Here are some more photos to go with my article that I linked to last post. The Bahrain National Museum is full of all sorts of fascinating artifacts of the ancient history of the island, as well as more recent "pre-development" times. The photos I took represent a very selective perspective of what is in the musuem, and of the photos I took I am posting only a selective few. So, my photos, as well as my article, are just a selective composition from behind my eyes. Hence, my tongue-in-cheek title referencing the white western traveller off to the "Orient".
I'm interested in the performances of gender wherever I am or where I go, so I tend to gravitate to women's lives. I used to be a hairdresser, so this display of traditional hair beauty treatments caught my eye. Basil leaves, traditionally, were woven into the hair of the bride.
I also am interested in pre-Christian, pre-monotheistic "religion" so this ancient goddess figure caught my eye.
A poster at the museum describes Bahraini women's once pivotal role as water sellers, which must've been an important role in a desert geography. [click to enlarge]
A poster describing some of the handwork women used to do.
A poster of the female drummers.
A few of the burial urns on display in the Burial Mound exhibition.
A snake offering found in one of the graves. Snake offerings in jars were dug into holes in the earth by graves. The jars also held a single bead.
Shifting now to a modern exhibition hall: the shopping center. Here are a few small windows into Bahrain City Centre shopping mall.
upstairs where the shops selling more traditional wares are located.
Ian Hamza, an Indonesian blogger in Bahrain, had a similar idea as me but found the male version of this sign interesting...
definitely out of my price range.
1 comment:
Very interesting! I didn't get a chance to read your article (in your previous post) as the link didn't come out. I'll try again later. Right now I'm off to an excursion with my "tourists"! Hugs, M.
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