Celebrating the beginning of a new year is a ritual practised by most cultures, even if it takes place at times other than 1 January. If you are Chinese, you won’t be getting too excited this year until 16 February, the beginning of the zodiac year of the Dog. Meanwhile, the Balinese will mark the … Continue reading Oudejaarsavond
Category: ritual
It’s pretty special to explore parts of a building that have only been open to the public twice in the last 200 years. Such was the case when Open Monumentendag rolled around on Saturday 10 September in Den Haag. When our delightful neighbour heard that we were planning to get amongst the action, she told … Continue reading Open Monumentendag: the Binnenhof
What would Horace Miner (Nacirema, 1956) have made of this? One afternoon at the beach we observed the interesting Dutch ritual depicted in the image above - a nearby university was running some of its orientation activities for new students, one of which involved attempting to play football while encased in an inflated plastic 'ball' … Continue reading Op het strand
