Why am I passionate about this?
Iām an information junkie who loves to dance. I fell in love with folk dancing at age 6, European archaeology at 11, linguistics and cognition at 21āand could never drop any of them. My scientist-father always said, āFollow the problem, not the discipline,ā and I began to see how these fields could help answer each otherās questions. Words can survive for millenniaāwith information about what archaeologists donāt find, like oh-so-perishable cloth. Determining how to reconstruct prehistoric textiles (Womenās Work: The First 20,000 Years) then led me to trace the origins of various European folk costumes, and finally even to reconstruct something about the origins of the dances themselves.
Elizabeth's book list on European dance in female fertility and health
Why did Elizabeth love this book?
Humans also draft dance to help heal body and mind. I loved Kligmanās personal ventures deep into the complex concerns about life and death, fertility and health, found in related pre-Christian rituals in three areas of the Balkans: the CÄluÅari in SW Romania, the Rusaltsi in NW Bulgaria, and the Kraljeviāoften with other namesājust west in former Yugoslavia. (The word Rusaltsi comes from Rusalka, a Slavic name for the ādancing goddessā, as does Rusalii, the thrice-yearly festival in their honor.) Her intriguing study comes from direct observation of the healing rituals, and on personal discussions with the dancersāincluding one who was particularly vulnerable to trance! This is also true of L. Danforthās remarkable account of the firewalkers of SE Bulgaria and northern Greece (Firewalking and Religious Healing).
1 author picked Calus as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.
Classic ethnography of a rural Romanian village and ritual by the outstanding American scholar of Romania and Romanian culture.
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