#folklore

#folklore

"I understand the fascination with Bigfoot," says filmmaker Marq Evans, whose documentary Capturing Bigfoot drew rave reviews at the SXSW Film & TV Festival last month. "It's a mystery. Everybody loves a mystery. Although to some people, it's not a mystery. They've seen it; it's proven. And there's nothing that you can tell them to say otherwise."

"This was an extraordinary moment in her life, but it was only one moment." Nelson emphasizes the need to view historical figures like Sacagawea in a broader context, recognizing their multifaceted lives beyond singular events.

Indigenous communities have seen dramatic changes, from rescinding land-management policies that were more inclusive of Indigenous knowledge to reducing $1.5 billion in climate funding for tribal initiatives.

The frontier myth has proven to be one of the most powerful and enduring stories in American history, erasing or altering the history of people of color and women in the West.

The concept of hóf in Norse culture represents a cultural expectation of moderation and restraint, which was pivotal in resolving disputes and maintaining order within communities.

Dylan's choice of Patreon over Substack is puzzling, as many major artists have opted for the latter to connect with fans and share their thoughts.

Fia Backström describes her experience of West Virginia as akin to being called by aliens, framing the region in a way that echoes a long history of it being seen as strange and backward.

'We absolutely should challenge stereotypes about ageing. Children do build their understanding of the world from these tiny repeated narratives. If old always equals useless or confused then that's going to shape their perception.'

Letting our dogs lick the dishes before we put them in the dishwasher!

A book about witches casts a spell, and arguments about whether blue-green algae should be called blue-green bacteria, in this week's pick from the Nature archive.

Here dwells the indigenous Tzotzil community which has kept a pastoral way of life against the march of time. Apart from the odd forest ranger and passerby, Ruvalcaba's film focuses almost entirely on the Tzotzil women. Together, they tend herds of sheep which they still shear by hand, and use traditional tools for spinning yarns and natural dye for fabrics.

We are living through one of the most disorienting periods in recorded history. The AI race is accelerating toward ever faster, ever more sophisticated automation and optimization. Agentic AI systems are moving from research labs into workplaces, healthcare, and governance. Geopolitical tensions are restructuring alliances faster than institutions can adapt. And planetary systems are signaling, with increasing urgency, that our current trajectory is unsustainable. Amid all this, it is dangerously easy to lose sight of a foundational question: What are we actually optimizing for?

At the outset of the Kalevala, Finland's national epic, a singer bemoans his separation from a beloved friend who grew up beside him. Today, the friends rarely meet "näillä raukoilla rajoilla, poloisilla Pohjan mailla" - lines which translator Keith Bosley renders "on these poor borders, the luckless lands of the North." The Kalevala, a poetic masterpiece of nearly 23,000 lines, first appeared in 1835. Now, nearly 200 years later, those "luckless lands of the North" are an increasingly tense border zone.

While working on a graduate school paper on the mystical powers of coral, gemologist Anna Rasche ventured deep into the archives of the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum's library. Coral is the most powerful material to ward off the evil eye-a belief Italians have held since ancient times. Romans often gifted newborns coral amulets to prevent sickness and bad luck.

Writing was created in response to the need to communicate over long distances in trade and, initially, was focused on the purely practical aspects of record-keeping. Scribes in ancient Mesopotamia recorded what commercial goods had been shipped to which destination, their quantity, purpose, and cost.

Kimmerer proposes kindness as an act of resistance. We need to equip ourselves with a new language, she explains, something that affirms that this is what it means to be human. In a world where kindness breeds distrust or is scorned, kindness, she affirms, is becoming a militant gesture. When you're kind to someone, it's not universally expected that they'll respond with kindness, but if that seed is planted, both people feel better,

The Irish government will give 2,000 artists unrestricted weekly stipends in a program officials described as a "recognition, at government level, of the important role of the arts in Irish society." After a successful three-year pilot, the Irish government made its basic income program for artists permanent. Similar pilots have been launched here in the United States, but they're supported primarily by the nonprofit sector.

His investigation began after identifying recurring giant T-shapes, three-level indents, and step pyramids carved into ancient stones worldwide. 'These specific symbols that are built in different size proportions, and the symbols are found in ancient stones around the world, are not supposed to exist; no cultures are supposed to have any cross-platform,' LaCroix explained. The symbols appear in locations ranging from Turkey's Van region to South America and Cambodia.

The mixture of old world and new inside a pub that also features a dark, polished wood bar, feels just right for Corrib Theatre's variety show An Scéal (The Story), which combines traditional storytelling and music with modern movement to celebrate the Celtic feast day Imbolc and the return of the sun as well as the Irish National holiday St. Bridgid's Day, both of which are on February 1.

Looking to the Middle Ages for answers to the perennial puzzles of life can seem quaint, even artificial, a long reach across centuries marked by violence, hierarchy, and exclusion. And yet medieval culture offers a way of thinking about love that still speaks to the present. If love is most urgently tested in moments of strain and upheaval, then it is in those moments - where care is stressed or obscured - that its meaning comes most clearly into view.