Why Do We Throw Rice at Weddings?

Author Kristina Wright
August 20, 2026

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If you’ve been to a few weddings, you probably know the flow by now: the vows, the kiss, and then the party, with a few time-honored traditions woven in. One of the most iconic rituals? Guests showering the newlyweds with rice as they make their grand exit. It’s a festive moment and makes for a great photo — but have you ever stopped to wonder where this tradition comes from?

What may seem like a simple gesture is actually rooted in centuries of symbolism. That tiny grain of rice carries big meaning, representing fertility, abundance, and good fortune — and the practice shows up in different forms across cultures and eras. Let’s take a look at how rice-throwing became a wedding classic, and why grain-tossing rituals have endured through the centuries.

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Grains Were Linked to Ancient Fertility 

In ancient agricultural societies, fertility wasn’t just desirable — it was vital to both survival and spiritual life. Ensuring crops grew, families expanded, and communities thrived depended on a close relationship with the natural world. People believed that calling on the natural crop cycles — planting, harvest, and renewal — during a marriage could help ensure the couple’s future would be equally productive. Showering newlyweds with grains was a symbolic way of welcoming the life-giving forces of nature into the new union.

Among early cultures such as the Celts and Mesopotamians, native grains including wheat and barley were considered sacred symbols of abundance and growth. These grains played a role in wedding ceremonies as offerings to spirits or deities associated with fertility and harvest. In some traditions, they were thrown at the bride and groom to bless them with children and prosperity. The act of tossing grain physically reinforced the hope that their marriage would be as fruitful as a well-tended field.

We Tried To Write an Entire Article in Middle English

Author Nicole Villeneuve
August 20, 2026

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When William of Normandy invaded England in 1066, it began a transformation of the Old English language. The Norman conquerors replaced the Anglo-Saxon ruling class, bringing with them their Anglo-Norman language, which was based on Old French. Over time, the two languages blended. Old English grammar became simpler, and the English vocabulary expanded with the addition of French words. The result was a new stage of the English language: Middle English, spoken around 1100 to 1500.

During this time, Geoffrey Chaucer wrote The Canterbury Tales, one of the most famous examples of Middle English literature. Chaucer’s writing — and the English language in general — was not uniform at this time. Spellings varied and were often phonetic, and pronunciation differed by region; Chaucer often used whichever version of a word fit his rhyme. 

There were some differences between the Middle English alphabet and our modern alphabet. Middle English included letters such as “þ” (known as thorn) for the “th” sound, and some other letters — such as “u” and “v” or “i” and “j” — were interchangeable. There were also some common words we no longer use. Middle English used “thou” for informal speech and “ye” as a formal or plural form, both of which were replaced by “you.” And third-person verbs ended in “eth” or “th” (such as “goeth”), which was later simplified to “s.” During the Great Vowel Shift, which occurred between 1350 and 1600, the pronunciation of many words also changed. For example, in Middle English, “sheep” sounded more like “shape,” and “bite” sounded like “beet.” 

Another major shift occurred when the printing press was introduced to England in 1476, marking the start of a new stage of the language, known as Modern English. As printed books became more widespread, spelling and grammar became more consistent, and English began to take its current form.

Why Do We Call It ‘History’?

Author Bess Lovejoy
August 13, 2026

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The modern English word “history” comes partly from the Latin historia and partly from the French storie (or estoire), but those terms both trace their roots back to the same place. Not coincidentally, that place is one of the bedrocks of Western civilization: ancient Greece.

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Going back about as far as we can, the word “history” can be traced to the ancient Greek verb οἶδα (heda), meaning “to know.” From there, the Greek ἵστωρ (histōr) arose, which had a variety of meanings depending on the context. As a noun, it could mean “wise man,” “judge,” “witness,” or simply “one who knows.” As an adjective, it meant “knowing” or “learned.”

The Greek word historia evolved from that histōr root. It originally meant “a learning or knowing by inquiry,” “an account of one’s inquiries,” or simply “inquiry” or “narrative.” That word was borrowed into Latin (also as historia), where it meant “narrative of past events, account, tale, story.” Interestingly, although historia was borrowed from Latin into Old English as stær (or ster or steor) to mean “history, narrative, story,” our modern English word “story” comes from the French storie or estoire

What Did U.S. Money Look Like in the 1800s?

Author Timothy Ott
August 13, 2026

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While the Coinage Act of 1792 established the United States Mint and the dollar as the unit of currency for the fledgling nation, it was quite some time before a fully standardized monetary system took root. In the meantime, people in possession of valuable metals continued to use them for transactions, local banks offered their own currency, and foreign money continued to flow until being banned as legal tender in 1857.

Despite this relative instability, Americans today would largely recognize the various forms of currency that exchanged hands in the 19th century, even if the designs and denominations of the coins and paper bills often differed from those in circulation today. Here’s a glimpse at what money looked like as the United States came of age.

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Gold Coins

The 1792 Coinage Act stipulated that all U.S. coins were to feature a depiction of the goddess Liberty on the front, while gold and silver coinage also required the display of an eagle on the back. As a result, the gold eagle ($10), half-eagle ($5), and quarter-eagle ($2.50) coins that went into circulation in the 1790s were all engraved in this fashion through the 1800s. 

By the mid-19th century, the discovery of gold in California ushered a new wave of the precious metal into the economy, resulting in the creation of the new $1 piece, the $20 “double eagle,” and the octagonal $50 unit, aka the “slug.” Unusual denominations from this era include the $3 coin, which featured Liberty in a Native American headdress, and the $4 “Stella,” which displayed a five-pointed star instead of an eagle.

How the Postal Service Created the ZIP Code

Author Timothy Ott
August 13, 2026

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Even with the decline of letter writing in the digital age, the ZIP code remains an American institution, a neat five-digit number that caps an address and, like an area code, can serve as a point of pride and prestige.

Given the ZIP code’s place as an oft-used and universally recognized symbol, it may come as a surprise that the ZIP, short for “Zone Improvement Plan,” isn’t all that old. The system was enacted on July 1, 1963, within many of our lifetimes and just a few months before another famous entity, the Beatles, also arrived in the United States.

But unlike the mop-topped quartet, the five-digit zoning plan wasn’t immediately welcomed by Americans. Here’s a look at how the ZIP code came to be, and ultimately overcame a bumpy start to emerge as a signature accomplishment of the United States Postal Service.

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An Early Zoning System Came Out of World War II

Like many innovations, the ZIP code’s origins can be traced back to World War II. At the time, the Post Office Department, as the U.S. Postal Service was then called, was dealing with the loss of personnel to military duty, specifically the departure of experienced sorters who could properly funnel letters and parcels marked with incomplete addresses.

As a result, in 1943, the department assigned one- to two-digit zone numbers to more than 100 high-density urban areas across the country to help make sorting for these areas more efficient. The numbers were to be written on the address of the recipient after the city name, such as “Indianapolis 24, Indiana.”

Although the zone numbers provided some organizational relief, they only papered over the problem of keeping up with the ever-growing volume of mail. Fueled by the country’s postwar population and economic boom, the number of individual pieces of mail jumped from 33 billion in 1943 to 66.5 billion in 1962. By the latter date, a letter was handled by an average of eight to 10 postal employees, increasing the possibility of human error.

The issue wasn’t going unnoticed by the department’s employees. In 1944, a prescient postal instructor named Robert Moon sought to get ahead of the volume problem with his proposal of splitting the country into a network of regional processing centers, each marked by a three-digit code. Nine years later, another inspector, H. Bentley Hahn, completed a six-year study of the department’s outdated operations with a report titled “Proposed Reorganization of the Field Postal Service.”

But despite the modernization efforts of Postmaster General Arthur Summerfield, who introduced the country’s first automated post office in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1960, the department was still struggling to meaningfully address its problems as it faced down a new decade.

What Did Ancient People Dream About?

Author Bess Lovejoy
August 6, 2026

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For the ancient Greeks, Romans, and folks in other cultures, dreams were far more than idle nighttime fancies. They were powerful, often sacred experiences that shaped lives, politics, religious practices, and art. 

While ancient people likely dreamed about many of the same themes we do today — love, fear, death, power, the divine — their dreams were widely seen as significant messages, often believed to come directly from gods or supernatural forces. Ancient dreamers sought meaning in their visions, often finding answers to illness, moral dilemmas, or matters of state, and they acted on their dreams with great seriousness. Here’s a look at what people in ancient times likely dreamed about, and what they believed those visions meant.

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Divine Messengers and Prophecy

One of the most common types of dreams in antiquity featured divine or semidivine figures delivering a message — what later Roman thinkers such as the scholar Macrobius classified as “oracles,” and later scholars have called “epiphany dreams.” These dreams usually involved a god, ancestor, or venerable figure announcing future events or prescribing actions to take.

A prominent example is Penelope’s dream in Homer’s Odyssey, where she sees an eagle slay her flock of geese. The eagle speaks, revealing himself as Odysseus and foretelling his return and vengeance. In another example, from ancient Sumer, King Eanatum I dreamed that Ning̃irsu — the Sumerian god of thunderstorms and floods — told him he would triumph in a war. And in Egypt during the 15th century BCE, a deity told Prince Thutmose IV that he would become pharaoh if only he freed the Sphinx from the sand engulfing its body.

In some early Christian writing, dreams offered opportunities for moral instruction, although it can be hard to distinguish between sleeping dreams and what we’d now be more likely to call visions. But it wasn’t unusual for dreams to influence early religion: Ptolemy I Soter, one of Alexander the Great’s generals, had a dream of a giant statue that led him to found the cult of Serapis.

Why Babies in Medieval Paintings Look So Weird 

Author Bess Lovejoy
August 6, 2026

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Spend any time gazing at medieval European paintings, and one question tends to emerge: What is going on with those babies? Far from the sweet, chubby cherubs we might expect to see, these infants often resemble balding middle-aged men, complete with wrinkled foreheads and dour expressions. What could possibly explain this bizarre artistic choice? To understand, we have to dive into how European art — and the perception of children — evolved from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance.

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Religion Influenced Art

The unsettling “man-baby” of medieval art wasn’t a mistake or the result of a lack of skill. These depictions were intentional, shaped by artistic and religious ideas of the Middle Ages (roughly defined as between the fifth century and 13th century). Chief among these ideas was the concept of the homunculus, Latin for “little man,” which influenced how artists portrayed Jesus Christ as an infant. In many medieval works, baby Jesus appears with a full adult face, sometimes even showing signs of male-pattern baldness. The idea was that Jesus, being divine, was fully formed and unchanged from birth (a notion referred to as “the homuncular Jesus”). This theological concept seeped into broader portrayals of children, especially since the majority of child depictions in medieval art were religious commissions — portraits of Jesus or the occasional saintly infant.

As a result, artistic conventions leaned heavily toward depicting children as miniature adults. There was little interest in anatomical accuracy or realism. Instead, medieval artists followed established norms that prioritized symbolic meaning and spiritual messaging over lifelike representation. These conventions flattened individuality; adults and children often looked similarly stylized.

It also didn’t help that painters in this period lacked full artistic freedom. Many were working within strict church guidelines or copying earlier models, so even if they had wanted to create more accurate depictions, they weren’t supposed to do so. This lack of realism means that children in medieval paintings are often difficult to recognize as such. Some appeared disproportionately large or small, while others simply looked like shrunken grown-ups. 

Why Did People Used To Wear Monocles? 

Author Tony Dunnell
August 6, 2026

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In the world of eyewear, few accessories have captured the imagination quite like the monocle. Widely regarded today as an eccentric throwback from an earlier age, the monocle began life as a fairly simplistic and imperfect device for correcting eyesight. But something odd happened during the 19th century: The unassuming corrective lens began taking on an entirely new significance as a powerful symbol of class, intellectual prowess, and cultural identity. 

But why did this simple optical device evolve into a status symbol? And why did people start wearing monocles in the first place, when spectacles — those of the two-lens variety — had been around since the 13th century? Here’s a close look at why people used to wear monocles, and why the curious eyepiece ultimately went out of fashion. 

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The Origins of the Monocle

The origin of the monocle is somewhat blurry. It likely developed from the “quizzing glass,” which was a magnifying lens on a handle that was held up to the user’s eye to aid in reading or inspecting objects. The monocle, of course, did away with the handle altogether, and was instead held in place by the eye socket itself. 

Monocles helped with reading small print and other tasks requiring near vision. They also had the benefit of allowing both hands to be used freely (unlike the quizzing glass) while also being easy to carry, slipping comfortably into a top pocket. 

Monocles, however, have one obvious issue: They correct vision in only one eye. This might be fine for someone with anisometropia, in which only one eye needs correcting, but virtually all monocle users require optical correction in both eyes

This issue was being discussed by medical practitioners as far back as the early 1800s — and their comments were often critical. An anonymous German treatise published in 1824 stated, “The monocle with which a single eye is used must be avoided because it disturbs the balance of binocular vision.” The same year, London optician William Kitchener warned, “This pernicious plaything will most assuredly in a very few years bring on an imperfect vision in one or both eyes.” 

The Most Popular Medieval Names

Author Kristina Wright
July 30, 2026

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The Middle Ages weren’t just shaped by monarchs and wars — they were lived by everyday people whose names appear in the records they left behind. Parish registers, royal charters, tax rolls, and literature give us a glimpse into the history of common names in medieval England and other parts of Europe and what they meant to the people who carried them.

Some of the most valuable insights about what people were called, and why, come from medieval books created specifically to record names. One example is the local Liber Vitae (Latin for “Book of Life”), which listed individuals — often clergy or benefactors — remembered in the prayers of religious communities. These books were relatively rare and typically associated with major monastic centers in England, such as Durham and Winchester, where they served both spiritual and administrative purposes. The Durham Liber Vitae, which was updated over a span of 700 years, documents a wide variety of Anglo-Saxon and Norman names.

Other sources of medieval names, such as the 14th-century York Registers, document naming trends among the clergy and nobility. Together with legal records and monastic rolls, these texts reveal how names reflected faith, status, region, and tradition. The names below give us a look at how people in the Middle Ages expressed their religious beliefs, honored their ancestors, and signaled their social standing — all through the names they gave their children.

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The spread of Christianity throughout medieval Europe had a tremendous influence on naming practices. Biblical names and those honoring saints were popular — and in many regions, they were even required for baptism. Here are some of the most common examples.

John
John, the Latin form of the Greek name Joannes, was one of the most widely used male names in medieval Europe. It originates from the Hebrew name Yochanan, meaning “God is gracious,” and gained prominence through early Christian texts and the popularity of biblical figures such as John the Baptist and John the Apostle. The name was embraced by kings, popes, clergy, and commoners, making it a universal choice across social classes. There were many variations of this popular medieval name, including Johan (Germanic and Scandinavian regions), Jean (French), Giovanni (Italian), and Juan (Spanish).

Thomas
Thomas, the Greek form of the Aramaic Ta’oma’, meaning “twin,” became a common name throughout medieval Europe due to its biblical roots — most notably St. Thomas the Apostle. Its popularity grew further after the 12th-century martyrdom of St. Thomas Becket, archbishop of Canterbury. The name was used widely by both clergy and commoners. Medieval variations included Tommaso (Italian), Tomás (Spanish), and Thomasse (French).

Margaret
Margaret was a popular name for girls across medieval Europe. It originates from the Greek margaritēs, meaning “pearl,” and entered Latin as Margareta through early Christian usage. The name was associated with purity and virtue, especially due to the widespread veneration of St. Margareta of Antioch and St. Margaret of Scotland. Some of the medieval variations of this beloved name included Marguerite (French), Margherita (Italian), Margarita (Spanish), Margarethe (German), and Margit (Hungarian). 

Agnes
Agnes comes from the Greek hagnē, meaning “pure” or “chaste.” It was a classic name among Christian families, inspired by St. Agnes of Rome, a young martyr celebrated for her steadfast faith and innocence. Her story made the name especially popular among parents seeking a model of virtue for their daughters. Medieval variations included Ines (Spanish and Portuguese), Agnès (French), and Agnese (Italian).

5 Hidden Treasures That Actually Exist 

Author Tony Dunnell
July 30, 2026

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It’s hard to surpass the romance and adventure embodied by hidden treasure. The allure of lost riches has lived with us throughout human history, and the interest in such fables has never wavered — hence the enduring popularity of fictional works such as Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island and, more recently, the Indiana Jones movies. 

Unlike many legendary troves — such as Montezuma’s treasure, which has fired the imagination of treasure hunters for centuries, despite little evidence as to its actual existence — some hidden riches are known to be very real, but their whereabouts are now tantalizingly lost. Here are five of these lost treasures, all of which continue to inspire treasure hunters and historians alike in their ongoing quests for discovery and long-lost riches.

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Lost Fabergé Imperial Eggs

Few things in life are more jaw-droppingly lavish than Fabergé eggs, ornate decorations commissioned by Russian tsars and created by the jewelry company House of Fabergé between 1885 and 1917. The most well known and extravagant are the Imperial eggs, of which 50 were created but only 44 are known to have survived. 

The most recent discovery came to light in 2011, when the long-lost Third Imperial Egg was accidentally discovered in an American flea market. It later sold for an undisclosed amount in 2014 after being valued at $33 million

After the start of the Russian Revolution in 1917, the Bolsheviks ransacked and looted the imperial family’s palace and nationalized the House of Fabergé, and some of the Imperial eggs were lost. Researchers believe that as many as five Imperial eggs have been destroyed, but there’s still a chance that at least one Imperial egg is out there waiting to be found.