Geoff Coupe's Blog

Reflections on life at “De Witte Wand”…

Category: Folklore

  • Cries From Casement and Penda’s Fen

    A long time ago, back in 1973, I heard a play on BBC Radio: Cries from Casement as His Bone are Brought to Dublin. It was an extraordinary experience, and a brilliant realisation of the script.

    This week I bought the BFI’s Blu-ray transcription of Penda’s Fen, one of the plays in the BBC’s “Play for Today” series, that was first broadcast on television in 1974. I’ve just sat down and watched it, and it was equally extraordinary.

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    Something nagged at my memory, and I realised that both works were written by David Rudkin. Whilst I doubt that you will be able to hear the radio play again, the BFI/BBC release of Penda’s Fen is available. It’s well worth seeking out.

  • Showing Their True Colours

    It would appear that the Catholic Church is not happy, not happy at all, about the result of the Irish referendum supporting same-sex marriage.

    First we had the Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin saying that the church needed to take “a reality check” and “not move into denial”. The church, he said, had lost its connection with young people, and needed to work to reconnect with them. Now while some liberal Catholics have seen this as an outbreak of common sense, it was very clear to me that this was a brilliant piece of equivocation on the Archbishop’s part. While to liberal Catholics it could be interpreted as recognising that the Church has to change, for the rest of us it was perfectly clear that his message was: “our attempt to indoctrinate Irish youth has failed, and we must redouble our efforts – marriage can only be between a man and a woman for the sole purpose of procreation”.

    Luckily, we now have the Vatican’s number two, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, making it crystal-clear for us all.  He is quite clear that Ireland’s vote was “a defeat for humanity”, adding that he was “deeply saddened” by it, and that the answer for the church is to “strengthen its commitment to evangelisation”.

    Let’s just ponder that for a moment: a vote for equality and recognising that love can exist between two people of the same sex is seen by the Catholic Church as “a defeat for humanity”.

    I truly wonder what goes on in the minds of the leaders of the Catholic Church. And for all the posturing of Pope Francis, I really do not expect him to correct Cardinal Parolin. He may equivocate, but he is unlikely to contradict the cardinal. Let’s wait and see; a miracle might yet happen.

    Addendum: Grania Spingies has an excellent commentary on the Catholic Church’s position over at the Why Evolution Is True web site. In summary:

    • First, yes, they really believe this stuff.
    • Second, they are so out of touch with people that they have no idea how unintentionally funny and simultaneously insulting they are.
    • Third, they fear the Internet
    • Fourth, they have no intention of changing the Church’s position

  • The Streisand Effect in Action

    In 2009, Wendy Doniger’s book The Hindus: An Alternative History was published by Penguin. It seems to have attracted the wrath of Hindu (male) chauvinists; to the extent that a lawsuit from the Hindu group Shiksha Bachao Andolan accusing Doniger (a University of Chicago professor) of “hurt[ing] the religious feelings of millions of Hindus”  was instigated in India. As a result, Penguin have withdrawn the book from sale in India and intend to pulp the copies.

    Quite rightly, this decision has resulted in a storm of protest, and propelled the book up the bestseller list. I’ve ordered my own copies (paperback and Kindle) out of interest, in support of Doniger, and against the tiresome president of Shiksha Bachao Andolan, Dinanath Batra. As Ophelia says, Batra is an experienced religious bully.

  • Abraham And Sarah

    Here in the Netherlands, there’s a tradition that when someone reaches the age of 50, they are said to be an Abraham (if they’re a man) or a Sarah (if they’re a woman).

    And in this part of the Netherlands, that is often marked by friends and neighbours installing an appropriately (or inappropriately) dressed mannequin outside the celebrant’s house.

    Last Wednesday, one of our neighbours reached his 50th, so late on Tuesday night his garden was invaded by a series of groups each installing their own version of an Abraham and accompanying signs and decorations. This was the scene the following morning…

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  • Stop Digging, Theo…

    Ah, Theo Hobson. It’s been a while since I felt moved to document how much I disagree with his writings – well, I have to say that once I was astonished to find that I actually agreed with him. It was, truly, a miracle.

    However, he’s back and offers up an article in The Spectator in which he decrees that Richard Dawkins has lost. Sorry, Theo, you’re writing twaddle again. Eric MacDonald hands you your arse on a platter, and Jerry Coyne does likewise. Stop digging.

  • Just Tying Threads Together

    The news that Roger Ebert has died has brought out instances of what he meant to many people. Including the shout-out from Nina Paley, who thanks Ebert for his review of her film.

    Sita Sings the Blues is wonderful. Roger Ebert thought so too.

  • Keeping Tradition Alive

    In this part of the Netherlands (the Achterhoek), there’s a tradition that when a new building is constructed, and the highest point is reached, then the neighbours will erect a Meiboom (a Maypole) alongside the building. Here’s a translation of the relevant section of the entry in the Dutch Wikipedia:

    In addition, it is customary in some parts of the Netherlands (including the Achterhoek and Limburg), that when a newly built House has reached the highest point of the building, a Maypole is placed by it. The maypole also stands for in this case as a symbol for fertility and prosperity. The tree is fetched by local residents from, for example, a neighbouring forest and after the placement, a glass is drunk and a toast raised together. The maypole is sometimes placed on the building, in other cases next to or nearby. In some cases, a permit must be applied for if one wants to plant a maypole.

    This is traditionally done when it’s dark, so that the building’s owner doesn’t know what’s going on until it’s too late. The maypole also has to be taller than the highest point of the building. I’ve been told that traditionally, the building’s owner would subsequently use the maypole to make a ladder to reach the roof for putting on the roof tiles, but I suspect that might be apocryphal.

    Our nearest neighbour is a dairy farmer, and he’s having a new cattle stall built. Last week, the building frame was complete, and so the highest point was reached.

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    Martin and I are his noaste noabers, so we are responsible for organising the rest of the neighbours in his buurt (neighbourhood) to celebrate occasions such as this.

    Last Friday afternoon, while it was still daylight, four of us, including myself, met up at a local forester’s, and selected a fir tree that was tall enough to use as a meiboom. It was felled by the forester, and the lower branches were trimmed off. Some were kept for the later making of a wreath that is suspended around the trunk on the meiboom. One of the neighbours had borrowed a large tractor and trailer to haul it back to the neighbourhood.

    That evening, the neighbours gathered at our house to prepare the meiboom. It’s the tradition to decorate the meiboom with crêpe paper flowers, so we made dozens of the things. It’s also the tradition that it’s the women who do this, while the men prepare the tree. Martin and I naturally wanted to break down this separation on roles, so Martin and one of the men also set to work on making the flowers. It was noticeable though that the older men refused to break with tradition here!

    Later we prepared the tree, by making the wreath, putting it around the tree, and attaching the flowers. A spot was selected next to the cattle stall, and a hole was dug for the tree to be rooted in. When all was ready, we went back to the house for a toast.

    Then we brought the tree to the selected spot and erected it in position. Traditionally, this would be done by manpower alone (and I’ve been involved a couple of times where this was done). The tree is gradually raised by pushing ladders under it to make it upright. It requires a lot of men and brute force. We didn’t have a lot of (young) men this time, but what we had was someone who had thought it through. He said that in place of blood pressure, we should use hydraulic pressure. So he fetched a tractor with a fork raise attachment on it, and he used that to raise the tree. It worked wonderfully, and the tree was raised and in position in a couple of minutes.

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    Martin then pinned the traditional poem from the buurt onto the tree, and we went back to the house to raise a few more toasts to celebrate. A job well done, and a tradition upheld. We all felt very pleased with ourselves, and the farmer and his wife like the meiboom as well.

  • De Botton’s Folly

    A few days back, I wrote that I was not convinced by Alain de Botton’s presentation of his Atheism 2.0 thesis, and even less impressed by his use of a false categorisation of Richard Dawkins.

    Now I see that de Botton is back in the news today. He’s announced that he wants to build a “temple for atheists” in the City of London. It is to be a 46 metre tower, costing one million quid. According to the Guardian’s report, the tower is:

    to celebrate a “new atheism” as an antidote to what he describes as Professor Richard Dawkins’s “aggressive” and “destructive” approach to non-belief.

    Sigh. More false categorisation. As Dawkins has apparently said:

    “Atheists don’t need temples,” the author of The God Delusion said. “I think there are better things to spend this kind of money on. If you are going to spend money on atheism you could improve secular education and build non-religious schools which teach rational, sceptical critical thinking.”

    I can understand the tower as being a piece of public art (although hopefully not paid for by the taxpayer). The tower serves no purpose other than being a Folly, in every sense of the word.

    In passing, I note that the Guardian couldn’t resist a quote from the Rev George Pitcher:

    “This is a more constructive atheism than Dawkins, who is about the destruction of ideas rather than contributing new ones.”

    Ah, yes, the good reverend has previous form in such remarks.

  • “Verging On Fascism”

    There was unease last week in Amsterdam’s Orthodox Jewish community when it emerged that their nominal Chief Rabbi, Aryeh Ralbag (who lives in New York), stated that homosexuality was an illness that could be cured. As a result of this patent nonsense, the Chief Rabbi found himself suspended by the community.

    Now the US-based Committee for the Declaration on the Torah Approach to Homosexuality, which includes Rabbi Ralbag as one of its members, has opined that it is “shocking” that a chief rabbi in the Netherlands has been suspended for his statements on “centuries-old religious truths”, and that this action is “verging on fascism”. Welcome to Planet Godwin.

    I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised. They are no different to the Catholic Church or Islam in their touching adherence to ancient and false beliefs about human sexuality. But what really raised an eyebrow was the report that

    …the rabbi believes his life would be in danger if he came to the Netherlands.

    Ralbag told the NRC newspaper: ‘I have strong indications that my wife and I would not be sure of our lives if we came to the Netherlands now.’ He declined to say what the threats were but did say he took them ‘extremely seriously’, the paper reported.

    I’m sorry rabbi, but you really are living in another world if you think that to be the case. The Amsterdam Orthodox community, and the rest of us, are merely pointing out what an idiot you are. Idiots don’t deserve death, they deserve education.

  • Atheism 2.0? Dear God, No…

    Alain de Botton is a philosopher. He recently gave a talk at a TED conference where he proposed “Atheism 2.0”, a form of atheism that would reject all deities and supernatural acts but cater to the “ritualistic side” of some atheists.

    It sounds like an appalling idea to me. I see that Jerry Coyne, over at Why Evolution is True, finds the idea to be “a facile attempt to appropriate the trappings of religion as something essential to an atheist world”. As Coyne says, “What we need, as sociological studies indicate, is not stained glass, potted lilies, and a gasbag orator, but a society that cares about its citizens”.

    In fact, I like some rituals, such as walking the dogs in the woods, or going to the theatre or listening to a concert; but the idea of elevating those ad-hoc activities into prescribed rote and trappings is simply a bad one, and has nothing whatsoever to do with “atheism”.

    What really irritated me about de Botton’s performance in this TED talk, is that he opens it with a thinly-veiled sneer at Richard Dawkins, saying that “many [people] who live in North Oxford” simply find religion ridiculous. De Botton then has the effrontery to go on to say that:

    I’m interested in the kind of constituency that thinks something along these lines: that thinks, “I can’t believe in any of this stuff, I can’t believe in the doctrines. I don’t think these doctrines are right. But,” a very important but, “I love Christmas Carols, I really like the art of Mantegna. I really like looking at old churches. I really like turning the pages of the Old Testament”.

    So de Botton has created another Dawkins strawman by his sneer, because, in fact, Dawkins is in just the kind of constituency that de Botton claims he is interested in. Dawkins is on record as recognising himself as a cultural Christian, who loves listening to Carols, and who, in The God Delusion (p.344 in my hardcover edition), writes:

    …an atheistic world-view provides no justification for cutting the Bible, and other sacred books, out of our education. And of course we can retain a sentimental loyalty to the cultural and literary traditions of, say, Judaism, Anglicanism or Islam, and even participate in religious rituals such as marriages and funerals, without buying into the supernatural beliefs that historically went along with those traditions. We can give up belief in God while not losing touch with a treasured heritage.

    I should note that I’ve read very little of de Botton that I have been able to nod my head in agreement with, or indeed, take seriously. Give me Daniel Dennett any day…

    On a side note, is it just me, or has the quality of TED talks gone down the toilet in recent years? There was a time when I enjoyed listening to them, but these days they seem to contain a high percentage of woo-merchants doing their happy-clappy schticks.

  • The Buurt’s New Baby

    It’s become something of a tradition here in this part of the Netherlands that when a baby is born, the neighbours (the buurt) will celebrate the fact by erecting a wooden stork, festooned with clotheslines of baby clothes.

    This week, our nearest neighbours had the birth of their first baby, a boy. Since we are noaste naobers to them, it fell to us to organise the decorations in celebration of the fact. So, together with the other neighbours, we did. Naturally, we had to have the traditional stork:

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    But Martin thought that we should also push the envelope a bit. Since José and Herman have referred to their new baby as their “little prince” (kleine prins), we thought we’d take them at their word…

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  • Titter Ye Not

    I found it hard to suppress a titter, let alone a guffaw of derision, when I read today that the Astrological Association of Great Britain is sending a petition to the BBC. In one of the brilliant Stargazing Live programmes broadcast at the beginning of the month, the presenters (Dara Ó Briain and the physicist Brian Cox) made statements to the effect that astrology is rubbish.

    Gasp! Who would have thought it?

    This shocking revelation has spurred the AAGB into outraged action. Their petition is requesting that

    the BBC make a public apology and a statement that they do not support the personal views of Professor Brian Cox or Dara O’Briain’s on the subject of astrology. We also request that the BBC will commit to making a fair and balanced representation of astrology when aired in the future.

    It seems to me that the views of Cox and Ó Briain were a perfectly fair and balanced representation of astrology. Nothing more needs to be said.

  • What’s the Point?

    I know I shouldn’t get irritated by it. I know that it is pointless to feel exasperated by twaddle. But when Lord (yup, Lord) Sacks starts heaping up strawmen, I really do feel like saying enough is enough, fer gawd’s sake.

    Let’s just examine what he is reported to have said:

    “There is a difference between science and religion. Science is about explanation. Religion is about interpretation. The Bible simply isn’t interested in how the universe came into being.”

    Erm, hello? The Bible simply isn’t interested, because it states how it happened. The fact that it’s nonsense seems to have passed by its readers who think they know how to interpret its fantasies. Its mind was made up by the original writers.

    And Religion is about interpretation, eh? Tell that to those who think that the Bible is God’s inerrant law.

    And of course, there’s a warning:

    Sacks also said the mutual hostility between religion and science was one of “the curses of our age” and warned it would be equally damaging to both.

    Enquiry is not a curse. The fact that your folklore feels under threat is not equally damaging to both..

    And Lord Sacks rounds off with:

    “But there is more to wisdom than science. It cannot tell us why we are here or how we should live. Science masquerading as religion is as unseemly as religion masquerading as science.”

    Science is not masquerading as a religion, except in your worldview, Lord Sacks. And that is simply because the results of scientific enquiry are undermining the strawmen set up by your interpretation of sacred texts. Texts that were written by human beings trying to do the best (or the worst) that they could in less enlightened ages.

    And of course, Moses speaks for Lord Sacks.

  • "This"

    I never fail to admire the barmaid’s ability to cut through nonsense to the heart of the matter.

  • Hitchens: No Deathbed Conversion

    And in yet another post on Christopher Hitchens, here’s an interview with him. The lion still has a roar, but not for much longer, I fear. He is deep into the land of malady. Nevertheless, it’s good to hear direct from his lips that any future rumours of deathbed conversions should be treated with the contempt that they deserve.

    Hat tip to Jerry Coyne, over at Why Evolution Is True.

  • Dr. Seuss Updated

    Crispian Jago has been inspired by Dr. Seuss’ “The Cat in the Hat” and used it to pontificate on a forthcoming Papal visit. Don’t click on the link if you are easily offended. I enjoyed his puncturing of pomp a lot.

  • Islamic Superheroes

    Here’s an interesting presentation by Naif Al-Mutawa. He has created a group of superheroes based on Islamic culture and religion.

    http://video.ted.com/assets/player/swf/EmbedPlayer.swf

    I have mixed feelings about it. His heart is clearly in the right place, but… I think my misgivings are crystallised by the comments from “a persona” on the TED page of the video:

    superficially commendable reframing exercise with profound problems.

    – Naif conflates thema with schema in describing archetypes as christian. Archetypes didn’t come from the bible – the bible (as with the qur’an) came from archetypes. they reflect aspects of human psychology, and to misappropriate them in this way is disingenuous at best.

    – Values aren’t islamic or christian, in the same way that logic isn’t greek and science isn’t western. this is a classic argument used by religious apologists. (“judeo-christian values”, “islamic values”). values are values because they are to the good, or otherwise, of human life.

    The issue should not be to make people feel good about being muslims. it should be to educate people that values are intrinsic, not because mohammed espoused them. the 99 is based on a lie – that these values are good because mohammed, through allah, says that they are good. teach that reality is the authority, not another fictional cartoon character such as allah.

    These points summarise my view. The whole point about Superman and other superheroes is that they draw upon archetypes that are not tied to any one religion, but to something deeper and more fundamental – our very humanity. Linking superheroes explicitly to one religion – whatever it is – could well end up backfiring on the good intentions behind their creation. Still, it will be interesting to see what happens with the 99 over the next few years, and how the children who read about their adventures will develop and take their place in tomorrow’s world.

  • It Takes Faith…

    …to think that the Chief Rabbi, Jonathan Sacks isn’t talking out of his arse. Unfortunately, I don’t have that faith, any more than I thought that his predecessor, Lord Jabokovits, was anything other than a homophobic windbag. The moral zeitgeist is clearly not evolving in the Chief Rabbi’s office at the moment. As Norm says, this isn’t good reasoning from the Chief Rabbi.

  • Uneasy Bedfellows

    I sense that the spirit of Mandy Rice-Davies is with me tonight. My immediate response to the Synod’s passing of the motion that belief in Religion and Science are compatible was to think: “well, they would, wouldn’t they?”

    I can’t say that I blame them, like Sisyphus, for trying, but really, in this day and age, the mantra of NOMA is wearing a trifle thin. And it doesn’t help when a delegate, Philip Brown of Manchester, says: "Science can only explain how something was created; religion can explain why."

    Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.

    What I found really intriguing is that the vote was 241 in favour of the motion versus 2 against. I’d like to hear more from those two…

  • Carbideschieten

    Around these parts, the Dutch traditionally celebrate New Year’s Eve with the traditional practice of carbideschieten – carbide shooting. It involves getting a milkchurn with a small hole in the base. Pop some calcium carbide into water for a moment, then put it in the milkchurn and close the churn with the lid or a football. When calcium carbide comes into contact with water, acetylene gas is produced. This is highly inflammable, so wait a little while, then apply a naked flame to the hole in the base of the churn. A most satisfyingly loud bang results, and the milkchurn acts as a cannon, firing the lid or the football at high speed through the air. The Dutch take great delight in doing this. They use the excuse that traditionally it was done to scare away evil spirits at the New Year, but I think it’s solely because it makes a very loud noise and will annoy any passing Health and Safety personnel.

    On the afternoon of New Year’s Eve, the whole neighbourhood was echoing to a sustained cannonade as various parties tried to outdo each other in carbideschieten. Accompanied by mulled wine, oliebollen and snert, a great time was had by all.

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