jwaneeta

Triumph! Went to the Annual Coffin Party Hallowe'en blowout last night, wearing an 18th century gown rented from a theatrical company, and a wig I tarted up with birds, a bird's nest and other junk. The wig was so heavy I had to wimp halfway through and doff it onto a dancing animatronic skeleton that sang James Brown's "I Feel Good," when anybody set off the motion sensor.

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In the spirit of the weird season, when all that is strange and slightly macabre finds joyous expression, I share this little bit of arcana from the bosom of Holy Mother Church: The Incorruptibles.

Incorruptibles are saints who, for whatever reason, didn't follow the course of nature and decay when they died. There are quite a few, and most of them are on display in glass reliquaries in chapels dotted about Europe. Their bodies have maintained a bizarre state of preservation for centuries -- one, St. Cecilia, has been incorrupt since AD 177.

I don't have any real opinion about why this happens; I just like the strange and inexplicable.