TDNet Discover

“The daughter of the Dagda, the Father of Ireland, Brigid was associated with wisdom, poetry, and healing. The many domains that the rules over have given rise to theories that she may have been a triple goddess. In Celtic mythology, their gods and goddesses are seen not so much as the creators but as ancestors of the people. Brigid’s domains seem to be mired in confusion. Different sources cite different opinions about what she was actually the goddess of. However, it is universally stated that she was the goddess of wisdom and poetry. Poets and craftsmen revered the goddess, who was considered a fount of innovation."

Despite the relative geographic closeness of Central and South America to our own country, the traditions and ancient religions of those civilizations are far less familiar to us than the legends and mythologies from across the Atlantic and into Europe. It is only in the 20th century that Western scholarship took the Mayan, Aztec, Inca and Olmec cultures with a degree of academic seriousness. New technology has enabled archaeologists to locate cities that would rival any contemporary population center a continent away, and new understanding of both language and culture sheds light on the manner in which these peoples viewed the ties between health and faith. For the Maya, the goddess Ixchel is a prime example.  

For as long as humanity has experienced pain, we have attempted to alleviate it. Congruently, the depictions of ailments and treatments alike have been produced in any number of media; from paint to mosaic and then to paper. One of the most ancient and ongoing practices of pain medicine is acupuncture, and imagery used for teaching tools come down to us through the ages in the form of medical texts. Acupuncture is a blend of philosophy as well as knowledge of human anatomy. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica the definition of acupuncture is as follows: “Acupuncture, ancient Chinese medical technique for relieving pain, curing disease, and improving general health. It was devised before 2500 BCE in China and by the late 20th century was used in many other areas of the world. 

“Votive offerings have been part of the human relationship with gods and belief from pre-history to the present. Today we might light a candle, a stick of incense, lay a bunch of flowers or in some Catholic churches people still leave a wax body part by way of an offering, but in the ancient world the practice was more wide-ranging, literal and multifaceted.” (Anatomical votives) Seeking divine intervention is a practice as old as human civilization. Interpreting these items gives us insight into the wishes and everyday struggles of our ancestors. In what is today Italy and Greece, votive offerings in any number of shapes can be found in the ruins of temples. So many votive offerings have been found across the lands compromising the ancient Mediterranean world that it is incredibly common to find them in any classical museum.

The mask that Laerdal saw at his parents’ was a death mask, molded over the face of a corpse fished out of the river Seine. The body was found near the quai du Louvre at the end of the nineteenth century. It was then sent to the Paris Morgue, so the story goes, to be put on display in the hopes that a passerby would identify it. No such luck. The woman came to be known as L’inconnue de la Seine (“The Unknown Woman of the Seine”), and since there were no signs of violence to her body, everyone assumed that she had killed herself. Speculation regarding the unknown’s identity was rampant; she was a Hungarian music hall artist, she ended her life because of unrequited love, she was from the country…the public ate it up. Before disposing of the body, an employee of the morgue made a plaster cast of her face. This plaster cast was reproduced and sold like hotcakes in Germany and France. Anyone who was anyone in bohemian circles had a copy of the mask; Albert Camus owned a copy, and compared its smile to that of the Mona Lisa. Poet Jules Supervielle had a mask, as did Richard le Gallienne, and other such as Anaïs Nin and Vladimir Nabokov drew artistic inspiration from it.” Fast forward and the commercial production of Annies had begun.

When you hear the word pilgrimage, what comes to mind? If you are literary minded, perhaps the Canterbury Tales wherein a group of humorous pilgrims make their way to England’s most famous holy site. Or, if you are a student of history, perhaps the road to Santiago. However, such travels are not wholly a thing of the past, and many modern pilgrims make the journey for the health of their body, not just their soul. However, let us review the origin of the modern pilgrim, with its roots in the European Medieval period.

With the arrival of the Halloween season, it is not uncommon to find the works of Edgar Allan Poe being recited or celebrated by those who adore the macabre. As one of the most influential American authors in the class canon, Poe heavily relied on the fears of the average reader - and himself. Illness and disease, both of mental and physical nature, factor often in his poems and short stories. Such topics would later appear vividly personified in the illustrations which would accompany the many posthumous printings of his work. Through his writing, visual artists can creatively depict the morbid visions such as Lenore or the Raven, but also give insight as to the mental state of the author himself.