Overview

A system of myths, symbols, and rituals, dating back to the Paleolithic and Neolithic, survives in present-day imagery. In exploring this system, special attention is drawn to the linkage between ancient and contemporary civilizations of Eurasia and Mesoamerica, as seen in their cosmology, and expressed in common mythological and iconographic themes. The author examines contemporary Middle American and eastern European textiles, especially women's garments, that contain an elaborated sacred code of symbols, and include remnants of the four horizontal directions, and the three vertical worlds that portray the structure of the universe. The cosmology contained in patterns around the world denotes striking parallels that attest to internal connections between different cultures, beyond time and place.

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9781800738164

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This is one of those rare scholarly books where the author's personal engagement with the subject takes us to the heart of the subject with ease and joy. Dr. Oleszkiewicz-Peralba is a scrupulous researcher with nuanced understanding of the subject...She connects extremely diverse cultures across time and space through mythology, rituals, women's clothing, and sacred art. * Neela Bhattacharya Saxena, Nassau Community College The breadth of the author's knowledge is impressive and her ability to find commonalities and analogies is amazingly insightful, all rigorously argued and documented. Her erudition is stunning. This book is an excellent contribution to transdisciplinary studies, by bringing together anthropology, women and gender studies, cross-cultural analysis, spirituality and religion, and aesthetics. * Alan West-Duran

This is one of those rare scholarly books where the author's personal engagement ... takes us to the heart of the subject with ease and joy. Dr. Oleszkiewicz-Peralba is a scrupulous researcher with nuanced understanding of the subject ... She connects extremely diverse cultures across time and space through mythology, rituals, women's clothing, and sacred art. * Neela Bhattacharya Saxena, Nassau Community College The breadth of the author's knowledge is impressive and her ability to find commonalities and analogies is amazingly insightful, all rigorously argued and documented. Her erudition is stunning. This book is an excellent contribution to transdisciplinary studies, by bringing together anthropology, women and gender studies, cross-cultural analysis, spirituality and religion, and aesthetics. * Alan West-Duran, Northeastern University

Author Information

Malgorzata Oleszkiewicz-Peralba is Professor of Hispanic Literary and Cultural Studies at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Her publications include Fierce Feminine Divinities of Eurasia and Latin America: Baba Yaga, Kali, Pombagira, and Santa Muerte (2015), The Black Madonna in Latin America and Europe: Tradition and Transformation (2007), and Teatro popular peruano: del precolombino al siglo XX (1995).

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