Thursday, 29 January 2015

Cultural Beliefs of The Afar African Tribe

The Cultural Beliefs Afar people inhabit the Horn of Africa Tribe are and are concentrated in Ethiopia and areas of Eritrea, Djibouti, and Somalia. They are a nomadic people who eke out a living in a rocky, arid enviroment. They also inhabit the Awash Valley and the forests of northern Djibouti. The popuulation totals about 3 million people. They speak Afar. Their lives are built around the livestock they heard, goats, camels, and sometimes cattle. Religion also plays an important part of their lives.

Most Afars converted to Islam (10th century). There are also a few Christians. Afar clothing is an interesting blend of Arab and African people influences. The women perhaps reflecting the prevalence of Islam traditionally wear head scarves, but go bare breasted.                                                                                

History The ancestors of the Afar Cultural Beliefs of  settled farm land in the Ethiopian highlands some time before AD 1000 and primarily raised livestock. Some time after this they began a gradual transition to a more nomadic lifestyle and moved to the area they currently occupy. Since then they have been involved in many conflicts with bordering african tribes and peoples.

Most of the Afar are nomads who herd sheep, goats, cattle, and camels. A man's wealth is measured by the size of his herds. Not all of the Afar are herdsmen. Many of those who work in the Danakil Depression pry loose slabs of solid salt during the dry season, supplying ready-to-use salt in the form of crude blocks. Some of them live in apartment buildings in the country's capitol city, Addis Ababa. They remain there year round and work in government jobs such as the Afar broadcasts of the Ethiopian radio station.

Early in their history, the Afar were heavily influenced by the Islamic religion; and today, Islam is still held in great esteem. The people do not eat pork and rarely drink alcohol. Those who can afford to do so, make a pilgrimage to Mecca. In addition, many pre-Islamic cultural beliefs and customs are also prevalent among the Afar. They believe that certain trees and groves have sacred powers. They also have various religious rites such as anointing their bodies with ghee (a type of butter). Spirits of the dead are believed to be very powerful, and a "feast of the dead," called Rabena, is celebrated each year. They also give annual offerings to the sea to ensure safety for their villages. Many people wear protective leather amulets that contain herbs and verses from the Koran.

Religious Beliefs Due to the Islamic influence on their culture, most culture of the Afar people are practicing Sunni Muslims, although this cultural belief system is also influenced by an ancient, pre-Islamic religion of worshipping a sky god called Wak. Even with these strong ancient Cushitic religious influences, Afars don't eat pork, drink little alcohol and those who can afford to make a pilgrimage to Mecca.

The Afar Circumcision practice circumcision for both males and females. To circumcise the women, they sew together the vulva, which is also practised by some Bantu and other Cushites. Boys are circumcised during their coming of age when they become men.

Tuesday, 27 January 2015

Trinidad And Tobago Winter Carnival 2015

One of the most significant and beautiful carnivals of the Caribbean is definitely the annual carnival of Trinidad. The preparations start long before the carnival's start. The carnival is a happy folklore event, but beside, it is a competitive event. Various groups compete on the first place in various categories like; the queen of the carnival 2015, the Calypsos and Soca queens and kings.

Enjoy the pulsating rhythms of the Steelpan at Panorama; the Calypso Monarch and King & Queen Costumes during Dimanche Gras; Soca Monarch and Groovy Soca Monarch on Fantastic Friday; J’Ouvert and the Blue Devils; Playing Mas; Carnival 2015 Road March and Fetes galore.    
               
Carnival season is party season, and in Trinidad it begins many months in advance. There are mas band launches, large fêtes, and calypso tents where contenders for the Calypso Monarch crown perform nightly. No carnival would be complete without the various competitions that highlight the thought, skill and creativity on which each component of the festival is based. After weeks of intense preparation, steelbands deliver their best interpretations of leading party tunes and custom-made pan songs at the Panorama finals.

Carnival 2015 Dates Trinidad and Tobago's Winter annual Carnival festival the biggest and best in the Caribbean, and one of the top public celebrations in the world varies from year to year depending upon the Lenten calendar. Here are the 2015-2020 dates for Trinidad's and Tobago's Winter Carnival 2015 or at least Carnival Monday and Tuesday, the "official" celebration days, although the party always starts at least the previous Friday. 2015: Feb. 16-17.

The purpose of this group is to meet other people who have a similar interest in checking out Trinidad's Carnival 2015.  The summer is quickly approaching and reservations need to be made.  The cost of everything increases, and the availability of costumes and accomodations decreases the closer we get to the end of the year.If you've heard about it from someone who actually went, it's sooooo much fun…So maybe this is YOUR year to go! Let's meetup and see if we can assist each other in the preparation.

The J'Ouvert revelry clears and massive costumed bands of "Pretty Mas" players flood the street with riotous colour. A cast of thousands take to the street "jumping up" and "wining" (gyrating of the hips) to the sound of soca blaring from speakers piled on music trucks. The excitement is at fever pitch, but Carnival Monday is only a "warm-up" for Carnival Tuesday Brazilians culture.

Carnival Tuesday begins promptly at 8 a.m. Thousands of masqueraders are in full costume, ready and impatiently awaiting their chance to strut in front of the television cameras as bands cross the main judging points. Each band has its own historical, mythological or tropical concept with various sections depicting aspects of the main theme.

Saturday, 24 January 2015

Top 5 Most Beautiful Places to Visited in India

India is the hot favorite tourist destination in the world. Each year, million of tourists visit the country to see beautiful places to energize their lives. India has a lot of beautiful places where you for every tourist including religious traveller, business traveller, and others. India is also a popular destination for haunted tourism. In this article, we have compiled a list of the most visited places in India by number of tourists arriving.

India has an almost endless variety of cultures, landscapes, amazing monuments and places to explore. From the ancient ruins, fascinating religious structures, exotic cities and diverse landscape there is an endless collection of tourist attractions in India.                          
           
Taj Mahal

The Taj Mahal in Agra is an immense mausoleum of white marble, built between 1632 and 1653 by order of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his favorite wife. Called “a teardrop on the cheek of eternity” it is one of the masterpieces of Mughal architecture, and one of the great tourist attractions in India.

Jaisalmer 

Lying in the heart of the Thar Desert, Jaisalmer is a town in the state of Rajasthan, named after its founder Maharawal Jaisal Singh. Jaisalmer is sometimes called the "Golden City of India" because the yellow sand and the yellow sandstone used in every architecture of the city gives a yellowish-golden tinge to the city and its surrounding area, and is crowned by the Fort of Jaisalmer and its several ornate Jain temples.

Golden Temple

The Golden Temple, was founded in 1577 by Guru Ram Das, the fourth guru of Sikhs. It’s the spiritual capital of the Sikhs and gained its name, meaning "Holy Pool of Nectar", from the body of water around the Golden Temple. The exquisite Golden Temple attracts pilgrims from all over the world and the number of visitors it gets rivals that of the Taj Mahal! It looks particularly arresting at night when it’s beautifully place lit up, with its imposing gold dome illuminated.

Palolem

Palolem is the most southerly of Goa’s developed beaches and also one of the most beautiful place. It is a natural bay surrounded by lofty headlands on either sides, resulting in a calm, idyllic sea with a gently sloping bed. For those who believe a beach cannot be paradise without a decent selection of cheap restaurants and good hotels, a dose of nightlife and plenty of like-minded people Palolem is the place to be.

Kerala

The enchanting backwaters of Kerala, the mesmerizing waterfalls, the hill stations and the serene atmosphere make the state one of the most preferred tourist destinations. Kerala Backwaters comprises of a chain of lagoons and lakes which lies parallel to the Arabian Sea.

Wednesday, 21 January 2015

Facts About Bahá'í Temple of South America

The Bahá’í temple in Chile is one of eight projects from around the world that received an award or citation in the program this year.“For architects, it’s the award that recognizes designs that go in a new direction,” said Siamak Hariri of Hariri Pontarini Architects of Toronto.

The Bahá’i Temple of South America, situated in a seismic zone on the outskirts of Santiago, Chile, uses light for its spiritual and design inspiration. Its billowing, structurally robust form won a two phase international competition requesting a nine sided, domed structure with nine entries requirement for the design of Bahá’i Temples.                                                  
             
Designer's statement Light is the fundamental connecting force of the universe. The Bahá'í Temple of South American tour, designed by Hariri Pontarini Architects, employs both translucent stone and the newest glass technology as the means of generating and manifesting both the physiological and spiritual delights of natural light embodied in architecture.Set against the stirring background of the Andean mountain range, the new Bahá'í Temple is to be a crystallizing of light-as-expression, an evanescent structure of white alabaster and glass: a place of pure luminescence. During the day, it is the soft undulating alabaster and glass skin of the Bahá'í Temple which forms its outer expression.

The Bahá'í temple will be open to all without charge, and the services will include readings from the sacred temple of all the world's religions. At a time when many recent headline news stories, particularly from the Middle East, show the tremendous damage that occurs from acts of religious fanaticism and intolerance, it is also important, for the future of an increasingly globalizing world, to consider news stories that highlight the beneficial effects of religion at its best, inspiring people to nobler acts of service and inclusivity.

The Bahá’í temple Born out of an international competition with over 180 entries from 80 countries, the Bahá’í temple of South America is a nine-sided structure with nine entrances that symbolically welcome all people from all directions of the earth to join in prayer and meditation. Its form and materiality break new ground, drawing on the power of light as inspiration. Nine gracefully torqued wings of cast glass and translucent stone billow like sails, projecting a sublime, ethereal luminescence. Visually light, the building is structurally strong.

Baha’i Houses of Worship are distinctive buildings, open to everyone, where visitors can simply pray and meditate in a serene atmosphere, or at certain times listen to the holy scriptures of the world’s religions being recited and sung.An integral concept of each House of Worship is that they will, in due course, provide a spiritual center around which agencies and institutions of social, humanitarian, and educational service will be established for the surrounding population. When completed, the edifice in Santiago will be the eighth in a series of Baha’i Temple Houses of Worship, and the final one to be erected to serve an entire continent.

Monday, 19 January 2015

Brazilian Carnival Samba Parade

The samba parade held to celebrate the Rio Carnival is undoubtedly the biggest attraction on earth, with visitors from around the world flocking to Rio for a week of dancing, singing, and partying. To vibe with the rhythm of the samba parade the only place to be is the Rio Carnival.The Carnival is celebrated in just about every state in Brazil. While each celebration is exciting and wonderful, none of them can equal the amazing extravaganza that is the Carnival in Rio. In all likelihood, the quest to experience the Carnival once could turn out to be an annual habit for any tourist.

Samba Parade is the event where the city’s numerous Samba schools vie for the position of Grand Champion. Each Rio carnival Samba school practices their routine for months before the competition and during the samba parade they are judged on their performance, in a number of categories.

The parade starts at 9 p.m. and goes on until sunlight the next day, around 6-7 a.m. This samba parade marathon is more than a show  it's also a fierce competition. Each year a school is downgraded from special to access group, and vice versa. The year of 2011 is an exception. As there was a fire at Cidade do Samba Parade, none of the schools will be downgraded.

Each Samba Parade School represents an overall theme expressed through the dance, music, costumes, and floats. The costumes and floats are designed and created by the constituents of the school. Membership is not small some Samba Parade Schools have over 4000 members! Each performance takes over an hour as the school executes their routine on the runway of the Sambodrome.

Samba School by Parts Schools are divided into alas (wings or sections), with people wearing the same costumes. Abre-alas is the first group, limited to 15 people or less. They are in charge of greeting the audience, setting the mood, and introducing the theme. Choreographies are often quite elaborate, and may be performed by professional dancers.

Judging the Samba Schools is not an easy task. Professionals selected by the League of Samba Schools (LIESA) to judge the parade are seated throughout the Sambodrome. Harmony, synchronicity, costumes, music, mood, and movements are just some of the elements that contribute to the score of the school. The judges determine which are the six best schools and bestow these schools with the tribute of performing in the Winners Parade the Saturday following the Samba Parade.

There is no better way to get to the greatest party on earth than with our 12-night voyage to Carnival in Rio. Once there, experience the jubilation at the annual Samba Parade the climax of Carnival featuring a non-stop spectacle of joyous song, energetic dance and outrageous floats. More than 100 samba schools from all over Rio compete to perform in the Parade and only the 12 best make it.

The Ala das Baianas are the section of women who wear large circular traditional skirts. The women dance in the skirts by spinning in circles, creating a frenzy of applause and often a standing ovation. 

Monday, 12 January 2015

Most Popular Native Tribe of Africa

The native tribes of Africa are as varied as the lands they have roamed for millennia. Though the culture on the continent has evolved especially over the last two hundred years tribal influence remains a part of Africa. Though the separation between native tribes has lessened in recent years, a person's tribal affiliation remains a powerful source of pride.

This list includes over 7400 tribal names from Africa travel guide. It was compiled from various resources which include accounts left by early explorers missionaries and scholars, who themselves wrote in a number of different languages. For this reason,there are variants to tribal names many of which have changed over time. The list is by no means complete and there are certainly errors, but we hope you find it useful.      
         
Afar Native Tribe

The Afar people live primarily in Ethiopia and the areas of Eritrea,Djibouti,and Somaliacan in the Horn of Africa.Their land is mainly rocky and desert terrain. The Afar people also live in the Awash Valley and the forests located in northern Djibouti.There are approximately 3 million people that make up the Afar culture.There are only two hospitals in the region available to the Afar,the National Hospital and the Dubti Hospital.The Afar people in this area are usually found to be malnourished.Their diets consist mainly of bread and milk.There is no natural source of water for the Afar people.

Zulu Native Tribe

The Zulu of South Africa believe that they are descendants of a chief from the Congo region. They believe that everything happens for a reason as a result of an evil sorcery or offending of the spirits, this is why they interact with the spirits for their god Nkulunkulu does not get involved with the daily aspects of the human life. The Zulu code of dressing is complex as a result of their shields. The work of the women is to cultivate the land while men take care of the cows.

Dogon Native Tribe

The history of the Dogon Native Tribe of Africa. There are between 400,000 and 800,000 Dogon in a remote civilization in the central plateau region of Mali in Africa. The Dogon culture is known for its detailed, meaningful art and tribal culture customs,but the Dogon are mostly known for their ancient, accurate cosmology and the legends of their ancestors from Sirius.

Maasai Native Tribe

The Maasai live in the semi-arid Rift Valley region of Kenya and Tanzania. They own large herds of cattle, sheep and goats which they follow around seasonally in search of new grazing grounds and water sources. Traditionally the Maasai have always been a proud and independent native tribe. They did not cultivate the land and depend on a cash economy as many of those around them did, rather they lived off the blood, milk and meat that their cattle provided them.

Fang Native Tribe

The Fang were migratory. Today, this large group occupies a large swath of land across Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. They make a vast continuum of villages. Because the Fang were once itinerant, they carry the remains of their important dead in reliquary boxes with them and do not have instituted shrines. However, they have a strong cult, bieri, devoted to ancestor worship.