ah, matza

[rymenhild]

I have pictures of the bridesmaid's dress for the wedding of shirei_shibolim and his not-yet-blogging fiancee (::looks confused:: what did I say? not yet can mean not ever), but I couldn't get them to post here and I couldn't get everyone's email addresses to work. If you want pictures, send me your email address and I'll email you a link.

Meanwhile, I shall appeal to my friendslist. Does anyone know of a theorist somewhat more recent than Sir James Frazer who considers connections between fertility of individual couples, specifically individual royal couples, and the health of the societies in which these couples live? Or have all later thinkers decided such sympathetic magic is twaddle and poppycock? ::looks hopefully in the general direction of prosewitch, who might also be able to ask several other folklorist friends::

Pesach (Passover) is going nicely. I am tired of matza by now, but it's the beginning of the sixth night, so there isn't much longer left to go. Whole wheat Manischewitz matza is quite good, and it is even better with sliced avocado and lime.

I managed to count the Omer* two days in a row before I forgot. This is a new record for me. Maybe next year I'll last three days.

*Note to non-Jews on friendslist who are too lazy to click the link: It is a bizarre ancient custom to count the 49 days between the spring festival Pesach and the summer festival Shavuot. The custom has something to do with harvest festivals and plant fertility, I believe, and its name (the Omer) comes from a measurement of barley that would be brought to the Temple as a harvest offering on Shavuot. In any case, you're supposed to say a blessing and announce what day it is every night of the period; if you forget once, you've lost the benefit of the commandment, so there's no point starting again.

Comments

[a-trick-mind.livejournal.com]

Happy Passover to you from Rick and me. I totally forgot to count Omer. Oh well, so many commandments, so little time.

[rymenhild.livejournal.com]

Happy Passover to both of you, and thanks for the good wishes!

[prosewitch.livejournal.com]

This is the point at which I drag you to Dundes' office hours so you can ask him, because he's a walking encyclopedia of folklore publications. In general, though, I think scholars are still into sympathetic magic (which is good, because otherwise people would only hear of him through Campbell's work *twitch twitch*). Yeah... want me to introduce you in office hours this week? Tu 10-12 or Wed 1-3.

[rymenhild.livejournal.com]

Hear of whom through Campbell's work? Surely not Dundes...

I have class Tue 10-12. How about Wednesday at 1? (I'll reschedule my own office hours from 2-4; no one comes to them anyway).

Thanks!

[prosewitch.livejournal.com]

Oops, I meant Frazer. People still know about Frazer through Campbell.

Sure, Wednesday at 1 works for me. I have class at 2, but hopefully there won't be a line. If there is, I will make up for not being at my computer by babbling to you about my thesis. :-D

[shirei-shibolim.livejournal.com]

Actually, if you miss an entire day you're still supposed to count every night (or day, if you forget at night). You're just not supposed to say the b'rakhah for the remainder.

elaboration

[navelofwine.livejournal.com]

There's a legal dispute over whether each individual day qualifies as its own commandment, or the full series is a single commandment. The accepted (Ashkenazi) practice is that in cases of unclarity, one maintains the practice without reciting the blessing.

Re: elaboration

[rymenhild.livejournal.com]

Thanks, both of you, for the clarifications.