The Extraordinary Olive
The several uses of the olive tree, Olea europaea L., have long been recognized and celebrated by human civilization. Olive trees have been cultivated since prehistoric times in Asia Minor, and introduced with human migration and trade throughout the Mediterranean and Europe, into Africa, and eventually into New Zealand and North America. Thomas (1995) lists the beginning of olive cultivation as aproximately 3000 B.C. Olives appear in one of the first cookbooks ever discovered. As long ago as the 17th century B.C., the olive was considered sacred. In Greek mythology, Athena is said to have placed an olive tree on the Acropolis in order to win over the denizens of Attica, a favor for which the city became her namesake, Athens (Anonymous 1997). The champion at the Olympic Games was crowned with its leaves. "Offering an olive branch" is synonymous with peaceful intentions. The oil was burned in the lamps of sacred temples, as well as being the "eternal flame" of the Olympic games.
There are many references to the olive in the Bible. One of the most significant is in the tale of Noah and the Flood. The dove, sent out to search for a sign of land and life, returned with none other than an olive branch. Moses proclaimed that all men who worked to cultivate olives were exempt from military service (Grieve 1995). The olive is often referred to as a symbol of goodness, purity, and life. The miracle of Hanukkah was the olive oil which burned for eight nights when there was only enough to last for one day (Prero 1996). It is clear that the olive was an important part of life in the Mediterranean, as is the world over today.
Description
Olive trees are graceful in appearance, with elegant lanceolate silv...
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... shallow. The "mission olive" of California derives its name from the Franciscan missionaries who originally planted them near San Diego around 1759 (Anonymous 1997). Olive production has also recently spread to New Zealand and Australia, but these continue to be incidental yields in comparison to the Mediterranean region.
References
Anonymous. 1997. Olives.
Grieve, M. 1995. Botanical.com; A Modern Herbal. Olive. Electric Newt.
Neff, R. and D. ResSeguie. 1995. Oil of Olives, An Ancient Wonder. Sundance Natural Foods.
Prero, Y. 1996. Chanukah and Olive Oil: Lessons in Devotion. YomTov, vol.II#22.
Thomas, J. Dec, 1995. Olive Fact Sheet.
Tous, J. and L. Ferguson. 1996. Mediterranean Fruits. From J. Janick (ed.) Progress in New Crops. ASHS Press, Arlington, VA. p.416-430.
U.S.D.A. 1995. An Economic Assessment of Olives. (Executive Summary).
Sheshadri, T. (2001, December 26). Student recognized for agricultural acumen. The San Diego Union Tribune, N1-4. Retrieved on March 20, 2002 from Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe (Newspapers) on the World Wide Web: http://www.lexisnexis.com/universe.htm.
Spain is in the southwestern part of Europe and to the east of the Mediterranean Sea. There are a large variety of fruits and vegetables grown in Spain. Food From Spain lists peaches, cherries, ioquats, apricots, nectarines, plums, apples, pears, grapes, wheat, and olives as fruits grown in Spain. There are also many others, but these specific fruits are only from Spain. A Melocoton de Calanda is a Spanish peach found in northeastern Spain. Cerezas de la Montana de Alicante is a sweet red cherry found in the jerte Valley in Extremadura of Spain. Ioquats are sweet, slightly acidic, and have a strong leathery skin. Certain types of apricots, nectarines, and plums also come from Spain. Apples from Asturias, Castile-Leon, and Catalonia of northern Spain are “generally considered superior (foodfromspain).” Pears are originally from Asia Minor, but grow well in inland Spain. Grapes, wheat, and olives play a major role in Spanish cuisine as well. Grapes are used for wine and oil. Olives are in abundance and are eaten and used for oil. Olive oil serves many uses in Spanish cuisine.
Old World crops such as wheat, barley, rice, and turnips had not traveled west across the Atlantic. Some of the New World crops that hav...
Through the use of numerous symbols, Nathanial Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter serves as an allegory for the story of Adam and Eve and its relation to sin, knowledge, and the human condition that is present in human society. Curious for the knowledge of good and evil, Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, which resulted in the revelation of their “humanness” and expulsion from the “divine garden” as they then suffered the pain and joy of being humans. Just as Adam and Eve were expelled from their society and suffered in their own being, so were Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale in The Scarlet Letter. Hester was out casted and shunned, while Dimmesdale suffered under his own guilt. After knowledge of her affair is made known, Hester is forced to wear a scarlet letter “A” on her chest to symbolize her crime of adultery, and is separated from the Puritan society. Another “A” appears in the story, and is not embroidered, but instead scarred on Dimmesdale’s chest as a symbol of guilt and suffering. Hester’s symbol of guilt comes in the form of her daughter, Pearl, who is the manifestation of her adultery, and also the living version of her scarlet letter. Each of these symbols come together to represent that with sin comes personal growth and advancement of oneself in society as the sinner endures the good and bad consequences.
The Scarlet Letter, a novel written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, shows the adverse consequences caused by adultery between Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale and Hester Prynne. Dimmesdale and Hester committed the supreme sin of the Puritan society they belong. They must both deal with the effects of the scarlet letter. Pearl, the daughter of the two lovers, continuously punishes Hester for what she has done. Dimmesdale can only see Hester and Pearl when others will not find out or see. Hester finds a way to support herself and daughter, and at the same time, puts a mark on the possessions of some who are a part of society. The sin of adultery created repercussions that were shared and individually experienced by Reverend Dimmesdale and Hester Prynne.
By wearing the scarlet letter as a daily reminder, Hester didn’t let her sin overshadow her defined character. Her beliefs and independence weren’t compromised. In fact, she was able to use the letter as a positive thing to help the community and repent. Hester’s work as a seamstress and her charitable deeds quieted the scorn from society. She believed that the letter “hath taught [her],--it daily teaches [her]…lessons whereof [Pearl] may be the wiser and better…” (98). Even though she may have been “doomed” by society at first, Hester was able to make Pearl a better person by using the valuable lessons she learned from wearing the scarlet letter. ...
Wilson, Terry. "Old Crop Circles." Old Crop Circles. Weebly, 2011. Web. 03 Feb. 2014. .
... Chillingworth is the representation of the punishment that falls on all sinners. Hester, whose daughter and Scarlet Letter are always reminding everyone of her adultery, is always in the open, and has no chance to hide her shame. Dimmesdale, who calls himself a pollution and is so tormented on the inside that he feels the need to physically harm himself by scourging, is eaten from the inside out, and Roger Chillingworth, whom one just saw is a vengeful monster, who swears revenge on the father, and who lives for that single purpose, truly is retribution. These people are tormented by the type of sin they portray, and their punishments last so long, and are so painful (especially in Hester and Dimmesdale’s cases) that anyone could easily make the argument that the literal flames, and the stake that accompanies them, would be preferable punishments for these sinners.
Janick. J. (2011). Center for New Crops & Plant Products - Department of Horticulture and
As a result of the fact that various groups had colonized the island throughout the course of nearly a millennia the peasant class of Sicilians where accustomed to a feudalist system which exploited them through the means of oppressive rents and taxes which compounded the certain misery of land-tied lives of serfdom. At the dawn of the 19th century Sicily’s major industries, the growing of citrus fruits, refinement of wheat into flour and extraction of olive oil from olives were all owned and controlled by foreign commercial firms. Locally owned, native Sicilian commercial en...
Martineau, Belinda. First Fruit: The Creation of the Flavr Savr Tomato and the Birth of
The first video game arrived on the scene in the 1950’s. It began as a rather simplistic form of entertainment including games like “Tennis for Two” and “Ping Pong”. Fast forward 50 years later and current games advanced extremely beyond the basic oscilloscope. Developed animations have lifelike characteristics; some even mimic the movement of the player’s body. Video games have evolved and with evolution come many concerns about its sometimes violent and immoral contents. This presentation serves to educate whether video games have a negative effect on the behavior of youth. We will highlight both negative and positive aspects of the practice and use statistics to help you make an inform decisions when selecting games for loved ones.
The process involved in the cultivation, production and science of Grapes is called Viticulture. Grape cultivations one of the oldest cultivation in mankind after grains, that dates back to 7000 years during the Neolithic period. Viticulture originated from the Mediterranean region & spread across Middle East & Asia & gradually to the world. It’s in the records that the 1st grape harvest occurred 5400 B.C in region where present day Georgia & Armenia countries are called. Earlier it was practiced by the Greeks; Romans & Babylonians to the Egyptians, in these regions people have derived wine out of grapes.
The painting Olive Trees, now at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, is one of a series of ten or twelve paintings of olive orchards, which Van Gogh painted in 1889 while living at the asylum of Saint-Remy. This painting is a landscape accomplished in bright, complementary colors, with Van Gogh’s characteristically brisk brushwork. The image is divided roughly into thirds, with the middle zone, the trees, being highly capricious. The brushstrokes describe the lay of the land, the movement of the wind in the trees, and the rays of the sun. The sun itself is hugely misrepresented in size, and highlighted also by an outline of orange. It dominates the picture and takes on perhaps a “supernatural” aspect, possibly representing deity or faith. The curved trees all lean, even quiver, away from the center of the painting. They cast violet shadows which shouldn’t be possible, given the placement of the sun: Realism is sacrificed for the content. The most prominent of these shadows is at the center of the foreground, and is not associated with any one tree. One could see this central shadow as the thing from which the trees are bending. The base of each tree is painted with red lines that ambiguously outline where the shadows would fall if the sun were directly overhead. Both the ground and the trees have a singularly wave appearance, while the sun is more stable, and the distant mountains are still.
A story that is widely known about how the Olympics came to be is one in which Heracles was the creator and he was the one who made the stadium as an honor to his father Zeus after completing his twelve labors. The winner would be crowned victorious with the same olive wreath that the future Olympic participants would wear if victorious. Though now an olive wreath may sound insignificant this award was sacred to them. It was also considered to be a symbol of wisdom, peace, glory, and prosperity. In the 2004 the summer Olympics came back to Athens, Greece where they had their own interpretation of the traditional games. Such things as awarding the winner with the olive wreath were repeated in honor of the old ways and the fact that that was where it all started made it obviously more