Tribute to the Unknown God

If you are familiar with weddings, then you are probably familiar with the book of Ruth from the bible, though you may not realize it.  Often at weddings you hear this quote (or something similar):

"Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me."  Ruth 1:16-17


Two things get my attention from this quote.  First, although it is used at weddings, this is not a quote from a wife to a husband or vice versa.  Instead, this is Ruth talking to her mother-in-law after her husband died.  The other comes from the your God my God part.  See, Naomi, the mother-in-law, told Ruth that she was released from her duty (widows were supposed to stay with their husband's family) and that she could go back to her gods.  Well, who were Ruth's gods?


Ruth was a Moabite.  Traditionally they were not friends with the Israelites (who was?) and often the two groups of people fought.  Ruth's first husband, Naomi's son, moved to Moab because of a famine.  When Ruth married him, she gave up worship of Chemosh to worship her husband's god, Yahweh. 

We don't know a lot about Chemosh.  He was the top dog of the Moab gods.  He was a war god as well.  It does seem that human sacrifices were common in his worship.  The most we know about him comes from the Mesha Stele, a stone tablet that was craved about 830 B.C. that boasts of Chemosh leading the way to destroy entire Israelite towns.


Unfortunately for the Moabites, Chemosh didn't help them much after that.  They fell to the Israelites and paid a fortune in tribute until finally pretty much disappearing.  Ruth, however, is one of the most famous Moabite.  When she decided to leave Chemosh and stick with Yahweh, she moved to Bethlehem with her mother-in-law.  Now if you're silently singing, "Little Town of Bethlehem" in your mind, you're on the right track.  See, once she moves to that little town, she marries a relative of her former husband (no, not incest, it was tradition) and gives birth to a boy named Obed.  If Obed doesn't sound familiar, try Obed's son - Jesse.  If Jesse doesn't sound familiar, try his son - David.  That's right.  The killed-a-giant-with-a-rock-and-became-super-king David.  It is because David was born in Bethlehem that Jesus was later born in Bethlehem.  


So pretty interesting that the whole line of Israel and all of Christianity relied on a former worshiper of a human sacrificing war god switching sides.  Don't you know Chemosh is probably a bit embarrassed by it all.


~

Changeling Moon

Dani Harper, paranormal blogger, romance writer, and all around good friend of Bubo's Blog, has written a new book - Changeling Moon.

He roams the moonlit wilderness, his every sense and instinct on high alert. Changeling wolf Connor Macleod and his Pack have never feared anything ~ until the night human Zoey Tyler barely escapes a rogue werewolf's vicious attack.
As the full moon approaches, Zoey has no idea of the changes that are coming, and only Connor can show her what she is, and help her master the wildness inside. With her initiation into the Pack just days away and a terrifying predator on the loose, the tentative bonds of trust and tenderness are their only weapons against a force red in tooth, claw ~ and ultimate evil.

You can find out more information about, read the first chapter, and find out how to buy it at http://www.daniharper.com/CHANGELING_MOON.html.

Odd Dogs

Our post today is another post from a different blog.  This time it comes from Oddee.

We've looked at Oddee before.  This time we are going to check out a post about dogs there.  Two of their dogs in the Eight Weirdest Dog Breeds post were worshiped by ancient cultures.  

 Xoloitzcuintli

The Xoloitzcuintli (pronounced Sho-lo-eets-quint-lee , although it's sometimes called “Mexican hairless or just shortened to” Xolo”) is a hairless Mexican dog that is so primative that it was actually worshipped by the Aztecs. According to the mythology, the god Xolotl made the dogs from a sliver of the Bone of Life, which was also used to create all of mankind. Xolotl gave the dog to man, asking him to guard it with his life. In exchange, the dog would guide man through the world of death.

Because the breed is not well-known in the US, the Xolo has been mistaken for the mythological Chupacabra in US border states such as Arizona and Texas.

The Xolos are mellow and loyal dogs once they reach adulthood, but up until they become emotionally mature at age two, they are still highly noisy, chewy and high-energy. The breed was not imbred like many other purebred animals, so they are incredibly healthy, but they do require moisturizer, sunscreen and baths to prevent sunburn, acne and blackheads.

 Peruvian Inca Orchid

While they may be called orchids, these pups are 100% dog. In many ways, they are like the Xolos, an ancient hairless breed. Like their Northern neighbor breed, these pups were worshiped by another ancient civilization, this time, the Incas, but the breed is actually a lot older than the Incan culture. Pictures of the breed appeared in Peruvian artwork from as far back as 750 A.D.

Peruvian folklore, much of which is based on Incan stories, says that hugging the dogs can help with medicinal problems, particularly stomach problems.

Sadly, the animals were almost ran out of existence after the Spanish conquest of Peru. Small villages in rural areas are all that kept the breed alive and more recently, Peruvian breeders worked to protect the remaining Inca Orchids, ensuring significant bloodline diversity.

These pups make great dogs, but they can be a little headstrong and require proper training from a young age. They also need lotion and lots of baths to prevent sunburn, acne and dry skin, and they do very poorly in warm weather.

Sirens, Large Whales, and Coffee

What do those things have in common?  Check out this post from www.brokensecrets.com:

Starbucks Is Named After a Moby Dick Character

By Chad Upton | Editor

In 1971, an English teacher, a history teacher and writer started a coffee roasting business in Seattle.

It’s not surprising that such an intellectual group would have an affinity for classics like Moby Dick. In fact, Starbucks was nearly called Pequod, the name of the whaling ship in Moby Dick. Thankfully, one of the partners rejected the name. Instead, they went with Starbucks, the name of Pequod’s first mate.

Although Starbuck was a fictional young quaker from Nantucket, there were a number of real sailors from that era named “Starbuck.” Naming a coffee company was not the first time the Starbuck name was borrowed either. There is an island in the South Pacific, a popular region for whaling, called Starbuck Island.

Starbuck Island was heavily mined for phosphate in the late 1800s and many ships were wrecked there. The high frequency of shipwrecks was probably caused by the reefs that surrounded the island, but there is a mythical explanation too.

In Greek Mythology there are seductresses who lure sailors to shipwreck on the coast of their islands. These mythical creatures are called Sirens and the Starbucks logo contains one.

Check out the Broken Secrets blog for more good stuff - like how to keep the aluminum foil from coming out of the box.