Hoop-la

Sometimes a theme just emerges from a day. It doesn't always have much meaning, but there it is.

For Canada Day this year, my mystery theme appeared to be hoops.

The Resident Fan Boy was determined to see the Ottawa festivities, so we hurried from our house-sit to Demeter's house. And there were hoops in the opening moments, as various First Nation dancers bounced and whirled around the Eternal Flame to the rhythm of the Spirit Drums.

July 1st 2017 - First Nation Dancer performing while the Prince of Wales, the Duchess of Cambridge and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his family look on.  The dancer is possibly Ojibwa, as hoop-dancing is associated with that nation.

(Bono and The Edge also sang "One", which was nice of them.)

We had lunch at the only sushi restaurant we could find open on Canada Day, then made our way to Centennial Square to see what we could catch of the free concerts.

Well, actually, we couldn't see much of anything, because Demeter, very sensibly, is using a walker these days, so we couldn't clamber into the stands. We found a table under a small parasol by the fountain, and chatted amiably with a volunteer, while people-watching and half-listening to a jazz fusion band who claims Pat Metheny as an influence.

During the final number, which was apparently a well-known number, but since we couldn't see the band and couldn't hear everything the announcer said, I'm not sure what it was. I did like it -- it had a steady, travelling sort of rhythm, and, lulled by the music and the heat, I dreamily watched two people off in the distance, tossing and dancing with hula hoops, which seemed to hover around their bodies, as if they were in suspended wheels of bright colour.

Maybe it was this number.



In the evening, Cirque du Soleil whirled in hoops of steel and fire.



Meaning? Coincidence, probably. But Joseph Campbell pointed out that the way of escaping the ups and downs of the wheel of fate was to move to the centre -- something like the dancers, performers and acrobats of this one day.

Lamb-inated

My mother, who came to Unitarianism after rather dramatically walking out of a Church of England service when she realized she didn't believe the Creed, tried to explain Easter to me when I was about five or six. Of course, the trouble with explaining Easter is that you have to start with Good Friday, so she kept it simple and said that Jesus was nailed to a cross. This was a tad too simple for me; I thought they had nailed his clothes to the cross, and couldn't figure out why that would kill him. Not long afterward, I noticed, for the first time, the crucifix on the bedroom wall of the Catholic girl who took care of us for her room and board. With a thrill of horror, I realized the nails had gone through Jesus' feet and hands. I started noticing crucifixes everywhere. Why? Why would they put up such a scary thing? And why did they call it Good Friday if such a bad thing happened on it?

After several years of living with a practising Anglican, I suppose I understand it a bit better, although I still get thoroughly disconcerted at the Palm Sunday service which features that disturbing hymn "Ride On, Ride On in Majesty": "In lowly pomp, ride on to DIE!" sings the congregation at the Resident Fan Boy's church with great relish. I can't help but think of a scene early on in the movie Gandhi where a minister is helped on to the top of a moving train by friendly Hindus, one of whom says conversationally: "I know a Christian. She drinks blood. Blood of Christ, every Sunday."

Christmas is a an easy concept; a baby gets born, lovely. Easter is a bit messier, isn't it? This might explain a couple of the downright creepy cakes that have recently appeared on the very funny web site Cake Wrecks: Oh dear. I guess this is what happens when you mix up the ideas of the end of a Lenten fast, holiday sweets, a sweet cuddly baby animal, and the concept of sacrifice. (And why would anyone want cake slices that look like lamb chops?) There's one that's even worse, but you can go look at it yourself, if you want the nightmares. It's the fifth photo down.

To confuse matters even further, Canada's Space Channel has been running an Easter Doctor Who Marathon since Maundy Thursday. Young daughter is particularly discombobulated because, along with the whole of Seasons Five and Six, they've included all the Christmas specials. "Isn't it Easter?" she asked.

Of course, the upside of this is that for the first time ever, Canadians have been able to see the brand-spanking-newest episode of Doctor Who merely a few hours after the Brits got to see it, so it's safe to surf the internet and not be spoiled. And since the Doctor is an alien with the ability to regenerate, it kind of fits in with the whole Resurrection thing, right?

I never feel qualified to speak of a new Doctor Who episode until I've viewed it at least twice, so maybe that will be my post tomorrow...