Saturday, April 7, 2018

Snapshot of a forgotten spring ritual from bygone days


Children gather for the turd cake

6 comments:

  1. Interesting This is a Christmas event that I am not familiar with. What is the significance of the one candle? Are they watching for the cake to do something? Are they taking a whiff of the turd? It appears to be a drinking event, so I can't be all bad. Is it just a coincidence that it appears to be a sausagefest? And who invited the one redhead to the event?
    So many questions...such a small turd cake.

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  2. These questions bedevil the mind, H.B. As is the case with the questions that arise from many an old snapshot. As this is a spring event, not Christmas, I think the one candle signifies the all-consuming singularity of the life force, as it pushes up from the earth. The ground is fertile, and will be even more so when uneaten scraps of turd cake are scattered upon it.

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  3. I was thrown by the garland and angel. Round about these parts those are evidence of Christmas. We usually signify spring with bunnies, robins and the occasional dandelion. (possible result of climate change)
    Based on the interest of the many invitees to the event (and the small size of the turd cake) I don't anticipate any uneaten scraps, so someone might want to consider another form of fertilizer this spring.

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  4. Ah, your eyes are sharp. I believe this photo was taken in a region where spring rituals were frowned upon as "pagan" and were therefore conducted in secret. It was customary at such gatherings to arrange yuletide embellishments, such as the angel and garland seen here, as a decoy, in the event that the ceremony was discovered.

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  5. Oh, and don't worry about the supply of fertilizer. There's plenty more where that came from.

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