The Welsh and Leeks

Something of interest we have recently learned!  In Wales, Leeks carry a great deal of importance.  There are superstitions like that a young girl could discover her future husband if she put a Leek under her pillow, or keep away evil spirits.  They...
The Story of Amalivaca

The Story of Amalivaca

And while the waters were returning from off the earth, Amalivaca came from a distant land in his large canoe. And from time to time he stopped to carve figures and mystical signs upon the rocks, which are still to be seen, though no man can interpret them. Now when...
THE FIRST FRUIT TREES

THE FIRST FRUIT TREES

Recipe at the end! There were three sisters alone in the house, preparing drink; the men-folk were away at a party. Early in the afternoon a young man came along, bringing a powis with him. He was not what he appeared to be, a friend, but an Adda-kuyuha (Tree Spirit)....
How the Little Boy Escaped from the Caribs 

How the Little Boy Escaped from the Caribs 

This story comes from the Warrau (recorded on sacred-texts.com) A party of women and girls went to gather wild pineapple. They traveled in a large corial, and at last landed. Having roamed the bush and gathered a number of pines, they all sat down in a circle to eat...
The Story of the Husband and the Parrot 

The Story of the Husband and the Parrot 

THERE was a certain merchant, of an exceedingly jealous disposition, having a wife endowed with perfect beauty, who had prevented him from leaving his home; but an event happened which obliged him to make a journey; and when he found his doing so to be indispensable,...
Norwuz & Whitefish

Norwuz & Whitefish

We all know that the Chinese celebrate their New Year with the Moon-but there are other cultures which celebrate it with the Sun.  Namely, Zoroastrianism which was historically practiced in Persia (modern-day Iran).  Zoroastrianism still persists to this...
Hymn to the Setting Sun (Assyrian)

Hymn to the Setting Sun (Assyrian)

O Sun, in the middle of the sky, at thy setting,may the bright gates welcome thee favourably,may the door of heaven be docile to thee.May the god director, thy faithful messenger, mark the way!In E-Bara, seat of thy royalty, he makes thy greatness shine forth.May...
Divine Court: Hittite Prayers

Divine Court: Hittite Prayers

The structure and rationale of a Hittite prayer is best understood as the enacting of a case in a divine court. This accords with the typically Hittite way of approaching all relations between two parties in legalistic terms. The defendant is the king, the prosecutor...
Creation

Creation

Sanhedrin 65b:18 “The Gemara relates another fact substantiating the statement that the righteous could create a world if they so desired: Rav Ḥanina and Rav Oshaya would sit every Shabbat eve and engage in the study of Sefer Yetzira, and a third-born calf [igla...
Rabbi Avner: The Sinner

Rabbi Avner: The Sinner

Moses ben Nachman, commonly known as Nachmanides, and also referred to by the acronym Ramban, was a leading medieval Jewish scholar in the 13th century, in Girona, Catalonia. He had a disciple, Avner, who strayed from the path of observant Judaism, left his community...