The Dancing Goddesses: Folklore, Archaeology, and the Origins of European Dance

Author: Elizabeth Wayland Barber
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393089215
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 590

Book Description
A fascinating exploration of an ancient system of beliefs and its links to the evolution of dance. From Southern Greece to northern Russia, people living in agrarian communities have long believed in “dancing goddesses,” mystical female spirits who spend their nights and days dancing in the fields and forests. In The Dancing Goddesses, archaeologist, linguist, and lifelong folkdancer Elizabeth Wayland Barber follows the trail of these spirit maidens—long associated with fertility, marriage customs, and domestic pursuits—from their early appearance in traditional folktales and harvest rituals to their more recent incarnations in fairytales and present-day dance. Illustrated with photographs, maps, and line drawings, the result is a brilliantly original work that stands at the intersection of archaeology and folk traditions—at once a rich portrait of our rich agrarian ancestry and an enchanting reminder of the human need to dance.

The Dancing Goddesses

Author: Elizabeth Wayland Barber
Publisher: National Geographic Books
ISBN: 0393065367
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
A fascinating exploration of an ancient system of beliefs and its links to the evolution of dance. From southern Greece to northern Russia, people have long believed in female spirits, bringers of fertility, who spend their nights and days dancing in the fields and forests. So appealing were these spirit-maidens that they also took up residence in nineteenth-century Romantic literature. Archaeologist and linguist by profession, folk dancer by avocation, Elizabeth Wayland Barber has sleuthed through ethnographic lore and archaeological reports of east and southeast Europe, translating enchanting folktales about these “dancing goddesses” as well as eyewitness accounts of traditional rituals—texts that offer new perspectives on dance in agrarian society. She then traces these goddesses and their dances back through the Romans and Greeks to the first farmers of Europe. Along the way, she locates the origins of many customs, including coloring Easter eggs and throwing rice at the bride. The result is a detective story like no other and a joyful reminder of the human need to dance.

The Dancing Goddesses: Folklore, Archaeology, and the Origins of European Dance

Author: E. J. W. Barber
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393065367
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 444

Book Description
An ethnographic and archaeological exploration of ancient traditions and folklore pertaining to "dancing goddesses" traces their roots in early Roman, Greek, and European cultures to reveal the origins of modern customs.

Pagan Portals - Dancing with Nemetona

Author: Joanna van der Hoeven
Publisher: John Hunt Publishing
ISBN: 1782793267
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 79

Book Description
Nemetona is an ancient goddess whose song is heard deep within the earth and also deep within the human soul. She is the Lady of Sanctuary, of Sacred Groves and Sacred Spaces. She is present within the home, within our sacred groves, our rites and in all the spaces that we hold dear to our hearts. She also lies within, allowing us to feel at ease wherever we are in the world through her energy of holding, of transformation. She holds the stillness and quiet of a perfect day; she is the stillness at the end of it, when the blackbird sings to the dusk. She is the energy of sacred space, where we can stretch out our souls and truly come alive, to be who we wish to be, filled with the magic of potential. Rediscover this ancient goddess and dance with a Druid to the songs of Nemetona. Learn how to reconnect with this goddess in ritual, songs, chants, meditation and more. ,

Dancing with the Gods

Author: Monidipa Mukherjee
Publisher:
ISBN: 9788194643388
Category : Dance
Languages : en
Pages : 96

Book Description
This book is an ode to the mythological heritage of Bharatanatyam. The visual narrative captures the rich heritage of this temple dance and its original exponents, the Devadasis or 'handmaidens of the deity'. Its repertoire of movements and moods bring alive the fascinating stories of Hindu gods and goddesses and their kaleidoscopic lives. In the following pages, the authors have traced the myths and legends that are cherished in our performing arts, to delight the culture-curious reader. And what is interesting is that in these stories, the reader will discover the inter-connectedness of ancient mythologies around the world. Perhaps such discoveries go a long way in validating the role that art plays in connecting civilizations. The book is designed to engage the reader without pedagogy or scholastic strictures, but with a lightness of touch, that entertains while it informs. Because the vision here is to weave information, anecdotes and trivia, together in the spirit of a popular cultural ranconteur. Replete with rare photographs curated from the Sohinimoksha World Dance and Communications archives, complemented by a lucid narrative that wraps facts in the language of romance and adventure, this book promises to be a collector's item for those who value the legacy of India's most celebrated dance form. For glimpses of some live performances by Sohini Roychowdhury, and her Sohinimoksha World Dance troupe, celebrating the music, dance, mythology of India and the World, go on-line to 'Dancing With The God.... with Sohinimoksha World Dance' at https://youtu.be/naR7p6SKiko

Dancing in the Flames

Author: Marion Woodman
Publisher: National Geographic Books
ISBN: 1570623139
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
Dark, earthy, and immensely powerful, the Black Goddess has been a key force in world history, manifesting in images as diverse as the Indian goddess Kali and the Black Madonnas of medieval Europe. She embodies the energy of chaos and creativity, creation and destruction, death and rebirth. Images of Her, however, have been conspicuously missing in the Western world for centuries—until now, when awareness of the Goddess is re-arising in many spheres, from the women's movement to traditional religion, from the new discoveries of quantum physics to the dreams of ordinary men and women. Why now particularly? The answer provided by Marion Woodman and Elinor Dickson is bold and thrilling: the reemergence of the Divine Feminine in our time indicates our readiness to move to an entirely new level of consciousness. The reemerging Goddess calls for a shattering of rigid categories, a willingness to hold opposition. She calls us to marry reason and order to creativity, and to embrace the chaos that can ultimately lead to wisdom and transformation on personal and global levels.

The Twilight of the Goddesses

Author: Madelyn Gutwirth
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 468

Book Description
In this extraordinarily rich book, Madelyn Gutwirth examines over one hundred prints and paintings, dozens of texts, and the work of a great many cultural critics in order to consider how gender politics were played out during a highly volatile era. Finding evidence of a crisis in gender relations during the eighteenth century, she traces its evolution in the politics of rococo art, demographic trends, plans for the control of prostitution, maternal nursing and wet-nursing practices, folklore, the salon, and in the theater of Diderot and the polemics of Rousseau. Gutwirth shows how a hostile gender ideology consigned women to a solely mothering role before the political revolution began, and how women who struggled to participate in the nascent First French Republic found themselves hobbled by the representational practices of the revolutionaries, especially their use of allegory. The artificiality and anachronism of the Revolution's representation of women were ratified by the Napoleonic Code. Once depicted as erotic goddesses by the rococo, then as goddesses of liberty (Marianne), the dominant figuration of women around 1800 would become the dying waif. As modern republics began their struggle toward legitimacy, women's posture within them had been reduced, by representation, to feeble marginality. Gutwirth combines perspectives from literature, history, sociology, demography, psychology, and art history and criticism in her delineation of this crisis.

Practicing the Presence of the Goddess

Author: Barbara Ardinger
Publisher: New World Library
ISBN: 1577311736
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 161

Book Description
This practical approach to a growing movement offers suggestions for honouring the feminine spirit and communing with the Goddess. It includes chapters on the Goddess of the spheres, pagans and witches, re-creating the sacred dimension, altar etiquiette and invoking deities. The author shows how how to build a meaningful altar, use rituals and meditations to enrich awareness and invent new rituals to celebrate personal events. Her suggestions run from the mundane, to the exotic, to the extraordinary.

Buddhist Goddesses of India

Author: Miranda Shaw
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691168547
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 586

Book Description
"The Indian Buddhist world abounds with goddesses--voluptuous tree spirits, maternal nurturers, potent healers and protectors, transcendent wisdom figures, cosmic mothers of liberation, and dancing female Buddhas. Despite their importance in Buddhist thought and practice, these female deities have received relatively little scholarly attention, and no comprehensive study of the female pantheon has been available. Buddhist Goddesses of India is the essential and definitive guide to divinities that, as Miranda Shaw writes, "operate from transcendent planes of bliss and awareness for as long as their presence may benefit living beings." Beautifully illustrated, the book chronicles the histories, legends, and artistic portrayals of nineteen goddesses and several related human figures and texts. Drawing on a sweeping range of material, from devotional poetry and meditation manuals to rituals and artistic images, Shaw reveals the character, powers, and practice traditions of the female divinities. Interpretations of intriguing traits such as body color, stance, hairstyle, clothing, jewelry, hand gestures, and handheld objects lend deep insight into the symbolism and roles of each goddess. In addition to being a comprehensive reference, this book traces the fascinating history of these goddesses as they evolved through the early, Mahayana, and Tantric movements in India and found a place in the pantheons of Tibet and Nepal."--Publisher's website.

Playing Cards of the Apaches

Author: Virginia Wayland
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 330

Book Description
Drawing on four decades of research, the authors present a history of the cards created by Apache Indians after playing cards were introduced into their culture by Spanish explorers and colonists. Includes reproductions of cards from more than 100 packs in museums and private collections around the world.