The Cherry Tree Carol

This song establishes that the folklore about pregnant women demanding weird foodstuffs--pickles with ice cream, for instance--goes way back. Also, it has Embryo Jesus speaking from the womb.

The Cherry Tree Carol is a bit darker than most Christmas related songs. It is identified as a Kentucky mountain ballad on the record. In fact it is a much older song from the early 15th century. The song is quite lovely and presents an unusual variation on the story of Mary and Joseph.

Posted By: Paul - Wed Dec 07, 2022 - Comments (1)
Category: Food, Holidays, Music, Religion, Pregnancy

An Account of Some Well-Authenticated Miracles

This small book gives details on a few miraculous incidents "authenticated" by the Catholic Church.

Posted By: Paul - Sun Sep 18, 2022 - Comments (2)
Category: Religion, Supernatural, Occult, Paranormal, Unexplained Historical Enigmas, Nineteenth Century

RIP David Bawden, aka Pope Michael

An innocuous obit.

Full article here.





His Wikipedia page says:

He stated in 2009 that he had approximately 30 "solid followers".[2] In 1990 Bawden was elected pope by a group of six laypeople, including himself and his parents, who had come to believe that the Catholic Church had apostatized from the Catholic faith since Vatican II, and that there had been no legitimate popes elected since the death of Pope Pius XII in 1958.[3] In 2011, he was ordained a priest and consecrated a bishop by an Independent Catholic bishop

Posted By: Paul - Thu Aug 04, 2022 - Comments (1)
Category: Hoaxes and Imposters and Imitators, Religion, North America

Walking across the Australian desert to prove that God exists

1985: Six young Christians, carrying only "a Swiss army knife, adhesive bandages, cigarette lighters and three Bibles," set out to walk over one thousand miles across Australia's Nullarbor desert in order to "prove God exists." They were later joined by a 41-year-old man.

They did so "in defiance of police warnings that the walk was dangerous, and complaints of blasphemy from religious leaders."

They made it. So they avoided winning a Darwin Award, though going on a hike in a desert without water would definitely put anyone in the running for one.

Port Huron Times Herald - May 18, 1985

"On the last leg of their trek: Rachel Sukumaran (12), Christine McKay (15), Dane Frick (42), Robin Dunn (19), Roland Gianstefani (22), Gary McKay (16) and Malcolm Wrest (22)."
Sydney Morning Herald - June 30, 1985

Posted By: Alex - Wed Aug 03, 2022 - Comments (3)
Category: Religion, Stupidity, 1980s

Kosher Pet Food

This is not a religious concern that had previously appeared on my radar.

Read the whole article here.

Posted By: Paul - Sun Jul 24, 2022 - Comments (3)
Category: Food, Pets, Religion

Ella Fitzgerald, “Get Thee Behind Me Satan”

This is a very weird song. Is Satan the boyfriend? I'm not sure. Gospel music of course deals with this subject matter all the time, but to the tune of a wistful ballad?

Get Thee Behind Me Satan Lyrics
[Verse 1]
Get thee behind me, Satan
I want to resist
But the moon is low and I can't say "No"
Get thee behind me

Get thee behind me, Satan
I mustn't be kissed
But the moon is low and I may let go
Get thee behind me

[Bridge]
Someone I'm mad about
Is waiting in the night for me
Someone that I mustn't see
Satan, get thee behind me

[Verse 2]
He promised to wait
But I won't appear and he may come here
Satan, he's at my gate
Get thee behind me
Stay where you are, it's too late

[Instrumental Break]

[Verse 3]
Satan, get thee behind me
He promised to wait
But I won't appear and he may come here
Satan, he's at my gate
Get thee behind me
Stay where you are, it's too late

[Outro]
It's too late
It's too late

Posted By: Paul - Thu Jul 07, 2022 - Comments (6)
Category: Music, Religion, Love & Romance

Unintended consequence of hymn singing

Weird Fact: hymn singing can cause mink to kill and eat their young.

Vancouver Sun - Dec 8, 1959

Posted By: Alex - Thu Jun 30, 2022 - Comments (0)
Category: Animals, Religion, 1950s

The Good Book Cookbook

Not a lot of nouvelle or fusion or fast-food cuisine in this volume. (Read it here.)

I did a search for "locusts" within the book, but no recipes, with honey or otherwise. However, you can source them here, at Biblical Protein.

Posted By: Paul - Wed Jun 22, 2022 - Comments (0)
Category: Food, Nutrition, Cookbooks, Religion, 1980s

Crepitus, the God of Flatulence

Crepitus was allegedly the Roman god of flatulence. He was usually depicted as a young child farting.

However, he's only allegedly so because there's controversy about whether the Romans recognized such a god, or whether Crepitus was the creation of early Christians trying to satirize pagan beliefs. According to Wikipedia, there are references to Crepitus in ancient texts, but only in Christian works, not pagan ones.

image source: POOP Project

Posted By: Alex - Wed Jun 08, 2022 - Comments (4)
Category: Religion, Flatulence, Ancient Times

“The Largest Cross in the Western Hemisphere”

Another oddity that I encountered on my recent cross-country road trip was the "largest cross in the western hemisphere." It's located in Groom, Texas, just a few miles down the road from the Devil's Rope Museum (which I posted about yesterday).

It was built in 1995 by Steve Thomas, a structural engineer, after he grew tired of being "faced with huge billboards along I-40 advertising XXX pornography locations." He wanted to offer the public something more wholesome instead.



The cross stands 190 feet tall, but as you approach it along the highway it looks disappointingly small because it's dwarfed by windmills in the fields around it. However, once you get right up beside it, it seems pretty big.

Referring to the cross as the largest in the western hemisphere, begs the question of where the largest cross is. According to Wikipedia, it's in Spain and is 500 feet tall.

However, more Internet research reveals that the cross in Groom isn't actually the largest in the western hemisphere, even though it's still being advertised as such (according to the pamphlet I got — see below). It was the tallest when it was built, but there are now two taller crosses in America — one in Illinois (198-feet tall) and another in Missouri (218-feet tall).



The cross is surrounded by "life-size bronze sculptures depicting the steps of Jesus to the Cross." And to the side of the cross is a life-size depiction of Calvary, where Jesus was crucified alongside two thieves.

The depiction of Calvary stands quite close to the highway. You can see the trucks and cars going by in the background. It gives the odd impression of three people being crucified along the I-40.



Overall, given that the giant cross was directly off the highway and very easy to get to, I'd recommend it as being interesting enough to visit, if you happen to be doing a roadtrip along the I-40.

Posted By: Alex - Mon Jun 06, 2022 - Comments (2)
Category: Religion, Landmarks, Sightseeing