Time Out of Joint:

Lord of Misrule

Sunday December 17 began the 'Feast of Misrule' which was the redemption of the Roman feast of Saturnalia. The feast, also known as the 'The Feast of Fools' in Medieval times, is a celebration of the recovery of light in the midst of winter darkness.

The feast is a feast of reversals --made famous to the modern reader by Victor Hugo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame-- where the order of things is reversed. Servants rule and masters serve. Needless to say the feast was banned in the 15th century, however, its mythic truth remains today.

We await the arrival of "the Son/Sun of Justice" . . . the light of the world born in obscurity, the peasant King of Kings, of the one i've called the God of Dung and Straw.

Remember the nature of the burlesque and the call of the Gospel message to reveal wisdom through foolishness.

Eco on dogs

Umberto Eco on dogs from In The Name of the Rose --a grand philosophical/theological novel getting me through the first weeks of fatherhood.

"The perfect animal among animals, with superior gifts of perception, the dog recognizes its master and is trained to hunt wild animals inthe forests, to guard flocks against wolves; it protects the master's house and his children, and sometimes in its office of defense it is killed. King Garamant, who had been taken away to prison by his enemies, was brought back to his homeland by a pack of two hundred dogs who made their way past the enemy troops; the dog of Jason Licius, after its master's death , persisted in refusing food until it died of starvation; and the dog of King Lysimachus threw himself on his master's funeral pyre, to die with him. The dog has the power to heal wounds by licking them with his tongue, and the tongue of his puppies can heal intestinal lesions. By nature he is accustomed to making second use of the same food, after vomiting it. His sobriety is the symbol of perfection of spirit, as the thaumaturgical power of his tongue is the symbol of the purification of sins through confession and penance."

new world candlemas

Remember the Wuchak today! The New World Woodchuck or Groundhog ...

Groundhog day comes from the European tradition called Candlemas. Actually there are two semesters in school over here: (Fall) Martinmas and (Spring) Candlemas ...

Candlemas --or the Christian Festival of Lights-- is February 2. Today is the midway marker between winter solstice and spring equinox. This also marks the presentation of Christ in the temple.

There is an old poem:

"If Candlemas Day be fair and bright
Winter will have another fight.
If Candlemas Day brings cloud and rain,
Winter won't come again.

If Candlemas day be dry and fair,
The half o the winter's to come and mair;
If Candlemas Day be wet and foul
The half o the winter's gane at Yule."

and the Germans have a particular tradition with a Badger coming out of his hole to see snow and shadows ...

Cut to: The New World

There are crazy things going on in the New World. Punxsutawney Phil is the least of your problems. Revel in this New World tradition with very old roots.

a little backyard magic

 

 

Belden Lane notes pt. 2: Texas Hill Country

Spending the weekend in the Texas Hill Country . . . this land speaks to me. Cedars, wildflowers, deer, buffalo grass, the Guadalupe R.

Does landscape have a voice? What role does landscape play in our faith?

The Aristotelian way is to dice up creation into categories. Poststructuralists tell us nature is a projection of language . . .

Belden Lane talks about two differnt types of place in Greek Philosophy. Topos and Chora.

Topos is a dot on the map. Location.

Chora is place as wet-nurse summoning participants.

Cool breeze, dry air, sparrows arc and a hawk glides on the hot up drafts . . .

(will post tonight)