WHY KAREN GIRLS HATE THEIR NECK ORNAMENTS

Jewelery ,ornaments are favorite possessions of all women & for many women ornaments are their first love as they enhance their beauty & pride but Karen girls hate their neck ornaments. The Karens, pronounced (Ka-rans), are tribal people found in Burma & Thailand . The Karens are farmers by profession .The religion of majority of Karen is Animism and Buddhism although there is a sizable population of Christians among the Karens.

Among Karens there is a tradition in which women wear several brass rings around their necks which may weigh up to 5 Kgs .A visitor may find the brass rings very attractive but imagine the plight of the woman who is wearing the rings right from the age of 5 or 6 .The woman wears the rings through out her life .The number of rings varies , elderly women wear up to 25-30 rings. The aim behind wearing the brass rings is to stretch the neck so that Karen women have ' LONG NECKS ' which is considered as important aspect of Karen women's beauty .However the brass rings do not stretch the neck but squash the vertebrae & collar bones.

That's why today's Karen girls hate wearing brass rings around their necks which are their ornaments.

GOLDEN WEEK IN CHINA

Every year International Labor Day is celebrated all over world on 1st May.In China workers get leave for 7 days around the first week of May to celebrate the International Labor Day .This 7 day leave is called May Day Holiday in China. May Day Holiday is considered as one of the three Golden weeks of China .The other two golden weeks are October National Day & the Spring Festival which is January or February. During these long holidays the Chinese travel along with their families as a result there is lot of hustle & bustle in China & the tourist find very difficult to get accommodation & other facilities.

Jockeys riding on Ostriches during a novelty race for a large crowd , organized on the May day Holiday

A girl sits next to Chimpy as she poses for a photo at the end of an animal show in Shanghai during May Day Holiday in China.

The Chinese enjoy the vacation by organizing animal shows ,competitions,races etc.The vacation is a good source of recreation & when the workers are back to their daily schedule they are full of vigor & vitality However for foreigners it is not advisable to visit China during the above mentioned Golden Weeks.

PIG YEAR

According to Chinese calender every year is a specific animal year & there are 12 animals .Therefore after every 11 years the specific animal becomes the animal of the year . 2007 is considered PIG Year which started from 18th February.Pig year is considered very auspicious as it is believed that children born in Pig Year are bestowed with good fortune & health as a result there is always a Baby Boom in Pig year.

PHOTOGRAPH OF CHINESE POSTAL STAMP RELEASED IN 2007 TO MARK PIG YEAR

To celebrate 2007 as Pig Year the Chinese Postal service released a special edition of Sweet & Sour Pork flavored Stamps.Although the concept of flavored stamps is new for most of us it is an imitation of Eucalyptus smelling stamps which were released by the Royal mail of Britain in 2001. The interesting fact about the Chinese Sweet & Sour Pork flavored stamp is that when someone scratches the front of the stamp it smells of Pork & when somebody licks the glue it tastes of common Chinese Pork dish.

With the growing technology we might hear soon similar innovations in India too & in fact it will be good for our Indian Postal service which has been hampered due to Courier services.

LOTUS FEET OF CHINESE WOMEN

AN ELDERLY CHINESE WOMAN SHOWING HER LOTUS FOOT
THE SPECIAL FOOT WEAR FOR WOMEN WITH LOTUS FEET


The Chinese custom of binding feet of girls is some 1000 years old.According to a Chinese legend this custom developed after TANG DYNASTY EMPEROR who was in love with a concubine .The concubine used to wrap her tiny feet in silk when she danced. In China the girls feet were bound so tightly & early in life that they were unable to dance & had difficulty in walking .By the time the girl is 3 years old her toes were first broken & her feet were bound tightly with cloth strips to prevent the feet to grow larger than 10 Cms due to this extremely painful practice the soles of feet bend in extreme concavity.The feet formed due to this custom is known as Lotus Feet.
Foot binding ceased in 20th century due to increasing western influence , however in remote mountainous region of China women still had their feet bound .Today in China very few elderly women have Lotus foot.

SUMO

No sooner we hear the word ' SUMO ' all of us start giggling as we imagine a very fat but cute Japanese man with just a small piece of cloth around his waist. Also sometimes most of us call an obese individual Sumo in fun.However we are absolutely incorrect if we use the word SUMO for a fat man not because it is bad manners to tease someone but because the word SUMO means a Japanese form of wrestling . In other words Sumo is not a person it is a from of wrestling.

The minimum 136 kgs fat man who participate in Sumo is known as RIKISHI. Thus RIKISHI is a Sumo Wrestler.A Rikishi is called YOKOZUNA when he becomes a grand champion of Sumo .In Sumo a wrestler's weight, size & strength are more important than the speed & suddenness of attack by the wrestler. The Sumo wrestling ring is known as DHOYO which is a 15 feet circle.A Sumo wrestler looses if he is forced out of the wrestling ring or any part of the Sumo wrestler except his soles of his feet touches the ground.YOBIDASHI is the announcer in Sumo ,he calls the Sumo wrestlers into the ring prior to the actual wrestling.The referee in the Sumo is known as GYOJI .Gyoji usually enters the Sumo world as a teenager & remain as a employee of Sumo Association until he retires at the age of 65. The colored belt worn by the Sumo wrestler is known as MAWASHI .Upper ranked professional wrestlers wear KESHO-MAWASHI during the wrestling ring entry ceremony.Kesho-Mawashi is a long embroidered cloth .

Sumo wrestler's life expectancy is about 55, 20 years short of the average for Japanese men in general. Prospective sumo wrestlers are raised from the time they are 14 years old .They are fed on a special high-protein soup that contains meat or fish, tofu, vegetables, noodles, rice & sugar. A midday snack might be 100 sushi rolls. Some have prided themselves on being prodigious beer drinkers. What they eat isn't too different from a traditional Japanese diet. They just eat huge quantities but the true secret behind every 400-pound sumo wrestler is Napping. Napping is a critical part of the training regimen. To gain weight, they eat late in the day and sleep as much as possible after each meal.

Sumo wrestlers have a lot of subcutaneous fat but not arterial or deep-body fat, which is the most dangerous kind but if they don't lose weight when they retire (about the age of 30, usually), fat distribution changes and they can develop heart problems, diabetes, and all the ailments that plague obese people .

This is a brief insight of Sumo World by Moksha

SAINT DOMNICK THE ITALIAN LORD SHIVA

You must be wondering who is Saint Dominick & why he is Italian Lord Shiva ? but before revealing you his identity look at the photographs , the snakes in the photographs are real & are in thousands. Saint Dominick lived in 10th-11th centuries AD, he used to preach & carry out his ascetic practices in central Italy. Saint Dominik had cured several people who were bitten by snakes.He died on 22nd January 1031 & was buried in Sora. Every year on the First Thursday of May in Cocullo- which is in Italy , a procession is carried out .The procession is unique since the whole crowd is speechless & one can only hear the clicking of Cameras.It is said that the Saint Dominick's procession ' is the most frightening procession ' .

Thousands of snakes are brought to Cocullo where the procession will be carried out , before covering the statue of Saint Dominick the snakes are given milk & than the snake charmers place the poisonous snake on the statue than the statue is carried by the people & moved in Cocullo. The Italians carry out the procession inorder to protect the territory from the menace of Snakes .As the Italians strongly believe in the magical power of Saint Dominick.Thousand of tourist go to Cocullo to witness the amazing event every year.

Isn't Saint Dominick an Italian Lord Shiva ?

VALENTINE DAY ON 23rd APRIL IN BARCELONA

Valentine Day which is celebrated on 14th February has gained a special importance in the hearts of lovers from all over the world .However in the hearts of lovers from Barcelona ( capital of Calatonia ) 23rd April also occupy a similar position as Valentine Day In other words for Calalans ( Citizens of Catalonia ) 23rd April is the Lovers Day. Isn't interesting that Lovers from Barcelona get twice , the opportunity to express their love for each other ? We all know that Valentine Day is celebrated in the memory of Saint Valentine now it is my pleasure to elucidate on 23rd April as Lover's Day in Barcelona.

According to a legend a Saint named George ( Saint Jordi ) killed a Dragon who was about to devour a beautiful princess of Barcelona.When Saint George killed the Dragon a drop of blood spilled & a ROSE BUSH sprouted from the spilled blood of Dragon.From the Rose Bush the hero plucked the prettiest rose for the beautiful princess.Therefore from middle ages it is a tradition that lovers give roses on 23rd April in Barcelona .Thus 23rd April also marks Rose Festival in Barcelona. However from 1923 the significance of 23rd April was further enhanced as it was merged with the ' DAY OF BOOK '.The Day of the Book is celebrated to mark the simultaneous deaths of Miguel de Cervantes & William Shakespeare on 23rd April 1616 -the two are immortal for their contribution to literary field







Thus in Barcelona males give roses to females & females gift a book in return on 23rd April to celebrate the lovers festival & the Book Day together . Isn't a unique way of enjoying the Grand Day ?