For any of you who haven't seen The Book of Kells on Netflix, you should. Lilah has been enthralled with the film for well over a year now. The premise is Ireland during the Dark Ages. The Vikings were invading, the "North Men". A young monk named Brendan lives in the monastery of Kells. His uncle the abbot is determined to protect the monastery by building a wall around it, rather than fleeing for safety as residents of the other monasteries have done. Brendan is forbidden to leave Kells or venture outside the wall for any reason. He assists the brothers in translating and transcribing the Gospels. The brothers all lament at their limited skill and wish for a "true master" illuminator. Brendan divides his time between helping his task-driven uncle with the wall and his true passion - time in the scriptorium with the books. Without books, people would have no hope and it's their job to bring hope to the people in the dark days before them. All the brothers' dreams are realized when a master illuminator named Aidan seeks refuge in Kells after fleeing the Vikings in Iona. On the tiny island, he had been working on the Book of Iona, a book to turn darkness into light. "Sinners are blinded after looking at it, for to gaze upon the book is to gaze upon heaven itself". Aidan takes Brendan as his apprentice against his uncle's wishes. Aidan realizes he is aging and his hands aren't as steady as they used to be. He begins instructing Brendan on beginning the "Chi Rho" page, the most important page in the entire book because it contained the abbreviation for "Christ". Aidan encourages Brendan to leave Kells - both to find the rare ingredients to make the richest ink and to find inspiration in the surrounding forest. Aided by a faerie girl name Aisling (pronounced Ashlyn) and a white cat named Pangur Ban, Brendan fights for illumination against his uncle, ignorance, stubbornness, fear, Vikings, and the pagan deity Cromm Cruaich that still lurks deep in the forests of Ireland.
Lilah adored the film from the first time she saw it. It was up for an academy award, but it lost to Up. Her infatuation with it has been growing lately. Strangers in our home would more than likely be extremely puzzled by her odd behavior. A few months ago, I came upon her marching solemnly up the stairs carrying a plate full of pretend tea cakes. When I say solemnly, I mean no smile, total focus, one foot in front of the other, like a funeral procession. She stopped at the top of the stairs, turned slowly, and said, "I'm going into the darkness now." I couldn't form words to appropriately convey all the questions I had for her. "Into the cave of the Dark One. Cromm Cruaich. To feed him." She nodded toward the cakes.
"And...where is the cave of the Dark One?" She sighed.
"Under my bed." So a pagan god lived under her bed and enjoyed tea cakes?
More recently, the DIA hosted a drop-in workshop to make your own illuminated text. When I told Lilah about it, her little blue eyes were shining. "I can have my own Book of Kells? I can make it? With ink?!" She talked about it for a week. We went, and we made a page with an ornate gold and green letter L. She was thrilled.
Other Kells related events include her carrying around a marble, looking through it with one eye. I asked her what she was doing. "From a humble little berry comes the most beautiful emerald green ink." Of course.
She was sitting on a chair while I swept the floor around her, coloring. I asked her what she was coloring. Heavy sigh. "I'm not coloring, Mama. I'm working on the Chi Rho page."
"Okay then. Look at you!" She looked around.
"I'm on an island. In the sea. Where all islands should be. On a tiny island called Iona."
"Right."
She calls our cat Pangur. She talks to an imaginary Aisling. Everything lately is Kells related. I'd love to take her to Ireland to see the book itself. My plan when we get a house (if we get a house?) is to paint the walls to look like the trees surrounding Kells. Her only goal in life at the moment is to grow up to become an illuminator. "Lilah the Illuminator" she told me today. I don't have the heart to tell the child that there are no illuminators anymore. She'll figure that out eventually. In the meantime, I let her sing and play and transcribe. Even if it means marbles become berries and glass ornaments become the Eye of Columkille. In her heart, she is a master illuminator.
