Daoism, which emphasizes harmony with nature, can inform individuals on their relationship with the environment.
Ma Yuan 'Walking on Path in Spring.' National Palace Museum via Wikimedia Commons
A scholar of Daoist rituals explains how the indigenous tradition of China understands the human body as being part of the larger cosmos.
Catarina was revered in Puebla, Mexico – but devotion to her attracted Catholic authorities’ disapproval after her death.
Image from the collections of the Biblioteca Nacional de España
Accounts of Asian American history often stop at the US border, but Asians were living in Latin America for centuries before the Declaration of Independence.
A Lotus Sutra scroll praising the manifold mercies of the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara.
Universal Gateway chapter of the Lotus Sutra/Calligrapher: Sugawara Mitsushige/The Metropolitan Museum of Art Collection
For many Buddhists today, both in East Asia and across the world, the Lotus Sutra offers religious support for various gender identities.
Singers in Lviv, Ukraine, before the traditional Christmas Stars Parade during Orthodox Christmas in January 2023.
Artur Widak/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Most of the Klan’s victims were African American, but many other groups have been targeted during the hate group’s century and a half of history.
Russian riot police detain gay rights activists during World Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia in St. Petersburg in 2019.
Olga Maltseva/AFP via Getty Images
Far-right American Christians once viewed Soviet culture as a menace to their values. Today, some authoritarian-leaning admirers wish their country were more like Putin’s Russia.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson takes questions from reporters at the Capitol in Washington on Nov. 14, 2023.
AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
The famous apparition of the Virgin Mary has come to symbolize Mexico, but other groups – particularly migrants and Latinos north of the border – also feel a special connection to Guadalupe.
The Christmas pudding, a legacy of the British Empire, is enjoyed around the world – including in former British colonies.
esp_imaging/iStock via Getty Images Plus
Yule, celebrated by Wiccans and many other Pagans in the Northern Hemisphere on Dec. 21, the day of the winter solstice, is a time for reflection.
Candles on a large Hanukkah menorah shine in front of a Christmas tree at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany, in 2015.
Gregor Fischer/picture alliance via Getty Images
Assimilation no doubt played a role in making Hanukkah the commercialized holiday it is today. But other factors shaped the modern festival, too, a scholar of Jewish studies and gender explains.
A gilded statue of the Buddha at Wat Phanan Choeng Temple in Thailand.
Kittipong Chararoj/ iStock via Getty Images Plus
Through the power of rituals, inanimate objects can be understood to transform into agents who can see, hear, taste and respond to the concerns of those who worship them.
Two people use a Palestinian keffiyeh to show their support during a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Washington on Nov. 4, 2023.
AP Photo/Amanda Andrade-Rhoades
The keffiyeh’s prominence soared in the 1970s when Yasser Arafat, leader of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, adopted and popularized the garment.
People cheer as a vehicle carrying hostages released by Hamas drives toward an army base in Ofakim, southern Israel, on Nov. 26, 2023.
Menahem Kahana/AFP via Getty Images
The idea of Manifest Destiny inspired Americans to push west, leading to the creation of the first national parks. But those beliefs spelled removal for many Native American groups.