Around the World in 80 Dresses

 Argentina and Chile are Poncho countries. The Indians and later the gauchos used to ride across the Patagonian pampa wrapped in their poncho which doubled as blanket at some make shift shelter during the night. The gaucho is nearly a figure of the past, but the poncho stayed. I can testify to the warming capacity of an ample woollen poncho. I did not cross the wind swept plains on horseback but even as a pedestrian ambling in the street of some forlorn  Patagonian town I experienced the fierce wind and was happy to have my poncho tightly wrapped around me. The dark red one is coarse but quite warm. The soft grey one is the city version from Mandra Diseño in Buenos Aires. The poncho has no button or zip. You best close it with a tupo , the silver pin known since times gone by. And it serves as a welcome excuse to endulge in ornate silver jewellery which comes in many enticing shapes.

He hails from South America and he does not rely on his heavenly nature alone. He carries a spear to protect me. In many a church in Argentina, Brazil and Chile I saw paintings of angels in arms. I am not sure if these strange attributes reflect the violence which accompanied the spreading of the Roman Catholic belief amongst the Indians of South America or if it is a topic the local painters copied from European baroque images. I once listened to the lecture of an art historian who was adamant that the latter is the right interpretation. Let’s leave the matter to the experts. I feel somehow protected by my guardian angel although he is just a copy. I am posing with him in some fake fur from Chile, his country of origin. It is all about fake and fun.

Ethnic silver jewellery used to be a sort of insurance for women in many countries. Traditionally they would not work but stay at home and raise the children. Depending on the culture they got silver jewellery as a dowry or as a bride price to protect them from poverty should their husband die prematurely or divorce them. Therefore, ethnic silver jewellery makes always a statement. The more silver got into a piece and the more intricately it was decorated the better. Arabic pieces often have Quran verses inserted in small tubes or engraved on coins. On a visit to Santiago de Chile to see my daughter on her internship I found the crocodile brooch decorated with turquoise and lapis lazuli at the wonderful Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino in Santiago de Chile. My pieces come from countries as diverse as Egypt, Syria, Afghanistan, Morocco, Turkey, Iran, Argentina, Chile, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore and China. ©sergom5, pixabay The labyrinths of Istanbul’s Grand...