17 May 2012. VOR Presents… The Banner of the Maid of Orléans Recalled in France

France marked the 600th anniversary of the birth of a major national heroine, St Jeanne d’Arc. Although Jeanne was born in January, traditionally, the festivities take place in the first half of May, with the main festivities in Orléans. Every year, the city chooses a 17-year-old girl to play the role of Jeanne; she dresses in a 10-kilo (22 pounds) suit of armour, riding on horseback throughout the city accompanied by her squires. This year, Paris also held celebrations, where they chose their “own” Jeanne.

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St Jeanne d’Arc isn’t just a national heroine of France; she’s a canonised saint of the Catholic Church. Her life story is truly amazing. At age 17, she led the French army in the Hundred Years War. Under her leadership, they won a series of victories, including the Siege of Orléans, leading to her nickname, The Maid of Orléans. Up to the present, Orléans celebrates 8 May, the day that the French host lifted the siege, as a major municipal holiday.

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Through treachery, the English took Jeanne prisoner, accused her of heresy, and burned her at the stake. In 1909, Pope Pius X Sarto declared Jeanne a Beatus (Blessed), and, in 1920, Pope Benedict XV della Chiesa canonised her. The feastday of St Jeanne d’Arc is 30 May, the day of her death. Virtually every Catholic parish church in France has an image of her.

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Here, we see a procession in Paris, led by “Jeanne” in armour.

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Marchers from a French youth group carry the medieval French royal banner, with gold fleurs-de-lis on a blue field, during the Jeanne d’Arc procession in Paris near the Église Saint-Augustin de Paris in the VIIIe arrondissement of Paris.

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Here, we see the procession near the monument of Jeanne d’Arc sculpted by Paul DuBois in front of the Église Saint-Augustin in Paris.

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Here, a marcher in the procession wears the period dress of a medieval French infantryman.

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Here, we see marchers in a procession to celebrate the 600th anniversary of France’s national heroine, Jeanne d’Arc. The banner reads, “St Jeanne d’Arc, save France!”

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14 May 2012

Voice of Russia World Service

http://rus.ruvr.ru/photoalbum/74656510/74656521/

Editor’s Note:

I’m much happier with “nationalists” than I am with “humanitarian internationalists”… the former are what they are, and they “take of business” at home… they’re not violent busy-bodies like the latter sort (you can see them in the US State Department and amongst the neocons). The former set usually has the front gate unlatched… they’re decent sorts who don’t poke their long noses where they’re not invited. The latter set are a dreary weary lot with prunish sour expressions on their faces and no sensus ludus (playful instinct) whatsoever. Everything is SO serious for them, especially for snotty Born-Again Proddies (who don’t believe in anything fun at all… “Life is serious”). Whether globalists protecting their “investments” or moralists protecting “human rights”… they’re all wrong. The Church is against globalisation and it’s against the universalisation of so-called “Western values”… and that’s that.

In short, do you want to party hearty with the nationalists or do you want to go a oh-so-proper tea-party with tight-arsed prigs who believe themselves “superior” to the common ruck? The choice isn’t hard… there are so MANY ways of being human… the Western ideologues of all stripes forget that. People or Dollars… Homeland or the Bottom Line? what’ll it be? Don’t let the extremist ideologues steal patriotism… then, we all lose…

Oh, one last thing… VOR is an “official” source. Such a nice write-up on French nationalists means that the Russian government’s looking kindly on all anti-globalism elements in the West. VVP‘s not going t0 be the West’s lapdog… no, siree. He’s going to both “go left” in social programmes and “go right” in nationalism. Interesting combo, no?

BMD

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