Books · Society · Ethnography

Belinsky on the tragic in folk poetry and a folklore tale of Masha and Echo

Frightful Russian folklore. Masha has lost her way in the forest; Echo answers her and tells her that if his father-in-law is struck dead by thunder and his mother-in-law burnt up by lightning, then he will drench his wife in tears and dry her out with

The East · Art · Observations · Ethnography

Similarities between Abramtsevo carving and Afghan household objects of the early 20th century

Everyone probably knows, or has at least once seen in a museum, Abramtsevo carving and the household objects and furniture made in its techniques. The craft is sometimes called Abramtsevo-Kudrino carving, and it is connected above all with Abramtsevo, Polenovo and the name of the artist Elena Dmitrievna Polenova.

Archive · Books · Mores · Ethnography

Fourteen old blini recipes with explanations of words no longer in use

Pancakes from Elena Molokhovets's Legendary Cookery Book "A Gift to Young Housewives" Fourteen key old recipes for pancakes: buckwheat blini, buckwheat blini made half and half with wheat flour, plain wheat blini, buckwheat blini with eggs, Lenten buckwheat blini, "amateur" blini, red blini, milk

Geography · Maps · Ethnography

Mordvates on Nicolas Sanson's Map of Muscovy, the State of the Tsar and Grand Duke of White Russia, 1660

The land of the Mordvins lies between Ryazan and the Cheremis. Next to it is the Pole, occupied by Cossacks.

NB! · The East · Pop Culture · Ethnography

A Yurt in a J.Crew Shoot, 2000

Archive · The East · Mores · Ethnography

Ancient Egyptians judged the dead and denied burial to those who had lived in depravity

Among the ancient Egyptians there was a praiseworthy custom, that over the dead a strict judgement was held, as to how they had conducted their lives. And if in all truth they found the honesty of their living, they deemed them worthy of a magnificent burial, lamented by all. But

Observations · Mores · Ethnography

Origin of the name of laika leather and the use of dog hides in 19th century Russia

Ladies' Kid Slippers of the 1820s. Kid leather is called "lайка" in Russian, but not after the breed of dog: the word is a borrowing from Polish, "loika", from "loj", meaning fat. It turns out, however, that dogs' hides did go into

Faith · Monarchies · Observations · Ethnography

The House of Grimaldi at the Monaco feast of Saint Devota with a boat burning

Prince Albert II of Monaco, Princess Charlene, Hereditary Prince Jacques and Princess Gabriella attend the celebration of the Feast of Saint Devota. The first thing I noticed was the snow-white skin of the members of the House of Grimaldi, pale as a moth's wing. One can imagine

Books · Mores · Ethnography

Shipovka, or "Vodytsa": a drink of berries steeped in wine

Are you quite sure you know the Russian table?

Black-and-white photograph of a little girl in a quilted fringed jacket looking at the camera, with a puppy in the hood on her back.

NB! · Archive · Nature · Ethnography

A Little Inuit Girl with a Puppy in Her Hood, Photographed in 1949

A little Inuit girl and her puppy. 1949

NB! · Art · Observations · Ethnography

The Image of the Strange European, or the Slender Man Aesthetic in the Sculptures of an Unknown African Artist of the Mid-Twentieth Century

A stag head with branching antlers and an ornamented piece displayed in a museum case.

Archaeology · The East · Museums · Ethnography

Arrangement of ten horses in the Pazyryk burial mound, Hermitage collection

A 2,300-year-old ceremonial horse headdress found on the skeleton of a horse in the frozen tombs of Pazyryk in Siberia. Eight of the ten horses in the Pazyryk kurgan were arranged in two rows with their heads turned to the east, while two horses in the western