Articles

Pubs remain a prominent feature of the rural and urban landscapes of Britain, but their names very often date back to medieval times. Red lions, white horses, and colourful characters peer from pub signs as landlords choose names to represent...

A Roman boy's rite of passage, a ceremony or ritual marking a transitional period in life from childhood to adulthood, was the assuming of the toga virilis, the adult toga. The ceremony usually took place sometime between the boy's 14th and...

The Woman and the Monster is a legend of the Arapaho nation about a woman who, seeming to drown in a river, is transported to the realm of an elemental water spirit who teaches her the proper way for her people to honor him and, in so doing...

The Daughter of the Sun is a Cherokee origin myth explaining how Uktena, the great horned serpent, came to be, as well as why those who die cannot return to life. The story also explains the respect due to the rattlesnake in Cherokee culture...

Yellow Hair: George Armstrong Custer is the Cheyenne and Arapaho account of Lt. Colonel George Armstrong Custer (l. 1839-1876), his interaction with the Southern Cheyenne Chief Black Kettle (l. c. 1803-1868), the Washita Massacre (27 November...

Tsul'kălû', The Slant-Eyed Giant is a myth of the Cherokee nation and is among the most popular. The legend relates the story of the great giant, Tsul'kălû', his marriage to a Cherokee maiden, and how the people broke trust with him so that...

The leader of Nazi Germany Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) ordered the invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939. Hitler's refusal to withdraw brought a declaration of war from Britain and France on 3 September, and so began the Second World War (1939-45...

The Nûñnĕ′hĭ are the Cherokee "spirit people", similar to the fairy as sometimes depicted in European medieval folklore, and The Nûñnĕ′hĭ and Other Spirit Folk is a collection of anecdotes about them compiled by American ethnographer James...

The US presidential election of 1800, referred to by Jeffersonians as the Revolution of 1800, was a turning point in the early political history of the United States. It resulted in the victory of Vice President Thomas Jefferson of the Democratic-Republican...

The Unseen Helpers is a Cherokee tale on the importance of kindness. Generosity is a central cultural value of the Cherokee nation, as it is with Native American nations generally, and is regarded as especially praiseworthy when the giver...