Culture: Onigiri (~700)

For over a millennia, the Japanese have enjoyed arguably the greatest "on the go" food in the world,  Onigiri (お握り).   A simple combination of rice, a filling and a bit of salt (often wrapped in seaweed and sometimes accompanied with a topping) produces a taste sensation that serves as everything from a yummy snack to a healthy and filling meal.  In the words of the immortal Strong Bad, on a scale from one to awesome, Onigiri is super great!

Since at least the Nara period (奈良時代), people in Japan have rolled rice into balls for ease of consumption.  Nowadays, onigiri is also often shaped as a triangle, especially when sold in convenience stores, although balls are common for bento boxes:

As you might expect, people have been doing creative things with the presentation of onigiri for a long time:

Among the most awesome inventions from the Land of the Rising Sun, the popularity of onigiri has  understandably spread through out East Asia and even reached California, which is unsurprising as the aptly named Golden State often serves to introduce great ideas to the rest of America.

Here, we see no less a personage than the ridiculously badass Kibagami Jubei enjoying one of these suckers!

If you're in the mood for some onigiri yourself but don't know where to start, check out this video from the hi*LAR*ious series Cooking with Dog:

やった !

Culture: The Hurrian Songs (~1400 BC)

Arguably, the oldest and most universal of all languages is Music.  Even without words, a melody can tell a story and express one's mood and feelings and, since at least 55,000 BC, humans have used Music to signify important moments in life, as well as just help us through the workday grind.  The oldest known musical notation is the Hurrian Songs, a collection of 29 songs inscribed in cuneiform on clay tablets excavated from the ancient city of Ugarit.  Here is a sample of an interpretation of "Hurrian Hymn no.6", aka "h.6":

Amazing!

While we don't know the identity of h.6's composer, by listening to the composition you can still feel what he or she must have been feeling and trying to express all those millennia ago.  That is a pretty impressive achievement in communication.


Try competing with that Social Media!

Although the Hurrian Songs were unearthed in modern Syria, the Hurrians were a Bronze Age people who were originally nomadic wanderers from modern day Anatolia.  At its height, the Hurrian civilization had significant influence throughout large parts of the Fertile Crescent.  However, by the Early Iron Age, other rising powers had mostly assimilated the Hurrians, except for the Kingdom of Urartu in modern day Armenia.

The exact meaning of h.6 is not known, but it is clearly a religious hymn concerning offerings to the goddess Nikkal, wife of the moon god, and meant to be played on a harp or lyre.

So, if you're in the mood for some sweet Bronze Age music, grab your headdress and take a gander at the above video.


You stay classy, Nikkal!