Avalon High

           Reading Meg Cabot's Avalon High sent me into a complete and utterly déja vu moment. This moment in particular sent me right back to middle school, where I must admit I spent so much time in the school library that all the librarians came to know me on a first name basis. As poisonous as this was to my reputation, I found that I just didn't care. It was probably this moment that I should have realized that I was destined to be an English major. This was one of the first books I had read about any Arthurian legend, so you can imagine how confused I was until I did a little bit of research.

            What I liked best about this book in middle school was the ending. Not because it meant that the book was finally over, but because it fueled my want for a 'Happily Ever After'.  Ever since I was little, and I am sure that I am not alone in this, I have been a hopeless romantic looking for the elusive 'One'. Cabot fulfilled all of my romantic hope that Elle and Will would end up together, no matter what the evil Marco did. To bad it never came with a disclaimer reading: "WARNING: This does not actually happen in real life".  Anyway, what I honestly liked best about the book after I read again for class was that portions of Tennyson's poem were put on the beginning of each chapter (that way, at least, there is an inkling of intelligence in the 'book').  

            One thing that really rubbed me the wrong way about the book was how much Elle stereotyped people. For example: When Elle assumes things about people based on how they look. Just because a person has tattoos doesn't mean that they do drugs. I myself am a prime example of this. I do have a tattoo, and I somehow manage to not do drugs. It can be done.

            Though there are only a few things in common throughout the many, many texts on Arthurian legend, the single thing that I consistently abhor is the affair between Gwen and Lance. It is hard for me to describe in polite words how I truly feel about the entire thing, and had I been Arthur, I would have beheaded them both and put their heads on stakes at the gates of Camelot... I guess it's a good thing that I was never destined to have an ancient kings past intertwined with my modern day life. 

(2/5)

What Knights Carry: Symbols, Talisman, and Tattoos

Gawain's Shield- front 

Somewhere in a students’ academic career, like Dr. Reichard’s Phil 200 ”Courage and Violence,” he or she might encounter Tim O’Brien’s book The Things They Carried.  I have frequently been reminded of essays of O’Brien’s essays and stories as I read about tales of valor and of violence in Arthurian legend.  Soldiers, ancient or modern, bear particular truths greater than their actual stories. Humans often carry “good-luck” artifacts like: religious symbols and articles or relics, the cliché rabbit’s foot, a treasured love letter, a beloved’s trinket or item of clothing.  Sir Gawain gives us several symbols.  

The shield Gawain carries into battle has a pentangle on the outward facing side and the image of the Virgin Mary on the interior facing side.  While fighting, Gawain could draw strength and courage from the Blessed Virgin’s image.  The pentangle is a symbol with pagan and Christian meanings.  It is often associated with the five joys of Mary, the five knightly virtues, and the five wounds of Christ.  For protection, Gawain wears the sash into battle with the Green Knight.  Later the fellow “Knights of the Round Table” adopt the green sash too.  Looking at the box of Thin Mint Girl Scout Cookies in my cupboard, I am reminded of a gang of young girls that proudly wear a green sash. According to one of my classmates girls “can be knights too.”

"Thin Mint"--yumm!

Sir Galahad

Malory’s Galahad carries a shield with significant symbolism too.  Malory tells us that Galahad’s shield is white with a red cross. The shield descends from his ancestor Joseph of Arimathea. Legend tells us that Joseph of Arimathea was the soldier that removed Jesus from the cross. It is blood pouring from Joseph’s nose that forms the red cross of Galahad’s shield (Le Morte d'Arthur).

What do people wear as they face modern challenges? What symbols do they weave into the quests and campaigns of their lives? Are we so different or more sophisticated than our forbearers?  Our lives are filled with symbols and images. Look at the ubiquitous tattoos!  Gawain’s religious symbolism pales by today’s religious tattoos.   Arthur wore an aegis of the Virgin Mary across his shoulders. What might Gawain’s or Arthur’s Mary look like today?  Many tattoo artists have inked the Virgin Mary.  

Tattoos and body scarification have been around for thousands of years.  Several times, on assorted tattoo websites, I have read that knights during the Crusades would have the Jerusalem cross/Crusader’s cross tattooed on a hand or forearm to identify them for Christian burial. I’m not sure if it is factual but branding and tattoos have been used for ages for identification purposes--think animal identification, American slavery, and Nazi concentration camps. Mrs. Malcome, my fourth grade elementary school teacher, had a concentration camp tattoo.  Full of quiet strength and courage, Mrs. Malcome was my childhood hero.  

"Pastrix" Rev. Nadia Boltz-Weber
Pastor of ELCA mission church
House of All Sinners and Saints

From gang members to Protestant ministers, tattoos are everywhere.  Rev. Nadia Boltz-Weber is one of those tattooed pastors.  What symbols or tattoos do you carry?