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Dürnstein is a small town on the Danube river in the Wachau region, Lower Austria. It is a well-known wine growing area. Above the towns a castle in ruins.

The castle was called "Duerrstein" or "Dürrstein", from the German duerr/dürr meaning "dry" and Stein, "stone". The castle was dry because it was situated on a rocky hill, high above the damp conditions of the Danube at the base of the hill, and it was built of stone.

Dürnstein was first mentioned in 1192, when, in the castle above the town, King Richard I of England was held captive by Leopold V, Duke of Austria of after their dispute during the Third Crusade. Richard the Lionheart had personally offended Leopold the Virtuous by casting down his standard from the walls at the Battle of Acre, and the duke suspected that King Richard ordered the murder of his cousin Conrad of Montferrat in Jerusalem. In consequence Pope Celestine III excommunicated Leopold for capturing a fellow crusader. The duke finally gave the custody of Richard to Emperor Henry VI, who imprisoned Richard at Trifels Castle. Dürnstein Castle was almost completely destroyed by the troops of the Swedish Empire under Field Marshal Lennart Torstenson in 1645.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C3%BCrnstein

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Dürnstein es una ciudad de 900 habitantes en Baja Austria. Se trata de una de las metas turísticas de la región Wachau. Es un centro de producción de vino.

Por encima del lugar, accesible por un sendero, se encuentran las ruinas de un castillo donde en el siglo XII fue tenido preso el rey de Inglaterra Ricardo I Corazón de León.

es.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C3%BCrnstein

“Was the Star of Love a World of War?”

 

“Earth’s first spaceship to Venus landed amidst war where strange weapons like the archaic ones used in the old wars on Earth in the twentieth century hurled shells at each other. But this war had lasted over a thousand years – and by remote control.

 

“George Starkey had to find a way to stop the war before the little group of astronauts became early casualties. But how? Where were the headquarters of the contending sides and how do you tell a robot tank that you’re neutral?

 

“But George had an ally, a Venusian girl who thought stealing was virtuous – and, unknowingly, he had something else that turned out to be the most valuable substance on Venus – a box of chocolate bars!” [From the Introduction]

 

At 21:47 GMT, the equinox happened, and so from then on, light is destined to win over darkness. Which meant, of course, that the day before then was the shortest "day", or amount of daylight.

 

This is the end of the year, the build up and excitement before Christmas, and at the same time, looking back at the year, and what has happened in the previous 50 or so weeks. So, a time of mixed emotions, good and bad, happy and sad.

 

But I was on vacation, or not going to work.

 

I am not up to date, but I did all the tasks I was supposed to do, threw a few electronic grenades over the walls, and was now happy not to think of that shit for two whole weeks.

 

For Jools, however, there was half a day to do, and then her employers paid for all those employed at the factory to go to a fancy place in Folkestone for lunch, drinks at the bar and a bottle of wine between four folks.

 

It was, in short, a time for celebration. Something I realise has not happened in my job since I left operational quality, to be happy and give thanks to those we work with. And be recognised for the good job we do.

 

So, I was to take Jools to work, and have the car for the day.

 

Jools was conscious that my plan for the day involved driving to the far west of Kent, so realised I needed an early start, and not dropping her off in Hythe at seven.

 

We left after coffee just after six, driving through Dover and Folkestone on the main road and motorway before turning over the downs into Hythe. I dropped her off in the town, so she could get some walking in. She always didn't walk, as waves of showers swept over the town, and me as I drove back home for breakfast and do all the chores before leaving on a mini-churchcrawl.

 

So, back home for breakfast, more coffee, wash up, do the bird feeders and with postcodes, set out for points in the extreme west. Now, Kent is not a big county, not say, Texas big, but it takes some time to get to some parts of the west of the county. Main roads run mainly from London to the coast, so going cross-country or cross-county would take time.

 

At first it was as per normal up the A20 then onto the motorway to Ashford then to Maidstone until the junction before the M26 starts. One of the reasons for going later was to avoid rush hours in and around Maidstone, Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells.

 

As it was, after turning down the A road, things were fine until I got to Mereworth, but from there the road began to twist and turn until it lead me into Tonbridge. Once upon a time, this was a sleepy village or small town. The the railways came and it became a major junction. The road to Penshurt took me though the one way system, then down the wide High Street, over the river Medway and up the hill the other side.

 

Two more turns took me to my target, through what were once called stockbroker mansions, then down a hill, with the village laid out before me just visible through the trees.

 

The village was built around the outskirts of Penshurst Place, home to the Sidney family since Tudor times. Just about everything is named the Leicester something, the village having its own Leicester Square, though with no cinemas, and all timber framed houses and painfully picturesque.

 

The church lays behind the houses, the tower in golden sandstone topped with four spirelets.

 

I parked the car, and armed with two cameras, several lenses and a photographer's eye, walked to the church.

 

The reason for coming was I can only remember a little about my previous visit, but the Leicester name thing triggered in my head the thought the memorials and tombs might be worth a revisit.

 

So there I was.

 

Gilbert Scott was very busy here, so there is little of anything prior to the 19th century, but the memorials are there. Including one which features the heads of the children of Robert Sidney (d1702) in a cloud. Including the eldest son who died, apparently, so young he wasn't named, and is recorded as being the first born.

 

This is in the Sidney Chapel where the great and good are buried and remembered, it has a colourful roof, or roof beams, and heraldic shields. It has a 15th century font, which, sadly, has been brightly painted so is gaudy in the extreme.

 

I go around getting my shots, leave a fiver for the church. Go back to the car and program Speldhurst into the sat nav.

 

Its just a ten minute drive, but there is no place to park anywhere near the church. I could see from my slow drive-by the porch doors closed, and I convinced myself they were locked and not worth checking out.

 

I went on to Groombridge, where there is a small chapel with fabulous glass. I had been here before too, but wanted to redo my shots.

 

It was by now pouring with rain, and as dark as twilight, I missed the church on first pass, went to the mini-roundabout only to discover that it and the other church in the village were in Sussex. I turned round, the church looked dark and was almost certainly locked. I told myself.

 

I didn't stop here either, so instead of going to the final village church, I went straigh to Tunbridge Wells where there was another church to revisit.

 

I drove into the town, over the man road and to the car park with no waiting in traffic, how odd, I thought.

 

It was hard to find a parking space, but high up in the parking house there were finally spaced. I parked near the stairs down, grabbed my cameras and went down.

 

I guess I could have parked nearer the church, but once done it would be easier to leave the town as the road back home went past the exit.

 

I ambled down the hill leading to the station, over the bridge and down the narrow streets, all lined with shops. I think its fair to say that it is a richer town than Dover because on one street there were three stores offering beposke designer kitchens.

 

The church is across the road from the Georgian square known at The Pantiles, but it was the church I was here to visit.

 

I go in, and there is a service underway. I decide to sit at the back and observe.

 

And pray.

 

I did not take communion, though. The only one there who didn't.

 

About eight elderly parishioners did, though.

 

I was here to photograph the ceiling, and then the other details I failed to record when we were last here over a decade ago.

 

I was quizzed strongly by a warden as to why I was doing this. I had no answer other than I enjoyed it, and for me that is enough.

 

After getting my shots, I leave and begin the slog back up to the car, but on the way keeping my promise to a young man selling the Big Issue that I would come back and buy a copy. I did better than that in that I gave him a fiver and didn't take a copy.

 

He nearly burst into tears. I said, there is kindness in the world, and some of us do keep our promises.

 

By the time I got to the car park, it was raining hard again. I had two and a half hours to get to Folkestone to pick up Jools after her meal.

 

Traffic into Tunbridge Wells from this was was crazy, miles and miles of queues, so I was more than happy going the other way.

 

I get back to the M20, cruise down to Ashford, stopping at Stop 24 services for a coffee and something to eat. I had 90 minutes to kill, so eat, drink and scroll Twitter as I had posted yet more stuff that morning. In other news: nothing changed, sadly.

 

At quarter past four I went to pick up Jools, stopping outside the restaurant. When she got in she declared she had been drinking piña coladas. Just two, but she was bubby and jabbering away all the way home.

 

With Jools having eaten out, and with snacks I had, no dinner was needed, so when suppertime came round, we dined on cheese and crackers, followed by a large slice of Christmas cake.

 

She was now done for Christmas too.

 

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A large sandstone church of nave, aisles, chancel and chapels that was restored by Sir George Gilbert Scott in 1864. It stands in an excellent position set back from the street in a large well-kept churchyard. The tower is of three stages with four pinnacles strangely set well back from the corners. Inside it is obvious that there have been many rebuildings and repairs, leaving a general character of the Victorian period. The good chancel screen is by Bodley and Garner and dates from 1897. Whilst it is well carved the florid design is more suited to a West Country church than to the Garden of England. The fifteenth-century font has been painted in bold colours in a way that can never have been imagined when it was new! Nearby is the Becket window designed by Lawrence Lee in 1970. It is quite unlike any other window in Kent and has an emphasis on heraldry - the figure of Becket and three knights are almost lost in the patchwork effect. Under the tower is the famous Albigensian Cross, a portion of thirteenth-century coffin lid with the effigy of a woman at prayer. The south chapel, which belongs to Penshurst Place, was rebuilt by Rebecca in 1820 and has a lovely painted ceiling. It contains some fine monuments including Sir Stephen de Pencester, a damaged thirteenth-century knight. Nearby is the large standing monument to the 4th Earl of Leicester (d. 1704) designed by William Stanton. It is a large urn flanked by two angels, above which are the heads of the earls children's floating in the clouds!

 

www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Penshurst

 

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PENSHURST.

THE next parish eastward from Chidingstone is Penhurst, called in the Textus Roffenfis, Pennesherst. It takes its name from the old British word Pen, the height or top of any thing, and byrst, a wood. (fn. 1) It is called in some antient records, Pen cestre, and more vulgarly, Penchester, from some sortified camp or fortress antiently situated here.

 

There is a district in this parish, called Hallborough, which is within the lowy of Tunbridge, the manerial rights of which belong to Thomas Streatfeild, esq. and there is another part of it, comprehending the estate of Chafford, which is within the jurisdiction of the duchy court of Lancaster.

 

THIS PARISH lies in the Weald, about four miles Southward from the foot of the sand hills, and the same distance from Tunbridge town, and the high London road from Sevenoke. The face of the country is much the same as in those parishes last described, as is the soil, for the most part a stiff clay, being well adapted to the large growth of timber for which this parish is remarkable; one of these trees, as an instance of it, having been cut down here, about twenty years ago, in the park, called, from its spreading branches, Broad Oak, had twenty-one ton, or eight hundred and forty feet of timber in it. The parish is watered by the river Eden, which runs through the centre of it, and here taking a circular course, and having separated into two smaller streams, joins the river Medway, which flows by the southern part of the park towards Tunbridge. At a small distance northward stands the noble mansion of Penshurst-place, at the south west corner of the park, which, till within these few years, was of much larger extent, the further part of it, called North, alias Lyghe, and South parks, having been alienated from it, on the grounds of the latter of which the late Mr. Alnutt built his seat of that name, from whence the ground rises northward towards the parish of Lyghe. Close to the north west corner of Penshurst-park is the seat of Redleaf, and at the south west corner of it, very near to the Place, is the village of Penshurst, with the church and parsonage. At a small distance, on the other side the river, southward, is Ford-place, and here the country becomes more low, and being watered by the several streams, becomes wet, the roads miry and bad, and the grounds much covered with coppice wood; whence, about a mile southward from the river, is New House, and the boroughs of Frendings and Kingsborough; half a mile southward from which is the river Medway; and on the further side of it the estate of Chafford, a little beyond which it joins the parish of Ashurst, at Stone cross. In a deep hole, in the Medway, near the lower end of Penshurst-park, called Tapner's-hole, there arises a spring, which produces a visible and strong ebullition on the surface of the river; and above Well-place, which is a farm house, near the south-east corner of the park, there is a fine spring, called Kidder's-well, which, having been chemically analized, is found to be a stronger chalybeate than those called Tunbridge-wells; there is a stone bason for the spring to rise in, and run to waste, which was placed here by one of the earls of Leicester many years ago. This parish, as well as the neighbouring ones, abounds with iron ore, and most of the springs in them are more or less chalybeate. In the losty beeches, near the keeper's lodge, in Penshurst-park, is a noted beronry; which, since the destruction of that in lord Dacre's park, at Aveley, in Effex, is, I believe, the only one in this part of England. A fair is held here on July I, for pedlary, &c.

 

The GREATEST PART of this parish is within the jurisdiction of the honour of Otford, a subordinate limb to which is the MANOR of PENSHURST HALIMOTE, alias OTFORD WEALD, extending likewise over parts of the adjoining parishes of Chidingstone, Hever, and Cowden. As a limb of that of honour, it was formerly part of the possessions of the see of Canterbury, and was held for a long time in lease of the archbishops, by the successive owners of Penhurst manor, till the death of the duke of Buckingham, in the 13th year of king Henry VIII. in the 29th year of which reign, Thomas Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury, exchanging Otford with the crown, this, as an appendage, passed with it, and it remained in the hands of the crown till the death of king Charles I. 1648; after which the powers then in being, having seised on the royal estates, passed an ordinance to vest them in trustees, to be sold, to supply the necessities of the state; when, on a survey made of this manor, in 1650, it appeared that the quit-rents due to the lord, from the freeholders in free socage tenure, were 16l. 18s. 3½d. and that they paid a heriot of the best living thing, or in want thereof, 3s. 4d. in money. That there were copyholders holding of it, within this parish, by rent and fine certain; that there was a common fine due from the township or borough of Halebury, and a like from the township of Penshurst, a like from the townships or boroughts of Chidingstone, Standford, and Cowden; and that there was a court baron and a court leet. The total rents, profits, &c. of all which amounted to 23l. and upwards. (fn. 2) After this the manor was sold by the state to colonel Robert Gibbon, with whom it remained till the restoration of king Charles II. when the possession and inheritance of it returned to the crown, where it remains, as well as the honour of Otford, at this time, his grace the duke of Dorset being high steward of both; but the see farm rents of it, with those of other manors belonging to the above mentioned honour, were alienated from the crown in king Charles II.'s reign, and afterwards became the property of Sir James Dashwood, bart. in whose family they still continue.

 

SOON AFTER the reign of William the Conqueror Penshurst was become the residence of a family, who took their name from it, and were possessed of the manor then called the manor of Peneshurste; and it appears by a deed in the Registrum Roffense, that Sir John Belemeyns, canon of St. Paul, London, was in possession of this manor, as uncle and trustee, in the latter part of king Henry III.'s reign, to Stephen de Peneshurste or Penchester, who possessed it in the beginning of the reign of king Edward I. He had been knighted, and made constable of Dover castle and warden of the cinque ports by Henry III. in which posts he continued after the accession of king Edward I. (fn. 3) He died without issue male, and was buried in the south chancel of this church, under an altar tomb, on which lay his figure in armour, reclining on a cushion. He left Margery, his second wife, surviving, who held this manor at her death, in the 2d year of king Edward II. and two daughters and coheirs; Joane, married to Henry de Cobham of Rundale, second son of John de Cobham, of Cobham, in this county, by his first wife, daughter of Warine Fitz Benedict; (fn. 4) and Alice to John de Columbers, as appears by an inquisition, taken in the 3d year of king Edward II. His arms, being Sable, a bend or, a label of three points argent, still remain on the roof of the cloisters of Canterbury cathedral. Alice, above mentioned, had this manor, with that of Lyghe adjoining, assigned to her for her proportion of their inheritance; soon after which these manors were conveyed to Sir John de Pulteney, son of Adam de Pulteney of Misterton, in Leicestershire, by Maud his wife. In the 15th year of that reign he had licence to embattle his mansion houses of Penshurst, Chenle in Cambridgeshire, and in London. (fn. 5) In the 11th year of king Edward III. Thomas, son of Sir John de Columbers of Somersetshire, released to him all his right to this manor and the advowson of the chapel of Penshurst; (fn. 6) and the year following Stephen de Columbers, clerk, brother of Sir Philip, released to him likewise all his right in that manor and Yenesfeld, (fn. 7) and that same year he obtained a grant for free warren within his demesne lands within the former. He was a person greatly esteemed by that king, in whose reign he was four times lord mayor of London, and is noticed by our historians for his piety, wisdom, large possessions, and magnificent housekeeping. In his life time he performed several acts of public charity and munificence; and among others he founded a college in the church of St. Laurence, since from him named Poultney, in London. He built the church of Little Allhallows, in Thamesstreet, and the Carmelites church, and the gate to their monastery, in Coventry; and a chapel or chantry in St. Paul's, London. Besides which, by his will, he left many charitable legacies, and directed to be buried in the church of St. Laurence above mentioned. He bore for his arms, Argent a fess dancette gules, in chief three leopards heads sable.

 

By the inquisition taken after his death, it appears, that he died in the 23d year of that reign, being then possessed of this manor, with the advowson of the chapel, Lyghe, South-park, and Orbiston woods, with lands in Lyghe and Tappenash, and others in this county. He left Margaret his wife surviving, who married, secondly, Sir Nicholas Lovaine; and he, in her right, became possessed of a life estate in this manor and the others above mentioned, in which they seem afterwards jointly to have had the see; for Sir William Pulteney, her son, in his life time, vested his interest in these manors and estates in trustees, and died without issue in the 40th year of the same reign, when Robert de Pulteney was found to be his kinsman and next heir, who was ancestor to the late earl of Bath. The trustees afterwards, in the 48th year of it, conveyed them, together with all the other estates of which Sir John Pulteney died possessed, to Sir Nicholas Lovaine and Margaret his wife, and their heirs for ever. Sir Nicholas Lovaine above mentioned was a descendant of the noble family of Lovaine, a younger branch of the duke of Lorraine. Godfrey de Lovaine, having that surname from the place of his birth, possessed lands in England in right of his mother, grand daughter of king Stephen, of whose descendants this Nicholas was a younger branch. He bore for his arms, Gules, a fess argent between fourteen billets or; which arms were quartered by Bourchier earl of Bath, and Devereux earl of Essex. (fn. 8) He died possessed of this manor, leaving one son, Nicholas, who having married Margaret, eldest daughter of John de Vere, earl of Oxford, widow of Henry lord Beaumont, died without issue, and a daughter Margaret, who at length became her brother's heir.

 

Margaret, the widow of Nicholas the son, on his death, possessed this manor for her life, and was afterwards re-married to Sir John Devereux, who in her right held it. He was descended from a family which had their surname from Eureux, a town of note in Normandy, and there were several generations of them in England before they were peers of this realm, the first of them summoned to parliament being this Sir John Devereux, who being bred a soldier, was much employed in the wars both of king Edward III. and king Richard II. and had many important trusts conferred on him. In the 11th year of the latter reign, being then a knight banneret, he was made constable of Dover castle and warden of the cinque ports. In the 16th year of that reign, he had licence to fortify and embattle his mansion house at Penshurst, the year after which he died, leaving Margaret his wife, surviving, who had an assignation of this manor as part of her dower. She died possessed of it, with Yensfield, and other lands, about the 10th year of king Henry IV. and was succeeded in them by Margaret, sister and heir of her husband, Nicholas Lovaine, who was twice married, first to Rich. Chamberlayn, esq. of Sherburn, in Oxfordshire; and secondly to Sir Philip St. Clere, of Aldham, St. Clere, in Ightham. (fn. 9) Both of these, in right of their wife, seem to have possessed this manor, which descended to John St. Clere, son of the latter, who conveyed it by sale to John duke of Bedford, third son of king Henry IV. by Mary his wife, daughter and coheir of Humphry de Bohun, earl of Hereford, Essex, and Northampton.

 

The duke of Bedford was the great support and glory of this kingdom in the beginning of the reign of his infant nephew, king Henry VI. his courage was unequalled, and was followed by such rapid success in his wars in France, where he was regent, and commanded the English army in person, that he struck the greatest terror into his enemies. The victories he acquired so humbled the French, that he crowned king Henry VI. at Paris, in which city he died greatly lamented, in the 14th year of that reign, (fn. 10) and was buried in the cathedral church of Roan. He was twice married, but left issue by neither of his wives. He died possessed of the manors of Penshurst, Havenden-court, and Yensfield, as was then found by inquisition; in which he was succeeded by his next brother, Humphry duke of Gloucester, fourth son of king Henry IV. by Mary his wife, daughter and coheir of Humphry de Bohun, earl of Hereford, &c. who in the 4th year of king Henry V. had had the offices of constable of Dover castle and warden of the cinque ports, granted to him for the term of his life; and in the 1st year of king Henry VI. was, by parliament, made protector of England, during the king's minority; and the same year he was constituted chamberlain of England, at the coronation of that prince was appointed high steward of England.

 

The duke was, for his virtuous endowments, surnamed the Good, and for his justice was esteemed the father of his country, notwithstanding which, after he had, under king Henry VI. his nephew, governed this kingdom twenty-five years, with great applause, he was, by the means of Margaret of Aujou, his nephew's queen, who envied his power, arrested at the parliament held at St. Edmundsbury, by John lord Beaumont, then high constable of England, accompanied by the duke of Buckingham and others; and the night following, being the last of February, anno 25 king Henry VI. he was found dead in his bed, it being the general opinion that he was strangled; though his body was shewn to the lords and commons, with an account of his having died of an apoplexy or imposthume; after which he was buried in the abbey of St. Alban, near the shrine of that proto-martyr, and a stately monument was erected to his memory.

 

This duke married two wives; first Jaqueline, daughter and heir of William duke of Bavaria, to whom belonged the earldoms of Holand, Zeland, and Henault, and many other rich seignories in the Netherlands; after which he used these titles, Humphrey, by the grace of God, son, brother, and uncle to kings; duke of Gloucester; earl of Henault, Holand, Zeland, and Pembroke; lord of Friesland; great chamberlain of the kingdom of England; and protector and defender of the kingdom and church of England. But she having already been married to John duke of Brabant, and a suit of divorce being still depending between them, and the Pope having pronounced her marriage with the duke of Brabant lawful, the duke of Gloucester resigned his right to her, and forthwith, after this, married Eleanor Cobham, daughter of Reginald, lord Cobham of Sterborough, who had formerly been his concubine. A few years before the duke's death she was accused of witchcrast, and of conspiring the king's death; for which she was condemned to solemn pennance in London, for three several days, and afterwards committed to perpetual imprisonment in the isle of Man. He built the divinity schools at Oxford, and laid the foundation of that famous library over them, since increased by Sir Thomas Bodley, enriching it with a choice collection of manuscripts out of France and Italy. He bore for his arms, Quarterly, France and England, a berdure argent. (fn. 11)

 

By the inquisition, taken after his death, it appears, that he died possessed of the manors of Penshurst, Havenden-court, and Yensfield, in this county, and that dying, without issue, king Henry VI. was his cousin and next heir.

 

¶The manor of Penshurst thus coming into the hands of the crown, was granted that year to Humphrey Stafford, who, in consideration of his near alliance in blood to king Henry VI. being the son of Edmund earl of Stafford, by Anne, eldest daughter of Thomas of Woodstock, duke of Gloucester, sixth and youngest son of king Edward III. Mary, the other daughter and coheir, having married Henry of Bullingbroke, afterwards king Henry IV. and grandfather of king Henry VI. (fn. 12) as well as for his eminent services to his country, had been, in the 23d year of that reign, created duke of Buckingham. He was afterwards slain in the battle of Northampton, sighting valiantly there on the king's part. By the inquisition, taken after his death, it appears that he died in the 38th year of that reign possessed of this manor of Penshurst, among others in this county and elsewhere; which afterwards descended down to his great grandson, Edward duke of Buckingham, but in the 13th year of Henry VIII. this duke being accused of conspiring the king's death, he was brought to his trial, and being found guilty, was beheaded on Tower-hill that year. In the par liament begun April 15, next year, this duke, though there passed an act for his attainder, yet there was one likewise for the restitution in blood of Henry his eldest son, but not to his honors or lands, so that this manor, among his other estates, became forseited to the crown, after which the king seems to have kept it in his own hands, for in his 36th year, he purchased different parcels of land to enlarge his park here, among which was Well-place, and one hundred and seventy acres of land, belonging to it, then the estate of John and William Fry, all which he inclosed within the pale of it, though the purchase of the latter was not completed till the 1st year of king Edward VI. (fn. 13) who seems to have granted the park of Penshurst to John, earl of Warwick, for that earl, in the 4th year of that reign, granted this park to that king again in exchange for other premises. In which year the king granted the manor of Penshurst, with its members and appurtenances, late parcel of the possessions of the duke of Buckingham, to Sir Ralph Fane, to hold in capite by knight's service, being the grandson of Henry Vane, alias Fane, of Hilsden Tunbridge, esq. but in the 6th year of that reign, having zealously espoused the interests of the duke of Somersee, he was accused of being an accomplice with him, and being found guilty, was hanged on Tower-hill that year.

  

PENSHURST is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Rochester, and being a peculiar of the archbishop of Canterbury, is as such within the deanry of Shoreham.

 

The church, which is a large handsome building, is dedicated to St. John Baptist. It consists of three isles, a cross isle, and three chancels, having a tower steeple at the west end.

 

Among other monuments and inscriptions in this church are the following:—In the middle isle, a grave-stone, with the figure of a man and his two wives, now torn off, but the inscription remains in black letter, for Watur Draynowtt, and Johanna and Anne his wives, obt. 1507; beneath are the figures of four boys and three girls, at top, arms, two lions passant, impaling or, on a chief, two lions heads erased; a memorial for Oliver Combridge, and Elizabeth his wife, obt. 1698. In the chancel, memorials on brass for Bulman and Paire; within the rails of the altar a gravestone for William Egerton, LL. D. grandon of John, earl of Bridgwater, rector of Penshurst and Allhallows, Lombard-street, chancellor and prebendary of Hereford, and prebendary of Can terbury, he left two daughters and one son, by Anne, daughter of Sir Francis Head, obt. Feb. 26, 1737; on the south side of the altar, a memorial in brass for John Bust, God's painful minister in this place for twenty-one years; on the north side a mural monument for Gilbert Spencer, esq. of Redleafe-house, obt. 1709, arms, Spencer, an escutcheon of pretence for Combridge; underneath is another stone, with a brass plate, and inscription for William Darkenol, parson of this parish, obt. July 12, 1596; on grave-stones are these shields in brass, the figures and inscriptions on which are lost, parted per fess, in chief two lions passant guardant in base, two wolves heads erased; on another, the same arms, impaling a chevron between three padlocks; another, a lion rampant, charged on the shoulder with an annulet, and another, three lions passant impaling parted per chevron, the rest defaced. In the south chancel, on a stone, the figures of a man and woman in brass, and inscription in black letter, for Pawle Yden, gent. and Agnes his wife, son of Thomas Yden, esq. obt. 1564, beneath is the figure of a girl, arms, four shields at the corner of the stone, the first, Yden, a fess between three helmets; two others, with inscriptions on brass for infant children of the Sidney family; a small grave-stone, on which is a cross gradated in brass, and inscription in black letter, for Thomas Bullayen, son of Sir Thomas Bullayen; here was lately a monument for lady Mary . . . . . . eldest daughter of the famous John, duke of Northumberland, and sister to Ambrose, earl of Warwick, Robert, earl of Leicester, and Catharine, countess of Huntingdon, wife of the right hon. Sir Henry Sidney, knight of the garter, &c. at the west end of the chancel, a mural monument for Sir William Coventry, youngest son of Thomas, lord Coventry, he died at Tunbridge-wells, 1686; on the south side a fine old monument of stone, under which is an altar tomb, and on the wall above it a brass plate, with inscription in black letter, for Sir William Sidney, knightbanneret, chamberlain and steward to king Edward VI. and the first of the name, lord of the manor, of Penshurst, obt. 1553; on the front are these names, Sir William Dormer, and Mary Sidney, Sir William Fitzwilliam, Sir James Haninngton, Anne Sidney, and Lucy Sidney; on the south side a handsome monument, with the arms and quarterings of the Sidney family, and inscription for lord Philip Sidney, fifth earl of Leicester, &c. obt. 1705, and was succeeded by John, his brother and heir; for John, sixth earl of Leicester, cosin and heir of Henry Sidney, earl of Romney, &c. obt. 1737, his heirs Mary and Elizabeth Sidney, daughters and heirs of his brother the hon. Thomas Sidney, third surviving son of Robert, earl of Leicester, became his joint heirs, for Josceline, seventh earl of Leicester, youngest brother and heir male of earl John, died s. p. in 1743, with whom the title of earl of Leicester expired; the aforesaid Mary and Elizabeth, his nieces, being his heirs, of whom the former married Sir Brownlow Sherard, bart. and Elizabeth, William Perry, esq. on the monument is an account of the several personages of this noble family, their descent, marriages and issue, too long by far to insert here; on the north side is a fine monument for several of the infant children of this family, and beneath is an urn and inscriptions for Frances Sidney, fourth daughter, obt. 1692, æt. 6; for Robert Sidney, earl of Leicester, &c. fourth earl of this family, who married lady Elizabeth Egerton, by whom he had fifteen children, of whom nine died young, whose figures, as cherubims, are placed above, obt. 1702; Robert, the eldest son, obt. 1680, æt. 6; Elizabeth, countess of Leicester, obt. 1709, and buried here in the same vault with her lord. In the same chancel is a very antient figure in stone of a knight in armour, being for Sir Stephen de Penchester, lord warden and constable of Dover-castle in the reign of king Edward I. It was formerly laid on an altar tomb in the chancel, but is now placed erect against the door on the south side, with these words painted on the wall above it, SIR STEPHEN DE PENCHESTER. In the fourth window of the north isle, are these arms, very antient, within the garter argent a fess gules in chief, three roundels of the second, being those of Sir John Devereux, K. G. lord warden and constable, and steward of the king's house in king Richard II's reign; near the former was another coat, nothing of which now remains but the garter. In the same windows are the arms of Sidney; in the second window is this crest, a griffin rampant or. In the east window of the great chancel are the arms of England. In the east window of the south chancel are the arms of the Sidney family, with all the quarterings; there were also, though now destroyed, the arms of Sir Thomas Ratcliff, earl of Sussex, and lady Frances Sidney.

 

This church was of the antient patronage of the see of Canterbury, and continued so till the 3d year of queen Elizabeth, when Matthew, archbishop of Canterbury, granted it to that queen in exchange for the parsonage of Earde, alias Crayford; and though in the queen's letters patent dated that year, confirming this exchange, there is no value expressed, yet in a roll in the queen's office, it is there set down, the tenth deducted, at the clear yearly value of 32l. 1s. 9d. (fn. 24)

 

¶Soon after which the queen granted the church of Penshurst to Sir Henry Sidney, whose descendants, earls of Leicester, afterwards possessed it; from whom it passed, in like manner as Penshurst manor and place, to William Perry, esq. who died possessed of it in 1757, leaving Elizabeth his wife surviving, who continued proprietor of the advowson of this church at the time of her death in 1783; she by her last will devised it to trustees for the use of her eldest grandson, John Shelley, esq who has since taken the name of Sidney, and is the present owner of it.

 

In the 15th year of king Edward I. this church was valued at thirty marcs. By virtue of the commission of enquiry into the value of ecclesiastical livings, taken in 1650, issuing out of chancery, it was returned that the tithes belonging to the parsonage of Penshurst were one hundred and ten pounds per annum, and the parsonage house and glebe lands about fifty pounds per annum, the earl of Leicester being patron, and master Mawdell, minister, who received the profits for his salary. (fn. 25)

 

The annual value of it is now esteemed to be four hundred pounds and upwards. The rectory of Penshurst is valued in the king's books at 30l. 6s. 0½d. and the yearly tenths at 3l. 0s. 7½d. (fn. 26)

 

John Acton, rector of this parish, in 1429, granted a lease for ninety-nine years, of a parcel of his glebe land, lying in Berecroft, opposite the gate of the rectory, containing one acre one rood and twelve perches, to Thomas Berkley, clerk, Richard Hammond, and Richard Crundewell, of Penshurst, for the purpose of building on, at the yearly rent of two shillings, and upon deaths and alienations, one shilling to be paid for an heriot, which lease was confirmed by the archbishop and by the dean and chapter of Canterbury. (fn. 27)

 

www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol3/pp227-257

Reconciling Yourself to the Fact of Sin

 

"...This is your hour, and the power of darkness." [Luke 22:53]

 

Not being reconciled to the fact of sin— not recognizing it and refusing to deal with it— produces all the disasters in life. You may talk about the lofty virtues of human nature, but there is something in human nature that will mockingly laugh in the face of every principle you have. If you refuse to agree with the fact that there is wickedness and selfishness, something downright hateful and wrong, in human beings, when it attacks your life, instead of reconciling yourself to it, you will compromise with it and say that it is of no use to battle against it. Have you taken this “hour, and the power of darkness” into account, or do you have a view of yourself which includes no recognition of sin whatsoever? In your human relationships and friendships, have you reconciled yourself to the fact of sin? If not, just around the next corner you will find yourself trapped and you will compromise with it. But if you will reconcile yourself to the fact of sin, you will realize the danger immediately and say, “Yes, I see what this sin would mean.” The recognition of sin does not destroy the basis of friendship— it simply establishes a mutual respect for the fact that the basis of sinful life is disastrous. Always beware of any assessment of life which does not recognize the fact that there is sin. Jesus Christ never trusted human nature, yet He was never cynical nor suspicious, because He had absolute trust in what He could do for human nature. The pure man or woman is the one who is shielded from harm, not the innocent person. The so-called innocent man or woman is never safe. Men and women have no business trying to be innocent; God demands that they be pure and virtuous. Innocence is the characteristic of a child. Any person is deserving of blame if he is unwilling to reconcile himself to the fact of sin.

_____

My Utmost - Oswald Chambers

Hi Tuesday friends! Guess what? My mummy has gone back to dance classes! Her dance teacher does not do ballet for adults this year, which is very sad, and so my mummy takes classes of modern dance, which she already did, and contemporary dance, which is new. I don't really understand the difference, but contemporary sounds fun! You don't hold the barre or dance in ouchy pointe shoes, but you walk on all four paws and you roll on the floor and you jump and you turn, and it is difficult but in the end the dance is beautiful! My mummy's paw still hurts and she still can't do some of the movements, but the fizzytherapist helps her a lot. She makes her do exercises on a mat and on a step and on the trampoline and on the threadmill, and even viral... virtuous... virtual reality exercises, and that's really fun because you wear a helmet and it is like a movie but it feels like you are in the movie! My mummy has to dodge branches on a raft and put out fires in a high building as if she was a firefighter and skateboard in a city and dance in a disco, and... and an exercise with a train and birds that I don't really understand and is very difficult. After that, she is always very tired, but it works! Now she can do several jumps in a row on the trampoline and even hop on one paw on the floor!!!! There is still work to do but she is very happy about that! And sometimes she still does a little ballet at home, like putting her paw on the barre and stretching, because she still loves it a lot!

Which pious girl will have the honor of being sacrificed?

 

These are bad times. A dragon in a nearby pond has been spewing its venom there, which poisons and kills the people of Cappadocia. However, despite sacrificing sheep and then men to placate the dragon, Cappadocians still have not been able to satisfy the carrier of death. The beast continues to spit out its dark venom in the environment. The people continue to sicken and die. So, an offering of a virgin is needed in order for the people to be saved and to prosper. Either that dragon must be appeased or it must be slain. That understanding of the problem and solution is common sense to all. The kingdom does not have the power to slay this mighty beast, so it must be appeased with an even better, more virtuous meal.

 

These young people will give their life so that others may live — the noblest gift of all that is noble.

 

Now step up for the good of all. Oh, hello princess. Draw your lot.

Of course it will be the princess who will win the bad lot.

 

Fortunately, this tragic story has a good turn of events. There would enter a powerful Roman soldier and early Christian, Saint George, who would trample and destroy the serpent, and in killing it would end the need for such human sacrifice.

 

—-

Painting title: The princess drawing the lot, St. George and the Dragon

Artist: Edward Burne-Jones, English, 1823-1898

Material: Oil on canvas

Venue: Indianapolis Museum of Art, Newfield

French postcard by E.P.I. (Editions P.I.), Paris, no. 319. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer, 1952.

 

American actor James Stewart (1908-1997) is among the most honored and popular stars in film history. Known for his distinctive drawl and everyman screen persona, Stewart had a film career that spanned over 55 years and 80 films.

 

James Maitland Stewart was born in 1908, in Indiana, Pennsylvania. Stewart started acting while studying at Princeton University. After graduating in 1932, he began a career as a stage actor, appearing on Broadway and in summer stock productions. In 1935, he signed a film contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). The studio did not see leading man material in Stewart, but after three years of supporting roles and being loaned out to other studios, he had his big breakthrough in Frank Capra's ensemble comedy You Can't Take It with You (1938). Adapted from the Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart, the film is about a man (Stewart) from a family of rich snobs who becomes engaged to a woman (Jean Arthur) from a good-natured but decidedly eccentric family. The following year, Stewart got his first Oscar nomination for his portrayal of an idealised and virtuous man who becomes a senator in Capra's Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (Frank Capra, 1939), again opposite Jean Arthur. He won the Academy Award for his work in the screwball comedy The Philadelphia Story (George Cukor, 1940), which also starred Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant. A licensed amateur pilot, Stewart enlisted as a private in the Army Air Corps as soon as he could after the United States entered the Second World War in 1941. Although still an MGM star, his only public and film appearances in 1941—1945 were scheduled by the Air Corps. After fighting in the European theater of war, he had attained the rank of colonel and had received several awards for his service. He remained in the U.S. Air Force Reserve and was promoted to brigadier general in 1959. He retired in 1968 and was awarded the United States Air Force Distinguished Service Medal.

 

After the war, James Stewart had difficulties in adapting to changing Hollywood and even thought about ending his acting career. He became a freelancer, and had his first postwar role was as George Bailey in Capra's It's a Wonderful Life (Frank Capra, 1946) with Donna Reed. Although it earned him an Oscar nomination, the film was not a big success at first. It has gained in popularity in the decades since its release and is considered a Christmas classic and one of Stewart's most famous performances. In the 1950s, Stewart experienced a career revival by playing darker, more morally ambiguous characters in Westerns and thrillers. Some of his most important collaborations during this period were with directors Anthony Mann, with whom he made eight films including Winchester '73 (1950), The Glenn Miller Story (1954) and The Naked Spur (1953), and Alfred Hitchcock, with whom he collaborated on Rope (1948), Rear Window (1954), The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956), and Vertigo (1958) with Kim Novak. Vertigo was ignored by critics at its time of release, but has since been reevaluated and recognised as an American cinematic masterpiece. His other films in the 1950s included the Broadway adaptation Harvey (Henry Koster, 1950) and the courtroom drama Anatomy of a Murder (Otto Preminger, 1959), both of which landed him Oscar nominations. He was one of the most popular film stars of the decade, with most of his films becoming box office successes. Stewart's later Westerns included The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) and Cheyenne Autumn (1964), both directed by John Ford. He signed a lucrative multi-movie deal with 20th Century-Fox in 1962 and appeared in many popular family comedies during the decade. After a brief venture into television acting, Stewart semi-retired by the 1980s, although he remained a public figure due to the renewed interest in his films with Capra and Hitchcock and his appearances at President Reagan's White House. He received many honorary awards, including an honorary Academy Honorary Award and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, both in 1985. Stewart remained unmarried until his 40s and was dubbed "The Great American Bachelor" by the press. In 1949, he married former model Gloria Hatrick McLean. They had twin daughters, and he adopted her two sons from her previous marriage. The marriage lasted until McLean's death in 1994. James Stewart died of a pulmonary embolism three years later in Beverly Hills.

 

Source: Wikipedia.

 

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. 1214a (a former owner wrote: 1080A). Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

 

American actor James Stewart (1908-1997) is among the most honored and popular stars in film history. Known for his distinctive drawl and everyman screen persona, Stewart had a film career that spanned over 55 years and 80 films.

 

James Maitland Stewart was born in 1908, in Indiana, Pennsylvania. Stewart started acting while studying at Princeton University. After graduating in 1932, he began a career as a stage actor, appearing on Broadway and in summer stock productions. In 1935, he signed a film contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). The studio did not see leading man material in Stewart, but after three years of supporting roles and being loaned out to other studios, he had his big breakthrough in Frank Capra's ensemble comedy You Can't Take It with You (1938). Adapted from the Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart, the film is about a man (Stewart) from a family of rich snobs who becomes engaged to a woman (Jean Arthur) from a good-natured but decidedly eccentric family. The following year, Stewart got his first Oscar nomination for his portrayal of an idealised and virtuous man who becomes a senator in Capra's Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (Frank Capra, 1939), again opposite Jean Arthur. He won the Academy Award for his work in the screwball comedy The Philadelphia Story (George Cukor, 1940), which also starred Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant. A licensed amateur pilot, Stewart enlisted as a private in the Army Air Corps as soon as he could after the United States entered the Second World War in 1941. Although still an MGM star, his only public and film appearances in 1941—1945 were scheduled by the Air Corps. After fighting in the European theater of war, he had attained the rank of colonel and had received several awards for his service. He remained in the U.S. Air Force Reserve and was promoted to brigadier general in 1959. He retired in 1968 and was awarded the United States Air Force Distinguished Service Medal.

 

After the war, James Stewart had difficulties in adapting to changing Hollywood and even thought about ending his acting career. He became a freelancer, and had his first postwar role was as George Bailey in Capra's It's a Wonderful Life (Frank Capra, 1946) with Donna Reed. Although it earned him an Oscar nomination, the film was not a big success at first. It has gained in popularity in the decades since its release and is considered a Christmas classic and one of Stewart's most famous performances. In the 1950s, Stewart experienced a career revival by playing darker, more morally ambiguous characters in Westerns and thrillers. Some of his most important collaborations during this period were with directors Anthony Mann, with whom he made eight films including Winchester '73 (1950), The Glenn Miller Story (1954) and The Naked Spur (1953), and Alfred Hitchcock, with whom he collaborated on Rope (1948), Rear Window (1954), The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956), and Vertigo (1958) with Kim Novak. Vertigo was ignored by critics at its time of release, but has since been reevaluated and recognised as an American cinematic masterpiece. His other films in the 1950s included the Broadway adaptation Harvey (Henry Koster, 1950) and the courtroom drama Anatomy of a Murder (Otto Preminger, 1959), both of which landed him Oscar nominations. He was one of the most popular film stars of the decade, with most of his films becoming box office successes. Stewart's later Westerns included The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) and Cheyenne Autumn (1964), both directed by John Ford. He signed a lucrative multi-movie deal with 20th Century-Fox in 1962 and appeared in many popular family comedies during the decade. After a brief venture into television acting, Stewart semi-retired by the 1980s, although he remained a public figure due to the renewed interest in his films with Capra and Hitchcock and his appearances at President Reagan's White House. He received many honorary awards, including an honorary Academy Honorary Award and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, both in 1985. Stewart remained unmarried until his 40s and was dubbed "The Great American Bachelor" by the press. In 1949, he married former model Gloria Hatrick McLean. They had twin daughters, and he adopted her two sons from her previous marriage. The marriage lasted until McLean's death in 1994. James Stewart died of a pulmonary embolism three years later in Beverly Hills.

 

Source: Wikipedia.

 

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

In 1868, four Irish Christian brothers, P.A. Treacy, D.F. Bodkin, J.B. Lynch and P.J. Nolan, arrived in Melbourne to open a new Christian school in the booming, and somewhat wild, city at the behest of Bishop Gould. They began teaching in 1869 in a small rented primary school behind St. Francis’ Church in Lonsdale Street. However, they really wanted something more permanent than the rented school they had, and they also wished to have a monastery in which to reside, rather than the rented rooms in Fitzroy that they had taken as a temporary measure.

 

With help from the Irish Catholic Church, they acquired a parcel of land along the wide boulevard of Victoria Parade in East Melbourne. In 1871 their dreams were realised when a new bluestone college was blessed by Bishop Gould in the presence of the venerable Archbishop of Sydney, the Archbishop Polding. They called their new school Parade College, after the name of the street it was built on, and dedicated it to Mary Immaculate.

 

The building is an imposing three storey bluestone structure that was built to the designs of Melbourne architect William Wilkinson Wardell (1823 – 1899), who also designed the nearby St. Patrick’s Cathedral. The building has been designed in the popular Victorian Gothic style, a mostly ecclesiastical architectural style. It features gothic style windows on the Victoria Parade facade, and a double storey verandah of cast iron on the rear of the building, which when it was built, would have taken in beautiful views of the nearby Fitzroy Gardens and the burgeoning city beyond it. The building also included a beautiful chapel on the third floor, accessed via a stairwell that was also designed in the Gothic style. The chapel is small; however it makes up in beauty what it lacks in size, with a vaulted pressed metal ceiling and beautiful stained glass windows.

 

On the school’s first day, more than one hundred boys were enrolled and the number increased steadily as accommodation became available. As time went on, more Brothers arrived at Parade College from Ireland, and so the number of boys attending the school could increase. In 1902 the school building was extended yet again and finally completed William Wardell’s original designs. It is this building that we see today. This building was affectionately known as the "Old Bluestone Pile" and the school’s song takes its name from this building.

 

Gothic architecture was perceived by the pious Victorians as an expression of religious, and therefore, moral values, and this may be the reason why architects preferred to build schools in this style throughout the Nineteenth Century. Its revival was seen as virtuous and equated with moral revival; the perfect environment in which to educate young minds. For this reason an ecclesiastical character was predominant even on buildings that were not necessarily religious.

 

In 1999 after being located in Clayton for 25 years, the Catholic Theological College moved into the former Parade College building (which had been sold in 1994) alongside which it built a new modern building designed by Gregory Burgess.

 

William Wilkinson Wardell was a civil engineer and architect born in England. He studied under Gothic architect Augustus Pugin, who became his friend as well as his mentor. Between 1846 and 1858 he designed over thirty churches in England, which was a very prodigious output, and he had a flourishing business. Some of the churches he designed include: St Birinus, Bridge End, Dorchester-on-Thames which was worked on between 1846 and 1849, and Greenwich’s Our Lady Star of the Sea which was worked on between 1846 and 1851. By 1858, Mr. Wardell’s health was suffering and his doctors felt that the warmer climate afforded by Australia might be more beneficial to his health. Therefore he, his wife Lucy, his two sons and daughter migrated after Mr. Wardell obtained the position of "Government Architect" to the city of Melbourne. In Melbourne he is known for designing the first St Mary’s Church in East St Kilda in 1859 and the second in 1897, Government House Melbourne in 1876, the ANZ Gothic bank in Collins Street in 1877, and St Patrick’s Cathedral which was completed in 1897 but was still being modified by Mr. Wardell at the time of his death. He is also known in Sydney for designing, the ASN Co. Building in 1884, St John’s College at the University of Sydney, which was completed after a breakdown in relations between the architect and the Sydney City Council, and St Mary’s Cathedral which was not completed until after his death. Mr. Wardell died at his home, “Upton Grange” in North Sydney in November 1899 of heart failure and pleurisy, but left behind a rich legacy in Australia, not only of the commercial and ecclesiastical buildings that he created, but for the numerous private houses and mansions that he designed.

 

Spanish minicard, series B, no. 19 in the Escenas selectas de cinematografia series by Chocolates Piera y Brugueras, Tarrasa (Barcelona). Constance Talmadge and Conway Tearle in A Virtuous Vamp (David Kirkland, 1919). The Spanish title is La coqueta irresistibile.

This is a gold-lacquered statue of Buddha that is displayed at the McClung Museum in Knoxville. It dates from the Ming Dynasty. My photo of this statue reminds me of a story from the Buddhist Jātaka tales. These are Buddhist morality tales, which harken back to India's antiquity. This is a tale entitled, How a Vain Woman Was Reborn As a Dung Worm. I have shortened the story.

 

—

 

Once upon a time, King Assaka, who reigned in Potali, lost his beloved wife, Ubbari. He knew her as graceful, charming, and very beautiful.

 

Upon her departure, the king plunged into grief, becoming increasingly depressed and miserable. He had her body laid in a coffin, embalmed with oil and ointment, and laid it next to his bed. There he lay in a deep depression. He went without food. He wept for hours and wailed.

 

In vain did his parents and kinsfolk, friends and courtiers, priests and laymen, bid him not to grieve.

 

In his effort to help mankind become a little more enlightened, a Bodhisattva decided to come down and visit the earthly king.

 

Upon learning who his visitor was, the first thing that the king asked was, "Do you know where my queen has come into being again?"

 

"Yes, I do," replied the Boddhisattva.

 

The king asked, "Where?"

 

The Bodhisattva replied, "O king, she was intoxicated with her own beauty. She fell into negligence in doing fair and virtuous acts; so now she has become a little dung-worm in this very park."

 

"I don't believe it!" said the king.

 

"Then I will show her to you, and make her speak," answered the Bodhisatva.

 

"Oh, please make her speak!" said the king.

 

The Bodhisattva commanded: "Let the two that are busy rolling a lump of cow-dung come forth before the king!" By his power he made them do it, and they crawled forth.

 

The Bodhisattva pointed one out to the king: "There is your Queen Ubbari, O king! She has just come out of this lump, following her husband the dung-worm. Look and see."

 

"What! My queen Ubbari a dung-worm? I don't believe it!" cried the king.

 

"I will make her speak, O king!"

 

"Pray make her speak, holy sir!" said the king.

 

The Bodhisattva gave her the gift of human speech.

 

"Ubbari!" he cried out.

 

"What is it, holy sir?" said the dung-worm in a human voice.

 

"What was your name in your former character?" the Bodhisattva asked.

 

"My name was Ubbari, sir," she replied, "the wife of King Assaka."

 

"Tell me," the Bodhisattva went on, "Who do you love best now -- King Assaka or this dung-worm?"

 

"O sir, Assaka was my former life," said she. "Then I lived with him in this park, enjoying shape and sound, scent, savor and touch; but now that my memory is confused by rebirth, what is he? Why, now I would kill King Assaka, and would smear the feet of my current husband the dung-worm with the blood flowing from my former husband’s throat!"

 

In the midst of the king's company, she uttered this poem to help better explain:

 

'Once with the great King Assaka, who was my husband dear,

Beloving and beloved, I walked about this garden here.

But now new sorrows and new joys have made the old ones flee,

And far dearer than Assaka my worm is now to me.'”

 

When King Assaka heard this, he repented on the spot. At once he caused the former queen's body to be removed from his room and washed his head. He saluted the Bodhisattva, and went back into the city, where he married another queen, lived fully, and ruled in righteousness.

 

--

Source: The Jataka; or, Stories of the Buddha's Former Births, edited by E. B. Cowell, vol. 2, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1895), no. 207, pp. 108-110. Translated from the Pali by W. H. D. Rouse.

To you, O Blessed Joseph, we come in our trials, and having asked the help of your most holy spouse, we confidently ask your patronage also. Through that sacred bond of charity which united you to the Immaculate Virgin Mother of God and through the fatherly love with which you embraced the Child Jesus, we humbly beg you to look graciously upon the beloved inheritance which Jesus Christ purchased by his blood, and to aid us in our necessities with your power and strength.

 

O most provident guardian of the Holy Family, defend the chosen children of Jesus Christ. Most beloved father, dispel the evil of falsehood and sin. Our most mighty protector, graciously assist us from heaven in our struggle with the powers of darkness. And just as you once saved the Child Jesus from mortal danger, so now defend God’s Holy Church from the snares of her enemies and from all adversity. Shield each one of us by your constant protection, so that, supported by your example and your help, we may be able to live a virtuous life, to die a holy death, and to obtain eternal happiness in heaven. Amen.

 

The purpose of Pope Leo XIII's encyclical [Quamquam Pluries] was to implore divine help by means of prayer, joining to the intercession of Mary that of St. Joseph, that God might be more willing to grant our petitions and that he might aid his Church more promptly and generously. Leo XIII therefore attached to his encyclical a special Prayer to St. Joseph ordering that it be added to the recitation of the rosary every year in perpetuity, during the month of October. To this prayer he attached an indulgence, which is fittingly preserved in the Enchiridion Indulgentiarum. He also recommends dedicating to the holy Patriarch the month of March, with daily exercises of piety in his honor, and to observe at lest a triduum of prayers preceding the Feast of St. Joseph.

French card by EPC. Photo: RKO.

 

American actor James Stewart (1908-1997) is among the most honored and popular stars in film history. Known for his distinctive drawl and everyman screen persona, Stewart had a film career that spanned over 55 years and 80 films.

 

James Maitland Stewart was born in 1908, in Indiana, Pennsylvania. Stewart started acting while studying at Princeton University. After graduating in 1932, he began a career as a stage actor, appearing on Broadway and in summer stock productions. In 1935, he signed a film contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). The studio did not see leading man material in Stewart, but after three years of supporting roles and being loaned out to other studios, he had his big breakthrough in Frank Capra's ensemble comedy You Can't Take It with You (1938). Adapted from the Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart, the film is about a man (Stewart) from a family of rich snobs who becomes engaged to a woman (Jean Arthur) from a good-natured but decidedly eccentric family. The following year, Stewart got his first Oscar nomination for his portrayal of an idealised and virtuous man who becomes a senator in Capra's Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (Frank Capra, 1939), again opposite Jean Arthur. He won the Academy Award for his work in the screwball comedy The Philadelphia Story (George Cukor, 1940), which also starred Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant. A licensed amateur pilot, Stewart enlisted as a private in the Army Air Corps as soon as he could after the United States entered the Second World War in 1941. Although still an MGM star, his only public and film appearances in 1941—1945 were scheduled by the Air Corps. After fighting in the European theater of war, he had attained the rank of colonel and had received several awards for his service. He remained in the U.S. Air Force Reserve and was promoted to brigadier general in 1959. He retired in 1968 and was awarded the United States Air Force Distinguished Service Medal.

 

After the war, James Stewart had difficulties in adapting to changing Hollywood and even thought about ending his acting career. He became a freelancer, and had his first postwar role was as George Bailey in Capra's It's a Wonderful Life (Frank Capra, 1946) with Donna Reed. Although it earned him an Oscar nomination, the film was not a big success at first. It has gained in popularity in the decades since its release and is considered a Christmas classic and one of Stewart's most famous performances. In the 1950s, Stewart experienced a career revival by playing darker, more morally ambiguous characters in Westerns and thrillers. Some of his most important collaborations during this period were with directors Anthony Mann, with whom he made eight films including Winchester '73 (1950), The Glenn Miller Story (1954) and The Naked Spur (1953), and Alfred Hitchcock, with whom he collaborated on Rope (1948), Rear Window (1954), The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956), and Vertigo (1958) with Kim Novak. Vertigo was ignored by critics at its time of release, but has since been reevaluated and recognised as an American cinematic masterpiece. His other films in the 1950s included the Broadway adaptation Harvey (Henry Koster, 1950) and the courtroom drama Anatomy of a Murder (Otto Preminger, 1959), both of which landed him Oscar nominations. He was one of the most popular film stars of the decade, with most of his films becoming box office successes. Stewart's later Westerns included The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) and Cheyenne Autumn (1964), both directed by John Ford. He signed a lucrative multi-movie deal with 20th Century-Fox in 1962 and appeared in many popular family comedies during the decade. After a brief venture into television acting, Stewart semi-retired by the 1980s, although he remained a public figure due to the renewed interest in his films with Capra and Hitchcock and his appearances at President Reagan's White House. He received many honorary awards, including an honorary Academy Honorary Award and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, both in 1985. Stewart remained unmarried until his 40s and was dubbed "The Great American Bachelor" by the press. In 1949, he married former model Gloria Hatrick McLean. They had twin daughters, and he adopted her two sons from her previous marriage. The marriage lasted until McLean's death in 1994. James Stewart died of a pulmonary embolism three years later in Beverly Hills.

 

Source: Wikipedia.

 

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

Wally the whippet was a lunchtime companion. I felt left out. Mine was the only table without at least one dog. There was Wally, of course, a greyhound with two companions, a labrador (of course) and over there a gorgeous little lurcher, probably a whippet/bedlington terrier cross looking all the world like a deerhound washed on the hot cycle.

 

These are all gentle dogs, good in the company of people; friendly. There is a refreshing absence of the the pestilence of pig dogs that fill my local pound and are menacing; walked at people to intimidate and displace. The English attitude to dogs is virtuous and I commend it to all.

In 1868, four Irish Christian brothers, P.A. Treacy, D.F. Bodkin, J.B. Lynch and P.J. Nolan, arrived in Melbourne to open a new Christian school in the booming, and somewhat wild, city at the behest of Bishop Gould. They began teaching in 1869 in a small rented primary school behind St. Francis’ Church in Lonsdale Street. However, they really wanted something more permanent than the rented school they had, and they also wished to have a monastery in which to reside, rather than the rented rooms in Fitzroy that they had taken as a temporary measure.

 

With help from the Irish Catholic Church, they acquired a parcel of land along the wide boulevard of Victoria Parade in East Melbourne. In 1871 their dreams were realised when a new bluestone college was blessed by Bishop Gould in the presence of the venerable Archbishop of Sydney, the Archbishop Polding. They called their new school Parade College, after the name of the street it was built on, and dedicated it to Mary Immaculate.

 

The building is an imposing three storey bluestone structure that was built to the designs of Melbourne architect William Wilkinson Wardell (1823 – 1899), who also designed the nearby St. Patrick’s Cathedral. The building has been designed in the popular Victorian Gothic style, a mostly ecclesiastical architectural style. It features gothic style windows on the Victoria Parade facade, and a double storey verandah of cast iron on the rear of the building, which when it was built, would have taken in beautiful views of the nearby Fitzroy Gardens and the burgeoning city beyond it. The building also included a beautiful chapel on the third floor, accessed via a stairwell that was also designed in the Gothic style. The chapel is small; however it makes up in beauty what it lacks in size, with a vaulted pressed metal ceiling and beautiful stained glass windows.

 

On the school’s first day, more than one hundred boys were enrolled and the number increased steadily as accommodation became available. As time went on, more Brothers arrived at Parade College from Ireland, and so the number of boys attending the school could increase. In 1902 the school building was extended yet again and finally completed William Wardell’s original designs. It is this building that we see today. This building was affectionately known as the "Old Bluestone Pile" and the school’s song takes its name from this building.

 

Gothic architecture was perceived by the pious Victorians as an expression of religious, and therefore, moral values, and this may be the reason why architects preferred to build schools in this style throughout the Nineteenth Century. Its revival was seen as virtuous and equated with moral revival; the perfect environment in which to educate young minds. For this reason an ecclesiastical character was predominant even on buildings that were not necessarily religious.

 

In 1999 after being located in Clayton for 25 years, the Catholic Theological College moved into the former Parade College building (which had been sold in 1994) alongside which it built a new modern building designed by Gregory Burgess.

 

William Wilkinson Wardell was a civil engineer and architect born in England. He studied under Gothic architect Augustus Pugin, who became his friend as well as his mentor. Between 1846 and 1858 he designed over thirty churches in England, which was a very prodigious output, and he had a flourishing business. Some of the churches he designed include: St Birinus, Bridge End, Dorchester-on-Thames which was worked on between 1846 and 1849, and Greenwich’s Our Lady Star of the Sea which was worked on between 1846 and 1851. By 1858, Mr. Wardell’s health was suffering and his doctors felt that the warmer climate afforded by Australia might be more beneficial to his health. Therefore he, his wife Lucy, his two sons and daughter migrated after Mr. Wardell obtained the position of "Government Architect" to the city of Melbourne. In Melbourne he is known for designing the first St Mary’s Church in East St Kilda in 1859 and the second in 1897, Government House Melbourne in 1876, the ANZ Gothic bank in Collins Street in 1877, and St Patrick’s Cathedral which was completed in 1897 but was still being modified by Mr. Wardell at the time of his death. He is also known in Sydney for designing, the ASN Co. Building in 1884, St John’s College at the University of Sydney, which was completed after a breakdown in relations between the architect and the Sydney City Council, and St Mary’s Cathedral which was not completed until after his death. Mr. Wardell died at his home, “Upton Grange” in North Sydney in November 1899 of heart failure and pleurisy, but left behind a rich legacy in Australia, not only of the commercial and ecclesiastical buildings that he created, but for the numerous private houses and mansions that he designed.

 

Finally got to play the masterpiece that is Snake Eater and beat it 3 times (still trying to get the FOXHOUND rank), while i also started playing The Phantom Pain. Both games are absolutely peak, but i'm completely stuck in MGSV...

  

Map ref. N53. 29' 13'' W9. 12' 48''

 

Location; Galway Mayo border.

 

ONCE HOME TO THE BALLYCURRIN LYNCH'S.

(LYNCH GENEALOGY FOR BALLYCURRIN CASTLE AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE).

 

Ballycurran / Ballycar.

O' Curreens Townland or Townland of the marshy shoreline. This Townland of 557 acres to the north of Kilroe is bounded on the north and west by Lough Corrib, south by Gortbrack and east by Glassvalley, Mounthenry, and Gortatober.

 

An obvious place for early man to hunt and settle as it has numerous fresh water streams, springs, trees and hills. Traces of civilization dating from the Neolithic Age (4000BC ? 2000BC) have been found in this townland. Neolithic Stone Age axes were found in a field on the lakeshore in the 1980's. Similar types were found around Moycullen in the last century suggesting that the lake was used as a route of communications.

 

In 1827 and 1862, numerous Bronze Age discoveries were made at the northern part of the townland at Shannon ? Possibly Sean Dun. These consisted of Bronze Age swords, a shield and hundreds of amber beads? The latter are thought to have originated in the Baltic Countries. They were discovered by Stephen and Margaret Sullivan who, under the guidance of the landlord Charles Lynch, sold them to the National Museum for one pound and ten shillings as treasure trove.

There are also signs of Bronze Age lead mines in the vicinity mentioned by William Wilde in his book "Wilde's Lough Corrib". In the 1840's Elizabethan and Jacobite silver coins were found to the east of Ballycurrin Big House.

 

The townland is dominated by the impressive ruins of a very old Tower House, Ballycurrin Castle. It measures 64ft. long by 47ft. high. It shows signs of very early stonework. The castle dates from the 14th century approximately and many additions and alterations were made in the 16th and 17th centuries. In 1966 the south wall and stairwell fell thereby ending a long tradition of engraving messages and initials in the tar/pitch roof.

Ballycurrin Castle

(A MacShoneen stronghold. MacShoneen a name now anglicised into Jennings ( De Burgo/Burke ancestory). In 1401 Thomas Mc William held the castle. Edmund Burke of Cong held the castle in 1588 and in 1628 it was granted to Earl Clanricharde.

www.shrule.com/?page_id=1973

burkeclan.com/burke-history

 

It was a Mac Seoinin stronghold. Ulick MacSeoinin occupied it in 1574 and Richard, Earl of Clanricarde acquired it in 1610. In 1679, it was leased to Maurice Lynch ? descendants of Sir Henry Lynch, Galway, 1st. Baronet who died in 1634. Maurice Lynch's son, Joseph, got possession of the demesne in 1700. It remained in the family until Charles Lynch died in 1897. The Lynch’s built Ballycurrin House next door to the castle.

Among the better known members of this family was Henry Lynch, who, because of this love of sailing and needing a marker point and quay to get provisions from the Galway Cong steamer, built Ballycurrin Lighthouse. It is the only inland lighthouse of its type in Europe. The roof is made of a mill wheel. (map ref. N53.48519 W 9.21310.)

Beside it, he built a boathouse which has a stone engraved with "Erected by Henry Lynch Esq. A.D. 1772". The townland of Mounthenry, formerly known as Coarse Field, is named after Henry Lynch.

Another member, Peter, who became a Papal Knight, built an impressive Big House on the shores of Lough Mask , Petersburgh nowadays a popular outdoor pursuits centre.

Ballycurrin Lighthouse

The last of the Ballycurrin Lynch's was Charles who was married to Helena Joyce, Mervue, Galway. Their only son died in infancy and on Charles's death, the Clarkin family inherited the estate. A branch of the Lynch's contested the Will in a protracted law case (Lynch v Clarkin) however the Will was upheld. The Clarkin's sold the estate to the Congested Districts Board who resold the house and part of the estate to Colonel Beddington, a retired English Colonel. He renovated the house and planted and landscaped the area around the house. Many of the Lynch relatives and inlaws remained living in the area close to Ballycurrin House on the shores of Lough Corrib. Many of those Lynch's are buried in the Nave of Ross Errilly Friary (some are buried in Lynch Crypt in the nave of the church and many in an unmarked grave under or beside the the mchugh tomb N53.47971 W9.13135)

The Tomb in the Nave has been flattened to ground level and the slabs moved close to the church wall. There is also a ring fort or Rath in the area of the Parks (Lynch Parks). Originally built as a defensive homestead with surrounding circular mounds, it was then used as a Lisheen or children's burial ground up to the 1930's.

There are other historical connections, particularly, found in placenames, such as Crocan na Saighdiuiri which overlooks a little island called Priosun. The stories behind such names have been lost through the ages. In the last century, Ballycurrin had its own mill at the junction with Glassvalley, powered by the Ballycurrin stream. It also had it's own Poitin Stil in a field by the lake still known as Teach na Stile. Apparently there was a brisk trade to and from across the lake and to the islands in the illicit brew.

In more recent times, it had it's own blacksmith's forge at Molloys and a concrete block factory at Butlers.

Note,

Ballycurran House beside thecastle:

The American descendants of the Clarkin’s say that Ballycurrin house was burnt down so that the family did not have to pay English taxes. I have heard of this reason before however I believe the property had already been purchased by the congested Districts Board who were in the process of selling it to Colonel Beddington. The Australian Clarkin’s tell me that James Clarkin was present at the burning. James Clarkin's son Charles Clarkin wrote many years later that "he saw his inheritance go up in flames as it was burnt down that night as an Englishman buying the estate was not looked upon well in that part of Ireland at that time"

The wooden gates to the estate were thrown into Lough Corrib.

The contents were removed from the house before it was burnt and were auctioned by a Mrs B Clarkin in Oranmore Galway in 1921. The contents of the auction included a sword supposed to have been presented to a john O’Moore by Nelson and a large portrait of Daniel O'Connell.

James Clarkin died in 1917.

  

Sources,

History of Christian Names (Vol. 1). London: Forgotten Books. (Original work published 1863)

“ theConnaught branch of the great Norman family of De Burghs first Iricised themselves into Mac William, then the Mayo stem descended from a John, or Shawn turned into MacShoneen, and finally, when taken with an English taste, became Jennings”.

www.mocavo.com/Journal-of-the-Association-for-the-Preserv...

J.F. Quinn series of articles on Mayo history published in the Western People during the 1930s

“Currin or Marsh was the original name of Ballycurrin castle. It was then a MacShoneen stronghold. Ulick MacShoneen Burke occupied it in 1574. It does not figure in the Annals. Richard, Earl of Clanricarde, got it in 1610. It was leased to the Lynchs, who retained it until Chas. Lynch, of Ballycurrin, died in 1897”

  

William R. Wilde's Loch Coirib - Its Shores and Islands

Chapter 6: Inis U Chuinn to Inis A' Ghaill and Cunga Fheichn (Cong)

This old tower-house, or defensive mansion, consists of a quadrangular ivy-mantled keep--now somewhat altered for modern purposes--sixty-four feet long on the south, thirty-nine on the west face, and forty-seven feet high; but possessing no architectural memorial by which to assign even a probable date to it; as the dressed stones are not chiselled, but punched, or what is styled "sparrowpicked"; massive defence and security having evidently been the main objects of its founders. Both it and the newer residence are most pleasingly situated on a green slope, rising from a sheltered little bay, and surrounded by a large park of well-grown timber. There is no reference to this ancient building in our histories or inquisitions; and the only legend attaching there to is, that it was built in the "ould times" by one of three brothers, the two others of whom erected those of Ballynahinsey and Moceara (possibly Mac Ceara), with which it forms a triangle. After the Milesian invasion, our bardic histories say that one of that race, named "Caicer, erected a castle at Dn Inn, in the West of Ireland." Upon the shore adjoining Ballycurrin there exists a mound, or earthen tumulus of that name, and mentioned in Keating's History of Ireland. There is, however, no mortared structure in Ireland older than the Christian Era. And he is also of opinion that Ceara, one of the artificers said to have come over at that time left his name to many localities in Connacht--such as Loch Ceara, Caiseal Ceara; and in this immediate neighbourhood, Tobar Ceara and Girrn Ceara, or Ceara's well and garden. In the old quit rent receipts Ballycurrin is called Ballycar, possibly a corruption or anglicized version of Baile Ceara. In the vicinity was found the collection of amber beads, and several bronze antiquities, now in the collection of the Royal Irish Academy.

  

BALLYCURRAN LYNCH'S.

Descendant of Sir Henry Lynch, first Baronet of Galway, who died in 1634, his son Maurice was transplanted to Ballynonagh in 1655. Maurice then got a lease of Ballicurran castle and 4 quarters of land on March 1679. He died in 1684 and his son Joseph got a renewal of the lease. Joseph had three sons ,Maurice who inherited Ballynonagh on his father’s death in 1721, Ignatius, a merchant in Galway, and Peter. A son of Ignatius, Joseph, succeeded to Ballycurran on his grandfather’s death, as he died young and without issue the property then went to his uncle Peter. This Peter Lynch built the mansion house in Ballycurran and was the first Lynch to actually live there, from 1728. Peter died in 1760 and his son Henry succeeded to the estate.

Henry died in 1820 and the Friars of Kilroe named their townland after him, Monthenry, so that all may remember him. He was succeeded by his son Capt. Peter Lynch who died in 1840, Peter had married Julia Lynch, a distant cousin, and had a large family, four sons and four daughters. His son Charles was his successor, he married Helena Joyce of Merview, Galway. Their only son died in infancy and Helena died in the famine year of 1847. Charles became High Sheriff of County Mayo and in 1849 he donated one acre of land and some material help for the construction of a national school in Kilroe

 

Bells Life in London and Sporting Chronicle

SUNDAY, JANUARY 25, 1863.

ROYAL WESTERN YACHT CLUB OF IRELAND. The usual meetings of the members of this club continue to be held at their new and handsome club rooms in the Queen's Hotel, Queenstown; every ballot night the active and energetic secre- tary, Mr J. Lyon Thorne, R. N., has his time fully occupied, ana the prospects for the approaching season are most promising. The following members have been recently elected:— Charles Lynch, Esq, D. L., Ballycurrin Castle, Headford, cutter Fairy; Travers B. Wire, Esq, Stone House, Lewisham, cutter Elsie; Thomas Dawson, Esq, Maryville, Taunton, cutter Water Witch ; John Lancaster, Esq, Hindley Hall, Wigan, screw- steamer Deer- hound ; John Lear, Esq, Liverpool, cutter Plover ; James L. Swan- ton, Esq, Skibbereen, cutter Antelope; Mathew O'Connor, Esq, Drumshambo, cutter Querida ; William Harrington, Esq, Cork ; DaviJ Fulton, Esq, Belfast; Henry Stuart Burton, Esq, Carrigaholt Castle ; E. G. Seymour, Esq, Queenstown ; Captain Thomas C. Clarke, harbour master, Cork; and George C. Evans, Esq, Cork. It is with much regret that we learn the club is about to lose the services, as secretary, of Mr Thorne, who is about again to proceed on service ; by his courtesy, attention, and active business habits during his connection with it, he has gained the esteem and confidence of his brother officers and the members generally, and much regret will be experienced upon his leaving for Ports- mouth

  

Ross Abbey

 

Ross Abbey had up to 1584 an uneventful existence because when Henry VIII was in power, the Franciscans were fortunate in being under the protection of the friendly Clanrickardes, who left them undisturbed in their saintly work. In 1584, however, Elizabeth received information that the friars were still in occupation and she granted the monastery to an Englishman, who forthwith expelled the inmates and plundered it of it's library, books and other valuables. The destruction of the precious records and books is to be deeply lamented down to the present time. The "Poor Friars" were welcomed to the shelter of the humble homes of the people in Shrine Parish as they were also in Killursa, where they had been domiciled. For two years they were harboured in the locality until in 1586, Ulic, the third Earl of Clanrickarde, succeeded in purchasing the Englishman's interest and immediately reinstated them.

In 1612, the friars were reported again to the Lord Deputy, Chichester, who ordered William Daniel, Protestant Archbishop to Tuam, to arrest the community, which now consisted of only six priests and two lay?brothers. Though authorised to apprehend these holy men and demolishing their altars, the learned archbishop sent word privately to Ross that he was coming and advised them not to be there.

From Wilde's Lough Corrib 1867

Therefore, on his arrival at the deserted friary the Franciscans were safely sheltered in the houses of Shrine parish just across the Black River where they were, in effect, outside the jurisdiction of the archbishop. For fourteen years these saintly men remained dependent on the generosity of their neighbours until 1626, when the first Stuart king was then no more.

. In 1612, the friars were reported again to the Lord Deputy, Chichester, who ordered William Daniel, Protestant Archbishop to Tuam, to arrest the community, which now consisted of only six priests and two lay?brothers. Though authorised to apprehend these holy men and demolishing their altars, the learned archbishop sent word privately to Ross that he was coming and advised them not to be there. Therefore, on his arrival at the deserted friary the Franciscans were safely sheltered in the houses of Shrine parish just across the Black River where they were, in effect, outside the jurisdiction of the archbishop. For fourteen years these saintly men remained dependent on the generosity of their neighbours until 1626, when the first Stuart king was then no more.

The final flight of those holy men was brought about by the vengeful spirit of the natives of the West. The Abbey had now passed into the hands of Lord St. George of Headford, and under him enjoyed the same freedom as it had under the Clanrickardes. In 1753, however, St. George had won a lawsuit against an O'Flaherty of Iar?Chonnacht, and bent on revenge, O'Flaherty swore informations that his lordship was harbouring monks on his property and contributing directly towards their upkeep. He also added that those monks were residing in an Abbey, the tower of which could be seen from the windows of Headford Castle, which, of course, was not literally true. These allegations if proven, would mean serious trouble for St. George, and the Authorities resolved to investigate the matter fully. A commission was speedily sent to Ross with powers to imprison the friars, and orders to make a full report on he alleged misconduct of St. George. But his lordship must have had good friends in Galway, for news of the impending visit was brought secretly to him at Headford and he, in turn, passed the sad news to the friars.

 

The friary was promptly evacuated and neighbouring people, many of whom were Shrine parishioners, immediately began to give the buildings the appearance of a factory. They whitewashed the interior walls and ceilings, covering the many beautiful frescoes, and they installed spinning wheels and looms in the great church and refectories. On the arrival of the commissioners from Galway, the whole place gave the impression of housing a great woollen industry, and this was the report which was duly dispatched to he authorities. Therefore once more, by Divine Providence, the friars had eluded their enemies.

 

Ballycurrin Bay

Ballycurrin Bay is a very well known among our angling friends, having abundant if sometimes elusive brown trout, pike, perch, eel and an odd salmon. Ballycurrin stream is regarded as a fertile spawning ground for brown trout and significantly, with the work of the Inland Fishery Trust and the Headford and Corrib Angling club the number of "redds" is increasing annually. A noteworthy selection of Flora and Fauna thrive in Ballycurrin. Significant numbers of oak and beech as well as a few elm survivors and a variety of fir, pine and chestnut add to the beauty.

Wild native potentilla grow on the shoreline as well as a few rare wild?flowers such as Bee?Orchids and Gentians. Indeed, many wild flowers which have made the Burren famous, grow in the area particularly along the lakeshore and on the islands.

Foxes, badgers, hares and stoats have recently been joined by the pine?marten and the unwelcome signs of mink are being seen by the waterside and along Ballycurrin stream. As well as the usual birds some rarities such as .Kingfishers and Yellow Hammers are seen at intervals. Last May a keen angling visitor to the area saw a Peregrine Falcon flying over Ballycurrin Bay. In the 1960's and early 1970's, the bay was featured on Eamonn de Butleir's nature programme, "Amuigh Faoin Speir," on R.T.E. He filmed the hundreds of coots that congregated at the mouth of the Black River during spells of cold weather. Alas, these numbers have declined dramatically since then.

While researching his books on foxes and in particular the Legend of the Corrib King, their author, Tom McCaughren, paid a number of visits to the area.

Nowadays, Ballycurrin remains a tranquil rural townland which is becoming popular with many nationalities including Dutch, Swiss., German and American.

  

THE CONNAUGHT JOURNAL

THURSDAY, AUGUST 27, 1840

MARRIED.

On the 24th instant, in the parish church of Kilmain, County Mayo, by the Rev. F. Rutledge, of Bloomfield, Thomas Fair, Esq. of Fortville, to Margaret, second daughter of Captain Lynch; and afterwards at Ballycurrin Castle, the seat of her father, by the Rev. Richard Walsh, P.P. of Headford. The happy couple, accompanied by several friends, immediately after the ceremony proceeded to Fortville, where they partook of a dejuener prepared for the occasion.

 

SPORTING NEWS

A fine fox was shaken at Oldtore, on Thursday last, before the hounds of

Captain LYNCH of Ballycurrin Castle. Poor Reynard after a severe and long

run of about eighteen miles, over a very stiff country, at length baffled

the ardour and determination of his pursuers by taking refuge of an earth on

the banks of Lake Corrib. The day was peculiarly favourable, and immense

numbers thronged to witness the sport.

Amongst the foremost horeseman were the Messrs. LYNCHes, DALY, SKERRETT, and

CRAMPTON. During the day six feet walls were leaped by those gallant members

of the sporting community.---Tuam Herald.

 

THE LATE PETER LYNCH, ESQ.

It is with unaffected sorrow, we have this day, the painful duty of recording the death of Captain Peter Lynch of Ballycunin Castle, which melancholy event took place on the 5th instant.- Captain Lynch was in the 64th year of his age, and for many years a magistrate for this county, and endured a painful and prolonged illness with fortitude and resignation of a christian.- Through life he was a gentleman of the most tender and charitable feelings, one of the kindest and most indulgent of landlords, ever ready to assist the poor.- As as parent and a husband, the most sincere love and affection endeared him to his wife and family, while his loss, as a true Sportsman will be long felt in the neighbourhood in which he lived.- He is gone, it is hoped to a better world to enjoy the reward of a virtuous and pious life, deplored and sincerely regretted by his family and a wife circle of friends and relatives, who followed his remains (carried by his tenantry by his express desire) to the Abbey at Ross, where they were deposited to the family vault.

 

A history of Ross Errilly confirms the Lynch's (Ballycurrin) tomb was in the nave of the church. The Petersburg Lynch's had their vault outside the friary.

  

These Lynch's were not Irish. They were Anglo Norman

An extract from HARDIMAN'S THE HISTORY OF GALWAY 1820, READS,

Lynch.

This is one of the most ancient, and, until the middle of the seventeenth century, was one of the leading families in Galway. In the old volume of pedigrees, preserved in the Heralds office, it appears, that, ''William le Petit, came to Ireland, in 1185, with Sir Hugh de Lacy, who granted him, by his charter, Macherithirnar, (now the barony of Macherydernan, in Westmeath,) except the Logh and Town of Dysart; that they were palatine barons of Molingare, and that William le Petit, had a son, Nicholas, who was ancestor to the family of Lynch of Galway.

John de Lynch was the first settled of the name Lynch in Galway. He was married to the daughter and sole heiress of William de Mareschall, and, it is stated, that the eldest branch of the family, was called Mareschall, until the male line became extinct. During the greatest part of the 15, 16 and 17th centuries, they possessed the principal authority within the town.

 

Dominick Lynch Fitz John, commonly called Dominick Dubh, in 1484 solicited and procured the charter of Richard III. under which he caused his brother, Pierce, to be elected first Mayor, and was himself the second. His son Stephen, at the same time, sued out and obtained the bull of Innocent VIII. which established here that singular ecclesiastical jurisdiction, the wardenship.

 

Thomas Lynch Fitz Ambrose was the last catholic mayor in 1654. This is when the ancient inhabitants were dispossessed by Cromwell. During a period of 169 years, 84 members of this family, were mayors of Galway. The eldest line of the Lynches from which the younger branches sprung, was distinguished by the appelation of Cranmore, which means, the great tree or stock; and the house of Newcastle, descended from Emon-a-Tuane, who lived in 1342, claimed this distinction.

 

The present lineal descendants of this family, are, the Count Lynch late Mayor of Bourdeaux, who so eminently distinguished himself in the cause of the royal family of France, against Buonaparte. Additionally, his relative, John Lynch Alexander, Esq. of Galway.

 

The families of Barna, Cartron, Clough, Drimcong, Lavally, Lydican, Moycullen, Rathglass, and Shannonbridge, in County Galway, Duras in County Clare, and Ballycurren, Castlecarra or Balla, Clogher and Partry in County Mayo, are now the principal of the name.

 

the Galway Blazers connection,(Possibly Charles lynch of Ballycurrin or Charles lynch of Petersburg. Also ref to Patrick Lynch who was married to Charles Lynch's sister Alicia)

homepage.eircom.net/~oreganathenry/oreganathenry/lambertb...

  

Local history from the Act of Union to the Famine .

27 October 1843 (Connaught Ranger)

“Loyal repeal association . We held in Shruel on yesterday the Mayo arbritation court, I had the honor of presiding and was associated with Mr. Hunt of Riverview and Mr. Lynch of Ballycurren castle,1st cousin of Charles, who, in the absence of that gentleman, was unanimously selected by the people, and whose acting, though not yet published, we consider quite in conformity with the declaration made by the liberator in his speeches explanatory of the arbritation system…..however, on yesterday, so perfectly satisfied were the people that one man,who claimed a balance of rent for grazing, said (when we judged he had not established his claim) that so confident was he in the justice of our decision, that if we ruled that he was not entitled to the money he had already received he would restore it on the spot.We attend next Wednesday in Kilmaine, next Thursday in Shruel again and next Saturday in Cong. Mr. Lynch of Ballycurren Castle is nominated by the clergy and the Wardens as a fit person for the neighbouring district.”

R.D. Browne

 

A report in the Freemans Journal 15 October 1845 clearly shows that Charles Lynch of Ballycurrin was an ardent supporter of Daniel O’Connell and toasted “the Liberator” when he visited Mayo in 1845.

See www.newspapers.com/newspage/61104847/

when Ballycurrin burnt down in 1914 a large painting of Daniel O'Connell was removed with the other contents.

  

Official catalogue of the great industrial exhibition: (in connection with the Royal Dublin Society), 1853 (1853)

414 Lynch, C. Ballycurrin Castle, Headford, co.

Galway, Inv. — Model paddle wheel, the floats enter-

ing and emerging vertically, without vibration.

 

Headford (Co. Galway) Mr Charles Lynch, D.L. J.P. who has for several years

endeavouring to revive National pastimes in his locality is getting up a club

composed of his tenantry and others who wish to join in the parish of

Shrule. He has given the free use of grounds adjoining Ballycurran Castle for

the players and spectators. We cannot too earnestly comment the patriotic

conduct of Mr Lynch who has given free access to his lawn to the Gaelic

football players of his parish and who has undertaken in person the duty of

organising the club and instructing the players.

United Ireland, 24 July, 1886

  

LYNCH GENEALOGY FOR BALLYCURRIN CASTLE.

JOSEPH LYNCH BALLYNONAGH D.1721. CHILDREN.

---------MAURICE LYNCH D.1747.

---------PETER LYNCH D.1760.

---------IGNATIUS LYNCH.

---------ELLEN LYNCH.

 

PETER LYNCH’S CHILDREN.

-----------HENRY LYNCH D.1820. HIGH SHERRIFF 1772.

-----------JOHN LYNCH MOUNTROSS D. CIRCA 1815.

-----------THOMAS LYNCH HEADFORD D.?

----------- PETER LYNCH

-----------ANASTAS (ANASTASIA) LYNCH.

---------- JOANE LYNCH.

---------- MARY LYNCH.

 

HENRY LYNCH AND MARGARET BROWNE’S CHILDREN.

---------CAPT. PETER LYNCH BALLYCURRIN D.1840.

---------CATHERINE MARGARET.

---------EDWARD. MARRIED MARY O'SULLIVAN DAUGHTER OF DENIS O'SULLIVAN BEAR OF INISHMICATEER ISLAND LOUGH CORRIB. TWO DAUGHTERS MARGARET AND BRIDGET. AN UNNAMED SON IS ALSO MENTIONED IN 1843. WAS EDWARD OF THE BALLYCURRIN LYNCH'S OR THE PETERSBURG LYNCH'S? I AM NOT SURE! HE WAS ONLY REFERRED TO AS CHARLES LYNCH'S UNCLE.

 

CAPT. PETER LYNCH’S CHILDREN.

------- -HENRY D.1825 UNMARRIED NO ISSUE.

-------- MARGARET FAIR D.1880

---------CHARLES LYNCH D.1897. CHILD DIED IN INFANCY

-------- ROBERT LYNCH D.1840. UNMARRIED NO ISSUE

--------ARTHUR LYNCH D. 1842. UNMARRIED NO ISSUE

--------SOPHIA LYNCH D.1852.

--------ALICIA LYNCH D.1851.

--------CATHERINE D.1876. MARRIED MYLES MCDONNELL OF CARNACON.(Youngest son of Myles McDonnell of Doo castle.)

(CHARLES LYNCH'S SON DIED IN INFANCY. HE HAD NO OTHER CHILDREN.

CHARLES LYNCH WAS THE LAST LYNCH TO LIVE AT BALLYCURRIN.)

 

CHILDREN OF ALICIA LYNCH (HUSBAND PATRICK HENRY LYNCH OF CLOGHER)

--------HENRY MICHAEL LYNCH NEWGROVE HOUSE, NEWGROVE AVE. SANDYMOUNT.

--------MARY LIVING 1898

------- CAPT. PETER JOSEPH LYNCH D.1878 AGE 43 AT MILLMOUNT LOUGHREA.

--------JULIA LYNCH BALLINROBE NUN FOUNDER OF CONVENTS IN AMERICA.

PATRICK HENRY LYNCH WAS REPUTED TO BE A MILLIONAIRE AND A “SUNDAY MAN”

 

Earlier Lynch's include Stephen Lynch FitzArthur (D.1579) of Doughiska (now Merlin Park) and his Grandson SIR HENRY LYNCH of Galway 1ST BARONET. D. FEB 1634

  

MORE DETAILS ABOUT BALLYCURRIN / BALLYCURRAN AT www.lawrencetown.com/history/longago.htm

 

A fragment of the 1821 census of the Ballycurrin home of the 11 year old, Charles Lynch There he lived with his parents, Peter and Julia Lynch, three brothers, three sisters, three relatives, a cook, a groom, a house maid, a kitchen maid, a laundry maid, a pantry boy, a servant and a tutor (the 21 year old, Thomas Fallon). His mother, Julia, was the granddaughter of Sir Peter Lynch of Petersburgh house, Clonbur, Co Galway.

 

The Headford Lynch’s.

Thomas Lynch of Headford was the 3rd son of Peter Lynch of Ballycurran.

He had 16 children very few survived. The following are the known survivors.

Louisa married (1840) Dr. James P. Browne of Claran house parish of Killursa. They lived Chicago. She died circa 1876. Robert Bloss Lynch “The Fenian” died Washington 1884 after an eventful life. Peter his brother and his wife Clarissa lived in Milwaukee and was there from 1850 - 1880. ( Peters children were Robert b. 1843. Henry C. Lynch born 1847. Mary b. 1849. Louisa b. 1853 and Walter b. 1859). Maria Anne was living in Chicago with Mrs Burke her sister. She was still living in 1891 (She was the last of the Headford Lynch’s). Henry first moved to Manchester England and then to St Louis and then probably to New York. His children were Mary, born 1851 Manchester died N.Y. Thomas born Manchester in 1855 and Louisa Ann B. 1855 Manchester emigrated to N.Y. Circa 1873. Mary married a man called John Martin.

(Robery Bloss Lynch spent many years in Milwaukee before living in Chicago and Washington) He was first educated with his cousin in his Uncles house. His Uncle was Anthony Bowes Daly Esq. of Dalysfort Cahernaheeny Headford Co Galway)

 

Our connection with the Lynch's of Ballycurrin is through John Lynch of Ballycurran and later Mount Ross and his youngest son Thomas J. Lynch who died in Kilkee 1897

Take Freely

 

"...Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely." [Revelation 22:17]

 

Jesus says, “take freely.” He wants no payment or preparation. He seeks no recommendation from our virtuous emotions. If you have no good feelings, if you be but willing, you are invited; therefore come! You have no belief and no repentance,—come to Him, and He will give them to you. Come just as you are, and take “Freely,” without money and without price. He gives himself to needy ones. The drinking fountains at the corners of our streets are valuable institutions; and we can hardly imagine any one so foolish as to feel for his purse, when he stands before one of them, and to cry, “I cannot drink because I have not five pounds in my pocket.” However poor the man is, there is the fountain, and just as he is he may drink of it. Thirsty passengers, as they go by, whether they are dressed in fustian or in broadcloth, do not look for any warrant for drinking; its being there is their warrant for taking its water freely. The liberality of some good friends has put the refreshing crystal there and we take it, and ask no questions. Perhaps the only persons who need go thirsty through the street where there is a drinking fountain, are the fine ladies and gentlemen who are in their carriages. They are very thirsty, but cannot think of being so vulgar as to get out to drink. It would demean them, they think, to drink at a common drinking fountain: so they ride by with parched lips. Oh, how many there are who are rich in their own good works and cannot therefore come to Christ! “I will not be saved,” they say, “in the same way as the harlot or the swearer.” What! go to heaven in the same way as a chimney sweep. Is there no pathway to glory but the path which led the thief there? I will not be saved that way. Such proud boasters must remain without the living water; but, “Whoever desires, let him TAKE THE WATER OF LIFE FREELY.”

_____

Morning - Charles H. Spurgeon

During our stay in Nara, Japan, we toured the Todaiji shrine complex. It is there that this photograph was taken.

 

From their website I quote: Vairocana Buddha (Daibutsu) The Daibutsu is properly known as Vairocana Buddha, the Buddha the light of whose knowledge and compassion illumines widely. Śākyamuni, the Historical Buddha, who was born in the city of Kapilavastu in India sometime around 580 B.C.E., became a mendicant at the age of twenty-nine and after spending six years practicing austerities eventually gained great religious insight at the foot of the Bodhi Tree on the banks of the Nairanjana River. The Avatam.saka Sutra (Kegon-kyō) describes the moment of Śākyamuni’s enlightenment as his achievement of the condition of a Buddha who transcends both space and time. It describes the world of Vairocana as magnificent, virtuous and grand and embellished by the various accomplishments of the bodhisattvas. According to the text, the songs of birds, the colors of flowers, the flowing of water and the forms of clouds are all part of Vairocana’s teachings to save all living things.

On the lotus petals on the base of the Great Buddha are engravings of the World of the Lotus Treasury (Rengezō sekai), pictorial representations of the “world of enlightenment” described in the sutra. They are beautiful representations of the notion that each individual is not an isolated existence, but that all phenomena have limitless connections and dimensions and that the entire universe is enveloped in the light of Vairocana’s wisdom.

  

We pass along messages and memes from the statues that we decide to erect in public. Who do we consider a hero among so many stories? Why? What did they do?

 

A statue from 1909 stands tall on the modern grounds of the Tennessee State Capitol. The man and his story evolved into a symbol of what the Confederate-leaning part of Middle Tennessee saw as virtuous as they looked back to the Civil War that Tennesseans quickly lost, and lost big.

 

Private Sam Davis was the son of the owner of a Tennessee plantation with 50 slaves. There were parts of his state and Middle Tennessee that were pro-Union and other parts that were pro-Confederacy. He leaned Confederate. After Tennessee broke from the Union, the last state to do so, its capitol, Nashville, fell to the Union just months later. Davis fought in vain in Shiloh, Tennessee against the victorious U.S. troops of General Grant. He was wounded there. The Confederate Army decided that rather than continue to lose ground in defensive battles, the South should take the offense in the north. The Battle of Perryville, Kentucky ensued. Davis was wounded more severely there. The Union soon after rolled down into middle Tennessee to occupy it piece by piece.

 

Dressed in plain clothes, Davis was caught near the southern border of Tennessee carrying detailed drawings of the state's Union fortifications and additional intelligence. He was told that his life would be spared if he told who gave him the drawings, news clippings and intelligence materials. He replied that he would not tell on his Confederate friends. On the other hand, the Union had to discourage the especially harmful acts of espionage. So, young Davis was executed. Hung.

 

For me, this is a strange tale to tell future generations of Tennesseans. I don't think this means what the story makers think it means.

photo rights reserved by B℮n

 

Wat Si Phan Ton is known for its beautiful architecture and the use of gold-colored sheet metal to cover the buildings and structures. This gives the temple its distinctive shiny golden appearance, which contributed to its nickname Golden Temple. Buddhist monks live in Wat Si Phan Ton, including the venerable monk Chao Abbot. In Thai temples such as Wat Si Phan Ton, monks perform several roles: Prayer and Meditation, Buddha's Teachings, Community Service, and Almsgiving. Monks may be involved in community service, such as providing spiritual guidance to those in need, attending ceremonial events, and providing moral support. They follow a strict set of precepts and devote their lives to the pursuit of spiritual development, meditation and spreading the Buddha's teachings. Monks spend a significant portion of their time in prayer and meditation. This enables them to achieve inner peace and gain profound insights. Monks can be involved in community service, such as providing spiritual guidance to those in need, attending ceremonial events, and providing moral support. In Buddhism, it is considered virtuous to give food and donations to monks. Monks often enter the community early in the morning to receive alms as a way to promote spiritual connection. Monks lead a simple lifestyle and have minimal material possessions. They wear traditional orange robes and shave their heads as a sign of renunciation of worldly vanity. Wat Si Phan Ton is not only a place of worship, but also a cultural and historical site.

 

Wat Si Phan Ton is a striking Buddhist temple located in Nan, Thailand, and it is sometimes affectionately referred to as the Golden Temple because of its dazzling golden appearance. The temple is an important spiritual and cultural site in Nan. It is not only a place of worship and meditation, but also a symbol of the region's rich Buddhist tradition and cultural heritage. Photo of Samantha & Casper in front of Wat Si Phan Ton.

 

Wat Si Phan Ton staat bekend om zijn prachtige architectuur en het gebruik van goudkleurige bladmetaal om de gebouwen en structuren te bedekken. Dit geeft de tempel zijn opvallende glanzende gouden uiterlijk, wat heeft bijgedragen aan zijn bijnaam Golden Temple. Er wonen boeddhistische monniken in Wat Si Phan Ton zo ook de eerbiedwaardige monnik Chao Abt. In Thaise tempels zoals Wat Si Phan Ton, vervullen monniken verschillende rollen: Gebed en Meditatie, de leer van Boeddha, Gemeenschapsdienst en Aalmoezen. Monniken kunnen betrokken zijn bij gemeenschapsdienst, zoals het bieden van spirituele begeleiding aan mensen die dat nodig hebben, het bijwonen van ceremoniële gebeurtenissen en het bieden van morele ondersteuning. Ze volgen een reeks strikte leefregels en besteden hun leven aan het nastreven van spirituele ontwikkeling, meditatie en het verspreiden van de leer van Boeddha. Monniken besteden een aanzienlijk deel van hun tijd aan gebed en meditatie. Dit stelt hen in staat om innerlijke vrede te bereiken en diepgaande inzichten te verwerven. Monniken kunnen betrokken zijn bij gemeenschapsdienst, zoals het bieden van spirituele begeleiding aan mensen die dat nodig hebben, het bijwonen van ceremoniële gebeurtenissen en het bieden van morele ondersteuning. In het Boeddhisme wordt het als deugdzaam beschouwd om voedsel en donaties te schenken aan monniken. Monniken gaan vaak in de vroege ochtend de gemeenschap in om aalmoezen te ontvangen als een manier om spirituele verbondenheid te bevorderen. Monniken leiden een eenvoudige levensstijl en hebben minimale materiële bezittingen. Ze dragen traditionele oranje gewaden en scheren hun hoofd als teken van verzaking van wereldse ijdelheid. Wat Si Phan Ton is niet alleen een plek van aanbidding, maar ook een culturele en historische plek. Foto van Samantha & Casper bij de ingang van Wat Si Phan Ton.

 

Hello, hello :)

 

Together with Johannes Krtek, graphic designer and a friend of mine, I founded the publishing house «elle même» to work on (photo-)book projects that makes us (and hopefully other people) happy.

This book is the first of the series «même photo» and we hope that there are many more to come.

It was such a long way to go from making the selection of the photographs, the paper, the words … a few personal setbacks in between have slowed down the process, but now it is (almost) done.

We are still working on the website (elle-meme.at) but the book will be soon available online and in selected bookshops. I will keep you updated.

(If you want to get your copy asap, you can also drop me a line here or write to: ecrire@elle-meme.at)

 

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

 

Hugues erre: Lieu commun

 

Swiss brochure, 112 pages

même photo: 1

Verlag für reine Sichtbarkeit, Vienna

elle-meme.at

 

Typesetting and book design by Flachware

One-colour offset print with embellished black on uncoated paper with a soft feel.

 

Language: German, French

Publication Date: Oktober 2023

ISBN: 978-3-200-08575-6

List price: € 18

B 15,4 cm x H 22,4 cm

 

German translation: Renata Granat

Lectorate: Juliette Messien, Iris Leeb

 

«J’ai photographié ma familie, mes ami(e)s, le paysage autour.»

(‘I‘ve photographed my family, my friends and the surrounding landscape.’)

 

The book features 47 black-and-white photographs by Hugues Erre (*1950) taken in the 1970s to the 1990s mainly in the South of France, Paris and Berlin.

 

The title ‘Lieu commun’ refers to the simplicity of common life in shared places, the lived everyday, where we don’t expect anything extraordinary to happen .

Hugue Erre shows us such places in a radically sober and yet virtuous way; full of longing and with a certain feeling for the ephemeral; in a way that makes us want to be there ourselves.

In such a way that it makes us miss the moment that we actually never experienced.

  

成大同人活動2010 - 照殿月 / 超酷斑馬淑女 - 日本動畫漫畫的世界

National Cheng Kung University Cosplay 2010 - The moon to shine on palace / Ultra cool zebra virtuous young woman - The world of the Japanese Animation and cartoon

Universidad nacional Cosplay 2010 de Cheng Kung - La luna a brillar en palacio / Mujer joven virtuosa de la cebra ultra fresca - El mundo de la animación y de la historieta japonesas

成大同人は2010活動します - 殿の月を照らします / クールシマウマの淑女を超えます - アニメーションの漫画の世界

Nationale Universität Cosplay 2010 Cheng-Kung - Der Mond, zum auf Palast zu glänzen / Rechtschaffene junge Frau des ultra kühlen Zebra - Die Welt der japanischen Animation und der Karikatur

Université nationale Cosplay 2010 de Cheng Kung - La lune à briller sur le palais / Femme vertueux de zèbre ultra frais jeune - Le monde de l'animation et du dessin animé japonais

 

Tainan Taiwan / Tainan Taiwán / 台灣台南

 

霹靂狂刀 / Cuchillo loco del trueno

{Thunderclap crazy knife / 雷の狂う刀}

 

{View large size on fluidr}

 

{My Blog/台南運河風情-歷史與生活}

{My Blog/The character and style of the Tainan transport river-The history and life}

{Mi blog el carácter de /The y el estilo de la Tainan transportan el río - La historia y la vida}

{Mein Blog /The-Buchstabe und Art des Tainans transportieren Fluss - Die Geschichte und das Leben}

 

{My BLOG/管樂雅集台南孔廟精彩演出-2010楊老大生日快樂}

{Wind instrument music elegant gathering Tainan Confucian temple splendid performance - Saxbai Yang happy birthday 2010 }

{Funcionamiento espléndido de acopio elegante del templo confuciano de Tainan de la música del instrumento de viento - Feliz cumpleaños 2010 de Saxbai Yang}

{管楽の風雅に集う台南孔子廟のすばらしい公演-2010楊は非常に誕生日おめでとうございます}

{Windinstrument-Musik elegante erfassenherrliche Leistung des tainan-konfuzianischen Tempels - Saxbai Yang alles Gute zum Geburtstag 2010}

{Exécution splendide sourcilleuse élégante de temple confucien de Tainan de musique d'instrument de vent - Joyeux anniversaire 2010 de Saxbai Yang}

 

{My Blog / 不斷成長與進步的喜悅-管樂雅集}

{My Blog / The joy of the Grows unceasingly and the progress - Wind instrument music elegant gathering}

{Mi blog / La alegría del crece incesante y el progreso - Reunión elegante de la música del instrumento de viento}

{Mein Blog / Die Freude an wächst fortwährend und der Fortschritt - Elegante Versammlung der Windinstrument-Musik}

  

家住安南鹽溪邊

The family lives in nearby the Annan salt river

 

隔壁就是聽雨軒

The next door listens to the rain porch

 

一旦落日照大員

Once setting sun according to Taiwan

 

左岸青龍飛九天

The left bank white dragon flying in the sky

 

For Distinction Gallery / by Jana Brike / “Songs of purity” solo exhibition 2013 / oil on canvas

Welcome to The Parnaroo Hall

The Parnaroo Hall, formerly the Wool Store of the Parnaroo Station Shearing Shed, was erected in 1875 and was part of Alexander McCulloch’s holdings.

The two acres on which the Hall stands was purchased from the Government in1904 by the residents of the Hundred of Parnaroo for £400. The Hall was used by the community for church services, weddings and receptions, recreation, polling booths, dances, welcome homes, farewells as well as everything else the community engaged in until 1975.

 

The Hundred of Parnaroo comprises 127 square miles and the families who lived there are recognised on the pavers in front of the Hall.

Appreciative thanks go posthumously to Roma Schulz, nee Mattey, whose extraordinary research published in ‘Deceptive Lands’ 1968, provided much of the information for this project.

Current Trustees of the Parnaroo Hall are the Peterborough History Group SA Inc. Ref: Plaque near front of the hall.

 

The launch of the engraved pavers laid in front of the Parnaroo Community Hall was held 27 May 2023, commemorating the hall and the People of the Hundred of Parnaroo.

 

Following is some History of Parnaroo Hall from where Ration Books were issued during World War Two :-

*Parnaroo March 6

The Parnaroo Hall, recently purchased from the Government, was on the 3rd inst formally opened by Mr E E Kernot, in the presence of about 200 people. The building, which is a splendid stone one, with stage fixings and dressing rooms, measuring 100 x 50 feet, was most tastefully decorated, for which Mr and Mrs O'Toole are mainly to be thanked.

After speeches had been made dancing was indulged in.

Mr T Donellan ably acted as MC. [Ref: Petersburg Times (SA) 7-3-1905]

 

*Wedding at Parnaroo

The usually quiet but picturesque locality on which stands the Parnaroo head station was en fete on Thursday, May 2nd, the occasion being the marriage of Miss Ellen O'Toole, daughter of Mr John O'Toole, of Parnaroo, to Mr Michael Lennon, of Broken Hill.

 

The Parnaroo Institute Hall, lately acquired by the residents from the Government, was the rendezvous of the invited guests and the parties immediately concerned. For the present occasion the interior was beautifully decorated with evergreens, imitation horseshoes (for luck) and colours of all lands interlaced, making it a veritable fairy bower.

 

At one end a temporary altar had been erected, at which the impressive Catholic marriage service was conducted by the Rev J H Norton, of Petersburg. The bride was dressed in rich white satin with silk trimmings, which, with the usual orange blossoms and veil, looked pretty indeed. The Misses Lizzie and Mary O'Toole were the bridesmaids, and both were dressed in cream figured lustre with cream trimmings. Messrs John and Thomas O'Toole were groomsmen.

 

The Rev J H Norton gave the toast of "The Bride and Bridegroom”, and in a neat and appropriate speech gave good and homely advice to the newly-married couple.

 

The presents received were varied, valuable and numerous: a gift from the manager, overseer and employees of Ucolta and McCoy's Well Station, was a gold bracelet, set with rubies and pearls, and silver dinner cruet, suitably inscribed.

 

The intervening time before dancing commenced was filled by games and an impromptu concert. Dancing then commenced, and was kept up till morning. [Ref: Quorn Mercury (SA)16-5-1905]

 

*Parnaroo July 26th

When it became known that Mr and Mrs J Faulkner were leaving the district the residents decided to tender them a farewell social, which duly took place on the 21st inst, in the Parnaroo Hall. The attendance was large, and included many visitors from Terowie, Oodla Wirra, Dawson, Nackara, Gumbowie and surrounding districts.

 

Mr T J Donnellan, who presided, expressed his regret at the departure of Mr and Mrs Faulkner, who during a long residence in the district had earned the respect and esteem of the residents generally: he had always found Mr Faulkner an upright, and honest gentleman, and his place would be hard to fill. Mr H W Rasmus on behalf of the residents of Parnaroo and district, presented Mr Faulkner with a handsome silver mounted pipe, and Mrs Faulkner with a pretty silver cake stand. In a neat and appropriate speech, Mr Rasmus referred to the many excellent qualities of Mr and Mrs Faulkner, whom he described as ideal residents, they would be greatly missed by the people of Parnaroo.

 

Dancing was indulged in and kept going with vigour till broad daylight, when the singing of Auld Lang Syne concluded one of the most successful and enjoyable social functions ever held in the Parnaroo Hall. [Ref: Petersburg Times (SA) 3-8-1909]

 

*Wedding Bells McInerney – O’Toole

A wedding in which all the residents of Parnaroo and a large number of Petersburg took the utmost interest took place on Tuesday, in the Parnaroo Hall, when Mr John McInerney, youngest son of the late J J McInerney Esq of Petersburg, and Miss M J O’Toole, third daughter of Mr J J O’Toole of Panaroo were made one.

 

The Rev Father O'Rourke performed the ceremony. The ceremony took place at 10 am in the District Hall. Early in the morning the guests began to arrive, and by the appointed hour the hall was crowded. The bride looked sweetly pretty in a dress of cream figured silk, trimmed with orange blossom.

After the ceremony a wedding breakfast was partaken of, at which Father O'Rourke proposed the health of the couple.

The bridal party were photographed by Mr H Drew in a pretty spot near the creek.

The whole party then gave themselves up to the enjoyment of games which were kept up, almost without intermission, throughout the whole day.

 

In the evening, after a little rest and a meal which will linger in the memory of the guests for many the company again proceeded to the hall, where dancing was indulged in and continued until daylight. The newly wedded couple, accompanied by many of the guests, then drove nine miles to catch the express for Adelaide [Ref: Petersburg Times (SA)13-1-1911]

 

*A very enjoyable dance was held in the Parnaroo Institute on June 6th. Mr H Leaney acted as MC and Mr L Kloss supplied the music. [Ref: Petersburg Times (SA) 26-6-1914]

 

*Patriotic Parnaroo

A successful concert and dance was held in the Parnaroo Hall on Saturday night in aid of the Wounded Soldiers' Fund, as a result of which the handsome sum of £16 16/ has been handed Mr Alex Jamieson (Mayor of Petersburg). The hall was tastefully decorated with flags of the Allies.

 

At the close of the programme all the school children sang "Britannia," saluted the flag, and finished with the National Anthem. Great credit is due to the local teacher (Miss McLaughlin) for the manner in which the children were trained. [Ref: Petersburg Times (SA) 27-8-1915]

 

*Parnaroo - A welcome home social convened by Messrs Saunders, Darrah, and Skeen was given in the local spacious hall on August 1 to Sgt T Evans, Sgt R Evans, and Pte Nash. Pte W Sanders, born at Parnaroo. but enlisted from Tasmania, was also welcomed.

Mr R A Bohme (President Peterborough Cheer Ups) was in the chair. Other speakers were Mr H Rasmus and Mr S Saunders, who presented a gold medal to each of the returned soldiers, on behalf of the Parnaroo residents. Sgt T Evans suitably responded on behalf of comrades and himself.

 

Dancing, under management of Mr Donellan, was indulged. Thanks are due to the Parnaroo ladies for the supper arrangements. It was unanimously agreed that the social was a huge success. [Ref: Times and Northern Advertiser, Peterborough, South Australia (SA) 15-8-1919]

 

*Peterborough Country News

On Saturday evening last the band and a party travelled out to Parnaroo, where a dance was held in aid of the hospital funds. A most enjoyable evening was spent. The band supplied music for the dance, which was held in the old wool shed and comic recitations by Mr Clapp evoked considerable applause. The mayor and mayoress of Peterborough were present. Mrs O’Toole with other ladies, provided a supper. The takings were £37 10/. [Ref: Daily Herald (Adelaide SA) 26-7-1921]

 

*Parnaroo School Picnic

The annual school picnic was held at Parnaroo on Saturday, November 8. A euchre tournament and dance followed. The success of this picnic was due to Miss Giles, the sports committee, and the parents of the children.

The euchre tournament was won by J O'Dea. Supper was served by the ladies. [Ref: Chronicle (Adelaide SA) 22-11-1924]

 

*A dance was held in the Parnaroo Woolshed, on Saturday, December 19th, which proved to be an all round success. The most virtuous point was the select and sociable class who attended on that most auspicious occasion. It was totally free from undesirables and such like: even the only unwanted in the district, must have realised his position, as he made his presence felt by his absence.

 

The committee desire to thank those who patronised from Peterborough, Black Rock, Oodla Wirra, Yunta, Terowie, and Bendigo. They are determined to run their dances on clean, straight lines, free from larrikans and thieves. Our patrons will shortly find themselves dancing to piano music in this hall. Supper was provided by the ladies. Messrs O'Toole and Polomka supplied the music, while Mr Joe O'Toole made an efficient MC. Though the night was warm to hot, dancing continued until daybreak, when all returned to their homes perfectly satisfied. [Ref: Times and Northern Advertiser, Peterborough, South Australia (SA) 25-12-1936]

 

*Saturday January 20

Farewell dance to Peterborough and Paratoo Troops at Parnaroo. Good music and supper. Times and Northern Advertiser, Peterborough, South Australia (SA) 12-1-1940]

 

*Dance at Parnaroo

An enthusiastic and energetic committee is busily making final preparations for a dance to be held in the Parnaroo Hall on Saturday (tomorrow) June 5th.

There will be first class music and the usual delicious home made supper, assuring all patrons of a most enjoyable time. Proceeds of the function are for the Hall Fund. [Ref: Times and Northern Advertiser, Peterborough, South Australia (SA) 4-6-1948]

 

*Parnaroo Sports

We have pleasure in publishing, a little late, the results of the very successful sports held at Parnaroo on January 3rd. It was estimated that over 1,000 people were present, and with the very enjoyable dance in the Parnaroo Hall that night, £130 was cleared for the hall funds. We have been asked to express the thanks of the Committee to the donors of trophies and prizemoney, and to all those who helped in any way to make the day such a success. Sincere regret is expressed at the accidents which happened to Messrs Reg Howard and Ken Richards. [Ref: Times and Northern Advertiser, Peterborough, South Australia (SA) 4-2-1949]

   

The next few uploads will all be related to the activities around the Triveni Sangam, a very holy site in Hinduism.

 

Here, a person is performing an Aarti (Hindi आरती; a ritual offering prayers to a deity) accompanied by a priest who is chanting sacred religious text. This Aarti is being offered to the river Ganges.

 

River Ganges or Ganga plays a very important part in Hinduism and is always referred to as Mother Ganga. As a mother, Ganga is tangible, approachable, and all accepting. No one is denied her blessing. No child is too dirty to be embraced or cleansed by its mother. Mother Ganga indiscriminately purifies her devotees, whether they be virtuous or sinful. She is non judgmental, and all her children are equal in her eyes.

 

Ganga's maternal aspect is seen especially in her nourishing qualities. As a mother, she nourishes the land through which she flows, making it fertile. Historically, the land along the banks of the Ganga has been intensely cultivated. It is particularly fertile because of the sediment periodically deposited by the floodwaters of the river.

 

Hope you like the selective coloring. My Allahabad set.

Sweet stream that winds through yonder glade,

Apt emblem of a virtuous maid

Silent and chaste she steals along,

Far from the world's gay busy throng:

With gentle yet prevailing force,

Intent upon her destined course;

 

Graceful and useful all she does,

Blessing and blest where'er she goes;

Pure-bosom'd as that watery glass,

And Heaven reflected in her face.

~William Cowper (1731 – 1800)

 

IMG_3859

15 Apr 11

Season's Greetings to all my Flickr friends!

  

The goat dance appears in the habit of the New Year's Eve as a symbol of fertility and fecundity, connecting the Romanian territory to the Greek antiquity and to the Oriental civilizations.

 

Watching today the play of the Goat mask, in every area of the country, you'll recognize in the virtuous pantomime of the mask bearer, in the vitality of his movements but also in the death and rebirth of the Goat, the ancient symbol of vegetation. The goat dance is a frantic dance, which is executed for hundred of years in every carolled house.

Everything is extremely glittering and fascinating, reflecting the light and the relegation of the dark and the cold, which destroyed the vegetation. The body of the Goat is made of textile (carpets, red sail) on which other decorative elements are sewed.

 

A noisy children group accompanies the mask together with the country singers who accompany the goat dance. The goat jumps, jerks, turns round, and bends, clattering regularly the wooden jaws offering a remarkable authentic show.

 

The goat dance:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnza2iL2yQQ

www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fyG1rJYCww

 

© Ioan C. Bacivarov

All the photos on this gallery are protected by copyright and they are not for being used on any site, blog or forum without the explicit permission from the author, Ioan Bacivarov. Thank you in advance

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Church of St. Michael and All Angels Diseworth Derbyshire built of local stone, in the centre of the village which has been inhabited since Roman times . It stands at St Clements Gate at the meeting of Lady Gate , Grimes Gate and Hall Gate, names which recall its Viking past .

Originally appropriated to nearby Langley Priory of Benedictine nuns who employed some of the villagers, In late 15c Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII, purchased a considerable part of the village to found what became Christ's College, Cambridge.

The Priory dedicated to God and the Blessed Virgin described as small and in good repair, was dissolved n June 1536 . At that time there were 6 nuns as well as the prioress, who was very old and impotent. All the nuns desired to continue in religion, and all were virtuous, though one was over 80 and another was feeble-minded. There was a priest attached to the nunnery, and the lay servants consisted of 10 men and 4 women.

 

The church consists of a chancel, nave, south aisle, north porch and a western tower with dwarf spire, containing a clock, and 6 bells dating from 1626 to 1803:

The present building dates from the 13c, although it is known that a church existed here centuries earlier. It replaced a Saxon single cell church remains of which can been seen in the north wall of the nave.. The 2 blocked windows in the chancel are of Saxo-Norman type. Herringbone work can also be seen inside the building at the base of the old external nave wall in the south aisle chapel.

A large Anglo Saxon font also survives.

 

The added south aisle is not tied in to the main building but is simply butted up against the existing walls, with buttresses for stability. The original pent roof line can be seen in the east and west walls. On the parapet of the south wall and near the top of the west wall are 4 heads, much defaced by weathering. The east and south west windows in this aisle are early 13c. The taller early 14c window on the south wall, which cuts through the original roof line and into the added masonry, gives the date by which the roof was raised and pitched. www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/74G74W The south doorway is 13c and much weathered.

 

The tower and spire may date from the 1300s. The tower has four triple-chamfered bell openings, their tracery and cusping now removed. The spire has tall broaches and one tier of lucarnes (dormers). The external west door under the tower was blocked and a new window created when the tower and spire were restored in 1896.

The building was originally thatched until the roof was leaded in c 1699, however the increased weight led to distortion of the chancel arch so the brick buttress on the north wall was built. Some of the sheets of 1699 lead have markings of shoe outlines, made with a sharp tool. Much of the stone coping from the parapet of the north wall is missing.

The church is entered through the north porch which was built in 1661. However, the outer heavily weathered arch is in the same style as that of the 13c north and south doors, and may be made from reused stone

the church was restored in 1840, and in 1885 the chancel was restored and fitted with oak and the floor relaid at a cost of £130: there are 150 sittings, 50 at that time being free

 

In the 19c the living was a vicarage, funded from 106 acres of glebe, with residence, in the alternate gift of the Haberdashers’ Company and Christ’s Hospital, The land belonged mostly to the Master and Fellows of Christ’s College, Cambridge and the owners of Langley Priory after its 16c dissolution, beginning with the Grays, the Cheslyns and ;ater the Shakepears. The college sold their interest in Diseworth in 1920

Two monuments to tragedy stand out - that of Anne Cheslyn who drowned herself in the Priory lake in 1823 www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/03L204 ; and Trooper George Harris killed in action at Dewetsdorp, Orange River Colony in 1901 whose monument was erected "by Emily Lock in gratitude to his mother" www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/0HgCw7

The Lock family have 2 monuments of interest , one to young vicar Rev Herbert Lock 1902 www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/1RmX1r whose hope to erect a church in memory of his younger brother Joseph www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/775hP6 was thwarted by his own early death. - www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/470vh2 two windows inscribed the St Joseph Benefaction being given instead. www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/N5pPK0 It may well be that Trooper Harris's mother nursed Rev Herbert Lock in his final year thus earning Emily Lock's gratitude (?) .

  

Picture with thanks - copyright Andrew H Jackson britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/101068865-church-of-st-micha...

A virtuous woman, who has affection for her husband, should act in conformity with his wishes as if he were a divine being, and with his consent should take upon herself the whole care of his family. She should keep the whole house well cleaned, and arrange flowers of various kinds in different parts of it, and make the floor smooth and polished so as to give the whole a neat and becoming appearance. She should surround the house with a garden, and place ready in it all the materials required for the morning, noon and even sacrifices. Moreover she should herself revere the sanctuary of the Household Gods, for says Gonardiya, "nothing so much attracts the heart of a householder to his wife as a careful observance of the things mentioned above."

 

Towards the parents, relations, friends, sisters, and servants of her husband she should behave as they deserve. In the garden she should plant beds of green vegetables, bunches of the sugar cane, and clumps of the fig tree, the mustard plant, the parsley plant, the fennel plant, and the xanthochymus pictorius. Clusters of various flowers, such as the trapa bispinosa, the jasmine, the gasminum grandiflorum, the yellow amaranth, the wild jasmine, the tabernamontana coronaria, the nadyaworta, the china rose and others, should likewise be planted, together with the fragrant grass andropogon schænanthus, and the fragrant root of the plant andropogon miricatus. She should also have seats and arbours made in[98] the garden, in the middle of which a well, tank, or pool should be dug.

 

The wife should always avoid the company of female beggars, female buddish mendicants, unchaste and roguish women, female fortune tellers and witches. As regards meals she should always consider what her husband likes and dislikes, and what things are good for him, and what are injurious to him. When she hears the sounds of his footsteps coming home she should at once get up, and be ready to do whatever he may command her, and either order her female servant to wash his feet, or wash them herself. When going anywhere with her husband, she should put on her ornaments, and without his consent she should not either give or accept invitations, or attend marriages and sacrifices, or sit in the company of female friends, or visit the temples of the Gods. And if she wants to engage in any kind of games or sports, she should not do it against his will. In the same way she should always sit down after him, and get up before him, and should never awaken him when he is asleep. The kitchen should be situated in a quiet and retired place, so as not to be accessible to strangers, and should always look clean.

"People born in the Year of the Rabbit are articulate, talented, and ambitious. They are virtuous, reserved, and have excellent taste. Rabbit people are admired, trusted, and are often financially lucky. They are fond of gossip but are tactful and generally kind. Rabbit people seldom lose their temper. They are clever at business and being conscientious, never back out of a contract. They would make good gamblers for they have the uncanny gift of choosing the right thing. However, they seldom gamble, as they are conservative and wise. They are most compatible with those born in the years of the Sheep, Pig, and Dog." - Chinese Culture Center of San Francisco website

 

In the spirit of the season, even those of us who are not rabbits can strive to reach our inner rabbit and aspire to be a bit more rabbit-like this year... just be careful if you bring that rabbit to Malta because it may well end up on the menu with a nice garlic sauce... just sayin'. ;)

 

Happy week five!

  

German postcard by Verlag Herm. Leiser, Berlin-Wilm., no. 3237. Wanda Treumann in Das Teufelchen/The little devil (Rosa Porten, 1917).

 

Wanda Treumann (1883–1963) belonged to the most popular stars of German cinema before the first World War. Together with Viggo Larsen she also produced more than 80 films in the 1910s, in which she often played the female lead. As an actress, she played in nearly 90 films, but many of them were shorts.

 

Wanda Treumann was born Wanda Reich in Koclo (Koclin), Oberschlesien (Upper Silesia), Germany (now Koclin, Slaskie, Poland) in 1883 (some sources say 1888 or 1889). Wanda married Karl Treumann in 1903 in her native town. She came with him first to Leipzig and then to Berlin. In Berlin, she took acting lessons from Emanuel Reicher. She debuted on stage at the Trianon Theater in 1910 and performed as a stage actress on various Berlin stages, such as das Neue Theater and the Königgrätzer Theater. When performing at the Berliner Lustspielhaus, Wanda Treumann was discovered by the Danish actor and film pioneer Viggo Larsen. He introduced her to the cinema, where she would be his partner for years. From 1910 on, Treumann and Larsen performed together in films by the Vitascope-Gesellschaft such as the successful Sensation film Der Eid des Stephan Huller/The oath of Stephan Huller (Viggo Larsen, 1912). Many of these films were produced by Jules Greenbaum, scripted by Max Mack, and directed by either Walter Schmidthassler or Larsen himself. In 1912, together with Larsen and her husband, she founded her own production company Treumann-Larsen Film GmbH in Berlin. Officially, Wanda Treumann’s husband was indicated as the owner of the firm. As she said herself in Lichtbild-Theater, no. 41, 1912: "Then we – my master and partner in the film, Mr. Oberregisseur Viggo Larsen and me – became fully independent. And so we are now: for the production of our new 'Treumann-Larsen-series', we develop the negatives ourselves which we shoot in our own film studio with our own cast and crew."

 

From 1912 on, Wanda Treumann produced more than 20 films. Directors at Treumann-Larsen Film were a.o. Rosa Porten and Franz Eckstein. Distribution was taken care of by the Deutsche Kinematographen-Gesellschaft in Cologne. Examples of their films are Die Sumpfblume/The marsh flower (Viggo Larsen, 1913), Der Zirkusteufel/The Circus Devil (Viggo Larsen, 1913), and Die Ahnfrau/The ancestress (Viggo Larsen, 1914). After the outbreak of the First World War, production at Treumann-Larsen seems to have stopped. Larsen and Treumann performed in some films by the Messter Film company. From 1917 on, production at Treumann-Larsen was reactivated, with productions such as Wanda’s Trick (1918) and the four-part series film Die Frau mit den 10 Masken/The woman with 10 masks (Siegfried Dessauer, 1921) with Johannes Riemann. From the late 1910s on, Larsen solely focused on producing, leaving the male leads to such actors as Eugen Burg and Oscar Marion. When he left the company around 1921, Wanda Treumann continued on her own as producer and actress, keeping the name of the company. In 1921 she gave a guest performance as a witch in the Circus Busch in Hamburg. According to our sources, Die tugendhafte Tänzerin/The virtuous dancer (Robert Misch, 1922) was the last film in which Treumann performed and which was produced by the Treumann-Larsen Film GmbH. All in all, Wanda Treumann acted in over 80 films and (co-)produced some 24 films. Little was known about her death till recently. An editor of German Wikipedia recently added new information. After she retired from the film business in 1922, Wanda Treumann still appeared in plays for a while, for example in 1929 she played in 'Ein Geschlecht', but without achieving the broad impact of earlier years. After Karl Treumann's death in 1927, she married the publisher Hans Brenner in 1932, from whom she divorced again in 1937. In early 1938, Wanda Treumann, a Jew, emigrated with her son Herbert Treumann aboard the SS Esquilino via Port Said and Fremantle to Melbourne. She died in Melbourne in 1963 at the age of 79 and was buried in the Jewish sector of the Fawkner Memorial Park there.

 

Sources: Thomas Staedeli (Cyranos), Elfgiva@web.de (IMDb), Filmportal.de (German), Wikipedia (German), and IMDb.

 

Tomorrrow, 18 October 2021, there will be an updated and revised blog on Wanda Treumann at European Film Star Postcards. Thank you, Elif Kaynakci, for drawing our attention to the new info!

Spanish postcard, no. 1012. Elissa Landi and Fredric March in The Sign of the Cross (Cecil B. De Mille, 1932).

 

Austrian born actress and writer Elissa Landi (1904–1948) was (falsely) rumoured to be a descendant of Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria. During the 1920s, she appeared in British, French, and German films before travelling to the United States. In Hollywood, she became a popular star of the 1930s.

 

According to several sources, Elissa Landi was born as Elisabeth Marie Christine Kühnelt in Venice, Italy, in 1904. She was the daughter of an Austrian military officer and the stepdaughter of an Italian nobleman and she was the grand-daughter of Elizabeth of Bavaria, wife of the Emperor Franz Josef of Austria, according to her mother. This information was false. Marlene Pilaete at La Collectionneuse recently researched Landi's history and discovered new facts: "She was not Italian-born. In fact, her birth certificate states that she was born on the 6th of December 1904 in Hart, Austria and not in Venice. Her birth certificate also states that she was born as Maria Christina Emilia Antonia Carolina Francisca Anna Kühnelt. As you can see, there is no trace of the first name 'Elisabeth'. Regarding her mother, who claimed to be a daughter of Sissi and to be born in France in 1882, her birth certificate plainly states that she was born in Vienna in 1879 from Jewish parents." Elissa was raised in Austria and later she was privately educated in England and Canada. Her first ambition was to be a writer, and she wrote her first novel at the age of twenty. She took up the stage merely as a means to an end. She had always wanted to be a novelist and playwright, but she found the technique of the theatre a little difficult, so in order to overcome this joined a repertory company. She started with the 1924 London stage production The Storm. The play lasted for five months and she received rave reviews for her performances. This led to meaty leads in Lavendar Ladies and other plays. Film producers took notice of the photogenic beauty and Elissa starred in eight European films over the next two years. Her first film was the British production London (Herbert Wilcox, 1926), starring Dorothy Gish. Other films were the working-class love story Underground (Anthony Asquith, 1928) and the Swedish production Synd/Sin (Gustaf Molander, 1928). Her career didn't impress critics, though, until she played Anthea Dane in The Price of Things (Elinor Glyn, 1930).

 

Elissa Landi felt that she would make more headway in the USA, so in 1931 she travelled to New York to star in a Broadway production of A Farewell to Arms, written by Ernest Hemingway. Although the play flopped, Hollywood sat up and took notice of the young star. She was signed to a contract by Fox Film Corporation, and she soon appeared in Body and Soul (Alfred Santell, 1931) opposite Charles Farrell, and in Wicked (Alan Dwan, 1931), opposite Victor McLaglen. Next, she played the heroine in Cecil B. De Mille's biblical epic The Sign of the Cross (1932). The film was a smash hit but Elissa's ethereal, virtuous performance as the early-Christian heroine was overshadowed by Claudette Colbert who played the flashier role of the temptress Poppea. Elissa scored again in The Warrior's Husband (Walter Lang, 1933), a film about the intrigues and intricacies of the old Roman Empire. Charming was her comedy By Candlelight (James Whale, 1933) about a butler (Paul Lukas) who pretends to be a Lord to seduce a great lady (Landi), who is actually a maid. Hal Erickson writes at AllMovie: "Based on a play by Siegfried Geyer, By Candlelight is chock full of delightfully double-entendre pre-Code dialogue and dextrous directorial touches." In 1934 Landi co-starred with Robert Donat in the box office hit The Count of Monte Cristo (Rowland V. Lee, 1934). The next year saw her in an odd bit of casting as an Opera prima donna in Enter Madame (Elliott Nugent, 1935). The film follows the turbulent relationship between the Opera singer and a wealthy fan (Cary Grant) as her career frequently interferes with the quality of their off-again/on-again marriage. Then Landi's contract with Fox was abruptly cancelled in 1936 as a result of her refusal to accept a particular role. MGM signed her to a contract and after a couple of romantic dramas, she played the cousin of Myrna Loy in the very popular After the Thin Man (W.S. Van Dyke, 1936). Her screen career came to an end in 1937. She spent her last acting years on Broadway save for an unexpected return before the cameras in the low-budget war film Corregidor (William Nigh, 1943) for Poverty Row Producers Releasing Corporation (PRC). She became a naturalized US citizen in 1943, and dedicated herself to writing, producing six novels and a series of poems. In 1948 Elissa Landi died of cancer in New York, only 43 years old. She left behind her husband, Curtiss Thomas, and their four-year-old daughter, Carolyn.

 

Sources: Marlene Pilaete (La Collectionneuse - French), Operator99 (Allure), Hal Erickson (AllMovie), Wikipedia, and IMDb.

 

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

Alchemy carries on a war against ignorance, intolerance and error. The chief stumbling blocks on the way to success in this crusade are the indifference of its own members and the world. Alchemy teaches that God is paternal, having concern for each individual, for each individual soul is an emanation from Him, made for good and not for evil. We must, therefore, persevere even as the ancient Brethren have done, notwithstanding all obstacles. We must resist temptation and be upright and virtuous, assisting in God's great plan for the eternal salvation of the universe. We must pass through the darkness to reach the Light.In alchemy, digestion is a-almost all the operations can be reduced to to the term digestion and to penetrate the metal bodies, and to render them similar them to herself- process in which gentle heat is applied to a substance over a period of several weeksThis is the first of the Philosophical Degrees which penetrate the inner mysteries of Alchemy. In all times truth has been concealed in symbols. At the time of John the Baptist, all the ancient philosophical and religious doctrines became intermingled on account of the various conquests which brought the nations together. John, who taught some creed older than Christianity, must have belonged to a sect of the Essenes, which was very similar to Christianity. It is from the Essenes that this Degree is sprung. The Essenes believed that Truth was scattered throughout the world among different sects. They believed it the duty of every man to gather these fragments of divine revelation into a harmonious whole to be used in spreading the right thinking and right living among mankind. Thus, they combine the thought of the Orient and the Occident, from which fact we draw the name of this Degree.The ceremonies of this Degree are interpreted by each individual according to his own faith for in no other way can Masonry retain its universal character. To all antiquity, Light was the type of Good while Darkness was Evil. Evil was a principle represented in demons and fallen angels, who first having fallen themselves, tempted others to do so, thus bringing sin into the world. The future life was to be obtained by purification and suffering, through the Redeemer who would overcome Evil. The belief was general that He was to be born of a virgin and suffer death. The Cross has been a sacred symbol of earliest antiquity among many nations, with various meanings. In this degree its interpretation was taken from the Egyptian hieroglyphic for life emananting from Deity, the eternal life for which we all hope. The Rose is the symbol of dawn, of the resurrection of life. Together the Rose and Cross represent the dawn of eternal life. In all religions there is a basis of Truth; in all there is a pure Morality. All that teaches the cardinal tenets of Alchemy we respect; all teachers and reformers of mankind we admire and revere. Alchemy also has her mission to perform. With her traditions reaching back to the earliest times, and her symbols dating further back than even the monumental history of Egypt extends, she invites all men of all religions to enlist under her banners and to war against evil, ignorance and wrong.

www.norfolkvalley.com/SitePages/Chapter%20of%20Rose%20Cro...

  

Unveiling the Badbea Monument 1912:

Speech by George Gunn, grandson of John Gunn of Badbea

 

EXTRACT No.1

(Transcribed from the John O'Groats Journal of 08/11/1912)

 

THE DONOR OF THE CAIRN

 

Mr Gunn said - Mr King, ladies and gentlemen, allow me on behalf of Donald Sutherland to return you his cordial thanks for your presence here today. You have come, as it were, "to add a stone to the cairn" of the people who once lived in Badbea. Over six years ago Mr Sutherland first visited this country. One of the special objects of his coming was to see the birthplace and scenes of the early days of his father, Alexander Sutherland, who was brought up in the home of John Sutherland, or "John 'Badbea'", as he was usally called, a man of exceptional piety and worth. Mr Alex. Sutherland afterwards emigrated to New Zealand in the ship "Oriental" in 1839, and prospered in the land of his adoption, but he never forgot the lessons he was taught at the knees of John Badbea, and was regarded as a man of strict religious views and a strong respecter of the Sabbath. He was honoured and respected while he lived, and deeply regretted when he died.

 

THE LASTING MONUMENT

 

Being myself deeply interested in the locality, which was the home of my forefathers and of many relatives, I gladly undertook the duties. Plans were drawn and estimates got, and after due consideration this was the one selected. It was intended to be a substantial cairn rather than one of ornamental beauty, soon to crumble away.

 

EXTRACT No.2

(Transcribed from the Northern Ensign of 05/11/1912)

 

GATHERING OF THE NAMES

 

This cairn is intended to stand for centuries and from its nature I think you will agree with me that it is likely to do so. It was built solid all through and the stones are bedded in cement to insure strength and stability, and in this respect it is an emblem of the people who lived here. It is about 22 feet height and fully 10 feet square at the base. The undertaking of the duty of seeing to its erection seemed simple enough although the inaccessible nature of the district made it not an easy task. But it was when I set out to get the names of the residents that I found the great difficulty. I went north, west and south, and only the sea prevented my going east, to find who were the residents. I got valuable help from friends. Mr Wm Sutherland, Helmsdale, a former resident; Mr Andrew Little; Mrs Jas. Sutherland, Latheronwheel, who was born and brought up here; Mrs Wm. Gunn, formerly of Ballachly, Dunbeath, a rare genealogist, and many others. But a limit had to be drawn. Members of the young generations had to be omitted with the daughters of families. One of the natives who died some time ago had, I found, 125 descendants - 68 grandchildren and 46 great grandchildren! One name I regret is omitted that of Robert Grant to whom I have referred already and I also regret one or two others. But I hope it may be possible to get their names added yet.

 

AN OLD WORLD COMMUNITY

 

They were 12 families in all and averaging numbers at six to each there would be fully 72 people resident in the township. Being so much secluded they constituted a happy community among themselves, forming as it were one large family. When one was in trouble the others suffered with them. To the widow and the fatherless their portion from the produce of the sea was set aside and divided equally with them. One chief source of sustenance was from the small patches dug with the "chaib", a kind of spade, near the brink of the rocks for there were no ploughs, and there was only one horse in the whole township, and but one watch - owned by John Badbea. The next source was from the sea for the fishing was then most productive, as many as 800 haddocks might be found in a house at one time for there was no outlet for them. Another source of adding to their incomes was by working on the estate. They had to walk two miles to their work, and were paid at the rate of 1s a day, and those were not the days of 8 hours work. If any felt aggrieved and went to work elsewhere he was a marked man. Another source of small additions to the family purse was in making flails of birch, bread-baskets, potato-baskets, cogs, which they sold at the Dunbeath market and sometimes in Sutherlandshire. One other source of income was the making of malt and home-brewed whisky and ale. The cave in which they brewed is at the foot of that burn over there. The remains of the peats are still there, and even the planks put there, I am told, by my own grandfather and his sons.

 

SMUGGLING STORIES

 

The great danger was that they would be caught by the guagers. But John Dow, the good innkeeper at Berriedale, was always ready to give them the hint when danger was abroad. On one occasion my aunt, now living in Latheron, when at Berriedale as a little girl of seven or eight, was told that the gaugers were there. Being fully sensible of the danger, she hurried by a short cut and was at Badbea ten minutes before the enemy was in sight. There was consternation in the home. The malt was hurriedly carried out and scattered on the hillside, and every trace was removed from the house. The gaugers walked up the hillside and at length found the malt scattered about. In their baffled rage they kicked the stuff about. But as soon as they were away willing hands gathered up the malt, brewed it into whisky, and sold it to pay the fees of the children at school. You must remember that making malt and whisky at that time was thought to be not a whit more sinful than fishing for a trout in a mill stream is considered today, but drunkenness and profane swearing were unknown.

 

There is one scene I must not omit. The boats are on the stormy sea out from Badbea, going up the Firth. The gale rages fiercely, but the fishermen are not afraid. They say, "Let us not fear, for John is in the barn." They knew that at that hour John Badbea was in his sanctuary, and that he remembered them in his prayers.

 

THE DREAM OF A LIFE

 

Mr David Sutherland, though born in New Zealand, had heard so much about this locality that it was the dream of his life to see it. He was greatly impressed with the isolation and seclusion of the spot, and remarked to me that a person living here could hardly fail to be pious, and that of all the places he had seen since he left New Zealand, there was no place he thought more of than this secluded but now desolate locality. When he visited it there were only two tenants, Widow Sutherland, now of Ousdale, and John Gunn, now of Langwell Gardens.

 

MEMORIES OF OTHER DAYS

 

Mr Sutherland on coming to the house of John Sutherland, his father's house, was deeply impressed. Its very stones seemed sacred to him and we left him alone for a time in solemn reverie. There was the fireplace at which John Sutherland sat; there the recess where his religious books and his Bible were kept; there where he held his prayer meetings; there the barn where he prayed; down there the ground that he tilled. There was the spot where Robert Grant stood and prayed; there where John Gunn stood when he led the singing. Is it any wonder that my friend took chips of the very stones from the home of John Badbea and his father! There was the home of his uncle David Sutherland so ingenious in making all the principal implements of use for the locality. There was the home of John Gunn and Marion Sinclair his wife and their family of five sons and six daughters - there was the house of Christy Sutherland and her sons George and Jamie noted as the fiddlers of the township. There was the home of George Duncan. Over yonder was the home of Gordon Grant. Across on yonder steep slope was the home of "the weaver" where children had to be tethered for fear of them falling over the cliffs. There was the Badbea burn where his father had played with the other bairns of the locality. Down below was the cave where the smuggling took place, and where John Gunn senior, perished in his 84th year in climbing up to the top with a keg of whisky on his back. Yonder was the spot where George Duncan fell over and was killed, and down there where the young son of Widow Duncan was brought up by John Gunn with ropes after falling over the rocks. Such were the scenes that Mr D Sutherland often pictured to himself in New Zealand. In fact Mr Sutherland knew far more of the locality and the people than natives residing at Berriedale. On leaving, he said he would like to erect some cairn or memorial of the good people who had lived here. And so sometimes after he gave instructions to me that a memorial cairn or some monument solid and substantial should be erected with tablets on ...

 

SCATTERED FAR AND WIDE

 

The people of Badbea and their descendants are now scattered far and wide, carrying with them the memories of the lessons taught there. They loved their home, they loved their Sabbath. Though primitive in their habits and methods of living, they were high-principled people, fearing God and keeping His day holy, and going to His house. As a proof of this, I may say that my own grandfather had to leave for refusing so to work on the Sabbath. Of the descendants of the little community, one is a pastor of a large church in England. Another is a missionary in far off New Hebrides. Another was the physician of Helmsdale, when death cut him off in the prime of his youth. Another lies in a missionary's grave on the shores of Livingstonia. Another in a soldier's grave in Burmah. Others having served their generation have fallen on sleep. While others remain, and they with their descendants occupy places of honour and responsibility. It is not gold, it is not wealth that makes the man. It is a noble and virtuous life which is far better than a stone cenotaph, and while this monument will last for ages, the character of a good man will last when earth shall have passed away ...

 

[Source of text:- www.badbeafamilies.com]

Psychopomps (from the Greek word ψυχοπομπός - psuchopompos, literally meaning the "guide of souls")[1] are creatures, spirits, angels, or deities in many religions whose responsibility is to escort newly deceased souls from Earth to the afterlife. Their role is not to judge the deceased, but simply to provide safe passage. Frequently depicted on funerary art, psychopomps have been associated at different times and in different cultures with horses, whip-poor-wills, ravens, dogs, crows, owls, sparrows, cuckoos, and harts. When seen as birds, they are often seen in huge masses, waiting outside the home of the dying.Classical examples of a psychopomp in Greek, Roman and Egyptian mythology are Charon,Vanth, Hermes, Hecate, Mercury and Anubis. In many beliefs, a spirit being taken to the underworld is violently ripped from its body.The most common contemporary example of a psychopomp appearing in popular culture is the Grim Reaper, which dates from 15th-century England and has been adopted into many other cultures around the world over the years; for instance, the shinigami in Japanese culture today[. In Jungian psychology, the psychopomp is a mediator between the unconscious and conscious realms. It is symbolically personified in dreams as a wise man or woman, or sometimes as a helpful animal. In many cultures, the shaman also fulfills the role of the psychopomp. This may include not only accompanying the soul of the dead, but also vice versa: to help at birth, to introduce the newborn child's soul to the world. This also accounts for the contemporary title of "midwife to the dying", or "End of Life Doula", which is another form of psychopomp work.In Filipino culture, dead relations function as psychopomps. When the dying call out to specific dead persons (e.g. parents, partners), the spirits of the latter are supposedly visible to the former. The spirits, who traditionally wait at the foot of the deathbed, fetch (Tagalog: sundô) the soul soon after death and escort it into the afterlife.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychopomp

 

The “eternal return” is an idea for interpreting religious behavior proposed by the historian Mircea Eliade; it is a belief expressed through behavior (sometimes implicitly, but often explicitly) that one is able to become contemporary with or return to the “mythical age” – the time when the events described in one’s myths occurred.It should be distinguished from the philosophical concept of eternal return.According to Eliade,all the definitions given up till now of the religious phenomenon have one thing in common: Each has its own way of showing that the sacred and the religious life are the opposite of the profane and secular life.This concept had already been extensively formulated by the French sociologist Émile Durkheim in 1912,[3][improper synthesis?] Scholars such as Jack Goody gave evidence that it may not be universal.This sharp distinction between the sacred and the profane is Eliade’s trademark theory. According to Eliade, traditional man distinguishes two levels of existence: the Sacred, and the profane world. (Here "the Sacred" can be God, gods, mythical ancestors, or any other beings who established the world's structure.) To traditional man, things "acquire their reality, their identity, only to the extent of their participation in a transcendent reality".[6] Something in our world is only "real" to the extent that it conforms to the Sacred or the patterns established by the Sacred.

Hence, there is profane space, and there is sacred space. Sacred space is space where the Sacred manifests itself; unlike profane space, sacred space has a sense of direction:

In the homogeneous and infinite expanse, in which no point of reference is possible and hence no orientation is established, the hierophany [appearance of the Sacred] reveals an absolute fixed point, a center.Where the Sacred intersects our world, it appears in the form of ideal models (e.g., the actions and commandments of gods or mythical heroes). All things become truly "real" by imitating these models. Eliade claims: "For archaic man, reality is a function of the imitation of a celestial archetype."[8] As evidence for this view, in The Myth of the Eternal Return, he cites a belief of the Iranian Zurvanites. The Zurvanites believed that each thing on Earth corresponds to a sacred, celestial counterpart: for the physical sky, there is a sacred sky; for the physical Earth, there is a sacred Earth; actions are virtuous by conforming to a sacred pattern These are some other examples Eliade gives:"According to Mesopotamian beliefs, the Tigris has its model in the star Anunit and the Euphrates in the star of the Swallow. A Sumerian text tells of the 'place of the creation of the gods,' where 'the [divinity of] the flocks and grains' is to be found. For the Ural–Altaic peoples the mountains, in the same way, have an ideal archetype in the sky. In Egypt, places and nomes were named after the celestial 'fields': first the celestial fields were known, then they were identified in terrestrial geography."Further, there is profane time, and there is sacred time. According to Eliade, myths describe a time that is fundamentally different from historical time (what modern man would consider "normal" time). "In short," says Eliade, "myths describe breakthroughs of the sacred (or the ‘supernatural’) into the World".The mythical age is the time when the Sacred entered our world, giving it form and meaning: "The manifestation of the sacred ontologically founds the world".Thus, the mythical age is sacred time, the only time that has value for traditional man.According to Eliade, in the archaic worldview, the power of a thing resides in its origin, so that "knowing the origin of an object, an animal, a plant, and so on is equivalent to acquiring a magical power over them".The way a thing was created establishes that thing's nature, the pattern to which it should conform. By gaining control over the origin of a thing, one also gains control over the thing itself.Eliade concluded that, if origin and power are to be the same, "it is the first manifestation of a thing that is significant and valid".[The Sacred first manifested itself in the events of the mythical age; hence, traditional man sees the mythical age as the foundation of value.Eliade's theory implies that as the power of a thing lies in its origin, the entire world's power lies in the cosmogony. If the Sacred established all valid patterns in the beginning, during the time recorded in myth, then the mythical age is sacred time — the only time that contains any value. Man's life only has value to the extent that it conforms to the patterns of the mythical age.The religion of the Australian Aboriginals is supposed to contain many examples of the veneration paid to the mythical age. Just before the dawn of the first day, the Bagadjimbiri brothers emerged from the Earth in the form of dingos, and then turned into human giants whose heads touched the sky. Before the Bagadjimbiri came, nothing had existed. But when the sun rose, and the brothers began naming things, the "plants and animals began really to exist".[The brothers met a group of people and organized them into a civilized society. The people of this tribe — the Karadjeri of Australia — still imitate the two brothers in many ways:"One of the Bagadjimbiri stopped to urinate [...] That is the reason why the Australian Karadjeri stop and take up a special position in order to urinate. [...] The brothers stopped and ate a certain grain raw; but they immediately burst into laughter, because they knew that one ought not eat it so [...] and since then men imitate them whenever they have this grain cooked. The Bagadjimbiri threw a primal (a kind of large baton) at an animal and killed it—and this is how men have done it ever since. A great many myths describe the manner in which the brothers Bagadjimbiri founded all the customs of the Karadjeri, and even their behavior."The mythical age was the time when the Sacred appeared and established reality. For traditional man, Eliade argues, only the first appearance of something has value; (2) only the Sacred has value; and, therefore, (3) only the first appearance of the Sacred has value. Because the Sacred first appeared in the mythical age, only the mythical age has value. According to Eliade’s hypothesis, "primitive man was interested only in the beginnings … to him it mattered little what had happened to himself, or to others like him, in more or less distant times". Hence, traditional societies express a "nostalgia for the origins",a yearning to return to the mythical age. To traditional man, life only has value in sacred time.Eliade also explained how traditional man could find value for his own life (in a vision of where all events occurring after the mythical age cannot have value or reality); he indicated that, if the Sacred's essence lies only in its first appearance, then any later appearance must actually be the first appearance. Thus, an imitation of a mythical event is actually the mythical event itself, happening again — myths and rituals carry one back to the mythical age:"In imitating the exemplary acts of a god or of a mythic hero, or simply by recounting their adventures, the man of an archaic society detaches himself from profane time and magically re-enters the Great Time, the sacred time."Myth and ritual are vehicles of "eternal return" to the mythical age. Traditional man's myth- and ritual-filled life constantly unites him with sacred time, giving his existence value. As an example of this phenomenon, Eliade cites church services, by which churchgoers "return" to the sacred time of Scripture:

"Just as a church constitutes a break in plane in the profane space of a modern city, [so] the service celebrated inside [the church] marks a break in profane temporal duration. It is no longer today's historical time that is present—the time that is experienced, for example, in the adjacent streets—but the time in which the historical existence of Jesus Christ occurred, the time sanctified by his preaching, by his passion, death, and resurrection.Eliade attributes the well-known "cyclic" view of time in ancient thought to the eternal return. In many religions, a ritual cycle correlates certain parts of the year with mythical events, making each year a repetition of the mythical age. For instance, Australian Aboriginal peoples annually reenact the events of the "Dreamtime":"The animals and plants created in illo tempore by the Supernatural Beings are ritually re-created. In Kimberley the rock paintings, which are believed to have been painted by the Ancestors, are repainted in order to reactivate their creative force, as it was first manifested in the mythical times, at the beginning of the World."[18]

Every New Year, the people of Mesopotamia reenacted the Enuma Elish, a creation myth, in which the god Marduk slays Tiamat, the primordial monster, and creates the world from her body. They correlated the birth of the year with the mythical birth of the world.By periodically bringing man back to the mythical age, these liturgical cycles turn time itself into a circle. Those who perform an annual ritual return to the same point in time every 365 days: "With each periodical [ritual] festival, the participants find the same sacred time—the same that had been manifested in the festival of the previous year or in the festival of a century earlier."According to Eliade, some traditional societies express their cyclic experience of time by equating the world with the year:

"In a number of North American Indian languages the term world (= Cosmos) is also used in the sense of year. The Yokuts says 'the world has passed,' meaning 'a year has gone by.' For the Yuki, the year is expressed by the words for earth or world. [...] The cosmos is conceived [of] as a living unity that is born, develops, and dies on the last day of the year, to be reborn on New Year's Day. [...] At every New Year, time begins ab initio."The New Year ritual reenacts the mythical beginning of the cosmos. Therefore, by the logic of the eternal return, each New Year is the beginning of the cosmos. Thus, time flows in a closed circle, always returning to the sacred time celebrated during the New Year: the cosmos's entire duration is limited to one year, which repeats itself indefinitely.These ritual cycles do more than give humans a sense of value. Because traditional man identifies reality with the Sacred, he believes that the world can endure only if it remains in sacred time. He periodically revives sacred time through myths and rituals in order to keep the universe in existence. In many cultures, this belief appears to be consciously held and clearly stated. From the perspective of these societies, the world"must be periodically renewed or it may perish. The idea that the Cosmos is threatened with ruin if not annually re-created provides the inspiration for the chief festival of the California Karok, Hupa, and Yurok tribes. In the respective languages the ceremony is called 'repair' or 'fixing' of the world, and, in English, 'New Year'. Its purpose is to re-establish or strengthen the Earth for the following year or two .To some, the theory of the eternal return may suggest a view of traditional societies as stagnant and unimaginative, afraid to try anything new. However, Eliade argues that the eternal return does not lead to "a total cultural immobility". If it did, traditional societies would never have changed or evolved, and "ethnology knows of no single people that has not changed in the course of time". The mere fact that traditional societies have colonized new lands and invented new technologies proves that the eternal return hasn't suppressed their sense of initiative.Far from suppressing creativity, Eliade argues, the eternal return promotes it:"There is no reason to hesitate before setting out on a sea voyage, because the mythical Hero has already made [such a voyage] in the fabulous Time. All that is needed is to follow his example. Similarly, there is no reason to fear settling an unknown, wild territory, because one knows what to do. One has merely to repeat the cosmogonic ritual, whereupon the unknown territory (= 'Chaos') is transformed into 'Cosmos'."[According to Eliade, traditional man has endless creative possibilities because "the possibilities for applying the mythical model are endless".According to Eliade, this yearning to remain in the mythical age causes a "terror of history". Traditional man desires to escape the linear march of events, empty of any inherent value or sacrality. In Chapter 4 of The Myth of the Eternal Return (entitled "The Terror of History") and in the appendix to Myths, Dreams and Mysteries, Eliade suggests that the abandonment of mythical thought and the full acceptance of linear, historical time, with its "terror", is one of the reasons for modern man's anxieties. Traditional societies escape this anxiety to an extent, as they refuse to completely acknowledge historical time. Eliade describes the difference between ancient and modern man's reactions to history, as well as modern man's impotence before the terror of history, as follows:"In our day, when historical pressure no longer allows any escape, how can man tolerate the catastrophes and horrors of history—from collective deportations and massacres to atomic bombings—if beyond them he can glimpse no sign, no transhistorical meaning; if they are only the blind play of economic, social, or political forces, or, even worse, only the result of the 'liberties' that a minority takes and exercises directly on the stage of universal history?"We know how, in the past, humanity has been able to endure the sufferings we have enumerated: they were regarded as a punishment inflicted by God, the syndrome of the decline of the 'age,' and so on. And it was possible to accept them precisely because they had a metahistorical meaning [...] Every war rehearsed the struggle between good and evil, every fresh social injustice was identified with the sufferings of the Saviour (or, for example, in the pre-Christian world, with the passion of a divine messenger or vegetation god), each new massacre repeated the glorious end of the martyrs. [...] By virtue of this view, tens of millions of men were able, for century after century, to endure great historical pressures without despairing, without committing suicide or falling into that spiritual aridity that always brings with it a relativistic or nihilistic view of history".In general, according to Eliade, traditional man sees the eternal return as something positive, even necessary. However, in some religions, such as Buddhism and certain forms of Hinduism, the traditional cyclic view of time becomes a source of terror:

"In certain highly evolved societies, the intellectual élites progressively detach themselves from the patterns of traditional religion. The periodical resanctification of cosmic time then proves useless and without meaning. [...] But repetition emptied of its religious content necessarily leads to a pessimistic vision of existence. When it is no longer a vehicle for reintegrating a primordial situation [...] that is, when it is desacralized, cyclic time becomes terrifying; it is seen as a circle forever turning on itself, repeating itself to infinity."When the world becomes desacralized, the traditional cyclic view of time is too firmly entrenched to simply vanish. It survives, but in a profane form (such as the myth of reincarnation). Time is no longer static, as for the Karadjeri, for whom almost every action imitates a mythical model, keeping the world constantly in the mythical age. Nor is time cyclical but sacred, as for the ancient Mesopotamians, whose ritual calendar periodically returned the world to the mythical age. Rather, for some Dharmic religions, "time was homologized to the cosmic illusion (māyā)".For most of traditional humanity, linear history is profane, and sacredness lies in cyclic time. But, in Buddhism, Jainism, and some forms of Hinduism, even cyclic time has become profane. The Sacred cannot be found in the mythical age; it exists outside all ages. Thus, human fulfilment does not lie in returning to a sacred time, but in escaping from time altogether, in "a transcendence of the cosmos." In these religions, the "eternal return" is less like the eternal return in most traditional societies (for whom time has an objective beginning, to which one should return) and more like the philosophical concept of eternal return — an endless cosmic cycle, with no beginning and, thus, no inherently sacred time.

Although immensely influential in religious studies, the ideas behind Eliade's hypothesis of the eternal return are less well accepted in anthropology and sociology. According to the classicist G. S. Kirk, this is because Eliade overextends the application of his ideas: for example, Eliade claims that the modern myth of the "noble savage" results from the religious tendency to idealize the primordial, mythical age.Kirk claims that Eliade's relative unpopularity among anthropologists and sociologists also results from Eliade's assumption — essential for belief in the eternal return as Eliade formulates it — that primitive and archaic cultures had concepts such as "being" and "real", although they lacked words for them.Kirk thinks Eliade's theory of eternal return applies to some cultures. Specifically, he agrees that Australian Aborigines used myths and rituals "to bring the Dreamtime" (the Australian mythical age) "into the present with potent and fruitful results". However, Kirk argues, Eliade takes this Australian phenomenon and applies it to other cultures uncritically. In short, Kirk sees Eliade's theory of eternal return as a universalization of the Australian Dreamtime concept.As two counterexamples to the eternal return, Kirk cites Native American mythology and Greek mythology. The eternal return is nostalgic: by retelling and reenacting mythical events, Australian Aborigines aim to evoke and relive the Dreamtime. However, Kirk believes that Native American myths "are not evocative or nostalgic in tone, but tend to be detailed and severely practical".In many Native American mythologies, animals once acted like humans, during the mythical age; but they don't any longer: the division between animals and men is now a firm one, and according to Kirk, "that in itself reduces the effectiveness of myth-telling as a reconstitution" of the mythical age.As for Greek myths, many of them fall outside any sacred age of origins: this challenges Eliade's claim that almost all myths are about origins, and that people retell and reenact myths to return to the time of origins.Note that the classicist Kirk uses a much broader definition of "myth" than many professional folklorists. According to the classical definition used by folklorists, many Greek stories conventionally called "myths" are not myths, precisely because they fall outside a sacred age of origins.Even Wendy Doniger, a religious-studies scholar and Eliade's successor at the University of Chicago, claims (in the Introduction to Eliade's own Shamanism) that the eternal return does not apply to all myths and rituals, although it may apply to many of them.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternal_return_(Eliade)

A wingman is someone WINGMAN NEVER FLY ALONE. Meet people at your airport, on your flight, and at your destination.Make your trip worth remembering. Wingman is a role that a person may take when a friend needs support with approaching potential partners who is on the "inside" and is used to help someone with intimate relationships. In general, one person's wingman will help him or her avoid attention from undesirable prospective partners or attract desirable ones, or both

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wingman_(social)

 

Attractive women rarely fly solo—or date men who do. Having a solid wingman by your side can mean the difference between the two of you sharing the night with a bevy of chicks or a basket of chicken wings.However, playing Goose to your buddy’s Maverick is about more than telling every woman he meets the highly exaggerated story about how he once rescued a nun from a burning building. (Because the building wasn’t actually on fire. And she wasn’t actually a nun. Though she did have a habit.) It’s also your job to entertain her friends while keeping your eyes peeled for potential rivals, whose wings might need to be clipped with a swift “Alpha Mike Foxtrot.” (Look it up.) Winging can also do wonders for your own confidence: It’s an opportunity to interact with women in a nothing-to-lose setting. Soar in your role, and you’ll gain a loyal wingman in return.Consider this your field-tested guide to being the ultimate wingman, forged from more than 2,000 nights at bars and clubs teaching men how to attract beautiful women. Abide by its rules the next time you’re out with your friends, and you’ll be armed and ready for any approach.

www.mensfitness.com/women/dating-advice/the-7-golden-rule...

 

getwingman.co/

Draguer avec un Wingman pour Closer plus Souvent.

www.artdeseduire.com/technique-de-drague/comment-draguer-...

Cemetery of Splendour (Thai: Rak Ti Khon Kaen) is a 2015 Thai drama film directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul. The plot revolves around a spreading epidemic of sleeping sickness. Spirits appear to the stricken and hallucination becomes indistinguishable from reality. The epidemic is used as a metaphor for personal and Thai societal issues.[1] It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival.[2][3] It has been selected to be shown in the Masters section of the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival,[4] and will have its US premier at the 2015 New York Film Festival.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cemetery_of_Splendour

Vishnu (/ˈvɪʃnuː/; Sanskrit: Viṣṇu) is a popular Hindu deity, the Supreme God of Vaishnavism (one of the three principal denominations of Hinduism) and one of the three supreme deities (Trimurti) of Hinduism. He is also known as Lord Narayana and Lord Hari. As one of the five primary forms of God in the Smarta tradition, He is conceived as "the Preserver or the Protector" within the Trimurti, the Hindu Trinity of the divinity.

 

In Hindu sacred texts, Vishnu is usually described as having dark complexion of water-filled clouds and as having four arms. He is depicted as a blue being, holding a padma (lotus flower) in the lower left hand, the Kaumodaki gada (mace) in the lower right hand, the Panchajanya shankha (conch) in the upper left hand and the discus weapon Sudarshana Chakra in the upper right hand.

 

Adherents of Hinduism believe Vishnu's eternal and supreme abode beyond the material universe is called Vaikuntha, which is also known as Paramdhama, the realm of eternal bliss and happiness and the final or highest place for liberated souls who have attained Moksha. Vaikuntha is situated beyond the material universe and hence, cannot be perceived or measured by material science or logic. Vishnu's other abode within the material universe is Ksheera Sagara (the ocean of milk), where he reclines and rests on Ananta Shesha, (the king of the serpent deities, commonly shown with a thousand heads). In almost all Hindu denominations, Vishnu is either worshipped directly or in the form of his ten avatars, the most famous of whom are Rama and Krishna.

 

The Puranabharati, an ancient text, describes these as the dashavatara, or the ten avatars of Vishnu. Among the ten described, nine have occurred in the past and one will take place in the future as Lord Kalki, at the end of Kali Yuga, (the fourth and final stage in the cycle of yugas that the world goes through). These incarnations take place in all Yugas in cosmic scales; the avatars and their stories show that gods are indeed unimaginable, unthinkable and inconceivable. The Bhagavad Gita mentions their purpose as being to rejuvenate Dharma, to vanquish those negative forces of evil that threaten dharma, and also to display His divine nature in front of all souls.

 

The Trimurti (three forms) is a concept in Hinduism "in which the cosmic functions of creation, maintenance, and destruction are personified by the forms of Brahma the creator, Vishnu the maintainer, preserver or protector and Shiva the destroyer or transformer." These three deities have also been called "the Hindu triad" or the "Great Trinity", all having the same meaning of three in One. They are the different forms or manifestation of One person the Supreme Being or Narayana/Svayam Bhagavan.

 

Vishnu is also venerated as Mukunda, which means God who is the giver of mukti or moksha (liberation from the cycle of rebirths) to his devotees or the worthy ones who deserve salvation from the material world.

 

ETYMOLOGY

The traditional explanation of the name Vishnu involves the root viś, meaning "to settle" (cognate with Latin vicus, English -wich "village," Slavic: vas -ves), or also (in the Rigveda) "to enter into, to pervade," glossing the name as "the All-Pervading One". Yaska, an early commentator on the Vedas, in his Nirukta, (etymological interpretation), defines Vishnu as viṣṇur viṣvater vā vyaśnoter vā, "one who enters everywhere". He also writes, atha yad viṣito bhavati tad viṣnurbhavati, "that which is free from fetters and bondages is Vishnu".

 

Adi Shankara in his commentary on the Sahasranama states derivation from viś, with a meaning "presence everywhere" ("As he pervades everything, vevesti, he is called Vishnu"). Adi Shankara states (regarding Vishnu Purana, 3.1.45): "The Power of the Supreme Being has entered within the universe. The root viś means 'enter into'." Swami Chinmayananda, in his translation of Vishnu Sahasranama further elaborates on that verse: "The root vis means to enter. The entire world of things and beings is pervaded by Him and the Upanishad emphatically insists in its mantra 'whatever that is there is the world of change.' Hence, it means that He is not limited by space, time or substance. Chinmayananda states that, that which pervades everything is Vishnu."

 

SACRET TEXTS - SHRUTI & SMRITI

Shruti is considered to be solely of divine origin. It is preserved as a whole, instead of verse by verse. It includes the four Vedas (Rigveda, Yajurveda, Samaveda and Atharvaveda) the Brahmanas, the Aranyakas and the Upanishads with commentaries on them.

 

Smṛti refers to all the knowledge derived and inculcated after Shruti had been received. Smrti is not 'divine' in origin, but was 'remembered' by later Rishis (sages by insight, who were the scribes) by transcendental means and passed down through their followers. It includes the Bhagavata Purana and the Vishnu Purana which are Sattva Puranas. These both declare Vishnu as Para Brahman Supreme Lord who creates unlimited universes and enters each one of them as Lord of Universe.

 

SHRUTI

 

VAISHNAVA CANON

The Vaishnava canon presents Vishnu as the supreme being, rather than another name for the Sun God, who also bore the name Suryanarayana and is considered only as a form of Vishnu.

 

VEDAS

In the Yajur Veda, Taittiriya Aranyaka (10-13-1), Narayana suktam, Lord Narayana is mentioned as the supreme being. The first verse of Narayana Suktam mentions the words "paramam padam", which literally mean "highest post" and may be understood as the "supreme abode for all souls". This is also known as Param Dhama, Paramapadam, or Vaikuntha. Rig Veda 1:22:20a also mentions the same "paramam padam". This special status is not given to any deity in the Vedas apart from Lord Vishnu/Narayana.[citation needed] Narayana is one of the thousand names of Vishnu as mentioned in the Vishnu Sahasranama. It describes Vishnu as the All-Pervading essence of all beings, the master of - and beyond - the past, present and future, one who supports, sustains and governs the Universe and originates and develops all elements within. This illustrates the omnipresent characteristic of Vishnu. Vishnu governs the aspect of preservation and sustenance of the universe, so he is called "Preserver of the universe".

 

Vishnu is the Supreme God who takes manifest forms or avatars across various ages or periods to save humanity from evil beings, demons or Asuras. According to the extant Hindu texts and traditions, Lord Vishnu is considered to be resident in the direction of the "Makara Rashi" (the "Shravana Nakshatra"), which is about coincident with the Capricorn constellation. In some of the extant Puranas, and Vaishnava traditions, Vishnu's eye is considered to be situated at the infinitely distant Southern Celestial Pole.

 

Following the defeat of Indra and his displacement as the Lord of Heaven or Swarga, Indra asks Lord Vishnu for help and thus Lord Vishnu takes his incarnations or avatars to Earth to save mankind, thus showing his position as Supreme God to all of creation.

 

In the Puranas, Indra frequently appears proud and haughty. These bad qualities are temporarily removed when Brahma and/or Shiva give boons to Asuras or Rakshasas such as Hiranyaksha, Hiranyakashipu and Ravana, who are then able to defeat Indra in wars between Devas and Asuras. The received boons often made Asuras virtually indestructible.

 

Indra has no option but to seek help from Vishnu. Indra prays before Vishnu for protection and the Supreme Lord obliges him by taking avatars and generating himself on Earth in various forms, first as a water-dweller (Matsya, fish), then as an amphibious creature (Kurma avatar or Tortoise), then as a half-man-half-animal (Varaha the pig-faced, human-bodied Lord, and Narasimha the Lord with lion's face and claws and a human body). Later, Vishnu appears as human beings (Vamana the short-heighted person), Parashurama, Rama, Krishna, Buddha and finally as Kalki for performing his task of protecting his devotees from demons and anti-religious entities.

 

Vishnu's supremacy is attested by his victories over those very powerful entities. It is further attested by the accepted iconography and sculptures of Vishnu in reclining position as producing Brahma emerging from his navel. Brahma the creator is thus created in turn by Vishnu out of his own person. Instead Vishnu takes various avatars to slay or defeat those demons. But it is to be noted that Vishnu also provided boons to Akupresura, a bear faced demon who was destroyed by Lord Shiva.

 

Vishnu's actions lowered Indra's ranking among Hindu deities and led to the ascendancy of Vishnu.

 

Few temples are dedicated to the Sun or Suryanarayana, nor indeed Indra, nor does Indra figure largely in the Hindu religion.

 

Indra is almost completely absent from the deities considered as the chief or most important deity.

 

RIGVEDA

In the Rigveda, Vishnu is mentioned 93 times. He is frequently invoked alongside other deities, especially Indra, whom he helps in killing Vritra and with whom he drinks Soma. His distinguishing characteristic in the Vedas is his association with light. Two Rigvedic hymns in Mandala 7 are dedicated to Vishnu. In 7.99, Vishnu is addressed as the god who separates heaven and earth, a characteristic he shares with Indra.

 

The Rig Veda describes Vishnu as younger brother to Indra as Vamana. In Vaishnava canon the 'Vishnu' who is younger brother to Indra is identified as Vamana, Avatar of Vishnu, hence referred to as Vishnu by Vaishnavites. Vishnu is the Supreme God who lives in the highest celestial region, contrasted against those who live in the atmospheric or terrestrial regions. Vishnu is content with mere prayer, unlike almost all of the other gods who receive sacrificial offerings such as Havis, which is given using clarified butter, or Soma. Later foreign translators have view that Vedas place Indra in a superior position to Vishnu's Avatar of Vamana but in fact Vamana helps Indra by restoring his Kingdom.

 

An alternate translation is provided by Wilson according to Sayana:

 

When Thy (younger brother) Viṣṇu (Vamana) by (his) strength stepped his three paces, then verily thy beloved horses bore thee. (Rigveda 8:12:27)

 

Wilson mentions Griffith's possible translation as a footnote. However the following verse from Rigveda renders the above translation by Wilson more probable.

 

Him whose three places that are filled with sweetness, imperishable, joy as it may list them, Who verily alone upholds the threefold, the earth, the heaven, and all living creatures. (Rig veda 1:154:4)

 

Wilson offers an alternate translation for Rigveda 10:113:2:

 

Viṣṇu offering the portion of Soma, glorifies by his own vigor that greatness of his. Indra, the lord of heaven, with the associated gods having slain Vritra, became deserving of honour. (Rigveda 10:113:2)

 

This verse sees Vishnu as one who is glorified by his own strength, while Indra became deserving of honor after having slain Vritra only in association with other gods.

 

However Vishnu's praise for other gods does not imply worship. Wilson translates:

 

Viṣṇu, the mighty giver of dwellings praises thee, and Mitra and Varuna; the company of Maruts imitates thee in exhilaration. (Rigveda 8:15:9) (page 280)

 

The following verses show categorically Vishnu as distinguished from other gods in Rigveda.

 

He who presents (offering) to Viṣṇu, the ancient, the creator, the recent, the self-born; he who celebrates the great birth of that mighty one; he verily possessed of abundance, attains (the station) that is to be sought (by all). (Rigveda 1:156:2) (page 98)

 

No being that is or that has been born, divine Viṣṇu, has attained the utmost limit of thy magnitude, by which thou hast upheld the vast and beautiful heaven, and sustained the eastern horizon of Earth.(Rigveda 7:99:2) (page 196)

 

The divine Viṣṇu, the best of the doers of good deeds, who came to the pious instituter of rite (Indra), to assist (at its celebration), knowing (the desires of the worshiper), and present at the three connected period (of worship), shows favor to the Arya, and admits the author of the ceremony to a share of the sacrifice. (Rigveda 1:156:5) (page 99)

 

Jan Gonda, the late Indologist, states that Vishnu, although remaining in the background of Indra's exploits, contributes by his presence, or is key to Indra's success. Vishnu is more than a mere companion, equal in rank or power to Indra, or sometime the one who made Indra's success possible.

 

Descriptions of Vishnu as younger to Indra are found in only the hymns to Indra, but in a kathenotheism religion like that of the Rigveda, each god, for a time, is supreme in the mind of the devotee.

 

In the Rig Vedic texts, the deity or god referred to as Vishnu is the Sun God, who also bears the name 'Suryanarayana'. By contrast, the 'Vishnu' referred to in 'Vishnu Purana', 'Vishnu Sahasranamam' and 'Purusha Sooktham' is Lord Narayana, the Consort of Lakshmi. Vaishnavites make a further distinction by extolling the qualities of Vishnu by highlighting his differences from other deities such as Shiva,[citation needed] Brahma or Surya.

 

THREE STEPS

Hymn 7.100 refers to the celebrated 'three steps' of Vishnu (as Trivikrama) by which he strode over the universe and in three places planted his step. The 'Vishnu Suktam' (RV 1.154) says that the first and second of Vishnu's strides (those encompassing the earth and air) are visible to men and the third is in the heights of heaven (sky). This last place is described as Vishnu's supreme abode in RV 1.22.20:

 

The princes evermore behold / that loftiest place where Vishnu is / Laid as it were an eye in heaven.(trans. Griffith)

 

Griffith's "princes" are the sūri, either "inciters" or lords of a sacrifice, or priests charged with pressing the Soma. The verse is quoted as expressing Vishnu's supremacy by Vaishnavites.

 

Though such solar aspects have been associated with Vishnu by tradition as well as modern-scholarship, he was not just the representation of the sun, as he moves both vertically and horizontally.

 

In hymns 1.22.17, 1.154.3, 1.154.4 he strides across the earth with three steps, in 6.49.13, 7.100.3 strides across the earth three times and in 1.154.1, 1.155.5,7.29.7 he strides vertically, with the final step in the heavens. The same Veda also says he strode wide and created space in the cosmos for Indra to fight Vritra. By his stride he made dwelling for men possible, the three forming a symbolic representation of the dwelling's all-encompassing nature. This nature and benevolence to men were Vishnu's enduring attributes. As the triple-strider he is known as Trivikrama and as Urukrama, for the strides were wide.

 

BRAHMANAS

The Brahmanas are commentaries on the Vedas and form part of the Shruti literature. They are concerned with the detail of the proper performance of rituals. In the Rigveda, Shakala Shakha: Aitareya Brahmana Verse 1 declares: agnir vai devānām ava mo viṣṇuḥ paramus, tadantareṇa sarvā anyā devatā - Agni is the lowest or youngest god and Vishnu is the greatest and the highest God.

 

The Brahmanas assert the supremacy of Lord Vishnu, addressing him as "Gajapati", the one whom all sacrifices are meant to please. Lord Vishnu accepts all sacrifices to the demigods and allots the respective fruits to the performer In one incident, a demonic person performs a sacrifice by abducting the Rishis (sages), who meditate by constantly chanting God's name. The sacrifice is meant to destroy Indra. But the rishis, who worship Indra as a demigod, alter one pronunciation of the Veda Mantra, reversing the purpose of the sacrifice. When the fruit of the sacrifice is given and the demon is on the verge of dying, he calls to Vishnu, whom he addresses as Supreme Godhead and "the father of all living entities including himself".

 

Aitareya Brahmana 1:1:1 mentions Vishnu as the Supreme God. But in the Vaishnava canon, in different ages, with Vishnu in different avatars, his relationship with the asuras or demons, was always adversarial. The asuras always caused harm, while the sages and devas or celestial beings, did penance and called to Vishnu for protection. Vishnu always obliged by taking an avatar to vanquish the asuras. In the Vaishnava canon, Vishnu never gave or granted any boons to the asuras, distinguishing him from the gods Shiva and Brahma, who did. He is the only God called upon to save good beings by defeating or killing the asuras.

 

Sayana writes that in Aitareya Brahmana 1:1:1 the declaration agnir vai devānām ava mo viṣṇuḥ paramus,tadantareṇa sarvā anyā devatā does not indicate any hierarchy among gods. Even in Rigveda Samhita, avama and parama are not applied to denote rank and dignity, but only to mark place and locality.

 

In Rigveda 1:108:9,: yadindrāghnī avamasyāṃ pṛthivyāṃ madhyamasyāṃ paramasyāmuta sthaḥ | i.e., in the lowest place, the middle (place), and the highest (place). Agni, the fire, has, among the gods, the lowest place; for he resides with man on the earth; while the other gods are either in the air, or in the sky. Vishnu occupies the highest place. The words avama and parama are understood as 'First' and 'Last' respectively. To support this claim, Sayana adduces the mantra (1,4. As'val. Sr. S. 4, 2), agnir mukham prathamo devathanam samathanam uttamo vishnur asit, i.e., Agni was the first of the deities assembled, (and) Vishnu the last.

 

In the Kausitaki Brahmana (7.1) Agni is called Aaradhya (instead of avama), and Visnu parardha(instead of parama),i.e., belonging to the lower and higher halves (or forming the lower and higher halves). The Vishnu Purana gives tremendous importance to the worship of Vishnu and mentions that sacrifices are to begin only with both the lighting of fire or 'Agni', pouring of sacrificial offerings to Vishnu in 'Agni' so that those offerings reach and are accepted by Vishnu. Worship of Vishnu through Yajnas (or Homams) and other rituals, will not achieve the desired result if Agni's role is neglected.

 

Muller says "Although the gods are sometimes distinctly invoked as the great and the small, the young and the old (Rig veda 1:27:13), this is only an attempt to find the most comprehensive expression for the divine powers, and nowhere is any of the gods represented as the subordinate to others. It would be easy to find, in the numerous hymns of the Veda, passages in which almost every single god is represented as supreme and absolute."

 

However this notion is not completely correct as per the following verses, which shows Rigveda describe one or more gods as subject to other god(s).

 

Him whose high law not Varuna nor Indra, not Mitra, Aryaman, nor Rudra breaketh, Nor evil-hearted fiends, here for my welfare him I invoke, God Savitar, with worship. (Rigveda 2.038.09)

 

I invite to this place, with reverential salutations, for my good, that divine Savita, whose functions neither Indra, nor Varun.a, nor Mitra nor Aryaman nor Rudra nor the enemies (of the gods), impede. (Rigveda 2.038.09)

 

SMRITI

 

VISHNU SMRITI

The Vishnu Smṛti, is one of the later books of the Dharmashastra tradition of Hinduism and the only one that focuses on the bhakti tradition and the required daily puja to Vishnu, rather than the means of knowing dharma. It is also known for its handling of the controversial subject of the practice of sati (self-immolation of a widow on her husband's funeral pyre). The text was composed by an individual or group. The author(s) created a collection of the commonly known legal maxims that were attributed to Vishnu into one book, as Indian oral culture began to be recorded more formally.

 

BHAGAVATA PURANA

Vishnu is the only Bhagavan as declared in the Bhagavata 1:2:11 in the verse: vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvam yaj jnanam advayam brahmeti paramatmeti bhagavan iti sabdyate, translated as "Learned transcendentalists who know the Absolute Truth call this non-dual substance as Brahman, Paramātma and Bhagavan."

 

VISHNU PURANA

In the Vishnu Purana (6:5:79) the personality named Parashara Rishi defines six bhagas:

 

aiśvaryasya samagrasya vīryasya yaśasaḥ śriyaḥ

jñāna-vairāgyayoś caiva ṣannāḥ bhaga itīṇganā

 

Jiva Gosvami explains the verse in Gopala Champu (Pūrva 15:73) and Bhagavata Sandarbha 46:10:

 

jñāna-śakti-balaiśvarya-vīrya-tejām.sy aśeṣataḥ

bhagavac-chabda-vācyāni vinā heyair guṇādibhiḥ

 

"The substantives of the word bhagavat (bhagavat-śabda-vācyāni) are unlimited (aśeṣataḥ) knowledge (jñāna), energies (śakti), strength (bala), opulence (aiśvarya), heroism (vīrya), splendor (tejas), without (vinā) objectionable (heyair) qualities (guṇādibhiḥ)."

 

SANGAM LITERATURE

Tamil Sangam literature (300BCE to 500CE) mentions mAyOn, or the dark one, as the supreme deity who creates, sustains and destroys the universe. Paripadal 3 describes the glory of Thirumal in the most superlative terms.

 

Paripadal by kaduvan iLaveyinanAr:

 

"thIyinuL theRal nI poovinuL naaRRa nI kallinuL maNiyu nI sollinuL vaaymai aRaththinuL anbu nI maRaththinuL mainthu nI vEthaththu maRai nI boothaththu madhalu nI vencudar oLiyu nI thingaLuL aLiyu nI anaiththu nI anaiththinut poruLu nI"

 

The last line states that Lord Vishnu is the supreme deity who is the inner controller (Antaryamin) of the entire universe. This is one of the Lord's glories, which is first mentioned in Vedas and later propounded by Alwars in Prabhandams and Sri Vaishnavaite Acharyas in various commentaries

 

The Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple and Vishnu, Lakshmi is mentioned in Tamil works of literature of the Sangam era, including the epic Silapadikaram (book 11, lines 35–40):

 

āyiram viritteḻu talaiyuṭai aruntiṟaṟ

 

pāyaṟ paḷḷip palartoḻu tētta viritiraik kāviri viyaṉperu turuttit tiruvamar mārpaṉ kiṭanta vaṇṇamum

 

On a magnificent cot having a thousand heads spread out, worshipped and praised by many, in an islet surrounded by Kaveri with bellowing waves, is the lying posture of the one who has Lakshmi sitting in his chest.

 

THEOLOGICAL ATTRIBUTES

The actual number of Vishnu's auspicious qualities is countless, although his six most-important "divine glories" are:

 

Jnana (Omniscience); defined as the power to know about all beings simultaneously;

Aishvarya (Sovereignty), derived from the word Ishvara which means unchallenged rule over all;

Shakti (Power or Energy), the capacity to make the impossible possible;

Bala (Strength), the capacity to support everything by will and without any fatigue;

Virya (Vigour), the power to retain immateriality as the Supreme Spirit or Being in spite of being the material cause of mutable creations;

Tejas (Splendor), which expresses self-sufficiency and the capacity to overpower everything by spiritual effulgence.

 

Other important qualities attributed to Vishnu are Gambhirya (inestimatable grandeur), Audarya (generosity), and Karunya (compassion). Natya Shastra lists Vishnu as the presiding deity of the Sṛngara rasa.

 

The Rigveda says: Vishnu can travel in three strides. The first stride is the Earth. The second stride is the visible sky. The third stride cannot be seen by men and is the heaven where the gods and the righteous dead live. (This feature of three strides also appears in the story of his avatar Vamana/Trivikrama.) The Sanskrit for "to stride" is the root kram; its reduplicated perfect is chakram (guņa grade) or chakra (zero-grade), and in the Rigveda he is called by epithets such as vi-chakra-māņas = "he who has made 3 strides". The Sanskrit word chakra also means "wheel". That may have suggested the idea of Vishnu carrying a chakra.

 

FIVE FORMS

In Shree Vaishnavism, another school dating from around the 10th century AD, Vishnu assumes five forms:

 

In the Para Form, Para is the highest form of Vishnu found only in Sri Vaikunta also called Moksha, along with his consort Lakshmi, (and Bhumi Devi and Nila devi, avatars of Lakshmi) and surrounded by liberated souls like Ananta, Garuda, and a host of Muktas (liberated souls).

In the Vyuha form, Vishnu assumes four forms, which exercise different cosmic functions and controls activities of living beings.

In the Vibhava form, Vishnu assumes various manifestations, called Vibhavas, more popularly known as Avataras from time to time, to protect the virtuous, punish evil-doers and re-establish righteousness.

In the Antaryami; "Dwelling within" or "Suksma Vasudeva" form, Vishnu exists within the souls of all living beings and in every substance.

In the Arcavatara or Image manifestation, Vishnu is visible and therefore easily approachable by devotees since Para, Vyuha, Vibhava and Antaryami forms can only be imagined or meditated upon because they are beyond our reach. Such images can be

Revealed by Vishnu, for example, a self-manifested (Swayambhu) icon (murti), e.g. The Mahavishnu Temple at Tirunelli, The Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple at Srirangam, The Tirumala Venkateshwara Temple, etc.; or

Installed by Devas or celestial beings such as such as Guruvayur Temple installed by Vayu; or

Installed by humans, and consecrated according to Vaishnava Agama shastras or scriptures such as Lord Jagannatha of Jagannath Temple (Puri) at Puri.

 

RELATIONS WITH OTHER DEITIES

 

SHIVA

The three gods of the Trimurti clan are inseparable and in harmony in view of their common vision and universal good. They are perfectly ideal in all respects.

 

Both Asuras and Devas played supportive roles in this story by keeping company with Vishnu in his incarnated forms. Hanuman is a vanara who is completely dedicated to Rama. He gives Vishnu company and obeys his command, while playing an important part in Rama's life. He is regarded in Vaishnava canon because it is through blessings that Hanuman is born. Thus, Hanuman, Vishnu's constant companion, with his idol appearing temples of Rama, Krishna and Narasimha, i.e. all of Vishnu's avatars, is considered by Vaishnavas.

 

Syncretic forces produced stories in which the two deities were shown in cooperative relationships and combined forms. Harihara is the name of a combined deity form of both Vishnu (Hari) and Shiva (Hara). This dual form, which is also called Harirudra, is mentioned in the Mahabharata.

 

LAKSHMI

Vishnu's consort is Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth (also known as Maya). The Samvit (the primary intelligence/dark matter) of the universe is Vishnu, while the other five attributes emerge from this samvit and hence Maya or dark energy of the universe is Lakshmee is his ahamata, activity, or Vishnu's Power. This power of God, Maya or Shakti, is personified and has multiple names: Shree, Lakshmi, Maya, Vishnumaya or Mahamaya. She is said to manifest as Kriyashakti, (Creative Activity) and Bhutishakti (Creation). This world requires Vishnu's creativity. He therefore needs Lakshmi to always be with Him. Her various avatars as Lord Vishnu's consorts are Varahavatar (Bhoodevi) or Bhoomi, Ramavatar Seeta, Krishnavatar Rukmini)

 

SARASWATI & GANGA

According to Brahma Vaivarta Purana, Lord Vishnu had three wives Lakshmi, Saraswati and Ganga. Due to their constant quarrelsome nature among them. Once Ganga tried to be close with Vishnu, this rebuked Saraswati but Lakshmi tried to pacify them but faced a curse rather. As per the curse, Lakshmi to appear as Tulasi. Sarawati cursed Ganga to run as a river in the world and Saraswati was cursed to run as a river in the netherworld. After this, Lord Vishnu transformed and became Brahma and Shiva to pacify Saraswati and Ganga.

 

GARUDA

Vishnu's mount (Vahana) is Garuda, the eagle. Vishnu is commonly depicted as riding on his shoulders.

 

ICONOGRAPHY

According to various Puranas, Vishnu is the ultimate omnipresent reality and is shapeless and omnipresent. However, a strict iconography governs his representation, whether in pictures, icons, or idols:

 

He has four arms and is male: The four arms indicate his all-powerful and all-pervasive nature. His physical existence is represented by the two arms in the front, while the two arms at the back represent his presence in the spiritual world. The Upanishad Gopal Uttartapani describes the four arms.

The Shreevatsa mark is on his chest, symbolizing his consort Lakshmi.

He wears the auspicious "Kaustubha" jewel around his neck and a garland of vaijayanti flowers (Vanamala). Lakshmi dwells in this jewel, on Vishnu's chest.

A crown adorns his head: The crown symbolizes his supreme authority. This crown sometimes includes a peacock feather, borrowing from his Krishna-avatar.

He wears two earrings: The earrings represent inherent opposites in creation — knowledge and ignorance; happiness and unhappiness; pleasure and pain.

He rests on Ananta, the immortal and infinite snake.

 

Vishnu is always to be depicted holding four attributes:

 

A conch shell or Shankha, named Panchajanya, is held by the upper left hand. It represents Vishnu's power to create and maintain the universe. Panchajanya represents the five elements or Panchabhoota – water, fire, air, earth and sky or space. It also represents the five airs or Pranas that are within the body and mind. The conch symbolizes that Vishnu is the primeval Divine sound of creation and continuity. It also represented as Om. In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna avatara states that of sound vibrations, 'He is Om'.

The Chakra, a sharp, spinning, discus-like weapon, named "Sudarshana", is held by the upper right hand. It symbolizes the purified spiritualized mind. The name Sudarshana is derived from two words – Su, which means good, superior, and Darshana, which means vision or sight; together. The Chakra represents destruction of ego in the awakening and realization of the soul's original nature and god, burning away spiritual ignorance and illusion, and developing higher spiritual vision and insight to realize god.

A mace or Gada, named "Kaumodaki", is held by the lower right hand. It symbolizes that Vishnu's divine power is the source of all spiritual, mental and physical strength. It also signifies Vishnu's power to destroy materialistic or demonic tendencies (Anarthas) that prevent people from reaching god. Vishnu's mace is the power of the Divine within us to spiritually purify and uplift us from our materialistic bonds.

A lotus flower or Padma is held by the lower left hand. It represents spiritual liberation, Divine perfection, purity and the unfolding of Spiritual consciousness within the individual. The lotus opening its petals in the light of the Sun is indicative of the expansion and awakening of our long dormant, original spiritual consciousness in the light of god. The lotus symbolizes that god is the power and source from which the universe and the individual soul emerges. It also represents Divine Truth or Satya, the originator of the rules of conduct or Dharma, and Divine Vedic knowledge or Jnana. The lotus also symbolizes that Vishnu is the embodiment of spiritual perfection and purity and that He is the wellspring of these qualities and that the individual soul must seek to awaken these intrinsic Divine qualities from Vishnu by surrendering to and linking with Him.

 

To this may be added, conventionally, the vanamaala flower garland, Vishnu's bow (Shaarnga/Kodand) and his sword Nandaka. A verse of the Vishnu Sahasranama stotram states;vanamālī gadhī shārngī shanki chakri cha nandaki / shrīmān nārāyaņo vişņo vāsudevo abhirakşatu//; translation: Protect us Oh Lord Narayana who wears the forest garland,who has the mace, conch, sword and the wheel. And who is called Vishnu and the Vasudeva.

 

In general, Vishnu's body is depicted in one of the following three ways:

 

Standing on a lotus flower, often with Lakshmi, his consort, beside him on a similar pedestal.

Reclining on the coiled-up thousand-hooded Shesha Naga, with Lakshmi seated at his feet; the assemblage rests on the "Kshira Sagar" (ocean of milk). In this representation, Brahma is depicted as sitting on a lotus that grows out of Vishnu's navel.

Riding on the back of his eagle mount, known as Garuda. Another name for Garuda is "Veda atma"; Soul of the Vedas. The flapping of his wings symbolizes the power of the Divine Truth of Vedic wisdom. Also the eagle represents the soul. Garuda carrying Vishnu symbolizes the soul or jiva atma carrying the Super soul or Param atma within it.

 

AVATARS

Ten avatars (dashavatara) of Vishnu are the most prominent: Apart from the most prominent incarnations there are believed to more.

 

The most commonly believed incarnations of Vishnu are:

 

Matsya, the fish that kills Damanaka to save the vedas and also saves Manu from a great flood that submerges the entire Earth.

Kurma, the turtle that helps the Devas and Asuras churn the ocean for the nectar of immortality.

Varaha, the boar that rescues the Earth and kills Hiranyaksha.

Narasimha, the half-lion half human, who defeats the demon Hiranyakashipu.

Vamana, the dwarf that grows into a giant to save the world from King Bali.

Parashurama, "Rama of the battle axe", a sage who appeared in the Treta Yuga. He killed Kartavirya Arjuna's army and clan and then killed all the kshatriyas 21 times.

Rama, the prince and king of Ayodhya who killed the Demon King Raavan.

Krishna, the eighth avatar of Vishnu, who takes part in the Mahabharata epic. Krishna is worshipped as the Supreme Avatar of Vishnu (Supreme Personality of Godhead) in Gaudiya-Vaishnava philosophy.

Buddha, the ninth avatar of Vishnu.

Kalki, the tenth Avatar of Vishnu and said to be the harbinger of the end Kali Yuga. This avatar of Vishnu is yet to come.

 

Some versions of the above list include Hayagreeva among the Dashavataras while some include Buddha as ninth avatar of Vishnu. Another 22 avatars are given in Chapter 3, Canto 1 of the Bhagavata Purana, although it states that "the incarnations of the Lord are innumerable, like rivulets flowing from inexhaustible sources of water".

 

BEYOND HINDUISM

 

SIKHISM

Guru Granth Sahib of Sikhism mentions Vishnu, one verse goes:

 

The true Vaishnaav, the devotee of Vishnu, is the one with whom God is thoroughly pleased. He dwells apart from Maya. Performing good deeds, he does not seek rewards. Spotlessly pure is the religion of such a Vaishnaav; he has no desire for the fruits of his labors. He is absorbed in devotional worship and the singing of Kirtan, the songs of the Lords Glory. Within his mind and body, he meditates in remembrance on the Lord of the Universe. He is kind to all creatures. He holds fast to the Naam, and inspires others to chant it. O Nanak, such a Vaishnaav obtains the supreme status.

 

BUDDHISM

While some Hindus consider Buddha as an incarnation of Vishnu, Buddhists in Sri Lanka venerate Vishnu as the custodian deity of Sri Lanka and protector of Buddhism. Lord Vishnu is also known as upulvan, or uthpala varna, meaning "Blue Lotus coloured". Some postulates that Uthpala varna was a local deity who later merged with Vishnu while another belief is that Uthpala Varna was an early form of Vishnu before he became a supreme deity in Puranic Hinduism. According to Chronicles "Mahawamsa", "Chulawamsa" and folklore in Sri Lanka, Buddha himself handed over the custodianship to Vishnu. Others believe that Buddha entrusted this task to Sakra(Indra) and Sakra delegated this task of custodianship to god Vishnu. In contrary to vedic Hinduism, in assimilation of Hindu god Vishnu into Sinhalese Buddhism, Vishnu becomes a mortal being and a Bodhisattva aspiring Buddhahood. Additionally, Vishnu is considered as the god of home and hearth representing mercy, goodness, order and stability. Many Buddhist and Hindu shrines are dedicated to Vishnu in Sri Lanka. In addition to specific Vishnu "Kovils" or "devalayas", all Buddhist temples necessarily house shrine rooms (Devalayas) closer to the main Buddhist shrine dedicated to Vishnu. John Holt in his groundbreaking study examines the assimilation, transformation, and subordination of the Hindu deity Vishnu within the contexts of Sri Lankan history and Sinhala Buddhist religious culture. He then explores the role and rationale of medieval Sinhala kings in assimilating Visnu into Sinhala Buddhism. According to Holt the veneration of Vishnu in Sri Lanka is evidence of a remarkable ability, over many centuries, to reiterate and reinvent culture as other ethnicities have been absorbed into their own. Though the Vishnu cult in Ceylon was formally endorsed by Kandyan kings in early 1700s, Holt states that vishnu images and shrines are among conspicuous ruins in the medieval capital Polonnaruwa. In Buddhist mythology, when Vishnu failed to traverse the universe in three steps, he was given the title "Ardha Vishnu (Half-Vishnu)" and when Vishnu banished demons from the Vaishali (Vishala)in India, he became "Mulu Vishnu or Whole Vishnu". The extreme significance of god Vishnu in Sinhala society is reflected in recitals of the traditional "Offerings to dwarfs and crossing the door frame (bahirwayanta dola pideem saha uluwahu peneema)" that starts with Sri Vishnu invocation.In the recitals,mentioning of the aspiring Buddhahood of Vishnu which is of prime importance to Buddhists and wishes for him to live five thousand and more years highlight the central role of Vishnu in the psyche of Sri Lankan Buddhists.

 

OTHERS

James Freeman Clarke, Richard Leviton, James Cowles Prichard, and others have noted the similarities between Vishnu and Ancient Egyptian God Horus.

 

During an excavation in an abandoned village of Russia in the Volga region, archaeologist Alexander Kozhevin excavated an ancient idol of Vishnu. The idol dates from between the 7th and 10th centuries. In the interview Kozhevin, stated that, "We may consider it incredible, but we have ground to assert that Middle-Volga region was the original land of Ancient Rus. This is a hypothesis, but a hypothesis, which requires thorough research"

 

THOUSAND NAMES OF VISHNU

Vishnu's many names and followers are collected in the Vishnu Sahasranama, (Vishnu's thousand names) from within the larger work Mahabharata. The character Bheeshma recites the names before Krishna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, praising him (Vishnu) as the supreme god. These Sahasranama are regarded as the essence of all Vedas by followers of Vaishnavism, who believe sincere chanting of Vishnu Sahasranama results in spiritual well-being and a greater awareness of God.

 

The names are generally derived from the Anantakalyanagunas (meaning: infinite auspicious attributes).

 

According to the Siddhartha-samhita there are twenty-four forms of Lord Vishnu. The twenty-four forms are

 

Vasudeva

Sankarshana

Pradyumna

Anirudha

Keshava

Narayana

Madhava

Govinda

Vishnu

Madhusudana

Trivikrama

Vamana

Sridhara

Hrishikesha

Padmanabha

Damodara

Purushottama

Achyuta

Narasimha

Janardana

Hari

Krishna

Adhokshaja

 

Upulvan, Uthpala Varna - In Sri Lanka, Vishnu is also referred to as Upulvan ( Blue Lotus Coloured)

 

WIKIPEDIA

"Chinese socialism is founded upon Darwin and the theory of evolution." Mao Tse-tung (1893 – 1976). Kampf um Mao's Erbe (1977.)

 

To people who hate the truth, the truth looks like hate...

 

Atheism and its humanist ethics.

 

Atheism proved itself, in the 20th century, to be the most horrendous, barbaric, murderous and criminal ideology the world has ever experienced. Many millions suffered and died at the hands of this hideous ideology, they must never be forgotten.

 

The promised atheist/socialist utopia ... the idea of an atheist Heaven on Earth resulted in a diabolical Hell on Earth.

 

Who, but a complete idiot would want to resurrect such a monstrous, no-hope philosophy?

 

The so-called 'new' (improved?) atheists try to disassociate themselves from the disastrous record of the world's first ever, official, atheist states of the 20th century's, great, atheist experiment.

But there is no other example to go by.

 

They even try to blame the persecution and brutality on communism, and claim it had nothing to do with atheism.

But communism, per se, is an economic system, there is no compelling reason why it should be brutal, or why it should hate religion, or why it should destroy churches and persecute and murder millions of Christians and people of other faiths.

That is the hallmark of atheism, not communism.

 

Of course communism is a fatally flawed, economic system which thrives on envy and class hatred, but that is not the same as specifically hating God and religion. That is the unique trait of atheism.

If the communists weren't also atheists, why would they have outlawed and attacked all religion?

 

Lenin was a self-declared atheist who, together with his Soviet Bloc, atheist successors, tried to eliminate religion with brutal repression and wholesale murder.

 

Thus, history tells us that the atheist experiment has been tried and, from beginning to end, was a brutal and diabolical failure. The new atheists may say: “it's nothing to do with us gov.”

But who wants to risk such devastation again, by giving the atheist ideology another chance? Only a complete fool would want to take that gamble.

 

However, it was only to be expected and it could easily have been predicted beforehand, that the inevitable result of atheism's lack of an absolute ethical or moral yardstick would be to wreak havoc on the world - and that is exactly what it did. .

 

Atheism hasn't changed at all in that respect, because it can't.

Atheism and secular humanism categorically reject the concept of intrinsic right and wrong. Therefore, the ephemeral values, moral relativism and situational ethics of atheism are the ideal recipe for abuse.

 

We can see from the belligerent, intolerant, rabble rousing rhetoric and anti-religious ranting of today's militant, new atheist zealots, that the leopard hasn't really changed its spots. Let no one doubt it - atheism has an horrendous and hideously, barbaric record... we must never let it happen again.

 

Moreover, it is a singularly perverse ideology that motivates its adherents to waste so much time of the only life they believe they have, trying to convince everyone else that they are doomed to eternal oblivion. The ultimate reward for atheists is to never know if they got it right, only if they got it wrong.

 

There is certainly no moral, rational or scientific defence for the atheist cult, past or present.

 

But what do atheists themselves say about their ethical and moral values?

 

They claim that they DO have an ethical and moral yardstick, and cite the Humanist Manifesto as representing the ethics and moral code of atheism.

 

So is it really true?

 

The Humanist Manifesto may look good at first glance, but like most proposals atheists have come up with, when examined closely, it is full of holes.

 

Problems, problems ....

 

1. You don’t have to sign up to the Humanist Manifesto to be an atheist.

 

2. Even if you do sign up to it, there is no incentive to follow it. No reward for following it, and no penalty for not following it. You are not going to be barred from being an atheist because you reject or break the rules of the Humanist Manifesto. It is not enforced in any way.

 

3. It borrows any desirable ethics, it may appear to have, from Judeo-Christian values, there is no atheist, moral code per se.

 

Atheism is the ideology of naturalism. Genuine, naturalist, ethical values are basically the Darwinian, ‘law of the jungle’. Progressive evolution and improvement through the survival of the fittest/strongest, and the elimination of any who are weaker or unable to adapt - nature red in tooth and claw, In societal terms - the most powerful, wealthiest, most influential, most cunning, dominate and rule for their own benefit. Anything else in the Humanist Manifesto is actually a contradiction of social Darwinism and naturalism. Any socially desirable or compassionate ethics, which may be included in the H.M, are wholly inconsistent with atheist, materialist, naturalist, and evolutionist ideology.

 

4. By far the biggest flaw in the Humanist Manifesto is the fact that it is entirely ephemeral. It advocates 'situational ethics' and 'moral relativism'. And that major flaw makes it a worthless scrap of paper.

 

Why?

 

Because .....

 

Situational ethics is based on what people want or find desirable, not on any adherence to what is intrinsically right or wrong.

 

A good, example of humanist style, situational ethics in practice, is the gender selection abortions now being blatantly carried out in abortion clinics in Britain. It primarily discriminates against female babies, who are especially targeted for killing, because most of the parents who want it, prefer to have boys for cultural reasons.

 

The abortion clinics openly admit to it happening, and claim it is legal.

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/pro-choice-aborti...

The abortion act of 1967 certainly did not intend that, and the Government admits it was not intended.

 

So we have a Government that knows it is going on, it also knows it is not what the abortion law intended, yet it is still reluctant to do anything about it.

Why?

Because it is wedded to the secularist concept of situational ethics, i.e. whatever people want, people get. Any concept of intrinsic right and wrong takes a back seat, to whatever is the spirit of the times. And that is an example happening right now, in a so-called democracy.

 

The Nazi persecution of the Jews and other races they considered ‘inferior’ became popular through brainwashing of the public, and was eventually supported by a good proportion of the public.

 

So, Hitler cleverly used situational ethics to do what he had persuaded people was right and good.

 

All in all, the Humanist Manifesto and its purported ethical values, is a very dangerous document.

 

It gives carte blanche to any so-called, ethical values, if they become the fashionable or consensus opinion. Whatever people want, people get, or even worse, what a government decides the people want, they can claim they are justified in giving them.

 

And for that reason it would not stop; a Lenin, a Stalin, a Hitler, a Mao, or a Pol Pot, even if they had signed up 100% to abide by the Humanist Manifesto.

 

In fact, the 20th century, atheist tyrants even called their regimes ... Democratic People's Republics. They claimed they were representing people's wishes, and were carrying out their 'situational ethics' on behalf of the people.

 

What about the common, atheist tactic of highlighting alleged crimes and wrongdoing committed by Christians?

 

The point is ....

 

Christians who do wrong, go against the teachings of Christianity. If they blatantly and deliberately go against the intrinsic moral values and teaching of Christianity, they have no right to continue to call themselves Christian. And they can even be excommunicated by the Church, if they fail to admit their actions are wrong.

And, without sincere repentance, they don't get to go to the Christian Heaven.

 

End of story!

 

Atheists who do wrong, go against nothing, unless it is against the law of the land.

You cannot be chucked out of atheism for doing wrong, you cannot even be censored by atheism for doing wrong, it is a complete free for all, you can simply act with impunity according to your own desires and opinion.

 

The atheist 'heaven' is right here on earth, and far from being a 'heaven' it is an horrendous nightmare. Anyone with any sense would call it a hell.

 

And even the law of the land need not stop atheists .....

 

Whenever, atheists get into a position of power they change the law to suit their situational ethics. Then they can do whatever they want.

 

That is what Stalin and all the other atheist tyrants did in their people's DEMOCRATIC republics.

 

And the atheist thirst for blood does not cease when they live in the so-called 'real' democracies, it is simply sanitised by atheist inspired, situational ethics.

 

They use their 'humanist' ethics to change the law, accompanied by 'newspeak' and propaganda.

 

So that what was once considered evil, is not only made legal, it is actually turned around so it is considered a virtue.

 

The wholesale and brutal slaughter, of the most vulnerable in society ... millions of unborn babies, is callously shrugged off as necessary, for 'free choice'.

 

Of course murder is always a free choice for the killer, only the dangerous, warped, atheist style, situational ethics could value a killer's free choice to kill, above the victim's right not to be killed, and make murder legal.

 

The callous slaughter of the unborn, which in most cases, was not even put to the people democratically (it was imposed on them by a handful of secularist politicians, lawyers and bureaucrats), is accompanied by the usual atheist lies and devious propaganda.

 

Doctors acting illegally over abortions get off scot-free ....

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2609950/Scandal-doctors-...

 

So the secularists simply laugh off democracy, it doesn't stop them, if it gets in the way of their ideology, they just ignore it, like they do with science.

 

"Democratic societies" how do they impact on situational ethics?

We see, in practice, that democracy is treated with utter contempt .....

Why ask the people? They are apparently not qualified to consider such difficult matters of right and wrong, like whether babies should live or die? You can't give those ignorant peasants, plebs and rednecks a vote on it, ... leave it to the secularist EXPERTS and their wonderful, situational ethics based on 'reason' and 'science'.

 

Contrary to the scientific facts, we are told by atheist moralists that the unborn baby is not fully human, it is only a blob of jelly, which has, and deserves, NO rights.

 

And we are also told, anyone who supports the rights of the unborn babies not to be brutally ripped limb from limb is evil, because they are interfering with free CHOICE.

 

So the atheist leopard certainly hasn't changed its lying, devious, brutal and murderous spots, even in so-called 'real' democratic societies. It simply legalises and sanitises evil and murder and makes it appear good.

 

Then it can claim atheism is extremely ethical and virtuous, with its own, beautiful, humanist code of morals and conduct .... Yeah Right!

Remind you of anyone?

Some even have the barefaced audacity to describe their situational ethics with the slogan “Good without God”.

 

Always remember ....

Atheist/humanist so-called ethics and morals depend entirely on OPINION, and that is why they are so extremely dangerous.

Atheism has no moral or ethical yardstick, no concept of God-given, human rights ... only OPINION.

But WHOSE opinion?

My opinion?

Your opinion?

Maybe Richard Dawkins’ opinion?

Or Christopher Hitchens’ opinion?

Or Sam Harris's opinion?

Or how about Barrack Obama's opinion?

Or why not STALIN'S or POL POT'S opinion?

So don't be fooled by the relentless chorus from the 'new' atheists and humanists, that atheism has its own code of ethics and morals, their code of ethics is based on the OPINION of one or more of the following ... whoever (singly, or as a pressure group or lobby) is: the most vociferous, the most charismatic, the most cunning, the most influential, the most powerful, the most devious, the wealthiest, the most successful propagandist, the most persuasive, or the most brutal.

www.flickr.com/photos/101536517@N06/14797003191

_________________________________________

…civil law cannot contradict right reason without losing its binding force on conscience. Every humanly-created law is legitimate insofar as it is consistent with the natural moral law, recognized by right reason, and insofar as it respects the inalienable rights of every person. —St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, I-II, q. 95, a. 2.

 

EUbabel. The shocking occult symbolism of the European Union.

peuplesobservateursblog.wordpress.com/2017/09/23/togo-all...

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry chats with Fast Company Contributor E.B. "Liza" Boyd about Internet policy - during a swing through Silicon Valley - during the Virtuous Circle Conference on October 10, 2016, at the Rosewood Sandhill Hotel in Menlo Park, California. [State Department photo/ Public Domain]

Phnom Penh - Blessed Bird Vendor at the Riverfront Shrine in Phnom Penh.

 

She holds a cage of birds (sparrows and similar). For a dollar you can purchase two and perhaps make a wish then you let the birds go. It is also considered virtuous to purchase an animal and then set it free.

Happiness does not consist in pastimes and amusements but in virtuous activities.

Aristotle

Fountains Abbey is one of the largest and best preserved ruined Cistercian monasteries in England. It is located approximately 3 miles (5 km) south-west of Ripon in North Yorkshire, near to the village of Aldfield. Founded in 1132, the abbey operated for 407 years, becoming one of the wealthiest monasteries in England until its dissolution, by order of Henry VIII, in 1539.

 

In 1983, Studley Royal Park including the ruins of Fountains Abbey was purchased by the National Trust. The abbey is maintained by English Heritage.

 

After a dispute and riot in 1132 at the Benedictine house of St Mary's Abbey in York, 13 monks were expelled, among them Saint Robert of Newminster. They were taken under the protection of Thurstan, Archbishop of York, who provided them with land in the valley of the River Skell, a tributary of the Ure. The enclosed valley had all the natural features needed for the creation of a monastery, providing shelter from the weather, stone and timber for building, and a supply of running water. The six springs that watered the site inspired the monks to give it the name of Fountains.

 

After enduring a harsh winter in 1133, the monks applied to join the Cistercian order, which since the end of the previous century had been a fast-growing reform movement and by the beginning of the 13th century had more than 500 houses. In 1135 Fountains became the second Cistercian house in northern England, after Rievaulx. The monks of Fountains became subject to Clairvaux Abbey in Burgundy, which was under the rule of St Bernard. Under the guidance of Geoffrey of Ainai, a monk sent from Clairvaux, the group learned how to celebrate the seven Canonical Hours according to Cistercian usage and were shown how to construct wooden buildings in accordance with Cistercian practice.

 

According to archaeologist Glyn Coppack, after Henry Murdac was elected abbot in 1143 the small stone church and timber claustral buildings were replaced; the new church was similar in plan to the church at Vauclair Abbey that Murdac had previously commissioned. Within three years an aisled nave had been added to the stone church, and the first permanent claustral buildings, built in stone and roofed in tile, had been completed.

 

In 1146 an angry mob, annoyed at Murdac because of his role in opposing the election of William FitzHerbert as archbishop of York, attacked the abbey and burned down all but the church and some surrounding buildings. The community recovered swiftly from the attack and founded four daughter houses. Henry Murdac resigned as abbot in 1147 upon becoming archbishop of York. He was replaced first by Maurice, Abbot of Rievaulx (1147-8), then, on the resignation of Maurice, by Thorald (1148-50). Thorald was forced by the now archbishop, Henry Murdac, to resign after two years in office.

 

The next abbot, Richard, who held the post until his death in 1170, restored the abbey's stability and prosperity. During his 20 years as abbot he supervised an extensive building programme that involved completing repairs to the damaged church and building more accommodation for the increasing number of recruits. At his death, the chapter house was completed, and the new church almost finished. The work was continued by his successor, Robert of Pipewell. Pipewell was considered a benevolent and virtuous abbot by William Grainge, writing in the nineteenth century.

 

The next abbot was William of Newminster, a noted ascetic, who presided over the abbey from 1180 to 1190. He was succeeded by Ralph Haget, who had entered Fountains at the age of 30 as a novice after pursuing a military career. Prior to his abbacy at Fountains, from 1182 to 1190/1 he was abbot of Kirkstall Abbey. During the European famine of 1194 the abbey provided support for six months to local people in the form of food, shelter and spiritual care. Famine was joined by the spread of disease, and the abbey helped those who needed treatment. During the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries, the north of England was subject to increased taxation, Fountains Abbey included. According to William Grainge, writing in Annals of a Yorkshire Abbey: A Popular History of the Famous Monastery of Fountains, the taxation of temporal goods had reduced from £343 in 1292, to £243 in 1318. Grainge interprets this reduction as evidence for detriment to the estate of the abbey. By 1330s, the abbey was no longer working to surplus, but having to borrow money.

 

During the first half of the 13th century Fountains increased in reputation and prosperity under the next three abbots, John of York (1203–1211), John of Hessle (1211–1220) and John of Kent (1220–1247). These three abbots managed to complete another expansion of the abbey's buildings, which included enlarging the church and building an infirmary.

 

By the second half of the 13th century the abbey was in more straitened circumstances. It was presided over by eleven abbots, and became financially unstable largely due to forward selling its wool crop, and the abbey was criticised for its dire material and physical state when it was visited by Archbishop John le Romeyn in 1294. The run of disasters that befell the community continued into the early 14th century when northern England was invaded by the Scots and there were further demands for taxes. The culmination of these misfortunes was the Black Death of 1348–1349. The loss of manpower and income due to the ravages of the plague was almost ruinous.

 

A further complication arose as a result of the Papal Schism of 1378–1409. Fountains Abbey and other English Cistercian houses were told to break off contact with the mother house of Citeaux, which supported a rival pope. This resulted in the abbots forming their own chapter to rule the order in England. They became increasingly involved in internecine politics. In 1410, following the death of Abbot Burley of Fountains, the community was riven by several years of turmoil over the election of his successor. Contending candidates John Ripon - Abbot of Meaux and Roger Frank a monk of Fountains, were locked in conflict until 1416 when Ripon was finally appointed, ruling until his death in 1434.

 

Fountains regained some stability and prosperity under abbots John Greenwell (1442–1471), Thomas Swinton (1471–1478), and John Darnton (1478–1495), who undertook some much needed restoration of the fabric of the abbey, including notable work on the church. During Greenwell's abbacy, he reduced the debts of the abbey by 100 marks, and survived what was characterised as a poisoning attempt by a monk called William Downom. Swinton kept a detailed 'Memorandum Book', which provides exceptional detail on the life of the abbey during his abbacy. Marmaduke Huby (1495–1526) expanded the number of monks from twenty-two to fifty-two, and undertook a building programme which included a new tower at the north end of the transept and extending the infirmary. Known to visitors as Huby's Tower, it was decorated with the abbot's insignia, as well as religious texts.

 

At Abbot Huby's death he was succeeded by William Thirsk, who was accused by the royal commissioners of immorality and inadequacy, was dismissed as abbot, retired to Jervaulx Abbey, and was later hanged for his involvement in the Pilgrimage of Grace. He was replaced by Marmaduke Bradley, a monk of the abbey who had reported Thirsk's supposed offences and testified against him. Furthermore Bradley paid 600 marks to essentially buy the abbacy for himself. In 1539 it was Bradley who surrendered the abbey when its seizure was ordered under Henry VIII at the dissolution of the monasteries.

Parkdale, Oregon

Population 324

Hood River/ Mt. Hood area

 

This convenience store/ gas station is open 24 hours.

Although the town is small, it operates as hub for the vast number of fruit farms in the area (known as "Fruit Loop") and the farm workers that keep all the farms producing abundant apples, pears, cherries from the virtuous Mt Hood/ Columbia Gorge area.

 

DSC03347 (2)