Even though the majority of mankind is happily entrenched in the electronic age and mostly prefers to live in a concrete jungle, the mysterious link between humans and animals continues to hold true. Most of our contact with animals these days is limited to the fleeting glimpse of a bird overhead, the scurry of a squirrel or chipmunk across our paths, or the companionship of a pet. Yet the role of animals in history is of such great importance that we would not be where we are today without them.
Animals have always been a source of food, clothing, an obedient workforce and religious sacrifices. We count on them to provide their unique contributions to balance out nature and to give us much needed companionship.
Even though scientific information tells us that mankind and dinosaurs did not coexist, the fossil remains of those animals greatly impacted the beliefs and lifestyles of early peoples. The sight of massive bones and weathered sculls protruding from the earth fueled their imaginations. In her book, "The First Fossil Hunters: Paleontology in Greek and Roman Times," Adrienne Mayor describes her theory that mythical creatures were based upon fossil remains. She believes mythical griffin lore, for example, came about after Protoceratops skeletons were found. She also theorizes that the belief in giant humans and mythological heroes came from the abundance of ancient elephant, mastodon and mammoth fossils.
Apart from fossil remains, animals that did coexist with humans bore a hefty portion of the burden of transporting mankind toward civilization. They were the first major food source, and people began domesticating certain animals as they came together into groups. Actually, how various species became domesticated is somewhat of a mystery in itself. Several ways animals can be domesticated have been researched. Mutations of a species can cause some to be more receptive to human control. Selective breeding can be responsible for the changes necessary for domestication. Natural selection can occur as well. Dogs, sheep and goats were the first to be domesticated.
Human survival has often depended upon animals. The camel, also known as the ship of the desert, was instrumental in the exploration and settlement of Australia, for example. They are one of the few animals where every function and physical part of them is of use to humans, including the dung which is used for fuel.
From the beginning, people have venerated the superhuman characteristics of the animals they worshipped and thought they were the embodiment of gods. Animism, the belief that a soul exists in every animate and inanimate object, is one of the oldest beliefs, dating to around the Paleolithic age. Ancient Egyptians worshipped nearly every animal. Their sacred bull Apis was believed to be the incarnation of a god. The Greeks had their sacred eagle of Zeus. The Aztecs had the Quetzalcoatl bird.
In 1994, a white buffalo was born near Janesville, Wisconsin, USA, the first white buffalo calf born since 1933. Since then other white buffalos have been born. See a list of these at Wikipedia's "White Buffalo." To American and Canadian Indians, a white buffalo is a symbol of hope and renewal for humanity and for harmony between all races of people.
American Indians have worn eagle feathers for thousands of years. To them, they represent fierceness, strength and power, and warriors earned the feathers in battle. No higher honor can be obtained by an American Indian than to receive an eagle feather. By law in the United States in recent years, only a member of a tribe that is recognized by the government can obtain a permit to own eagle parts. No one else is allowed to have them.
The Chinese attribute the power of controlling hours, days, months and years to animals, similar to the belief that the zodiac influences peoples' lives and fates. Twelve symbolic animals represent twelve terrestrial branches. They are the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, cock, dog and pig. These are assigned to various years.
Perhaps one of the most influential animals upon history, if not THE most influential animal, is the horse. The horse provided the perfect solution to our need to go places and transport things. Even the sight of a horse stirs feelings deep within us. Psychologists tell us that horses are the only animals that give the impression of being naked. Muscles rippling, a running horse is quite exhilarating for most people to see. Although some of us rarely see a horse anymore, the horse is referenced frequently in our everyday language since we measure the power of motors by horsepower. This term is attributed to James Watt who lived from 1736-1819. He devised a way to measure the power available from ponies lifting coal from a coal mine. He discovered that a mine pony could do 22,000 foot-pounds of work in a minute. He increased that number by 50% and set the definition of "horsepower" as 33,000 foot-pounds of work in one minute.
Animals have contributed much to our enjoyment of life as well. Among the many famous animals who have impacted children was an American black bear named Winnie who lived at the London Zoo. A Canadian lieutenant brought her there in 1914 at the beginning of WWI. A. A. Milne and his son Christopher visited the bear that later became Winnie the Pooh in Milne's stories. Balto, a black and white Alaskan malamute, is famous for leading a dogsled team through an Alaskan blizzard, which delivered the antitoxin needed to stop a diphtheria epidemic. Puppets and animated creatures comfort and entertain in the absence of the real thing. Pluto, the dog, Teddy bears, and a personal favorite of mine from the 50s, Soupy Sales' White Fang, "the meanest dog in the USA," can also touch that mysterious spot in our hearts marked "animals belong here."
Space will not permit but a mention of the incredible instincts of animals. We have all read stories of cats and dogs traversing great distances to return to their former residences after their families have moved. Buzzards return to Hinkley, Ohio, like clockwork every March. Capistrano has its sparrows.
The animal kingdom will impact future generations on a grand scale in other ways. Some of the worse plagues in history, like the Bubonic plague, have involved animals. HIV-AIDS has its origins in the Green Monkey of Africa where the virus was transmitted to humans through bites and eating raw monkey meat. Bird flu is now a threat for the next world pandemic. The Bible includes prophecy involving animals in Revelation 6:8 which states, "8And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth."
Research on the bond between person and pet has revealed that pets can somehow know when their masters are on the way home. My dog instantly knew when I was upset and would rush to me to remedy the situation. He would get quite agitated whenever I would cry and would try to comfort me by jumping up and frantically licking my face. Look into a dog's eyes, and there seems to be more than kibbles in that body. But do animals have immortal spirits?
One thing we do know is that the role of animals in history was crucial and their impact on our future is just as important. While we are spending billions to find life on Mars, animals on earth are going extinct right under our noses. Geneticists are also beginning to tinker with animal DNA, adding human genes to the mix. Will a new breed of monsters emerge? What with such a mysterious bond between us and our co-inhabitants of the earth, we better ensure that animal strains are preserved and they remain here as long as we do.
Prepare to be amazed while watching this elephant paint:
Sources:
Book Review - The First Fossil Hunters: Paleontology in Greek and Roman Times by Adrienne Mayor
Animal Worship
Miracle, the Sacred White Buffalo
Canku Ota, Native American Newsletter-August 25, 2001
How Horsepower Works
Friday, March 28, 2008
Thursday, March 27, 2008
The Beginning and Ending of Trees
Trees, tall and short, grow silently in backyards, parks and hills. These beautiful, towering organisms have been around since the beginning of time. People love trees, sometimes worship them, and other times obliterate all the trees they can. What is it with trees?
As I contemplated that question, my thoughts turned to why we have such a regard for trees. I believe one reason we are fascinated with trees is that they appear to us as embodiments of time. Even today, we mark special events and peoples' lives with the planting of a tree, expecting that these living memorials will remain far longer than a single lifetime. We also use the concept of a tree in genealogies, our Family Trees.
The beginning of time has trees and the ending of time has trees. The Bible states that trees were created on the third day of creation even before lights in the heavens. Man was then placed in the Garden of Eden to tend trees but fell by eating the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Fast forwarding through the Bible, the end is with a tree as well in the last chapter of Revelation. It is written that the Tree of Life will be planted on both sides of the River of God, with twelve varieties of fruit and its leaves for the healing of the nations.
Trees stir emotions in people. Some have even gone so far as to chain themselves to a tree trunk in order to keep the tree from being cut down. At our core, we have a primordial respect for trees. They have sheltered us from the elements, given us warmth from burning their wood, and provided us food from their fruits. Actually, if our homes are made of wood, we are living in a tree. When that basic respect for trees breaks down, one symptom is the elimination of the rain forests. When respect escalates, veneration of trees is the result.
This veneration of trees appeared throughout history in ancient cultures. Sacred Trees are often believed to be guarded by dragons or serpents. Trees of significance included oaks which were sacred to Druids, and the tamarisk in Egypt which was often planted around temples.
In Celtic tradition, trees were looked to as a source of wisdom and hope, a link between upper and lower worlds. The grove was the center of their religion. The Celtic Tree of Life appears on Celtic crosses and in the manuscript, the Book of Kells. The Celtic Green Man joins man with tree in a kinship symbolizing the cycle of renewal and birth.
During a trip to Ireland, a friend and I drove past a curious looking tree next to one road in the countryside. A quick turnaround brought us back to inspect it. Here was one of Ireland's "rag trees." All manner of articles of clothing and personal belongings draped every bough and the trunk of the tree. Baby bonnets, men's socks, women's scarves, and every other item of clothing imaginable testified of each person's belief that this tree has spiritual powers of healing.
Hinduism, the world's oldest religion still practiced today, reveres the tree as a symbol of abundance. World Trees appear as universal symbols in many cultures representing life and credited with bringing everything into existence. The World Tree shows up in different forms of the same thing such as in the Hebrew Kabbala's Sephirothal Tree of Life, the Rosicrucian's Rose, and the Scandinavian Ash or Yggdrasil of the Eddas.
In Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, Fangorn forest stands as an important element in the plot. In the movie, Legolas, the elf, comments that the forest is old and angry and the trees are speaking to one another. The character of Treebeard is an Ent, a guardian of the forest. He and other Ents do battle against Saruman at Isengard. Ents are mythical creatures resembing trees which were invented by Tolkien.
The belief in spirits inhabiting trees, however, do appear in many religions. The ancient Chinese believed spirits of the dead and various gods resided in trees planted in the vicinity of tombs and temples. What is called the faerie triad of trees is a belief that where oak, ash and thorn grow together, faeries live. Animism is the belief that spirits inhabit animals, trees and other objects.
Some of the most well-known customs involving trees are totem poles, Maypoles and Christmas trees. Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest Coast are known for their totem poles. According to dictionary.com, a totem is "an animal, plant, or natural object serving among certain tribal or traditional peoples as the emblem of a clan or family and sometimes revered as its founder, ancestor, or guardian." A totem pole is the trunk of a tree which is carved with various totems. Totem poles fall into three categories: a central post of houses, a memorial pole, or a monument for the dead.
The Maypole was used in ancient British fertility rites which ushered in spring and was believed to ensure a good crop and increase in livestock. The Maypole may be a phallic symbol. A tree was cut from the forest and its trunk set up in a central place and decorated. Then the people danced around it. Maypoles were banned in the sixteenth century as being heathenistic.
The decorated Christmas tree came to Briton by way of the marriage of Prince Albert, a German, to Queen Victoria. Legend has it that Martin Luther of Germany started the custom of decorating evergreens, but many ancient cultures would feel right at home with the veneration of the evergreen. The ancient Egyptians worshipped it. Romans and Scandinavians all had customs involving the evergreen, comparable to the customs of Druids who regarded evergreen holly as meaning eternal life. In other superstitions, evergreen branches placed over the door kept out witches and evil spirits.
Sequoia Redwoods, the King of Trees, are the oldest living organisms on earth. They can live to be 2,000 years old. Interestingly, their reproduction depends upon fire which causes their cones to open and release the seeds. Unfortunately, other trees are under "fire" and this fire in the Rain Forests is causing their demise.
Having visited Iceland, I have seen a place where there are no large trees, only smaller shrubs. Beautiful as Iceland is, I would miss trees if I lived there. So what is it with trees? Beauty. Time. History. I've recently tried tree hugging at the risk of appearing quite mad and am astonished that it is possible to feel living energy coming from the tree. Try it sometime, especially hugging the very old ones.
Resources for this article:
Sacred Trees, Oghams & Celtic Symbolism
Ireland's OWN: Celtic Symbols, The Celtic Tree of Life
Forum on Religion & Ecology, Introduction to Hinduism
World Trees
Totem Poles
Ask Yahoo: What is the history of the Maypole?
Captain Jack's Christmas Tree Farm - Traditions - Trees & Ornaments
California Pictures - Sequoia Natonal Park
As I contemplated that question, my thoughts turned to why we have such a regard for trees. I believe one reason we are fascinated with trees is that they appear to us as embodiments of time. Even today, we mark special events and peoples' lives with the planting of a tree, expecting that these living memorials will remain far longer than a single lifetime. We also use the concept of a tree in genealogies, our Family Trees.
The beginning of time has trees and the ending of time has trees. The Bible states that trees were created on the third day of creation even before lights in the heavens. Man was then placed in the Garden of Eden to tend trees but fell by eating the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Fast forwarding through the Bible, the end is with a tree as well in the last chapter of Revelation. It is written that the Tree of Life will be planted on both sides of the River of God, with twelve varieties of fruit and its leaves for the healing of the nations.
Trees stir emotions in people. Some have even gone so far as to chain themselves to a tree trunk in order to keep the tree from being cut down. At our core, we have a primordial respect for trees. They have sheltered us from the elements, given us warmth from burning their wood, and provided us food from their fruits. Actually, if our homes are made of wood, we are living in a tree. When that basic respect for trees breaks down, one symptom is the elimination of the rain forests. When respect escalates, veneration of trees is the result.
This veneration of trees appeared throughout history in ancient cultures. Sacred Trees are often believed to be guarded by dragons or serpents. Trees of significance included oaks which were sacred to Druids, and the tamarisk in Egypt which was often planted around temples.
In Celtic tradition, trees were looked to as a source of wisdom and hope, a link between upper and lower worlds. The grove was the center of their religion. The Celtic Tree of Life appears on Celtic crosses and in the manuscript, the Book of Kells. The Celtic Green Man joins man with tree in a kinship symbolizing the cycle of renewal and birth.
During a trip to Ireland, a friend and I drove past a curious looking tree next to one road in the countryside. A quick turnaround brought us back to inspect it. Here was one of Ireland's "rag trees." All manner of articles of clothing and personal belongings draped every bough and the trunk of the tree. Baby bonnets, men's socks, women's scarves, and every other item of clothing imaginable testified of each person's belief that this tree has spiritual powers of healing.
Hinduism, the world's oldest religion still practiced today, reveres the tree as a symbol of abundance. World Trees appear as universal symbols in many cultures representing life and credited with bringing everything into existence. The World Tree shows up in different forms of the same thing such as in the Hebrew Kabbala's Sephirothal Tree of Life, the Rosicrucian's Rose, and the Scandinavian Ash or Yggdrasil of the Eddas.
In Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, Fangorn forest stands as an important element in the plot. In the movie, Legolas, the elf, comments that the forest is old and angry and the trees are speaking to one another. The character of Treebeard is an Ent, a guardian of the forest. He and other Ents do battle against Saruman at Isengard. Ents are mythical creatures resembing trees which were invented by Tolkien.
The belief in spirits inhabiting trees, however, do appear in many religions. The ancient Chinese believed spirits of the dead and various gods resided in trees planted in the vicinity of tombs and temples. What is called the faerie triad of trees is a belief that where oak, ash and thorn grow together, faeries live. Animism is the belief that spirits inhabit animals, trees and other objects.
Some of the most well-known customs involving trees are totem poles, Maypoles and Christmas trees. Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest Coast are known for their totem poles. According to dictionary.com, a totem is "an animal, plant, or natural object serving among certain tribal or traditional peoples as the emblem of a clan or family and sometimes revered as its founder, ancestor, or guardian." A totem pole is the trunk of a tree which is carved with various totems. Totem poles fall into three categories: a central post of houses, a memorial pole, or a monument for the dead.
The Maypole was used in ancient British fertility rites which ushered in spring and was believed to ensure a good crop and increase in livestock. The Maypole may be a phallic symbol. A tree was cut from the forest and its trunk set up in a central place and decorated. Then the people danced around it. Maypoles were banned in the sixteenth century as being heathenistic.
The decorated Christmas tree came to Briton by way of the marriage of Prince Albert, a German, to Queen Victoria. Legend has it that Martin Luther of Germany started the custom of decorating evergreens, but many ancient cultures would feel right at home with the veneration of the evergreen. The ancient Egyptians worshipped it. Romans and Scandinavians all had customs involving the evergreen, comparable to the customs of Druids who regarded evergreen holly as meaning eternal life. In other superstitions, evergreen branches placed over the door kept out witches and evil spirits.
Sequoia Redwoods, the King of Trees, are the oldest living organisms on earth. They can live to be 2,000 years old. Interestingly, their reproduction depends upon fire which causes their cones to open and release the seeds. Unfortunately, other trees are under "fire" and this fire in the Rain Forests is causing their demise.
Having visited Iceland, I have seen a place where there are no large trees, only smaller shrubs. Beautiful as Iceland is, I would miss trees if I lived there. So what is it with trees? Beauty. Time. History. I've recently tried tree hugging at the risk of appearing quite mad and am astonished that it is possible to feel living energy coming from the tree. Try it sometime, especially hugging the very old ones.
Resources for this article:
Sacred Trees, Oghams & Celtic Symbolism
Ireland's OWN: Celtic Symbols, The Celtic Tree of Life
Forum on Religion & Ecology, Introduction to Hinduism
World Trees
Totem Poles
Ask Yahoo: What is the history of the Maypole?
Captain Jack's Christmas Tree Farm - Traditions - Trees & Ornaments
California Pictures - Sequoia Natonal Park
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Was the Mad Hatter really mad?
The image of the Mad Hatter has been indelibly imprinted upon our minds ever since childhood when we sat cross-legged in front of our television sets. Walt Disney gave us the hatter's classic face and large felt hat. The Mad Hatter will live on not only in memory but also by his name on the signs in front of countless hat and novelty shops.
Just how did a hatter come to be known as mad? Lewis Carroll's book, "Alice in Wonderland" was written in 1865. In it, the Cheshire cat alludes to two characters, the Hatter and the March Hare, as: "they're both mad." The phrase "mad as a hatter" was in common use during the lifetime of Lewis Carroll, although in his book, the phrase is not actually used.
This brings us to a mysterious implication. Was there a reason that Carroll made this particular character to be mad? Some say that the phrase "mad as a hatter" could have been a corruption of "mad as an adder." However, examining the origins of the process of making felt for hats will give us a clue to this mystery.
Felt is a cloth formed when its fibers are matted together. Instead of being produced by knitting or weaving, the cloth fibers are worked together either by pounding or beating or through a process of pressure, heat, chemical action or some other means. The result is a fuzzy material with a heavy insulating property.
From the early days of felt making, fur fibers of animal skins were matted together using a liquid solution. It started in Turkey where camel hair was felted for tents, and camel urine was applied to speed up the matting process. After the practice migrated to Western Europe during the Crusades, perhaps either from convenience or a lack of camel urine, workers came up with the idea of urinating on the fur fibers themselves.
The story is told that one day in the life of the felt makers, one worker, who was being treated with mercury for a venereal disease, discovered that his urine matted the fur fibers faster and better than the others. Thus, mercury became the secret ingredient in making felt.
Although the practice of urinating on the fur fibers ended sometime during the history of felt making, the use of mercury did not. This ingredient was so secret in the art of felt making that it became known as the "secretage." This secretage was passed down and finally resided with only a few French Huguenots, and when they fled to England in 1685, they took the secret with them. The result was that English felt hats were considered to be the finest and most fashionable to own. The English hat makers cornered the felt hat market until sometime in the 18th century when a French hatter stole the secretage and took it back to France.
Although mercury may have been good for making felt, it turned out to be the cause of what became commonly known as the Hatter's Disease or mercury poisoning. And what are the symptoms of mercury poisoning? Depression, mood swings, temper tantrums, loss of motor control, schizoid tendencies, and brain damage, just to name a few. In short, it causes one to appear quite "mad." No doubt making hats was considered to be a profession fraught with madness before medical science was able to determine the source of the problem. It was not until 1941 that the use of mercury was banned from the hat industry in the United States.
We can see from this evidence that the case for the Mad Hatter actually being mad is questionable. If he had been a real hatter, he most probably would have been suffering from mercury poisoning.
See also:
Mad as a Hatter
Just how did a hatter come to be known as mad? Lewis Carroll's book, "Alice in Wonderland" was written in 1865. In it, the Cheshire cat alludes to two characters, the Hatter and the March Hare, as: "they're both mad." The phrase "mad as a hatter" was in common use during the lifetime of Lewis Carroll, although in his book, the phrase is not actually used.
This brings us to a mysterious implication. Was there a reason that Carroll made this particular character to be mad? Some say that the phrase "mad as a hatter" could have been a corruption of "mad as an adder." However, examining the origins of the process of making felt for hats will give us a clue to this mystery.
Felt is a cloth formed when its fibers are matted together. Instead of being produced by knitting or weaving, the cloth fibers are worked together either by pounding or beating or through a process of pressure, heat, chemical action or some other means. The result is a fuzzy material with a heavy insulating property.
From the early days of felt making, fur fibers of animal skins were matted together using a liquid solution. It started in Turkey where camel hair was felted for tents, and camel urine was applied to speed up the matting process. After the practice migrated to Western Europe during the Crusades, perhaps either from convenience or a lack of camel urine, workers came up with the idea of urinating on the fur fibers themselves.
The story is told that one day in the life of the felt makers, one worker, who was being treated with mercury for a venereal disease, discovered that his urine matted the fur fibers faster and better than the others. Thus, mercury became the secret ingredient in making felt.
Although the practice of urinating on the fur fibers ended sometime during the history of felt making, the use of mercury did not. This ingredient was so secret in the art of felt making that it became known as the "secretage." This secretage was passed down and finally resided with only a few French Huguenots, and when they fled to England in 1685, they took the secret with them. The result was that English felt hats were considered to be the finest and most fashionable to own. The English hat makers cornered the felt hat market until sometime in the 18th century when a French hatter stole the secretage and took it back to France.
Although mercury may have been good for making felt, it turned out to be the cause of what became commonly known as the Hatter's Disease or mercury poisoning. And what are the symptoms of mercury poisoning? Depression, mood swings, temper tantrums, loss of motor control, schizoid tendencies, and brain damage, just to name a few. In short, it causes one to appear quite "mad." No doubt making hats was considered to be a profession fraught with madness before medical science was able to determine the source of the problem. It was not until 1941 that the use of mercury was banned from the hat industry in the United States.
We can see from this evidence that the case for the Mad Hatter actually being mad is questionable. If he had been a real hatter, he most probably would have been suffering from mercury poisoning.
See also:
Mad as a Hatter
The Eggcellent Egg Eggsplained
The egg is the star of many legends and old wives' tales. Eggs have been revered, exchanged, and used in rituals since ancient times and continue to this day as metaphors of possibility whether of ideas or the start of new things.
Just where did our love affair with the egg begin?
May we first answer the age-old question, which came first, the chicken or the egg? Actually, the answer to that is the egg came first. Eggs existed before chickens were chickens. They were not the first to lay them. The domestication of the chicken came about before documented history, but the earliest known date is 3,200 B.C. recorded in Indian history. Egyptian and Chinese records indicate 1,400 B.C.
One of the first known reptiles to lay an egg was the Hylonomus of Nova Scotia in Canada. The earliest unhatched bird fossil ever found was unearthed in China. It is estimated at 121 million years old. The extinct elephant bird, a 10 ft. flightless bird in Madagascar, laid the largest egg of all. At 24 lbs., its contents would fill a two-gallon bucket.
Beginning in ancient times, eggs were considered to be symbols of life. Many cultures in history believed an egg was involved in creation. This egg is called the cosmic egg. One example is from Greek and Roman mythology where a goddess born from chaos created a serpent partner. She laid a huge egg which the serpent fertilized. Everything then hatched from this egg.
Tibetan creation myth includes a primordial cosmic egg as well. Some of the elements differ, however. One version of this egg story has a luminous egg that can fly with no wings, and it could see, hear and speak even though it had no eyes, ears or mouth. When this egg hatched, a man came out who ordered the world. He was given the name "He Who Assigns" or "the Elect, He who Knows the Visible World." Many different versions of this story and other stories of eggs, including magic eggs, appear in Tibetan myth.
African egg myths follow along the same basic lines with many variations in their stories. Hindus have a twist in their cosmic egg in that it contained a spirit that would be born, then die and be reborn. Phoenicians had the birth of heaven and earth from two halves of a huge egg as well. The Egyptians had their god, Ptah, as creator of an egg made from the sun and moon.
Caves inside Uluru, a massive rock formation which is a sacred site of the Aboriginies of Australia, have formations which resemble eggs. Uluru is believed to be the Great Rainbow Serpent that came from higher spirit realms of the universe and brought forth a great rainbow. To the Aboriginies, the eggs at Uluru represent fertility.
Strange customs with eggs include one from Slavic myth where they believed a sorcerer could be forced to flee by holding the first egg of a young hen in someone's outstretched hand while in a church. Nero's consort Livia warmed an egg on her bosom to foretell the sex of her unborn child. When it hatched, the sex of the chick predicted the sex of the child. Because of an egg's association with life, they sometimes were considered aphrodisiacs. Peasants used to rub eggs on their ploughs in Central Europe to improve their harvest. Brides in France broke eggs on the doorsteps of their new homes before entering to guarantee they would have many children. At certain times in history, young girls presented their suitors with eggs, the amount representing how much they loved them.
More than one legend has been handed down regarding how eggs came to symbolize Easter. Egyptians and Persians dyed eggs in the spring and gave them as presents signifying renewed life. The rabbit or hare was the symbol of fertility, new life and the moon in Egypt as well, so it may have become connected to Easter because the date of Easter is determined by the cycle of the moon. Traditions abound regarding the coloring of eggs. A Polish legend, for example, says that on the way to market to sell his eggs, a man set his eggs down and helped Christ carry the cross. When he went back for the eggs, he found them decorated in beautiful colors and designs. Some of the most well-known decorated eggs are by Carl Faberge, the most famous court jeweler in history. Faberge designed an Easter egg for the wife of the Czar in 1884. It was so well received that he made another egg each year for the next eleven years until the Czar died. The tradition was continued with the Czar's son.
Ukrainian Easter egg decorating dates from 1,300 B.C. These are hand decorated eggs made by a process using wax. Words are encoded on the egg by way of the symbols and colors.
These days, Oology is the study of eggs. In the bird kingdom alone, 9,000 kinds of birds each lay their own kind of eggs. Hummingbirds lay the smallest; Ostriches and Kiwis, the largest. Why do different species lay different colored eggs? The color of an egg depends upon where it is laid. White eggs are normally hidden, but colored eggs match the colors in the environment of the nest for camouflage.
A vast amount of life comes from eggs of all kinds whether incubated internally or externally. The earth itself resembles an egg with a crust (shell), magma (egg white) and core (yolk). No matter what may change, the egg remains prime to our continued existence.
Sources:
Various Authors (1997-1999). Myth and Mankind: Vols. Greek & Roman, Tibetan & Mongolian, Slavic, African Myths. London: Duncan Baird Publishers/Time Life Books
History of the Easter Egg
Landhotels Austria - Austrian Easter Traditions
History and Symbolism of Ukrainian Easter Eggs
National Geographic News - Earliest Unhatched Bird Fossil Found
Veggs Australia - Egg Facts and Fun
Australian Sacred Sites
The Sacramento Zoo - Egg Layers
How the Egg Came to Symbolize Easter
Treasures of the World - Faberge Eggs
Just where did our love affair with the egg begin?
May we first answer the age-old question, which came first, the chicken or the egg? Actually, the answer to that is the egg came first. Eggs existed before chickens were chickens. They were not the first to lay them. The domestication of the chicken came about before documented history, but the earliest known date is 3,200 B.C. recorded in Indian history. Egyptian and Chinese records indicate 1,400 B.C.
One of the first known reptiles to lay an egg was the Hylonomus of Nova Scotia in Canada. The earliest unhatched bird fossil ever found was unearthed in China. It is estimated at 121 million years old. The extinct elephant bird, a 10 ft. flightless bird in Madagascar, laid the largest egg of all. At 24 lbs., its contents would fill a two-gallon bucket.
Beginning in ancient times, eggs were considered to be symbols of life. Many cultures in history believed an egg was involved in creation. This egg is called the cosmic egg. One example is from Greek and Roman mythology where a goddess born from chaos created a serpent partner. She laid a huge egg which the serpent fertilized. Everything then hatched from this egg.
Tibetan creation myth includes a primordial cosmic egg as well. Some of the elements differ, however. One version of this egg story has a luminous egg that can fly with no wings, and it could see, hear and speak even though it had no eyes, ears or mouth. When this egg hatched, a man came out who ordered the world. He was given the name "He Who Assigns" or "the Elect, He who Knows the Visible World." Many different versions of this story and other stories of eggs, including magic eggs, appear in Tibetan myth.
African egg myths follow along the same basic lines with many variations in their stories. Hindus have a twist in their cosmic egg in that it contained a spirit that would be born, then die and be reborn. Phoenicians had the birth of heaven and earth from two halves of a huge egg as well. The Egyptians had their god, Ptah, as creator of an egg made from the sun and moon.
Caves inside Uluru, a massive rock formation which is a sacred site of the Aboriginies of Australia, have formations which resemble eggs. Uluru is believed to be the Great Rainbow Serpent that came from higher spirit realms of the universe and brought forth a great rainbow. To the Aboriginies, the eggs at Uluru represent fertility.
Strange customs with eggs include one from Slavic myth where they believed a sorcerer could be forced to flee by holding the first egg of a young hen in someone's outstretched hand while in a church. Nero's consort Livia warmed an egg on her bosom to foretell the sex of her unborn child. When it hatched, the sex of the chick predicted the sex of the child. Because of an egg's association with life, they sometimes were considered aphrodisiacs. Peasants used to rub eggs on their ploughs in Central Europe to improve their harvest. Brides in France broke eggs on the doorsteps of their new homes before entering to guarantee they would have many children. At certain times in history, young girls presented their suitors with eggs, the amount representing how much they loved them.
More than one legend has been handed down regarding how eggs came to symbolize Easter. Egyptians and Persians dyed eggs in the spring and gave them as presents signifying renewed life. The rabbit or hare was the symbol of fertility, new life and the moon in Egypt as well, so it may have become connected to Easter because the date of Easter is determined by the cycle of the moon. Traditions abound regarding the coloring of eggs. A Polish legend, for example, says that on the way to market to sell his eggs, a man set his eggs down and helped Christ carry the cross. When he went back for the eggs, he found them decorated in beautiful colors and designs. Some of the most well-known decorated eggs are by Carl Faberge, the most famous court jeweler in history. Faberge designed an Easter egg for the wife of the Czar in 1884. It was so well received that he made another egg each year for the next eleven years until the Czar died. The tradition was continued with the Czar's son.
Ukrainian Easter egg decorating dates from 1,300 B.C. These are hand decorated eggs made by a process using wax. Words are encoded on the egg by way of the symbols and colors.
These days, Oology is the study of eggs. In the bird kingdom alone, 9,000 kinds of birds each lay their own kind of eggs. Hummingbirds lay the smallest; Ostriches and Kiwis, the largest. Why do different species lay different colored eggs? The color of an egg depends upon where it is laid. White eggs are normally hidden, but colored eggs match the colors in the environment of the nest for camouflage.
A vast amount of life comes from eggs of all kinds whether incubated internally or externally. The earth itself resembles an egg with a crust (shell), magma (egg white) and core (yolk). No matter what may change, the egg remains prime to our continued existence.
Sources:
Various Authors (1997-1999). Myth and Mankind: Vols. Greek & Roman, Tibetan & Mongolian, Slavic, African Myths. London: Duncan Baird Publishers/Time Life Books
History of the Easter Egg
Landhotels Austria - Austrian Easter Traditions
History and Symbolism of Ukrainian Easter Eggs
National Geographic News - Earliest Unhatched Bird Fossil Found
Veggs Australia - Egg Facts and Fun
Australian Sacred Sites
The Sacramento Zoo - Egg Layers
How the Egg Came to Symbolize Easter
Treasures of the World - Faberge Eggs
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Did pirates really go "arrrgh?"
A pirate is one of the original terrorists of the world. In fact, terror was just as much a weapon in a pirate's armory as his sword. So just when did the pirate pass from a seafaring, Osama Bin Laden-type of scumbag to the romantic, handsome, swashbuckling hero? More importantly, did they really go "arrrgh?" Let us examine the mystique of the pirate.
The definition of a pirate is one who robs or plunders ships on the sea or targets on shore without a commission from a government or king. Privateers or corsairs were the same as pirates except they had a commission to capture ships belonging to an enemy nation. West Indies pirates were known as buccaneers, which comes from the word boucan, a wooden frame used for cooking meat used by French hunters called boucaniers. Interestingly, the English word, filibuster, has its origins in pirate terminology. Vrijbuiter meaning plunderer in Dutch was corrupted into the English "freebooter" and the French "flibustier." The French word then went back into the English as "filibuster." A filibuster was not a pirate but an adventurous man involved in certain Latin American revolutions and coups. Finally, the meaning evolved into talking without stopping as a disruptive maneuver, taking captive a legislative process.
Of course, all through history, wherever there were people, there were pirates of one type or another. Even Julius Caesar was taken captive by pirates and held for ransom at one point in his life. Irish pirates enslaved Saint Patrick. Vikings were notorious pirates.
Today, however, our present stereotypical image of a pirate is one of THE most recognizable icons in the world. Just where does that come from? The simple answer is that most of what we know as pirate characteristics in our time are the inventions of writers of fiction.
In 1883, Robert Louis Stevenson wrote the novel Treasure Island. This is the Holy Grail of pirate depiction. Long John Silver never existed, but he will always linger in our minds as the pirate of pirates. This characterization is complete with one leg and a pet parrot perched on his shoulder. The treasure map with an "X" marking the spot came from this book.
Then in 1950, Robert Newton perfected the stereotypical way of speaking and dressing in the film adaptation of Treasure Island. He was the first to interject those famous growls of "Arrrgh" into pirate conversation.
The following list of items (according to FreeDictionary.com) constitutes the stereotypical pirate dress:
* Motley clothes which are bright-colored, shabby and mismatched. Pirate captains are generally depicted as distinguishing themselves from the rest of the crew with naval or aristocratic style velvet coats. Waistcoats, breeches, open-necked shirts with large cuffed boots and belts also developed as typical pirate wear, and of course, all topped with the three-corner hat.
* An eye patch.
* A wooden or peg leg.
* A hook on the stub of an amputated hand.
* A large golden hoop earring.
* A bandana worn alone or under the three-corner hat.
* A parrot on the pirate's shoulder. The most common phrase the parrot squawks is "pieces of eight!"
* A pesky ship's monkey.
We also automatically smile when we hear any of those famous words in the pirate jargon: "shiver me timbers," "avast," or "yo-ho." How about "fifteen men on the dead man's chest, yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!" This sea-shanty is from the book Treasure Island as well.
Whether it be Captain Hook of Peter Pan fame or Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, all of the above work together to romanticize the lives of pirates through history. But what was the reality?
Hard to imagine the untold misery that pirates have caused in stealing, torturing, raping, and murdering their victims. They were normal looking seamen for their day and not the laundered version we think of. These were hardened, rough men and sometimes women, surviving on the plunder of others, and some were known especially for their cruelty. Edward Teach, also known as Blackbeard, was one such example. Probably the most famous of all pirates, his image was one of a cutthroat. His goal was to make his appearance as terrifying as possible. Every so often, he would kill one of his crew just to show who was boss, and he would cut off the fingers of his victims if they refused to give up their goods.
The sad part of the pirate legacy is that it still goes on today. Sailing in some parts of the sea is as dangerous as walking alone down a dark alley on the shabby side of town. And piracy is on the increase. Statistics on pirate attacks from 1993 to 2003 were 234 attacks, 16 deaths, and 52 injured worldwide, with 193 crew members held hostage. The South China Sea and waters off Indonesia are particularly problem areas, but narrow bodies of water like the Suez Canal and the Panama Canal have pirates operating in them as well.
These days, the typical pirate wears a ski mask, carries an AK-47, and travels in a speedboat. Mostly, they rob passengers of credit cards and cash, but rape and murder can also be on the agenda. One trick is broadcasting a weak distress signal, low enough that the authorities are not alerted, but strong enough that a passing ship will be lured to them, and then the passengers of the ship find themselves victims of pirates. In 2001, pirates killed New Zealander yachtsman, Peter Blake.
Perhaps we had better start growling, "Arrrgh, I'll Crush Ye Barnacles!" to these modern-day terrorists of the sea, and blast them right out of the water.
September 19 is Talk Like a Pirate Day. Visit the website and perfect your pirate vocabulary.
The definition of a pirate is one who robs or plunders ships on the sea or targets on shore without a commission from a government or king. Privateers or corsairs were the same as pirates except they had a commission to capture ships belonging to an enemy nation. West Indies pirates were known as buccaneers, which comes from the word boucan, a wooden frame used for cooking meat used by French hunters called boucaniers. Interestingly, the English word, filibuster, has its origins in pirate terminology. Vrijbuiter meaning plunderer in Dutch was corrupted into the English "freebooter" and the French "flibustier." The French word then went back into the English as "filibuster." A filibuster was not a pirate but an adventurous man involved in certain Latin American revolutions and coups. Finally, the meaning evolved into talking without stopping as a disruptive maneuver, taking captive a legislative process.
Of course, all through history, wherever there were people, there were pirates of one type or another. Even Julius Caesar was taken captive by pirates and held for ransom at one point in his life. Irish pirates enslaved Saint Patrick. Vikings were notorious pirates.
Today, however, our present stereotypical image of a pirate is one of THE most recognizable icons in the world. Just where does that come from? The simple answer is that most of what we know as pirate characteristics in our time are the inventions of writers of fiction.
In 1883, Robert Louis Stevenson wrote the novel Treasure Island. This is the Holy Grail of pirate depiction. Long John Silver never existed, but he will always linger in our minds as the pirate of pirates. This characterization is complete with one leg and a pet parrot perched on his shoulder. The treasure map with an "X" marking the spot came from this book.
Then in 1950, Robert Newton perfected the stereotypical way of speaking and dressing in the film adaptation of Treasure Island. He was the first to interject those famous growls of "Arrrgh" into pirate conversation.
The following list of items (according to FreeDictionary.com) constitutes the stereotypical pirate dress:
* Motley clothes which are bright-colored, shabby and mismatched. Pirate captains are generally depicted as distinguishing themselves from the rest of the crew with naval or aristocratic style velvet coats. Waistcoats, breeches, open-necked shirts with large cuffed boots and belts also developed as typical pirate wear, and of course, all topped with the three-corner hat.
* An eye patch.
* A wooden or peg leg.
* A hook on the stub of an amputated hand.
* A large golden hoop earring.
* A bandana worn alone or under the three-corner hat.
* A parrot on the pirate's shoulder. The most common phrase the parrot squawks is "pieces of eight!"
* A pesky ship's monkey.
We also automatically smile when we hear any of those famous words in the pirate jargon: "shiver me timbers," "avast," or "yo-ho." How about "fifteen men on the dead man's chest, yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!" This sea-shanty is from the book Treasure Island as well.
Whether it be Captain Hook of Peter Pan fame or Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, all of the above work together to romanticize the lives of pirates through history. But what was the reality?
Hard to imagine the untold misery that pirates have caused in stealing, torturing, raping, and murdering their victims. They were normal looking seamen for their day and not the laundered version we think of. These were hardened, rough men and sometimes women, surviving on the plunder of others, and some were known especially for their cruelty. Edward Teach, also known as Blackbeard, was one such example. Probably the most famous of all pirates, his image was one of a cutthroat. His goal was to make his appearance as terrifying as possible. Every so often, he would kill one of his crew just to show who was boss, and he would cut off the fingers of his victims if they refused to give up their goods.
The sad part of the pirate legacy is that it still goes on today. Sailing in some parts of the sea is as dangerous as walking alone down a dark alley on the shabby side of town. And piracy is on the increase. Statistics on pirate attacks from 1993 to 2003 were 234 attacks, 16 deaths, and 52 injured worldwide, with 193 crew members held hostage. The South China Sea and waters off Indonesia are particularly problem areas, but narrow bodies of water like the Suez Canal and the Panama Canal have pirates operating in them as well.
These days, the typical pirate wears a ski mask, carries an AK-47, and travels in a speedboat. Mostly, they rob passengers of credit cards and cash, but rape and murder can also be on the agenda. One trick is broadcasting a weak distress signal, low enough that the authorities are not alerted, but strong enough that a passing ship will be lured to them, and then the passengers of the ship find themselves victims of pirates. In 2001, pirates killed New Zealander yachtsman, Peter Blake.
Perhaps we had better start growling, "Arrrgh, I'll Crush Ye Barnacles!" to these modern-day terrorists of the sea, and blast them right out of the water.
September 19 is Talk Like a Pirate Day. Visit the website and perfect your pirate vocabulary.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
A Visit From Auntie
Featured website for this article is the Museum of Menstruation. Special thanks goes to Harry Finley for allowing me to glean information from his site for use throughout my article. Every woman should make a pilgrimage to the Museum of Menstruation.
What could be more curious than a person who bleeds on average every 28 days and does not die? That one ability put women in a whole different category since the beginning of time. Let us look at the history of how women dealt with their menstrual cycles through the ages.
The embarrassment surrounding menstruation developed many code phrases to refer to it. You may have heard your grandmother tell someone about "a visit from auntie" or the time she was "on the rag." "Falling off the roof" and "riding the white horse" are examples of other slang phrases.
According to The Red Spot, "only humans, apes and some monkeys menstruate. Mammals like dogs and cats sometimes bleed a little when they are in heat, which is when they ovulate and mate, but they do not have menstrual cycles."
On average, a woman loses about four tablespoons of blood each month. To deal with the mess of it, women used grass, sponges, cotton wads and other absorbent materials to catch the blood. What is hard for us to imagine, however, is that the custom of some in history was to bleed into their clothing with nothing to catch it. In earlier times, open-crotch undergarments allowed secretions to pass away from the body and provided ventilation. It was not all "lavender and lace" under those long skirts! Today's "crotched" underwear is a fairly modern invention.
Nothing is written about the practices of American pioneer women other than hints about it in diaries where dark colors were recommended for wearing. Therefore, pioneer women may have bled into their clothing as well since they would have done the same as women in their homelands. In some cultures, women still bleed into their clothing today.
Records indicate that historically, menstruating women left a trail of blood. Factories where women worked used rushes on the floor to catch it. One might imagine that the odor was terrific, but during the 18th century at least, menstrual odor was considered seductive. At certain times in history, odor was evidence of a young girl's ability to have children. At other times, it spoke of a woman's infertility.
When considering the average woman in early history, poor nutrition, the lack of birth control, and the fact women breastfed their children, make it entirely possible that she did not menstruate very many times during her life, if at all. We must remember that the norm was not even to live until menopause.
In the period of roughly 1700-1900, washing or changing underclothing was considered unhealthy. Women feared blocking the flow or causing intense bleeding. Then around 1880-1890, German doctors began proposing menstrual devices for women to wear to improve their health. American patents for menstrual devices began in 1854 for a belt with steel springs to hold a pad, but the products really didn't start gaining in popularity until the 1870's.
What is in menstrual blood? The answer to that question is subject to debate. One opinion is reported at the Museum of Menstruation which states that "laboratory tests have found a certain toxin (appropriately called "menotoxin") in the various body fluids of a menstruating woman. This toxin is believed to manifest itself in large quantities, just before and during the first few days of the onset of the monthly period. Research has revealed that menotoxin has an inhibitory effect on the growth of roots, stems, living seedlings, yeast and affects the geotropic properties of seedlings."
I emailed my doctor and got his opinion on menotoxins. He said, "Menstrual flow is simply blood and tissue sloughed from the endometrium, or lining of the uterus. There are no more toxins in that blood than in any other blood; nor does it contain any bacteria except 'good bacteria' found naturally in the vaginal canal as the blood exits. The existence of any sort of 'menotoxin,' or toxin in the menstrual flow, has never been proven by any reproducible studies. Certainly, menstrual blood, like any bleeding, can harbor viruses like HIV, Hepatitis B, and Hepatitis C. However, most transmission of blood-borne disease comes not from contact with the menstrual blood but from contact with blood either from the cervix or from microscopic tears in the vaginal wall. Almost every time a pap is done (removing cervical mucus for cells), the scraping action on the cervix causes some bleeding from the cervix (not the endometrial lining)."
In certain myths, menstrual blood was believed to be life-giving and to have healing properties. It was included in the recipes for drugs and ointments and was also supposed to be cleansing in nature.
Petra Habiger presents a wealth of information in her article, Menstruation, Menstrual Hygiene and Woman's Health in Ancient Egypt. She writes that one example of a "negative" career was a laundry worker who had to wash the "loincloth of a menstruating woman." Be sure and read this fascinating article.
Pieces of cloth, called "Granny Rags," made from old sheets, pillowcases or other surplus material, then folded and pinned into underwear, served the average woman for years before the advent of commercially made disposable pads. Sears, Robuck sold sanitary aprons in their catalog for those with the money to buy them. Rags were washed after each use, hung out to dry, and used over and over. When odor became an issue, the remedy was to boil the rags 5-10 minutes to get rid of the problem. Women travelers either took their cloth pads home to wash them or burned them in the fireplace. England had special portable burners in the 1890's specifically to burn menstrual pads.
Tampon-like materials have been around since ancient times. Hippocrates wrote of their usage. Egyptians probably used grass or papyrus as tampons. An interesting fact is that the letters "O.B." in modern-day OB Tampons means ohne binde or "without a pad."
Timeline for important developments of disposable pads and tampons:
* 1890 - could buy disposable pads - "Lister's Towel" by Johnson & Johnson
* late 1920s-early 1930s - 1st commercial tampons
* 1920 - Curads disposable
* 1921 - Kotex disposable
* 1970 - adhesive pads
* 1996 - menstrual cup - first popular model after several unsuccessful products
Kotex pads (cotton-texture pad) came from bandages made in WWI for American soldiers in France by Kimberly-Clark. American nurses tried the bandages and liked them. These sold well after women were allowed to put money in a container on the store counters without speaking to a clerk. They then selected their boxes and took them home.
Other brand names for menstrual products included Fax, Fibs, Holly-Pax, Moderne Women, Nappons, Nunap, Slim-Pax, Tampas, and Wix. See pictures of these products at the Museum of Menstruation.
Attitudes about menstruation varied greatly. One way of dealing with it was to put women in seclusion in special menstrual huts. These are still in use today in some cultures.
The ability to bleed and not die equated to control of life powers in some religions. In goddess worship, a woman's menses determines the status of her power in the maiden, mother and crone figures. Menopausal women are sometimes revered and looked to for a wealth of knowledge and experience.
The Roman author, Pliny, in his Natural History wrote that a woman can turn wine sour, cause seeds to be sterile, wither grafts, cause garden plants to become parched and fruit to fall from a tree she sits under.
Jewish tradition regards a woman as ritually impure during menstruation and anyone or anything she touches becomes impure as well. As time went on, more items were added to include her breath, spittle, footprints, voice and nail clippings. Read about one Jewish tradition in The Tradition of Slapping Our Daughters.
Under Islamic law, a menstruating woman is not allowed to pray, fast or have sex. She is not allowed to touch the Koran unless it is a translation (the Koran is only a Koran if it is in Arabic).
A Hindu woman abstains from worship and cooking and stays away from her family.
Is there any scientific evidence that a woman becomes physically different during her menses, other than bleeding? One report hints at it. Pictures taken in Kirlian photography, which photographs the energy flow of the body, shows that the aura or personal atmosphere of a menstruating woman becomes darker and denser.
If you are worried about attracting sharks with menstrual blood, read Blood in Belize's Blue Hole before going into the water.
Where would mankind be without those regular visits from auntie? Long gone, I'm afraid, yet I am one thankful woman to be living in this day and writing about how they used to handle it rather than living that way. Let's celebrate this part of women's history, too.
What could be more curious than a person who bleeds on average every 28 days and does not die? That one ability put women in a whole different category since the beginning of time. Let us look at the history of how women dealt with their menstrual cycles through the ages.
The embarrassment surrounding menstruation developed many code phrases to refer to it. You may have heard your grandmother tell someone about "a visit from auntie" or the time she was "on the rag." "Falling off the roof" and "riding the white horse" are examples of other slang phrases.
According to The Red Spot, "only humans, apes and some monkeys menstruate. Mammals like dogs and cats sometimes bleed a little when they are in heat, which is when they ovulate and mate, but they do not have menstrual cycles."
On average, a woman loses about four tablespoons of blood each month. To deal with the mess of it, women used grass, sponges, cotton wads and other absorbent materials to catch the blood. What is hard for us to imagine, however, is that the custom of some in history was to bleed into their clothing with nothing to catch it. In earlier times, open-crotch undergarments allowed secretions to pass away from the body and provided ventilation. It was not all "lavender and lace" under those long skirts! Today's "crotched" underwear is a fairly modern invention.
Nothing is written about the practices of American pioneer women other than hints about it in diaries where dark colors were recommended for wearing. Therefore, pioneer women may have bled into their clothing as well since they would have done the same as women in their homelands. In some cultures, women still bleed into their clothing today.
Records indicate that historically, menstruating women left a trail of blood. Factories where women worked used rushes on the floor to catch it. One might imagine that the odor was terrific, but during the 18th century at least, menstrual odor was considered seductive. At certain times in history, odor was evidence of a young girl's ability to have children. At other times, it spoke of a woman's infertility.
When considering the average woman in early history, poor nutrition, the lack of birth control, and the fact women breastfed their children, make it entirely possible that she did not menstruate very many times during her life, if at all. We must remember that the norm was not even to live until menopause.
In the period of roughly 1700-1900, washing or changing underclothing was considered unhealthy. Women feared blocking the flow or causing intense bleeding. Then around 1880-1890, German doctors began proposing menstrual devices for women to wear to improve their health. American patents for menstrual devices began in 1854 for a belt with steel springs to hold a pad, but the products really didn't start gaining in popularity until the 1870's.
What is in menstrual blood? The answer to that question is subject to debate. One opinion is reported at the Museum of Menstruation which states that "laboratory tests have found a certain toxin (appropriately called "menotoxin") in the various body fluids of a menstruating woman. This toxin is believed to manifest itself in large quantities, just before and during the first few days of the onset of the monthly period. Research has revealed that menotoxin has an inhibitory effect on the growth of roots, stems, living seedlings, yeast and affects the geotropic properties of seedlings."
I emailed my doctor and got his opinion on menotoxins. He said, "Menstrual flow is simply blood and tissue sloughed from the endometrium, or lining of the uterus. There are no more toxins in that blood than in any other blood; nor does it contain any bacteria except 'good bacteria' found naturally in the vaginal canal as the blood exits. The existence of any sort of 'menotoxin,' or toxin in the menstrual flow, has never been proven by any reproducible studies. Certainly, menstrual blood, like any bleeding, can harbor viruses like HIV, Hepatitis B, and Hepatitis C. However, most transmission of blood-borne disease comes not from contact with the menstrual blood but from contact with blood either from the cervix or from microscopic tears in the vaginal wall. Almost every time a pap is done (removing cervical mucus for cells), the scraping action on the cervix causes some bleeding from the cervix (not the endometrial lining)."
In certain myths, menstrual blood was believed to be life-giving and to have healing properties. It was included in the recipes for drugs and ointments and was also supposed to be cleansing in nature.
Petra Habiger presents a wealth of information in her article, Menstruation, Menstrual Hygiene and Woman's Health in Ancient Egypt. She writes that one example of a "negative" career was a laundry worker who had to wash the "loincloth of a menstruating woman." Be sure and read this fascinating article.
Pieces of cloth, called "Granny Rags," made from old sheets, pillowcases or other surplus material, then folded and pinned into underwear, served the average woman for years before the advent of commercially made disposable pads. Sears, Robuck sold sanitary aprons in their catalog for those with the money to buy them. Rags were washed after each use, hung out to dry, and used over and over. When odor became an issue, the remedy was to boil the rags 5-10 minutes to get rid of the problem. Women travelers either took their cloth pads home to wash them or burned them in the fireplace. England had special portable burners in the 1890's specifically to burn menstrual pads.
Tampon-like materials have been around since ancient times. Hippocrates wrote of their usage. Egyptians probably used grass or papyrus as tampons. An interesting fact is that the letters "O.B." in modern-day OB Tampons means ohne binde or "without a pad."
Timeline for important developments of disposable pads and tampons:
* 1890 - could buy disposable pads - "Lister's Towel" by Johnson & Johnson
* late 1920s-early 1930s - 1st commercial tampons
* 1920 - Curads disposable
* 1921 - Kotex disposable
* 1970 - adhesive pads
* 1996 - menstrual cup - first popular model after several unsuccessful products
Kotex pads (cotton-texture pad) came from bandages made in WWI for American soldiers in France by Kimberly-Clark. American nurses tried the bandages and liked them. These sold well after women were allowed to put money in a container on the store counters without speaking to a clerk. They then selected their boxes and took them home.
Other brand names for menstrual products included Fax, Fibs, Holly-Pax, Moderne Women, Nappons, Nunap, Slim-Pax, Tampas, and Wix. See pictures of these products at the Museum of Menstruation.
Attitudes about menstruation varied greatly. One way of dealing with it was to put women in seclusion in special menstrual huts. These are still in use today in some cultures.
The ability to bleed and not die equated to control of life powers in some religions. In goddess worship, a woman's menses determines the status of her power in the maiden, mother and crone figures. Menopausal women are sometimes revered and looked to for a wealth of knowledge and experience.
The Roman author, Pliny, in his Natural History wrote that a woman can turn wine sour, cause seeds to be sterile, wither grafts, cause garden plants to become parched and fruit to fall from a tree she sits under.
Jewish tradition regards a woman as ritually impure during menstruation and anyone or anything she touches becomes impure as well. As time went on, more items were added to include her breath, spittle, footprints, voice and nail clippings. Read about one Jewish tradition in The Tradition of Slapping Our Daughters.
Under Islamic law, a menstruating woman is not allowed to pray, fast or have sex. She is not allowed to touch the Koran unless it is a translation (the Koran is only a Koran if it is in Arabic).
A Hindu woman abstains from worship and cooking and stays away from her family.
Is there any scientific evidence that a woman becomes physically different during her menses, other than bleeding? One report hints at it. Pictures taken in Kirlian photography, which photographs the energy flow of the body, shows that the aura or personal atmosphere of a menstruating woman becomes darker and denser.
If you are worried about attracting sharks with menstrual blood, read Blood in Belize's Blue Hole before going into the water.
Where would mankind be without those regular visits from auntie? Long gone, I'm afraid, yet I am one thankful woman to be living in this day and writing about how they used to handle it rather than living that way. Let's celebrate this part of women's history, too.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
A Camel, The Outback, and a Sore Bum
I have a mysterious desire to tour The Outback of Australia on a camel. That intrigues me. I suppose I am imagining the adventure of being in a pristine wilderness astride an animal who is completely at home there, and I desire to feel the temperature of the desert, to smell the wind, to hear the silence. But until I can actually get my hands on a camel, I am writing this article as the next best thing. That way, no sore bum.
First domesticated by frankincense traders, camels come in two varieties, the basic one hump or two. They are the desert dweller's lifeline, providing transportation, meat, milk and even shade. They have a reputation of being unpredictable, biting, spitting, and kicking, but those who know camels say this is rare. Incidentally, camels come with a double set of long, curly eyelashes, the envy of every owner of a mascara wand.
Camels began arriving in Australia in 1840 from the Canary Islands along with their Afghan cameleers who came to be known as "Ghans" which is short for Afghans. Approximately 10,000 to 12,000 one-humped camels were imported into Australia between 1860 and 1907.
The camel was the perfect conveyance for the early pioneers. Without them, exploration may have been impossible because the arid Australian Outback environment closely resembles their Middle Eastern homelands.
During their heyday, camels were used in the building of overland telegraph lines and fence lines and carrying supplies for the mining and sheep industries. They were ridden by police and postmen. This "Age of the Camel" lasted until approximately the 1920's, but with the advent of motorized vehicles, camels became completely useless to society. Some were destroyed while most were released into the wilderness where they became free-ranging herds.
Then in the 1960's, thankfully, the lowly camel was not completely forgotten as camel tourist businesses started up. In 1971, camel races began in Alice Springs as well as in other places around Australia. The 1980's brought the camel to the supper table when they began slaughtering them for human consumption.
Several camel safari companies can be found on the Internet. They offer trips consisting of several days of trekking, experiencing the flora and fauna, and camping. They even teach you how to handle a camel.
Why would I want to ride a camel through the The Outback wilderness? Here's what Philip Gee of Explore the Outback Camel Safaris has to say about it:
"Camel trekking in the Australian Outback puts you in touch with our unique natural heritage. Kangaroos, emus, goannas, dingos and a myriad of beautiful parrots and native animals simply stop and watch, as the spectacle of a fully loaded commercial camel string passes quietly by.
"Slowly crossing vast and pristine Australian Outback landscapes by camel and competent guidance is an educational experience. The surface is littered with stone artefacts, evidence of early aboriginal occupation, and it is possible to interpret the landscape based on this information. Hidden water sources, major walkabout routes and primary food sources are all indicated by this means. It is absolutely marvelous to be able to read desert landscapes in this manner."
That makes my ears perk up and my nostrils flare! Now where is that camel?
Sources
Feralfeast! History of Camels in Australia
Camels Australia Export
Australian Camel News
First domesticated by frankincense traders, camels come in two varieties, the basic one hump or two. They are the desert dweller's lifeline, providing transportation, meat, milk and even shade. They have a reputation of being unpredictable, biting, spitting, and kicking, but those who know camels say this is rare. Incidentally, camels come with a double set of long, curly eyelashes, the envy of every owner of a mascara wand.
Camels began arriving in Australia in 1840 from the Canary Islands along with their Afghan cameleers who came to be known as "Ghans" which is short for Afghans. Approximately 10,000 to 12,000 one-humped camels were imported into Australia between 1860 and 1907.
The camel was the perfect conveyance for the early pioneers. Without them, exploration may have been impossible because the arid Australian Outback environment closely resembles their Middle Eastern homelands.
During their heyday, camels were used in the building of overland telegraph lines and fence lines and carrying supplies for the mining and sheep industries. They were ridden by police and postmen. This "Age of the Camel" lasted until approximately the 1920's, but with the advent of motorized vehicles, camels became completely useless to society. Some were destroyed while most were released into the wilderness where they became free-ranging herds.
Then in the 1960's, thankfully, the lowly camel was not completely forgotten as camel tourist businesses started up. In 1971, camel races began in Alice Springs as well as in other places around Australia. The 1980's brought the camel to the supper table when they began slaughtering them for human consumption.
Several camel safari companies can be found on the Internet. They offer trips consisting of several days of trekking, experiencing the flora and fauna, and camping. They even teach you how to handle a camel.
Why would I want to ride a camel through the The Outback wilderness? Here's what Philip Gee of Explore the Outback Camel Safaris has to say about it:
"Camel trekking in the Australian Outback puts you in touch with our unique natural heritage. Kangaroos, emus, goannas, dingos and a myriad of beautiful parrots and native animals simply stop and watch, as the spectacle of a fully loaded commercial camel string passes quietly by.
"Slowly crossing vast and pristine Australian Outback landscapes by camel and competent guidance is an educational experience. The surface is littered with stone artefacts, evidence of early aboriginal occupation, and it is possible to interpret the landscape based on this information. Hidden water sources, major walkabout routes and primary food sources are all indicated by this means. It is absolutely marvelous to be able to read desert landscapes in this manner."
That makes my ears perk up and my nostrils flare! Now where is that camel?
Sources
Feralfeast! History of Camels in Australia
Camels Australia Export
Australian Camel News
I Found Myself in a Cave
Sand crept into my underwear as I crawled on all fours through the narrow, tube-like passageway underground. The water level reached my mid-forearm and mid-thigh. Standing up was an impossibility, while the stream running through it left no space along the sides for a dry path. Somehow the person with the light had gotten way behind me, and I was first in the line of people crawling into the blackness of the bowels of the earth. Placing my hand on a snake or crawdad concerned me, but what was most disconcerting was the fact I was starting to like it.
A friend who is an outdoorsman took a group of us to Carter Cave Resort Park in Kentucky in the early 90s to experience caving, otherwise known as "spelunking" in the United States or "potholing" in the UK. His mindset was that everyone needs to stretch themselves with new, and most certainly difficult, experiences--life changing adventures! On the other hand, my opinion was that squeezing through tight openings and crawling on one's belly inside a dark cave are what nightmares are made of. However, I didn't want to be left out of the get-together!
This cave would be the last one before setting off for home. Up until this point, we had not done anything too daring. The caves included some squeezing and climbing and sometimes the odd bat here and there clinging onto cave walls. My friend had been working us up gradually to bigger things. This cave was to be the "make 'em or break 'em" trial by fire. There I was staring into the darkness wondering what kind of fine mess I'd gotten myself into this time.
Then it happened. My very own Peppermint Patty commercial. I felt exhilarated! The squeamishness evaporated, and I no longer cared how wet, muddy and dirty I was getting. I threw apprehension off me like a fur coat on a hot day. From then on, I crawled with gusto and a smile on my face. This was an experience of a lifetime, and my friend was right. I had overcome my fear and was going away a new person. Many unrelated areas of my life were affected, and I attribute this one experience with more than one breakthrough.
I ended up going caving one other time at Carter Caves which included altogether different experiences. For the second adventure, my friend found a small opening that descended narrowly down and expanded out into a larger cave room. The Carter Cave area is honeycombed with caves that start as tiny openings in the earth. He set up a rappel rope and harnessed each of us up. Down we went in turn about thirty or forty feet to the cave floor. We walked through the passageway which also included an underground stream. Some of the streams outside of the cave were partially frozen at that time of year, so you can imagine that the underground water was extremely cold, too. We had to walk in this water at times, filling our boots. My feet became colder than they had ever been in my life! I thought I would be permanently maimed, but there again, fear broke off of me. I loosened up. The prim little voice in my head that replays all those sensible instructions must have given up for it no longer said a word.
On the way out of the cave, though, I discovered something really important about rappelling. One can only rappel down and not up--and "down" was the easy part. I was ready to be harnessed up and pulled out of the cave, but now that we were down in the hole, the only way up was to free climb with a safety rope attached. Getting out at the top was extremely tricky and required a maneuver around a small overhang of rock. We drew on all the strength we could muster, and that section of the climb took each of us a good deal of time to negotiate. At one point, I even wondered if we all could actually get out. My friend knew we could do it, though, but this was one of those times when I was glad my mother did not know what I was doing. When we finally got out, we had to walk at least a mile back to the car, wet feet and all. But it didn't matter. I had overcome!
Having said that, should everyone run out and explore a cave? Never, unless you have someone experienced to help you! My friend had done this for years, even underwater cave diving, and had the expertise and proper equipment. We also registered our presence with the Carter Cave visitor center so if we did not return, they would know we needed help.
Carter Cave Resort park is located near Olive Hill, Kentucky. You can obtain information here:
Carter Cave Resort Park
So, you really want to try spelunking? The Carter Caves Crawlathon is held annually. You'll find experienced cavers as well as those who have never been caving before at this annual event. Check it out at:
Carter Caves Crawlathon
A friend who is an outdoorsman took a group of us to Carter Cave Resort Park in Kentucky in the early 90s to experience caving, otherwise known as "spelunking" in the United States or "potholing" in the UK. His mindset was that everyone needs to stretch themselves with new, and most certainly difficult, experiences--life changing adventures! On the other hand, my opinion was that squeezing through tight openings and crawling on one's belly inside a dark cave are what nightmares are made of. However, I didn't want to be left out of the get-together!
This cave would be the last one before setting off for home. Up until this point, we had not done anything too daring. The caves included some squeezing and climbing and sometimes the odd bat here and there clinging onto cave walls. My friend had been working us up gradually to bigger things. This cave was to be the "make 'em or break 'em" trial by fire. There I was staring into the darkness wondering what kind of fine mess I'd gotten myself into this time.
Then it happened. My very own Peppermint Patty commercial. I felt exhilarated! The squeamishness evaporated, and I no longer cared how wet, muddy and dirty I was getting. I threw apprehension off me like a fur coat on a hot day. From then on, I crawled with gusto and a smile on my face. This was an experience of a lifetime, and my friend was right. I had overcome my fear and was going away a new person. Many unrelated areas of my life were affected, and I attribute this one experience with more than one breakthrough.
I ended up going caving one other time at Carter Caves which included altogether different experiences. For the second adventure, my friend found a small opening that descended narrowly down and expanded out into a larger cave room. The Carter Cave area is honeycombed with caves that start as tiny openings in the earth. He set up a rappel rope and harnessed each of us up. Down we went in turn about thirty or forty feet to the cave floor. We walked through the passageway which also included an underground stream. Some of the streams outside of the cave were partially frozen at that time of year, so you can imagine that the underground water was extremely cold, too. We had to walk in this water at times, filling our boots. My feet became colder than they had ever been in my life! I thought I would be permanently maimed, but there again, fear broke off of me. I loosened up. The prim little voice in my head that replays all those sensible instructions must have given up for it no longer said a word.
On the way out of the cave, though, I discovered something really important about rappelling. One can only rappel down and not up--and "down" was the easy part. I was ready to be harnessed up and pulled out of the cave, but now that we were down in the hole, the only way up was to free climb with a safety rope attached. Getting out at the top was extremely tricky and required a maneuver around a small overhang of rock. We drew on all the strength we could muster, and that section of the climb took each of us a good deal of time to negotiate. At one point, I even wondered if we all could actually get out. My friend knew we could do it, though, but this was one of those times when I was glad my mother did not know what I was doing. When we finally got out, we had to walk at least a mile back to the car, wet feet and all. But it didn't matter. I had overcome!
Having said that, should everyone run out and explore a cave? Never, unless you have someone experienced to help you! My friend had done this for years, even underwater cave diving, and had the expertise and proper equipment. We also registered our presence with the Carter Cave visitor center so if we did not return, they would know we needed help.
Carter Cave Resort park is located near Olive Hill, Kentucky. You can obtain information here:
Carter Cave Resort Park
So, you really want to try spelunking? The Carter Caves Crawlathon is held annually. You'll find experienced cavers as well as those who have never been caving before at this annual event. Check it out at:
Carter Caves Crawlathon
Only one more blog, I promise!
I certainly am making myself work having four blogs, but I recently discovered that some of my writings which appeared on another site have completely disappeared. Since these writings represented a lot of work for me, I have been rescuing them, and others that still appear on the web in archives, and spreading them all over four blogs, according to subject. That way, I will have gathered all my "chicks" under my blog wings where no one else controls the delete button.
The Planet Curiosity blog will contain miscellaneous writings that don't fit in any of the other blogs. All my friends know I like to ask a lot of questions and am curious about the silliest things. I plan to include some humor writing here as well which I so enjoy doing.
Anyway, if you have found this blog among the millions of other blogs that are in existence on the web, I hope you find it worth reading.
The Planet Curiosity blog will contain miscellaneous writings that don't fit in any of the other blogs. All my friends know I like to ask a lot of questions and am curious about the silliest things. I plan to include some humor writing here as well which I so enjoy doing.
Anyway, if you have found this blog among the millions of other blogs that are in existence on the web, I hope you find it worth reading.
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