Customs of the World, as its name denotes, is a popular account of the rites, rituals, manners and customs practised by people in various regions of the world. Divided into 56 major chapters, the four volumes run into 1209 pages liberally interspersed with 32 full sized coloured and 1446 black and white illustrations together with 5 maps depicting the life and culture of races and tribes, clans and communities all over the world. Each chapter has been written with care by authors of eminence with an intimate knowledge of their respective fields commencing with an introduction to the general features of the land and its people in a region. The very titles to the innumerable plates give an indication of the diversity that has been portrayed here the topics range from totemic ceremonies, string games, avenging parties and fire ceremonies to hairdressing and adornment, birth and naming ceremonies, rites de passage and initiation, cicatrisation, teeth knocking-out ceremonies, wedding customs, magic and sorcery. These chapters also describe the major rites and rituals connected with birth, childhood, puberty, courtship, marriage, and death. Thus the entire life cycle is depicted along with the ecology in which it was fostered. The totality that emerges serves as a permanent record of man striving towards a harmonious existence in his ecosystem.
