Montjoy
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- Aug 8, 2010
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I hope y'all will forgive me as this is somewhat off-topic, but I hope it is still on-point, even though it has nothing to do with the Ramseys. I do most of my work in the high arctic, which is a great geographic expanse with a handful of small towns, all of which are north of the treeline, and none of which is connected to any other by road. The food and resource costs are 3-5 times what we pay down here, and so much of what folks eat is hunted or fished -- and they do have access to some very good country food -- fish and meat, berries and eggs in season, up there.
Back to the subject of conversation, life can be fairly risky in the arctic, and many die of accident, drowning or misadventure, or exposure given the weather and terrain. I was in a hamlet some time ago when someone had drowned in a lake about 30km from where she lived. There was a funeral in the hamlet -- and for what it's worth, funerals pretty much shut down the hamlets for half of the day -- but there was also a second service lakeside where she drowned.
I will not recall if it was a Catholic, Anglican, or some sort of Evangelist service (most hamlets, however small, have at least 3 churches -- and all of them do the same sort of thing), but the point of the service was to say "Hey lake, it was not your fault that someone died in you. These things happen, and you should still be seen as a source of fish and/or fresh water in the future. People should still be able to use and enjoy you." The lake was then blessed and/or spiritually cleansed.
Myself, I'm not the least bit religious or magical, but I did appreciate the ritual. It also reminded me that there could be many reasons to distance bad events from physical space, inasmuch as we shouldn't want to ignore the potential that spaces have for the future.
Sorry for the mainly OT story, and best wishes.
Back to the subject of conversation, life can be fairly risky in the arctic, and many die of accident, drowning or misadventure, or exposure given the weather and terrain. I was in a hamlet some time ago when someone had drowned in a lake about 30km from where she lived. There was a funeral in the hamlet -- and for what it's worth, funerals pretty much shut down the hamlets for half of the day -- but there was also a second service lakeside where she drowned.
I will not recall if it was a Catholic, Anglican, or some sort of Evangelist service (most hamlets, however small, have at least 3 churches -- and all of them do the same sort of thing), but the point of the service was to say "Hey lake, it was not your fault that someone died in you. These things happen, and you should still be seen as a source of fish and/or fresh water in the future. People should still be able to use and enjoy you." The lake was then blessed and/or spiritually cleansed.
Myself, I'm not the least bit religious or magical, but I did appreciate the ritual. It also reminded me that there could be many reasons to distance bad events from physical space, inasmuch as we shouldn't want to ignore the potential that spaces have for the future.
Sorry for the mainly OT story, and best wishes.