My future.

I know it's been ages. I always have ideas of what to write, but never get down to actually publishing anything.
Here's a run down of what I've been doing. 

• As levels are over!

• Looking around amazing universities which are getting me even more excited for the future.

• I've been researching and reading anthropology and archaeology books too.

• Started my A levels...

Things I'm looking forward to:

• London Anthropology Day next week. This is seriously one of the highlights to my year. It's a chance to talk to lecturers and really get an insight into what people do with the subject anthropology. Each time I pick up or talk to someone I find something out about anthropology that makes me what to study it even more!

• Biology Field Trip to Aberystwyth - The geography trip to Wales was amazing, so this one with about 5 times the people should be bigger and better.

• Ecuador and Galapagos Trip - I'm going to South America in less than a month. I have always dreamt of going there and I finally am. This truly is a dream come true. I may even see a sloth in the cloud forest! We are doing conservation work with the local people in the Cloud Forest which will be fantastic. I'm really looking forward to working with them and seeing their view on subjects and seeing how they live or how their lives have changed with the increase of tourism.

Caitlin x x x

Football.

Hi everyone,
Today I went to a local football match which was very interesting and it struck me that the local football leagues would be a good anthropological study. There seems to be lots about football and violence, but it would be fascinating to show the link between football and peace. Football is a game many people can play so surely it stops the violence within some communities and shows them how to work as a team.  I'll expand on this a bit later.
Lots of Love x

Heyy,
It's finally half term and we are heading up to Scotland! My mum is being lovely and driving my to St Andrews and Edinburgh to look around the universities. Planning to go to a few museums and revise like crazy for my mocks... At the moment I'm in Northumberland, North of the Roman Wall to visit my family.
I'll keep you in touch
Caitlin x

Navajo Doll

Hey guys,
How's it going? Today I'm going to start showing my dolls from around the world. This one is a Navajo Cradleboard bought in Arizona. It was made by Lisa Curtiss who is a Navajo Craftswoman.
Cradleboards are used for carrying and protecting babies. They are used during a child's first year before he or she is able to walk. The arch across the top is called the 'rainbow'- it is used to protect the baby's head from danger. The bands which hold the baby in place are called 'lightning' so the baby is safe from wriggling out! Cradleboards are usually made from juniper wood or cedarwood and are passed down from generation to generation.
I had a wonderful time in Arizona. In another post I'll tell you about when I met Suzie Yazzie and when I entered the sacred Canyon De Chelley with Howard and his dogs.
Speak soon x

The Fishing Culture.

I thought that it would be good if I wrote something small about one specific culture. The first thing that sprung to mind was fishing, no I do not fish..., but it happens all over the world. Just this morning while I was rushing to school I saw a man catch a fish. It was a lovely sight.

This is a picture taken in my Christmas holiday to Luxor, Egypt. It is a photo of two fishermen on the river Nile at around 6pm local time. Their way of fishing is so different to the way people fish in the UK.

In Luxor the boats are made out of roughly cut wood with big, heavy, unshaped pieces of wood for oars. For some this would be a terrible way to row, but to them it is a great utensil. The men find a popular fishing spot in the river and remove their oars from their position. After this the stand on the edge of their boat and the water violently thrashing the surface. To an on looker they may be surprised to see this but if you know the reason behind this method then it all makes sense. You see, the hitting of the water means that the fish swim to the surface. The fishermen stretch out a huge net which sinks to the bottom and rows away so the fish get caught in the net. It was beautiful to watch and the men sang songs and shouted to the men in the other boats.

Compared to fishing in UK where fishing generally happens calmly down the side of the canal. People usually fish to become isolated and have some time alone. They use fishing rods which can be set up so they just wait for the fish to get attracted to the bait.

The difference in just one area shows the range of human behaviour. I think it is fantastic that humans have found so many alternative ways to do the same activity.

These are only two examples of fishing and there are plenty of other ways. If you know any please comment below. Or comment if you want me to talk about a certain topic. 

Have a lovely day.

Sorry...

Heyy sorry I haven't posted in such a long time, I've had a lot of school work to do, exams have already started... I'm nearly finished a post about fishing in different countries so I shall publish that tomorrow. I promise to post more frequently, it's just been a very busy year so far.
Night everyone.

Winter Traditions.

So today is the 6th of January...just to state the obvious. To many of us, it is the end of Christmas. The majority of us are back to school and work regretting not spending more time doing what we should have done over the holiday! In my family Christmas is very important. We put the Christmas tree up on the 1st December and take it down today. My mum collects a decoration every time we go on holiday so we have some interesting ones! However this is just one winter tradition out of many.

For example:

Chinese the New Year: is a large festival as only about 2% of the Chinese population celebrate Christmas. The main colours are gold and red. Red being known to be lucky and gold representing wealth. For them this is the time to celebrate with family and friends.



Chinese new year
(http://www.inkingrey.com/uploads/images/1271615960-chinesenewyearlightup.jpg)



Christmas: is celebrated differently throughout the world. In Ghana it is that that Santa come out of the jungle, in Australia he uses water skis and in Hawaii he uses a boat. The most exciting mode of transport he is known to use is a horse in Holland. This may not sound interesting, but the children have to leave out their shoes with presents for the horses and Santa will give them presents in return, which I still thought taught the children about giving back.

The Three Kings Day: This is the end of the twelfth night when the Kings arrive to give their gifts to Jesus. In Spain on January 5th the children put out a box of hay to receive the gifts and King Cake is baked with a present in it, ready for them to wake up to.



Eid Al Adha, the Festival of the Sacrifice: this is celebrated by Muslims, remembering how Abraham sacrificed his son to God. Present day Muslims sacrifice an animal such as a goat on the tenth day of the month on the lunar calendar to commemorate it.





Eid Al Adha- sacrifice of the goat.
( http://nimg.sulekha.com/others/original700/philippines-eid-al-adha-festival-2010-11-15-23-41-57.jpg)

Hanukkah: Jewish people celebrate Hanukkah; this celebration remembers the Maccabees victory against King Antiochus, who forbid Jews to practice Judaism. For eight nights, Hanukkah is celebrated with prayer, the lighting of the menorah (9 candles), and lots of amazing food!

Kwanzaa: On the 26th December this day used to celebrate the African heritage. It lasts a week and a series of candles are lit to remind themselves of the African-American values of family life: self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity, and faith

The Kwanzaa Candles
(http://www.officialkwanzaawebsite.org/images/Pic2_001.JPG)

Winter Solstice: 21st December is the shortest day of the year so all around the world bonfires and candles are lit to coax the sun back.

In nearly all these celebrations I have noticed how candles and light is used in all of them Light is such precious thing as has been ever since our ancestors discovered it. It brings light, comfort, warmth, cooked food and security. Wherever and whoever you are in the world everyone s linked through the dependency on light.