Papal tiara on the "sedia gestatoria" (portable throne), was based on the Byzantine imperial ceremonies witnessed in medieval Constantinople. Medieval tarot cards included a card showing a woman wearing a papal tiara and known as the "Popess or Papess" or the "High Priestess". The meaning and symbolism of the card is uncertain. The crowned woman has variously been identified as Pope Joan (a woman who according to a medieval and later Protestant legend had disguised herself as a man and been elected pope; some cards also show a child, and the Pope Joan legend pictured her as found out when she gave
The House of Discarded Dreams strength and confidence in herself, which she has always been searching for. Vimbai is attempting to discover who she is but also struggles with the notion of being stuck between cultures, having strictly raised African parents, and Vimbai being born American, but raised with the two cultures as her influence in life. Select aspects of the Zimbabwean culture, such as the Shona language and religion, show up in "The House of Discarded Dreams". Sedia also employs on the Zimbabwean folkloric character called the "wazimamoto", a fire-truck driving vampiric character that is traditionally seen as stealing the "cultural blood" of the