http://bloemherbariumbram.blogspot.com/2015/05/herderstasje.html
De houten herderstas werd vroeger gebruikt om wijn mee te nemen naar de heide.
Do you know what shepherds used to make their bags with? Scrotums. Yep. Sorry for breaking this vision to you but yes, ram’s balls.
I know this is a bit gross, but nevertheless effective, as you will not be able to un-see this plant anymore. Where ever you go, you will see, flapping in the wind, this little reminder of ancient crass humour: sheep’s sacks.
St Cuthbert driving away the birds. The grain being sowed is kept in a large bag. From the Lives of Cuthbert (British Library Yates Thompson MS 26. Folio 42v made in the last quarter of the 12th century.
Satchels are quite commonly shown in David and Goliath images. 1 Samuel 17 specifically states "Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd’s bag" It is worth noting that David was a shepherd.
In the case of Shepherd’s purse, the story is old and can be traced back all the way to Çatalhöyük, in modern day’s Turkey, where it was part of Neolithic diets as far back as 7,000 BCE. In western culture terms that is as ancient as it can get, making it a very old story.
So what is the story? Shepherd’s purse - Capsella bursa-pastoris - owns its name to the peculiarity of its seed pods, shaped like little hearts or, as the name suggests, little shepherd’s pouches.
Een reproductie van het schilderij De blauwe huik van Pieter Breughel (1559). De driehoekige hauwtjes van het plantje lijken heel erg op de tas waarin een herder zijn spulletjes met zich meedroeg. En die tas lijkt wel een heel erg universeel model te zijn geweest.
Schilderij van Pieter Bruegel de Oude - De boerendans Geschilderd in ca. 1567
Springtime Activities in the Countryside, folio 34, Homilies of St Gregory of Nazianzos. Ca. 11th century. (Bibliothèque Nationale de France. MS. gr.553, fol.34 )
Ka'waika (Laguna Pueblo). Shepherd's Bag, late 19th-early 20th century. Hide, stone, sheepskin, wool, bag: 5 x 6 1/4 in. (12.7 x 15.9 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Purchased with funds given by Herman Stutzer, 10.229.2. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.10.229.2_view1.jpg)