Tribuo Nos Gratiae

Give us thanks!

As the fourth Thursday in November approaches, Americans prepare to give thanks. One traditional observance is the Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Immortalized on film in Miracle on 34th Street, the Macy's parade was not the nation's first. That honor goes to Philadelphia's Gimbel's Parade which began in 1920, four years before Macy's. Gimbels is no more, but floats, bands, and, yes, mummers, still march to the Art Museum in the City of Brotherly Love.

Parades have a murky history. They combine the solemnity of religious processions, the order of military marches and the revels of mumming. Dating back to the Middle Ages, mummers would don guises and perform plays, often comedic, in the streets. They danced from house to house, often stopping to perform in pubs. By the 17th century, mumming became a release in which people could hide their identities and celebrate without the constraints of civility.

As you prepare for this annual feast, index what you have to give thanks for and gird your loins for the upcoming holiday lunacy, take a moment to relax. Put on a silly mask, grab and old pot, bang on it creating a cacophonous din and dance down your street bellowing your thanks to all. The neighbors will give thanks that they are not as crazy as you. As ever - BB

"I had rather have a fool to make me merry than experience to made me sad..." - William Shakespeare

Inspiration

The literal Latin translation is to breathe upon. At the oracle of Delphi, a priest would inhale vapors to divine the will of the gods. By the 4th century BC, inspiration anthropomorphized into the nine muses. Each goddess enkindled a specific art form.

Mine is Calliope, muse of epic poetry, not to be confused with Erato, muse of lyric poetry. I worked on a riverboat which had a steam organ, also called a calliope - from the Greek beautiful voice. While I enjoyed the music and the engineering, those living close by eschewed the noisy machine's beautiful voice appellation for a more offensive one. But I digress...

With the rise of Christianity, the Holy Spirit replaced the muses. During the Enlightenment, man turned inward for inspiration. Romantics like Rimbaud and Verlaine used alcohol and drugs. Tolstoy wrote in the village square drawing inspiration from people's faces. Thoreau went into the quiet woods. Marxists believe creative motivation comes from class struggle. Freud traced artistic motivation to the inner psyche.

Each of us must find our own inspirations. It matters not how or where. What we must do is heed our own muse and nourish the muse in others. As ever- BB

"Man's mind, stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimension." - Oliver Wendell Holmes