The Finnish board of museums (Museovirasto) has an interesting internet exhibition of "A Thousand Unknown People" (Tuhat Tuntematonta) on old photographs. Among these photographs of ordinary and not-so-ordinary Finns through the ages (and their pets) are a few chirayliqs, too.
Tadao Watanabe is one of the "unknowns" who has been identified by attentive visitors. He was a Lutheran missionary who married a Finn, Siiri Pitkänen. I have written about them earlier.
This couple has not been identified, but we know that they are Tatars. The photo was dedicated to "Mrs Aishä Ishakova from Höseyin Abudarov" in March 21, 1913. So, what did the Finns look like 100-80 years ago? Any blond and blue-eyed chirayliq candidates?
This gentleman looks strikingly similar to the Tatar man above.
I always find that Finns look Scandinavian, but a special kind of Scandinavian, if you know what I mean.
This guy looks like Andy from my comic Goldenbird. After a bourgeois makeover, to be sure.
Finns and Russians just happen to be neighbours, they have nothing else in common... Just coincidence upon coincidence... Let's not jump to conclusions...
Soldier boys trying to look tough. Same as everywhere...
But I think these guys, who were working for the national railways, are my favourites.
The Hazara people are one of the many ethnic groups in Afghanistan. There are many theories about their origin, and they are probably very mixed, like many other peoples in the region. Genetically and culturally they are with certainty related to Persians, Mongolians and Uighurs. The Hazaras and Pashtuns (the ethnic majority of Afghanistan) have a long history of enmity, but I hope they can overcome it and work together to build a new Afghanistan.
The Boston Globe's Big Picture also features photos from the coronation of the Oxford-educated bachelor His Majesty Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, 28 years old ...
Dancers line up for the crowning ceremony. Both photos by Paula Bronstein/Getty Images. See more at the Boston Globe!
bhutan-20 Originally uploaded by frans.vanderlee "Ratu our local guide and Bart our trip leader pay homage. "
And since we're talking about Bhutan ... In Bhutan, kissing in public is taboo, but on the other hand, it is very common to paint giant phalluses on your house to ward off evil spirits. Phalluses in many other shapes are also used to ward off evil spirits. The photo on the right is by Frans van der Lee, who has a lovely set of photos from Bhutan at Flickr.
The BBC's Geeta Pandey writes about the origins of Bhutan's phalluses. They can be traced back to the "Divine Madman" Lama Drupka Kinley, who supposedly would hit errant demons over the head with his penis to subdue them and turn them into protective deities. "But contrary to the popular perception, the phallus has a world of meaning beyond its obvious symbolism to ward off evil influences", says this article from Kuensel, Bhutan's national newspaper, which takes a closer look at the phallic traditions of Bhutan, and their future in the modern society.
Even though I'm an anti-monarchist at heart, and even though the people of the United States of America just elected arguably the cutest president ever (although Franklin Pierce also classifies as "adorkable"), Bhutan takes the prize with the coronation of His Royal Highness Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuck (28). The Land of the Thunder Dragon received the world's youngest reigning monarch.
The BBC has an interesting photo gallery from the coronation ceremony, and a profile of the young constitutional monarch. The transition to democracy has been a late but steady one in Bhutan, and the royal family is determined to promote general suffrage and voting habits, cautious of the fate of monarchy in neighboring Nepal. Bhutan has a historical reputation for being voluntarily isolated, and the official policy today is attempting to balance between preserving the cultural and natural heritage and accepting outside influences. However, Bhutan has always been a part of the web of world cultures, through the Buddhist faith and the second-largest religion, Hinduism. See also the website of the National Library of Bhutan with many interesting links of religious and cultural interest.
The transition process can be illustrated by comparing the king's ancient titles:
Supreme Protector Of The People The Great Elected One The Upholder Of The Law
with the modern titles:
Protector Of The Nation's Security Guardian Of The Constitution Inspiration For Gross National Happiness
Found through the Buddhist blog Dreaming of Danzan Ravjaa. And back to Obama: This blog is like Cute Overload for Obama fans. You have been warned.
Greenpeace Japan exposed a scandal involving the corrupt and powerful whaling industry (which is funded with taxpayers’ money). Two of their activists are now awaiting trial for intercepting a box of stolen whale meat and delivering it to the police.
Greenpeace was tipped off in January 2008 by a former whaling fleet member that crew members of the Japanese whaling fleet regularly take whale meat off the ships and sell it for their own profit.
In April, Greenpeace activists were able to track one of at least 93 boxes of “personal baggage” with a variety of labels such as “cardboard” or “salted stuff”, that were sent from the whaling ship Nisshin Maru, addressed to the private homes of crewmembers. The two activists Junichi Sato and Toru Suzuki removed one of the boxes to verify its contents, which turned out to be not cardboard, but 23.5 kg of prime whale meat cuts, worth between 100,000 yen (US$1,000) and 300,000 yen (US$3,000).
Concluding the four-month undercover investigation, Greenpeace Japan held a press conference in Tokyo, exposing the full details of the whale meat embezzlement scandal. As evidence, Junichi and Toru displayed the box of stolen whale meat that they intercepted, and then delivered it to the Public Prosecutor in Tokyo, along with a full dossier detailing the investigation, including details of the suspected crewmembers. In May, the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors' Office confirmed that there would be an investigation into the whale meat scandal.
However, on June 20th, Junichi and Toru were arrested for stealing the package, and on the same day the Tokyo Public Prosecutor suddenly announced that he had dropped his investigation into the whale meat embezzlement scandal.
After 26 days in police detention, Junichi and Toru are out on bail, but they still face criminal prosecution.
Junichi (31) is the director of the Oceans Campaign of Greenpeace Japan. A husband and father, he often spends his weekends hiking to nearby Mt. Takao with his son. Junichi speaks of providing an opportunity to children of the future to be awed by Earth’s grand nature. Joining Greenpeace in 2001 as a campaigner working on toxic materials, he has worked to promote "Zero Waste" in Japan, and was instrumental in the landmark Zero Waste Declaration adopted by the town of Kamikatsu, in Tokushima prefecture, which aims to eliminate waste by 2020. Since then, he has acted as Greenpeace Japan's Campaign Director and now the Director of the Oceans Campaign to promote sustainable coastal fisheries in Japan and an end to so-called research whaling in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.
Toru (41) is the actions coordinator of Greenpeace Japan. He is married and has a two-year-old daughter. He joined Greenpeace because he was "really impressed that there were so many good people" involved. Toru supports the whales campaign because "simply, I think whaling should end now. A year ago, I was a new Greenpeace volunteer helping out when our ship the Esperanza was coming to Yokohama. I began to understand the whaling issue, and felt that whaling is going to end in 1-2 years".
Baghdad Calling is a book by photojournalist Geert van Kesteren. In interviews and photos - both his own and those collected from Iraqi amateur photographers - it shows the everyday life of Iraqi refugees, most of whom have escaped from the centres of conflict to calmer parts of Iraq or neighbouring countries like Jordan, Turkey and Syria. There is hardly any relief in any form for these refugees, "with all the attendant consequences: children do not go to school and people are denied any medical care", as Jan Gruiters writes in the introduction.
People cope as they can - in the photo below, for example, two boys entertain their family by putting on a muscle show ...
Chirayliq is the Uighur word for 'handsome, pretty, beautiful, attractive'. This blog concerns itself with the handsomeness of Central Asian men, and not only. From the Black Sea to Kamchatka, from the Kara Sea to Himalaya, this is a gallery celebrating the rugged charm of the men from the steppes, mountains, deserts and taigas.
Questions? Suggestions? Want to submit your own photos? Feel free to contact blogmaster Tinet.
Many of the photographs and other materials featured on this blog are by us. Works that we don't own the rights to are used within the concept of Fair Use as "quotations".
But if you do not wish to see your work here, E-mail Tinet and she'll remove it.
About us
Tinet - after many years of studying among other things the Russian language and the cultural history of Russia, the Soviet Union and the Middle East, she has moved to one of the many cities of her dreams (Berlin, Germany) and works as a gun for hire for various publishing companies with typesetting, graphic design, translating and writing, besides drawing comics about funny Russians. She dreams of making big fat richly illustrated coffee table books about the images of Central Asian, Caucasian or Russian men from a cultural historic angle.
Ainur - Ph.D. of History at the University of Lund, Sweden, who in her research has focused on nationalism, identity and stereotypes, mainly in the context of Finnish views on Swedes. She also draws historically correct comics about the Jazz age in the 1920's, which also deal with nationalism, identity and stereotypes, in a quite entertaining way.
Tinet and Ainur are sisters, and their ethnic background is as follows: 62.5% Finnish, 25% Mishär Tatar, 12.5% Kale (Finnish Roma).
Tadao Watanabe is one of the "unknowns" who has been identified by attentive visitors. He was a Lutheran missionary who married a Finn, Siiri Pitkänen. I have written about them earlier.
This couple has not been identified, but we know that they are Tatars. The photo was dedicated to "Mrs Aishä Ishakova from Höseyin Abudarov" in March 21, 1913.
Soldier boys trying to look tough. Same as everywhere...
But I think these guys, who were working for the national railways, are my favourites.
