On April 8, a total solar eclipse was visible across a large territory of North America. During this eclipse, the Moon was 5.5 percent larger than average.
The stunning celestial spectacle brought 4 minutes and 28.13 seconds of totality, a path of semidarkness through Mexico, 15 U.S. States and Canada — where some lucky ones were able to see the moon entirely cover the sun’s disk, according to NASA.
—yes, the moon completely blocked out the sun for those few minutes, in fact during a total solar eclipse, the new moon appears almost exactly the same size as the sun, so blocking the entire sun. This rare and spectacular event, results in a beautiful totality during which the sun’s outer atmosphere, the corona is visible to the naked eye.
Photo by my brother @Alberto Sanchez, a stargazing neophyte.
But what did ancient humans think about eclipses? How did they see the darkness of the sun? What did they make of those minutes without bursts of light, when the usual flow of light illuminating the earth stopped?
Some of them viewed those celestial events as messages from the gods, a cue to end a war or leave a settlement and move far away. In ancient China an eclipse was a signal that the sun was devoured by a dragon. The Greeks were studying eclipses as far as the 5th century BCE. Thales of Miletus , a Greek philosopher one of the Seven Sages of Greece credited with saying “ Know thyself“, predicted a famous solar eclipse that occurred in May 28, 525 BCE.
Early cultures like the Mayas and the Aztecs tracked the sun’s movements to predict future events, such as astronomical cycles. On the Aztec `s Cuauhxicalli Eagle Bowl, a 24-ton basalt disc shaped stone more than 12 feet (3 meters) in diameter and 3 Feet thick (91.44 cm) , the death of the Sun God Tonatiuh during the darkness of the sun is represented in its center. You can see the original monument today in Mexico City in the National Museum of Anthropology.
The sun god’s face representing the sun darkened during an eclipse.FLORIDA MUSEUM GRAPHIC BY JAMES YOUNG, WITH IMAGES FROM EL COMMANDANT AND KEEPSCASES / WIKIMEDIA COMMONS / CC-BY-SA-3.0
Are you also in awe of nature?
(To be continued with the Spanish version of this post.)
The Angostura bitter (Amargo de Angostura) is a preparation made from Gentian and different natural ingredients used to flavour both food and drinks.
The Angostura bitters have a long and interesting history, dating back to 1817 in Angostura, a city in Venezuela known as Ciudad Bolivar since 1846. The city is located at the point where the Orinoco River – the fourth largest river in the world in terms of discharge – narrows to about 1 mile (1.6 km).
The Orinoco River
In 1817, Venezuela and Colombia were fighting against Spaniards for their independence. Simon Bolivar had set up headquarters in the Orinoco River region, from which the Spaniards could not easily oust him. He engaged the services of several thousand foreign soldiers and officers, mostly British and Irish, and established his capital at Angostura.
A Venezuelan Diplomat appointed Johann B. Siegert, a Prussian doctor experienced as a field doctor during the Napoleonic wars, to serve as the Surgeon General of the armies of Simón Bolívar. Siegert arrived in Angostura in 1819.
Bolívar accepts the Spanish flag after his 1821 victory at Carabobo (De Agostini/Getty Images) (De Agostini/Getty Images)https://www.historynet.com/simon-bolivars-british-soldiers/
The physician observed the Indigenous of the Caroni Missions using a herbal coction for fever and other medicinal purposes. It was a decoction made with over 25 plants from the abundant natural reserve of the Venezuelan lands, including fruits, aromatic seeds, roots, aromatic seeds, bark, and a host f other ingredients..
Siegert researched the potion and by 1824, he perfected it scientifically and later patented the formula for “AMARGO AROMATICO” . He used it in his medical practice as an elixir against stomach ailments caused by cholera, a disease that was plaguing the city of Angostura..
The fame of the medicine spread, and became known as “the bitter of Angostura”.
After retiring from professional practice (1858), Dr Siegert and his sons set up the firm J.G.B. Siegert & Sons to manufacture and market his “Angostura bitters”, which soon achieved worldwide notoriety. The business moved to Trinidad and Tobago in 1875.
Today, people mostly use Angostura bitter as an ingredient in cocktails, to compensate for the sweetness, and to give a bit of spice to some foods .
So what are all the ingredents? Well, we will never know it, as the Siegert family keeps the formula in strictly secret.
Antigua vista de Angostura (ahora Ciudad Bolívar) y botella de amargo de Angostura. Wikimedia CC PD
El amargo de Angostura es un preparado a base de genciana y diversos ingredientes naturales que se utiliza para aromatizar tanto alimentos como bebidas.
Los amargos de Angostura tienen una larga e interesante historia, que se remonta a 1817 en Angostura, una ciudad de Venezuela conocida como Ciudad Bolívar desde 1846. La ciudad está situada en el punto donde el río Orinoco -el cuarto río más caudaloso del mundo- se estrecha hasta aproximadamente 1 milla (1,6 km).
Un diplomático venezolano nombró a Johann B. Siegert, médico prusiano con experiencia como médico de campaña durante las guerras napoleónicas, para que sirviera como Cirujano General de los ejércitos de Simón Bolívar. Siegert llegó a Angostura en 1819.
El médico observó que los indígenas de las Misiones Caroní utilizaban una posión de hierbas para la fiebre y otros fines medicinales. Era una decocción hecha con más de 25 plantas de la abundante reserva natural de las tierras venezolanas, incluyendo frutas, semillas aromáticas, raíces, semillas aromáticas, corteza, y un sinnúmero de otros ingredientes….
Siegert investigó las hierbas y en 1824 perfeccionó la cocción científicamente y más tarde patentó la fórmula de “AMARGO AROMATICO” . Lo utilizó en su consulta médica como elixir contra las dolencias estomacales causadas por el cólera, enfermedad que asolaba la ciudad de Angostura.
La fama del medicamento se extendió, y llegó a ser conocido como “el amargo de Angostura”.
Tras retirarse de la práctica profesional (1858), el Dr. Siegert y sus hijos crearon la empresa J.G.B. Siegert & Sons para fabricar y comercializar sus “amargos de Angostura”, que pronto alcanzaron notoriedad mundial. La empresa se trasladó a Trinidad y Tobago en 1875.
Tras retirarse del ejercicio profesional (1858), el Dr. Siegert y sus hijos crearon la empresa J.G.B. Siegert & Sons para fabricar y comercializar sus “amargos de Angostura”, que pronto alcanzaron notoriedad mundial. El negocio se trasladó a Trinidad y Tobago en 1875.
Hoy en día, la gente utiliza el amargo de Angostura como ingrediente en cócteles, para compensar el dulzor, y para aromatizar algunos alimentos.
¿Qué cuales son todos los ingredientes? Bueno, nunca lo sabremos, ya que la familia Siegert mantiene la fórmula en estricto secreto.
The scarlet plant you may know as “poinsettia” hides its pre-Hispanic origins and cultural history behind that name. A history that, according to the CSIC – UNAM Universidad Autonoma de Mexico-CEIICH, also speaks of an early cultural appropriation.
The Aztecs cultivated the plant long before the arrival of Europeans in the Americas. They called it Cuetlaxóchitl , which means “flower that withers” in the Náhuatl language, and valued it as a gift from nature.
You may have read of the Aztecas only as violent warriors who practised cruel human sacrifices but they were learned, a sohpisticated civilization, accomplished herbalists and great observers of the human body. They had physicians or “tictil’ who performed surgeries with knives made of volcanic glass and sewed wounds with fibers from plants, they researched and experimented with the plants in the gardens of Montezuma. They were eager to record their experiences in their own language Nahuatl, to preserve their history before it faded from collective memory.
One of their important works is the Badianus Manuscript,, a 1552 codex (or illustrated text) discovered in the Vatican Library in 1929. Originally written in Nahuatl, it was later translated into Latin by another Aztec. The 16th-century manuscript is the earliest treatise on Mexican medicinal plants and native remedies – one of the texts that survived the Spanish destruction.
It describes the use of over 180 plants and trees in the treatment of diseases, with instructions on how to prepare specific medicines from each of the plants and trees described. Cuetlaxochitl was used extensively for medicinal treatments. Its white sap applied to women’s breasts to increase milk production. The Aztecs obtained medicines from the sap of the plant and used its leaves and flowers to make colourful dyes.
Aztec remedy for Mental Stupor.. Badianus Manuscript .
During the colonial period, Franciscan friars noticed that this plant bloomed in December, so they used it to decorate churches and nativity scenes during the Christmas procession. Thus began the tradition of using Cuetlaxóchitl to celebrate Christmas.
Cuetlaxóchitl could be called the flower of conversion, because the Europeans used it as one of many instruments of conversion (to convert the indigenous population to the Christian religion, it is an early case of cultural appropriation, when the old world imposed a new meaning on the reality of the Americas, the use of the flower today at Christmas testifies to the success of these efforts” CEIICH.
Cuetlaxóchitl becomes Poinsettia
in 1828, Joel Poinsett, the first U.S. ambassador to Mexico and a slave owner, saw the flower in a crib in southern Mexico, he sent several cuttings of the flower to friends in the United States. After being introduced to the United States, the Cuetlaxochitl became known by its most enduring name: Poinsettia, after the man who first appropriated the plant in Mexico. “Poinsett is celebrated for introducing the poinsettia to the United States, however, his legacy as a slave owner and his role in the displacement of countless Native Americans has led some people today to reject the name “Poinsettia” in favor of the plant’s Native American name, “Cuetlaxóchitl “.
You can read more about Poinsett in Mexico in this article from the Washington Post here
The next time you see this flower, don’t forget its history, and call it by its true nameCuetlaxóchit
Más allá de un nombre
La planta de color escarlata que quizá conozcas como “poinsettia” esconde tras ese nombre sus orígenes prehispánicos y su pasado cultural. Una historia que, según el CSIC – UNAM Universidad Autónoma de México-CEIICH, habla también de una temprana apropiación cultural.
Los aztecas cultivaban la planta mucho antes de la llegada de los europeos a América. La llamaban Cuetlaxóchitl, que significa “flor que se marchita” en lengua Náhuatl, y la valoraban como un regalo de la naturaleza.
Puede que hayas leído sobre los aztecas sólo que eran guerreros violentos que practicaban crueles sacrificios humanos, pero eran cultos, una civilización sohpisticada, herboristas consumados y grandes observadores del cuerpo humano. Contaban con médicos o “tictil’ que realizaban cirugías con cuchillos de vidrio volcánico y cosían heridas con fibras de plantas, e investigaban y experimentaban con las plantas de los jardines de Moctezuma. Se esmeraron en registrar sus experiencias en su propia lengua, el náhuatl, para preservar su historia antes de que se desvaneciera de la memoria colectiva.
Una de sus obras más importantes es el Manuscrito Badianus, un códice (o texto ilustrado) de 1552 descubierto en la Biblioteca del Vaticano en 1929. Escrito originalmente en náhuatl, fue traducido posteriormente al latín por otro azteca. El manuscrito del siglo XVI es el tratado más antiguo sobre plantas medicinales y remedios autóctonos mexicanos, uno de los textos que sobrevivieron a la destrucción española.
El Manuscrito describe el uso de más de 180 plantas y árboles para el tratamiento de enfermedades, con instrucciones sobre cómo preparar medicinas específicas a partir de cada una de las plantas y árboles descritos. La Cuetlaxochitl se utilizaba mucho en tratamientos medicinales. Su savia blanca se aplicaba a los pechos de las mujeres para aumentar la producción de leche en mujeres embarazadas. Los aztecas obtenían medicinas de la savia de la planta y utilizaban sus hojas y flores para fabricar tintes de vivos colores.
Durante la época colonial, los frailes franciscanos notaron que esta planta florecía en diciembre, por lo que la utilizaron para decorar iglesias y nacimientos durante la procesión navideña. Así comenzó la tradición de utilizar la Cuetlaxóchitl para celebrar la Navidad.
La Cuetlaxóchitl podría llamarse la flor de la conversión, porque los europeos la utilizaron como uno de los muchos instrumentos de conversión (para convertir a la población indígena a la religión cristiana, es un caso temprano de apropiación cultural, cuando el viejo mundo impuso un nuevo significado a la realidad de las Américas, el uso de la flor hoy en Navidad atestigua el éxito de estos esfuerzos” CEIICH.
Cuetlaxóchitl flor de cuero, flor de fuego flor de nochebuena.
La próxima vez que veas esta flor, no olvides su historia y llámala por su verdadero nombre :Cuetlaxóchit
LEARN SPANISH 