A fifteen-year-old high school cheerleader is killed while driving on a dangerous curve one afternoon. By that night, her classmates have erected a roadside cross decorated with silk flowers, not as a grim warning, but as a loving memorial. In this study of roadside crosses, the first of its kind, Holly Everett presents the history of these unique ......
Voudou (an older spelling of voodoo)-a pantheistic belief system developed in West Africa and transported to the Americas during the diaspora of the slave trade-is the generic term for a number of similar African religions which mutated in the Americas, including santeria, candomble, macumbe, obeah, Shango Baptist, etc. Since its violent ......
This Publication of the Texas Folklore Society contains a Texas version of "The Frog's Courting"; a Texas border ballad; folklore of reptiles of the South and Southwest; sayings of old time Texans; episodes at ranch community dances; pioneer Christmas customs of Tarrant County; superstitions of Bexar County; buffalo lore and boudin blanc; old time ......
This book decodes the ambivalence of gift-giving. It examines its socio-ethical and integrative potential. Following a short recollection of contemporary gift-giving, its motives, occasions and its rules, the reader is invited to travel back in time and space examining 'sacrifice', 'food-sharing', and 'gift giving' as those basic institutions upon ......
Taking a multidisciplinary perspective, the authors present a wide ranging discussion of the cultural significance of the honeymoon, revealing it to be more a product of a socially constructed view of romantic love than of the couple concerned.'
Taking a multidisciplinary perspective, the authors present a wide ranging discussion of the cultural significance of the honeymoon, revealing it to be more a product of a socially constructed view of romantic love than of the couple concerned.'
Beer's Role in the Settling of America and the Birth of a Nation
One of the most important but little-known aspects of early American history was beer's role in the founding of our country and its formative years. The definitive account of beer's impact on people and events that shaped the birth of a nation will astonish readers.
Divided into three parts, this work gives a historical and geographic overview of humankind's practice of and attitudes toward cannibalism. It discusses motivational factors for cannibalism. It also addresses our fascination with cannibals, man-eating witches, werewolves, and vampires in literature, myth, and the media.
In this survey of the modern American Christmas, Waits shows how this holiday emerged, tracing its evolution from the days prior to 1880 to the present day. In addition, he examines the differing traditions of giftgiving to friends, employees, the poor, and among communtys.
