. . . 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.

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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

Interesting little three wheeler that was for sale. The engine was set between the driver's legs and steering was done via bike style handle bars.

My "Outdoor Studio" offers incredible photographic opps!

created using my own vintage action, (not for sale).

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.

“You can have my answer now. My offer is this: Nothing.”

The Godfather II (um, [arguably] THE best of the trilogy!)

Michael Corleone to Senator Pat Geary

Scene: In Michael’s study after Geary announces his intention to ‘sqeeze’ the Corleone family.

Ok, so I planned to introduce you to this Chippy series later in the winter, however… Erica came up with this great, fun challenge & I figured that it was probably the perfect introduction to this series. So, here you go…

Texture ~ generously provided by SkeletalMess

Made for:

GhostWork’s Movie Quotes Challenge

11/365 Photo Manipulation Challenge

Movie Series (Quotes and Titles): The Godfather

I have already mentioned how sweet it was (in the summer) when Chippy would climb up on the deck chair beside mine and we’d share a few silent, peaceful moments together. As I had my telephoto lens on my camera, I wasn’t really able to get many photos of him on the chair. However, it was during one of these sessions that I came up with the idea to start a Chippy Movie Series. I then attempted, unfortunately in vain, to set up the classic scene of the Godfather (aka Chippy) in his armchair. No matter how much I tried, Chippy just would not perch in the chair unless I was sitting in my chair and my chair HAD to be right next to his. =^P Eventually, I actually gave up on the whole Godfather chair scene and moved on to other sets… but, then again, I don’t want to give too away too many hints too soon…! =^D

Wilson Creek is a place with more to offer than first meets the eye. Apart from the Canadian Tire Store along the highway, Wilson Creek's main facilities are located within the small shopping centre at the stoplights. The supermarket is well stocked and carries local produce — a good place to stock up on supplies. There is a pharmacy, gourmet pizza take-out, video rental, medical centre and brew your own beer or wine

Strait Coffee, a Sunshine Coast institution, has its original café in the mall. Easily overlooked by visitors, locals frequent this little café with its own coffee roasterie across the road. This is where to get a great cuppa joe, lovely baking and creative soups along with a wide selection of house-roasted organic beans to go. Across the highway is the Georgia Strait Café, a younger and more sophisticated sibling serving great West Coast cuisine in what was the original loggers stop on the highway many years ago.

You are passing important fish Habitat Rivers as you travel along the coast and the Chapman Creek Fish Hatchery will show you how to separate your Pinks from your Cohoes. Reached by turning north at Wilson Creek on Field Road, this community owned facility has been here for nearly 30 years thanks to its dedicated volunteers. Riverside platforms provide good views of Chapman Creek and there is a trail leading upstream.

To the south is Port Stalashen, a gated community with its own marina.

While Wilson Creek may not stand out as a pretty face, there are hidden depths worth seeking at this unassuming little crossroads.

You can view a larger version of this panorama here:

www.360cities.net/image/wilson-creek-british-columbia-canada

This High Dynamic Range 360° aerial panorama was stitched from 105 bracketed photographs with PTGUI Pro, tone-mapped with Photomatix, processed with Colour Efex, and touched up in Affinity Photo and Aperture.

Original size: 18000 × 9000 (162.0 MP; 707.57 MB).

Location: Wilson Creek, British Columbia, Canada

Back cover of the Dione Lucas Cookbook

Beholders go way back in D&D, and have become so tied with the game that you can't even rip them off and get away with it! They also have many, many variahnts, from crablike Eyes of the Deep to Overseers, which resemble fleshy trees. The Eye of FLame and Eye of Frost are pretty vanilla variations, but they make sense - rather than the massive variety of spell effects usually offered bya beholder's eyestalks, these ones stick with various elemental themes. They are indeed quite nasty even with those limitations, though.

SL Frees & Offers in Second Life

Credits: slfreeworldforall.blogspot.com.es/2013/01/rock-girl-v2.html

--> PRE-RELEASE <--

SL Fashion Week

Goth Fair @ Monster Rock

New Year Resolution Hunt

Cold Winter Nights Hunt

[Hush]

Salon de GLOW

Mayfly

Endless Pain Tattoos

[MAG]

[whatever]

SuPerBia

Phoebe's Piercings - *P*

: Amorous :

.Olive.

DADAbeiz

EarthStones

Focus Poses

Well this weekend I kindly offered to help my mate Bill out who has just started a photography course at uni, and he asked if I'd do a bit of modeling for him, haha well I shouldn't really call it modeling more just doing random things around house, as the topic was domestic bliss. So yeah, when he puts the shots up I'll be shure to post a link for anyone interested! ;) haha

I suppose I should tell you how this shot came about then. I visited the Cathedral San Fransisco in Lima, with Pamela last year. So I had some shots of the inside of the church and Bill being the great HDR man (I've never attempted one in my life) I asked if he'd take the shots from the cathedral and when he's got some free time process a few for me. Well I arrived home from my indoor soccer final (which we won :D ) to find this in my inbox :) Thanks Bill, you've done a beautiful job of this shot of the main alter.

Shot By Ben Schablon

Processed by William Bullimore

Details:

Camera: Canon EOS 400D

Lens: Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM

Exposure: 3 exposures (-2,0,+2 EV)

Aperture: f/11

Focal Length: 10mm

ISO Speed: 100

Accessories: Tripod, Shutter release cable

Date and Time: 28 October 2009 4.56pm

Post Processing:

Imported into Lightroom

Exported 3 exposures to Photomatix

Tonemap generated HDR using detail enhancer option

Exported tonemapped image to CS3

Contrast layer

Noise Reduction filter

Exported back to Lightroom

Crop tool

Added keyword metadata

Exported as JPEG

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

Carnival Valor next to Caribbean Princess at Port of St. Maarten offers cruise lines home

Carnival Valor Ship Stats

Crew:1,180

Launched:2004

Decks:13

Tonnage:110,000

Passengers:2,974

Registry:Panama

Caribbean Princess in Port Ship Stats

Crew:1,200

Launched:2004

Decks:19

Tonnage:113,000

Passengers:3,080

Registry:Bermuda

SL Frees & Offers in Second Life

Credits: slfreeworldforall.blogspot.com/2012/10/forbidden-love.html

Fairy Closet

Trick or Treat Trail Hunt

AngelRED Haunted House Hunt

BCC. Halloween Mini Hunt

::Modish:: / +LALA Moon+ / Mayfly / ~.:.Hysteria.:.~ / :Wicked Tattoos: / Vero Modero / Death Row Designs - DRD / AngelRED / : Amorous : / : ) BCC. / Miss Murder

WetCat

Le parc qui s'étend sur plus de 7 ha a été créé en 1997 par Gérard Jean, un amateur de jardin expert et passionné de botanique.

Dans un cadre enchanteur, ce jardin propose une richesse exceptionnelle de plantes, fleurs et arbres, regroupées dans des espaces naturels semblables aux biotiques originaux. Le cadre de l’ancien manoir a été préservé. Les bois qui entourent le jardin avec ses chênes, hêtres, châtaigniers multi centenaires, ont toujours les chemins anciens bordés de murets qui nous replongent au cœur du 18ème siècle.

Penvenan, Côtes d’Armor, Bretagne, France.

In an enchanting setting, this garden offers an exceptional wealth of plants, flowers and trees, grouped together in natural areas similar to the original biotics. The setting of the old manor house has been preserved. The woods surrounding the garden with its multi-century oaks, beeches and chestnut trees still have ancient paths lined with low walls that take us back to the 18th century.

We Offer New Arrival Tory Burch Shoes, Including Variety Of Tory Burch Heels, Tory Burch Wedges, Tory Burch Sandals, Tory Burch Flats, Tory Burch Reva, Tory Burch Flip Flop, Tory Burch Boots For Your Choice, Factory Direct, International Express Free Shipping, 100% Satisfied Guarantee, Buy Now!

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Children Hoodies in New You are able to, NY is really a private company categorized under Designer Clothing Stores.

The childrenswear sector is not safe from the impact from the recession, with EU expenditure collapsing 3.5% in '09. However, its alternative-driven character has stored sales comparatively resilient, outperforming other clothing groups. Consequently, both value and-finish clothing merchants have broadened their childrenswear ranges, with lots of dedicating additional space for this category, resulting in intense competition. To outlive within the heated fight for customer spend, childrenswear specialists are diversifying their offer and trading heavily in network expansion. As birth rates keep falling, competition will intensify further, leading childrenswear specialists to employ progressively innovative methods and battling mid-market merchants being squashed from the market.

Ralph Lauren Kids series, the brand new 2012 spring catalog. Ralph Lauren this year RL Gang, and every member to exhibit personal style. The sporty style to include a tool mark, stripes and paste bits of handsome floral pattern dresses, crop cultivation and also the elegant and delightful signature design all placed on spring colors to ensure that children will be ready to attend different occasions, spent a years of the very wonderful season. A sportswear eye-catching and practical put on, signature Children Short Sleeved Polos, inlaid with pleasing art style of the people, fully using the restless personality like Adventure Mission.

Ralph Lauren is really a deep breath slowly the flavour from the designer brand, style highly stylized two well-known make of Ralph Lauren's "Lauren Ralph Lauren" (Ralph Lauren Women) and "cheap ralph lauren polo, (Ralph Lauren Polo, men's) common qualities. Additionally to fashion, Ralph Lauren (Ralph Lauren) brand includes perfume, children's clothing, household along with other items.

Reference：Ralph Lauren childrenswear spring and summer in 2012

Batubulan, Bali

Temple of Philae - Aswan - Egypt

baldumanu.wordpress.com/2014/08/15/templos-de-philae/

1967 Griffith Series 600 Coupe

OFFERED WITHOUT RESERVE

Sold for US$80,640 inc. premium

From the catalog:

Chassis no. 600/6/009

273 cubic inch Plymouth Commando V8 Engine

Single Carburetor

304bhp at 6,500 rpm

3-speed Plymouth TorqueFlite automatic transmission

Independent Front Suspension with Ford 9" rear differential

4-Wheel Disc Brakes

*One of just 6 Griffith Series 600 models built

*One of only 2 Griffith Series 600 models equipped with automatic transmission

*Documented 2021 restoration and rebuild at Griffith Motorcar Co. restoration shop

*Delivered new at Griffith factory in 1966

*Spent most of its life in California

THE GRIFFITH SERIES 600

Since its introduction to the motoring world at the 1966 New York Automobile Show, this hand-formed all-metal bodied sports car, the third in a production series of the Griffith Motorcar, took the automotive world on with its futuristic sleek design from Frank Reisner's Carrozzeria Intermeccanica studios in Italy.

Originally designed to accept a Ford-based driveline, a prolonged east coast dock strike forced the Griffith organization into a downward financial spiral and a change of engine and transmission over to the Chrysler Corporation's newly introduced 273 cubic inch Commando V-8 engine. Of the six Series 600 vehicles produced all but two were equipped with a 4-speed transmission and two with the automatic.

With Griffith Motor Company on the ropes no further cars were built but this classic design did not stop there. This magnificent design went on to have another life, albeit with the originally planned Ford driveline, as the Omega, the Torino and finally the Italia.

Intermeccanica went on to build several similarly-sleek European designed motorcars including the one-off Phoenix that was commissioned and built for the indomitable John Fitch.

The classic lines of the Griffith 600 was born from an original design from Reisner's studio, the Apollo 2+2 which was shown at the '66 New York Auto Show alongside the earlier fiberglass-bodied Griffith Series 200 and 400 TVR-based coupes. Jack Griffith's dream of a more European design brought the two together to produce the 2-seater 600.

THE MOTORCAR OFFERED

This beautiful automobile is equipped with independent front suspension, Koni shock absorbers and a live rear Ford 9" rear axle. During the rebuild, Wilwood disc brakes were installed on all four corners and the UniRoyal Tiger Paw tires are mounted on Torq Thrust styled wheels. The interior features fixed-back bucket seats that are trimmed in black leather and body paint-matching red inserts. New carpets and door panels are fitted, a retro-styled sound system complete with Bluetooth technology and the machine-turned sill plates sporting the Intermeccanica logo design.

A heater, lap safety seat belts, power windows, a three-spoke wood-rimmed steering wheel and a dash-mounted rear-view mirror complete the interior appointments. The dashboard offers Stewart-Warner gauges complete with a 160-mph speedometer mounted in a machine-turned panel. The original engine, which is included with the sale, was replaced with a completely rebuilt Chrysler Corporation 273 cubic inch 4.5L engine which achieves 304 horsepower at 6,500 rpm and 288 lb-ft of torque at 2,800 rpm.

This stunning motorcar was stripped, repaired and repainted in its current Ferrari red livery during which time in restoration it received meticulous work on body panels in 2021. A pair of body-color rear view mirrors were mounted, and a side-exhaust system installed. The original bumpers were carefully brought back to life with new re-chroming, the front and rear both with the trademark Intermeccanica split design.

The engine rebuild included the heads receiving ported and polished intake and

exhaust runners for additional power.

Recording a mere few miles since a complete restoration and refurbishment at the Griffith Motorcar Company, this Griffith Series 600 is in premier condition and ready for the show circuit or simply driving an automotive work of art. The documentation of the restoration will be included with the vehicle showing the detailed work which was performed on this extraordinary example. Outside of the John Fitch's Intermeccanica-built Phoenix, this, example of automotive history is one of the rarest products born from Frank Reisner's creative imagination. It is truly a unique motorcar and a pleasure to drive. These Griffith 600 models are rarely seen in public and perfectly falls under the known moniker of "Good luck finding another one."

- - -

It's Bonhams day!

- - -

This year I was able to escape the snow and join Fred in Scottsdale for sunshine, cars, and music! I also drove down to Tucson to meet Doug for lunch and spend a nice evening visting with Richard and Lola.

Spotted and shot by the Boy Wonder in Tesco's, Minehead.

Anyone who doesn't get this shot should apply for a job with Tesco immediately!

Inca market excursion offered by nofrills excursions

Tickets: www.nofrills-excursions.com/excursions-tours-thingstodo/p...

Wentworth Michael Foster Collection

BCD member Michael Foster has been collecting Wentworth jigsaw catalogues from their earliest times.

I believe this offer went to Wentworth Club members in Oct 1999, with Whimsy Issue 7.

The letter addressed to members dated 29Oct 1999 which also reported members views on whether or not they should be producing limited edition puzzles - members replied a resounding no! They report that the special edition, 'Wentworth 800' (the velour box with the plastic 'tooled leather bookend') issued in Whimsy 6, 'Rosie at Kew' signed by Paula Nightingale was selling steadily.

They note that the Malcolm Root Millennium Series no2 is shown as a sketch, because the painting was not finished in time for the printing date.

"A brief reminder that the Club Selection puzzles are featured in pairs, each pair sharing the same new cut. The other puzzles, of course have their own new cuts."

The Whimsy newsletter now consisted of 6-side A4 fold out leaflet, with a shaped top edge on the first page.

Whimsy Issue no7 1999 Nov Christmas, 10% off if 3x 250pc jigsaws bought (Club selection only, excluding Thorburn series).

Jigsaws offered: All 250pc, £19.99:

670W Village Snowman by Willhelm Meyerheim

671W Suitor's Sleigh Ride by Alonzo Perez

672W Testing the Vintage by Walter Sadler (Dendy ?Walker Sadler)

673W Wartime Reminiscences by Isadora Kaufman.

674W The Letter by Charles Baugniet

675W The Three Graces by Vittorio Reggianni

676W Labrador Puppy

677W Badgers copyright Alex Williams.

678W The Forced Abdication of Mary, Queen of Scots at Lochleven Castle by Charles Lucy.

679W The Coronation of Queen Victoria by Edmund Parris

680W Road Meets Rail by Malcom Root.

681W London Bus copyright Alex Williams

682W His Favourite Bin by Walter Sadler

683W Bottles of Champagne, Bread, Biscuits & Cakes by Jules Larcher

CHRISTMAS DISCONTINUED 684W Father Christmas & His Sleigh by Jane Sullivan

CHRISTMAS DISCONTINUED 685W The Nativity by Botticelli

MILLENNIUM SERIES No2 686W 1250-1500 Industry & Trade by Malcolm Root

WENTWORTH 800 687W Springtime by Leopold Kowalsky

VINTAGE CAR SERIES 688W no1 Vauxhall by Malcolm Root

Key Wentworth Company timeline

1991-2 founding date according to their 30th Anniversary claims. (Dormant company registered 30.12.1991, two name changes)

1994 Name changed to Wentworth Wooden Jigsaw Company Ltd. Sept 1994 first jigsaws produced.

1994-5 Earliest known brochure supplied to MF, hand dated by company staff – 40pc, 75pc, 140pc, 250pc, 425pc (clueless), 63 thumbnails of designs 001A – 063D included (“a selection from our autumn range”).

1995 Founding date from 10th anniversary claims in Xmas 2005 Whimsy Magazine

1996 Nominated for Toy of the Year award, highly commended.

1996/7 Personnel: Kevin Preston Managing Director, John Snoxall Technical Manager, John Phillips Marketing Manager. Address The Dairy Farm, Pinkney Park, Malmesbury, Wilts, SN16 0NX.

Personal Puzzles from a photo (Mega 426pc £34.99, Maxi 250pc £24.99, Midi 140pc £14.99).

1997 five puzzle sizes(40 - 425pc) – personal puzzles also available, orders by 24-hour phoneline & fax. Personnel: Kevin Preston (the founder), John Snowall & David Rossant.

Undated Contract Marketing leaflet with nine themed whimsy cuts (Animal, Artist, Church, Equestrian, Garden, General, Heritage, Marine, Music)

1997 First (Christmas Edition) Whimsy leaflet. Club with exclusive selections & exclusive series, periodic limited editions, personal puzzles (140pc £14.99, 250pc £24.99, 425pc £39.99 all incl pp). Prize £25 for best personal puzzle.

1998 May Wentworth Club formed.

1998 Sept. Wentworth Wooden Jigsaw Club Whimsy Newsletter 2. Order 3x250pc jigsaws save 10% (excluding Thorburn series). 5 exclusive jigsaws.

1998 Nov Christmas Wentworth Wooden Jigsaw Club Whimsy Newsletter 3.

1999 March Wentworth Whimsy Issue no4, 7 jigsaws offered, price drop 250pc at £19.99.

1999 May First Anniversary of Wentworth Club.

1999 June Whimsy Issue no5, 8 jigsaws offered, 10% off if 3x 250pc jigsaws bought (excluding Thorburn series).

1999 Aug Whimsy Issue no6, 18 jigsaws offered. Last of first Thorburn series, Malcolm Root Millennium Series (4x250pc) and first Wentworth 800pc series (tooled leather bookend packaging format) launch.

1999 Nov Millennium Christmas Issue no7. Vintage Car series starts.

(Wentworth Wooden Jigsaw Club address 51, Staplegrove Rd, Taunton, TA1 1DG – Editor Michael Graham.)

. . . 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.

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