VEIJIGANTE

Vejigante

A vejigante is a clown-like character in Hispanic Caribbean festival (eg. Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic....even in Trinidad, we call them blue devils or Jabmolassie) celebrations (mainly seen in Carnival time). Traditional colors of the Vejigantes were black, red, white, and yellow. Today, vejigantes wear brightly colored, ornate masks of all colors and a costume with bat-like wings. The term vejigante derives from the word vejiga (bladder) and gigante (giant), due to custom of blowing up and painting cow bladders. 

The masks are linked to many traditional festivals that continue today, especially in Puerto Rico, in the cities of  Loíza and Ponce.

 The History of the Vejigante masks represents 11th century Spanish Moors during Carnival time in Puerto Rico and the spiritual battle between the Apostle James & Spanish Muslims (1700's). In the Caribbean the Jab Jab/ Jabmolassie can be compared to the Vejigante mask. The Jabmolassie/blue devils represents freedom of slavery on the the plantation. I find it quite interesting to learn how to make these traditional paper mache mask. For me, it seemed to be a secret to make these in the past, but not anymore.

CARNIVAL IN PONCE

Want to know more about Vejigante? Click or copy/paste the links

                                                    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vejigante

                           http://www.flickr.com/photos/wpteoh/4236058130/in/set-72157622996043993/

                               http://www.masksoftheworld.com/Caribbean/Caribbean%20Vejigante.htm

ETHNIC/TRIBAL FASHION

My eyes opened up to ethnic/tribal fashion on the day of my private Middle Eastern wedding ceremony (many years ago). The groom & I dressed at his sister's home. I brought a jeans pants & t-shirt to marry. I was very young & did not know what to expect from a cultural/traditional marriage. Anyway,  my groom wore a long hand-sewn dress over his pants & his cousin sponsored me the Arab ethnic wear; a beautiful bronze/gold colour head band & Middle Eastern styled dress. Below is an image of similar traditional Arabic wedding dress that I wore on my "big" day & what a traditional Syrian groom looks like on his wedding day. These clothing are common to wear in the cities & villages in Syria. 

               

ETHNIC ORIGIN

The concept of ethnic origin is an attempt to classify people, not according to their current nationality, but according to commonalities in their social background. For example somebody living in a monocultural environment, speaking English for example and clearly a member of an English-speaking cultural milieu, may be descended from immigrants speaking some other language and still participate in some of aspects their culture.

Ethnic origin implies one or more of the following.

• shared origins or social background;
• shared culture and traditions that are distinctive, maintained between generations, and lead to a sense of identity and group;
• a common language
• a common religious tradition.

Traditional Portuguese ethnic wear.....the tradition of my mother's father

poor Gypsy family  wearing their traditional clothing.

My Portuguese Indian mother on her wedding day. My father wearing  his traditional  (Senegalese) ethnic  African  headband . 

my 9 year old mother wearing a hand made Indian cotton dress made by her mother.   

 Danny in red wearing  traditional Syrian (Arabic) wear. Me wearing traditional East Indian wear . Lily in Indian wear.




Native (Taino) ethnic wear

Traditional ethnic costumes of Jews

Even though these "black" clothing are more religious than  ethnic, "black" clothing is becoming popular among new ethnic groups. Perhaps history repeating itself or other  influence.

          MEXICAN              

 

Traditional Somalian wear


The Huichol 




The following links will give you updates & information on ethnic groups. 

http://worldethnicgroups.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnic_group

THE FINE ARTS OF HEALING

Edward Bowen was born in Port of Spain in 1963. At the age of seven he went to school in England and later, in 1981, entered Croydon College of Design and Technology, graduating in Fine Art and Printmaking in 1985. At his art studio in Sans Soucci, Trinidad, I've been spending my some of my weekends looking at his art in progress, reading "meditation" books I find anywhere in the studio, listening to the sound of the sea, birds & trees and, most importantly, tasting his adventurous meals in a hammock. Jack is the Vincentian born estate care taker who lives on the Bowen plantation. He takes old wooden furniture to repair & reinvent them. Even though Jack is a builder/caretaker/farmer since the days of Eddie Bowen's father, he realizes that art is a part of healing through his loneliness. Ferro De Silva lives walking distance from the Bowen Estate. He is an eighty nine year old farmer & is well known throughout the north coast as the "herb" man. Whenever I spend my occasional weekends in Sans Soucci, Mr De Silva tells me about his childhood memoirs of St Vincent, his working experience in Trinidad, picking apples in Canada, the ducks he is rearing & the mysterious wonders of herbal medicine. For him, the art of healing is herbal medicine. For many others, books, "Prayers", fasting, alms giving, music & art are just few among many other choices. 

EDDIE BOWEN'S ART




The above image is very symbolic to me because the "hill" in that image has a church on it in reality. The following link is a published article I wrote about a healing/anointing service that I experienced by exorcism Priest, Fr. Graham in Sans Soucci. For me, this service is considered an art of healing . 

http://www.catholicnews-tt.net/joomla/index.php?view=article&catid=36:parish-news&id=302:par150309&option=com_content&Itemid=93

Eddie Bowen's art




The following is a video of St Vincent in the 1940's where my "partner," the "herb" man grew up
must have been plenty healing for him to move to Trinidad as he & his family escaped poverty. 

A Market scene in St Vincent, 1940's. 

VIVA EL COQUI

Viva el Coquí

 By Anna Levi

For many a year ago,

Hot water and salt tampered with your pride.

Coquí tribes reigned human consciousness;

an everlasting language for brethren to remember.

In Trinidad, where weary frogs knock on slippery front steps,

We offer salt and hot water to say thanks for the luck.

In Cupey,

We rear the Coquí like pampered echoed babies; at least not to forget.

I’ll beg of you one favour;

Burn white candles and don’t bother yourself,

Coquí comes only at night in Cupey but,

Not when salt and hot water is near.

OM SHANTY OM

Indian Om Symbol

MANTRA FOR PEACE

The word 'peace' can be translated through thousands of images or symbols, formal, tribal and dialect languages throughout the world. In Trinidad and Tobago, the history of the  East Indians long Journey to the West Indies and the history of the  Africans and the Middle Passage have linked culture, race, identity and peace. Our very own Ras Shorty I has creolized the Indian version of the Hindu prayer (Mantra), "Om Shanti Om" with his surviving song, "Om Shanti Om." The following link gives you a deeper insight to the true meaning of the mantra.

http://archives.amritapuri.org/bharat/mantra/shanti.php

WORLD PEACE SYMBOLS

A number of peace symbols have been used in various cultures and contexts, one of the most ancient being the olive branch. The symbol of the dove and olive branch was used by early Christians and was later adopted as a secular symbol. It was popularized by Pablo Picasso in 1949 and became widely used in the post-war peace movement.

The V hand signal is a hand gesture that was once used for VICTORY in World War 11, then used at the Anti-Vietnam demonstration as a peace sign and now it is used as an insult in Ireland, UK, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia.

American actor Steve McQueen flashing the V sign for a mugshot, after being arrested for drunk driving.

Singer Robbie Williams using a V sign with palm facing signer as an insult

The broken rifle symbol is used by War Resisters' International (WRI) and its affiliates but predates the foundation of WRI in 1921.



The white poppy is an artificial flower used as a symbol of peace, worn as an alternative to, or complement to, the red remembrance poppy for Remembrance Day or Anzac Day.


Peace FlagThe international peace flag in the colours of the rainbow was first used in Italy on a 1961 peace march from Perugia to Assisi organised by the pacifist and social philosopher Aldo Capitini (1899–1968). Inspired by the peace flags used on British peace marches, Capitini got some women of Perugia hurriedly to sew together coloured strips of material.The march has been repeated many times since 1961, the most recent in 2010.

OTHER PEACE SYMBOLS INCLUDES FIRE AND PAPER CRANES (JAPAN), WORDS SUCH AS "SHALOM" (HEBREW), "SALAAM" (ARABIC), "OM" (INDIA) AND HOLDING PALMS TOGETHER WITH A RESPECTFUL BOW (RASTAFARIANS, EAST INDIAN WOMEN AND EVEN AMERINDIANS). EVEN THE RED CROSS SYMBOL WAS USED AS A SIGN OF PEACE DURING THE WAR ERA. TO DATE, SOCIAL MEDIA USERS HAVE USED THESE TRADITIONAL FORMS OF PEACE BY RECREATING/REINVENTING IT & DISTRIBUTING INITIATIVES /PETITIONS/DRIVES TO INFORM THE WORLD AND TO GAIN WORLD SUPPORT.

International Day of the Girl

Girl washes clothing in Peru

FEARS OF HAVING A GIRL? 

Today is the inaugural International Day of the girl., which seeks to raise awareness and situations of girl around the world. In many countries and cultures, the birth of girl children are seen as a burden to their parents and society because of poverty. In the Middle East, women and young girls are stoned to death because of the rigid laws of their religion and society. In many other countries, girls are sent to orphan homes to be raised or sold into child labour, child prostitution and early marriages. Sometimes when education is available, girls are still not allowed to get that privilege because of their religious and cultural background belief systems. Girls are being disadvantaged in many ways that it reflects on their adult life; later on their society. In Africa and India girls at the age of  twelve and fourteen are married of/negotiated  to older men simply because their parents or caretakers cannot afford to feed them. Later on in their life, many of them give birth to many children and are clueless about sexually transmitted diseases/contraception.  If you ask most women while they are pregnant "what gender do you want?", most of them would say, "a boy". Why? Is it because society has labelled girls or women as weak, less educated or as domestic figures? 

In many countries, girls are speaking out using technology. Social media has exposed a lot of issues that people were unable to follow in the past because of the distance of time and location. Gender shapes life chances of both boys and girls. Education is an essential way for both gender to eradicate poverty. 

GIRLS ARE SPECIAL NO MATTER OUR ECONOMIC BACKGROUND 

                                          "WE ARE THE WORLD, WE ARE THE FUTURE"

Children playing in Ethiopia  

Haitian child 

Girls drinking coffee in Ethiopia

Girls in an Orphanage in India

Boys and Girls in an Orphanage in Kenya

Girls in Egypt

Indigenous Girls

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/events/meetings/2012/girl_child_day/en/index.html

THE LUNAR TICKS IN A WOMAN

WHAT IS THE LUNAR METHOD?

When we look at the sky at nights we see the appearances of a full moon, a new moon or a crescent moon. These different slices of a circle are special lunar phases or appearances of the moon. The stages of the moon's waxing or waning are called lunar phases. 

Some pregnant women believe that the type of moon predicts the days of a menstruation cycle, the day of birth for a boy or girl,  the best time to successfully conceive, the best days to plant and reap and the way people behave specifically; CRAZY PEOPLE.

"According to the Lunar Phase Method a woman will most probably (85% probability) become pregnant if the actual lunar phase is identical to the lunar phase at the time of her own birth. So if for example a woman is born at new moon she has a 85% probability of becoming pregnant at any new moon!  A woman's menstrual cycle and several other factors determine the remaining 15% probability of conception.

The newly discovered lunar cycle is regular and constant for the whole life and is not subject to any changes, which is quite different in the case of the menstrual cycle. Because with nearly every woman both cycles, the lunar and the menstrual, have different lengths, they shift against each other. This leads to the interesting phenomenon that the most fertile days of a woman (according to her lunar cycle) sometimes are during her menses! This also explains why many women have conceived immediately before, during or after their menses, which are days that are traditionally considered as relatively safe"  

Institute for Astrological Mathematics; Germany. 

When I was young, the old women in my neighbourhood would say, "if the moon is big or full, mad people would behave badly". In my teenage years, a few UK trained nursed confirmed to me that the old people from my neighbourhood were RIGHT about their sayings. 

Here are two interesting articles to read about Moon Madness and The Lunar Cycle and Psychopathology

http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art14925.asp

http://www.gjpsy.uni-goettingen.de/gjp-article-owens.pdf

TODAY,

I plant flowers and seasoning in my garden using the lunar method. Since the invention of canned foods, over the counter medicine and the ability to have a family doctor, some people are straying from traditional belief systems which includes the Lunar Method. 

The following link would take you to MOON FOLKLORE and FARMING by faming experts.

http://www.almanac.com/content/farming-moon

This Link gives you a lot of info on best fishing days, tide predictor, Lunar Eclipse dates, moon quotation of the day and your moon today.

http://www.almanac.com/moon