Archive · Society · Ethnography

On 20 November 1941 the State Defence Committee resolved:

"To call up from the national economy of Arkhangelsk Region, the Komi ASSR and the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug: reindeer drivers (kayurs), 1,400 men; reindeer, 10,000 head; sledges (narts), 500. The conscripts are to be sent to the disposal of the Arkhangelsk Regional Military Commissariat, to arrive

Books · Society · Nature · Ethnography

Reindeer transport units of the 14th Army in the Arctic during the war

"In the first winter of the war, reindeer transport units began to be organised in all the divisions of the 14th Army. Sámi, Nenets and Komi served in them. The reindeer were often used not only for evacuating the wounded and delivering military supplies, but also for inserting scouts

Blue faience figurine of the Egyptian god Bes, a stocky bearded dwarf with his tongue out, wearing a tall headdress.

NB! · Faith · The East · Ethnography · Humour

The Egyptian god Bes, protector of the home and hearth, and theories of the origin of his cult

This hideous dwarf with his tongue lolling out and his legs bowed is the Egyptian deity Bes, patron of house, home and hearth. The cult is believed to derive from the cat, though possibly from a shrewish mother-in-law

Archaeology · Mores · Ethnography

There is a European maritime tradition of leaving money inside the hull of a ship

There is a European maritime tradition of leaving money inside the hull of a ship. Underwater archaeologists often find coins embedded in the remains of sunken vessels. Do you know why coins are set into a ship's frame? So that, should the vessel be wrecked, the drowned sailors

In the cathedral, rows of children’s shoes stand on a stone tomb, beside candle stands, below a golden statue of a saint and memorial plaques.

NB! · Faith · Mores · Ethnography

Children’s shoes left on Bishop Erkembodo’s tomb in Saint-Omer Cathedral

Parents of crippled children leave children's shoes on the tomb of the medieval bishop Erkembode in the cathedral of Saint-Omer, hoping for the saint's intercession for their little ones' recovery. Erkembode's feast day is 12 April

Black-and-white photograph of a mummy standing upright in a niche, flanked by two men in dark suits.

NB! · Archaeology · Archive · Ethnography

Mummy of a Native American man, 2.54 metres tall, found in San Diego in 1895

The San Diego Giant, the mummy of a Native American man found in San Diego in 1895. The mummy stands 2.54 metres tall

NB! · Art · Monarchies · Ethnography · Humour

Alexandra Feodorovna (wife of Nicholas I) in a fabulous kokoshnik

Alexandra Feodorovna (wife of Nicholas I) in a fabulous kokoshnik. So that everyone could see: a Russian tsarina

NB! · Faith · Art · Heritage · Ethnography

Statues often have teeth, of bone or stone, but when a three-hundred-year-old Christ from San Bartolo Cuautlalpan in Mexico was restored, real human teeth were found in it, complete with roots!!!

Statues often have teeth, of bone or stone, but when a three-hundred-year-old Christ from San Bartolo Cuautlalpan in Mexico was restored, real human teeth were found in it, complete with roots!!! A rather peculiar votive offering

Silk embroidery on a waistcoat pocket: two monkeys with fruit among grasses, with a floral border above them.

NB! · Art · Museums · Ethnography · Humour

Eighteenth-century men's waistcoat with embroidered monkeys gathering fruit on the pocket

An eighteenth-century man's waistcoat, with monkeys gathering fruit embroidered on the pocket. And you talk of Gucci!

NB! · Moscow · Museums · Ethnography · Humour

The clothing of Alaska's indigenous peoples, made from fox, bear and reindeer skins, or the typical attire of Muscovites in the coming days

NB! · Archive · Monarchies · Mores · Ethnography

The photograph of Victoria at the spinning wheel is in fact a very telling one: for a long time the English word "spinster" meant both a woman who spun and an old maid, and the image of a woman at her spinning stood for an unfortunate private life

Aristocracy · The East · Observations · Ethnography

The author has launched a new Telegram channel on the history and society of medieval Asia

Well, don't laugh, but I have started another channel. This time it is about the history of medieval Asia. I shall be writing about what, regrettably, was missing from my textbooks: the aristocracy of the East, the origins of the customs of rank and estate, the reverse side