(Cross-posted to many groups)
I purchased a beautiful torc (made by Danny Hansen of www.craftycelts.com) and some mugwort smudge sticks at a gathering this weekend.
I am wondering if anyone has information about how torcs were used by the Celts (insular and/or continental), particularly information based on academic research/primary sources, although if you have information from other sources I am interested in hearing about that as well (just please cite sources whenever possible).
Mainly, I want to know how and when torcs were used, how they were dedicated, who they were worn by, how they were depicted in art, etc.
Re: the mugwort smudge sticks. There was a sign next to them saying that the Celts burned and used mugwort in a way similar to how American Indians use sage -- namely, for smudging/cleansing as a kind of purifying incense.
I am wondering if anyone has information about this use of mugwort (again, please cite sources if possible).
Thanks in advance.
-sd
Severed heads gangs' new calling cards
Mexico | Beheadings are in ghoulish vogue as tools of terror for warring drug lords of Michoacan
Nov. 5, 2006. 01:00 AM
WILL WEISSERT
ASSOCIATED PRESS
The drug lords at war in central Mexico are no longer content with simply killing their enemies. They are putting their victims' severed heads on public display.
In Michoacan, the home state of Felipe Calderon, who is to be sworn in as Mexico's president next month, 17 heads have turned up this year, many with bloodstained notes like the one found in the town of Tepalcatepec: "See. Hear. Shut Up. If you want to stay alive."
Many people in Michoacan's mountains are doing just that.
In one highland town, 18 of the 32 police officers quit after receiving death threats.
In the most gruesome case, gunmen burst into a nightclub and rolled five heads onto the dance floor.
In Zitacuaro, best known as a nesting ground for monarch butterflies, two heads were planted in front of a car dealership.
By a highway outside Tepalcatepec, suspected drug smuggler Hector Eduardo Bautista's tortured body was dumped on July 10.
Near a black metal cross erected by his family at the spot, killers apparently avenging his death have been leaving severed heads — five so far — each with a threatening message.
Beheadings and accompanying notes in sometimes cryptic and misspelled Spanish are becoming a ghoulish vogue among the gangs that grow marijuana, cook methamphetamine and run cocaine in Michoacan.
There have been 420 slayings in the state this year, including those of 19 police chiefs and commanders.
Juan Antonio Magana, the state's attorney general, says well over half the killings were drug-related — the work of smuggling gangs who have been reorganizing after authorities captured some of their top leaders.
Drug smuggling in Michoacan has traditionally been controlled by a syndicate known as Los Valencia. Police arrested its leader, Armando Valencia, in August 2003 and one of his lieutenants, Carlos Alberto Rosales Mendoza, a year later.
Now, anti-narcotics investigators say, the Gulf cartel based in northern Mexico is battling its way into Los Valencia territory, relying on Los Zetas, ex-Mexican army operatives-turned hit men. Los Valencia loyalists have fought back fiercely.
Many notes attached to slaying victims are signed "The Family," a possible reference to Los Valencia. Some mention "La Chata," a known alias for a top reputed Gulf cartel hit man.
"They don't need to leave written messages," says Magna.
"The mere fact they are using such high levels of violence is sending messages of intimidation, causing fear.
"But doing it shows other gangs they can act in even more gruesome, violent ways than their rivals."
With a vast and sparsely populated Pacific coast and the rugged Sierra Madre del Sur Mountains, Michoacan is good territory for producing and smuggling drugs.
Many farmers have abandoned avocado, coffee and corn in favour of marijuana in the highlands, where roads are few and police can't easily penetrate.
Smuggling gangs have cleared forests for airstrips. Small planes crammed with Colombian cocaine streak in, leaving loads that are ferried to the coast and stowed on fast boats that speed north to the U.S. border.
Michoacan also has become a den for hidden meth labs.
Journalists statewide have covered the murders, but some have avoided digging further after receiving death threats.
The latest reported warning came on Oct. 13, when police recovered the body of an unidentified man who had been shot 38 times and dumped outside the town of Tacambaro.
An attached note in fluorescent yellow marker appeared aimed directly at the media.
"The family and the ZZs are the same thing," it read. "Media outlets, don't sell out."
