This year, in late summer and early fall, I devoted nearly every second of my free time to one thing: Research. Britain, specifically the post-Roman/Early Medieval (dark age) period. This included a huge spreadsheet on the available vegetation: fruits, vegetables, and herbs. I ended up listing growing season, soil necessities, and length/yield of harvest.
Image Credit | Mira Produtora
Since witchcraft plays a key role in PAWN, I also needed to research the historical medicinal uses of these plants. Nothing compared to what I found on the many diverse species of vegetables in the Allium Genus Or, in non-scientific English – ONIONS (yes, leeks, chives and garlic are also under the Allium umbrella. I’m ignoring those for now). Most of them were amusing (in the Olympic games of first century AD Greece, athletes would not only consume large quantities of onions prior to the games, but also drink and cover their bodies with onion juice). Some were downright frightening (placing onions near the bed of someone with a highly infectious disease to prevent family members from also being infected).
Scientists seem to agree that our ancestors have been eating onions in one form or another since pretty much forever (traces of onion proteins found in a Bronze Age settlement dating back to 5000BC), but they’ve also been used in medicine and religion. Images of onions can be found in ancient Egyptian art, and scientists found small onions in the eye sockets of King Ramses IV’s mummy.
Ancient Egyptians believed consuming an excess of onions would grant them increased endurance (for asthma, your treatment was the onion’s bastard cousin, garlic). But it didn’t stop there. Egyptians cited onions as a treatment for over 8000 different illnesses and ailments. It was used for everything, from an antiseptic to increasing sperm count. Does it really matter if your sperm count is increased if your wife won’t go near you? Those poor women.
Hippocrates (that guy that is supposed to have written The Hippocratic Oath) was also apparently a pro-onion advocate. According to his texts, onions were a diuretic and a treatment for pneumonia. They were also named as a ‘wound healer,’ which makes me think of an ancient Greek (very painful) substitute for Neosporin.
Onions also pop up in folk traditions from pretty much everywhere. Europe, North America, Africa. As late as the mid 1900s.
Think we’ve evolved past the onion fetish?
There was also apparently a chain email being circulated in late 2009 citing that placing baskets of onions around your house would ‘absorb the flu virus and prevent your family from getting sick.’
If you’re a writer (or if you’re not), what’s something interesting you’ve found during your research?
One Honest Word 