When a mysterious stranger offers to reward Midas for a kindness, the king does not hesitate: He wishes that all he touches would turn to gold. To his delight, his wish is granted and he soon sets about transforming his ordinary palace into a place of golden beauty. But to his dismay, when he accidentally turns his beloved daughter into a golden statue, Midas learns that what at first seems a blessing can also become a curse.

    A poet, ethno-botanist and amateur chemist, he’s the best writer on drugs to come along since the late Terence McKenna.”—Richard Gehr, The Village Voice“There is genius to Pendell’s approach, an erudite playfulness and poetic virtuosity unmatched by anyone writing about plants and drugs today. Pendell’s books present a Pandora’s box, and once opened, the steadfast and curious reader will soon find herself on the path.”—Sarah Fox, Rain TaxiContemporary alchemist Dale Pendell completes his poetic study of botany, chemistry, spirituality, psychology and history in a volume covering the composition and uses of visionary plants. Chapters including “Phantastica,” “Hypnotica” and “Telephorica” explore the hallucinogenic plants, the bringers of sleep and the bearers of distance. Pharmacognosis is the branch of pharmacology that deals with herbs and unprepared medicines in their natural state, those whose cure is held in a deeper wisdom. Pharmako/Gnosis weaves together ancient shamanic rites, historic cultural lore and the contemporary use of plant poisons.Dale Pendell is a poet, software engineer and longtime student of ethnobotany. His poetry has appeared in many journals, and he was the founding editor of KUKSU: Journal of Backcountry Writing . In addition, his work appeared in Entheogens and the Future of Religion , edited by Robert Forte. He has led workshops on ethnobotany and ethnopoetics for the Naropa Institute and the Botanical Preservation Corps. He lives in the Sierra foothills in California.

    Included are popular myths and legends from all six Celtic cultures of Western Europe-Irish, Scots, Manx, Welsh, Cornish, and Breton. Here for the modern reader are the rediscovered tales of cattle raids, tribal invasions, druids, duels, and doomed love that have been incorporated into, and sometimes distorted by, European mythology and even Christian figures. For example, there is the story of Lugh of the Long Hand, one of the greatest gods in the Celtic pantheon, who was later transformed into the faerie craftsman Lugh-Chromain, and finally demoted to the lowly Leprechaun. Celtic Myths and Legends also retells the story of the classic tragic love story of Tristan and Iseult (probably of Cornish origin-there was a real King Mark and a real Tristan in Cornwall) and the original tale of King Arthur, a Welsh leader who fought against the invading Anglo-Saxons. In the hands of Peter Berresford Ellis, the myths sung by long-dead Celtic bards come alive to enchant the modern reader. "The casual reader will be best entertained by ... the legends themselves ...colored with plenty of swordplay, ... quests, shape-shiftings, and druidic sorcery."-Publishers Weekly

    Their narratives, themes, and characters address and provide answers to eternal questions: where do we come from, how do we live, what do we believe in? This fascinating book explores the major myths and legends across the world, from Classical mythology to Eastern beliefs, and from American legends to African folk tales. The stories are retold in compelling detail, while key aspects of each myth are considered: their meaning, purpose, and power; the main characters; and their importance to modern culture.Special illustrations and photographs combine with informative text, family trees, and a focus on themes such as creation, death, and the afterlife. From Gilgamesh to Quetzalcoatl, Heracles to Pan Gu, Myths and Legends provides a full and captivating reference guide to the worlds of mythical beings, mortal heroes, and immortal gods.

    Some live under bridges, others deep inside caves. They can carry their heads under their arms or hide their hearts inside wells. They can walk across oceans and fly over mountains. Trees and shrubs may grow from their heads, and their noses can be long enough to stir soup. There are troll hags, troll daughters, and elderly, shrunken trolls. Old or young, they are quarrelsome, ugly, and boastful, and they love to trick princesses and children. To defeat them, children must rely on the strengths of their humanity-persistence, kindness, pluck, and willingness to heed good advice

    For more than a thousand years before the Europeans came, a great culture flourished on these islands. In 1900 and 1901 the linguist and ethnographer John Swanton took dictation from the last traditional Haida-speaking storytellers, poets, and historians. Robert Bringhurst worked for many years with these manuscripts, and here he brings them to life in the English language. A Story as Sharp as a Knife brings a lifetime of passion and a broad array of skills—humanistic, scientific, and poetic—to focus on a rich and powerful tradition that the world has long ignored.

    You may think you already know this story about a beautiful servant girl, a cruel stepmother, a magnificent ball, and a lost slipper. But you’ve never heard it for true. Now you can hear the tale from someone who was there: a poor washerwoman from the island of Martinique. She has just one thing in the world to love, her goddaughter Cendrillon. When she finds Cendrillon heartsick over a rich man’s son, at first she doesn’t know what to do. But she has sharp wits, a strong will, and the magic wand her mother left her—and soon she has a plan to give her dear Cendrillon the gift of a love that will change her life. Adapted from a traditional Creole story, this fresh retelling captures all the age-old romance and magic of Cinderella, melding it with the vivid beauty of the Caribbean and the musical language of the islands.

    Illustrations by Simon Noyes. Endpaper maps by Reg Piggott.Contains "Auðun's Tale", "Grænlendinga Saga", "Eirík's Saga", "The Tale of Thorstein Stangarhögg (Staff-Struck)", "Egil's Saga", "Hrafnkel's Saga", "Eyrbyggja Saga", "Vopnfirðinga Saga", "Bandamanna Saga", "Gunnlaug's Saga", "The Tale of Thiðrandi and Thórhall" and "Njál's Saga".

    Tales from around the world about adventurous, wise, daring, and magical grandmothers.

    They know their all-night dancing wouldn't fit with their father's image in the community. Maybe Sunday, a pretty new nanny with a knack for getting to the bottom of household mysteries, can crack the case. This modern, hip retelling of the classic tale The Twelve Dancing Princesses bursts with vibrant artwork and text that's as energetic as the twelve toe-tapping Knight brothers themselves. "A funky, fresh adaptation." —Publishers Weekly"This is a high-flying alternative to the tale's usual dainty renditions." —Kirkus Reviews

    She dreams of adventure and longs to travel to distant lands, so when a tall ship appears in the harbor, headed north to the Kingdoms of the Cold, Margaret won't be left behind. But adventures are perilous things. Soon Margaret must face a ferocious sea serpent and even worse dangers. And she must discover the truth about an old woman with strange powers and mysterious plans, or she'll never find a way to bring herself and her true love safely home. Acclaimed author Robert D. San Souci spins a tale of magic, battles, and romance in this traditional Irish story of a young woman whose courage astonishes her enemies -- and even herself.

    Illustrated with paintings as graceful and delicate as the lady slipper itself, this unforgettable retelling shows how a child's lost slippers became one of nature's most lovely spring flowers.

    The Bathhouse at Midnight, by one of the world's foremost experts on the subject, surveys all forms of magic, both learned and popular, in Russia from the fifth to the eighteenth century. While no book on the subject could be exhaustive, The Bathhouse at Midnight does describe and assess all the literary sources of magic, witchcraft, astrology, alchemy, and divination from Kiev Rus and Imperial Russia, and to some extent Ukraine and Belorussia. Where possible, Ryan identifies the sources of the texts (usually Greek, Arabic, or West European) and makes parallels to other cultures, ranging from classical antiquity to Finnic. He finds that Russia shares most of its magic and divination with the rest of Europe.Subjects covered include the Evil Eye, the Number of the Beast, omens, dreams, talismans and amulets, plants, gemstones, and other materials thought to possess magic properties. The first chapter gives a historical overview, and the final chapter summarizes the political, religious, and legal aspects of the history of magic in Russia. The author also provides translations of some key texts.The Bathhouse at Midnight will be invaluable for anyone--student, teacher, or general reader--with an interest in Russia, magic, or the occult. It is unique in its field and is set to become the definitive study of Russian magic. Librarian Note: An Alternate Cover Edition to ISBN 9780271019670 can be found here.

    In fact, you don’t have to know about magic at all. If you are facing a difficult situation and feel you need protection and courage, wear garnets. Do you want to attract a lover? Use rose quartz or ruby. Are you troubled by negative vibrations? Wear, carry, or keep near you black onyx or obsidian.Listing their physical properties and magical uses, CRYSTAL ENCHANTMENTS will help guide you in your choice of stones from Adularia to Zircon. This book will also appeal to those who simply love stones and want to know more about them.

    Anyone caught by surprise in the open fields or depths of the woods would see a bizarre procession of demons, giants, hounds, ladies of the night, soldiers, and knights, some covered in blood and others carrying their heads beneath their arms. This was the Wild or Infernal Hunt, the host of the damned, the phantom army of the night--a theme that still inspires poets, writers, and painters to this day. Millennia older than Christianity, this pagan belief was employed by the church to spread their doctrine, with the shapeshifters' and giants of the pagan nightly processions becoming sinners led by demons seeking out unwary souls to add to their retinues. Myth or legend, it represents a belief that has deep roots in Europe, particularly Celtic and Scandinavian countries. The first scholar to fully examine this myth in each of its myriad forms, Claude Lecouteux strips away the Christian gloss and shows how the Wild Hunt was an integral part of the pagan worldview and the structure of their societies. Additionally, he looks at how secret societies of medieval Europe reenacted these ghostly processions through cult rituals culminating in masquerades and carnival-like cavalcades often associated with astral doubles, visions of the afterlife, belief in multiple souls, and prophecies of impending death. He reveals how the nearly infinite variations of this myth are a still living, evolving tradition that offers us a window into the world in which our ancestors lived.

    When Leola wanders away from Grandmama's cottage, she encounters Ol' Mister Weasel and samples the pies, the chairs, and the beds of the three gentle Honeybears.

    Recently, tales of these "monsters" have been corroborated by an increase in sightings, and out of these legends a new science has been born: cryptozoology -- the study of hidden animals.Cryptozoology A to Z, the first encyclopedia of its kind, contains nearly two hundred entries, including cryptids (the name given to these unusual beasts), new animal finds, and the explorers and scientists who search for them. Loren Coleman, one of the world's leading cryptozoologists, teams up with Jerome Clark, editor and author of several encyclopedias, to provide these definitive descriptions and many never-before-published drawings and photographs from eyewitnesses' detailed accounts. Full of insights into the methods of these scientists, exciting tales of discovery, and the history and evolution of this field, Cryptozoology A to Z is the most complete reference ever of the newest zoological science.

    In Restless Dead, Sarah Iles Johnston presents and interprets these changes, using them to build a complex picture of the way in which the society of the dead reflected that of the living, expressing and defusing its tensions, reiterating its values and eventually becoming a source of significant power for those who knew how to control it. She draws on both well-known sources, such as Athenian tragedies, and newer texts, such as the Derveni Papyrus and a recently published lex sacra from Selinous.Topics of focus include the origin of the goes (the ritual practitioner who made interaction with the dead his specialty), the threat to the living presented by the ghosts of those who died dishonorably or prematurely, the development of Hecate into a mistress of ghosts and its connection to female rites of transition, and the complex nature of the Erinyes. Restless Dead culminates with a new reading of Aeschylus' Oresteia that emphasizes how Athenian myth and cult manipulated ideas about the dead to serve political and social ends.

    With characteristic modesty he tells us what’s missing and what’s wrong with the collection. But more important, he tells us what’s right and why it still matters, noting songs that have become famous the world over: “Union Made,” “Which Side Are You On?,” “Worried Man Blues,” “Midnight Special,” and “Tom Joad.” “Now, at the turn of the century, the millennium, what’s the future of these songs?” he asks. “Music is one of the things that will save us. Future songwriters can learn from the honesty, the courage, the simplicity, and the frankness of these hard-hitting songs. And not just songwriters. We can all learn.”

    With warmth and wry humor, Marla Frazee's refreshingly unsentimental interpretation of a timeless folk lullaby will bring a smile to the face of even the most exhausted family member.

    In Irish and English; translated by Medbh McGuckian and Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin.

    Sent out on their own into the thick, steamy jungle, the three brachiosaur brothers soon learn to heed their mother's warning about the Rex. He's so hungry that his mouth is watering As he rampages from one brother's house to the next, he shows that while he might be big and mean, this bully is not particularly smart. He keeps calling the brachiosaurs pigs This really infuriates the brothers, but what makes them even angrier is that they are being hunted just because they are small. What's even smaller, however, is the Rex's brain. It takes him years to figure out how to break into the stone house that the brothers have taken refuge in. When the stubborn, hungry Rex finally does manage to destroy the house, he is shocked to learn what bullies so often discover: that little dinosaurs (or little boys and girls) grow up to be big . . . sometimes VERY big

    The Incunabula Papers/Ong's Hat was, or is, a "many-threaded, open-ended interactive narrative" that "weds an alternate history of chaos science and consciousness studies to conspiracy theories, parallel dimensions, and claims that computer-mediated environments can serve as magical tools.... the documents provoked a widespread "immersive legend-trip" in the late 1990s. Via Web forums, participants investigated the documents-manifestos-which spun up descriptions of brilliant but suppressed discoveries relating to paths that certain scientists had forged into alternate realities. Soon, those haunted dimensions existed in the minds and fantasies of Ong's Hat's many participants. That was evident as they responded to the original postings by uploading their own-all manner of reflections and artifacts: personal anecdotes, audio recordings, and videos-to augment what became "a really immersive world, and it was vast".

    Helps the reader experience the actual mindset of the shaman.Presents a cohesive view of the recurrent patterns of symbolism and visionary experience that underlie all religion.The human psyche contains archetypal patterns largely lost to contemporary society but which shamans have employed for over 30,000 years to gain access to the spiritual world. Shamanic symbols both affect and reflect these durative patterns that exist, with uncanny similarity, in civilizations separated by expanses of time and distance. The Strong Eye of Shamanism draws together the many facets of the art of shamanism, presenting a cohesive view of the recurrent patterns of symbolism and visionary experience that underlie its practice. The "strong eye" of the title refers to the archetypal symbolism that sits at the foundation of all human life--whether in Paleolithic caves or today's temples. The author asserts that society has become separated from the power of those symbols that lead us into deeper understanding of our spirituality. In today's world of splintered psyches, a world in which people are in search of their souls, shamanism survives as an age-old technology of soul recovery, a living Rosetta stone that reminds us of the shared foundation that exists beneath even the most radically different perspectives. Through its study of shamanism, archetypal psychology, and symbolism, The Strong Eye of Shamanism encourages individuals--and society--to look inward and remember that the deepest forms of awareness begin with the knowledge that the answers reside within us.

    It's fascinating reading, and based on extensive research into the ancient traditions of Egypt, India, the pre-Colombian Mayas and Incas, and others. The book explains where different types of nature spirits live, their behavior, and their relationships with humans. There is a chapter on where and under what conditions they can be seen. These "invisible" creatures are not "supernatural" but simply live on their own plane of existence, even though modern man has all but lost the ability to perceive them. There is also a detailed explanation of the 7 planes, from the physical through the psychic to the spiritual realms. The Spirits of Nature explains things about plants and animals that many people perceive intuitively, with a pet for example. It is a real gem for those interested in learning more about life and the world around us.

    and grows ... and Grows. The king rewards the farmer handsomely for his efforts -- much to the dismay of the arrogant squire who lives across the way. But when the squire attempts to claim a similar reward, will he get more than he bargains for? Brain Alderson's charming text and Fritz Wegner's humorous illustrations have yielded a "champion" tale that will delight anyone who's ever cheered for the underdog.

    An extremely comprehensive blues solo collection. 2 CD's included.

    

    This pathfinding book reconstructs ancient Maya astronomy and cosmology through the astronomical information encoded in Precolumbian Maya art and confirmed by the current practices of living Maya peoples.Susan Milbrath opens the book with a discussion of modern Maya beliefs about astronomy, along with essential information on naked-eye observation. She devotes subsequent chapters to Precolumbian astronomical imagery, which she traces back through time, starting from the Colonial and Postclassic eras. She delves into many aspects of the Maya astronomical images, including the major astronomical gods and their associated glyphs, astronomical almanacs in the Maya codices [painted books], and changes in the imagery of the heavens over time. This investigation yields new data and a new synthesis of information about the specific astronomical events and cycles recorded in Maya art and architecture. Indeed, it constitutes the first major study of the relationship between art and astronomy in ancient Maya culture.

    "I am content, I have no wish," Luba says-at first. Then Luba's parents convince her to ask for a bigger house. After that, they want an estate, and later, they ask for a palace. With the granting of each wish Luba hopes her parents will be satisfied, but instead they only want more. Where will it end? This Russian version of The Fisherman and His Wife masterfully illustrates the rewards of simplicity and the dangers of greed."Polacco's freely brushed watercolors are bright with decorative borders, richly patterned clothing, and exotic onion domes." (Booklist)

    Journey with Ra, the sun deity, through the hot daytime skies, down through the Gates of Night, and into the Land of the Dead. Follow the romance of Isis and Osiris, and the war that resulted from their love. An entire story cycle centers on Ramses the Great, known for his wealth and cunning, military triumphs, and monument building.

    Perhaps the best-known is Sindbad the Sailor. He discovers an island paradise, but it is actually a giant whale. He sees a huge mountain. It is, in fact, the egg of the famous Roc, a bird so huge that she can carry an elephant in her talons. Sindbad manages to escape from Roc’s nest by tying his turban to the bird’s leg and is transported to the final adventure in this volume: the Valley of Diamonds. It is a story of high adventure and wit overcoming any obstacle.

    According to Japanese mythology, the cosmos took form spontaneously from chaos.  Lighter elements formed the abode of the gods, while heavier ones became the shapeless Earth.  Many divinities emerged in these two realms, but the seventh celestial couple consisted of Izanagi and Izanami, a god and goddess whose destiny was to establish the sea-kissed islands of Japan in the unruly waters far below.This pair created innumerable further deities, or kami, responsible for the world’s natural phenomena, though the greatest of all their offspring was the sun goddess Amaterasu.  She was brought forth by Izanagi and given dominion over the sky.  The eight gods and goddesses she produced with her brother Susano are said to be the ancestors of Japan’s emperors.Many other tales can be found in Realm of the Rising Sun: Japanese Myth, one volume in an exciting series called Myth and Mankind, a culture-by-culture examination of world myth and its historical roots.  Whether exploring the myths of Persia, early America, China or Greece, each book brings an ancient culture to life as never before.As a result, this is a world history like no other.  Every book is filled with the strange stories, mystic rites, angry gods, vision quests and magic symbols at the heart of all cultures – but left out of most history books.  Such myths are central to understanding how, since the dawn of time, people around the world have sought to explain birth, death, creation, love and other mysteries of life.  These myths lie at the intersection of imagination and history, wisdom and experience, dreams and reality.

    Perfect for children to read alone or for adults to read to their youngsters. Color illustrations throughout.

    Organized by concept, these tales touch upon both human and ecological themes: caring for the land, the crops, the forests, and the wetlands; caring for other creatures; how all things are linked; how human greed leads to disaster; how no thing is without value; how pollution returns to the polluter; how one person can make a difference; how to husband the future by heeding the experience of the past; and how to unite our voices on the earth's behalf.MacDonald includes two original stories and two contemporary poems with tales from over thirty countries or ethnic groups. Seven stories are from diverse native American peoples. There is also a short bibliography of tale collections with ecological themes; a list of good stories to tell; proverb sources; tale notes; and an ethnic/geographic index.

    The stirring sagas of gods and goddesses, heroes and heroines, enchanted weapons and fantastic beasts from all six Celtic cultures -- Irish, Scots, Welsh, Cornish, Manx, and Breton -- are retold from ancient times in a major new collection for a modern readership.

    But at what price will Rolando taste the waters of eternal life? On a dare, Lupe goes down to the river one night to search for la Llorona, a ghostly woman who walks in search of her drowned baby.Abel, a shepherd, saves a snake from a fire and in return is given the ability to understand the speech of animals.In these ten stories, Rudolfo Anaya, author of Bless Me, Ultima, draws on a rich Hispanic and Native American folklore tradition, capturing the rhythm of life along New Mexico's Rio Grande valley.

    On the first night of Chanukah, Sadie performs a generous act, and in turn receives a frying pan that cooks up sizzling hot, golden latkes on command. Sadie tells her brothers never to use the magic pan, but when she goes out one afternoon, the mischievous boys can't resist. They remember the words to start the pan cooking . . . but what were the words to make it stop? This humorous tale of generosity and greed is accompanied by bright, cheerful illustrations depicting a traditional Russian village. An author's note and a recipe for Sadie's latkes are included.

    Breathtakingly beautiful illustrations accompany rich storytelling of three Native American tales: Her Seven Brothers, The Gift of the Sacred Dog and The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses.

    Here, too, Mother Goose introduces many characters who are sure to become favorites in the future -- Mrs. Murphy, Little Jumping JOan, and Elsie Marley. All are included in this wonderful anthology compiled by the much-celebrated team of Iona Opie, the leading expert on children's lore, and Rosemary Wells, one of today's finest picture book artists. With more than one hundred favorite nursery rhymes, each illustrated with award-winning originality and liveliness, this is a book that will be passed on and shared for generations to come.

    For a quarter century, Goldenseal magazine has given its readers intimate access to the lives and music of folk artists from across this pivotal state. Now the best of Goldenseal is gathered for the first time in this richly illustrated volume.   Some of the country's finest folklorists take us through the backwoods and into the homes of such artists as fiddlers Clark Kessinger and U.S. Senator Robert Byrd, recording stars Lynn Davis and Molly O'Day, dulcimer master Russell Fluharty, National Heritage Fellowship recipient Melvin Wine, bluesman Nat Reese, and banjoist Sylvia O'Brien. The most complete survey to date of the vibrant strands of this music and its colorful practitioners, Mountains of Music delineates a unique culture where music and music making are part of an ancient and treasured heritage. The sly humor, strong faith, clear regional identity, and musical convictions of these performers draw the reader into families and communities bound by music from one generation to another.   For devotees as well as newcomers to this infectiously joyous and heartfelt music, Mountains of Music captures the strength of tradition and the spontaneous power of living artistry.

    A world-renowned painter brings new beauty to this classic tale, told for a new generation of readers. Color illustrations.

    There is also a special foldout section that includes notecards, envelopes, a pencil, and fairy stars for composing one's "own" letters to fairies.

    Indeed, Edison's talking machine became one of the basic tools of anthropology. It not only equipped researchers with the means of preserving folk songs but it also enabled them to investigate a wide spectrum of distinct vocal expressions in the emerging fields of anthropology and folklore. Ethnographers grasped its huge potential and fanned out through regional America to record rituals, stories, word lists, and songs in isolated cultures. From the outset the federal government helped fuel the momentum to record cultures that were at risk of being lost. Through the Bureau of American Ethnology, the Smithsonian Institution took an active role in preserving native heritage. It supported projects to make phonographic documentation of American Indian language, music, and rituals before developing technologies and national expansion might futher undermine them. This study of the early phonograph's impact shows traditional ethnography being transformed, for attitudes of both ethnographers and performers were reshaped by this exciting technology. In the presence of the phonograph both fieldwork and the materials collected were revolutionized. By radically altering the old research modes, the phonograph brought the disciplines of anthropology and folklore into the modern era. At first the instrument was as strange and new to the fieldworkers as it was to their subjects. To some the first encounter with the phonograph was a deeply unsettling experience. When it was demonstrated in 1878 before members of the National Academy of Sciences, several members of the audience fainted. Even its inventor was astonished. Of his first successful test of his tinfoil phonograph, Thomas A. Edison said, "I was never taken so aback in my life." The cylinders that have survived from these times offer an unrivaled resource not only for contemporary scholarship but also for a grassroots renaissance of cultural and religious values. In tracing the historical interplay of the talking machine with field research, The Spiral Way underscores the natural adaptiblity of cultural study to this new technology. Erika Brady is an associate professor in the folk studies programs at Western Kentucky University. She served as technical consultant and researcher on the staff of the Federal Cylinder Project of the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.

    It claims that savages and ancients were judged alike because they used language similarly, in contrast to modern Europeans who used disciplined language in scientific, philosophical and legal projects.

    It includes a wide variety of tales -- from magic fairy tales to torrid erotic tales -- that reveal a great deal about what life was like in the Middle East during the Medieval period. "Arabian Nights: The Marvels and Wonders of The Thousand and One Nights, Volume 1 of 2, Adapted By Jack Zipes"

    Material culture records human intrusion in the environment. It is the way we imagine a distinction between nature and culture, and then rebuild nature to our desire, shaping, reshaping, and arranging things during life. We live in material culture, depend upon it, take it for granted, and realise through it our grandest aspirations. Thirty years ago, it seemed that material culture would become the realm within which relativistic and existential thinking would be extended to history and art, the issues of human significance and human excellence. Then the gears locked, the machine stopped, and began to run in reverse. We slid backward, rediscovering the energies of early modernism and naming our effort - in obeisance to the ideology of progress - postmodern. Humanist busied themselves with the reinvention of ideas they could have learned from the old masters of anthropology. Social scientists struggled to contrive ideas they could have learned by reading the great literature of the past. This retrograde motion was caused by more than adjustment to the conservative mood of the age. another. What has changed can change again; the moment at which I write will pass. Groping over old territory, relocating the critical purpose of scholarly endeavour, rediscovering subjectivity and situation, the diversity of orders and the interconnectedness of things, we will find points of convergence that will become the basis for a new transdisciplinary practice, at once humanistic and scientific. Renewed in oneness, we will be able to get on with our work, fashioning a view of humanity fit to the needs of the world's people. The concept of culture seems a secure achievement. In the future, history and art, as well as science and philosophy, will be understood to be, like culture, the creations of people who are alike in humanity, but different in tradition and predicament. Problematising is easy and endless. New ideas are a dime a dozen. What matters is how ideas fare in the world, what they yield in hard application. Our work will recognise the reality of the individual. traditions that unfold only within human control and among uncontrollable circumstances. It will expand through cross-cultural comparisons that bring us understanding at once of the universal and the particular. - Henry Glassie, from the Onward.

    This Ukrainian Easter story will delight all readers.

    Priestesses are the acknowledged religious leaders within the home, clan, and village--and, until annexation by Japan approximately one hundred years ago, within the Ryukyuan Kingdom. This fieldwork-based study provides a gender-sensitive look at a remarkable religious tradition. Susan Sered spent a year living in Henza, an Okinawan fishing village, joining priestesses as they conducted rituals in the sacred groves located deep in the jungle-covered mountains surrounding the village. Her observations focus upon the meaning of being a priestess and the interplay between women's religious preeminence and other aspects of the society.Sered shows that the villages social ethos is characterized by easy-going interpersonal relations, an absence of firm rules and hierarchies, and a belief that the village and its inhabitants are naturally healthy. Particularly interesting is her discovery that gender is a minimal category here: villagers do not adapt any sort of ideology that proclaims that men and women are inherently different from one another. Villagers do explain that because farmland is scarce in Okinawa, men have been compelled to go to the dangerous ocean and to foreign countries to seek their livelihoods. Women, in contrast, have remained present in their healthy and pleasant village, working on their farms and engaging in constant rounds of intra- and interfamilial socializing. Priestesses, who do not exert power in the sense that religious leaders in many other societies do, can be seen as the epitome of presence. By praying and eating at myriad rituals, priestesses make immediate and tangible the benevolent presence of kami-sama (divinity).Through in-depth examination of this unique and little-studied society, Sered offers a glimpse of a religious paradigm radically different from the male-dominated religious ideologies found in many other cultures.

    These elements have come together to create a body of music tied more to place and circumstance than to ethnicity. Milnes explores the legacies of the state's best-known performers and musical families. He discusses religious music, balladeering, the influence of black musicians and styles, dancing, banjo and dulcimer traditions, and the importance of old-time music as a cultural pillar of West Virginia life.

    The tales are lively, well-written versions that make the drama and excitement of each story accessible to children of all ages.

    When she tires of them, the wicked mermaid transforms them into sea bass. One terrible day, when Arianne ensnares the young farm boy Ewan with her magic, his sister Meaghan cries for seven nights and seven days. Then she dries her tears and sets off to free her beloved brother from Arianne's evil enchantments...This haunting story of the magical underwater kingdom of Cafur, deep beneath the emerald waves, will thrill young readers with its mystery and magic. Olwyn Whelan's sumptuous illustrations conjure up the full drama of Meaghans' quest and the ancient kingdom of Cafur.

    Who, just fifteen years ago, could have predicted that this regional music would become so astonishingly popular throughout the nation and the world?This new edition of a book first published in 1984 celebrates the music makers in the generation most responsible for the survival of Cajun music and zydeco and showcases many of the young performers who have emerged since them to give the music new spark. More than 100 color photographs, show them in their homes, on their front porches, and in their fields, as well as in performance at local clubs and dance halls and on festival stages. In interviews they speak directly about their lives, their music, and the vital tradition from which their rollicking music springs.Many of the legendary performers featured here--Dewey Balfa, Clifton Chenier, Nathan Abshire, Dennis McGee, Canray Fontenot, Varise Connor, Octa Clark, Lula Landry, and Inez Catalon--are no longer alive. Others from the early days continue to perform--Bois-sec Ardoin, Michael Doucet, D. L. Menard, and Zachary Richard. Their grandeur, humor, and humility are precisely the qualities this book captures.Featured too are young musicians who are taking their place in the dance halls, on festival stages, and on the folk music circuit. Cajun and Creole music makers, both young and old, still play in the old ways, but as young musicians--such as Geno Delafose and the French Rockin' Boogie, and Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys-- experiment and enrich the tradition with new sounds of rock, country, rap, and funk, the music evolves and enlivens a whole new audience. Barry Jean Ancelet, a native French-speaking Cajun, is chair of the Department of Modern Languages and director of the Center for Acadian and Creole Folklore at the University of Southwestern Louisiana. Among his many books are Cajun Country and Cajun and Creole Folk Tales (both from the University Press of Mississippi). Elemore Morgan, Jr., is an artist and retired professor of visual art at University of Southwestern Louisiana.

    The folksongs in this collection are embedded in the cultural history of Prince Edward Island and in the rich, Celtic-influenced, local songmaking tradition.

    In 1959, three Gilbert sisters—Alma, Helen, and Phydella—began compiling songs they remembered as their own and sending them to one another in letters. Their tendency to center memory in sound rather than sight reveals an unusual musical birthright. Robert Cochran has constructed a composite portrait of this family for whom music is the center of life. He examines their lived experience as they anchor their history through song, singing, and the playing of musical instruments. The Gilberts are wonderful exemplars of the "mediation of oral tradition," and when approached through their music, they reveal themselves as remarkable individuals with an elaborate and firmly held sense of their unique identities. A decade in the making, Singing in Zion is written with a memoirist's sense of family history and an ethnographer's sense of the rich encounter of worlds. This narrative has a seductive simplicity that conveys much of the Gilbert family's charm while at the same time establishing a broader framework that is firmly academic. It will be enjoyed by all readers.

    a highly accessible and lively assessment of continuity and change in belief and religion from pre-Celtic times through to the arrival of St Patrick. ...Afine book and to be recommended to a wide readership, especially to all those who think that Irish history started in 1601. IRISH STUDIES REVIEW DAITHI O HOGAIN was Professor of Folklore at University College Dublin.

    P. O'Neill has gathered fascinating documents, magazine articles, and newspaper stories that support the existence of sea serpents in New England and beyond.

    Each area is represented by the complete recorded repertoire of a single storyteller. Such a focus helps place the stories in the context of the communities in which they were performed and also reveals how individual folk artists used the medium of oral literature to make statements about their lives and their world. Some preferred jocular stories and others wonder tales; some performed mostly for adults, others for children; some used storytelling to criticize society, and others spun wish fulfillment tales to find relief from a harsh reality.For the most part collected a century ago, the stories were gleaned from archives and printed sources; the Icelandic repertoire was collected on audiotape in the 1960s. Each repertoire was selected by a noted folklorist. Introductions to the storytellers and collectors and commentaries and references for the tales are provided. A general introduction, a comprehensive bibliography, and an index of the tales according to Aarne-Thompson's typology are also included. Period illustrations add charm to the stories.