In Rome, her festival, the Floralia, was held between April 28 and May 3 and symbolized the renewal of the cycle of life, drinking, and flowers. The festival was first instituted in 240 B.C.E, and on the advice of the Sibylline books, she was also given a temple in 238 B.C.E. At the festival, with the men decked in flowers, and the women wearing normally forbidden gay costumes, five days of farces and mimes were enacted – ithyphallic, and including nudity when called for – followed by a sixth day of the hunting of goats and hares. On May 23 another (rose) festival was held in her honor.
Sunday, April 7, 2024
3 Rather Proper Mythical Goddesses Flora - Symbols of Spring by Rembrandt (1606-1669)
In Rome, her festival, the Floralia, was held between April 28 and May 3 and symbolized the renewal of the cycle of life, drinking, and flowers. The festival was first instituted in 240 B.C.E, and on the advice of the Sibylline books, she was also given a temple in 238 B.C.E. At the festival, with the men decked in flowers, and the women wearing normally forbidden gay costumes, five days of farces and mimes were enacted – ithyphallic, and including nudity when called for – followed by a sixth day of the hunting of goats and hares. On May 23 another (rose) festival was held in her honor.
Saturday, April 6, 2024
Earth's Creatures Stop to Smell the Flowers
The expression came into popular modern use in the 1960s & is a rephrasing of a sentiment found in a 1957 autobiography written by the golfer Walter Hagen (1892 - 1969): “Don’t hurry. Don’t worry. And be sure to smell the flowers along the way.”
17C Mythical Goddess Flora - Symbol of Spring
Friday, April 5, 2024
Earth's Creatures Stop to Smell the Flowers
Spring & Summer are the perfect time to celebrate the rebirth of Earth's Beauty & Bounty. Flowers gave beauty & inspiration to mankind's basic struggle to live & to populate & to protect his home-base, The Earth. Holding on to The Sweet Divine - The Lord God took man & put him in the Garden of Eden to work it & to keep it...Genesis 2:15.
The expression came into popular modern use in the 1960s & is a rephrasing of a sentiment found in a 1957 autobiography written by the golfer Walter Hagen (1892 - 1969): “Don’t hurry. Don’t worry. And be sure to smell the flowers along the way.”
17C Mythical Goddess Flora - Symbol of Spring
Thursday, April 4, 2024
Earth's Creatures Stop to Smell the Flowers
The expression came into popular modern use in the 1960s & is a rephrasing of a sentiment found in a 1957 autobiography written by the golfer Walter Hagen (1892 - 1969): “Don’t hurry. Don’t worry. And be sure to smell the flowers along the way.”
17C Mythical Goddess Flora - Symbol of Spring
Wednesday, April 3, 2024
Earth's Creatures Stop to Smell the Flowers
“People ask me what I do in winter when there’s no baseball. I’ll tell you what I do. I stare out the window & wait for Spring.” – Rogers Hornsby
Spring & Summer are the perfect time to celebrate the rebirth of Earth's Beauty & Bounty. Flowers gave beauty & inspiration to mankind's basic struggle to live & to populate & to protect his home-base, The Earth. Holding on to The Sweet Divine - The Lord God took man & put him in the Garden of Eden to work it & to keep it...Genesis 2:15.
The expression came into popular modern use in the 1960s & is a rephrasing of a sentiment found in an autobiography written by the golfer Walter Hagen: “Don’t hurry. Don’t worry. And be sure to smell the flowers along the way.”
17C Mythical Goddess Flora - Symbol of Spring
Tuesday, April 2, 2024
Earth's Creatures Stop to Smell the Flowers
Spring & Summer are the perfect time to celebrate the rebirth of Earth's Beauty & Bounty. Flowers gave beauty & inspiration to mankind's basic struggle to live & to populate & to protect his home-base, The Earth. Holding on to The Sweet Divine - The Lord God took man & put him in the Garden of Eden to work it & to keep it...Genesis 2:15.
The expression came into popular modern use in the 1960s & is a rephrasing of a sentiment found in an autobiography written by the golfer Walter Hagen: “Don’t hurry. Don’t worry. And be sure to smell the flowers along the way.”
Earth's Creatures Stop to Smell the Flowers
Spring & Summer are the perfect time to celebrate the rebirth of Earth's Beauty & Bounty. Flowers gave beauty & inspiration to mankind's basic struggle to live & to populate & to protect his home-base, The Earth. Holding on to The Sweet Divine - The Lord God took man & put him in the Garden of Eden to work it & to keep it...Genesis 2:15.
The expression came into popular modern use in the 1960s & is a rephrasing of a sentiment found in an autobiography written by the golfer Walter Hagen: “Don’t hurry. Don’t worry. And be sure to smell the flowers along the way.”
17C Mythical Goddess Flora - Symbol of Spring
Monday, April 1, 2024
Earth's Creatures Stop to Smell the Flowers
“Science has never drummed up quite as effective a tranquilizing agent as a
sunny Spring day.” – W. Earl Hall
Spring & Summer are the perfect time to celebrate the rebirth of Earth's Beauty & Bounty. Flowers gave beauty & inspiration to mankind's basic struggle to live & to populate & to protect his home-base, The Earth. Holding on to The Sweet Divine - The Lord God took man & put him in the Garden of Eden to work it & to keep it...Genesis 2:15.
The expression came into popular modern use in the 1960s & is a rephrasing of a sentiment found in an autobiography written by the golfer Walter Hagen: “Don’t hurry. Don’t worry. And be sure to smell the flowers along the way.”
18C Allegory of Spring Love in a Garden
15C Mythical Goddess Flora - Symbol of Spring
Sunday, March 31, 2024
Jesus as Gardener - The Risen Christ Reveals Himself to Mary
The Gospel of John 20:1-13 (NIV) contains a narrative of an empty garden tomb including the appearance of Jesus: Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb & saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. So she came running to Simon Peter & the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, & said, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, & we don't know where they have put him!"
So Peter & the other disciple started for the tomb. Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter & reached the tomb first. He bent over & looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived & went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus' head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen. Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw & believed.
Then the disciples went back to their homes, but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb & saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus' body had been, one at the head & the other at the foot. They asked her, "Woman, why are you crying?" "They have taken my Lord away," she said, "& I don't know where they have put him." At this, she turned around & saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. He asked her, "Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?" Thinking he was the gardener, she said, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, & I will get him." Jesus said to her, "Mary." She turned toward him & cried out, "Rabboni!" ("Teacher"). Jesus said, "Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, & say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, & your Father; & to my God, & your God."
Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: "I have seen the Lord!" And she told them that he had said these things to her.
Giotto di Bondone (c. 1267 - 1337). Resurrection Noli me tangere - on North wall of Scrovegni (Arena) Chapel, Padua. 1305-1306
1460 The Meister des Göttinger Barfüßeraltars Resurrection Noli me tangere. Jesus holds a shovel. The wattle fenced flowery mead follows Boccaccio's model.
1460-90s Master of the Martyrdom of the Ten Thousand (German; 1460 - 1470; fl. c.) Christ appearing as a gardener to St Mary Magdalene within a garden with wattle fencing. Jesus holds a shovel.
1469 Noli me tangere in Prayer Book of Charles the Bold, Lieven van Lathem. J. Paul Getty Museum, Ms. 37, fol. 46v. Jesus holds a shovel in a wattle-fenced mead.
Martin Schongauer German, c. 1450-1491. Noli me tangere. Here Jesus holds a staff but the garden is surrounded by a wattle fence.
c 1500 Perugino, Pietro di Cristoforo Vannucci 1445-1523) Resurrection Noli me tangere. Here Jesus holds a garden tool. Art Institute of Chicago
1506 Fra Bartolomeo (1472–1517) Noli Me Tangere. Depicted at the tomb with Christ holding a garden tool.
1526 Hans Holbein the Younger (1498–1543) Noli Me Tangere. Depicted at the tomb on a flowery mead.
1534 Antonio da Correggio (1489-1534) Noli Me Tangere. Christ appears as a gardener holding a hoe.
This image includes formal gardens used as the background for a Biblical scene. These gardens are primarily from the Italian Renaissance. The trellis walkways & arbors were built to provide both shade & privacy. Planners raised beds to prevent plants becoming waterlogged. Gardens were used for recreation, relaxation, & sport. The garden consists of geometric beds of interlacing patterns designed to be seen from windows & hills above & is filled with herbs & favorite flowers. A fountain sits in the farthest parterre. Statues & symbolic ornaments are spread throughout the grounds.
1560-70 Unknown German artist. Christ appears here as a gardener to Mary Magdalene; part of a town beyond the garden & three crosses on the hill behind at left. Jesus holds a garden shovel in a bedded garden surrounded by a wooden fence.
1620 Abraham Janssens (1567–1632) painted figures & Jan Wildens (15841586–1653) painted the landscape Resurrection Noli me tangere. Jesus holds a shovel & the fruits of the garden are on the earth.
1630-35 Pedro Núñez del Valle (Spanish, 1597-1649)Noli me tangere. A garden of formal beds defined by a wattle wall appears to be growing food.
Ciro Ferri 1670-80s (1634-1689) Resurrection Noli me tangere. Jesus holds a shovel in a garden protected by a wood fence.
Saturday, March 30, 2024
Why Does A Rabbit Bring Eggs on Easter?
Why has a rabbit become a prominent part of one of Christianity's Easter celebrations of rebirth & renewal? One theory, according to Time, is that the symbol of the rabbit stems from the ancient pagan tradition on which many Easter traditions are based — the festival of Eostre, which honored the goddess of fertility & spring. The goddess's animal symbol was a rabbit, which have long traditionally stood for fertility due to their high reproduction rates.
Little Bertha with a Hare Friedrich von Amerling (Austro-Hungarian
The Easter Bunny made its way to colonial America. History.com reports that it was first introduced in the 1700s by German immigrants to Pennsylvania, who reportedly brought over their tradition of an egg-laying hare named "Osterhase" or "Oschter Haws" from Europe. Legend has it, the rabbit would lay colorful eggs as gifts to children who were good, so kids would make nests in which the bunny could leave his eggs & even sometimes set out carrots in case the hare got hungry.
Breton Girl with Rabbit James Collinson (British 1825 - 1881)
According to History.com, the tradition of decorating eggs for Easter may date back to the 13th century, when eggs were traditionally considered a forbidden food during the Lent season. That's why people decorated them as the fasting period came to an end, to make eating them an even more celebratory way to feast on Easter Sunday.
The White Rabbit John Roddam Spencer Stanhope (English 1829 - 1908)
A rabbit does not bring Easter eggs in some countries outside of the U.S. In Australia, for example, the spring holiday is greeted with the Easter Bilby, an endangered rabbit-like marsupial native to that country. Other gift-bearing animals include the Easter Cuckoo in Switzerland &, in some parts of Germany, the Easter Fox or the Easter Rooster!
Feeding the RabbitysFelix Schlesinger (German 1833 - 1910)
The Smithsonian Magazine tells us that, "In European traditions, the Easter bunny is known as the Easter hare. The symbolism of the hare has had many tantalizing ritual & religious roles down through the years.
"Hares were given ritual burials alongside humans during the Neolithic age in Europe. Archaeologists have interpreted this as a religious ritual, with hares representing rebirth.
Feeding the Rabbits Emile Munier (French 1840 - 1895
"Over a thousand years later, during the Iron Age, ritual burials for hares were common, & in 51 B.C.E., Julius Caesar mentioned that in Britain, hares were not eaten due to their religious significance...
Feeding the BunniesCharles Edward Wilson (English 1854 - 1941)
"Accounts from the 1600s in Germany describe children hunting for Easter eggs hidden by the Easter hare, much as in the United States today.
Feeding the Rabbits Paul Hoecker (German 1854 - 1910)
"Written accounts from England around the same time also mention the Easter hare, particularly in terms of traditional Easter hare hunts & the eating of hare meat at Easter...
Louisav & Ther Rabbit Charles Edward Wilson (British 1854 - 1941)
"In 1835, the folklorist Jacob Grimm, one of the famous team of the fairy tale Brothers Grimm, argued that the Easter hare was connected to a goddess he imagined would have been called Ostara in ancient German. He derived this name from the Anglo-Saxon goddess Eostre, who Bede, an early medieval monk considered to be the father of English history, mentioned in 731 C.E.
Feeding the Rabbits Laura Muntz Lyall (Canadian 1860 - 1930)
"Bede noted that in eighth-century England, the month of April was called Eosturmonath, or Eostre Month, after the goddess Eostre. He wrote that a pagan festival of spring in the name of the goddess had become assimilated into the Christian celebration of the resurrection of Christ...
A Peek in the Basket George Sheridan Knowles (British 1863 - 1931)
"Recent archaeological research appears to confirm the worship of Eostre in parts of England & Germany, with the hare as her main symbol. The Easter bunny therefore seems to recall these pre-Christian celebrations of spring, heralded by the vernal equinox & personified by the goddess Eostre."
See:
Time Magazine
Historty.com
Good Housekeeping Magazine
The Smithsonian Magazine
It's All About Animals by Christa.Zaat