Thursday 13 January 2011

Four Hundred Rabbits

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I was browsing the internet recently when I saw a small mention of the Aztec dieties called Centzon Totochtin - the four hundred rabbits.

Four hundred Aztec rabbit gods?



I couldn't resist finding out more about these ancient Buns. What I found was even more fun than I expected. A lot of the time mythology can be a bit... dull, but not when you're dealing with rabbits.

It seems the four hundred rabbits aren't just gods - they were the gods of drunkenness and partying. The ultimate playbunnies, it seems? Wikipedia has this lovely photo of an Aztec drinking vessel shaped like a rabbit, for holding the alcoholic beverage Aztec bunnies love best - Pulque.

And there I was thinking our wild bunnies spent the festive season tucked up underground in semi-hibernation... they probably popped on the karaoke machine, got out the carrot gin and celebrated their ancestral gods all winter!



No wonder we always have so many baby rabbits each Spring... ;-)
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8 comments:

  1. LOL Thank you for the smiles! :)

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  2. Thanks Lori. The idea of four hundred party rabbits makes me smile everytime I think about it, which is why I just had to share it. Looking for pictures to fit that idea was fun too! :-D

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  3. HI HI HI HI...this post makes me smile so much he he he he...and you've picked the funniest images ever! :-D

    I've posted a Northern Lights video clip in Facebook and in my blog - you should watch it. It's breathtaking 'coz it's in "real-time" (not just pics of different Northern Lights) so you can see the movement (assuming you haven't seen it before) he he...

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  4. love this, too funny!

    this is part of the inheritance that's missing in our modern world. Some ancients had party rabbits, others had Bacchus, but until recently it seems that a bit of party and debauch was seen as being good.

    I suspect our strictness of attitude has contributed to the alcoholism and drug-addled-ness of modern culture. If it's part of human nature and there's no room inside the culture, a bigger, more disreputable space for it will be made on the culture's periphery.

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  5. Hi Amel
    I had fun finding those dancing rabbits. :-) I've only seen Northern Lights here once. Thank you - I'll go check your photos. :-))

    Hayden
    Very good point. I remember reading an article once that pointed out that the more inhibited or repressed a group was - the more they went a bit bonkers on holiday - drinking too much, etc.

    We've been watching a TV show here called Edwardian Farm. About some historians who volunteered to live as Edwardians for a year. It's been utterly fascinating. Anyway, the point is alcohol was way more a part of life than it is now. One lot of workers got a beer or cider with lunch as part of their daily pay, the shepherds took "toddy mix", of several alcohols and orange, with them when they stayed out on the hills with the sheep at night.

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  6. Yes, and it's very unpopular and not at all PC to talk about former drinking patterns.

    Self medication the way it's done today may not be healthy, but it's an obvious scream for some relief from the pressure.

    I drank way too much for years, and the real issue was that once I'd had a single sip, I was mentally/emotionally 'off the hook' from doing any more work that evening. By 7 or 8 - whenever my cut-off was, I was so ready for that drink! It was a tangible signal as well as a ready excuse: "ok to relax now."

    Too often, visiting friends who didn't drink, I'd watch them still engaged in the mania of work, despite having "company." Sweeping, dusting, checking their blackberries up 'till bedtime. We've lost the ability to sit down, chat, relax.

    I think of the 'coctail culture' of the 50's/60's, and how 'dad' would get home by 6: and both parents would have a drink before dinner, then spend the evening relaxing (and cleaning up after dinner). My parents didn't, but lots of my friends' parents did. They started MUCH earlier than I ever had, and drank a LOT. And it really wasn't new - except during the poverty of the depression it was always that way.

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  8. wow...amazing...I love rabbits..This picture makes me smile...funny.

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