document_title: Christmas tree

question_text: who introduced the first chrismas tree to the uk

question_tokens: who introduced the first chrismas tree to the uk

text: Christmas tree

text: History[edit]

text: Possible predecessors[edit]

text: The relevance of ancient pre-Christian customs to the 16th-century German initiation of the Christmas tree custom is disputed. Resistance to the custom was often because of its supposed Lutheran origins.[12]

text: Other sources have offered a connection between the first documented Christmas trees in Alsace around 1600 and pre-Christian traditions. For example, according to the Encyclopædia Britannica, "The use of evergreen trees, wreaths, and garlands to symbolize eternal life was a custom of the ancient Egyptians, Chinese, and Hebrews. Tree worship was common among the pagan Europeans and survived their conversion to Christianity in the Scandinavian customs of decorating the house and barn with evergreens at the New Year to scare away the devil and of setting up a tree for the birds during Christmas time."[13]

text: During the Roman mid-winter festival of Saturnalia, houses were decorated with wreaths of evergreen plants, along with other antecedent customs now associated with Christmas.[14]

text: The modern Christmas tree is frequently traced to the symbolism of trees in pre-Christian winter rites, wherein Viking and Saxon worshiped trees.[14] The story of Saint Boniface cutting down Donar's Oak illustrates the pagan practices in 8th century among the Germans. A later folk version of the story adds the detail that an evergreen tree grew in place of the felled oak, telling them about how its triangular shape reminds humanity of the Trinity and how it points to heaven.[15][16]

text: Alternatively, it is identified with the "tree of paradise" of medieval mystery plays that were given on 24 December, the commemoration and name day of Adam and Eve in various countries. In such plays, a tree decorated with apples (to represent the forbidden fruit) and wafers (to represent the Eucharist and redemption) was used as a setting for the play. Like the Christmas crib, the Paradise tree was later placed in homes. The apples were replaced by round objects such as shiny red balls.[10][11][17][18][19][20]

text: At the end of the Middle Ages, an early predecessor appears referred in the Regiment of the Order of Cister around 1400, in Alcobaça, Portugal. The Regiment of the local high-Sacristans of the Cistercian Order refers to what may be considered one of the oldest references to the Christmas tree: "Note on how to put the Christmas branch, scilicet: On the Christmas eve, you will look for a large Branch of green laurel, and you shall reap many red oranges, and place them on the branches that come of the laurel, specifically as you have seen, and in every orange you shall put a candle, and hang the Branch by a rope in the pole, which shall be by the candle of the altar-mor."[21]

text: Modern Christmas trees originated during the Renaissance of early modern Germany. Its 16th-century origins are sometimes associated with Protestant Christian reformer Martin Luther, who is said to have first added lighted candles to an evergreen tree.[22][23][24]

text: The first recorded Christmas tree can be found on the keystone sculpture of a private home in Turckheim, Alsace (then part of Germany, today France), dating 1576.[25]

text: Georgia[edit]

text: Georgians have their own traditional Christmas tree called Chichilaki, made from dried up hazelnut or walnut branches that are shaped to form a small coniferous tree. These pale-colored ornaments differ in height from 20 cm (7.9 in) to 3 meters (9.8 feet). Chichilakis are most common in the Guria and Samegrelo regions of Georgia near the Black Sea, but they can also be found in some stores around the capital of Tbilisi.[citation needed] Georgians believe that Chichilaki resembles the famous beard of St. Basil the Great, because Eastern Orthodox Church commemorates St. Basil on January 1.

text: Poland[edit]

text: There was an old pagan custom, associated with Koliada, of suspending a branch of fir, spruce or pine called Podłaźniczka from the ceiling. The branches were decorated with apples, nuts, cookies, colored paper, stars made of straw, ribbons and colored wafers. Some people believed that the tree had magical powers that were linked with harvesting and success in the next year.

text: In the late 18th and early 19th century, these traditions were almost completely replaced by the German custom of decorating the Christmas tree.

text: Estonia, Latvia and Germany[edit]

text: Customs of erecting decorated trees in wintertime can be traced to Christmas celebrations in Renaissance-era guilds in Northern Germany and Livonia. The first evidence of decorated trees associated with Christmas Day are trees in guildhalls decorated with sweets to be enjoyed by the apprentices and children. In Livonia (present-day Estonia and Latvia), in 1441, 1442, 1510 and 1514, the Brotherhood of Blackheads erected a tree for the holidays in their guild houses in Reval (now Tallinn) and Riga. On the last night of the celebrations leading up to the holidays, the tree was taken to the Town Hall Square, where the members of the brotherhood danced around it.[26]

text: A Bremen guild chronicle of 1570 reports that a small tree decorated with "apples, nuts, dates, pretzels and paper flowers" was erected in the guild-house for the benefit of the guild members' children, who collected the dainties on Christmas Day.[27] In 1584, the pastor and chronicler Balthasar Russow in his Chronica der Provinz Lyfflandt (1584) wrote of an established tradition of setting up a decorated spruce at the market square, where the young men "went with a flock of maidens and women, first sang and danced there and then set the tree aflame".

text: After the Protestant Reformation, such trees are seen in the houses of upper-class Protestant families as a counterpart to the Catholic Christmas cribs. This transition from the guild hall to the bourgeois family homes in the Protestant parts of Germany ultimately gives rise to the modern tradition as it developed in the 18th and 19th centuries.

text: 18th to early 20th centuries[edit]

text: Germany[edit]

text: By the early 18th century, the custom had become common in towns of the upper Rhineland, but it had not yet spread to rural areas. Wax candles, expensive items at the time, are found in attestations from the late 18th century.

text: Along the lower Rhine, an area of Roman Catholic majority, the Christmas tree was largely regarded as a Protestant custom. As a result, it remained confined to the upper Rhineland for a relatively long period of time. The custom did eventually gain wider acceptance beginning around 1815 by way of Prussian officials who emigrated there following the Congress of Vienna.

text: In the 19th century, the Christmas tree was taken to be an expression of German culture and of Gemütlichkeit, especially among emigrants overseas.[28]

text: A decisive factor in winning general popularity was the German army's decision to place Christmas trees in its barracks and military hospitals during the Franco-Prussian War. Only at the start of the 20th century did Christmas trees appear inside churches, this time in a new brightly lit form.[29]

text: Adoption by European nobility[edit]

text: In the early 19th century, the custom became popular among the nobility and spread to royal courts as far as Russia. Princess Henrietta of Nassau-Weilburg introduced the Christmas tree to Vienna in 1816, and the custom spread across Austria in the following years. In France, the first Christmas tree was introduced in 1840 by the duchesse d'Orléans. In Denmark a Danish newspaper claims that the first attested Christmas tree was lit in 1808 by countess Wilhemine of Holsteinborg. It was the aging countess who told the story of the first Danish Christmas tree to the Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen in 1865. He had published a fairy-tale called The Fir-Tree in 1844, recounting the fate of a fir-tree being used as a Christmas tree.[30]

text: Britain[edit]

text: Although the tradition of decorating the home with evergreens was long established,[32] the custom of decorating an entire small tree was unknown in Britain until some two centuries ago. At the time of the personal union with Hanover, George III's German-born wife, Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, introduced a Christmas tree at a party she gave for children in 1800.[33] The custom did not at first spread much beyond the royal family.[34] Queen Victoria as a child was familiar with it and a tree was placed in her room every Christmas. In her journal for Christmas Eve 1832, the delighted 13-year-old princess wrote:[35]

text: After dinner... we then went into the drawing-room near the dining-room... There were two large round tables on which were placed two trees hung with lights and sugar ornaments. All the presents being placed round the trees...

text: After Victoria's marriage to her German cousin Prince Albert, by 1841 the custom became even more widespread[36] as wealthier middle-class families followed the fashion. In 1842 a newspaper advert for Christmas trees makes clear their smart cachet, German origins and association with children and gift-giving.[37] An illustrated book, The Christmas Tree, describing their use and origins in detail, was on sale in December 1844.[38] On 2 January 1846 Elizabeth Fielding (née Fox Strangways) wrote from Laycock Abbey to William Henry Fox-Talbot: "Constance is extremely busy preparing the Bohemian Xmas Tree. It is made from Caroline's[39] description of those she saw in Germany".[40] In 1847 Prince Albert wrote: "I must now seek in the children an echo of what Ernest [his brother] and I were in the old time, of what we felt and thought; and their delight in the Christmas-trees is not less than ours used to be".[41] A boost to the trend was given in 1848[42] when The Illustrated London News,[43] in a report picked up by other papers,[44] described the trees in Windsor Castle in detail and showed the main tree, surrounded by the royal family, on its cover. In fewer than ten years their use in better-off homes was widespread. By 1856 a northern provincial newspaper contained an advert alluding casually to them,[45] as well as reporting the accidental death of a woman whose dress caught fire as she lit the tapers on a Christmas tree.[46] They had not yet spread down the social scale though, as a report from Berlin in 1858 contrasts the situation there where "Every family has its own" with that of Britain, where Christmas trees were still the preserve of the wealthy or the "romantic".[47]

text: Their use at public entertainments, charity bazaars and in hospitals made them increasingly familiar however, and in 1906 a charity was set up specifically to ensure even poor children in London slums 'who had never seen a Christmas tree' would enjoy one that year.[48] Anti-German sentiment after World War I briefly reduced their popularity[49] but the effect was short-lived[50] and by the mid-1920s the use of Christmas trees had spread to all classes.[51] In 1933 a restriction on the importation of foreign trees led to the "rapid growth of a new industry" as the growing of Christmas trees within Britain became commercially viable due to the size of demand.[52] By 2013 the number of trees grown in Britain for the Christmas market was approximately 8 million[53] and their display in homes, shops and public spaces a normal part of the Christmas season.

text: North America[edit]

text: The tradition was introduced to North America in the winter of 1781 by Hessian soldiers stationed in the Province of Québec (1763–1791) to garrison the colony against American attack. General Friedrich Adolf Riedesel and his wife, the Baroness von Riedesel, held a Christmas party for the officers at Sorel, delighting their guests with a fir tree decorated with candles and fruits.[54]

text: The Christmas tree became very common in the United States in the early nineteenth century. The first image of a Christmas tree was published in 1836 as the frontispiece to The Stranger's Gift by Hermann Bokum. The first mention of the Christmas tree in American literature was in a story in the 1836 edition of The Token and Atlantic Souvenir, titled "New Year's Day," by Catherine Maria Sedgwick, where she tells the story of a German maid decorating her mistress's tree. Also, a woodcut of the British Royal family with their Christmas tree at Windsor Castle, initially published in The Illustrated London News December 1848, was copied in the United States at Christmas 1850, in Godey's Lady's Book. Godey's copied it exactly, except for the removal of the Queen's tiara and Prince Albert's moustache, to remake the engraving into an American scene.[55] The republished Godey's image became the first widely circulated picture of a decorated evergreen Christmas tree in America. Art historian Karal Ann Marling called Prince Albert and Queen Victoria, shorn of their royal trappings, "the first influential American Christmas tree".[56] Folk-culture historian Alfred Lewis Shoemaker states, "In all of America there was no more important medium in spreading the Christmas tree in the decade 1850–60 than Godey's Lady's Book". The image was reprinted in 1860, and by the 1870s, putting up a Christmas tree had become even more common in America.[55]

text: Several cities in the United States with German connections lay claim to that country's first Christmas tree: Windsor Locks, Connecticut, claims that a Hessian soldier put up a Christmas tree in 1777 while imprisoned at the Noden-Reed House,[57] while the "First Christmas Tree in America" is also claimed by Easton, Pennsylvania, where German settlers purportedly erected a Christmas tree in 1816. In his diary, Matthew Zahm of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, recorded the use of a Christmas tree in 1821, leading Lancaster to also lay claim to the first Christmas tree in America.[58] Other accounts credit Charles Follen, a German immigrant to Boston, for being the first to introduce to America the custom of decorating a Christmas tree.[59] August Imgard, a German immigrant living in Wooster, Ohio, is said to be the first to popularize the practice of decorating a tree with candy canes.[citation needed] In 1847, Imgard cut a blue spruce tree from a woods outside town, had the Wooster village tinsmith construct a star, and placed the tree in his house, decorating it with paper ornaments, gilded nuts and Kuchen.[60] German immigrant Charles Minnegerode accepted a position as a professor of humanities at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, in 1842, where he taught Latin and Greek. Entering into the social life of the Virginia Tidewater, Minnigerode introduced the German custom of decorating an evergreen tree at Christmas at the home of law professor St. George Tucker, thereby becoming another of many influences that prompted Americans to adopt the practice at about that time.[61] An 1853 article on Christmas customs in Pennsylvania defines them as mostly "German in origin", including the Christmas tree, which is "planted in a flower pot filled with earth, and its branches are covered with presents, chiefly of confectionary, for the younger members of the family." The article distinguishes between customs in different states however, claiming that in New England generally "Christmas is not much celebrated", whereas in Pennsylvania and New York it is.[62]

text: When Edward H. Johnson was vice president of the Edison Electric Light Company, a predecessor of Con Edison, he created the first known electrically illuminated Christmas tree at his home in New York City in 1882. Johnson became the "Father of Electric Christmas Tree Lights".[63]

text: The lyrics sung in the United States to the German tune O Tannenbaum begin "O Christmas tree...", giving rise to the mistaken idea that the German word Tannenbaum (fir tree) means "Christmas tree", the German word for which is instead Weihnachtsbaum.

text:
18th to early 20th century representations

The Christmas tree by Winslow Homer, 1858

Christmas in the Netherlands, c. 1899

Illustration for Harper's Bazaar, published 1 January 1870.

Christmas tree depicted as Christmas card by Prang & Co. (Boston) 1880

Vera Komissarzhevskaya as Nora in Ibsen's A Doll's House (c. 1904). Photo by Elena Mrozovskaya

An Italian American family on Christmas, 1924

tag: ul

text: 1935 to present[edit]

text: In Russia, the Christmas tree was banned after the October Revolution[64] but then reinstated as a New-year spruce (Новогодняя ёлка, Novogodnyaya yolka) in 1935. It became a fully secular icon of the New Year holiday, for example, the crowning star was regarded not as a symbol of Bethlehem Star, but as the Red star. Decorations, such as figurines of airplanes, bicycles, space rockets, cosmonauts, and characters of Russian fairy tales, were produced. This tradition persists after the fall of the USSR, with the New Year holiday outweighing the Christmas (7 January) for a wide majority of Russian people.[65]

text: The TV special A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965) was influential on the pop culture surrounding the Christmas tree. Aluminum Christmas trees were popular during the early 1960s in the US. They were satirized in the Charlie Brown show and came to be seen as symbolizing the commercialization of Christmas. The term Charlie Brown Christmas tree, describing any poor-looking or malformed little tree, also derives from the 1965 TV special, based on the appearance of Charlie Brown's Christmas tree.[66]

text:
1935 to present

Christmas tree with presents

Christmas Tree in the cozy room at the Wisconsin Governor's mansion.

Christmas tea with Christmas Tree at an espresso shop in Eugene, Oregon

A Soviet-era (1960s) New Year tree decoration depicting a cosmonaut

Christmas Trees in church

An aluminum Christmas tree

text: Public Christmas trees[edit]

text: Since the early 20th century, it has become common in many cities, towns, and department stores to put up public Christmas trees outdoors, such as the Macy's Great Tree in Atlanta (since 1948), the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree in New York City, and the large Christmas tree at Victoria Square in Adelaide. The use of fire retardant allows many indoor public areas to place real trees and be compliant with code. Licensed applicants of fire retardant solution spray the tree, tag the tree, and provide a certificate for inspection. Real trees are popular with high end visual merchandising displays around the world. Leading global retailers such as Apple often place real trees in their window displays. In 2009, Apple placed two Fraser fir trees in every one of its retail establishments.[citation needed]

text: The United States' National Christmas Tree has been lit each year since 1923 on the South Lawn of the White House. Today,[clarification needed] the lighting of the National Christmas Tree is part of what has become a major holiday event at the White House. President Jimmy Carter lit only the crowning star atop the tree in 1979 in honor of the Americans being held hostage in Iran.[67] The same was true in 1980, except that the tree was fully lit for 417 seconds, one second for each day the hostages had been in captivity.[67]

text: During most of the 1970s and 1980s, the largest decorated Christmas tree in the world was put up every year on the property of the National Enquirer in Lantana, Florida. This tradition grew into one of the most spectacular and celebrated events in the history of southern Florida, but was discontinued on the death of the paper's founder in the late 1980s.[68]

text: In some cities, a charity event called the Festival of Trees is organized, in which multiple trees are decorated and displayed.

text: The giving of Christmas trees has also often been associated with the end of hostilities. After the signing of the Armistice in 1918 the city of Manchester sent a tree, and £500 to buy chocolate and cakes, for the children of the much-bombarded town of Lille in northern France.[69] In some cases the trees represent special commemorative gifts, such as in Trafalgar Square in London, where the City of Oslo, Norway presents a tree to the people of London as a token of appreciation for the British support of Norwegian resistance during the Second World War; in Boston, where the tree is a gift from the province of Nova Scotia, in thanks for rapid deployment of supplies and rescuers to the 1917 ammunition ship explosion that leveled the city of Halifax; and in Newcastle upon Tyne, where the main civic Christmas tree is an annual gift from the city of Bergen, in thanks for the part played by soldiers from Newcastle in liberating Bergen from Nazi occupation.[70] Norway also annually gifts a Christmas tree to Washington, D.C. as a symbol of friendship between Norway and the US and as an expression of gratitude from Norway for the help received from the US during World War II.[71]

text:
Public Christmas trees

Christmas tree in Milan, Italy, 2008

Christmas tree in Vatican City, 2007

Christmas tree in Salerno old town, Italy, 2008.

Trafalgar Square Christmas tree

Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree

Christmas tree on the Römerberg in Frankfurt (2008)

in Lisbon (2005), at 75 metres (246 feet) the tallest Christmas tree in Europe.

Boston's Christmas Tree.

An Árbol navideño luminoso in Madrid (2011)

Christmas tree in Warsaw

Christmas tree in South Coast Plaza, California

Christmas tree in Stockholm at NK shopping mall

Christmas trees in Ocean Terminal, Harbour City, Hong Kong

text: Chrismon trees[edit]

text: A "Chrismon tree" is a Christmas tree decorated with explicitly Christian symbols in white and gold.[72][73] First introduced by North American Lutherans in 1957,[74] the practice has rapidly spread to other Christian denominations,[75] including Anglicans,[76] Catholics,[77] Methodists,[78] and the Reformed.[79]

text: "Chrismon" (plural "Chrismons") was adopted for the type of Christmas decoration and explained as a portmanteau of "Christ-monogram" (a Christogram).[80][81]

text: Customs and traditions[edit]

text: Setting up and taking down[edit]

text:
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text: Both setting up and taking down a Christmas tree are associated with specific dates. Traditionally, Christmas trees were not brought in and decorated until Christmas Eve (24 December)[citation needed] or, in the traditions celebrating Christmas Eve rather than the first day of Christmas, 23 December, and then removed the day after Twelfth Night (5 January); to have a tree up before or after these dates was even considered bad luck,[citation needed] and that to avoid bad luck from affecting the house's residents, the tree must be left up until after the following Twelfth Night passes.

text: In many areas, it has become customary to set up one's Christmas tree at the beginning of the Advent season.[82] Some families in the U.S. and Canada will put up a Christmas tree a week prior to American Thanksgiving (the fourth Thursday of November), and Christmas decorations can show up even earlier in retail stores, often the day after Halloween (31 October). In Canada many families wait until after Remembrance Day, as to show respect to fallen soldiers. Some households do not put up the tree until the second week of December, and leave it up until 6 January (Epiphany). In Germany, traditionally the tree is put up on 24 December and taken down on 7 January, though many start one or two weeks earlier, and in Roman Catholic homes the tree may be kept until February 2 (Candlemas).[why?][citation needed]

text: In Italy, Ireland and Argentina, along with many countries in Latin America, the Christmas tree is put up on 8 December (Immaculate Conception day) and left up until 6 January. In Australia, the Christmas tree is usually put up on 1 December, which occurs about a 2 weeks before the school summer holidays (except for South Australia, where most people put up their tree after in late November following the completion of the Adelaide Christmas Pageant, a time frame that has started to filter into other states as the official time Christmas decorations and in store Santa Claus start to appear) and is left up until it is taken down.[citation needed] Some traditions suggest that Christmas trees may be kept up until no later than 2 February, the feast of the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple (Candlemas), when the Christmas season effectively closes.[83] Superstitions say that it is a bad sign if Christmas greenery is not removed by Candlemas Eve.[84]

text: Decoration[edit]

text: Christmas ornaments are decorations (usually made of glass, metal, wood, or ceramics) that are used to decorate a Christmas tree. The first decorated trees were adorned with apples, white candy canes and pastries in the shapes of stars, hearts and flowers. Glass baubles were first made in Lauscha, Germany, and also garlands of glass beads and tin figures that could be hung on trees. The popularity of these decorations grew into the production of glass figures made by highly skilled artisans with clay molds.

text: Tinsel and several types of garland or ribbon are commonly used to decorate a Christmas tree. Silvered saran-based tinsel was introduced later. Delicate mold-blown and painted colored glass Christmas ornaments were a specialty of the glass factories in the Thuringian Forest, especially in Lauscha in the late 19th century, and have since become a large industry, complete with famous-name designers. Baubles are another common decoration, consisting of small hollow glass or plastic spheres coated with a thin metallic layer to make them reflective, with a further coating of a thin pigmented polymer in order to provide coloration. Lighting with electric lights (Christmas lights or, in the United Kingdom, fairy lights) is commonly done. A tree-topper, sometimes an angel but more frequently a star, completes the decoration.

text: In the late 1800s, home-made white Christmas trees were made by wrapping strips of cotton batting around leafless branches creating the appearance of a snow-laden tree. In the 1940s and 1950s, popularized by Hollywood films in the late 1930s, flocking was very popular on the West Coast of the United States. There were home flocking kits that could be used with vacuum cleaners. In the 1980s some trees were sprayed with fluffy white flocking to simulate snow.

text:
Decorations

A transparent Christmas bauble

A golden bauble decorating a Christmas tree

Christmas baubles

A snowman-shaped decoration painted as a baseball

A toy bear Christmas decoration.

Fabergé egg as a Christmas decoration.

Christmas decorations

Red ornamented Christmas bauble

Christmas baubles

text: Production[edit]

text: Each year, 33 to 36 million Christmas trees are produced in America, and 50 to 60 million are produced in Europe. In 1998, there were about 15,000 growers in America (a third of them "choose and cut" farms). In that same year, it was estimated that Americans spent $1.5 billion on Christmas trees.[85] By 2016 that had climbed to $2.04 billion for natural trees and a further $1.86 billion for artificial trees. In Europe, 75 million trees worth €2.4 billion ($3.2 billion) are harvested annually.[86]

text: Natural trees[edit]

text: The most commonly used species are fir (Abies), which have the benefit of not shedding their needles when they dry out, as well as retaining good foliage color and scent; but species in other genera are also used.

text: In northern Europe most commonly used are:

text:
Norway spruce Picea abies (the original tree, generally the cheapest)
Silver fir Abies alba
Nordmann fir Abies nordmanniana
Noble fir Abies procera
Serbian spruce Picea omorika
Scots pine Pinus sylvestris
Stone pine Pinus pinea (as small table-top trees)
Swiss pine Pinus cembra

text: In North America, Central America and South America most commonly used are:

text:
Douglas fir Pseudotsuga menziesii
Balsam fir Abies balsamea
Fraser Fir Abies fraseri
Grand fir Abies grandis
Guatemalan fir Abies guatemalensis
Noble fir Abies procera
Red fir Abies magnifica
White fir Abies concolor
Pinyon pine Pinus edulis
Jeffrey pine Pinus jeffreyi
Scots pine Pinus sylvestris
Stone pine Pinus pinea (as small table-top trees)
Norfolk Island pine Araucaria heterophylla

text: Several other species are used to a lesser extent. Less-traditional conifers are sometimes used, such as giant sequoia, Leyland cypress, Monterey cypress and eastern juniper. Various types of spruce tree are also used for Christmas trees (including the blue spruce and, less commonly, the white spruce); but spruces begin to lose their needles rapidly upon being cut, and spruce needles are often sharp, making decorating uncomfortable. Virginia pine is still available on some tree farms in the southeastern United States; however, its winter color is faded. The long-needled eastern white pine is also used there, though it is an unpopular Christmas tree in most parts of the country, owing also to its faded winter coloration and limp branches, making decorating difficult with all but the lightest ornaments. Norfolk Island pine is sometimes used, particularly in Oceania, and in Australia, some species of the genera Casuarina and Allocasuarina are also occasionally used as Christmas trees. But, by far, the most common tree is the Monterey pine. Adenanthos sericeus or Albany woolly bush is commonly sold in southern Australia as a potted living Christmas tree. Hemlock species are generally considered unsuitable as Christmas trees due to their poor needle retention and inability to support the weight of lights and ornaments.

text: Some trees, frequently referred to as "living Christmas trees", are sold live with roots and soil, often from a plant nursery, to be stored at nurseries in planters or planted later outdoors and enjoyed (and often decorated) for years or decades. Others are produced in a container and sometimes as topiary for a porch or patio. However, when done improperly, the combination of root loss caused by digging, and the indoor environment of high temperature and low humidity is very detrimental to the tree's health; additionally, the warmth of an indoor climate will bring the tree out of its natural winter dormancy, leaving it little protection when put back outside into a cold outdoor climate. Often Christmas trees are a large attraction for living animals, including mice and spiders. Thus, the survival rate of these trees is low.[87] However, when done properly, replanting provides higher survival rates.[88]

text: European tradition prefers the open aspect of naturally grown, unsheared trees, while in North America (outside western areas where trees are often wild-harvested on public lands)[89] there is a preference for close-sheared trees with denser foliage, but less space to hang decorations.

text: In the past, Christmas trees were often harvested from wild forests, but now almost all are commercially grown on tree farms. Almost all Christmas trees in the United States are grown on Christmas tree farms where they are cut after about ten years of growth and new trees planted. According to the United States Department of Agriculture's agriculture census for 2007, 21,537 farms were producing conifers for the cut Christmas tree market in America, 5,717.09 square kilometres (1,412,724 acres) were planted in Christmas trees.[90]

text: The life cycle of a Christmas tree from the seed to a 2-metre (7 ft) tree takes, depending on species and treatment in cultivation, between 8 and 12 years. First, the seed is extracted from cones harvested from older trees. These seeds are then usually grown in nurseries and then sold to Christmas tree farms at an age of 3–4 years. The remaining development of the tree greatly depends on the climate, soil quality, as well as the cultivation and how the trees are tended by the Christmas tree farmer.[91]

text: Artificial trees[edit]

text: The first artificial Christmas trees were developed in Germany during the 19th century,[92][93] though earlier examples exist.[94] These "trees" were made using goose feathers that were dyed green.,[92] as one response by Germans to continued deforestation.[93] Feather Christmas trees ranged widely in size, from a small 2-inch (51 mm) tree to a large 98-inch (2,500 mm) tree sold in department stores during the 1920s.[95] Often, the tree branches were tipped with artificial red berries which acted as candle holders.[96]

text: Over the years, other styles of artificial Christmas trees have evolved and become popular. In 1930, the U.S.-based Addis Brush Company created the first artificial Christmas tree made from brush bristles.[97] Another type of artificial tree is the aluminum Christmas tree,[93] first manufactured in Chicago in 1958,[98] and later in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, where the majority of the trees were produced.[99] Most modern artificial Christmas trees are made from plastic recycled from used packaging materials, such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC).[93] Approximately 10% of artificial Christmas trees are using virgin suspension PVC resin; despite being plastic most artificial trees are not recyclable or biodegradable.[100]

text: Other trends have developed in the early 2000s as well. Optical fiber Christmas trees come in two major varieties; one resembles a traditional Christmas tree.[101] One Dallas-based company offers "holographic mylar" trees in many hues.[94] Tree-shaped objects made from such materials as cardboard,[102] glass,[103] ceramic or other materials can be found in use as tabletop decorations. Upside-down artificial Christmas trees became popular for a short time and were originally introduced as a marketing gimmick; they allowed consumers to get closer to ornaments for sale in retail stores and opened up floor space for more products.[104] Artificial trees became increasingly popular during the late 20th century.[93] Users of artificial Christmas trees assert that they are more convenient, and, because they are reusable, much cheaper than their natural alternative.[93] They are also considered much safer[105] as natural trees can be a significant fire hazard. Between 2001 and 2007 artificial Christmas tree sales in the U.S. jumped from 7.3 million to 17.4 million.[106] Currently it is estimated that around 58% of Christmas trees used in the United States are artificial while numbers in the United Kingdom are indicated to be around 66%.[107]

text:
Artificial trees

A tree with fibre optic lights

Christmas tree and presents Athens, Greece

White Christmas tree

Spanish artificial Christmas tree

A chrismon tree (St. Alban's Anglican Cathedral, Oviedo, Florida)

An artificial Aluminum Christmas tree

Artificial tree

text: Environmental issues[edit]

text: The debate about the environmental impact of artificial trees is ongoing. Generally, natural tree growers contend that artificial trees are more environmentally harmful than their natural counterparts.[106] However, trade groups such as the American Christmas Tree Association, continue to refute that artificial trees are more harmful to the environment, and maintain that the PVC used in Christmas trees has excellent recyclable properties.[108]

text: Live trees are typically grown as a crop and replanted in rotation after cutting, often providing suitable habitat for wildlife.[citation needed] Alternately, live trees can be donated to livestock farmers of such animals like goats who find that such trees uncontaminated by chemical additives are excellent fodder.[109] In some cases management of Christmas tree crops can result in poor habitat since it sometimes involves heavy input of pesticides.[110] Concerns have been raised about people cutting down old and rare conifers, such as the Keteleeria evelyniana and Abies fraseri , for Christmas trees.

text: Real or cut trees are used only for a short time, but can be recycled and used as mulch, wildlife habitat, or used to prevent erosion.[111][112][113] Real trees are carbon-neutral, they emit no more carbon dioxide by being cut down and disposed of than they absorb while growing.[114] However, emissions can occur from farming activities and transportation. An independent life-cycle assessment study, conducted by a firm of experts in sustainable development, states that a natural tree will generate 3.1 kg (6.8 lb) of greenhouse gases every year (based on purchasing 5 km (3.1 miles) from home) whereas the artificial tree will produce 48.3 kg (106 lb) over its lifetime.[115] Some people use living Christmas or potted trees for several seasons, providing a longer life cycle for each tree. Living Christmas trees can be purchased or rented from local market growers. Rentals are picked up after the holidays, while purchased trees can be planted by the owner after use or donated to local tree adoption or urban reforestation services.[116]

text: Most artificial trees are made of recycled PVC rigid sheets using tin stabilizer in the recent years. In the past, lead was often used as a stabilizer in PVC, but is now banned by Chinese laws.[citation needed] The use of lead stabilizer in Chinese imported trees has been an issue of concern among politicians and scientists over recent years. A 2004 study found that while in general artificial trees pose little health risk from lead contamination, there do exist "worst-case scenarios" where major health risks to young children exist.[117] A 2008 United States Environmental Protection Agency report found that as the PVC in artificial Christmas trees aged it began to degrade.[118] The report determined that of the 50 million artificial trees in the United States approximately 20 million were 9 or more years old, the point where dangerous lead contamination levels are reached.[118] A professional study on the life-cycle assessment of both real and artificial Christmas trees revealed that one must use an artificial Christmas tree at least 20 years to leave an environmental footprint as small as the natural Christmas tree.[115]

text: Religious issues[edit]

text: The Christmas tree was first used by German Lutherans in the 16th century, with records indicating that a Christmas tree was placed in the Cathedral of Strassburg in 1539, under the leadership of the Protestant Reformer, Martin Bucer.[119][120] In the United States, these "German Lutherans brought the decorated Christmas tree with them; the Moravians put lighted candles on those trees."[121][122] When decorating the Christmas tree, many individuals place a star at the top of the tree symbolizing the Star of Bethlehem, a fact recorded by The School Journal in 1897.[5][123] Professor David Albert Jones of Oxford University writes that in the 19th century, it became popular for people to also use an angel to top the Christmas tree in order to symbolize the angels mentioned in the accounts of the Nativity of Jesus.[6]

text: Under the Marxist-Leninist doctrine of state atheism in the Soviet Union, after its foundation in 1917, Christmas celebrations—along with other religious holidays—were prohibited as a result of the Soviet anti-religious campaign.[124][125][126] The League of Militant Atheists encouraged school pupils to campaign against Christmas traditions, among them being the Christmas tree, as well as other Christian holidays, including Easter; the League established an anti-religious holiday to be the 31st of each month as a replacement.[127] With the Christmas tree being prohibited in accordance with Soviet anti-religious legislation, people supplanted the former Christmas custom with New Year's trees.[126][128] In 1935 the tree was brought back as New Year tree and became a secular, not a religious holiday.

text: Pope John Paul II introduced the Christmas tree custom to the Vatican in 1982. Although at first disapproved of by some as out of place at the centre of the Roman Catholic Church, the Vatican Christmas Tree has become an integral part of the Vatican Christmas celebrations,[129] and in 2005 Pope Benedict XVI spoke of it as part of the normal Christmas decorations in Catholic homes.[130] In 2004, Pope John Paul called the Christmas tree a symbol of Christ. This very ancient custom, he said, exalts the value of life, as in winter what is evergreen becomes a sign of undying life, and it reminds Christians of the "tree of life" of Genesis 2:9, an image of Christ, the supreme gift of God to humanity.[131] In the previous year he said: "Beside the crib, the Christmas tree, with its twinkling lights, reminds us that with the birth of Jesus the tree of life has blossomed anew in the desert of humanity. The crib and the tree: precious symbols, which hand down in time the true meaning of Christmas."[132] The Catholic Church's official Book of Blessings has a service for the blessing of the Christmas tree in a home.[133] Likewise the Protestant Episcopal Church in The Anglican Family Prayer Book, which has the imprimatur of The Rt. Rev. Catherine S. Roskam of the Anglican Communion, has long had a ritual titled Blessing of a Christmas Tree, as well as Blessing of a Crèche, for use in the church and the home.[134]

text: In 2006, the Seattle–Tacoma International Airport removed all of its Christmas trees in the middle of the night rather than allow a rabbi to put up a menorah near the largest tree display. Officials feared that one display would open the door for other religious displays,[135] and, in 2007, they opted to display a grove of birches in polyethylene terephthalate snow rather than religious symbols or Christmas trees.[135] In 2005, the city of Boston renamed the spruce tree used to decorate the Boston Common a "Holiday Tree" rather than a "Christmas Tree".[136] The name change drew a poor response from the public and it was reversed after the city was threatened with several lawsuits.[137]

text: Chrismon trees are a variety developed in 1957 by a Lutheran laywoman in Virginia, as a specifically religious version appropriate for a church's Christmas celebrations, although most Christian churches continue to display the traditional Christmas tree in their sanctuaries during Christmastide.[138]


document_title: List of Asam Sahitya Sabha presidents

question_text: who is the present president of assam sahitya sabha

root

text: List of Asam Sahitya Sabha presidents

text: Asam Sahitya Sabha (Assamese: অসম সাহিত্য সভা), Ôxôm Xahityô Xôbha or "Assam Literary Society") was founded in 1917 in Assam, India to promote the culture of Assam and Assamese literature.

tag: p

text: Except regular biennially seasons in 2000 and 2002 special session was held at Jorhat and Kalgachia.[1]

text: President, Time & Place[edit]

text:
Sl. No.
Year
Name[2]
Venue

1
1917
Padmanath Gohain Baruah
Sibsagar

2
1918
Chandradhar Barua
Goalpara

3
1919
Kaliram Medhi
Barpeta

4
1920
Hemchandra Goswami
Tezpur

5
1923
Amrit Bhushan Dev Adhikari
Jorhat

6
1924
Kanaklal Barua
Dibrugarh

7
1924
Lakshminath Bezbaroa
Guwahati

8
1925
Rajanikanta Bordoloi
Nagaon

9
1926
Benudhar Rajkhowa
Dhuburi

10
1927
Tarunram Phukan
Goalpara

11
1929
Kamalakanta Bhattacharya
Jorhat

12
1930
Mofizuddin Ahmed Hazarika
Golaghat

13
1931
Nagendra Narayan Choudhury
Sibsagar

14
1933
Jnanadabhiram Barua
North Lakhimpur

15
1934
Ananda Chandra Agarwala
Mangaldoi

16
1936
Raghunath Choudhari
Tezpur

17
1937
Krishna Kanta Handique
Guwahati

18
1940
Moidul Islam Bora
Jorhat

19
1944
Nilmani Phukan
Sibsagar

20
1947
Nilmani Phukan
Dibrugarh

21
1950
Ambikagiri Raichoudhury
Margherita

22
1953
Surya Kumar Bhuyan
Shillong

23
1955
Nalini Bala Devi
Jorhat

24
1955
Jatindra Nath Duwora
Guwahati

25
1956
Benudhar Sarma
Dhuburi

26
1958
Padmadhar Chaliha
Tinisukia

27
1959
Atul Chandra Hazarika
Nagaon

28
1960
Trailokya Nath Goswami
Palashbari

29
1961
Trailokya Nath Goswami
Goalpara

30
1963
Ratnakanta Borkakati
Nazira

31
1964
Mitradev Mahanta
Digboi

32
1965
Dimbeswar Neog
Nalbari

33
1966
Binanda Chandra Barua
North Lakhimpur

34
1967
Nakul Chandra Bhuyan
Dibrugarh

35
1968
Jnanath Bora
Tezpur

36
1969
Ananda Chandra Barua
Barpeta

37
1970
Upendra Chandra Lekharu
Dhing

38
1971
Tirtha Nath Sarma
Makum

39
1972
Hem Barua
Dhuburi

40
1973
Giridhar Sarma
Rangia

41
1974
Maheshwar Neog
Mangaldoi

42
1975
Satyendranath Sarma
Titabor

43
1976
Jagheshwar Sarma
Tihu

44
1977
Syed Abdul Malik
Abhayapuri

45
1978
Prasannalal Choudhury
Golaghat

46
1979
Atul Chandra Barua
Sualkuchi

47
1980
Jatindra Nath Goswami
Roha

48
1981
Sitanath Brahmachoudhury
Tinisukia

49
1982
Sitanath Brahmachoudhury
Diphu

50
1983
Birendra Kumar Bhattacharya
Bongaigaon

51
1985
Jogesh Das
Bihpuria

52
1986
Biren Borkotoki
Kampur

53
1987
Mahendra Bora
Pathsala

54
1988
Kirthi Nath Hazarika
Hailakandi

55
1989
Mahim Bora
Doomdooma

56
1990
Nabakanta Barua
Biswanath Chariali

57
1991
Nirmal Prabha Bordoloi
Dudhnoi

58
1992
Lakshyadhar Choudhury
Goreshwar

59
1993
Bhupen Hazarika
Sibsagar

60
1994
Lila Gogoi
Morigaon

61
1995
Hitesh Deka
Sarthebari

62
1996
Lakshmi Nandan Bora
Bokakhat

63
1997
Nagen Saikia
Bilasipara

64
1998
Nagen Saikia
Howraghat

65
1999
Chandra Prasad Saikia
Hajo

66
2000
Chandra Prasad Saikia
Jorhat

67
2001
Homen Borgohain
Dibrugarh

68
2002
Homen Borgohain
Kalgachia

69
2003
Birendra Nath Datta
North Lakhimpur

70
2004
Birendra Nath Datta
Hojai

71
2005
Kanak Sen Deka
Sipajhar

72
2006
Kanak Sen Deka
Belsar

73
2007
Kanak Sen Deka
Chapar

74
2009
Rongbong Terang
Dhemaji

75
2010
Rongbong Terang
Dergaon

76
2013
Imran Shah
Barpeta Road

77
2014
Imran Shah
Guwahati

78
2015
Dhrubajyoti Bora
Kaliabor

78
2016
Dhrubajyoti Bora
Kaliabor

79
2017
Dhrubajyoti Bora
Kaliabor

tag: table


document_title: Maya peoples

question_text: what is the largest ethnic group in mexico today

text: Maya peoples

text: Yucatec Maya[edit]

text:
Maya civilization

People
Society
Languages
Writing
Religion
Mythology
Sacrifice
Cities
Architecture
Astronomy
Calendar
Stelae
Art
Textiles
Trade
Music
Dance
Medicine
Cuisine
Warfare

History

Preclassic Maya

Classic Maya collapse

Spanish conquest of the Maya

Yucatán
Chiapas
Guatemala
Petén

v
t
e

text: One of the largest groups of modern Maya can be found in Mexico's Yucatán State and the neighboring states of Campeche, Quintana Roo and in Belize. These peoples commonly identify themselves simply as "Maya" with no further ethnic subdivision (unlike in the Highlands of Western Guatemala). They speak the language which anthropologists term "Yucatec Maya", but is identified by speakers and Yucatecos simply as "Maya". Among Maya speakers, Spanish is commonly spoken as a second or first language.

text: There is a significant amount of confusion as to the correct terminology to use—Maya or Mayan—and the meaning of these words with reference to contemporary or pre-Columbian peoples, to Maya peoples in different parts of Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, and to languages or peoples.

text:
oxlahun ahau u katunil u 13 he›cob cah mayapan: maya uinic u kabaob: uaxac ahau paxci u cabobi: ca uecchahi ti peten tulacal: uac katuni paxciob ca haui u maya-bulub ahau u kaba u katunil hauci u maya kabaob maya uinicob: christiano u kabaob
"Ahau was the katun when they founded the cah of Mayapan; they were [thus] called Maya men. In 8 Ahau their lands were destroyed and they were scattered through out the peninsula. Six katun after they were destroyed they ceased to be called Maya; 11 Ahau was
the name of the katun when the Maya men ceased to be called Maya [and] were called Christians."
“
”

Chilam Balam Chumayel[4]

tag: div

text: Linguists refer to the Maya language as Yucatec or Yucatec Maya to distinguish it from other Mayan languages. This norm has often been misinterpreted to mean that the people are also called Yucatec Maya; that term refers only to the language, and the correct name for the people is simply Maya (not Mayans). Maya is one language in the Mayan language family. Thus, to refer to Maya as Mayans would be similar to referring to Spanish people as Romantics because they speak a language belonging to the Romance language family.[5] Confusion of the term Maya/Mayan as an ethnic label occurs because Maya women who use traditional dress identify by the ethnic term mestiza and not Maya.[6]

text: Persons use a strategy of ethnic identification that Juan Castillo Cocom refers to as "ethnoexodus"—meaning that ethnic self-identification as Maya is quite variable, situational, and articulated not to processes of producing group identity, but of escaping from discriminatory processes of sociocultural marginalization.[7][8]

text: The Yucatán's indigenous population was first exposed to Europeans after a party of Spanish shipwreck survivors came ashore in 1511. One of the sailors, Gonzalo Guerrero, is reported to have taken up with a local woman and started a family; he became a counselor among a local polity near present-day Chetumal. Later Spanish expeditions to the region were led by Córdoba in 1517, Grijalva in 1518, and Cortés in 1519. From 1528 to 1540, several attempts by Francisco Montejo to conquer the Yucatán failed. His son, Francisco de Montejo the Younger, fared almost as badly when he first took over: while desperately holding out at Chichen Itza, he lost 150 men in a single day.[9] European diseases, massive recruitment of native warriors from Campeche and Champoton, and internal hatred between the Xiu Maya and the lords of Cocom eventually turned the tide for Montejo the Younger. Chichen Itza was conquered by 1570.[9] In 1542, the western Yucatán Peninsula also surrendered to him.

text: Historically, the population in the eastern half of the peninsula was less affected by and less integrated with Hispanic culture than the western half. In the 21st century in the Yucatán Peninsula (Mexican states of Campeche, Yucatán and Quintana Roo), between 750,000 and 1,200,000 people speak Mayan. However, three times more than that are of Maya origins, hold ancient Maya surnames, and do not speak Mayan languages as their first language.

text: Matthew Restall, in his book The Maya Conquistador,[10] mentions a series of letters sent to the King of Spain in the 16th and 17th centuries. The noble Maya families at that time signed documents to the Spanish Royal Family; surnames mentioned in those letters are Pech, Camal, Xiu, Ucan, Canul, Cocom, and Tun, among others.

text: A large 19th-century revolt by the native Maya people of Yucatán (Mexico), known as the Caste War of Yucatán, was one of the most successful modern Native American revolts.[11] For a period the Maya state of Chan Santa Cruz was recognized as an independent nation by the British Empire, particularly in terms of trading with British Honduras.

text: Francisco Luna-Kan was elected governor of the state of Yucatán from 1976 to 1982. Luna-Kan was born in Mérida, Yucatán, and he was a Doctor of medicine, then a Professor of Medicine before his political offices. He was first appointed as overseer of the state's rural medical system. He was the first Governor of the modern Yucatán Peninsula to be of full Maya ancestry. In the early 21st century, dozens of politicians, including Deputies, Majors and Senators, are of full or mixed Maya heritage from the Yucatán Peninsula.

text: According to the National Institute of Geography and Informatics (Mexico's INEGI), in Yucatán State there were 1.2 million Mayan speakers in 2009, representing 59.5% of the inhabitants.[12] Due to this, the cultural section of the government of Yucatán began on-line classes for grammar and proper pronunciation of Maya.[13]

text: Maya people from Yucatán Peninsula living in the United States of America have been organizing Maya language lessons and Maya cooking classes since 2003 in California and other states: clubs of Yucatec Maya[14] are registered in Dallas and Irving, Texas; Salt Lake City in Utah; Las Vegas, Nevada; and California, with groups in San Francisco, San Rafael, Chino, Pasadena, Santa Ana, Garden Grove, Inglewood, Los Angeles, Thousand Oaks, Oxnard, San Fernando Valley and Whittier.[14]

text: Chiapas[edit]

text: Chiapas was for many years one of the regions of Mexico that was least touched by the reforms of the Mexican Revolution. The Zapatista Army of National Liberation, launched a rebellion against the Mexican state, Chiapas in January 1994, declared itself to be an indigenous movement and drew its strongest and earliest support from Chiapan Maya. Today its number of supporters is relevant. (see also the EZLN and the Chiapas conflict)

text: Maya groups in Chiapas include the Tzotzil and Tzeltal, in the highlands of the state, the Tojolabalis concentrated in the lowlands around Las Margaritas, and the Ch'ol in the jungle. (see map)

text: The most traditional of Maya groups are the Lacandon, a small population avoiding contact with outsiders until the late 20th century by living in small groups in the Lacandon Jungle. These Lacandon Maya came from the Campeche/Petén area (north-east of Chiapas) and moved into the Lacandon rain-forest at the end of the 18th century.

text:
In the course of the 20th century, and increasingly in the 1950s and 1960s, other people (mainly the Maya and subsistence peasants from the highlands), also entered into the Lacandon region; initially encouraged by the government. This immigration led to land-related conflicts and an increasing pressure on the rainforest. To halt the migration, the government decided in 1971 to declare a large part of the forest (614,000 hectares, or 6140 km2) a protected area: the Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve. They appointed only one small population group (the 66 Lacandon families) as tenants (thus creating the Lacandon Community), thereby displacing 2000 Tzeltal and Ch'ol families from 26 communities, and leaving non-Lacandon communities dependent on the government for granting their rights to land. In the decades that followed the government carried out numerous programs to keep the problems in the region under control, using land distribution as a political tool; as a way of ensuring loyalty from different campesino groups. This strategy of divide and rule led to great disaffection and tensions among population groups in the region.
(see also the Chiapas conflict and the Lacandon Jungle).

text: Belize[edit]

text: This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (January 2012)

text: The Maya population in Belize is concentrated in the Corozal, Cayo, Toledo and Orange Walk districts, but they are scattered throughout the country. The Maya are thought to have been in Belize and the Yucatán region since the second millennium BC. Much of Belize's original Maya population died as a result of new infectious diseases and conflicts between tribes and with Europeans. They are divided into the Yucatec, Kekchi, and Mopan. These three Maya groups now inhabit the country.

text: The Yucatec Maya (many of whom came from Yucatán, Mexico to escape the Caste War of the 1840s) there have been evidence of several Yucatec Maya groups living by the Yalbac area of Belize and in the Orange Walk district near the present day Lamanai at the time the British reach. The Mopan (indigenous to Belize but were forced out by the British; they returned from Guatemala to evade slavery in the 19th century), and Kek'Chi (also fled from slavery in Guatemala in the 19th century). The later groups are chiefly found in the Toledo District.[15]

text: Tabasco[edit]

text: The Mexican state of Tabasco is home to the Chontal Maya.

text: Guatemala[edit]

text: In Guatemala, indigenous people of Maya descent comprise around 40% of the population.[16] The largest and most traditional Maya populations are in the western highlands in the departments of Baja Verapaz, Quiché, Totonicapán, Huehuetenango, Quetzaltenango, and San Marcos; their inhabitants are mostly Maya.[17]

text: The Maya people of the Guatemala highlands include the Achi, Akatek, Chuj, Ixil, Jakaltek, Kaqchikel, K'iche', Mam, Poqomam, Poqomchi', Q'anjob'al, Q'eqchi', Tz'utujil and Uspantek.

text: The Q'eqchi' live in lowland areas of Alta Vera Paz, Peten, and Western Belize. Over the course of the succeeding centuries a series of land displacements, re-settlements, persecutions and migrations resulted in a wider dispersal of Q'eqchi' communities, into other regions of Guatemala (Izabal, Petén, El Quiché). They are the 2nd largest ethnic Maya group in Guatemala (after the K'iche') and one of the largest and most widespread throughout Central America.

text: In Guatemala, the Spanish colonial pattern of keeping the native population legally separate and subservient continued well into the 20th century.[citation needed] This resulted in many traditional customs being retained, as the only other option than traditional Maya life open to most Maya was entering the Hispanic culture at the very bottom rung. Because of this many Guatemalan Maya, especially women, continue to wear traditional clothing, that varies according to their specific local identity.

text: The southeastern region of Guatemala (bordering with Honduras) includes groups such as the Ch'orti'. The northern lowland Petén region includes the Itza, whose language is near extinction but whose agro-forestry practices, including use of dietary and medicinal plants may still tell us much about pre-colonial management of the Maya lowlands.[18]

text: Genocide in Guatemala[edit]

text: During the 1980s the indigenous Maya community made up about two-thirds of Guatemala’s 10 million people.[19] During his presidency (1982–1983), Efraín Ríos Montt instituted a campaign of state terror intended to destroy the Mayas in the name of countering “communist subversion” and ridding the country of its indigenous culture.[citation needed]

text: In some areas, government forces killed about 40% of the total population; the campaign destroyed at least 440 Mayan villages. The army attacked inhabitants, and burned down their homes and fields.[20]

text: The 36 year long Guatemalan Civil War left more than 200,000 people dead and at least 100,000 women raped; most of the victims were Maya.[21]

text: On January 26, 2012 former president Ríos Montt was formally indicted in Guatemala and appeared in court for genocide and crimes against humanity[citation needed] for which he was then sentenced to a sentence of 80 years in prison on May 10, 2013[22]. This ruling was overturned by the constitutional court on May 20, 2013 over alleged irregularities in the handling of the case[23][24]. The ex-president appeared in court again on January 5, 2015 amongst protest form his lawyers regarding his health conditions[25] and on August 25, 2015 it was deliberated that a re-trial of the 2013 proceedings could find Ríos Montt guilty or not, but that the sentence would be suspended[26][27].

text: Maya heritage[edit]

text: This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (August 2012) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

text: The Maya people are known for their brightly colored, yarn-based, textiles that are woven into capes, shirts, blouses, huipiles and dresses. Each village has its own distinctive pattern, making it possible to distinguish a person's home town. Women's clothing consists of a shirt and a long skirt.

text: The Maya religion is Roman Catholicism combined with the indigenous Maya religion to form the unique syncretic religion which prevailed throughout the country and still does in the rural regions prior to 2010s of "orthodoxing" the western rural areas by Christian Orthodox missionaries. Beginning from negligible roots prior to 1960s, however, Protestant Pentecostalism has grown to become the predominant religion of Guatemala City and other urban centers, later to 2010s that almost of all Maya of several rural areas of West Guatemala, living rural areas were mostly mass converted from Catholicism or possibly Maya religion due of various reasons to either Eastern or Oriental Orthodoxy by late Fr. Andres Giron and some other Orthodox missionaries, and also smaller to mid-sized towns also slowly converted as well since 2013.[28] The unique religion is reflected in the local saint, Maximón, who is associated with the subterranean force of masculine fertility and prostitution. Always depicted in black, he wears a black hat and sits on a chair, often with a cigar placed in his mouth and a gun in his hand, with offerings of tobacco, alcohol, and Coca-Cola at his feet. The locals know him as San Simon of Guatemala.

text: The Popol Vuh is the most significant work of Guatemalan literature in the K'iche' language, and one of the most important of Pre-Columbian American literature. It is a compendium of Maya stories and legends, aimed to preserve Maya traditions. The first known version of this text dates from the 16th century and is written in Quiché transcribed in Latin characters. It was translated into Spanish by the Dominican priest Francisco Ximénez in the beginning of the 18th century. Due to its combination of historical, mythical, and religious elements, it has been called the Maya Bible. It is a vital document for understanding the culture of Pre-Columbian America. The Rabinal Achí is a dramatic work consisting of dance and text that is preserved as it was originally represented. It is thought to date from the 15th century and narrates the mythical and dynastic origins of the Toj K'iche' rulers of Rabinal, and their relationships with neighboring K'iche' of Q'umarkaj.[29] The Rabinal Achí is performed during the Rabinal festival of January 25, the day of Saint Paul. It was declared a masterpiece of oral tradition of humanity by UNESCO in 2005. The 16th century saw the first native-born Guatemalan writers that wrote in Spanish.

text: Maya cultural heritage tourism[edit]

text: There is an undeniable symbiotic relationship between cultural heritage, tourism, and a national identity. In the case of the Maya, the many national identities have been constructed because of the growing demands placed on them by cultural tourism. By focusing on lifeways through costumes, rituals, diet, handicrafts, language, housing, or other features, the identity of the economy shifts from the sale of labor to that of the sale of culture.[30]

text: Global tourism is now considered one of the largest scale movement of goods, services, and people in history and a significant catalyst for economic development and sociopolitical change.[31] Estimated that between 35 and 40 percent of tourism today is represented by cultural tourism or heritage tourism, this alternative to mass tourism offers opportunities for place-based engagement that frames context for interaction by the lived space and everyday life of other peoples, as well as sites and objects of global historical significance.[32] In this production of tourism the use of historic symbols, signs, and topics form a new side that characterizes a nation and can play an active role in nation building.[33]

text: With this type of tourism, people argue that ethno-commerce may open unprecedented opportunities for creating value of various kinds. Tourists travel with cultural expectations, which has created a touristic experience sometimes faced with the need to invent traditions of artificial and contrived attractions, often developed at the expense of local tradition and meanings.[34]

text: An example of this can be seen in “Mayanizing Tourism on Roatan Island, Honduras: Archaeological Perspectives on Heritage, Development, and Indignity.” Alejandro j. Figueroa et al., combine archaeological data and ethnographic insights to explore a highly contested tourism economy in their discussion of how places on Roatan Island, Honduras, have become increasingly “Mayanized” over the past decade. As tour operators and developers continue to invent an idealized Maya past for the island, non-Maya archaeological remains and cultural patrimony are constantly being threatened and destroyed. While heritage tourism provides economic opportunities for some, it can devalue contributions made by less familiar groups.[35]

text: Notable Maya people[edit]

text:
Ah Ahaual, a 7th-century captive of noble lineage recorded in pre-Columbian Maya inscriptions
Hunac Ceel (fl. c. 1300), Maya general and founder of the Cocom dynasty at Chichen Itzá
Apoxpalon (fl. 1525), Maya merchant and regional ruler of Itzamkanac
Tecun Uman (died c. 1524), legendary K'iche' Mayan leader who refused to give way to the conquistadors in Guatemala and was slain by Pedro de Alvarado
Napuc Chi or Ah Kin Chi (died c. 1541), general-in-chief of the army and king of Tutul-Xiu, i. e. Maní
Gaspar Antonio Chi (c. 1531–1610), Maya noble from Maní, son of Napuc Chi
Jacinto Canek (c. 1731–1761), Maya revolutionary
Crescencio Poot (1820–1885), general in the Caste War of Yucatán
Felipe Carrillo Puerto (1874–1924), Mexican journalist and politician, governor of the Mexican state of Yucatán (1922–1924)
Andrés Curruchich (1891–1969), Guatemalan painter of the Kaqchikel people
Carlos Mérida (1891–1985), Spanish-K'iche' artist from Guatemala
Francisco Luna Kan (born 1925), Mexican politician, governor of Yucatán (1976–1982)
Armando Manzanero Canché (born 1935), Mexican musician, singer, and composer
Luis Rolando Ixquiac Xicara (born 1947), indigenous artist born in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala
Marcial Mes (c. 1949–2014), Belizean politician
Humberto Ak'ab'al (born 1952), K'iche' poet from Guatemala
Rosalina Tuyuc (born 1956), Guatemalan human rights activist
Rigoberta Menchú (born 1959), K'iche' political activist from Guatemala
Comandanta Ramona (1959–2006), ‘officer’ of the autonomist Zapatista Army of National Liberation
Juan Jose Pacho (born 1963), Mexican former baseball player and manager
Aníbal López (1964–2014), Guatemalan artist
Jesús Tecú Osorio (born 1971), Guatemalan social activist
Hilario Chi Canul (born 1981), Mexican linguist
Sara Curruchich (born 1993), Guatemalan singer, composer, and activist from the town of San Juan Comalapa

text: Quotes[edit]

text: This page is a candidate to be copied to Wikiquote using the Transwiki process. If the page can be expanded into an encyclopedic article, rather than a list of quotations, please do so and remove this message.

text: "We are not myths of the past, ruins in the jungle or zoos. We are people and we want to be respected, not to be victims of intolerance and racism." – Rigoberta Menchú, 1992.[36]

text: Film and television[edit]

text:
The Forgotten District, a documentary on Maya ecotourism in southern Belize, Central America
Mayan Renaissance starring Rigoberta Menchú (2012)


document_title: Human iron metabolism

question_text: where is fe best absorbed in the body

question_tokens: where is fe best absorbed in the body

text: Human iron metabolism

text: Importance of iron regulation[edit]

text: Iron is an essential bioelement for most forms of life, from bacteria to mammals. Its importance lies in its ability to mediate electron transfer. In the ferrous state, iron acts as an electron donor, while in the ferric state it acts as an acceptor. Thus, iron plays a vital role in the catalysis of enzymatic reactions that involve electron transfer (reduction and oxidation, redox). Proteins can contain iron as part of different cofactors, such as iron-sulfur clusters (Fe-S) and heme groups, both of which are assembled in mitochondria.

text: Cellular respiration[edit]

text: Human cells require iron in order to obtain energy as ATP from a multi-step process known as cellular respiration, more specifically from oxidative phosphorylation at the mitochondrial cristae. Iron is present in the iron-sulfur clusters and heme groups of the electron transport chain proteins that generate a proton gradient that allows ATP synthase to synthesize ATP (chemiosmosis).

text: Heme groups are part of hemoglobin, a protein found in red blood cells that serves to transport oxygen from the lungs to the tissues. Heme groups are also present in myoglobin to store and diffuse oxygen in muscle cells.

text: Oxygen transport[edit]

text: The human body needs iron for oxygen transport. Oxygen (O2) is required for the functioning and survival of nearly all cell types. Oxygen is transported from the lungs to the rest of the body bound to the heme group of hemoglobin in erythrocytes. In muscles cells, iron binds myoglobin, which regulates its release.

text: Toxicity[edit]

text: Iron is also potentially toxic. Its ability to donate and accept electrons means that it can catalyze the conversion of hydrogen peroxide into free radicals. Free radicals can cause damage to a wide variety of cellular structures, and ultimately kill the cell.[1]

text: Iron bound to proteins or cofactors such as heme is safe. Also, there are virtually no truly free iron ions in the cell, since they readily form complexes with organic molecules. However, some of the intracellular iron is bound to low-affinity complexes, and is termed labile iron or "free" iron. Iron in such complexes can cause damage as described above.[2]

text: To prevent that kind of damage, all life forms that use iron bind the iron atoms to proteins. This binding allows cells to benefit from iron while also limiting its ability to do harm.[1][3] Typical intracellular labile iron concentrations in bacteria are 10-20 micromolar,[4] though they can be 10-fold higher in anaerobic environment,[5] where free radicals and reactive oxygen species are scarcer. In mammalian cells, intracellular labile iron concentrations are typically smaller than 1 micromolar, less than 5 percent of total cellular iron.[2]

text: Bacterial protection[edit]

text: In response to a systemic bacterial infection, the immune system initiates a process known as iron withholding. If bacteria are to survive, then they must obtain iron from their environment. Disease-causing bacteria do this in many ways, including releasing iron-binding molecules called siderophores and then reabsorbing them to recover iron, or scavenging iron from hemoglobin and transferrin. The harder they have to work to get iron, the greater a metabolic price they must pay. That means that iron-deprived bacteria reproduce more slowly. So our control of iron levels appears to be an important defense against most bacterial infections; there are some exceptions however. TB causing bacterium can reside within macrophages which are an iron rich environment and Borrelia burgdorferi utilises manganese in place of iron. People with increased amounts of iron, like people with hemochromatosis, are more susceptible to some bacterial infection.[6]

text: Although this mechanism is an elegant response to short-term bacterial infection, it can cause problems when inflammation goes on for longer. Since the liver produces hepcidin in response to inflammatory cytokines, hepcidin levels can increase as the result of non-bacterial sources of inflammation, like viral infection, cancer, auto-immune diseases or other chronic diseases. When this occurs, the sequestration of iron appears to be the major cause of the syndrome of anemia of chronic disease, in which not enough iron is available to produce enough hemoglobin-containing red blood cells.[3]

text: Body iron stores[edit]

text: Most well-nourished people in industrialized countries have 4 to 5 grams of iron in their bodies (∼38 mg iron/kg body weight for women and ∼50 mg iron/kg body for men).[7] Of this, about 6997250000000000000♠2.5 g is contained in the hemoglobin needed to carry oxygen through the blood, and most of the rest (approximately 2 grams in adult men, and somewhat less in women of childbearing age) is contained in ferritin complexes that are present in all cells, but most common in bone marrow, liver, and spleen. The liver's stores of ferritin are the primary physiologic source of reserve iron in the body. The reserves of iron in industrialized countries tend to be lower in children and women of child-bearing age than in men and in the elderly. Women who must use their stores to compensate for iron lost through menstruation, pregnancy or lactation have lower non-hemoglobin body stores, which may consist of 6996500000000000000♠500 mg, or even less.

text: Of the body's total iron content, about 6996399999999999999♠400 mg is devoted to cellular proteins that use iron for important cellular processes like storing oxygen (myoglobin) or performing energy-producing redox reactions (cytochromes). A relatively small amount (3–4 mg) circulates through the plasma, bound to transferrin.[8] Because of its toxicity, free soluble iron is kept in low concentration in the body.

text: Iron deficiency first affects the storage iron in the body, and depletion of these stores is thought to be relatively non-symptomatic, although some vague and non-specific symptoms have been associated with it. Since iron is primarily required for hemoglobin, iron deficiency anemia is the primary clinical manifestation of iron deficiency. Iron-deficient people will suffer or die from organ damage well before cells run out of the iron needed for intracellular processes like electron transport.

text: Macrophages of the reticuloendothelial system store iron as part of the process of breaking down and processing hemoglobin from engulfed red blood cells. Iron is also stored as a pigment called hemosiderin which is an ill-defined deposit of protein and iron, created by macrophages where excess iron is present, either locally or systemically for example among people with iron overload due to frequent blood cell destruction and transfusions. If the systemic iron overload is corrected, over time the hemosiderin is slowly resorbed by macrophages.

text: Mechanisms of iron regulation[edit]

text: Human iron homeostasis is regulated at two different levels. Systemic iron levels are balanced by the controlled absorption of dietary iron by enterocytes, the cells that line the interior of the intestines, and the uncontrolled loss of iron from epithelial sloughing, sweat, injuries and blood loss. In addition, systemic iron is continuously recycled. Cellular iron levels are controlled differently by different cell types due to the expression of particular iron regulatory and transport proteins.

text: Systemic iron regulation[edit]

text: Dietary iron uptake[edit]

text: The absorption of dietary iron is a variable and dynamic process. The amount of iron absorbed compared to the amount ingested is typically low, but may range from 5% to as much as 35% depending on circumstances and type of iron. The efficiency with which iron is absorbed varies depending on the source. Generally the best-absorbed forms of iron come from animal products. Absorption of dietary iron in iron salt form (as in most supplements) varies somewhat according to the body’s need for iron, and is usually between 10% and 20% of iron intake. Absorption of iron from animal products, and some plant products, is in the form of heme iron, and is more efficient, allowing absorption of from 15% to 35% of intake. Heme iron in animals is from blood and heme-containing proteins in meat and mitochondria, whereas in plants, heme iron is present in mitochondria in all cells that use oxygen for respiration.

text: Like most mineral nutrients, the majority of the iron absorbed from digested food or supplements is absorbed in the duodenum by enterocytes of the duodenal lining. These cells have special molecules that allow them to move iron into the body. To be absorbed, dietary iron can be absorbed as part of a protein such as heme protein or iron must be in its ferrous Fe2+ form. A ferric reductase enzyme on the enterocytes’ brush border, duodenal cytochrome B (Dcytb), reduces ferric Fe3+ to Fe2+.[9] A protein called divalent metal transporter 1 (DMT1), which can transport several divalent metals across the plasma membrane, then transports iron across the enterocyte’s cell membrane into the cell.

text: These intestinal lining cells can then either store the iron as ferritin, which is accomplished by Fe3+ binding to apoferritin (in which case the iron will leave the body when the cell dies and is sloughed off into feces), or the cell can release it into the body via the only known iron exporter in mammals, ferroportin. Hephaestin, a ferroxidase that can oxidize Fe2+ to Fe3+ and is found mainly in the small intestine, helps ferroportin transfer iron across the basolateral end of the intestine cells. In contrast, ferroportin is post-translationally repressed by hepcidin, a 25-amino acid peptide hormone. The body regulates iron levels by regulating each of these steps. For instance, enterocytes synthesize more Dcytb, DMT1 and ferroportin in response to iron deficiency anemia.[10] Iron absorption from diet is enhanced in the presence of vitamin C and diminished by excess calcium, zinc, or manganese.[11][citation needed]

text: The human body’s rate of iron absorption appears to respond to a variety of interdependent factors, including total iron stores, the extent to which the bone marrow is producing new red blood cells, the concentration of hemoglobin in the blood, and the oxygen content of the blood. The body also absorbs less iron during times of inflammation, in order to deprive bacteria of iron. Recent discoveries demonstrate that hepcidin regulation of ferroportin is responsible for the syndrome of anemia of chronic disease.

text: Iron recycling and loss[edit]

text: Most of the iron in the body is hoarded and recycled by the reticuloendothelial system, which breaks down aged red blood cells. In contrast to iron uptake and recycling, there is no physiologic regulatory mechanism for excreting iron. People lose a small but steady amount by gastrointestinal blood loss, sweating and by shedding cells of the skin and the mucosal lining of the gastrointestinal tract. The total amount of loss for healthy people in the developed world amounts to an estimated average of 6994100000000000000♠1 mg a day for men, and 1.5–2 mg a day for women with regular menstrual periods.[citation needed] People with gastrointestinal parasitic infections, more commonly found in developing countries, often lose more.[1] Those who cannot regulate absorption well enough get disorders of iron overload. In these diseases, the toxicity of iron starts overwhelming the body's ability to bind and store it.[12]

text: Cellular iron regulation[edit]

text: Iron import[edit]

text: Most cell types take up iron primarily through receptor-mediated endocytosis via transferrin receptor 1 (TFR1), transferrin receptor 2 (TFR2) and GAPDH. TFR1 has a 30-fold higher affinity for transferrin-bound iron than TFR2 and thus is the main player in this process.[13][14] The higher order multifunctional glycolytic enzyme glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) also acts as a transferrin receptor.[15][16] Transferrin-bound ferric iron is recognized by these transferrin receptors, triggering a conformational change that causes endocytosis. Iron then enters the cytoplasm from the endosome via importer DMT1 after being reduced to its ferrous state by a STEAP family reductase.[17]

text: Alternatively, iron can enter the cell directly via plasma membrane divalent cation importers such as DMT1 and ZIP14 (Zrt-Irt-like protein 14).[18] Again, iron enters the cytoplasm in the ferrous state after being reduced in the extracellular space by a reductase such as STEAP2, STEAP3 (in erythrocytes), Dcytb (in enterocytes) and SDR2.[17]

text: The labile iron pool[edit]

text: In the cytoplasm, ferrous iron is found in a soluble, chelatable state which constitutes the labile iron pool (~0.001 mM).[19] In this pool, iron is thought to be bound to low-mass compounds such as peptides, carboxylates and phosphates, although some might be in a free, hydrated form (aqua ions).[19] Alternatively, iron ions might be bound to specialized proteins known as metallochaperones.[20] Specifically, poly-r(C)-binding proteins (PCBPs) appear to mediate transfer of free iron to ferritin (for storage) and non-heme iron enzymes (for use in catalysis).[18][21] The labile iron pool is potentially toxic due to iron's ability to generate reactive oxygen species. Iron from this pool can be taken up by mitochondria via mitoferrin to synthesize Fe-S clusters and heme groups.[17]

text: The storage iron pool[edit]

text: Iron can be stored in ferritin as ferric iron due to the ferroxidase activity of the ferritin heavy chain.[22] Dysfunctional ferritin may accumulate as hemosiderin, which can be problematic in cases of iron overload.[23] The ferritin storage iron pool is much larger than the labile iron pool, ranging in concentration from 0.7 mM to 3.6 mM.[19]

text: Iron export[edit]

text: Iron export occurs in a variety of cell types, including neurons, erythrocytes, macrophages and enterocytes. The latter two are especially important since systemic iron levels depend upon them. There is only one known iron exporter, ferroportin.[24] It transports ferrous iron out of the cell, generally aided by ceruloplasmin and/or hephaestin (mostly in enterocytes), which oxidize iron to its ferric state so it can bind ferritin in the extracellular medium.[17] Hepcidin causes the internalization of ferroportin, decreasing iron export. Besides, hepcidin seems to downregulate both TFR1 and DMT1 through an unknown mechanism.[25] Another player assisting ferroportin in effecting cellular iron export is GAPDH.[26] A specific post translationally modified isoform of GAPDH is recruited to the surface of iron loaded cells where it recruits apo-transferrin in close proximity to ferroportin so as to rapidly chelate the iron extruded.[27]

text: The expression of hepcidin, which only occurs in certain cell types such as hepatocytes, is tightly controlled at the transcriptional level and it represents the link between cellular and systemic iron homeostasis due to hepcidin's role as "gatekeeper" of iron release from enterocytes into the rest of the body.[17] Erythroblasts produce erythroferrone, a hormone which inhibits hepcidin and so increases the availability of iron needed for hemoglobin synthesis.[28]

text: Translational control of cellular iron[edit]

text: Although some control exists at the transcriptional level, the regulation of cellular iron levels is ultimately controlled at the translational level by iron-responsive element-binding proteins IRP1 and especially IRP2.[29] When iron levels are low, these proteins are able to bind to iron-responsive elements (IREs). IREs are stem loop structures in the untranslated regions (UTRs) of mRNA.[17]

text: Both ferritin and ferroportin contain an IRE in their 5' UTRs, so that under iron deficiency their translation is repressed by IRP2, preventing the unnecessary synthesis of storage protein and the detrimental export of iron. In contrast, TFR1 and some DMT1 variants contain 3' UTR IREs, which bind IRP2 under iron deficiency, stabilizing the mRNA, which guarantees the synthesis of iron importers.[17]

text: Iron-related pathology[edit]

text: Iron deficiency[edit]

text: Functional or actual iron deficiency can result from a variety of causes. These causes can be grouped into several categories:

text:
Increased demand for iron, which the diet cannot accommodate.
Increased loss of iron (usually through loss of blood).
Nutritional deficiency. This can result due to a lack of dietary iron or consumption of foods that inhibit iron absorption, including calcium, phytates and tannins. Black tea steeped for long has high tannins.
Inability to absorb iron: A common cause of iron deficiency is the widespread use of acid reducing medications, the strongest of which are proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) such as omeprazole.[citation needed]
Damage to the intestinal lining. Examples of causes of this kind of damage include surgery involving the duodenum, or diseases like Crohn's or celiac sprue which severely reduce the surface area available for absorption.
Inflammation leading to hepcidin-induced restriction on iron release from enterocytes (see above).

text: Iron overload[edit]

text: The body is able to substantially reduce the amount of iron it absorbs across the mucosa. It does not seem to be able to entirely shut down the iron transport process. Also, in situations where excess iron damages the intestinal lining itself (for instance, when children eat a large quantity of iron tablets produced for adult consumption), even more iron can enter the bloodstream and cause a potentially deadly syndrome of iron overload. Large amounts of free iron in the circulation will cause damage to critical cells in the liver, the heart and other metabolically active organs.

text: Iron toxicity results when the amount of circulating iron exceeds the amount of transferrin available to bind it, but the body is able to vigorously regulate its iron uptake. Thus, iron toxicity from ingestion is usually the result of extraordinary circumstances like iron tablet over-consumption[1][30] rather than variations in diet. The type of acute toxicity from iron ingestion causes severe mucosal damage in the gastrointestinal tract, among other problems.

text: Chronic iron toxicity is usually the result of more chronic iron overload syndromes associated with genetic diseases, repeated transfusions or other causes. In such cases the iron stores of an adult may reach 50 grams (10 times normal total body iron) or more. Classic examples of genetic iron overload includes hereditary hemochromatosis (HH) and the more severe disease juvenile hemochromatosis (JH) caused by mutations in either the gene RGMc gene, a member of a three gene repulsive guidance molecule family,[31] (also called hemojuvelin (HJV), and HFE2), Hemojuvelin, or the HAMP gene that encodes (an iron regulatory peptide). The exact mechanisms of most of the various forms of adult hemochromatosis, which make up most of the genetic iron overload disorders, remain unsolved. So while researchers have been able to identify genetic mutations causing several adult variants of hemochromatosis, they now must turn their attention to the normal function of these mutated genes.