Flamenca Illari by Kyokan_Art (@14Alpacasaurio)

Bakongo spiritual protections influenced African American yard decorations. In Central Africa, Bantu-Kongo people decorated their yards and entrances to doorways with baskets and broken shiny items to protect from evil spirits and thieves.

This practice is the origin of the bottle tree in Hoodoo. Throughout the American South in African American neighborhoods, there are some houses that have bottle trees and baskets placed at entrances to doorways for spiritual protection against conjure and evil spirits.

In addition, nkisi culture influenced jar container magic. An African American man in North Carolina buried a jar under the steps with water and string in it for protection. If someone conjured him the string would turn into a snake. The man interviewed called it inkabera

The three caballeros go on an impromptu tour right after meeting for the first time, but end up having no way to return home after a few not-so-successful shows...

Song in the first panel is from a Carmen Miranda performance in the Copacabana (1947) movie, clip below.

What did you think of the first episode of The Regime? I'm not sure what to make of it yet.

Neither am I—I really hope that it comes into its own and doesn't rely as much on the Veep and Succession house blend. Kinda digging Elena and Herbert's Kronk and Yzma thing, though.

I'll never understand the American obsession with making video games out of the horrific conflicts they've pursued across the world.

the endless stream of Vietnam war games and the obsession with gunning down faceless people in generic middle eastern countries. aren't you ashamed a bit? you kill a country, make movies about how sad it totally made you and then your sons relish in reliving it in games paid for by arms companies.

“Lake Atitlan. Panajachel. 1992. Maya dancers in tiger costumes.” - Thomas Hoepker

The nature of time is that (culturally) Christian Euro/Anglo colonial consumers (hereafter white ‘people’) fetishize the idea of being ‘close to nature’ or ‘primitive’ or ‘savage’ and latch on to the idea that there are groups of people in the world who are somehow bestial or who have some kind of special powers from holding animist beliefs/beliefs that acknowledge the body as opposed to the Christian belief that the body is a kind of useless appendage to a person. We see this across decades from the 19thC to today in the racist fetishization of indigenous people across the globe, particularly residents of the Americas, Australasia, and southern/eastern Africa.

White consumers use a warped conception of other cultures to live out the fantasies that the Christian soul/body stuff engenders. You keep getting told that your emotions and physical sensations are the devil’s work? You want to get in touch with those physical sensations, but you don’t want it to interfere with your worldview? Simply project them on to a convenient group of people with slightly different conventions from you. Imagine how cool it would be to be 100% physical sensation (especially those pesky violent and/or sexual urges) and no mental burden, then unleash that in a way that causes millions of deaths worldwide via the dehumanization of entire nations of people just trying to live their lives. White consumers love a Proud Warrior Race Guy.

Flash forward to the 2010s, it’s generally considered impolite to spread the same propaganda that justified the genocide and dispossession of many different groups of people. However white culture hasn’t changed that much and normal human activities still need to be explained away to maintain the veneer of white intellectualism that has been used to justify white violence for years and years. You can’t just stomp around and clap your hands and dance badly, you’ve got to project it somewhere else.

But wait! There’s a community of people considered ‘tribal’ and ‘savage’, considered violent and bestial, who were never colonized! It’s…the Norse. Fetishizing early medieval North Sea raiders can’t be cultural appropriation, see, they’re white! It’s not offensive to replace an entire culture with white (male) ideas of what’s cool if that culture is totally unassociated with colonizer stereotypes and is in fact a culture of colonizers!

And that’s my theory on why there are so many Norse-inspired folk bands/video games/tv shows/memes/literally anything in the 2010s. VSaga not counted because that manga has been running since 2003 and is actually well-researched and comes out of a culture with a similar but distinct tradition of racism. The Euro storytelling tendencies of needing some kind of violent avatar have taken on ye anciente Norseman now that people care a little bit about the gallons of blood used to sketch other ethnic stereotypes. Done and dusted. Except the other side is that the fetishization of early medieval Norse culture is literally just white supremacist 101 and a lot of artists don’t step around that nearly as carefully as they should

The Mayans were obsessed with corn!🌽

🌽🌽🌽

Welcome to the world of Dream Rider!

Enter a world where dreams become another reality! Dream Rider is a sci fi thriller set in a fictional world inspired by the fascinating cultures of Pre Hispanic Mesoamerica. This suspenseful tale follows a man seeking to unravel a dark conspiracy involving corporate shamans who use the power of dreams and visions to influence reality. Creators Daniel Parada and Louise Fogerty have created a richly imagined, entirely indigenous world inhabited by humans as well as mythical races inspired by Mesoamerican folklore. Their passionate attention to detail is seen in every page of this beautifully illustrated graphic novel. If you love indigenous American culture and history, Dream Rider is for you! Please check out the Kickstarter link to learn more.

Version Espanol:

¡Entra en un mundo donde los sueños se convierten en otra realidad! Dream Rider es un thriller de ciencia ficción ambientado en un mundo ficticio inspirado en las fascinantes culturas de la Mesoamérica prehispánica. Esta historia de suspenso sigue a un hombre que busca desentrañar una oscura conspiración que involucra a chamanes corporativos que usan el poder de los sueños y las visiones para influir en la realidad. Los creadores Daniel Parada y Louise Fogerty han creado un mundo ricamente imaginado, completamente indígena, habitado por humanos, así como por razas míticas inspiradas en el folclore mesoamericano. Su apasionada atención al detalle se ve en cada página de esta novela gráfica bellamente ilustrada. Si te gusta la cultura y la historia indígena americana, ¡Dream Rider es para ti! Echa un vistazo al enlace de Kickstarter para obtener más información.

Link to the official Kickstarter campaign:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/zotz/dream-rider-vol-1?ref=thanks-share&fbclid=IwAR0LfPFgn7PHCsABJgtZR1CrrVnyElVdVDyZXSH1uo4UAnYA2Nd-MKF_e4U

Flamenca Moira, Widowmaker, Mercy, and Ana by Kyokan_Art (@14Alpacasaurio)

Do you think I'm stupid like fucking obviously people will have disagreements on what dies or doesn't constitute appropriation (particularly members of the same group regarding outsiders) but it is literally not up to people within the outside group who are being appropriated from to decide what is or isn't appropriation from a culture they don't belong to dvg gb

Archeologists also found the Kongo cosmogram on several plantations in the American South; they were Richmond Hill Plantation in Georgia, Frogmore Plantation in South Carolina, a plantation in Texas, and Magnolia Plantation in Louisiana. Historians call the locations where crossroad symbols were possibly found inside slave cabins and African-American living quarters as 'Crossroads Deposits.' Crossroads deposits were found underneath floor boards and in the northeast sections of cabins to conjure ancestral spirits for protection. Sacrificed animals and other charms were found where the crossroads symbols were drawn by enslaved African-Americans and four holes drilled into charms to symbolize the Bakongo cosmogram. Other West-Central African traditions found on plantations by historians is the use of six pointed stars as spiritual symbols. A six pointed star is a symbol in West Africa and in African-American spirituality.

On another plantation in Maryland archeologists unearthed artifacts that showed a blend of Central African and Christian spiritual practices among slaves. This was Ezekiel's Wheel in the bible that blended with the Central African Kongo cosmogram. This may explain the connection enslaved African Americans had with the Christian cross as it resembled their African symbol. The cosmogram represents the universe and how human souls travel in the spiritual realm after death entering into the ancestral realm and reincarnating back into the family. The artifacts uncovered at the James Brice House were Kongo cosmogram engravings drawn as crossroads (an X) inside the house. This was done to ward a place from a harsh slaveholder. Also, the Kongo cosmogram is evident in Hoodoo practice among African Americans. Archeologists unearthed on a former slave plantation in South Carolina clay bowls made by enslaved Africans that had the Kongo cosmogram engraved onto the clay bowls. These clay bowls were used by African Americans for ritual purposes.

The Ring shout in Hoodoo has its origins from the Kongo region from the Kongo cosmogram (Yowa Cross) and ring shouters dance in a counterclockwise direction that follows the pattern of the rising of the sun in the east and the setting of the sun in the west. The ring shout follows the cyclical nature of life represented in the Kongo cosmogram of birth, life, death, and rebirth. Through counterclockwise circle dancing, ring shouters built up spiritual energy that resulted in the communication with ancestral spirits, and led to spirit possession by the Holy Spirit or ancestral spirits. 

Enslaved African Americans performed the counterclockwise circle dance until someone was pulled into the center of the ring by the spiritual vortex at the center. The spiritual vortex at the center of the ring shout was a sacred spiritual realm. The center of the ring shout is where the ancestors and the Holy Spirit reside at the center. The ring shout tradition continues in Georgia with the McIntosh County Shouters. At Cathead Creek in Georgia, archeologists found artifacts made by enslaved African Americans that linked to spiritual practices in West-Central Africa. Enslaved African Americans and their descendants after emancipation house spirits inside reflective materials and used reflective materials to transport the recently deceased to the spiritual realm. Broken glass on tombs reflects the other world. It is believed reflective materials are portals to the spirit world.

Literally just a bunch of me cuz i cant remember if i ever posted my haircut but ive been rocking the short hair AND multiple utis 😍😍😍 last ones me with the cranberry juice ive been drinking lol

(He/him)

I’ve been learning Brazilian Portuguese for like 3 weeks now, bc I was bored as hell during winter break so I was like “yknow what, lets learn a new language”

It actually came in handy to know English and Spanish, bc it kinda made it easier to understand for me.

I also just like learning about different cultures in general, and it’s nicer to understand some of the language. I also just felt bad bc Brazil is almost always left out of Latin American media 😭 and just South American media in general is always forgotten. As a latino I want everyone to get equal attention bc the cultures are so unique

this website is not beating the piss poor reading comprehension allegations

I. HAVE. A. FRIEND.

ISN’T IT WONDERFUL?!?!?!

Yes, I know I sound like a introvert child who is sadly excluded of everything (I am/was) but this friend of mine it's like, ehmmm, my pupil. She has no clue of F1, and I am the one to have the honor to teach her and guide her through this path.

first thing I did? DTS. MAX. AIN'T. REAL. MAX.

I am not going to create another Max Verstappen hater just because of DTS to then send her to the world. there's already way too many of those. I don't want another one.