Excuse Me, But I Believe Your Bird is On Fire!
So we made it through 2012… or did we (insert twighlight zone music)… regardless, seems to me that the best way to start the new year is with the worldwide symbol for rebirth, Trans Ams and poor Xmen character developments! The Phoenix is possibly the most well known of your airborne Mythical Beasts, first originating in ancient Egypt as the Bennu, a heiroglyphic heron who’s life cycle was linked to the repeating patterns of the Nile and the rising and setting of the sun.
Later as retold by the greeks the Egyptian Phoenix gained a few additional descriptors, it was now said to resemble an eagle with gold and red plummage who busied itself carrying around and embalming in eggs of myrh, the remains of it’s father (who if I’m not mistaken would be itself?)… When it reached the end of it’s lifecycle, it would build a nest of incense twigs, lie down and die. From its corpse a small worm would emerge, and the heat of the sun would transform the worm into a new Phoenix.
Now folks in the middle ages really started to flare up (booo!) the story, making the Phoenix live upwards of 500 years and at the end of it’s life it would build a pyre of aromatic twigs, turn to face the sun and bat it’s wings to fan the flames that consumed it, allowing a new phoenix to rise from it’s ashes.
Regardless of the amount of drama in the telling, we know the Phoenix is a bird, we know it’s meant to represent the circle of life from death and beyond that it remind us all how cool birds on fire can look. I leave the rest to you!
Our Judge this week is Lauren Mitchell, marketing wizard and master of email campaigns. A lot of you old timers will know her as one of the last shining faces to join the old team during the downfall of PB. I know her as incredibly quick witted, kind almost to a fault and snarky as hell! I’m excited to say I’m working side by side with her again and she’s quite giddy about her judging responsibilities.
