Tonight at midnight the trooping fairies will move the Seelie and Unseelie Courts to their winter demesne. This also means that tonight is the last night that The Fool is abroad on the wild hunt until next Spring.
So perhaps a little Halloween music is in order. Fairport Convention’s version of Burn’s Lay of Tam Lin, It tells the story of how the Princess Janet saved her true love, Tam Lin, from being sacrificed on Halloween by the Queen of Fairies:
So travel safely tonight, avoid The Fool, and don’t forget to set back your clocks!
ellie
I like this post very much! Happy Halloween to you and yours!
SiubhanDuinne
I think it’s adorable how nobody here has mentioned that we (Northern Hemisphere) need to turn our clocks back on hour tonight.
ETA: My kid brother’s CDs have been featured the past few days, and will be through Monday (I think) on some English radio station. Steve asked for my help in translating the scheduled air times to when he could listen to them. Several problems with that: (a) the UK changed over from Summer Time last weekend (b) we change from Daylight Saving Time to Standard Time this weekend (c) my bro loves in Arizona, which doesn’t do the time change thing except in odd pockets of the state, where it does, and I’m not sure where he falls geographically and (d) this crap gives me a headache at the best of times.
But according to what I’ve seen on Facebook, he was able to tune in and listen to what was originally scheduled to be just a few minutes but turned out to be half an hour or more of his music! So I can forget being total FAIL at calculating time zones, and just be a proud big sister.
HinTN
The interplay of drums and guitar! Burns does set to music well. Thanks for sharing. Happy Halloween, all.
Adam L Silverman
@SiubhanDuinne: to quote Commander LaForge: “Time travel gives me nosebleeds!”
debbie
I saw Fairport Convention in Boston shortly after Sandy Denny left. This song wasn’t the same without her.
rikyrah
water is wet news
but, post-racial America…right?
………………….
Biased Lending Evolves, and Blacks Face Trouble Getting Mortgages
By RACHEL L. SWARNS
OCT. 30, 2015
They steered clear of black and Hispanic neighborhoods as they opened branches across New York and Connecticut, federal officials said. They focused on marketing mortgages in predominantly white sections of suburban New Jersey and Long Island, not here or in Bridgeport, Conn.
The results were stark. In 2014, Hudson approved 1,886 mortgages in the market that includes New Jersey and sections of New York and Connecticut, federal mortgage data show. Only 25 of those loans went to black borrowers.
Hudson, while denying wrongdoing, agreed last month to pay nearly $33 million to settle a lawsuit filed by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Justice Department. Federal officials said it was the largest settlement in the history of both departments for redlining, the practice in which banks choke off lending to minority communities
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/31/nyregion/hudson-city-bank-settlement.html?smid=tw-share&_r=2
Adam L Silverman
@rikyrah: Zandar did a great post about this at his home base earlier today:
Omnes Omnibus
Wait, I can’t go hunting until spring?
Princess
I am sure there are others in this thread in addition to me who have read and loved Pamela Dean’s Tam Lin.
schrodinger's cat
Spooky music from an old Hindi movie from the 50s, now you see her, now you don’t. Bonus: black kitteh!
Aayega Aanewala The one whom I am expecting will come..
Also since it is Caturday, furred kind wishes you a Happy Halloween.
BobS
@debbie: I saw them around the same time at the Eastown Theater in Detroit — they were touring to support Full House and were the opening act for Traffic. It was the first of the several dozen times I’ve seen Richard Thompson, who left Fairport Convention shortly afterwards.
Omnes Omnibus
@Princess:
Too much mayo….
schrodinger's cat
Halp! I is in moderation, probably because of too many links
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: do you have the appropriate permits and licenses? A blaze orange vest and cap? And the land owners permission? If so, you’re good to go.
Roger Moore
@SiubhanDuinne:
Actually, it’s not everyone in the Northern Hemisphere, or even everyone in the US. Most of Europe already set their clocks back a week ago, and some places in the US don’t use Daylight Saving Time, Arizona being the example that springs immediately to mind.
Omnes Omnibus
@Adam L Silverman: I am from Wisconsin. I have access to family land. I guess the point is then that I have to avoid wildness during the hunt until spring.
BobS
@Adam L Silverman: It’s bow season in Michigan. The well-dressed hunter is in camouflage.
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: I would just avoid The Fool. According to legend to be seen by him is to be lost forever…
Botsplainer
@rikyrah:
Our whole system of “meritorious” credit rating with bullshit scoring needs to come crashing down.
debbie
@BobS:
It was the same tour. My friend wanted to see Traffic, but I’d been listening to Liege and Lief all summer. Orchestra seats for $10!
Gin & Tonic
I have no idea what this post or the comments are about.
SiubhanDuinne
@Roger Moore:
Yes, Arizona was the example I specifically gave in my comment. Also mentioned that the UK switched off Summer Time last weekend.
Ultraviolet Thunder
God. Richard Thompson as a child. I’d forgotten how long ago that was.
I’m at the airport on my way to Germany, passing out Smarties and Fun Size Snickers.
Some people are into it. Some people need to lighten up.
Happy Halloween.
BobS
@debbie: I sat about 20 feet from the stage directly in front of RT and was mesmerized (of course, various botanicals and pharmaceuticals caused me to be more easily mesmerized in those days, but Richard Thompson….sheeeit!!). Traffic was good — really good — but I could’ve left after Fairport Convention and felt I’d gotten my moneysworth.
srv
Bogeyman Al Gore was wrong:
Adam L Silverman
@efgoldman: The Fool, Amadan na Briona. Not a, or several fools.
Gin & Tonic
@efgoldman: That helps a lot.
Ultraviolet Thunder
Tonight is exhausting for the dog. He hates people in his yard and loves kids. So he charges up to the door when it opens, then skids to a stop and starts wagging. Over and over, for about 4 hours, or until he drops from fatigue.
I handed out candy and told the kids they were getting dental floss and oil change coupons, if they looked old enough to take a joke.
Welcome to the adult world!
Next year my wife wants to dress as a GOP candidate and hand out vouchers to go buy your own candy and quit asking for handouts.
NotMax
Clocks never changed in Hawaii.
J R in WV
@SiubhanDuinne:
And you should be proud.
Arizona doesn’t use Daylight Savings Time, but Navajo Nation does. Navajo Nation is in Arizona, but isn’t part of Arizona, if you see what I mean.
It’s also in Utah and New Mexico, but isn’t part of them either.
Adam,
Thanks for the folklore reminders. I knew all those Irish/British things, but you can forget those details frmo year to year.
We’re at home, up the holler, private. Last night the dogs were crazy, around 4 am I smelled a whiff of polecat, woods pussy, skunk. But the dogs didn’t get dosed, so they’re in with us tonight.
We have never had a single trick-or-treater in the past 30 years we have lived in our rural retreat. They probably are intimidated by the fairies!!
Adam L Silverman
@Gin & Tonic: If you are serious, I’ll bite and provide an explanation as its my post.
According to Scottish legend, which was then adopted by the Irish, there are two types of fairies (sidhe – pronounced shee): the trooping (moving) fairies and fair folk that do not relocate twice a year. The trooping fairies, also known as Doane Sidhe, divide their kingdom into two courts: the Seelie (good) and Unseelie (unwell/bad) court. Twice a year, on All Hallows Eve (Samhain) and on midnight as the night roles into May 1 (Beltane), the two courts relocate.
The relocation is basically a relocation for where their courts can be accessed and for where they will exist in the terrestrial world for the next six months. The points where the terrestrial and supernatural worlds interact are generally referred to as Fairy Mounds. Mortals can access the supernatural world of the mound by walking nine circuits around the mound counter clockwise (widdershins). This is also the origin/related to the superstition of not walking or moving in a counter clockwise direction.
Within the mound are three lands: the Bright Lands where the Seelie Court is located, the Dark Lands where the Unseelie Court is located, and the Shadow Lands, which is the buffer region between the two.
The wild hunt is from Celtic, Norse, and Teutonic myth. Basically it refers to the fair folks nightly revels from the time of their relocation in the Spring, through Midsummer, and into the Fall – ending with their winter move. Johnny Cash’s Ghost Riders in the Sky is about the wild hunt.
The Fool, or Amadan na Briona, is basically the most powerful of the Unseelie Court. In this case fool doesn’t refer to a simpleton, but rather its original version of one who is angry, often for a perceived yet minor slight, and who takes it out on everyone. In many versions of the legends and myths around the Doane Sidhe the Fool is equivalent to the King of the Fair folk. If you’re a fan of Shakespeare, he worked much of these myths into Midsummer’s Night Dream”.
For a really good modern interpretation, I highly recommend Raymond Feist’s Fairy Tale.
And since my post seems to have confused you, I’ll live you with Shakespeare:
“If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended—
That you have but slumbered here
While these visions did appear.
And this weak and idle theme,
No more yielding but a dream,
Gentles, do not reprehend.
If you pardon, we will mend.
And, as I am an honest Puck,
If we have unearnèd luck
Now to ’scape the serpent’s tongue,
We will make amends ere long.
Else the Puck a liar call.
So good night unto you all.
Give me your hands if we be friends,
And Robin shall restore amends.”
J R in WV
Oh darn, I’m moderated for mentioning a folkloric name for skunks, which FYWP thinks is related to things FYWP doesn’t allow.
HELP!
raven
Richard & Linda Thompson – A Heart Needs A Home
raven
Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger & The Trinity – Indian Rope Man
raven
Pentangle – Let No Man Steal Your Thyme
J R in WV
@srv:
UPI (United Press International) was once a robust and honest news organization. That was then and this is now.
They’re owned by a Saudi Prince, I think. I wouldn’t put much faith in their interpretation of scientific climate-related results until I see other, better, sources tell us what it looks like to them.
But you don’t care about that.
Adam L Silverman
@J R in WV: I’m not seeing it in the moderation que. I just cleared the two that were in there.
Renie
OT: ?JEB? claims he never saw the PowerPoint presentation until it was leaked. Rubio gets $1 million in donations since the debate
Brinks Trucks are definitely backing out of the driveway.
raven
@Renie: Butch Trucks was a hell of a drummer!
Steeplejack (phone)
This reminds me that I am a book (or two?) behind on The Dresden Files. Need to figure out where I left off. All the titles are sort of generic.
J R in WV
@Adam L Silverman:
Thanks, I guess someone beat you to it.
What a great thread for Halloween!!
Gin & Tonic
@Adam L Silverman: I was serious. Now I feel bad that you typed up that lengthy explanation. But thanks.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
Dirk is out of surgery and awake. Barring any setbacks, notably with his ability to urinate, I’ll bring him home tomorrow morning. Than I promptly leave the house for 18 hours, because I’m working a double shift, but the vet said that shouldn’t be much of a problem if things look good.
Gin & Tonic
@raven: Man, there was something about those two-drummer bands.
Adam L Silverman
@Gin & Tonic: as long as you were serious and I’d confused you with the original post, there’s nothing to be sorry for.
gbear
Sandy Denny – After Halloween
Too soon?
srv
@J R in WV: Well, as you know, Goddard was always a nest of a crazies so who knows.
Punchy
@Gin & Tonic: You and me both.
Renie
@raven: Was that lawsuit the band did against digital recordings like itunes ever settled? I think the defendant was UMG Recordings?
S4RS
I see Dave Mattacks at a good friends xmass party every year. Great guy.
SiubhanDuinne
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym:
Good! Too bad about your double shift, as I know you’d rather spend that time with Dirk, but so glad he’s out and alert.
raven
@Renie:
Gin & Tonic
@Renie: Being settled.
MazeDancer
Adam, who knew you knew so much. Thanks for lovely post.
And a Blessed Samhain to everyone.
Yes, Halloween is yet another moment in the Olde Religion – really olde – that became something else. Another Cross Quarter Day that eventually got co-opted by the Christian Church, in their if you can’t beat the locals entrenched celebrations, join ’em efforts. And then monetized by Hallmark and mall shoppers everywhere.
Many cultures consider this a time to honor those of blessed memory. Ancestors, loved ones, venerated departed. Dia De Muertos. Or Christianized to All Saints Day. As the veil between the worlds thins, homage is paid to those on the other side. Some people set up elaborate meals of favorite tidbits in a kind of shrine of celebration.
I leave treats for my departed kitties, thanking them. Tonight it’s freeze-dried turkey. (Which I will give to the current kitties tomorrow)
Renie
@Gin & Tonic: looks like the artists will finally get royalties on all sales now
raven
@Renie: I know a guy that sued Zep for swiping Dazed and Confused from Jake Holmes. They settled.
Adam L Silverman
@Gin & Tonic: And lest I forget to clarify the video portion:
Fairport Convention’s Tam Lin is based on Robert Burns’ the Lay of Tam Lin. The poem, and its unclear as to who actually was the first to set it down in verse, tells the story of a Tam Lin, a human knight/warrior who is captured by the Queen of Fairies (the Queen of the Seelie Court) and transformed into an elf through the magic of the sidhe. He meets and falls in love, and impregnates, Janet, a human princess. And it is her love that saves his life one Halloween and transforms him back into a human.
Some have argued that Tam Lin is True Tam/True Tom – a human bard beloved by the Fairie Queen and brought into her court and made immortal. True Tom is unable to answer a question untruthfully because of the ensorcellment placed upon him by the Fairie Queen. I’ve also seen references to True Tam being Tamys (Thomas) the Rhymer an itinerant bard who placed a curse upon the Lords/owners of Fyvie castle known as the weeping stone. Here’s one link: http://www.secret-scotland.com/Attractions/fyvie-castle.html and another: http://myths.e2bn.org/mythsandlegends/origins530-thomas-the-rhymer-and-the-queen-of-elfland.html. I’ve been to Fyvie and seen the weeping stone give off water in its bowl.
I’ve also seen some argue that the Tam Lin narrative is the Scottish Celtic version/variant of one portion of the four classic Irish mythological cycles.
For a good rundown on the Tam Lin mythos, go here: http://bestoflegends.org/ballads/tamlin.html
BobS
@raven: Not too long before I saw Fairport Convention at the Eastown, I saw those four gentlemen on back-to-back nights at the same venue — they had a pretty good slide player in the band at the time.
Debbie
@raven:
I loved Pentangle, but Jacqui McShee’s high notes always drove my stereo’s speakers nuts.
raven
@BobS: I saw em twice the summer before Duane died (44 years ago last thursday).
raven
@Debbie: Shake, rattle n roll!
Omnes Omnibus
Bonus points for anyone who knows why this song is apt today. Mnem is banned from this competition.
Renie
@raven: That was one of my favorite Zep songs. I didn’t know that part of its history. Just listened to the video you linked to and definitely hear the likeness. Sad to find out stuff like that but I guess it happens more than we hear about.
MazeDancer
@raven:
Didn’t Jake Holmes sue, himself?
Jake Holmes is a very talented man. One of the most successful jingle writers of all times as well.
Adam L Silverman
@MazeDancer: I grew up engrossed in mythologies. And then I lived in Scotland for 3 and 1/2 years and basically went native. If there’s a story about fairies, supernatural creatures, unexplained happenings – European, Asian (minor, Central, SE, and East), Native American (north, central, or south), I’ve been exposed to at least a bit of it.
And to be honest it fits well with some of my work. I’m just starting, based on two lessons I used to teach in my elective on culture, strategy, and policy, a longer project on different societal concepts and understandings of war, conflict, conflict resolution, and peace. In one way or another these all start in religion. Just war starts with Roman thought from Cicero and quickly jumps to the early Church. In my class I’d assign portions of the Bhagavad Gita, which retells the history of the mythical Pandavas. But if you want to understand the underpinnings of Southeast Asian understandings of what conflict is, when it is and is not permissible, things like that you have to read the Gita. These understandings, rooted in stories that now permeate our religions, is the natural starting point.
BobS
@raven: Duane. Yeah, I think that was the guy. He was pretty good.
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: allusion to Night of the Demon.
Omnes Omnibus
@Adam L Silverman: No. At least not what I was going for.
ETA: The edit gets it.
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: you didn’t give me a chance to rethink it!
PurpleGirl
@Adam L Silverman: Thank you for the thread and this explanation of the mythology. It’s interesting and intriguing. I remember learning about Greek and Roman mythology in school but not that of Northern Europe. I taught myself about Egypt and the Middle East.
Gin & Tonic
@raven: Saw them that March.
Adam L Silverman
@Adam L Silverman: But is it the Batman comic book or the film?
redshirt
Tomorrow is the worst day of the year. Sunset at 4:28, going to a low for me of 3:53 on 12/21. Just brutal. And 3.5 months of it!
But, I have a large parcel of land, and over the last 3 years I’ve built 2 miles of “secret” trails – secret in that they are only known by me and can’t be seen unless you’re on my land. My fear though is a hunter stumbles upon them, then me, then BANG!
So I put up about 80 or so “POSTED – NO TRESPASSING” signs in a perimeter around the property, which felt strangely satisfying. Like I cast a magic spell that creates a forcefield against rednecks.
Germy Shoemangler
@redshirt:
In hunter country, those usually end up covered in bullet holes.
Omnes Omnibus
@Adam L Silverman: It’s the film. The spoken sample at the beginning is from the film.
ETA: The film starts in just a few minutes on TCM.
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: I reckoned.
Debbie
@Adam L Silverman:
Francis James Child collected numerous British and Scottish ballads:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_James_Child
redshirt
@Adam L Silverman:
Have you read your Tolkien? Specifically The Silmarillion?
Mnemosyne (tablet)
@Omnes Omnibus:
You sound like my coworkers. Yes, I have been officially banned from movie-related competitions at my office.
raven
@MazeDancer: He had legal representation. They waited until Zep released a box set because there was a limited on the time that they could realize rights for.
Mnemosyne (tablet)
@Adam L Silverman:
Showing on TCM tonight — it starts on the west coast in about 10 minutes. One of our favorites.
redshirt
@Germy Shoemangler:
After several failed attempts previously using plastic or metal signs (which got ripped off by the wind), I went with Tyvek signs that are stapled onto the trees. They could be shot, I suppose, but I think the sign would survive fine.
raven
@Gin & Tonic: I saw them free that summer on Boston Common, I even have the CD.
BobS
@Renie: Led Zeppelin borrowed several times without attribution (subsequently corrected) from Willie Dixon and Howlin’ Wolf, with at least one of those leading to a lawsuit (You Need Love/Whole Lotta Love). They were also sued by the family of Spirit’s Randy California for the somewhat striking resemblance between the descending guitar lines in Taurus and Stairway to Heaven.
But damn were they good.
Origuy
Mercedes Lacky did a series of urban fantasy books about the Sidhe of the Bright and Dark Courts, and their interactions with humans. One thread of them was set in Tudor times.
Anoniminous
@srv:
Of course it did you ignorant jackass. Antarctica is moving into spring. Antarctic sea ice at its 2015 maximum:
Mnemosyne (tablet)
Started watching “Ash vs the Evil Dead.” If you don’t like gore, you won’t like it.
Germy Shoemangler
Led Zep’s “Boogie With Stu” includes Mrs. Valens in the songwriting credits because they were sued by Ritchie Valens’ music publisher. Too close to Ritchie’s “Ooh My Head” for comfort.
And “Ooh My Head” sounds like Little Richard’s “Ooh My Soul” to me, and Little Richard probably borrowed it from some 1940s boogie-woogie pianist. And that 1940s pianist probably borrowed it from someone he heard in 1920.
It’s singing turtles all the way down.
Germy Shoemangler
@Mnemosyne (tablet): srv doesn’t like Gore.
BobS
@Anoniminous: Things like hemispheres and continents seem to be difficult for some people to understand.
redshirt
@BobS: Led Zep is the best rock band of all time.
Adam L Silverman
@Debbie: Yep, the links I posted reference him and provide links to his stuff.
Adam L Silverman
@redshirt: Yep. First real book I read was the Hobbit. I will say the Silmarillion took a try or two. Its a bit dry in places.
BobS
@redshirt: Nope. There is no best rock band of all time. There’s a lot of fucking great ones, though.
Omnes Omnibus
The demon in Curse of the Demon is a huge detriment to the movie. Much better to have left it to our imaginations.
Steeplejack (phone)
@Mnemosyne (tablet):
I’ll take Dead of Night at 11:30 EDT.
redshirt
@Adam L Silverman:
The Sil felt like pure distilled mythology pumped directly into my brain. I love it, but yeah, it can be creaky in spots. And so many names! I wish JRR had released it himself and not his son.
Riley's enabler
@Princess: yesyesyesyesyes! One of my favorites, a yearly re-read every fall.
Tonight I was able to escape from the hospital (mother is not well) and actually enjoy some halloweenie with the spawn. Brilliant. Also, I ate all the red vines.
Steeplejack (phone)
@Omnes Omnibus:
Yeah. It has harmed my subsequent viewings, because I can’t help but think of the big disappointment at the end.
Anne Laurie
@Adam L Silverman: Also a ripping good Tam Lin variant: Elizabeth Pope’s The Perilous Gard, which brings the Fair Folk into the 1550s and does full justice to both sides of the battle!
Mnemosyne (tablet)
@Omnes Omnibus:
I think we’ve had this discussion before, but IMO the mistake was showing it at the beginning of the film and then again at the end. It would have worked better if you only saw little pieces throughout the film and then finally saw it at the end.
But IIRC it was the classic thing where the producer spent a lot of money (relatively speaking) on the effects and wanted to use them multiple times, so he re-edited without the director’s permission.
Fun fact: Peggy Cummins, who plays the love interest, was the co-star of “Gun Crazy,” where she’s a very different kind of girl.
Anne Laurie
@J R in WV:
From what I’ve read, the Fool who came to the Appalachians with His fellow Celts mutated into the Fool Hunter or Fool Killer — the being who claimed careless hunters, reckless lovers & other individuals even more dangerous to the community than they were to themselves. Haven’t seen Jake since the first frost, Fool Hunter must’ve come for him at last!
Omnes Omnibus
@Mnemosyne (tablet):
Robert Osborne said, during the intro, that the direct did not want the demon at all. It was all done later at the producer’s orders and the director was pissed off about it.
Adam L Silverman
@Anne Laurie: I’ve not seen that one yet. I’ll give it a looksee.
Adam L Silverman
@Anne Laurie: Is this the thing that Cole’s neighbors are always tracking on Destination Network?
Omnes Omnibus
@efgoldman: It’s still a fool’s errand.
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@Omnes Omnibus:
I’ve heard it a few ways. One is that Tourneur would have been willing to use some of the demon footage (like the clawed foot) but didn’t want the full-length views, which are the shots that look the worst. But the producer overruled him and put it in.
Steeplejack
@Mnemosyne (iPhone):
Had to laugh, because a couple of nights ago some channel ran a block of Psych reruns, and “I’ve heard it both ways” is one of Shawn Spencer’s signature lines.
Some client offers to pay them “thrice” their usual rate. Shawn and Gus take a sidebar.
Shawn: “I’m not going to work for half of what we usually get!”
Gus: “Shawn—it means triple!”
Shawn: “I’ve heard it both ways.”
I sort of half-watched a couple of episodes in the background, and I was thinking about how Psych seemed to drop like a stone after it ended. Hard to remember it, hard to remember what was good about it. Really ephemeral.
Then I realized that I couldn’t even remember the name of that even more ephemeral show that Cole loved and which also dropped without a trace. Then it finally came to me: Chuck. Not even in syndication.
No, I didn’t really have a point. Carry on.
Omnes Omnibus
@Steeplejack: I was entertained.
Oatler.
Steeleye Span did a shitload of songs about scumbag faeries (Thomas the Rhymer, Dance With Me, 700 Elves,etc)
Steeplejack
@Omnes Omnibus:
Thanks, preesh.
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
A Swedish guy who calls himself The Tallest Man on Earth also has a song called The Wild Hunt, for future reference.
schrodinger's cat
@Adam L Silverman:
Don’t you mean the Mahabharata? Gita is a tiny part of Mahabharata, when Krishna who is Arjuna’s charioteer, urges Arjuna take up arms against his uncles and cousins and others he holds near and dear. Arjuna has developed last minute cold feet and does not want to fight.
ETA: In my opinion Gita is not a pivotal part of Mahabharata at all. Many scholars have argued that it was tacked on later when the cult of Krishna became more popular in northern India. In the rest of Mahabharata Krishna is not a God at all but an important peripheral character who is the cousin of both the Pandavas and the Kauravas.
Adam L Silverman
@schrodinger’s cat: I specifically teach the Ghita. More specifically I use Ghandi’s Bhagvad Gita: http://www.amazon.com/The-Bhagavad-Gita-According-Gandhi/dp/1617203335.
I am well aware that the Gita is part of the Mahabharata, that it is more or less a discreet part, and that it was likely tacked on later. So what? For the purpose of what I was teaching, and the time I had to teach it, I needed selections from an appropriate text to assign as reading to set up seminar discussion on the roots of other societies understanding of war among senior military and civilian personnel.
One of the advantages of using the Gita is that the breakdown in society that Arjuna foresees as a result of his actions fighting against his dishonorable cousins is similarly described in the Cakkavatti Sihunanda Sutta/The Lion’s Roar on the Turning of the Wheel chapter from the Mid-Length Discourses of the Buddha. This allows me to expand the discussion in the seminar to encompass both Hindu and Buddhist concerns.
It is important to understand that I was neither teaching a course on SE Asian religion and society, nor was I teaching a course on Hinduism. What I was trying to do, as I did with using specific assigned readings from Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Taoism, and from the Japanese Zen literature on War was try to begin to get my students to think about how their multi-national colleagues and partners understand war, conflict, how to conduct war, when it is and isn’t acceptable, and the ethics required of those who chose the Profession of Arms.
The Golux
I was lucky enough to stand ten feet* from the stage at Toad’s in New Haven a few years ago to see the RT band, with Danny (no relation) Thompson playing the part of Zeus, throwing thunderbolts down from on high. What a phenomenal bass sound.
* Of course, almost everyone was within twenty feet. A disgracefully small crowd.
redshirt
@Adam L Silverman: Sounds like a cool class. Which I could have taken it.
schrodinger's cat
@Adam L Silverman: I have not read Gandhi’s take on the Gita.
Your course sounds interesting. The reason it is important to note that Gita was tacked on, is to realize that it has been promoted as the Hindu equivalent of the Bible or the Koran, when it is nothing of the sort. Some chapters of Gita have also been used as the scriptural defense of the caste system.
Mahabharata on the other hand has a much more subversive take on both caste and gender dynamics than Gita does.
I also don’t know why you call Arjuna’s cousins dishonorable. The Pandava side did many dishonorable things to win the Kurukshetra war. The end quite literally justified the means.
ETA: The great thing about Mahabharata is the shades of grey, there are no good guys or bad guys.
The morality in Mahabharata seems very modern though it was written eons ago. It even predates Ramayana the other Hindu epic.
schrodinger's cat
@Adam L Silverman: I have not read Gandhi’s take on the Gita.
Your course sounds interesting. The reason it is important to note that Gita was tacked on, is to realize that it has been promoted as the Hindu equivalent of the Bible or the Koran, when it is nothing of the sort. Some chapters of Gita have also been used as the scriptural defense of the caste system.
Mahabharata on the other hand has a much more subversive take on both caste and gender dynamics than Gita does.
I also don’t know why you call Arjuna’s cousins dishonorable. The Pandava side did many dishonorable things to win the Kurukshetra war. The end quite literally justified the means.
ETA: The great thing about Mahabharata is the shades of grey, there are no good guys or bad guys.
The morality in Mahabharata seems very modern though it was written eons ago. It even predates Ramayana the other Hindu epic.
If you are interested in the Mahabharata you should read Iravati Karve’s take on it called Yugant (End of An Era). I think English translations are available.
Adam L Silverman
@redshirt: Thanks. Basically we start by going back over how the military defines culture, which may not necessarily be cutting edge in terms of the social sciences. It is, for lack of a better descriptor, Tylor’s social anthropology concept of the socio-cultural from the late 19th century. We then do two classes on other ways of war, which I described above. Then we look at culture in terms of how we break down national power: diplomacy, information, military, and economics (DIME). There’s two video interludes. One focuses on culture and intel and I show The Gatekeepers. The other focuses on use of cultural information and knowledge, to establish rapport and conduct engagement. For this I use the documentary The Airmen and the Headhunters, which focuses on Special Group Z’s operations on Borneo against the Japanese. We finish up with how to use cultural inputs to better enable the use of Army design methodology for planning, strategizing, and the development of policy.
Adam L Silverman
@schrodinger’s cat: I’ve read a lot of the Mahabharata. I did my masters in comparative religion under one of the top Indologists in the US. I’ll have to go back and look at which translations we used. I know for the Gita, he preferred Duetsch, but I used the one with Ghandi’s annotations for a very specific reason. Ghandi did a daily reading and analysis session of the Gita and referred to it as the most important teachings in the development of his understanding of leadership, politics, and what to do to achieve an independent India. So I wanted my students to see how he interpreted the text in addition to being exposed to the text.
As to referring to the Pandava’s cousins as being dishonorable, it was largely referenced to the cheating that led to the Pandava’s losing the kingdom, not to mention their wife. That’s not to mean the Pandava’s were saints.