Thursday, May 2, 2019

May Day is snake day

New ideas for May Day 2019:
- Saint James is Ogun in Haitian Voudou.  I found this in the novel, Masters of the Dew.  It needs further research, keeping in mind that Santiago de Compostella is dedicated to Saint James.
How does the name, James get translated into Iago? And into Jacob?

-news article on the BBC about a town in Italy that has a snake festival on May 1st every year.  They have a procession with a statute of a saint draped in snakes.  I read the article thinking that this smells strongly of a pre-Christian tradition.  Warning, all the photos in the article show garter snakes.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-48132701

-Thanks to Patricia Robin Woodruff, I learned what is a bucranium.  Such a delight!  I’ve been wondering what those things are for a long time.  Bucranium: the image of an ox head carved on buildings, often with garlands.  It’s very ancient.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bucranium

-See also:  Oscilla, little faces hung up near Lares on holidays to represent each person who lived there.  Pilae, dolls made of wool, similar to Oscilla.  I have lots of wool, and there is a rock nearby that I call, “Larry” because it seems to have a smiling face.  So I might try making some pilae.  This does not mean I believe in anything.  For me, it’s all about connecting with something very ancient.

[See also:  Lares, protective spirits sometimes described as household gods.  Lares statutes were placed outside villages like watchmen.  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lares  ]


No comments:

Post a Comment