Celtic Dinner is Served

Tonight we prepared Celtic Pasties. Pasties are flaky pastry dough filled with a variety of ingredients. The most traditional Celtic Pasties are filled with Skirt Steak, Potatoes, and Onions. We used these ingredients and added a few of our own as well. Fresh Peas, Fresh Thyme,  and Nutmeg.  The dough was a bit tricky to work with.  A career as a pastry chef is definitely not in my future. We filled our dough with sautéed savory ingredients, then brushed tops with egg wash. Baked in oven for about 20 minutes. They were delicious! Perfect for the first really cold day of the year. They were crunchy on the outside and savory on the inside. We made a gravy to accompany our pasties. Such a delicious meal!

 

 

Celtic Music | Relaxing And Beautiful Mix | Adrian von Ziegle...

The Celts

 

To this day the core of Ireland's heritage remains unmistakably Celtic. Writing depicts the Celts as tall and warlike, placing their arrival in Ireland more than two thousand years ago.

Classical Celtic culture emerged in central Europe around modern Austria, Bavaria and Switzerland. The earliest major Celtic settlement, dating from 1200 BCE, was found in Hallstatt, Upper Austria.

The classical Hallstatt culture, and its successor the La Tène culture, spread from the Alps to most of Western and Central Europe between 600 and 400 BCE. People in those areas spoke a similar language, shared a same religion, similar traditions and beliefs, the same arts and techniques.

There were some minor regional differences between Celtic people. For example, houses in Britain and Ireland were typically round, while those in Gaul were rectangular.

The term "Celt" comes from Greek Keltoi or Galatae (Galatian), and Latin Celtae or Galli (Gaul). It is not known how they called themselves, but it is likely to have been a word in between those, maybe resembling the modern word "Gael".

 

Though the Celts did not have their own writing system, Celtic-language inscriptions in Latin or Greek alphabets have been found on Celtic sites.

Contrarily to popular beliefs, Celtic languages were still spoken after the Roman conquest. Saint Jerome (347-420) notes that the language of the Anatolian Galatians in his day was still very similar to the language of the Treveri (from the region of Trier and the border of Germany and Luxembourg).

Celtic languages progressively disappeared during the Middle Ages. They only survived in Brittany, Corwall, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, and for a time also in Galacia (north-western Spain). Today, only a minority of people can still speak Celtic/Gaelic languages, and they are mostly confined to Wales, Brittany and western Ireland.

They spread over much of France and part of northern Italy in the sixth century before Christ, invaded northern Spain in the fifth century, sackomg Rome at the end of the fourth century and getting a footing in Greece and Asia Minor in the third century. The Greeks called them Keltoi and the Romans Galli.

The Celts were not the first inhabitants of Ireland. At the end of the Ice Age, as the climate became warmer about 6,000 B.C., early immigrants probably crossed the narrow sea from Scotland to the Antrim coast and gradually moved further south. They lived a primitive existence by hunting in the forests and streams and lakes. Next came the first farmers who used stone implements for felling trees and preparing the soil for grain, they also kept large quantities of cattle, sheep and pigs. Perhaps by 2,000 B.C. a new group of settlers had arrived, metalworkers in search of gold and copper, who fashioned the artistic ornaments now in the National Museum in Dublin, the greatest collection of prehistoric gold objects in Western Europe. These were the dominant people in Ireland in the late Bronze Age when the Celts arrived.

 

The Celts had the advantage of having weapons made of iron. They seem to have moved into Ireland in two waves, one directly from the continent into the west of the country and the other through Britain into northeast Ireland. They may have begun to arrive as early as 500 B.C. and they were well established a century before Christ.

St. Patrick brought the Christian faith in the mid-fifth century. His missionary work was concentrated on the northern half of Ireland. 

Genetic studies determined that most of the ancient Celtic men belonged to the Y-DNA haplogroup R1b-S116 and its sub clades. Two Early Bronze Age migrations brought the L21 subclade to north-west France and the British Isles, and the DF27 subclade to south-west France and Iberia. The third major Celtic subclade is S28 (aka U152), which is associated with the expansion of the Hallstatt and La Tène Celts, as well as with Italic tribes.  Celtic people are believed to have spread the genes for red hair.

Morroco Berber Music

Berbers

This week we will be learning about the Berbers of Morocco. We will cook a very complex dish called Chicken Bastilla. This dish is a flaky pastry filled with layers of savory chicken, scrambled eggs, fried almonds sweetened with sugar and orange blossom water, and garnished with cinnamon and sugar. We will also cook a very traditional vegetable couscous with root vegetables. We will cook this in a traditional Berber cooking vessel called a Tajine. This is an earthen clay pot that traditionally is used over coals. It is very similar to stewing or slow cooking. The food should be very tender and delicious!

Berber history goes back to prehistoric times. They’ve been around for at least 4000 years. Calling themselves Amazigh, the proud raiders, they fought against the Romans, Arab, and French invaders. Even though the Romans and others have tried to colonize the Berber people, they have managed to preserve their own language and culture and in reality were never beaten!

Berber language is primarily oral in nature, although they have had their own writing system for more than 2500 years. Sometimes hard to find, the writing can be seen catalogued in the small museums throughout the south.

 

A light skinned people, they have been called by many names: Libyans by the ancient Greeks, Numbians, and Africans by the Romans and Moors by medieval Europe. In fact, it was the Arabs who came up with the Berber name. Islam came to the Berbers in the ninth and tenth centuries. Prior to then, most Berbers across Africa were Christian or Jewish. Two great Islamic Berber dynasties, Almoravids and Almohads, ruled large parts of Spain and northwest Africa.

Today, most of the twenty-seven million Moroccans are either Berbers, Arabs, or Moors (people of Berber/Arab decent). Their ancestors became the Almoravids and Almohads that built the mighty Moorish empire that ruled Spain, Portugal and Northern African.

 

Most of today’s Berbers live in the mountains of Morocco while the Arabs and Moors live in the cities. The west has characterized Berbers as nomads using camels to cross the Sahara desert. Most today are farmers of the mountains and valleys in Morocco. They were traders in the earlier days. Berber’s long recorded influence affected commerce by establishing trading routes between the West African and the Sub-Saharan region. They transported goods from beyond the Sahara desert to the Northern Moroccan cities.

 

Different tribes of Berbers inhabit different regions in Morocco. Drawa Berbers are found in the Draa Valley. The Dades live in the North East, The Mesgita, Seddrat and Zeri tribes are along the rives of the North West. Moroccan Rif region is home to the Ghomara.

Our Chicken Bastilla was delicious! The flaky delicate phyllo dough was lovely paired with the savory chicken and onions, sweet cinnamon sugar fried almonds, and umami egg and onion sauté!
 

Aztecs

Roasted Corn with Cotija Cheese, Cilantro, Lime, Ancho Chile. Grilled Chicken, Shrimp, Pineapple, Lime, Cumin. Sweet Corn Pudding with Huitlacoche(Corn Fungus).

The exact origins of the Aztec people are uncertain, but they are believed to have begun as a northern tribe of hunter-gatherers whose name came from that of their homeland, Aztlan (or “White Land”). The Aztecs were also known as the Tenochca (from which the name for their capital city, Tenochtitlan, was derived) or the Mexica (the origin of the name of the city that would replace Tenochtitlan, as well as the name for the entire country). The Aztecs appeared in Mesoamerica–as the south-central region of pre-Columbian Mexico is known–in the early 13th century. Their arrival came just after, or perhaps helped bring about, the fall of the previously dominant Mesoamerican civilization, the Toltecs.

 

The Aztec language, Nahuatl, was the dominant language in central Mexico by the mid-1350's. Numerous Nahuatl words borrowed by the Spanish were later absorbed into the English language as well. Some are chile, chili, avocado, chocolate, coyote, peyote, guacamole, ocelot, and mescal.

 

When the Aztecs saw an eagle perched on a cactus on the marshy land near the southwest border of Lake Texcoco, they took it as a sign to build their settlement there. They drained the swampy land, constructed artificial islands on which they could plant gardens and established the foundations of their capital city, Tenochtitlán, in 1325 A.D. Typical Aztec crops included maize (corn), along with beans, squashes, potatoes, tomatoes and avocadoes; they also supported themselves through fishing and hunting local animals such as rabbits, armadillos, snakes, coyotes and wild turkey. Their relatively sophisticated system of agriculture (including intensive cultivation of land and irrigation methods) and a powerful military tradition would enable the Aztecs to build a successful state, and later an empire.

Assyrians

Chick Peas in Rich Tomato Gravy with Chilies and Cilantro, Assyrian Biryani Rice with Almonds, Pistachios, Golden Raisins, and Cumin.

Assyria was the region in the Near East which, under the Neo-Assyrian Empire, reached from Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq) through Asia Minor (modern Turkey) and down through Egypt. The empire began modestly at the city of Ashur, located in Mesopotamia north-east of Babylon, where merchants who traded in Anatolia became increasingly wealthy, and that affluence allowed for the growth and prosperity of the city. According to one interpretation of passages in the biblical Book of Genesis, Ashur was founded by a man named Ashur son of Shem, son of Noah, after the Great Flood, who then went on to found the other important Assyrian cities. A more likely account is that the city was named Ashur after the deity of that name sometime in the 3rd millennium BCE; the same god's name is the origin for `Assyria'. The biblical version of the origin of Ashur appears later in the historical record after the Assyrians had accepted Christianity, and so it is thought to be a re-interpretation of their early history which was more in keeping with their belief system. The Assyrians were a Semitic people who originally spoke and wrote Akkadian before the easier to use Aramaic language became more popular. Historians have divided the rise and fall of the Assyrian Empire into three periods: The Old Kingdom, The Middle Empire, and The Late Empire although it should be noted that Assyrian history continued on past that point, and there are still Assyrians living in the regions of Iran and Iraq, and elsewhere, in the present day.  The Assyrian Empire is considered the greatest of the Mesopotamian empires due to its expanse and the development of the bureaucracy and military strategies which allowed it to grow and flourish.

Ashanti of Central Ghana

Ashanti Chicken, Fufu(Pounded Yam, Cassava, and Plantain), Golden Plantain Cakes

Sometimes we teach our children things, but we are not necessarily certain what they retain. For Columbus Day weekend, I took my girls to visit family in New York. We decided to go into the city. Our cabbie picked us up outside Penn Station and we made our way to the American Girl Store. I noticed from his accent, he was from West Africa, but was not sure which country. His name was Kwame.  I asked him. He said Ghana. I told him how we recently studied the great Ashanti culture. My daughter recalled the story of the Golden Throne, a very important part of Ashanti History.

Tradition has it that this stool, covered with pure gold, floated out of the sky and landed on the lap of the first Ashanti King, Osei-tutu. He unified the people in the 17th century. His chief priest declared that the soul of the nation resided in this stool.

In reality the stool was created by: Anokye, the chief priest of Osei-tutu.  A new king is lowered and raised over the Golden Stool without touching it no one could be a legitimate ruler without the stool.

Kwame was so delighted that my 8 year old from Texas knew about the Golden Stool. He inquired about what we cooked. I told him. His face lit up when we said, fufu, pounded cassava or yam with plantains. He went on to tell me how fufu was always his favorite dish of his dear auntie's. I will never forget that cab ride with Kwame.   

Aboriginal People of Australia

Wattle seed and Macadamia Crusted Lamb with Caramelized Roasted Pumpkin and Wild Greens with Walnuts

Australian Aboriginal culture can claim to be the oldest continuous living culture on the planet.

Recent dating of the earliest known archaeological sites on the Australian continent, using thermo-luminescence and other modern dating techniques, have pushed back the date for Aboriginal presence in Australia to at least 40,000 years. Some of the evidence points to dates over 60,000 years old.

The hallmark of Aboriginal culture is 'oneness with nature'. In traditional Aboriginal belief systems, nature and landscape are comparable in importance to the bible in Christian culture. Prominent rocks, canyons, rivers, waterfalls, islands, beaches and other natural features - as well as sun, moon, visible stars and animals - have their own stories of creation and inter-connectedness. To the traditional Aborigine they are all sacred: environment is the essence of Australian Aboriginal godliness.

Out of this deep reverence for nature Aborigines learned to live in remarkable harmony with the land and its animals.

Traditional Australian Aborigines lived a nomadic life, following the seasons and the food.

With very few simple tools, used with incredible skill, the Aboriginal learned to live in the harsh and inhospitable Australian outback.

It's possible that the first Aborigines in Australia hunted the Australian megafauna - giant kangaroos, giant wombat,  to extinction.

Maybe that was when Aborigines learned to take care of natural resources and move to new hunting grounds before the old ones are depleted beyond repair.

When at rest, Aborigines lived in open camps, caves or simple structures made from bark, leaves or other vegetation. Their technology was both simple and sophisticated. Above all, it was appropriate for their way of life - ideally matched to the constraints of nomadic life.

The modern notion of possessions is alien to traditional Aboriginal culture. Material things were shared within groups. The idea that an individual could 'own' land was foreign to Aboriginal thinking.

The longest continuing religion in the world belongs to Australia's Aborigines, with the Rainbow Serpent mythology recorded in rock shelter paintings believed to be 7,000 years old in the Kakadu National Park region, where this Ancestral Being is still important to local people. Other ancient rock art shows the many customs and Ancestral Beings (deities or gods) important in Aboriginal religion tens of thousands of years ago.