In North India, the festival of Rakhi or Raksha Bandhan is celebrated on full moon in the Hindu month of Shravana (July-August).

In this, the sister ties a rakhi (holy thread) on the right wrist of her brother. In turn, the brother gives her a gift and promises to look after her. They both offer sweets to each other.

Those who don’t have a brother can confer ‘honorary’ status of brother on a man by tying a rakhi. One of the better-known stories about rakhi is of a queen of the small kingdom of Chittor. Her kingdom was threatened by the Sultan of Gujarat. She promptly sent off a rakhi to the Emperor of India, Humayun. The emperor, now her ‘brother’, rode in with his army to help his ’sister’ in distress.

Sister Puts Vermillion Tika on Brother

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My feet were killing me. My legs were practically devoid of feeling. Even my hip joints hurt. I was beyond tired but the thought of seeing the Basilica in all its glory kept me going. That, and a touch of pride too.

My group and I had joined tens of thousands of people from all walks of life in the biggest and most popular display of Christian faith in Argentina, the Peregrinación Juvenil -a 67 kilometre long trek from Buenos Aires to the sleepy town of Luján, home of the eponymous Basilica and the statue of Our Lady of Luján, the country’s patroness.

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Eisa is a dance unique to Okinawa Prefecture. Similar, in some ways, to the dances performed during Obon (An ancestor worship event in mainland Japan), Eisa may be seen anytime, year-round in Okinawa.

The photos below were taken on August 14, 2010 at an Eisa Matsuri (Festival) in Kin Village, my hometown. This time of year there’s a Festival going on somewhere every weekend and I attend as many as possible, sometimes two or three a day.

Traditionally all the performers had to be single men and women between the ages of 20 and 29. Over the past few years it has been difficult to find enough dancers to fill the Eisa Groups so, today many of the participants are married and in their thirties.

For now, I’ll let the photos and captions tell the story and introduce you to some of the characters.

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As I sat on the edge of a hill overlooking the beach in Vermilion, Ohio on the 4th of July (Independence Day in the USA), I looked across Lake Erie to the twinkling lights on the tall amusement rides of Cedar Point: mecca for roller-coaster enthusiasts the world over. I spent a week in the area visiting family, but as I’ve probably been to Cedar Point about 500 times in my life (I’m not exaggerating), I opted out of spending $45 and fighting the crowds this year.

In any case, Cedar Point puts on a large display of professional-grade fireworks over the lake on Independence Day every year, which can be seen for 20 miles. The pyrotechnicians who are in charge of the show must be licensed and trained, and these types of shows are heavily regulated (as they’re basically shooting off bombs, and these have been known to go astray and kill someone every now and again).

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Yesterday, Marta wrote that Spain was dreaming of victory in tonight’s World Cup final against The Netherlands. Now, that dream has come true. Congratulations to everybody who is celebrating tonight.

We hope you’ve enjoyed our World Cup 2010 updates. Thanks Carla, Ana, Arwa and Marta for showing us a bit of the World Cup celebrations in different parts of the world. Here’s hoping that in four years time we’ll be bringing updates from even more countries!

Image Courtesy : Travel Webshots

6th of July, 2010.

Tuesday evening, around 10.20pm Netherlands time.

The whistle blew signalling the end of a thrilling, high adrenaline semi-final encounter between The Netherlands and Uruguay.

And the Oranje fever gripped the nation!!

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In the current times of turbulence in my country, when you all have chance to watch television news and see all the hostility, I feel like praising it, I feel like speaking up about its beauty and hospitality. About how genuine and beautiful its citizens are.

In other words, I feel like loving this country as I always have for being unique and beautiful, for its flexibility and ability to unite so much diversity and controversy.

And that’s the only way I can feel and the only way I can perceive my country: therefore I am going to talk about positive sides of Kyrgyzstan, and things that surprise and amaze me in my own country. Welcome to Kyrgyzstan, ladies and gentlemen!

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