A few years ago I
read of Eva Gabrielsson’s wonderful evocation of a Viking curse. (You can read
the article here.) What struck me about the
Viking curse, and the article describes it as ‘elaborate’ was the symbolic
sacrifice of a horse: she broke a statue in two and threw it in a lake. She was angry and she wanted to vent and get
some revenge. The whole ritual must have
been extremely satisfying; cathartic to say the least. “I felt immense
relief, and so did the others who were with me,” she said, explaining, “It’s a
ritual - we lack rituals for grief, for confusion, for rage.” It was
easy to conjure up a vision of this angry gal smashing things: smashing things
is something I’d often like to do.
Except for the
Greeks among us who smash plates, we do lack rituals for grief, confusion, or
rage. I suppose, thinking on the lighter
side, I can dismiss confusion,
especially at my age, with an offhand mention of “Major Senior Moment”, but the
grief and rage deserve something
specific to be done in response. I
remember a neighbor from years ago who was so mad at him when her husband
died. Not only did he leave her, his
death was, in her mind, due to his complete lack of regard for doctors’ orders
after he’d had a massive heart attack.
She was mighty peeved, to put it mildly. I know she ranted and raved,
but I’m sure she would have liked to haul off and smash him – or, if not him, at
least a plate or two.
I’m not ready to put
a curse on anyone or anything, but very often I find that I’d just love to
smash a stack of plates or throw a few glasses against the wall. I wouldn’t
sacrifice any of my own plates, but perhaps a quick trip to a dollar store
would supply me with enough to have a great smash-up. Oooo – how immensely
satisfying that would be! Frankly, I have
thought of it, but I never followed through.
Why? Because I’m the one who’d have to sweep up the mess! I guess I’ll
have to get a membership to a gym with a punching bag and take my occasional
frustrations out on it.
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| And then I came upon this picture - what a beauty! Now I know what I'd do with all those plates - and perhaps a cup or two |
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