As an almost life-long vegetarian, I have little sympathy for eating meat, but a complete un-understanding of eating pork. To me, pigs are the most amazing, intelligent and friendly animals one can find.
Some proof of that, are the pigs trained for truffle hunting. Thanks to their remarkable sense of smell and high intelligence, pigs find, and root up these treasured bits of black gold - just so that a bereted Frenchman can harvest the treasure.
And the rare times that I do see "real" free range pigs, it gives me immense pleasure to stop the car on the side of the road and just observe. The pigs in this picture heredon't know half how luck they are!
No surprise after yesterday's post on 'Pipe's and Berets': Cigars and Berets! Never thought I'd turn into a smoking-promoter, but there you go...
A cigar is a tightly-rolled bundle of dried and fermented
tobacco that is ignited so that its smoke may be drawn into the mouth. Cigar
tobacco is grown in significant quantities in Brazil,
Cameroon, Cuba, the Dominican
Republic, Honduras,
Indonesia, Mexico, Nicaragua,
the Philippines, Canary
Islands (Spain), and the Eastern United States.
Most famous beret wearer smoking cigars is without doubt Ché Guevara and many photographs testify of his habit (or addiction). Ché famously claimed that smoking cigars was the only way to control his asthma (and he studied medicine, so he should know).
Parisian bookseller, smoking cigar
In the 1980s and 1990s, major U.S. print media portrayed cigars
favorably; they generally framed cigar use as a lucrative business or a trendy
habit, rather than as a health risk. Rich people are often caricatured as
wearing top hats (not berets) and tails and smoking cigars. Cigars are often smoked to
celebrate special occasions: the birth of a child, a graduation, a big sale.
The expression "close but no cigar" comes from the practice of giving
cigars as prizes in games involving good aim at fairgrounds.
Pipes have been used since ancient times. HerodotusdescribedScythiansinhaling the fumes of burning leaves in 500 B.C.Romans, andGreeksadopted pipes from their neighbors to the east and they were subsequently used byGermanic,CelticandNordictribes.
Astobaccowas not introduced to theOld Worlduntil the 16th century, the pipes outside of the Americas were usually used to smokehashish, a rare and expensive substance outside areas of the Middle East, Central Asia and India, where it was produced.
Peasant smoking a pipe, by Adriaen van Ostade
Native Americans smoked tobacco in pipes long before the arrival of Europeans. Tobacco was introduced to Europe from the Americas in the 16th century and spread around the world rapidly.
Student in Paris (F), 1950's
Somehow, berets and pipe-smoking have strong links and, despite being an ex-smoker myself, like most ex-smokers having a strong dislike of smoke, I do recall sweet memories of the smell of pipe tobacco, the sight of friendly grandfathers with beret and pipe, grandson at hand...
This French Scout Leader would be a good example too, and this picture is only from 1985.
Barcelona
1931, Collotype by Joan Manning-Sanders: Young Andrew with Beret and Pipe
Almost 3 years ago, I published a post on Jose Mujica, the President of Uruguay. And with such a role-model for presidents, it's about time to post some more.
It's a common grumble that politicians' lifestyles are far removed from those of their electorate. Not so in Uruguay, where the president, who lives on a ramshackle farm gives away most of his pay.
President Mujica has shunned the luxurious house that the Uruguayan state provides for its leaders and opted to stay at his wife's farmhouse, off a dirt road outside the capital, Montevideo. The president and his wife work the land themselves, growing flowers.
Elected in 2009, Mujica spent the 1960s and 1970s as part of the Uruguayan guerrilla Tupamaros, a leftist armed group inspired by the Cuban revolution. He was shot six times and spent 14 years in jail. Most of his detention was spent in harsh conditions and isolation, until he was freed in 1985 when Uruguay returned to democracy. Those years in jail, Mujica says, helped shape his outlook on life.
"I may appear to be an eccentric old man... But this is a free choice." Does it surprise you that Mujica's headgear of choice is a beret..?
I found these pictures on The Fedora Lounge, a Spanish made beret, or boina, by Signes. To the best of my knowledge, the only manufacturer in Spain till in operation is Boinas Elosegui in Tolosa, which brings up the question: who is the manufacturer of these berets?
The internet address on the label doesn't help me any further; none of the on-line catalogues mention berets.
I suspect that these berets, if made in Spain, are made by Elosegui, but I'll have to find out. I'll keep you updated, but if any of you readers has more information, please let me know!
Francisco Coloane Cárdenas (1910 - 2002) was a Chilean
novelist and short fiction writer whose works have been translated into many
languages. Some of his books were adapted to theatre and film.
Young Coloane on horseback
He was born in the southern Chilean island of Chiloé,
and his literary career expanded from Perros, Caballos y Hombres ("Dogs,
Horses and Men") in 1935 to the publication of his memoirs Los Pasos del
Hombre (The Steps of Man) in 2000.
Among his most famous works are: La Tierra del Fuego se
Apagó (Tierra del Fuego Has Burnt Out, 1945), Golfo de Penas (Gulf of Sorrow,
1957), El Camino de la Ballena (The Whale's Path, 1962), El Guanaco Blanco (The
White Guanaco, 1980), and El Corazón del Témpano (The Heart of the Iceberg,
1991).
Coloane was awarded the Premio Nacional de Literatura
(Chilean National Prize for Literature) in 1964. In 1997, he was awarded the
Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Order of Arts and Letters) by the FrenchRepublic,
where he won considerable notoriety for his work in the 1990s.
Coloane was an active member of the Communist Party of
Chile for most of his adult life, and a lover of nature who celebrated his 89th
birthday by swimming in the freezing waters of the Pacific
Ocean - which in his opinion kept him “vital and active”.
Miguel Littín's movie, Tierra del
fuego, is based on a work by Coloane.
Following his death, the Chilean government recognized
him as a central figure of 20th-century Chilean literature.
La Guerre des boutons or War of the
Buttons is a 1962 French film directed by Yves
Robert. The film was remade in Ireland
in 1994 as War of the Buttons, in an Irish setting, and again in France in 2011,
with the original title.
In the countryside of France, two groups of boys from the rural villages of Longeverne and Velran are in constant war against each other. Their war is a tradition that passes from father to son and without a motive but the rivalry between the peasants.
During the Algerian War, the Longeverne boys are led by the intelligent William Lebrac, who has been the backer of his family since his father died, while the Velrans are led by the wicked Aztec. The boys are frequently fighting with their wooden swords, throwing rotten fruits or building traps in the woods expecting to remove the buttons from the enemies' clothes.
But Lebrac is coming of age and he has a crush on the girl Lanterne while his teacher Merlin offers the chance for him to have a better study in another village.
It's amazing where I get my material from for this blog, sometimes the most unimaginable places. Like, the gym...
When sweating it out on the cross-trainer or rowing simulator, it's hard to avoid watching the videoclips that the management seems to believe I like to watch while exercising. It usually reminds me why we have no TV at home, but last week, I was pleasantly surprised to see a clip that prominently showed berets, bright green berets!
Beret Throwing (Lanzamiento de boina) Every participant has three go's at throwing the beret, as far away from the starting line as possible. It is 'free style', but all players have to copy the method of the first thrower (between the legs, backwards, etc).
Beret Throwing (Lanzamiento de boina) One popular method is to throw the beret from between the legs with an upwards effect over the head!
Troncho de coll (or "snatch the beret") A game for two pairs: one child with a beret is attached by his/her companion (defender) by a long rope. The other pair of children try to remove the beret, without being touched by the defender of the beret-boy/girl.
To me, it has always been a mystery why a soldier would want to wear a red beret. I guess it is following a tradition of the British, French, Prussian and Russian armies, wearing bright red uniforms, during their conflicts in the 19th century, but at least, they have given up on that a long time ago.
The Carlists still donned their bright red berets (with tassel) during the Spanish Civil War, making themselves easy targets for the Republicans and International Brigaders.
Not that I think highly of a Carlist's intelligence, but the same phenomenon is actually still present in our day and age. Look at this female German soldier; fully camouflaged with a bright red beret!
Or these Indonesian Special Forces, camouflaging even their faces to top it off with a bright red target!
But really, they do it everywhere. The more "Special" they name themselves, the brighter they get!
This post is for my Chilean friend Ariel. Thank you
Nicasio Luna is a Chilean gaucho; a young troubadour and
minstrel of Patagonia, who sings to the
tradition of his land, culture and people.
From the town of Cochrane, at just 18 years old Nicasio Luna
stood out for his wide domain of verse and the strength of his voice, his music
supporting causes like a Patagonia without [hydro-electric] dams and the
conditions of the Mapuche, in poetic and challenging language.
To the sound of the milonga, Nicasio sings with love,
tenderness and humor. "In life you have to make a mark, this is why I
chose this music, and why I write my own poetry and songs".
Daan Kolthoff is a writer, living between the hills of Wellington, New Zealand and, when not writing, meditating or walking the hills, he is usually researching, reading about or ordering berets from around the world.
Some proof of that, are the pigs trained for truffle hunting. Thanks to their remarkable sense of smell and high intelligence, pigs find, and root up these treasured bits of black gold - just so that a bereted Frenchman can harvest the treasure. 
