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Women's Wellness by BETADINE®

Women’s Wellness by BETADINE®

Last week, I hosted a few of my favorite female bloggers and influencers at the gorgeous Talise Spa to get everyone chatting about the new Women’s Wellness by BETADINE® platform. A first of its kind Wellness Community, Women’s Wellness by BETADINE® uses the importance of health as the basis for this safe-haven, where women can go for relevant and informed advice and information as well as learn…

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Blog #2

Mayan Agriculture and Farming Methods

By Martha Rivera 

It is believed that the Mayans used a variety of farming methods; terrace farming, a technique using raised field farming and the slash & burn method, which was when they cut down all the trees in a particular area and burn the stumps and trees that were cut down, then, they would use the ashes from that, mix it with soil and plant their seeds for the crops to grow. Only thing with this method was that it would only last for about 3-4 years and the Mayans would then have to pick up and move to another area and start the process over. For them, the use of farming methods depended on the land, as well as, the weather, the weather played a big part. Especially with dry climates, cold winters and droughts. Farming was a way of life for them and also how the Mayans provided for their families and villages. The Mayans depended heavily on farming to get by in the and keep their families fed. Although corn was the Mayans main crop, they also grew beans, squash, cacao, chili peppers and fruit trees, black and red beans were added to their diet for protein, in addition to hunting deer, dog, turkey, rabbit, pigs, birds and fishing to feed their families and provide for their entire village.

“ANCIENT MAYA LIFE.” Ancient Mayan Farming, ancientmayalife.blogspot.com/2012/01/ancient-mayan-farming.html.

“Exhibits on the Plaza.” Civilization.ca - Mystery of the Maya, www.historymuseum.ca/cmc/exhibitions/civil/maya/mmp04eng.shtml.

Mayan Civilization. (n.d.). http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Mayan_Civilization

The Mayans Archives - Page 1 of 3. (n.d.). https://www.historyonthenet.com/category/mayans/page/3/

                                                         How Location Affects Agriculture

By Courtney King

Just like anywhere, if you want to grow a crop, you have to make sure that the surrounding lands and soils are fit to grow that specific food. If not, your crop will not grow successfully. The Mayans knew this hundred of years ago when they started farming their most important crops like corn, squash and beans and therefore adjusted the way they farmed to get the best results.

Mayan cities that reside in the lowland areas like Peten and Puuk, had fertile soil but not a lot of it spread across large land plots. So, to increase the soil fertility in more patches of land, the Mayans would use the technique of raised fields. Raised fields were able to drain the land of too much water and improved the soil for the crops. Another technique the Mayans used was planting multiple crops together so they could get the most crops out of the smallest patches of land. They planted beans and squash within the fields of corn, “...so that the beans could climb the maize stalks and the squash could help reduce soil erosion” (Cartwright, 2015). Even though they did not have a lot of land to work with, they still were able to get the most product.

Cities with even less land to farm mostly traded with cities that had a lot of crops or the Mayans themselves had small gardens outside of their homes.

Another aspect about location was that the Mayans experienced hot summers and dry winters, so water management was very important. They used sinkholes that water would be collected in throughout the year and was brought to fields using canals. This way, they always had enough water despite any dry weather.

Even with different climates and weather patterns, the Mayans were still able to farm and grow their crops by creating ways to preserve the soil, save water, and maximize the number of fruits and vegetables that they produce.

Cartwright, Mark. “Maya Food & Agriculture.” Ancient History Encyclopedia, 24 Apr. 2015, www.ancient.eu/article/802/maya-food--agriculture/.

Article 8: Native Tobacco

By Alex Powers

When the Spanish had encountered the Aztec empire, it was long after the Mayan empire had vanished.  The Aztec empire regarded the Mayans the same way in which we regard the Roman Empire; with this influence, it is natural to assume that many cultural implementations of tobacco were inherited by the Aztecs from the Mayans.  The significance of the tobacco plant to Native populations of South and Central America predates the arrival of Spanish and Portuguese explorers to the New World.  While not much is known on the official history of Mayan tobacco use, modern narratives would argue that its history could be indirectly observed in the Aztec and Incan interactions with conquistadors.

Tobacco played an important role in the quotidian life of Aztec, and Incan culture, and the Spanish discovered, “They had touched upon the Atlantic coastline of the Americas in places thousands of miles apart, where they had come into contact with tribes of vastly different cultures and languages who did not know of each other’s existence, and who employed a variety of names for the weed.” (Gately p. 32-33) Each culture utilized tobacco as medicine, a trade commodity, in religious implementations, and recreationally, despite never encountering one another.  What modern scholarship knows about Mayan tobacco use comes from Mayan artwork, what remains of Mayan literature addressing the issue remains untranslatable; this presents obstacles for Atlantic historians tracing tobacco’s origins in the Native world.  Separation of Mayan, Aztec, and Incan societies resulted in a lack of overt cultural influence, but their coexistence in similar natural environments allowed each to introduce their own understanding of how tobacco should be utilized. (Schlesinger) What did connect these societies was their shared similarities in their utilization of tobacco.  By using tobacco as a religious herb, which naturally has hallucinogenic properties, Aztec and Incan societies regarded tobacco smoke as spiritually cleansing; they regarded the herb as medicine for similar reasons.   When the Spanish observed tobacco being used in Aztec society, the regarded it as devilish.  Seeing Natives smoking, and snorting tobacco was evil; stopping its practice was an important step in the Spanish religious conversion and colonization effort. (Thornton, pp. 54,236)

Benjamin, Thomas. The Atlantic World in the Age of Empire. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2001.

Foster, Lynne V. Handbook to Life in the Ancient Maya World. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.

Gately, Iain. Tobacco: A Cultural History of How an Exotic Plant Seduced Civilization. New York: Grove Press, 2001.

Thornton, John K. A Cultural History of the Atlantic World. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2012.

Rushforth, Brett. Colonial North America and the Atlantic World: A History of Documents. New York: Routeledge, 2008.

The Avocado and the Mayans

By Anthony Orlando

Its modern name comedically deriving from the Nahua Aztec word for testicle, “ahuacatl” (Gonzalez), the avocado, originating in the area of what is now Guatemala and southern Mexico,  was treasured by the ancient Mayans (Shapiro) much like it it is today by college students and the attendees of business parties (albeit now in the form of guacamole). The mayans themselves would convert wetlands into elaborately irrigated farming zones where the fossilized remains of ancient avocados once harvested there can still be unearthed (Mascarelli), as have been found in modern day Belize. The discovery of the Belize site would also cause some controversy, as the wetlands used for the avocado farming were relatively distant from most major Mayan cities, though physical geographer Timothy Beach has suggested that these wetland farms were supported by relatively large rural populations (Mascarelli).

Citations

Gonzalez, Robbie. “Ahuacatl.” io9, Gizmodo, 4 Nov. 2013, io9.gizmodo.com/the-aztec-word-for-avocado-ahuacatl-means-testicle-1457781245.

Mascarelli, Amanda. “Mayans Converted Wetlands to Farmland.” Nature News, Nature Publishing Group, 5 Nov. 2010, www.nature.com/news/2010/101105/full/news.2010.587.html.

Shapiro, Michael. “Top 10 Foods of the Maya World.” National Geographic, 12 Sept. 2012, www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/top-10/maya-foods/.

Cassava: Fueling an Empire?

By Anthony Orlando

Otherwise known as manioc, tapioca, or yuca, the naturally gluten-free and generally healthy cassava (Mercola) is a tuberous root originating from tropical regions in the America’s (Rodriguez). Cassava also holds “...the highest yield of food energy of any cultivated crop (Carroll)”. In 2007, a 1,400 year old Mayan monocrop farm of cassava was discovered at the archaeological site of Ceren in El Salvador (Drye). Buried in and preserved by 17 ft of ash from a nearby volcanic eruption in 600 AD, the farm site serves as the first solid evidence of widespread cassava consumption in pre-columbian central america (Carroll). The food energy power of the cassava may have not only been able to assist in feeding and sustaining the massive Mayan populace, but also could have also served as the food-fuel for many of the Mayan civilizations architectural wonders (Carroll). Though it is unknown how exactly the ancient Mayans ate it, its versatility likely offered numerous ways, as cassava can be boiled, baked, made into bread (Rodriguez), or even turned into chips (which, from personal experience, are pretty good).

Citations

Carroll, Rory. “1,400-Year-Old Cassava Crop Solves Riddle of the Maya.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 23 Aug. 2007, www.theguardian.com/science/2007/aug/23/1.

Drye, Willie. “Ancient Farm Discovery Yields Clues to Maya Diet.” National Geographic, National Geographic Society, 20 Aug. 2007, news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/08/070820-maya-crop.html.

Mercola, Joseph M. “Health Benefits of Cassava.” Mercola.com, 25 July 2016, articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2016/07/25/cassava-benefits.aspx.

Rodriguez, Hector. “What Is Cassava, and How Can You Eat It?” The Spruce, 20 July 2017, www.thespruce.com/introduction-to-cassava-yuca-2138084.