Druids’ Eggs June 10, 2011
Posted by Beachcombing in : Ancient, Modern
An interesting text from Pliny: (29, 3*) There is also a sort of egg, famous in the provinces of Gaul, but ignored by the Greeks. Innumerable snakes coil themselves into a ball in the summertime. Thus they make it so that it is held together by a bodily secretion and by their saliva. It is [...]
A column of burning snakes August 2, 2010
Posted by Beachcombing in : Ancient, Modern
Beachcombing has before him on his desk a volume from Frazer’s Golden Bough, perhaps the most famous work of comparative mythology ever written. In it Frazer quotes from Athenaeum (1869) concerning a difficult to forget and cruel bonfire. At Luchon in the Pyrenees on Midsummer Eve: a hollow column, composed of strong wicker-work, is raised [...]
