After a long month of December with candles, presents, carols and plenty of traditional food, we have passed Christmas and New Year’s Eve. In many places around the world, New Year’s Eve marks the end of one year and the beginning of a new and […]
All posts filed under: World
A time for giving
Christmas is upon us and for a lot of people it means a great exchange of gifts. In the Ethnographic Collections at MoMu there is an abundance of objects that have been given as gifts over the years. Some have been given as parting gifts to […]
Holy men and unwashed children – thoughts from an internship at MOMU
Picture this: It’s Monday. You check your phone. It’s 9 in the morning and you just took a five-minute drive in a red Peugeot with two of your colleagues. Calendar-wise it is the middle of May, but you’re all draped in sweaters, heavy coats and […]
Hats: A World Tour
Around the world, humans have covered their heads for various reasons. Sometimes to protect themselves from the heat of the sun or the falling snow. Some wear a particular headgear on an everyday basis while other kinds of hats are used only on special occasions. […]
The familiar strange and the strange familiar: Warding off all evils with the help of a CD
Scrolling through the ethnographic collections allows you to enter into a whole world of objects – from ant-belts, spirit houses, machetes, masks to musical instruments, dolls, camel saddles and even more. But among the more ‘fantastical’ objects in the collections are also some seemingly ordinary. […]
Drinking the bitter root: The mato oput bowl
Sometimes these days, I feel like the world is a mess. We are fighting over ridiculous things, and not focusing enough on what matters. Pardon me for the Game of Thrones reference, but it feels like we are living through the War of the Five […]
A rock! Arguably the dullest ethnographic artefact ever?
Looking through our database, I came across collection EA355. Where other collections have names such as ‘EA365 Greenlandic dog sled’, ‘EA484 Bushman artefacts’, or ‘EA544 Thai Amulets’, this one went under the simple and mysterious name ‘EA355 Rock’. Clicking on the collection, the description page […]
“What’s you got in there?” An unusual backpack
One might think that it is its look that makes this backpack unusual. And I suppose it is true; the shredded, almost hair-like fibres decorating the backpack makes it look like less of a container for your things, and more like the back of some […]
The importance of representation: Ghanaian doll
When I was a girl, I wasn’t much into dolls. I was the kind of kid who fell asleep with my box of books next to me in my bed (along with about a 75 stuffed animals). When I, at the age of two, had […]
Binoculars: Do you see what I see?
If you look at a child’s depiction of a person, the head is – more often than not – prevalent. And in the centre of the face, are the two eyes. Children are fast learners; they pay attention when their parents pass on important knowledge […]
S. L. Tuxen’s Shoe Collection
“I love worn shoes as well as new ones, perhaps even more, because they show you that they have been of use to someone.” Spoken like a true shoe-fetishist, you might be surprised to learn that these words were written by a Danish zoologist 1957 […]
