ABOUT RICE…

Why do so many people eat rice? Grains are an important source of food in most countries. The most common grains are rice, wheat, and corn. Rice is grown in many parts of the world, Including Asia. Since so many people live in Asia, more rice is eaten there than anywhere else.





Japan: Plain white rice is almost always eaten with traditional Japanese meals. Sometimes rice is wrapped in seaweed or is cooked with foods like chicken.
















France: A sweet made of rice and milk is popular in France





Indonesia: The Indonesian people eat many kinds of food, like nasi goring, nasi rawon, nasi opor. (nasi=rice)

Spain: Rice is cooked with vegetables, shellfish and other seafood to make a popular dish called paella.

www.alacuisine.org
www.fluffbuff.com

FOOT BINDING

FOOT BINDING
In the beginning in the 10th century and ending in the early 20th century, China had adopted a very extreme way in their tradition called foot binding.

Foot binding was a custom practiced on young females. Young girls’ feet, usually at age 6 but often earlier, were wrapped in tight strap up so that they could not raise and develop normally; they would, instead, break and become highly deformed, not growing past 4-6 inches (10-15 cm). Today, it is a major cause of disability among some elderly Chinese women.
Some consequences of foot-binding were stable, especially if a girl's arches had been broken or other drastic measures taken in order to achieve the desired tininess.
From the 17th century, Han Chinese girls, from the wealthiest to the poorest peasants, had their feet bound. Some approximation that as many as 2 billion Chinese women were subjected to this practice, from the late 10th century until 1949, when foot binding was outlawed by the Communists.


First, each foot would be drenched in a warm assortment of herbs and animal blood. This concoction caused any necrotized flesh to fall off. Then her toenails were cut back as far as possible to prevent ingrowths and subsequent infections. To prepare her for what was to come next the girl’s feet were delicately massaged. Silk or cotton bandages, ten feet long and two inches wide, were prepared by soaking in the same blood and herb mix as before. Each of the toes were then broken and wrapped in the wet bandages, which would constrict when drying, and pulled tightly downwards toward the heel. There may have been deep cuts made in the sole to facilitate this.


further reading: http://www.sfmuseum.org
http://www.asianartmall.com

SATI

Sati, a Hindu interment tradition, now very rare and a serious illegal act in India, in which the dead man’s widow would throw herself on her husband’s funeral pyre in order to entrust suicide.


Basically the custom of Sati was supposed to be a voluntary Hindu act in which the woman voluntary decides to end her life with her husband after his death. But there were many incidences in which the women were forced to commit Sati, sometimes even dragged against her wish to the lighted pyre.
It is frequently stated that a widow could expect little of life after her husband’s death, especially if she was childless.
Even though Sati is considered an Indian custom or a Hindu custom it was not practiced all over India by all Hindus but only among certain communities of India.

Some are taken from: listvrse.com
http://www.indhistory.com