How many followers do you get daily? 14 awesome new followers for me! Grow with t.co/DQ1HG9z1gq (via Twitter twitter.com/Kalimeraellada_/status/758490329721044992)

Thanks to my followers for 4 million hits! To celebrate, something from the archives and a few jems from a cruise visit to Santorini in 1988.

 

Here we have Epirotiki Lines' Oceanos (1976: 14,000grt ex-Jean Laborde of 1952) She served Epirotiki successfully for 15 years until she lost power and sank in 1991 off East London, South Africa, amid one of the most highly publicised disasters in which the Captain abandoned the ship before 580 passengers and crew were evacuated.

 

Pegasus (1987: 12,576grt) ex-Svea Corona of 1975. Pegasus has(had) the dubious record of having been declared a constructive total loss 3 times! As Sundancer in 1984, she was wrecked; rebuilt as Pegasus, there was a fire in Venice in 1991 and she sank in the harbour; raised and rebuilt as Ionian Express in 1994, there was another fire - she was finally scrapped in 1995.

This wandering Muslim boy - accompanied by his cousin - collects alms from Muslims as they travel from place to place. Green is a colour long associated with Islam. Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. Different perspective of earlier photo. Interesting how much older he looks in this one.

50 shades of followers . . .

 

Thank you all!

 

• BIG BAD SEXY MUSCLE DADDY ! ~

• photographed by ADDA DADA ! ~

• FOLSOM STREET FAIR 2025 ! ~

 

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THANK YOU for the 828 MILLION VIEWS ! ~

 

ADDA DADA's VIEW COUNT is :

EIGHT HUNDRED TWENTY-EIGHT MILLION VIEWS ! ~

828,000,000+ VIEWS with over 18,500+ followers !

( March 1, 2026 ! )

 

THANKS for the 828 MILLION VIEWS !

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•🔹•THANK YOU for visiting my virtual art gallery! Enjoy my 'social documentary' photographs of various events !

•🔹•

•🔹• ADDA DADA's photography presents a variety of adults (18+ years old) at different public events .

These photographs do NOT imply the person's sexual orientation in any way.

Everyone was asked and they consented to be photographed and posted .

•🔹•.

•.🔹•NUDE/18+ photographs are properly marked MODERATE or RESTRICTED !

SAFE photographs do NOT show nudity nor sexual situations.

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•.🔹•Viewers should be aware that these photographs are viewed by a wide variety of people .

Inappropriate, negative, RUDE, 'X' or 'R' rated comments shall be removed forthwith & you will be blocked.

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Check out ADDA DADA's other ALBUMS•

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Kamera: Nikon F3 (1989)

Linse: Nikkor-S Auto 50mm f1.4 (1970)

Film: Cinestill BWXX (Kodak 5222) @ ISO 200

Kjemi: Xtol (stock / 8 min. @ 21°C)

 

I WILL NOT BE SILENT. NEVER AGAIN.

 

For those of you who want a better understanding of the ongoing genocidal Israel-Hamas war, it is imperative that you educate yourself on the current political situation inside Israel itself, and especially on how American extremist zionist jews to a large degree have been instrumental in exporting their extremism into Israel and radically transforming Israeli society ever since the start of the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories and the Golan Heights after the Six-Day War in 1967.

 

For this very reason, you need to know about one very important key figure: American-born jewish fundamentalist fascist terrorist and extremist Meir Kahane (1934-1990), his legacy and his followers; past and present.

 

Mad 'rabbi' Kahane´s racist, fascist, ultranationalist, supremacist and religious theocratic ideology - Kahanism - lives on like never before and has grown immensely among his many supporters in Israel - not only among extremist illegal settlers any longer, not only among the odd ordinary Israeli citizen - No, today, this ideology permeates Israeli society itself.

 

Today, Kahane´s followers are even represented in the jewish fascist Benjamin Netanyahu government; many holding quite influential and powerful minister positions - like (and these are just a few of them):

 

1.) The infamous terrorist and so-called "Minister of Security" Itamar Ben-Gvir (b. 1976 and hailing from the extremist jewish fundamentalist and religious zionist settlement of Kiryat Arba in Hebron, Occupied Palestine)

 

2.) The terrorist and so-called "Finance Minister" Bezalel Smotrich (b. 1980 and hailing from the extremist jewish fundamentalist and religious zionist settlement of Kedumim, Occupied Palestine)

 

3.) The old-skool Moshe Levinger (1935-2015) follower and Gush Emunim settler extremist and so-called "Minister of Settlements" (!) Orit Strook (b. 1960 and hailing from the extremist jewish fundamentalist and religious zionist settlement of Kiryat Arba in Hebron, Occupied Palestine)

 

4.) Yitzhak Wasserlauf (b. 1992), so-called "Minister for the 'Development' of the Periphery, the Negev and the Galilee".

 

Therefore, here for your consideration I will present to you three important lectures held on the subject by what must be one of the bravest men in the world: David Sheen [his website is no longer available], an exceptional Israeli Canadian former journalist of the Israeli newspaper Haaretz; now an independent investigative journalist.

 

This is all very well researched and explained.

 

In his lecture ‘Kahanistan’ you will get a broader understanding of political thought and development in Israel and how in the past few decades it has become more and more deeply connected to the Kahane movement:

 

- David Sheen: Kahanistan (2022)

 

In the lecture ‘Messiah Mode’ you will become much more familiar with the history of Meir Kahane himself, the Jewish Defense League in the USA and the Kach party in Israel; in addition to several other influential kahanist religious figures and politicians:

 

- David Sheen: Messiah Mode (2019)

 

In his latest lecture, ‘False Messiah’s Donkey’, David Sheen delves deeper into the Kahane movement´s influence on U.S. society and politics in general and the Democratic party in particular:

 

- David Sheen: False Messiah’s Donkey (2022)

  

A TRULY SHAMEFUL LIST OF JUST A FEW PEOPLE MENTIONED:

  

- Baruch Goldstein (1956-1994), american-born jewish extremist physician and religious mass-murderer from Brooklyn, New York. Goldstein immigrated to Israel in 1982 and moved to the jewish extremist settler hub in Kiryat Arba / Hebron. In 1994 during Ramadan on the Jewish holiday of Purim he perpetrated the Cave of the Patriarchs massacre in Hebron. Wearing an IDF uniform and armed with an IMI Galil assault rifle, he opened fire on 800 Muslim worshippers inside the Ibrahimi Mosque, managing to kill 29 and wounding 129 before he was beaten to death by the survivors. Baruch Goldstein was a follower of Meir Kahane and a member of terrorist organization Jewish Defense League. Goldstein was number three in the Kach party after Meir Kahane (1932-1990) and Yisrael Ariel (b. 1939). Goldstein´s grave has become a site of pilgrimage and veneration for Jewish extremists, especially during Purim. The tomb of Baruch Goldstein is located in the Meir Kahane Memorial Park in the illegal extremist jewish fundamentalist and religious zionist settlement of Kiryat Arba in Hebron, West Bank, Occupied Palestine.

 

- Itamar Ben-Gvir (b. 1976), the current Minister of Security and party leader of Otzma Yehudit since 2022. Son of a mother active in the Irgun terrorist organization. Previously convicted of supporting the Kach terrorist organization. Exempted from service in the IDF due to extremist political background. Lawyer known for representing far-right Jewish activists suspected of terrorism and hate crimes; most notably representing the american-born extremist settler Baruch Marzel (b. 1956 in Boston, USA) in Hebron, the «right-hand man» of american-born rabbi Meir Kahane (1932-1990) and a fellow Otzma Yehudit party member. Known for displaying the portrait of american-born extremist settler and terrorist mass-murderer Dr. Baruch Goldstein (1956-1994) in his living-room. Itamar Ben-Gvir has 6 children and is a permanent resident of the illegal extremist jewish fundamentalist and religious zionist settlement of Kiryat Arba in Hebron, West Bank, Occupied Palestine.

 

- Baruch Marzel (b. 1959), american-born kahanist originally from Boston. His family immigrated to Israel when he was 6 weeks old, when he was 13 he joined the Jewish Defense League. At the age of 14 he was arrested for the first of many times, and when he was 17 he was imprisoned for the first time. An early member of the Kach party, he was Meir Kahane´s parliamentary aide in Knesset and the spokesperson for Kach for 10 years. Marzel is a physically violent man who has been harassing, threatening and assaulting countless Palestinians in Hebron for decades in addition to police officers, left-wing activists, peace activists and journalists. Marzel is known to have shot and killed a 15-year-old Palestinian boy and he has been arrested for conspiring to bomb a Palestinian school. He has also advocated violence against homosexuals in Israel and calling for religious war against them. Together with Bezalel Smotrich (b. 1980) - Israel´s Finance Minister - he arranged the «Beast Parade» in 2006, leading goats and donkeys through the streets in opposition to the Jerusalem gay pride parade.

 

Marzel is an important and instrumental figurehead for the extreme right in Israel. After the Kach party was banned in 1994, he founded the party Jewish National Front in 2004 and ran for Knesset. After not winning enough votes to enter Knesset, he joined the National Union party and served as fellow extremist and kahanist Michael Ben-Ari´s (b. 1963) parliamentary aide. Together with Bentzi Gopstein (b. 1969) he started Lehava in 2005, a jewish supremacist organization that stricly opposes jewish assimilation, objecting to any relationships between Jews and non-Jews - in 2010 he was urging Israeli model Bar Refaeli (b. 1985) not to marry her non-jewish boyfriend at the time, Leonardo DiCaprio (b. 1974). In 2013 he ran for Knesset again, this time for the Otzma Yehudit party, which had splintered from the National Union party; again not winning enough votes to enter Knesset. In 2015 he ran for Knesset again, but the Election Committee disqualified him from running in the election because of racism. Otzma Yehudit was not extreme enough for Marzel, so in 2022 together with Michael Ben-Ari he started the process of launching a new party to the right of Otzma Yehudit. Baruch Marzel has 9 children and is a permanent resident of the illegal extremist jewish fundamentalist and religious zionist settlement of Tel Rumeida in Hebron, West Bank, Occupied Palestine.

 

- Michael Ben-Ari (b. 1963); Ph.D. in Land of Israel and Archaeology studies. If you have ever heard about Gustaf Kossinna (1858-1931) and Nazi archaeology - that´s the kind of scholar Michael Ben-Ari is. Previous member of the Kach terrorist organization; Ben-Ari was banned from running in the 2019 elections due to his extremist political views. He was also a member of the Jewish National Front, a political party founded by american-born extremist settler Baruch Marzel (b. 1956 in Boston, USA) in Hebron, the «right-hand man» of american-born rabbi Meir Kahane (1932-1990). When Jewish National Front merged with the far-right religious Eretz Yisrael Shelanu, Ben-Ari gained a seat in the Knesset 2009-2012, electing Marzel and Ben-Gvir as his aides. Eretz Yishrael Shelanu was not extreme enough for Ben-Ari, so together with Marzel and Ben-Gvir he founded the Otzma Yehudit in 2012. Ben-Ari has been denied US visa several times for his extremism. After he was banned from Knesset in 2019, he has since found that Otzma Yehudit was not extreme enough for him, so he has recently started planning a new party together with Baruch Marzel. Ben-Ari has 9 children and is a permanent resident of the illegal extremist jewish fundamentalist and religious zionist settlement of Karnei Shomron, West Bank, Occupied Palestine.

 

- Baruch Ben-Yosef and Israel Fuchs, both of them american-born jewish Israeli kahanist settlers whose names are originally Andy Green and Keith Fuchs. Together with convicted murderer Robert Manning they are the suspected assassins of Alex Odeh (1944-1985), a Palestinian activist in the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. In Israel in 1980, Ben-Yosef was subjected to administrative detention for 6 months together with Meir Kahane for plotting to blow up the Dome of the Rock. In 1983, on the Jewish holiday of Purim, Fuchs sprayed a passing Palestinian car with bullets. Ben-Yosef later studied law and together with Fuchs he established the lawfare American Center for Civil Justice. Fuchs later mentored Simcha Rothman (b. 1980), a settler and religious zionist member who now serves as chairman of the Constitution, Law and Justice committee in the Knesset. Ben-Yosef mentored kahanist lawyer Itamar Ben-Gvir (b. 1976), current leader of the Otzma Yehudit party and Israel´s Minister of Security. In 2004, Ben-Yosef was one of 20 extremists who carried out the black magic kabbalistic curse of Pulsa diNura at the gravesite of Irgun terrorist Shlomo Ben-Yosef (1913-1938) in order to kill prime minister Ariel Sharon because of the 2005 Israeli disengagement from Gaza. Both Ben-Yosef Green and Keith «Israel» Fuchs are permanent residents of the illegal extremist jewish fundamentalist and religious zionist settlement of Kiryat Arba in Hebron, West Bank, Occupied Palestine.

 

- Mike Guzofsky, american-born jewish extremist from New York and a former member of Terror Against Terror, a militant organization that was active in Israel that openly espoused the ideology of perpetrating terrorism and committed several violent attacks directed at Palestinians, ranging from vandalism to mass shooting, bombing and murder. The group consisted of many Jewish-American settlers living in Hebron who considered themselves acolytes of ‘rabbi’ Meir Kahane. About mass-murderer Baruch Goldstein he said: «He was the sweetest jew who have ever lived.» Also known for, among other things, being a breeder of fierce patrol dogs with the purpose of instilling fear in the Palestinian population. Guzofsky is a permanent resident of the illegal extremist jewish fundamentalist and religious zionist settlement of Kfar Tapuach, West Bank, Occupied Palestine.

 

- Bentzi Gopstein (b. 1969), american-born jewish extremist who got away with murder in 1990, an ardent anti-christian and founder of the Lehava movement, a jewish supremacist organization that stricly opposes jewish assimilation, objecting to any relationships between Jews and non-Jews. Gopstein advocates the expulsion of Christians and the banning of celebrating Christmas. He is a member of the Otzma Yehudit party, has 8 children and is a permanent resident of the illegal extremist jewish fundamentalist and religious zionist settlement of Kiryat Arba in Hebron, West Bank, Occupied Palestine.

 

- David Ha'ivri (b. 1967), american-born extremist orthodox jew whose real name is Jason David Axelrod. About the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin he said: «It was not a jew who was murdered; it was a traitor who was liquidated. The liquidation of an enemy is a positive thing.» Today, David Ha'ivri acts as an Israeli diplomat and is a spokesperson for Israeli illegal settlements. He has 8 children and is a permanent resident of the illegal extremist jewish fundamentalist and religious zionist settlement of Kfar Tapuach, West Bank, Occupied Palestine.

 

- Ovadia Yosef (1920-2013) was the chief rabbi of Israel and spiritual leader of the religious orthodox Shas party. Ovadia Yosef had many controversial remarks; among them the following: «Gentiles were born only to serve us. Without that they have no place in the world, only to serve the jewish people. Why are gentiles needed? They´ll work, they´ll plow, they´ll reap. We will sit like an effendi and eat.» His son Yitzhak Yosef (b. 1952) is now the chief rabbi of Israel; a man who has likened people of black African descent to monkeys and has compared secular women to animals because they dressed immodestly.

 

- Ya'akov Yosef (1946-2013) was another son of Ovadia Yosef, also a rabbi and a Knesset representative for the Shas party 1984-1988. In the Knesset Ya'akov Yosef worked ardently on changing and doctoring the laws of Israel so that racism would be allowed so long as it was justified by religious arguments. Ya'akov Yosef openly endorsed rabbi Yitzhak Shapira´s book ’The King's Torah’ (2009) where it is argued that it is permissible for Jews to kill non-Jews, including children, under certain circumstances, and that there may be a reason to kill babies on the enemy side, even if they have not violated any laws, due to the potential future danger they might pose based on the assumption that they will grow up to be evil like their parents. ’The King's Torah’ also proposes that indirect killing of children could be justified as a means of exerting pressure on enemy leaders or if the children are obstructing a rescue operation and their presence contributes to murder.

 

- Yonatan Yosef, son of Ya'akov Yosef and also a rabbi, an illegal settler in East Jerusalem and former spokesman for the settlers in Sheikh Jarrah. He has been a Jerusalem City Council member since 2018, representing the ultra-orthodox religious zionist party Yachad. When he was 18 years old, he smuggled and collected caches of weapons from the army, plotting to murder Palestinians. He was arrested, but was tipped off by a government minister that the Shin Bet was coming for him; so he managed to get rid of much of the evidence and got off easy. In 2023, he was marching in Sheikh Jarrah with a group of supporters, chanting «We want Nakba, Nakba now!»

 

- Aryeh King (b. 1973) is the current Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem, representing the ultra-orthodox religious zionist party Yachad. In 2014, he was inciting a group of hundreds of ultra-orthodox men by telling them "This Sabbath we will read about Zimri and Kosbi. Phineas committed the act; he was zealous for God. He got up and committed the act - It´s like that today. Every single person here is like a small Phineas. I call out to all the small Phineas's here! I call on all of us to make a great commotion, wake up! The Lubavitcher rebbe is here with us - I have no doubt he expects us all to commit acts of Phineas." Zimri and Kosbi is a story in the bible, and according to this legend there was a jewish man and a Midianite woman, in other words, it was an interracial relationship. And this priest, Phineas, was so incensed, so disgusted at this miscegenation, at this interracial love that he actually took a spear, according to legend, and he murdered them in the middle of the act of lovemaking. In fact, according to the Talmud it says exactly what that act was: "Miracles were done for Phineas... His aim was through the penis of the man and the vagina of the woman" - that is; he pierced them in their intertwined genitals. Hours later after Aryeh King's speech; religious jews went out and mutilated and murdered 16-year old Palestinian Mohammed Abu Khdeir. They kidnapped him outside his home, stuffed him into a car and drove him out to the forest, where they forced petrol down his throat and they burned him to death from the inside out. Aryeh King is the father of 6 and is a permanent resident of the illegal settlement of Ma'ale HaZeitim in East Jerusalem, West Bank, Occupied Palestine.

 

- Moshe Feiglin (b. 1962), a kahanist, Likud politician and former Deputy Speaker of the Knesset. As Deputy Speaker of the Knesset, during the 2014 Gaza war he said that «The IDF shall designate certain open areas […] in which the civilian population will be concentrated subsequent to the elimination […] Gaza […] will become part of […] Israel and will be populated by Jews.» Also in 2014, he was inciting for Jews to go and take over the Al-Aqsa mosque. Feiglin has made so many controversial statements that he was banned from entering the United Kingdom in 2008. Moshe Feiglin has 5 children and is a permanent resident of the illegal extremist jewish fundamentalist and religious zionist settlement of Karnei Shomron settlement, West Bank, Occupied Palestine.

 

- Yoel Lerner (1941-2014), american-born extremist from Brooklyn, New York who grew up in South Africa. In 1960 he immigrated to Israel where he became a linguist and translator. He became a student of Meir Kahane and a member of the Jewish Defense League; and later became an aide to Kahane. In 1973, Lerner was arrested in a case of arson involving a fire in a shop selling Christian missionary books. In 1975, he was arrested on suspicion of conspiring to harm Henry Kissinger (1923-2023). Newspaper reports said that Lerner «had expressed threats to assassinate Kissinger». In 1978 he was imprisoned for 3 years for conspiracy and illegal possession of weapons. He had founded an underground ring of militants called ‘Gal’ with the aim to overthrow the government and establish a state based on religious law, and kill Arabs. In 1982, Lerner had formed a small youth organization whose aim was to destroy the Dome of the Rock in order to rebuild the Temple Mount, and for this he was sentenced to 5 years in jail, but 2 ½ years of his sentence was suspended. Lerner was married and had eight children.

 

- Alan Goodman (b. 1945) american-born extremist who moved from Baltimore to Israel in 1977. On Easter morning 1982, wearing an IDF military uniform and armed with an M-16 automatic rifle, he shot his way into the Dome of the Rock, killing two and wounding 11 Palestinians. Sentenced to life imprisonment plus 40 years. Goodman was released after 15 years.

 

- Yisrael Ariel (b. 1939), number two in the Kach party after Meir Kahane; these days he is propagating the re-introduction of ancient Sanhedrin rabbinical courts in Israel. Arrested several times; in the early 80s for sedition because he was planning to dig a tunnel under the Al-Aqsa mosque in order to take it over and turn it into a jewish settlement. Today, he is the chief rabbi in the state-sponsored Temple Institute, which has a focus on educating children on jewish temples and the establishing of the Third Temple on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

 

- Craig Leitner, american-born lawyer and former terrorist member of the JDL and Kach who served 30 months in jail for firebombing the Palestinian newspaper Al-Fajar and being involved in the shooting at an arab bus in Ramallah in 1984, injuring 6-7 Palestinians. Together with his lawyer wife Nitsana Darshan-Leitner (b. 1973) in the Shurat Hadin lawfare organization he is mostly involved with legal matters defending terrorists like for instance Yigal Amir (b. 1970); the assassin of Yitzhak Rabin (1922-1995), and Jonathan Pollard (b. 1954); an American-Israeli civilian-employed US Military intelligence analyst who in 1986 was sentenced to life in imprisonment for spying on the United States of America for the State of Israel. It is sickening to see that this man, who betrayed ALL of the NATO countries at the HEIGHT of the Cold War, not just the USA, but ALL WESTERN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES has been living as a free, war-mongering, obvious and public kahanist in Israel since 2021.

 

- Rafi Peretz (b. 1956), chief military rabbi of the IDF, Minister of Education 2019-2020 and Jerusalem Affairs and Heritage Minister of Israel 2020-2021.

  

See also:

 

- Unpacking Israeli History: Baruch Goldstein - Legacy of a Massacre (Nov. 2020)

- David Sheen: «Three Decades After his Death, Kahane’s Message of Hate is More Popular Than Ever», Middle East Report Online, February 02, 2021.

- Jeff Halper: «How Israel Undermines International Law Through ‘Lawfare’», The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, August 18 2014.

- Wikipedia: 2021 ban of Palestinian human rights organizations

Super 8 Kameras kennt man ja aus seiner Kindheit.

Väter filmten in Pullovern und Bügelfaltenhosen auf Schulfesten und Familienfeiern.

Der Vater eines Freundes drehte die Skiurlaube der Familie.

Das sah so aus wie bei "Upps - die Pannenshow".

Und doof fand ich immer diese blöden Lichtstrahler damit die Filme hell genug wurden oder auch jeder mitbekam " Ey, ich hab ne Super 8 Kamera!"

K ENB Extensive 'The Living Lights' 0.236 + Extreme Quality + Moonsprite + SweetFX + a few Mods.

 

More beautiful scenery from The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

 

Stephie Rawx Follower pack

Self.

The 50p Camera Project

Olympus XA2 35mm film compact camera

Rollei Retro 400S film

Developed in Ilford LC29

Scanned film on Epson V500.

Ferrari F40

সে কন্য...একজন মুক্তিকামী সৈনিক যাদেরে জন্য আমরা পেয়েছি এই বাংলাদেশ তাঁর পরবর্তীপ্রজন্ম...

তাঁর বাবা বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতার জন্য যারা লড়েছেন তাদের একজন...৭১ এ পাক বাহীনী যাদের নামে কম্পমান ছিল তিনি সেই বিচ্ছুবাহীনীর একজন...

  

আজ বুদ্ধিজিবি দিবসে এসেছিল বধ্যভুমিতে শ্রদ্ধ্বা জানানোর জন্য...

Thank you to everyone who is following me. I really appreciate that you guys like my work and love seeing it! This is a small thank you to everyone, no matter if you were my first or latest follower, you all are awesome! This is something small I put together with some different guns. Enjoy.

35 amazing followers in the last day and there will be more tomorrow. Growing with t.co/DQ1HG9z1gq (via Twitter twitter.com/Kalimeraellada_/status/786212961949999104)

I don't know what this name of this beautiful black bug. But this looks nice to share with my flickr friends, hope you enjoyed :)

🌸 The Haus of FAUXBERRY Nafeesa Outfit is ON SALE! 🌸 Nafeesa is an elegant semi-formal ensemble perfect for wedding season, date nights, garden parties, and more. This stunning outfit includes a silky, luxurious strapless bodysuit, cropped jacket, and an overskirt with a train and flower detailing at the waistband. Wear the pieces separately or together for versatile looks. Available in 10 individual colors, with 5 additional colors in the fatpack, which includes a texture HUD. Made of 100% original mesh and rigged for Kupra, Legacy, Legacy Bombshell x Pinup, Maitreya LaraX, Reborn & Waifus. Psssst...the Gemma Clutch bag is also on sale!!!

 

On SALE this weekend during the District69 Flash Sale. 100% original mesh and materials enabled. Be sure to TRY THE DEMO before purchasing for the perfect fit! Don't miss out!

 

Hit the link below and shop the sale before it’s gone! ✨

 

🚩 [Main Store Landmark] maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Amani/225/65/25

 

🚩 [Satellite Store Landmark] maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Roslyn%20Rue/81/98/25

  

🔗 [Follow us on Social Media & join our Discord] hausoffauxberry.carrd.co/ 🌿

My account just reached 200+ followers! Thanks a ton guys, I never thought I'd have 200, I really appreciate it.

I'm going on vacation too so not gonna be on for about a week. See ya!

 

Thank you all who appreciate and find value in my work!

 

Thank you kadely ( ex: kadelioscope ) for following, and for bringing my Flickr stream to 1000 followers!

 

13 month ago I started posting photos on Flickr. It has been a good journey. I find much inspiration in the work of fellow Flickr photographers. I see Flickr as a sharing platform where we can learn from each other. I love to share my secret sauce on HDR processing in the hope that it is helpful to you guys and gals.

 

As a joke, I processed the screenshot of followers into a creative HDR photo. Hehe, not too bad...

oh my goodness!

Thank you somuch!

Dear Followers,

 

After a dispute with the local censorship brigade, which has arbitrarily blocked my account with over 50,000 followers for weeks, I'm calling it quits.

 

I've enjoyed using Flickr since 2008. Unfortunately, a system of restrictions on photographers has developed here that I no longer agree with.

 

There used to be relatively clear rules for classifying photos into different security levels. That has fundamentally changed. Today, arbitrary rules prevail: For example, photos are classified based on whether they are sexually arousing or considered offensive by users.

 

How people perceive things varies greatly. A Taliban member in Afghanistan will have a completely different opinion than a Finn, or indeed a German.

 

Ultimately, the decision rests with Flickr employees, who are thus elevating themselves to the role of censors and who clearly enjoy the power this entails – which translates into harassment of members.

  

What pathetic people these must be. Disrespectfully, they block accounts and object to images that have been displayed here for years without any issues.

 

I was told to search through all 40,000 of my images and reclassify them according to these arbitrarily chosen new criteria. A task I neither have the time nor the inclination to do.

 

Not with me! These petty dictators are not acting in my name. So, I will now display my photos on other platforms. Currently, I favor www.youpic.com/juergenfreymann for showing my best work and

 

www.picdrop.com/juergenfreymann/Nact4h9p9J for showing my shooting results.

  

These pages may contain nudity; if you have a problem with that, please stay away.

 

Unfortunately, I also post heavily censored photos on Instagram and Facebook under my own name.

 

If you've read this far, you're very likely a loyal follower. Thank you for your visit and your comments; they've motivated me to continue with photography. I wish you all the best, and I hope to see you again on other platforms.

 

Warm regards, Jürgen Freymann from Berlin, Germany

Inspired from a Flickr follower.

This is a long exposure shot (173 second) shot about 2 hours after sunset on a new moon night. The wall has a beach on the left and is surrounded by water all around.

I like how details like the birds sitting on the railing, and the sea lions resting on the beach are captured too.

Thank you, guys!

Thank you, everyone for supportng me. It's my first "little anniversary" on Flickr. And I would like to say you "thanks" for that. You are awesome people!

It's a great party!! Yeeehaw!!:)

My sexy wife being a little devil and blowing a kiss to all you amazing followers...

Follower of Pollaiuolo, c.1480s Florence

concept photography

Longtime followers may recall that I visited the Vollis Simpson Whirligig Park in Wilson, North Carolina in both 2017 and 2018.

 

I think I mentioned on one of those photos that I had seen the whirligigs at Simpson's farm near Lucama, NC years ago. While backing up my phone photos to Amazon Photos yesterday I browsed the "on this day" feature, which is something I rarely do, and saw these photos from April 25th, 2004.

Puri is a city and a Municipality of Odisha. It is the district headquarters of Puri district, Odisha, eastern India. It is situated on the Bay of Bengal, 60 kilometres south of the state capital of Bhubaneswar. It is also known as Jagannath Puri after the 12th-century Jagannath Temple located in the city. It is one of the original Char Dham pilgrimage sites for Indian Hindus.

 

Puri was known by several names from the ancient times to the present, and locally called as Badadeula. Puri and the Jagannath Temple were invaded 18 times by Hindu and Muslim rulers, starting from the 4th century to the start of the 19th century with the objective of looting the treasures of the temple. Odisha, including Puri and its temple, were under the British Raj from 1803 till India attained independence in August 1947. Even though princely states do not exist in independent India, the heirs of the Gajapati Dynasty of Khurda still perform the ritual duties of the temple. The temple town has many Hindu religious maths or monasteries.

 

The economy of Puri town is dependent on the religious importance of the Jagannath Temple to the extent of nearly 80%. The festivals which contribute to the economy are the 24 held every year in the temple complex, including 13 major festivals; Ratha Yatra and its related festivals are the most important which are attended by millions of people every year. Sand art and applique art are some of the important crafts of the city. Puri is one of the 12 heritage cities chosen by the Government of India for holistic development.

 

GEOGRAPHY AND CLIMATE

GEOGRAPHY

Puri, located on the east coast of India on the Bay of Bengal, is in the center of the district of the same name. It is delimited by the Bay of Bengal on the south east, the Mauza Sipaurubilla on the west, Mauz Gopinathpur in the north and Mauza Balukhand in the east. It is within the 67 kilometres coastal stretch of sandy beaches that extends between Chilika Lake and the south of Puri city. However, the administrative jurisdiction of the Puri Municipality extends over an area of 16.3268 square kilometres spread over 30 wards, which includes a shore line of 5 kilometres.

 

Puri is in the coastal delta of the Mahanadi River on the shores of the Bay of Bengal. In the ancient days it was near to Sisupalgarh (Ashokan Tosali) when the land was drained by a tributary of the River Bhargavi, a branch of the Mahanadi River, which underwent a meandering course creating many arteries altering the estuary, and formed many sand hills. These sand hills could not be "cut through" by the streams. Because of the sand hills, the Bhargavi River flowing to the south of Puri, moved away towards the Chilika Lake. This shift also resulted in the creation of two lagoons known as Sar and Samang on the eastern and northern parts of Puri respectively. Sar lagoon has a length of 8.0 km in an east-west direction and has a width of 3.2 km in north-south direction. The river estuary has a shallow depth of 1.5 m only and the process of siltation is continuing. According to a 15th-century chronicle the stream that flowed at the base of the Blue Mountain or Neelachal was used as the foundation or high plinth of the present temple which was then known as Purushottama, the Supreme Being. A 16th century chronicle attributes filling up of the bed of the river which flowed through the present Grand Road, during the reign of King Narasimha II (1278–1308).

 

CLIMATE

According to the Köppen and Geiger the climate of Puri is classified Aw. The city has moderate and tropical climate. Humidity is fairly high throughout the year. The temperature during summer touches a maximum of 36 °C and during winter it is 17 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1,337 millimetres and the average annual temperature is 26.9 °C.

 

HISTORY

NAMES IN HISTORY

Puri, the holy land of Lord Jaganath, also known popularly as Badadeula in local usage, has many ancient names in the Hindu scriptures such as the Rigveda, Matsya purana, Brahma Purana, Narada Purana, Padma Purana, Skanda Purana, Kapila samhita and Niladrimahodaya. In the Rigveda, in particular, it is mentioned as a place called Purushamandama-grama meaning the place where the Creator deity of the world – Supreme Divinity deified on altar or mandapa was venerated near the coast and prayers offered with vedic hymns. Over time the name got changed to Purushottama Puri and further shortened to Puri and the Purusha became Jagannatha. Close to this place sages like Bhrigu, Atri and Markandeya had their hermitage. Its name is mentioned, conforming to the deity worshipped, as Srikshetra, Purusottama Dhāma, Purusottama Kshetra, Purusottama Puri and Jagannath Puri. Puri is however, a common usage now. It is also known the geographical features of its siting as Shankhakshetra (layout of the town is in the form of a conch shell.), Neelāchala ("blue mountain" a terminology used to name very large sand lagoon over which the temple was built but this name is not in vogue), Neelāchalakshetra, Neelādri, The word 'Puri' in Sanskrit means "town", or 'city' and is cognate with polis in Greek.

 

Another ancient name is Charita as identified by Cunningham which was later spelled as Che-li-ta-lo by Chinese traveller Hiuen Tsang.When the present temple was built by the Ganga king Chodangadev in the 11th and 12th centuries it was called Purushottamkshetra. However, the Moghuls, the Marathas and early British rulers called it Purushottama-chhatar or just Chhatar. In Akbar's Ain-i-Akbari and subsequent Muslim historical records it was known as Purushottama. In the Sanskrit drama authored by Murari Mishra in the 8th century it is referred as Purushottama only. It was only after twelfth century Puri came to be known by the shortened form of Jagannatha Puri, named after the deity or in a short form as Puri. In some records pertaining to the British rule, the word 'Jagannath' was used for Puri. It is the only shrine in India, where Radha, along with Lakshmi, Saraswati, Durga, Bhudevi, Sati, Parvati, and Shakti abodes with Krishna, also known as Jagannath.

 

ANCIENT PERIOD

According to the chronicle Madala Panji, in 318 the priests and servitors of the temple spirited away the idols to escape the wrath of the Rashtrakuta King Rakatavahu. The temple's ancient historical records also finds mention in the Brahma Purana and Skanda Purana as having been built by the king Indradyumna of Ujjayani.

 

According to W.J. Wilkinson, in Puri, Buddhism was once a well established practice but later Buddhists were persecuted and Brahmanism became the order of the religious practice in the town; the Buddha deity in now worshipped by the Hindus as Jagannatha. It is also said that some relics of Buddha were placed inside the idol of Jagannath which the Brahmins claimed were the bones of Krishna. Even during Ashoka’s reign in 240 BC Odisha was a Buddhist center and that a tribe known as Lohabahu (barbarians from outside Odisha) converted to Buddhism and built a temple with an idol of Buddha which is now worshipped as Jagannatha. It is also said that Lohabahu deposited some Buddha relics in the precincts of the temple.

 

Construction of the Jagannatha Temple started in 1136 and completed towards the later part of the 12th century. The King of the Ganga dynasty, Anangabhima dedicated his kingdom to the God, then known as the Purushottam-Jagannatha and resolved that from then on he and his descendants would rule under "divine order as Jagannatha's sons and vassals". Even though princely states do not exist in independent India, the heirs of the Gajapati dynasty of Khurda still perform the ritual duties of the temple; the king formally sweeps the road in front of the chariots before the start of the Rathayatra.

 

MEDIEVAL AND EARLY MODERN PERIODS

History of the temple is the history of the town of Puri, which was invaded 18 times during its history to plunder the treasures of the Jagannath Puri temple. The first invasion was in the 8th century by Rastrakuta king Govinda-III (AD 798–814) and the last was in 1881 by the followers of Alekh Religion who did not recognize Jagannath worship. In between, from the 1205 onward there were many invasions of the city and its temple by Muslims of the Afghans and Moghuls descent, known as Yavanas or foreigners; they had mounted attacks to ransack the wealth of the temple rather than for religious reasons. In most of these invasions the idols were taken to safe places by the priests and the servitors of the temple. Destruction of the temple was prevented by timely resistance or surrender by the kings of the region. However, the treasures of the temple were repeatedly looted. Puri is the site of the Govardhana matha, one of the four cardinal institutions established by Adi Shankaracharya, when he visited Puri in 810 and since then it has become an important dham (divine centre) for the Hindus; the others being those at Sringeri, Dwaraka and Jyotirmath. The matha is headed by Jagatguru Shankarachrya. The significance of the four dhams is that the Lord Vishnu takes his dinner at Puri, has his bath at Rameshwaram, spends the night at Dwarka and does penance at Badrinath.

 

Chaitanya Mahaprabhu of Bengal who established the Bhakti movements of India in the sixteenth century, now known by the name the Hare Krishna movement, spent many years as a devotee of Jagannatha at Puri; he is said to have merged his "corporal self" with the deity. There is also a matha of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu here.

 

In the 17th century for the sailors sailing on the east coast of India, the landmark was the temple located in a plaza in the centre of the town which they called the "White Pagoda" while the Konark Sun Temple, 60 kilometres away to the east of Puri, was known as the "Black Pagoda".

 

The iconographic representation of the images in the Jagannath temple are believed to be the forms derived from the worship made by the tribal groups of Sabaras belonging to northern Odisha. These images are replaced at regular intervals as the wood deteriorates. This replacement is a special event carried out ritulistically by special group of carpenters.

 

The town has many Mathas (Monasteries of the various Hindu sects). Among the important mathas is the Emar Matha founded by the Tamil Vaishnav Saint Ramanujacharya in the 12th century AD. At present this matha is located in front of Simhadvara across the eastern corner of the Jagannath Temple is reported to have been built in the 16th century during the reign of Suryavamsi Gajapati. The matha was in the news recently for the large cache of 522 silver slabs unearthded from a closed room.

 

The British conquered Orissa in 1803 and recognizing the importance of the Jagannatha Temple in the life of the people of the state they initially placed an official to look after the temple's affairs and later declared it a district with the same name.

 

MODERN HISTORY

In 1906, Sri Yukteswar an exponent of Kriya Yoga, a resident of Puri, established an ashram in the sea-side town of Puri, naming it "Kararashram" as a spiritual training center. He died on 9 March 1936 and his body is buried in the garden of the ashram.

 

The city is the site of the former summer residence of British Raj built in 1913–14 during the era of governors, the Raj Bhavan.

 

For the people of Puri Lord Jagannath, visualized as Lord Krishna, is synonymous with their city. They believe that the Jagannatha looks after the welfare of the state. However, after the incident of the partial collapse of the Jagannatha Temple, the Amalaka part of the tower on 14 June 1990 people became apprehensive and thought it was not a good omen for the welfare of the State of Odisha. The replacement of the fallen stone by another of the same size and weight (seven tons) had to be done only in the an early morning hours after the gods had woken up after a good nights sleep which was done on 28 February 1991.

 

Puri has been chosen as one of the heritage cities for the Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana scheme of the Indian Government. It is one of 12 the heritage cities chosen with "focus on holistic development" to be implemented in 27 months by end of March 2017.

 

Non-Hindus are not permitted to enter the shrines but are allowed to view the temple and the proceedings from the roof of the Raghunandan library within the precincts of the temple for a small donation.

 

DEMOGRAPHICS

As of 2001 India census, Puri city, an urban Agglomeration governed by Municipal Corporation in Orissa state, had a population of 157,610 which increased to 200,564 in 2011. Males, 104,086, females, 96,478, children under 6 years of age, 18,471. The sex ratio is 927 females to 1000 males. Puri has an average literacy rate of 88.03 percent (91.38 percent males and 84.43 percent females). Religion-wise data is not reported.

 

ECONOMY

The economy of Puri is dependent on tourism to the extent of about 80%. The temple is the focal point of the entire area of the town and provides major employment to the people of the town. Agricultural production of rice, ghee, vegetables and so forth of the region meets the huge requirements of the temple, with many settlements aroiund the town exclusively catering to the other religious paraphernalia of the temple. The temple administration employs 6,000 men to perform the rituals. The temple also provides economic sustenance to 20,000 people belonging to 36 orders and 97 classes. The kitchen of the temple which is said to be the largest in the world employs 400 cooks.

 

CITY MANAGEMENT AND GOVERNANCE

Puri Municipality, Puri Konark Development Authority, Public Health Engineering Organisastion, Orissa Water Supply Sewerage Board are some of the principal organizations that are devolved with the responsibility of providing for all the urban needs of civic amenities such as water supply, sewerage, waste management, street lighting, and infrastructure of roads. The major activity which puts maximum presuure on these organizations is the annual event of the Ratha Yatra held for 10 days during July when more than a million people attend the grand event. This event involves to a very large extent the development activities such as infrastructure and amenities to the pilgrims, apart from security to the pilgrims.

 

The civic administration of Puri is the responsibility of the Puri Municipality which came into existence in 1864 in the name of Puri Improvement Trust which got converted into Puri Municipality in 1881. After India's independence in 1947, Orissa Municipal Act-1950 was promulgated entrusting the administration of the city to the Puri Municipality. This body is represented by elected representative with a Chairperson and councilors representing the 30 wards within the municipal limits.

 

LANDMARKS

JAGANNATH TEMPLE AT PURI

The Temple of Jagannath at Puri is one of the major Hindu temples built in the Kalinga style of architecture, in respect of its plan, front view and structural detailing. It is one of the Pancharatha (Five chariots) type consisting of two anurathas, two konakas and one ratha with well-developed pagas. Vimana or Deula is the sanctum sanctorum where the triad (three) deities are deified on the ratnavedi (Throne of Pearls), and over which is the temple tower, known as the rekha deula; the latter is built over a rectangular base of the pidha temples as its roof is made up of pidhas that are sequentially arranged horizontal platforms built in descending order forming a pyramidal shape. The mandapa in front of the sanctum sanctorum is known as Jagamohana where devotees assemble to offer worship. The temple tower with a spire rises to a height of 58 m in height and a flag is unfurled above it fixed over a wheel (chakra). Within the temple complex is the Nata Mandir, a large hall where Garuda stamba (pillar). Chaitanya Mahaprabhu used to stand here and pray. In the interior of the Bhoga Mantap, adjoining the Nata mandir, there is profusion of decorations of sculptures and paintings which narrate the story of Lord Krishna. The temple is built on an elevated platform (of about 39,000 m2 area), 20 ft above the adjoining area. The temple rises to a height of 214 ft above the road level. The temple complex covers an area of 4,3 ha. There is double walled enclosure, rectangular in shape (rising to a height of 20 ft) surrounding the temple complex of which the outer wall is known as Meghanada Prachira, measuring 200 by 192 metres. The inner walled enclosure, known as Kurmabedha. measures 126m x 95m. There are four entry gates (in four cardinal directions to the temple located at the center of the walls in the four directions of the outer circle. These are: the eastern gate called Singhadwara (Lions Gate), the southern gate known as Ashwa Dwara (Horse Gate), the western gate called the Vyaghra Dwara (Tigers Gate) or the Khanja Gate, and the northern gate called the Hathi Dwara or (elephant gate). The four gates symbolize the four fundamental principles of Dharma (right conduct), Jnana (knowledge), Vairagya (renunciation) and Aishwarya (prosperity). The gates are crowned with pyramid shapes structures. There is stone pillar in front of the Singhadwara called the Aruna Stambha {Solar Pillar}, 11 metres in height with 16 faces, made of chlorite stone, at the top of which is mounted an elegant statue of Arun (Sun) in a prayer mode. This pillar was shifted from the Konarak Sun temple. All the gates are decorated with guardian statues in the form of lion, horse mounted men, tigers and elephants in the name and order of the gates. A pillar made of fossilized wood is used for placing lamps as offering. The Lion Gate (Singhadwara) is the main gate to the temple, which guarded by two guardian deities Jaya and Vijaya. The main gates is ascended through 22 steps known as Baisi Pahaca which are revered as it is said to possess "spiritual animation". Children are made to roll down these steps from top to bottom to bring them spiritual happiness. After entering the temple on the left hand side there is huge kitchen where food is prepared in hygienic conditions in huge quantities that it is termed as "the biggest hotel of the world".

 

The legend says that King Indradyumma was directed by Lord Jagannath in a dream to build a temple for him and he built it as directed. However, according to historical records the temple was started some time during the 12th century by King Chodaganga of the Eastern Ganga dynasty. It was however completed by his descendant, Anangabhima Deva, in the 12th century. The wooden images of Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra were then deified here. The temple was under the control of the Hindu rulers up to 1558. Then, when Orissa was occupied by the Afghan Nawab of Bengal, it was brought under the control of the Afghan General Kalapahad. Following the defeat of the Afghan king by Raja Mansingh, the General of Mughal emperor Akbar, the temple became a part of the Mughal empire till 1751 AD. Subsequently it was under the control of the Marathas till 1803. Then, when British Raj took over Orissa, the Puri Raja was entrusted with its to management until 1947.

 

The triad of images in the temple are of Jagannatha, personifying Lord Krishna, Balabhadra, his older brother, and Subhadra his younger sister, which are made of wood (neem) in an unfinished form. The stumps of wood which form the images of the brothers have human arms and that of Subhadra does not have any arms. The heads are large and un-carved and are painted. The faces are made distinct with the large circular shaped eyes.

 

THE PANCHA TIRTHA OF PURI

Hindus consider it essential to bathe in the Pancha Tirtha or the five sacred bathing spots of Puri, India, to complete a pilgrimage to Puri. The five sacred water bodies are the Indradyumana Tank, the Rohini Kunda, the Markandeya Tank, Swetaganga Tank, and the The Sea also called the Mahodadhi is considered a sacred bathing spot in the Swargadwar area. These tanks have perennial sources of supply in the form of rain water and ground water.

 

GUNDICHA TEMPLE

Known as the Garden House of Jagannath, the Gundicha temple stands in the centre of a beautiful garden, surrounded by compound walls on all sides. It lies at a distance of about 3 kilometres to the north east of the Jagannath Temple. The two temples are located at the two ends of the Bada Danda (Grand Avenue) which is the pathway for the Rath Yatra. According to a legend, Gundicha was the wife of King Indradyumna who originally built the Jagannath temple.

 

The temple is built using light-grey sandstone and architecturally, it exemplifies typical Kalinga temple architecture in the Deula style. The complex comprises four components: vimana (tower structure containing the sanctum), jagamohana (assembly hall), nata-mandapa (festival hall) and bhoga-mandapa (hall of offerings). There is also a kitchen connected by a small passage. The temple is set within a garden, and is known as "God's Summer Garden Retreat" or garden house of Jagannath. The entire complex, including garden, is surrounded by a wall which measures 131 m × 98 m with height of 6.1 m.

 

Except for the 9-day Rath Yatra when triad images are worshipped in Gundicha Temple, the rest of the year it remains unoccupied. Tourists can visit the temple after paying an entry fee. Foreigners (prohibited entry in the main temple) are allowed inside this temple during this period. The temple is under the Jagannath Temple Administration, Puri – the governing body of the main temple. A small band of servitors maintain the temple.

 

SWARGADWAR

Swargadwar is the name given to the cremation ground or burning ghat which is located on the shores of the sea were thousands of dead bodies of Hindus are brought from faraway places to cremate. It is a belief that the Chitanya Mahaparabhu disppaeread from this Swargadwar about 500 years back.

 

BEACH

The beach at Puri known as the "Ballighai beach} is 8 km away at the mouth of Nunai River from the town and is fringed by casurian trees. It has golden yellow sand and has pleasant sunshine. Sunrise and sunset are pleasant scenic attractions here. Waves break in at the beach which is long and wide.

 

DISTRICT MUSEUM

The Puri district museum is located on the station road where the exhibits are of different types of garments worn by Lord Jagannath, local sculptures, patachitra (traditional, cloth-based scroll painting) and ancient Palm-leaf manuscripts and local craft work.

 

RAGHUNANDANA LIBRARY

Raghunandana Library is located in the Emmra matha complex (opposite Simhadwara or Lion gate, the main entrance gate). The Jagannatha Aitihasika Gavesana Samiti (Jagannatha Historical Center) is also located here. The library contains ancient palm leaf manuscripts of Jagannatha, His cult and the history of the city. From the roof of the library one gets a picturesque view of the temple complex.

 

FESTIVALS OF PURI

Puri witnesses 24 festivals every year, of which 13 are major festivals. The most important of these is the Rath Yatra or the Car festival held in the month June–July which is attended by more than 1 million people.

 

RATH YATRA AT PURI

The Jagannath triad are usually worshiped in the sanctum of the temple at Puri, but once during the month of Asadha (Rainy Season of Orissa, usually falling in month of June or July), they are brought out onto the Bada Danda (main street of Puri) and travel 3 kilometrer to the Shri Gundicha Temple, in huge chariots (ratha), allowing the public to have darśana (Holy view). This festival is known as Rath Yatra, meaning the journey (yatra) of the chariots (ratha). The yatra starts, according to Hindu calendar Asadha Sukla Dwitiya )the second day of bright fortnight of Asadha (June–July) every year.

 

Historically, the ruling Ganga dynasty instituted the Rath Yatra at the completion of the great temple around 1150 AD. This festival was one of those Hindu festivals that was reported to the Western world very early. In his own account of 1321, Odoric reported how the people put the "idols" on chariots, and the King and Queen and all the people drew them from the "church" with song and music.

 

The Rathas are huge wheeled wooden structures, which are built anew every year and are pulled by the devotees. The chariot for Jagannath is about 14 m high and 35 feet square and takes about 2 months to construct. Th chariot is mounted with 16 wheels, each of 2.1 m diameter. The carvings in the front of the chariot has four wooden horses drawn by Maruti. On its other three faces the wooden carvings are Rama, Surya and Vishnu. The chariot is known as Nandi Ghosha. The roof of the chariot is covered with yellow and golden coloured cloth. The next chariot is that of Balabhadra which is 13 m in height fitted with 14 wheels. The chariot is carved with Satyaki as the charioteer. The carvings on this chariot also include images of Narasimha and Rudra as Jagannath's companions. The next chariot in the order is that of Subhadra, which is 13 m in height supported on 12 wheels, roof covered in black and red colour cloth and the chariot is known as Darpa-Dalaan. The charioteer carved is Arjuna. Other images carved on the chariot are that of Vana Durga, Tara Devi and Chandi Devi. The artists and painters of Puri decorate the cars and paint flower petals and other designs on the wheels, the wood-carved charioteer and horses, and the inverted lotuses on the wall behind the throne. The huge chariots of Jagannath pulled during Rath Yatra is the etymological origin of the English word Juggernaut. The Ratha-Yatra is also termed as the Shri Gundicha yatra and Ghosha yatra

 

CHHERA PAHARA

The Chhera Pahara is a significant ritual associated with the Ratha-Yatra. During the festival, the Gajapati King wears the outfit of a sweeper and sweeps all around the deities and chariots in the Chera Pahara (sweeping with water) ritual. The Gajapati King cleanses the road before the chariots with a gold-handled broom and sprinkles sandalwood water and powder with utmost devotion. As per the custom, although the Gajapati King has been considered the most exalted person in the Kalingan kingdom, he still renders the menial service to Jagannath. This ritual signified that under the lordship of Jagannath, there is no distinction between the powerful sovereign Gajapati King and the most humble devotee.

 

CHADAN YATRA

In Akshaya Tritiya every year the Chandan Yatra festival marks the commencement of the construction of the Chariots of the Rath Yatra. It also marks the celebration of the Hindu new year.

 

SNANA YATRA

On the Purnima day in the month of Jyestha (June) the triad images of the Jagannath temple are ceremonially bathed and decorated every year on the occasion of Snana Yatra. Water for the bath is taken in 108 pots from the Suna kuan (meaning: "golden well") located near the northern gate of the temple. Water is drawn from this well only once in a year for the sole purpose of this religious bath of the deities. After the bath the triad images are dressed in the fashion of the elephant god, Ganesha. Later during the night the original triad images are taken out in a procession back to the main temple but kept at a place known as Anasara pindi. After this the Jhulana Yatra is when proxy images of the deities are taken out in a grand procession for 21 days, cruised over boats in the Narmada tank.

 

ANAVASARA OR ANASARA

Anasara literally means vacation. Every year, the triad images without the Sudarshan after the holy Snana Yatra are taken to a secret altar named Anavasara Ghar Palso known as "Anasara pindi} where they remain for the next dark fortnight (Krishna paksha). Hence devotees are not allowed to view them. Instead of this devotees go to nearby place Brahmagiri to see their beloved lord in the form of four handed form Alarnath a form of Vishnu. Then people get the first glimpse of lord on the day before Rath Yatra, which is called Navayouvana. It is said that the gods suffer from fever after taking ritual detailed bath and they are treated by the special servants named, Daitapatis for 15 days. Daitapatis perform special niti (rite) known as Netrotchhaba (a rite of painting the eyes of the triad). During this period cooked food is not offered to the deities.

 

NAVA KALEVARA

One of the most grandiloquent events associated with the Lord Jagannath, Naba Kalabera takes place when one lunar month of Ashadha is followed by another lunar month of Aashadha, called Adhika Masa (extra month). This can take place in 8, 12 or even 18 years. Literally meaning the "New Body" (Nava = New, Kalevar = Body), the festival is witnessed by as millions of people and the budget for this event exceeds $500,000. The event involves installation of new images in the temple and burial of the old ones in the temple premises at Koili Vaikuntha. The idols that were worshipped in the temple, installed in the year 1996, were replaced by specially made new images made of neem wood during Nabakalebara 2015 ceremony held during July 2015. More than 3 million devotees were expected to visit the temple during the Nabakalebara 2015 held in July.

 

SUNA BESHA

Suna Bhesha also known as Raja or Rajadhiraja bhesha or Raja Bhesha, is an event when the triad images of the Jagannath Temple are adorned with gold jewelry. This event is observed 5 times during a year. It is commonly observed on Magha Purnima (January), Bahuda Ekadashi also known as Asadha Ekadashi (July), Dashahara (Vijyadashami) (October), Karthik Purnima (November), and Pousa Purnima (December). While one such Suna Bhesha event is observed on Bahuda Ekadashi during the Rath Yatra on the chariots placed at the lion's gate or the Singhdwar; the other four Bheshas' are observed inside the temple on the Ratna Singhasana (gem studded altar). On this occasion gold plates are decorated over the hands and feet of Jagannath and Balabhadra; Jagannath is also adorned with a Chakra (disc) made of gold on the right hand while a silver conch adorns the left hand. However, Balabhadra is decorated with a plough made of gold on the left hand while a golden mace adorns his right hand.

 

NILADRI BIJE

Celebrated on Asadha Trayodashi. It marks the end of the 12 days Ratha yatra. The large wooden images of the triad of gods are moved from the chariots and then carried to the sanctum sanctorum, swaying rhythmically, a ritual which is known as pahandi.

 

SAHI YATRA

Considered the world's biggest open-air theatre, the Sahi yatra is an 11 day long traditional cultural theatre festival or folk drama which begins on Ram Navami and ending in Rama avishke (Sanskrit:anointing) every year. The festival includes plays depicting various scenes from the Ramayan. The residents of various localities or Sahis are entrusted the task of performing the drama at the street corners.

  

TRANSPORT

Earlier when roads did not exist people walked or travelled by animal drawn vehicles or carriages along beaten tracks. Up to Calcutta travel was by riverine craft along the Ganges and then by foot or carriages to Puri. It was only during the Maratha rule that the popular Jagannath Sadak (Road) was built around 1790. The East India Company laid the rail track from Calcutta to Puri which became operational in 1898. Puri is now well connected by rail, road and air services. A broad gauge railway line of the South Eastern Railways connects with Puri and Khurda is an important Railway junction. By rail it is about 499 kilometres away from Calcutta and 468 kilometres from Vishakhapatnam. Road network includes NH 203 that links the town with Bhubaneswar, the capital of Odisha which is about 60 kilometres away. NH 203 B connects the town with Satapada via Brahmagiri. Marine drive which is part of NH 203 A connects Puri with Konark. The nearest airport is at Bhubaneswar, about 60 kilometres away from Puri. Puri railway station is among the top hundred booking stations of Indian Railways.

 

ARTS AND CRAFTS

SAND ART

Sand art is a special art form that is created on the beaches of the sea coast of Puri. The art form is attributed to Balaram Das, a poet who lived in the 14th century. He started crafting the sand art forms of the triad deities of the Jagannath Temple at the Puri beach. Now sculptures in sand of various gods and famous people are created by amateur artists which are temporal in nature as they get washed away by waves. This is an art form which has gained international fame in recent years. One of the well known sand artist is Sudarshan Patnaik. He has established the Golden Sand Art Institute in 1995 at the beach to provide training to students interested in this art form.

 

APPLIQUE ART

Applique art work, which is a stitching based craft, unlike embroidery, which was pioneered by the Hatta Maharana of Pipili is widely used in Puri, both for decoration of the deities but also for sale. His family members are employed as darjis or tailors or sebaks by the Maharaja of Puri who prepare articles for decorating the deities in the temple for various festivals and religious ceremonies. These applique works are brightly coloured and patterned fabric in the form of canopies, umbrellas, drapery, carry bags, flags, coberings of dummy horses and cows, and other household textiles which are marketed in Puri. The cloth used are in dark colours of red, black, yellow, green, blue and turquoise blue.

 

CULTURE

Cultural activities, apart from religiuos festivals, held annually are: The Puri Beach Festival held between 5 and 9 November and the Shreeksherta Utsav held from 20 December to 2 January where cultural programmes include unique sand art, display of local and traditional handicrafts and food festival. In addition cultural programmes are held every Saturday for two hours on in second Saturday of the moth at the district Collector's Conference Hall near Sea Beach Polic Station. Apart from Odissi dance, Odiya music, folk dances, and cultural programmes are part of this event. Odishi dance is the cultural heritage of Puri. This dance form originated in Puri in the dances performed Devadasis (Maharis) attached to the Jagannath temple who performed dances in the Natamantapa of the temple to please the deities. Though the devadadsi practice has been discontinued, the dance form has become modern and classical and is widely popular, and many of the Odishi virtuoso artists and gurus (teachers) are from Puri.

 

EDUCATION

SOME OF THE EDUCATIONNAL INSTITUTIONS IN PURI

- Ghanashyama Hemalata Institute of Technology and Management

- Gangadhar Mohapatra Law College, established in 1981[84]

- Extension Unit of Regional Research Institute of Homoeopathy; Puri under Central Council for Research in Homoeopathy (CCRH), New Delhi established in March 2006

- Sri Jagannath Sanskrit Vishwavidyalaya, established in July 1981

- The Industrial Training Institute, a Premier Technical Institution to provide education in skilled, committed & talented technicians, established in 1966 of the Government of India

 

PURI PEOPLE

Gopabandhu Das

Acharya Harihar

Nilakantha Das

Kelucharan Mohapatra

Pankaj Charan Das

Manasi Pradhan

Raghunath Mohapatra

Sudarshan Patnaik

Biswanath Sahinayak

Rituraj Mohanty

 

WIKIPEDIA

Thank you so much everyone!!!

 

A Sikh is a follower of Sikhism, a monotheistic religion which originated during the 15th century in the Punjab region. The term "Sikh" has its origin in the Sanskrit words शिष्य (śiṣya; disciple, student) or शिक्ष (śikṣa; instruction). A Sikh is a disciple of a guru. According to Article I of the Sikh Rehat Maryada (the Sikh code of conduct), a Sikh is "any human being who faithfully believes in One Immortal Being; ten Gurus, from Guru Nanak to Guru Gobind Singh; Guru Granth Sahib; the teachings of the ten Gurus and the baptism bequeathed by the tenth Guru". "Sikh" properly refers to adherents of Sikhism as a religion, not an ethnic group. However, because Sikhs often share strong ethno-religious ties, many countries, such as the U.K., recognize Sikh as a designated ethnicity on their censuses. The American non-profit organization United Sikhs has fought to have Sikh included on the U.S. census as well, arguing that Sikhs "self-identify as an 'ethnic minority'" and believe "that they are more than just a religion".

 

Male Sikhs usually have "Singh" (Lion), and female Sikhs have "Kaur" (Princess) as their middle or last name. Sikhs who have undergone the khanḍe-kī-pahul (the Sikh initiation ceremony) may also be recognized by the five Ks: uncut hair (kesh); an iron or steel bracelet (kara); a kirpan (a sword tucked into a gatra strap); kachehra, a cotton undergarment, and kanga, a small wooden comb. Baptized male Sikhs must cover their hair with a turban, which is optional for baptized female Sikhs. The greater Punjab region is the historic homeland of the Sikhs, although significant communities exist around the world.

 

HISTORY

Sikh political history may be said to begin with the death of the fifth Sikh guru, Guru Arjan Dev, in 1606. Guru Nanak was a religious leader and social reformer in the 15th-century Punjab. Religious practices were formalized by Guru Gobind Singh on 30 March 1699. Singh baptized five people from a variety of social backgrounds, known as the Panj Piare (the five beloved ones) to form the Khalsa, or collective body of initiated Sikhs. Sikhism has generally had amicable relations with other religions, except for the period of Mughal rule in India (1556–1707). Several Sikh gurus were killed by the Mughals for opposing their persecution of minority religious communities including Sikhs. Sikhs subsequently militarized to oppose Mughal rule. The emergence of the Sikh Confederacy under Ranjit Singh was characterized by religious tolerance and pluralism, with Christians, Muslims and Hindus in positions of power. The confederacy is considered the zenith of political Sikhism, encompassing Kashmir, Ladakh and Peshawar. Hari Singh Nalwa, the commander-in-chief of the Sikh army in the North West Frontier, expanded the confederacy to the Khyber Pass. Its secular administration implemented military, economic and governmental reforms. The months leading up to the partition of India in 1947 were marked by conflict in the Punjab between Sikhs and Muslims. This caused the religious migration of Punjabi Sikhs and Hindus from West Punjab, mirroring a similar religious migration of Punjabi Muslims from East Punjab.

 

The 1960s saw growing animosity between Sikhs and Hindus in India, with the Sikhs demanding the creation of a Punjab state on a linguistic basis similar to other states in India. This was promised to Sikh leader Master Tara Singh by Jawaharlal Nehru, in return for Sikh political support during negotiations for Indian independence. Although the Sikhs obtained the Punjab, they lost Hindi-speaking areas to Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan. Chandigarh was made a union territory and the capital of Haryana and Punjab on 1 November 1966.

 

Tensions arose again during the late 1970s, fueled by Sikh claims of discrimination and marginalisation by the Hindu-dominated Indian National Congress party and tactics adopted by the Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

 

According to Katherine Frank, Indira Gandhi's assumption of emergency powers in 1975 resulted in the weakening of the "legitimate and impartial machinery of government", and her increasing "paranoia" about opposing political groups led her to institute a "despotic policy of playing castes, religions and political groups against each other for political advantage". Sikh leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale articulated Sikh demands for justice, and this triggered violence in the Punjab. The prime minister's 1984 defeat of Bhindranwale led to an attack on the Golden Temple in Operation Blue Star and to her assassination by her Sikh bodyguards. Gandhi's assassination resulted in an explosion of violence against Sikh communities and the killing of thousands of Sikhs throughout India. Khushwant Singh described the riots as a Sikh pogrom; he "felt like a refugee in my country. In fact, I felt like a Jew in Nazi Germany". Since 1984, relations between Sikhs and Hindus have moved toward a rapprochement aided by economic prosperity. However, a 2002 claim by the Hindu right-wing Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) that "Sikhs are Hindus" disturbed Sikh sensibilities. The Khalistan movement campaigns for justice for the victims of the violence, and for the political and economic needs of the Punjab.

 

In 1996, United Nations Commission on Human Rights Freedom of Religion or Belief Special Rapporteur Abdelfattah Amor (Tunisia, 1993–2004) visited India to report on religious discrimination. The following year Amor concluded, "In India it appears that the situation of the Sikhs in the religious field is satisfactory, but that difficulties are arising in the political (foreign interference, terrorism, etc.), economic (in particular with regard to sharing of water supplies) and even occupational fields. Information received from nongovernment (sic) sources indicates that discrimination does exist in certain sectors of the public administration; examples include the decline in the number of Sikhs in the police force and the military, and the absence of Sikhs in personal bodyguard units since the murder of Indira Gandhi".

 

Although Sikhs comprise 10 to 15 percent of all ranks of the Indian Army and 20 percent of its officers, they make up 1.87 percent of the Indian population.

 

During the 1999 Vaisakhi, Sikhs worldwide celebrated the 300th anniversary of the creation of the Khalsa. Canada Post honoured Sikh Canadians with a commemorative stamp in conjunction with the 300th anniversary of Vaisakhi. On April 9, 1999, Indian president K.R. Narayanan issued a stamp commemorating the 300th anniversary of the Khalsa.

 

DEFINITION

According to Guru Granth Sahib:

One who calls himself a Sikh of the Guru, the True Guru, shall rise in the early morning hours and meditate on the Lord's Name. Upon arising early in the morning, the Sikh is to bathe, and cleanse himself in the pool of nectar. Following the Instructions of the Guru, the Sikh is to chant the Name of the Lord, Har. All sins, misdeeds and negativity shall be erased. Then, at the rising of the sun, the Sikh is to sing Gurbani; whether sitting down or standing up, the Sikh is to meditate on the Lord's Name. One who meditates on my Lord, Har, with every breath and every morsel of food – that Gursikh becomes pleasing to the Guru's Mind. That person, unto whom my Lord and Master is kind and compassionate – upon that Gursikh, the Guru's Teachings are bestowed. Servant Nanak begs for the dust of the feet of that Gursikh, who himself chants the Naam, and inspires others to chant it.

 

Simran of the Lord's name is a recurring theme of Guru Granth Sahib, and Sukhmani Sahib were composed to allow a devotee to recite Nam throughout the day. Rising at Amrit Velā (before sunrise) is a common Sikh practice. Sikhism considers the spiritual and secular lives to be intertwined: "In the Sikh Weltanschauung ... the temporal world is part of the Infinite and partakes of its characteristics." According to Guru Nanak, living an "active, creative, and practical life" of "truthfulness, fidelity, self-control and purity" is superior to a purely contemplative life.

 

FIVE Ks

The five Ks (panj kakaar) are five articles of faith which all baptized Sikhs (Amritdhari Sikhs) are obliged to wear. The symbols represent the ideals of Sikhism: honesty, equality, fidelity, meditating on God and never bowing to tyranny. The five symbols are:

- Kesh: Uncut hair, usually tied and wrapped in a Dastar

- Kanga: A wooden comb, usually worn under a Dastar

- Katchera: Cotton undergarments, historically appropriate in battle due to increased mobility when compared to a dhoti. Worn by both sexes, the katchera is a symbol of chastity.

- Kara: An iron bracelet, a weapon and a symbol of eternity

- Kirpan: An iron dagger in different sizes. In the UK Sikhs can wear a small dagger, but in the Punjab they might wear a traditional curved sword from one to three feet in length.

 

MUSIC & INSTRUMENTS

The Sikhs have a number of musical instruments: the rebab, dilruba, taus, jori and sarinda. Playing the sarangi was encouraged in Guru Har Gobind. The rubab was first played by Bhai Mardana as he accompanied Guru Nanak on his journeys. The jori and sarinda were designed by Guru Arjan. The taus was made by Guru Hargobind, who supposedly heard a peacock singing and wanted to create an instrument mimicking its sounds (taus is the Persian word for peacock). The dilruba was made by Guru Gobind Singh at the request of his followers, who wanted a smaller instrument than the taus. After Japji Sahib, all of the shabda in the Guru Granth Sahib were composed as ragas. This type of singing is known as Gurmat Sangeet.

 

When they marched into battle, the Sikhs would play a Ranjit Nagara (victory drum) to boost morale. Nagaras (usually two to three feet in diameter, although some were up to five feet in diameter) are played with two sticks. The beat of the large drums, and the raising of the Nishan Sahib, meant that the singhs were on their way.

 

DISTRIBUTION

Numbering about 27 million worldwide, Sikhs make up 0.39 percent of the world population; approximately 83 percent live in India. About 76 percent of all Sikhs live in the north Indian State of Punjab, where they form a majority (about two-thirds) of the population. Substantial communities of Sikhs (more than 200,000) live in the Indian states or union territories of Haryana (more than 1.1 million), Rajasthan, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh Assam and Jammu and Kashmir.

 

Sikh migration from British India began in earnest during the second half of the 19th century, when the British completed their annexation of the Punjab. The British Raj recruited Sikhs for the Indian Civil Service (particularly the British Indian Army), which led to Sikh migration throughout India and the British Empire. During the Raj, semiskilled Sikh artisans were transported from the Punjab to British East Africa to help build railroads. Sikhs emigrated from India and Pakistan after World War II, most going to the United Kingdom but many to North America. Some Sikhs who had settled in eastern Africa were expelled by Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in 1972. Economics is a major factor in Sikh migration, and significant communities exist in the United Kingdom, Canada, the United States, Malaysia, East Africa, Australia and Thailand.

 

Although the rate of Sikh migration from the Punjab has remained high, traditional patterns of Sikh migration favouring English-speaking countries (particularly the United Kingdom) have changed during the past decade due to stricter immigration laws. Moliner (2006) wrote that as a consequence of Sikh migration to the UK "becom[ing] virtually impossible since the late 1970s", migration patterns evolved to continental Europe. Italy is a rapidly growing destination for Sikh migration, with Reggio Emilia and Vicenza having significant Sikh population clusters. Italian Sikhs are generally involved in agriculture, agricultural processing, the manufacture of machine tools and horticulture.

 

Primarily for socio-economic reasons, Indian Sikhs have the lowest adjusted growth rate of any major religious group in India, at 16.9 percent per decade (estimated from 1991 to 2001). Johnson and Barrett (2004) estimate that the global Sikh population increases annually by 392,633 (1.7 percent per year, based on 2004 figures); this percentage includes births, deaths and conversions.

 

REPRESENTATION

Sikhs have been represented in Indian politics by former Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh and the deputy chairman of the Indian Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia. Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal is also a Sikh. Past Sikh politicians in India include former president Giani Zail Singh, Sardar Swaran Singh (India's first foreign minister), Speaker of Parliament Gurdial Singh Dhillon and former Chief Minister of Punjab Pratap Singh Kairon.

 

Politicians from the Sikh diaspora include the first Asian American member of the United States Congress, Dalip Singh Saund, British MPs Piara Khabra, Parmjit Dhanda and Paul Uppal, the first couple to sit together in a Commonwealth parliament (Gurmant Grewal and Nina Grewal, who requested a Canadian government apology for the Komagata Maru incident), former Canadian Shadow Social Development Minister Ruby Dhalla, Canadian Minister of State for Sport Baljit Singh Gosal and Legislative Assembly of Ontario members Vic Dhillon and Jagmeet Singh. Ujjal Dosanjh was the New Democratic Party Premier of British Columbia from July 2004 to February 2005, and was later a Liberal frontbench MP in Ottawa. In Malaysia, two Sikhs were elected MPs in the 2008 general elections: Karpal Singh (Bukit Gelugor) and his son, Gobind Singh Deo (Puchong). Two Sikhs were elected assemblymen: Jagdeep Singh Deo (Datuk Keramat) and Keshvinder Singh (Malim Nawar).

 

Sikhs comprise 10 to 15 percent of all ranks in the Indian Army and 20 percent of its officers, while making up 1.87 percent of the Indian population. The Sikh Regiment is one of the most-decorated regiments in the army, with 73 Battle Honours, 14 Victoria Crosses, 21 first-class Indian Orders of Merit (equivalent to the Victoria Cross), 15 Theatre Honours, five COAS Unit Citations, two Param Vir Chakras, 14 Maha Vir Chakras, five Kirti Chakras, 67 Vir Chakras and 1,596 other awards. The highest-ranking general in the history of the Indian Air Force is a Punjabi Sikh, Marshal of the Air Force Arjan Singh. Plans by the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence for a Sikh infantry regiment were scrapped in June 2007.

 

Historically, most Indians have been farmers and 66 percent of the Indian population are engaged in agriculture. Indian Sikhs are employed in agriculture to a lesser extent; India's 2001 census found 39 percent of the working population of the Punjab employed in this sector. The success of the 1960s Green Revolution, in which India went from "famine to plenty, from humiliation to dignity", was based in the Punjab (which became known as "the breadbasket of India"). The Punjab is the wealthiest Indian state per capita, with the average Punjabi income three times the national average. The Green Revolution centred on Indian farmers adopting more intensive and mechanised agricultural methods, aided by the electrification of the Punjab, cooperative credit, consolidation of small holdings and the existing, British Raj-developed canal system. According to Swedish political scientist Ishtiaq Ahmad, a factor in the success of the Indian green revolution was the "Sikh cultivator, often the Jat, whose courage, perseverance, spirit of enterprise and muscle prowess proved crucial". However, not all aspects of the green revolution were beneficial. Indian physicist Vandana Shiva wrote that the green revolution made the "negative and destructive impacts of science [i.e. the green revolution] on nature and society" invisible, and was a catalyst for Punjabi Sikh and Hindu tensions despite a growth in material wealth.

 

Punjabi Sikhs are engaged in a number of professions which include science, engineering and medicine. Notable examples are nuclear scientist Piara Singh Gill (who worked on the Manhattan Project), fibre-optics pioneer Narinder Singh Kapany and physicist, science writer and broadcaster Simon Singh.

 

In business, the UK-based clothing retailers New Look and the Thai-based Jaspal were founded by Sikhs. India's largest pharmaceutical company, Ranbaxy Laboratories, is headed by Sikhs. UK Sikhs have the highest percentage of home ownership (82 percent) of any religious community. UK Sikhs are the second-wealthiest (after the Jewish community) religious group in the UK, with a median total household wealth of £229,000. In Singapore Kartar Singh Thakral expanded his family's trading business, Thakral Holdings, into total assets of almost $1.4 billion and is Singapore's 25th-richest person. Sikh Bob Singh Dhillon is the first Indo-Canadian billionaire. The Sikh diaspora has been most successful in North America, especially in California’s fertile Central Valley. American Sikh farmers such as Harbhajan Singh Samra and Didar Singh Bains dominate California agriculture, with Samra specialising in okra and Bains in peaches.

 

Sikh intellectuals, sportsmen and artists include writer Khushwant Singh, England cricketer Monty Panesar, former 400m runner Milkha Singh, Indian wrestler and actor Dara Singh, former Indian hockey team captains Ajitpal Singh and Balbir Singh Sr., former Indian cricket captain Bishen Singh Bedi, Harbhajan Singh (India's most successful off spin cricket bowler), Bollywood actress Neetu Singh, Sunny Leone, actors Parminder Nagra, Neha Dhupia, Gul Panag, Mona Singh, Namrata Singh Gujral, Archie Panjabi and director Gurinder Chadha.

 

Sikhs have migrated worldwide, with a variety of occupations. The Sikh Gurus preached ethnic and social harmony, and Sikhs comprise a number of ethnic groups. Those with over 1,000 members include the Ahluwalia, Arain, Arora, Bhatra, Bairagi, Bania, Basith, Bawaria, Bazigar, Bhabra, Chamar, Chhimba, Darzi, Dhobi, Gujar, Jatt, Jhinwar, Kahar, Kalal, Kamboj, Khatri, Kumhar, Labana, Lohar, Mahtam, Mazhabi, Megh, Mirasi, Mochi, Nai, Rajput, Ramgarhia, Saini, Sarera, Sikligar, Sunar, Sudh, Tarkhan and Zargar.

 

An order of Punjabi Sikhs, the Nihang or the Akalis, was formed during Ranjit Singh's time. Under their leader, Akali Phula Singh, they won many battles for the Sikh Confederacy during the early 19th century.

 

IN THE INDIAN & BRITISH ARMIES

Sikhs supported the British during the Indian Rebellion of 1857. By the beginning of World War I, Sikhs in the British Indian Army totaled over 100,000 (20 percent of the force). Until 1945 fourteen Victoria Crosses were awarded to Sikhs, a per-capita regimental record. In 2002 the names of all Sikh VC and George Cross recipients were inscribed on the monument of the Memorial Gates on Constitution Hill, next to Buckingham Palace. Chanan Singh Dhillon was instrumental in campaigning for the memorial.

 

During World War I, Sikh battalions fought in Egypt, Palestine, Mesopotamia, Gallipoli and France. Six battalions of the Sikh Regiment were raised during World War II, serving in the Second Battle of El Alamein, the Burma and Italian campaigns and in Iraq and receiving 27 battle honours. Around the world, Sikhs are commemorated in Commonwealth cemeteries.

 

In the last two world wars 83,005 turban wearing Sikh soldiers were killed and 109,045 were wounded. They all died or were wounded for the freedom of Britain and the world, and during shell fire, with no other protection but the turban, the symbol of their faith.

—General Sir Frank Messervy

 

British people are highly indebted and obliged to Sikhs for a long time. I know that within this century we needed their help twice [in two world wars] and they did help us very well. As a result of their timely help, we are today able to live with honour, dignity, and independence. In the war, they fought and died for us, wearing the turbans.

—Sir Winston Churchill

 

IN THE WEST

During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Sikhs began to emigrate to East Africa, the Far East, Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom. In 1907 the Khalsa Diwan Society was established in Vancouver, and four years later the first gurdwara was established in London. In 1912 the first gurdwara in the United States was founded in Stockton, California.

 

Since Sikhs (like Middle Eastern men) wear turbans, some in Western countries have been mistaken for Muslim or Arabic men since the September 11 attacks and the Iraq War. Several days after the 9/11 attacks Sikh Balbir Singh Sodhi was murdered by Frank Roque, who thought Sodhi was connected with al-Qaeda. CNN suggested an increase in hate crimes against Sikh men in the United States and the UK after the 9/11 attacks.

 

Since Sikhism has never actively sought converts, the Sikhs have remained a relatively homogeneous ethnic group. The Kundalini Yoga-based activities of Harbhajan Singh Yogi in his 3HO (Happy, Healthy, Holy) organisation claim to have inspired a moderate growth in non-Indian adherents of Sikhism. In 1998 an estimated 7,800 3HO Sikhs, known colloquially as ‘gora’ (ਗੋਰਾ) or ‘white’ Sikhs, were mainly centred around Española, New Mexico and Los Angeles, California. Sikhs and the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund overturned a 1925 Oregon law banning the wearing of turbans by teachers and government officials.

 

In an attempt to foster Sikh leaders in the Western world, youth initiatives by a number of organisations have begun. The Sikh Youth Alliance of North America sponsors an annual Sikh Youth Symposium, a public-speaking and debate competition held in gurdwaras throughout the U.S. and Canada.

 

ART & CULTURE

Sikh art and culture are nearly synonymous with that of the Punjab, and Sikhs are easily recognised by their distinctive turban (Dastar). The Punjab has been called India’s melting pot, due to the confluence of invading cultures (Greek, Mughal and Persian) from the rivers from which the region gets its name. Sikh culture is therefore a synthesis of cultures. Sikhism has forged a unique architecture, which S. S. Bhatti described as "inspired by Guru Nanak’s creative mysticism" and "is a mute harbinger of holistic humanism based on pragmatic spirituality".

 

During the Mughal and Afghan persecution of the Sikhs during the 17th and 18th centuries, the latter were concerned with preserving their religion and gave little thought to art and culture. With the rise of Ranjit Singh and the Sikh Raj in Lahore and Delhi, there was a change in the landscape of art and culture in the Punjab; Hindus and Sikhs could build decorated shrines without the fear of destruction or looting.

 

The Sikh Confederacy was the catalyst for a uniquely Sikh form of expression, with Ranjit Singh commissioning forts, palaces, bungas (residential places) and colleges in a Sikh style. Sikh architecture is characterised by gilded fluted domes, cupolas, kiosks, stone lanterns, ornate balusters and square roofs. A pinnacle of Sikh style is Harmandir Sahib (also known as the Golden Temple) in Amritsar.

 

Sikh culture is influenced by militaristic motifs (with the Khanda the most obvious), and most Sikh artifacts - except for the relics of the Gurus - have a military theme. This theme is evident in the Sikh festivals of Hola Mohalla and Vaisakhi, which feature marching and displays of valor.

 

Although the art and culture of the Sikh diaspora have merged with that of other Indo-immigrant groups into categories like "British Asian", "Indo-Canadian" and "Desi-Culture", a minor cultural phenomenon which can be described as "political Sikh" has arisen. The art of diaspora Sikhs like Amarjeet Kaur Nandhra and Amrit and Rabindra Kaur Singh (the "Singh Twins") is influenced by their Sikhism and current affairs in the Punjab.

Bhangra and Giddha are two forms of Punjabi folk dancing which have been adapted and pioneered by Sikhs. Punjabi Sikhs have championed these forms of expression worldwide, resulting in Sikh culture becoming linked to Bhangra (although "Bhangra is not a Sikh institution but a Punjabi one").

 

PAINTING

Sikh painting is a direct offshoot of the Kangra school of painting. In 1810, Ranjeet Singh (1780–1839) occupied Kangra Fort and appointed Sardar Desa Singh Majithia his governor of the Punjab hills. In 1813 the Sikh army occupied Guler State, and Raja Bhup Singh became a vassal of the Sikhs. With the Sikh kingdom of Lahore becoming the paramount power, some of the Pahari painters from Guler migrated to Lahore for the patronage of Maharaja Ranjeet Singh and his Sardars.

 

The Sikh school adapted Kangra painting to Sikh needs and ideals. Its main subjects are the ten Sikh gurus and stories from Guru Nanak's Janamsakhis. The tenth Guru, Gobind Singh, left a deep impression on the followers of the new faith because of his courage and sacrifices. Hunting scenes and portraits are also common in Sikh painting.

 

WIKIPEDIA

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. . . fixing the knife at the left leg of the cocks

___________________________

 

A cockfight is a blood sport between two roosters (cocks), or more accurately gamecocks, held in a ring called a cockpit. The history of raising fowl for fighting goes back 6,000 years. The first documented use of the word gamecock, denoting use of the cock as to a "game", a sport, pastime or entertainment, was recorded in 1646, after the term "cock of the game" used by George Wilson, in the earliest known book on the sport of cockfighting in The Commendation of Cocks and Cock Fighting in 1607. But it was during Magellan's voyage of discovery of the Philippines in 1521 when modern cockfighting was first witnessed and documented by Antonio Pigafetta, Magellan's chronicler, in the kingdom of Taytay.

 

The combatants, referred to as gamecocks, are specially bred birds, conditioned for increased stamina and strength. The comb and wattle are cut off in order to meet show standards of the American Gamefowl Society and the Old English Game Club and to prevent freezing in colder climates (the standard emerged from the older practice of severing the comb, wattles, and earlobes of the bird in order to remove anatomical vulnerabilities, similar to the practice of docking a dog's tail and ears).

 

Cocks possess congenital aggression toward all males of the same species. Cocks are given the best of care until near the age of two years. They are conditioned, much like professional athletes prior to events or shows. Wagers are often made on the outcome of the match.

 

Cockfighting is a blood sport due in some part to the physical trauma the cocks inflict on each other, which is sometimes increased for entertainment purposes by attaching metal spurs to the cocks' natural spurs. While not all fights are to the death, the cocks may endure significant physical trauma. In some areas around the world, cockfighting is still practiced as a mainstream event; in some countries it is regulated by law, or forbidden outright. Advocates of the "age old sport" often list cultural and religious relevance as reasons for perpetuation of cockfighting as a sport.

 

PROCESS

Two owners place their gamecock in the cockpit. The cocks fight until ultimately one of them dies or is critically injured. Historically, this was in a cockpit, a term which was also used in the 16th century to mean a place of entertainment or frenzied activity. William Shakespeare used the term in Henry V to specifically mean the area around the stage of a theatre. In Tudor times, the Palace of Westminster had a permanent cockpit, called the Cockpit-in-Court.

 

HISTORY

Cockfighting is an ancient spectator sport. There is evidence that cockfighting was a pastime in the Indus Valley Civilization. The Encyclopædia Britannica (2008) holds:

 

The sport was popular in ancient times in India, China, Persia, and other Eastern countries and was introduced into Ancient Greece in the time of Themistocles (c. 524–460 BC). For a long time the Romans affected to despise this "Greek diversion", but they ended up adopting it so enthusiastically that the agricultural writer Columella (1st century AD) complained that its devotees often spent their whole patrimony in betting at the side of the pit.

 

Based on his analysis of a Mohenjo-daro seal, Iravatham Mahadevan speculates that the city's ancient name could have been Kukkutarma ("the city [-rma] of the cockerel [kukkuta]"). However, according to a recent study, "it is not known whether these birds made much contribution to the modern domestic fowl. Chickens from the Harappan culture of the Indus Valley (2500–2100 BC) may have been the main source of diffusion throughout the world." "Within the Indus Valley, indications are that chickens were used for sport and not for food" (Zeuner 1963) and that by 1000 BC they had assumed "religious significance".

 

Some additional insight into the pre-history of European and American secular cockfighting may be taken from the The London Encyclopaedia:

 

At first cockfighting was partly a religious and partly a political institution at Athens; and was continued for improving the seeds of valor in the minds of their youth, but was afterwards perverted both there and in the other parts of Greece to a common pastime, without any political or religious intention.

 

An early image of a fighting rooster has been found on a 6th-century BC seal of Jaazaniah from the biblical city of Mizpah in Benjamin, near Jerusalem. Remains of these birds have been found at other Israelite Iron Age sites, when the rooster was used as a fighting bird; they are also pictured on other seals from the period as a symbol of ferocity, such as the late-7th-century BC red jasper seal inscribed "Jehoahaz, son of the king", which likely belonged to Jehoahaz of Judah "while he was still a prince during his father's life".

 

The anthropologist Clifford Geertz wrote the influential essay Deep Play: Notes on the Balinese Cockfight, on the meaning of the cockfight in Balinese culture.

 

REGIONAL VARIATIONS

In some regional variations, the birds are equipped with either metal spurs (called gaffs) or knives, tied to the leg in the area where the bird's natural spur has been partially removed. A cockspur is a bracelet (often made of leather) with a curved, sharp spike which is attached to the leg of the bird. The spikes typically range in length from "short spurs" of just over an inch to "long spurs" almost two and a half inches long. In the highest levels of 17th century English cockfighting, the spikes were made of silver. Ironically, the sharp spurs have been known to injure or even kill the bird handlers. In the naked heel variation, the bird's natural spurs are left intact and sharpened: fighting is done without gaffs or taping, particularly in India (especially in Tamil Nadu). There it is mostly fought naked heel and either three rounds of twenty minutes with a gap of again twenty minutes or four rounds of fifteen minutes each and a gap of fifteen minutes between them.

 

Nicaragua, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, France, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Philippines, Peru, Panama, Puerto Rico, Canary Islands, Saipan, and Guam have arenas with seats or bleachers for spectators surrounding the ring. Among the competitors who raise fighting cocks, there is great pride in the prowess of their birds and in winning a championship.

 

AMERICAS

CUBA

Cockfighting is a popular activity in Cuba. It is a seasonal sport, held only during the coolest months of the year (November to April). Cocks are not ready to fight and their plumage moults during the warmest months (May to October).

 

In Cuba the tradition is to fix detachable natural (non-artificial) spurs to both legs of the fighting cocks. Before fixing the detachable spurs, the natural spurs should be trimmed, leaving a trunk not longer than 3 millimeters. The final length of the detached spurs ranks from 22 to 25 millimeters according to the relevance of the match.

 

Cockfights are held in a round arena commonly called valla, surrounded by a small fence around which the spectators are accommodated.

 

Comb and wattles should be previously trimmed but feathers should not be necessarily groomed as well, although tradition imposes an extensive feather trimming. The feathers of the chest, hackle and thighs are generally shorn completely off. The reasons for this vary among individual game fowl enthusiasts (see also Gamecock).

 

Cocks should have a weight within the rank of 50–69 Castilian Ounces (2300–3180 grams) to be admitted.

 

The combatants are strictly paired up to fight according to their body weight. The allowed difference in weight between the contenders ranks from half to one ounce (14–29 grams) according to the body weight.

 

Fights are limited to a single round of 30 minutes, but statistics show that more than 50% of the fights end within the first five minutes.

 

The persons proved to be betting are severely punished with a temporary or definite expulsion from the tournaments and the prohibition to participate in further meetings.

 

MEXICO

Cockfighting in Mexico has been taking place for over a hundred years. In Aguascalientes, a state capital, one of the city's principal concert halls is the cockfighting arena, the palenque. Palenques are very common throughout the country, with almost every major city having one, and are closely related to Mexican traditional music performers, such as Vicente Fernández, and also being (as mentioned below) the stage for pop artists as well. During the San Marcos Fair, well known throughout Mexico, cockfights alternate with important concerts, where the singers or dancers perform from the cockpit. Many popular singers have performed there, e.g. Latin Grammy winners Alejandro Fernández and Alejandra Guzmán.Cockfighting remains legal in the municipality of Ixmiquilpan.

 

PERU

In Peru, cockfighting is allowed and it takes place in coliseums with round sand fields. Only a judge and two managers each carrying a cock are allowed in the field. Judges use tables to facilitate the refereeing of fights.

 

Cockfighting championships of Peru are of two kinds, Beak and Spur. The Peruvian Razor Rooster ('Gallo Navajero Peruano') features in Spur fights. In Spur fights the weight and size of the rooster varies. There are free weight championships as well.

 

The most important cockfighting championships take place in the Lima Region at the Coliseums Sandia, Rosedal, Abraham Wong, The Peruvian Cockfighting Circle's Coliseum and The Valentino, of the Rooster Breeders' Association of Peru.

 

BRAZIL

Cockfighting, known in Brazil as rinha de galos ("baiting the rooster"), was banned in 1934 with the help of President Getúlio Vargas through Brazil's 1934 constitution, passed on 16 July. Based on the recognition of animals in the Constitution, a Brazilian Supreme Court ruling resulted in the ban of animal related activities that involve claimed "animal suffering such as cockfighting, and a tradition practiced in southern Brazil, known as 'Farra do Boi' (the Oxen Festival)", stating that "animals also have the right to legal protection against mistreatment and suffering".

 

ASIA

SOUTHEAST ASIA

Cockfighting is common throughout all of Southeast Asia, where it is implicated in spreading bird flu. Like Islam, Christianity might shun the belief in spirits, but in Southeast Asia, indigenous interpretations of the veneration of saints and passion plays dominate. In the Christian northern Philippines, respect is accorded the veneration of traditional anito (spirits), shamans number in the thousands and Catholic priests are powerless to stop cockfighting, a popular form of fertility worship among almost all Southeast Asians. Also in rural northern Thailand a religious ceremony honoring ancestral spirits takes place known as "faun phii", spirit dance or ghost dance, and includes offerings for ancestors with spirit mediums sword fighting, spirit possessed dancing, and "spirit mediums cockfighting", in a spiritual cockfight.

 

INDONESIA

Cockfighting is a very old tradition in Balinese Hinduism, the Batur Bang Inscriptions I (from the year 933) and the Batuan Inscription (dated 944 on the Balinese Caka calendar) disclose that the tabuh rah ritual has existed for centuries. In Bali, cockfights, known as tajen, are practiced in an ancient religious purification ritual to expel evil spirits. This ritual, a form of animal sacrifice, is called tabuh rah ("pouring blood"). The purpose of tabuh rah is to provide an offering (the blood of the losing chicken) to the evil spirits. Cockfighting is a religious obligation at every Balinese temple festival or religious ceremony. Cockfights without a religious purpose are considered gambling in Indonesia, although it is still largely practiced in many parts of Indonesia. Women are generally not involved in the tabuh rah process.

 

All forms of gambling, including the gambling within secular cockfighting, were made illegal in 1981 by the Indonesian government, while the religious aspects of cockfighting within Balinese Hinduism remain protected.

 

The American anthropologist Clifford Geertz published his most famous work, Notes on the Balinese Cockfight, on the practice of cockfights in Bali. In it, he argued that the cockfight served as a pastiche or model of wider Balinese society from which judgments about other aspects of the culture could be drawn.

 

JAPAN

Cockfighting is similar to boxing for the younger roosters as they battle for a victory with their blunt natural spurs or lack thereof and after maturity they battle with their mature natural spurs which may have become pointed. Despite fighting cocks allowed to be used in cockfighting, "the state has designated them a protected species".

 

INDIA

Cockfighting (Vetrukkaal seval porr in Tamil which means "naked heel cockfight") (Kodi Pandem in Telugu) (Kori katta in Tulu) is a favourite sport of people living in the coastal region of Andhra Pradesh, Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts of Tulu Nadu region of Karnataka, and the state of Tamil nadu India. Three- or four-inch blades (Bal in Tulu) are attached to the cocks' legs. Knockout fights to the death are widely practised in Andhra Pradesh. In Tamil Nadu, the winner is decided after three or four rounds. People watch with intense interest surrounding the cocks. The sport has gradually become a gambling sport.

 

In Tamil Nadu, Chennai, Tanjore, Trichy and Salem Districts, only naked heel sport is performed. In Erode, Thiruppur, Karur and Coimbatore districts only bloody blade fights are conducted. During festival seasons, this is the major game for men. Women normally don't participate. There are many rare breeds preserved by these cockfighters.

 

The cockfight, or more accurately expressed the secular cockfight, is an intense sport, recreation, or pastime to some, while to others, the cockfight remains an ancient religious ritual, a sacred ceremony (i.e. a religious and spiritual cockfight) associated with the ‘daivasthanams’ (temples) and held at the temples precincts. In January 2012 at India's 'Sun God' Festival the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) district committee, demanded that police not interfere in the cockfighting known as ‘kozhi kettu’ as it is a part of the temple rituals, while the police replied they would not interfere if the cockfight is held at a temple.

 

IRAQ

Cockfighting is illegal but widespread in Iraq. The attendees come to gamble or just for the entertainment. A rooster can cost up to $8,000. The most-prized birds are called Harati, which means that they are of Turkish or Indian origin, and have muscular legs and necks.

 

PAKISTAN

Cockfighting is a popular sport in rural Pakistan; however, "betting is illegal under the Prevention of Gambling Act 1977". Betting is illegal, but police often turn a blind eye towards it. In Sindh (one of 4 major provinces of Pakistan), people are fond of keeping fighting cock breed, known as Sindhi aseel in Pakistan. These cocks are noted being tall, heavy and good at fighting. Another popular breed is called Asil chicken|Mianwali Aseel. In Sindh Gamblor or Khafti uses Almond and other power enhancing medicines to feed the fighter cocks.

 

PHILIPPINES

Cockfighting, locally termed Sabong, is a popular pastime in the Philippines where both illegal and legal cockfights occur. Legal cockfights are held in cockpits every week, whilst Illegal ones called tupada or tigbakay, are held in secluded cockpits where authorities cannot raid them. In both types, knives or gaffs are used. There are two kinds of knives used in Philippine cockfighting. The single edge blade (use in derbies) and double edged blades, lengths of knives also vary. All knives are attached on the left leg of the bird, but depending on agreement between owners, blades can be attached on the right or even on both legs. Sabong and illegal tupada, are judged by a referee called sentensyador or koyme, whose verdict is final and not subject to any appeal. Bets are usually taken by the kristo, so named because of his outstretched hands when calling out wagers from the audience and skillfully doing so purely from memory.

 

The country has hosted several World Slasher Cup derbies, held biannually at the Smart Araneta Coliseum, Quezon City, where the world's leading game fowl breeders gather. World Slasher Cup is also known as the "Olympics of Cockfighting".

 

Cockfighting was already flourishing in pre-colonial Philippines, as recorded by Antonio Pigafetta, the Italian diarist aboard Ferdinand Magellan’s 1521 expedition. Cockfighting in the Philippines is derived from the fact that it shares elements of Indian and other Southeast Asian cultures, where the jungle fowl (bankivoid) and Oriental type of chicken are endemic.

 

OCEANIA

In the Mariana Islands in Micronesia, the sport of cockfighting has been considered a "cultural tradition" dating back to Spanish rule. Cockfighting became more popular with an influx of Filipino immigrants to the islands before and after World War II. Fights are held throughout the week at a government licensed pit in the village of Dededo, Guam, and in other villages during fiestas, where a patron saint of the village is celebrated. Imported roosters and hens from the U.S. mainland fetch heavy prices that can reach as much as a thousand dollars each. On the island of Saipan, north of Guam, legal cockfighting takes place several times a week in an arena called the Dome in the village of Gualo Rai.

 

OTHER BIRD SPECIES

In 2009, authorities caught and shut down an illegal songbird-fighting ring in Shelton, Connecticut that had been using saffron finches and canaries. The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals commented that such songbird fighting is extremely rare. The ancient Greeks used to practice quail fighting, using the common quail Coturnix coturnix. Also in south east Asia and ancient China were used to practice "quail fighting", but using the female buttonquails.

 

LEGAL STATUS

In many places, cockfights and other animal fights have been outlawed, often based on opposition to gambling or animal cruelty. It has been banned outright in the United Kingdom since the 19th Century, however in some states of the USA, it is not illegal to possess, raise, train, advertise, or trade cocks or accoutrements that could be used for cockfighting. However, actively participating in a cockfight in any manner is illegal: advertising, transporting participants or spectators, placing wagers, hosting an event, etc. It is common for law enforcement to confiscate property associated with any cockfighting activity.

 

ASIA

INDIA

India's judiciary has ordered to ban the sport, saying it violated Prevention of Cruelity to Animals act. But it remains hugely popular, especially in rural areas, with large amount of betting involved.[

 

PHILIPPINES

There is no nationwide ban of cockfighting in the Philippines but since 1948, cockfighting is prohibited every Rizal Day on December 30 where violators can be fined or imprisoned due to the Republic Act No. 229.

 

EUROPE

SPAIN

Cockfighting is legal in the Canary Islands and Andalusia. Organisations such as the WWF/Adena and some political parties are trying to ban it there too. The law allows it but tries to make it disappear "naturally" by blocking its expansion. Contrasting with the rest of the country (except with Catalonia), bullfighting is instead forbidden in the Canary Islands, since it is not considered traditional, unlike cockfighting.

 

Cockfighting is also legal in Andalusia in the cities and villages where it is considered traditional. With its famous Jerezanos race of fighting cocks, the Cádiz province is the most popular centre of cockfighting in Andalusia.

 

UNITED KINGDOM

Cockfighting was banned outright in England and Wales and in the British Overseas Territories with the Cruelty to Animals Act 1835. Sixty years later, in 1895, cockfighting was also banned in Scotland, where it had been relatively common in the 18th century. A reconstructed cockpit from Denbigh in North Wales may be found at St Fagans National History Museum in Cardiff and a reference exists in 1774 to a cockpit at Stanecastle in Scotland.

 

According to a 2007 report by the RSPCA, cockfighting in England and Wales was still taking place, but had declined in recent years.

 

FRANCE

Holding cockfights is a crime in France, but there is an exemption under subparagraph 3 of article 521–1 of the French penal code for cockfights and bullfights in locales where an uninterrupted tradition exists for them. Thus, cockfighting is allowed in the Nord-Pas de Calais region, in Metropolitan France, where it takes place in a small number of towns including Raimbeaucourt, La Bistade and other villages around Lille. On Réunion Island, there are five officially authorized gallodromes (i.e. cockfighting arenas). The Nord-Pas-de-Calais has a dozen gallodromes, that also target the Belgian associations of aficionados, who travel to France to avoid the prohibition of cockfighting in Belgium. The Nord-Pas-de Calais has its own race of fighting cocks the "Combattant de Nord".

 

There is currently a flow of British aficionados to cockfights that come from January to June to the Nord-Pas-de-Calais to participate in the cockfights. Some of them have been arrested at the British border for transporting cockerels or material for cockfights, which has led to a small cottage industry of British-owned cockerel farms. Likewise, some caretakers in Nord-Pas-de-Calais cater exclusively to British cockfighters who, by law, are not permitted to transport and care for their birds in the United Kingdom.

 

AMERICAS

COSTA RICA

Cockfights have been illegal in Costa Rica since 1922. The government deems the activity as animal cruelty, public disorder and a risk for public health and is routinely repress by the State's National Secretary for Animal Welfare.

 

CUBA

Cockfighting was so common during the Cuban colonization by Spain, that there were arenas in every urban and rural town. The first official known document about cockfighting in Cuba dates from 1737. It is a royal decree asking, to the governor of the island, a report about the inconveniences that might cause cockfights "with the people from land and sea" and asking for information about rentals of the games. The Spaniard Miguel Tacón, Lieutenant General and governor of the colony, banned cockfighting by a decree dated on October 20, 1835, limiting these spectacles only to holidays.

 

In 1844 a decree dictated by the Captain General of the island, es:Leopoldo O'Donnell, forbade to non-white people the attendance to these shows. During the second half of the 19th century many authorizations were conceded for building arenas, until General es:Juan Rius Rivera, then civilian governor in Havana, prohibited cockfighting by a decree of October 31. 1899 and later the Cuban governor, General Leonard Wood, dictated the military order No. 165 prohibiting cockfights in the whole country since June 1, 1900.

 

In the first half of the 20th century, legality of cockfights suffered several ups and downs.

 

In 1909 the then Cuban president es:José Miguel Gómez, with the intention to gain followers, allowed cockfights once again, and then regulations were agreed for the fights.

 

Up to beginnings of 1968 cockfights used to be held everywhere in the country, but with the purpose of stopping the bets, the arenas were closed and the fights forbidden by the authorities. In 1980 authorities legallized cockfights again and a state business organization was created with the participation of the private breeders, grouped in territories. Every year the state organization announces several national tournaments from January to April, makes trade shows and sells fighting cocks to clients from other Caribbean countries.

 

UNITED STATES

In the United States, cockfighting is now illegal in all fifty U.S. states and the District of Columbia. The last state to implement a state law banning cockfighting was Louisiana; the Louisiana State Legislature voted to approve a Louisiana ban in June 2007. The ban took effect in August 2008. Thirty-three states and the District of Columbia have made cockfighting a felony. It is illegal in all fifty states to knowingly attend a cockfight or bring a minor to the event. On February 7, 2014 President Obama signed the Farm Bill which contained the U.S. H.R. 366/S. 666—Animal Fighting Spectator Prohibition Act. "The final bill includes a provision making it a federal crime to attend or bring a child under the age of 16 to an animal fighting event[.]" "The Animal Fighting Spectator Prohibition Act would make it a federal offense to knowingly attend an organized animal fight and would impose additional penalties for bringing children to animal fights. Violators would face up to one year in prison for attending a fight, and up to three years in prison for bringing a minor to a fight." In the District of Columbia it is illegal to be a spectator at cockfights. Animal welfare activists continue to lobby for a ban on the sport.

 

Cockfighting remains legal in the unincorporated US territories of Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Northern Mariana Islands, and Guam; particularly in Guam and Puerto Rico, cockfighting is a popular spectator pastime with centuries of tradition, thanks to the islands' shared history as Spanish colonies. In 2006, the Virgin Islands adopted a law banning modifications such as the use of artificial spurs. This move, along with the aforementioned 2014 farm bill, sparked fears that cockfighting would be banned everywhere on US soil, but as of 2015 these fears have not materialized.

 

The Animal Fighting Prohibition Enforcement Act, a federal law that made it a federal crime to transfer cockfighting implements across state or national borders and increasing the penalty for violations of federal animal fighting laws to three years in prison became law in 2007. It passed the House of Representatives 368–39 and the Senate by unanimous consent and was signed into law by President George W. Bush.

 

The Animal Welfare Act was amended again in 2008 when provisions were included in the 2008 Farm Bill (P.L. 110-246). These provisions tightened prohibitions on dog and other animal fighting activities, and increase penalties for violation of the act.

 

On February 8, 2014, law enforcement made New York State's largest cockfighting bust where they seized three thousand birds and arrested roughly seventy people across three counties. The investigation was deemed the name "Operation Angry Birds" and they made three raids: a cockfight in Queens; a pet shop in Brooklyn; and a farm in Plattekill. The raids were performed by the task force, along with New York State Police, the Homeland Security Department and the Ulster County sheriff's office. Upon entry of the Queens cockfight, authorities found the birds in small cages with razors attached to them. The seventy individuals who attended the event were taken into custody. All but nine of these men were let go. The nine men were given felony arrests and animal-fighting charges.

 

On July 26, 2014, Princess Irina of Romania, and her husband John Walker, appeared in federal court in Portland, Oregon in connection with running illegal cockfights they held in Irrigon, Oregon in 2012 and 2013. The couple was originally charged with twelve counts including operating an illegal gaming business, conspiracy, and violating the Animal Welfare Act but they agreed to "sell their ranch and forfeit $200,000 to the government in lieu of incarceration".

 

AUSTRALIA

Cockfighting, and the possession of cockfighting equipment, is illegal in Australia.

 

NOTABLE COCKFIGHTERS

Chicken George (born c. 1807), son of Kizzy and slave owner Tom Moore, grandson of Kunta Kinte, and ancestor of Alex Haley, was a cockfighter in the United States and England.

 

IN POPULAR CULTURE

Cockfighting has inspired artists in several fields to create works which depict the activity. Several organizations, including the University of South Carolina, Jacksonville State University in Jacksonville, Alabama, and London football team Tottenham Hotspur F.C. have a gamecock as their mascot.

 

IN MUSIC

Cockfighting has also been mentioned in songs such as Kings of Leon's Four Kicks and Bob Dylan's song "Cry a While" from the album Love and Theft. The story song "El Gallo del Cielo" by Tom Russell is entirely about cockfighting, and the lyrics utilize detailed imagery of fighting pits, gamecocks, and gambling on the outcome of the fights. Cockfighting has also been in Korean boy band Exo's music video for "Lotto".

 

IN VISUAL ARTS

The painting "The Cock Fight" (1846) an academic exercise of the French painter Jean-Léon Gérôme, Vainqueur au combat de coqs (1864) bronze statue from the French sculptor Alexandre Falguière and the painting "Cockfight" (1882) from the Flemish painter Emile Claus are samples of the presence of cockfighting in visual arts.

 

The Expressionist painter Sir Robin Philipson, of Edinburgh, was well known for his series of works that included depictions of cockfighting.

 

The 1930 cartoon Mexico shows Oswald the Lucky Rabbit challenging a bear in a cockfight. The 1938 cartoon Honduras Hurricane features the pirate John Silver forcing Captain Katzenjammer into a rigged cockfight. Other cartoon depictions portray humanized roosters treating cockfights like boxing matches; these cartoons include Disney's Cock o' the Walk (1936), MGM's Little Bantamweight (1938), and Walter Lantz's The Bongo Punch (1958).

 

Live-action films that include scenes of the sport include the 1964 Mexican film El Gallo De Oro, the 1965 film The Cincinnati Kid, and the 1974 film Cockfighter, directed by Monte Hellman (based on the novel of the same name by Charles Willeford).

 

The 1990 film No Fear, No Die centers around two men who are part of an illegal cockfighting ring.

 

Cockfighting is depicted twice in the 2011 film The Rum Diary (film).

 

The Spike TV show 1000 Ways to Die features a death involving a cockfight, where a man who bets on a rooster attaches razors to its claws to ensure its winning, but is slashed to death himself.

 

In the Seinfeld episode "The Little Jerry", Kramer enters his rooster into a cockfight in order to get one of Jerry's bounced checks removed from a local bodega where the cockfights actually take place.

 

In the HBO series Eastbound & Down, Kenny Powers moves to Mexico and is in the cockfighting business until his cock "Big Red" dies.

 

The 2011 Tamil film Aadukalam revolves around the practice of cockfighting in Madurai, Tamil Nadu. In the FX Network's police drama, "The Shield" episode titled "Two Days of Blood" (season #1, episode #12), Detective Shane Vendrell and Detective Curt Lemansky go undercover in a cockfighting event to track down an illegal arms smuggler.

 

IN LITERATURE

Nathanael West's 1939 novel The Day of the Locust includes a detailed and graphic cockfighting scene, as does the Alex Haley novel Roots: The Saga of an American Family and the miniseries based on it. In literature, a description of a bordertown cockfight fiesta can be found in On the Border: Portraits of America's Southwestern Frontier. Charles Willeford wrote a novel, Cockfighter, which gives a detailed account of the protagonist's life as a 'cocker'. Abraham Valdelomar's 1918 tale El Caballero Carmelo depicts a cockfight between the protagonist, a cock named Carmelo, and his rival Ajiseco from a child's perspective, who considered this bird as an heroic member of his family.

In martial arts

 

The term "human cockfighting" was used by United States senator John McCain to describe mixed martial arts, which at the time he was campaigning to ban.

 

IN VIDEO GAMES

The video game Law & Order: Legacies uses a cockfight as a plot point. With a man having died because of a rooster with a spur had slashed him, but with a twist that he would have survived if his wife had called the police.

 

In 2016 Edge Games launched the world's first Virtual Cockfighting sports betting game.

 

Square Enix's video game Sleeping Dogs allows the player character to spectate and bet on various virtual cockfights based around the game's rendition of the city of Hong Kong.

 

IN RELIGION

Augustine of Hippo once described a cockfight in spiritual terms: "in every motion of these animals unendowed with reason there was nothing ungraceful since, of course, another higher reason was guiding everything they did".

 

WIKIPEDIA

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Novosibirsk, Russia. Vladimir Shibanov, Nikon FM3a, 20\2.8, Rollei Retro 100

Now she is not a perfect replica - the original was made with Kaleen race and as a follower I used the Dunmer Race. But she is as close as I can get ^^

I also used Innova's eyes from the very beginning - I hope you dont mind dear :P

A rare shot of these to both together - ideal for both evolution series...

 

The evolution of Jessica Mia Reck

The evolution of Samuel Lucas Reck

 

The 365 project so far...

 

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Seagulls following a boat in the Solway Firth - near Silloth, Cumbria

Thank you!!! I can’t believe I have 1000 followers on Twitter!! So incredibly grateful!!! I wanted to do something to celebrate YOU and give back to all that you have given me!! In that spirit, here is a mosaic of all thousand of you against the Chicago skyline! Can you find yourself in this ultra-high res version?

 

Photography: Archer (twitter.com/archerwolf126)

Photo Editing: Afrodyte Charlotte

 

Little story at the Sarethi farm, featuring three beautiful dunmer :

- The Sarethi sisters Aduri & Avrusa replacers by Gman749 (Ladies of Riften)

- Nevri follower by Pandorable

Bendigo.

Bendigo is figuratively and literally the city built on gold. Beneath the modern city is a maze of tunnels and shafts from one of the world’s richest gold finds. Bendigo meant gold. Thirty seven separate quartz reefs lie beneath the city and gold was found in them all. After the first alluvial gold was found in late 1851 diggers started to flock to the goldfields. The wives of two workers on the 200,000 acre Ravenswood sheep run are credited with finding the first alluvial gold on the sheep station but many others have also claimed this distinction. Within weeks there were signs of this gold rush becoming another California type gold rush with hopeful diggers pouring into the gold region from China, Italy, Germany, other parts of the British Empire and the other Australian colonies. The Victorian gold rushes transformed all of the Australian colonies. By mid 1852 there were 20,000 people on the Bendigo mine fields and this later swelled to 40,000 people in the Bendigo region. This figures included around 5,000 to 8,000 Chinese diggers and gold camp followers and businessmen. The names of some of the mines were taken from the gullies and regions of Bendigo and they are now suburbs of Bendigo - Kangaroo Flat, Eaglehawk, Golden Square, Long Gully, California Gully, Ironbark, etc. Gold mining might have begun on Bendigo Creek where the Gold Commissioners, who checked the miners’ licenses and where the police and courts were set up, but mining soon spread through the Bendigo district. Camp Hill overlooking Bendigo Creek and Rosalind Park became the government centre from where police and control was exercised. The old Bendigo Gaol (1859) is still up on the hill there next to the Camp Hill state school (1877). The old government Survey Office was also built here in 1858 at the top of View Street on Camp Hill and the Police Barracks were constructed at the bottom of the hill in 1859.

 

Bendigo was the world’s richest and biggest gold field until the discovery of the Kalgoorlie goldfields in Western Australian in the early 1890s. It was the largest and most successful goldfield in eastern Australia. Between 1851 and 1954 when the Central Deborah Gold Mine closed in Bendigo some 700,000 kilograms of gold was extracted from the Bendigo region. The value of its gold in current terms would be about $30 billion. The goldfield covered an area roughly 30 kilometres long and 12 kilometres wide. There were thousands of diggers who sought alluvial gold- and found it- in the 1850s before they were replaced by small and large companies who sank deep shafts and dug tunnels to extract the gold from the quartz reefs in the 1860s and later. There were more than 5,000 registered gold mines in Bendigo. This led to Bendigo having its own Stock Exchange so that gold shares could be sold to investors in London and around the world through the marvel of the telegraph. Bendigo had one of the few regional stock exchanges in Australia until it was closed in 2012. At least 140 mine shafts were sunk in Bendigo and some of them reached depths of 1,000 metres or more! Some of the poppet heads for these shafts still remain in Bendigo. One of the last mines to be formed was the Central Deborah Mining Company in 1939 and it was the last to operate. It only closed in 1954. Some of the most famous and successful of the Bendigo mining companies were: Shamrock, New Chum Hill, Lansell’s 222, Victoria Hill, etc. Since the closure of the Central Deborah Mine in 1954 new mining techniques have been used in the 1980s and 1990s to try and extract yet more gold from the old mine shafts and workings. Clearly all the heritage and history of Bendigo is clearly rooted in its gold mining past. Probably no other Town Hall in Australia has 24 carat gold leaf embellishments across the ceiling. The original Town Hall was a simple two storey structure designed by the Town Clerk in 1859. A structure more befitting a wealthy gold mining city was later required and local architect William Vahland was commissioned to transform the Town Hall into a grand structure which he did. His new Town Hall was built between 1878 and 1886 with ornate plaster mouldings on both the interior and exterior and although Vahland’s plan included a clock tower the clock was never installed in the Town Hall tower. It is still one of the grand buildigns of Bendigo.

 

The town of Bendigo did not exist in formal terms until 1890 when a local committee was given the task of trying to decide who actually found the first gold and to decide upon a name for the city. Although the government town was known as Sandhurst, locally the town was always referred to as Bendigo. The committee asked local ratepayers and decided upon Bendigo for the city name in 1891 but they never decided unequivocally who found the first gold there. But they did acknowledged that the claim of Mrs Margaret Kennedy of the Ravenswood Run was probably the best claim. The origins for Bendigo City go back to 1853 when land was surveyed and the city plan drawn up. Pall Mall near Bendigo Creek became the centre for commercial activity and it remains a main thoroughfare. It became a municipality in 1863 and its prosperity ushered in a period of grand building which continued into the 1870s and 1880s. The arrival for the railway from Melbourne in 1862 aided the town greatly in terms of industry and communications for it could now send it products to the markets in Melbourne. By the early 1860s Bendigo had a flourishing industry base with flour mills, woollen mills, tanneries, quarries, foundries, a eucalyptus oil distillery and food production. The open eucalyptus woodland of this area just north of the Great Dividing Range was also felled and timber-cutting and saw milling was another important industry for the town.

 

Many of the architectural grand buildings of early Bendigo were created from the architectural studio of William Charles (Carl Wilhelm) Vahland and his associates. Vahland was born in Hanover in Germany in 1828. In 1849 he entered the most prestigious building school in Germany to learn the art of architecture. His theory and practical studies began at 6 am and finished at 9:30 pm except for the earlier finish at 7 pm on Saturdays. He studied architecture there for three years and learnt in great depth about Greek classical styles of architecture. His interests in this area influenced his architecture for the rest of his life. In 1852 after completing his studies he practised architect in Bremen and Hamburg before he sailed for the Victorian goldfields in 1854. He travelled immediately to Bendigo but had little success on the goldfields. By 1855 he was employed as carpenter before he became a naturalised British subject in 1857 which was also the year in which he established his own carpentry workshop making puddling cradles for miners. He ran his workshop and later architectural practice with his business partner Robert Getzschmann, with whom he worked until Getzschmann's death in 1875. Within a year or so of 1857 they were both working as architects but Vahland also was founding member of the Bendigo Building Society which later became the Bendigo Bank and he was a Justice of the Peace and he was active in local affairs. He married an English woman in 1859 and built his own residence in Barkley Terrace. Vahland went on to become the preeminent architect of Bendigo. He designed around 80 public structures for the city including a number of its best known buildings. He is known to have designed around 200 public and commercial buildings in the goldfields area of Central Victoria. He probably also designed dozens of large and small residences that have not been ascribed to his studio. He worked for over 50 years creating much of the visual landscape and the city. He died in 1915 after World War One broke out when sadly a few members of his beloved Masonic Lodge (he had been a member since 1857 and had been the Grand Master) tried to have him expelled because of his Germanic background!

 

Some of the notable Bendigo buildings designed by William Vahland are: the Alexandria Fountain in Pall Mall 1881; the City Family Hotel 1872; the Commercial Bank of Australia 1875; the original Post Office 1870; the Bendigo Art Gallery 1873 which was originally the Masonic Hall and Temple; the original Art Gallery 1867; the Temperance Hall 1860; the Sandhurst Club Building 1893; the Colonial Bank 1887; the original Shamrock Hotel 1860; the Town Hall 1878; the School of Mines 1864, 1878, 1887 and 1889; St Kilian’s Catholic Church 1888; St Paul’s Anglican Rectory 1885; All Saints Catholic Cathedral 1869; the Wesleyan Methodist church additions 1877; the Congregational Church 1890; the Lutheran Church 1857; the Convent of Mercy 1865; the Goldfields Hospital 1858, 1864 and 1866; the Bendigo Benevolent Asylum 1862, 1864 and 1872 etc. In addition to these significant structures in central Bendigo he designed churches and other public buildings in the outlying areas of Eaglehawk, Long Gully, Ironbark, California Gully, Kangaroo Flat etc.

 

@CWC 366 Triplicane