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"Explore the rich and mystical world of Italian folk traditions, where saints walked with witches and magic was found in the smallest of items.
Did you grow up hearing stories of "the evil eye"? Or perhaps, you’ve always wondered why Italian culture lights candles for saints. In Italian Folklore, Dr. Gina Miele weaves scholarly expertise and cultural passion into a rich tapestry of storytelling, history, and ritual practice to explore folk traditions from the old world. This beautifully illustrated, comprehensive book, told through fictional stories of everyday Italians, examines and honors Italy’s mystical heritage, where saints, healers, and peasants kept spiritual traditions alive through daily acts and seasonal rites.
In a world where identity ...>>
"A provocative look at how a sexually voracious demoness from ancient myth became the defining archetype of Western misogyny
For as long as human societies have been telling stories, the patriarchy has felt threatened by women. In this book, Eleanor Johnson provides an engaging cultural history of a figure she calls the "monstrous bitch", the notorious female who has haunted the patriarchal imagination for centuries, feared for her sexual promiscuity, her exercise of reproductive agency and control, and her outspoken way of contesting patriarchal power.
In a narrative brimming with insight, Johnson traces the origins of female monstrosity to the demoness Lamashtu of ancient Mesopotamia, showing how this infanticidal, hypersexual, loudmouthed monster appears in different ...>>
