All of the Irish dancers at the Festival of Nations wore these wacky super-curly wigs. The announcer said it had to do with some tradition but I couldn’t understand all the details. If anyone knows the reason, please leave a comment. Anyway, the women looked really strange close up. I decided to add an extra layer of strangeness.WHAT’S WET: us. Our stuff. It is a rainforest, you know.
TOMORROW: maybe I’ll have Internet service and post something from out here. Maybe silence. (ShadowyOne…?) Don’t know yet.
surprenant, a l'ouverture de ton blog, j'ai pensé a une tête de poupée. superbe
ReplyDeleteSurprisingly, the opening of your blog, I thought a head doll. superb
Olivier is absolutely right. SHe does have that kewpie doll look about her. Interesting portrait today. What on earth could "tradition" have to do with these hilarious wigs??
ReplyDeleteI've seen this hair in Jersey City. Cool portrait.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great portrait, even if you consider her looks somewhat strange. You have pictured the various people in your blog very well indeed!! Bravo.
ReplyDeleteWow! That's my friend's daughter! He plays Irish pub songs at...Irish pubs. His wife owns an Irish dance studio and their daughter is a gifted protege, competing internationally in dance and fiddle. I agree the costume is pretty bizarre, but the dances are lively and pretty.
ReplyDeleteThe girls originally would spend hours curling their hair to look like this. Then someone came up with the wig to save time. As to why they originally did the curling of the hair in the first place, I don't know. However if their hair doesn't look like this in competitions they get docked points.
ReplyDeletethe tradition stems from waaaayyyy back when the british were occupying ireland. they were trying to stomp out irish culture, and so, forbade traditional step dancing.
ReplyDeletethe irish, being the meek and compliant people they are, said, 'eff off, we're doing it anyway.'
they would then dance on the way home from church in the street corners. this way, if a british soldier were to come upon them, they could just continue walking on their way.
this ties back to the wigs in that all the women were dressed up in their sunday best with their hair curled for church each sunday when this took place. obviously, the costuming and hair has been exaggerated for the show of the sport, but this is where the tradition of the (outrageously expensive. trust me.) crazy dresses and curly hair comes from.
:-)