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raymond - 2004-10-15 08:18:46 You will have new flesh On which new skin will form Dry bones, you will live again ...um...so, will the bodies be reconstituted with bones all mixed up randomly from the tangle in which they are now found, many with jawbones missing? Ewwwww* * * * * * * * * * * * Anna - 2004-10-15 08:37:50 Wow... I Knew about the Paris ones (I think I may have even been in there many years ago? Or maybe I'm thinking of someplace else... seems a like the kind of place they wouldn't offer regular tours of...), but that Czech Church is just incredible. * * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2004-10-15 08:59:32 Raymond, only you could make a comment about, of all things, an ossuary, that could make me laugh--even before I've had my coffee. I like the poem--it rings a bell--wild non-Googling stab here: Eliot? Anna: yes, isn't it wild? I've never seen such a thing. And how does one come up with such an idea? "Dang--they were totally sold out of banners, candles, and incense burners down at the church-decoration store. But--hey, I know--let's decorate the church with--thousands of human bones! Yeah!"* * * * * * * * * * * * raymond - 2004-10-15 10:03:16 The poem comes from the last page of the Paris underground bone orchard Site. I didn't pay any attention to who wrote it. As it happens, I'm working on stringing three sets of bones for skeleton marionettes to use in our NYC Samhain gig in November. Marionettes present knotty problems. Luckily I have fingernails. Would it be easier if I waited until the last minute? Ohmigod! it is the last three minutes!* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2004-10-15 10:13:15 What a strange coincidence. And a marionette made of bones is such an intriguing and original idea--wow. What's even stranger is that the first part of this Googled-up but still authorless poem refers to knots and tying: "Listen dry bones. The powerful God of our ancestors Who in one breath created them Will retie your undone knots You will have new flesh On which new skin will form Dry bones, you will live. Dry bones, you will live again!" * * * * * * * * * * * * addiann - 2004-10-15 14:18:04 These bone creations are fabulous! And beautiful. Thanks. * * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2004-10-15 14:23:33 You're most welcome; they are weirdly beautiful, aren't they? I think it would be fabulous to see a photo of Raymond's bone marionettes, too--but only when he has more time, after the Samhain festival.* * * * * * * * * * * * raymond - 2004-10-15 14:39:24 The bones I'm working on are cribbed. Decorative imports from China. Some kind of composition like resin or bondo. We are not beyond transforming ready-made stuff in unexpected ways. We also use toy marionettes and antiques in addition to our own. I've previously made three wooden come-apart skeletons. One I gave away to the cute daughter of some people I knew long ago, probably ended up on eBay or in a yard sale, or the trash. Two toured 200 or so performances and were burned in the fire at a storage facility. Brian made a skeleton of cloth and I strung it. We still use that one in performance. Skeleton marionettes are a traditional old trick puppet. They've been around for ages. They are a lot of fun. You can have dead puppets onstage and it's okay. You can do anything to them and get away with it. Unless Mister Ashcroft hears about, maybe.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2004-10-15 20:04:07 There is something so curious about the idea that you can have dead puppets onstage and it's OK, compared to the twinge of fright and revulsion I'd feel if I saw an animated skeleton as a character on a TV sitcom, say. I wonder why that's different.* * * * * * * * * * * * raymond - 2004-10-16 08:49:09 Punch throws the baby out the window, then kills off everyone from Judy through the policeman to the Devil and even kills Death (hahaha, the kiddies laugh) and gets away with it.* * * * * * * * * * * * Larry Kestenbaum - 2004-10-16 19:12:49 Ossuaries were a necessity in urban Europe because churchyards were too small to accomodate the accumulation of human remains over time. From a religious standpoint, it was considered okay to do things with bones (e.g., build them into chandeliers and so forth) as long as they remained within the church premises. The underground ossuaries of Paris were pushing the envelope on that rule, hence, they created them secretly. What ultimately solved the problem, both in Europe and the early U.S., was the invention of the "rural" or garden cemetery, first Pere La Chaise in Paris, then Mt. Auburn near Boston, and Laural Hill in Philadelphia. All of these were spacious, secular or nonsectarian, with picturesque, seemingly "natural" (though highly manipulated) landscapes, with winding drives, trees, hills, ponds, and the like.* * * * * * * * * * * * raymond - 2004-10-17 13:29:12 How many dead are there, anyway? Does anyone put forth an estimate of how many people have lived and died? By the way, it seems that the bones of the 110 or so dead at Willow Run's Spencer school still lie there. Only the grave markers were moved. When the original wooden building was replaced in 1932 with good brick, the cemetery with stones was still there. The school was expanded in '42. Willow Run folks beseeched Mister Ford to bring dirt from the bomber plant construction to level the ground over the graveyard. Ford directed Harry to do it, and it was done forthwith. The names of the dead are on a stone there now.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2004-10-17 13:31:13 "Daddy, Daddy, it was just as you said Now that the living outnumber the dead" --Laurie Anderson* * * * * * * * * * * * Larry Kestenbaum - 2004-10-18 06:36:48 As I recall, there are an estimated fifteen times as many dead (since the beginning of recorded history) as living people. In other words, for each person living today, there are fifteen dead.* * * * * * * * * * * * raymond - 2004-10-18 08:13:54 15 to 1. No wonder graves cost so much. My former spouse died last year. Some of her cremains are contained in a clay vessel created by the potters guild in Plymouth, Michigan, of which she was an active member. In fact the guild reissued her tiles and continues to sell them. When the vessel containing ash is tipped from side to side, fragments of bone create a melodious clinking sound. A group of her friends, students, admirerers, and an ex-husband met at Pete's Tavern in New York to distribute other portions of ash. Some goes to be buried with trees, some to art sites in the city, some as art materials for works yet to be completed. We may be able to avoid or defer taxes, but only Mister Punch can escape Death.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2004-10-18 08:56:51 Larry: hmm, if you think of those graphs that show the exponentially exploding population as of late, it is hard to imagagine that even millenia of a relatively low population density would add up to 15 to 1. But that's just an off-the-cuff impression; we need some data, and a definition of the term "recorded history" (whose record?)* * * * * * * * * * * * Larry Kestenbaum - 2004-10-18 12:22:29 Don't forget much shorter lifespans in the old days, hence greater "turnover" in the population. Hmmm, I just Googled it, and the first cite for the 15/1 statistic was the Weekly World News. Never mind ...* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2004-10-18 12:30:04 Larry! You're running for office--asking for the public's trust--and yet here you are, basing arguments on "statistics" from...the Weekly World News?! * * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2004-10-18 12:30:28 just kidding. :)* * * * * * * * * * * * Annarborcrat - 2004-10-18 13:39:24 The science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke once wrote that the total number of persons who have died is 100 billion. This would in fact be about the same as the 15 to 1 stat. Where Clarke got the number I don't know.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2004-10-18 13:41:31 Hmm, now I'm really getting curious about this mysterious ratio and how to research it.* * * * * * * * * * * * Leighton - 2004-10-19 09:52:37 People wanted to be buried there because someone brought back soil from the "holy land" after a crusade and started the cemetery with the dirt. There's a sign in broken English on one of the bone cages that says "Don't touch"...under which someone scribbled "They bite!" The nearby town has an amazing Cathedral (St. Barbaras).* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2004-10-19 10:02:01 The Holy Land dirt story is fascinating. The whole area sounds well worth a visit.* * * * * * * * * * * * invite peonies - 2005-10-12 04:01:52 You may find it interesting to take a look at some helpful info in the field of care care http://www.flower4us.com/amaryllis.html http://www.flower4us.com/amaryllis.html ... Thanks!!!* * * * * * * * * * * * add your comment: |