In the 1st century BCE Julius Caesar writes about the tribes of Germania. He's struck by the apparent sparsity of the Germanic pantheon,...

Silver is a precious and magical metal. In common culture silver appears before 5000 BCE. One of the seven metals of antiquity , silver...

Liber is an ancient Roman wine god whose feast Liberalia is celebrated March 17. He predates Bacchus; early historians see Liber as a...

Under Alaric in 410 AD, the Visigoths invade Italy and attack Rome, the nerve center of the civilized world. Before that, with Visigoths...

A European phenomenon, the Wild Hunt is a supernatural event crossing several cultures including German, Norse, Roman, French, English...

The Festival of Frau Holle decks the halls from her Feast Day 25 Dec to the 5-6th of January. An ancient German goddess, Frau Holle...

Benefits of mulberry (Morus) include personal health, wood, silk, color for yarn and food. Romantic myth surrounds fruitful mulberry...

A symbol of strength and virility, the Bull appears i n ancient art and architecture. Blood sacrifice of bulls and oxen usually involves...

Amanita muscaria , fly agaric or fly amanita is the most widely recognized of the psychoactive plants and fungi. The use, folklore and...

Inspired by Persian Mithra, Romans recreate ancient cult rituals and religious mysteries in the worship of Mithras, based on the older...

Holly, yew and mistletoe, the most cheerful and celebrated of seasonal plants, are also the most poisonous. These three toxic beauties...

Saturnalia, an ancient Roman festival, is originally held on 17 Dec. Festivities are later extended to Dec 23 to align with other...

Death Cap Mushrooms (Amanita phalloides) are deadly poisons of assassination and accident. Native to Europe, death caps are naturalized...

Europe is famous for Romanesque architecture. Grand, elaborate stonework with stunning use of windows, vaults and arches appears in...

This is the story of paddle steamship Agrippina of the Rhinel the fate of the Empress Agrippinal; and the lowdown on Victorian era trends.