Cinnamon birds appear in folklore of Eurasia shortly after Arab merchants begin trading with ancient lands to the north. Cinnamon enjoys widespread popularity among the wealthy. It's a spice of intrigue, exotic scents and mystic connections.
The Cinnamon Trade
By 2000 BCE, the Egyptians also use cinnamon in incense and as spice. It burns with a warm pleasant sharpness and spreads its aroma in baking. It's a natural preservative and bug repellent, which is why it's valued as a mummification ingredient.
Cinnamon is more precious than gold - but gold isn't really precious in financial terms until 1500 BCE when Pharoah declares it legal currency. In the busy trade centers gold is exchanged by weight to value like other items such as barley, tin or oils.
The cinnamon exported by Arabian traders is Cassia senna, native to the Arabian Peninsula. The Egyptians, meanwhile, source their cinnamon from Sri Lanka, where the true cinnamon (Cinnamomum verum) grows. It's known as a spice of kings.
Like the color purple, cinnamon is expensive and hard to get. Even in Roman times in the early centuries BCE, the spice is one of speculation and secrets. A pound of cinnamon costs ten months' wages for an average worker.
The source of cinnamon is a mystery and the spice commands steep prices. It's because of the difficulty in obtaining the spice from the nests of giant cinnamon birds.
Giant Cinnamon Birds
Greek historian Herodotus (c. 484 - 425 BCE) asserts cinnamon and cassia both grow in Arabia, together with incense, myrrh and labdanum, a resin. Where cinnamon birds nest, they are guarded by ferocious winged serpents.
Aristotle describes giant cinnamon birds who build nests from cinnamon sticks. The birds collect cinnamon sticks from a mysterious land where the cinnamon trees grow. The avians build their nests on cliffsides.
He writes,
"... great birds carry these dry sticks, which we have learned from the Phoenicians to call cinnamon ... the birds carry the sticks to their nests, which are plastered with mud and are placed on sheer crags where no man can climb up."
... proving Aristotle is just as gullible as the next guy, and the spread of misinformation is not limited to the modern world. The Phoenicians also have stories of dragons and giants guarding the great cedar forests of the Levant.
In Aristotle's version, the Arabs cut oxen into pieces and scatter the pieces. When giant cinnamon birds swoop down and carry the meat to their nests, the weight breaks the nests.
The nests of the cinnamon birds shatter to pieces on the rocks below. Arabians can then collect the fallen cinnamon sticks, fending off attacks from angry birds and perhaps hostile venom-spitting dragons. It's a dangerous job.
In his Historia Animalium (History of Animals, 4th century BCE), Aristotle tells yet another story. The cinnamon bird brings the stalks of cinnamon from secret locations. It builds its nest on slender branches in the highest tree tops.
The native people attach lead weights to arrow tips and shoot down the nests of the birds. They can then collect the cinnamon sticks. Aristotle names the bird kinnamômon orneon.
In the first century AD, Pliny the Elder calls the cinnamon birds a "fantastic story" told by traders to overvalue and increase demand for their merchandise. Pliny's perceptive in that way, as he calls out more than one duplicitous practice.
Pliny is also the person who solves the mystery of amber. After over two thousand years of trade, mystic and fanciful origins, he finally identifies the golden gem as a resin. He recognizes it by the distinctive scent similar to those of popular resins such as myrrh and fir.
Pliny also believes clear quartz is water frozen so long it becomes stone. It's a pretty good guess, but the jury's still out on that.
The true origins of cinnamon remain a mystery for centuries. Stories of the cinnamon birds survive well into folklore of the 18th century. In the Middle Ages manuscript from France (c. 1450 AD) the bird is shown nesting in a tree, while a person without pants twirls a sling.
Renaissance bestiaries are full of fascinating and fanciful creatures and natural concepts. In the Middle Ages and long before, slings are weapons of hunting and war. A rock or lead "bullet" may be to kill the bird, knock down the nest or scare the bird from the nest.
As there have been no reports of roast giant cinnamon birds or scrambled cinnamon bird eggs, we could assume the cinnamon harvesters of the Middle Ages use the nesting birds as a renewable resource.
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