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THE 5TH ANNUAL ERZULIA IS UPON YOU!!!
Feb. 7th, 2010 09:51 pmif you know me at all, you've heard this all before. if you're new to the game or need your reference for this week's celebrations, then this entry is for you!
it's that time kids!!!! for six days, erzulie ge-rouge will get a break from her tears!!!! let the private celebration begin!
if you're able to shove your finger in your nose, then you know that this weekend is valentine's. this is a holiday based on a historical saint, made for a singluar purpose, and then bastardized and commercialized to the point of high annoyance.
even though i have found the merit in being on my own, i still feel the exclusiveness and pressure of this ridiculous holiday.
i used to allow the day to get me down. and i could have been bitter. i could have donned my blacks and grouched through my day. but it's been done. and it's a lie, because i like love as much as everyone else, why deny it? it doesn't lessen the sting for singles or the put-uponness for couples. it's just too much energy wasted.
what's a duchess to do?
something better, that's what. what did the jews do when they found that christmas wasn't for them? why, they made their own holiday! a better holiday! one that invited rather than singled out! one that was difficult to say! one that incorporated much more free will and good thought and, like the jews, more days! (yes, i know chchaaaakaanucka preceeds xmas by about a million years. suck it.)
ever the resourceful one, i got my ass online a few years back and went into a research frenzy. every holiday needs a mythic basis, i mean, christmas has that god guy, and fourth of july has some fun myth about a dude in a wig and a boat, and martin luther king jr had a dream....
enter erzulie ge-rouge, a vodun loa.
what?
vodun: the actual poly-diety nature-religion that was brought over from africa, mixed with catholic undertones, and brought us zombies. you may think of voodoo as vodun's mutant offspring, one that is dark and twisted and manipulative. vodun, however, is dying out because it's too peaceful and simple...it's not fancy like hinduism or voodoo.
loa: a powerful spirit. one of the dieties worshiped in vodun.
erzulie ge-rouge: the loa of love, beauty, jewlery, dancing, luxury, and flowers. she is often depicted as curled up in a fetal position, crying for the shortness of life and the limitations of earthly love. she's so enamored of our world and the capacity of the human heart, that she can hardly stand that we don't enjoy life more or use our hearts to their full potential.
i loved her the moment i found her! she's the perfect spokes-diety for my new holiday.
erzulia.
erzulia is a six-day event, beginning on the second monday in february (and therefore to INCLUDE--not override--valentine's, should you wish it). it can be celebrated alone, or couples may plan out their days accordingly. threesomes can do whatever they wish. dog-humpers can find a good psychiatrist.
six days? one for each of erzulie ga-rouge's aspects:
love
beauty
jewlery
dancing
luxury
flowers
you pick one aspect per day and concentrate on it and celebrate it in the way of your choosing. for example: for your "luxury day," you could splurge on a fondue restaurant, or you could just sit in the bath for hours. for your "jewlery day," you could use it to propose with some kind of ring--if people still do that, outdated traditions--or finally get that nipple pierced, or you could just wear the best you have. on your "flowers day" you can buy for others, or for yourself, or plant some or rub them all over your body. i don't care, as long as it makes you happy. "dancing day" is pretty obvious. unless you have the capacity to make others dance. then, good for you.
you get the gist.
you get creative. you celebrate these things. you have to put some effort in and actually think about what it is that keeps you going and use this to have six days of happiness for the life you are living. give erzulie ga-rouge a fucking week off from her sorrow. she weeps for us daily, she deserves that much.
it's just an idea. use it or don't. i made it, and i'm sharing it, and i'm hoping it brings joy to someone...even if it's just in reading the idea. i was just sick of getting shut out once a year and sick of everyone either LOVING or LOATHING valentine's. it's so boring. that's such nonsense and a useless waste of my energies, i can't believe i would ever allow society to make me act that way! i'd rather pour it into something that will make me happy on a whole different level.
i'd just rather be more creative. while all the sheep are going through the motions and forcing themselves to express/repress, i will be having my own little festival of life and love, knowing in full what has inspired it and making it that much more meaningful.
if you can't beat 'em.....go start your own game.
it's that time kids!!!! for six days, erzulie ge-rouge will get a break from her tears!!!! let the private celebration begin!
if you're able to shove your finger in your nose, then you know that this weekend is valentine's. this is a holiday based on a historical saint, made for a singluar purpose, and then bastardized and commercialized to the point of high annoyance.
even though i have found the merit in being on my own, i still feel the exclusiveness and pressure of this ridiculous holiday.
i used to allow the day to get me down. and i could have been bitter. i could have donned my blacks and grouched through my day. but it's been done. and it's a lie, because i like love as much as everyone else, why deny it? it doesn't lessen the sting for singles or the put-uponness for couples. it's just too much energy wasted.
what's a duchess to do?
something better, that's what. what did the jews do when they found that christmas wasn't for them? why, they made their own holiday! a better holiday! one that invited rather than singled out! one that was difficult to say! one that incorporated much more free will and good thought and, like the jews, more days! (yes, i know chchaaaakaanucka preceeds xmas by about a million years. suck it.)
ever the resourceful one, i got my ass online a few years back and went into a research frenzy. every holiday needs a mythic basis, i mean, christmas has that god guy, and fourth of july has some fun myth about a dude in a wig and a boat, and martin luther king jr had a dream....
enter erzulie ge-rouge, a vodun loa.
what?
vodun: the actual poly-diety nature-religion that was brought over from africa, mixed with catholic undertones, and brought us zombies. you may think of voodoo as vodun's mutant offspring, one that is dark and twisted and manipulative. vodun, however, is dying out because it's too peaceful and simple...it's not fancy like hinduism or voodoo.
loa: a powerful spirit. one of the dieties worshiped in vodun.
erzulie ge-rouge: the loa of love, beauty, jewlery, dancing, luxury, and flowers. she is often depicted as curled up in a fetal position, crying for the shortness of life and the limitations of earthly love. she's so enamored of our world and the capacity of the human heart, that she can hardly stand that we don't enjoy life more or use our hearts to their full potential.
i loved her the moment i found her! she's the perfect spokes-diety for my new holiday.
erzulia.
erzulia is a six-day event, beginning on the second monday in february (and therefore to INCLUDE--not override--valentine's, should you wish it). it can be celebrated alone, or couples may plan out their days accordingly. threesomes can do whatever they wish. dog-humpers can find a good psychiatrist.
six days? one for each of erzulie ga-rouge's aspects:
love
beauty
jewlery
dancing
luxury
flowers
you pick one aspect per day and concentrate on it and celebrate it in the way of your choosing. for example: for your "luxury day," you could splurge on a fondue restaurant, or you could just sit in the bath for hours. for your "jewlery day," you could use it to propose with some kind of ring--if people still do that, outdated traditions--or finally get that nipple pierced, or you could just wear the best you have. on your "flowers day" you can buy for others, or for yourself, or plant some or rub them all over your body. i don't care, as long as it makes you happy. "dancing day" is pretty obvious. unless you have the capacity to make others dance. then, good for you.
you get the gist.
you get creative. you celebrate these things. you have to put some effort in and actually think about what it is that keeps you going and use this to have six days of happiness for the life you are living. give erzulie ga-rouge a fucking week off from her sorrow. she weeps for us daily, she deserves that much.
it's just an idea. use it or don't. i made it, and i'm sharing it, and i'm hoping it brings joy to someone...even if it's just in reading the idea. i was just sick of getting shut out once a year and sick of everyone either LOVING or LOATHING valentine's. it's so boring. that's such nonsense and a useless waste of my energies, i can't believe i would ever allow society to make me act that way! i'd rather pour it into something that will make me happy on a whole different level.
i'd just rather be more creative. while all the sheep are going through the motions and forcing themselves to express/repress, i will be having my own little festival of life and love, knowing in full what has inspired it and making it that much more meaningful.
if you can't beat 'em.....go start your own game.
