Thalidomide casualties offer spare limbs to German Consulate - London 02.10.2013

Thalidomide survivors protested outside the German Consulate in London's Belgrave Square against the German government's 42-year long protection of Grünenthal GMbH - manufacturer of Thalidomide - from prosecution by any victims of the infamous drug which was administered to pregnant women as a cure for morning sickness, but which caused terrible birth deformities in over 10,000 babies worldwide, many of whom died agonising deaths.

The German government passed a special law in 1971 which gives the drug manufacturer immunity from any prosecution by victims of Thalidomide, even though Grünenthal's victims have needed a lifetime of support which has instead been paid for by taxpayers of the countries in which they were born.

Though various Grünenthal senior officials have verbally apologised over the past few years, the company still refuses point blank to pay compensation for the enduring human misery they have caused, and it is alarming to hear that Thalidomide is now being dished out in Brazil as an effective treatment for Leprosy. Though Thalidomide is proving to be very effective, the problem is that unscrupulous doctors and pharmacists in Brazil are not ensuring women are not pregnant before issuing the drug. As a consequence, the horrors of Thalidomide has been unleashed on the favelas, and Grünenthal know they will continue to be unfairly protected by their government.

Grünenthal has never paid a penny of compensation to its victims in Australia, Sweden, Canada or the United Kingdom.

For more information, please visit Thalidomide Trust or their campaign website ShowYourHand where you can show your support.

All photos © 2013 Pete Riches

Do not reproduce, alter, re-transmit or blog my images without my written permission. I remain at all times the copyright owner of this image.

Media buyers and publications can access this story on Demotix

Standard industry rates apply.

Hi-Res, un-watermarked versions of these files are available on application solely at my discretion

If you want to use any image found in my Flickr Photostream, please Email me directly.

about.me/peteriches

This is a photograph from the 5th annual Craughwell 10 Mile Road Race which took place in Craughwell Village, Co. Galway, Ireland on Sunday 23rd March 2014 at 13:00. The 'Craughwell 10' has grown quickly to become not just one of Connaught's best known and attended road races but one of Ireland's best road races. Rather uniquely for road races in Ireland today the Craughwell 10 Mile road race offers a fully traffic free route for participants. The fast primarily flat course brings participants on the network of rural country roads to the west of Craughwell village. This year's event attracted a record number of over 650 participants building on the 600+ finishers from last year's race (results available below).

Reading on a Smartphone or tablet? Don't forget to scroll down further to read more about this race and see important Internet links to other information about the race! You can also find out how to access and download these photographs.

Results are available on RedTagTiming's website www.redtagtiming.com who provided the chip timing for the event.

Our photographs from the Craughwell 10 2014 are available on our Flickr photostream at: www.flickr.com/photos/peterm7/sets/72157642744431035/

You are also likely to find photographs from the race from edenhill77 at www.flickr.com/photos/edenhill77/sets/

The organisation team of Craughwell AC and a huge team of volunteers from the local community deserve great praise and congratulations on the excellent work that they put into making the Craughwell 10 such an outstanding success. A race of this size is a mammoth undertaking and it's flawless organisation is a tribute to the volunteer work behind the scenes.

Route Description

The race starts in Craughwell Village and then heads west on country roads. The route takes a right turn after 1KM and heads north towards Caheradine. The route then takes a left and heads west again towards the N18. After 4 miles the race takes another left (goo.gl/maps/khTi4) heading south. Just before 6 miles another left turn brings the race back towards Craughwell village. This leaves the runners with a straight run to the finish area from here and the finish in the Primary School. There was a stiff cold breeze at different parts of the course but for the most part there was good stretches of tail winds also. There were water stations at two points in the course.

The AAI County Galway 10 mile Road Race Championships took place in conjunction with the race today which ensured that there was great competition amongst Co. Galway based clubs at all categories.

The spread of refreshments after the race was incredible. Every taste was catered for. The organisers were thoughtful enough to include a wide range of gluten free goodies for participants after the race.

Useful Web Links

Where is Craughwell? (OpenStreetMap): www.openstreetmap.org/?mlat=53.2261&mlon=-8.7331&...

Where is Craughwell? (Google Maps): goo.gl/maps/vfIia

Craughwell 10 Mile - Race Headquarters at the National School (Google StreetView) goo.gl/maps/nTr5F

Craughwell 10 Mile Route on MapMyRun: www.mapmyrun.com/sc/victoria-english-river/craughwell-10-...

Craughwell 10 Mile Route on Garmin Connect: connect.garmin.com/jsPlayer/27008273

Craughwell 10 Mile Facebook Event Page www.facebook.com/events/1426933890856519/?ref=22 (requires Facebook logon and access)

Craughwell 10 Mile 2014: Results www.redtagtiming.com/results/Craughwell10_2014.pdf

Results from previous years.

2013: Results: www.redtagtiming.com/results/Craughwell10_2013.pdf

2012: www.redtagtiming.com/results/Craughwell_10Mile_2012.pdf

Photographs from previous years by edenhill77

2012: www.flickr.com/photos/edenhill77/sets/72157629283834474/

2012: www.flickr.com/photos/edenhill77/sets/72157629267117098/

2011 www.flickr.com/photos/edenhill77/sets/72157626365451542/

2011: www.flickr.com/photos/edenhill77/sets/72157626387107196/

We use Creative Commons Licensing for these photographs

We use the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License for all our photographs here in this photograph set. What does this mean in reality?

The explaination is very simple.

Attribution- anyone using our photographs gives us an appropriate credit for it. This ensures that people aren't taking our photographs and passing them off as their own. This usually just mean putting a link to our photographs somewhere on your website, blog, or Facebook where other people can see it.

ShareAlike – anyone can use these photographs, and make changes if they like, or incorporate them into a bigger project, but they must make those changes available back to the community under the same terms.

Creative Commons aims to encourage creative sharing. See some examples of Creative Commons photographs on Flickr: www.flickr.com/creativecommons/

Can I use these photographs directly from Flickr on my social media account(s)?

Yes - of course you can! Flickr provides several ways to share this and other photographs in this Flickr set. You can share to: email, Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Tumblr, LiveJournal, and Wordpress and Blogger blog sites. Your mobile, tablet, or desktop device will also offer you several different options for sharing this photo page on your social media outlets.

We take these photographs as a hobby and as a contribution to the running community in Ireland. Our only "cost" is our request that if you are using these images: (1) on social media sites such as Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, Twitter,LinkedIn, Google+, etc or (2) other websites, blogs, web multimedia, commercial/promotional material that you must provide a link back to our Flickr page to attribute us.

This also extends the use of these images for Facebook profile pictures. In these cases please make a separate wall or blog post with a link to our Flickr page. If you do not know how this should be done for Facebook or other social media please email us and we will be happy to help suggest how to link to us.

How can I download these pictures to my computer or device?

You can download the photographic image here direct to your computer or device. This version is the low resolution web-quality image. How to download will vary slight from device to device and from browser to browser. However - look for a symbol with three dots 'ooo' or the link to 'View/Download' all sizes. When you click on either of these you will be presented with the option to download the image. Remember just doing a right-click and "save target as" will not work on Flickr.

How can I get full resolution, print-quality, copies of these photographs?

If you just need these photographs for online usage then they can be used directly once you respect their Creative Commons license and provide a link back to our Flickr set if you use them. For offline usage and printing all of the photographs posted here on this Flickr set are available free, at no cost, at full image resolution.

Please email petermooney78 AT gmail DOT com with the links to the photographs you would like to obtain a full resolution copy of. We also ask race organisers, media, etc to ask for permission before use of our images for flyers, posters, etc. We reserve the right to refuse a request.

In summary please remember when requesting photographs from us - If you are using the photographs online all we ask is for you to provide a link back to our Flickr set or Flickr pages. You will find the link above clearly outlined in the description text which accompanies this photograph. Taking these photographs and preparing them for online posting does take a significant effort and time. We are not posting photographs to Flickr for commercial reasons. If you really like what we do please spread the link around your social media, send us an email, leave a comment beside the photographs, send us a Flickr email, etc. If you are using the photographs in newspapers or magazines we ask that you mention where the original photograph came from.

I would like to contribute something for your photograph(s)?

Many people offer payment for our photographs. As stated above we do not charge for these photographs. We take these photographs as our contribution to the running community in Ireland. If you feel that the photograph(s) you request are good enough that you would consider paying for their purchase from other photographic providers or in other circumstances we would suggest that you can provide a donation to any of the great charities in Ireland who do work for Cancer Care or Cancer Research in Ireland.

I ran in the race - but my photograph doesn't appear here in your Flickr set! What gives?

As mentioned above we take these photographs as a hobby and as a voluntary contribution to the running community in Ireland. Very often we have actually ran in the same race and then switched to photographer mode after we finished the race. Consequently, we feel that we have no obligations to capture a photograph of every participant in the race. However, we do try our very best to capture as many participants as possible. But this is sometimes not possible for a variety of reasons:

     ►You were hidden behind another participant as you passed our camera

     ►Weather or lighting conditions meant that we had some photographs with blurry content which we did not upload to our Flickr set

     ►There were too many people - some races attract thousands of participants and as amateur photographs we cannot hope to capture photographs of everyone

     ►We simply missed you - sorry about that - we did our best!

You can email us petermooney78 AT gmail DOT com to enquire if we have a photograph of you which didn't make the final Flickr selection for the race. But we cannot promise that there will be photograph there. As alternatives we advise you to contact the race organisers to enquire if there were (1) other photographs taking photographs at the race event or if (2) there were professional commercial sports photographers taking photographs which might have some photographs of you available for purchase. You might find some links for further information above.

Don't like your photograph here?

That's OK! We understand!

If, for any reason, you are not happy or comfortable with your picture appearing here in this photoset on Flickr then please email us at petermooney78 AT gmail DOT com and we will remove it as soon as possible. We give careful consideration to each photograph before uploading.

I want to tell people about these great photographs!

Great! Thank you! The best link to spread the word around is probably http://www.flickr.com/peterm7/sets

Nyungwe National Park offers a rare and important habitat for many species, especially primates and birds. And at over 1000 km2, Nyungwe is Africa’s largest protected mountain rainforest.

With about 310 bird species, 26 of which are endemic, Nyungwe is one of the most important — and still undiscovered — birdwatching destinations in Africa. Reaching to almost 3000 meters above sea level with Mount Bigugu the highest point in the Park, Nyungwe’s forests extend to altitudes occupied by few other forests in Africa.

Nyungwe is also home to one of Africa’s greatest concentrations of chimpanzees and a sometimes noisy, acrobatic combination of other primates such as Ruwenzori colobus and L’Hoest’s monkeys.

A variety of hiking and walking trails criss-cross the Park leading to a canopy walk, primate tracking adventures, the southernmost source of the Nile and ecotourism attractions. The park includes a colorful array of orchids, butterflies, moths and other insects.

. . . the buffaloe horns are from the buffaloes offered at the building of the house

________________________________________________

North Toraja (or Toraja Utara) is a regency (kabupaten) of South Sulawesi Province of Indonesia, and the home of the Toraja ethnic group. The local government seat is in Rantepao which is also the center of Toraja culture. Formerly this regency was part of Tana Toraja Regency.

The Tana Toraja boundary was determined by the Dutch East Indies government in 1909. In 1926, Tana Toraja was under the administration of Bugis state, Luwu. The regentschap (or regency) status was given on October 8, 1946, the last regency given by the Dutch. Since 1984, Tana Toraja has been named as the second tourist destination after Bali by the Ministry of Tourism, Indonesia. Since then, hundreds of thousands of foreign visitors have visited this regency. In addition, numerous Western anthropologists have come to Tana Toraja to study the indigenous culture and people of Toraja.

GEOGRAPHY

Tana Toraja is located on the Sulawesi island, 300 km north of Makassar, the provincial capital of South Sulawesi. Its geographical location is between latitude of 2°-3° South and longitude 119°-120° East (center: 3°S 120°ECoordinates: 3°S 120°E). The area of the new North Toraja Regency is 1,151.47 km², about 2.5% of the total area of South Sulawesi province. The topography of Tana Toraja is mountainous; its minimum elevation is 150 m, while the maximum is 3,083 above the sea level.

Tana Toraja Regency (Indonesian for Torajaland or Land of the Toraja, abbreviated Tator) is a regency (kabupaten) of South Sulawesi Province of Indonesia, and home to the Toraja ethnic group. The local government seat is in Makale, while the center of Toraja culture is in Rantepao. But now, Tana Toraja has been divided to two regencies that consist of Tana Toraja with its capital at Makale and North toraja with its capital at Rantepao.

The Tana Toraja boundary was determined by the Dutch East Indies government in 1909. In 1926, Tana Toraja was under the administration of Bugis state, Luwu. The regentschap (or regency) status was given on 8 October 1946, the last regency given by the Dutch. Since 1984, Tana Toraja has been named as the second tourist destination after Bali by the Ministry of Tourism, Indonesia. Since then, hundreds of thousands of foreign visitors have visited this regency. In addition, numerous Western anthropologists have come to Tana Toraja to study the indigenous culture and people of Toraja.

GEOGRAPHY

Tana Toraja is centrally placed in the island of Sulawesi, 300 km north of Makassar, the provincial capital of South Sulawesi. It lies between latitude of 2°-3° South and longitude 119°-120° East (center: 3°S 120°ECoordinates: 3°S 120°E). The total area (since the separation of the new regency of North Toraja) is 2,054.30 km², about 4.4% of the total area of South Sulawesi province. The topography of Tana Toraja is mountainous; its minimum elevation is 150 m, while the maximum is 3,083 above the sea level.

ADMINISTRATION

Tana Toraja Regency in 2010 comprised nineteen administrative Districts (Kecamatan), tabulated below with their 2010 Census population.

The Torajans are an ethnic group indigenous to a mountainous region of South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Their population is approximately 1,100,000, of whom 450,000 live in the regency of Tana Toraja ("Land of Toraja").[1] Most of the population is Christian, and others are Muslim or have local animist beliefs known as aluk ("the way"). The Indonesian government has recognised this animistic belief as Aluk To Dolo ("Way of the Ancestors").

The word Toraja comes from the Buginese language term to riaja, meaning "people of the uplands". The Dutch colonial government named the people Toraja in 1909. Torajans are renowned for their elaborate funeral rites, burial sites carved into rocky cliffs, massive peaked-roof traditional houses known as tongkonan, and colourful wood carvings. Toraja funeral rites are important social events, usually attended by hundreds of people and lasting for several days.

Before the 20th century, Torajans lived in autonomous villages, where they practised animism and were relatively untouched by the outside world. In the early 1900s, Dutch missionaries first worked to convert Torajan highlanders to Christianity. When the Tana Toraja regency was further opened to the outside world in the 1970s, it became an icon of tourism in Indonesia: it was exploited by tourism development and studied by anthropologists. By the 1990s, when tourism peaked, Toraja society had changed significantly, from an agrarian model—in which social life and customs were outgrowths of the Aluk To Dolo—to a largely Christian society. Today, tourism and remittances from migrant Torajans have made for major changes in the Toraja highland, giving the Toraja a celebrity status within Indonesia and enhancing Toraja ethnic group pride.

ETHNIC IDENTITY

The Torajan people had little notion of themselves as a distinct ethnic group before the 20th century. Before Dutch colonisation and Christianisation, Torajans, who lived in highland areas, identified with their villages and did not share a broad sense of identity. Although complexes of rituals created linkages between highland villages, there were variations in dialects, differences in social hierarchies, and an array of ritual practices in the Sulawesi highland region. "Toraja" (from the coastal languages' to, meaning people; and riaja, uplands) was first used as a lowlander expression for highlanders. As a result, "Toraja" initially had more currency with outsiders—such as the Bugis and Makassarese, who constitute a majority of the lowland of Sulawesi—than with insiders. The Dutch missionaries' presence in the highlands gave rise to the Toraja ethnic consciousness in the Sa'dan Toraja region, and this shared identity grew with the rise of tourism in the Tana Toraja Regency. Since then, South Sulawesi has four main ethnic groups—the Bugis (the majority, including shipbuilders and seafarers), the Makassarese (lowland traders and seafarers), the Mandarese (traders and fishermen), and the Toraja (highland rice cultivators).

HISTORY

From the 17th century, the Dutch established trade and political control on Sulawesi through the Dutch East Indies Company. Over two centuries, they ignored the mountainous area in the central Sulawesi, where Torajans lived, because access was difficult and it had little productive agricultural land. In the late 19th century, the Dutch became increasingly concerned about the spread of Islam in the south of Sulawesi, especially among the Makassarese and Bugis peoples. The Dutch saw the animist highlanders as potential Christians. In the 1920s, the Reformed Missionary Alliance of the Dutch Reformed Church began missionary work aided by the Dutch colonial government. In addition to introducing Christianity, the Dutch abolished slavery and imposed local taxes. A line was drawn around the Sa'dan area and called Tana Toraja ("the land of Toraja"). Tana Toraja was first a subdivision of the Luwu kingdom that had claimed the area. In 1946, the Dutch granted Tana Toraja a regentschap, and it was recognised in 1957 as one of the regencies of Indonesia.

Early Dutch missionaries faced strong opposition among Torajans, especially among the elite, because the abolition of their profitable slave trade had angered them. Some Torajans were forcibly relocated to the lowlands by the Dutch, where they could be more easily controlled. Taxes were kept high, undermining the wealth of the elites. Ultimately, the Dutch influence did not subdue Torajan culture, and only a few Torajans were converted. In 1950, only 10% of the population had converted to Christianity.

In the 1930s, Muslim lowlanders attacked the Torajans, resulting in widespread Christian conversion among those who sought to align themselves with the Dutch for political protection and to form a movement against the Bugis and Makassarese Muslims. Between 1951 and 1965 (following Indonesian independence), southern Sulawesi faced a turbulent period as the Darul Islam separatist movement fought for an Islamic state in Sulawesi. The 15 years of guerrilla warfare led to massive conversions to Christianity.

Alignment with the Indonesian government, however, did not guarantee safety for the Torajans. In 1965, a presidential decree required every Indonesian citizen to belong to one of five officially recognised religions: Islam, Christianity (Protestantism and Catholicism), Hinduism, or Buddhism. The Torajan religious belief (aluk) was not legally recognised, and the Torajans raised their voices against the law. To make aluk accord with the law, it had to be accepted as part of one of the official religions. In 1969, Aluk To Dolo ("the way of ancestors") was legalised as a sect of Agama Hindu Dharma, the official name of Hinduism in Indonesia.

SOCIETY

There are three main types of affiliation in Toraja society: family, class and religion.

FAMILY AFFILIATION

Family is the primary social and political grouping in Torajan society. Each village is one extended family, the seat of which is the tongkonan, a traditional Torajan house. Each tongkonan has a name, which becomes the name of the village. The familial dons maintain village unity. Marriage between distant cousins (fourth cousins and beyond) is a common practice that strengthens kinship. Toraja society prohibits marriage between close cousins (up to and including the third cousin)—except for nobles, to prevent the dispersal of property. Kinship is actively reciprocal, meaning that the extended family helps each other farm, share buffalo rituals, and pay off debts.

Each person belongs to both the mother's and the father's families, the only bilateral family line in Indonesia. Children, therefore, inherit household affiliation from both mother and father, including land and even family debts. Children's names are given on the basis of kinship, and are usually chosen after dead relatives. Names of aunts, uncles and cousins are commonly referred to in the names of mothers, fathers and siblings.

Before the start of the formal administration of Toraja villages by the Tana Toraja Regency, each Toraja village was autonomous. In a more complex situation, in which one Toraja family could not handle their problems alone, several villages formed a group; sometimes, villages would unite against other villages. Relationship between families was expressed through blood, marriage, and shared ancestral houses (tongkonan), practically signed by the exchange of water buffalo and pigs on ritual occasions. Such exchanges not only built political and cultural ties between families but defined each person's place in a social hierarchy: who poured palm wine, who wrapped a corpse and prepared offerings, where each person could or could not sit, what dishes should be used or avoided, and even what piece of meat constituted one's share.

CLASS AFFILIATION

In early Toraja society, family relationships were tied closely to social class. There were three strata: nobles, commoners, and slaves (slavery was abolished in 1909 by the Dutch East Indies government). Class was inherited through the mother. It was taboo, therefore, to marry "down" with a woman of lower class. On the other hand, marrying a woman of higher class could improve the status of the next generation. The nobility's condescending attitude toward the commoners is still maintained today for reasons of family prestige.

Nobles, who were believed to be direct descendants of the descended person from heaven, lived in tongkonans, while commoners lived in less lavish houses (bamboo shacks called banua). Slaves lived in small huts, which had to be built around their owner's tongkonan. Commoners might marry anyone, but nobles preferred to marry in-family to maintain their status. Sometimes nobles married Bugis or Makassarese nobles. Commoners and slaves were prohibited from having death feasts. Despite close kinship and status inheritance, there was some social mobility, as marriage or change in wealth could affect an individuals status. Wealth was counted by the ownership of water buffaloes.

Slaves in Toraja society were family property. Sometimes Torajans decided to become slaves when they incurred a debt, pledging to work as payment. Slaves could be taken during wars, and slave trading was common. Slaves could buy their freedom, but their children still inherited slave status. Slaves were prohibited from wearing bronze or gold, carving their houses, eating from the same dishes as their owners, or having sex with free women—a crime punishable by death.

RELIGIOUS AFFILATION

Toraja's indigenous belief system is polytheistic animism, called aluk, or "the way" (sometimes translated as "the law"). In the Toraja myth, the ancestors of Torajan people came down from heaven using stairs, which were then used by the Torajans as a communication medium with Puang Matua, the Creator. The cosmos, according to aluk, is divided into the upper world (heaven), the world of man (earth), and the underworld. At first, heaven and earth were married, then there was a darkness, a separation, and finally the light. Animals live in the underworld, which is represented by rectangular space enclosed by pillars, the earth is for mankind, and the heaven world is located above, covered with a saddle-shaped roof. Other Toraja gods include Pong Banggai di Rante (god of Earth), Indo' Ongon-Ongon (a goddess who can cause earthquakes), Pong Lalondong (god of death), and Indo' Belo Tumbang (goddess of medicine); there are many more.

The earthly authority, whose words and actions should be cleaved to both in life (agriculture) and death (funerals), is called to minaa (an aluk priest). Aluk is not just a belief system; it is a combination of law, religion, and habit. Aluk governs social life, agricultural practices, and ancestral rituals. The details of aluk may vary from one village to another. One common law is the requirement that death and life rituals be separated. Torajans believe that performing death rituals might ruin their corpses if combined with life rituals. The two rituals are equally important. During the time of the Dutch missionaries, Christian Torajans were prohibited from attending or performing life rituals, but were allowed to perform death rituals. Consequently, Toraja's death rituals are still practised today, while life rituals have diminished.

CULTURE

TONGKONAN

Tongkonan are the traditional Torajan ancestral houses. They stand high on wooden piles, topped with a layered split-bamboo roof shaped in a sweeping curved arc, and they are incised with red, black, and yellow detailed wood carvings on the exterior walls. The word "tongkonan" comes from the Torajan tongkon ("to sit").

Tongkonan are the center of Torajan social life. The rituals associated with the tongkonan are important expressions of Torajan spiritual life, and therefore all family members are impelled to participate, because symbolically the tongkonan represents links to their ancestors and to living and future kin. According to Torajan myth, the first tongkonan was built in heaven on four poles, with a roof made of Indian cloth. When the first Torajan ancestor descended to earth, he imitated the house and held a large ceremony.

The construction of a tongkonan is laborious work and is usually done with the help of the extended family. There are three types of tongkonan. The tongkonan layuk is the house of the highest authority, used as the "center of government". The tongkonan pekamberan belongs to the family members who have some authority in local traditions. Ordinary family members reside in the tongkonan batu. The exclusivity to the nobility of the tongkonan is diminishing as many Torajan commoners find lucrative employment in other parts of Indonesia. As they send back money to their families, they enable the construction of larger tongkonan.

Architecture in the style of a tongkonan is still very common. Various administration buildings were built in this style in recent years, e.g. the Kecamatan building in Rantepao.

WOOD CARVINGS

To express social and religious concepts, Torajans carve wood, calling it Pa'ssura (or "the writing"). Wood carvings are therefore Toraja's cultural manifestation.

Each carving receives a special name, and common motifs are animals and plants that symbolise some virtue. For example, water plants and animals, such as crabs, tadpoles and water weeds, are commonly found to symbolise fertility. In some areas noble elders claim these symbols refer to strength of noble family, but not everyone agrees. The overall meaning of groups of carved motifs on houses remains debated and tourism has further complicated these debates because some feel a uniform explanation must be presented to tourists. Torajan wood carvings are composed of numerous square panels, each of which can represent various things, for example buffaloes as a wish of wealth for the family; a knot and a box, symbolizing the hope that all of the family's offspring will be happy and live in harmony; aquatic animals, indicating the need for fast and hard work, just like moving on the surface of water.

Regularity and order are common features in Toraja wood carving (see table below), as well as abstracts and geometrical designs. Nature is frequently used as the basis of Toraja's ornaments, because nature is full of abstractions and geometries with regularities and ordering. Toraja's ornaments have been studied in ethnomathematics to reveal their mathematical structure, but Torajans base this art only on approximations. To create an ornament, bamboo sticks are used as a geometrical tool.

FUNERAL RITES

In Toraja society, the funeral ritual is the most elaborate and expensive event. The richer and more powerful the individual, the more expensive is the funeral. In the aluk religion, only nobles have the right to have an extensive death feast. The death feast of a nobleman is usually attended by thousands and lasts for several days. A ceremonial site, called rante, is usually prepared in a large, grassy field where shelters for audiences, rice barns, and other ceremonial funeral structures are specially made by the deceased's family. Flute music, funeral chants, songs and poems, and crying and wailing are traditional Toraja expressions of grief with the exceptions of funerals for young children, and poor, low-status adults.

The ceremony is often held weeks, months, or years after the death so that the deceased's family can raise the significant funds needed to cover funeral expenses. Torajans traditionally believe that death is not a sudden, abrupt event, but a gradual process toward Puya (the land of souls, or afterlife). During the waiting period, the body of the deceased is wrapped in several layers of cloth and kept under the tongkonan. The soul of the deceased is thought to linger around the village until the funeral ceremony is completed, after which it begins its journey to Puya.

Another component of the ritual is the slaughter of water buffalo. The more powerful the person who died, the more buffalo are slaughtered at the death feast. Buffalo carcasses, including their heads, are usually lined up on a field waiting for their owner, who is in the "sleeping stage". Torajans believe that the deceased will need the buffalo to make the journey and that they will be quicker to arrive at Puya if they have many buffalo. Slaughtering tens of water buffalo and hundreds of pigs using a machete is the climax of the elaborate death feast, with dancing and music and young boys who catch spurting blood in long bamboo tubes. Some of the slaughtered animals are given by guests as "gifts", which are carefully noted because they will be considered debts of the deceased's family. However, a cockfight, known as bulangan londong, is an integral part of the ceremony. As with the sacrifice of the buffalo and the pigs, the cockfight is considered sacred because it involves the spilling of blood on the earth. In particular, the tradition requires the sacrifice of at least three chickens. However, it is common for at least 25 pairs of chickens to be set against each other in the context of the ceremony.

There are three methods of burial: the coffin may be laid in a cave or in a carved stone grave, or hung on a cliff. It contains any possessions that the deceased will need in the afterlife. The wealthy are often buried in a stone grave carved out of a rocky cliff. The grave is usually expensive and takes a few months to complete. In some areas, a stone cave may be found that is large enough to accommodate a whole family. A wood-carved effigy, called Tau tau, is usually placed in the cave looking out over the land. The coffin of a baby or child may be hung from ropes on a cliff face or from a tree. This hanging grave usually lasts for years, until the ropes rot and the coffin falls to the ground.

In the ritual called Ma'Nene, that takes place each year in August, the bodies of the deceased are exhumed to be washed, groomed and dressed in new clothes. The mummies are then walked around the village.

DANNCE AND MUSIC

Torajans perform dances on several occasions, most often during their elaborate funeral ceremonies. They dance to express their grief, and to honour and even cheer the deceased person because he is going to have a long journey in the afterlife. First, a group of men form a circle and sing a monotonous chant throughout the night to honour the deceased (a ritual called Ma'badong). This is considered by many Torajans to be the most important component of the funeral ceremony. On the second funeral day, the Ma'randing warrior dance is performed to praise the courage of the deceased during life. Several men perform the dance with a sword, a large shield made from buffalo skin, a helmet with a buffalo horn, and other ornamentation. The Ma'randing dance precedes a procession in which the deceased is carried from a rice barn to the rante, the site of the funeral ceremony. During the funeral, elder women perform the Ma'katia dance while singing a poetic song and wearing a long feathered costume. The Ma'akatia dance is performed to remind the audience of the generosity and loyalty of the deceased person. After the bloody ceremony of buffalo and pig slaughter, a group of boys and girls clap their hands while performing a cheerful dance called Ma'dondan.

As in other agricultural societies, Torajans dance and sing during harvest time. The Ma'bugi dance celebrates the thanksgiving event, and the Ma'gandangi dance is performed while Torajans are pounding rice. There are several war dances, such as the Manimbong dance performed by men, followed by the Ma'dandan dance performed by women. The aluk religion governs when and how Torajans dance. A dance called Ma'bua can be performed only once every 12 years. Ma'bua is a major Toraja ceremony in which priests wear a buffalo head and dance around a sacred tree.

A traditional musical instrument of the Toraja is a bamboo flute called a Pa'suling (suling is an Indonesian word for flute). This six-holed flute (not unique to the Toraja) is played at many dances, such as the thanksgiving dance Ma'bondensan, where the flute accompanies a group of shirtless, dancing men with long fingernails. The Toraja have indigenous musical instruments, such as the Pa'pelle (made from palm leaves) and the Pa'karombi (the Torajan version of a jaw harp). The Pa'pelle is played during harvest time and at house inauguration ceremonies.

COGENDER VIEWS

Among the Saʼadan (eastern Toraja) in the island of Sulawesi (Celebes), Indonesia, there are homosexual male toburake tambolang shamans; although among their neighbors the Mamasa (western Toraja) there are instead only heterosexual female toburake shamanesses.

LANGUAGE

The ethnic Toraja language is dominant in Tana Toraja with the main language as the Sa'dan Toraja. Although the national Indonesian language is the official language and is spoken in the community, all elementary schools in Tana Toraja teach Toraja language.

Language varieties of Toraja, including Kalumpang, Mamasa, Tae, Talondo, Toala, and Toraja-Sa'dan, belong to the Malayo-Polynesian language from the Austronesian family. At the outset, the isolated geographical nature of Tana Toraja formed many dialects between the Toraja languages themselves. After the formal administration of Tana Toraja, some Toraja dialects have been influenced by other languages through the transmigration program, introduced since the colonialism period, and it has been a major factor in the linguistic variety of Toraja languages.

A prominent attribute of Toraja language is the notion of grief. The importance of death ceremony in Toraja culture has characterised their languages to express intricate degrees of grief and mourning. The Toraja language contains many terms referring to sadness, longing, depression, and mental pain. Giving a clear expression of the psychological and physical effect of loss is a catharsis and sometimes lessens the pain of grief itself.

ECONOMY

Prior to Suharto's "New Order" administration, the Torajan economy was based on agriculture, with cultivated wet rice in terraced fields on mountain slopes, and supplemental cassava and maize crops. Much time and energy were devoted to raising water buffalo, pigs, and chickens, primarily for ceremonial sacrifices and consumption. Coffee was the first significant cash crop produced in Toraja, and was introduced in the mid 19th century, changing the local economy towards commodity production for external markets and gaining an excellent reputation for quality in the international market.

With the commencement of the New Order in 1965, Indonesia's economy developed and opened to foreign investment. In Toraja, a coffee plantation and factory was established by Key Coffee of Japan, and Torajan coffee regained a reputation for quality within the growing international specialty coffee sector Multinational oil and mining companies opened new operations in Indonesia during the 1970s and 1980s. Torajans, particularly younger ones, relocated to work for the foreign companies—to Kalimantan for timber and oil, to Papua for mining, to the cities of Sulawesi and Java, and many went to Malaysia. The out-migration of Torajans was steady until 1985. and has continued since, with remittances sent back by emigre Torajans performing an important role within the contemporary economy.

Tourism commenced in Toraja in the 1970s, and accelerated in the 1980s and 1990s. Between 1984 and 1997, a significant number of Torajans obtained their incomes from tourism, working in and owning hotels, as tour guides, drivers, or selling souvenirs. With the rise of political and economic instability in Indonesia in the late 1990s—including religious conflicts elsewhere on Sulawesi—tourism in Tana Toraja has declined dramatically. Toraja continues to be a well known origin for Indonesian coffee, grown by both smallholders and plantation estates, although migration, remittances and off-farm income is considered far more important to most households, even those in rural areas.

TOURISM AND CULTURAL CHANGE

Before the 1970s, Toraja was almost unknown to Western tourism. In 1971, about 50 Europeans visited Tana Toraja. In 1972, at least 400 visitors attended the funeral ritual of Puang of Sangalla, the highest-ranking nobleman in Tana Toraja and the so-called "last pure-blooded Toraja noble." The event was documented by National Geographic and broadcast in several European countries. In 1976, about 12,000 tourists visited the regency and in 1981, Torajan sculpture was exhibited in major North American museums. "The land of the heavenly kings of Tana Toraja", as written in the exhibition brochure, embraced the outside world.

In 1984, the Indonesian Ministry of Tourism declared Tana Toraja Regency the prima donna of South Sulawesi. Tana Toraja was heralded as "the second stop after Bali". Tourism was increasing dramatically: by 1985, a total number of 150,000 foreigners had visited the Regency (in addition to 80,000 domestic tourists), and the annual number of foreign visitors was recorded at 40,000 in 1989. Souvenir stands appeared in Rantepao, the cultural center of Toraja, roads were sealed at the most-visited tourist sites, new hotels and tourist-oriented restaurants were opened, and an airstrip was opened in the Regency in 1981.

Tourism developers have marketed Tana Toraja as an exotic adventure—an area rich in culture and off the beaten track. Western tourists expected to see stone-age villages and pagan funerals. Toraja is for tourists who have gone as far as Bali and are willing to see more of the wild, "untouched" islands. However, they were more likely to see a Torajan wearing a hat and denim, living in a Christian society. Tourists felt that the tongkonan and other Torajan rituals had been preconceived to make profits, and complained that the destination was too commercialised. This has resulted in several clashes between Torajans and tourism developers, whom Torajans see as outsiders.

A clash between local Torajan leaders and the South Sulawesi provincial government (as a tourist developer) broke out in 1985. The government designated 18 Toraja villages and burial sites as traditional tourist attractions. Consequently, zoning restrictions were applied to these areas, such that Torajans themselves were barred from changing their tongkonans and burial sites. The plan was opposed by some Torajan leaders, as they felt that their rituals and traditions were being determined by outsiders. As a result, in 1987, the Torajan village of Kété Kesú and several other designated tourist attractions closed their doors to tourists. This closure lasted only a few days, as the villagers found it too difficult to survive without the income from selling souvenirs.

Tourism has also transformed Toraja society. Originally, there was a ritual which allowed commoners to marry nobles (puang) and thereby gain nobility for their children. However, the image of Torajan society created for the tourists, often by "lower-ranking" guides, has eroded its traditional strict hierarchy. High status is not as esteemed in Tana Toraja as it once was. Many low-ranking men can declare themselves and their children nobles by gaining enough wealth through work outside the region and then marrying a noble woman.

WIKIPEDIA

Halong bay 3 Days 2 Nights – Caravella Cruises – Halong Bay

Exploring this natural world heritage is no better than spend more time, a three day trip will dramatically give us more to absorb the beauty of Ha Long landscape take us to more islands & areas, discover hidden places as our time offer

Day 1: Hanoi - Ha Long

(lunch and dinner included)

Arrival Ha Long, welcome on boarding our cruise and enjoys the banquet lunch while admire the mythical land, and further discover the breathtaking bay. Late afternoon, cruise anchor at designated area. Overnight on the

Day 2: Ha Long (breakfast, lunch and dinner included)

Another new day on paradise landscape, breathe the fresh air early morning on sun desk or make a morning deep into the emerald water. After the energized breakfast we embark on a support-boat for a day excursion, log into the new tranquil beauty area, anchor hideaway in the magical bay we discover our own private beaches, relaxing in tranquility after lunch we continue to paddle look for more quiet floating fishing villages and isolated lagoons, we return our cruise by the end of a dynamic day dinner and overnight on cruise

Day 3: Ha Long – Hanoi (brunch included)

Waking up with morning sound of the sea, we continue to cruise further to explore this magnificent land before return to Ha Long harbor , here our vehicle ready to take us for the journey back to Hanoi (breakfast included)

Trip note

Day 1 Ha Long bay

12h00-12h30 am arrival at the city Harbor café.

13h00 the captain lifts the Anchor, cruise into mythical bay & enjoys lunch

15h30 excursions to Vong Vieng fishing village area, experiencing bamboo rowing boat by local village return to our cruise

16h30 swimming time and continue cruise to designated stopping area

15h30 release our Anchor for the night sleep and enjoy cooking desmostration on sun deck

19h00 enjoy our dinner

20:30 - 23:00 squid fishing (seasonal) & enjoy your happy time at our bar. Overnight on our classic cruise

Day 2: Ha Long kayaking day

7h40 complimentary café at the dining room

8h30 transfer to support boat for a day surfing with kayak,and begin to cruise to some of Halong Bay’s more untouched locales. Exact locations depend on tide conditions. Enjoy a leisurely day of kayaking, cave exploring and swimming. A multi-course lunch will be served mid-day. Pack lightly; swimwears and a set of dry clothes,suncream... and as there are different activities during the day bring both shoes (such as trainers) and flip-flops or sandals.

16h00 we do journey return to our cruise while watching sunset over the bay

19h00 dinner and overnight on cruise

Day 3: Ha Long - Hanoi

6h30 enjoy fresh air or sunrise on our sundeck or morning dip in emerrald water

7h00 am complimentary café at the dining room

7h30 cruise toward Me Cung grottoes

8h00 embark by tender to Me Cung grottoes go up steps to explore this little island (about 45 minutes)

9h00 am return our cruise freshen up and check out cabin & enjoy set menu at the dining while our cruise leisurely reaching the harbor.

10h30 settle any outstanding bills,

11h00 disembark the cruise by tender to leisure harbor café and wait for the return transportation

Note:

+ The time and itinerary may be subject to change due to the bad weather and other prevailing conditions without notice.

+ Advance register is required with name, passport, nationality, gender, and visa for all passengers.

+ Swimming and kayaking may cancelled due to bad weather and unused service is subject to nonrefundable

+ Transfer to Ha Long City (journey about 3.5-4 hours including break)

+ Reception desk: souvenirs, check out, first aid kit, hair dryer, kayak and wellness (reservation on first come first server basis)

+ For safety: life jackets are in the drawer under your bed, no smoking in restaurant and cabin, be aware of long jelly fish (seasonal)

+ Legal disclaimer is available in the cruise information booklet in your cabin

Have a great exploration!

Activities

Cruising, Kayaking, Swimming, Morning Taichi class, Optional night fishing

Inclusions

Welcome Drink, Cruise Program, transfer Hanoi -Halong -Hanoi (by shuttle bus from center only), Entrance & sightseeing Fees, In-house English-speaking Guide, Luxurious Cabins with A/C and en-suite Bathrooms, Lunch and Dinner, Breakfast, on board Insurance, taxes and service Charges

Exclusions

Drink, Beauty Spa Services and Massage, Beverages and Tobacco, Tips and other Personal Expenses, All other services not clearly mentioned above

Online booking | Tell a friend

E-Mail: info@caravellacruises.com

Tel: +84. 4. 37583711 - Fax: +84. 4. 37583713

Hotline: + 84. 91 2 303092 or + 84. 90 2216299

Hollywood & Vine restaurant in Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park offers a casual family buffet for dinner that features American cooking freshly prepared at on-stage cooking stations.

The Art Deco-designed Hollywood & Vine restaurant pays tribute to the Golden Age of Tinseltown and proudly displays in neon across the entrance that this is the "Cafeteria to the Stars."

The Hollywood & Vine dinner buffet may include such specialties as herb-crusted baked salmon with citrus butter, and red pepper pesto multigrain pasta (vegetarian). Fresh-roasted meats, peel-and-eat shrimp and mussels complete the array of savory selections. End dinner on the sweet side with treats from the sundae station and dessert bar.

Playhouse Disney's Play 'n Dine at Hollywood & Vine

Join pals JoJo from JoJo's Circus, June and Leo from Disney's Little Einsteins and Handy Manny for Character Dining at the Hollywood & Vine restaurant as they host two fun-filled, musical meals!

Breakfast Buffet: Start your day with song. Sing along with your hosts to familiar Playhouse Disney tunes. Featured on the breakfast buffet are favorites like Mickey Mouse-shaped waffles, frittatas and fresh fruit.

Lunch Buffet: The Playhouse Disney pals continue the festivities at lunch with more singing, dancing and playing. Across the lunch buffet, find kid- and adult-friendly entrees, such as baked chicken and assorted deli selections.

Characters who appear at both breakfast and lunch:

Walt Disney World-Hollywood Studios-Orlando Fl.

Offer

All images available for licensing via me. I offer commercial and editorial pet photography on a commissioned basis. And with a pet picture database with thousands of hand-picked images of dogs, cats, as well as horses, I might already have what you are looking for. All pictures here can be licensed.

For licensing and commission requests: info{at}elkevogelsang.com -

FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | WEBSITE

© Elke Vogelsang

20241201_Simba_CloseUpOfSimba

licensing dog images

licensing dog photos

licensing dog photo

licensing pet photos

licensing pet photos

stock images of pets

stock images of dogs

commercial dog photographer

commercial pet photographer

commercial dog photography

commercial pet photography

commercial dog photograph

commercial pet photograph

commercial dog photographs

commercial pet photographs

studio dog photograph

studio dog photography

studio dog photographs

studio pet photograph

studio pet photography

studio pet photographs

license images of dogs

license images of pets

commercial license

commercial licenses

commercial licenses for dog photos

commercial licenses for dog photos

buy commercial license for dog photos

buy commercial license for dog photo

buy commercial license for pet photos

buy commercial license for pet photo

commercial licenses for pet photos

commercial licenses for pet photo

pet image archive

dog image archive

stock photos of dogs

stock photos of pets

buy dog photos

buy pet photos

buy cat photos

buy dog images

buy pet images

buy cat images

Fujifilm X camera

Hundefotos

Hundefotos kaufen

kommerzielle Hundefotografie

kommerzieller Hundefotograf

Haustierfotos

Haustierfotos kaufen

Lizenzen für Fotos kaufen

Bildagentur

Haustierbildagentur

Bilderagentur für Haustierfotos

Bildagentur für Hundefotos

Katzenbilder

Katzenfotos

Bildagentur für Katzenfotos

Lizenzierung von Katzenfotos

Fun Time spa offers you top services for Hot tub Hire for the region of Middleborough, Darlington, County Durham and Newton Aycliffe. Hot tub hire for any occasion such as Party, Stag night, Anniversary etc.If you want to add an extra special, fun, and unique aspect, hot tub hire and rental is the way to go! Renting a hot tub for your next gathering - be it a quaint family get together, an enjoyable get together of family and friends for a birthday celebration, or a rowdy, gigantic neighborhood barbeque - this might be just what you're looking for to make it the best one yet.for more information log on to our website www.funtimespahire.co.uk

I saw three runners chatting on the sidewalk as I was returning from errands this morning. They appeared to have just finished their run and this woman caught my eye, partly because of her nice hat but largely because of her friendly face. I backtracked and interrupted their conversation to explain my project request. After a bit of clarification and showing my contact card, she agreed. I let them wrap up their conversation and say goodbye to their friend, and then offered to help the remaining two take a selfie with their new Gopro camera. Introductions were completed. Meet Sherub.

Decent backgrounds were in limited supply so I posed her in front of the animal hospital where many of our pets have received care through the years. I took a couple of photos with the autofocus, then a couple with manual focus for practice while her friend Ray looked on with interest. I saw that Sherub was looking down instead of looking into my lens. It turned out she was admiring the ring on my right hand. Ray liked my ring so I explained it was an anniversary gift from my wife and offered to send him the information on the jeweler in Quebec who made it.

Sherub came across as confident and friendly and was willing to stand and talk for ten minutes despite the post-run chill which was setting in. She is Tibetan but was born in India and came to Canada 30 years ago. She didn’t look 49, but then again Ray didn’t look 50. They returned the favor and told me I don’t look 69. I concluded “I’d say we’re all doing pretty darned well” and Sherup initiated a “high five.” I found out she works selling gelato. A good person to know.

I asked Ray if he could tell me a bit about his friend Sherub and he said she is a great friend and the two of them have been running together for a long time, training for and completing marathons. She was wearing a Boston Marathon jacked and he a Chicago marathon jacket. Ray said Sherub just has the kind of personality which motivates a person and she is a great friend and motivator for his running.

Sherub said she thinks her Buddhist orientation is responsible for the attitude that Ray referred to. She went on to say that she believes we should all strive to live in the present moment and not lose energy worrying about the past and the future. “Wherever you are, there you are” and “Don’t push but just be” are words that guide her.

The three of us chatted about Chicago (my home town) which both Ray and Sherub love. Her daughter is at the University of Chicago which just happens to be my alma mater. Small world.

Ray and Sherub were getting cold in their light running wear which was fine while running but not so fine for standing still in the mid-December wind. It was a delightful encounter and I told Ray and Sherub how happy I was to have met them and we exchanged season’s greetings.

Thank you Sherub and Ray for taking the time to meet and for participating in 100 Strangers. You are #684 in Round 7 of my project.

Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by the other photographers in our group at the 100 Strangers Flickr Group page.

Update: I received a very nice thank you email from Sherub telling me how much she loves the photos and thanking me for them. It seems clear that she enjoyed the 100 Strangers experience as much as I did. It's always a nice feeling to hear from people I meet and photograph. Thanks Sherub.

The attraction of photographing what's offered is the losing one's self in the moment.

You don't think about your job. You don't think about the economy. You don't think about swine flu, how many calories are in a bag of chili cheese Fritos, whether homeless people take care of their dogs, your mortgage, or if you have enough earthquake supplies at home.

You're just there, with the light and your camera and a few simple, strong feelings, and you are making something which is completely of the moment, it envelopes the moment and transfers it into something not quite complete, but lasting, so that it eventually becomes not just an emblem for that moment, but the moment itself. And so in that way, photographing what's offered is like making music and the photograph you make is like that music frozen forever for you to come back to and listen to and love again, and that moment and your singing in it is translated into something new and different, but also alive and real and fiercely independent because even though it is from you, it is also utterly of that uncontrolled moment too, when you were alive and well and being alone felt ok.

All Saints, Barrow, Suffolk

I recently revisited Barrow after half a dozen years. I wrote the following after two visits in quick succession in 2002 and 2003. I'm going to do a new entry for the Suffolk Churches site, and so this one will be necessarily retired. I offer it to you for the last time now.

Barrow: A Fantasy in Two Parts

Part I: The League of Gentlemen

It was late summer, 2002: I had never been to Barrow before. I had not expected it to be so big. It seemed a very pleasant place, a proper village, with a mix of old and new housing. It had a couple of shops, a decent pub, one of those funny little Baptist chapels, a village green, several ponds right beside the busy road - I have not seen so many squashed ducks before, which was mildly diverting.

But no church, apparently. I didn't have my OS map with me, so I asked a man who was tending his garden by the crossroads. "Well now", he said, standing upright slowly and scratching his head, "there's a church over Denham way, about a mile up the road over there. Or there's the chapel, if that's the one you want." I thanked him, and picked my way through the squashed ducks, thinking it curious that someone in a Suffolk village should not know where their village church was. Perhaps he was a Londoner, working on his holiday home. A sign outside the Baptist chapel said Strict Communion, which brought to mind a Minister in leather holding a whip. Just beyond it, a group of boys were fishing for tiddlers in the pond, so I asked them where All Saints was. Unfortunately, this resulted in an argument; one said that it was further up the high street, another claimed vigorously that there were no churches around here, and I left hurriedly, before one of them pushed the other in the water.

It took the nice Asian lady in the village shop to put me right, and she sold me a fine pie into the bargain. I followed her directions up the road towards Cavenham, passing the Hall, and, a great curiosity, half a Volkswagen sitting on the verge. It was the front half. I mused on it for a moment, wondering if this was St Edmundsbury Borough Council's idea of public installation art, or if someone was working on it, or if there had been a particularly nasty but very clean accident. I could now see the church tower in the distance, and hurried on, only to find about a hundred yards further down the road another half of a Volkswagen. And, get this, it was another front half. Not sure if this strengthened the case for installation art or accidents, it was with some relief that I reached All Saints, at a very tight bend in the road (ah, that explains the Volkswagens!).

The graveyard here is huge, and pretty well full of three centuries of gravestones. It must be a fascinating place to potter about. I did a quick circumnavigation of the church, which has obviously been given a thorough going over by the Victorians. It was hard to tell what was medieval and what was renewed, although it is all done well, and looking fine.

The door was locked. To be honest, I hadn't expected this; I had spent the day meandering around the area between Bury and Newmarket, and this was the first locked church I'd found all day. There was a sign giving keyholders' details, but it was pretty useless, being of the Thatched Cottage, Barrow, variety. It gave telephone numbers, but it didn't give the area code. I come across this again and again in porches - anyone phoning a keyholder from a church is, by definition, going to be using a mobile phone. You can't call a number from a mobile phone without an area code, but these notices rarely, if ever, give the code. I had no idea what the area code for Barrow was, and none of the other notices in the porch seemed prepared to reveal it.

Miserably, I wandered around to the north side, and found a modern building that might just have been the Rectory. There wasn't a sign saying so, but it had all the hallmarks of clerical occupancy - two small cars, an untidy front garden, jam jars in the porch, a view of bookshelves and a computer through the window. A television was playing, very loudly. I pressed on the doorbell, and waited. And waited. I pressed again, but nobody came. I wandered slowly back to the road, still expecting the door to open, and someone in a dog-collar to greet me.

But they didn't. I stood on the verge, wondering what to do next. An old lady cycled along the road towards me. She had two baskets, front and back. Small, noisy dogs sat in both. She smiled at me, a big beaming smile - 'Hello dear!', she called. As she passed me, and headed on up the road towards Cavenham, she waved, and I swear she took both hands off of the handlebars. She must have been about seventy.

I had a sudden panic that I had somehow stumbled on to the set of an episode of The League of Gentlemen. I got on my bike, and headed in the opposite direction as fast as I could, until Barrow was several miles behind me. Obviously, I'm never going back.

Part II: Very Graham Norton

I went back to Barrow in the early summer of 2003. I went to the aid of a distressed clergyman. His name was Father Peter MacLeod-Miller. He had been horrified to discover that I thought there was something rotten in the state of Barrow. I must come again, and I must come now. Well, trivialities conspired against me shooting straight over (a full-time job, a family, the lassitude that accompanies mid-life crisis, general fear of the unknown, etc) but within a few weeks I rolled up outside All Saints again. It was 9am on a Saturday morning, but already energetic parishioners were out and about giving the graveyard its first cut of the year after the late Spring flowers had seeded.

My eyes were on the glory of the church door - it was open. As we walked up to it, we were approached quickly in turn by Father Peter MacLeod-Miller himself. I flinched, but he didn't punch me. Instead, he shook our hands energetically, and turned out to be really, really pleasant. This was a plus point for Barrow - a jolly minister. Some are, and some aren't; you tend to remember the ones who aren't. But Father Peter MacLeod-Miller is something else you don't find every day in a Church of England minister - he is energetic. And even rarer than that, he's Australian. This struck me as a very affable combination.

He led us into the church, and proudly showed us around. I can tell you that Barrow church is very nice inside. It is obviously much loved, and well-cared for. I expect you think I'm going to say that it is completely normal, not odd at all, not the least bit Royston Veasyish. Well, you are wrong. There are several ways in which it is most unusual.

Firstly, there's the smell. Not damp, not wood polish, not even flowers, but the smell of incense. Incense is simply not something you find in rural Anglican churches in Suffolk. Outside of the four big towns, there is probably only Mendlesham where you encounter it. Mind you, they use enough at Mendlesham to make up for the rest.

No; in my experience, rural Suffolk protestants are allergic to incense. If you want to empty your church pretty swiftly, use it. Father Peter MacLeod-Miller has started burning it here, and at Risby and Great Saxham. And here's the thing - the congregations are actually growing. There is obviously something unusual and special going on here. And I think I know what it is. I'll tell you in a moment.

Another thing odd about Barrow is that there are still people in the parish important enough to have seats reserved for them. I loved that. There's Lady this, and Sir that, but there's also a health food millionaire who hands out samples of Emu oil after services.

Anything else odd? There's a most unusual tryptich on the altar in the south aisle. It shows St Michael contending with a dragon. The style is - how can I put this? - a prog-rock album from the mid-1970s. I was surprised to learn that it is rather more recent than this.

I suppose you want to know what else is in the church. Well, there's the font with its painted shields ; you can see something similar a few miles away at Horringer. Here, the shields show both ecclesiastical and secular powers, ranging from the Diocese of Ely to the State of France. It was repainted in the 1960s, according to Mortlock. The odd one out is to the local Despencer family.

In a lancet in the north wall are two curious shapes of medieval painted figures. Obviously, they were exposed by the Victorians, and the white plaster had been regularly renewed up to their outline. Unfortunately, the exposed figures have now faded completely; only their ghosts in the plaster show us where they once were.

Up in the chancel, there is a lively painted memorial to Clement Heigham, a rather more sober one to his wife who predeceased him, and one from a century earlier in the sanctuary to one of his forebears. There are some brasses, some of which are replicas of ones now in the British Museum.

The benches are mostly modern, except for a couple of very rustic ones in the south aisle and some bench ends up in the chancel. Father Peter MacLeod-Miller wants to clear the modern ones and replace them with chairs, so that he can have processions. I am sure they will prove very popular.

Barrow was the parish where the last wolf in England was killed. How do I know this? Father Peter MacLeod-Miller told me so.

So, what is the magic ingredient that is causing this parish to thrive against all apparent odds? I think it is Father Peter MacLeod-Miller himself. He strides energetically about his church, waving his arms. His long flowing hair is tied back with a large black ribbon. His flamboyance reminds me very much of the actor Graham Norton. I don't dare tell him so, of course.

Let's finish with something else unusual. Father Peter MacLeod-Miller is lucky enough to have a sibling at the Royal Opera House. Because of this, he has a number of stars on tap for fund-raising events. A recent musical evening at the Rectory, Opera to Broadway, included the percussionist Evelyn Glennie. But, because the Rectory isn't very big, they hold the events out of doors, and he keeps his piano on the lawn.

I doubt very much that anyone at Diocesan House reads my site (other than the lawyers, of course) but a memo to them just in case they do; I think you've found a winning formula. Let's have a Father Peter MacLeod-Miller in every moribund rural Anglican parish!

2011 postscript: Since I originally wrote this in 2003, Father Peter MacLeod-Miller has moved on to pastures new. Barrow church still seems to be very well-kept and much-loved, and this time I found it open.

Hiking Trips offer a variety of terrain and difficulty, but all afford beautiful scenery. (Photo by Jeff Woodward)

Stay connected to Dartmouth:

Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | Google+ | Instagram

www.allbendoregon.com/sunriver_oregon/

Located just 16 miles southwest of Bend off Highway 97, the beautiful resort community of Sunriver attracts visitors from all over who come to relax and enjoy a variety of outdoor recreation opportunities.

Overview

Sunriver, Oregon is one of the Northwest’s most popular year round vacation destinations. Approximately 16 miles southwest of Bend, the resort community of Sunriver offers world class golf and easy access to perhaps the best skiing in the Pacific Northwest. Additionally, visitors to Sunriver have a vast playground right outside their front door which includes hiking, biking, fishing, climbing, and whitewater rafting amidst the breathtaking scenery of Central Oregon.

Location

Sunriver, OR is located 16 miles southwest of Bend, just west of Highway 97.

Lodging and Services

Although there are no hotels in Sunriver, lodging options are plentiful. Visitors can stay at the beautiful Sunriver Resort or rent one of over 3,000 private homes or 1,000 condominiums. Dining options include a handful of restaurants and cares offering a variety of cuisine.

Activities

Winter Sports – Visitors to Sun River, Oregon can enjoy downhill skiing or snowboarding at nearby Mt. Bachelor Ski Resort. Cross country skiing, backcountry skiing, snowshoeing, and snowmobiling are also popular winter activities.

Hiking, Biking, Horseback Riding - During the warmer months, visitors can explore miles of trails in the surrounding area, or bike 35 miles of paved trails in Sunriver.

Fishing and Whitewater Rafting - The nearby Deschutes River is a popular place for fly fishing and whitewater rafting.

Golf - Sunriver Resort has three 18-hole championship golf courses, making it one of best places in the Northwest for golf.

Attractions

Newberry National Volcanic Monument – This beautiful monument covers over 55,500 acres northwest of Sunriver and has several lakes, fascinating lava flows, and interesting rock formations.

High Desert Museum – This museum has fascinating wildlife exhibits as well as authentic displays that depict life in Central Oregon back in the late 1800s.

Getting Here

It's really easy to get to Bend from Sunriver. Start by going east on S. Century Drive to Hwy 97. Turn north on Hwy 97, which goes right through Bend. Along the way you may glimpse some of the native wildlife, including deer, elk, coyotes, and eagles.

Share Your Thoughts

A chence meeting with a warden deep in an ancient beech wood revealed how to access the church, she even showed me which way out of the wood to emerge nearest the church.

Quits some difference to my last visit, on a cold a dreary February day last year. This time sprng had fully sprung, the churchyard fill of new growth and the air full of bird song.

----------------------------------------------

Hidden down narrow lanes this surprising church offers much to the churchcrawler. Norman in origin but thirteenth century in form, the piers of both arcades have surprisingly detailed capitals. The rood screen still divides nave and chancel, though the coving and much of the rest is replacement. Its upper and lower doorways survive, the lower one having its original medieval hinges. The font is thirteenth century but at some time has had new piers – old photos show it with a solid base. The north tower dates from the 20th century and was designed by Bensted of Maidstone – a gothic fantasy if ever there was one compared to the plain structure it enhanced. A ledger slab in the chancel commemorates a senior lawyer at the New Inns of Court and describes him as ` ancient ` - not in age but in seniority!

www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Stalisfield

-----------------------------------------------

TQ 95 SE STALISFIELD CHURCH ROAD

(east side)

6/121 Church of

St. Mary

24.1.67 II*

Parish church. C13 and restored 1904. Flint and sandstone with

plain tiled roof. Chancel with south chapel, nave with aisles,

north tower. Exterior heavily restored, tower topped by weather

vane dated 1904, over a wooden belfry with tiled roof.- Three

light C15 east window, otherwise C19 fenestration. Double

chamfered west doorway. Interior: nave arcades of 2 bays, on

square piers with chamfered corners and trefoiled archlet to

heavy moulded abaci, Roof of 3 tall crown posts. Single

chamfered arch on imposts from chancel to chapel and blocked

arch to demolished north chapel. Double chamfered chancel arch.

Fittings: trefoil headed piscina in chancel. Rood screen:C15

perpendicular. Five bays, each with four-light traceried openings-

with crenellated oblique transoms. Vine motif frieze above blank

tracery on lower panels, with angels, eagles and roses in

spandrels. Attached shafts support frieze of Tudor flowers with

renewed cove. C13 font on 5 shafts with 4 blank arches on each

side of bowl. Royal coat of arms (obscured at time of survey)

carved in high relief on nave south wall. (See B.O.E. Kent II,

1983, 465 and illus. 65.)

Listing NGR: TQ9673852434

www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-176527-church-of-st-m...

---------------------------------------------

COMMONLY called Starchfield, adjoins to the parish of Easling south-eastward. It is called in Domesday, Stanefelle, which is the same as Stonefield, a name well adapted to the flinty soil of it.

THE PARISH is an unfrequented and obscure place, situated in a wild and dreary country, near the summit of the chalk hills, just above Charing, its southern boundary. It lies on high ground, exceedingly bleak, and exposed to north and north-east winds. The land in it is in general a red cludgy earth, of very stiff tillage, very barren, wet and flinty, and the inhabitants, as well as the country, are equally poor. It has continued hill and dale in it, the greater part of it is coppice wood, which is mostly beech and oak, usually felled at sixteen and eighteen years growth, and even then from its sort, and its out of the way distance from markets, is not of any great worth; what village there is stands round Starchfield-green, lying near the summit of the hill, on the road to Charing, at the south-west part of the parish, the church in the opposite part of it, and the parsonage midway between them. Near the north-east boundary of the parish, next to Throwley, is an estate called Holborne, but its proper name is Holbean, belonging to St. Bartholomew's hospital, in London; it is said formerly to have belonged to the north chantry of this church of Starchfield.

THIS PLACE, at the time of the taking of the general survey of Domesday, in 1080, was part of the possessions of Odo, bishop of Baieux, under the general title of whose lands it is thus described in it:

The same Adam (de Port) holds of the bishop Stanefelle. It was taxed at two sulings. The arable land is four carucates. In demesne there is one carucate, and ten villeins, having two carucates.There is a church,and six servants,and two acres of meadow.Wood for the pannage of sixty hogs.In the time of king Edward the Confessor it was worth sixty shillings, and afterwards forty shillings,now one hundred shillings,Turgis held it of earl Godwin.

On the bishop of Baieux's disgrace, about four years afterwards, this, among the rest of his possessions, came into the hands of the crown, so that Adam de Port before-mentioned, became the king's immediate tenant of it, of whose heirs it was again held afterwards by Arnulf Kade, who gave this manor, with that of Ore and its appurtenances, to the knights hospitallers, and it was assigned by them to the jurisdiction of their preceptory at Swingfield.

This manor continued part of their possessions till the general dissolution of their hospital, in the 32d year of Henry VIII. After which this manor did not remain long in the hands of the crown, for the king, in his 36th year, granted it to Sir Anthony St. Leger and his heirs male, to hold in capite by knight's service, who by the act of the 2d and 3d of Edward VI. procured his lands in this county to be disgavelled. After which, Edward VI. in his 4th year, made a grant of this manor to him and his heirs, to hold by the like service. (fn. 1) He immediately afterwards passed it away by sale to Sir Anthony Aucher, of Bishopsborne, whose son Sir Anthony Aucher, about the beginning of king James I.'s reign, sold it to Salter, whose descendant Sir Nicholas Salter, possessed it at the restoration of Charles II. They bore for their arms, Gules, ten billets, four, three, two, and one, a bordure engrailed, argent, charged with sixteen burts and torteauxes, alternately. His son Nicholas Salter, esq. of Stoke Poges, in Buckinghamshire, died in the reign of king William and queen Mary, leaving one son John, who was of London, surgeon, and three daughters, towards the raising of whose portions, he by his will ordered this manor to be sold, which it accordingly was, in 1699, to Mr. Richard Webbe, of Eleham; he, in 1711, after some controversies at law for the possession of it, alienated all his right and title to it to the trustees, for the periormance of the will of dame Sarah Barrett, widow of Sir Paul Barrett, serjeant-at-law, who had died in the beginning of that year.

She was the only daughter and heir of Sir George Ent, M. D. of London, and president of the college of physicians, and widow of Francis Head, esq. eldest son of Sir Richard Head, bart. who died in his father's life-time. She had by her first husband one son, Sir Francis Head, bart. of and a daughter Sarah, married to John Lynch, esq. of Groves, father of John Lynch, D D. dean of Canterbury, who left issue Sir William Lynch, K. B. and John Lynch, LL. D. archdeacon and prebendary of Canterbury.

Lady Barrett, by the trusts of her will, devised this manor to her male issue by her first husband in tail male, remainder to the issue of Sarah her daughter by the same husband in like tail, remainder to her several daughters and their heirs in fee; by virtue of which limitation, her grandson Sir Francis Head, bart. at length succeeded to it, and son his death in 1768, without male issue, his next brother Sir John Head, bart. and archdeacon of Canterbury, became possessed of it, and died s. p. in 1769, leaving his widow lady Jane Head, sister of Dr. William Geekie, prebendary of Canterbury, surviving, on whom he had settled this manor in jointure; she died in 1780, on which the property of it, under the above will, became vested in lady Barrett's next heir male Sir William Lynch, K.B. of Grove, who was her great-grandson, being the eldest son of John Lynch, D. D. dean of Canterbury, the son of John Lynch, esq. by Sarah his wife, her daughter by Francis Head, esq. who, to bar all further remainders, with his brother Dr. John Lynch, suffered a recovery of this manor, and died in 1785, s. p. After which it was alienated to the Rev. Wanley Sawbridge, who dying unmarried and interstate in 1796, it came to his two nephews and heirs-at-law, Samuel-Elias and Wanley Sawbridge, esqrs. who are the present possessors of it. A court baron is held for this manor.

DARBIES-COURT, is a manor situated in the northwest part of this parish, which took its name from a family who resided at it, and were of the rank of gentlemen in very early times, for in the antient registers and rolls of Kentish gentry, their coat armour is thus described, Party, per chevron embattled, or, and azure, three eagles counterchanged. In the 20th year of king Edward III. Sara de Darbye paid aid for lands here, which William de Darbie and the heirs of Thomas Franklyn held before in Winsfield, of Reginald de Cornhill, by knight's service; and there is a hamlet and valley adjoining to Darbies-court, once part of it, called at this time Wingfield, and Wingfield valley. Of this family was John Darbie, who was alderman of London, and sheriff in 1445, anno 24 Henry VI. who built the south isle of St. Dionis Backchurch, in that city, and was otherwise a good benefactor to it; in memory of which, the above-mentioned coat of arms was put up in the windows of it. (fn. 2)

But the manor of Darbies court was alienated by one of that family, in the beginning of the reign of Henry IV. to Sir Ralph St. Leger, of Otterden, who died in the 10th year of that reign, leaving a daughter Joane, then the wife of Henry Aucher, esq. of Newenden, who entitled her husband to the possession of it. In whose descendants this manor continued till the reign of queen Elizabeth, when it was alienated to Sir Michael Sondes, then of Eastry, who was the second son of Sir Anthony Sondes, of Throwley, and on his elder brother Sir Thomas Sondes's death, in 1592, without male issue, succeeded him in his seat at Throwley, as well as the rest of his intailed estates in this county. He afterwards resided at Throwley, where he died in 1617, anno 16 James I. Since which this manor has descended, in like manner as Throwley and Lees-court, in Sheldwich, both which the reader will find described in the future part of this volume down to the right hon. Lewis-Thomas, lord Sondes, the present possessor of it. A court baron is held for this manor.

Charities.

ROGER PAYNE, ESQ. late of Otterden, by his will in 1706, gave 20l. chargeable on his estate at Otterden, to poor housekeepers of this parish; which is placed out at interest at 4l. per cent. the yearly distribution of it being vested in the minister, churchwardens, and overseers.

The poor constantly relieved are about thirty; casually thirty-five.

This PARISH is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Ospringe.

The church, which stands near the centre of the parish, is dedicated to St. Mary. It is built in the form of a cross; the steeple stands in the middle of the south side. In the north wall of the north chancel is an antient tomb, with the effigies of a man in armour lying at length on it. In the east window are these coats of arms, Sable, a chevron gules, between three clothworkers handles, or; another, the coat broke, impaling, Quarterly, azure and argent, per fess indented, surmounted by a battune, or, and azure.

The church of Ore was antiently accounted as a chapel to this of Stalisfield, but it has been long since separated, and become a distinct church independent of it.

The church of Stalisfield belonged to the priory of St. Gregory, in Canterbury, perhaps part of its original endowment by archbishop Lansranc, in the reign of the Conqueror, and it was confirmed to it, among the rest of its possessions, by archbishop Hubert, about the reign of Richard I. (fn. 3)

In the 8th year of Richard II. it was become appropriated to the above-mentioned priory, and a vicarage endowed in it, the former being then valued at twelve pounds, and the latter at four pounds, on the taxation of them.

The church, with the advowson of the vicarage, remained part of the possessions of the priory till the dissolution of it in the reign of Henry VIII. when they came into the hands of the crown, where they remained but a small time, for an act passed that year to enable the king and the archbishop of Canterbury to exchange the scite of the late dissolved priory of St. Radigund, near Dover, with all its possessions, lately given by the king to the archbishop for the scite of the late dissolved priory of St. Gregory, and all its possessions, excepting the manor of Howfield, in Chartham.

This church becoming thus part of the revenues of the see of Canterbury, was demised by the archbishop, among the rest of the revenues of the priory, in one grands beneficial lease, in which, all advowsons and nominations of churches and chapels were excepted, and it has been continued under the same kind of demise from time to time ever since, renewable in like manner as such leases usually are.

¶Philip, earl of Chesterfield, was lessee of this parsonage as part of the above premises, as heir to the Wottons, after whose death in 1773, the lease was sold by his executors to George Gipps, esq. of Canterbury, who is the present lessee under the archbishop for the parsonage of Stalisfield, among the rest of the possessions of the priory of St. Gregory, but SamuelElias and Wanley Sawbridge, esqrs. as heirs of their uncle the Rev. Wanley Sawbridge, late vicar of this parish, are the occupiers of it, at a yearly reserved rent under him. The parsonage consists of a house, buildings, yard, and small orchard, ninety-four acres of land, and nine acres of wood, let together with the tithes of corn, at 75l. per annum; besides which, there are sixteen acres of woodland more in the hands of the lessee of the parsonage, worth 3l. 10s. per annum. It pays 7s. 6d. procurations to the archdeacon, and 6s. 4d. to the archbishop at his visitations.

The vicarage of this church appears to have been endowed before the 8th of Richard II. by the taxation then made of it. It is valued in the king's books at 5l. 6s. 8d. and the yearly tenths at 10s. 8d. and is now of the yearly certified value of 33l. 18s. 3d. In 1587 there were sixty-one communicants here. In 1640 it was valued at only 35l. and the communicants were the like number.

Archbishop Juxon, by indenture anno 13 king Charles II. and by another anno 28 of that reign, augmented it with 25l. per annum, to be paid by the lessee of the great tithes. The archbishop continues patron of this vicarage.

THERE WAS a portion of tithes in this parish, of the value of ten shillings, which was given soon after the conquest to the priory of St. Andrew, in Rochester, by Humphry Canute; and this gift was afterwards confirmed by D. de Monci, his descendant, to be holden in like manner as the same was held of his ancestors; and it was likewise confirmed to it by the archbishops Richard, Baldwin, and Hubert. (fn. 4)

www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol6/pp438-445

Offered in both passenger and cargo models, the Aerostar was introduced in 1985 as a 1986 model and continued to the end of the 1997 model year in August 1997, built at Ford's St. Louis assembly plant.

DXO offered some of us tenured customers a free permanent version of Filmpak 3 as part of their opening publicity for Filmpak 4. This program’s purpose is to take a digital picture and give it the same look that different films would have produced, had it been on those films. Although the freebie was more limited in film choices than their #4, it still gave a lot of the old favorites.

For space reasons, I reduced a snapshot taken with an EOS-M by 50%, then applied some of the various filters. Even jpegged, the file is pretty big. To see which films are represented and to get a good look at things like grain and the lines in Polachrome, you will need to see “all size” button, then open up as “original.” You can move the large view around on your screen and see the different color shades of the different iterations.

I am sure most of you know about this man and his project.

I have been following his photo stream for a while, in silence because I was too shy to talk about what he is achieving both as a photographer and as a human being.

But today I listened to the songs one of his former streetkids sang.

Meu Deus ... I cannot forget his voice. It made me want to step out of my comfort zone and try to do something. Right now letting the few of you who don't know this project aware of it is all I can do. But I will do more. I owe this to them.

Frees & Offers in Second Life

mejoratuapariencia-mta.blogspot.com.es/2012/05/hot-girl.html

:: Designer Circle ::

::SLink Hunt::

Depraved Nation - High Voltage Hunt

The Little Bird of Many Colors Hunt

WoW Skins

Calico Ingmann Creations - CiC

:: alterego ::

Phoebe's - Phoebe ~Piercings & more~

Endless Pain Tattoos

Buid Tatto

MG - Maxi Gossamer

{FORMANAILS}

[dirty.little.secret]

Window offers include:

Salmon 3/9

PG Tips Tea 2/11

Table Jellies 7½d

Ghost sign on the right, above Fiona, for H.B Penty, qualified optician

Other shops include Woolworths, Lennards, Tuckers, Bollom, Foster Brothers, Burtons & Fiona.

Original photograph

© All rights reserved

Hotel Continental is situated in the heart of Taormina. Its spacious sun terrace offers panoramic views over the bay and Mount Etna. On a hillside overlooking the city, the interior is cozy and charmingly appointed; bedrooms open to flower-laden terraces and the roof terrace provides an ideal setting

Su una collina che domina la città, l'interno è accogliente e splendidamente arredate, camere da letto aperta a terrazze di fiori a pieno carico e la terrazza sul tetto offre un ambiente ideale

Taormina is a comune and small town on the east coast of the island of Sicily, Italy, in the Province of Messina, about midway between Messina and Catania. Taormina has been a very popular tourist destination since the 19th century. It has popular beaches (accessible via an aerial tramway) on the Ionian sea, which is remarkably warm and has a high salt content. Taormina can be reached via highways from Messina from the north and Catania .Just south of Taormina is the Isola Bella, a nature reserve. Tours of the Capo Sant' Andrea grottos are also available. Taormina is built on an extremely hilly coast, and is approximately a forty-five minute drive away from Europe's largest active volcano, Mount Etna.A stay at Taormina is not just a seaside vacation. This area, rich in charm and history, must be experienced in a spirit that is outside the ordinary, and for one simple reason: here, everything is extraordinary. Every stone is a thousand-year-old piece of history, the glorious sea reflects Taormina’s beauty, as it shapes and marks the passage of time, and the places that enchanted the Greeks create to this day a vibrant and exciting ambiance. But trying to describe in words what makes Taormina unique is truly difficult.

Taormina è un comune di 10.991 abitanti della provincia di Messina. E' uno dei centri balneari di maggiore rilievo di tutta la regione. Il suo aspetto, il suo paesaggio, i suoi luoghi, le sue bellezze riescono ad attirare turisti provenienti da tutto il mondo.Situata su una collina a 206 m di altezza sul livello del mare , sospesa tra rocce e mare su un terrazzo del monte Tauro, in uno scenario di bellezze naturali unico per varietà e contrasti di motivi , splendore di colori e lussureggiante vegetazione . Molto belle le mezze stagioni,Primavera e Autunno infatti vantano un clima ideale mite.La storia di Taormina è sicuramente costellata da molteplici dominazioni, e questo è possibile vederlo passeggiando per le strade del centro storico che mostrano i segni lasciati dai vari popoli passati per Taomina. Essendo situata al centro del mediterraneo la Sicilia fu sempre una preda ambita per la sua posizione strategica di passaggio,situata sulla parte est e in posizione fortificata su una collina permetteva già da allora di controllare buona parte della costa ionica e ha sempre rappresentato un ottimo punto di fortificazione e controllo nelle stradegie di guerra. Dopo aver attestato l'esistenza di una sede di siculi ( antichi abitanti dell'isola, detti anche sicani) presso Taormina, per certo vi passarono e vi lasciarono le loro tracce I Greci, i Romani, i Saraceni, dunque gli Arabi, i Bizantini ,I Normanni , Gli Aragonesi , e per ultimi i Borboni.Un soggiorno a Taormina non è semplicemente una vacanza al mare. Questi luoghi, pregni di storia e di fascino, chiedono infatti di essere vissuti con uno spirito diverso da quello comune e la ragione è semplice: qui tutto è fuori dall’ordinario.Ogni pietra reca in sé una storia millenaria, il mare meraviglioso su cui Taormina riflette tutta la sua bellezza, condiziona e scandisce lo scorrere del tempo ed i luoghi che furono l’incanto dei greci trasmettono tutt’oggi un’atmosfera vibrante di emozioni. Ma tentare di descrivere con le parole ciò che rende unica Taormina è davvero difficile

www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsZheQbNK5o

www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcvR1DE4_-0

Sicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean.

It lies on a seismic fault and has for centuries suffered earthquakes and eruptions. The island's most striking feature is Mount Etna, the largest active volcano in Europe. The coastline is beautiful. Two of the most visited attractions in Sicily are the Aeolian Islands and Taormina, with its spectacular backdrop - snow capped Etna. The largely mountainous interior is sparsely populated but the Tyrrhenian and Ionian coasts are lush. For 3,000 years the Mediterranean was the epicentre of the Western world and Sicily its focal point. The Greeks dominated between 6th century BC and 480BC. Agrigento, Selinunte, Segesta and Syracuse, with its theatre, were Greek cities. A visit to the Valley of the Temples at Agrigento is an amazing experience. Then the Romans came, followed by the Arabs who made the magical city of Palermo their capital. Normans, then the Roman church overlaid their influence upon this mix creating a dynamic culture with a delicious and varied cuisine - the island is famed for its incredibly sweet desserts!

. . . 2. 3. 2007 - this is the first day of a funeral ceremony in Bori for a High Class Woman. She died on 18. 1. 2007 at the age of 85 years. The ceremony will last for one week. Today we will see the showing of the water buffalos, pigs, cow, horse, deer and chicken. All these animals are offered to be the servants of the died woman in her new life after death in Puya. We will see buffalo fighting. Men bet for the winner of those fightings. Two buffalos fight each other - the one running away lost the fight!

If you wonder why the quality of the pictures is a little less: these are no photographs - it all are snapshots of my videos! So sorry for the less resolution, but I think, they are worth to be shown.

_____________________________________

The Toraja are an ethnic group indigenous to a mountainous region of South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Their population is approximately 1,100,000, of whom 450,000 live in the regency of Tana Toraja ("Land of Toraja"). Most of the population is Christian, and others are Muslim or have local animist beliefs known as aluk ("the way"). The Indonesian government has recognized this animist belief as Aluk To Dolo ("Way of the Ancestors").

The word toraja comes from the Bugis Buginese language term to riaja, meaning "people of the uplands". The Dutch colonial government named the people Toraja in 1909. Torajans are renowned for their elaborate funeral rites, burial sites carved into rocky cliffs, massive peaked-roof traditional houses known as tongkonan, and colorful wood carvings. Toraja funeral rites are important social events, usually attended by hundreds of people and lasting for several days.

Before the 20th century, Torajans lived in autonomous villages, where they practised animism and were relatively untouched by the outside world. In the early 1900s, Dutch missionaries first worked to convert Torajan highlanders to Christianity. When the Tana Toraja regency was further opened to the outside world in the 1970s, it became an icon of tourism in Indonesia: it was exploited by tourism developers and studied by anthropologists. By the 1990s, when tourism peaked, Toraja society had changed significantly, from an agrarian model - in which social life and customs were outgrowths of the Aluk To Dolo - to a largely Christian society. Today, tourism and remittances from migrant Torajans have made for major changes in the Toraja highland, giving the Toraja a celebrity status within Indonesia and enhancing Toraja ethnic group pride.

ETHNIC IDENTITY

The Torajan people had little notion of themselves as a distinct ethnic group before the 20th century. Before Dutch colonization and Christianization, Torajans, who lived in highland areas, identified with their villages and did not share a broad sense of identity. Although complexes of rituals created linkages between highland villages, there were variations in dialects, differences in social hierarchies, and an array of ritual practices in the Sulawesi highland region. "Toraja" (from the coastal languages' to, meaning people; and riaja, uplands) was first used as a lowlander expression for highlanders. As a result, "Toraja" initially had more currency with outsiders - such as the Bugis and Makassarese, who constitute a majority of the lowland of Sulawesi - than with insiders. The Dutch missionaries' presence in the highlands gave rise to the Toraja ethnic consciousness in the Sa'dan Toraja region, and this shared identity grew with the rise of tourism in the Tana Toraja Regency. Since then, South Sulawesi has four main ethnic groups - the Bugis (the majority, including shipbuilders and seafarers), the Makassarese (lowland traders and seafarers), the Mandarese (traders and fishermen), and the Toraja (highland rice cultivators).

HISTORY

From the 17th century, the Dutch established trade and political control on Sulawesi through the Dutch East Indies Company. Over two centuries, they ignored the mountainous area in the central Sulawesi, where Torajans lived, because access was difficult and it had little productive agricultural land. In the late 19th century, the Dutch became increasingly concerned about the spread of Islam in the south of Sulawesi, especially among the Makassarese and Bugis peoples. The Dutch saw the animist highlanders as potential Christians. In the 1920s, the Reformed Missionary Alliance of the Dutch Reformed Church began missionary work aided by the Dutch colonial government. In addition to introducing Christianity, the Dutch abolished slavery and imposed local taxes. A line was drawn around the Sa'dan area and called Tana Toraja ("the land of Toraja"). Tana Toraja was first a subdivision of the Luwu kingdom that had claimed the area. In 1946, the Dutch granted Tana Toraja a regentschap, and it was recognized in 1957 as one of the regencies of Indonesia.

Early Dutch missionaries faced strong opposition among Torajans, especially among the elite, because the abolition of their profitable slave trade had angered them. Some Torajans were forcibly relocated to the lowlands by the Dutch, where they could be more easily controlled. Taxes were kept high, undermining the wealth of the elites. Ultimately, the Dutch influence did not subdue Torajan culture, and only a few Torajans were converted. In 1950, only 10% of the population had converted to Christianity.

In the 1930s, Muslim lowlanders attacked the Torajans, resulting in widespread Christian conversion among those who sought to align themselves with the Dutch for political protection and to form a movement against the Bugis and Makassarese Muslims. Between 1951 and 1965 (following Indonesian independence), southern Sulawesi faced a turbulent period as the Darul Islam separatist movement fought for an Islamic state in Sulawesi. The 15 years of guerrilla warfare led to massive conversions to

CHRISTIANITY

Alignment with the Indonesian government, however, did not guarantee safety for the Torajans. In 1965, a presidential decree required every Indonesian citizen to belong to one of five officially recognized religions: Islam, Christianity (Protestantism and Catholicism), Hinduism, or Buddhism. The Torajan religious belief (aluk) was not legally recognized, and the Torajans raised their voices against the law. To make aluk accord with the law, it had to be accepted as part of one of the official religions. In 1969, Aluk To Dolo ("the way of ancestors") was legalized as a sect of Agama Hindu Dharma, the official name of Hinduism in Indonesia.

SOCIETY

There are three main types of affiliation in Toraja society: family, class and religion.

FAMILY AFFILIATION

Family is the primary social and political grouping in Torajan society. Each village is one extended family, the seat of which is the tongkonan, a traditional Torajan house. Each tongkonan has a name, which becomes the name of the village. The familial dons maintain village unity. Marriage between distant cousins (fourth cousins and beyond) is a common practice that strengthens kinship. Toraja society prohibits marriage between close cousins (up to and including the third cousin) - except for nobles, to prevent the dispersal of property. Kinship is actively reciprocal, meaning that the extended family helps each other farm, share buffalo rituals, and pay off debts.

Each person belongs to both the mother's and the father's families, the only bilateral family line in Indonesia. Children, therefore, inherit household affiliation from both mother and father, including land and even family debts. Children's names are given on the basis of kinship, and are usually chosen after dead relatives. Names of aunts, uncles and cousins are commonly referred to in the names of mothers, fathers and siblings.

Before the start of the formal administration of Toraja villages by the Tana Toraja Regency, each Toraja village was autonomous. In a more complex situation, in which one Toraja family could not handle their problems alone, several villages formed a group; sometimes, villages would unite against other villages. Relationship between families was expressed through blood, marriage, and shared ancestral houses (tongkonan), practically signed by the exchange of water buffalo and pigs on ritual occasions. Such exchanges not only built political and cultural ties between families but defined each person's place in a social hierarchy: who poured palm wine, who wrapped a corpse and prepared offerings, where each person could or could not sit, what dishes should be used or avoided, and even what piece of meat constituted one's share.

CLASS AFFILIATION

In early Toraja society, family relationships were tied closely to social class. There were three strata: nobles, commoners, and slaves (slavery was abolished in 1909 by the Dutch East Indies government). Class was inherited through the mother. It was taboo, therefore, to marry "down" with a woman of lower class. On the other hand, marrying a woman of higher class could improve the status of the next generation. The nobility's condescending attitude toward the commoners is still maintained today for reasons of family prestige.

Nobles, who were believed to be direct descendants of the descended person from heaven, lived in tongkonans, while commoners lived in less lavish houses (bamboo shacks called banua). Slaves lived in small huts, which had to be built around their owner's tongkonan. Commoners might marry anyone, but nobles preferred to marry in-family to maintain their status. Sometimes nobles married Bugis or Makassarese nobles. Commoners and slaves were prohibited from having death feasts. Despite close kinship and status inheritance, there was some social mobility, as marriage or change in wealth could affect an individuals status. Wealth was counted by the ownership of water buffaloes.

Slaves in Toraja society were family property. Sometimes Torajans decided to become slaves when they incurred a debt, pledging to work as payment. Slaves could be taken during wars, and slave trading was common. Slaves could buy their freedom, but their children still inherited slave status. Slaves were prohibited from wearing bronze or gold, carving their houses, eating from the same dishes as their owners, or having sex with free women - a crime punishable by death.

RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION

Toraja's indigenous belief system is polytheistic animism, called aluk, or "the way" (sometimes translated as "the law"). In the Toraja myth, the ancestors of Torajan people came down from heaven using stairs, which were then used by the Torajans as a communication medium with Puang Matua, the Creator. The cosmos, according to aluk, is divided into the upper world (heaven), the world of man (earth), and the underworld. At first, heaven and earth were married, then there was a darkness, a separation, and finally the light. Animals live in the underworld, which is represented by rectangular space enclosed by pillars, the earth is for mankind, and the heaven world is located above, covered with a saddle-shaped roof. Other Toraja gods include Pong Banggai di Rante (god of Earth), Indo' Ongon-Ongon (a goddess who can cause earthquakes), Pong Lalondong (god of death), and Indo' Belo Tumbang (goddess of medicine); there are many more.

The earthly authority, whose words and actions should be cleaved to both in life (agriculture) and death (funerals), is called to minaa (an aluk priest). Aluk is not just a belief system; it is a combination of law, religion, and habit. Aluk governs social life, agricultural practices, and ancestral rituals. The details of aluk may vary from one village to another. One common law is the requirement that death and life rituals be separated. Torajans believe that performing death rituals might ruin their corpses if combined with life rituals. The two rituals are equally important. During the time of the Dutch missionaries, Christian Torajans were prohibited from attending or performing life rituals, but were allowed to perform death rituals. Consequently, Toraja's death rituals are still practised today, while life rituals have diminished.

CULTURE

TONGKONAN

Tongkonan are the traditional Torajan ancestral houses. They stand high on wooden piles, topped with a layered split-bamboo roof shaped in a sweeping curved arc, and they are incised with red, black, and yellow detailed wood carvings on the exterior walls. The word "tongkonan" comes from the Torajan tongkon ("to sit").

Tongkonan are the center of Torajan social life. The rituals associated with the tongkonan are important expressions of Torajan spiritual life, and therefore all family members are impelled to participate, because symbolically the tongkonan represents links to their ancestors and to living and future kin. According to Torajan myth, the first tongkonan was built in heaven on four poles, with a roof made of Indian cloth. When the first Torajan ancestor descended to earth, he imitated the house and held a large ceremony.

The construction of a tongkonan is laborious work and is usually done with the help of the extended family. There are three types of tongkonan. The tongkonan layuk is the house of the highest authority, used as the "center of government". The tongkonan pekamberan belongs to the family members who have some authority in local traditions. Ordinary family members reside in the tongkonan batu. The exclusivity to the nobility of the tongkonan is diminishing as many Torajan commoners find lucrative employment in other parts of Indonesia. As they send back money to their families, they enable the construction of larger tongkonan.

WOOD CARVINGS

To express social and religious concepts, Torajans carve wood, calling it Pa'ssura (or "the writing"). Wood carvings are therefore Toraja's cultural manifestation.

Each carving receives a special name, and common motifs are animals and plants that symbolize some virtue. For example, water plants and animals, such as crabs, tadpoles and water weeds, are commonly found to symbolize fertility. In some areas noble elders claim these symbols refer to strength of noble family, but not everyone agrees. The overall meaning of groups of carved motifs on houses remains debated and tourism has further complicated these debates because some feel a uniform explanation must be presented to tourists. The image to the left shows an example of Torajan wood carving, consisting of 15 square panels. The center bottom panel represents buffalo or wealth, a wish for many buffaloes for the family. The center panel represents a knot and a box, a hope that all of the family's offspring will be happy and live in harmony, like goods kept safe in a box. The top left and top right squares represent an aquatic animal, indicating the need for fast and hard work, just like moving on the surface of water. It also represents the need for a certain skill to produce good results.

Regularity and order are common features in Toraja wood carving (see table below), as well as abstracts and geometrical designs. Nature is frequently used as the basis of Toraja's ornaments, because nature is full of abstractions and geometries with regularities and ordering. Toraja's ornaments have been studied in ethnomathematics to reveal their mathematical structure, but Torajans base this art only on approximations. To create an ornament, bamboo sticks are used as a geometrical tool.

FUNERAL RITES

In Toraja society, the funeral ritual is the most elaborate and expensive event. The richer and more powerful the individual, the more expensive is the funeral. In the aluk religion, only nobles have the right to have an extensive death feast. The death feast of a nobleman is usually attended by thousands and lasts for several days. A ceremonial site, called rante, is usually prepared in a large, grassy field where shelters for audiences, rice barns, and other ceremonial funeral structures are specially made by the deceased family. Flute music, funeral chants, songs and poems, and crying and wailing are traditional Toraja expressions of grief with the exceptions of funerals for young children, and poor, low-status adults.

The ceremony is often held weeks, months, or years after the death so that the deceased's family can raise the significant funds needed to cover funeral expenses. Torajans traditionally believe that death is not a sudden, abrupt event, but a gradual process toward Puya (the land of souls, or afterlife). During the waiting period, the body of the deceased is wrapped in several layers of cloth and kept under the tongkonan. The soul of the deceased is thought to linger around the village until the funeral ceremony is completed, after which it begins its journey to Puya.

Another component of the ritual is the slaughter of water buffalo. The more powerful the person who died, the more buffalo are slaughtered at the death feast. Buffalo carcasses, including their heads, are usually lined up on a field waiting for their owner, who is in the "sleeping stage". Torajans believe that the deceased will need the buffalo to make the journey and that they will be quicker to arrive at Puya if they have many buffalo. Slaughtering tens of water buffalo and hundreds of pigs using a machete is the climax of the elaborate death feast, with dancing and music and young boys who catch spurting blood in long bamboo tubes. Some of the slaughtered animals are given by guests as "gifts", which are carefully noted because they will be considered debts of the deceased's family. However, a cockfight, known as bulangan londong, is an integral part of the ceremony. As with the sacrifice of the buffalo and the pigs, the cockfight is considered sacred because it involves the spilling of blood on the earth. In particular, the tradition requires the sacrifice of at least three chickens. However, it is common for at least 25 pairs of chickens to be set against each other in the context of the ceremony.

There are three methods of burial: the coffin may be laid in a cave or in a carved stone grave, or hung on a cliff. It contains any possessions that the deceased will need in the afterlife. The wealthy are often buried in a stone grave carved out of a rocky cliff. The grave is usually expensive and takes a few months to complete. In some areas, a stone cave may be found that is large enough to accommodate a whole family. A wood-carved effigy, called Tau tau, is usually placed in the cave looking out over the land. The coffin of a baby or child may be hung from ropes on a cliff face or from a tree. This hanging grave usually lasts for years, until the ropes rot and the coffin falls to the ground.

In the ritual called Ma'Nene, that takes place each year in August, the bodies of the deceased are exhumed to be washed, groomed and dressed in new clothes. The mummies are then walked around the village.

DANCE AND MUSIC

Torajans perform dances on several occasions, most often during their elaborate funeral ceremonies. They dance to express their grief, and to honour and even cheer the deceased person because he is going to have a long journey in the afterlife. First, a group of men form a circle and sing a monotonous chant throughout the night to honour the deceased (a ritual called Ma'badong). This is considered by many Torajans to be the most important component of the funeral ceremony. On the second funeral day, the Ma'randing warrior dance is performed to praise the courage of the deceased during life. Several men perform the dance with a sword, a large shield made from buffalo skin, a helmet with a buffalo horn, and other ornamentation. The Ma'randing dance precedes a procession in which the deceased is carried from a rice barn to the rante, the site of the funeral ceremony. During the funeral, elder women perform the Ma'katia dance while singing a poetic song and wearing a long feathered costume. The Ma'akatia dance is performed to remind the audience of the generosity and loyalty of the deceased person. After the bloody ceremony of buffalo and pig slaughter, a group of boys and girls clap their hands while performing a cheerful dance called Ma'dondan.

As in other agricultural societies, Torajans dance and sing during harvest time. The Ma'bugi dance celebrates the thanksgiving event, and the Ma'gandangi dance is performed while Torajans are pounding rice. There are several war dances, such as the Manimbong dance performed by men, followed by the Ma'dandan dance performed by women. The aluk religion governs when and how Torajans dance. A dance called Ma'bua can be performed only once every 12 years. Ma'bua is a major Toraja ceremony in which priests wear a buffalo head and dance around a sacred tree.

A traditional musical instrument of the Toraja is a bamboo flute called a Pa'suling (suling is an Indonesian word for flute). This six-holed flute (not unique to the Toraja) is played at many dances, such as the thanksgiving dance Ma'bondensan, where the flute accompanies a group of shirtless, dancing men with long fingernails. The Toraja have indigenous musical instruments, such as the Pa'pelle (made from palm leaves) and the Pa'karombi (the Torajan version of a jaw harp). The Pa'pelle is played during harvest time and at house inauguration ceremonies.

LANGUAGE

The ethnic Toraja language is dominant in Tana Toraja with the main language as the Sa'dan Toraja. Although the national Indonesian language is the official language and is spoken in the community, all elementary schools in Tana Toraja teach Toraja language.Language varieties of Toraja, including Kalumpang, Mamasa, Tae' , Talondo' , Toala' , and Toraja-Sa'dan, belong to the Malayo-Polynesian language from the Austronesian family. At the outset, the isolated geographical nature of Tana Toraja formed many dialects between the Toraja languages themselves. After the formal administration of Tana Toraja, some Toraja dialects have been influenced by other languages through the transmigration program, introduced since the colonialism period, and it has been a major factor in the linguistic variety of Toraja languages. A prominent attribute of Toraja language is the notion of grief. The importance of death ceremony in Toraja culture has characterized their languages to express intricate degrees of grief and mourning. The Toraja language contains many terms referring to sadness, longing, depression, and mental pain. Giving a clear expression of the psychological and physical effect of loss is a catharsis and sometimes lessens the pain of grief itself.

ECONOMY

Prior to Suharto's "New Order" administration, the Torajan economy was based on agriculture, with cultivated wet rice in terraced fields on mountain slopes, and supplemental cassava and maize crops. Much time and energy were devoted to raising water buffalo, pigs, and chickens, primarily for ceremonial sacrifices and consumption. Coffee was the first significant cash crop produced in Toraja, and was introduced in the mid 19th century, changing the local economy towards commodity production for external markets and gaining an excellent reputation for quality in the international market .

With the commencement of the New Order in 1965, Indonesia's economy developed and opened to foreign investment. In Toraja, a coffee plantation and factory was established by Key Coffee of Japan, and Torajan coffee regained a reputation for quality within the growing international specialty coffee sector Multinational oil and mining companies opened new operations in Indonesia during the 1970s and 1980s. Torajans, particularly younger ones, relocated to work for the foreign companies - to Kalimantan for timber and oil, to Papua for mining, to the cities of Sulawesi and Java, and many went to Malaysia. The out-migration of Torajans was steady until 1985. and has continued since, with remittances sent back by emigre Torajans performing an important role within the contemporary economy.

Tourism commenced in Toraja in the 1970s, and accelerated in the 1980s and 1990s. Between 1984 and 1997, a significant number of Torajans obtained their incomes from tourism, working in and owning hotels, as tour guides, drivers, or selling souvenirs. With the rise of political and economic instability in Indonesia in the late 1990s - including religious conflicts elsewhere on Sulawesi - tourism in Tana Toraja has declined dramatically. Toraja continues to be a well known origin for Indonesian coffee, grown by both smallholders and plantation estates, although migration, remittances and off-farm income is considered far more important to most households, even those in rural areas.

TOURISM AND CULTURAL CHANGE

Before the 1970s, Toraja was almost unknown to Western tourism. In 1971, about 50 Europeans visited Tana Toraja. In 1972, at least 400 visitors attended the funeral ritual of Puang of Sangalla, the highest-ranking nobleman in Tana Toraja and the so-called "last pure-blooded Toraja noble." The event was documented by National Geographic and broadcast in several European countries. In 1976, about 12,000 tourists visited the regency and in 1981, Torajan sculpture was exhibited in major North American museums. "The land of the heavenly kings of Tana Toraja", as written in the exhibition brochure, embraced the outside world.

In 1984, the Indonesian Ministry of Tourism declared Tana Toraja Regency the prima donna of South Sulawesi. Tana Toraja was heralded as "the second stop after Bali". Tourism was increasing dramatically: by 1985, a total number of 150,000 foreigners had visited the Regency (in addition to 80,000 domestic tourists), and the annual number of foreign visitors was recorded at 40,000 in 1989. Souvenir stands appeared in Rantepao, the cultural center of Toraja, roads were sealed at the most-visited tourist sites, new hotels and tourist-oriented restaurants were opened, and an airstrip was opened in the Regency in 1981.

Tourism developers have marketed Tana Toraja as an exotic adventure - an area rich in culture and off the beaten track. Western tourists expected to see stone-age villages and pagan funerals. Toraja is for tourists who have gone as far as Bali and are willing to see more of the wild, "untouched" islands. However, they were more likely to see a Torajan wearing a hat and denim, living in a Christian society. Tourists felt that the tongkonan and other Torajan rituals had been preconceived to make profits, and complained that the destination was too commercialized. This has resulted in several clashes between Torajans and tourism developers, whom Torajans see as outsiders.

A clash between local Torajan leaders and the South Sulawesi provincial government (as a tourist developer) broke out in 1985. The government designated 18 Toraja villages and burial sites as traditional tourist attractions. Consequently, zoning restrictions were applied to these areas, such that Torajans themselves were barred from changing their tongkonans and burial sites. The plan was opposed by some Torajan leaders, as they felt that their rituals and traditions were being determined by outsiders. As a result, in 1987, the Torajan village of Kété Kesú and several other designated tourist attractions closed their doors to tourists. This closure lasted only a few days, as the villagers found it too difficult to survive without the income from selling souvenirs.

Tourism has also transformed Toraja society. Originally, there was a ritual which allowed commoners to marry nobles (puang) and thereby gain nobility for their children. However, the image of Torajan society created for the tourists, often by "lower-ranking" guides, has eroded its traditional strict hierarchy. High status is not as esteemed in Tana Toraja as it once was. Many low-ranking men can declare themselves and their children nobles by gaining enough wealth through work outside the region and then marrying a noble woman.

WIKIPEDIA

1. Best Package Enterprise Co., Ltd offers full product range, includes:

Plastic Containers, Plastic Bottles, Plastic Jars, Plastic Pails, Plastic Tubes/ Vials, Plastic Caps

Glass Containers, Glass Bottles, Glass Jars, Glass Vials,

Metal Containers, Metal Cans, Metal Tins, Metal Caps

PET bottle. PET. beauty. pump. Pumps. boxes. perfume. bottle. Bottles. water bottle. Cosmetic. Cosmetics. skin care. Recycling. make up container. make up travel case. make up. plastic bottle manufacturer. Manufacturer. Jar. Jars. cream jars. Packaging. Container. Containers. Lip Balm Tubes. Tubes. Plastics. plastic bottle. plastic bottles. plastic containers. water pumps. water pump. Polymer. Creams. essential oil bottle. Lotions. glass bottle. glass bottles. Sprays. emulsion bottles. glass jar. aluminum bottle. spray bottle. pump bottle. cosmetic bottle manufacturer. cosmetic packaging. cosmetic container. cosmetic box. cosmetic bottles. medical containers. chemical containers.

Our products include (but not limited to): cosmetics, personal care, essential oils, herbal, food storage, industrial, medical & pharmaceuticals, laboratory, and chemical industry. Bottles and containers are available in all kinds of shapes, sizes, colors, & decoration. We offer a variety of amenity bottles available in varies shapes and sizes including rounds, squat bottles, rectangles and more. We also have a wide selection of cap options for our lines of amenity bottles such as ribbed top caps, flip-top dispensing closures, disc-top caps, and ball caps. These bottles are suitable for facial moisturizer, body lotion, bath product, cream, soap and more. They are great for sample size products; using in spas, salons, hotels, motels, and much more!

...

2. We carry many types of caps and closures including pumps, sprays, misters, atomizers, brush caps, sifter caps, and much more. We also offer special custom decorating services such as: multi-color silk screening, hot stamping, pad printing, gliding, labeling, and more. For our special service there is a minimum limited order of 200pcs.

3. We offer various types of plastic containers. We are also expert on inventing and producing 3D designed products by using plastic raw materials ranging from PP, HDPE, LDPE, PET, ABS, EVA, SAN, PVC, TPA, PS, AS, PMMA, etc. We do mold design, manufacturing, injection molding, producing, hot stamping, silk-screening, pad printing, labeling and assembly- with many years of manufacturing expertise.

4. We have over 90% of products in stock. “Order today, ship out tomorrow” is our promise to you even if you only order one single piece. We welcome orders for bottle printing and design as well as gliding your own logo.

To best serve you:

Our company email: 2008@taiwanbottle.com.tw

www.willywall.com

www.myc.org

www.sailmanhattan.com

The Honorable William Wall is the floating clubhouse of Manhattan Yacht Club. It is a 90 ft steel barge with an open-air upper deck. This Clubhouse is anchored in New York harbor just north of Ellis Island. This is the best view in the harbor for watching the sailboat races.

Manhattan Yacht Club opened the upper deck its clubhouse to the public beginning in 2012 (the downstairs Champagne Bar is still private to Members only).

Manhattan Sailing Club was established in 1987. The club re-introduced recreational sailing to the harbor after an absence of more than 60 years.

The club started at South Street Seaport with 12 J/24s on floating docks between the tall ships “Peking” and “Wavertree.”

During its first years of existence, the club experienced an economic roller-coaster. The inaugural year of 1987 brought a large growth in membership only to see the stock market crash in October, taking with it many individual and corporate members. The club rebounded and created and hosted the first International Yacht Club Challenge in 1988. By 1989, the club was again growing strong with the second International Yacht Club Challenge being co-hosted by Yacht Club de Monaco and sponsored by the World Link Club of Osaka, Japan.

But 1989 and 1990 were times of corporate restructuring followed by a recession. By 1991, the club stood at a low of 115 members. But these were committed members who worked to create a better organization, improve the fleet and continue the club programs.

In 1993, the club started expanding by establishing the Manhattan Sailing School in order to offer sailing instruction to new sailors. Until this point, the club had been primarily a racing organization. In 1994, the club moved from the Seaport to North Cove Yacht Harbor. North Cove offered the club a higher quality facility. Then membership began growing. From 115 in 1994, the club grew in the following years to 150, 200, 270 and in 1998, to 320.

In 1997, the club established its first clubhouse, a floating pontoon boat at North Cove called “Mermaid.” In 1999, the club organized a series of International Races on the Sandbaggers, Bull & Bear.

In 2001, the club was substantially impacted by the tragic events of 9/11. During this time, club members rallied and subscribed to clubhouse bonds to lay the keel for our first significant clubhouse, the Honorable William Wall. The years of 2002-2003 were rebuilding in lower Manhattan and at the sailing club. In 2004, our clubhouse in the harbor opened for business.

In 2005, Commodore Michael Fortenbaugh and our Patron Dennis Conner won the management of North Cove marina which was then renamed “Dennis Conner’s North Cove.” In 2006, the club docks were replaced with wider docks which conformed to the graceful curve at North Cove. The number of club boats at North Cove was increased to 24. In 2006, the club acquired “Admiral’s Launch,” improving transportation to and from the harbor clubhouse.

For the club’s 20th anniversary in 2007, a group of visionary members got together to form a 12 Metre Syndicate and purchased “America II” as the new flagship of the club.

By 2009, club membership had grown to 800. Then the financial crisis impacted the club as well as all Lower Manhattan organizations. Membership dropped to 650. Starting in 2010, membership rebounded to 740 and in 2011, grew to 820.

2012 was the club’s Silver Jubilee season. Membership set a new record at 900 people and the club ended the season with the acquisition of “Arabella” which will serve as a new clubhouse at North Cove.

Tom Felton — a.k.a. Draco Malfoy — offered to appear in Ariana Grande’s next music video

| Plaincut | bit.ly/1DfNmQD

Ariana Grande’s silver hair in her promo photos for her next single, “Focus,” seems a bit Draco Malfoy-inspired — so one fan put the two side by…http://bit.ly/1PRoiHS

Offered for sale February 2011

ENAI SWIM offers swimming and survival skills lessons for babies and young children with real results in as little as 4 weeks. Lessonsn offered in Thibodaux and Houma, Louisiana.

www.enaiswim.com

www.facebook.com/enaiswim

www.youtube.com/anakarinaenai

ENAI ofrece clases de natacion y sobrevivencia en el agua a bebes y niños con resultados reales en tan poco como 4 semanas. Las clases las damos en Monterrey, NL, Mexico.

www.enai.com.mx

www.facebook.com/enaimx

www.youtube.com/anakarinaenai

Needs good offer!!!

The net offers Boys Black Underwear a far wider selection as well as in forms you could not have ever considered. There’s an collection of bra choices, including convertibles, push ups, racer backs and sport bras to list a couple. The various panty styles consist of routine briefs, boy shorts, bikinis, gstrings, thongs, etc.. Besides that, you’ll even encounter corsets, baby dolls, chemises and also a lot ...more Click here:http://bit.ly/2PhFKLv

Large comfy couch, two cushions, seats three. Originally a gray-green color.

Upholstery in ok shape, some stains, could use a good cleaning. Non-smoking family, but two cats (who rarely visited the couch) and a small lap dog.

IMGP3849

LEGO ART

The LEGO® Art sets offer adults a new creative experience to help them relax and recharge as they transform a blank canvas (or in this case, small interlinking base plates) using LEGO tiles. Each set can be reimagined in a number of different ways to express the personality of each different builder, and to make it easy and simple for pop culture lovers to refresh the LEGO Art piece on display in their house. All four new sets come with a signature tile unique to the set that is worthy of any true work of art, and a new hanging element to make them easy to hang up and switch around.

The LEGO® Marvel Studios Iron Man set will be available exclusively from LEGO Retail Stores and LEGO.com while the other three sets will be available from retailers from 1st August 2020.

Each set is AUD199.99

LEGO® ART’S ANDY WARHOL’S MARILYN MONROE (31197)

3,332 pieces

4-in-1 Collectible Wall Art Building Kit for Adults

Accompanying soundtrack includes interviews with Jessica Beck, Curator at The Andy Warhol Museum and stories from Blake Gopnik, Art Critic and the author of “Warhol”, a comprehensive biography.

LEGO® Andy Warhol’s Marilyn Monroe – Pop art admirers can now recreate Andy Warhol’s famous bright pink screenprint of Marilyn Monroe from 1967, or reimagine it in three different colours using LEGO tiles. As art and design lovers tailor the tone of their piece to suit their artistic temperament, they can tune in to new insights and details about Warhol from those that know him best.

www.lego.com/…/p…/andy-warhol-s-marilyn-monroe-31197

LEGO® ART’S THE BEATLES (31198)

2,933 pieces

4-in-1 Collectible Wall Art Building Kit for Adults

Accompanying soundtrack includes interviews with Broadcaster and Beatles Expert, Geoff Lloyd, British journalist and Beatles fan Samira Ahmed and stories from Nish Kumar, Comedian, TV Presenter and Beatles fan.

LEGO® The Beatles – Music lovers can bring Beatle-fandom into the home with a LEGO portrait of their favorite band member, whether it’s John Lennon, Sir Paul McCartney, George Harrison or Sir Ringo Starr. Each set can be used to create four unique portraits or collect four and display the full band side-by-side. Fans can get by with a little help from friends of the Beatles as they switch their headphones over to accompanying soundtrack to listen to music and stories about the band as they build.

www.lego.com/en-au/product/the-beatles-31198

LEGO® ART’S MARVEL STUDIOS IRON MAN (31199)

3,156 pieces

3-in-1 Collectible Wall Art Building Kit for Adults

Three separate sets can be combined to make an ultimate Iron Man portrait piece

Accompanying soundtrack includes interviews with Roy Thomas, former Marvel Editor in Chief and stories from Alex Grand, Marvel expert and host of “Comic Book Historians podcast”.

LEGO® Marvel Studios Iron Man – Super Hero fans can decide between powering their hero up with the MARK III, the HULKBUSTER MARK I or the MARK LXXXV with this 3-in-1 set. After the tough decision is made, builders can recharge by listening to cool details about the set and stories from Marvel Experts as part of the accompanying soundtrack. Fans who want to channel Tony Stark and ‘run before you walk’ can combine three of the same sets into one to create the ultimate Iron Man artwork.

www.lego.com/…/product/marvel-studios-iron-man-31199

LEGO® ART’S STAR WARS™ THE SITH™ (31200)

3,395 pieces

3-in-1 Collectible Wall Art Building Kit for Adults

Three separate sets can be combined to make an ultimate Darth Vader™ portrait piece

Accompanying soundtrack includes interviews with Doug Chiang, VP & Executive Creative Director, Lucasfilm and stories from Glyn Dillon, creator of the design for Kylo Ren™, as seen in the Star Wars film saga.

LEGO® Star Wars™ The Sith™ - Celebrate iconic villains from a galaxy far, far away with this 3-in-1 portrait set. Choose between portraits that pay tribute to the Sith, with Darth Vader™, Darth Maul™ or Kylo Ren™, or take the artwork to the next level by combining three sets into an ultimate Darth Vader™ wall piece. The soundtrack means the Force will be with fans as they create their very own piece of wall art while listing to music from the films and fun stories from Star Wars™ creators.

The LEGO Group is launching a new canvas for creative expression alongside a series of much-loved partners. Designed for adults who pride themselves on their love of pop culture, four new LEGO® Art sets give creative adults a different way to transform their passion into art.

www.lego.com/en-au/product/star-wars-the-sith-31200

. . . 2. 3. 2007 - this is the first day of a funeral ceremony in Bori for a High Class Woman. She died on 18. 1. 2007 at the age of 85 years. The ceremony will last for one week. Today we will see the showing of the water buffalos, pigs, cow, horse, deer and chicken. All these animals are offered to be the servants of the died woman in her new life after death in Puya. We will see buffalo fighting. Men bet for the winner of those fightings. Two buffalos fight each other - the one running away lost the fight!

If you wonder why the quality of the pictures is a little less: these are no photographs - it all are snapshots of my videos! So sorry for the less resolution, but I think, they are worth to be shown.

_____________________________________

The Toraja are an ethnic group indigenous to a mountainous region of South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Their population is approximately 1,100,000, of whom 450,000 live in the regency of Tana Toraja ("Land of Toraja"). Most of the population is Christian, and others are Muslim or have local animist beliefs known as aluk ("the way"). The Indonesian government has recognized this animist belief as Aluk To Dolo ("Way of the Ancestors").

The word toraja comes from the Bugis Buginese language term to riaja, meaning "people of the uplands". The Dutch colonial government named the people Toraja in 1909. Torajans are renowned for their elaborate funeral rites, burial sites carved into rocky cliffs, massive peaked-roof traditional houses known as tongkonan, and colorful wood carvings. Toraja funeral rites are important social events, usually attended by hundreds of people and lasting for several days.

Before the 20th century, Torajans lived in autonomous villages, where they practised animism and were relatively untouched by the outside world. In the early 1900s, Dutch missionaries first worked to convert Torajan highlanders to Christianity. When the Tana Toraja regency was further opened to the outside world in the 1970s, it became an icon of tourism in Indonesia: it was exploited by tourism developers and studied by anthropologists. By the 1990s, when tourism peaked, Toraja society had changed significantly, from an agrarian model - in which social life and customs were outgrowths of the Aluk To Dolo - to a largely Christian society. Today, tourism and remittances from migrant Torajans have made for major changes in the Toraja highland, giving the Toraja a celebrity status within Indonesia and enhancing Toraja ethnic group pride.

ETHNIC IDENTITY

The Torajan people had little notion of themselves as a distinct ethnic group before the 20th century. Before Dutch colonization and Christianization, Torajans, who lived in highland areas, identified with their villages and did not share a broad sense of identity. Although complexes of rituals created linkages between highland villages, there were variations in dialects, differences in social hierarchies, and an array of ritual practices in the Sulawesi highland region. "Toraja" (from the coastal languages' to, meaning people; and riaja, uplands) was first used as a lowlander expression for highlanders. As a result, "Toraja" initially had more currency with outsiders - such as the Bugis and Makassarese, who constitute a majority of the lowland of Sulawesi - than with insiders. The Dutch missionaries' presence in the highlands gave rise to the Toraja ethnic consciousness in the Sa'dan Toraja region, and this shared identity grew with the rise of tourism in the Tana Toraja Regency. Since then, South Sulawesi has four main ethnic groups - the Bugis (the majority, including shipbuilders and seafarers), the Makassarese (lowland traders and seafarers), the Mandarese (traders and fishermen), and the Toraja (highland rice cultivators).

HISTORY

From the 17th century, the Dutch established trade and political control on Sulawesi through the Dutch East Indies Company. Over two centuries, they ignored the mountainous area in the central Sulawesi, where Torajans lived, because access was difficult and it had little productive agricultural land. In the late 19th century, the Dutch became increasingly concerned about the spread of Islam in the south of Sulawesi, especially among the Makassarese and Bugis peoples. The Dutch saw the animist highlanders as potential Christians. In the 1920s, the Reformed Missionary Alliance of the Dutch Reformed Church began missionary work aided by the Dutch colonial government. In addition to introducing Christianity, the Dutch abolished slavery and imposed local taxes. A line was drawn around the Sa'dan area and called Tana Toraja ("the land of Toraja"). Tana Toraja was first a subdivision of the Luwu kingdom that had claimed the area. In 1946, the Dutch granted Tana Toraja a regentschap, and it was recognized in 1957 as one of the regencies of Indonesia.

Early Dutch missionaries faced strong opposition among Torajans, especially among the elite, because the abolition of their profitable slave trade had angered them. Some Torajans were forcibly relocated to the lowlands by the Dutch, where they could be more easily controlled. Taxes were kept high, undermining the wealth of the elites. Ultimately, the Dutch influence did not subdue Torajan culture, and only a few Torajans were converted. In 1950, only 10% of the population had converted to Christianity.

In the 1930s, Muslim lowlanders attacked the Torajans, resulting in widespread Christian conversion among those who sought to align themselves with the Dutch for political protection and to form a movement against the Bugis and Makassarese Muslims. Between 1951 and 1965 (following Indonesian independence), southern Sulawesi faced a turbulent period as the Darul Islam separatist movement fought for an Islamic state in Sulawesi. The 15 years of guerrilla warfare led to massive conversions to

CHRISTIANITY

Alignment with the Indonesian government, however, did not guarantee safety for the Torajans. In 1965, a presidential decree required every Indonesian citizen to belong to one of five officially recognized religions: Islam, Christianity (Protestantism and Catholicism), Hinduism, or Buddhism. The Torajan religious belief (aluk) was not legally recognized, and the Torajans raised their voices against the law. To make aluk accord with the law, it had to be accepted as part of one of the official religions. In 1969, Aluk To Dolo ("the way of ancestors") was legalized as a sect of Agama Hindu Dharma, the official name of Hinduism in Indonesia.

SOCIETY

There are three main types of affiliation in Toraja society: family, class and religion.

FAMILY AFFILIATION

Family is the primary social and political grouping in Torajan society. Each village is one extended family, the seat of which is the tongkonan, a traditional Torajan house. Each tongkonan has a name, which becomes the name of the village. The familial dons maintain village unity. Marriage between distant cousins (fourth cousins and beyond) is a common practice that strengthens kinship. Toraja society prohibits marriage between close cousins (up to and including the third cousin) - except for nobles, to prevent the dispersal of property. Kinship is actively reciprocal, meaning that the extended family helps each other farm, share buffalo rituals, and pay off debts.

Each person belongs to both the mother's and the father's families, the only bilateral family line in Indonesia. Children, therefore, inherit household affiliation from both mother and father, including land and even family debts. Children's names are given on the basis of kinship, and are usually chosen after dead relatives. Names of aunts, uncles and cousins are commonly referred to in the names of mothers, fathers and siblings.

Before the start of the formal administration of Toraja villages by the Tana Toraja Regency, each Toraja village was autonomous. In a more complex situation, in which one Toraja family could not handle their problems alone, several villages formed a group; sometimes, villages would unite against other villages. Relationship between families was expressed through blood, marriage, and shared ancestral houses (tongkonan), practically signed by the exchange of water buffalo and pigs on ritual occasions. Such exchanges not only built political and cultural ties between families but defined each person's place in a social hierarchy: who poured palm wine, who wrapped a corpse and prepared offerings, where each person could or could not sit, what dishes should be used or avoided, and even what piece of meat constituted one's share.

CLASS AFFILIATION

In early Toraja society, family relationships were tied closely to social class. There were three strata: nobles, commoners, and slaves (slavery was abolished in 1909 by the Dutch East Indies government). Class was inherited through the mother. It was taboo, therefore, to marry "down" with a woman of lower class. On the other hand, marrying a woman of higher class could improve the status of the next generation. The nobility's condescending attitude toward the commoners is still maintained today for reasons of family prestige.

Nobles, who were believed to be direct descendants of the descended person from heaven, lived in tongkonans, while commoners lived in less lavish houses (bamboo shacks called banua). Slaves lived in small huts, which had to be built around their owner's tongkonan. Commoners might marry anyone, but nobles preferred to marry in-family to maintain their status. Sometimes nobles married Bugis or Makassarese nobles. Commoners and slaves were prohibited from having death feasts. Despite close kinship and status inheritance, there was some social mobility, as marriage or change in wealth could affect an individuals status. Wealth was counted by the ownership of water buffaloes.

Slaves in Toraja society were family property. Sometimes Torajans decided to become slaves when they incurred a debt, pledging to work as payment. Slaves could be taken during wars, and slave trading was common. Slaves could buy their freedom, but their children still inherited slave status. Slaves were prohibited from wearing bronze or gold, carving their houses, eating from the same dishes as their owners, or having sex with free women - a crime punishable by death.

RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION

Toraja's indigenous belief system is polytheistic animism, called aluk, or "the way" (sometimes translated as "the law"). In the Toraja myth, the ancestors of Torajan people came down from heaven using stairs, which were then used by the Torajans as a communication medium with Puang Matua, the Creator. The cosmos, according to aluk, is divided into the upper world (heaven), the world of man (earth), and the underworld. At first, heaven and earth were married, then there was a darkness, a separation, and finally the light. Animals live in the underworld, which is represented by rectangular space enclosed by pillars, the earth is for mankind, and the heaven world is located above, covered with a saddle-shaped roof. Other Toraja gods include Pong Banggai di Rante (god of Earth), Indo' Ongon-Ongon (a goddess who can cause earthquakes), Pong Lalondong (god of death), and Indo' Belo Tumbang (goddess of medicine); there are many more.

The earthly authority, whose words and actions should be cleaved to both in life (agriculture) and death (funerals), is called to minaa (an aluk priest). Aluk is not just a belief system; it is a combination of law, religion, and habit. Aluk governs social life, agricultural practices, and ancestral rituals. The details of aluk may vary from one village to another. One common law is the requirement that death and life rituals be separated. Torajans believe that performing death rituals might ruin their corpses if combined with life rituals. The two rituals are equally important. During the time of the Dutch missionaries, Christian Torajans were prohibited from attending or performing life rituals, but were allowed to perform death rituals. Consequently, Toraja's death rituals are still practised today, while life rituals have diminished.

CULTURE

TONGKONAN

Tongkonan are the traditional Torajan ancestral houses. They stand high on wooden piles, topped with a layered split-bamboo roof shaped in a sweeping curved arc, and they are incised with red, black, and yellow detailed wood carvings on the exterior walls. The word "tongkonan" comes from the Torajan tongkon ("to sit").

Tongkonan are the center of Torajan social life. The rituals associated with the tongkonan are important expressions of Torajan spiritual life, and therefore all family members are impelled to participate, because symbolically the tongkonan represents links to their ancestors and to living and future kin. According to Torajan myth, the first tongkonan was built in heaven on four poles, with a roof made of Indian cloth. When the first Torajan ancestor descended to earth, he imitated the house and held a large ceremony.

The construction of a tongkonan is laborious work and is usually done with the help of the extended family. There are three types of tongkonan. The tongkonan layuk is the house of the highest authority, used as the "center of government". The tongkonan pekamberan belongs to the family members who have some authority in local traditions. Ordinary family members reside in the tongkonan batu. The exclusivity to the nobility of the tongkonan is diminishing as many Torajan commoners find lucrative employment in other parts of Indonesia. As they send back money to their families, they enable the construction of larger tongkonan.

WOOD CARVINGS

To express social and religious concepts, Torajans carve wood, calling it Pa'ssura (or "the writing"). Wood carvings are therefore Toraja's cultural manifestation.

Each carving receives a special name, and common motifs are animals and plants that symbolize some virtue. For example, water plants and animals, such as crabs, tadpoles and water weeds, are commonly found to symbolize fertility. In some areas noble elders claim these symbols refer to strength of noble family, but not everyone agrees. The overall meaning of groups of carved motifs on houses remains debated and tourism has further complicated these debates because some feel a uniform explanation must be presented to tourists. The image to the left shows an example of Torajan wood carving, consisting of 15 square panels. The center bottom panel represents buffalo or wealth, a wish for many buffaloes for the family. The center panel represents a knot and a box, a hope that all of the family's offspring will be happy and live in harmony, like goods kept safe in a box. The top left and top right squares represent an aquatic animal, indicating the need for fast and hard work, just like moving on the surface of water. It also represents the need for a certain skill to produce good results.

Regularity and order are common features in Toraja wood carving (see table below), as well as abstracts and geometrical designs. Nature is frequently used as the basis of Toraja's ornaments, because nature is full of abstractions and geometries with regularities and ordering. Toraja's ornaments have been studied in ethnomathematics to reveal their mathematical structure, but Torajans base this art only on approximations. To create an ornament, bamboo sticks are used as a geometrical tool.

FUNERAL RITES

In Toraja society, the funeral ritual is the most elaborate and expensive event. The richer and more powerful the individual, the more expensive is the funeral. In the aluk religion, only nobles have the right to have an extensive death feast. The death feast of a nobleman is usually attended by thousands and lasts for several days. A ceremonial site, called rante, is usually prepared in a large, grassy field where shelters for audiences, rice barns, and other ceremonial funeral structures are specially made by the deceased family. Flute music, funeral chants, songs and poems, and crying and wailing are traditional Toraja expressions of grief with the exceptions of funerals for young children, and poor, low-status adults.

The ceremony is often held weeks, months, or years after the death so that the deceased's family can raise the significant funds needed to cover funeral expenses. Torajans traditionally believe that death is not a sudden, abrupt event, but a gradual process toward Puya (the land of souls, or afterlife). During the waiting period, the body of the deceased is wrapped in several layers of cloth and kept under the tongkonan. The soul of the deceased is thought to linger around the village until the funeral ceremony is completed, after which it begins its journey to Puya.

Another component of the ritual is the slaughter of water buffalo. The more powerful the person who died, the more buffalo are slaughtered at the death feast. Buffalo carcasses, including their heads, are usually lined up on a field waiting for their owner, who is in the "sleeping stage". Torajans believe that the deceased will need the buffalo to make the journey and that they will be quicker to arrive at Puya if they have many buffalo. Slaughtering tens of water buffalo and hundreds of pigs using a machete is the climax of the elaborate death feast, with dancing and music and young boys who catch spurting blood in long bamboo tubes. Some of the slaughtered animals are given by guests as "gifts", which are carefully noted because they will be considered debts of the deceased's family. However, a cockfight, known as bulangan londong, is an integral part of the ceremony. As with the sacrifice of the buffalo and the pigs, the cockfight is considered sacred because it involves the spilling of blood on the earth. In particular, the tradition requires the sacrifice of at least three chickens. However, it is common for at least 25 pairs of chickens to be set against each other in the context of the ceremony.

There are three methods of burial: the coffin may be laid in a cave or in a carved stone grave, or hung on a cliff. It contains any possessions that the deceased will need in the afterlife. The wealthy are often buried in a stone grave carved out of a rocky cliff. The grave is usually expensive and takes a few months to complete. In some areas, a stone cave may be found that is large enough to accommodate a whole family. A wood-carved effigy, called Tau tau, is usually placed in the cave looking out over the land. The coffin of a baby or child may be hung from ropes on a cliff face or from a tree. This hanging grave usually lasts for years, until the ropes rot and the coffin falls to the ground.

In the ritual called Ma'Nene, that takes place each year in August, the bodies of the deceased are exhumed to be washed, groomed and dressed in new clothes. The mummies are then walked around the village.

DANCE AND MUSIC

Torajans perform dances on several occasions, most often during their elaborate funeral ceremonies. They dance to express their grief, and to honour and even cheer the deceased person because he is going to have a long journey in the afterlife. First, a group of men form a circle and sing a monotonous chant throughout the night to honour the deceased (a ritual called Ma'badong). This is considered by many Torajans to be the most important component of the funeral ceremony. On the second funeral day, the Ma'randing warrior dance is performed to praise the courage of the deceased during life. Several men perform the dance with a sword, a large shield made from buffalo skin, a helmet with a buffalo horn, and other ornamentation. The Ma'randing dance precedes a procession in which the deceased is carried from a rice barn to the rante, the site of the funeral ceremony. During the funeral, elder women perform the Ma'katia dance while singing a poetic song and wearing a long feathered costume. The Ma'akatia dance is performed to remind the audience of the generosity and loyalty of the deceased person. After the bloody ceremony of buffalo and pig slaughter, a group of boys and girls clap their hands while performing a cheerful dance called Ma'dondan.

As in other agricultural societies, Torajans dance and sing during harvest time. The Ma'bugi dance celebrates the thanksgiving event, and the Ma'gandangi dance is performed while Torajans are pounding rice. There are several war dances, such as the Manimbong dance performed by men, followed by the Ma'dandan dance performed by women. The aluk religion governs when and how Torajans dance. A dance called Ma'bua can be performed only once every 12 years. Ma'bua is a major Toraja ceremony in which priests wear a buffalo head and dance around a sacred tree.

A traditional musical instrument of the Toraja is a bamboo flute called a Pa'suling (suling is an Indonesian word for flute). This six-holed flute (not unique to the Toraja) is played at many dances, such as the thanksgiving dance Ma'bondensan, where the flute accompanies a group of shirtless, dancing men with long fingernails. The Toraja have indigenous musical instruments, such as the Pa'pelle (made from palm leaves) and the Pa'karombi (the Torajan version of a jaw harp). The Pa'pelle is played during harvest time and at house inauguration ceremonies.

LANGUAGE

The ethnic Toraja language is dominant in Tana Toraja with the main language as the Sa'dan Toraja. Although the national Indonesian language is the official language and is spoken in the community, all elementary schools in Tana Toraja teach Toraja language.Language varieties of Toraja, including Kalumpang, Mamasa, Tae' , Talondo' , Toala' , and Toraja-Sa'dan, belong to the Malayo-Polynesian language from the Austronesian family. At the outset, the isolated geographical nature of Tana Toraja formed many dialects between the Toraja languages themselves. After the formal administration of Tana Toraja, some Toraja dialects have been influenced by other languages through the transmigration program, introduced since the colonialism period, and it has been a major factor in the linguistic variety of Toraja languages. A prominent attribute of Toraja language is the notion of grief. The importance of death ceremony in Toraja culture has characterized their languages to express intricate degrees of grief and mourning. The Toraja language contains many terms referring to sadness, longing, depression, and mental pain. Giving a clear expression of the psychological and physical effect of loss is a catharsis and sometimes lessens the pain of grief itself.

ECONOMY

Prior to Suharto's "New Order" administration, the Torajan economy was based on agriculture, with cultivated wet rice in terraced fields on mountain slopes, and supplemental cassava and maize crops. Much time and energy were devoted to raising water buffalo, pigs, and chickens, primarily for ceremonial sacrifices and consumption. Coffee was the first significant cash crop produced in Toraja, and was introduced in the mid 19th century, changing the local economy towards commodity production for external markets and gaining an excellent reputation for quality in the international market .

With the commencement of the New Order in 1965, Indonesia's economy developed and opened to foreign investment. In Toraja, a coffee plantation and factory was established by Key Coffee of Japan, and Torajan coffee regained a reputation for quality within the growing international specialty coffee sector Multinational oil and mining companies opened new operations in Indonesia during the 1970s and 1980s. Torajans, particularly younger ones, relocated to work for the foreign companies - to Kalimantan for timber and oil, to Papua for mining, to the cities of Sulawesi and Java, and many went to Malaysia. The out-migration of Torajans was steady until 1985. and has continued since, with remittances sent back by emigre Torajans performing an important role within the contemporary economy.

Tourism commenced in Toraja in the 1970s, and accelerated in the 1980s and 1990s. Between 1984 and 1997, a significant number of Torajans obtained their incomes from tourism, working in and owning hotels, as tour guides, drivers, or selling souvenirs. With the rise of political and economic instability in Indonesia in the late 1990s - including religious conflicts elsewhere on Sulawesi - tourism in Tana Toraja has declined dramatically. Toraja continues to be a well known origin for Indonesian coffee, grown by both smallholders and plantation estates, although migration, remittances and off-farm income is considered far more important to most households, even those in rural areas.

TOURISM AND CULTURAL CHANGE

Before the 1970s, Toraja was almost unknown to Western tourism. In 1971, about 50 Europeans visited Tana Toraja. In 1972, at least 400 visitors attended the funeral ritual of Puang of Sangalla, the highest-ranking nobleman in Tana Toraja and the so-called "last pure-blooded Toraja noble." The event was documented by National Geographic and broadcast in several European countries. In 1976, about 12,000 tourists visited the regency and in 1981, Torajan sculpture was exhibited in major North American museums. "The land of the heavenly kings of Tana Toraja", as written in the exhibition brochure, embraced the outside world.

In 1984, the Indonesian Ministry of Tourism declared Tana Toraja Regency the prima donna of South Sulawesi. Tana Toraja was heralded as "the second stop after Bali". Tourism was increasing dramatically: by 1985, a total number of 150,000 foreigners had visited the Regency (in addition to 80,000 domestic tourists), and the annual number of foreign visitors was recorded at 40,000 in 1989. Souvenir stands appeared in Rantepao, the cultural center of Toraja, roads were sealed at the most-visited tourist sites, new hotels and tourist-oriented restaurants were opened, and an airstrip was opened in the Regency in 1981.

Tourism developers have marketed Tana Toraja as an exotic adventure - an area rich in culture and off the beaten track. Western tourists expected to see stone-age villages and pagan funerals. Toraja is for tourists who have gone as far as Bali and are willing to see more of the wild, "untouched" islands. However, they were more likely to see a Torajan wearing a hat and denim, living in a Christian society. Tourists felt that the tongkonan and other Torajan rituals had been preconceived to make profits, and complained that the destination was too commercialized. This has resulted in several clashes between Torajans and tourism developers, whom Torajans see as outsiders.

A clash between local Torajan leaders and the South Sulawesi provincial government (as a tourist developer) broke out in 1985. The government designated 18 Toraja villages and burial sites as traditional tourist attractions. Consequently, zoning restrictions were applied to these areas, such that Torajans themselves were barred from changing their tongkonans and burial sites. The plan was opposed by some Torajan leaders, as they felt that their rituals and traditions were being determined by outsiders. As a result, in 1987, the Torajan village of Kété Kesú and several other designated tourist attractions closed their doors to tourists. This closure lasted only a few days, as the villagers found it too difficult to survive without the income from selling souvenirs.

Tourism has also transformed Toraja society. Originally, there was a ritual which allowed commoners to marry nobles (puang) and thereby gain nobility for their children. However, the image of Torajan society created for the tourists, often by "lower-ranking" guides, has eroded its traditional strict hierarchy. High status is not as esteemed in Tana Toraja as it once was. Many low-ranking men can declare themselves and their children nobles by gaining enough wealth through work outside the region and then marrying a noble woman.

WIKIPEDIA

From the Milton Bradley game of "Happiness." Love the little bead popper in the shape of a hand!

-*-

I bought Happiness for $2.50, plus shipping. Go figure

I saw this game on Raining Rita's photostream and decided I couldn't be truly happy until I had a copy of my own. A quick tour of eBay turned up a dozen offers. I chose a complete set and popped for the shipping. It was a buy-it-now auction.

I have no regrets--the groovy graphics are so 1970s. I can't wait to put it together and play it soon!

The First Presbyterian Church of Clarkesville was organized by the Rev. William Quillian on March 10, 1832, only 14 years after Habersham County was created. There were only seven charter members who were: Thomas W. A. & Martha Sumter, Mary A. Sumter, William & Mary Thompson, Margaret & Cynthia Forbes. Thomas W. A. Sumter was elected and ordained Ruling Elder. At first the church was under the care of Hopewell Presbytery. The church met in the Methodist building, which was offered to all denominations.

On the first Sunday in July 1848, the church was dedicated to the worship of God in a solemn and impressive manner by Dr. Nathan Hoyt, grandfather of Mrs. Woodrow Wilson. At the close of the service Alexander and Catherine M. Erwin presented for baptism their infant daughter Julia Wales Erwin, the first child to be baptized in the church who later became the mother of Col. Robert McMillan. Also, the familiar church bell was used for the first time. This bell, which weighs 718 pounds and cost $214.17, was cast in the foundry of Andrew Meverly at West Troy, N.Y. and shipped by boat from New York to Charleston thence to August and Athens. From Atlanta it was hauled by wagon to Clarkesville, the wagoner charging $3.09 for its delivery.

The church edifice, a wooden structure, was built by Jarvis Van Buren, a native of New York and a first cousin of President Martin Van Buren, who was engineer of the first locomotive ever successfully operated in the United States. Mr. Van Buren and his wife moved to Clarkesville where he operated the iron works. Mr. Van Buren was a Ruling Elder for more than 35 years and both he and his wife are buried in the old cemetery. The church was erected at a cost of $2,275.00 on a lot of two acres, purchased on equal shares and presented to the church by Robert Campbell, Dr. George D. Phillips and William Smith, the largest contributors to the church. The church building is the oldest within Athens Presbytery and the second oldest church building in Clarkesville, being ante-dated by Grace-Episcopal Church, which was built in 1839.

About the year 1840, eight years before the church was built, a few ladies connected with the church established a Sunday School, the first of its kind in the county of which there is any record. The Sunday School was operated by Mrs. Alexander Erwin, Miss Harriett C. Smith (later Mrs. H. C. Bean), Miss Althea Law and Miss Ophra Longstreet. They taught not only the Bible and catechism but also “Webster’s Blue Black Speller, neatness and good behavior.”

Dr. R. C. Ketchum, while Pastor, was one of the delegates from Habersham County to the state convention of 1861 and signed the ordinance of secession.

Among the many distinguished members of the church during its early history were: Amos T. Ackennan, who was admitted to the bar in Clarkesville and was later made Attorney General under President U. S. Grant: Judge Berrien, who was another Attorney General furnished by the state of Georgia; and Col. George W. McAllister of Savannah who contributed very liberally to the church. In 1851, his wife presented the silver communion service consisting of two plates, pitcher, two goblets and baptismal bowl. In 1956, her children gave the silver individual communion service in memory of Jenny Griggs West.

In 1907, the board of trustees, carrying out the expressed wish of the members, sold part of the church lot to Mr. W. R. Asbury, and the church was moved to its present location on the lot and turned around so that it faces Washington Street instead of Jefferson Street as originally built. A porch was added and steps built from the street to the level of the lot.

Before the rotation system for church officers was introduced in 1974, dedicated men served almost a lifetime in that capacity. Mr. Robert McMillan became Sunday School Superintendent in 1897 and served in that capacity until his death in 1939. He was also Clerk of the Session. Mr. J. A. Griggs served as Elder and Assistant Superintendent from 1897 until his death in 1931. Mr. Burns Mauldin and his brother, Mr. Lewis Mauldin were elders for 47 and 42 years respectively. Mrs. India Dyer Lumsden became the first woman to hold church office here when she was elected to the diaconate in 1972. In 1976 Mrs. Annette Granger Cook and Mrs. Catherine Ellison Logan were the first women ordained as elders in the Clarkesville Presbyterian Church. Since that time women have continuously served as elders and deacons. In July 1983, the congregation voted to discontinue the office of Deacon and adopt the unified system of government combining the function of that office with the office of Elder in a single board known as the Session.

In 1976 the congregation voted to undertake a complete restoration of the building that included a thorough stabilizing of the basic structure and modernizing the interior while preserving the historic beauty of the building. A rededication service was held on August 21, 1977 to celebrate the completion of the restoration. At this service the old pulpit Bible published in 1822 and used continuously in this church for over one hundred years was retired to its present location in the glass case at the front of the sanctuary. It was replaced with a new Bible donated by Mr. And Mrs. Homer Cook.

The 150th Anniversary of the founding of this church was celebrated by the congregation on October 9 and 10, 1982 with a drama depicting the historical events in the life of the congregation, services of worship and fellowship together.

On March 27, 1983 a dedication service and recital celebrated the installation in our sanctuary of the new Greenwood Pipe Organ and chimes, given by the Arrendale Family in memory of Mr. And Mrs. T. A. Arrendale, Sr.

In November 1983 the congregation purchased the Franklin property immediately adjoining the church property to the north. Extensive restoration of the old Franklin house not only preserved a most beautiful piece of Victorian architecture but also provided the congregation with much needed space for the church library, classrooms, meeting areas and a large tract of land for future expansion and parking. In 1987 the church completed the paving of sorely needed off-street parking areas at the rear of the Franklin property and the church property.

On October 19, 1987 the church was chartered under the laws of Georgia as the “First Presbyterian Church, Clarkesville, Georgia, Inc.” as a non-profit corporation. Concurrent with this action, the members of the current Session were designated as Trustees of the corporation.

In 1989 the pipe organ was renovated and enlarged by the Atlanta Pipe Organ Sales and Service Company. It was re-dedicated to the glory of God on December 10, 1989.

In September 1989 a Pre-School for three and four-year-old children was started as a Christian outreach project in the community. Physically located in the Franklin house, the program continued to flourish and included children from two through four years of age and was under the guidance of a full-time director and additional teachers. The Pre-School continued to grow and was relocated in 1992 to a building at Highway 197 North. In 1995 the Pre-School became a community supported program and was incorporated. It changed its name to North Habersham Christian Pre-School at that time.

We offer a complete range of quality furniture, dining room furniture and home ware accessories for the dining room, living room, bedroom, home office and the outdoors. Call us right now or visit our website

"Maido offers one of the best examples of Nikkei cuisine in Peru and is a restaurant where chef and owner Mitsuharu Tsumura, – Micha, as his friends call him – describes as having Japanese tradition with a Peruvian heart. Maido, which means welcome in Japanese, has a large sushi bar and several small rooms, in which is served some excellent Japanese cuisine. Tsumura’s expert preparation styles include Maido maki (with meat for wrapping); the tuna belly sashimi style; the Oriental ‘tiradito’ with crispy tempura; simple misoyaki with camotillo or roast Nikkei and shoyu with sesame dressing, which takes 25-hours to cook. The restaurant is also renowned for its very good Pisco cocktails." (www.theworlds50best.com)