Water

In my World History class I spend quite a bit of time teaching about Medieval Europe and the feudal triangle. During this period in history, the feudal triangle helped many people during a time of stress and war. At the bottom of the triangle were the peasants, they were protected from marauding neighbors by the knights; the Lords, who were higher up on the triangle, gave the knights land as payment for protecting the peasants. One drawback with this system was that the differing levels of society could not be breached. If you were born into a family of peasants, you and your family would always stay there, for centuries; there was no way of escaping your placement on the ladder of society. This was the method used throughout Europe to survive, except in one place - the Netherlands.

In Russell Shorto’s book, “Amsterdam: The Most Liberal City in the World” the idea of the Dutch not using the Feudal Triangle is discussed. Since most of the Netherlands is below sea level, their common enemy was not human instead it was water. The Dutch had to work together and continually fight the water so they could continue to plant and live in the Netherlands. This was a group effort for centuries so there were no levels of power within their society. Anyone could plant crops or sell land; you did not need to hold a high position to be the one to make decisions for those in the Netherlands. Anyone who was willing to help and problem solve against the ever pressing water was just as important as any leader in the country. The idea was that they all worked together against a common enemy, so EVERYONE, made a difference in how their society developed, not just those making the major political decisions. Since they saw the value in each individual and their ideas, the Netherlands respected and welcomed those who were different from themselves and appreciated their ideas. The Dutch still hold this value today.

The Dutch’s unique way of fighting water is now influencing the area of New York. Ironically, the Dutch established the Colony of New Netherlands in the 1600s, in what today is New York and the surrounding areas. The issue of the Dutch controlling water has now come full circle here. In a recent article by Russell Shorto, in the New York Times, I learned about Shaun Donovan, the secretary of Housing and Urban Development in the United States. President Barack Obama asked Donovan to find a solution to the New York area’s issues with severe flooding during Hurricane Sandy. He wanted Donovan to “radically rethink” the setup of the area with climate change in mind. While on vacation to Germany, Donovan decided to take a detour to the Netherlands and visit the world experts on water control. Here he met Henk Ovink who was the director of Spatial Planning and Water Management in the Netherlands. Ovink offered to come to the United States and assist Donovan with this issue of controlling the water. His idea was to help the United States “live with water not simply resist it.”

Ovink has his work cut out for him as the United States in not as open to new ideas as the Dutch have always been. As he walked along the shorelines of New York, the American engineers talked about their plans to rebuild the same walls that protected the areas, which had been destroyed by Hurricane Sandy. Ovink asked what they would do if the walls were broken again by the water and the engineers simply answered they would rebuild them again. Ovink saw that a new thought pattern needed to be introduced. When Ovink discussed climate change, many American water management workers looked at him like he was crazy; they have not yet grasped the reality of this looming problem.

The Water Boards established in the Netherlands during the Middle Ages are a main reasons that the Netherlands established as such a cooperative society where everyone worked together. They used dams, windmills and dikes to live with the water and make land for themselves to live on during medieval times. Now faced with the effects of climate change, the Dutch have changed their strategy again. The windmills and dams are no longer effective with the new forces of water that have kept coming their way; they realized they need to once more “think outside of the box” and drastically change how their city is built to withstand water. One example is the city of Rotterdam; here they have built houses and office building that float as well as making a hole under city squares. These are mainly used as basketball courts, but when the water is high, they can be flooded with the addition runoff.

As Ovink has continued the water fight in the New York area, people have begun to listen and think outside of the box - more like the Dutch who settled the area centuries ago. However, they are still not as willing to reach out to other neighboring states affected by Hurricane Sandy; instead they have simply decided to let them figure out their own plan. Many homeowners in neighboring states are struggling to put their homes on stilts for protection from future water disasters. This is a very expensive and difficult task, especially accomplishing this one house at a time. Ovink suggested the entire area work together and help each other financially and materially to make it a more effective and affordable task. Their response was that it was too socialistic. They have not understood as the Dutch have learned, that when fighting water, you need to work together to win.

The Dutch have always been at the forefront of “weird” ideas. Things like the thought that the sun was the center of our solar system and that there are microscopic “animals" (today we call them bacteria and viruses) in us that make us ill. They have also continually worked together to tackle big problems, like the water, allowing everyone to be equal in fighting the challenge. In European museums there are portraits of kings and great leaders from the 1600s-1700s. The portraits from the Netherlands are a bit different from this time. Instead of only royalty, we see faces of the members of baker’s guilds and builders alongside the political leaders of the day.

 

It is hoped that the residences of New York and the United States, can take a risk on the Dutch way of thinking and work together and use different ideas to solve their water issues. As we examine a picture of New York from the Costello Plan map from around 1660, we can see that New York looked much different then it does now. When overlaid with a current Yahoo Map, it is obvious that throughout the past centuries, New York citizens have taken over a part of the water just as their ancestors from the Netherlands. It seems that things have come full circle and New York could benefit if they used their “Dutch sense” to keep the land they have claimed from the water around them and live at peace with water, as the Dutch have done for centuries.

Addresses and Palimpsest

Life is always busy in December but I usually take time to write Christmas cards, because I do not think we send enough handwritten letters in our technological world. For my Christmas cards, I cannot bring myself to just send out a signed photo. Instead, I take time to write a personal note on each card, even if it is brief.  

At the beginning of December I sat down with my stack of Christmas cards, address book, and stamps. After several minutes I had written my first card of the holiday season. Next, I opened my address book to locate the correct address for the card. As I turned the pages I realized I needed to redo my address book. It should be rewritten to include only current addresses, and I should take time to get rid of all the crossed out entries where friends and family had moved. The tattered little tome was quite messy to look at, the same plain book I had started with decades ago. I even had the idea to type the addresses and keep them on my computer for a more efficient way of organizing them.

As I turned these cluttered pages I realized I had in my possession a priceless, primary source document from my own life. I turned to the D’s, and found the name of a distant relative I had corresponded with over a decade ago; I was certain she was no longer living. She had a lot of interesting information about our common ancestors and shared it with me, and she had taken time to write me long letters as if we were old friends. If I left her name off of a typed or rewritten address list I am afraid I would forget the few years of correspondence we enjoyed.

As I went to the G’s, I saw the names of two couples my husband and I had known when we lived in Idaho. After our family moved, we continued to send Christmas cards for several years until one by one; we no longer received cards from them. I am not sure where they live now but I would not want them off of my address list either. As I read their names I was reminded of good memories we had shared together.

The B’s held an address for our close friends who moved to Scotland for a few years. It is a bit of a novelty to have an address crossed out and replaced with one overseas. Reading their address on Rose Street in Edinburgh brought back memories of when my husband and I visited them. To reach their flat, we climbed an old turret style spiral stairwell in their building which was hundreds of years old. They lived across the alley from a bar so we fell asleep to the clanging of glasses and the hearty songs of drunken Scotsmen. If I removed their address I would not worry about forgetting them like some of the other names; they are the best friends we have ever had. However, this friend died unexpectedly a few years ago and it just would not be right to leave her name out of my address book.

When I read through the K’s and the W’s I saw the addresses of my grandparents. Their street names were both untouched since the day I wrote them in my modest little address book when I was quite a bit younger. My grandparents never moved the entire time I knew them. They have all died now, but I could not cross them out of my book. Their simple addresses carry countless memories of apple trees, rose gardens, horses rides and hydrangeas.    

In seeing my grandparents’ unchanged address I also realized how society has changed through the years. During their lifetimes, everyone seemed to stay in the same town with homes next to one another. In today’s society, family and friends can be found all over the globe, and spread far away from each other. I suppose my address book is more for a time like my grandparents, a time where people stayed in the same place; however I cannot part with its crossed out addresses and changed phone numbers. It is a treasure to me; a journal of sorts, filled with unwritten memories.   

The idea of using the same piece of paper over and over again did not originate with me. A palimpsest describes a manuscript written on a parchment or a scroll that is reused, while still retaining some of the original writing or images. During numerous times in history having access to something to write on, let alone something new, was difficult and often quite expensive. For a document to be reused, the initial writing was washed or scraped off of the original document so it could be used again.

During the 5^th and 6^th centuries, documents were mostly written on animal hides, called vellum, so scraping off the original writing was possible without destroying the hide. Later on when parchment was used, it was washed off for reuse with a combination of milk and oat bran. In 2013, a new discovery of a medieval manuscript from a Greek Old Testament was found scripted over the writings of Aristotle and Euripides.

Another study of old manuscripts involves looking at classic books, plays and music. Historians study the words that were crossed out of the original manuscript and what was rewritten in their place. This gives an insight into the mind of the writers at the time they were formulating their ideas. This, however, is a luxury we do not have today with manuscripts being written on a computer, not allowing us access to previous drafts and the author’s thought patterns.

Learning and living is all part of a process. We build our knowledge one piece at a time and it continues to expand throughout our lifetime. As we learn, some of the ideas get crossed out and replaced with current ones. But our original ideas, although no longer valid, are important to remember because they get us closer to our final draft. 

Our lives are also lived in steps as we build relationships with others, one person at a time. Some people stay longer than others and some have addresses that we never want to cross out of our address books. Others can study our personal palimpsests and learn a lot about us - where we have been, whom we have cherished, and what we have valued. None of us come here as a final draft; instead we weave our lives in and out of various places and into people’s lives, all the while dealing the best we can and learning from the changes made on our palimpsests.

Vikings - The Other Side of the Story

Whenever the topic of Vikings is discussed, images of violence and aggression come up in the conversation; this is because the Vikings are known for killing and plundering all over Europe and beyond. The word Viking actually means to go on an expedition to plunder, and no one knew this better than the people of Europe during Medieval times. Anyone who saw a Viking ship approach tried to protect themselves but were usually underprepared for the barbaric fury which met them when the Vikings got out of their vessels and on to the shore.

The Vikings soon discovered it was more profitable to attack European towns on Sunday morning when most of the village was attending Church. That way everyone was in one place, no one had weapons, and all of the gold, tools and usually food and drinks were kept there. The Vikings simply had to walk in, take the gold, burn nearly every book or record they could find, take a few slaves, kill everyone else and burn the place down.

With all of their fierceness, it is significant to note that the Vikings were also called by another name, Norsemen. When they were Vikings they were plundering and killing, but when they were Norsemen, they were planting crops, herding animals to pasture, raising families, and preparing for the winter months. They lived like most of the people of the world during this time.

While doing some research on the Vikings, I found that around 900 BCE, the Vikings ruled Northern Scotland, The Hebrides, Faroe Islands, Orkney Islands, Shetland Islands and Isle of Man; they continued to live at these remote locations for about 500 years. This caught my attention because I had previously written a blog about Skara Brae, which was discovered on the Orkney Islands. As I looked for these islands on maps I was impressed with the isolated locations the Vikings settled in. These small islands are in the middle of the Norwegian Sea - all by themselves. No one else dared sail so far north during this time. I looked further for pictures of these locations I found them to be some of the most dramatic and incredible places in the world.

These islands contain huge rock formations with vertical cliffs that drop to meet the white waves of the sea far below. The tops of the islands are covered in verdant green as a result of the cool, moist breezes from the surrounding waters. There are also many rivers along the top edges of these beautiful islands with waterfalls that plummet hundreds of feet down to join the sea.

Staring at these photos, I am transported back to 900 BCE and I can see the Norsemen and their families, living on these isolated islands. During the warm days, they work together to plant seeds to provide fresh food to eat with their meals. They always plant more than is needed so they can hang extra onions, garlic and various herbs from the rafters of their homes betwixt the dried fish; each are a necessity during the cold, winter months, so far north of the equator. They keep baskets of turnips and parsnips in the corners of their home to prevent them from rotting in the wet air too quickly. This way they have a variety of food to eat during the winter months. During the summer the Norsemen put their dried fava beans, peas, apples and berries into earthen jars and tuck them away to be eaten on days when it is too icy for plants to grow.

I also see children of all ages chasing and playing with the animals around their homes. The baby goats and lambs entertain the small children for most of the day as they dance and fight along the lengthy, lush plateaus. Older children work to milk the cows and goats to provide a drink with their meal and to make butter.

I envision the Norsemen eating their two daily meals, one after working for a few hours each morning and the last after the work is complete in the evening. Bread is not a staple for them as it is over much of Europe. This is because they live so far north, which makes it difficult to grow any grains.

The lives of the Vikings were centered around oceans, seas and ships. When the rest of the world was afraid to sail into unknown waters, the Vikings set out with their fabled sunstones and found their way around unmarked waters. Living on these majestic islands near the top of the world, everywhere the Norsemen looked, they saw miles and miles of endless water. Some days the entire family stood on the high bluffs of their island and watched violent storms with dark clouds and high winds come from over the waters and fall on their homes. Other times, the women and children watched anxiously for any sign of a returning ship filled with men from their town; a ship that would be filled with gold, tools, new foods and different people from foreign lands. As the Norsemen looked out over the waters each day, they would have lingered some nights, until the sky became deep black and filled with countless stars. They needed to be familiar with the night sky early on, so when they went “a Viking” they would know how to navigate their ships in unmapped waters.

When a Viking’s life was over, they did not leave their love of sailing and ships behind them. Those that were buried were left in an enclosure made of large rocks, carefully placed in the shape of a ship. That way the noble Viking could sail out of this world and on to Valhalla – their ultimate waterway destination. Sailing as Viking warriors and noble Norsemen.

Don't Be a Pilgrim

I tell my history students that the past is always changing. It is not that the actual events are altered, but our perception of them changes. This happens because as additional information is discovered we gain a more complete picture of events that happened long ago. One of these changes is the stereotype that the Pilgrims were the pillars of American values. The original story states that the Pilgrims came to America for religious freedom, made friends with the Indians and had the first thanksgiving. This is basically true but the Pilgrims were not the tolerant and open-minded people that they are honored to be. All of the valued American ideals that are attributed to the Pilgrims were actually characteristics of the Dutch.

In the 1500s most of Europe was under the oppression of the Catholic country of Spain. Many Europeans were seeking religious freedom because of the spiritual reformation that had swept through Europe. At this time the Netherlands were one of the countries welcoming these religious exiles to live among them. The Dutch, in the Netherlands, fought to be released from the Spain's control and gained their freedom, which gave them the right to sail all over the world. As a result, the Dutch prepared to jump into world trade and set up colonies around the world.

The Dutch were very dissimilar from most of Europe because they were welcoming to those who were different from them and tolerant of their diverse values and ideas. They were also open to new ideas. Upon entering the world of trade, the Dutch came up with the idea to use joint stocks to fund their global trade ventures. This allowed more people to earn money from the trade they were conducting instead of simply permitting a few of the rich to get richer. The Dutch also devised a new design for a ship, which was less expensive to build, sturdier, and less likely to capsize in a storm.

New ideas in science were beginning to circulate in Europe at this time as well, and many countries were unaccepting of these concepts because they were considered to be blasphemous. One such unacceptable idea came from a man named Galileo who proposed that the earth revolved around the sun. No one would publish his papers about these unique ideas until he approached the University of Leiden in the Netherlands. The Dutch were intrigued with this new way of thinking and not only published Galileo's papers, but also opened up the use of their university telescope for those interested.

Since the Pilgrims were looking for help to get to the New World, they moved to the Netherlands along with the other religious and political exiles. The Dutch welcomed them and made plans to send the Pilgrims across the ocean to the young Dutch colony of New Netherland. But, as the Pilgrims enjoyed a temporary settlement while awaiting their voyage they became uneasy with life among the Dutch. Their chief complaint was that their children were becoming "too Dutch;" or in other words, their youth were becoming more accepting of others’ cultures, and the Pilgrim leaders were becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the differences between the people living around them. The Dutch were very welcoming to those who needed help, tolerant of those who were different from themselves, and open to new ideas and ways of thinking; the Pilgrims could not deal with the diversity and acceptance that the Dutch thrived on. So, the Pilgrims moved back to England where diversity was not as prevalent, and eventually sailed to the New World on the Mayflower.

Meanwhile, the Dutch sent about 30 families on the ship, Nieu Nederlandt, to live in the recently established colony of New Netherland - known today as New York. The people that came to this colony resembled the cultural climate of the Netherlands in Europe - many languages, cultures, and beliefs - a variety of people living side-by-side starting out a new life in the New World. Even though the people who populated New Netherland were not all Dutch, they identified themselves with the Dutch culture. In her book “New Netherland in a Nutshell,” Firth Fabend stated that the diverse group of colonists called themselves Dutch because they liked the characteristics that were associated with the Dutch way of life. Fabend listed these traits as: “inclusivity, tolerance, the value placed on civic concord, pragmatism, charity, humanism, liberty, literacy, and the relatively enlightened Dutch attitude toward women” (Fabend, 115).

The Pilgrims settled in the New World, south of the colony of New Netherland and their voyage had led them to a place where they could have the freedom to worship as they pleased. The ironic thing is that the Pilgrims would not allow anyone in their colony to have freedom to worship as they pleased; for those living in the Pilgrim's colony, it was necessary to believe as they believed and conform to their way of thinking. If a colonist had a different way of looking at the world, especially religiously, the Pilgrims banished them from the colony. The only place these exiles could go in the New World was to the colony of New Netherland, where they were welcomed and given land to live on.

In the beginning, the Pilgrims made friends with the Indians and learned how to survive in the New World; however, in the end, they used up the friendship and took advantage of the Indians. The Dutch had a few war filled years with the Indians but for the most part had a civil relationship with them. The directors of New Netherland even had to establish laws to prevent the Dutch colonists from baking too much bread for the Indians, because it diminished their own supply of wheat.

The Pilgrims carried out the unthinkable during the mid 1600s in the New World by outlawing Christmas for twenty-three years. They were afraid of pagan beliefs creeping into their way of life and did not appreciate the different cultural activities that had found their way into Christmas from others parts of the world. The Dutch in New Netherland, with the help of Sinter Klaus, never missed a Christmas in the New World. Instead of being afraid of Christmas corrupting them, they used each December to help the poor and little children to find a bit of happiness during this yuletide time of the year.

So, the next time you gather around a table with family and friends to celebrate all that you are thankful for, don't be a Pilgrim; instead, remember the Dutch of New Netherland. Remember the kindness and tolerance the Dutch showed to those who differed from themselves. Remember that they were the ones who were brave enough to think outside of the box and do things a bit differently from others. Remember that a lot can be learned from being open-minded to new ideas and that there is nothing wrong with being unique.