drifts through the air..
for tonight is the Burning Of The Witches.
Today, they don't burn actual witches ie actual real people at least not officially ad not legally. Hopefully not at all, it's just an effigy. It's an old end of winter/coming of summer ritual that dates back to Pagan times when people burnt bonfires to scare away evil spirits and say goodbye and hearty fuck you for a least a couple of months to winter.
Then the Christians came along and had to twist it to their liking, so they thought, hmmm, what's evil.. I know? Witches, they're women and they're into Satan and they're currently our representation of (insert hated Empire)/(queen/queen consort/King's mistress)/Catholics/Protestants etc... and we burn them. So they went with that.
People still do it and it's a bit of a lark and excuse to stay out all night with bonfires,very popular with the young people. I personally am not impressed. I've always been kind of on the witches side. To be honest, I never believed any of those people really cursed anyone, and really, even if they did, I bet they had a good reason, and of course most of the victims were women, pagans, poor and destitute, weird and outsiders, sure some of them were actually kind of assholes, but burning? really, and hanging as well, for the crime of being old and unpopular and maybe a bit of a crook but not that bad of one. Not good medieval/post medieval reformation era/later if you're in America people!
So I'm here, in my room, not partaking.
And another thing! You have a festival that marks the end of winter/beginning of spring on the last day of April! I mean shit how long to we have to wait for the start of spring? You've got the equinox, then you got Easter then you have May.. I mean, you're just tempting fate. Let's just have an equinox festival and be done with it, everything after that can be called something else, say it's for the berries or something but you keep up with this shit you'll have frozen ground til June. Don't want that.
4.30.2017
the stench of scorched flesh...
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6 comments:
That's right. Christianity became the benchmark of all that is good and true, so woe betide anyone even marginally different. And essentially, things haven't changed that much. Just look at how freely many Americans vilify what they term un-American activities, as if to be American was a solid and quantifiable thing? Like, duh, man!
Festivals are great when you're working because they tend to equate with time off! But nowadays, as I'm retired, one day is much the same as another, so I don't care much about them, but as an aside, I do have a natural sympathy for any philosophy that respects the natural world in totality, and especially if it also involves a lot of moonlight nude dancing. Well, to be honest, for my taste, the nude dancing can occur at any time of day, I'm not fussed.
Talking of 'the crime of being old", some geezer in the UK's House of Lords has suggested pensioners take part in community service or have their State Pension reduced! We're in danger of becoming the new witches!
Bloody ell! Fuckin Lords, what the fuck do they do anyway, oh yeah that's right.. bugger all!!!
ok ok I mean some of them are, er, celebrity chefs or something, probably, I dunno what lords do really. I'm sure some of them are very nice, despite their unearned title and presumably oodles of cash. This one ain't though, I say throw him to the, whoever you throw them to these days.
I'm quite into all that hippy moonlight dancing and earth based worship stuff myself, I mean not into as in I do any of that stuff, or into it as in believing any of that magical woo nonsense, or into it as in being really into being mystical and shit but... what was I saying? Yeah I'm into caring about nature and freeing oneself and all that, if they didn't have to bring the witches into it, not that way anyway. I mean, why can't we celebrate the witches on that night, be the fucking witches! let's face it, any of us would be burned as a witch if we went back to those times. I mean, you try and explain the technology behind your iphone, they'd stare blankly as long as it took them to remember to blame Satan for it.
I'm going off on a tangent again.
oh yeah holidays! I'm quite happy for there to be a lot of holidays, but for me it's just a day that the trams don't run as often, being someone who's been under or un or otherwisely employed, they don't mean so much to me. for a long time they meant all the more work with all the more people in my way (tour guide days)
Today is May Day and I spent all day serving sandwiches to people, which isn't something I do, but it's something I did today.
I spent all day watching the World Snooker Championship Final, and still it's not decided, so I'm off to bed. I noticed you'd replied as I sat down here to log off for the day. If I wasn't so tired I'd hang around and chat, but I really must get some shut-eye. Maybe we can "meet" tomorrow?
Happy May Day!
well.. g'night, have a good rest. Hope you wake up to your fave snooker player victoring ;)
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