1528 UNITED STATES - A pin-up by Harry Ekman

Even if this postcard was printed in Russia in 2014, and the signature of the author was erased, it is a reproduction of a pin-up by Harry Ekman (1923-1999), a significant American graphic artist, born in Chicago. He initially apprenticed with Haddon Sundblom, who was a close family friend, and by 1951 for  Gil Elvgren. He is best remembered for his pin-up and advertising work. Working with Gil Elvgren, he is thought to have penned several of the iconic images attributed to Elvgren. By 1960, Ekman was making a transition from commercial illustration and pin-up art to portraiture. The rest of his career was devoted to gallery works and portraits.

1527 CHRISTMAS & NEW YEAR (Ukraine) - Under the Christmas tree, on Easter

1526 JAPAN (Kansai) - Gagaku (UNESCO ICH)

In this postcard is a Bugaku dance performance (accompanied by a Gagaku orchestra) at Ise Jingū (Ise Shrine), probably during the Spring Kagura Festival. Gagaku (lit. "elegant music") is the oldest of the Japanese performing arts and encompasses three distinct arts: Kuniburi no Utamai (Shinto religious music and folk songs and dance, accompaniment by harp and flute), Komagaku (played as a dance accompaniment and uses only winds and percussion instruments), and Utamono (danced to vocal music whose texts include Japanese folk songs and Chinese poems). It was introduced into Japan with Buddhism from China, and has been performed at the Imperial Court in Kyoto for several centuries. Influenced by the politics and culture of different periods, Gagaku continues to be transmitted in the Music Department of the Imperial Household Agency. It is not only an important cultural tool in confirming Japanese identity, but also a demonstration of how multiple cultural traditions can be fused into a unique heritage.

1525 COOK ISLANDS (Roratonga) - Te Rua Manga

With a population of 10,572, Rarotonga is the most populous island of the Cook Islands, an island country in the South Pacific Ocean in free association with New Zealand. Captain John Dibbs, master of the colonial brig Endeavour, is credited as the European discoverer on 25 August 1823, while transporting the missionary Rev. John Williams. The chief town, Avarua, on the north coast, is the capital of the Cook Islands. It is a very popular tourist destination with many resorts, hotels and motels. It is 32km in circumference, and is surrounded by a lagoon. The interior of the island is dominated by eroded volcanic peaks cloaked in dense vegetation.

1121, 1524 SURINAME - Arawak people

Surinamese beauty in amerindian cultural clothing

Posted on 27.06.2014, 12.04.2015
According to the 2012 census, only 3.7% of the population of Suriname are of indigenous ancestry, whitch means about 20,000 people. The main ethnic groups of original inhabitants can be devided into the lowland and upland ones. The lowland Amerindians are the Arawak and the Caraiben, whilst there are three groups of Amerindians who can be considered as the upland ones namely, the Wayanas, the Trioes and the Akurioe, who live mainly in the South-Eastern portion of the country. Very few of them still leading a traditional way of life, mostly being influenced by western culture.

Arawaks celebrating the International Day of the World's Indigenous People

 

The International Day of the World's Indigenous People (9 August) was first proclaimed by the General Assembly of the United Nations in December 1994, to be celebrated every year during the first International Decade of the World's Indigenous People (1995-2004). In 2004, the Assembly proclaimed a Second International Decade (2005-2014) with the theme of "A Decade for Action and Dignity." There was the proposal to fixed this day instead the Columbus Day, regarded by indigenous peoples rather as a day of mourning, than to feast, but the General Assembly preferred to avoid upsetting some member nations.

1523 BURKINA FASO - Peaks of Sindou

Peaks of Sindou (Les Pics de Sindou in French) are a spectacular natural geological formation of sandstone, where nature has really outdone herself. It is incredible rocky chains that have formed due to sandstorms coming from the Sahel in the north, in the eastern part of Burkina Faso. Though geologicaly similar to the Bungle Bungles of Australia, the Peaks of Sindou have an entirely different ecosystem and can even be said to surpass the Bungle Bungles in beauty.

1522 DOMINICA - Mas Domnik

Dominica draws on a mix of cultures: Names of French places appear as often as English. African language, foods and customs often mingle with European traditions as part of the island's Creole culture. The Caribs still carve dugouts (canoes), build houses on stilts, and weave distinctive basketwork. Rastafarian and Black pride influences are also common. However, the core of Dominican culture is deeply embedded in the European culture, specifically that of the British. Music and dance are important facets of Dominica's culture, and its carnival is known to be the most original and least commercialized giving the carnival its name the original mas.

1521 CHINA (Jiangxi) - Lushan National Park (UNESCO WHS)

Mount Lushan is one of the spiritual centres of Chinese civilization, and was a summer resort for Western missionaries. The oval-shaped mountains are about 25km long and 10km wide, and neighbors Jiujiang city and the Yangtze River to the north, Nanchang city to the south, and Poyang Lake to the east. Its highest point is Dahanyang Peak, reaching 1,474 m above sea level, and is one of the hundreds of steep peaks that towers above a sea of clouds that encompass the mountains for almost 200 days out of the year.

1520 RUSSIA - Fight with the bear

Custom to arrange fighting of a man with a bear was known in medieval Russia as a "bear fun". Such funs were represented on frescos of the Kiev-Sofia cathedral (1037). In old manuscript by Daniil Zatochnik the author, listing different sorts of funs wrote about fighting with wild animals. The plot of a fighting of person and bear is met on medieval Russian coins and seals. Two variants of duels of an armed man with a bear practiced. In first of them a single combat was absolute, in other - a fighter if he was threatened with obvious danger, was insured by other hunters with pitchforks. In single combat of the unarmed man with a bear used with specially trained animals. Alongside with bear fight down to the end of 1920-s there was in many places a hunt for bear with very primitive weapon that was called rogatina - a wood pitchfork. The postcard is a reproduction of the painting Fight with the bear, by V. Nagornova (oil on canvas, 2013).

1519 BELARUS (Minsk City) - National Library of Belarus

1519 National Library of Belarus

The National Library of Belarus was founded on 15 September 1922, and houses the largest collection of Belarusian printed materials and the third largest collection of books in Russian behind the Russian State Library (Moscow) and the Russian National Library (St Petersburg). Since 2006 is located in a new 72m high building in Minsk, which can seat about 2,000 readers and features a 500-seat conference hall.

1518 LATVIA - Girls in traditional costumes in the Old Town of Riga

The Latvian national costume is basically the traditional festive outfit of ordinary folks as worn in the 19th century, approximately up to the 1870s. However, is not just a certain type of festive garb: it is an expression of a nation’s sense of beauty, ability to form an ornament and put together colors, as well as knowledge of the craft. It embodies centuries-old traditions of making, adorning, and wearing the costume, and is a composite of a variety of festive outfits.

1517 BARBADOS - The beach where landed the first settlers

1517 The beach where landed the first settlers in Barbados

The first English ship arrived in Barbados, where is now the Holetown, on the sheltered west coast of the island, on May 14th 1625, after what appears to have been a fortuitous accident. Captain John Powell and the crew of Olive Blossom were sailing from Brazil to England and went off course, due to a navigational error. Powell found the island to be uninhabited and claimed it in the name of King James I of England. On his return to England informed his employer, Sir William Courteen (a Dutch-born English merchant trader), what it happened.

1264, 1515 GUERNSEY (Alderney) - Alderney Island

1264 ALDERNEY - Moorings alongside the breakwater
at Braye Harbour

Posted on 02.10.2014, 07.04.2015
Alderney, part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, is the most northerly of the Channel Islands, located at around 16km to the west of La Hague (Normandy, France), and 32km to the north-east of Guernsey. It is 4.8km long and 2.4km wide, and has about 1,900 inhabitants, formally known as Ridunians (from the Latin Riduna), but traditionally nicknamed vaques (after the cows), or else lapins (because of the many rabbits seen in the island). It shares a history with the other Channel Islands, becoming an island in the Neolithic period as the waters of the Channel rose. Its many dolmens have suffered through the large-scale military constructions of the 19th century and also by the Germans during the WWII occupation. Moreover, Germans fortified the island abandoned by inhabitants, as part of Hitler's Atlantic Wall, and built four concentration camps.

1515 ALDERNEY - Springtime on Gannet Rock

Braye Harbour is the main harbour on the north side of the island. It is an artificial harbour created by building a pier or jetty. The harbour faces out onto the Swinge, which is part of the English Channel. The breakwater at the Braye Harbour was built between 1847 and 1864. Originally, two arms were planned as a protection to the harbour, but only the western arm was completed, with a length of 1,471 m. Within a year 540 m was abandoned to the sea following heavy gales. The massive stone breakwater is generally used as a walk way to enjoy the scenic beauty of the bay, its harbour and the sea. Braye Harbour has a slipway but it doesn't have a marina and there are no alongside pontoon systems to berth to.

1444, 1514 SRI LANKA - Golden Temple of Dambulla (UNESCO WHS)

1444 Golden Temple of Dambulla - Maha Raja Vihara

Posted on 07.02.2015, 06.04.2015
Situated in the central part of the country, Golden Temple of Dambulla, also known as Dambulla Cave Temple, is the largest and best-preserved cave temple complex in Sri Lanka. There are more than 80 documented caves in the surrounding area, and the rock towers 160m over the surrounding plains. This temple complex dates back to the 1st century BC, but prehistoric Sri Lankans would have lived in these cave complexes before the arrival of Buddhism in Sri Lanka as there are burial sites about 2700 years old in this area.

1514 Golden Temple of Dambulla - The Golden Buddha statue

The larger site incorporates a set of individual units reflecting all phases of site development from the megalithic period to the present day, including a monastic chapter house, bo-tree temple, dagoba and the earliest known village in Sri Lanka. Those are located within a site of considerable natural beauty and power. The complex has five caves under a vast overhanging rock, carved with a drip line to keep the interiors dry. In 1938 the architecture was embellished with arched colonnades and gabled entrances. 

1513 JAMAICA - Ackee and Breadfruit

The ackee (Blighia sapida) is native to tropical West Africa, was imported to Jamaica (probably on a slave ship) before 1778, and since then it has become a major feature of various Caribbean cuisines. The scientific name honours Captain William Bligh who took the fruit from Jamaica to the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, England in 1793. The fruit is pear-shaped. When it ripens, it turns from green to a bright red to yellow-orange, and splits open to reveal three large, shiny black seeds, each partly surrounded by soft, creamy or spongy, white to yellow flesh - the aril. Ackee is the national fruit of Jamaica, and ackee and saltfish is the national dish. Ackee pods should be allowed to ripen on the tree before picking. Prior to cooking, the ackee arils are cleaned and washed. The arils are then boiled for approximately 5 minutes and the water discarded. The dried seeds, fruit, bark, and leaves are used medicinally.

1512 GERMANY (Thuringia) - Bach House in Eisenach

The Bach House in Eisenach is a museum dedicated to the famous composer of the Baroque period Johann Sebastian Bach, who was born in the city in 1685, and spent the first 10 years of his life there. The core of the building complex is a half-timbered house, ca. 550 years old, which was identified as Bach's birth house in the middle of the 19th century. In 1905, the Neue Bachgesellschaft acquired the building, and in 1907 it was opened as the first Bach museum. Even though in 1928 it was discovered that Bach wasn't born in that house, the museum remained as a Bach memorial site, and even extended to the other surrounding properties. From 2005 to 2007, the buildings to the west of the Bach House were replaced by a new museum building, the historical building again underwent restoration, and the exhibition was completely modernized.

1511 NIGER - The Djado Plateau and its forts (UNESCO WHS - Tentative List)

The Djado Plateau lies in northeastern Niger, and it is known for its cave art (often of large mammals long since absent from the area), but is now largely uninhabited, with abandoned towns and forts still standing and visible. The forts are the first architectural elements made from stone and clay in this area, found also in Tichitt Walata in Mauritania, and symbolize the first civilizations organized on the period of desiccation of the Sahara. There is no certainty about who were the founders of the settlement, but at some point the Kanouri people occupied it, they being the last inhabitants of the oasis. The reasons for the abandon aren't clear; it could be frequent raids in the area or the sickly amount of mosquitoes. Today the area is dominated by the Toubou people, who take care of the palm gardens.

1509 LITHUANIA (Klaipėda) - Ventė Cape Lighthouse

Ventė Cape is a headland in Nemunas Delta, known as a rest place for many birds during their migrations, particularly the autumn migration. The Cape, being in the former Memel Territory, was part of Germany until 1919, and was marked as one of the most dangerous places in different old maps. It is the main reason why an 11m-high lighthouse (one of the seven that exist in Lithuania) stands in the horn. The first wooden lighthouse in Ventė Cape was built in 1837, surrounded by water on three sides. The present red brick lighthouse was built in 1852, at 30m from the Curonian Lagoon, and its signal is seen from 3.5km. In order to protect the lighthouse, the horn of Ventė Cape was paved with stones in 1860. Water measuring station was built next to the lighthouse in 1880.

1508 BAHAMAS - Paradise Island Bridge

1508 Paradise Island Bridge

Formerly known as Hog Island, Paradise Island is located just off the shore of the city of Nassau, which is itself located on the northern edge of the island of New Providence. With about 2 miles wide and 5 miles long, It is best known for the sprawling resort Atlantis with its extensive water park rides, pools, beach, restaurants, walk-in aquarium and casinos. Its first development took place when millionaire Axel Wenner-Gren, one of the richest man at that time, bought the island in 1935.

1507 BURUNDI - Batwa people and their pottery

The Great Lakes Twa (Batwa in English) are a pygmy people, generally considered to be the oldest population of the Great Lakes region, though currently they live as a Bantu caste. Current populations (approximately 80,000 people) are found in Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, and the eastern portion of the DR Congo. Traditionally, they have been a semi-nomadic hunter-gatherers of the mountain forests living in association with agricultural villages. When the Hutu arrived in the region, they subjugated the people that they called Abatwa, the ancestors of the Batwa. Around the 15th century, the Tutsi arrived and dominated both the Hutu and the Twa, creating a three-caste society with the Tutsi governing, the Hutu the bulk of the population, and the Twa at the bottom of the social scale.