Dancing semi-naked on top of Australia’s most famous ancient site isn’t the best way to ingratiate yourself with the locals, as a 25-year-old ‘exotic dancer’ has found out.
French-born Alizee Sery had a friend film her climbing Uluru, stripping off and dancing in bikini bottoms, cowboy boots and a bushman’s hat. The video, which appeared on a Northern Territory news site, has sparked outrage among Australia’s indigenous leaders, who have likened Sery’s actions to someone “defacating on the steps of the Vatican”.
Sery was unapologetic, claiming that her performance was a “tribute” to the traditional owners. “My project is a tribute to the greatness of the Rock. What we need to remember is that traditionally, the Aboriginal people were living naked,” Sery told the Sunday Territorian newspaper, which broke the story. “So stripping down was a return to what it was like. I do not mean in any way for this video to offend the Aboriginal culture. I am aware that Uluru is sacred in their culture.”
Alizee Sery’s ‘sacred dance’ on top of the Uluru
Climbing Uluru was “one of those things that we must experience in a lifetime”, Sery said. “I thought that if I’m only going to climb the Rock once in my entire life, when I reach the top I must do something out of the ordinary, something catchy, something crazy,” she said. “I want to give people the courage to believe in themselves. If I can do a strip on Ayer’s Rock, then anything is possible.”
But Alison Hunt, a member of the Uluru-Kata Tjuta Board of Management, was “angry and disgusted”, she said. “It’s not a tribute to the traditional owners, it’s an insult. This is an important spiritual place. We try to share our land and work together and we think it is disgusting for someone to try and make money out of our sacred land.”
The traditional owners of Uluru ask visitors not to climb the rock because ancient Dreamtime spiritual lines cross the site. The owners the local Anangu people also feel a sense of responsibility for the safety of those who undertake the rigorous climb, which continues to claim lives.
The Central Land Council, which represents the traditional owners, has called on the Australian prime minister Julia Gillard to deport the dancer.
That may not be necessary, however, because Sery says she may now set her sights on the Great Wall of China as she “works her way round the world one bra strap at a time”.
Tomorrow, a happy collection of hippies, druids and general revellers will climb up Calton Hill in Edinburgh to celebrate the ancient festival of Beltane. In my experience, the festival is a positive, celebratory, and quite spectacular event with near-naked hippies sporting all-over body paint and leaves and dancing around fires, drinking warm cans of cider. There are drums hundreds of them, practically making the whole hilltop vibrate and hypnotic chanting. Revellers express their joy and drunkenness much in the same way as they do at Hogmanay by dancing around on the spot outdoors, and kissing passing strangers. Its a good party!
Bad PR From the Romans
Of course, there was no way I would have hiked up Calton Hill for the Beltane Festival if Caesar was still doing the PR. After his visits to Scotland in the first centuries AD, he described how Druids would make human sacrifices to Pagan gods by burning people alive inside giant wicker man effigies.
The whole nation of the Gauls is greatly devoted to ritual observances, and for that reason those who are smitten with the more grievous maladies and who are engaged in the perils of battle either sacrifice human victims or vow so to do, employing the druids as ministers for such sacrifices. They believe, in effect, that, unless for a man’s life a man’s life be paid, the majesty of the immortal gods may not be appeased; and in public, as in private life they observe an ordinance of sacrifices of the same kind.
Others use figures of immense size whose limbs, woven out of twigs, they fill with living men and set on fire, and the men perish in a sheet of flame. They believe that the execution of those who have been caught in the act of theft or robbery or some crime is more pleasing to the immortal gods; but when the supply of such fails they resort to the execution even of the innocent.
Scary stuff, but he would say that, wouldnt he? Given his reluctance to take on the Scots in battle, hes not going to describe the Beltane revellers as a bunch of happy drunks on a hill.
The Real Wicker Man
Julius Caesars description of the giant wicker effigy is now replaced in all our minds by the portrayal in the 1973 cult movie, The Wicker Man. In the film, the shocking Pagan rituals of sex and human sacrifice carried out by the inhabitants of a remote Scottish island are slowly revealed to cop Edward Woodwood.
But is there any evidence that these wicker men were ever used for the purpose of human sacrifice? Obviously, no burned real or wicker men remain for us to study (although one body was found with a ceremonial wicker mask), but there is some evidence to suggest that human sacrifice occured in ancient Britain, as in Mesopotamia and Latin America.Several bog bodies found in Scotland have been thought suggest evidence of ritual sacrifice.
Rituals of Death by Fire
One Beltane custom which survived into the 18th century was to share a specially-baked cake. Whoever drew the unlucky blackened portion was called the Beltane Carline, and the group pretended to throw that person into the bonfire, and also referred to that person as if he/she was dead for some time afterwards.
Sir James George Frazer writes in his 1922 book The Golden Bough that similar rituals of pretending to burn a human sacrifice on a fire take place around Europe with considerable similarities, suggesting that the rituals could well stem from an ancient version in which humans really were thrown to the flames.
Just a Nice Spring Solstice Festival?
There are several differing accounts of the ancient practices of Beltane, however. It is thought that the festival celebrated the transition from Spring and Summer, and that far from erasing young offenders from the crime stats the bonfires celebrated Spring and fertility, and were used for burning winter bed and floor covers.
Its also said that cattle were ritually driven from one fire to another to protect them against disease (wonder how they figured that one worked?), and that a tree would be burned on the fire, leading to the Maypole tradition.
Whether the true origins of the Beltane Fire Festival were sinister horror-movie-style murders, or leaf-trailing, cattle-rousing love-ins, well never know. One things for sure though, Edinburgh City Council have not authorised the burning of a giant wicker man effigy with a criminal inside, or the dragging of cows from one fire to another, although they do allow semi-naked dancing and a lot of drumming.
I would say that it’s just as mysterious, and actually much more exciting, than (dare I say it?) the Stonehenge solstice events. The rituals are carried out in great detail, and with great fanfare, and obviously the costumes are awesome. The symbolism of the red men, who represent disorder, chaos and libido, and the white women, who represent order and purity, make for a compelling drama. Apparently, the joy of the event is in the ‘resolution of these conflicting forces’ (nudge, nudge).
Unlike the original Pagan event, however, you do need to get a ticket. Click here for details, and please post your images in our Flickr pool afterwards!
We are approaching winter; the weather is going downhill and the days are getting shorter. After a long, sun-deprived day in the office there’s nothing better than the idea of cosying up with hot chocolate, thick socks, and woolly jumpers, or – best of all – a long hot bath. This winter-time ritual reminds me of the Turkish bath, or hammam. Throughout the world, spas and baths have become part of our busy lives, as a means of peaceful retreat and to recharge our batteries. They’re a place of sanctuary that we search for to find peace and quiet. But in ancient history, people used baths in a different way than the way we use them now.
Turkish baths were adapted from those of the Romans and Byzantines. The first baths were set up in Anatolia, and were changed over time by the Seljuk and Ottoman Turks. Now the hammams are used mainly as a tourist attraction, but back in ancient Turkey they were part of daily life, celebrations and gatherings.
When you compare the Roman baths to the Ottoman style baths they share the same architectural style. All all have three separate rooms; first the hot room (sicaklik or caldarium), secondly the warm room (iliklik or the tepidarium) where you wash yourself with soap, and finally is the cold room (sogukluk) for resting. Islamic influence led to the segregation of men and women in the traditional Roman and Byzantine baths, although there is evidence of communal bathing in some baths.
For the Ancient Romans the bath was part of their daily life to cleanse themselves. They bathed in pools like the one at Bath, in the photo above. Nowadays we keep our baths rather as a private thing for ourselves, but for the ancients it was a very public activity. I see the Roman baths more like our modern gyms, as the exercise was part of the ritual.
Turkish Baths, on the other hand, were for more than just cleansing the body; they were used as celebrations to mark important times in ones lifeline, from a 40-day-old babys first ritual bath to circumcision and major bridal celebrations and Henna parties. The Turks had very scarce water and many considered water sacred, so I think that by forming these Turkish baths they were celebrating, in a way, water and life.
Ancient Hen Parties and Dodgy Stag Dos
Baths are quite private now, but back then they were having hen parties in the Turkish Baths with full music and near-naked dancing. Also social status was not much of big deal, unlike in our luxury spa experiences; Turkish baths were open to everyone from children to adults in all walks of life. It was where women became unusually quite comfortable in their nakedness around other women. Men in general would cover up with a peshtamal; a linen towel strategically wrapped around their hip.
I love the stories behind each tradition, and when we look closely at why women found freedom and joy by gathering in hammams is amazing. At the time of the Ottoman empire women did not have much freedom to be out on their own. Gatherings for regular cleansing rituals turned quickly into the chance to get together in a relaxed environment. Women enjoyed their freedom and spending time with their friends – almost everything got celebrated in a hammam.
‘Tellaks’, or ‘masseurs’, who worked in the baths in the Ottoman empire had a special relation with their clients
For men it was a different matter. ‘Tellaks’, or ‘masseurs’, who worked in the baths in the Ottoman empire had a special relation with their clients and it is said that many of these young men were actually sex workers. The erotic and the sensual part of the Turkish Bath was brought to us in a very sensational movie called Hamam. The movie is set in old Istanbul, where east meets west, and a young Italian guy meets a handsome Turkish man.Their scene in the movie has become a cult scene. Similarly, in most paintings from the Ottaman Empire the hammam scenes were quite popular!
Of course, these days, bathing is a different proposition altogether. Most of the time, we bathe for reasons of hygiene, beauty and relaxation, to detox our bodies, and to get a moment of calm and privacy in our busy lives. But are we missing out on the joys of community bathing? The girly spa days that have seen a resurgence recently certainly suggest that for women hammams can play a vital role in female friendship and celebration.
If you are planning a trip to Istanbul soon, make sure you check the following Traditional Turkish baths in the heart of the city. The top three Hamams in Istanbul are Cemberlitas hamami, Cagaloglu hamamiand Galatasaray Hamami.
Lost for moves? Tired of busting out the same old body popping/moonwalk/drunk-uncle-at-a-wedding? You could take your dancing lines from Jacko, Wade Robson or even Michael Flatley (if you don’t mind being alone for the rest of your life). But how about Tutankhamun? The boy-king may be making waves in stateside museums right now, but he’s been influencing the best underground dancers on both sides of the Atlantic for over twenty years with the ‘Tut’ – and I don’t mean Steve Martin’s Saturday Night Live performance. Amateurs be warned: it may take a bit more practice than karaoke night down the local to hone your moves to the standard of this frankly incredible rendition:
According to Wikipedia, the dance craze dates back to the eighties, and uses the wrists, elbows and shoulders to create right angles in an Egyptian style. It took on the name ‘Tutting’, or the ‘King Tut‘ as a reference to the effect of Tutankhamun on western popular culture. Of course, who could forget the late, great Michael Jackson‘s opulent homage to King Tut and the Egyptian empire with his 1992 hit Remember the Time:
Dancing semi-naked on top of Australia’s most famous ancient site isn’t the best way to ingratiate yourself with the locals, as a 25-year-old ‘exotic dancer’ has found out.
