1407 UNITED STATES (Washington) - Washington map

Washington is that State located in the upper left corner on the map of the United States, bordered by Oregon on the south, Idaho on the east, the Canadian province of British Columbia on the north, and the Pacific Ocean on the west, not too large nor too small, not too populated nor too uninhabited. That if we talk about average, because if we consider that half of the population is concentrated in Seattle metropolitan area (over 3.6 million inhabitants), the things are changing. Admitted to the Union in 1889 as the 42nd state, Washington remained for long time a forest county, the demand for timber being the one which dictated its economic increase or decrease until WWII, when the place of the forest industry was taken by Boeing Company. It's famous the Skid Road (the road for the timber transport with Seattle as a starting point), became within one generation Skid Row, an proverbial area in America in '90s through his poverty and promiscuity.

1405 GHANA - The map of Ghana

Bordered by the Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, Togo in the east and the Gulf of Guinea and Atlantic Ocean in the south, Ghana (which means "Warrior King") was the first African nation to declare independence from European colonisation, in 1957. Located only a few degrees north of the Equator, it is geographically closer to the "centre" of the Earth than any other country (the notional centre is located in Atlantic, at approximately 614km off the south-east coast of the country). It can be divided into four different geographical ecoregions. The coastline is mostly a low, sandy shore backed by plains and scrub and intersected by several rivers while its northern part features high plains. South-west and south-central is made up of a forested plateau region consisting of the Ashanti uplands and the Kwahu Plateau. The hilly Akwapim-Togo ranges are found along Ghana's eastern border. On its territory is the Lake Volta, the world's largest artificial lake.

1404 BANGLADESH - Mahansthangarh and its Environs (UNESCO WHS - Tentative List)

Located 11km north of Bogra, Mahasthangarh, the ancient capital of Pundravardhana, home of the Pundra, a group of people not speaking languages of the Indo-European family, is one of the earliest urban archaeological sites so far discovered in Bangladesh. Mahasthan means a place that has excellent sanctity and garh means fort. A limestone slab bearing six lines in Prakrit in Brahmi script, discovered in 1931, dates Mahasthangarh to at least the 3rd century BC, and the fortified area was in use till the 18th century AD. The site is protected by the Karatoya River (now only a small stream) on the west and a deep moat on the south, west and part of the north.

1402 ZIMBABWE - Wooden Carvings

Zimbabwe is an ethnically diverse country, but the Shona, the Bantu people considered the oldest in the region (are believed to be the legendary guardians of King Solomon's mines) holds an overwhelming majority of 70%. They are known as skilful and creative sculptors, Zimbabwe being considered the center for stone sculpture in Africa. Besides stone, they also use wood, mainly Ebony, African Teak, and Mukwa. The sculptures depicted in the postcard seem to be made of Mukwa, which is only found in Tanzania, Zambia,  Mozambique, Zimbabwe and South Africa. It has variable colors such as a pale uniform brown, chocolate brown, brick red or purplish brown and golden brown. The two men depicted in sculptures wear sumptuous headdresses and play drums, probably a ngoma (the one supported on earth), and a calabash (the one hemispherical).

1395 SWEDEN (Stockholm) - The old town hall in Sigtuna

Located not far to Stockholm, at the bay Skarven, Sigtuna is a locality with only approximately 8,500 inhabitants, but, although less significant today, it has an important place in Sweden's early history, because is the oldest inhabitat town in the country, founded in 980. It operated as a royal and commercial centre for some 250 years, and was one of the most important cities of Sweden. During a brief period at the end of the 10th and beginning of the 11th century, Sweden's first coins were minted here. St. Mary's Church, built in the 13th century by the Dominican order, still remains largely intact.

1394 UNITED STATES (New York) - Esopus Meadows Lighthouse

Nicknamed Maid of the Meadows, and located on the Hudson River, near the town Esopus (which took its name from the native Esopus tribe), Esopus Meadows Lighthouse stands on the west side of the channel, in the river, and is accessible only by boat. Its purpose was to warn mariners of the mud flats known as the Esopus Meadows, located off the western shore of the river, and its construction began in 1838, when the land was ceded for $1.00 by the town to the US government. The light became active in 1839, and was a twin to the Roundout II lighthouse further north up the river. By 1867, the building was heavily damaged by flood and ice and funds for a new lighthouse were appropriated in 1870.

1393 INDONESIA (Lesser Sunda) - Naga Banda in Ngaben Ceremony

Ngaben, or Cremation Ceremony, is a Hindu funeral ritual performed in Bali to send the deceased to the next life. The body of the deceased is placed as if sleeping, and the family continues to treat him as sleeping. No tears are shed, because the deceased is only temporarily absent and will reincarnate or find final rest in  Moksha. To find out the proper day of the ceremony, is consulted a specialist. In this day, the body is placed inside a coffin, placed in its turn inside a sarcophagus resembling a buffalo (Lembu) or in a temple structure (Wadah), made of papier-maché and wood. The sarcophagus is then borne to the cremation site in a procession, which is almost never walked in a straight line, to confuse the evil spirits.

1391 UNITED STATES (Alabama) - Alabama map and flag

Bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west, Alabama (nicknamed The Cotton State) took its name from the Alabama people, a Muskogean-speaking tribe whose members lived just below the confluence of the Coosa and Tallapoosa rivers. About three-fifths of its land area is a gentle plain, and the north region is mostly mountainous, with the Tennessee River cutting a large valley and creating numerous creeks, streams, rivers, mountains, and lakes. The capital city of the state is, from 1846, Montgomery, which was also selected in 1861 as the first capital of the Confederate States of America, until the seat of government moved to Richmond, Virginia.

1390 PORTUGAL (Faro) - Castle of Silves

Situated on a hill above the Arade River, navigable in historical times, and bordered to the south by the Atlantic Ocean, Silves was possibly founded during the times of Roman domination. Former capital of the Algarve, it was one of the most important towns of western Al-Andalus. Silves Castle (Castelo dos Mouros, Moorish Castle), located on the top of the hill and built between the 8th and 13th century, is one of the best preserved of the Moorish fortifications in Portugal. In the next hundred years, the fortification was strengthened by Moors and passed twice, for brief periods, under Christian dominion, until  Afonso III of Portugal definitively conquered it.

0745, 1346, 1389 INDONESIA (New Guinea) - Dani Tribe in Baliem Valley

Posted on 16.07.2013, 30.11.2014, and 01.01.2015
The Dani (also spelled Ndani) are a people from the Grand Valley of the Baliem River, a broad, temperate plain lying 1.800m above the tropical jungles of Papua, of the island of New Guinea. They are one of the most numerous tribes in the highlands, and simultaneously one of the most well-known, despite the fact that were discovered only in 1938. At least 50.000 Dani live on the valley floor, and another 50.000 inhabit scattered settlements along the steep-sided valleys around the Grand Valley. Temperature is mild, rainfall moderate, wildlife harmless and disease rare, so it can said that this is one of the world's most pleasant corners. Sweet potatoes are important in their culture as food, but also as the most important tool used in bartering, especially in dowries, and this is reflected in the over seventy different names used for this vegetable. They grow also ginger, taro, cucumber, carrot, greens, yam, and a single fruit: banana. As most Papuans, they consider pigs the most important living creatures besides people. Pigs mean wealth and social importance. Only the possession of several wives is as important and usually a man who has many pigs will have more than one wife.

Their tools are made of stone and bone, wood and bamboo. A few of the more exotic materials, such as seashells, furs, feathers and the finest woods, reach the Grand Valley along the native trade routes. Metals, and even pottery, were unknown to the Dani, but despite their primitive tools, their houses and gardens are complex. Their settlements are collections of compounds enclosed by a stockade, within which are four kinds of structures, arranged according to a traditional pattern. At one end of the oval courtyard is the circular domed men’s house. On both sides were long rectangular family or cooking houses and smaller circular structures in which each woman slept with certain smaller children and her husband, when he was not in the men’s house. Finally there are houses divided into stables where the pigs were kept. More about their houses I wrote here.

 

The men only wear long and thin sheaths for penis (kotekas), and the women short skirts woven from orchid fibers, decorated with straw, and woven bags (noken) across their backs. Their fondness for "dressing up" shows the most during the time of war, when put boar tusks in their noses, and headdresses made of Paradise birds feathers. Dani occupied one of the most fertile parts of Papua, so they often had to fight for their territory. Actually ritual small-scale warfare between rival villages is integral to their traditional culture, with much time spent preparing weapons, engaging in both mock and real battle, and treating any resulting injuries. Some sources say that they practiced cannibalism, others the opposite. Anyway, they were the most dreaded head-hunting tribe on the island. The tribe is also notorious for the custom that if someone dies in the village, each of his female relatives will have a segment of their finger cut off.

0344, 1387 ROMANIA (Suceava) - The Old and Lonely Apple-tree

Posted on 27.09.2012, and completed on 31.12.2014
The idea behind my collection is to create a meaningful and (possibly) coherent image of each country, which to contain the people (with their legacies, be they material or cultural, and with the things out of their hands), history and the beauty of the places. All are closely related, because on one hand the things that surround people reflects their way of thinking and feeling (individually or/and collectively), and on the other their minds and souls are influenced both by the place where they live and by what their predecessors left behind. That is why this wonderful picture fits quite well in my collection. The photo is impressive in a natural way, and arouses a indefinite, congenital nostalgia, unrelated to a particular place or an lived event. Nostalgia of loss of something you've never had or simply the sadness of being.

On the first photo is written "Copacul meu bătrân şi singur, mărul fără flori din vârful Runcului", that means "My old and lonely tree, the apple tree without flowers from the top of Runcu". Thus I found out that the subject of the photography isn't a some one, found incidentally, this lonely and tormented apple tree from the (presumably hill) Runcu being a very well known and cherished tree by the photographers from Gura Humorului (town near which it's located, in Suceava county). So cherished, that the local photoclub name is even Mărul (The Apple). Very cool. Therefore you will find on the photoclub site (but also on other sites / blogs / facebook pages) many pictures of this real local "celebrity".

1386 CONGO-BRAZZAVILLE - A sandpainting postcard

Handmade postcards aren't among my favorites, but this one received from Brazzaville is an exception, especially that it comes from a country difficult to access and it was achieved by a special technique, namely sandpainting. Sandpainting (or drypainting) is the art of pouring colored sands, powdered pigments from minerals or crystals, and pigments from other natural or synthetic sources onto a surface to make a fixed, or unfixed sand painting. It is practiced by Native Americans in the Southwestern United States, by Tibetan and Buddhist monks, by Australian Aborigines, by Latin Americans on certain Christian holy days, but also by some modern artists worldwide.

1385 ITALY (Veneto) - Teatro La Fenice in Venice

Teatro La Fenice (The Phoenix) is an opera house in Venice, one of "the most famous and renowned landmarks in the history of Italian theatre" as well as those in Europe. Especially in the 19th century, La Fenice became the site of many famous operatic premieres at which the works of several of the four major bel canto era composers - Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti, and Verdi were performed. Its name reflects its role in permitting an opera company to "rise from the ashes" despite losing the use of three theatres to fire, in 1774, 1836, and 1996. Last time La Fenice was rebuilt in 19th century style on the basis of a design by architect Aldo Rossi who, in order to obtain details of its design, used still photographs from the opening scenes of Luchino Visconti's 1954 film Senso which had been filmed in the house.

1384 MEXICO (Michoacán) - Indigenous festivity dedicated to the dead (UNESCO ICH)

1384 Dance of The Old Men in Janitzio

The town of Janitzio (which means "where it rains") is located atop the hill of the Isla de Janitzio, the main island of Lake Pátzcuaro (on the background of the postcard), whereof the natives believe that is the place where the barrier between life and death is the thinnest. On the island's highest point can be seen a 40m statue of José María Morelos, a great hero of Mexico's independence. The Lake Pátzcuaro basin is home to the Purépecha (Tarascan) people, who in pre-colonial times occupied most of the state of Michoacán, but also some of the lower valleys of Guanajuato and Jalisco. The Tarascan state was never conquered by the Aztec Empire, despite several attempts to do so, probably due to the Purépecha knowledge of metal working, which was superior to that of the Aztecs.

1382 UNITED STATES (Maine) - Marshall Point Light in Port Clyde

Port Clyde is the southernmost settlement on the Saint George peninsula in central/coastal  Maine, and part of the town of Saint George. In the 19th century, it became a busy port featuring granite quarries, tide mills for sawing timber, and shipbuilding and fish canning businesses. Marshall Point Light Station was established in 1832 to assist boats entering and leaving Port Clyde Harbor. The original lighthouse was a 6.1m tower lit by seven lard oil lamps with 14-inch reflectors, but in 1857 this was replaced with the present one. It is a 9.4m tall white brick tower on a granite foundation. The tower was originally lit with a 5th order Fresnel lens. A raised wooden walkway connects the tower to land.

1381 NETHERLANDS (Netherlands / North Brabant) - Eindhoven in 21th century

Although the written history of Eindhoven, the largest city of North Brabant, started in 1232, many people only know it for the events and achievements from the 20th century. For example, those passionate about history know it due to the Operation Market Garden in the WWII, the football fans because of the club PSV Eindhoven, and businessmen due to the giant Philips. The postcard illustrates very well the image of the city in the 21st century, with several modern buildings.

1380 SOLOMON ISLANDS - A bride with shell money from Malaita Province

Named after its largest island, Malaita is one of the largest provinces of the Solomon Islands, the island nation located in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and northwest of Vanuatu. Malaitans are of a varying phenotype. The skin varies from rich chocolate to tawny, most clearly darker than Polynesians, but not generally as dark as the peoples of Bougainville or the western Solomons, who Malaitans refer to as "black men". Most of them are shorter than average Europeans, though not as short as Negritos.

1379 MONGOLIA - Tsaatan people

The Tsaatan (named also Dukha, Dukhans or Duhalar) are a small Tuvan (Tozhu Tuvans) Turkic community of reindeer herders living in northern Mongolia. The North Taiga band was organized under the Qing Dynasty as part of Uriyankhai banner. With Mongolian independence in 1911, the banner became part of independent Tuva, which was annexed by the Russians in 1944, leaving only North Taiga band on the Mongolian side of the frontier. The South Taiga group of the Tsaatan and other Uriankhais fled over the frontier from Tuva to avoid conscription in the 1930s. At first, the Mongolian government repeatedly deported them back to Tuva, but in 1956 finally gave them citizenship and resettled them at Tsagaan Nuur Lake on the Shishigt River. Only 44 Tsaatan families remained, totaling somewhere between 200 and 400 people.

1378 GUERNSEY (Lihou) - Lihou Island

Lihou is a small tidal island located just off the west coast of the island of Guernsey, at low tide being linked to the nearby L'Erée headland, on Guernsey, by a 400m stone causeway. Part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown depencencies, in the past was used by locals for the collection of seaweed for use as a fertiliser, but today Lihou is mainly used for tourism, including school trips. Lihou is also an important centre for conservation, forming part of a Ramsar wetland site for the preservation of rare birds and plants as well as historic ruins of a priory and a farmhouse. Apart from shingle beaches, the island has a 20m high ridge running approximately north-south.

1376 AUSTRALIA (Victoria) - Virgin and Child in St. Patrick's Cathedral in Melbourne

On October 31, 2014 Australia Post has issued, as in every year, a series of stamps and also a set of maxicards to celebrate Christmas. The set contains five stamps, divided into two distinct categories, in fact two themes. Four of the stamps, festive and colourful, represent the familiar trappings and sentiments of Christmas celebration and recall techniques of paper cut design as well as snow crystals. The other two have a religious theme, being based on stained-glass windows in Saint Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne.