St Andrew is the patron saint of Scotland but on this week’s episode we welcome Julia to Culturally Speaking to tell us all about how St Andrew’s Day or Andrzejki is celebrated in Poland. The festivities are centred around matrimonial fortune telling by unmarried women and marks the beginning of advent in the run up to Christmas. Tune in to hear how the traditions include dreaming up what characteristics your future husband will have by casting hot wax shadows, moving shoes to determine who will get married first and perhaps the oddest of all – throwing apple peels over your left shoulder! Stay Cultured, J & N xoxo. Please take a moment to subscribe, review and comment. We’d love to hear from you @culturallyspeakingpodcast. 

Following on from last week’s episode on how different cultures deal with death, we go one step further and contemplate what comes after death.We welcome Ankur (@ankurdotb) to Culturally Speaking to discuss reincarnation beliefs across South Asia and find out if there is an endless cycle of birth, death and rebirth. Tune in to find out how different cultures and religions rooted in the shared belief of karma have different takes on how our actions impact what awaits us in the next life. Stay Cultured, J & N xoxo. Please take a moment to subscribe, review and comment. We’d love to hear from you @culturallyspeakingpodcast.

“In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes”,  Benjamin Franklin’s infamous quote has often been used as a humorous reminder that very few things in life are certain except… the end. This week things take a macabre (Janice’s new favourite word) turn when we talk about how different cultures deal with the end of a loved one’s life, including funerals advertised on billboards and coffins shaped like Coke bottles. Tune in to find out who’s getting servants in heaven and in true #culturallyspeaking fashion we even #throwback to a certain episode of The Simple Life (you know which one we mean!) Stay Cultured, J & N xoxo. Please take a moment to subscribe, review and comment. We’d love to hear from you @culturallyspeakingpodcast.

We’re excited to welcome Nafisa Rahimi, co-founder of online community group Muslim Mamas (@MuslimMamas), to Culturally Speaking this week for an episode on the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and Eid celebrations. Ramadan is observed by ~1.9 billion Muslims around the world and this week Nafisa tells us how she prepares for a month of fasting from dawn to dusk, who is exempt from fasting and how they make up for it. Tune in to find out how Ramadan is observed in other countries and why charity is an important part of it.  From Eid in the Park prayers, present opening and house hopping, Eid marks the end of the holy month with a day of feasting and celebrations with friends and family.  So naturally we couldn’t let Nafisa go without talking about our favourite topic - food! Stay Cultured, J & N xoxo. Please take a moment to subscribe, review and comment. We’d love to hear from you @culturallyspeakingpodcast.

Name the national animal of… the common pub quiz question where your Nandos habit might just help you out (a clue the logo is the Barcelos Rooster and Portugal’s national animal!) Bonus points if you can name the national animals of all the home nations! This week we explore the mythical creatures, from unicorns to dragons, that transcended historical tales to be national sport mascots in recent times. Tune in to find about the spectacle of Chinese fire lion dancing - something to behold if you’ve not seen it before! Stay Cultured, J & N xoxo. Please take a moment to subscribe, review and comment. We’d love to hear from you @culturallyspeakingpodcast.

Bollywood films of yesteryear would culminate in the prerequisite wedding scene featuring the hero and heroine reuniting in a kaleidoscope of colourful outfits, music and dancing. Times have moved on, cinematically at least, but traditions endure and many aspects of Indian weddings today can be traced back through centuries, passed down from one generation to the next. This week I attempt to explain the ins and outs of an Indian wedding to Janice with a reference to #Nickyanka (seriously go check out their Sangeet!) Newsflash: India is a BIG country, with over 1 billion people practicing multiple religions and a vast global diaspora there are countless different rituals. Full disclosure this episode focuses only on North Indian Hindu traditions. Tune in to find out why it’s a 5 day affair, who’s stealing the groom's shoes and why there’s no wedding ring. Stay Cultured, J & N xoxo. Please take a moment to subscribe, review and comment. We’d love to hear from you @culturallyspeakingpodcast.

If you are lucky (or unlucky) enough to have ever watched the MTV series My Super Sweet Sixteeen complete with the ubiquitous Hillary Duff theme song then you will remember that getting a luxury car was the ultimate coming of age symbol on the show. Milestone birthdays to mark the start of adulthood are celebrated across the world from bar mitzvahs to quinceaneras, ranging from the extravagant to the simple. This week we focus on the Aboriginal coming of age ritual, ‘Walkabout’ or temporary mobility as it’s also known. The practice featured in the Baz Luhrman’s 2008 epic Australia and led to a marketing campaign by Tourism Australia encouraging visitors to ‘Come Walkabout’. Tune in to find out how boys as young as 10 had fend for themselves in the Outback using songlines and skills learnt from Aborginal elders. Stay Cultured, J & N xoxo. Please take a moment to subscribe, review and comment. We’d love to hear from you @culturallyspeakingpodcast.

Chances are when you’re feeling under the weather you have a go-to home remedy, something from your childhood that has been passed down whether it’s chicken noodle soup, khichdi or saltine crackers. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines traditional medicine as "the sum total of the knowledge, skills, and practices based on the theories, beliefs, and experiences indigenous to different cultures...used in the maintenance of health as well as in the prevention, diagnosis, improvement or treatment of physical and mental illness". For thousands of years cultures all around the world used homemade remedies from the extracts of flowers,bark and herbs to treat aliaments before this gave way to modern medicine. Today upto 80% of the population in some Asian and African countries rely on traditional medicine for their primary health care needs. Tune in to find out some of the more unusual remedies (think rice mixed with ice water and salted kumquats). Stay Cultured (and Healthy), J & N xoxo. Please take a moment to subscribe, review and comment. We’d love to hear from you @culturallyspeakingpodcast.

Roses are red, violets are blue… We’re all familiar with the playground love poem, it’s estimated approximately 224 million roses are grown for Valentine’s Day every year. Did you know that Valentine’s Day isn’t just an annual celebration in South Korea, it’s celebrated on the 14th of every month! This week we’re talking about all things love ❤; from the history of St Valentine in Roman times to couples participating in mass weddings today. Janice shares the myth behind the Qixi Festival so tune in to find out why a cowherd is flying across the Milky Way in leather angel wings! Stay Cultured, J & N xoxo Please take a moment to subscribe, review and comment. We’d love to hear from you @culturallyspeakingpodcast.

We’re excited to welcome Daria to Culturally Speaking this week for an episode on Russian superstitions. As the largest country in the world by area, spanning more than one-eighth of the Earth's inhabited land area, stretching across 11 time zones and bordering 16 sovereign nations it’s safe to say Russian culture is in no way homogeneous. Life behind the Iron Curtain was shrouded in mystery for many decades but tune in to find out more about the stories behind some of the traditions - why Russian Christmas isn’t celebrated on 25th December, the house elf keeping evil spirits at bay (domovoy) and finding your future by throwing shoes. We couldn’t let Daria go without talking about the food, turns out there’s more to it than borsht, caviar and potatoes. Our mouths are watering just thinking about the shashlik… Stay Cultured, J & N xoxo. Please take a moment to subscribe, review and comment. We’d love to hear from you @culturallyspeakingpodcast.