Cardinal Directions in World Cultures
| Europe | N | E | S | W | C | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Slavic | — |
Many cultures not descended from European traditions use cardinal directions, but have a number other than four. Typically, a “center” direction is added, for a total of five. Rather than the Western use of direction letters, properties such as colors are often associated with the various cardinal directions—these are typically the natural colors of human perception rather than optical primary colors. Some examples are shown here. In many regions of the world, prevalent winds change direction seasonally, and consequently many cultures associate specific named winds with cardinal and ordinal directions. The classical Greeks personified these winds as Anemoi. The article on boxing the compass contains a more recent list of directional winds from the Mediterranean Sea.
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Famous quotes containing the words cardinal, directions, world and/or cultures:
“What people don’t realize is that intimacy has its conventions as well as ordinary social intercourse. There are three cardinal rules—don’t take somebody else’s boyfriend unless you’ve been specifically invited to do so, don’t take a drink without being asked, and keep a scrupulous accounting in financial matters.”
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“The cannon thunders ... limbs fly in all directions ... one can hear the groans of victims and the howling of those performing the sacrifice ... it’s Humanity in search of happiness.”
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“Life’s an awfully lonesome affair.... You come into the world alone and you go out of the world alone yet it seems to me you are more alone while living than even going and coming.”
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“There has never been in history another such culture as the Western civilization M a culture which has practiced the belief that the physical and social environment of man is subject to rational manipulation and that history is subject to the will and action of man; whereas central to the traditional cultures of the rivals of Western civilization, those of Africa and Asia, is a belief that it is environment that dominates man.”
—Ishmael Reed (b. 1938)