In 2009, several students from Bold Park Community School teamed up with the boys of Nepal’s Panchkhal orphanage to honour the visceral and primitive bond we all have with the Earth and the natural world. Bold Park took advantage of the chance to raise donations for Nepal’s less-fortunate children. Since that eventful beginning, schools, families, and early childhood education institutions from all over the world have collaborated to promote the idea that we all need to play in the mud every now and again to remember what it means to be human.
After a year of being lost in the technological glitz and digital glamour of our modern world, it was decided in 2015 that one day of playing in the mud wasn’t enough to ground us. So, we changed “International Mud Day” to “International Mud Month,” and the celebration continued! International Mud Month was established to remind us of mother nature and its organized chaos existing beyond man’s mathematical beauty.
Before you step away from your device and out with nature, here are some interesting facts about mud.
Mud is an Old English word that dates back at least 1400 years. Slobber, slabber, slutch, lutulence, sloshiness, and slushiness are a few other words used as substitutes for mud in the Oxford English Dictionary.
Scientists have discovered that playing in mud will improve your mood. This is due to a microscopic bacteria called mycobacterium vaccae. These small oddities increase the serotonin (happy hormone) released in your brain.
Mud pottery dates as long back as 27000 BC! Heat triggers a chemical reaction in the mud that strengthens and hardens it (clay). Archaeologists have discovered ceramic items all around the world, including a Venus figurine, found dated as far back as 27000 BC.
Volcanic mud is sold as a hair moisturiser. Yes, you read that right. Your favourite moisturiser may just be right around the corner – literally! The one product you rinse out from your hair actually penetrates the scalp, pulling out and eliminating impurities and rejuvenating it in the process.
Even animals use mud for various reasons. Animals use their feet, hoofs, and horns to turn the mud and take a roll! It also keeps pigs and buffaloes cool.
It’s not just about our personal relationship with the Earth; it’s also about how we connect to one another as humans and the relationships we develop throughout our lives. No two persons are precisely alike, just as no two pools of mud and International Mud Month invites us to share and celebrate that uniqueness!
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