Winner of the 2022 Chicago Folklore PrizeFor many, December 26 is more than the day after Christmas. Boxing Day is one of the world’s most celebrated cultural holidays. As a legacy of British colonialism, Boxing Day is observed throughout Africa and parts of the African diaspora, but, unlike Trinidadian Carnival and Mardi Gras, fewer know of Bermuda’s Gombey dancers, Bahamian Junkanoo, Dangriga’s Jankunú and Charikanari, St. Croix’s Crucian Christmas Festival, and ...

Jerrilyn McGregory explores sacred music and spiritual activism in a little-known region of the South, the Wiregrass Country of Georgia, Alabama, and North Florida. She examines African American sacred music outside of Sunday church-related activities, showing that singing conventions and anniversary programs fortify spiritual as well as social needs. In this region African Americans maintain a social world of their own creation. Their cultural performances embrace some of the most pervasi...

Wiregrass (Aristida stricta) refers to a genus of flora that depends on fire ecology for germination. Although its growth is widespread from the Chesapeake Bay to the western brim of Texas, only one region has acquired the word for vernacular recognition. Ranging over parts of three states, Wiregrass Country extends from north of Savannah, sweeps across rolling meadows into the southwest Georgia coastal plain, fans over into the southeastern corner of Alabama, and dips into the no...

Florida is blessed with a semitropical climate, beautiful inland areas, and over a thousand miles of warm seas and sandy beaches. And Floridians are every bit as colorful and diverse as the tropical foliage. The interaction between Florida's people and its environment has created distinctive mixes of traditional life unlike those anywhere else in America.Florida's cultural foundation includes Seminoles, Anglo-Celtic Crackers, African Americans, transplanted northerners, and ethnic ...

Jerrilyn McGregory explores sacred music and spiritual activism in a little-known region of the South, the Wiregrass Country of Georgia, Alabama, and North Florida. She examines African American sacred music outside of Sunday church-related activities, showing that singing conventions and anniversary programs fortify spiritual as well as social needs. In this region African Americans maintain a social world of their own creation. Their cultural performances embrace some of the most pervasi...

David Hume (/ˈhjuːm/; 7 May 1711 NS (26 April 1711 OS) – 25 August 1776) was a Scottish philosopher, historian, economist, and essayist, who is best known today for his highly influential system of radical philosophical empiricism, skepticism, and naturalism. Hume's empiricist approach to philosophy places him with John Locke, George Berkeley, Francis Bacon, and Thomas Hobbes as a British Empiricist. Beginning with his A Treatise of Human Nature (1739), Hume strove to create a total natura...

Epic tales of heroism and adventure from Norse mythology, by noted scholar of myth and folklore H. A. Guerber, now repackaged for Union Square and Co.'s Signature Editions series.Over the centuries, Northern mythology has exerted much influence on Western customs, language, and literature. Its principal theme of the perpetual struggle of the beneficent forces of nature against the injurious, and its twin characteristics of dark tragedy and grim humor, tinge much Eu...

Developed from an early oral storytelling tradition dating back to the dawn of European culture, this is one of the oldest and most vibrant of Europe's mythologies. From all six Celtic cultures - Irish, Scots, Welsh, Cornish, Manx andBreton - Peter Berresford Ellishas included popular myths and legends, as well as bringing to light exciting new taleswhich have been lying in manuscript form, untranslated and unknown to the modern general reader.The author brings not on...

The vast Mongolian steppe is a place that few people will ever get to see. This enthralling book is a glimpse into the mysticism and stories spawned by this incredible landscape and rugged nomadic people. Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900's and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

Discover vampiric folklore and legends from America's past."Just sit back and relax as Dr. Bob Curran takes you to places that only your mind can create with his words and stories. He will delight the imagination." —Tom Danheiser, producer, Coast To Coast AMVampires are much more complex creatures than Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Twilight, True Blood, or scores of other movies and televisi...

The Welsh Fairy Book is a charming collection of folktales and legends compiled by W. Jenkyn Thomas. Drawing from Welsh mythology and oral traditions, the book transports readers into a world of magic, wonder, and enchantment. Through a series of captivating stories, readers encounter mythical creatures such as fairies, dragons, and giants, as well as heroic figures and ordinary individuals embarking on extraordinary adventures. Each tale is imbued with the rich cultural heritage of Wales,...