#CulturalHistory

[thesymbolsofparadise]

The Fight on the Bridge (1882-1885) by Arnold Böcklin

[klikomo]

#interestingfacts 88

Follow for what’s trending and interesting around the world 🌍

[stefanzl]

One of my earlier posters/maps features Austria-Hungary. It highlights its borders, the internal divisions into provinces, and their respective capital cities.

[curiositydidnotkillthecat2]

Something about Vikings

In the popular imagination, the typical Viking warrior is depicted wearing a large horned helmet. However, representations from that era do not show any evidence of such headgear. Despite their widespread portrayal in this way, there is no historical proof that Vikings favored helmets with horns.

It remains intriguing to understand why horned helmets became such a defining symbol of the Viking people in modern pop culture. This iconography originated between the late 18th century and the early 19th century, when the Romantic movement brought Germanic and Norse sagas and mythology back into the spotlight. The idea of horns likely emerged among 19th-century Swedish writers or contemporary European painters, who based their reconstructions on Greek and Latin accounts. These accounts mentioned Norwegian and Germanic priests wearing horned helmets during specific pagan rituals over 2,000 years earlier.

In 1825, artist Gustav Malmström published an illustrated edition of the Saga of Frithiof, a Swedish poem by Esaias Tegnér inspired by events from the 8th century (although Tegnér’s source text dates back to the 1300s). This work gained immense international fame and sparked a fascination with Scandinavian peoples of the migration period that persists today. Malmström’s illustrations became iconic, and from 1825 onward, Scandinavians—frequently labeled as Vikings—were consistently depicted wearing horned helmets in every reproduction.

[celestialdnagenome]

Religion: A Human Construct

This video explores the concept of religion as a uniquely human construct, a framework developed to understand and give meaning to life’s mysteries.

Through the lens of ancient civilizations, particularly the Sumerians, it delves into how early societies crafted gods and goddesses to explain the forces of nature, from storms to fertility and the cycle of life and death.

By attributing these natural phenomena to divine figures, the Sumerians created a belief system that helped unify their culture, govern morality, and provide comfort in the face of uncertainty.

The video invites viewers to consider how these early deities shaped human history and laid the groundwork for the development of organized religion across cultures.

[dyanamic]

"Discover the hidden stories behind Easter traditions in 'Cracking Open Easter: Exploring Traditions and Origins.' Unveil the origins of Easter eggs, bunnies, and more as we journey through centuries of celebration and symbolism. From ancient roots to modern customs, explore the essence of this springtime festival with us."

[lucianopodes]

Great WallofChina "A Grande Muralha da China é uma das maravilhas mais fascinantes do mundo antigo e uma das estruturas mais icônicas da China. Construída ao longo de mais de 2.000 anos, a muralha é uma prova incrível da engenharia e arquitetura chinesas. Além de suas impressionantes dimensões e história, a Grande Muralha também é uma atração turística popular, atraindo milhões de visitantes todos os anos. É um símbolo não só da China, mas também do poder e da determinação humanos. Você já visitou a Grande Muralha? Compartilhe sua experiência nos comentários!" @prof.lucianodornelles #GreatWallOfChina #HumanEngineering #CulturalHistory #UNESCO #Tourism #China #Travel #BucketList (em Wuwei, Anhui, China) https://www.instagram.com/p/CpfHh6XOrJ4/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[weemsbotts]

Bedtime Stories During a War: A Tiny Snapshot of Prince William County in April 1944

By: Lisa Timmerman, Executive Director

In April 1944, The Manassas Journal ran a series of “Bedtime Stories” in their newspapers, all featuring the beloved Peter Rabbit. In a newspaper filled with devasting news of WWII with recipes urging people to use more eggs and less meats, these stories provided a chance for parents to impart societal and moral lessons without having to discuss the war.

The April paper featured the following: More Old Friends Wake Up and Greet Peter, Welcome Robin Tells of His Adventures, and Peter Rabbit is Scared and then Glad. Besides for featuring a curious and naive Peter Rabbit, these stories acknowledged the hard realities of American life in 1944 while reminding children of the promise of the future. 

Excerpt: More Old Friends Wake Up and Greet Peter:

“A stomach is a funny thing,” thought Peter. “Yes, sir, a stomach is a funny thing. People say that this one or that is good hearted or bad hearted, when half the time I don’t believe the heart has anything to do with it. It’s the stomach. That’s what it is – the stomach. If a fellow’s stomach is just comfortably full he is good-natured, and if it is uncomfortably empty he is cross. It’s surely funny how differently things look when you’ve got something in your stomach. Now this is certainly a beautiful spring morning, but Unc’ Billy Possum couldn’t see it until he got that beetle in his stomach. Then he was his old, good natured self all in a wink. Why, if it wasn’t for stomachs we wouldn’t have much of anything to worry about.” Peter stopped running for to think this new idea over. He can always think better sitting still. “It’s a fact,” continued Peter, talking out loud to himself. “If it wasn’t for our stomachs we never would have to worry about food and we wouldn’t have to worry about enemies because we wouldn’t have any!” At this amazing thought Peter’s eyes opened wide. He felt that he had made a discovery.

“I don’t know about that,” said a voice. “You seem to forget about men with their terrible guns and traps. They hunt us for fun more than they do for food, though I must say I can’t see where the fun comes in.”

Here we see the importance of food and a recognition that being hungry was normal, the stomach’s “task” was to inform us of our needs. While Peter Rabbit wanted to apply this logic to everything, Jimmy Skunk reminded him of the realities of “enemies.”

Excerpt: Welcome Robin Tells of his Adventures:

Do you ever think of Welcome Robin as having strange adventures and narrow escapes? Peter Rabbit never did. Welcome Robin is such a cheery fellow, always singing “Cheer Up! Cheer Up! Cheer Up! Cheer!” and making everybody glad by the sound of his voice, that someone, Peter never once had thought that Welcome possibly could have much to worry him. A great many people are just that way. They are so much taken up with their own troubles that they never think that their cheerful neighbors may have just as great troubles, and perhaps, worse.

When Welcome Robin told Peter what a long journey he had made to get back there to the Old Orchard it was hard work for Peter to believe that anyone could possibly travel so far, and it was still harder for him to believe that anyone who had been so far away could find his way back again. And yet he never had known Welcome Robin to tell an untruth, so he just HAD to believe.

This lesson focuses on recognizing the needs of your neighbor and your community. Supporting a wartime economy was a communal necessity, along with listening and acknowledging the importance of the family and community unit.

Excerpt: Peter Rabbit is Scared and then Glad:

Peter Rabbit had been so interested in Welcome Robin’s story of his long journey from the sunny Southland that he quite forget everything else. He just sat with his eyes fixed on Welcome Robin in the tree over his head and never once thought about watching out for danger.

The place where Peter was sitting was down in the far corner of the Old Orchard, very near the doorstep of an old friend. He was back of it and so, of course, he couldn’t see it. Now the owner of that doorstep had been asleep ever since the first cold day of last fall. Curled up in his snug, warm, little bedroom deep down in the ground, he had known nothing about what had been going on all those months. He had known nothing of snow and ice, of Jack Frost and Rough Brother North Wind. He had slept through it all. But that morning Mistress Spring had stopped at his doorway long enough to call gently down his long hallway until she had wakened him. When she heard him stretching and yawning and grumbling to himself, she went on to waken other sleepers.

For a long time after she had gone he lay there trying to make up his mind whether to go to sleep again or to get up and have a peep outside. “I don’t believe it is time to get up yet,” he grumbled. “I don’t believe I’ve been asleep any time at all.”

How Peter Rabbit would have shouted if he could have heard that. But no one heard it because, you know, that little grumbler was way down in his snug bedroom underground. So he kept on grumbling all to himself until right into the midst of his grumbling there broke a sound which caused him to sit very still and listen with all his might. In a minute he heard it again. It was the voice of Welcome Robin singing: “Cheer up! Cheer up! Cheer up! Cheer! Mistress Spring is surely here.” That settled the matter. There was no doubt now about it being time to get up.

While Peter Rabbit is slightly wiser here, we meet those animals emerging from their winter hibernations. While certainly grumbling, the sleepy animal does eventually awaken and recognize he cannot remain idle at the start of spring.

Helen Beatrix first developed the idea of a loveable and mischievous anamorphic rabbit in her correspondence to her former governess’ son Noel in 1893. Wild and domesticated animals populated her idealized English countryside, and appeared in print in 1901 as “The Tale of Peter Rabbit” with a commercial publication in 1902. She inspired other writers, such as American naturalist and conservationist Thornton W. Burgess, to create more characters and even write stories about Peter Rabbit. Potter wrote and illustrated 24 original books.  However, it should be noted that not all Peter Rabbit stories imparted fair and inclusive moral lessons. Reinforced racism and sexism appeared heavily in folklore and folktales in the early 20th century.

Did Prince William County children hear these bedtime stories at night? While we cannot provide data and statistics at this point without conducting proper research, these stories provide a sharp contrast to the rest of the paper which focused on war. The reminder of hope and renewal along with the importance of community certainly offered parents a chance to indulge and escape with a beloved literary character during such a hard and often depressing time.

Note: It’s the beginning of March meaning we have a new newsletter available! Click here to read the March 2023 edition of HDVI’s The Town Crier.

(Sources: The Manassas Journal, 04/06/1944, Vol. LXXIV, No. 49; The Manassas Journal, 04/13/1944, Vol. LXXIV, No. 50; The Manassas Journal, 04/20/1944, Vol. LXXIV, No. 51; The World of Peter Rabbit: A Short History of a Timeless Adventure, https://peterrabbit.com/about; Winick, Stephen. Library of Congress Blogs: Folklife Today: Here Comes Peter Cottontail: Some Cultural History, https://blogs.loc.gov/folklife/2016/03/peter-cottontail)

[thesymbolsofparadise]

Palazzo Contarini del Bovolo, Venice (1891) by Ferdinando Ongania

[bygonely]

Romanticism to Realism Stunning Paintings of Christian Krohg from the late 19th and Early 20th Century

[ikno-io]

Discover the significance of October 30th, known as All Hallows' Eve. Explore its history, cultural impact, and modern celebrations worldwide. read the full article: https://bit.ly/40udbz5 #AllHallowsEve #HalloweenTraditions #CelticSamhain #MischiefNight #CulturalHistory read more: what is the day before halloween called

[pulse-vibes-media]

🌟 Ever heard of the Great Cat Massacre of the 1730s in Paris? 🌟

In this video, explore the Great Cat Massacre of the 1730s in Paris! Apprentices, facing harsh conditions, staged a mock trial for their masters' beloved cats as a symbolic protest. Discover this bizarre and revealing historical event. 🐾⚖️

#GreatCatMassacre #ParisHistory #18thCentury #SymbolicProtest #HistoricalInsights  #GreatCatMassacre #ParisHistory #18thCentury #SocialTensions #HistoricalOddity #SymbolicProtest #DarkHumor #WorkingClassStruggles #HistoricalInsights #CulturalHistory