‘Baad’ is a tribal tradition through which a woman is offered as compensation if her relative commits a crime.
Tag: tradition
For decades the village of Cirompang in West Java has been self-sufficient when it comes to food. Residents rely on ancestral wisdom to grow and harvest rice.
JEJU ISLAND — Kang Ok-ja, 75, looks out toward the ocean from the roadside. It’s not a good day for diving, she tells me. Waves crash against black volcanic rocks that line a stretch of Jeju Island’s north coast. Wind and rain are common on this South Korean island. “The waves don’t look so high now but the wind is picking up and they’ll get bigger,” says Kang. “It won’t be safe for us to dive today.” She would know. Kang is a haenyeo, or “sea woman,” and has been diving in these waters since she was a teenager. For […]
Most Indians are vegetarians. But omelets, a colonial legacy, remain popular in India.
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Among The Hmong
While other tourists were busy buying “traditional” crafts, I took many pictures of members, young and old, of the Hmong people of Chiang Rai, in northern Thailand.
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Haute Couture
It must be tricky for the Bigouden women to wear their traditional lace bonnets — some of them 35 centimeters in height — in windy Brittany.
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Passions Flare Over Bullfighting In Valencia
VALENCIA — Supporters of traditional bullfighting are seeing red in Spain, with tens of thousands taking to the streets this week in Valencia to protest cuts to government subsidies for the controversial sport. Attendees chanted “liberty” as they gathered in front of the local city hall, with the march culminating at the nearby Plaza de […]
A South American writer rethinks the soundtrack of his teenage revolution, concluding that his aversion to culturally significant genres was a youthful indiscretion that deprived him of musical riches.
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Dragon Art
Traveling in group tours as my wife and I usually did, you’re bound to visit some local craft workshops along the way. It’s always been a great opportunity to snap some nice pictures — here’s one I took in a pottery shop near Shanghai.
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Bullfighting Dad Causes Uproar In Spain
El País, Jan. 26, 2016 Spain is waving a red flag at famous bullfighter Francisco Rivera Ordóñez after he posted a picture of himself taunting a bloody calf while holding his five-month-old daughter. Ordóñez posted the photograph, featured Tuesday on the front page of Spain’s leading daily El País, on his official Instagram account a […]
LOIKAW — Myanmar“s so-called “giraffe women,” famous for the traditional neck coils they wear, appear destined to disappear. Young Burmese have rejected this tradition of wearing the heavy brass rings, saying they are painful and uncomfortable. And for those who do, carrying on the custom has become less about tradition and more about earning a living from tourists. San Bon village is one place where Burma’s long-necked women call home. It’s about 30 minutes by car from Loikaw, the capital of Kayah state. Residents say that at one time all the women here wore the neck coils as a symbol […]
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Each To Their Own Mayonnaise
These garlic garlands, in southeastern France’s Provence region, may have been destined for a batch of aioli: a local kind of mayonnaise that also includes olive oil and sometimes egg yolks, and a squeeze of lemon juice.
NEW DELHI — Five months ago, Devanish Meena, a young Indian man from New Delhi, eloped with his longtime girlfriend. Now he is a widower. Adding to Devanish’s anquish is his belief that the young bride, Pratibha Gujar, was murdered — by her own family. In India, approximtely 1,000 young people are murdered each year in name of saving a family’s honor. The “honor killings,” as they’re known, are often committed when a forced or arranged marriage is rejected. Pratibha’s death seems to fit the profile. The young woman’s relationship with Devanish was very much opposed by her family. And […]
A visit to the hill tribes near Chiang Rai, in northern Thailand, usually ends up with tourists buying crafts or taking picture of locals posing in traditional costumes. I did both, bringing back one of these colorful hats — though I tried to snap a more candid shot.
What were once quaint and distinguishable summer beach towns have become Disneyfied versions of themselves, identical places to buy knockoff brands and chain store coffee.
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Back To New France
In the northeast of Canada“s New Brunswick province, the Village Historique Acadien depicts life as it was between the late 18th and early 20th century in Acadia, the area settled by French colonizers in North America. Dressed in period costumes, the village’s actors brought ancestral trades to life, allowing us to travel back through time, […]
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The Oyster Is Your World
This is how they used to farm oysters on the Île d’Oléron in western France: using tiles as cultch for the mollusks to attach to. This kind of traditional method has since largely disappeared.
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Turning Back The Clogs
These Dutch klompen in Volendam bring back a precise chidhood memory: In 1940, when I was about the age of the boy on the left of the picture, I fled from my hometown in zone occupée to the village of Lacrost in the region of Bourgogne — then in zone libre … and I had […]
Happy Chinese New Year! 2015 is the Year of Goat, or Sheep, since in Chinese people use the same character for both. Check out our quick tour of how people are celebrating Chinese New Year around the world. It’s part of our new video series The Babel…
HO CHI MINH CITY — The night begins with a concerto of motor bike horns as the heat lies like a damp rag over everything. All the mopeds take off at the light, tooting their horns at once, and in the twilight we leave behind Ho Chi Minh City’s tourist district, with its French-colonial buildings, […]
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Zulu Pompom
We saw another glimpse of Zulu culture in Swaziland, the landlocked country where a small portion of this community lives. The pompoms these dancers wear on their arms and legs are actually frilly goatskin bands.
A Turkish immigrant playwright in Germany explores the meaning and theater of a religious rite that divides modern society.
A Syrian refugee living in a tent near the border with Turkey has lost his home, but he is preserving the family business of creating beautiful works of traditional mosaic art.
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After The War, Living In Harmony
Only five years after the end of Word War II, the mayor of Montbéliard (my hometown in eastern France) and the mayor of Ludwigsburg in western Germany started talking about making “sister cities” out of their respective localities. The choir of traditional folk singing I ended up conducting played a significant role in this local […]
LAURINO — On the way to the mill, I stopped in Stazzema, in the heart of the Apuan Alps, where it was raining. I followed the step-by-step directions that Silvia gave me. She knows the trail well, as she and her partner Alex decided to move to the mill five years ago. This is “Friar’s […]
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Funchal’s Flowery Floats
The Madeira Flower Festival takes place every spring. For the main parade through the streets of Funchal, 30 or so floats are decorated with thousands of flowers by associations, schools — and even hospitals and the local police take part.
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Mummy Guards
The Toraja people in Southern Sulawesi, Indonesia, are famous for their elaborate funeral rites. Not only do they tend to mummify the deceased — they also store coffins in caves carved up on rocky cliffs and place a wooden effigy of the departed, called Tau tau, to guard the burial site. Spooky.
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Traditional Warrior From 9 To 5
In the traditional homestead of Vula Zulu, near the South African border with Swaziland, we got to witness Zulu impi perform age-old war dancing rites. As in many other places, we were told that the warriors did not actually live in the village, but returned to their homes once the show is over.
KARACHI — Khushboo Rafiq is the first person in her family not to pay a dowry, or bride price, to her husband Usman’s family. Khushboo works for an organization that advocates women’s rights. It was very important to her that her wedding represents the ideals and convictions on which she spends her professional efforts.” We used the wedding invitation to tell guests they should not bring any gifts,” she says. “We also made it very clear that no dowry was being paid. We also are donating our wedding dress to a charity for another couple to use in the future.” […]
Sectarian differences have long created problems for some marriages among Shia, Sunni and others. But with the death and hatred of war, romantic tragedies abound.
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Mayan Market
“Chichi,” as it is affectionately called by visitors and Guatemalans alike, has become one of the most-visited destinations in the country. The colorful blouses these K’iche” women were selling at the city’s market contrasted nicely with the dark hair they inherited from their Mayan ancestors.
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Before The Popemobile
Paul VI was the last pope to use the sedia gestatoria regularly, like here for Easter celebrations on St. Peter’s Square. This ceremonial chair which was carried on the shoulders of a few chosen men — usually belonging to old Roman families — was abandonned by his successor John Paul I, before being altogether replaced […]
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Hong Kong Hotel, Dragons Welcome
This hole in Repulse Bay hotel in Hong Kong is not merely the result of an architect’s whim. In accordance with the “invisible forces” of feng shui, many high-rises and hotels feature such “windows,” to let air flow naturally through the city. In this case, we were told by locals that the hole also allowed […]
Animal rights activists have attacked an annual Dog Eating Feast, which asks the larger question over values in modern China.
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Fresh From The Bosphorus
In 1968, Istanbul’s Galata Bridge was already famous for its throngs of fishermen. They would present their catch on the bright red trays you can see in the foreground. We bought two (don’t ask me to remember what kind of fish!) and had them grilled nearby.
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No Words, No Harm
I took this picture of Jain women, who had apparently taken a vow of silence, near the famous Taj Mahal. But what I remember best is that, since their religion advocates non-violence and deep respect toward all living things, several women used a straw broom to sweep before them so as not to crush insects […]
MUNICH — At a simple café near the main street, a group of mountain bikers comes in, and they’re thirsty. “What kinds of beer do you have?” one of them asks the server. He starts reciting: Amber Ale. India Pale Ale. Summer Ale. White Ale. Porter. Stout. Then he adds Lager — a little sheepishly, […]
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Hoping It Won’t Rain
The sale of natural sponges from the Aegaen Sea has become highly regulated, meaning that sights like these must be pretty rare nowadays.
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Buffaloes And Burials
Funeral proceedings for the Toraja people, in southern Sulawesi, include the slaughtering of a water buffalo. Four of them were killed in this case — a sign we were told that the deceased must have been from a wealthy family. Weirdly enough, the ritual throat-slitting and skinning of the bovid was followed by a Protestant […]
The wind instrument this snake charmer is playing is called a pungi. I brought one back as a present for my then 6-year-old grandson, who — since there aren’t that many cobras in France — tried to charm earthworms with it.