Have a chuckle, crude as it may be. Indeed, have a chuckle; this one's on me:

When Don Pablo performs his rituals, he regenerates the order of the cosmos and rejoins the two separated worlds, the human world and the Otherworld, by creating a portal. Within this holy space, he calls forth and binds together the fourfold gods ... From the center, he brings the source of life to his people. Through the now-open portal to the Otherworld, he sends maize and other sweet and fresh things to theother side so that they may nurture and honor both the lesser gods and God Almighty. This sacred, universal space that he creates is the center of the heavens, and the center of the earth. He calls it u hol gloriyah, the "glory hole". The ancient Maya had other words for it--the Black-Transformer, the mouth of the White-Bone-Snake ... Whether opened by the ancient Maya or Don Pablo ... the portal lies at the beginning of the path to the Otherworld. And those of us who learn to see it are on the Maya road to reality.

Friedel, et al. Maya Cosmos, p. 51

Jus' gimme that ol' time religion ....

What? Cultural anthropology can be funny. Sometimes. More than you'd think, really.

Er, maybe you just have to be an American. Or maybe you have to be me. Although ... er, never mind.

:cool:

I don't find anything "funny" about it. Cave man worshipped the sun and all throughout history people have given sacrifices - sometimes human and/or animal sacrifices - to various gods. Christians today believe that Jesus is the "now-open portal to the Otherworld," namely heaven, and have holy communion where they drink wine thinking it is truly his blood and bread his body. Is this so different? Rituals today performed by all religions of the world bring a "source of life [and death] to people."

I'll let Homer Simpson explain:

Wait! Stop! We can outsmart those dolphins. Don't forget, we invented computers, leg warmers, bendy straws, peel-and-eat shrimp, the glory hole and the pudding cup. I'm not going to let a bunch of hoop-jumping tuna-munchers push me around!

#BABF21 (http://www.snpp.com/episodes/BABF21)

There is some discussion of the term in the SNPP episode guide. Once that joke is explained, keep your mind in the gutter and think about the other two names given the glory hole.

Maybe it's an American thing. The Simpsons joke slew the room I was in.

Seriously. That bit must just kill some archaeology students in this country.

Serious archaeologists who dedicate their lives to intensely striving to decipher and understand the texts could care less about what a cartoon has to say. The fact that you pay more tribute to Homer Simpson than to what scientists unearth shows where your importance lies.

Serious archaeologists who dedicate their lives to intensely striving to decipher and understand the texts could care less about what a cartoon has to say

So, what are you saying? That archaeologists have no sense of humor? If so, I must protest. The archaeologists and anthropologists I've encountered have some of the best senses of humor around.

Even if the joke doesn't include fellatio.

Glory hole. Yeah. That's kinda funny.

Don't mind Valich. He's a boil.


Edit:
Bunghole would be funnier.

But don't you think "Black-Transformer" and "White-Bone-Snake" ... well, isn't that just piling it on a little?

Black Transformer didn't do anything to me.
White Bone Snake was a little suggestive.
But nothing on par with Glory Hole.
And certainly not anywhere near Bunghole.

Heh, that is hilarious :rolleyes: Is it really true?

It reminds me of a time, I was reading some old science fiction book. I think it was Wells. Anyway, I was just reading along, and I started a new chapter. I looked at the title, and it was called "the thing in the woods". I completly didn't notice anything, because the protagonist was in the woods. But then, my friend came over and is like "What the hell are you reading?".