Monday, October 31, 2011

OK, its Halloween!

Earlier today, I was talking to Jocelyn, a friend of ours, who told me that she was born in a cemetery in Port au Prince, Haiti! There was no ambulance to be found at 2 am, so her mother, father, the grandmother and the maid began walking to get to L’Hospital Generale. Jocelyn’s mother was ready to deliver; and the only place close by was in the cemetery which was on the way down the mountain leading to the city. So, there is this entity/spirit Baron Samedi, Le Maître du cimetière (The Master of the cemetery). His presence is seen as light passing as a flash. So when Jocelyn was being delivered herfolks saw Baron Samedi passing by. As many Haitains have told her: Fille. vous êtes protégé. Vous êtes sous la protection de Baron Samedi.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baron_Samedi

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Swallow coming





玄馬至 (つばめきたる, swallow coming).
Copied for practice from works of senior Tenkoku artists in Kyoiku Shuji text. Oct MMXI. In progress. 
These are all carved in reverse. So the ones on the left and middle are 至馬玄, and will read left to right 玄馬至 when impressed. The third seal on the left reads left to right, then bottom to top. The reading is as follows: first the one on the right 玄; in the second column there are two characters, but the bottom one 馬 precedes the last one 至–at the top!