Juliet is the Sun—Chapter 22
This is Chapter 22 of my original and fascinating novel Juliet is the Sun. I hope you like it! If you want to read the whole novel, it is on Amazon and other ebook retailers and it is not expensive! —-Gemma Nishiyama Chapter 22 I with Morning’s love have oft made sport, And like a forester, the groves may tread Even till the Eastern gate, all fiery red, Opening on Neptune with fair blessed beams, Turns into yellow gold his salt green streams. July 7 is Tanabata, a Japanese festival that celebrates the day, once a year, when two star-gods from Chinese mythology, married lovers, can meet. Orihime was a princess who was a skilled weaver (ori means weaving); she married Hikoboshi, the cow herder and their passion was so complete that they neglected their duties to weave and herd cows. Orihime’s father, Tentei, became angry and separated them on opposite sides of the Milky Way, but when Orihime became despondent and begged Tentei to let her meet Hikoboshi again, he relented and let them come together once a year, every summer. Orihime is the star known in the West as Vega and Hikoboshi is the star called Altair. Do these two stars actually pass close to each other in the night sky then? It may be true. Decorations on Tanabata are bamboo branches with colored strips of paper. You write a wish on a piece of paper, your yearning echoing the yearning the lovers felt for each other, and hang it on a branch, hoping for your wish to come true. The night of Tanabata, I had a strange dream. I found myself alone in the clearing on the mountain above Ensei-ji. There was a full moon, and I was dressed in a dark blue indigo-dyed yukata, a long cotton kimono, open, with no obi, sash. Startled to find myself thus exposed, I pulled the yukata closed around my body. Shivering a bit, I was looking for the path to descend the mountain when I noticed my feet were bare. The ground was cold and hard with stones and twigs, so I sat down on a large flat stone nearby, and wondered what to do next. Suddenly a small crowd of about 20 people emerged from the trees, all wearing golden masks and long robes. One man caught my attention; his walk seemed familiar, I had seen him before. But who were they? I wondered if a ghostly party was again about to be held. The people came closer to me and stopped in a circle around me. The man I had noticed came near to me and sat down beside me on the stone. He took off his golden mask and I could see it was my husband Kazuo. “Kazuo!” I exclaimed. I was surprised to see him. I was expecting him to berate me for dressing so strangely and lasciviously outside. I felt myself preparing an explanation; these clothes were not my choice! “Viola,” he said, “hello”. He sat down beside me on the stone. I started to giggle nervously, but he picked up my hand and held it. “Viola,” he said, “you know, we’ve often made love in our house, in our bedroom, at night or in the morning, after the children left for school.” “It’s true,” I said. “We have always enjoyed it, don’t you think so?” “Usually,” I said, “um….yes, it is almost always very pleasant.” “So now, tonight, if you don’t mind, do you think we could do what we have done so many times before, but now here, as a ceremony?” “A ceremony?” I gasped, “you mean in front of all these people?” “Yes, that’s right. It’s called hieros gamos, or sacred marriage.” “Why ever for?” I asked, “What a strange idea! Is it something related to your research?” “Not mine, actually,” he said, “yours.” “What do you know about my research?” I was startled, and I must also admit that I was feeling annoyed. I had tried to hide all of what I had learned. “I know very little, so don’t worry. I am also, you see, in a dream, just as you are. I was suddenly summoned here, just as you were. And briefed vaguely on the way up the mountain by this, er…….man, or should I say spirit? And he didn’t tell me any of your secrets, so don’t get all worked up, Viola.” I looked, and sure enough, there was the ghost. He removed his golden mask and came near us. He was looking rather anxious and apologetic. “What is this all about?” I asked. “Viola, there’s a ceremony, called hieros gamos.” “So I have heard”, I said very coldly. “It lies at the core of comedy, it’s why comedies traditionally end with a wedding. A wedding is the best way of preserving the old idea of a hieros gamos. It goes back to Ancient Greece, agricultural festivals and fertility rites. Theater started as festival, ceremony, ritual. I explore the theme often in my plays.” “That is supremely excellent”, I said, “Congratulations on your thematic material! Now you have explained, and I am most gratified to hear about our methodology, so now I’ll be returning home, thank you”. “Wait! Now that you know, don’t you think it sounds pleasant? And wouldn’t you like to try? It’s the union of opposites, male and female, a god and a mortal, a priestess and a supplicant.” “No, I certainly wouldn’t like to. Sorry.” Kazuo looked down, and turned toward the ghost apologetically. “I told you it would be impossible”, he said, “she is really quite a shy person. She’s not really religious. You probably just put her off by mentioning all that stuff about priests and priestesses, gods and goddesses..” “I see,” said the ghost. I was very irritated by this point. “I may not be conventionally religious”, I said, “but I like to think that I am spiritual.” “You’ll have to think of another way to convince her”, said Kazuo. “No,“ I said, interrupting them firmly. Just because Kazuo is a Historian of Religion, and my husband, he seemed to believe that he could speak for me on this issue. “That will not make any difference at all.” The people—-or spirits—- wearing the masks and robes, turned to each other, murmuring in surprise, and drifting away from us, started down the mountain. The ghost bowed low and kissed my fingertips gently before he too turned around and walked away. Kazuo and I were left alone on the mountain. He sat down next to me, holding his golden mask. A breeze opened my yukata a little. His yukata was stirred open, suggestively above his knees, by the next breeze. After all, I realized, the moonlight was very romantic! “Why did you tell him that I’m shy?” I asked, “you know I’m always proposing that we make love outside somewhere. I always say how nice it would be to try it under the full moon. You are rather the shy one, terrified of being seen.” “What you say is true,” said my husband, “Of course, I knew it was all a lie. I was just trying to help you get out of performing hieros gamos.” “You are very kind”, I said
