Mary Magdalene's Rather Creepy Hair Suits, Portrayed by Early Renaissance Painters

Today (July 22, 2017) we commemorate the feast of Saint Mary Magdalene. I saw the first image on Instagram and thought "wow, that looks like a pantsuit....painted in the 1430's and referring to waaaaay earlier, my how progressive...what's up with that?" 
THEN saw the second image which revealed to me it's actually her hair! Wow!

Hair suits...

Ponder that for a moment...
The imagery is both grotesque and amazing.... It was Mary Magdalene (in many interpretations) who used her hair to wipe her tears from Jesus' feet and anoint them (instead of Mary of Bethany, Martha's sister), thus her hair was an important feature. Perhaps she did have red hair and perhaps she didn't, but many Italian painters portrayed women with red hair. Here is an interesting blog post on red haired Italian women. 
Nice (and a bit creepy) touch of modesty here in these paintings though, covering Mary's naked form with suit-like long hair. First image: a master of Gdansk, an unknown painter circa 1430. Second image: Giovanni Pietro di Birago (Italy, active from 1471-1513).
Third image: Antonio Vivarini (active from 1440-1480). These images are almost akin to modern hairy images of the mythical Bigfoot in some ways, but as I stare at the paintings, I think they're growing on me. If I can love early Renaissance music and the sackbut, krummhorn and shawm, I can surely make the stretch to strange paintings of hair-covered saints!

Here's a very interesting and informative article link Who Framed Mary Magdalene?

Mary Magdalene Raised by Angels in Glory, Unknown from Gdansk, 1430.

Mary Magdalene by Giovanni Pietro di Birago, Italy ca. 1500

Mary Magdalene by Antonio Vivarini, ca. 1460

#AdventWord #FORGIVE

Today's #AdventWord is #FORGIVE - December 2, 2015
I believe that just as we sometimes need to practice gratitude, we must learn to practice forgiveness. What does it mean to practice forgiveness? How can you do that? What must one experience to warrant the need for forgiveness and why on Earth would anyone create situations just to practice it? How about we use "we" as a personally connecting word, so that if we see something that concerns us, we can consider forgiveness. I don't have superb answers...these are just a few of my elementary thoughts on the words forgive and forgiveness. I have MUCH to read and learn....and practice.
What comes to my mind is the June, 2015 incident in my beloved hometown of Charleston, SC - the shooting at Emanuel A.M.E. Church. As I was driving from Charleston to Columbia to visit friends after visiting my mother, I was struck with profound sadness and tears at hearing accounts from folks all over the area calling into a local radio station. I actually had to pull over and take a few moments to cry and to listen. I cannot imagine what the victims' families were experiencing and I haven't lived in Charleston for several years, but it still greatly affected me. In discussing the shooting which had occurred the evening before, there were many tears and many angry statements. What hit me even more than this was the absolute and deeply connecting love from Charlestonians who had woven themselves together as a tapestry after hurricane Hugo in 1989. All backgrounds, all statuses, etc. coming together. This was coming across from the callers. It was an unspoken bond, yet with their support and love for Emanuel and the city itself, the bond was louder than anything else. I was so proud of my city. It would not become, as some news sources seemed to try and manufacture, a breeding ground for a racial debate or any another battle. Charleston is a unified city. I'm in a unique position having experienced this and then seeing it these past ten years here in New Orleans after Katrina. Both places, very dear to my heart, have become wells of hope for the true meaning of the word community and all the positive trappings that come with that.

The Battery Palmettos, Charleston, SC. Photo: Caroline Carson, 

Love to the victims, love to Emanuel, love of God, love for Charleston, and knowing that LOVE will save us. Later that week, I watched on TV as the victims' families publicly stated their forgiveness of the shooter. I did not even know what to make of it. I mean, HOW IN THE WORLD does one forgive so quickly?! 

The timing seemed almost as unfathomable as the shooting itself. 

Realizing that they forgave, out loud and to all, this shooter - who had infiltrated and betrayed the very heart of their church's hospitable and open environment, well.......wow. It was probably the most powerful statement of modern forgiveness that I have ever really personally felt. This forgiveness needed the first step to be a leap of blind faith. It needed to be said, regardless of whether or not it would be immediately felt. It would come. 

Forgiveness does come. It is both unnerving and comforting. Do we deserve forgiveness? I think we do and maybe we should begin with allowing ourselves to forgive, even blindly at first.

I offer this quote from C.S. Lewis "To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you."

AdventWord was created by SSJE (The Society of St. John the Evangelist) and is the Anglican Communion's Global Advent Calendar. I'm using it as a daily meditation, prayer, and a way to connect in spirit to millions during this season of light and hope. You can join me in creating your own. Just take a picture and post it with the day's AdventWord tags! Click HERE for their website and for their daily AdventWords.
#AdventWord #SSJE 

#AdventWord #GIVE

December 1, 2015 - Today's #AdventWord is #GIVE
Give someone joy! Smile, jump, hug, listen, love, ask, blow bubbles! In all of the giving OF yourself, remember to give TO yourself: health, time, love. BE the goodness of God to all.I believe that one of the most precious things one can give is his/her time. As for me, I am forever grateful to my friends, especially my closest, who have given me their time and taken moments to catch up with me, to laugh, to share an adventure, to listen, or to share their own lives. One of my goals each day is to see how I can be more giving and more loving. Think of how valuable time is. Think of how short our lives are and how we occasionally seem to have so little time. I think of all that God continues to give to us and my mind is blown! This Advent, I hope you will join me in an effort to occasionally slow down and reflect and to give of yourself and to yourself.
- Blow big bubbles......more JOY!

JOY in San Francisco, photo by Caroline Carson

AdventWord was created by SSJE (The Society of St. John the Evangelist) and is the Anglican Communion's Global Advent Calendar. I'm using it as a daily meditation, prayer, and a way to connect in spirit to millions during this season of light and hope. You can join me in creating your own. Click HERE for their website and for their daily AdventWords. Also, HERE is a link to the entire calendar of words. #SSJE 

#AdventWord #PROCLAIM

"Proclaim his glory among the nations and his wonders to all peoples!"
AdventWord was created by SSJE (The Society of St. John the Evangelist) and is the Anglican Communion's Global Advent Calendar. I'm using it as a daily meditation, prayer, and a way to connect in spirit to millions during this season of light and hope.
Click HERE for their website and for their daily AdventWords.

#AdventWord #PROCLAIM #SSJE

#AdventWord #WakeUp

Good morning and happy first day of ‪#‎Advent‬ (Sunday, November 29th, 2015) Today's ‪#‎AdventWord‬ word is ‪#‎Wakeup‬! I am going to be posting post the daily AdventWord, started by the SSJE (Society of St. John the Evangelist). It's an Anglican Communion Global Advent Calendar. I'll be posting these via myself and the St. Paul's Episcopal Church in New Orleans' page (as well as Twitter & Instagram & this blog if I remember!) and I'll be using my own photographs. I hope you like them and maybe some of you will participate with your own AdventWord creations! 
Love, peace, and blessings to you all this season of hope and light! 
[Photo: Carson, "Frenchmen St. Sunrise"] ‪#‎Episcopal‬ ‪#‎Anglican‬ ‪#‎EDOLA‬

Photo by Caroline Carson