This past week has been an odd one, esp. mail-wise..my postman was practically ignoring me.....to the extent i started getting paranoid, since I knew a lot of mail was supposed to be coming my way, but i was receiving NOTHING....i even started wondering if maybe my postman had retired and a new one was put at his place who was too inexperienced to deal with my mail...everyday I come home and first thing i do is check the mailbox, and it's empty...on Monday and Tuesday i somehow didnt bother too much...but then Wednesday, nothing again..Thursday, nothing again...Friday...empty....i was already stressed enough with work and at least i hoped that some mail would cheer me up, but no....on the whole contrary...and Saturday was promising to be the same...but I guess my prayers were heard sometime after 2pm, coz thats when the postman had most probably dropped by and also dropped a plentiful of mail....or in other words, almost 30 cards, few covers and bunch of stamps!! *happy dance* Yay, at last!!! The only problem with such bulks is that in the end i dont even know what it is all that i received and takes really long to message everyone...and im still in the process of doing that....
And one of the cards that arrived yesterday is this one from Nigeria, showing a typical Nigerian dance. Irena, the sender of the card, says she doesnt like the modern Nigerian dancing coz it is not as interesting as the traditional one, which is something different and has a point.
Well, Im not familiar with Nigerian dances, but I think that on the overall i would usually prefer the traditional ones too, coz they tell more about the roots of the culture and simply, they are traditional.
two stamps on the card, with a smudged cancellation...the one on the right is from a set of 8 definitives issued in 2001, while the other one was issued in 2009, regarding the South African Football Worldcup.
Ive realized that one can learn a rather lot through these cards representing traditional clothes and/or dances.
This one coming from Malaysia shows a Portrait of Sabandar Cultural Dancers in Malay costume worn to perform Joget, the Malay traditional dance
Joget is also performed at official functions as it is the National Dance.
Joget is a great example how elements from various culture can merge together into one single form. The dance of the Portuguese roots is accompanied by an ensemble consisting of; a violin of Western world, a knobbed gong of Asia, a flute (optional) and at least two rebana or gendang of Malay world. The tempo of Joget music is fairly quick with the feeling of teasing and playing between the partners. The music emphasizes duple- and triple-beat division, both in alternation and simultaneously, and sung in the northeast Malaysia style[2][3].
One of the most popular type of Joget is called "Joget Lambak" and usually performed by a large crowd together in social functions.
And here is what YouTube has got to say about Joget Lambak...uhmm....i feel im being mislead...
This stamp was issued this year in a flower stamps set, and also, each stamp of that set, as i understood, represents one state in Malaysia.
A lovely surprise that came from dear Pinar. And Im even more touched and honoured that she chose to send me this card...she knows why :)
The card shows Dancing girls from the Black-Sea region in Turkey. The dance itself is called Horon. The origin of the horon dances of the Black Sea coast is the ancient koron-horon of pagan worship. This word comes from hur-kor, meaning sun. Researchers have identified over fifty variations on the horon in a single region. These dances demand exceptional speed, agility and skill in the dancers, who are generally accompanied by the kemence. It is a dance style of Pontus, where pontian dance retains the aspects of Persian and Greek dance styles. A unique aspect of Pontian dance is the tremoulo, which is a fast shaking of the upper torso by a turning of the back on its axis. Many Pontian dances are almost identical in steps to Greek dances. Pontian dances also resemble Persian and Middle Eastern dances in that they are not led, with no single leader in the dance formation. This is different from Greek dances but is a widespread aspect of Persian and Middle Eastern dances.
The rapid shoulder and upper body movements from the waist is said to have evolved from the modern Turkish version dating to recent centuries. These movement are said to have derived from the shimmying of the little silver anchovy fish (Turkish: Hamsi) found in mass abundance in the Black Sea, which has worked its way into an inseparable part of northern Anatolian culture. As Pontian populations of a Greek and Persian mix were exposed to these dances later, it is said that long sea journeys and merchant exchanges, or perhaps throughout the migration of troops as far away as Ireland en route to the Holy Land were also exposed to these dance styles. It is thought the Irish jig and even its modern version, the River Dance, may have its roots from this exposure.
The stamps are more than beautiful as well! The come from a mini sheet of 4 stamps issued in 2008 representing Global Warming, in honour of the World Environment Day.
Lets start the day with showing off a new country in my collection...from where i actually now have 3 postcards, not just one...its insane, isnt it :) Though i wouldnt mind if for all my newly received countries, i end up getting one more postcard from there...i can never get enough of postcards in the first place.
i think i have a particular short story to share with you, when it comes to Qatar, but ill leave it for another Qatar postcard, since this one already depicts something particular, and i dont wanna bother you with information that dont really belong here, though its nothing surprising for me to do it :)The card shows "The Ardah" which is a traditional dance related to the Saudi Folk Music, performed by men on some festive occasion in Doha, the capital of Qatar, and they are also dressed in traditional clothes. The the thing they wear on the head is only used in Qatar, while other colours and designs are worn in UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait and Bahrain.
As you may know, traditional dances and clothes have never really been my strong side, though i think that many of them are a real state of art and i really dont give them the credit they deserve to get. And probably if i start talking about them, i would just end up in some dead-end street due to my unfamiliarity with it...but now this makes me thing how i would like to actually put cards of this kind on my wishlist too...they surely get to teach you a lot!
I would like to show you some videos i came across regarding this...as you can see, the sword is the crucial element of this dance.
did you happen to notice some intruders in the videos?
and getting down to the stamp...which i have to say is some special sort of favourite to me, due to that 'missent' stamp on it :)) I know many of you may hate to get such a 'ruined' stamp but for some reason, it has a great value of me and makes it just unique :)
I dont know how my card managed to get to Indonesia first, there is not much of a resemblance between Macedonia and Indonesia, except for the last two letters, but i hope it has enjoyed its stay while being there...
The stamp was issued in 1998 and belongs to a set of 20 stamps, on the subject of Insects. This here is a Rufous Bombardier Beetle...
