Mr. Sahara: A male beauty contest in Niger By Elizabeth Woods
As a small subgroup of the Fulani ethnic group, the Wodaabe traditionally known as the Bororo are scattered across the sub-Saharan Sahelian steppe in Niger, West Africa. Insulated from modern society, they have maintained their own ancient way of life for thousands of years. In spite of extremely severe living conditions, they still have optimistic spirit thanks to traditional and cultural activities. Visiting Niger and the Bororo, tourists can not forget their male beauty contest for the title of “Mr. Sahara”.
The unique tribal pageant is held annually to mark the end of the rainy season. On this occasion, men participate in charm, beauty, and dance competitions judged by young women. When the dusk has come, it’s time for the big competition to take place in Niger. All contestants are excited to prepare for their own costumes and accessories such as rings and necklaces. Their faces are carefully being made up by themselves. Meanwhile, others start the fire, line in a circle, sing and dance during the contest. The male beauty ideal of the Wodaabe focuses on tallness, whiteness of their teeth, and the brightness of their eyes. It is traditional that the winner is permitted to get married with one of the judges.
Men in the Wodaabe are given compact mirrors at birth
Men are eager to make up themselves with the hope of becoming “Mr. Sahara”
When they were small, their mothers and sisters helped them clean their teeth and pulled their limbs to make them long and slim
Men are in line waiting for the pageant which is traditionally judged by young women
The winner has right to marry one of the judges
Losers in the contest have several wives and the women in Niger have more than one husband
I am the fan of news on society and culture. I am currently the lecturer in social major. In free time, I am fond of reading articles and joining social activities.
Floating Villages on Titicaca Lake, Peru By Quyen Do
It is known that villagers live on the straw rafts, build and raise cattle on Titicaca Lake, Peru at an altitude of 3.812m. They have lived like that for thousands of years. Since the Inca time, the Uros tribe has built approximately 40 artificial islands which are made of straw and grass. These beautiful islands used to be a shelter during the war. In this way, the Uros tribe could make invaders difficult to conquer. They also consider floating villages as a place to inhabit for centuries.
Carefully built by hand, the floating island consists of the straw layers which were formed firmly and stably like a ferry so that it can withstand heavy and big loads. However, residents also have to fix their island regularly when straw gets old.
According to Bogoboo, these islands are anchored by a rope connected to wooden stakes in the middle of the lake. Tourists are welcome only in several islands. Those who settled here are regarded as guardians of the lake and remembered as a legendfrom generation to generation.
Let's have a look at the floating village and its residents.
The Uros residents of the islands create their homes from the reeds.
The roofs are waterproof but not humidity resistant.
An overview of floating village on Titicaca Lake, Peru
Villagers earn living by fishing, weaving and now tourism.
These floating islands are the home of the Uros tribe, one which pre-dates the Incan civilization.
The residents sell their handicrafts to visitors
Women of the Uros tribe
Related Articles:
5 Strange Sites to Spot on a French Camping Holiday
Straw Bale Construction - what's old is new again
Dubai Heritage Village
About the Author:
I am 23 years old, and I study English on education. My hobby is reading, writing and surfing the Internet. Having read interesting articles, I love editing them to share with everyone.
It's more fun in the Philippines, find the reasons why.
Gays having their time, pretending and loving it.
Nothing can stop a game of basketball. Every space in the Philippines have basketball boards. Even streets and flooded areas.
Bridges . . . of death?
Yes you can.
UP oblation run. An annual event where neophytes of the Tao Gamma Fraternity are running naked from one point of the campus to another point in the campus. At their stop, they pause with placards shouting their protests.
Korowai Tribe among old jungle in Indonesia By Zhang Tung
Korowai tribe with the population of 3,000 people live in the easternmost part of the province of Papua. Until 1970, they were unaware of the existence of any people besides themselves. According to Suntono, the head of the regional statistical office in Papua, Korowai tribe has their own language including unique shouts, howls, smoke signals, trail markings and the ability to read footprints. The majority of the Korowai clans live in tree houses on their isolated territory. Huts built on tree tops vary in height depending on the kind of relationship they have with their fellow Korowai members. Like prehistoric people, Korowaian wear nothing except leaves. Their main foods consist of wild boar, deer, sago flour, bananas, beetle grubs and big lizards. Let’s glimpse at interesting facts about Korowai tribe in Indonesia through following images.
The Korowaian are people of southeastern Papua
People in Korowai wear nothing but leaves
The majority of the Korowai clans live in tree houses on their isolated territory
Huts built on tree tops vary in height depending on the kind of relationship they have with their fellow Korowai members
Korowai clans mainly eat fresh animals and plant products
Korowai people make their own tools including stone axes, bows, arrows and spears
Korowai men are good at hunting and fishing
Arrows with a wide blunt tip are useful for catching lizards
Arrows reportedly own different names for various types of prey
Related links:
Dragon Blood Tree: a unique and strange plant
Infinity Pools: World's Paradise
Multicolored salt evaporation ponds in San Francisco
About the Author:
I am the fan of news on society and culture. I am currently the lecturer in social major. In free time, I am fond of reading articles and joining social activities.
I like this portrait. This was taken in the Etag Festival of Mountain Province. It was taken by someone and I found it on Facebook.
The old man is wearing the ba-ag (g-sting) and a hat (like the popes hat that its so small it will not fit into a head so it have a tie that hold it in place) like they do it in the old times. The boy now, is wearing the modern shirt. His probably an expectator. The black wooden sculpture is called bulul, a rice harvest god. The meat hanging (partly hidden by the man's hand) is called kinuday or smoke meat as can be observed.
Like any nation, problems with illegal drugs is not good for the economy and to its citizen. The government had been trying to solve such problems with police officers having their own movies battling out crimes.
As the population grow, more children room the streets and more children run away from home. Poverty and Government should not be blamed for this but lack of education and unwillingness to pursue knowledge.
A strong crack down on Mary Jane (marijuana/grass) is being done in the mountains of Benguet. With their high turn out rate, Benguet is identified as the all-source of mary jane. Information reached Dave says that the Police in Benguet are just hard working for other provinces have mary jane cultivated in vases in and around their houses without the intervention of Police Officers.
On March 1, 2012, PO1 Andrew Fianza was traveling to La Trinidad when the car he was in had an accident.
Unbeknownst to all of them was that the passenger van they are riding jump on a ravine. As the van rolled down the ravine it first spewed a woman who had the least injury. She was seen praying when she got to her feet. While the rest of the van landed 100 meters below the road. The second person thrown out of the van was Andrew Fianza who recalled that the van pushed him to the broken window. Exposing half of his body out to the mercy of being slapped to anything imaginable. The van landed on him once where he was not able to breath for that moment (seconds at least) until he was able to hold on a tree that pulled him entirely out of the moving van.
Everything happened so fast that there is no way to plan and react how to save one self, more so your companion.
When everything is settled, he lay there waiting for anyone to come and rescue them, he hear cars passing by but no one is helping them, and the accident seems to have been witnessed by no one. He decided to pull himself up despite all the pain and called out to the woman (Divina Bayas) to climb the ravine.
The ravine is steep and thick with grass. Observers later commented that it is even hard to see where the van landed from the road. He made his way by digging holes, with sticks, to push himself up until he reached the road. What puzzled him was when he was waiving for help from passing cars, two expensive cars, and noticing him bloodied did not stop to help. "Either they were not curious enough or they are hiding something," volunteered an observer.
The third car, a fuel tanker, stopped and asked for additional help. Another passenger van came, unloaded his passengers and offered to bring the injured to the hospital. When the gravity of the situation came that it is hard for anyone to fetch other victims with out a long rope to help them climb down, the two casualties were brought to the hospital to be followed by more of them when the rescuers came.
An observer said the ravine is deep and the rope of the rescuers were not that long. An observer was saying that a poor rescuer seem to have tears in his eyes when he came up because they cannot carry them all together and the victims are shouting with pain.
There's a total of two victims found dead, and seven others who had major and minor injuries. Found dead are Cynthia Donato and Felimon Awayan. The injured victims are Beverly Badilla, Prescilla Omacay, Crisanto Kiblasen, Divina Bayas, Andrew Fianza, Analyn Marquez, Faustina Ta-awan. They were rushed to the Benguet General Hospital. Some had their foot amputated. Two of the survivors were transferred to Baguio General Hospital because of the injuries they had. One had her spine broken. Her story was to come to La Trinidad and have a massage therapy (hilot) with companions but she decided to travel earlier to meet up with his son in La Trinidad. Among them are Principals and Teachers who will attend a seminar in Baguio City or La Trinidad.
At the hospital, the association of operators and drivers of the passenger van is helping in buying medicines. As to what extent the association will help the victims, I don't know. The Government of Benguet volunteered to pay hospital expenses of the victims. As to Kiblasen, the driver, a case was filled.
Dave is in the boondocks waiting what could have happened if he did not wait for life to pass.
Camping in the mountains overseeing landscapes of clouds and tree tops he hope to be able to move on from his hill and discover other hills around and maybe someday travel to see the beach.
He went to the mountains searching for something, something that will make his life better. A dream that will make him a recognized achiever in their little village. Though he sees it from afar, he have no intention of resolving it. He likes his hut and hill and what may the nature fulfill upon him he will accept.
But in the meantime he would like to share stories, pictures, and videos that affected him, and life in general.
RSS Feed