Word: paganization
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...Sacre du Printemps”), two ballets with specially commissioned scores by Igor Stravinsky, are perhaps two of the most famous; the latter, with choreography by the legendary dancer Vaslav Nijinsky, caused a furor at its inception by virtue of its outrageous costumes, unusual choreography, bizarre story of pagan sacrifice, and Stravinsky’s musical innovations, all of which tested the patience of the audience to the extreme. “My hope at the symposium is to recapture something of the excitement of the premiere, by thinking about the context in which the Rite’s first...
...turned their guns on each other since they signed a U.S.-brokered peace deal three years ago. Still, north-south enmity runs deep, and the new fighting has pushed the region back to the edge. "We are on the brink of a new war," was the assessment of Pagan Amum, secretary-general of the southern Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM). Tensions have been building for months. In a report on the region in March, the International Crisis Group (ICG) warned the situation "could quickly become national... It is uncertain whether the SPLM-NCP [National Congress Party, which dominates...
...inevitable and probably for the best. Not many kids beg to be told a ripping yarn with a feline Messiah. The theological touches in the Lewis and Pullman books are things for adults to ponder--and, when the movie versions come out, to praise or protest. Remember when that pagan fable about Harry Potter appeared as a film? An anguished cry rose from certain Christian groups, but that didn't stop the movies from grossing billions, nor did the films noticeably corrupt the little ones...
...funny thing to have hanging under the branches of stately old Harvard trees. The tire swing has become the pagan totem of our spring rite, and we—its fanatics—flock to it out of simple glee or hipster irony. Like a hypnotic pendulum lulling away the vulgarities of everyday stress, the tire swing beckons us to Yardfest in a more complex way than the food monopoly and in a more subtle way than the rap stars. One can imagine Yardfest without the dining services’ cornucopia, without the spectacle of saccharine country and ironic...
...leaves me cold. It's a holiday that has no idea of what it's really celebrating. Or at least no idea of whom it celebrates: St. Valentine could be any of half a dozen Christian martyrs whom the early church recruited to clean up and bless pagan fertility festivals. Of the top candidates, the best known is a priest named Valentinus, who was beheaded by Emperor Claudius the Cruel on Feb. 14, A.D. 269. Upon slim evidence, whole layers of legend are stacked: that Valentinus performed secret weddings after Claudius banned marriage to prevent soldiers from deserting his armies...