Men and Jewelry

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Except for a wedding band or signet ring, in our culture men wearing chains or earrings was thought to be effeminate. That certainly has not been the case in the past. In fact, men have worn jewelry since the Neolithic. Then, they wore necklaces of teeth or claws, usually from an animal they themselves had hunted and killed. They were a sign of fierceness and hunting prowess.

In the Minoan times, men wore the fancy belts around their waists, just like the women. The frescoes show them wearing necklaces, armbands and earrings of precious metals and gems.

Ancient Egyptians not only wore earrings but armbands and large, heavy pectorals of gold and jewels. This fashion is clearly illustrated in the frescoes. Mummies were buried with their jewelry, not just the elite but common folk as well although the earrings might be made of bone instead of gold. Wearing silver and gold and precious gems was a sign of wealth and status. King Tutankhamun was buried with many pairs of earrings as well as other jewelry. Here’s an odd tidbit; statues of cats display earrings and jewelry has been found in the burials of sacred animals such as the Apis bulls. I find it hard to imagine the cats and dogs I’ve known putting up with earrings for a minute.

In the Renaissance, men wore heavy chains and massive rings, again as a symbol of wealth and status. (I suggest that the same is true of men today.Just look at the rappers and the hiphop stars.)

But what about earrings? A man wearing earrings has taken longer to become acceptable. I know I was startled when I saw a young man wearing diamond earrings that any woman would desire. But earrings have always been just as much a man’s adornment as a woman’s.

Pirates frequently wore earrings. Besides adorning themselves, the earrings could pay for a funeral if he died while on land. No one could accuse a pirate of effeminacy.

Jewelry has also been used as an award or prize. A new sailor had the privilege to put on a ring when he crossed the equator. European kings regularly rewarded a favorite with a piece of jewelry.

ashiI don’t wear too much jewelry – too lazy I guess – but I enjoy seeing it on other people.

Currently Reading

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This past week I read two books that could not be more different, both suggested to me by Amazon.

While I read Murder for Christmas by Francis Duncan, I kept thinking that it had a very old fashioned feel. The action takes place at a Christmas Party, at a fancy house, in the snow. The detective, Mordecai Tremaine, is a bland fellow with piece-nez.

Christmas morning, the guests are shocked to find the body of a fellow guest wearing a Santa suit. He is the guardian of a young girl. (This is where the old-fashioned nature appears; the description of the girl, and the other women in fact, is very dated.) As usual, as Tremaine investigates, he discovers everyone has secrets, from Benedict Grame’s sister (planning to elope) to the seemingly dull married couple, to Benedict himself.

Dated in some respects but the mystery holds up. Recommended.

The second book I read was Singapore Sapphire.

Harriet Gordon has moved to Singapore to live with her brother after a stint in Holloway prison for her activities as a suffragette. Her brother is a minister and the headmaster of a boys’ school. Desperate for some income, she advertises her services as a stenographer and typist. When she goes to the home of her first client, Sir Oswald Newbold, to retrieve her typewriter, she finds his body. This introduces her to Robert Curran, the Detective Inspector of the Police force. Needless to say, Harriet involves herself in the investigation. She develops a friendship with Curran, something she wishes would be more. But he is already involved with a beautiful Chinese woman.

This mystery has it all: interesting characters, an exotic and well-drawn locale, and a captivating mystery.

HighlyRecommended.

Let’s Eat or Food in different eras

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Since I like to cook, I find researching the food eaten in the different times I write about in my books fascinating. I own several Shaker cookbooks as well as one of the first written (from the late 1700s). (I also own multiple ethnic cookbooks, several Amish, a Middle Ages and Elizabethan cookbooks, and a handwritten cookbook with old recipes handed down by family from the Depression.

I do not, of course, own anything from the Bronze Age Crete mysteries. Not only have we not decoded Linear A, but archaeologists are still excavating and interpreting what they find. Although we know that the Ancient Minoans had grapes and made wine, as well as olives, and olive oil, the rest of their diet is a little mysterious. We are not even sure they ate cheese, although right now theories tend toward yes. Researching what they ate has been a challenge. I assumed they drank an herbal tea and we know they drank beer as well as wine. Since barley was grown throughout the region, it is generally thought that was part of their diet. And since almond trees grow on Crete, we can be pretty sure they ate almonds.

The diet in early America tended to be meat heavy. Farmers had poke, although the pigs were almost feral and allowed to run wild. Cattle, sheep, poultry – all of it could end up on the dinner table. They also consumed game of various types. One of the recipes I saw began ‘tie the front legs of the turtle together.’ Venison is heavily featured. I have several recipes for squirrel (without any direction for cleaning or skinning). One begins with ‘cut two squirrels into pieces’, and ends with ;young squirrels can be fried.’ All I can is say is EWW.

The old time New England cookbook has fewer meat recipes but a lot involving lobsters, oysters, clams and so on. As one would expect.

What surprised me about the Medieval and Elizabethan cookbooks was the amount of spice and sugar used. These must have been food for the wealthy while the poorer folk ate cabbage.

Probably my favorites among these old cookbooks, though, are the Shaker ones. The Shaker Sisters cooked for a crowd so everything is in large amounts. They were famous for their foods, their cider, their seeds. They probably ate the best of anyone.

But what I like is those cookbooks contain extensive baking chapters. All kinds of bread, cakes, cookies and pies. Their potato bread is great, although it makes many more loaves than I need. The one failure that I’ve tried is the recipe for lemon pie. The lemons are sliced thin, covered with sugar, and baked in a crust. It was unbearably sour.

The Depression recipes include such items as navy bean hash, fried bean patties, and desserts such as tomato soup cake and grape pudding. Eggs and sugar were expensive so they were kept to a minimum or left out altogether (usually with some odd substitution.)

Currently Reading

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On the recommendation of a friend from my writing group (Mally Becker of the Mavens of Mayhem), I read Murder once removed by S.C. Perkins.

The detective/protagonist is a genealogist who researches family histories. She is researching the family history of Gus Halloran and discovers an ancestor was murdered. Halloran wants to know who murdered his ancestor and Lucy narrows down the field to two possibilities. Halloran chooses Applewhite, the ancestor of a current state senator.

Things spiral out of control. Files and Photos are stoles from another descendent and Lucy is threatened.

The mystery turns out not to be so simple and, of course, involves property and money.

I loved this. The characters, not just Lucy but her best friends Roxanne and Serena, are fun and the information about genealogy and family relationships is fascinating.

Highly recommended.

Cold Snap

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Right now, in New York where I live, it is 27 degrees. Last night it dropped to 7 and earlier this week it was 3.

The pipes in the house didn’t freeze but the outflow from the sink did. When I filled it with hot water in preparation for washing my good knives and some of the other things that cannot go into the dishwasher, I realized that the water was not draining. At all. So now, all the dishes in the dishwasher and that were waiting for washing must be washed in the bathroom sink. What fun!

That prompted me to think of the past. No dishwashers. In fact, no electricity at all. I might have to step outside into the freezing cold to use the outhouse or to pump water. No hot showers. The house might be heated by a fireplace. How cold would that be when the temperatures are at 7?

How much water would I need to pump, and then heat, to do laundry? And where would I put it to dry, in a basically unheated house?

We got about 8 inches of snow a few days ago. By 11 a.m. the next day, the plows had cleared the roads. My husband went out with a snow blower to clear the driveway and the walk. What would 8 inches of snow have done to travel plans in the past? In the 1700s and 1800s, horses and/or sleighs would have been the option.

This doesn’t even touch on the rapid communication we enjoy. If I want my husband to pick up something from the store, all I have to do is text him. Yes, we really have many amenities now. I am glad I don’t live in early America, the time of Will Rees.

Currently Reading

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I’ve been a fan of Elaine Viets since she wrote the Dead End jobs mysteries. (Very funny if you haven’t yet read any.) A few years ago, she turned to a new series. Angela Richman is a Death Scene investigator which is fascinating to read about in itself. A Star is Dead is the third in the series.

Angela becomes involved in the death of a famous, but now older movie star, Jessica Gray. She has transitioned to a stand up comic. As the last bit, she has three homeless women come on the stage and strip, humiliating them, while delighting most of her audience.

Jessica is suffering a severe respiratory disease and during a coughing fit, seizes and dies. Murder of course. And Angela’s good friend Mario, hair stylist extraordinaire, is arrested for the crime. Angela is determined to prove his innocence. She is convinced that someone else, probably one of the three members of Jessica’s coterie, committed the crime.

At the same time, one of the homeless women is murdered and Angela looks into a few other crimes.

I enjoyed the mystery and did not guess who Jessica’s murderer was. My only complaint is that Angela and the police are so obtuse they don’t pick up several of the clues, clues I thought were obvious. Still, an enjoyable mystery. Recommended.

Weavers and weaving

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In prehistoric sites, remnants of string skirts have been found. Plant fibers, twisted into cords, and knotted together. Think macrame. From this simple beginning arose weaving. Every culture has some form of weaving from the simplest form of loom to the more complicated ones used by hand weavers today.

The Egyptians used a ground loom that, to my modern body, looks uncomfortable to use.

How do we know the Egyptians were weaving so long ago? Well, there are pictures inscribed next to the hieroglyphics.. And also, remnants of clothing has been found in excavations. In 1913, Sir Flinders Petrie found a pile of linen cloth about thirty miles outside of Cairo. Years later, researchers from the Victoria and Albert Museum were sorting though the pile when they came upon a remarkably well preserved dress. It was nicknamed the Tarkhan dress and the age was estimated at 5000 years. Almost fifty years later, the dress was carbon dated and discovered to be from about 3000 B.C.E. Easily from Egypt’s first dynasty, maybe even before.

In Peru, the women employed a back strap loom.

The early Scandanavians used a loom with weights tied to the bottom threads.

The Navaho, who still weave blankets and so for sale, use a simple four piece frame.

In every culture, weavers enjoyed fairly high status. Although not aristocrats, they were among the skilled craftsmen – what passed for the middle class of that time. Without weavers, there would have been no cloth.

Textiles were time-consuming to make, and thus expensive, and learning to weave takes time. In the Middle Ages, an apprenticeship took between seven to nine years. Weave

I wanted to pay homage to this valuable craft. In my Bronze Age Crete mysteries, Martis comes from a family of weavers. (Yes, even in Bronze Age Crete, the women were weavers. Loom weights were found in Akrotiri. And the Minoans, who were the sailors of this age, traded the textiles all over the Aegean.) She does not want to be a weaver, hoping for something more exciting and adventurous – like jumping over a charging bull.

In the Will Rees mysteries, he is a weaver, a traveling weaver. Since women were not supposed to work or leave home, men like Will Rees traversed the early USA with a loom in their wagon bed, weaving for the farmwives.

What saw the end of several millennia of weaving as a profession?

Well, Rees is already seeing the end of his career with the importing of calicoes and other fabrics from India. But the real end to this profession came with the Industrial Revolution and the mechanization of weaving.

Currently Reading

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The Orchid Hour by Nancy Bilyeau is a historical mystery set in the 1920s.

After the death of her husband, Zia De Luca lives a quiet life working in the public library and her in-laws store as she raises her son. But when a regular patron is murdered outside the library, Zia is questioned by the police. Shortly after, someone comes into the store to question Zia and then her father-in-law is murdered in his store. A man is arrested but Zia is positive Nettuno is not guilty.

Zia realizes that to find the answers, she will have to investigate herself. Through a connection with her cousin Salvatore, and using her maiden name to hide her identity, she goes to work for an upscale speakeasy called The Orchid Hour. Will she find the murderer of the library patron and her father-in-law before the mobsters find out who she really is?

I really enjoyed this well written historical mystery. My own complaint is that the ending is wrapped up very quickly. But the characters are fascinating and the mystery gives a very good picture of the Italians in New York in the Twenties. Recommended.

Janus

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January is named after the Roman God Janus. Unlike many of their Gods, from Jupiter (Zeus), Juno (Hera), as well as Artemis and Dionysus, Janus was not adopted from Greece. Instead, Janus appears to be of Etruscan beginnings, 

Janus is frequently depicted with two faces, one looking forward and one looking back. Janus is the god of transitions, doorways, choices and duality – opposites in fact like war and peace.

The name Janus is from a photo-IndoEuropean language that means doorway or gate.

Although Janus was not as powerful a God as Zeus or Artemis, e.g. because he oversaw transitions, he was ritually recognized at ceremonies for other Gods.

One interesting trivia tidbit is that Janus – January became the first month in the Gregorian calendar, instead of March. 

(That does explain the Biblical story of Jesus’ birth when the lambs were being delivered. That happens in the Spring, not in December and January.)

Currently Reading

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Now that the holidays are over, it is time to get back into the routine.

Over my week off, I read three books by Larry Niven and Stephen Barnes. Although classed as science fiction, they are also murder mysteries.

The first in the series is Dream Park.

Dream Park is a gamers’ paradise, a giant park with live games involving holograms, as well as actors, and puzzles. A group of gamers is just beginning the South Seas Treasure game when in the surrounding tunnels a security officer is found dead, murdered. A valuable chemical scent is missing. Alex Griffin, the head of Dream Park Security, enters the game to find the murderer. He becomes enmeshed in the group and is soon involved in the game.

The New Guinea setting, the zombies, and the myths surrounding them are absolutely captivating. I would so want to participate in such a game.

The Barsoom Project is the second in the series.

This entry begins with a bang. This game is set in an Inuit village and the gamers are menaced by a monster from the sea. Eviane shoots at the members of the Cabal, the group controlling the monster. To her surprise, instead of a flash of red signifying a kill shot, the man’s head explodes.

Eviane has been given a rifle with live ammunition and kills two men very very dead. Now, after a stint in a mental hospital, she is back in dream park to lay her demons to rest. She is participating in a Fat Ripper special. (the participants are trying so hard to stay alive that they barely eat.) Eviane hopes she will remember the events surrounding the deaths but someone is determined to prevent that. It is up to the Griffin to solve the mystery.

The third in the series is the California Voodoo Game.

The new game will be held in a damaged building left over from the big California quake. Before the game begins, Alex Griffin’s new love is discovered murdered. Not long after, it is discovered that someone is trying to throw the game. Why? What is their end goal?

Furious and grieving, Griffin enters the game as a guide, a NPC (a non-playing character) to find the truth as the gamers battle monsters and zombies rising from their graves.

This entry was a bit darker than the first two but the adventure was just as riveting.

Really, really fun.