upjumped Zarathustra, embers in his eyes
So it was February 13th....The day BEFORE valentines day in the modern world...In the ancient world---O.K. begin with blaring ZOORNA DRUM ensembler with a DUDUK overlay for atmosphere---In the ancient world this was the day of RENEWal...Yes..., in Zoroastrian times [the predecessive religion of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism that united the entire Middle East ---WHOOOOA !!!! Fear of an OLIVE planet] this was a day of renewal. Young couples and those who simply wanted to re-enact the ritual of purification would jump through the flames of an open fire as a symbolic gesture of commitment to the better side of being...Now mistakenly Zoroastrians are known as "fire worshippers"...This would be the same as calling Christians " Intersecting Stick Worshippers [the cross]...for you see fire or light was the symbolic representation of AHURA MAZDA , the ancient omnipotent one of our ancient history. And Ahura Mazda was the the original spark before the afterthought of seccesion ; the creator before the created determined their own soverignity from inter-connectedness [ this has come to be known as the "great Divide" among the followers of "whateverism" ]...So it was a particularly beautiful sunset here in the land of post Zoroastrian potential Heaven. A little blue experiment called EARTH, waiting for germination like a seed unto the sun...Ahura Mazda...And there was old Zarathushtra [Zoroaster in Greek ] the human emmisary between gOd and mAn , allegedly flayed alive by the bastards and bastardettes...Maybe he and all the other crucified prophets were just a pain in the ass interrupting all the groping in the darkness that otherwise would entertain the bestial dream between conception and decay...So here we are MILES beyond where we were 4000 years ago when old Zarathustra was busy bein' a pain. And today was a Zoroastrian holiday infused with the oldest Christianity still observed to this day in the oldest "Christian" nation on earth...I love what I heard third hand once...It was words originating from an old dude who said it and a young dude who heard it told it to me...It went like this..." WHAT ? CHRISTIANITY ? There was only ONE Christian , and they KILLED him"...bastards and bastardettes one and all...let us unite under the common denominator of our own fallability...We is what we is...'Could be better but...back to February 13th...Here in Hayastan , Christianity is still a spin-off from the old Middle Eastern religion of the desert forefathers and foremothers and being such is still very much infused with its precursor, " Zoroastrianism"Much like Central American natives celebrate a hybrid between the old "pagan / Mayan religion and the later imposed Catholicism...So this evening as Rue and I strolled through our ghetto the neighborhoods were ablaze with woodsmoke and Armos were leapin' through the flames. We passed one such group merrily laughing as childlike as Armos often do. They were apparantly restaurant employees all gathered on the sunset sidewalk , hand in hand , dancing in a circle around a fire. They invited us to take a jump...Actually seven jumps , as is the prescribed tradition , which we did with pleasure...It was one of those moments that if we ever get to leave this country will be fondly remembered...This little country like a leaky lifeboat sustaining the holdouts of an ancient ancient tribe. In chaos and corruption the little leaky lifeboat is tossed but it is ours...and it is dear...very dear