Village Festival by David Teniers the Younger

Hocktide: A Medieval Fest of Flirtation and Finances

The springtime holiday of Hocktide not only allowed villagers to cross social boundaries in the name of fun, it helped them raise funds for nonsecular needs.
An illustration of a UFO

Far Out: Why Don’t We Believe in UFOs?

Is it scientific impossibility or simply human ego that stops us from entertaining the idea of extraterrestrial visitation?
Pedestrian Charles Rowell, 1879

The Popularity and Politics of Pedestrianism

The sport of competitive walking touched on social concerns such as debt and poverty, fitness and fame, but it also found support in the temperance movement.

Graffiti Limbo

A University of Virginia professor enlisted students to document the messages—profane, hopeful, despairing—left on library carrels by previous generations.
Tantalus

Tantalus, Pac-Man, and Unsated Hungers

What does a violent, ancient Greek myth reveal about our modern addiction to technology and the enduring power of stories?
Goodyear blimps, Puritan and Reliance, in Florida.

Blimps in the Heavens Over Akron

A Goodyear executive dreamt of populating the sky with dirigibles. He settled for securing his company—and his blimps—a place in the public imagination.

What “Pain” Means

The English word “pain” once meant punishment, but over time, it’s been used to refer to different kinds of unpleasant experiences.
The fool plough, 1814

Plough Monday

Or, how to follow the Christmas holiday with a festival of pranks, trick-or-treating, and drunken revelry.
From a 1916 advertisement for Hoosier Kitchen Cabinets

Hoosier Cabinets and the Dream of Efficiency

Out of Indiana came a beloved wooden innovation that helped change the status of the kitchen in the American home.
Bay Area Renaissance Festival in Tampa Florida, 2011

Reasons for Re-Enacting at the Renaissance Faire

Why do we love donning period costumes and re-enacting our history through mock battles, pioneer villages, and Renaissance Faires?