Many societies celebrate the changing of the seasons and harvest time. One of the most elaborate festivals in India is the Lohri, better known as the Pongal. This is a four-day Hindu festival that...
As the leaves turn beautiful golden and fiery red hues, the weather gets colder, and people prepare for the oncoming winter in the Northern Hemisphere, Americans enjoy the annual celebration of...
With the sun shining high, the summer solstice, aka the longest day of the year, is a day for celebration for many people around the world. For people living north of the equator, Friday, June 21 is...
The calendar is one of mankind’s most important inventions. Calendars allowed societies to organize time for religious, social, economic, and administrative purposes. The calendar, or rather, two...
Celtic tribes celebrated Beltane to welcome the return of summer. Since at least the Iron Age, celebrations have included fire ceremonies, feasting, and fertility rites. Historically, the festival...
Holi is an ancient Indian spring festival that celebrates love, color, and the triumph of good over evil. Traditionally, this was a major Hindu religious festival in North India, but the fun,...
The Panathenaea was an ancient and important festival celebrated in the ancient Greek city state of Athens. This festival was held in honor of Athena Polias , the city’s patron goddess, and...
On Knocknarea Mountain, overlooking the Coolera peninsula in Sligo, there is an ancient passage tomb that dominates the landscape. This passage tomb is unique, not only because of its prominence, but...
Every year, the people of Peru host an elaborate celebration in the city of Cuzco at the time of the summer solstice. This festival is known as Inti Raymi – the Festival of the Sun. To spectators,...
Archaeologists in India have discovered a rare 300-year-old inscription of a sudoku-like game on the pillar of a temple in Palani, India. When added in any direction, the numbers total 15, which is...
Why is Christmas celebrated on December 25th? The popular answer is that it is Jesus’ birthday. However, it is necessary to reconsider that belief, No records exist in the Bible, or elsewhere,...
Every year on June 24, Cusco in Peru celebrates the Inti Raymi, a tribute festival to the venerated Inca Sun God Inti. As TRT World reports , the festival draws thousands of local and international...
Morris dancing is a type of folk dance from England. It is unclear as to when Morris Dancing began to be performed, though there is evidence that this dance has existed for several centuries, the...
In the Doctor Who Christmas Special from 2010, Michael Gambon’s Scrooge-like character remarks that across different cultures and worlds people come together to mark the midpoint of winter. It is, he...
Archaeological records related to ancient drinks are quite rare, but they take us to realms of ancient life which were hidden for a long time. With new technologies and chemical analysis, scientists...
Diwali / Deepavali is also known as the Festival of Lights (the name of this festival may be literally translated from Sanskrit as rows of lights) , and is one of the most well-known and important...
One of the great, largely untold adventure stories of late antiquity is the journey to the East, from Egypt’s Red Sea ports, across the open ocean for 40 days and 40 nights, to the legendary entrepôt...
The Festival of Drunkenness is a religiously significant celebration that was held annually (said to be biannually in some places) by the ancient Egyptians. The background story for the celebration...
The Mid-Autumn Festival is celebrated annually by Chinese and Vietnamese communities around the world. As the name of this festival suggests, the day of its celebration falls exactly in the middle of...
People lined up to wait for six hours to see one of China’s most famous artworks, an exquisite 12 th century scroll painting depicting the Song Dynasty capital of Haifeng during the festival of...
A metal detector enthusiast has discovered a 2000-year old figurine depicting the Roman god Mercury in a field near Selby, Yorkshire, UK. It is the 1,000 th officially recorded archaeological find of...
On March 21, residents of three indigenous communities in Saraguro, a remote Andean municipality in Ecuador, celebrated the Pawkar Raymi (ceremony of blossoming) to honor the Pachamama (Mother Earth...
Members of the Mah Meri tribe of Malaysia have just completed their annual ancestor-worship ceremony, an elaborate ritual involving dancers with intricately-carved masks who perform the historic Main...
Dating back at least 5,000 years, Mohenjo Daro, which is located in what is now Pakistan, is the world’s only surviving Bronze Age metropolis and is considered to be the most important site of the...
