{"id":6639,"date":"2009-10-25T02:22:35","date_gmt":"2009-10-25T09:22:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leogrin.com\/CimmerianBlog\/?p=6639"},"modified":"2015-09-25T09:17:41","modified_gmt":"2015-09-25T16:17:41","slug":"of-twenty-fifths","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/leogrin.com\/CimmerianBlog\/of-twenty-fifths\/","title":{"rendered":"Of Twenty-Fifths… and Giving the Dauntless Their Due"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"henry_v_branagh_0_0_0x0_853x480\"\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Enter the OE, bookmarking his place in \u201cThe Black Stranger\u201d:<\/em><\/p>\n

Rather proclaim it, Doc Pod<\/a>, online and off,
\nThat he which hath no ideas for this Mailing,
\nLet him gafiate; his name from the roster stricken,
\nAnd dues refunded put into his man-purse;
\nWe would not zine in that fan\u2019s company
\nThat spares not his weekend to zine with us.
\nThis day is call\u2019d the feast of [Tim] Marion,
\nHe that outlives this day, and comes safe to #201,
\nWill stand a tip-toe when this Mailing is nam\u2019d,
\nAnd rouse him at the thought of August of \u201806
\nHe that shall zine this day, and live to look like Burl Ives,
\nWill quarterly one night neglect the remote,
\nAnd say \u2018Twas not always but a single section.\u2019
\nThen will he fetch his stacks and show his zines,
\nAnd say \u2018These printing problems I had in Mailing #200.\u2019
\nAll shall be Mylared; or sold off on eBay,
\nBut he\u2019ll remember, with advantages,
\nWhat pages he filled that day. Then shall our names,
\nFamiliar in his mouth as usual suspects \u2014
\nIndy the OE, Rippke and Trout-in-the-Dark,
\nRichter<\/a> and Gramlich<\/a>, Romeo<\/a> and Sea-Burke
\nBe in their flowing cups beerily remembered.
\nThis story shall the good fan teach his son;
\nAnd deadlines shall ne\u2019er force FedEx,
\nFrom this Mailing to the ending of the world,
\nBut we in it shall be remembered \u2014
\nWe few, we serconn\u2019d few, we apa of brothers;
\nFor he today that sheds his ink with me
\nShall be my brother; be he ne\u2019er so minacked,
\nThis day shall excuse his reprint;
\nAnd gentlefans at innercircle now-a-bed
\nShall think themselves accurs\u2019d they were not here,
\nAnd hold their manhoods cheap while any speaks
\nThat zined with us for Mailing #200.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The above\u00a0was penned by\u00a0Steve Tompkins<\/a> on July 25th, 2006<\/a>, exhorting his REHupan brethren in Bard of Avonic\u00a0fashion to make the heroic effort that culminated in REHupa Mailing #200.<\/p>\n

It seems hard for me to believe that Tompk posted that tribute to King Harry’s pre-game speech\u00a0as given on\u00a0the morn of the Battle of\u00a0Agincourt<\/a> (as envisioned by Shakespeare) without being aware that he was doing so on the twenty-fifth<\/em> of July. Steve Tompkins was nothing if not mindful of the passing of time<\/a> and of the importance of observing anniversaries<\/a>. He was certainly capable of seeing unlikely, but fitting, connections.<\/p>\n

Observing dates of consequence\u00a0is not an exclusively\u00a0civilized\u00a0practice in anything but the most reductio ad absurdum<\/em> sense. Calendrical calculations appear to stretch back to at least Neolithic times. We have solid documentation of “barbarians” faithfully observing holidays on the date required by tradition. Such\u00a0examples are shown by\u00a0the Varangians celebrating Yule in the Byzantine court or the druids of Gaul giving brazen immortality to their highly advanced calendar.\u00a0Whether the Hyborian Age Cimmerians had anything as sophisticated as the Coligny Calendar is an open question, but Conan was able to tell Balthus how old he was when he scaled the walls of Venarium.<\/p>\n

Creating calendars (and by extension, what we call “holidays” of various persuasions) is mankind’s way of imposing some sort of control over what can seem a chaotic and non-linear dimension. According to old Jewish folklore, Adam gave names to every animal, thus establishing dominion over each species. By the same token, giving a name and place to each day and season grants humanity a grip on time.<\/p>\n

Commemorating certain dates collectively induces a solidarity and groundedness\u00a0in the\u00a0souls of people\u00a0that can’t be duplicated any other way. Ever tried (sincerely) celebrating Christmas (another twenty-fifth)\u00a0in July? If so, I’m willing to bet it was a failure.<\/p>\n

October 25th is a “perfect storm” of a date<\/a>, at least when it comes to events redolent of blood and thunder and of unmatched courage.\u00a0I wouldn’t say there is much\u00a0doubt that Robert E. Howard was aware of it.\u00a0Howard (and Tolkien) certainly<\/em> admired jaw-dropping\u00a0bravery and dogged determination when they\u00a0encountered it. We happy few\u00a0here at The Cimmerian<\/em> do as well. So, lest the deeds of the valorous be forgotten or that the chants of old heroes be unremember’d, we honor those\u00a0dauntless souls\u00a0today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 Enter the OE, bookmarking his place in \u201cThe Black Stranger\u201d: Rather proclaim it, Doc Pod, online and off, That he which hath no ideas for this Mailing, Let him gafiate; his name from the roster stricken, And dues refunded put into his man-purse; We would not zine in that fan\u2019s company That spares […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76,29,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-history-general","category-reh-and-history","category-rehupa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/leogrin.com\/CimmerianBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/leogrin.com\/CimmerianBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/leogrin.com\/CimmerianBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/leogrin.com\/CimmerianBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/leogrin.com\/CimmerianBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6639"}],"version-history":[{"count":25,"href":"http:\/\/leogrin.com\/CimmerianBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6639\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16725,"href":"http:\/\/leogrin.com\/CimmerianBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6639\/revisions\/16725"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/leogrin.com\/CimmerianBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/leogrin.com\/CimmerianBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/leogrin.com\/CimmerianBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}