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.
LA VIE EN ROSE
The song that turned into an anthem of hope and the iconic woman who wrote it
Words: Aleksandra Georgieva
16 May 2019
La Vie en Rose is one of the most beloved songs written by Édith Piaf in 1945 and composed by Marguerite Monnot and Louis Guglielmi (Louiguy). The French ballad became famous due to its meaning and release period. The title translates to English as 'Life in Pink' or 'Life Through Rose-coloured Glasses'. The lyrics tell a story about finding a new love after experiencing a very hard time. La Vie en Rose was released shortly after the end of World War II, which is why many people loved it instantly and adopted its meaning as an anthem of hope.
The song uses simple vocabulary but transmits a heartfelt experience of new love and the hope for a future that holds warmth and excitement. In the times of recovery from a dreadful war, the lyrics reached many people and reminded them how important it is to hold on to hope, to love and to that rose-coloured life lenses.
La vie en Rose remains an iconic song to this day - legacy of the outstanding woman, who wrote it. This is what you might not know about the French songwriter and globally known performer Édith Piaf.
Who was Édith Piaf?
Born as Édith Giovanna Gassion on 19th December 1915, the French vocalist adopted the pseudonym Édith Piaf. In French slang the word piaf means sparrow or a small bird. Yet, to the world 'Piaf' has turned into the name of one of the most celebrated performers of the 20th century. Cabaret performer, vocalist, songwriter and a film actress, Édith Piaf became one of the most famous international French stars.
Many biographies were written about the singer and yet the majority of her life remains unknown. A legend states Édith Piaf was born on the pavement of Rue de Belleville 72. However, her birth certificate points at the Hôpital Tenon as the place she was born in. Her father Louis Alphonse Gassion (1881–1944) had experience in theatre and made his living as an acrobatics street performer. Édith's mother, Annetta Giovanna Maillard (1895–1945), adopted the name Line Marsa and worked as a café singer. She was half French - from her father's side, while her mother was a descendant of a family from Italy and Morocco with Shilha Berber origins.
Piaf was abandoned at birth by her mother. In 1916 her father got enlisted to join the French Army and fight in World War I and sent Édith to his mother, who was running a brothel in Bernay, Normandy. When Piaf became 14 in 1929, she joined her father's acrobatic troupe and performed across all of France. This is when she first sang in public. The following year she met Simone "Mômone" Berteaut, who was supposedly her half-sister, and the two began earning their money by touring the Paris suburbs and the streets of France.
In 1932 Piaf fell in love with Louis Dupont, who quickly moved in with her and Mômone, despite the dislike the two had for each other. Louis was constantly finding jobs for Édith, trying to convince her to stop roaming the streets, but she didn't listen. At the age of 17, Édith gave birth to a baby girl, but alike her mother, she found it hard to take care of a child. The baby died two years later, and Piaf returned to street singing.
Louis Leplée - the owner of Le Gerny's nightclub, discovered Piaf in 1935 in the Pigalle area of Paris. Inspired by her height of only 142 centimetres, he gave her the nickname La Môme Piaf (The Little Sparrow) that would turn into the singer's worldwide known stage name. Leplée tutored her on stage presence and recommended her signature look of always wearing black, which she did until the rest of her life. Louis Leplée had major public presence and network connections. The gigs in his nightclub lead Piaf to her first two records, including a collaboration with Marguerite Monnot - one of Édith's favourite composers.
Leplée was murdered in 1936 by mobsters, previously tied to Édith. She was accused for accessory but released after questioning. To restore her career and public image, the singer recruited Raymond Asso, with whom she later developed a romantic relationship. He changed her stage name to "Édith Piaf" and commissioned Monnot to write songs that brought the attention to her previous life on the streets of France. During the German occupation of Paris, Piaf formed friendships with high-profile individuals, including Yves Montand, whom she also collaborated with. With time Montand became among the most popular singers in the country, almost as famous as Piaf herself. This was speculated as the reason she ended their relationship. Yet, Édith's success had grown after the war and she began touring internationally in South America, the United States and Europe.
In 1945 Piaf wrote La Vie en Rose, which became her signature song. In 1998 it was voted a Grammy Hall of Fame Award. Other famous songs of the notable French singer include "Hymne à l'amour" (1949), "Milord" (1959), "La Foule" (1957), "Non, je ne regrette rien" (1960) and more. What is typical for Piaf's music is the fact that it was often autobiographical revolving around dear to her heart themes such as loss, love and suffering.
Several films and biographies were made since Piaf's death in 1963, studying her life and legacy. Among those is the winner of the 2007's Academy Award film by the name of La Vie en Rose. Édith Piaf remains in history as the name of an icon and one of the most celebrated performers of the 20th century.
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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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