dual personalities

It was a difficult week for England. First, the media continued moaning and hand-ringing over ‘Brexit’.  I think this is the best response I’ve seen (it’s short, funny and very English):

Then, the English soccer team embarrassed itself by losing to Iceland. The Washington Post  marked the event with the pithy headline, “England Exits Europe twice in Four Days.”

Moving into the weekend, the English faced the solemn commemoration of the Battle of the Somme. Yesterday, July 1st, marked the hundredth anniversary of the first day of the five-month long battle. An unmitigated disaster, the British forces suffered nearly 60,000 casualties (including over 20,000 dead) on day 1. Whole battalions were wiped out.  Siegfried Sassoon wrote a vivid description of the opening scene in his war diary:

The Somme is still a big deal in England, where people still care about their history, probably because they actually learn about it in school.

British horse guards commemorating the Somme at Thiepval cemetery

After a week like that, it’s no wonder they’ll continue to ignore the start of American Independence on July 4th. Who’d want to be reminded of that? Unfortunately, except for barbecues and fireworks, we will ignore it too. Most people in this country seem either to reject our history or see it as irrelevant, but then they don’t really learn much about it in school, so what can one expect?

As you go into this 4th of July weekend, why not do something that’s actually related to Independence Day? Visit your local historical society, go to a parade, watch an appropriate movie (not The Patriot or the Independence Day movies!), read a history book, visit an old cemetery, or just think about how lucky you are to live here.

Lest we forget.

*Siegfried Sassoon

Daughter #1’s flight was canceled and there were no flights until Sunday, so her trip to flyover country for the three-day weekend is not happening. The best laid plans, man…

When I took a walk this morning quite early (6:30!) the moon was still visible.

painting by Thomas van Stein

And it got me thinking about a curious piece of folklore that I recently came across; namely, that some women (usually witches) have the power to “draw down the moon.” The earliest reference to this phenomenon that I’ve encountered is in a 7th century BC Neo-Assyrian letter in which the writer denounces some Syrians to the king, claiming that:

Zazâ, the wife of Tarṣî, and her sons should not be kept alive, O king, my lord! The priest is a brother-in-law of Tarṣî. Their wives bring down the moon from the sky!

Interestingly, the notion that sorceresses can bring down the moon also appears in Greek and Roman tradition. Thessalian women were particularly associated with the act. In Aristophanes’ play, Clouds (lines 749-56), one character says, “I would buy a witch woman, a Thessalian, and take down the moon at night. Then I’d shut it up in a round box like a face mirror, and then I’d keep it there.”

Aglaonike, a Thessalian ‘astronomer’

Plato, Plutarch, Livy and others repeat similar stories. Lucan references it in his Pharsalia:

Magic the starry lamps from the heaven can tear,

And shoot them gleaming through the dusky air;

Can blot fair Cynthia’s countenance serene,

And poison with foul spells the silver queen….

Till down, and downward still, compell’d to come,

On hallow’d herbs she sheds her fatal foam.

The image persisted into the modern age. Extolling the wonders of the telescope in 1859, the amateur astronomer, poet, and right Reverend Jeremiah Horrox wrote:

…Blest with this (telescope)

Thou shalt draw down the moon from heaven and give

Our earth to the celestial spheres and fix

Each orb in its own ordered place to run

Its course sublime in strict analogy.

It’s funny how traditions and imagery get transferred and transformed over time. There are loads of similar examples. For instance, the word Abracadabra is very, very old and started life as a potent ancient spell against fever. There really is very little new under the sun!

I leave you with this joyous video of the Icelandic commentator describing the winning goal in the final minute of the game (sorry the video is blurry). His reaction perfectly captures how happy I feel about England’s exit from the EU (it’s about time).

• The Moon Song, Gregory Alan Isakov