Cairns are mounds made of stones to mark different locations.
The term mound comes from the Latin word monticŭlus . The first meaning recognized by the dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy ( RAE ) refers to a low mountain that is usually isolated .
Artificial or natural
The mound may be an artificial or natural elevation . It is a type of hill that, if created by humans , can have different uses or purposes.
Man has developed mounds with rock, sand and other materials to carry out religious or funerary rituals , for example. It is also common for mounds to be raised to monitor or guard the surrounding terrain from their summit.
An example of a mound created by humans is the so-called cairn . It is a set of small stones that are stacked in different ways, either one on each level or many forming a pyramid. The type of stone also varies depending on the region and the desired result.
Disorderly accumulation
The notion of mound, on the other hand, is used in colloquial language to refer to a pile of elements that accumulate without much order . For example: “I was sweeping the sidewalk and formed several mounds of dry leaves,” “The motorcyclist ran into a mound of dirt in the middle of the road and was unable to avoid it,” “There are mounds of garbage on every corner, the government should strive and guarantee the cleanliness of the city.”
As we can see in the three examples, the term in these contexts is not used with a positive or productive connotation, but rather usually represents a problem. The clearest exception is in the first sentence, where the speaker says he has grouped the earth he collected from his street into several mounds, so in this case it is a conscious action with the intention of improving the appearance of a place. ; However, the lack of order in the mounds themselves remains, as they simply serve as a temporary deposit for the waste, until its eventual storage in a bag.
The second sentence does show us an obvious example of the negative connotations that this concept can have: a man suffers an accident when his motorcycle crosses a mound of dirt that should not have been in the middle of the road. Even if a person had formed it voluntarily, it would be a crime, since the roads on public roads must be clear and adequately conditioned for the safety of pedestrians and drivers.
Finally, once again the mounds are spoken of as an obstacle to life in the city; In this case, the garbage that accumulates and piles up in the streets, something that is always the responsibility of governments, since collection systems should adjust to the volume of citizens and the waste they generate. Garbage mounds pose a considerable risk to people's health as they attract pests and diseases. It should be noted that sometimes they are formed due to strikes by collectors to demand better working conditions.
In poorly organized cities, garbage tends to accumulate in mounds.
Pitcher
In some Latin American countries, finally, the place where the pitcher is located in baseball is called a mound. The mound is located in the center of the playing field, known as the diamond .
The pitcher , therefore, positions himself on the mound and throws the ball toward the catcher . The idea is that the batter does not manage to hit the ball. It is important to mention that the pitcher, when throwing the ball, must always have one foot on the rubber surface of the mound.