SC - Re: woad OT

[gar at eznet.net]

Woad

Woad comes from Isatis tinctoria - an herbaceous plant

The primary use was as a blue dye.  It was a popular dye until around
the 1630's when indigo began to be used. 

The fermentation of woad gives of a very strong and foul smell.

As to Celtic use, they used woad, painted their bodies with woad, the
blue color was for effect in battle, the smell was also used to impress
the enemy.  The Celtic use of woad is reported to be a mixture of many
ingredients which is mostly lost to time, however it was noted that some
hallucenogenic herbs were mixed into the woad blend which gave the
warriors an "edge".  In addition, woad is a very strong astringent so
that they had an advantage in that cuts and wounds would not bleed for
very long.  As an herb it also lowers fever and reduces inflammation.  		

So, all in all, being painted with woad before heading for battle had a
lot of benfits.  

PaleoBot
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