Vanessa, who is a chimney sweep, was coming from work when I photographed her in Cologne, Germany a few months ago. She shared with me her vivid childhood memories, when a chimney sweep would visit her house from time to time to clean the chimneys. His presence fascinated her, and his departure left behind a sense of security within the family. At the age of 13, Vanessa decided to become a chimney sweep as well and began learning the trade. Then she started to work at only 16.
Being a chimney sweep is a hazardous occupation, with Vanesa constantly ascending to great heights on rooftops. It demands strength, courage and resilience. Vanessa has them all, and, moreover, she loves what she does.
Within her closely-knit community, ancient traditions are still held dear. Vanessa’s beautiful uniform not only provides her with fire protection but also serves as a representation of the ancient community she belongs to. As I photographed Vanesa, people from the street would approach her to ask to touch the buttons on her clothing, as it is a local tradition believed to bring good luck
Pictures from this year's Black Shuck Festival- Black Shuck
In English folklore, Black Shuck, Old Shuck, Old Shock, or simply Shuck is the name given to a ghostly black dog that is said to roam the coastline and countryside of East Anglia- Bungay, UK
Name Day is a celebration of an individual's given name and has been a tradition in many cultures for centuries. For example, according to the Swedish name day list, today — February 5, it's the name day for Agata/Agda. Tomorrow it's for Dorotea, Doris, and so on.
It consists of celebrating a day of the year that is associated with one's baptismal name, which is normatively that of a biblical character or other saint. Where they are popular, individuals celebrate both their name day and their birthday in a given year. It has become less popular nowadays in certain countries and only grandparents celebrate the name days of their grandchildren.
Name Day tradition is a common practice in France 🇫🇷 even though it isn’t celebrated the same way as in other coloured countries above.
Historically, this was a tradition in all regions of Europe practicing Christianity, including Germany, Ireland, Denmark, and so on.
Clichés, stock phrases, adherence to conventional, standardized codes of expression and conduct have the socially recognized function of protecting us against reality.
Feeney thought about this on the ride home as his horse trotted gently toward the sunset. He wasn't a philosopher and couldn't even spell the word, but the voice of the goblin officer rang in his head. He thought, what would happen if goblins learned everything about humans and did everything the human way because they thought it was better than the goblin way? How long would it be before they were no longer goblins and left behind everything that was goblin, even their pots? The pots were lovely, he'd bought several for his mum. Goblins took pots seriously now, they sparkled, even at night, but what happens next? Will goblins really stop taking an interest in their pots and will humans learn the serious, valuable and difficult and almost magical skill of pot making? Or will goblins become, well, just another kind of human? And which would be better?
And then he thought, maybe a policeman should stop thinking about all this because, after all, there was no crime, nothing was wrong...and yet in a subtle way, there was. Something was being stolen from the world without anybody noticing or caring.
Just discovered that Henna is also a jewish(israelite) thing and that the henna plant was in the torah and that it symbolizes forgiveness and absolution. I thought it was an arab thing and mizrahi jewish traditions but no its full jewish tradition and symbol!!
Ngl it kinda makes me giddy inside to discover new(for me) native ancient jewish traditions that doesn't fall with the diaspora
With it being a season of holidays, which I hope you have a nice time! I hoped to ask, if there are any traditions like them or even much smaller customs from their life in Echo World that F misses deep down at all?
This is an interesting question as I imagine F is kind of like a lot of people, where when they're young, the traditions and family things are annoying so they don't wanna get involved.
But as soon as they're gone, you crave them then.
F wouldn't admit it to themselves how much they do miss those traditions and even things like the routine of how they would help their mother with business things, but that loss is there in them...