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WOMEN In HISTORY 1

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First Lady Virgin of Guadalupe Malinali

The STORY Of MINT

Mint originated in Europe as a room deodorizer, a strewing herb strewn on floors. In those days floors were dirt and never scrubbed or cleaned, despite litter. Mint or basil sprigs thrown on floors and stepped on created a fragrant odor. As in home gardens, mint spreads greedily worldwide. Cultivated as a medicine since ancient times, traces are found in Egyptian tombs. In Greek mythology Minthe was seduced by Hades, god of the underworld. His queen, Persephone, became jealous and turned her into a plant, mint. In another story Minthe, as beloved of Pluto, was transformed into the scented herb after his wife became jealous.

First Lady, feminism first

Journalists gathered in the White House's Red Room today for First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt's first press conference. This was no ordinary meeting with reporters. Mrs. Roosevelt is the first First Lady to hold her own press conference, apart from the President. The audience was also special - women reporters only! Jacqueline Kennedy was a reporter before she married John F Kennedy. Martha Washington offered her silver service to melt down for coins for the new United States.

The VIRGIN Of GUADALUPE

Mexico's most revered shrine honors its patron saint, the Virgin of Guadalupe. She appeared to humble Indian farmer Juan Diego Dec 9, 1531 as he walked to church in Tlatelolco over Tepeyac Hill. In Nahuatl, the native Indian language, the Virgin told him a church must be built on the spot. The bishop wanted proof. Dec 12 the Virgin reappeared, using Diego's cloak to gather roses. Opening his cloak before the Bishop, they found a vivid image of the Virgin imprinted on it. The cloak hangs over the main altar in a gold frame for visitors to pass beneath on a moving sidewalk. Naming Mexicans Guadalupe honors the Virgin of Guadalupe, declared Patroness of Latin America by Pope Pius X in 1910 and declared patroness of America by Pope Pius XII in 1945. The name Guadalupe probably stemming from Arabic wadi, river, current, stream, riverbed, also may derive from lupus, wolf. Francisco J Perea's book 450 Years at the Shadow of Tepeyac says Guadalupe may derive from the Nahuatl tecoatlaxopeuh, she who crushes the stone serpent, or from coatlaxopeah, she who crushes the serpent.

Dec 12 is Virgin of Guadalupe Day, singing Las Mananitas to her.

MALINALITZIN 1501 - 1530

Malinali was born in Painala, 8 miles from Guazacalco (now Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz) Her parents, Cimatl and Tenepal, ruled Oluta and Jaltipan. Her father died when she was little. Her mother remarried and bore a son. Malinali was heir to the throne but the new couple wanted their son to be the chosen one. They sold Malinali, 10, to pochtecas (merchants) who in Tabasco sold her at 13 to Chocan Putun as a maid in waiting. Malinali learned the Mayan language quickly. When her exceptional talents showed, the suffix TZIN was added to her name, implying as landlady or simply distinctive for her grand investiture. Cortez, arriving in Mexico, was given Malinalitzin and 19 other women as a gift. Cortez baptized her and changed her name to Marina. Her knowledge of Mayan, Nahuatl and Castillano (Spanish) made her Cortez' prime interpreter. Mexicans pejoratively shortened her name to Malinche. Some called her a traitor, others a liberator saving them from the Aztecs. Still others called her a promoter of change in which old and new world races, cultures, customs and religions fused. She bore Cortez a son in 1522. Cortez baptized him Martin, honoring Cortez' father. He became America's first and most important Mestizo. Malinche died around New Year's 1530 in Mexico City. A volcano in nearby Perote, Veracruz, is named for her.

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