Antique
Maps of Iceland. 'All antique maps of Iceland
(older than 1900) that are in the collection of the
National and University Library of Iceland have been
converted to a digital format and are accessible here.
The library does not have all maps of Iceland before
this date but would like to be able to display them
all. Therefore those who know of maps that are not
shown here are kindly asked to send a note to the
library. A short historical description in Icelandic
and English is available for every map. ' Gallery.
Deadly
Medicine: Creating the Master Race. 'From 1933 to
1945, Nazi Germany's government led by Adolf Hitler
promoted a nationalism that combined territorial
expansion with claims of biological superiority—an
"Aryan master race"—and virulent antisemitism. Driven
by a racist ideology legitimized by German scientists,
the Nazis attempted to eliminate all of Europe's Jews,
ultimately killing six million in the Holocaust. Many
others also became victims of persecution and murder
in the Nazis' campaign to cleanse German society of
individuals viewed as threats to the "health" of the
nation ... '
Seokguram.
'Overlooking the East Sea far ahead beyond the
mountain ridges from the southeastern tip of the
Korean Peninsula, Seokguram stands as a proud
testimony to Korea's brilliant tradition of classical
Buddhist sculpture. A small but noble pantheon of
divinities symbolizing Buddhist philosophy and
aestheticism, the eighth-century cave temple is a
structure of sublime beauty culminating religious
belief, science and fine arts which flowered in the
golden age of Asian art. Seokguram is located near the
tummit of Mt. Tohamsan, east of the historic city of
Gyeongju, capital of the Silla dynasty
(57B.C.-A.D.935) ... '
Monkey
Trial. 'In 1925, a biology teacher named John
Scopes was arrested for teaching evolution in defiance
of Tennessee state law. His trial became an epic event
of the twentieth century, a debate over free speech
that spiraled into an all-out duel between science and
religion. Featuring two of the century's greatest
orators, attorneys Clarence Darrow and William
Jennings Bryan, the Scopes trial was America's first
major media event, with hundreds of reporters and live
nationwide radio coverage dispersing the sensational
news. Outside the courthouse, a circus atmosphere
prevailed as a chimpanzee in a suit and hat vied with
fire-and-brimstone preachers for the crowd's
attention. Monkey Trial explores the dramatic moment
when a new fault line opened in society as scientific
discoveries began to challenge the literal truth of
the Bible. Often humorous and at times frightening,
the story of two value systems colliding resonates
today.'
Murder
at Harvard. 'In November 1849, Dr. George Parkman,
one of Boston's richest citizens, suddenly
disappeared. The police conducted an extensive search
of the city and dredged the Charles River. Parkman had
last been seen walking towards the Harvard Medical
College. The Medical School's janitor, Ephraim
Littlefield, who had a suspicion where Parkman might
be found, spent two grueling nights tunneling beneath
a basement laboratory looking for clues. What he
discovered horrified Boston and led to one of the most
sensational trials in American history.'
Murder
of the Century. 'In 1906, the murder of Stanford
White, New York architect and man-about-town, by Harry
Thaw, heir to a Pittsburgh railroad fortune, was
reported "to the ends of the civilized globe"; much of
the focus, however, was on Evelyn Nesbit, the
beautiful showgirl in the center of the love triangle.
It was a sensational murder story that had everything:
money, power, class, love, rage, lust and revenge.'
The
Zoot Suit Riots. 'In August 1942 the murder of a
young Mexican-American man ignited a firestorm in the
City of the Angels. In no time at all, ethnic and
racial tensions that had been building up over the
years boiled over. Police fanned out across the city
in a dragnet that netted 600 Mexican Americans. Among
those accused of murder was a young "zoot-suiter"
named Hank Leyvas -- the poster boy for an entire
generation of rebellious Mexican kids who refused to
play by the old rules. As he and sixteen other boys
headed to trial, the mood of the city turned violent.
The deck was stacked against the defendants, and a
verdict of guilty would spark a series of brutal
riots. The convictions were ultimately overturned, but
the city and its inhabitants would be forever
changed.'
Late
Eighteenth Century American Drawings. 'As it was
in painting, American draftsmanship before 1800 was
dominated by portraiture. Among the earliest examples
of the genre were in the medium of pastel, imported
into the American colonies as far back as the first
decade of the 1700s and best exemplified by the
extensive production of one of this country's first
notable female artists, Henrietta Johnston (ca.
1674–1729). A descendant of French Huguenots who lived
successively in England and Ireland, Johnston
emigrated to Charlestown, South Carolina, where she
continued the pastel practice begun in Dublin after
the death of her first husband ... '
G.F.
Handel dot org. 'G.F. Handel was the consummate,
18th-century traveler, artiste, and entrepreneur. He
was an independent and strong-willed individual, and
although he was approached several times by royal
patrons to become their court composer, Handel was
hesitant to professionally "settle down" until he was
offered a position commensurate with the status he
felt he deserved ... '
Giovanni
Battista Piranesi."I need to produce great
ideas, and I believe that if I were commissioned to
design a new universe, I would be mad enough to
undertake it."
'This statement by Giovanni Battista Piranesi,
reported by one of his early biographers, in many ways
sums up the man whose dreams of antiquity so often
surpassed reality, from his earliest etchings of
architectural fantasies to the fanciful restorations
of ancient remains that he produced at the end of his
career ... '
The
Japanese Blade. 'The forging of a Japanese sword
is a subtle and careful process, an art that has
developed over the centuries as much in response to
stylistic and aesthetic considerations as to technical
improvements. To fashion these blades, the smith not
only must possess physical strength, but also
patience, dexterity, and a refined eye for the limits
of the material and the beauty of a finished sword.'
Art
of the Asante Kingdom. 'In the seventeenth
century, the region of West Africa known as the Gold
Coast (modern Ghana) was dotted with several
small-scale principalities populated by peoples
belonging to the Akan cultural group. Linked by trade
routes, a shared language, and similar belief systems,
these states nonetheless remained separate entities
until the early eighteenth century, when Asante, an
inland kingdom ruled by a chief named Osei Tutu,
embarked on a process of territorial expansion that
united them as one kingdom. By 1750, Asante had become
a large empire whose borders were roughly congruent
with those of Ghana today. Developing an inclusive
model of leadership that emphasized points of
similarity and adopted traditions from throughout the
territory for courtly use, Osei Tutu promoted unity
among the peoples over whom he ruled and cultivated a
strong national identity that has remained to the
present day ... '
Velazquez.
'Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez, the most
admired—perhaps the greatest—European painter who ever
lived, possessed a miraculous gift for conveying a
sense of truth. He gave the best of his talents to
painting portraits, which capture the appearance of
reality through the seemingly effortless handling of
sensuous paint ... '
Kathy
Kelly: May Day in Federal Prison. 'It's Saturday
morning, May 1, 2004, and women here at Pekin Federal
Prison Camp who watched CNN news feel indignant about
the way Iraqi prisoners have been treated by US
military guards. "Did you see those pictures?" Ruth
asked. What in the world is going on over there?"
' 'The news coverage they watched had photo-ops
from last year's May Day, when President George Bush
triumphantly boarded a USS Carrier ship to declare
"Mission Accomplished," juxtaposed with the recently
released ghastly photos of US military members
apparently enjoying degradation and torture of Iraqi
prisoners ... '
Seeking
Illumination: Monastic Manuscripts 800-1200. 'From
about 800 to 1200 monasteries functioned as the
primary guardians of art and scholarship throughout
Europe. Although these religious institutions were
physically secluded, their scribes and illuminators
created luxurious manuscripts for both the Church and
the most powerful political leaders of the day ... '
War
Letters. 'Based on newly discovered personal
correspondence from the Revolutionary War to the Gulf
War, War Letters brings to life vivid eyewitness
accounts of famous battles, intimate declarations of
love and longing, poignant letters penned just before
the writer was killed, and heartbreaking "Dear John"
letters from home.'
A Chef and His Library.
'Chef Fritz Blank's culinary library helps to illustrate how a homegrown
Jersey boy became one of America's foremost French chefs. Since
surviving a 1987 Dumpster fire that otherwise gutted Blank's original
location of his restaurant, Deux Cheminées, his collection has grown to
over 10,000 volumes of cookery books plus recipe pamphlets, menus and
other culinary ephemera. ' 'A Chef & His Library examines a paper
trail of the influences--from his grandmother's cooking lessons to his
career as a clinical microbiologist--that shaped Blank's culinary
education and sensibilities. "My library may not be the biggest or the
best or the most antiquarian," says Blank, "But it does reflect my
tastes." ' 'Blank's egalitarian collecting embraces a range of
culinary books from scholarly and esoteric to mundane and even downright
tacky. Here a 1627 banquet book written by a papal household steward
shares billing with a 2001 Hooter's pocket menu and a cooking manual for
Navy cooks.'
Agents Wanted: Subscription Publishing in America.
'A period of brisk expansion and change, the nineteenth century saw the
population of the country shift westward, away from previous centers of
publishing and distribution. Upwardly mobile Americans viewed literacy,
through which they learned about the wider world and developed as
individuals and citizens, as essential to their mobility. Moreover, a
developing American identity required nurture. Works by American authors
which spoke on American themes and to American concerns could easily be
marketed, publishers hoped, to such an audience. Improvements in
transportation and print technology accompanied these social and
cultural changes over the course of the century, making all types of
reading matter increasingly quicker and cheaper to produce and
distribute. Economies of scale, made possible by new printing
technologies, in conjunction with cheaper paper and binding materials,
greatly reduced the costs of producing large and inexpensive editions of
books. Stereotyped plates both reduced the expense of reprinting and
allowed for the distribution of plates to all parts of the country. New
and cheaper methods of illustration increased their use in all forms of
print, making them more appealing to prospective customers ...'
Household Words: Women Write For and From the Kitchen.
'My own interest in cookbooks--both manuscript and printed--began with a
chance discovery several years ago. While browsing in an antique shop, I
stumbled across a book of writings. At first glance, the book reminded
me of a journal or a volume of poetry. When I looked more closely, I
discovered that what I had found was a collection of recipes. What was
most intriguing about this handwritten volume with a section of clipped
recipes pasted onto the pages of what had once been a telephone
directory w as the absence of the writer's name. After I bought the book
for a dollar--the shop owner was reluctant even to ask for that much
money--I returned home and searched it for a clue to its writer's
identity. I found none. I wondered how many women had kept recipe books
such as these. And for what purposes did they keep them? What role did
such writing play in women's lives? I was struck not only by the
recipes, their titles and ingredients but by the other information
contained in the book. Letters, poems, loose recipes on used scraps of
paper, devotional texts, a list of books and rhymes, and several pages
of names and addresses of people unknown to me and in unspecified
relationships to the writer. Perhaps it was a church group or members of
a choir? What was unsettling to me was that although I could conjecture
something about this woman's life--her participation in some religious
or church-related activity, her social network, that she had children
and a husband. I did not know who she was. I wondered how many books
like this were anonymous; how many had been discarded, lost or destroyed
because they were considered unimportant; how many were written intended
for publication or were they most often to be kept in families and given
as lega cies to children; were some of them meant to signal class and
rank and act as symbols of wifely and maternal devotion. Were they read?
And if so, by whom?...'
"And Touch the Universal Heart...": The Appeal of James Whitcomb
Riley. 'Indiana is proud of its "National Poet." The first official
public celebration occurred in 1915 when Governor Samuel Moffett Ralston
decreed October 7th as Riley Day. The state celebration swept across the
country as the National Commissioner of Education issued instructions
for a nationwide observance in all public schools. A birthday dinner in
honor of the Poet was held in Indianapolis and attended by four hundred
people. Many admirers were turned away and telegrams from countless
well-wishers were cabled, including one from President Woodrow Wilson.
To mark the event, a special birthday edition of Riley's Poems Here at
Home was published and distributed to attendees. '
'Riley's death on July 22, 1916 prompted a second proclamation by
Ralston thus continuing the commemoration of Riley's birthday and
influence. A special medallion was minted. The 1948 proclammation for
the centennial anniversary celebration was issued by Governor Ralph
Fesler Gates. On February 25, 1998 the Indiana State Legislature passed
a resolution designating the period from October 7, 1998 to October 7,
1999 as "The Year of Riley" in observance of the Sesquicentennial of the
Poet's birth. The Riley Old Home in conjunction with the Greenfield
Sesquicentennial Committee issued sets of commemorative coins to mark
the occasion. '
Wildscenes. British wildlife
and landscape photography by John Gardner. Galleries
here.
And We Have Revealed To You: Jewish Biblical Interpretation in a
Comparative Context.
'Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are all peoples of "the book," that
is, Scripture believed to be the revealed word of God. What defines each
of these religious cultures, however, is not only their common heritage
in the Biblical past but the distinctive traditions that each of them
has developed for interpreting the Bible and what they believed to be
its message and meaning. Indeed, it is the different ways in which they
have interpreted the Bible that have decisively shaped the development
of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. And all too often, perhaps, their
different understandings of the Bible have also determined and
complicated the tangled relations of these religious communities with
each other...'
Einstein House Bern. 'The flat on the second floor of Kramgasse No.
49 was rented by Albert Einstein from 1903 to 1905. It has been restored
in the style of that period to reflect Einstein's stay in Bern. The site
is open to the public ... '
Karyukai. A site about geisha. 'Karyukai means "Flower and Willow
World", a poetic term for the society of the Geisha ... '
link
7th May
Turning
Earth: From a Small Yorkshire Garden.
'Why 'turning earth'? Firstly in recognition of all
the earth I turned while making my garden.'
'Also because gardening has put me in tune with the
turning of the seasons. Making a garden, and
maintaining it, and simply watching it develop,
makes the beauty of each season more apparent. Having a
small piece of land that I can call "my garden" has
been a constant source of joy.'
Mandala Sand Painting: Creating an Enlightened World.
'This mandala sand painting is a gift to New York City
from the Tibetan Buddhist monks of Drepung Loseling
Monastery to commemorate the tragic events of September
11 and to honor His Holiness the Dalai Lama...'
Ancient Maps of Jerusalem.
'Jerusalem, the holy city of Judaism, Christianity and
Islam, has been the focus of numerous volumes of
history, chronicles, biblical exegeses, and
itineraries. Many of these works include maps and
views of the city itself. These pictorial items
increased in number continuously with the development
of printing methods since the 17th century. Before the
advent of print, maps of Jerusalem and other
manuscripts of the city were often inscribed on
vellum, or more rarely created as wall or floor
mosaics. Since the first printed map of Jerusalem
appeared in the late 15th century until the beginning
of the nineteenth century, when maps began to be based
on accurate surveys, more than 300 maps of Jerusalem
were designed and printed.'
'Most maps of Jerusalem were not created to fill the
utilitarian purpose of modern maps. They were not
drawn to help travelers find their way. Some of them
do not even depict the city as it existed. They served
as a medium of conveying information, a viewpoint and
a concept. This role of maps is not unique to the
ancient maps of Jerusalem, but is characteristic
of many maps, both current and past. However, the
singular status of Jerusalem as a holy city, a focus
of interest and of strong religious attraction, led to
the creation of numerous maps depicting that city,
more often through concepts rather than from a purely
geographical aspect...'
And the Oscar Went To...
'The Cleveland Public Library is proud to share a
small portion of the W. Ward Marsh Motion Picture
Collection. This collection of over 70,000 movie
still photographs is housed in the Library's
Photograph Collection. In addition to being fun
to browse, the images are an excellent resource for
those researching the history of cinema from 1915
through the 1970's. Many of these images are indexed
and are retrievable by the name of the actor, studio,
film or by genre such as Western, Comedy, or Musical. '
'Images included in this online exhibit represent the
first 25 years of Oscar winning motion pictures and
actors. In addition, those interested in print
materials about the Oscars will find a bibliography
to the Library's Oscar related resources. Of course,
the Library's video collection offers patrons the
opportunity to reserve and borrow all of the "Best
Picture" winning films. A list of these films, along
with links to each Library Catalog record, is included
with this exhibit. '
Mail Art in Cleveland Public Library.
'Dogs don't bark at it, but when it's delivered to
your mailbox, mail art is likely to create its own
stir. It may be in the form of a plastic soda bottle
with an address label attached or something
conventional like a shape-poem written on lavender
paper and capped with a rubberstamp of a skull and
cross bones. As a conscious movement, mail art has
been around since the early 1960s. By 2000, the mail
art panoply of saints and sinners was well
established ... '
Gallery.
Facts and Firsts in Cleveland's African American History.
'In 1926, Carter G. Woodson, historian and founder of
the Association for the Study of Negro (now African
American) Life and History, designated the second week
of February as Negro History Week. He wanted to
commemorate the achievements of African Americans by
encouraging teachers to educate their students about
the little-known men and women of color whose
accomplishments have so enriched American life...'
William
Morris Gallery. 'Selected Works and Photographs
from the Gallery's Collection.' Arts & Crafts.
Edvard
Munch. 'Edvard Munch, Norway's most popular
artist, was a painter, lithographer, etcher, and wood
engraver. He is looked upon as one of the most
significant influences on the development of German
and Central European expressionism. Munch's convulsed
and tortuous art was formed by the misery and
conflicts of his time, and, even more important, by
his own unhappy life. Childhood tragedy, intense and
dramatic love affairs, alcoholism, and ceaseless
traveling are reflected in his works, particularly in
paintings like The Sick Child, The Scream, and
Vampire. Munch's pictures show his social awareness
and his tendency to express, as in Puberty, many of
the basic fears and anxieties of mankind.'
Gallery.
America's Jazz
Heritage 'is a ten-year initiative to research,
preserve, and present the history of jazz through
exhibitions, performances, recordings, radio,
publications, and educational programs at the
Smithsonian and across the nation.' Duke
Ellington. Louis
Armstrong.
A
Look at Chinese Painting. 'On April 6, 1437, Yang
Rong, a high-ranking scholar-official serving the
emperor of China, invited eight important officials
and dignitaries to his famous garden to view paintings
and calligraphy, compose poetry, and play chess. One
of these invited officials is seen above, brush in
hand, poised to write a poem on the paper unrolled on
the table before him. Two other guests admire a
painting in the format of a hanging scroll. The
servant on the left is readying another hanging scroll
for viewing while two more hanging scrolls lie rolled
up on the low table beside him. Yang Rong served at
the court of five successive emperors, rising to the
rank of grand secretary, the highest official position
in the Ming dynasty court. '
'In this feature you will have an opportunity to look
closely at and learn more about a number of Chinese
paintings and calligraphies (brush writings). Just
think of yourself as a guest at this party, composing
a poem or taking an imaginary journey through a
distant landscape by examining a painting, as these
gentlemen are doing. '
Lucas
Cranach the Elder. 'German painter (b. 1472,
Kronach, d. 1553, Weimar)'. Biblican nudes, portraits
etc.
Olympia.
Greek Ministry of Culture site. 'One of the most
important sanctuaries of antiquity, dedicated to the
father of the gods Olympian Zeus. Olympia is the
birth-place of the Olympic Games and also where they
were held.
The area, of great natural beauty, has been inhabited
uninterruptedly since the 3rd millenium B.C. and in
the late Mycenaean period it became a religious centre
... '
Death Penalty
Focus of California. Anti-death penalty site. 'As
long as there is a death penalty, the possibility
exists that innocent Americans will be wrongfully
convicted and sentenced to death. Condemned to die in
1987, Greg Wilhoit spent five years on death row for a
crime he did not commit.'
link
6th May
Al Hirschfeld.
'For almost 75 years in The New York Times, Al Hirschfeld's line drawings captured the
vividness of American theater. A self-described "characterist," Hirschfeld (1903 - 2003) said his
contribution was to take the character, created by the playwright and portrayed by the actor, and
to reinvent it for the reader. His drawings, which often appeared before a show opened, gave
many readers their first look at Broadway's newest offerings. This archive is a selection of works
published in The Times. '
Via MeFi.
Andrei Sakharov:
Soviet Physics, Nuclear Weapons and Human Rights. 'Andrei
Sakharov (1921-1989) was a Soviet physicist who became, in the words of the
Nobel Peace Committee, a spokesman for the conscience of mankind. He was
fascinated by fundamental physics and cosmology, but first he spent two
decades designing nuclear weapons. He came to be regarded as the father
of the Soviet hydrogen bomb, contributing perhaps more than anyone else to
the military might of the USSR. But gradually Sakharov became one of the
regime's most courageous critics, a defender of human rights and
democracy. He could not be silenced, and helped bring down one of history's
most powerful dictatorships. This exhibit tells about Sakharov's
extraordinary life.'
Citizen Kurchatov. 'Citizen
Kurchatov is the story of a complex, world-class physicist who became the
driving force behind the Soviet Union's race to develop the atomic bomb.
It is the story of Igor Kurchatov, born in 1903, who, while not a child of
the Russian revolution, believed it would lead to a bright future of
scientific socialism. '
'Citizen Kurchatov is also the story of the extraordinary political forces
that drove Kurchatov and his army of scientists to develop such a dangerous
weapon under Stalin's repressive regime. Although Kurchatov was a
scientist open to western ideas, he also flourished under the anti-western
politics of his time. Stalin gave the atomic bomb effort a blank check,
allowing Kurchatov to build an empire of technicians and installations
stretching across the expanse of the Soviet Union. '
'Somehow Kurchatov managed to survive the tyrannical demands and deadly
whims of his bosses Joseph Stalin and security chief Lavrenti Beria - one
of the most feared men in Russia. Certainly Kurchatov erected his realm
with Gulag labor, and waste from his sites often poisoned the surrounding
land -- land of the country he strove to protect. Yet in the end, he spoke
of peace and the removal of nuclear weapons. Did he seek repentance, or
was Kurchatov the "consummate politician who, like a great actor, could
play a role while hiding his true feelings?" '
Andrew and Janet McLean: Children's Literature Interview Series. From
the State Library of Victoria. 'Janet and Andrew McLean have won
acclaim for their picture books since their first book was published in
1978. ' 'In an interview in November 1998 this successful husband and
wife team discussed the body of their work and the evolution of words and
pictures in the creation of their books. The interview was recorded at
their home in Melbourne by Juliet O'Conor, Children's Literature Librarian
at the State Library of Victoria with the assistance of Indra Kurzeme and
Cath Herman from the Library's Experimedia Unit. '
Gallery of illustrations.
Buddhism and the Trade Routes. And art. 'The ancient trade routes
running through Asia were the main arteries of communication and transport
for international travelers. Along these routes, Buddhism and Buddhist
artistic influences from various areas of India, the homeland of Buddhism,
spread to the Himalayas, Southeast Asia, and East Asia at different times
and in varying degrees of intensity. Each wave of influence had its own
specific elements that underwent a process of adaptation, adjustment, and
reinterpretation by the genius of a particular area, resulting in images
with pronounced ethnic and stylistic variations. Yet the commonalities
among the works of Buddhist art in the Asia Society's collection,
particularly their shared recognizable features and visible expressions
of spiritual accomplishment, highlight the unifying role played by this
Indian religion. '
Masaccio.
Italian Renaissance artist. 'Masaccio's work
influenced great artists such as Leonardo,
Michelangelo and Raffaello, to name only the most
famous, above all in the solutions they adopted when
reproducing, as faithfully as possible, the theory of
perspective which was taking form and substance in
those very years.
In this context it is worth remembering one of his
most exceptional works, the fresco "La Trinitŕ"
(the Trinity) to be found in the church of Santa Maria
Novella in Florence, where Masaccio ingeniuosly
created a pictorial perspective which coincides with
the eye of the observer so that we have the illusion
of a space that does not in fact exist but which our
eye, deceived, perceives as real ... ' Gallery.
The
Religion of the Ancient Celts, 1911. 'This book,
which appears for the first time on the Internet at
sacred-texts.com, is one of the best scholarly
treatments of the ancient Celtic religion. Written
early in the 20th Century, Religion of the Ancient
Celts includes extensive treatment of that perennially
fascinating subject, the Druids ... '
More
Than Meets the Eye:
Japanese Art in the
Asia Society Collection. 'In the spring of 1998,
the Asia Society offered a rare opportunity to view
Japanese art of the highest quality from the Mr. and
Mrs. John D. Rockefeller 3rd Collection. '
'Here we present a virtual exhibition of more than 25
objects in the collection ... ' Gallery.
Remembering
the Morning: World Trade Center Exhibit. Outsider
art. 'Four artists...Matt Sesow, SpiLL, Alexander
Kochan, and Cesar Paris Yarleque...have been invited
to participate in an exhibition in New York City in
memory of the people of America who did things big and
small to hold this great country together during and
after the Morning of September Eleventh ... '
Apocalyptic
Art. Outsider art. 'Apocalyptic artists create
visions from meaning, images from words. Their
thinking steps out ahead of the rest of us, not in
false pride but in a desire to show what they see.
Here at ApocalypticArt.com we are honored to be
involved in showing the work of Apocalyptic Artists to
the world. Click the artists name.'
Ayyappa
Cult. 'In present day India, especially in the
southern parts, Lord Ayyappa of Shabarimala (in the
state of Kerala) is worshipped with much devotion and
fanfare. Devotees take a vow to fast for forty-one
days, only eating light meals prepared to a strict
code (no meats, no alcohol, no food cooked by women),
and practicing abstinence. The devotees also wear
black or holy clothing and undertake a pilgrimage to
the temple of Shabarimala, often walking in barefoot
... '
link
