Re: [cybalist] May 01, 2000 11:39 PM

>The tradition of coloring eggs goes back to pre-Christian times.
>Eating them would symbolize the renewal of cycle, rebirth, >fertility. As
>well as the tradition of the pancake week before Lent (Maslenitza), it was
>also pagan -

Please, I prefer the term "non-Christian-enriched".

>pancakes would symbolize the sun, and eating them meant
>eating the sun, as if inviting it to come back.

Oh-oh, I think I just ate two suns this morning. And extinguished them both
with a large serving of Aunt Jemima. Hope it wasn't one of our suns. Oh
well, I'm sure that (...music cue...) "The sun will come up, tomorrow.
Betcha bottom dollar that tomorrow, there'll be..."

>During spring rites, Russian Slavs would fire up the wheel and let it >roll
>down the hills - it was also a symbol of sun. Quite often >Christianity
>had to adapt the old traditions to avoid the resistance >and gain
>acceptance. It made things more colorful!

... and very deliciously pagan. But this raises many important questions. Is
there a mythological connection between the sun and the wheel amongst the
IEs, I wonder, or... :) the pancake? In fact, how old is the pancake? Is
there an IE term for pancake? Perhaps we could reconstruct *pangagos. Can
crepes be used in place of pancakes to accomplish this symbolism? Could
there also have been a connection between the sun and gulabjamun or do these
connections restrict themselves to Western foods?

- gLeN

PS: Very sorry, I just couldn't stop myself. :)
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