all the King's Horses and all the King's men, couldn't
...no wait...
they put Humpty Dumpty back together again.
Hang on, you might say, the King's men couldn't put Humpty Dumpty back together again, well yes that was the way it has always been taught, but apparently it's too sad that poor “Goo goo ga joob.” is in a dozen pieces or so, let's save the children the trauma and let's make it all better, poor little egg.
(King's man 1: "Alas! Poor Humpty, I knew him well!"
Humpty Dumpty: "I'm no dead yet,Goo goo ga joob.!"
King's man 2: " 'ere, he says he's not dead yet!")
This article on the Sydney Morning Herald has more about the controversy: SMH
Well, if the “smart” people who came up with that idea had done their history, they'd know that Humpty Dumpty was in reality a big fat cannon on a castle wall believed to have been used in the English Civil War ( 1642 - 1649) in the Siege of Colchester (13 Jun 1648 - 27 Aug 1648). It did fall down and break into pieces because (quoted from Rymes.org.uk ) :
"A shot from a Parliamentary cannon succeeded in damaging the wall beneath Humpty Dumpty which caused the cannon to tumble to the ground. The Royalists, or Cavaliers, 'all the King's men' attempted to raise Humpty Dumpty on to another part of the wall. However, because the cannon , or Humpty Dumpty, was so heavy ' All the King's horses and all the King's men couldn't put Humpty together again!' This had a drastic consequence for the Royalists as the strategically important town of Colchester fell to the Parliamentarians after a siege lasting eleven weeks. "
But lets take it back a step and let me explain a little about nursery rhymes.
Nursery rhymes were originally used by villagers, their children they could not all teach to read and write for lack of money, so to pass on history or goings on in the time they lived, they did so verbally, they took amusement in making rhymes to help the children remember.
Mary Mary quite contrary, is all about Bloody Queen Mary of England and her terrible machines she used for torture, (yes that pretty little rhyme,) while Jack and Jill is about Louie the XVI and his Queen Marie Antoinette. Jack fell down and broke his crown, and Jill came tumbling after, they are certainly not talking about two children falling down a hill, they're talking about the guillotine and beheading.
Shocking, but this is all part of European heritage, just as the poems of Mulan are to China, but changing classic nursery rhymes to morally protect children now days is just the tip of the iceberg.
I was raised a Catholic, but I no longer practice and I've always believed religion is free, people should believe whatever they want to believe. But more and more I've grown sad reading and hearing of recent events taking away culture and tradition connected to Christianity, from our children and society.
Since it's close to Christmas, let's talk about a much loved float of mine from previous years in the Adelaide Christmas Pageant, St George and the Dragon.
(Note the little shields and St George crosses, we'll get to that in a moment.)
It was the stuff of legends, right out of historical tales, a huge pinkish dragon, (later purplish-blue,) billowing smoke from his nose as he rolled along, blinking huge eyes. Ridding on the back was a knight in shining armor, St George himself, with many pretty rescued Princesses walking beside the Dragon.
It was wondrous for me as a child, and adored for years afterward.
My brother looked particularly annoyed one day while hunched over the computer, I asked him what was the matter, he pointed to the screen and said, “look what they've done,” in a disgusted voice. I looked over his shoulder and all but shrieked at the picture in the article about the pageant floats.
That beautiful dragon of St George's, was newly coloured a mottled orange, had glasses and was now called 'Granny Flo' with teeny tiny wings and read stories to children.
(Oh dear God! If I was a child I wouldn't want that for
a Grandmother figure!
Australia was colonized by the English, the English are a Christian country, Australia was set up as a Christian colony, we have always had the tradition of Christmas and Easter, Father Christmas has visited the children in schools as has the Easter Bunny.
Not anymore, people from another religion have voiced their outrage at their children being involved and demanded that schools stop this practice, what has a symbol of joy, bringing good will and happy smiles to the faces of children, done to destroy the religious beliefs of a child who is not Christian?
It is pure political correctness gone mad, the worse thing is that Australia is refusing to stand up for its heritage and culture for fear of backlash from these minorities within a particular organized religion. Australia was set up as a multicultural society to welcome all races, all religions and people from around the world, but where in our Constitution does it say we must forget our history, we must not stand up for our culture?
Americans are not afraid to remember their heritage, they're proudly patriotic; the French are not afraid to profess that they are a Catholic nation. Why is Australia so afraid to teach our children our past history in order for them to be proud that we built a country that is multicultural, welcoming and accepting? Why are we so frightened of backlash we do not say, 'our country is free and this is part of our culture, it will always be practiced.'
Dismayed was a good word when I saw that 'Granny Flo' float, (although there's much better words out there to describe annoyance,) I've now came to the crushing reality of why they took away a much loved character, a well known tale from our history.
St George was a Crusader knight.
Signed: The Lone Tigris
For the first of many rants and, (much worse,) interesting tales still to come.
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