February Packed Full of Festivals Both Ancient & Modern—an Unholy Cultural Mix North and South of Equator

FEBRUARY PACKED FULL OF FESTIVALS BOTH ANCIENT & MODERN-AN UNHOLY CULTURAL MIX NORTH AND SOUTH OF EQUATOR

SURFACING LIKE GROUNDHOGS 2/2 to SEE SUNSHINE CAST our [WRITERLY] SHADOW, WE COWARDLY SCRIBES DIVE BACK into our WO/MAN CAVE for SIX MORE WEEKS of WINTER

Leaping into Leap Year, February has Extra Day but Clocks Don’t Spring Forward until March 10th U.S./March 28th Britain—Meanwhile Carnival Just Keeps on Celebrating…

Perhaps we should listen more attentively to the poor maligned [overworked & underground] iconic Groundhog, instead of leaping into Spring at first sign of a snowdrop or a Carnival carnation. But with pre-Celtic [Irish] Là Fhèile Brìghde, Feast Day of Bride/Brigid/Brigantia; Xtian Candlemas February 2nd comes craziness in Western world: New Orleans Carnival; Venice, Italian Carnevale, Rio de Janeiro Carnaval & all hell-literally-breaks loose, lasting till Full Snow Moon (Algonquin Groundhog moon) 2/24.

This year, mercifully, the American Groundhog may have been able to escape the usual attention in U.S. cities in the North, because not only is politics drowning out his appearance-as early voters go to polls, but both hemispheres—South and North of the Equator are making the most of extended Carnival.

In the Italian city of Venice, 2024 festival [pix above] stretches from February 3rd-23rd, thru Valentine’s day in an unprecedented 700th year anniversary celebration of the death [1324] of its native son, world navigator Marco Polo. His discovery of the Orient by sea, (living in Mongol emperor Kublai Khan’s summer residence at Shangdu); and the Middle East (Constantinople/present Istanbul) by land (along the ‘Silk Road‘, below) brought riches and new knowledge to his home port. His own account of his travels as a 17-year-old —Il Milioni— [alongside his father & uncle] opened new vistas for 14thC Europeans, who had never before tasted spices, experienced gunpowder, porcelain, or the revelation of paper money—or crocodiles!

New Orleans, Louisiana [NOLA aka the ‘Big Easy’] is best known for its Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) feasting & unrestrained revelry in U.S.Carnival capital during week before Xtian calendar’s 40-day Lenten fast, when house banquets overspill into street parties & parades go on all night long.

As Ash Wednesday falls on Valentine’s Day, lotsa purple Creole bagels & lottery tickets -along with multiple Brit./U.S.pancakes-will be consumed this year on Feb.Lucky 13th!

Word is that the pageantry of daily festivities in the lagoons of Venice, home city of Marco Polo—masquerade parades, daily costume contests & chic evening masqued balls—which begin on the eve of Valentine’s Day—will continue through Lent [traditionally a time of Roman Catholic stricture, fasting & prayer], only to end at Easter, last weekend in March! We shall see.

If Venice Carnevale—traditionally a demure, elegant sophisticated round of masqued balls, private evening parties & gondola-led water processions from Doge’s Palace*, St.Mark’s Sq. along the Grand Canal to the Bridge of Sighs—lets it hair down, it may even rival the wild & unruly 24-hour madness characteristic of Rio’s festival which is famed for lasting all day-all night for over a month. Venetian Bull Festival was traditionally a parade where a real Bull, pigs & poultry were slaughtered annually; then cooked & given as gifts to the poor in the lagoon during Carneval.

Venice may have its Festival of the Bull [2nd top l.] where gifts of food are handed from a gondola gang to other water-borne Gran Canale vessels, culminating in bull-slaughter—masqued bull—no longer real carnage! But Rio’s mile-long Sambadrome parade [above mid l. & rt.] captures over a million entranced spectators along a route where rainbow-bedecked floats interact with masqued attendees in the seats.

Masquerading as birds-on-stilts, rt. these peculiar hawk-billed creatures are part of Venetian Bull Festival where traditionally a real Bull, pigs & poultry were slaughtered annually; then cooked & given as gifts to the poor in the lagoon during Carneval.

*Doge Vitale II Michiel, 12thC Duke of Venice, in 1122 led a Venetian fleet of 100 vessels & 15,000 men to the Holy Land under flag of St.Peter, with Papal blessing from Rome; Doge=Latin, Dux, Duke.

New Moon February 10th Heralds Oriental Year of Dragon Who Reigns until January 29th, 2025: Lucky for Monkeys, Roosters, Pigs

We’ve all experienced the caravan [current slang for a mobile home]. But few of us are aware of the word’s etymology, or its 12th-15thCC origin; we think of French caravane or Medieval Latin caravana; words picked up during the Crusades, via Arabic qairawan from Persian karwan= ‘a group of desert merchant travelers’. But its true derivation is probably Sanskrit karabhah=’camel’.

Legendary Marco Polo‘s travels in the Orient & Near East rise once again in our vocabulary, because-w/his father & uncle- he travelled the Silk Road from the Eastern Mediterranean>China & Mongolia by camel

15thC map, l. of Marco Polo’s Caravan along Silk Road by camel; courtesy Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

It seems, therefore, timely and relevant to mention in this Oriental Year of the Wood Dragon, beginning Saturday, Feb. 10th New Moon, that, while the Oriental Zodiac described here contains 12 animals who ran in the mythical Jade Emperor’s Great Race, there wasn’t a camel among them!

The illustrious Dragon competed, but, as he was kind & benevolent by nature, he helped others -like Rabbit- by blowing a gust of wind to carry him over water, thus allowing Rabbit to finish ahead of him.

10 years ago I blogged about my then 7-yr old granddaughter’s story of how Dragon evolved in her ‘How Jagin got his Name’. Her paper masque, rt., with her 1st draft & final edited story here. She’s a Fire Dog!

Dragon finished 5th in the Great Race after 1. Rat, 2. Ox, 3. Tiger, 4. Rabbit.

Snake came 6th; then 7. Horse, 8. Goat, 9. Monkey, 10. Rooster, 11. Dog & 12.Boar/Pig.

This year of the Dragon, 2024, is fortunate for Monkeys, Roosters and Pigs-all behind him at the finish line. His motto: Strength is a gift to be lent, not a power to be wielded.

Because the Moon’s first ‘new’ lunar cycle this month is slow [8 days after Candlemas/Groundhog], and as we still—even in 21st Century—calculate by the ancient lunar calendar, Xtian Palm Sunday will fall on March 24th, and Easter will be celebrated #late this year: i.e. on the last day in March. And although Fat (Pancake) Tuesday [Mardi Gras] is Lucky 13th [New Orleans, above 2nd top], Venice Fat Thursday Giovedi grasso & Rhineland German Weiberfastnacht occur a week earlier this year, on Feb.8th.

A Thought Before we Muse-Captive Underling Scribes Dive Back Down our Rabbit-aka-Dragon Hole…

Does having an extra ‘Leap’ day in February account for this? I hear you ask. No. Because one calendar is [4-year leap] solar; and the other is [18.6yr Metonic] lunar cycle. ❤

And we should remember that the Ancients believed that even the old Crone of Winter-the Cailleach– appeared in February, journeying to the Magical Isle, in whose woods lay the miraculous Well of Youth. At the first glimmer of dawn, she drinks the water bubbling in a crevice of rock, and is transformed into Bride, the fair maid whose white wand turns the bare Earth green again. So—Enjoy. ❤ p.s. I’m a Fire Tiger. @siderealview ©2024MarianC.Youngblood

In Rough Seas We Need A Little Help From Our Friends

WHEN TIMES GET TOUGH, WRITERS GET TOUGHER
Monthly Tough-it-Out Corner for Insecure Writers

I like to think that we (Insecure) writers have a little extra ball of energy we hold in reserve for exactly that moment when the rest of our world is collapsing or about to do so.

Graces three—embodied joy, beauty and mirth—as well as social ease

Now seems a good time to remind ourselves that, however insecure we may feel about the work we continually produce—the writing we LOVE—if we continue to brave it out through any storm, the rough seas will eventually bring calm.

And we may live through it!

ENTER GRACE—Or in Aegaean terms, THREE GRACES, daughters of ZEUS and EURYNOME

In Hellenist mythology Three Goddesses called the Graces represented grace, charm and beauty. Other qualities associated with them—
Aglaia represented elegance, brightness and splendor.
Thalia embodied youth, beauty and good cheer.
Euphrosyne encouraged mirth and joyfulness.

The KHARITES were conceived in Greek mythology as goddesses who brought festive joy and enhanced mortals’ love of life though their refinement and gentleness. Gracefulness and beauty in social intercourse are attributed to them. They are usually seen in the service or attendance of other divinities, as real joy exists only in circles where the individual gives up his own self and makes it his main object to afford pleasure to others.

“The less beauty is ambitious to rule, the greater is its victory”

The Three Graces, from an Ionian fresco, A.D.1stC

Qualities embodied in the Kharites. Graces, are that the less homage beauty or grace demands, the more freely is it given.

Interestingly, these same traits were imported en masse into the Christian ethic and named Hope, Faith and Charity—from Gk.KHARITES—Catholicism in particular emphasizing ‘charity’.

I mention these lovely beauties at this time as, in the midst of world events where ladies’ sovreignty is paramount, it may be our GRACE which will see us through the storm.

Moving Beyond the Masque to Face Reality
Also, coincidentally in traditional Roman Catholic calendar—still calculated by the Moon—we have only just emerged from the Fire Festival of Fat Tuesday—Mardi Gras—Festern’s E’en. We are now entering a time of human restriction—in Church timing 40 days of Lent—where our resources and resourcefulness will be called on.

We IWSG-ers know how to pull in our belts, don’t we? If our Cap’n.Alex can do it, so can we.

Therefore, Angels of Grace, Beauty, Patience, bless you—we are calling for just a little help from our friends. Thank you for being here.
©2017 Marian Youngblood