Are you ready to feast on some Culture?
This month there is a guaranteed 85 SBD prize fund. The biggest yet!
Image Source pixabay.com
Culture Vulture
The tag #culturevulture is a place here on Steemit, where you can share something unique about your country with the world. Instead of being a post about travel or tourism this tag is about sharing local experiences.
There are many reasons to take part in the CV challenge.
Inspiration
If your eager to get writing on Steemit and you don't have material this tag might be just the thing to get you going.
Inspiration is all around us. It may be a daily ritual where you live or a local passion that always reminds you of home.
Translations
As part of the Culture Vulture Challenge each week a select number of posts will be translated. The original authors will benefit from increased exposure and a share of the payout on the translated post. The Culture vulture challenge will also get a contribution towards future prize funds and post promotion.
@deanliu/culture-vulture-for-cners-issue-05-5
October Challenge
This month @sweetpea is the guest judge for the competition, and as always we will be getting help with curating from @boxcarblue.
If you haven't entered already it's time to get writing and digging out some great photos from those family albums!
Some features of the community that will help with browsing the challenge and making connections.
Blogger Central
"#culturevulture" is on Discord as part of the Blogger Central (@steemitbc) family.
Join us for chat and some great content at https://discord.gg/pJXKRJV
Steemit Bloggers' Central strives to be a hub for the Steemit community to share their blogs, provide Steemit news, and host current Steemit related tutorials.
Culture Vulture Website
There is a beta version of the Culture Vulture site up and running, currently aimed to help with browsing entries for this challenge.
http://steemchallenges.com/culturevulture/index.html
Themes
Each week of the challenge I call out some posts that stand out and really capture the spirit and the vision of this tag. There have been so many already this month, this is just a small selection but for more you can check out the #culturevulture tag. Winners of this months prize will be announced at the end of the month, but I have no doubt these posts are in the shortlist.
There will be a prize this month for each of these themes as well as an overall winner.
Festivals
Is there a festival coming up that you have been waiting all year for?
A festival is an event that is celebrated by a community centering on an aspect of the community or culture. Every country or region has different festivals and even regional local celebrations. Festivals often have a religious origin but may also mark the end of a season or commemorate a major event in the history of the community.
Festivals are great to experience when you travel because they usually showcase the best local speciality foods, music, art as well as being great fun and a time for holidays.
Write about one in your area today!
@budifatria has several great posts this month. This one describes (mainly in photos) a drama re-enactment of the anniversary of the Indonesian National Army.
@budifatria/cut-meutia-the-women-hero-of-aceh
Customs & Traditions
What are traditions, why are they important and how can you experience them?
Traditions passed down from generation to generation may have a symbolic meaning or cultural significance; clothes, dress, food, holidays, family gatherings, pass-times. Traditions and customs are bound tightly to our cultural identity and may not always be the easiest for outsiders to grasp.
For me it's much more fun to stay in local accommodation when I travel. You get to experience local customs first hand instead of the generic 5 Star treatment that some hotels offer. This is what made the tradition of the Irish B&B world famous but increasingly there are examples from all over the world of homestays and other cultural exchanges that you experience.
Why not try a language course or cookery course for your next holiday and share your experience or even get help planning for it here at #culturevulture.
In this post @livinguktaiwa describes the tradition around the Chinese Wedding dress and takes us on a journey through her wedding.
@livinguktaiwan/my-chinese-wedding-dress-qun-gua
@steemcarny86 describes some of the traditions around the agricultural calendar unique to the area of Aceh. A very interesting read.
@steemcarny86/the-culture-of-troen-u-blang-in-aceh-culture-something-sacred-20171014t591772z
Food
In some respects nothing expresses a culture more than its food. The climate, culture, religion, the family structure and even way of life are all represented. When we travel or live overseas nothing brings you home like the taste or aroma of a dish from your childhood.
Food is close to my heart and the types of food we eat, when we eat it, who we eat it with .What is that food you pack your suitcase with when you travel?
@joythewanderer takes us out for an evening of Tapas while she was visiting Spain.
@joythewanderer/calle-blai-the-popular-tapas-street-of-barcelona-tapas
Art
"#culturevulture" considers art as a physical expression of creativity. It takes many forms from the visual to performance arts. Art can change the temperature of a room, it inspires, it heals unites and can divide people. Art often provides a focal point to a celebration. Like food, art is a rich expression of our culture.
"#culturevulture" will be a place to share expressions of the visual arts such as paintings , photography , sculpture and architecture, the performing arts such as dance and music and also the literary arts such as the written word and poetry.
Art provides a universal and accessible and portable way to experience a culture, no matter the language or the form. Why not write about Art that expresses your culture and share some photos (your own work please) on #culturevulture today?
@manshar gives a flavour of some Acehnese dances that are dying out, where a tradition is being lost.
@manshar/four-traditional-acehnese-dances-that-are-threatened-with-extinction
Other Contributions
Our guest judge this month is a regular contributor so be sure to check out her posts
Tell us a bit about the ritual and fill in the details about why, how, and the cultural background. Don't forget a few pictures to bring it to life. We prefer posts with some original photography. It's ok to use some stock photos (but reference the source) as long as these photos are not the main focus of the post. We are looking to reward original stories for this challenge.
For more details about the rules and examples of what we are interested in check out this months announcement post Culture Vulture Challenge October Challenge
Thanks
Many thanks to @joythewanderer, @boxcarblue and @keuudeip for generous donations to the prize fund this month. Thank you to @deanliu and @ygern for the wonderful initiative to translate some picks to Chinese and helping to spread the word of this challenge to a broader audience.
A big thank you to all those who have taken part. If you wish to support this challenge you may write an article, donate to the monthly prize fund, spread the word, resteem or most importantly check out the tag from time to time and comment and upvote peoples posts.
Are you a Culture Vulture?
Thank you for reading this. I write on Steemit about Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, Travel and lots of random topics.
All images are linked from original posts unless otherwise stated.