Word: cochineal
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...were caught in the deadly vise of war between Siam (now Thailand) and Annam (now Viet Nam). The enmities between Indochina's present-day neighbors stem in no small part from these wars, which reduced Laos to a tiny mountain kingdom, robbed Cambodia of the rich Mekong Delta (Cochin China) and created, for the first time in history, a vigorous unity in Viet Nam between the South (Annam) and North (Tonkin...
According to legend, the Cochin Jews arrived on the Malabar coast around 70 A.D., fleeing from Roman persecution in the Holy Land. By the end of the 1st century there was a thriving Jewish community in Cranganore, 20 miles north of Cochin...
...parasol, a drum, a trumpet and a garland." In 1524, jealous Arab merchants, accusing the Jews of trying to take over the pepper trade, stirred up a holy war against the community by Indian natives. Cranganore was sacked, its homes and synagogue burned. Most of the survivors fled to Cochin and sought the protection of its maharajah. Although a Hindu, he treated them kindly, and in 1568 permitted them to rebuild their synagogue next door to his palace...
White Against Black. Through the centuries, Cochin's Jews have adopted many Indian religious traditions. Mortar for the walls of their synagogue was mixed with coconut water, which Hindus use for sacred occasions. The ceremonial dress of a Cochin Jewish woman is a heavy gold brocade sarong and blouse, worn by Malabar Indian women at weddings. But the Cochin Jews have stoutly preserved their religious Orthodoxy, even though the community so far as it is known has never had a rabbi. (Many isolated Jewish colonies in India get along without rabbis...
Despite its ability to survive against non-Jewish foes, the Cochin community has dwindled alarmingly in recent years. One problem is that many young Cochinese have emigrated to Israel. Another is that the colony is divided by an internecine feud between "white Jews," who are descendants of traders, and "black Jews," who the "whites" say are the descendants of converted slaves. The white Jews, whose ancestors came from Europe and Baghdad, tend to be fair-skinned, while the black Jews are darker-complexioned. White families will not allow their daughters to marry into black families. Today, few Cochin Jews believe...