In the beginning of September, the above shoe was the main character of quite a mystery. The shoe had been found by anthropologist Mette Bovin in the desert where she was conducting fieldwork among the nomadic Wodaabe people. The string at the back of the […]
Moesgaard Museum’s ethnographic collections boasts a great number of fantastical footwear from all over the world! Many of these beautiful shoes have been featured in great numbers on ethnographica, and soon even more – more than 230 different pairs of shoes to be exact – […]
It would not be an odd thought that decorating the body, crafting jewellery and, more generally, spending time on beauty was a sign of abundance of ressources in a community. However, decorations and handicrafts are seldom only a cherry on the top but most often […]
Summer is finally upon us! And as the days become longer and warmer it becomes important to take precautions when stepping outside in the harsh scorching sunlight. For years Danish authorities have been trying to get Danes to take care and seek shelter from the […]
At the museum, we are looking forward to the summer season. Guests from all over the world will visit us and our beautiful city, and we are more than ready to welcome them! Hopefully they will save a little space in their bags for nice […]
I have this fantasy. It might seem a little odd, but it goes like this: I have made friends with someone who used to be famous and popular. Someone, who has stepped out of the spotlight. Perhaps because of age. Yes, he or she has […]
Take a good look at this figure. It might look like a harmless chameleon-like sculpture, beautifully carved in black ivory wood, but you better be careful around it, because it is in fact something completely different. The name of the figure is nailu and it […]
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 […]
This blog post is special in the sense that it is a nearly direct translation of a description written for the Pwevo mask, which is part of the UNESCO collections from Zambia. The description takes us all the way from Moesgaard Museum’s exhibition ‘The Lives […]
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. […]
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. […]
English playwright Arthur Wing Pinero said that ‘where there’s tea there’s hope’. In many societies, drinking tea is a social event; sometimes even a ritual; something to gather around, something that organises the day, a tradition, a cultural practice. And around the globe, tea is […]
