Women's contributions in The Odyssey... clothing as worthy gifts

Another warm/damp start to the day-- I'll take it. Yes, it'll be nice to see some warm and sunny, but warm is good. 

Speaking of warm, I am wearing denim capri pants today. Not that newsworthy, I'm sure, but still-- it's not wool socks, fleece-lined leggings and a sweater. 

And speaking of clothing, I never really noticed just how prominent clothing as ritual gifts is in The Odyssey. Yes, there's gold, usually bowls and tripods, lots of animals, sometimes women, but the tunics and cloaks are just as prominent. Sometimes one-fold, sometimes two-fold tunics. They are stored away just as carefully as the hardware. I got thinking, then, that it's women who created these articles of clothing. The hours needed are amazing. The threads, created from raw materials like wool and flax, all had to be processed by women. So of course, the clothing is precious. Beggars go about wrapped in untanned ox hide. Sometimes, the gift-women given are not for sexual reasons, but because they do the textile work well. There's a lot to think about there.

In today's disposable culture, the ox hide would be prized, and the clothing cast into a basket or closet. I see that as a sort of metaphor that reflects how women's contributions are often treated. 

And on that note, today in Creative Writing, we will read the last five or six pages of Book 24 of The Odyssey. We got through it in good time, and I read every word aloud to the class. Call me crazy, but that's the way it is meant to be presented-- aloud-- and I will honor that for as long as I'm teaching. 

Have a good day, friends. Hug your loved ones. 

C