Day 86 (Day 9 CS) - Sacred Mantis Fortune Day

"Make up your own new holiday and show us how to celebrate it."

Celebrants perform the Dance of Obeisance 'round the bonfire for the Mighty Soothsayer,

who views them from the Tall Shrine as tasty little dancing critters

Sacred Mantis Fortune Day

To be celebrated Always on the second Saturday of May.

Upon waking, the celebrant(s) will tip-toe into the garden or wherever a mantid might be, and gently capture the first mantis they find, no matter how long it takes to find one. This Mantis represents the almighty Soothsayer. The Mantis is then to be pampered in the celebrant's home. Offerings of freshly caught insects will be made throughout the day; the variety of which shall be tailored to the mantid's preferences. Compliments are written down on ornately decorated cards and presented to the Mantis. Praise of the mantid's fecundity and ferocity are the most popular sentiments for these beautiful cards.

At dusk, a bonfire should be lit. The Mantis will be placed in a specially made Tall Shrine so as to have a good view of the celebrants, who perform the two-hour long Dance of Obeisance. This dance must be performed in its entirety, and to perfection, in order to appease the almighty Soothsayer. Once dancing is complete, refreshments are served first to the Mantis, and then to the celebrants. The traditional Beetle Bundt Cake and Mulled Hemolymph Mead are a deliciously welcome sight after so much dancing.

The celebrants are then allowed to approach the Mantis with their wishes and request to see into the future, after which the Mantis is returned to the very spot it was originally found. If the almighty Soothsayer was pleased with the day's celebratory efforts, the celebrants will dream of their future fortunes, and upon waking, know exactly how to obtain them.

Praise be to the mighty Soothsayer!

[April 10, 2016]

Comments

Day 82 (Day 5 CS) - Collection

"What do you collect? Work with a collection of your own or borrow one." Pure Admiration It's funny, I only recently acknowledged to myself that yes, I do collect something: literature and art books from Heian-era Japan (794-1185), and here is a prompt for that. I just acquired the Choju Giga art book seen in the background (hooray!) which inspired me to recycle two projects from October 2015's CreativeSprint and use them in a different context. The mantispid was made on CS 2015 Day 1 and the painting is a miniature print-out of a mock Choju Giga drawing I did on CS 2015 Day 8 . The easel and paintbrush are made of kraft cardstock. [April 6, 2016]

Day 15 - Historical Precedent

Day 15 Learn about something that happened today in history and make something inspired by it. Rhinoceros Beetle Gong I now realize I may have misread the prompt. I thought I had to merely learn about some piece of history and use that as inspiration, but I'm sure on this day 1,000 years ago, 500 years ago, or even last year, a gong was sounded. Oh well! On the 15th I went to the Musical Instrument Museum (MIM) in Phoenix and based my project on the many gongs in their collection. They had a display illustrating how gongs are traditionally made (i.e. - labor intensive), and I learned that there are generally three types of gongs ( suspended gongs or tam-tams which are flat; bossed which have a raised center, are tuned, and sometimes suspended; and bowl gongs which are more like large bells). They originated in China, their first uses are thought to be as a signal for the workers to return from the fields since some gongs are loud enough to be h...

Day 8 - Master Works

Day 8 Recreate or interpret a work of art you admire. This is based on a famous panel of the Choju Giga scroll (Animal Caricatures or Scrolls of Frolicking Animals) which was created sometime in the late 12th century in Japan. Similar to the original's ink on paper, mine was rendered in India ink and red acrylic ink on Bristol paper. I've replaced the rabbit with a click beetle trying to right itself, and the frogs were replaced with mantids (feeling ill today and my hand started cramping after I drew the beetle. The mantids aren't as well done as I would like. I may redo this sometime because I think it came out cute otherwise). The top "seal" in red says sumimasen , which is Japanese for excuse me! and the lower one is my name in Japanese. This was fun to make, but sketching with a brush is a lot harder than it looks, and no erasing! The Choju Giga artist was truly a master, I very much admire the brush work in the original. Here is the o...

OniOniOniArt

Search This Blog