At important occasions -- weddings, wakes, other passages, anything else -- display a covered vat of a pungent liquid. Everyone who attends may spend a moment or two by the vat at some point, and the air of the entire place may be faintly perfumed by it, if it's pleasant enough. The hanging-around-the-vat stage may be ritualized. Everyone takes away from the occasion a tiny, sealed vial of the liquid. Opening and smelling the contents will then return, years later, the memory of the day more vividly and more quickly than anything else. Not what happened and who was there, but the experience of the day: How you felt, what you did, what was said.

Taking advantage of modern chemistry and the ability to distinguish a large number of scents, it should be possible to formulate unique, relatively inoffensive smells. Everything depends on this.

This might work to some degree with colour or sound, but I think smells would work best.
-- Monkfish, Feb 13 2001

Why bother with a vial? http://www.digiscen...om/prod/index.shtml
With this lot, your guests could take it away on a floppy. [Gordon Comstock, Feb 13 2001, last modified Oct 21 2004]

Heavenly aromas http://www.heavenlyaromas.com
for all your scent needs [Susen, Feb 13 2001, last modified Oct 05 2004]

Aura-Soma http://www.aura-soma.com
Because colours matter too! [Susen, Feb 13 2001, last modified Oct 05 2004]

It is amazing how certain scents trigger memories one hasn't thought of in years. I have a fondness for gardenias...although I have no clue why...the smell makes me happy. There's a repressed memory in there somewhere..... This idea is a spinoff of aroma therapy (I'll have to look for a link) to a degree, an interesting way to create/force a shared experience for a large group.
-- Susen, Feb 13 2001


Sent nostalgia can be so painful.. especially if it's up a happy memory and you aren't. I guess I like this idea, but it could also cause a lot of tears.

People don't pay enough attention to smells anyway.

"The happy smell of water ... and the brave smell of stone ..."
-- futurebird, Jul 10 2001


Yes, scents often trigger my memories, usally scents that I spent alot of time around though, like the smell of certain trees at my primary school. I'm not sure if a one off smell like that would work for me, unless it was sufficiently repulsive.
-- RoboBust, Feb 01 2003



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