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THE RED INDIANS-their life, religion, languages and also art and culture =)

21:30 |

This week, we have shared a lot of culture abroad. Now, let us read more on this topic of The Red Indians- their life; food and shelter, religion, languages they use daily and also art and culture. Sounds interesting, rite?

American Indians is a broad term for a member of any of the natives of the Western Hemisphere, except the Eskimos and Aleuts. Their ancestors were nomadic hunters.

The North American Indians or the Red Indians (as they are better known) lived in the United States long before Columbus. Several tribes of American Indians lived in the area between the Canadian border and what is now the state of Florida. Among the several tribes, some of them were peace loving and some others were warlike. The Sioux tribe belongs to this latter category. The word Sioux means enemy. Some of them were hunters and some others were fishermen. Some preferred to be seed-gatherers in the arid deserts of the west and lived in caves and rock shelters.

Food and shelter
The North American Indians lived on maize, beans, dried meat, peppers, tomatoes and groundnuts. They also hunted buffalo and bison. Did you know that they were the first to gather rubber and grow tobacco? They were also probably the first to built blocks of flats.

Since the Indians lived in different regions, each tribe was exposed to varied climatic conditions. This naturally meant that they built different types of homes. These included log shelters, and tepees and wickiups, which were simply mobile homes. The log shelters were log covered and they were called hogans. Long before we got used to the concept of flats, the Pueblo, a tribe of Indians, built theirs with sundried brick.

How they livedDoes the word American Indian bring to mind tribal warriors? Well before the White man came, war was a ceremonial game for the Indians. For them it was a test of bravery. Of course, later they fought for survival. They also enjoyed trading and didn’t mind going long distances in order to barter goods for wampum, a kind of shell money. This is their wampum:

A Red Indian chief

ReligionReligion was very important to the Indians and they worshipped different gods. Each tribe had a totem (an emblem), embodying the spirit of their clan. Their “doctor” was the shaman, or a religious doctor, who treated diseases with herbal remedies. They believed in life after death and that they would go to the “happy hunting ground” after death. This is the Shaman:

Art and cultureThe Indians were very skilled in stitching and embroidery. They were also experts in making baskets, jewellery, beadwork and pottery. They were also very good in making musical instruments, as they enjoyed music and considered it an important aspect of their life. They made drums, flutes, pipes, rattles and castanets from bone and cane.

LanguagesThe different languages of the North American Indians were intricate and diverse. Frequently it happened that when two people belonging to different tribes met, they would have to resort to sign language to make themselves understood. The Indians did not write, but used drawings for written communication. Unlike us, we have to use both. They would write on animal hides.

When the Europeans settled in America, there were already over a million Indians in North America. With the arrival of the new settlers, there arose clashes between the new Americans and the Indians. While the new settlers kept pushing the Indians further and further into the West, the government tried to draw treaty after treaty. Every time a treaty failed, there followed small but savage wars between the old and the new settlers. Gradually things changed for the worse for the Indians. External pressures such as the new way of living that influenced their new generations left them witnessing a fall in their traditional way of living.

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Indonesian Culture of Martial Arts

16:34 |

The art of silat was created and firstly developed in the islands of Java and Sumatra. It is an art for survival and practiced throughout Indonesian archipelago. Centuries of tribal wars in Indonesian history had shaped silat as it was used by the ancient warriors of Indonesia. Silat was used to determine the rank and position in old Indonesian kingdoms.

Contacts with Indians and Chinese was further enriched silat. Silat reached areas beyond Indonesia mainly through diaspora of Indonesian people. People from various regions like Aceh,Minangkabau, Riau, Bugis, Makassar, Java, Banjar, etc. moved into and settled in Malay Peninsula and other islands. They brought silat and passed it down to their descendants. The Indonesian of half-Dutch descent are also credited as the first to brought the art into Europe.

Silat was used by Indonesian freedom fighters during their struggle against the Dutch colonists. Unfortunately after Indonesia achieving their independence, silat became less popular among Indonesian youth compare to foreign martial arts like Karate and Taekwondo. This probably because silat was not taught openly and only passed down among blood relatives, the other reason is the lack of media portrayal of the art.

Efforts have been made in recent years to introduce and reintroduce the beauty of silat to Indonesian youth and the world. Exhibitions and promotions by individuals as well as state-sponsored groups helped the growing of silat's popularity, particularly in Europe and United States. Indonesian 2009 Silat movie Merantau is one of Indonesian efforts to introduce silat to international scene.

Another martial art from Indonesia is Tarung Derajat. It is a modern combat system created by Haji Ahmad Drajat based on his experience as a street fighter. Tarung Drajat has been acknowledge as a national sport by KONI in 1998 and is now using by Indonesian Army as part of their basic training.

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Theatre in Australia

14:45 |

The ceremonial dances of indigenous Australians which recount the stories of the Dreamtime, comprise theatrical aspects and have been performed since time immemorial. European traditions came to Australia with the First Fleet in 1788, with the first production being performed in 1789 by convicts. Two centuries later, the extraordinary circumstances of the foundations of Australian theatre were recounted in Our Country's Good by Timberlake Wertenbaker: the participants were prisoners watched by sadistic guards and the leading lady was under threat of the death penalty.

The Theatre Royal, Hobart, opened in 1837 and it remains the oldest theatre in Australia. The Australian gold rushes beginning in the 1850s provided funds for the construction of grand theatres in the Victorian style. A theatre was built on the present site of Melbourne's Princess Theatre in 1854. The present building now hosts major international productions as well as live performance events such as the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.

The Melbourne Athenaeum was built during this period and later became Australia's first cinema, screening The Story of the Kelly Gang, the world's first feature film in 1906. Mark Twain and Barry Humphries have all performed on this historic stage. The Queen's Theatre, Adelaide opened with Shakespeare in 1841 and is today the oldest theatre on the mainland.

After Federation in 1901, theatre productions evidenced the new sense of national identity. On Our Selection (1912) by Steele Rudd, told of the adventures of a pioneer farming family and became immensely popular. Sydney's grand Capitol Theatre opened in 1928 and after restoration remains one of the nation's finest auditoriums.

The National Institute of Dramatic Art was created in Sydney in 1958. This institute has since produced a list of famous alumni including Cate Blanchett, Mel Gibson and Baz Luhrmann.

In 1955, Summer of the Seventeenth Doll by Ray Lawler portrayed resolutely Australian characters and went on to international acclaim. That same year, young Melbourne artist Barry Humphries performed as Edna Everage for the first time at Melbourne University's Union Theatre. Humphries left for London in his early 20s and enjoyed success on stage, including in Lionel Bart's musical, Oliver!. His satirical stage creations - notably Dame Edna and later Les Patterson - became Australian cultural icons. Humphries also achieved success in the USA with tours on Broadway and television appearances and has been honoured in Australia and Britain.

Construction of the Adelaide Festival Centre began in 1970 and South Australia's Sir Robert Helpmann became director of the Adelaide Festival of Arts. The new wave of Australian theatre debuted in the 1970s. The Belvoir St Theatre presented works by Nick Enright and David Williamson. In 1973, the Sydney Opera House was inaugurated in Sydney - becoming perhaps the most famous theatre building in the world. Opera Australia made its home in the building and its reputation was enhanced by the presence of the diva Joan Sutherland.

The Sydney Theatre Company was founded 1978 becoming one of Australia's foremost theatre companies. The Bell Shakespeare Company was created in 1990. A period of success for Australian musical theatre came in the 1990s with the debut of musical biographies of Australian music singers Peter Allen (The Boy From Oz in 1998) and Johnny O'Keefe (Shout! The Legend of The Wild One).

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Spanish Bullfighting

14:18 |

Bullfighting, also known as tauromachia or tauromachy, is a traditional spectacle of Spain, Portugal, southern France and some Latin American countries (Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela and Peru), in which one or more bulls are baited, and then killed in a bullring for sport and entertainment. As such, it is often called a blood sport by its detractors, but followers of the spectacle regard it as a 'fine art' and not a sport, as there are no elements of competition in the proceedings. In Portugal, it is illegal to kill a bull in the arena, so it is removed and slaughtered in the pens as fighting bulls can only be used once. A non-lethal variant stemming from Portuguese influence is also practiced on the Tanzanian island of Pemba.

The tradition, as it is practiced today, involves professional toreros (also called "matadors") who execute various formal moves which can be interpreted and innovated according to the bullfighter's style or school. Toreros seek to elicit inspiration and art from their work and an emotional connection with the crowd transmitted through the bull. Such maneuvers are performed at close range, which places the bullfighter at risk of being gored or trampled. After the bull has been hooked multiple times behind the shoulder by other matadors in the arena, the bullfight usually concludes with the killing of the bull by a single sword thrust, which is called estocada. In Portugal, the finale consists of a tradition called the pega, where men (forcados) try to grab and hold the bull by its horns when it runs at them.

Supporters of bullfighting argue that it is a culturally important tradition and a fully developed art form on par with painting, dancing and music, while animal rights advocates hold that it is a blood sport resulting in the suffering of bulls and horses.

There are many historic fighting venues in the Iberian Peninsula, France and Latin America. The largest venue of its kind is the Plaza México in central Mexico City, which seats 48,000 people, and the oldest is the La Maestranza in Seville, Spain, which was first used for bullfighting in 1765.

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Traditional Denmark Food

14:07 |

Danish cooking is rooted in the peasant dishes served across the country before the Industrial Revolution in 1860. It was based on the need to make use of natural products available on the family farm or in the neighborhood. As a result, potatoes, bread and salted pork were eaten everywhere. Families had their own store of long-lasting dry products, rye for making bread, barley for beer, dried peas for soup and smoked or salted pork. While industrialization brought increases in the consumption of fresh meat and green vegetables, rye bread and potatoes continued to be staples. With the arrival of cooperatives in the second half of the 19th century, milk also gained favor. Wood-fired ovens and meat grinders contributed to a range of new dishes including frikadeller (meat balls), roast pork, poached cod and steaks of ground beef. Desserts of stewed fruits or berries such as rødgrød date from the same period.

Over the centuries, sausage, which was not only economical but could be kept for long periods, was together with rye bread behind the development of smørrebrød. By the end of the 18th century, there were several different kinds of sausage but the preparation of cold meat products developed rapidly in the 1840s when the French butcher Francois Louis Beauvais opened a business in Copenhagen. In the 1880s, Oskar Davidsen opened a restaurant specializing in smorrebrød with a long list of open sandwiches. Leverpostej (liver paste) became available in grocery shops at the end of the 19th century but it was some time before its price was comparable with that of cold cuts. Around the same time, the one-hour lunch break which had allowed people to enjoy a hot midday meal was shortened to 30 minutes, encouraging them to take a few pieces of smørrebrød to work in a lunch box. In the 1920s and 1930s, tomatoes and cucumbers were added as a topping to the cold cuts. In the 1940s, Henry Stryhn popularized leverpostej by making deliveries around Copenhagen on his bicycle.

In the 1960s and 1970s, with the availability of deep frozen goods, the concept of fast food arrived together with an interest in Mediterranean dishes as Danes travelled more widely. By the 1990s, ingredients were being imported from the south while new products were farmed at home, providing a basis for a developing interest in gourmet dishes. Much of the inspiration came from France, as Danish chefs went on television explaining how to prepare dishes such ascanard à l'orange or authentic sauce Béarnaise. A younger generation of chefs soon started to travel abroad themselves, learning how to adapt the expertise of French and Spanish chefs to the use of local ingredients as a basis for creating beautifully presented, finely flavoured Nordic dishes. As a result, in recent years Danish chefs have helped to put Denmark on the world gastronomic map, with several Michelin-starred restaurants in Copenhagen and the provinces.

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England Classical Music

13:50 |

England has a long and rich musical history. The United Kingdom has, like most European countries, undergone a roots revival in the last half of the 20th century. English music has been an instrumental and leading part of this phenomenon, which peaked at the end of the 1960s and into the 1970s.

The achievements of the Anglican choral tradition following on from 16th century composers such as Thomas Tallis, John Taverner and William Byrd have tended to overshadow instrumental composition. The semi-operatic innovations of Henry Purcell did not lead to a native operatic tradition, but George Frederick Handel found important royal patrons and enthusiastic public support in England. The rapturous receptions afforded by audiences to visiting musical celebrities such as Haydn often contrasted with the lack of recognition for home-grown talent. However, the emergence of figures such as Edward Elgar and Arthur Sullivan in the 19th century showed a new vitality in English music. In the 20th century, Benjamin Britten and Michael Tippett emerged as internationally-recognised opera composers, and Ralph Vaughan Williams and others collected English folk tunes and adapted them to the concert hall. Cecil Sharp was a leading figure in the English folk revival.

Finally, a new trend emerged out of Liverpool in 1962. The Beatles became the most popular musicians of their time, and in the composing duo of John Lennon and Paul McCartney, popularized the concept of the self-contained music act. Before the Beatles, very few popular singers composed the tunes they performed. The "Fab Four" opened the doors for other English acts such as the Rolling Stones, Cream, The Hollies, The Kinks, The Who, Queen, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Genesis, Iron Maiden and Pink Floyd to the globe.

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Russian avant-garde

23:01 |

The Russian avant-garde is an umbrella term used to define the large, influential wave of modern art that flourished in Russia (or more accurately, the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union) approximately 1890 to 1930 - although some place its beginning as early as 1850 and its end as late as 1960. The term covers many separate, but inextricably related, art movements that occurred at the time; namely Neo-primitivism, suprematism, constructivism, and futurism. Given that many of these avant-garde artists were born or grew up in what is present day Belarus and Ukraine (including Kazimir Malevich, Aleksandra Ekster, Vladimir Tatlin, Wassily Kandinsky, David Burliuk, Alexander Archipenko), some sources also talk about Ukrainian avant-garde.
The Russian avant-garde reached its creative and popular height in the period between the Russian Revolution of 1917 and 1932, at which point the ideas of the avant-garde clashed with the newly emerged state-sponsored direction of Socialist Realism. Preserving Russian avant-garde architecture has become a real concern for historians, politicians and architects. In 2007, the Modern Museum of Art MoMA in New York, devoted an exhibition entirely to the Lost Vanguard: Soviet Architecture, featuring the work of American Photographer Richard Pare.

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THE RED INDIANS-their life, religion, languages and also art and culture =)

Indonesian Culture of Martial Arts

Theatre in Australia

Spanish Bullfighting

Traditional Denmark Food

England Classical Music

Russian avant-garde