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Officine Universelle Buly presents: Ancient Beauty Rituals

Officine Universelle Buly presents: Ancient Beauty Rituals

Officine Universelle Buly

Do you know how makeup was applied in ancient Rome? What was the legendary aura that allowed African-American women to beautify themselves in Harlem in the 1930s? Can the mystery of steam baths be unravelled? What were the beauty and skin care rituals practiced in France during the Second Empire?

Constantinople, Okinawa or in Rajasthan, these ancestral rituals are at the origin of our own contemporary beauty rituals.

Through the prism of history and the expert historians we have consulted, we have travelled through the centuries and across the world. Today, we are delighted to share these tales of beauty.

You will find an episode of our Ancient Beauty Rituals every week on all podcast platforms.



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11 - The dream of Queen Zaynab, Marrakesh 1072
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  • 11 - The dream of Queen Zaynab, Marrakesh 1072

    In the 11th century, the enchanting Berber queen Zaynab Nefzaouia mastered the art of commercial and political negotiation. Today, she tells us about her expansion plans for the Almoravid empire. Its territory included Morocco, the Western Sahara, Mauritania, part of modern Mali and western Algeria, as well as the south of the Iberian Peninsula. There was no city worthy of this empire. Accompanied by her husband, she nourished every day the project of a bubbling capital: Marrakesh. 

    Highly cultured, bold and determined, she was also involved in the empire's internal affairs. She breathed new life into women's lives: some were authorised to become involved in politics, to teach, and there were even two women doctors in her time! 

    Zaynab and her attentive servant Kaïna give us access to Berber matriarchal traditions, where women were revered as guarantors of well-being and beauty. Have a good listening!



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    Sun, 14 Apr 2024 - 31min
  • 10 - Ching Shih, the Pirate Queen, China, early 19th century

    The legendary Ching Shih, nicknamed "Queen of the Pirates", is no fictional character! Born in China in 1775, Ching Shih, whom legend has it was once a prostitute, was in fact the terror of merchant ships in the China Sea in the early 19th century. A true military genius, when her pirate husband died, she took command of 40,000 men, some say 80,000.

    Her insatiable thirst for power made her a formidable strategist. In this episode, we introduce you to a woman who was powerful in many ways, the owner of a large part of the China Sea, the head of all the city's gambling tables and, last but not least, a true pirate.



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    Sun, 07 Apr 2024 - 32min
  • 9 - The Queen who inherited Genghis Khan's wars, Mongolia, early 13th century

    The Mongols are regarded as the greatest conquerors in history: Genghis Khan's empire stretched from the eastern shore of the Mediterranean to the Pacific Ocean, including Far Eastern Europe, the Near East, the Middle East, Central Asia, the Russian steppes and part of Siberia as far as the Baltic Sea, northern India, Mongolia and the whole of China. That's more than 20% of the world's land!

    An unrivalled military tactician, Genghis Khan led a small army, but with the most gifted horsemen and archers, and the best strategists at the helm of his empire.

    These conquests were achieved at the cost of violent conquests, but at the end of the day, the establishment of the Pax Mongolia enabled unprecedented commercial, scientific and artistic exchanges, bridging the gap between East and West. 

    Genghis Khan guaranteed his people complete religious freedom, even though he practised shamanism. In fact, he included shamans in all his military campaigns, but called on them above all in the field of health: growth, care of the wounded, protection against the natural elements, but also beauty. 

    It is against this backdrop that we meet Alakhai Beki, daughter of Genghis Khan, worthy daughter of her father, woman and warrior.



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    Sun, 31 Mar 2024 - 23min
  • 8 - To the Sublime Porte, Constantinople 1630

    The Ottoman Empire, multinational and multilingual, at the crossroads of the Eastern and Western worlds for six centuries, was powerful both financially and intellectually.

    The Sultan possessed a harem of the most beautiful women in the empire, who benefited from the best teaching in dance, poetry, music and erotic art. Concubines were pampered, adorned with the finest jewels and the finest clothes. Their sacred moment of relaxation was the hammam, where the treatments they received immersed them in a hushed universe, disconnected from their life of pomp.

    But the limit to this idyllic picture was freedom, symbolized by the Sublime Porte, the French name given to the monumental gate of honour of the Grand Vizier in Constantinople, the seat of the Sultan. Which our character Emel dreams of crossing to find her first love...



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    Sun, 24 Mar 2024 - 30min
  • 7 - Party at the Dark Tower, Harlem 1927

    The 1920s in the United States saw a resurgence of African-American culture in all creative fields, and the birthplace of this revival was Harlem, New York. It was also a time of blossoming for African-American women, who emancipated themselves from the diktats of beauty long reserved for white women. C.J. Walker, the daughter of a slave, illiterate and self-taught, was the ultimate icon, becoming the first female millionaire in the United States. 

    Hear the story of this generation of women as Zora, a young African-American writer, prepares for an exceptional evening.



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    Sun, 17 Mar 2024 - 25min
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