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(Ethiopian Orthodox Church illuminated manuscript)
In the post "Revolt on the Nile" (which describes Egypt's and Sudan's claim to the Nile at the expense of other African countries including Ethiopia) at Our Changing Landscape, I chose to place the above Ethiopian church illuminated manuscript of St. George as the main image. Perhaps this was an invocation to the country's patron saint to protect her from such strange events, including the rise of a new enemy - Chinese land robbers. The "horse" that St. George is riding while slaying the dragon in the above illuminated manuscript is actually a unicorn, as my title in the original blog post on August 2007 indicates: "Kindling the Spiritual Flame: Western influences in Ethiopian Biblical Art" .
In a completely unrelated post a few days later, "The Luck of the Unicorns in Medieval Tapestries", at Camera Lucida, where my topics are related to art and culture, I talk about the influence of unicorns in art, religion and even (medicinal) science, after having read a small article on the Cloisters in New York City which house the famous Hunt of the Unicorn tapestries. In the same post, I also describe my own fascination with unicorns, and link to an article I wrote for the Botanical Artists of Canada, where I briefly describe the floral elements of another famous unicorn tapestry, "The Lady and the Unicorn".
Is it serendipity at work, or is all this simply a way of these magical beasts telling us not to give up hope, and valiantly to keep fighting the battle, like St. George himself? I think we are at the cusp of tremendously difficult times. I've mentioned in a post the strange summer we've had, and my reaction to it both physiologically and psychologically (yes, polar bears in the summer is surely an unnatural event, albeit tinted with humor).
Another thought. We are focused on Islam these days, as we should be, but I keep returning to the East in my analysis of some of these events, and specifically China [1, 2 3]. I try to argue that that region is showing dangerous signs of economical and territorial muscle flexing.
On a cultural note, I follow fashion (to some extent), and the fashion world seems infatuated with subpar designers of Chinese origin (this link shows Jason Wu who designed Michelle Obama's strange inaugural gown). Here is a blog post I did on first ladies' gowns, with these comments on Michelle Obama's gown:
[Michelle Obama's] inaugural gown...is shapeless, with an unattractive asymmetry at the shoulder, and stiff three-dimensional flower-like shapes which don't fit on the light-weight material. It looks like a cheap wedding dress.I've written about Vera Wang here (follow the links) to make a point about the aggressive push by Chinese American and Chinese Canadian designers in order to have their work viewed and sold. One point I make is that their non-Western, non-Christian background gives them a different (and I think detrimental) psychological and spiritual guide for modern day women (and especially brides, when it comes to wedding dress designer Vera Wang).
I will be writing a more descriptive piece on unicorns in Christian history. And perhaps another on how the unicorn became St. George's horse in Ethiopian religious iconography (my thesis is that Ethiopian monks and pilgrims traveling to Jerusalem brought back religious stories and cultural ideas to Ethiopia, including artwork).
There is much to be vigilant about. China, Islam, all under the eye of the unicorn.
References from Our Changing Landscape:
1. Land Grab: From the Poor to the Poor
2. China Rising? [Cont.]
3. China Rising?