CONVERSATION
CONVERSATION
CONVERSATION
HUMAN TRACES:
ETHIOPIA
HUMAN TRACES:
ETHIOPIA
THE BALANCE OF FACTS
THE BALANCE OF FACTS
THE BALANCE OF FACTS
THE BALANCE OF FACTS
DESTINATIONS
DESTINATIONS
The Dreamtime, or the Dreaming, portrays the Aboriginal beliefs in spiritual existence. According to the tribes that first settled down in the continent, the Dreaming's roots date all the way back to the very begging of the creation of the world. The meaning and ideology of the term is generally not so well-understood by non-indigenous people as it is referred to as part of the culture of one of the early nations, which differs from modern perceptions.
The Spirits were the creators of everything. They made the land and the seas, the rocks and the plants, the sky and the earth. They were the higher power and the Australian Aborigines spent their lifetimes honoring this power, which guided their path and shaped their way of thinking. Not only creators of everything, which could be seen as well as felt, the Spirits also gave the Aborigines the Dreaming.
The time when everything started existing according to the initial Australians, was called the Dreaming. This is the foundation of the continent's culture. The origin of the Dreaming goes way back - 65 000 years back in time to be exact. The Ancestors of the nation shaped the land, forming some parts of it as sacred. The Aborigines were very careful and overprotective of those places, strongly believing in their significance.
The Australian Aborigines are known to have believed that the world didn't have any shape and was therefore empty. Darkness dominated, and life was simply asleep, but this changed when the creation began happening. After the Dreaming and the influence of the Spirits, objects began taking shapes and came to be. They created the four elements: water, earth, air and fire, as well as all the planets, the Sun and the Moon. The Dreaming therefore is a continuous process, which never ended. It is a small cosmos on its own, unifying the past, present and the future into one.
The Australian Aborigines' home riches so many vivid areas of the continent, including Fraser Island, Tasmania, Palm Island, Groote Eylandt and Mornington Island. The Aborigines had very strong believes in relation to the powers of the land, claiming that they never owned it - it rather owned them. The only reason they were able to call it their home is because they were looking after it and the land was taking care of the people in return.
Equally important to the Dreaming was the tribes' understandings of the disappearance of the Spirits. There came a time, when the creators of everything vanished from sight. Some of them were thought to have started living in sacred places, which is why the Aborigines perceived their homeland to be so sacred. The ancestors of today's Australians used to believe that the creators started living in rocks, in water holes and some went up to the sky to guide the people from above and keep them safe. Others transformed completely, taking the forms of the rain, the lightnings and the thunderstorms so they could be part of peoples' life.
Among the hundred's different Aboriginal languages, there isn't a word to describe 'time', because to them this simply doesn't exist. Dreaming and Dreamtime are used to replace it and summarize the ideologies of the Aborigines about everything they knew, everything they could see, feel and experience. This is why the Dreaming has such a vivid, and overwhelming meaning and has survived the obstacles of time. For the past couple thousand years, the Dreaming has built a rich cultural heritage that can identify a whole nation.
Read more about the Land, its connection to people and the way it has been perceived from different generations in the very first print issue of ORIGIN. The Land Issue covers varied topics, most of which remain related to cultural aspects of the land and its importance.
A lot of people travel to explore places and learn about them which is the message that ORIGIN wants to spread. With traveling, however, comes certain responsibilities that we should all be aware of. Elephants riding has become a popular way to explore locations by land. People have been doing this as part of their trips, mostly to places such as Thailand, Nepal, Cambodia and other parts of Asia. It is a common thing to see in certain places in Africa as well. We investigated the activity to explain why it is wrong and riding elephants should be banned everywhere.
Our first print issue studies culture and traveling represented through the land. We explored various location around the globe and learned what makes the land so valuable, which nations cherish it and how it helps us establish an identity. Traveling is important to us but traveling responsibly and making an impact is what we feel proud to stand behind. This is why riding elephants as a way of amusement should be reconsidered.
Let’s talk about the details. Elephants are very caring and extremely intelligent animals. It is a well-known fact that they never forget anything. When kept in captivity instead of spending their life in the wild, elephants die younger. Unlike in other species, this is common for the gentle giants and is often a result for stress.
Many African cultures respect elephants, believing they symbolize strength, loyalty and power. However, power can be a very tender concept. Elephant used as a tourism tool suffer from great pain daily. Elephants can be hurt very severely from the weight of carrying people and a trainer on their backs. The reason for this is the design of their spines. They have sharp protrusions, extending upwards from their spine instead of having round spinal disks. The protrusions and the tissue that serves to protect them can be harmed easily from weight pressure. Once a damage to their spine has been made, there is no going back and sometimes the harm can be irreversible. While this can’t be physically seen, the harm that the chairs can do to the elephants’ skin is. It is often the case that the chairs and the weight on their back can damage the animal’s skin and cause pain to their body. The chair, called Howdah, that gets attached to their backs, rubs on their skin and can cause blisters, which can sometimes get infected.
The training that elephants are required to go through when in captivity sometimes adopts a traditional Thai ‘phajaan’ or ‘crush’ technique. Explaining the technique would compare it to the animals’ spirits constantly and continuously being broken by the means of torture and social isolation. This is done in order to tame them. Elephants are wild animals, this is their nature as they are born in such conditions. Making them safe and obedient around people requires them to go through such training. As horrible as it sounds, in some places young elephants are taken away from their mothers to be abused with nails, bull hooks and bamboo sticks to make them obey rules, given by people. The animals often lack sleep and are starved to become submissive.
Actions from such nature are cruel and harmful as the technique is used to crash the animals’ spirit. Once wild and free, elephants become a source of tourism and entertainment. Nobody, who cared about sustainable tourism should ever ride an elephant.
In a sense, elephants have a human soul. They socialise and feel everything – pain, happiness, grief, sadness etc. They spend their life building families and finding friends. The largest land animals are a gift from nature and it is our responsibility to take special care of them and make sure they live according to their nature. Many animals, who are kept in captivity, are forced to live in isolation and carry heavy loads all day long, which is a wrong way to treat them. Their strength and power shouldn’t be abused but treated gently and celebrated by people. Elephants require minimal care to stay happy and healthy, which comes from giving them freedom to behave naturally and socialise. It is our responsibility to be culturally aware while traveling and make sure to spread awareness about the problem.
You can read the rest of the article as published in the LAND issue.
RECYCLE YOUR CHRISTMAS TREE
Regardless of whether you are thinking of recycling your tree, replanting it or returning it to the farm you rented it from, here is how to make the most out of your Christmas tree by helping the environment and wildlife
Words: Emily Georgieva
Photography: Oana Craciun
09 December 2020
Have you ever thought about recycling your Christmas tree? There are so many simple ways to do this that are also helpful to the environment. Each year in the UK alone over 8 million real trees are being purchased. Some of us don’t know how to dispose them after the end of the festive season, but there are numerous ways you can give a new life to your tree.
REPLANT YOUR TREE
If you have bought a real potted Christmas tree, try to find it a suitable spot where you can replant it. This is a cool way to salute the environment by giving back to it when you have no use for the tree anymore. This year alone there were about 2 million trees planted across the UK. Get involved and leave your trace in this environmental impact.
RECYCLE YOUR TREE
There are ways to recycle your tree that are easy and in no way time consuming. Check your local council to see if they have a Christmas tree recycling scheme. If they do, you could drop your tree with them, and they will take care of it so that you don’t have to think of alternative ways to dispose it. Chances are they will have designated Christmas tree drop off points where you can leave your tree at and know that it will be in good hands.
RETURN YOUR TREE
Some tree farms can deliver a tree to your home for as little as £20. This way you get to experience having a real Christmas tree without worrying abot negatively impacting the environment. If you have made the decision to rent a tree, after Christmas you can return it just as easily as you rented it. All you need to do is return it to the tree farm that supplied it to you in the first place. Depending on the farm, you can even have your tree collected on the spot, considering they provide a collecting service.
COMPOST IT
You can use your tree as a compost. This way you will put it to good use without wasting any of it. This means that you will use your tree to the fullest in a sustainable way that helps take care of the environment.
MAKE A HOMEMADE BIRDFEEDER
An easy way to put your old Christmas tree to use is to take part of it to create your own birdfeeder. This is a great idea to spend some quality family time together and remember the holidays by. It is simple – choose between using fruits or branches and experiment. You can take an orange for example and peel it out. Put some seeds inside it and leave the sides exposed so that birds can find their way inside. Pinecones are another cool idea. Attach one to a string and put in on a tree brunch. Dip it something sticky like honey or peanut butter and add some seeds to make a tasty snack for the birds.
HELP THE WILDILIFE
After the holiday period is over, you can use your Christmas tree to create shelters for the smaller animals who live in the nearby area. Wintertime can be very challenging for some animals, who will probably be looking for a shelter from the snow and cold. Even though most animals are very adaptable and have naturally formed defensive mechanisms to fight the extreme winter conditions, a shelter won’t hurt. This is ideal if you have a garden. You can also leave your tree to decompose in your garden pond. This will provide a natural habitat for the fish as well.
STRENGTHEN THE SOIL
The needles of your Christmas tree can be used as mulch. This will help fight soil erosion and keep the ground from freezing over the rough winter months.
MAKE FIRE FROM THE WOOD
It seems like an obvious solution to use your tree to make fire. If you have got yourself a fireplace, this is a good alternative. In case you don’t, think whether you know somebody who does so you can give it to them. It might cross your mind that perhaps burning the tree is not the best solution, especially when it comes to the level of air pollution, but in fact whilst burning, the tree emits the same level of carbon dioxide as it stored when growing.
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NOMADSofORIGIN is an independent annual publication with a focus on sustainable travelling and global cultural values. Each issue features interviews, engaging articles and photo guides, which take our nomadic readers through different destinations and introduce them to local people's perspectives.
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