Egyptian Cats

It has been too long since I’ve blogged, and I feel badly as usual. Life seems to always be busy for me. Two weeks ago the giant cold front hit the U.S. and just so everyone knows Colorado was no exception. We did not get the snow, but we did get the cold weather here, which was just all kinds of fun. There’s nothing like having ice around the edge of my window during the day. Now it seems Mother Nature has thrown another curve ball and wants it to be spring. I don’t doubt that will change here soon.

In conjunction with all the complaining I experienced during our cold front, I wanted to blog about the cold weather during WWII. Many don’t realize people were out fighting in the cold weather, while all we had to do was walk from class to class in it. But alas, time got away from me and my innovative post is no longer timely.

Last week I started a blog on St. Valentine, but again did not get the post up in time. Instead of choosing a day for this post, I’m going to go a bit of a different route. Like my pancake blog from last March (March 23 to be exact; I think the table of contents was the smartest idea I’ve had because of the time it saves me), I’m going to do an animal.

Those close to me know I had a cat, Cheryl. I loved that cat, probably because I had her since I was three years old. Time did eventually take its course though, despite my hopes of otherwise. I wanted to do something I could spread out if I needed to, and decided to look into a bit of the history of cats.

If you are a dog person, I’m sorry. I most certainly am not. To balance it out though, I will try to do a post about your best friend (but just so you know cat owners out number dog owners).

In ancient Egypt cats held a special place in society. As a child I remember visiting museums and seeing cat sarcophaguses and thinking “cool!” It was in Egypt where cats were domesticated 4,000 years ago; it is around 2,000 B.C.E. the fully domesticated cat was brought into Egyptian homes. The cat in ancient Egypt, or miw (meaning to see) was sacred and respected.



These domesticated cats were used to ward off the asp (a poisonous Egyptian snake, the same said to kill Cleopatra) and other snakes, although over time the animal transformed in the minds of the Egyptians and became a god.

During the New Kingdom (1540-1069 B.C.E.) tomb scenes started showing cats as part of everyday life. Cats were taken on hunting excursions instead of dogs; these cats were trained to retrieve fowl and fish on these excursions. Statues of cats were placed outside the house to protect inhabitants to ward off evil sprits within the home.

Several Egyptian deities began taking the form of cats. One was Bastet, a feline deity often depicted as having a female body and the head of a cat, had the role of fertility, protector of children and protector of all cats. She became so popular she became a household deity. In the temple Bubastis, or Tell Basta, the cats lived a lavish life as the “embodiment” of Bastet. They were served upon until their death, when they were mummified and given as offerings to Baset.



The mummifying process for cats was just as involved with several steps. First was the removal of the organs, followed by the body being stuffed with sand or packing material, placing the feline in a sitting position, wrapping the body tightly and finally designing the wrappings in black ink. In their tombs cats received a bowl of milk along with mice and rats.

When a cat died their formed owners and occupants of the house would go into deep mourning and shave their eyebrows a sign of grief (and no, I am not that crazy!).

I hope you all have had a good couple of weeks. Stay tuned, I will try and update again soon. And as always, happy history.

~Remember you can suggest different topics for me if you’re at all interested about learning about something. I’m welcome to suggestions. Also, I’d love to know how many people read my blog. Hit “follow” and follow me here, or just hit “like” if you’re reading this through Facebook. Thanks!

Super Bowl XX

I’m a bit sore (although not enough to really matter too much) that the Bears ended up losing on Sunday. I guess history did not repeat itself, since the Packers will go on to the Super Bowl this year.

Because I’ve been sick since Sunday, and missing school because of it, I wanted to at least post a short blog today about something going on. As per usual when I have this idea, the historical pickings were slim. So, I’m picking Super Bowl XX, not something exciting but something interesting.

In Super Bowl XX the Chicago Bears beat the New England Patriots 46-10. My dad always talks about this game because he is a Bears fan. I suppose I found it interesting that this event came so closely to my last post from Sunday.

Yup, I think that’s about all I have to say on this topic for today. Short post, yes, but I think the change of pace works for this week and is refreshing. Until next time, happy history!

Bears v. Packers

Last week when both the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers won their play off games, history was made. Today’s game is the first time the Bears and Packers have met in post season since 1941. In that game, the Bears won; in today’s game, we are still waiting to see what will happen.

I’m glad the games are on today, since I actually got sick and am suffering through it right now. The game is helping provide a distraction for my aches and pains. With that, I am going to let history play out and see if the Bears will win again, or if Green Bay will come out victorious in this game. Remember, the winner gets to go to the Super Bowl, so the stakes are high right now.

Happy History All!

Prohibition

It is Sunday, and school starts on Tuesday for me. I’m enjoying my last day off (I work tomorrow) before I go back to school. And what better way to spend it than to watch the Bears Seattle game and blog? As an added bonus, Chicago is winning, which is always good (but may I note I am a Broncos fan first and foremost.)

Two amendments in the United States Constitution don’t do much more than cancel one another. Amendment 18 to the Constitution regards the infamous Prohibition. Prohibition came at a time when the country was changing and reforming many of the problems in government and with society.

On January 16, 1919, the 18th Amendment was passed. Prohibition had been a powerful force in America during the 1800s. These societies, known as temperance societies, consisted of people concerned with how alcohol affected society. The Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, founded in 1873, made Prohibition a political issue and advocated for complete Prohibition of alcohol, not moderation or temperance.

After ignoring the issue in the 1916 election, Congress met and passed the 18th Amendment. At the same time WWI was being fought in Europe. Many German and Irish immigrants were streaming into the United States, both of whom were Catholics in a predominantly Protestant country. One could say Prohibition went in conjunction with the rise of the second KKK, which focused on anti immigration issues.

Prohibition lasted for 14 years before it was repealed with the 21st Amendment. During that time the country faced several problems with bootleggers and Moonshine. In addition, vineyards were allowed to continue producing wine, and many people stockpiled wine for later since the consumption of alcohol was not prohibited, rather the sale was. Chicago became a heaven for those importing alcohol, and many gangsters like Al Capone made millions off the sale of alcohol during the 1920s.

The effects of Prohibition are still seen today, mainly with the sport NASCAR. NASCAR began when different bootleggers were bragging about how fast they raced away from the police. Soon enough these different men decided the only way to truly determine who was fastest was to race. Thus, NASCAR was born.

So that is my blog for this week. I will try my hardest to update next week, but with school starting I actually have a crazy week ahead of me. I need to work and start on my schoolwork; I already know my capstone and one history class will be very demanding. I wish everyone a good week and Happy History!

Crazy Horse

Every week I write my blog in a Microsoft Word Document, because I don’t think Blogger catches all my misspellings as well, and trust me, every week there are plenty of them. I may love writing, but spelling is not one of my strengths.

After blogging through 2010 I realized I had 49 pages of text; and because we’re starting a new year, I don’t want to repost on a topic I have already posted on, because that would defeat the purpose of my blog. So last week after my final 2010 post I made a Table of Contents with all my blog titles and all the subjects I covered last year. Overall, I realized I had a lot of posts on Europe. Sure, I tried to mix it up, but it’s not difficult to see that I love European History.

This week, Wednesday January 6 marked the anniversary of Harold Godwinson being crowned King of England in 1066. My initial thought was to write about that, but then I realized I’ve talked about this topic already (See September 28, 2010’s post). So I think my New Years resolution is going to be to step out of my comfort zone and blog about some topics I’m not so familiar with this year.

One aspect of history I do not personally find the most interesting is the history of the west. Yes, this includes the history of my home state Colorado. This is interesting since my father in particular loves the history of this region. But for whatever reason I do not find this the most interesting. A quote I said to a friend trying to convince me to take a class about the west: “Manifest destiny. There, I just summed up the class for you!”

However, for the sake of mixing things up, I chose an event in history that took place in the American west for this week. I want to challenge myself, and I do enjoy learning things too. So here we go.

America has one part of its past it wants to forget; in fact most will simply ignore this event or even don’t know full well what happened involving it. I’m talking about the conflict with the American Native Americans. Genocide is a nasty word to use, one I never thought about in terms of American history. However, what American citizens did to the Native American tribes is indeed a genocide.


During this time period there was a lot of fighting between the groups. On January 8, 1877, Crazy Horse, Chief of the Sioux tribe, fought his final battle.

Six months earlier Crazy Horse banded together with his ally Sitting Bull, and the two led their combined forces to victory over Lieutenant Colonel George Custer and his men. The battle was near the Little Bighorn River of Montana, and would later be dubbed “Custer’s last stand.”

The win for the Native American forces resulted in 200 deaths of American soldiers. The American people demanded revenge against Crazy Horse. On January 8, the last of Crazy Horses followers along Montana’s Tongue River, and the soldiers opened fire driving the Native Americans into the blizzard. Crazy Horse and his warriors were able to hold off the soldiers, allowing the women and children to escape in the blizzard.

While Crazy Horse was able to escape, he knew he would be hunted. In May 1877 he led his followers to the Red Cloud reservation and surrendered. Crazy Horse was killed five months later.

This event is just one case of the conflict between the Native Americans and European settlers. It is important to learn about our past, even if it is a bleak moment in history for people. Effects of this conflict are still evident today; many Native American citizens live on reservations today and face hardships associated with the land they were “given.”

I have visited the Crazy Horse monument in South Dakota. When I visited it (many years ago) only the face was complete. It is still a work in progress today, but is a visual monument to an important figure in American history. Happy History everyone.

Rasputin and 2010

This is my last post for 2010! I can’t believe how quickly the time went this year; I’m almost done with college, I’m 22 now, and I’ve been blogging for a whole year. 2011 looks to be a promising year, and I’m excited to see what life has planned for me.

But enough of the inspirational stuff about me, you’re here to read about history. And I think I picked quite an interesting event for this week.

My sophomore year of high school my Advanced Placement European History teacher put up a picture of Rasputin up in the front of the classroom to watch us. He is definitely a creepy looking man with a colorful history.

On December 30, 1916 Rasputin was murdered. Rasputin was born in Siberia to peasants. Early in life he became a self-proclaimed holy man. Rasputin won the favor of Czar Nicholas II and Czarina Alexandra because he had the ability to stop the bleeding of their hemophiliac son.

Through this Rasputin gained a lot of trust from the royal family, especially Czarina Alexandra. When Czar Nicholas abdicated and left to fight in WWI, Rasputin was helping run the country with the Czarina.

Here is the interesting part of the story; at this point the noble class got annoyed at how much power Rasputin had. The only way to get rid of the problem was to kill Rasputin. He was first fed a large amount of poison, however he did not die. Next, the nobles shot Rasputin, twice to no avail. Finally they tied him up and dumped him in the river. Only then did the man die.

My history teacher also claimed (although this has no back checking) that Rasputin was a large man, over six feet tall, and also quite the lady’s man. Personally, I think he is not the most attractive person I’ve ever seen.



I’ve also been forgetting one main goal of my blog these last few months: to link the past to the present. Another thing I’ve heard about Rasputin was he claimed so long as he was alive nothing bad would happen to the Prince. After Rasputin’s death the noble class went a step further and brutally murdered the royal family.

In a strange overlapping of fate, on December 30, 1922 the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, or USSR, was established under soviet leader Lenin. I hope I don’t need to spell out the rest of this history for you.

On another note, I wanted to conclude my blog for this year by highlighting some events I think will become history from this year.

First, the mining rescue from Chile: I did not follow the story too closely, but came on just in time to watch the last miner being rescued. This event was important because it was a positive news story; these men banded together and worked to survive. The country of Chile banded together to rescue the men with the aid of the world sending supplies and engineers. Many countries and people worked together to successfully rescue those men.

The death of the Georgian Lugar Nodar Kumaritashvili at the beginning of the Winter Olympics: This is one of the sad events from 2010.

The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico: This oil spill only made me angrier and angrier the longer it went on. If a solution can be found to bring men home from the moon after a crisis with a space ship (Apollo 13) then surely some solution to this oil spill could have been found sooner than it was. Another bleak point of 2010, however something I hope we can learn from for the future.

The Icelandic Volcano Eruption: This caused most of European air travel to stand still, and disrupted air travel for over a month after the eruption.

Prince William and Kate’s engagement: speaks for itself.

So that is what I’ve brainstormed for this week. I am very excited for the New Year this year. I’m going out with some friends, and am quite certain I will have a blast ringing in the New Year. Make your resolutions, enjoy the holiday, and as I always finish my blogs: Happy History!

Saint Nick

Just one small side note from the topic a little: I looked back, way back, to my first post. It was December 23, 2009; I have been blogging now for over a year. Some things are the same, like Word underlining the word blog as misspelled. Some are different. Regardless I still love doing this, and plan to keep it up for another year, and beyond. I hope that you, my readers, will stick with me.

Up until now I’ve tried to be very balanced with my posts. As surprising as it may be, not everyone in the world celebrates Christmas, so doing a post with a Christmas undertone is a bit tough for me.

I do celebrate Christmas, but I’m actually also Jewish, and celebrated Chanukah earlier this month as well. So, before I start this post I would like to say not everyone celebrates the same holidays here; in fact I had one friend describe this week as tough because of how Christmas oriented it is. Turn on the TV and you get Christmas movies, shows, advertisements and music. This is why I say “Happy Holidays” as the universal greeting this time of year; it encompasses everyone.

But when I got on to search for historical events this week I found this and couldn’t resist.

December 24 many children will go to sleep with visions of Sugar Plums dancing in their heads, listening intently for the sound of reindeer on their roofs and the impression that Santa Clause is coming to their town. For all who celebrate Christmas, Santa is a man with a big beard who comes down the chimney and leaves you all the presents you asked for. Santa also lives in the North Pole with his elves, his reindeer and his sleigh. But where did the idea of Santa really come from?

St. Nicholas was originally a monk born around 280 C.E. in modern Turkey. St. Nicholas was known for his kindness; it is rumored he gave away all his inherited wealth and traveled the countryside helping the poor and sick. The best-known story of the time was how St. Nicholas saved three poor sisters from being sold into slavery by providing them with a dowry.

Nicholas became known as the protector of children and sailors over time. St. Nicholas’ feast day is celebrated December 6, and on this day it was considered lucky to make large purchases or get married. By the Renaissance St. Nicholas was the most popular saint in Europe. St. Nicholas remained popular even after the Protestant Reformation, especially in Holland.

St. Nicholas’ popularity spread to the United States towards the end of the 18th century. The name Santa Clause originated from the Dutch nickname Sinter Klaas. The Dutch living in New York gathered to celebrate his death an event documented in several New York newspapers.

In 1804 woodcarvings of Santa were distributed at the New York Historical Society. These woodcuts included images of Santa with stockings filled with toys and candy. Santa’s fame only increased from there.

Santa’s importance increased especially for children in the early 19th century. With the rise of magazines and other media, advertisers slowly began to expand Christmas’ importance. Stores began advertising for Christmas shopping in the 1820s; by the 1940s separate advertisements were created for Christmas shopping. Santa became a draw to different stores, luring in kinds for a glimpse of a live Santa. I personally think it was the rise of this consuming society that brought a rise of Santa over time.

Other countries had their own Santa’s as well. Cristkind or Kris Kringle delivered presents to well-behaved Swiss and German kids. In Scandinavia a jolly elf named Jultomten delivered gifts in a sleigh drawn by goats. In English legend Father Christmas who filled stockings on Christmas Eve. Pere Noel (translation Father Christmas) has a similar role in France.

A Russian story tells of a woman named Babouschka who gave the three wise men wrong directions on purpose so they wouldn’t find Jesus. Later she felt remorseful but could not undo the damage. On January 5 she visits children leaving gifts in hopes of undoing the damage. A similar story exists in Italy where a witch rides a broomstick down the chimneys of Italian homes to deliver toys into stockings of lucky children.

Today Santa is in every mall, in commercials and even drinks Coca-Cola. He is pat of the American culture, just like Christmas.

I’m going to finish off this post by wishing everyone a very Happy Holiday Season. Whether you celebrate Christmas, Chanukah or anything (or nothing) in between I hope you have had time with your families to celebrate. Because ultimately, I think that is the most important thing.

Happy History to all, and to all a Good Night!