teste di moro siciliane

Teste di Moro Siciliane wall vase - souvenir from Palermo, which Henk bought during the father & son trip with Minne to Palermo & Napoli.

The legend of the Moor’s head goes back in the XI century, during the Moors domination in Sicily.
In the district of the Kalsa, the Arabic district of Palermo, lived a beautiful girl, who used to look out on the balcony while taking care of her plants. A Moor, one day, saw her and was so fascinated by this girl that he wanted to show her all his love with sweet talks. The beautiful girl returned the love, but that young man hid a secret: soon he would return to the East and, moreover, there would have been a family waiting for him, composed of his wife and children.
The young Sicilian, wounded in pride and pierced by what she had believed could be the great love of her life, planned an act of cruel revenge. One night, while the Moor was asleep, she killed him and cut off his head so that he could never return to his family, staying with her forever.
The head became a vase, where basil was planted, a plant linked to the divine symbolism and always associated with sacredness. From here, then, the name Moor’s Head was given to the vase. Inside that vase the basil grew luxuriant, thanks also to the bitter tears shed by the girl. The beauty of the plant aroused envy in the inhabitants of the neighborhood, which started to ask the local artisans to craft some pots of clay with the same shape.

The legend of the Testa di Moro: the alternative version!
There is also another version of the legend, that we find more plausible but definitely less folkloristic! The Sicilian girl protagonist of the story, in this case, was of noble origins and had undertaken a clandestine relationship with a young Arab. Love was soon discovered and the two were beheaded. The heads of both were turned into vases and placed on a balcony so that everyone could know the shame of that love. And that’s also why the Testa di Moro are made in pairs!

grottaglie - città della ceramica

Grottaglie - Saturday 4th of September - late summer in Puglia

The Apulian city Grottaglie is best known for its ceramics.

The famous ceramics are still made in the traditional way.
For a long time, the entire local economy revolved around the manufacture of ceramics.
We visited many ateliers and and kept it modest to just two lilla marmorizzato salad or pasta plates at Marcello Fasano.

After our atelier tour through the ceramics district, we discovered that Grottaglie also has great street art.

When we finished our sightseeing, most of the restaurants were closed for lunch. Luckily we found a terrace at the city gate and the charming restaurant owner (who felt sorry for us) served us a delicious salad. When we heartily thanked him for his hospitality, he said: "I would also like to eat, when I was hungry and in vacanza". Karma.

moroccan nook

Collecting is no stranger to me...

The precious handmade souvenirs from my beloved Marrakech are gathered on an old tiny table in the kitchen.

The vintage breakbaskets, coasters and a bottle cover and clever candle holder we use daily.

I love the kind of souvenirs, genuine for everyday use and not just decoration.

The items of my Moroccan collection nook are one by one handmade in the medina of Marrakech, with simple materials and the objects are of no great value, but to me they are priceless. They remind me of my travels to Morocco and bring back fond memories.

How i miss the Red city and its lovely people.

fantasia

Fantasia is a traditional exhibition of horsemanship performed during cultural festivals and for Maghrebi wedding celebrations.

The performance consists of a group of horse riders, all wearing traditional clothes, who charge along a straight path at the same speed so as to form a line, and then at the end of the charge (about two hundred meters) fire into the sky using old muskets or muzzle-loading rifles. The difficulty of the performance is in synchronizing the movement of the horses during acceleration of the charge, and especially in firing the guns simultaneously so that one single shot is heard. The horses were bred from the Arabian and Barb breeds or a mixture of the two.

The Fantasia is considered a cultural performance and a kind of martial art and it also symbolizes a strong relationship between the man (or woman) and the horse, as well as an attachment to tradition.

In Morocco, Fantasia performances usually take place during local seasonal, cultural or religious festivals.

I was lucky to experience a Fantasia performance in the Agafay desert, during sunset at one of our workshops in May 2017.

A few weeks ago we walked in Essaouira and guess what we found in front of a curio shop in the medina? A Fantasia painting!

In beautiful colors, simple, but authentic, and battered, and old, with horsemen and berber tents in the desert, and signed by a seagull. We both loved it and decided to make a deal with the antique dealer. Everybody happy and so we cycled back from the medina to our hotel just outside Essaouira, Henk with a Fantasia painting under his arm.

New painting in da house, souvenir with a story...

colorpop

Zinnas in nature-neon colors pop on this first rainy day since weeks.

The woman who's peeking though the flowers, is a print we made from a street art photo, shot in Palermo during the Manifesta 12 in June. The artist of the original work is BR1.

il manifesto

On the second day of our stay in Palermo, we came across a bright billboard, on the way to the botanical garden.

We tried to find out the artist of this striking drawing of the woman with lilac & yellow headscarf. So we looked it up and initially thought the number 863 on the sign, would lead us to the artist. Not...

On our way back, we even tried loosen the poster from the billboard (I have to admit), but it was stuck on dozens of layers of posters. In the end we decided to photograph the poster and make a poster of it later.

After a few days when we past this place again on our way to the station, we came to the conclusion that 'our' beautiful poster was covered by a supermarket advertising. What a shame! (for an unknown cola brand, how irreverent...)

Luckily we still had the photo! And luckily now there is a new version at our home, a splendid souvenir of Sicily.

Just in case there's someone who knows the name of the artist, I would really like to know.