View allAll Photos Tagged TRANSMUTATION

---- Angels & Demons (devil tries to tempt Saint Lucia, August 2018, Savoca - Sicily) ----

 

---- Angeli & Demoni (il demonio tenta Santa Lucia, agosto 2018, Savoca - Sicilia) ----

 

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click here - clicca qui

  

the slideshow

  

Qi Bo's photos on Fluidr

  

Qi Bo's photos on Flickriver

  

Qi Bo's photos on FlickeFlu

  

Qi Bo's photos on PICSSR

 

Qi Bo's photos on Flickr Hive Mind

  

www.worldphoto.org/sony-world-photography-awards/winners-...

  

www.fotografidigitali.it/gallery/2726/opere-italiane-segn...

  

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this is a photographic narration that speaks of the eternal struggle that takes place between good and evil, which speaks of a dark period of history, speaks of the violence suffered by women but also by those who belonged to the poorest social classes, historical facts that have been handed down to us in the form of a story and associated-transmuted in the martyrdom of Saint Lucia, this is what happens in the town of Savoca (Sicily). This is a short and long report, I did in Savoca on August 2018 about the living representation of the martyrdom of Saint Lucia (patron saint of the city of Savoca); the cult of the young Saint of Syracuse seems to date back to the fifteenth century, under the influence of Spanish traditions. The commemoration of the history of St. Lucia occurs in two consecutive days, Saturday and Sunday: here I try to tell some times of the day on Sunday, a day during which the festival is held at the height of her beauty. And 'This is a historical event which speaks of Demons and Angels: Saint Lucy refused to marry a rich and powerful suitor (Lucy declared She was married in Christ), which reported the Christian faith of Lucia to prefect Pascasio that ordered his Praetorian Guard to drag Lucia with a rope to a place of prostitution; legend has it that the Holy became heavy, they then tried to drag it with the help of oxen, but it was impossible to move it from where he stood; failing in this, it was then given the order to cavarle eyes, but the young martyr (native of Syracuse) her eyes reappeared.

In the village of Savoca a young girl, affectionately called the "Lucy" is carried on the shoulder of a porter along the streets of the country (sitting on a pillow tied on the shoulder of a man, but in fact men are two); the young Saint remains impassive in the face of demonic temptations: the Devil, called in Sicilian dialect "u Diavulazzu, shake, shakes, turns his pitchfork in an attempt to "distract" the Saint.

The first day of this representation, on Saturday, in an old church in Savoca, the two girls who impersonate the Lucia, of the current year and the previous year, meet with the delivery of palm; the traditional event which we witness on Saturday, has all the appearance of an important rehearsal for the next day, on Sunday when the traditional festival will take place in all its beauty.

Sunday: on top of the procession there are the "Jews" (the emissaries of the prefect Pascasio) along with some Angels, is located immediately after the wagon drawn by two cows from which branches off a rope that will arrive to Saint Lucia (a girl of six years); between her and the cows there are Roman soldiers, who make their way through the crowd squirming like crazy; to hold the rope there are also male figures; the job of Devil (his mask is made of wood, whose invoice is dated, it seems, of the 400') is to distract the little Saint with the help of a long stick equipped of curved points, called "u 'croccu": Lucia hardly is deceived by the promises of the evil one, she will not abandon the state of her property concentration, aided in this by staring, almost in a trance, a small palm branch in silver , she brings devoutly in her hands.It's very important to mention the Baron Baldassarre (nicknamed Baron Altadonna), who applied without any hesitation the practice of Jus de seigneur: using this law the Baron obliged the young brides to spend the wedding night in his alcove. It 'very possible that in the representation of Saint Lucia of Savoca the character of the Devil tempting young Santa with his pitchfork, in reality is nothing but himself, Baron Altadonna, so allegorically described in this traditional Sicilian feast: the figure of the Devil if one takes into account what historians relate, does not belong more to the legend, but sadly to actual event happened. Post scriptum: the photographs, realized both on Saturday and Sunday, were organized and posted without taking into account the temporal chronology of what happened during the two days of the event; two photos of the mummy of Baron Altadonna have been included, which is located in the crypt of the Capuchin Fathers of Savoca; the portraits of two "Lucie" from previous editions, grandfather and great-grandfather of the "DIAVOLI" dynasty were included; the "silver palm" was delivered by Lucia of 2016 (Valentina), to the current Lucia (Miriana), in 2017 the event was not performed.

Ezio Famà.

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questa è una narrazione fotografica che parla dell'eterna lotta che avviene tra il bene ed il male, che parla di un periodo buio della storia, che parla delle violenze subite dalle donne ma anche da coloro che appartenevano alle classi sociali più povere, fatti storici che sono stati tramandati fino a noi in forma di racconto ed associati-trasmutati nel martirio di Santa Lucia, questo è quanto accade nel paese di Savoca (Sicilia). Questo è un report corto e lungo, che ho realizzato in quel di Savoca lo scorso mese di Agosto 2018, su quella che è la rappresentazione vivente del martirio di Santa Lucia (Santa patrona della città di Savoca); il culto della giovane Santa di Siracusa sembra risalire al XV secolo, sotto l'influenza delle tradizioni spagnole. La rievocazione vivente della storia di S.Lucia avviene in due giornate consecutive, il sabato e la domenica: qui tento di raccontare alcuni momenti della giornata della domenica, giorno durante il quale la festa si svolge nel pieno della sua bellezza. E' questa una rievocazione storica che parla di Demoni ed Angeli: la storia rievoca di quando la Santa, si rifiutò di andare in sposa ad un suo ricco e potente pretendente (essendosi dichiarata Cristiana e sposa in Cristo), il quale per vendetta riferì della fede Cristiana di Lucia al prefetto Pascasio; costui diede ordine ai suoi pretoriani di trascinare Lucia con una corda fino ad un lupanare, un luogo di prostituzione; la leggenda narra che la Santa divenne pesantissima, si tentò allora di trascinarla con l'ausilio dei buoi, ma fu impossibile smuoverla da dove si trovava; non riuscendo in ciò, fu allora dato l'ordine di cavarle gli occhi, ma alla giovane martire (nativa di Siracusa) gli occhi le rispuntarono. Nel paese di Savoca una giovane ragazza, chiamata con affetto "la Lucia" viene portata in spalla lungo le vie del paese (seduta su di un cuscino legato sulla spalla di un uomo; in realtà gli uomini portatori sono due, dandosi il cambio l'un l'altro); la giovane Santa rimane impassibile di fronte alle tentazioni demoniache: il Diavolo, chiamato in dialetto siciliano "u Diavulazzu, agita, scuote, fa ruotare il suo forcone nel tentativo di "distrarre" la Santa ma, vani saranno i suoi tentativi. Il primo giorno di questa rappresentazione, il sabato, in una vecchia chiesa di Savoca, le due bambine che impersonano la Lucia, dell'anno in corso e dell'anno precedente, si incontrano con la consegna della palma da una bimba all'altra; l'evento tradizionale al quale si assiste il sabato, ha tutto l'aspetto di una importante prova generale per il giorno dopo, quando la domenica la festa tradizionale avverrà in tutta la sua bellezza.La domenica: in cima alla processione ci sono i "Giudei" (gli emissari del prefetto Pascasio) insieme ad alcuni Angeli, subito dopo si trova il carro tirato da due giumente dalle quali si diparte una corda che giungerà fino a cingere il fianco della bimba che impersona Santa Lucia (una bambina di sei anni); tra lei e le giumente ci sono i soldati Romani, che si fanno largo tra la folla dimenandosi a più non posso; a tenere la corda ci sono anche delle figure maschili che evitano che gli strattonamenti dei soldati romani possano giungere fino alla Santa (ricordiamolo, che è legata a quella corda); davanti alla Santa piroetta il diavolo tentatore, u' Diavulazzu (la maschera è in legno, la cui fattura è datata, sembra, del 400'), il cui compito è quello di distrarre la piccola Santa con l'aiuto di un lungo bastone dotato di punte ricurve, chiamto dialettalmente "u' croccu": Lucia difficilmente si lascerà ingannare dalle promesse del Maligno, non abbandonerà quel suo stato di immobile concentrazione, aiutata in ciò dal fissare, quasi in stato di trance, un piccolo ramo di palma in argento, che lei strige devotamente tra le sue mani. E’ fondamentale menzionare tra i vari personaggi storici della tradizione, il barone Baldassarre, vissuto in Savoca in epoca medioevale, soprannominato barone Altadonna, che applicava senza remora alcuna la pratica della Jus primae noctis: avvalendosi di questa legge il barone obbligava le giovani spose a trascorrere la prima notte di nozze nella sua alcova. E’ fortemente ipotizzabile che nella rappresentazione di Santa Lucia di Savoca il personaggio del Diavolo che tenta la giovane Santa col suo forcone, in realtà non sia altro che egli stesso, il barone Altadonna, così allegoricamente descritto nella festa tradizionale siciliana: la figura del Diavolo, se si tiene conto di quanto narrano gli storici, non apparterrebbe più alla leggenda, ma a questo tristo personaggio realmente vissuto, che usava quotidianamente la moneta della prepotenza. Post scriptum: le fotografie, realizzate sia il sabato che la domenica, sono state organizzate e postate senza tenere conto della cronologia temporale di quanto avvenuto nei due giorni della manifestazione; sono state inserite due foto della mummia del barone Altadonna, che si trova nella cripta dei Padri Cappuccini di Savoca; sono stati inseriti i ritratti di due "Lucie" delle precedenti edizioni, del nonno e del bisnonno della dinastia dei "DIAVOLI"; la "palma d'argento" è stata consegnata dalla Lucia del 2016 (Valentina), alla attuale Lucia (Miriana); nel 2017 la manifestazione non è stata eseguita.

Ezio Famà.

   

---- Angels & Demons (devil tries to tempt Saint Lucia, August 2018, Savoca - Sicily) ----

 

---- Angeli & Demoni (il demonio tenta Santa Lucia, agosto 2018, Savoca - Sicilia) ----

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------

  

click here - clicca qui

  

the slideshow

  

Qi Bo's photos on Fluidr

  

Qi Bo's photos on Flickriver

  

Qi Bo's photos on FlickeFlu

  

Qi Bo's photos on PICSSR

 

Qi Bo's photos on Flickr Hive Mind

  

www.worldphoto.org/sony-world-photography-awards/winners-...

  

www.fotografidigitali.it/gallery/2726/opere-italiane-segn...

  

-------------------------------------------------------------------

  

this is a photographic narration that speaks of the eternal struggle that takes place between good and evil, which speaks of a dark period of history, speaks of the violence suffered by women but also by those who belonged to the poorest social classes, historical facts that have been handed down to us in the form of a story and associated-transmuted in the martyrdom of Saint Lucia, this is what happens in the town of Savoca (Sicily). This is a short and long report, I did in Savoca on August 2018 about the living representation of the martyrdom of Saint Lucia (patron saint of the city of Savoca); the cult of the young Saint of Syracuse seems to date back to the fifteenth century, under the influence of Spanish traditions. The commemoration of the history of St. Lucia occurs in two consecutive days, Saturday and Sunday: here I try to tell some times of the day on Sunday, a day during which the festival is held at the height of her beauty. And 'This is a historical event which speaks of Demons and Angels: Saint Lucy refused to marry a rich and powerful suitor (Lucy declared She was married in Christ), which reported the Christian faith of Lucia to prefect Pascasio that ordered his Praetorian Guard to drag Lucia with a rope to a place of prostitution; legend has it that the Holy became heavy, they then tried to drag it with the help of oxen, but it was impossible to move it from where he stood; failing in this, it was then given the order to cavarle eyes, but the young martyr (native of Syracuse) her eyes reappeared.

In the village of Savoca a young girl, affectionately called the "Lucy" is carried on the shoulder of a porter along the streets of the country (sitting on a pillow tied on the shoulder of a man, but in fact men are two); the young Saint remains impassive in the face of demonic temptations: the Devil, called in Sicilian dialect "u Diavulazzu, shake, shakes, turns his pitchfork in an attempt to "distract" the Saint.

The first day of this representation, on Saturday, in an old church in Savoca, the two girls who impersonate the Lucia, of the current year and the previous year, meet with the delivery of palm; the traditional event which we witness on Saturday, has all the appearance of an important rehearsal for the next day, on Sunday when the traditional festival will take place in all its beauty.

Sunday: on top of the procession there are the "Jews" (the emissaries of the prefect Pascasio) along with some Angels, is located immediately after the wagon drawn by two cows from which branches off a rope that will arrive to Saint Lucia (a girl of six years); between her and the cows there are Roman soldiers, who make their way through the crowd squirming like crazy; to hold the rope there are also male figures; the job of Devil (his mask is made of wood, whose invoice is dated, it seems, of the 400') is to distract the little Saint with the help of a long stick equipped of curved points, called "u 'croccu": Lucia hardly is deceived by the promises of the evil one, she will not abandon the state of her property concentration, aided in this by staring, almost in a trance, a small palm branch in silver , she brings devoutly in her hands.

It's very important to mention the Baron Baldassarre (nicknamed Baron Altadonna), who applied without any hesitation the practice of Jus de seigneur: using this law the Baron obliged the young brides to spend the wedding night in his alcove. It 'very possible that in the representation of Saint Lucia of Savoca the character of the Devil tempting young Santa with his pitchfork, in reality is nothing but himself, Baron Altadonna, so allegorically described in this traditional Sicilian feast: the figure of the Devil if one takes into account what historians relate, does not belong more to the legend, but sadly to actual event happened. Post scriptum: the photographs, realized both on Saturday and Sunday, were organized and posted without taking into account the temporal chronology of what happened during the two days of the event; two photos of the mummy of Baron Altadonna have been included, which is located in the crypt of the Capuchin Fathers of Savoca; the portraits of two "Lucie" from previous editions, grandfather and great-grandfather of the "DIAVOLI" dynasty were included; the "silver palm" was delivered by Lucia of 2016 (Valentina), to the current Lucia (Miriana), in 2017 the event was not performed.

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questa è una narrazione fotografica che parla dell'eterna lotta che avviene tra il bene ed il male, che parla di un periodo buio della storia, che parla delle violenze subite dalle donne ma anche da coloro che appartenevano alle classi sociali più povere, fatti storici che sono stati tramandati fino a noi in forma di racconto ed associati-trasmutati nel martirio di Santa Lucia, questo è quanto accade nel paese di Savoca (Sicilia). Questo è un report corto e lungo, che ho realizzato in quel di Savoca lo scorso mese di Agosto 2018, su quella che è la rappresentazione vivente del martirio di Santa Lucia (Santa patrona della città di Savoca); il culto della giovane Santa di Siracusa sembra risalire al XV secolo, sotto l'influenza delle tradizioni spagnole. La rievocazione vivente della storia di S.Lucia avviene in due giornate consecutive, il sabato e la domenica: qui tento di raccontare alcuni momenti della giornata della domenica, giorno durante il quale la festa si svolge nel pieno della sua bellezza. E' questa una rievocazione storica che parla di Demoni ed Angeli: la storia rievoca di quando la Santa, si rifiutò di andare in sposa ad un suo ricco e potente pretendente (essendosi dichiarata Cristiana e sposa in Cristo), il quale per vendetta riferì della fede Cristiana di Lucia al prefetto Pascasio; costui diede ordine ai suoi pretoriani di trascinare Lucia con una corda fino ad un lupanare, un luogo di prostituzione; la leggenda narra che la Santa divenne pesantissima, si tentò allora di trascinarla con l'ausilio dei buoi, ma fu impossibile smuoverla da dove si trovava; non riuscendo in ciò, fu allora dato l'ordine di cavarle gli occhi, ma alla giovane martire (nativa di Siracusa) gli occhi le rispuntarono. Nel paese di Savoca una giovane ragazza, chiamata con affetto "la Lucia" viene portata in spalla lungo le vie del paese (seduta su di un cuscino legato sulla spalla di un uomo; in realtà gli uomini portatori sono due, dandosi il cambio l'un l'altro); la giovane Santa rimane impassibile di fronte alle tentazioni demoniache: il Diavolo, chiamato in dialetto siciliano "u Diavulazzu, agita, scuote, fa ruotare il suo forcone nel tentativo di "distrarre" la Santa ma, vani saranno i suoi tentativi. Il primo giorno di questa rappresentazione, il sabato, in una vecchia chiesa di Savoca, le due bambine che impersonano la Lucia, dell'anno in corso e dell'anno precedente, si incontrano con la consegna della palma da una bimba all'altra; l'evento tradizionale al quale si assiste il sabato, ha tutto l'aspetto di una importante prova generale per il giorno dopo, quando la domenica la festa tradizionale avverrà in tutta la sua bellezza.La domenica: in cima alla processione ci sono i "Giudei" (gli emissari del prefetto Pascasio) insieme ad alcuni Angeli, subito dopo si trova il carro tirato da due giumente dalle quali si diparte una corda che giungerà fino a cingere il fianco della bimba che impersona Santa Lucia (una bambina di sei anni); tra lei e le giumente ci sono i soldati Romani, che si fanno largo tra la folla dimenandosi a più non posso; a tenere la corda ci sono anche delle figure maschili che evitano che gli strattonamenti dei soldati romani possano giungere fino alla Santa (ricordiamolo, che è legata a quella corda); davanti alla Santa piroetta il diavolo tentatore, u' Diavulazzu (la maschera è in legno, la cui fattura è datata, sembra, del 400'), il cui compito è quello di distrarre la piccola Santa con l'aiuto di un lungo bastone dotato di punte ricurve, chiamto dialettalmente "u' croccu": Lucia difficilmente si lascerà ingannare dalle promesse del Maligno, non abbandonerà quel suo stato di immobile concentrazione, aiutata in ciò dal fissare, quasi in stato di trance, un piccolo ramo di palma in argento, che lei strige devotamente tra le sue mani. E’ fondamentale menzionare tra i vari personaggi storici della tradizione, il barone Baldassarre, vissuto in Savoca in epoca medioevale, soprannominato barone Altadonna, che applicava senza remora alcuna la pratica della Jus primae noctis: avvalendosi di questa legge il barone obbligava le giovani spose a trascorrere la prima notte di nozze nella sua alcova. E’ fortemente ipotizzabile che nella rappresentazione di Santa Lucia di Savoca il personaggio del Diavolo che tenta la giovane Santa col suo forcone, in realtà non sia altro che egli stesso, il barone Altadonna, così allegoricamente descritto nella festa tradizionale siciliana: la figura del Diavolo, se si tiene conto di quanto narrano gli storici, non apparterrebbe più alla leggenda, ma a questo tristo personaggio realmente vissuto, che usava quotidianamente la moneta della prepotenza. Post scriptum: le fotografie, realizzate sia il sabato che la domenica, sono state organizzate e postate senza tenere conto della cronologia temporale di quanto avvenuto nei due giorni della manifestazione; sono state inserite due foto della mummia del barone Altadonna, che si trova nella cripta dei Padri Cappuccini di Savoca; sono stati inseriti i ritratti di due "Lucie" delle precedenti edizioni, del nonno e del bisnonno della dinastia dei "DIAVOLI"; la "palma d'argento" è stata consegnata dalla Lucia del 2016 (Valentina), alla attuale Lucia (Miriana); nel 2017 la manifestazione non è stata eseguita.

   

We are your ancient family. We come from the star system The Pleiades. We know ourselves as The Pleiadians and we, eons ago, millions of years ago, were your relatives.

 

When your Earth sphere, Terra, was being formed, there were many who expressed an interest to be pioneers and to go to a new area to learn to experience, to formulate, to create. That was the opportunity and many of our dearly beloved Pleiadians signed on.

 

The Pleiadian culture is ancient. [It] was seeded from another universe, a universe of love, a universe that moved back to All That Is. The Pleiadians seeded the Pleiadian star system within this universe before the Earth’s sphere transfer became available. We formed a tremendous society. We operate with love. We operate with ideas and ideals that you are totally unfamiliar with.

 

Our technology in your terms would be somewhat similar. We are, in your terms, computerized. We like that term because it represents an overall picture of our abilities. The picture actually only represents one per cent of what we are capable of doing. However, from your point of view, think of us as a computerized society. We are collective energy. We are not of your dimension.

 

The star system of the Pleiades has seven stars, six of which we believe, you may see from the naked eye. There are many planets and we are millions upon millions of miles from your system though we have transportation that can bring us here very quickly. We have many modes of transportation.

 

Mostly we come in starships. Often mother ships. The mother ships are gigantic, one of your miles, housing thousands. [They are] elongated, one of our fashions, [and] would take, in your terms, days to transport itself here. We have disc ships which can be here quickly, within portions of your day.

 

We have difficulty at times translating your time system, your hours, your minutes, into what is relative to our system, perhaps less than one quarter of your day. We are an advanced civilization. Our technology is ancient because it is coming from another universe that has evolved back to First Cause.

 

We chose not to evolve back to First Cause but to go on out of love, to assist the growth of this universe. We were allowed to bring that knowing with us because our technological development is totally in line with the First Cause and we would never operate in any fashion that did not support the love and development of humanity of all creatures in all of this universe. So we were allowed to be here. We were welcomed.

 

We are the ambassadors, in this star area, this universe, from another universe. We are working with many, not just with Terra, the Earth. We are working in other solar systems, with other planetary creatures, with other creations.

 

This universe is a vast and new experiment. Different options, we like that word, are being attempted here. Free will reigns in this universe. On Terra you think you have free will but you do not really understand what free will is. Free will encompasses the complete idea that whatever it is that you are wanting you may have. And your sole point in choosing to partake in the planetary system within this universe that has free will was so that you may do whatever it is that you wish.

 

Terra was formed with specific intents in mind. It was formed to be a center for this solar system, a trade center, a launching pad for ideas. Much like, as different portions of your globe have developed, and different port cities, or areas came into fashion and represented trends, cultural advancements, exchanges of ideas at different points in time, and then fell by the wayside.

 

The ideal of Terra’s role would be the jewel within the universe for its beauty physically to the eye, and this physical beauty would be beheld not just in one dimension but in many dimensions. That it would be a center of tremendous beauty, of tremendous exchange, of freedom, of ideas and beauty and love and peoples, humanities, creatures from all of this universe and star system ideally would have come here and exchanged what it is they had, as goods would be exchanged in the marketplace, with others.

 

Now, as you know, that has not taken place. Fortunately that is changing. Unfortunately, eons in your past, events occurred that were not anticipated, for when one deals with free will one never knows. There are no expectations with free will, just intentions and hopes. And even intentions sometimes may be transmuted.

 

Now, that was the original intention. Then eons ago, millions of years ago, there was a disruptive force that became quite pronounced in this area of creation, experimenting as it would be, with another form of being. This experimenting was not evil, it was just another point of view. We speak in very neutral terms so as not to lay blame or prejudice on anyone.

 

This disruptive force effected Terra greatly. It threw the cosmic forces, the hierarchies into vast confusion. And it has been all these eons, these millions of years that this has been attempted to be righted.

 

Now, through the last thousands of years we have been assisting the higher spiritual forces, those from the First Cause. Our assistance we freely gave because original family members came to this experiment of Terra and then when those disruptive energies became prevalent and changed the intent of what Terra would be we lost contact with our family members. It was very sad for us, for we had never anticipated this loss.

 

Being that we as Pleiadians are highly evolved and of great knowing and great connectedness with the First Cause, we knew that this was a temporary loss of family members, though temporary in our terms was millions of years. And though the initial shock was felt literally throughout the universe and universes, we formulated a plan and knew that there would be a time when we would be reunited.

 

We are your family members who lost contact with you eons ago. We have come to retrieve you. We have come to reestablish contact, to assist you, so that you can now reunite with us, liberate yourselves and choose to come back to the Pleiades or to stay here on Terra and raise the vibration and allow Terra to become what it was originally planned to become, the international exchange, intergalactic international trade exchange center for the universe.

 

Now, as you may well know, that upon looking at your planet you can shake your head and say, goodness, we have ventured far from our original goal. And, indeed, that is true, you have. However, at this time events are manifesting on your planet that are about to change all of that.

 

It was known eons ago that there would be a point where the energies would be ripe for contact, for adjustments, for receiving energy for realignment. It was hoped that that juncture would be reached through the opening of the free will bodies, by their own choice, through love.

 

That is not the case. You have reached critical times. It began peaking 30, 40 years ago, and the activities that have been occurring on this sphere have been of grave concern to all within your universe. The lack of love for humanity, for one another on this planet. Separations of self from self. The missing of the message that you are all one, that you are all connected, that what one does affects the other.

 

Know that there are many millions on the planet out of the billions, who are awakened, who are moving toward the enlightenment, moving towards the acknowledgement of the First Creator, in whatever minuscule way they can conceive of this vast entity.

 

What is happening on your planet at this time is that the energy of the First Creator, is being presented to the planet as a whole. When we say “as a whole”, there are no groupings that would be select over others. The opportunities exist for everyone. It is the individual humanity’s choice to acknowledge the opportunity that presents itself.

 

[The awakened ones will be] assigned, so to speak, to awaken someone. First Creator energy is now being made available to the planet, on a vast level, vast. It’s encircling the sphere. Light frequency is bombarding your planet, though only those who know how to use this energy can feel it. It is as if an invisible force is in your lives and if you are not aware of this invisible force, you will not see it.

 

Now, if the awakeners approach the awakenees with love, with intent of service, with intent of changing the planetary potential, the planetary history, and also are willing to bond unconditionally with the awakenee, it will be successful. In most cases, those that need now to be awakened are working about this in their dream state and they are in a state of confusion in their waking world and so they are welcoming something that will give them greater power and direction.

 

The awakenees will need guidance for a short amount of time because of the energy that is available [but] the knowings will happen very quickly, then they, too, [will awaken and empower others]. The more members, the greater members of humanity that are in knowing, the easier the times ahead will be.

 

We are working, sitting at the edges of our seats. When we say “our”, we mean our beings, the star individuals, the star families, the spirit guides, the ascended masters, the callers from the great cause, the First Cause. There are many here. The skies, the atmospheres are full, so to speak, of who we are keeping Terra in force, keeping it alive and vibrant, glowing, and also respecting your free will at the same time.

 

That is why we say the awakenings are so important at this time. They are of prime concern. Individual awakenings. Word of mouth. It is the best way of accomplishing what it is that needs to be accomplished. Word of mouth. Books are fine. Tapings are fine. But one individual loving another individual liberates, frees. And that individual goes off and creates and effects many others. That is how the process will occur, as we see it.

 

We stated earlier that Terra is a free will district along with the entire universe, however, there is a code of honor that exists along with free will. And that code of honor represents the respect for life. All of life. The respect, and the commitment to no violation of life. The honoring of life is paramount, and allowing that life.

 

Now, millions upon millions of years ago when the disruptive forces came in and changed all of that, free will was granted still and we stepped back, and saw and watched, and knew that there would be a time when all of this would come to an apex, as it would be said when the changes could be made.

 

Disruptive forces have come again. This time they will not succeed. However, the energy is of great influence on the planet at this time because of the technological development and the extent of this technological influence throughout the planet.

 

We ask that each person individually speak to another. At this point very powerful individuals are being awakened. Those individuals who effect other people, who influence other people are those that are awakening at this time, and are being awakened by those who made agreements, contracts eons ago to perform this service. We see that there will be changes geographically, great changes. Because the changes represent the most benevolent way of realignment. If there were to be great destructions, and there will be some destructions along the lines of warrings, if that were to be the prevalent case upon the entire sphere, it would effect the cosmos so greatly, that in this case it cannot be allowed.

 

The changes that will happen on the surface of Terra are not definite. They will not be definite until they occur, until energy peaks. The energy will be peaking partially through what’s happening on the globe, also through planetary and cosmic influences. The closer you may move towards the misuse of the technology, then of course, Mother Earth, a living, viable, breathing entity, would shift itself rather than destroy itself.

 

[The] shifts will be of a healing nature, much as the ill person may experience the tremendous fevers and burn and sweat and shake and then heal themselves. If Mother Earth did not shift herself and the misuse of technology would be [a] prevalent paradigm, do you know what would occur? It would be the destruction of the universe.

 

We do not wish to be annihilated and misuse of your technology on your planet could annihilate a universe. Contemplate on what we are speaking for it is profound.

 

Many of you are looking for blacks and whites and the universe exists in gray areas. It is not the way you think it is. There is life teeming everywhere that you cannot see. There are many dimensions, there are many forms of beings. What happens in your dimension would affect us all because the building blocks of the universe, of the cosmos are connected. The atoms, the elements are all one. They are universal. Universal tools, so to speak. And through the misuse of one, in one segmented area, it would effect many others. So that is why we say, we are tuning Mother Earth to this knowing. Mother Earth knows this potential happening and would shift herself when the time and the danger becomes great.

 

Understand that all of these changes are contingent upon the awakenings. If the awakenings happen very quickly and those within the governments, within the arms industries, those within the publishing, communicative areas, television, newspaper, movies, [if] those influential people on the planet are awakened quickly, all could shift. Mother Earth will do whatever is necessary to realign for her own survival.

 

We are saying that if your intention is to step into the times ahead with joy, and experience, and be a partaker, a conscious partaker of the movement that the planet is selecting, then clearly think of what it is that you want, intend it, plan on it, and then trust that the part of the body located in the solar plexus will guide you along with the heart, to be where it is you need to be. If you are clear in your plannings, if you count on it, if you state it matter of factly, step into the knowing, not the thinking, but the knowing beyond all shadow of a doubt that you will be here in joy, in harmony, in happiness, in creativity, and in greater rejoicing of building the world, the civilization that you all desire, then so shall you be.

 

Now, think of that for a few moments and choose what it is you want. Examine your hearts about what it is you are wanting. Throw by the wayside those things that are not important to you and put your energy, your thoughts, your hearts, into what it is that is most important. And do not, under any circumstances, be afraid of making a change, for change is going to occur whether you select it or not. So, by consciously selecting a change, whether it be a move, or what have you, [it] may be your method, your means, of moving into the times ahead.

 

Do not resist change. Flow. It may come in the area of relationships, the breakings up or the coming togethers. It may come in the area of employment or a lack of. It may come in the area of sudden abundance presenting itself to you or lack of. All these events will motivate you towards something. We ask that you go inside, trust the feelings. Trust yourself. One of the most beneficial endeavors that you will be involved with is forming the extended families. With a networking of thirty to fifty people it will be very powerful. We also wish to speak of the availability of outside communication that is waiting to speak with many of you, that is speaking with each and every one of you though you do not acknowledge it. Vast numbers are willing to help.

 

We ask you to examine your hearts, relinquish your fears, move towards what it is that will be most important. We suggest, and we will assist in these endeavors, that through your dream states you dare to dream of possibilities that seem outlandish. Awakened ones and those becoming awakened are being fed information through the dream state from the vast numbers and given so called ideas. Instigated information. Potentialities of abilities that are far beyond what is available now on the planet. And these will be fun things. These will be joyful things. These will be loving things, healing things, successful things. Play with your dream states and when one of these crazy ideas comes to you, grasp onto it like a hot air balloon and ride it for a while over the topography of yourself and see where it will take you.

 

We ask you to approach these times with an open mind, a creative mind, a loving mind, to move into the self. To trust the self. Open the heart. To connect with humanity, to awaken the others. To be gentle with who you are. For your difficulties you will lay down as they are old clothes that you will no longer fit into or wear. Your aches, longings and difficulties can all be laid to rest as you move into this great new garment of being.

 

Many will be petrified of moving into this time for much must be relinquished. Much must be changed and given up. However, we are saying that if the Earth itself did not change in its seasons, it would be pretty dreary indeed. And so fall needs to come and the winter set to rest so that in spring there may be regrowth, revitalization and awakenings. This is what you’ll be experiencing.

 

We have committed to guide you on this time. There are many who are here loving you, assisting you, doing whatever is necessary. Open your hearts. Open your eyes to what is coming. Do not be afraid. Know that you are surrounded by love and energy greater than at this point you can fathom. So great it is beyond your knowing, though a part of you knows that greatness and brings it to yourself.

 

We trust that what we have said empowers you, enlightens you, guides you to who you need to be. Move forward. Move in love. Feel the connectedness of all that is.

 

Look into the eyes of fellow humanity and see yourselves for you are there. Bless each one with the knowing that you have and your awakenings will be greater than you ever imagined.

 

goldenageofgaia.com/disclosure/who-are-the-extraterrestri...

---- Angels & Demons (devil tries to tempt Saint Lucia, August 2018, Savoca - Sicily) ----

 

---- Angeli & Demoni (il demonio tenta Santa Lucia, agosto 2018, Savoca - Sicilia) ----

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------

  

click here - clicca qui

  

the slideshow

  

Qi Bo's photos on Fluidr

  

Qi Bo's photos on Flickriver

  

Qi Bo's photos on FlickeFlu

  

Qi Bo's photos on PICSSR

 

Qi Bo's photos on Flickr Hive Mind

  

www.worldphoto.org/sony-world-photography-awards/winners-...

  

www.fotografidigitali.it/gallery/2726/opere-italiane-segn...

  

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this is a photographic narration that speaks of the eternal struggle that takes place between good and evil, which speaks of a dark period of history, speaks of the violence suffered by women but also by those who belonged to the poorest social classes, historical facts that have been handed down to us in the form of a story and associated-transmuted in the martyrdom of Saint Lucia, this is what happens in the town of Savoca (Sicily). This is a short and long report, I did in Savoca on August 2018 about the living representation of the martyrdom of Saint Lucia (patron saint of the city of Savoca); the cult of the young Saint of Syracuse seems to date back to the fifteenth century, under the influence of Spanish traditions. The commemoration of the history of St. Lucia occurs in two consecutive days, Saturday and Sunday: here I try to tell some times of the day on Sunday, a day during which the festival is held at the height of her beauty. And 'This is a historical event which speaks of Demons and Angels: Saint Lucy refused to marry a rich and powerful suitor (Lucy declared She was married in Christ), which reported the Christian faith of Lucia to prefect Pascasio that ordered his Praetorian Guard to drag Lucia with a rope to a place of prostitution; legend has it that the Holy became heavy, they then tried to drag it with the help of oxen, but it was impossible to move it from where he stood; failing in this, it was then given the order to cavarle eyes, but the young martyr (native of Syracuse) her eyes reappeared.

In the village of Savoca a young girl, affectionately called the "Lucy" is carried on the shoulder of a porter along the streets of the country (sitting on a pillow tied on the shoulder of a man, but in fact men are two); the young Saint remains impassive in the face of demonic temptations: the Devil, called in Sicilian dialect "u Diavulazzu, shake, shakes, turns his pitchfork in an attempt to "distract" the Saint.

The first day of this representation, on Saturday, in an old church in Savoca, the two girls who impersonate the Lucia, of the current year and the previous year, meet with the delivery of palm; the traditional event which we witness on Saturday, has all the appearance of an important rehearsal for the next day, on Sunday when the traditional festival will take place in all its beauty.

Sunday: on top of the procession there are the "Jews" (the emissaries of the prefect Pascasio) along with some Angels, is located immediately after the wagon drawn by two cows from which branches off a rope that will arrive to Saint Lucia (a girl of six years); between her and the cows there are Roman soldiers, who make their way through the crowd squirming like crazy; to hold the rope there are also male figures; the job of Devil (his mask is made of wood, whose invoice is dated, it seems, of the 400') is to distract the little Saint with the help of a long stick equipped of curved points, called "u 'croccu": Lucia hardly is deceived by the promises of the evil one, she will not abandon the state of her property concentration, aided in this by staring, almost in a trance, a small palm branch in silver , she brings devoutly in her hands.It's very important to mention the Baron Baldassarre (nicknamed Baron Altadonna), who applied without any hesitation the practice of Jus de seigneur: using this law the Baron obliged the young brides to spend the wedding night in his alcove. It 'very possible that in the representation of Saint Lucia of Savoca the character of the Devil tempting young Santa with his pitchfork, in reality is nothing but himself, Baron Altadonna, so allegorically described in this traditional Sicilian feast: the figure of the Devil if one takes into account what historians relate, does not belong more to the legend, but sadly to actual event happened. Post scriptum: the photographs, realized both on Saturday and Sunday, were organized and posted without taking into account the temporal chronology of what happened during the two days of the event; two photos of the mummy of Baron Altadonna have been included, which is located in the crypt of the Capuchin Fathers of Savoca; the portraits of two "Lucie" from previous editions, grandfather and great-grandfather of the "DIAVOLI" dynasty were included; the "silver palm" was delivered by Lucia of 2016 (Valentina), to the current Lucia (Miriana), in 2017 the event was not performed.

Ezio Famà.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

questa è una narrazione fotografica che parla dell'eterna lotta che avviene tra il bene ed il male, che parla di un periodo buio della storia, che parla delle violenze subite dalle donne ma anche da coloro che appartenevano alle classi sociali più povere, fatti storici che sono stati tramandati fino a noi in forma di racconto ed associati-trasmutati nel martirio di Santa Lucia, questo è quanto accade nel paese di Savoca (Sicilia). Questo è un report corto e lungo, che ho realizzato in quel di Savoca lo scorso mese di Agosto 2018, su quella che è la rappresentazione vivente del martirio di Santa Lucia (Santa patrona della città di Savoca); il culto della giovane Santa di Siracusa sembra risalire al XV secolo, sotto l'influenza delle tradizioni spagnole. La rievocazione vivente della storia di S.Lucia avviene in due giornate consecutive, il sabato e la domenica: qui tento di raccontare alcuni momenti della giornata della domenica, giorno durante il quale la festa si svolge nel pieno della sua bellezza. E' questa una rievocazione storica che parla di Demoni ed Angeli: la storia rievoca di quando la Santa, si rifiutò di andare in sposa ad un suo ricco e potente pretendente (essendosi dichiarata Cristiana e sposa in Cristo), il quale per vendetta riferì della fede Cristiana di Lucia al prefetto Pascasio; costui diede ordine ai suoi pretoriani di trascinare Lucia con una corda fino ad un lupanare, un luogo di prostituzione; la leggenda narra che la Santa divenne pesantissima, si tentò allora di trascinarla con l'ausilio dei buoi, ma fu impossibile smuoverla da dove si trovava; non riuscendo in ciò, fu allora dato l'ordine di cavarle gli occhi, ma alla giovane martire (nativa di Siracusa) gli occhi le rispuntarono. Nel paese di Savoca una giovane ragazza, chiamata con affetto "la Lucia" viene portata in spalla lungo le vie del paese (seduta su di un cuscino legato sulla spalla di un uomo; in realtà gli uomini portatori sono due, dandosi il cambio l'un l'altro); la giovane Santa rimane impassibile di fronte alle tentazioni demoniache: il Diavolo, chiamato in dialetto siciliano "u Diavulazzu, agita, scuote, fa ruotare il suo forcone nel tentativo di "distrarre" la Santa ma, vani saranno i suoi tentativi. Il primo giorno di questa rappresentazione, il sabato, in una vecchia chiesa di Savoca, le due bambine che impersonano la Lucia, dell'anno in corso e dell'anno precedente, si incontrano con la consegna della palma da una bimba all'altra; l'evento tradizionale al quale si assiste il sabato, ha tutto l'aspetto di una importante prova generale per il giorno dopo, quando la domenica la festa tradizionale avverrà in tutta la sua bellezza.La domenica: in cima alla processione ci sono i "Giudei" (gli emissari del prefetto Pascasio) insieme ad alcuni Angeli, subito dopo si trova il carro tirato da due giumente dalle quali si diparte una corda che giungerà fino a cingere il fianco della bimba che impersona Santa Lucia (una bambina di sei anni); tra lei e le giumente ci sono i soldati Romani, che si fanno largo tra la folla dimenandosi a più non posso; a tenere la corda ci sono anche delle figure maschili che evitano che gli strattonamenti dei soldati romani possano giungere fino alla Santa (ricordiamolo, che è legata a quella corda); davanti alla Santa piroetta il diavolo tentatore, u' Diavulazzu (la maschera è in legno, la cui fattura è datata, sembra, del 400'), il cui compito è quello di distrarre la piccola Santa con l'aiuto di un lungo bastone dotato di punte ricurve, chiamto dialettalmente "u' croccu": Lucia difficilmente si lascerà ingannare dalle promesse del Maligno, non abbandonerà quel suo stato di immobile concentrazione, aiutata in ciò dal fissare, quasi in stato di trance, un piccolo ramo di palma in argento, che lei strige devotamente tra le sue mani. E’ fondamentale menzionare tra i vari personaggi storici della tradizione, il barone Baldassarre, vissuto in Savoca in epoca medioevale, soprannominato barone Altadonna, che applicava senza remora alcuna la pratica della Jus primae noctis: avvalendosi di questa legge il barone obbligava le giovani spose a trascorrere la prima notte di nozze nella sua alcova. E’ fortemente ipotizzabile che nella rappresentazione di Santa Lucia di Savoca il personaggio del Diavolo che tenta la giovane Santa col suo forcone, in realtà non sia altro che egli stesso, il barone Altadonna, così allegoricamente descritto nella festa tradizionale siciliana: la figura del Diavolo, se si tiene conto di quanto narrano gli storici, non apparterrebbe più alla leggenda, ma a questo tristo personaggio realmente vissuto, che usava quotidianamente la moneta della prepotenza. Post scriptum: le fotografie, realizzate sia il sabato che la domenica, sono state organizzate e postate senza tenere conto della cronologia temporale di quanto avvenuto nei due giorni della manifestazione; sono state inserite due foto della mummia del barone Altadonna, che si trova nella cripta dei Padri Cappuccini di Savoca; sono stati inseriti i ritratti di due "Lucie" delle precedenti edizioni, del nonno e del bisnonno della dinastia dei "DIAVOLI"; la "palma d'argento" è stata consegnata dalla Lucia del 2016 (Valentina), alla attuale Lucia (Miriana); nel 2017 la manifestazione non è stata eseguita.

Ezio Famà.

   

---- Angels & Demons (devil tries to tempt Saint Lucia, August 2018, Savoca - Sicily) ----

 

---- Angeli & Demoni (il demonio tenta Santa Lucia, agosto 2018, Savoca - Sicilia) ----

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------

  

click here - clicca qui

  

the slideshow

  

Qi Bo's photos on Fluidr

  

Qi Bo's photos on Flickriver

  

Qi Bo's photos on FlickeFlu

  

Qi Bo's photos on PICSSR

 

Qi Bo's photos on Flickr Hive Mind

  

www.worldphoto.org/sony-world-photography-awards/winners-...

  

www.fotografidigitali.it/gallery/2726/opere-italiane-segn...

  

-------------------------------------------------------------------

  

this is a photographic narration that speaks of the eternal struggle that takes place between good and evil, which speaks of a dark period of history, speaks of the violence suffered by women but also by those who belonged to the poorest social classes, historical facts that have been handed down to us in the form of a story and associated-transmuted in the martyrdom of Saint Lucia, this is what happens in the town of Savoca (Sicily). This is a short and long report, I did in Savoca on August 2018 about the living representation of the martyrdom of Saint Lucia (patron saint of the city of Savoca); the cult of the young Saint of Syracuse seems to date back to the fifteenth century, under the influence of Spanish traditions. The commemoration of the history of St. Lucia occurs in two consecutive days, Saturday and Sunday: here I try to tell some times of the day on Sunday, a day during which the festival is held at the height of her beauty. And 'This is a historical event which speaks of Demons and Angels: Saint Lucy refused to marry a rich and powerful suitor (Lucy declared She was married in Christ), which reported the Christian faith of Lucia to prefect Pascasio that ordered his Praetorian Guard to drag Lucia with a rope to a place of prostitution; legend has it that the Holy became heavy, they then tried to drag it with the help of oxen, but it was impossible to move it from where he stood; failing in this, it was then given the order to cavarle eyes, but the young martyr (native of Syracuse) her eyes reappeared.

In the village of Savoca a young girl, affectionately called the "Lucy" is carried on the shoulder of a porter along the streets of the country (sitting on a pillow tied on the shoulder of a man, but in fact men are two); the young Saint remains impassive in the face of demonic temptations: the Devil, called in Sicilian dialect "u Diavulazzu, shake, shakes, turns his pitchfork in an attempt to "distract" the Saint.

The first day of this representation, on Saturday, in an old church in Savoca, the two girls who impersonate the Lucia, of the current year and the previous year, meet with the delivery of palm; the traditional event which we witness on Saturday, has all the appearance of an important rehearsal for the next day, on Sunday when the traditional festival will take place in all its beauty.

Sunday: on top of the procession there are the "Jews" (the emissaries of the prefect Pascasio) along with some Angels, is located immediately after the wagon drawn by two cows from which branches off a rope that will arrive to Saint Lucia (a girl of six years); between her and the cows there are Roman soldiers, who make their way through the crowd squirming like crazy; to hold the rope there are also male figures; the job of Devil (his mask is made of wood, whose invoice is dated, it seems, of the 400') is to distract the little Saint with the help of a long stick equipped of curved points, called "u 'croccu": Lucia hardly is deceived by the promises of the evil one, she will not abandon the state of her property concentration, aided in this by staring, almost in a trance, a small palm branch in silver , she brings devoutly in her hands.It's very important to mention the Baron Baldassarre (nicknamed Baron Altadonna), who applied without any hesitation the practice of Jus de seigneur: using this law the Baron obliged the young brides to spend the wedding night in his alcove. It 'very possible that in the representation of Saint Lucia of Savoca the character of the Devil tempting young Santa with his pitchfork, in reality is nothing but himself, Baron Altadonna, so allegorically described in this traditional Sicilian feast: the figure of the Devil if one takes into account what historians relate, does not belong more to the legend, but sadly to actual event happened. Post scriptum: the photographs, realized both on Saturday and Sunday, were organized and posted without taking into account the temporal chronology of what happened during the two days of the event; two photos of the mummy of Baron Altadonna have been included, which is located in the crypt of the Capuchin Fathers of Savoca; the portraits of two "Lucie" from previous editions, grandfather and great-grandfather of the "DIAVOLI" dynasty were included; the "silver palm" was delivered by Lucia of 2016 (Valentina), to the current Lucia (Miriana), in 2017 the event was not performed.

Ezio Famà.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

questa è una narrazione fotografica che parla dell'eterna lotta che avviene tra il bene ed il male, che parla di un periodo buio della storia, che parla delle violenze subite dalle donne ma anche da coloro che appartenevano alle classi sociali più povere, fatti storici che sono stati tramandati fino a noi in forma di racconto ed associati-trasmutati nel martirio di Santa Lucia, questo è quanto accade nel paese di Savoca (Sicilia). Questo è un report corto e lungo, che ho realizzato in quel di Savoca lo scorso mese di Agosto 2018, su quella che è la rappresentazione vivente del martirio di Santa Lucia (Santa patrona della città di Savoca); il culto della giovane Santa di Siracusa sembra risalire al XV secolo, sotto l'influenza delle tradizioni spagnole. La rievocazione vivente della storia di S.Lucia avviene in due giornate consecutive, il sabato e la domenica: qui tento di raccontare alcuni momenti della giornata della domenica, giorno durante il quale la festa si svolge nel pieno della sua bellezza. E' questa una rievocazione storica che parla di Demoni ed Angeli: la storia rievoca di quando la Santa, si rifiutò di andare in sposa ad un suo ricco e potente pretendente (essendosi dichiarata Cristiana e sposa in Cristo), il quale per vendetta riferì della fede Cristiana di Lucia al prefetto Pascasio; costui diede ordine ai suoi pretoriani di trascinare Lucia con una corda fino ad un lupanare, un luogo di prostituzione; la leggenda narra che la Santa divenne pesantissima, si tentò allora di trascinarla con l'ausilio dei buoi, ma fu impossibile smuoverla da dove si trovava; non riuscendo in ciò, fu allora dato l'ordine di cavarle gli occhi, ma alla giovane martire (nativa di Siracusa) gli occhi le rispuntarono. Nel paese di Savoca una giovane ragazza, chiamata con affetto "la Lucia" viene portata in spalla lungo le vie del paese (seduta su di un cuscino legato sulla spalla di un uomo; in realtà gli uomini portatori sono due, dandosi il cambio l'un l'altro); la giovane Santa rimane impassibile di fronte alle tentazioni demoniache: il Diavolo, chiamato in dialetto siciliano "u Diavulazzu, agita, scuote, fa ruotare il suo forcone nel tentativo di "distrarre" la Santa ma, vani saranno i suoi tentativi. Il primo giorno di questa rappresentazione, il sabato, in una vecchia chiesa di Savoca, le due bambine che impersonano la Lucia, dell'anno in corso e dell'anno precedente, si incontrano con la consegna della palma da una bimba all'altra; l'evento tradizionale al quale si assiste il sabato, ha tutto l'aspetto di una importante prova generale per il giorno dopo, quando la domenica la festa tradizionale avverrà in tutta la sua bellezza.La domenica: in cima alla processione ci sono i "Giudei" (gli emissari del prefetto Pascasio) insieme ad alcuni Angeli, subito dopo si trova il carro tirato da due giumente dalle quali si diparte una corda che giungerà fino a cingere il fianco della bimba che impersona Santa Lucia (una bambina di sei anni); tra lei e le giumente ci sono i soldati Romani, che si fanno largo tra la folla dimenandosi a più non posso; a tenere la corda ci sono anche delle figure maschili che evitano che gli strattonamenti dei soldati romani possano giungere fino alla Santa (ricordiamolo, che è legata a quella corda); davanti alla Santa piroetta il diavolo tentatore, u' Diavulazzu (la maschera è in legno, la cui fattura è datata, sembra, del 400'), il cui compito è quello di distrarre la piccola Santa con l'aiuto di un lungo bastone dotato di punte ricurve, chiamto dialettalmente "u' croccu": Lucia difficilmente si lascerà ingannare dalle promesse del Maligno, non abbandonerà quel suo stato di immobile concentrazione, aiutata in ciò dal fissare, quasi in stato di trance, un piccolo ramo di palma in argento, che lei strige devotamente tra le sue mani. E’ fondamentale menzionare tra i vari personaggi storici della tradizione, il barone Baldassarre, vissuto in Savoca in epoca medioevale, soprannominato barone Altadonna, che applicava senza remora alcuna la pratica della Jus primae noctis: avvalendosi di questa legge il barone obbligava le giovani spose a trascorrere la prima notte di nozze nella sua alcova. E’ fortemente ipotizzabile che nella rappresentazione di Santa Lucia di Savoca il personaggio del Diavolo che tenta la giovane Santa col suo forcone, in realtà non sia altro che egli stesso, il barone Altadonna, così allegoricamente descritto nella festa tradizionale siciliana: la figura del Diavolo, se si tiene conto di quanto narrano gli storici, non apparterrebbe più alla leggenda, ma a questo tristo personaggio realmente vissuto, che usava quotidianamente la moneta della prepotenza. Post scriptum: le fotografie, realizzate sia il sabato che la domenica, sono state organizzate e postate senza tenere conto della cronologia temporale di quanto avvenuto nei due giorni della manifestazione; sono state inserite due foto della mummia del barone Altadonna, che si trova nella cripta dei Padri Cappuccini di Savoca; sono stati inseriti i ritratti di due "Lucie" delle precedenti edizioni, del nonno e del bisnonno della dinastia dei "DIAVOLI"; la "palma d'argento" è stata consegnata dalla Lucia del 2016 (Valentina), alla attuale Lucia (Miriana); nel 2017 la manifestazione non è stata eseguita.

Ezio Famà.

   

---- Angels & Demons (devil tries to tempt Saint Lucia, August 2018, Savoca - Sicily) ----

 

---- Angeli & Demoni (il demonio tenta Santa Lucia, agosto 2018, Savoca - Sicilia) ----

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------

  

click here - clicca qui

  

the slideshow

  

Qi Bo's photos on Fluidr

  

Qi Bo's photos on Flickriver

  

Qi Bo's photos on FlickeFlu

  

Qi Bo's photos on PICSSR

 

Qi Bo's photos on Flickr Hive Mind

  

www.worldphoto.org/sony-world-photography-awards/winners-...

  

www.fotografidigitali.it/gallery/2726/opere-italiane-segn...

  

-------------------------------------------------------------------

  

this is a photographic narration that speaks of the eternal struggle that takes place between good and evil, which speaks of a dark period of history, speaks of the violence suffered by women but also by those who belonged to the poorest social classes, historical facts that have been handed down to us in the form of a story and associated-transmuted in the martyrdom of Saint Lucia, this is what happens in the town of Savoca (Sicily). This is a short and long report, I did in Savoca on August 2018 about the living representation of the martyrdom of Saint Lucia (patron saint of the city of Savoca); the cult of the young Saint of Syracuse seems to date back to the fifteenth century, under the influence of Spanish traditions. The commemoration of the history of St. Lucia occurs in two consecutive days, Saturday and Sunday: here I try to tell some times of the day on Sunday, a day during which the festival is held at the height of her beauty. And 'This is a historical event which speaks of Demons and Angels: Saint Lucy refused to marry a rich and powerful suitor (Lucy declared She was married in Christ), which reported the Christian faith of Lucia to prefect Pascasio that ordered his Praetorian Guard to drag Lucia with a rope to a place of prostitution; legend has it that the Holy became heavy, they then tried to drag it with the help of oxen, but it was impossible to move it from where he stood; failing in this, it was then given the order to cavarle eyes, but the young martyr (native of Syracuse) her eyes reappeared.

In the village of Savoca a young girl, affectionately called the "Lucy" is carried on the shoulder of a porter along the streets of the country (sitting on a pillow tied on the shoulder of a man, but in fact men are two); the young Saint remains impassive in the face of demonic temptations: the Devil, called in Sicilian dialect "u Diavulazzu, shake, shakes, turns his pitchfork in an attempt to "distract" the Saint.

The first day of this representation, on Saturday, in an old church in Savoca, the two girls who impersonate the Lucia, of the current year and the previous year, meet with the delivery of palm; the traditional event which we witness on Saturday, has all the appearance of an important rehearsal for the next day, on Sunday when the traditional festival will take place in all its beauty.

Sunday: on top of the procession there are the "Jews" (the emissaries of the prefect Pascasio) along with some Angels, is located immediately after the wagon drawn by two cows from which branches off a rope that will arrive to Saint Lucia (a girl of six years); between her and the cows there are Roman soldiers, who make their way through the crowd squirming like crazy; to hold the rope there are also male figures; the job of Devil (his mask is made of wood, whose invoice is dated, it seems, of the 400') is to distract the little Saint with the help of a long stick equipped of curved points, called "u 'croccu": Lucia hardly is deceived by the promises of the evil one, she will not abandon the state of her property concentration, aided in this by staring, almost in a trance, a small palm branch in silver , she brings devoutly in her hands.It's very important to mention the Baron Baldassarre (nicknamed Baron Altadonna), who applied without any hesitation the practice of Jus de seigneur: using this law the Baron obliged the young brides to spend the wedding night in his alcove. It 'very possible that in the representation of Saint Lucia of Savoca the character of the Devil tempting young Santa with his pitchfork, in reality is nothing but himself, Baron Altadonna, so allegorically described in this traditional Sicilian feast: the figure of the Devil if one takes into account what historians relate, does not belong more to the legend, but sadly to actual event happened. Post scriptum: the photographs, realized both on Saturday and Sunday, were organized and posted without taking into account the temporal chronology of what happened during the two days of the event; two photos of the mummy of Baron Altadonna have been included, which is located in the crypt of the Capuchin Fathers of Savoca; the portraits of two "Lucie" from previous editions, grandfather and great-grandfather of the "DIAVOLI" dynasty were included; the "silver palm" was delivered by Lucia of 2016 (Valentina), to the current Lucia (Miriana), in 2017 the event was not performed.

Ezio Famà.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

questa è una narrazione fotografica che parla dell'eterna lotta che avviene tra il bene ed il male, che parla di un periodo buio della storia, che parla delle violenze subite dalle donne ma anche da coloro che appartenevano alle classi sociali più povere, fatti storici che sono stati tramandati fino a noi in forma di racconto ed associati-trasmutati nel martirio di Santa Lucia, questo è quanto accade nel paese di Savoca (Sicilia). Questo è un report corto e lungo, che ho realizzato in quel di Savoca lo scorso mese di Agosto 2018, su quella che è la rappresentazione vivente del martirio di Santa Lucia (Santa patrona della città di Savoca); il culto della giovane Santa di Siracusa sembra risalire al XV secolo, sotto l'influenza delle tradizioni spagnole. La rievocazione vivente della storia di S.Lucia avviene in due giornate consecutive, il sabato e la domenica: qui tento di raccontare alcuni momenti della giornata della domenica, giorno durante il quale la festa si svolge nel pieno della sua bellezza. E' questa una rievocazione storica che parla di Demoni ed Angeli: la storia rievoca di quando la Santa, si rifiutò di andare in sposa ad un suo ricco e potente pretendente (essendosi dichiarata Cristiana e sposa in Cristo), il quale per vendetta riferì della fede Cristiana di Lucia al prefetto Pascasio; costui diede ordine ai suoi pretoriani di trascinare Lucia con una corda fino ad un lupanare, un luogo di prostituzione; la leggenda narra che la Santa divenne pesantissima, si tentò allora di trascinarla con l'ausilio dei buoi, ma fu impossibile smuoverla da dove si trovava; non riuscendo in ciò, fu allora dato l'ordine di cavarle gli occhi, ma alla giovane martire (nativa di Siracusa) gli occhi le rispuntarono. Nel paese di Savoca una giovane ragazza, chiamata con affetto "la Lucia" viene portata in spalla lungo le vie del paese (seduta su di un cuscino legato sulla spalla di un uomo; in realtà gli uomini portatori sono due, dandosi il cambio l'un l'altro); la giovane Santa rimane impassibile di fronte alle tentazioni demoniache: il Diavolo, chiamato in dialetto siciliano "u Diavulazzu, agita, scuote, fa ruotare il suo forcone nel tentativo di "distrarre" la Santa ma, vani saranno i suoi tentativi. Il primo giorno di questa rappresentazione, il sabato, in una vecchia chiesa di Savoca, le due bambine che impersonano la Lucia, dell'anno in corso e dell'anno precedente, si incontrano con la consegna della palma da una bimba all'altra; l'evento tradizionale al quale si assiste il sabato, ha tutto l'aspetto di una importante prova generale per il giorno dopo, quando la domenica la festa tradizionale avverrà in tutta la sua bellezza.La domenica: in cima alla processione ci sono i "Giudei" (gli emissari del prefetto Pascasio) insieme ad alcuni Angeli, subito dopo si trova il carro tirato da due giumente dalle quali si diparte una corda che giungerà fino a cingere il fianco della bimba che impersona Santa Lucia (una bambina di sei anni); tra lei e le giumente ci sono i soldati Romani, che si fanno largo tra la folla dimenandosi a più non posso; a tenere la corda ci sono anche delle figure maschili che evitano che gli strattonamenti dei soldati romani possano giungere fino alla Santa (ricordiamolo, che è legata a quella corda); davanti alla Santa piroetta il diavolo tentatore, u' Diavulazzu (la maschera è in legno, la cui fattura è datata, sembra, del 400'), il cui compito è quello di distrarre la piccola Santa con l'aiuto di un lungo bastone dotato di punte ricurve, chiamto dialettalmente "u' croccu": Lucia difficilmente si lascerà ingannare dalle promesse del Maligno, non abbandonerà quel suo stato di immobile concentrazione, aiutata in ciò dal fissare, quasi in stato di trance, un piccolo ramo di palma in argento, che lei strige devotamente tra le sue mani. E’ fondamentale menzionare tra i vari personaggi storici della tradizione, il barone Baldassarre, vissuto in Savoca in epoca medioevale, soprannominato barone Altadonna, che applicava senza remora alcuna la pratica della Jus primae noctis: avvalendosi di questa legge il barone obbligava le giovani spose a trascorrere la prima notte di nozze nella sua alcova. E’ fortemente ipotizzabile che nella rappresentazione di Santa Lucia di Savoca il personaggio del Diavolo che tenta la giovane Santa col suo forcone, in realtà non sia altro che egli stesso, il barone Altadonna, così allegoricamente descritto nella festa tradizionale siciliana: la figura del Diavolo, se si tiene conto di quanto narrano gli storici, non apparterrebbe più alla leggenda, ma a questo tristo personaggio realmente vissuto, che usava quotidianamente la moneta della prepotenza. Post scriptum: le fotografie, realizzate sia il sabato che la domenica, sono state organizzate e postate senza tenere conto della cronologia temporale di quanto avvenuto nei due giorni della manifestazione; sono state inserite due foto della mummia del barone Altadonna, che si trova nella cripta dei Padri Cappuccini di Savoca; sono stati inseriti i ritratti di due "Lucie" delle precedenti edizioni, del nonno e del bisnonno della dinastia dei "DIAVOLI"; la "palma d'argento" è stata consegnata dalla Lucia del 2016 (Valentina), alla attuale Lucia (Miriana); nel 2017 la manifestazione non è stata eseguita.

Ezio Famà.

   

---- Angels & Demons (devil tries to tempt Saint Lucia, August 2018, Savoca - Sicily) ----

 

---- Angeli & Demoni (il demonio tenta Santa Lucia, agosto 2018, Savoca - Sicilia) ----

 

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this is a photographic narration that speaks of the eternal struggle that takes place between good and evil, which speaks of a dark period of history, speaks of the violence suffered by women but also by those who belonged to the poorest social classes, historical facts that have been handed down to us in the form of a story and associated-transmuted in the martyrdom of Saint Lucia, this is what happens in the town of Savoca (Sicily). This is a short and long report, I did in Savoca on August 2018 about the living representation of the martyrdom of Saint Lucia (patron saint of the city of Savoca); the cult of the young Saint of Syracuse seems to date back to the fifteenth century, under the influence of Spanish traditions. The commemoration of the history of St. Lucia occurs in two consecutive days, Saturday and Sunday: here I try to tell some times of the day on Sunday, a day during which the festival is held at the height of her beauty. And 'This is a historical event which speaks of Demons and Angels: Saint Lucy refused to marry a rich and powerful suitor (Lucy declared She was married in Christ), which reported the Christian faith of Lucia to prefect Pascasio that ordered his Praetorian Guard to drag Lucia with a rope to a place of prostitution; legend has it that the Holy became heavy, they then tried to drag it with the help of oxen, but it was impossible to move it from where he stood; failing in this, it was then given the order to cavarle eyes, but the young martyr (native of Syracuse) her eyes reappeared.

In the village of Savoca a young girl, affectionately called the "Lucy" is carried on the shoulder of a porter along the streets of the country (sitting on a pillow tied on the shoulder of a man, but in fact men are two); the young Saint remains impassive in the face of demonic temptations: the Devil, called in Sicilian dialect "u Diavulazzu, shake, shakes, turns his pitchfork in an attempt to "distract" the Saint.

The first day of this representation, on Saturday, in an old church in Savoca, the two girls who impersonate the Lucia, of the current year and the previous year, meet with the delivery of palm; the traditional event which we witness on Saturday, has all the appearance of an important rehearsal for the next day, on Sunday when the traditional festival will take place in all its beauty.

Sunday: on top of the procession there are the "Jews" (the emissaries of the prefect Pascasio) along with some Angels, is located immediately after the wagon drawn by two cows from which branches off a rope that will arrive to Saint Lucia (a girl of six years); between her and the cows there are Roman soldiers, who make their way through the crowd squirming like crazy; to hold the rope there are also male figures; the job of Devil (his mask is made of wood, whose invoice is dated, it seems, of the 400') is to distract the little Saint with the help of a long stick equipped of curved points, called "u 'croccu": Lucia hardly is deceived by the promises of the evil one, she will not abandon the state of her property concentration, aided in this by staring, almost in a trance, a small palm branch in silver , she brings devoutly in her hands.It's very important to mention the Baron Baldassarre (nicknamed Baron Altadonna), who applied without any hesitation the practice of Jus de seigneur: using this law the Baron obliged the young brides to spend the wedding night in his alcove. It 'very possible that in the representation of Saint Lucia of Savoca the character of the Devil tempting young Santa with his pitchfork, in reality is nothing but himself, Baron Altadonna, so allegorically described in this traditional Sicilian feast: the figure of the Devil if one takes into account what historians relate, does not belong more to the legend, but sadly to actual event happened. Post scriptum: the photographs, realized both on Saturday and Sunday, were organized and posted without taking into account the temporal chronology of what happened during the two days of the event; two photos of the mummy of Baron Altadonna have been included, which is located in the crypt of the Capuchin Fathers of Savoca; the portraits of two "Lucie" from previous editions, grandfather and great-grandfather of the "DIAVOLI" dynasty were included; the "silver palm" was delivered by Lucia of 2016 (Valentina), to the current Lucia (Miriana), in 2017 the event was not performed.

Ezio Famà.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

questa è una narrazione fotografica che parla dell'eterna lotta che avviene tra il bene ed il male, che parla di un periodo buio della storia, che parla delle violenze subite dalle donne ma anche da coloro che appartenevano alle classi sociali più povere, fatti storici che sono stati tramandati fino a noi in forma di racconto ed associati-trasmutati nel martirio di Santa Lucia, questo è quanto accade nel paese di Savoca (Sicilia). Questo è un report corto e lungo, che ho realizzato in quel di Savoca lo scorso mese di Agosto 2018, su quella che è la rappresentazione vivente del martirio di Santa Lucia (Santa patrona della città di Savoca); il culto della giovane Santa di Siracusa sembra risalire al XV secolo, sotto l'influenza delle tradizioni spagnole. La rievocazione vivente della storia di S.Lucia avviene in due giornate consecutive, il sabato e la domenica: qui tento di raccontare alcuni momenti della giornata della domenica, giorno durante il quale la festa si svolge nel pieno della sua bellezza. E' questa una rievocazione storica che parla di Demoni ed Angeli: la storia rievoca di quando la Santa, si rifiutò di andare in sposa ad un suo ricco e potente pretendente (essendosi dichiarata Cristiana e sposa in Cristo), il quale per vendetta riferì della fede Cristiana di Lucia al prefetto Pascasio; costui diede ordine ai suoi pretoriani di trascinare Lucia con una corda fino ad un lupanare, un luogo di prostituzione; la leggenda narra che la Santa divenne pesantissima, si tentò allora di trascinarla con l'ausilio dei buoi, ma fu impossibile smuoverla da dove si trovava; non riuscendo in ciò, fu allora dato l'ordine di cavarle gli occhi, ma alla giovane martire (nativa di Siracusa) gli occhi le rispuntarono. Nel paese di Savoca una giovane ragazza, chiamata con affetto "la Lucia" viene portata in spalla lungo le vie del paese (seduta su di un cuscino legato sulla spalla di un uomo; in realtà gli uomini portatori sono due, dandosi il cambio l'un l'altro); la giovane Santa rimane impassibile di fronte alle tentazioni demoniache: il Diavolo, chiamato in dialetto siciliano "u Diavulazzu, agita, scuote, fa ruotare il suo forcone nel tentativo di "distrarre" la Santa ma, vani saranno i suoi tentativi. Il primo giorno di questa rappresentazione, il sabato, in una vecchia chiesa di Savoca, le due bambine che impersonano la Lucia, dell'anno in corso e dell'anno precedente, si incontrano con la consegna della palma da una bimba all'altra; l'evento tradizionale al quale si assiste il sabato, ha tutto l'aspetto di una importante prova generale per il giorno dopo, quando la domenica la festa tradizionale avverrà in tutta la sua bellezza.La domenica: in cima alla processione ci sono i "Giudei" (gli emissari del prefetto Pascasio) insieme ad alcuni Angeli, subito dopo si trova il carro tirato da due giumente dalle quali si diparte una corda che giungerà fino a cingere il fianco della bimba che impersona Santa Lucia (una bambina di sei anni); tra lei e le giumente ci sono i soldati Romani, che si fanno largo tra la folla dimenandosi a più non posso; a tenere la corda ci sono anche delle figure maschili che evitano che gli strattonamenti dei soldati romani possano giungere fino alla Santa (ricordiamolo, che è legata a quella corda); davanti alla Santa piroetta il diavolo tentatore, u' Diavulazzu (la maschera è in legno, la cui fattura è datata, sembra, del 400'), il cui compito è quello di distrarre la piccola Santa con l'aiuto di un lungo bastone dotato di punte ricurve, chiamto dialettalmente "u' croccu": Lucia difficilmente si lascerà ingannare dalle promesse del Maligno, non abbandonerà quel suo stato di immobile concentrazione, aiutata in ciò dal fissare, quasi in stato di trance, un piccolo ramo di palma in argento, che lei strige devotamente tra le sue mani. E’ fondamentale menzionare tra i vari personaggi storici della tradizione, il barone Baldassarre, vissuto in Savoca in epoca medioevale, soprannominato barone Altadonna, che applicava senza remora alcuna la pratica della Jus primae noctis: avvalendosi di questa legge il barone obbligava le giovani spose a trascorrere la prima notte di nozze nella sua alcova. E’ fortemente ipotizzabile che nella rappresentazione di Santa Lucia di Savoca il personaggio del Diavolo che tenta la giovane Santa col suo forcone, in realtà non sia altro che egli stesso, il barone Altadonna, così allegoricamente descritto nella festa tradizionale siciliana: la figura del Diavolo, se si tiene conto di quanto narrano gli storici, non apparterrebbe più alla leggenda, ma a questo tristo personaggio realmente vissuto, che usava quotidianamente la moneta della prepotenza. Post scriptum: le fotografie, realizzate sia il sabato che la domenica, sono state organizzate e postate senza tenere conto della cronologia temporale di quanto avvenuto nei due giorni della manifestazione; sono state inserite due foto della mummia del barone Altadonna, che si trova nella cripta dei Padri Cappuccini di Savoca; sono stati inseriti i ritratti di due "Lucie" delle precedenti edizioni, del nonno e del bisnonno della dinastia dei "DIAVOLI"; la "palma d'argento" è stata consegnata dalla Lucia del 2016 (Valentina), alla attuale Lucia (Miriana); nel 2017 la manifestazione non è stata eseguita.

Ezio Famà.

   

The tale tells of magical transformation—one that, when the time is at hand, can be experienced by anyone. The author of these stories was Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and the creation of his fairy tale would have far-reaching consequences.

The Fairy Tale of the Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily Illustrated by Johann von Goethe and David Newbatt A true fairy story is a work of art. At Michaelmas in 1795, a series of stories appeared, of which the concluding one was a fairy tale: The Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily. The tale tells of magical transformation—one that, when the time is at hand, can be experienced by anyone. The author of these stories was Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and the creation of his fairy tale would have far-reaching consequences. This edition of Goethe’s fairy tale arose from illustrator David Newbatt’s inspiration to join Thomas Carlyle’s English translation with a new series of pictures. The purpose is to reveal the sevenfold process that unfolds within Goethe's fairy tale—a process that forms a path of inner development and personal transformation. In addition to the translation by Thomas Carlyle and the series of seven pictures by David Newbatt, The Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily includes an introduction by Tom Raines.The Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily (German title: Märchen or Das Märchen) is a fairy tale by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe published in 1795 in Friedrich Schiller's German magazine Die Horen (The Horae). It concludes Goethe's novella rondo Conversations of German Emigrants (1795). Das Märchen is regarded as the founding example of the genre of Kunstmärchen, or artistic fairy tale.[1] The story revolves around the crossing and bridging of a river, which represents the divide between the outer life of the senses and the ideal aspirations of the human being.

  

Contents

1Synopsis

2Analysis

3Adaptations

4Translations

5References

6External links

Synopsis[edit]

The tale begins with two will-o'-the-wisps who wake a ferryman and ask to be taken across a river. The ferryman does so, and for payment, they shake gold from themselves into the boat. This alarms the ferryman, for if the gold had gone into the river, it would overflow. He demands as payment: three artichokes, three cabbages, and three onions, and the will-o'-the-wisps may depart only after promising to bring him such. The ferryman takes the gold up to a high place, and deposits it into a rocky cleft, where it is discovered by a green snake who eats the gold, and finds itself luminous. This gives the snake opportunity to study an underground temple where we meet an old man with a lamp which can only give light when another light is present. The snake now investigates the temple, and finds four kings: one gold, one silver, one bronze, and one a mixture of all three.

 

The story then switches over to the wife of the old man, who meets a melancholy prince. He has met a beautiful Lily, but is distressed by the fact that anyone who touches her will die. The snake is able to form a temporary bridge across the river at midday, and in this way, the wife and prince come to the beautiful Lily's garden, where she is mourning her fate. As twilight falls, the prince succumbs to his desire for the Beautiful Lily, rushes towards her, and dies. The green snake encircles the prince, and the old man, his wife, and the will-o'-the-wisps form a procession and cross the river on the back of the snake.

 

Back in the land of the senses, and guided by the old man, the Lily is able to bring the prince back to life — albeit in a dream state — by touching both the snake and the prince. The snake then sacrifices itself, and changes into a pile of precious stones which are thrown into the river. The old man then directs them towards the doors of the temple which are locked. The will-o'-the-wisps help them enter by eating the gold out of the doors. At this point, the temple is magically transported beneath the river, surfacing beneath the ferryman's hut — which turns into a silver altar. The three kings bestow gifts upon the sleeping prince and restore him. The fourth, mixed king collapses as the will-o'-the-wisps lick the veins of gold out of him. We also find that Lily's touch no longer brings death. Thus, the prince is united with the beautiful Lily, and they are married. When they look out from the temple, they see a permanent bridge which spans the river — the result of the snake's sacrifice — "and to the present hour the Bridge is swarming with travellers, and the Temple is the most frequented on the whole Earth".

 

Analysis[edit]

It has been claimed that Das Märchen was born out of Goethe's reading of The Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz and that it is full of esoteric symbolism. In 1786, Goethe observed that The Chymical Wedding contains “a pretty fairy story” for which he had no time at the moment.[2]

 

Rudolf Steiner, in his 1918 book Goethe's Standard of the Soul, speaks of it as follows: “On the river stands the Temple in which the marriage of the Young Man with the Lily takes place. The ‘marriage’ with the supersensible, the realisation of the free personality, is possible in a human soul whose forces have been brought into a state of regularity that in comparison with the usual state is a transformation.”[3] This article led to an invitation to speak to the German Theosophical Society which eventually led to Steiner becoming its General Secretary.

 

Tom Raines gives the following historical background for “The Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily”:

 

This Fairy Tale was written by Goethe as a response to a work of Schiller’s entitled Über die aesthetische Erziehung des Menschen (Letters on the Aesthetic Education of Man). One of the main thoughts considered in these ‘letters’ centred around the question of human freedom... Schiller saw that a harmonious social life could only be founded on the basis of free human personalities. He saw that there was an "ideal human being" within everyone and the challenge was to bring the outer life experiences into harmony with this "ideal". Then the human being would lead a truly worthy existence.

 

Schiller was trying to build an inner bridge between the Person in the immediate reality and the 'ideal human being'. He wrote these ‘Letters’ during the time and context of the French Revolution. This revolution was driven by a desire for outer social changes to enable human personalities to become free. But both Schiller and Goethe recognised that freedom cannot be ‘imposed’ from the outside but must arise from within each person. Whilst he had an artistic nature, Schiller was more at home in the realm of philosophic thoughts and although Goethe found much pleasure in these ‘Letters’ of Schiller, he felt that the approach concerning the forces in the soul was too simply stated and, it should be said, working in abstract ideas was not Goethe's way. So he set about writing a Fairy Tale that would show, in imaginative pictures, the way in which a human soul could become whole and free, thereby giving rise to a new and free human community. And this was published in Die Horen in 1795.[4]

 

Adaptations[edit]

The tale was the basis for Giselher Klebe's 1969 opera Das Märchen von der schönen Lilie.

 

Translations[edit]

"Goethe's Fairy Tale of the Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily", Donald Maclean, translator. With a commentary by Adam McLean. (Grand Rapids, MI), Phanes Press, 1993. ISBN 0-933999-19-4. (Magnum Opus Hermetic Sourceworks #14)

References[edit]

^ The Literature of German Romanticism (ed. Dennis F. Mahoney). Boydell & Brewer, 2004. ISBN 9781571132369. Page 102.

^ W. H. Bruford. Culture and Society in Classical Weimar 1775-1806. Cambridge University Press, 1975. Page 186.

^ Steiner, Rudolf (1925). "III. As illustrated in his fairy story of 'The Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily'". Goethe's Standard of the Soul. Translated by D. S. Osmond.

^ "Goethe's 'Fairy Tale'" Archived 2007-09-29 at the Wayback Machine in New View magazine, 2003

External links[edit]

German Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Das Märchen

Reprint of Das Märchen (The tale) by Goethe, translated and with Introduction by "O.Y." (William Maginn) and notes from Fraser's Magazine No. XXXIII. OCTOBER, 1832. vol. VI. [1]

"The Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily", translated by Thomas Carlyle (1832)

"The Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily", translated by D. S. Osmond

Friedrich Schiller: "Letters Upon The Aesthetic Education of Man"

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Green_Snake_and_the_Beautiful_Lily

Transmutation mystique du papillon

Firing Up The Old Meth Pipe.

O'yea evasiveness anonymous unprepossessing shadow,

ambitiosas self thy ambiguity brilliantly engag'd,

conceal'd στρατηγικές discretion desperately long'd,

tempestuous rocks dream'd sulfureux pipes,

Turkish torch énorme smoke of beleaguer'd gallows,

fragment'd ιδιοσυγκρασίες precocious acquaintances despair,

crystalline death chraptivý pride excelled,

έξαλλος persona virtual melt down ruin,

underworld madness desolazione thee,

titanic rituals зубцы poisonous disguise,

eminent gekkenhuis bizarrely shivering pain,

situations difficiles correspond doctors called,

disillusionments phantasiae trac'd to descending pilgrimage horrors,

μεταθέσεις compositions functions peregrinations afar,

elusive voyage emarginati sonnets foam,

narcissistic state Überwachung home,

transparent flame plunging melanconia intense,

confusing plaisirs vanish columns crossed appear,

extending determinación mentally broken,

rocketing fragmenty obstreperous flight,

parvipendentes paranoia gestures of chaos insomnia wakes,

alchemists microscopiorum minds rippling under walls of ecstasies,

transmutations αφθονία opulent in exhaust'd smoke,

terrible Выступления metamorphos'd to wings dismay,

otřesný mirror gray agonizing worn,

best friend turn שד as emerging death knocks alas!

Steve.D.Hammond.

Alchemy is a precursor to modern chemistry which was widely practiced all over the world through the 1800s, when more modern chemistry began to displace it. This discipline involved a study of the chemical properties of various substances, with a mystical bent. Ancient alchemists laid the groundwork for the scientific field of chemistry, establishing some basic principles which continue to be used today. Alchemists also discovered a number of things with practical applications, from some of the elements to the chemical process used to tan leather.

It is believed that spirits often feed themselves thru inhaling from joss sticks.

 

======

  

It's the Luner 7th month, which means it's the scariest month in the whole year according to Chinese believes.

 

As a child I was always warned to be extra cautious: avoid going out at night, never answer when I heard anyone call my name from behind, don't whistle and no mention the word "ghosts" are among the rules during the Ghost Month.

 

This year I decide to pay a visit to one of the remaining Ghost Month ( which is called "Yu Lan Festival" in the formal term ) to document some of its believes.

 

So here's the beginning of my first documentation of the Hungry Ghost Festival.

 

=====

 

The Ghost Festival, also known as the Hungry Ghost Festival, or Yu Lan is a traditional Chinese festival and holiday celebrated by Chinese in many countries. In the Chinese calendar (a lunisolar calendar), the Ghost Festival is on the 15th night of the seventh month (14th in southern China).

 

In Chinese tradition, the fifteenth day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar is called Ghost Day and the seventh month in general is regarded as the Ghost Month (鬼月), in which ghosts and spirits, including those of the deceased ancestors, come out from the lower realm.

 

Distinct from both the Qingming Festival (in spring) and Chung Yeung Festival (in autumn) in which living descendants pay homage to their deceased ancestors, on Ghost Day, the deceased are believed to visit the living.

 

On the fifteenth day the realms of Heaven and Hell and the realm of the living are open and both Taoists and Buddhists would perform rituals to transmute and absolve the sufferings of the deceased. Intrinsic to the Ghost Month is ancestor worship, where traditionally the filial piety of descendants extends to their ancestors even after their deaths.

 

Activities during the month would include preparing ritualistic food offerings, burning incense, and burning joss paper, a papier-mâché form of material items such as clothes, gold and other fine goods for the visiting spirits of the ancestors

  

=====

  

More images of the Hungry Ghosts "Yu Lan" Festival here:

Hungry Ghosts "Yu Lan" Festival

  

More Chinese Temples images here:

Caves & Temples " Festival

  

=====

 

---- Angels & Demons (devil tries to tempt Saint Lucia, August 2018, Savoca - Sicily) ----

 

---- Angeli & Demoni (il demonio tenta Santa Lucia, agosto 2018, Savoca - Sicilia) ----

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------

  

click here - clicca qui

  

the slideshow

  

Qi Bo's photos on Fluidr

  

Qi Bo's photos on Flickriver

  

Qi Bo's photos on FlickeFlu

  

Qi Bo's photos on PICSSR

 

Qi Bo's photos on Flickr Hive Mind

  

www.worldphoto.org/sony-world-photography-awards/winners-...

  

www.fotografidigitali.it/gallery/2726/opere-italiane-segn...

  

-------------------------------------------------------------------

  

this is a photographic narration that speaks of the eternal struggle that takes place between good and evil, which speaks of a dark period of history, speaks of the violence suffered by women but also by those who belonged to the poorest social classes, historical facts that have been handed down to us in the form of a story and associated-transmuted in the martyrdom of Saint Lucia, this is what happens in the town of Savoca (Sicily). This is a short and long report, I did in Savoca on August 2018 about the living representation of the martyrdom of Saint Lucia (patron saint of the city of Savoca); the cult of the young Saint of Syracuse seems to date back to the fifteenth century, under the influence of Spanish traditions. The commemoration of the history of St. Lucia occurs in two consecutive days, Saturday and Sunday: here I try to tell some times of the day on Sunday, a day during which the festival is held at the height of her beauty. And 'This is a historical event which speaks of Demons and Angels: Saint Lucy refused to marry a rich and powerful suitor (Lucy declared She was married in Christ), which reported the Christian faith of Lucia to prefect Pascasio that ordered his Praetorian Guard to drag Lucia with a rope to a place of prostitution; legend has it that the Holy became heavy, they then tried to drag it with the help of oxen, but it was impossible to move it from where he stood; failing in this, it was then given the order to cavarle eyes, but the young martyr (native of Syracuse) her eyes reappeared.

In the village of Savoca a young girl, affectionately called the "Lucy" is carried on the shoulder of a porter along the streets of the country (sitting on a pillow tied on the shoulder of a man, but in fact men are two); the young Saint remains impassive in the face of demonic temptations: the Devil, called in Sicilian dialect "u Diavulazzu, shake, shakes, turns his pitchfork in an attempt to "distract" the Saint.

The first day of this representation, on Saturday, in an old church in Savoca, the two girls who impersonate the Lucia, of the current year and the previous year, meet with the delivery of palm; the traditional event which we witness on Saturday, has all the appearance of an important rehearsal for the next day, on Sunday when the traditional festival will take place in all its beauty.

Sunday: on top of the procession there are the "Jews" (the emissaries of the prefect Pascasio) along with some Angels, is located immediately after the wagon drawn by two cows from which branches off a rope that will arrive to Saint Lucia (a girl of six years); between her and the cows there are Roman soldiers, who make their way through the crowd squirming like crazy; to hold the rope there are also male figures; the job of Devil (his mask is made of wood, whose invoice is dated, it seems, of the 400') is to distract the little Saint with the help of a long stick equipped of curved points, called "u 'croccu": Lucia hardly is deceived by the promises of the evil one, she will not abandon the state of her property concentration, aided in this by staring, almost in a trance, a small palm branch in silver , she brings devoutly in her hands.

It's very important to mention the Baron Baldassarre (nicknamed Baron Altadonna), who applied without any hesitation the practice of Jus de seigneur: using this law the Baron obliged the young brides to spend the wedding night in his alcove. It 'very possible that in the representation of Saint Lucia of Savoca the character of the Devil tempting young Santa with his pitchfork, in reality is nothing but himself, Baron Altadonna, so allegorically described in this traditional Sicilian feast: the figure of the Devil if one takes into account what historians relate, does not belong more to the legend, but sadly to actual event happened. Post scriptum: the photographs, realized both on Saturday and Sunday, were organized and posted without taking into account the temporal chronology of what happened during the two days of the event; two photos of the mummy of Baron Altadonna have been included, which is located in the crypt of the Capuchin Fathers of Savoca; the portraits of two "Lucie" from previous editions, grandfather and great-grandfather of the "DIAVOLI" dynasty were included; the "silver palm" was delivered by Lucia of 2016 (Valentina), to the current Lucia (Miriana), in 2017 the event was not performed.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

questa è una narrazione fotografica che parla dell'eterna lotta che avviene tra il bene ed il male, che parla di un periodo buio della storia, che parla delle violenze subite dalle donne ma anche da coloro che appartenevano alle classi sociali più povere, fatti storici che sono stati tramandati fino a noi in forma di racconto ed associati-trasmutati nel martirio di Santa Lucia, questo è quanto accade nel paese di Savoca (Sicilia). Questo è un report corto e lungo, che ho realizzato in quel di Savoca lo scorso mese di Agosto 2018, su quella che è la rappresentazione vivente del martirio di Santa Lucia (Santa patrona della città di Savoca); il culto della giovane Santa di Siracusa sembra risalire al XV secolo, sotto l'influenza delle tradizioni spagnole. La rievocazione vivente della storia di S.Lucia avviene in due giornate consecutive, il sabato e la domenica: qui tento di raccontare alcuni momenti della giornata della domenica, giorno durante il quale la festa si svolge nel pieno della sua bellezza. E' questa una rievocazione storica che parla di Demoni ed Angeli: la storia rievoca di quando la Santa, si rifiutò di andare in sposa ad un suo ricco e potente pretendente (essendosi dichiarata Cristiana e sposa in Cristo), il quale per vendetta riferì della fede Cristiana di Lucia al prefetto Pascasio; costui diede ordine ai suoi pretoriani di trascinare Lucia con una corda fino ad un lupanare, un luogo di prostituzione; la leggenda narra che la Santa divenne pesantissima, si tentò allora di trascinarla con l'ausilio dei buoi, ma fu impossibile smuoverla da dove si trovava; non riuscendo in ciò, fu allora dato l'ordine di cavarle gli occhi, ma alla giovane martire (nativa di Siracusa) gli occhi le rispuntarono. Nel paese di Savoca una giovane ragazza, chiamata con affetto "la Lucia" viene portata in spalla lungo le vie del paese (seduta su di un cuscino legato sulla spalla di un uomo; in realtà gli uomini portatori sono due, dandosi il cambio l'un l'altro); la giovane Santa rimane impassibile di fronte alle tentazioni demoniache: il Diavolo, chiamato in dialetto siciliano "u Diavulazzu, agita, scuote, fa ruotare il suo forcone nel tentativo di "distrarre" la Santa ma, vani saranno i suoi tentativi. Il primo giorno di questa rappresentazione, il sabato, in una vecchia chiesa di Savoca, le due bambine che impersonano la Lucia, dell'anno in corso e dell'anno precedente, si incontrano con la consegna della palma da una bimba all'altra; l'evento tradizionale al quale si assiste il sabato, ha tutto l'aspetto di una importante prova generale per il giorno dopo, quando la domenica la festa tradizionale avverrà in tutta la sua bellezza.La domenica: in cima alla processione ci sono i "Giudei" (gli emissari del prefetto Pascasio) insieme ad alcuni Angeli, subito dopo si trova il carro tirato da due giumente dalle quali si diparte una corda che giungerà fino a cingere il fianco della bimba che impersona Santa Lucia (una bambina di sei anni); tra lei e le giumente ci sono i soldati Romani, che si fanno largo tra la folla dimenandosi a più non posso; a tenere la corda ci sono anche delle figure maschili che evitano che gli strattonamenti dei soldati romani possano giungere fino alla Santa (ricordiamolo, che è legata a quella corda); davanti alla Santa piroetta il diavolo tentatore, u' Diavulazzu (la maschera è in legno, la cui fattura è datata, sembra, del 400'), il cui compito è quello di distrarre la piccola Santa con l'aiuto di un lungo bastone dotato di punte ricurve, chiamto dialettalmente "u' croccu": Lucia difficilmente si lascerà ingannare dalle promesse del Maligno, non abbandonerà quel suo stato di immobile concentrazione, aiutata in ciò dal fissare, quasi in stato di trance, un piccolo ramo di palma in argento, che lei strige devotamente tra le sue mani. E’ fondamentale menzionare tra i vari personaggi storici della tradizione, il barone Baldassarre, vissuto in Savoca in epoca medioevale, soprannominato barone Altadonna, che applicava senza remora alcuna la pratica della Jus primae noctis: avvalendosi di questa legge il barone obbligava le giovani spose a trascorrere la prima notte di nozze nella sua alcova. E’ fortemente ipotizzabile che nella rappresentazione di Santa Lucia di Savoca il personaggio del Diavolo che tenta la giovane Santa col suo forcone, in realtà non sia altro che egli stesso, il barone Altadonna, così allegoricamente descritto nella festa tradizionale siciliana: la figura del Diavolo, se si tiene conto di quanto narrano gli storici, non apparterrebbe più alla leggenda, ma a questo tristo personaggio realmente vissuto, che usava quotidianamente la moneta della prepotenza. Post scriptum: le fotografie, realizzate sia il sabato che la domenica, sono state organizzate e postate senza tenere conto della cronologia temporale di quanto avvenuto nei due giorni della manifestazione; sono state inserite due foto della mummia del barone Altadonna, che si trova nella cripta dei Padri Cappuccini di Savoca; sono stati inseriti i ritratti di due "Lucie" delle precedenti edizioni, del nonno e del bisnonno della dinastia dei "DIAVOLI"; la "palma d'argento" è stata consegnata dalla Lucia del 2016 (Valentina), alla attuale Lucia (Miriana); nel 2017 la manifestazione non è stata eseguita.

   

 

Driving to Southampton

 

Long shadows

this bright November morning.

 

Sun

picking out gold pieces

hanging

among leaves it ‘s burned

to earth colours:

burnt sienna, ochre,

sombre terra verte.

 

The feathered silver birches

and fanned corals of the oaks

defined in raw umber

by a draughtsman's pen.

 

A line of poplars.

Spare skeletons

wearing the tatters of summer's green

on gaunt graceful arms

raised to the duck-egg sky.

 

A cloud.

Slow-drifting,

turns back its dragon head,

responding to the spiral winds

that play in the high blue spaces

where it formed,

reforms,

changes and transmutes

as, earthbound,

I drive down the motorway.

- Janice Windle

 

Avenue du Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal, ouest

 

"Building IV, est emblématique des principaux champs de tension qui irriguent l’œuvre d’Antony Gormley. Sa force naît de l’oscillation entre une forme qui évoque ces corps futuristes décomposés sur ordinateur, et une pose qui rappelle cette grande tradition sculpturale de la forme en éveil. En effet, dans cette figure d’un homme s’éveillant à sa condition d’homme, les genoux encore en flexion, le visage tourné vers le haut, Gormley se réclame d’une tradition qui court des esclaves du tombeau de Jules II de Michel-Ange au jeune homme de l’Âge de bronze de Rodin. Tradition que l’on retrouve chez un autre grand artiste d’aujourd’hui, dont l’œuvre est également informée par l’histoire de l’art, Bill Viola, qui dans The Crossing montre la naissance d’un homme hors de l’eau.

 

Cet homme numérique s’élevant vers sa condition d’humain, ce corps métallique disloqué en une multitude de blocs (ou de pixels) semble vouloir finalement renvoyer au spectateur sa propre image, le réfléchir. Comme l’a écrit Gormley : » My proposition is that we are part of a world constructed from the earth, in which everything is interchangeable. My hope is that the old formula of a ‘subject who looks’ at an object which is ‘looked at’ can be transmuted into us looking at ourselves. The place of my body is offered as yours and the space and actions of your body are reflected in the works, what they are made of and how they are made. Nothing is revealed that is not already there – including you. » (extrait du catalogue de l’exposition Still Moving : Works 1975-1996, à Tokyo, in Antony Gormley, Phaidon, p.152)."

 

artpublicmontreal.ca/oeuvre/building-vi/

continuing the search for the optimum setting for news to evolve.

newspaper, roots

---- Angels & Demons (devil tries to tempt Saint Lucia, August 2018, Savoca - Sicily) ----

 

---- Angeli & Demoni (il demonio tenta Santa Lucia, agosto 2018, Savoca - Sicilia) ----

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------

  

click here - clicca qui

  

the slideshow

  

Qi Bo's photos on Fluidr

  

Qi Bo's photos on Flickriver

  

Qi Bo's photos on FlickeFlu

  

Qi Bo's photos on PICSSR

 

Qi Bo's photos on Flickr Hive Mind

  

www.worldphoto.org/sony-world-photography-awards/winners-...

  

www.fotografidigitali.it/gallery/2726/opere-italiane-segn...

  

-------------------------------------------------------------------

  

this is a photographic narration that speaks of the eternal struggle that takes place between good and evil, which speaks of a dark period of history, speaks of the violence suffered by women but also by those who belonged to the poorest social classes, historical facts that have been handed down to us in the form of a story and associated-transmuted in the martyrdom of Saint Lucia, this is what happens in the town of Savoca (Sicily). This is a short and long report, I did in Savoca on August 2018 about the living representation of the martyrdom of Saint Lucia (patron saint of the city of Savoca); the cult of the young Saint of Syracuse seems to date back to the fifteenth century, under the influence of Spanish traditions. The commemoration of the history of St. Lucia occurs in two consecutive days, Saturday and Sunday: here I try to tell some times of the day on Sunday, a day during which the festival is held at the height of her beauty. And 'This is a historical event which speaks of Demons and Angels: Saint Lucy refused to marry a rich and powerful suitor (Lucy declared She was married in Christ), which reported the Christian faith of Lucia to prefect Pascasio that ordered his Praetorian Guard to drag Lucia with a rope to a place of prostitution; legend has it that the Holy became heavy, they then tried to drag it with the help of oxen, but it was impossible to move it from where he stood; failing in this, it was then given the order to cavarle eyes, but the young martyr (native of Syracuse) her eyes reappeared.

In the village of Savoca a young girl, affectionately called the "Lucy" is carried on the shoulder of a porter along the streets of the country (sitting on a pillow tied on the shoulder of a man, but in fact men are two); the young Saint remains impassive in the face of demonic temptations: the Devil, called in Sicilian dialect "u Diavulazzu, shake, shakes, turns his pitchfork in an attempt to "distract" the Saint.

The first day of this representation, on Saturday, in an old church in Savoca, the two girls who impersonate the Lucia, of the current year and the previous year, meet with the delivery of palm; the traditional event which we witness on Saturday, has all the appearance of an important rehearsal for the next day, on Sunday when the traditional festival will take place in all its beauty.

Sunday: on top of the procession there are the "Jews" (the emissaries of the prefect Pascasio) along with some Angels, is located immediately after the wagon drawn by two cows from which branches off a rope that will arrive to Saint Lucia (a girl of six years); between her and the cows there are Roman soldiers, who make their way through the crowd squirming like crazy; to hold the rope there are also male figures; the job of Devil (his mask is made of wood, whose invoice is dated, it seems, of the 400') is to distract the little Saint with the help of a long stick equipped of curved points, called "u 'croccu": Lucia hardly is deceived by the promises of the evil one, she will not abandon the state of her property concentration, aided in this by staring, almost in a trance, a small palm branch in silver , she brings devoutly in her hands.

It's very important to mention the Baron Baldassarre (nicknamed Baron Altadonna), who applied without any hesitation the practice of Jus de seigneur: using this law the Baron obliged the young brides to spend the wedding night in his alcove. It 'very possible that in the representation of Saint Lucia of Savoca the character of the Devil tempting young Santa with his pitchfork, in reality is nothing but himself, Baron Altadonna, so allegorically described in this traditional Sicilian feast: the figure of the Devil if one takes into account what historians relate, does not belong more to the legend, but sadly to actual event happened. Post scriptum: the photographs, realized both on Saturday and Sunday, were organized and posted without taking into account the temporal chronology of what happened during the two days of the event; two photos of the mummy of Baron Altadonna have been included, which is located in the crypt of the Capuchin Fathers of Savoca; the portraits of two "Lucie" from previous editions, grandfather and great-grandfather of the "DIAVOLI" dynasty were included; the "silver palm" was delivered by Lucia of 2016 (Valentina), to the current Lucia (Miriana), in 2017 the event was not performed.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

questa è una narrazione fotografica che parla dell'eterna lotta che avviene tra il bene ed il male, che parla di un periodo buio della storia, che parla delle violenze subite dalle donne ma anche da coloro che appartenevano alle classi sociali più povere, fatti storici che sono stati tramandati fino a noi in forma di racconto ed associati-trasmutati nel martirio di Santa Lucia, questo è quanto accade nel paese di Savoca (Sicilia). Questo è un report corto e lungo, che ho realizzato in quel di Savoca lo scorso mese di Agosto 2018, su quella che è la rappresentazione vivente del martirio di Santa Lucia (Santa patrona della città di Savoca); il culto della giovane Santa di Siracusa sembra risalire al XV secolo, sotto l'influenza delle tradizioni spagnole. La rievocazione vivente della storia di S.Lucia avviene in due giornate consecutive, il sabato e la domenica: qui tento di raccontare alcuni momenti della giornata della domenica, giorno durante il quale la festa si svolge nel pieno della sua bellezza. E' questa una rievocazione storica che parla di Demoni ed Angeli: la storia rievoca di quando la Santa, si rifiutò di andare in sposa ad un suo ricco e potente pretendente (essendosi dichiarata Cristiana e sposa in Cristo), il quale per vendetta riferì della fede Cristiana di Lucia al prefetto Pascasio; costui diede ordine ai suoi pretoriani di trascinare Lucia con una corda fino ad un lupanare, un luogo di prostituzione; la leggenda narra che la Santa divenne pesantissima, si tentò allora di trascinarla con l'ausilio dei buoi, ma fu impossibile smuoverla da dove si trovava; non riuscendo in ciò, fu allora dato l'ordine di cavarle gli occhi, ma alla giovane martire (nativa di Siracusa) gli occhi le rispuntarono. Nel paese di Savoca una giovane ragazza, chiamata con affetto "la Lucia" viene portata in spalla lungo le vie del paese (seduta su di un cuscino legato sulla spalla di un uomo; in realtà gli uomini portatori sono due, dandosi il cambio l'un l'altro); la giovane Santa rimane impassibile di fronte alle tentazioni demoniache: il Diavolo, chiamato in dialetto siciliano "u Diavulazzu, agita, scuote, fa ruotare il suo forcone nel tentativo di "distrarre" la Santa ma, vani saranno i suoi tentativi. Il primo giorno di questa rappresentazione, il sabato, in una vecchia chiesa di Savoca, le due bambine che impersonano la Lucia, dell'anno in corso e dell'anno precedente, si incontrano con la consegna della palma da una bimba all'altra; l'evento tradizionale al quale si assiste il sabato, ha tutto l'aspetto di una importante prova generale per il giorno dopo, quando la domenica la festa tradizionale avverrà in tutta la sua bellezza.La domenica: in cima alla processione ci sono i "Giudei" (gli emissari del prefetto Pascasio) insieme ad alcuni Angeli, subito dopo si trova il carro tirato da due giumente dalle quali si diparte una corda che giungerà fino a cingere il fianco della bimba che impersona Santa Lucia (una bambina di sei anni); tra lei e le giumente ci sono i soldati Romani, che si fanno largo tra la folla dimenandosi a più non posso; a tenere la corda ci sono anche delle figure maschili che evitano che gli strattonamenti dei soldati romani possano giungere fino alla Santa (ricordiamolo, che è legata a quella corda); davanti alla Santa piroetta il diavolo tentatore, u' Diavulazzu (la maschera è in legno, la cui fattura è datata, sembra, del 400'), il cui compito è quello di distrarre la piccola Santa con l'aiuto di un lungo bastone dotato di punte ricurve, chiamto dialettalmente "u' croccu": Lucia difficilmente si lascerà ingannare dalle promesse del Maligno, non abbandonerà quel suo stato di immobile concentrazione, aiutata in ciò dal fissare, quasi in stato di trance, un piccolo ramo di palma in argento, che lei strige devotamente tra le sue mani. E’ fondamentale menzionare tra i vari personaggi storici della tradizione, il barone Baldassarre, vissuto in Savoca in epoca medioevale, soprannominato barone Altadonna, che applicava senza remora alcuna la pratica della Jus primae noctis: avvalendosi di questa legge il barone obbligava le giovani spose a trascorrere la prima notte di nozze nella sua alcova. E’ fortemente ipotizzabile che nella rappresentazione di Santa Lucia di Savoca il personaggio del Diavolo che tenta la giovane Santa col suo forcone, in realtà non sia altro che egli stesso, il barone Altadonna, così allegoricamente descritto nella festa tradizionale siciliana: la figura del Diavolo, se si tiene conto di quanto narrano gli storici, non apparterrebbe più alla leggenda, ma a questo tristo personaggio realmente vissuto, che usava quotidianamente la moneta della prepotenza. Post scriptum: le fotografie, realizzate sia il sabato che la domenica, sono state organizzate e postate senza tenere conto della cronologia temporale di quanto avvenuto nei due giorni della manifestazione; sono state inserite due foto della mummia del barone Altadonna, che si trova nella cripta dei Padri Cappuccini di Savoca; sono stati inseriti i ritratti di due "Lucie" delle precedenti edizioni, del nonno e del bisnonno della dinastia dei "DIAVOLI"; la "palma d'argento" è stata consegnata dalla Lucia del 2016 (Valentina), alla attuale Lucia (Miriana); nel 2017 la manifestazione non è stata eseguita.

   

Obviously the centre of all attention is the Center Stage made of bamboo structure with aluminium zinc roof.

 

During the first week of July, nightly performance of Chinese Opera dedicated to the Gods and spirits takes place at the Center Stage. It has also become a free entertainment for the public.

 

Not only does this podium provides entertainment for the visitors, it is believed the spiritual buddies enjoy it even more so. In fact, the front row is often vacant out and reserved for the spirits.

 

=====

 

The Ghost Festival, also known as the Hungry Ghost Festival, or Yu Lan is a traditional Chinese festival and holiday celebrated by Chinese in many countries. In the Chinese calendar (a lunisolar calendar), the Ghost Festival is on the 15th night of the seventh month (14th in southern China).

 

In Chinese tradition, the fifteenth day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar is called Ghost Day and the seventh month in general is regarded as the Ghost Month (鬼月), in which ghosts and spirits, including those of the deceased ancestors, come out from the lower realm.

 

Distinct from both the Qingming Festival (in spring) and Chung Yeung Festival (in autumn) in which living descendants pay homage to their deceased ancestors, on Ghost Day, the deceased are believed to visit the living.

 

On the fifteenth day the realms of Heaven and Hell and the realm of the living are open and both Taoists and Buddhists would perform rituals to transmute and absolve the sufferings of the deceased. Intrinsic to the Ghost Month is ancestor worship, where traditionally the filial piety of descendants extends to their ancestors even after their deaths.

 

Activities during the month would include preparing ritualistic food offerings, burning incense, and burning joss paper, a papier-mâché form of material items such as clothes, gold and other fine goods for the visiting spirits of the ancestors

 

=====

 

More images of the Hungry Ghosts "Yu Lan" Festival here:

Hungry Ghosts "Yu Lan" Festival

 

More Chinese Temples images here:

Caves & Temples " Festival

 

=====

 

Photo shot with Photo shot with Nikon D600 + AF-S VR Zoom-Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G IF-ED

 

=====

One of the major of the events, is the distribution of offerings to the hungry ghosts, being regarded as "Good Brothers". Donated goods for the spirits include rice, fresh fruits, potato, dried noodles and in some events, clothes and toiletries.

 

After reading out the " Salvation Chant", the Chief Monk will tend instruct the participating public to place joss sticks, one or more on each of the offering item, signaling that it is made available for the spiritual world to enjoy.

 

During the process, “Dai Si Yeh" Guardian of Spirits will be overseeing a fair and orderly distribution among the hungry spirits.

  

=====

 

The Ghost Festival, also known as the Hungry Ghost Festival, or Yu Lan is a traditional Chinese festival and holiday celebrated by Chinese in many countries. In the Chinese calendar (a lunisolar calendar), the Ghost Festival is on the 15th night of the seventh month (14th in southern China).

 

In Chinese tradition, the fifteenth day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar is called Ghost Day and the seventh month in general is regarded as the Ghost Month (鬼月), in which ghosts and spirits, including those of the deceased ancestors, come out from the lower realm.

 

Distinct from both the Qingming Festival (in spring) and Chung Yeung Festival (in autumn) in which living descendants pay homage to their deceased ancestors, on Ghost Day, the deceased are believed to visit the living.

 

On the fifteenth day the realms of Heaven and Hell and the realm of the living are open and both Taoists and Buddhists would perform rituals to transmute and absolve the sufferings of the deceased. Intrinsic to the Ghost Month is ancestor worship, where traditionally the filial piety of descendants extends to their ancestors even after their deaths.

 

Activities during the month would include preparing ritualistic food offerings, burning incense, and burning joss paper, a papier-mâché form of material items such as clothes, gold and other fine goods for the visiting spirits of the ancestors

 

=====

 

More images of the Hungry Ghosts "Yu Lan" Festival here:

Hungry Ghosts "Yu Lan" Festival

 

More Chinese Temples images here:

Caves & Temples " Festival

 

=====

 

One of the major of the events, is the distribution of offerings to the hungry ghosts, being regarded as "Good Brothers". Donated goods for the spirits include rice, fresh fruits, potato, dried noodles and in some events, clothes and toiletries.

 

After reading out the " Salvation Chant", the Chief Monk will tend instruct the participating public to place joss sticks, one or more on each of the offering item, signaling that it is made available for the spiritual world to enjoy.

 

During the process, “Dai Si Yeh" Guardian of Spirits will be overseeing a fair and orderly distribution among the hungry spirits.

  

=====

 

About the Chinese Hungry Ghost Festival:

 

The Ghost Festival, also known as the Hungry Ghost Festival, or Yu Lan is a traditional Chinese festival and holiday celebrated by Chinese in many countries. In the Chinese calendar (a lunisolar calendar), the Ghost Festival is on the 15th night of the seventh month (14th in southern China).

 

In Chinese tradition, the fifteenth day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar is called Ghost Day and the seventh month in general is regarded as the Ghost Month (鬼月), in which ghosts and spirits, including those of the deceased ancestors, come out from the lower realm.

 

Distinct from both the Qingming Festival (in spring) and Chung Yeung Festival (in autumn) in which living descendants pay homage to their deceased ancestors, on Ghost Day, the deceased are believed to visit the living.

 

On the fifteenth day the realms of Heaven and Hell and the realm of the living are open and both Taoists and Buddhists would perform rituals to transmute and absolve the sufferings of the deceased. Intrinsic to the Ghost Month is ancestor worship, where traditionally the filial piety of descendants extends to their ancestors even after their deaths.

 

Activities during the month would include preparing ritualistic food offerings, burning incense, and burning joss paper, a papier-mâché form of material items such as clothes, gold and other fine goods for the visiting spirits of the ancestors

 

=====

 

More images of the Hungry Ghosts "Yu Lan" Festival here:

Hungry Ghosts "Yu Lan" Festival

 

More Chinese Temples images here:

Caves & Temples " Festival

  

=====

 

If you are interested in purchasing this image, please visit Getty Images page at:

Cheryl Chan @ Getty Images

 

=====

Burning Man Festival 2012 in Nevada. The theme was "Fertility 2"

 

To see more images from 2012 and other years of Burning Man festival go to: www.dusttoashes.com

I hope you enjoyed the images and thank you for visiting.

 

Picture taken with one off camera flash. Canon EX 600 RT triggered by Canon wireless transmuter . Flash zoomed to 105 mm and the picture shot at wider angle to isolate the subject. Also used high sync to cimm ambient light.

Book 3 - The evil Latex Empress Shimmerah Full book

 

Chapter 1 - The new ruler of hell

Chapter 2 - The 3 queens of hell

Chapter 3 - The Lamp of Aladdon

Chapter 4 - The 6 deities of multiverse 0018

Chapter 5 - Her 2rd wish

Chapter 6 - The reapers realm

Chapter 7 - The path of Sliverleaf

Chapter 8 - The djinn's power

Chapter 9 - The crown of controll

Chapter 10 - The jar of Goldglossin

Chapter 12 - Shimmerah's greed.

Chapter 13 - Beings beyond

Chapter 14 - Time loop

  

Chapter 3 - The Lamp of Aladdon

 

Shimmerah, a goddess of evil, lust, and beauty, sought to conquer the realm of heaven. She aimed to circumvent the existing agreement between the devil and the deities, desiring absolute control for herself. To achieve her ambitions, she consulted her "mirror of knowing," which revealed that she was the "hottest girl of all." The mirror also informed her that entering the realm of holy light would cause Aeon, the god of time, to pull her into an alternate timeline, and that the deities would be unable to perceive her. To fulfill her desires, the mirror directed her to the "wishing lamp of Aladdon.

 

The lamp's location was initially in Dommalex, where Shimmerah once resided. However, it had been moved from Glossermul to the world of Nothinhois by the shadow king, and subsequently cast into the past of Dommalex within universe-13R5. In this alternate universe, another version of Shimmerah guarded the lamp, keeping its existence hidden from the evil Shellyana, the queen of latex greed. The original Shimmerah, intrigued by the prospect of her sister's evil nature, also planned to find Shellyana's soul from her own universe, -17Z9, to corrupt her and enslave her as a demon.

 

To obtain the lamp, Shimmerah cloned herself and engaged in an act of self-love on her throne, leaving her clone to occupy it. Through telepathic connection with her clone, she teleported to universe-13R5 and located the alternate Shimmerah, who wore a white dress instead of latex. The original Shimmerah, feigning concern, claimed to be from another universe and sought the lamp to protect it from Shellyana. She then employed "lust manipulation" to disarm the alternate Shimmerah, taking her "magic ring of pure-light" and "ring of wisdom." The alternate Shimmerah, overcome with lust, questioned how such evil could exist. The original Shimmerah, while mockingly caressing her own latex-clad body, read the alternate Shimmerah's mind, discovering that the lamp was hidden within a dream world created by the alternate Shimmerah.

 

The evil latex Shimmerah then "dream-walked" into this dream world, where she found a room filled with gold and powerful artifacts. As she attempted to enter, she began to sink into the gold coins, as if the room itself resisted her. Despite this, she successfully retrieved the magic lamp. Upon exiting the dream world, she found herself in a void, neither in the dream nor the real world. She rubbed the lamp, and a genie emerged, offering her three wishes. Shimmerah's first wish was for "Eternal and Absolute Power over all the Multiverse So I can bend all rules to my own will.

  

Powers and Abilities

Shimmerah possesses a vast array of magical abilities, which she has cultivated and amplified over time:

 

1) Telekinesis: The ability to manipulate objects with her mind.

2) Teleportation: Instantaneous travel from one location to another.

3) Telepathy: The power to read and transmit thoughts.

4) Elemental Manipulation: Control over natural elements, enhanced by the Ring of the 4 Elements.

5) Weather Manipulation: The ability to control weather patterns.

6) Outfit Manipulation: The power to change or create clothing.

7) Intangibility: The ability to pass through solid objects.

8) Umbrakinesis: Manipulation of shadows and darkness, granted by the Ring of Shadows, allowing for stealth and offensive use.

9) Evocation Magic: The summoning of entities or forces.

10) Absorbing Magic: A powerful ability, learned from the Book of Forbidden Knowledge, allowing her to absorb magical energy and power from sources like crystals and entire lands. This power was instrumental in her conquest of the twelve kingdoms and queendoms, where she absorbed the power from all magic crystals in the Queendom of Glossu and subsequently from all lands, making kings and queens her slaves.

11) Lustful Temptation: Her most potent form of seduction, amplified by the Liquid Youth, allowing her to entice others into submission through her beauty and voice.

12) Object Transmutation

13) Meta magic

14) power to bring back the dead

15) Omniscience

16) Sorcery

17) Mass Manipulation

18) Power over holy light and darkness

19) Reality manipulation

20) Age manipulation

21) Lust manipulation

22) Greed manipulation

23) Selfishness manipulation

  

More about Shimmerah

 

Name: Shimmerah

 

Her parents: Queen Veloria and King Zorath

 

Her sister: Shellyana

 

Her magic teacher: Mistress Virella

 

Birthplace: Wealthold city - Capital of Gonzzul

 

Her queendom: Gonzzul

 

Continent - The 12 kingdoms and queendoms - when Shimmerah took over it all she renamed it to Shimmerathia

 

Planet: Dommalex

 

Height : 5, 11

 

Age: 30

 

Hair colour: black

 

Eye colour: light blue - but glow with power

 

Favourite colours: Black

 

Sexually: autosexual

 

Libido: High - very high

 

Personality: narcissistic, vanity, self centered, selfish, greedy, avarice, mean, very dominant, power-hungry, Sly, naughty, gold digger, pure-evil

 

How she see's herself, pretty, sexy, hot, perfect, attractive lustful, beautifully alluring, seductress, divine, powerful, dominant, villainous sexy girl, naughty, provocative.

 

Favourite fashion: Sexy shiny latex clothing, mostly black.

 

Favourite clothing, very dominant latex outfits, short-skirts, skin-tight catsuits, corsets, and thigh high boots

 

Wish in life: To rule all have all, to be all powerful, and all beautiful, perfectly stunning in everyway,

 

Obsessions: World domination, higher beauty, and all power.

Obviously the centre of all attention is the Center Stage made of bamboo structure with aluminium zinc roof.

 

Not only does this podium provides entertainment for the visitors, it is believed the spiritual buddies enjoy it even more so. In fact, the front row is often vacant out and reserved for the spirits.

 

=====

 

The Ghost Festival, also known as the Hungry Ghost Festival, or Yu Lan is a traditional Chinese festival and holiday celebrated by Chinese in many countries. In the Chinese calendar (a lunisolar calendar), the Ghost Festival is on the 15th night of the seventh month (14th in southern China).

 

In Chinese tradition, the fifteenth day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar is called Ghost Day and the seventh month in general is regarded as the Ghost Month (鬼月), in which ghosts and spirits, including those of the deceased ancestors, come out from the lower realm.

 

Distinct from both the Qingming Festival (in spring) and Chung Yeung Festival (in autumn) in which living descendants pay homage to their deceased ancestors, on Ghost Day, the deceased are believed to visit the living.

 

On the fifteenth day the realms of Heaven and Hell and the realm of the living are open and both Taoists and Buddhists would perform rituals to transmute and absolve the sufferings of the deceased. Intrinsic to the Ghost Month is ancestor worship, where traditionally the filial piety of descendants extends to their ancestors even after their deaths.

 

Activities during the month would include preparing ritualistic food offerings, burning incense, and burning joss paper, a papier-mâché form of material items such as clothes, gold and other fine goods for the visiting spirits of the ancestors

 

=====

 

More images of the Hungry Ghosts "Yu Lan" Festival here:

Hungry Ghosts "Yu Lan" Festival

 

More Chinese Temples images here:

Caves & Temples " Festival

 

=====

 

Photo shot with Photo shot with Nikon D600 + AF-S VR Zoom-Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G IF-ED

  

=====

 

If you are interested in purchasing this image, please visit Getty Images page at:

Cheryl Chan @ Getty Images

 

=

prototype number 1.

trying to create an environment that supports the transformation of news. I will watch what happens...

newspaper, nylon thread, teabags, glue

St Andrew, Colney, Norfolk

 

I passed this church for years before I ever went inside. It sits within the urban area of Norwich, on the busy Earlham Road just before it disgorges its heavy load of traffic onto the A47, and I have always thought it rather a poor, beleaguered thing. It was only when I cycled from Bowthorpe, that most maligned of Norwich suburbs, and turned off the road into a little lane with cottages and the beautiful church in its graveyard, that I got a sense that Colney really was once a little village. Indeed, a map inside the church shows that the greater part of the parish is south of the Earlham Road, and is still intensely rural today.

 

This is one of half a dozen or so round-towered churches in the urban area of Norwich, and unless you are viewing it from the main road it has the most successfully rural setting of any of them. The churchyard is a narrow one, and it is easy to forget that, until a few years ago, the route of the main road ran alongside the churchyard wall, and heavy traffic thundered past within a few metres of the church.

 

A reminder of the traffic that once passed so close, and probably the best-known feature of St Andrew, is the headstone to John Fox recut and reset above the south porch entrance. It reads Sacred to the memory of John Fox who on the 20th December 1806 in the 79th year of his age was unfortunately killed near this spot having been thrust down and trampled on by the horses of a wagon. READER if thou drivest a team be careful and endanger not the life of another or thine own. The tower above is heavily restored, but there are double-splayed window holes, and there are also carstone quoins below in the west wall of the nave, both suggestive that this dates back to Saxon times. Otherwise, the church is generally 14th Century in character, albeit with the crispness of its 19th Century restoration.

 

You step into a church which feels entirely Victorian, although very much with a fitting sense of its rural past. The great treasure of the church is the late medieval font. It is an exotic species - I do not think there is another like it in East Anglia. It features the signs of the four Evangelists carved characterfully, the winged lion, bull and eagle taking off with their scrolls in their mouths, the angel of St Matthew holding his in front of him. Facing east is a very good Crucifixion scene, but the most extraordinary panel is that which faces west. It shows a hooded figure kneeling, a donor perhaps, next to what appears to be a man tied to a post with arrows sticking out of his body. Now, this being East Anglia, your first instinct might be that it is intended to represent St Edmund, but the imagery is so close to that of St Sebastian that I think that is who it is meant to be. And, given that this is such an unusual font, it raises the suggestion that this font did not come from Colney originally, and possibly not even from elsewhere in East Anglia.

 

Norwich has contributed more than its fair share of familiar 18th and 19th century family business names, and perhaps the most prominent in the modern age is that of the Barclay banking family of Colney Hall. This was their parish church, and when Evelyn Louisa Barclay died at the age of 37 in 1899, the windows in the chancel by Edward Frampton were placed in her honour. They are worth more than a glance, because they feature Mrs Barclay and her eight children. The most charming window shows her at her reading desk, a baby on her lap and an infant on the floor, the six older Barclay children standing and listening attentively. They are in the height of late Victorian gravitas before it transmuted into the triumphalism of the years before and after the First World War. The oldest boy, Terence, standing in blue, met a tragic and curious end, for in 1911, when he was 29, he was mauled and killed by a lion kept in the menagerie at Colney Hall. His little brother David, the infant sitting at his mother's feet, died just five years later, mortally wounded on the Western Front during the First World War. Both of them are buried in the churchyard.

 

In the decades immediately before the Reformation, there was a great flowering in East Anglia of brasses for Priests, and there is one here, to Henry Alikok, who was Rector, and died in 1502. It is a chalice brass, depicting a chalice and host, to denote that the commemorated person was a Priest. It sits on the edge of a great expanse of orange tiles, which appear to have been painted. I assume that they are actually late Victorian, perhaps contemporary with the Barclay windows, and I couldn't help wondering what had been obscured.

 

A memorial to William Scott is a reminder of the days of the Raj. He was a Cornet of the Bengal Light Infantry, and he died at Jullunder in India in the year before the Indian Mutiny. He was 23 years old. The inscription quotes Genesis, Shall not the God of all the Earth do right, which must have been small comfort to his parents, I think. Outside in the graveyard is another memory of an Eastern tragedy, this time a modern one, in the form of a memorial to a local woman who died in the Boxing Day tsunami of 2004.

 

Here, it is hard to blot out the traffic on the busy road, or the vision of Bowthorpe across the fields. But two jays were obviously quite happy with the way things were. In recent years, these beautiful birds have followed their cousins the magpies into the cities. From being shy birds, they are becoming rather fearless. These two hopped from the churchyard wall onto the top of two adjacent 19th Century headstones, watching me with interest, dipping and tilting their tails slightly to find a balance. The sun came out, and their vivid buff and sapphire dress was jewel-like in this green of late spring. The tufts on their heads made their sharp eyes quizzical. It made a perfect photograph. But, of course, as soon as I lifted my camera, they launched themselves into the air, and were gone.

Click here for my Facebook

 

SOOC

 

Hi everyone!

Today no much to say, rest day at home, trying to get my right knee working normal, I can walk again so, tomorrow I will back at the office and well, some things are going to change...

 

Have a great night you all!

The making of the Madonna & Child Or Re-parenting My Inner Child, Series 3.

An art film by Mary Bogdan.

click here to see the video,

or click here to see it on my blog

 

Madonna & Child OR Re-Parenting My Inner Child 3.1

Series 3, total of 13. Mixed media and giclée printed on archival paper, 8.25” x 10”, 2007

 

I was getting ready for The 9th International Collage Exhibition and Exchange, New Zealand, April 2007. BUT, something crazy happened along the way. I reread the rules, and realized I couldn't/shouldn't send any PLANT MATERIAL in/on the collages to New Zealand from Canada...

 

I'm OUT, I thought. I have several collages with dried leaves, parsley leaves, a hibiscus bloom, twigs, moss, dog hairs, my hairs, pubic hairs... So, I decided I couldn't break up the set of 13 as they were and so decided to just keep them... and hope for the best... that they'll be shown eventually together, somewhere. So, here they are, all 13, together.

 

This has been my process. I was working on these 13 in the last couple of weeks and am now posting the transitions, or should I say transformations, or should I say transmutations, or, dare I say... transcendence.

 

madonna & child or re-parenting my inner child, a film by mary bogdan www.lulu.tv/?p=7650

With this, it marks the end of my photo documentary of the Chinese Hungry Ghosts Festival, and the Seventh month in the Lunar Calendar is coming to an end seven days later - when it's believed that the gates of hell will once again be closed.

 

*** Thank You so much for visiting my set and taking the time to get to know more about these Chinese traditions ***

 

=====

 

Origin and facts of the Hungry Ghost Festival:

 

The Ghost Festival, also known as the Hungry Ghost Festival, or Yu Lan is a traditional Chinese festival and holiday celebrated by Chinese in many countries. In the Chinese calendar (a lunisolar calendar), the Ghost Festival is on the 15th night of the seventh month (14th in southern China).

 

In Chinese tradition, the fifteenth day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar is called Ghost Day and the seventh month in general is regarded as the Ghost Month (鬼月), in which ghosts and spirits, including those of the deceased ancestors, come out from the lower realm.

 

Distinct from both the Qingming Festival (in spring) and Chung Yeung Festival (in autumn) in which living descendants pay homage to their deceased ancestors, on Ghost Day, the deceased are believed to visit the living.

 

On the fifteenth day the realms of Heaven and Hell and the realm of the living are open and both Taoists and Buddhists would perform rituals to transmute and absolve the sufferings of the deceased. Intrinsic to the Ghost Month is ancestor worship, where traditionally the filial piety of descendants extends to their ancestors even after their deaths.

 

Activities during the month would include preparing ritualistic food offerings, burning incense, and burning joss paper, a papier-mâché form of material items such as clothes, gold and other fine goods for the visiting spirits of the ancestors

 

=====

 

More images of the Hungry Ghosts "Yu Lan" Festival here:

Hungry Ghosts "Yu Lan" Festival

 

More Chinese Temples images here:

Caves & Temples " Festival

 

=====

 

Photo shot with Nikon D600 +AF-S VR Zoom-Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G IF-ED

  

=====

---- Angels & Demons (devil tries to tempt Saint Lucia, August 2018, Savoca - Sicily) ----

 

---- Angeli & Demoni (il demonio tenta Santa Lucia, agosto 2018, Savoca - Sicilia) ----

 

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www.fotografidigitali.it/gallery/2726/opere-italiane-segn...

  

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this is a photographic narration that speaks of the eternal struggle that takes place between good and evil, which speaks of a dark period of history, speaks of the violence suffered by women but also by those who belonged to the poorest social classes, historical facts that have been handed down to us in the form of a story and associated-transmuted in the martyrdom of Saint Lucia, this is what happens in the town of Savoca (Sicily). This is a short and long report, I did in Savoca on August 2018 about the living representation of the martyrdom of Saint Lucia (patron saint of the city of Savoca); the cult of the young Saint of Syracuse seems to date back to the fifteenth century, under the influence of Spanish traditions. The commemoration of the history of St. Lucia occurs in two consecutive days, Saturday and Sunday: here I try to tell some times of the day on Sunday, a day during which the festival is held at the height of her beauty. And 'This is a historical event which speaks of Demons and Angels: Saint Lucy refused to marry a rich and powerful suitor (Lucy declared She was married in Christ), which reported the Christian faith of Lucia to prefect Pascasio that ordered his Praetorian Guard to drag Lucia with a rope to a place of prostitution; legend has it that the Holy became heavy, they then tried to drag it with the help of oxen, but it was impossible to move it from where he stood; failing in this, it was then given the order to cavarle eyes, but the young martyr (native of Syracuse) her eyes reappeared.

In the village of Savoca a young girl, affectionately called the "Lucy" is carried on the shoulder of a porter along the streets of the country (sitting on a pillow tied on the shoulder of a man, but in fact men are two); the young Saint remains impassive in the face of demonic temptations: the Devil, called in Sicilian dialect "u Diavulazzu, shake, shakes, turns his pitchfork in an attempt to "distract" the Saint.

The first day of this representation, on Saturday, in an old church in Savoca, the two girls who impersonate the Lucia, of the current year and the previous year, meet with the delivery of palm; the traditional event which we witness on Saturday, has all the appearance of an important rehearsal for the next day, on Sunday when the traditional festival will take place in all its beauty.

Sunday: on top of the procession there are the "Jews" (the emissaries of the prefect Pascasio) along with some Angels, is located immediately after the wagon drawn by two cows from which branches off a rope that will arrive to Saint Lucia (a girl of six years); between her and the cows there are Roman soldiers, who make their way through the crowd squirming like crazy; to hold the rope there are also male figures; the job of Devil (his mask is made of wood, whose invoice is dated, it seems, of the 400') is to distract the little Saint with the help of a long stick equipped of curved points, called "u 'croccu": Lucia hardly is deceived by the promises of the evil one, she will not abandon the state of her property concentration, aided in this by staring, almost in a trance, a small palm branch in silver , she brings devoutly in her hands.It's very important to mention the Baron Baldassarre (nicknamed Baron Altadonna), who applied without any hesitation the practice of Jus de seigneur: using this law the Baron obliged the young brides to spend the wedding night in his alcove. It 'very possible that in the representation of Saint Lucia of Savoca the character of the Devil tempting young Santa with his pitchfork, in reality is nothing but himself, Baron Altadonna, so allegorically described in this traditional Sicilian feast: the figure of the Devil if one takes into account what historians relate, does not belong more to the legend, but sadly to actual event happened. Post scriptum: the photographs, realized both on Saturday and Sunday, were organized and posted without taking into account the temporal chronology of what happened during the two days of the event; two photos of the mummy of Baron Altadonna have been included, which is located in the crypt of the Capuchin Fathers of Savoca; the portraits of two "Lucie" from previous editions, grandfather and great-grandfather of the "DIAVOLI" dynasty were included; the "silver palm" was delivered by Lucia of 2016 (Valentina), to the current Lucia (Miriana), in 2017 the event was not performed.

Ezio Famà.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

questa è una narrazione fotografica che parla dell'eterna lotta che avviene tra il bene ed il male, che parla di un periodo buio della storia, che parla delle violenze subite dalle donne ma anche da coloro che appartenevano alle classi sociali più povere, fatti storici che sono stati tramandati fino a noi in forma di racconto ed associati-trasmutati nel martirio di Santa Lucia, questo è quanto accade nel paese di Savoca (Sicilia). Questo è un report corto e lungo, che ho realizzato in quel di Savoca lo scorso mese di Agosto 2018, su quella che è la rappresentazione vivente del martirio di Santa Lucia (Santa patrona della città di Savoca); il culto della giovane Santa di Siracusa sembra risalire al XV secolo, sotto l'influenza delle tradizioni spagnole. La rievocazione vivente della storia di S.Lucia avviene in due giornate consecutive, il sabato e la domenica: qui tento di raccontare alcuni momenti della giornata della domenica, giorno durante il quale la festa si svolge nel pieno della sua bellezza. E' questa una rievocazione storica che parla di Demoni ed Angeli: la storia rievoca di quando la Santa, si rifiutò di andare in sposa ad un suo ricco e potente pretendente (essendosi dichiarata Cristiana e sposa in Cristo), il quale per vendetta riferì della fede Cristiana di Lucia al prefetto Pascasio; costui diede ordine ai suoi pretoriani di trascinare Lucia con una corda fino ad un lupanare, un luogo di prostituzione; la leggenda narra che la Santa divenne pesantissima, si tentò allora di trascinarla con l'ausilio dei buoi, ma fu impossibile smuoverla da dove si trovava; non riuscendo in ciò, fu allora dato l'ordine di cavarle gli occhi, ma alla giovane martire (nativa di Siracusa) gli occhi le rispuntarono. Nel paese di Savoca una giovane ragazza, chiamata con affetto "la Lucia" viene portata in spalla lungo le vie del paese (seduta su di un cuscino legato sulla spalla di un uomo; in realtà gli uomini portatori sono due, dandosi il cambio l'un l'altro); la giovane Santa rimane impassibile di fronte alle tentazioni demoniache: il Diavolo, chiamato in dialetto siciliano "u Diavulazzu, agita, scuote, fa ruotare il suo forcone nel tentativo di "distrarre" la Santa ma, vani saranno i suoi tentativi. Il primo giorno di questa rappresentazione, il sabato, in una vecchia chiesa di Savoca, le due bambine che impersonano la Lucia, dell'anno in corso e dell'anno precedente, si incontrano con la consegna della palma da una bimba all'altra; l'evento tradizionale al quale si assiste il sabato, ha tutto l'aspetto di una importante prova generale per il giorno dopo, quando la domenica la festa tradizionale avverrà in tutta la sua bellezza.La domenica: in cima alla processione ci sono i "Giudei" (gli emissari del prefetto Pascasio) insieme ad alcuni Angeli, subito dopo si trova il carro tirato da due giumente dalle quali si diparte una corda che giungerà fino a cingere il fianco della bimba che impersona Santa Lucia (una bambina di sei anni); tra lei e le giumente ci sono i soldati Romani, che si fanno largo tra la folla dimenandosi a più non posso; a tenere la corda ci sono anche delle figure maschili che evitano che gli strattonamenti dei soldati romani possano giungere fino alla Santa (ricordiamolo, che è legata a quella corda); davanti alla Santa piroetta il diavolo tentatore, u' Diavulazzu (la maschera è in legno, la cui fattura è datata, sembra, del 400'), il cui compito è quello di distrarre la piccola Santa con l'aiuto di un lungo bastone dotato di punte ricurve, chiamto dialettalmente "u' croccu": Lucia difficilmente si lascerà ingannare dalle promesse del Maligno, non abbandonerà quel suo stato di immobile concentrazione, aiutata in ciò dal fissare, quasi in stato di trance, un piccolo ramo di palma in argento, che lei strige devotamente tra le sue mani. E’ fondamentale menzionare tra i vari personaggi storici della tradizione, il barone Baldassarre, vissuto in Savoca in epoca medioevale, soprannominato barone Altadonna, che applicava senza remora alcuna la pratica della Jus primae noctis: avvalendosi di questa legge il barone obbligava le giovani spose a trascorrere la prima notte di nozze nella sua alcova. E’ fortemente ipotizzabile che nella rappresentazione di Santa Lucia di Savoca il personaggio del Diavolo che tenta la giovane Santa col suo forcone, in realtà non sia altro che egli stesso, il barone Altadonna, così allegoricamente descritto nella festa tradizionale siciliana: la figura del Diavolo, se si tiene conto di quanto narrano gli storici, non apparterrebbe più alla leggenda, ma a questo tristo personaggio realmente vissuto, che usava quotidianamente la moneta della prepotenza. Post scriptum: le fotografie, realizzate sia il sabato che la domenica, sono state organizzate e postate senza tenere conto della cronologia temporale di quanto avvenuto nei due giorni della manifestazione; sono state inserite due foto della mummia del barone Altadonna, che si trova nella cripta dei Padri Cappuccini di Savoca; sono stati inseriti i ritratti di due "Lucie" delle precedenti edizioni, del nonno e del bisnonno della dinastia dei "DIAVOLI"; la "palma d'argento" è stata consegnata dalla Lucia del 2016 (Valentina), alla attuale Lucia (Miriana); nel 2017 la manifestazione non è stata eseguita.

Ezio Famà.

   

Hunterian Art Gallery, University of Glasgow.

"The Entombment" (detail).

After RAPHAEL, Raffaello Santi; (Italian; 1483-1520)

oil on canvas 174.6 x 170.0 .This is a full-scale copy, by an unknown artist, of one of Raphael's major panel pictures, finished in 1507 (Galleria Borghese, Rome). A fine painting, it was bought by the Foulis brothers for their Academy of Fine Arts, Glasgow's first art academy, so that students could learn from an important example of the master's work. This picture was rescued by the Friends of College in 1776 from the Foulis bankruptcy sale in London. It was finally sold to the University of Glasgow in 1779. The work is an accomplished copy, by an unknown hand, of Raphael's dymanic response to Atalanta Baglioni's 1505 commission for an altar piece for San Francesco del Prato in Perugia. Robert Foulis, who inaugurated the Academy in 1754, made copious purchases of casts and 'Old Masters' - genuine or not - to support the teaching role of the school. Raphael seems to have been held in dutiful regard by the Academy, which possessed a few good copies of the master, and which issued sets of engravings after certain of his most celebrated works. Yet Raphael's position was equivocal within the fledgling Academies of Britain - he represented the epitome of 'high taste', yet could be lampooned mercilessly for that very rigidity : witness Joshua Reynolds' caricature of the 'School of Athens' of 1751, now in the National Gallery of Ireland. It indeed transpired that the Foulis Raphaels had little role in the formation of subsequent trends in Scottish art. Genre, portraiture and landscape were too important to the Scots, as was the desirability of evolving a distinctive personal style. Nevertheless, the average Foulis student may have gained from the 'Entombment' an insight into the mechanics of high art, namely, the absorption of great example transmuted by highly developed personal taste. For has not Raphael himself, in this composition, adapted, in the most cunningly surreptitious way, both the Christ figure of Michelangelo's 'Pieta' of 1497-1500 and the Virgin of Michelangelo's Doni Tondo (1503-4) for the figure supporting the swooning Virgin on the right? The Scottish artist doubtless acknowledged this complexity, but resolved ultimately to resist its convolutions. After the dissolution of the Foulis Academy, this fine copy was rescued by the 'Friends of College', who purchased it at sale in London in 1776. It was finally sold to the University of Glasgow in 1779, and remains as memorial to Glasgow's precocious artistic life in the latter half of the 18th century. Text Copyright : Marion Lawson, History of Art Department, University of Glasgow, 1984. Our painting was among the works acquired by the Glasgow University Printer Robert Foulis to hang in the Academy of painting and used by students for copying. For another of the paintings formerly in the Foulis collection see 43521, the Martyrdom of St Catherine by Cossiers. In 1768 Robert Paul, a Foulis Academy pupil, engraved a Raphael drawing for the picture then owned by Crozat. Oil copies of the heads of Saint Mary Magdalen and of Nicidemus appear in p. 3 of A Catalogue of Pictures, Drawings, Prints, Statues and Busts in Plaster of Paris done at the Academy in Glasgow, c.1763 (Duncan p.113). Another same size copy, attributed to Cavaliere d'Arpino, is in the National Gallery of Umbria in Perugia. Purchased, 1779.

www.huntsearch.gla.ac.uk/cgi-bin/foxweb/huntsearch/Detail...

Palingenesis (/ˌpælɪnˈdʒɛnəsɪs/; also palingenesia) is a concept of rebirth or re-creation, used in various contexts in philosophy, theology, politics, and biology. Its meaning stems from Greek palin, meaning again, and genesis, meaning birth. "What is palingenesis?"

 

Answer: The term palingenesis has two common uses relevant to the Bible. One usage relates to evolutionary biology; the other is a theological term. Both usages are connected to the word’s Greek roots. The combination of the terms genesis, meaning “origin” or “birth”; and palin, meaning “again,” defines the term palingenesis as “a rebirth, new beginning, or repetition.”

 

At one point in history, the term palingenesis was used in biology as part of the theory of evolution. Also known as recapitulation or embryological parallelism, the theory of palingenesis taught that embryos passed through their prior evolutionary stages prior to birth. In other words, a developing fetus would look like the animals it had evolved from, in order, as it grew. A human fetus, according to palingenesis, progressed through the stages of fish, amphibian, reptile, bird, and mammal before arriving at a fully formed human being.

 

A major driver behind the popularity of palingenesis or recapitulation theory was the work of Ernst Haeckel. He produced drawings of various creatures in their embryonic form. The problem was that he deliberately over-emphasized the similarities between different animals. As a result, many biology students were taught palingenesis using a visual representation of embryos that was itself misleading. Recapitulation theory eventually fell out of favor and is no longer considered a valid theory by the general scientific community. Unfortunately, in no small part due to widespread use of Haeckel’s drawings, it is a lingering myth.

 

In the spiritual or cultural sense, palingenesis refers to a rebirth or renewal. The term is very broad, so it can be applied to both resurrection within Christianity or reincarnation in faiths such as Hinduism. At times, the term is also used in reference to a personal or cultural revival. Any restarting, re-forming, or re-invention of a once-lost or dead practice could also be considered a type of palingenesis. From a political standpoint, palingenesis refers to the idea of a culture rising from the ashes of history, making this a popular concept with revolutionaries and dictators.

 

The most direct biblical references to palingenesis are in passages such as John 3, where Jesus indicates that only those who are “born again” can see heaven. First Peter 1:3 says, “In [God’s] great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (see also verse 23). The theme of renewal, a core aspect of palingenesis, is also found in verses like Titus 3:5, which speaks of regeneration and renewal. The same idea is found in 1 Corinthians 6:11 and Revelation 7:14.

  

In biology, it is another word for recapitulation—the largely discredited hypothesis which talks of the phase in the development of an organism in which its form and structure pass through the changes undergone in the evolution of the species. In political theory, it is a central component of Roger Griffin's analysis of Fascism as a fundamentally modernist ideology.[1] In theology, the word may refer to reincarnation or to Christian spiritual rebirth symbolized by baptism.

  

Contents

1Philosophy and theology

2Politics and history

3Science

4Notes

5References

Philosophy and theology[edit]

The word palingenesis or rather palingenesia (Ancient Greek: παλιγγενεσία) may be traced back to the Stoics,[2][3][4][5] who used the term for the continual re-creation of the universe. Similarly Philo spoke of Noah and his sons as leaders of a renovation or rebirth of the earth, Plutarch of the transmigration of souls, and Cicero of his own return from exile.

 

In the Gospel of Matthew[6] Jesus is quoted in Greek (although his historical utterance would most likely have been in Aramaic) using the word "παλιγγενεσία" (palingenesia) to describe the Last Judgment foreshadowing the event of the regeneration of a new world. Palingenesia is thus as much the result of, or reason for, the Last Judgement as it is directly the Judgement itself.

 

In philosophy it denotes in its broadest sense the theory (e.g. of the Pythagoreans) that the human soul does not die with the body but is born again in new incarnations. It is thus the equivalent of metempsychosis. The term has a narrower and more specific use in the system of Schopenhauer, who applied it to his doctrine that the will does not die but manifests itself afresh in new individuals. He thus repudiates the primitive metempsychosis doctrine which maintains the reincarnation of the particular soul.

 

Robert Burton, in The Anatomy of Melancholy (1628), writes, "The Pythagoreans defend metempsychosis and palingenesia, that souls go from one body to another."

 

The 17th century English physician-philosopher Sir Thomas Browne in his Religio Medici (1643) declared a belief in palingenesis, stating,

 

A plant or vegetable consumed to ashes, to a contemplative and school Philosopher seems utterly destroyed, and the form to have taken his leave for ever: But to a sensible Artist the forms are not perished, but withdrawn into their incombustible part, where they lie secure from the action of that devouring element. This is made good by experience, which can from the ashes of a plant revive the plant, and from its cinders recall it into its stalk and leaves again.'[7]

 

Palingenesis is the subject of the Argentine author Jorge Luis Borges's last ever short story, The Rose of Paracelsus (1983)

 

Politics and history[edit]

In Antiquities of the Jews (11.3.9) Josephus used the term palingenesis for the national restoration of the Jews in their homeland after the Babylonian exile. The term is commonly used in Modern Greek to refer to the rebirth of the Greek nation after the Greek Revolution. British political theorist Roger Griffin has coined the term palingenetic ultranationalism as a core tenet of fascism, stressing the notion of fascism as an ideology of rebirth of a state or empire in the image of that which came before it – its ancestral political underpinnings. Examples of this are Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany. Under Benito Mussolini, Italy purported to establish an empire as the second incarnation of the Roman Empire, while Adolf Hitler's regime was seen[by whom?] as being the third palingenetic incarnation of the German "Reich" - beginning first with the Holy Roman Empire ("First Reich"), followed by Bismarck's German Empire ("Second Reich") and then Nazi Germany ("Third Reich").

 

Moreover, Griffin's work on palingenesis in fascism analysed the pre-war Fin De Siecle Western society. In doing so he built on Frank Kermode's work The Sense of an Ending which sought to understand the belief in the death of society at the end of the century.[8] As part of this death and rebirth Fascism sought to target what it perceived as degenerative elements of society, notably decadence, materialism, rationalism and enlightenment ideology. Out of this death society would regenerate by returning to a more spiritual and emotional state, with the role of the individual core. This built on the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche, Gustave Le Bon and Henri Bergson's work on the relationship between the mass and the individual with the individual's actions necessary to achieving a state of regeneration.[citation needed]

 

Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet expressed his post-coup project in government as a national rebirth inspired in Diego Portales, a figure of the early republic:[9]

 

“...[democracy] will be born again purified from the vices and bad habits that ended up destroying our institutions... ...we are inspired in the Portalian spirit which has fused together the nation...”

— Augusto Pinochet, 11 October 1973.

Science[edit]

In modern biology (e.g. Haeckel and Fritz Müller), palingenesis has been used for the exact reproduction of ancestral features by inheritance, as opposed to kenogenesis, in which the inherited characteristics are modified by environment.

 

It was also applied to the quite different process supposed by Karl Beurlen to be the mechanism for his orthogenetic theory of evolution.[10]

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palingenesis

St Andrew, Colney, Norfolk

 

I passed this church for years before I ever went inside. It sits within the urban area of Norwich, on the busy Earlham Road just before it disgorges its heavy load of traffic onto the A47, and I have always thought it rather a poor, beleaguered thing. It was only when I cycled from Bowthorpe, that most maligned of Norwich suburbs, and turned off the road into a little lane with cottages and the beautiful church in its graveyard, that I got a sense that Colney really was once a little village. Indeed, a map inside the church shows that the greater part of the parish is south of the Earlham Road, and is still intensely rural today.

 

This is one of half a dozen or so round-towered churches in the urban area of Norwich, and unless you are viewing it from the main road it has the most successfully rural setting of any of them. The churchyard is a narrow one, and it is easy to forget that, until a few years ago, the route of the main road ran alongside the churchyard wall, and heavy traffic thundered past within a few metres of the church.

 

A reminder of the traffic that once passed so close, and probably the best-known feature of St Andrew, is the headstone to John Fox recut and reset above the south porch entrance. It reads Sacred to the memory of John Fox who on the 20th December 1806 in the 79th year of his age was unfortunately killed near this spot having been thrust down and trampled on by the horses of a wagon. READER if thou drivest a team be careful and endanger not the life of another or thine own. The tower above is heavily restored, but there are double-splayed window holes, and there are also carstone quoins below in the west wall of the nave, both suggestive that this dates back to Saxon times. Otherwise, the church is generally 14th Century in character, albeit with the crispness of its 19th Century restoration.

 

You step into a church which feels entirely Victorian, although very much with a fitting sense of its rural past. The great treasure of the church is the late medieval font. It is an exotic species - I do not think there is another like it in East Anglia. It features the signs of the four Evangelists carved characterfully, the winged lion, bull and eagle taking off with their scrolls in their mouths, the angel of St Matthew holding his in front of him. Facing east is a very good Crucifixion scene, but the most extraordinary panel is that which faces west. It shows a hooded figure kneeling, a donor perhaps, next to what appears to be a man tied to a post with arrows sticking out of his body. Now, this being East Anglia, your first instinct might be that it is intended to represent St Edmund, but the imagery is so close to that of St Sebastian that I think that is who it is meant to be. And, given that this is such an unusual font, it raises the suggestion that this font did not come from Colney originally, and possibly not even from elsewhere in East Anglia.

 

Norwich has contributed more than its fair share of familiar 18th and 19th century family business names, and perhaps the most prominent in the modern age is that of the Barclay banking family of Colney Hall. This was their parish church, and when Evelyn Louisa Barclay died at the age of 37 in 1899, the windows in the chancel by Edward Frampton were placed in her honour. They are worth more than a glance, because they feature Mrs Barclay and her eight children. The most charming window shows her at her reading desk, a baby on her lap and an infant on the floor, the six older Barclay children standing and listening attentively. They are in the height of late Victorian gravitas before it transmuted into the triumphalism of the years before and after the First World War. The oldest boy, Terence, standing in blue, met a tragic and curious end, for in 1911, when he was 29, he was mauled and killed by a lion kept in the menagerie at Colney Hall. His little brother David, the infant sitting at his mother's feet, died just five years later, mortally wounded on the Western Front during the First World War. Both of them are buried in the churchyard.

 

In the decades immediately before the Reformation, there was a great flowering in East Anglia of brasses for Priests, and there is one here, to Henry Alikok, who was Rector, and died in 1502. It is a chalice brass, depicting a chalice and host, to denote that the commemorated person was a Priest. It sits on the edge of a great expanse of orange tiles, which appear to have been painted. I assume that they are actually late Victorian, perhaps contemporary with the Barclay windows, and I couldn't help wondering what had been obscured.

 

A memorial to William Scott is a reminder of the days of the Raj. He was a Cornet of the Bengal Light Infantry, and he died at Jullunder in India in the year before the Indian Mutiny. He was 23 years old. The inscription quotes Genesis, Shall not the God of all the Earth do right, which must have been small comfort to his parents, I think. Outside in the graveyard is another memory of an Eastern tragedy, this time a modern one, in the form of a memorial to a local woman who died in the Boxing Day tsunami of 2004.

 

Here, it is hard to blot out the traffic on the busy road, or the vision of Bowthorpe across the fields. But two jays were obviously quite happy with the way things were. In recent years, these beautiful birds have followed their cousins the magpies into the cities. From being shy birds, they are becoming rather fearless. These two hopped from the churchyard wall onto the top of two adjacent 19th Century headstones, watching me with interest, dipping and tilting their tails slightly to find a balance. The sun came out, and their vivid buff and sapphire dress was jewel-like in this green of late spring. The tufts on their heads made their sharp eyes quizzical. It made a perfect photograph. But, of course, as soon as I lifted my camera, they launched themselves into the air, and were gone.

Arturo Gonzalez and Maru Izaguirre. Radical Horizons: The Art of Burning Man. Chatsworth House Gardens, Bakewell, Derbyshire, UK.

Character Creation

 

Garth Ranzz, also known as Live Wire and Lightning Lad, is a superhero appearing in media published by DC Comics, usually those featuring the Legion of Superheroes, a 30th and 31st century group of which he is a founding member.[1] He has the superhuman ability to generate electricity, usually in the form of lightning bolts.

 

Garth Ranzz as Lightning Lad has appeared in various media outside comics, primarily those featuring the Legion of Super-Heroes. He is voiced by Andy Milder in Legion of Super Heroes (2006) and portrayed by Calum Worthy in Smallville.

 

The character first appeared in Adventure Comics #247 (April 1958), and was created by Otto Binder and Al Plastino.

 

Character History

 

Garth Ranzz was born on the agricultural world of Winath with his twin, Ayla. Garth, Ayla, and their older brother Mekt were joy riding when their ship lost power and came down on the world of Korbal. They devised a scheme to recharge their ship's energy cells using the electrical energy of Korbal's lightning beasts. They underestimated the beasts' power and were all bathed in bio-electric energy. After their return with new found powers, Mekt disappeared.

 

Garth left home to look for his brother. On his journey he helped two other super powered teenagers foil the assassination of philanthropist R.J. Brande. Brande suggested they form a team - the Legion of Super-Heroes. Garth assumed the name Lightning Boy initially, but switched to Lightning Lad.

 

Original Continuity: New Earth

 

He was one of the first Legionnaires to be killed when he sacrificed his life to save Saturn Girl, taking a blast from Zaryan the Conqueror's ship. He was resurrected by Proty, the shape shifting pet of Chameleon Boy, who sacrificed his life to revive Garth in a lightning ceremony. Later, Garth lost his right arm to a giant space whale, and had to get a cybernetic replacement. Years later, his parents were killed in a space cruiser accident. His years on the Legion weren't all bad.

 

He formed close friendships with Cosmic Boy** and Sun Boy and he and Saturn Girl became one of the Legion's earliest couples following his resurrection. His sister joined the Legion as well. Though Garth lost his arm, it was eventually restored. After several years of dating, Lightning Lad proposed to Saturn Girl and she accepted.*

 

Reboot: Earth-247

 

In his search for his brother Mekt he had been branded a runaway due to only being 14, which was a minor on Winath. When his sister arrived to join the Legion as Winath's official representative, Garth quit in shame. He went on to work for the industrialist Leland McCauley on his Workforce team. Garth had hoped to make some money to look for his brother, but quit the team soon after due to McCauley's lack of morals.

 

Despite aiding the Legion against Daxamite terrorists, Garth was still not allowed to rejoin, so he went off again to find his brother. When he found Mekt, his mind had snapped, and he was a deadly criminal. Mekt abducted Garth and shot his right arm off. After recovering from his battle with Mekt and gaining a cybernetic arm, Garth worked with a newly formed Espionage Squad to uncover the corruption of President Chu.

 

She was impeached, and Brande was made president in her place. His first act as President was to eliminate the membership restrictions on the Legion, finally allowing Garth to rejoin.

 

Threeboot: Earth-Prime

 

On Earth-Prime, Garth Ranzz was Lightning Lad once more and one of the founders of the Legion of Super-Heroes. They were now a teen youth movement and Garth coined their first battle cry: "Eat it, Grandpa!" He was dating Saturn Girl, and said that the only way to successfully date a telepath was to be "way honest." He was instrumental in gaining legal status for the Legion, but forgot to read the fine print in the agreement - the U.P. now had the right to use the Legion's image in any way they wished.

 

When Cosmic Boy disappeared after the Dominators attempted to take over Earth, a public election was held for Legion leadership. Supergirl was elected with Lightning Lad her deputy. She soon left for the 21st century and Garth became the team leader. Garth was quickly overwhelmed with the responsibilities of leadership, especially dealing with the various organizations of the United Planets.

 

This put a strain in he and Saturn Girl's relationship which led her to have a psychic affair. She confessed the indiscretion and Garth broke up with her.

 

Retroboot: New Earth

 

Infinite Crisis restored the original Legion continuity from before Five Years Later. Garth was once again married to Saturn Girl and a father to twin sons, though he ultimately rejoined the Legion when Earth-Man began an anti-alien campaign on Earth.

 

The Legion founders went to the Batcave to find proof that Superman was actually a Kryptonian and not an Earthling like Earth-Man was leading the people to believe, but Garth and the others were captured. Eventually he was freed and Earth-Man was defeated. After Saturn Girl's homeworld of Titan was destroyed and their twin boys were kidnapped but recovered from a servant of Darkseid, Garth and Imra decide to take a leave of absence from the Legion to spend time with their boys.

 

Post-Flashpoint: Earth-0

 

Following the conclusion of Flashpoint, the various timelines were united and rebooted once again. The Legion's timeline changed slightly where they still reached out to a young Clark Kent long before he became Superman, but they Legion grew up along with Clark and have changed their names to reflect their age.

 

Imra changed her name to Saturn Woman and her along with Saturn Girl (Now Saturn Woman) and Cosmic Boy (Now Cosmic Man) reunited with an adult Clark Kent in an effort to stop the Anti-Superman army from destroying the original rocket that took Clark to Earth. They succeeded in saving the rocket and keeping he timeline intact.

 

During the battle, Garth's right arm was apparently destroyed off-panel. The wires seen in its place indicate that he had already replaced it with a cybernetic arm akin to the Earth-247 version.

 

DC Rebirth

 

Lightning Lad reappears once again as a founding member of the Legion Of Superheroes

 

Major Story Arcs

 

Original Continuity: New Earth - Married Life

 

Garth and Imra were married and were forced to leave the Legion by its own by-laws, but this was shortly thereafter vetoed and the couple returned to active duty. Garth was even elected leader at one point, but the stress became too much and he resigned before the end of his term. Imra became pregnant and gave birth to a healthy baby boy, Graym Ranzz.

 

Wanting to spend more time with his young family, Garth resigned with his fellow Legion founders from the team. Though it was a horror to learn that the villainous Validus was actually his son's twin, thrust through time and manipulated by Darkseid, the boy was eventually restored and returned to the Ranzzes. Even after Saturn Girl returned to active duty, Garth remained at home with his sons.

 

Five Years Later

 

Following the five years later after the Magic Wars, Garth had relocated his family to Winath. There they established the Lightning Plantation and became a successful farming and shipping collective. Tragedy struck when Garth's son Garridan, the former Validus, began infecting Winathians with a deadly plague.

 

His son had to be taken off-world to the planet Quarantine and could only visit wearing a special suit. The disease also caused Garth to walk with a limp. However, good news soon followed.

 

Imra became pregnant again with twins and the Legion of Super-Heroes was reforming. Though the Ranzzes didn't join back up, they did assist their old teammates from time to time and Garth even gave them an old storage facility on Talus to use as a headquarters.

 

Who is Garth?

 

Shortly after his daughters Dacey and Dorritt were born, his sister Ayla stumbled upon a secret that Garth had been keeping: he wasn't Garth at all, but Proty. Proty's consciousness had been transferred into Garth's body and was the cause of Lightning Lad's resurrection. Being a former telepath as Proty, Garth was able to protect his thoughts from his telepathic wife about the matter.

 

Garth assisted Legionnaires past and present in hunting down Glorith and Mordru to save Cosmic Boy. Zero Hour then happened and Garth and the other Legionnaires sacrificed themselves to save the timestream and create a new reality.

 

Reboot: Earth-247 - The Death of Garth

 

When half the Legion was stuck in the 20th century, Brande personally asked Garth to become Legion leader. Live Wire wasn't comfortable with the idea and shortly thereafter hosted a leadership election for a replacement. Once the team was reunited, he began a relationship with Saturn Girl and ultimately proposed. Garth and Imra were one of several Legionnaires lost in a spatial rift. Saturn Girl's manipulation of the team put a strain on their relationship. Live Wire sacrificed himself fighting their former teammate, Element Lad, who had spent billions of years becoming a mad god.

 

Garth's Body Restored

 

Garth's spirit, however, was stored in the living crystals of Element Lad's corpse, and he was able to return to the Legion - but in Element Lad's body. This caused a lot of anxiety among the Legion, but eventually his friends came to accept Garth. When Earth-247 was destroyed in Infinite Crisis, Garth and his team survived because they had been lost in the timestream. Garth's original body was eventually restored when the Brainiac 5 of New Earth used a special lightning rod to help Garth transmute himself to normal. He then rejoined his team as they pushed into the multiverse as the new Wanderers.

 

Powers & Abilities - Electricity Control

 

Lightning Lad has the ability to generate electricity and direct bolts of electricity accurately. Lightning Lad can use his power destructively, such as to short-circuit electrical items, split boulders, burn objects with precision or shatter walls. He can also reduce the force of his bolts so that they will only stun. He can send his electricity through conductive metals. He has a degree of immunity to electrical charge; in fact, they give him more strength to use his power. In some instances he has a robotic right arm that is powered by his lightning power.

 

Equipment

 

As a member of the Legion of Super-Heroes, Lightning Lad possesses a Legion Flight Ring. The ring gives its wearer the ability to fly, the speed and range of which is determined by the wearer's willpower. It also acts as a long-range communicator (enabling constant vocal contact with other Legionnaires, even across vast distances of space), a signal device, and a navigational compass, all powered by a micro-computer built inside the ring.

 

⚡ Happy 🎯 Heroclix 💫 Friday! 👽

_____________________________

 

A year of the shows and performers of the Bijou Planks Theater.

 

Secret Identity: Garth Ranzz

 

Publisher: DC

 

First Appearance: Adventure Comics #247 (April 1958)

 

Created by: Otto Binder (Writer)

Al Plastino (Artist)

 

* Saturn Girl seen in BP 2021 Day 239!

www.flickr.com/photos/paprihaven/51406326508/

 

** Cosmic Boy seen in BP 2022 Day 364!

www.flickr.com/photos/paprihaven/52597081315/

It became apparent that the site was well suited for another high-profile memorial since it sat directly south of the White House. By 1901 the Senate Park Commission, better known as the McMillan Commission, had proposed placing a pantheon-like structure on the site hosting "the statues of the illustrious men of the nation, or whether the memory of some individual shall be honored by a monument of the first rank may be left to the future"; no action was ever taken by Congress on this issue.[3]

 

The completion of the Tidal Basin Inlet Bridge in 1908 helped to facilitate the recreational usage of East and West Potomac Parks. In 1918, large liquid-chlorine dispensers were installed under the bridge to treat the water and make the Tidal Basin (also known as Twining Lake) suitable for swimming. The Tidal Basin Beach, on the site of the future Memorial, opened in May 1918 and operated as a "Whites Only" facility through 1925, when it was permanently closed to avoid the question of racial integration.[5]

 

A design competition was held for a memorial to Theodore Roosevelt in 1925. The winning design was submitted by John Russell Pope and consisted of a half-circle memorial situated next to a circular basin. The plan was never funded by Congress and was not built.[3]

Jefferson Memorial Side View

 

The Memorial's chance came in 1934 when President Franklin Roosevelt, an admirer of Jefferson himself, inquired to the Commission of Fine Arts about the possibility of erecting a memorial to Jefferson, including it in the plans for the Federal Triangle project, which was under construction at the time. Later the same year, Congressman John J. Boylan jumped off FDR's starting point and urged Congress to create the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Commission. Boylan was appointed the Commission's first chairman and Congress eventually appropriated $3 million for a memorial to Jefferson.[3]

Jefferson warns that a nation cannot be "ignorant and free."

 

The Commission chose John Russell Pope as the architect in 1935. Pope was also the architect of the National Archives Building and original (west) building of the National Gallery of Art. He prepared four different plans for the project, each on a different site. One was on the Anacostia River at the end of East Capitol Street; one at Lincoln Park; one on the south side of the National Mall across from the National Archives; and one situated on the Tidal Basin, directly south of the White House. The Commission preferred the site on the Tidal Basin mainly because it was the most prominent site and because it completed the four-point plan called for by the McMillan Commission (Lincoln Memorial to the Capitol; White House to the Tidal Basin site). Pope designed a very large pantheon-like structure, to sit on a square platform, and to be flanked by two smaller, rectangular, colonnaded buildings.[3]

[edit] Construction

Under construction in 1941, as seen from across the Tidal Basin

 

Construction began on December 15, 1938 and the cornerstone was laid on November 15, 1939, by president Franklin Roosevelt. By this point Pope had died (1937) and his surviving partners, Daniel P. Higgins and Otto R. Eggers, took over construction of the memorial. The design was modified at the request of the Commission of Fine Arts to a more conservative design.

 

Construction commenced amid significant opposition. The Commission of Fine Arts never actually approved any design for the Memorial and even published a pamphlet in 1939 opposing both the design and site of the Memorial. In addition, many Washingtonians opposed the site because it was not aligned with L'Enfant's original plan. Finally, many well established elm and cherry trees had to be removed for construction. Construction continued amid the opposition.[3]

 

In 1939, the Memorial Commission hosted a competition to select a sculptor for the planned statue in the center of the Memorial. They received 101 entries and chose six finalists. Of the six, Rudulph Evans was chosen as the main sculptor and Adolph A. Weinman was chosen to sculpt the pediment relief situated above the entrance.[3]

 

The Jefferson Memorial was officially dedicated by President Roosevelt on April 13, 1943, the 200th anniversary of Jefferson's birthday. At that time, Evans' statue had not yet been finished. Due to material shortages during World War II, the statue that was installed at the time was a plaster cast of Evans' work painted to look like bronze. The finished bronze statue was installed in 1947, having been cast by the Roman Bronze Company of New York.[3]

 

One of the last American public monuments in the Beaux-Arts tradition,[citation needed] the Memorial was severely criticized even as it was being built, by those who adhered to the modernist argument that dressing 20th century buildings like Greek and Roman ones constituted a "tired architectural lie."[citation needed] More than 60 years ago, Pope responded with silence to critics who dismissed him as part of an enervated architectural elite practicing "styles that are safely dead."[citation needed] As a National Memorial it was administratively listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966.[1][6]

[edit] Description

The monument's marble steps, portico, and circular colonnade of Ionic order columns, and shallow dome.

 

Composed of circular marble steps, a portico, a circular colonnade of Ionic order columns, and a shallow dome, the building is open to the elements. Pope made references to the Roman Pantheon and Jefferson's own design for the Rotunda at the University of Virginia. It is situated in West Potomac Park, on the shore of the Tidal Basin of the Potomac River. The Jefferson Memorial, and the White House located directly north, form one of the main anchor points in the area of the National Mall in D.C. The Washington Monument, just east of the axis on the national Mall, was intended to be located at the intersection of the White House and the site for the Jefferson Memorial to the south, but soft swampy ground which defied 19th century engineering required it be sited to the east.[citation needed]

[edit] The interior

Rudulph Evans's statue of Thomas Jefferson with excerpts from the Declaration of Independence to the right

 

The interior of the memorial has a 19-foot (5.8 m) tall, 10,000 lb (4336 kg) bronze statue[7] of Jefferson by sculptor Rudulph Evans[7] showing Jefferson looking out toward the White House. This statue was added four years after the dedication. Most prominent are the words which are inscribed in a frieze below the dome: "I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man."[8] This sentence is taken from a September 23, 1800, letter by Jefferson to Dr. Benjamin Rush wherein he defends the constitutional refusal to recognize a state religion.

 

On the panel of the southwest interior wall are excerpts from the Declaration of Independence, written in 1776:[9]

 

We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, that to secure these rights governments are instituted among men. We...solemnly publish and declare, that these colonies are and of right ought to be free and independent states...And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine providence, we mutually pledge our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honour.

 

Note that the inscription uses the word "inalienable", as in Jefferson's draft, rather than "unalienable", as in the published Declaration.[10]

 

On the panel of the northwest interior wall is an excerpt from "A Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom, 1777", except for the last sentence, which is taken from a letter of August 28, 1789, to James Madison:[9][11]

 

Almighty God hath created the mind free...All attempts to influence it by temporal punishments or burthens...are a departure from the plan of the Holy Author of our religion...No man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship or ministry or shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief, but all men shall be free to profess and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion. I know but one code of morality for men whether acting singly or collectively.

 

Detail of the statue

 

The quotes from the panel of the northeast interior wall are from multiple sources. The first sentence, beginning "God who gave...", is from "A Summary View of the Rights of British America".[12] The second, third and fourth sentences are from Notes on the State of Virginia.[13] The fifth sentence, beginning "Nothing is more...", is from Jefferson's autobiography.[14] The sixth sentence, beginning "Establish the law...", is from an August 13, 1790, letter to George Wythe.[15] The final sentence is from a letter of January 4, 1786, to George Washington[16]:[9]

 

God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that his justice cannot sleep forever. Commerce between master and slave is despotism. Nothing is more certainly written in the book of fate than these people are to be free. Establish the law for educating the common people. This it is the business of the state to effect and on a general plan.

 

The inscription on the panel of the southeast interior wall is redacted and excerpted from a letter July 12, 1816, to Samuel Kercheval:[17][9]

 

I am not an advocate for frequent changes in laws and constitutions. But laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths discovered and manners and opinions change, with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also to keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors.

 

[edit] Criticism

 

Cato Institute Fellow and University of Alberta history professor emeritus Ronald Hamowy has called the inscriptions "[p]erhaps the most egregious examples of invoking Jefferson for purely transient political purposes." Hamowy argues that:

 

Planned and built during the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt, the walls of the memorial are adorned with quotations from Jefferson’s writings, many of which suggest that Jefferson advocated positions consistent with the aims of the New Deal—with which he would, in fact, have had little sympathy. Thus, Jefferson’s admonition that an educated electorate was essential if liberty were to be preserved is transmuted into a call for universal public education. And his caution that man, as he advances in his understanding of the world, must accompany his greater enlightenment with changes in his social institutions becomes a justification for a new theory of government in keeping with the social-democratic principles that animated the New Deal.[18]

 

The excerpts chosen from the Declaration have been criticized because the first half alters Jefferson's prose (for the sake of saving space) and eliminates the right of revolution passage that Jefferson believed was the point of the Declaration, while much of the second half (from "solemnly publish" to "divine providence") was not written by Jefferson.[19]

 

The fifth sentence quoted on the northeast interior wall ("Nothing is more certainly written in the book of fate than these people are to be free.") has been called "misleadingly truncated" by historian Garry Wills, because Jefferson's sentence continued with: "Nor is it less certain that the two races, equally free, cannot live in the same government."[20]

[edit] Location

Jefferson Memorial, with Potomac River in the background. Photographed from the top of the Washington Monument, January 1967

 

The site of the monument is in Washington D.C. West Potomac Park, on the shore of the Potomac River Tidal Basin, is enhanced with the massed planting of Japanese cherry trees, a gift from the people of Japan in 1912.[21]

 

The monument is not as prominent in popular culture as other Washington, D.C. buildings and monuments, possibly due to its location well removed from the National Mall and the Washington Metro. The Jefferson Memorial hosts many events and ceremonies each year, including memorial exercises, the Easter Sunrise Service, and the annual National Cherry Blossom Festival.[21]

 

The monument is open 24 hours a day but park rangers are there only until 11:30 p.m.;however, the monument is only a few hundred yards from the National Park Police D.C. Headquarters in East Potomac Park. (0330 UTC)[22]

Happy Friday, dear Flickr friends... :-)

 

Here is my next entry into my crystal database.

 

Cut and polished, 3.5 x 2 x 0.5 cm

 

Chiastolite is a powerfully protective stone. In ancient times it was used to ward off ill wishing and curses. It has the property of transmuting dissension into harmony. This is a creative stone with the power to dispel negative thoughts and feelings. It transmutes conflict into harmony and aids problem solving and change. Chiastolite is a gateway onto mysteries and facilitates journeys out of the body. It facilitates understanding and exploration of immortality. Linked to death and rebirth, it is helpful for those making the transition beyond death. This stone can provide the answer to mysterious events. It assists in attuning to the soul's purpose.

  

Healing: Chiastolite lessens fevers, stanches blood flow, and alleviates over-acidification, healing rheumatism and gout. It stimulates lactation in nursing mothers. This stone repairs chromosome damage and balances the immune system. It can cure paralysis and is a nerve fortifier.

 

Received as a present from my wife Sigi...

   

This shot is not digitally manipulated in any way.

 

© Nic Kolbe • Please do not use this photo for Blogs or Banners without my permission.

---- Angels & Demons (devil tries to tempt Saint Lucia, August 2018, Savoca - Sicily) ----

 

---- Angeli & Demoni (il demonio tenta Santa Lucia, agosto 2018, Savoca - Sicilia) ----

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------

  

click here - clicca qui

  

the slideshow

  

Qi Bo's photos on Fluidr

  

Qi Bo's photos on Flickriver

  

Qi Bo's photos on FlickeFlu

  

Qi Bo's photos on PICSSR

 

Qi Bo's photos on Flickr Hive Mind

  

www.worldphoto.org/sony-world-photography-awards/winners-...

  

www.fotografidigitali.it/gallery/2726/opere-italiane-segn...

  

-------------------------------------------------------------------

  

this is a photographic narration that speaks of the eternal struggle that takes place between good and evil, which speaks of a dark period of history, speaks of the violence suffered by women but also by those who belonged to the poorest social classes, historical facts that have been handed down to us in the form of a story and associated-transmuted in the martyrdom of Saint Lucia, this is what happens in the town of Savoca (Sicily). This is a short and long report, I did in Savoca on August 2018 about the living representation of the martyrdom of Saint Lucia (patron saint of the city of Savoca); the cult of the young Saint of Syracuse seems to date back to the fifteenth century, under the influence of Spanish traditions. The commemoration of the history of St. Lucia occurs in two consecutive days, Saturday and Sunday: here I try to tell some times of the day on Sunday, a day during which the festival is held at the height of her beauty. And 'This is a historical event which speaks of Demons and Angels: Saint Lucy refused to marry a rich and powerful suitor (Lucy declared She was married in Christ), which reported the Christian faith of Lucia to prefect Pascasio that ordered his Praetorian Guard to drag Lucia with a rope to a place of prostitution; legend has it that the Holy became heavy, they then tried to drag it with the help of oxen, but it was impossible to move it from where he stood; failing in this, it was then given the order to cavarle eyes, but the young martyr (native of Syracuse) her eyes reappeared.

In the village of Savoca a young girl, affectionately called the "Lucy" is carried on the shoulder of a porter along the streets of the country (sitting on a pillow tied on the shoulder of a man, but in fact men are two); the young Saint remains impassive in the face of demonic temptations: the Devil, called in Sicilian dialect "u Diavulazzu, shake, shakes, turns his pitchfork in an attempt to "distract" the Saint.

The first day of this representation, on Saturday, in an old church in Savoca, the two girls who impersonate the Lucia, of the current year and the previous year, meet with the delivery of palm; the traditional event which we witness on Saturday, has all the appearance of an important rehearsal for the next day, on Sunday when the traditional festival will take place in all its beauty.

Sunday: on top of the procession there are the "Jews" (the emissaries of the prefect Pascasio) along with some Angels, is located immediately after the wagon drawn by two cows from which branches off a rope that will arrive to Saint Lucia (a girl of six years); between her and the cows there are Roman soldiers, who make their way through the crowd squirming like crazy; to hold the rope there are also male figures; the job of Devil (his mask is made of wood, whose invoice is dated, it seems, of the 400') is to distract the little Saint with the help of a long stick equipped of curved points, called "u 'croccu": Lucia hardly is deceived by the promises of the evil one, she will not abandon the state of her property concentration, aided in this by staring, almost in a trance, a small palm branch in silver , she brings devoutly in her hands.It's very important to mention the Baron Baldassarre (nicknamed Baron Altadonna), who applied without any hesitation the practice of Jus de seigneur: using this law the Baron obliged the young brides to spend the wedding night in his alcove. It 'very possible that in the representation of Saint Lucia of Savoca the character of the Devil tempting young Santa with his pitchfork, in reality is nothing but himself, Baron Altadonna, so allegorically described in this traditional Sicilian feast: the figure of the Devil if one takes into account what historians relate, does not belong more to the legend, but sadly to actual event happened. Post scriptum: the photographs, realized both on Saturday and Sunday, were organized and posted without taking into account the temporal chronology of what happened during the two days of the event; two photos of the mummy of Baron Altadonna have been included, which is located in the crypt of the Capuchin Fathers of Savoca; the portraits of two "Lucie" from previous editions, grandfather and great-grandfather of the "DIAVOLI" dynasty were included; the "silver palm" was delivered by Lucia of 2016 (Valentina), to the current Lucia (Miriana), in 2017 the event was not performed.

Ezio Famà.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

questa è una narrazione fotografica che parla dell'eterna lotta che avviene tra il bene ed il male, che parla di un periodo buio della storia, che parla delle violenze subite dalle donne ma anche da coloro che appartenevano alle classi sociali più povere, fatti storici che sono stati tramandati fino a noi in forma di racconto ed associati-trasmutati nel martirio di Santa Lucia, questo è quanto accade nel paese di Savoca (Sicilia). Questo è un report corto e lungo, che ho realizzato in quel di Savoca lo scorso mese di Agosto 2018, su quella che è la rappresentazione vivente del martirio di Santa Lucia (Santa patrona della città di Savoca); il culto della giovane Santa di Siracusa sembra risalire al XV secolo, sotto l'influenza delle tradizioni spagnole. La rievocazione vivente della storia di S.Lucia avviene in due giornate consecutive, il sabato e la domenica: qui tento di raccontare alcuni momenti della giornata della domenica, giorno durante il quale la festa si svolge nel pieno della sua bellezza. E' questa una rievocazione storica che parla di Demoni ed Angeli: la storia rievoca di quando la Santa, si rifiutò di andare in sposa ad un suo ricco e potente pretendente (essendosi dichiarata Cristiana e sposa in Cristo), il quale per vendetta riferì della fede Cristiana di Lucia al prefetto Pascasio; costui diede ordine ai suoi pretoriani di trascinare Lucia con una corda fino ad un lupanare, un luogo di prostituzione; la leggenda narra che la Santa divenne pesantissima, si tentò allora di trascinarla con l'ausilio dei buoi, ma fu impossibile smuoverla da dove si trovava; non riuscendo in ciò, fu allora dato l'ordine di cavarle gli occhi, ma alla giovane martire (nativa di Siracusa) gli occhi le rispuntarono. Nel paese di Savoca una giovane ragazza, chiamata con affetto "la Lucia" viene portata in spalla lungo le vie del paese (seduta su di un cuscino legato sulla spalla di un uomo; in realtà gli uomini portatori sono due, dandosi il cambio l'un l'altro); la giovane Santa rimane impassibile di fronte alle tentazioni demoniache: il Diavolo, chiamato in dialetto siciliano "u Diavulazzu, agita, scuote, fa ruotare il suo forcone nel tentativo di "distrarre" la Santa ma, vani saranno i suoi tentativi. Il primo giorno di questa rappresentazione, il sabato, in una vecchia chiesa di Savoca, le due bambine che impersonano la Lucia, dell'anno in corso e dell'anno precedente, si incontrano con la consegna della palma da una bimba all'altra; l'evento tradizionale al quale si assiste il sabato, ha tutto l'aspetto di una importante prova generale per il giorno dopo, quando la domenica la festa tradizionale avverrà in tutta la sua bellezza.La domenica: in cima alla processione ci sono i "Giudei" (gli emissari del prefetto Pascasio) insieme ad alcuni Angeli, subito dopo si trova il carro tirato da due giumente dalle quali si diparte una corda che giungerà fino a cingere il fianco della bimba che impersona Santa Lucia (una bambina di sei anni); tra lei e le giumente ci sono i soldati Romani, che si fanno largo tra la folla dimenandosi a più non posso; a tenere la corda ci sono anche delle figure maschili che evitano che gli strattonamenti dei soldati romani possano giungere fino alla Santa (ricordiamolo, che è legata a quella corda); davanti alla Santa piroetta il diavolo tentatore, u' Diavulazzu (la maschera è in legno, la cui fattura è datata, sembra, del 400'), il cui compito è quello di distrarre la piccola Santa con l'aiuto di un lungo bastone dotato di punte ricurve, chiamto dialettalmente "u' croccu": Lucia difficilmente si lascerà ingannare dalle promesse del Maligno, non abbandonerà quel suo stato di immobile concentrazione, aiutata in ciò dal fissare, quasi in stato di trance, un piccolo ramo di palma in argento, che lei strige devotamente tra le sue mani. E’ fondamentale menzionare tra i vari personaggi storici della tradizione, il barone Baldassarre, vissuto in Savoca in epoca medioevale, soprannominato barone Altadonna, che applicava senza remora alcuna la pratica della Jus primae noctis: avvalendosi di questa legge il barone obbligava le giovani spose a trascorrere la prima notte di nozze nella sua alcova. E’ fortemente ipotizzabile che nella rappresentazione di Santa Lucia di Savoca il personaggio del Diavolo che tenta la giovane Santa col suo forcone, in realtà non sia altro che egli stesso, il barone Altadonna, così allegoricamente descritto nella festa tradizionale siciliana: la figura del Diavolo, se si tiene conto di quanto narrano gli storici, non apparterrebbe più alla leggenda, ma a questo tristo personaggio realmente vissuto, che usava quotidianamente la moneta della prepotenza. Post scriptum: le fotografie, realizzate sia il sabato che la domenica, sono state organizzate e postate senza tenere conto della cronologia temporale di quanto avvenuto nei due giorni della manifestazione; sono state inserite due foto della mummia del barone Altadonna, che si trova nella cripta dei Padri Cappuccini di Savoca; sono stati inseriti i ritratti di due "Lucie" delle precedenti edizioni, del nonno e del bisnonno della dinastia dei "DIAVOLI"; la "palma d'argento" è stata consegnata dalla Lucia del 2016 (Valentina), alla attuale Lucia (Miriana); nel 2017 la manifestazione non è stata eseguita.

Ezio Famà.

   

---- Angels & Demons (devil tries to tempt Saint Lucia, August 2018, Savoca - Sicily) ----

 

---- Angeli & Demoni (il demonio tenta Santa Lucia, agosto 2018, Savoca - Sicilia) ----

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------

  

click here - clicca qui

  

the slideshow

  

Qi Bo's photos on Fluidr

  

Qi Bo's photos on Flickriver

  

Qi Bo's photos on FlickeFlu

  

Qi Bo's photos on PICSSR

 

Qi Bo's photos on Flickr Hive Mind

  

www.worldphoto.org/sony-world-photography-awards/winners-...

  

www.fotografidigitali.it/gallery/2726/opere-italiane-segn...

  

-------------------------------------------------------------------

  

this is a photographic narration that speaks of the eternal struggle that takes place between good and evil, which speaks of a dark period of history, speaks of the violence suffered by women but also by those who belonged to the poorest social classes, historical facts that have been handed down to us in the form of a story and associated-transmuted in the martyrdom of Saint Lucia, this is what happens in the town of Savoca (Sicily). This is a short and long report, I did in Savoca on August 2018 about the living representation of the martyrdom of Saint Lucia (patron saint of the city of Savoca); the cult of the young Saint of Syracuse seems to date back to the fifteenth century, under the influence of Spanish traditions. The commemoration of the history of St. Lucia occurs in two consecutive days, Saturday and Sunday: here I try to tell some times of the day on Sunday, a day during which the festival is held at the height of her beauty. And 'This is a historical event which speaks of Demons and Angels: Saint Lucy refused to marry a rich and powerful suitor (Lucy declared She was married in Christ), which reported the Christian faith of Lucia to prefect Pascasio that ordered his Praetorian Guard to drag Lucia with a rope to a place of prostitution; legend has it that the Holy became heavy, they then tried to drag it with the help of oxen, but it was impossible to move it from where he stood; failing in this, it was then given the order to cavarle eyes, but the young martyr (native of Syracuse) her eyes reappeared.

In the village of Savoca a young girl, affectionately called the "Lucy" is carried on the shoulder of a porter along the streets of the country (sitting on a pillow tied on the shoulder of a man, but in fact men are two); the young Saint remains impassive in the face of demonic temptations: the Devil, called in Sicilian dialect "u Diavulazzu, shake, shakes, turns his pitchfork in an attempt to "distract" the Saint.

The first day of this representation, on Saturday, in an old church in Savoca, the two girls who impersonate the Lucia, of the current year and the previous year, meet with the delivery of palm; the traditional event which we witness on Saturday, has all the appearance of an important rehearsal for the next day, on Sunday when the traditional festival will take place in all its beauty.

Sunday: on top of the procession there are the "Jews" (the emissaries of the prefect Pascasio) along with some Angels, is located immediately after the wagon drawn by two cows from which branches off a rope that will arrive to Saint Lucia (a girl of six years); between her and the cows there are Roman soldiers, who make their way through the crowd squirming like crazy; to hold the rope there are also male figures; the job of Devil (his mask is made of wood, whose invoice is dated, it seems, of the 400') is to distract the little Saint with the help of a long stick equipped of curved points, called "u 'croccu": Lucia hardly is deceived by the promises of the evil one, she will not abandon the state of her property concentration, aided in this by staring, almost in a trance, a small palm branch in silver , she brings devoutly in her hands.It's very important to mention the Baron Baldassarre (nicknamed Baron Altadonna), who applied without any hesitation the practice of Jus de seigneur: using this law the Baron obliged the young brides to spend the wedding night in his alcove. It 'very possible that in the representation of Saint Lucia of Savoca the character of the Devil tempting young Santa with his pitchfork, in reality is nothing but himself, Baron Altadonna, so allegorically described in this traditional Sicilian feast: the figure of the Devil if one takes into account what historians relate, does not belong more to the legend, but sadly to actual event happened. Post scriptum: the photographs, realized both on Saturday and Sunday, were organized and posted without taking into account the temporal chronology of what happened during the two days of the event; two photos of the mummy of Baron Altadonna have been included, which is located in the crypt of the Capuchin Fathers of Savoca; the portraits of two "Lucie" from previous editions, grandfather and great-grandfather of the "DIAVOLI" dynasty were included; the "silver palm" was delivered by Lucia of 2016 (Valentina), to the current Lucia (Miriana), in 2017 the event was not performed.

Ezio Famà.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

questa è una narrazione fotografica che parla dell'eterna lotta che avviene tra il bene ed il male, che parla di un periodo buio della storia, che parla delle violenze subite dalle donne ma anche da coloro che appartenevano alle classi sociali più povere, fatti storici che sono stati tramandati fino a noi in forma di racconto ed associati-trasmutati nel martirio di Santa Lucia, questo è quanto accade nel paese di Savoca (Sicilia). Questo è un report corto e lungo, che ho realizzato in quel di Savoca lo scorso mese di Agosto 2018, su quella che è la rappresentazione vivente del martirio di Santa Lucia (Santa patrona della città di Savoca); il culto della giovane Santa di Siracusa sembra risalire al XV secolo, sotto l'influenza delle tradizioni spagnole. La rievocazione vivente della storia di S.Lucia avviene in due giornate consecutive, il sabato e la domenica: qui tento di raccontare alcuni momenti della giornata della domenica, giorno durante il quale la festa si svolge nel pieno della sua bellezza. E' questa una rievocazione storica che parla di Demoni ed Angeli: la storia rievoca di quando la Santa, si rifiutò di andare in sposa ad un suo ricco e potente pretendente (essendosi dichiarata Cristiana e sposa in Cristo), il quale per vendetta riferì della fede Cristiana di Lucia al prefetto Pascasio; costui diede ordine ai suoi pretoriani di trascinare Lucia con una corda fino ad un lupanare, un luogo di prostituzione; la leggenda narra che la Santa divenne pesantissima, si tentò allora di trascinarla con l'ausilio dei buoi, ma fu impossibile smuoverla da dove si trovava; non riuscendo in ciò, fu allora dato l'ordine di cavarle gli occhi, ma alla giovane martire (nativa di Siracusa) gli occhi le rispuntarono. Nel paese di Savoca una giovane ragazza, chiamata con affetto "la Lucia" viene portata in spalla lungo le vie del paese (seduta su di un cuscino legato sulla spalla di un uomo; in realtà gli uomini portatori sono due, dandosi il cambio l'un l'altro); la giovane Santa rimane impassibile di fronte alle tentazioni demoniache: il Diavolo, chiamato in dialetto siciliano "u Diavulazzu, agita, scuote, fa ruotare il suo forcone nel tentativo di "distrarre" la Santa ma, vani saranno i suoi tentativi. Il primo giorno di questa rappresentazione, il sabato, in una vecchia chiesa di Savoca, le due bambine che impersonano la Lucia, dell'anno in corso e dell'anno precedente, si incontrano con la consegna della palma da una bimba all'altra; l'evento tradizionale al quale si assiste il sabato, ha tutto l'aspetto di una importante prova generale per il giorno dopo, quando la domenica la festa tradizionale avverrà in tutta la sua bellezza.La domenica: in cima alla processione ci sono i "Giudei" (gli emissari del prefetto Pascasio) insieme ad alcuni Angeli, subito dopo si trova il carro tirato da due giumente dalle quali si diparte una corda che giungerà fino a cingere il fianco della bimba che impersona Santa Lucia (una bambina di sei anni); tra lei e le giumente ci sono i soldati Romani, che si fanno largo tra la folla dimenandosi a più non posso; a tenere la corda ci sono anche delle figure maschili che evitano che gli strattonamenti dei soldati romani possano giungere fino alla Santa (ricordiamolo, che è legata a quella corda); davanti alla Santa piroetta il diavolo tentatore, u' Diavulazzu (la maschera è in legno, la cui fattura è datata, sembra, del 400'), il cui compito è quello di distrarre la piccola Santa con l'aiuto di un lungo bastone dotato di punte ricurve, chiamto dialettalmente "u' croccu": Lucia difficilmente si lascerà ingannare dalle promesse del Maligno, non abbandonerà quel suo stato di immobile concentrazione, aiutata in ciò dal fissare, quasi in stato di trance, un piccolo ramo di palma in argento, che lei strige devotamente tra le sue mani. E’ fondamentale menzionare tra i vari personaggi storici della tradizione, il barone Baldassarre, vissuto in Savoca in epoca medioevale, soprannominato barone Altadonna, che applicava senza remora alcuna la pratica della Jus primae noctis: avvalendosi di questa legge il barone obbligava le giovani spose a trascorrere la prima notte di nozze nella sua alcova. E’ fortemente ipotizzabile che nella rappresentazione di Santa Lucia di Savoca il personaggio del Diavolo che tenta la giovane Santa col suo forcone, in realtà non sia altro che egli stesso, il barone Altadonna, così allegoricamente descritto nella festa tradizionale siciliana: la figura del Diavolo, se si tiene conto di quanto narrano gli storici, non apparterrebbe più alla leggenda, ma a questo tristo personaggio realmente vissuto, che usava quotidianamente la moneta della prepotenza. Post scriptum: le fotografie, realizzate sia il sabato che la domenica, sono state organizzate e postate senza tenere conto della cronologia temporale di quanto avvenuto nei due giorni della manifestazione; sono state inserite due foto della mummia del barone Altadonna, che si trova nella cripta dei Padri Cappuccini di Savoca; sono stati inseriti i ritratti di due "Lucie" delle precedenti edizioni, del nonno e del bisnonno della dinastia dei "DIAVOLI"; la "palma d'argento" è stata consegnata dalla Lucia del 2016 (Valentina), alla attuale Lucia (Miriana); nel 2017 la manifestazione non è stata eseguita.

Ezio Famà.

   

Elderly man continues checking out the list of donations for this ceremony from local residents.

  

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** Origin and facts of the Hungry Ghost Festival:

 

The Ghost Festival, also known as the Hungry Ghost Festival, or Yu Lan is a traditional Chinese festival and holiday celebrated by Chinese in many countries. In the Chinese calendar (a lunisolar calendar), the Ghost Festival is on the 15th night of the seventh month (14th in southern China).

 

In Chinese tradition, the fifteenth day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar is called Ghost Day and the seventh month in general is regarded as the Ghost Month (鬼月), in which ghosts and spirits, including those of the deceased ancestors, come out from the lower realm.

 

Distinct from both the Qingming Festival (in spring) and Chung Yeung Festival (in autumn) in which living descendants pay homage to their deceased ancestors, on Ghost Day, the deceased are believed to visit the living.

 

On the fifteenth day the realms of Heaven and Hell and the realm of the living are open and both Taoists and Buddhists would perform rituals to transmute and absolve the sufferings of the deceased. Intrinsic to the Ghost Month is ancestor worship, where traditionally the filial piety of descendants extends to their ancestors even after their deaths.

 

Activities during the month would include preparing ritualistic food offerings, burning incense, and burning joss paper, a papier-mâché form of material items such as clothes, gold and other fine goods for the visiting spirits of the ancestors

 

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More images of the Hungry Ghosts "Yu Lan" Festival here:

Hungry Ghosts "Yu Lan" Festival

 

More Chinese Temples images here:

Caves & Temples " Festival

 

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"大士爺" "Dai Si Yeh" is the highly respected Guardian of Hell, and of all spirits. A paper statue of "Dai Si Yeh"Every festival, who plays the role of maintaining order and discipline among the spiritual realm during the festival.

 

By the end of the festival, a ritual will be held to send off the Guardian and his paper statue will then be burnt.

 

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The Ghost Festival, also known as the Hungry Ghost Festival, or Yu Lan is a traditional Chinese festival and holiday celebrated by Chinese in many countries. In the Chinese calendar (a lunisolar calendar), the Ghost Festival is on the 15th night of the seventh month (14th in southern China).

 

In Chinese tradition, the fifteenth day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar is called Ghost Day and the seventh month in general is regarded as the Ghost Month (鬼月), in which ghosts and spirits, including those of the deceased ancestors, come out from the lower realm.

 

Distinct from both the Qingming Festival (in spring) and Chung Yeung Festival (in autumn) in which living descendants pay homage to their deceased ancestors, on Ghost Day, the deceased are believed to visit the living.

 

On the fifteenth day the realms of Heaven and Hell and the realm of the living are open and both Taoists and Buddhists would perform rituals to transmute and absolve the sufferings of the deceased. Intrinsic to the Ghost Month is ancestor worship, where traditionally the filial piety of descendants extends to their ancestors even after their deaths.

 

Activities during the month would include preparing ritualistic food offerings, burning incense, and burning joss paper, a papier-mâché form of material items such as clothes, gold and other fine goods for the visiting spirits of the ancestors

 

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More images of the Hungry Ghosts "Yu Lan" Festival here:

Hungry Ghosts "Yu Lan" Festival

 

More Chinese Temples images here:

Caves & Temples " Festival

 

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