Eat This Podcast -- Mother of God
Hello
By a happy coincidence, today I can point you to a short episode that first saw the light of day exactly four years ago, as part of my lunatic attempt to podcast something about bread and wheat on every day of August 2018.
The episode is about Ferragosto, today's big holiday in Italy. These days, it celebrates the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, but a couple of thousand years ago it was the peak of Emperor Augustus' Feriae Augusti. How are they connected, and why is the constellation Virgo carrying a wheatsheaf?
You'll have to listen to find out.
All the other women associated with the constellation Virgo in times gone by were Mother Goddesses, responsible for the harvest and fecundity more generally. I don't know that the Virgin Mary is literally linked to the harvest in any way (although I have found fascinating metaphorical accounts, to which I may return). She is, though, indubitably a mother goddess.
In the episode, I talk about looking for Spica about halfway between Jupiter and Venus. Alas, those pesky wanderers are now visible as morning "stars" and so no help. Provided you are south of about latitude 45°N, however, Spica should become visible low down in the southwest a couple of hours after sunset.
All the best
Jeremy