#the aztec state was not at the same centralization level

[whetstonefires]

I don't think it would have taken centuries without Columbus, either, because yeah a couple years later Portugal, in a natural extension of their ongoing forays along the African coast, had rounded the cape and the horn, gotten in quarrels with local pepper magnates, discovered that while they didn't have the general upper hand in India the way they'd gotten used to in Africa, shipboard cannon was an out-of-context problem in the Indian Ocean, and started throwing their weight around with gusto. And the new, wetter version of the spice trade accelerated changes in European ship technology and behavior.

Someone would have tried something vaguely similar, although it's unlikely anyone with good math would have sailed straight across into the Caribbean like he did. More likely there would have been a Viking-style coast-hugging process in the north, via the cod fisheries. Or less probable but very interesting, a replication of the Pacific island-hopping that almost definitely landed people in South America in the first place.

It would have been later and progressed along at least somewhat different lines, because many elements of history are contingent, but at the same time, yeah. Imperial behaviors are kind of predictable, and this pattern was well grounded already.

On the other hand, interesting to wonder if, with the western hemisphere out of the picture a little longer and not fueling the intra-Iberian rivalry in the same way, the colonialist lunacy would have escalated somewhat slower in afro-eurasia and indonesia.

FINE, you get another go at the time machine and the ability to prevent one birth (or commit a murder up to you), don't worry about the butterfly effect, we want the butterfly effect that's part of the point. Your actions will prevent them from ever rising to prominence. Original poll here There may be a face off poll at the end. Hitler still isn't an option because we'd all chose to kill him.

Am gonna go Pontius Pilate and say my hands are cleaned of this one. All of the below are nominees.

[diarythebookwyrm]

Insane Shit I was Taught as a Mormon (in no particular order)

That all indigenous people in North America were actually Jews who sailed from somewhere in the Middle East all the way to somewhere in either South, Central, or North America in 600 BC.

That somehow these Jews started out white (which...is like Jesus being white, but sure Jan) and then as they became more "sinful" they became darker skinned.

Oh, and by 300 AD all the Nephites (the "white and delightsome" and "holy" people) were killed in a battle with the Lamanites (the sinful and darkskinned people) with only one Nephite left named Moroni who buried an abridged history carved on gold plates, a special translation stone called the Urim and Thumim in a hill in New York State for Joseph Smith, Jr. to find in 1823

That Joseph Smith, Jr. translated the Book of Mormon by "wearing" the Urim and Thumim, which were supposedly a breastplate with lenses set into the shoulders like some weird goggles that you could adjust. (This was official Church History until the last like...twenty years or so, when they finally started admitting how he really "translated" the gold plates. I'll go into that later)

More under the cut, because there's a Lot of Weird Shit

That Joseph Smith, Jr. and Oliver Cowdery received the Aaronic (or "lesser") priesthood by a river in Philadelphia from the spirit of John the Baptist, and then the Melchizedek (or "higher") priesthood by that same river from Peter, James and John (yes, Jesus' companions/disciples).

That Quetzalcoatl was actually how the Aztecs explained Jesus Christ coming to the New World during the three days before he appeared to his apostles in Jerusalem. I wish I was making this one up.

That there were three Nephites who were basically the New World Peter, James and John who told Jesus they wanted to "tarry" on earth until the second coming. This is such a Thing (TM) among Mormons that ppl claim to this day to have had interactions with the Three Nephites. like it's wild how much they buy into this, along with the idea that John the Beloved is still walking around. There's a whole ass Christmas book (with included musical accompaniment CD--yes, really--because everyone has A Song) about a woman discovering the True Meaning of Christmas (TM) by being a caretaker nurse to a guy who claims to be John the Beloved that's written by a popular Mormon musician.

That Joseph Smith, Jr. only ever had three "extra" wives, because he didn't really want to practice polygamy, but God made him do it.

That Joseph Smith, Jr. was killed for being the True Voice of God, and not because he was a lying, narcissistic sack of shit. (more on that later)

That God is an alien (they don't say that but come on) who lives on a Star/Planet (they use the term star, but there's no way anything lives on a star) called Kolob. There's a whole ass hymn that they just straight up only sing in church on rare occasions that's all about how God lives on Kolob. The reason they don't sing it? because they KNOW how insane it sounds, and they don't want people to know just how fucking weird they are.

That if you are a Truly Good Mormon in life and get all your appropriate ordinances done (like being married in the Temple. you legit cannot enter Super Heaven without that), then you go to Super Heaven The Celestial Kingdom. And if you are the Specialist Boi (it's almost certainly gonna be all men lbr) then you go to the Highest Level of Super Heaven the Celestial Kingdom and get your own planet to be God for.

That there are three tiers of Heaven. Terrestrial (for those who did okay for being not Mormon Godless Heathens), Telestial (for those who Did Accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, but weren't quite Special Enough for Super Heaven), and Celestial aka Super Heaven.

That Adam (as in Adam and Eve) was actually the Archangel Michael given a human body because he was a Super Special Boi who helped God and Jesus create the world.

Lies I Learned the Truth of Once I Put in Minimal Effort:

That the Urim and Thumim weren't real. The way Joseph Smith actually "translated" the Book of Mormon was by putting a "seer stone" in a hat, putting his face in the hat to seal out all the light, and "seeing" the words printed on the stone. This was also a scam he used several years before he started "translating" to find hidden treasure. He was arrested for fraud for doing this in Philadelphia, which was why his future father-in-law didn't want Emma Hale (later Emma Smith) to marry Joseph in the first place.

The seer stone looked like this:

That Joseph Smith didn't just have three "bonus wives" who were poor women with no man to financially support them, but actually closer to 35. At least eleven of these wives were teenagers when he coerced them into marrying him. At least two were polyandrous, where Joseph coerced both the woman and her legal husband into letting him marry the woman in question. The youngest and most scandalous of these girls was Helen Mar Kimball, who was fourteen. Several of these women then went on to marry Brigham Young, who had a total of fifty-six wives.

Joseph claimed that he was "encouraged" to practice polygamy by an angel with a "drawn sword" and used this to coerce the young women and girls into accepting his proposal.

That Joseph wasn't killed for being The One True Prophet, but for the rumors of him being a polygamist who married children. He was arrested for destroying a federally owned printing press where a former Mormon was printing pamphlets about the girls Joseph Smith was forcing to marry him. The mob that came to Carthage Jail were there because they heard the rumors and wanted to get rid of a pervert, basically.

The Mormon Church lies about a lot of their history. And even when they do finally admit the truth about it, they hide it so you have to really go hunting for the proof in their "approved" sites.

[33-108]

«Esoteric Tradition holds that the Nagas ('Serpent-Folk') were the descendants of a prehistoric race whose homeland was destroyed by a great cataclysm some 10,000 years ago. This time-span indicates a link to the sinking of At-al-land: 'After you leave my island you will not find it again and this place will vanish under the sea's waves.' This island was one known as Naga Dwipa, and these "Serpent-Folk' appear tp have been Vedic Aryans whose totem was the Hooded Serpent - the Cobra. They were Initiates and Guardians of the Ancient Esoteric Knowledge. What is interesting here is that the Naga Chief, Takshaka, was a patron of medicine and healing, and expert in poisons and antidotes to poisons. The Naga Symbol was that of a Coiled Serpent, or Coiled Serpents around a central rod, the symbol known as the Caduceus of Mercury to the Greeks. This same symbol can be found in India related to Shiva. I am here reminded of certain links to Woden - Votan of South American Legend was of the Race of Chan ('Race of the Serpent') and came from Tullan or Tula (Thule). Questzalcoatl of the Aztecs was known as 'The Feathered Serpent'. Kukulkan was also associated with the Serpent. Woden is shown as a healer in both the Merseburg Charm and in the Old English Nine Herbs Charm; but in the latter he cures bites from the venom of the serpent. The mention of Votan, obviously 'Wotan' of Germania, is important since the word for 'serpent' - Chan - is very much like the Kan-Rune which itself means 'Fire-Serpent' or 'Fire-Dragon' at one level. The term Naga actually means 'Wise Serpent'. The Nagas were clearly Aryan Initiates ('Twice-Born') and the Serpent is symbolic of the Energising Creative Force of the Cosmos. Clearly, the Nagas were a highly advanced people ('Caucasian' in appearance) who were descendants of the Folk of At-al-land, and who possessed an abundance of this Creative Force or Creative Energy and were thus 'creators'. Having said that, we can relate this to Woden-Rudra/Shiva as a Force of Destruction-to Re-creation, and also to the Vedic Agni who we know as Ingui. The Ing-Rune forms part of the Caduceus of Mercury or Staff of Hermes which in India was known as a Naga-Coil and was made up of two 3 1/2 coiled serpents facing each other - the Kundalini-Serpent or Fire-Serpent. This is the force that moves up and down the Spinal Column in man, symbolised by the 'squirrel' Ratatosk in Norse Lore. Interestingly, the word rata used in 'Ratatosk' and also 'Rati' in that of the Myth of Knit Mountain, is akin to rasa in Sanskrit which means 'vital essence' or 'elexir' and rasayana means 'Elexir of Life'. This all relates to the Serpent-Force which was the power of the Naga Aryans. Thus, the Aryan is the 'Generator of Motion' who has an abundance of this Life-Energy or Cosmic-Energy which is the Creative Energy of Pure Consciousness and thus the highest state of consciousness. This is the Naga-Wisdom which we have inherited through our DNA Code, passing back through At-al-land to Hyperborea in an unbroken continuum. In a different 'world' or 'dimension' there exist different laws, or no laws at all, and within another realm lay the Archetypal Images of which there is an Aryan Archetype. ...The ancient Rishis, Nagas, and Hyperborean Druids were the 'Masters of the Life-Force' or 'Serpent-Force'. Through the Nagas and the various different traditions of White Gods we can safely say that the Serpent-Dragon was originally an Aryan Symbol, used of the Aryan Initiates».

Author: Wulfinga

Illustrator: Kevin Catalan

[kuramirocket]

The circular temple was found at the El Tigre archaeological site in Mexico's Yucatán peninsula

Archaeologists in Mexico have unearthed the remains of a circular temple that may have been built in honor of the Maya serpent deity Kukulcán (also spelled K'uk'ulkan).

The roughly 1,000-year-old temple was found in El Tigre, an archaeological site in the Yucatán Peninsula, and served as one of the ancient Maya's last settlements according to a translated National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) statement. 

Excavations revealed that the circular structure contained two levels and at one time would've been capped off with a flat roof.

"This building broadens our knowledge of the late occupation of El Tigre," Diego Prieto Hernández, an anthropologist and director general of the INAH, said during an Oct. 30 press conference, according to Mexico News Daily. "Circular structures generally correspond to the early Postclassic period between A.D. 1000 and 1200, when the Maya zone had links with other regions of Mesoamerica, in particular with central Mexico, Oaxaca and the Gulf Coast."

He said that at one time the structure would have been "of great importance" to the Maya, according to Mexico News Daily.

Researchers think that the temple may be the same one written about in a historical document known as the "Paxbolón Maldonado Papers," which was penned by Don Pablo Paxbolón, who served as the Chontal chief (leader of the Maya people in the Mexican state of Tabasco) between 1575 and 1576. The text includes details of temples in El Tigre (described in the papers as "Itzamkanac") that were dedicated to the four main deities of the Postclassic Maya, including Kukulcán, a deity that is closely related to Quetzalcoatl of Aztec mythology, according to the statement.

This isn't the first circular structure found in the Yucatán peninsula. Similar sites have been discovered in Edzná, Becán, Uxmal and Chichen Itzá, according to the statement. 

[interculturalchaos]

Cultural History

Pre-Columbian Civilizations (250-900 A.D.): This era of time has an important role in modern Mexican values because for centuries these civilizations were seen as something to destroy and now, they can be celebrated. Many Mexicans with Mayan ancestry take pride in that “Mayans had the only fully developed language of the pre-Columbian cultures… produced spectacular art, as well as sophisticated mathematical and astronomical systems” (Pre-Columbian). Current-day Mexicans also take pride in having Aztec ancestry as they were arguably the most powerful indigenous civilization, controlling most of central Mexico until Spain invaded (Pre-Columbian Mexico). There are even research articles studying how ethnic pride can act as a psychological resource against adversity and provide a sense of belonging when adolescents experience change (National Library of Medicine).

Spaniard Hernan Cortes arrived in 1519 & conquers Aztecs in 1521: Spaniards came intending to colonize, enslave, and rape women. They did so which is the reason why Mexicans vary in skin tone. The colonizers also unknowingly brought with them the promise of generational white supremacy which appears in modern Mexico every day. In Mexico, your skin tone can affect job opportunities, the availability of resources, and your education (Colorism in Mexico). When the races of African slaves, native Aztecs, and colonizing Spaniards collided, it created a caste system with whites on top and blacks at the bottom. This system exists today but is not openly acknowledged. I hope one day this diversity brings celebration instead of pain.

Mexican Revolution (1910-1920): The Mexican Revolution was the first of many modern wars. In terms of values, this civil war started with the belief that “La tierra es para el que la trabaja” (“The land is for those who work it”) (Mexican Revolution). This motto is still representative of Mexico’s beliefs. It also led to a new constitution that involved the separation of church and state. It enhanced Mexico’s collectivistic values and at the same time set them up for involvement in World Wars which in turn increased industrialism, politics, and crime to the level that we see it today.

[horrorkingdom]

Quiet

I never saw the ocean till I was nineteen, and if I ever see it again it will be too goddamn soon. I was a child, coming out of the train, fresh from Amarillo, into San Diego and all her glory. The sight of it, all that water and the blind crushing power of the surf, filled me with dread. I’d seen water before, lakes, plenty big, but that was nothing like this. I don’t think I can describe what it was like that first time, and further more, I’m not sure I care too.

You can imagine the state I was in when a few weeks later they gave me a rifle and put me on a boat. When I stopped vomiting up everything that I ate, I decided that I might not kill myself after all. Not being able to see the land, and that ceaseless chaotic, rocking of the waves; I remember thinking that the war had to be a step up from this. Kids can be so fucking stupid.

I had such a giddy sense of glee when I saw the island, and it’s solid banks. They transferred us to a smaller boat in the middle of the night, just our undersized company with our rucksacks and rifles and not a word. We just took a ride right into it, just because they asked us to. The lieutenants herded us into our platoons on the decks and briefed us: the island had been lost. That was exactly how he put it. Somehow in the grand plan for the Pacific, this one tiny speck of earth, only recently discovered and unmapped, had gotten lost in the shuffle; a singularly perfect clerical error was all it took. It was extremely unlikely, he stressed, that the Japanese had gotten a hold of it, being so far east and south of their current borders, but a recent fly over reported what looked like an airfield in the central plateau.

We hit the beach in the middle of the night. I’d heard talk of landings before, and I’m not ashamed to tell, I was scared shitless. I don’t know quite what I expected, but it wasn’t we got, that thick, heavy silence. Behind the lapping of the waves and the wind in the trees, there was… nothing, no birds, no insects. Just deathly stillness.

Another hundred yards deeper into the eerie tranquility of the jungle, we stopped in a small clearing for the officers to reconvene, and it was obvious even they were spooked. I wasn’t a bright kid, but I knew enough to know that something was very wrong. It was like the whole island was dead. I remember I could only smell the sea, despite the red blossoms dangling from the trees.

It wasn’t an airfield, on top of the plateau. I can’t tell you what it was, because I’ve never seen anything like it, and I don’t think anyone ever will. If I tell you it was like the Aztec pyramids, but turned upside down, so that it sank like giant steps into the earth, you’d get the basic idea of it, but that somehow fails to capture the profound unearthliness of the structure.

There was no sign of individual pieces in the masonry, it appeared to have been carved out of a single immense block of black rock into a sharp and geometric shape. It was slick and perfectly smooth like obsidian, but it had no shine to it. It swallowed up even the moonlight, so that it was impossible to see how deep it went, or even focus your eyes on any one part of it, like it was one giant blind spot.

Our platoon drew the honor of investigating the lower levels, so we descended the stairs as the rest of the company surrounded the plateau. We took the stairs slowly and carefully after the first man to touch one of the right angle edges slit his hands down the bone.

At odd intervals down the steps, there were several small stone rooms; simple, empty, hollow cubes of stone with one opening, facing the pit in the center. There was no door that we could see, and with the opening being four feet of the ground, you’d have to put your hands on that black razor sharp edge to climb in into it.

We circled the descending floors, shining our lights into each of the small structures; They contained the same featureless black walls and nothing else. No dust, no leaves and other detritus from the jungle, the whole monument was immaculate, as if the place was just built; but that couldn’t be right. The whole structure felt incalculably old to me somehow, despite having no way to articulate the particular reasons.

Down near the bottom you could see that it simply sloped away into a darkness that swallowed the flashlights. We tossed first a button and then a shell casing down into the pit, and waited in the unearthly silence, but no sounds returned. No one spoke, we simply turned away from the yawning abyss and continued our sweep of the bottom rung and the last of the small structures.

The body in the back corner was almost invisible at first in the thick shadows, but the long spill of drying blood reflected the light of our flashlights, and it led right too him. He was coiled tight, arms around his thighs, and his face tucked into his knees. You could see badly he was cut, his clothes opened in ragged bloody tatters to reveal the pale skin and bone beneath it. He may have been dressed in a Japanese uniform, but it had been reduced to ribbons; I only had few seconds to look at him before we heard the first shots.

It echoed like the buzzing of faraway insects in the still jungle, swallowed almost instantly by the blanket of quiet. By the time we reached the top, the rest of the company had vanished. There were shell casings on the ground, and the hot smell of gunpowder in the air, but they were gone. The trees were deathly quiet around, there was not a trace of the nearly fifty other men that had come ashore with us. I could taste bile rising in my throat as panic threatened to cripple me; I felt crushed between the yawning pit and razor edges on one side and the dead jungle and the pounding ocean on the other. The silence rang in my ears and I struggled to still myself.

They were just inside the jungle, waiting for us. They came out from between the trees with all sound of a moth, simply sliding into our view.

I can try to tell you what I saw, the same as I did to the army doc on the hospital ship when I first woke up, and again half dozen other various officers over the following months, and you’ll have the same reaction they did; that I was a dumb country rube suffering from heatstroke and exposure and trauma. That I was crazy.

You know me. You know I’m not crazy. And I remember every second of that night with crystal clarity.

The thing, the first one that caught my eye, was wearing the skin of a Jap soldier, all mottled with the belly distended from rot. The head drooped, useless and obscene on the shoulders, tongue swollen and eyes cloudy. I could see where it was coming apart at the ill-defined joints, with ragged holes in the drying flesh. At the bottom of each of these raw pits was blackness, deeper than the stones of the buildings; a darkness that seemed to churn and froth like an angry cloud.

The thing moved suddenly, the head snapping and rolling backwards as it dashed towards us. I had my rifle clasped tightly in my hands, but it simply didn’t occur to me to fire. All I could do was gape silently at the macabre sight bearing down on us, and think absurdly of my mother’s marionettes.

A gun went off beside me, and I turned to see a dozen more of the horrors darting silently in on us. Among them were a few more rotting and swollen forms, but the majority wore the same uniforms as us, and were pale, fresh, and soaked in blood. More bullets zipped through the air, and I saw the grisly things hit again and again, but they never slowed. I caught a glimpse of the First Sergeant’s vacant glassy eyes as his head dangled limp from his shoulders; I saw the great ragged wound in his back and the shuddering darkness that inhabited his corpse when he leapt just past me without a sound, landing like a graceful predator onto the soldier beside me. The others around me began to drop in a silent dance of kinetic energy and blurred motion

I was on the track team in high school, and it could have got me to college. I didn’t need an invitation. I just ran. I ran blind through jungle, caroming of tree trunks; I ran until I saw the ocean, and it struck a new ringing note of terror in me. I don’t remember actually deciding to swim, but when I turned back to the tree line, I saw one of the white and bloody things emerge, running on all fours, the hands splayed wide and the back contorted and cracked in an impossible angle.

To this day, the mere thought of the ocean still brings on a cold sweat, but that night I let it embrace me, let the tide drag me out to sea, if only to bring momentary relief from the impossible monolith and terrors on the island. The days I spent drifting off shore and blistering in the sun were a welcome release from the silent island.

I never saw the war. They sent me home as soon as I recovered.

It was comforting in a way, when I thought no one believed me. It allowed me to believe that it never happened, that it was a product of my mind. But as I got older, I’ve found that it is pointless to lie to anyone, especially yourself. I know what I saw.

Someone else believed me too. I’ve seen maps of where they tested the hydrogen bombs in the South Pacific.

—

Credited to Josef K. (aka entropyblues).

[ma-worm]

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy fuck Columbus day everyone(fuck all colonizers actually but this is specifically pertaining to the Americas for the holiday and he’s the most glorified sob), in celebration I'll give some fun information I researched. Credit to @fuckyeahfoodfantasy​ for the edits of tequila, margarita, brownie, and chocolate, thank you for making these characters more accurate to their birthplaces and/or not grey. Chocolate: The word "chocolate" comes from the Nahuatl word chocolātl and the food/drink is made from the bean/seed from the fruit of Cacao tree native to southern Mexico and Central America. Chocolate was recorded to be important to the Aztec culture, they were said to believe cacao beans were the gift of Quetzalcoatl and they had so much value that they were a form of currency.

Originally prepared as a drink, chocolate was served as a bitter liquid, mixed with spices or corn puree. It was believed to be an aphrodisiac and to give the drinker strength. Today, such drinks are also known as "Chilate" and are still made by locals in the South of Mexico. Only after it was imported to Europe did people start adding sugar and milk to chocolate.

Cacao was also used by other Mesoamerican cultures such as the Olmecs and the Maya people, and each culture had its own preparation and occasions for it that are certainly worth looking into further. Tequila: Tequila is a distilled beverage made from the blue agave plant, primarily in the area surrounding the city of Tequila and in the Jaliscan Highlands (Los Altos de Jalisco) of the central-western Mexican state of Jalisco. It is the most popular type of mezcal(distilled alcoholic drinks made from agave). Mexican laws state that tequila can only be produced in the state of Jalisco and limited municipalities in the states of Guanajuato, Michoacán, Nayarit, and Tamaulipas. Tequila was first produced in the 1500s near the location of the city of Tequila, which was not officially established until 1666. 

A predecessor to tequila is a fermented beverage from the agave plant called pulque. When conquistadors ran out of brandy, agave began to be distilled to create mezcal and tequila. Planting, tending, and harvesting the agave plant remains a manual effort, largely unchanged by modern farm machinery and relying on centuries-old know-how passed down through generations of farmers called jimadores.

Margarita: The margarita is a popular Mexican and American drink, the Daisy (margarita is Spanish for "daisy"), remade with tequila instead of brandy. This drink became popular during Prohibition as people drifted over the U.S./Mexico border for alcohol. There are many creation stories for the margarita although none of them can be proven for sure, partially because the drink may have been invented in multiple places around the same time period do to its simple concept and appeal.

In a classic margarita, you can expect to find tequila, orange liqueur, and lime juice often served with salt on the rim of the glass. It can be served in many glasses although the most traditional would be the eponymous margarita glass. There are many variations on this recipe including things like flavored tequilas, different liqueurs, or even freezing and blending the margarita into a slush. Cornbread: Native Americans had been using ground maize as food for thousands of years prior to the arrival of Europeans. Corn, as we know it today, was actually the English word for any grain although maize was the one that retained the general term in modern times.

Native Americans, specifically the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Creek tribes gave recipes for maize dishes to the southern colonists and adapted as it became a southern staple food. there are many types of cornbread these days, baked, fried, pone, it’s an incredibly versatile recipe. Pozole, otherwise known as Hominy, which is swelled and softened kernels of maize can also be used in cornbread instead of cornmeal, as well as many other traditional dishes native to the Americas. Brownie: The brownie is a sheet cookie developed in the United States in the late 1800s. Originally it was most likely meant to be a more convenient type of cake developed by the upper class’s chefs. While this is a more European styled use for chocolate, recipes have been developed using more traditional means, such as the addition of chile, the removal of dairy and processed sugars, and/or using different cooking methods.

Turkey: Turkey meat has been eaten by indigenous people from Mexico, Central America, and the southern tier of the United States since before our records of those regions. Turkeys were once so abundant in the wild that they were eaten throughout the year, the food considered commonplace. Turkey with mole sauce is regarded as Mexico's national dish.

Turkeys were domesticated in ancient Mexico, for food and/or for their cultural and symbolic significance. The Aztecs, for example, had a name for the turkey, wueh-xōlō-tl (guajolote in Spanish), a word still used in modern Mexico in addition to the general term pavo. There’s plenty of evidence that Mayans and other Native American groups had been domesticating turkeys over a very long time as well.

The character in-game has many Eurasian elements despite this and I am not actually sure why, from his clothing to the apple in his basic art. It would be nice to see a redesign more faithful to Turkey’s roots but I did not have the time or funds to arrange for that for this project.

Popcorn: Popcorn is a way of processing maize that predates many if not all other forms, an archeological find known as Bat Cave finding samples of it that have been dated back to about 5,600 years ago. 

Popcorn, or momochitl, seems to have been both a religious element (art and accounts from conquistadors describing it being used for ceremonial headdresses, ornaments, components, and necklaces) and as a staple food. Zapotec, pre-Inca Peruvian, Pueblo, and Iroquois native Americans were all documented to have uses and recipes for and with popcorn, and it speculated that even more groups of people had access to it and simply didn’t record it since it was such a normal food for them. 

Popcorn would be given as a token of goodwill during peace negotiations and settlers were taught how to make it, it was almost exclusively American food since it would not keep during overseas trips. During the Great Depression, it became more popular in America as a snack food thanks to its low cost and has maintained that reputation.

 Popcorn’s in-game design reflects the more modern fanciful decoration and uses, due to the color of popcorn, the sheer range, and mostly the fact that the in-game Popcorn could just be albino I chose not to try to adjust his design to be more regionally accurate. Pudding: Pudding, more specifically Flan as I believe the game’s character is designed after, is a dish brought to the Americas by Europeans. However, Flan has become an incredibly popular dish especially in Central and South America, to the extent that there are varieties specific to regions. This is possibly reflected in part by the character’s bolo tie. 

While Flan is not a dish native to the Americas it has been raised to new levels and enjoyed greatly by the people so he was allowed to stay. Honorable mentions -

Turducken: Turducken is a dish invented and made popular in the United States. Her backstory does talk about the history of Mado, specifically, it’s colonization, but her role in everything is actually more related to dealing with the aftermath. She frees the trapped and suffering souls, she was summoned after the primary point of conflict. Similarly, the dish Turducken was invented post-colonization, in more modern times specifically by Paul Prudhomme in the 1970s in Louisiana. Additionally, the ingredients of a Turducken(Turkey, Chicken, and Duck) are not all American. While Turkeys and Ducks can be found in North America, Chickens are native to Southeast Asia and brought to the Americas by European settlers. Steak: While steak is a popular food in the Americas and a native bovine, bison, can certainly be used to make steaks, what we know as a steak is not a traditional food of the Americas. Furthermore, the character has many more European elements to his design, and his horns are definitely not those of bison, so I feel safe saying he doesn’t qualify for this specific list. Hotdog, Hamburger, B-52, and Cola: While these are accepted foods common in the Americas, they were invented in modern times and definitely aren’t traditional foods by any means. Regardless, they still get a mention Boston Lobster: While lobsters are a crustacean found on American coasts and there are accounts of Native Americans eating and using them, I do not believe this is the same as the food soul. Lobsters can be found all over the world and the name in the CN version of the game "麻辣小龙虾" translates to spicy crayfish which is going to be closer to the intended dish. While you can also find spicy crayfish in the americas it would be more accurate to assume it means the popular dish in southern China, considering his relations to Rice and Salt and Pepper Mantis Shrimp, rather than the Cajun style. Additionally, his clothing is definitely not designed with the Americas in mind. That's all folks, happy holiday, colonizers have no rights. this was pretty fun to make and a lot of research went into it, I wholeheartedly encourage looking more into these foods and the history of the original American people if you liked this.  Worm out

[trabajofinal3]

How and when the Spanish language was imposed on the native one?

NAMES::ISABELLA TOBAR, ZOE ENRÍQUEZ, FELIPE VILLAGÓMEZ,ERICK CUEVA, FRANCESCA ESPINOZA, JUAN ESTEBAN CADENA 

CURSE: NOVENO “A”

TEACHER: ESTALIN PALAGUARAY

Spanish Empire:

In the words of Humberto López Morales (1996: 20), Spanish is, especially in America, which is where 90% of the speakers are, “a dialect mosaic”. Indeed, America is an immense territory marked by diversity in which more than 300 million people and nineteen countries have Spanish as their official language. On many occasions the language is in contact, either with other languages ​​belonging to pre-Columbian cultures, such as Quechua in Bolivia, Guaraní in Paraguay, or Nahúa -the language of the Aztecs- in Mexico; or with Portuguese -with Brazil bordering Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, Argentina and Uruguay- or with American English, especially present in Mexico due to its long border and in Puerto Rico due to its special status with the United States -there Spanish is the official language. It is also spoken in several states of the Union such as New Mexico, Florida, California, Texas or New York. The church was commissioned to insert the Spanish language through evangelization.

English empire:

The increase in the use of the vernacular (English) as a literary language (previously Latin and French) gradually increased as the printing press developed in England, until it became general in the middle of the 16th century. By the time of Elizabethan literature, a vigorous English literary culture had developed, both in poetry and drama, with authors such as Edmund Spenser, whose epic The Faerie Queene had a strong influence on later English literature, though overshadowed by the lyrics of William Shakespeare, Thomas Wyatt and others. In the late 15th century there was a flourishing of humanistic studies, a new type of grammar school, and new textbooks, which allowed for a rapid transition from medieval to Renaissance tradition.

Portuguese Empire:

From the end of the 11th century, a process of linguistic assimilation or leveling began, mainly between the central Romanesque dialects of the Iberian Peninsula: Astur-Leonese, Castilian and Navarrese-Aragonese, but also the rest. This process is what will result in the formation of a common Spanish language, Spanish. More and more philologists defend this theory (Ridruejo, Penny, Tuten, Fernández-Ordóñez). However, other philologists continue to defend the Pidalian postulates of the predominance of the Castilian dialect in the formation of Spanish and its expansion through a process of Castilianization throughout the rest of the peninsular territories.

America and the world system:

Hispanization or Castilianization refers to the process of transmission to give condition, quality to someone or something so that it acquires the Hispanic culture and customs. In Spain, at the beginning of the 18th century, with Felipe V, a policy of Castilianization and consequent minorization of the rest of the vernacular languages ​​began, within the process of construction of a centralized and unified Castilian-based nation-state. This policy, maintained until the beginning of the 20th century and recovered during the dictatorships of Miguel Primo de Rivera and Francisco Franco, took shape in the creation of centralized state structures, in the mobilization of psychosocial mechanisms favorable to the spread of Spanish, and in a series of legal measures for the imposition and dissemination of the national language.However, the spread of Castilian among the Spanish population did not go beyond those members of the aristocratic classes and the non-Spanish-speaking upper bourgeoisie who preferred to adopt the language of power, more socially prestigious.

Conclusion:

Personally, I think that in addition to being something extremely important to get a source of employment, we can also do it to be able to communicate with other people, or have it as a hobby, it is a matter of being motivated to learn it and at the same time something didactic and fun.

[seuzz]

Nonfiction: Atlantis/Lemuria

William Scott-Elliot was a nineteenth-century theosophist, and one of the popularizers of the theosophical account of the history of Atlantis. His 1896 book The Story of Atlantis used arguments from archaeology, geology, paleontology, botany, and linguistics to argue for the existence of a great continent that linked and overlapped with Europe, Africa, and the Americas. He relied upon the "astral clairvoyance" of Charles Webster Leadbeater to describe its history. In 1904 he followed up that book with the shorter Lost Lemuria, describing the continent and civilization that preceded Atlantis. Both are available in a single volume online in a variety of formats.

Scott-Elliot's history is a wild mishmash of sober scientific argumentation (referencing real botanical and geological facts, even if the explanation he gives is wrong), outrageous metaphysical mumbo-jumbo, and a splash of late nineteenth-century race theory. The content is wildly entertaining, and it's easy to imagine authors from H. P. Lovecraft to Robert E. Howard drawing, if not on it, at least from the same wellspring of serious-minded hokum to craft their own, avowedly literary universes. Scott-Elliot, alas, meant his history seriously, and he is a pompous and humorless writer. Though the book implies much that would be gloriously entertaining, it reads like the imaginative but unliterary background notes for a D&D campaign, as compiled by a dungeon master the weekend before the first meeting.

Nonetheless, as source material for pulp fantasy-historical adventure, it is of possible interest. An outline and summary of the high points is provided below.

The Story of Atlantis (1896) by William Scott-Elliot

Preface: Clairvoyance is a real faculty, and by it one can learn facts about places distant in time and space that cannot be otherwise accessed. Memory is a non-materialistic faculty, and it is a universal faculty, not one particular to individuals; however, most individuals are only able to access that part of "Nature's memory" which they are individually in contact with. However, the shared natured of memory explains how clairvoyance, "thought transference," etc., are possible. It is by the use of this "astral clairvoyance" that a history of Atlantis has been painstakingly written

The Aryan Race (composed so far of five sub-races, of which the Teutonic sub-race is the fifth historical race to arise) is the successor to the Atlantean Race, whose history stretched over thousands of years and encompassed the history of many nations and civilizations. Atlantis suffered four great catastrophes, in approximately 800,000 B.C.; 200,000 B.C.; 80,000 B.C.; and 9564 B.C. The third was the greatest, and it destroyed all the continent but the island of Poseidonis, which was the land whose destruction Plato recorded.

Evidence of Atlantis's existence comes from deep-sea soundings; the distribution of flora and fauna; linguistic similarities; cultural similarities; and the testimony of ancient writers, folklore, etc. Taking these in turn:

1. There is a great ridge in the midst of the Atlantic, and the seabed all the way to the Americas is covered in volcanic debris.

2. The similarity of flora and fauna in lands separated by wide oceans can only be explained by the existence of long-since-drowned land bridges.

3. There are great similarities of language and alphabet in ancient Asia and central America, and the diversity of complexions and features in the Old World is mirrored in the new, suggesting that all races stem from a single, original location.

4. There are similarities of cultural practice and symbolism across the continents.

5. Peoples on both sides of the Atlantic have flood traditions, and traditions of having originated on an island in the Atlantic.

The Atlantean Race was divided into seven sub-races:

a. Rmoahal: The first race, which rose 4 million years ago. These were dark-skinned giants (10 to 12 feet) that eventually dwindled in size, and the northern branches lightened in color.

b. Tlavatli: The second race, a mountain-loving people of reddish-brown, not as tall as the Rmoahal. They were ruled by chiefs and kings who received authority by acclamation. They eventually achieved an imperial state with a nominal king over them all, but his authority was nominal.

c. Toltec: The third race, dominant for thousands of years of power and glory. Copper-colored and tall (8 feet average). Theirs was the most powerful empire of the Atlantean peoples, and they established the principle of hereditary succession. They were divided into independent kingdoms at first, at war with the Rmoahal, but eventually united into a federation with an emperor over it all. The races still at that time possessed psychic attributes, and the dynasty was divine and ruled by adepts, submitting to the Occult Hierarchy. These took Atlantean civilization to its heights. But decay set in after 100K years, and the connection to the OH was broken, and their occult powers were turned to selfish and malevolent purposes—sorcery. [**] The followers of the "black arts" rebelled against the Initiate rulers, and the "white" emperor fled and a pretender dynasty took the throne. The empire was engulfed by civil wars. The capital ("The City of the Golden Gates") and the evil dynasty were finally destroyed in a cataclysm that left whole provinces desolate. But sorcery continued to be practiced, and "white" kings vied with "black" until the very last and the destruction of Poseidonis.

[**] On "sorcery": Thanks to scientific advance and their psychic faculties, men attained more and more control and control over the hidden forces of Nature. The awful effects of corruption meant that its practice spread, increasing lust, brutality, and ferocity.

d. First Turanian: Colonial-minded people who migrated to eastern lands. Turbulent and cruel, their government structure was feudal. A kind of socialism evolved, centered on state adoption and control of children, but it ultimately failed.

e. Original Semite: Turbulent race hemmed into mountainous districts. Patriarchical government, nomadic lifestyle.

f. Akkadian: Rose after 800K BC catastrophe and ultimately dominated. Lived in settled communities and adopted oligarchic forms of government. Invented dual-kingships, and made great advances in astrology and astronomy.

g. Mongolian: Only Atlantean race to arise with no connection with Atlantis, having arisen in Tartary. More psychic and religious than their immediate predecessors, and gravitated to a theocratic style of government.

Colonization tended to increase over time as subsistence levels decreased. But some colonization efforts were spear-headed by the "good" kings and priests, who were aware of impending catastrophes. The effects of these migrations can be seen in latter-day peoples, such as the Lapps and North and South Americans.

Egypt began not as a colony but as the center for a White Lodge of Initiates after the Toltec cataclysm. After 200K years, a great body of colonists was brought from Atlantis and the first "Divine Empire" established in Egypt. The pyramids were Halls of Initiation and also treasure-houses and shrines for talismans of power. The land was briefly underwater and the rulers in exile in Abyssinia, but its reemergence led to its reoccupation. An Akkadian influx modified the Egyptian "type." The final submergence of Poseidonis briefly submerged Egypt again (a third submergence) and ended the Divine Dynasties, and the White Lodge moved.

The Turanians founded the Aztec Empire, which was of pure Turanian blood.

The original Semites spread widely, even into Egypt, but the Jews are the only unmixed remnants of the race. The Aryan race arose from the original Semites who congregated on the southern shore of the central Asian sea.

The Mongolian race spread over Asia and the Americas and is still in a rising race with a history in front of it.

Arts and Sciences The Aryan race exceeds greatly in its artistic achievements those of the Atlantean, but architecture, sculpture, painting and music were practiced. Music and painting were primitive, but sculpture attained some subtlety, and architecture was gargantuan and decorated with bright colors. Temples were giant halls of Egyptian style, with square pillars, and filled with statues of great men which they paid to have ceremonially worshipped. The precious metals were plentiful thanks to alchemical transmutation.

Education Most children received a rudimentary education before being shunted into agriculture and mechanical arts. Those with superior ability received training in botany, chemistry, math, and astronomy, but with a goal of developing the student's psychic faculties and the occult aspects of the subjects.

Description of the City of the Golden Gates.

Atlanteans had flying ships, but only for the rich. They were boat-like in shape, but built of wood or metal. The propulsive force is still a mystery. They flew at 100 mph, never more than a few hundred feet in the air.

Manners and Customs Atlantean manners and customs naturally fluctuated throughout the ages, but in the main:

Polygamy was practiced, though in most cases only one wife was ever had. Women were treated as the equals of men, and co-ed education was also practiced. Women also had a part in government.

Atlantean cuisine made great use of animal blood and other parts not consumed by us, while the flesh was discarded. They also ate decomposed fish. But milk, grains, and vegetables were eaten. The upper castes, though, tended to be vegetarians. Liquor was forbidden.

Atlantean explosives killed by the release of poison gas, not by concussive force.

State coinage made a late appearance; previously, men manufactured tokens that worked as promissory notes.

Agriculture was centralized and food distributed by the government.

Religion The Rmoahals originally worshipped the memory of Manu, the divine founder of the race. This practice eventually turned into a kind of ancestor worship. The Tlavatli developed a sun worship, the sun being the symbol of the Supreme Being, and erected monoliths on hilltops. Under the Toltecs, massive temples to the sun and to fire were erected. In some of these, the image of a man as the highest representation of the divine was installed. Eventually, this passed into self-worship, with each person worshipping himself as a god. (Wealthy men even employed priests to themselves.)

Under the Turanians, the Unity of the divine became a Trinity—creator, preserver, destroyer—that under the Semites became a trinity of father, mother, and child. Also under the Turanians evolved the worship of elementals—beings created out of malevolent will to serve their creator—involving blood sacrifices to preserve and strengthen them. The human sacrifices of the Aztecs was a reversion to this sort of practice.

Lost Lemuria (1904) Science has shown that shape of the continents and ocean is in constant flux. During the Triassic through Eocene eras, the equatorial regions were dominated first by a single continent, then by a pair of continents when the original land mass broke up. This continent was Lemuria. The inhabitants thus co-existed with the dinosaurs.

The Lemurians were not truly human, not having the Divine Spark that endows mind and individuality and were closer to animals. They showed rapid evolution during their time, developing from an etheric form (the form of the Second Race) into a gelatinous body and then into a solid, skeletal body. In its early form it had three eyes (the third in the back of its head, which evolved into the pineal gland and the focus of psychic vision). In its developed form, the Lemurian stood between 12 and 15 feet in height with dark skin, a long jaw, a flattened face, eyes set far apart like a bird’s, and no forehead. The arms and legs were proportionately longer than ours and could not be fully straightened, and thanks to the third eye and a protruding heel, the Lemurian could walk backward as easily as forward. The skin was loose and scaly.

Early Lemurians reproduced by self-division and by budding, then by being birthed from eggs. Eventually they evolved to give live birth.

Early, mindless Lemurians bred with animals, yielding ape-like creatures that became fully human.

Life and arts were primitive, so that by the time of the fifth sub-race the Lemurians were living only in huts, and agriculture and fire were unknown. It was at this point that the Lhas entered.

The Lhas were a race of supremely evolved humans from Venus who, having returned to the spirit world, took human bodies in order to become teachers of the Lemurians. Thanks to their guidance, the Lemurians acquired the Divine Spark. The Lhas taught them fire, smelting, agriculture, weaving, and brought with them from Venus wheat and the bee.

During the time of the sixth and seventh sub-races the Lemurians built great cities. (The statues of Easter Island are representative of these sub-races and erected by them.)

Lemuria perished in volcanic action, covering the land with ash over a long period of time, ending gradually with the full subsidence of

[random-thought-depository]

History thought: I see a significant parallel between the Aztec empire and Nazi Germany: both took a pre-existing nasty part of their region’s culture (human sacrifice in the case of the Aztecs, racism and eugenics in the case of the Nazis), doubled down on it in more-or-less the most horrific possible way, and built an entire imperialist ideology and state apparatus around it.

Context for that: I don’t know much about pre-Columbian MesoAmerican history, but from reading 1491 and 101-level histories about the Aztecs I have a strong impression that Aztec human sacrifice practices were intensified a lot as part of the process of their society becoming an empire, with a new imperialism-friendly theology providing the justification. Human sacrifice seems to have been part of the cultural background of pre-Columbian South and Central America, the Inca did it too, but I have a strong impression that the Aztecs were unusual in how central human sacrifice was to their state and how much of it they did. I see a parallel between that and what happened with racism and eugenics in Nazi Germany.

Thought proceeding from that: therefore, arguably, the best modern analogy for Cortez’s conquest of the Aztecs would be evil aliens invading an alternate history Nazi victory timeline Earth.

Thought also proceeding from that: I wouldn’t be surprised if other pre-Columbian South and Central American societies have something of an undeserved bad reputation just because the Aztecs are one of the three pre-Columbian South and Central American societies the average person has heard of. Like, imagine that scenario where aliens invade and conquer a Nazi victory timeline Earth; now imagine the history books the aliens might write about pre-conquest Earth society hundreds of years later, imagine what their historical fiction and popular history books about pre-conquest Earth society might look like, imagine what their equivalent of PBS documentaries about pre-conquest Earth society might look like, imagine their pop-cultural memory of pre-conquest Earth society. Imagine how all that might be skewed by a Europe-dominating Nazi empire being one of the three or four pre-conquest human nations the average alien is familiar with.

Speculative fiction concept: a fake history article or book or book review article from a universe where aliens conquered a Nazi victory timeline Earth in the 1950s, written hundreds of years after the conquest in a time when the alien empire has been reformed into a sort of Star Trek United Federation of Planets type set-up and Earth is a thoroughly culturally assimilated member of the aliens’ federation and the aliens have come to regret their earlier imperialist ways. The book or article is basically discussing the political and cultural context in which Nazism existed and its place in that context, with a subtext that it’s trying to show that the Nazis were unusually murderous and cruel within that context and it’s trying to debunk a common historical misconception that pre-conquest Earth culture was just like that.

Speculative fiction concept addendum: possible bonus material: examples of the sort of media that book or article would be reacting against, e.g. an elementary/middle school level textbook chapter about Earth history where there’s a handful of paragraphs about pre-conquest Earth history, a bunch of writing about the military campaigns to conquer the United States of America and the Nazi empire written in a queasy tone of being low-key ashamed of the brutality of the conquest but also horrified at how nasty the Nazi empire was (the conquest of the rest of the planet is described a short footnote paragraph), and the rest is the history of Earth under the Empire and then as a member of the Federation.

Speculative fiction concept addendum: bonus material about uncomfortable implications: some writing about anti-colonial movements on Earth during the late Empire period. Mentioned in passing is that Earth anti-colonial movements often tried to reclaim the Nazis and their iconography (in much the same way that supporters of Hispanic and American indigenous rights in our world often try to reclaim the Aztecs). These attempts at reclamation included revisionist histories that suggested the Nazi empire wasn’t really as bad as conventional histories claim, “the Nazis were brave warriors who heroically resisted the conquest and you should take pride in this noble heritage!” takes, and adoption of Nazi iconography as symbols of resistance, liberation, and cultural pride. Ironically, many of the people “reclaiming” the Nazis in this way were or are people whose ancestors were victims of the Nazis; when Human/alien has been the most important racial distinction for centuries “you’re a Russian Jewish autistic trans gay, the Nazis would literally have wanted to kill you for five different reasons and probably did kill, enslave, torture, and/or rape your ancestors!” tends to get lost in the shuffle of “I’m going to take pride in the cultures of my ancestors that the conquerors spent centuries trying to wipe out!” Uh, yeah, this is totally the sort of thing I could see happening in this scenario, but I think it’d probably be kind of uncomfortable to write or read, probably not something to talk about in much detail unless one can handle it with a sensitivity I’m not sure I’d be capable of.

[impressivepress]

Historical Rapture: The Old and the New (Sergei Eisenstein, 1929)

Sergei Eisenstein’s fourth silent feature, General Line, which was released under the title Staroye i novoye (The Old and the New, 1929), is arguably the most overlooked in his oeuvre. 

Focusing on agrarian politics and lacking the dramatic story line and heroic subject matter of Stachka (Strike, 1924), Bronenosets Potemkin (The Battleship Potemkin, 1925), and Oktyabr (October, 1927), The Old and the New is often dismissed as a smaller installment in Eisenstein’s revolutionary tetralogy, a propagandist intervention into Stalin’s politics of collectivisation. Yet Eisenstein’s iconic montage sequences in The Old and the New are on par with montage experiments in his other silent films, while his interest in religion, ritual, myth, and co-existence of historical epochs aligns this film with his unfinished projects of the 1930s – namely, Que viva Mexico! (1931-1932) and Bezhin lug (Bezhin Meadow, 1937). These unfinished projects also marked a significant shift in his theoretical research away from montage theory and toward the exploration of how cinema engages all senses and sensorium – from cognitive and rational to affective, emotional, and embodied.

Eisenstein was commissioned to make The Old and the New in 1926, but his work was interrupted when he was assigned to produce October for the tenth anniversary of the October Revolution in 1927. Only after October was released was Eisenstein able to complete his agrarian film. Meanwhile, the changing Soviet governmental politics led to a change in the film’s title and focus. In 1926, Stalin – acknowledging that Russian peasantry were not ready to give up private ownership of the land – was supportive of the operation of private farms and individual farmers (i.e., kulaks) in the countryside. By 1929, Stalin changed his view. The First Five-Year Plan announced at the end of 1929 outlined collectivisation – the concentration of land in the hands of “collectives” – and industrialisation as the main aims of the Communist Party’s agrarian policy. In April 1929, Stalin personally watched The Old and the New and spoke to Eisenstein and his assistant Grigory Akexandrov, outlining his expectations for the film. He asserted that the emphasis should be placed firmly on the transformation of Russian agrarian practices and the peasantry itself into a modern community under the sign of collective, modernised and industrialised forms of operation. The setting for the film was the village Konstantinovo, near Ryazan, the home village of the famous Russian poet Sergei Esenin. This setting was strategically chosen to combat the romanticised, pastoral representation of Russia’s rural areas as archaic and mystical, which Esenin’s poetry powerfully endorsed and was increasingly at odds with the party line.

To dramatise the conflict between the old and the new, Eisenstein chose to focus on the figure of Marfa Lapkina, a destitute peasant woman who transforms herself while transforming her community. Brought to the point of despair by the lack of resources, Marfa declares in the beginning of the film that “it is not possible to live like this anymore.” She then starts the movement to modernise the farming methods in her village, although she is opposed by the kulaks. She urges the villagers to form a dairy cooperative, but they are suspicious and unenthusiastic. Finally, when the backward peasants’ appeals to religious rituals to break the drought fail and the new technologies arrive in the village and prove to be effective, the villagers start to join the cooperative. The collective way of farming starts gaining ground. Although setbacks do occur, such as their first bull, Fomka, being poisoned by the kulaks, by the end of the film the first tractor is triumphantly arriving in the village, proving the success of modernisation and collective farming.

The conflict between the old and the new is dramatised at the narrative level through Marfa’s story, yet it is also staged at the visual level. In the opening shots, the viewers are introduced to dramatic images of old, inadequate ways of living and working on the land in the Russian countryside. The land is divided, according to the inheritance law, into smaller and smaller lots, which are presented in rapid montage sequences and in striking compositional arrangements within the frame that lead from vast expenses of the undivided land to the tight grid of small lots separated by fences. These lots cannot sustain their owners, whose toil is exasperated by the ancient methods of land cultivation. These images are contrasted with the technological innovations that collective ways of farming bring about: A newly built production pavilion ­– a striking structure made of glass, steel, and cement that houses the mechanized processes of milk sterilization and meat preparation – takes the place of centuries-old huts. The rhythmic operation of the conveyor belt replaces manual labor. One tractor pulls all of the villagers’ carriages uphill at once. Arguably the most famous of these images is the montage sequence focusing on the milk separator, a shiny symbol of the future. The first demonstration of the separator’s work to the astonished peasants, depicted in the intercut images of rapidly rotating wheels, drops of milk, and water jets erupting skyward, visually marks the turning point in the film: the winning of new technology over old, the opening up new ways of collective production, and the equal distribution of wealth.

However, despite the film’s programmatic title and message, the triumph of the new over the old was not the only theme that attracted Eisenstein to this project. As Oleg Gelikman notes, as with his other films, Eisenstein managed to “re-code” the official theme rather than successfully comply with his ideological task. Specifically, Eisenstein was inspired to work on his agrarian film by Lenin’s observation that, in Russia in the 1920s, five different social and economic formations co-existed, each defined by a particular combination of the form of property, ways of production and distribution, and relationship between those who owned the land and those who worked the land. Reflecting on Lenin’s ideas in relation to The Old and the New project, Eisenstein wrote in his article published in Pravda, the leading Soviet newspaper, on July 6, 1926, that we could still witness the following formations in the Russian countryside:

Patriarchal (i.e., to a considerable extent, natural) peasant farming

Small commodity production (which included the majority of those peasants selling their grain)

Private capitalism

State capitalism

Socialism

However, while Lenin urged the eradication of different formations and their subsequent replacements by the socialist way of life, for Eisenstein this multiplicity was of paramount importance in itself. At the level of film construction, Eisenstein saw in the simultaneous presence of different epochs a tremendous dramatic potential: “We construct in all the five epochs at the same time,” he wrote. Indeed, the futuristic farming pavilion, designed by constructivist architect Andrei Burov, who modeled his work on Le Corbusier, contrasts sharply with the film’s imagery featuring traditional Russian culture, orthodox prayers and artefacts, archaic pagan rituals, and the nearly symbiotic co-habitation of people and animals, infusing The Old and the New with the palpable, material traces of Russian history stretching far back into the past. But Eisenstein’s interest in the co-existence of historical layers anticipated something else as well: his big theoretical and practical shift toward the exploration of the deep historical origins of the art forms, social structures, and consciousness that he would pursue through his next film projects, Que viva Mexico! and Bezhin Meadow, as well as his massive study Method (1932-1948).

Departing from his observation that historical stages do not necessarily replace each other in a neat order, but can co-exist, Eisenstein started paying more attention to how rituals, different religious practices, and other forms of archaic or primitive mentality penetrate the consciousness and art production of contemporary societies. In his unfinished film Que viva Mexico! he approached Mexico as a giant living palimpsest and explored how traces of millennia of Mexican history manifest themselves in contemporary Mexican life – from the celebration of the Day of the Dead to the Catholic cathedrals built on the ruin of Aztec pyramids. Similarly, in his lost film Bejin Meadow, Eisenstein tried to mobilize mythological imageries as well as New and Old Testament tropes to construe the drama taking place in a Russian village. At the same time, in his study Method, Eisenstein put forward the idea that art is effective because its formal devices are always based on deep historical mechanisms, developed throughout the cultural history of humankind and its evolutionary prehistory as a species. These mechanisms include such phenomena as synesthesia, the ability to perceive a part as representing the whole, rhythmical repetition, inner speech, and Mutterleibsversenkung (the urge to return to the womb) – forms characterised by their more holistic, non-differentiated mode of operation. However, a work of art is also effective for Eisenstein because it always mobilizes another impulse toward a rational, intellectual insight and enrichment, realised mainly at the level of the content of the work.

Departing from the central idea of Method, Jacques Rancière recently re-examined The Old and the New as a limit case of Eisenstein’s endeavor to achieve broad-scale emotional engagement of the viewer while simultaneously communicating an ideological message. According toRancière, an image in Eisenstein’s montage represents an “abstract morpheme” and simultaneously a “sensory stimulus” that “reaches the nervous system directly, without having to rely on the mediation”. As Rancière suggests further, cinema for Eisenstein is “the art that guarantees the non-mimetic effect by reducing the communication of ideas and ecstatic explosion of sensory affects to a common unit of measurement” ­­– namely, the viewer’s sensation. Reflecting on the paradoxical nature of Eisenstein’s imperative “to reach the nervous system directly,” Rancière diagnoses this intention as madness – yet, it is not certain whether such a verdict is justified.

As for Eisenstein, this split into an ideal form – the content, the message, the logical, and the rational on the one hand and the emotional, sensual, and experiential on the other – that the montage image delivers, works because it addresses different strata in the psyche. Eisenstein hypothesised that the psyche of the contemporary man has a layered structure, where “lower” and earlier strata of psychological functioning lay dormant, but can be reactivated by trauma, existential challenges, or encounters with a work of art. Outlining the complex dynamic of interaction between works of art and the human psyche, Eisenstein particularly emphasised that engagement with art allows us to experience the sense of unity – the unity of our internal psychic make-up, social and historical unity of humankind, and unity with the universe. For Eisenstein, this experience, while clearly defined as transcending limits of actuality and looking forward toward the future, acquires its powerful emotional force because it taps into the vestiges of the sense of primordial social, psychological, and biological unity.

In this context, Eisenstein particularly privileged the archaic stage of classlessness as the embodiment of equality and fairness of participation and distribution. However, the stage of classlessness interested Eisenstein not only in its social aspect, but also because, from his point of view, it correlated with an early psychological functioning, where the non-differentiated character of both came to the forefront. In this sense, Eisenstein argued that the method of art itself should be modelled on the ideal of classlessness: “the method of art as an image of social ideal at all times (classlessness as highest ahead and deepest back).” Rancièreglosses over this idea: “The formal operations of the cinema assimilate the pure and conscious calculations of the communist project to the unconscious logic governing the deepest layers of the sensory thought and habits of primitive people.”[Rancière, Film Fables, op. cit., p. 28.]Thematically, the idea of classlessness – both in the past, as a primitive communism of archaic community and as a communist utopia of the future – is most directly explored in The Old and the New.

For these reasons, The Old and the New remained a focus of Eisenstein’s intense theoretical reflection long past its completion; he would return to its analysis again and again through the 1930s and well into the 1940s. Far from being a short lived agitprop effort urging collectivisation, the film became Eisenstein’s first practical exploration of historical continuity, which, in its dialectical tension with Eisenstein’s much better known interest in historical rapture, so powerfully encompasses his oeuvre.

~

by Julia Vassilieva · December 2017

[travelingwithme]

Zócalo: Central Square

It is an easy metro trip with one transfer to the city central square, The Zócalo. I love the metro cars for women and children only.

It is Sunday the day before Epiphany and I want to go to the Cathedral in Zócalo Square in a practicing catholic country. It is a massive church and the crowds in the square are mostly local people.

Inside there are three simultaneous services so crowded that chairs are in the back and outside one side of the pews. People are standing too. The main nave has two high definition screens for those in the back to view the priests.

The huge organ begins making my chest throb. After the service but before communion, the priest asks everyone to turn and greet their neighbor. I am standing in the back and easily have ten people turn to me, nod, shake my hand and make eye contact. I am touched and enjoy this part of the church.

I wander to the neighboring nave and see that confession is alive and well, but the confessional is so open for both the person confessing and the priest. As soon as she finishes another parishioner takes his turn.

I join the crowd outside in search of something to eat. I meander behind the church and come to a corner crowded with locals eating at an outdoor cafe. As soon as I look slightly interested two waiters show me a plastic stool to sit and point to the menu on the wall. I choose cheese enchiladas and hope for the best. The cook is very busy turning tortillas and frying meat.

The stools next to me are occupied an older couple. The grey-haired woman smiles at me as my food arrives in a good sized styrofoam box. I am surprised by the amount of food. The lady and I both laugh at the large amount I am faced with eating. It tastes delicious with a flavorful sauce over enchiladas.

There are a lot of beggars in town. While I and the couple next to me are eating, a man comes up behind us and begins a litany in Spanish I do not understand. The lady next to me hands him the last bite of her much smaller order and I am so pleased to do the same with half of my big one. He is a young man happy to have a hot meal. I paid $2 for mine.

I pay and leave to walk with the crowd back toward the square. I look across the street and see a familiar place I read about. It is a bookstore on the main level and has a restaurant/coffee shop upstairs. I want coffee so take the lift up. What a pleasant surprise to find this open air quiet coffee shop with wonderful music playing. I wait for a table and soon one empties near the view over an Aztec ruins museum!

Looking out I see the top of the tallest building in town. It is only 44 floors but survived the gigantic earthquake of 1985 as the rest of town collapsed. It also made it through a recent large one. It has been likened to the Empire State building for its strength.

When I take a table for four on a busy day in a good spot, I feel uncomfortable. I look back for anyone waiting g and see none. Looking at the menu, I am asked by a couple to share my table and I am delighted. They are from a small town outside Frankfurt Germany. We bond over travel issues (they will be gone for several months), politics ( they said they have not met anyone from US that likes our Preside!) and retirement.

Karl and Margrit are a retired principal and teacher. We take photos of each other and exchange contact information.

I am filled of humanity and local food. Lucky me !

[autodidact-adventures]

Birds: Resplendent Quetzal

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Aves

Order: Trogoniformes

Family: Trogonidae (trogons)

The order Trogoniformes has only one family, Trogonidae.

Within the family Trogonidae, there are 7 genera, which contain 39 species between them.  Only two of these genera contain the quetzals – Pharomachrus and Euptilotis.

Pharomachus comes from the Greek pharos (mantle) and makros (long). This genus has five species – crested quetzal, golden-headed quetzal, pavonine quetzal, resplendent quetzal, and white-tipped quetzal.

Euptilotis has only one surviving species, the eared quetzal (also called the eared trogon).

So overall, there are two genera and six species of quetzal.

Trogons are birds in the order Trogoniformes and family Trogonidae. The word “trogon” comes from the Greek for “nibbling”, as they gnaw hole in trees and termite nests for their own nests.  The female lays 2-4 white or pastel-coloured eggs at a time.

Trogons live worldwide in tropical forests.  They are most widespread in the Neotropical Realm (South & most of Central America), where there are 4 genera and 24 species (including quetzals).  Other trogons live in Africa and South-East Asia.

Their toes are heterodactyl, with the first two toes pointing forwards and the other two pointing backwards.  They are the only bird (and only animal) to have this arrangement.

Golden-headed quetzal.

Trogons have broad bills and weak legs; this reflects their diet and tree-living habits.  They eat insects and fruit.  They can fly fast, but prefer not to fly any distance.

They are seldom migratory (some species “migrate��� short local distances).  Their feathers are soft and often colourful, with the males & females having distinctively different plumage.

Quetzals

Quetzals are forest-dwelling birds, and are found particularly in humid highland regions.  The Pharomachrus quetzals live in the Neotropical Realm, while the eared quetzal lives in Mexico and some parts of the southern U.S.

They are quite large, all over 32cm long (this is slightly bigger than the other trogon species).  They have a red belly, and iridescent green or golden-green chest, head, back and wing coverts (section of the wing feathers).  Part of the females' plumage is brown or grey.  Despite their colouring, they can still be hard to spot.

Quetzals eat fruits & berries, insects, and small vertebrates such as frogs.

The resplendent and eared quetzals have Near Threatened status, but the other species aren't considered to be under threat, and are locally common.

Etymology

The word “quetzal” comes from Nahuatl.  In Classical Nahuatl, the word quetzalli means “brightly-coloured tail feather” or “quetzal feather”.  This came from the word quetza (to raise, lift).  The actual quetzal bird was called a quetzaltōtōtl – the word tōtōtl meant “bird”.  The plural is quetzaltōtōmeh.

The Spanish called it el quetzal (from quetzalli), and gave the word to English.  Another Spanish word for the quetzal is el pilco.

Quetzalcoatl was the feathered-serpent god of the Aztecs and Toltecs. It was made up of quetzalli + coatl (snake).

In Classical Nahuatl, the word quetzalītztli means “emerald-green jade”.  It was made up of quetzalli + ītztli (obsidian).

A quetzal is also a unit of Guatemalan currency (plural quetzales). It is divided into 100 centavos (or lenes, in slang).

Originally, the word “quetzal” was only used to refer to the resplendent quetzal.  Nowadays, though, it refers to all six species, although it is still often used to refer specifically to the resplendent quetzal.

Resplendent Quetzal – Pharomachus moccino

There are two subspecies, P. m. moccino and P. m. costaricensis.  This quetzal is found from Mexico's Chiapas state, all the way to western Panama.  The other quetzals in the Pharomachus genus, however, are found in eastern Panama and South America.

The resplendent quetzal is very important in Mesoamerican mythology. It is the national bird of Guatemala, and is depicted on the country's flag and coat of arms.

Because of habitat loss, the resplendent quetzal is classified as “near threatened”.  However, it is found in several protected areas throughout its range.

It is 36-40cm long, and weighs about 210g – the largest bird of the entire trogon order.  P. m. costaricensis is slightly smaller than P. m. moccino, and its tail plumes are shorter and narrower.

They have a green body, with iridescence from green-gold to blue-violet, and a red breast.  The primary wing coverts are very long, and give their wings a fringed appearance.  They are weak fliers.

The male resplendent quetzal have up to 65cm-long upper tail coverts, and they are at their longest when breeding.  The upper tail coverts are green, and hide their tales (in both males and females).

The male has a helmet-like crest.  The bill is yellow for mature males, and black for females.  Both sexes have green filamentous feathers covering the bill.

Male resplendent quetzal.

Female resplendent quetzal.

Habitat

The resplendent quetzal lives in montane cloud forest from southern Mexico to western Panama.

Montane ecosystems are ecosystems in mountains, and they are divided into life zones.  One of the main life zones on a mountain is the montane forest, which is found at moderate elevations.  Montane forests often contain trees with twisted trunks, because in the subalpine zone (above the montane forest), the wind strength has increased with elevation. Below the montane forest is the submontane zone.

The upper limit of the montane forest is the forest line or timberline, and it often marks a change to hardier species of flora.  The lower limit may be a lower timberline, and separate the montane forest from a drier steppe or desert region.

The climate is colder than that of lowland regions (at the same latitude), because of the elevation. Therefore, the montane forest may contain species that tend to grow in higher-latitude lowland forests (i.e. further north in the northern hemisphere, and further south in the southern hemisphere). A sky island ecosystem is a montane forest on an isolated mountain, surrounded by a treeless dry region.

A cloud forest is also called a water forest.  It is usually tropical/subtropical, montane (as described above), and evergreen.  It has a persistent, frequent, or at least seasonal low-level cloud cover called silvagenitus, making the forest moist.

Cloud forests often have plenty of moss covering the ground and the vegetation, and are also called mossy forests.  These usually develop on mountain passes, as moisture from settling clouds is more effectively retained there.

Predators of the resplendent quetzal include hawks, owls, the ornate hawk-eagle, and the golden eagle (as adults).  For nestlings and eggs, predators include brown jays, emerald toucanets, squirrels, long-tailed weasels, and the kinkajou (a rainforest mammal that is related to the raccoon).

Kinkajou.

The resplendent quetzal mostly eats fruit, especially wild avocados and other fruits of the laurel (Lauraceae) family.  It eats the fruit whole and regurgitates the pit, thus helping to spread these trees. The quetzal also eats insects (especially larvae, ants and wasps), lizards and frogs.

Breeding

Resplendent quetzals are monogamous, and live alone when not breeding.  They are territorial breeders, and their territorial size in Guatemala is about 15-25 acres, or 0.06-0.1 square km.

They are seasonal breeders.  In Mexico, the breeding season is March to April; in Guatemala it is March to May; in El Salvador it is May to June.

A hole is carved in a rotten tree (because of their weak bills), and the nest is placed in there. The female lays two pale blue eggs.  However, using a rotten tree has problems – 1) it is susceptible to weather damage during the required stage of decomposition, and 2) there may not be enough suitable trees, which limits the quetzal population.

The incubation period is about 18 days; the male usually incubates during the day, and the female at night.  They sit in the nest with their long tail-cover feathers folded back and out of the hole.

Both parents take care of the young.  They feed them fruit, berries, insects, lizards and small frogs.  Often, the female neglects (and even abandons) the young near the end of the rearing period, leaving the male to look after them until they can survive on their own.

A male incubating the eggs.

In Mesoamerican civilizations, the quetzal was associated with the snake god Quetzalcoatl, and so was considered to be divine.  The Aztecs and Maya saw it as the god of the air, and a symbol of goodness and light.  Its long green tail-covert feathers were symbolic of spring plant growth.  In several Mesoamerican languages, the word for “quetzal” can also mean “precious,” “sacred,” or “erected”.

For the Maya, the quetzal also symbolized wealth (because of the value of its feathers) and freedom (as they believed it would always die if kept in captivity).  The rulers, and some other nobles, wore head-dresses of quetzal feathers.

Killing a quetzal was punishable by death.  To obtain its feathers, it was caught, the feathers plucked from its tail, and it was set free again.

The quetzal is traditionally a symbol of liberty, because of the belief that it can't be bred or be held for a long time in captivity. It is true that it usually kills itself soon after being captured or caged.  However, a zoo in Mexico has kept quetzals since 1992, and bred a chick in captivity in 2004.

Tecún Umán (a real person) was a prince & warrior of the K'iche' Maya, near the end of the Spanish conquest of Guatemala, and his nahual (spirit guide) was the quetzal.  The K'iche' fought off several attacks from the Spanish, even though their weapons were inferior.  Legend says that on the day that Pedro de Alvarado fought Tecún Umán, there was a quetzal flying overhead.

Tecún Umán disabled Alvarado's horse on the first strike, and Alvarado was given another horse.  On the second strike, he ran him through with a spear.  The quetzal flew down onto Tecún Umán's body, and dipped its chest in his blood.  This is how it got its red chest feathers.

Another Maya legend claims that the quetzal used to sing beautifully before the Spanish invasion, and will sing once more when the land is free.

[karmarelationship931]

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Seattle Times staff reporter

E-mail this articlePrint this article Other links Businessman prospers along with 'my people'State's Hispanic population doubled in past decadeA sampling of two counties' Hispanic population growth

YAKIMA - A local woman named Esmeralda has seen her future, and it involves a man called Roberto.

So with love on the brain, she does what any modern woman would do: She calls her local radio station and requests a love song.

Matchmaking duties, in this case, fall on the shoulders of Luís Ezequial Muñoz , also known as 'El Cheque,' who at the moment is cooing into his mike: 'Hola! Quién me llama?'

The 23-year-old Mexican transplant and former Los Angeleno has arrived in the state's agricultural heartland, inspired by another sort of bounty: Hispanic radio listeners.

Here in the Yakima Valley and the rest of Eastern Washington, among the hops and apples and wine grapes, Spanish-language radio is the latest cash crop.

There are now at least 11 such stations, broadcasting from the valley, Walla Walla, Wenatchee and northern Oregon, said Mark Allen, president and chief executive of the Washington State Association of Broadcasters.

'Ten, fifteen years ago, there was very little Spanish-language programming,' said Allen.

By all accounts, especially the 2000 census, the airwaves are ripe for the Spanish-language surge.

Call it the Latinization of the nation, if you will. The Hispanic population has climbed by 58 percent since 1990; at 35 million, it is larger than the population of Canada.

In Washington, the Hispanic population doubled in the last decade and now numbers 441,509, about 7.5 percent of the population. Those numbers will keep rising: Hispanics, by far, are the youngest of the state's racial or ethnic groups, with 40 percent under 18.

In Adams and Franklin counties in Eastern Washington, nearly half the population is Hispanic. More than 35 percent of Yakima County is Hispanic.

More Central Americans

The state's Hispanic population continues to be made up largely of Mexicans and Mexican Americans. But community leaders and social-service workers have noticed more and more Central Americans: Guatemalans in Shelton, for example; Salvadorans in Aberdeen.

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There also are more indigenous people from Mexico, who speak neither Spanish nor English but their native Indian dialect.

The number of Hispanic-owned companies in Washington grew 64 percent from 1992 to 1997, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Hispanic businesses in 1997 employed 18,830 people, compared with 8,065 five years earlier.

'There's a maturation of the Latino community,' said Onofre Contreras, executive director of the state Commission on Hispanic Affairs. 'It's the same process you see that European immigrants went through. They start off at the bottom, at entry-level jobs. Then the working class becomes a business class and then a stable middle class.

'Having grown up in California, I see some of the same parallels happening here. It's nothing that hasn't occurred in other places. It's just that it's Washington's time.'

If the surge in population surprises some, broadcast companies have realized the market potential for some time here in sagebrush and orchard country.

All of the Spanish-language stations with the exception of one, Radio Cadena, were once Anglo stations that switched formats and languages.

'It's basic numbers. When you look at a market like Yakima, which is 35 percent Hispanic, you know there's a market that needs to be served,' said Bob Berry, general manager for Butterfield Broadcasting in Yakima, which operates five stations in Eastern Washington and plans to start a sixth by mid-April.

Berry used to run a talk-radio and country-music station in Grant County. It was Faith Hill before Las Tucanes de Tijuana, one of his favorite music groups now.

When his company, Mirage Communications, merged with Butterfield in September, Berry began overseeing Zorro Broadcasting, which plays contemporary music known as regional Mexican: some norteño, some tejano, some grupos, some banda.

Zorro caters to listeners between 18 and 49 years old. In its promotional materials, it estimates the disposable income for Hispanics in the Yakima and Tri-Cities areas - not including an estimated 100,000 migrant workers in any given year - is $554 million.

Granger's Radio Cadena or KDNA, in its 22nd year, is the only full-time Spanish-language public radio station in the United States. Billing itself as a news and educational resource for a vast farmworkers community, it broadcasts programs that touch on everything from labor rights to pesticide safety.

Because its listeners may be illiterate or semi-literate, the station has also produced radionovelas, or dramas, encouraging healthier lifestyles, warning of the consequences of unsafe sex or alcohol abuse.

In the early 1980s, KSVR Radio, broadcasting from Mount Vernon's Skagit Valley College, noticed a flurry of listener response whenever its student disc jockeys would speak Spanish.

The story was that older, non-English-speaking residents would leave their radios on 24 hours a day, hoping to hear something they could understand, said Rip Robbins, the station's general manager.

What used to be a part-time college radio station is now a full-time station with half of its programming in Spanish.

'Our radio is on in virtually every business in this valley, because the people behind the scenes are Hispanic,' said Robbins.

'People setting up in restaurants have us on. At the farms. In the warehouses and packing plants. I know, because our phones ring off the hook with people calling in for dedications.'

At the Zorro studio in Yakima, one mile from downtown, past the Greenway Bingo Hall, Arturo from Pasco is on the line. He wants something for his wife, and Carlos from Yakima wants something for Cristina.

Elite matchmaking in baraboo wisconsin. 'A lot of people who call us work en el campo,' said DJ Martin 'El Primo' Ortiz. 'We've heard stories about people listening on their Walkmans, calling from the fields on their cell phones.

'It's part of our nostalgia, this music. We are far away from our homeland. Our Mexico.'

Whistling while you work is one thing but, if you can, why not groove to Juan Gabriel instead?

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So at La Petunia bakery, the panaderos, arriving in the wee hours to make conchas, campechana, teleras and other pastries, flick on a flour-soaked Panasonic and listen to Julio Preciado on Radio Zorro.

Little bit of Mexico

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At La Doncella, a house turned hair salon with a map of Mexico on one wall and an Aztec calendar on another, stylist Selena Balentínez switches off a telenovela at her customer's request and turns on the radio for a noontime show featuring música romántica.

'There's a saying, `To remember is to live,' ' said Balentínez, a student at Yakima Valley College who is originally from the Mexican state of Michoacán.

'Sometimes I'll hear a song, and I remember it was, say, a song my sister used to listen to. It transports you to another time. It reminds me of my father, say, or el rancho.'

In the broadcast booth, DJ El Cheque, on the air from 3 to 7 p.m weekdays, bellows: 'Gracias, Washington! Gracias, Oregon! Llámame!'

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The phones ring.

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It's Teresita from Milton.

'Que rico!'

Florangela Davila can be reached at 206-464-2916 or at fdavila@seattletimes.com

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Times data-base specialist Justin Mayo contributed to this report.

[sciencespies]

The History of the Tomato: A Poisonous Reputation and A Big Fruit Fight

https://sciencespies.com/biology/the-history-of-the-tomato-a-poisonous-reputation-and-a-big-fruit-fight/

The History of the Tomato: A Poisonous Reputation and A Big Fruit Fight

The history of your favorite (mainly) red nightshade involves a long and intricate tale that traces back to the Aztecs around 700 AD.

Yes, the tomato hails from the Americas, although it took a trip to Europe – and a fight over its reputation as a poisonous killer – before it became the globally embraced veggie you know today. And before that, it left its (scary) mark on the European consciousness, global tax laws, dietary guidelines – and even the Supreme Court of the United States.

Yes, it’s been a strange journey. The tomato has had a wildly varying reputation over the years, considered everything from poison to aphrodisiac(!). I’ll explore all these fascinating tomato facts – and many more – in this history of the tomato.

The Tomato and its Components

Before we talk history, let’s talk a bit about the tomato itself – and try to classify what, exactly, a tomato is.

Tomatoes contain seeds, so they are botanically considered fruits, with the scientific name Solanum lycopersicum. More specifically, they are a berry – with the skin being the outer exocarp, the fleshy/pulpy mesocarp, and seeds inside. Of course, culinarily, the tomato is a vegetable – lacking the high levels of fructose (and the sweeter taste) of what we traditionally call fruits. 

So – they’re both fruits and vegetables. What an enigma!

They belong to the nightshade or Solanaceae family, which is probably the reason they were considered poisonous in Northern Europe and most parts of the U.S.A, even a few two centuries ago.

Modern tomatoes are descendants of the strain Solanum pimpinellifolium. This is a wild tomato species, native to Peru and Ecuador, that were ancestors of the tomatoes we know and love today.

Tomato breeding techniques have come a long way, though, and modern methods now allow us to create fruits that are firm, juicy, resistant to diseases, plush red, and robust enough to travel well.

Cultivation

Since they are one of the most popular grocery purchases globally, you probably knew that tomatoes could be grown in a wide range of soils, ranging from heavy clay to sandy. The ideal conditions to grow these fruits are:

Sandy or red loam soils.

Well-drained soils.

Soils rich in organic matter.

pH range of 6.0 to 7.0.

The ideal temperature to grow and harvest tomatoes is between roughly 69 to 75 degrees Fahrenheit, making it a warm-season crop. However, beware heat; temperatures over 90 degrees are detrimental to the fruit’s development. Extreme conditions – such as high levels of humidity or frost – are also damaging to the plant.

If a harvest receives high volumes of sunshine when the fruit is about to set, it can create dark red colored tomatoes. Temperatures below 50 degrees Fahrenheit slow down the plant’s physiological growth and negatively affect a tomato harvest.

Are you planning to grow some? Let me know in the comments – tomatoes are a particularly fun plant to grow, even in a deck garden.

They also grow well in more serious growing operations…

Nutritional Value

Like us human beings, tomatoes are mostly made up of water – upwards of 90% – 95%. The rest of the fruit consists largely of fiber and carbohydrates. For every 100 grams of raw tomato, you can expect to find the following macronutritional breakdown:

Water: 95%.

Calories: 18.

Proteins: 0.9 grams.

Carbs: 3.9 grams.

Sugar: 2.6 grams.

Fat: 0.2 grams.

Fiber: 1.2 grams.

Vitamins and Minerals

Zooming into the vitamins and minerals in a single tomato, you’ll actually be pretty impressed. Here are some of the standouts:

Vitamin C: Consuming one mid-sized tomato can give you 25% or more of your daily requirement of vitamin C.

Potassium: Around 1/10 of your daily requirements are in a single fruit.

Vitamin K1: You’ll find a significant amount of Vitamin K in a tomato – around 12% of the RDA in a medium fruit.

Vitamin B9: (Aka Folate) Roughly 5% of your RDA is covered by a medium tomato.

Vital Compounds

Tomatoes also contain a set of plant compounds that are beneficial for the physiology of human beings.

Beta carotene: It is an antioxidant that gets converted into vitamin A in our system when we consume it.

Lycopene: Another type of antioxidant that has tons of health benefits such as improving heart health.

Naringenin: A flavonoid that helps decrease inflammation and offers protection against many diseases.

Chlorogenic acid: An antioxidant that helps lower blood pressure.

Common Tomato Dishes

Tomatoes have been readily adopted in cuisines around the world thanks to their versatile nature. Some of the most common dishes that are heavily reliant on the use of tomatoes include:

Soups.

Sauces.

Pasta dishes.

Pizza.

Salsas.

Curries.

Shakshuka.

The Early Origin of the Tomato

Tomatoes have become a global tour de force today, but originally they were limited to only one pair of continents — the Americas. One study traces the earliest ancestor of the fruit to South America, where the grandfather of all tomatoes — Solanum Pimpinellifolium L., was known to have been first domesticated.

This species gave rise to the S. Lycopersicum L var. Cerasiforme (S. l. Cerasiforme), which, in turn, birthed the most common tomato species known on the planet today — Solanum Lycopersicum L. var. Lycopersicum (SLL – the one you chop to put on your salad). It first made its way into Mesoamerica before finding its way to the rest of the world.

That’s just the tomato, though – nightshades, particularly the tomatillo, have an even longer history. A few years ago, scientists found a tomatillo fossil in Patagonia, Argentina they dated to roughly 52 million years old!

Tomatoes come in many colors and shapes (and tastes!), as this picture shows.

The Hand of the Aztecs

As mentioned in my introduction, as far as we know, the Aztecs were primarily responsible for first understanding the fruit’s versatility and using it as an ingredient in their cooking. We even derive the word tomato from the Aztec word “xitomatl” (pronounced as ji-tomatel).

By the early sixteenth century, the Aztecs had domesticated a reasonably modern version of their tomatoes and had created at least 50 unique recipes using the red wonder as a base. Early Aztec writings reveal recipes for a dish that uses tomatoes, peppers, and seasoning – yes, recipes for salsa have been around for an extremely long time!

We now know that the Aztecs of Mexico were a source for tomatoes that were taken to Spain and the Mediterranean by the Spanish conquistadors – likely Columbus or Cortés. We even have a record of the fruit entering Europe with the earliest mention of them being seen on the continent by Mattioli in 1544. (At the time, he essentially called it an eggplant).

The Pueblos and Tomatoes

Before making it to Europe, tomatoes had a good stint in Pueblo culture and had a reasonably influential touch on their customs and beliefs. The journey from South America to Europe featured a noteworthy stop in Central America where the tomatoes interacted with Native American culture.

While the Pueblos certainly used tomatoes in their cooking, they did not explore it as deeply as the Aztecs in their culinary style. 

Instead, there were a few noteworthy associations between the Pueblos and the tomato. This included the belief that those who consumed tomato seeds would be blessed with the powers of divination.

The March to Europe

Hernán Cortés is the Spanish explorer who is credited with introducing the tomato to Europe. He did this after successfully capturing Tenochtitlan’s city in 1521, and he used the Spanish colonial system to spread the fruit successfully across the rest of the world.

Tomatoes Travel the World

Before reaching Europe, tomatoes first made their way to the Caribbean islands. And after Europe, the naval path to the Philippines was used to take the plant to Asia.

Its path to Europe, and specifically Italy (where tomato’s culinary popularity first took off), is harder to trace, but there have been several handwritten accounts to read. The first of these dates to 1548 in Tuscany, where the fruit was improperly thought to be a type of eggplant, and it was named “Pomodoro” or pomi d’oro. 

You might think the “Pomodoro” caused shock waves across the country and transformed the landscape of Italian cuisine as soon as it entered the market – alas, this was not the case. Many of the Italian tomato dishes that we know and love today are quite recent. 

It wasn’t until the late nineteenth century that the modern-day tomato had firmly cemented its roots in Italian culture. Pasta and pizzas were around for quite some time by this point, but they depended on base ingredients such as cheese and olive oil for flavor until someone had the bright idea of adding tomato sauce.

History in China and Asia

The Chinese and Europeans eventually whole-heartedly embraced tomatoes in their cuisine. After the tomato’s travels to Europe, the fruit was also making the rounds in Asia, where it continues its popularity to this day.

In Chinese culture, written records of tomatoes date back to 1621 during the Ming dynasty. Much like Italian culinary culture, China took a fair amount of time to warm up to the fruit. In fact, the tomato’s first records read more like a precaution – written records tell of a Western-originated fan persimmon.

Although tomatoes never rose to culinary prominence in the same way as they did in Italy, several regions of China became quite reliant on the use of tomatoes in their dishes.

By the turn of the nineteenth century, tomatoes had officially migrated to most parts of Asia. During this period, they also found their way into Syria and Iran. There though, they were widely used almost immediately.

Tomatoes Go Back to America

Despite originating in the Americas, the tomato did not appear mainstream in the United States of America until Thomas Jefferson took an interest in the plant. Yes, that Thomas Jefferson – the 3rd president of the United States.

As tomatoes belong to the Nightshade family that is traditionally associated with poisonous fruits, purportedly many North Americans were weary of eating the fruit when it first made it to the states – fearing for their safety.

On the other hand, Thomas Jefferson was a noteworthy food connoisseur, and his taste in exotic fruits and vegetables was on full display at his garden at Monticello. (He also figured in the American history of ice cream).

It is said that the Miller-Claytor House in Lynchburg, Virginia, built in 1791, was locally referred to as the “tomato house.” This is because Jefferson first shocked the people of the region by publicly consuming a tomato at this location. He didn’t die – possibly to the crowd’s amazement.

That’s the myth, anyway – Culinary Historian Andrew Smith disagrees and notes people in the US were eating tomatoes as early as the 1770s. Jefferson may have been a bit late to the party.

Once said myth was dispelled – or, alternatively, once people saw public figures eating the strange fruit – tomatoes still took a fair amount of time to become popular for consumption across the United States.

Eggplants & Tomatoes in New Orleans – Henry Cogswell’s Letters from the South and West (1824)

Tomatoes in the Southern and Northern States

The South’s history with tomatoes is an interesting one. An early record of tomatoes being marketed in New Orleans exists from the year 1812.

The North took longer to warm up.

In 1820, a former colonel named Robert Gibbon Johnson took to the streets of Salem, New Jersey, to further Jefferson’s point and disprove any negative connotations related to tomatoes. He did this by following Jefferson’s footsteps… and consumed a tomato (possibly even a basket of tomatoes) in public. He, too, didn’t die.

By the year 1835, tomatoes were available in the markets of Boston. When the civil war broke out a few decades later, tomatoes were in the fray in a big way. 

The Union Army relied on canneries to process tomatoes for easy access to nutrition – tomatoes eventually became the most popular product sold in cans during the civil war.

And there were knock-on effects: farmers in the country realized the sudden rise in tomato demand, and switched their crops quickly to incorporate more tomatoes.

The rise of the fruit’s popularity continued to grow steadily over the next few decades. They eventually became a widely accepted fruit by the middle of the nineteenth century. And wouldn’t you agree: they are still pretty popular today?

Tomatoes: A History of Advancements

Tomatoes have undergone a massive evolution since their wild cherry days up in the Andes mountains. The story of the modern-day tomato itself has many chapters that were penned in the 20th and 21st centuries.

One of the primary authors of these new chapters was Alexander W. Livingston, the man behind the Paragon tomato. He was an expert on seeds and plants in the region of Reynoldsburg, Ohio, and operated in the latter half of the 19th century.

In 1852, Livingston acquired seventy acres of land in his hometown to set up the A. W. Livingston Buckeye Seed Garden. During his tenure in this garden, he developed a new strain of tomato seeds to improve the tomato properties. That variety, the famous Paragon – sweeter than the sour tomato varieties of the time – was developed around 1870.

Livingston fully immersed himself in developing different strains of the fruit from this point onwards, and he was successful in producing thirty more varieties over the next 28 years. None, though, attained the popularity of the Paragon.

Joseph Campbell and the Tomato Soup

Joseph Campbell greatly furthered the work that Livingston began. He and partner Abraham Anderson set up a company that first introduced Americans to condensed soup in 1897. And yes – he’s the Joseph Campbell behind Campbell’s Soup.

The soup business boomed at this point, and Campbell’s was first in line to make the most of this popularity. And by 1905, the company was producing 21 different types of soups that included bean, beef, and clam chowder – but tomato soup was one of its biggest sellers.

1920 Ad for Campbell’s Tomato Soup (Library of Congress)

Tomatoes: The Myths and the Facts

We did miss out on some twists and turns during our exploration of the history of this magnificent fruit. This section will relay a few of the myths related to tomatoes and the facts behind them.

Wolf Peach Tomatoes

There was a lot of fear associated with tomatoes, even among the scientific community in the 18th century, and they reflected this fear in the fruit’s naming. 

They dubbed tomatoes with the dubious scientific name Lycopersicon esculentum as early as 1768, which translates to “edible wolf peach.” 

As it belonged to the nightshade family, researchers were afraid to touch or consume the fruit, fearing the worst.

Surely, calling it a wolf peach didn’t help!

Pewter Plate Controversy: The Poisonous Tomato?

The fact that tomatoes belonged to the nightshade family already made them a suspicious fruit. A subsequent controversy broke out in Europe during the 18th century when public poisoning caused by eating tomatoes helped sustain this fear for centuries.

The better-to-do people shunned the tomato. They referred to it as the “poison apple” during this phase in history, even though it was innocent. 

But something was going on, indeed. The reaction of the lead in the victims’ cutlery with the acidity of the tomato was the likely reason behind the poisonings. 

Poorer sections of society did not face any lead poisoning. They did not use any fancy cutlery for their meals, so they did not pick up the negative associations with tomatoes.

Weird, isn’t it? True – but to this day, you need to be careful with acidic dishes (such as those with a tomato base) on particular surfaces. Aluminum is a big one – heating tomato sauce on aluminum foil or using aluminum cookware or camping utensils can cause large amounts of aluminum to migrate to your food.

It’s no lead, but long term aluminum exposure can cause issues. Be careful!

Lead-alloy pewter plate in Britain (undated) – Wikimedia

Is the Tomato a Fruit or a Vegetable?

Tomatoes are culinary vegetables and botanical fruits. Due to their relative lack of fructose and sugars and starches, the tomato is treated as a vegetable in food… along with the cucumber, pumpkin, and green bean. However, a tomato is a fruit – and even more specifically, a berry – botanically.

Yes, I know we discussed this, but the annoying riposte tossed out by your nephew is deeper than you may first think. It’s been the subject of tariff disputes, Supreme Court decisions, and even a Presidential fight.

The Tariff Act of 1883 was signed into law by Chester A. Arthur, and one of the provisions increased the tariff owed when importing fruit. That’s straightforward – but when John Nix & Co. tried to import tomatoes only to run into a tax levied by the Port of New York’s Edward Hedden, the highest Court in the United States eventually weighed in. On May 10, 1893, the United States Supreme Court found that tomatoes are vegetables, not fruits.

Around 90 years later, the Executive Branch of the United States made things even sillier.

After Ronald Reagan entered office for his first term in 1981, Congress passed a law cutting $1 billion in child nutrition funding. In the scramble to change the standards (they had roughly three months to recommend new guidelines), the USDA, in exasperation, listed ketchup as a vegetable. (Relish made the cut too!)

Beaurocratic infighting and silly rulemaking? Perhaps – but the highly embarrassing battle is one of the more famous kerfuffles of the Reagan Administration. And to this day, the short version of the story means you can make ketchup is a vegetable jokes and still get a laugh!

Tomatoes Rule the Roost

Today, tomatoes have left their controversial past behind and become a superpower in the world of grocery essentials. Internationally, they are one of the most important crops, taking 15% of the total share of all fruit and vegetable production. In 2011, this amounted to nearly 160 million tons, or 20 kilograms per capita, worldwide.

Compared to the rest of the world, North America consumes the highest quantities of tomatoes each year, with consumption reaching 42 kgs per capita. Europe takes the second spot on this list with an annual use of 31 kgs per capita. 

At the country level, though? You guessed it – Italy stands tall as the tomato capital of the world, with an annual per capita consumption of 60 kgs. This comes as no surprise, although Italians from two centuries ago would undoubtedly be shocked at this transformation.

From Wolf Peach to Pizza Topping

There you have it – it’s been a long, weird history for the world’s most controversial berry. From being unfairly painted as poisonous to finding corner cases in tariff laws, confusing the Supreme Court, and shaking up the USDA – the tomato has done it all.

Tomatoes took a trip from the Americas around the world and back to the Americas before they became the king of the fake vegetables. What a fascinating (culinary) vegetable – I hope you have just a little more interest the next time a wolf peach is on your plate!

This article was originally published by manyeats.com. Read the original article here.

#Biology

[spirulinachikki]

Spirulina: Nutrition Facts & Health Benefits

Spirulina is a microalgae that has been consumed for centuries due to its high nutritional value and supposed health benefits. Today, popular lifestyle personalities endorse Spirulina as a secret, potent "superfood," and a "miracle from the sea."

"Spirulina" sounds so much better than "pond scum," but that's what the popular supplement really is — a type of blue-green algae that grows naturally in oceans and salty lakes in subtropical climates. The Aztecs harvested Spirulina from Lake Texcoco in central Mexico, and it is still harvested from Lake Chad in west-central Africa and turned into dry cakes.

Spirulina was once classified as a plant because of "its richness in plant pigments as well as its ability of photosynthesis," according to a study published in the journal Cardiovascular Therapeutics. New understanding of its genetics, physiology and biochemical properties caused scientists to move it to the Bacteria kingdom and the Cyanobacteria phylum. At first it was classified in the genus Arthrospira, but later it was placed into the genus Spirulina. There are several species, but three — Spirulina platensis, Spirulina maxima and Spirulina fusiformis — are studied extensively because of their high nutritional as well as potential therapeutic values, according to the study's authors.

Spirulina grows in microscopic spirals, which tend to stick together, making it easy to harvest. It has an intense blue-green color, but a relatively mild taste. Aside from supplements, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) allows manufacturers to use Spirulina as a color additive in gum, candy and other packaged foods.

Health claims about Spirulina

Many people promote Spirulina as a treatment for a range of metabolism and heart health issues, including weight loss, diabetes and high cholesterol, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). People may also recommend Spirulina as an aid for various mental and emotional disorders, including anxiety, stress, depression and attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Spirulina is said to help a range of eclectic health problems, including premenstrual symptoms and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig's disease), according to the NIH. A combination of zinc and Spirulina may help the body clear arsenic in people whose drinking water has unusually high levels, according to the NIH.

Does Spirulina work?

The NIH says there is not enough scientific evidence to determine if Spirulina is effective in treating any health conditions. However, Spirulina is rich in nutrients, some of which aren't found in the average daily vitamin. According to the FDA, Spirulina contains significant amounts of calcium, niacin, potassium, magnesium, B vitamins and iron. It also has essential amino acids (compounds that are the building blocks of proteins). In fact, protein makes up about 60 to 70 percent of Spirulina's dry weight.

Spirulina to stop malnutrition

Given its high nutritional profile, scientists examining malnutrition have shown an interest in Spirulina. Several studies have looked at the effects of its supplementation among malnourished populations, including anemic pregnant women and children in developing countries with high poverty rates, according to a 2017 review published in the Journal of International Medical Research.

One such study, published in Maternal and Pediatric Nutrition in 2016, involved 87 malnourished and anemic children under age 5 from Gaza. Researchers gave half the children vitamin and mineral supplements and half Spirulina supplements for three months. The children who received Spirulina saw significantly more improvement in weight and height gain, ferritin and iron levels and hemoglobin volume than in children who received regular vitamin and mineral supplements. The authors noted the small size of the study and that more research is needed.

A year-long 2015 study published by Nutrition Journal that looked at the effects of Spirulina supplementation among nearly 200 malnourished HIV-positive people in Cameroon saw similarly positive results. The participants, who were primarily women, were given standard care, a balanced diet and Spirulina supplements, or standard care and a balanced diet without supplements. In the participants receiving Spirulina, immune system cells that are greatly reduced by HIV increased, as did hemoglobin levels.

In 2016, the government of the Indian state of Karnataka, in conjunction with JSW Energy, instituted a statewide program providing malnourished children with Spirulina supplements, according to India Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability Network. The JSW website reports a 46 percent reduction in malnutrition cases among young children, pregnant women, and lactating mothers, and scientific studies are underway to better understand the effects of this program.

Spirulina as an antioxidant

Antioxidants are compounds that help combat cell and DNA damage that leads to cancer, heart disease and other chronic diseases. The body makes some antioxidants, and others are found in food. Despite the presumed benefits of taking extra antioxidants, extensive research has not shown that taking antioxidant supplements lowers cancer risk, according to the National Cancer Institute. Taking antioxidant supplements likely won't help other diseases such as diabetes, according to a 2011 abstract published in the journal Current Diabetes Reviews.

Although antioxidant supplements have failed to stave off disease in studies, it may be "that the lack of benefit in clinical studies can be explained by differences in the effects of the tested antioxidants when they are consumed as purified chemicals as opposed to when they are consumed in foods, which contain complex mixtures of antioxidants, vitamins and minerals," according to the National Cancer Institute.

Since Spirulina is considered a food, it remains an open question as to whether dried Spirulina in supplements has antioxidant health benefits.

One preliminary study of Spirulina's antioxidant effects tested the supplement on 87 people in Kerala, India, who regularly chewed paan tobacco. Paan is prepared from the leaf of the betel tree and various spices, and is typically chewed after meals and ceremonies such as weddings and receptions. Paan tobacco chewers are at increased risk of an oral cancer called oral leukoplakia. Over the course of one year, 45 percent of the tobacco users who took daily Spirulina supplements saw a complete regression of lesions. Just 7 percent of people in the placebo group saw a complete regression in tumors in the same period, according to the 1995 abstract published in the journal Nutrition and Cancer.

Antioxidants may help athletes recover from exercise-induced oxidative stress that contributes to muscle fatigue – and Spirulina happens to contain several compounds shown to have antioxidant properties, including phenolic compounds, phycocyanins, tocopherols and beta-carotene, according to a 2010 study published in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. Researchers in the study investigated Spirulina's possible exercise benefits among nine male recreational runners over four weeks. They found the runners showed a greater increase in exercise performance and levels of antioxidants after taking Spirulina than they did when taking no supplements or taking a placebo. Although these preliminary findings are promising, they are too small to draw a conclusion about Spirulina's effect on exercise fatigue, according to the study's authors.

Several research studies looking into Spirulina's effects on cholesterol and triglycerides (or hypolipidemic effects) have found Spirulina to be beneficial. However, most human trials investigating these effects have been limited to studies of fewer than 100 people, and many did not have a control group of people taking a placebo.

One 2008 study tested Spirulina's lipid-lowering effects on 78 adults, ages 60 and 87. The volunteers took 8 grams of Spirulina supplements, or a placebo, a day for 16 weeks. At the end of the study, there were significant reductions in cholesterol among those who were treated, according to the abstract published in Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism.

Another study of 52 adults, ages 37 to 61, examined Spirulina's effects on people recently found to have high cholesterol. Study participants took 1 gram of Spirulina supplements a day for 12 weeks, and gave fasting blood samples at the beginning and end of the study. By the end of the experiment, average levels of triglycerides, total cholesterol and the potentially harmful LDL (low-density lipoprotein) cholesterol decreased. However, blood pressure, weight and body mass index readings did not change, according to the July 2013 paper published in the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture.

Doctors now recognize that heart disease is not just a disorder of high cholesterol and triglycerides, but also a chronic inflammatory disease, according to a July 2010 review of Spirulina's hypolipidemic effects published in the journal Cardiovascular Therapeutics. Spirulina may then help manage and prevent heart disease through antioxidant properties, however more study is needed.

Ongoing studies on Spirulina

Medical studies are currently under way to determine Spirulina's effect on viral infections, swelling, wound healing and the immune system in general, according to the NIH. Preliminary studies have not shown Spirulina to be effective at treating blepharospasm, a chronic twitching of the eyelids.

There is not enough evidence to determine if Spirulina supplements can help digestion or weight loss, nor is there enough evidence to determine whether Spirulina treats memory problems, anxiety or depression, according to the NIH. Studies have yet to prove that Spirulina has any effect on energy levels and chronic fatigue. Research has not shown whether Spirulina has a meaningful effect on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or premenstrual syndrome (PMS), according to the NIH.

Are Spirulina supplements safe?

Doctors consider Spirulina to be safe in general, especially in light of its long history as a food. But Spirulina may become contaminated with toxic metals, harmful bacteria and microcystins — toxins produced from some algae —if it is grown in unsafe conditions. Contaminated Spirulina can cause liver damage, nausea, vomiting, thirst, weakness, rapid heartbeat, shock and even death. Contaminated Spirulina may be especially dangerous for children. The NIH recommends researching the source of Spirulina in supplements to ensure they are grown in safe conditions and tested for toxins.

People with certain autoimmune conditions should avoid Spirulina supplements, according to the NIH. Since Spirulina enhances the immune system, Spirulina supplements may worsen symptoms of multiple sclerosis (MS), lupus (systemic lupus erythematosus, SLE), rheumatoid arthritis and other conditions linked to overactive immune systems. For the same reason, Spirulina may weaken the effect of immunosuppressants, which are often prescribed to treat autoimmune conditions and prevent the body from rejecting organ transplants. Spirulina may also interfere with drugs that slow blood clotting, including blood thinners such as warfarin as well as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory (NSAIDS) pain medications. Combining Spirulina with herbal supplements that slow blood clotting may increase a person's risk of bleeding. Such herbs include cloves, danshen, garlic, ginger, ginkgo, ginseng and turmeric, according to the NIH.

Women who are pregnant or breast-feeding should avoid Spirulina since there is a lack of safety studies in this group. People who have the genetic condition phenylketonuria should also avoid Spirulina, as it may aggravate their condition, according to the NIH. Since there are not enough studies to establish a safe dose range of Spirulina, it is best to consult a doctor and follow instructions on all supplements to avoid unsafe doses.