winterval oder raunächte

The Twelve Days of Christmas (or Raunächte as its called in Germanic-speaking lands) which presently coincides with the period from Christmas Day until the Feast of the Epiphany when the Magi arrive from the East (Drei Königs Tag) has very ancient roots and is steeped in traditions and customs, yet in practise if not rather commandeered.
The term has a two-fold meaning suggesting the fireworks, smokers and clamour (Räucherwerk) used to ward off evil spirits and the old German word “rûch” for hoary or hairy for the mantles of demons that populate the clouds and shadows, should one indulge a bit and delineates the time when Odin (Wotan) embarks on his astral wild hunt (Wilde Jagd).  The New Year greeting Guten Rutsch! has a different etymology and it’s ill-advised to look up and stare off at the sky, lest one’s imagination should get the better of him. This period was recognised as especially conducive to other-worldly encounters as hardest days of Winter, being put into abeyance once again with the Solstice (the Feast of Saint Thomas as well), and the customs associated with this time of reflection and cleansing as it also marked the eleven days (twelve nights) that the lunar year lagged behind the solar year, depending on one’s reckoning. The clutch of good luck charms for the new year includes the psychotropic speckled agaric mushroom, which grow where Odin’s steeds’ hooves fall. Whether the god was riding some anatomically normal horse or the eight-legged Sleipnir (eight tiny reindeer), I suppose, indicated for foragers whether or not it would be bountiful year.

almanac or full moon madness

Though a touch sad that we are always reading yesterday’s news because of the middling hours separating Germany from Canada, I still find Doctor Caligari’s Cabinet to be quite timely and topical, reminding us to anniversaries that don’t loom just as large in our consciousness and importantly, with the invitation to learn more. Below the Twelve Days of Christmas/Kwanzaa gift tally and some other curious and obscure events that took place on this/that date, for the lycanthropically inclined there’s a guide to the year’s upcoming lunar cycles (with clever musical accompaniment), that’s really a nifty primer in reconciling one’s luni-solar calendars.

dnd or maintaining the peace

A Manchester news outlet posted several pictures of police responding to New Year’s revelries and party-goers that maybe took their celebrations to perfectly epic and refined proportions—especially evident in this one busy composition that resounded for many as having the elements of a masterpiece. One person noticed that the well-timed arrangement follows the Golden Ratio (φ)—pentagonal symmetry along golden spirals that makes for a particularly æsthetically satisfying balance, which pops up in mathematics, painting, music, Nature and architecture all the time.

solipsism or monkey see, monkey do

One of the more compelling ideas that I’ve encountered lately supposes that humans have developed such a relatively advanced range of expression over other animals—not that other creatures are silent and without cognition and we are constantly underestimating the mental worlds of our close and more distant relations—due to the limiting factor of solipsism. Metaphysics usually does not rear itself in the study of biology and evolution, but perhaps this position, which is one of the hallmarks of Cartesian philosophy and refers to a mode of thought where only one’s own mind can be accorded absolute surety and trust and there are impressions out there whose essence and depth is unknowable and might not exist at all.
Apes might not wonder if they are brains in vat or regard their fellow primates as philosophical zombie—possibly but we are not privy of course to those thoughts, and do display a limited sense of collaboration when it comes to things like bonding or child-rearing and can learn. A test that’s always interesting for all sorts of species is how they react to their reflection in a mirror. One does not see evidence, however, of the kind of advanced cooperation and planning dependent on others that might prompt the cultivation of vocabulary and language. In colonial species, like bees, ants and mole-rats we see apparently the opposite extreme, where there is no self, only the hive. I wonder if it’s in the human psyche to transcend that doubt in order to get along yet retain and be able to articulate those nagging concerns—whether our world is a delusion crafted by an Evil Genius and we are in the Matrix—that endowed and nurtured communication and abstraction. Following the old regime of esteeming animals as dumb and insensitive and without souls, humans did not see any value in reaching out to them and similarly, if one was unable to escape (even provisionally) his or her epistemological prisons, there would be little need to communicate beyond the most basic level. What do you think? Given the near gentic and physiological sameness, could origins of language lie in this skepticism and dissociation?

6x6

à louer: after profiling ghost malls, Messy Nessy Chic ventures out on to the high streets of Paris to document its vacant boutiques and digs deeper into their past

cro-magnon: the dexterity and cleverness of these birds might only be rivalled by humans

posh frock: stellar cosplay costumes of the 1920s Bauhaus collective

going dutch: the Netherlands and Belgium sensible swap territory and other recent land trades

philately: US postal service to issue Star Trek and planetary stamps

national nothing day: in addition to this “free-parking” space, seventeen other holidays, projects that one can honour this month

mmxvi

Happy New Year, Turophiles! Best wishes to you and yours as we welcome 2016 and we have a quick survey of designated, predicted and scheduled events and commemorations for the upcoming time.
To recognise their nutritional significance, the United Nations has declared this year the international year of pulses—that is, your beans, black-eyed peas and other legumes. The Summer Games will be held in Brazil. The Orthodox Church will convene a Holy Synod. Most of the world will be treated to Venus transiting the Sun and the Juno space probe will arrive at Jupiter. Russia is planning to launch an orbiting hotel for space-tourists. Not so many bold assertions or much commitment there. It seems that only astronomical matters are the only safe-call for the world’s reluctant and conservative Nostradamuses, citing the inevitable march of time. There’s that which is called self-fulfilling prophesy. Maybe resolutions are for, after all. What are some of your forecasts?