Dec 23, 2007 12:06
I just got a Christmas card in the mail from a friend, the niftiest woman ever named Charlene. She included one of those typed letters, but it was written just for me and was not about children, grandchildren, jobs, health or vacations. In fact, it was so different from the standard Christmas card drivel that I've decided to include it here:
(on the front of the card is a closeup of a wolf face with snow on his snout):
"Dear Julie,
I have been saving my wolf card for some time--and now it seems you are the perfect person to give it to. [Pardon my prepositions.] I do love his beautiful face, even though the powdery snow on his nose is probably an indication that he has been rummaging under a fallen log for some small, furry, adorable mammal to devour for lunch. Nevertheless, he is beautiful, even if endowed by his creator with a taste for meat. [And why is he a he? Substitute she, if desired.]
I suspect he doesn't know much about human holidays (do animals have holidays? why not? what would they do on their holidays? same old same old? why have humans evolved to require holidays?) but he is still a fitting representative of the animal kingdom, in my view, on the occasion of Christmas.
Of course, it is usually the more mild creatures, cows and lambs for example, that are pictured in the manger with the baby Jesus, and one wonders if that is because they didn't have a lot of bio-diversity in the holy land or because wolves herd themselves and sheep, being incapable of this, are herded by humans and interestingly, by domesticated wolves, aka border collies. This distinction seems to prepare the way for the development of church authorities and hierarchies--and also for the demonization of certain elements of the natural world. Presumably Jesus' only encounters with animals other than goats, cows and sheep took place in the desert, and involved snakes which were not really snakes, but just stand-ins for the devil.
So, no wolves in the nativity. If undomesticated (as in wild) animals were drawn to Jesus at his birth, then he would be a witch. Many people would be disturbed by this idea. But of course, in many ways, he is witch: he turns water into wine, he does magical things with loaves and fishes--and he rides his broomstick up to the sky in his finale. This seems obvious to anyone who hasn't grown up with the orthodoxies drummed in. All he needs is the pointy hat.
So here is the outcast wolf, (and lucky he is, to be cast out of such a looney idea of a world) just out there, doing his thing, and being--a wolf. Let us hope the Christians leave him enough space and trees and snow to do his thing.
That is my Christmas wish.
Cheers,
Charlene"
wolves,
jesus as witch,
christmas