Fairy Tale Villain

my heart burns for you. 🏳️‍🌈 🏳️‍⚧️🖤🐘🤍💜

[weepingfireflies]

People & countries mentioned in the thread:

DR Congo - M23, Cobalt

Darfur, Sudan - International Criminal Court, CNN, BBC (Overview)

Tigray - Human Rights Watch (Ethnic Cleansing Report)

the Sámi people - IWGIA, Euronews

Hawai'i - IWGIA

Syria - Amnesty International

Kashmir- Amnesty Summary (PDF), Wikipedia (Jammu and Kashmir), Human Rights Watch (2022)

Iran - Human Rights Watch, Morality Police (Mahsa/Jina Amini - Al Jazeera, Wikipedia)

Uyghurs - Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP) Q&A, Wikipedia, Al Jazeera, UN Report

Tibetans - SaveTibet.org

Yazidi people - Wikipedia, United Nations

West Papua - Free West Papua, Genocide Watch

Yemen - Human Rights Watch (Saudi border guards kill migrants), Carrd

Sri Lanka (Tamils) - Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch

Afghans in Pakistan - Al Jazeera, NPR

Ongoing Edits: more from the notes / me

Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh/Azerbaijan (Artsakh) - Global Conflict Tracker ("Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict"), Council on Foreign Relations, Human Rights Watch (Azerbaijan overview), Armenian Food Bank

Baháʼís in Iran - Bahá'í International Community, Amnesty, Wikipedia, Minority Rights Group International

Kafala System in the Middle East - Council on Foreign Relations, Migrant Rights

Rohingya - Human Rights Watch, UNHCR, Al Jazeera, UNICEF

Montagnards (Vietnam Highlands) - World Without Genocide, Montagnard Human Rights Organization (MHRO), VOA News

[sweet8lierzine]

🍰 Sweet Atelier Rebranded 🍰

Sweet Atelier: A Yumeiro Patissiere Cookbook Zine has officially been rebranded into Sweet Atelier: A Yumeiro Patissiere Zine!

Please look out for contributor application emails coming out soon!

🍰 Shares greatly appreciated 🍰

@atozines @zine-scene @zinefeed @zinetown @fandomzines @anizines @faneventstation @open-zines

[fuckyeahchinesefashion]

Cnetizens: The wisdom of the working people

[fuckyeahchinesefashion]

OP: Why couldn’t traditional Chinese Yinpiao银票/silver drafts be forged if they were merely slips of paper? (cr大明宝钞，渐越)

Traditional Chinese yinpiao/silver drafts were paper vouchers issued by private banks starting from the Song Dynasty(960–1279). People could exchange these slips for physical silver at bank branches across the country.

Silver drafts were made in multiple copies with matching serrated seal edges. One copy went to the customer and others stayed at the bank. All edges had to fit perfectly together to withdraw silver. The unique split edge marks were almost impossible to copy.

This mechanism is known as qifeng骑缝 (split-joint seal) in China. It first originated in the Western Zhou Dynasty (1046–771 BC). The Rites of Zhou records that contracts were written on bamboo or wooden slips in duplicate. Notches and marks were carved in the middle before splitting the slips, with each party keeping one half. The two halves would be matched by their notches for verification.

During the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods (770–221 BC), this idea evolved into hufu虎符/tiger tally tokens. A military tally was split into two pieces with identical inscriptions carved along the split edge. Troops could only be deployed if the patterns and characters on both halves perfectly aligned, serving as a metal version of the split-joint anti-counterfeiting system.

The technology matured in the Tang Dynasty (618–907). Government documents and private contracts commonly used split-joint seals stamped across the dividing line. The Chinese character "hetong合同" (contract) was written across the middle before the paper was torn apart, so the complete characters would only appear when the two halves were put together. This split-coupon system was later adopted for Song Dynasty (960–1279) jiaozi paper money and yinpiao/silver drafts of the Ming and Qing dynasties (1368–1912).

Official Song dynasty paper money (Jiaozi交子) was abolished in 1107. Private silver drafts issued by Qing-era piaohao票行 (ancient exchange banks) vanished completely in 1951, hit hard by modern banks and currency reforms. Nowadays silver drafts no longer circulate as currency. Their collectible value depends on their rarity and physical condition.

Split-joint seals (骑缝章qifengzhang)are still widely used on important paper documents in modern China, an anti-tampering technique passed down from ancient times. They are applied across the edge of multi-page contracts, bidding documents and official archives. If any page is removed or replaced, the broken seal pattern can prove the file has been altered.

[lost-in-love-maze]

south indian wedding zutara

commissioned the lovely NiahtiArt to recreate rashmika and vijay's adorable wedding pics and could not be happier with how they came out.

[draxofoy]

i haven't posted anything here omg kinda nervous... but here's zutara in traditional javanese wedding attire 🙇🏻‍♀️ commissioned this from my friend she's amazing 😖❗️

some facts about the attire! ☺️😙

The headwear these babies are wearing are called Blangkon and Cunduk Mentul, Blangkon is a traditional headwear worn by men usually in Central Javanese and Yogyakarta (especially the one Zuko is wearing!) The word Blangkon itself is said to came from the word 'blanco' referring to the blank cloth used to make the headwear, tho there are soo many theories about the origin of both the headwear and the name itself cause sadly there aren't many records about it :(

The headwear is also used to represent wisdom and class because back then, these were used to differentiate the nobilities from the commoners (wr don't really do that anymore dw). The Javanese people believe that your hair, head, and face are the most important and treasured parts of your body, so these Blangkon are used to protect those parts. We also believe that Blangkon represent self-control, since Javanese men tend to keep their hair long back then and keep them loose when they're in a state of 'conflict' such as battles or war, representing uncontrollable flow of emotions so keeping their hair up and covered is seen as an act of self control.

As for the Cunduk Mentul, these pretty headpieces are typically worn by brides on their wedding day! They represent 'the sun that shines over the universe' and also... well, it depends on the number of the pieces they use, usually it's 1, 3, 5, 7, or 9, each representing a different value. 1 is used as a symbol of God's singularity, usually worn by muslim brides, 3 is for the Trimurti or the Trinity of Hindu Gods that deeply rooted in Javanese values, 5 is for the five pillars of Islam, 7 symbolizes 'help' or 'aid'- the Javanese believe that 7 is a lucky number since 7 is 'pitu' in Javanese, so, yeah, 'pitu' for 'pitulungan' or help and aid in Javanese language. 9 represent the Nine Saints/Wali Sanga, 9 saints that have a major impact on the growth of Islam in the island of Java.

Their clothing respectively are called Beskap and Kebaya 🤩 Beskap is more of a modern version of Javenese traditional clothing, for it was adopted from the modern suits worn by the Deutsch during the colonization era. The word Beskap came from the word 'beschaafd', meaning civilized (oh!)

Kebaya, on the other hand, has no specific area origin cause each region has their own styles and versions! The one Katara is wearing is a Central Java Kebaya tho, famous for the velvety fabric and dark colors along with the gold motifs. The history of 'modern' Kebaya itself started in the 15th century when Dutch first settled in Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia!) The clothing had taken inspirations from different cultures (like Chinese and Indian) along the way since Indonesia was (kinda still is!) One of the centers of trade routes for both Hindia and Pacific Oceans.

Damn I'm getting tired of writing this, but next 😭 is Kain Jarik! A piece of fabric with Batik motives wrapped around the legs :))) these babies have RANGE, like they could be used daily, for traditional dance attire, sacred rituals, weddings, even used in funerals 😀 they're usually 2 to 3 meters in length and more variations in width, easy to customize! They also usually have dark colors like dark brown and light brown motives, but i asked my friend to draw them with red and blue and gold motives cause why not 😝

Anyways I think i went a little overboard cause my fingers are hurting from typing this lol.

[peekofhistory]

I was the wedding anon ask--I'm specifically asking about Ming dynasty hanfu, sorry for not being specific. I'm writing a fanfiction where a character describes what she'd wear for her wedding, and I've been trying to find the names of each piece of the outfit.

Again, thank you so much for all that you do.

Hi! I hope this reply isn't coming too late for your story 😬

I went digging for details on Ming Dynasty Wedding. It gets a bit complicated so bear with me ^^;;

There's no official name for the garments worn during a wedding (at least during the Ming Dynasty). A term that you might hear get tossed around is "凤冠霞帔" (Feng Guan Xia Pei). To break it down:

凤 (feng) = pheonix 冠 (guan) = the ornament worn on the head 霞帔 (xiapei) = two strips of cloth draped around the shoulders, connected at the front and back.

In this image below, what she's wearing on her head is one style of Feng-guan, and the two strips of dark blue fabric with intricate design is the Xiapei:

But Feng Guan Xia Pei isn't just for weddings, it's essentially the ceremonial robes women wore for any formal occasion (I posted about the Song Dynasty Xiapei here, here, and here. The Ming Dynasty inherited the Song Dynasty style, although the fabric became wider and the designs differed a bit).

Weddings were divided into people who have official court titles and civilians (if you didn't have a court title, no matter how rich or wealthy you were, you're still considered a civilian). There's a whole load of laws and regulations on how a wedding process is supposed to go from the matchmaking to the gifts to the attire, etc., etc.

For those with court titles, the bride and groom would wear the court appointed robes. Historically, Chinese court officials were divided into levels. Level 1 were those with the highest rank, level 9 was the lowest. Each level has designated clothing that they'd wear when going to court (like a work uniform).

During the wedding, the groom would wear the robes he wears for court. The bride would wear the "Feng Guan Xia Pei" that's befitting her new husband's station.

For civilians, usually they're not permitted to wear the very fancy "feng guan xia pei", they had a more simplistic version of this outfit for ceremonial occasions, but weddings were an exception. During weddings, civilian men were permitted to wear level 9 court appointed robes which were light green in colour, and wear the hats of court officials called "幞头/futou". The women could wear bright red, wide-sleeve robes, with xiapei, and either wear gold hair ornaments or a feng guan (befitting a level 9 groom).

So here are some examples of what they might look like (none of these are from historical replicas, but just to give you a general idea):

Women: - Criss-crossed collar robe underneath - Ma Mian skirt - Wide-sleeve robe on the outside - Xiapei over the shoulders - Feng-guan on their head (or other ornaments if it's a civilian woman) - She'd also wear a red head covering that's lifted by the groom in the privacy of their own chambers (a of TV series show them lifting the head covering during the ceremony in front of guests, this is just for TV and not the proper etiquette. Women in Chinese history (especially in later Dynasties) were very much not supposed to show their faces to people outside their core family, and the more status the family had the more strict this rule was). Men: - Criss-crossed collar shirt paired with pants underneath - Round-collared robes on the outside (colour and any embroidery/patterns on the robe would be decided by their station level) - Slits on both sides of robe - Black "futou" hat

So...I don't know if that helped with your story ^^;; It might've just made things more confusing. Ming Dynasty was kind of a cumulation of all the rules and customs from previous Dynasties, so things got more and more complicated as time went on.

If you want to search for images of Ming Dynast wedding just to get more visual references, here are some words you can try: 明代 (mingdai) = Ming period 明朝 (mingchao) = Ming Dynasty 婚礼 (hunli) = wedding 婚服 (hunfu) = wedding attire 凤冠霞帔 (feng guan xia pei)

Aside from Google image you can also try Baidu image or Red Note, they might turn up more results :D

[peekofhistory]

I was the wedding anon ask--I'm specifically asking about Ming dynasty hanfu, sorry for not being specific. I'm writing a fanfiction where a character describes what she'd wear for her wedding, and I've been trying to find the names of each piece of the outfit.

Again, thank you so much for all that you do.

Hi! I hope this reply isn't coming too late for your story 😬

I went digging for details on Ming Dynasty Wedding. It gets a bit complicated so bear with me ^^;;

There's no official name for the garments worn during a wedding (at least during the Ming Dynasty). A term that you might hear get tossed around is "凤冠霞帔" (Feng Guan Xia Pei). To break it down:

凤 (feng) = pheonix 冠 (guan) = the ornament worn on the head 霞帔 (xiapei) = two strips of cloth draped around the shoulders, connected at the front and back.

In this image below, what she's wearing on her head is one style of Feng-guan, and the two strips of dark blue fabric with intricate design is the Xiapei:

But Feng Guan Xia Pei isn't just for weddings, it's essentially the ceremonial robes women wore for any formal occasion (I posted about the Song Dynasty Xiapei here, here, and here. The Ming Dynasty inherited the Song Dynasty style, although the fabric became wider and the designs differed a bit).

Weddings were divided into people who have official court titles and civilians (if you didn't have a court title, no matter how rich or wealthy you were, you're still considered a civilian). There's a whole load of laws and regulations on how a wedding process is supposed to go from the matchmaking to the gifts to the attire, etc., etc.

For those with court titles, the bride and groom would wear the court appointed robes. Historically, Chinese court officials were divided into levels. Level 1 were those with the highest rank, level 9 was the lowest. Each level has designated clothing that they'd wear when going to court (like a work uniform).

During the wedding, the groom would wear the robes he wears for court. The bride would wear the "Feng Guan Xia Pei" that's befitting her new husband's station.

For civilians, usually they're not permitted to wear the very fancy "feng guan xia pei", they had a more simplistic version of this outfit for ceremonial occasions, but weddings were an exception. During weddings, civilian men were permitted to wear level 9 court appointed robes which were light green in colour, and wear the hats of court officials called "幞头/futou". The women could wear bright red, wide-sleeve robes, with xiapei, and either wear gold hair ornaments or a feng guan (befitting a level 9 groom).

So here are some examples of what they might look like (none of these are from historical replicas, but just to give you a general idea):

Women: - Criss-crossed collar robe underneath - Ma Mian skirt - Wide-sleeve robe on the outside - Xiapei over the shoulders - Feng-guan on their head (or other ornaments if it's a civilian woman) - She'd also wear a red head covering that's lifted by the groom in the privacy of their own chambers (a of TV series show them lifting the head covering during the ceremony in front of guests, this is just for TV and not the proper etiquette. Women in Chinese history (especially in later Dynasties) were very much not supposed to show their faces to people outside their core family, and the more status the family had the more strict this rule was). Men: - Criss-crossed collar shirt paired with pants underneath - Round-collared robes on the outside (colour and any embroidery/patterns on the robe would be decided by their station level) - Slits on both sides of robe - Black "futou" hat

So...I don't know if that helped with your story ^^;; It might've just made things more confusing. Ming Dynasty was kind of a cumulation of all the rules and customs from previous Dynasties, so things got more and more complicated as time went on.

If you want to search for images of Ming Dynast wedding just to get more visual references, here are some words you can try: 明代 (mingdai) = Ming period 明朝 (mingchao) = Ming Dynasty 婚礼 (hunli) = wedding 婚服 (hunfu) = wedding attire 凤冠霞帔 (feng guan xia pei)

Aside from Google image you can also try Baidu image or Red Note, they might turn up more results :D

[ziseviolet]

hello~~ I adore your blog. It's very educational and helpful. It inspires me to craft my own jewellery and headpieces. They look amazing! This time I would like to try out with a jade. Before I start working on it, I would like to be educated on it, because I feel like it's very important to know its meaning and history. I want to approach the jade with respect.

Hi, thanks for the kind words! It’s really cool to hear that you’ve been inspired to craft your own accessories!

@hanfu-asks has a very educational post on the meaning and history of jade here, so please check it out! ^^

(jadeite ring via 霜天晓角李晶)

[demaparbat-hp]

Dropping this early to honor NATLA dropping tomorrow 😌

[permafrostyoizine]

❄️Creation Phase Underway❄️

Our Coaches and Skaters are hard at work planning their programs! We are well on our way to making history together 🌟⛸️

[bblackthing]

I finally finished it...

I think I redid it like 4 times, and I still not satisfied with the end result, but to this point I'm tired,

maybe I'll redo it somewhere in the future, who knows ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Anyway here you go!

[foxehrobot]

You Have More Power Than You Think You Do: A Case Study In Getting Shit Done

I don't live in a walkable city.

I live in a mid-sized Texas town that only realizes that there are people who don't drive when TXDoT gives them money for active transportation infrastructure.

People constantly tell me that you just cannot walk or ride a bike in this city. It's impossible!

I do it anyway, because I firmly believe that solarpunk is a useless aesthetic if you aren't living it as best you can. We don't need technology to solve our problems we need will.

Also I do volunteer work on the political side of the local animal shelter and so I find myself at city hall several times a year and there's no bike rack.

Or rather there wasn't a bike rack.

I complained to someone, politely, informing them that I am doing this volunteer work and I don't have any safe place to lock my bike and that locking it to a handrail is inconvenient for everyone and also hideous.

A few months later a single staple-style bike rack was installed at city hall. It's not much, but I got sent a photo of someone else who got to use it before I did, clearly there was a need, if small.

Then I turned my gaze to the local grocery store, which had a bike rack, but the bike rack was terrible. It was too short for modern tire sizes, it was placed too close to the wall so one side was useless, and it was generally pretty cramped.

It took some time, but an advocate friend told me to contact the property owner instead of banging my head against the wall contacting HEB itself, and so I sent another polite complaint with a photo, explaining why it wasn't a very good bike rack and it would be really cool if we had a different one with better placement.

And about two months later, we have new staple-style racks at the grocery store, properly placed for maximum parking.

It's not a new bike lane. It's not a removal of parking minimums. It's not infill development or an active transportation advisory board.

They're just bike racks.

But that's the beauty of it. I, a person with an email address, some basic "how to be firm but polite while making an argument" skills, and a willingness to work out who to contact, fixed two problems for the local community. Trust me, I have had people wait on me to unlock my bike so they could have the "good spot." I was not the only person annoyed at the old rack.

It can be done. You're not powerless. Solarpunk doesn't have to be a wishful aesthetic.

Technology will not save us.

We have to save us.

[yuriontheweb]

Yuri on Ice has inspired many of us since its release, especially in its open expression of love. Celebrate with us this Pride month with some prompts!

Get those creative juices flowing. Choose a theme and write a fanfic, draw fanart, anything! Even if you're not a creative, you can get involved by supporting others, so let's all get together and share our love this pride month.

Use #YuriOnTheWebEvents or tag us so we can share your post!

[yoi-scans]

Thank you @thewalrus-said for scanning this for me ♡

[its-rubybug]

being anti zutara is funny to me because why would a non-canon ship that supposedly "doesn't make sense" bother you so much

[rabidline]

2026 ICE BRAVE SPECIAL EDITION - February 1, 2026 Stéphane Lambiel Timelapse by Uno Helmersson, performed by Mari Samuelsen Spiegel im Spiegel by Arvo Pärt, performed by Vladimir Spidakov Choreography by Kenji Miyamoto, Stéphane Lambiel