Religion by Katherine Pym

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Fanciful rendition, Babylon Ziggurat

Religion has been extremely important to mankind since what seems the onset of our species. Spiritual markings abound in caves, on megaliths or stone circles with no markings, but we surmise them as ritualistic. Ziggurats, or step pyramids are scattered around the world. Symbols and worshipful edifices continue to this day. They are evidence of mankind’s need for religion.

Gobekli Tepe dig purposefully buried

Another look at Gobekli Tepe dig

One of the oldest places of worship is Gobekli Tepe (circa 11,000-13,000 BCE depending on the source), located in what is now Turkey, predates the Egyptian pyramids by several thousand years. New data says it even predates farming. One expert feels it was built as a religious monument, which brought farming & civilization. This is opposite from earlier thought of hunter gatherers to farming. No writing exists on the site, so no one knows for sure.

Curiously constructed, then strangely buried, a smaller version was built on top of it, and so it went over the centuries. The footprint became smaller until people put icons of the bull in their homes, which kept a constant reminder of their beliefs. By this time, the entire site of Gobekli Tepe had been purposefully buried.

Then Sumer (oldest part of Mesopotamia) came along approx. 5000 BCE, which is quite a span of time between the two. Based between the Tigris & Euphrates rivers, it is considered by many to be the cradle of civilization. Also known as Sumeria, they suspect these people came from the Indus Valley (Pakistan and NW India). They were a devout group who developed writing, the wheel. Some say they developed hydraulics. They perfected irrigation, planted during the inundation, which was the winter melt originating in Turkey.

Tigris Euphrates

Artist rendition of ancient Sumer

The Sumerians were an advanced species who worshiped a denizen of gods, many of which were at one time kings or queens. They believed in many things we recognize. They have a battle between the gods in the heavens, a Moses, a flood, and sacrifice. They developed law codes that were in part similar to the 10 Commandments. They built ziggurats for high priests and the elite to worship which were the forerunner of the pyramids, but not for burial purposes. 

Mayan Step Pyramid so much like Sumer's Ziggurats

 In many ways our modern world meets old civilizations in thought and beliefs. Man has always worshiped a god, several or one. We are connected by these beliefs attached to early man. The concept is fascinating. 

Greendale, A Fond Memory by Katherine Pym

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A Young Greendale, City Hall

Nostalgia comes from memories and our minds burgeon with them, overflow onto our current visual space (writers use these for their stories, and anything else that one can find in the larder :D). As we gather new memories, we merge them with the old. 

I’ve been thinking a lot lately of the town where I grew up. It was one of the greenbelt projects FDR initiated during the Depression. We lived in the Greendale community. 

https://livingnewdeal.org/tag/greenbelt-towns/

It put men to work, building a country hamlet with the amenities of a city. The people who lived there had to make a certain income. My dad was short by a few dollars. He had someone vouch for him. 

Greendale Theatre, Only 10¢ for Sat matinee

We had a grocery store, a Five & Dime (run by two harridan spinsters), drug store, theatre, dentist and doctor offices. When mom took me to the doctor for a smallpox vaccination, I didn’t cry, so the doctor inoculated me again. The nurse was a big boned woman who walked all over town, visiting homes and administrating cough syrups. Her hair was stone grey in a thick braid that she wound around her head. Even as a young child, the town’s nurse made an impression on me. 

There was a public school, grades kindergarten to 12, police department, a tavern called the Village Inn, with a bus line into the city, and churches scattered throughout. It was a good place to grow up.

I’d walk outside into the cool breezes and smell fresh grass clippings, raise my head and listen to robin’s song. When the summer nights were gentle, our windows would be open. As dawn lit the bedroom, robins began their day. It was a balm to my ears and I’d sigh. I’d be reminded life was good. My parents protected me and kept me safe. 

New houses, New streets, New everything

I’d explore with my brothers over rutted paths with puddles from last night’s passing shower. If I were a pioneer and thirsty, I could drink from the puddle to survive a long trek across country. Tommy would point and yell, “Let’s explore that field over there. Maybe, there’s hidden treasure.”

We ran up a hill where a big tree had fallen over, branches and bracken tucked about. It made a good fort. My brothers settled in with their boy scout knives and began to form swords, bows and arrows while I pretended to work in the kitchen, the old tree stump being my countertop. 

Later, after we moved from Greendale, new memories joined with the old. 

When I see fluttering wings of butterflies, it reminds me of the bright afternoon when, in a moment of quiet serenity, thousands of monarch butterflies blanketed our backyard, resting before they started again on their migration. I can still feel the hot sun on my shoulders as I stared out the back door. I did not move, afraid I might jar them into flight. 

Greendale today

I went to my son’s room where he had just been put down for a nap but he was asleep. I could not rouse him. When I returned to the back door, the butterflies were gone. 

Nostalgia can give you a nice afternoon, away from the thunder of violence that seems to have pervaded our world these days. It’s like a good book. We can escape into past memories for a while but we don’t want to get lost. When the story in the book says, The End, we close the book. We reenter the world of our lives that can be tumultuous, difficult, and far away from our sweet memories. 

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Many thanks to my memories, & WikiCommons, Public Domain