When people travel abroad they often face culture shocks, sometimes people discover that things which are totally normal in their own culture are completely frowned upon in other cultures. It takes a while to adjust to the new culture that you move in any time you make it work. All cultures are different and we need to accept this reality of things
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People have enjoyed going to see plays as a form of entertainment since the earliest times. In ancient Greece and Rome, performances were given in great open-air arenas. In ancient Japan, the Noh plays were popular forms of entertainment. During the Middle Ages, sacred stories and plays with Christian themes, called morality plays, […]
The good olden days of theatre Performance Read More »
In the Middle Ages, paintings did not look particularly realistic. Almost all art was religious, and artists were not interested in drawing attention to the human nature of, for example, Jesus and Mary. Instead, artists tried to visually represent spiritual aspects of their subjects. For example, the relative size of figures or objects often showed
Some small improvements in European art Read More »
Imagine yourself a medieval traveler, perhaps-en-route from the Mediterranean to East Asia in search of exotic spices, silks, jewels, and perfumes. On the road, hundreds or thousands of miles from home, you meet your fellow travelers: merchants from the East and the West carrying trade goods, pilgrims on their way to religious shrines, knights in
Travel in ancient times was full of danger as well as exciting adventure Read More »
Ancient peoples were just as fond of taking a plunge into water as we are. The Romans were particularly fond of bathing and built many large public pools and baths. These pools and baths were often filled with water of different temperatures, heated either by natural hot springs or by furnaces. The Roman bather would
The Legendary Roman Baths Read More »
In the 400s B.C ., the Greeks had somewhat vague ideas about their immortality, assuming some sort of “shadowy” existence after death. Greek funerals did not involve priests, hymns, or prayers. They emphasized the memory of the deceased. The Greeks erected steles, or stone slabs, to commemorate their dead permanently and publicly. Many steles were
Magnificent Greek Funeral objects Read More »
The establishment of a silk industry in the Byzantine Empire began in the A.D. 500s with a few hardy silkworms, which were smuggled from China into Constantinople at the request of the Byzantine emperor Justinian. The silkworm secretes a silk thread, which it uses to make a cocoon for itself. Thousands of years earlier the
Excellent quality Justinian Garments Read More »
Do you realize that when you eat a bowl of chili, your food is seasoned with the same kinds of spices as the Inca in Peru used hundreds of years ago? Whether you eat at home or you eat in a restaurant (top right), at almost every meal you are enjoying the taste of a
Every Culture in the world has its own unique blend of spices Read More »
When Americans sit down to Thanksgiving dinner each year, they are participating in a kind of celebration found in almost every society in the world. All peoples find a way to give thanks when they have finished gathering the harvest. The growing season is over, and there is a sense of gratitude that the earth
Thanksgiving Festivals around the world Read More »
Once upon a time . . . ” is a phrase that we all probably recognize from the fairy tales that we heard as children. The stories that we call fairy tales occur in many cultures around the world, and often the same basic tale can be found in several cultures. The Jataka
Fairy tales are present in virtually every culture in the world Read More »
The rich soil of the Indus Valley made productive agriculture possible. Farmers cultivated a variety of crops including wheat, rice, and barley; they also raised chickens, cattle, and buffalo. To irrigate their fields, the farmers created a series of canals and ditches. Trade was also an essential element of life in the Indus Valley.
A very very old India Read More »