Monday, May 18, 2009

Notre Dame

In honor of President Obama speech there being interrupted by anti-abortionists.

Notre Dame - In Latin means Our Lady, referring to the Virgin Mary. The full name of the school, University of Notre Dame du Lac, translate as Our Lady of the Lake.

More famous, and unconnected to the Roman Catholic Virgin Mary, is the Arthurian Lady of the Lake. A water nymph, for lack of a better description, she was Merlin's lover and the source of King Arthur's sword, Excalibur.

In the third canto of Sir Walter Scott's epic poem "Lady of the Lake" a burning cross was used to summon the Clan Alpine to overthrow the king. The burning cross symbolism was adopted by the Ku Klux Klan. An interesting tidbit given the events of yesterday.

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