Showing titles in Customs & Traditions

Long before written spells or modern spirituality, Slavic folk magic lived at the heart of the home—by the fire, in the bread oven, and within the quiet rituals of everyday life. Slavic Folk Magic Traditions invites you to step into this ancestral world, where protection, balance, and spiritual awareness were woven into the rhythms of daily living.

Explore captivating Native American myths.

The first robot to walk the earth was a bronze giant called Talos. This wondrous machine was created not by MIT Robotics Lab, but by Hephaestus, the Greek god of invention, more than 2,500 years ago. In this groundbreaking account of the earliest expressions of the timeless impulse to create artificial life, Adrienne Mayor tells the fascinating story of how ancient Greek, Roman, Indian, and Chinese myths envisioned artificial life, automata, self-moving devices, and human enhancements - and how these visions relate to and reflect the ancient invention of real animated machines.

This audiobook explores the historical rise of the literary fairy tale as a genre in the late 17th century. In his examinations of key classical fairy tales, Zipes traces their unique metamorphoses in history with stunning discoveries that reveal their ideological relationships to domination and oppression. Tales such as Beauty and the Beast, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, and Rumplestiltskin have become part of our everyday culture and shapers of our identities.

"This book is about Black girl magick, queer girl magick, straight girl magick, trans magick, bisexual magick. This book is about giving yourself the power to be fierce . . . Black women are Hierophants, Magicians, Empresses, and High Priestesses."—Mawiyah Kai El-Jamah Bomani Authentic and...

Buy this audiobook to begin learning about Celtic history and mythology today!

The only audiobook you’ll ever need about Greek mythology! This elaborate audiobook gives you all the insights you will ever need to know. All the basics are in here and more. You will learn about the Greeks’ and Romans’ belief in the creation of the world and theories about the creation of mankind. You’ll get an extensive description of various gods and goddesses. Hardly anything or anyone is left out here. Everything will become clear, from Zeus’ extreme power to Aphrodite’s love and lust inclinations.

Monsters are central to how we think about the human condition. Join award-winning historian of science Dr. Surekha Davies as she reveals how people have defined the human in relation to everything from apes to zombies, and how they invented race, gender, and nations along the way. With rich, evocative storytelling that braids together ancient gods and generative AI, Frankenstein's monster and E.T., Humans: A Monstrous History shows how monster-making is about control: it defines who gets to count as normal.

Italian folk magic is a beautiful, powerful, and effective magical tradition that is accessible to anyone who wants to learn it, including Italians who want to regain their magical heritage. Containing magical and religious rituals and prayers, this book explores divination techniques, crafting, blessing rituals, witchcraft, and, of course, the evil eye.

Culture Smart! Iceland will take you to the heart of this plucky Nordic nation. It will equip you with a deeper understanding of your hosts and with the tools to turn your visit into a more meaningful and enriching experience, whatever your reason for traveling. Behind a stoic veneer lies a proud, industrious, and egalitarian people, whose straightforwardness and ability to wing it have seen them thrive in this beautiful but unforgiving environment.

»Alles, was wir über Weihnachten wissen, ist falsch. Eine großartige Lektüre.« Matthew Parris Wer hat den Adventskalender erfunden? Und wer verschickte die erste Weihnachtskarte? Erfolgsautor Mark Forsyth liefert eine launige Geschichtensammlung über die Ursprünge unserer liebsten Weihnachtsbräuche. Humorvoll und kenntnisreich werden wir mit skurrilen und überraschenden Geschichten rund um das Weihnachtsfest beglückt. Obwohl wir jedes Jahr Weihnachten feiern, wissen wir wenig über die Herkunft unserer Festtagstraditionen.

In this cultural and historical guide, award-winning authors Julie Barlow and Jean-Benoît Nadeau reveal the mysteries behind French culture and answer the question: What makes the French so French? Why must you always say bonjour when entering a store in France? What gives the French people...

‘Shane is the Indiana Jones of the running world’ - Damian Hall, ultra marathon runner Rejuvenate your mindset and unlock your running potential In The Lost Art of Running, Shane Benzie discovered how reconnecting with the human body can revolutionise our running and how we live our lives...

Journey to the center of the south of France - Provence and the French Riviera! Passport to European Travel Guides offers this comprehensive, yet quick and concise five-day guide to Provence and the French Riviera - including Marseille, Nice, Monaco, Antibes, Avignon, Cannes, and more - some of the world's most exclusive travel destinations!

"Atenție, nelegiuiții pe două roți nu mai sunt la porțile orașului! Sunt chiar printre noi!" Așa ar fi sunat titlul vreunui ziar local din America anilor 1960 după ce Hell’s Angels ar fi dat năvală în oraș, doar ca să se distreze în stilul lor caracteristic: motoare, raiduri, femei, droguri și bere. Mituri, exagerări sau adevăruri îngrozitoare? Prejudecăți sau fapte dovedite? Ziariștii îi adorau pentru că le ofereau subiecte de scandal, iar publicul era fascinat de aerul lor amenințător și, într-un fel, misterios de răzvrătiți și antieroi neînțeleși.

Prima della scienza, prima della religione, c'è il mito. Modo ingenuo - ci dicono -, modo fantasioso, spregiudicato e prescientifico, di spiegare l'origine delle cose e degli uomini, gli usi i costumi e le leggi. Filologia, etnografia, antropologia hanno lacerato il velo del mito, evidenziandone le radici ideologiche, il retroterra di superstizione e di magia. Ma i miti, così dissezionati, ci vengono restituiti alla stregua di freddi reperti anatomici, buoni tuttalpiù per qualche museo.

From New York Times bestselling author and legendary Jeopardy! host and champion Ken Jennings comes a hilarious travel guide to the afterlife, exploring to die for destinations from literature, mythology, and pop culture. Ever wonder which circles of Dante’s Inferno have the nicest...

Brought to Cuba as slaves, the Yoruba people of West Africa preserved their religion's heritage by disguising their gods as Catholic saints and worshipping them in secret. The resulting religion is known as Santeria, a blend of primitive magic and Catholicism now practiced by an estimated five million Americans. Santeria: The Religion is an informative and insightful examination of an African religion's survival in the New World. 

This definitive and magnificent 10-volume unabridged translation is one of the rare English translations in full of the epic. Bibek Debroy makes the Mahabharata marvellously accessible to contemporary readers. Dispute over land and kingdom may lie at the heart of this story of war...

Journey to the center of Naples and the Amalfi Coast! Oh, the magnificent beauty of the south of Italy - what are you waiting for? Passport to European Travel Guides offers this comprehensive, yet quick and concise, five-day guide to Naples and the Amalfi Coast - one of the most beautiful landscapes in the world!