Weblog 100
January 6, 2008~ 5:00am
After the "deep freeze" here in Pittsburgh, we've returned to drizzle and 50 degree days. The holidays are officially over. (Except for an Italian tradition I learned about by accident, in glancing up to read the changeable outdoor sign at the Italian restaurant we visit most Friday evenings.) It read: "Join Us For The Feast of La Befana-- I'd never heard of it, and that sent me straight to Google as soon as I got in the door.
It seems the Italians have a fable very much like the legend of St. Nicholas, but in their version an old crone visits houses on the eve of January 6th to leave gifts and treats for the children. She's often pictured as a witch riding a broom, with a bundle of toys on her back.
As the legend goes, while searching for the Christ child, the three wise men came upon an old woman's cottage. They asked her if she knew of the child whose birth had been foretold, and where they might find him. She told them no, but they were welcome to rest and spend the night. The old woman gave them a nourishing meal and allowed them to bed down in her very clean cottage--(the woman was known to be a fastidious and careful housekeeper.)
The next day, they asked her if she'd like to accompany them on their journey, but La Befana said she had too much work to do. However once the wise men had gone, La Befana regretted her decision, and went to look for the child on her own, and she is still searching today- but as she visits, she leaves gifts behind for the children of each household. That's a lovely tradition still practiced in Italy today, with people dressing up like the crone and bringing treats-
Gees! That would have scared the bejeezus out of me as a little kid...sort of like Halloween and Christmas rolled into one. How'd you like this
peering down at you? Cackle, cackle! Quite a warty sight for a little kid to stare at up close. (Oh, I don't know... my grandson Bill would probably be fascintated though scared out of his pants. LOL!!) Then there are those - (I found this on an Italian blog)- who can't help but have their own vision of La Befana. A bit more......friendly
I s'pose that's for some of the older boys, who wouldn't mind helping that broom-rider to dry the dishes or put a sparkle to the floors one bit! (I think we have our own version of that: Betty Page wearing only a Santa hat and a wink, among countless others.)
Beauty --- and the poor old crone: two opposite sides of the coin. Old women and sadness. Young women and smiles. Old women and loss, and looking-- looking-- for what that which is gone, in the roles we cast for women only.
I think I'll put up a graphic I just completed that fits right in with that idea-
How sad to grapple with memory and identity and to feel it slipping away, the faces slowly blacking out; the spool of memories becoming tangled, broken, and gone. We are fragile instruments who become more fragile with the passing years-- witches - crones - hot babes --women are all of these at one time or another- with too many labels I think. Too many stereotypes. Too few real people.
How much truer to see one inside another inside of another like those Russian nesting dolls- which are the hutched and housed layers of self- but seen only one at a time, when they're all hiding inside the others: the past inside the present inside the future. Womb to tomb we carry them, but only some are loved while others- ignored.
Crone and siren-- one in the same, traveling a time continuum of age and perspective with the 'old woman', the most confused and abused of all.
January 7, 2008~ 6:30am
Oops! Forgot one other holiday.Orthodox Christmas, which is today.
One of the strangest things about this holiday is that when I was little, we referred to it as Serbian Christmas- and all because there was one family, only one in our immediate neighborhood, who were thought to be Serbian- the Stapanowich's- but I don't even know that it was true. LOL!!! All we knew was their christmas tree stayed up a LOT longer than ours did. So, for all the Eastern Orthodox folks out there....MERRY CHRISTMAS! .
January 8, 2008~ 5:45pm
Even more 'springlike' outside today, with a strong breeze, puffy clouds and near 70. I saw a moth clinging the red brick wall this morning, and one fella said his lilac bush is pushing buds......
In honor of that, here is a little spring stained-glass window to hang up and catch the sun. It's part 'partridge in a pear tree' for its proximity to Christmas, and part early green and purples, like new hyacinths popping up. Hell........we no longer know WHAT season it is.....and that's the truth! Yesterday though, I felt extremely edgy. Must have felt those tornados forming in the midwest, as those folks got the definite downside of this uncommon weather. (I must be like a cat. I can feel 'em comin'.)
Oh, and glory be!- the movie I am hankering to see is the incomparable There Will Be Blood. Goodness gracious, I heard the young Paul Dano interviewed on NPR this afternoon, as well as director Paul David Thomas about a week ago, and I'll tell you the sound bytes make my hair stand on end.
Daniel Day-Lewis will make my heart beat faster any day of the week, but his portrayal of an evil ambitious oil baron from the late 1800's is simply stunning. Just Day-Lewis speaking in the strange strange VOICE with its quirky accent made me sit right up, hair standing straight up on my arms. You combine that with a young Billy Sunday type preacher he's clashing horns with in trying to hoodwink land from simple folk- (whom I suspect are also getting a fleecing of one kind or other from said young anointed one)- you mix religious fervor with oil in this country, well, HELL'S BELLS, there's always blood as the result.
The parallels with contemporary themes and conflicts are wonderful. Good writing, good acting, good casting-- I wanna see this one really, really badly. The short clip I heard today had the evangelical preacher receiving the conniving Day-Lewis in his house of worship. (Even though Day-Lewis plays a godless man, it must have been worth it to put in an appearance)- but somehow, the Marjoe-type preacher must have hit upon the oilman's Achilles heel.
"Say, 'I'm sorry for all my offences. SAY IT!"
"I'm sorry for my offences....."
"Say, 'I have lain unlawfully with women....and I have abandoned my son'"
"I've lain unlawfully with women. I have abandoned my son...."
"-SAY, 'I have ABANDONED my SON!'"
"-I....I have abandoned my son!....I have ABANDONED my SON....(rising in decibels here)- I HAVE ABANDONED MY SON!" (deep, gut-wrenching sobbing) (Made goose bumps raise on my arms.)
So it's a father/son story. It's a Cain and Abel story (the good preacher has a worldly twin)-- and it's the story of this country's bloody love of rampant capitalism and weakness for religious evangelical emotionalism. What's not to be electrically captivating here? Yes....a must must see. Maybe at the actual movies, not a rental.
January 10, 2008~ 6:30pm
Sometimes you just come across a picture while browsing that has no explanation. It's weird is all.....
I don't know what these people are doing, but it sure looks unsavory. Gives me the creeps.....
somehow, I don't believe they're playing 'jacks'....
and something tells me there might be a 'Hand of Glory' in that pot.
***
(Return To Weekly Archives)
After the "deep freeze" here in Pittsburgh, we've returned to drizzle and 50 degree days. The holidays are officially over. (Except for an Italian tradition I learned about by accident, in glancing up to read the changeable outdoor sign at the Italian restaurant we visit most Friday evenings.) It read: "Join Us For The Feast of La Befana-- I'd never heard of it, and that sent me straight to Google as soon as I got in the door.
It seems the Italians have a fable very much like the legend of St. Nicholas, but in their version an old crone visits houses on the eve of January 6th to leave gifts and treats for the children. She's often pictured as a witch riding a broom, with a bundle of toys on her back.
As the legend goes, while searching for the Christ child, the three wise men came upon an old woman's cottage. They asked her if she knew of the child whose birth had been foretold, and where they might find him. She told them no, but they were welcome to rest and spend the night. The old woman gave them a nourishing meal and allowed them to bed down in her very clean cottage--(the woman was known to be a fastidious and careful housekeeper.)
The next day, they asked her if she'd like to accompany them on their journey, but La Befana said she had too much work to do. However once the wise men had gone, La Befana regretted her decision, and went to look for the child on her own, and she is still searching today- but as she visits, she leaves gifts behind for the children of each household. That's a lovely tradition still practiced in Italy today, with people dressing up like the crone and bringing treats-
Gees! That would have scared the bejeezus out of me as a little kid...sort of like Halloween and Christmas rolled into one. How'd you like this
peering down at you? Cackle, cackle! Quite a warty sight for a little kid to stare at up close. (Oh, I don't know... my grandson Bill would probably be fascintated though scared out of his pants. LOL!!) Then there are those - (I found this on an Italian blog)- who can't help but have their own vision of La Befana. A bit more......friendly
I s'pose that's for some of the older boys, who wouldn't mind helping that broom-rider to dry the dishes or put a sparkle to the floors one bit! (I think we have our own version of that: Betty Page wearing only a Santa hat and a wink, among countless others.)
Beauty --- and the poor old crone: two opposite sides of the coin. Old women and sadness. Young women and smiles. Old women and loss, and looking-- looking-- for what that which is gone, in the roles we cast for women only.
I think I'll put up a graphic I just completed that fits right in with that idea-
How sad to grapple with memory and identity and to feel it slipping away, the faces slowly blacking out; the spool of memories becoming tangled, broken, and gone. We are fragile instruments who become more fragile with the passing years-- witches - crones - hot babes --women are all of these at one time or another- with too many labels I think. Too many stereotypes. Too few real people.
How much truer to see one inside another inside of another like those Russian nesting dolls- which are the hutched and housed layers of self- but seen only one at a time, when they're all hiding inside the others: the past inside the present inside the future. Womb to tomb we carry them, but only some are loved while others- ignored.
Crone and siren-- one in the same, traveling a time continuum of age and perspective with the 'old woman', the most confused and abused of all.
January 7, 2008~ 6:30am
Oops! Forgot one other holiday.Orthodox Christmas, which is today.
One of the strangest things about this holiday is that when I was little, we referred to it as Serbian Christmas- and all because there was one family, only one in our immediate neighborhood, who were thought to be Serbian- the Stapanowich's- but I don't even know that it was true. LOL!!! All we knew was their christmas tree stayed up a LOT longer than ours did. So, for all the Eastern Orthodox folks out there....MERRY CHRISTMAS! .
January 8, 2008~ 5:45pm
Even more 'springlike' outside today, with a strong breeze, puffy clouds and near 70. I saw a moth clinging the red brick wall this morning, and one fella said his lilac bush is pushing buds......
In honor of that, here is a little spring stained-glass window to hang up and catch the sun. It's part 'partridge in a pear tree' for its proximity to Christmas, and part early green and purples, like new hyacinths popping up. Hell........we no longer know WHAT season it is.....and that's the truth! Yesterday though, I felt extremely edgy. Must have felt those tornados forming in the midwest, as those folks got the definite downside of this uncommon weather. (I must be like a cat. I can feel 'em comin'.)
Oh, and glory be!- the movie I am hankering to see is the incomparable There Will Be Blood. Goodness gracious, I heard the young Paul Dano interviewed on NPR this afternoon, as well as director Paul David Thomas about a week ago, and I'll tell you the sound bytes make my hair stand on end.
Daniel Day-Lewis will make my heart beat faster any day of the week, but his portrayal of an evil ambitious oil baron from the late 1800's is simply stunning. Just Day-Lewis speaking in the strange strange VOICE with its quirky accent made me sit right up, hair standing straight up on my arms. You combine that with a young Billy Sunday type preacher he's clashing horns with in trying to hoodwink land from simple folk- (whom I suspect are also getting a fleecing of one kind or other from said young anointed one)- you mix religious fervor with oil in this country, well, HELL'S BELLS, there's always blood as the result.
The parallels with contemporary themes and conflicts are wonderful. Good writing, good acting, good casting-- I wanna see this one really, really badly. The short clip I heard today had the evangelical preacher receiving the conniving Day-Lewis in his house of worship. (Even though Day-Lewis plays a godless man, it must have been worth it to put in an appearance)- but somehow, the Marjoe-type preacher must have hit upon the oilman's Achilles heel.
"Say, 'I'm sorry for all my offences. SAY IT!"
"I'm sorry for my offences....."
"Say, 'I have lain unlawfully with women....and I have abandoned my son'"
"I've lain unlawfully with women. I have abandoned my son...."
"-SAY, 'I have ABANDONED my SON!'"
"-I....I have abandoned my son!....I have ABANDONED my SON....(rising in decibels here)- I HAVE ABANDONED MY SON!" (deep, gut-wrenching sobbing) (Made goose bumps raise on my arms.)
So it's a father/son story. It's a Cain and Abel story (the good preacher has a worldly twin)-- and it's the story of this country's bloody love of rampant capitalism and weakness for religious evangelical emotionalism. What's not to be electrically captivating here? Yes....a must must see. Maybe at the actual movies, not a rental.
January 10, 2008~ 6:30pm
Sometimes you just come across a picture while browsing that has no explanation. It's weird is all.....
I don't know what these people are doing, but it sure looks unsavory. Gives me the creeps.....
somehow, I don't believe they're playing 'jacks'....
and something tells me there might be a 'Hand of Glory' in that pot.
(Return To Weekly Archives)
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