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Me, eleven or twelve with my 52 dollar Schwann that i got at Coral Sea Village when i was 10. ( the bike is red. )
This is later, at Guadalcanal village. This is around the time i was learning the radio stuff from Gorge Bowley, and tried to buy a wire recorder. ( They were probably being phased out. I finally got the first tape recorder at the Pleasant Hill house and got the second one- needed for editing- in Boston. )
From the grownups point of view, this apartment ( behind the camera ) in a building like the one in the upper left- was better than living in half of a quonset hut at Coral Sea.
But both places were good.: the old one had the ex-volcano to play on; this one had the grassy field and the basketball court, where i made a million shots.
This is still Mare Island, but we are just outside the main gate, near the causeway to Vallejo.
…
It looks like I’m showing off the bike.
I was going to school on the Navy bus, to Saint Vincent Ferrer’s Catholic school for a few years until the eighth grade.
Then we moved to Pleasant Hill, to 1985 Peggy Drive.
You can still look up that house on Google Earth. It’s pretty much the same, but it has a big tree on the lawn that wasn’t there. That tree would have saved me a lot of mowing, but the house was new when we moved in. The workers threw away the cardboard refrigerator boxes in the unused field nearby. I like to think that they did it for the kids. Boy, did we use them.! Most of the boxes were laid horizontally for our fort, but one was set up vertically for a telescope. We had the fort for awhile, until the other kids wrecked it.
I went to Concord High for the freshman year, while they were building Pleasant Hill High, where i went, for sophomore and junior year.
Then we moved to Boston ( again ) and Dad started working at EG&G on the testing of the Bomb.
I went to Dorchester High. I won the Boston Science Fair, and tied for first at the Massachusetts Science Fair. *
I was headed to BU, probably because of that, but i decided for Art, instead.
That was senior year of High School, before starting at the Museum School.
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* The Science Fair project was a 26 minute, taped radio program called, “Electronics in Music”, about what people like Les Paul were up to, adding the new tech to popular music.
It explained the trick of adding a second recording head to a tape recorder to make a reverberating echo. It made the sound of a tree falling with the slowed down sound of blting celery.
Stuff like that. It won the science fair in a science town.
For some reason, that did not impress my Dad, as i expected it to. **
( … but, then, i just ended a sentence with a preposition. )
___
Don note-
I was at st. Vincent’s from the second half of the 3rd grade to the 8th grade. Third grade started in Federal Terrace, the public school in Vallejo, because St. Vincent’s didn’t have room till later in the year.
But that means that i was on Mare Island much longer than i thought.
Boston ( Dorchester High) was 1954. I don’t actively remember that date. The one i do remember is the next year, because i started at the Museum School in September of 1955.
( the other year that i actively remember is 1952. That is the year ( at Peggy Drive that the first tape recorder finally arrived from Radio Shack [ Wilcox-gay, with 7 inch reels ] ).
I was recording when Dad got home and said to Mom in the living room, “ I got my orders, and they’re good “, and told her that he was going to start work on the testing of the Bomb. Mom was very excited.
So, what about 1952 to 1954.? Did it take two years for Dad to get us to boston.? Puzzling. But 1952 is definite, because i mentioned that date on this first recording that included Dad’s announcement. And 1955 is definite. I don’t know how to figure that out.
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** - more on my Dad. There may be a clue, here, because he actually talked to me about an impression he had of me… a surprise that made him look at me twice.:
I seemed to be wanted as a student at Boston University. Don’t know how i found that out. I don’t think i was looking at BU, myself. I figure it was winning the science fairs that made them look at me.
After that, it was between BU and the Museum School.
But Dad went with me to the interview, thinking that he was going to speak for me, but i handled the meeting.
He said, after that, that he didn’t know i could do that, and that gave me a lift.
As it turned out, i chose the Museum School, but I’m glad that meeting happened. It helped me with Dad.
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2EDC348F-AD98-4F6B-980B-A3E1D9D97AEE.
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ROMA ARCHEOLOGIA e RESTAURO ARCHITETTURA: Rome, Largo di Torre Argentina - Site Where Julius Caesar Was Stabbed Will Finally Open to the Public. SMITHSONIAN.COM (MARCH 5, 2019).
ROME - Site Where Julius Caesar Was Stabbed Will Finally Open to the Public. SMITHSONIAN.COM (MARCH 5, 2019).
The spot where Julius Caesar was murdered by members of the Roman Senate is one of the most infamous sites in world history. As a tourist spot, however, it’s infamous in a different way: The ruins in the Largo di Torre Argentina, where dozens of stray cats now call home, are currently crumbling and fenced off from the public. But that's set to change. Julia Buckley at Conde Nast Traveler reports the area will soon undergo renovations before opening to the public in 2021.
Rome’s mayor, Virginia Raggi, announced that the restoration is being funded by the fashion house Bulgari, which will drop about $1.1 million on the project, funding earmarked to go toward cleaning up and securing the ruins, building walkways through the site and installing public restrooms, TheLocal.it reports.
Though the spot of Caesar’s murder was immortalized by ancient historians and, later, William Shakespeare, it was actually covered over by the expanding city of Rome and lost to history until the 1920s. That’s when Italian dictator Benito Mussolini razed many sections of modern Rome to unearth the archaeology underneath to tangibly tie his dictatorship to the might of the Roman Empire. The propaganda effort uncovered four temples and part of the Theater of Pompey, a massive public work where the Roman senate met during the era of Julius Caesar.
Following World War II, the Largo di Torre Argentina was among the many sites that languished due to lack of interest and funding. In recent years, economic stagnation, corruption and disfunction have plagued Rome, leaving little resources available for now badly needed historic preservation projects. In search of funders, the city has started partnering with prominent businesses on the projects, who can foot the bills for restorations. Bulgari itself previously paid $1.6 million to restore Rome’s famous Baroque-era Spanish Steps. The fashion house Fendi, meanwhile, funded a clean-up of the Trevi Fountain, and the luxury brand Tods paid for half of the massive restoration of the Colosseum, which reopened in 2016.
The site of Caesar’s death is not where casual readers of Roman history might assume. In many ways, dying on the doorstep of Pompey’s great public work was ironic. For centuries, the Roman senate met in the Curia, or meeting house, on the Comitium, ancient Rome’s primary open-air meeting space. While the senate house experienced several fires and restorations over the generations, changing names depending on who paid to rebuild it, it was always in the same location. But in 52 B.C., Publius Clodius Pulcher, the rabble-rousing tribune of the plebs and Caesar’s ally against the senatorial class, was killed by his political rival Milo following several years of what was more or less gang warfare on the streets of Rome. His rowdy followers decided to cremate his body in the senate house, burning it to the ground in the process.
Caesar took on the task and expense of building a new senate house that he named, of course, after himself. But building the Curia Julia took time, so the senate temporarily moved to the Curia Pompeiana, part of Pompey the Great’s massive public theater. Pompey, once Rome’s most accomplished general and one of its richest citizens, had, notably, been defeated by Caesar in a civil war in 48 B.C. before being murdered in Egypt by Caesar’s allies.
After taking on the title of dictator and committing Rome to an expensive and many believed foolhardy plan to conquer the Parthian empire in the east, many senators believed killing Caesar was the only way to re-establish republican traditions and the rule of law. That sentiment came to head in 44 B.C. when, on the Ides of March, a group of senators stabbed him to death in Pompey's Curia. The republic was not instantly restored as they planned—instead the assassination set off events leading to Julius Caesar’s great nephew, Octavian, becoming Augustus Caesar, first emperor of Rome. He completed work on the Curia Julia and moved the senate back to its traditional home, though the legislative body was essentially just an imperial rubber stamp in the centuries that followed.
Plans to restore the site of Caesar’s death have fallen through before. In 2012, Jennie Cohen at History.com reports, Spanish archaeologists claimed they found the exact spot where Caesar was killed in the ruins at Largo di Torre Argentina, and that a restoration effort would be undertaken in 2013. But that project never materialized.
Now, Bulgari is on board to see the project through. But a big question remains: What will happen to all the cats—which we assume are the reincarnations of the Roman senators who conspired against Caesar—once the Largo di Torre Argentina is refurbished?
Luckily, cat colony volunteers who care for the felines already have an answer. “The works will not disturb the historic feline colony, otherwise protected by the laws of the State and the Municipality,” volunteer Silvia Zuccheri assures TheLocal.it. That’s good news, otherwise there might be another meow tiny ahead.
Fonte | source:
-- SMITHSONIAN.COM (MARCH 5, 2019).
www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/site-where-julius-caesa...
Foto | fonte | source:
-- Ramongo Guajiro Santamaría | Facebook (15/03/2019).
It is funny to see how the squirrel rotates the nut to find the way it fit the mouth. From the last photowalk. Info: My canon 500d:) | Erka's canon 70-200 4f:) | Lightroom
Finally the preorder for my dream <3 I already sent my aplication for Crescent.
Oh how I've waited ever since they bublished her <3
She'll probably be my Masha ~
finally printed my first photos in the darkroom. all the photos were taken with my konica big mini and self developed kodak tri-x 400 - apart from the left and middle photo on the top row. they were taken with a canon a1 and agfa apx 100.
PIPING PLOVER: Finally this angel made our life list! Can you get any more adorable! Photo is heavily cropped & we were extremely careful not to get close & disturb this angel. Hampton, Va 3-25-15
This was taken in the last weeks of through operation on the Bury line to Manchester Victoria, two of the lines GMPTE liveried class 504 units pass over the River Erwell with a service to Manchester.
My Ford Escort of the day too!
The Class 504 was a unique type of electric multiple unit that ran on 1200 V DC third rail with side-contact current collection, all other BR third rail units had the electric "shoe" on top of the rail. The type was used only between Manchester and Bury. They were built in 1959 at the BR workshops at Wolverton, and were finally withdrawn on the 16th August 1991 when the line was closed for conversion to form part of the Manchester Metrolink light rail system.
30th May 1991
THAC XIII is going well, but slowly. Here's a nice frame.
I don't think it's cropped right, but I don't really care right now.
SEE ORIGINAL--- Bumble bee buzzing around our porch. Shot many pictures. This was cropped from an image as small a the head on this bee.
Something I've always wondered is how my words get lost traveling the distance of my mind to my fingertips. I wonder sometimes if some of them get distracted by the soft hum of my heart, and if others get caught in my ribcage. Many times they've gotten stuck in my throat, like a fifteen car pile up causing me to stutter. Some of them have lived inside my memory for so long, it's become like a nest and the words are like birds scared to fly for the first time. And, yes! Like a revelation, I realize maybe this is the cause of uneasiness I get sometimes that I can't make sense of - it's my words, leaving my mind for the first time, clumsy and unprepared for what's to come. I take a deep breathe and sigh with ease, and my body whispers comfort. And maybe that feeling I get sometimes when it's like swallowing knives, is the root of ideas scratching at my throat towards an escape, to lash out at the first chance they get. I swallow them back and they tumble backwards, abrasive and ugly, to the pit of my stomach where they can either gather their energy and try again or rot in defeat.
photo & writing © by juliette e. lacour
Took this photo 4 years ago, and I didn't have the skills to post-process it, because it was a bad shot. Shot Jpeg, and full of haze by direct sunlight hitting the lens.
New york
July 2010
I finally finished scanning in all new york photos, well minus the Polaroids and Instax photos because i don't really scan them often.
As I have mentioned, I'm not keen on photographing sunsets, they are great to admire and be there with, but generally, in my opinion, few are quite as good in photo form... Plus, 3 things have to occur together for me...
1) I need to be there for a start
2) I need to have my camera with me
3) I need to be in a place where I can take the shot
Well, the top 2 aren't bad here. had I driven further I would have missed all the action :) Instead I pulled over to the side of teh road and set up quickly... it was only about 5 minutes in I realised why cars coming my way were slowing down... I looked a bit like a speed camera copper :)
Tana Toraja Regency (Indonesian for Torajaland or Land of the Toraja, abbreviated Tator) is a regency (kabupaten) of South Sulawesi Province of Indonesia, and home to the Toraja ethnic group. The local government seat is in Makale, while the center of Toraja culture is in Rantepao. But now, Tana Toraja has been divided to two regencies that consist of Tana Toraja with its capital at Makale and North toraja with its capital at Rantepao.
The Tana Toraja boundary was determined by the Dutch East Indies government in 1909. In 1926, Tana Toraja was under the administration of Bugis state, Luwu. The regentschap (or regency) status was given on 8 October 1946, the last regency given by the Dutch. Since 1984, Tana Toraja has been named as the second tourist destination after Bali by the Ministry of Tourism, Indonesia. Since then, hundreds of thousands of foreign visitors have visited this regency. In addition, numerous Western anthropologists have come to Tana Toraja to study the indigenous culture and people of Toraja.
GEOGRAPHY
Tana Toraja is centrally placed in the island of Sulawesi, 300 km north of Makassar, the provincial capital of South Sulawesi. It lies between latitude of 2°-3° South and longitude 119°-120° East (center: 3°S 120°ECoordinates: 3°S 120°E). The total area (since the separation of the new regency of North Toraja) is 2,054.30 km², about 4.4% of the total area of South Sulawesi province. The topography of Tana Toraja is mountainous; its minimum elevation is 150 m, while the maximum is 3,083 above the sea level.
ADMINISTRATION
Tana Toraja Regency in 2010 comprised nineteen administrative Districts (Kecamatan), tabulated below with their 2010 Census population.
The Torajans are an ethnic group indigenous to a mountainous region of South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Their population is approximately 1,100,000, of whom 450,000 live in the regency of Tana Toraja ("Land of Toraja").[1] Most of the population is Christian, and others are Muslim or have local animist beliefs known as aluk ("the way"). The Indonesian government has recognised this animistic belief as Aluk To Dolo ("Way of the Ancestors").
The word Toraja comes from the Buginese language term to riaja, meaning "people of the uplands". The Dutch colonial government named the people Toraja in 1909. Torajans are renowned for their elaborate funeral rites, burial sites carved into rocky cliffs, massive peaked-roof traditional houses known as tongkonan, and colourful wood carvings. Toraja funeral rites are important social events, usually attended by hundreds of people and lasting for several days.
Before the 20th century, Torajans lived in autonomous villages, where they practised animism and were relatively untouched by the outside world. In the early 1900s, Dutch missionaries first worked to convert Torajan highlanders to Christianity. When the Tana Toraja regency was further opened to the outside world in the 1970s, it became an icon of tourism in Indonesia: it was exploited by tourism development and studied by anthropologists. By the 1990s, when tourism peaked, Toraja society had changed significantly, from an agrarian model—in which social life and customs were outgrowths of the Aluk To Dolo—to a largely Christian society. Today, tourism and remittances from migrant Torajans have made for major changes in the Toraja highland, giving the Toraja a celebrity status within Indonesia and enhancing Toraja ethnic group pride.
ETHNIC IDENTITY
The Torajan people had little notion of themselves as a distinct ethnic group before the 20th century. Before Dutch colonisation and Christianisation, Torajans, who lived in highland areas, identified with their villages and did not share a broad sense of identity. Although complexes of rituals created linkages between highland villages, there were variations in dialects, differences in social hierarchies, and an array of ritual practices in the Sulawesi highland region. "Toraja" (from the coastal languages' to, meaning people; and riaja, uplands) was first used as a lowlander expression for highlanders. As a result, "Toraja" initially had more currency with outsiders—such as the Bugis and Makassarese, who constitute a majority of the lowland of Sulawesi—than with insiders. The Dutch missionaries' presence in the highlands gave rise to the Toraja ethnic consciousness in the Sa'dan Toraja region, and this shared identity grew with the rise of tourism in the Tana Toraja Regency. Since then, South Sulawesi has four main ethnic groups—the Bugis (the majority, including shipbuilders and seafarers), the Makassarese (lowland traders and seafarers), the Mandarese (traders and fishermen), and the Toraja (highland rice cultivators).
HISTORY
From the 17th century, the Dutch established trade and political control on Sulawesi through the Dutch East Indies Company. Over two centuries, they ignored the mountainous area in the central Sulawesi, where Torajans lived, because access was difficult and it had little productive agricultural land. In the late 19th century, the Dutch became increasingly concerned about the spread of Islam in the south of Sulawesi, especially among the Makassarese and Bugis peoples. The Dutch saw the animist highlanders as potential Christians. In the 1920s, the Reformed Missionary Alliance of the Dutch Reformed Church began missionary work aided by the Dutch colonial government. In addition to introducing Christianity, the Dutch abolished slavery and imposed local taxes. A line was drawn around the Sa'dan area and called Tana Toraja ("the land of Toraja"). Tana Toraja was first a subdivision of the Luwu kingdom that had claimed the area. In 1946, the Dutch granted Tana Toraja a regentschap, and it was recognised in 1957 as one of the regencies of Indonesia.
Early Dutch missionaries faced strong opposition among Torajans, especially among the elite, because the abolition of their profitable slave trade had angered them. Some Torajans were forcibly relocated to the lowlands by the Dutch, where they could be more easily controlled. Taxes were kept high, undermining the wealth of the elites. Ultimately, the Dutch influence did not subdue Torajan culture, and only a few Torajans were converted. In 1950, only 10% of the population had converted to Christianity.
In the 1930s, Muslim lowlanders attacked the Torajans, resulting in widespread Christian conversion among those who sought to align themselves with the Dutch for political protection and to form a movement against the Bugis and Makassarese Muslims. Between 1951 and 1965 (following Indonesian independence), southern Sulawesi faced a turbulent period as the Darul Islam separatist movement fought for an Islamic state in Sulawesi. The 15 years of guerrilla warfare led to massive conversions to Christianity.
Alignment with the Indonesian government, however, did not guarantee safety for the Torajans. In 1965, a presidential decree required every Indonesian citizen to belong to one of five officially recognised religions: Islam, Christianity (Protestantism and Catholicism), Hinduism, or Buddhism. The Torajan religious belief (aluk) was not legally recognised, and the Torajans raised their voices against the law. To make aluk accord with the law, it had to be accepted as part of one of the official religions. In 1969, Aluk To Dolo ("the way of ancestors") was legalised as a sect of Agama Hindu Dharma, the official name of Hinduism in Indonesia.
SOCIETY
There are three main types of affiliation in Toraja society: family, class and religion.
FAMILY AFFILIATION
Family is the primary social and political grouping in Torajan society. Each village is one extended family, the seat of which is the tongkonan, a traditional Torajan house. Each tongkonan has a name, which becomes the name of the village. The familial dons maintain village unity. Marriage between distant cousins (fourth cousins and beyond) is a common practice that strengthens kinship. Toraja society prohibits marriage between close cousins (up to and including the third cousin)—except for nobles, to prevent the dispersal of property. Kinship is actively reciprocal, meaning that the extended family helps each other farm, share buffalo rituals, and pay off debts.
Each person belongs to both the mother's and the father's families, the only bilateral family line in Indonesia. Children, therefore, inherit household affiliation from both mother and father, including land and even family debts. Children's names are given on the basis of kinship, and are usually chosen after dead relatives. Names of aunts, uncles and cousins are commonly referred to in the names of mothers, fathers and siblings.
Before the start of the formal administration of Toraja villages by the Tana Toraja Regency, each Toraja village was autonomous. In a more complex situation, in which one Toraja family could not handle their problems alone, several villages formed a group; sometimes, villages would unite against other villages. Relationship between families was expressed through blood, marriage, and shared ancestral houses (tongkonan), practically signed by the exchange of water buffalo and pigs on ritual occasions. Such exchanges not only built political and cultural ties between families but defined each person's place in a social hierarchy: who poured palm wine, who wrapped a corpse and prepared offerings, where each person could or could not sit, what dishes should be used or avoided, and even what piece of meat constituted one's share.
CLASS AFFILIATION
In early Toraja society, family relationships were tied closely to social class. There were three strata: nobles, commoners, and slaves (slavery was abolished in 1909 by the Dutch East Indies government). Class was inherited through the mother. It was taboo, therefore, to marry "down" with a woman of lower class. On the other hand, marrying a woman of higher class could improve the status of the next generation. The nobility's condescending attitude toward the commoners is still maintained today for reasons of family prestige.
Nobles, who were believed to be direct descendants of the descended person from heaven, lived in tongkonans, while commoners lived in less lavish houses (bamboo shacks called banua). Slaves lived in small huts, which had to be built around their owner's tongkonan. Commoners might marry anyone, but nobles preferred to marry in-family to maintain their status. Sometimes nobles married Bugis or Makassarese nobles. Commoners and slaves were prohibited from having death feasts. Despite close kinship and status inheritance, there was some social mobility, as marriage or change in wealth could affect an individuals status. Wealth was counted by the ownership of water buffaloes.
Slaves in Toraja society were family property. Sometimes Torajans decided to become slaves when they incurred a debt, pledging to work as payment. Slaves could be taken during wars, and slave trading was common. Slaves could buy their freedom, but their children still inherited slave status. Slaves were prohibited from wearing bronze or gold, carving their houses, eating from the same dishes as their owners, or having sex with free women—a crime punishable by death.
RELIGIOUS AFFILATION
Toraja's indigenous belief system is polytheistic animism, called aluk, or "the way" (sometimes translated as "the law"). In the Toraja myth, the ancestors of Torajan people came down from heaven using stairs, which were then used by the Torajans as a communication medium with Puang Matua, the Creator. The cosmos, according to aluk, is divided into the upper world (heaven), the world of man (earth), and the underworld. At first, heaven and earth were married, then there was a darkness, a separation, and finally the light. Animals live in the underworld, which is represented by rectangular space enclosed by pillars, the earth is for mankind, and the heaven world is located above, covered with a saddle-shaped roof. Other Toraja gods include Pong Banggai di Rante (god of Earth), Indo' Ongon-Ongon (a goddess who can cause earthquakes), Pong Lalondong (god of death), and Indo' Belo Tumbang (goddess of medicine); there are many more.
The earthly authority, whose words and actions should be cleaved to both in life (agriculture) and death (funerals), is called to minaa (an aluk priest). Aluk is not just a belief system; it is a combination of law, religion, and habit. Aluk governs social life, agricultural practices, and ancestral rituals. The details of aluk may vary from one village to another. One common law is the requirement that death and life rituals be separated. Torajans believe that performing death rituals might ruin their corpses if combined with life rituals. The two rituals are equally important. During the time of the Dutch missionaries, Christian Torajans were prohibited from attending or performing life rituals, but were allowed to perform death rituals. Consequently, Toraja's death rituals are still practised today, while life rituals have diminished.
CULTURE
TONGKONAN
Tongkonan are the traditional Torajan ancestral houses. They stand high on wooden piles, topped with a layered split-bamboo roof shaped in a sweeping curved arc, and they are incised with red, black, and yellow detailed wood carvings on the exterior walls. The word "tongkonan" comes from the Torajan tongkon ("to sit").
Tongkonan are the center of Torajan social life. The rituals associated with the tongkonan are important expressions of Torajan spiritual life, and therefore all family members are impelled to participate, because symbolically the tongkonan represents links to their ancestors and to living and future kin. According to Torajan myth, the first tongkonan was built in heaven on four poles, with a roof made of Indian cloth. When the first Torajan ancestor descended to earth, he imitated the house and held a large ceremony.
The construction of a tongkonan is laborious work and is usually done with the help of the extended family. There are three types of tongkonan. The tongkonan layuk is the house of the highest authority, used as the "center of government". The tongkonan pekamberan belongs to the family members who have some authority in local traditions. Ordinary family members reside in the tongkonan batu. The exclusivity to the nobility of the tongkonan is diminishing as many Torajan commoners find lucrative employment in other parts of Indonesia. As they send back money to their families, they enable the construction of larger tongkonan.
Architecture in the style of a tongkonan is still very common. Various administration buildings were built in this style in recent years, e.g. the Kecamatan building in Rantepao.
WOOD CARVINGS
To express social and religious concepts, Torajans carve wood, calling it Pa'ssura (or "the writing"). Wood carvings are therefore Toraja's cultural manifestation.
Each carving receives a special name, and common motifs are animals and plants that symbolise some virtue. For example, water plants and animals, such as crabs, tadpoles and water weeds, are commonly found to symbolise fertility. In some areas noble elders claim these symbols refer to strength of noble family, but not everyone agrees. The overall meaning of groups of carved motifs on houses remains debated and tourism has further complicated these debates because some feel a uniform explanation must be presented to tourists. Torajan wood carvings are composed of numerous square panels, each of which can represent various things, for example buffaloes as a wish of wealth for the family; a knot and a box, symbolizing the hope that all of the family's offspring will be happy and live in harmony; aquatic animals, indicating the need for fast and hard work, just like moving on the surface of water.
Regularity and order are common features in Toraja wood carving (see table below), as well as abstracts and geometrical designs. Nature is frequently used as the basis of Toraja's ornaments, because nature is full of abstractions and geometries with regularities and ordering. Toraja's ornaments have been studied in ethnomathematics to reveal their mathematical structure, but Torajans base this art only on approximations. To create an ornament, bamboo sticks are used as a geometrical tool.
FUNERAL RITES
In Toraja society, the funeral ritual is the most elaborate and expensive event. The richer and more powerful the individual, the more expensive is the funeral. In the aluk religion, only nobles have the right to have an extensive death feast. The death feast of a nobleman is usually attended by thousands and lasts for several days. A ceremonial site, called rante, is usually prepared in a large, grassy field where shelters for audiences, rice barns, and other ceremonial funeral structures are specially made by the deceased's family. Flute music, funeral chants, songs and poems, and crying and wailing are traditional Toraja expressions of grief with the exceptions of funerals for young children, and poor, low-status adults.
The ceremony is often held weeks, months, or years after the death so that the deceased's family can raise the significant funds needed to cover funeral expenses. Torajans traditionally believe that death is not a sudden, abrupt event, but a gradual process toward Puya (the land of souls, or afterlife). During the waiting period, the body of the deceased is wrapped in several layers of cloth and kept under the tongkonan. The soul of the deceased is thought to linger around the village until the funeral ceremony is completed, after which it begins its journey to Puya.
Another component of the ritual is the slaughter of water buffalo. The more powerful the person who died, the more buffalo are slaughtered at the death feast. Buffalo carcasses, including their heads, are usually lined up on a field waiting for their owner, who is in the "sleeping stage". Torajans believe that the deceased will need the buffalo to make the journey and that they will be quicker to arrive at Puya if they have many buffalo. Slaughtering tens of water buffalo and hundreds of pigs using a machete is the climax of the elaborate death feast, with dancing and music and young boys who catch spurting blood in long bamboo tubes. Some of the slaughtered animals are given by guests as "gifts", which are carefully noted because they will be considered debts of the deceased's family. However, a cockfight, known as bulangan londong, is an integral part of the ceremony. As with the sacrifice of the buffalo and the pigs, the cockfight is considered sacred because it involves the spilling of blood on the earth. In particular, the tradition requires the sacrifice of at least three chickens. However, it is common for at least 25 pairs of chickens to be set against each other in the context of the ceremony.
There are three methods of burial: the coffin may be laid in a cave or in a carved stone grave, or hung on a cliff. It contains any possessions that the deceased will need in the afterlife. The wealthy are often buried in a stone grave carved out of a rocky cliff. The grave is usually expensive and takes a few months to complete. In some areas, a stone cave may be found that is large enough to accommodate a whole family. A wood-carved effigy, called Tau tau, is usually placed in the cave looking out over the land. The coffin of a baby or child may be hung from ropes on a cliff face or from a tree. This hanging grave usually lasts for years, until the ropes rot and the coffin falls to the ground.
In the ritual called Ma'Nene, that takes place each year in August, the bodies of the deceased are exhumed to be washed, groomed and dressed in new clothes. The mummies are then walked around the village.
DANNCE AND MUSIC
Torajans perform dances on several occasions, most often during their elaborate funeral ceremonies. They dance to express their grief, and to honour and even cheer the deceased person because he is going to have a long journey in the afterlife. First, a group of men form a circle and sing a monotonous chant throughout the night to honour the deceased (a ritual called Ma'badong). This is considered by many Torajans to be the most important component of the funeral ceremony. On the second funeral day, the Ma'randing warrior dance is performed to praise the courage of the deceased during life. Several men perform the dance with a sword, a large shield made from buffalo skin, a helmet with a buffalo horn, and other ornamentation. The Ma'randing dance precedes a procession in which the deceased is carried from a rice barn to the rante, the site of the funeral ceremony. During the funeral, elder women perform the Ma'katia dance while singing a poetic song and wearing a long feathered costume. The Ma'akatia dance is performed to remind the audience of the generosity and loyalty of the deceased person. After the bloody ceremony of buffalo and pig slaughter, a group of boys and girls clap their hands while performing a cheerful dance called Ma'dondan.
As in other agricultural societies, Torajans dance and sing during harvest time. The Ma'bugi dance celebrates the thanksgiving event, and the Ma'gandangi dance is performed while Torajans are pounding rice. There are several war dances, such as the Manimbong dance performed by men, followed by the Ma'dandan dance performed by women. The aluk religion governs when and how Torajans dance. A dance called Ma'bua can be performed only once every 12 years. Ma'bua is a major Toraja ceremony in which priests wear a buffalo head and dance around a sacred tree.
A traditional musical instrument of the Toraja is a bamboo flute called a Pa'suling (suling is an Indonesian word for flute). This six-holed flute (not unique to the Toraja) is played at many dances, such as the thanksgiving dance Ma'bondensan, where the flute accompanies a group of shirtless, dancing men with long fingernails. The Toraja have indigenous musical instruments, such as the Pa'pelle (made from palm leaves) and the Pa'karombi (the Torajan version of a jaw harp). The Pa'pelle is played during harvest time and at house inauguration ceremonies.
COGENDER VIEWS
Among the Saʼadan (eastern Toraja) in the island of Sulawesi (Celebes), Indonesia, there are homosexual male toburake tambolang shamans; although among their neighbors the Mamasa (western Toraja) there are instead only heterosexual female toburake shamanesses.
LANGUAGE
The ethnic Toraja language is dominant in Tana Toraja with the main language as the Sa'dan Toraja. Although the national Indonesian language is the official language and is spoken in the community, all elementary schools in Tana Toraja teach Toraja language.
Language varieties of Toraja, including Kalumpang, Mamasa, Tae, Talondo, Toala, and Toraja-Sa'dan, belong to the Malayo-Polynesian language from the Austronesian family. At the outset, the isolated geographical nature of Tana Toraja formed many dialects between the Toraja languages themselves. After the formal administration of Tana Toraja, some Toraja dialects have been influenced by other languages through the transmigration program, introduced since the colonialism period, and it has been a major factor in the linguistic variety of Toraja languages.
A prominent attribute of Toraja language is the notion of grief. The importance of death ceremony in Toraja culture has characterised their languages to express intricate degrees of grief and mourning. The Toraja language contains many terms referring to sadness, longing, depression, and mental pain. Giving a clear expression of the psychological and physical effect of loss is a catharsis and sometimes lessens the pain of grief itself.
ECONOMY
Prior to Suharto's "New Order" administration, the Torajan economy was based on agriculture, with cultivated wet rice in terraced fields on mountain slopes, and supplemental cassava and maize crops. Much time and energy were devoted to raising water buffalo, pigs, and chickens, primarily for ceremonial sacrifices and consumption. Coffee was the first significant cash crop produced in Toraja, and was introduced in the mid 19th century, changing the local economy towards commodity production for external markets and gaining an excellent reputation for quality in the international market.
With the commencement of the New Order in 1965, Indonesia's economy developed and opened to foreign investment. In Toraja, a coffee plantation and factory was established by Key Coffee of Japan, and Torajan coffee regained a reputation for quality within the growing international specialty coffee sector Multinational oil and mining companies opened new operations in Indonesia during the 1970s and 1980s. Torajans, particularly younger ones, relocated to work for the foreign companies—to Kalimantan for timber and oil, to Papua for mining, to the cities of Sulawesi and Java, and many went to Malaysia. The out-migration of Torajans was steady until 1985. and has continued since, with remittances sent back by emigre Torajans performing an important role within the contemporary economy.
Tourism commenced in Toraja in the 1970s, and accelerated in the 1980s and 1990s. Between 1984 and 1997, a significant number of Torajans obtained their incomes from tourism, working in and owning hotels, as tour guides, drivers, or selling souvenirs. With the rise of political and economic instability in Indonesia in the late 1990s—including religious conflicts elsewhere on Sulawesi—tourism in Tana Toraja has declined dramatically. Toraja continues to be a well known origin for Indonesian coffee, grown by both smallholders and plantation estates, although migration, remittances and off-farm income is considered far more important to most households, even those in rural areas.
TOURISM AND CULTURAL CHANGE
Before the 1970s, Toraja was almost unknown to Western tourism. In 1971, about 50 Europeans visited Tana Toraja. In 1972, at least 400 visitors attended the funeral ritual of Puang of Sangalla, the highest-ranking nobleman in Tana Toraja and the so-called "last pure-blooded Toraja noble." The event was documented by National Geographic and broadcast in several European countries. In 1976, about 12,000 tourists visited the regency and in 1981, Torajan sculpture was exhibited in major North American museums. "The land of the heavenly kings of Tana Toraja", as written in the exhibition brochure, embraced the outside world.
In 1984, the Indonesian Ministry of Tourism declared Tana Toraja Regency the prima donna of South Sulawesi. Tana Toraja was heralded as "the second stop after Bali". Tourism was increasing dramatically: by 1985, a total number of 150,000 foreigners had visited the Regency (in addition to 80,000 domestic tourists), and the annual number of foreign visitors was recorded at 40,000 in 1989. Souvenir stands appeared in Rantepao, the cultural center of Toraja, roads were sealed at the most-visited tourist sites, new hotels and tourist-oriented restaurants were opened, and an airstrip was opened in the Regency in 1981.
Tourism developers have marketed Tana Toraja as an exotic adventure—an area rich in culture and off the beaten track. Western tourists expected to see stone-age villages and pagan funerals. Toraja is for tourists who have gone as far as Bali and are willing to see more of the wild, "untouched" islands. However, they were more likely to see a Torajan wearing a hat and denim, living in a Christian society. Tourists felt that the tongkonan and other Torajan rituals had been preconceived to make profits, and complained that the destination was too commercialised. This has resulted in several clashes between Torajans and tourism developers, whom Torajans see as outsiders.
A clash between local Torajan leaders and the South Sulawesi provincial government (as a tourist developer) broke out in 1985. The government designated 18 Toraja villages and burial sites as traditional tourist attractions. Consequently, zoning restrictions were applied to these areas, such that Torajans themselves were barred from changing their tongkonans and burial sites. The plan was opposed by some Torajan leaders, as they felt that their rituals and traditions were being determined by outsiders. As a result, in 1987, the Torajan village of Kété Kesú and several other designated tourist attractions closed their doors to tourists. This closure lasted only a few days, as the villagers found it too difficult to survive without the income from selling souvenirs.
Tourism has also transformed Toraja society. Originally, there was a ritual which allowed commoners to marry nobles (puang) and thereby gain nobility for their children. However, the image of Torajan society created for the tourists, often by "lower-ranking" guides, has eroded its traditional strict hierarchy. High status is not as esteemed in Tana Toraja as it once was. Many low-ranking men can declare themselves and their children nobles by gaining enough wealth through work outside the region and then marrying a noble woman.
WIKIPEDIA
Even this body (probably the tiniest SD boy body) is too big for him, according to my taste. But he looks really cute in clothes!
i finally recieved my key and tags for the coop bike cage, after 4 months on the waiting list.
now i won't have to keep it in our little hallway, where it lived for those four months.
here it is in the hallway peeking into the shot. it left maybe half a meter of clearance on the side.
if you think i am making too big a deal of this, imagine squeezing past the thing for 4 months.
erin is very happy.
Finally found these. Been looking for them for the last few weeks.
This is a movie promotion with Tranformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen. New M&Ms flavor Strawberried Peanut Butter. Features the M&Ms Tranformers characters "The Twins".
'Here lyeth the bodyes of William Willington of Barson Esquyer and Anne his wyeffe which Willam dyed the fyrste daye of Maye in the yere of our Lorde God Mo ccccco lv (1555) unto whose soules and bodyes God graunte a joyfull resurrection. Amen.'
He lies in the south aisle chapel he built.
William born c1480 was the elder son of John Willington 1512 of Todenham, Gloc whose Will suggests he was a grazier
Aged c 20 years of age, he inherited 100 shillings from his grandfather William Willington, also 12 silver spoons, a silver jug & the best bed with its hangings. He was also entrusted with the administration & sale of 2 tenements - one in Banbury & the other in Stratford, for the support of a chaplain at Todenham.
His interest in the manor of Barcheston was first recorded in 1504 when he acquired some land from one of the 5 freeholders, William Torch.
On 13 Nov 1505 he leased the manor of Barcheston from owners William & Henry Durant, for whom his future grand-father in law Sir Robert Throckmorton, had acted as trustee since around 1476.
He m1 c1506 Anne 1537 daughter of Richard Middlemore of Edgebaston & Margery daughter of Sir Thomas Throckmorton of Coughton and Margaret co-heiress of Sir Robert Olney www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/epdmot
Children - At least 13 in total - 7 heiress daughters surviving.
1. Margaret )
2. Dorothy ) died young
3. Alice )
4. Margery 1546 m1 Thomas Holte of Aston 1546 son of William Holte & and Joan Knight m2 Sir Ambrose Cave 1568 flic.kr/p/at7ZrU
son of Roger Cave of Stanford & Margaret Cecil (heiress daughter Margaret flic.kr/p/at5kgK m Sir Henry Knollys 1582 son and heir of Francis Knollys, of Rotherfield Greys by Catherine Carey flic.kr/p/9idhGn cousin of Queen Elizabeth)
5. Goditha 1580 m Basil Feilding 1582 www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/8782n80571 of Newnham Paddox 1582 son of William Fielding 1547 & Elizabeth Pulteney / Poulteney www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/5x1477yDmR (tombs at Monks Kirkby) (Their daughter Ann Peyto is at Chesterton www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/LYjxY7)
6. Elizabeth 1583 m Edward Boughton 1548 of Lawford Hall Newbold on Avon 1548 son of William Boughton by Ann Danvers
7. Mary c1510-1553 m (1st wife) William Sheldon of Beoley & Weston 1570 www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/2776L25Ts9 son of Ralph Sheldon 1546 & Philippa Heath www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/dz18222M73 (parents of Ralph Sheldon 1613 www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/V5jw11m5y6 : William m2 Margaret daughter of Sir Richard Broke: Widow of William Whorwood
8. Margaret m 1531 Sir Edward Greville of Milcote `1559 flic.kr/p/Rt98Ci only son of Sir John Greville 1546 www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/t224Z8 & 2nd wife Elizabeth daughter of John Spencer of Hodnet
9. Anne m Francis Mountford of Kingshurst
10. Katherine 1592 flic.kr/p/4T8xt2 m1 William Catesby of Chastleton son of Sir Richard Catesby 1553 flic.kr/p/9gsN49 & Dorothy Spencer m2 Richard Kempe 1552 of Longdon m3 Sir Anthony Throckmorton of Coughton son of Sir George Throckmorton & Katherine Vaux flic.kr/p/dxXipV
In 1506 he entered into a bond of 1000 marks to his mother-in-law, Dame Margery, to secure lands in Stratford, Banbury & elsewhere immediately; they were to be held by feoffees in trust for himself, his wife & their children. Any future purchase of land worth £9.13s 4d would also be held by trustees on Anne's behalf, which suggests the possibility that this agreement formed part of the marriage settlements, perhaps Anne's jointure lands.
William bought the manor from Henry Durant in 1507. In 1509 he inclosed 310 acres of the demesne arable, converting the whole into pasture with the exception of 64 acres, for the cultivation of which he employed one plough. He also destroyed four messuages, with 10 virgates of arable—the virgate here being 22 acres—and a cottage. As a result these 220 acres were also put out of cultivation and 24 persons were rendered homeless and reduced to lamentable misery, lacking food and work.
However his answers to the king's officers during the hearings in the Chancery & Exchequer courts, suggest that much of this was false & that the manor had been impoverished & run down long before his 1507 purchase It may even have been partly enclosed by a previous lord.
On his father's death in 1512, William inherited 400 sheep, the leases at Upton & Upton Abell & the Todenham pastures.
His tax assessments are illuminating. He was appointed as a collector of the subsidy of 1524 when he worked alongside the older gentry families but apparently, not subsequently. He was assessed on lands worth 104s & taxed £3.6s.8d.
His trading ventures were supported by a wool house & 2 fishers' cottages in Calais & a counting house in London, England. On his death they passed to the Bradwey family with whom William's family had had a long association,
In 1529 he & his wife joined the Guild of the Holy Cross based in Stratford upon Avon.
His wealth increased with much of it invested in land.
In Nov 1536 he recorded the dispositions which are the earliest record of those finally outlined in his Will - arrangements he changed several times. On this occasion he created a trust with William Dauntsey, Alderman of London, Sir Robert Middlemore & an unknown William Baron. Its purpose was to give his first wife a life interest in the manor of Barcheston, before going on to describe an impressive list of lands. Some already formed the dowries of his daughters.
His first wife Anne died about 1537 of "a sickness in the brest" . At the time Michael Dormer, mercer & Alderman of London, had written proposing a suitable second wife to which William replied "he would have no other heirs" - & turned the proposal down.
His assets rose steadily over the years; in the subsidy of 1543 he was taxed on lands worth £40 & later on goods of £500. ]
In 1544 his name was noted in a Muster Book intended to show "what soldiers may be furnished by gentlemen" but the extent of his obligation was not recorded.
Eventually he m2 in 1545 Anne daughter of Richard Littleton & Agnes Winnesbury heiress of Pillaton : Anne was the widow of Thomas Middlemore / Mydelmore 1521 of Edgbaston & Studley (brother of his 1st wife) with 2 daughters Margaret wife of Edward Underhill; & Winifred wife of Francis Stanley (a Faculty Licence was issued to permit him to marry, without banns & in whatever church he chose). Anne is buried in Tredington.
He preferred to pay a fine of £30 rather than accept the knighthood offered on the occasion of the Queen Mary's marriage in 1554 to Philip of Spain.
On 14 Nov 1554 William settled the manor of Barcheston on himself and his second wife Anne. Trustees were Sir Robert Throckmorton, Sir Edward Greville, Robert Middlemore & Francis Stanley.
He made his Last Will on 28 March 1555 with generous provisions. Cash bequests were arranged for the poor of the surrounding villages. It rehearsed the provisions for the dowries of the only daughter Elizabeth, unmarried & not betrothed in 1536 & for the children of the 2 who had been widowed & re-married (Holte & Catesby) but added nothing further. He probably felt he had done as much as was necessary for his daughters, who had secured advantageous marriages to men of higher social status than their fathers.
Family trouble broke out immediately after his death. It may well have seemed to the sons-in-law that William had favoured the kin of his second family rather than his first. His second wife seems to have inspired some dislike, which was probably suppressed during William's life.
His Will's provisions had given a life interest in Barcheston to second wife Anne & possession after her death to her cousin, William Barnes. Granted previously to his son-in-law William Sheldon & clearly a matter of some importance to him, there was a dispute over who should inherit. It started immediately upon his demise & continued for a further 9 years before being resolved. During the court case, he was said to have possessed more than £3000 in money & was owed a further £2000 in debts. He was also said to have been nearly blind & to have been coerced into signing a codicil which he could not properly see. But the provisions of a man as wealthy as he & with as many sons in law, one of whom who had been deprived of the manor previously assigned him, was a target for a challenge.
Eventually Ralph Sheldon son of William Sheldon inherited Barcheston manor which descended in this family until early 19c )
In 1905 the tomb was restored. According to the Tamworth Herald, ‘the ancient alabaster tomb…had a coat of paint and the dirt of ages removed from it’ and it was rebuilt. The work was ‘done to the order of Mr John R Willington, a lineal descendant’.
- Church of St Martin, Barcheston Warwickshire
This is the first time I have ever gotten this kind of lighting for a sunrise at Great Falls! It was a clear sunrise further East but this patch of clouds hung around long enough for my picture. What a difference a week makes! Last week the water was all muddy but today it was clear as tap. Water level has decrease considerably but still showing a lot of good action.
Finally got his new body,I really love DST 15 yrs.Frankly,it's one of my grail items.
I think he looks perfect on DST 15yrs :*D
Thank my friends Chano,Blau,Bai,they always help me a lot.
love you guys<3
This has been basted and ready to quilt FOR-EV-ER! I needed my basting pins for my single girl, so I finally sat myself down and quilted it. I slapped on some binding and voila! I have a finished quilt :)
Fabric: Blush by BasicGrey for Moda
Pattern: Coming Home by Camille Roskelley with some tweaks
Piecing, Quilting, Binding by me
these suckers came yesterday, but i forgot to post about it. i've been working exceptionally hard lately, and it's been stressful. i'm tired right now.
Finally the dust has settled from this past weekend’s adrenaline filled bike event at Maryland International Raceway in Mechanicsville, MD, otherwise known as the 15th annual WPGC DC Bike Fest, which continues to raise the bar by supporting the DC, Maryland and Virginia motorcycle community. With more than 8,000 attendees and close to 900 racers this turned out to be the baddest bikefest yet. Enthusiasts flocked to see the super fast MIROCK races, custom bikes, stunt show held by Throttle Life and Shoe City, concerts, and the breathtaking bikini contest that was hosted by the International Bikini Team.