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In the village of Lia, just below the Albanian border, the author’s main purpose is to rebuild her grandparents’ ruined house. Her efforts are beset with interesting challenges that provide us with much information on folk customs. For instance, due to the negative associations of the house, she is warned not to proceed with any renovation and her aunts tell her that if she does so she will “be killed by Albanians and eaten by wolves” (pp. 15 and 19). Here one can see that historically the word “Albanian” (Alvanos ) has had similar connotations to the word Arapis (a pejorative form of “Arab”) and was invoked as a phovitro, or bogeyman, especially to frighten children.

The author hires stonemasons to rebuild the house, and at each phase in the construction interesting customs are shared. For instance, before building can take place the old stone foundations are unearthed. As in other parts of Greece, a cock is killed and its head buried in the stonework, while its meat is fed to the builders (p. 116). However, we are also told of another custom seldom encountered elsewhere whereby “masons would place a coin on the cornerstones of a house to make it siderenio, strong as metal” (p. 67). On completion of the house “the owner adorns a wooden cross with oranges and money-filled handkerchiefs, then plants it like a flag on top of her new roof” for the builders to claim (p. 11). This flag ( flambouro ) is met throughout the Balkans in the context of wedding ritual, and apples may replace the oranges. Indeed, one wedding wish, kalorziko or “good roots,” is also made to someone on moving to a new home.

Since the author is an attractive spinster, her aunts seem preoccupied with her marriage prospects. At a celebration she is wished “Next year, may you be here with a groom” (p. 284), which could also be said to single girls at a wedding. For the purpose of finding a groom, she is shown how to read coffee cups (pp. 287 and 354) by a flitjanou, literally a woman who reads the flitzani, or demitasse Greek coffee cup (elsewhere in Greece she would be called a kafetzou ). Dregs in the shape of a cross are regarded as particularly lucky and indicative of a husband (p. 279). For the same purpose women also “read the egg” by pouring the albumen into a cup of water (p. 306). Other rituals like combing one’s hair three times in front of amirror (p. 284) are confined to St John’s eve (23 June) and are forms of a custom known throughout Greece as the kldonas. Other love divination practices include taking flowers from the church during the festival of the Hairetismos and placing them under the pillow (p. 74). Alternatively, unmarried girls can make a fanouropita, or “pie of St Phanourios.” This pie is made in conjunction with the saint’s feast day (27 August) (pp. 285–6), yet it can be made at any time when something is lost or found. On this subject, little-known details are shared. For instance, like the twelve people who should eat the mince pies at Christmas, twelve should eat the fanouropita (pp. 286 and 351).

Other saints also feature in local folk religion. For example, in this region St Donatos performed miracles and killed a dragon (p. 291). He is thus comparable with the Orthodox saints Dimitris and George. Indeed, St George is also mentioned, since his feast day is regarded as a pivotal time at which summer begins and work contracts are renewed (p. 98).

Although the author does not say so, this is also the date when transhumance takes place.

Other noteworthy rituals described here concern the mati, or evil eye. Every region of Greece has variations of beliefs and practices concerning the evil eye, and Lia is no exception. Here hitherto unrecorded details on this subject are described, such as the belief that the power to remove the evil eye can be lost if the secret is divulged (p. 280). The ritual of pouring three drops of oil into water seems similar to practices elsewhere in Greece.

However, in Lia the size and shape of the drops indicate the sex of the person who cast the evil eye. It is to avoid the evil eye that bizarre cases of child mutilation are also reported.

Since the evil eye is associated with envy, a beautiful baby was often regarded as vulnerable. Thus, to avert the evil eye, one informant reports that her forehead was burnt in infancy (p. 282). The book contains several other fascinating customs connected with childhood, such as a man who introduced himself to the author with the words, “I was the boy whose umbilical cord your grandmother ate so she could have a son” (p. 120).

These are just a taste of what can be found. As an American citizen, the author modestly underrates her knowledge of Greek, yet the text is full of technical terms, most of which are correct. One obvious exception is the word kamaki, which is said to mean the foam on Greek coffee (p. 354) but which is really a slang term for “chatting up girls”. The author’s knowledge of her grandmother’s language gave her access to many fascinating details that a detached visitor could not have shared. Moreover, in talking to and befriending many of the locals, she was able to gain insight into their culture and traditions. Through such contact, for example, she was invited to witness the fascinating rituals of the anastenarides (firewalkers) which she describes in detail (pp. 105–9).

In addition to perfecting her Greek, the author also learned a considerable amount of vocabulary from the secret Alafiatika language once spoken “to survive under the Turks” (p. 63), notably by the kalantzides (“tin-smiths” would perhaps be better than “tinkers”).

The author’s skill as a journalist is evident and some of her prose is beautifully descriptive, sensitive, and even powerful. This book is not only a moving tribute to her late grandmother’s memory, but also to the people of Lia. It is a testimony to their life and history, as well as a unique record of their rich folk culture.

Three of the papers are directly concerned with mumming and rhyming in and around the border areas between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Taken together, these three papers build up a very vivid picture of how the mummers or rhymers of this area operated in the past and how the traditions have developed. In the 1930s and 1940s the mummers were not seen as a Catholic tradition. The houses of both Catholics and Protestants would be visited, and in some cases Protestants took part. The whole event would culminate in a mummers’ ball to which the whole community was invited, regardless of political and religious affiliations. After a decline during the troubles, there was a period when the mummers became a nationalistic expression. More recently, there has been an increase in groups of mummers in the area, and performances have moved from houses to community centres and pubs. Collections are made for charities, and the mummers’ dance has become a fundraiser. These performances may be in Catholic or Protestant venues, and cross-cultural charities are chosen to appeal to both sides of the community.

A fourth paper covers much of the same ground, but goes on to examine the apparent lack of texts in the Irish language. The author believes that although the main texts are of English origin, there are remnants of an Irish tradition within the ancillary characters. For instance, the doctor’s speech from the Antrim/West Tyrone/Armagh area has a series of impossible ingredients in the doctor’s cure. These can be closely matched to Irish texts of riddles for a cure for whooping cough. The author also hypothesises that the characters of Jack Straw and the Green Knight are actually two characters from an eighteenth-century Irish play (Sir Sopin and the Irish Chieftain, respectively). He surmises that an original Irish play has been supplanted by the English play, but that these independent characters have been retained.

As someone who has appeared as “Slasher” in a pace-egg play in Lancashire for more years than I care to remember, I found the paper on chapbooks from Belfast and Lancashire to be of particular interest. By comparing text and illustrations, the author seeks to show that the Christmas Rhyme chapbooks of Belfast are closely linked with the “Peace Egg” chapbooks of Lancashire and Yorkshire.

The remaining paper with a direct Irish connection compares the Irish mumming play with the Catholic Mass and the Masonic third degree. Each has the same basic structure and the author looks at the similarities and differences. He shows that the mumming play is a ritual, although not in the same sense as the Mass or Masonic third degree. While this sort of comparison may be an interesting academic exercise, I am not convinced by the paper. Others may find it more illuminating.

Four papers consider mumming traditions in the North of Europe: Denmark, Shetland and Faroe Islands, Norway, and Finland. The Danish paper shows how the apparent success of one tradition led to its downfall, due to incomers into the area taking up the mumming, but not understanding the unwritten rules associated with the custom.

The paper on Shetland and Faroese guising traditions shows how the customs usually stay within their own communities and their own borders. This paper gives an excellent description of the various mumming customs of Shetland. The Norwegian and Finnish papers both consider local mumming customs and imported customs. In Norway, Christmas and wedding mumming traditions are examined, while in Finland, three autumn festivals are compared, including the very recent introduction of Halloween.

Two papers, one on the Newfoundland wren tradition and the other on Halloween mumming, show how customs adapt to their new environment. In Newfoundland, the wren custom has lost the need to collect money; while in the United States, the Halloween traditions have incorporated begging traditions from Ireland and northern Europe and public display traditions from southern Europe and Africa.

The paper on “The English Folk Play in the Second Revival” firstly considers plays that are from outside the areas in which they are being performed, and then goes on to look at plays that have been introduced from within the community. It finishes with an oddity: a Lancashire pace-egg play that, although claimed to be local, appears to have come from another area, with a doctor’s scene added.

In a paper in which scripts of modern and re-written plays are analysed and compared with traditional plays and those of the Wexford Mummers, the author hypothesises that there were three stages in mumming customs. The first was non-verbal house visiting, and the second involved mummers dressed as particular characters who started using spoken lines to introduce themselves. Finally, he proposes that the first mumming play was written in the eighteenth century and that plays exploded from there, with “re-writings” to improve the scripts.

A “Game of Two Halves” considers a number of Scottish seasonal customs that all include some form of contest. While all these events appear to have two sides, the author argues that the outcome is either fixed or that it does not matter who wins, as it is the coming together of the community that is important. The paper includes some interesting descriptions of the various customs and their performance context.

All of the papers in this collection have something to recommend them and I would thoroughly recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in or is involved in performing folkplays.

“Growing up, there was always a puzzle under our Christmas tree,” recalls Anne Williams of Lewiston, Maine, a leading jigsaw puzzle historian. “After we opened the presents, we’d get out the card tables. You can drift in and out; you can talk or not talk; you can compete a little bit if you want to see who will finish their section first. For most people, it’s a very relaxing, pleasant activity and you have the satisfaction of seeing a picture emerge as you continue your efforts.”

In the Williams household, the goal was to start a 1,000-piece puzzle at Christmas and complete it by New Year’s.

Stevanne Auerbach, an expert on child’s play known as Dr. Toy, considers jigsaw puzzles a group entertainment bargain.

“The puzzle may be $10 or $20, but the value to the whole family of getting together and creating around that puzzle isn’t measured in money,” she says.

Even if young children don’t enjoy smaller pieces or nonjuvenile pictures, they can be provided a separate puzzle, either on the same table or an adjoining one.

Many younger children, however, are fully capable of participating with adults, so long as the puzzles are selected with their interests and capabilities in mind.

“Even a young child can work on a puzzle that has some defined areas to it,” Ms. Williams says. “For example, if there is a red boat in the picture, a young child can take all the red pieces and work on those, while the adults tackle the sky.”

Part of the communal value of working on jigsaw puzzles, says Jim McWhorter, who produces the puzzlehistory.com Web site, is the way it generates casual conversation.

“If we were just sitting, looking at each other,” he explains, “we wouldn’t talk in quite the same free-flowing, unselfconscious way as we can working a puzzle.”

This can be helpful when parents want to have serious discussions with their children without going eyeball-to-eyeball, says Cronan Minton, owner/publisher of White Mountain Puzzles in Jackson, N.H.

Many of the company’s puzzles incorporate educational elements, which is in keeping with the origin of the jigsaw puzzle, the creation of 18th-century mapmakers seeking a new approach to teaching geography.

“If you’re going to devote 10, 20, 30 hours to putting a puzzle together, you want to come away with some information,” Minton reasons.

In today’s world of high-tech virtual experiences, puzzle lovers attribute part of the jigsaw’s allure to the tactile nature of handling small pieces.

Among the leading jigsawmakers are Milton Bradley, Springbok, Ravensburger, F.X. Schmid, and the Great American Puzzle Company.

Some of the best all-age puzzles are sold in specialty or gift stores, and increasingly online from such sites as Spilsbury, Jigsaw Jungle, and Bits & Pieces.

Rectangular puzzles are the old standby, but circular and shaped puzzles have their fans.

Three-dimensional puzzles, made by Wrebbit, a Canadian company, took off in the 1990s. The more ambitious puzzles, such as a 718-piece replica of the US Capitol, are aimed at older children and adults. Some view these 3-D puzzles as a “guy thing,” fusing puzzle and modelmaking, thus increasing sales to men, who purchase far fewer puzzles than women.

Fine-art Jigsaw Puzzles are popular now. Those who enjoy novelty reach for mystery story and photomosaic puzzles.

Unlike board games, which may require wading through pages of rules, a jigsaw puzzle can be begun rightaway. “It’s instant gratification; you put that piece in there and it’s, ‘Wow,’” says Carol Monica of The Games People Play, a Cambridge, Mass., store.

Most people adopt some of the same basic strategies: Find the corner pieces and edges first; sort by color, words, and image; and give yourself plenty of room (four times as much as the puzzle dimensions is recommended).

Anne Williams likes to work on a sheet of corrugated board, which makes it easy to move the unfinished puzzle.

There are also special puzzle cloths that allow puzzles to be rolled up and put away.

Some people like to preserve their puzzles, gluing and/or laminating them, and possibly even framing them to long-remember the good times.

Firstly, the film was outstanding! I didn’t really know what to expect from it. In fact, I went expecting it to be rather mediocre. I was wrong; the film was perfect on all accounts.

Dan Brown’s story is thoroughly breathtaking and gripping. Whether you believe it or not, there is no doubt the storyline is fascinating. It is so cleverly written. The plot is complicated but, as with the book, it is explained perfectly.

Brown created some brilliant characters and the actors were perfect for their parts.

The film was long but I was gripped and it certainly did not feel too long and nor did it drag on.

I thoroughly recommend the film (and the book) to anyone.

This brings up a larger point: Lots of online games require other add-ons to facilitate matchmaking. Personally, I despise GameSpy and its ilk, and I wonder why more games can’t have their own integrated software that doesn’t need to be installed separately on your system. Is the industry just specializing? Are developers just outsourcing more and more of everything?

Am I the only person who gets annoyed by the intrusive third-party apps? What do you guys think of all this?

Here are my results:

Please note that in the following text, “you” refers to “me”. The text is simple copied from my results which can be found on the link at the bottom of this page.

About You
Your attention to detail, confidence, sense of order, and focus on functionality combine to make you an ANALYST.
You are very curious about how things work, delving into the mechanics behind things.
Along those lines, how well something works is usually more important to you than what it looks like.
You find beauty and wonder mainly in concrete, functional, earthly things.
You are very aware of your own abilities, and you believe that you will find the best way of doing things.
Accordingly, problems do not intimidate you, as you believe in yourself.
You trust yourself to find solutions within the boundaries of your knowledge.
You don’t spend a lot of time imagining how things could be different—you’re well-grounded in the here-and-now.
It is important for you to follow a routine, and you prefer the familiar to the unknown.
You much prefer to have time to plan for things, feeling better with a schedule than with keeping plans up in the air until the last minute. Your decisions are well thought out, and you’re not the least bit impulsive.

How you relate to others
Your outgoing nature, understanding of others, and directness make you ENCOURAGING.
You want others to do well for themselves, and you generally believe in their abilities.
You often know what’s good for people because of your caring nature and your worldview.
When you care about someone, you don’t keep it to yourself: you are good at letting people know that you’re thinking of them.
Because you trust people, you take violations of that trust very seriously.
You thrive in social situations, and even though you know who you like and who you don’t like, you can interact well with many different types of people.
You have a healthy respect for people who have earned what they have, and you strive to be similar to successful others.
You are a loyal friend and a good listener.
You much prefer to have time to plan for things, feeling better with a schedule than with keeping plans up in the air until the last minute. Your decisions are well thought out, and you’re not the least bit impulsive.

Let me know what you think of my results or even try the test yourself.

My Personal DNA Report - Take the Test

I’ve been seeing more and more young men in my office—men age eighteen to twenty-eight—who are dealing with the consequences of their overuse of pornography by asking for Viagra or Cialis or Levitra, because they find it difficult to get aroused by real women. One in three college men now reports erectile dysfunction. And I’m seeing other young men who use a different strategy: they disengage from the dating scene altogether, using pornography as their only sexual outlet.

Here’s an excerpt from an e-mail I received from a man in his late twenties after I wrote an article for the Washington Post related to this topic.

Dr. Sax, I think you’re being very narrow-minded. Recently I’ve really gotten into Japanese anime, especially the videos. I love the girls in those videos. There [sic] sweet and submissive and nice. The real girls I know aren’t anything like that. I would rather watch the anime girls than be with real girls. Why is that so bad? It’s not my fault. It’s the fault of the girls I know. They’re too demanding. They expect the guy to do everything, pay for everything, make them laugh, do it all. Why is it so bad to prefer something different?

The problem is that the technology has gotten so good, and the images are so lifelike, so real, that when those girls bat their eyelashes at him it’s easy for him to forget that they’re just pixels on a computer screen, not real girls in his room.

Not everyone agrees on this point. A recent scholarly monograph concludes that the young man for whom masturbation is the preferred sexual outlet may merely be responding, appropriately, to “today’s fast-paced social life characterized by individuality, impersonality, materialism, and social isolation. ”Another critic dismissed concerns about pornography as the outdated prejudice of “moralists and religious conservatives.”Recently, a number of critics have bemoaned the extent to which the culture of pornography has been mainstreamed in our society. Lingerie has become evening wear. Young women can take classes at the local fitness club in aerobic striptease. “Girls Gone Wild” has very nearly become primetime fare. These critics understandably see this development as a sign of cultural decadence. But I think they may have misdiagnosed the underlying dynamic. I asked a sixteen-year-old girl, as gently as I could, why she was wearing a Hooters outfit to a school Halloween party. Her shorts were very short, and her top displayed her natural endowment in a manner that invited comparison with Dolly Parton.

“Why?” she mused. “If you don’t dress like this, nobody will even notice you.” To get the attention of the crowd, girls increasingly tell me that they have to dress like the models in Maxim photo shoots—or act like the ditsy girls on “Girls Gone Wild.”

The preface is in itself an essay outlining Dundes’s work and its importance, which also situates the editor in relation Dundes’s thought. The preface concludes with an extensive bibliography. This is followed by a thirty-five-page introduction detailing the various trends and aspects of Dundes’s ideas about folklore, his research, his methodology, and his analyses of folklore. Each of the twenty essays is preceded by an extensive introduction by Bronner in which he discusses the background to the issues or subjects of the particular essay. There is an extensive index and a very full bibliography. The latter is especially important because it provides in one place a nearly complete listing of Dundes’s writing arranged chronologically. This arrangement means that it is easy to trace the development of Dundes’s research interests over four decades.

There are only three quibbles I would make about this book. First, the bibliography (called “References”) is located after the Introduction rather than at the end of the book. This arrangement made it hard to check references. Second, each essay does not have a statement in its editorial introduction about the date and place of publication. As the bibliography was arranged chronologically and not alphabetically by title, it was difficult to compare different articles on a similar theme or topic. Third, it would have been useful if the introduction had contained a brief biography of Dundes. A man is, after all, more than just his works.

This book is commended to all folklorists as a resource on the life work of one of the leading American folklorists of the twentieth century. It is probably too dense and too technical, however, for the general reader and the undergraduate student.