Tag: history
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March 20th – 47 Ronin
The 47 Ronin, Warriors of Ako, committed seppuku on this day, March 20. The story began in 1701, when the Lord of Ako, Asano Nagamori, attacked the Chief of Protocol, Lord Kira within the grounds of Edo Castle, for which he was ordered to commit seppuku. Asano’s lands at Ako (now part of Hyogo Prefecture)…
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The Last Samurai
While I am a big fan of the film, the last samurai, while watching it, there were a lot of parallels between history and real life, I was curious about the link and dug a little further. The Meji restoration in Japan was an interesting historical point in Japan’s history. The story of the last…
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Getting Inked? The history of Tattoos
In 1961, it officially became illegal to give someone a tattoo in New York City. But Thom deVita didn’t let this new restriction deter him from inking people. This ban existed till 1997. What is the earliest evidence of tattoos? In terms of tattoos on actual bodies, the earliest known examples were for a long…
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What is a Hamburger?
The hamburger is one of the world’s most popular foods, with nearly 50 billion served up annually in the United States alone. Although the humble beef-patty-on-a-bun is technically not much more than 100 years old, it’s part of a far greater lineage, linking American businessmen, World War II soldiers, German political refugees, medieval traders and…
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Window Tax- aka- Daylight Robbery
It was interesting to learn about the etymology of “Daylight Robbery”- it really prompted me to dig deeper. When William III was short of money, which he attempted to rectify by the introduction of the much-despised Window Tax. As the name suggests, this was a tax levied on the windows or window-like openings of a…
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How the Swiss Ruled Chocolate
I came across this exercpt from a very interseting article. You can read the article here: The Unfinished Dream Behind Amul’s Foray into the Chocolate Industry (thewire.in) Theobroma Cocoa, food of the gods, had been consumed in Latin America since the Aztec and Mayan times in liquid form, it was the making of the…
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Salary = Salt
A while ago I heard about the history of the word “Salary” being linked to Salt, and so I checked it out- Well – Being so valuable, soldiers in the Roman army were sometimes paid with salt instead of money. Their monthly allowance was called “salarium” (“sal” being the Latin word for salt). This Latin root…
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A Twist in the Tail- The history of the NeckTie
The first word that I learnt from this research – sartorialists – derived from the word Sartorial (adj) that of or relating to clothing or style or manner of dress. Textured, solid, striped, botanical, jacquard, geometric, 52 to 58 inches long, alternately withering or widening from 3112 to 5 inches, costing anywhere from three for…
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History of Christmas Tree
My son asked me about the Christmas tree and I realized – I didn’t know! So here goes – a little bit of history about the Christmas tree: Interesting fact: In 1659, the General Court of Massachusetts enacted a law making any observance of December 25 (other than a church service) a penal offense; people were fined…
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Worlds longest Flight
No- it is not from Sydney to London at 18hours. It is 64 Days, 22 Hrs, 19mins and 5 seconds. That is over two months in a Cessna 172, flying twenty four hours a day, without even landing for fuel. That’s exactly what two pilots did back in 1958 in the California and Nevada desert.…