CATULLUS, CYBELE AND COLLECTIVE JOY. The weekend Financial Times has a review by Rachel Holmes of DANCING IN THE STREETS: A HISTORY OF COLLECTIVE JOY by Barbara Ehrenreich. Some quotes from the review: “Barbara Ehrenreich, leading US columnist and feminist known for her left-field interventions in socio-cultural history, takes a fresh look at joie de vivre, investigating communal rituals and collective ecstasy….” Ehrenreich argues that “we are inclined to melancholy and depression because of the loss of community and its egalitarian ecstasies….” Later in the review comes a thought that makes me think twice about loss of community and egalitarian ecstasies: “There is insight and wit here that makes you want to time-travel. I’D LIKE TO SEE THE DEVOTEES OF CYBELE CHEERFULLY PERFORMING SELF-CASTRATION IN DIVINE TRANCE ….[emphasis supplied]” I have never been able to forget Catullus’s great poem, number 63, which describes the collective ecstasy inspired by Cybele and the morning after. (English translation here as number xiv and the Latin with line by line translation here).
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I think “communal rituals and collective ecstasy” (great terms) are highly underrated these days. But it hasn’t always been so. I was amazed when I first read about how many saint’s days were celebrated in medieval Europe. Somewhere I read that the total number was 180 per year (or something ridiculously high like that). Imagine taking 180 days off from work every year to gallivant in the streets, turn things topsy turvy (something that was said to lighten the hearts of the oppressed peasants), and gorge yourself on feasts and festive ales. This reminds me of your post about your father’s platform of creating more state holidays/more days off from work.
They are closing soccer games to fans in Europe to PREVENT communal rituals and collective ecstasy, otherwise known as rioting! When is a crowd an egalitarian collective, and when is it a mob?