21 Dec Sundays with Stendhal 9: Is Anderson an … Aztec?
We interrupt the regularly scheduled Sundays with Stendhal to raise an issue of crucial importance, at least for OJ readers in the northern hemisphere above a certain latitude … the days have been getting progressively shorter and shorter. Will it ever stop? Will the sun finally disappear and leave us all in total and permanent darkness? There are certain soothsayers and seers who say that the sun will start making a return soon, but as someone whose moods are pretty light-dependent, and so was really unhappy to miss the ATS at the Malibu Beach House confab for reasons entirely unrelated to aliens or torts, I have my serious doubts. It has gradually dawned on me that I am actually, probably an Aztec by religious inclination. Is it possible that if we do not perform the Mexica New Fire Ceremony on the appointed day (the details of which are entirely too gruesome for a family blog) the Fifth Sun will disappear for good and this iteration of the world come to an end?
Writing from southern Belgium (as per usual), I sympathize. Ken, in this democratic age, it’s probably a good thing that you have a choice in such matters: Zoroastrianism comes to mind. 😉
If your moods are light-dependent perhaps it’s your body trying to tell you there’s a vitamin D deficiency. If you don’t get much natural sunlight you may not be getting enough Vitamin D and many physicians today are suggesting it to their patients (I take it, but I’m still an angry bear first thing in the morning). Our generation has been rightly concerned about getting too much sun, but we need to appreciate the downside to this particular form of cancer prevention.
Incidentally, not only Zoroastrianism comes to mind, but what about the (perhaps historically related) Vedic yajna, indeed, this fire sacrifice was said to sustain rta (no, not some regional transit authority), or moral and cosmic order (the central meaning of which was later incorporated into the polyvalent term dharma), sans the strong apocalyptic component.
What is more, Vedic Hinduism is famous for the significance accorded the Gayatri mantra in which Brahman (‘Ultimate Reality’) is likened to the Sun: tat savitur varenyam (तत् सवितुर्वरेण्यं). This is recited to this very day in India during a coming-of-age (rite of passage) ceremony for young brahmin males.