Ganesh: A Holy Holiday Leaves a Mess

via npr
“Ganesh is a Hindu festival that takes place at the end of each summer, particularly in Mumbai. Traditionally, clay statues of Ganesha, the elephant-headed god of beginnings and remover of obstacles, are placed in homes and worshiped for the duration of the 10-day festival. At the end, the statues are immersed in water (such as a river) and left to float away. The festival has modest origins. First organized in the 1890s, the idea was to invoke Hindu symbolism to foster a sense of nationalism in India's struggle for independence from Britain…”
Read the rest, and see more images, here.

Raven & Crow

From Raven & Crow’s blog: “Since they started scavenging from all those dead people during the Black Plague, crows and ravens have gotten some pretty harsh associations slapped on them. Harbingers of death, bringers of doom, jerky black birds, etc. Which is why, to this day, groups of crows are known as murders. Likewise, a group of ravens is called an unkindness. At our design company, raven + crow studio, we're proud to say that we make a point to work with companies and non-profits who are out to make the world a better place.”
Their blog is dedicated to all things kind in the realms that fascinate them: Design, music, culture, fashion, and, of course, vegan food. Visit Raven and Crow’s blog here, and their design studio here.

Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens

via bibliodyssey

“Peter Pan first appeared in a section of The Little White Bird, a 1902 novel written by JM Barrie for adults. The character's best-known adventure debuted on 27 December 1904, in the stage play Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up' The play was adapted and expanded somewhat as a novel, published in 1911 as Peter and Wendy (later as Peter Pan and Wendy, and still later as simply Peter Pan). Following the highly successful debut of the 1904 play, Barrie's publishers, Hodder and Stoughton, extracted chapters 13–18 of The Little White Bird and republished them in 1906 under the title Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, with the addition of illustrations by Arthur Rackham...”
Read the rest here, and see the fifty Rackham illustrations for ‘Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens’ from Harvard University Library here.

Close-Up

via John Foster’s Accidental Mysteries, 05.15.11

Crow Thought

via John Foster’s Accidental Mysteries, 05.15.11

Black Raven Brewing Company

spotted on the edible raven blog

Gray crest logo style t-shirt

“Ravens have long been held in high esteem by brewers, particularly in the British Isles. A famous London brewery once had a tame ‘mascot’ raven named ‘Joey’ that was thought to bring the brewery good luck. Many years ago while home brewing, our brewer/owner came across an old photo in an online stock photo database entitled ‘Brewer with tame raven.’ That photo was the inspiration for continuing the mystical brewery–raven connection, hence the Black Raven Brewing Company.”

More about their story here.