Opera is an art form that combines acting and music, and sometimes also dance, with performers taking on dramatic roles. Its name comes from the Latin and Italian word “opera”, meaning work, and indeed this form of theater originated in Italy and it is a key aspect of Italian tradition. Over time, opera evolved to…
Category: Culture
The indigenous peoples who remain uncontacted
While the world in the 21st century is extremely interconnected, and we can easily talk with someone on the other side of the world, there are still numerous tribes of indigenous peoples who remain completely outside our society. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights of the United Nations and the non-profit group Survival International estimate…
Talian: the Venetian language spoken in Brazil
Italian is a Romance language spoken by about 85 million people around the world, with 67 million native speakers. Most of these of course live in Italy, where it is spoken by most of the population, and other European countries such as Switzerland and San Marino, where Italian is an official language, as well as…
The history of April Fools’ Day
All over the world, April 1 is a day in which pranks and hoaxes are common, a custom known as April Fools’ Day. While this celebration only originated in modern times in the Western world, similar customs can be found since ancient times, mostly in Europe. Maybe the oldest instance of a similar tradition is…
How dragons are depicted in different cultures
According to the traditional Chinese calendar, 2024 is the year of the dragon, which is one of the twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac. While very prominent in Chinese tradition, dragons appear in many different forms in several cultures across the world. From the serpentine creatures of East Asia to the fire-breathing flying reptiles of…
The incredible ice and snow sculptures of the Harbin Ice Festival
Harbin is the capital and largest city of Heilongjiang, the northernmost province of China, part of the historical region of Manchuria. With a population of over five million people, and ten million in its metropolitan area, Harbin is one of the main centers in Northeast China. Founded in 1898 by the Russians when they were…
The different calendars used around the world
A new year has just started, and 2024 is going to be special, as it is a leap year in the Gregorian calendar, the most used calendar around the world. To understand why this calendar is the de facto international standard, and why 2024 is a leap year, we need to go through the history…
The myth of the Moon rabbit
The dark markings visible on the near side of the Moon have been subject since ancient times to istances of pareidolia, the tendency to find familiar structures in natural features and artificial objects that have none. Throughout the ages, different cultures have seen various shapes while looking at the Moon, often linked with their mythology…
The history of zombies
Zombies are one of the most popular and common creatures in the modern horror genre, being featured in countless movies, series, and novels. While now the characteristics of zombies are pretty well defined and uniform across different works of fiction, their features have changed and evolved since their first appearance in popular culture in the…
Dangun and the story of the mythical founding of Korea
According to Korean tradition, Dangun was the mythical founder of Gojoseon, the first Korean kingdom that ruled over a territory stretching between the modern-day Liaoning Province in Northeast China and the northern portion of the Korean Peninsula in ancient times. The myth of Dangun first appeared in the 13th-century Samguk Yusa, a historical record that…