MetaFilter posts tagged with France and religion

There once was a postman who designed scarves for Hermès....

zarq — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 12:01:59 -0800

Portrait of the Artist as a Postman. Inside Kermit Oliver's studio. People Magazine, November 1989: It's durn easy to buy Levi's, cowboy boots and even chaps in Waco, Texas (pop. 101,000), but if you're looking for one of those fancy Hermès scarves from Paris, France, you'll have to mosey on up to the Hermès boutique 100 miles north in Dallas. What you can find in sleepy Waco is one of the French couturier's top scarf designers—sitting behind his desk at the downtown post office.
A catalogue of his Hermès scarves. A detailed view of one of his scarves. Additional artwork. Most designer silk scarves use from eight to 16 colors in its design, Oliver’s typically requires 64 colors in 32 different screens, a first for the studio in Lyon, France where the artist’s scarves are produced. Bursting with historical figures and symbols, the scarves are an elaborate reflection of Oliver’s ability to combine symbolism and history in creative and vibrant color. His nature scarves of turkeys and other wildlife reflect the keen landscape of the Coastal Prairie of his boyhood. He is the son of a working cowboy, the late K.J. Oliver who is featured in Louise O’Connor’s book, “Cryin’ for Daylight.”
The Houston Chronicle on Khristian and his father: Life, Death and the Prodigal Son.

Full veil banned for Muslim women in France.

dubold — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 02:51:23 -0800

A law has come into force in France which makes it an offence for a Muslim woman to conceal her face behind a veil when in public. In September, the French Senate approved a bill that would ban the wearing of the niquab or burkha in public. The bill was to come into effect in 6 months if not overturned by constitutional judges or the European Court of Human Rights. This bill would not ban the wearing of a hijab, or headscarf, but would apply to "any woman - French or foreign - walking on the street or in a park in France and wearing a face-concealing veil". The penalty for any woman wearing the veil will be a fine of 150 euros. She could also be required to attend citizenship classes. However, the penalty for anyone making a woman wear the veil will be 30,000 euros and up to two years in jail. The bill was not overturned by the French courts or the EU's Court of Human rights, and goes into effect today. The BBC's Gavin Hewitt writes: "For from today the wearing of full-face veils in France are banned. Overnight the woman from the suburb has become a dissenter. She says no law should tell her what she can't wear. She also believes that her faith trumps French law, and therein lies her problem in an avowedly secular French Republic. " Last April, a woman who was wearing a full-face veil while driving was fined. Police said that the veil restricted her vision and could have caused an accident. The woman, who is 31 and a French citizen, said her field of view was unobstructed. Critics of the bill say that Sarkozy is using a controversial situation to draw attention from his unpopular presidency and win easy votes. They say that only about 2,000 women in France wear a full-face covering. Supporters of the bill say that it is an issue of women's rights, and that wearing the veil creates an inferior status that is not compatible with the French values of equality. Previously on Metafilter: Les Niqabitches "stroll around Paris fully veiled from the waist up, but in hotpants and high heels waist-down, to protest the burqa ban in France." France denies citizenship to a Moroccan man whose wife wears the veil.

Lest we forget

unliteral — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 15:13:23 -0800

"A pious, peaceful man, York had fought his country's enemy only after great deliberation and had to be convinced that war was sometimes necessary."¹ On this day let us remember Sergeant York.
¹ Celluloid Soldiers: The Warner Bros. Campaign Against Nazism By Michael E. Birdwell.

France denies citizenship to man who failed to assimilate into French society

reenum — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 11:10:00 -0800

A Moroccan man whose wife wears a veil has been denied citizenship on the basis that he has failed to assimilate into French society. This is not the first time France's anti-burqa stance has drawn attention. The U.N. chose to condemn this stance earlier this year.

The Surprisingly Accurately Named Thirty Years War

Kattullus — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 19:32:07 -0800

The Thirty Years War is a website covers that ginormous kerfuffle that consumed Europe in the first half of the 17th Century from the Second Defenestration of Prague to the Peace of Westphalia. It has a handy map with a place locator which will help you tell your Schweidnitz from your Schweinfurt. Here are some other maps, The Religious Situation in Central Europe about 1618, Principal Seats of War, 1618-1660 and Europe in 1648 - Peace of Westphalia.

The Beziers Massacre.

rdone — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 05:06:42 -0800

"Kill them all. For God knows His own." Today is the 800th anniversary of the massacre of the inhabitants of the town of Beziers in Languedoc, in the south of France, known by the Romans as Gallia Narbonensis. Beziers was the first town to be sacked in the Albigensian Crusades to extirpate the Christian heresy of Catharism, which flourished in Languedoc. The Albigensian Crusades represented the initial application in Europe of religious warfare sanctioned by the resurgent medieval Papacy, and led directly to the institution of the Inquisition and rise of the Dominican Order.

Chartres, virtually

thomas j wise — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 16:59:44 -0800

Chartres: Cathedral of Notre-Dame offers photographs, diagrams, antique prints, and maps of Chartres Cathedral. And that's not the only virtual Chartres site: there's a tour courtesy of San Jose SU and a more elaborate tour (requires Quicktime) offered by the Art History department at Ithaca College. Among other things, Great Buildings features some 3D models (additional, albeit free, software required to view). Speaking of virtual experiences, you can walk the Chartres labyrinth (see here for a more technical description). And don't forget video, including this National Geographic short on the cathedral's architecture; you can also listen to the bells.

Simon Vostre

thomas j wise — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 16:59:27 -0800

The late-fifteenth/early-sixteenth century French publisher Simon Vostre was renowned for his Books of Hours. Adoration of the Magi and Dives and Lazarus (first two images) (Bridgeman Art Library) Annunciation to the Shepherds (Lambeth Palace Library) Book of Hours (Bryn Mawr) Book of Hours (Einar Hansen Library) Book of Hours (Wake Forest) Book of Hours (Grolier Club) Book of Hours (scroll down) (Charlie Jensen) Book of Hours (University of Manitoba) Book of Hours (BYU Idaho) Book of Hours (Dance of Death) (Medieval Macabre) Book of Hours for the Use of Rome (scroll down) (British Library) Delphic Sibyl (ArtBase) Flight into Egypt and Adoration of the Trinity (scroll down) (Bridgeman Art Library) Hore Marie virginis scd[u]m vsum Saru[m]... (Bryn Mawr) Les lunettes des Princes Nativity (Princeton) Planetary Man (Morgan Library) Vostre's printer's device The device in color

Rat Scabies and the Holy Grail

huskerdont — Fri, 16 Sep 2005 12:11:41 -0800

Rat Scabies and the Holy Grail. Best known as the drummer for 1970s punk band The Damned, Rat Scabies grew up with a father interested in the mysteries of the French town of Rennes-le-Château, which may or may not contain the Holy Grail and in the enigmatic priest Berenger Sauniere. Conspiracy theories surrounding the town first popped up in the 1970s book Holy Blood, Holy Grail and gained a certain amount of infamy in recent years from The DaVinci Code. Upon striking up a friendship with his neighbor, journalist Christopher Dawes, Scabies discovered common interests in conspiracy theories and all things paranormal and a shared hatred of the DaVinci Code. Now the pair wrote a book about their alcohol-sodden quest for the Holy Grail that asks the question: What happens when an ex-punk rocker goes looking for the Holy Grail?

The Seven Capital Sins - Revised!

MiguelCardoso — Wed, 12 Mar 2003 23:31:36 -0800

Hey, It's Not Enough We Die Of Obesity without having to go to Hell too? Some enlightened Frenchmen are bending the Pope's ear, trying to spring Gluttony from the Deadly Sins blacklist. Well, even clever old Thomas Aquinas did his damnedest to narrow the seven buggers down. So: which sins would you excuse today's poor sufferers from and which ones would you insist on keeping, if any? [Something tells me MetaFilter is ideally suited to put in a good word for Sloth. I wonder why? Speaking of which, NYT reg. is required but you can read about it here instead. Via Arts and Letters Daily.]