Month: December 2017

Rolling Pins

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Jaredite people, especially the women used rolling pins to help them roll out dough for flat breads, like tortillas and some other uses.

One type was made of hard wood.  Carpenters would take branches from trees, strip off the bark and “sand” the wood until it was a practically perfect circle about 6”-12” long; some being longer.  They had a unique technology which helped them to sand the wood and make it into the perfect shape for rolling dough.

Another type of rolling pin was made out of granite.  The settlements where an abundance of granite was found, granite masons cut granite blocks from the earth.  They had amazing and unique tools to cut the granite from the earth into smaller, usable pieces.  One Jaredite mason created a tool to cut and shine the granite into perfect cylindrical shapes, rolling pins, for dough and a myriad of other uses.  Granite was in high demand as it was durable and sanitary. People would travel great distances to purchase granite.  Also, many granite masons would travel to other settlements to sell their granite.

Places where granite was not found, stone cutters would remove stone from the earth and use a different type of unique tool to cut and shape the stone.  Those who had a stone for dough rolled out dough differently than those with a rolling pin.  The stone had a somewhat rounded bottom that helped flatten out dough. Many women, and others, became expert at flattening out dough using the stones.

Clothes

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There is a girl, about 8-10 years old, with a doll in her hands.  Sariah is her name.  The doll is beautiful, something that someone living in your time wouldn’t expect for 1000s of years ago.  The face is like porcelain, almost like a Victorian style doll, but with different clothes.  The doll is clothed, but different than you might imagine from videos about the Nephites and Lamanites.  You may assume that the Jaredites would dress similar to how you envision the Nephites and Lamanites, but that isn’t the case.

We had skilled weavers and grew cotton, and other various plants to make beautiful clothes.  Cotton, just like now, was a vital trade item.  Cotton farmers were very valuable and respected.

We used wool from sheep and other animals that we domesticated and herded.  We made shoes from the leathers/skins of animals; and had silkworms to make silk.  Some of us made dyes for our cloth, with a variety of colors.  We didn’t have all the different types of fabrics that you have in your time, but we had a plentiful variety in our clothes, more than you would realize.

During disobedient or wicked times, some merchants would do like your society does, put a name on their clothes and mark up the price, much higher than it needed to be.  It didn’t cost those merchants anymore to make or buy the clothes, they just increased the price.  And, some people would pay the increased price and show off the designers name.  If they only knew how ridiculous they looked.  What is in a name?

So, during times of disobedience and wickedness, divisions based on wealth began to form as our people tried to outdo each other with the price of clothes, goods, and services.  It was sad when that happened; our people were not truly happy.  I much preferred the peaceful times, when our people were obedient to God’s commandments.  That is when all of us received  fair prices for goods and services and when we really prospered.  There was more than enough for everyone, not just the wealthy.  Actually, there really wasn’t a class of wealthy people; we were one, we were united.  Our society was truly abundant!  God poured His richest blessings to us!

Brother Jerish gets a Ball

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Cozeen’s 5-year old brother, Jerish, decided that he also wanted a ball.  He was desperate to have a ball like his sister.  He asked his father if he could also have a ball.  His father hesitated for a moment, so Jerish said that he would feed the animals for a week just to get a ball.  Jerish’s father laughed and agreed to get him a ball, not complete sure if Jerish would follow through with his promise.

The next morning, Jerish woke up bright and early and headed out to the stable/barn/fields where the animals were.  He knew exactly what he needed to do, yet because he was so small, he struggled. He really tried his best to feed all the animals.  His 17-year brother heard Jerish get up early, and followed him outside.  He watched Jerish for some time, with a big smile on his face, and watch him do his best to feed all the animals.  The brother laughed as he watched Jerish try so hard, then decided to go and help him.  Jerish did most of the work, while his brother provided the necessary muscle.  Jerish woke up early for the next week to keep his promise to feed the animals.  The brother also got up with Jerish, and by the 4th day, the entire family woke up early, just to help Jerish.

Jerish’s parents were so pleased with how industrious Jerish was, and the way his siblings helped them out, they all received something from the market (not all the siblings wanted balls).

When father came home with the bouncy ball, Jerish was beyond thrilled!  He bounced the ball.  He threw it at walls, trees, into the pond, just to see what the ball would do.  He did need some help getting the ball out of the pond.  🙂

Jerish also tried hitting the ball with a stick, on the ground, then in the air.  He had so much fun with his ball.  He and his siblings, and his friends made up many games with the ball.

Jerish was a very curious child!  After some time, the ball was beginning to wear out from overuse, he asked his father for another ball.  His father obliged and brought home another ball.  Jerish, again, was thrilled.  He took the first ball, and took it apart because he wanted to know what was inside of it and what made it bounce.

The outside was animal skin that was wrapped tightly around a rubbery type substance.  Jerish wanted to know more about this substance, so one of his older brothers took him to the vendor who made the balls.  Jerish asked many intelligent question, surprising both his brother and the vendor.  The vendor offered to let Jerish help made some balls.  Jerish was thrilled!  He was so excited about this.

Jerish’s father knew the vendor, so they arranged a time when Jerish could go and help.  Jerish could hardly wait as he counted down the days.  He drove his family crazy with questions like, “Are we going today?”  “Is it tomorrow?”

Finally, the long-awaited day came.  Jerish’s father took him to the home and workshop of the vendor.  Jerish was giddy the entire way to the vendor’s home.

Once they arrived, the vendor took Jerish and his father to his workshop.  The workshop was very organized.  There were tables on the walls of the shop with different materials that would make the ball.  They started with some clay-type substance and made it into a round ball.  Somewhere in the process, animal fat was used.  Then some rubbery type material was wrapped around the clay, and set out to dry.  After the ball dried, it was wrapped tightly in some animal skin.  The skin was sewed closed over the ball.

Jerish was so intrigued with the whole process.  He helped as much as he could and asked many questions.  The vendor gave Jerish the ball that he helped to make.  Jerish was so enthusiastic.  He took it home and showed his family, and of course, they were all impressed.

Jerish continued to help the vendor make more balls.  In fact, Jerish came up with many ideas to help make the balls bouncier, and ways that they wouldn’t bounce at all.

Because of Jerish’s curious and industrious mind, and a gift that he was blessed with to make things better, and find better ways of accomplishing jobs/chores, he became well-known for his improvements of current technologies and new inventions that greatly helped the Jaredite people.

Jerish and his family lived during a righteous time.  Jerish received many revelations for the technology he improved and invented.  The Spirit of the Lord flowed through him as he worked to help the Jaredite people.

 

Cozeen and the Ball

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A cute, little 3-year old girl with long dark hair and chubby cheeks (but she isn’t chubby), and her father came home from the market with a very unique bouncy ball.  Someone found some materials that would bounce and made balls from it.  The ball was about the size of a baseball or softball.  The girl, Cozeen, loved the ball!  She was the youngest of several children and her older siblings were a bit jealous of the ball, especially the two that were just older than her.  One of them, a 5-year boy, tried to sneak the ball away from her, but her father caught him and  gave the ball back to Cozeen.

Cozeen’s family played together, bouncing the ball to each other.  They gathered in a big circle,  bouncing and throwing the ball to each other.  Other families came and watched, and decided that they needed to get a ball also.  It was new to them and quite the thing to have.

Cozeen took that ball with her wherever she went.  She took it to her friend’s house, she slept with it.  She even wanted to take it to church, to the synagogue, but her father told her that she had to leave it home.  The first Sabbath day after receiving the ball, she cried and cried.  She so badly wanted to take the ball with her.  That was a long church service for her parents, as Cozeen could not be consoled.  As soon as the services were don, she practically ran home from church, just to get to her ball.  The following Sabbath days were not as bad. The novelty of the ball wore off after a while, and Cozeen knew that the ball would be there when she got home.

Cozeen kept the ball until she grew up and married.  She always loved that ball and would play with it occasionally as she grew up.  She gave the ball to her oldest child, a girl, who loved the ball just as much as Cozeen.

Keeping Cool on Hot Days

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(Written July 21, 2017)

How did you deal with very hot days!

This is another young girl, in her late teens.

On some of the hottest days of the summer, we took a breaks from working and as a family, and extended family, we went to the rivers and creeks to play.  We loved jumping into swimming holes.  In fact, many of my people dug out swimming holes…just so we could enjoy  the warm summer days.

We didn’t have air conditioning or refrigeration, but we had other technology that kept our food cold.  We didn’t keep as much food as you do; we went to the market several times a week.  We did preserve food for the winter season.

Back to the rivers.  We also took our ropes and made rope swings that we could jump into the rivers.  We really enjoyed ourselves, and looked forward to the hot summer days so we could get a break from the work and just enjoy ourselves.  I loved being with my family on these days.  I met a very handsome man on one hot summer day when we were playing at the river.  He lived in a different city, but came to the same spot on the river.  Yes, we did get married!!  He was so cute, fun, and had an incredible body.  🙂