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The article presents an examination into the history of the relic tooth of Buddha, seized by the Portuguese in 1561 from an invasion of Sri Lanka and allegedly destroyed by Don Constantino da Bragança, Viceroy of Goa. Introductory details are given outlining the various historical claims of the events, noting the divergent accounts of the tooth's survival or reproduction. Analysis is then given regarding the religious-cultural aspects behind the destruction of the item through the lens of Catholic-Buddhist comparative views on relics and their importance.

The article discusses ancient Egyptian practices such as mummification, drawing connections to the veneration of relics in other cultures. The example of the cult of Osiris is cited, as the dismembered god's remains were believed to be kept in sanctuaries. It is noted that the housing and display of mummies in modern museums is very similar to the traditional western treatment of relics, and not at all representative of ancient Egyptian belief. Egyptian theories about the afterlife are described, and the practice of mummifying animals is also discussed in this context.

The article presents an exploration into the history of relics and Church history in Bohemia during the Reformation and Counter-Reformation in the 16th and 17th centuries. Details are given highlighting the intersection between the political and religious spheres during the conflicted era, noting ways in which relics and reliquaries were used by national leaders to bolster their political aspirations in the region. Particular analysis is then offered describing and evaluating this phenomenon in Bohemia.

The article examines the worship and respect accorded certain relics in medieval Islam. Scholar Lionel Rothkrug has observed that Islam seems to have had relatively few relics. However, the author identifies and discusses several including the human remains of holy figures, rocks, sacred footprints, prophets, saints, and more. He lists four functions that relics served in medieval Islam. Relics acted as metonymies of holy people, they defined sacred spaces, they represented piety and learning, and they gave legitimacy to a ruler's reign.

The article presents discussion concerning the historical and religious veneration of the Mexican president and hero José Antonio López de Santa Anna. Details are given outlining the career of Santa Anna from his early military career to his military defeat by the United States, noting a battle injury he sustained and his use of a prosthetic leg. Details are then given tracking the continued history of Santa Anna's prosthetic leg after his defeat and the pseudo-cult surrounding his memory throughout the 19th century. Analysis is also given describing the cultural significance and religious interpretation of the phenomenon.

An index of relics and remains is presented for the January 2010 issue of the journal “Past & Present."

The article presents an examination into the practice of relic forgery throughout Latin American history, including examples from colonial times to contemporary conditions in the 21st century. Details are given describing several instances of relic forgery, discussing both the methods and economic aspects of the practice as well as deeper examination into the cultural and religious factors which allow such a practice to be successful in the region. Final analysis is offered highlighting the resultant emergence of archaeology dedicated to the certification of validity or fraud in religious relics.

The article presents an introduction to the issue, highlighting the central theme of the veneration of relics in both religious and secular contexts in history.

The article presents an examination into the religious memory and consciousness surrounding the Jewish Holocaust, particularly highlighting the pseudo-canonization of Holocaust survivors' writings as sacred texts to Jews and other religious communities. Introductory comments are given noting the physical preservation of relics from the Holocaust in several concentration camps throughout Europe. Analysis is then offered explaining the Orthodox Jewish resistance to the idea of such physical reliquaries but pointing out their preservation and honor to the victims' writings within a the context of the Jewish religious concept of "witnessing."

The article presents information about a trove of relics possessed by a church in Exeter, England, and a legend that they were collected and donated in the 10th century by King Æthelstan. Traditional ideas of the religious significance of relics and reliquaries are described, and their symbolism is analyzed in historical and political terms. The example of Pippin the Short, who founded the Carolingian dynasty in Europe, is cited as an instance of the usefulness of relics in politics. Pippin used ceremonies involving relics on several occasions as a means of sanctifying his usurpation of power from the Merovingian dynasty. Æthelstan's relationships with Pippin's heirs is also discussed.

The article presents an exploration into the adoption of forensic archaeology practices in the early 1990s by post-Communist governments to redefine histories of artifacts and persons in a new anti-Communist national identity. The case examples of the Museum of Genocide Victims of Lithuania and the Sighet Memorial to the Victims of Communism and the Resistance of Romania, both established in 1992, are cited and analyzed in turn. Discussion is given describing the methodology and ideologies behind the move, including comments on the flaws and shortcomings of the methodology.

The article presents an examination into the "grapho-relics" of the German Protestant reformer Martin Luther. The author introduces a deconstructionist perspective of religious analysis, suggesting that the Protestant culture of venerating the words and concepts of their leaders, also known as "religion of the word," is seen through the preservation of Luther's personal manuscripts. Discussion is also provided analyzing the contemporary attitudes of Luther's era regarding relics and their significance to the early Protestant community, noting where these ideas projected onto Luther himself after his death.

The article presents an examination into the history of relics within the Protestant culture of Europe in the years following the English Reformation. Extensive details are given describing the widespread veneration of relics throughout Europe and England in the period leading up to the Reformation, the aggressive physical and literary iconoclastic polemic movement against their veneration during the Reformation by Protestant leaders, and the underground continuation of the practice by the Catholic community of England.

The article presents an examination into the history and social ideology surrounding the relics of the 20th-century Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong. Details are given describing the history of a set of mangoes given to the leader in 1968 as a gift, their bestowal upon factory workers, and their subsequent religious veneration by the Chinese as relics of their leader. Analysis is then given questioning why the mangoes became such significant religious and cultural objects, including discussion of the symbolic meaning of their golden color, the exoticism of the fruit, and the role of Mao's propaganda team in promoting the objects.

The article presents an in-depth examination into the archaeological search for the remains of the Kenyan revolutionary martyr Dedan Kimathi. Introductory details are given describing the history of the political figure, explaining his role in the Mau Mau rebellion of the 1950s and highlighting his later fame and popular association with the post-colonial movement. Details are given describing both the history of efforts between the 1990s and 2004 to uncover his remains and analyzing the social factors which made his relics so important. Social aspects examined focus on the ideological concepts of freedom, the cultural influence of Christianity, and the social attitudes regarding funeral rites.

Andso shortly after midday, something occurred that at first was observed in silence and without comment by those present . . . but which by three in the afternoon had manifested itself so clearly and unmistakably that news of it spread in a flash throughout the whole hermitage and amongst all the mourners and visitors, then immediately throughout the monastery, causing consternation among the community. . . The non-believers were triumphant, and as for the believers, there were some amongst them who gloated even more than the non-believers, for 'people do love the downfall of a righteousmanand his degradation', as the late starets himself had once said in one of his homilies. The fact was that, little by little and then ever more noticeably, an odour of putrefaction began to emanate from the coffin which, by three o'clock in the afternoon, was only too evident. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]