[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] hemp and fairy-tales

[Günther Böhm]

 > From: rlyster at telusplanet.net
 > Date: 16 November, 2007 11:20:54 AM PST (CA)
 > To: "ger-poland-volhynia at eclipse.sggee.org" <ger-poland-
 > volhynia at eclipse.sggee.org>
 > Subject: [Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Hemp urban legend
 >
 >
 > I have checked a few reference sources however havenot found an
 > answer to this
 > one:
 >
 > Can a person be overcome by the aroma of hemp flowers....story
 > about a little
 > girl scolded by her parents, ran into the hemp field and fell
 > asleep.  They
 > found her skeleton during harvest?
 >
 > Any comments out there?


Good Morning Rita,
I think that not just the cause of death but the whole story is a 
fairy-tale. It is very common in all parts of Germany but nobody ever 
found a proof of it. Even the widespread belief that flowers in a 
sickroom could overnight cause death has never been proved. Maybe the 
source is the nowadays wellknown allergic reaction against certain kinds 
of pollen dust (asthmatic attacks).

The use of cannabis indica in the region north of the Black Sea was 
described by the ancient Greek historian Herodotus. He told us in his 
Book of History about the Scythians who inhabited the region north of 
the Black Sea:

"[4.73] Such, then, is the mode in which the kings are buried: as for 
the people, when any one dies, his nearest of kin lay him upon a waggon 
and take him round to all his friends in succession: each receives them 
in turn and entertains them with a banquet, whereat the dead man is 
served with a portion of all that is set before the others; this is done 
for forty days, at the end of which time the burial takes place. After 
the burial, those engaged in it have to purify themselves, which they do 
in the following way. First they well soap and wash their heads; then, 
in order to cleanse their bodies, they act as follows: they make a booth 
by fixing in the ground three sticks inclined towards one another, and 
stretching around them woollen felts, which they arrange so as to fit as 
close as possible: inside the booth a dish is placed upon the ground, 
into which they put a number of red-hot stones, and then add some hemp-seed.

[4.74] Hemp grows in Scythia: it is very like flax; only that it is a 
much coarser and taller plant: some grows wild about the country, some 
is produced by cultivation: the Thracians make garments of it which 
closely resemble linen; so much so, indeed, that if a person has never 
seen hemp he is sure to think they are linen, and if he has, unless he 
is very experienced in such matters, he will not know of which material 
they are.

[4.75] The Scythians, as I said, take some of this hemp-seed, and, 
creeping under the felt coverings, throw it upon the red-hot stones; 
immediately it smokes, and gives out such a vapour as no Grecian 
vapour-bath can exceed; the Scyths, delighted, shout for joy, and this 
vapour serves them instead of a water-bath; for they never by any chance 
wash their bodies with water."

Günther