Download or read book Old Calabria written by Norman Douglas and published by Double 9 Books. This book was released on 2023-05 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Old Calabria" is a travelogue written by Norman Douglas. The book is an account of the author's journey through the rugged and remote region of Calabria, located in the southern part of Italy. In the book, Douglas vividly describes the landscape, culture, and people of Calabria, which at the time was largely unknown and undiscovered by tourists. He chronicles his travels through small villages and towns, sharing his observations and encounters with the locals, their customs, and their way of life. Douglas also delves into the history and mythology of the region, recounting tales of Greek and Roman gods, as well as the legendary bandits who once roamed the area. He discusses the region's food, music, and religious festivals, providing readers with a rich and immersive experience of Calabria's unique culture. Throughout the book, Douglas's writing is infused with humor and wit, as he shares his opinions and critiques of the region and its people.

Download or read book The Conjurer s Guide to St Expedite written by Denise Alvarado and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2013-12-25 with total page 146 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: He could quite possibly be the most effective unofficial saint of urban legend ever to have been discovered. For a variety of reasons, the Roman Catholic Church will not officially recognize St. Expedite; but, at the same time, they won't discount him either. That's because he's just too damned popular. And, according to his devotees, he's just that damned good. But that's okay, New Orleans Voudou has no problem embracing St. Expedite as one of her patron saints. And hoodoos, rootworkers, conjure doctors, spiritualists and sorcerers appreciate his worth, as well. No officialities are needed in these camps. Because when a saint works as well-and more importantly, as quickly-as St. Expedite works, he is more than welcome in the wide world of conjure. Indeed, St. Expedite is the go-to saint for fast solutions to problems of all kinds. His quick response makes him extremely popular among those who strive to put an end to procrastination and delays and to those who seek financial success. He is petitioned for prompt solutions to business problems and has recently been coined the Patron Saint of Nerds due to his association with computer programmers and hackers. St. Expedite is also known as one of the lawyers of impossible causes, and as such, is petitioned for court cases and legal issues, as well. Written for the individual interested in the mystical and folk magic aspects of the Minute Saint - St. Expedite - this book delves into areas of his history and patronage never before found in one publication. This book contains more than the usual description, wordplay, prayers and suggested offerings of pound cake and public gratitude. A detailed description of where he is found around the world and how he fits into the various religiomagical landscapes, including contemporary cults of devotion and decapitation, Haitian Vodou expeditions and death conjure, individual and community relationships, and public and secret celebrations and workings are described. His origin stories, legend as a member of the Thundering Legion, and other presuppositions are explored. And, the campaign to denounce and erase any legitimacy associated with St. Expedite by the Catholic Church is presented as a curious quandary, given the multitudes of peoples across the globe who revere him and love him and swear by his legendary ability to fix problems with lightning speed. An examination of references to St. Expedite or St. Espidee as he is referred to, in the Hyatt texts is also provided in this book. Many of the works are provided in contemporary language so it is easy to understand for the reader, while others are kept in their original transcriptions for historical value. Learn how informants petitioned him for court scrapes, banishing, road opening, getting a job and many other purposes. In addition, St. Expedite is discussed within the context of New Orleans Voudou as Baron Samedi, including his relationship to the Skull and Bones Gang and Mardi Gras, not as public celebration, but as the underlying Spirit who kicks off and drives the festival of decadence and debauchery. This book provides details for working with St. Expedite within the context of folk Catholicism, hoodoo and New Orleans Voudou. From setting up an altar, to an obscure nine hour novena similar to the one developed by students in the Ursuline convent in the late 1700s, to many additional, original conjures never before revealed to the public will keep the modern conjurer busy for years to come as the problems of daily life inevitably present themselves again and again. For the first time ever, find all of the information available on St. Expedite, and then some, at your fingertips in this excellent reference book.

Download or read book The Voodoo Doll Spellbook written by Alvarado, Denise and published by Weiser Books. This book was released on 2014-06-01 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Presents doll spells drawn from New Orleans Voodoo and hoodoo traditions as well as those from ancient Greece, Egypt, Malaysia, Japan, and Africa, intended to produce fast-acting, long-lasting magic.

Download or read book The Prayer of Jabez written by Charles Spurgeon and published by . This book was released on 2016-04-01 with total page 26 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If you thought that the prayer of Jabez was about asking God for more stuff as other authors might express, this work by the preeminent preacher Charles Spurgeon. Read this short book that will give you a gospel centered view of this Old Testament story.

Download or read book Beyond the Feminization Thesis written by Patrick Pasture and published by Leuven University Press. This book was released on 2012 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Case studies upon the use of concepts like feminization and masculinization in relation to christianity. Since the 1970s the feminization thesis has become a powerful trope in the rewriting of the social history of Christendom. However, this 'thesis' has triggered some vehement debates, given that men have continued to dominate the churches, and the churches themselves have reacted to the association of religion and femininity, often formulated by their critics, by explicitly focusing their appeal to men. In this book the authors critically reflect upon the use of concepts like feminization and masculinization in relation to Christianity.

Download or read book Cultures of Devotion written by Frank Graziano and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2007 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Spanish America has produced numerous "folk saints" -- venerated figures regarded as miraculous but not officially recognized by the Catholic Church. Some of these have huge national cults with hundreds -- perhaps millions -- of devotees. In this book Frank Graziano provides the first overview in any language of these saints, offering in-depth studies of the beliefs, rituals, and devotions surrounding seven representative figures. These case studies are illuminated by comparisons to some hundred additional saints from contemporary Spanish America. Among the six primary cases are Difunta Correa, at whose shrines devotees offer bottles of water and used auto parts in commemoration of her tragic death in the Argentinean desert. Gaucho Gil is only one of many gaucho saints, whose characteristic narrative involves political injustice and Robin-Hood crimes on behalf of the exploited people. The widespread cult of the Mexican saint Nino Fidencio is based on faith healing performed by devotees who channel his powers. Nino Compadrito is an elegantly dressed skeleton of a child, whose miraculous powers are derived in part from an Andean belief in the power of the skull of one who has suffered a tragic death. Graziano draws upon site visits and extensive interviews with devotees, archival material, media reports, and documentaries to produce vivid portraits of these fascinating popular movements. In the process he sheds new light on the often fraught relationship between orthodox Catholicism and folk beliefs and on an important and little-studied facet of the dynamic culture of contemporary Spanish America.

Download or read book Doktor Snake s Voodoo Spellbook written by Doktor Snake and published by . This book was released on 2005-04 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Doktor Snakes Voodoo Spellbook offers spell-workings drawn from strands of Afro-American and Afro-Caribbean spirituality - Voodoo, Santeria and Macumba - which collectively form one of the largest religions in the world. This book is an instruction manual in authentic techniques of Voodoo and Hoodoo to get you started in casting spells that will help you gain money and prosperity, love and sex, health and well-being. A lucky mojo charm doll accompanies the book.

Download or read book Popular Religion and Modernization in Latin America written by Cristian G. Parker and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2015-10-14 with total page 301 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This landmark work constitutes a complete historical, sociological, and political view of religion as a cultural expression in Latin America. Parker shows how, beginning with the arrival of the conquistadors, religion has played a transcendent role in shaping the national cultures of the region, particularly its popular cultures, and continues to do so. Parker argues that while capitalistic modernization and urbanization do lead to secularization, this process is not linear or progressive. Secularization in Latin America does not destroy its religious fabric but rather transforms it, accentuating its pluralistic character. Christianity, and particularly Roman Catholicism, has influenced Latin American identity and culture most profoundly. But it has by no means been the sole influence, nor has Christianity itself remained unchanged in the process. As a product of history and capitalistic modernization, the trait of religion that emerges most clearly is that of cultural and religious pluralism.

Download or read book Vodou in Haitian Life and Culture written by C. Michel and published by Springer. This book was released on 2006-11-27 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This collection introduces readers to the history and practice of the Vodou religion, and corrects many misconceptions. The book focuses specifically on the role Vodou plays in Haiti, where it has its strongest following, examining its influence on spiritual beliefs, cultural practices, national identity, popular culture, writing and art.

Download or read book The Warrior Saints in Byzantine Art and Tradition written by Christopher Walter and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-12-05 with total page 383 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Christopher Walter's study of the cult and iconography of Byzantine warrior saints - George, Demetrius, the two Theodores, and dozens more - is at once encyclopaedic and interpretative, and the first comprehensive study of the subject. The author delineates their origins and development as a distinctive category of saint, showing that in its definitive form this coincides with the apogee of the Byzantine empire in the 10th-11th centuries. He establishes a repertory, particularly of their commemorations in synaxaries and their representations in art, and describes their iconographical types and the functions ascribed to them once enrolled in the celestial army: support for the terrestrial army in its offensive campaigns, and a new protective role when the Byzantine Empire passed to the defensive. The survey highlights the lack of historicity among the Byzantines in their approach to the lives of these saints and their terrestrial careers. An epilogue briefly treats the analogous traditions in the cultures of neighbouring peoples. Walter draws attention to the development of an echelon of military saints, notably in church decoration, which provides the surest basis for defining their specificity; also to the way in which they were depicted, generally young, handsome and robust, and frequently 'twinned' in pairs, so calling attention to the importance of camaraderie among soldiers. At the same time, this work opens a new perspective on the military history of the Byzantine Empire. Its ideology of war consistently followed that of the Israelites; protected and favoured by divine intervention, there was no occasion to discuss the morality of a 'just war'. Consequently, when considering Byzantine methods of warfare, due attention should be given to the important role which they attributed to celestial help in their military campaigns.

Download or read book Pietas Austriaca written by Anna Coreth and published by Purdue University Press. This book was released on 2004 with total page 158 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Pietas Austriaca is a path-breaking study of the relationship between religious beliefs and practices and the Habsburg political culture from the end of the medieval period to the early twentieth century. In this seminal work, originally published in 1959, Anna Coreth examines the ways that Catholic beliefs in the power of the Eucharist, the cross, the Virgin Mary, and saints were crucial for the Habsburg ruling dynasties in Austria and Spain. Coreth analyzes how leading Habsburg rulers in the early modern period, such as Rudolf I; Ferdinand I, II, and III; Maria Theresa; and Joseph II, used Catholic sacraments, rituals, and symbols to create a sense of identity and political purpose for their far-flung possessions in Europe. She further demonstrates how this Catholic culture drew on earlier models of pious Catholic rulers, especially the memory of Rudolph, and discusses the importance of this particular brand of Catholic piety in the confrontation with Protestantism in the Counter-Reformation period and in the encounter with the Muslim Turkish Empire. Coreth extends her study to discuss the myriad ways that this religious culture continued to influence Austrian society in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Pietas Austriaca is a tour de force that combines expert social, cultural, gender, and intellectual analysis of the political and religious landscape of one of Europe's most important empires and leading dynastic houses.

Download or read book Afro Caribbean Religions written by Nathaniel Samuel Murrell and published by Temple University Press. This book was released on 2010-01-25 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Religion is one of the most important elements of Afro-Caribbean culture linking its people to their African past, from Haitian Vodou and Cuban Santeria—popular religions that have often been demonized in popular culture—to Rastafari in Jamaica and Orisha-Shango of Trinidad and Tobago. In Afro-Caribbean Religions, Nathaniel Samuel Murrell provides a comprehensive study that respectfully traces the social, historical, and political contexts of these religions. And, because Brazil has the largest African population in the world outside of Africa, and has historic ties to the Caribbean, Murrell includes a section on Candomble, Umbanda, Xango, and Batique. This accessibly written introduction to Afro-Caribbean religions examines the cultural traditions and transformations of all of the African-derived religions of the Caribbean along with their cosmology, beliefs, cultic structures, and ritual practices. Ideal for classroom use, Afro-Caribbean Religions also includes a glossary defining unfamiliar terms and identifying key figures.

Download or read book The Faces of the Gods written by Leslie G. Desmangles and published by Univ of North Carolina Press. This book was released on 2000-11-09 with total page 237 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Vodou, the folk religion of Haiti, is a by-product of the contact between Roman Catholicism and African and Amerindian traditional religions. In this book, Leslie Desmangles analyzes the mythology and rituals of Vodou, focusing particularly on the inclusion of West African and European elements in Vodouisants' beliefs and practices. Desmangles sees Vodou not simply as a grafting of European religious traditions onto African stock, but as a true creole phenomenon, born out of the oppressive conditions of slavery and the necessary adaptation of slaves to a New World environment. Desmangles uses Haitian history to explain this phenomenon, paying particular attention to the role of the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century maroon communities in preserving African traditions and the attempts by the Catholic, educated elite to suppress African-based "superstitions." The result is a society in which one religion, Catholicism, is visible and official; the other, Vodou, is unofficial and largely secretive.

Download or read book When Grapes Turn to Wine written by Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī (Maulana) and published by . This book was released on 1986 with total page 30 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In recent years there has been a growing hunger in the industrialized nations for contact with the authentic ecstatic traditions of the world. The Victorian era translations of Rumi were completely inadequate to this task. Robert Bly, eminent poet and translator, had undertaken among his many projects to publish new versions of the mystic poets Kabir, Mirabai and Rumi. --Yellow Moon Press.

Download or read book Heavenly Bodies written by Paul Koudounaris and published by Thames and Hudson. This book was released on 2013-11-05 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An intriguing visual history of the veneration in European churches and monasteries of bejeweled and decorated skeletons Death has never looked so beautiful. The fully articulated skeleton of a female saint, dressed in an intricate costume of silk brocade and gold lace, withered fingers glittering with colorful rubies, emeralds, and pearls—this is only one of the specially photographed relics featured in Heavenly Bodies. In 1578 news came of the discovery in Rome of a labyrinth of underground tombs, which were thought to hold the remains of thousands of early Christian martyrs. Skeletons of these supposed saints were subsequently sent to Catholic churches and religious houses in German-speaking Europe to replace holy relics that had been destroyed in the wake of the Protestant Reformation. The skeletons, known as “the catacomb saints,” were carefully reassembled, richly dressed in fantastic costumes, wigs, crowns, jewels, and armor, and posed in elaborate displays inside churches and shrines as reminders to the faithful of the heavenly treasures that awaited them after death. Paul Koudounaris gained unprecedented access to religious institutions to reveal these fascinating historical artifacts. Hidden for over a century as Western attitudes toward both the worship of holy relics and death itself changed, some of these ornamented skeletons appear in publication here for the first time.

Download or read book Divided Houses written by Caroline C. Ford and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2005 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Divided Houses, Caroline Ford examines how the so-called feminization of religion in France from the French Revolution to the First World War contributed to the formation of a distinctive secular (laïc) republican political culture in France. She also reveals the effect of women's close association with religion on their civil and social status, which gave rise in France to heated debates about the limits of female agency, women's property rights, and women's role in the family and in society. She argues that religious women were often far more than the passive instruments of a male ecclesiastical hierarchy. In showing that these women could dispose of their bodies, souls, and properties in ways that were unimaginable to their secular counterparts, Ford's book obliges one to rethink the categories of tradition and modernity that have structured most thinking about this subject.Ford's book is centered on a set of microhistories and causes célèbres whose narratives are fascinating in and of themselves. They include conflicts within religious orders, the cults of some latter-day female saints, and riveting legal disputes involving women who converted to Catholicism. Perhaps most intriguingly, Ford brings current debates concerning pluralism and cultural difference in France into sharp historical focus. The fact that women have been portrayed as the quintessential carriers of religion ever since France embraced laïcité sheds light on problems faced by the secular French state today as it attempts to regulate religious expression--including emblems of Islam--in the public sphere.

Download or read book The Manly Eunuch written by Mathew Kuefler and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2001-07-25 with total page 460 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The question of masculinity formed a key part of the intellectual life of late antiquity and was crucial to the development of Christian society. This idea is at the heart of Mathew Kuefler's new book, which revisits the Roman Empire during the third and fifth centuries of the common era. Kuefler argues that the collapse of the Roman army, an increasingly autocratic government, and growing restrictions on the traditional rights of men within marriage and sexuality all led to an endemic crisis in masculinity: men of Roman aristocracy, who had always felt themselves to be soldiers, statesmen, and the heads of households, became, by their own definition, unmanly. The cultural and demographic success of Christianity during this epoch lay in the ability of its leaders to recognize and respond to this crisis. Drawing on the tradition of gender ambiguity in early Christian teachings, which included Jesus's exhortation that his followers "make themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven," Christian writers and thinkers crafted a new masculine ideal, one that took advantage of the changing social realities in Rome, inverted the Roman model of manliness, and helped solidify Christian ideology by reinstating the masculinity of its adherents.