Pandora

How did people kept up with trends in past centuries if there were no fashion magazines?
How did they manage to dress up in latest style throughout countries?

Well, that is where Pandora is the answer.
Pandoras was, during the 18th century, the only available update on fashion. They were fashion dolls, dressed in the latest of fashion, from the hairstyles down to the makeup, and passed throughout the European countries. Seemingly, they were more accurate than the words of mouth.

Pandoras came in various sizes and designs. Grande pandore were life-sized dolls, frequently dressed in Court attire, and Petit Pandore, miniature dolls, usually dressed in Informal attire.

These dolls were mostly made in France, which was the capital of Fashion, what not with Marie Antoinette as icon. Rose Bertin, Antoinette's seamstress was the one who brought back these wax dolls after they ceased in the 17th century. With the dolls making an appearance again, dressed with such outrageous dresses, they bacame popular. So popular til they were given safe passages throughout Europe, during Napoleon's blockade.

Pandoras were first gifted by Antoinette to her sisters and mother. From there, they were passed to the other Royalty and to the wealthier people, down to the seamstress who later passed it on to the poor New York who were always a trend behind.
Once advertisements and magazines came out, Pandoras were rarely used. They are nowadays either made as decorations or are placed in museums as historical pieces.
Old or new, I think they look stunning.

Saving Literature: Grimm Brothers

A bedtime story of Grimm's Fairytales was what I've always looked forward to as a child. These fairytales have played a huge role in my life as it does for others. Up til now, I've always prefered and admired these original tales to Disney's altered ones.

But then, I've always wondered if these tales were originally written by the Grimm Brothers themselves or not. With that in mind, I did my research and at last found out the very truth.

These fairytales were actually folk tales and stories passed down from generation to generation in Germany, through the words of mouth. Originally, the brothers, Wilhelm and Jacob, were worried that indistalization in the early 19th century would erase off these classic tales from existence. So, they decided to collect as much German tales as possible and bound them in a book. This way, the tales would be in literature as it is now. Additionally, the brothers felt that those tales were the foundations of Germany as after all, the stories were from way back and it was entertainment through these tales that united Germans on a daily basis.

Original edition

The stories that the Grimm brothers first collected and published were violent, tragic and sexual. Even though it was named "Children's and Household Tales", they were not at all meant for childrens.

As their book became popular, the more harsh criticism they faced. Parents found it too dark and churches thought it wasn't Christian enough.

And there comes the editing. Wipe off the sexual reference, change evil mothers to stepmothers, add a bible next to Red Riding Hood's grandmother and done. Off course there were more editing. As they edited, the brothers found themselves intensifying punishments for the villains and it was alright as they wanted to show what happens if you sin.

Later edited edition

Personally, I've read few tales from the original edition and find them to be rather interesting and fascinating. To me, the darker the better! I think that it is alright to include harsh terms in their tales as after all, life is harsh. And a way to get by is through tales that we might be able to relate to (in some ways). Furthermore, with the ideology of "Good always wins" emphasized in these tales, it would not only put us on our right track but also gives us hope.

The Grimm Brothers not only taught us morals that we hold on to, but they also preserved their culture, which is as equally important. History is always best through the form of literature.

With the brothers as role models, many writers, scholars and others has found themselves on the track to save their culture through folk tales. And this is incredible, for what is better than storytelling?

Creation of Rose Bertin

Queen of Fahion

Marie Antoinette

The dauphine, Marie Antoinette was the Queen of Fashion. But then who was the brain and talent behind Antoinette's fashionable closet? It is none other than the remarkable Rose Bertin. Born on 2nd July 1747 in Picardy, France, Marie-Jeanne Rose Bertin was the first even celebrated French fashion designer. Her explicit talent had named Marie Antoinette the most fashionable of queens and she was the one who brought Haute Couture to be a popular style up til today.

Minister of Fashion

Rose Bertin.

Earning the title of "Minister of Fashion", Marie Antoinette's marchandes de modes and a stylist, Rose Bertin is my muse in this post as her creativity continues to inspire me.
Bertin had influenced fashion greatly starting in the 18th century, through creating new trends as the Formal Court Dress, poufy hairdos and more. 

Pouf aux insurgent

Pouf hairstyles

With headdress

The most notable of her works was the pouf. These were high hairdos that were always heavily ornamented with ribbons, artificial flowers and others. For Marie Antoinette, Bertin constructed a 3 foot high pouf with jewels and all the finer things. Just imagine how heavy it'd be! Examples of poufs showcassed in events by the dauphine were the 'pouf aux insurgents' -which had a mini French naval vessel planted at the top-, 'pouf a la circonstance- for the change of reign-, and also the famous 'pouf a l' inoculation' which depicted a garden to celebrate the King's vaccination.

Marie Antoinette's gown

By Rose Bertin

Marie Antoinette's gown

By Rose Bertin

As fancy and outrageous those hairdos were, the gowns Bertin designed were incomparable! Even Lady Gaga might think twice in wearing them. The gowns were so huge and poufy til ladies could not even enter the door without having to squeeze through or enter sideways. As detailed and beautiful those gowns were, I would not want to wear one if I have to suffer! Especially with how heavy the gowns would be..

Pandore

Other than those fancy dresses and hairstyles, another notable creation of Bertin's was Pandores. They were dolls dressed in the latest trends, passed through countries as a fashion update. Afterall, there weren't fashion magazines back then!

Just how did Bertin came up with such creativity? It's rather hard to tell. But through meetings with Marie Antoinette, they worked on trends and styles that the Queen herself likes and what would appeal to the court. Once the dresses were designed and Bertin sold it in her shop, womens who coveted the Queen would purchase them and dress up like Antoinette in the Versailles. 

By Anton Hohenstein

Then, when the dauphine sees them like her, she would crave for bigger and fancier gowns. And just like that, it goes on.
 And I've been thinking, wouldn't Bertin finish up all her ideas? But then, I came across a quote of hers which she had remarked to the Queen, "There is nothing new except what has been forgotten."
I personally find this to be very clever and valuable. Taking a look in today's fashion, I truly understand what she meant by that, for the creation of new trends rests on past fashion. Fashion that we have forgotten or not, revived with new additions to it. And with that, fashion is a cycle.

Christian Lacroix

1995

Inspired by 18th Century

Marie Antoinette's gowns

For further reads on the fashionable times of Marie Antoinette and Rose Bertin, below are recommended books that details on the dressings in the French Court.

Silence is better

Silence can mean two things. It could either be that of power or suspicion. I prefer looking at it as power. Saying less gives a greater appearance and makes us more powerful than we are. It makes people uncomfortable but at the same time, it serves us respect.
History teaches us more than anything. With that in mind, let us delve into the past, summoning two historiacal examples as prove to my opinionated point.

King Louis XIV 

Louis XIV, the man of few words, was a highly respected King. In his court, issues of the Kingdom would be discussed by courtiers and ministers, and after those heated debates, representatives would approach the King. From there, they would introduce the issue at hand, followed by detailings of available solutions to the problem.
Louis would listen til the end of the presentation only uttering eloquently, "I shall see" when asked for his opinion. With that, the topic would not be discussed until weeks later where he would have came to his decision and act upon it.

Court of King Louis XIV

From this, we could grasp the fact on how taciturn he was, which was a matter of power. No one was able to predict him, understand him, and more importantly, deceive him. On the contrary, Louis was able to what others can't. As his courtiers tries pleasing him, they unnoticeably revealed more about themselves as they talked on and on to the silent Louis. With all this informations, he was able to differentiate loyalty from potential enemies. And whats more, he could use all those revealed informations against them. Louis XIV was such a powerful King who intimidates his people through silence, which brings them under his fingertips. 
Respect and power was what he had gained from all his silence, and this was not just because he was King.
This is especially why he is of such awe to me.

Kondraty Ryleyev

In the opposite of silence, comes fools who risk themselves through the utterance of redundance.
Kondraty Ryleyev, one of the leaders of a rebellion that happened after Nicholas I in 1825, was sentenced to death.
On the day of his execution, standing on the gallows with a noose around his neck, the trap door opened. Instead of dangling in the air, he found himself on the ground, for the rope had broke. This was considered a sign of heavenly will in those time and such things in that way was pardoned.
As Ryleyev found himself on his feet, he shouted to the crowd " You see, in Russia they don't know how to do anything properly, not even how to make rope!"
With the news of Ryleyev's survival, Nicholas I disappointed, began to sign the pardon letter. But upon hearing of what Ryleyev had shouted on account with his survival, the Czar tore the pardon and said " In that case, let us prove the contrary". The next day, Rylyev was hanged again and the rope did its job.

Rebellion lead by Ryleyev

If he did not say such things, he would have remained alive! Being sacarstic might have given him his satisfaction but in the end, he had to pay with his dear life for that. This is exactly why we should always be careful with our words and learn how to keep them controlled. The best thing would be to keep quiet.

Sure, silence may not always be golden for it do get people in trouble too. But that is a topic for another post.
I've always valued silence be it in myself, or others. But what I really want to say is that we should talk when it is only necessary. Otherwise, it's always best to keep our mouth locked. Afterall, words could literally be the death of us. 








Reference
Greene, R & Elffers, J. (2000). The 48 Laws of Power. New York: Penguin Books.

Vampire Alike

Shrouded in mystery, a ghastly pale face, with protruding razor fangs made his way to me. Eyes ablazed and sinister, it stared straight into my soul..and all I could do was stare back..knowing that it would be the last thing I'd see before my time comes to an end..

Dramatic as it is, it should do well as as an opening introduction to my very subject of Vampires.
But what exactly is a vampire? Are they real? Do they really feed on blood?
I won't be expanding on what a vampire is and such. That is not my motive for this post. 
What I am going to be introducing..is far more sinister than that of a Vampire..in fact, this two particular historical figures could almost be said to be a Vampire.

                  Potrait of Vlad III Dracul

Vlad III Dracul, was a Prince of Wallachia from 1431 to 1476/77, known for his fugarative thirst for blood.
As his nickname "Vlad the Impaler" suggest, he had such a penchant for torturing his victims and enemies through the method of Impalement. 
How exactly was that done? Well, he first pierced his enemies through the torso or the anus, with large stakes planted to the ground, followed by the mouth of the victim. It would be thousands or hundreds impaled at once, and the worst thing? The victims don't die immediately. In fact, it takes few hours for them to die, meaning that they had to go through agonizing pain. The combined death by his impalements were approximate of 100,000! Just imagine that! And most of this were especially for his sadistic pleasings!
Some even said he dined while watching his victims suffer..and others ventured to say that he dipped his bread in their blood!
I guess this was why Bram Stoker had him as a huge inspiration in the thrilling novel of Dracula, who was a vampire. All this, makes me wonder if he was actually a vampire..

       Dinning with entertainments of sufferings.

Countess Erzsebet Bathory

Exactly next to the whereabouts of Vlad in Romania, is Hungary. That was where a certain notorious Countess had lived in. She is the very horrible, Countess Erzsebet Bathory (1560-1614) who was from the known Bathory family of nobility in the kingdom of Hungary.
Sadistic as Vlad, she had tortured and killed many especially young girls for her own pleasures. It began with her girl servants, where she beat them to death or even dragged them out in the winter, naked, and threw icy cold water on them, freezing them to death.
The interesting part is yet to come. She had bathed in her female victim's blood. Why? From what she had discovered, it had appearsd to her that the blood reduced signs of ageing. There were even stories of her drinking the blood.
As the number of deaths of girls made up to around 650, the Kingdom had grown worried and afraid, at last making a decision to put her in trial for her crimes. In the end, she was executed. 
It is such a pity that they did not have anti-ageing creams back then. At least, it could have saved her the many troubles. 
Though Vampire or not, she very much does resembles one.

Now that I come to think about it, I guess maybe Vampires aren't as bad compared to 
those two examples I've given. Sure, Vampires supposedly feed on blood and so on but the thing is..they could be real or fake. However, those two examples I've given had been alive once, and did those unspeakable horrid tortures. But then again, if one were to ask of a living proof, why not we take a look at this very generation, where destructions by weaponries as bombs and deaths of innocents by those causes are endless. 
It is said that Vampires have no heart. But I think, Humans are the one who has no heart. So Vampire alike? I guess not. Humans are worse.

Bombings in Gaza.

                                  End.



*images taken from Google.

Medieval Witch Hunt

              If I were to brainstorm on the term Medieval, I would definitely link it to the notorious witch hunt of the said era. This period of witch hunts and trials were a widespread moral panic suggesting that malevolent Satanic witches were a huge threat to Christianity, reaching its peak around mid-1400s to 1600s, and declining in early 18th century.

            Various executions of witches began long back, even before the Medieval era. Though it was known that on December 5, 1484, Pope Innocent VIII (unlike his name)- who had been a full supporter of torture in the Medieval period-, issued a papal bull where he recognized the existence of witches and gave full papal approval for the Inquisition to hunt these witches as well as giving permission to torture and execute them, as long as they were ridded of.
With this stated, it was basically the Church who gave full consent of this horrid witch massacre without even thinking twice!

             But...how exactly did they know who was a witch?
Apparently,they had various methods and tests during the hunts and trials that would supposedly confirm if they were guilty as a witch or not. Personally, I think they had absurd tests as the Swimming Test or even the Witches Cake method.
One famous test was through the " Witches Marks". This was where suspects were being stripped and publicly examined for signs of unsightly blemishes, moles etc. that witches were claimed to receive upon making their pact with Satan. I personally find this test to be ridiculous! Afterall, it is very common for people to have moles and such.
Another such method was the "Pricking and Scratching" test whereby it had been noted in witch hunting books that the "witches mark" were insensitive to pain and couldn't bleed. With that, examiners used specially designed needles to repeatedly stab and prick the accused witch's flesh til they had the desired result! 
Naturally, there were many con-mens who usually used dulled needle points to identify fake witch's marks. With this, they were very well-paid.

Following up with the victims, it was estimated that a total of 400,000 to 600,000 accused witches were executed, which is insanely a lot!

It had seemed that most women were targeted as suspects. The Inquisitors who had wrote the Malleus Maleficarum had explained that women were most likely to be witches than men as females are more 'concerned with thingsof the flesh' than men, and that females are "imperfect animals" (if any of these actually makes sense!). With that, around 80 to 90% of executed witches were women.

Additionally, it had appeared that females who stood out to speak their opinions were singled as witches ,though I am very unsure of why!

Other than that, old, wise healing women were particularly targeted by witch-hunters.

"At this day", wrote Reginald Scot in 1584, "It is indifferent to say in the English tongue, 'she is a witch', or 'she is a wise woman'".

This accusation was also done as common people of the Medieval era, relied heavily upon these wise women for healings and treatments rather than monks or churchmans as they had a wide understanding of herbs and they don't usually charge for treatments.

I guess this was where the general witches got their image of old womens from.

Delving into the subject of torture and executions, it is important to note that torture was already holding a place in the Medieval culture, so there were many torture devices and methods. But with the rise of witch huntings, they designed and made more torture devices meant specially for the witches.

One prime example was the "Spanish Spider"

It was designed to mutiliate a women's breasts. The Spider was usually chained to the wall - the claws were normally heated before being fixed to the women's chest. The stomach-turning part is where the torturer pulls the women away from the wall. Well, you can guess what happens!

Another one is the horrifying tongue tearer. As the name suggests, it was of an oversized pair of shears, used to cut the tongue. The victim's mouth would be forced open and somehow, the torturer would pull the tongue out and cut it.
As much as these torture methods are 'interesting', it was more often for the witches to be burned at the stake. This was often in hundreds at one go.
How inhumane they could possibly get!

To end off, I would insert my opinion on all of this. As much as I am fascinated and intrigued by the Medieval period, I definitely do not support the witch hunts. Many innocent people and children had died due to the mindless and insensible mentality of the Inquisitions and the higher authorities.

It is a relief that the rulings had changed and in 1682, the last accused witch of England was executed.

As time goes by, the mindset of society becomes more sensible and realistic. Witches are looked to as mere story characters and imaginative made-ups.

All supposed existence of witches in the Medieval era and previous times are put aside as historical myths.

But still..it doesn't mean that witches don't actually exists..

~The End~

For further readings, the books below are much recommended for their depth of the horrific knowledge and portrayal the Medieval witch hunt was. From graphic novel to a non-fiction history book, they present a wider spread of information for those who wishes to learn more.

Mysteries of the Children of Woolpit

Based on true events. Documented.

Once, a long time ago, set in 12th century, in a village of Woolpit in Suffolk, England appeared two children. They had the apperance of a normal human. Yet, their clothes seemed unfamiliar and they spoke a foreign language. But what's more astonishing to the villagers were their green skin.

The story started off when few reapers who were at a wolfpit, found two unusual children lying on the ground. They were siblings, a brother and a sister. The reapers did not understand the language they were speaking, thus brought them to the other villagers.

Both siblings were terrified of their unfamiliar surroundings and the villagers. They wept bitterly while the villagers tried to console them. The villagers felt sympathetic and unsure of what was to be done, thus brought them to Sir Richard de Caine, a knight. Soon, the children were taken under his care and few other villagers.

 It was noted by them that they did not ate any other food except raw beans.

As time goes by, the brother grew sick and succumbed to death whereas the sister who was later named 'Agnes Barre', lived. She lost her green pallor eventually, after being fed normal food and even learned the English language.

What was rather astounding was her explanation on where she and her brother came from. According to her, she came from St. Martin's land where the other people were green too. She described the place as 'the sun never shines' and the light was like twilight but everything was all green. Additionally, she had described another 'luminous' land that supposedly could be seen across a river of the village.

But how did they ended up in Woolpit?

It was reported by her that she and her brother were herding their father's cattles. Upon hearing a loud noise directed through a cave, which was probably the chimes of Bury St. Edmunds' bell, they were curious, thus leading themselves through the cave til they saw light.

That was all that was documented and written in several books. It was hard to find out if these reports happened to be true or not. Many had came up with their own interpretations and theories to the green childrens as well as where they came from.

Some villagers had believed that they were from another world or were even aliens.
Other theories were that these children had Chlorosis, often called 'green sickness' which was due to a very poor diet.
Also, it was widely believed that these childrens were Flemish (North Belgian) immigrants who with many others, went under hiding as King Henry II was crowned and demanded the persecution of those Flemish immigrants. It was possible that they hid in a deep forest where it was always dark and the only resource they may have consumed, were beans, thus developing the 'green sickness'.

Victim of Green sickness

To me, I believe that this event may have happened and those children could have been from another realm. There are so many mysteries of the world that we don't know and can't explain. Not everything could be explained scientifically.
With that, this story still remains a mystery to me and many others, which may never be solved.