Count Your Blessings

So I'm actually home and relaxing. I work tomorrow, but for now I'm curled up enjoying the snow and some good music while we wait for the traditional Dr. Who special.

We don't really do Christmas, so I'm using the time to catch up on some things: a bit of laundry, helping with the dishes, oh and a bit of online shopping.

I've been meaning to get to that for some time now, and seeing as for me the week after Christmas is like to be as busy as the week before, I finally buckled down and got to it. I picked out some new bras and a leather fly swatter, then turned my attention to art supplies, selecting some palette knives and a nice large fan brush along with the usual staples.

But although we've now turned back into the light half of the year, we still have several weeks of short, cold days ahead where the weather may not be conducive to painting. In addition, the cold makes my hands stiff, so I like textile crafts or other things that keep my fingers moving to improve their flexibility during the winter.

So I browsed a bit, looking for other things I might channel my creative energy into while we wait for spring. Nothing much caught my eye though...until I saw the basket weaving section, that is.

Unfortunately, the reed and cane available from the art store is all very thin and fine. So you can all relax, Ms. Betty won't be going into the cane making business any time soon.

Although, I've always wanted to try my hand a mini versions of carpet beaters. The thin cane would work for that.

And pomlazkas. I've wanted one of those since I saw one used in a rather non traditional way in a rather hot video a few years ago. Although not the traditional willow, I'm thinking the reed would make for a rather nice braided rod.

I have to say though, as much respect as I have for the ancient traditions of other cultures, Easter whippings never have made much sense to me. Such rituals usually have a practical or perceived practical reason underlying their practice. But for heaven's sake what possible practical need is served by whipping some poor girl through the streets? Yes, from a kinky perspective it's delightfully fun and may "increase fertility" simply by turning on the participants, but on a spiritual level the symbolism is just a bit out of key from the usual deep tune of such practices.

From an anthropological perspective, one would expect something like the belief that the whippings purged the body. As spring is a time for new beginnings, it would make sense for it to be a time of cleansing and purification; making one new again to receive fresh seed (or perhaps to clean oneself in preparation for receiving the gifts of Christ's sacrifice.) But when cultures do practice such beliefs all are usually whipped, not just the women. Unless we want to go down the misogynistic path of claiming only the women need to be purified because they caused the sin that lead to the need for said sacrifice. (We don't. I'll bite.)

No, what we need is an alternative. Perhaps a rabbit. In many places in the world rabbits coming out of their burrows is one of the earliest signs of spring. In fact the association was so strong some believed it was actually the rabbits who brought the spring.

Now that would be a spring ritual: the bunny whipped through the countryside from Norway to Sicily, the rods used to spur him to run ever faster, spreading the fresh green spring behind him as he scampered across the land.

Hm. If I ordered that reed now I could have it in about a week. I'd have time to experiment a bit and then would probably have a finished product right around mid March. Right in time for the equinox. And somebody's annual visit.

Here, bunny, bunny, bunny!