Several professions, including—but not limited to—doctors, trainers, physical therapist, dancers, and athletes are hyper aware of bones. But bones are important to everyone for simply living and functioning. So let’s show bones a little love!
Basically, a metaphor is when the meaning isn’t what the words literally say. Writers are very aware of the value of metaphors, but they are more prevalent in our everyday lives than we might think. Bones are very useful this way!
Skeleton authors are especially appreciative of bone-y metaphors
No backbone/spineless: lacking courage or willpower
Boneheaded: a stupid person, a dunce
A bone to pick with you: wanting to discuss a problem or grievance
Bone of contention: a point of disagreement, matter of dispute
Bag of bones: very thin, skinny
Bone weary: extremely tired, exhausted
Sawbones: a physician, especially a surgeon
No bones about it: to speak frankly or directly, no hesitation or evasion, to emphasize certainty
Funny bone: a point on the elbow, nerve close to the surface, which when struck produces a tingling sensation; sense of humor (as in, that joke tickles my funny bone)
Bare bones: essentials, basic elements, no details
Bone chilling: extremely cold, causing feelings of fear or terror
Boner: embarrassing mistake, an erection
And One Step Removed:
The original knuckle-dragger
Jawing: scolding, clamorous, or abusive talk
Knuckle-dragger: strong but dimwitted
Glass jaw: vulnerability physical (e.g., a boxer easily knocked out) or more metaphorical (a public figure’s vulnerability to destructive criticism)
Weak-kneed: lacking willpower, strength of character, or purpose, timid
Functional Bones
Functional can still be fancy!
Bones are absolutely essential for survival, movement, and health.
They protect internal organs from impact injury, especially the brain and heart.
Bones can also store necessary minerals when their blood levels are too high. They release these minerals when the body needs them. Examples include calcium, phosphorus, and vitamin D.
Arthritis. A painful condition where the joints wear down, causing inflammation in the joints.
Scoliosis. This is when the bones in the spine are no longer straight. Sometimes called curvature of the spine.
Cancers. Unfortunately, there are certain cancers that can form inside of your bones and impact your skeletal system.
Breaks. Bones can break — sometimes very badly. Although your bones can heal breaks on their own, people typically need medical help to help a broken bone heal properly.
Osteoporosis. Bone resorption disease characterized by thinning of bone tissue and decreased skeletal strength. It is the most common reason for broken bones among the elderly.
Healing Bones
Even bones need to rest
A broken bone can seriously hinder one’s ability to function, particularly a broken arm or leg. Fortunately, our bones can almost always heal themselves.
Bones repair themselves so quickly that you have a new skeleton about every seven years.
Arms are among the most commonly broken bones, accounting for almost half of all adults’ broken bones.
The collarbone is the most commonly broken bone among children.
Most broken bones heal on their own — blood vessels form in the area almost immediately after you break it to help the healing process begin. Within 21 days, collagen forms to harden and hold the broken pieces in place. A cast or brace only ensures the bone heals straight to avoid more problems in the future.
Fun Facts About Bones
This section is included because it is just so interesting—at least to me!
Technically, tooth enamel is bone, the strongest in the body.
A 13th rib is rare — only 0.2% to 0.5% of people are born with it. This extra rib, called a cervical rib, can cause medical issues like neck pain, so people born with this extra rib often have it removed.
More than half the bones in the body are in the hands and feet. Each hand has 27 bones, while each foot has 26. Together, that’s a combined 106 bones.
The femur, or thighbone, is the longest and strongest bone of the human skeleton.
The stapes, in the middle ear, is the smallest and lightest bone of the human skeleton.
Bones stop growing in length during puberty. Bone density and strength will change over the course of a lifetime, however.
The upper arm bone is called the humerus, which gives the “funny bone” its name. In reality, anytime you bang your elbow, it’s the ulnar nerve causing the tingling feeling.
The only bone in the human body not connected to another is the hyoid, a V-shaped bone located at the base of the tongue. It anchors the tongue and helps you speak and swallow. It’s held in place by ligaments, muscles, and cartilage
Bottom Line: There are things about bones that anyone can and everyone should appreciate.
My first experience with fortune telling bones was wishing bones: making a wish while breaking the turkey wishbone (the breast bone) with my sister, hoping for the longer piece and the wish fulfillment it would bring.
It turns out that the tradition of breaking a wishbone dates back over 2,400 years. Back then, the Etruscan people believed that chickens had all sorts of powers, including predicting the future and ensuring good fortune. The Etruscans thought that the collarbone of a chicken was sacred. After leaving it to dry in the sun, people would hold the unbroken bone and make a wish for good luck. The “wishbone tradition” originated in this early practice.
Subsequently, the people of Rome adopted the wishing tradition along with other Etruscan customs. They fought over the unbroken bones of chickens. It may be that the phrases, “I need a lucky break,” or “I never get a break,” came from the loser in the tug of collarbone contest.
The wishing bone tradition spread throughout England. When the Pilgrims arrived in the New World, they brought the custom of breaking the wishbone with them. Although there were no chickens in North America then, turkeys were abundant. European settlers transferred the custom from chickens to turkeys.
Painful Fortune Telling Bones
Some people have weather bones. I.e., they can predict changes in the weather by “feeling it” in their bones. Is this a real thing? Yes. Changes in barometric pressure and temperature can dramatically affect arthritic bones.
As many as two-thirds of people who live with chronic joint pain believe there’s a connection between their pain and changes in the weather. In a 2007 study, researchers at Tufts University found that for every 10-degree temperature drop, there was a corresponding increase in arthritis pain—i.e., the colder the weather, the greater the pain. They also reported that increasing barometric pressure increased pain, which makes sense because colder air is heavier. So, for (at least some) people, joint pain is a predictor of colder weather.
What about other methods of bone divination? I don’t have the space to discuss them all here, but manyresourcesonline provide more details and examples.
Osteomancy
Osteomancy is an ancient form of predicting the future by tossing a set of animal bones onto the ground and interpreting their positions and orientations. A set of bones for divination can be used repeatedly.
Modern practitioners of osteomancy say one should either use bones found in nature or purchase an ethically sourced set. The ideal bones for osteomancy come from animals who died of natural causes.
Scapulimancy
Deer scapula
Scapulimancy is divination using scapulae (shoulder blades). It is/was most widely practiced in China as oracle bones, but has also been independently developed in other areas, including the West.
Generally, people used scapulimancy in predicting future weather events and personal health status. Some religious practices also required fortune telling through bones.
Historically, scapulimancy has taken two major forms. In the first, practitioners simply examined the scapula of a slaughtered animal. This form was widespread in Europe, Northern Africa, and the Near East.
The second form involves the heating or burning of the bone and interpretation of the results. People practiced this form in East Asia and North America.
Rituals surrounding the reading of scapulae varied widely, and I don’t have the space to go into many details here. Suffice it to say the practice is ancient.
Scapulimancy in East Asia
Mongolians were one of the earliest peoples to use scapulimancy, according to archaeological digs in Inner Mongolia dating scapulae to approximately 3322 BCE. Diviners referred to divination manuals to guide their interpretation of the animal remains, reading the color of the bones and formation of cracks.
Archaeological sites along the south coast and off-lying islands of the Korean peninsula show that people used deer and pig scapulae in divination during the Korean Protohistoric Period, c. 300 BCE – 300/400 CE.
Archeological discoveries in China have yielded many specimens from a period spanned from 1250 to 1046 BCE. Ancient diviners likely exposed the bones (pig, sheep, cattle, and deer) to heat, deriving meaning from cracks that formed. The reading provided predictions for agricultural and health purposes.
Chapter 5 of the Kojiki, the Japanese Record of Ancient Matters, also mentions fortune telling bones. The heavenly deities used this process of scapulimancy during a consultation by lesser gods.
Scapulimancy in Europe and the Middle East
Scapulimancy is a method of divination among Greek and Serb farmers, even today. The memoirs of several warriors who fought during the Greek War of Independence include references. After feasts of roast lambs or kids, anyone who knew how to “read” a scapula would clean it of any remaining flesh and, lifting it up to the light, interpret the various shadowy bits showing on the transparent part of the bone.
Evidence of Arabic scapulimancy is sparse. A Florentine manuscript dated to the 1600s is currently the most referenced source and attributes the practice of scapulimancy in medieval Western European civilizations to the migration of traditions and ideas from the Arabic world. Historians have proposed trade across the Silk Road as a medium through which scapulimantic practices pervaded medieval European traditions from merchant trade with Arabic nomads.
Scapulimancy in South Africa
Zulu diviners in South Africa, known as izangomas, traditionally used bone reading in conjunction with other rituals involving herbal concoctions to communicate with spirits and those who have passed. The izangoma placed treated bones into the medicine, then interpreted aspects of the scapula floating above the liquid as spiritual communication. People within the community will seek out an izangoma if they would like personal questions answered or to communicate with the deceased. Witch doctors in many African communities still use scapulimancy and other bone reading rituals in a wide array of traditional healing ceremonies.
Astragalomancy
Mongolian astragali
Astragalomancy (also known as cubomancy) is a form of divination that uses dice specially marked with letters or numbers. Historically, the “dice” were usually knucklebones or other small bones of quadrupeds.
Each face of the die bears a symbol to convey meaning either to the reader or the divine powers. The diviner interprets this sequence according to certain rules – usually rules related to a religion (e.g.Tibetan Buddhism and the Mo system of cubomancy).
The practice of determining divine truth via random castings of dice or bones stretches back before recorded history. The Metropolitan Museum of Art displays bone “dice” (hakata) used by the Shona people of southern Africa for thousands of years.
Greek women playing knucklebones
Archaeologists have found marked astragali at many digs around the Mediterranean, including a site in Athens, Greece, dating to about 500 BCE. The Ancient Greeks performed astragalomancy by rolling dice and then consulting “dice oracles”, tables of divination results carved into statues or monoliths. In addition to matching the numbers on the astragali to the dice oracles, practitioners also held that certain numbers corresponded with particular divinities and would bring divine blessings.
The huayruis a dice game people play in South America at funerals. The game is traditionally played with llama bones, as they are believed to have a special power to attract the soul of the deceased. Reasons for playing this game revolve around divining the will of the recently deceased, often to communicate and receive guidance. The players of the game try to influence the results of the dice by offering prayers or pouring libations. (To me, this seems similar to blowing on dice before a roll for luck.)
Today, many people still call dice “bones”—whatever their material—because they were originally made of bone, as outlined above. If you want real bone dice, they are readily available online.
When everything rides on the roll of the dice, it reminds me of the wishbone tradition I started with.
Bottom Line: People have used bones to predict the future since time out of mind. Should you wish to try your hand, you can still acquire the bone ‘tools’ you need.
In October, my thoughts turn to skeletons. But there is much to bones beyond Halloween decor. In this second bone blog of the month, I turn to food, eating bones to keep body and soul together.
Humans have always consumed the marrow found in the long bones of animals. (Long bones are those that are longer than they are wide. For example, animal legs.) Today, marrow is found in bone-in cuts of meat from butchers or supermarkets.
European diners in the 18th century even had a specialized implement for removing marrow from a bone: a marrow scoop (or spoon), often of silver, with a long, thin bowl. Bone marrow’s popularity as a food is now relatively limited in the western world, but it remains in use in some gourmet restaurants and is popular among food enthusiasts.
Bone marrow brings a wealth of health benefits to the table. There are two types of bone marrow: yellow and red. Yellow bone marrow is located in the hollow cavities of the long bones. It is usually found at the center, surrounded by red bone marrow. Red marrow contains more nutrients than yellow marrow. But both contain many essential nutrients that boost the immune system (zinc and vitamin A), promote heart health (Omega-3 Fatty Acids and collagen), enhance skin health (collagen), support digestive well-being (because the gelatin in bone marrow has soothing properties) and support joint health (collagen). Bone marrow can even give you an energy boost: high in vitamin content and healthy fats, it provides a steady source of energy throughout the day.
Besides the above, collagen is especially important because, (according to WebMD) it also:
Helps your blood clot
Helps replace dead skin cells
Creates a protective cover for your organs
Allows new skin cells to grow
While bone marrow offers many benefits, it’s essential to be mindful of its source. If it’s from healthy, well-raised animals, the risks are minimal. However, bone marrow from animals treated with antibiotics or hormones poses potential health risks. Always opt for high-quality, grass-fed sources to ensure the best nutritional value.
Eating Bones and Marrow Around the World
International cuisine is rife with recipes using bone marrow:
Nalli Nihari
Vietnam: the soup base for the national staple dish, phở.
Philippines: the soup bulalo, made primarily of beef stock and marrow bones, seasoned with vegetables and boiled meat. Kansi, or sinigang na bulalo, is a sour variation of bulalo flavored with jackfruit.
Indonesia: bone marrow (sumsum) is especially popular in Minangkabau cuisine. Cooks often prepare sumsum as soup or as gulai (a curry-like dish).
India and Pakistan: slow-cooked marrow is the core ingredient in the dish nallinihari.
China: pig tibia (with one or both ends of the tibia chopped off) make slow-cooked soup. Diners scoop out the marrow with chopsticks or suck it out with a drinking straw.
Hungary: tibia, chopped into 10–15 cm pieces, is a main ingredient in húsleves beef soup. Cooks cover the ends with salt to prevent the marrow from leaking from the bone while cooking. Diners often spread the marrow on toast.
Germany: thick slices of whole beef shank with bone and marrow, available in grocery stores, supermarkets, and butcher shops. Cooks use markklöβchen marrow balls in beef soups or beef in horseradish cream sauce.
Italy: ossobuco (braised veal shanks); cross-cut shanks served bone-in, with the marrow still inside the bone.
French: pot-au-feu, a traditional dish of cooked bone marrow on toasted bread, sprinkled with coarse sea salt.
Iran: lamb shanks are usually broken before cooking to allow diners to suck out and eat the marrow when the dish is served. Many South Asian and Middle Eastern cuisines have similar dishes.
Native Alaskans: the bone marrow eaten here is of caribou and moose.
Kathmandu, Nepal: a buffalo leaf tripe bag stuffed with bone marrow (Sapu Mhichā) served during special occasions. Diners eat the entire boiled, fried bag.
United States: pemmican (which I think of as the Native American version of jerky).
Bone Meal/Bonemeal
Historically, people have used bone meal as a human calcium supplement. Research has shown that calcium and lead in their ionic forms (Ca 2+ , Pb 2+) have similar atomic structures and so create a potential for accumulation of lead in bones, sometimes leading to death.
An accumulation of lead in the human body causes lead poisoning (plumbism, saturnism). Researchers believe lead poisoning is behind 0.6% of the world’s disease burden. Symptoms of lead poisoning include abdominal pain, constipation, headaches, irritability, memory problems, infertility, numbness and/or tingling in the hands and feet. In the 1970s, the EPA developed more stringent importation rules for bone meal.
Many farmers still use bone meal, and a variety of other meals, as a dietary/mineral supplement for livestock. However, the improper use of bone and meat meal products in animal nutrition can contribute to the spread of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy, commonly known in cattle as Mad Cow Disease. Proper heat control can reduce salmonella contaminants.
Bone Broth
If you research bone broth online, you will find claims such as, “Bone broth is the ultimate solution to holistic health. Learn more about the reasons why you should incorporate bone broth into your daily routine. Collagen-Rich. High Protein. No Preservatives.”
Or, “Bone Broth Protein is a nourishing, concentrated bone broth that is 3x as potent* as homemade broth and makes it easy to get healthy gut and joint support. Beauty, Joint Support, Gut Support.”
The current popularity of bone broth is sometimes attributed to celebrity and other popular online influencers.
“Bone broth is a traditional nutrient revered by different people from ancient times to the modern era as a remedy for various illnesses. This review investigates the nutritional components of bone broth…
“Through comprehensive reviews of animal and human studies, this research highlights that bone broth includes amino acids (glutamine, glycine, proline, histidine, arginine), minerals (Ca, P, K, Mg, Zn) that are beneficial…
“The benefits documented for components in bone broth support the enhancement of gut health, alleviate inflammation in the intestinal barrier, improve intestinal barrier function in health and disease states, particularly in inflammatory bowel disease, as well as enhancing nutrient absorption. Bone broth offers a nutrient-dense option for enhancing overall health and may offer an alternative to dietary supplements with claims for enhanced gut health. We aim to foster interest in and provide evidence to substantiate claims for bone broth as a potential remedy, particularly for maintaining remission in conditions like IBD [inflammatory bowel disease] and possibly functional diarrhea and to encourage further research.”
In short, it’s a great source of nutrition. But is there a down side?
Dangers of Eating Bones
According to medicinenet.com, bone broth, if not prepared with standard manufacturing protocols, may contain heavy metals and harsh chemicals that can harm the body.
Lead is a heavy metal that may settle on vegetables and plants grown on lead-contaminated soil. Cattle may graze on such contaminated vegetables or plants. Therefore, there is a danger of lead contamination in several varieties of bone broth, as well as a risk of lead poisoning. Lead build-up in the bones may leach into the bone broth.
According to some studies, bone broth may be high in glutamate, which may cause adverse effects such as anxiety, restlessness, low energy, mental exhaustion, sleeplessness, and concentration problems, although there is no scientific evidence to prove this.
Surprise! (Or maybe not.) Most gelatin is made from the byproducts of meat and leather industries, usually bones and skin. In its purest form, it’s 98 to 99% protein, tasteless and odorless. Gelatin was around as far back as the Middle Ages. Because it was hard to make, it was reserved for the wealthy.
Though making gelatin is still a complicated endeavor, modern industry has streamlined the process. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, making gelatin from cattle bones is a 20-week process: bone crushing, cooking, spinning in a centrifuge, drying, degreasing, treating with a weak hydrochloric acid solution, several water washes, treatment with a lime slurry to remove everything that isn’t collagen, more washing, filtering, neutralizing the pH, sterilizing, cooling, and hot air drying.
Who created this process anyway?
Besides candy and supplements in gummy form, gelatin stabilizes, thickens, and adds texture to a wide variety of foods.
Eating utensils: No doubt our long-ago ancestors made them, but today you can buy bone place settings (knife, fork, and two-sizes of spoons), as well as bone spoon/fork serving utensils and miscellaneous bone spoons in various shapes and sizes. Bone handle flatware is more common now.
Bone china: Unlike porcelain, which contains only minerals, bone china includes bone ash. It originated in England in the 1700s. For a long time, virtually all bone china was made there. Historians generally recognize Josiah Spode I as the one who standardized bone china production. The Spode family’s business—Spode—is still making bone china. Today, bone china is made around the world by companies such as Lennox, which has made numerous pieces for presidents since 1918.
Bottom Line: From ancient times to today, bones have nourished people, often with the aid of bone eating utensils.
In October, I think of bones. And what uses might bones have besides holding up human and animal bodies? This week’s blog is the first of my October bone series.
Archeological evidence of wind chimes dates back almost 5000 years. They were first used in Asian, Mediterranean, and Egyptian civilizations. In South East Asia, historians have found remains of wind chimes made from bone, wood, bamboo, shells, jade, and bronze in about 3000 BCE. Ancient peoples may have thought chimes warded off evil spirits. A more practical use in Indonesia was to scare birds from crops.
Wind chimes at Chandigarh
Different cultures attribute unique meanings to wind chimes:
Today, you can still buy bone wind chimes, for example, on Etsy at prices ranging from $30 to $300.
Musical Rasps (Omichicahuaztli)
Close-up of the skull resonator, femur rasp and bone implement which Castañeda & Mendoza suggest is a shoulder-blade, from the Codex Vindobonensis
The musical rasp originated in Mesoamerica. It consists of a dried, striated deer bone or human femur that is scraped by a smaller bone to produce doleful sounds for the accompaniment of funeral dirges. Musicians sometimes held them above a resonating chamber, such as a conch shell or a skull, to amplify the sound. Amazing, what people will do to make music!
Some might quibble over calling it music. According to anthropologist Walter Krickeberg, Nahuatl people may have restricted funeral ceremonies to a sung dirge and the bone music of the omichicahuaztli, which he argues does not qualify as music.
What is not in dispute is the use of these instruments prior to the Spanish invasion.
“Several commentators have noted that instruments similar to the omichicahuaztli have continued to be used in modern times amongst the indigenous peoples of NW Mexico and SW United States, such as the Tarahumara (Rarámuri), Huichol, Pima, Hopi…), in some cases as magic instruments for bringing success in hunting, in others as medicinal tools used by shamans to speed a person’s recovery from illness.”
Flutes, made of bone and ivory, represent the earliest known musical instruments, clear evidence of prehistoric music. Archaeologists have discovered several such flutes in caves in Germany, dating to the European Upper Paleolithic, products of the Aurignacian culture.
This Aurignacian flute began life as the radius bone of a vulture. Between 35,000 and 43,000 years ago, a craftsman carved five finger holes into the hollow bone, allowing people to make music.
The vulture bone flute was not alone in Hoel Fels Cave. Specifically, archaeologists have also found two flutes made of mute swan bone and one made of wooly mammoth ivory.
Flutes made of bone, horn, ivory, etc. are available today online.
Mostly made of wood today, in their most basic form, bones are sections of animal rib bones—usually sheep or cow—between 5 and 7 inches long. Players hold them between their fingers, curved sides facing each other, and knock them together with flicks of their wrists. Experts can create a vast range of percussive sounds. You may have heard bones without realizing it.
In 1949, Freeman Davis, known as “Brother Bones,” recorded a version of the Jazz Age standard “Sweet Georgia Brown,” which became famous after the Harlem Globetrotters picked it up as their theme song three years later.
The bones have their roots in traditional Irish and Scottish music, and immigrants from those countries brought them to America, where they found a home in bluegrass and other folk genres. They’re similar to other clacking percussion instruments like the spoons, the Chinese paiban, and castanets.
Fun fact: Don’t confuse playing the bones with Bones playing! Nah’Shon Lee “Bones” Hyland, a former star of the VCU basketball team, plays for the Minnesota Timberwolves!
Jawbone (Quijada, Charrasca)
The jawbone as a musical instrument originated in Africa. It’s usually the jawbone of a zebra—or donkey, horse, mule, or cow—stripped of all flesh and dried to make the teeth so loose that they rattle around in their sockets. The jawbone came to the Americas along with the slave trade and was historically used in early American minstrel shows.
But it’s more than a simple rattle — players can create other sounds by striking the jawbone with a stick or rubbing wood across its teeth. Suz Slezak demonstrates several of these techniques here. Musicians use the jawbone throughout most of Latin America, including Mexico, Peru, El Salvador, Ecuador, and Cuba.
Fun fact: Martin B. Cohen designed the vibraslap to sound exactly like actual jawbones but with sturdier materials. He patented his design in 1969.
Bone Guitar
Artist Bruce Mahalski and guitar maker David Gilberd teamed up to build a bone guitar that features about 35 skulls. Super metal, yes, but not quite bony enough. It’s still, at its heart, a guitar. As far as I know, no such instruments are available for sale!
Bottom Line: Your skeleton does more than hold up your body. Human ingenuity has led people to create bone music!
Chances are your thoughts went to food: onions as components of soups and stews, casseroles or sandwiches. (If you eat red meat, you might try a toasted English muffin with mustard, a sausage patty, and a slice of onion. It used to be a staple at Bob Evans, and they’ll still make it on request.) You might even think of creamed onions.
from Mother Earth’s Children, 1914
For a few of you, The Onion: America’s Finest News Source might come to mind. As far as I know, this is the only (non-cooking) publication named for a vegetable. It’s a print/online parallel to late night comedy shows.
But for most of us, onions are, essentially, food.
In this blog, I want to explore other aspects of onions: the health benefits of eating onions and the symbolism of onions, and miscellaneous helpful uses.
Medicine from the Onion
Medicinal onions: although we don’t usually think of them in this way, onions have numerous health benefits.
Onions Have Many Antioxidants
They contain quercetin, a powerful antioxidant with antiviral and anti-inflammatory properties. They help protect cells from oxidative stress. Onions may reduce the risk of chronic conditions like heart disease and cancer, and support immune system regulation
Onions help Regulate Blood Sugar Levels
Flavonoids in onions help stabilize glucose levels. They may improve insulin sensitivity. Onions help prevent energy crashes and spikes throughout the day. They support better metabolic control.
Onions are a great source of potassium, which aids muscle function and hydration. They contain manganese to support connective tissue and bone health. Onions also help regulate metabolism and energy production, and contribute to maintaining fluid balance in the body.
Anti-Inflammatory Properties
In general, anti-inflammatories are good things. Quercetin works as a natural anti-inflammatory agent, which may ease symptoms of arthritis by reducing joint stiffness and pain. Also, they have the potential to support urinary health by reducing inflammation. Indeed, they aid in fighting any systemic inflammatory condition.
Onions May Help With Cancer
Researchers have linked the organosulfur compounds in onions to anti-cancer effects, associated with reduced risk of colorectal, ovarian, and laryngeal cancers. Being rich in antioxidants helps protect DNA from damage. Overall, onions support detoxification processes in the body.
Onions May Reduce Risks of Alzheimer’s Disease
Quercetin may help protect brain cells from oxidative damage. Researchers have linked the quercetin in onions to a lower risk of neurodegenerative diseases. It also supports long-term memory and cognitive function. Overall, onions are an easy dietary addition to support brain longevity.
Onions Have Antibacterial Properties
A Venetian Boy Onion-Seller by Hilda Montalba
They’re rich in allicin, which has antibacterial and antifungal effects. They may help protect the colon and digestive tract from harmful microbes. Onions support overall gut balance and detoxification.
Overall, onions are a natural way to reinforce the body’s defenses. So, lots of reasons to eat onions. Raw onions retain more sulfur compounds and antioxidants before cooking, making them slightly more beneficial than cooked ones. However, both have useful health benefits.
No wonder people have used them in folk medicine as congestion, cough, and cold medicine for centuries. If you have some extra onions lying around, why not whip up an old-fashioned honey and onion cough syrup?
Onion Tears
Girl Chopping Onions by Gerrit Dou
Raw or cooked, onions typically involve slicing or chopping. Which often involves tears. If onion tears are a problem for you, you might want to watch this short video.
FYI, onion tears are chemically different from emotional tears. Indeed, your body produces a myriad of tears every day. Whether triggered by onions, allergies, intense emotion or just to keep your eyes from drying out, they’re all different. I don’t want to fall into a research rabbit hole, but you might want to explore on your own.
“Common Onion (Allium cepa) unity, macrocosm and microcosm, the ability to see the multilayeredness of reality, balance between all elements, finding comfort in the earth, emotional release, the symbolism and magic of tears, needing to defend yourself in a memorable way, connection to and protection of soldiers, oaths, treasuring the “simple” joys of life.
“Onions and garlic share much of the same mythology and folklore and totemically share similar attitudes about protection and defense.
“Onions and garlic have long been considered to bestow strength and endurance and were included in the diets of Egyptian slaves and Greek Olympians.
“The word “onion” is derived from the Latin word “unio” which means “unity” or “oneness”, and it is here that Onion’s most mystical teachings are found. The layers of onions have been referenced often in literature as a metaphor for discovering multiple facets of something or for uncovering a truth. Ancient Egyptians, who viewed the circles of the onion as a symbol for eternity, revered, perhaps even worshiped, onions.
Microscopic Onion Cells
“If the ancients discovered the Macrocosm in the onion, then, in a way, we in modern times are given our first glimpses of Microcosm in the same plant. Viewing dyed onion cells under a microscope is one of the first examples young biology students are given of the complexity of life on a microscopic level. In an almost poetic way Onion has helped many of us view yet another layer to life.
“If you choose (or are chosen) to become a student of Onion expect to learn much more than the lessons you first sought out. Onion is as multilayered spiritually as it is physically…. Onion is in equal measures earthy and mystical and students are likely to be asked to examine their lives in a very holistic manner that brings the two states into a harmonious union.”
Cromniomancy (Onion Divination)
The earliest written mention occurs in Robert Burton’s The Anatomy of Melancholy. He referred to cromniomancies as a custom of laying onions on an altar on Christmas Eve in order to divine when someone will marry.
Cromniomancy usually involves interpreting the sprouting behavior of onions, after some kind of ritual to state the topic of the divination. This often involves inscribing the onions, dedicating them on an altar or something similar. But people can also perform cromniomancy in idiosyncratic ways not involving sprouting.
Historically, people across Europe, Africa, and northern Asia have performed cromniomancy. The sphere within a sphere of the onion made it a much-revered symbol of spirituality and eternity, to the extent that the ancient Egyptians took their sacred oaths with their right hand on an onion. There are many forms of cromniomancy, from divining the weather by the thickness of the skin, to gaining inside information.
Miscellaneous Onion Uses
Cleaning and Polishing
Onion Air!
Have rusty knives lying around that you are hesitant to use? Plunge your knife into a large raw onion and this will immediately remove rust.
Dirty, grimy, grill? No problem! Chop an onion in half, and then use a fork to hold half of the onion to scrub the grill.
In fact, onions are effective for polishing most metals. Crush a raw onion and combine it with equal part water. With a cloth, dab it on the metal surface. Rub until everything is shiny and clean.
Healing and Soothing Skin
The magical onion enzymes are also effective for “removing acne.” Mix crushed onion slices with water and apply to acne. The components of the onion are harsh on zits and effectively remove them.
The calming properties of onions can help in treating minor burns. Rub an onion on top of a burn to soothe the pain.
Fix Obnoxious Odors
Is the smell of new paint keeping you up all night? Rather than purchasing expensive room freshener, place several freshly cut slices of onion in a dish with a bit of water. Leave the bowl in the newly painted room overnight, it will combat the unpleasant, and sometimes unhealthy, odors of paints and varnishes.
Overcook your rice and want to get rid of that burnt smell that seeps into every corner of your house? Place half an onion next to the stove — it’ll absorb the smell.
Around the House
Onion Skins for Easter Egg Dye
Onion skins make great dyes! It’s as simple as wrapping eggs in onion skins, tying them up in a towel to secure them, and boiling as usual. They’ll come out with a beautiful, orange tint. Red onions will create a purplish-pink dye.
Bugs hate the pungent-smelling compound allicin found in onions — making it a perfect choice for natural and organic insect repellent. And making it is simple: blend two onions and a clove of garlic with a quart of water until smooth. Use cheesecloth to filter and pour the mixture into a spray bottle. There you have it — a nature-friendly insect repellent that will keep the pesky bugs away without harming your plants.
Bottom Line: Whether food or food for thought, magical or practical, onions have something for everyone!
One brain, two brains, Three brains, or four, Five brains, six brains, Seven brains or more.
According to Merriam-Webster , brains are the central processing units (organs) whose function is to control functionalities of a living body. Who needs—or could even use—more than one brain? Certainly not humans!
But consider other animals, living other lives, needing to function differently to live and reproduce.
The current (10-09-2025) issue of The New York Review of Books had a l-o-n-g article on five (!) books about octopuses (Such Flexible Intensity of Life by Verlyn Klinkenborg). The first paragraph includes the sentence, “An octopuses’s brain is distributed throughout its soft, amorphous body: nine brainlike (sic) nerve clusters, one at the base of each arm and another at its head.” It’s a fun read about how octopuses live, why each arm needs a brain, and what several writers have to say about them.
My immediate thought was “Do other animals have more than one brain?” Read on to learn what I discovered!
Multiple Brains
For many animals, one brain simply isn’t enough for the job.
Cephalopod Brain Arrangements
Cephalopods include octopuses, squids, nautiluses, and cuttlefish.
Octopus Anatomy
These animals all possess many arms. Their central brains form a ring around their esophagus and their arms are constantly testing the environment, processing the information they gather, “thinking” for themselves.
Octopuses have nine brains. The main one is in their head. In addition, each arm can touch, control, and move independently of the others thanks to the cluster of neurons in it. This is part of what makes them so smart. They’re able to figure out puzzles, open containers, and untie knots. In total, octopuses have more than 500 million neurons, only 30% located in the central brain. The brains don’t have to communicate with one another to work, but they can stay in touch to be more effective. (For more fascinating details, check out Ze Facts’ video True Facts About The Octopus.)
Squids have three brains. The main one is used to control the body as a whole while the other two (optic lobes) are dedicated to the eyes. Squid brains resemble donuts in shape. Though there are three brains, they are relatively small compared to the size of the body. Based on research on squids, approximately 80 percent of the brainpower goes toward processing visual information.
Australian Giant Cuttlefish
Cuttlefish are cousins to octopuses and squids. With 500 million neurons dispersed throughout the body, some say they have 9 brains. Cuttlefish can count up to 5, on par with infant humans and young monkeys. They can delay gratification: hungry cuttlefish will resist mediocre treats for tastier ones delivered later, a sign of intelligence thought to be important for decision making and planning. When cuttlefish were trained to remember when and what they were fed, older cuttlefish did just as well as the young cuttlefish even though they showed other signs of aging
Insect Brain Arrangements
Scientists estimate there are more than 900,000 different types of insects. I’m concerned here with the brain arrangements of cockroaches, bumblebees, and mosquitoes.
Bumblebee brain structure
Bumblebees have three brains as well. One controls the wings, another controls the stinger, and the third manages the antennae. These brains are more focused on instinct and basic memorization than actual memories and behaviors. Compared to other insects and their sizes, bumblebee brains are rather small. However, they are able to remember flowers and areas full of pollen for future use. They can find their way to previous locations, new areas, and back home.
Mosquitoes have three brains inside their body. The first is in the head, the second in the wings, and the third in the abdomen. These brains tend to focus on working the nearest body part. Mosquitoes have a central brain that runs the whole body, one that runs the wings, and one that runs the legs and stomach. Though their brains are tiny, about 1/1000th the size, and only 100 million neurons compared to 10 billion in people, they are still rather smart. They learn to avoid certain predator habitats, and how to find food and water via smell.
Head brain of a cockroach
Cockroaches have two brains, one in the head, the other near the abdomen. This is what allows cockroaches to continue to move for a while even if they become decapitated. Though they might live for a minute, they will still die shortly after decapitation. The two brains also allow cockroaches to move fast. They are also intelligent, remembering where they left items and recognizing various objects. They can even remember faces. Though their brains are about 1/20th the size of a human’s and have about a third of the number of neurons, they have twice as many synapses. These synapses are what pass information back and forth. This allows for memory storage and keeps the brain active.
Annelid Brain Arrangements
Annelids, aka segmented worms, include more than 20,000 species, none of which you’d want to invite for dinner. Many of them, including leeches and silkworm moths, have very interesting brain configurations.
Leeches may have the most brains of any animal. A leech’s body contains 32 different segments. Each of these segments has its own brain. These brains are actually small ganglions and are responsible for their specific section. Each of these 32 different brains have about 400 neurons. Together, there are about 500 unique types of neurons in one leech. This design might help them make faster decisions, slow down the aging process, or allow them to use brains in place of nerves.
Silkworms and silkworm moths, also have quite a few brains. They have 11 distinct brain lobes; other moths and butterflies don’t have as many lobes. Additionally, most other similar insects form one brain made up of several lobes, rather than distinct lobes. The brains of silkworms are less than a tenth of the size of a human brain. However, they’ve been shown to remember and learn information rather than just relying on instincts.
Gastropod Brain Arrangements
Snails and slugs, the two types of gastropods, have very similar brain structures. However, they’re not entirely the same.
Snails have three to six brains! Originally, species had two sets of ganglia, or brains, for movement, breathing, and eating. However, in many species, the two sets fused into one and formed a nerve ring around it. In some species, especially the more primitive ones, it’s more likely to see two sets still, for a total of six brains instead of three.
Despite being fragile and simple, slugs have three brains. They are located in the esophagus and are called buccal, cerebral, and pleural. The buccal is used for feeding, the cerebral is used for movement and senses, and the pleural manages breathing and respiration. For a long time, slugs were thought to have pretty weak brains overall, especially considered to be weaker than average mammal brains. However, scientists found that slug brains work similarly to humans in some ways. They save memories and patterns in the same way the average human would.
Arachnid Brain Arrangements
Arachnids, which are not insects, by the way, have only one brain. Nevertheless, they can behave in ways that seem extra intelligent. Here, I’ll deal only with spiders as an example.
There’s a surprising amount of activity behind those eyes.
Spiders have large brains for their size, some spiders having brains that take up 80% of the body. The brain of a spider sits inside its fused head and thorax, surrounded by muscle and other tissues. The large brains are important for functions like web building or hunting. Behaviors that can be described as “cognitive,” as opposed to automatic responses, are fairly common among spiders. From orb weavers that adjust the way they build their webs based on the type of prey they are catching to ghost spiders that can learn to associate a reward with the smell of vanilla , there’s more going on in spider brains than they commonly get credit for.
Single Brains
Mammals normally have only one brain. However, exceptions can occur in dogs, monkeys, cats, and even human beings — but these are mainly due to polycephaly, a rare genetic anomaly when an animal is born with two heads. Which means two brains.
Mammals’ single brains come in a wide variety
No Brains
Scientists have not reached any consensus on whether zombies actually have brains of their own.
And there are some animals with no brains or nervous tissue of any kind.
They tend to be extremely simple animals possessing rudimentary biological characteristics sufficient for survival. Many are immobile, using sensory nerves to “find” food and avoid danger. Oddly enough, they are similar to technology (such as computers and smartphones), which also use sensors to detect light, movement, chemicals, and so on. Brainless animals operate in the same manner, allowing them to do the things they need to survive.
A Few Examples
Sponges survive on the sea floor by taking nutrients into their porous bodies. There are conflicting theories as to whether sponges have always been this way or evolved to get rid of their brains to be more energy efficient.
Sea urchins are pointy, spiky animals, you don’t want to step on while at the beach. Fortunately, outside of South Florida, sea urchins are not poisonous. They have various numbers of legs and control feeding by way of a water vascular system. That system changes the amount of pressure and water in its body, in order to move faster. (Starfish operate the same way.) Its mouth is beneath it. They expel waste from the top of their bodies. The sea urchin sits on stones, scraping and feeding on the algae that helps keep the ocean clean.
Sea urchin innards
Sea cucumbers look like worms and feed on plankton. They’re everywhere and extremely dangerous. They can release a toxic substance (holothurin), which can blind humans permanently. However, without a brain, they’re not a deliberate threat. There are more than a thousand types of sea cucumbers. Many of the species live in deep water. They feed instinctively, using tubular feet around the mouth to catch and take aquatic invertebrates, algae, and waste. These creatures exhibit asexual and sexual reproduction.
Jellyfish (sea gooseberry) anatomy
Jellyfish (or “jellies”) are a family of translucent animals, famous—perhaps infamous—for their sting. When their tentacles touch a foreign object (such as a swimmer) they release a shooting sting. That sting releases a toxin capable of neutralizing or killing most intruders, though humans usually experience only temporary misery. Jellyfish are uniquely mobile. All other brainless animals are pretty much stationary, often spending their entire lives in a single spot. However, jellyfish move with the current in oceans and bays. They also squirt water to move forward. Thus they can propel themselves toward prey, such as plankton. Their ability to move also helps them avoid predators, such as fish, turtles, and seabirds. The jellyfish functions through a network of sensory nerves.
Bottom Line: Animals have the number, size, and structure of the brains they need to live, function, and reproduce.
On the domestic front, a few years ago I visited a depression era glass museum in Lancaster, Ohio. I thought that special, but it turns out there are 232 glass museums just in the United States and Canada! And as for my other “unusual museum” experiences? They are far from unique. Torture museums: at least 25, including 4 in North America. Sex museums: at least 33 (7 of them in North America), plus 2 virtual ones. Even leprosy has 8 museums across the globe.
What Makes a Museum?
Humans have been curating and displaying interesting collections for thousands of years.
Among the displays at the Icelandic Phallological Museum are specimens from elves and trolls. However, because elves and trolls are invisible, those display cases appear empty.
In Greek mythology, the Muses were sister goddesses who inspired science, literature, and the arts. The first museums (mouseion) were shrines to these divine sources of inspiration.
In the 6th century BCE, Princess Ennigaldi of the Neo-Babylonian Empire curated a collection of Mesopotamian artifacts with origins spanning 1,500 years. The Capitoline Museums in Rome have housed Roman art and antiquities since 1471. Alongside collections of Mauritian art and history, the Blue Penny Museum in Port Louis, Mauritius, showcases the Blue Penny and Red Penny, two of the rarest and most valuable stamps in the world.
Some museums exist entirely in the cyberworld. Rock harpist Deborah Henson-Conant proudly curates an online Burnt Food Museum, showcasing her own culinary disasters. Minecraft players have created several replicas of real-world museums in online servers, making them accessible to players around the globe.
Strangest Museums
Recently, The Wall Street Journal (8-28-25) featured an article about a jellyfish museum in Kyiv, Ukraine. And that led to an online search for off-beat museums around the world. Here is a non-comprehensive list of those I found. Feel free to explore any of these:
The Baku Museum of Miniature Books began as the personal collection of Zarifa Salahova and has grown to more than 6,500 tiny tomes in the heart of Azerbaijan.
Railroads (Too many to count! So far as I can tell, Antarctica is the only continent without a railroad museum.)
And then I came across 1160 Unusual Museums in the United States – Atlas Obscura Discover 1160 unusual museums in the United States. · The Whale Museum · Karpeles Manuscript Library Mini Museum · The Lagoda · Dauer Museum of Classic Cars.
Clearly there are more weird museums that I can list here!
Bottom Line: If you’re interested in it, there’s no doubt a museum for it somewhere!
A Healthy Minds Monthly Poll reported by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) in early in 2024 found that 30% of adults said they experienced feelings of loneliness at least once a week while 10% said they felt lonely every day over the past year. Unless otherwise noted the following assertions are from this poll.
What do I mean by lonely? “Feeling like you do not have meaningful or close relationships or a sense of belonging.” This is the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)’s definition of loneliness.
Who are All These Lonely People?
They’re young. People aged 18-34 were the loneliest, with 30% saying they felt lonely every day or several times a week.
They’re single. Singles were nearly twice as likely as married adults to say they had been lonely on a weekly basis over the past year (39% vs. 22%).
Overall, 63% of men reported feelings of loneliness in this year’s survey, a ten-point increase from a year ago. For women, the increase was not as sharp; 58% of women reported loneliness this year, up from 54% a year ago.
The 2200 survey respondents ranked areas where they felt the highest sense of community and belonging:
Among their family (65%)
With friends (53%)
In their neighborhoods (20%)
At work (17%)
On social media (16%)
At the gym or fitness classes (5%)
With sports and recreational teams (4%)
In online communities and discussion forums (3%)
Responses to many options hovered toward the middle (full details available in the report).
How Do People Cope?
Respondents reported easing their loneliness many ways (selected from a list of choices provided) most notably:
Younger adults are more likely than older adults to say they use drugs or alcohol when feeling lonely.
Females are 1.5 times more likely than males to say they reach out to a friend or family member.
Is Technology a Help or a Hindrance?
Technology, when used carefully, can help alleviate loneliness. Many survey participants reported that technology…
“Helps me form new relationships” (66%)
“Helps me connect with others more frequently” (75%),
“Is beneficial for forming and maintaining relationships” (69%)
However, respondents were split on the types of relationships technology fosters, “meaningful (54%)” or “superficial (46%).”
“Clearly we believe technology can be used to connect with others. In some cases, it seems to be helping us reach people who become part of our inner circles or to communicate with those who already are. However, distracting yourself when you’re feeling lonely with social media might be a double-edged sword: while it can connect, it can also lead to feelings of missing out, and we need to make sure we remain conscious of its effects on our mood. In this tech-heavy world, we should not forget the value of in-person interaction.”
Various sources slice the pie differently, but basically support the conclusions of the APA report. According to a CNBC report of January, 2023 a survey of 10,000 adults found:
Three out of every five adults, or 61%, report that they sometimes or always feel lonely, according to the Cigna U.S. Loneliness Index. That’s up 7 percent from the previous year.
Among workers aged 18-22, 73% report sometimes or always feeling alone, up from 69% a year previously.
There is a greater feeling of loneliness among people who use social media more frequently, the study found. One reason younger people feel more isolated may be their greater tendency to use social media. The study found an increasing correlation between social media usage and feelings of loneliness. Seven out of 10 heavy social media users, 71%, reported feelings of loneliness, up from 53% a year ago. That compares to 51% of light social media users feeling lonely, up from 47% a year ago.
Lonely on the Job
At work, men appear to feel much more isolated than women. Forty percent of men reported feeling a general sense of emptiness when they’re at work, compared to 29% of women.
Another reason younger people may feel more alienated could have to do with being at the bottom rung of the employment ladder. Entry-level workers scored significantly higher on the Cigna Loneliness index than experienced workers, middle managers and executives. More than half felt there’s no one at work they can turn to.
Nearly two-thirds of workers who’d been at a job less than six months reported experiencing isolation, compared to just 40% workers who’ve been with a firm for 10 years or more.
But it is just as lonely at the top of the ladder. Fifty-six percent of senior executives reported feeling there’s no one they can talk to, with 69% saying that no one really knows them well.
Baby Boomers and workers older than 72 are the most likely to feel that they generally have people they can turn to at work and really understand them, with only 18% reported feeling alienated on the job.
Cigna researchers estimate that employees who feel socially isolated miss work as much as five times more than their connected co-workers due to stress, and are twice as likely as to think about quitting their jobs.
Health Risks of the Lonely
Social isolation and loneliness can increase risk for health and work problems:
Heart disease and stroke
Type 2 diabetes
Depression and anxiety
Suicidality and self-harm
Dementia
Earlier death
Cost of Loneliness
As with so much in the healthcare system, cost is often what triggers getting help. The hope is that by addressing some of the so-called social determinants of health that contribute to isolation among seniors, Medicare can reduce spending. To this end:
Medicare plans are offering greater flexibility to focus on the impact of social isolation on the health of older adults.
Researchers from AARP and Stanford University found that the government spends more than $6.7 billion annually on additional medical costs for Medicare recipients who lack social contact.
Cigna is advising companies to do greater outreach about mental health counseling to help workers deal with stress.
Cigna also offers expanded virtual mental health services to make accessing care more convenient and attractive for younger workers.
Employers should also look for ways to promote greater in-person communication among workers, including programs that foster more connections like affinity groups and volunteer activities.
The Cigna study found that people who get more time interacting face to face with others at work feel less lonely or alienated. More than half of remote workers who telecommute, 58%, reported feeling left out at work.
Please note: the following are on-line suggestions, offered for information only, not as professional advice.
Alone vs Lonely
Know your loneliness is normal. Everyone goes through lonely periods in life. Feeling lonely does not mean there’s something wrong with you. Feelings of loneliness often come and go during life. Sometimes the best thing to do is accept you feel lonely in the current circumstances and that this is okay.
Boost your self-esteem by finding things to do that are achievable and building on them little by little.
Enjoy your own company. Spending time alone can be liberating and being alone with your thoughts can be a great way of winding down.
Often we like the company of people who are comfortable in themselves. Learning to be on your own and like your own company is a step towards this kind of confidence.
Online communities can be a great social outlet, but do not rely on them too much. Make sure you balance your social life and make the effort to talk to people in person.
Take what you see online with a pinch of salt. People often publish the best of themselves online. Try not to compare yourself to other people’s photos and posts. And don’t spend too much time online.
Meeting New People
Keeping yourself busy is a good way to deal with loneliness.
Parenting alone can also feel isolating, especially when your children are younger. It may be helpful to seek out adult company and maintain existing friendships.
If you’re on your own in a new place, a hobby can be a great way of meeting new people and making new friends.
If you’re feeling lonely for no obvious reason, doing an evening class or sport can help take your mind off it. Consider activities to do with others.
Being unemployed can also can cause you to feel isolated. If you’re bored or cannot find a job, volunteer with an organization you care about or an event you might be interested in. Feeling needed and useful is important sometimes.
When you’re lonely, you may place too much weight on new friendships and relationships. Build trust gradually, take it slow and accept your new friends as they are. Take your time with new relationships.
Be wary of certain groups. Cults and gangs often target lonely people, knowing they might be vulnerable. Make sure the group you join is a positive influence and makes you feel good about yourself.
Getting Support
If you’re constantly lonely for no obvious reason, it could be a sign of depression. This is something you should talk about to family, friends, a counsellor, or your GP.
CrisisTextLine offers free, confidential support via text or chat. (Text 741741)
The AARP has initiatives to help people build community and volunteer. The also have a Friendly Voice helpline to call if you’re looking for a friendly person to talk to.
Just like dating apps, friendship apps allow people the opportunity to match with potential new friends online. Two examples are BumbleBFF and MeetMyPaws.
MeetUp is a social networking website that allows users to organize in-person activities to meet others who share their interests or hobbies.
Bottom Line: Loneliness is pervasive, normal, and problematic for good health and work success. Choose a way to cope that works for you;
Recently, I was thinking of the many delights that accompany books. I first wrote about the delights of being a bookworm in April 2016, and I find my opinions haven’t changed! So here is that 2016 blog, in case you missed it then.
Bookworm delights come in all guises! I’m talking about the periphery, the delights beyond lovely language, powerful characters, and compelling plots.
Sometimes old books yield bonuses. This 1899 printing of the WHITE HOUSE COOKBOOK came with four 1917 U.S. Dept. of Agriculture pamphlets with titles like “Do You Know Corn Meal? ITS USE MEANS Service to Your Country, Nourishing Food for You.”
I don’t actually collect antiquarian books, cookbooks or otherwise. But I like having old books around, and many on my shelves date from the 1930s onward.
Given my druthers, I’d still read the fifty- and sixty-cent paperbacks rather than the shiny new editions from the bookstore.
Therefore, I have an array of books about Upstate New York, Washington, DC, and Maryland, as well as Ohio and Virginia.
Bookworm Delights #4: When I travel, especially abroad, I love bringing home books of memories.
I have everything from books of cityscapes to fiction in translation and historical summaries. I’ll spare you photos of all the foreign cookbooks I’ve accumulated. But here are a couple representing Germany and Italy, places I’ve visited more than once.
Bookworm Delights #5: Oddball books give me great pleasure.
My favorites of these are the three volumes of Bull Cook and Authentic Historical Recipes and Practices by George Leonard Herter and Berthe E. Herter.
The first printing of the first volume was in 1960, and the three volumes are extremely entertaining examples of do-it-yourself publishing. The books contain wonderful paragraphs of opinion and assertion, with no attempt to document sources for the statements. For example, his recipe for Doves Wyatt Earp begins with four pages of purported biography of Earp. The recipe itself begins, “Pick ten doves and cut off their wings, feet and head. Remove the entrails and singe off the hair feathers with a candle.” Some of the recipes are quite tasty, the historical bits are fun reading, and all three volumes are illustrated with hundreds of black-and-white photographs, most of them by the author—at least, no photo credits are offered.
Closely related to oddball books are books on oddball topics—or if not oddball, at least on narrow topics—which I enjoy immensely because of the information therein.
There are whole books out there on toads, dung, how to hide one’s assets and disappear, and just about anything else you could think of.
Bookworm Delights #6: I love having shelves of unread books!
It feels like money in the bank.
Books for Future Enjoyment
With unread books on hand (and this can include unread books on an e-reader!), should you suddenly find yourself unemployed or otherwise short of money to buy more books just now, no problem! Ditto should you find yourself laid up with a broken back or a lingering case of flu.
Bookworm Delights #7: I love receiving books from family and friends.
It’s better if I actually enjoy the book. But opening books inscribed by loved ones, knowing they were thinking about me and my interests—however imperfectly—when they bought them, makes me glow.
They are simple, slim, and elegant. They stay put. And they can mark a page at top or side or bottom (though I don’t see the point of bottom). Unfortunately, the local Barnes and Nobel doesn’t carry them anymore.
And did you know that Post-It Notes were invented by a man who was trying to create a bookmark that would stay put when reading on airplanes?
And speaking of bookmarks, decades ago I started using postcards as markers in cookbooks—books that often need more than one marker AND are opened frequently.
Bookworm Delights #9: I love coming across a postcard sent thirty years ago by someone traveling near or far.
They make me smile and think of the sender. Many of those senders are dead now. And I suppose postcards are going the way of the dodo bird, as friends now send e-mails with photos. Oh, sigh. All the more reason to treasure the ones I have.
Last but not least. . .
Bookworm Delights #10: I delight in my reading chair!
Recliner where I read
True bookworms read anywhere and everywhere. I read in doctors’ waiting rooms, and in the dentist’s chair waiting for the impression gunk to set up. In the car when it isn’t my turn to drive. When I’m in bed, lights out, the only glow that from my Kindle. Yes, I’ve even been known to read in the bathroom. But the best, coziest reading—whether with fireplace or AC—is in my recliner, feet up, padded armrests supporting my elbows.
Bottom Line: Bookworm delights are as many and as varied as bookworms themselves. What are yours? Tell me in the comments below, on Facebook, or Twitter.
One of my favorite books is Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen) and in one famous scene, Sir William is extolling dance as an exemplar of culture and elegance. Darcy observes that every savage can dance.
10,000 year old painting of dancers, Bhimbetka, India
To put it more elegantly: Dancing has always been a part of human culture, rituals, and celebrations. It promotes creativity, as well as healthy minds and bodies.
Many belly dancers perform in restaurants and at parties.
According to a friend of mine who belly dances, that form of dancing does all of the above. “Belly dancing has historic roots in fertility rites or celebrations in some areas. I’ve performed at baby showers and bachelorette parties. It’s so much fun, and I’ve met so many friends through dancing. It also helps me stay in shape and keep flexible. I get to design costumes, learn music, and create choreography while learning this amazing art form!”
Obviously, any given dance might serve multiple purposes. For this blog, I’ll focus on three categories.
Ceremonial Dance
Since humans formed societies, social groups have created or performed ceremonial dances for rituals or celebrations. People use ceremonial dances all over the world for worship, or to celebrate life events. The unique British tradition of Morris dancing, for example, is performed at seasonal festivals and holidays to banish the dark of winter, celebrate the warmth and fertility of summer, and bring in autumn’s golden harvest. The category of ceremonial dance also includes classical Indian dances, war dances, corroboree, Căluşari, and dances of Native American and West African culture.
Adumu, the Maasai jumping dance, forms an important part of coming of age ceremonies, weddings, and celebration rituals. Participants dress in colorful garments and traditional jewelry and often carry spears. Individual dancers compete with each other to jump as high as possible while maintaining a straight and upright posture. Dancers are judged on the height of their jumps as well as their grace.
Marinera Paso is a Mestizo dance that mimics courtship rituals in Peru. The female dancer, accompanied by Spanish, African, and Creole instruments, marks the rhythm and leads her partner on horseback.
Dancing the Haka involves a combination of stamping, chanting, showing the whites of the eyes, and rhythmically slapping body parts with the hands. Maori people perform various Haka forms to welcome guests, issue challenges, and mourn loved ones. Recently, the Te Pāti Māori party went viral for performing a Haka in the New Zealand Parliament to express their opposition to a proposed bill.
Young women in Bali perform the Rejang Adat to welcome the gods during Kunnigan. They do not train or practice before the ceremony. Instead, they rely on their ngayah (dedication) to allow the gods to inspire their movement and harmony.
Rain Dances
Many agricultural societies have a tradition of rain dances. These dances ask the gods or spirits to send water for crops during the planting season. Other rain dances ask for rain during long periods of dry, hot weather. In Romania and Moldova, a young girl dresses in a skirt made of corn husks and dances through the village streets while people splash water on her. In 2022, the Dumagat tribe performed a rain dance during a drought in the Philippines. They claimed success as it rained three days later.
In the Southwestern United States, many tribes, including the Pueblo, Hopi, Zuni, and Apache, have elaborate rain dance traditions. The specifics of the dances vary from tribe to tribe. Most tribes have unique rituals and costumes, with some tribes wearing headdresses and others wearing masks.
In the early 19th century, the United States government banned certain ceremonial dances. To bypass these strict laws, tribal members would mask their ceremonial performances as “rain dances.”
Dance for Recreation and Community
This is any form of dancing that is for entertainment, fitness, fun, or strengthening community ties. Also known as social dancing, it uses dance without too much structure, as a way to let loose and express one’s own individual personality. Dancers focus less on form and technique and more on the joy they feel from dancing. Examples of recreational dancing include ballroom, line dancing, aerobic dance, or dance as a hobby.
Gumboot Dance evolved from mines in South Africa.Workers unable to communicate verbally developed a system of stomping signals to pass messages.
Ballroom Dance
Like many forms of dance, dancesport has been adapted for a range of abilities.
Historians trace the history of ballroom dance back to the 16th century in Europe, where it was primarily a social activity for the upper classes. However, it wasn’t until the 19th century that participants began to formalize and standardize ballroom.
Commonly used as shorthand for any partner dance, ballroom has today evolved into two main sub-genres: standard/smooth and Latin/rhythm. Dances within these categories include the waltz, tango and foxtrot, and the pasodoble, bolero, and samba.
Ballroom is a popular form of competitive dance, or dancesport, with dancers participating in competitions all over the world.
Who can think of ballroom dancing without envisioning Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers? Well, certainly not people of a certain age or old movie buffs.
The duo made 10 movies together in the 1930s and ‘40s. Their unique style was graceful and complex, while looking effortless. Perhaps the clearest legacy today are Fred Astaire Dance Studios, such as this one near Richmond, VA.
Community dancing often requires no formal training, choreography, or practice. It is sometimes completely spontaneous, such as mosh pits at rock and heavy metal concerts. Though communities often dance together at celebrations, such as weddings or birthdays, the dancing is not necessarily part of the ceremony.
There are many benefits to dancing in a group. Dancing together creates the same sense of group identity as singing or chanting in unison. Participants experience a reduction in stress and a release of endorphins.
In some instances, a Master of Ceremonies calls out steps for the group to follow. A dancemaster sometimes calls Irish céilí steps at social dances. The Electric Slide and the Cha-Cha Slide, popular at American weddings, feature a singer directing the participants in a simple choreography.
Some dances, like the Macarena, permeate society so thoroughly that it seems everyone knows the choreography. Other dances, like Armenian group dances, are simple and repetitive enough for beginners to follow the steps of more experiences dancers.
At Drag On Ball, 2018
Within marginalized communities, dancing is often a way of finding community and demonstrating belonging. Ballroom culture (not to be confused with ballroom dancing) in the United States grew from the gatherings of LGBT+ African Americans in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Participants combine recreational, community dancing with dancing for artistic expression. Dancers vogue, strut, and catwalk in elaborate choreographies and costumes to represent their “houses” and found families. Depending on one’s definition of ceremony and ritual, participating in these events could also be seen as modern cultural rites for people who have been denied acceptance in the cultures they were born into.
Dance for Artistic Expression
Shosagatsu, a form of Japanese Kabuki, blurs the line between dance and narrative theater.
Many artists dance with the primary intent to express or communicate emotion, feelings, and/or ideas. These dancers, including ballet, tap, and modern dancers, often perform in a concert or theatrical setting to an audience. Using rhythmic, patterned, or improvised body movement, it’s one of the oldest art forms found in every culture around the world.
For many people, artistic expression conjures images of ballet. Ballet developed during the Italian Renaissance, before evolving in France and Russia into concert dancing meant for public performance. Ballet choreographers often use classical music.
Harlequin Floors—a purveyor of dance floors—lists what they call popular types of dance on their blog. Ballroom and ballet are perennial favorites, but dancing doesn’t stop there!
Contemporary Dance
Developed during the mid-twentieth century, contemporary dance is now one of the most popular and technical forms of dancing studied and performed professionally, especially in the US and Europe. Drawing on classical, modern and jazz dance styles, contemporary dance has evolved to incorporate many characteristics of a broader range of dance forms. Known for its emphasis on strong torso and legwork, contract and release, fall and recovery, and floor work, it often features unpredictable and disordered changes in speed and rhythm throughout a performance.
As a cultural ambassador, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater showcases a blend of American and traditional dance styles to audiences worldwide.
Hip Hop Dance
B-Boys and B-Girls combine hip hop dancing with acrobatics and rhythmic freezes, as demonstrated by this breakdancer in Union Square.
Hip-hop dancing refers to a range of street dances that developed in relation to hip hop music and culture. Hip-hop dancing dates back to the early 1970s in New York and California, evolving out of Funk and the development of break beat. Main styles of hip-hop dancing include Breaking, Locking and Popping, with derivative styles emerging out of these including Memphis Jookin’, Turfing, Jerkin’ and Krumping. These were often popularized and made mainstream after being featured in music videos of the time.
Today, hip-hop is performed in outdoor spaces, in dance studios, and competitively. Unlike many competitive dance styles, hip-hop is often improvisational with dance crews challenging each other to dance battles.
Jazz
Bollywood dancing (the style often showcased in Bollywood movies) feature a combination of Indian classical and jazz styles to create a uniquely recognizable form.
Jazz dancing has its roots in seventeenth-century African traditions. People brought to the Americas via the Atlantic slave trade continued dancing traditions in Brazil, the US, and elsewhere in North and South America. Known for its improvisational and dramatic body movements, jazz dancing grew in popularity in early twentieth-century jazz clubs.
Today, jazz dancing builds on African American vernacular dance styles that emerged along with jazz music in the United States. Swing, the Lindy Hop, the Shimmy, and the Charleston are popular kinds of jazz dances.
Tap
Zapateado dancers in Mexico combine Spanish and Indigenous South American dance elements with percussive shoe rhythms.
Tap dancing is a type of percussive dance characterized by the “tap” of shoes hitting the floor as the person dances. Tap dancers often wear metal “taps” on the heel and toe of a shoe to accentuate the sound. Frequently performed as part of musical theater, tap dancing often focuses on choreography and formations, with more than one tap dancer performing at once.
Tap dancing characterizes a range of dances including flamenco, rhythm, classical, Broadway, and postmodern tap.
Folk
Modern Samoan knife dancers often wrap their knives in burning cloth for extra pizzazz when performing Siva Afi, the traditional victory dance.
Folk dancing is celebrated worldwide. People of different cultures and religions use various forms of folk dance to portray emotions, stories, historical events or even aspects of daily life. Some well known types of folk dance include: Bharatanatyam (India), Samba (Brazil) and Hula (Hawaii). Some cultures may even perform multiple variations of folk dances, with countries like South Korea performing individual dances for key events such as victories in war, farming, music and religion. Folk dances are commonly held at public events, where people can participate regardless of whether they are professional or complete beginners. Such dances are often accompanied by traditional music to further enhance the cultural experience.
Irish
Irish dancing features jumps and leaps so high that dancers seem to have the temporary ability to ignore gravity.
Traditional Irish folk dance has been popular for hundreds of years amongst Irish people and other countries worldwide. The first recording of the rinnce fada (long dance) in Ireland was in 1689, when James II first came to Ireland. Popularized by shows such as Riverdance, Irish dancing is famously known for its fabulous display of footwork and dance formations. Most Irish dancing events are traditionally accompanied by signing and music. During festivals, dancers compete for trophies or medals to showcase their talents. While most people may recognize Irish dancing as being a group performance, there are many well-known forms of solo Irish dances, such as the stepdance.
Modern
Igor Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring” was such a departure from the formal ballets of the time that it caused a riot in the audience at its premiere in 1913.
Modern dance, a broad genre of dance, primarily arose from western countries such as the USA and Germany during the late 1900s. While most forms of dance feature set steps and formalized structure, the purpose of modern dance is to rely on the dancer’s interpretation of the music and feeling to guide movements. Modern dance was initially born out of dislike for the limitations of traditional dances such as ballet, which enforced rigid rules and techniques. Currently, modern dance is enjoyed across the world with participants having the ability to practice ballet-like dancing without having to place strict focus on their techniques or turnout. Instead, dancers can choose a piece of music and use unconventional movements to convey emotions or to tell a meaningful story.
Swing
“Jitterbug” was originally a derogatory term for a swing dancer, in the 1930s. As Big Band music and swing dancing became more popular, people came to use jitterbug interchangeably with swing dancing and Lindy Hop.
Swing is a variation of jazz dance. It developed during the 1920s to the 1940s as a response to the growing popularity of swing jazz music in America, encouraging faster, more rigorous movements. The Lindy Hop was the first form of swing, stemming from variations of the Charleston perfected by Black dancers in Harlem. Other popular forms of swing dance include the Lindy Charleston, the Jitterbug, and the Balboa, many of which are still performed today. Big Band music, whether live or on a recording, commonly accompanied swing dancing events.
Swing dance gained huge popularity in England thanks to the influence of American servicemen stationed there during World War II.
Pacu Jalur
And then there’s an annual dance event reported on in the Wall Street Journal (8/19/25). Where would you include this dance?
Team Panglima Rimbo Piako
Kuantan Singingi, Indonesia holds an annual boat race, called Pacu Jalur, dating back to a 17th century celebration commemorating Queen Wilhelmina’s birthday during the Dutch rule. Today, it coincides with Indonesia’s Independence Day. Some 200 boats compete in a series of races, culminating in the main event, six-tenths of a mile long and lasting approximately two minutes. The hull of the jalur (boat) is usually 100 feet long, made from a single tree. Each boat is powered by 40 to 75 male rowers.
So where does the dancing come in? Each boat also has one dancer (anak joki)—always a boy for minimal weight and ability to balance while dancing on the bow, which is less than 1 foot wide! He wears traditional Malay outfits, cheers on the rowers, and performs 20-second dances to signal to bystanders when his boat is ahead. Each boat dancer has his own routine.
Today the most famous dancer is Dikha, whose dance—appearing effortlessly cool, smooth, and easy to copy—has been mimicked in celebratory dances by a football star, a soccer player, an F1 driver, as well as miscellaneous people at the office, on their cars, and inside Costco. Dikha’s dance mimics fanning air, flying, and shooting guns.
Bottom Line: “Dance”—for a plethora of reasons—has always been with us. Dare I predict it always will be? Enjoy!
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