I went to a Greek Festival, hosted by the local Greek Orthodox Cathedral, for some food, wine, and dancing. It was a little disappointing. The music was not extremely inspiring but far too loud for conversation with friends even far away, the dancers committed the one sin I cannot forgive--not ever smiling, and not even baklava can make up for complete failures of music and dance. The public was, however, welcomed to tour and take pictures of the cathedral, which, like most cathedrals,was rather fabulously decorated. I like icons, so I enjoyed this.
 |
| The altar |
 |
St Katherine. Originally to be martyred in a large group throw to
the lions, got some special extra chances to deconvert because
those in power found her pretty, then was later martyred anyway.
Moral: Being pretty helps you procrastinate. |
 |
| The Ceiling. |
 |
Harrowing of hell. The weird things under his feet are the gates
of Hell. |
 |
| Another Harrowing of Hell. A popular theme, apparently. |
 |
| Detail of the devil being squished under gates while Hell is being Harrowed. |
 |
| Winged lion (I think maybe?) |
 |
| Sepulchre replica. Not whited. |
 |
| Prettily carved stand. |
There was also a small display on Church history showing the major schisming and splintering leading to various sects within Christianity. I learned that the tradition I was raised in came from the Dutch Reform church. I mention this because I was realized that one diagram displayed more information (though whether right or wrong I don't actually know) than I ever learned from years of Sunday School. Given the quality of religious education in general from various traditions of Christianity, I am not totally surprised to find my own knowledge of historical schisming and evolving of sects was completely lacking. I would say that at least this one cathedral I was touring is invested in disseminating actual education about religion, with an emphasis on placing various sects within a broader context of history and international religious tradition, but then I overheard a docent failing to explain the difference between the choir and chanters and the docent's friend saying that she had a really hard time explaining to her friends what mass was about and what it meant, so maybe not. Onward with the mindless followings of traditions!
Meh, back to dancing. Even bad dancing is better than the mindless followings of traditions.
 |
| A few of the dancers, my camera doesn't do well with dim light. |
 |
Non performative, and purely social dancing away from the stage. Even here, the
dancers had a lamentable tendency to stare at their feet. |
No comments:
Post a Comment