The Golden Plate of St. John the Baptist

E domani è San Giovanni
Fratel caro è San Giovanni
Su la Plaia me ne vo gire,
Per vedere il capo mozzo
Dentro il Sole, all’apparire,
Per veder nel piatto d’oro
Tutto il sangue ribollire.

--Gabriele D’Annunzio

June 24th is a big deal in the ancestral town of my paternal Di Donato family. High in the mountains of western Abruzzo, in the "Gran Sasso" National Park lies Pescosansonesco - a name bigger than the village itself, whose patron saint is none other than St. John the Baptist.

Of course this Apennine town, which is perched on top of a craggy outcrop about 100 miles east of Rome, is not unique in its celebration of the great and mysterious John the Baptiser, thought to be the last of the great Nazars, or Chaldean Kabbalist-prophets and sages.

Hamlets and whole countries like Portugal dust off their reliquaries, wash the wine glasses, and strike up their bands to the delight of millions of revellers. This is the Christian midsummer festival; the massive block party given in honor of the Initiator of Jesus. Each region has its own twist, and Abruzzo is not lacking in creative interpretations of the saint. On St. John's morning, marrying-age girls rush before dawn in a competition to see who can see the golden disc of the sun first. The sun in this case represents the golden platter on which Herod is supposed to have served poor St. John's head to the lusty Salome. Not a bit true, but fun nonetheless. The first lucky maid to see "il piatto d'oro" will soon marry -- or so the saying goes.

Allegory is probably the best word to fit the meaning of St. John the Baptist, as he and his predecessors waged an eternal battle against ignorance, idolatry and exoteric practices from the days of Oannes in Mesopotamia to the banks of the Jordan River. They were givers of wisdom, and the knowledge of our ancestors.

Nazoreans spread their knowledge of the Sacred Flame within each of us from Benares to Sion, from the secrets of the Vedas to the path of the Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, down to Moses in Egypt, and of course culminating in the great confluence of all these traditions in the time of St. John and Jesus.

Nebu is an epithet hurled on Jesus in addition to "sorcerer" by his detractors. The word Nebu means "one who is inspired by Mercury" which to the Theosophists clearly linked Jesus's particular brand of Nazoreanism to the path of the Buddha, given that Mercury in the Vedic tradition became a code word for Buddhist teachings.

It may seem a stretch, certainly to all of my distant cousins who will gather today over giant bowls of maccheroni alla pastora, but the essence of my love for St. John the Baptist is one simple message.

Throughout the ages there have been men and women who took it upon themselves to pass down to us the knowledge of the existence of Truth. They stood up to horrible fates to give us the opportunity to know ourselves, and to unite our spirits.

Each of us has the ability to rise up and greet the sun on St. John's Day, knowing that his ancient tradition is there for all of our kind. Happy St. John's Day, now go out and eat your Timabllo di San Giovanni.... Let me know if you want the recipe.