My interest in history began when I was a young lad, and my dad bought my a Canadian stamp album. I have recently pulled it out again to revive my philatelic hobby. Of course, how this relates to Social Studies 10 is Canada's choice for the first stamp. The most important symbol of our country at the time... the Queen? the Maple Leaf? Jacques Cartier? no, the Beaver. Unfortunately as you can see in this picture, this particular item is missing from my collection.
Of course, after this scintillating discussion of national symbols, students in grade ten are much more fascinated by the beaver itself. They all know that beaver furs were traded for hats, but a much more intriguing substance is found in the beaver's behind. In early Canadian history, beaver anus goo was used to treat headaches and according to wikipedia, is now used as "natural flavouring" in products such as vanilla and raspberry extract. I first ran across this factoid in the epic book called Empire Bay by Peter Newman, which contains a whole section on the beaver itself.
Just a warning to be wary of your word-choice when discussing this topic. As you may know, the Beaver magazine recently changed its name for this very reason.. Read the story here. Apparently, national symbols change over time just like the English language.
No comments:
Post a Comment