Just a Girl

by Jackie French

  But this is not a book about theology, nor is it written from the point of view of any specific religion, as the religions that still exist today were so different back then; and the founders of other religions, like Islam, hadn’t yet been born, and Buddhism was still developing after the death of Siddhartha Gautama, nor was it a major philosophy in the Roman Empire.

  The ‘real’ religion of the Roman Empire at the time was one that had many gods, with Jupiter as father of the gods, all of whom had different attributes or powers. The various emperors of Rome were revered as gods too. Caius’s master might well have made sacrifices to Mars, god of war, as well as being a Zoroastrian, as many military men were. It was expected that all countries in the Roman Empire would worship their own religion as well as the Roman one — except in Judea, where Jewish people had a special dispensation.

  CAPITALISING WORDS

  In this book, the words used by Caius to describe Jesus are capitalised, as that is how he would have thought them.

  Rabba or Judith would have been thinking about someone they considered an ordinary man, so for them the words aren’t capitalised.

  LANGUAGES

  Most of the population of Judea probably spoke or understood at least two languages. The people of a village like Judith’s would have spoken Aramaic (or a local Aramaic dialect in isolated areas), as well as Koine, the form of Greek spoken in much of the former Macedonian/Greek Empire now ruled by Rome. The better educated among them would also speak and read Hebrew and possibly Latin.

  Caius would have spoken, read and written Roman Latin, and also been fluent in Koine. He probably could also read and speak classical Greek, as so much philosophy and so many other works came from Greece. As a scribe, he might have learned a little of other languages used in the Roman Empire too.

  The Judea of Judith’s time was a mix of races, cultures and religions. Between thirty and forty per cent were Jewish (estimates vary widely), but in some large cities like Caesarea the majority of people were probably Roman, at least culturally. Jerusalem may have had a larger Jewish population; and a small farming village like Judith’s might have been entirely Jewish, and all closely related. Even her small village would, however, have traded at least sometimes, even if not directly, with Greeks, Egyptians or other races from other areas.

  When people live in a country where other languages are used, they often adopt some words into their own daily use — just as we do today with English. For example, we might use words or phrases from Spanish (macho, plaza, patio), French (ballet, café, savoir faire, entrepreneur, genre, hors d’oeuvre), Japanese (tsunami, karaoke, karate, kamikaze) or German (kindergarten, waltz). We may also adopt and adapt words that we use or pronounce differently: Chinese (typhoon, Yin and Yang, gung-ho), Italian (paparazzi), Indigenous Australian (kangaroo, wombat, Canberra, boomerang) and many, many more. Judith, Rabba and Baratha probably knew some Latin words, especially ones that were used for items they might buy or sell, or for taxation or Roman laws, even if they didn’t speak Latin in their village.

  BETROTHAL

  A girl and a boy, or man, might be betrothed when very young. Judith may have been betrothed as a very young child. The betrothal would become full marriage when she was taken to her husband’s house, often at twelve to fourteen. Jakob would probably have been a few years older, so able to support a wife. Some traditions claim that Joseph was a widower and he may have been much older than Mary. The marriage would usually be arranged by the couple’s parents or close relatives, though there was often some choice for the couple involved. Only a cruel parent, or one who badly wanted the dowry and alliance, would force their child into a marriage with someone they actively disliked.

  In Judith’s time, a betrothal had far greater force than our engagements do today. It was a legally and morally binding arrangement, and a man needed a major reason not to go through with the marriage. If his betrothed was pregnant, and not to him, that was definitely sufficient reason. Joseph would have been within his rights to publicly humiliate Mary by breaking their betrothal — what amounted to a divorce. Instead, according to the Gospels, he decided to break the betrothal privately so as not to humiliate her. Until he was visited by an angel . . .

  FOOD

  Bread was the basis of every meal, not just as a food but to scoop out food from a communal pot. A flatbread would be shared around, with each person breaking off a piece. As today, it was not polite to double dip; instead you broke off a small piece of bread for each mouthful of food.

  Grain was usually ground fresh each day to make flour. One of my happiest memories is being asked to join a group of women on a patio in Crete, in the 1970s, as they ground grain in their querns and laughed and gossiped.

  Parched grain, either barley or wheat, was common; cracked rather than ground, and baked. Parched grain keeps better and cooks faster. You can also eat it without cooking: soaked in milk or water, or even chewed dry.

  Where vegetables are cultivated and let go to seed for generations or even decades, and there is land nearby that has been disturbed by rain or flood or storm, vegetables often grow wild. This would have been the case in the wadi near Judith’s village, where the steep eroded valley would have been colonised by vegetable and herb seeds carried by wind, water or birds.

  Israel was ‘the land of milk and honey’ — but which milk and which honey? The milk was often from a goat, but might be from a sheep, a cow, a camel, a donkey, a wild ass, or occasionally a horse. Honey referred to any juice that had been boiled or evaporated into a thick, sticky sweetness, or even a sweet sap from trees. The honey we know was usually called ‘bees’ honey’: that is, the sweet food that comes from bees. Bees were domesticated, but a village like Judith’s may have depended on raiding wild bees’ hives.

  The coneys that Judith mentions weren’t rabbits or hares, as is sometimes thought, but a kind of rock badger. They were not ‘kosher’ and would have been forbidden food for Judith’s people, like pork and camel meat.

  WHAT JUDITH ATE

  Judith would never have tasted tomatoes, potatoes or any other foods we take for granted. Her diet was limited to the fresh food of the season, as well as foods that could be stored, like wheat and barley, or parched grain, crunchy and longer lasting, olive oil and dried fruit, honey or ‘fruit honeys’ made from boilng down fruit juice till it was thick and sweet.

  But her people were also excellent cooks and knew how to make many dishes from limited ingredients, using the wide range of herbs that grew wild around her village to change the taste of dishes. Her fresh fruit and vegetables had far more flavour than those we buy in the supermarkets, as they have been in cold storage that takes away much of the flavour.

  She ate little meat, except on feast days, but that too would have tasted better than most modern meat, and the animals lived naturally, eating a varied diet, muscular rather than fat, and were killed quickly, without the terror of an abattoir. She probably would have loved our modern ice-cream and pizza, but also thought much of what we eat lacked flavour. She would have been shocked at the idea of paying for food, instead of growing, gathering or catching it — something she will find strange when she visits her first town. But even in towns of the time, many people — not just rich ones — owned fields nearby, or even many kilometres away, where tenant farmers did the work and shared the crop. The townspeople had fresh food like fruit and vegetables from their own fields brought to them, or their own olive oil, wheat, barley, cheeses, yoghurt, dates, pomegranates, syrups and much other food.

  HOW TO MAKE FLATBREAD

  Flatbread is quicker to make than loaves of bread, which need time to rise and yeast to make them light. They also don’t need an oven. Until recent times, few ordinary households had ovens. In many places flatbread was cooked on hot rocks or a hearthstone, the big rock by the fireplace, but in Judith’s time most household bread was cooked on bread moulds. These produce quickly made light bread so easily that it was normal to make bread twice a day, at least. Only
very poor households would eat yesterday’s ‘stale’ bread, though it was often broken up to thicken soups or crisped to add to salads or other dishes.

  Instructions

  Heat your bread mould over the fire. In Judith’s village this was probably a bit like a pottery cone over a funnel, with the funnel end over the fire.

  Mix freshly ground grain with a little oil sweetened with concentrated fruit juice or honey if preferred.

  Pinch off a piece of dough the size of a nutmeg, roll it into a circle, fold it over, roll again lightly, and repeat several times. This traps air in the dough and also frees the gluten from the grain, making the bread flaky and light. Thin flatbread cooks faster. Fatter flatbread needs a slightly lower heat so the outside doesn’t burn before the inside is cooked; it’s softer than thin flatbread.

  Wrap the circle of dough over the hot cone. (If the cone isn’t hot enough, the bread will take too long to cook and become tough.) When one side is browned, wrap the other side over the cone.

  Cover the basket of cooked bread with a cloth till it’s all ready to eat. Serve and eat hot, or at least warm.

  If you don’t have a bread funnel, try putting a clean, unused ceramic pot over a glowing fire and use that instead.

  You can also cook the flatbreads in a medium–hot frying pan, like pancakes. Add a little oil to the pan when it is hot, to stop the bread sticking. Fry on one side till lightly browned, then brown the other side. Eat hot or warm. Fresh flatbread is wonderful.

  WARNING: Wear gloves, long sleeves and fireproof clothes. Even then, it’s easy for the inexperienced to get badly burned.

  CLOTHES

  Clothes in Judith’s time were pretty much ‘one size fits all adults’. Someone who was slim or short would belt their tunic or dress more tightly, or pull the surplus cloth over their belt. A too-long cloak might be folded over a belt, to stop it dragging on the ground, or even doubled before tied around the neck. ‘Girding your loins’ meant pulling up your clothes over your belt so you could move faster.

  THE MIKRA

  Some works of Jewish law were written before Judith’s day, but most of the law was held in an unbroken oral tradition until the destruction of Jerusalem (70–200 AD). A Mikra in Judith’s day meant ‘what is read’. There is debate about what was written down and when.

  WHAT DO I BELIEVE?

  My beliefs have changed as I’ve grown older and deepened my knowledge and understanding. They are still changing and I still know too little.

  It is relatively easy to write about the food of the past. Beliefs are far harder to explain or write about. Identifying with a religion doesn’t mean you all share exactly the same beliefs; just enough to bring you together. Nor does it mean you don’t share many of the beliefs of other religions, even if you don’t identify with those religions. All religious practice takes on cultural beliefs too, and it can be hard to separate the two.

  I have been fascinated by theology and religious history since I was about three years old, but neither subject necessarily gives a person religious insight.

  There is so much I do not understand; I have at least some idea of how much I have misunderstood, or been afraid to accept. Maybe in another sixty years . . .

  I follow Socrates’s advice to follow the religion of your community. In his time, there was only one religion for him to follow. There are hints that despite his advice, he did not entirely share its beliefs. Our communities today have many religions, and many communities of people of different beliefs who work together for good. Mine is the community of St Bede’s, Braidwood, but also that of everyone who works with love and duty for the world; who spurns the blades of pride and greed and hate; who feels the wonder of our small, extraordinary blue planet spinning in the darkness, and the universe beyond.

  About the Author

  JACKIE FRENCH AM is an award-winning writer, wombat negotiator, the 2014–2015 Australian Children’s Laureate and the 2015 Senior Australian of the Year. In 2016 Jackie became a Member of the Order of Australia for her contribution to children’s literature and her advocacy for youth literacy. She is regarded as one of Australia’s most popular children’s authors and writes across all genres — from picture books, history, fantasy, ecology and sci-fi to her much loved historical fiction for a variety of age groups. ‘Share a Story’ was the primary philosophy behind Jackie’s two-year term as Laureate.

  jackiefrench.com

  facebook.com/authorjackiefrench

  Copyright

  Angus&Robertson

  An imprint of HarperCollinsChildren’sBooks, Australia

  First published in Australia in 2018

  by HarperCollinsPublishers Australia Pty Limited

  ABN 36 009 913 517

  harpercollins.com.au

  Copyright © Jackie French 2018

  The right of Jackie French to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her under the Copyright Amendment (Moral Rights) Act 2000.

  This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced, copied, scanned, stored in a retrieval system, recorded, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

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  ISBN 978 1 4607 5309 5 (paperback)

  ISBN 978 1 4607 0773 9 (ebook)

  Cover design by Steph Spartels, Studio Spartels