Canna intrat

Canna intrat (15 March) is the first of a series of celebrations held in Roman times related to Cybele and Attis, representing a cycle of death and rebirth.

The brotherhood of cannophori went into procession through the streets, carrying reeds cut from the banks of the Almo. This was the beginning of nine days of penitence when people abstained from bread, pomegranates, quinces, pork, and fish. Milk was mainly drunk instead.

In Western Society something of this fasting still survives in Christian prohibitions before Easter. In Islam Ramadan involves a month of fasting between sunrise and sunset. Fasting helps set an altered state of being - our attentions and focus become somewhat different for a time.

Likewise, this is the start of a series of contemplations about the rituals surrounding the commemoration of Attis's death and rebirth, and what it might mean to us today.

Cute Pic

Couldn't resist taking this photo the other day. Aren't they cute?

Veggie Co-op

It was an almost Pythonesque moment yesterday when I went in to NUSA to pick up my veggies from the Veggie Co-op there.

The deal is this - you pay $5 or $10 before Thursday, they go shopping at the food markets and you pick up your veggies on Thursday or Friday. Only yesterday when I went in to pick them up, there weren't any! I asked what the story was and the person there told me that"some people had taken more than they were entitled to". I asked him if he meant that they'd stolen them and he sheepishly agreed. I got a credit for next week's and they're going to change how people pick up the orders in future so as to avoid this. Oh well.

Then when I went to UPrint to photocopy some of my old comics, I found that it shut early on Fridays. Those were the only reasons I'd gone to the uni in the first place. Bugger!