 Polyanthus Tuberose By Ana Elena Sastrias, IPF Australia Chair and Natural Perfumery Teacher An Olfactory Landscape Through History In 2018 I decided to visit my family and friends back in Mexico and took the opportunity to get in contact with relevant people working with Mexican Botanical Raw Materials and producing Ethnobotanical Essential Oils from Mexican sourced plants, flowers, seeds, gums and resins at the Botanic Garden and Research Institute “Herbario CICY - Centro de Investigación Científica de Yucatán”, where I met up with Dr Luz María Calvo in Mérida, Yucatán. Among the most aromatic raw materials used in modern perfumery, it is the Mexican “Nardo” known as “Polyanthus Tuberose”. This flower “Nardo” or “Polyanthus Tuberose” was used by the Mayans as a Soap as this plant contains high levels of sapogenines and rizomas, ingredients that can make soap. In Nahuatl, this plant was called “amole” that means “soap” or “omixochitl” that means “boney flower”. In Mexico, there are 20 species of “Polyanthus”. These “Polyanthus” have been grown and domesticated since the Pre-Hispanic Era among the Mayan Civilization. Its fine seductive floral fragrance is found all over the world in fine perfumes. The essential oil extracted from these flowers have the following properties: anti-fungal, anti- bacterial, used in wound healing treatments, it is also used as an insecticide and herbicide. During that visit I also spent time reading relevant books about Aztec and Mayan Civilizations and their Olfactory Experiences in Rituals at the Hemeroteca Nacional, UNAM in Mexico City. The Historical Research Institute in Mexico (IIH) states that in order to understand the History of Mexico, it is necessary to know the Aromas appropriate to each Period in History. Dr Elodie Dupey García and Guadalupe Pinzón Ríos are working together in the reconstruction of smells from Ancient Times up to 20th Century in Mexico in order to recover the Olfactory Memory from each Period in time. They consider Olfaction, not just as a physiological activity, but also as a way to interact in Society and Culture triggered by different stimuli bringing a diversity of values in Society through time. The smells have a meaning in Society. For instance, a fresh clean smell compared to a smell of a warm “tortilla” or a fresh bread. The behaviour in humans and other species is definitively influenced by what we smell and this can trigger behaviours in our relationships and also can be part of our rituals. This reconstruction of ancient olfactory landscape is being done through research on Ancient Texts, Nahuatl, Mayan and other Indigenous languages and Archeological Objects, aside of Ethnobotanical Research. Dr Elodie Dupey García recognises that it is quite challenging to recover the original smells of the Mesoamerican civilizations due to the length of time and the exposure to the wind. Archeological, iconography and linguistic and historical sources have been useful as a base to learn more about the aromas that were characteristic of the Pre-hispanic Era.  In religious rituals, Aztec priests were scarifying themselves by offering their blood to be then incinerated to the gods. The remains of this type of smells can be described in pictograms from Codex as images of ancient practices and beliefs. The same as in the narrative stories from the Spaniards witnessing such sacrifices in the Fall of the Pre-Hispanic Civilizations. After this collection of information, the questions that were important to ask for this research were: - Which are the ideas behind the Aromas in the Pre-Hispanic Civilizations? - Which kind of categorisation they assigned to Olfactive Sensations and which aromas were more relevant or bringing much attention to Pre-Hispanic society? - With which kind of concepts they associated each aroma? La Société Américaniste in Paris, France states that since the 18th and 19th Century, the intellectual elite put more importance to a Visual aspect of the world, more than the Tactile, Gustative, Olfactive aspects of our lives as a society. Since then, we have gradually been missing the use of our Sense of Smell and we now will need to re-train this important Sense. Since “reading” has been a marker in society to learn science, develop technology and be part of a cultural landscape and participate in the workforce. The priorities to exercise senses aside of our Vision and Hearing, were left behind, regarded almost as a non- important. It is since 2020 when Covid-19 pandemic started and we experienced as Humanity some of the effects of Covid-19 of losing the Sense of Smell, that Science is starting to catchup with studies and research in the consequences of losing the Sense of Smell in Human Beings and how to recover the Sense of Smell by doing Olfaction Training.  Aromas and fragrances were sacred in Ancient Times in Mexico, pointing this smell to the “Sahumerio o Sahumador de Copal” (Copal’s Smoke recipients). The resin of Copal was burnt in diverse ritualistic contexts. The resulting fumes from burning the resin of Copal were fundamental to the rituals and ceremonies.  Copal This Aromatic Offerings to the gods comprised herbs, gums and resins that were burnt and their combustion created aromatic smoke central to various rituals. The recipient used to burn the raw materials is called “Sahumador or Sahumerio”. They were of different kind, some were basic, some others more luxurious. Those artefacts were found in archeological sites. Murals and Codex describe the various raw materials used to make aromatic smokes and the use of “sahumadores or sahumerios”. Also, they could give us some information of which characteristics the olfactory landscapes had in the Religious Festivities. The aromas could be concentrated in the Ritual Activity derived by the raw materials used in the ceremonies taken places either in restrictive access places or open space ceremonies or around the reach of people participating in the ceremony.  The Offering of Fire was a ritual that burnt Copal resin in wood in front of the images of their deities.
This Offering was executed by each family when the Sun rises, also in temples four times during the day, and five times during the night, this was done to celebrate the God of the Sun and the God of the Night respectively. The aromas were given a Social, Medicinal and Ritualistic role associated with Cosmological beliefs in the Pre-Hispanic Mesoamerican Era. The mesoamericans conceived the World of the Dead as a putrefactive smell. Putting in perspective the importance of the Sense of Smell in Ancient Civilisation and Indigenous communities living in Jungles, it does make sense when being surrounded by a very thick lush and green jungle, our Vision will not be enough to detect any danger or find your way to reach out other community or designated destination. The smells of each community could be an identifiable factor to guide us in our journey. The smells of each town bring an identity that can be part of our olfactory memory map. Dr Elodie Dupey García has been working on the Olfactory Sensitivity Project applied into the History of Smells in Mexico since 2014. Her book “De olfato. Aproximaciones a los Olores en la Historia de México” (Olfaction. Olfactory approximations to Aromas through out the History of Mexico) has been published since 2020. References: Gaceta UNAM - Agosto 2021 - Frías, Leonardo Olores y Sensibilidad Olfativa en Mesoamérica - Dupey García, Elodie CICY Newsletter Article - Aromas de México para el mundo, el caso del Nardo: Polianthes Tuberosa - Calvo, Luz María
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 By Creezy Courtoy, Anthropologist and Olfaction Expert OUR CHILDREN OLFACTORY SENSE The Olfactory Sense is the First Sense to Begin Development in the Fetus I have always been fascinated by olfaction, which is why I spent time studying gorillas. Like gorillas that use 100% of their olfactory sense, newborns have the same powerful sense of olfaction. Olfaction is the most powerful sense of all their senses. It is the first sense to begin development in the fetus, and arrives at maturity before all the others. Immersed in amniotic liquid, the fetus swims in a bath of emanations and swallows four to five quarts of flavored water per day. Newborns See With Their Nose The first odor discerned by newborns is the smell of their mother, and it is that smell which will determine their behavior towards others. The olfactory sense of newborns is certainly their most developed sense. It guides the child, and the messages they receive make them feel secure. Only a few days after their birth, babies begin using their noses to receive all emanations passing around them. Their smell is so sharp that they encounter all odors, even those we are no longer able to smell. Their olfactory sense is more sensitive than that of an adult. Even though they do not yet know how to express themselves verbally to communicate their senses, newborns react to odors through motor reactions of the respiratory or cardiac rhythm changes. Babies less than two weeks old orient themselves automatically towards maternal odors. They are dependent on their mother's constant attention to feel psychologically well. They will learn to recognize their mother by her smell, which they will prefer to any other smell and will bond to it; this process gives them the security they need to live. This is why we can say ”newborns see with their nose”.  The First Years of a Child's Life Are Very Critical.
The olfactory sense, (and instinctive sense, considered as too animal-like), was almost entirely rejected by our society. In our present adult environment sight prevails over all other senses. Human beings have lost their olfactory sense and must learn to smell again. Olfaction is a very important sense in the harmonization of human beings because to feel good, we need all of our senses to be in balance. If the olfactory sense is not maintained, it progressively disappears sometimes completely when approaching old age. It is only lately that our society is realising how important the sense of smell is. Still, many parents and educators do not pay much attention to their own sense of smell and are not teaching their children to do so. This is why, I have put in place a Children Olfactory Preservation Program starting at 4 months, when babies start eating solid food. The first years of a child's life are very critical. Children’s sensory experiences help them build a bundle of emotions and sensations that gives them tools to grow and develop in harmony. It is necessary to help babies and young children preserve their olfactory habits. How Can We Engage Kids To Preserve Their Olfactory Instincts in This Visual And Auditory Civilization? How can we recreate olfactory education and re-develop olfactory habits? Les Ateliers des Petits Nez (Workshops for Little Noses) have been especially created to teach babies and children how to preserve the power of their olfactory sense. The International Perfume Foundation previously tested this Children Olfactory Preservation Program in nurseries and kindergartens. Today I am giving lectures on this subject, and I have created an Online MasterClass to teach young parents, grandparents, educators, nurseries, kindergartens and schools to accelerate this movement. Our children are our future, they need to feel good and to feel secured to face the challenges of this changing world.  By Creezy Courtoy, IPF Founder and Chair, Anthropologist, Historian and Olfaction Trainer No Sense is More Important than the Olfactory Sense! I really want you to understand that a perfume is not only a smell, it is much more than that and everyone should really know this before learning to become an olfaction trainer, an aromatherapist or a perfumer. When you smell a perfume: -going through your brain, it creates memories and sensations. -it has an action on your nervous system, regulating organs. -it is also a gas and what we breathe has immediate access to our blood. While penetrating through the thin membranes of our lungs, fragrances and perfumes reach the bloodstream much more quickly than the absorption of matter by the digestive tracts. -it influences your hormonal system -it acts on your organs through your nervous system -in the bloodstream, it participates to the irrigation of your organs -it can also modify your DNA and your cell's organization Digestion and the breaking down of solids, like medicinal pills, take much more time reaching the bloodstream, as the absorbed solids must be digested and pass through the thick intestinal wall. These are the reasons making a perfume or blending essential oils has responsibilities. When you teach olfaction training, when you train yourselves, when you create natural perfumes or when you blend essential oils, always study the particularity of the oils. Do not use products without knowing their origins. Olfaction can be dangerous. With essential oils, you can always find data and talk to the person in front of you. With synthetic substances you have no historical data like we have for flowers and plants. Natural Perfumes are more expensive but it is worth to consider !  Perfume, by simple olfaction, sends messages to the nervous system, especially, to the area called "the big sympathetic" which plays a very important role in the maintenance of the health balance of humans.
The nervous system is the supreme organizer of matter, where life emanates. Its actions spread to all the organs where it regulates the different functions to achieve this harmonious whole that is the human body. Besides, it assures the defense of the organism in protecting the body from external attacks. ”The big sympathetic” is made of a double chain of joint ganglia, situated at each side of the backbone. From these ganglia emerge many nerve connections terminating at the vegetative life organs: liver, spleen, lungs, heart, blood vessels, etc. In some regions of the body nerves also form real networks, and insure the communication of the big sympathetic with the central nervous system. The nervous system presides in exchanges, warns of failings, provides the various organ needs and rescues those that are threatened. It directs the natural defenders: the white blood cells or leukocytes, also called phagocytes. The stronger the microbial attack the stronger the defense. Different conditions, by their suddenness or duration, can cause an abrupt disruption in the balance of the nervous system and also on the entire organism. A failing nervous system can occur in different ways: tiredness, insomnia, unaccustomed emotional stress, sudden weight loss, or an uncharacteristic tendency to exaggerate or discourage. If, at this moment, a bacterial attack occurs, the nervous system would not have the necessary strength to fight it. Within the nervous system is the autonomic nervous system, which then contains the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. These two systems are involuntarily, meaning our body does not have control over what it is being performed. The sympathetic nervous system is known as “fight-or-flight”, while parasympathetic is known as “rest and digest”. Even though they are different, these systems still work hand in hand with one another to help control the way our body works. Sympathetic is almost like an alarm clock, as it arouses the body and stimulates the nerves to start working. On the other hand, parasympathetic helps calm the body down, as it brings the body back to its normal state. Natural essential oils can rebalance your nervous system, therefore it is important to learn aromatherapy and olfaction training before learning natural perfumery. If you want to learn more about the importance of your olfactory sense, if you want to learn how to train, preserve or restore your olfactory sense, enrol for Creezy Courtoy's 8 weeks Olfaction Course.  Lancement du livre et conférence le 26 Mai 2018 |
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