Taboo: Nudity

From bare-naked witches in Australia to the Festival of the Naked Man in Japan, Taboo examines the cultural significance of nudity.

 

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Salem Witch Hunt

Fear is the quicksand of humanity.

In 1692, mass hysteria led to the hanging of nineteen innocent people in Salem. Join historians as they piece together what really happened.

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Christmas Unwrapped: The History Of Christmas

This documentary originally appeared on the history channel back in 1997 and has been repeated every year. It has become a holiday favorite of mine even though I've seen it numerous times. It's narrated by "Early Show" host Harry Smith and traces the roots of Christmas back to its earliest beginnings as a pagan Roman holiday of feasting.

We then see Christmas virtually outlawed by the Puritans but never forgotten. The holiday would enjoy a rebirth in the mid 1800's thanks to several people including Clement Moore's poem "Twas the Night Before Christmas", and cartoonist Thomas Nast who helped define the look of Santa Claus.

From there we see the holiday further defined by popular culture in movies and TV and also by consumerism, as the holiday shopping season is invented and begins to really flourish at the turn of the 20th century. Nast gives way to Haddon Sundblom's Santa paintings that he did for Coca Cola, finally giving us the jolly, fat santa we know today.

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Goddess Remembered

This documentary is a salute to 35,000 years of the goddess-worshipping religions of the ancient past. The film features Merlin Stone, Carol Christ, Luisah Teish and Jean Bolen, all of whom link the loss of goddess-centric societies with today's environmental crisis. This is the first part of a 3-part series that includes The Burning Times and Full Circle.

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The Haunted History Of Halloween

Straddling the line between fall and winter, plenty and paucity, life and death, Halloween is a time of celebration and superstition.

It is thought to have originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off roaming ghosts. In the eighth century, Pope Gregory III designated November 1 as a time to honor all saints and martyrs; the holiday, All Saints’ Day, incorporated some of the traditions of Samhain.

The evening before was known as All Hallows’ Eve and later Halloween. Over time, Halloween evolved into a secular, community-based event characterized by child-friendly activities such as trick-or-treating. In a number of countries around the world, as the days grow shorter and the nights get colder, people continue to usher in the winter season with gatherings, costumes and sweet treats.

Watch on Google, below, or via YouTube.

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Witchcraft and Magic (2004)

We’ve all heard of the witch, but do witches have a real existence? Yes, they have existed since the dawn of history, and most likely for millenia before. In the Bible, Saul, afraid of the might of the Philistine army, took himself off to be counseled by the Witch of Endor.

In Classical literature we have Homer’s Circe who bewitched men and turned them into swine. Ovid tells us of the Strigae; erotic beings who flew through the air to carry out their murderous deeds. But with such an ancient history, when did the witch first appear? Early mythologies: In Norse mythology we have the Valkyrie; maidens of Odin who flew through the sky and assisted in the outcome of battles, taking slain warriors to Valhalla.

Many theorists believe that witchcraft is a a survival of the cult of Diana, goddess of hunting. English archaeologist Margaret Murray put forward a similar theory in 1921, arguing that the craft traces its roots back to pagan fertility cults.

The Christian image of the Devil is actually an amalgam of god-forms from paganism, such as the Greek Pan and the pagan horned god, sometimes known as Herne the Hunter. The idea no doubt traces itself back to the shaman, usually male, who would dress in the skin of the animal about to be slain; hence the horned god image.

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