Does Tattooing Boost Health?
An anthropological study in the Samoan Islands explores the cultural purpose and biological effects of tatau.
Does Tattooing Boost Health?
Ritual
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How Rituals of Pain Help Heal
A new study reveals how ceremonies involving physical suffering can be invaluable tools for building resilience and coping skills.
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India’s Third Gender Rises Again
Hijras are striving to overcome a century of discrimination and reclaim their holy status in society—through a mix of faith rituals and Facebook.
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How Hearts Align in a Muslim Ritual
An important Sufi ritual brings participants together in a shared experience of trance and movement that actually synchronizes their heartbeats.
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Witnessing an Endangered Puberty Ritual
In an Indigenous community in Peru, a girl’s first menstruation is accompanied by a “boot camp” during which she’s trained in how to be a woman—but that tradition is ebbing away.
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Are Trophy Skulls Evidence of Civil War Among the Classic Maya?
Macabre artifacts hint at regional conflicts around the time of the Maya civilization’s disintegration.