In Honor’s Name: An Appeal for a Pakistani Woman

Mukhtar Mai’s story has all the makings of a nightmare. Unfortunately, the circumstances involving her happened in real life. On June 22, 2002, Mukhtar Mai, a Pakistani woman living in a village called Meerwala, was gang raped. This came as a punishment for her family because her younger brother, Abdul Shaqoor, was accused of having an affair with a young girl named Salma. Sans proof, Shaqoor was accused of raping or fornicating with Salma. This young girl happened to belong to a very influential tribe in their village, the Mastoi and it was considered forbidden for someone of Shaqoor’s (lower) stature to be seen with someone like Salma, whose family was from a higher level of society.

Anna Goldi: The Last Witch of Europe

If you think that as a practitioner of Wicca or as a believer in witchcraft that you’re having a hard time getting acceptance today, just imagine what it was like for men and women who lived in the shadows at least 200 years ago.  The witch hunting hysteria that hit Europe and America was a tragedy in many ways, not only because it destroyed many innocent lives but also because it empowered people who were not only irresponsible but also evil and ignorant.  Anna Goldi was one of the innocent and unlucky ones.

Anna Goldi
Anna Goldi (sometimes Goeldi or Goldin) was a woman who lived in Switzerland in the mid-1700s.  She appeared in the small town of Glarus, then and now a picturesque Eden of snow-capped mountains and houses that looked like they were plucked from the setting of Heidi.  This, along with the nearby town of Mollis, would be the setting of the drama about the last witch of Europe.

October

“October gave a party;
The leaves by hundreds came-
The Chestnuts, Oaks, and Maples,
And leaves of every name.
The Sunshine spread a carpet,
And everything was grand,
Miss Weather led the dancing,
Professor Wind the band.”

- by George Cooper, October’s Party

I’ve always looked forward to October because it’s the month we celebrate Halloween.  Of course, you need to go through 30 more days till the night of the event itself but it’s worth the wait.  Here are a few things I’d like to share about the 10th month:

October comes from the Latin word ‘octo’, which means eight.  This might seem a little strange, considering that October is the 10th month in the Gregorian calendar but there’s a reason why. 

The mythical Roman king Romulus (one of those two babies suckling a she-wolf in that famous sculpture), made a calendar that had only 10 months.  According to the writer Ovid, this must have been so because Romulus only had 10 fingers.  The number of days in Romulus’ calendar totaled only 304 days.

The first four months were named after the popular festivals or gods: Martis, Aprilis, Maius, Junius.  The rest were so-named because of the sequence of their appearance: Quintilis (5th), Sextilius (6th), September (7th), October (8th), November (9th) and December (10th). 

October!

October is a month that holds my favorite holiday of all — Halloween!  So for any of you who reads this blog, the next month I will devote to writing about the scary, the gory and the horrifying.  And I don’t mean my cooking.

The Mark of the Witch

The witch is one of the scariest figures of fiction, particularly fairy tales.  They were evil, cunning and deceptive and if you didn’t watch out, they’d eat your flesh and pick your bones.  The witch is also one of the most misunderstood figures of our history, especially in places where they were routinely hunted, persecuted and killed in order to salve a mounting mass hysteria or temporarily calm down a town on the verge of a nervous breakdown.  Many a political and religious career has been built because of the fear of the witch.  So how do you recognize one? 

The Marke of the Witch
To distinguish a witch from an average person, let’s take a look at how they function.  Witches are supposedly powerful, equipped with magical powers that they either obtained by association to a demon or handed down to them by their mother, grandmother, aunt or another witch they apprenticed with.

Why I Think Bitches are Over-Rated (or 10 Ways to Tell a True Bitch from a Fake One)

Used to be that ‘bitch’ was a word used to refer to pregnant dogs, women of ill repute or those with shady characters — mean to the bone and rather evil.  It was also the word used to refer to the woman from whose loins the anti-Christ will emerge.  My, how things have changed.

These days, some women fall all over themselves just to claim the title of The Bitch.  It’s a badge of honor for some reason.  You see it on reality shows, interviews of celebrities and semi-celebrities, well-meaning talk shows and magazines claiming to be legit.  ‘I’m a bitch!’  ‘You’re talking to a bitch, bitch!’ have certainly replaced the antiquated rallying cry of women of long ago – ‘I am Woman.  Hear me roar.’

Ironically, those who declare themselves to be bitches find it offensive and unimaginably insulting to be called one by their peers.  What gives?  A lot of women just want to be bitches and they don’t even know what it truly means.

Will the real bitches please stand up?

Purity as a Ring Around Your Finger: Why I Think Purity Rings May Not Always Work

Russell Brand is a very funny man but being funny, it seems, has its limits.  When he hosted the recent VMAs and made a joke about the Jonas Brothers’ purity rings, his quip wasn’t exactly well received.  In fact, he even had to apologize for it.  So what’s the big deal with these purity rings and why should it matter to the rest of us?

With this ring…
For the uninitiated and the uninformed, a purity ring is worn by someone who intends to remain sexually ‘pure’ until marriage, with sexually pure meaning practicing celibacy or abstinence until the marriage vows.  This is why a purity ring is sometimes called a chastity ring.

Any metal may be used as a purity ring and there is no set standard as to its design.  However, many teens and post-teens, especially Christians, often choose rings engraved or embossed with a cross.  For some, a purity ring may also be adorned with precious or semi-precious stones.  Some engravings may also appear in the form of a saying.

What it means
A purity ring represents the wearer’s pledge to remain celibate until he/she marries.  The sentiment is admirable but a cure for teenage promiscuity or pregnancy it is not.  And here’s why:

A Single Person’s Guide to Protecting Your Children from Bullies

I don’t have any children myself and the only experiences I have had with motherhood are vicarious at best.  I have plenty of nieces and nephews – cousins from both sides of the family are blessed – so any semblance of maternal instinct I have ever felt were not directed to my own progeny.  The kids still belong to the same family tree so I don’t really mind.

Which is why I feel really protective of my nieces and nephews.  God forbid a bully ever gives them any trouble.  I hate bullies.  I don’t understand their cruelty or why they waste other people’s time trying to validate who they are or play out personal vendettas.  If your child is ever bullied, here are ways to teach them to protect themselves and prevent the attacks:

How Lady Jane Grey Died

After her husband’s execution, Lady Jane Grey was taken to Tower Green, the same Tower in which Anne Boleyn would meet her fate.  Queen Mary allowed her a private execution.  The account of her beheading can be found in the Chronicle of Queen Jane and of Two Years of Queen Mary. 

Before she put her head on the executioner’s block, Lady Jane Grey made her last speech.  According to the account, it was this:

Good people, I am come hither to die, and by a law I am condemned to the same. The fact, indeed, against the Queen’s highness was unlawful, and the consenting thereunto by me: but touching the procurement and desire thereof by me or on my behalf, I do wash my hands thereof in innocency, before God, and the face of you, good Christian people, this day.

To prepare herself, she began to recite Have mercy upon me, O God, which is taken from the book of Psalms.  Her maid and John Feckenham were with her on the scaffolding.  Feckenham was the Catholic chaplain who once tried to convert Lady Jane into Catholicism but failed. 

As was the custom, the executioner asked Jane to forgive him and she did.  In return, she asked him to make the execution swift.  She also asked if the executioner would remove her blindfold before she laid her head on the block but the executioner declined.  It was Lady Jane who tied the blindfold around her eyes. 

The blindfold presented a problem because then Lady Jane couldn’t find the block.  She had to lay her head on it before the executioner could behead her.  She cried out, ‘What shall I do?  Where is it?’  Before she lost her composure, someone guided her hand to find the block and she laid her head upon it.  She then prayed, ‘Lord, unto thy hands I commend my spirit!’  True to his word, the executioner allowed his axe to fall swiftly, ending Lady Jane Grey’s life.  She was only about 16 or 17 when she died.

Lady Jane Grey, the Nine Days Queen: Traitor or Pawn?

Lady Jane Grey, an engraving by Magdalena & Willem Van de Passe

Lady Jane Grey was probably as much a victim of her lineage as she is of other people’s greed and ambition.  Part of the reason she reigned (albeit briefly) was also her religion – Lady Jane Grey was a Protestant.  Hers was a short, mostly unhappy life, in which she endured strict upbringing.  Even worse was that she had to belong to a royal line.  If Lady Jane Grey’s circumstances were different, she probably wouldn’t be such a tragic figure of history and one of my favorites.  We probably would also never come to know the Nine Days Queen.