Punkins and Prohibition

The two topics I wanted to blog about aren't related except that they've come into my consciousness the past 24 hours. They interest me, but I know that what I find fascinating would bore others to tears - I hope that this is short and humorous enough to entertain instead.

First, punkins:

I was just wondering about the differences in pronunciation of the word "pumpkin." My grandpa always pronounces it as "punkin." When I tried to search for what might be the reason for the wildly different ways of saying it, I was only able to find a dictionary entry stating that the pronunciation was: 

[puhmp-kin or, commonly, puhng-kin]

Then I found a hubpage made about pumpkins. No mention of how to pronounce it, but the article is educational. My favorite part was the history of how the pumpkin pie came about:

 instead of cutting them into strips and baking them, the colonists cut off the top, scooped out the seeds, and then filled the hollow pumpkin with milk, honey and spices. Once filled, they replaced the top and baked the pumpkin in the hot coals of a fire thereby inventing pumpkin pie

I still am not quite sure what regional differences, etc. there are - I'm open to ideas.

Prohibition:

One of the stranger aspects of volunteering at a church library that has been out of commission for years is finding, for lack of a better word, archaic texts. "Bombs of Infinite Power" which has been "stockpiled" by Allen R. Blegen is merely a long list of short and popular Bible passages. While this can be explained by the publication date, which is 1964, there is no reason to have it in any current library, only in archives. 

Another old pamphlet-sized monograph is titled "To Drink or Not to Drink? A Vital, Personal Problem Facing America To-Day" by James W. Johnson. There is no publication date listed, but it's clear it was after the Great War (World War I) and before World War II, during the Prohibition Era (1920-33). I had expected to see a religious argument but there was very little Biblical reference.

Instead, it started out with a numerated list of reasons drinking should be legal. Not too bad, I give the writer points for attempting to give voice to both sides. However, there are the four pages of both introduction and anti-Prohibition arguments contrasting the 16 pages of why Prohibition is necessary.

The four main points:

1. Liberty
1. PRO Obviously, thinking men and women should be able to have the choice and if they're not thinking, they're only hurting themselves, not others.
2. CON But they're not hurting just themselves; we have a duty to be our brother's keeper. The Law should uphold the moral law. States have to give up some of their liberty to become part of the United States. "The appeal for personal liberty is powerful. The appeal for brotherhood is overwhelming."
2. Old Customs
1. PRO We have indulged in alcoholic beverages for ages. "The abuse of wine was always condemned, not wine used in moderation."
2. CON Just because we've always done it doesn't mean we should continue to do it. Think about polygamy ("Even when practiced under the camouflage of religion the Mormons ...") and slavery.
3. Physical Needs
1. PRO Alcohol can be stimulating and cheering when used in moderation. It is even recommended by doctors in certain cases of physical illness.
2. CON Even for the cases which alcohol can help, there are alternatives which work just as well, if not better. There are far too many negative outcomes ("The alcoholic ward, the crime committed in drunken frenzy, the suicidal act ...") to deny that it is usually tragic for the many.
4. The Social Instinct
1. PRO "In all social gatherings from time immemorial, at feasts, banquets and celebrations, the use of wine has been the custom." And being good social animals is important.
2. CON The saloon is the poor man's club, but "it must be admitted that poverty is increased by drinking." Along with the patriotic duty that calls for every man to be his fittest.

And it goes on to describe other pro-Prohibitionist points, most of which are no big surprise, including the argument that man must be protected from his temptations but that the expressed desire of the majority for the Prohibition will win out in the end. "There may be a return to (previous) conditions ... but such a setback will only be temporary. Because, as Lincoln so tersely said, 'You can't fool all the people all the time.'"

The passage I find most amusing is the one about the "very real difference between the temperament of Americans and the temperament of foreigners." How Americans are intense, high-strung, and keen, which is responsible for excess in many ways. "We cannot even enter into our sports without often suffering more from exhaustion and overplay than we benefit from the relaxation and the exercise. This is especially true of our young men and women. It is not equally true of most foreigners."

Can't you just hear the grumpy old man's voice in your head from 80 to 90 years ago?

Gunpowder Treason and Plot

I had always heard of Guy Fawkes and was dimly aware he was some VIP in history. However, I'd never run across him in any of my studies either in school or out. It's understandable now why this is so; he wasn't part of Modern European history and I'd just never studied James I.

Of Henry VIII I am quite familiar with and of Elizabeth I have a lesser degree of familiarity. The history of English royalty is far from my forte. I am definitely aware of the overall idea of Catholics and the separation of church and state and the related events that occurred in Henry VIII's and Elizabeth I's reigns. What I had almost no knowledge of was what happened next. And this is where Guy Fawkes comes in.

As is always the case with history, the events were much more complicated and interesting than I will describe. There was some confusion over who would succeed Elizabeth I and she wouldn't announce a successor. But things went surprisingly smooth right after her death and James I came into power. He carried on the anti-Catholic sentiments the two previous rulers had had. A couple of years passed while Catholics in England became more and more upset with James I. There were many plots to try to kidnap him and his family and make them promise to be nicer to the Catholics in England, but none of them worked.

Then, a bunch of Catholics (13 overall in the end) got together and decided to blow up the House of Lords with all the Lords and the king inside it. This would certainly intimidate the high and mighty ones (since the idea was that all the lords would be in the building when the explosion happened) and the Catholic plotters hoped to gain some official tolerance towards Catholics by then placing James I's Catholic daughter Elizabeth (who was nine years old at the time) in power.

Oh, and just so you know, almost all of this is garnered from wikipedia along with other websites (brittannia, about.com, bonfirenight.net) and I still don't understand things like how such an anti-Catholic king could have a Catholic daughter. Apparently he discovered his wife had received a gift of a rosary from the Pope but I don't know if this means she was merely a tolerant individual or if she was Catholic herself. For now, I'm only focusing on understanding the gist of the Guy Fawkes story. If anyone wants to enlighten me, by all means go ahead - I'll probably end up finding out soon enough, just not right now.

An anonymous letter was sent to one of the lords who was Catholic (they didn't want him to be there when the building blew up) warning him of the plot. It didn't say the exact date but it did describe the intention of the plotters. It was easy to deduce when to be on alert since the House of Lords was going into session in just a few days after the letter was shown to the king.

On the night before the House of Lords session, soldiers searched the building and caught Guy Fawkes in the cellar next to 36 barrels of gunpowder. Guy Fawkes chose to maintain that his name was John Johnson (yeah, very original, like "John Doe") and it took a few days of torture before he started revealing his real name and details of the plot. The other plotters were eventually captured, including a strong attempt to blame some Jesuit priests for being in on it (good for anti-Catholic politics), and a couple months later the plotters were hanged, drawn, and quartered, including Guy Fawkes who managed to snap his neck when he was hanged so he didn't suffer the following actions customarily given to traitors.

And why am I reading about the Gunpowder Treason Plot? What does it have to do with my novel? Well, it has absolutely nothing to do with my novel. The "why" is that today happens to be the day, four hundred and five years ago, that Guy Fawkes was caught. I wouldn't have known this if I hadn't spotted a tweet from Neil Gaiman> which said:

Remember, remember the fifth of November: Gunpowder, Treason and Plot. Perhaps I will have a very small bonfire here tonight, just because.

I wondered what the heck he was talking about. So I looked it up.

And now, I will end with a copy of the Gunpowder Plot poem.

Remember, remember the fifth of November,

Gunpowder treason and plot.

We see no reason

Why gunpowder treason

Should ever be forgot!

Guy Fawkes, guy, t'was his intent

To blow up king and parliament.

Three score barrels were laid below

To prove old England's overthrow.

By god's mercy he was catch'd

With a darkened lantern and burning match.

So, holler boys, holler boys,

Let the bells ring.

Holler boys, holler boys,

God save the king.

And what shall we do with him?

Burn him!

Of course, I have seen the movie "V for Vendetta" but it was only once awhile ago and the references to the actual historical event I completely missed. Sometimes, I'm a little thick in the head. I mean, V wears the Guy Fawkes mask, and he quotes part of the poem, and he's trying to do what Guy Fawkes failed to do and blow up the English Parliament. His reasons are different and it's set in a futuristic England which is a totalitarian state, but *still* I feel like I should have known. Alright, I'm gonna scuttle off and actually get some things done ... work on website, get a higher nanowrimo wordcount, and such.