Rararasputin:

harvestheart:

Vestal Virgins

The priestesses of the goddess Vesta were known as the Vestal Virgins. They were responsible for maintaining the sacred fire within the Temple of Vesta on the Forum Romanum. Other duties included performing rituals in regards to the Goddess Vesta, and baking the sacred salt cake to be used at numerous ceremonies in the year. They were the only female priests within the roman religious system. The head of the college of Vesta was called the Virgo Vestalis Maxima, and she was under the direct authority of the Pontifex Maximus.

The college of Vesta had 18 members, though 6 were considered actual Vestal Virgins at any given time. They were selected from distinguished patrician families at an age from three to ten, and such appointments were considered a top honor for any family to receive. They each served thirty years, the first ten years as novices, then ten years as actual vestal virgins, and finally ten years as supervisors responsible for training the novices. After the thirty years of duty they were released from their duties and could then maintain a private life, including the right to marry. For men, arranging a marriage with a former vestal virgin was highly prestigious, regardless of age or the ability to have children.

The vestals vowed to live in chastity for the thirty years their tenure lasted. In return they were allowed many privileges not given to ordinary Roman women. As one example, the vestals were not subject to the pater potestas of their fathers. Essentially they were allowed to handle their own properties and engage in legal contracts, they were allowed to travel around the city in a carriage and they had special seats in the front row at the various games, where, in contrast women were normally relegated to the back seats. They were considered inviolable and sacred and their blood could not be spilt without fear of terrible repercussion from the gods. So sacred and divine-like were these priestesses, that if a person sentenced to death met a vestal virgin on his way to the execution, he would be automatically pardoned. Of course, special care would be taken to prevent or to make sure this would happen, depending on the circumstances.

While enjoying many benefits, including a rather luxurious life in the House of Vestal Virgins, punishment for breaking the rules were severe. The punishment for breaking the vow of chastity was death by burial alive as this was the adopted to kill a vestal without shedding her blood. Such executions would take place in the “Evil Fields”, or Campus Sceleratus, just outside the Servian Wall. Their lover would be flogged to death on the Comitium. While these executions took place several times, it was obviously a rare event that carried all sorts of negative omens with it.

While the Pontifex Maximus continues to the present day as an office of the higher order in the Catholic Church, the order of the vestals was disbanded in 394 AD, when non-Christian cults were banned by Theodosius. The Church, wisely trying to keep the general population with a sense of familiarity, readily adopted the use of convents and position of nuns that held many of the same rules and customs as the Vestals.

http://www.unrv.com/culture/vestal-virgins.php

weirdscaryandusualstuff:

sad times in america this was

(via girlsinsuits)

Friendly reminder that there's always somebody out there predicting the imminent end of the world. I've lived through a bunch of predicted apocalypses throughout my life and not a one of them has ever happened. The world won't end this time, either.

Fundraisers for Sudan

Funding for food at the Kassab IDP camp

The Save El Geneina initiative, which provides food and education/childcare to refugees in Chad

Evacuation fund organized by a friend of mine for 15 families trying to get out of Darfur

Food aid for Sudanese refugees in Cairo, who urgently need it as they face discrimination in Egypt

The Khartoum Aid Kitchen, a program supporting 10 kitchens that feeds thousands of people in the greater Khartoum area

The relocation and potential evacuation of an extended family consisting of at least 33 people

The Sudanese American Physician Association, which has been supporting hospitals and medical professionals in Sudan

The Darfur Women's Action Group (Darfur being a region with a higher Black Non-Arab population)

Two initiatives aimed at distributing menstrual hygiene products to people in Sudan

Hometax, a trusted on the ground org

Aid for the Gorom Refugee Camp in South Sudan, handled by a refugee led program

A continually updated thread on Twitter of even more gofundmes

enchantedhunter:

I really like this one. Another Alphonse Mucha one.

I’m thinking CLAMP probably looked at some of Mucha’s stuff when creating Clow Cards for Card Captor Sakura. But I could be wrong.

via silver-rockets.com

In the instances when POC say shit like ‘Oh I can’t stand white folk’ or ‘Damn white people’, they aren’t saying ‘Oh I think they are inferior, I want to humiliate them, abuse them, enslave them and wipe out their people!’, they’re saying ‘Damn, after a couple hundred years of white people thinking I’m inferior, humiliating me, abusing me, enslaving me, and trying to wipe out my people, I don’t wanna deal with them.’ The context is completely different.

Briana 

“but u guise reverse racism is real!!!1!!one!! im realy prejusidse against bcus im white every1 hatez me”

(via grrrlfoxxx)

THANK YOU.

(via theoceanandthesky)

This Week's Verified Gazan Evacuation Fundraisers

hello again! just like last week, i am putting together a round-up post of the evacuation fundraisers of those who have reached out to me this week and who i have had the privilege of donating to and sharing. please do also check out and share last week's post, as those campaigns are still ongoing and in need of funds! i am so, so happy to see how many of those numbers from last week have gone up. please continue to support all these wonderful people. (there are also some repeats on this week's list).

To everyone who reads this: I challenge you to donate! Do it right now, before you reblog, or right after. Pick at least one of these funds, any one of them, and donate any amount -- €10, €5, even €1. Pick one right now, and donate right now. And then share!

@ahmed-ostaz Ahmed Al Ostaz, Help Evacuate My Family from Gaza to Safety. €15,841/€70,000. [DONATION LINK] [reblog link] [verification link #125]

@mahmoud66262 Mahmoud Balousha, Help us achieve a better future for our children. €17,725/€52,000. [DONATION LINK] [reblog link] [verification link #234]

@hillesmahmoud Mahmoud Hilles, Save my children from death. €23,363/€31,000. [DONATION LINK] [reblog link] [verification link #170]

@salem-baker Salem Alanqar, Save My Family from the War Nightmare in Gaza. €2,029/€38,000 - LOW ON FUNDS. [DONATION LINK] [reblog link] [verification link]

@ahmedabuyamin Ahmed Alanqar, Helping Ahmed's Family: Escaping War to a New Life. €43,890/€49,000. [DONATION LINK] [reblog link] [verification link #264]

@amira-world Amira Alanqar, Amira's Story: Between Hope and Resilience - A Call for Soli. €18,153/€20,000. [DONATION LINK] [reblog link] [verification link]

@safaabed8 Safaa Al-Habil, Help us build new hope for me and my family. €18,260/€50,000. [DONATION LINK] [reblog link] [verification link #241, another verification link]

(for larger donations, (according to these prices) I will draw something for you!)

DONATE, REBLOG, SHARE

I was just informed by Tumblr that a neonazi with a swastika pfp saying "Jews are my enemy", is in fact NOT against Tumblr's Terms of Service so they wont be removing the post. I guess theyre too busy removing Gazan fundraisers and trans women's blogs. This fucking website.