Walpurgisnacht…

Tonight is the night of witches according to the North European lore. It is exactly six months from the All Hallows’ Eve and in the Christian religion the day is reserved for the commemoration of St. Walburga. Therefore, tonight is Walpurgis night. Interestingly, among all the Northern European countries, only Norway seems not to have a special festal day for the commemoration of this interesting combination of Christian and Pagan lore. But we will not insist on this particularity in this entry. We wish rather to comment upon the turning character of the end of April and the beginning of May, when somehow “officially” spring is expected to have deeply influenced the natural environment and conquered the human self deep inside!

So, we are ready to leave behind us the month of Easter, a month that scared us with a new war threatening to break out Sudan, but also a month that saw a day dedicated to blogging for Nubia. Medieval Sai Project hosted no comments about these events, because, among other reasons, our attention was concentrated on different topics: we wrote a lot about Nubian texts, and we returned to revealing unknown treasures from Sai Island. We were occupied with Nubian studies, and what these can do for Nubia. Having seen how absent Nubia remains in bigger or smaller academic venues around the world, and at the same time how much it occupies the minds and agendas of those who work on it and for it, our wish for this passage from April to May remains to see Nubia, Nubian culture, and Nubian studies assuming a place of equal importance next to the rest of the elements that form the mental feedback of our globalized world. But instead of helping this from here through academic philters, we will turn to more lyrical, artistic, and socializing forms. We will invent an artfully and spring-time bewitching of our Internet space!

This we will attempt, taking advantage from the kind invitation by the Institute of Mediterranean Studies in Rethymno of Crete to host in their premises an updated version of our photo exhibition “From Nubia to Sudan” that completed its circle at the Benaki Museum two and a half months ago. As an appetizer to what will follow from preparing and implementing the new GNM exhibition, we welcome on midnight of Walpurgisnacht the month of May by publishing hereby the poster of the venue in Rethymno: