Like a diamond made of jelly.
Anyways, why is the angel micturating?
Other than the fact that I think "micturating" is a hilarious and terrible sounding word, behold Exhibit A: Albrecht Dürer's Crucifixion (1489).
"That's gonna leave a mark..."
I love Dürer's work.
Now, what are those two rascal angels doing on either side of the cross?
DO YOU SEE?
Exhibit B, Gaahl, former vocalist of black metal band Gorgoroth:
How NOT to eat Black Forest cake...
A few years back, Gaahl (know your metal: click HERE) beat the bejeezus out of someone in his home, who later testified that our hero collected his blood in a cup. Gaahl said he was just trying to protect his rug from the bleeding (which makes him a nasty Lebowski - that rhymes!)
Now, imagine you're being beaten to death by Gaahl, who seems to be enjoying his handywork. You're trapped. He's belting your face. Your bleeding enough FROM YOUR FACE that he gets a cup and starts collecting your blood. WHY WOULD HE DO THAT?!! What's he gonna do with that?!!
OR.
You're on a cross, dying. You've been imprisoned, beaten, humiliated and now you're dying a painful death, in public. And someone's there to collect your blood. Not to help, but to collect your blood and later even worship the vessel used. WHY WOULD THEY DO THAT?!!!
Primitive blood sacrifices (hey, have you heard of my black metal band, Easter yet?)
I said primitive blood sacrifices have been around since forever. "The blood is the life!" Why? It's amazingly red and without it living things die. (Human thinking is very simple in many ways.) The Bible is full of instructions on how to do it and how much God loves to drink blood and smell burning flesh/ fat, and whilst it's a global phenomenon, we shall focus on Judeo-Christianity. The Angel is a sort of mockery or challenge of that tradition: it is her recycled blood that is sought after and captured for whatever religious purpose. It is her waste that is holy and beneficial and helps transcendence to divinity (or at least to being blessed. There are many philosophies that will tell you that true enlightenment comes from debasement or from contact with the lowest of the low. Hell, Buddha loved the lotus flower for it was a thing of beauty growing from shit and muck. Even my lecturer at Uni summed up life as "from shit flowers grow". Well our Angel will skip the mudplay and we shall stick with recycled blood. Blessing from below, eh wot?
