Nuri McBride
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Every summer in ancient Athens, strange gardens emerged in courtyards and on rooftops. Seedlings were precariously sown into handfuls of soil within clusters of broken pottery. These impromptu micro gardens were lovingly tended for several weeks, yet they were created to be infertile and die. Long before they could bear fruit, the seedlings would wither
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The Memory Picture concept in American funerals centers on creating a life-like illusion of the deceased to offer comfort to mourners. This practice follows strict aesthetic guidelines to shield mourners from the harsh reality of death, emphasizing passive observation rather than active engagement, which may hinder genuine emotional closure and connection with the deceased.
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Born into nobility, Xin Zhui rose even higher when she married Li Cang and became the Marquise of Dai (popularly known today as the Lady Dai). Li Cang’s appointment as the Chancellor of the Changsha Kingdom elevated the power couple even higher. By 168 BCE, Xin Zhui was 48 years old and one of the
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In Matthew’s account of the Birth of Jesus, three wise men, drawn by a star, came from the east to find a newborn messiah. They brought gifts for the child befitting a king: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. These exalted gifts have often been the butt of contemporary jokes, ‘the gold is nice, but who cares
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If you are a fan of fragrance history, you may be familiar with the Egyptian god Nefertem. He is the personification of the Cosmic Lotus in the Egyptian creation myth. Nefertem is the protector of dawn and patron of Egypt’s beloved blue lotuses. Nefertem rises from the river at daybreak each morning with his flowers
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A website’s backend is a dull and utilitarian space, mine included. The one exception is my search term results. Every time I check them, they are filled with some of the weirdest and most wonderful things folks have ever shouted into the internet. I’m so happy that which corpse flower is the best, and did
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As part of our anniversary celebrations, I sat down for a duelling interview with Hayley Croom from Paintbox Soapworks. We discussed seven years of writing, the feral qualities of solo entrepreneurship, and learning to love cherry accords. Usually, my interviews can only be found in my monthly newsletter, Aromatica de Profundis, but we had so
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If you Google Tappūtī-Bēlet-ekallim, you will find dozens of articles praising her as the first perfumer. Online, Tappūtī-Bēlet-ekallim is presented as a feminist, a scientist, and an entrepreneur. Yet, those concepts would have been utterly foreign to her lived experience. Images accompanying these stories feature Babylonian goddesses, Sumerian queens, and Urukian tablets. They’re a strange
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Let’s explore the roots of this ancient rose festival, how the Romans memorialised their dead with aromatic flowers, and how vestiges of the Rosalia exists today.
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If corrupt smells are a sign of a corrupt nature, what happens when a holy person dies? It is in this Western mind-body dualism that the concept of the Odour of Sanctity is born.
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