A Fable about Scuttlebutt

Once, there was a polytheist village where all the graven images, fetishes and talismans were kept in one large stone building. People would worship them every day; and, after eight o’clock, they’d go home, leaving the statues to themselves. One night, the statue of rice-goddess Harma said to the image of the dog-headed goddess of […]

Death Rituals Around Time and the World

Viking: If you were revered enough, your body was put on a ship and, after the ship had moved far enough away from shore, a flaming arrow would set the boat on fire and incinerate the deceased… unless the archer missed; then, you’d just have a dead guy on a boat. Ancient Egypt: Mummies! In […]

And, at Last, We End This

Last day of my “vacation” from writing. Oddly enough, I’ve been writing this whole time but at least at my own pace. New stuff will be forthcoming on Monday and backgoing by Wednesday. Because I know you all like essays on saints, here’s… The Unsparing Perspicuity of St Jerome