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Rituals and Traditions

Punxsutawney Phil, the weather prognosticating groundhog, makes his appearance during the Groundhog Day celebration at Gobblers Knob in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania.

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A Short History of Groundhog Day

Punxsutawney Phil is part of a tradition with roots that extend back thousands of years

The Catalan Nativity character known as Caganer in the Santa Llucia Christmas Market, Barcelona, Spain.

Catalonia

Catalonian Nativity Scenes Feature a Man Pooping in the Manger Scene’s Corner

Kids also celebrate Christmas by beating a log until it poops out treats

After this traditional Japanese wedding ceremony, the bride is required to take her new husband’s surname

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In Japan, Couples Are Still Legally Required to Have the Same Surname

The Supreme Court upheld a century-old law that was challenged by equal rights activitsts

On December 17, pilgrims flood the streets of the Cuban town of Rincón, home to a leprosarium and a church dedicated to St. Lazarus.

Cuba’s Fascinating Babalú-Ayé Procession Honors African and Catholic Traditions

On December 17, Cubans perform a ritual pilgrimage for a powerful deity that can bring good health or can take it away

A Brief History of Sending a Letter to Santa

Dating back more than 150 years, the practice of writing to St. Nick tells a broader history of America itself

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Paris Has a ‘Love Lock’ Problem

And it’s not the only city that wants to get rid of them

"Brainchild" by Michael Christian

Photos: Wacky, Wild Art From This Year’s Burning Man Festival

Feast your eyes on some of this year’s wildest art installations

Ancient mummified bodies stand guard over windswept deserts near the Nazca and Ica mountain summits.

Smithsonian Journeys Travel Quarterly: Inca Road

The Fascinating Afterlife of Peru’s Mummies

From inside stone palaces and atop sacred mountaintops, the Inca dead continued to wield incredible power over the living

Aymara people prepare an offering to Mother Earth during the sunrise of the winter solstice ceremony in La Apacheta, El Alto, on the outskirts of La Paz.

Smithsonian Journeys Travel Quarterly: Inca Road

In Bolivia’s High-Altitude Capital, Indigenous Traditions Thrive Once Again

Among sacred mountains, in a city where spells are cast and potions brewed, the otherworldly is everyday

Cool Finds

Astronauts Have Some Weird Pre-Launch Traditions

Rituals are important when you’re about to rocket into space

Pasquino in Rome

Cool Finds

Have Something Rude to Say? Put it on This 2300-Year Old Statue in Rome

A cardinal started the tradition of decorating this statue with snarky poems and insults

The Foods Americans Once Loved to Eat

Turtles, beavers and eel were once beloved staples of the continental diet. What happened?

A skull at Bolivia's Fiesta de las Ñatitas.

New Photo Book Explores Places the Dead Don’t Rest

From mossy burial caves to bone-filled churches, photographer Paul Koudounaris spent a dozen years documenting sites where the living and dead interact

The makech, a beautiful beetle from Central and South America has been worn as a living pendant for centuries.

Meet the Makech, the Bedazzled Beetles Worn as Living Jewelry

The unusual bugs from the Yucatán have a backstory as colorful as their rhinestone-studded rumps

The yurt, a portable, circular hut, has been a part of Central Asian nomadic culture for centuries. During the Soviet era, metal was abundant and cheap, so metallic yurts frequent Kyrgyzstan ancestral cemeteries. An Islamic crescent tops this yurt, and a Kyrgyz hunting eagle spreads its wings in the background.

Kyrgyzstan’s Otherworldly Cities of the Dead

Photographer Margaret Morton traveled to the remote corners of the Central Asian nation to document its city-like ancestral cemeteries

Members of the Xhosa tribe, like the young initiates seen here in Khayelitsha, are among the South African groups that practice ritual circumcision. The affiliation of the young man who received a transplant is not known.

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The Trickiest Part of a Penis Transplant? Finding a Donor

The doctors who announced the first successful procedure last week had a particularly difficult time finding willing organ donors

The ubiquitous shamrock has mythical origins.

No One Really Knows What a Shamrock Is

The three-leaf clover is what everyone wears, but what species is it?

Fictitious Catalan figures known as "carnestoltes" dance in the street during the Carnival parade in Sitges, Spain.

Mad, Wonderful Photos From Mardi Gras and Carnival

From New Orleans to Panama to Spain, revelers celebrated Mardi Gras and the days leading up to it with costumes, color and craziness

In some parts of the country, this is what duck sauce looks like. In others, not so much.

Ask Smithsonian

What Exactly Is Duck Sauce?

Trying to get to the bottom of this Chinese food mystery sends our writer on a wild goose chase

A devil burns gunpowder during the festival of Els Foguerons de Sa Pobla.

Catalonia

One Night Each Winter, Devils Run Through the Streets of Barcelona

Since the early 1990s, Barcelona’s winter bonfire festival has celebrated the intersection of Catalan and Majorcan cultures

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