Judging from social media and the commercials on TV, one would assume that pumpkin spice is as American as apple pie. That may be true, but not in the way you think. The spices for both apple and pumpkin pie originated in the Spice Islands, which are about as far from America as you can get.

The Maluku Islands are an archipelago in the eastern part of Indonesia, meaning they are chains and clusters of islands that are grouped fairly close together. The islands were known as the Spice Islands because nutmeg, mace, and clove are exclusively found there, the presence of which sparked colonial European trade interests. But spice trade did not begin with the Europeans.

The maritime spice trade was dominated by Indonesian sailors who established routes from southeast Asia to Sri Lanka and India by 1500 BCE. The Aksumite Empire established the Red Sea route prior to the 1st century CE. Indian and Persian traders also transported spices overland towards the Mediterranean and the Greco-Roman world via the incense route and the Silk Road. Thus, spices such as cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, pepper, nutmeg, clove, and turmeric were well known in antiquity and had found their way into the Near East well before the rise of Christianity.

During the Crusades (11^th to 15^th centuries), the Italian maritime republics monopolized the trade between Europe and Asia. The trade routes changed again in 1498 when the Portuguese successfully navigated around the Cape of Good Hope. This route, which drove world trade from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance ushered in an age of European domination in the East.

Spain was among the many countries seeking to find faster routes to the Spice Islands. Christopher Columbus wrote the Florentine astronomer, Pabolo dal Pozzo Toscanelli in 1481 about the possibility of a westward route. Toscanelli not only encouraged the plan but provided a copy of a map implying that a westward route to Asia was possible. However, it was not until 1492 that Columbus garnered support for his expedition from King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain and set off on his voyage across the Atlantic in search of gold, spices, and a safer route to the East.

On October 12, 1492, Columbus’s ships made landfall in the Americas. His landing place was in the Bahamas’s. Believing himself to be in India, he dubbed the indigenous population Los Indios (Spanish for “Indians”). From there he visited the islands now known as Cuba and Hispaniola, and established a colony in what is now Haiti. Thus, it is Christopher Columbus’s failed circumnavigation attempts that lead to America’s connection to pumpkin spice.

See popular spice blends below. Continue reading →

Did you know that Christianity’s stance on abortion has changed over time? Attitudes regarding sexuality and childbirth were markedly different in the past. Hagiographical texts even hold accounts saints performing abortions.

All the saints’ stories carry a similar theme: the abortions are carried out with the blessing of God and recorded as a miracle. If you find yourself shaking your head in incredulity, take a moment to consider that for most of human history abortion was a legal and acceptable way to end unwanted pregnancies.

The most sought-after abortifacient in antiquity was Silphium. It was used across the Mediterranean region and deemed so valuable that the City of Cyrene had its image stamped onto their coins. Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs depict the plant. Roman poetry declared the herb was worth its weight in gold. Silphium even makes an appearance in the Bible. Not only was abortion permissible in biblical times, but women could be forced to endure abortions against their will. In such cases, priests oversaw the abortions (Numbers 5:11-31) at the behest of the woman’s husband or parents. Thus, it is not surprising that a number of saints also performed abortions. Continue reading →

Ever since learning to walk upright, man has stared at the horizon, watching the sun rise and set.  Early attempts at tracking time often tried reconciling solar and lunar movements as each marched across the sky. Some attempts were more successfully than others, resulting in the formation of calendars.

Sun’s Position on Horizon

One of the best-known calendars attributed to the Celts is the Coligny calendar, whose name derives from the location where it was discovered—Coligny, France. The calendar is of Gaulish origin and dates to the 2^nd century. Despite being in fragments, the calendar has been reconstructed with confidence due to its regular composition, which lays out a five-year cycle of 62 months.

Each Celtic year contains twelve lunar months, divided into just two seasons, summer and winter. Each month is further divided into two fortnights, the first always containing 15 days, the second containing either 14 or 15 days depending on the length of the month.

The calendar is further adjusted with an intercalary month every 2.5 years, so the lunar cycle of the months also aligns with the solar year. Unlike the Gregorian calendar, which resets in the winter, the Coligny calendar begins and ends in the spring. Continue reading →

Writers need all kinds of tools to craft believable stories. One of my favorite facets of research for my books was learning about period cooking. To that end, I even purchased a cookbook written by archeologists who reconstructed recipes based off the remnants of food found near cooking fires.

Everyone loves sweets and the ancient Gauls (Celts) were no exception. Deep in the middle of book 3, Klara makes sticky buns to celebrate Imbolg, a Celtic holyday. Both Imbolg and National Sticky Bun Day occur in February.

Coincidence? Probably.

However, in honor of National Sticky Bun Day, I’ve produced a recipe for sticky buns adapted from a stone age recipe in found in “A Culinary Journey Through Time.” The original recipe “Barley Balls with Wild Fruit and Berries” appears on page 95. Continue reading →

As early as the neolithic era, humans sought ways to mark the passage of time and predict celestial events. Their methods, no matter how carefully thought-out, were often thwarted by the very solar and lunar cycles they wished to track. When seasonal drift occurred and the months no longer aligned with the weather, people simply adjusted the calendar or adopted an entirely new one.

Seasonal Drift: a gradual misalignment of seasons and calendar dates, owing to the calendar not accurately capturing the length of the solar year.

An example of this occurred in 1582. Pope Gregory XIII instituted the new Gregorian calendar to correct an error in the Julian calendar that was causing Easter celebration to occur at the wrong time. As a result, 10 days were skipped so that Thursday, October 4^th was followed by Friday, October 15^th.

The world is filled with calendars: Chinese calendar, Hebrew calendar, Iranian calendar, and Buddhist calendar, to name a few. There’s an even longer list obsolete calendars, some of which include, Attic calendar, Old Icelandic calendar, and the Coligny calendar. When calendars no longer serve their purpose, they are abandoned. In its place, something new is adopted. The modern pagan movement is not immune to this pressure. Continue reading →

The month of July is often referred to as the month of the Thunder Moon. Celts venerated all natural phenomena, so it’s not surprising that they had a thunder god. Taranis, whose name literally means thunderer, is that god.

While there are only seven inscriptions specifically to Taranis, they are spread across a surprisingly large area, including: Britian, France, Germany, and Yugoslavia. However, there are plenty of monuments dedicated to a sky deity scattered throughout Gaul that depict both the sun-wheel and thunderbolts. Taken together, this indicates that Taranis’s cult was both widespread and well known.

Given the sun-wheel and thunderbolt’s repeated linkages, and owing to Taranis’s later conflation with Jupiter, it’s possible that he had power over all celestial activities, including snow, wind, and rain. This time of year, summer storms blow in, lighting up the heavens and showering us with rain. In agricultural areas and places suffering from wildfires, these storms often have a cleansing effect, knocking smoke and dust from the sky. If you, like the smoky skies, could use a little cleansing and clarity, call on Taranis. Continue reading →

The Ostara Sabbat marks the end of the dark half of the year. In the Anglo-Saxon calendar, Eostremonath was named after Eostre (Ostara in Old High German). Eostre is maiden goddess of dawn and the spring. At the equinox a feast is celebrated in her honor, replete with offerings of colored eggs. Exchanging eggs was thought to ensure abundant crops in the coming autumn and Saxons exchanged colored eggs as a talisman representing new life. The eggs were consumed in Eostre’s honor.

A favorite way to celebrate the holiday is by dying eggs. If you feel adventurous, skip the dye kits available at the grocery store and use vegetable dyes. It’s a fun way to connect with our ancestors and lets kids of all ages feel like a potion master in their own kitchen!

Continue reading →