Topics of the World

Picture Postcards: Cars in Japan

Happy New Year to all you Pocketcultures followers!

This month we are looking at means of transport in different countries here on Picture Postcards. I’m starting things off with a snap I took in Japan of a priest blessing a car. This was at Hakusan Shrine in Niigata, Japan.

If you have a photo of some form of transport in your country that you would like to contribute, please consider placing it in our Picture Postcards of the World Flickr group. We’d love to see your pics!

Read more:
Picture Postcards: Cos play girls in Japan
Picture Postcards: Japanese lunch
Conversation with a Japanophile

PocketCultures world tour: best of 2011

Happy New Year! Our roundup of 2011 begins with a reminder that 1st January is not the beginning of a new year throughout the world. Carla wrote that Brazilians consider the year to start after February’s carnival, and Anu wrote about new year celebrations which take place at different times in different parts of India. Of course many parts of the world do celebrate the start of the New Year on January 1st, and Sandra’s post explained all about new year celebrations in Portugal.

Bolo Rei – part of the New Year celebrations in Portugal. Credit.

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Buenos Aires Botanical Garden

The Buenos Aires Botanical Garden, designed by landscape architect Carlos Thays, was opened in September 1898.It is located in the neighbourhood of Palermo, across the street from the Zoo. Although the botanical garden is surrounded by the din of the traffic and the hustle and bustle of a big city, it is an oasis of tranquility, where people can take a respite from their hectic life.

 

A Wedding on Yukon Time

Northern Canada is its own special place. It is our true north, strong and free. You NEED to be strong to bear the temperature (I, personally, have been in a wind chill of -35 Celsius). And the people there are definitely free. They seem free from those big city pressures. A main one being, that sense of urgency, that insistence on being punctual. In the Yukon, they have their own time: they have “Yukon Time”. Things will get done when they get done.

I was up in the Yukon this past week for my big sister’s wedding. She has lived up North for several years now, and it was my third winter visit. Her wedding, to the shock of some of my friends here in Vancouver, did, indeed, include a traditional white dress and me in a short-skirted bridesmaid dress with heels. I do not, though, ever again recommend walking in snow in open-toe shoes- brrrrrrr! Only in the Yukon will one have to clean the snow out of the bride’s shoes before she can walk down the aisle.

The wedding did have typical North American traditions mixed in: bridesmaids in matching dresses, the father walks the bride down the aisle, vows are said, rings are exchanged, a first dance for the newly wed couple. Yet, it also had that fabulous air of relaxation that simply comes with everything in the Yukon. Guests trickled in at their leisure, many popping in to the special back room where the bride “hid” before her grand entrance to walk down the aisle. Photos and conversations with the bride before her entrance are typically unheard of! Our flower girl (daughter to the bride and groom) was one of the last to arrive with an aunt, pushing the ceremony start time well back, as it could not go on without her. She, being just three years old, also spent much of the ceremony dancing around, yelling, and trying to play with her mother’s dress.  The wedding ceremony was performed by the groom’s long term friend, who also happened to make the cake, who also happened to be their elected government official- as is the case in all good small towns. And, finally, my sister managed to avoid having a slew of toasts and mushy love stories dedicated to the happy couple. Instead, people mingled and kids played under tables.

I will admit though, I could have done with a little less Yukon experience when, at the end of the night, I had to help push our taxi cab, as it was stuck on the snow and ice of the driveway.

Picture Postcards: Cowboy boots in Texas

This week’s clothing photo has been sent to us by our contributing editor Ana. She says these boots were spotted in Sheplers Western Store in Texas, USA.

Holidays roundup

Here’s a roundup of posts related to holidays celebrations around the world. Happy holidays!

Holiday season in Argentina

How we celebrate New Year in Portugal

Christmas in Wroclaw, Poland

It’s Christmas in Chicago!

Christkind or Weihnachtsmann? Christmas in Germany

Sunny Christmas in New Zealand