In a move that would seem to belie the notion that religion is out of touch with modern culture, priests from the Narva Resurrection Cathedral have consecrated a bowling alley in the northeastern town of Narva in hopes of protecting all who bowl therein.

LEOMINSTER – The Leominster Art Association will meet at 7 pm Tuesday, June 21, at Congregational Church of Christ, 583 Main St.

Eric Donaldson, guest demonstrator, owns and operates Tree House Sculpture studio in Lancaster. He focuses on creating large steel sculptures and custom furniture, incorporating wood, glass, stone, and plastics.

Along with being very enthusiastic and creative about his art and music, Eric takes time each year to teach a few classes and share his ideas about the necessity of Art in modern culture. Eric has exhibited, sold and received awards for his furniture and sculpture all over the east coast and mid-western United States.

Ghana – Cultural tourism was launched Tuesday evening amid pomp, colour and dance. Every activity at the event that took place at the Rukari (Kings Palace) in Nyanza, Southern Province, was both engaging and rare to the mammoth crowd that turned up. Inyambo, the traditional cows draped in neckline beads, were last seen in 1959, at the end of King Mutara Rudahigwa IIIs reign. The Minister of Sports, Culture and Youth, Protais Mitali, who presided over the ceremony, said that the days theme, Dignity, is a Rwandan cultural trait. This is an important day because it emphasises the value of our cultural and historical heritage. We have to promote our culture in order to benefit from it economically, Mitali said. He added that the official launch of the Irembo Ritaha Inyamibwa program at the Rukari History Museum, in Nyanza, aims at promoting cultural tourism.

Rwandans of all age groups and walks of life should embrace this initiative by visiting the museums. We should love our cultural heritage for others to appreciate it, the Minister emphasised.

The launch was organised by the Institute of National Museums of Rwanda (INMR).

According to Alphonse B. Umulisa, the Director INMR, the launch was a historical day for the museums and the country at large.

Museums and cultural heritage have a vital role to play since they create jobs and contribute towards the national coffers, Umullisa explained.

Cultural activities such as weaving, drum making, making of the backcloth, traditional beer packaging and milking were some of the other highlights of the launch.

Gideon Rudahunga, the Director of Vocational and Technical Schools in the Southern Province, said the launch of cultural tourism creates awareness on the need to value the countrys culture.

This event created a platform for students in vocational schools to learn skills used by our ancestors alongside modern technology. People who have skills such as making backcloth are very old, thus young people need to be trained so as to pass it on to future generations, says Rudahunga

Gloria Magambo, who works with the National University of Rwanda said: Its travelling back into our past.

Its not an everyday thing that we get to see long-horned cows or see little children drinking milk from ibyansi (wooden bottles). Its good to always look back and see the beauty of our culture, Magambo observed.

Guido Gryseels, the Director of Belgium-based Royal Museum of Central Africa expressed his fascination by the traditional dance accompanied by the soothing rhythm of the drums.

What I found most interesting was this play where there was this mix of traditional Rwandan dance and the contemporary one. It was amazing how they tried to blend modern culture with the traditional culture and the link to their heritage, Gryseels said.

Doreen Umutesi

The New Times/16/06/2011

to honor warriors, Salabiye said. Its a distinction often misunderstood.

Basically, when we say warrior, that would be the people charged with protecting the camp, bringing back food, he said. Were talking historically, before the Indians were placed on the reservations. The gourd dance is an ancient warrior dance.

The dance is practiced in modern culture, however, mainly to keep the tradition alive, Salabiye said. Much of that tradition was eradicated when the federal government enforced the Indian termination policies between the 1940s and 60s.

Way back in the early 1900s, it was a sun dance, Salabiye said. The government put the tribes on reservations, prohibited the dances. By the 1950s, groups were reviving the gourd dance. Now its more social in nature than ceremonial.

Gourd dancing likely originated with the Comanche and Kiowa tribes; its resurgence after the repudiation of the Indian termination policy is attributed to the Kiowa.

Its origin is best told through the legend of Red Wolf:

A Kiowa warrior who was separated from his war party was trying to find his way back to his village when he heard a melody from the other side of a hill.

He went to the top of the hill and peered down, where he saw Red Wolf bouncing up and down on his haunches. The wolf had a fan in his left hand and a rattle in his right. He was singing melodies that stirred the warriors spirit. At the end of each song, Red Wolf raised his rattle to the sky, shook it and let out a howl.

At dawn, Red Wolf told the warrior the songs were a gift to the people for their bravery in battle. Red Wolf told the warrior to take the songs back to the people, and if the people were true to their culture, they would have the songs and the gourd dance to continue honoring their warriors.

Gourd dancers centuries later still end songs with the cry of Red Wolf.

At the end of the drum, some of the men will respect the Red Wolf and howl, Anthony said. Thats how they remember the legend.

Gourd dance societies are charged with preserving those songs. Individuals initiated into gourd societies must educate themselves on the songs and the meanings behind them.

Anthony was initiated about 25 years ago, and he learned from his elders, he said. His education included the songs and the order in which to sing them.

Deaths of the elderly gourd dancers, however, means the society needs younger men with an interest in learning the ways, Anthony said. The drum, the backbone of the gourd dance, remains in the society.

The old folks were keeping it alive until they started to die, Anthony said of the society. We became helpless, we needed their direction, support, guidance. What kept us alive was the drum.

Although a common occurrence on the 27,000-square-mile Navajo Nation, the gourd dance is not a Navajo tradition.

As Navajo, this gourd dance is just borrowed, Anthony said. Weve only borrowed this to use alternative approaches to support our healing process.

The tradition has gained popularity among the Navajo, however, Salabiye said.

Through modern travel and other things, a lot of Navajos now are participating in the gourd dance, he said. It comes from the Plains tribes, but Navajos have adopted it.

The summer celebration gourd dance is held the Saturday before Fathers Day every year. Last years event attracted 110 dancers and more than 300 visitors.

Anthony expects even more to participate this year.

Its growing, he said. Its alive because of the elders connection, stability, wisdom and philosophies.

Alysa Landry:

alandry@daily-times.com

Comments

4 comments so far

I loathe this woman for seemingly having no morals or dignity.

But you cant disagree with her on this one. When married you are building a life together, in which case I do believe you should retain half. But what you enter the marriage with you should leave with.

In the words of Eddie Murphy love and money do not mix

Fiona
| Melbourne
– June 17, 2011, 11:16AM

A pre-nup should not apply apply to extremely wealthy people but to every marriage. Its astounding that not every couple get a pre-nup before they get married. It may all be fine and dandy now but inevitable 50% of marriage end in divorce.

George
| Melbourne
– June 17, 2011, 11:46AM

I dont agree that pre-nups are smart. It is a smart thing for her, seeing as they will very likely divorce.

For the rest of us, not having a pre-nup gives you an incentive to work harder at your marriage.

It is sad that we live in a society in which getting a divorce has been made so easy. Couples arent willing to stick with each other through thick and thin.

100 and 200 yrs ago, life was harder yet couples managed to stay together till the end.

Young people today get married with the expectation that it will be a fairytale romance.

In the past, people got married because it provided a good place in society.
There is something very wrong with modern culture.

fair and balanced
| the no spin zone
– June 17, 2011, 1:27PM

Im going to correct you o fair and balanced one.

1) pre-nups are smart because it makes most people self sufficient or at least try to be.

2) pre-nups dont necessarily make a person work less hard [especially if their earnings are less or something like that].

3) 100 or 200 years ago, life was harder and couples stayed together because divorce was so difficult to obtain [not to mention the social stigma attached] which resulted in a lot of couples being deeply unhappy. Better to be a divorced woman than a married one whos constantly beaten.

4) young people today get married with the expectation that if it goes to shit, at least they can bail out instead of being trapped in a loveless union. this is a good thing.

5) in the past, people got married because it was arranged between their parents as a financial transaction. If you were in love with your spouse then you were a lucky person.

Regardless of the qualms we have with modern culture, the immense amount of freedom we have now is far better than the universal oppression from 200 years ago.

jack
| sydney
– June 17, 2011, 3:58PM

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Related:

Path to Your Heart
Love is How We Sustain

Way ahead of his time, Herbert W. Armstrong once wrote, Few people stop to realize to what extent the teenagers have taken over today. They pretty well dominate the world picture (God Speaks Out on The New Morality). He wrote that in 1964more than 45 years ago!

Mr. Armstrong asked, Who determines what is lsquo;popular music today? The lsquo;teens. hellip;

Adolescents determine dancing trends, motion-picture themes, radio formats, and even advertisements and most fields of entertainment!

Yes, indeed. Teenagers pretty much dominate Western culture.

Mr. Armstrong continued, What many do not realize is that this teenage influence on the whole society is predominantly sexual influence. There is much more intense preoccupation with sex during these years than in later maturity.

Therefore sex became the basic formula for motion picturesalong with crime, including murder.

Here again, this was written in 1964!

By todays standards, of course, television, movies and music from the early 60s certainly seem harmless. But that is exactly the pointlook at todays standards!

Cultural Disease

With about 75 million in America, children 18 and under make up almost 25 percent of our population. In a godly society, we would be applauding and encouraged by that statistic. God has always intended for children to be a blessing to their parentslike olive plants around the table (Psalm 128:3)and to society (Proverbs 20:29; 1 Timothy 4:12).

In these latter days, however, prophecy points to our youth as being a burden on society. Instead of helping to build it up, our own offspring are tearing it down. Isaiah 3:12 describes our children as being oppressorsa word that means to tax, harass and tyrannize.

This prophecy in Isaiah 3 is being fulfilled in two ways, primarily. One is in the more literal sense of youth oppressing society by their rebellious disregard for adult authority (verse 5).

The other fulfillment of this prophecy is even deadlier. Its described in verse 4: And I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them. God isnt talking about children with respect to age necessarily, but rather the way adults are ruling: like children! Read the first three verses of Isaiah 3 and you will see all the qualities of leadership that have vanished from our society: vision, prudence, judgment, wisdom, honor and eloquence. God said these kinds of qualities would be practically extinct today. And its because, in far too many cases, our leaderswhether in the home, within education, or business, or in governmenthave degenerated to a childs level of understanding. Instead of preparing our children for the responsibilities of adulthood, we, as adults, are acting like children.

In 1 Corinthians 13:11, the Apostle Paul wrote, When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. Today, instead of putting away childish things and preparing our own children for adulthood, we are letting youth culture educate us.

Its the commercial media entertainment economy at work, wrote Marcel Danesi in Forever Youngthe Teen-Aging of Modern Culture. Age is now considered a disease. Youth sells. Theres a big emphasis on having it all: good living, keeping your youth, having as much fun as you can. Its empty because there is no wisdom behind it. Worse still, he goes on to explain, Its a cultural disease. And now were into the final silly stages.

A Different World

There are those who brush aside our cultural slide into gross immorality as being no different than previous generations. In one sense, thats truehuman nature has always been hostile to Gods law. But in these latter days, we are beginning to see just how rotten human nature is.

But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived (2 Timothy 3:13). People deceive themselves by thinking there is no special danger right nowthat the world has always been like this. It has always been badbut its getting so much worse. And today, unlike eras of old, modern advances have made the possibility of human annihilation a stark reality. That, of itself, ought to wake us up!

Of greater concern is our upside-down societyour rapidly deteriorating marriage and family structure. Few, indeed, realize the shocking facts of this accelerating downward plunge, Mr. Armstrong wrote. It is rapidly becoming a greater threat to humanity than the hydrogen bomb! (ibid.). This statement will be proven true.

Jesus assured us of that in Luke 17:26: And as it was in the days of [Noah], so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. Christ said these latter days would be comparable to the days before the Flood. Genesis 6:5 describes the pre-Flood society: And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

God is disgusted with our sexually-charged, teen-dominated culture just as He was with the pre-Flood societyand the way He was with Sodom and Gomorrah. Read 2 Peter 2:4-6 and see what pervasive sin ultimately led to in the case of those two societies.

It will happen again. God assures us of that in Bible prophecy.

Seven years after Mr. Armstrong first published God Speaks Out on The New Morality, he revised and updated the text under a new title: The Missing Dimension in Sex. In 1981, five years before he died, Mr. Armstrong updated the book one final time. He wrote in that final version, Since it is a basic truism that a solid family structure is the foundational bulwark of any stable and permanent society, this fact means only one thingcivilization as we know it is on the way downand outunless that great lsquo;Unseen Strong Hand from Someplace soon intervenes and saves todays sick society.

In fact, God will intervene to save humanity, but not until we teeter on the brink of total disaster.

We have been freely distributing The Missing Dimension in Sex for the past eight years now. If you dont have a copy, please request one. It was inspired by that Unseen Strong Handand it reveals the only safe passage out of our sin-sick youth culture. bull;