Halo an Echo?

A hypocephalus (Greek: under the head) is a disc-shaped object that was placed under the head of a deceased person in Ancient Egypt. It symbolized the sun and it was believed to protect the deceased and making him/ her divine. On it was written and pictured the daily setting and rising of the sun. A metaphor for rebirth and death. Day in. Day out. Death not as an end but a new birth. These "under the head suns" (my words) first appeared in the 7th Century BC in Ancient Egypt.

Remember a "under the head sun". Making the deceased divine.

And what do we see in the christian iconography? A halo, this is a circle or disk of light that surrounds a holy or sacred figure.

Coincidence? Question: is a halo an echo of the Ancient Egyptian 'under the head sun'?

Mark, that we can read the hypocephalus also as a roadmap of day and night, of live on Earth and between the sun and stars on a bark, of being alive and death. From this perspective the christian halo can be interpreted as he/ she who knows the road.

P.S. Source  hypocephalus: here. Source Maria with child with halo: here.

Some Kind of Blue

A few days ago I visited Our Lady's Cathedral of Antwerp in Belgium.

I love the peace and quietness of churches. Walk around and puzzle on what I am supposed to see and "feel". Wonder about all the generations that "invested" for "free" in churches.

I love the blue and light of Maria with child in this painting. 

Back home I realized that it's not a 16th or 17th century painting because the red cross emblem that the kneeling woman on the left bears did not exist back then - its use was agreed upon starting from 1863.

When I looked in greater detail I saw the uniform of the kneeling man on the left: Allied uniform of World War I, for sure!

Today I checked out the exact date and more details of the painting. 

Location: chapel of Our Lady of Peace. Altar painting is from Jozef Janssen, 'Our Lady of Peace' (1924). The painting represents World War I. King Albert of Belgium in militairy uniform and queen Elizabeth of Belgium in nurse's uniform of the red cross. Jesus offers peace with an olive branch.

More information: here (paragraph 'The chapel of Our Lady of Peace. Formerly Saint Barbara').

P.S. Maria with child paintings in a church depicting a World War I or II theme are rare.

Speak Out

The Ancient Egyptians had at least four creation myths. We have to read them complementary!

• Hermopolis. Frogs and snakes make in water the egg (read: primeval mound) from which the sun and world is born. 
• Heliopolis. Eel in water who creates by separating: water and land; man and wife.
• Memphis. The heart of a god thinks and the tongue makes the world come alive by speaking out their names.
• Thebes/ Aswan. Cosmos is made from clay by a potter on his turntable.

In all four myths we have water, a mound raising from the water and a sun coming out of the mound. An image most likely inspired by the annual flooding of the Nile River, after the withdrawing of the floodwaters fertile soil was left behind. Life re-newed like the first time.

Next to that. The scarab beetle lets the sun rise every morning. An image most likely inspired by their creating and rolling of brood balls.

Next to that the fly was considered courageous and brave. In the New Kingdom they even had a militairy decoration named 'Fly of Valour' or 'Golden Fly' (source picture: here).

Keen observers those Ancient Egyptians, aren't they?

P.S. Information from four creation myths is from exhibition 'Gods of Egypt' in Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Leiden, The Netherlands. The details are slightly different according to Vergote, 'De Godsdienst van het Oude Egypte' (1987), Shaw and Nicholson, 'The Illustrated Dictionary of Ancient Egypt' (2008) and Wikipedia, 'Ancient Egyptian creation myths'.

Nobody Talks About Spring

Last week I joined a Mariza concert in Eindhoven. Two pictures I took:

I wrote a music-review 'Nobody talks about the spring' for Zuca-Magazine. A magazine for those who partly think, dream, read and ... - there must be more - with "A minha pátria é a língua portuguesa". You can find the review (in Dutch): here. Listen to Mariza? Yes!

I point in this review at the three Mariza songs I love most:

• Quem me dera
• Trigueirinha
• Primavera