ēostreteric

Though possible an invention of the Venerable Bede as the name of the goddess does not appear in the historical record prior to its citation in his eighth century work on The Reckoning of Time describing the indigenous months of the English peoples (De mensibus Anglorum) with Ēosturmōnaþ, whose deity was the namesake of Easter and many related words, since having been overtaken as Paschal Month, Eastertide celebrating the sacrifice of Jesus with the trappings of far more ancient customs. The Neopagan Wheel of the Year celebrates the equinox (by etymological reconstruction, the goddess of the sunrise) as the Feast of Ostarâ, another Germanic—and by migration and raids, Anglo-Saxon—form of her name.

the penitent thief

As opposed to the impertinent thief to his left who challenges Jesus to save them both and prove that he is the Christ, the condemned robber to his right named by the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus (see previously) as Dismas asks that Jesus remember him in heaven. To the latter, Jesus replied “Amen I say to you today you will be with me in Paradise,” who venerated with a feast on this day in the Roman Martyrology and on Good Friday itself in the Eastern Orthodox Church and is the patron of the incarcerated, especially those sentenced for death, and the contrite.

śmigus-dyngus

The second day of Bright Week—the Octave of Easter, is a public holiday in Germany, the Netherlands and Scandinavia as an extension of Eastertide and events sometimes traditionally include egg races and other activities to use up, put away the festoonery—a pretty practical idea, which in parts of central Europe, including parts of Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary and Ukraine they had down to a science, once at least though the practise seems to be less and less common.
Called in Polish above and Oblévačka in Czech, “Wet Monday” (or simply Dyngus Day by diaspora) was chance for adolescents to throw water on each other and flirtatiously beat each other with willow branches that made up traditional egg trees and decorative boughs. With suspected roots in pagan fertility ceremonies and the welcoming of spring countered by Christian missionaries trying impose their religion on the natives, linguists conjecture that śmigus refers to baptism—an involuntary or unwanted one at that, going all the way back to the conversion of Mieszko I, the Duke of the Poles in 966 (coincidentally also on this day)—and Dingnis—from the old German for ransom—refers to the tribute that one can pay in leftover eggs to avoid getting doused or whipped.

8x8

egg²: check out Box Vox’ egg-themed week starting with this recipe for apéroeuf including innovations in cartoning and carting

public display: open up and curator your own virtual gallery space in this social simulation game

all hail our morlock overlords: after forcing the in-person ballot in Wisconsin, GOP death cult refuses to ban large gatherings for Easter holiday

contact tracing: a nice primer on how the method can combat the spread of contagious diseases without compromising individual privacy

animal crossing: a quarantined couple in London creates an art museum for their pet gerbils’ edification

armisonous: obsolete. rare. that which produces or is accompanied by the sounds of arms or armour, like clanging pots and pans

after all, you’re my wonder wall: a selection of collaborative music videos shot in isolation

victory garden: some ideas for plant anywhere seed beds and substrates

maundy thursday

Called also Sheer, Great and Holy and Green (Gründonnerstag) this day initiates the Easter Triduum, the commemoration of the passion, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus and is derived from a corruption of the Latin term mandatum for command—from the Vulgate of John 13:34, wherein the disciple relays that there is a new directive, namely, that we love one another as I have loved you (Mandatum novum do vobis ut diligatis invicem sicut dilexi vos) and whereupon Jesus demonstrates his humility and charity in washing the feet (pedelavium) of students to show there is no hierarchy in kindness. This courtesy ablution is not only a religious rite in many traditions but moreover a mark of hospitality in guest-host dynamics.

pfingstrose

On cue, our peonies (Paeonia officinalis oder echte Pfingstrose) are beginning to come into full bloom, coinciding with their namesake holiday Pentecost (Whitsunday, Pfingsten, seven weeks after Easter).
The plant was classified by Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus (who formalised the binomial nomenclature above) in the family Paeon, retaining the mythology that an apprentice of Asclepius, the Greek god of medicine, began to surpass his master—owing to the fact that mortals probably respond better to treatment regimes and in general clinically more remarkable than immortals—and Zeus transformed Paeon into a peony to spare him from Asclepius’ wrath. The flowers have a long history of use in traditional medicine, both in the East and the West and have pharmaceutical merit.

xристос воскрес! воістину воскрес!

easter acclamations!

super ponte

Similar to the German concept of a Brückentag—taking an extra, intervening day off to bridge the gap in what would be a longer break from work and to make a longer, uninterrupted weekend when a public holiday falls on a Tuesday or Thursday, the Italian language has fare il ponte—to do the bridge.
Unlike in the States where most holidays are observed on the nearest Monday, there are not moveable feasts in other parts of the world and one isn’t given compensation if the holiday fell on a weekend. This year, however, owing to a late Easter and the following Easter Monday (Pasquetta), the celebrations bump up against secular public holidays with the anniversary of Italy’s liberation (Festa della liberazione) falling shortly afterwards on the twenty-fifth and then, if you can put off returning to the office long enough, there’s International Workers’ Day (Festa del lavoro) on 1 May. These happy quirks of the calendar are rare but most welcomed.

osterbrunnen

Sourced back as a tradition expanding outward from the Fränkische Schweiz (Franconian Switzerland) region in the early 1900s when public fountains started to lose a measure of their civil importance as more homes were being retrofitted with modern plumbing, decorating them and the village centre with eggs, ribbon and garlands for Eastertide has spread to other areas in Germany.

Though the ritual of well-dressing is a custom that goes back much further, communities have grown acutely aware and proud of their handiwork, since the 1950s generally put out on the day before Palm Sunday, that continues to evolve as a teachable and instagrammable lesson—plastic eggs having become the norm due to vandalism but many are returning to more authentic materials to celebrate the season and the rites of Spring.

thank you easter bunny - bawk, bawk!

may Easter joys be yours

with all the frills upon it

Not to attribute any redeeming qualities to the regime’s First Trumpet, but it turns out that while serving as assistant US trade representative for media and public affairs under the administration of Bush II, he volunteered as assistant to the Easter Bunny multiple times. This fact, I think, makes it all the more incredulous that no one thought to make any arrangements for the annual White House Easter Egg Roll until the last minute—which makes me a little sad that some kids will get to miss out on the experience but also a little gleeful that Dear Leader and his repulsive family don’t get another platform, especially on the back of a holiday.

hot cross-buns or imitation is the greatest form of flattery

The good doctor and faithful chronicler remind us on this Easter Monday of other ancient rites of Spring—though the mourning and fast seems transposed to the high summer months of Sumer with the solstice rather than the equinox, and it’s always dicey having truck with the elder gods since there’s not the same level of scholarship and sometimes parallels are forced (or our bias looks to distance them). In any case, there was a prolonged funeral service held every year just as the daylight started to wane a bit more than it had the day prior, and during this time is was in keeping for the mourners to make the sign of a “t” across their chests and eat little cakes stamped with a “t” for the departed but soon to return of shepherd-god Tammuz (Dumuzid), loyal consort of fertility goddess Inanna (Istar, to whom eggs and bunnies were sacred). Accounts become conflated but some hold that Tammuz (still the name of the month of July in some Arabic languages some four millennia later) died whilst defending his flock from a marauding boar.
Other mythological traditions support this trope, including the enchantress Circe turning hapless men into swine, the battle-boars of the Norse gods and the jealous god Ares (Mars) transforming himself into one to kill Adonis. Inanna threatens to make the world an infertile wasteland, unless Tammuz is returned to her. Another version offers that Tammuz dies at his own volition in order to harrow the Underworld, as for reasons only known to the goddess, she popped in to check in on the vanquished Bull of Heaven (done in by Gilgamesh and his partner in crime, Enkidu in an earlier episode) and managed to get herself stuck there. Tammuz and his lady-love only manage a compromised ransom, however, and Tammuz spends half a year imprisoned to be relieved by Inanna to serve out the rest of the annual sentence, an unsatisfactory arrangement like that movie Ladyhawke. Maybe a year without Winter (or without Summer) reunites them.

may easter joys attend you

happy Easter, fröhe Ostern!

hippety-hoppety

A very happy Easter weekend to one and all! The Local list features some bunny-based German idioms in the spirit of the season that are both cute and educational.

eastertide or turkish delight

Spring recess for German school is this week leading up to Easter and many families are taking this break to embark on the year's first vacation.  It's relatively slow and quiet right now, due to this exodus--short of like the lemming health care professionals' escape en masse during the month of August.  Mind you don't get sick then. 

But we have had nebulous plans to have our next trip a bit later in the month, and for quite some time, though the agenda has not been fully articulated.  Who would want to take a break, unless compelled, when things are not so hectic and one can expect a lot of company?  I am excited and I fully expect the planning phase to come together very soon.  We have booked at least the essentials of passage to Istanbul, and have just been overwhelmed with history, ancient and modern, and have been studying to be a little better prepared for the next adventure.