#christian celebrations

[mask131]

Autumn feasts of France: Le jour des Morts

Taken from "L'Inventaire des Fêtes de France, d'hier et d'aujourd'hui"

Le Jour des Morts - the Day of the Deads - on the 2nd of November, was for the Christians the day during which all the dead were to be remembered. It is following All Saints Day (the first of November), feast of all the martyrs and all the saints. Christians, who believe in the resurrection, are convinced that physical death is not the end of their relationship with God: for those that deserve it, death is merely a needed travel towards heaven.

The cult of the defuncts (from the Latin "defunctus", "those that have fulfilled their functions"), present in all civilizations, dates back to Prehistory. The cult of the martyrs (from the Greek "martur", "witness"), celebrated in Rome as soon as the early 7th century BCE, is a form of defunct-worship. This Day of the Deads, or "Jour des Trépassés", Day of the Deceased, placed right after the Toussaint (All Saints Day) was only truly expanded into a full holiday by the monks of Cluny. Saint Odilon, the abbot of Cluny, established it in the beginning of the 11th century in his monasteries, after learning by a pilgrim of Jerusalem all the torments that the deads had to endure "in the furnace in Vesuvius" or in "a deserted, volcanic island". Saint Odilon is in fact usually invoked to grant respite and rest to the souls of purgatory (according to the Christian dogma, the purgatory is a "time of trial allowing the purification of those that are allowed to share the happiness of God").

The Day of the Dead used to be a "jour chômé" (a non-working day). At the end of the 19th century, in the Bretagne region, survived the tradition of burning in the chimney, on Toussaint's evening (the night of All Saints Day), a log, reserved only for the deads that were supposed to visit the house during this night. It was forbidden to use this "log of the dead" for things such as cooking food or heating people. This log is comparable to the Christmas log, which was also very solemnly burned in the chimney. This custom also shows the sacred dimension of the Celtic celebration of Samain (which became Halloween), a time for celebrating the new fire. In Cornwall, a "bellboy of the dead" led a group of people, the bellboy dressed with a tunic covered with bones and tear motifs, and ringing the bells to a funeral tone. Starting at nine o'clock in the evening, they wandered from door to door, singing all the way to sunrise rhymes encouraging people to stay awake and not fall asleep (or to wake up if they were asleep), so that they could pray for the dead. They also begged for money each household they visited - and the collected money was used for funeral masses.

In several regions of France, this nocturnal "Wake up" chant did exist - but it was used for the Holy Week, as people sang to wake up the Christians so that they would "go see our (the singers') master, who died for you".

Nowadays, the Toussaint/All Saints Day replaced the Day of the Dead in the customs of many Christian, since it is upon this day that families gather in cemeteries to place flowers upon the graves of their ancestors.

[paintedcrows]

Merry Christmas to everyone who celebrates! All this triangle wants for Christmas is a Transuniversal Poly-Dimensional Metavortex. Will you give it to him?

Inspired by @candycatfalls Santa poll ;)

[tizeline]

Sorry, he's an only child, he never learned how to share </3

[rabbits-of-negative-euphoria]

you open yourself up to the devil by celebrating Halloween in the same way you open yourself up to the devil by celebrating St. Paddy's or Mardi Gras.

if you play ouija or try voodoo, you open yourself up to the devil. if you dress in a slutty costume or take psychedelics in a cemetery, you open yourself up to the devil.

likewise, if you get wasted on Guinness in downtown Savannah, you open yourself up to the devil.

if you twerk half-naked for plastic beads on Bourbon Street, you open yourself up to the devil.

these kinds of bacchanalia are by no means inherent to the holidays in question, and in fact, are extremely recent perversions of traditions which go back centuries. Centuries of Christian history.

[justdavina]

Stunning Lady!

[world-of-celebs]

Alexandra Daddario at the 2022 Emmy Awards.

[beauty-funny-trippy]

The vast majority of Republicans support Christianity in theory, but not in practice. They don't want to actually live by the teachings of Jesus. They believe that merely declaring themselves to be a Christian makes them a Christian. But by supporting Donald Trump, a man whose values are in close alignment with Putin and Pontius Pilate, Republicans have given us proof that they are only pretending to follow Jesus.

Trump has trampled on Jesus' virtues of being Kind, Honest and Humble. Instead, Trump has replaced them with Vengeance, Lies and Vanity. He rejects Jesus' philosophy of compassion. Instead, Trump prefers to greet immigrant neighbors with Razor Wire, and disgraces himself by ironically calling them inhuman "animals."

Trump's values are the complete opposite of Jesus' values. True Christians see Trump clearly and are appalled. But Fake Christians have covered their ears to the truth and closed their minds to reason — convinced, by the strength of their own gullibility, that they have found a new savior.

Republicans could have chosen any other GOP candidate. But instead, Fake Christians chose the most fake Christian they could find.

There are really only two possibilities as to why conservative "Christians" would support Trump over other GOP candidates:

• either, they are completely unaware of what Jesus actually taught, ...or...

• they are aware of His teachings, but choose to ignore Jesus anyway — preferring instead to embrace Trump's conceited self-worship and mean-spirited way of life. Thus, Republican "Christians" have, themselves, become the hypocrites and fake followers Jesus warned us about.

[anartisticnerd]

Considering both The Librarians and Star Trek are franchises in Leverage canon, Harry is just existing with Noah Wyle's face, Eliot is stomping around with Christian Kane's face, and Chaos is just sneaking around the interwebs looking exactly like Wil Wheaton. You can't tell me Hardison hasn't made fun of them for their celeb lookalikes.

[assortedmelons]

Celebrity Melons

[lunarobyn22]

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy New Year! I wanted a quick sketch and then this appeared after a 2 hour time warp.

the tags have info you might appreciate

[papes-and-capes]

92sies Behind the Scenes

[silverity]

i'm gonna make my painful contribution to The Discourse and say i do not see the harm in women reclaiming female centric spirituality.

i am not a religious person nor do i want to become one but spirituality is also about culture, community and celebration. i would much rather women celebrate nature, the female form, and "divine femininity" than patriarchal phallocentric religions. that "divine femininity" is used pejoratively has always tickled me considering we live in a world hooked on divine masculinity. the old matricentric religions are really the only form of female culture devoid of male-centric worship we can grasp at, since men have dominated our belief systems for thousands of years. and women learning about the old religions is the best way to unravel the myth of the male creator, and realise it is really women who are the closest thing to a "god" on Earth.

there's also an element here, which i think is deeply capitalist, patriarchal, and a little racist, of people considering the connection to & celebration of nature as somehow primitive. i think that the lifestyles most of us live now, with none of us knowing anything about the land around us is actually very infantile and regressive for humanity as a whole. the ways of life we consider "primitive" (primitive communism, matrilineal societies) are really what we need to find ways to return to post-capitalism. they were in tune to nature, sustainable, and much more communal & equal. how can nature be primitive or ascientific when science *is* in nature, and the practices of these old societies were early scientific discoveries & practices. as a Black person, my community is often trying to reclaim our lost practices. it makes sense to me that women would try to do so too.

[madeleineengland]

Natalie Portman's Dior dress at Golden Globes pays homage to Monet 🎨

[ghostlyarchaeologist]

The Librarians of the Library

[msterpicasso]

@1elyse