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Culture July 2023

Ghana. Sacred Golden Stool.

The most important and sacred Asante stool is the ‘Golden Stool’. It represents the authority of the Asantehene (king), enshrines the soul of the nation, and symbolizes the kingdom’s unity. Among the Asante and other Akan peoples, stools play an important role in each person’s life. When children learn to crawl, they receive stools as…

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Peru. The Rite of the Ashaninka Ancestral Medicine.

To a large extent, the ancestral medicine of the Ashaninka, an indigenous Amazonian ethnic group that lives in western Peru, revolves around the Ayahuasca ceremony, the name that is currently used to name an ancestral practice of the original peoples of the Amazon. It is a ritual practice performed by the shiripiare healers or shamans…

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Nigeria. Osun-Osogbo, the Last Sacred Forest of the Yoruba.

Northeast of Lagos (Nigeria), near the city of Osogbo (also spelled Oshogbo), the last sacred forest of the Yoruba culture resists the advance of time and ‘civilization’. We are talking about Osun-Osogbo, a suggestive place, where the force of wild nature coexists with the beauty of art shaped by the human being. According to historical…

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Advocacy

Besjana Guri and Olsi Nika. To protect a wild river.

The campaign to safeguard the Vjosa River from a surge in hydropower dam projects led to its historic designation as the Vjosa Wild River National…

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Baobab

The Wisdom of Kalaga.

On that day, an elephant, a mouse, a woman, and a thief appeared before Kalaga, who was seated in court to hear the grievances of his subjects…

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Youth & Mission

The Jubilee. The Voice of Youth.

We met some of the young people who had come to Rome for the Youth Jubilee.  (July 28 – August 3). The underground, streets, buses, and bars…

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