Akha Hilltribe, Thailand

well, since i've already mentioned Thailand in my previous post, here comes one card from there.

I received it earlier this year through a swap with Nina. I love such cards with people, and Thailand + Taiwan seem to have loads of them!
The Akha are an indigenous hill tribe that live in small villages at high altitudes in the mountains and are one of the six hilltribes left in the north of Thailand. They live on agriculture such as rice, corn, beans. They used to grow opiums too but they are unlawful now.
Smoking pipes seems to be very popular there as well.

and Nina used a number of lovely stamps here! <3 The four flower ones were issued in 2009 (they comprise the whole set), and were issued for the New Year 2010 actually. The fifth stamp on the left is from a set of four Cultural Heritage stamps issued in 2000.

thank you very much Nina, for both the great card and stamps!

Traditional Zulu Kraal, South Africa

well, just one more card for today (coz im dead beat)

this great card shows a typical village in the rural KwaZulu-Natal countryside where dancers rehearse for a tribal ceremony. KwaZulu-Natal prior to 1994



The Zulu term is umuzi and consists of two concentric palisades of thorn trunks. The huts are located inside the outer palisade and the cattle in the inner circle with a smaller enclosure there for the calves.

The kraal is usually built on a slight slope with the main entrance at the lower end. This enables rainwater to clean the cattle kraal, the ground dries quickly and any foe has to fight uphill. Small huts on poles act as storage huts or watchtowers.

The largest hut, opposite the entrance, is that of the chief's mother. The chief's hut is to the right, the first wife is to the right of the chief's mother, the second wife is to the left of the chief's hut, the third wife to the right of the first wife and so on. The unmarried girls live on the left of the entrance, the unmarried boys, to the right. The two elder sons also vet any visitors and man the entrance around the clock. Visitors are either rejected, expected to wait for an appropriate length of time or ushered in immediately depending on their relation to the family. Those that are allowed in experience the siyakuleka ikhaya display where the gatekeeper sings the praises of the chief. The function of gatekeeper is also very useful in another way in that he will assume the role of chief on his father's death and will be familiar with all those who visited his father and their treatment.

to be honest, i couldnt help but laugh at this kind of division...now i just need to memorize it :)

well, wishing you all a great weekend...and more relaxed than mine :)

till next time...