Buffalo Bill and Hocus Pocus

Last night we saw ‘Buffalo Bill Comes to Lowestoft’. Local musician John Ward has researched how Buffalo Bill and his huge, spectacular Wild West Show came to perform in Lowestoft – close to where we live in Pakefield – in 1903. He told the fascinating tale in songs, words and pictures.

In describing the life and times of Buffalo Bill, John says, ‘In 1800 there were 30 to 60 million buffalo in the USA. The indigenous Americans of the plains had hunted them sustainably for thousands of years… By the 1880s there were just a few hundred left, almost totally wiped out by the American and European settlers.’

Development and progress, using the available resources – that included buffalo – seemed like a wise idea at the time.

John compared the destruction of the old American way of life to the fishing industry in Lowestoft. ‘The UK’s east coast herring industry peaked during the home fishing season of September and October 1913… when 600,000 tons of herring were landed in Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth… By the year 2000, not only had the herring been fished to near extinction from the North Sea, but the entire fishing industry was virtually gone…’

Making the most of local resources – in this case the herring industry – seemed like a wise idea at the time…

Yesterday Brennan Manning in ‘Ruthless Trust’ gave me a different history lesson. He talked about a time when the church emphasised Jesus’ divinity much more than his humanity:

‘The Communion rail was introduced to… safeguard the Holy of Holies from defilement by the wretched laity… Kneeling relaced standing… breast-beating accompanied various prayers… the genuflection was introduced…’

‘The bowing of the head and the beating of the breast at the words of consecration… with the repetition of ‘Hoc est enim corpus meum,’ the phrase ‘hocus-pocus’, used derisively by cynics, entered our vocabulary.’

Reflecting on the perceived wisdom of the past… buffalo, herring, eucharist… that today seems wrong, hocus-pocus… Wondering what perceived wisdom of today will be considered hocus-pocus in the future.