I find the whole zombie celebration thing to be silly, but understandable when the muggles or atheists do it. However, I get annoyed when Pagans talk smack about the Christian version of the arisen male deity story. Sure, we did it first with Osiris and Tammuz and Dionysus, and even Apollo and then there's the Oak King and Green Man coming into his own too. So call em on the fact that there's nothing original in Christianity and that they're celebrating a month late too, but talking smack about their version of The Great Mystery is equivalent to crapping on your own.
Christianity is just another in a long line of mystery traditions: "Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again" (plus the whole drink my blood eat my body thing) is exactly what most Pagans celebrate throughout the year. In the God Cycle: He is born of Goddess, he is grown to manhood, he marries the Goddess, he is sacrificed as the harvest. We eat and drink him. He retreats to the Underworld and is reborn. We know they took the main tenets of The God Cycle, tried to reduce the Goddess cycle to a mere facilitator/vessel role, and celebrate the main mystery weekly. That doesn't change their legitimacy: We know it's legit because we invented it! ("We" meaning ancient Pagans. Sheesh.)
I don't mean to go off on a rant here (thanks Dennis Miller), but I've been thinking about this a lot in the past week: April 21st is celebrated as the birth date of Rome. On facebook I said "celebrate or lament as you wish." I've lamented it. Why? Because they started a city and then went conquering everyone around them until they created an empire. Once Rome was born of strife between brothers (a recurring theme) there was no chance for the world to live in peace. I wonder what would have happened had Remus won the contest. I bet Romulus would have killed him anyway. What if the other tribes in the area, such as the Sabines and Etruscans agreed to mix with them instead of starting a war over it? Would the Romans have been absorbed into the landscape? Into another tribe? Were they always meant to violently dominate the world? They might not do it with brute force anymore, but let's not kid ourselves: The Pope, who is not nor has ever been (to my knowledge) a member of a democracy, was making public statements advising American voters who to vote for and how to vote in our elections. Yes, I know I'm romanticizing the Etruscans and Sabines and it's really easy to root for who you perceive to be the underdog. But really now, it just has to make you think: Would the world have been better off if the wolf just ate the twins? If Queen Dido had seduced Aeneas into being her King and staying in Carthage?
This weekend: underworld encounters and a bit about Tammuz and why they eat ham on this particular Sunday; It's not just to piss off the Jews.
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