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Ancient Traditions

Ancient Origins brings you articles related to Ancient Traditions from all over the world. Find related articles in the sections of history, archaeology, human origins, unexplained, artifacts, ancient places and myths and legends.

Ganesha (Niks Ads / Fotolia)
12 November, 2018 - 13:59 ashley cowie

Deep Mining the Mythology of Ganesha and the Ancient Temple Well

According to Joseph Campbell (1904 – 1987), the famed U.S. American Professor of Literature who wrote extensively about comparative mythology and religion: “Myths express characters and stories that...
Smudging with white sage
11 November, 2018 - 14:35 dhwty

The Ancient Art of Smudging: From Banishing Evil to Curing Ailments

The burning of plant materials to produce smoke with positive effects has been practiced since ancient times. One of the best-known examples is the use of incense in the ancient Near East. Another...
‘Hercules Fighting Death to Save Alcestis’ (1869-1871) by Frederic Leighton, 1st Baron Leighton. Many ancient death rituals seem very odd or macabre to modern minds.
10 November, 2018 - 19:01 ashley cowie

Bizarre, Brutal, Macabre And Downright Weird Ancient Death Rituals

Any parent must agree that one of the greatest hardships experienced around the death of a family member is having to explain to children what happened and what happens next? Should you tell them the...
Detail of ‘Walpurgisnacht’ (Walpurgis Night) by Fritz Roeber.
9 November, 2018 - 01:54 dhwty

Walpurgis Night: A Saint, Witches, and Pagan Beliefs in a Springtime Halloween for Scandinavia

Walpurgis Night is the eve of the feast day of Saint Walpurgis, a saint of the Roman Catholic Church. Walpurgis Night falls on April 30th and is a traditional holiday celebrated in northern Europe...
‘Club Night (1907) by George Bellows. The history of boxing dates back thousands of years.
7 November, 2018 - 18:41 ashley cowie

The History of Boxing: Gory Gladiatorial Origins, Back Street Venues, and Big Money

Boxing is the most popular spectator combat sport in the modern world and its champions earn more than most other professional sportsmen. The defining fight of this big money era was the 2015...
Hanukkah menorah with wailing wall in the background
5 November, 2018 - 13:58 dhwty

Hanukkah Origins: ‘Miracle of Oil’ Exalted a Religious Freedom Victory in Ancient Jewish Temple

Known also as the Festival of Dedication, as well as the Festival of Lights, Hanukkah is a major Jewish holiday commemorating the re-dedication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem by the Maccabees...
An Angel leading a soul into heaven
3 November, 2018 - 00:52 ancient-origins

Why the Christian Idea of Hell no Longer Persuades People to Care for the Poor

Although many of us now associate hell with Christianity, the idea of an afterlife existed much earlier. Greeks and Romans, for example, used the concept of Hades, an underworld where the dead lived...
Johnny Depp as Gellert Grindelwald
28 October, 2018 - 17:58 ancient-origins

Fantastic Beasts: Grindelwald, Dark Fantasies and Secret Societies

At the end of the Harry Potter fantasy prequel, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them , we find out about the dark wizard Grindelwald as well as his plan to expose the magical community to the...
Subterranean water supply (cistern), Istanbul. Ancient rainwater harvesting sometimes included highly decorative cisterns, further demonstrating the importance of the element to human life.
26 October, 2018 - 22:56 ashley cowie

Ancient Rainwater Harvesting: It Fell From The Sky and Became Worshiped by Every Civilization

Collecting and dispersing water has always been a matter of life and death for humans. In our informative years we must have cupped water from rivers, springs, and waterfalls while traversing wild...
Square faced mummy, The Louvre
26 October, 2018 - 18:59 Veronica Parkes

Mummy À La Mode: Elaborate Treatment of the Square-Faced Mummy with Intricate Décor

Everybody knows the traditional wrappings of a mummy; long strips of fabric are wrapped around the body from head to toe. But this mummy from the Louvre has an intricately woven square design on its...
Detail of an illustration of a woman emptying her chamber pot out the window. Medieval sanitation wasn’t very sanitary.
24 October, 2018 - 18:57 dhwty

Cheerio and Gardi Loo! Words of Warning Prompted By Medieval Human Waste Disposal

In 1775, the Scottish inventor Alexander Cumming was granted the first patent for the design of a flushing toilet. Although the Romans were known for their innovation in sanitation, which included...
Black magic ritual
22 October, 2018 - 18:56 ancient origins

Ex-Devil Worshipper Says: I'm Shocked Christians Celebrate Halloween

Hallowe’en, a shortened form of "All Hallows' Evening" is an echo of Celtic harvest festivals of pre-Christian Europe. Observed now in several countries around the world, it is the evening before ‘...
A ghostly pale woman holding a pumpkin. Halloween and paranormal phenomena often go hand in hand.
13 October, 2018 - 18:28 ancient-origins

This Scary Season: Halloween and Paranormal Phenomena Make for Spooky Supernatural Events

Every year, amidst the excitement of Halloween-related fun, conversations commonly turn toward scary and unnerving talk of the mysterious world of paranormal and supernatural phenomena. Unlike the...
Medieval stargazers. People have been fascinated by the stars and their possible influence over our lives, long before and after the time of Babylonian astrology.
7 October, 2018 - 17:20 Sarah Roberts

Babylonian Astrology: How Mesopotamian Priests Influenced Your Horoscope

Mankind has always looked up to the sky and wondered at its beauty and secrets. Human beings are also incredibly good at spotting patterns, so it is no wonder that we noticed the changing appearance...
Men of the Vedda culture.
5 October, 2018 - 22:57 ashley cowie

Meet the Half Million-year-old Jungle People of Sri Lanka! The Fascinating Vedda Culture

In the western world, a statue, monument, or fountain might inspire thoughts and debates about the First World War, the American Civil War, or the Protestant Reformation. What doesn’t often pop up...
Women Warriors: Queen Zenobia Addressing Her Soldiers by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo
5 October, 2018 - 01:47 ancient-origins

Warrior Women: Despite what Gamers Might Believe, the Ancient World was Full of Female Fighters

Eve MacDonald / The Conversation One of the great things about computer games is that anything is possible in the almost endless array of situations on offer, whether they are realistic or fantasy...
Trash cans in a city park
2 October, 2018 - 19:07 ashley cowie

Making America Great Again, With Some Seriously Ancient Trash Talk

I bet it’s been a while since you stopped to think about the garbage you generate? As we navigate the corridors of life we each leave behind us a trail of trash but with trash cans and dumpsters in...
Comanche Feats of Horsemanship (1834-1835) by George Catlin.
28 September, 2018 - 14:01 Mark Miller

Comanche Tribe History is One of Conquest

The history of the Native American Comanche tribe includes their move from ancestral homelands in Wyoming to more southerly parts and conquering new lands. They were then in turn conquered, after...
‘The Storyteller’ by L.F. Tantillo depicting Haudenosaunee (Iroquois Confederacy) people.
27 September, 2018 - 02:07 Mark Miller

Surviving a Hostile New World: The Iroquois Confederacy's Struggle Against Disease, Starvation, Enslavement and Warfare

The founding of the Iroquois Confederacy of Five Nations came about in a campaign to bring peace to the warring, yet related tribes of the region around New York and the eastern Great Lakes. In 1722...
Tuscarora tribe Heroes Monument.
24 September, 2018 - 02:01 Mark Miller

The Tuscarora Tribe Endured Violence and Upheaval, But Some Have Survived to Tell Their Story

The Tuscarora tribe numbered an estimated 25,000 in some 24 villages, stretching from the Atlantic Ocean in Virginia and North Carolina to the Shenandoah River and the Appalachian Mountains. Their...
Stone and crystal traditions have been around for a very long time. This is a humanoid figure turned into a pendant
20 September, 2018 - 19:10 ashley cowie

For 3.3 Million Years Stone and Crystal Traditions Have Shaped Our Destiny

Magpies pervade European folklore for their compulsive urge to collect sparkly things. Similarly, humans share this affinity with shiny gemstones and sparkling crystals. All over the world ancient...
This is an artist's copy of a mural at the Temple of the Murals at Bonampak, a Maya archaeological site showing examples of heavy jewelry.
20 September, 2018 - 13:59 Mark Oliver

New Discovery Suggests That Maya Elites Danced Wearing As Much As 25 Pounds of Jade Jewelry

A five-pound jade head pendant has been found at Ucanal, an archaeological site in what was once the Maya city of K’anwitznal. The massive jade pendant, the heaviest of its kind ever found, once hung...
The Bodhisattva Gautama (Buddha-to-be) undertaking extreme asceticism before his enlightenment.
18 September, 2018 - 13:50 dhwty

Asceticism Across the Faiths: Many People in the Major World Religions Have Done it

Asceticism is a way of life marked by the voluntary abstinence from worldly pleasures. This way of life is most often associated with religion and spirituality, and its practitioners usually aim to...
‘Shoshone Indian and his Pet Horse’ (1858-1860) by Alfred Jacob Miller.
5 September, 2018 - 01:48 Mark Miller

The Nomadic Survival Tactics of the Shoshone Tribe

The Shoshone Tribe would better be described as a nation or a people than a tribe. They are scattered over a big area in three main groups in three states, Nevada, Idaho, and Wyoming, with their...

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