Millions of people across China, Korea, Vietnam, Japan and other countries around the world are today celebrating the Lunar New Year and welcoming in the Year of the Tiger as part of an ancient...
There were many complex laws and customs prevalent in the Celtic-speaking world of ancient times. In Ireland and the British Isles in general, these customs survived for many centuries, some as late...
January 1st, New Year’s Day, is often ushered in with fireworks and festivities beginning on December 31st. Although this practice is the norm in many places around the world, not every culture has...
A fearsome lion monster with peacock feathers on its head charged and twirled about as cavalrymen curtseyed and jumped by. The onlookers were entranced with the story playing out in front of them...
While martial suicide is a practice found in a lot of cultures, the act of seppuku , or ritual self-disembowelment, is peculiar to Japan. The earliest known acts of seppuku were the deaths of samurai...
One of the defining periods of early humans and their development is the Stone Age . This long era of our earliest history lasted for roughly 3.4 million years, and gradually ended between 8500 BC to...
A dowry is an ancient custom that requires the transfer of parental property to a daughter at her marriage , rather than at her father’s death. It is a tradition in which emotion does not play a role...
The Christmas tree is an iconic feature of the holiday season. You can find this symbol on greeting cards, in advertisements, shaped into cookies, plastered across wrapping paper, and in the homes of...
The wild man is a creature found in various pagan traditions across Europe. Generally speaking, a wild man is a man dressed up in a beast-like costume for certain pagan rituals, which were normally...
Sitting in the desert with its towering golden-hued walls and imposing bastions, the 12th century Jaisalmer Fort certainly makes an impact. This fort has two important titles - the oldest desert fort...
If you had a globe at home when you were a child, you may have played the game of spinning the globe, placing your finger on it lightly, and wherever the globe stops under your finger is where you...
In ancient times, a dark, hairy, horned beast was said to show up at the door to beat children, and carry them off in his sharp claws. The Krampus could be heard in the night by the sound of his...
New research published this month in the journal Neurosurgical Focus , has sought to unravel the history, origin, and ethnic context of elongated skulls found in the Carpathian Basin, a large basin...
