Polytheism and the 4 Year Old

Jax is at an age when he is starting to ponder some deep issues. Mortality. Religion. Why adding the word "poop" to a sentence isn't funny to adults but it makes his friends howl with laughter. Big, big thoughts.

On a recent trip to the Brooklyn Museum I was able to see all of this in action. We were meeting friends to see the Vishnu exhibit (highly recommend).

Before our friends arrived we checked out the installation Jax dubbed "The Giant Jellyfish." Then on to the Mummy Chamber (another fantastic exhibit).

Jax loves Ancient Egypt and we spent much time looking for depictions of Anubis and Sobek, his favorite Egyptian deities. Abubis was easy to spot on many of the sarcophagi, which delighted our little archeologist. But the actual mummies were a bit intense for him -- or maybe just the x-rays of the wrapped bodies were. At least they had canopic jars: he loves canopic jars. I mean, who doesn't? Jars to store your organs in, each guarded by an animal-headed god? What a lovely way of organizing yourself for the afterlife. There's a touch of Martha Stewart to it.

We talked about tomb raiding, The Book of the Dead, our recently deceased cat and his cremation, Sobek's link to Ra and the creation of the world. You know, typical four year-old talk. Jax is an experienced museum-goer (an NYC kid thing?) and we calmly strolled through the rooms, remarking on different pieces. He's drawn to statuary, so we veered that way more often than not. (Is that why he likes action figures, or is it the other way around?)


Word arrived via text that our friends had arrived and were already enjoying the Vishnu exhibit, so we headed upstairs to meet them. My friend and her family are Hindu and Jax was looking forward to asking about Ganesha, whom he had recently discovered but knew very little about. But once we arrived he became both shy (hiding behind my skirts) and louder (all the better to impress the other boys). My friend was looking at the series on Varaha, Vishnu's third avatar, and discussing with her sister the similar elements of the story with that of Noah's Ark. Jax was transfixed. He loved the boar's tusks holding up the world, the idea of a cosmic ocean. He and my friend's son talked quietly together over some aspect of the story, looking like little scholars as they inclined their heads towards first this painting, then that scroll. Then I think Jax said something about poop and they dissolved into giggles. 


When it was time to pick our avatar at the interactive welcome station (we did that part backwards), Jax was insistent that he get Varaha. I got Buddha (the 9th or 24th avatar, depending on the tradition). Then we headed to the gift shop (a highlight of every visit) and Jax immediately gravitated to the books of Sanjay Patel on display. I liked the one on the Hindu deities, in the same style of his avatar art in the exhibit, but Jax wanted to read the more intense Ramayana. I realized, while watching him absorbing these 'new' gods that he has been raised completely polytheisticly. He seems to gravitate to it, and to him the Ancient Greek and Roman myths are the same as Green Lantern's origin story; Ahuizotl, the Hydra, and Animal-Vegetable-Mineral-Man are all a part of his world. The love of the big story, the archetype, the colorful characters. I was thinking about the diversity of his experience, quite proud of him as we got ready to go.   


Then as we passed through the museum's beautiful Beaux-Arts Court on our way out (seriously, can someone get me invited to an event in that space?), we came upon the European Collection, with many Christian-themed paintings. Passing by a very striking Golgatha canvas, Jax turned to me and said, "Mom, who's that guy?" 

Varaha art courtesy of Brooklyn Museum and artist Sanjay Patel.