Showing posts with label Culture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Culture. Show all posts

20 July 2010

Those Were the Days

We'd Sing and Dance Forever and a Day
We'd Live the Life We Choose


Those Were the Days, (1944) was a French Jewish Partisan song against the Nazis. The original song had nothing to do with drinking or saloons, but human rights and freedom against Nazi occupation. It can be heard in an updated version, in the photograph below.

An Israeli worker collects packs of cigarettes made from locally grown tobacco in the village of Yabed, on 20 July 2010 which are sold in Israel and are cheaper than imported international brand name cigarettes. The most expensive were the now sanctioned US brands.

Israeli workers collect cigarettes made from locally grown tobacco in the village of Yabed, on 20 July 2010.

A good portion of people in Israel do smoke and will continue to do so even with the US attempting to force a ban on its use or production.

Women do smoke cigarettes and sometimes in public, with some of the more older women with a lovely decorated box to take a pinch of snuff.

Israeli workers sort through dry tobacco leaves being prepared in the village of Yabed, on 20 July 2010.

Israeli workers collect dry tobacco leaves being prepared in the village of Yabed, on 20 July 2010.

The US recently commented about women smoking hookah’s in public and if the US knew anything about the culture of Israel, they would know that hookah’s are only found in men’s cafe’s. If a women happened to venture into such an establishment, she is usually a prostitute and the rest goes without saying; that nice women do not smoke hookah’s.

Further, too the men smoking hookah’s in some more traditional homes; the practice is not seen nor many women still do not allow them in the home, let alone smoke one; with a few women letting there husbands smoke them, strictly out of respect or a courtesy towards the husband.

But one thing about Hookah’s, it is usually not commonly appropriate outside of the home in view of women.

An Israeli worker hangs tobacco leaves to dry in the village of Yabed, on 20 July 2010.

Israeli farmers collect bundles of stringed tobacco leaves being prepared in the village of Yabed, on 20 July 2010.

Most people serving in the military or have served, do tend to smoke cigarettes; for many have said it relives tension associated with combat, especially with the illegal US Occupational forces still in the country.


Israeli tobacco farmers lift bundles of stringed tobacco leaves being prepared in the village of Yabed, on 20 July 2010.

An Israeli farmer collects bundles of stringed tobacco leaves being prepared in the village of Yabed, on 20 July 2010.

An Israeli tobacco farmers lift bundles of stringed tobacco leaves being prepared in the village of Yabed, on 20 July 2010 for making local cigarettes.

An Israeli farmer harvests tobacco leaves in the village of Yabed, on 20 July 2010 for making local cigarettes.


One of the two baby panthers, Pati and Jaya, is seen in the Jardin des Plantes menagerie in Paris in this undated picture released by the Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle 21 July 2010. A pair of clouded leopard cubs, Neofelis nebulosa, were born two months ago in Paris, the Museum said on Wednesday.

11 June 2009

A Nipponese Parasol

When I was a young girl, for a few short years about every spring or early summer what seemed out of nowhere I use to receive a traditional Nipponese parasol.

They where very delicate and most beautiful, while I actually would look foreword to these delicate gifts; one year they stopped coming and while I did not know how they came to began with, my mother usually was the bearer of this most wonderful gift.

For those who do not know about these type of parasol’s, the frame was made out of bamboo and the shaded part was made of paper, with a most delicate hand painted design as I remember, sometimes also with a bit of Calligraphy; but nevertheless, as beautiful as art within themselves.

The reason I no longer have them as so many thing’s from long ago, if I was happy with something especially, they usually disappeared much to my sorrow; but yet, the great kindness and beauty is embedded in my memory. -
HRM Deborah

18 July 2008

Gracing of Nippon

Beauty of a Geisha


To walk a path
That brings beauty to the soul
Which becomes a beacon
From within
To shine as a light
To the outer beauty
That is upon the surface
That the world beholds.

-HRM Deborah

Flower and Willow

This poem was written many years ago, when I had seen a picture of a Geisha for the first time from a small book that came from prewar Nippon and already knew some first hand information about them that I have gained over time and continue to do so.

An apprentice Geisha in Kyoto, Japan (Nippon) is called, “Maiko;” which the photograph above appears to be, one of these beautiful “Maiko’s," which in time will be a full Geisha.

The society or world of the Geisha is known as “Flower and Willow Society.”

True Femininity: The Geisha

True femininity is as delicate as rice paper, while it is beautiful to see one is most careful when it comes to touch.

A woman of honest grace and beauty, safeguards their cultural traditions for the betterment of not just themselves, but their given society.

They are not given to little spine or lack of thought, but to the contrary; for this is not just an endowing feature of true femininity; but equality within society, such as the profession of business.

As in my country the comparison of a true feminine woman as the fanning peacock, while they are most beautiful and graceful; nevertheless, they are not known as a personal helpless bird; but yet their world is protected.

If one has even a small chance to gaze from a distance inside and Okiya, one will find not only these wonderful attributes, but exceptional forms of art, discipline, training and religion; which myself understands very much.

But most importantly, the world of the Maiko and the Geiko; is one as a whole; that reminds of the beauty of the spring white cherry blossoms.



Terminology

Okiya: The Geisha house where the Maiko and Geiko live in Kyoto, Japan (Nippon).

Maiko: An apprentice Kyoto Geisha.

Geiko: A full Geisha, especially in Kyoto.

Geisha in Kyoto wearing Kimono walking on a street