The Burial of the Sardine
In Murcia, a region of Spain located in the Southeastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula, a local celebration is held during the holy days leading up to the celebration of Easter. In the predominantly Catholic Spain, the pagan ritual of the sardine burial survives today as a humorous reenactment of what was once probably a more solemn affair.
The pagan festival has to do with the victory of one Don Carnal over one Doña Cuaresma, and is a celebration of mythology and fire. These two allegorical characters represent the victory of carnal pleasures over the moderation of Christian Lent (La Cuaresma). In the middle of the 19th century, a group of students from Madrid instigated a rebirth of the celebration with the burial of a sardine, a symbol of fasting and abstinence. Though it began as a way to extend the Ash Wednesday carnival celebrations in Madrid to the region of Murcia, the particular ritual of the Burial of the Sardine El Entierro de la Sardina became a festival of epic proportions and is celebrated in countless cities and regions around the country of Spain.
In Murcia, tradition dictates that a woman, who is given the honorary title of Doña Sardina (Lady Sardine), dedicates a humorous eulogy to a single sardine, who is then carried in a lavish nocturnal procession through the streets. At the end of the procession, the sardine's body is burned, and its ashes are buried in an urn.
The Spanish Burial of the Sardine, as it is symbolic of human pleasures over devout sacrifice, is an interesting tradition given the formerly conservative nature of Spain's politics. Until recently a dictatorship under Generalissimo Franco, Spain's politics have been closely intertwined with the Catholic faith. As the country rapidly shifts to a more liberal political and social perspective, the ashes of a sardine seem perhaps symbolic of the putting aside of past authoritative values in favor of a more socialist, democratic, secular government. Or maybe it's just the age-old battle between bodily desire and religion-prescribed abstinence.
The Ashes Tournament
In 1882, Australia's cricket team beat the English team for the first time in British soil. In response to the event, a satirical article was published in [The Sporting Times (http://www.thesportingtimes.com/)], a British newspaper. The article was an ironic obituary lauding the death of English cricket. According to the fictional obit, the body of British cricket would be cremated, while its ashes would be transported to Australia.
On England's subsequent cricket tour to Australia, a small urn was given to Ivo Bligh, the English cricket captain, by a group of women from Melbourne. The ashes contained in the urn are rumored to be the ashes of a piece of cricket equipment, such as a stump or a ball. Other rumors exist purporting the ashes to be remnants of the body of Aboriginal cricketer King Cole, or the veil of lady. Many treat the urn as a trophy, such that a replica of the original urn is oftentimes held up in triumph after any “The Ashes” test series of cricket matches. The original urn resides at the Marylebone Cricket Club Museum at Lord's.
The urn, while not a trophy per se, is nevertheless a symbol for the nominally biennial tournament between Australia and England. It is only nominally biennial because as cricket is a summer sport, the hemispherical difference between Australia and England causes some seasonal confusion. Weather aside, the fact that an urn containing ashes is the symbol for a sporting event raises some interesting questions.
One question is that of the mystery of the ashes. I'm sure scientific technology could go a long way into ascertaining the original form of the ashes, but I don't think that's the point. Ashes contained in a jar are traditionally shrouded in mystery. Not dissimilar to Joyce's assertion that “paternity is a legal fiction,” the unknown original form of ashes has been discounted by modern medicine, and I don't think it would necessarily be of benefit to mankind to find out whether the ashes are of animal, paper, or some other origin. I believe that there is a place for the unknown in our world: I don't think we need to know everything. Maybe that's one of the reasons I'm so interested in urns and ashes and cremation:
Despite everything, there is still a little twinge of doubt as to the authenticity of what is contained in that hallowed jar. There's always a shadow of possibility.