Oh, gee, Del, I am way behind on posts!! I think I need to give up my job or something--it is getting in the way of all the fun I want to have here. Anyway, I noticed all the public television stations are having their pledge seasons right now, and they are all trying to raise money by putting on what they think will get large audiences. We have the evenings of Irish dance also--Michael Flatley or whoever he is in "Riverdance", followed by himself (as the Irish would say) in his own "Lord of the Dance". I think they are pretty boring. Not that many people know that Irish dance used to be wonderful pagan dancing, and everyone MOVED their upper bodies, and there were wonderful dances with fiddlers and everyone turning out, right at the corners where the country roads met, a few centuries ago before the veneer of Catholicism and threats by the priests on Sundays destroyed the sensuality of the dance. Actually, the fact that some of the upper body movements are back in these productions is a hopeful sign.
Even in the Bay Area, when "The Burning Times" is shown, angry people--mostly male--call in and say they are cancelling their PBS memberships and will never watch again. It had been awhile since I saw this documentary, and had forgotten the numbers and the time period involved--as many as nine million women tortured and burned, over three hundred years in Europe.
In fact, the phrase "the third degree" comes from a reference to these times. Women were tortured sequentially, with devices like thumb screws and iron maidens, in order to get them to admit to "witchcraft", which was of course simply the female power that has always intimidated some men, the worship of the natural world, and knowledge of midwifery, abortion, contraception and natural medicines. Many women could withstand the first two rounds of torture, but during the third one almost no one could withstand the pain, and many confessed. Of course, they were simply pagans.
Another thing I forgot is that when the women went to court before the judges, they were stripped, the hair on their heads and their pubic hair was shaven because hair was thought to have power, and they were forced to enter the room facing backwards, so they could not give the evil eye or something. Very humiliating, but not quite as bad as the next step, being burned alive. If I buy the trilogy that this is part of, I will send it to you so you can see it, Del. It is very interesting.
Speaking of television, since you don't watch many movies, did you ever see the documentary on the Discovery channel about the snow monkeys of Japan? There is a segment in it where a female has given birth to a stillborn baby monkey, and she is first dragging its limp body over the rocks, holding it by its arm--she seems to be aware that it is dead, and knows she cannot hurt it at this point. She is running along in an agitated way. Then she finds a rock to sit on, and stays there for a very long time, with the dead baby in front of her, and she appears to be going though grief. The baby's body is curled up in front of her, she is cuddling it, rubbing its little head and ear over and over again, looking at it and then and staring out into space. This is one of the saddest things I have ever seen about animals--everyone in my family had tears in their eyes watching it. This is an endangered species, not many of them left, and it makes me really angry when I think how advanced and intelligent and sensitive these animals are. Anyway, I bet you can see it even in the Bible Belt!!! |
