Today is palm Sunday and just in my random mind, I wondered if Jesus turned the water at the wedding party into a particular kind of wine. I’m sure it was kosher, but was it Manischewitz?
As many of you know, Easter as the time of the crucifixion is a little bit of a charade that happened due to Roman Empire politics. The people of the Roman Empire had many gods, as you know, and from time before there were records, pre-history in other words, people all over the world had celebrated Spring with big parties. Christmas took the place of winter soltice celebrations, etc., etc. So, in order to smooth the transition of Rome from a pantheist state to a monotheist state, there had to be parties to substitute or the hoi poloi wouldn’t have been willing to make the change. Easter moves, in part, to get the calendar and the moon and the orbit of the planet around the sun to all align with the end of winter and the start of spring. It’s so everyone can know when it’s time to plant. Of course, then you have to throw in Passover, the Jewish holiday that goes back to the enslavement in Egypt and the legends of Moses the liberator and law-giver.
So-called Easter Eggs are, of course, pagan symbols of the fertility they wanted the families and herds to enjoy during the spring and rabbits are all about sex and having many babies as well. You didn’t think that stuff was christian, did you? Yeah, like fir trees have anything to do with the birth of Christ.
Well, anyway, Blogblah’s random mind still spinning, I think Jesus was a lot less priggish than a lot of modern Christians. It seems to me that Jesus liked a good party and was willing to do what it took to make parties fun. He raised Lazarus from the dead for a party and turned water into wine for another party and by all accounts his favorite thing was big meals with lots of friends to share, as in the Last Supper. Everybody was all bummed out and he turned it into a bonding ceremony, telling them not to worry because they would never be parted in the important ways.
Oh, and just by the way, if you’re planning to have ham on Easter, please realize that it’s a vestigial bit of anti-Semitism based on the notion that the Jews killed Jesus and should pay for murdering the divine for the rest of eternity. Humbug!, but if that’s what you want, you Nazi tools, go right ahead with your plans.
Under pagan rules, unless I’m mistaken, every woman but the Vestal Virgins could have sex with whomever they pleased scott free. This seems like a much better celebration than looking for colored eggs, but maybe that’s just me.

SPEAKING OF SPRING CELEBRATIONS

I had a terrific time on First Friday on Paseo gallery walk. Some friends drove down from Stillwater for their first taste of the monthly event and we looked at art and ate together and had a fine time. The JRB Gallery had the best art, IMHO, but it seemed to me that the Women of the West showing had the best food. As some of you know, I’ve been doing the hibernating bear thing lately, mostly staying at home and out of the mainstream of Oklahoma City life. I’m glad I got out to see my Stillwater friends, but as one of them noted, “you know everybody, don’t you?”. It’s gratifying to walk down the Paseo and see many people happy to see you, literally being greeted by open arms. It had the odd effect of boosting my self esteem and making me feel very humble at the same time. Oklahoma City is surely, as Oz’s painting would have it, the world’s biggest small town. Yes, this means jealousy and gossip and all kinds of interpersonal drama, especially where artistic types are concerned. But it also means that there is the friendliness of a small town. You see faces you recognize and you know something about their history and their family and they yours. There are connections throughout the town, people who went to high school together still friends and still learning and working together. There’s something to be said for living in a city with all the things a city can offer in the way of fine art and fine music and a variety of restaurants, etc., but also having a community. Going back to the Murrah Building bombing in 1995, that community made this city stand out among all the urban areas in the country as a community of people that care about each other. Very few people didn’t know someone directly affected by the bombing and we all worked together reasonably well. I’m sometimes asked why I’ve never left this town for greener pastures elsewhere. That’s why. Where could I move that I could have what I have here? Friends, connections to the very ground and from Guthrie to Norman, Shawnee to El Reno, and all the 640 square miles in between. I know the best places the shop, eat and get that widget and all without going to some big box or chain eatery. And, of course, we have 250 sunny days a year, an important factor for a driver of a convertible. Yesterday, top down, today and Monday, not so much.

SPORTS?

I’m told there was basketball being played this weekend and that another game is set for Monday. At least that’ll be the last of it. I wonder, though, after hearing all the hype about the Big East and how they dominated the brackets and blah blah blah, why is it that the Monday game will be Big 10 and ACC? I’m starting to get the idea that sports pundits are just as awful as political pundits and that their predictions are just as whacked.

POST SCRIPT

I found it nearly impossible to be a misanthrope when presented with pictures of my grandchildren with their faces painted and the last of that fantasy of mine is dispelled when I realize that I have about a zillion friends, not a one of whom I hate. In fact, I even like some of the ones I don’t care to be around, which sounds strange, but it’s true.

POST POST SCRIPT

I’m thinking I’ll be out of town Easter weekend. Anyone up for feeding a talkative cat for a couple of days?

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