Tag: Culture
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Onigawara
Onigawara The scary creature on the roof is an ‘oni’, a Japanese ogre. Temple roofs are often ornamented with these ogre tiles (onigawara) and also with small round hanagawara, i.e. tiles with floral designs. The roofs of Japanese temples are intricate works of very fine craftsmanship. See for example the small roof on the photo…
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Okame
Okame Okame is the name of the mask depicting a young woman with a small, upturned nose and large, round cheeks. It is also the name of the wife of the master carpenter who built the main hall of the Senbon Shakado Temple in Kyoto, where I saw this beautifully illuminated mask. The story goes…
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Noh apparition
Noh apparition In a Noh museum, one naturally expects to see Noh masks. With their painted high eyebrows (hikimayu) and other typical features, Noh masks often look striking. But this mask, emerging from the darkness, looks more like a ghost, with elements of the background faintly shining through the face.Are we looking at an illuminated…
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Admiring Chamundi
Admiring Chamundi Chamundi angrily chasing Kalabhairava is a high point during the mid-December festival at Kakotuparambu in Coorg. Chamundi is the frightening form of the Divine Mother, so we can also identify her as Kali or Durga. As is often the case when stories of the gods are enacted, female roles are performed by males.…
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Source of life
Source of life At the source of the Cauvery River: a flow of water comes out of Mother Earth, giving life to plants, animals and humans downstream. The yoni placed at this very spot, signifying the source of life, is well chosen. It calls up the painting of “the origin of the world” (“l’origine du…
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Merry Christmas
Merry Christmas A little messy?A little hidden?A little unobtrusive?A little clandestine?Merry Christmasin Hindutva land. Photo of the week: Catholic Club, Bangalore, Karnataka, India 2019
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No fire, no smoke
No fire, no smoke No smoke curling up out of the kitchen chimneys.The sultans have long gone,their palace has become a museum.And the tree, delighted at having been saved,happily twists its branches this way and that. Photo of the week: Chimneys on Sultan’s kitchen, Topkapi palace, Istanbul, Turkey 2003
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Light upon light
Light upon light Rays of the setting sunilluminating spacewithout and within.Light …Space …Peace … Photo of the week: Sultan Ahmet Camii, Blue Mosque, Istanbul, Turkey 2003
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Sacred pomp
Sacred pomp It reminds me of my catholic youth in Holland. Sunday mass in the 50s of last century. A nostalgic image of a distant past. Forever gone … but not in Poland! Photo of the week: Church of Corpus Christi, Krakow, Poland 2007
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Fallen angel
Fallen angel Fallen from his heavenly nest, wings too small to keep his baby-build up in the air. Photo of the week: Fallen angel, Church of Corpus Christi, Krakow, Poland 2007
καιρός remembered 