Did you know that more people celebrate New Years around the world than any other holiday? But, of course, that doesn’t mean that we all celebrate it in the same way. How I celebrate the New Year– Keep Reading
The History & Names for Santa Claus Around The World (with 50 fun facts!)
[Updated 10-19-2019] Like most kids who grew up in the US, I became fascinated with Santa Claus from a very early age. From his fuzzy red suit and his long white hair and beard to the reindeer who Keep Reading
40 Fun Facts About Thanksgiving Traditions Around The World
[Updated 10/22/2019] Next to Christmas, Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday, as it was one of the few times of year my entire extended family (25+ aunts, uncles and cousins) got together Keep Reading
75 Christmas Traditions Around the World (with Fun Christmas Facts)
[Updated 10-30-2019] It’s no secret among friends and family that we’re nuts for Christmas traditions, decorating our house from wall to wall and immersing ourselves in local holiday Keep Reading
50 Fascinating Facts About Indian Culture (By Region)
India is home to a vast plethora of languages, religions, cuisine, and arts that each have sub-genres of their own. With so many different facets of rich Indian culture to take in, exploring the Keep Reading
Embracing the Culture of the Maasai People in Tanzania
I've never been so happy to depart a destination as I was the day we left Tanzania's Lake Natron to visit the Maasai people in a traditional village. Wrecked by a stomach virus, relentless heat, Keep Reading
New Orleans’ Mardi Gras Indians (A Photo Essay)
The iconic Mardi Gras Indians are as inexorably linked to the annual New Orleans carnival celebration as beads, boobs and booze. But beyond their sensational suits laced with gorgeous gems, Keep Reading
Best Coffee In the World (A Gourmet’s Guide to 30 Types of Coffee)
One of our favorite things about traveling around the world has been the opportunity it affords us to sample the best food, wine, and spirits the cultures we explore have to offer. I've been a Keep Reading
Treme, New Orleans (How Congo Square Was The Birthplace of American Culture)
Congo Square is quiet now. Traffic forms a dull drone in the distance. A lone percussionist taps out ancient tribal rhythms on a two-headed hand drum. An air compressor used in Rampart Street road Keep Reading
Dub Music: The History & Evolution of Dub (Plus Top 10 Dub Albums)
If you love the modern sounds of hip-hop, house, dubstep, trip-hop, acid jazz, or techno, you can thank the Jamaican music pioneers of dub music (a.k.a. dub reggae). Long before current music icons Keep Reading
The History of Chocolate: How Chocolate is Made
There is something magical about chocolate. Nearly all of us grow up adoring it, and we continue to adore it as adults. In fact, our love for chocolate generally only strengthens with time. Oddly, Keep Reading
Countries That Don’t Celebrate Christmas
Christmas is a time of year when people around the world come together in the spirit of giving, love and hope for mankind. This religious and cultural celebration is observed by billions of people Keep Reading
The Chicken Bus (Guatemala’s Unusual Mode of Transport)
The shouts come from all angles, along just about every street in Guatemala. They're accompanied by the scream of exhausted air brakes, the growl of engines far past their prime, the boom of exhaust Keep Reading
12 Odd Intangible Cultural Heritage Practices UNESCO Protects
If you were enraged when ISIS extremists bulldozed the ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud in Iraq, or in 2001 when they dynamited the 6th-century Bamiyan Buddhas in Afghanistan, you were Keep Reading
INTERVIEW: Kodo, Japan’s Legendary Taiko Drummers
Kodo: Japan's Legendary Taiko Drummers I first discovered the thunderous power of Japan’s Kodo 20 years ago, when the Taiko drumming masters provided the scintillating soundtrack to the Keep Reading
The First Mardi Gras: Visiting the Mobile Carnival Museum
Held every year on the day before Ash Wednesday, Mardi Gras (a.k.a. Fat Tuesday) in New Orleans is a cultural spectacle to behold, rivaled only by Carnival in Brazil and the Holi Festival of Keep Reading
