Scent culture originates from religious life. Thus, references to religious practices, feasts & thoughts are a recurring theme in our posts. Today, 15 August, Christians celebrate the Assumption of Mary. It is a day abounding in histories of scent practices.
Continue reading Leaving behind a divine fragranceTag Archives: Jesus
Olfactory activists
Women play the central role as eyewitness at Jesus’ death, entombment as well as in the discovery of the empty tomb. Continue reading Olfactory activists
He suffered death and was buried
The entombment of Christ is one of several standard representations of Jesus’s suffering and death at the hands of the Romans. According to the Christian tradition Pontius Pilate granted Joseph of Arimathea permission to take Christ’s body down from the cross for burial. In addition, the gospel according to John mentions Nicodemus who brings a mixture of myrrh and aloes—about 100 Roman pounds (33 kg)—for embalming Jesus’ body according to Jewish custom.
This detail is part of the piece by Adriaen van der Werff that is on display the Alte Pinakothek in Munich.
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A Spotless Rose
“This Flow’r whose fragrance tender
With sweetness fills the air,
Dispels with glorious splendor
The darkness ev’rywhere.
True Man, yet very God;
From sin and death He saves us
And lightens ev’ry load.”