Sugar Painting

1. Sugar Painting is a traditional folk art in China.
2. In this kind of painting, they use hot, liquid sugar (as used in preparing candies) to create two dimensional figures.
3. Mostly children love these sugar painting snacks.

Image from wikipedia

4. Hot sugar, in its liquid form, is spread on a marble or metallic platform using a ladle to create various shapes and designs as asked by the customer.
5. First, the outlines of the figure are drawn and then the filling part is done. The outline of the design is done using thick sugar.
6. Outlines are joined by supporting strands in various forms like zig-zags, swirls and other likewise patterns.
7.  Finally, when completed, a thin wooden stick, used to hold the figure, is attached in two or more places with more sugar.

Image from resources.made-in-china.com

8. Then, while still warm and pliable, figure is removed from the surface using a spatula-like tool, and is sold to the waiting customer, or placed on display.
9. Customers usually select a figure by spinning the arrow on a wheel which will randomly land on popular figures as a dragon, fish, monkey, dog, bird, or flower basket.
9. Visiting temple fairs is one of the greatest ways to enjoy Spring Festival in Beijing. Here's where you can witness the Sugar Painting Art too.

resources.made-in-china.com

10. When making sugar paintings one should pay great attention to the flowing speed and depth the sugar liquid.
11. The painting should be done swiftly and deftly in case the liquid should curdle after the cooling process.

Lover Locks on Mt. Huangshan, China

1. Huangshan is located in the south of Anhui province. With its 72 peaks, it is considered one of the most unique and beautiful mountain ranges in the world.
2. It is the only mountain listed in China's Top Ten Scenic Spots.
3. Huangshan, known as 'the loveliest mountain of China'

Image from the-gaggle.com

4. On Mt. Huangshan, you may see lots of concentric lover locks on the guard bars and iron chains. It has become a particularly attracting scenery at Mt. Huangshan. On locking the concentric locks, lovers will throw the key into the cliff, then, their love will be forever existing, never leave each other.
5. There is an old tradition that, if lovers put a lock on the railings and bridges on Mt. Huangshan, their love will be blessed by Yue Lao—a Chinese Deity appointed as the Matchmaker for relationship and marriage.

© UNESCO
Author: Francesco Bandarin

6. There is a legend about the lover locks on Mt. Huangshan. A long time ago, a beautiful girl fell in love with a poor young man, but her father didn't want her daughter to live a poor life. The father let his daughter marry a rich man. On the day of the wedding, the poor young man stole the girl and they escaped to the Huangshan Mountain. In that situation, they held hands and jumped into the deep cliff. Their wonderful dialogue kills people's minds – "I have the same mind with you, faithful to you, I have my infatuation for you, and never change my mind".

© UNESCO

Author: Francesco Bandarin

7. To participate in this real-life fairytale, a couple will buy a lock, climb the mountain together, and after locking the “Tong Xin Suo” (lover lock) on the chain of one of the many bridges, they will throw the keys off the cliff and they will literally be locked in love forever.
8. Except for the concentric lover locks for people's immortal love, there are alsolocks for a family's happiness and locks for a kid's health. People put the concentric locks on Mt. Huangshan, wishing for love, happiness, health, etc.
9. Together with the Yellow River, the Yangtze River and the Great Wall, it has become one of the great symbols of China.
10. It is listed in the UNESCO World Heritage Sites list.
11. Huangshan is famous for what are called, "The Four Wonders of Huangshan Mountain." The four wonders are theancient pines, bizarre rock formations, the sea of clouds and the hot springs.

Image from the-gaggle.com/

Corraleja

Every year in January, Colombia holds 'bullfighting' events in many towns. "Corraleja"(bullfighting), a popular festival in the South America's Caribbean coast of Colombia where there are fights in bullring. It is carried out inside the Corraleja (this word comes from farmyard), a place delimited by boxes for public. Caribbean coast city  Sincelejo is the most famous for bullfighting. The bulls are sent into the bullrings one after the other. In the parade “Veintenerito”, many children pass mounting sticks like horses. Outside the bullring, the city has street parties, musicians in every place and one can hear different folkloric songs of the region everywhere.

Source: Reuters

The 20th Jan day has great significance to regional and national level as Corraleja is celebrated on this day in Sincelejo. It is also known as the feast of Holy name of Jesus. Sincelejo has a popular celebration on that day.According to Ramiro de la Espriella, "The first bullfight as Corralejas was celebrated on the honor of its patron St. Francis of Asísteniendo in Sincelejo on  October 3, 1845.

Bullfighting in Colombia formally started with bullfights celebrating the independence from Spain.Colombia seems to be the second most bullfighting country among the five Latin American countries that have a bullfighting industry.

Doll's Festival

 Hinamatsuri

Dolls festival, otherwise called  Hinamatsuri (hina means doll , matsuri means festival), or  girls day is celebrated in japan on 3rd March every year. This festival performs for young girls to wish  growth and happiness, on this day, young girls place a set of ornamental dolls (Hina - Ningyo) on  tired stands (steps) which are covered with red carpets. These tired stands are usually five or seven. The tradition of dolls displaying started during the Heian period (794 - 1185 ) in Kyoto.

source: Vikipedia              

Generally in mid February   families get ready to display the Hina. The dolls should be put away  immediately soon after the Hinamatsuri. The people believe that  if they don't put away the hina-ningyo  as soon as the festival ends, their daughters will get married late.

 Prince (Obairi - sama) and  Princess (Obina - sama) dolls are mainly used and they are displayed on the top tire. The princess wears a  beautiful  Heian court costume which is called "juuni-hitoe". Even today the royal families wear this costume on wedding ceremonies.  Three court ladies are displayed on the next tier and the third tier has five musicians, two ministers and finally three servants. They display not only these dolls but also  small pieces of  furniture, small meal dishes and other things.  All hina platforms are not decorated in this way however the tiers are filled with load of dolls.

This day some special dishes are prepared  like Chirashi Sushi, Sakura- mochi,  Hina-arare , Shirozake and Hishimochi (a diamond shaped rice cake). The Hishimochi are prepared in three colors, red or pink (chasing evil spirits away), white (purity) and green (health).

The people in various areas still follow the custom of floating paper dolls down the river late on the afternoon of the festival, which is called "hina-okuri" or "nagashi-bina".

The japanese celebrate not only girls festival but also a boys festival on May 5th, which is called "Kodomo no ho" (Children s day) which is a national holiday (but Hinamatsuri is not!)

An Enchanting Tribe of Africa.

THE HIMBA TRIBE

A Himba woman.
Source: National Geographic

Why she is smoking herself?. What a unique hairstyle! Why she looks red in color! Do these questions arise in your mind while you see the lady's image?. These questions came to my mind also when i saw this image.This unique woman belongs to the South African tribal of "Himba" who are traditional pastoralists. Their native is Kaokoland which is in the Kunene region, a part of the north west corner of  the country "Namibia".

Himba herders
Source: Wikipedia

Namibia is the name of a desert which  is considered to be the oldest desert in the world. The dry land of Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia is one of the countries in the  South Africa and it is bordered by Atlantic ocean. on march 21,1990 Namibia obtained independence from South Africa.

These people herd cattle, goats and sheep, and the women cultivate maize and sorghum in their gardens during rainy season. the Himba speak Otjihimba language, a dialect of Herero. They worship their ancestors and the god "Mukuru".   They follow rituals concerning the sacred fire 'Okoruwo' .
They follow their traditional lifestyles and beliefs.

Customs.

Himba boy. The hairstyle indicates that he is single.
Source: Wikipedia

Himba marriages are arranged by kin . As soon as a girl child is born, they decide her future husband; but she is  not  married until she attains 14  years.  Bride price is paid (normally one cow and two sheep). Men marry more than one wife. The wives co-reside within the same household  but each has her own hut.

The pregnant woman will be outside of the homestead, accompanied by a group of women when she is ready to give birth. The woman returns to the homestead immediately after the child born. Under the special protection of the ancestral spirits the mother and the child  spend one week in a  special shelter to the side of the headman's hut near the sacred fire. After a week has passed, the child is introduced to the spirits of the headman near the sacred fire .The children of Himba tribe are very independent.

style

Himba girl
Source: http://www.flickr.comphotosgusjer
4385074811inset-72157622537649878

The hair style of the Himba people indicates social status and age. Married woman wear head piece made from skin on top of their head with many streams of braided hair , colored and put in a shape with otjize which is  a mixture of butter fat and ochre. Married man wears his hair in a turban. unmarried man wears one plait backwards to their neck.Children have two plaits of braided hair until puberty. Afterwards the girl wears more than two plaits and they move it to the face over their eyes.They wear topless and decorated skirts or loincloths which are made of a goat skin.
.  
The aim of applying  otjize to their body is  to protect them from the sun. They glow radiantly in a red tint from otjize. Not only protection  but otjize also defines their individuality .in addition it  makes them look beautiful. The himba women never take a shower,but give fragrance to themselves through the smoke of aromatic herbs in a pot each morning. Part of the daily duty  of a woman  is applying the reddish paste to their child's skin after she wakes up in the morning.

Himba village about 15 km north of Opuwo, Namibia.
Source: Wikipedia

There are an estimated 20,000 himba tribal living in Kaokoland. Himba tribe are one of the beautiful tribes in all of Africa.