Blood Month

[constant_muse]

Not that I claim credit for getting out of bed on a cold Sunday morning to attend a Remembrance ceremony, I only do it because of my sons. The Scout and Guide movements provide virtually the whole of the uniformed contingent in Montgomery, our Ruritanian former county town. A few dozen townsfolk still parade, from the fine Town Hall to the large

Comments

[heliophile_oxon]

Possible to consider Martin of Tours a conscientious objector ... that's very interesting. I had never even thought of such a thing.

It's sad that we (people generally ... or at least, officially/publicly) give more emphasis to mourning our war dead than to finding ways to make it more likely there will be fewer war dead joining their numbers in future :-(

The PTB subvert people's inclination to be patriotic and to have empathy, I think, with the suggestion that it's patriotic to memorialise the dead but not patriotic to question political hawks. At least now, as you said, there is some recognition for the pacifists and conscientious objectors too!

[constant_muse]

give more emphasis to mourning our war dead than to finding ways to make it more likely there will be fewer war dead joining their numbers in future Difficult to compare the two? Things that make it more likely there will be more wars are so diverse and beyond the control of our politicians, including international arms trade, geopolitics of oil...

[murphybabe]

I went to a Remembrance service, mostly because of C as an army cadet, but it's a service I attend willingly. This year she led the commitments section:
Will you strive for all that makes peace?
Will you seek to heal the wounds of war?
Will you work for a just future for all humanity?
The rector at this one was quite political in his sermon, mentioning the refusal to get the UK into the Syrian conflict. But it always makes me sad when we stand around the WWI memorial and I think of the 'war to end all wars'.

I didn't know about St. Martin's day and Armistice Day, and I certainly hadn't connected his leaving the army with conscientious objector status.

Anyway, it's a couple of days that always give me pause for thought.

[moonlightmead]

Your description is very evocative - thank you! And wow, is that a Peace Pledge Union poppy in the middle of them? That's a surprising one.

I forgot to go and look for my copy of Stations of the Sun. Must do that. I had forgotten about 'blod-monath'. I think I first came across it in, of all things, the Appendices in the Lord of the Rings (yes, I was that child...) where Tolkien explains the Shire calendar, and derives the name 'Blotmath' for November.