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Micheline's Blog

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Micheline's Blog

Tag Archives: Livre d’images de Marie Hainaut

Happy Holidays

26 Sunday Dec 2021

Posted by michelinewalker in Beast Literature, Books of Hours, Christmas, Zoomorphism

≈ 14 Comments

Tags

Abrahamic Religions, Comus, Livre d'images de Marie Hainaut, pharmakos, Saturnalia, The Winter Solstice

Livre d’images de madame Marie Hainaut, vers 1285-1290 Paris, BnF, Naf 16251, fol. 22v. La naissance du Christ est annoncée aux bergers, aux humbles. “Et voici qu’un ange du seigneur leur apparut [.] Ils furent saisis d’une grande frayeur. Mais l’ange leur dit : “Ne craignez point, car je vous annonce une bonne nouvelle[.]” (The Birth of Christ announced to the Shepherds) (Photo credit: the National Library of France [BnF])

This image is delightful. The animals resemble speaking animals. One is seeking the attention of a shepherd in the same way a domestic cat or dog tries to attract the attention of its humans. It is not an anthropomorphic animal or a human in disguise. As for the angels, they look like human beings, but they have wings. They are zoomorphic. Zoomorphic beings combine the features of a human being with the features of an animal. In fact, they may combine the features of many animals. Zoomorphic creatures may be anthropomorphic, or humans in disguise, but I have yet to find a proper classification for Angels, except zoomorphism. They may be zootheistic, but they are not gods.

Judaism, Christianity, and Islam

Christmas is a commemoration of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, or Jesus Christ. Jesus never founded a religion, but the Christian religion was founded in his name at the first council of Nicaea, by the Roman Emperor Constantine I in AD 325/CE 325. The Christian Church is the second Abrahamic religion. The first is Judaism and the third, Islam. The three Abrahamic religions overlap. The story begins with the fall of Man. Adam and Eve ate the fruit from the Forbidden Tree (the Tree of Knowledge) in Paradise. They were led out of Paradise. Christ is the Redeemer in the Christian Church. He was transubstantiated, or made into flesh, and died on the Cross redeeming Mankind. Islam chose Arab leader Muhammad (c. 570 – 8 June 632 CE) as its prophet, but Islam reveres Jesus. Jesus was a Galilean Jew. (See Jesus, Wikipedia.)

The Winter Solstice

Christmas is also the feast celebrating the winter solstice, the day of the longest night. In this regard, Paganism entered Christianity very discreetly. In Ancient Rome, the longest night was celebrated by upending reality. During Saturnalia, the master was a slave. The world was upside down.

Ancient Greece had a god of festivity, named Comus or Komus. The Winter Solstice, the longest night, authorised drunken and disorderly festivities. In earlier times, an old King was killed and a young King, crowned. Comedy is associated with the Comus. The young couple overcomes the heavy father opposing their marriage, which is the basic plot of all comedies. In order to rehabilitate society, a pharmākos (scapegoat) was ousted. (See 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Comus). I wrote my PhD thesis on the pharmākos in Molière’s theatre. In Tartuffe, Tartuffe, a character, is a pharmākos, he is “neither innocent nor guilty” (See Northrop Frye‘s Anatomy of Criticism).[1] His relationship with Orgon, the father, is nearly symbiotic, but as the curtain falls on a comedy, it should include a family in its entirety.

Conclusion

Attached to Christmas is a wealth of information. The above is brief. More information can be found on a page entitled Feasts and Liturgy. My illness has turned into episodes of intense pain. My heart feels as though it will fail me (psasms and convulsions). Doctors suspect a musculoskeletal illness that could be related to Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. I will undergo a test on 6 January. 

[1] I am in Magog, where my friend John is looking after me. My copy of Anatomy of Criticism is in Sherbrooke. I cannot indicate the page containing this quotation. If I recover from my current illness and obtain some financial support, I will update and publish my thesis. I may write a summary in English.

RELATED ARTICLES

  • Feast and Liturgy (page)
  • The Four Seasons: from Darkness into Light.2 (6 December 2012)
  • The Four Seasons: from Darkness into Light.1 (15 November 2011)

Wishing all of you Happy Holidays 🎄💕

The end of this post differs from the end of the post I first published. Something went wrong. Apologies.
“The Hallelujah Chorus” from Handel‘s Messiah
Evelyn De Morgan, Flora, 1894

© Micheline Walker
25 December 2021
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Saint Nicholas, Sinterklaas & Santa Claus

25 Sunday Dec 2016

Posted by michelinewalker in Angels, Bestiaries, Christmas

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Alison Stones, Livre d'images de Marie Hainaut, Pickled Boys, Saint Nicholas, Santa Claus, Sinterklass

m_03

Annonce aux bergers (Announcement to the Shepherds)
Livre d’images de Madame Marie Hainaut, vers 1285-1290.
Paris BnF Naf 16251

I used this beautiful image last year and continue to love it. I like the angel’s little feet and the animals.  It is une nuit étoilée: a starry night.

The Internet has several entries on the Livre d’images de Marie Hainaut.  Facsimiles are also available. One is the work of Alison Stones. It is affordable, but others are more expensive.

http://expositions.bnf.fr/bestiaire/grand/drag_09.htm
http://www.facsimilefinder.com/facsimiles/martiriologe-des-saints-le-livre-d-images-de-madame-marie-facsimile

“The Announcement to the Shepherds” is classified as a Bestiaire by the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF) which houses the original Livre d’images. But Le Livre d’images de Madame Marie Hainault is also, and perhaps mainly, a martyrology and it contains a picture of Saint Nicholas given alms.

Sinterklaas & Santa Claus

  • la Saint Nicolas, le 6 décembre
  • Sinterklaas becomes Santa Claus

Born in today’s Turkey, Saint Nicholas (15 March 270 – 6 December 343) is a prominent figure for Christians. He was the Bishop of Myra.

When I was a child growing up in a cold Quebec, my mother kept traditions alive. We celebrated la Saint-Nicolas, food and decorations.

La Saint-Nicolas is celebrated on 6 December. One eats mandarines and drinks hot chocolate. One also eats mannalas (small figures) and schnakalas (escargots). Mandarines and hot chocolate quite satisfied us.

Saint Nicolas came to North America when New York was New Amsterdam. He was called Sinterklaas (Dutch) which became Santa Claus, the English for le père Noël. (See Saint Nicholas, Wikipedia)

Pictures of St Nicolas

  • please follow this link and to see more pictures of Saint Nicholas

http://www.expressions-politiques.net/t12573-Aujourd-hui-6-decembre-nous-fetons-Saint-Nicolas.htm.

saint_23

Saint Nicolas et les trois enfants tués par le charcutier. Psautier cistercien. XIIIe

« La Légende de Saint Nicolas »

Associated with Saint Nicholas is the legend of Saint Nicholas, the story of three children cut into pieces by a butcher (le charcutier), but resurrected seven years later by Saint Nicolas. It appears the legend originates in Alsace-Lorraine. Benjamin Britten composed a cantata entitled Saint Nicholas.

http://paroles2chansons.lemonde.fr/paroles-chants-de-noel/paroles-la-legende-de-saint-nicolas.html

Refrain:
Ils étaient trois petits enfants     There we three little children
Qui s’en allaient glaner aux champs.     Who were gathering food [gleaning] in the fields.

1. Tant sont allés, tant sont venus     They so went here, they so went there
Que vers le soir se sont perdus.     That come evening, they were lost.
S’en sont allés chez un boucher :     So they went to a butcher:
Boucher, voudrais-tu nous loger ?    Butcher, would you give us lodging? [1]

2. Ils n’étaient pas sitôt entrés     But no sooner did they enter
Que le boucher les a tués,     Then the butcher killed them,
Les a coupés en p’tits morceaux       Cut them up into tiny pieces
Mis au saloir comme un pourceau.     Put them in his salting box, like pork. 

3. Saint Nicolas au bout d’sept ans     Seven years had passed when Saint Nicholas 
Vint à passer auprès du champ,     Happened to go near that field,
Alla frapper chez le boucher :     He went and knocned at the butcher’s:
Boucher, voudrais-tu me loger ?     Butcher, would you give me lodging?

4. Entrez, entrez, Saint Nicolas,     Come in, come in, Saint Nicholas,
Y’a de la place, n’en manque pas.   There’s room, there’s no want of it.
Il n’était pas sitôt entré,    No sooner did he enter,
Qu’il a demandé à souper.    Then he asked for supper

5.  Voulez-vous un morceau d’gâteau ?     Do you want a piece of cake?
Je n’en veux pas, il n’est point beau.    I don’t want any, it isn’t good.
Voulez-vous un morceau de veau ?   Do you want a piece of veal?
Je n’en veux pas, il n’est point beau !    I don’t want any, it doesn’t look nice!

6. Du p’tit salé je veux avoir,    I want something from the saloir,
Qu’il y a sept ans qu’est au saloir.    That has been there for seven years.
Quand le boucher entendit cela,    When the butcher heard that,
Hors de sa porte il s’enfuya.    Out of his door he fled.

7. Petits enfants qui dormez là,    Little children who sleep there,
Je suis le grand saint Nicolas.    I am the great Saint Nicholas.
Sur le saloir posa trois doigts,    On the saltoir he put three fingers,
Les p’tits soldats n’entendaient pas.    The little sodiers couldn’t hear. 

8. Le premier dit: « J’ai bien dormi ! »    The first [child] said: “I slept well!’
Le second dit: « Et moi aussi ! »     The second said: “Me too!”
Et le troisième, le plus petitt :    And the third answered:
« Je croyais être en paradis ! »   “I thought I was in paradise!”

(Except for the last stanza, I omitted quotation marks.)

« Ils étaient trois petits enfants. » is believed to date back to the 16th century but the legend is older. There are several versions of the song. Mine is based on the recording and it is translated accordingly.

One version is by Gérard de Nerval, a celebrated 19th-century French poet, essayist and translator. Nerval is a tragic figure. He suffered two mental breakdowns and committed suicide.

_______________
[1] I found a version of La Légende de Saint Nicolas [click], with a translation and a recording. It contains familiar lines: Saint Nicolas tells the butcher not to flee but to repent as Good will forgive him. The words salting-tub and salter are used. I borrowed the better: “give us/me lodging.”

In Saint Nicolas festivities (he visits schools, etc.), the butcher is called Père Fouettard [click].

—ooo—

l wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. ♥

Saint Nicolas, Livre d’images de Marie Hainault by Maître Henri. XIIIe

© Micheline Walker
25 December 2016
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