Busy Busy

So, the past week has become an extremely busy time for me. I started a new blog about comic books a bit ago (not at all a daily thing, don't worry), and I've re-opened my Sonic Opus blog about music. Yesterday/today I recorded/edited my very first podcast for Sonic Opus with some great friends of mine with great opinions.

Also, a friend of mine has moved into my household, and as much as anyone can enjoy the experience, it takes away from your schedule. Today was my first day on my new job at Radio City Music Hall selling merchandise (demeaning, but it pays) and this definitely takes time.

But don't fret, when I get back to posting, oh shall I get back to posting! Three books just came in from Amazon today about the ancient chinese connection with the book of Genesis and how they actually used to be a monotheistic people. Look forward to much much more postings in the realm of the Chinese :)

Lemuria

You know, the last few days, I've been excessively busy, so my posts have been posted a little later than usual. Hopefully that doesn't persist, but we'll see. As some of you may know (those of you I actually know) a good friend of mine just moved up from Miami all the way to my basement in Scarsdale, NY. That's been keeping me really preoccupied these last few days, but hopefully I get back onto a more regular posting curriculum (not that it isn't regular enough haha).

A week back, I mentioned the ancient Roman harvest festival of Lemuria in my Origin of Halloween series. I had some trouble looking it up (it actually wasn't that hard), because something else kept popping up in the way of the festival. In fact, I found a whole series of ancient mythologies that mention how there used to be this ancient civilization or continent even. Sure, there's the myth of Atlantis, but many of these accounts say that this fictional Lemuria was even before the whole Atlantis myth.

If you'd like to check out a bit of it, I'll be drawing a map of it's approximate shape and position in the world. Today, the idea of plate tectonics and the shifting earth, debunk these myths of a fictional Lemuria, or some call it Mu, but it was believed to be in the middle of the Pacific ocean, between North and South America, Asia, and Australia, partially connecting the continents.

(EDIT)

As the myth goes, the quite large continent of Lemuria (found in the Pacific), sunk as a result of a series of super-volcanoes and earthquakes that tore it from the other continents and sent it under the ocean. As I mentioned, modern proofs of plate-tectonics have proved this myth a fallacy.

Barbershop

I was watching an Abbot and Costello movie not too long ago, and in it Costello was attempting at getting his barber license. Now, today, you generally go to barber shops to get haircuts, no? But in the movie, dating back to the 1940s, Costello was actually shaving the person. And it's not uncommon for barber shops today to offer a shave to their male customers, but it's certainly not common. This got me thinking: what if barber shops were originally meant for shaving purposes instead of cutting hair? Can I get to the bottom of this.

Well, ask yourself what the word 'barber' sounds like? Barbasol. Shaving cream. After looking it up a bit I found that, indeed, a barber is someone who shaves and/or cuts hair. The Latin word for 'beard' is actually 'BARBA', very similar to our barbers today. In our modern day, with the common use of 'safety razors', and the decreasing prevalence of beards, many barbers just specialize in cutting men's hair.

But another interesting point I found was that all the way back in medieval times, barbers were also used for surgery and dentistry. Pretty disgusting to imagine, right? Well, it's the truth. They'd pull teeth, let blood, lance boils, and even stick leeches on you to suck blood.

It's during these medieval times that the origin of the barbers' pole takes it's shape. You know, the winding white pole with the red and the (occasional) blue stripe, that twists so as to make it seem like the pole is moving upwards? Well, after a barber would do their surgeries or pulled out teeth, they would hang the bandages out to dry and the wind would make the bandage twist, red and white together. This became the symbol as to where you could find a barber. It stuck, and now it's one of those Strongly Entrenched Things!

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I promised every day, no? It's still 8 minutes before 12!

Remember, Remember, the Fifth of November

"Remember, remember, the fifth of November, gunpowder, treason, and plot. I see no reason why gunpowder, treason, should ever be forgot." So goes the very catchy poem that is said in commemoration of Guy Fawkes day, that I made mention of in the 4th part of my origin of Halloween series. It's held annually on the 5th of November in England, and since it's date is so close to Halloween the two are often celebrated together.

As the story has it, Guy Fawkes and other conspirators were Catholic militants who were conspiring to blow up the newly erected House of Parliament which was predominately of Protestant belief. This was seen as a sign of treason, but many today believe it was actually just an assassination attempt on King James, who hadn't kept his promise of putting an end to Catholic persecution at the time. But likely, we will never truly know the truth.

On November 5th, 1606, exactly a year after Guy Fawkes was hung, drawn and quartered, the King and Parliament commissioned a sermon to commemorate the event. Not to commemorate Guy Fawkes, but as a reminder to the people what exactly happens when you commit an act of treason. This practice, which they enacted annually, along with the popular nursery rhyme ensured that no one will think of committing any particularly treasonous acts again.

On this holiday, they have parades and fireworks within the streets, and they burn the effigy of a guy (Fawkes). The children, on this day, stuff newspapers into clothes and they go around asking for pennies. The kid who gets the most pennies has the best 'guy'.

Anyway, have I ever mentioned that I LOVE HIS NAME?

Ancient Chinese Character Examination: Create

Ancient Chinese character for 'create'

Now here's an interesting one. Turns out, contrary to popular belief, the ancient Chinese weren't evolutionists, but actually creationists! I'm just kidding, evolutionism in ancient China was certainly not a popular belief. But the character above is another great example that the primitive Chinese believed the events written in the book of Genesis were factual, or at least that's what we're led to assume.

The ancient form of the character meaning 'to create' is depicted at the top of the post, and then just below it, it is broken down a little. The majority of the character is a depiction of being able to 'speak'. Within the speak character are three lesser ones. I mentioned a few days ago that the 'mouth' was another way to say human. The next character, in the center of speak is used to describe 'dust', or 'mud'. The small character just to the right of dust is the simple stroke that meant 'life' or 'movement' in some translations. Those three characters create speak, but the last one, underneath speak, means 'to walk'.

So what does this all mean, and why am I comparing it to the events is Genesis? Well, interestingly enough, this character for creation depicts just what the Hebrew scriptures says about how God breathed the breath of life into man, whom he created from the dust of the ground, and he "became a living soul", capable of walking and speaking.

Strongly Entrenched in Honeymoons

An inquirer of mine told me that he and his Drama class were discussing the topic of a honeymoon, and how it's name came about. I honestly doubt I'll ever want to know some of the ideas they had as to it's origins, but nonetheless, it intrigued me. What the heck is a honeymoon. Well, I've done some research over the past few days and I don't think there's a definite answer. Many countries and historians and etymologies point to different origins, so I'll point out the most prominent stories and ideas behind it.

An old Northern European custom was that, during their first month of marriage, the man and woman would drink a cup of honeyed wine, which is called mead. It was considered to help with both the virility in men and the fertility in women. This honeyed wine would eventually pen the "honey" in a honeymoon. Now, since at that time in history they used a lunar calendar, a moon and a month were looked at in the same light, hence the "moon" in honeymoon. This is according to some accounts, anyway.

Many 16th and 17th Century poets compared the lunar cycle with the love of newlyweds. Just as the moon becomes full one day and begins to wane the next, so too the strength of love between newlyweds and it's eventual waning. According to Wikipedia (I know, I'm sorry), the first literary mention of a honeymoon is in 1552, in Richard Huloet's Abecedarium Anglico Latinu. He writes: "Hony mone, a terme proverbially applied to such as be newe maried, whiche wyll not fall out at the fyrste, but thone loveth the other at the beginnynge excedyngly, the likelyhode of theyr exceadynge love appearing to aswage, ye which time the vulgar people cal the hony mone." (Honeymoon, a term proverbially applied to the newly-married, who will not fall out at first, but they love the other at the beginning exceedingly, the likelihood of their exceeding love appearing to assuage; this time is commonly called the honeymoon).

Anyway, another possible origin dates back to an ancient Nordic tradition, where the husband would kidnap his wife-to-be from her village, and hide her from her family. Their friends would know their whereabouts, but would keep it a secret from the bride's family. The two, bride and groom, would stay hidden until her family stopped looking for her, which is when the groom would return to his family. During this kidnapping procedure (in some accounts), the father of the groom would provide the mead. This earliest known instance of this mead drinking during a honeymoon goes back to Atill, the Hun back in the 5th century C.E.

I hope this answers any questions my inquirers Drama class has on the origins of honeymoons. Surely, the holiday newlyweds celebrate nowadays is much, much different.

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Very glad to hear questions, comments and/or opinions on my entries, and even more so when they give me topics of interest I can do a little research on. Just to be clear, said inquirer is also a good friend, but nonetheless, I'd like to hear from you.

Ancient Chinese Character Examination: Forbidden

Ancient Chinese character for 'forbidden'

This is interesting, the primitive character for the word 'forbidden', is very, very similar to the word covet. Again with the two trees. But this time, instead of there being a symbol of a woman underneath, there's an abbreviated character of the word for 'God'.

Just as I mentioned yesterday about how the God of the Bible forbid Adam and Eve to partake of the tree of the knowledge of good and bad, this is the same thing, and the character for forbidden continues in that same vein.

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I think this is incredible stuff, personally, and it's great to hear that some of you readers out there think so too. If you know any others, or if you want to tip me in on something you personally find interesting, lemme know!

Ancient Chinese Character Examination: Covet, Desire

Ancient Chinese character for Desire

The definition of 'covet', according to Dictionary.com is to "desire wrongfully, inordinately, or without due regard for the rights of others." So why is this ancient Chinese character so special?

If you remember the tale of Adam & Eve, the Biblical first man and woman, they could eat from any tree of the Garden of Eden that they wished, except for the tree of the knowledge of good and bad, because they would "positively die". Eve came to covet the fruit of this tree very much, so when the Devil in disguise as a serpent told her she could eat from it, she did. She shared some with Adam, and they brought death into the world, as their bodies slowly began to wither and die.

In the picture there are two trees. In the Bible, it makes mention of two distinct trees of importance within the Garden: the tree of the knowledge of good and bad, and the tree of life. So the inventors of the ancient Chinese characters must have felt that to covet something had much to do with a woman and two trees.

Ancient Chinese Character Examination: Boat

Ancient Chinese character for "boat"

To begin, I thought it would be interesting to take a look at the most ancient form of the Chinese character for a boat. As I've been posting about the past few days, history, mythology, and theology collide with the story of Noah's ark. This Chinese character, shares a striking similarity to the account in Genesis.

Chinese is a picture language, meaning that it's almost a drawing of a word. Many times, it's a mix of a few symbols, just as this character for boat is. Within it, are three words, VESSEL, EIGHT, and MOUTH. A boat is a vessel that holds eight mouths. A mouth in many ancient cultures, is another way of saying a person. So eight persons. How many persons were aboard the ark that Noah was told to build, according to the Mosaic account? Eight.

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And yes, I did draw this.

Ancient Chinese and it's Connection with the Book of Genesis

So, yesterday I went and spoke a bit about the events in the book of Genesis that correlated with the ancient mythologies of many nations. Today, I just want to take a look at Chinese. The ancient Chinese language actually. You see, not too long ago, I found evidence that the events in the book of Genesis were also found depicted in a few Chinese characters and symbols. So today, I'll do my best to show you what I mean.

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(EDIT) I've decided to post a few at a time, so that I may save some Chinese characters for off days.

Delugional

In ancient Greek mythology, the god Zeus became angry at the first race of men, the men of the "Bronze Age", so he sent a flood to destroy them. Deucalion was saved because of his prudence and piety. He and his family, along with many animals survived the flood, because they were advised to build a large chest in which they would float in. The animals came to him, and by Zeus' help the animals remained calm for the remainder of the flood.

In ancient Roman mythology, the god Jupiter, angered at the evil ways of humanity, resolved to destroy it. He was originally going to set fire to the world, but thought otherwise thinking it may also set the heavens ablaze. He asked for the god Neptune's help to flood everything except the summit of mount Parnassus, where Deucalion and his wife Pyrrha came by boat and found sanctuary.

In ancient Egyptian mythology, the people became rebellious, and the god Atum said he would return the earth to it's primordial waters, which was it's original state.

The Celtics tell tales that the heavens and the earth were actual giants, and that in a quarrel the giant of the heavens spilt it's blood. It's blood became like rain from the sky, flooding the land and all humans died except for one pair who were saved by a beneficent Titan (or god) who helped them create a ship to survive.

In China, the Supreme Sovereign ordered the water god Gong Gong to create a flood as punishment and warning for human misbehavior. Gong Gong extended the flood 22 years and people had to live in high mountain caves, fighting with wild animals for resources.

In old Victorian mythology (Victoria, being the second most populous state in Australia), Bunjil, the creator, was angry with people because of the evil they did, so he flooded the earth by urinating on it. Only a few did he spare from death, and fixed them as stars in the night sky. One couple climbed up a tree on the top of a mountain and survived. All life came from them.

In ancient Hawaiian mythology, it is said that Nuu was of the thirteenth generation of man. The gods commanded Nuu to build an ark and carry on it his wife, three sons, and males and females of all living things. Waters covered the earth. They subsided to leave the ark on a mountain overlooking a beautiful valley. The gods entered the ark and told Nuu to go forth with all the life it carried. In gratitude for his deliverance, Nuu offered a sacrifice of pig, coconuts, and awa to the moon, which he thought was the god Kane. Kane descended on a rainbow to reproach Nuu for his mistake but left the rainbow as a perpetual sign of his forgiveness.

An Alaskan tribe, Tinneh, tells that the flood was caused by a heavy snowfall. One man foresaw the flood, and warned his tribe, but in vain, as the flood trapped their mountain escape. The one man survived in a canoe he had built, and picked up animals from the water as he floated along.

Now after giving you just a few examples of flood myths out there, from around the world, not only by countries in connection with each other, but by others oceans apart and centuries in between, I'm at a loss as to how to continue. All of these stories are so incredibly similar to the one told in the ancient Hebrew book of Genesis (or in Hebrew the book would be called B'reishit), that you either have to convince yourself that what I'm telling you is completely coincidental (and probably false), or you have to accept the fact that there is undeniable proof that a great deluge did indeed happen. I did leave out major details in the story of the great flood yesterday, which I am very sorry about and plan to rectify now. You see, Noah sent a dove out to search for land and it came back with a twig in it's mouth, giving Noah a sign that the water was descending. They landed on a mountain, Mount Ararat, where God unsealed the door to the ark and let them come out. That day, as Bible record tells us, introduced the first rainbow, which symbolized God's promise that he will never send a flood to destroy mankind again. This was very similar to the one tale from Hawaii, about the rainbow, and also his name Nuu is very similar to Noah.

There were a few very distinct points that stuck out between all these stories. One included that it was a God or gods that were very angry at the first race of humans. Another was that of the animals included in the tale. Another was the mountain they landed on. The rainbow. The fact that they tried to warn other humans, but no one listened. Sometimes the name of the person was the same, or very similar. But these stories are from the ancient histories of all corners of the world. If this account, that tells that all humans descended from this man and his family who survived a great flood, were not true in some sense, then how could it be possible that nearly every walk of life has it's roots in the same mythology?

Whether you believe that it was by God's hand or not, there is abundant real-world proof that this great flood of "Noah's day" did actually occur. For instance, on many peeks of mountains today, there has been found fossils of seashells and other marine life. What do you think? I'd like to hear your thoughts.

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For a full list (or a list that is definitely full) of other flood myths around the world, please visit here. I only spoke of about 8 or 9 different tales and myths today, but I can assure you that the link above has literally hundreds more, from all nations and tribes.

(EDIT) Just to be clear, the reason I waited to post the blog until today, November 1st, is because this is the month that the great flood supposedly took place, according to Mosaic account. The seventeenth day of the second month, the month nearly corresponding with our November. Also, it ties in well with the theme I've had for the entire week, about the origins of Halloween.