Welcome again to everybody! Make yourself at home. Sit down around the fire place, if you have fire wood, please place it on the rack beside the fire. In the time-honoured tradition of our group, here is our weekly discussion thread!
We have our own Matrix homeserver at https://genzedong.org; you can make an account with any Matrix client (e.g. Element). We also have a GenZedong Matrix room (see the sidebar for more information), and there’s a general Lemmygrad Matrix room at #internationale:genzedong.org.
Join our Discord if you are so inclined
Short reading list for new MLs here. To find theory (and other books), you can use z-lib, libgen, or Sci-Hub (for scientific articles). If an article is unavailable, try the Wayback Machine.
How are our w*stern comrades enjoying their favorite pagan festival this year?
I’ve got my outfit ready for a bit of midnight dancing on the Solstice. I’ve been wearing it all year! Might be a bit chilly to be outside in, though.
Or do you mean the other one, the one the church stole and pretended was Jesus’ birthday?
Edit: if whoever down voted this and commiewolf’s post dislikes the supposed blasphemy, we’re talking about Yule. A festival that predates Christianity, but which may have been borrowed by Christians, renamed, and reinterpreted. Odin worshippers would burn a huge log that would stay lit for so many days to keep the hall warm during the shortest days of the year. Hence the season’s best dessert: the Yule log. (It’s a tie with Panettone and mince pies.) As for which celebration came first, who knows, but the Solstices were significant long before the church was instituted and had formalised its calendar. This is not the only such festival. There’s also e.g. Samhain / Halloween and Eostre’s feast / Easter, with parallel, earlier stories of souls / ghosts, birth, rabbits / hares, and eggs.
Didn’t know that about Halloween, I just assumed it was some bullshit made up by the Americans in the US about the ghosts of the natives they genocided coming back to haunt them or something.
Nay. Samhein is Celtic in origin, if I recall correctly. It is worth reading up on, in my opinion. Later it became associated with All Hallows Eve and All Saints Day
I’ve been taking a break from politics for the past 2 weeks. Trying to get my mental health to a good place. Feel a little guilty not keeping up with stuff though.
Don’t feel guilty! It’s good to get out of the depressing news cycle. Got to look after yourself!
How’s your deportation process going if you don’t mind me asking? Hope all is well comrade.
I am actually looking forward to Christmas but as a family gathering.
I appreciate your concern, its been very tough. Mostly just working my ass off lately to make a living and settle in here. I’m a bit estranged with my family around here so its tougher than it would be but I’m staying focused. Hope you guys enjoy your Christmas, with plenty of pepernoten if there’s any left on the shelves.
Lmao yeah one of my coworkers had leftover pepernoten from Sinterklaas and brought them with her. They were all hard as fuck.
I hope you can find your place soon, I wish you all the best.