A Celebration, a Song and a Story

Yesterday…

…I learnt about ‘Botides’

…Son-Andrew and Partner-Emily told us about a recent holiday to Corfu. They saw red pots being thrown off balconies, smashing on the street below. I googled it. It’s the ancient tradition of ‘botides’. On Easter Saturday morning at 11:00 Corfu residents throw pots from their windows and balconies…

Some say that the crash of broken pots symbolizes the First Resurrection; others trace the tradition back to the Venetian Catholics or the ancient Greeks… replacing old pots at the beginning of the year or agricultural season with new ones…

Whatever its origins, Botides is part of an Easter tradition that’s been passed down through generations. The community comes together, celebrating with feasts, laughter, music, and pot-smashing!

…I heard Sound of Silence

It’s sixty years since it was first recorded. I’ve returned many times to it over the years. I heard this impressive version by Jadyn Rylee for the first time yesterday…

Hello darkness, my old friend
I’ve come to talk with you again…

It’s about feeling silence in literal and personal darkness…

…And in the naked light, I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening…

It’s about being with many other people, in a crowd, at a party, in a community, but feeling lonely and alone.

…I read The Tanglewoods’ Secret… It’s an old 1948 children’s story that I read many years ago…

It tells of nine-year-old Ruth who finds living with Aunt Margaret particularly difficult. She loves her brother, Philip, and the local country side, but she really isn’t coping. She runs away…

Central to the story is a shepherd who finds a lost sheep. It’s a retelling of the story that Jesus told… Ruth identifies with the sheep that may be part of a flock, but it’s alone, lost and helpless…

This Morning… Musing… The sound of crashing broken posts in fun-filled parties… The Sound of Silence, and the Good Shepherd who finds lonely lost sheep.