Stories from 25 December 2006
Brunei: Origins of Wedding Rituals
The Daily Brunei Resources blog traces the origin of Malay wedding custom of bunga telur. Bunga telur is the token gift presented to the guests who attend a wedding.
Bermuda: Poison comment debate
A tongue-in-cheek post by the Limey, riffing off of a incident where a chef at a Bermuda resort was thrown off the island after making a joke about putting arsenic in a meal to be served to the island's Premier, occasions a string of comments debating issues of propriety and...
Belize: What do Christmas vacationers want?
Lee Vanderwalker in Caye Caulker, Belize, wonders: “Why do you think people vacation at Christmas time. Do you think they expect a traditional American Christmas? Do you think that if we play Marvin Gaye they will forget about Christmas?“
India: Community Video Unit and Dalits
Reflections in a window pane on the power of video and overcoming oppression. “When the use of Video by a team of six Dalits, working for a Community Video Unit, set up by Navsarjan, Drishti and Video Volunteers transcended all barriers of caste, it brought upon relief for an entire...
Sri Lanka: Preparing for the Tsunami
LIRNEasia is apprehensive about a report in the UK press which claims that Sri Lanka is prepared well if a tsunami strikes. “The best-prepared country is Sri Lanka, one of those worst hit two years ago, which has a system of transmitting warnings through its police stations.”
India: The day MGR died
Metroblogging Chennai remembers the Christmas Eve of 1987, when a famous politician died. “The size of the crowd was unimaginable – hundreds of thousands of people. The driver had to inch along. People peered in, saw us foreigners and the wreath, and parted to let us pass.”
Barbados: Condoning human rights abuses
Barbados Free Press is horrified that Barbados abstained from a UN vote citing Iran for human rights abuses, then went on to vote to protect Iran against sanctions.
Barbados: Hollywood in the Caribbean
Barbados blogger AirBourne offers a capsule history of Hollywood's interventions in the Caribbean, with a special emphasis on the music featured in the films.
Nepal: Digital Democracy Organization
Democracy for Nepal discusses Humro Nepal. “It has not been registered. It does not have a budget. Both those details are intentional and are to be kept that way. It is the world's first digital democracy organization. A lot of members and outsiders still do not think of it as...
Bahamas: “Improving” Junkanoo
Nicolette Bethel advises her fellow Bahamians to heed the words of Trinidadian Carnival designer Peter Minshall when considering the “improvement” of Junkanoo, their own national festival.
Aruba: A reminder from Suriname
A passage in a book about Suriname received as a Christmas present resonates strongly with ArubaGirl: “While things in Aruba aren't nearly as bad as they were during that time in Suriname, I could particularly identify myself with that passage. It seems like here in Aruba, the government just take...
Ukraine, USA: North Dakota Ukrainians
Ukraine List writes about Ukrainians of North Dakota.
Ukraine: The New Year's
Carpetblogger posts pictures and writes about the New Year's in Kyiv.
Ukraine, Poland: Traffic Jam
Abdymok writes about a neglected story of “a 20 kilometer-long line of cars, buses, and trucks trying to make it back to ukraine before the new year . . . polish border guards with machine guns. eye witnesses say little kids are sick and dying. they say the crossing zone...
Russia: “No Bears, Only Beauties” in St. Pete
Russian Marketing Blog writes about a St. Petersburg promotion campaign: “It would cost the City Council about 1 million Euros to place 300 billboards in London, Amsterdam and Paris till the middle of December.”
Russia: A Blogger's Short Stories
Copydude is posting short stories – one, two, three, four – he wrote while in Tatarstan: “They come under the category of ‘True Lies’ – or what writers prefer to call ’semi-documentary’. I wrote them about real people – but sourced largely from local gossip.”
Russia: Litvinovich on Beslan Report
David McDuff of A Step At A Time translates a piece by Marina Litvinovich, an activist and founder of the Truth of Beslan portal; she writes: “Another of the report’s conclusions is that 32 people took part in the school seizure, of whom 31 were killed and one has been...
Poland: Honorary King
The beatroot reports: “46 members of the Polish parliament have tabled a motion to name Jesus Christ as the ‘honorary King of the Republic of Poland’. […] There is an historical precedent to this mad move, however. The Virgin Mary was made Honorary Queen of Poland 350 years ago by...
Hungary: Budapest's Poor
Pestcentric writes about Budapest's poor and the problem with videotaping them.
Estonia: Christmas Customs
Itching for Eestimaa writes about Estonian Christmas customs.
Croatia: War Crimes
Neretva River writes: “As exhumations begin at Osijek's central cemetery as part of the Croatian judiciary's investigation of war crimes committed against Osijek's non-Croat civilian population during December 1991, 2006 could prove to have been the year that domestic courts in Croatia demonstrated that they are serious about prosecuting war...
