NB! · The East · Art · Ethnography
Section
· 432 stories
Ethnography
NB! · Art · Pop Culture · Ethnography
Russian Headdresses as One of the Most Powerful Impressions of High Fashion
Faith · Ethnography
Miraculous icon of Saint Anne in the Skete of Saint Anne on Mount Athos and prayers for childbirth
The wonder-working icon of Saint Anne, mother of the Most Holy Theotokos, stands beside the abbot's stall in the main church of the Skete of Saint Anne on Mount Athos. Prayers for help in conceiving a child are offered before this icon. Boys born in answer to
NB! · Faith · The East · Observations · Ethnography · Humour
Astonished by the qualities of the Korean mythical creature Yeongno, which devours corrupt aristocrats and state officials, and which, if it consumes a hundred such wealthy men in the course of its life, is admitted to paradise
Astonished by the qualities of the Korean mythical creature Yeongno, which devours corrupt aristocrats and state officials, and which, if it consumes a hundred such wealthy men in the course of its life, is admitted to paradise. Fairy tales one longs to believe in
Archive · Mores · Ethnography
Nardek, a Don watermelon dessert, as described in 1891
There is an ancient Cossack dish called nardek. It is a most delicious dessert made from watermelons. Since the watermelon season is upon us, I suggest we recall how the Cossacks' favourite sweet is prepared. Nardek is a Don dessert, prepared exclusively on the Don, in the stanitsas, by
Archaeology · Museums · Mores · Ethnography
Ancient Egyptian headrests used for sleeping and found in tombs
A wooden ancient Egyptian headrest recalls an architectural model of a Greek portico. The Egyptians used such contrivances for sleeping. The head was placed upon the headrest in lieu of a pillow. If the bed stood close to the ground, this offered protection from insects and scorpions. On the other
Books · London · Mores · Ethnography
"In Britain many men sleep with one wife, and many wives lust after one husband," reports a Russian chronicler
This is not the only mention of polygyny and polyandry in the British Isles. Already in Julius Caesar's Commentaries on the Gallic War there is an account containing the detail that "[in Britain] ten or twelve men have wives in common, and particularly brothers with brothers, and
Archaeology · Mores · Ethnography
Roman amphora of two-year-aged tuna from Spain and fermented fish made in Chersonesos
This is what a tin can looked like in Ancient Rome. This clay amphora of AD 70-100, for instance, states that it contains young tuna, aged for two years. It is known that the amphora was prepared in the south of Spain. What sort of fish is aged for
Observations · Ethnography · Humour
In an ancient game-song, a sparrow or a drake entertains the audience by imitating how children, merchants, lads, girls and old women walk and caper about in dance
Old women all go like this: hunched over, stooping low. And girls go like this: perked up, merry-making, perked up, and clap your hands! Let us commit it to memory. Hunched over or perked up. And above all, do not mix them up.
Archive · Faith · Ethnography
Ethiopian clergy sing and dance at Easter in the courtyard of the Russian hospital in Addis Ababa
Abyssinian Orthodox clergy at Easter in the courtyard of the Russian hospital in Addis Ababa, 1900s. In Ethiopia there is a tradition of going from house to house and singing religious chants on religious holidays. In the background are the fence and gates of the Russian compound. Psalmists and singers
Faith · Ethnography
The centaurs descend from the first of men to kill a kinsman, namely King Ixion, who did not wish to pay his father-in-law the bride-price for his beautiful daughter and pushed him into a fire pit covered over with planks
The centaurs descend from the first of men to kill a kinsman, namely King Ixion, who did not wish to pay his father-in-law the bride-price for his beautiful daughter and pushed him into a fire pit covered over with planks. For this dreadful crime Ixion was punished
Museums · Observations · Saint Petersburg · Ethnography · Humour
1980s notice of the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography refusing to show freaks and monsters
The essence of the Kunstkamera, Peter's legendary cabinet of curiosities, in a single sentence. Our museum is about the culture and way of life of the peoples of the world, and therefore it does not display the freaks, dwarfs, giants and other monsters who amused the grandees of