Io Saturnalia!

This is the first of my Xmas posts on pre-christian Xmas festivals (with added christmas song goodness). As you may have guessed most of these pre-christian festivals are based on the winter solstice. Saturnalia was the Roman winter solstice festival where they celebrated the rededication of the temple to the god Saturn. Saturn's staue was hollowed out and filled with olive oil (as a symbol of his agricultural deification) and his feet which had previously been bound, were unbound at this time. The binding was to ensure Saturn's subordinance to Jupiter, while the loosening symbolized Jupiter's free reign during Saturnalia.

 

Traditionally this festival started on the 17th December (our calendar - in the Julian calendar this would be around the 25th December) and lasted anything from three to seven days, depending on the decree of the current Emperor. The celebrations included school holidays, slaves were allowed to gamble (see how nice the Romans were?) and even role-reversal in that the masters often served the slaves a banquet. This also involved the slaves wearing a red, felt pileus cap - the symbol of a freed slave - , not unlike that which Santa Claus wears.

Practices that carry over to the present day include the exchanging of gifts on Sagillaria, the last day of Saturnalia, singing holiday songs (in the nude), decorating the house with candles(to signify the return of the sun after the solstice?) - even cutting down evergreen trees, decorating them and dedicating them to Saturn. According to Wiki this was to honour the fact that evergreens remain alive during the harsh winters. I'm sure the irony was not lost on the poor evergreens as the axe bit into their trunks.

In essence, Saturnalia was much like the Christmas that most of us practice today. I wonder who are/were more pious in relation to their religious festival; the Christians at Christmas or the Romans at Saturnalia? So how did Christmas replace Saturnalia? At this point the only Christian festival was Easter, probably the most important of the Christian celebrations. It is thought that the Christian church decided to nominate the 25th of December as Christ's birthday in order to usurp Saturnalia. Much of Rome was Christian by then and it was probably easy to push this through in favour of a pagan celebration. Of course this may be perceived as doing Christianity a disservice, but I think it's fairly clear Christ wasn't born on 25th December. It's also quite interesting that essentially the festivals were very similar in the way they were celebrated and really all that's changed (apart from naked Carol singing) is the deity.

 

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra - Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age    (www / buy)

Kristin Hersh - Jesus Christ  (www / buy)

 

Technorati Tags:christmas, xmas, saturnalia, roman, festival, saturn, christ, saturn, gods, religion

Christmas Bluets

It's appropriate that the approach of Christmas sees Bluets rise up Lazarus-like (but not quite Christ-like as we don't quite have the omnipotent mojo). So, yes, we should be back, talking about christmas things and posting our christmas music, probably like much of the blogosphere. And then, if it all goes to plan (which often it fails to) we'll do a Christmas podcast, probably sometime around Easter.

We aim to talk about our favourite Christmas songs, our favourite mixes, our most hated christmas releases and pre-christian festivals (that's not a Stone Age Glastonbury, or T-Rex in  the Park). Expect scintillating posts soon,

HJW

The MacKenzie Poltergeist

(photo by aislinn_niconghaile)

In 1636 George MacKenzie was born in Dundee, son of Simon MacKenzie, He was educated at the University of St Andrews, also studying in Aberdeen and France. In 1667 he became Lord Advocate underneath Charles II. During his life he was most famous for enforcing the persecution of the Covenanters, which he did with vigour and without mercy, earning him the nickname 'Bluidy MacKenzie'. He died in 1691 and was buried in Greyfriars Kirkyard, Edinburgh.

 

There, that's the less interesting stuff over with, though it is all fairly engrossing when you actually start reading about it.

 

So, what's so spooky about this. Well, in 1999 a wino took refuge in MacKenzie's mausoleum and accidently broke some of the coffins. He ran screaming and incoherent from the graveyard - he may well have been incoherent before entering in fairness. Since then there have been many unexplained occurrences within the kirkyard, mostly violent and frightening for the people involved. At the back of the kirkyard is an area called the Covenanter's Prison where Covenanters waited before being sentenced by MacKenzie. This area is said to be so haunted it is kept locked by Edinburgh City Council.

 

An exorcist, Colin Grant,  was brought in to get rid of the poltergeist but was unsuccessful. In fact he had refused to enter the graveyard without a bible and a cross.  He suggested that the cemetery was home to almost 200 unhappy spirits, probably Covenanters. He was found dead a few weeks later from a massive heart attack, aged 66. Many of the people who experience something at or after the visit to the mausoleum suffer fainting, extremes of hot and cold, scratches, bruising or even being knocked unconscious. Nearby houses also claim to have experienced paranormal activity with plates smashing and objects flying about. Around all this began a tourist trade, but even the organiser of the tours suffered when his house caught fire and all his papers relating to 'Bluidy MacKenzie' were destroyed.

 

This is probably one of the best documented paranormal occurrences in the world. To date there have been at least 450 attacks and more than 140 people have collapsed on the tours. You can read some accounts here and from there look at the tour. I believe they even have tours on Halloween.

 

So, I guess some ghostly mp3's are in order......

Japan - Ghosts  (obviously)  www/buy

Kristin Hersh - Your Ghost    www/buy

Smog - Hangman Blues          www/buy

 

 

Technorati Tags:ghosts, halloween, supernatural, greyfriars kirkyard, mackenzie, poltergeist, edinburgh

The Old Smoo

 (photo by bobthelomond)

OK, so Bluets is in a bit of a hiatus at the moment due to all of us being pretty busy in real life. Hopefully that will ease off soon and normal service will be resumed.

This month's (October) theme is Halloween and all things witchy, scary and ghostly. Innovative and inspired, I know. So I thought I'd try and relate some spooky stories from Scottish folklore and post appropriate tracks to go with said stories.

So, Smoo Cave is a large sea cave on the north coast of Scotland, at the top-left hand corner of the mainland if you want to get non-geographical.

There are several legends attached to it, mainly involving Donald, Wizard of Reay  or Lord Reay.  While visiting Italy, Donald met the Devil and became his student (as you do). It was customary at the end of term for the Devil to claim the last student to leave the classroom as his own. This happened to be Donald. When Donald saw the Devil about to pounce, he shouted  "De'il, tak' the hindmost" and pointed at his shadow. The Devil siezed his shadow, leaving Donald to return to Scotland where it was remarked on many occasions that he cast no shadow.

Of course, if you were the Devil, and he clearly was, you wouldn't take too kindly to being tricked by one of your pupils. In fact you'd probably seek some kind of terrible revenge wouldn't you? Oh yes.

One night Donald and his dog were walking across the moors when a storm struck. They sought refuge in Smoo Cave and the dog ran ahead, deeper into the cave. It came back terror-stricken, yelping and hairless. Donald knew it was the Devil come to settle the score, but to his relief the sun rose and rendered the Devil and his three accompanying witches powerless. They blew holes in the roof of the cavern and all four flew away.

These holes are now how the Allt Smoo (a river) enters the cavern and creates the beautiful scenes we can see in this flickr link  - Smoo Cave - Flickr

Some relevant songs:

Bat for Lashes - The Wizard    www/Buy

Low - Blue-Eyed Devil             www/Buy

Jo McCafferty - Cave              www/Buy

 

long way around the sea

Well, as neat as it is, the river does indeed flow into the sea (or another, bigger river) so following my last post in the geography theme, I'm going to write about the sea/ocean.

Is there a difference between a sea and an ocean? The only real difference that I could discern from their meanings is that you can have an inland sea (Caspian Sea), but not an inland ocean. Maybe someone with greater knowledge than I can shed some light. Now normally talk of the ocean would be a good excuse to talk about pirates, or if we went back to last months theme we could talk about how Pirates of the Caribbean 2 has just become the third biggest grossing film of all time. But we shouldn't do that really. We should examine closely the links between music and those vast expanses of water. We should wonder at the metaphors used within, woven so cleverly that even the most ardent fans still argue for hours over the internet about what they really mean. We could wonder at the destructive nature of the sea, the mystery of it and indeed the mysteries it holds. We may even look at the man made craft that skim atop its surface, like the ill-fated Titanic, the Marie Celeste or the HMS Bounty. In fact the list is practically endless and I have no idea where to begin.

Saying that, as I write it, I have the sudden idea to write about one of the greatest oceanic mysteries, Atlantis. Where did it disappear to? Did it really exist?

The earliest mention of Atlantis came from Plato in about 350BC where he describes several conversations overheard. One of the participants of these conversations (Timaeus) claims that his account stems from Solon the Lawmaker who visited Egypt in the 6th century BC. Timaeus may actually be a fictional character invented by Plato, however, Solon is a historical person. Of course, we all want to know where Atlantis was (while at the same time trying to banish images of Patrick Duffy's webbed hands and feet from our minds). Many theories suggest that Atlantis was somewhere inside the Mediterranean, at various locations. This is given some weight due to the volcanic eruption of Mount Thera which occurred in the 17th or 15th century BC. The eruption would have caused a massive tsunami which could easily have wiped out a coastal civilization. Certainly, if Atlantis didn't exist, then its legend may have been based on this.

The Black Sea is also a popular theoretical site. In about 5600 BC the Black Sea flooded with 200 times the daily flow over Niagra Falls pouring into to it for some 300 days through the Bosphorus. It was then a freshwater lake and this flooded some 150,000 square kilometeres of land. In fact this flood has also been postulated as the flood of Noah, but many scientists believe that was some 2000 years or so later.

Maybe it existed in the lost continent of Mu? Maybe not. Other popular destinations for the fabled city are Cyprus, Caribbean and the Pacific Ocean. I'm not sure if anyone will ever truly find out where Atlantis was, or even if it existed, but I do know we'd be poorer without the myth.

I suppose I should have talked about the songs, but suffice to say they're great, with the first one being the least great, but increasing in oceanic greatness as we go down the all too short list. (even Bat For Lashes, kitten)

mp3: Frank Black - Atlantis (Buy)

mp3: Bat For Lashes - Mother Sea (Buy)

mp3: Low - Long Way Around the Sea (Buy)

Technorati Tags:ocean, sea, atlantis, thera, flood, geography, frank black, bat for lashes, low

Into the Valley

Here's the second of my posts with a geographical bent for this month, and rather than going into the deep and hidden meanings of what a valley means lyrically, I'm just going to write a little bit about one of my favourite artists. It's kind of geographical in another way in that this guy was brought up in Dunfermline, not far from where I lived in my teenage years. I'm talking about Stuart Adamson founder member of The Skids, Big Country and then in the 90's The Raphaels.

I can't exactly remember when I first saw Big Country live, but it was probably around 1986/87. I saw them in Glasgow, Edinburgh and once in their hometown of Dunfermline. That gig proved to be a bit embarrassing, as in our naivety we phoned the venue to ask if there was a dress code. The venue said shirt and tie. We scrambled to borrow our fathers' ill-fitting clothes and turned up to find noone else wearing said garments. I guess we made someone happy. Gig was fantastic though. I'd loved them since their first album The Crossing came out in 1983 and although they'd had a couple of singles beforehand, In A Big Country was the first single that grabbed me. I always remember there being a huge rivalry at school between fans of Big Country and fans of Marillion as to who was the best. It seems silly now, but then it was a huge deal. Stuart Adamson left the slow punk of The Skids behind and formed Big Country in 1981. Essentially he was the driving force behind both bands, The Skids quite literally living up to their name after he left.

Big Country followed The Crossing with Steeltown and The Seer, where for me they began to lose it. Peace in Our Time gave a brief glimpse of what they had been, all bagpipe guitars and swirling hooks peppered with Celtic lyrical imagery. But then I gave up. I noticed they had albums out but was never tempted to by them, except for some strange feeling of guilt at abandoning a long-loved artist. Their 1999 album Driving to Damascus (John Wayne's Dream in the USA) dragged me back kicking and screaming after hearing the single Fragile Thing, with Eddie Reader. It was/is a cracking album, but failed commercially. For Stuart Adamson this was a blow, which led him into depression. A disappearance and reports of alcohol abuse followed (he had signed the pledge on Live Aid day in 1985). He tried to restart his career with the country-rock band The Raphaels, but his demons remained and after another disappearance in 2001 he was found hanged in a hotel room in Honolulu.

I find the whole story tragic. A man who had so much to live for and music to give, pulled down by depression, alcohol and his inner demons. I guess it's not unique, but for me it's close to home. One of my favourite anecdotes about Stuart Adamson following his death was this. (and I paraphrase) When Stuart met you and talked to you he didn't ask "What do you do? Where do you live?" he wanted to find out who you were, what your thoughts were, why you felt like that. He looked deeper than the surface, which is all most of us do, and was genuinely interested in people.

That struck a real chord with me and it's something I try to do whenever I can. Smalltalk sucks so bad sometimes, wouldn't it be great if we actually gave a shit about how other people feel? Maybe we'd learn something.

mp3: The Skids - Into the Valley

mp3: Big Country - Broken Heart (thirteen valleys)

tags: Big Country, The Skids, Stuart Adamson, Dunfermline, The Raphaels, Scotland

Take me to the river

For this month's theme of things 'geographical' (we all have different takes on this) I decided to look at geographical features and after mulling over a few I'm starting off with rivers. I had thought that when starting this I'd be struggling to find tracks, but actually, there's hundreds of them.

But why rivers? What's so special about them that makes musicians write about them time and again. In general, civilization owes an immense debt to them. There's hardly a major city, certainly in Europe, that isn't built on a river. Paris (Seine), London (Thames), Belgrade/Budapest/Bratislava (Danube) to name a few. In fact if you take the rivers Euphrates and Tigris in Iraq, they are two of the four rivers mentioned in the Bible that are said to flow from the Garden of Eden. On a non-religious note, civilization is believed to have began there in about 4000 BC, principally because the fertile regions around the area gave the perfect environment for humans to settle together. That's why the region is of such historical interest and value.

I guess the most famous song involving rivers is Brice Springsteen's 'The River'. There, it seems to me, the river is a place of calm, a place for him and his wife to escape the hardships of life. Maybe even a place where their worries and fears are washed away and they can be together. Of course, metaphorically, it probably means their love, their joy of being with one another. So at the end of the song when Springsteen sings 'that sends me down to the river though I know the river is dry' he's singing about the end of the love in their relationship, the realization that the spark that was once there has gone.

So, literal or metaphorical, the river is still a powerful image to use in a song. Neil Young's 'Down by the River' seems to use the river as some kind of division device too. A barrier between him and his 'baby', although truth be told, I can't really figure out those lyrics. Talking Heads' "Take me to the River" seems a bit easier, the river there is a metaphor for change. Here he is on his sixteenth birthday prepared to give up everything for this girl, it may even be in an effort to get his first experience of sex. Although I can't help feel that when David Byrne is singing 'Dip me in the water, drop me in the water' there's an allusion to Achilles, like this girl is his achilles heel.

Haha, listen to me go all english litcrit. Still, it's my take on these songs. Hope you enjoy them

mp3: Bruce Springsteen - The River

mp3: Talking Heads - Take Me to the River

mp3: Neil Young - Down by the River

buy: Springsteen /Talking Heads / Young

Technorati tags: river, geography, springsteen, Talking Heads, Neil Young, music