Bali is an island and province of Indonesia. The province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller neighbouring islands, notably Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan, and Nusa Ceningan. It is located at the westernmost end of the Lesser Sunda Islands, between Java to the west and Lombok to the east. Its capital of Denpasar is located at the southern part of the island.

 

With a population of 3,890,757 in the 2010 census, and 4,225,000 as of January 2014, the island is home to most of Indonesia's Hindu minority. According to the 2010 Census, 83.5% of Bali's population adhered to Balinese Hinduism, followed by 13.4% Muslim, Christianity at 2.5%, and Buddhism 0.5%.

 

Bali is a popular tourist destination, which has seen a significant rise in numbers since the 1980s. It is renowned for its highly developed arts, including traditional and modern dance, sculpture, painting, leather, metalworking, and music. The Indonesian International Film Festival is held every year in Bali.

 

Bali is part of the Coral Triangle, the area with the highest biodiversity of marine species. In this area alone over 500 reef building coral species can be found. For comparison, this is about 7 times as many as in the entire Caribbean. There is a wide range of dive sites with high quality reefs, all with their own specific attractions. Many sites can have strong currents and swell, so diving without a knowledgeable guide is inadvisable. Most recently, Bali was the host of the 2011 ASEAN Summit, 2013 APEC and Miss World 2013.

 

HISTORY

ANCIENT

Bali was inhabited around 2000 BC by Austronesian people who migrated originally from Southeast Asia and Oceania through Maritime Southeast Asia. Culturally and linguistically, the Balinese are closely related to the people of the Indonesian archipelago, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Oceania. Stone tools dating from this time have been found near the village of Cekik in the island's west.

 

In ancient Bali, nine Hindu sects existed, namely Pasupata, Bhairawa, Siwa Shidanta, Waisnawa, Bodha, Brahma, Resi, Sora and Ganapatya. Each sect revered a specific deity as its personal Godhead.

 

Inscriptions from 896 and 911 don't mention a king, until 914, when Sri Kesarivarma is mentioned. They also reveal an independent Bali, with a distinct dialect, where Buddhism and Sivaism were practiced simultaneously. Mpu Sindok's great granddaughter, Mahendradatta (Gunapriyadharmapatni), married the Bali king Udayana Warmadewa (Dharmodayanavarmadeva) around 989, giving birth to Airlangga around 1001. This marriage also brought more Hinduism and Javanese culture to Bali. Princess Sakalendukirana appeared in 1098. Suradhipa reigned from 1115 to 1119, and Jayasakti from 1146 until 1150. Jayapangus appears on inscriptions between 1178 and 1181, while Adikuntiketana and his son Paramesvara in 1204.

 

Balinese culture was strongly influenced by Indian, Chinese, and particularly Hindu culture, beginning around the 1st century AD. The name Bali dwipa ("Bali island") has been discovered from various inscriptions, including the Blanjong pillar inscription written by Sri Kesari Warmadewa in 914 AD and mentioning "Walidwipa". It was during this time that the people developed their complex irrigation system subak to grow rice in wet-field cultivation. Some religious and cultural traditions still practised today can be traced to this period.

 

The Hindu Majapahit Empire (1293–1520 AD) on eastern Java founded a Balinese colony in 1343. The uncle of Hayam Wuruk is mentioned in the charters of 1384-86. A mass Javanese emigration occurred in the next century.

 

PORTUGUESE CONTACTS

The first known European contact with Bali is thought to have been made in 1512, when a Portuguese expedition led by Antonio Abreu and Francisco Serrão sighted its northern shores. It was the first expedition of a series of bi-annual fleets to the Moluccas, that throughout the 16th century usually traveled along the coasts of the Sunda Islands. Bali was also mapped in 1512, in the chart of Francisco Rodrigues, aboard the expedition. In 1585, a ship foundered off the Bukit Peninsula and left a few Portuguese in the service of Dewa Agung.

 

DUTCH EAST INDIA

In 1597 the Dutch explorer Cornelis de Houtman arrived at Bali, and the Dutch East India Company was established in 1602. The Dutch government expanded its control across the Indonesian archipelago during the second half of the 19th century (see Dutch East Indies). Dutch political and economic control over Bali began in the 1840s on the island's north coast, when the Dutch pitted various competing Balinese realms against each other. In the late 1890s, struggles between Balinese kingdoms in the island's south were exploited by the Dutch to increase their control.

 

In June 1860 the famous Welsh naturalist, Alfred Russel Wallace, travelled to Bali from Singapore, landing at Buleleng on the northcoast of the island. Wallace's trip to Bali was instrumental in helping him devise his Wallace Line theory. The Wallace Line is a faunal boundary that runs through the strait between Bali and Lombok. It has been found to be a boundary between species of Asiatic origin in the east and a mixture of Australian and Asian species to the west. In his travel memoir The Malay Archipelago, Wallace wrote of his experience in Bali:

 

I was both astonished and delighted; for as my visit to Java was some years later, I had never beheld so beautiful and well-cultivated a district out of Europe. A slightly undulating plain extends from the seacoast about ten or twelve miles inland, where it is bounded by a fine range of wooded and cultivated hills. Houses and villages, marked out by dense clumps of coconut palms, tamarind and other fruit trees, are dotted about in every direction; while between them extend luxurious rice-grounds, watered by an elaborate system of irrigation that would be the pride of the best cultivated parts of Europe.

 

The Dutch mounted large naval and ground assaults at the Sanur region in 1906 and were met by the thousands of members of the royal family and their followers who fought against the superior Dutch force in a suicidal puputan defensive assault rather than face the humiliation of surrender. Despite Dutch demands for surrender, an estimated 200 Balinese marched to their death against the invaders. In the Dutch intervention in Bali, a similar massacre occurred in the face of a Dutch assault in Klungkung.

 

AFTERWARD THE DUTCH GOVERNORS

exercised administrative control over the island, but local control over religion and culture generally remained intact. Dutch rule over Bali came later and was never as well established as in other parts of Indonesia such as Java and Maluku.

 

n the 1930s, anthropologists Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson, artists Miguel Covarrubias and Walter Spies, and musicologist Colin McPhee all spent time here. Their accounts of the island and its peoples created a western image of Bali as "an enchanted land of aesthetes at peace with themselves and nature." Western tourists began to visit the island.

 

Imperial Japan occupied Bali during World War II. It was not originally a target in their Netherlands East Indies Campaign, but as the airfields on Borneo were inoperative due to heavy rains, the Imperial Japanese Army decided to occupy Bali, which did not suffer from comparable weather. The island had no regular Royal Netherlands East Indies Army (KNIL) troops. There was only a Native Auxiliary Corps Prajoda (Korps Prajoda) consisting of about 600 native soldiers and several Dutch KNIL officers under command of KNIL Lieutenant Colonel W.P. Roodenburg. On 19 February 1942 the Japanese forces landed near the town of Senoer [Senur]. The island was quickly captured.

 

During the Japanese occupation, a Balinese military officer, Gusti Ngurah Rai, formed a Balinese 'freedom army'. The harshness of war requisitions made Japanese rule more resented than Dutch rule. Following Japan's Pacific surrender in August 1945, the Dutch returned to Indonesia, including Bali, to reinstate their pre-war colonial administration. This was resisted by the Balinese rebels, who now used recovered Japanese weapons. On 20 November 1946, the Battle of Marga was fought in Tabanan in central Bali. Colonel I Gusti Ngurah Rai, by then 29 years old, finally rallied his forces in east Bali at Marga Rana, where they made a suicide attack on the heavily armed Dutch. The Balinese battalion was entirely wiped out, breaking the last thread of Balinese military resistance.

 

INDIPENDENCE FROM THE DUTCH

In 1946, the Dutch constituted Bali as one of the 13 administrative districts of the newly proclaimed State of East Indonesia, a rival state to the Republic of Indonesia, which was proclaimed and headed by Sukarno and Hatta. Bali was included in the "Republic of the United States of Indonesia" when the Netherlands recognised Indonesian independence on 29 December 1949.

 

CONTEMPORARY

The 1963 eruption of Mount Agung killed thousands, created economic havoc and forced many displaced Balinese to be transmigrated to other parts of Indonesia. Mirroring the widening of social divisions across Indonesia in the 1950s and early 1960s, Bali saw conflict between supporters of the traditional caste system, and those rejecting this system. Politically, the opposition was represented by supporters of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) and the Indonesian Nationalist Party (PNI), with tensions and ill-feeling further increased by the PKI's land reform programs. An attempted coup in Jakarta was put down by forces led by General Suharto.

 

The army became the dominant power as it instigated a violent anti-communist purge, in which the army blamed the PKI for the coup. Most estimates suggest that at least 500,000 people were killed across Indonesia, with an estimated 80,000 killed in Bali, equivalent to 5% of the island's population. With no Islamic forces involved as in Java and Sumatra, upper-caste PNI landlords led the extermination of PKI members.

 

As a result of the 1965/66 upheavals, Suharto was able to manoeuvre Sukarno out of the presidency. His "New Order" government reestablished relations with western countries. The pre-War Bali as "paradise" was revived in a modern form. The resulting large growth in tourism has led to a dramatic increase in Balinese standards of living and significant foreign exchange earned for the country. A bombing in 2002 by militant Islamists in the tourist area of Kuta killed 202 people, mostly foreigners. This attack, and another in 2005, severely reduced tourism, producing much economic hardship to the island.

 

GEOGRAPHY

The island of Bali lies 3.2 km east of Java, and is approximately 8 degrees south of the equator. Bali and Java are separated by the Bali Strait. East to west, the island is approximately 153 km wide and spans approximately 112 km north to south; administratively it covers 5,780 km2, or 5,577 km2 without Nusa Penida District, its population density is roughly 750 people/km2.

 

Bali's central mountains include several peaks over 3,000 metres in elevation. The highest is Mount Agung (3,031 m), known as the "mother mountain" which is an active volcano rated as one of the world's most likely sites for a massive eruption within the next 100 years. Mountains range from centre to the eastern side, with Mount Agung the easternmost peak. Bali's volcanic nature has contributed to its exceptional fertility and its tall mountain ranges provide the high rainfall that supports the highly productive agriculture sector. South of the mountains is a broad, steadily descending area where most of Bali's large rice crop is grown. The northern side of the mountains slopes more steeply to the sea and is the main coffee producing area of the island, along with rice, vegetables and cattle. The longest river, Ayung River, flows approximately 75 km.

 

The island is surrounded by coral reefs. Beaches in the south tend to have white sand while those in the north and west have black sand. Bali has no major waterways, although the Ho River is navigable by small sampan boats. Black sand beaches between Pasut and Klatingdukuh are being developed for tourism, but apart from the seaside temple of Tanah Lot, they are not yet used for significant tourism.

 

The largest city is the provincial capital, Denpasar, near the southern coast. Its population is around 491,500 (2002). Bali's second-largest city is the old colonial capital, Singaraja, which is located on the north coast and is home to around 100,000 people. Other important cities include the beach resort, Kuta, which is practically part of Denpasar's urban area, and Ubud, situated at the north of Denpasar, is the island's cultural centre.

 

Three small islands lie to the immediate south east and all are administratively part of the Klungkung regency of Bali: Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan and Nusa Ceningan. These islands are separated from Bali by the Badung Strait.

 

To the east, the Lombok Strait separates Bali from Lombok and marks the biogeographical division between the fauna of the Indomalayan ecozone and the distinctly different fauna of Australasia. The transition is known as the Wallace Line, named after Alfred Russel Wallace, who first proposed a transition zone between these two major biomes. When sea levels dropped during the Pleistocene ice age, Bali was connected to Java and Sumatra and to the mainland of Asia and shared the Asian fauna, but the deep water of the Lombok Strait continued to keep Lombok Island and the Lesser Sunda archipelago isolated.

 

CLIMATE

Being just 8 degrees south of the equator, Bali has a fairly even climate year round.

 

Day time temperatures at low elevations vary between 20-33⁰ C although it can be much cooler than that in the mountains. The west monsoon is in place from approximately October to April and this can bring significant rain, particularly from December to March. Outside of the monsoon period, humidity is relatively low and any rain unlikely in lowland areas.

 

ECOLOGY

Bali lies just to the west of the Wallace Line, and thus has a fauna that is Asian in character, with very little Australasian influence, and has more in common with Java than with Lombok. An exception is the yellow-crested cockatoo, a member of a primarily Australasian family. There are around 280 species of birds, including the critically endangered Bali myna, which is endemic. Others Include barn swallow, black-naped oriole, black racket-tailed treepie, crested serpent-eagle, crested treeswift, dollarbird, Java sparrow, lesser adjutant, long-tailed shrike, milky stork, Pacific swallow, red-rumped swallow, sacred kingfisher, sea eagle, woodswallow, savanna nightjar, stork-billed kingfisher, yellow-vented bulbul and great egret.

 

Until the early 20th century, Bali was home to several large mammals: the wild banteng, leopard and the endemic Bali tiger. The banteng still occurs in its domestic form, whereas leopards are found only in neighbouring Java, and the Bali tiger is extinct. The last definite record of a tiger on Bali dates from 1937, when one was shot, though the subspecies may have survived until the 1940s or 1950s. The relatively small size of the island, conflict with humans, poaching and habitat reduction drove the Bali tiger to extinction. This was the smallest and rarest of all tiger subspecies and was never caught on film or displayed in zoos, whereas few skins or bones remain in museums around the world. Today, the largest mammals are the Javan rusa deer and the wild boar. A second, smaller species of deer, the Indian muntjac, also occurs. Saltwater crocodiles were once present on the island, but became locally extinct sometime during the last century.

 

Squirrels are quite commonly encountered, less often is the Asian palm civet, which is also kept in coffee farms to produce Kopi Luwak. Bats are well represented, perhaps the most famous place to encounter them remaining the Goa Lawah (Temple of the Bats) where they are worshipped by the locals and also constitute a tourist attraction. They also occur in other cave temples, for instance at Gangga Beach. Two species of monkey occur. The crab-eating macaque, known locally as "kera", is quite common around human settlements and temples, where it becomes accustomed to being fed by humans, particularly in any of the three "monkey forest" temples, such as the popular one in the Ubud area. They are also quite often kept as pets by locals. The second monkey, endemic to Java and some surrounding islands such as Bali, is far rarer and more elusive is the Javan langur, locally known as "lutung". They occur in few places apart from the Bali Barat National Park. They are born an orange colour, though by their first year they would have already changed to a more blackish colouration. In Java however, there is more of a tendency for this species to retain its juvenile orange colour into adulthood, and so you can see a mixture of black and orange monkeys together as a family. Other rarer mammals include the leopard cat, Sunda pangolin and black giant squirrel.

 

Snakes include the king cobra and reticulated python. The water monitor can grow to at least 1.5 m in length and 50 kg and can move quickly.

 

The rich coral reefs around the coast, particularly around popular diving spots such as Tulamben, Amed, Menjangan or neighbouring Nusa Penida, host a wide range of marine life, for instance hawksbill turtle, giant sunfish, giant manta ray, giant moray eel, bumphead parrotfish, hammerhead shark, reef shark, barracuda, and sea snakes. Dolphins are commonly encountered on the north coast near Singaraja and Lovina.

 

A team of scientists conducted a survey from 29 April 2011 to 11 May 2011 at 33 sea sites around Bali. They discovered 952 species of reef fish of which 8 were new discoveries at Pemuteran, Gilimanuk, Nusa Dua, Tulamben and Candidasa, and 393 coral species, including two new ones at Padangbai and between Padangbai and Amed. The average coverage level of healthy coral was 36% (better than in Raja Ampat and Halmahera by 29% or in Fakfak and Kaimana by 25%) with the highest coverage found in Gili Selang and Gili Mimpang in Candidasa, Karangasem regency.

 

Many plants have been introduced by humans within the last centuries, particularly since the 20th century, making it sometimes hard to distinguish what plants are really native.[citation needed] Among the larger trees the most common are: banyan trees, jackfruit, coconuts, bamboo species, acacia trees and also endless rows of coconuts and banana species. Numerous flowers can be seen: hibiscus, frangipani, bougainvillea, poinsettia, oleander, jasmine, water lily, lotus, roses, begonias, orchids and hydrangeas exist. On higher grounds that receive more moisture, for instance around Kintamani, certain species of fern trees, mushrooms and even pine trees thrive well. Rice comes in many varieties. Other plants with agricultural value include: salak, mangosteen, corn, kintamani orange, coffee and water spinach.

 

ENVIRONMENT

Some of the worst erosion has occurred in Lebih Beach, where up to 7 metres of land is lost every year. Decades ago, this beach was used for holy pilgrimages with more than 10,000 people, but they have now moved to Masceti Beach.

 

From ranked third in previous review, in 2010 Bali got score 99.65 of Indonesia's environmental quality index and the highest of all the 33 provinces. The score measured 3 water quality parameters: the level of total suspended solids (TSS), dissolved oxygen (DO) and chemical oxygen demand (COD).

 

Because of over-exploitation by the tourist industry which covers a massive land area, 200 out of 400 rivers on the island have dried up and based on research, the southern part of Bali would face a water shortage up to 2,500 litres of clean water per second by 2015. To ease the shortage, the central government plans to build a water catchment and processing facility at Petanu River in Gianyar. The 300 litres capacity of water per second will be channelled to Denpasar, Badung and Gianyar in 2013.

 

ECONOMY

Three decades ago, the Balinese economy was largely agriculture-based in terms of both output and employment. Tourism is now the largest single industry in terms of income, and as a result, Bali is one of Indonesia's wealthiest regions. In 2003, around 80% of Bali's economy was tourism related. By end of June 2011, non-performing loan of all banks in Bali were 2.23%, lower than the average of Indonesian banking industry non-performing loan (about 5%). The economy, however, suffered significantly as a result of the terrorist bombings 2002 and 2005. The tourism industry has since recovered from these events.

 

AGRICULTURE

Although tourism produces the GDP's largest output, agriculture is still the island's biggest employer; most notably rice cultivation. Crops grown in smaller amounts include fruit, vegetables, Coffea arabica and other cash and subsistence crops. Fishing also provides a significant number of jobs. Bali is also famous for its artisans who produce a vast array of handicrafts, including batik and ikat cloth and clothing, wooden carvings, stone carvings, painted art and silverware. Notably, individual villages typically adopt a single product, such as wind chimes or wooden furniture.

 

The Arabica coffee production region is the highland region of Kintamani near Mount Batur. Generally, Balinese coffee is processed using the wet method. This results in a sweet, soft coffee with good consistency. Typical flavours include lemon and other citrus notes. Many coffee farmers in Kintamani are members of a traditional farming system called Subak Abian, which is based on the Hindu philosophy of "Tri Hita Karana". According to this philosophy, the three causes of happiness are good relations with God, other people and the environment. The Subak Abian system is ideally suited to the production of fair trade and organic coffee production. Arabica coffee from Kintamani is the first product in Indonesia to request a Geographical Indication.

 

TOURISM

The tourism industry is primarily focused in the south, while significant in the other parts of the island as well. The main tourist locations are the town of Kuta (with its beach), and its outer suburbs of Legian and Seminyak (which were once independent townships), the east coast town of Sanur (once the only tourist hub), in the center of the island Ubud, to the south of the Ngurah Rai International Airport, Jimbaran, and the newer development of Nusa Dua and Pecatu.

 

The American government lifted its travel warnings in 2008. The Australian government issued an advice on Friday, 4 May 2012. The overall level of the advice was lowered to 'Exercise a high degree of caution'. The Swedish government issued a new warning on Sunday, 10 June 2012 because of one more tourist who was killed by methanol poisoning. Australia last issued an advice on Monday, 5 January 2015 due to new terrorist threats.

 

An offshoot of tourism is the growing real estate industry. Bali real estate has been rapidly developing in the main tourist areas of Kuta, Legian, Seminyak and Oberoi. Most recently, high-end 5 star projects are under development on the Bukit peninsula, on the south side of the island. Million dollar villas are being developed along the cliff sides of south Bali, commanding panoramic ocean views. Foreign and domestic (many Jakarta individuals and companies are fairly active) investment into other areas of the island also continues to grow. Land prices, despite the worldwide economic crisis, have remained stable.

 

In the last half of 2008, Indonesia's currency had dropped approximately 30% against the US dollar, providing many overseas visitors value for their currencies. Visitor arrivals for 2009 were forecast to drop 8% (which would be higher than 2007 levels), due to the worldwide economic crisis which has also affected the global tourist industry, but not due to any travel warnings.

 

Bali's tourism economy survived the terrorist bombings of 2002 and 2005, and the tourism industry has in fact slowly recovered and surpassed its pre-terrorist bombing levels; the longterm trend has been a steady increase of visitor arrivals. In 2010, Bali received 2.57 million foreign tourists, which surpassed the target of 2.0–2.3 million tourists. The average occupancy of starred hotels achieved 65%, so the island is still able to accommodate tourists for some years without any addition of new rooms/hotels, although at the peak season some of them are fully booked.

 

Bali received the Best Island award from Travel and Leisure in 2010. The island of Bali won because of its attractive surroundings (both mountain and coastal areas), diverse tourist attractions, excellent international and local restaurants, and the friendliness of the local people. According to BBC Travel released in 2011, Bali is one of the World's Best Islands, ranking second after Santorini, Greece.

 

In August 2010, the film Eat Pray Love was released in theatres. The movie was based on Elizabeth Gilbert's best-selling memoir Eat, Pray, Love. It took place at Ubud and Padang-Padang Beach at Bali. The 2006 book, which spent 57 weeks at the No. 1 spot on the New York Times paperback nonfiction best-seller list, had already fuelled a boom in Eat, Pray, Love-related tourism in Ubud, the hill town and cultural and tourist center that was the focus of Gilbert's quest for balance through traditional spirituality and healing that leads to love.

 

In January 2016, after music icon David Bowie died, it was revealed that in his will, Bowie asked for his ashes to be scattered in Bali, conforming to Buddhist rituals. He had visited and performed in a number of Southest Asian cities early in his career, including Bangkok and Singapore.

 

Since 2011, China has displaced Japan as the second-largest supplier of tourists to Bali, while Australia still tops the list. Chinese tourists increased by 17% from last year due to the impact of ACFTA and new direct flights to Bali. In January 2012, Chinese tourists year on year (yoy) increased by 222.18% compared to January 2011, while Japanese tourists declined by 23.54% yoy.

 

Bali reported that it has 2.88 million foreign tourists and 5 million domestic tourists in 2012, marginally surpassing the expectations of 2.8 million foreign tourists. Forecasts for 2013 are at 3.1 million.

 

Based on Bank Indonesia survey in May 2013, 34.39 percent of tourists are upper-middle class with spending between $1,286 to $5,592 and dominated by Australia, France, China, Germany and the US with some China tourists move from low spending before to higher spending currently. While 30.26 percent are middle class with spending between $662 to $1,285.

 

SEX TOURISM

In the twentieth century the incidence of tourism specifically for sex was regularly observed in the era of mass tourism in Indonesia In Bali, prostitution is conducted by both men and women. Bali in particular is notorious for its 'Kuta Cowboys', local gigolos targeting foreign female tourists.

 

Tens of thousands of single women throng the beaches of Bali in Indonesia every year. For decades, young Balinese men have taken advantage of the louche and laid-back atmosphere to find love and lucre from female tourists—Japanese, European and Australian for the most part—who by all accounts seem perfectly happy with the arrangement.

 

By 2013, Indonesia was reportedly the number one destination for Australian child sex tourists, mostly starting in Bali but also travelling to other parts of the country. The problem in Bali was highlighted by Luh Ketut Suryani, head of Psychiatry at Udayana University, as early as 2003. Surayani warned that a low level of awareness of paedophilia in Bali had made it the target of international paedophile organisations. On 19 February 2013, government officials announced measures to combat paedophilia in Bali.

 

TRANSPORTATION

The Ngurah Rai International Airport is located near Jimbaran, on the isthmus at the southernmost part of the island. Lt.Col. Wisnu Airfield is found in north-west Bali.

 

A coastal road circles the island, and three major two-lane arteries cross the central mountains at passes reaching to 1,750m in height (at Penelokan). The Ngurah Rai Bypass is a four-lane expressway that partly encircles Denpasar. Bali has no railway lines.

 

In December 2010 the Government of Indonesia invited investors to build a new Tanah Ampo Cruise Terminal at Karangasem, Bali with a projected worth of $30 million. On 17 July 2011 the first cruise ship (Sun Princess) anchored about 400 meters away from the wharf of Tanah Ampo harbour. The current pier is only 154 meters but will eventually be extended to 300–350 meters to accommodate international cruise ships. The harbour here is safer than the existing facility at Benoa and has a scenic backdrop of east Bali mountains and green rice fields. The tender for improvement was subject to delays, and as of July 2013 the situation remained unclear with cruise line operators complaining and even refusing to use the existing facility at Tanah Ampo.

 

A Memorandum of Understanding has been signed by two ministers, Bali's Governor and Indonesian Train Company to build 565 kilometres of railway along the coast around the island. As of July 2015, no details of this proposed railways have been released.

 

On 16 March 2011 (Tanjung) Benoa port received the "Best Port Welcome 2010" award from London's "Dream World Cruise Destination" magazine. Government plans to expand the role of Benoa port as export-import port to boost Bali's trade and industry sector. The Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry has confirmed that 306 cruise liners are heading for Indonesia in 2013 – an increase of 43 percent compared to the previous year.

 

In May 2011, an integrated Areal Traffic Control System (ATCS) was implemented to reduce traffic jams at four crossing points: Ngurah Rai statue, Dewa Ruci Kuta crossing, Jimbaran crossing and Sanur crossing. ATCS is an integrated system connecting all traffic lights, CCTVs and other traffic signals with a monitoring office at the police headquarters. It has successfully been implemented in other ASEAN countries and will be implemented at other crossings in Bali.

 

On 21 December 2011 construction started on the Nusa Dua-Benoa-Ngurah Rai International Airport toll road which will also provide a special lane for motorcycles. This has been done by seven state-owned enterprises led by PT Jasa Marga with 60% of shares. PT Jasa Marga Bali Tol will construct the 9.91 kilometres toll road (totally 12.7 kilometres with access road). The construction is estimated to cost Rp.2.49 trillion ($273.9 million). The project goes through 2 kilometres of mangrove forest and through 2.3 kilometres of beach, both within 5.4 hectares area. The elevated toll road is built over the mangrove forest on 18,000 concrete pillars which occupied 2 hectares of mangroves forest. It compensated by new planting of 300,000 mangrove trees along the road. On 21 December 2011 the Dewa Ruci 450 meters underpass has also started on the busy Dewa Ruci junction near Bali Kuta Galeria with an estimated cost of Rp136 billion ($14.9 million) from the state budget. On 23 September 2013, the Bali Mandara Toll Road is opened and the Dewa Ruci Junction (Simpang Siur) underpass is opened before. Both are ease the heavy traffic congestion.

 

To solve chronic traffic problems, the province will also build a toll road connecting Serangan with Tohpati, a toll road connecting Kuta, Denpasar and Tohpati and a flyover connecting Kuta and Ngurah Rai Airport.

 

DEMOGRAPHICS

The population of Bali was 3,890,757 as of the 2010 Census; the latest estimate (for January 2014) is 4,225,384. There are an estimated 30,000 expatriates living in Bali.

 

ETHNIC ORIGINS

A DNA study in 2005 by Karafet et al. found that 12% of Balinese Y-chromosomes are of likely Indian origin, while 84% are of likely Austronesian origin, and 2% of likely Melanesian origin. The study does not correlate the DNA samples to the Balinese caste system.

 

CASTE SYSTEM

Bali has a caste system based on the Indian Hindu model, with four castes:

 

- Sudra (Shudra) – peasants constituting close to 93% of Bali's population.

- Wesia (Vaishyas) – the caste of merchants and administrative officials

- Ksatrias (Kshatriyas) – the kingly and warrior caste

- Brahmana (Bramhin) – holy men and priests

 

RELIGION

Unlike most of Muslim-majority Indonesia, about 83.5% of Bali's population adheres to Balinese Hinduism, formed as a combination of existing local beliefs and Hindu influences from mainland Southeast Asia and South Asia. Minority religions include Islam (13.3%), Christianity (1.7%), and Buddhism (0.5%). These figures do not include immigrants from other parts of Indonesia.

 

Balinese Hinduism is an amalgam in which gods and demigods are worshipped together with Buddhist heroes, the spirits of ancestors, indigenous agricultural deities and sacred places. Religion as it is practised in Bali is a composite belief system that embraces not only theology, philosophy, and mythology, but ancestor worship, animism and magic. It pervades nearly every aspect of traditional life. Caste is observed, though less strictly than in India. With an estimated 20,000 puras (temples) and shrines, Bali is known as the "Island of a Thousand Puras", or "Island of the Gods". This is refer to Mahabarata story that behind Bali became island of god or "pulau dewata" in Indonesian language.

 

Balinese Hinduism has roots in Indian Hinduism and Buddhism, and adopted the animistic traditions of the indigenous people. This influence strengthened the belief that the gods and goddesses are present in all things. Every element of nature, therefore, possesses its own power, which reflects the power of the gods. A rock, tree, dagger, or woven cloth is a potential home for spirits whose energy can be directed for good or evil. Balinese Hinduism is deeply interwoven with art and ritual. Ritualizing states of self-control are a notable feature of religious expression among the people, who for this reason have become famous for their graceful and decorous behaviour.

 

Apart from the majority of Balinese Hindus, there also exist Chinese immigrants whose traditions have melded with that of the locals. As a result, these Sino-Balinese not only embrace their original religion, which is a mixture of Buddhism, Christianity, Taoism and Confucianism, but also find a way to harmonise it with the local traditions. Hence, it is not uncommon to find local Sino-Balinese during the local temple's odalan. Moreover, Balinese Hindu priests are invited to perform rites alongside a Chinese priest in the event of the death of a Sino-Balinese. Nevertheless, the Sino-Balinese claim to embrace Buddhism for administrative purposes, such as their Identity Cards.

 

LANGUAGE

Balinese and Indonesian are the most widely spoken languages in Bali, and the vast majority of Balinese people are bilingual or trilingual. The most common spoken language around the tourist areas is Indonesian, as many people in the tourist sector are not solely Balinese, but migrants from Java, Lombok, Sumatra, and other parts of Indonesia. There are several indigenous Balinese languages, but most Balinese can also use the most widely spoken option: modern common Balinese. The usage of different Balinese languages was traditionally determined by the Balinese caste system and by clan membership, but this tradition is diminishing. Kawi and Sanskrit are also commonly used by some Hindu priests in Bali, for Hinduism literature was mostly written in Sanskrit.

 

English and Chinese are the next most common languages (and the primary foreign languages) of many Balinese, owing to the requirements of the tourism industry, as well as the English-speaking community and huge Chinese-Indonesian population. Other foreign languages, such as Japanese, Korean, French, Russian or German are often used in multilingual signs for foreign tourists.

 

CULTURE

Bali is renowned for its diverse and sophisticated art forms, such as painting, sculpture, woodcarving, handcrafts, and performing arts. Balinese cuisine is also distinctive. Balinese percussion orchestra music, known as gamelan, is highly developed and varied. Balinese performing arts often portray stories from Hindu epics such as the Ramayana but with heavy Balinese influence. Famous Balinese dances include pendet, legong, baris, topeng, barong, gong keybar, and kecak (the monkey dance). Bali boasts one of the most diverse and innovative performing arts cultures in the world, with paid performances at thousands of temple festivals, private ceremonies, or public shows.

 

The Hindu New Year, Nyepi, is celebrated in the spring by a day of silence. On this day everyone stays at home and tourists are encouraged to remain in their hotels. On the day before New Year, large and colourful sculptures of ogoh-ogoh monsters are paraded and finally burned in the evening to drive away evil spirits. Other festivals throughout the year are specified by the Balinese pawukon calendrical system.

 

Celebrations are held for many occasions such as a tooth-filing (coming-of-age ritual), cremation or odalan (temple festival). One of the most important concepts that Balinese ceremonies have in common is that of désa kala patra, which refers to how ritual performances must be appropriate in both the specific and general social context. Many of the ceremonial art forms such as wayang kulit and topeng are highly improvisatory, providing flexibility for the performer to adapt the performance to the current situation. Many celebrations call for a loud, boisterous atmosphere with lots of activity and the resulting aesthetic, ramé, is distinctively Balinese. Often two or more gamelan ensembles will be performing well within earshot, and sometimes compete with each other to be heard. Likewise, the audience members talk amongst themselves, get up and walk around, or even cheer on the performance, which adds to the many layers of activity and the liveliness typical of ramé.

 

Kaja and kelod are the Balinese equivalents of North and South, which refer to ones orientation between the island's largest mountain Gunung Agung (kaja), and the sea (kelod). In addition to spatial orientation, kaja and kelod have the connotation of good and evil; gods and ancestors are believed to live on the mountain whereas demons live in the sea. Buildings such as temples and residential homes are spatially oriented by having the most sacred spaces closest to the mountain and the unclean places nearest to the sea.

 

Most temples have an inner courtyard and an outer courtyard which are arranged with the inner courtyard furthest kaja. These spaces serve as performance venues since most Balinese rituals are accompanied by any combination of music, dance and drama. The performances that take place in the inner courtyard are classified as wali, the most sacred rituals which are offerings exclusively for the gods, while the outer courtyard is where bebali ceremonies are held, which are intended for gods and people. Lastly, performances meant solely for the entertainment of humans take place outside the walls of the temple and are called bali-balihan. This three-tiered system of classification was standardised in 1971 by a committee of Balinese officials and artists to better protect the sanctity of the oldest and most sacred Balinese rituals from being performed for a paying audience.

 

Tourism, Bali's chief industry, has provided the island with a foreign audience that is eager to pay for entertainment, thus creating new performance opportunities and more demand for performers. The impact of tourism is controversial since before it became integrated into the economy, the Balinese performing arts did not exist as a capitalist venture, and were not performed for entertainment outside of their respective ritual context. Since the 1930s sacred rituals such as the barong dance have been performed both in their original contexts, as well as exclusively for paying tourists. This has led to new versions of many of these performances which have developed according to the preferences of foreign audiences; some villages have a barong mask specifically for non-ritual performances as well as an older mask which is only used for sacred performances.

 

Balinese society continues to revolve around each family's ancestral village, to which the cycle of life and religion is closely tied. Coercive aspects of traditional society, such as customary law sanctions imposed by traditional authorities such as village councils (including "kasepekang", or shunning) have risen in importance as a consequence of the democratisation and decentralisation of Indonesia since 1998.

 

WIKIPEDIA

La stèle du pain (en dialecte vénitien : Stèle de la casserole ) est une stèle située dans le quartier de Cannaregio à Venise , le Sotoportego Falier, à l'intersection avec la Calle Dolfin, sur la rive sud du Rio dei Santi Apostoli.

La stèle, la dernière à Venise, montre l'effigie du lion de mars de la République de Venise gravée dans la pierre d'Istrie et une proclamation émise le 27 octobre 1727 par le doge Alvise III Mocenigo qui interdisait le commerce du pain en dehors des magasins autorisés par la Sérénissime, afin de protéger les citoyens des aliments d'origine incertaine ou de mauvaise qualité.

 

The ramblings of The Depress and Wizard along with their merry band: sock monkey, pony and hazmat technicians. #traction #sf

Manarola may be the oldest of the towns in the Cinque Terre, with the cornerstone of the church, San Lorenzo, dating from 1338. The local dialect is Manarolese, which is marginally different from the dialects in the nearby area.

 

The Cinque Terre , meaning "Five Lands", is a rugged portion of coast on the Italian Riviera. It is in the Liguria region of Italy, to the west of the city of La Spezia, and comprises five villages: Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore. The coastline, the five villages, and the surrounding hillsides are all part of the Cinque Terre National Park and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

 

Over the centuries, people have carefully built terraces on the rugged, steep landscape right up to the cliffs that overlook the sea. Part of its charm is the lack of visible corporate development. Paths, trains and boats connect the villages, and cars cannot reach them from the outside. The Cinque Terre area is a very popular tourist destination.

Renkum dialect verhaal Tini Wijnstekers krantenartikel Collectie HGR

Meeting with Agnès de Cayeux about Dialector by Chris Marker, in the context of "Iceberg" workspace.

 

“In the margin of the exhibition of Chris Marker’s work, the Iceberg is a workshop, a workspace, a temporary meeting space, with plenty of analogue and digital tools, texts, images, sounds and knowledge. This meeting place, which is open to the public, will become an exhibition space, before it will disappear. During this time, it will have been used by various groups from art colleges, secondary schools and other bodies, as they engage in a conversation with a body of work, that of Chris Marker, and of memories, technical resources, and places, here, in the present, in Brussels, in Belgium.“

 

www.bozar.be/fr/activities/148298-opening-l-iceberg

www.bozar.be/fr/activities/148040-l-iceberg-ou-qu-est-ce-...

The Poet Trilussa wrote in the Roman dialect, Romanesco. Belli was another famous poet who wrote in the Roman dlalect.

Ma nun c'è lingua come la romana

Pe' dì una cosa co' ttanto divario

Che ppare un magazzino de dogana.

"Le lingue der monno"

 

But there is no language like the one of Rome

To express a concept with so many variants

So that it seems a customs warehouse.

"Languages of the world"

G.G. Belli (1791-1863)

In the cantonese dialect, we call these biscuits "Heong Pang". In Teo Chew & Hokkien, we call them "Heo Pia". They are fragrant, crunchy layered biscuits with a filling of sweet molasses.

 

These biscuits were freshly made at Susan Lim's sister's biscuit factory at Pokok Assam, Taiping. It was very nice of them to let us visit to see how the biscuits were made.

 

Ingredients: wheat flour, sugar, sesame seeds, onions, cooking oil.

 

For enquiries & orders, the address is 571, Pokok Assam, 34000 Taiping, Perak. Tel: (6)05-8073312.

The indigenous Kaqchikel people here, in central Guatemala, speak the Kaqchikel (Kachiquel) dialect.

 

IMG_8449 R2

 

Chichicastenango es una pequeña localidad, situada a casi 2.000 metros de altitud en el altiplano guatemalteco, siendo muy famoso su mercado tradicional, que se celebra los jueves y domingos, y que es considerado el más importante de Centroamérica.

No menos importante es la iglesia de Santo Tomás, antiguo monasterio dominico, de unos 400 años de antigüedad, dónde el sincretismo religioso encuentra su máximo exponente mezclándose ritos mayas y católicos. Nuestra visita fue en domingo y aprovechamos para oir misa que fue celebrada, por un sacerdote indígena, en español y en uno de los dialectos cuyo nombre no recuerdo. Era realmente impactante, como lo es la escalinata de acceso al templo de 18 gradas, que significan los 18 meses del calendario maya y que están a rebosar de vendedores de flores, hombres que balancean incienso, fieles que rezan por conseguir favores, buenas cosechas, al mismo tiempo que encienden velas…. un clima mágico que te abstrae totalmente disfrutando el momento plenamente.

 

"Cape Matapan (Greek: Κάβο Ματαπάς, or Ματαπά in the Maniot dialect), also named as Cape Tainaron (Greek: Ακρωτήριον Ταίναρον), or Cape Tenaro, is situated at the end of the Mani Peninsula, Greece. Cape Matapan is the southernmost point of mainland Greece, and the second southernmost point in mainland Europe. It separates the Messenian Gulf in the west from the Laconian Gulf in the east.

 

"Cape Matapan has been an important place for thousands of years. The tip of Cape Matapan was the site of the ancient town Tenarus, near which there was (and still is) a cave that Greek legends claim was the home of Hades, the god of the dead. The ancient Spartans built several temples there, dedicated to various gods. On the hill situated above the cave, lie the remnants of an ancient temple dedicated to the sea god Poseidon (Νεκρομαντεῖον Ποσειδῶνος). Under the Byzantine Empire, the temple was converted into a Christian church, and Christian rites are conducted there to this day. Cape Matapan was once the place where mercenaries waited to be employed.

 

"At Cape Matapan, the Titanic's would-be rescue ship, the SS Californian, was torpedoed and sunk by German forces on 9 November 1915. In March 1941, a major naval battle, the Battle of Cape Matapan, occurred off the coast of Cape Matapan, between the Royal Navy and the Italian Regia Marina, in which the British emerged victorious in a one-sided encounter. The encounter's main result was to drastically reduce future Italian naval activity in the Eastern Mediterranean.

 

"More recently a lighthouse was constructed, but it is now in disuse."

 

Source: Wikipedia

UK Cornwall - Truro. One of the new "Tinner" route buses with Cornish dialect phrase "Zackly woss needed"

Christkindelsmärik (Alsatian dialect meaning "Market of the Christ Child") is a Christmas market held annually in Strasbourg, France on the Grande Île near Strasbourg Cathedral and Place Kléber. It draws in approximately 2 million visitors each year and since the arrival of TGV High Speed Train service in Strasbourg in 2007, the number of visitors has been on the rise. A substantial number of hotel rooms are booked a year in advance, and some receive between 15 and 17% of their yearly income thanks to the Christkindelsmärik's visitors. It is considered one of the most famous Christmas markets throughout Europe. It is estimated that the city benefits of a 16 million Euros profit from this 38-day-long tradition. It is mostly famous for its fragrance of mulled wine.

En dialecto Cumanagoto “Chakau” significa “Arena”, y hace referencia al suelo del fértil valle que era dominado por el cacique.

Chacao tiene como punto de partida la vida del cacique Chacao: valiente jefe indígena de origen Caribe, temido y respetado por los conquistadores españoles, que controlaba amplias zonas del centro y este de lo que hoy conocemos como el valle de Caracas.

Según cuenta la tradición, Chacao entregó su vida durante un ataque a un campamento de soldados españoles, al rescatar a dos niños indígenas que fueron secuestrados por los conquistadores para provocar la confrontación con el jefe indígena. Durante la batalla, Chacao logra liberar a los pequeños pero cae herido de muerte, acabando así con el último bastión de resistencia indígena en Caracas.

Al fundar la ciudad de Caracas, el 25 de julio de 1567, el conquistador Diego de Losada incluyó en su jurisdicción a esa fértil llanura, que muchos visitantes, como el barón Alejandro Von Humboldt, llegaron a considerar como sitio ideal para la conformación de una ciudad.

El primer asentamiento criollo en la zona se fundó casi un siglo después, debido a la inmigración de damnificados del terremoto de San Bernabé, que dejó a Caracas en ruinas el 11 de junio de 1641.

Con la entrada en vigencia de la reforma de la Ley Orgánica de Régimen Municipal del 15 de junio de 1989, la figura del Distrito Sucre desaparece, naciendo el Municipio Sucre actual, el cual es desmembrado de su parte occidental, creándose así tres nuevos municipios foráneos: Baruta, El Hatillo y Chacao.

Taraxacum is a large genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae, which consists of species commonly known as dandelions. The scientific and hobby study of the genus is known as taraxacology. The genus is native to Eurasia and North America, but the two most commonplace species worldwide, T. officinale (the common dandelion) and T. erythrospermum (the red-seeded dandelion), were introduced from Europe into North America, where they now propagate as wildflowers. The plant thrives in temperate regions and can be found in yards, gardens, sides of roads, among crops, and in many other habitats. Both species are edible in their entirety. The common name dandelion from French dent-de-lion 'lion's tooth') is also given to specific members of the genus.

 

Like other members of the family Asteraceae, they have very small flowers collected together into a composite flower head. Each single flower in a head is called a floret. In part due to their abundance, along with being a generalist species, dandelions are one of the most vital early spring nectar sources for a wide host of pollinators. Many Taraxacum species produce seeds asexually by apomixis, where the seeds are produced without pollination, resulting in offspring that are genetically identical to the parent plant.

 

In general, the leaves are 50–250 mm (2–10 in) long or longer, simple, lobed-to-pinnatisect, and form a basal rosette above the central taproot. The flower heads are yellow to orange coloured, and are open in the daytime, but closed at night. The heads are borne singly on a hollow stem (scape) that is usually leafless and rises 10–100 mm (3⁄8–3+7⁄8 in) or more above the leaves. Stems and leaves exude a white, milky latex when broken. A rosette may produce several flowering stems at a time. The flower heads are 20–50 mm (3⁄4–2 in) in diameter and consist entirely of ray florets. The flower heads mature into spherical seed heads sometimes called blowballs or clocks (in both British and American English) containing many single-seeded fruits called achenes. Each achene is attached to a pappus of fine hair-like material which enables wind-aided dispersal over long distances.[citation needed]

 

The flower head is surrounded by bracts (sometimes mistakenly called sepals) in two series. The inner bracts are erect until the seeds mature, then flex downward to allow the seeds to disperse. The outer bracts are often reflexed downward, but remain appressed in plants of the sections Palustria and Spectabilia. Between the pappus and the achene is a stalk called a beak, which elongates as the fruit matures. The beak breaks off from the achene quite easily, separating the seed from the parachute.

 

Description

The species of Taraxacum are tap-rooted, perennial, herbaceous plants, native to temperate areas of the Northern Hemisphere. The genus contains many species, which usually (or in the case of triploids, obligately) reproduce by apomixis, resulting in many local populations and endemism. In the British Isles alone, 234 microspecies (i.e. morphologically distinct clonal populations) are recognised in nine loosely defined sections, of which 40 are "probably endemic". A number of species of Taraxacum are seed-dispersed ruderals that rapidly colonize disturbed soil, especially the common dandelion (T. officinale), which has been introduced over much of the temperate world. After flowering is finished, the dandelion flower head dries out for a day or two. The dried petals and stamens drop off, the bracts reflex (curve backwards), and the parachute ball opens into a full sphere. When development is complete, the mature seeds are attached to white, fluffy "parachutes" which easily detach from the seedhead and glide by wind, dispersing.

 

The seeds are able to cover large distances when dispersed due to the unique morphology of the pappus which works to create a unique type of vortex ring that stays attached to the seed rather than being sent downstream. In addition to the creation of this vortex ring, the pappus can adjust its morphology depending on the moisture in the air. This allows the plume of seeds to close up and reduce the chance to separate from the stem, waiting for optimal conditions that will maximize dispersal and germination.

 

Many similar plants in the family Asteraceae with yellow flowers are sometimes known as false dandelions. Dandelion flowers are very similar to those of cat's ears (Hypochaeris). Both plants carry similar flowers, which form into windborne seeds. However, dandelion flowers are borne singly on unbranched, hairless and leafless, hollow stems, while cat's ear flowering stems are branched, solid, and carry bracts. Both plants have a basal rosette of leaves and a central taproot. However, the leaves of dandelions are smooth or glabrous, whereas those of cat's ears are coarsely hairy.

 

Early-flowering dandelions may be distinguished from coltsfoot (Tussilago farfara) by their basal rosette of leaves, their lack of disc florets, and the absence of scales on the flowering stem.

 

Other plants with superficially similar flowers include hawkweeds (Hieracium) and hawksbeards (Crepis). These are readily distinguished by branched flowering stems, which are usually hairy and bear leaves.

 

Classification

The genus is taxonomically complex due to the presence of apomixis: any morphologically distinct clonal population would deserve its own microspecies. Phylogenetic approaches are also complicated by the accelerated mutation in apomixic lines and repeated ancient hybridization events in the genus.

 

As of 1970, the group is divided into about 34 macrospecies or sections, and about 2000 microspecies; some botanists take a much narrower view and only accept a total of about 60 (macro)species. By 2015, the number has been revised to include 60 sections and about 2800 microspecies. 30 of these sections are known to reproduce sexually.

 

About 235 apomictic and polyploid microspecies have been recorded in Great Britain and Ireland alone.

 

Botanists specialising in the genus Taraxacum are sometimes called taraxacologists, for example Gunnar Marklund, Johannes Leendert van Soest or A.J. Richards.

 

Selected species

Taraxacum albidum, the white-flowered Japanese dandelion, a hybrid between T. coreanum and T. japonicum

Taraxacum algarbiense

Taraxacum aphrogenes, the Paphos dandelion

Taraxacum arcticum

Taraxacum balticum

Taraxacum brachyceras

Taraxacum brevicorniculatum, frequently misidentified as T. kok-saghyz and a poor rubber producer

Taraxacum californicum, the California dandelion, an endangered species

Taraxacum centrasiaticum, the Xinjiang dandelion

Taraxacum ceratophorum, the horned dandelion, considered by some sources to be a North American subspecies of T. officinale (T. officinale subsp. ceratophorum)

Taraxacum coreanum

Taraxacum desertorum

Taraxacum erythrospermum, the red-seeded dandelion, often considered a variety of T. laevigatum (i.e., T. laevigatum var. erythrospermum)

Taraxacum farinosum, the Turkish dandelion

Taraxacum holmboei, the Troödos dandelion

Taraxacum hybernum

Taraxacum japonicum, the Japanese dandelion, no ring of smallish, downward-turned leaves under the flower head

Taraxacum kok-saghyz, the Kazakh dandelion, which produces rubber

Taraxacum laevigatum, the rock dandelion, achenes reddish brown and leaves deeply cut throughout the length, inner bracts' tips are hooded

Taraxacum lissocarpum

Taraxacum minimum

Taraxacum mirabile

Taraxacum officinale (syn. T. officinale subsp. vulgare), the common dandelion, found in many forms

Taraxacum pankhurstianum, the St. Kilda dandelion

Taraxacum platycarpum, the Korean dandelion

Taraxacum pseudoroseum

Taraxacum suecicum

T. albidum

T. albidum

T. californicum

T. californicum

T. japonicum

T. japonicum

T. laevigatum

T. laevigatum

T. officinale

T. officinale

T. platycarpum

T. platycarpum

Cultivars

'Amélioré à Coeur Plein' yields an abundant crop without taking up much ground, and tends to blanch itself naturally, due to its clumping growth habit.

'Broad-leaved' - The leaves are thick and tender and easily blanched. In rich soils, they can be up to 60 cm (2') wide. Plants do not go to seed as quickly as French types.

'Vert de Montmagny' is a large-leaved, vigorous grower, which matures early.

 

History

Dandelions are thought to have evolved about 30 million years ago in Eurasia. Fossil seeds of Taraxacum tanaiticum have been recorded from the Pliocene of southern Belarus. Dandelions have been used by humans for food and as an herb for much of recorded history. They were well known to ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans, and are recorded to have been used in traditional Chinese medicine for over a thousand years. The plant was used as food and medicine by Native Americans. Dandelions were probably brought to North America on the Mayflower for their supposed medicinal benefits.

 

Etymology

 

Leaf resemblance to the teeth of a lion (French: dent-de-lion)

The Latin name Taraxacum originates in medieval Arabic writings on pharmacy. The scientist Al-Razi around 900 CE wrote "the tarashaquq is like chicory". The scientist and philosopher Ibn Sīnā around 1000 CE wrote a book chapter on Taraxacum.[citation needed] Gerard of Cremona, in translating Arabic to Latin around 1170, spelled it tarasacon.

 

Common names

The English name, dandelion, is a corruption of the French dent de lion meaning "lion's tooth", referring to the coarsely toothed leaves. The plant is also known as blowball, cankerwort, doon-head-clock, witch's gowan, milk witch, lion's-tooth, yellow-gowan, Irish daisy, monks-head, priest's-crown, and puff-ball; other common names include faceclock, pee-a-bed, wet-a-bed, swine's snout, white endive, and wild endive.

 

The English folk name "piss-a-bed" (and indeed the equivalent contemporary French pissenlit) refers to the strong diuretic effect of the plant's roots. In various northeastern Italian dialects, the plant is known as pisacan ("dog pisses"), because they are found at the side of pavements. In Swedish, it is called maskros (worm rose) after the nymphs of small insects (thrips larvae) usually present in the flowers.

 

Nutrition

 

Plate of sauteed dandelion greens, with Wehani rice

Raw dandelion greens contain high amounts of vitamins A, C, and K, and are moderate sources of calcium, potassium, iron, and manganese. Raw dandelion greens are 86% water, 9% carbohydrates, 3% protein, and 1% fat. A 100 gram (3+1⁄2oz) reference amount supplies 45 Calories.

 

Phytochemicals

The raw flowers contain diverse phytochemicals, including polyphenols, such as flavonoids apigenin, isoquercitrin (a quercetin-like compound), and caffeic acid, as well as terpenoids, triterpenes, and sesquiterpenes. The roots contain a substantial amount of the prebiotic fiber inulin. Dandelion greens contain lutein.

 

Taraxalisin, a serine proteinase, is found in the latex of dandelion roots. Maximal activity of the proteinase in the roots is attained in April, at the beginning of plant development after the winter period. Each dandelion seed has a mass(weight) of 500 micrograms or 0.0005g (1/125 of a grain).[citation needed]

 

Properties

Edibility

 

Bunches of organic dandelion greens for sale at Whole Foods

The entire plant, including the leaves, stems, flowers, and roots, is edible and nutritious, with nutrients such as vitamins A and K as well as calcium and iron. Dandelions are found on six continents and have been gathered for food since prehistory, but the varieties commercially cultivated for consumption are mainly native to Eurasia and North America. A perennial plant, its leaves grow back if the taproot is left intact. To make leaves more palatable, they are often blanched to remove bitterness, or sauteed in the same way as spinach. Dandelion greens have been a part of traditional Kashmiri cuisine, Spanish cuisine, Italian cuisine, Albanian cuisine, Slovenian, Sephardic Jewish, Chinese, Greek cuisine (χόρτα) and Korean cuisines. In Crete, the leaves of a variety called 'Mari' (Μαρί), 'Mariaki' (Μαριάκι), or 'Koproradiko' (Κοπροράδικο) are eaten by locals, either raw or boiled, in salads. T. megalorhizon, a species endemic to Crete, is eaten in the same way; it is found only at high altitudes (1,000–1,600 metres (3,300–5,200 ft)) and in fallow sites, and is called pentaramia (πενταράμια) or agrioradiko (αγριοράδικο).

 

The flower petals, along with other ingredients, usually including citrus, are used to make dandelion wine. Its ground, roasted roots can be used as a caffeine-free coffee alternative. Dandelion was also traditionally used to make the traditional British soft drink dandelion and burdock, and is one of the ingredients of root beer. Dandelions were once considered delicacies by the Victorian gentry, who used them mostly in salads and sandwiches.

 

Dye

The yellow flowers can be dried and ground into a yellow-pigmented powder and used as a dye.

 

Allergies

Dandelion pollen may cause allergic reactions when eaten, or adverse skin reactions in sensitive individuals. Contact dermatitis after handling has also been reported, probably from the latex in the stems and leaves.

 

Herbalism

Dandelion has been used in traditional medicine in Europe, North America, and China.

 

Food for wildlife

Dandelions do not depend on wildlife for distribution or pollination; however much of wildlife benefits from the abundance of the plant. Rabbits, wild turkeys, white-tailed deer, eastern chipmunks, bobwhite quail, and many species of birds will consume the seeds and foliage. Additionally, many insects will collect nectar from the flower, especially in early spring when there are very few other flowers in bloom.

 

Taraxacum seeds are an important food source for certain birds (linnets, Linaria spp.).

 

Main article: Nectar

Szabo studied nectar secretion in a dandelion patch over two years (59.2 and 8.9 flowers per square metre (5.50 and 0.83/sq ft) in 1981 and 1982). He measured average nectar volume at 7.4 μl/flower in 1981 and 3.7 μl/flower in 1982. The flowers tended to open in the morning and close in the afternoon with the concentrations significantly higher on the second day.

 

Dandelions are also important plants for Northern Hemisphere bees, providing an important source of nectar and pollen early in the season. They are also used as a source of nectar by the pearl-bordered fritillary (Boloria euphrosyne), one of the earliest emerging butterflies in the spring.

 

Leaves

Dandelions are used as food plants by the larvae of some species of Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths).

 

Invasive Species.

Dandelions can cause significant economic damage as an invasive species and infestation of other crops worldwide; in some jurisdictions, the species T. officinale is listed as a noxious weed. It can also be considered invasive in protected areas such as national parks. For example, Denali National Park and Preserve in Alaska lists Taraxacum officinale as the most common invasive species in the park and hosts an annual "Dandelion Demolition" event where volunteers are trained to remove the plant from the park's roadsides.

 

Benefits to gardeners

Main article: Beneficial weed

With a wide range of uses, the dandelion is cultivated in small gardens to massive farms. It is kept as a companion plant; its taproot brings up nutrients for shallow-rooting plants. It is also known to attract pollinating insects and release ethylene gas, which helps fruit to ripen.

 

Cultural importance

It has been a Western tradition for someone to blow out a dandelion seedhead and think of a wish they want to come true.

 

Five dandelion flowers are the emblem of White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. The citizens celebrate spring with an annual Dandelion Festival.

 

The dandelion is the official flower of the University of Rochester in New York State, and "Dandelion Yellow" is one of the school's official colors. "The Dandelion Yellow" is an official University of Rochester song.

 

Inspiration for engineering

The ability of dandelion seeds to travel as far as a kilometer in dry, windy and warm conditions, has been an inspiration for designing light-weight passive drones.

 

In 2018, researchers discovered that dandelion seeds have a separated vortex ring. This work provided evidence that dandelion seeds have fluid behavior around fluid-immersed bodies that may help understand locomotion, weight reduction and particle retention in biological and man-made structures.

 

In 2022, researchers at the University of Washington demonstrated battery-free wireless sensors and computers that mimic dandelion seeds and can float in the wind and disperse across a large area.

 

As a source of natural rubber

See also: Taraxacum kok-saghyz § Rubber

Dandelions secrete latex when the tissues are cut or broken, yet in the wild type, the latex content is low and varies greatly. Taraxacum kok-saghyz, the Russian dandelion, is a species that produced industrially useful amounts during WW2. Using modern cultivation methods and optimization techniques, scientists in the Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology (IME) in Germany developed a cultivar of the Russian dandelion that is suitable for current commercial production of natural rubber. The latex produced exhibits the same quality as the natural rubber from rubber trees. In collaboration with Continental AG, IME is building a pilot facility. As of May 2014, the first prototype test tires made with blends from dandelion-rubber are scheduled for testing on public roads over the next few years. In December 2017, Linglong Group Co. Ltd., a Chinese company, invested $450 million into making commercially viable rubber from dandelions.

Churaumi means "beautiful sea" in the Okinawan dialect. Its aims to recreate every aspect of the Okinawa's seas and its aquarium is one of the largest in the world. The "Kuroshio (black current) sea" tank itself holds 7500 cubic meters of water and it's front panel currently holds the Guinness World Record for the world's largest aquarium viewing window.

 

More about this photo at www.kenleewrites.com/2008/11/okinawa-churaumi-aquarium.html.

Maccagno con Pino and Veddasca ( Maccàgn cun Pin e Vedàsca in Varese dialect ) is an Italian municipality of 2,450 inhabitants in the province of Varese in Lombardy .

 

It was established on 4 February 2014 as a merger of the municipalities of Maccagno , Pino sulla Sponda del Lago Maggiore and Veddasca , which took place following the outcome of a consultative referendum held in the countries involved on 1 December 2013 . The municipal headquarters was established in Maccagno.

 

History

The institution's founding act is constituted by regional law no. 8 of 30 January 2014, published in Supplement no. 6 of the Official Bulletin of the Lombardy Region of 3 February 2014.

 

In May 2014 the municipality received the zip code I-21061.

 

Furthermore, the three founding municipalities were themselves in two cases the result of an amalgamation process that took place in the fascist era , so much so that until 1927 the current municipal territory was divided into ten different municipalities, in existence since the Middle Ages .

 

The municipality is part of the Regio Insubrica working community, a cross-border cooperation body that federates some provinces of Lombardy and Piedmont and the Swiss Canton of Ticino .

 

Symbols

The new municipality had initially informally adopted the coat of arms and banner of Maccagno (municipal seat), and then equipped itself with its own weapon, granted by decree of the President of the Republic of 12 September 2018.

 

«Coat of arms of blue, on the tower of red, bricked in black, crenellated in the Ghibelline style of five pieces, open to the field, founded on the plain of green, flanked by two counter-prancing gold lions , all surmounted by three stars with eight rays of the same, placed in the band. External ornaments from the Municipality.»

 

The banner is a yellow cloth with a blue border.

 

The coat of arms brings together elements taken from the emblems of previous municipalities: the blue of the field and the red tower of Maccagno, the counter-rampant lions of Pino on the shore of Lake Maggiore and the stars of Veddasca.

The Michael Players RBV, performing J. J. Kneen's 1913 Manx dialect play, 'A Lil Smook'

 

This picture was taken by Jiri Podobsky at the Manks Concert at the Peel Centenary Centre, 24 February 2018.

The event was organised by the Manx Branch of the Celtic Congress.

Thanks is owed to Jiri Podobsky for his generosity in allowing us to share the pictures here.

 

Culture Vannin exists to promote and support all aspects of culture in the Isle of Man.

www.culturevannin.im

www.facebook.com/culturevannin

www.twitter.com/CultureVannin

 

Looking northeast towards Schönbornstraße.

 

"Würzburg (German: [ˈvʏʁtsbʊʁk]; Main-Franconian: Wörtzburch) is, after Nuremberg and Fürth, the third-largest city in Franconia located in the north of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Lower Franconia. It spans the banks of the Main river.

 

Würzburg is situated approximately approximately 110 km west-northwest of Nuremberg and 120 km east-southeast of Frankfurt am Main. The population as of 2019 is approximately 130,000 residents.

 

The regional dialect is East Franconian German.

 

On 16 March 1945, about 90% of the city was destroyed in 17 minutes by firebombing from 225 British Lancaster bombers during a World War II air raid. Würzburg became a target for its role as a traffic hub and to break the spirit of the population.

 

All of the city's churches, cathedrals, and other monuments were heavily damaged or destroyed. The city centre, which mostly dated from medieval times, was destroyed in a firestorm in which 5,000 people perished.

 

Over the next 20 years, the buildings of historical importance were painstakingly and accurately reconstructed. The citizens who rebuilt the city immediately after the end of the war were mostly women – Trümmerfrauen ("rubble women") – because the men were either dead or still prisoners of war. On a relative scale, Würzburg was destroyed to a larger extent than was Dresden in a firebombing the previous month.

 

Würzburg spans the banks of the river Main in the region of Lower Franconia in the north of the state of Bavaria, Germany. The heart of the town is on the locally eastern (right) bank. The town is enclosed by the Landkreis Würzburg but is not a part of it.

 

Würzburg covers an area of 87.6 square kilometres and lies at an altitude of around 177 metres.

 

Of the total municipal area, in 2007, building area accounted for 30%, followed by agricultural land (27.9%), forestry/wood (15.5%), green spaces (12.7%), traffic (5.4%), water (1.2%) and others (7.3%).

 

The centre of Würzburg is surrounded by hills. To the west lies the 266-meter Marienberg and the Nikolausberg (359 m) to the south of it. The Main flows through Würzburg from the southeast to the northwest.

 

Lower Franconia (German: Unterfranken) is one of seven districts of Bavaria, Germany. The districts of Lower, Middle and Upper Franconia make up the region of Franconia. It consists of nine districts and 308 municipalities (including three cities).

 

After the founding of the Kingdom of Bavaria the state was totally reorganised and, in 1808, divided into 15 administrative government regions (German: Regierungsbezirke, singular Regierungsbezirk), in Bavaria called Kreise (singular: Kreis). They were created in the fashion of the French departements, quite even in size and population, and named after their main rivers.

 

In the following years, due to territorial changes (e. g. loss of Tyrol, addition of the Palatinate), the number of Kreise was reduced to 8. One of these was the Untermainkreis (Lower Main District). In 1837 king Ludwig I of Bavaria renamed the Kreise after historical territorial names and tribes of the area. This also involved some border changes or territorial swaps. Thus the name Untermainkreis changed to Lower Franconia and Aschaffenburg, but the city name was dropped in the middle of the 20th century, leaving just Lower Franconia.

 

From 1933, the regional Nazi Gauleiter, Otto Hellmuth, (who had renamed his party Gau "Mainfranken") insisted on renaming the government district Mainfranken as well. He encountered resistance from Bavarian state authorities but finally succeeded in having the name of the district changed, effective 1 June 1938. After 1945 the name Unterfranken was restored.

 

Franconia (German: Franken, pronounced [ˈfʁaŋkŋ̍]; Franconian: Franggn [ˈfrɑŋɡŋ̍]; Bavarian: Frankn) is a region of Germany, characterised by its culture and Franconian dialect (German: Fränkisch).

 

Franconia is made up of the three Regierungsbezirke of Lower, Middle and Upper Franconia in Bavaria, the adjacent, Franconian-speaking, South Thuringia, south of the Thuringian Forest—which constitutes the language boundary between Franconian and Thuringian— and the eastern parts of Heilbronn-Franconia in Baden-Württemberg.

 

Those parts of the Vogtland lying in Saxony (largest city: Plauen) are sometimes regarded as Franconian as well, because the Vogtlandian dialects are mostly East Franconian. The inhabitants of Saxon Vogtland, however, mostly do not consider themselves as Franconian. On the other hand, the inhabitants of the Hessian-speaking parts of Lower Franconia west of the Spessart (largest city: Aschaffenburg) do consider themselves as Franconian, although not speaking the dialect. Heilbronn-Franconia's largest city of Heilbronn and its surrounding areas are South Franconian-speaking, and therefore only sometimes regarded as Franconian. In Hesse, the east of the Fulda District is Franconian-speaking, and parts of the Oden Forest District are sometimes regarded as Franconian for historical reasons, but a Franconian identity did not develop there.

 

Franconia's largest city and unofficial capital is Nuremberg, which is contiguous with Erlangen and Fürth, with which it forms the Franconian conurbation with around 1.3 million inhabitants. Other important Franconian cities are Würzburg, Bamberg, Bayreuth, Ansbach and Coburg in Bavaria, Suhl and Meiningen in Thuringia, and Schwäbisch Hall in Baden-Württemberg.

 

The German word Franken—Franconians—also refers to the ethnic group, which is mainly to be found in this region. They are to be distinguished from the Germanic people of the Franks, and historically formed their easternmost settlement area. The origins of Franconia lie in the settlement of the Franks from the 6th century in the area probably populated until then mainly by the Elbe Germanic people in the Main river area, known from the 9th century as East Francia (Francia Orientalis). In the Middle Ages the region formed much of the eastern part of the Duchy of Franconia and, from 1500, the Franconian Circle. The restructuring of the south German states by Napoleon, after the demise of the Holy Roman Empire, saw most of Franconia awarded to Bavaria." - info from Wikipedia.

 

Summer 2019 I did a solo cycling tour across Europe through 12 countries over the course of 3 months. I began my adventure in Edinburgh, Scotland and finished in Florence, Italy cycling 8,816 km. During my trip I took 47,000 photos.

 

Now on Instagram.

 

Become a patron to my photography on Patreon or donate.

www.vividmaps.com/2017/07/dialects-from-german-language-a...

Bergen op Zoom is called Berrege in the local dialect is a municipality and a city located in the south of the Netherlands in the province Noord Brabant. The city was built on a place where two types of soil meet: sandy soil and marine clay. The sandy soil pushed against the marine clay, accumulating and forming hills over several centuries. People called those hills the Brabantse Wal, literally meaning "wall of Brabant". Zoom refers to the border of this wall and bergen in Dutch means mountains or hills. The name has nothing to do with the little channel the ‘Zoom’, which was later built through Bergen op Zoom. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bergen_op_Zoom

By Gabrielle Reith

Time exposure using light from their oscilloscope television.

 

Questions in Dialect

Deep in the Dolomites. Falzarego is dialect in this area for "false king." The name is a reference to a fairly typical Dolomitic folk tale in which a vainglorious king of the Fanes, a peace loving people who somehow became wealthy and powerful through their alliance with the marmots (!), is turned to stone for leading his people into a series of pointless and ruinous wars. The mountain in the foreground is Lagazuoi, the backdrop to the climax of the story, wherein the king is petrified.

 

Oddly enough...

 

One of the most pointless, protracted and brutal campaigns of WWI were fought on Lagazuoi, and other surrounding mountains. Modern historians maintain that there was little or no larger strategic value in holding these rocky summits far from the main alpine passes, but, compelled by policy that was made far away by people who were numb to the human cost, both the Austrians and the Italians went to superhuman lengths to gain and hold their positions. When the ground battle finally reached a stalemate, both sides carried the front deep inside the mountains, tunneling as close as they could to the enemy positions, loading the tunnels with several tons of dynamite and blowing entire parts of the mountain, the enemy and often even their own soldiers off the face of the earth. To make matters worse, the winter of 1916 was the most severe on record, with snows regularly reaching depths of 40 feet at the highest positions. Avalanches alone claimed at least 10k lives in this region during that winter. Tens of the thousands more died from explosions, gunfire, accidents, fatigue and the extreme cold (down to 30 degrees below zero). As a result of this tunneling and dynamiting, the south face of Lagazuoi that you see in these pictures looks totally different than it did before the first World War, and people climbing in the scree still occasionally turn up a fragment of human bone. Today, a ski lift and small resort try hard to make this place cheerful again, but on the day we were there, the ski resort hadn't yet opened for the season and the whole place seemed ominously still and quiet. You can freely explore some of the remaining Italian and Austrian tunnels into the mountain, but we didn't have time.

The Michael Players RBV, performing J. J. Kneen's 1913 Manx dialect play, 'A Lil Smook'

 

This picture was taken by Jiri Podobsky at the Manks Concert at the Peel Centenary Centre, 24 February 2018.

The event was organised by the Manx Branch of the Celtic Congress.

Thanks is owed to Jiri Podobsky for his generosity in allowing us to share the pictures here.

 

Culture Vannin exists to promote and support all aspects of culture in the Isle of Man.

www.culturevannin.im

www.facebook.com/culturevannin

www.twitter.com/CultureVannin

 

www.stadsvisioenen.be

In my place over in the northeastern side of the Malaysian peninsular, we call this as “GEDUK” but the standard Malaysian dialect calls it as “tabuh”. It is a kind of drum made out of whole log with desiccated cow hides pinned-up to cap another end of the hollow and to operate as drumming surface. Those days “tabuh” was drummed up to mark and broadcast prayer time at the mosques but now it is not too widely used since the advent of loudspeakers came in as substitute that can be very effective to do similar job.

 

The "tabuh" in the picture is taken at a small mosque in Batang Kali, Selangor, a sleepy town close to the southern part of Perak state. This tabuh is said to be over 100 years old, according to the script written next to it.

 

NOTE: Reminds me of a friend we call him "Awae Geduk" due to his stout and tubby body build.

 

Voor Anna et Maman mocht ik de fantastische Young Adult Sweater Collectie op beeld vastleggen.

De machtige sweaters kwamen tot stand dank zij een samenwerking van Anna et Maman, met Beeldburo & Miss Blush.

Ik ben alvast een super fan!

Meer foto's en links op de blog: www.silviebonne.be/#!Mokkes-Prentes-Keirls-Castards/r68bx...

(c) Silvie Bonne

#iedereenwestvlaams

Bergen op Zoom is called Berrege in the local dialect is a municipality and a city located in the south of the Netherlands in the province Noord Brabant. The city was built on a place where two types of soil meet: sandy soil and marine clay. The sandy soil pushed against the marine clay, accumulating and forming hills over several centuries. People called those hills the Brabantse Wal, literally meaning "wall of Brabant". Zoom refers to the border of this wall and bergen in Dutch means mountains or hills. The name has nothing to do with the little channel the ‘Zoom’, which was later built through Bergen op Zoom. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bergen_op_Zoom

Voor Anna et Maman mocht ik de fantastische Young Adult Sweater Collectie op beeld vastleggen.

De machtige sweaters kwamen tot stand dank zij een samenwerking van Anna et Maman, met Beeldburo & Miss Blush.

Ik ben alvast een super fan!

Meer foto's en links op de blog: www.silviebonne.be/#!Mokkes-Prentes-Keirls-Castards/r68bx...

(c) Silvie Bonne

#iedereenwestvlaams

Hașag, (in the Saxon dialect Hoisoyen) is a village in the commune of Loamneș in Sibiu County, Transylvania, Romania. It is located in the western part of the county, in the Secașelor Plateau. The first documentary mention of the locality dates from 1264. Initially it was a serf village, but in 1516 it appeared as a free village in the seat of Șeica.

"Cape Matapan (Greek: Κάβο Ματαπάς, or Ματαπά in the Maniot dialect), also named as Cape Tainaron (Greek: Ακρωτήριον Ταίναρον), or Cape Tenaro, is situated at the end of the Mani Peninsula, Greece. Cape Matapan is the southernmost point of mainland Greece, and the second southernmost point in mainland Europe. It separates the Messenian Gulf in the west from the Laconian Gulf in the east.

 

"Cape Matapan has been an important place for thousands of years. The tip of Cape Matapan was the site of the ancient town Tenarus, near which there was (and still is) a cave that Greek legends claim was the home of Hades, the god of the dead. The ancient Spartans built several temples there, dedicated to various gods. On the hill situated above the cave, lie the remnants of an ancient temple dedicated to the sea god Poseidon (Νεκρομαντεῖον Ποσειδῶνος). Under the Byzantine Empire, the temple was converted into a Christian church, and Christian rites are conducted there to this day. Cape Matapan was once the place where mercenaries waited to be employed.

 

"At Cape Matapan, the Titanic's would-be rescue ship, the SS Californian, was torpedoed and sunk by German forces on 9 November 1915. In March 1941, a major naval battle, the Battle of Cape Matapan, occurred off the coast of Cape Matapan, between the Royal Navy and the Italian Regia Marina, in which the British emerged victorious in a one-sided encounter. The encounter's main result was to drastically reduce future Italian naval activity in the Eastern Mediterranean.

 

"More recently a lighthouse was constructed, but it is now in disuse."

 

Source: Wikipedia

Dumenza ( Duménsa in Varese dialect ) is an Italian municipality of 1,438 inhabitants in the province of Varese in Lombardy .

 

It is made up of the hamlets of Runo , Due Cossani , Stivigliano, Trezzino, Vignone and Torbera and other various localities.

 

Physical geography

The territory is crossed by the Rio Colmegnino , which originates in the locality of Regordallo ( Due Cossani ) from Mount Colmegnino and flows into Lake Maggiore at the level of the Colmegna di Luino hamlet . However, the valley dug in this way takes the name of Val Dumentina (also called Valle Smeralda due to its green colours). To the north of Colmegnino stands Monte Lema , which with its 1624 meters above sea level is an excellent panoramic peak, the highest in the Luinese area, served by a cable car on the Swiss side , from Miglieglia . In fact, Dumenza borders Switzerland and hosts a pedestrian crossing in Palone (Dumenza). To the north, however, it borders Val Veddasca , which can be accessed by continuing along provincial road 6.

 

Origins of the name

Various theories justify the toponym . The most probable is that it derives from a person's name: in the lists of "fires" (i.e. families) of the municipality, the name Dugmentio appears among some heads of families . It could derive from dux mensae or from loco mensa . In fact, only in one historical document, from another municipality, does it appear as Locomenza .

 

History

Two stone brackets decorated with human faces, found by the parish priest Parapini in the church, date back to 909. They are now found at the base of the tower. But these districts are already mentioned in an 18th century document which testifies how King Liutprand donated the lands of Valtravaglia to the monastery of San Pietro in Ciel d'Oro in Pavia .

 

The bell tower of the church of San Giorgio , in Runo , seems to have had a military role in the period before the year 1000 , during the various barbarian invasions : in fact, the road that led from Varese to Luino and then to Dumenza was the only one that accessed Bellinzona , as the long lake did not exist. It was probably part of a system of towers along these valleys, of which Runo's is the only one surviving.

 

From the 16th century it was under the lordship of the rich and powerful Moriggia family

 

In the Napoleonic era the municipality annexed Runo for the first time . The first city council was elected in 1821 . In 1928 fascism gave the municipality its current extension by incorporating Due Cossani and Runo.

 

Monuments and places of interest

The church of San Nazario.

The church of the Immaculate Conception (of the former institute of the Ursuline nuns).

The church of San Giorgio in Runo

The historic center of Dumenza is characterized by rural houses with large sunny balconies.

 

Stivigliano

Stivigliano maintains its medieval conformation intact, with narrow streets and houses close together. An old turret is visible overlooking the Val Dumentina, evidently for military purposes.

love these series of baby books by www.sibeynostalgic.com/

Meeting with Agnès de Cayeux about Dialector by Chris Marker, in the context of "Iceberg" workspace.

 

“In the margin of the exhibition of Chris Marker’s work, the Iceberg is a workshop, a workspace, a temporary meeting space, with plenty of analogue and digital tools, texts, images, sounds and knowledge. This meeting place, which is open to the public, will become an exhibition space, before it will disappear. During this time, it will have been used by various groups from art colleges, secondary schools and other bodies, as they engage in a conversation with a body of work, that of Chris Marker, and of memories, technical resources, and places, here, in the present, in Brussels, in Belgium.“

 

www.bozar.be/fr/activities/148298-opening-l-iceberg

www.bozar.be/fr/activities/148040-l-iceberg-ou-qu-est-ce-...

"Gott mate mutt," crooned Dr. von Koenigswald.

"Dyot meet mat," echoed "Papa" Monzano.

"God made mud," was what they'd said, each in his own dialect. I will here abandon the dialects of the litany.

"God got lonesome," said Von Koenigswald.

"God got lonesome."

"So God said to some of the mud, 'Sit up!' "

"So God said to some of the mud, 'Sit up!' "

" 'See all I've made,' said God, 'the hills, the sea, the sky, the stars.' "

" 'See all I've made,' said God, 'the hills, the sea, the sky, the stars.' "

"And I was some of the mud that got to sit up and look around."

"And I was some of the mud that got to sit up and look around."

"Lucky me, lucky mud."

"Lucky me, lucky mud." Tears were streaming down "Papa's" cheeks.

"I, mud, sat up and saw what a nice job God had done."

"I, mud, sat up and saw what a nice job God had done."

"Nice going, God!"

"Nice going, God!" "Papa" said it with all his heart.

"Nobody but You could have done it, God! I certainly couldn't have."

"Nobody but You could have done it, God! I certainly couldn't have."

"I feel very unimportant compared to You."

"I feel very unimportant compared to You."

"The only way I can feel the least bit important is to think of all the mud that didn't even get to sit up and look around."

"The only way I can feel the least bit important is to think of all the mud that didn't even get to sit up and look around."

"I got so much, and most mud got so little."

"I got so much, and most mud got so little."

"Deng you vore da on-oh!" cried Von Koenigswald.

"Tz-yenk voo vore lo yon-yo!" wheezed "Papa."

What they had said was, "Thank you for the honor!"

"Now mud lies down again and goes to sleep."

"Now mud lies down again and goes to sleep."

"What memories for mud to have!"

"What memories for mud to have!"

"What interesting other kinds of sitting-up mud I met!"

"What interesting other kinds of sitting-up mud I met!"

"I loved everything I saw!"

"I loved everything I saw!"

"Good night."

"Good night."

"I will go to heaven now."

"I will go to heaven now."

"I can hardly wait..."

"I can hardly wait..."

"To find out for certain what my wampeter was..."

"To find out for certain what my wampeter was..."

"And who was in my karass..."

"And who was in my karass..."

"And all the good things our karass did for you."

"And all the good things our karass did for you."

"Amen."

"Amen."

 

- Kurt Vonnegut, Cat's Cradle

The Unschlitthaus is visible to the left.

 

"Nuremberg (/ˈnjʊərəmbɜːrɡ/ NURE-əm-burg; German: Nürnberg [ˈnʏʁnbɛʁk]; in the local East Franconian dialect: Nämberch [ˈnɛmbɛrç]) is the largest city in Franconia, the second-largest city in the German state of Bavaria, and its 545,000 inhabitants make it the 14th-largest city in Germany.

 

Nuremberg sits on the Pegnitz, which carries the name Regnitz from its confluence with the Rednitz in Fürth onwards (Pegnitz→ Regnitz→ Main→ Rhine→ North Sea), and on the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal, that connects the North Sea to the Black Sea. Lying in the Bavarian administrative region of Middle Franconia, it is the largest city and unofficial capital of the entire cultural region of Franconia. The city is surrounded on three sides by the Reichswald, a large forest, and in the north lies Knoblauchsland (garlic land), an extensive vegetable growing area and cultural landscape.

 

The city forms a continuous conurbation with the neighbouring cities of Fürth, Erlangen and Schwabach, which is the heart of an urban area region with around 1.4 million inhabitants, while the larger Nuremberg Metropolitan Region has a population of approximately 3.6 million. It is the largest city in the East Franconian dialect area (colloquially: "Franconian"; German: Fränkisch).

 

Nuremberg and Fürth were once connected by the Bavarian Ludwig Railway, the first steam-hauled and overall second railway opened in Germany (1835). Today, the U1 of the Nuremberg Subway, which is the first German subway with driverless, automatically moving railcars, runs along this route. Nuremberg Airport (Flughafen Nürnberg "Albrecht Dürer") is the second-busiest airport in Bavaria after Munich Airport, and the tenth-busiest airport of the country.

 

Institutions of higher education in Nuremberg include the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg), Germany's 11th-largest university, with campuses in Erlangen and Nuremberg and a university hospital in Erlangen (Universitätsklinikum Erlangen), Technische Hochschule Nürnberg Georg Simon Ohm and Hochschule für Musik Nürnberg. The Nuremberg exhibition centre (Messe Nürnberg) is one of the biggest convention center companies in Germany and operates worldwide.

 

Nuremberg Castle and the city's walls, with their many towers, are among the most impressive in Europe. Staatstheater Nürnberg is one of the five Bavarian state theatres, showing operas, operettas, musicals, and ballets (main venue: Nuremberg Opera House), plays (main venue: Schauspielhaus Nürnberg), as well as concerts (main venue: Meistersingerhalle). Its orchestra, the Staatsphilharmonie Nürnberg, is Bavaria's second-largest opera orchestra after the Bavarian State Opera's Bavarian State Orchestra in Munich. Nuremberg is the birthplace of Albrecht Dürer and Johann Pachelbel. 1. FC Nürnberg is the most famous football club of the city and one of the most successful football clubs in Germany. Nuremberg was one of the host cities of the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

 

Franconia (German: Franken, pronounced [ˈfʁaŋkŋ̍]; Franconian: Franggn [ˈfrɑŋɡŋ̍]; Bavarian: Frankn) is a region of Germany, characterised by its culture and Franconian dialect (German: Fränkisch).

 

Franconia is made up of the three Regierungsbezirke of Lower, Middle and Upper Franconia in Bavaria, the adjacent, Franconian-speaking, South Thuringia, south of the Thuringian Forest—which constitutes the language boundary between Franconian and Thuringian— and the eastern parts of Heilbronn-Franconia in Baden-Württemberg.

 

Those parts of the Vogtland lying in Saxony (largest city: Plauen) are sometimes regarded as Franconian as well, because the Vogtlandian dialects are mostly East Franconian. The inhabitants of Saxon Vogtland, however, mostly do not consider themselves as Franconian. On the other hand, the inhabitants of the Hessian-speaking parts of Lower Franconia west of the Spessart (largest city: Aschaffenburg) do consider themselves as Franconian, although not speaking the dialect. Heilbronn-Franconia's largest city of Heilbronn and its surrounding areas are South Franconian-speaking, and therefore only sometimes regarded as Franconian. In Hesse, the east of the Fulda District is Franconian-speaking, and parts of the Oden Forest District are sometimes regarded as Franconian for historical reasons, but a Franconian identity did not develop there.

 

Franconia's largest city and unofficial capital is Nuremberg, which is contiguous with Erlangen and Fürth, with which it forms the Franconian conurbation with around 1.3 million inhabitants. Other important Franconian cities are Würzburg, Bamberg, Bayreuth, Ansbach and Coburg in Bavaria, Suhl and Meiningen in Thuringia, and Schwäbisch Hall in Baden-Württemberg.

 

The German word Franken—Franconians—also refers to the ethnic group, which is mainly to be found in this region. They are to be distinguished from the Germanic people of the Franks, and historically formed their easternmost settlement area. The origins of Franconia lie in the settlement of the Franks from the 6th century in the area probably populated until then mainly by the Elbe Germanic people in the Main river area, known from the 9th century as East Francia (Francia Orientalis). In the Middle Ages the region formed much of the eastern part of the Duchy of Franconia and, from 1500, the Franconian Circle. The restructuring of the south German states by Napoleon, after the demise of the Holy Roman Empire, saw most of Franconia awarded to Bavaria." - info from Wikipedia.

 

Summer 2019 I did a solo cycling tour across Europe through 12 countries over the course of 3 months. I began my adventure in Edinburgh, Scotland and finished in Florence, Italy cycling 8,816 km. During my trip I took 47,000 photos.

 

Now on Instagram.

 

Become a patron to my photography on Patreon or donate.

Great Hospital and St Helen, Bishopgate, Norwich

 

Grieve not for her, She is gone to Rest,

May it be a portion to those that She have left

This is the first of a few photos I did for a local band, Questions in Dialect. They're about to head out west and tour.

 

Questions in Dialect

ARTillerie (ADN Dialect)

Director Artístico Angelo Dello Iacono

Interpretes Philia Maillardeet, Angelo Dello Iacono, Carlos Martínez y Vincent Morelle

Música Stephane Friedli

Issu de Melbourne (Australie) Curse ov Dialect est formé des chanteurs Raceless, Vulk Makedonski, Aturungi, August The 2nd et du DJ Paso Bionic. Constituée d’une trame de fond sonore diverse et variée, leur musique s’offre comme une tapisserie hétérogène de cultures. Leur rap politique à l’écriture tranchante se donne dans un flux unique. Leurs concerts sont de vraies performances où l’énergie acharnée s’accompagne de costumes insensés. Tournée européenne, entre autres, pour ces australiens déjantés.

 

www.mushrecords.com/artist/CurseOvDialect.php

www.myspace.com/thecurseovdialect

"Sri Chum" in northern Thai dialect means "bodhi tree".

 

This is the biggest Burmese temple in

Thailand and is known to have been built by a wealthy Burmese in 1892.

 

Important monuments to be found in this temple are a golden stupa enshrining Buddha relics brought from Burma in 1906, a Vihara (chapel) enshrining a Burmes-styled Buddha image. The chapel is constructed of wood and bricks,and has a roof with pointed wooded eaves. The door panels, articulately designed with perforations, are made of teak. Inside the chapel are mural paintings depicting scenes of the Lord Buddha's life as well as a draft of the temple's construction plan.

 

Tak is one of the western provinces (changwat) of Thailand. Neighbouring provinces are (from north clockwise) Mae Hong Son, Chiang Mai, Lamphun, Lampang, Sukhothai, Kamphaeng Phet, Nakhon Sawan, Uthai Thani and Kanchanaburi. The western edge of the province has a long boundary with Kayin State of Myanmar (Burma).

The Michael Players RBV, performing J. J. Kneen's 1913 Manx dialect play, 'A Lil Smook'

 

This picture was taken by Jiri Podobsky at the Manks Concert at the Peel Centenary Centre, 24 February 2018.

The event was organised by the Manx Branch of the Celtic Congress.

Thanks is owed to Jiri Podobsky for his generosity in allowing us to share the pictures here.

 

Culture Vannin exists to promote and support all aspects of culture in the Isle of Man.

www.culturevannin.im

www.facebook.com/culturevannin

www.twitter.com/CultureVannin

 

The carnival of Offida (in dialect offidano "Lu bov fint" and "Li Vlurd").

The Carnival takes place every year according to a ritual set by tradition: officially begins on January 17, the day of Saint Anthony the Abbot, and ends the day of the Ashes.

On the Friday (the first afternoon) a rudimentary bove (bull) consisting of a wooden and iron frame, covered with a white cloth and carried by a couple of men, starts to wander through the central streets of the town.

In the Palazzo Popolo the crowd, dressed with the guazzarò, a very simple white and wide dress once used for country work, encourage the bull with screams and shouts giving rise to movements that are very reminiscent of a bullfight. The chaos caused by sudden changes of direction, chases and shouts of the crowd also generate moments of tension and panic usually resolved with hilarity also thanks to another fundamental ingredient of the party that is red wine (and vin cotto), consumed copiously by all the participants. In the dark, tiredness and glamor dictated by repeated drinking, the party ends with the symbolic killing of the bull where they are made to touch the horns on a column of the town hall. The final act is a procession of the dead bull through the streets of the village singing the anthem of the carnival Offidano.

non ho ancora capito bene il senso di questa intallazione che campeggia per Milano ormai da qualche settimana. "CowParade" si chiama. Non ho ancora deciso se questa iniziativa mi piace o meno. Da una parte mi sembra un (bel) modo di vivere la città sotto un punto di vista diverso, dall'altra mi sembra una manifestazione piuttosto sterile. Sarà perchè dove sono cresciuto di mucche ce n'è in abbondanza, ed oggi non mi sembrano uno spettacolo così inusuale. Però, che muggissero in dialetto, non ci avevo mai fatto caso....

Meeting with Agnès de Cayeux about Dialector by Chris Marker, in the context of "Iceberg" workspace.

 

“In the margin of the exhibition of Chris Marker’s work, the Iceberg is a workshop, a workspace, a temporary meeting space, with plenty of analogue and digital tools, texts, images, sounds and knowledge. This meeting place, which is open to the public, will become an exhibition space, before it will disappear. During this time, it will have been used by various groups from art colleges, secondary schools and other bodies, as they engage in a conversation with a body of work, that of Chris Marker, and of memories, technical resources, and places, here, in the present, in Brussels, in Belgium.“

 

www.bozar.be/fr/activities/148298-opening-l-iceberg

www.bozar.be/fr/activities/148040-l-iceberg-ou-qu-est-ce-...

Schollenmühle, Bannriet Altstätten (Switzerland).