Some of the best parts of "Holy Bones, Holy Dust" are the small, evocative details of medieval practices — did you know that Charlemagne wore a necklace supposedly containing splinters of Christ's cross and hair from his Blessed Mother Mary?
According to"Holy Bones, Holy Dust: How Relics Shaped the History of Medieval Europe" (Yale University: 306 pp., $35), all relics — authentic and otherwise — provide an intriguing perspective on thought in the Middle Ages and the way the remains of the dead turned from something repulsive into objects of adoration.
He still hopes to get his hands on some moon dust, which is the Holy Grail in the world of sand collecting.
The earth itself was holy: the herbs it grew, even its dust.
A high wind, known as a khamsin, blew dust from the Sahara towards the Holy Land, causing a sharp drop in visibility.
What in the name of holy fuck did any of us do to deserve "Dust"?
The representative who attends the funeral also carries a little dust from the grave to the village, and gives it to the village holy Medicine man so that he can ascertain the reasons for his death.
The most charitable reading of "Holy Smoke" is that it marks a staging post in the long and loopy tradition of lust in the dust... Strange to tell, "Holy Smoke" is only the second druggiest film of the new year.
Animal dust, mineral, mental, all hoardednot in the jar of sexy Pandora, notin the ark where the dust of the holy aspiring to congeal as glorious mud-thing still writhes — just this leathery, crackled, obsolete box,heart-sized or brain, rusted lock shattered,hinge howling with glee to be lifted again... Face powder, gunpowder, dust, darling dust.
Animal dust, mineral, mental, all hoarded not in the jar of sexy Pandora, not in the ark where the dust of the holy aspiring to congeal as glorious mud-thing still writhes — just this leathery, crackled, obsolete box, heart-sized or brain, rusted lock shattered, hinge howling with glee to be lifted again... Face powder, gunpowder, dust, darling dust.
