#cucullus

[coolancientstuff]

Newly discovered fresco from the Roman town of Pompeii, Italy

This fresco came to light in the last few days, in the house of the Painters at work, in the Regio IX, in Pompeii. After the removal of volcanic material and lapilli, the small solid fragments of lava, by archaeologists, the fresco showed an excellent state of preservation.

The wall painting depicts a child perhaps three or four years old, with a large hooded cloak, referred to in antiquity as the cucullus, surrounded by bunches of grapes, some of which he holds with his right hand, and others with the cloth held with the left hand. You can also see some yellow pomegranates among the bunches of grapes scattered on the ground.

On the bottom right, his little dog is looking at the observer. This dog looks like a Pomeranian, a breed attested in Italy since the Bronze Age. The Romans referred to them as canis melitensis, a dog initially present in ancient ports, and his task was to keep coastal warehouses and ships free from mice and rats. Behind the boy stands a quadrangular building, from which a sort of turret protrudes. We do not know if this child represents a real person, perhaps a deceased son of the family that owned the house, or a representation of a Dionysian character, where the cucullatus child embodies a small follower of Dionysus.

[cuttledreams-creatures]

InsertAnInvert2024

February Theme - Relationships: Courtship

Week 5: Hooded Tickspider (Ricinulei)

Between the long feeler legs, interlocking body segments, protective cucullus hood, and cool shades of red, these guys jumped right up to some of my fav arachnids. I'm in love~

------

Interested in learning more about the invertebrate animals around us? Join into the year-long InsertAnInvert event organized by Franzanth, where every week a new animal is spotlighted following each monthly theme! Draw unique animals, read up on cool facts, or just follow the tag online to see a lot of cool artwork.

Prompt List: https://bsky.app/profile/franzanth.bsky.social/post/3khyob3xn742q

[windsweptinred]

The Hooded Ones

'The Genii Cucullati are otherworldly entities whose image appears throughout Celtic Britain and Europe during the era of Roman domination. Genius means “a spirit” and a cucullus is a full-length hooded woollen robe. If they look more than a little like mediaeval monks, then this is because their successors also adopted this pragmatic attire. Thus the Genii Cucullati are literally the “hooded spirits.” In Britain they tend to be found in a triple deity form, which seems to be specific to the British representations.

No surviving documentation explains their identity or function. Instead what we know of them is pieced together from archaeological evidence and surviving inscriptions. They are thought to be guardian-type figures offering protection and sanctuary. Some scholars theorise that their hoods are an artistic motif indicating that the beings depicted are normally invisible, “slippery avoidance of being too-clearly defined, preferring instead to remain hidden/hooded/held in obscurity.”

Sometimes, however, the hoods appear very phallic. Sometimes the phallic imagery is overt: some Cucullati have removable hoods revealing the phallus hidden within. An exposed phallus traditionally serves as an amulet that promotes personal fertility, and magically averts death. It may also chase away ghosts and many evil spirits. Indeed, Genii Cucullati are often depicted carrying items indicating fertility, such as eggs and coin purses or martial prowess such as swords of daggers. 

In Britain, their images appear in two key locations, the Cotswolds, and Northumbria – a direct correlation with the concentration of Black Monk sightings .Celtic Scholar Miranda Green wrote “The cult of the Genii Cucullati appears to have embraced profound and sophisticated belief systems” and that “such traditions did not wholly die after the coming of Christianity.” She believed that these hooded figures seem to have left an impression of supernatural power in our countryside.'

[gilly-tamar-w1tch]

The “Hooded ones” have been seen in various places by many people for centuries. They are a little bit different from shadow people in that they are wearing a trenchcoat or trilby hat. With Samhain (Halloween) coming up I thought I would share this. These “Hooded Ones” don’t have any gender or appear to have any gender and often seen as described in a hooded cloak, somewhat like a monk. What are these entities are they spirits of monks? Pagan deities? Are they elementals or perhaps something supernatural? Perhaps they are even a land wight or spirit. the hooded cloak is known as a “Cucullus” and due to this are known as “Genius Cucullus”. Numerous stone and clay statues and stone carvings of these have been found in both continental Europe and Britain. The length of a hooded cloak can vary, more often than not. It tends to be covering the whole body. In folklore they would tend to appear either singular or in a number of three. It is thought, but if they appear as three, it may be a link to the mother goddess and a Celtic Link as well due to the triple aspect. Some of these have been found in the north near Hadrian’s wall and in the south near Gloucestershire are those found in Europe tend to be singular figures. The mystery of the “Hooded Ones” Remains unexplained, and these unusual cloak in individual simply refuse to give up their ancient secrets. No one can tell what these perplexing beings were, but if they actually existed. I have had experiences in seeing these “Hooded Ones” but only as a single one and not coming as three. on one occasion when I saw one a week later, an elderly client are used to look after passed away. So they may be something to do with this, kind of like a spirit warning of a loved one passing, or someone you have a relationship with and got to know quite well passing.

Whatever they are they are a fascinating and folkloric cultural legacy. These hooded ones seemed to have left an impression in the British and European countryside. Back in the early nineties, a family were driving along a road in Worcestershire, England. As they drove through a dark tunnel of ancient trees, they saw something strange ahead of them. A few feet off the ground were three hooded figures and as who moss they were seen; they vanished into thin air. The experience was reported to a local paranormal group.

Are we dealing with spirits here? A folk memory perhaps or land spirits? Whatever they are they are a mystery and likely something very ancient

[greencheekconure27]

Olivia. Take the fool away.

Feste. Do you not hear, fellows? Take away the lady.

Olivia. Go to, you're a dry fool; I'll no more of you:

besides, you grow dishonest.

Feste. Two faults, madonna, that drink and good counsel

will amend: for give the dry fool drink, then is

the fool not dry: bid the dishonest man mend

himself; if he mend, he is no longer dishonest; if

he cannot, let the botcher mend him. Any thing

that's mended is but patched: virtue that

transgresses is but patched with sin; and sin that

amends is but patched with virtue. If that this

simple syllogism will serve, so; if it will not,

what remedy? As there is no true cuckold but

calamity, so beauty's a flower. The lady bade take

away the fool; therefore, I say again, take her away.

Olivia. Sir, I bade them take away you.

Feste. Misprision in the highest degree! Lady, cucullus non

facit monachum; that's as much to say as I wear not

motley in my brain. Good madonna, give me leave to

prove you a fool.

Olivia. Can you do it?

Feste. Dexterously, good madonna.

Olivia. Make your proof.

Feste. I must catechise you for it, madonna: good my mouse

of virtue, answer me.

Olivia. Well, sir, for want of other idleness, I'll bide your proof.

Feste. Good madonna, why mournest thou?

Olivia. Good fool, for my brother's death.

Feste. I think his soul is in hell, madonna.

Olivia. I know his soul is in heaven, fool.

Feste. The more fool, madonna, to mourn for your brother's

soul being in heaven. Take away the fool, gentlemen.

[bandnameserver]

Cucullus

[denorteanorte]

Más de 200 niños y niñas en la Colonia de Verano del sindicato Ladrillero

Es en el Club Atlético Cucullu en San Andrés de Giles. La organizó el sindicato de Ladrilleros UOLRA en colaboración con la Comisión Provincial de Erradicación del Trabajo Infantil de la provincia de Buenos Aires (COPRETI). Y se realiza, explicaron desde la UOLRA, “en el marco de la lucha contra el trabajo infantil y la protección de los derechos de las infancias“. La Colonia, en movimiento LA…

[nucifract]

Männer mit Gugel. Okt 2020

So sah es vor zwei Jahren aus. Die Straßenmode hat sich seitdem nicht groß geändert. Daß die Gugel nach so vielen Jahrhunderten wieder derart erfolgreich werden sollte! Erstaunlich. Aber auch sonst entwickeln wir uns zurück richtung Mittelalter. Natürlich heißt die Gugel heute nicht mehr Gugel, sondern Kapuze. Und ist an den Pulli angenäht, damit die schusselige Jugend des dritten Jahrtausends sie nicht so leicht verliert.

Wer weiß, was noch alles zurückkommt. Ich könnte mir bei der Klimlerjugend auch gut vorstellen, daß sie eine Tonsur wieder als schick empfinden könnte. Durchaus passend für diese neue Form des Wein saufenden Klerus aus dem Hause Reemstma. Von weitem schon zu erkennen als gute Menschen an der teilrasierten und polierten Birne. Damit jeder früh genug Reißaus nehmen kann, wenn die Prediger aufmarschieren und Opfer verlangen, die sie selber nicht bringen. Oder nur dann, wenn die anderen damit beginnen.

Im Moment hocken sie mit dreissigtausend Mann in einem Schnorchel-Badeort in Ägypten. Nennen es Klimagipfel. Haben mal eben eine ganze Stadt mit umweltschweinischem Düsenantrieb auf einen anderen Kontinent gehoben, um sich dort darüber aufzuregen, daß zu Hause ein paar arme Säue mit dem Auto zur Arbeit fahren.

Gugel nie gehört? Etymologie lateinisch cuculus (oder so). Zu deutsch: der Depp, der Trottel, der Faulpelz. Oder mittelalterliches Latein, das man immer mit Vorsicht genießen muß, weil es wie heute eine Zeit der ungebildeten Idioten war: cucullus, die Mönchskutte.

In Frankreich sagt man zur Kapuze heute noch Cagoule. Gibt auch einen erfolgreichen Schlager dazu: “Fous Ta Cagoule” von Fatal Bazooka.

[lespalimpsestes]

[burakrevista]

Charla | Martín Ayos & Santiago Cucullu

Estuvimos de charla con Martín Ayos y Santiago Cucullu sobre los distintos trabajos artísticos que llevan a cabo juntos.

Enfocamos la conversación en el último proyecto: Uirapurú o devenir pájaro, un libro compuesto por un poema e ilustraciones, basado en la leyenda tupí-guaraní del Uirapurú ("el pájaro que no es pájaro")

Martín Ayos es escritor argentino, tiene varios libros, fanzines y comics publicados. Coordinó talleres de filosofía y poesía. Desde el año 2009 colabora en diversos proyectos con Santiago Cucullu, artista, también argentino, pero radicado hace muchos años en EE.UU. Santiago crea obras multimedia, instalaciones, pinturas, murales y esculturas, utilizando una dualidad de materiales.

Pueden ver sus proyectos en este link: https://ayos.com.ar/cucullu-ayos/

Una charla muy interesante sobre poesía y arte.

.

Martín Ayos 

https://ayos.com.ar/

Santiago Cucullu

https://www.galleriaumbertodimarino.com/santiago-cucullu/

[romegreeceart]

Statuette of a sleeping child (Cucullus) with a lamp

* 1st-2nd century CE

* Rome, Tiber (Palatine bridge)

* National Roman Museum, Baths of Diocletian

Rome, July 2015

[onenicebugperday]

Hooded tickspiders (Ricinulei) are an order of small, predatory arachnids that feed on other arthropods. Despite the name, they are neither true spiders nor ticks. First described from fossils, these arachnids were once thought to be extinct, but more than 70 living species have since been described worldwide.

They are notable for their hood (or cucullus) which can be raised and lowered over the head; when lowered, it covers the mouth and chelicerae entirely. Hooded tickspiders have no eyes, but do have light-sensitive areas of cuticle on their exoskeleton.

After receiving a spermatophore from a male, the female will carry a single fertilized egg under her hood until it hatches.

Photos 1-3 by cesarfavacho, 4 by M. Hedin, 5 by b_akeret, 6-7 by alex-valmond, 8 by aztekium_tutor, and 9 by braytonidae

[mayra-ac]

Territórios dos Povos do Eco (independentes dos reinos)

Terras de ninguém

Animarum

Nautis

Tiaram

Tribos D'Oeste (com foco nas Guanibara, Cucullus e Annulus)

Por Mayra AC

[just-a-caffeine-addict]

Quotes Accrued in a Decade

“…as you well know, the source of the Nile remained invisible to those who lived next to it for a thousand years. Identifying it required a stranger. (A fresh pair of eyes may see what others miss)” –Sherlock Holmes (From The Perils of Sherlock Holmes: Short Stories)

“A couple of years before he died, I kissed my father goodbye. He said, ‘Son, you haven’t kissed me since you were a little boy.’ It went straight to my heart, and I kissed him whenever I saw him after that, and my sons and I always kiss whenever we meet.” –Terry Wogan

“A wise man makes his own decisions, an ignorant man follows the public opinion.” –Chinese Proverb

“All great truths begin as blasphemies.” –George Bernard Shaw

“An army of donkeys led by a lion is better than an army of lions led by a donkey.” –Genghis Khan

"An error does not become truth by reason of multiplied propagation, nor does truth become error because nobody sees it." –Mahatma Gandhi

“Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.” –Cesar A. Cruz

“As we let our light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.” –Marianna Williamson

“Ask not what your country can do for you –ask what you can do for your country.” –John Kennedy

“Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply give you courage.” –Lao Tzu

“Better the devil you know than the devil you don't know.” –English Proverb

“Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance.” –George Bernard Shaw

“By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.” –Confucius

“Can you really have a bad experiment? I don’t know. But can you have a bad result? Yes.” — EvanAndKatelyn (From Can Resin Preserve a Pumpkin Carving?)

“canon is but the sandbox in which i strike lightning to form glass. trouble me no more with your quibblings and quorums, lest i grind you to dust beneath my heel and build stories from the remnants of your bones. Avast, foul fiend” —taako waititi (From Tumblr)

“Civil war? What does that mean? Is there any foreign war? Isn't every war fought between men, between brothers?” —Victor Hugo

“Cucullus non facit monachum (A cowl does not make a monk).” – Fool/Feste (From Twelfth Night)

“Demons run when a good man goes to war…” –River Song (From Doctor Who)

“Due to high cost of ammo, there will be NO WARNING SHOTS FIRED.” –Warning sign

“Every couple needs to argue now and then. Just to prove that the relationship is strong enough to survive. Long-term relationships, the ones that matter, are all about weathering the peaks and the valleys.” –Nicholas Sparks (From Safe Haven)

“Everyone gives the title of barbarism to everything that is not in use in his own country.” –Michel de Montaigne (From Of Cannibals)

“Families are the compass that guide us. They are the inspiration to reach great heights, and our comfort when we occasionally falter.” –Brad Henry

“Fiction reveals truth that reality obscures.” –Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Fools take a knife and stab people in the back. The wise take a knife, cut the cord, and set themselves free from the fools.” –Unknown

“Forget injuries, never forget kindnesses.” –Chinese Proverb

“Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.” –Thomas Edison

“Herr, wirf Hern vom Himmel -oder Steine, Hauptsache er trifft (Lord, throw some brains from the heavens -or stones, as long as he hits the mark)!” –German Proverb

“History is for human self-knowledge...the only clue to what man can do is what man has done. The value of history, then, is that it teaches us what man has done and thus what man is.” —R.G. Collingwood

“Humor is emotional chaos remembered in tranquility.” –James Thurber

“I can pretend I’m a fish, but I shouldn’t try to breathe underwater.” –Unknown

“I have the patience of a saint. Saint Cunty McFuckOff.” –Words on a cup

“I have not failed. I’ve just found 1,000 ways that won’t work.” –Thomas Edison

“I made some good deals and I made some bad ones. I really went in the hole with this one.” –Quote on a grave

“I occasionally think, how quickly our differences worldwide would vanish if we were facing an alien threat from outside this world. And yet, I ask is not an alien force ALREADY among us?” –Ronald Reagan

“If I have seen further than others, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” –Isaac Newton

“If our impulses were confined to hunger, thirst, and desire, we might nearly be free; but now we are moved by every wind that blows, and a chance word or scene that that word may convey to us.” –Victor Frankenstein (From Frankenstein)

“If the world tells me I’m mad, whereas I know I’m not, which of us is right? Thus, being mad is what? Inventing a life one hasn’t lived or loving a woman met in another lifetime? Is it clinging to unsatisfied desires?..” Doriel (From A Mad Desire to Dance)

“If you’re afraid - don’t do it, - if you’re doing it - don’t be afraid!” –Genghis Khan

“If you’re going to be a writer, the first essential is just to write. Do not wait for an idea. Start writing something and the ideas will come. You have to turn the faucet on before the water starts to flow.” —Louis L’Amour

"If you're not asking the questions in a thoughtful way, you're not going to get any results that are useful or interesting." –Tony Wagner

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader.” –John Quincy Adams

“I'm the one that's got to die when it's time for me to die, so let me live my life the way I want to.” –Jimi Hendrix (From Axis: Bold as Love)

"Imagine a world in which every single person on the planet has free access to the sum of all human knowledge." –Jimmy Wales (Founder of Wikipedia)

"In caucus terrae, luscus rex est (In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king)." –Latin Adage

“In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.” –Abraham Lincoln

“In time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” –George Orwell

“It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not.” –André Gide (From Autumn Leaves)

"It's not that I'm so smart. But I stay with the questions much longer." –Albert Einstein

“It’s true. I forget important things sometimes… Sometimes I do think I should give up-- just let the crown win and the world freeze, with me in it. Some days I can’t remember a single reason to keep fighting. Some… Some days I-- I can’t remember her. But giving up’s EASY. You know what’s hard? To BELIEVE in your own worth, to KNOW you’ve got something special in you even if nobody else can see it. Even when YOU can’t.” –Ice King |Simon Petrikov from Adventure Time

“Learn yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.” –Albert Einstein

“Learning to trust is one of life’s most difficult tasks.” –Isaac Watts

“Life is a dream for the wise, a game for the fool, a comedy for the rich, a tragedy for the poor.” –Sholom Aleichem

“Love is friendship that has caught fire. It is quiet understanding, mutual confidence, sharing and forgiving. It is loyalty through good and bad times. It settles for less than perfection and makes allowances for human weaknesses.” –Ann Landers

“Love takes off masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within.” –James Baldwin

“Memory is a way of holding onto the things you love, the things you are, the things you never want to lose.” —“The Wonder Years”

“My family is my strength and my weakness.” –Aishwarya rai Bachchan

“Names are the sweetest and the most important sounds in any language.” –Dale Carnegie

“No man chooses evil because it is evil; he only mistakes it for happiness, the good he seeks.” –Mary Wollstonecraft

"No mortal can keep a secret. If his lips are silent, he chatters with his fingertips." –Sigmund Freud

“No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow.” –Lin Yutang

“NO TRESPASSING. Violators will be shot; Survivors will be shot again.” –Warning Sign

“Nobody knows you as well as our spouse. And that means no one will be quicker to recognize a change when you deliberately start sacrificing your wants and wishes to make sure his or her needs are met.” –Stephen Kendrick from The Love Dare

“Notice: Anyone found here at night will be found here in the morning.” –Warning Sign

“"One thing nature is very good at is creating incredibly complex microscopic structures. That's because nature's machines are the size of molecules, while our crude versions are the size of rooms." –Theodore Gray (from Molecules: The Elements and Architecture of Everything)

“Only the sufferers know how their bellies ache.“ –Burmese

“People never lie so much as after a hunt, during a war, or before an election.” –Otto von Bismarck

“People think intimacy is about sex. But intimacy is about truth. When you realize you can tell someone your truth, when you can show yourself to them, when you stand in front of them bare and their response is ‘You’re safe with me’ - that’s intimacy.” –Taylor Jenkins Reid (From The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo)

“Play taps for my ass, cause it’s dead as hell.” –Unknown Quote

“Six of one, half a dozen of the other. (It doesn't matter which one we choose; Equally involved, equally responsible)”

“Sometimes people are beautiful. Not in looks. Not in what they say. Just in what they are.” –Markus Zusak (From I Am the Messenger)

“Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far.” –Theodore Roosevelt

“Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can” –Arthur Ashe

“Take nothing but pictures; Leave nothing but footprints; Kill nothing but time.” –Caver’s Creed

“Take with a pinch of salt (Don’t completely believe what’s told).”

“The bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy in each other’s life.” –Richard Bach

“The end of one thing is only the beginning of another.” –Unknown

“The family is a haven in a heartless world.” –Attributed to Christopher Lasch

“The helper seeks to help others because he knows what it is to be helpless.” –’ Zen’ Wander (From Wander Over Yonder)

"The million-dollar question: Why aren't we kinder? The second million-dollar question: How might we become more loving, more open, less selfish, more present, less

delusional?" –George Sanders

“The need for a body of common knowledge and common reference ...grows more necessary so that people of different origins and occupation may quickly find common ground and, as we say, speak a common language...it also ensures a kind of mutual confidence and good will. One is not addressing an alien, blank as a stone wall, but a responsive creature whose mind is filled with the same images, memories, and vocabulary as oneself.” —Jacques Barzun

“The ones that stay with you through everything - they're your true best friends. Don't let go of them.” –Marilyn Monroe

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself!” –Roosevelt

“The only time you should look in your neighbor's bowl is to make sure you have enough.” –Louie CK

“The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.” –Albert Camus

“The sacrifice which causes sorrow to the doer of the sacrifice is no sacrifice. Real sacrifice lightens the mind of the doer and gives him a sense of peace and joy. The Buddha gave up the pleasures of life because they had become painful to him.” –Mahatma Gandhi

“The secret of a good memory is attention, and attention to a subject depends upon our interest in it. We rarely forget that which has made a deep impression on our minds.” —Tryon Edwards

“The secret to humor is surprise.” –Aristotle

“The surplus wealth of the few will become, in the best sense, the property of many, because administered for the common good.” –Andrew Carnegie

“The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.” –G.K. Chesterson

"The word 'why' not only taught me to ask, but also to think. And thinking has never hurt anyone. On the contrary, it does us all a world of good." –Anne Frank

“The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong in the broken places.” –Ernest Hemingway From A Farewell To Arms

“There is no satisfaction in vengeance unless the offender has time to realize who it is that strikes him, and why retribution had come upon him.” –Jefferson Hope From Sherlock’s Adventures

“There will be something you hate in every job. The trick is finding a job where you love the good parts enough to make up for the crappy parts.” –post

“There’s a name for you ladies, but it isn’t used in high society… outside of a kennel.” –Crystal (From The Women of 1939)

“Though we tremble before uncertain futures… may we dance in the face of our fears.” –Gloria Anzaldua

“To forget the dead would be akin to killing them a second time.” –Elie Wiesel (From Night)

“Un sot trouve toujours un plus sot qui l’admire (A fool always finds a fool to admire him).” – Sherlock Holmes (French translation)

“We’re taught Lord Acton’s axiom: all power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely[...] I believed that when we started these books, but I don’t believe it’s always true anymore. [...] What I believe is always true about power is that power always reveals. When you have enough power to do what you always wanted to do, then you see what the guy always wanted to do.” –Robert A. Caro

“We call that person who has lost his father, an orphan; and a widower that man who has lost his wife. But that man who has known the immense unhappiness of losing a friend, by what name do we call him? Here every language is silent and holds its peace in impotence.” –Joseph Roux

“What we have done to ourselves alone, dies with us; what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal.” –Brother Albert Pike

“When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.” –Henry Ford

“When you wish upon a star, you’re a few million light years late. That star is dead. Just like your dreams.” –Unknown

“When you’re a brat, running fast is enough to make you popular. When you’re a middle-schooler, the guys who can fight will be popular, and after that it’s the guys with brains who can get the girls.” –Master of Protagonist (From The Fruit of Grisaia)

“Where we love is home –home where our feet may leave, but not our hearts.” –Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

“Wise men speak because they have something to say; Fools because they have to say something.” –Plato

“You are the company you keep.” –Unknown

“You must be imaginative, strong-hearted. You must try things that may not work, and you must not let anyone define your limits because of where you come from. Your only limit is your soul" –Chef Gusteau (From Ratatouille)

“You walk around a drunk, you get a tired drunk. Splash ‘em with water, you get a wet drunk. Give ‘em a coffee, you’ve got a wide-awake drunk…” –Unknown

[mostly-history]

Roman-era relief of the Genii Cucullati (hooded deities) at Housesteads Roman Fort on Hadrian's Wall (Northumberland, England).

This relief dates to around 225 – 250 AD, and is carved into local buff sandstone.  It was found on a shrine in the vicus (settlement) around the fort.  The shrine was built into a niche in a building.

The spirits are wearing the cucullus, a hood attached to a cloak.  The cloak may be the birrus Britannicus, a type of waterproof cloak and hood that was exported across the Roman Empire.  The hooded cape was associated with the Gauls and Celts during the Roman era.

[lighterandpaper]

Quit Da Talkin’

Photo by @pistos

A little man in a plaid button down, greased gray hair, and big bifocals sits behind his desk. The kids talk loudly as if they know they can get away with it. But today, teacher’s leg is shaking and his eyes dart to the talking children, taking mental notes.

“Good afternoon, sha,” he says, Cajun accent. The classroom was built before the civil war and was even used as a hospital during it. Kids are giggling. “Y’all quit dat gigglin, now. Mr. Cucullu hadn’t said nothing funny.” 

The room slowly quiets. Mr. Cucullu looks like he might pop.

“Now, I just got out a meeting with Mr. Principle Barham. He told me y’all a bunch of dummies. At least that’s what da test scores in this class indicate. Y’all think y’all a bunch of dummies?” He poses the questions as if it’s a real one. 

The class is really quiet now. 

Mr. Cucullu likes that. “Well, all we got to do is look at y’all’s scores in other classes, yeah? Well, turns out y’all ain’t a bunch of dummies after all. Y’all ain’t find trouble quittin’ the talkin’ in Ms. MaCord or Mr. Kennedy’s class. Y’all just failin’ in my class, da chemical. Y’all know what dat mean, yeah?” 

Again, the class does not have an answer. 

“Y’all can’t quit da talkin’ in old Mr. Cucullu’s class! Y’all made a fool out of old Felix Cucullu. Y’all come in here like the chemical is a joke?” 

The kids have never seen him like this. 

“From here on out, we gon quit da talkin’. And if I hear anybody... Taylor! Corban!” 

Two kids in the back perk up. 

“Quit da talkin’,” he says, darker. 

A grave silence. “Now, let’s pick up right where we left off, yeah? The spiritual significance of da chemical. You got your mathematic, and then you got your physics. These are the more abstract hard sciences. The first science you can put your hands on,” he puts his hands on his desk. “Is da chemical. It is a transcendent study. Right in between the t’eatrical and Godly and the eart’ and dirt, where we currently live. Now, I ain’t saying y’all’ll go to hell if you don’t know da chemical, but it don’t hurt.” 

A hand is high in the air. 

“Yes ma’am, you ma’am, Ms. Katie,” Mr. Cucullu says. 

“Will this be on the test?” she says. 

Mr. Cucullu looks at her like she’s a known trouble maker. “Not on Uncle Sam’s test, no.” He begins to write on the chalk board. 

“But that’s the test we’re not doing well, on, right?” she asks. 

“Quit da talkin’,” he says. 

“I’m sorry?” Katie asks. 

Taylor chuckles in the back. “Quit dat talkin’ NOW,” he says, voice becoming like a squawk. “Taylor! In the back! Y’all QUIT DAT TALKIN’ NOW!” 

The class waits for what he will say next. 

“Why don’t you tell me what the most basic chemical is, Taylor?” 

“An element?” he says. 

“Oh, ok. One day of quittin’ dat talkin’ and suddenly he knows the periodic table, now.” 

He goes to the chalk board. “Now, ya’ll tell me what you get when two elements bond.” 

“A molecule,” the class mutters. 

“A module, dat’s right,” he says, finishing drawing a crude one on the board. 

Katie raises her hand. Her friend behind her forces it down before it is seen. 

Mr. Cucullu turns around, swelling with pride. “Now, ain’t this better without all dat talkin’, yeah?”