When the world gets closer.

We help you see farther.

Sign up to our expressly international daily newsletter.

TOPIC: traditions

Dottoré!

A Christmas Invitation Lost In Translation

Trasite!

La signora Ernestina is a lovely old lady who lives in a basso near my house. Just outside that tiny street-level studio, she keeps a small altar with the photos of her deceased loved ones, and of those of almost all the neighborhood. When Christmas comes, she adorns it with a thousand lights, baubles and ornaments — enough to compete with any Chinese wholesaler.

The effect is quite picturesque, and in fact yesterday a couple of tourists were standing outside her house to admire the lights.

Watch VideoShow less

Tarmac Voodoo: Plane Struck By Lightning Exorcized After Landing

What happens when lightning strikes a plane? First, thanks to modern safety features, it flies on and lands without incident. But in Togo, airport staff last week made sure one such plane was thoroughly *explored and inspected.

With bolts of lightning regularly striking airplanes, aeronautics has long since developed technologies to ensure the planes can withstand the impact, and pilots and passengers can safely continue their journey.


Keep reading...Show less

Vegan Or Gluten-Free: Hard To Swallow In France

The 'exceptional' eaters are tolerated if it's part of a medical treatment. But when it's based on well-being or upsets dinner parties, it can get tricky.

PARIS — Try this: tell those around you at dinner that you have stopped consuming gluten. Or meat. Or dairy. And wait for the answers: "What's this, a new fad?", "Do you want to lose weight?", "Are you sick?"

Refusing to share a meal often sparks all sorts of comments and more or less unpleasant criticism, even debate. Since becoming a vegetarian four years ago, Laura Antonakis has become very familiar with this. "But… What are we going to eat?", "Men have been eating meat since prehistoric times!", "What you're doing is useless, it won't change anything", "Your carrot is suffering too" are remarks she often hears when the subject is brought up during meals. The 31-year-old Parisian librarian says she has been called a "quinoa eater" and a "stupid hipster."

Keep reading...Show less

Female Sexuality, Still A Victim Of Egypt's Patriarchy

CAIRO — A friend of mine lived alone in downtown Cairo. She was single when she moved in but after getting into a relationship, her boyfriend joined her. One day in 2012, her neighbors saw her heading to the apartment with her boyfriend and two friends, a man and a woman. Once they were inside, the neighbors started banging on the door, calling her a prostitute and threatening to call the police to arrest them for prostitution. An old man, another neighbor, intervened and tried to calm them down. My friend told them that she and her partner were married, through an urfi or unregistered marriage, and the guests were just friends. Things settled down only after she promised that she would move out of the apartment.

Many women have been raised in familial contexts where their mobility and sexuality are restricted. We are taught how to act "respectably," to pay attention to our reputation, to access public spaces only temporarily and with a clear purpose, and, of course, not to have sex unless married. These restrictions have driven many of us to move out of our family homes in a quest to experience life for ourselves, and enter the expanding ranks of the mustaqellat, or independent women, those who live in the home of neither their families nor husbands.

Keep reading...Show less
Congo
Emmanuel Libondo

Congolese Mourning Rites That Are Abusive To Widows

Representatives and victims in the Congo are pushing back on ancient traditions that render women without rights after the deaths of their husbands, even prohibiting them from eating or drinking when they want.

SIBITI — Being gifted as inheritance to the brother of your dead husband, seeing everything you own confiscated, being able to wash only when your in-laws decide. These are some of the abusive traditional practices suffered too often by widowed women in the Lékoumou region of the Republic of the Congo.

A recent gathering of various women's protection groups and local representatives confronted this custom, known as "le Ngo." Participants, including native women representing local neighborhoods, denounced such abuse.

Watch VideoShow less
GAZETA WYBORCZA
Jerzy Ziemacki

Polish Immigrants Come Home For Christmas, If Only In Their Dreams

Poles in the United States, Brazil and Britain recount how they've tried to adapt to the season in their new homelands. It can be bittersweet, as Polish traditions for them still hold sway.

CHICAGO — In Poland, the highlight of this season is Christmas Eve, when families gather to have an abundant 12-course meal. Agnieszka even has two. Ever since emigrating to Chicago 28 years ago, she awakes on Dec. 24and immediately begins preparing for the big dinner. After putting on an evening dress, she makes a video call to Poland, where her aunts and uncles are already sitting at a sumptuous table, next to a real Christmas tree.

Agnieszka still recalls the days when she recorded her Christmas greetings on a VHS tape and sent it to her loved ones by mail. Now her happy face appears in her family via digital screen, as 19th century portraits of her ancestors hang on the walls back home.

Watch VideoShow less
blog

Morning Assembly

Thailand takes national pride very seriously. Every morning in schools throughout the country, students gather to salute the flag, stand at attention — hands out of pockets — and sing patriotic songs.

blog

Where Tradition Lived On

In the 1970s some elderly women in Volendam in northern Netherlands were still wearing traditional dresses and bonnets as part of their daily lives. Back in my native Franche-Comté, I was the conductor of a traditional folk choir in which the singers — including me — wore 19th century costumes.

blog

The Meanings Of Bigouden

The Breton word "Bigouden" was first used to designate the very distinctive, sugarloaf-shaped lace bonnet traditionally worn by the women in the southwestern tip of the French region of Brittany. Then the meaning expanded, and "Bigouden" was used to identify the women themselves, then all the inhabitants of the region — then the region itself! Alors ... here's a shot I took in Bigouden of two Bigouden wearing their Bigouden.

blog

Texas Cousins

When people hear the word "cajun," they automatically think about Louisiana. But a small community of these descendants of French-speaking Acadian exiles also lives in Texas. The association "Les Acadiens du Texas" was founded in Beaumont in the late 1970s to preserve their history, which included traditional dances in not-so-traditional outfits.

Geopolitics
Sophie Mühlmann

The Bollywood Kiss Heard 'Round The World

India and Pakistan are arch enemies whose ongoing Kashmir conflict shows no signs of ending. So will the film kiss between a beloved Pakistani actress and an India heartthrob be censored?

SINGAPORE — Pakistan's censor is already sharpening its scissors after Humaima Malick, the country's most famous and highest-paid actress, kissed an Indian in her most recent movie.

Pakistani censorship authorities bear down hard on love scenes on principle anyway, but for some patriotic hardliners this trans-border kiss amounts to consorting with the enemy.

Watch VideoShow less
food / travel

Barbecue Traditions Around The World

By Patrick Randall

On June 21, the Swedish Barbecue Team won the European Barbecue Championship that took place in the heavenly town of Znin, in Poland. With 24 teams participating in eight different events that included cooking pork ribs, beef briskets or fish, this competition was one of the high points of the year for the world’s grilled meat enthusiasts.

Watch VideoShow less