Celtic Society’s Fear of Spirits Became Halloween

More than 2,000 years ago, ancient Celts paid homage to spirits of the dead in a celebration they called Samhain. It was a somber pagan ritual that began their new year on the current date of November 1st. That celebration evolved into what we call Halloween.  

The Celts used the start of November to mark the end of harvest season and the beginning of winter. They believed the transition between the seasons provided an open door between the worlds of the living and the dead. That opening allowed fearful creatures among the dead access to the population. The Celts devised rituals that would protect them from evil spirits. Samhain, the night of the dead, was their yearly defense from an invasion of ghosts and evil spirits that wanted to steal harvested crops and personal property from the Celts.

The night before Samhain eventually became known as All Hallows’ Eve. That’s when the people would dress in costumes that were designed to be gruesome and frightful. By disguising themselves, the Celts hoped to fool the nighttime visitors from stealing from them. They left food, drink and sweet treats on their doorsteps the night before and through Samhain to help appease the evil spirits to not ruin their crops. That led to our tradition of giving candy to children who come to our doors on Halloween.  

Celtic societies populated the European areas we know as Ireland, the United Kingdom and northern France from 300 B.C. until 600 A.D.  They lived in the midst of the Iron Age in Medieval Europe with an agrarian culture that depended on their skills in planting crops for existence. The fear of crop failures was what motivated the Celts to cater to their superstitions of ghosts invading their society.

The ritual of celebrating the dead became an important Christian celebration called All Saints Day.  In the 8th Century, Pope Gregory III made November 1st the official day of celebrating the lives of canonized saints in the Catholic Church. The Samhain celebration informally designated All Hallows Eve on October 31^st, giving people an excuse to party the night before a day of prayer.

Today we give candy and treats to children dressed in Halloween costumes. Without realizing it, we are celebrating a pagan tradition. Kids come to the door on Halloween and threaten a trick or treat. Through this ritual, the children represent visitors from the dead who demand a treat or they will inflict mischief against the homeowner.

According to the Nielsen Research Company, Americans buy 90 million pounds of chocolate candy yearly during Halloween week. That’s more chocolate than the amounts bought during the weeks of both Easter and Valentine’s Day. Hard candy purchases more than double the amount of chocolate bought for Halloween.

The amazing amount of candy bought in the United States to give away on October 31st is motivated from pagan superstitions of an extinct society from 2,000 years ago. When trick-or-treaters come to our doors asking for candy, we don’t consciously make the connection that the treats we give them are meant to appease them from inflicting terrible harm to us.  

Thanks for reading this blog. Come back to this space at the end of the month to enjoy reading another interesting subject. See my website at www.joevlatino.com.

Hot Air Propelled First Human Flyers

Two Frenchmen floated five and one half miles during the first free-floating trip into the air on November 21,1783. The world’s first aviators were lifted approximately 500 feet high while standing on a platform attached to a large bag or balloon filled with hot air.

Francois Pilatre de Rozier and Francois Laurent, called the two Francois, flew 25 minutes over farm fields near Paris, France. They landed safely in an abandoned vineyard without attracting any witnesses. Stories from the period say the airborne pioneers carried wine with them to share in a victory toast with any people who might have been near the historic flight. Undoubtedly, the first flyers celebrated by drinking the wine themselves.

The balloon used by the two Francois consisted of lightweight but highly flammable materials of paper and silk. The Montgolfier brothers, two French inventors who experimented with hot air balloons for many years, built it. The brothers often rode their own experimental balloons that sored hundreds of feet into the air while being held by ropes attached to the ground. The two Francois were the first people to take a flight in a balloon that was not attached to anything.     

Hot air rises; that’s what gives balloons the lift to go up. However, heating the air was a very dangerous part of early hot air ballooning. The Montgolfiers used wood fires as a heat source. They placed a stove on the balloon platform and kept the fire going with logs to provide the heat needed to keep the balloon going.

Many early ballooners had their floating vehicles burn and crash from onboard fires. Modern hot air ballooners use adjustable flames fed by propane tanks as their heat source. It’s many times safer than wood stoves, but fire remains a safety concern for people who like floating quietly into the air.  They can control the rise and decent of their air ships, somewhat anyway, by increasing and decreasing the amount of heat that is sent into the air bag. But the biggest disadvantage of flying hot air balloons is that they aren’t steerable. The big air bags are at the mercy of the wind, sometimes drifting helplessly into buildings, hills and power lines.  This inability to steer the balloons has prohibited them from any sort of military or industrial use.

The threat of fire destroying the crafts was greatly reduced soon after the Frenchmen pioneers made their historic flight. On December 1, 1783, just ten days after the two Francois accomplished their first flight, a gas-powered balloon flew around Paris for two and one half hours. That air ship used hydrogen and traveled 25 miles. That flight made the hot air type balloons obsolete, because no fire was needed to heat the air inside the large bag.

Hydrogen and later helium provided enough buoyancy to lift the huge bags without using any outside heat. Gas filled balloons became the major form of flying until 1903 when the Wright brothers flew the first successful airplane. The Wright’s invention of a powered, steerable airplane demonstrated the advantage of an engine-equipped plane that could be controlled.

Today, hot air ballooning is more popular than ever as a sport and recreational event. The sport is in a resurgence that started about 50 years ago and continues to attract a growing number of participants. Hundreds of hot air ballooners and spectators will meet this month in North Carolina at one of the country’s biggest floating bag events.

An upcoming event in my area, the annual Carolina Balloonfest is scheduled for October 16-18 in Statesville, NC. More than 50 hot air balloons are expected to participate in the three-day event. The public will be able to take rides on several types of balloons that will be decorated with bright colors. Organizers describe this celebration of hot air ballooning as the “Oldest Successful Human Carrying Flight Technology.” A directory of hot air balloon festivals across the nation can be found here. 

Thanks for reading about the early development of flying. Another interesting subject will be explored here later this month. Please see my website at  www.joevlatino.com.

                            

Rare Supermoon Total Eclipse Coming This Month

Look up to the night sky Sunday night, September 27^th, and watch a type of outer space light show that hasn’t happened in more than 30 years—a supermoon combined with a total lunar eclipse.

The moon will pass through the earth’s shadow for more than an hour. The moon will remain dimly visible and have a red or copper hue during the eclipse. For that short time it will be called a blood moon because of its brief color change.

During the full eclipse, the moon will be at its perigee—the closest point it passes near the earth during its oval orbit. That’s when the moon will appear 14% larger to the naked eye and be called a supermoon. A total lunar eclipse and a supermoon are separate occurrences that rarely occur together. This won’t happen again until 2033.

NASA engineers issued a report pinpointing the time of the lunar eclipse. The larger-than-normal supermoon will begin to dim at 8:11 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT). The earth’s shadow will fall across the moon at 9:07 p.m. At 10:11 p.m. EDT the blood moon will be in total eclipse for 12 minutes. The NASA report describes the moon as having a ghostly copper color until it emerges from the earth’s shadow.

All 72 minutes of the celestial event will be visible in eastern and central North America, all of South America and parts of Western Europe.

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), NASA’s star gazing satellite, will record every second of the eclipse. Scientists can use the LRO to study moon measurements, such as surface temperatures, that are not easily available during the normal phases of the moon.

Star observers have studied the movement of the moon since ancient times. Many cultures attached superstitions to the moon’s temporary disappearances during eclipses. A few of those irrational fears included stories that the moon was attacked by hungry demons or an angry sun. Some stories were based on the sun and moon quarrelling. Some modern stories about moon eclipses describe them as omens of death and worldwide destruction.

One superstition all of us could use is to keep our fingers crossed that the night sky will be clear on Sunday. That way we can get a view of the supermoon eclipse. Otherwise we’ll have to wait until 2033 when it happens again.

Thanks for reading this blog. Check back here in a week for another interesting entry. See my website at www.joevlatino.com   

Peanut Butter Has No Nuts, No Butter

One dictionary’s definition of peanut butter describes it as “a brown, oily paste made from peanuts that are a good source of protein, healthy fats, fiber and vitamins.” It’s a staple in our diet, and Americans spend $800 million on peanut butter every year.

Even though peanut butter is popular and healthy, it suffers from an identity crisis. Calling it a paste or spread is more accurate since it contains no butter. The majority of peanut eaters think they are consuming nuts, but they actually are eating legumes.

Peanuts grow underground and are inside pods similar to peas and beans that are other members of the legume family. Nuts grow on trees.

Peanuts we eat today originated from strains that grew wild thousands of years ago in South American forests. Archeologists found evidence that ancient Incas ate a form of peanut butter when they mashed wild peanuts into a paste.  

The oval peanut seed was roasted, salted and eaten as a snack food long before peanut butter arrived and later joined with jelly to become a popular sandwich. Its present form can be traced to the last part of the 19th century.

 

Peanut butter, as we know it now, started in 1890 when a St. Louis physician developed a peanut paste for his patients who had bad teeth. The doctor, whose name was lost in historical records, wanted to give his patients a nutritious food that was easy to chew. In 1922, entrepreneur and inventor Joseph L. Rosefield patented a churning process that made peanut butter smoother and kept the oil from separating.

The Swift & Company was the first business to pay royalties to Rosefield to use his churning process in 1928. The company and its brand later took the name Peter Pan. It remains among the top three biggest selling brands of peanut butter. The other two leading brands are Skippy and Jif.

Rosefield started selling Skippy brand peanut butter in 1932. That was ten years after he invented the process that made Peter Pan a success. Two years later he came out with the first crunchy style spread and took the lead away from Peter Pan.

Coming late into what could be called the peanut butter wars, Proctor & Gamble stared selling Jif peanut butter in 1955. Jif’s taste was sweeter than Peter Pan or Skippy, and it soared to the top of sales. It remains ahead of all other brands today.

J.M. Smucker Co. now owns the Jif brand and operates the largest peanut butter production plant in the world. The plant makes 250,000 jars of Jif peanut butter every day.

U.S. consumers spend millions of dollars annually to buy more than 65 national brands of peanut butter and hundreds of other brands manufactured regionally and from cottage industries. The money peanut butter brings in definitely isn’t peanuts.

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Labor Day Signals the End of Summer, Though Not Really

Labor Day comes on the first Monday of the ninth month. That’s September 7^th this year. Many people feel that the national holiday means summer is ending with the three-day weekend. Actually, summer doesn’t end this year until 16 days later on September 23^rd at 4:21 a.m. Eastern Daylight Saving Time.

Since Labor Day comes during the last few days of summer, it has the reputation of indicating the fun time of the hot months is ending. Most public school systems begin before or shortly after Labor Day adding to the feelings that the vacation time of summer is ending.

The holiday came from the country’s labor movement that began in the 1800’s when union groups wanted a special day that would celebrate the social and economic achievements of American workers. On February 21, 1887, Oregon was the first state to pass a law making Labor Day a holiday. By 1894, 31 states adopted the holiday.

On June of 1894, the U.S. Congress passed an act that made the first Monday in September a federal holiday. The holiday extended beyond the 50 states to the District of Columbia and the inhabited territories of Puerto Rico, Guam, The Northern Marianas, The U.S. Virgin Islands, and American Samoa.

Celebrations for Labor Day have changed since it began 121 years ago. Parades, especially in large industrial cities, aren’t as common as during the first several years of the holiday. It’s become a more family-orientated holiday with people looking to squeeze a last bit of fun away from work and school.

The theme of Labor Day remains true to its name. Our country’s high standard of living comes from the vital force of productivity provided by those who labor. This productivity brings us constantly closer to the realization of the country’s traditional ideas of economic and political democracy.

Thanks for reading this blog. Come back to this space to find another interesting subject. See my website at www.joevlatino.com.   

World Population Figures Exceed Previous Predictions

According to recent studies sponsored by the United Nations (UN), the number of people living on earth will pass 11 billion by the end of this century. Our current worldwide count is 7.5 billion.

Demography studies, the science of human population, gave estimates in the mid-1980s predicting a slowdown in both birth rates and world populations by now. The lower birth rate estimates became true, but populations in countries throughout the world continue to increase, contrary to the predictions. 

People are living much longer than the demographic scientists concluded just 30 years ago. Life expectancies continue to increase, and that accounts for the larger numbers of people living on earth.

The UN studies show that China continues to have the largest percentage of people with 19.24% of the total planet population. By the end of August 2015, the population in China will reach 1.5 billion. At the end of August, the population of India will be in second place with 1.3 billion people, 17.50% of the world’s population.

United States occupants total the third largest population with 350 million estimated by the end of August. In fourth place is Indonesia with 257 million, and Brazil is in fifth place at an estimated 204 million by the end of this month.

Population density in major cities throughout the world causes increased demands for water, food and basic sanitation. This strains the world’s resources for humans as well as all species on the planet. Increased recycling is the single most important action by nations that will continue to conserve our resources and ease the strain from the increasing waste generated by populations.

Expanding landfills that hold and process human-generated waste continue to increase in size. The World Bank released figures on waste disposal that indicated that 2.4 billion tons of solid waste would go into our world’s landfills by 2025. That’s only ten years away.

The long-term effects of population growth will influence the quality of life for generations that exceed us. Most adults alive today will be dead by the year 2100. Plans need to begin now to cope with the number of people who will need the basics of food, clothing and shelter as the population increases.

Some solutions underway now include developing low-water farming for crops that can grow in desert areas. The planet has millions of square miles of deserts that could be used to farm food. Tapping into the oceans to both supply us with water and places to farm is in the realm of reality.

Outrageous solutions include colonizing other planets. NASA has plans to explore Mars within our lifetimes. Life support is a deal breaker in putting humans in outer space colonies. Do scientists really believe the pioneer spirit of discovering new territories can include placing cities under huge domes so people can have air to breathe? That’s unlikely and would never include enough people to reduce the earth’s population.

Technologies will improve when incentives to profit from such changes come along. Scientists, inventors and entrepreneurs all want to get paid for their work. When making a dollar is the incentive, people developing solutions will solve the problems. Meantime, the simple mantra from the protectors of our planet is the truth—reduce, reuse, recycle. 

Thank you for reading this blog. Come back to this space later this month and read about another topic. You can also visit my website at www.joevlatino.com.   

Thousands of Ancient Terracotta Statues Honor China’s First Emperor

Farmers digging a well in a field outside the city of Xian, China uncovered the first piece of evidence that led to one of the largest archaeological discoveries in the world. It was March, 1974, and the seven workers had dug 13 feet in their attempts to find water when their shovels hit a hard object. They brought up a head from a life-sized soldier made of terracotta, a type of clay sculpture material.

The farmers kept digging and found pieces of several sculpted soldiers. Giving up on trying to find water, the workers notified Chinese government officials about the discovery. They brought in scientists and archaeologists who began a painstakingly slow process of uncovering thousands of similar soldiers lined up in formation underneath the ground, all facing east.

Crowned King at 13 Years Old

Chinese government officials immediately recognized what the farmers found. It was part of a huge, elaborate mausoleum dedicated to the first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang. Pronounced “chin shuh hwang,” his named translated to King of the State of Qin. He became king in 246 B.C. at 13 years old. The country of China was named after his family name Qin.

He died in 210 B.C. after uniting six waring kingdoms into one powerful nation.  Qin ordered the construction of the gigantic burial complex to honor his memory. The terracotta soldiers were placed in underground chambers surrounding the emperor’s tomb to guard him in his travel to the afterlife. They faced east to prevent the kingdoms he conquered in the eastern part of China from rising up and destroying his burial site.

                                     Burial Mound Center of Mausoleum Complex

Historians knew for hundreds of years that Qin’s mausoleum existed underneath a large mound or hill in the area where the farmers dug. However, the existence of thousands of terracotta statues surrounding the burial mound wasn’t known until the local farmers found the first one in 1974.

The burial complex consisted of the emperor’s tomb and three separate groups of terracotta foot soldiers, archers armed with crossbows and a group of 86 commanders. The complex including the tomb and buried soldiers covered an area compared to the size of Manhattan, N.Y.

                                        Different Face Put on Each Soldier

The first chamber contained more than 6,000 terracotta figures made to look like infantrymen. An estimated 3,000 more still remain buried. Each soldier had a unique face and a uniform of armor. Details go all the way to the statues’ sandals that have tread on the soles, indicating that each figure was hand-made. Clay molds found with the figures show that basic pieces of the figures such as skulls, arms and legs were cast. The faces and clothes, however, had to be created individually. Each soldier weighed more than 300 pounds.

At the time of his death, Qin’s burial complex took artists and architects 36 years to complete. Each unique statue took 30 days or more to complete. Hundreds of craftsmen worked on the project.   

                                          Qin’s Army Dominated with Cross-bows  

Another room or chamber holds warriors armed with crossbows. That was a powerful weapon unique to Qin’s army. Mounted warriors used the cross-bow to massacre soldiers of other kingdoms that resisted being conquered by Qin’s army. Life-sized horses and chariots all made of terracotta were found among the warriors. A group of 86 ornate statues representing the commanders of the army were placed together inside a third area.

Historians believe that a step pyramid covered the top of the actual location of emperor’s body. Written records from famed historian Sima Qian reveal that the interior of the pyramid contained thousands of jewels and pearls used to simulate the sky inside the structure. Sima wrote about Qin in the first century B.C. His account of the valuable gems and gold used inside the ceiling of the pyramid indicated that the value of the treasure in the tomb was priceless.

The emperor’s tomb was never opened by archeologists and it remained untouched by grave robbers because of the fear of deadly contamination and booby traps. The tomb builders installed hidden crossbows that would be triggered in the passageways to kill intruders, according to the ancient records. Poisoning from high levels of mercury found in the soil of the funeral mound offered another deterrent to intruders, although that was unintentional. Another reason the treasures of Qin’s tomb remained undisturbed came from the Chinese government that wouldn’t let the resting place of the first emperor be violated by the excavating work of archeologists.

Qin’s Quest for Immortality Caused his Mortality

Ingesting mercury was considered a way of extending one’s life, according to the ancient Chinese. Qin took mercury pills regularly because he believed that would help him achieve immortality. He slowly poisoned himself and died at 49 years old because of the mercury he hoped would extend his life. Near the end of his life his behavior was irrational, and he showed signs of paranoia from the poison he voluntarily ate daily. No documentation describes his last days, but he must have suffered extreme pain as the mercury invaded his system.

Inside the tomb, Qin had a stream or river of mercury placed around his burial chamber, because he believed in the element’s magical powers. Sima wrote about the river or moat of mercury. Soil samples showed life-threatening levels of mercury. Scientists knew any digging in that soil would be very dangerous.

Great Achievements Offset by Tyranny, Cruelty

Qin showed great leadership in uniting the six kingdoms of the country that became China. The kingdoms had been warring among themselves for 200 years until he conquered all of them in 221 B.C. Some kingdoms accepted his rule willingly. The areas that resisted were conquered by bloody battles that resulted in the women and children being slaughtered as well as their warriors. He made himself the first emperor in the 25^th year of his reign.

He also established a common language and currency among the newly united areas. By his decree the country began using the same types of weights and measurements, and more than 5,000 miles of roads were constructed. Qin started an early version of The Great Wall of China in the far northern part of the continent.

In contrast to his benevolent acts to improve the societies of the different kingdoms, Qin was a tyrant and a murderer on a large scale. More than 1 million people were killed by his army that traveled from the eastern side of China to the western border as they forced the warring kingdoms to submit to his rule.  Warriors of the neighboring cities often outnumbered Qin’s army, but his soldiers devastated their enemies with their superior tactics and weapons.

Qin tolerated no one who opposed him. He ordered the killing of hundreds of scholars who disagreed with him.  His preferred methods of execution were beheading and burying victims alive. He had any books burned if they contained criticisms of his reign. He was obsessed with trying to live forever, and he killed 480 doctors and scientists who failed to find a method to give him immortality.

Tomb was Another Route for Immortality

The emperor knew his search for immortality was a long shot since no one had achieved it. He started the decades-long construction of his tomb so that when he died he would find everlasting life in the afterworld. The great treasures were put there for his use after death. The terracotta soldiers, he thought, would be his guardians forever.

To ensure his worldly pleasures and companionships, he had his dozens of concubines buried alive in his tomb at the time of his death. His close advisors were left inside the tomb when it was sealed. Also left alive inside the tomb were hundreds of artists and construction supervisors so that the secrets of the burial chamber would remain secret.

Future Excavations Likely

Archeologists agree that the dangers in opening Qin’s tomb will be overcome as future excavating methods improve. Since the initial findings of the terracotta soldiers in 1974, digging techniques have already improved in uncovering more of the buried soldiers. The bright paint used on the statues would flake off when the soldiers were opened to the atmosphere. Newer techniques now allow the lacquered colors of the soldiers and artifacts to remain original.

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