Culture
Pulse of the Planet Daily Audio
Fly Fishing: Art and Science
It’s the height of fly fishing season in New York’s Catskill Mountains, home to some of the finest trout streams in the world.
May 30, 2022Fly Tying
The goal of fly fishing is to attract fish with an artificial fly that looks like a real insect. These flies can be bought, but serious anglers tie their own.
May 27, 2022Fly Fishing: Skills
If you can cast a weightless fly to a very precise location, you’ve mastered one of the many skills of fly fishing.
May 26, 2022Fly Fishing: History
Fly fishing is now popular at all levels of society, but the sport started 500 years ago as a pastime for wealthy aristocrats.
May 25, 2022A Rancher’s Year
It’s branding time on a New Mexico cattle ranch, but when you’re raising and selling thousands of head of cattle, there’s work to be done all year long.
May 24, 2022Life on a Ranch
The life of a New Mexico cattle rancher is a constant cycle of breeding, branding and mending fences. Carlos Cornay wouldn’t have it any other way.
May 23, 2022Cattle: Branding
May is a busy month at a cattle ranch in New Mexico. It’s branding time, and all the friends and family lend a hand.
May 6, 2022Playing With Bugs
The natural world comes alive in a way that only music can express.
May 5, 2022Water Boatmen
Even in the most ordinary ponds you can hear an amazing world of sound.
May 4, 2022Pond Music
Meet an interspecies musician.
May 3, 2022May Day – Fertility
May Day is an ancient celebration of fertility and rebirth.
May 2, 2022May Day – Traditions
The May Day custom of dancing around a May Pole dates back to pre-Christian days.
April 22, 2022Greek Orthodox Easter – Conquering Death
This week, Greeks around the world celebrate one of their most important holidays of the year – Orthodox Easter.
April 21, 2022Greek Orthodox Easter – Bringing Light
Beautiful hymns mark the celebration of Easter at the first Greek Orthodox Church in the Americas.
April 14, 2022Authenticity
What might a dinosaur skeleton and a cable car have in common?
April 13, 2022Songkran – Thai New Year
It’s the hottest time of the year in Thailand, and the traditional Thai New Year’s celebration offers a proven remedy for the heat.
March 18, 2022Holi
India becomes a much more colorful place as people lay aside their differences in celebration of Holi.
March 7, 2022Ice Boats
When the weather’s been cold and the Hudson River freezes over, that’s when ice boats may be sailing on the river.
March 4, 2022Tickling Society
In the rural Cajun communities of south Louisiana, Mardi Gras is organized mayhem.
March 3, 2022As Long as There’s Been an Earth
Basile, Louisiana has its own unique Mardi Gras song.
March 2, 2022Donnez-moi Un Petit Sou
In the bayous of Louisiana, costumed revelers beg for food and money from their neighbors, to support a communal gumbo.
March 1, 2022The Biggest Day
“Forget about your job, your worries, your bills..”
February 28, 2022Feast Before Fast
The roots of Mardi Gras run deeper than Christianity.
February 7, 2022Honoring the Needles of Yore
Harikuyo is a memorial service for the broken sewing needles of the past year, celebrated across Japan.
January 12, 2022Hatsumode
Hatsumode is the ritual first visit of the year to a Japanese Shinto or Buddhist temple.
January 11, 2022In the Presence of Royalty
Haitian Vodou is a source of strength and solace to its followers, in the face of widespread poverty and despair.
January 10, 2022Dancing the Machete
The ritual of Coupez Gateau is one of the ways the celebration of Epiphany has been incorporated into Haitian Vodou.
January 7, 2022Day of the Kings
In Haiti, the feast of the Epiphany is celebrated in both Catholic and Vodou traditions.
January 6, 2022Food Fit For Kings
Three Kings Day is a festival for the palate.
January 4, 2022Mummers Parade – History
The flamboyance of the Mummers’ Parade arose from the masquerade balls of Philadelphia society.
January 3, 2022Mummers Parade – String Bands
Revered in Philadelphia since 1902.
December 31, 2021Year End Fire Watch
“Be careful with fire!” is the call heard throughout Tokyo neighborhoods on the last two evenings of the year.
December 27, 2021Kwanzaa Traditions
This week, millions of people around the world celebrate Kwanzaa, a relatively new holiday with roots in the ancient harvest festivals of Africa.
December 24, 2021Christmas Bonfires
Along the banks of the Mississippi River, a line of Bonfires lights the way for Papa Noel.
December 23, 2021Wassail Night
An ancient Anglo-Saxon tradition called “Wassail” lives on in Pennsylvania, where a group of friends celebrate this week by drinking to the health of apple trees.