Celebrate Holi!

Celebrate the Hindu holiday Holi at the Birmingham Museum of Art. Go on an adventure through the Museum’s Southeast Asian and Indian galleries before celebrating with music, dance, art activities, and more!

For more information, go to http://www.artsbma.org/events/family-programs

"Victory of the Goddess" Lecture at Birmingham Museum of Art

The Defeat of the Gods and the Victory of the Goddess
Gerald J. Larson, PhD, Professor Emeritus, Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara, and Tagore Professor Emeritus of Indian Cultures and Civilization, Indiana University

Dr. Larson examines the role and function of the goddess in South Asia in both religion and art during the 11th Annual Callahan Lecture. He will explore the idea of the goddess in relation to the current women’s movement and feminist thought in South Asia. Dr. Larson is the author of 12 books and many articles on cross-cultural philosophy of religion, history of religions, classical Sanskrit, and South Asian history and culture.

Birmingham Museum of Art
Saturday, March 6, 6pm
FREE

Happy Chinese New Year!

Follow the Dragon Team from Linn Park into the Boutwell Auditorium for one of the southeast's largest celebrations of Chinese New Year. Sample authentic Chinese food, play games, take pictures in luxurious silken robes and try your hand at ancient Chinese games of skill and luck. See the best in local, regional and international Chinese entertainment including singing, dancing and acrobatics.

For more information, go to http://www.bhmchinesefestival.org/

Happy Imbolc!

A Scottish story tells how the young Brigit (or Bride) is imprisoned in the icy fortress of the Cailleach through the cold winter until she escapes with the help of the Cailleach’s son, with whom she elopes. In another version, the Cailleach herself drinks from a magic well on the first day of spring and is transformed into Brigit. In either case, it is the return of Brigit that ushers in the promise of spring.

The myth of the descent and return of the Goddess is central to the religion and experience of Wicca, so much so that Gardner called it simply “The Myth of the Goddess.” Told and retold in many forms throughout history, the story is an ancient one -- already old when it was recorded in Sumeria.

My version of the story is available onlne at http://www.freewebs.com/eclecticcoven/Mythology.html#imbolc

The Tale of the Iron Man

Brown Bag Lunch program at Birmingham Public Library to tell the story of our very own Vulcan.
Wednesday, July 22, noon

The Seasoned Readers is a spin off from the local acting troupe The Seasoned Performers. They will be reading/performing "The Tale of the Iron Man," the “up and down and all around” saga of Vulcan's first 100 years. The story is an original creation by local author and storyteller Lee Shackelford.

For more information, go to http://bplolinenews.blogspot.com/2009/07/brown-bag-lunch-program-tale-of-iron.html

Clover Crawl Green Expo March 21st @ Vulcan Park

Come to the Clover Crawl green home/garden expo, hosted by the Green Resource Center for Alabama and Vulcan Park and Museum. Come learn about green products and services that will help you make your home and garden beautiful and lasting while saving you money, reducing energy and water usage, and reducing waste. There will be kids activities, food and entertainment, free electronics recycling and a silent auction benefiting the nonprofit Green Resource Center.

Location: Vulcan Park and Museum
Time: 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM
Event Website: http://www.greenalabama.org
Price: Free

Art, Science To Unite At Vernal Equinox

Samford's Christenberry Planeterium will host a combined poetry reading and astronomy presentation at 7 p.m. on March 20--the astronomical vernal equinox, marking the arrival of spring.

The event, Vox Equinox, will feature Birmingham's Big Table Poets reading work from their forthcoming anthology Einstein at the Odeon Caf. Planetarium director George Atchley will place the vernal equinox in its astronomical perspective, inviting an exploration of the common obsession of art and science beneath a dome of stars.

The Big Table Poets take their name, literally, from the large table at a Birmingham bookstore where they meet to critique their work and, figuratively, from the wide range of approaches to poetry their work represents. The "Big Table" accommodates free verse and poetry in traditional forms, the lyrical, the meditative, and the narrative, low humor and high seriousness, all drawn from the diverse lives, experiences, interests, and even obsessions of the Big Table Poets themselves.

The Vox Equinox event is free of charge and open to the public.