*Ø* Blogmanac March 14 | The Mamuralia and scapegoating
Feast of the Mamuralia, ancient Rome
This festival was celebrated during the time of the Republic. A man clad in furs was beaten with rods and driven beyond the bounds of the city, a practice said to have commemorated the expulsion of the smith Mamurius Veturius from the city, as Rome had suffered because of shield he had provided. It seems that Mamurius represented the old year, depicted as the god of war, Mars. This festival also celebrates the art of armour making.
On this day, Frazer (Frazer, Sir James George (1854–1941), The Golden Bough, 1922, Ch. LVIII) tells us (originally the day before the traditional first full moon of the new year which began on March 1), a man dressed in goatskins would be ceremonially beaten with long white rods and chased out of the city in a rite of purification. Mamurius, representing the old year and all its troubles, is thus purged from the community.
Mamuralia and the scapegoat
This ritual of scapegoating is not uncommon in world cultures and religions – Frazer investigates some of these – and may be said to find an echo in the passion and execution of Jesus Christ. The Old Testament (Leviticus 16) deals with the concept of the scapegoat (literally an animal) and prescribes the methods of ritual: But the goat chosen by lot as the scapegoat [Azazel goat; pronounced in Hebrew as aw-zah-zale, translated as scapegoat in the King James Version] shall be presented alive before the LORD to be used for making atonement by sending it into the desert as a scapegoat (Lev. 16:10).
It seems to your almanackist that there might be a duality in the person of the scapegoat as both Christ and Satan, beast and homo fabricus – man who imposes order on creation, often to the detriment of Nature, for which atonement must be made (Hebrews 9:28, NIV: so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people). For 1 Enoch, 8:1,2 reveals (quite remarkably) that, like Mamurius, Azazel was a blacksmith: And Azazel taught men to make swords, and knives, and shields, and breastplates, and made known to them the metals of the earth and the art of working them, and bracelets, and ornaments, and the use of antimony, and the beautifying of the eyelids, and all kinds of costly stones, and all colouring tinctures.
One might add that the association with the god of war is implicit, beyond Azazel’s role as the teacher of manufacture ...
This is just a snippet of today's stories. Read all about today in folklore, historical oddities, inspiration and alternatives, with more links, at the Wilson's Almanac Book of Days, every day. Click today's date when you're there.
Feast of the Mamuralia, ancient Rome
This festival was celebrated during the time of the Republic. A man clad in furs was beaten with rods and driven beyond the bounds of the city, a practice said to have commemorated the expulsion of the smith Mamurius Veturius from the city, as Rome had suffered because of shield he had provided. It seems that Mamurius represented the old year, depicted as the god of war, Mars. This festival also celebrates the art of armour making.
On this day, Frazer (Frazer, Sir James George (1854–1941), The Golden Bough, 1922, Ch. LVIII) tells us (originally the day before the traditional first full moon of the new year which began on March 1), a man dressed in goatskins would be ceremonially beaten with long white rods and chased out of the city in a rite of purification. Mamurius, representing the old year and all its troubles, is thus purged from the community.
Mamuralia and the scapegoat
This ritual of scapegoating is not uncommon in world cultures and religions – Frazer investigates some of these – and may be said to find an echo in the passion and execution of Jesus Christ. The Old Testament (Leviticus 16) deals with the concept of the scapegoat (literally an animal) and prescribes the methods of ritual: But the goat chosen by lot as the scapegoat [Azazel goat; pronounced in Hebrew as aw-zah-zale, translated as scapegoat in the King James Version] shall be presented alive before the LORD to be used for making atonement by sending it into the desert as a scapegoat (Lev. 16:10).
It seems to your almanackist that there might be a duality in the person of the scapegoat as both Christ and Satan, beast and homo fabricus – man who imposes order on creation, often to the detriment of Nature, for which atonement must be made (Hebrews 9:28, NIV: so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people). For 1 Enoch, 8:1,2 reveals (quite remarkably) that, like Mamurius, Azazel was a blacksmith: And Azazel taught men to make swords, and knives, and shields, and breastplates, and made known to them the metals of the earth and the art of working them, and bracelets, and ornaments, and the use of antimony, and the beautifying of the eyelids, and all kinds of costly stones, and all colouring tinctures.
One might add that the association with the god of war is implicit, beyond Azazel’s role as the teacher of manufacture ...
This is just a snippet of today's stories. Read all about today in folklore, historical oddities, inspiration and alternatives, with more links, at the Wilson's Almanac Book of Days, every day. Click today's date when you're there.
Pip Wilson posted item above at 1:01 PM | Permalink
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