CONVERSATION
CONVERSATION
CONVERSATION
HUMAN TRACES:
ETHIOPIA
HUMAN TRACES:
ETHIOPIA
THE BALANCE OF FACTS
THE BALANCE OF FACTS
THE BALANCE OF FACTS
THE BALANCE OF FACTS
DESTINATIONS
DESTINATIONS
The Dreamtime, or the Dreaming, portrays the Aboriginal beliefs in spiritual existence. According to the tribes that first settled down in the continent, the Dreaming's roots date all the way back to the very begging of the creation of the world. The meaning and ideology of the term is generally not so well-understood by non-indigenous people as it is referred to as part of the culture of one of the early nations, which differs from modern perceptions.
The Spirits were the creators of everything. They made the land and the seas, the rocks and the plants, the sky and the earth. They were the higher power and the Australian Aborigines spent their lifetimes honoring this power, which guided their path and shaped their way of thinking. Not only creators of everything, which could be seen as well as felt, the Spirits also gave the Aborigines the Dreaming.
The time when everything started existing according to the initial Australians, was called the Dreaming. This is the foundation of the continent's culture. The origin of the Dreaming goes way back - 65 000 years back in time to be exact. The Ancestors of the nation shaped the land, forming some parts of it as sacred. The Aborigines were very careful and overprotective of those places, strongly believing in their significance.
The Australian Aborigines are known to have believed that the world didn't have any shape and was therefore empty. Darkness dominated, and life was simply asleep, but this changed when the creation began happening. After the Dreaming and the influence of the Spirits, objects began taking shapes and came to be. They created the four elements: water, earth, air and fire, as well as all the planets, the Sun and the Moon. The Dreaming therefore is a continuous process, which never ended. It is a small cosmos on its own, unifying the past, present and the future into one.
The Australian Aborigines' home riches so many vivid areas of the continent, including Fraser Island, Tasmania, Palm Island, Groote Eylandt and Mornington Island. The Aborigines had very strong believes in relation to the powers of the land, claiming that they never owned it - it rather owned them. The only reason they were able to call it their home is because they were looking after it and the land was taking care of the people in return.
Equally important to the Dreaming was the tribes' understandings of the disappearance of the Spirits. There came a time, when the creators of everything vanished from sight. Some of them were thought to have started living in sacred places, which is why the Aborigines perceived their homeland to be so sacred. The ancestors of today's Australians used to believe that the creators started living in rocks, in water holes and some went up to the sky to guide the people from above and keep them safe. Others transformed completely, taking the forms of the rain, the lightnings and the thunderstorms so they could be part of peoples' life.
Among the hundred's different Aboriginal languages, there isn't a word to describe 'time', because to them this simply doesn't exist. Dreaming and Dreamtime are used to replace it and summarize the ideologies of the Aborigines about everything they knew, everything they could see, feel and experience. This is why the Dreaming has such a vivid, and overwhelming meaning and has survived the obstacles of time. For the past couple thousand years, the Dreaming has built a rich cultural heritage that can identify a whole nation.
Read more about the Land, its connection to people and the way it has been perceived from different generations in the very first print issue of ORIGIN. The Land Issue covers varied topics, most of which remain related to cultural aspects of the land and its importance.
A lot of people travel to explore places and learn about them which is the message that ORIGIN wants to spread. With traveling, however, comes certain responsibilities that we should all be aware of. Elephants riding has become a popular way to explore locations by land. People have been doing this as part of their trips, mostly to places such as Thailand, Nepal, Cambodia and other parts of Asia. It is a common thing to see in certain places in Africa as well. We investigated the activity to explain why it is wrong and riding elephants should be banned everywhere.
Our first print issue studies culture and traveling represented through the land. We explored various location around the globe and learned what makes the land so valuable, which nations cherish it and how it helps us establish an identity. Traveling is important to us but traveling responsibly and making an impact is what we feel proud to stand behind. This is why riding elephants as a way of amusement should be reconsidered.
Let’s talk about the details. Elephants are very caring and extremely intelligent animals. It is a well-known fact that they never forget anything. When kept in captivity instead of spending their life in the wild, elephants die younger. Unlike in other species, this is common for the gentle giants and is often a result for stress.
Many African cultures respect elephants, believing they symbolize strength, loyalty and power. However, power can be a very tender concept. Elephant used as a tourism tool suffer from great pain daily. Elephants can be hurt very severely from the weight of carrying people and a trainer on their backs. The reason for this is the design of their spines. They have sharp protrusions, extending upwards from their spine instead of having round spinal disks. The protrusions and the tissue that serves to protect them can be harmed easily from weight pressure. Once a damage to their spine has been made, there is no going back and sometimes the harm can be irreversible. While this can’t be physically seen, the harm that the chairs can do to the elephants’ skin is. It is often the case that the chairs and the weight on their back can damage the animal’s skin and cause pain to their body. The chair, called Howdah, that gets attached to their backs, rubs on their skin and can cause blisters, which can sometimes get infected.
The training that elephants are required to go through when in captivity sometimes adopts a traditional Thai ‘phajaan’ or ‘crush’ technique. Explaining the technique would compare it to the animals’ spirits constantly and continuously being broken by the means of torture and social isolation. This is done in order to tame them. Elephants are wild animals, this is their nature as they are born in such conditions. Making them safe and obedient around people requires them to go through such training. As horrible as it sounds, in some places young elephants are taken away from their mothers to be abused with nails, bull hooks and bamboo sticks to make them obey rules, given by people. The animals often lack sleep and are starved to become submissive.
Actions from such nature are cruel and harmful as the technique is used to crash the animals’ spirit. Once wild and free, elephants become a source of tourism and entertainment. Nobody, who cared about sustainable tourism should ever ride an elephant.
In a sense, elephants have a human soul. They socialise and feel everything – pain, happiness, grief, sadness etc. They spend their life building families and finding friends. The largest land animals are a gift from nature and it is our responsibility to take special care of them and make sure they live according to their nature. Many animals, who are kept in captivity, are forced to live in isolation and carry heavy loads all day long, which is a wrong way to treat them. Their strength and power shouldn’t be abused but treated gently and celebrated by people. Elephants require minimal care to stay happy and healthy, which comes from giving them freedom to behave naturally and socialise. It is our responsibility to be culturally aware while traveling and make sure to spread awareness about the problem.
You can read the rest of the article as published in the LAND issue.
HAVANA IN RETROSPECT
From the charm of the late 50s to the diversity it represents in present days, Havana is a complex city that has unmistakable individuality. We trace the history of the “virgin city” to see how society, culture and politics have changed over time to make Havana the place we know so well today
Words: Emily Georgieva
Photography: Scott Fleming
07 April 2019
Most of those who were born in Havana would probably never leave their home – some because they can’t afford to, others because they are so attached to the city that they wouldn’t do it for the world. There is an explanation for all these reasons. There is a lot of things that still make this Cuban gem a city that evolves slowly. In some aspects Havana is behind other big cities where travellers tend to desperately want to visit. But at the same time, the city has a soul that cannot be found anywhere else and that makes it a valuable treasure in its own terms.
Havana is 500 years old and it is often being referred to as the “virgin city”. Most of the buildings are new, even though seeing houses collapse on daily basis is sort of a normality. Most of the architecture in the area, at least 80% of it, was completed between 1900 and 1985. This was a forbidden city for the Americans for a long time. Only as of recently there have been direct flights form America to Havana. For the longest time travelling to the city was not encouraged. Only since 2015 American citizens don’t need a solid reason to justify their visits such as trip to see family, travelling for business or out of journalism duties.
It may be young, but Havana can’t be thought of as innocent. In the 1950’s the city became a preferred stop for mafia leaders, who were determined to establish a gambling industry there. It didn’t take long before that happened. Casinos were taken over by storm. Multiple businesses were created out of thin air. The hotel industry was on the come up, but even though this strengthened the city it also encouraged all kind of problems. Corruption and drug dealing spread across the territory of the whole city.
The financial situation in the country is not the best either. The currency rates and the minimum wage makes it hard for people to be able to afford much luxury. Getting what is considered a “high paying job” such as becoming a lawyer, doctor or teacher, is not encouraged much. There are multiple reasons behind this. The wealth people would accumulate when working in those sectors won’t differ much from the money one would earn whilst working in the hospitality or hotel industries. This is mostly why some young people are discouraged to follow such footsteps and instead prefer to stick to different jobs that don’t necessarily require higher education.
Existing as a place that is still recovering from the Cold War, Havana has many faces. Some visitors who choose to roam the city return to tell stories of a place where the locals still depend on basic things to survive and don’t fight to change a system that might be financially oppressing them. Some say that locals would smile and appear happy just so they can take tourists’ money, which is a sad aspect of the truth. Think about the freedom visitors have when going to Havana – one can take a tour around the city in a stylish cabriolet designed in the late 50s driven by the owner who’s going to give you insights on the city’s history as they’re showing you around. The poor political reality of Havana speaks louder than words. But then again, almost everybody who visits this Cuban paradise returns astonished by it. No traveller could deny that Havana is a place that stands in a time different than the way time goes everywhere else. The sandy beaches and forest-covered hills are only part of it all. Life is just different over there. Music is wild and salsa is addictive; the rum is rich, and the sugar is sweet. The nights are long and wild.
Havana is a beautiful place – without a doubt. It has character, attitude and interesting history. There are not many places on earth where you will see women in their 80s smoking cigars and retro cars sliding down the streets like it’s no big deal. Tourism there started in the 50s and has continued to exist ever since. It has become something that not just the city, but the whole of Cuba is defined by. Foreigners have an itch to explore this “forbidden land” because it is interesting and offers what a lot of big cities don’t – contrast and contradictions.
A stay at a hotel is very expensive so a good alternative to it is to think of staying at a casa particular - in other words in a house with a Cuban family. The food, the music and architecture reflect the individuality of Havana. It is a vibrant place that never stops moving. Locals are just like that too. People seem to always be busy with something over there, but also know how to slow down and have a good time. Perhaps this can be explained with how little the city was affected by major technological changes. For example, internet access in some areas is still hard to get a hold of. In this sense, the detachment form the US blockade could be considered to have had a positive effect on the country. It gave it a bit more individuality.
Independent businesses are now encouraged by the government, which means that travellers can see art happen before their very eyes. Painters exhibit their work in in front-room galleries. Dance teachers spread the passion for dancing from their homemade studios. People meet up for lunch in family owned restaurants. Musicians play in local small bars and even perform on the streets. There is a sense of community and closeness that is never going to go away. Those are the things that give Havana so much soul. No matter the difficulties that locals face the spirit of Havana will always mean that the future is bright. One of the best places to visit in Cuba, Havana is so interesting because it is pure. It doesn’t try to pose as anything it isn’t. Things there just balance themselves out and nomads get to see this place for what it really is – diverse. What a beautiful approach to life this is!
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NOMADSofORIGIN is an independent annual publication with a focus on sustainable travelling and global cultural values. Each issue features interviews, engaging articles and photo guides, which take our nomadic readers through different destinations and introduce them to local people's perspectives.
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