World on my postcards

The Andean condor is a South American bird in the New World vulture family Cathartidae and is the only member of the genus Vultur. Found in the Andes mountains and adjacent Pacific coasts of western South America, the Andean condor is the largest flying bird in the world by combined measurement of weight and wingspan.

The Hain, the main ceremony of the Selk'nam, was celebrated for last time in XX century. It was a rite of initiation for boys and an educative experience based on the belief that in the old days there was a predominance of women. The ceremony of the Klóketen or Hain is the widespread aspect of the cultural life, corresponding to the ritual of initiation of the young men in the tribes from a common territory. The boys of between fourteen and sixteen years were separated of their home to become Klóketen in the maturity through the ceremony. The most important and interesting aspect of the Hain ceremony was the harassment. It became on the boy by terrific representations of spirits and the boy would have to remain full of value. Spirits were performed by actors dressed in disguise to hide their identity and create a permanent atmosphere. Somehow they felt possessed by the spirits they believed to be supernatural. The candidates to be recognised like adults and hunters h...

 I was very lucky to get this postcard from Chile. It shows Cazador Selk'man. The Selknam Genocide was the genocide of the Selk'nam people, indigenous inhabitants of Tierra del Fuego in South America, from the second half of the 19th to the early 20th century. Spanning a period of between ten and fifteen years the Selk'nam, which had an estimated population of some three thousand saw their numbers reduced to 500.

The Aymara are the indigenous (native) people who live in the altiplano (high plains) of the Andes Mountains of Bolivia. Bolivia has the highest proportion of indigenous peoples of any country in South America. It is also the poorest country on the continent. Bolivia was colonized by Spain. The Aymara faced great hardships under Spanish colonial rule. In 1570, the Spanish decreed that the natives would be forced to work in the rich silver mines on the altiplano. The city of Potosí was once the site of the richest silver mine in the world. Millions of Aymara laborers perished in the wretched conditions in the mines.

 Easter Island’s most famous features are its enormous stone statues called moai, at least 288 of which once stood upon massive stone platforms called ahu. There are some 250 of these ahu platforms spaced approximately one half mile apart to create an almost unbroken line around the perimeter of the island.Another 600 moai statues, in various stages of completion, are scattered throughout the island. Nearly all the moai are carved from the hard stone of the Rano Raraku volcano.A small number of the moai were once capped with ‘crowns’ or ‘hats’ of red volcanic stone. The meaning and purpose of these capstones is not known

 An amazing postcard with stunning stamps and a lot of interesting information about traditional dance of Chile - La Cueca. It is so wonderful to get a card like this!