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'About Time: Fashion and Duration' Examines Enduring Styles Since The Met Was Founded
The subjectivity of time is explored in many directions in the Costume Institute's new show.
By Rosemary Feitelberg on October 26, 2020
View Gallery	— 15	Photos
"About Time: Fashion and Duration" at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute seems somehow fated.
Thursday's official opening was bumped from early May, due to the museum's months-long closure due to the coronavirus. First and foremost, "About Time" is a celebration of The Met's 150th anniversary, and the endurance of fashion. But the coronavirus has given the theme greater relevance and resonance, as much of the world has grown to look at the passage, or shiftlessness, of time so differently as they slog or stride through the pandemic.
During a preview Saturday afternoon, Andrew Bolton, Wendy Yu curator in charge at the Costume Institute, said museum-goers may now be more inclined to look at the show and see what has endured and how that has happened, whether that be in regards to a sleeve, the chemise or the bustle. "The time of the mind is very different from the time of the clock. That is what I thought a lot about, especially in lockdown," Bolton said.
One of the starting points for the show was the fact that world standardized time was created in the same decade that The Met was founded.
The show's layout is structured around the sparring concepts of temporality by Henri Bergson and Charles Baudelaire, who coined the term "modernity" and considered fashion to be the hallmark of it, Bolton said. Bergson introduced the concept of pure duration in 1889, believing the past and present coexist in a continuous flow. Baudelaire's view was the past and present are divisible, with the present succeeding the past.
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Set up to reflect 60 minutes of fashion, there are 60 groupings of two ensembles each. Baudelaire's temporality is presented as a linear, chronological timeline of those fashions from 1870 to the present day, drenched in black to accentuate their silhouettes and the timelessness of fashion progression. Bergson's temporality consists of 60 interruptions or disruptions that predate or post-date those in the Baudelaire timeline, but often reflect shapes, materials, techniques and decorations that illustrate Bergson's notion of endurance. Each "minute" has one ensemble reflecting the Baudelaire timeline and a second disruptor ensemble representative of the Bergson one. Black index notches on the bottom edges relate to the Baudelaire timeline and those on the top edge show the Bergson one. What time is it?
The first gallery is dark and somber with the pendulum of an Es Devlin-designed clock suspended and swinging from the ceiling. The white-walled second gallery is covered with mirrors that create a kaleidoscopic look of enduring designer fashion or perhaps a reflection of fast fashion.
Acknowledging how the pandemic has heightened the "About Time" theme, Bolton said the fashion industry has always been driven by time and the exhibit is a way of slowing things down. "Fashion is reflecting this accelerated pace of time with technology and everything being so digitally connected 24/7. But fashion has reflected this need for immediacy and instantaneousness [for a while]. The production of fashion has had to speed up, the circulation of fashion has turned up and the consumption has sped up — so some of this is about slowing down," Bolton said.
With that, he exited the multimirrored second gallery and its innumerable reflections of the garments on display and turned a corner to the finale look — a white Viktor & Rolf made from swatches collected over the years. The design is a nod to sustainability, noting how their couture collections for the past four years have been comprised of surplus fabrics. "I love the simplicity of it. The silhouette suggests a pre-modern year. But apart from that, the act of quilt making and patchwork is about shared labor, community and collaboration. It's an example of conscious creativity and the need to slow things down," Bolton said.
An American mourning dress from 1870 — the first item visitors will see in the show —might do the trick. The choice appears to be a double entendre, given the current tumult worldwide. The elaborate dress is displayed in profile to show its raised-waist, floor-length skirt and bustle. It is exhibited with a 1939 Elsa Schiaparelli black felt evening dress, her then-updated take on the bustle. One of Bolton's favorite pairings is an American afternoon dress from 1876 paired with Alexander McQueen's bumster skirt that gives a new twist on the process line. Charles Frederick Worth first designed it for Princess Alexandra of Denmark.
Cristóbal Balenciaga, Jonathan Anderson, Iris van Herpen, Rudi Gernreich, Boué Soeurs, Norman Norrell, Malcolm McLaren, Jun Takahashi, Rei Kawakubo, Marc Jacobs, Gianni Versace, Issey Miyake, Charles James, Nicolas Ghesquiere, Georgina Godley, Gabrielle Chanel, Karl Lagerfeld, Thom Browne, Kei Ninomiya and Olivier Rousteing are among the designers featured in the show. While some may see a what's-old-is-new undercurrent or direct design inspiration, Bolton said the show is more about endurance and portraying connections over time such as how the bow motif has endured. Ditto for deconstruction, which the Punk movement created in the Seventies. "It's about the recirculation of ideas, and the reappropriation of ideas. That's what the tensions are trying to tease out with the timeline," he said.
Walking through the exhibit, "what needs to be reflected on is fashion's dominant ideologies like change, power, class, whiteness. They all need to be addressed, and this is a time when we can do that and have mad ideas," Bolton said. "Why doesn't fashion week happen in one city every year like the Olympic Games? It could be Johannesburg one year that celebrates fashion, rejuvenates a city and decentralizes fashion, and decolonizes fashion obviously. It's a time to think radically and thoughtfully. What you don't want to do is think rashly and think quickly. You don't want to replace one bias with another bias. It's time for radical change but thoughtful change."
Referring to the choice of black as the exhibit's predominant color, he said, "The color black has so many connotations of authority and power, but also chicness and elegance. It's a meditation on the color black, and also on fashion and temporality." It's also appropriate. "Can you imagine if we did 'Camp' this year? It would have been a disaster," Bolton said with a laugh, referring to last year's Costume Institute exhibit. "This show has a quietness, a reflective and contemplative quality that the show certainly helps with."
After Black Lives Matter gained momentum, Bolton reconsidered the curation and added more styles from Black designers. The initial plan had been to select iconic pieces or the most quintessential silhouette of a specific period on a timeline. "I wasn't thinking about race, ethnicity, gender or sexuality. I was really looking at it purely aesthetically. Black Lives Matter made me realize it can't not be. When you work on any show going forward, it has to be part of your intellectual framework. It has benefited the show tremendously," Bolton said.
He was "thrilled" to add an ensemble from Hood By Air's Shayne Oliver. "Shayne's tricky to get a hold of because he's such an independent thinker. He has so many interests. We've tried to work with Shayne in the past and his interests have been elsewhere. It's been lovely to work with him," Bolton said.
A Stephen Burrows black dress with lettuce edging in red top stitching was another addition after Bolton found it on 1stdibs last summer. Another non-museum find that is displayed is a Patrick Kelly dress that is embellished with a heart-shaped motif. That one was procured on Etsy. The Met has pieces from Burrows and Kelly. However, major museums have been criticized for their limited archival work from Black designers.
Off-White's Virgil Abloh was part of the initial roster for the Louis Vuitton-sponsored show. A long-sleeved black dress imprinted with "Little Black Dress" in white lettering that he designed is presented with one from Coco Chanel.
Working from home last spring had its challenges, since using the museum's database doesn't give you a sense of proportions or color, Bolton said. Being homebound had upsides, too. "It allowed me to respond to current events, which I would have never done otherwise. That's been a huge plus," he said.
The antithesis of that may be Bertha Black Lewry's 1943 dinner suit that was re-created from a man's tailcoat suit from 1929. The repurposing was done in response to the U.S. restrictions on textiles at that time and Harper's Bazaar tasked the designer with the repurposing challenge. Lewry's look is partnered with a Martin Margiela broadcloth and silk satin jacket from 2000. Nearby, another type of fashion endurance is on view — a Madame Grès gown that a client commissioned, after visiting her in Paris during the war to reassure her that couture was thriving. As fashion shifts more to sustainability, longevity is a key aspect, Bolton said.
Eighty-five percent of the items are from the museum's permanent collection, more than 10 percent were gifts from designers in honor of The Met's anniversary and there were a few loaners, such as a Saint Laurent "Broken Mirrors" evening jacket that paid homage to the one Schiaparelli created decades earlier, using panes from hand mirrors that evoked Versailles' "Hall of Mirrors."
The Met, like many global cultural institutions, is dealing with significant economic challenges after months of being closed. It reopened two months ago with advanced ticketing and 25 percent of its normal capacity. A number of visitors were milling around the second floor on Saturday afternoon but weekday traffic is said to be more sparse. While "About Time's" opening was postponed for five months, The Met Gala was canceled altogether this year. Already at work on next year's Costume Institute show, Bolton had to juggle his time between that and "About Time."
Wall text has intentionally been kept to a minimum and printed guides are obsolete due to COVID-19. For the first time, visitors can use a QR code to access a body of text on their smartphones that can also be read before or after.
Knowing travel restrictions and health concerns will keep many would-be visitors from walking through The Met's Fifth Avenue doors, a video has been created of the exhibit for its site. There are other digital and audio additions. Upon entering "About Time," visitors will hear Nicole Kidman's voice hauntingly reading from Virginia Woolf's "Orlando." Woolf serves as the ghost narrator with time-centered quotes from her books featured throughout the show. The author's changing view of time from the chronological to one centered on inner duration is what Bolton would like gallery-goers to leave with.
Kidman isn't the only Oscar-winning actress, who lent her voice to the museum. Her costars from "The Hours" — Meryl Streep and Julianne Moore — also chimed in. After cooking up the idea to pipe into the galleries Philip Glass' music from the film, Bolton wondered if the three lead actresses would be game. Streep was the first to oblige, recording her reading in her kitchen with a clock ticking in the background. Nervous about getting Kidman and Moore, who were busy on location with projects, Bolton said. "It was Meryl, who said, 'Why don't you ask them to record it into their iPhones? It will be easier for them and they won't have to go to a recording studio.' That's how they did it. That's what you're hearing. So, thanks Meryl."
Another stroke of synergy came from Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Michael Cunningham, who penned a short story titled "Out of Time" for the "About Time" catalogue. His book "The Hours" inspired the film.
Not everything ran like clockwork, though: Bolton had wanted to stage the exhibit as a maze and lined up Es Devlin, the artist and lighting designer, to design one. After word came back that the fire department would not approve, Bolton decided to do a clock instead and Devlin scrapped the maze model and went to work.
If the literal ticking of her clock feels a little like Fritz Lang's "Metropolis," that's not by chance. "Standardized time is so connected to the ideology of modernity, which 'Metropolis' is all about. Fashion, to me, is the purest expression of modernity, and ephemerality, change and progress. More than any other art form, fashion is able to turn so quickly. That's what's so nice to walk around it [the pendulum] — you see emphatically the Fifties, the Thirties, the Twenties. It just takes you right there."
Sometimes revisiting the past is not well-received. Although John Galliano, who remains a controversial figure in fashion, is one of the few featured designers to have more than one selection, Bolton said he wasn't concerned. "If you look at John's work from the Nineties, his Masai or Orient Express collections for Dior, the cultural appropriations read so different now. I was looking at the coverage of John's work during that period. There was not one mention of cultural appropriation, whereas now that would be a story."
Describing Galliano as "a technical genius," Bolton is interested in doing an exhibit that looks back at designers' approaches to controversial collections as well as people's reception. Galliano's personal actions have also made him controversial, namely due to a videotaped anti-Semitic rant for which he was sentenced in France and later apologized for.
Bolton said, "It's hard because you could go through the whole museum and look at artists' [work] with controversial backgrounds or issues. I think what we have to do is perhaps to play it forward to address them all and contextualize them all. I am not a great fan of taking things out of history. I'd much rather have an exhibit and address issues. If we are able to have an exhibit down the line and globally, I do think that's important, for sure."
Read more from WWD:
Met's Costume Institute Outlines 'About Time' Fashion Exhibition
Everyone Is Invited Virtually to the 2020 Met Gala
Celebrities Share Met Gala Throwback Photos Amid Coronavirus Pandemic
WATCH: Met Gala Red Carpet All-Stars
Black Lives Matter	Louis Vuitton	Metropolitan Museum of Art	Olivier Rousteing	Rei Kawakubo	Thom Browne	Versace


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10 Tips For Beating The Crowds At Walt Disney World Parks
There are a lot of things to love about the Disney parks. The food, the music, the rides, and the fabulous people-watching opportunities all come to mind. However, while the good far outweighs the bad in these magical places, there are a few less-than-wonderful things found there as well. The horrible feeling of being jostled as you walk down Main Street for instance, or the super long line for "Haunted Mansion" on a holiday afternoon—both are annoying and sometimes downright unpleasant, and both are caused by crowds. Of course, there are ways to avoid the crowds at Walt Disney World, and by playing it smart, you can ensure you never have to worry about crowds again.
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Home / Film Notes / The Valley of Decision (1945)
The Valley of Decision (1945)
Toronto Film Society presented The Valley of Decision (1945) on Monday, February 21, 1983 in a double bill with The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance as part of the Season 35 Monday Evening Film Buffs Series "B", Programme 7.
Production Company: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Producer: Edwin H. Knopf. Director: Tay Garnett. Screenplay: John Meehan and Sonya Levien, from the novel by Marcia Davenport. Music: Herbert Stothart. Art Direction: Cedric Gibbons, Paul Groesse. Cinematographer: Joseph Ruttenberg. Special Effects: A. Arnold Gillespie. Editor: Blanche Sewell.
Cast: Greer Garson (Mary Rafferty), Gregory Peck (Paul Scott), Donald Crisp (William Scott), Lionel Barrymore (Pat Rafferty), Preston Foster (Jim Brennan), Gladys Cooper (Clarissa Scott), Marsha Hunt (Constance Scott), Reginald Owen (McCready), Dan Duryea (William Scott, Jr.), Jessica Tandy (Louise Kane), Barbara Everest (Delia), Marshall Thompson (Ted Scott), Mary Lord (Julia Gaylord), John Warburton (Earl of Moulton), Mary Currier (Mrs. Gaylord), Arthur Shields (Callahan), Russell Hicks (Mr. Gaylord), Dean Stockwell (Paulie), Lumsden Hare (Dr. McClintock), Anna Q. Nillson (Nurse).
Family histories extending over several generations have been of especial appeal to a deracinated twentieth century. When the family consists of 2.2 people, spread from one end of the country to the other, then families of ten with roots firmly planted in the same place for a hundred years have a strong attraction. Galsworthy's Forsyte Saga reached the peak of its popularity in the rootless twenties (about the same time as Marie Stopes), and a second peak as a television serial fifty years later (in the age of zero population growth). Then there were Hugh Walpole's Herries Chronicle, and Mazo de la Roche's Jalna series. And Roots, even as The Winds of War die down, remains the most popular programme ever shown on television. Marcia Davenport's best-selling novel of 1943 (a year of separation of families), The Valley of Decision, belongs to the same genre. It begins as the fifteen-year old Mary Rafferty, from the Irish tenements of Pittsburgh, begins as a maid in the big house of the Scotts, steel magnates. The year is 1873, and the novel continues until 1941, with Mary now the still unmarried housekeeper. In youth, she has had the opportunity of marrying the second son of the family, Paul Scott, but has renounced him out of a sense of duty, staying on long after his death to become the matriarch and mother confessor to the second and third generations.
For the film, MGM unveiled its full galaxy of stars and supporting players. Greer Garson, though it may be difficult to remember now, was at the height of her popularity in 1945. Playing Mary Rafferty, she was genuinely Irish herself (at least from the separated counties). She had made her debut in Goodbye Mr. Chips (1939), following quickly with the role of Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice, and would over the next five years be nominated for the Best Actress Oscar no fewer than five times–for Blossoms in the Dust, Mrs. Miniver (the only time she won), Madame Curie, Mrs. Parkington (another family saga), and The Valley of Decision (Joan Crawford won it that year for Mildred Pierce). She received a sixth nomination in 1960 for Sunrise at Campobello, in which she played a toothy if not toothsome Eleanor Roosevelt. But in 1945 her moment was already passing. Her next film would be Adventure, the publicity line for which–"Gable's back and Garson's got him"–suggests her equal status with the King, but the headline of a review of The Forsyte Saga (1949) pretty much writes the epitaph to her brief but spectacular career–"Goodnight, Irene!"
Playing opposite Garson was not her historic co-star Walter Pidgeon, but a young actor already arrived at stardom after only two pictures, and an Oscar nomination for the second, The Keys of the Kingdom. Though Garson was nearly ten years older than Peck, they make a credible team here.
Supporting the two stars are a group of distinguished character actors such as only MGM could muster. The innumerable roles played since Griffith's days at Biograph by Donald Crisp and Lionel Barrymore need no citation here, except to say that, as antagonists in this film, their well-established screen images represent intractable rectitude (How Green Was My Valley, Lassie Come Home) against intractable crankiness (You Can't Take It With You, the Doctor Kildare series.) A handful of other players should be singled out: Marsha Hunt played ingenue roles through the forties, perhaps most notably in two other Garson pictures, as the studious Mary Bennet in Pride and Prejudice, and in Blossoms in the Dust; Dan Duryea had been playing weak sons or villains since The Little Foxes (1941), though his best and most self-defining role, in Fritz Lang's Scarlet Street, was still before him; Jessica Tandy, in this her fourth (second American) film, played the kind of sexually repressed spinster whose repression occasionally went over into monstrosity, as in A Woman's Vengeance, and–according to one reading–Hitchcock's The Birds; and Dean Stockwell, in his very first role, was starting a career which probably peaked three years later with The Boy With Green Hair, but which later developed along original or difficult-adolescent lines in such films as Compulsion.
The Valley of Decision is an actor's film, and actors sell only tickets; auteurs sell critics. It was ignored or deplored by the National Board of Review, and Bosley Crowther. Only the trade journals and the public liked it.
Notes by Barrie Hayne
Related ItemsDan DuryeaDean StockwellDonald CrispGladys CooperGreer GarsonGregory PeckJessica TandyLionel BarrymoreMarsha HuntMonday Buffs 35Preston FosterReginald OwenSeason 35Tay GarnettThe Valley of Decision (1945)
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Next → The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)
Broken Blossoms (1919)
The Navigator (1924)


The intimate music of Den-Mate—the project from DC-based songwriter/producer Jules Hale—is arresting, like peering into a funhouse mirror. Her sparse, dreamy songs reflect and distort private nighttime thoughts of desperation and isolation, transforming abstract fears into throbbing bass lines and static-washed riffs. Drawing a bridge from haunting pop and the exciting world of progressive electronica, Den-Mate brings a new style for adventurous listeners.


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Car and Driver: The Spirit of '76: Celebrate America with this Bicentennial Edition Cadillac Eldorado
By FeedBot, July 1, 2016 in Auto News
In the automotive dark days of the 1970s, convertibles were an endangered species. The concurrent rise of air pollution and air conditioning, together with the looming specter of government safety regulations, caused a plummeting supply of, and demand for, droptops, to the point that by 1975, General Motors was the lone domestic producer still in the game. With GM planning to drop its whale-like full-size convertibles—the Chevrolet Caprice, Pontiac Grand Ville, Buick LeSabre, and Oldsmobile Delta 88—the following year, the Cadillac Eldorado would be the sole surviving U.S. convertible come 1976. And 1976 would in turn be the Eldo convertible's final year. What better way to relive those days where doom and excess stood hand in hand than with this Bicentennial Edition '76 Eldorado convertible?
With even the mainstream media awakening to the story of The Last American Convertible, GM would have been foolish to let the occasion pass without some special edition to pad its profits—and GM was not foolish, not about that kind of stuff at least. Thus the final 200 1976 Eldorado convertibles produced were Bicentennial Edition cars—identically equipped (save for the California-emissions equipment further choking the 500-cubic-inch V-8 in the cars headed for the Golden State), they were all triple white: Cotillion White exterior, a white top, and a white leather interior with the seat piping, dash, seatbelts, and carpet in red. Blue-and-red pinstriping adorned the hood, with red pinstriping running down the sides. The wheel covers featured white centers, replacing the standard black. All came fully loaded with the raft of regular Eldo options, but the most important bit was the gold dash plaque stating: "This 1976 Fleetwood Eldorado is one of the last 200 identical U.S. production convertibles."
Of the 199 cars that ended up in customers' hands (GM kept the last one for itself), it's safe to say that few, if any, lived the life of a regular Eldo convertible: shuttling among the golf course, the beauty parlor, the local steakhouse, and back home. Most, it seems, were spirited away by collectors, sure to cash in once convertibles were extinct.
Some no doubt were distressed when the pugnacious Chrysler chief Lee Iacocca only six years later introduced the Chrysler LeBaron convertible, a less grandiose automobile for sure, but a convertible nonetheless. Ford brought back the Mustang droptop shortly thereafter, and the clouds hanging over open-topped cars soon parted.
Of course, the fact that one can walk into almost any dealership today and drive off in a brand-new convertible does nothing to dim the majesty of this '76 Eldo. Check out the mile-long hood, the rectilinear harmony of its grille and headlights, the utter disregard for space utilization. It marks a place in time when American luxury cars had just about reached the end of the long path they'd been on for decades; the standard Caddies would be downsized the next year, with the Eldorado soon to follow. But the '76 Eldo convertible betrays no hint of what was to come.
So Long, Convertibles, the Tin Top Is Winning-
Midnight in the Garden of Eldorados and E-types-
Cadillac CT6 Research: Reviews, News, Pricing, and More-
As for this example of peak-'76 motoring, its ultra-low mileage (under 1000) is hardly surprising, and its condition appears commensurate with a life spent in climate-controlled storage. Granted, the asking price is easily double or even triple that of a non-Bicentennial '76 Eldo convertible, but celebrating America sometimes doesn't come cheap.
"The Spirit of '76" is C/D's 4th-of-July holiday-weekend series highlighting some of the most awesome cars for sale from our nation's bicentennial year.


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Q: Question about a noun: Correct wording "Her eyes are beautiful."
I want to ask about her eyes, to put a question to the attributive. What is the correct wording of my question? Thanks.

A: Your question isn't really about the noun—you know about her eyes. It's about the adjective—the description of her eyes.
A 'closed' question—one which prompts the answer 'Yes' or 'No'—is easy: you simply 'invert' the subject and the auxiliary verb BE:

Are her eyes beautiful?  —Yes, they are.

But for an 'open' question—one which accepts any adjective or adjectival as answer—you have to start your question with a wh- word. And that gets a little tricky. In English we have interrogative pronouns (wh- words like who, what, which which invite nominal answers) and interrogative pro-adverbs (wh- words like where, when, why, how which invite adverbial answers), but we don't have interrogative pro-adjectives or pro-verbs. For verb or adjective interrogatives we have to use constructions with a pronoun plus a verb phrase. Usually the pronoun is what—

What did she do? asks for a verb answer: She rose/sat/danced
What do her eyes look like? asks for an adjective answer: They're blue/black/beautiful
What are her eyes like? licenses an answer that goes beyond the eyes' visual appearance: They're like raisins in a cupcake.

With adjectives there is also a construction using the pro-adverb how:

How do her eyes look?

But this is usually reserved for situations when you're asking about temporary appearance, not the usual appearance—for instance, if you know she suffered an injury which may have affected her eyes and you want to know her current condition.
How is also used to ask about the degree of a particular quality; but in this case it serves as an ordinary pro-adverb qualifying an adjective and asks for an adverbial answer.

How beautiful are her eyes? —Her eyes are somewhat beautiful.

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Listed 3 sub titles with search on: Ancients' feasts, games and rituals for destination: "AGRYLI Ancient demos ATHENS".
Ancients' feasts, games and rituals (3)
Festivals for gods and gods' deeds (3)
Festivals for gods and gods' deeds
The Lesser Eleusinia Mysteries at Agrae
These were held in the spring at Agrae, a place on the Ilissus, southeast of the Acropolis. Initiation of Heracles. (Vase from Panticapaeum.) There is no doubt that they were held in the month Anthesterion, when there were the first signs of returning vegetation just after field-work began. The exact date cannot be fixed, but Mommsen's suggestion is most probable, that the chief day was the 20th, the same day of the month as the Greater Mysteries were held on in Boedromion, to which the Lesser Mysteries had many points of similarity, even in matters connected with the calendar--e. g. the same length of the mystery truce. Mommsen supposes that the 19th was a day of preparation, and the 20th and 21st the special mystery days. These Lesser Mysteries were considered as a prelude to the Greater (Schol. on Aristoph. Plut. 845), being on a much smaller scale; but initiation in the Lesser was generally required before the candidate could present himself for initiation into the Greater.
The mysteries at Agrae consisted probably to a large extent of purifications, for which the water of the Ilissus was much used. They were held more especially in honour of Persephone, called Pherrephatta here, than of Demeter. It appears that the carrying off of Persephone was the most important representation in these mysteries. Again we hear that at Agrae the fate of Dionysus was pourtrayed (mimema ton peri ton Dionuson, Steph. Byzant. s. v. Agrai). The death of Dionysus-Zagreus took place on the 13th of Anthesterion, the day on which the festival of the Chytri was held; so perhaps on the ninth day after, the 21st (for funeral rites on the ninth day after death, the enata, see Aesch. Ctesiph. 225), the funeral ceremony may have been held and his violent death related in a drama. A great many, especially strangers, were initiated into these mysteries who did not proceed to initiation into the regular Eleusinia; the legend, too, said it was for the purpose of initiating Heracles, who was a stranger and according to the primitive regulations could not be initiated into the Eleusinia, that these Lesser Mysteries were established.
This text is from: Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. Cited Nov 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Perseus: Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898)
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Per...
The Mysteries at Agrae (ta en Agrais). These were held in the spring at Agrae, a place on the Ilissus, S.E. of the Acropolis. There is no doubt they were held in Anthesterion, when there were the first signs of returning vegetation just after field-work began. The exact date cannot be fixed, but Mommsen's suggestion is most probable, that the chief day was the 20th, the same day of the month as the Greater Mysteries were held on in Boedromion--to which the Lesser Mysteries had many points of similarity, even in matters connected with the calendar, e. g. the same length of the mystery truce. Mommsen supposes that the 19th was a day of preparation, and the 20th and 21st the special mystery days. These Lesser Mysteries were considered as a prelude to the Greater (Schol. Aristoph. Plut. 845, esti ta mikra hosper prokatharsis kai proagneusis ton megalon), being on a much smaller scale, but initiation in the Lesser was generally required before the candidate could present himself for initiation into the Greater (Plat. Gorg. 497 C; Plut. Dem. 26). At Eleusis there were temples to Artemis Propylaea, to Triptolemus and to Poseidon, as well as to Demeter; similarly at Agrae there was a temple to Demeter, and altars to Artemis and Poseidon, and a statue of Triptolemus (Mommsen, p. 377). The mysteries at Agrae consisted probably to a large extent of purifications, for which the water of the Ilissus was much used (Polyaen. v. 17). They were held more especially in honour of Persephone, called Pherrephatta here, than of Demeter (Schol. on Aristoph. Plut. 845, yet cf. Bekk. Anecd. 326). It appears that the carrying off of Persephone was the most important representation in these mysteries. Again we hear that at Agrae the fate of Dionysus was pourtrayed (mimema ton peri ton Dionuson, Steph. Byz. s. v. Agrai). The death of Dionysus-Zagreus took place on the 13th of Anthesterion, the day on which the festival of the Chytrae was held: so perhaps on the ninth day after, the 21st (for funeral rites on the ninth day after death, the enata, see Aeschin. Ctesiph. § 225), the funeral ceremony may have been held and his violent death related in a drama (Mommsen, p. 378). A great many, especially strangers, were initiated into these mysteries who did not proceed to initiation into the regular Eleusinia: the legend, too, said it was for the purpose of initiating Heracles, who was a stranger and according to the primitive regulations could not be initiated into the Eleusinia, that these Lesser Mysteries were established (Schol. on Aristoph. Plut. 845, 1013). A representation of the initiation of Heracles on a vase found at Panticapaeum is given in Baumeister's Denkmaler, p. 475. For the appearance of Aphrodite, cf. Themist. Or. xx. p. 288, Dind. There is a very similar one on a Pourtales vase in the British Museum, which Baumeister also alludes to (cf. Wieseler, ii. 112).
This extract is from: A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890) (eds. William Smith, LLD, William Wayte, G. E. Marindin). Cited August 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890) (eds. William Smith, LLD, William Wayte, G. E. Marindin)
Agroteras Thysia
Agroteras Thysia, a festival celebrated at Athens in honour of Artemis, surnamed Agrotera (from agra, chase), in consequence of a vow made before the battle of Marathon. It was solemnised, according to Plutarch (De Malign. Herod. 26), on the sixth of the month of Boedromion, and consisted in a sacrifice of 500 goats, which continued to be offered in the time of Xenophon (Xenoph. Anab. iii. 2, 12). Aelian (V. H. ii. 25) places the festival on the sixth day of Thargelion, and says that 300 goats were sacrificed; but as the battle of Marathon, which gave rise to this solemn sacrifice, occurred on the sixth of Boedromion, Aelian's statement appears to be wron. (Plut. de Glor. Athen. 7).
This festival is said to have originated in the following manner :
When the Persians invaded Attica, Callimachus, the polemarch, or, according to others, Miltiades, made a vow to sacrifice to Artemis Agrotera as many goats as there should be enemies slain at Marathon. But when the number of enemies slain was so great that an equal number of goats could not be found at once, the Athenians decreed that 500 should be sacrificed every year. This is the statement made by Xenophon; but other ancient authors give different accounts. The Scholiast on Aristoph. (Equit. 666) relates that the Athenians, before the battle, promised to sacrifice to Artemis one ox for every enemy slain; but when the number of oxen could not be procured, they substituted an equal number of goats. It is not improbable that annual processions from Athens to the temple of Hecate at Agrae, in remembrance of the victory of Marathon, may have been connected with the sacrifice to Artemis Agrotera. (Plut. de Malign. Herod. 26)
This text is from: A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890) (eds. William Smith, LLD, William Wayte, G. E. Marindin). Cited July 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
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Fu comandante di divisione italiano durante le guerre napoleoniche. Si arruolò nell'esercito della Repubblica Cispadana nel 1796 e combatté a Faenza nel 1797. Divenne comandante di un reggimento di dragoni nel 1798 e comandante del Reggimento Dragoni Napoleone, dell'esercito della Repubblica Cisalpina, nel 1802. Combatté come alleato dei francesi a Kolberg e Stralsund nel 1807. Sposò la figlia di Jan Henryk Dąbrowski nel 1806.

Trasferito in Spagna, combatté nella divisione di Domenico Pino a Roses, Cardedeu, Molins de Rei, Valls e Gerona e fu promosso generale di brigata nel 1809. Comandò una brigata a El Pla e Tarragona nel 1811 e fu promosso generale di divisione. Comandò la sua divisione a Sagunto, Valencia e Castro-Urdiales nel 1811-1813. Trasferito nelle Province Illiriche, combatté a Circonio nel 1813 e in Italia, a Peschiera del Garda nel 1814. Dopo la caduta del Regno d'Italia nel 1814, si arruolò nell'esercito imperiale austriaco, divenendo Feldmarschallleutnant. Divenne Inhaber (proprietario) del 36º Reggimento di fanteria di linea nel 1817. Si ritirò nel 1824 e morì nel 1850 nel castello di sua moglie a Grochowice.

Biografia

Inizio carriera
Palombini nacque il 3 dicembre 1774 a Roma dai genitori Pietro Palombini e Teresa Spada. Studiò disegno a scuola. Il 1º novembre 1796 o pochi giorni prima si arruolò nella V coorte dell'esercito della Repubblica Cispadana. Fu promosso sergente maggiore il 7 novembre e sottotenente il 21 dicembre 1796. La sua prima azione avvenne il 2 febbraio 1797 nella battaglia di Faenza mentre combatteva contro le truppe dello Stato Pontificio. Divenne primo luogotenente il 10 maggio e capitano assistente maggiore il 25 maggio 1798. Si dimise dall'esercito della Repubblica Cisalpina (stato successore alla Repubblica Cispadana) il 9 settembre 1798 per assumere l'incarico di colonnello dei gendarmi della Repubblica Romana. Nel novembre dello stesso anno il reggimento di Palombini fu convertito in dragoni. L'unità fu coinvolta in operazioni nei pressi di Fano l'11 luglio 1799.

Palombini fu all'assedio di Ancona che durò dal 14 ottobre al 13 novembre 1799. La guarnigione francese era circondata da un corpo austriaco di  uomini e bloccata da una flotta congiunta russo-ottomana. La guarnigione si arrese agli austriaci e fu rilasciata sulla parola in Francia a condizione di non combattere contro l'Austria fino allo scambio. Palombini fu ferito alla spalla il 2 novembre mentre respingeva un attacco nemico. Il comandante francese Jean-Charles Monnier lo raccomandò per la promozione a generale di brigata, ma non fu mai approvato. Dopo Ancona, Giuseppe Lechi inviò Palombini a Bourg-en-Bresse per organizzare un battaglione della Legione Italica. Dopo la tregua in seguito alla battaglia di Marengo del giugno 1800, Lechi lo nominò presidente del collegio sindacale della sua divisione. In ottobre, Palombini guidò un battaglione romano di 170 uomini nella divisione di Domenico Pino durante l'invasione del Granducato di Toscana. Questa si concluse con la presa di Siena dopo uno scontro il 14 gennaio 1801, durante il quale guidò l'avanguardia di Pino.

Palombini tornò a Milano alla fine della guerra della seconda coalizione per scoprire che nell'esercito cisalpino non c'era nessun posto per lui. Nonostante le raccomandazioni di Lechi e Pino, la sua richiesta di essere nominato generale di brigata fu respinta dal governo. Il ministro della guerra Giovanni Tordorò gli trovò un incarico amministrativo nel novembre 1801. Fu nominato comandante di un battaglione del 1º Reggimento Fanteria Leggera il 2 novembre 1802.

Italia napoleonica

Europa settentrionale
Palombini divenne chief de brigade (colonnello) del 2º Reggimento Ussari il 23 febbraio 1804 e andò a comandare l'unità al Campo di Boulogne. Questo reggimento divenne in seguito i Dragoni Napoleone. Il 28 agosto 1806 sposò Carolina Amalia Beatrice Dąbrowski, figlia del generale polacco Jan Henryk Dąbrowski. Fu nominato cavaliere dell'Ordine della Corona ferrea nel 1806 e, in un secondo momento, comandante dell'ordine. Fece parte del contingente italiano inviato in Germania per combattere nella guerra della quarta coalizione. I Dragoni Napoleone e Regina combatterono nell'assedio di Kolberg che durò dal 20 marzo al 2 luglio 1807. Il comandante della divisione italiana, Pietro Teulié, fu ucciso durante l'assedio senza successo. In luglio la divisione marciò per partecipare all'assedio di Stralsund iniziato il 15 gennaio 1807. Con la divisione sotto la guida di Pino, i due reggimenti di dragoni si unirono alle forze assedianti fino al 20 agosto quando gli svedesi evacuarono Stralsund.

Guerra d'indipendenza spagnola: 1808-1809
Nel 1808 Palombini andò a combattere in Spagna con la divisione di Pino e vi rimase fino al 1813. Dopo che l'esercito imperiale francese di Guillaume Philibert Duhesme abbandonò l'assedio di Gerona a metà agosto 1808, fu chiaro all'imperatore Napoleone che era necessario inviare più truppe in Catalogna. A differenza dei precedenti rinforzi, che erano "semplici rastrellamenti dei suoi depositi", furono inviate formazioni di prima classe. Erano la divisione francese di Joseph Souham e la divisione italiana di Pino. La 5ª divisione di Pino comprendeva tre battaglioni ciascuno dei reggimenti di fanteria leggera italiana 1a, 2a leggera e 6a linea, due battaglioni della 4ª linea e un battaglione ciascuno della 5ª e 7ª linea. La brigata di cavalleria italiana di Jacques Fontane era composta dai Cacciatori Reali e dal 7º Dragoni (Napoleone). L'imperatore francese mise tutte le truppe imperiali in Catalogna nel VII Corpo sotto Laurent de Gouvion-Saint-Cyr.

L'assedio di Roses durò dal 7 novembre al 5 dicembre 1808 e terminò con la resa della guarnigione spagnola. Le divisioni di Honoré Charles Reille e Pino furono impiegate nella forza assediante mentre le divisioni di Souham e Louis François Jean Chabot formavano la forza di copertura. La cavalleria non è stata menzionata. La divisione di Pino riportò 30 ufficiali e 400 uomini uccisi e feriti. Dopo la caduta di Roses, Saint-Cyr decise coraggiosamente di marciare in soccorso di Barcellona. Prese le divisioni di Pino, Souham e Chabot, lasciando indietro Reille. Dal momento che aveva in programma di portare i suoi  fanti e  cavalieri attraverso le colline su sentieri, Saint-Cyr non prese pezzi di artiglieria ma solo il cibo e le munizioni extra che potevano essere trasportati sui muli.

Il 16 dicembre 1808 fu combattuta la battaglia di Cardedeu (Llinas). Trovando  truppe spagnole sotto Juan Miguel de Vives y Feliu a bloccare il suo percorso, Saint-Cyr lasciò la piccola divisione di Chabot per proteggere la sua parte posteriore e progettò di scagliare contro i suoi nemici  truppe dalle divisioni di Pino e Souham. Saint-Cyr insistette che l'assalto fosse effettuato in una colonna ammassata con la divisione di Pino in testa. Tuttavia, Pino disobbedì agli ordini e schierò i sette battaglioni della sua brigata di testa. L'attacco iniziale respinse la prima linea spagnola, ma fu respinto dalla seconda linea. In questa crisi, Saint-Cyr ordinò alla divisione di Souham di inclinarsi a sinistra e ordinò alla seconda brigata di Pino di avanzare, forte di sei battaglioni. Quando i difensori spagnoli cominciarono a cedere davanti alle due colonne, il comandante francese ordinò ai due reggimenti di cavalleria italiani di caricare il centro spagnolo. Le linee di Vives si sgretolarono e le sue truppe si diedero alle calcagna. I corpi di Saint-Cyr contarono 600 perdite mentre inflissero  morti e feriti agli spagnoli e catturarono  uomini e cinque cannoni.

Con il Barcellona alleviata, l'esercito spagnolo si ritirò dietro il fiume Llobregat. Poiché Vives fu separato dal suo esercito dopo Cardedeu, Theodor von Reding comandò le truppe spagnole. La battaglia di Molins de Rei fu combattuta il 21 dicembre 1808. Saint-Cyr ordinò alla divisione francese di Joseph Chabran di effettuare un falso attacco sul fianco sinistro spagnolo. Completamente ingannato, Reding rinforzò la sua sinistra dal fianco destro. Saint-Cyr quindi mandò Souham, Pino e Chabot contro il fianco destro indebolito e distrusse la linea spagnola. Le truppe imperiali radunarono  prigionieri spagnoli e catturarono 25 pezzi di artiglieria. Palombini fu promosso generale di brigata il 14 febbraio 1809.

Dopo Molins de Rei, Reding fu rinforzato e il suo esercito riprese fiducia; decise di scendere in campo. Dopo una serie di manovre, Reding decise di tornare alla sua base di Tarragona. Sentendo questa mossa, Saint-Cyr bloccò entrambe le strade che il suo avversario avrebbe potuto utilizzare, stabilendo la divisione di Souham a Valls e quella di Pino a Pla d'Urgell. Dopo una marcia notturna, l'esercito di Reding apparve davanti alla divisione di Souham la mattina del 25 febbraio e la battaglia di Valls iniziò. Durante la mattinata, i numeri superiori di Reding costrinsero Souham a tornare e l'esercito spagnolo ebbe una strada libera per Tarragona. A mezzogiorno, Saint-Cyr arrivò in persona con i due reggimenti di cavalleria italiani. Pensando che gli imperiali fossero stati pesantemente rinforzati, Reding riportò i suoi stanchi soldati su un'altura dietro il fiume Francolí. A causa di un pasticcio di ordini, la divisione di Pino scese in campo solo dopo le 16:00. A quell'ora Saint-Cyr organizzò le due divisioni in quattro colonne di una brigata ciascuna, con la cavalleria italiana tra le colonne centrali e il 24º Dragoni francesi sul fianco destro. I soldati di Reding spararono una grande raffica a una distanza di 91 metri, ma quando gli imperiali furono visti avanzare attraverso il fumo, le linee spagnole si disintegrarono. Per la perdita di  uomini, gli imperiali inflissero  perdite ai loro nemici e sequestrarono la loro carovana e tutta la loro artiglieria. Reding fu ferito a morte dai dragoni francesi.

Il terzo assedio di Gerona durò dal 6 giugno al 10 dicembre 1809. Un'autorità scrisse che la guarnigione spagnola perse  uomini uccisi e  catturati, mentre le vittime imperiali furono , metà per malattia. Jean Antoine Verdier guidò  soldati della forza d'assedio nelle divisioni di Lechi, Verdier e Annet Morio de L'Isle mentre Saint-Cyr comandò  soldati che coprivano l'assedio. Palombini comandava una brigata di cavalleria di 912 uomini nella divisione di Pino, che faceva parte dell'esercito di copertura di Saint-Cyr. Il 1º giugno 1809 la brigata comprendeva sei squadroni appartenenti ai Reggimenti Cacciatori a Cavallo e Dragoni Italiani. Il 10 luglio, una colonna di soccorso spagnola fu tesa un'imboscata e distrutta dalla divisione di Pino, perdendo 40 ufficiali e 878 uomini catturati. La guarnigione spagnola di Gerona sconfisse un grande attacco imperiale il 19 settembre. Dopo quel fiasco, i  sopravvissuti della divisione di Lechi furono incorporati nella divisione di Pino e Saint-Cyr decise di far morire di fame la guarnigione piuttosto che sprecare altre vite in inutili assalti. La divisione di Pino sconfisse una colonna di soccorso il 26 settembre e ne catturò il convoglio alimentare. Il 7 novembre, la divisione di Pino fece irruzione e bruciò la grande discarica spagnola di Hostalric.

Guerra d'indipendenza spagnola: 1810-1811

Il 15 gennaio 1810 il VII Corpo era al comando del maresciallo Pierre François Charles Augereau. A quella data la divisione di Pino contava 238 ufficiali e  uomini presenti sotto le armi, 201 distaccati,  malati in ospedale e 93 prigionieri. Con le divisioni di Pino e Souham, Augereau fece una spedizione in gennaio in cui tutti i micheletti catturati furono impiccati. Per rappresaglia, gli spagnoli iniziarono a uccidere tutti i soldati imperiali che catturarono. Il 15 marzo Filippo Severoli aveva assunto il comando della divisione italiana quando Pino tornò a casa in licenza. Il 24 aprile Napoleone sostituì Augereau con il maresciallo Étienne Jacques Joseph Alexandre Macdonald. Il nuovo comandante annullò gli ordini di Augereau di uccidere i guerriglieri catturati. Macdonald utilizzò la divisione di Severoli per proteggere i grandi convogli diretti a Barcellona in giugno, luglio e agosto. Nel 1810 Palombini fu nominato ufficiale della Legion d'onore.

Il 2 gennaio 1811 il III Corpo di Louis Gabriel Suchet concluse con successo l'assedio di Tortosa. Non più necessario come forza di copertura, Macdonald con  uomini tornò a Lleida (Lérida) con una marcia rotonda oltre Tarragona. La divisione italiana era in testa, seguita a una distanza di 4,8 km da tre brigate francesi e un reggimento di cavalleria. Quando Francesco Orsatelli (detto Eugenio) individuò la divisione spagnola di Pedro Sarsfield nelle vicinanze, attaccò incautamente con i suoi  fanti e 30 cavalieri. Nella battaglia di El Pla,  fanti e 800 cavalieri di Sarsfield respinsero la brigata italiana d'avanguardia. Gli uomini di Eugenio si radunarono quando la brigata di Palombini raggiunse il campo. Utilizzando il suo numero superiore di cavalleria, Sarsfield girò il fianco destro di Palombini e ruppe le sue linee. La giornata sarebbe potuta finire in un disastro, ma Jacques-Antoine-Adrien Delort apparve con il 24º Dragoni e controllò gli spagnoli vittoriosi. Gli italiani persero 600 uomini, incluso Eugenio ferito a morte, mentre le vittime spagnole furono solo 160.

Il 10 marzo 1811 Napoleone trasferì gran parte del VII Corpo al III Corpo sotto Louis Gabriel Suchet. A quel tempo la divisione italiana entrò a far parte del comando di Suchet. Durante l'assedio di Tarragona, le due brigate italiane prestarono servizio in una divisione composita sotto Jean Isidore Harispe. Coprirono le linee d'assedio sul lato est. Alle 19:00 del 21 giugno 1811, Palombini guidò le colonne d'assalto contro la città bassa. La forza d'assalto, che era composta da  granatieri e volteggiatori dai reggimenti francesi più una brigata francese, ebbe successo e la città bassa fu catturata. Le vittime imperiali furono 120 morti e 362 feriti. Durante l'assalto finale del 28 giugno, Juan de Courten e  truppe spagnole tentarono di fuggire dal lato est di Tarragona, ma furono bloccati dagli italiani. Alcuni fuggirono verso le navi da guerra della Royal Navy al largo, una manciata dispersa sulle colline, molti altri furono abbattuti dalla cavalleria imperiale sulla spiaggia, ma la maggior parte furono catturati.

L'11 luglio 1811 Palombini fu promosso generale di divisione. Quell'anno Napoleone lo elevò alla dignità di Barone dell'Impero. Il 15 luglio 1811 il III Corpo fu ribattezzato Armata d'Aragona con Luigi Gaspare Peyri al comando della divisione italiana. La vecchia divisione di Pino era ancora composta dal 1º e 2º reggimento leggero e dal 4º, 5º e 6º reggimento di fanteria di linea, più i cacciatori e i Dragoni Napoleone. Palombini condusse una colonna attraverso Caldes de Montbui e Sant Feliu de Codines per unirsi alla colonna principale di Suchet a Centelles. Dopo la battaglia di Montserrat il 25 luglio, Suchet installò la brigata di Palombini come guarnigione per il Monastero di Montserrat che in precedenza fungeva da base di rifornimento catalana.

Suchet lanciò l'invasione della provincia di Valencia con  soldati in tre divisioni francesi sotto Harispe, Louis François Félix Musnier e Pierre Joseph Habert, divisione italiana di Palombini, una debole brigata di napoletani, cavalleria e artiglieria. La divisione di  uomini di Palombini comprendeva la brigata di Vertigier Saint Paul, la 2ª fanteria leggera () e la 4a linea (), e la brigata di Éloi Charles Balathier, la 5a linea (930) e la 6a linea (). Il 15 settembre 1811, l'esercito di Suchet avanzò su tre colonne, quella centrale sotto Palombini composta dalla propria divisione e da  napoletani. Il 19 settembre, le truppe di Palombini si unirono senza incidenti alla colonna costiera di Suchet. Il 28 settembre fu fatto un assalto senza successo al castello di Sagunto in cui 52 italiani furono vittime. Due giorni dopo, le truppe di Palombini scacciarono da Segorbe una divisione spagnola. Il 20 ottobre, Palombini con una brigata francese e una italiana fece nuovamente irruzione a Segorbe e tornò rapidamente il 24.

La battaglia di Sagunto ebbe luogo il 25 ottobre 1811. Il comandante spagnolo Joaquín Blake attaccò con  uomini nella sua ala sinistra e  nella sua ala destra, ma le sue truppe migliori erano sulla destra. Suchet mantenne l'assedio del castello di Sagunto con  soldati inclusa la brigata di Balathier. Il comandante francese affrontò Blake con  soldati; La brigata di San Paolo e la cavalleria erano in riserva. L'ala destra di Suchet, composta da  uomini al comando di Józef Chłopicki, sconfisse completamente l'ala sinistra di Blake con l'aiuto dei Dragoni Napoleone del colonnello Schiazetti. Le truppe dell'ala destra di Blake combatterono bene e  cavalieri spagnoli respinsero tre squadroni francesi al centro. In questa crisi Suchet ordinò al 13º Corazzieri di caricare e ordinò a Palombini di impegnare la brigata di fanteria di riserva. I corazzieri misero in fuga la maggior parte dei cavalieri spagnoli e conquistarono una batteria spagnola. La brigata di San Paolo scacciò la restante cavalleria nemica e si schiantò sul fianco scoperto di una divisione di fanteria spagnola, costringendola alla ritirata. Secondo lo storico Charles Oman, l'attacco di San Paolo fu il colpo decisivo che vinse la battaglia.

Blake inviò il suo esercito di  uomini dietro il fiume Turia proteggendo Valencia. Il 26 dicembre 1811 Suchet avanzò con  soldati, inviando Habert contro il fianco destro spagnolo e Palombini contro il centro sinistro spagnolo vicino a Mislata. Ma l'attacco principale si svolse intorno all'estrema sinistra di Blake a Riba-roja de Túria. Palombini sferrò un serio attacco alle trincee spagnole e i suoi soldati subirono perdite significative. Blake si convinse che Palombini fosse la minaccia più pericolosa. Nel frattempo l'attacco principale di Suchet distrusse la sinistra di Blake con pochissima opposizione. La maggior parte delle unità del fianco sinistro spagnolo fuggirono a sud. Nel tardo pomeriggio, Harispe sul fianco destro di Suchet si unì a Habert sulla sinistra, intrappolando Blake e  soldati spagnoli all'interno di Valencia. La divisione di Palombini ebbe 50 morti e 355 feriti, che rappresentavano la maggior parte delle 521 vittime di Suchet durante l'operazione. L'assedio di Valencia terminò il 9 gennaio 1812 quando Blake si arrese. Al 31 dicembre la divisione di Palombini contava  ufficiali e uomini.

Guerra d'indipendenza spagnola: 1812-1813

Su ordine di Napoleone, la divisione di Palombini iniziò a marciare verso l'Aragona meridionale il 15 febbraio 1812. La divisione fu presto assegnata, insieme ad altre due divisioni, a un corpo comandato da Reille. Palombini iniziò a inviare piccole colonne antiguerriglia intorno a Teruel, ma il 5 e il 28 marzo le sue truppe subirono sconfitte. Avendo imparato a non rischiare piccole forze, ammassò le sue truppe, ma non riuscì a fermare l'operato dei guerriglieri. All'inizio di luglio, il re Giuseppe Bonaparte tentò di radunare una forza per aiutare l'esercito del maresciallo Auguste Marmont. Ordinò a Palombini di marciare su Madrid e l'italiano lo fece prontamente, anche se Suchet era il suo diretto superiore. Dopo una marcia forzata di 241 km, la divisione di Palombini arrivò a Madrid esattamente nel giorno previsto. Sfortunatamente per Giuseppe, era troppo tardi; Marmont fu gravemente sconfitto nella battaglia di Salamanca il 25 luglio. Le truppe di Palombini erano a sostegno della cavalleria di Anne-François-Charles Trelliard l'11 agosto durante la battaglia di Majadahonda. Il 15 ottobre 1812, la divisione di Palombini contava 142 ufficiali e  uomini, divisi tra il 2º, 4º e 6º Reggimento di Fanteria di Linea, più i Dragoni Napoleone e due batterie di artiglieria.

Con un editto del 4 gennaio 1813, a molti reggimenti imperiali in Spagna fu ordinato di inviare a casa quadri sufficienti per formare un battaglione. La maggior parte dei ranghi e dei file furono trasferiti ai restanti battaglioni di campo. La divisione di Palombini dovette rimandare indietro tre quadri di battaglione. Quel mese la divisione di Palombini marciò per unirsi all'Armata del Nord al fine di sostituire una brigata di Giovani Guardie che fu richiamata in Francia. Palombini stabilì la sede a Poza de la Sal e inviò colonne di foraggiamento per trovare cibo. Nella notte tra il 10 e l'11 febbraio, le truppe spagnole al comando di Francisco de Longa sorprese i 500 italiani in città. Radunando i suoi uomini, Palombini resistette fino al mattino quando le sue colonne periferiche tornarono e gli uomini di Longa se ne andarono. La divisione italiana raggiunse Bilbao dove sostituì la Giovane Guardia il 21 febbraio. Dal 25 gennaio al 13 febbraio, la divisione di Palombini sgomberò con successo l'autostrada tra Burgos e Vitoria. Il 24 marzo vicino a Castro-Urdiales, Gabriel de Mendizábal Iraeta - truppe spagnole cercarono di circondare la divisione di Palombini, ma furono respinte. Gli italiani ammisero di aver subito 110 vittime, ma il numero reale era probabilmente più alto. La divisione italiana portò poi rifornimenti alla guarnigione francese bloccata di Santoña. Da lì, le truppe di Palombini marciarono prima a Bilbao poi a Guernica dove attaccarono senza successo una forza spagnola il 2 aprile. Dopo aver raccolto alcuni rinforzi, Palombini attaccò Guernica il 5 aprile e questa volta scacciò gli spagnoli.

Il 10 aprile 1813 gli spagnoli attaccarono Bilbao. La sua guarnigione di  uomini resistette a malapena fino a quando la divisione di Palombini non marciò in soccorso. Dopo un inutile inseguimento dei guerriglieri, la divisione italiana tornò a Bilbao in attesa di rinforzi. Il 25 aprile Maximilien Sébastien Foy partì con  soldati comprese le divisioni di Jacques Thomas Sarrutle e Palombini. A questo punto la divisione italiana si era ridotta a  uomini in cinque battaglioni. Foy assediò Castro-Urdiales, usando la propria divisione e tre battaglioni italiani per la forza d'assedio. Con l'aiuto di cannoni pesanti da Santoña, fu fatto saltare un vuoto di 18 m nel muro. La sera dell'11 maggio, otto compagnie d'élite italiane attaccarono la porta della città mentre otto aziende d'élite francesi assalirono la breccia. Entrambi gli attacchi ebbero successo, ma la Royal Navy salvò la maggior parte della guarnigione spagnola mentre i soldati di Foy stavano saccheggiando la città. Poco dopo Palombini fu richiamato in Italia. La divisione, ridotta a una brigata di  uomini, fu guidata da San Paolo durante una breve campagna che includeva la battaglia di Tolosa il 26 giugno.

Italia: 1813-1814
Palombini ricevette il comando della 5ª Divisione italiana sotto il viceré Eugenio di Beauharnais. Il 7 settembre 1813, la brigata di  uomini di Gillot Rougier (Ruggieri) della 5ª Divisione fu sconfitta a Lippa in Croazia da una brigata austriaca di  uomini guidata da Laval Nugent von Westmeath. Il 14 settembre a Elsane, sotto il comando generale di Pino, la divisione di Palombini attaccò le forze di Nugent ma non riuscì a sloggiarle. Al calar della notte, gli austriaci finalmente si ritirarono, dopo aver subito 112 vittime e tre cannoni smontati su un totale di  uomini e quattro cannoni. Gli italiani subirono 420 vittime su 9.000 uomini e 12 cannoni, compreso Pino ferito. Il 27 settembre a Circonio, Palombini con  uomini e sette cannoni fu sconfitto da Paul von Radivojevich con  austriaci e nove cannoni. La 5ª Divisione comprendeva un battaglione ciascuno della 2ª Linea di fanteria leggera e una della 1ª Linea, quattro battaglioni della 2ª Linea, tre battaglioni della 3ª Linea e due battaglioni del reggimento di fanteria dalmata. Gli austriaci catturarono 300 italiani, per lo più della 2ª Linea. Come risultato di queste e altre azioni, Eugenio si ritirò ad ovest attraverso il fiume Isonzo.

Il 10 marzo 1814 ci furono una serie di scontri tra Mantova e Peschiera del Garda con le forze di Eugenio ad avere la peggio. Gli austriaci ebbero 400 vittime mentre infliggevano  vittime ai franco-italiani. A Peschiera, Palombini con  soldati fu sconfitto da  austriaci, ma le perdite furono leggere da entrambe le parti. La forza di Palombini era composta da due brigate. La brigata di Rougier comprendeva due battaglioni della 3ª Linea e quattro battaglioni della 2ª Linea. La brigata di Livio Galimberti era composta da tre battaglioni della 3ª Linea, un battaglione della 6ª Linea, il Battaglione Guardie Milano ed i Dragoni Napoleone. Verso la fine del conflitto, Palombini ritirò la sua divisione all'interno della fortezza di Peschiera.

Servizio austriaco
Dopo la caduta del Regno d'Italia, Palombini entrò al servizio dell'Impero austriaco. Il 2 luglio 1814 accettò il grado di Feldmarschallleutnant. Nel 1815 durante i Cento giorni prestò servizio sul Reno contro i suoi ex alleati francesi. Nel 1816 ricevette l'Ordine della Corona ferrea di II Classe. Nel 1817 fu nominato Inhaber (proprietario) del 36º reggimento di fanteria di linea, un'unità boema. Il precedente proprietario era stato Karl (Johann) Kollowrat-Krakowski mentre il successivo fu Franz Furst zu Colloredo-Mannsfeld nel 1850. Palombini si ritirò dal servizio attivo nel 1824. Ricevette il titolo prussiano dell'Ordine dell'Aquila rossa, I Classe nel 1846. Morì nel castello della moglie a Grochowice il 25 aprile 1850. Carolina aveva acquistato la tenuta nel 1821. Il loro figlio maggiore Giuseppe Camillo Palombini divenne capitano dell'esercito austriaco.

Onorificenze

Note

Bibliografia

Altri progetti

Collegamenti esterni

Generali italiani delle guerre napoleoniche

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Archive for the 'mystery' Category
DRL — a Druid Ritual Language, Part 1 Leave a comment
[Part 2 | Part 3]
Ritual Language and the Case of Latin
Many spiritual and religious traditions feature a special language used for ritual purposes. The most visible example in the West is Latin. The Latin Mass remains popular, and though the mid-1960s reforms of Vatican II allowed the use of local vernacular languages for worship, they never prohibited Latin. For some Catholics, the use of vernacular reduced the mystery, the beauty and ultimately, in some sense, the sacredness of the rites. If you visit an Orthodox Christian or Jewish service, you may encounter other languages. Within an hour's drive of my house in southern Vermont, you can encounter Greek, Hebrew, Russian, Arabic and Tibetan used in prayer and ritual.
Language as Sacrament
The heightened language characteristic of ritual, such as prayer and chant, can be a powerful shaper of consciousness. The 5-minute Vedic Sanskrit video below can begin to approximate for one watching it a worship experience of sound and image and sensory engagement that transcends mere linguistic meaning. The rhythmic chanting, the ritual fire, the sacrificial gathering, the flowers and other sacred offerings, the memory of past rituals, the complex network of many kinds of meaning all join to form a potentially powerful ritual experience. What the ritual "means" is only partly mediated by the significance of the words. Language used in ritual in such ways transcends verbal meaning and becomes Word — sacrament as language, language as sacrament — a way of manifesting, expressing, reaching, participating in the holy.
And depending on your age and attention at the time, you may recall the renewed popularity of Gregorian chant starting two decades ago in 1994, starting with the simply-titled Chant, a collection by a group of Benedictines.
Issues with Ritual Language
One great challenge is to keep ritual and worship accessible. Does the experience of mystery and holiness need, or benefit from, the aid of a special ritual language? Do mystery and holiness deserve such language as one sign of respect we can offer? Should we expect to learn a new language, or special form of our own language, as part of our dedication and worship? Is hearing and being sacramentally influenced by the language enough, even if we don't "understand" it? These aren't always easy questions to answer.
For English-speaking Christians and for educated speakers of English in general, the King James Bible* continues to exert remarkable influence more than 400 years after its publication in 1611. What is now the early modern English grammar and vocabulary of Elizabethan England, in the minds of many, contribute to the "majesty of the language," setting it apart from daily speech in powerful and useful ways. Think of the Lord's Prayer, with its "thy" and "thine" and "lead us not": the rhythms of liturgical — in this case, older — English are part of modern Christian worship for many, though more recent translations have also made their way into common use. A surprising number of people make decisions on which religious community to join on the basis of what language(s) are, or aren't, used in worship.
Druid and Pagan Practice
When it comes to Druid practice (and Pagan practice more generally), attitudes toward special language, like attitudes towards much else, vary considerably. Some find anything that excludes full participation in ritual to be an unnecessary obstacle to be avoided. Of course, the same argument can be made for almost any aspect of Druid practice, or spiritual practice in general. Does the form of any rite inevitably exclude, if it doesn't speak to all potential participants? If I consider my individual practice, it thrives in part because of improvisation, personal preference and spontaneity. It's tailor-made for me, open to inspiration at the moment, though still shaped by group experience and the forms of OBOD ritual I have both studied and participated in. Is that exclusionary?
Ritual Primers
Unless they're Catholic or particularly "high"-church Anglican/Episcopalian, many Westerners, including aspiring Druids, are often unacquainted with ritual. What is it? Why do it? How should or can you do it? What options are there? ADF offers some helpful guidance about ritual more generally in their Druid Ritual Primer page. The observations there are well worth reflecting on, if only to clarify your own sensibility and ideas. To sum up the first part all too quickly: Anyone can worship without clergy. That said, clergy often are the ones who show up! In a world of time and space, ritual has basic limits, like size and start time. Ignore them and the ritual fails, at least for you. Change, even or especially in ritual, is good and healthy. However, "With all this change everyone must still be on the same sheet of music." As with so much else, what you get from ritual depends on what you give. And finally, people can and will make mistakes. In other words, there's no "perfect" ritual — or perfect ritualists, either.
(Re)Inventing Ritual Wheels
Let me cite another specific example for illustration, to get at some of these issues in a slightly different way. In the recent Druidcast 82 interview, host Damh the Bard interviews OBOD's Chosen Chief, Philip Carr-Gomm, who notes that some OBOD-trained Druids seem compelled to write their own liturgies rather than use OBOD rites and language. While he notes that "hiving off" from an existing group is natural and healthy, he asks why we shouldn't retain beautiful language where it already exists. He also observes that Druidry appeals to many because it coincides with a widespread human tendency in this present period to seek out simplicity. This quest for simplicity has ritual consequences, one of which is that such Druidry can also help to heal the Pagan and Non-Pagan divide by not excluding the Christian Druid or Buddhist Druid, who can join rituals and rub shoulders with their "hard polytheist" and atheist brothers and sisters. (Yes, more exclusionary forms of Druidry do exist, as they do in any human endeavor, but thankfully they aren't the mainstream.)
About this attitude towards what in other posts I've termed OGRELD, a belief in "One Genuine Real Live Druidry," Carr-Gomm notes, "The idea that you can't mix practices from different sources or traditions comes from an erroneous idea of purity." Yes, we should be mindful of cultural appropriation. Of course, as he continues, "Every path is a mixture already … To quote Ronald Hutton, mention purity and 'you can hear the sound of jackboots and smell the disinfectant.'" An obsession with that elusive One Genuine Real Live Whatever often misses present possibilities for some mythical, fundamentalist Other-time Neverland and Perfect Practice Pleasing to The Powers-That-Be. That said, "there are certain combinations that don't work." But these are better found out in practice than prescribed (or proscribed) up front, out of dogma rather than experience. In Druidry there's a "recognition that there is an essence that we share," which includes a common core of practices and values.
As a result, to give another instance, Carr-Gomm says, "If you take Druidry and Wicca, some people love to combine them and find they fit rather well together," resulting in practices like Druidcraft. After all, boxes are for things, not people. Damh the Bard concurs at that point in the interview, asserting that, "To say you can't [mix or combine elements] is a fake boundary."
Yet facing this openness and Universalist tendency in much modern Druidry is the challenge of particularity. When I practice Druidry, it's my experience last week, yesterday and tomorrow of the smell of sage smoke, the taste of mead, wine or apple juice, the sounds of drums, song, chant, the feel of wind or sun or rain on my face, the presence of others or Others, Spirit, awen, the god(s) in the rite. The Druid order ADF, after all, is named Ár nDraíocht Féin — the three initials often rendered in English as "A Druid Fellowship" but literally meaning "Our Own Druidry" in Gaelic.
A Human Undersong
Where to go from here? Carr-Gomm notes what Henry David Thoreau called an "undersong" inside all of us, underlying experience. "We sense intuitively that there's this undersong," says Carr-Gomm. "It's your song, inside you. The Order and the course and the trainings [of groups like OBOD] — it's all about helping you to find that song. It's universal." As humans we usually strive to increase such access-points to the universal whenever historical, political and cultural conditions are favorable, as they have been for the last several decades in the West.
Paradoxes of Particularity
Yet the point remains that each of us finds such access in the particulars of our experience. (Christians call it the "scandal of particularity"; in their case, the difficulty of their doctrine that one being, Jesus, is the sole saviour for all people — the single manifestation of the divine available to us.**) And the use of heightened ritual language can be one of those "particulars," a doorway that can also admittedly exclude, an especially powerful access point, because even ordinary language mediates so much human reality. We quite literally say who and what we are. The stroke victim who cannot speak or speaks only with difficulty, the aphasic, the abused and isolated child who never acquires language beyond rudimentary words or gestures, the foreigner who never learns the local tongue — all demonstrate the degree to which the presence or absence of language enfolds us in or excludes us from human community and culture. And that includes spirituality, where — side by side with art and music — we are at our most human in every sense.
In the second post in this series, I'll shift modes, moving from the context I've begun to outline here, and look at some specific candidates for a DRL — a Druidic Ritual Language.
Images: Tridentine Mass; OBOD Star and Stone Fellowship rite.
*Go here for a higher-resolution image of the title page of the first King James Bible pictured above.
**In a 2012 post, Patheos blogger Tim Suttle quotes Franciscan friar and Father Richard Rohr at length on the force of particularity in a Christian context. If Christian imagery and language still work for you at all, you may find his words useful and inspiring. Wonder is at the heart of it. Here Rohr talks about Christmas, incarnation and access to the divine in Christian terms, but pointing to an encounter with the holy — the transforming experience behind why people seek out the holy in the first place:
A human woman is the mother of God, and God is the son of a human mother!
Do we have any idea what this sentence means, or what it might imply? Is it really true? If it is, then we are living in an entirely different universe than we imagine, or even can imagine. If the major division between Creator and creature can be overcome, then all others can be overcome too. To paraphrase Oswald Chambers "this is a truth that dumbly struggles in us for utterance!" It is too much to be true and too good to be true. So we can only resort to metaphors, images, poets, music, and artists of every stripe.
I have long felt that Christmas is a feast which is largely celebrating humanity's unconscious desire and goal. Its meaning is too much for the rational mind to process, so God graciously puts this Big Truth on a small stage so that we can wrap our mind and heart around it over time. No philosopher would dare to imagine "the materialization of God," so we are just presented with a very human image of a poor woman and her husband with a newly born child. (I am told that the Madonna is by far the most painted image in Western civilization. It heals all mothers and all children of mothers, if we can only look deeply and softly.)
Pope Benedict, who addressed 250 artists in the Sistine Chapel before Michelangelo's half-naked and often grotesque images, said quite brilliantly, "An essential function of genuine beauty is that it gives humanity a healthy shock!" And then he went on to quote Simone Weil who said that "Beauty is the experimental proof that incarnation is in fact possible." Today is our beautiful feast of a possible and even probable Incarnation!
If there is one moment of beauty, then beauty can indeed exist on this earth. If there is one true moment of full Incarnation, then why not Incarnation everywhere? The beauty of this day is enough healthy shock for a lifetime, which leaves us all dumbly struggling for utterance.
Updated (minor editing) 1 April 2014
Posted 22 March 2014 by adruidway in ADF, awen, Biblical reference, Christianity, conlang, creativity, cultural change, Druid ritual language, Druidry, earth religion, Jesus, mystery, nature spirits, OBOD, prayer, Richard Rohr, ritual, ritual language, sacraments, spiritual practice, Thoreau
Tagged with Christianity, Druid ritual language, Druidry, Jesus, liturgical chant, liturgical language, Richard Rohr, ritual, ritual language, spiritual practice, Thoreau, Vatican II
Spring Equinox on Monadnock Leave a comment
Almost a month ago now I got the nudge to visit the major peaks in the area — Monadnock (NH), Hogback and Ascutney (VT) — starting on Alban Eilir, the spring equinox. Energy-lines and Native American paths have been in my thoughts since the new year, and yesterday I climbed through snow and ice to within bowshot of Monadnock's stony peak at 3165 feet. The mountain is a New Hampshire state park, and lies a short distance north of the Massachusetts-New Hampshire border, southeast of Keene and west of Jaffrey, NH.
Monadnock, or Grand Monadnock, to distinguish it from other lesser monadnocks in the region, has the reputation for being one of the most-climbed peaks in the world. Thogh my wife and I have lived off and on in the area since 1991, I'd never visited. From what I saw yesterday, a summer climb would still be strenuous, but I'm glad that with the ice and cold, I had the mountain nearly all to myself. Or, more accurately, the mountain had me. All wild places have a presence, and the berg-geist or "mountain spirit" of Monadnock made itself known most of all in a listening silence. I met just six other people, and all in the first half hour of my climb. All were descending. After that, no one but the mountain and me.
The first leg of the southeast ascent rises gradually, just enough to get you conscious of your breathing. The temp at this point was in the low 40s — it just looks colder in these shots.
The new season really is here, though a 4″ fall of heavy wet snow two days ago seemed to give the lie to that. When I left the ranger station at the foot, the sun shone through scattered clouds. Ice doesn't rule everything any more. A small spring had broken free of ice and ran across the trail.
The climb begins in earnest once the trail splits into White Cross and White Dot. The trail map showed similar elevations and roughly equal distances, so I opted for White Cross.
Besides, to paraphrase Frost, "it was snowy and waited there." As the map warned, "trails are not necessarily marked for winter use." Painted arrows and keys on the rocks often lay below the snowline. Markers on a few exposed boulders showed and the prints of those ahead of me provided enough guidance. But I was mindful of the sky — a quick change could easily leave me lost in fog or snow showers, as the map also warned. It was easier, not just prudent, to pay attention, because I was alone.
Many states in the U.S. still retain versions of Native American place-names. Vermont and New Hampshire bristle with them: Bomoseen, Skatutakee, Memphremagog, Ascutney, Monadnock. The Wikipedia entry obliges with the following information about the mountain's name:
… "monadnock" is an Abenaki-derived word used to describe a mountain. Loosely translated it means "mountain that stands alone," although the exact meaning of the word (what kind of mountain) is uncertain. The term was adopted by early settlers of southern New Hampshire and later by American geologists as an alternative term for an inselberg or isolated mountain.
As I climbed, the temperature dropped at least 15 degrees. No birds here, unlike at the foot where a few sang tentatively overhead. The higher elevation showed visibly in pines coated with ice.
I didn't wear crampons or any special footwear beyond a pair of good winter boots. Only in a few places was ice a problem. The snowfall of the day before was a gift — it coated the ice of thaws and freezes beneath it, and made for easier going. The ascent continued to sharpen, and I remembered bones and muscles I'd forgotten about since late fall.
Vistas offered compensation. Here's the view to the west and south, during a particularly clear interval.
White Cross and White Dot rejoin about half a mile below the peak. I was tired by now, though I chuckled at the mixed message of this sign:
It was soon time to descend. The rock of the final 500 feet was too slick, the weather worsened by the minute, and leaving now would bring me to the foot again before twilight. Here is the peak over the treetops.
I'm including this final image, though it's blurred, because this is the highest I climbed, and it captures the berg-geist in winter: I have been here a long time, and I am still here. You are flesh — I am stone.
Little ceremony — that wasn't my intent when I climbed. A few words and gestures to the trees, the sky, the rocks, the snow and brisk fresh air. The mountain, always answering, said nothing.
Posted 21 March 2014 by adruidway in Alban Eilir, awen, berggeist, Druidry, equinox, Monadnock, mystery, nature spirits, New England, New England place names, spiritual practice, wood and water
Tagged with Alban Eilir, berggeist, Druidry, Monadnock, New England place names, spiritual practice, Spring Equinox
Snowhenge 2 comments
It's not really a henge at all, of course — just a large boulder we removed from our garden space a couple years ago and set along the north-south axis in our front lawn. A simple bed underneath it, a few other small rocks to steady it. Grass grown back now. Lichens finding the stony surface to their liking, adding their dull green patina to the stone. But the word henge came to me as I looked out the front window at the solstice evening. So I'll go with it. The heavy band of cloud along the horizon behind the trees presages rain. The mailbox — it seems out of place. But let's go with that, too, I say to myself. Is this a message?
Mystery is a landscape. OK, I think. There's always more to see. Even a finite object like a boulder presents a myriad of perspectives. By the time I've looked at even a small number of them, the boulder has subtly changed. The light on it has shifted, lichens on its surface beneath the snow cover are growing and dying, and a small, small portion of its substance has crumbled and fallen.
That's part of it. Hmm, I say to myself. This second sentence, like the first, feels like a communication from outside myself. Is this the start of another Druid dialog? Don't get hung up on the source, I chide myself, or you'll miss what comes next. You can worry about doubt and truth and origins later.
The snow's gone blue in the twilight. The bare trees — "an infinity of tragic shapes, to make thinking difficult," as Charles Simic says in one of his short poems. Lovely, or inaccurate, or a distraction, depending on your reaction. But decidedly other — not my own primary experience, but the report of another person's.
Landscape reveals itself when we walk through it. Mystery at its fullest is participation, not just standing apart and analyzing. Then it may be obscurity, or incomprehension. Yes, I can read a scene like a Tarot card, but I can also move into it, inhabit it. Which is a good way to work with Tarot, too. Mystery needn't be alien or unfriendly. It can and often does reside in the utterly familiar — until all is changed and it steps forward, or we see it again.
Mystery's not just a quality of experience, though, but a presence. I get why the Lakota call it wakan tanka, "great mystery." Not "a god" or "gods" but "great mystery." It's something specific, even as it remains mystery. The merely obscure darkens. Mystery, on the other hand, deepens.
Updated 24 December 2013
Posted 22 December 2013 by adruidway in Charles Simic, Druidry, mystery, solstice, spiritual practice, Tarot, wakan tanka
Tagged with Charles Simic, Druidry, mystery, natural teaching, solstice, spiritual practice, spirituality, wakan tanka


When we see volatility spikes in the market like what we're experiencing now, investors start to get nervous and start asking themselves if their portfolio is hedged enough to handle a downturn.
You see, when the markets are rocking and the bulls are in charge, volatility is generally low and the cost of portfolio protection is cheap.
No one wants to buy hurricane insurance when it's blue skies outside, right? Everyone wants to buy insurance when the storm is coming their way!
On the other hand, when we have uncertainty and fear in the market, the demand for insurance increases, and in turn, pushes volatility higher.
There are a slew of volatility products that traders and investors can use to either hedge their portfolio, or even speculate on what volatility does next. That said, if you're new to volatility products you'll want to pay attention, and educate yourself first before diving into this wild and potentially lucrative space.
Now, I can't guarantee you'll have results as good as this… but even if you never end up trading a volatility product, I can promise you that it will help improve your decision making when it comes to making market calls.
First, you'll need to understand how the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) works.
Now, the VIX – also known as the Fear and Greed Index, measures the 30-day expected volatility of the market, using mid-market prices of S&P 500 Index calls and puts. When VIX remains at elevated levels, it's an indication traders are expecting increase volatility in the short term. On the other hand, when VIX is near the low-end of its range, the market is in a low-volatility environment.
Well, one secret indicator to trading volatility is the VVIX Index (VVIX). The VVIX measures the "volatility of volatility". You could think of it as the expected volatility driving the price of the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) near-term options.
Take a deep breath, and just think about that for a moment.
That in mind, if the market is experiencing some volatility, I watch this indicator as a gauge to see what traders expect the VIX to do in the future.
Don't worry if this doesn't click at first, just follow along with me.
Check out this daily chart of the CBOE VVIX.
If you look at the chart above, you'll notice a blue horizontal line. This is the 120 area, and it's often thought of as the "line in the sand" for this index. In other words, when VVIX spikes above 120, chances are it won't stay above that area for long.
Notice what happens when VVIX falls below 90 (the purple horizontal line)…it doesn't stay there for long.
Now, if you look at the chart of VVIX, in early October, VVIX spiked above 120, hitting a high of 147…however, just a few days later, it fell all the way back down to 109.
That said, when the VVIX is approaching 120, I keep it on my radar. Now, if it breaks above that level, I typically want to sell out-of-the-money (OTM) calls on VXX and collect premiums since VVIX never holds that level long. Now, if you don't understand options trading or strategies, make sure to check out this guide before getting into any options trade.
On the other hand, when it is drifting lower, I want to be a buyer of stocks in general. If you see gradual fade in VIX and a gradual climb in SPY, that is one of my favorite setups. However, when you see VIX start to go against SPY then it is time to reverse the trade.
Notice how the VVIX (the chart on the top) is in a down trend. However, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) is right at support. This is a scenario where I would consider buying stocks.
However, there's one more thing you need to understand about volatility products – which exchange-traded funds (ETFs) or exchange-traded notes (ETNs) to trade.
Here's a look at a list of volatility products.
Now, there's one thing you need to understand about volatility products…they're naturally going to lose value over time due to compounding of daily returns. That said, it is never something to put in your portfolio and forget about it.
Moreover, volatility products are designed to track the one-day performance of their respective underlying indices, or benchmarks.
For example, if you're long VXX, and the underlying index spikes up 3%, VXX should be up around 3%. However, if you hold it for longer than one day…then your expected returns for VXX would not necessarily match the index's performance over the day period.
That in mind, volatility products are best suited for short-term trades.
There are a few things to note about the table above: UVXY is a leveraged product and should not be used by beginners.
Moreover, VXX will cease trading on January 30, 2019, and VXXB will trade in parallel to VXX until that date.
These volatility products are unique and offer so much opportunity you can either trade the underlying or with options. Now, if you're looking for a good primer on options check this out (and yes it's free).
P.S. What does a guy need to do to gain some respect around here? I keep trying to reach Kyle Dennis so he can explain Black Optics to me, but he said I'll have to wait like everyone else and watch it live this Thursday at 8 PM EST.
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• Firebirds coach Roselee Jencke has the highest winning percentage of all SSN coaches, with 74%. She has coached the Firebirds since 2010.
• Jencke is the most successful Trans-Tasman Netball League coach, with three premierships (2011, 2015, 2016).
• Lightning coach Noeline Taurua was the last coach to record a win against Jencke, in Round 13 of the Trans-Tasman Netball League in 2016.
• Prolific Firebirds shooter Romelda Aiken recorded 740 goals from 858 attempts in the 2016 Trans-Tasman Netball League, the most of any current SSN shooter.
• Firebirds captain Gabi Simpson will lead her team for the first time.
• Lightning midcourter Laura Langman did not miss a single game of the Trans-Tasman Netball League, playing 137 consecutive games from 2008 – 2016, the only player to achieve this.