Two organizers of the radical performance activism group Earth Church, William Talen and Savitri D, gave a sermon and answered a series of questions posed by Professor Leigh Eric Schmidt in the second installment in the “Reverent Irreverence” series. The event was hosted by the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics in Emerson Auditorium, Feb. 6.
Amid the deluge of nostalgia and romance that February invokes, and the calls for resistance to this “epidemic” of love brought about by the market forces, the story of Valentine’s Day perhaps lies somewhere in between long, complex and deserving to be told.
New Year celebrations are both arbitrary and secular, with no religious, astronomical, or seasonal basis. The date of Christ s circumcision marks the first time his blood was shed on earth, making it an unofficial event. Scotland played a significant role in the spread of New Year s, as the strict Presbyterian Christian faith in Scotland frowned on Christmas celebrations.