As well as the US inauguration, today is coincidentally International Fetish Day where people support the BDSM community by wearing purple (because #pervertswearpurple). Don't worry, I'm not going to go into a lot of detail about fetishism and sexuality, but will say that International Fetish Day is about celebrating and supporting sexual fetishes that are consensual acts between adults. So why does it need to be supported? Fetishes are usually very private, only to be shared with an intimate partner, if shared at all. They can make people feel vulnerable, dirty and abnormal. But a fetish is just the 'need or desire for an object, body part or activity of sexual excitement' (yeah, that's right, I looked it up in the dictionary). Not all fetishes are to do with whips, leather and domination - though they ... read more

January and February in Harbin, China, are the pretty chilly. A city in the North-Easternmost part of the country, gets the cold winds from the Siberian winter. Originally a place 'for drying nets' (the literal translation of it's name), Harbin has capitalised on it's cold, cold winters... with an International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival! Because, what do people want to do when it's minus 30 out? That's right, walk around ice sculptures of buildings and wonders of the world. The original Ice Lantern Show and garden party was interrupted by the Cultural revolution, but in 1985 the festival resumed in Zhaolin Park. Sculptors come from around the world to participate, and Guinness world records have been made and broken, including the largest snow sculpture that was 250m long, 8.5m high and used over 13,000 cubic ... read more

Kaanum POngal marks the end of the Thai Pongal festival. In this context, 'Kaanum' means 'to visit'. Families will reunite and brothers pay a special tribute to their married sisters. People will go to the beach or to theme parks, or simply stay at home with their family and decorate their homes with Kolam. That was my task today - to make a kolam for the house... it did not go well. I don't know how the Tamil people I watched on Youtube did it, but mine did not look like theirs. There is clearly a knack to holding the flour that I just did not get. I finally got a response from my brother. After sending him a message say that I prayed for his well-being and hoped that 'our brother-sister ties are as strong ... read more

Today I began the festival of Thai Pongal. Thai Pongal is the first day of the month of Tamil month of Thai. The Tamil calander is used is Tamil Nadu, India, Puducherry, and by Tamil populations in Malaysia, Singapore, Mauritius and Sri Lanka. It is used primarily for cultural, religious and agricultural events. The calender is based on a lunisolar calendar, and has a sixty-year cycle that marks when Saturn and Jupiter come to the same position after 60 years. The festival itself marks the start of the sun's six-month journey northwards and matches the Indic solstice when the sun enters the house of Capricorn. No, I've not quite got my head around it either. Thai Pongal corresponds to Makara Sankranthi - a winter festival that is celebrated throughout India. It is for the appreciation of ... read more

It's New Year's Eve (eve) again! Ok, so it's tomorrow. But can anyone really have too many New Years? We still have China and most of the far east to go! So I have been learning a Ukrainian carol (link below). It may sound familiar (I hope it sounds familiar) as there is a Christmas carol in English to the same tune, but this is the original song On Ukrainian New Year's eve, carolers dress up and go from house to house acting out skits ("Vertep"), singing and following a cross carried by a bachelor wearing women's clothing around the village... in many ways it's like a pantomime... except that Malanka is the last of the Christmas season and the last opportunity for a party before lent begins. Young men often dress up in seemingly halloween ... read more