Salt was the primary currency during the Middle Ages in East Africa. The word “salary” is derived from the Latin word “salarium”, which meant “the money used to buy salt”.
With the ability to preserve food and being an essential element in man’s diet, salt was precious and highly valued during the Roman Empire and the Middle Ages. It was used for trading, where people would lick salt blocks to verify their authenticity and break pieces off as change.
Salt was not the only edible currency. Parmigiano cheese was once accepted as bank collateral in Italy. Tea bricks were used throughout China, Tibet, Mongolia and Central Asia because of the high value of tea in many parts of Asia. Cacao beans were also used in Central America for small daily transactions, e.g. a turkey egg cost 3 cacao beans. Somebody’s daughter was even said to be used as human sacrifice that cost 500 cacao beans!
鹽在中古世紀時期的東非是主要貨幣。而英文的「薪水」 salary，便是來自於拉丁文的 salarium，意思是「用來買鹽的錢」。
鹽能夠用以保存食物，同時也是人類飲食的基本成分，因而在羅馬帝國與中古世紀期間，都彌足珍貴。它被用來作交易，人們會在交易時舔鹽磚，以確保那是真品，還會把鹽磚弄成碎塊，當成零錢使用。
可以食用的貨幣不僅止於鹽，帕馬森乳酪在義大利也曾一度被認可用作銀行的擔保品。茶磚也因為在亞洲許多地方都有着高度價值，而廣泛使用於整個中國、西藏、蒙古、中亞地區。可可豆也曾用於中美洲，作為日常交易品，比如一顆火雞蛋值三粒可可豆。甚至據說有某個人的姊妹，以五百粒可可豆的價格，被用於獻祭。
The 1984 film “A Nightmare on Elm Street” by Wes Craven detailed the story of demon Freddy Krueger who slaughters people in their dreams. His inspiration was an LA Times article about a refugee from Cambodian genocide who was afraid to sleep, fearing that he would be killed in his dreams and never wake up. In the 1980s, dozens of South East Asians, particularly men from the Hmong ethnic group, died in their sleep.
The Hmong believed that the deaths and nightmares were punishments from their ancestors’ spirits for leaving Laos. In the 1960s when the Vietnam War spread to Laos, more than 30,000 Hmong soldiers were recruited to fight alongside the USA. Laos became a communist country at the end of the war, and the Hmong soldiers were persecuted and regarded as traitors. Many soldiers escaped and became refugees in Thailand and US.
The mysterious deaths experienced by Hmong people were later classified as Sudden Unexplained Nocturnal Death Syndrome (SUNDS).
一九八四年 Wes Craven 的電影「半夜鬼上牀」（A Nightmare on Elm Street），講述一個名叫 Freddy Krueger 的惡魔，會在人們睡夢中把人殺死的故事。其靈感來自於洛杉磯時報的一篇報導，裏面提及一名從紅色高棉大屠殺逃出來的難民，因為害怕在夢裏會被殺掉而不敢睡覺。在一九八〇年代，有許多東南亞人都在睡夢中死去，尤其是赫蒙族（Hmong）。
赫蒙人相信，死亡與惡夢，都是祖靈因為他們離開寮國而施給他們的懲罰。在一九六〇年代，越戰擴及到寮國，有三萬多名赫蒙士兵受到徵召，為美軍打仗。越戰後，寮國成為共產主義國家，而赫蒙士兵則被視為叛徒，遭到迫害。許多士兵成為難民，逃往泰國、美國。
而赫蒙人所經歷的神祕死亡，後來被歸類為「原因不明夜間睡眠猝死綜合症」（SUNDS，Sudden Unexplained Nocturnal Death Syndrome）。
On 10 May 1908, Anna Jarvis started the first Mother’s Day celebration in the US when she held a memorial for her mother at St Andrew's Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virginia. Due to her promotional campaign efforts, President Woodrow Wilson signed a bill in 1914 designating the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day.
But when Mother’s Day became a national holiday, florists, card sellers, charities and other businesses started profiting from the celebration. Jarvis assumed that the businesses had misunderstood and exploited the holiday. Eventually, she fought against Mother’s Day profiteers by organizing campaigns, boycotts, and even issuing lawsuits. Before her death in 1948, she was seen in Philadelphia asking for signatures on a petition to revoke Mother’s Day.
一九〇八年五月十日，Anna Jarvis 在美國首次慶祝母親節，她在西維吉尼亞州格拉夫敦的聖安德魯衛理宗教堂（St Andrew's Methodist Church），為母親舉辦了一場紀念會。在她的努力推廣下，總統威爾遜在一九一四年簽署通過了一項法案，將五月的第二個星期日定為母親節。
不過，在母親節成為國定假日後，花商、卡片販售商、慈善團體、其他店商等，開始從中獲利。Jarvis 認為這些店商誤解了這個節日，也利用了這個節日。最後，她為了打擊這些母親節獲益者，開始組織運動、發動抵制，甚至提起訴訟。她在一九四八年過世前，還在費城找人連署撤銷母親節的請願書。
In the aftermath of Napoleon's Egyptian Campaign in 1798–1801, Europeans became fascinated with everything that is related to Egypt in the 19th century.
During Egyptomania, people thought that the spirit of a person remained in its body after death. They believed that if they consumed mummia or ground mummy powder, they could obtain the dead person’s strength. Europeans purchased mummia and combined it with their drinks, believing that they would be cured of their ailments. The huge demand for mummia caused a trade for fake mummies made from prisoners, slaves, and beggars.
In 1821, British surgeon and antiquarian Thomas Pettigrew once saw a mummy unwrapping event in an Egyptian antiquities’ exhibition. He became interested in the idea and started organizing his own private unwrapping parties. Soon, unwrapping parties as a form of entertainment became a trend among the upper class. The craze ceased after the scientific community supported the preserving of ancient cultures.
在拿破崙一七九八至一八〇一年的埃及戰役後，十九世紀的歐洲人開始對埃及的一切都感到着迷。
在那個「癡迷埃及」的期間，人們認為，人死後靈魂仍然會在身體裏。他們相信，如果食用木乃伊或是木乃伊磨碎而成的粉末，就可以得到死者的力量。當時的歐洲人會收購木乃伊，把它跟飲料加在一起飲用，他們相信這樣可以治療疾病。木乃伊的大量需求，導致出現了用囚犯、奴隸、乞丐所製做的假木乃伊。
英國外科醫師兼古物收藏家 Thomas Pettigrew，曾在一八二一年一場埃及古物展覽中，見到一具木乃伊拆包的過程，他從此對於拆包木乃伊深感興趣，進而開始舉辦私人的木仍伊拆包聚會。沒多久，這種聚會就變成了上流社會的流行娛樂，直到科學界支持保存古代文化後，這股狂熱方才結束。
In Flores, Indonesia, the Nage people believed in the existence of Ebu Gogo, interpreted as “grandmother who eats anything” or “old glutton.” The mythological creatures were alleged to have existed before the 17th century but were no longer seen today. It had a small physique and had a huge appetite. The creatures were said to be extinct as the humans hunted them for stealing food, kidnapping children, and eating human babies.
In 2003, a team of Indonesian and Australian archeologists discovered the fossils of Homo floresiensis in Liang Bua cave in Flores, Indonesia. Dubbed as the “Hobbit,” the species was noted to be only 3 feet, 3 inches in height. The Homo floresiensis was recorded to have survived till 50,000 years ago which means that they have coexisted with modern humans in Flores. Due to its discovery, some people believed that the species was related to the Ebu Gogo.
印尼佛羅勒斯島的納格人（Nage），他們相信有種怪物叫 Ebu Gogo，意思是「貪食婆」或「貪食佬」。據稱這種神話般的怪物在十七世紀以前確實存在，今日則已不復得見。他們身形矮小，卻食量巨大。據說他們因為偷竊食物、誘拐小孩、食用人類嬰兒等行徑，而遭到人類追殺，進而滅絕。
在二〇〇三年，一群印尼與澳洲的考古學家，在佛羅勒斯島的 Liang Bua 洞穴，發現了佛羅勒斯人類（Homo floresiensis）的化石。這個人類物種，又被暱稱為「哈比人」，只有三呎三吋高（約九十九公分）。根據記錄顯示，佛羅勒斯人類一直存活到五萬年前，換句話說，他們曾跟佛羅勒斯島上的現代人共同生活過。這項發現讓有些人相信，這個人類物種跟 Ebu Gogo 有關。
In ancient Greek religion, Artemis was the goddess of the hunt and the moon. On the sixth day of the Thargelion or 6 May, worshipers honoured Artemis’ birth by inserting lit candles in their cake so it would illuminate like the moon. They also believe that the smoke carried their prayers to the gods. This belief was allegedly the origin why birthday celebrants make a wish before they blow out their candles.
Ancient Greeks apparently borrowed the idea of birthday celebration to the ancient Egyptians. The Egyptians supposed that when the pharaohs were crowned, they became gods. Their coronation day was celebrated as their birth as a god.
在古希臘宗教裏，阿緹密斯（Artemis）是狩獵神兼月神。在 Thargelion 月的第六天，亦即五月六日，膜拜者會在蛋糕插上蠟蠋，讓它像月亮一樣發亮，藉以紀念阿緹密斯神的誕辰。他們還相信，蠋火的煙會將他們的祈願帶給衆神。據說，這個信仰就是慶生者在吹熄蠟蠋前許願的來源。
這種慶生方式，顯然是古希臘人從古埃及人那裏學來的。埃及人認為，法老在加冕後就會成為神，於是人們會把法老的加冕日，作為他們重新誕生為神的日子慶祝。
In his 1994 book “Schneewittchen: Märchen oder Wahrheit?” or “Snow White: Fairy Tale or True Story?”, Historian Eckhard Sander suggested that the German fairy tale was based on the life of Margaretha von Waldeck.
Famous for her beauty, Margaretha belonged to the noble family of Waldeck in Germany. Her father ran a number of copper mines with children workers, which connected to the story of the seven dwarfs in the fairy tale. The dwarfs’ house was said to be in Bergfreiheit, a copper mining village in the past. It is now popularly known as the Snow White village.
It was alleged that Margaretha moved to Siebengebirge, now Limburg, Netherlands, due to problems with her stepmother. She was later sent to the Brussels court by her father, where she attracted the attention of noblemen including Phillip II of Spain.
Unfortunately, she died in March 1554 at the age of 21. It was alleged that Margaretha was poisoned by her stepmother but it was impossible since the latter died 1546 before Margaretha's death.
歷史學家 Eckhard Sander 在他一九九四年出版的《白雪公主：是童話還是真實故事？》（Schneewittchen: Märchen oder Wahrheit?）一書中暗示，德國童話白雪公主，可能是根據華爾德克家瑪格麗特（Margaretha von Waldeck）的一生改編而成。
瑪格麗特以貌美聞名，出身於日耳曼華爾德克貴族世家。父親經營着許多銅礦，裏頭用的是童工，童話裏的七矮人便與此有關。而七矮人的房子，據說就位在伯格弗萊海特（Bergfreiheit），這裏在過去是一座銅礦村莊，如今則是家喻戶曉的白雪公主村。
據說瑪格麗特因為繼母的關係，搬到了錫本格畢爾格（Siebengebirge），也就是現在荷蘭的林堡（Limburg）。之後，又被父親送到布魯塞爾宮廷，她在那裏吸引了許多貴族的目光，包括西班牙國王腓力二世也在其中。
瑪格麗特於一五五四年三月逝世，年廿一。據說，是被她繼母給毒死的，但這不可能，因為她繼母早在瑪格麗特過世前就已辭世，死於一五四六年。
Luk thep or child angels are baby dolls which were believed to be powered with a child’s spirit. Some Buddhist monks blessed the dolls so it could bring good fortune to its owners.
Mananya Boonmi or Mama Ning allegedly started the trend of luk thep dolls, claiming that her business became successful due to her first child angel. She owned a collection of luk thep dolls and had people purchase from her. It could cost up to a thousand baht and the craze was hyped up by celebrities who said to have owed their success to luk thep.
People recognized the dolls as their own child. Owners feed them, clothed them and bought them gifts. Restaurants also had a luk thep meal and one airline treated the dolls as human passengers.
The fad seemed to have ceased after several luk thep dolls were abandoned in Buddhist temples. Apparently, the owners dumped the dolls after it failed to bring them luck.
仙童娃娃 ลูกเทพ 是一種仿嬰兒娃娃，人們認為它附有幼童的靈魂。有些佛教僧侶會對仙童娃娃加持，讓它能為主人帶來好運。
據說，仙童娃娃的流行始於 Mananya Boonmi。她聲稱自己的生意之所以成功，就是來自於她的第一個仙童娃娃。她收集了一大堆仙童娃娃讓人購買，價錢可以高到一千泰銖。也因為許多名人把自己的成功歸因於仙童娃娃，從而帶起了這股風潮。
人們會把仙童娃娃當成自己的小孩。主人會餵它，幫它穿衣服，買禮物給它。餐廳裏也會提供仙童娃娃的餐點，還有一家航空公司會把仙童娃娃視為一般乘客看待。
這股風潮後來似乎有所消退，許多仙童娃娃被丟棄在佛寺，顯然是它們沒能帶來好運，因而遭到主人丟棄。
According to an Egyptian papyrus document, women in 1350 BCE were advised to pee on bags of wheat and barley seeds to know if they were pregnant. If the wheat seeds sprouted first, the baby was supposed to be a girl, but if the barley grew first, then it would be a boy. If nothing grew, then the woman was not pregnant.
According to a 1963 study, this method was about 70 percent accurate in determining pregnancy, but it was not precise in predicting the baby’s gender. Researchers hypothesized that the increased level of estrogens in the pregnant women’s urine could have stimulated the seeds’ growth.
根據一份古埃及紙莎草文獻顯示，西元前一三五〇年的女子，會被教導小便在裝有小麥籽與大麥籽的袋子上，來檢測自己是否懷孕。如果小麥籽先發芽，表示會生女孩；如果是大麥籽先發芽，則表示會生男孩。如果都沒有發芽，就表示沒有懷孕。
而根據一份一九六三年的研究指出，用這個方法來確認懷孕與否，約有百分之七十的準確度，但用來預測生男生女，則並不準確。研究人員假定，這可能是懷孕女子尿液內所增加的雌激素，刺激了種子的生長。
In an 1897 influential book of Dr. Luther Emmett Holt, he advised mothers and children’s nurses to expose the young ones to fresh air to boost their immune system and strengthen their health. He even recommended laying an infant’s basket near an open window. But some mothers took it further with outdoor baby cages.
One of the first baby cages was invented and patented by Emma Read in 1922. It became popular in London in the 1930s. Mothers who lived in crowded urban apartments and did not have access to backyards or gardens were the common customers of the product.
Though there were no records of injuries from using the baby cage, its popularity declined due to child safety issues in the late 20th century.
路德·艾麥特·荷爾特醫生（Luther Emmett Holt）在他一八九七年出版的書中，建議母親與保姆將小孩暴露在新鮮空氣中，以增強他們的免疫系統，加強他們的健康。他甚至建議把嬰兒籃放在打開的窗戶附近。不過，有些母親卻更進一步，使用了戶外嬰兒籠。
最早的一批嬰兒籠，是由艾瑪·里德（Emma Read）於一九二二年發明後申請專利，後來在一九三〇年代風行於倫敦。住在擁擠市區公寓裏的母親，沒有後院或花園等空間，於是成了這項產品的常客。
雖然不見有使用嬰兒籠致使受傷的紀錄，但仍因兒童安全問題而在二十世紀晚期流行開始衰退。
From 1347 to 1351, the Black Death or the Great Plague killed 30% to 60% of the entire population of Europe. During that time, no one knew the cause of the plague. Some Europeans targeted different groups such as beggars, lepers, pilgrims, and Jews. Since the Jews were the less infected, Europeans blamed and accused the Jews of poisoning their water sources that had spread the plague.
Starting in 1348 till the end of the pandemic, Jewish communities in various parts of France, Spain, Germany, Switzerland, and Belgium were sacked and murdered. Their villages were burned, and their valuable possessions were seized. Some Jewish managed to flee to nearby countries like Poland, where they find refuge under the protection of King Casimir. Other Jews killed themselves to avoid persecution.
Pope Clement VI attempted to protect the Jewish communities with two papal bulls claiming their innocence but it was undone by the Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV, who gave the forfeited Jewish possessions to the local authorities to turn a blind eye against the atrocities.
At the end of the plague in 1351, the massacres of Jews halted but the persecution and discrimination of the race continued.
一三四七至一三五一年間，黑死病這場大瘟疫，導致歐洲有 30% 至 60% 的人口死亡。那時候，沒有人知道黑死病的原因為何，有些歐洲人便把目標指向乞丐、麻瘋病患、朝聖者、猶太人等群體。由於猶太人裏較少人受到傳染，歐洲人因而把病因歸咎於猶太人，指控他們在水源下毒，致使黑死病蔓延。
從一三四八年開始，一直到疫情結束這段期間，法國、西班牙、德國、瑞士、比利時等國國內，有許多猶太人社群遭到掠劫與殺害。他們的村莊被焚毀，財產遭到強奪。有些猶太人努力逃往波蘭等鄰近國家，在當地受到了國王卡西米爾的庇護，其他有些猶太人則是選擇自殺，以避免遭受迫害。
教皇克萊蒙六世為求保護猶太人社群，發了兩道敕書，公告猶太人清白，但卻因神聖羅馬皇帝查理四世而功敗垂成，他將沒收而來的猶太人財產分給地方領主，換取他們對暴行視而不見。
一三五一年疫情結束後，猶太人大屠殺也隨之停止，但是對他們的迫害與種族歧視卻仍舊持續存在。
Ever wondered why the surname Nguyễn is popular in Vietnam?
Most of the Vietnamese surnames derived from the last names of the emperors. Whenever a royal dynasty ruled Vietnam, the rival family and the emperor’s subjects were often forced to change their surnames as an act of submission. Others volunteered to change their surname to gain the favor of the ruling clan.
In 1232, after losing to the Trần clan, the Lý Dynasty was forced to change their surname to Nguyễn. To avoid retribution from the new King, the Mac clan also changed their surname to Nguyễn in 1592. In 1802, the last dynasty in Vietnam was ruled by the Nguyễn. Many subjects of the emperor were rewarded with the surname for their loyalty. The descendants of the other rulers as well as some offenders also changed their family name to Nguyễn to avoid prosecution.
Today, an estimate of 40 percent of the Vietnamese population has the surname Nguyễn.
您是否曾經想過，越南為甚麼有那麼多人姓阮（Nguyễn）？
越南姓氏大部分都來自於皇帝的姓。當一個王朝統治越南時，敵對家族及皇帝臣民時常會被迫改姓，以表歸順，其他人則為了迎合統治家族而自願改姓。
一二三二年，黎朝敗於陳氏之後，被迫改姓為阮。莫氏為了避免遭到新王懲罰，也於一五九二年改姓為阮。一八〇二年，越南最後一個朝代的統治者即為阮氏，許多皇帝臣民因忠順而受到皇帝賜姓，而其他統治者的後代以及一些罪犯，也為了避免遭到舉發而改姓阮。
如今越南人口估計約有百分之四十都姓阮。
On 4 August 1944, the 15-year-old German Jew Anne Frank and her family were captured during the Nazi occupation in Amsterdam. The accounts of her confinement throughout the Holocaust was written in her famous diary, but many were still baffled on who turned in the Frank family.
Throughout the years, several investigations were conducted regarding the capture of Anne and her family, but no suspect was still confirmed. Anne’s father, Otto Frank suggested that the informant was Willem van Maaren, who was a warehouse manager of the complex where their house was located. Some suspected Lena Hartog, the wife of one of the warehouse employees, while a few others noted that it could be Tonny Ahlers who was a Dutch Nazi sympathizer and a former business associate of Otto.
The book “The Backyard of the Secret Annex” by Gerard Kremer suggested that the culprit could be Ans van Dijk, a Jewish woman who was executed for cooperating in the capture of 145 people. On the other hand, a few researchers theorized that the Franks were captured when the German Security Service were raiding the premises to look for fraudulent food ration cards.
一九四四年八月四日，十五歲的德國猶太人安娜·法蘭克一家，在納粹占領阿姆斯特丹期間被抓。她在她著名的日記裏，寫下了她在猶太人大屠殺期間，遭到監禁的故事，但究竟是誰舉報法蘭克一家的，許多人仍對此感到困惑。
安娜一家被抓一事，曾在幾年內進行了好幾次調查，但仍舊沒能確認嫌犯為誰。安娜的父親鄂圖·法蘭克認為，告密者是威廉·馬倫（Willem van Maaren），也就是他們家那一帶的倉庫管理人。有些人則懷疑是一名倉庫雇工的妻子勒拿·哈托格（Lena Hartog），更有少部分人認為，可能是湯尼·亞勒斯（Tonny Ahlers），他是荷蘭的納粹支持者，也曾是鄂圖的生意夥伴。
哲拉德·克萊默（Gerard Kremer）出版的「The Backyard of the Secret Annex」書中指出，凶手可能是安斯·狄克（Ans van Dijk），她是一名猶太婦人，因協同捕捉一百四十五人而遭處刑。不過，有少部分研究者認為，法蘭克一家是在德國保安部搜刮糧食卡時被抓的。
Did you know that even before the name Malaya, Malaysia was named the Golden Peninsula?
The Chersonesus Aurea or the Golden Peninsula was first referenced in the atlas and gazetteer of Greek geographer Claudius Ptolemy in 150 BCE. It included the entire Malay Peninsula which formerly consisted of Peninsular Malaysia, Myanmar, and Thailand.
In ancient times, the Malay Peninsula was believed to have been a producer of gold. In fact, Malay-Portuguese writer Godinho de Erédia even mentioned the Patani and Pahang gold mines in his writings in the 17th century. Today, gold is not a major product of Malaysia but it still being mined in some areas like in Raub in Pahang.
您是否知道，馬來西亞在 Malaya 一名之前，還曾被稱為黃金半島？
黃金半島，拉丁文作 Chersonesus Aurea，於西元前一五〇年首次出現在希臘地理學家托勒密（Claudius Ptolemy）的地圖及地名辭典裏，其所指範圍包括整個馬來半島，涵蓋今馬來西亞的半島部分，以及緬甸、泰國。
在古代，人們相信馬來半島出產黃金。事實上，十七世紀時的葡裔馬來作家 Godinho de Erédia，也在其著作中提及北大年與彭亨的金礦。如今，黃金已不是馬來西亞的主要物產，但在彭亨的勞勿等一些地區，仍在開採金礦。
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