Before and After Project

During the research process, Olivia discovered that Robins have a huge sweet tooth. So, she chose to highlight this in her Before and After Project by making her Robin a "baker", or as much as you can be in the land of the birds. For her Before and After Project Olivia decided to make a recipe book that contains two recipes, one using natural resources that follow the macrobiotic diet that the birds follow, and another recipe that we would see in our world today.

Bird Research

THE ROBIN

Pinterest Board: https://pin.it/78Jg08M

Location:

• EVERYWHERE

  • Mexico up to Canada

  • Africa

  • Asia

  • Australia and small islands around it

  • New Zealand

Climate Preference/Migration:

• In the spring American robins migrate over 240 miles from Mexico/North America to where they find a mate and breed in Canada/Alaska

  • Using this we can assume they like mild-colder climates. They spend the summers and spring in places that are cold year round and their fall/winter in places where it is cold during that time of the year.

Food:

• Beatles

• Worms

• Mealworms

• Seeds

• Berries (their favorite - they eat it year round)

• Anything sweet in the garden they adopt

Life Span:

• The longest known lifespan is 14 years

• The average lifespan in 2 years

• Only 25% of young robins survive their first year

Family Layout:

• It is healthier for robins to be laid in a “brood” meaning that multiples of eggs are laid at the same time and hatch around the same time, creating a large family and more blood filled bodies to stay warm during the night/cold seasons. They can range from 1-15 eggs - the more the merrier!

  • https://www.thespruce.com/all-about-bird-broods-386877

• A clutch is the amount of eggs a female bird lays. A robins clutch count usually varies from 3-5 eggs

• Lay blue eggs due to the pigment biliverdin that is deposited on the eggshell when they lay their eggs.

  • The brighter the eggs, the healthier the females/the newborn and the more appealing they look to male robins

    • https://www.thespruce.com/why-robin-eggs-are-blue-4161031

Home:

• Robins build their nests anywhere from mid tree to bushes. Their nests can also be found on top of low mountains and buildings

• They “adopt” gardens and tend to nest in a tree with a lot of berries in it

  • We have a berry tree in our front yard so I grew up listening to robins and seeing them eat the berries

Nest Building:

• Female robins build their nest from the inside out

• The female robin pressed dead grass and and twigs into a cup shape using one of their wing wrist (outside edge closest to the head) to press it down

• The materials added after the shape is finished includes:

  • Feathers

  • Rootlets (small root section where the root contains no leaves or buds)

  • Moss

  • Grass

  • Twigs

Different Types (colors):

• https://community.rspb.org.uk/ourwork/b/scotland/posts/robins-from-around-the-world

• The American/European Robin

  • (male) appears as a grey winged bird with a black head and orange underbelly. Females have pale heads making their head blend with the wings.

  • National bird of great britain

  • Found all the way from Canada down to Mexico

• Orientel Magpie-Robin

  • Looks like a cross between a magpie and a robin

  • Black and white

  • Special song that is very different from any other bird

  • Garden birds in tropical southern Asia and the national bird of bangladesh

• Cape Robin

  • Found from South Sudan to South Africa

  • Looks like the American Robin but with a distinguishable white eyebrow

  • Highly territorial

  • Garden Birds

• Flame Robin (my favorite)

  • Found in Astrauliasia (Australia, New Zealand, and other small islands)

  • Comes in a variety of bright colors

    • Rose

    • Yellow

    • Pink

    • Scarlet

    • The regular bright orange

  • Black/grey body with a bold white strip on the wing with a vibrant colored breast

Temperament:

• Very territorial

• “Adopts” a garden that they find special and watches over it as if it is their home

Symbolism (does it mean something in other cultures?):

• The national bird of great britain

• A lot of places around the world associate Robins with Christmas, this can be for a variety of reasons

  • https://scottishwildlifetrust.org.uk/2019/12/why-do-we-associate-robins-with-christmas/

  • Robins migrate away to colder places during the spring/summer and migrate back during the fall/winter when it starts to get cold. So, once we start to turn our mindset to the holidays, there is an influx of robins flying back home so it looks like they are bringing Christmas with them.

  • In the Victorian era, when families would send Christmas cards they would be delivered by men dressed in bright red suits. These men were nicknamed Robins/Red Breasts

  • Robins can be seen on Christmas cards, wrapping paper, and many Christmas ornaments

• Brought fire to native tribes in a lot of indigenous stories (like the Anishnabeek and the Celtics)

Fun Facts:

• The male robin sings a more beautiful song then the female does (usually used to impress female robins during mating season)

• They have a sweet tooth - berries and human made pastries are their favorites, they often steal the sugar water that a lot of families put out

  • Because of their love of berries they often overlook fermented berries. This is similar to a human drinking a bottle of vodka. The robins after eating these berries will be seen falling while walking or flying in a way similar to a drunk driver (in a sort of zig zag - too fast or too slow - falling in and out of the sky)

    • The first two links aren’t of robins but basically what happens is after the winter, the wax on the berries ferments, getting the birds drunk. With the robins sweet tooth this happens very often for them

    • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPH9-ULaTTc

    • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5z4TJ93pWy0

    • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-dKS5-e0ms

• A lot of cultures say that Robins are the sweetest bird and if you get along with them you must have a kind heart. This has nothing to do with their temperament and all to do with their bright red breast. This indicates a bright red heart which can lead to thoughts of kindness and love

Lineage Research

My Lineage

As a person who’s real roots have stayed in America it was a little difficult to find the Pre Roman origins of my DNA journey. While my parents thought it too expensive and governmentally risky to buy a 23 and Me test I searched the internet. It led me to basically nothing. It wasn’t until I got home from Florida that I found out my grandmother and grandpa had recently taken the 23 and me test and got the results soon before my grandfather passed. As I have already established that everything to do with this play will be dedicated to him I decided to go off of what I found of his roots.

Like almost every origin story we started in Africa, Southwest Africa to be more precise. In SouthWest Africa we ended up moving to Western Europe in an area that is now Belgium. This took place Pre Roman Empire so this is what I will be researching for my lineage, Belgium. There was not a lot of time between the Belgae people settling and the rise of Caesar but there is definitely enough to take inspiration from.

Pre Roman Belgium

https://pin.it/MnmLzTR

History

● Pre Roman Belgium was split into 10 Belgic Tribes

○ Atrebates

○ Menapii

○ Nervii

○ Tungri

○ Eburones

○ Condrusi

○ Paemani

○ Caeresi

○ Ubii

● They had many interactions with Julius Caesar during the reign of Caesar but existed a few years before him (which is why it counts)

● The inhabitants of what is now called Belgium were known as the Belgae ● In the early stages of Belgae farming failed

○ Big gap in history between it failing and when it started up again

○ Because of the two rivers the farmland was too wet to grow easily accessible crops

Location

● Northern Gaul

○ Near the west bank of the Rhine River

○ Northern bank of the River Seine

Language

● Because of their Germanic ancestry they spoke the Celtic language Gualish

Way of Living

● Fishing was very important to the Belgae people because of the two rivers they were next to

● When farming failed fishing became even more important because it then became their main food source

Higher Power

● Practiced what we now call Celtic Mythology

● Belenus was the main deity

○ Sun god

○ Many tribes held fire festivals for Belenus in the hopes that he would see it from the heavens and bless them

● Danu

○ Goddess of Nature

● Dagda

○ Cheerful Chief of Gods

● Angus

○ Young god of love

● Lugus

○ The courageous warrior god

● Camulos

○ God of War

● Ogma

○ God of Eloquence

Weapons

● Spears

○ Used for both fishing and fighting (very useful)

●

Present Day

● The present day inhabitants of Belgium do not speak Gaulish anymore and instead speak mainly Dutch but a good amount of German and French as well ● Still fishing but it is not their only source of food

● The religion has changed drastically to 62.8% following the Christian religion 6.8% having no religion and 1.1% following the Islamic religion