Quote:
Originally Posted by Tim Simmons
Fantastic. If that happened where I live the authorities would be shivering with outrage fear and angst, so many people peacefully carrying weapons. The UK is torn between lining up all the weapons like knives and swords after bad things happen and telling them not to do it again, while ignoring what makes the bad people do bad things .
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haha so true. yeah its weird, in china for example with its oppressive laws relating to weapons and such ethnic gorups even then its a mix of oppression or apathy. even in tibet natives still make crossbows or muskets or openly carry swords and long knives in isloated areas. there is a sword festival among the dai (thai related group) people in china still every year.
many of these ethnic groups still make these items to trade among eachother. in india too - the hornbill festival is full of weapons, guns, swords, ect. there is some other smaller ethnic festivals in india in the north east where native costume and weapons are still seen and are not just tourist items.
all these little ethnic groups sort of overlap in territory and historically fell under the burmese or tibetians or other larger groups influence and so there is layers of influence. 4 or 5 ethnic groups might have overlapping territory. blurry lines. i suppose its not so odd, i mean historically one ethnic group , especialy trading ones might assume the weapons of other groups as they like them.
generally we have an opinion that ethnigraphic weaponry solidly defines the ethnic gorup it is found among, this is strong in our minds as collectors as almost all ethnographic weapons we collect are items used as cultural identifiers of the group native to it (most of the time). but if you look at european swords for example in history they were mostly not ethospecific. or weapons in the middle east there is many that cross over some from far afeild.
adoption of other cultures weapons can be so extencive that it ultimatly makes the native styles extinct