Sydney public sculpture is more usually the bailiwick of the good Reverend Anaglpyh, Cows passim or click on the medallion (suck it up, Radioactive Jam). But I feel I am able to make this post for two reasons. Firstly because this is not bad public art (the Rev's sub-specialisation). And secondly, it was a comment by the Rev himself which galvanised me into action.
So, I present Il Porcellino. He was made in Florence in 1968, and sent to Sydney as a "link of friendship between Italy and Australia". He sits proudly outside Sydney Hospital on Macqaurie Street. A plaque beneath his hooves reads: When you rub my nose and make a wish, your donation supports research, education and development at Sydney Hospital, Australia's first hospital.
The more eagle-eyed of you will already have noticed that some persons feel that rubbing another part of his anatomy may bring them more luck than that which is nasally bestowed.
12 comments:
The rubbing on the nether regions always made some kind of sense to me: a little rub there in anticipation for some returned fertility. Alchemically sound.
But I'll be blowed if I can figure out why people rub his nose.
Maybe it's a hint to the God of Rhinoplasty...?
I was thinking along the same lines - it makes sense to rub the generative organs to generate luck. Perhaps the nose thing was a 'clean' version.
Like the Dog on the Tucker Box, who I recently found out did not sit on the tucker box, but did indeed shit in it. Sanitising of fundamental urges & processes in case someone somewhere gets a bit upset.
And what's interesting is that some people go with the Alchemical urge anyway.
Here in America somebody would long-ago have made the thing a cute little pair of trousers.
The American 'squeamishness' is fascinating from my point of view. A blogger friend of ours writes under a nom-de-pume of 'The Raven' on a certain war games blog. As this character he comments on aspects of medieval war-gaming in character. His observations are almost universally met with accalim. Recently, however, he dared to use the word 'bugger' (in its actual sense) and the reaction was surprising. He even managed to elicit emails to the effect that this language was 'not appropriate'. In the context of a medieval military landscape! 'Cause as we know, although people might have cleaved their foe's torso in two with fountains of warm blood, God forbid anyone spoke of... ooooo... sex.
Likewise, I note that on my Tesla Vibrator post of yesterday, although many US visitors swung my way, no-one except you and Pil (who know me very well) actually commented. I really fear that the sense of humour involved in that just doesn't translate. Or worse, that I may have even offended some people!
OTOH, nothing there from Joey or jmf, so maybe it just wasn't funny...
... nom-de-pume? Hahahahahahaha!
hehehehehe ... pume
It's no secret that we're all a bunch of complete adolescents in the U.S. I'll say it. You would NEVER see that here. It's a very handsome statue.
Hi HTGT, nice to have you drop by.
There's so much that is great about your beautiful country. That sometimes gets lost in the silliness. Oh and war and things like that. So let me say I do heart US for many things. But perhaps the Puritanical streak is not one of them.
Oh, yeah, that little war thing... Makes the Puritanical thing look like kid's play. Or something like that. For shizzle.
I try to do my part, I'm the one who goes around placing all the miniature animals in stores into sexual and/or masturbatory positions. It's a thankless job, but someone has to do it.
I call it serving my countrymen.
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