No Nativity scene is complete without the
caganer - a figure caught in the act of taking a dump near the manger. (NSFW tag, ahoy!)
The figurine (whose name translates as "the shitter") is an addition to the Nativity tableaus in the
Catalonia region of Spain. Some interpret the caganer as a reminder that God can arrive on earth at any moment - and he doesn't care if he catches you with your britches down.
[more inside]
posted by The demon that lives in the air
on Dec 12, 2011 -
64 comments
This weekend marks the time of
the Hajj, a core pillar of Islam in which
great tides of humanity venture to the ancient city of Mecca to honor God.
Predating Mohammed's birth by centuries, the pilgrimage comprises
several days of rites, from congregation like snow on
Mount Arafat and the ritual
stoning of Shaitan to the circling of the sacred
Kaaba (the
shrouded cubical monolith Muslims
pray toward daily) and kissing the
Black Stone (colored by the absorption of myriad sins, and believed by some to be a
fallen meteorite).
While the city has
modernized to handle this largest of annual gatherings -- building highway-scale ramps,
gaudy skyscrapers for the ultra-rich, and
tent cities the size of Seattle -- it remains mysterious, as unbelievers are
forbidden from entering its borders.
Richard Francis Burton became famous for
touring the city in disguise to write
a rare travelogue, but contemporary viewers have a more immediate guide:
Vice Magazine journalist Suroosh Alvi, who smuggled a minicam into the city to record
The Mecca Diaries [alt], a 14-minute documentary of his own Hajj journey.
Browse the manual to see what goes into a Hajj trip, or
watch the YouTube livestream to see the Grand Mosque crowds in real time.
posted by Rhaomi
on Nov 4, 2011 -
31 comments
"
This Halloween, give somebody a scary book, to read. That's it. That's the idea. It's going to be a tradition." It's
an idea Neil Gaiman came up a year ago. It's called
All Hallow's Read, with a website and everything, which has
book recommendations of all sorts, plus
stickers, bookmarks, cards, and a small story you can print off, as well as
a poster contest for next year's event.
[more inside]
posted by filthy light thief
on Oct 31, 2011 -
22 comments
The Triumph of New-Age Medicine "Medicine has long decried acupuncture, homeopathy, and the like as dangerous nonsense that preys on the gullible. Again and again, carefully controlled studies have shown alternative medicine to work no better than a placebo. But now many doctors admit that alternative medicine often seems to do a better job of making patients well, and at a much lower cost, than mainstream care—and they’re trying to learn from it." [more inside]
posted by zarq
on Jun 15, 2011 -
278 comments
“There’s a tremendous amount of anxiety among religious traditionalists that when you take one step toward egalitarianism, the floodgates are open and everything that seemed self-evident will no longer be. Men go to work, and women raise children. If you undermine that, you have lost your whole universe.”The Reform, Conservative and Reconstructionist movements of Judaism have been ordaining women as rabbis for decades, but the religion's most traditional sect, the Orthodox, remains a lone, minority holdout against egalitarianism. Last year, Orthodox Rabbi Avraham "Avi" Weiss (political
activist and founder of the
controversial, liberal, "Open Orthodox"
Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Yeshiva in New York)
tried to shake things up by ordaining the first female American Orthodox rabbi.
[more inside]
posted by zarq
on Jul 31, 2010 -
35 comments
Once upon a time, before boats had motors, the only way to move vessels up the Shennong River (a tributary to the Yangtze River near Badong, Enshi) was for labourers, known as River Trackers, to haul them by hand using heavy ropes along a dangerously narrow ledge hacked from solid rock.
And while naked (slightly NSFW).
[more inside]
posted by bwg
on Mar 9, 2010 -
27 comments
Winter holiday traditions change with time and location, with their current forms retaining little of their old forms,
wassailing (rhymes with fossil-ing) possibly more than most. The modern interpretation of wassailing has been simplified to singing carols, though it was
born of much more diverse traditions, from a cheer of good health before battle to scaring evil spirits from apple orchards. From these origins come
wassail the drink, and that's just one of the
many foods of the winter season (
Food Timeline prev.,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6). A few more are covered below the break.
[more inside]
posted by filthy light thief
on Dec 25, 2009 -
8 comments
The Isleños are
said to be a dying traditional American subculture.
Descendants of Canary Island immigrants of Louisiana, the name Isleños was given to them to distinguish them from Spanish mainlanders, known as "peninsulares." But in Louisiana, the name evolved from a category to an identity
. For a long time they were one of those rare subcultures that found a way to maintain a living tradition as the world around them modernised by carving out a livelihood as crabbers and 'shrimpers'.
Then Katrina hit and the wetlands, which were central to the Isleños identity, essentially dissapeared. Despite the blow to their economy, they still
have their songs and
annual fiestas, evidence of a strong culture which binds their community together, and their
rebuilding following Katrina demonstrated how strong that sense of identity and culture can be. So perhaps the Isleños shouldn't be written off just yet, then. After all, as Isleño Irvan Perez says, "
This is home. Where else would we go?"
posted by Effigy2000
on Dec 7, 2008 -
7 comments
A recent poll (PDF) asked for reactions to the same model dressed in two different ways: in a plain shirt with her hair down, and in a blue head scarf of the style of some Islamic women. Perhaps understandably, the survey respondents felt the scarfed image was more traditional and more religious. But some of the other perceptions are less obviously predictable. (via
crooked timber)
posted by Rumple
on Jan 29, 2008 -
45 comments
The
Wagah border, that separates the countries of Pakistan and India, is the scene of some very eccentric
pomp and ceremony during the lowering of the flags on either side, and the opening and closing of the gates of the opposing forces.
posted by hadjiboy
on May 27, 2007 -
57 comments
Comedy duo,
Ramenz (ラーメンズ), aka Kobayashi Kentaro and Katagiri Jin, also known as the Japanese versions of
Mac and PC, have recently done a number of shorts collectively called "The Japanese Tradition." Apparently, these tongue-in-cheek pseudo-instructional vids about famous aspects of Japanese culture (
Tea,
Chopsticks,
Sushi,
Origami,
Apology,
Onigiri, and
Relationships) have been fooling a lot of non-natives into thinking they are actual guides. (YouTube, each approx 4-6 min).
posted by ikahime
on Mar 29, 2007 -
35 comments
Royal Shrovetide Football is a traditional ball game played each year in Ashbourne, Derbyshire on a 'pitch' three miles long, lasting the two days of Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday. It's been going since at least 1683 and likely much earlier.
After a ceremonial rendition of
Auld Lang Syne and
God Save The Queen, the cork-filled ball is thrown from the starting plinth into the crowd, and then it's the Up'ards versus the Down'ards, forming giant scrums (or 'hugs') of people moving up and down the River Henmore, with the aim of 'goaling the ball' at their
respective goal post.
posted by chrismear
on Feb 20, 2007 -
15 comments
Interesting article on the Japanese "social recession" (from the back pages of USA Today) "To an astonishing degree, the sexes are going their opposite ways in Japan. Young women are revolting against the traditional role of obedient housewife, opting instead to live at home and shop and socialize with girlfriends. Startled men are retreating into solitary ways. Check-ins at the country's famed 'love hotels' are even falling. As birthrates slip, a social crisis looms."
posted by Prospero
on Jun 3, 2004 -
38 comments
the annual 8 day orange throwing festival in italy is ending today. [
BBC News real video report] -- great footage, they explain the bizarre tradition, show it, and show the aftermath [which includes some bloody injuries] -- if you saw a segment about this on bbc world news last week, this is the same.
posted by palegirl
on Mar 8, 2000 -
0 comments
There have been minor scuffles over the past year at UCLA that balloon into 'riots,' which then get covered in the local news. I work at UCLA and I can tell you that the local/UC police have overreacted before. This past June, students got together to drink champagne by one of the big fountains. It's an tradition going back at least 15 years, but for some reason last year, there were about 20 police in riot gear standing near the fountain at night, and at least one officer stationed there 24hrs. a day for the entire finals week. A couple students were arrested for protesting the police presence, but everyone else there was just plain perplexed as to why they showed up in the first place. Yesterday's event at UCLA looks to be the same thing again. Local residents complaining about an old tradition, in which the police overreact. The sad thing is this is happening everywhere.
posted by mathowie
on Dec 16, 1999 -
0 comments
