Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2021 April 30

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April 30

Persian / Zoroastrian superstitions

Do Persian / Zoroastrian have one of the following customs?

• not cooking two eggs
• not eating 2 eggs
• not drinking two glasses (of something)
• not walking between 2 trees

David (talk) 09:45, 30 April 2021 (UTC)

Where did you learn that they might? --Jayron32 10:55, 30 April 2021 (UTC)

I found all of the above in the Babylonian Talmud, which was greatly influenced by Persian and Zoroastrian customs, with the reason that Ashmadai would harm anyone who did so, and Ashmadai himself was a demon taken from the Zoroastrians, so it makes sense to me that they also forbid at least some of the above. David (talk) 11:18, 30 April 2021 (UTC)

I can't find anything using my usual Google Fu skills, the only connection I can think of is something to do with the Zoroastrian beliefs in dualism, which may have lead to some beliefs or practices around the number "2". Eggs are also a part of the Zoroastrian creation myth according to Zoroastrianism#Cosmology: Creation of the universe, so that may have something with it. If we have any Parsis patrolling the RDs, they may be able to give some insight. --Jayron32 11:46, 30 April 2021 (UTC)

Thank you for these findings! Hope that indeed there is some Persian\ Parsis here that can approve\ disapprove the above. David (talk)

I happen to be in the possession of a Zoroastrian cookbook, and looking through the nine egg based dishes one of them uses 16 eggs to serve 8 people, so make of that what you will. (None used only 2 eggs as they are meant for a larger serving). Zoozaz1 talk 20:59, 30 April 2021 (UTC)

Interesting! Going this way I googled a little bit and found some more parsis recepies, and all of them had even number of eggs so I tend to believe that they have the opposite superstiotion: they must eat even number of eggs, but your "nine egg based dishes" contradicts this. Could you ellaborate on this a little bit? (from what you wrote it seems like this the "nine egg dish" is actually 16 eggs, so I am a little bit confused...) David (talk) 07:15, 1 May 2021 (UTC)

I think you misunderstood that phrase: nine is the number of dishes, not the number of eggs. --116.86.4.41 (talk) 11:32, 1 May 2021 (UTC)

Lol, that makes more sense :).

However, is that true that all of their dishes are made of even number of eggs? David (talk) 13:57, 1 May 2021 (UTC)

One of the dishes in the cookbook calls for 13 eggs in total (5 for the covering and 8 for the filling), the rest of them all have an even number of eggs. Zoozaz1 talk 16:01, 1 May 2021 (UTC)

Not walking between two trees might be a bit tricky in a forest. Alansplodge (talk) 22:34, 30 April 2021 (UTC)

Key information to make an assessment would the total number of eggs divided by the number of diners the recipe is for. That said, this [1] suggests there is no superstition, and this [2] confirms it (... a mother eats one cooked egg for each child she has.) In the spirit of that last link, Happy Easter for tomorrow to our Orthodox readers. 95.148.229.88 (talk) 15:44, 1 May 2021 (UTC)

To conclude what you've said, it turns out that unfortunately this statemnt is not true. Thank you for your help!David (talk) 16:43, 1 May 2021 (UTC)

Paul du Chaillu publishing his book 'Explorations and adventures in Equatorial Africa' with Richard Owen.

I have read that Paul du Chaillu spent some time giving talks and lectures in America during the 1850s about his travels in Africa, but didn't find much success, but he was apparently invited to London by Richard Owen who took an interest in his work and helped him publish his stories. This book was 'Explorations and adventures in Equatorial Africa' (1861). What I'm specifically interested in is whether or not Richard Owen helped him publish, and why he did this. I've read the odd article that mentions it, but I'd love to know more details about the initial publication of the book and the initial relationship between the two men from a reliable source.31.124.106.253 (talk) 13:56, 30 April 2021 (UTC)

african nok statue

Good afternoon,

This is the first question I've direct to Wikipedia.

My question deals with the page- Nok culture There is a photo of a nok sculpture with the caption outlined below-

Female Statue 48 cm tall Age: 900 to 1,500 years

My question is as follows- do you happen to know the museum to which the statue belongs? We did a number of searches, but we weren't successful. Do you possibly know of some other way whereas my question can be answered?

Thank you for your time. Raven160 (talk) 20:48, 30 April 2021 (UTC)

Good question. The image on Wikimedia Commons is copied from a Japanese entry but doesn't give any hint as to its origin as far as I can see. The Nok sculptures discovered by Bernard Fagg in the 1940s are preserved in the Jos Museum in Nigeria, but the sites have been extensively looted and sculptures sold on the international art market. [3] Alansplodge (talk) 22:12, 30 April 2021 (UTC)

And the Japanese upload seems to have copied it from fr:Fichier:IMG 3942 1.jpg. Unfortunately, the transwikiing process does not properly preserves history (thereby going against the CC BY-SA licence), making further investigation difficult.  --Lambiam 13:35, 1 May 2021 (UTC)

Vietnam War: South Vietnamese and United States victory

What if South Vietnam and the United States won the Vietnam War? Unlike the American Revolutionary War, the American Civil War, World Wars I & II and the Korean War, the Americans lost Vietnam. And did that war end sadly? Here is my theory.

South Vietnamese and United States victory

• Introduction of U.S. coalition's forces in Vietnam
• Communist forces withdrawal from South Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos
• Separation of Vietnam
• No boat people and refugee crises
• No Cambodian genocide and no Third Indochina War

Territorial changes - Separation of North and South Vietnam into the Republic of Vietnam. 86.160.39.35 (talk) 21:58, 30 April 2021 (UTC)

Unfortunately, we're not allowed to engage in speculation on the Reference Desks (you were supposed to read that bit before posting). However, a quick look through List of alternate history fiction failed to find anyone who has written a book with that scenario, so the coast is clear if you wanted to put pen to paper. Alansplodge (talk) 22:30, 30 April 2021 (UTC)