During the Han Dynasty in China, which occurred between 206 B.C. – 220 A.D., residents lit firecrackers and hung red banners to scare away the mythical beast Nian (pronounced “nee-awn”) whilst feasting and honoring the ancestors in an effort to mark renewal of life and good fortune. In the Egyptian New Kingdom, which occurred between 1550 B.C. – 1070 B.C., temples placed statues of gods in direct sunlight during Wepet Renpet (pronounced “weh-pet ren-pet”), which was considered the Opening of the Year, tied to the star system of Sirius and the annual flooding of the Nile River which symbolized rebirth and prosperity, with moonlight, starlight, and sunlight all treated as divine energy. In the Neo‑Babylonian Period which occurred between 626 B.C. – 539 B.C., the Akitu (pronounced “ah-key-too”) festival renewed cosmic order and the kingship of monarchs with grand spectacles of parades with deities, solemn ritualistic purification rites, and vows resembling the modern day tradition of New Year’s resolutions. In Ancient Rome after the Julian Reform in 46 B.C., January 1st was a time to exchange gifts and feast, recognized as New Year’s Day, in honor of Janus (pronounced “yah-noose”), the Roman god of beginnings, whose dual faces gazed both backward and forward simultaneously which embodied transition. Finally, amongst the Celtic Druids of the Iron Age which occurred from 800 B.C. – 100 A.D., solstice fires and feasts were held to celebrate the rebirth of the sun, with Samhain (pronounced “sow-in”) marking the threshold between harvest and winter and when it was believed that the spirit world and natural world were capable of overlapping and bleeding into eachother
Tag: statue
Super Mario’s Super Human Jumping Capabilty
The Nintendo mascot Mario has a vertical jumping range of 11’5” within his own world which equates to 27’ upon Earth as Earth has a different gravitational pull than that of Mario’s world. Mario is capable of leaping 2.25x his own body height however his exact agreed upon height when converted to a real world measurement is unclear. Statues erected of Mario tend to be 4’10” – 5’1” in length and Nintendo has stated that Mario’s official height is in fact 5’1” however different video games portray Mario with a varying degree of physical characteristics (e.g. height, weight, speed etc.). Mario falls back down to the ground within 0.3 seconds of his take off which means that the gravitational pull of his fictional world is 8x stronger than the gravitational pull of Earth. If this world were physically real, Mario would need to have legs powerful enough to allow him to jump at a speed of 22.2 meters per second, an incredible feat of physical prowess as the average person standing upon the Earth is only able to jump at a rate of 2.24 meters per second, resulting in an almost 10x difference in terms of Mario’s physical capabilities to that of a typical human being
The Annual Hindu Rain Festival of Ambubachi Mela
For 3 days each June, typically always starting upon June 22 and ending upon June 26, but fluctuating due to various influences, the Hindu festival of Ambubachi Mela is observed. Sadhu’s, that is, holy men of the Hindu faith, and pilgrims from all over India gather at the Kamakhya Temple (pronounced “kah-mah-kee-yah”) in Guwahati, India, a site located upon a hill near the Brahmaputra River, to pray for rain. It is believed by Hindus that the presiding goddess of the temple, Devi Kamakhya, who is the Mother Shakti, goes through her annual cycle of menstruation during this festival. The Kamakhya Temple becomes closed for 3 days during the mela as it is believed by Hindus that the Earth, commonly associated as Mother Earth, becomes unclean for 3 days and therefore should be secluded in the same format that some traditionally practicing Hindu women seclude themselves during their own menstrual cycles. During these 3 days, some restrictions are observed by the Hindu devotees (e.g. cessation of cooking, cessation of performing worship which is referred to as “puja”, cessation of reading holy books, cessation of farming etc.). After 3 days, Devi Kamakhya is bathed by cleaning the statue which represents her with red pigment flowing from her vaginal canal, alongside other rituals which are carried out to ensure that the devi retrieves purity. The doors of the Kamakhya Temple are reopened on the 4th day and devotees are permitted to enter Kamakhya Temple to worship Devi Kamakhya. The devotion of these pilgrims is believed to bring rain and fertility back to the Earth
The First Mass Produced Items of the Ancient World
The first mass produced pieces of artwork were the ancient Egyptians shabtis which were essentially miniature mummies that the ancient Egyptians believed had magical powers and were therefore buried with the dead. Shabtis were comprised of Egyptian faience which is a type of glass ceramic material made from sand. Egyptian faience is referred to as such in order to distinguish it from faience, which is a tin glazed pottery associated with Faenza, Italy. The idea of Egyptian faience was to replicate semiprecious stones like turquoise lapis lazuli from Afghanistan, which at the time was more expensive than gold. The recipe for Egyptian faience is 90% crushed silica, crushed fine natron salt to act as a flux, crushed limestone, and then the coloring with blue being the most popular, a color achieved through the use of pure copper oxide. Water was introduced to turn this composition from a granular mix into a dough like substance. Natron salt which is a type of baking soda, is the key ingredient to this recipe as it rises to the surface when baked and lowers the overall temperature at which sand melts and becomes glass. The statues are left to stand for 24 or more hours as this helps the salt grow on the surface through a chemical reaction process as oxygen within the ambient environment mixes with the ingredients inside the Egyptian faience
How Funding for the Completion of the Statue of Liberty Was Raised
The Statue of Liberty was assembled and shipped from France as a gift to the United States of America. Construction started in July 1884 but parts did not arrive to the U.S. until June of 1885. The Statue of Liberty arrived in pieces and had to be constructed on Bedloe’s Island, United States of America which was renamed “Liberty Island” in 1956. Joseph Pulitzer, who owned the New York Times during this period announced that anybody who donated a penny or more to the project would have their name printed in the next issue of the New York Times. Thousands of people started donating to see their name listed in Pulitzer’s paper. The donations went towards the building of the base which the statue stands upon. The base was built by U.S. workers unlike the rest of the statue which was constructed by the French. One of the main engineers of the project was Gustave Eiffel, the same person who designed and built the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France. The 7 spikes on the statue’s crown represent the 7 seas and the 7 continents