~1846~
Peter once saw two ags of nuts lying in a garden-house. “This is lucky,” thought he to himself; and determined to steal them. As it was now daylight, when such tricks are not so easily played, he waited till night, the time for evil deeds; though wicked people forget that the eye of God is on them in the dark as well as in the light. Continue reading
by John Bulwer
~1644~
Held in Gallaudet University Library’s Deaf Collections and Archives, this tome contains the fruit of Dr. John Bulwer’s studies of human gesture. Chirologia, or The Naturall Language of the Hand, is the precursor to sign language and Continue reading
In psychology, ritual is considered the celebration of a myth, which is achieved through a carefully constructed enactment of the myth. Because ritual is the externalization of something internal, myth has a more archetypal than logical structure to it. Rituals reveal values at their most fundamental level. Man expresses in ritual what moves him most. Therefore: The symbol always originates on the inside and is projected outward.
~1874~
A rustic, preparing to devour an apple, was addressed by a brace of crafty and covetous birds:
“Nice apple that,” said one, critically examining it. “I don’t wish to disparage it — wouldn’t say a word against that vegetable for all the world. But I never can look upon an apple of that variety without thinking of my poisoned nestling! Ah! so plump, and rosy, and — rotten!”
“Just so,” said the other. “And you remember my good father, who perished in that orchard. Strange that so fair a skin should cover so vile a heart!”
Just then another fowl came flying up.
This inconspicuous looking text was the impetus behind a rash of suicides in the late 18th century. Written by Goethe, this epistolary novel followed the sorrows of a young man whose true love is betrothed to another. The book accounts the man’s decent into depression and ultimately suicide.
~ From Aesop’s Fables, Robinson edition, 1895~
A Crow, ready to die with thirst, flew with joy to a Pitcher, which he saw at a distance. But when he came up to it, he found the water so low that with all his stooping and straining he was unable to reach it. Thereupon he tried to break the Pitcher; then to overturn it; but his strength was not sufficient to do either. At last, seeing some small pebbles lie near the place, he cast them one by one into the Pitcher; and thus, by degrees, raised the water up to the very brim, and quenched his thirst.”
“Important personages in olden times in this country were usually embalmed. The poor, on the contrary, were rarely furnished even with a decent coffin, but were carried to the grave in a hired one, which, in villages, often did duty for many successive years. Once the brief service was said, the pauper’s body, in its winding-sheet, was placed reverently enough in the earth, and covered up- fact which doubtless accounts for the numerous village legends of ghosts wandering about in winding-sheets.”
Another curious custom, which is now obsolete, was to put cloves, spikenard, fine herbs, and twigs of various aromatic shrubs into the coffin, in memory of the embalming of our Lord.”
The funeral of a Pope is attended by many curious ceremonies, not the least remarkable of which is, that so soon as His Holiness’ death is thoroughly assured, the eldest Cardinal goes up to the body, and strikes it three times gently on the breast, saying in Latin, as he does so, ‘The Holy Father has passed away.'”
Perhaps the strangest funeral recorded in modern history was that of the translation of the remains of Voltaire, popularly known as his ‘apotheosis…’
In Voltaire’s lifetime it was boasted that he had buried the priests and the Christian religion, but now the priests were going to bury him, having very little of Christian religion left amongst them.”
The following are the accepted reasons for the selection of various colours for mourning in different parts of the world: –
Black expresses the privation of light and joy, the midnight gloom of sorrow for the loss sustained. It is the prevailing colour of mourning in Europe, and it was also the colour selected in ancient Greece and in the Roman Empire.
Black and white striped expresses sorrow and hope, and is the mourning of the South Sea Islanders.
Greyish brown – the colour of the earth, to which the dead return. It is the colour of mourning in Ethiopia and Abyssinia.
Pale brown – the colour of withered leaves – is the mourning of Persia.
Sky-blue expresses the assured hope thta the deceased is gone to heaven, and is the colour of mourning in Syria, Cappadocia, and Armenia.
Deep-blue in Bokhara is the colour of mourning; whilst the Romans in the days of the Republic also wore very dark blue for mourning.
Purple and violet – to express royalty, ‘Kings and priests of God.’ It is the colour of mourning of Cardinals and of the Kings of France. The colour of mourning in Turkey is violet.
White – emblem of ‘white-handed hope.’ The colour of mourning in China. The ladies of ancient Rome and Sparta sometimes wore white mourning, which was also the colour for mourning in Spain until 1498. In England it is still customary, in several of the provinces, to wear white silk hat-bands for the unmarried.
Yellow – the scar and yellow leaf. The colour of mourning in Egypt and Burmah. In Brittany widos’ caps among the peasants are yellow. Anne Bolyn wore yellow mourning for Catherine of Arragon, but as a sign of joy.
Scarlet is also a mourning colour, and was occasionally worn by the French Kings, notably so by Louis XI.”
Rat & Raven 