Friday, September 7, 2007 at 1:01am
Burn, burn, burn
Column: Interesting Times
They burned him again last night. "Zozobra is a hideous but harmless fifty-foot bogeyman marionette. He is a toothless, empty-headed facade. He has no guts and doesn't have a leg to stand on. He is full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. He never wins. He moans and groans, rolls his eyes and twists his head. His mouth gapes and chomps. His arms flail about in frustration. Every year we do him in. We string him up and burn him down in a blaze of fireworks. At last, he is gone, taking with him all our troubles for another whole year. Santa Fe celebrates another victory. Viva la fiesta," says the official Zozobra website.
Oh my G-d. Of course, this event brings out thousands of natives and tourists who chant, "Burn, burn, burn." I once read a short story by Steve Allen, the musician, writer and raconteur, in which people who were thought guilty of some crime or another were placed bound in a chair in the center of the Los Angeles Coliseum. Tickets were sold and people shouted, "Burn, burn, burn," until the victim was fried to a crisp. Thought was the agent of destruction — as it is in most, if not all, cases.
Few of us think that we are hurting someone when we think hateful thoughts. Perhaps we should. All those hateful thoughts can cause deep, deep discord in individuals and on earth. Just as many think that sending out love and "good energy" can help, perhaps even transform the earth, there are those who understand that collective ignorance and hate can cause illness, poverty and wars. One of those who have examined this idea in stunning depth and insight is Rene Girard. His book "The Scapegoat" addresses his belief that the Bible vindicates victims while primal religions justify scapegoating.
In a chapter on "Violence and Magic," Girard says: "Indeed, in rituals the faithful represent the collective violence of their predecessors; they imitate that violence, and their representation of what has happened does not influence their behavior as much as their words."
"Burn, burn, burn." Although the burning of Zozobra, the scapegoat of all alleged Santa Fe troubles, originated only in 1924 — the idea of artist Will Schuster — and is now a commercial venture of the local Kiwanis Club, the spectacle reprises ancient Aztec sacrifices, the burning of Catholics and Protestants in 16th century England, the burning of women "witches" in New England's Salem, Mass. Nothing about the event appeals to me.
"The repetitive character of these phenomena is somewhat ritualistic," says Girard about the Gaderenes and the man they have chained — the scapegoat. As in the burning of Zozobra, "All the actors know exactly what is going to happen in each episode and behave appropriately so that in fact everything happens as it did before." And, "All rituals tend to be transformed into theatrical performances in which the actors play their parts with all the more exuberance for having played them so many times before."
Now I don't want to be a spoilsport, BUT the barbarism, the hatred, the endless cycles of violence ought to end. Isn't there another way to rid a community of its "troubles" than burning an effigy? Would starting in Santa Fe help put an end to the practice in the Middle East? After all, thought has no boundaries.
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Lynne Bundesen is the author of five books on religion and was adjunct professor at the Boston Theological Institute under a Templeton Science and Religion Grant. She is currently the spiritual expert for the physical and spiritual health website of Dr. Andrew Weil. Her book "The Feminine Spirit: Recapturing the Heart of Scripture" was just published. Her email address is {email lynnebundesen@hotmail.com}lynnebundesen@hotmail.com{/email}. © Copyright 2007 by Lynne Bundesen.
Oh my G-d. Of course, this event brings out thousands of natives and tourists who chant, "Burn, burn, burn." I once read a short story by Steve Allen, the musician, writer and raconteur, in which people who were thought guilty of some crime or another were placed bound in a chair in the center of the Los Angeles Coliseum. Tickets were sold and people shouted, "Burn, burn, burn," until the victim was fried to a crisp. Thought was the agent of destruction — as it is in most, if not all, cases.
Few of us think that we are hurting someone when we think hateful thoughts. Perhaps we should. All those hateful thoughts can cause deep, deep discord in individuals and on earth. Just as many think that sending out love and "good energy" can help, perhaps even transform the earth, there are those who understand that collective ignorance and hate can cause illness, poverty and wars. One of those who have examined this idea in stunning depth and insight is Rene Girard. His book "The Scapegoat" addresses his belief that the Bible vindicates victims while primal religions justify scapegoating.
In a chapter on "Violence and Magic," Girard says: "Indeed, in rituals the faithful represent the collective violence of their predecessors; they imitate that violence, and their representation of what has happened does not influence their behavior as much as their words."
"Burn, burn, burn." Although the burning of Zozobra, the scapegoat of all alleged Santa Fe troubles, originated only in 1924 — the idea of artist Will Schuster — and is now a commercial venture of the local Kiwanis Club, the spectacle reprises ancient Aztec sacrifices, the burning of Catholics and Protestants in 16th century England, the burning of women "witches" in New England's Salem, Mass. Nothing about the event appeals to me.
"The repetitive character of these phenomena is somewhat ritualistic," says Girard about the Gaderenes and the man they have chained — the scapegoat. As in the burning of Zozobra, "All the actors know exactly what is going to happen in each episode and behave appropriately so that in fact everything happens as it did before." And, "All rituals tend to be transformed into theatrical performances in which the actors play their parts with all the more exuberance for having played them so many times before."
Now I don't want to be a spoilsport, BUT the barbarism, the hatred, the endless cycles of violence ought to end. Isn't there another way to rid a community of its "troubles" than burning an effigy? Would starting in Santa Fe help put an end to the practice in the Middle East? After all, thought has no boundaries.
— — —
Lynne Bundesen is the author of five books on religion and was adjunct professor at the Boston Theological Institute under a Templeton Science and Religion Grant. She is currently the spiritual expert for the physical and spiritual health website of Dr. Andrew Weil. Her book "The Feminine Spirit: Recapturing the Heart of Scripture" was just published. Her email address is {email lynnebundesen@hotmail.com}lynnebundesen@hotmail.com{/email}. © Copyright 2007 by Lynne Bundesen.