Midrash · 2:57am Aug 10th, 2022
A little something that occurred to me today. I might or might not do more with this. This is a riff on the midrash on Bereshit/Genesis 1:16, wherein in one verse, God made the Sun and Moon as "two great luminaries" and also as "the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night".
On the fourth day, the Goddess created Celestia and Luna. In that time before the world was peopled, the Sisters were the same size, and set to rule in the sky together.
Luna said to the Goddess, “Mother, two queens cannot wear one crown.”
The goddess turned to her daughter and said “Then you shall be the lesser sister. Go and diminish yourself.”
“Mother,” she cried, “how is it that I should be punished for telling you this simple truth?”
“Do not fret, Luna, for your Moon, though lessened, shall rule alongside your sister’s Sun on many days.”
“Oh, I shall shine my diminished light beside Celestia’s Sun? The ponies will have no use for a candle’s light in her day.”
“My dear, though the dimmer light, yours shall be the one the ponies mark their calendars with – their days and years shall be marked by your light.”
“But they will still mark seasons by the Sun, shall they not?”
“Yes, but they shall tell stories, sail, and prophesy by your stars, and you shall be their protector from the darkness in their own minds, and they shall love you for it.”
And the Goddess saw that Luna was still not comforted, despite her reassurances, and that she harbored jealousy in her heart. So she bade ponies to honor the Moon, and to bring her gifts each moon’s cycle, that she might atone for the harm she had caused her daughter, and soothe her soul.
But ponies are fickle and inconstant, and in time they forgot their tributes, and the honor due to Luna. And as their piety waned, so too did wickedness grow, and some ponies turned to banditry in the dark of the night, and the sacred moon-offerings no longer warded away the fell beasts of the forests.
So it was that many ponies, though their hearts were good, came to fear the night, and the jealousy in Luna’s heart was enflamed, and her resentment grew. Thus it was that the seed of Nightmare was planted in her soul, and grew in time to bear wicked fruit.
Huh, today's word of the day is midrash, apparently. I knew historical Judaism had a lot of commentary and interpretation and what not, I just never knew this was the term for it.
Thank you for reminding me that since I'm absolutely not going to actually write it I should at least Commission what the cover art was going to be for "Goddesspell which if you look at the original Godspell art and imagine Celestia in the place of Jesus would simply look like that, which I think would look pretty cool. (Sorry to spew Christianity all over your Jewish post,, but from a secular perspective, Godspell is one of my favorite musicals and absolutely mental comfort food for me. If you listen to it listen to the original recording not the generic 40th anniversary rerecording. The original cast has so much wonderful non-commercial idiosyncrasy and the eclectic rock quartet band behind them goes hard I love it. Sorry for rambling lol
Anyway thanks for sharing. Like the melding of mythologies.
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Hey, no worries. I've heard a lot of good about Godspell from some of my friends. Good theater is good theater, even if the subject matter isn't my favorite. I and my closest Jewish friends also all like Jesus Christ Superstar, so hey, go figure.
As for the word midrash itself, it's a particular kind of Biblical interpretation that's often narrative in nature and tends to go beyond the plain meaning of the text. Sometimes there's a clear message or intent in the interpretation, other times not so much. Generally used to refer to the collections of those interpretations from late antiquity to the early middle ages.