NEPAL:The small thatched hut in western Nepal has no walls to keep out the cold. Inside is a raised platform where Pabrita Giri sleeps during her period, banished from her home by a centuries-old Hindu ritual.
Below the hut, known as a chhau goth, Giri lights a small fire to keep her warm. The smoke rises up to the small cramped area where she sleeps, making her eyes water.
“We think that if we don’t follow chhaupadi bad things will happen and if we do, it (the gods) will favor us. I feel it does good, so I follow it during my periods,” Giri, 23, explained.
“Now I am used to it. I used to be afraid in the beginning because I was away from my family during dark nights and the place is like this,” Giri said gesturing around her.
The practice is linked to Hinduism and considers women untouchable when they menstruate.
They are banished from the home — barred from touching food, religious icons, cattle and men — and forced into a monthly exile sleeping in basic huts.
In some areas, women are also made to spend up to a month in the chhau goth after they have given birth.
Two women recently died while following chhaupadi — one of smoke inhalation after she lit a fire for warmth, while the other death is unexplained. These incidents have spurred fresh impetus to end the practice.
Chhaupadi was banned a decade ago, but new legislation currently before parliament will criminalize the practice, making it an imprisonable offense to force a women to follow the ritual.
“Women were accepting chhaupadi as tradition. After defining chhaupadi an offense by law the tradition will be discouraged saving rights and lives of many women,” Krishna Bhakta Pokhrel, a lawmaker pushing the bill, told AFP.
But previous attempts to stop chhaupadi have failed to address the deep superstitious beliefs that underpin it.
Even in the capital Katmandu, three in four homes practice some form of restriction on women during their periods, usually banning them from the kitchen and prayer room, said Pema Lhaki, a women’s right activist who has campaigned for years to end chhaupadi.
Most attempts to end the ritual have focused on destroying the chhau goths but that hasn’t stopped women being banned from their homes — instead, in some areas, it has seen women forced to sleep in even more rudimentary huts or even outside, Lhaki said.
“Until we make the woman herself make the decision, the destruction of menstrual huts is more for external purposes. The menstrual huts should remain. Success is when they remain but they don’t go into them,” she said, accusing the government of encouraging the chhau goth to be destroyed to meet quotas set by international donors.
In a village a few miles from where Giri lives, Khagisara Regmi is considering building a chhau goth.
After her husband died eight years ago, the 40-year-old found it too difficult to follow chhaupadi — which would bar her from cooking or touching her son when she was menstruating — while bringing up her four young children.
But a few years ago, her only son started having fits. When a nearby hospital failed to cure them, Regmi turned to the local shaman who told her that her son’s seizures where because she hadn’t followed the ancient ritual.
“Because I didn’t observe purity the gods were displeased. It wasn’t favorable for my son,” she said.
It is often the village shamans — who fill a void left by woefully poor medical services in rural Nepal — and the elderly who are the guardians of the ritual.
Sabitra Giri, 70, defiantly told AFP that the Maoists during Nepal’s brutal civil war tried to end chhaupadi as part of an anti-religion drive — but failed.
“You can cut me but while I’m alive this practice will continue,” she said.
At a house on the edge of the village, shaman Keshar Giri, clad head to toe in white, explained that many illnesses were caused by women not following chhaupadi.
He often counselled women to follow the ritual if they came to him with problems, he said.
“It is not about individuals but the gods that we worship who ask women to not be near for those few days,” he said.
“Its for the sake of the gods.”
Hindu ritual forces Nepali women into monthly exile
Hindu ritual forces Nepali women into monthly exile
Dutch artist Vincent Ruijter’s exploration of heritage and ethnicity on show at Noor Riyadh
RIYADH: Dutch artist Vincent Ruijters explores themes of identity and self at the ongoing Noor Riyadh, the annual Saudi festival of light and art. The festival runs until Dec. 14.
At this year’s edition, Ruijters digs deeper into hybrid cultures through the interplay of light, shadow and fabric. “This is telling my own story from a very personal way. But by doing that, hopefully connecting to all kinds of people,” Ruijters told Arab News.
Set in a studio in the Jax District, one of the three main festival hubs, “Selintas Selalu” is a kinetic installation: a steel-based structure stands at the center of the space where strips of red fabric hang off vein-like rods. A light is suspended in the center while steel light structures with sharp metal spikes frame the surrounding walls.
The work came about after three months’ research in Indonesia, where the work was created. While he was born and is based in the Netherlands, Ruijters’ mother is a seventh-generation Indonesian, with family roots going back to China.
These multi-ethnic groups, referred to as Peranakan, demonstrate a fusion between Chinese and Indonesian culture. “They have their own arts, colors, patterns, music, and their own culture,” he said.
The Betawi people, native to Jakarta and its outskirts, blend cultures including native Indonesian, Arab, Chinese and Portuguese.
“Actually, a lot of Chinese and Asians immigrated after the independence of Indonesia after the Second World War because the colony was over. So, they went to the Netherlands and America, and then they had children like me, but those children do not know about their ancestors,” Ruijters said.
Taking ownership of his own difficult history, he decided to research the topic not just for himself but also “for my other generations of Chinese Indonesians living in the Netherlands, younger people, to show them: this is your heritage,” he said.
The mix of cultures is realized in the motifs: the sun-shaped lamps on the periphery which are reminiscent of kembang kelapa decorations, the petal shapes at the structure’s base that are popular in Javanese batik dyeing techniques, and the red fabric, which is made in collaboration by Chinese and Indonesian craftsman with a special red color, associated with the Peranakan culture. This fabric was specially made in a batik house for this project.
“To make big installations, it’s never one person,” Ruijters said. “So, I was always trying to emphasize this as part of a team. I worked with an Indonesian electronic engineer, with a Dutch electronic engineer, with the batik workshop house for the fabric … I’m more like a guide to the creative process,” he said.
The artwork branches out from the light in the center, a symbol of Ruijters’ ancestors. As time progresses, the lamp moves forward, symbolically straying from those strong roots of the past, toward the twiggier branches at the forefront, leading us to the present.
Shadowplay is an important element, because it preserves Indonesian culture through shadows as a means of accessing an inner world. “You can feel your ancestry; you can feel the past shivering and whispering to you. And this is similar, I think, to the guiding light that is the constellation of the theme … I think shadow is a beautiful way of expressing that, because you cannot touch it. It's there, but it’s also not,” he said.
Elyanna lights up New York Times Square billboard
DUBAI: Palestinian Chilean singer Elyanna recently lit up New York’s Times Square when she was featured on a Spotify Arabia billboard, highlighting the streaming platform’s “Equal” playlist.
Under the name “Equal Arabia,” the local version of Spotify’s Global Music Program aims to amplify the work of women creators by using the platform’s resources and generating more opportunities for these creators through delivering a global, cohesive and branded experience.
Each month, Equal Arabia spotlights an ambassador of the month, focusing on their new music release and encouraging fans to discover them, and Elyanna was picked as the latest feature, promoting her new track “Janni.”
Elyanna has enjoyed a record year, sharing the stage with British band Coldplay on NBC’s “Today” show in New York in October, performing their song “We Pray.”
The track is part of Coldplay’s new album, “Moon Music,” which was released that month. Joining Elyanna and the British band on stage was Argentine singer and actress Tini, who is also featured on the song.
Elyanna also released her own Arabic-language version of the track on Sept. 20.
Elyanna made her “Saturday Night Live” debut the same month, teaming up with frequent collaborators Coldplay on stage to perform the song. The singer took to Instagram to celebrate the milestone after the show by reposting footage of backstage rehearsals recorded minutes before she hit the stage.
The “SNL” performance came just days after the 22-year-old appeared at iHeartRadio Music Festival in Las Vegas to perform the same song.
Elyanna is expected to perform live with Coldplay again when the band heads to Abu Dhabi for four shows in the UAE capital in January 2025. The band will perform as part of the “Music of the Spheres World Tour” on Jan. 9, 11, 12 and 14 at Zayed Sports City Stadium.
In August, she was on stage in Dublin to perform “We Pray” in Arabic. She performed alongside rapper Little Simz, Nigerian singer Burna Boy and Tini.
“I’m still in awe of last night! Sharing this moment with all these amazing artists on @coldplay’s stage felt so wholesome,” she told her 1.7 million followers on Instagram. “I sang ‘We Pray’ in Arabic, I sang for hope and, most importantly, for my hometown Palestine.”
The Los Angeles-based singer’s music is a mix of Arab and Western influences, which she attributes to her multicultural upbringing.
‘Moana 2’ dials up its Pacific Island influences in grown-up sequel, say filmmakers
DUBAI: Out now in cinemas across the Middle East, Walt Disney Animation Studio’s highly anticipated “Moana 2” reunites audiences with its seafaring heroine (Auli’i Cravalho) and her best buddy Maui (voiced by Dwayne Johnson).
Directed by David Derrick Jr., Jason Hand and Dana Ledoux Miller, the sequel sees Moana journey to the far seas of Oceania for a new adventure after receiving an unexpected call from her wayfinding ancestors.
The filmmakers said that they were especially committed to representing the Pacific Island communities and peoples respectfully and with integrity, and that meant turning to the Oceanic Cultural Trust once again for guidance.
As with the first film, the “Moana 2” filmmakers assembled a team of cultural experts in anthropology, history, dance and movement, canoes and navigation, linguistics and various cultural practices from the Pacific Islands.
“I think we’re just really fortunate to work with our Oceanic Cultural Trust, led by Kalikolehua Hurley. We all care really deeply about the world of ‘Moana,’ and want to get it right. We definitely wanted to be intentional about the cultural nuances and home in on it, whether it was with clothing or designs in any way, but we also just wanted to create a movie that felt true to what it means to be from the Pacific,” said co-director Hand in an interview with Arab News.
“I would say that we really let Moana sort of dictate where the story goes,” added co-director Ledoux Miller. “We were really intentional about building off that foundation of the first film and thinking really carefully about what that first journey was. It was a story of identity and of her really coming into her own. So, it felt like a really natural extension that we would continue that idea of self-growth and evolution. We love the idea that as you grow as a leader, you learn new things about yourself, and you have to realize that you never stop discovering new depths to yourself and new things that you’re capable of.”
Being of Samoan descent, Ledoux Miller said that she felt the weight of representing her community through filming and beyond.
“I would say it’s front of mind even right now, it’s every day. To be a part of making the key creative decisions for creating this film was truly an honor, but absolutely a responsibility as well. I feel very protective of my community, but I feel protective of Moana too. I’m also like a Moana fan, and I want to do right by her, but I couldn’t be prouder of what we put together, and I’m so excited for my family to see this. I think I’ll breathe a little easier once they do,” she said.
One of the main new characters we meet in “Moana 2” is Simea, Moana’s younger sibling (voiced by Khaleesi Lambert-Tsuda).
“The first film was really about Moana connecting to her past, and as this story is really all about the future and where she is going to bring her people, it made so much sense to put in an emotional relationship that she has with her little sister, and that embodiment of the future is right there for her. I think you really fall in love with the relationship from the first moment that you see them together, and that lasts all the way until the very end of the film,” Hand said.
Dubai-based Lindsay Lohan thanks fans for hit Netflix film
DUBAI: Dubai-based Hollywood star Lindsay Lohan took to Instagram to thank fans after her latest festive film “Our Little Secret” became Netflix’s No. 1 streamed movie this week.
“Thank you for everyone who tuned in,” she wrote on Instagram Stories.
The actress — who is married to Kuwaiti financier Bader Shammas — also showed her appreciation for the MENA region when she appeared on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” recently in an outfit from Lebanese designer Zuhair Murad’s Resort 2025 ready-to-wear collection, which included a black, long-sleeved top with structured shoulders and silver jeweled detailing down one side. The ensemble was completed with a matching black skirt, paired with black heels.
Lohan also attended the premiere of the romantic comedy in a Murad outfit, choosing a black gown from the label’s spring/summer 2025 ready-to-wear collection. The sleeveless dress featured a plunging neckline with two statement crystal-embellished motifs at the midriff.
The flowing skirt incorporated sheer panels, and she topped off the look with open-toe black heels and subtle jewelry, and her hair in soft waves.
“Our Little Secret” tells the story of Avery (Lohan) who is planning to spend Christmas with her boyfriend’s family. Things take an unexpected turn when she discovers that ex-boyfriend Logan (played by Ian Harding) is also joining the festivities, as it transpires their current partners are siblings. Avery and Logan must navigate the holiday while ensuring their former relationship remains a secret.
Lohan will next be returning to her Disney roots by reuniting with Jamie Lee Curtis for next year’s “Freaky Friday” sequel, titled “Freakier Friday.”
The film was shot over the summer and had Lohan feeling like a child again, she told ABC’s “Nightline.”
“I think really for me was when I went onto the Disney lot,” Lohan said. “And being back on the Disney lot because that’s not just ‘Freaky Friday’ for me. That’s ‘The Parent Trap,’ that’s ‘Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen,’ that’s ‘Herbie.’ It’s so many moments for me. So when I got there, I kind of felt like this essence of a little kid again.”
“I’m so grateful for every moment of it, every second,” she said of being back on the lot. “I’m going to, like, get emotional. It’s a great experience.”
‘Incredible experience’: Pakistani artisans urge stronger cultural ties at Saudi exhibition
- The handicrafts week in Riyadh featured over 500 artisans who displayed a blend of traditions and skills
- Pakistani participants say they were delighted to see Saudi women entrepreneurs in huge numbers
KARACHI: Pakistani artisans participating in Saudi Arabia’s International Handicrafts Week, Banan, on Friday called for deepening cultural ties between the two nations, emphasizing the role of art and crafts in fostering mutual understanding.
The exhibition, held in Riyadh from Nov. 23 to Nov. 29, featured over 500 artisans from 25 countries, showcasing a vibrant blend of traditions and skills.
The event, organized by the Heritage Commission of the Saudi Ministry of Culture, highlighted the role of crafts in promoting cross-cultural dialogue.
Several Pakistani artisans were facilitated by their embassy to participate in Banan and represent their country’s rich culture.
“It is important to explore the ties between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia through a cultural lens, which has started to happen,” Danish Jabbar Khan, CEO of Kaarvan Crafts Foundation and a participant at the event, told Arab News over the phone.
“The cultural exchange is the way forward for two countries to understand each other," he continued. "It’s simpler and long-lasting. People-to-people exchange is very important that such platforms allow.”
Khan’s foundation works with rural communities, particularly women, to preserve traditional crafts such as truck art, blue pottery and woodwork.
“The experience [of participating in the exhibition] was phenomenal,” he said. “The culture here is so open in terms of its scale, work, and inclusion. I am delighted to see Saudi women entrepreneurs in huge numbers.”
A highlight of the exhibition was truck artist Ejaz ul Allah Mughal, who created custom pieces for attendees.
“I am happy that I represented Pakistan,” Mughal said, adding: “Though language was a barrier, art knows no boundaries. People here really appreciated my craft. Truck art is famous worldwide, so people know about it.”
Mariya Suhail, who uses a diverse range of Pakistan’s gemstones in jewelry, also took her craft to Banan. She set up Pakistan’s first gemstone cutting and processing facility in Lahore over a decade ago, though she later launched her own label, Orah Jewels.
Suhail's work blends Pakistan’s diverse gemstones into jewelry and home décor.
“People here picked up gemstones from Pakistan and loved it," she told Arab News. "There is a lot of demand for Pakistani products here. People of Riyadh also have a very positive outlook towards Pakistan.”
She maintained that despite the language barrier, there was a lot of learning, networking and exposure.
“Cultural exchange is very important," she added. "I wish we can have more such events and opportunities to present this very beautiful image of Pakistan. It's been an incredible experience here.”
The Embassy of Pakistan in Riyadh also commended the artisans’ participation, calling the Pakistani pavilion a testament to the country's rich cultural heritage and the unparalleled quality of its craftsmanship.
"From intricate handmade designs to traditional artistry passed down through generations, the showcased crafts highlighted the deep-rooted legacy of Pakistan's artisan community,” it said in a statement.
