Dedicated to the holy in nature. The life in the seed. The beauty that feeds the world.
The long, incredibly tortuous, and fascinating process of creating a Chinese font The story of Chinese characters begins with, of all things, turtle bellies. The kings of the Shang Dynasty—which ruled from the 16th to the 11th centuries BC—had questions. Questions about what the king …
National Centre of Folk Culture “Ivan Honchar Museum” made a beautiful video about pysanky. Pysanka is Ukrainian Easter egg, an absolutely unique cultural creation. It is striking in its elegance, perfection and wealth of compositional variations, ornamental elements, and motifs. On the eve of Easter, …
It’s not clear exactly when people developed the technology that allowed them to begin hunting whales, but scholars generally believe Arctic whaling developed off the coast of Alaska sometime between 600 and 800 CE. For thousands of years before then, Arctic people survived by hunting …
Alan Lomax (right) with musician Wade Ward during the Southern Journey recordings, 1959-1960. Shirley Collins/Courtesy of Alan Lomax Archive Folklorist Alan Lomax spent his career documenting folk music traditions from around the world. Now thousands of the songs and interviews he recorded are available for free …
Kvitna/Verbna Nedilya (Blooming/Willow Sunday, i.e. Palm Sunday). After the pussy willow branches have been blessed by the church, people tap friends, family and passers-by with the branches for strength, happiness and health. The catkins were swallowed as a precaution against fever and sore throats. They …
With a deftness of hand cultivated over generations and a technique centuries old, a Slavic minority are putting the final touches to their Easter preparations. Easter is a particularly important time of year for Sorbs, from eastern Germany, and the period includes the tradition of …
Consider the humble potato. Many of us take the starchy tuber for granted. But not Julio Hancco Mamani. That’s because deep in the Andes mountains, in the Cusco region of Peru, this “Potato King” is continuing a family legacy by cultivating more than 400 native …