Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Amber

Amber is fossilized tree resin. Neolithic man first used amber, that we know of, for gems or jewelry. It is used in perfumes and in other areas as well. Its mined, mostly as it turns out, in East Prussia, now part of Russia called Kaliningray Oblast (small little enclave of Russians in the middle of Poland here, that used to be the heart of German Prussia, on the map note the small piece of Russia between Poland and Lithuania). Though amber is found washed up on shore or dredged from the deeps on occasion. Its not particularly valuable but it calls to mind a gentleness that calms the mind.

Its a soft color as well, lying between orange and yellow on the color wheel it brings to mind that cool moment when the sun is dipping beneath the horizon and its journey through the underworld (or in modern parlance, over the Pacific and Asia).

But mostly amber holds a place in our lexicon because it is the color of ripened wheat, and from wheat we derive the vast majority of our sustenance (or traditionally have, now we have Mars bars too). It is how the Romans saw Elysium, fields of amber colored grain beneath a clear blue sky (at their heart the Romans were always farmers).

Here's an hour and five minutes of it  . . .

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