Traditional arts
![Medieval illustration of three musicians: one with a violin, another in a blue robe, and the last with a flute, framed by colourful borders.](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/511f082f-8f1c-4d63-9af2-c050444fed10/rt-cpg848842.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Music
idea
Courtly love songs are a window into medieval sex lives
Song lyrics acted as a sexual script for aristocrats, revealing some edgy practices that ignited their imaginations
by Elizabeth Eva Leach
![A dancer in traditional Indian dress performs on stage against a black background](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/05aa90b5-748f-4d3e-80b8-37f55033383c/original.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Dance
idea
Bharathanatyam dance is a living exploration of being human
With its origins in 16th-century India, Bharathanatyam remains hugely popular. Here’s a primer to kickstart your enjoyment
by Lakshmi Thiagarajan
![A knitted grey toy mouse holds a needle and repairs its own dress. Three balls of yarn lie nearby, alongside a small blue open book.](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/3c1bf35e-c897-4ab4-9833-fcb77a47c43d/visible-mending-landscape-1.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Pleasures and pastimes
film
A whimsical ode to the reparative power of knitting, rendered in wool
Directed by Samantha Moore
![A boy eats at a table while a smiling woman holds a kitten in a rustic kitchen with peeling walls and various items on a counter.](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/80371113-ec72-46a2-a664-f3cc15db9ac4/original.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Food and drink
idea
La cucina povera delivers the fare we need to sustain us now
La cucina povera made do with whatever was available in nonna’s kitchen garden, and remains the perfect fare for our times
by Louise Fabiani
![](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/eac9908c-f606-408d-9716-608980c46c4c/original.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Music
idea
Bob Dylan turned American folk traditions into modern prophecy
Bob Dylan’s ‘A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall’ is the first truly modernist folk song: it reworks tradition into a prophetic warning
by Timothy Hampton
![Illustration of cupped hands holding a golden artefact with intricate patterns against a textured background.](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/556c85c7-9d19-40c2-8ff0-dd1c945899fa/original.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Traditional arts
film
A Bronze Age pendant links lives centuries apart in this wondrous short
Directed by Samantha Moore
![](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/d7f5cc29-41ec-4f24-9e45-0674f96a8bd2/original.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Philosophy of art
idea
Archaeology excavates the layers of meaning we leave behind
Archaeologists make sense of the past by thinking about the intentional and the natural meanings of what they uncover
by Marilynn Johnson
![](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/e392b737-c127-44ed-bf53-1b4e6093eb02/original.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Learning and education
idea
Handcraft lessons belong in a radical school curriculum
Handcraft lessons in school can stitch empathy, sustainability and resilience to the shared knowledge of communal heritage
by Hinda Mandell
![Ancient petroglyph depicting a human-like figure with outstretched arms and legs, etched onto a brown, weathered rock surface.](https://images.aeonmedia.co/images/7acececc-b7a8-4633-8bc7-d26b810ad7b1/original.jpg?width=3840&quality=75&format=auto)
Sacred places
film
Explore the rugged beauty of Nine Mile Canyon, the world’s longest art gallery
Directed by Dane Christensen