• Home
  • Blog
  • Books
  • Store
    • E-books
  • Up Close
    • About me
    • Testimonials
    • Contact
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • LinkedIn
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
  •  

Merce Cardus

Sign up to get the last articles delivered to your email box.

And God Created The Banana

in Health & Well-being on 21/05/15

Photo Credit: jcoterhals via Compfight cc

Photo Credit: jcoterhals via Compfight cc

In Banana: The Fate of the Fruit That Changed the World, Dan Koeppel offers the fascinating and surprising exploration of the banana’s history, cultural significance, and endangered future.

It’s humanity’s oldest story

In the beginning, God spent a week creating heaven and earth. Fruit appeared on day two. Man arrived after the sixth dawn. After resting, God created a companion for his progeny, and Adam and Eve became a couple. Their Eden was a classic utopia. Everything was there in abundance, for the taking, with a significant exception:

‘You may freely eat of every tree in the garden, ‘ God said, ‘but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat it, you shall die.’

When she encounters the snake, Eve, being Eve, is easily convinced that the prohibited fruit is not poison, but a source of power selfishly guarded by God. A taste confirms it: ‘The tree was good for food,’ the Bible says and ‘ a delight for the eyes.’ The first woman shares with her mate, and Adam, also, doens’t perish. Instead, the couple realizes that they’re naked, and they fashion clothes from leaves. God discovers the transgression…you know the rest.

Over the centuries, scholars outside the Renaissance Europe asserted that the identification should have been the banana

Among these scholars was Swedish scientist Carolus Linnaeus, father of modern taxonomy. Early in the eighteenth century, Linnaeus made two entries for the fruit in his Systema Naturae: The scientific name he gave to the sweet, yellow banana was Musa sapentium, from a Latin term meaning ‘wise’ (as in the tree of knowledge). The green banana–our plantain–was called Mussa paradissiaca, ‘ the banana of paradise.’

Linnaeus’s family designation for banana, Musa, derives from mauz, the Arabic word for the fruit. This makes sense, since the Koran also situates the banana in the sacred garden.

Fig greenery might cover the essentials 

In the Western story of Eden, Adam and Eve are said to react to their nakedness by covering themselves with ‘fig leaves’. Fig greenery might cover the essentials, barely.

Banana leaves are actually used to make clothing (as well as rope, bedding, and umbrellas) in many parts of the world, even today. In this case, the word for the Endenic fruit isn’t mistranslated, just misunderstood: Bananas have been called figs throughout history. Alenxander the Great, after sampling the fruit in India, described it as such, as did Spanish explorers in the New World.

Mankind’s condemnation to a life of struggle doesn’t begin when Adam and Eve are cast out of biblical Eden but in the story of Cain and Abel

The brothers work diligently and, from the abundance around them, make offerings to God: Abel makes an animal sacrifice and Cain fruit. Cain’s tribute displeases God, and, angered, Cain kills his younger brother. As punishment, God condemns Cain to ’till the ground,’ which will ‘no longer yield to you its strength’.

Get the Best Reads on Writing, Screenwriting, Self-Publishing & Better Living

« Want To Help Someone? Shut Up and Listen!
WEEKEND LINKS ~ Reads on Writing, Self-Publishing and Better Living: Writing on Both Sides of the Brain »

Hi, I’m Merce!

Welcome to my site, the place where writers & publishers can find useful information, insights, resources & inspiration for writing, self-publishing & living a better ... View Post

Merce Cardus

Get Started with my Most Popular Posts

A Skill You Can Cultivate: The Art Of Not Panicking

Bend, not break

Resilience: The Wisdom Of Bamboo

LinkFest ~ Best Reads on Writing, Screenwriting & Self-Publishing: Know Who You Are

You Are Not Doing What Makes You Happy and What You Can Do About It

Getting your stuff done

5 Reasons Why You Are Not Getting Your Stuff Done

Search By Category

  • Category Index

mercecardus

Mer
Bosco verticale ↕️ vs Bosco orizzontale ↔️ Bosco verticale ↕️ vs Bosco orizzontale ↔️ 
#merinmilano #milano #italy #milan #italia #lombardia #design #madeinitaly #milanocity #igersmilano #iorestoacasa #architecture #italianstyle #italiainunoscatto #italia_inunoscatto #italia_landscape #italian_city #italian_trips #italia_super_pics #italiabella #italiani #igersitalia #italia_da_scoprire #italianart #streetart #boscoverticale
Load more... Follow on Instagram

Copyright © 2023 · Merce Cardus

  • Category Index
  • Newsletter
  • Privacy Policy