandering streams.
Some areas, such as the flat plain around Crawley, have been utilised for urban use: here are Gatwick Airport and its related developments and the Horley-Crawley commuter settlements. Otherwise the Low Weald retains its historic settlement pattern, where the villages and small towns occupy harder outcrops of rocks. There are no large towns on the Low Weald, although Ashford, Sevenoaks and Reigate lie immediately on the northern edge. Settlements tend to be small and linear, because of its original wooded nature and heavy clay soils.[16]
The Weald is drained by the many streams radiating from it, the majority being tributaries of the surrounding major rivers: particularly the Mole, Medway, Stour, Rother, Cuckmere, Ouse, Adur and Arun. Many of these streams provided the power for the watermills, blast furnaces and hammers of the iron industry and the cloth mills.
Transport infrastructure
The M25, M26 and M20 motorways all use the Vale of Holmesdale to the north, and therefore run along or near the northern edge of the Weald. The M23/A23 road to Brighton, uses the western, narrower, part of the Weald where there are stream headwaters, crossing it from north to south. Other roads take similar routes, although they often have long hills and many bends: the more sedate, but busy A21 trunk road to Hastings is still beset with traffic delays, despite having had some new sections.
Five railways once crossed the Weald, now reduced to three. Building them provided the engineers with difficulties in crossing the terrain, with the hard sandstone adding to their problems. The Brighton Main Line followed the same route as its road predecessors: although it necessitated the long tunnel near Balcombe and the Ouse Valley Viaduct. Tributaries of the River Ouse provided some assistance in the building of now-closed East Grinstead-Lewes and the Uckfield-Lewes lines. The principal main-line railway to Hastings had to negotiate difficult terrain when it was first built, necessitating many sharp curves and tunnels; and similar problems had to be faced with the Ashford-Hastings line.
Several long-distance footpaths criss-cross the Weald, and it is well-mapped recreationally, covered by routes from:
The Ramblers' Associations and most District Councils for walkers
Sustrans and local county councils for cyclists
Farming
Neither the thin infertile sands of the High Weald or the wet sticky clays of the Low Weald are suited to intensive arable farming and the topography of the area often increases the difficulties. There are limited areas of fertile greens and which can be used for intensive vegetable growing, as in the valley of the Western Rother. Historically the area of cereals grown has varied greatly with changes in prices, increasing during the Napoleonic Wars and during and since World War II. The Weald has its own breed of cattle, called the Sussex, although it has been as numerous in Kent and parts of Surrey. Bred from the strong hardy oxen, which continued to be used to plough the clay soils of the Low Weald longer than in most places, these red beef cattle were highly praised by Arthur Young in his book Agriculture of Sussex when visiting Sussex in the 1790s. William Cobbett commented on finding some of the finest cattle on some of the region's poorest subsistence farms on the High Weald. Pigs, which were kept by most households in the past, were able to be fattened in autumn on acorns in the extensive oak woods. In his novel Memoirs of a Fox-hunting Man, the poet and novelist Siegfried Sassoon refers to "the agricultural serenity of the Weald widespread in the delicate hazy sunshine".
Wildlife
The Weald has largely maintained its wooded character, with woodland still covering 23% of the overall area (one of the highest levels in England) and the proportion is considerably higher in some central parts. The sandstones of the Wealden rocks are usually acidic, often leading to the development of acidic habitats such as heathland, the largest remaining areas of which are in Ashdown Forest and near Thursley.
Although common in France, the wild boar became extinct in Great Britain and Ireland by the 17th century, but wild breeding populations have recently returned in the Weald, following escapes from boar farms.[17]
Culture
The Weald has been associated with many writers, particularly in the 19th and early 20th centuries. These include Vita Sackville-West (1892–1962), Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1907-1930) and Rudyard Kipling (1864–1936). The setting for A.A. Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh stories was inspired by Ashdown Forest, near Milne's country home at Hartfield.[18] John Evelyn (1620–1706), particularly noted for his house, gardens and books which inspired others in the wider area, Wotton House, Surrey in the Vale of Holmesdale by Dorking just north of the Weald proper was a diarist, essayist and early author of botany, gardening and geography.
Sport
The game of cricket may have originated prior to the 13th century in the Weald (see History of English cricket to 1696). The related game stoolball is still popular in the Weald, mostly played by ladies' teams.
Other English Wealds and Wolds
Several other areas in southern England have the name "Weald", including North Weald in Essex, and Harrow Weald in north-west London.
"Wold" is used as the name for various open rolling upland areas in the North of England, including the Yorkshire Wolds and the Lincolnshire Wolds, although these are, by contrast, chalk uplands.
The Cotswolds are a major geographical feature of central England, forming a south-west to north-east line across the country.
“……………………………………”
“…………………………………..”
-----------------------------------------------------------------
click to activate the icon of slideshow: the small triangle inscribed in the small rectangle, at the top right, in the photostream;
or…. Press the “L” button to zoom in the image;
clicca sulla piccola icona per attivare lo slideshow: sulla facciata principale del photostream, in alto a destra c'è un piccolo rettangolo (rappresenta il monitor) con dentro un piccolo triangolo nero;
oppure…. premi il tasto “L” per ingrandire l'immagine;
www.worldphoto.org/sony-world-photography-awards/winners-...
www.fotografidigitali.it/gallery/2726/opere-italiane-segn...
…………………………………………………………………
This photographic story was made on the occasion of the "Laurel and Sacred Oils festival" which took place this year 2022 on Easter Monday in the Sicilian town of Forza D'Agrò (in the province of Messina), after a long stop due to the Covid-19 pandemic; this is a traditional event that has taken place for centuries with changes that have come about over the years, in fact once the population of Forza D'Agrò went in procession to the Norman monastery of Saints Peter and Paul where the Holy Oils were kept: this church is located in the village of Casalvecchio Siculo (Forza D'Agrò and Casalvecchio Siculo are located on two mountains, the two villages are visible to each other, since in ancient times this represented a very fast means to be able to communicate visually between them, in case of raids by Saracen pirates), this church was built by the Normans, it was originally located on the opposite side of where it is now located, this is because a flood of the Agrò river had endangered this structure, which had also been sacked by the Arabs, it was decided to secure it, it was completely dismantled, and then rebuilt, on the opposite side and further up from the river bed); the feast then took place when Roger II, called the Norman, granted the abbot Cerasino the possibility of rebuilding this abbey (diploma of donation of 1117), but not only ... the monks of this abbey were, again by Roger II, equipped with some fixed income, and even the complete ownership of an entire village, the current Forza D'Agrò, was given to them, with absolute power of the monks over the things and people of the village. Then, the Sacred Oils were brought from this Abbey to the church of San Michele Arcangelo (today a ruin) which is located in a district of Forza D'Agrò, with the population who used to adorn themselves for this procession with colored silk ribbons, to which over time, laurel branches were added, also carried by devotees in procession. The festival is essentially based on three strongly symbolic elements, the laurel, the Holy Oil, and the "cuddure". "The laurel" represents the "victory of Christ over Death", in fact the festival takes place on the "Day of the Angel, during the Easter period", a day that recalls that the Resurrection of Christ took place; laurel is a strongly symbolic and fragrant plant, it is used in this context, for elaborate compositions that adorn "the banners", they can be small because they are made by children, up to very large and high (difficult to hold up when there is wind due to the strong "sail effect" they cause), are made with load-bearing structures made of cane or wood, which serve to hold the fabrics on which they are sewn one by one, laurel leaves, creating drawings of a religious nature, banners that participate in a competition for the best realization (each banner in fact carries a number, as a reference for the voting jury); "Holy Oil", an element used for anointing the sick and invoking their healing, represents "redemption from sin" and "spiritual healing", is carried in procession, also a symbol of the Holy Spirit who embraces the body and soul of man and that refers to Christ, "the Anointed"; finally "the cuddure" (they are small circular loaves, with naturally leavened intertwined and dough, on which a symbol is imprinted), and they symbolize "prosperity", but also "charity", and that is why the brothers of the SS. Trinity distribute them to the people present at the feast as a sign of gift. This year, however, due to the restrictions of Covid-19, the "cuddure" did not take place, the "blessing of the Holy Oils" was performed in the Mother Church, and not in the characteristic square in the center of the town , while the procession was made along a short route, and not along the traditional route which, after having crossed the center of the town, then circumscribes it along its entire periphery. As explained above, this festival is also called "'a festa d'u d'auru" (the laurel feast), or "' the feast of cudduredde" (the feast of small donut-shaped loaves); the "banners awarding" will close this characteristic feast, to the great joy of all those who participated.
.........................................................................................
Questo racconto fotografico, è stato realizzato in occasione della “festa dell’Alloro e degli Oli Sacri” che si è svolta quest’anno 2022 il giorno del Lunedì dell’Angelo nel paese siciliano di Forza D’Agrò (in provincia di Messina), dopo un lungo stop a causa della pandemia da Covid-19; è questo un evento tradizionale che si svolge da secoli con delle modifiche che sono venute a crearsi negli anni, infatti un tempo la popolazione di Forza D’Agrò andava in processione fino al monastero normanno dei Santi Pietro e Paolo ove erano custoditi gli Oli Santi: tale chiesa si trova nel paese di Casalvecchio Siculo (Forza D’Agrò e Casalvecchio Siculo si trovano su due monti, i due paesi sono visibili l’un l’altro, poiché anticamente questo rappresentava un mezzo rapidissimo per poter comunicare visivamente tra loro, in caso di scorribande di pirati saraceni), tale chiesa fu costruita dai Normanni, essa originariamente si trovava sul versante opposto rispetto a dove è situata ora, questo perchè una piena del fiume d’Agrò aveva messo in pericolo tale struttura, ma essa era anche stata saccheggiata dagli Arabi, si decise così di metterla in sicurezza, fu smontata completamente, per poi essere riedificata, sul versante opposto e più distante in alto rispetto al letto del fiume); la festa quindi ebbe luogo quando Ruggero II, detto il Normanno, concesse all’abate Cerasino la possibilità di riedificare tale abazia (diploma di donazione del 1117), ma non solo…i monaci di tale abazia furono, sempre da Ruggero II, dotati di alcuni redditi fissi, ed addirittura venne data a loro la completa proprietà di un intero villaggio, l’attuale Forza D’Agrò, con assoluto potere dei monaci su cose e persone del villaggio. Quindi, gli Oli Sacri venivano portati da tale Abazia alla chiesa di San Michele Arcangelo (oggi un rudere) che si trova in una contrada di Forza D’Agrò, con la popolazione che anticamente usava adornarsi per tale processione con nastri di seta colorati, ai quali col tempo, sono andati ad aggiungersi i rami di alloro, portati anche questi dai devoti in processione. La festa si basa essenzialmente su tre elementi fortemente simbolici, l’alloro, l’Olio Santo, e le “cuddure”. “L’alloro” rappresenta la “vittoria del Cristo sulla Morte”, infatti la festa si svolge il “Giorno dell’Angelo” durante il periodo Pasquale, giorno che rievoca che è avvenuta la Resurrezione del Cristo; l’alloro è una pianta fortemente simbolica e profumata, essa viene utilizzata in questo contesto, per elaborate composizioni che adornano “gli stendardi”, i quali sono dei drappi-vessilli, possono essere di piccole dimensioni perché realizzati dai bambini, fino a molto grandi ed alti (difficili da reggere quando c’è vento per il forte “effetto vela” che essi causano), sono realizzati con delle strutture portanti fatte di canna o di legno, che servono a reggere le stoffe sulle quali vengono cucite una ad una, le foglie di alloro, realizzando dei disegni di carattere religioso, stendardi che partecipano ad una gara per la migliore realizzazione (ogni stendardo infatti porta un numero, come riferimento per la giuria votante); “l’Olio Santo” è un elemento usato per l’unzione dei malati ed invocarne la guarigione, rappresenta la “redenzione dal peccato” e la “guarigione spirituale”, viene portato in processione (insieme a delle foglie di alloro), anch’esso simbolo dello Spirito Santo che abbraccia corpo ed anima dell’uomo e che rimanda a Cristo, “l’Unto”; infine “le cuddure” (sono dei piccoli pani di forma circolare, con la pasta lievitata naturalmente ed intrecciata, su cui è impresso un simbolo), esse simboleggiano la “prosperità”, ma anche la “carità”, è per questo che i confrati della SS. Trinità li distribuiscono alle persone presenti alla festa in segno di dono. Quest’anno però, a causa delle restrizioni causate dal Covid-19, le “cuddure” non si sono fatte, la “benedizione degli Oli Santi” è stata eseguita nella Chiesa Madre, e non nella caratteristica piazza che si trova nel centro del paese, mentre la processione è stata fatta lungo un breve percorso, e non lungo il percorso tradizionale, molto più lungo, che dopo aver attraversato il centro del paese, poi lo circoscrive lungo tutta la sua periferia. Per quanto esposto prima, tale festa viene chiamata anche "a’ festa d'u d'auru" (la festa dell'alloro), oppure "a’ festa di cudduredde" (la festa dei piccoli pani a forma di ciambella); la "premiazione degli stendardi" chiude questa caratteristica festa, tra la grandissima gioia di tutti coloro che vi hanno partecipato.
For some photographers, personal preference or ethics inhibit them from taking pictures like this one. I’ve heard such pictures described as exploitative, pandering, inconsiderate and rude. Adherents to this view avoid these types of images. I agree, people should not engage in behavior that makes them uncomfortable. Out of sight, is not out of mind. For me, avoiding such photos is akin to denial of the existence of a problem. As a sociologist, I’ve been trained not to turn a blind eye to a social problem. My goal is to see, to observe, and to document, in a variety of ways, the lived experience of humans in society.
“Private troubles,” such as poverty (and its associated maladies), addictions, and mental illness, are “public issues” and the very social problems that a just society, particularly one of the richest in the world, ought to resolve. Visual sociology is many things. It can be a tool for change, and a window for selectively peering out at society.
Wide angle image looking up at the Looking up at Lord Hanuman statue in Shimla, India.
Shri Hanuman Jakhu is a statue of Lord Hanuman situated under the periphery of Jakhu Temple on Jakhu Hill in Shimla. It is one of the tallest statues in the world with the height of 33 metres (108 feet).
Another photo taken on beautiful Balmedie beach. This time I was on the beach witnessing a biblical sunrise. The colour, saturation and intensity from the rising sun was pretty spectacular. I really liked the long whisps of clouds picking up some of this colour against a cooler sky so set up this composition with the main part of the sunrise out of shot .
Even though the bright and fiery part of the sky is way over to the right hand side i believe the curve of the water heading left is a good counter too this.
Just for your info, the strange concrete blocks are the remnants of WW2 coastal defences
The eagle eyed among you will spot where this stream exits into the sea, I would rather it featured a bit more prominently in the photo but you cant have everything!
Agios Nicolaos also Agios Nicolaos (Greek units Lasition in the periphery of Crete. Located on the north coast of Crete, on the western side of the Bay of Mirabelon, 63 km east of the capital of the island of Heraklion, north of the city of Ierapetra (36 km) and west of the city of Sitia (73 km). The name of the city comes from the Byzantine church located in the Gulf of Agios Nikolaos. The oldest known name is Mandraki (Μαντράκι). Another well-known name that residents of the surrounding villages use is Yalos (Γιαλ)
The modern city is based on the port of the ancient city of Dorians - Lato, located 3.5 km north of the settlement of Krits. These two cities constituted one administrative unit in the 3rd century BC. er They worshiped the same deity - Eilithia, the patroness of women in labor, and also had one coin, on one side of which Eithiyah was depicted, and on the other side Hermes with the words ΛΑΤΙΩΝ.
The port of Lato, developed during this period as a major settlement and economic center, while the city of Lato itself began to fade. In the area of the river were found statues, inscriptions and graves dating from this period. The graves from the graves, many of which are of great interest, are exhibited in the local archaeological museum.
In the first Byzantine period continued to exist as an important city.
Venetian period
At the beginning of the XIII century, presumably in 1206, a fortress was built on the hill, presumably by the Genoese Enrico Pescator .The fortress was named Mirabelon and gave the name of the province and the gulf. The fortress was destroyed by an earthquake of 1303, but the Venetians rebuilt it again. In 1374, it is referred to as Castro Mirabelli, which housed warehouses for storing salt from the Elounda saltworks, which were then exported to the rest of Europe. The fortress was abandoned and turned into a warehouse after the uprising against the Venetians .
The fortress was destroyed by Turkish pirates in 1537, but rebuilt by the design of Michele Sanmicheli. Around the fortress has developed a settlement. In the census of Petros Castrofilakas, the settlement is referred to as Mirabello proprio with a population of 753 inhabitants, mainly fishermen. Since 1630 it is referred to as the Mirabello Fortress, and the settlement in Greek is called Vulismeñi (Βουλισμένη), from the name of the lake Vulismeni.
In 1646, during the Turkish-Venetian war, the head of the garrison of the fortress Kolonelo Baldel transmits the fortress to the Turks, who surrounded him. This was considered a betrayal and Baldela was hanged. The Venetians fought off the fort, but because they could not hold it in their hands, it was destroyed by them, after Spinalonga fortress was rebuilt, which satisfied their needs for protection .
In 1671 it is mentioned in the Turkish census as Nefs Meranblo. In the Egyptian census of 1834 is not mentioned, since the settlement was abandoned by residents. However, the port functioned to export the local product - the carob tree. In 1845, Victor Rolin mentions that there were 4 destroyed churches that were used as a warehouse for the carob tree .
A modern settlement was created at the time of the independence of Crete in 1866 by settlers from Chritsa and Sfakia. The ruins of the fortress were used as building materials for new buildings. The first time is mentioned in 1881, when 87 Christians and 8 Turks lived in the settlement. Called Mandraki since ancient times, the settlement nevertheless takes the name Agios Nikolaos, from the 9th century small Byzantine church, which is located on the Amoudi peninsula, about two kilometers north of the city. In 1900, Agios Nikolaos became the center of the Kritsa community, and in 1904, the center of the nome Lasithis was transferred to Agios Nikolaos from Neapolis .
In 1928, 1,124 inhabitants lived in Ayios Nikolaos and since then there has been a steady increase in population: in 1940, 2,481 inhabitants, in 1951, 3,167 inhabitants, in 1961, 3,709 inhabitants, in 1971, 5002 inhabitants, in 1981 - 8130 inhabitants. At the same time, the city becomes a major tourist center .
Dome periphery mosaic - St Peter, St Paul flank throne of Zeus (Hetoimasia) supporting jewelled cross and waiting for Christ the Judge
----
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hetoimasia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arian_Baptistery
----
www.flickr.com/photos/hen-magonza/51364990331/
www.flickr.com/photos/paullew/14755043522/
----
www.flickr.com/photos/henkbekker/54638985781/
www.flickr.com/photos/50879678@N03/50469985443/
----
Early Christian Monuments of Ravenna UNESCO World Heritage Site
whc.unesco.org/custerr/503.htm
----
Nikon D300 + Nikon Nikkor 18-200mm 1:3.5-5.6 G ED-IF AF-S VR DX
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikon_D300
www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikond300
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikon_AF-S_DX_VR_Zoom-Nikkor_18-200...
_DSC4940 Anx2 V2 1400g Q90 f25 f50