Culture
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Rituals and celebrations
A whale hunt is an act of prayer for an Inuit community north of the Arctic Circle
8 minutes
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Rituals and celebrations
A beginner’s guide to a joyful Persian tradition of spring renewal and rebirth
3 minutes
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Rituals and celebrations
Meet the entrepreneur whose business is crafting perfect peak experiences
12 minutes
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Rituals and celebrations
The spectacular Mardi Gras artworks born of a unique New Orleans tradition
16 minutes
essay
Subcultures
Of memes and magick
Bending a mysterious world to your will was the goal of esoteric practices. Now it’s the unashamed aim of the tech titans
Tara Isabella Burton
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Food and drink
Is a ‘gastronomic society’ dinner the height of decadence, or an act of artistry?
11 minutes
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Sports and games
A unique project frames college football as an intricately choreographed mass ritual
7 minutes
essay
Archaeology
The secret life of Druids
The Greeks and Romans portrayed these elusive priests as bogeymen who bathed in their victims’ blood. Who were they really?
Miranda Aldhouse-Green
essay
Religion
Miracles not magic
It took a tremendous effort to distinguish early Christianity from the finely tuned world of pagan beliefs and rituals
Martha Rampton
essay
Food and drink
Crème de la crème
How French cuisine became beloved among status-hungry diners in the United States, from Thomas Jefferson to Kanye West
Kelly Alexander & Claire Bunschoten
essay
Anthropology
How to mourn a forest
The Marind people of West Papua deploy mourning not only to grieve their animal and plant kin but as political resistance
Sophie Chao
essay
History of ideas
Disorient yourself
Now associated with childhood fun, the swing has a near-universal history of ritual transgression and transformation
Javier Moscoso
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Rituals and celebrations
Beware the Nalujuit! A rare glimpse into a chilling Labrador Inuit tradition
13 minutes
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Politics and government
‘Without a poster, you don’t exist!’ – on the curious political banners of Mumbai
20 minutes
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Sports and games
The brutality and beauty of the West African martial art of ‘dambe’
15 minutes
essay
Archaeology
The pharaoh’s trumpet
The truly wondrous treasures of Tutankhamun’s tomb are not made of gold. They are the mundane things of everyday life
Toby Wilkinson
essay
Anthropology
Keeping the score
The gifts we exchange are both generous and yet fraught with social rules and obligations. Marcel Mauss explained why
Gili Kliger
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Food and drink
From set-up to close, a day at the farmers market is a whirlwind sensory feast
10 minutes
video
Sports and games
Bodies, bikes and groovy music propel this stylish classic film from 1965
17 minutes
video
Rituals and celebrations
From roaring fire and molten glass an artist creates a healing ritual
13 minutes
essay
Religion
The meaning of Purgatory
Think less of a holding pen for Heaven and more as a flow of love from the living, and the weirdness starts making sense
Magnus Course
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Rituals and celebrations
In a Mongolian wind burial, a body falls on land before getting swept up to the heavens
6 minutes
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Dance and theatre
Absorb the infectious rhythms of Setapa – a joyous dance from southern Africa
7 minutes
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Gender
The nearly forgotten origin myth of Hawaii’s third-gender healers, as told by one
9 minutes