RECENT HAPPENINGS
(Posted 2007-08-28 13:45:43 by ArchPaladin)

This past week has been rather hectic.  I had a lot of bills come in - both
personal (first mortgage payment) and business (advertising invoices) - and
part of getting them paid has involved hunting down people and ensuring
that they pay money to me that I am owed (ie. rent, dues, etc.).  This has
been considerably stressful, but everything has gotten paid off and put in
the mail today.

Last weekend my fiancee and I drove up to Vermont for a wedding between two
of my college friends.  It was the first time that I've seen a Jewish
wedding, and it was an unusual experience.  The cultural differences and
how they change the wedding ceremony are very obvious.  For example, the
marriage ceremony involves the parents to a greater degree, and the use of
a tent/canopy contraption (a _chuppah_), and the wedding rings are placed
on a different finger.  What struck me most about the ceremony, however,
was that as the traditions were explained (since not everyone present had
been to a Jewish wedding before) everything was tied closely back to old
Judaic custom (eg. some of the Hebrew wedding blessings given reference
Adam and Eve, or the customs set down by Moses).  What we might consider as
"Christian" marriages have a lot of traditions that seem influenced more by
medieval political reasons and less because of religious background, at
least when compared to what I witnessed, although I acknowledge that not
all of what takes place in a "Christian" marriage is solely based on
medieval politics.

I once went to a Catholic wedding when I was younger.  I remember it being
dreadfully boring and including an entire wedding Mass.  It would be
interesting to see it again now that I am more able to understand what I am
viewing.  Perhaps I would find in that ceremony the same type of religious
ties that I found in the Jewish wedding.

Also interesting to note was the reception.  Once the newlywed couple
entered the room there was a long spat of dancing that occurred.  It is
perhaps the most spirited dancing at a social gathering that I have ever
seen.  There were a lot of traditional Jewish dances that most everyone
seemed to know the steps to.  The newlywed couple were put on chairs,
raised above the crowd of dancers that circled around them, and were
rotated in a circle while being bobbled up and down in the air and holding
a napkin between them.  They were made to sit while individuals came and
danced in front of them.  They would individually gather others of their
family of the same gender, put their arms about each others' shoulders to
form a circle, and rotate around repeatedly as a unit.  I was later told
that the amount of traditional dancing done was more than customary for a
Jewish wedding, but apparently not by a large amount.  What I found most
interesting about all the dancing was that - apart from its spirited nature
- the people involved in the dance seemed to genuinely portray their
happiness for the married couple.  It came off to me as a far more complete
method of conveying their happiness than simply saying "congratulations". 
The people involved weren't up on the floor dancing because it's customary
at a wedding function - they did it because they were actually celebrating,
and they let the newlyweds know through their dance that all the
celebration was because of them.  I don't think you see that much at all
anywhere else.

Everything else that has happened this past week is not very noteworthy.  I
have already mentioned the bills.  I am looking forward to doing some more
work on the house (as there are more little things to do), but I'm not
quite sure when any of it will actually get done.

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