Spanish Holy Week

angloasturian · #1 April 22nd, 2011, 11:20 AM

Hooded penitents take part in Holy Week processions in Spain - Telegraph

Americans may find them a bit scary - for obvious reasons

~tc~ · #2 April 22nd, 2011, 11:25 AM

Not quite what I thought you meant by "hooded"

If we have any "melanin enhanced" American members, they may not want to click the link.

everythingsablur · #3 April 22nd, 2011, 11:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ~tc~

Not quite what I thought you meant by "hooded"

If we have any "melanin enhanced" American members, they may not want to click the link.

Amazing how pretty normal symbols in one part of the world can be so bastardized and corrupted by other parts of the world. Hooded people are a somewhat common religious symbols. The swastika has been a symbol used by many Asian cultures since 2500 BC before the Third Reich appropriated it, and I saw numerous instances of as I toured area Vietnam a couple years ago (it's emblazoned on the giant Buddha in Hong Kong). When I was a child and visited the Philippines for the first time, I was initially taken back by the various flags that all said "KKK" on them, before it was explained to me that it had a very different meaning there ("Kataas-taasan, Kagalang-galangang Katipunan ng̃ mg̃á Anak ng̃ Bayan", or "Highest and Most Honorable Society of the Children of the Nation"; a revolutionary society that fought to free the Philippines from Spanish rule).

I'd like to think that people (not saying you, just as a generality) could look at these things that are still prevalent in other cultures and not immediately freak out based on what they mean back home. People were literally aghast that the giant Buddha had swastikas on it, not understanding the true history of the symbol and immediately labelling it as Nazi.

Different culture = different context.

Sorry, didn't mean to rant.

drd1135 · #4 April 22nd, 2011, 02:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by everythingsablur

Amazing how pretty normal symbols in one part of the world can be so bastardized and corrupted by other parts of the world. Hooded people are a somewhat common religious symbols. The swastika has been a symbol used by many Asian cultures since 2500 BC before the Third Reich appropriated it, and I saw numerous instances of as I toured area Vietnam a couple years ago (it's emblazoned on the giant Buddha in Hong Kong). When I was a child and visited the Philippines for the first time, I was initially taken back by the various flags that all said "KKK" on them, before it was explained to me that it had a very different meaning there ("Kataas-taasan, Kagalang-galangang Katipunan ng̃ mg̃á Anak ng̃ Bayan", or "Highest and Most Honorable Society of the Children of the Nation"; a revolutionary society that fought to free the Philippines from Spanish rule).

I'd like to think that people (not saying you, just as a generality) could look at these things that are still prevalent in other cultures and not immediately freak out based on what they mean back home. People were literally aghast that the giant Buddha had swastikas on it, not understanding the true history of the symbol and immediately labelling it as Nazi.

Different culture = different context.

Sorry, didn't mean to rant.

A scary symbol is always scary even if, intellectually, we know something else is meant by it. That one is very powerful to Americans.

~tc~ · #5 April 22nd, 2011, 05:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by everythingsablur

Different culture = different context.

That's exactly the point. If you woke up one night to a burning cross in your front yard and a bunch of people dressed like that around it, threatening to kill you or your family merely for the color of your skin, you might have a different context too. (I should point out here that I'm as white as they come, and not speaking from personal experience) For those who maybe aren't familiar with some of the darker parts of American history, the group who dresses like this is called the KKK or Klu Klux Klan, you can research.

I was surprised to see that the swastika was a buddhist/hindu symbol and used so frequently on my first trip to Korea, and then India more recently. I thought it was interesting the Nazis would appropriate that symbol, not that Korea and India were full of Nazis. Some of us Americans DO have at least some degree of world view.