Category:
Foreign Customs

Easter Lifting and Heaving

Easter is early this year: March 31st. So you'd better bone up quick on the old practice of lifting strangers up in chairs.

According to Hone, the practice was common in Lancashire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire and other parts of England. Groups of people would gather together in the street and physically lift those they came across into the air, expecting a financial reward in return. Hone describes the practice as differing slightly in different parts of the country:

In some parts the person is laid horizontally, in others placed in a sitting position on the bearers’ hands. Usually, when the lifting or heaving is within doors, a chair is produced, but in all cases the ceremony is incomplete without three distinct elevations. (SCM 03706, p. 426)

In Warwickshire, Easter Monday and Easter Tuesday were known as ‘heaving-day‘, because on the Monday it was the tradition for men to ‘heave and kiss the women’ and on the Tuesday for the women to do the same to the men. Hone viewed the practice as, ‘an absurd performance of the resurrection’ derived from the Catholic church.











Posted By: Paul - Tue Feb 06, 2024 - Comments (3)
Category: Furniture, Holidays, Easter, Regionalism, Foreign Customs, United Kingdom

Ánnámáret: Homegrown Concert



"Ánnámáret is the performing name of Sámi musician Anna Näkkäläjärvi-Länsman. Ánnámáret performs yoik, a distinctive singing and songwriting tradition of the Sámi people."

The actual singing begins at the six-minute mark. Let us know how much you enjoy yoik music.

Posted By: Paul - Sun May 29, 2022 - Comments (2)
Category: Music, Foreign Customs, Cacophony, Dissonance, White Noise and Other Sonic Assaults

The Singing Ringing Tree

A snippet, then the whole film.

The Wikipedia page, where we learn:

The TV series, partly due to its foreignness as both fairy tale and for the unfamiliarity of its German production, was 'indelibly carved on the psyches'[7] as 'one of the most frightening things ever shown on [UK] children's television'.






Posted By: Paul - Tue Jan 26, 2021 - Comments (0)
Category: Anthropomorphism, Cult Figures and Artifacts, Horror, Movies, Children, Foreign Customs, 1950s

Follies of the Madmen #496



Tarzan chews Dentyne.

Posted By: Paul - Sun Jan 03, 2021 - Comments (1)
Category: Business, Advertising, Foreign Customs, 1940s, Teeth

Solon Bushi

In the old days before "cultural appropriation," a Black R&B group could sing a "Japanese folk song."

Posted By: Paul - Sat Dec 19, 2020 - Comments (0)
Category: Music, Foreign Customs, 1960s, Asia

Igorot Cave & Cliff Burial



A BBC slideshow here.

Essay here.



This is an original vintage post-mortem photograph from the 1930s. I believe it shows a very rare glimpse into traditional Igorot funeral customs. The man in this photo is deceased and bound in a sitting position.

A customer who has spent time with the Igorot had this to say, "I can explain why the man is placed in the seated position. I just spent a week in Ifugao, Philippines with a member of this tribe. A person is placed in this position and salted and dried for 3 days. The reason they are seated is because once dry, the person can be removed from the chair and turned,sideways into the fetal position. The Igorot/Ifugao tribe believes that a fetus in the womb is in the fetal position and by placing them in the fetal position after death, they will return to "mother nature/mother earth". Also Interesting to note that deceased loved ones are typically placed under their bed, under a child's bed, under the house, or somewhere else in the house in order to keep them close to the family. Just thought I'd share what I learned straight from a tribe member himself"


Source.

Posted By: Paul - Tue Nov 24, 2020 - Comments (2)
Category: Death, Religion, Foreign Customs, South Pacific and Polynesia

What a Country!

This is a show that could bring the nation together again.



Wikipedia page.

Posted By: Paul - Tue Jun 16, 2020 - Comments (3)
Category: Education, Stereotypes and Cliches, Television, Foreign Customs, 1980s

1979 TV Commercials

Your time machine back to forty years ago. Perhaps a solace in such troubled times as now.

Posted By: Paul - Sat May 30, 2020 - Comments (0)
Category: Business, Advertising, Culture and Civilization, Foreign Customs, 1970s

Page 1 of 13 pages  1 2 3 >  Last ›




weird universe thumbnail
Who We Are
Alex Boese
Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes.

Paul Di Filippo
Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over thirty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. He has recently begun blogging on many curious topics with three fellow writers at The Inferior 4+1.

Contact Us
Monthly Archives
October 2024 •  September 2024 •  August 2024 •  July 2024 •  June 2024 •  May 2024 •  April 2024 •  March 2024 •  February 2024 •  January 2024

December 2023 •  November 2023 •  October 2023 •  September 2023 •  August 2023 •  July 2023 •  June 2023 •  May 2023 •  April 2023 •  March 2023 •  February 2023 •  January 2023

December 2022 •  November 2022 •  October 2022 •  September 2022 •  August 2022 •  July 2022 •  June 2022 •  May 2022 •  April 2022 •  March 2022 •  February 2022 •  January 2022

December 2021 •  November 2021 •  October 2021 •  September 2021 •  August 2021 •  July 2021 •  June 2021 •  May 2021 •  April 2021 •  March 2021 •  February 2021 •  January 2021

December 2020 •  November 2020 •  October 2020 •  September 2020 •  August 2020 •  July 2020 •  June 2020 •  May 2020 •  April 2020 •  March 2020 •  February 2020 •  January 2020

December 2019 •  November 2019 •  October 2019 •  September 2019 •  August 2019 •  July 2019 •  June 2019 •  May 2019 •  April 2019 •  March 2019 •  February 2019 •  January 2019

December 2018 •  November 2018 •  October 2018 •  September 2018 •  August 2018 •  July 2018 •  June 2018 •  May 2018 •  April 2018 •  March 2018 •  February 2018 •  January 2018

December 2017 •  November 2017 •  October 2017 •  September 2017 •  August 2017 •  July 2017 •  June 2017 •  May 2017 •  April 2017 •  March 2017 •  February 2017 •  January 2017

December 2016 •  November 2016 •  October 2016 •  September 2016 •  August 2016 •  July 2016 •  June 2016 •  May 2016 •  April 2016 •  March 2016 •  February 2016 •  January 2016

December 2015 •  November 2015 •  October 2015 •  September 2015 •  August 2015 •  July 2015 •  June 2015 •  May 2015 •  April 2015 •  March 2015 •  February 2015 •  January 2015

December 2014 •  November 2014 •  October 2014 •  September 2014 •  August 2014 •  July 2014 •  June 2014 •  May 2014 •  April 2014 •  March 2014 •  February 2014 •  January 2014

December 2013 •  November 2013 •  October 2013 •  September 2013 •  August 2013 •  July 2013 •  June 2013 •  May 2013 •  April 2013 •  March 2013 •  February 2013 •  January 2013

December 2012 •  November 2012 •  October 2012 •  September 2012 •  August 2012 •  July 2012 •  June 2012 •  May 2012 •  April 2012 •  March 2012 •  February 2012 •  January 2012

December 2011 •  November 2011 •  October 2011 •  September 2011 •  August 2011 •  July 2011 •  June 2011 •  May 2011 •  April 2011 •  March 2011 •  February 2011 •  January 2011

December 2010 •  November 2010 •  October 2010 •  September 2010 •  August 2010 •  July 2010 •  June 2010 •  May 2010 •  April 2010 •  March 2010 •  February 2010 •  January 2010

December 2009 •  November 2009 •  October 2009 •  September 2009 •  August 2009 •  July 2009 •  June 2009 •  May 2009 •  April 2009 •  March 2009 •  February 2009 •  January 2009

December 2008 •  November 2008 •  October 2008 •  September 2008 •  August 2008 •  July 2008 •