Rituals and celebrations
Death and dying
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Why ancient Mesopotamians buried their dead beneath the floor
In an age before photos or audio recordings, people found other ways to stay sensorially connected to their deceased
by Nicola Laneri
Rituals and celebrations
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More radical and practical than Stoicism – discover Shugendō
As they train for their own deaths, Japan’s mountain priests develop a form of acceptance that goes beyond the Stoics
by Tim Bunting
Civic life
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Voting in person brings democracy to momentous life
Elections are about more than tallying votes – they offer voters a deeply felt connection to democracy and their role in it
by Emilee Booth Chapman
Rituals and celebrations
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Far-flung ancient communities forged bonds through broken rings
What can the fragments of Neolithic slate rings found in Finland tell us about social relationships 6,000 years ago?
by Marja Ahola, Elisabeth Holmqvist & Petro Pesonen
Sports and games
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For players of fafi, dream interpretation is a vital skill
The fafi lottery game in South Africa requires the careful interpretation of dreams and the waking world around you
by Brittany Birberick
Grief
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‘A tattoo is for life’: how memorial tattoos help the bereaved
More intimate and permanent than other reminders, tattoos offer an embodied form of meaning-making in the wake of loss
by Jennifer L Buckle & Sonya Corbin Dwyer
Emerging therapies
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Why placebo pills work even when you know they’re a placebo
New evidence of the power of the placebo effect – even without any deception – is raising important questions for medicine
by Darwin A Guevarra & Kari A Leibowitz
Stories and literature
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On the pleasures of hand-writing letters you’ll never send
Hand-writing letters you’ll never send takes the heat off feelings and lets you look back on drafts of a previous self
by Anandi Mishra
Place
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In hatboxes, pouches and bags lie the items that define us
Whether it be in a hatbox, wooden chest or leather bag, what makes some stuff personal, rather than just private property?
by Andreas Gehrlach
Poetry
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How poetry casts a spell through the rhythmic magic of metre
Poetry meets the raw needs of our most vulnerable selves in a primal way, with a simple tool: predictable, rhythmic metre
by Annie Finch
Emotion regulation
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What geometry taught me about awe, love and grief
I’ve loved geometry all my life. This is what it has taught me about grief, and what grief has taught me about geometry
by Michael Frame
The body and physical health
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Shaggy and strong, or shorn and sharp? Hair’s evolving symbolism
Spartan soldiers combed their locks before battle, today’s military men go shaven-headed. On the changing symbolism of hair
by Frank Gonzalez-Crussi