Friday, October 27, 2023

Saturn Devouring His Po Boy



The perfect visual pun Halloween decoration for Louisiana? Maybe, but this is a Mardi Gras decoration from 2021, when New Orleans didn't do parades because of the pandemic. Instead, they decorated houses so people could take tours at their leisure. Image credit to Jasen Waterfalls. (via reddit

3 comments:

Bicycle Bill said...

All things being equal, that's a very good replica of the painting of Saturn devouring his children by Francisco de Goya.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/82/Francisco_de_Goya,_Saturno_devorando_a_su_hijo_(1819-1823).jpg

Incidentally, Saturn is the Roman equivalent of the Greek god Chronus (or Kronos).

-"BB"-

Debra She Who Seeks said...

His po boy Jupiter?

Bicycle Bill said...

According to the myth, Saturn/Cronos never consumed Jupiter, but did swallow his first five children. When his wife, Ops/Rhea, gave birth to his sixth child (Jupiter/Zeus), she hid him on the island of Crete and instead gave Saturn/Cronos a special stone wrapped in swaddling clothes.  Saturn/Cronos swallowed the stone, which caused him to then disgorge the other five — Vesta/Hestia, Ceres/Demeter, Juno/Hera, Pluto/Hades, and Neptune/Poseidon.

There's more to the story, including how Saturn came to power by emasculating his father (Caelus/Uranus), resulting in a roundabout way in the birth of the Furies and Venus/Aphrodite.   Ain't mythology fun??

-"BB"-