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Tag Archives: Vernal Equinox

The Ishtar Gate in Babylon

10 Wednesday Feb 2021

Posted by michelinewalker in Beasts, Feasts, fertility, Middle East, seasons

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

Babylon, fertility, Ishtar Gate, Middle East, Vernal Equinox, zoomorphism

Relief on the Ishtar Gate, Pergamenmuseum (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This beautiful lion has little to do with Valentine’s Day. It is part of the Ishtar Gate “constructed in about 575 BCE by order of King Nebuchadnezzar II” in the area of present-day Hillah, Babil Governorate, Iraq. (See Ishtar Gate, Wikipedia.) Ishtar was a goddess and Marduk the most powerful of two gods, he and Adad. Part of the gate was still standing in the early 1930s. It was taken to Germany and reconstructed. The Ishtar Gate had been put out of harm’s way before WW II, but it was bombed and reconstructed. Our lion is housed in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin and the Ishtar Gate is part of the UNESCO World Heritage. Many of the animals the gate features are housed in museums other than the Bergamon Museum.

Photo of the in situ remains from the 1930s of the excavation site in Babylon (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

One of the mušḫuššu dragons (zoomorphic) from the gate (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Zoomorphism

It could be that our lion does not talk. Talking animals are anthropomorphic, but some combine the features of many animals. The unicorn and the dragon are zoomorphic, and so are animals that combine animal and human body parts. Others are therianthropic, or shape-shifting animals. The werewolf, or loup-garou, belongs to therianthropy, but fairytales may be the richest depository of metamorphoses. So many little princes and princesses are transformed into animals, such as toads. However, there are many works of literature featuring two persons, or duality. One of our best examples is Robert Louis Stevenson‘s The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

The New Year’s celebrations started immediately after the barley harvest, at the time of the vernal equinox. his was the first day of the ancient month of Nisan, equivalent to today’s date of March 20 or 21.

Ishtar, Wikipedia

Roman poet Ovid wrote a Metamorphoses in 8 CE (Common Era). Apuleius (2nd century CE) wrote The Golden Ass, first entitled Metamorphoses. The Golden Ass contains The Tale of Psyche and Cupid, but its main narrative is the account of Lucius’ transformation into an Ass, rather than a bird. The Tale of Psyche and Cupid would be associated to the lore of Valentine’s Day, as would Rabbie Burns’ Red, Red Rose.

 The Vernal Equinox

Once per year, the Ishtar Gate and connecting Processional Way were used for a New Year’s procession, which was part of a religious festival celebrating the beginning of the agricultural year. In Babylon, the rituals surrounding this holiday lasted twelve days. The New Year’s celebrations started immediately after the barley harvest, at the time of the vernal equinox. This was the first day of the ancient month of Nisan, equivalent to today’s date of March 20 or 21.

Ishtar, Wikipedia

Christians associate Easter with the vernal equinox, but the vernal equinox happens globally. In Babylon, it was the New Year and inspired a procession among other celebrations of the agricultural year. But the governing factor concerning the date on which the procession would take place was the degree of lightness and darkness, the vernal equinox, when the degree and light and darkness is nearly equal. The earth feeds man and men and women perpetuate themselves. The rosettes, the red, red roses, above and below the lion are fertility symbols.

I was attracted by the image of the lion, but the Ishtar Gate was “foreign” to me. Now, I cannot help marvelling at all that binds us, hence this surprise post, except that I have studied and taught animals in literature, la Renardie. We have Reynard the Fox, Le Roman de Renart, tricksters, but we also speak of love, the Roman de la Rose. We all need our little corner of the world, but we are nevertheless the world.

RELATED ARTICLES

Beast Literature, Page

Love to everyone 💕

Meredith Hall and La Nef play Robert Burns‘ My Love is like a Red, Red Rose
Illustration d’un dragon ailé et crachant le feu (winged dragon spitting fire) par Friedrich Justin Bertuch (1806).

© Micheline Walker
10 February 2021
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Holy Week

24 Thursday Mar 2016

Posted by michelinewalker in Feasts, Liturgy

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Easter, Good Friday, Jacopo Bassano, Last Supper, Maundy Thursday, Palm Sunday, Paschal Tridium, Passover, Pietro Lorenzetti, Vernal Equinox

1024px-Jacopo_Bassano_Last_Supper_1542

The Last Supper by Jacopo Bassano (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

800px-Assisi-frescoes-entry-into-jerusalem-pietro_lorenzetti

Entry into Jerusalem by Pietro Lorenzetti, 1320, Assisi Frescoes (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Pietro_lorenzetti,_compianto_(dettaglio)_basilica_inferiore_di_assisi_(1310-1329)

Compianto (lament) by Pietro Lorenzetti, Basilica inferiore di Assisi, 1310-1329 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In the Quebec of my childhood, Holy Week was very precious. It justified a rather long holiday that brought grief and joy. Jesus of Nazareth is a tragic figure. “He was a Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.” (See Man of Sorrows, Isaiah 53.)

But there was a holiday and Easter brought Eastertide; it brought spring. I do not remember on which day classes ended, but we were not in class on Holy Thursday (Maundy [washing of the feet] Thursday) and Good Friday. To the best of my recollection, it was a four-day holiday which started on Holy Thursday and ended on the day Easter was celebrated. I do not think it included Easter Monday. At the moment, in Quebec, Holy Thursday and Good Friday are not holidays or fériés (feasts), and Easter Monday is a holiday, a legal holiday.

The week started on Palm Sunday. Branches were woven into fine decorations. We could purchase these at church and take them home. We used them from Easter to Easter. In Quebec, these were not made of palm leaves, but they were boughs, des rameaux. Holy Thursday and Good Friday were devoted to devotional practices. We attended mass and, on Good Friday, we walked from one station of the Cross to another. There were six stations on each side of the church, a total of twelve. (See Stations of the Cross, Wikipedia).

The Narrative

Jesus had been betrayed by one of his twelve apostles, Judas Iscariot. After the Last Supper, a Passover observance and the institution of the Eucharist (Mass), Christ and his disciples went to Gethsemane at the foot of the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. His apostles could not remain awake and stand vigil with him.

Mass and the Divine Hours

Mass, the Eucharist, commemorates the Last Supper. But the Divine Hours, kept by Cenobite monks, monks living together, commemorate Jesus’ vigil at the Mount of Olives. Books of Hours find their origin in the eight (originally seven) Canonical Hours, or Divine Hours.

Jesus was arrested and condemned. He was flogged (la flagellation), crowned mockingly, a crown of thorns, and carried the Cross on which he was crucified. Crucifixions are a form of torture leading to death. They are still carried out. Isil crucifies some of its victims. 

On Good Friday, at three in the afternoon we had to be quiet. We were told that Christ had died at that hour of the day.

Easter

  • the Easter Vigil
  • the secular celebration

The Easter Vigil was a particularly significant and beautiful celebration. A Paschal candle was lit at the back of the church and carried to the front. Everyone was given a candle. The priest stopped at each row to light one candle and the flame was passed on to everyone occupying that row.

Easter was a lovely celebration. We had many visitors. We ate chocolate, but we did not look for eggs. Then came Easter Dinner, called Supper in Quebec, my mother usually made ham, which was also the case in other households. We did not drink wine.

The Vernal Equinox

  • The Passover (Pesach)
  • The Eastern Church (the Julian Calendar)
  • The Western Church (the Gregorian Calendar)

As you know, Easter is a moveable feast, celebrated near the spring equinox. You may remember that the Gregorian Calendar (Pope Gregory XIII) was adopted because Christmas was celebrated later and later every year and, by the same token, so was Easter. The Eastern Church retained the Julian Calendar (old style: O. S.). This year the vernal equinox, for the northern hemisphere, equal day and night, occurred on 20 March and, in the Western Church, Easter will be celebrated on the 27th of March. In the Eastern Church, Easter will be celebrated on the 1st of May. Easter is rooted in the Hebrew Passover, which will be observed on the 23rd of April.

It appears “Jewish Christians, the first to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, timed the observance in relation to Passover.” (See Easter, Wikipedia.) Passover commemorates the Jewish Exodus from slavery into Egypt. The date on which Easter is celebrated and the links between Passover and Easter, in both the Western Church and the Eastern Church, have been a subject of controversy, beginning with the Council of Nicaea (325 CE). Such matters are best discussed by theologians.

For Christians, Easter is the most important religious feasts of the year. However, Jesus did not found a Church and he was not recognized as their Christ by the Jews. Moreover, he did not leave a sacred text. He was a prophet in Islam: al-Masih (the Messiah, le Messie). (See Jesus in Islam, Wikipedia.)

Mater Dolorosa

One of the most compelling depictions of grief in art is the mater dolorosa. A mother had seen her son suffer and die. As of Good Friday, the Marian Antiphon, of which there are four will be the Regina Cæli  Both Michel-Richard de Lalande‘s Regina Cæli and Pergolesi‘s exquisite Quando corpus morietur are featured in a post entitled Music for Easter (see  RELATED ARTICLES, below).

 

With kind regards to everyone. ♥

800px-Jacopo_Bassano_-_The_Way_to_Calvary_-_Google_Art_Project

The Way to Calvary by Jacopo Bassano (Google Art Project)

RELATED ARTICLES

  • The Marian Antiphonies (5 April 2015)
  • Music for Easter (31 March 2013) ♥
  • Candlemas: the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple & a Festival of Lights (12 February 2012)
  • Canonical Hours and the Divine Office (19 November 2011)

Artists
Jacopo Bassano  also known as Jacopo dal Ponte (1510 – 14 February 1592)
Pietro Lorenzetti (c. 1280 – 1348)

Vivaldi‘s Stabat Mater (part one)
Philippe Jaroussky (countertenor)

Pietro_lorenzetti,_compianto_(dettaglio)_basilica_inferiore_di_assisi_(1310-1329)© Micheline Walker
24 March 2016
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