18: Episode 18: Thanksgiving Fiascoes and Not a Voodoo Doll Part 1

The Past and Stuff

In this episode Ashley talks about the disgusting way that Citigroup was denying Armenian credit applicants based on their last names. In her Stuff in the News, Tracey talks about new research that suggests an early Jewish Temple in Egypt had priestesses who issued curses. We are exploring possibilities for a Citigroup Defixio (curse). Ashley’s Piece of Stuff is the creepiest Thanksgiving clown ever to terrorize the children of New York city just trying to innocently watch a parade, and a slew of other traumatizing stuff that Macy’s might have wished to avoid in their 97 years of parades. Tracey’s Piece of Stuff is a figure with pins sticking out of it - it's not a voodoo doll, and along with next week’s figure with pins sticking out of it she’ll argue that (spoiler alert) voodoo dolls don’t really exist, at least not how the West has perceived them.
Tracey’s Stuff in the News:
Gad Barnea, “Justice at the House of Yhw(h): An Early Yahwistic Defixio in Furem,” Religions 14 (2023). https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/14/10/1324
Tom Metcalf, “There are no Israelite Priestesses in the Bible. A 2,400 year-old curse tells a different story,” National Geographic, November 7, 2023.
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/premium/article/jewish-curse-bible-tablet-israelite-priest-women-elephantine
Ashley’s Stuff in the News:
Emily Flitter, “Citigroup Discriminated against Armenian Americans, Regulator Says,” New York Times, November 8, 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/08/business/citigroup-discrimination-armenian-americans.html.
Tracey’s Piece of Stuff:
Marguerite Johnson, “Spells, charms, erotic dolls: love magic in the ancient Mediterranean,” The Conversation, June 26, 2018.
https://theconversation.com/spells-charms-erotic-dolls-love-magic-in-the-ancient-mediterranean-98459
Gideon Bohak, “Aggressive Magic,” Traditions of Magic in Ancient Antiquity,” December, 1995. https://apps.lib.umich.edu/files/exhibits/pap-/magic/def2.html
Brent Nongbri, “A cursed figurine,” Variant Readings, January 7, 2023. https://brentnongbri.com/2023/01/07/a-cursed-figurine/
Ogden, Daniel. “NECROMANCY AMONG THE ROMANS.” In Greek and Roman Necromancy, 149–60. Princeton University Press, 2001.
https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvs32rs3.16.
Christopher A. Farone, “Binding and Burying the Forces of Evil: The Defensive Use of “Voodoo Dolls” in Ancient Greece,” Classical Antiquity 10 (1991), 165-205.
David Frankenfurter, “‘Voodoo Doll’: Implications and Offense of a Taxonomic Category,” Arethusa 53 (2020): 43-58.
Ashley’s Piece of Stuff:
Madison Horne, “Quirky Vintage Photos of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade,” History Channel, November 20, 2020, https://www.history.com/news/quirky-vintage-photos-of-the-macys-thanksgiving-day-parade.
Christopher Klein, “The First Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade,” History Channel, November 26, 2014, https://www.history.com/news/the-first-macys-thanksgiving-day-parade.
Claire Suddath, “Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade,” Time, November 27, 2008, https://content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1862565,00.html.
“Congress Establishes Thanksgiving,” National Archives, accessed November 15, 2023, https://www.archives.gov/legislative/features/thanksgiving.
Christina Caron, “Macy’s Used to Set the Balloons Free, and Other Thanksgiving Day Parade Facts,” New York Times, November 20, 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/20/nyregion/macys-thanksgiving-parade-facts.html.