Stories about Arts & Culture from December, 2006
Russia, Belarus: “Gazilla”
There's a distinct sense of deja vu this New Year's Eve: Gazprom, Russia's largest (and state-controlled) company and the world's biggest extractor of natural gas, is in the spotlight again, both locally (due to an ambitious and controversial construction project in St. Petersburg) and internationally (due to a dispute over...
Russia: A Typical New Year's
Snowsquare guides the readers through a typical New Year's celebration in Russia (a ten-day affair, by the way!) Happy New Year, everyone!
Cuba: Christmas traditions
Cuba-based blogger Kaloian Santos Cabrera posts an excerpt from a book on traditional Christmas observances in San Juan de los Remedios, Cuba, plus some photos.
Barbados: The other Eid
Titlayo discovers the “other” Eid — Eid al-Adha, when “Muslims who can afford to do so sacrifice domestic animals, usually sheep, as a symbol of Ibrahim’s sacrifice.”
Hungary: Van Gogh Exhibition
Pestcentric advises against visiting a Van Gogh exhibition in Budapest.
The Blogoma backs Nichane while the major Moroccan Media ignore it
Morocco is celebrating Eid ul Adha next Sunday, so Merry Eid from the Moroccan Blogosphere(Blogoma). Let's joke about…Baby! The controversy over Nichane continues its escalation. Actually, and according to Farid it's virtually escalating since only the Moroccan blogs are concerned whith no major Media support(Fr). The view from Fez writes...
Mexico: Five Best Viral Videos
Eduardo Arcos highlights the five best “viral videos” of the year.
Ukraine: Ruslana Against Human Trafficking
The Natashas – “a blog for those interested in fighting the scourge of human trafficking of women and men, girls and boys, especially for purposes of sexual exploitation” – posts a link to an anti-human trafficking video by Ukrainian pop singer and PM Ruslana.
Jamaica: What the country needs
Francis Wade grapples with his desire, as a returnee to Jamaica, to find solutions to some of the problems plaguing his homeland: “Certainly, I am sure, a part of the answer has to with where we draw our spiritual wisdom, and how we Jamaicans do not sufficiently engage in our...
Trinidad & Tobago: Trini geography
Chennette has an interesting commentary on the average Trinidadian's skewed vision of cardinal points: “Maybe it was growing up in a mathematical family, but I always viewed Trinidad as more or less a rectangle with some squiggly bits at the corners. Which means that I imagined lines bisecting the island...
Trinidad & Tobago: Christmas, credulity and commerce
Jeremy Taylor goes over some of the impossible notions about Christmas we have come to accept as fact, concluding “I take some comfort in the thought that the man at the centre of all the fuss would have dismissed it all, just as he furiously ran the bankers off the...
Russia: Moscow Half a Century Ago
LJ user fool_4_lifetime found a rare photo album in a Moscow dump – Im Flug nach Moskau, by Erich Einhorn, ARTIA, 1959 – and scanned and posted 60 spreads of Moscow photos from it in the moya_moskva (My Moscow) LJ community. (Warning: bandwidth intensive!) Here is one of the photos:...
India: Music Season in Chennai
Suraj is in Chennai (Madras) as the music season peaks in the city. “What expectations would you develop if your first day of the music season starts off with a casual dinner and chat with your favourite artist? :)”
Russia: New Year's Celebration
White Sun of the Desert writes about New Year celebrations in Russia.
Africa/India: overcoming differences
Inktus, a Ugandan blogger in New Delhi, India, writes about “overcoming differences and behaving as global citizens of one world.”
Vietnam: Christmas in Vietnam
Chris Harvey has pictures from a Christmas eve service in a Catholic church in Vietnam. “Many of you will be surprised to learn that Christmas in Vietnam is *huge*. And I don't mean the Vietnamese kinda sorta like it. They freaking LOVE Christmas.”
Brunei: Origins of Wedding Rituals
The Daily Brunei Resources blog traces the origin of Malay wedding custom of bunga telur. Bunga telur is the token gift presented to the guests who attend a wedding.
Belize: What do Christmas vacationers want?
Lee Vanderwalker in Caye Caulker, Belize, wonders: “Why do you think people vacation at Christmas time. Do you think they expect a traditional American Christmas? Do you think that if we play Marvin Gaye they will forget about Christmas?“
Barbados: Hollywood in the Caribbean
Barbados blogger AirBourne offers a capsule history of Hollywood's interventions in the Caribbean, with a special emphasis on the music featured in the films.
Bahamas: “Improving” Junkanoo
Nicolette Bethel advises her fellow Bahamians to heed the words of Trinidadian Carnival designer Peter Minshall when considering the “improvement” of Junkanoo, their own national festival.
Ukraine, USA: North Dakota Ukrainians
Ukraine List writes about Ukrainians of North Dakota.