 | Polynesian seafaring - history and Hawaiian re-creation Captain Cook 'discovers' Tahiti and Hawaii. The natives tell Cook how they navigated the vast Pacific Ocean. Later commentators dispute this, and some natives of today---many decades after ravages of their culture by outsiders--decide to rebuild the ancient navigation knowledge and traditional sailing canoes to create a new legacy of wayfinding and revive the spirit of the ancestral way as they teach others to face new horizons. Herb Kawainui Kane speaks about Thor Heyerdahl and his Kon-Tiki expedition, and then the Hokule'a-- a re-created ancient double-hulled voyaging canoe (vaka taurua) featured in this extract. Narrated by Napuanalani Cassidy this clip is extracted from the VHS tape "Wayfinders: a Pacific Odyssey" the library's description of it: Publisher, Date: Charlotte, N.C. : Maiden Voyage/PBS Home Video, c1999. Description: 1 videocassette (approx. 60 min.): sd., col. with b&w sequences ; 1/2 in. Summary: Presents a seafaring odyssey with a group of Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, as they build traditional sailing canoes, learn to travel long distances using celestial navigation, and embark on a 2,000-mile voyage from the Marquesas Islands to Hawaii. |
 | Myths Made Art screener - Contemporary Arts Media Screener for Myths Made Art distributed worldwide online by Contemporary Arts Media (http://www.artfilms.com.au). This collection by ARTE takes us along the heart of arts known as "first" and discovers major works of Africa, Oceania, Americas or Asia. The myth behind each one of these works gives us insight into its creation, uses and history. Each film reveals the imagination of a culture with a different vision of the world. * KAIAPO PLUMAGE Director : Philippe Truffault The Kaiapo Indians, natives of the Amazon, are unsurpassed in the art of featherwork - an art which reflects the importance of birds in their world view. * HURDY-GURDY WITH HORSE HEAD,MONGOLIA Director : Philippe Truffault The Mongolian name for this two-stringed instrument is "morin-xuur" or horsehead violin. Covered in gold and multicoloured-coloured decorations and adorned with the sculpted heads of horses and dragons, they are 1.2 metres long and probably date back about a hundred years. * DOGON HEDDLE PULLEY Directors: Philippe Truffault, Ludovic Segarra For the Dogon clan of Mali, Africa, all actions are associated with a complex ritual and belief system. The art of weaving is no different, it is a symbol of the spoken word, a fundamental expression of this culture's cosmological ideas. * MAORI PENDANT Director : Jean -- Loïc Portron A hei tiki is an image of an ancestor that one wears. These pendants are precious objects handed down in families from generation to generation. Some even have names. They create a link between the living and the dead, erasing distances created by time and space. * FANG RELIQUARY FIGURINE Director : Philippe Truffault In Fang ancestor-worship, in Gabon, the skulls of close relatives are placed in a bark vessel known as the dwelling of the souls. Skulls and bone fragments are placed amongst pieces of cut-up bark stained with padouk, a lucky plant, and other talismans. On the lid of the vessel are placed one or more wooden figurines, their large tin eyes absently contemplating everyday life in the house, as if they belonged to another world. * THE MARQUESAS ISLANDS EFFIGY Director : Jean -- Loïc Portron This effigy is often presented as a sign of tattooist because of the motifs which decorate it, Marquisiens being accustomed to tattooing their body from head to foot. Actually, we are totally unaware of this object. Does it represent the image an important being? That of a deified ancestor? Which are the reasons of the silence which surrounds it? French / English. Colour. 6 x 26 mins. |
 | Chinese Fans 中国爱好者 Leques Chineses 中國扇子 Chino ventila 中国のファン Le chinois évente Chinese fächelt Il cinese fa vento Chinees waaiert Китайские болельщики Kineser vifter China Beijing Olympic Paralympic jogos paraolimpicos na china 2008 Games A device to agitate or move air or other gas The human powered Fan (implement) is a hand-held implement used by waving it back and forth. Motor powered Fans: mechanical fans such as oscillating fans, ceiling fans, blowers, etc. Centrifugal fan Ceiling fan, also available as a floor verity in tropical countries Computer fan, also found in a larger form in applications like radio transmitters Engine fan - used to cool the engine's coolant when the car is stationary or moving slowly A hand-held fan is an implement used to induce an airflow for the purpose of cooling or refreshing oneself. Any broad, flat surface waved back-and-forth will create a small airflow and therefore can be considered a rudimentary fan. But generally, purpose-made hand-held fans are shaped like a circle segment made of a thin material (such as paper or feathers) mounted to slats which revolve around a pivot so that it can be closed when not in use. The movement of a hand-held fan provides cooling by increasing the airflow over the skin which in turn increases the evaporation rate of sweat droplets on the skin. This evaporation has a cooling effect due to the latent heat of evaporation of water.Fan history stretches back thousands of years. Since antiquity, fans have possessed a dual function -- a status symbol and a useful ornament. In the course of their development, fans have been made of a variety of materials and have included decorative artwork. The simplest fans are leaves or flat objects, waved to produce a cooler atmosphere. These rigid or folding hand-held implements have been used for cooling, for air circulation, as a ceremonial device, and as a sartorial accessory throughout the world from ancient times. They are still widely used. The earliest known fans are called 'screen fans' or 'fixed leaf fans'. These were manipulated by hand to cool the body, to produce a breeze, and to ward off insects. Such early fans usually took the form of palm leaves. Some of the earliest known fans have come from Egyptian tombs. Early Assyria and Egypt employed slaves and servants to manipulate the fan. In Egyptian reliefs, fans were of the rigid type. Tutankhamen's tomb possessed gold fans with ostrich feathers, matching depictions on tomb walls. Long-handled, disk-shaped fans were carried by attendants in ancient times and were associated with regal and religious ceremonies. They had handles or sticks attached to a rigid leaf or to feathers. Plumage of birds was used in fans, such as those of the Egyptians and Native American Indians, that had both practical and ceremonial uses.In the ancient Americas, the Aztec, Maya, and South American cultures used bird feathers in their fans. Among the Aztec fans were used to depict merchants in illustrations of trades. The use of various feather types had a religious connotation. The Paracas people of South America (modern Peru) have left numerous examples of ancient feather fans among their mummies. In India, the Hindi term for a fan is 'pankha' (a derivative of "a feather" or "a bird's wing"). Pictorial evidence records that the Greeks, the Etruscans, and the Romans used fans as cooling and ceremonial devices. In Greece, linen was stretched over leaf-shaped frames. In Rome, gilded and painted wooden fans were used. Roman ladies throughout the empire used circular fans. Chinese sources link the fan with mythical and historical characters.In Europe, during the Middle Ages, the fan was absent. Christian Europe's earliest fan was the flabellum (or ceremonial fan), which dates to the 6th century. These were used during services to drive insects away from the consecrated bread and wine. Their use died out in western Europe during the Middle Ages, but continues in the Eastern Orthodox and Ethiopian Churches. Hand fans were reintroduced to Europe in the 13th century and 14th century. Fans from the Middle East were brought back by Crusaders. In the 15th century, Portuguese traders brought fans to Europe from China and Japan. Fans became generally popular.In China, screen fans were used throughout society. The earliest known Chinese fans are a pair of woven bamboo side-mounted fans from the 2nd century BC. The Chinese character for "fan" (扇) is etymologically derived from a picture of feathers under a roof. The Chinese fixed fan, pien-mien, means 'to agitate the air'. Leque é um objeto de uso pessoal usado para abrandar o calor. Foi muito usado pelas elites européias, no período de 1670 a 1930, como um forte símbolo de luxo e elegância.Representam o Elemento Ar e podem ser usados para equilibrar algo, como por exemplo dois leques usados como equilíbrio no corpo. Existem uma variedade imensa de cores, estilos e materiais utilizados para a fabricação desses objetos. Os leques orientais foram utilizados como armas brancas na Antiguidade e no período Medieval, e hoje são vistos como objetos decorativos. |
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