Hi,The third plutoid (dwarf planet outside of the orbit of Neptune) has now been officially named.
To my delight it has been called Makemake. An Easter Island deity, who is a major fertility symbol in the Rapa Nui mythology.
I'm a big fan of fertility gods, and even more so of the Polynesian male fertility gods. The western male gods of this type were some of the first to go under the chopper.
The icing on the cake for me is that the nickname for this plutoid before its official naming was EasterBunny.
I wonder why they've switched from a major western fertility symbol to a Polynesian one?
OK maybe I don't :-) Acknowledging the ancient gods and symbols that were absorbed by western Christianity has always been a bit fraught.
Choosing a fertility god from a defunct, tiny, religious pantheon just seems like a cop out to me. I would have been much happier if they'd gone with the bunny and explained why.
But I'm still ecstatic they've gone with a god representing a huge stiffy.
NP Out
1 comment:
It looks like a carefully carved pile of poo.
Post a Comment