Sântilie
Elijah the Saint
This is part of a yearlong series on the second edition of Colière, the Euclidian Non-Isochronous Rhythms card deck. Each card is a pretext to gloss over one item of Romanian mythology, anthropomorphize it, all aimed at easier visualizing and audiating one particular rhythm.
Today it’s about “Sântilie”.
The hottest saint there is. So hot, that it marks the time the rams are to be separated from the ewes. No more breeding for you, sheep! Sântilie is another phonetic transliteration of a saint’s name. This one is Sfântul Ilie, Elijah, holy prophet, dear to all the Abrahamic religions and more.
He is widely discussed, here is a good primer. What stuck from all of the wiki is that he recently replaced the old patron saint of Bosnia i Hercegovina as he is praised by Muslims and Orthodox and Catholics alike. The pope approved saying “a wild nation deserved a wild patron”.
Wild that he murdered his parents and then got to ascend to Heaven in spite of it all.
Also wild that the Jews have this small ceremonial chair reserved for Elijah when performing circumcision, because he is said some untrue words about Israel, so he is to attend to every circumcision for ever after.
Under these new wild layers there are lots of connections to older pagan deities all over Eastern Europe. As usual, Elijah’s corporate brand replaced any local small business logo. Fire gods, Helios, or the Dacian Gebeleisis. Hot, the cause of wildfires and also responsible for rain, thunder, lightning, hale. More on Slavic cattle sacrifices on this occasion here translated by Witia, reaching the same conclusion:
There can be no doubt that the prophet Elijah once took the place of a pagan god who preceded him.
— from The Folk Culture of the Slavs by Kazimierz Moszyński
Back to Sântilie’s naughty behaviour that got him to ascend into Heaven in a fire wheeled chariot pulled by four winged white horses, hi-fiving all the other saints. He was a regular Joe when, tricked by the Devil, he killed some family members. Then he had to pay for it by doing some silly stuff here on Earth. 40 years solitary confinement, carrying water in his mouth to get one rotten piece of wood to green again, building a giant pyre for 9 years and then burning himself alive on it and finally simply doing some shepherding on a mountain top. Just to have an idea of how miserable shepherding is. But it pays off, God forgives, but then Sântilie still misbehaves when promoted to sainthood, bothering people on Earth and saints in Heaven with his wild antics. Did I mention he is wild? He is doing it all, thunder and lightning, in an attempt to finish every devil there is. But he produces considerable collateral damage so God takes one of his arms, legs or eyes to temper him a little. Still he is relentless. And that’s why on July 20th, Romania celebrates the Day of Aviation and Air Forces.
He is also lording over other smaller fire deities like Păliile discussed earlier this hot summer. He is a big deal during summer.
Păliile
This is part of a yearlong series on the second edition of Colière, the Euclidian Non-Isochronous Rhythms card deck. Each card is a pretext to gloss over one item of Romanian mythology, anthropomorphize it, all aimed at easier visualizing and audiating one particular rhythm.
On the other hand, Ely from The Road said that “There is no God and we are his prophets.” Downer. And in other news,
From 1974 to 1976 Philip K. Dick believed himself to be possessed by the spirit of Elijah. — Rickman, Gregg. Philip K. Dick: The Last Testament
Truly wild.
This wild Latino rhythm is found everywhere there is a party. It’s the basic tresillo E(3,8), the pair of the cinquillo, our own Naiba E(5,8) discussed previously.
In the old Coliere it is labelled TREPIDVS, quivering, trembling, for fear of the mighty Sântilie and his fire and water power.
E-Li.. Jah..
I-li.. e..
1-2! 1!