¡Buen Cinco de Mayo!

Mike Manning, Charge of the Mexican Cavalry
at the Battle of Puebla. Wikimedia Commions. 

¡Buen Cinco de Mayo!


"Cinco de Mayo (Spanish for "fifth of May") is a holiday held on May 5. It is celebrated nationwide in the United States and regionally in Mexico, primarily in the state of Puebla. The date is observed in the United States as a celebration of Mexican heritage and pride,and to commemorate the cause of freedom and democracy during the first years of the American Civil War. In the state of Puebla, the date is observed to commemorate the Mexican army's unlikely victory over French forces at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862, under the leadership of General Ignacio Zaragoza Seguín.Contrary to widespread popular belief, Cinco de Mayo is not Mexico's Independence Day, the most important national patriotic holiday in Mexico, which occurs on September 16th." -- Wikipedia


A major celebration of Hispanic heritage in North America, Cinco de Mayo's popularity can be traced to two causes:  its significance for the U.S. Civil War, as the French Defeat kept Napoleon III from supporting the Confederacy, and also to join St. Patrick's Day, St. Joseph's Day, Columbus Day, Oktoberfest, Lunar New Year, Pride Day, etc, to highlight various ethnicities and interest groups in the U.S.

Welcome Summer!

Welcome to Summer: In the old European tradition, May 1 marks the beginning of Summer, while the Solstice marks the Summer's Midpoint (Midsummer)!

Happy Belteinne! The feast of life immortal! Celebrated around the world as humanity's creative power in labor!
More on this Ancient Fire Festival this week! Enjoy jumping the fire and the May Pole!

Welcome Walpurgis Night!

Walpurgis Night Bonfire in Sweden, 2006. Photo by David Castor,

Wikimedia Commons.

Happy Walpurgisnacht! 


The night of April 30 is a major celebration, especially in central, northern and eastern Europe. The vigil of the Fire Feast of Belteinne, it was a time that the followers of the old ways would gather to begin their Belteinne celebrations.

Today it is a major folk holiday in many countries. Although there are certain aspects of some local celebrations that are negative holdovers (e.g. the burning of witch effigies in the Czech Republic), for the most part the celebration is a positive continuity with its Mediaeval and much older roots.

Sint-Walburgakerk, built 1641, was the Jesuit church
of Bruges. Photo by LimoWreck, Wikimedia Commons.

The name comes from the Western Christian commemoration of  the canonization of St. Walburga or Walpurga on May 1, 870 by Roman Pope Adrian II. She was an Nun, an English missionary to the Frankish Empire.

On the Byzantine Christian Calendar, there are several commemorations on April 30, including:

• Holy Apostle James, the brother of St. John the Theologian
• St. Donatus, Bishop of Euroea in Epirus
• Martyr Maximus of Ephesus
• Opening of the Relics of St. Nicetas, Bishop of Novgorod
• Translation of the Relics of St. Sabbas, abbot of Zvenigorod Monastery
• St. Clement the Hymnographer, abbot of the Studion
• Neomartyr Argyra of Prussa
• Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos "Of the Passion" (Strastnaya)
• Repose of Schema-abbess Martha (Protasieva), disciple of St. Paisius Velichkovsky (1813)
• Repose of Bishop Ignatius (Brianchaninov) (1867)
• St. Cynwl, Hermit

Most importantly, Walpurgisnacht and Belteinne (more tomorrow on this) are the actual correspondences with Pascha (April 24 in 2011)!

In all instances, this is yet another example of how a modern monotheistic tradition (Christianity) was meant to harmoniously blend with the older wisdom traditions. The kinder, gentler monotheism of Alexander the Great and Emperor Julian II also point to this, still a vibrant possibility today.

Enjoy the feast!

Congratulations to Miss Middleton and HRH Prince William

Congratulations and prayers for a wonderful day and life together. You have an admirable legacy of social reform and justice in the history of your Kingdom, and we pray that your leadership in the years to come will be part of the movement to a much better life for our Planet! May God Grant You Many Years!

A note to Donald Trump

Dear Mr. Trump,

If you want to be taken seriously as a candidate, you must stop this Reality TV-style buffoonery. Harping on the silly birther issue was a repeat of the trumped up (hmmm... interesting word!) lies of the Swift-Boat slurs. Everyone (including you) who was using the birther slur knew full-well that there was no real issue, just a club to (1) beat President Obama over the head, (2) exploit the always just-below-the-surface xenophobia of the confused and frightened 40% of the electorate, and (3) distract people from the real issues. So we can conclude first that you are an opportunistic provocateur.

Now you blatantly accuse the President of having only gotten into the Ivy League through Affirmative Action. So we can add opportunistic racist to your list of vices: (1) Nego suppositum: I do not accept your unsubstantiated presumption that Affirmative Action is unfair or misguided; (2) This is particularly galling after 8 years of mis-rule by a "legacy admission" to my Alma Mater and a draft-dodger; (3) The end-product of his education has made President Obama an incredibly intelligent, perceptive and capable leader, inspired by not only his education, but also his Christian Faith.

Stop it now.

Rev. Steven A. Armstrong, M.A. Hum., M.Div., M.A.
Yale College '76

Christ is Risen!

Christ is Risen!
Christos Anesti!
Al-Massihu Qam!
Christos Voskrese!

Working Together

Our U. S. President is speaking right now, and as is in his excellent character, he will urge us all to work together to address the serious problems facing us.

Let's heed this call.

And listen to the responses...

Evaluate all on their merits, not which party you belong to.

We'll pick this up after it all sinks in.

Your faithful correspondent,

BT

Where in the Scriptures is the command to remove health care from those who need it?

Dear Readers,

As we witness the spectacle of the new Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, fueled by the falsely named "Tea Party" astro-turf movement (funded and artificially created to appear to be a "grassroots movement" by the radical right wing Koch brothers among others), and their signature goal to repeal our hard-won reforms to U.S. Health Care (which moved us only minimally toward the health care that every other industrialized nation of our type in the world has), I have a question.

Where in the Scriptures of the great monotheistic creeds, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, which I believe encompass all of the "Tea Party" adherents, can the Divine command be found: "Thou shalt take affordable health care away from those who need it, and make sure that only the well-to-do and powerful have healthcare."

Eastern (Byzantine) Christianity, the Tradition of the greatest Christian Empire in history, the Roman Empire (from 330 to the Fall of the Empire in 1453) includes a class of saints, the Holy Unmercenary Physicians, who heal without charge. The Empire emulated this in creating the finest health care system in ancient Europe (the best care until the 18th century), which, by its height in the 12th-13th centuries, provided free healthcare for all, funded by the state, the Emperor, the wealthy and the Church.

So "Tea Partiers" and neocons in the House... where is your justification? Don't look to "Fox News-Entertainment"* for answers, go pray about it, and ask the One you claim to worship what God really wants. I think you will find the answer in your Sacred Scriptures too.

More on this to come.

BT

* Fox News-Entertainment bears the same relationship to a real news channel that the WWE (Pro-Wrestling) bears to real sports...its just that Vince McMahon is honest enough to call his programming "Sports-Entertainment." Thank you Mr. McMahon for your honesty!