ZenJenHeals

(via newagerasta)

papaseanproductions:

vegan-patisserie:

mango!!

!!!!!!

afrodiaspores:

Maria Esteba[ñ]ez:

Parasols and umbrellas have been a staple of burlesque since the advent of the genre, conjuring femininity of a particularly coy and flirtatious variety, especially for white and light-skinned dancers eager able to trade on the popular image of the Southern belle in their stage routines. But for Latina, Black, and dark-complected artists advertised as “Harlem cuties, ebony sexologists, and Afro-Cuban specialists” in the United States and Canada, this accessory came loaded with regionally specific cultural associations:

Umbrellas, both furled and unfurled, are seen in the Mardi Gras and jazz funeral marches of New Orleans, in Brazil, in the brushback dance of Trinidad, and again among the cakewalk dancers in the United States in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Ribbons are attached to the top of the open umbrellas, and feathered birds are used as finials, much as among the Asante people of Southern Ghana and elsewhere in Africa. The umbrella’s use in New Orleans parades is symbolic, rhythmic, and practical in serving as parasols against the blistering sun. These highly decorated umbrellas are not used in the rain, however…

Among Afro-Caribbean dancers, parasols may have also connoted the historical displays of sacred power documented in Santería Enthroned: Art, Ritual, and Innovation in an Afro-Cuban Religion, passed down through oral tradition and obliquely referenced in the secular revelry of contemporary carnival:

The finery of cabildo queens [at the head of Afro-Cuban religious and mutual-aid societies during the colonial period] included puff-shouldered, flowing gowns with petticoats, jewelry, and large umbrellas, as documented by the Spanish costumbrista painter, Víctor Patricio de Landaluze (1828-89)…

Not only the Kongo-Angola groups, but many West African groups as well, who had also built much of their royal and martial iconography upon European imports—for example, thrones, banners, prestige cloth, and umbrellas—must have arrived in Cuba already familiar with iconographically hybridized royal displays.

(Source: burlyqnell, via bad-dominicana)

prettyblackpastel:

squirtelle:

how can I do this without looking ghetto?

step one: disassociate black girls with pastel hair color as ghetto.

step two: dye hair pastel.

step three: enjoy your pastel hair. 

(Source: free-spirit-xx, via bad-dominicana)

kwentonza:

© Kevin Barker Photography

Model: Kwentonza

(via kwentonza-deactivated20130517)