Many have come to appreciate the Creator’s handiwork by gazing at a sunset over Mobile Bay. Others look to the complexity of the human body, the diversity of living things, or the starry heavens.

But what is the most magnificent thing in creation? What one marvel best testifies to the imagination and goodness of the Creator? Surely it’s the onion. So charming, so sublime! Nothing surpasses it.

Odes, orations, and essays in praise of the onion are surprisingly rare. In fact, this column may be the first. Common things, sad to say, are often taken for granted. If diamonds were as commonplace as pebbles, you could pick one up for nothing but no one would want one. If onions were as rare as caviar or truffles, people would prize them as a delicacy and pay top dollar for them.

But onions are everywhere. I cannot imagine good food without them. They’re great raw or cooked. There’s something to be said for garlic, pepper, and sugar, but nothing approaches the onion for sheer culinary satisfaction. Julia Child said she couldn’t imagine civilization without the onion.

A salad without onion would be bland and pointless, like a garden without flowers, a symphony without the brass section. A roast with no onion would lack pizazz. Onionless soup is inconceivable and any sandwich is enhanced with a bit of onion (except maybe a peanut butter and jelly sandwich). Thank you, Lord, for this most delightful and ubiquitous victual.

Here are some things you may not know about onions:

Ÿ Onions were first cultivated and bred 7,000 years ago.

Ÿ Onions are served throughout the world. Varieties include the Egyptian onion, the Japanese onion, and the Canada onion.

Ÿ Athletes in ancient Greece ate onions because they believed onions would increase blood circulation and Roman gladiators firmed up their muscles by rubbing them with onion juice. The ancient Egyptians saw the onion as sacred because its concentric rings and spherical shape suggested eternity. They took oaths with their right hand on an onion.

Ÿ In the Middle Ages, people paid their rent with onions.

Ÿ Until the dawn of modern medicine, physicians prescribed onions to enhance erections (How women felt about being wooed by men with onions on their breath is not known). Onions were also thought to relieve headaches, coughs, snakebite, and hair loss.

Ÿ Onions were once widely used for divination. This is still done in some parts of Africa and Asia. To inquire about a distant friend or relative, the person’s name was inscribed on an onion and it was placed on an altar and left there. If the onion sprouted quickly, it indicated the person whose name was carved into it was healthy and prospering. Answers to a question could be sought by inscribing yes on one onion and no on another, then planting them to see which sprouted first. Women consulted onions for guidance on romance. Potential suitors’ names were carved into onions and the onion that sprouted first indicated the most worthy suitor.

Ÿ Onion cells are very large and easily seen under a simple microscope. The onion is therefore often used in science education to teach cell structure and the use of the microscope.

Ÿ Onions are 89 percent water, 4 percent sugar, 2 percent fibre, 1 percent protein, and 0.1 percent fat.

Ÿ Approximately 9 million acres are devoted to growing onions worldwide, in 170 countries, producing a total of 75 million metric tons annually. China is the world’s largest onion producer, growing 20 million metric tons a year. India is second with 13 million tons and the U.S. third with just over 3 million tons.

Ÿ Eye irritation can be avoided when cutting onions by submerging them in a bowl of water while cutting or by cutting more of them. The more onions you cut, the less crying you do.

What a splendid vegetable! The onion not only enhances the taste of nearly everything, but suggests to the observant diner the numinous qualities of its Creator. Charles Dudley Warner, in My Summer Garden, even suggests that onions may have souls. That wouldn’t surprise me a bit.

Richard H. Schmidt is a retired Episcopal priest, editor and author who lives in Fairhope. He can be reached at courier@gulfcoastmedia.com.