Culture

For the Dayak tribes, the harvest festival is a time to give thanks, get rid of bad luck and mingle over traditional feasts.

Irrepressible, mischievous, resourceful yet eternally effervescent, the tale of the monkey is one that transcends continents, creeds, customs and centuries. In Asia, the monkey in his various guises has been venerated and deified perhaps even before 500 BC.

By Sarah Chew It is August 1965. Less than two years after a merger, Singapore’s reluctant departure from the Federation of Malaysia throws her into...

Atoll, which comes from the Maldivian word atolu, means a ring-shaped reef, island or chain of islands that are formed of coral. Indeed, the name is apt as the island-nation of Maldives, made up of 26 atolls, is now sending its first Atoll Sailor around the country.

The aboriginal dialect of the tiny island of Taiwan is the ancestor of one-fifth of the world’s languages, researchers say   Few will associate primarily Mandarin-speaking,...

Punk hardly needs an introduction. Music, fashion and lifestyle converge in this unique subculture, known for its wild Mohawk hairstyles, spikes and piercings, black leather and “emo” disposition. In Asia, a continent whose many different cultures tend to share a deep-seated appreciation for cultural traditionalism, you would be forgiven for thinking that punk barely registers in the social strata in the more conservative parts of the region.

They were all waiting for the same thing. When a squawking chicken tumbled over the volcano’s rim into their line of sight, nets moved in unison trying to predict the hapless fowl’s trajectory. Only one villager might have enough luck to bag the bird; while others can only wait for more to come.

Text by Khushi Makasare Marijuana has a long history of human use. While the plant is criminalised under several Asian systems, marijuana actually originated in...