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Eros Day
***** Location: Worldwide
***** Season: Late Winter
***** Category: Humanity
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Explanation
Eros Day, January 22
the day when the planetoid 433 Eros is closest to Earth.
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In Greek mythology, Eros (Greek: eρως) was the primordial god responsible for lust, love, and sex; he was also worshiped as a fertility deity. His name is the root of words such as erotic. His Roman equivalent was Cupid, "desire", also known as Amor, "love". He was the son of the deity Aphrodite. Like Dionysus, he was sometimes referred to as Eleutherios, "the liberator".
According to tradition, Eros was principally the patron of male love, while Aphrodite ruled men's love of women. Thus his statue could be found in the palaestras, one of the principal venues for men to associate with their beloveds, and it was to him that the Spartans sacrificed before battle. Meleager records this role in a poem preserved in the Greek Anthology:
"The Cyprian queen, a woman, hurls the fire that maddens men for women; but Eros himself sways the passion for males."
Throughout Greek thought, there appear to be two sides to the conception of Eros; in the first, he is a primeval deity who embodies not only the force of erotic love but also the creative urge of ever-flowing nature, the firstborn Light that is responsible for the coming into being and ordering of all things in the cosmos. In Hesiod's Theogony, the most famous Greek creation myth, Eros sprang forth from the primordial Chaos together with Gaia, the Earth, and Tartarus, the underworld; according to Aristophanes' play The Birds, he burgeons forth from an egg laid by Night conceived with Darkness. In the Eleusinian Mysteries, he was worshiped as Protogonus', the first-born
Worship of Eros was uncommon in early Greece, but eventually became widespread. He was fervently worshiped by a fertility cult in Thespiae, and played an important role in the Eleusinian Mysteries. In Athens, he shared a very popular cult with Aphrodite, and the fourth day of every month was sacred to him.
Eros and Psyche
The tale of Eros and Psyche first appeared as a digressionary story told by an old woman in Lucius Apuleius' novel, The Golden Ass, written in the second century CE. We also have a story of Cupid and Psyche.
In modern times, Eros is honored on Eros Day, a holiday that celebrates love and human sexuality on January 22, the day when the planetoid 433 Eros is closest to Earth.
© From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Worldwide use
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Things found on the way
In the beginning, there was sex.
Michael Hoffman delves deep into the carnal history of these islands from the Age of the Gods to the lovelands and soaplands of today.
Izanagi and Izanami,
"the male who invites" and "the female who invites."
© IMAGE COURTESY OF THE EAST PUBLICATIONS, INC. AND JOHN STEVENS
Read the full story HERE !
Japan's love affairs with sex
Michael Hoffmann
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HAIKU
The Eros Haiku Series
In December, 2006 Hugh Bygott and Dana-Maria Onica started a series of non-linked haiku on subject of Eros (Love).
Zhanna P. Rader maintains the . list of kigo . that appear in the Eros Haiku series.
Moonflower —
In the growing dark, this desire
which is so fragile ...
I Hugh Bygott
— alone,
my wet sleeve as pillow —
first winter rain
II Dana-Maria Onica
© The Eros Haiku Series
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rosebuds in snow -
the softness of his hand
on my shoulder
© Gabi Greve, look at the photo
HERE !
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the freezing snowman -
all naked and his carrot
so red
Gabi Greve, Dec 28, 2006
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Eros Day -
he hides his face behind
her red roses
Gabi Greve, January 2007
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Related words
***** Love (aijoo)
Here are some Japanese words and kigo dealing with all sorts of love.
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2/16/2007
Eros
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1 comment:
The Return of Eros
by Hugh Bygott
When Eros was started, the inspiration was Chiyo ni’s sensuous poetry.
This is still true. The wonderful character of classical hokku was not only the brevity and the conciseness of what was being said but also the allusions that were being made with such subtlety. We in the modern age find this so difficult to do. So often what is offered as a haiku is simply an empirical descriptive statement. In my view, the abandonment of the kigo has contributed to this. Bare empirical statements and haiku do not mix well.
Ideally, a haiku should have layers of meaning, to use a modern phrase.
First plum blossoms:
your fragrance among fragrance -
yet love so easily breaks. . .
The reference here is to Chiyo ni’s
taoraruru
hito ni kaoru ya
ume no kana
to the one breaking it -
the fragrance
of the plum
[Donegan/Ishibashi translation]
This hokku has been criticised by some commentators, but I, a
philosopher, find it superb.
Another example of Chiyo-ni’s art is:
squatting
the frog observes
the clouds
[Donegan/Ishibashi translation]
Without researching Chiyo ni’s meaning, few people would know that “the frog” is the poet herself, and “the clouds” refers to the family crest of persons directly involved in the visit of the Korean envoys. In fact, the Tokugawa Shogunate gave a gift to Korea of a publication of many of Chiyo ni’s hokku.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/simply_haiku/message/21471
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