Last week, I went with my parents to Bloomington to visit my brother, who is down there starting work on his PhD at IU. We did a bit of shopping and stopped in at a store that sells used weird stuff. My mother came across an interesting Jesus figure (pictured on the right). At first it looks like your standard everyday crucifixion statue, but if you click on the pic and examine the larger version closely, you will probably spot some oddities. It's not very clear due to the angle of the shot, but on Jesus left side (right side of picture) there is a rooster perched on a pillar. Even stranger is the robed figure on the other side with a pile of dice for a head. Other objects include a sword, an ax, a chalice, a pitcher, and what appears to be a pair of pliers. It also looks that there was something else attached behind Jesus but which is now gone. I'd love to hear from anyone who knows the story behind all these symbols(?) or who can identify the country of origin. Originally, I theorized that it was Italian, but now I'm thinking it might be Portuguese.
That's because on Monday, Geoff finally got around to posting the photos from his trip to Portugal, and one of them was this! Apparently the Portuguese are under the impression that, at the Last Supper, Jesus and his disciples chowed down on roast puppy rather than bread. I'd hate to attend Communion in a Portuguese church, where I would have to sit through a scenario in which the priest tears pieces from the body of a small puppy and feeds them to those in attendance. (Though if Schwarzenegger gets his way, this practice may soon become feasible here in the US.)
True synchronicity was achieved this Tuesday when Snowball guest blogged about Bakerina's recent pic of another Christ statue. (This one was unusual only in that it caused Snowball to dream about Gumby.)
Truly the signs are upon us. Jesus is making a comeback, and he's reading our blogs. He shall bring forth the Kingdom of God in the blogosphere. (And sometimes he eats puppies.)