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Zheng Yi
Zheng Yi (also Cheng I, Ching Yih, Cheng Yao-I, Cheng Wen-Hsien, or Cheng Yud) was a Chinese pirate who lived from 1765 to 1807. Operating in the South China Sea, Zheng Yi famously led a 600-ship pirate confederation. This force of more than...
Definition
Zheng Yi Sao
Zheng Yi Sao (aka Ching Shih, Cheng I Sao, Ching Yih Saou or Mrs Cheng, d. 1844) was the chief of a massive pirate confederation which plundered the South China Sea in the early 19th century. She inherited the role from her late husband...
Definition
Valentine's Day
Saint Valentine’s Day, or simply Valentine’s Day, is celebrated on the 14th of February, almost internationally but primarily in western societies. It is a commemorative Christian feast for some but a secular occasion for others who see it...
Video
The Qingming Festival: Chinese Tomb Sweeping Day
The Qingming Festival is held one hundred and four days after the winter solstice, and is known as the ‘pure bright festival’, ‘tomb-sweeping day’ and ‘ancestors day’. For over 2,500 years, this festival has been a day for Chinese people...
Definition
Samhain
Samhain (pronounced “SOW-in” or “SAH-win”), was a festival celebrated by the ancient Celts halfway between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice. It began at dusk around October 31st and likely lasted three days. Samhain marked the transition...
Video
The History of Valentines Day: From the Lupercalia to Cupid
Before chocolates, roses and letters from your valentine were given on Valentines Day, there was the Ancient Roman Festival of the Lupercalia in honour of both the agricultural god Luperca and the she-wolf who sucked Romulus and Remus, Lupus...
Video
In Our Time: S6/09 St Bartholomew's Day Massacre
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the infamous St Bartholomew’s Day Massacre. In Paris, in the high summer of 1572, a very unusual wedding was happening in the cathedral of Notre Dame. Henri, the young Huguenot King of Navarre, was marrying...
Article
History of Halloween
Halloween is among the oldest traditions in the world as it touches on an essential element of the human condition: the relationship between the living and the dead. The observance evolved from ancient rituals marking the transition from...
Article
Holidays in the Elizabethan Era
During the Elizabethan Era (1558-1603 CE), people of all classes greatly looked forward to the many holidays and festivals on offer throughout the year. The vast majority of public holidays were also religious commemorations, and attendance...
Image
St. Bartholomew Day Massacre
A 16th-century painting by François Dubois showing the St. Bartholomew Day Massacre of Protestants in August 1572 during the French Wars of Religion (1562-1598). (Cantonal Museum of Fine Arts, Lausanne, Switzerland)