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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture ----- Original Message ----- From: "Christopher Crockett" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Wednesday, March 09, 2005 6:40 AM Subject: Re: [M-R] (Un)Christian names >a parent names his son after a Hero, surely with the hope (at least) that the >kid will grow up emulating the Hero's Heroic Deeds, thereby gaining Heaven, or >the Hero of the Soviet Union medal or whatever is most valued by the society >he's in. > Without wishing to get into their relative degrees of closeness to >secular sainthood, I might add that another modern falling into this >category is Karl Marx. >can't really hold a candle to the Lenin Cult, can it. >i can't think of anything approaching that Lenin Cult in modren times: All kids in the Soviet Russia were supposed at age 7 or 8 to undergo a certain rite that can only compare to "baptism": to enter the children's "Oktober party" by publicly giving certain vows: of good behaviour and, more importantly, compliance to the socialist norms and aspirations. The best-behaved children, at least in Moscow, were always taken for this ceremony to the Lenin's museum, so we gave our vows in the presence of the "saint's" relics. And then we received a red tie and a badge: red star with a medallion of Lenin as child (see here: http://www.just-so-site.com/archive/nostalgy/muzeum/okt_pin.htm) Both were to be worn at ALL times (I still remember the drag of ironing that cheap synthetic tie every single morning). How is that for a pilgrimage and pilgrim badges? When I grew up, the attitude was already slackening, so I dared asking my schoolmaster once whether it was possible for some kids to NOT to enter the party. As I was explained, that would only have the case if the child were openly religious (socialist norms meant atheism, of course), which, she said, surely would not have happened because religiousness was prosecuted by the law. But again, there you have it: adherence to the cult of Lenin excluded any other worship. And, of course, there are miracle stories about Lenin that we had read to us in kindergarten and in school. Admittedly, he never resuscitated the dead but he did feed crowds. . . Best, Elena Lemeneva Medieval Studies Department Central European University ********************************************************************** To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME to: [log in to unmask] To send a message to the list, address it to: [log in to unmask] To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion to: [log in to unmask] In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: [log in to unmask] For further information, visit our web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html