Excerpts from Blood and Silk Describing Silk:
XII: BETROTHAL
I could hear the voices of Mary, Joseph, and Jesus as they arrived at the villa gate. Greeting them was the silent Nubian at the door. Running to the edge of the loggia and peering over the railing, I could see three finely bred and well-appointed camels. A fourth was carrying baggage and packages. All were fitted with simple but fine leather saddles, reins, and wonderful dark blue silk tassels in their headstalls. As usual, the royal father and Imahot dressed in a manner that allowed them to remain anonymous. In a small private courtyard, Joseph, attended by the Nubian, washed his hands, face, and feet in the wall fountain.
Both my future father-in-law and the Nubian moved in a manner that demonstrated their respect for each other’s royal status. Joseph wound a magnificent, multicolored, striped silk turban around the ikat cap on his huge head, thick with black curly hair. He wore a spotless, soft, white linen tunic tied at the neck with a finely braided tie. The garment the Nubian lifted from the ebony box and held for him to put on left me breathless. It was a robe woven in one piece. Extending vertically from top to bottom were stripes of all the colors of the rainbow. I had watched silk and cotton yarn for weaving ikat dipped in wax and dyed in workshops near Magdala, but I had never seen anything so beautiful as this. On the top of the colored ikat was the most intricate of embroidery. A wide border ran across the back of the neck to the hem on each side along where the robe opened. Repeated up and down this edging were symbols of a green tree, a male and female sign on either side. Down the back was a series of squares, and in each square, a boat with a dove above it.
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Much later, Jesus explained the significance of his father’s robe to me, and the reason that he wore it on the day of our betrothal. Joseph was dressed in the dream robe, a sacred artifact of the tribe of Judah. Thousands of hours of human labor created the images, which functioned as emblematic reminders of the stories in the Torah. The dove above a boat came from the story of Noah and the Ark. Noah’s story was so ancient that it first came to our people recorded in cuneiform. One small section depicted fat cows next to thin in a seemingly endless parade, referencing our legendary ancestor Joseph’s famous dream regarding famine. The tree with male and female symbols was from the story of Genesis, the creation of the primordial man and woman. Adam and Eve embodied more than a Jewish story: they also served as an archetype, since male and female pairs occur all over the world and throughout all of nature.
Jesus carefully explained to me in a somewhat patronizing manner, “The dream robe contains archetypes.” His attitude amused me because my grandmother Sarah had introduced me to this concept as a child in Alexandria. In addition, I had discussed the meaning of archetype with Philo of Alexandria, the first Jewish scholar and perhaps the first human being to write of this concept in Greek.
XXXI: STAR RUBY
This, at last, was my proper wedding, and I stood enshrouded in damask from Varanasi, loaded with jewels. My cotton inner tunic stuck to my skin, which was pouring sweat; rose oil was running down my back, thighs, and forehead, blurring my vision and melting the kohl around my eyes. Trumpets blared. Through the red haze, I could discern a figure approaching to stand beside me. The gorgeous apparition wore an astonishing centuries-old royal robe with moons and stars, symbols of Melchizedek from the First Temple, and a contemporary breastplate of the high priest studded with twelve jewels, one for each tribe of Israel. As I looked down at the figure’s feet, my stomach began to churn, my bones turned to jelly, and my knees weakened as my eyes came to rest on the familiar lion-skin sandals. My heart pounded like a drum, and I barely heard the words that followed.
XXXV: BETHSAIDA
“We arrived for the banquet at the palace in a silk-curtained cart pulled by a matched pair of white oxen draped with flowers. Four liveried slaves accompanied us, as well as the Nubian in formal costume. I wore a tunic of embroidered silk damask, and I braided and wound my hair at the nape of my neck. Low around my waist and hips was a plaited rope made of pure silver and gold thread. My earrings and bracelets were those Greek gold family antiques. I reclined almost directly across from Tiberius, three places to the left of Antipas. Herodias was angry, as she did not recline in a place of honor. I think she may have been at another section of couches.
XLI: ROBES OF SOLOMON
“When I send for you, meet me at Simon’s house. He has sequestered the robes from the first temple in cedar boxes. James, Jude, Lazarus, Judas, and I will wear them over our tunics for Passover.”
I entered the red cubiculum at Simon’s villa to find he had already laid the robes out on the bed in the sleeping niche. Streaming light from the clearstories above illuminated the immaculate woven fabrics. Patina, hundreds of years old, softened the brilliant colors, still fresh from the time of King Solomon. I stopped, breathless, to examine them one by one. Abstracted patterns of golden wheat, woad-blue clouds, and red lions symbolized the royal line.
The Story of Mary Magdalene