Cultural and historical facts that amaze you

steddyeddy · 04-10-2015 04:39PM #1

The Kogi people are a pre-columbian tribe that live in Columbia. They have been isolated from modern civilizations. They perform a bizarre ritual where they prepare they select new born children for priesthood and make them spend the first 18 years of their life inside a cave. They are taught all about the tribe's cultural ethos and traditions. Then at the age of eighteen they are brought outside and experience their first sunset.

Cultures fascinate me and the I think the anthropologist Wade Davis summed it up for me with the quote:

“The world in which you were born is just one model of reality. Other cultures are not failed attempts at being you; they are unique manifestations of the human spirit.”

I think our culture and history is equally fascinating so I thought I would start a thread similar to the science facts thread. So what moments in history, cultural or geographical facts amaze you?

04-10-2015 04:46PM

fleet_admiral · 04-10-2015 04:48PM

Im here in my sitting room on a laptop connected to the internet via wifi, my son is sitting beside eating his dinner watching cartoons in hd on a very large television. 15 years ago none of that would have been possible. Evolution is incredible and imagine what technology we will have in another 15 years

tomwaterford · 04-10-2015 04:50PM

The seemingly fact that nowhere in the poem does it say Humpty Dumpty was an egg :eek:

kneemos · 04-10-2015 04:53PM

tomwaterford wrote: »

The seemingly fact that nowhere in the poem does it say Humpty Dumpty was an egg :eek:

Who said Humpty Dumpty was an egg?

tomwaterford · 04-10-2015 04:54PM

kneemos wrote: »

Who said Humpty Dumpty was an egg?

No one :pac:.....but always depicted as that in any pics

Notavirus.exe · 04-10-2015 04:57PM

Toilet paper wasn't invented until 1857.

How did early man survive?

DEFTLEFTHAND · 04-10-2015 04:58PM

Notavirus.exe wrote: »

Toilet paper wasn't invented until 1857.

How did early man survive?

Dock leaves.

wakka12 · 04-10-2015 05:01PM

How do they children survive that long in a cave without sunlight ? Im sure that would be extremely unhealthy and result in bone deformation and serious skin problems

kneemos · 04-10-2015 05:04PM

tomwaterford wrote: »

No one :pac:.....but always depicted as that in any pics

What else breaks when it falls?

mr.anonymous · 04-10-2015 05:07PM

wakka12 wrote: »

How do they children survive that long in a cave without sunlight ? Im sure that would be extremely unhealthy and result in bone deformation and serious skin problems

I'd have thought blindness too. Your eyes need light to continue to function.

Notavirus.exe · 04-10-2015 05:09PM

kneemos wrote: »

What else breaks when it falls?

Hmm, I think you're on to something there.

I've just found this thing, whether it's true or not, I don't know.

The_Valeyard · 04-10-2015 05:09PM

Dueling in Paraguay is legal as long as both parties are registered blood donors.

mr.anonymous · 04-10-2015 05:10PM

1st January 1914: The first fare paying passenger on a scheduled flight.

1st January 2014: Over 8 million passengers carried in one day by commercial aviation.

Guy:Incognito · 04-10-2015 05:14PM

kneemos wrote: »

What else breaks when it falls?

A skull?

Notavirus.exe · 04-10-2015 05:15PM

It used to be illegal in the UK to die in Parliament.

No joke.

Whitewinged · 04-10-2015 06:07PM

I watched a documentary a few years ago about The Capuchin Catacombs in Palemero, Italy.

I had to look it up again but it contains thousands of mummified bodies, the oldest, a 400 year old monk i think. It started out as a place for the monks after they died but it became popular for well off members of the public who wanted their family members there so they could visit them.

The last person to go there was a little girl named Rosalia who died in the 1920s of pneumonia aged only two. Her father couldnt deal with the grief so he went to a professor of chemistry, Alfredo Salaphia who preserved her body using a unique method of embalment which perfectly preserved her and she is known as "Sleeping Beauty". Apparently her eyes appear to open and close depending on the light.

Also I remember when I went to Crete. We went on a day trip to an island called Spinalonga. I cant remember all the history of the island but from the 1900s up until something like the 50s, it was used as a leper colony. It was sad in that people were separated from their families but as far as i know, they were treated well on the island and made a life there.

04-10-2015 08:32PM

The Messina Earthquake of 1908.

Hard to think that in the 20th century there was an earthquake in Europe where up to 200,000 died.

Wibbs · 04-10-2015 11:31PM

wakka12 wrote: »

How do they children survive that long in a cave without sunlight ? Im sure that would be extremely unhealthy and result in bone deformation and serious skin problems

Maybe with diet high in vitamin D they got around that? But yeah sounds dubious alright Wakka.

Local cultural fact? You see those spaces between words we take as a given? A recent enough development in language. In ancient Rome, Greece, China, Mesopotamia et al, it was morealongthelinesofwordsrunningintoeachotherandyouhadtotakeyourtimetowadethroughitall. At some earlier points some Romans had added dots so it.was.a.little.easier.to.work.out.what.was.what but the spaces between letters and the punctuation that followed? That was Irish monks transcribing new languages to them like Latin and Greek and adding in the spaces.

steddyeddy · 04-10-2015 11:41PM

Here's a gruesome fact about the CPR dummies they use to give first aid lessons. They're based on a suicide victim called L'Inconnue de la Seine or the unknown woman of the Seine in English. She was an unidentified woman that was found in the river Seine. Her image struck such a chord with people that a plaster cast was taken of her face and circulated among Parisian artists. Her face was also used to model the CPR dummy that is used to give first aid lessons!

05-10-2015 12:47AM

steddyeddy wrote: »

Here's a gruesome fact about the CPR dummies they use to give first aid lessons. They're based on a suicide victim called L'Inconnue de la Seine or the unknown woman of the Seine in English. She was an unidentified woman that was found in the river Seine. Her image struck such a chord with that a plaster cast was taken of her face and circulated among Parisian artists. Her face was also used to model the CPR dummy that is used to give first aid lessons!

Nice one.

Speaking of the Seine, the Silent Massacre is pretty amazing, where French police set upon Algerian protestors in 1961 in Paris and beat and drowned up to 200, dumping them in the Seine. Despite the fact that their bodies washed up for days afterwards, the French blocked any coverage of the massacre and only officially announced it in 1998, limiting numbers to 40.

So when we ever give out about freedom of the press and human rights in Ireland...

retalivity · 05-10-2015 12:54AM

The basque language and people, how its not related to any other language in the world.

Notavirus.exe · 05-10-2015 12:56AM

God created the universe in only six days!

Wibbs · 05-10-2015 10:56AM

retalivity wrote: »

The basque language and people, how its not related to any other language in the world.

And in the language words for tools contain the sub word for "stone" maybe because it comes from a pre metal age when it was the material used. Though the Basques themselves have turned out not to be so ancient genetically. Ancient folks in the region had different genetics. They're slightly different from surrounding Spaniards, but it's more down to isolation than antiquity. And the Irish aren't particularly related to them contrary to popular.

recylingbin · 05-10-2015 11:08AM

The dutch are the tallest people on the planet.

mr.anonymous · 05-10-2015 01:53PM

Notavirus.exe wrote: »

God created the universe in only six days!

Did you know that even to this day there are people who still believe this! :O

conorhal · 05-10-2015 02:47PM

recylingbin wrote: »

The dutch are the tallest people on the planet.

Na, that would just be the high horse they're always sitting on :pac:

Notavirus.exe · 05-10-2015 05:36PM

mr.anonymous wrote: »

Did you know that even to this day there are people who still believe this! :O

Well, you're right. There weren't days until the sun was invented.

hatrickpatrick · 05-10-2015 06:17PM

Pretty minor compared to some of the other stuff here, but my parents tell me that before the 90s, carjacking and hotwiring of parked cars were so common in Dublin that a lot of people didn't bother driving into the city at all just because it was so likely their cars would get robbed. Couple of epically hilarious stories about the lengths people went to to stop it happening

FloatingVoter · 05-10-2015 06:42PM

hatrickpatrick wrote: »

Pretty minor compared to some of the other stuff here, but my parents tell me that before the 90s, carjacking and hotwiring of parked cars were so common in Dublin that a lot of people didn't bother driving into the city at all just because it was so likely their cars would get robbed. Couple of epically hilarious stories about the lengths people went to to stop it happening

Sure...back in the 80s I'd rock up in a Datsun and take home a Volvo. Safer when drunk.
Then claim insurance on the burnt out Jap wreck and split the proceeds with the cops. Fun days.

major bill · 05-10-2015 06:47PM

In Ancient Egypt when a Pharaoh died all their living servants and pets + possessions were buried with them in order to serve them in the afterlife

poor bastards

Cultural and historical facts that amaze you

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