One might be surprised, astonished or indignant seeing men and women prostrating themselves in front of other men and other women. Or one might feel it is right to bow down before God, Allah, the saints, the Holy Virgin or the gods. Kings into Gods: How Prostration Shaped Eurasian Civilizations investigates the reasons why men prostrate themselves before deities or before powerful men. Through an in-depth historical and cultural analysis, this book highlights the connection between rituality and royalty within the Eurasian civilizations. The narrative and iconic documentation gathered and analyzed concerns the Greek and Roman world, the Mongolian civilization during the Middle Ages, the Hindu and Chinese civilizations, the Islamic civilization in India in the fourteenth century, the Mughal civilization and European civilization in the late Middle Ages. The different forms of the rituals in the courts of kings and emperors are tightly connected with the concept of royalty. The prostration is an act of humiliation of defeated enemies, a means to establish a abysmal distance between powerful elite and the people, a way of creating hierarchies within the elite itself.

America's oldest city, St. Augustine, has its fair share of things that go bump in the night. With such a long and varied history, it's no surprise that a few restless souls have stayed on long after their lives ended.

Chart your way across continents and oceans built from the stuff of myths and legends and you will pass the winged Pegasus of Ancient Greece, come face to face with Anansi the Spider in West Africa and fly over the powerful Thunderbird of North America. Combining mythology and folklore from all across the globe, this 1000-piece jigsaw enables you to experience the fabled creatures in their places of creation, all from the comfort of your living room. 1000-PIECE PUZZLE: The 1000-piece fantastical jigsaw puzzle features the world as you've never seen it before: a magical place full of mythical creatures! FUN, COLOURFUL ILLUSTRATIONS: Feast your eyes on a the variety of colourful artwork across the mythical world map. Combining mythology and folklore from all across the globe. POSTER INCLUDED: Includes a keepsake fold out poster with a guide to the illustration. EASY HANDLING: The 1000 puzzle pieces are thick and sturdy, and the back sides are a white matte finish. The completed puzzle measures A2 in size and the jigsaw puzzle box measures 267 x 267 x 48mm. GIFTS: The perfect gift for anyone with the imagination and passion of the mythical world. Beautifully designed, The Mythical World Puzzle was created by Good Wives and Warriors, an internationally renowned duo of illustrators, and creator of Laurence King Publishing titles Myth Match and Mythopedia.

Originally published in 1870. Author: George W. Cox, M.A. Language: English Keywords: Religion / Mythology / Folklore Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. Obscure Press are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

A collection of legends representing the rich tapestry of beliefs of Aboriginal people throughout Australia. Tales range from creation stories to legends of animals, birds, rivers, lakes and shores, as well as hero stories. A dictionary of Aboriginal words is included.

Don't just see the sights-get to know the people. Many tourists visit the Czech Republic knowing no more about it than that the beer is cheap and the women beautiful. That lack of knowledge has led to frustration among Czechs, most of whom are very well-informed about the world around them. Culture Smart! Czech Republic informs you about the traditions, values, and attitudes of a remarkable people. It describes Czech life at home and in the workplace and offers practical advice on what to expect and how to navigate different social situations. The real rewards will come to the visitor who goes beyond the reserve to explore the complex corners of the Czech soul. Have a richer and more meaningful experience abroad through a better understanding of the local culture. Chapters on history, values, attitudes, and traditions will help you to better understand your hosts, while tips on etiquette and communicating will help you to navigate unfamiliar situations and avoid faux pas.

Winner of the Society for Economic Anthropology Annual Book Prize 2008. Belize, a tiny corner of the Caribbean wedged into Central America, has been a fast food nation since buccaneers and pirates first stole ashore. As early as the 1600s it was already caught in the great paradox of globalization: how can you stay local and relish your own home cooking, while tasting the delights of the global marketplace? Menus, recipes and bad colonial poetry combine with Wilk's sharp anthropological insight to give an important new perspective on the perils and problems of globalization.

Choice Outstanding Academic Title 2014 In what was a golden age of British advertising, the notion of the 'peacock male' was a strong theme in fashion promotion, reflecting a new affluence and the emergence of stylish youth cultures. Based on a detailed study of rich archival material, this pioneering study examines the production, circulation and consumption of print, television and cinema publicity for men's clothing in Britain during the second half of the twentieth century. The study explores design issues and period style in advertising, the role of market research and consumer psychology in determining target audiences, the idea of the 'new man' in representing fashionable masculinities, and the various ways that menswear retailers and brands dealt with sex and gender, race, class and age. From y-fronts to Austin Reed suits to Levi's jeans, menswear advertising epitomised the themes, stereotypes, contradictions and ambiguities of masculinity in an age of great social change. This meticulously researched and detailed work of scholarship will be essential reading for students and scholars of fashion, history, sociology, advertising, media, cultural and gender studies.

Focusing on the experiences of Russian migrants to the United Kingdom, this book explores the connection between migrations, homes and identities. It evaluates several approaches to studying them, and is structured around a series of case studies on attitudes to homemaking, food and cooking, and clothing.

THE ELDER EDDAS OF SAEMUND SIGFUSSON. Translated from the Original Old Norse Text into English BY BENJAMIN THORPE. Originally published in 1906. PHOTOGRAPHS: Frontispiece Gunnar ( Guother). Page Siegfried Awakens Brynhild ' 159 Death of Atli 247 A Feast in Valhalla 331 ' s Rune Song 44 Lay of Hymir 48 Lay of Thrym, or the Hammer Recovered 53 Lay of the Dwarf Alvis 57 Lay of Harbard . . . . 63 Journey, or Lay of Skirmr 71 Lay of Rig 78 s Compotation, or Loki's Altercation 84 Lay of Fiolsvith 95 Lay of Hyndla 103 Incantation of Groa 109 Song of the Sun Ill Lay of Volund 121 Lay of Helgi Harvard's Son 137 First Lay of Helgi Hundingcide 137 Second Lay of Helgi Hundingcide 144 > tli's End 155 Lay of Sigurd, or Gnpir's Prophecy 157 Lay of Fafnir 172. Contents include: Gudrun's Incitement 248 The Lay of Hamdir 351 THE YOUNGER EDDAS OF STURLESON. The Deluding of Gylfi 256 Of the Primordial State of the Universe 259 Origin of the Frost-Giants 260 Of the Cow Audhumla, and Birth of Odin 262 The Making of Heaven and Earth 263 Creation of Man and Woman 265 Night and Day, Sun and Moon 266 Wolves that Pursue the Sun and Moon _. 267 The Way that Leads to Heaven 268 The Golden Age 269 Origin of the Dwarfs, and Norns of Destiny 270 The Ash Yggdrasill and Mimer's Well 271 The Norns that Tend Yggdrasill 273 The Wind and the Seasons 275 Thor and His Hammer - 277 Balder and Njord 278 Njord and His Wife Skadi 279 The God Frey and Goddess Freyja 280 Tyr and Other Gods 281 Hodur the Blind, Assassin of Baldur 283 Loki and His Progeny 284 Binding the Wolf Fenrir 285 The Goddesses and their Attributes 289 Frey, and Gerda the Beautiful 291 The Joys of Valhalla 293 The Wonderful Horse Sleipnir 297 The Ship Adapted to Sail on Sea or Land 299 Thor's Adventures in the Land of Giants 300 The Death of Baldur 315 Baldur in the Abode of the Dead 319 Loki's Capture and Punishment 321 Destruction of the Universe 323 Restoration of the Universe 327 How Loki Carried Away Iduna 329 The Origin of Poetry 331 Odin Beguiles the Daughter of Baugi 333 Glossary 335.

Be the coolest parent in the neighborhood, maybe in the world. It's all in this book and so easy. Every child and adult looks forward to enjoying the next big holiday season with their friends and family. What if you could celebrate several of those holidays every month with your kids? Give them some fun days that no other children experience. Give them low or no cost holidays that build a stronger emotional connection with them. Make their friends, and yours, look at you with envy over celebrating things that no one ever thought about. In this book, you will learn the most important birthday for your child and cool new holidays like One Day Fun Day, May Day Play Day, Awesome August Adventure Day, January Journey, September Search, Pie Day, Slurpee Day, and over forty others. Plus, learn how to celebrate the more traditional holidays like Christmas, Easter, Halloween, and President's Day in fun new ways. Learn bedtime and good-morning songs, how to educate your kids on things even teachers don't know, and have your kids begging for more. This book took twelve years to develop all those cool things. It's now available exclusively for you.

'. . . not a large book, but that makes all the more admirable the way the more admirable the way the author succeeds in doing justice to so many of the most important subjects in folkloristics. This book is a key work, and should be made compulsory reading in every university in which folkloristics is studied.'-Jon Hnefill Aoalsteinsson, Asian Folklore Studies

Through her childhood reminiscences, Zinaida Longortova brings to life a remote region in far-northern Russia. Extrapolating the folklore and mythology of the Khanty people from her experiences - set around the simple story of a wounded elk calf - the author explores the bonds between humans and nature. Yet whilst this is a novella about a little known indigenous group, the narrative succeeds in harnessing powerful emotions which speak to us all. A timeless story, at once both joyful and melancholy, Blue River is a beguiling tale for all age groups.

Is the restaurant an ideal total social phenomenon for the contemporary world? Restaurants are framed by the logic of the market, but promise experiences not of the market. Restaurants are key sites for practices of social distinction, where chefs struggle for recognition as stars and patrons insist on seeing and being seen. Restaurants define urban landscapes, reflecting and shaping the character of neighborhoods, or standing for the ethos of an entire city or nation. Whether they spread authoritarian French organizational models or the bland standardization of American fast food, restaurants have been accused of contributing to the homogenization of cultures. Yet restaurants have also played a central role in the reassertion of the local, as powerful cultural brokers and symbols for protests against a globalized food system. The Restaurants Book brings together anthropological insights into these thoroughly postmodern places.

Text extracted from opening pages of book: THE ELDER EDDA AND ANCIENT SCANDINAVIAN DRAMA CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS C. F. CLAY, MANAGER LONDON: FETTER LANE, E. G. 4 NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN CO. BOMBAY \ CALCUTTA LMACMILLAN AND co., Lm MADRAS j TORONTO: THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, LTD. TOKYO: MARUZEN-KABUSHIKI-KAISHA ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Fig. i. Plate from a helmet found at Vcntlel in Uppland. Fig. 2. Bronze plate from Torsluncla, Oland, Sweden. Fig. j. Bronze plate from Torshmda, Olund, Sweden, AND ANCIENT SCANDINAVIAN DRAMA BY BERTHA S. PHILLPOTTS, O. B. E., Lirr. D. Formerly Pfeiflfer Student of Girton College, Cambridge Late Lady Carlisle Research Fellow, Somerville College, Oxford Principal of Westfield College ( University of London) Author of Kindred and Clan CAMBRIDGE AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS 1920 PREFACE THIS book was begun in the spring of 1914, and only two chapters were unwritten in March 1916. In adding these two chapters in 1920 I have endeavoured to bring the rest of the book up to date, but the occupations of the intervening years left little time to keep abreast of the advances of scholarship, and the endeavour has not been wholly successful. My task has not been lightened by the loss of a note-book and some pages of the MS. through causes connected with the war, and I am conscious that there is much to apologise for. But it seemed better to publish the book as it is, with all its imperfections, than to wait for the uncertain hour when I could attempt an elaborate revision and expansion. My aim is simply to place before scholars a theory of the dramatic origin of the older Eddie poems. I shall be satisfied if I have made clear the grounds which have forced me to formulatethe theory: should there be any truth in it, others, better fitted than I, will work it out in all its many bearings on history, religion and literature. The dedication intimates that this book is my gift to Somer villc College, In a more fundamental sense it is the gift of Somerville College to me. It is the product of my tenure of the Lady Carlisle Research Fellowship, and the central idea of the book occurred to me while I was trying to present a rational picture of early Scandinavian literature to the College Literary and Philosophical Society. The idea struck root in favourable soil Miss Pope, Tutor in Modern Languages at Somerville, was working at a theory of the genesis of the Old French epic: Pro fessor Gilbert Murray, Vice-President of the College, was always ready to stimulate and illumine discussion on the relation of epic and drama: Miss Spens of Lady Margaret Hall was writing her book on Shakespeare's indebtedness to folk-drama, Moreover I think that the air of Oxford was friendly to the growth of a theory viii PREFACE like mine, and gave me courage to act on the belief that a clear understanding of the form of primitive Scandinavian literature was an essential preliminary to an understanding of primitive Scandinavian history. It was only after I had written the first part of the book an attempt to solve a literary problem on purely literary lines that I was able to realise the significance of the heroic poems of the Edda as a source for Scandinavian history and religion from the sixth century onwards. Since the theories put forward have a direct bearing on the problem of Greek tragedy, and may also be of interest to mediaevalists, I have assumed that some of my readers maybe unacquainted with Old Norse, and have accordingly given my quotations in English, adding the original in the notes wherever there is any doubt as to the reading. I had originally planned to give translations of the more important poems in an appendix, but joyfully abandoned the project on finding that there is some hope that the poet and scholar who has made Greek tragedy live in English dress may do a similar service to the heroic poems of the Edda. In the meantime readers may be referred to the trans lations in Vigfiisson and Powell's Corpus Poetmim Borc

Do Funerals Matter? is a creative interweaving of historical, sociocultural, and research-based perspectives on death rituals, drawing from myriad sources to create a picture of what death rituals have been, and where, especially in the Western world, they are going. Death educators, researchers, counselors, clergy, funeral-service professionals, and others will appreciate the book's theory- and research-based approach to the ways cultural groups memorialize their dead. They will also find clear clinical and practical applications in the author's exploration of the five 'ritual commonalities' of death-related ritual practice, and help for professionals counseling the bereaved surrounding the funeral ritual. Based on nearly three decades of research and teaching on funeral rites, this volume promises to fill an important gap in the cross-cultural literature on bereavement while answering an important question for our generation: do funerals matter? Do Funerals Matter? is a creative interweaving of historical, sociocultural, and research-based perspectives on death rituals, drawing from myriad sources to create a picture of what death rituals have been, and where, especially in the Western world, they are going. Death educators, researchers, counselors, clergy, funeral-service professionals, and others will appreciate the book's theory- and research-based approach to the ways cultural groups memorialize their dead. They will also find clear clinical and practical applications in the author's exploration of the five 'ritual commonalities' of death-related ritual practice, and help for professionals counseling the bereaved surrounding the funeral ritual. Based on nearly three decades of research and teaching on funeral rites, this volume promises to fill an important gap in the cross-cultural literature on bereavement while answering an important question for our generation: do funerals matter?