New Year's Foods of East and West

Meaning of New Year's Day in the East

For Asians, particularly northeast Asians, New Year's is a time of connectedness with the family, in the present times the family refers to the nuclear family but traditionally the entire patriarchally linked extended family was part of the on-going celebrations. New Year's was a time of silence and reverence for saying goodbye reverently to the old year of sustenance and greeting the New Year with enthusiasm and the hope of abundance and good health.

Different countries in northeast Asia (China, Korea and Japan) have distinctive foods for celebrating the New Year. Following is a food item traditionally included in the New Year's celebration for greeting a New Year.

Rice cake soup in Korea

Rice cakes are an essential part of celebrations in Korean holiday festivities, birthday celebrations, weddings, ancestor veneration ceremonies, Chuseok (Thanksgiving) and of course Seollal (lunar New Year's day). Traditionally Koreans did not celebrate their individual birthdays, formerly criticized as being selfish as it reflected the western attitude of 'individualism'. Koreans traditionally celebrated their birthdays collectively on Seollal when everyone was served a bowl of rice cake soup (떡국) and after consuming the soup, everyone turned a year older together.

Osechi in Japan

In Japan it was traditional bad luck to cook during the first three days of the new year and so special boxes known as juubako (重箱) were desiged to hold special traditional foods to be eaten during those three days of reflecting on the new year. Each of the foods known as osechi-ryouri (御節料理 or お節料理) symbolize some wish for the New Year - long life, abudance in the harvest, health, and more. [For more detailed look at many of the osechi-ryouri dishes and their meanings go the blogsite Japan On-line]. Black beans in a sweetened soysauce symbolize health, anchovies symbolize abundant harvest, roe symbolize fertility and family prosperity (the meaning comes from Japanese homophonic word play) ... to name a few.

Dimsum in China

Dimsum literally means "to touch your heart." It consists of a variety of dumplings, steamed dishes and other goodies, functioning much like French hors d'oeuvres but is much more universal - they are snacks for travelers, a nibble with tea and as meals for the busy. When food is prepared for New Year's celebrations, foods have symbolic meanings usually about prosperity, good luck and counting money. Two kinds of dumplings eaten on New Year's day are jau gok ( 油角) which is believed to resemble ancient Chinese gold ingots, or wealth; similarly in northern China dumplings were prepared with "luck" inside them, and because the dumplings were small and resembled silver ingots, they represent prosperity. In the same way, the ingredients of dimsum or complimentary dishes all have wishes for the New Year. Fish (魚yú) is a homophone for "surpluses"(餘yú), leek (蒜苗/大蒜 suàn miáo/dà suàn) makes it a homophone for "calculating (money)" (算 suàn), and noodles by their appearance represent wishes for longevity.

 

Jau gok (Chinese: 油角; pinyin: yóujiăo)	The main Chinese new year dumpling. It is believed to resemble ancient Chinese gold ingots (simplified Chinese: 金元宝; traditional Chinese: 金元寶; pinyin: jīnyuánbǎo)
jiaozi (dumplings) (Chinese: 餃子)	Eaten traditionally in northern China because the preparation is similar to packaging luck inside the dumpling, which is later eaten. The dumpling resembles a silver ingot, or money. The symbolism is prosperity.

Jau gok (Chinese: 油角; pinyin: yóujiăo)	The main Chinese new year dumpling. It is believed to resemble ancient Chinese gold ingots (simplified Chinese: 金元宝; traditional Chinese: 金元寶; pinyin: jīnyuánbǎo)
jiaozi (dumplings) (Chinese: 餃子)	Eaten traditionally in northern China because the preparation is similar to packaging luck inside the dumpling, which is later eaten. The dumpling resembles a silver ingot, or money. The symbolism is prosperity.

Foods celebrating New Year's Day in some western countries

Grapes in Mexico

For New Year's celebrations people in Mexico herald in the New Year at the stroke of midnight with 12 grapes often piled into a glass of margarita, a flute of champagnes or even sparkling cider - a sidra for toasting in the New Year and then within its first minute the hasty consumption of all 12 grapes which symbolize having luck in the upcoming 12 months (of course each grapes symbolizes a month). Festivities like in any country are not limited to food but are represented by the colors one wears when celebrating. Green clothing attracts a year of good health; red underwear brings love while yellow underwear brings wealth. But of course not all colors can be worn as the wearer must choose which is most important to him or her. But bring on the New Year and down with the 12 grapes.

Oliebollen in Holland

Oliebollen are small donuts (commonly called Dutch Donuts by Brits) which are for celebrating the New Year. Beleived to have first come from Germanic tribes in the Netherlands during the Yule (the period between December 26 and January 6), the donuts were made as an offering to the Germanic goddess Perchta and other evil spirits who were about in the mid-winter sky. To appease the spirits, food was offered. Much of the food contained deep-fried dough which was loaded with fat and thus oiling the sword of the evil Perchta so that her attacks against humans would result in the sword sliding harmlessly off the people who ate the oily bread. So not surprisingly, oliebollen literally means "oil or lard balls".

Focaccia and Banitza in Bulgaria

Ancient Romans baked their flatbreads in the ashes of the fireplace, and the name focaccia reflects this early beginning of the bread panis focacius, which is derived from the Latin focus meaning “center” and also “fireplace”, significant as the fireplace was the center of the house. Nowadays focaccia has evolved into many different kinds of breads with various seasonings and glutinous flours based on the culture where it is being baked. But in Bulgaria, focaccia has taken on a significant cultural meaning for the New Year. A coin in placed in the pan of flatbread and then once the bread has been cut and distributed, whoever gets the piece with the coin in it is said to have particularly good fortune for the coming year.

Banitza is a Bulgarian pasty made of whisked eggs, white cheese and filo pastry and can be made savory (usually) by adding spinach or leeks or even sweet for breakfast by dipping in yogurt and eating with fruit. This traditional Bulgarian bread is popular on certain occasions, particularly New Year's Eve when lucky charms such as coins or small symbolic objects like a dogwood branch with a bud for symbolizing health or longevity are hidden in the bread and found by a person who be richly blessed with New Year's luck. In more recent times, wishes written on paper notes which are wrapped in foil are hidden in the bread. Wishes for happiness, health and success throughout the New Year are most popular. 

Cotechino con lenticchie in Italy

Lentils play an important traditional for zampone and cotechino (deboned pig legs stuffed with pork rinds, sausage and spices). Lentils are a required item for celebrating New Year's Eve as the shape brings to mind tiny coins which people symbolically eat in hopes of attaining cash during the new year. The zampone and cotechino are memories of a past time of poverty when the now precious food item was invented due to a shortage of food. So together, the lentil "coins" and the memories of past poverty are iconic foods for symbolizing prosperity in the upcoming year.

I thank my students Yuna Jung and Min Jeong Kim for outlining this presentation and selecting very appropriate pictures to share as cultural examples. A note from myself on this presentation - I find it very interesting that many of the food selected are based on flour recipes. Maybe some research needs to be done on what percent of traditional celebratory foods require flour of some for the making. Could be very interesting outcome.

Aung San Suu Kyi (1945 - present)

Aung San Suu Kyi is the daughter of Aung San, who is remembered by the Burmese today as the father of the nation and also as the founder of the army (not the army that politically controls present-day Myanmar). Aung San had a selfless attitude toward power, and built up the army for the sole purpose of asserting Burmese nationhood against the British and later the Japanese who both exercised colonial rule over them.

Aung San Suu Kyi was two years old when her father was assassinated, and for many years she enjoyed a privileged life – school and education in India where she studied political science at Delhi University and also where she came to understand and admire the non-violence embodied in the life and philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi. Later, her campaign of civil disobedience in Burma was directly inspired by that example – she cited both Gandhi and Martin Luther King as models.

She continued her education at Oxford University, where she studied Modern Greats (Politics, Philosophy and Economics). After being employed at the United Nations Secretariat in New York, she married the British Tibetologist, Michael Aris in England where she later bore two sons, in 1973 and 1977. She performed various researches, wrote a book on her father, and visited Burma occasionally. However, when her mother became very ill, she returned to Burma to take care of her. While in Burma during the months of caring for her mother (1988), she realized that there was much political turmoil in her country with people wanting change, university students demanding it, but the military government summarily and brutally quelling all dissents and dissidents. At this time, Aung San Suu Kyi felt that her country needed her to step forward and give guidance … and from then on she fought for the democratization of her country and the otherthrow of the military junta that asserted arrogance against her Burmese people.

She had told her husband before marrying him that if her country ever needed her, she must give what she had for her home country. And in a BBC interview she later remarked, “I have never been away from my country and my people” even though physically the miles seemed to say otherwise. In 1990 Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest for years, at first her husband and sons were allowed to visit, but later that privilege was denied her. She remained under house arrest for several years until the mid 1990s when she was abruptly released. The book ends in the mid-90s with one of her many releases from house arrest.

The book Freedom from Fear: Aung San Suu Kyi Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize was first published in 1991 by her husband and my copy states that it continued to be published through 1995. Since, the compiling author Aung San Suu Kyi’s husband has died (on his 53rd birthday from prostate cancer) and she has been placed under house arrest again … and again. The country Myanmar, named by the military government to distance the Burmese people from feeling empowered by having a country named after them, still is a military dictatorship. Aung San Suu Kyi still fights for freedom for her people, and the outside world is starting to become more aware … but oh so gradually, because isn’t it true that economics control politics and what would it benefit other countries to assist Burma in gaining their political freedom???

Source

Follow-up information: In 1989 Aung San Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest by the Burmese government, renamed the "Union of Myanmar", and for the next 21 years, 15 of those years were spent in house arrest. In November 2010 she was finally, at least most recently, released. Read here for a more complete biography and here for a basic timeline of her stand-off with the Burmese government.

Fibromyalgia

I found this article published in the Korea Herald, Friday, October 12, 2012, as very interesting. The article got a lot of space on page 5 of the physical newspaper with an article on the sharp increase in breast cancer among Korean women as taking the most space. Fibromyalgia is something that was rarely discussed just a few years ago, but in the past few years the autoimmune disease is rather widely known and commonly discussed. In my home church of about 60 members, I can quickly name four women who have it, and I will add that I don't know the health situation of probably one-half of the church. That's dramatically higher than the estimated 2%, or 1.4 people in our congregation, who are guestimated to have fibromyalgia within the American population.

I'm always comparing autoimmune diseases, looking for similarities and in how they differ, because all diseases are a result of some, but varying, imbalance(s) and if the imbalance can be found, it can be altered by careful food selection and a change in lifestyle. This does not mean the disease can be forever cured but in many instances, the disease can be managed or completely subdued with a carefully restructured lifestyle. Another article "Fibromyalgia" by Leslie Arnold, MD, gives evidence that fibromyalgia is the result of reduced neurotransmitters norepinephrine and serotonin creating an abnormal central nervous system response. Comparing reduced neurotransmitters with two other autoimmune diseases having reduced neurotransmitters creates an interesting comparison. Both Parkinson's disease and Tourette's syndrome have deficiencies and/or misfirings of the neurotransmitters dopamine and serotonin.

The common factor for these three diseases is serotonin, which is a mood neurotransmitter. Without proper levels of serotonin, a person could feel very anxious and depressed. Add anxiety and depression to low levels of norepeinephrine, which controls pain, cognition, mood and movement, and the outcome is moody depression in pain aka fibromyalgia. Or, add anxiety and depression to low levels of dopamine, which controls regulation of movement, emotional response, and pain and the outcome is frozen expressionless depression aka Parkinson's and also Tourette's by neurotransmitter definition but I wouldn't call their bodies "frozen" but rather impaired by jerks, another type of movement disorder.

In any case, on the anthropological level, this article, by its inclusion in the newspaper and getting such a large area of print, is making clear that there is a rising problem within society, and although medical science cannot pinpoint the exact cause of the problem, there are treatments and lifestyle methods to treat the disease. BTW, I find this picture very interesting also, especially as the picture is of a man supposedly suffering from fibromyalgia whereas the majority of sufferers are women (80%).

 

The article: Fibromyalgia

 

Fibromyalgia commonly occurs in adult women aged between 20 and 60 years old. There are broad areas of the body that are painful and there is chronic pain in the musculoskeletal pain. Patients often complain of fatigue, sleep disturbance and sub-chronic spasticity, irritable bowel syndrome, edema, poor circulation in the fingers or extremities, anxiety and depression and loss of function. An important characteristic of the pain is pressure pain, which occurs when a certain part of the body is pressed. Fibromyalgia may temporarily alleviate but it is a chronic condition. Treatment may improve the symptoms but the condition often lasts for several years.

Cause

The cause of fibromyalgia is not yet known. It is thought that trauma, or several emotional stressors such as divorce or loss of spouse, contributes to the condition. It is also believed to be associated with sleep disturbances. Recent studies have suggested the association with imbalances in neurotransmitters, abnormal amino acids in the blood, abnormal oxygen use of tissues and viral infection. The cause of fibromyalgia has not yet been found from investigations and tests, so patients are often told that there are no known problems with their condition.

Symptoms patients feel:

●Painful areas on the body and a feeling of fatigue even without doing hard work.

●Areas on the body which show pressure pain

●Stiffness and a lack of feeling refreshed in the morning

●Light sleeping

●Tingling or changes in sensation

●Headache and dizziness

●Anxiety or depression

●Abdominal pain and frequent diarrhea or constipation

●Decreased concentration or memory problems

●Skin rashes or itchiness

Diagnosis
*American College of Rheumatology Diagnostic Criteria (1999)

●The diagnosis is made by exclusion of other conditions

●At least 11 out of the 18 pressure points are painful to pressure and this pain should continue for at least 3 months. There should be pain in the right and left side, the lower and upper body, neck and the lower back musculoskeletal system.

●Decreased movement due to musculoskeletal pain.

●Disturbances and sleep and not feeling refreshed after sleep.

●Temporary joint spasticity in the morning

●Decreased tolerance to cold or high humidity

Treatment

Treatment requires the patient to engage in regards and emotional modification, so the most important aspect of treatment is patient education.

Drugs such as amitriptyline, cyclobenzaprin, NSAIDs can be used, as well as cognitive behavioral therapy.

Local anesthetic injections at pressure pain spots and heat therapy can be effective, depending on the patient.

Medications are also used to help people sleep deeper. The patient should not feel dizziness or stagger when waking up in the morning. The symptoms start to improve after treatment for 4 to 6 weeks.

Sleep disturbance or lack of sleep can make the symptoms worse so it is important to develop regular sleeping habits. Patients should go to bed at a set time and avoid taking naps during the day.

Light cardiovascular exercises are helpful but strenuous exercises can worsen the symptoms.

Support and education

The patient needs to understand about the characteristics of the condition and will need support and understanding from their families.

Patients should be aware that physical, emotional and environmental stressors could contribute to their pain and fatigue. Therefore, it is important that they make appropriate lifestyle adjustments. Patients should avoid worrying too much about their symptoms and should try to relax the mind and the body.

By Cha Hoon-suk

The author is a doctor at the Division of Rheumatology at Samsung Medical Center and a professor of Sungkyunkwan University school of Medicine. ― Ed.

Bone Development and the Growing Child

source

The study of forensics, an aspect of anthropology, provides an internal perspective on the development of the human body; from birth until death years later, marked changes are documented in the bones and cartilage for the deciphering of the forensics specialist. Though I have never formally studied forensics, the random books I have read have provided a look at the human skeleton that even my nurse mother and nurse friends are surprised at. Humans in death, according to forensics, tell the story of their broader experiences, their diet and their development in life.

When the human infant is born, and sometimes quite forcibly with the use of forceps, care must be given to protect the child’s fragile head. Unlike the human adult, babies’ craniums are three unfused plates which fold in slightly on themselves so the large head can pass through the birth canal (Scheve 2012). Babies, in fact, are born with about 300 different bones and cartilage elements, and many of these fragments will eventually fuse together to form adult bones, of which human adults have 206 (ibid). Because babies have so many parts that will fuse, their bodies are more flexible, are softer, and therefore are more susceptible to slight bumps or injuries than the body of an older baby of two, whose three cranial plates have almost completely fused[1], or a child of six whose patella are beginning to join together and ossify, that is, harden into bones (Medical MultiMEDIA Group 2009-2011). Jean Auel (2002) in her anthropological fiction on Neanderthals compared a Neanderthal newborn baby with its hard head and fused neck and the baby’s ability to crawl, even walk, and follow its mother in pursuit of milk with the Homo sapien infant that was weak, fragile and needed care in lifting its wobbly head. According to Jean Auel, Neanderthals were much like baby animals at birth and their bones were already ossified to give them the strength and mobility to seek food and to flee from threat or enemy. Homo sapiens, on the other hand, were a unique group of creatures that were intelligent, linguistically capable but helpless, although the Neanderthals did observe that the helplessness gradually disappeared.

At birth human babies have many sesamoid cartilage embedded in tendons, and which are primarily located at joints—the wrists, hands, feet, and of course the knees where various sesamoid cartilage gather (Coutsoukis 1995-2007). After six or so months, babies begin to crawl around and fall on their knees and not damage the knee caps as their knee caps are still a soft collection of cartilage. By the age of six most of the cartilage has gathered and formed and from age six to twelve the kneecaps are ossifying (ibid). No more will the growing child fall on knees and not be hurt. Patella injuries are painful and damaging, but by the age of three and four the children have been stretched in growth and their center of balance is now in the midriff and no longer are they top-heavy with an upper body, out-of-balance center of balance. Children beyond age four rarely fall from a poor center of gravity, and so their kneecap development, as well as other sesamoid ossification, is harmonious with their kinesthetic development. Just an aside, forensics specialist use the kneecap development as one of the keys in determining skeletal age, gender and even sometimes race. In the instance of age, the knee cap reaches its maximal thickness of 6 mm (0.24 in) at 30 years of age (Wikipedia 3 Oct 2012), and so forensics anthropologists can determine age by the development, or lack of, by studying the patella.

Just as the cranium is fragile, so is the infant’s chest cavity. The infant has soft bone structure, which allowed it great fetal-position flexibility within the womb, but out in the real world of hard knocks, the baby is at a disadvantage and pressure upon its weak chest could cause great damage. According to Human Anatomy (2011), the sternum in the infant consists of two cartilaginous bars, which fuse and ossify over time. As the sternum is not fused at birth, neither are the ribs. The cartilaginous joinings for the clavicles appear at the age of six months but rarely unite with other centers on the sternum except in old age. Likewise, the first of four cartilaginous joints for joining the first four ribs (on each side) appear at six months for the first rib, at seven months for the second and third ribs, and at about one year of age for the fourth rib. At puberty, these four ribs and the sternum unite with each other. Then on the xiphoid process, the lowest small segment on the sternum, a cartilaginous joining appears between the fifth and the eighteenth year of life; this joining will never completely ossify (Human Anatomy 2011). Protecting the fragile chest cavity in an infant, therefore, is an imperative as the protective ribs are only a lightweight frame and, until ossification begins, pressure or blows to the chest could damage or kill. Forensics scientists, in understanding chest injuries and the age of the child, and even the age of when old injuries took place, see “documentation” of abuse, neglect or injury by studying the sternum and ribs of the injured rib cage.

An example of this is provided by Clea Koff (2004) in her book Bone Woman.  Clea tells how she as a forensics anthropologist opened mass graves in Rwanda, Bosnia, Croatia and Kosova, where thousands were victims of genocide. Her job was to document by the skeletal remains, by the remnants of clothing on the bodies and the contents of pockets, what was the identity of each victim, from small infant (some unborn) to the aged and decrepit elderly. By studying primarily the head and its sutures for gender and age, the hip bones to tell gender, the sternum and patella to confirm age or even tell age when necessary, Clea Koff provided evidence for the UN Tribunal that charged the afore-mentioned countries with genocide and war-time atrocities. According to Clea, the victims were “telling” of their diet (she noted malnutrition and diseases of infection in some skeletons), their development (the bones clearly stated their age, and after puberty, also their gender), and she documented the fractures which could readily be classed as blunt or sharp weapon injuries, and the scratches, impressions and punctures which clearly pointed to the type of weapons used—knives, shovels or other common tools.

People theoretically know that babies are fragile, but when looking at the structure of the bones from a forensics point of view, the truth about just how fragile and especially why infants are so fragile in their first months becomes obvious. As bones ossify and gain strength and sturdiness, the developing body needs less protection and can participate in the more rough-and-tumble of activity and sports. I do not remember where I read this, but bones in the teens and early twenties are lighter weight than in later years. Bones thicken, but why I do not know. Is it because of age and typically with the increase of age there is an increase of weight and so the body needs to “protect” itself to handle the greater weight stress load, or is the thickening just a phenomenon of isoblasts and isoclasts perpetually functioning to tear down and recreate bone? The Internet did not provide this answer, but someday I do plan to take a forensics class or two, just for the knowledge, and then maybe I will get the answer. What I do know, however, is that the ossification of bones from birth takes about 20 years to complete (Nemous Foundation 1995-2012) and with ossified bones instead of loose cartilage floating, the body is strengthened but at the cost of loss of flexibility.


Bibliography

Auel, J. (2002). The clan of the cave bears. New York: Bantam Books.

Coutsoukis, P. (1995-2007). The sesamoid bone. Human Anatomy. Retrieved from http://www.theodora.com/anatomy/the_sesamoid_bones.html.

Human Anatomy (2011). Sternum: Chest bone. MANanatomy. Retrieved from http://www.mananatomy.com/body-systems/skeletal-system/sternum-chest-bone.

Koff, C. (2004). The bone woman: A forensic anthropologist’s search for truth in the mass graves of Rwanda, Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo. New York: Random House.

Manheim, M.H. (2000). The bone lady: Life as a forensic anthropologist. New York: Penguin Books.          

Medical MultiMEDIA Group LLC (2009-2011). An algorithm for the treatment of painful bipartite patella. Othropod. Retrieved from http://www.eorthopod.com/content/an-algorithm-for-the-treatment-of-painful-bipartite-patella.

Nemous Foundation. (1995-2012). Bones, muscles and joints. KidsHealth from Nemous. Retrieved from http://kidshealth.org/parent/general/body_basics/bones_muscles_joints.html?tracking=P_RelatedArticle#.

Scheve, T. (2012) Do babies have kneecaps? Fit & Health. Retrieved from http://health.howstuffworks.com/human-body/systems/musculoskeletal/babies-kneecaps1.htm.

Wikipedia (3 October 2012). Patella in Wikipedia. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patella.

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[1] The sutures that fuse or hold the cranial plates together remain strong up to around the mid-sixties or seventies when the sutures begin to break apart. The elderly, for this reason, also must take more caution to prevent head injuries as the brain is not as protected by the solid cranium anymore (Manheim 2000).

Navy SEAL Team Six

The SEALs were the offspring of the frogmen who were trained during World War II to recon beaches for amphibious landings. Soon they learned underwater demolitions in order to clear obstacles and became known as Underwater Demolition Teams (UDTs). In the Korean War UDTs evolved and went farther inland, blowing up bridges and tunnels. And more years later, after observing Communist insurgency in Southeast Asia, the military understood the need for unconventional warriors and so the navy unit that could conduct warfare from sea, air and land (SEALs) sprouted from the UDTs.

To qualify as a Navy SEAL, the navy soldier usually already had to have 5 years military experience before being allowed to undergo further extensive and horrific selection and training. In the book SEAL Team Six: Memoirs of an Elite Navy SEAL Sniper which was basically an autobiography of a SEAL in the most select branch of the SEALs, SEAL team six, Howard Wasdin shares his mental conditioning for the SEALs. His training actually started with the daily abuse he received from his step-dad to his being the sole candidate selected to join the SEALs out of a select cut of 100 applicants onward to his battle in Mogadishu, Somalia where he was badly wounded with one leg almost blown off and a bullet in the other ankle. Memorable to all participated in that bloody battle and just minutes before receiving his career-changing wounds, Wasdin also had an incredible sniper shot of 846 yards that killed a Somalian who was aiming to gun down a friendly operator. A much applauded shot as accuracy, even for a sniper, is hard beyond 500 yards!

But what kind of training did the Navy SEALS undergo to become the elite of the SEAL time? SEALs were trained to make their own ghillie suits (x2) - one of white and the other of green - designed to blend in to an environment. When SEALs went on multiple practice ops, the refrain in their minds was something like I am one with the ground, I am a part of the dirt. They learned to blend into the environment, and to green- or white-out their faces so that their faces no longer looked like faces - lightening the shadow area, and darkening the areas that shine. One of the SEALs training basic tests (of many!) was to swim 500 yards in 12.5 minutes, rest 10 minutes, 42 push-ups in 2 minutes, rest 2 minutes, 50 sit-ups in 2 minutes, rest 2 minutes, 6 pull-ups before dropping off the bar, rest 10 minutes, run 1.5 miles wearing boots and trousers within 11.5 minutes. Distances increased, times decreased. Training was brutal. For those who couldn't keep up, they were eliminated and never allowed to apply for Navy SEAL training again.

SEAL-trainees went on to learn advanced levels of diving and land warfare, including close-quarters combat (CQC). Then in his advanced and highly selective training as a sniper, Wasdin learned to field sketch for reconnaisance, very important training for teaching detail and accurate communication skills on paper. These drawings were done in perspective - nearby objects larger than distant objects, horizontal parallel lines converge and vanish in the distance. At the bottom of the sketch they were to note the patrol, number of 2.5 ton trucks, etc. and they were graded on neatness, accuracy, and intelligence value, requiring a score of 70% or higher ... or they were eliminated from sniper training. When field sketch training began, the task had to be completed in 30 minutes. As they gained familiarity, the maximum time allowed (replicating war circumstances) was reduced to 15 minutes.

Highly specialized training was given to the snipers. Both SEAL and Delta Force operators had snipers under training. Delta Force was the army's top commando unit parring with the SEALs, and both specialized units learned to shoot to kill a target under every circumstance regardless of climate, time of day, fatigue (which plays a big part), slant, elevation, country, hemorrhoids, etc. The training started out demanding that operators hit a target every time up to 800 yards, but that was shown to be an unrealistically high range, as in 200 yards or so too high to demand perfection. And so when Wasdin hit the unfriendly in war conditions at 846 yards, he was justifiably proud and the other specialized ops were justifiably amazed.

One of the funniest (in a way) moments in the book was when Wasdin, fresh from the battlefield, lay in a hospital hooked up to a pain killer that he could pump into his body if the pain was too great. He woke to someone crying, "Damn, it hurt! Damn, it hurts!" and looked over at a Ranger who had been in his own humvee when fleeing the attack and had been shot first in the leg, then twice in the shoulder, and then once in the arm, but all the while he kept feeding ammo to the others in the humvee. Wasdin had been impressed! Realizing the Ranger had no pain killing pump yet, he reached a mop handle over and after the Ranger grasped it, together they pulled with hospital beds closer. Then Wasdin pumped some pain killers into himself, and then disconnected the needle feeding pain killers into his IV drip into the Ranger's IV drip, gave him a few pumps ... and they got drowsy together. When the nurse returned, she went ballistic, but a passing colonel got a chuckle out of what happened, pulled the nurse aside and told her, "Hey, these guys are trained to take care of each other. Just let it go this time, will ya'?"

What I got most out of this book was the importance of training the mind, which usually comes from suffering, to be the highly trained and superior fighter of SEAL quality. Physical training is important, brutal, often unforgiving, but without having the will and ability to block pain and subsume discomforts and frustrations, the warrior would be a risk to himself and others. [This last statement reminds me of elephants used in battle in former times, but the elephants, though huge creatures, were inept for war for when they felt pain, they would go berserk and destroy what was around them or in their way, which often were on their own side. I guess the point here is they knew no teamwork in such a state, so I guess there does appear to be a parallel.]

My former SEAL colleague recommended this book to me, and now we have to talk! I have so many questions ... so many!

Saving Fish from Drowning

Amy Tan’s 2005 book Saving Fish from Drowning has many thought-provoking paradoxes. The book title itself is taken from the paradoxical anonymous quote intimating that by fishing fishes’ lives are actually being saved:

“A pious man explained to his followers: ‘It is evil to take lives and noble to save them. Each day I pledge to save a hundred fishes. I place the fishes on the bank, where they flop and twirl. “Don’t be scared,” I tell those fishes. “I am saving you from drowning.” Soon enough, the fishes grow calm and lie still. Yet, sad to say, I am always too late. The fishes expire. And because it is evil to waste anything, I take those dead fishes to market and sell them for a good price. With the money I receive, I buy more nets so I can save more fishes.”

The story isn’t at all about fishing but rather about an internationally arranged tour group that is scheduled to go to China and Burma (non-politically correct, Myanmar, and its military government SLORC, State Law and Order Restoration Council) and how disaster seeks the tourists out even before the trip begins – the knowledgeable tour guide is mysteriously murdered. Fortunately for the tourists though the spirit of the tour guide travels with them but unfortunately can’t communicate with them as she sees them getting ripped off by tourist traps and attractions that her experience and knowledge of the cultures sought to avoid. The tourists go on to commit serious cultural faux paux and are nearly kicked out of China and forced, three days ahead of schedule, to enter political insecure Myanmar  where 11 of the 12 members of the tour group are kidnapped by Burmese mountain group, a Karen hill tribe, thinking the 14-year-old American boy who easily performs card tricks is mistakenly thought to be “Younger White Brother” (intimated to be younger brother to Jesus Christ?) and his Steven King book to be the “Lost Important Writings.” (For those interested in knowing more about this mythical belief system of the Karen tribe, much can be found on the internet.)

Well, the story dragged on a bit too long for me but to resolve the tale, the 11 tourists were un-kidnapped because of worldwide publicity, the Karen hill tribe that perpetuated the kidnapping were supposedly awarded their hearts’ desire and given freedom to continue with their chosen lifestyle, and with those two underlying threads of contention resolved, the book could end.

I really enjoyed the writing and witticisms of the first third of the book but afterwards there were just too many diversions to the main story and the story got too diffused to keep my interest. I’ve read three other books by Amy Tan – The Joy Luck Club, The Hundred Secret Senses, and The Bonesetter’s Daughter. I think this was my least favorite, but I do have to say, I did get some new insights on the Burmese culture, a culture that doesn’t get a lot of print, so for that “thumb’s up”.

Some witticisms/paradoxes from the book:

“From what I have observed, when the anesthesia of love wears off, there is always the pain of consequences.” p.15

A tour guide effectively explaining “karma” to the tourists concerning a buffalo wearing blinders and thrashing around in mud while being beaten in order for it to thrash more and make smooth mud for bricks: “Past life this buffalo must be doing bad things. Now suffer, so next life get better…” In effect, the tour guide was trying to say that “your situation and form in life are already determined before you are born. If you are a buffalo suffering in mud, you must have committed wrongs upon others in a previous existence, and thus, you deserve this particular reincarnation. Perhaps this buffalo was once a man who killed an innocent person. Maybe he was a thief. By suffering now, he would earn a much cushier reincarnation in the next go-round. It’s an accepted way of thinking in China, a pragmatic was of viewing all the misfortunes of the world.” p.77

On Buddha and Buddhism: “All this talk on oblivion, of wanting nothing and becoming nobody, seems rather contradictory from a Buddhist sense. The Buddha did all this and he became so much a nobody that he became famous, the biggest nobody of them all.” p.148

When the tour guide said, “For your safety and security, please remain on the bus.” Safety? Security? The mere mention of those words caused the tourists to feel unsafe and insecure. p.175

On lucky money and Buddhist beliefs: Peddlers surrounded and elbowed them shouting, “Lucky money! You give us lucky money!” Lucky money is the money a peddler makes from selling his/her first item of the day. They believe the first sale brings them luck money for the remainder of the day. And making sales and purchasing is all part of karma. When exchanges are made, peddlers receive luck and the purchasers receive merit (in Buddhism for the next life). p.219

Rosanna of the Amish

Rosanna of the Amish is a touchingly true story of an Irish Catholic orphan who was adopted into a Pennsylvania Dutch Amish home. When she was about nine years old, one of the older brothers came to visit with her for the first time and would have “kidnapped” her on his return to New York and his Catholic upbringing if given the chance. Fortunately, she was well loved by Momly, her adoptive mama, and the whole Amish community was sympathetic to the soft-spoken cheerful black-haired girl so no opportunity was given in which the brother could entice her on the train with him to haul her back to the lifestyle to which she was born. And so Rosanna was raised Amish, married Amish, bore and raised three Amish sons, one of whom years later wrote this simple biography of his mother and the Amish community.

It seems the purpose in writing this book was to acknowledge a son's wonderful mother, who became a pillar of the Amish community, and to also give a factual informative introduction to what Amish life is really about. Joseph Yoder (1872-1956), the son, stated that many people, all outsiders commonly known as “fancy” people, had attempted to write about the Amish community but distorted the truths and glossed over the key principles of hard working, honest, law-abiding, sober, simple and quiet community-minded people. He didn’t want the reading public getting a sensationalized perspective of the Amish but to have a true portrayal of daily Amish life from birth to death from one who was intimately aware of the traditions and beliefs and how those traditions and beliefs often were misrepresented by a growing number of writers, of course, unfamiliar with Amish life. And so Joseph wrote Amische Lieder, Rosanna’s Boys, Amish Traditions, and Rosanna of the Amish.

To me this book was fascinating! I would love to be an anthropologist in a hard-working Amish community of farmers and live with them for an extended period of time. A drawback to that would be in the Pennsylvania Dutch Amish community that Joseph Yoder grew up in had as many as 6 different religious divisions based on religious beliefs by the mid 1900s, and it would be quite the cipher distinguishing their subtleties by someone from the "outside" interacting with a community that values words and uses them conservatively. I suppose distinguishing between the various groups of Amish would be much like distinguishing between the varying Protestants who share a core of beliefs but burst off of the core in a medley of subtle, and some not-so-subtle, interpretations.

However, I am a bit perplexed by just HOW these groups are different. Yes, I do realize this was an introduction to the Amish community but in this book the divisions among the Amish churches were explained to be based on a linear graph of Old Timers who did things like they had been done for hundreds of years to other Amish circles that were more accepting of modern conveniences. A few examples of how the Amish community gradually splintered away from the Old Timers school of thought were seeing no worldliness in wearing suspenders, worshiping in a church building rather than gathering in a home, "dancing" (seems to be related to how the body moves to music, and what kind of music, rather than "fancy" people's concept of "dancing" with wild or free abandonment). In any case, people who chose to have less rigid interpretation of clothing, entertainment, etc were viewed as more liberal and “worldly” and therefore could be shunned. Changing membership from the Old Timers gathering to another gathering was also reason to be shunned, provided that person had been baptized in the Old Timers' gathering; otherwise there appeared to be more acceptance of people originally accepting the more liberal gatherings.

One thing about this book, it strikes me anew as I write about it, is that the portrayal of the Amish church gatherings was not grounded on Biblical texts but seemed to be focused on non-Biblical differences. To me, this reflects the internal turmoil of dissention between the Amish groups that the author was aware of as a Plain person but failed to communicate to "fancy" people who want to understand the Biblical foundations of the group(s).

Doing anthropological research in an Amish community though would be very exciting to me as I enjoy working with my hands, I approve the hard-working simple lifestyle, and I have so many questions. I think if I were to be an anthropologist among the Amish, the two largest points of interest I would most want satisfied would be concerning religion and concerning health beliefs/practices. My questions would springboard from:

1. RELIGION - What are the core religious beliefs of the Amish community? What has caused the churches to divide? What kind of communication exists or doesn’t exist between churches?
2. HEALTH - What kind of health problems are typical of Amish communities? What kind of disease prevention is used? Are autoimmune diseases prevalent in the community – and if so, what kind? Does celiac disease exist in the community (big question as the Amish eat a lot of flour products)? How are doctors viewed – what kind of doctors? What kind of medical treatments are allowed and disallowed? What are the Amish beliefs about donating blood, organs, having operations?

I realize that the Plain people wouldn’t be comfortable talking freely with a “fancy” person like myself, but I think there are many values cherished by the Amish that the “fancy” people of the world could embrace to better their enjoyment of life and be better stewards of the world. Yep, I would love being an anthropologist in such a community with strong religious and family values!

Cannabalism of the Vietnam War

I know to title this "Cannabalism of the Vietnam War" might be misleading in a chilling dietary way, but that is not the meaning of my title. Cannabalism instead refers to the human mind that has become so corrupted, twisted, damaged by war that the mind cannabalizes the senses to be altered and perhaps self-destruct the individual. War does that. War is a destroyer. War does not stop destroying the moment a treaty is signed. War continues to ravage, to maim, to aphixiate, to kill. Following are three books written about the destructiveness of the Vietnam War, a destruction that shattered homes, families, bodies and minds that can never be mended after the war.

The Girl in the Picture

Source of both pictures - during and afterwards

The book The Girl in the Picture: The Story of Kim Phuc, the Photograph and the Vietnam War is chillingly sad. The book was written by Denise Chong who wanted to get the story behind the famous picture known in the West as "The Girl in the Picture". The girl, Kim Phuc, was nine years old and had known war much of her childhood. One afternoon when out with extended family members, she, aunts and cousins and villagers around her were suddenly victims of napalm splashing from the sky. Friendly allies had napalmed their own side, and people came running and screaming down the road toward and past people, reporters among them, to flee the atrocities. Several who were running had burning skin and Kim Phuc was the worst. Her clothes had been burned off of her and her skin was afire with napalm. The picture taken of the running burning girl hit the the media and brought to world's attention the ugliness of war. The picture became a symbol for anti-war sentiment, but the war was not to be "over" for another three long years. The Girl in the Picture is a story that tells what life was like for Kim Phuc who survived the napalm attack but who was horribly scarred for life, luckily not on her face or arms so on some level she was thought to lead a "normal" life. Denise Chong gathers Kim Phuc's story from among the surviving family members in Communist Vietnam, in Cuba where Kim Phuc received an education and then onward to Canada where she eventually immigrated. Though the Vietnam War has been over for decades, to Kim Phuc she lives with the memories on her scarred mind and body ... and though the music of bombs falling is no longer heard, the silence of the aftereffects rings defeaningly in her ears.

The Tunnels of Cu Chi

The tunnels - not the underground 'hospital', sleeping and cooking quarters. Source.

The Tunnels of Cu Chi: A Harrowing Account of America's 'Tunnel Rats' in the Underground Battlefields of Vietnam is another chilling story, not one of a victim this time but one of soldier survivorship. Cu Chi was one of the most heavily bombed places during the Vietnam War. It was an area fairly near Saigon that was riddled by Viet Cong soldiers who burrowed holes through the ground to infiltrate the enemy's territory. Though few in number, the Viet Cong tunnel rats would pop up and spray the enemy with a machine gun and disappear back into the ground before the enemy even knew their lines had been infiltrated. It was a warfare totally foreign to the Americans (Australians, etc), and as the Allies caught on, they would train soldiers to crawl through the three levels of burrows after the tiny Vietnamese. The burrows were intricately networked, booby trapped and very confined for one-on-one knife fights but that was the kind of "war" that raged underground. And then at times, the Americans were ordered away from the tunnels so bombs and napalm could be smashed down over and over on the fearful ground that held secrets too awful for Americans to approach. Of the hundreds of Vietnamese tunnel rats, only three (or was it four?) survived from beginning to end of the war. Death lurked in the holes from the enemy tunnel rats or from the deadly pounding of the bombs to destroy one of the Viet Cong's most feared areas in the war. Those who experienced being in the tunnels were forever haunted by spooks of the unknown blackness; the locals who survived had their lands and their families destroyed, and were haunted by the years of evil and death particularly rife in the area; and the Viet Cong, the 3-4 who survived, are people living with guilt for surviving while their friends and families were destroyed, often before their very eyes. Cu Chi is a haunted place and for many of those believing in the spirit world, it is a place to fear. 

[BTW, I have been to the Cu Chi tunnels and even crawled through an open segment of tunnel, only a first level. The second level segment that was open for tourism was a bit too narrow, especially because I didn't know how far I would have to belly-crawl before being able to come up for light and air. Many people who lined up to go through the first level took one look at the close confines and decided they weren't up for it. Actually, I was able to almost duck-walk through most of the first level tunnel so it wasn't too bad. Also, the segments that are opened for public are rigged with intermittent small lights to give the "adventurer" a guide as to where to go. There are off-shoots to the lighted parts but people are told not to try them ... the guides didn't know if they had been properly explored or not, and of course no one knows what is "around the next corner" in them.]

The Sorrow of War

The Sorrow of War was the hardest of these three books to read - hard because it was written after the war but constantly the story flashbacks to what once was. The story is a progression of flashbacks triggered by memories of after the war or yet another time which is the result of depression. Depression of Kien, the narrator, is caused by guilt of leaving his girlfriend after her gang rape to rush to the army (or face the firing squad) and fight at the front for 11 years, during which time his friends and companies are summarily killed and he always seems to be the one who survives. It is not a story of surviving, but of flashbacks that are triggered by his life as he's trying to pick it up in the present ... rather, it didn't seem like he was trying at all to pick it up, but was just in a state of existence. Eventually however, Kien is living a life of continual flashbacks. His mind has been so ravaged by the senselessness and dehumanizing acts of war that he cannot live to enjoy his gift of survival. The author Bao Ninh uses a style which is most compatible with the reader's inability to track time and easily comprehend a chronological story for the entire book is written as if it were a single chapter, one without headings or clues to organize the changing of topics. But the fact becomes obvious, there is no change of topic for the war is the topic and that is paramount in the shattered mind of war-damaged Kien, the North Vietnamese soldier.

Paratroopers of the 101st Airborne

Lately I've been doing book exchanges with colleagues who are interested in history and the effects of war. My most recent is Stephen Ambrose's Band of Brothers about E Company, 506th Regiment, 101St Airborne who first parachuted over Normandy, who often spearheaded attacks on thinly guarded front lines and finally ended up in Hitler's Eagle Nest where blatant looting and wild drinking closed the war, and where casualties were no longer from gun fire but car accidents resulting from the inebriated state.

For an excellent book review, click here.

The name of the book Band of Brothers is the result of specialized training with the same group of men who were forced under dire stress by their unanimous hatred of their company commander, forced night marches where they learned to recognize each other's shadows, and fierce and on-going combat. They were faced with the ugliness of war, destruction, death, and where nothing was worse than letting one's buddy down. And through the grime, filth and blood they formed the closest brotherhood they would ever know, one founded on selflessness and the intimate trust that comes when one knows he can depend on another to do his utmost for his buddies' best interests. And as the book states, by the time they had gotten through the Battle of the Bulge they were a band of brothers who would be linked to one another through life from their shared horrific experiences.

The men of E Company passed through many countries as the war progressed, and each country was stereotyped by their treatment/reaction/indifference to the troops. In general the men had widely different perceptions and experiences with the German people, the supposed enemy. Some found reasons to reinforce their hatred, others loved the country and its people, but nearly everyone ended up changing his mind about their preconceived ideas of the Germans as all of them had some kind of fascination with the German people.

"The standard story of how the American GI reacted to the foreign people he met during the course of WWII runs like this: He felt the Arabs were despicable, liars, thieves, dirty, awful, without a redeeming feature. The Italians were liars, thieves, dirty, wonderful, with many redeeming features, but never to be trusted. The rural French were sullen, slow, and ungrateful while the Parisians were rapacious, cunning, indifferent to whether they were cheating the Germans or Americans. The British people were brave, resourceful, quaint, reserved, dull. The Dutch were, as noted, regarded as simply wonderful in every way [but the average GI never was in Holland, only the airborne.] The story ends up thus: wonder of wonders, the average GI found that the people he liked best, identified most closely with, enjoyed being with, were the Germans. Clean, hard-working, disciplined, educated, middle-class in their tastes and lifestyles (many GIs noted that so far as they could tell the only people in the world who regarded a flush toilet and soft toilet paper as a necessity were the Germans and the Americans), the Germans seemed to many American soldiers as "just like us."" (p248-9)

The book ends with the E Company running riot in Hitler's Eagle Nest but where the incessant drinking in the final days of the war became a bore and the men ached for action or a speedy return home. Finally, on November 30, 1945 the 101st was inactivated and E Company no longer existed. But the brotherhood remained. And almost annually a reunion takes place where many of the former paratroopers get together and re-cement their bonds with one another. Not all have faired well. While all suffered some physical or other adverse traumas of war, the majority were able to adjust back to civilian life. A small number became dysfunctional, three became wealthy, but the vast majority became builders of society.

In the final chapter on the "Postwar Careers" of the men from E Company, it was noted that most men took advantage of the GI Bill of Rights and went to college, became educated and participated actively in contributing to the social, and for some, economic welfare of the US after the war-torn years. And as Ed Tipper, one of the paratroopers, sums it up in regard to why so many of the soldiers returned to be teachers, he said, "Is it accidental that so many ex-paratroopers from E Company became teachers? Perhaps for some men a period of violence and destruction at one time attracts them to look for something creative as a balance in another part of life."

Edible Insects (Entomophagy)

A variety of insects are eaten in the Central African Republic. During the rainy season, termites called bobo swarm around termite mounds or, in urban areas, around electric lights. After an evening storm, children run to collect them by the basketful - often, tossing them in their mouths with shrieks of delight. Termites are eaten sun dried, roasted with salt, and spiced with hot pepper, or they may be boiled in stews or dumplings.

Kindagozo refers to green grasshoppers that arrive in the area in the dry season. Central Africans roast grasshoppers or simmer them in water after the insects' legs and wings have been removed.

Several species of caterpillar are also eaten throughout the country, for example the larvae of the Imbrasia. A large brown moth lays its eggs in sapelli trees. After the caterpillars are hatched, villagers collect and wash them. The caterpillars are then simmered with tomatoes, onions, and other ingredients according to a family's recipe. Some may be dried or smoked for preservation. They can also be kept for up to three months for later use.

Safe and Good for People
Although not all insects are edible, many are safe when harvested from areas free of pesticides and fertilizers and prepared properly. Of course, as a precaution, they should be avoided by those allergic to the insects' marine counterparts, shellfish, which are also arthropods. In contrast to most shellfish, which scavenge for decaying matter, most edible insects eat only clean leaves and consume plants that humans might otherwise be unable to digest.

Caterpillars have an amazing amount of nutrition concentrated in a deceptively small package. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, dried caterpillars contain more than double the protein of beef. Food experts are rediscovering insects as a source of nourishment in developing lands.

Depending on the species of caterpillar eaten, just 100 grams can provide a large part of the daily requirements of such important minerals as calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, and zinc, as well as many vitamins. Additionally, flour made from ground caterpillars can be mixed into a pulp to supplement the diet of undernourished children.

Besides their nutritional value, there are other benefits to entomophagy - the practice of eating insects. Using insects for food is environmentally friendly. Doing so requires little water and produces few greenhouse gas emissions. Added to that, collecting insects for food is a natural means of pest control.

Imbrasia obscura
Picts in this entry all taken from
"Some edible caterpillars of Bas-Congo"

Insects may not appeal to all tastes, but they are served in well over a hundred countries, and in some countries, some insects are considered delicacies. And as one lady in Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic, put it as she prepared a meal for her guests, "Insects are an important source of protein for many in Central Africa, but we do not eat them because we have to; we eat them because they taste so good." Her meal had the enticing aroma of onions, garlic and spices ... and yet the makongo (caterpillars) were served uncooked.

In the Bible the law covenant given to the ancient nation of Israel declared locusts to be clean. Servants of God, such as John the Baptist, ate them - see Leviticus 11:22; Matthew 3:4; Mark 1:6. However, people may still hesitate to eat what is culturally unacceptable to them in their culture - ah, good o' ethnocentrism! Nevertheless, in Central Africa large bowls of caterpillars can bring beaming smiles, and for the visitors, being served first and generously too is the way of showing one's heartfelt graciousness in welcoming the visitors ... and visitors should not disappoint ... or offend.

Info in this article is taken from "Awake!" June 2012 monthly publication.

The Ravens: Pilots on the Secret War of Laos

Christopher Robbins (2000) researched the Ravens, the little known group of flyers in the US Air Force. The group were the elites in a way but also the rogues, the men who flew well but wanted no constraints; they wanted their freedom in the skies to outperform or challenge the elements behind engines with wings; they wanted a chance to make a difference in a war that was bogged down in paperwork, men with too much leisure behind the lines and overwhelmed by bureaucracy. And so from a wild group of fliers known as the Butterflies, the Ravens were born, and Robbins whispers their story in The Ravens: Pilots of the Secret War of Laos.

The Ravens got their name from the raven bird, which is a bird of the gods. The exact reason for choosing this symbol for intelligence gathering is not clear yet the birds have figured heavily in many mythologies. In Nordic mythology, two ravens, Huyin (Thought) and Munin (Meaning), perch on the shoulders of Odin, the lord of gods, to whisper in their master's ears the things they have seen while flying to the ends of the earth. Similarly, the Vikings believed that the circling of the great black birds in the sky during battle were the representations of the gods in guise. To many American Indian tribes the raven could will to do anything as it was a source of power; it had created the sun, earth, moon, stars and people of the earth. Indians have admired the bird for its sagacity, recognizing its ruthless opportunism and wily trickery at the same time. Other beliefs about the raven have figured it to be a ominous bird and a harbinger of death. Zoologically it is known to be extremely clever and brave, having high mental development and the ability to convey messages to its fellows. For whatever reason the name was bestowed on the men who flew the hazards of Laos air in secrecy and in daily flights of death, either dropping bombs or napalm or other deathly things, or, dropping out of the skies to their own deaths. Their apt name intermixes mythology with the reality of their death watch in their daily flights to win territory for their allies, principally the Mao (Hmong).

Source with more mythology on the raven

Laos was not part of the war zone for the US or for the communists in North Vietnam, and both groups denied having troops in the off-limit zone ... and yet it was a zone so heavily bombed that eventually press leaks made the Americans aware of "another war theater", and caused more anger and anti-war sentiment during the Vietnam War, seemingly incorrectly named based on the widening theaters of bomb droppings.

"In excess of 6,300,000 tons of bombs rained down on Indochina during the Vietnam War years, more than all the explosives dropped in both the European and Pacific theaters in World War II. Less than a tenth (about 600,000 tons) of the total tonnage dropped in SE Asia fell on North Vietnam" despite that location being enemy headquarters. "The bombing of North Vietnam was mostly concentrated around the area directly above the 17th parallel, where troops and supplies were massed to move south. It is one of the supreme ironies of the war that it was South Vietnam, the allied country being defended, that bore the brunt of the US bombing--a staggering 3,900,000 tons. Laos took second place. More than 1,100,000 tons of bombs were dropped on the Ho Chi Minh Trail, with a further 500,000 tons in Northern Laos (which means that a considerably greater tonnage was dropped on Laos than on Germany--which was devastated by 1,360,000 tons in World War II). The 1,600,000 tons of bombs dropped on Laos would have amounted to seventeen tons every square mile--or was equal to six-tenths of a ton of bombs for every man, woman and child."

Caught in the middle of all these bombs dropping, invasion of land, and fighting were the Mao (Hmong). Mao was a derogatory term commonly used for the Hmong until the 1970s when Dr. Yang Dao, the first of his people to earn a PhD, raised awareness that it was in fact a venomous word stemming from Chinese slander. Mao originates from the Chinese miao, meaning "barbarian". And yet the Mao (Hmong) were formidable fighters and fierce opponents; they did not deny the 'complementary' name but returned the complement by calling the Chinese "sons of dogs".

The Hmong were great warriors. They were a Mongolian race originating from China. They were the most mysterious of the 12 principal races of Indochina, and even more so since they had no written language or reliable history. Their histories were enshrouded in storytelling and legend, e.g. they had come out of China on a flying carpet, they originated in a land of eternal snow and arctic nights (Inuit origin?), they become werewolves and weretigers to eat the livers of slain enemies. They were a people who grew opium for medicine, but it was socially acceptable for only the old and infirm to use it. Their medical treatment were based on deep traditions for promoting health and long life, e.g. deer horn in velvet, tiger bone marrow, gall of bear and python, and skin of gaur (wild buffalo). And when the Ravens encountered them and introduced Band Aids to them, the Band Aids took on great reverence as medicine with magical powers which drew out bad phi (energy and/or spirits of their animist world).

The Ravens loved the Hmong and found them hard-working, determined, fearless and loving. When the US signed the Paris Agreement on Vietnam on January 12, 1973, South Vietnam and Cambodia (two countries intimately connected to the treaty and which quickly becames victims of the treaty) were not included in the negotiations. Laos, of course not being acknowledged by the US govt as part of the war, was not present or represented either. Basically the treaty called for a cease-fire but a clear date was unestablished ... and through the "treaty" the US was exonerated from the war, the Ravens were ordered to not drop any more bombs though their dear friends and allies (the Hmong) were being decimated below them in battle and pleading for bomb coverage. The Ravens heartbrokenly returned to the US, where they were hated as symbols of the Vietnam War. They felt their years of battling for the mountain territory of the Hmong among the highlands and the huge plateau of the Field of Jars (named after the 4000 ton jars mysteriously lying on the plateau and which were so heavy a helicopter could not airlift one out) was futile and wasted. Nothing had been gained ... and now everything was being lost by the Hmong.

In terror many Hmong, though drastically decimated in numbers, fled Laos to Thailand where they stayed in refugee camps hoping for patriation to other countries. Eventually 2,000 were scattered in Canada, Australia, Argentina and French Guyana. 6,000 in France. Over 50,000 in the US. This mountain group of people have not assimilated easily in the US where they predominantly were sent to cities to reside. Many brought crossbows, hoes and shaman paraphanalia. They had no language skill or technical skill for coping in a city life. They lived off welfare but had no idea of how to shop, cook or "live" the American way. Their family groups had functioned around clans but with clan dispersal among many nations, depression rates soar. While the American medical system is quick to label the Hmong as dysfunctional, the Hmong are more tolerant of "mental" illness. As animists believing that everything in the world must be in harmony, their dreams tell them they are out of harmony. They have rituals to propitiate spirits, but there are too many alien spirits in the US. Some strange deaths have occurred among the Hmong community, death by nightmare, which the Philippinos have a word for "bangungot", but which Americans shake their head at unaware that in a simpler age people would recognize that the Hmong are dying of broken hearts.