It’s Mardi Gras time! Break out the beads and get ready to party. But first, enrich your festival experience by learning about the history of the holiday in our blog post, Music, Color, Costumes and Beads—It’s Mardi Gras Time!
And take a walk down memory line in this slideshow of vintage Mardi Gras photos: A Brief History of Mardi Gras. Laissez les bons temps rouler!
Posted in Blog, Holidays, Public Life
Tagged ancient history, AntiquityNOW, Fat Tuesday, Mardi Gras, Shrove Tuesday
Tonight is the Punjabi Lohri festival. A celebration with ancient roots, it boasts numerous special foods. Today we’re bringing you a recipe for sarson da saag, a popular vegetable dish featuring mustard leaves and spices that is often eaten during the festivities.
No one is entirely sure when or why the Lohri festival began. As with many holidays celebrated today, it has ancient origins of a mysterious nature. The one unifying feature is that it is meant to recognize the winter solstice. It is thought that the ancient celebration of Lohri originally took place on the day of the winter solstice when the night is the longest of the year. The very next day began a trend of longer days and shorter nights, each slowly shortening by “the grain of one sesame seed.”[1] Continue reading
Only two more days until we ring in a brand new year! At AntiquityNOW we like to bring together traditions from all over the world, so this year we’re featuring a recipe for an ancient Dutch treat. Oliebollen are delicious dutch doughnuts with an unusual meaning and a dark history. Traditionally eaten on New Year’s Eve, oliebollen is translated as “oily balls.” While this may not sound like the most appetizing name for a food, these deep fried sweets will make you forget their strange name at first bite.
For Jews around the world Hanukkah is a season of family and remembrance, and what better way to celebrate the joy and miracle of this ancient holiday than seeing the ingenuity of students from the Hollis Hills Jewish Center Nursery School in Queens, New York.
Students at the school range from ages 18 months through five years old. The slideshow below illustrates the work of children from three classes. The Lego menorah was created by a student and her father. The children were learning about the story of the Maccabees and the miracle of Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights, where a small vessel of olive oil burned in the menorah for eight days at the Holy Temple. The pictures of the Hebrew letters Nun, Gimmel, Hey and Shin are translated “Great Miracle Happened There” (in Israel “Here” is substituted). Continue reading
Posted in Art, Blog, Culture, Holidays, Kids Blog, Kids: Art, Kids: Culture, Kids: Holidays, Kids: Public Life, Public Life
Tagged ancient history, AntiquityNOW, art, Hanukkah, Happy Hanukkah, kids' art, menorah
The text is as follows:
Section 1.
Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.Section 2.
Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
Posted in Blog, Holidays, Human Rights, Law, Public Life
Tagged 13th Amendment, 150th Anniversary, abolition, abolition of slavery, AntiquityNOW, ratification, slavery, The Slavery Project
You may think that Canadians and Americans are the only ones celebrating this Thanksgiving, but there are many harvest festivals taking place all over the world this time of year. Click here to learn all about these different holidays!
Posted in Blog, Holidays, Public Life
Tagged feast, festival, food, give thanks, harvest, holiday, Thanksgiving, Turkey, Turkey Day
It’s Turkey Day! If you’re looking for those last minute recipes to round out your meal, look no further. AntiquityNOW has dishes to delight all of your guests and each one comes with a fascinating past.
Posted in Blog, Bon Appetit Wednesday, Culinary, Culture, Holidays, Public Life
Tagged ancient foods, ancient recipe, AntiquityNOW, Bon Appetit Wednesday, pumpkin, Thanksgiving, Turkey
The five days of Diwali began on Wednesday, November 11th and will continue through this Sunday, so there’s plenty of time to celebrate this ancient festival of lights.
Click here to read our kids’ blog post about Diwali, complete with a Diwali toolkit from the Hindu American Society and delicious recipes for seven Diwali desserts.
And take a moment to browse through this slideshow of the festival of lights being celebrated around the world.
Happy Diwali! We wish you a year full of prosperity and opportunity!
Posted in Blog, Holidays, Public Life
Tagged ancient holidays, AntiquityNOW, Diwali, Diwali greetings, festival of lights, Happy Diwali
Maybe you’re adding the finishing touches to a costume you’ve been hand-sewing for weeks or maybe you’re scrambling to find last-minute costume ideas on the internet. Perhaps you’re preparing to observe an ancient Samhain or perhaps you’re headed to a modern Halloween bash. No matter how you plan to celebrate tonight’s festivities, it’s almost certainly going to involve delicious treats. Feasting on this night is nothing new. Check out our post The Colorful Past of Halloween Treats to learn more about the ancient origins of this holiday and more importantly, the food!
Also, don’t miss this fascinating slideshow of Halloween being celebrated all over the world.
And here’s a recipe for adorable mini ghost cupcakes.
October is a month packed with celebrations of culinary delights. Last week we sampled the ancient and delicious history of seafood and today we’re honoring our sweet tooth. Humanity has always loved to indulge in something deliciously decadent. From Cleopatra’s favorite Tiger Nut Sweets to the Mesopotamian Palace Cakes of Ur, there are so many wondrous ways to enjoy dessert spiced with a bit of antiquity. Below you’ll find the recipe for Tiger Nut Sweets, also called Dulcis Coccora, along with a list of some of our favorite Bon Appetit Wednesday dessert recipes. Happy National Dessert Day! Continue reading
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