BLUE MAGPIE
BLUE MAGPIE Taiwan blue magpie, photo by Su Min Du
Recent Posts
Alan Lomax’s Massive Archive Goes Online
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 …
The heart of the forest in Maui, Hawaii
The heart of the forest in Maui, Hawaii. Photo: Micah Roemmling
On Trails: An Exploration
On Trails: An Exploration, Robert Moor writes: “It may sound strange (even sacriligious) to some, but in a very real way, wilderness is a human creation. We create it in the same sense that we create trails; we do not create the soil or the …
The death of the newsfeed
I recently came across this article which is one of the many reason I started this blog and canceled my Facebook account.
“I was reminded of this recently by the fact that, according to Facebook, its average user is eligible to see at least 1,500 items per day in their newsfeed. Rather like the wedding with 200 people, this seems absurd. But then, it turns out, that over the course of a few years you do ‘friend’ 200 or 300 people. And if you’ve friended 300 people, and each of them post a couple of pictures, tap like on a few news stories or comment a couple of times, then, by the inexorable law of multiplication, yes, you will have something over a thousand new items in your feed every single day.”
Kvitna/Verbna Nedilya
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 …
Sorbian Easter Egg Tradition
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 painting Easter eggs.
The eggs – a symbol of fertility for Sorbs – include intricate designs believed to shield households from evil spirits and misfortune.