The article shows, on the example of the accounts of the journey of John James Blunt and Auguste de Forbin, how the folk religiosity of Sicilians, especially patron saints, was perceived. The analysis of the texts showed that the newcomers who come into contact with the Sicilian culture notice that patron saints are a very characteristic phenomenon for this area and play an important role in social and political life.

The descriptions of characters’ eating habits recurring in Michel Houellebecq’s novels make a complex system of signs functioning at the textual and intertextual level as well as in reference to the extratextual reality, i.e., the situation of the Western society at the turn of the 21st century. The aim of this article is to identify the key points of this system and determine the possible directions of interpretation of these culinary motifs. For contemporary decadents from Houellebecq’s novels, lone feasts are a new kind of ritual, which – unlike the traditional “ceremonies of eating” – does not help maintain interpersonal relationships but only provides temporary relief and helps them forget about problems.

The city of Homs, formerly known as Emesa, strategically located in the central region of Syria, has been long linked to a folk belief that portrays its inhabitants as mad and fool. Historical and traditional sources also link the alleged madness and foolishness of the Homsians to the day of Wednesday, the so-called “Day of the Fool” or “Homsians’ Feast”, which is considered a special day. The legend regarding the “Day of the Fool” and its celebration during Wednesdays has been passed down orally in the local culture and its origins likely trace back to ancient times when the city was still called Emesa. Therefore, this article attempts at reconstructing history and origins about this folk belief, and exploring the reasons behind the supposed madness and foolishness of the inhabitants of Homs and their connections to Wednesdays by comparing three studies published after 2000s in Arabic by Homsian intellectuals, namely Al-Aḥmad, Samʽān, and Kadr.