Mass Hysteria: A Cult of Mystery
July 1518 lives long in the memory of the people of Strasbourg. At the height of a hot summer a distraught French peasant stepped out onto the street, and spontaneously and fervently began to dance. In what must rank as one of the strangest social phenomena in history, she was soon joined by over 40
Holy Land: The world’s No. 1 Jesus-themed amusement park
Nuns get free entry into Holy Land but for the rest of us it’s 70 pesos. A trio of smug-faced sisters glides past security while the less godly are crushed together in the sweaty mass of a 20-minute queue. I am wedged in the middle of a group of Mormon missionaries from Utah wearing personalised
The Shaolin: Child warrior-monks of Henan Province, China
If you stand at the foot of the imposingly vertical Mount Song in China’s Henan Province at four o’clock in the morning, you are treated to a curious sight. Dozens of tiny figures crawl down the mountain’s winding steps on their hands and feet, wearing nothing but thin cotton tunics to
I (Don’t) Wanna Hold Your Hand
Walk down the street. As long as it’s a street with a few people in it, there are probably some who insist upon being in relationships. You might feel pleased for them or you might feel bitter that they have what you so desperately crave. Either way, you may not think to pay much attention [&helli
Raising Hell: America’s Religious Rollercoaster Ride
Imagine taking your child to a place where they will watch graphic simulations of abortion, rape and suicide. Alternatively, imagine taking them to a place where they will see demonstrations of charity, forgiveness and faith. In terms of the child’s welfare, the choice seems obvious. In term
For here are the people: Britain by Mass Observation since 1937
“While Europe was tensely watching the crisis over Czechoslovakia, Herr Hitler paid a surprise visit to the French frontier to-day.” So began Britain by Mass Observation, a 1939 Penguin Special by Charles Madge and Tom Harrisson. They were not endorsing this characterization of the start of the
In Praise of Americana: on the road with Ed Freeman
All photographs used by kind permission of the photographer, whose work can be purchased at www.edfreeman.com If Anglophilia is love of things old, small, and restrained, Americana celebrates all that is big. It expresses the massive scale of America, realised in spirit and aesthetic. Its kitsch is
Oxford Movements – Duns Scotus Lives and is Still Doctor Subtilis
Originally published 19 January 1970 For the home of lost causes, Oxford has a pretty impressive record of “live” ones. Its name has been associated with ultra-Royalism in the 17th Century, High Church revival in the 19th, the moral-rearmament movement and the campaign against world povert
When a Language Dies
In February 2014, Hazel M. Sampson passed away in Washington, and with that death the world lost the last native speaker of the Klallam language of British Columbia and Washington’s Olympic Peninsula. Wikipedia catalogues 92 such extinct languages, and obsolescence, the extinction of language, is