Beware the Ides of March

What are the Ides?

When I was in Mrs. Welch's sophomore honors English class, way back in 1992, I remember reading
Shakespeare's tragic play Julius Ceasar.  Now, unlike most sophomores, I actually liked it.  I will never forget her telling us the meaning of the famous quote, "Beware the Ides of March."  Every year as we approach March 15, I think about that quote, and I wonder if March 15 is really supposed to be an unlucky day.  So, like last week, I will be exploring something that interests me.  I promise, next week I will be back to answering questions for other people. 

If, like me, you had to read Julius Ceasar in high school, then you probably remember the soothsayer telling Ceasar to, "Beware the Ides of March."  You may also remember that this was the date that Julius was betrayed and assassinated.  This event was recorded by Plutarch.  He wrote that 62 men, including Brutus and Cassius, were part of the conspiracy to assassinate Ceasar.  He also wrote that Ceasar had been warned by a seer that he would be harmed by the Ides of March.  Plutarch says that Ceasar joked that day that nothing had happened yet. 


Shakespeare dramatized Plutarch's comments in his famous play.  Most versions of the play have a side note or footnote that explains that the Ides of March was the 15th day of the month in the Roman calendar.  In a previous post, I explained some of the history of the Roman calendar, and that March, May, July, and October all had 30 days.  Ides, from Idus which means half division in Latin, were the middle point of each month, so for those four months, the Ides fell on the 15th.  The other months were shorter, and the Ides fell on the 13th. 

The ancient Romans said their calendar was created by Romulus, the mythical founder of Rome.  While no one knows if he actually existed, much less created the calendar, what we do know is that the Roman calendar was complex.  The first day of each month was named a Kalend (where we get the word for calendar!).  The seventh day of March, May, July, and October were called Nones.  The 5th day of the other months were Nones.  And of course, the Ides fell in the middle. Just like Roman numbers, which use I, V, X, C, and M and then count forward or backward from those, the days of the months worked the same way.  So just like VIII is three forwards from 5 to make 8, May 3 would be V Nones, or 5 days before the Nones. 

This system was confusing, and as we learned before, easily corrupted.  When the Julian calendar was adopted, this system remained, and was used well into the Middle Ages, and in some places until the Renaissance.  People in Shakespeare's time would have known about the Ides of March.

But did the Romans think the day was unlucky?  Not especially.  Actually, the 15th day of March was dedicated to the god Mars.  Mars was the god of war, and the day was celebrated with festivities and military parades.  So in reality, it seems to have only been unlucky for Julius Ceasar.  A quick look over the historic events occurring on March 15 shows that there isn't a lot of support for the day being any more unlucky than any other day of the year.  I also checked births and deaths for the day.  Nothing amazing stands out to me.  In short, March 15 is just a regular day.  Audiences in Shakespeare's time would have known it wasn't a day to fear as well.  He was only writing about one event, not suggesting that the day in general was unlucky.

On the other hand, the ancient Romans might have felt the Kalend of March was unlucky.  Just like today, bills were due to be paid on the first of the month.  I'm sure no one looked forward to that except the bill collectors!

Legend and Mystery-The Queen of Sheba

Queen-  1. a: the wife or widow of a king  b: the wife or widow of a tribal chief

2. a: A female monarch  b: a female chieftain 

3. a: a woman eminent in rank, power, or attraction  b: a goddess or a thing personified as female and having supremacy in a realm c: an attractive girl or woman

 A partial definition from Merriam Webster

(An Arabian Queen)

I Kings 10:1-13 (NIV)

¹ When the queen of Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon and his relationship to the LORD, she came to test Solomon with hard questions. ² Arriving at Jerusalem with a very great caravan—with camels carrying spices, large quantities of gold, and precious stones—she came to Solomon and talked with him about all that she had on her mind. ³ Solomon answered all her questions; nothing was too hard for the king to explain to her. ⁴ When the queen of Sheba saw all the wisdom of Solomon and the palace he had built, ⁵ the food on his table, the seating of his officials, the attending servants in their robes, his cupbearers, and the burnt offerings he made at^[a] the temple of the LORD, she was overwhelmed.

 ⁶ She said to the king, “The report I heard in my own country about your achievements and your wisdom is true. ⁷ But I did not believe these things until I came and saw with my own eyes. Indeed, not even half was told me; in wisdom and wealth you have far exceeded the report I heard. ⁸ How happy your people must be! How happy your officials, who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom! ⁹ Praise be to the LORD your God, who has delighted in you and placed you on the throne of Israel. Because of the LORD’s eternal love for Israel, he has made you king to maintain justice and righteousness.”
 ¹⁰ And she gave the king 120 talents^[b] of gold, large quantities of spices, and precious stones. Never again were so many spices brought in as those the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.
 ¹¹ (Hiram’s ships brought gold from Ophir; and from there they brought great cargoes of almugwood^[c] and precious stones. ¹² The king used the almugwood to make supports^[d] for the temple of the LORD and for the royal palace, and to make harps and lyres for the musicians. So much almugwood has never been imported or seen since that day.)
 ¹³ King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba all she desired and asked for, besides what he had given her out of his royal bounty. Then she left and returned with her retinue to her own country.

(The Arabic interpretation of King Solomon)

       The Queen of Sheba.  Never has a name been so legendary, so contradictory, and so mysterious.  Who was she?  Did she even exist?  I have to admit this week's topic is one of my own choosing.  I've been thinking about this one since Sunday.  I was looking for something totally unrelated in II Chronicles, when I stumbled across the story of the Queen's visit to Solomon.  Of course, as a kid in Sunday school, I often heard the story, but the 25 verses in the Old Testament were all I knew (13 in I Kings, 12 in II Chronicles).

When I came across the story last week, my curiosity was renewed.  That led me to head to the library, and I will share with you what I learned.

     The Queen of Sheba (Saba in Hebrew) shows up in the holy texts of Christians, Muslims, Jews, and Rastafarians.  She is mentioned in the histories of several countries, including Israel, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Egypt, and even Nigeria.  Makeda, Bilqia, and Nikaulis are some of the names that have been attributed to her.  She is the inspiration for stories spanning a great romance with Solomon, her possible heritage as half djinn (genie), and even as a demon.  The story in the Bible was written down by an anonymous scribe of King Solomon, the sixteenth son of King David.  It is the only direct evidence of her existence that has been discovered to date.

                   (the ruins of the temple at Marib, called Bilqis Temple)

 Claimed by many countries, the Queen of Sheba has long been a source of fascination to historians who wanted proof of her existance and heritage.  What do we know for sure?  Her name was not Sheba.  That is the name of her kingdom in southern Arabia.  She must have lived and ruled sometime around the 10th century B.C. because that is when Solomon ruled.  Her country was known for trading.  It was wealthy in gold, incense, and spices which were much in demand in the known world.  Most accounts show she was strong, confident, and wise.  Here is where the rest becomes speculation.

     In recent years, archaeologists have begun to explore previously untouched areas.  In Yemen, where it is believed the Queen of Sheba ruled, they are beginning to excavate the ancient city of Mirab, and a temple there is promising.  There are also records from Ethiopia of a queen named Makeda from Ophir.  Scholars believe this was the name for Saba.  The dates are close as well.  In Ethiopian history, Makeda became a queen when her father died.  She is said to have had a child with Solomon named Menelik.  This child became king, and his descendants ruled until the Italians took over Ethiopia. 

(Menelik I)

     Some historians suggest that the Queen's great legend comes from her being a combination of several women rulers, and that the stories have solidified into one great queen.  There were many strong female rulers in Egypts, Ethiopia, and Arabia between 800 and 1050 B.C. so this is a possibility. 

     There is a great deal of debate surrounding the queen's appearance as well.  While she clearly wasn't European as many paintings depict, it isn't certain if she was Arabic or African.  Many accounts describe her as beautiful.  Some describe very hairy legs.  There are some more outrageous stories that say she had a donkey's hoof or goat's hoof.  Aside from that, little is mentioned about her appearance. 

(An artist's rendering of the Queen of Sheba)

     The kingdom of Saba is only recently of great interest to archaeologists, so not much information is available.  We do know that Yemen is located on the tip of the Arabian peninsula, on the Red Sea.  Across the sea lies the horn of Africa.  Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, Djbouti, Sudan, and Egypt are all nearby.  Travel by sea was easier than travel by land in those days.  This allowed goods and cultures to flow easily between those countries.  In the 10th century B.C., Saba was a new kingdom.  The capital was Marib.  Historians estimate around 20,000 people lived there, and that a series of dams on the Wadi Adana allowed them to farm enough to feed everyone.  Marib is located in the mountains at the edge of the Arabian desert.  It is about 100 miles from the sea.  They had trade goods which were in high demand.  They had camels, and saddles, a written language, a wealthy elite, and several smaller cities.  Saba was well placed and ready to gain power.

 (Map of the Middle East.  Note the locations of Yemen, Israel, and Ethiopia)

     The next question many scholars ask is, would it have been possible for the queen to have learned of Solomon, and then to travel to Jerusalem?  Even at that time, traders and travelers moved throughout the Middle East and North Africa.  A trader or messenger could well have brought the news of Solomon.  Some even think a man named Timran could have been that messenger.  The queen would have had the means to travel to Jerusalem.  She may have been motivated by curiosity, the prospect of trade, or reasons of her own.  The journey would have been long, dangerous, and difficult, but not impossible. 

(A camel caravan in the Arabian Desert)

     Her caravan likely followed the Incense Road some 1500 miles through the desert.  It would have taken at least 75 days one way, with a long rest in between.  Her arrival in Jerusalem at the time was probably not impressive.  It was a small city of about 2000 people sitting on top of a hot, dry hill.  Solomon's palace was impressive, but Jerusalem wasn't. 


(An artist's rendering of King Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem based on excavations)

     And what of the questions she asked Solomon when they met?  The Biblical account doesn't say.  Hebrew legends give a variety of riddles, often numbered at 22.  Most likely, the questions were trade related, but we will probably never know.

     What about the great romance?  This is based on the last verse of the story.  "King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba all she desired and asked for, besides what he had given her out of his royal bounty."  Many felt this was code for intimate relations.  It is possible that they sealed trade deals with intimacy, as that was not uncommon at the time, but it's just as possible that his bounty was in the form of food or other goods.  Some later accounts try to make the queen into a schemer, a gold-digger, or even a tempting demoness.  Those accounts probably come as a result of a woman who traveled alone such a long distance to have intelligent conversation with a man. 

     At this point it seems like a lot of speculation and very little fact.  Unfortunately, that is what I have learned about this ancient queen.  Much of what we "know" about the Queen of Sheba is based on oral history, legend, and those 25 verses.  My research left me with more questions than answers.  My next stop is to read Sheba by Nicholas Clapp.  Maybe I will revisit this topic with more information some day.  It's always possible that a big discovery could happen in Yemen or Ethiopia.  In the meantime, this legendary queen will remain a mystery.

Intolerable, Horrible, and Derisible-Measuring Time

Intolerable, Horrible, and Derisible

     Somehow, I ended up answering two seperate questions from two different people when I started my research for this week's blog.  My husband wanted to know why some months have 30 days, and others don't.  Then my mother asked me why the date of Easter changes every year when most holidays have a set date.  When I started looking for the answer to my husband's question, I inadvertently fell upon the answer to my mother's as well.

     Most of the world today follows the Gregorian calendar, but how did we end up with this way of measuring time?  And what did we use before?  Why did we switch?  You may have noticed in previous posts that I mentioned the Julian calendar.  Before we began using the current calendar, much of western Europe used the Julian calendar.  We need to examine the history of the Julian calendar to understand the Gregorian calendar, so here goes.

     The early Roman calendar was based on the moon.  It had 304 days broken into 10 months.  Mars (March), Maius (May), Quintilis (July), and October had 31 days, and the rest had 30.  The year started in Mars and ended in December.  No one is sure what was done about the other 60-61 days .  Around 715 BC, King Numa added January and February, though in reverse order.  He also changed the number of days in each month to bring the total to 355.

     The Roman calendar was deeply flawed, and became even more so over time as the pontifical college ( the officials elected to manage the calendar) manipulated it to benefit themselves.  Julius Caesar spent some time in the pontifical college before he became caesar.  He knew about the flaws and corruption, and made the calendar a priority of reform.  He called on the Alexandrian mathematician and astronomer, Sosigenes, for help.  Sosigenes recommended switching from a lunar year to a solar (sun) year, setting the year at 365 1/4 days, and adding a day every four years.  Unfortunately, Julius was assassinated before the reforms were fully instituted, and there was some confusion.  It wasn't until 9 B.C. (some 30 years after Julius), that Augustus fixed the calendar. 

     As Christianity spread from the Middle East into Europe, new flaws in the Julian calendar began to show.  Some Christians objected to the "pagan" names for the days and months.  Others felt that the ever shifting dates of holidays were a problem.  Many objected to the new year starting in March because this was also a "pagan" tradition. Still others felt that the way we numbered years needed to be changed to reflect the birth of Christ.  An Abbot named Dionysus Exiguus was the leader of this movement.  After much research, he felt he had discovered the exact date of Christ's crucifixion, and could also determine the exact date of his birth.  He then set the date of his birth as 1 A.D. and changed the way years were recorded before that date to B.C.  Dionysus didn't realize that his calculations were off by about 4 years though.  Christ was actually born in what we now call 4 B.C.  By the 11th century though, this method was commonly accepted, and still used today. 

     Despite the various flaws in the Julian calendar, it was the most widely used in Europe, and it was accepted by the church, which was all important at the time.  One major flaw became more apparent over time though.  Sosigenes set a year as 365.25 days, when it was actually 365.24219 days.  A little over 11 minutes in the course of a year isn't much, but over time it can really throw things off.  Even with a leap year every four years, the calendar was ending up a whole day off every 128 years.  More importantly, Easter was getting later every year.  Scholars began to send suggestions to the Pope, including Roger Bacon in the 1200s.  He called the Julian calendar, "Intolerable, horrible, and derisible."


     As astronomy became more accurate, the appeals for reform increased.  Various attempts at reform failed though, until Pope Gregory XIII in 1572.  He hired astronomer Ignazio Danti, and studied the work of Lilio, along with many of the suggestions scholars had been sending.  Armed with the information he collected, he set out to have a new calendar created.  On February 24, 1582, after 10 years of study and debate, Gregory signed the new calendar into effect.  There were still complaints, especially with the calculation of the date for Easter, but the Gregorian calendar slowly began to catch on.  I say slowly because some countries didn't adopt the calendar until the 20th century.  The American colonies switched in 1752. 

                                                         Thirty days hath September,
                                                         April, June, and November.
                                                         All the rest have thirty-one
                                                         Excepting February alone,
                                                         To which we twenty-eight assign
                                                        ‘til Leap Year makes it twenty-nine.

                                                                                   Anonymous 1500s

     So what did the Gregorian calendar change?  It set the dates for the equinoxes and solstices.  January 1 became the date of the new year.  Most holidays were given a specific date.  Leap year added a day to February to years that were divisible by four, except for years that end in 00, which must be divisible by 400.  While not perfect, the flaws are minor, and will only be obvious 10,000 years from the beginning of the calendar. 



     But what about Easter you say?  Well, it's not a simple explanation, and it involves a lot of math and astronomy, and even a little spirituality.  I will go a little deeper into Easter in April, but for now, here is the basic way of figuring out the date for Easter in the Gregorian calendar system: Easter must occur between March 22 and April 25.  It happens on the first Sunday after the full moon on or after the spring equinox.  Here is the catch though, it doesn't have to be a real full moon.  The date of the full moon is decided by an table of ecclesiastical numbers, and may not coincide with the real phases of the moon.  This was one of the problems that the church had with Gregory's calendar, and is still very confusing to people today.  For more about Easter, check back on April 7. 

From the Roman calendar, to the Julian calendar, to the Gregorian calendar, attempts to measure time have revealed that it's not a simple task.  Many other types of calendars have been used around the world.  Some are lunar, some are solar, and some use their own unique methods.  What is clear is that people like to keep track of time. 

Mesoamerican Armageddon

A friend of mine asked me to look into the real story behind the Mayan calendar and the end of the world in 2012.  Hollywood has certainly made a big deal of the whole thing, but how much is reality, and how much is good movie fodder?  The answer is pretty complex, but I will do my best to present a summary that isn’t too convoluted.

First, we have to take a look at the origins of the Mayans.  Around 2000 B.C.E., the people who would become the Olmecs emerged in southern Mexico and northern Central America.  They began to develop a distinct culture that emphasized imperfect but powerful gods that could create or destroy.  As the Olmec culture solidified, they became concerned with pleasing their gods so that crops would grow and life would remain pleasant.  Agriculture was very important to the Olmecs, as it would continue to be for the Mayans and Aztecs that would come afterwards. 

The Olmecs devised a 360 day calendar system for planting crops.  It was based on the movements of the sun, and was similar to our Gregorian calendar. There were 18 months of 20 days each. The last five days were nameless days, and were considered bad luck days.  They also devised a 260 day calendar for rituals and ceremonies.  This calendar had 13 months of 20 days each.  There are a few theories as to why they had this second calendar.  Perhaps it was because the average pregnancy lasts about 260 days?  Or maybe it was because it takes about 260 days for a complete growing cycle of a crop of corn?  Most likely, it is because the numbers 13 and 20 were sacred numbers to the Olmecs, and would remain sacred to the Mayans and Aztecs.  Every 52 years, the two calendars would end on the same day, and a 52 year cycle would start over. The Olmecs were also very interested in astronomy and astrology, and they passed this interest on to their Mayan and Aztec descendants as well. 

 

When the Olmec reign ended around 200 B.C.E., the Mayan and Aztec peoples began to rise in power.  They adopted many of the customs of the Olmecs, including their calendars.  The Mayans improved and expanded the calendar system into one of the most sophisticated in the world.  .  The Mayans were very concerned with the passage of time, and the keeping of incredibly precise historical and governmental records.  They developed a system of writing which used glyphs, which were recorded on stone and in books made of a rough paper.  They also developed a number system which was a base 20 system, and had a glyph for zero.

 

The Mayans wanted such precision in their record keeping that they felt 52 year cycles weren’t enough.  They called the 260 day calendar the Tzol’kein, and the 360 day calendar the Haab.  First they added a 534 day calendar which was specifically for religious purposes.  It tracked the times for rituals, ceremonies, and festivals.  It was used mainly by priests.  The 52 year cycle was the Calendar Round.  To these, they added the Long Count calendar, which encompassed 5125.36 years.  This would allow them to record events accurately for posterity. 

The Mayan calendar systems were highly complex.  Interlocking wheels were made with glyphs for each of the 13 months and the 20 days.  The wheel was turned daily to match a day name with the month.  If you want more information about exactly how the calendar worked, check out http://history.howstuffworks.com/central-american-history/mayan-calendar.htm.  There are some great graphics and a wonderful explanation of the way the calendar works. 

Now back to the end of the world.  The current Long Count calendar ends on December 21, 2012.  The Great Cycle of 5123.36 years will come to an end that day.  It is also the day of the Winter Solstice, and even cooler, it will be the first time in about 26,000 years that the sun will align with the center of the Milky Way.  But does this mean the apocalypse?  Well, the 7 million or so Mayans still living today say no.  Many still use the Mayan calendar system, and still celebrate the old rituals and festivals.  They say it will actually be a big celebration day, kind of like New Years.  Top that with the fact that no predictions from the ancient Mayans have been found to say that the world will end on December 21, and I think we can safely say that the doomsayers and Hollywood have taken things way out of context. 

For more information, you can look at the website above, or you can read in the books below.  There is so much information on this topic, and much of it is very complex.  I tried to summarize it in a very simple way.  I am also including a few doomsday websites just for fun, and a link to IMDB for a couple of movies.  I hope you can breathe a little easier now.

Mexico in World History by William H. Beezley

The Aztec and Mayan Worlds by Fiona MacDonald

Ancient Maya:Archaeology Unlocks the Secrets of the Maya’s Past by Nathaniel Harris

http://buburuza.net/2008/08/seven-reasons-the-world-will-end-in-2012-proven-scientifically/   

(This one goes to show how dangerous a tiny bit of knowledge and a lot of misinformation can be when you stir them up together)

http://doomsday2012.info/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1190080/    (for the movie 2012)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0472043/      (for the movie Apocolypto)

Chocolate-The Mayan Ambrosia

My sister and I were at a baby shower recently, and one of the games involved melted candy bars in diapers.  The object was to guess the candy bar from appearance and aroma.  Some were difficult, but right away, we identified a Hershey Bar.  My sister pointed out that it has a smell you can’t mistake for anything else.  This little event made me realize that chocolate is a full experience from taste, to texture, from aroma, to memory. 

            “As the chocolate softens, the comforting, unmistakable taste

              transports you into a delightful world of memories.”

                                                                                Herve Bizeul

Did you know that 52% of Americans say chocolate is their favorite dessert flavor?  Or that in 2001 Americans consumed 3 billion pounds of chocolate?  Cacao is the third largest agricultural export product in the world, coming in right behind coffee and sugar.

But how did we discover this magical elixir?  Where did chocolate come from?  And how did it come to be such an integral part of our world?  Let’s go back in time about 2000 years.

It all began in Central America.  The Mayans and Aztecs cultivated cacao trees, which they called cacahuaquchtl.  As a matter of fact, it was the only tree they bothered to name.  They believed it was sent by the gods as a gift.  It seems that the Mayans first ate cacao.  They made a thin, bitter drink, and also mixed it with corn meal for a kind of porridge.  The Aztecs so valued cacao that they used the beans as money.  It took about 50 cacao beans to pay for a donkey.  In their book, The True History of Chocolate, Sophie and Michael Coe contend that chocolate is possible twice as old, and was originally used by the Olmecs, and there is emerging evidence to suggest they are right. Christopher Columbus actually took cacao beans to Spain, but Isabella and Ferdinand failed to recognize their potential.  It wasn’t until after Montezuma introduced cacao to Cortez that the Spanish realized what they had. 

In the 1520s, the Spanish nobility began to mix sugar with the bitter cacao drink of the Americas.  Cacao trees were planted in Spain, and the secret formula was well guarded.  Cacao was sold in limited amounts to other countries, until in the 1630s, the secret got out.  Still, cacao was very expensive, and only a select few could enjoy it.  In 1730, the prices of cacao and sugar dropped.  The Industrial Revolution allowed for smoother and faster processing.  More people were soon able to afford chocolate treats.  Plantations were sprouting up throughout the European colonies, and chocolate made it’s way around the world. 

In 1764, the first American chocolate factory opened in the Massachusetts Bay Colony.  Baker’s Chocolate is still making chocolate in Massachusetts today.  We can thank Joseph Fry for the chocolate bar.  In 1847, he figured out how to make a moldable chocolate paste. Two years later, the Cadbury brothers perfected the process.  It wasn’t until 1875 though, that milk chocolate was mass produced.  Daniel Peter of Switzerland led the way.  Soon, Switzerland far surpassed Spain in chocolate production, and remains at the top today.

Contrary to popular belief, chocolate does not cause acne or migraines, and allergies to chocolate are rare. It is actually seen as healthy in moderation.  It contains phenylethylamine, which mimics the feeling of being in love, and can cause mild euphoria.    The many purported benefits included lifting mild depression, acting as a mild stimulant, and providing iron and fiber in small doses.  Long term, it could be good for your heart.  Dark chocolate is the most beneficial form.  For those of you white chocolate lovers out there, sorry, but it’s not really chocolate.  It does contain cacao butter, but it doesn’t have any chocolate liquer in it. 

            “Chocolate is the Prozac of plants.”  Deborah Waterhouse

So what is your favorite kind of chocolate?  Mine is Lindt Dark with Sea Salt. 

Some chocolate to try:

Scharffen Berger, Guittard, Ghirardelli, Baker’s, Nestle, and Hershey from the     U.S.

Valrhona and Michael Cluizel from France

Callbaut from Belgium

Droste from Holland

Lindt and Tobler from Switzerland

Green and Blacks from England

El Rey from Venezuela

And how should you enjoy chocolate?  Carole Bloom, a professional chocolate taster recommends following these steps.  First, choose 6 similar blocks.  For example, you might choose 6 different brands of plain dark chocolate.  Look for a smooth, dark, glossy

surface.  Hold each block for a few seconds.  It should melt slightly.  Note the aroma.  Break off a piece.  It shouldn’t crumble.  Place the piece in the roof of your mouth and hold it there with your tongue for 20-30 seconds.  Allow it to melt.  Enjoy the flavor and texture.  And unlike wine or coffee tasting, don’t spit!

As you open your box of chocolates this Valentine’s Day, remember to thank the ancient Mayans and Aztecs for this extraordinary culinary contribution.  As Elizabeth Rozin says in her book Blue Corn and Chocolate,

            “It left its home a bitter stimulant drink and returned as a

              sweet confection, a food of pleasure, a food of fun.”

And I couldn’t be happier that it did!

Some famous people talking about chocolate:

All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt. Charles M. Schulz

 Chocolate is the first luxury. It has so many things wrapped up in it: Deliciusness in the moment, childhood memories, and that grin-inducing feeling of getting a reward for being good. Mariska Hargitay

Let's face it, a nice creamy chocolate cake does a lot for a lot of people; it does for me. Audrey Hepburn

My greatest strength is common sense. I'm really a standard brand - like Campbell's tomato soup or Baker's chocolate. Katharine Hepburn

Researchers have discovered that chocolate produces some of the same reactions in the brain as marijuana. The researchers also discovered other similarities between the two but can't remember what they are. Matt Lauer

Strength is the capacity to break a chocolate bar into four pieces with your bare hands - and then eat just one of the pieces.
Judith Viorst

Switzerland is a place where they don't like to fight, so they get people to do their fighting for them while they ski and eat chocolate.
Larry David

 You know, I live a monastic lifestyle. No, I do. I do live in extremes, basically. I go back and forth. Once every six months, I'll have a day where I eat more chocolate than has ever been consumed by a human being.
Jim Carrey

The superiority of chocolate, both for health and nourishment, will soon give it the same preference over tea and coffee in America which it has in Spain.

 Thomas Jefferson

 

Valentine's Day-Saints and Pagans

St. Valentine’s Day-Revamping a Saint and a Pagan God

On Tuesday, men all over the Western Hemisphere will be scrambling to pick out the perfect mushy card, decide what color roses best express their feelings, and try to decide if dinner is enough, or if jewelry is warranted.  School rooms across the U.S. will be full of heart shaped cookies and red construction paper.  Many lonely singles will be feeling  blue about not having a Valentine.  So how did we get to this holiday of love? 

About 2200 years ago, the Romans had a favorite holiday called Lupercalia, which originated when Rome was still a place for shepherds with their flocks of sheep.  Wolves (lupus means wolf) were a constant threat, so a priest would sacrifice goats and dogs at the mouth of a cave on the Palatine hill. This sacrifice was meant to appease the god Lupercus for the year so that he would keep wolves away from the shepherds and their flocks.

 Eventually it evolved into a festival that was full of singing and dancing, and lots of eating.  One of the most entertaining events of the holiday actually happened the night before.  All of the girls in the town would write their names on scraps of paper and throw them in an urn.  Picture the scene from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire when all of the names are drawn for the competition, and you will get an idea of what happens next.  A boy would come and choose a name. For the remainder of the holiday, they would be paired for games and dancing and other events.  At the end of the festivities, they would likely end up engaged.  This is probably how the day originally became associated with the idea of lovers.

When Christianity began to spread across Italy, celebrating Lupercalia was frowned on, since it was in honor of the god Lupercus.  Many people did not want to stop celebrating what was seen as a very fun time, so the church eventually found a way to add it to the Christian calendar.  They created the day St. Valentine’s Day, and placed it on February 14.  The history of St. Valentine is somewhat murkier than the history of Lupercalia, but I will attempt to explain it.

There are several different explanations about who St. Valentine was, and why we celebrate him. The first one is that there was a Roman priest named Valentine about 2000 years ago.  He was arrested by the emperor Claudius II for refusing to pray to Roman gods.  Claudius was furious and ordered his execution.  The prison guard who was taking him away had made friends with Valentine.  It was known that the guard had a blind daughter.  Knowing this, Valentine gave him a note to give to the daughter.  When she opened it, she could miraculously see.  Guess what the note was supposed to have said!  “From your Valentine.” 

Another story has a different Valentine disobeying Claudius in a totally different way.  Claudius had forbidden young men to marry because it made them bad soldiers. He didn’t want lovesick, homesick men who couldn’t think of anything but their wives home alone. Valentine married the couples in secret.  Again, an enraged Claudius had the priest killed.  Wonder why his nickname was Claudius the Cruel?  It’s entirely possible that one of the Valentine’s was executed on Lupercalia, thus forever linking the two. 

Whether it’s one story, or both, Valentine’s Day came to be associated with the idea of love and romance.  It combined the ancient holiday of Lupercalia with the newer holiday.  As it spread across Europe, local traditions became a part of the celebration.  In England, birds were said to return from their trip south around February 14^th.  That is how the dove became a symbol of the holiday.  Children would go from door to door singing for treats,

sort of like Halloween today.  They also sang this song:

                                      Good morning to you, Valentine:

                                              Curl your locks as I do mine-

                                              Two before and three behind.

                                              Good morning to you, Valentine.

The Italians, of course, were a bit more romantic.  Valentine’s Day was celebrated with poetry and music in flower gardens throughout the country.  For a time, this behavior was outlawed.  In France, there were huge dances, and the men gave out flowers.  This was also temporarily outlawed, and the French stopped celebrating Valentine’s Day for quite a while. The Germans, always more serious, drew the names of saints, and then used the story of that saint for their role model for the year. 

During the Renaissance period, interest in the old Greek and Roman myths resurfaced, and Cupid became a symbol of love once again.  One of the earliest know Valentines was written by the Duke of Orleans to his wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London in the 1400s.  He actually mentions both Cupid and St. Valentine.  Another Valentine, from 1477, was written by Margery Brews to John Paston.  Paper Valentines with fancy writing and decorations emerged in the 1600s.  The Puritans temporarily outlawed Valentine’s Day in England, but King Charles brought the holiday back.  It was in 1629 that the holiday crossed the Atlantic with John Winthrop in the form of a love letter, but the Puritans here frowned on the holiday too.  It wasn’t until the 1700s that its popularity began to spread here.  By then, a number of traditions had developed all over Europe, and they began to follow the immigrants as they traveled.

Queen Victoria gets the credit for transforming Valentine’s Day into an art form.  Between 1837 and 1901, Valentines went from decorated love letters to delicate, lacey cards covered with the various symbols of the holiday.  Silk or satin flowers, feathered birds, and even gifts were attached.  Later in her reign some smart businessmen began to mass produce them.  This was the beginning of the greeting card business.  The Golden Age of Valentines ended with Queen Victoria, but the holiday has a solid hold throughout most of the industrialized world.  Every year it becomes a little more commercialized, but for most of us, it remains a day to celebrate love. 

On Tuesday, we will celebrate thousands of years of love. So kiss your sweetheart, hug your kids, or grab a quick dinner with your best friend.  Call your mom, write a letter to a soldier, or take your dog for an extra long walk.  Love comes in many forms, and that is a message anyone can be proud of.

 

Groundhog Day-An American Holiday

This is my very first blog post, so please bear with me as I learn the ropes.  My plan is for this blog to take some common events in history and make you think a little more about them.  Some posts might reveal a misconception or an outright lie.  Others might just make some connections you never considered before.  This isn't your history textbook.  There won't be any notes to take, outlines to complete, or tests to pass.  If nothing else, it might give you an interesting fact to share with you kids.  So, here goes!

Groundhog Day-Why do we turn to a lowly rodent every year to predict the weather?  To be honest, there isn't one simple answer to that question.  Like a lot of American traditions, it's actually a mish mash of several different things. 

Imbolc was a day in the ancient Celtic calendar that marked the midpoint between the Winter Solstice and the Vernal (spring) Equinox.  The ancient Celts held a festival around February 1 or 2, and it was then that they celebrated the beginning of spring.  Imbolc means "in the belly" and many historians say it was associated with pregnant ewes at that time of year.  When the Roman Catholic Church spread into the British Isles, Imbolc became St. Brigid's Day, although some say the day was actually named for the Gaelic goddess Brigid.  Candlemas immediately followed St. Brigid's Day.  Candlemas is the celebration of the presentation of Jesus at the Temple.  According to Luke, Mary and Joseph took baby Jesus to the Temple in Jerusalem forty days after his birth, when she was deemed pure again after childbirth.  Early Christians held a feast in recognition of Jesus's presentation.  In Europe, Candlemas took the form of the clergy handing out blessed candles to each household during that dark and cold time of year. 

When Europe switched from the Gregorian calendar to the Julien calendar, there was a great deal of confusion.  Many holidays and traditions had to be moved or rearranged.  Some historians suggest that the tradition of using a small animal to predict the weather for the remainder of winter arose from the confusion that resulted from the transition from pagan to Christian holidays, and the switch from one calendar to the other.  That tradition then spread across western Europe, eventually travelling across the Atlantic to America. 

Most sources indicate that the tradition traveled with the Germans into Pennsylvania, and there it was influenced by other cultures.  One of those cultures is likely the Delaware, who settled in the Punxsutawney area in 1723.  The Delaware had a tradition of honoring the groundhog as an ancestor.  Their creation story describes animals that lived in "Mother Earth" that later lived and hunted as men.   When the Germans arrived, they brought Candlemas and remnants of Imbolc with them.  The idea was that a sunny day on Feb. 2 would bring more winter, but that a dark day would bring early spring.  There are a variety of sayings, but
the German version says:
                                        For as the sun shines on Candlemas Day
                                        So far will the snow swirl until May.
                                        For as the snow blows on Candlemas Day
                                        So far will the sun shine before May.

As the cultures mingled and combined, Americans ended up turning Candlemas into an entirely different kind of day.  The sun would cast a shadow from an animal, and in Pennsylvania, the animal of importance was the groundhog.  The first recorded Groundhog reference comes from James Morris's diary, written on February 4, 1841.  He mentions the groundhog, and what happens if he sees his shadow. 

The first official Groundhog Day was Feb. 2, 1886.  Punxsutawney made his first appearance, and predicted an early spring.  Then next year was the first trip up Gobbler's Knob.  The tradition spread across the United States, and now most states have a special groundhog observe on Feb. 2.  The predictions are accurate about 39% of the time.  This year, most of the groundhogs have predicted early spring, including Buckeye Chuck in Ohio and French Creek Freddy in West Virginia.  Punxsutawney Phil disagreed and said it would be six more weeks of winter.  Now you know more than you ever cared to about Groundhog Day.  Next year, as the day approaches, I will be thinking about how amazing Americans are at this melting pot stuff.