http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerealia
some of you know my penchant for the trivial. this is right up my alley. today, i'd like to remind each and every one of us of our roman/greek influences, everything from paved roads, indoor plumbing (praise G-d!), govermental archetypes (for which i am sometimes thankful), to the way western theology has evolved over two thousand years of Christian influence.
ceres was the roman godess of grain. in greece, she was known as demeter. her husband was her brother, jupiter (zeus in greece). their daughter proserpina (persephone in greece) was wooed away to become queen of the underworld, and cerealia commemorates Ceres' search for her daughter. apparently the festival was celebrated in several ways. one involved tying lit firebrands to the tails of foxes, and turning them loose in the circus maximus. the other involved a bunch of women dressed in white running around with lit torches. go figure. i don't know what the roman obsession with running and fire, or running with fire was, but it's a bleeding miracle that any of them lived to tell about it.
i guess if i were going to make a recommendation for how to celebrate cerealia today (which i wouldn't because everyone knows that you get sent straight to hell for that sort of thing, and by that sort of thing i mean celebrating a PAGAN holiday), i'd have to go with lighting up a giant 120 mentol (which i wouldn't because i quit, and because it's bad for you, and because it's not fancy at all) and eating a bowl full of chex mix (which you shouldn't eat because the dietary fiber content is negligible, the sodium content is astronmical, and it gives you horrible stinky garlic breath). and maybe drink something stiffer than a diet coke (but i can't, since the diocese passed all the dumb rules about drinking on the job).
it's going to be a long week...
mil besos-r
3 comments:
what rules about not drinking on the job?? bummer.
now i can't resist take a stab at some of those strange christian festivals. one in which you kill god, and then eat little bits of a man and drink his blood? and what about drowning babies so they can be alive. pagans sound much more moral than christians from a distant, uninterpreted view if you ask me.
not that any of that is helpful to the betterment of humanity, but i'm working in a seminary library, and i'd rather be enjoying a non-diet stiff drink with you in austin. but i guess there's a time for everyting. but seriously, for your trivia: did you know Christians are the first people to kiss in public?
Just to check we're on the same wavelength - isn't Christmas a pagan holiday?
I am the stupid Englishman who has stated the obvious, yes
oh james! i can't wait to see you this summer! i'm super psyched that your wife and i get to go camping! hoo ray!
and you are right, you and martin both. the church has coopted many pagan holidays for her own. how else do you explain rabbits laying eggs?
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