Read more about the article Horns of Plenty

Horns of Plenty

From Zeus, to the arts, to Thanksgiving the cornucopia has long represented abundance.

The horn of plenty, aka the cornucopia, is a horn filled with harvested foods. Fruits, vegetables, nuts, and even flowers are seen spilling over out of the horn as a symbol of abundance and good fortune.

Greek and Roman cornucopias
The original cornucopias were Greek and spread across the ancient world.

Greece Lightning

The cornucopia (from the Latin “cornu” for horn and “copia” for abundance) like many Roman things came from the Greeks. When the Greek god Zeus was born he was hidden away by his mother Rhea from his father Cronus in a cave on Crete. A prophecy had foretold that one of Cronus’s children would overthrow him and so, to prevent this, he turned to eating his children (in the 19th century this gave us the incredible black painting by Francisco Goya of Cronus’s infanticide & cannibalism).

While being raised in hiding Zeus was tended to by a goat name Amalthea. One day Zeus accidentally broke off one of Amalthea’s horns, a horn which then magically supplied him with an inexhaustible amount of food & drink. The horn of Amalthea was the first cornucopia.

An alternate origin story was of Heracles/Hercules fighting the river god Achelous and tearing off one of his horns. In either case the cornucopia went on to become a symbol associated with several ancient gods in different cultures (Greeks, Romans, Celts) with ties to harvest, prosperity, and abundance.

Cornucopias as a part of Thanksgiving
As symbols of abundance and prosperity cornucopias became associated with Thanksgiving.

Abundance motiff

Because of this association with harvest and abundance it became a part of Thanksgiving. By the 1870s the cornucopia was being used in Thanksgiving art representing the gift of food that the Native Americans provided to the Pilgrims at the first Thanksgiving.

Beyond Thanksgiving the cornucopia can be found around the arts. It’s frequently seen as an embellishment in classical architecture on columns and in friezes. It is also a part of several political emblems such as the coat of arms of both Colombia and Peru as well as the flag of Idaho.

Fruit of the Loom logos
Logos World has a visual history of Fruit of the Loom logos. Snopes has a long post debunking the idea that the logo ever had a cornucopia.

Fruit of the Loom

Outside of Thanksgiving perhaps the most famous use of the cornucopia is in the logo for apparel manufacturer Fruit of the Loom … or is it? While the logo contains fruits & leaves it has never, ever, included a cornucopia. Snopes has a long post debunking this misconception.

The Fruit of the Loom logo is a great example of the Mandela Effect, a psychological phenomenon where people have a collective false memory about something. It’s named for people wrongly thinking Nelson Mandela died in prison in the 1980s. There are lots of examples of the Mandela Effect around pop culture but people misremembering the Fruit of the Loom logo is a classic.

Added info: released in 1972 Black Sabbath has a song called Cornucopia. The song is about how people are easily deceived by wealth and materialism.

Black Sabbath’s Cornucopia is a warning against greed and materialism.

Read more about the article Turkey

Turkey

A native of the Americas, a staple of Thanksgiving & Christmas dinners, and a bird of some confusion.

“Turkey”

To start, turkey the bird got its name from the Turkic people. The Ottoman Empire had merchants who traded in goods from around the empire. One of these goods was a guinea fowl from Africa that became known in England as turkey hens and turkey cocks (named in part for who sold them the birds). Later when English colonists encountered the wild turkeys indigenous to North America they confused them with the birds from Africa, assumed they were the same species, and called them the same names.

The English weren’t the only people confused about the turkey’s origins. The French, Polish, Russian, and Ukrainian names for turkeys are all based on the mistaken idea that they birds are from India. The Portuguese name “peru” is because they thought the birds came from Peru.

The people of modern day Mexico however actually had turkeys and didn’t have to get them from anyone else. The Aztec god of disease & plague was Chalchiuhtotolin’s whose name meant “jade turkey”, and who could transform into a turkey. The Aztecs domesticated turkeys over 2,000 years ago and called these birds “huexólotl” (which meant “great beast” in Nahuatal). Eventually huexólotl became “guajolote” the name for the birds in Mexican Spanish today.

turkeys
Large, mostly flightless, and a bit aggressive, turkeys have long been a symbol of the Americas.

Great Beasts of Holiday Meals

There are two species of turkeys: one indigenous to central & eastern North America, and the other indigenous to the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico. The turkey of North America is the one associated with the two big meals at the end of the year.

Turkeys were probably served at the first Thanksgiving since “wild fowl” was eaten but the pilgrims never specified which local birds were on the menu. That said turkeys were plentiful at the time so it seems likely. There were an estimated 10 million turkey in North America at the time. By the 1930s turkeys had been hunted down to only about 30,000. Over time commercially raised turkeys were bred to be larger in size (which can feed more people) and came down in price, making turkeys a Thanksgiving dinner staple.

Turkeys are also popular at Christmas. In Victorian England turkeys (which had first made it to England from North America in 1526) were become increasingly popular at Christmas dinner, supplanting the goose. Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol helped increase the popularity of the bird for the holiday meal and now people on both sides of the Atlantic enjoy turkey at Christmas.

Tryptophan

Eating all that turkey makes people sleepy – or does it? Internet factoids say that tryptophan, an amino acid found in turkey meat, is what makes people sleepy after Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner. This is not true. While drowsiness is one of the side effects of tryptophan, turkey meat contains about the same amount of tryptophan as found in other meats. For example turkey has more tryptophan than chicken but less than pork chops. Soy beans have twice the tryptophan that turkey has. Nobody comments on being sleepy after eating those other foods, so why turkey?

The real reason some people become drowsy after a big holiday meal is simply because they ate a lot. Lots of carbohydrates, lots of food in general, can cause your blood sugar to spike. Then as blood sugar levels decrease you feel tired. To process all the food your body circulates more blood to the stomach, which means less blood flow to your brain making you feel less alert. Add some alcohol to all of this and it’s easy to see why people can feel sleepy after dinner.

turkeys and thanksgivings over the years
Turkeys are an iconic part of Thanksgiving.

Gobble Gobble

Internet factoids will tell you that Benjamin Franklin proposed that the turkey should be the National Bird – this is not true. In criticizing the design of the Great Seal he said its eagle looked more like a turkey. In a letter to his daughter he then went on to criticize eagles while defending the character of turkeys saying that the turkey is “… a much more respectable Bird, and withal a true original Native of America…He is besides, though a little vain & silly, a Bird of Courage.” But he never said the turkey should be the National Bird.

presidential turkey pardons over the years
Presidential turkey presentations, and later pardons, have been happening since the late 19th century.

Since the late 19th century turkey farmers have donated turkeys to the president, hoping to boast that they were the farm that supplied the White House with the bird they ate for Thanksgiving dinner. In 1923 Calvin Coolidge put a temporary stop to the practice because of the sheer number of animals being sent to the White House (this is also how the Coolidge family ended up with Rebecca, a live raccoon sent to be eaten but instead became a family pet who caused chaos in the White House).

John F. Kennedy was the first president to “pardon” a turkey in 1963, sparing it from being killed for dinner and instead sent to a farm. Ronald Reagan was the first to use the word “pardon” in regards to a turkey in 1987, but he did so as he deflected questions about pardoning his aides involved in Iran-Contra. George H.W. Bush however is the president who started the annual Thanksgiving tradition of pardoning turkeys in 1989.

Read more about the article Ouija Boards

Ouija Boards

The spooky talking board born out of spiritualism and a desire to be reunited with lost loved ones.

Ouija boards are a form of talking board (aka “witch board” aka “swami board”) – flat boards designed to allow dead spirits to communicate with the living. They have letters, numbers, and a few words printed on them which a spirit may point to by guiding people’s hands.

These boards were created during the 19th century spiritualism movement, a movement partially started by P.T. Barnum (if that’s any indication as to its amusing but largely fraudulent nature). The Fox sisters kickstarted the movement in 1848 when they claimed to have made contact with the spirit of a dead local peddler in upstate New York. Later they admitted their spiritual powers were a hoax, but only after they had profited from touring the country with the financial backing of Barnum.

The American Civil War killed hundreds of thousands of people leaving many relatives both emotionally distraught and wanting to speak to their lost loved ones one last time. This new spiritualism industry was happy to step in and connect the living to the dead. Spiritualism produced untold number of psychic mediums who claimed to have the ability to communicate through various means with the dead.

The simplest method of communication was a seance, where the medium would enter a trance-like state and speak for the spirits. Another method of communication was table turning / table tapping. With people seated around a table the table would move or jump up as letters of the alphabet were called out. Automatic writing was a method where a medium could hold a pen or pencil and in a trance write what a spirit was communicating to them. A variation of this used a planchette (French for “little plank”), a small flat pointer with a pencil attached to the front. The planchette would move as a spirit supposedly guided a person’s hand, writing or drawing a message. Automatic writing gave way to talking boards which used the planchette but instead of relying on an attached pencil (which often produced messy scribbles), talking boards had the planchette move & point to characters already printed on the board.

ouija board images through the years
From the late 19th century to today, the Ouija board has been a part of pop culture.

Good fortune

Talking boards got their start in 1880s spiritualists camps in Ohio and quickly became popular around the country. They were simple to make and easy to use. Talking boards were also faster in delivering a message than waiting for a table to move while reading out the alphabet. With no training you could use a talking board with others or on your own – no professional spiritual medium needed.

In 1886 the first company to produce a talking board resembling what the Ouija board would become was the W. S. Reed Toy Company of Massachusetts. A few years later in 1890 a small group of Baltimore business men took out a patent for their own version of the board which they called Ouija. Contrary to the internet factoid the board is not named for the French and German words for “yes” (“oui” and “ja”). The story is that the board named itself during a seance with psychic medium Miss Peters, sister-in-law of the board’s patent holder Elijah Bond. They claimed that “ouija” was an ancient Egyptian word meaning “good luck” – which it isn’t.

In 1891 Ouija became mass produced and heavily marketed by the Kennard Novelty Company. By 1892 they had 7 factories making boards. In subsequent years the company leadership changed, the company name changed, law suits were filed. Previous company managers would sometimes go off and produce Ouija knock-offs such as Volo boards and Oriole Talking Boards. Competitors also produced their own talking boards such as The Wireless Messenger and the Ido Psycho Ideo Graph. After the accidental death of Ouija producer William Fuld in 1927 his children produced a variety of Ouija versions including the Electric Mystifying Oracle.

various talking boards
The Ouija board is but one of many talking board designs. The Museum of Talking Boards has a great collection of designs from over the years.

Ouija board, will you work for me

So whether it’s an Ouija board or some other talking board, how do they work? Sadly it is not paranormal, but curiously normal. The ideomotor phenomenon is when a person is making movements unconsciously. This effect is also present in dowsing rods, scam contraband detection kits (such as the ADE 651), psychic pendulums, etc.

In the case of the Ouija board the planchette travels the board by subtle unconscious movements of people’s hands while touching it. The more people touching the planchette the more deniability that you moved it at all, and when everyone thinks they haven’t moved it, it’s easy to think the paranormal is involved.

Today

The Ouija board’s popularity seems to rise from the dead during times of turmoil. While its origins are in post Civil War Spiritualism, it has risen in popularity during WWI, Prohibition, the Great Depression, and the Vietnam War. Ouiji boards have become a part of pop culture, seen across tv and film. Oujia boards continue to live on and today are manufactured by Hasbro.

You can learn more about Ouija boards, and talking boards of all sorts, at the Witchboard Museum with locations in Salem and Baltimore (birthplace of the Ouija board).

the Witchboard Museum in Baltimore Maryland
The Witchboard Museum in Baltimore, Maryland.
a variety of early Ouiji boards
The Witchboard Museum in Baltimore has a variety of early Ouiji boards as well as some knockoffs such as the Oriole.
Fun mystical knockoffs
There are also lots of fun mystical other talking boards.

Added info: the Baltimore house where the seance took place when the Ouija board supposedly named itself now has a 7-11 on the ground floor. The store has a plaque commemorating the Ouija board which you can see just as you enter on the right behind the donut case.

Morrisey sings about hoping a Ouija board can help solve some of his problems.
Read more about the article Vampire Hunting Kits

Vampire Hunting Kits

They’re all fake. Fun, but fake.

A vampire hunting kit is a collection of objects, typically housed in wooden box, that would have been used to defend against or kill vampires. They contain many of the defense methods from folklore: holy water, a crucifix, a rosary, wooden stakes, garlic, etc. Vampire kits are frequently said to come from 18th or 19th century Europe and are described as antique collectors items. They’re impressive works of art but as vampire hunting kits they are all fake – all of them.

Fun but fake

There is no evidence these kits existed earlier than the second half of the 20th century. While objects in the kits may be centuries old (an old prayer book, an old crucifix, maybe the box itself), the kits as a whole are recently assembled creations.

The proliferation of vampire movies during the 20th century has certainly led to the creation of these kits. Jonathan Ferguson is the most commonly cited source for research into these kits. Ferguson points to Hammer Films vampire movies (such as 1973’s The Satanic Rites of Dracula) and especially the 1985 movie Fright Night as influences on vampire hunting kit creation.

movie influences of vampire hunting kits
Vampire movies have influenced the creation of vampire hunting kits.

Antique-ish

These kits are innocent fun until someone thinks they are buying an actual antique vampire hunting kit. Auction houses and retailers tend to be very cautious on how they described these kit, walking a fine line between trying to sell a kit but also not stating the kits are authentic.

In 2022 Hansons Auctioneers sold a “mysterious vampire-slaying kit” for £13,000. In 2023 Material Culture had numerous vampire hunting kits & tools for sale at auction, with an “Antique British (London) Vampire Slayer Kit” selling for $2,500.

vampire hunting kits
Vampire hunting kits frequently contain legitimately old objects, but the kits as a whole were assembled in the later part of the 20th century.

The Mercer Museum in Pennsylvania had a kit donated to them in the 1980s. Among other things it contains silver bullets (which turns out are actually pewter), a concept more associated with werewolves than vampires. The inclusion of silver bullets in a vampire hunting kit (and a gun for that matter) seems odd but makes sense when you realize silver bullets appear in the vampire movie Satanic Rites of Dracula. It’s a detail that points to the recent creation of the kit, debunking any idea that it’s a centuries old antique.

The Vampa Museum, also in Pennsylvania, has a large collection of vampire hunting kits. Their “The Art of the Kill” exhibit features dozens of kits with hundreds of vampire killing items. The museum carefully talks about belief, tradition, and art but avoids explicitly claiming these are real kits created by people thinking they were fighting against vampires.

inside the Vampa Museum
Just a small part of the Vampa Museum’s collection.
a note from Van Helsing on the use of the kit
You can buy a kit or have fun making your own. Find an old box, sharpen a chair leg, add some garlic, get creative.

Low “Stakes”

Ultimately the lack of authenticity shouldn’t detract from the fun. If you go into buying a kit with the knowledge that you aren’t buying a real vampire hunting kit then have fun. Maybe instead of paying for a kit you build your own. You can have fun creating a kit while potentially protecting yourself from the powers of darkness.

Jonathan Ferguson discusses vampire hunting kits and authenticity.
Read more about the article Mini Golf

Mini Golf

Like regular golf, miniature golf began in Scotland.

Mini golf, like regular modern golf, was created in Scotland. The Old Course at St Andrews was in use as a golf course as early as the 15th century and is considered the oldest course in the world. It’s also where miniature golf began.

In the Victorian era golf was becoming increasingly popular but women weren’t allowed to play – swinging a club above one’s head was thought to be unladylike. The caddies of St Andrews had a small putting area where they would play in their free time. Women began to play there as well, which led to tension between the caddies and the women and so a separate space was created for women to play.

St Andrews ladies course
The St Andrews Ladies’ Putting Green, aka “the Himalayas” was created in 1867.

The Ladies’ Putting Green, a miniature links course with hills and hazards, was created in 1867 at St Andrews. Nicknamed “the Himalayas” it became the first miniature golf course in the world (which is still open today for all genders to play on).

Thistle Dhu course
“Thistle Dhu” on the estate of James Barber was closer to what we think of as mini golf.

Thistle Dhu

The Himalayas at St Andrews is like a regular golf course: one large green space with taller grass separating each hole. The first course with distinct boundaries between isolated holes, more like how we see mini golf today, was James Barber’s home course “Thistle Dhu” in Pinehurst, NC. Built in 1919 his course had 18 holes, each could supposedly be made in one shot, with simple obstacles, brick lined putting greens, and was played on drained sand instead of grass.

Despite Thistle Dhu being a private course word got out as newspapers reported on it and guests of Barber’s would tell others. Today the Pinehurst Resort has a putting course called Thistle Dhu, named in honor of Barber’s course (but it’s not the same course).

Tom Thumb golf
Tom Thumb Golf was the first public mini golf course, which quickly spread around America.

Tom Thumb

The first mini golf course that we would absolutely recognize as mini golf was Tom Thumb Golf. Created by Garnet Carter in 1926 on the top of Lookout Mountain in Georgia, the course was created as Carter was developing 700 acres. During the construction of a full golf course he created the Tom Thumb course supposedly to entertain children of his Fairyland Inn hotel guests and/or to give regular golfers something to do until the full course was ready.

Carter’s Tom Thumb course was significant because, unlike previous miniature courses, it was open to the public (not a part of someone’s home or a private club) and it was over-the-top whimsical. It extended his Fairyland Inn hotel theme with character statues, hollow logs, obstacles, etc. The course also used fake grass made from recycled cottonseed hulls processed with green paint.

Windmills, ramps, tunnels

The early 20th century was a boom time for mini golf. Tom Thumb Golf was patented in 1928 and franchised across America. By 1930 the Fairyland Manufacturing Corporation had franchised 3,000 Tom Thumb courses. Between Carter and his competitors an estimated 25,000 mini golf courses were created. Mini golf could be found on roadsides and rooftops, indoors and outdoors – anywhere that could support 18 holes of novelty golf.

Wanamaker’s department store sold a line of “Tom Thumb fashions” for mini golf. Movie studios feared the popularity of mini golf would hurt ticket sales and so they added clauses to actors’ contracts that forbid them from playing or being seen on mini golf courses. That said actress (and founding member of United Artists) Mary Pickford had her own Art Deco style public mini golf course, the Wilshire Links, built in 1930.

Mary Pickford putting
Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks at the opening of her mini golf course the Wilshire Links, in 1930.

Like most fads mini golf boomed and faded. By the 1930s the popularity of mini golf began to diminish as people moved on to other fads. Civic legislative restrictions also limited the game’s presence. But mini golf never fully went away. It stayed alive because it was an inexpensive family friendly activity that everyone (including women, children, people of color) could participate in (unlike regular golf).

After WWII mini golf became popular once again. Like tiki culture there is a kitsch fun to mini golf. Putt-Putt golf courses was founded in 1954 as a more serious par-2 chain of “no-frills, all-skills” courses. Around the same time Ralph & Al Lomma founded Lomma Enterprises which became the largest supplier of mini golf courses – courses that weren’t serious at all and featured playful obstacles.

mini golf over the years
Mini golf over the years has changed and grown but the broad appeal has remained unchanged.

Mini Golf today

Today mini golf continues to entertain around the world. There are over 38,000 registered members of the World Minigolf Sport Federation, playing competitively on courses around the world.

The Miniature Golf Capital of the World is Myrtle Beach in South Carolina. Myrtle Beach has about 1 mini golf course just about every 2 miles and features some really fun courses. Puttshack is a brand name mini golf company that offers high-tech upscale indoor mini golf in cities around the country. Atlas Obscura has a list of some especially interesting courses around the world.

The story of Tom Thumb golf.
Read more about the article Tibetan Prayer Flags

Tibetan Prayer Flags

The Tibetan Buddhist tradition of colorful flags spreading prayers & mantras on the wind.

Tibetan prayer flags are instantly recognizable rectangular cloth banners strung together horizontally along a rope. There are five colors each with their own symbolic meaning. Prayer flags/banners of various kinds have been used in Tibet since before Buddhism arrived in the 7th century. Like Buddhist bunting, the flags wave in the wind to spread blessings and good fortune.

The flags have prayers & mantras written on them as well as religious imagery. They were originally hand painted but have been stamped or printed using woodblocks or silkscreens since around the 15th century. As the flags become tattered and degrade in the wind new flags may be strung beside them, symbolizing impermanence and the cycle of life.

a grouping of flags
Flags grouped together of various designs and prayers.

Colors & Images

In the Tibetan language these horizontal prayer flags are known as Lung ta or “wind horse”. Incidentally the most common image on these flags is that of a lung ta horse but there are many design variations. Included in all of these designs are prayers and mantras.

Something that does not vary are the colors. The flags are always blue, white, red, green, yellow and always in that order. The five colors represent five elements, five wisdoms, five Buddha families, five states of mind, etc. At their most basic they symbolize:

  • Blue: the sky, space, purity, healing
  • White: air, wind, learning, knowledge
  • Red: fire, life force
  • Green: water, balance, harmony
  • Yellow: earth, groundedness, stability

All prayer flags, regardless of design or where they are flown, carry forward the tradition and the goodwill of Tibetan Buddhism.

Added info: the text on Tibetan prayer flags is typically written in Tibetan script, notable for its sharp letter forms. These letters later inspired the Klingon script on Star Trek.

Read more about the article Bloomsday

Bloomsday

James Joyce’s entire novel Ulysses takes place on one day, June 16th.

James Joyce’s 1922 novel Ulysses is a day in the life of Leopold Bloom, an advertising salesman, as he moves about Dublin on June 16th 1904. The novel tells the thoughts, actions, and encounters of Bloom as well as to a lesser extent those of Stephen Dedalus and in the last chapter Bloom’s wife Molly. June 16th has, in literary circles, become known as Bloomsday.

A linguistic labyrinth

At its most simple the story is about Leopold Bloom going about his day. He leaves the house in the morning knowing his wife will have an affair later that day. Bloom runs errands, attends a funeral, goes to the Turkish baths, has meals, gets harassed, and eventually returns home to 7 Eccles Street. Stephen Dedalus, a brooding intellectual, aspiring writer, and a returning character from Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, is the focus of the first three chapters as he starts his day and walks the beach north into town. Bloom and Dedalus cross paths a few times. Finally the last episode is that of Molly Bloom, laying in bed reflecting on her life.

Ulysses is famous both for its brilliance as well as its difficulty. That there is a cottage industry of guide books, guide websites, and scholastic critical analyses for just one book shows how complex (and challenging) Ulysses is. As Joyce said, “I’ve put in so many enigmas and puzzles that it will keep the professors busy for centuries arguing over what I meant, and that’s the only way of insuring one’s immortality”.

Joyce wrote each of the book’s 18 parts/episodes from different approaches, so when you get the hang of reading one the next is something new. There are jokes, puns, references, and linguistic tricks that keep the reader working at mental gymnastics from start to finish. This is part of what makes the book so fun and interesting, but also what can be frustrating and lead some readers to give up.

An Irish Odyssey

The structure of Ulysses is based on the Odyssey by Homer. The title of the book is the Latinised name of Odysseus. Joyce took the plot of the Odyssey, subverted it, and created something new. The 18 episodes of the Ulysses are named for characters from the Odyssey, the events and people Bloom meets in his wandering loosely resemble those of Odysseus’s journey in the Odyssey, and so on.

For example the 12th episode “Cyclops” has Bloom being verbally assaulted by a man in a pub wearing an eyepatch, where Odysseus was assaulted by an actual cyclops. The hero Odysseus traveled to return to his faithful wife Penelope, the antihero Bloom travels to return to his unfaithful wife Molly.

A sculpture of Bloom's head at the Bloomsday festivities in Philadelphia
Sculptures of Leopold Bloom and Stephen Dedalus at the Rosenbach Museum & Library, celebrating Bloomsday.

Dublin

Joyce set Ulysses in Dublin, which he did from memory as he wrote the book while living abroad. How the characters move through the city, and where they visit, are based on the actual geography of early 20th century Dublin.

Stephen visits the National Library and talks to actual librarian William Magee. Bloom buys lemon soap at Sweny’s Pharmacy, an actual pharmacy which today still resembles an early 20th century pharmacy but has become a Joycean book store (that said they still sell lemon soap). You can find maps that fans have put together of how the characters navigated Dublin and retrace their steps.

Bloomsday

The Rosenbach Museum & Library in Philadelphia has the original manuscript for Ulysses. Every Bloomsday they close off Delancey Place, set up chairs, stage readings from the book, play music, and more.

In 2025 there were over 100 events celebrating Bloomsday in Dublin. Walking tours following the routes the characters took, gatherings at different locations mentioned in the book, people dressed in Edwardian period clothing, a swim on Sandycove beach, a film festival, etc.

Bloomsday is a fun way to celebrate Ulysses, the work of James Joyce, and Dublin. It’s a day to “rejoyce”.

Added info: O Brother, Where Art Thou? is also loosely based on the Odyssey. George Clooney’s character is the Odysseus character, wandering 1930s Mississippi, trying to return to his wife. He and his fellow convicts encounter numerous obstacles on his way home such as a klansman wearing an eyepatch – the cyclops of O Brother, Where Art Thou?.

On the joy of reading Ulysses.
Read more about the article Jazz Design

Jazz Design

The nostalgic ‘90s design of unclear credit.

Introduced in 1992 by the Sweetheart Cup Company (which later became a part of the Solo Cup Company, then the Dart Container Corporation) Jazz is an iconic 1990s design pattern. It’s a thick teal sketchy zigzag with a thinner purple zigzag over top.

Jazz came about because Sweetheart needed a new design pattern for their paper products. It needed to be fun, look good even if slightly misregistered during the printing process, and being only two colors helped keep cost down. Exactly who designed Jazz is a matter of some debate.

jazz design originals
Gina Ekiss and some of the original products the Jazz design was featured on.

Gina Ekiss was a designer at Sweetheart in 1989 when the company held a contest internally to create a new pattern. Jazz was one of a few designs Ekiss submitted. While company records no longer exist to confirm that Ekiss designed the pattern she is credited by the Solo Cup Company as most likely having been the designer of the pattern.

That said Stephanie Miller also claims to have designed the Jazz pattern. While working as a designer at Imperial Bondware, Miller says she created “Brush Strokes” (her name for the Jazz design) and that the design found its way to Sweetheart where it was copied. Unfortunately for Miller she has no proof this happened.

Nineties Nostalgia

The Jazz design was a financial success. It became Sweetheart’s top-grossing design and has since become a playful nostalgic part of the ‘90s. Today it can be found on a host of bootleg products, it’s a meme format, there’s a Jazz subreddit, and more. Sadly Dart has discontinued the Jazz design but paper products with the Jazz design can still be found on eBay.

Jazz memes and bootleg merchandise
The Jazz design has found its way onto bootleg products, memes, and more.
ceramics painted with the Jazz design pattern
Ceramics painted with the Jazz design pattern.

Added info: there was something special about the purple & teal color combination in the 1990s because it is also the basis of one of the most iconic basketball jackets of the time, the Charlotte Hornets jacket by Starter.

A short video about the Jazz design.

Read more about the article Irish Harp

Irish Harp

A part of the long history of harps in Ireland, the Irish coat of arms and the Guinness logo are modeled after the same harp at Trinity College.

The harp has been a part of Irish culture & mythology for millennia. The Irish goddess/mortal woman Cana Cludhmor (aka Canola) is said to have fallen asleep to the sound of music by the sea. When she awoke she realized the music was being made by sinews attached to the ribs of a rotting whale. From this she created the first harp (… or possibly her husband did).

The Dagda, the chief god of Irish mythology, was said to own a magic oak harp named Uaithne that could fly to him when called. Playing this harp The Dagda could summon the seasons, bring peace, and more. (That said Uaithne may have been the name of his harpist and not the instrument itself.)

Henry the VIII and Elizabeth the I both admired the Irish harp while also stamping it out in Ireland.
Henry VIII and Elizabeth I both admired the Irish harp while also stamping it out in Ireland.

An instrument of politics

The coat of arms of Ireland is a gold harp set on a blue background. It’s the only country to have a musical instrument as its national symbol. The harp had been the heraldic symbol of Ireland since at least the 13th century but Henry VIII officially made the harp the symbol of the Kingdom of Ireland when he declared himself king of the land in the 16th century. Also Henry was apparently quite the musician himself, playing the harp among other instruments.

While the harp was an emblematic part of the British crown it was also a symbol of Irish resistance. In the 16th and 17th centuries harp music was enjoyed in the English royal court while simultaneously being outlawed in Ireland. The English government looked to stamp out Irish culture in order to control the people. In 1603 Queen Elizabeth I ordered harpists to be executed and their instruments destroyed. In 1652 the Act for the Settlement of Ireland was intended to subjugate and ethnically cleanse the Irish people which, among other things, again outlawed Irish harp playing.

Irish republicanism and militant groups have long used the harp as a symbol. In 1642 Owen Roe O’Neil used a gold winged harp on a field of green as his flag. The Irish forces in the Rebellion of 1798 used a similar flag. In America the Fighting 69th were a Union regiment in the American Civil War, made up up of mostly Irish immigrants, who had a flag of a sunburst and a harp. During the Irish War of Independence in the early 20th century a green flag with a simpler golden harp, along with the tricolor flag and the plough & stars flag, were used by the Irish fighting against the British.

the Trinity College Harp
The Trinity College harp, aka Brian Boru’s harp, is the oldest Irish harp in existence and the basis for many logos.

Brian Boru’s harp / Trinity College harp

The modern harp design on Ireland’s coat of arms, its coins, passports, stamps, etc. is modeled after the 14th or 15th century harp currently on display at Trinity College in Dublin. The Trinity College harp is also known as Brian Boru’s harp named for the 11th century High King of Ireland (but the harp wasn’t his as it was made hundreds of years after Boru died).

It is unknown who the harp’s original owner was but given the elaborate construction it was most likely a high status individual. Its medieval design is similar to two other harps currently in Scotland and is the oldest Irish harp in existence.

the Guinness and National harp
Both the Guinness harp and the harp used for the symbol of Ireland are based on the Trinity College harp – one faces left and the other faces right.

the Guinness logo & the Republic of Ireland

In 1862 Guinness began to use a stylized version of the Trinity College harp in their branding and made it their trademark in 1876. When Ireland became a free state in 1922 the government looked to use a stylized version of the same harp but was faced with an odd problem. While the idea of representing Ireland with a harp had existed for hundreds of years, a stylized version of the Trinity College harp was already a registered trademark of Guinness. The solution: flip it.

The Guinness harp faced to the right and so the Republic of Ireland faced theirs to the left – both are modeled after the Trinity College harp, but face opposite directions.

Added info: created in 1960, Guinness named their lager beer brand Harp and used the same harp in its logo.

You can see the Trinity College harp at the far end of the very photogenic Long Room in the Library of Trinity College.

Also the Samuel Beckett Bridge crossing the Liffy in Dublin is designed like a harp laying on its side.

the Samuel Beckett Bridge
The Samuel Beckett Bridge was designed to resemble a harp on its side.

A great crash course on the Irish harp.
Read more about the article Bog Bodies of Ireland

Bog Bodies of Ireland

Peatlands are beneficial watery environments (… with the occasional human body hidden away).

Around Ireland you find peatlands – wetlands where, over thousands of years, Sphagnum moss and other plant matter have accumulated and degraded. These areas have watery, acidic, and anaerobic conditions so the organic material within peat lands break down but never fully degrades. This long drawn out layered accumulation & compression of vegetation means peatlands are a carbon sink. Despite covering only 3% of the Earth’s surface peatlands store more carbon than all the world’s forests combined.

Peatlands and peat harvesting
Peatlands have been a source of fuel in Ireland for centuries.

Beyond the environmental benefit, peat (aka “turf” in Ireland) can be a building material as well as a fuel source. Peat has been harvested for centuries in Ireland where it is cut from the ground into long rectangular briquettes, dried (it’s 80% moisture when fresh), and then burned. A special shovel called a sleán is used when cutting by hand, but tractors and other industrial machinery can do the job faster. That said by the 1970s most people in Ireland were running their homes with coal, electric, or oil heating, no longer relying on turf.

It’s during the cutting of the turf, digging out sections of peat, that people occasionally find human bodies.

Bog bodies

Bog bodies are naturally mummified human remains found in peatlands. Because of the ground conditions the bodies are remarkably well preserved (considering their age). Tollund Man, who was found in Denmark in 1950, looks as if he is sleeping he is so well preserved (despite having died around 405–384 BCE).

Ireland has numerous bog bodies, most of whom are men having died between the Bronze Age to the Iron Age. Some examples include:

  • Cashel Man, died circa 2000 BCE Early Bronze Age, found in 2011
  • Gallagh Man, 400-200 BCE Early Iron Age, found in 1821
  • Clonycavan Man, 392-201 BCE Early Iron Age, found in 2003
  • Old Croughan Man, 362-175 BCE Early Iron Age, found in 2003
  • Ballymacombs More Woman, 343-1 BCE Early Iron Age, found in 2023
  • Baronstown West Man, 200-400 CE Early Iron Age, found in 1953

Many Irish bog bodies share another characteristic – they suffered violent deaths. Old Croghan Man was stabbed in the chest and later decapitated as well as cut in half. Clonycavan Man’s skull was split open and then disembowelled. The consistent pattern of violence & mutilation leads researchers to believe that these people were ritualistically killed as human sacrifices.

Celtic bog bodies discovered in the peatlands of Ireland
Celtic bog bodies, and some objects, discovered in the peatlands of Ireland.

Looking for clues

The ancient Celts did not keep written records so it is uncertain exactly why these bodies were placed out in the peatlands, or why they died as they did, but there are clues. From the 2nd century BCE onward cremation was the standard burial practice, so non-cremated remains of people who met violent ends is unusual and purposeful.

The next clue is where these bodies were placed. The distribution of bodies is frequently at the boundaries of territorial lands. Some of these bodies were deposited alongside objects of ritual significance (weapons, jewelry, clothing, feasting equipment, horse harnesses, food, etc).

Human sacrifice & Kingship

When an ancient Celtic man became king he was thought to symbolically marry the earth goddess, the goddess who looked after the fertility of the land. If the king was good then the land & people would flourish. Conversely if the king was bad this would also be reflected in the land & people. Famine, storms, war, poor harvests, etc. could all be signs that the king was an unjust ruler and perhaps in need of replacement.

It’s possible some of these Irish bog men were kings or perhaps rejected candidates for kingship. Several of them show no signs of manual labor (for example Old Croghan Man had manicured nails) and most were well fed. An additional clue as to their potential kingship is that several had their nipples mutilated.

In ancient Celtic society you would plead fealty to the king by sucking his nipples – Saint Patrick has a story involving this practice, as he gained passage on a boat. To remove or damage a man’s nipples would deny him kingship. Old Croghan Man was found with deep cuts under each nipple while Clonycavan Man was found with no nipples at all. Its possible decomposition played a role in both, but ritualistic mutilation is a leading theory.

Kings in the Bogs

Male Irish bog bodies seem to be kings who fortune turned against and were ritualistically sacrificed to appease a higher power. In killing a king the people hoped the goddess would be happier with the new king and improve their living conditions. As this practice seems to have gone on sporadically across thousands of years it’s unknown just how many bodies may still be hidden away in the peatlands.

Added info: Ireland has largely turned away from peat as a fuel source. Burning peat is not sustainable as it was being consumed faster than it could replenish itself. Further, the burning of peat releases the very carbon it was beneficially holding onto, contributing to greenhouse gas emissions. In 2021 the government owned company Bord na Móna ceased peat harvesting and in 2022 the selling of peat as fuel was largely outlawed.

Besides holding carbon and ritualistic burials, peatlands also hold bog butter. For thousands of years people would bury wooden containers of butter or cheese in the peatlands. Whether to hide it from thieves, age it in the ground, or to keep it fresh, peatlands act as (essentially) natural refrigerators.

Peatland and the cutting of the turf.

Some science explaining peatlands.

QI discusses Richard Harris as well as the nipples of Celtic Kings.