View allAll Photos Tagged Think
One of the annotated cubicles in the gents toilets at the Wellcome Collection in London that provides a short text for contemplation during your moment of isolation. Didn't check if there was something on the back of the door.
It is easy to think the church on the main road as you near Brenzett is that village's church, but that is Snargate.
St Eanswith is in the village, down a side lane, and then down a track. Not on Church Lane at all, which runs parallel, just to confuse the visitor.
It was a grim and drizzly day when I returned, and straight away I was reminded of my first visit here, where John Vigar took me on a tour of the Romney Marsh churches, sharing with me his knowledge, and Brenzett was one I was unfamiliar with.
As with many churches, the light switches were elusive, so some of the shots are dark and/or grainy.
------------------------------------------
One of the few churches in the county dedicated to a local saint: St Eanswyth came from Folkestone in the seventh century (see separate entry). The church is Norman with thirteenth- and fourteenth-century additions. The south wall of the chancel contains some of the fine herringbone masonry so typical of early Norman work in Kent. Like most churches on Romney Marsh there is an abundance of clear glass at Brenzett, allowing a greater appreciation of the superb tracery of the decorated style windows, especially that in the south nave wall. When the little spire was built in the fourteenth century a wooden frame had to be erected at the west end to support it, and enormous buttresses had to be built outside. The church was somewhat over-restored in the nineteenth century when the east window by Lavers, Barraud and Westlake was installed. The north chapel contains a good monument in alabaster to Sir John Fagge who died in 1639. Father and son lie side by side, one propped on his elbow, the other with his hand on his chest. Their armorial bearings on the front of the tomb chest add a welcome splash of red and white.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Brenzett
------------------------------------------
BRENSET
LIES the next parish north-eastward from Brookland, almost all of it on the other or eastern side of the Rhee-wall, in the level of Romney Marsh; so much therefore as is upon that wall is within the li berty of the town and port of New Romney, and division of the justices of it, the liberty of which, and of the cinque ports, claim over it. The rest of it is in the hundred of Aloesbridge, over part of which, that is, so much as is within the level of Romney Marsh, the liberty and jurisdiction of that corporation claims; and the remaining, being the north-west part, in Walland Marsh, is within the jurisdiction of the justices of the county.
THIS PARISH is not so fertile as the last-described parish of Brookland, nor so well sheltered with trees and hedges. The greatest part of it is open marshes, the arable land in it not being more than fifty acres. There is no village, most of the houses in it standing at straggling distances on each side of the road, leading from the church to Snave-green; in other respects it is much the same as the other parishes adjoining to it. There is a fair on Whit-Monday, for toys and pedlary.
The MANOR OF BRENSET, called likewise the manor of Newington Brenset, from its having been for some time accounted a limb of that of Newington near Hyth, had always the same owners, and as such in king Henry VIII.'s reign it was become part of the possessions of Thomas, lord Cromwell, earl of Essex, before whose attainder, in the 32d year of that reign, it came by purchase from him into the king's hands, together with the manor of Newington above-mentioned. After which it continued in the crown, in like manner, till the first year of queen Mary, when she granted it to Edward, lord Clinton and Saye, from whom it passed, with the manor of Newington, to which this of Brenset has ever since been accounted an appendage, in a like succession of ownership, down to James Drake Brockman, esq. of Beechborough, the present owner of it. A court leet is held for this manor.
THERE WAS a manor of Brenset, which most probably related to this parish, which was the property of the Scotts, of Scotts-hall, and afterwards of the Botelers, from whom it came by will to the family of Bouverie, and now belongs, with the manors of Orlestone and others, to the hon. William-Henry Bouverie, some mention of which has been made before, but only the name of this manor remains, for there are no rents or profits received from it, nor is even the situation of it at present known.
BRENSET-PLACE is an antient mansion in the southern part of this parish, which was the residence for many years of the family of Edolph, before they removed to Hinxhill, and wrote their name in old deedsEdulf, in which manner it appears in a commission directed to Stephen Edulf and others, collectors for the cinque ports in the 6th year of Richard II. At length, Robert Edolph removing to Hinxhill in queen Elizabeth's reign, this seat was afterwards alienated to Mr. John Fagge, gent. who resided here in the next reign of king James I. In whose descendants it continued down to Sir Robert Fagge, bart. who dying in 1740, s. p. his sisters became his heirs, one of whom married Gawen Harris Nash, esq. of Petworth, and Elizabeth married Sir Charles Mathews Goring, bart. of that county, by whose heirs, about the year 1777, this seat, with the estate belonging to it, was sold to Mr. Henry Read, of Brookland, who died possessed of it about a year afterwards, upon which it came to his only daughter and heir Anne, the wife of Thomas Kempe, esq. of Barcombe in Sussex, and M. P. for Lewes, who in her right became entitled to it, and is the present owner of it. The mansion has been for many years made use of only as a farm-house.
DEAN, alias DANE-COURT, is an estate in the western part of this parish, which was once accounted a manor. It was antiently part of the possessions of a family, who took their name from it. Ansfridus de Dene appears, by a chartularie belonging to the priory of Christ-church, to have been owner of it in king Edward I.'s reign. How long it continued in his descendants, I do not find, but it not long afterwards came into the possession of the family of Apledore, so called from the neighbouring town of Apledore, whose arms were, Or, a pile, gules, surmounted with a fefs; but before the latter end of king Edward III.'s reign, Thomas de Apledore dying s. p. Elnith, his only sister and heir, entitled her husband Thomas Roper to this manor, among the rest of his estates in these parts, (fn. 1) which continued in the younger branch of his descendants down to John Roper, esq. of Linsted lodge, afterwards knighted, and created lord Teynham. At length his descendant Henry, lord Teynham, succeeding to it, passed it away in 1705, to Sir Henry Furnese, bart. of Waldershare, who died possessed of it in 1712. His grandson Sir Henry Furnese, bart. dying in 1735, under age and unmarried, this, on the partition of his estates among his three sisters and coheirs, was allotted, among others, to Selina, the youngest; she married Edward Dering, esq. afterwards Sir Edward Dering, bart. who in her right became entitled to it, and his son of the same name, now of Surrenden, bart. is the present owner of it.
There are no parochial charities. The poor constantly relieved are more than thirty, casually not more than two or three.
BRENSET is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Limne.
The church, which is dedicated to St. Eanswith, consists of two isles and two chancels, having a spire steeple shingled at the west end, in which hang three bells. In the north chancel is a monument, having the effigies of two men, lying at full length, for John Fagge, son of John Fagge, gent. of Rye, obt. 1639; and for John Fagge, gent. of Rye, his son, who married Elizabeth, daughter of Bandard Hodson, of Frantfield, in Sussex, obt. 1646. There are burials of the Fagges in the parish register till very lately. In the north isle, a memorial for the Rev. Mr. John Wentworth, rector of Snargate six years, and vicar of Brenset, obt. May 26, 1770.
¶The church of Brenset antiently belonged to the abbey of Guysnes, in Artois, in Flanders, to which it was appropriated before the 8th year of Richard II. (fn. 2) and it remained so till the reign of king Henry V. when it came into the king's hands by escheat, on the death of Katherine, the late abbess of it, and remained in the crown till king Henry VI. in his 17th year, granted it with the advowson of the vicarage, to John Kempe, archbishop of York, with licence to settle the same on his new-founded college of Wye, to hold in free, pure and perpetual alms, in augmentation of the revenues of it, and to appropriate it to the members of it and their successors for ever. In which situation it remained till the suppression of that college, anno 36 Henry VIII. when it was surrendered, with all its possessions, into the king's hands, who that year granted this church, with the advowson of the vicarage, among other premises, to Walter Bucler, esq. to hold in capite, with certain provisoes for the maintenance of the curates and schoolmaster of Wye, as may be further feen in the account before of the parlonage of Newington, contained in the same grant, (fn. 3) with which it has continued down in like manner to James Drake Brockman, esq. of Beechborough, the present owner of the parsonage and advowson of the vicarage of this church.
Besides the stipends paid to Wye college and curates, as may be seen before, (fn. 4) there is a stipend paid from it of ten guineas yearly to Christ-church college, in Cambridge, which altogether is much more than the annual profit of this parsonage, which arises from only about fifty acres of land ploughed, bringing in about twenty guineas per annum, and no more.
The vicarage of Brenset is valued in the king's books at 7l. 18s. 11½d. and the yearly tenths at 15s. 10¾d. In 1640 it was valued at eighty pounds per annum, It is now of the yearly certified value of 71l. 6s. 0¼d. There is a glebe of two acres of marsh land.
In the petition of the clergy, beneficed in Romney Marsh, in 1635, for setting aside the custom of twopence an acre, in lieu of tithe-wool and pasturage, a full account of which has been given before, under Burmarsh, the vicar of Brenset was one of those who met on this occasion; when it was agreed on all sides, that no wool in the Marsh had ever been known to have been paid in specie, other tithes being compounded for. But no evidence was produced on this head, in regard to the vicar of Brenset.
There is a modus of one shilling an acre on all grass lands in this parish.
I think there are enough great builders of traditional semi trucks that I don't feel I can contribute much to that subject, so I figured I'd make a themed one instead.
Maybe this is what Blacktron trucks looked like a few years before flying vehicles were brought into mass production.
This ended up looking like a mishmash of different themes, looks like there's some Tron, Road Warrior, Rocketeer helmet, The Blot (Mickey Mouse cartoons), and maybe even some Alien Queen thrown in!
-I wanted angles on this thing, there's a nice "X" shape going on when viewed from the front.
-Didn't want to use bulky smokestacks so I added vents instead.
-Lots of room underneath to add some pipes, driveshaft, axles, etc.
-I want to use a magnet to attach trailers, I just can't find the magnet in LDD.
Think outside my box
My body, my choice
Never again
National Day of Action to Defend Women's Rights. Rally at Dallas City Hall, July 15, 2013.
de Auguste Rodin (París, Francia, 1840 - Meudon, Francia, 1917). Bronce con pátina verde y negra. Fundición de una edición limitada por la Fundidora Valsuani, en el Museo Soumaya de la Ciudad de México, que "respeta los derechos morales del Museo Rodin de París".
For everyone who knows Supertramp you certainly know "Take the long way home"! Here is a photo of mine that I always think of when I listen to that song.
'Take The Long Way Home' has a quality about it that just makes me feel warm inside. I don't know if it's the harmonies or the melodies, or whatever, but I never get sick of it. I always saw the song a little ambiguous. It's on two levels. I see 'home' as being internal and external. It's kind of a play on words. Definitely part of the song is about the shallowness of success and getting caught up in a world and success and chasing, being popular, or whatever, is taking 'the long way home'. Because I think 'home' in its deepest sense is inside, is being at peace with oneself. Again it's ambiguous - 'if you're not around' means… you're dead or you couldn't settle down - you couldn't take it and you're off looking for things that are more important. It's a fun song! I remember having a lot of fun writing it but never really having a clear picture of it. It was more… often when I write songs, I go by gut instinct. A line comes to me and they usually do come to me… the best lines come to me rather than me trying to think them up consciously and I just feel they're right and I go with them whether I totally understand the meaning or not.
—Roger Hodgson, Supertramp
I hope you enjoyed this one as much as I had fun taking it!
Comments are always welcomed.
I think this one is just about finished. I may swap his boots for some better ones, and roll his trouser legs up a bit, but aside from that I think this grunt is finished.
i think my bird table needs a paint job in looking at this photo.
Camera was setup at table level to catch the various birds that visit the feeder when there is still some seed left. Unfortunately, the squirrels get up there pretty quickly after putting it out.
One of the many blue jays, not one of this years brood.
I think this was the DEFCON forum meet-up party? HUGE bouncy castle in the middle of the room. I bounced for a bit then felt my lunch/dinner coming back up. It was fun while it lasted :P
T.A.N.K (Think of A New Kind) - Raf Pener
Supporting Soilwork on the European Tour 2015
Le Trabendo, Paris, France | 14/12/2015
Live report soon on MusicWaves
Philippe Bareille
Think this is a female willow emerald with a spent tail on her last days. Taken at Strumpshaw a couple of weeks ago
Attempted an HDR - 12 images overall. I am not too kicked about the result but thought I'd post it nonetheless.
Breast Cancer Awareness Month
Wear it again Wednesday .. Think PINK!!!
From the group administrator... Jill.
"I don't think there are many of us that don't know someone - a friend, relative, co-worker that may have struggled with this terrible disease. October is normally Breast Cancer Awareness month... so please let your girls don their PINKS in honor of all the brave women that fight and live with this disease every day, as well as those that may have lost their fight... we remember...
*THINK PINK! "
My photo is a little late, but better late than never. :)
I think this is taken from the same distance as the last picture (SI1625), but with zoom turned on.
Andy, Clint, Greg, Nicole, Ryan, Shannon, Svetlana.
sitting, standing.
Assateague, Maryland.
August 8, 2009.
Pic by Christie.
... Read my blog at ClintJCL.wordpress.com
... View Andy's blog at blimpcaptain.livejournal.com/
... Read Greg's blog at gaugeyagee.wordpress.com/
... View Greg and Nicole's photos at www.flickr.com/photos/nicolekz/
... View Greg and Nicole's photos at www.flickr.com/photos/nicolekz/
... Read Ryan's blog at www.ideonexus.com/
... View Ryan's photos at www.flickr.com/photos/ideonexus/
... Read Svetlana's blog at cityofspheres.livejournal.com/
... View Svetlana's photos at www.flickr.com/photos/21790169@N07/
... View my camping-related blog posts at clintjcl.wordpress.com/category/hobbies-activities/camping/
It took over 2 years, and a physical trip to New Jersey, but we finally got the pictures the 8's took!
"You may think, well, how are we going to get one billion
people to think peace?
Imagine peace.
Because if one billion people in the world think peace, we
will get peace.
Remember each one of us has the power to change the
world.
Power works in mysterious ways.
You don’t have to do much.
Visualize the domino effect and just start thinking peace.
The message will circulate faster than you think.
It’s time for action.
And the action is peace.
Spread the word.
Spread peace.
I love you!
-Yoko Ono, Excerpt from Statement for Imagine Peace
Exhibition at JEMA, Spring 2008.
Directions for Wish Peace:
WISH PIECE
Make a wish.
Write it down on a piece of paper.
Fold it and tie it around a branch of a wish tree.
Ask your friends to do the same.
Keep wishing
Until the branches are covered with wishes.
- Yoko Ono"
"John Erickson Museum of Art (JEMA)
presents Yoko Ono
Sean Miller
American, b. 1967
and
Yoko Ono
American, born Japan, 1933
Yoko Ono at JEMA
IMAGINE PEACE
2008-9
Multimedia
Collection of Sean Miller"
imaginepeace.com/archives/7817
Yoko Ono: IMAGINE PEACE at JEMA/Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art [Florida, USA]
JEMA travels IMAGINE PIECE to the Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art, in Gainesville, Florida
JEMA proudly announces Yoko Ono’s IMAGINE PEACE is reopened at JEMA and is currently on view at the Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art, in Gainesville, Florida [map]. Yoko Ono’s exhibition runs from From October 6 – January 3rd, 2009-10, and includes her text-based work IMAGINE PEACE (2007) as well as WISH PIECE (1996). Viewers are invited to attend JEMA’s new outdoor sculpture garden and contribute to one of Yoko Ono’s Wish Trees by writing wishes on provided pieces of paper and adding them to the branches of the tree. Viewers and participants will note the tree provided for the exhibition is somewhat diminutive in keeping with the scale of JEMA’s gallery spaces. JEMA consultants from the JEMA Annex were present to distribute pencils and paper for Wish Peace during the October 6th opening at the Harn Museum of Art. JEMA Annex Consultants included Charisse Calaquian, Leah Floyd, Ladis Pietros, Kelly Rogers, and Matthew Whitehead. In time, all wishes will be gathered by the Annex Consultants and sent to The IMAGINE PEACE TOWER on Videy Island, Reykjavik, Iceland.
Previously IMAGINE PIECE opened at JEMA in Belfast, Northern Ireland in April, 2008. The exhibition traveled from Golden Thread Gallery, Catalyst Arts, NVTV Studios, and briefly left Belfast to open in Glasgow at the Glasgow School of the Arts.
Yoko Ono writes:
Power works in mysterious ways.
You don’t have to do much.
Visualize the domino effect and just start thinking peace.
The message will circulate faster than you think.
It’s time for action.
And the action is peace.
Spread the word.
Spread peace.
I love you!
-Yoko Ono, Excerpt from Statement for Imagine Peace Exhibition at JEMA, Spring
2008.
See a little art at JEMA… More or less,
John Erickson Museum of Art
A Location Variable Museum
www.jema.us/ ("JOHN ERIKSON MUSEUM OF ART" homepage)
www.jema.us/pages/jemaintro.html
An image comes to mind of a white, ideal space that, more than any single picture,
may be the archetypal image of 20th-century art. And it clarifies itself through a process of historical inevitability usually attached to the art it contains.”
Brian O’Doherty, Inside the White Cube
Welcome to JEMA
Advancements in technology and new ideas in contemporary art are preparing the current visual art audience to witness radically new and diverse exhibition strategies. Ideas associated with Marcel Duchamp’s Boite-en-valise (1941), and Brian O’Doherty’s Inside the White Cube (1976), have (for decades) provided groundbreaking precedents from which to conceive and approach the display of art. Advancements in internet technology, digital imaging and critical insights related to site-specificity have further expanded possible innovations in art display tactics. As a result, today’s exhibition spaces may be planned, constructed, maintained, and enjoyed with unprecedented levels of affordability, efficiency, and creativity.
The John Erickson Museum of Art (JEMA) is an example of one possible method of developing an exciting new venue for artists and viewers. It also functions as a model for discussing innovative possibilities toward the development of vital yet affordable art centers. JEMA’s portable quality offers artists an exhibition space that encourages radical experimentation with a low financial overhead. This new museum space is founded on an unwavering belief concerning the quick, decisive and efficient delivering art to the viewing public. This type of activity is an important sign of a vital cultural institution. Many art museums require years to schedule exhibitions. Moving slowly – these institutions function with power and strength but remain bogged down by red tape and expensive exhibitions.
By moving with stealth and agility, JEMA carries out its functions in a portable and thrifty manner. JEMA’s design allows for a greater focus on exhibition planning and a stronger intercommunication between the institution, exhibiting artists, and you (the viewing public). JEMA brings the art to you!
Think JEMA…more or less.
Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art
SW 34th Street and Hull Road
Gainesville, Florida 32611-2700
PHONE 352.392.9826
I'm 17 years old and I live in Atlanta, Georgia. I have a twin sister and a little brother.
My likes: ADVENTURES, taro milk bubble tea, going to the beach and swimming in the ocean, airports, sincerity, men with beards (i have some sort of obsession with them), smoking hookah, FREEDOM, running through yellow lights, old asian men who smoke, cute and sometimes strange french movies, paint on my skin, hideing secrets where people can find them, SCREAMING random nonsense for no reason, film photography, clean white sheets, staring at a ceiling fan trying to follow only one of the blades, optical illusions, MUSIC, records, vocabulary words, Goodwill, surprises, UGA, sushi, Flapjack, and of corse photography and Flickr.
My dislikes: people who think they are smarter than everyone else, MONDAYS, mean lunch ladies, stinky shoes, bible pushers, when my car stalls, COLD TOES, being late, greasy hair, watching tv, people who lie to me when i already know the truth, miley cyrus, when people say that my sister and I "count as one person" because we are twins, and most of all I hate it when people take themselves and others too seriously.
Sometimes me think, "What is friend?" and then me say, "Friend is someone to share the last cookie with."
. . . 3. 3. 2007 - this is the second day of a funeral ceremony in Bori for a High Class Woman. She died on 18. 1. 2007 at the age of 85 years. The ceremony will last for one week.
If you wonder why the quality of the pictures is a little less: these are no photographs - it all are snapshots of my videos! So sorry for the less resolution, but I think, they are worth to be shown.
_____________________________________
The Toraja are an ethnic group indigenous to a mountainous region of South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Their population is approximately 1,100,000, of whom 450,000 live in the regency of Tana Toraja ("Land of Toraja"). Most of the population is Christian, and others are Muslim or have local animist beliefs known as aluk ("the way"). The Indonesian government has recognized this animist belief as Aluk To Dolo ("Way of the Ancestors").
The word toraja comes from the Bugis Buginese language term to riaja, meaning "people of the uplands". The Dutch colonial government named the people Toraja in 1909. Torajans are renowned for their elaborate funeral rites, burial sites carved into rocky cliffs, massive peaked-roof traditional houses known as tongkonan, and colorful wood carvings. Toraja funeral rites are important social events, usually attended by hundreds of people and lasting for several days.
Before the 20th century, Torajans lived in autonomous villages, where they practised animism and were relatively untouched by the outside world. In the early 1900s, Dutch missionaries first worked to convert Torajan highlanders to Christianity. When the Tana Toraja regency was further opened to the outside world in the 1970s, it became an icon of tourism in Indonesia: it was exploited by tourism developers and studied by anthropologists. By the 1990s, when tourism peaked, Toraja society had changed significantly, from an agrarian model - in which social life and customs were outgrowths of the Aluk To Dolo - to a largely Christian society. Today, tourism and remittances from migrant Torajans have made for major changes in the Toraja highland, giving the Toraja a celebrity status within Indonesia and enhancing Toraja ethnic group pride.
ETHNIC IDENTITY
The Torajan people had little notion of themselves as a distinct ethnic group before the 20th century. Before Dutch colonization and Christianization, Torajans, who lived in highland areas, identified with their villages and did not share a broad sense of identity. Although complexes of rituals created linkages between highland villages, there were variations in dialects, differences in social hierarchies, and an array of ritual practices in the Sulawesi highland region. "Toraja" (from the coastal languages' to, meaning people; and riaja, uplands) was first used as a lowlander expression for highlanders. As a result, "Toraja" initially had more currency with outsiders - such as the Bugis and Makassarese, who constitute a majority of the lowland of Sulawesi - than with insiders. The Dutch missionaries' presence in the highlands gave rise to the Toraja ethnic consciousness in the Sa'dan Toraja region, and this shared identity grew with the rise of tourism in the Tana Toraja Regency. Since then, South Sulawesi has four main ethnic groups - the Bugis (the majority, including shipbuilders and seafarers), the Makassarese (lowland traders and seafarers), the Mandarese (traders and fishermen), and the Toraja (highland rice cultivators).
HISTORY
From the 17th century, the Dutch established trade and political control on Sulawesi through the Dutch East Indies Company. Over two centuries, they ignored the mountainous area in the central Sulawesi, where Torajans lived, because access was difficult and it had little productive agricultural land. In the late 19th century, the Dutch became increasingly concerned about the spread of Islam in the south of Sulawesi, especially among the Makassarese and Bugis peoples. The Dutch saw the animist highlanders as potential Christians. In the 1920s, the Reformed Missionary Alliance of the Dutch Reformed Church began missionary work aided by the Dutch colonial government. In addition to introducing Christianity, the Dutch abolished slavery and imposed local taxes. A line was drawn around the Sa'dan area and called Tana Toraja ("the land of Toraja"). Tana Toraja was first a subdivision of the Luwu kingdom that had claimed the area. In 1946, the Dutch granted Tana Toraja a regentschap, and it was recognized in 1957 as one of the regencies of Indonesia.
Early Dutch missionaries faced strong opposition among Torajans, especially among the elite, because the abolition of their profitable slave trade had angered them. Some Torajans were forcibly relocated to the lowlands by the Dutch, where they could be more easily controlled. Taxes were kept high, undermining the wealth of the elites. Ultimately, the Dutch influence did not subdue Torajan culture, and only a few Torajans were converted. In 1950, only 10% of the population had converted to Christianity.
In the 1930s, Muslim lowlanders attacked the Torajans, resulting in widespread Christian conversion among those who sought to align themselves with the Dutch for political protection and to form a movement against the Bugis and Makassarese Muslims. Between 1951 and 1965 (following Indonesian independence), southern Sulawesi faced a turbulent period as the Darul Islam separatist movement fought for an Islamic state in Sulawesi. The 15 years of guerrilla warfare led to massive conversions to
CHRISTIANITY
Alignment with the Indonesian government, however, did not guarantee safety for the Torajans. In 1965, a presidential decree required every Indonesian citizen to belong to one of five officially recognized religions: Islam, Christianity (Protestantism and Catholicism), Hinduism, or Buddhism. The Torajan religious belief (aluk) was not legally recognized, and the Torajans raised their voices against the law. To make aluk accord with the law, it had to be accepted as part of one of the official religions. In 1969, Aluk To Dolo ("the way of ancestors") was legalized as a sect of Agama Hindu Dharma, the official name of Hinduism in Indonesia.
SOCIETY
There are three main types of affiliation in Toraja society: family, class and religion.
FAMILY AFFILIATION
Family is the primary social and political grouping in Torajan society. Each village is one extended family, the seat of which is the tongkonan, a traditional Torajan house. Each tongkonan has a name, which becomes the name of the village. The familial dons maintain village unity. Marriage between distant cousins (fourth cousins and beyond) is a common practice that strengthens kinship. Toraja society prohibits marriage between close cousins (up to and including the third cousin) - except for nobles, to prevent the dispersal of property. Kinship is actively reciprocal, meaning that the extended family helps each other farm, share buffalo rituals, and pay off debts.
Each person belongs to both the mother's and the father's families, the only bilateral family line in Indonesia. Children, therefore, inherit household affiliation from both mother and father, including land and even family debts. Children's names are given on the basis of kinship, and are usually chosen after dead relatives. Names of aunts, uncles and cousins are commonly referred to in the names of mothers, fathers and siblings.
Before the start of the formal administration of Toraja villages by the Tana Toraja Regency, each Toraja village was autonomous. In a more complex situation, in which one Toraja family could not handle their problems alone, several villages formed a group; sometimes, villages would unite against other villages. Relationship between families was expressed through blood, marriage, and shared ancestral houses (tongkonan), practically signed by the exchange of water buffalo and pigs on ritual occasions. Such exchanges not only built political and cultural ties between families but defined each person's place in a social hierarchy: who poured palm wine, who wrapped a corpse and prepared offerings, where each person could or could not sit, what dishes should be used or avoided, and even what piece of meat constituted one's share.
CLASS AFFILIATION
In early Toraja society, family relationships were tied closely to social class. There were three strata: nobles, commoners, and slaves (slavery was abolished in 1909 by the Dutch East Indies government). Class was inherited through the mother. It was taboo, therefore, to marry "down" with a woman of lower class. On the other hand, marrying a woman of higher class could improve the status of the next generation. The nobility's condescending attitude toward the commoners is still maintained today for reasons of family prestige.
Nobles, who were believed to be direct descendants of the descended person from heaven, lived in tongkonans, while commoners lived in less lavish houses (bamboo shacks called banua). Slaves lived in small huts, which had to be built around their owner's tongkonan. Commoners might marry anyone, but nobles preferred to marry in-family to maintain their status. Sometimes nobles married Bugis or Makassarese nobles. Commoners and slaves were prohibited from having death feasts. Despite close kinship and status inheritance, there was some social mobility, as marriage or change in wealth could affect an individuals status. Wealth was counted by the ownership of water buffaloes.
Slaves in Toraja society were family property. Sometimes Torajans decided to become slaves when they incurred a debt, pledging to work as payment. Slaves could be taken during wars, and slave trading was common. Slaves could buy their freedom, but their children still inherited slave status. Slaves were prohibited from wearing bronze or gold, carving their houses, eating from the same dishes as their owners, or having sex with free women - a crime punishable by death.
RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION
Toraja's indigenous belief system is polytheistic animism, called aluk, or "the way" (sometimes translated as "the law"). In the Toraja myth, the ancestors of Torajan people came down from heaven using stairs, which were then used by the Torajans as a communication medium with Puang Matua, the Creator. The cosmos, according to aluk, is divided into the upper world (heaven), the world of man (earth), and the underworld. At first, heaven and earth were married, then there was a darkness, a separation, and finally the light. Animals live in the underworld, which is represented by rectangular space enclosed by pillars, the earth is for mankind, and the heaven world is located above, covered with a saddle-shaped roof. Other Toraja gods include Pong Banggai di Rante (god of Earth), Indo' Ongon-Ongon (a goddess who can cause earthquakes), Pong Lalondong (god of death), and Indo' Belo Tumbang (goddess of medicine); there are many more.
The earthly authority, whose words and actions should be cleaved to both in life (agriculture) and death (funerals), is called to minaa (an aluk priest). Aluk is not just a belief system; it is a combination of law, religion, and habit. Aluk governs social life, agricultural practices, and ancestral rituals. The details of aluk may vary from one village to another. One common law is the requirement that death and life rituals be separated. Torajans believe that performing death rituals might ruin their corpses if combined with life rituals. The two rituals are equally important. During the time of the Dutch missionaries, Christian Torajans were prohibited from attending or performing life rituals, but were allowed to perform death rituals. Consequently, Toraja's death rituals are still practised today, while life rituals have diminished.
CULTURE
TONGKONAN
Tongkonan are the traditional Torajan ancestral houses. They stand high on wooden piles, topped with a layered split-bamboo roof shaped in a sweeping curved arc, and they are incised with red, black, and yellow detailed wood carvings on the exterior walls. The word "tongkonan" comes from the Torajan tongkon ("to sit").
Tongkonan are the center of Torajan social life. The rituals associated with the tongkonan are important expressions of Torajan spiritual life, and therefore all family members are impelled to participate, because symbolically the tongkonan represents links to their ancestors and to living and future kin. According to Torajan myth, the first tongkonan was built in heaven on four poles, with a roof made of Indian cloth. When the first Torajan ancestor descended to earth, he imitated the house and held a large ceremony.
The construction of a tongkonan is laborious work and is usually done with the help of the extended family. There are three types of tongkonan. The tongkonan layuk is the house of the highest authority, used as the "center of government". The tongkonan pekamberan belongs to the family members who have some authority in local traditions. Ordinary family members reside in the tongkonan batu. The exclusivity to the nobility of the tongkonan is diminishing as many Torajan commoners find lucrative employment in other parts of Indonesia. As they send back money to their families, they enable the construction of larger tongkonan.
WOOD CARVINGS
To express social and religious concepts, Torajans carve wood, calling it Pa'ssura (or "the writing"). Wood carvings are therefore Toraja's cultural manifestation.
Each carving receives a special name, and common motifs are animals and plants that symbolize some virtue. For example, water plants and animals, such as crabs, tadpoles and water weeds, are commonly found to symbolize fertility. In some areas noble elders claim these symbols refer to strength of noble family, but not everyone agrees. The overall meaning of groups of carved motifs on houses remains debated and tourism has further complicated these debates because some feel a uniform explanation must be presented to tourists. The image to the left shows an example of Torajan wood carving, consisting of 15 square panels. The center bottom panel represents buffalo or wealth, a wish for many buffaloes for the family. The center panel represents a knot and a box, a hope that all of the family's offspring will be happy and live in harmony, like goods kept safe in a box. The top left and top right squares represent an aquatic animal, indicating the need for fast and hard work, just like moving on the surface of water. It also represents the need for a certain skill to produce good results.
Regularity and order are common features in Toraja wood carving (see table below), as well as abstracts and geometrical designs. Nature is frequently used as the basis of Toraja's ornaments, because nature is full of abstractions and geometries with regularities and ordering. Toraja's ornaments have been studied in ethnomathematics to reveal their mathematical structure, but Torajans base this art only on approximations. To create an ornament, bamboo sticks are used as a geometrical tool.
FUNERAL RITES
In Toraja society, the funeral ritual is the most elaborate and expensive event. The richer and more powerful the individual, the more expensive is the funeral. In the aluk religion, only nobles have the right to have an extensive death feast. The death feast of a nobleman is usually attended by thousands and lasts for several days. A ceremonial site, called rante, is usually prepared in a large, grassy field where shelters for audiences, rice barns, and other ceremonial funeral structures are specially made by the deceased family. Flute music, funeral chants, songs and poems, and crying and wailing are traditional Toraja expressions of grief with the exceptions of funerals for young children, and poor, low-status adults.
The ceremony is often held weeks, months, or years after the death so that the deceased's family can raise the significant funds needed to cover funeral expenses. Torajans traditionally believe that death is not a sudden, abrupt event, but a gradual process toward Puya (the land of souls, or afterlife). During the waiting period, the body of the deceased is wrapped in several layers of cloth and kept under the tongkonan. The soul of the deceased is thought to linger around the village until the funeral ceremony is completed, after which it begins its journey to Puya.
Another component of the ritual is the slaughter of water buffalo. The more powerful the person who died, the more buffalo are slaughtered at the death feast. Buffalo carcasses, including their heads, are usually lined up on a field waiting for their owner, who is in the "sleeping stage". Torajans believe that the deceased will need the buffalo to make the journey and that they will be quicker to arrive at Puya if they have many buffalo. Slaughtering tens of water buffalo and hundreds of pigs using a machete is the climax of the elaborate death feast, with dancing and music and young boys who catch spurting blood in long bamboo tubes. Some of the slaughtered animals are given by guests as "gifts", which are carefully noted because they will be considered debts of the deceased's family. However, a cockfight, known as bulangan londong, is an integral part of the ceremony. As with the sacrifice of the buffalo and the pigs, the cockfight is considered sacred because it involves the spilling of blood on the earth. In particular, the tradition requires the sacrifice of at least three chickens. However, it is common for at least 25 pairs of chickens to be set against each other in the context of the ceremony.
There are three methods of burial: the coffin may be laid in a cave or in a carved stone grave, or hung on a cliff. It contains any possessions that the deceased will need in the afterlife. The wealthy are often buried in a stone grave carved out of a rocky cliff. The grave is usually expensive and takes a few months to complete. In some areas, a stone cave may be found that is large enough to accommodate a whole family. A wood-carved effigy, called Tau tau, is usually placed in the cave looking out over the land. The coffin of a baby or child may be hung from ropes on a cliff face or from a tree. This hanging grave usually lasts for years, until the ropes rot and the coffin falls to the ground.
In the ritual called Ma'Nene, that takes place each year in August, the bodies of the deceased are exhumed to be washed, groomed and dressed in new clothes. The mummies are then walked around the village.
DANCE AND MUSIC
Torajans perform dances on several occasions, most often during their elaborate funeral ceremonies. They dance to express their grief, and to honour and even cheer the deceased person because he is going to have a long journey in the afterlife. First, a group of men form a circle and sing a monotonous chant throughout the night to honour the deceased (a ritual called Ma'badong). This is considered by many Torajans to be the most important component of the funeral ceremony. On the second funeral day, the Ma'randing warrior dance is performed to praise the courage of the deceased during life. Several men perform the dance with a sword, a large shield made from buffalo skin, a helmet with a buffalo horn, and other ornamentation. The Ma'randing dance precedes a procession in which the deceased is carried from a rice barn to the rante, the site of the funeral ceremony. During the funeral, elder women perform the Ma'katia dance while singing a poetic song and wearing a long feathered costume. The Ma'akatia dance is performed to remind the audience of the generosity and loyalty of the deceased person. After the bloody ceremony of buffalo and pig slaughter, a group of boys and girls clap their hands while performing a cheerful dance called Ma'dondan.
As in other agricultural societies, Torajans dance and sing during harvest time. The Ma'bugi dance celebrates the thanksgiving event, and the Ma'gandangi dance is performed while Torajans are pounding rice. There are several war dances, such as the Manimbong dance performed by men, followed by the Ma'dandan dance performed by women. The aluk religion governs when and how Torajans dance. A dance called Ma'bua can be performed only once every 12 years. Ma'bua is a major Toraja ceremony in which priests wear a buffalo head and dance around a sacred tree.
A traditional musical instrument of the Toraja is a bamboo flute called a Pa'suling (suling is an Indonesian word for flute). This six-holed flute (not unique to the Toraja) is played at many dances, such as the thanksgiving dance Ma'bondensan, where the flute accompanies a group of shirtless, dancing men with long fingernails. The Toraja have indigenous musical instruments, such as the Pa'pelle (made from palm leaves) and the Pa'karombi (the Torajan version of a jaw harp). The Pa'pelle is played during harvest time and at house inauguration ceremonies.
LANGUAGE
The ethnic Toraja language is dominant in Tana Toraja with the main language as the Sa'dan Toraja. Although the national Indonesian language is the official language and is spoken in the community, all elementary schools in Tana Toraja teach Toraja language.Language varieties of Toraja, including Kalumpang, Mamasa, Tae' , Talondo' , Toala' , and Toraja-Sa'dan, belong to the Malayo-Polynesian language from the Austronesian family. At the outset, the isolated geographical nature of Tana Toraja formed many dialects between the Toraja languages themselves. After the formal administration of Tana Toraja, some Toraja dialects have been influenced by other languages through the transmigration program, introduced since the colonialism period, and it has been a major factor in the linguistic variety of Toraja languages. A prominent attribute of Toraja language is the notion of grief. The importance of death ceremony in Toraja culture has characterized their languages to express intricate degrees of grief and mourning. The Toraja language contains many terms referring to sadness, longing, depression, and mental pain. Giving a clear expression of the psychological and physical effect of loss is a catharsis and sometimes lessens the pain of grief itself.
ECONOMY
Prior to Suharto's "New Order" administration, the Torajan economy was based on agriculture, with cultivated wet rice in terraced fields on mountain slopes, and supplemental cassava and maize crops. Much time and energy were devoted to raising water buffalo, pigs, and chickens, primarily for ceremonial sacrifices and consumption. Coffee was the first significant cash crop produced in Toraja, and was introduced in the mid 19th century, changing the local economy towards commodity production for external markets and gaining an excellent reputation for quality in the international market .
With the commencement of the New Order in 1965, Indonesia's economy developed and opened to foreign investment. In Toraja, a coffee plantation and factory was established by Key Coffee of Japan, and Torajan coffee regained a reputation for quality within the growing international specialty coffee sector Multinational oil and mining companies opened new operations in Indonesia during the 1970s and 1980s. Torajans, particularly younger ones, relocated to work for the foreign companies - to Kalimantan for timber and oil, to Papua for mining, to the cities of Sulawesi and Java, and many went to Malaysia. The out-migration of Torajans was steady until 1985. and has continued since, with remittances sent back by emigre Torajans performing an important role within the contemporary economy.
Tourism commenced in Toraja in the 1970s, and accelerated in the 1980s and 1990s. Between 1984 and 1997, a significant number of Torajans obtained their incomes from tourism, working in and owning hotels, as tour guides, drivers, or selling souvenirs. With the rise of political and economic instability in Indonesia in the late 1990s - including religious conflicts elsewhere on Sulawesi - tourism in Tana Toraja has declined dramatically. Toraja continues to be a well known origin for Indonesian coffee, grown by both smallholders and plantation estates, although migration, remittances and off-farm income is considered far more important to most households, even those in rural areas.
TOURISM AND CULTURAL CHANGE
Before the 1970s, Toraja was almost unknown to Western tourism. In 1971, about 50 Europeans visited Tana Toraja. In 1972, at least 400 visitors attended the funeral ritual of Puang of Sangalla, the highest-ranking nobleman in Tana Toraja and the so-called "last pure-blooded Toraja noble." The event was documented by National Geographic and broadcast in several European countries. In 1976, about 12,000 tourists visited the regency and in 1981, Torajan sculpture was exhibited in major North American museums. "The land of the heavenly kings of Tana Toraja", as written in the exhibition brochure, embraced the outside world.
In 1984, the Indonesian Ministry of Tourism declared Tana Toraja Regency the prima donna of South Sulawesi. Tana Toraja was heralded as "the second stop after Bali". Tourism was increasing dramatically: by 1985, a total number of 150,000 foreigners had visited the Regency (in addition to 80,000 domestic tourists), and the annual number of foreign visitors was recorded at 40,000 in 1989. Souvenir stands appeared in Rantepao, the cultural center of Toraja, roads were sealed at the most-visited tourist sites, new hotels and tourist-oriented restaurants were opened, and an airstrip was opened in the Regency in 1981.
Tourism developers have marketed Tana Toraja as an exotic adventure - an area rich in culture and off the beaten track. Western tourists expected to see stone-age villages and pagan funerals. Toraja is for tourists who have gone as far as Bali and are willing to see more of the wild, "untouched" islands. However, they were more likely to see a Torajan wearing a hat and denim, living in a Christian society. Tourists felt that the tongkonan and other Torajan rituals had been preconceived to make profits, and complained that the destination was too commercialized. This has resulted in several clashes between Torajans and tourism developers, whom Torajans see as outsiders.
A clash between local Torajan leaders and the South Sulawesi provincial government (as a tourist developer) broke out in 1985. The government designated 18 Toraja villages and burial sites as traditional tourist attractions. Consequently, zoning restrictions were applied to these areas, such that Torajans themselves were barred from changing their tongkonans and burial sites. The plan was opposed by some Torajan leaders, as they felt that their rituals and traditions were being determined by outsiders. As a result, in 1987, the Torajan village of Kété Kesú and several other designated tourist attractions closed their doors to tourists. This closure lasted only a few days, as the villagers found it too difficult to survive without the income from selling souvenirs.
Tourism has also transformed Toraja society. Originally, there was a ritual which allowed commoners to marry nobles (puang) and thereby gain nobility for their children. However, the image of Torajan society created for the tourists, often by "lower-ranking" guides, has eroded its traditional strict hierarchy. High status is not as esteemed in Tana Toraja as it once was. Many low-ranking men can declare themselves and their children nobles by gaining enough wealth through work outside the region and then marrying a noble woman.
WIKIPEDIA
I think it looks better than it did with the rub spots not covered, even though the color and texture don't match perfectly.
Unfortunately, when flocking the big rub spot that used to be in front of his hairline, a little super glue dripped down onto his forehead. It's not that noticeable in person, but my photography really tends to pick it up! I might see if I can sand it off or something.