The Mexica (Aztecs) used a solar calendar made up of eighteen months, with each month dedicated to a specific god in their pantheon and celebrated with a different set of rituals. Panquetzaliztli, the fifteenth month, dedicated to the national god Huitzilopochtli (Hummingbird on the Left), was significant for its proximity to the winter solstice, and for the fact that it marked the beginning of the season of warfare. In The Fifteenth Month, John F. Schwaller offers a detailed look at how the celebrations of Panquetzaliztli changed over time and what these changes reveal about the history of the Aztecs. Drawing on a variety of sources, Schwaller deduces that prior to the rise of the Mexica in 1427, an earlier version of the month was dedicated to the god Tezcatlipoca (Smoking Mirror), a war and trickster god. The Mexica shifted the dedication to their god, developed a series of ceremonies - including long-distance running and human sacrifice - that would associate him with the sun, and changed the emphasis of the celebration from warfare alone to a combination of trade and warfare, since merchants played a significant role in Mexica statecraft. Further investigation shows how the resulting festival commemorated several important moments in Mexica history, how it came to include ceremonies associated with the winter solstice, and how it reflected a calendar reform implemented shortly before the arrival of the Spanish. Focused on one of the most important months in the Mexica year, Schwaller's work marks a new methodology in which traditional sources for Mexica culture, rather than being interrogated for their specific content, are read for their insights into the historical development of the people. Just as Christmas re-creates the historic act of the birth of Jesus for Christians, so, The Fifteenth Month suggests, Panquetzaliztli was a symbolic re-creation of events from Mexica myths and history.

Arthur Szyk (pronounced ShickA") created his Haggadah on the eve of the Nazi occupation of his native Poland. In 1937, he relocated to London, carrying with him the 48 densely illustrated panels that depicted Jewish heroes like Moses and David triumphing over Egyptians and Philistines. Three years later, a group of wealthy English Jews financed a first (limited) edition of The Szyk Haggadah. By 1956, the plates had found their way to Israel, where a trade edition remained in print until 2003. Available in the United States only through specialized distribution channels, this version became the most popular haggadah of the twentieth century-at least in Israel. This edition, the first widely available printing since 1940 to be reproduced from Szyk's original art, boasts a newly commissioned and incredibly practical text by Rabbi Byron L. Sherwin, the Director of Doctoral Studies at the Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies in Chicago. A special commentary section, which follows the main story of the Passover, gives insight into both the rituals of the seder and Szyk's rich illustrations. A master miniaturist, Arthur Szyk studied and worked in Paris, Krakow, and Palestine during the years before World War I. His art attracted the attention of the Polish Army in Lodz, which recruited him to head their Department of Propaganda. Following the war, he was a popular and highly collectable artist, traveling to America to promote exhibitions. Hitler's rise to power in early 1933 prompted Szyk's return to Lodz, where he began work on his haggadah in earnest. The original version of the haggadah, which depicts historical Jewish triumphs through contemporaneous villains, included swastikas on the armbands of the Egyptians.A" Szyk eventually removed these to make the illustrations more palatable to European publishers, who were wary of Germany's military expansions. Szyk's anti-Nazi work was widely published during World War II; in 1941, Putnam published The New Order, filled with Szyk caricatures of Axis leaders, and his satirical drawings of Hitler, Mussolini, and Hirohito graced magazine covers, editorials, ads for war bonds, and even War Department pamphlets and films.

In exploring the social background of early Jewish mysticism, "Scholastic Magic" tells the story of how imagination and magic were made to serve memory and scholasticism. In the visionary literature that circulated between the fifth and ninth centuries, there are strange tales of ancient rabbis conjuring the angel known as "Sar-Torah," the "Prince of the Torah." This angel endowed the rabbis themselves with spectacular memory and skill in learning, and then taught them the formulas for giving others these gifts. This literature, according to Michael Swartz, gives us rare glimpses of how ancient and medieval Jews who stood outside the mainstream of rabbinic leadership viewed Torah and ritual. Through close readings of the texts, he uncovers unfamiliar dimensions of the classical Judaic idea of Torah and the rabbinic civilization that forged them.

Swartz sets the stage for his analysis with a discussion of the place of memory and orality in ancient and medieval Judaism and how early educational and physiological theories were marshaled for the cultivation of memory. He then examines the unusual magical rituals for conjuring angels and ascending to heaven as well as the authors' attitudes to authority and tradition, showing them to have subverted essential rabbinic values even as they remained beholden to them. The result is a ground-breaking analysis of the social and conceptual background of rabbinic Judaism and ancient Mediterranean religions. Offering complete translations of the principal "Sar-Torah" texts, "Scholastic Magic" will become essential reading for those interested in religions in the ancient and medieval world, ritual studies, and popular religion.

Originally published in 1996.

The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These paperback editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

In this in-depth exploration of the symbols found in Navaho legend and ritual, Gladys Reichard discusses the attitude of the tribe members toward their place in the universe, their obligation toward humankind and their gods, and their conception of the supernatural, as well as how the Navaho achieve a harmony within their world through symbolic ceremonial practice.

Originally published in 1990.

The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These paperback editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

A resource for worshipers today looking to change hardened worship patterns that stand in the way of everyday spirituality. All too often, those who attend church or synagogue find themselves bored or baffled by the service. Their predominant thought is how slowly the time ticks by—and that the service never seems to end. Written for laypeople and clergy of any denomination, The Art of Public Prayer examines how and why religious ritual works—and why it often doesn't work. The Art of Public Prayer uses psychology, social science, theology and common sense to explain the key roles played by ritual, symbolism, liturgy and song in services. Each chapter features "conversation points" designed to get you and your faith community thinking and talking about your own worship patterns—where they succeed, and where they need improvement. The Art of Public Prayer can help you and your fellow congregants revitalize your worship service by allowing you to organize and direct your own worship, making it a meaningful and fulfilling part of your life.