This national holiday in Japan honors those who reached their 20th birthday (voting age) in the previous year. Gatherings, usually with speakers, are held in community centers where the honorees show off their new adult finery. A traditional archery contest is held on this day at Sanjusangendo Temple in Kyoto, with people from all over Japan participating. Until 2000, Seijin-no-Hi was observed on January 15, but now it is celebrated on the second Monday in January. Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola was an Italian Mannerist painter and etcher commonly known by his nickname Parmigianino, meaning “the little one from Parma.” His works possess remarkable grace and sensuality, and he is regarded as one of the period’s finest draftsmen. He was one of the first artists to practice etching, and through this medium his style became influential in Italy and beyond. One of his most curious works is a self portrait in which his image has been distorted by what? 
According to newspaper records, in 1795 excavations began at the site of a mysterious depression on Nova Scotia’s Oak Island. A layer of flagstones was found buried a few feet below the surface, and layers of logs were uncovered at 10 ft (3 m) intervals. At a depth of about 90 ft (27 m), a large stone bearing an inscription of symbols was recovered; and translations revealed the secret message, “forty feet below, two million pounds lie buried.” Whose treasure is believed to be buried there? 
In 1892, a company was formed in Texas to investigate long-held suspicions that oil might be under an area known as Spindletop Hill. After nine years of exploratory drilling, oil was struck at a depth of 1,139 ft (347 m), resulting in the “Lucas Gusher,” which blew oil more than 150 ft (46 m) in the air. The well produced an estimated 100,000 barrels per day, marking what many consider the birth of the modern petroleum industry. What now well-known companies were involved in the find? 
Vodoun is an ancient African pantheistic religion. When it was brought to the Americas by African slaves, it was blended with elements of Christianity into what is known as “
Daughter of Emperor Maximilian I, Margaret was a Hapsburg princess and regent of the Netherlands. When she was three, she was betrothed to French dauphin and future King Charles VIII, who later renounced the agreement and married Anne of Brittany. In 1497, she married John of Spain—son of Ferdinand and Isabella—but he died later that year. In 1501, she married Philibert of Savoy; he died in 1504. In 1507, she was made regent of the Netherlands and guardian of what future Holy Roman Emperor? 
While the term golem, a Hebrew word meaning “undeveloped lump,” is used today to refer to someone who is clumsy or slow, the golem of Jewish folklore is a very different creature—an automaton-like servant made of clay that is supernaturally endowed with life. The most famous golem legend involves 16th century rabbi Judah Löw, who created a massive clay servant to protect Prague’s Jewish ghetto from violence and persecution. What events compelled Rabbi Löw to later destroy his golem?