CulturePotion

Social Classes in Ancient India

2012-02-08T15:13:00.000-08:00

Before the arrival of the Aryans sometime in 1500 B.C.E.,India consisted of agricultural communities that lacked true social class.Around the 3^rd millennium B.C.E , the Harappan civilization rose uparound what today is Pakistan and northwest India, perhaps indicating themanifestation of the ruling elite; however, even then social class was notattached to individuals, but functioned under the jati system. Ancient Indians gathered up in towns and villages thateventually became kingships, each ruled by its own council of members – anelite group composed of hereditary bloodlines based on power and wealth. Eachkingship or jati was composed of hundreds or thousands of nuclearfamilies that performed similar functions for society; off course occupations varied within a single jati in order to sustain its population, but in general, eachjati had a specific economic role withinits system, perhaps under the control of larger kingships, like the cities of Mohenjo-Daroand Harappa. Each jati belonged to a form of unwritten social class dictated by theirfunction in society; this meant that if a whole community changed itsoccupation to one that ranked higher (or lower) in the social scale, then thewhole jati transitioned sociallevels.

Sometime around 1500B.C.E the Aryans - pastoral people fromcentral Asia – descended onto India through what today is northern Pakistan andTajikistan. These nomads brought along a social class that, unlike the jati, was attached to individuals, involving rajas (chiefs) that belonged to a warrior class, and a council ofmembers. The Aryans took over the Indian subcontinent over the next centuries,establishing Hinduism, and at their peak they formed the Mauryan Empire(324-185 B.C.E). During the time the Aryans were settling, they executeddominance over the indigenous Indian population; the rajas eventually became maharajas(kings), and over time the social systemof the Aryans, mixed with Hindu concepts, formed the class system known as varna. Ancient texts such as “The Law ofManu”, probably written in the first or second century B.C.E., explicitly describesthe social ranks. At the top of the hierarchy were the brahmins, descendants from priests and seers who advised the rulingclass; followed by the kshatriya, thewarrior class, who sometimes are characterized as above the brahmins (perhaps in the case ofroyalty); third in line was the vaisya(meaning commoner), the merchant class;followed by the sudras (peasants);and finally, but unofficially, the paraiahs(slaves), also known as the untouchables. Eventually each jati became indentified with a certain varna.

Unlike the jati system,which was an economic structure, varna reliedon religious dogma in order to function. By the time the “Law of Manu” waswritten, not only had Hinduism become a prevalent part of Indian life, but alsothe main reason why the social class structure developed in the first place. Thetop three castes – brahmins, kshatriya, vaisya– had the privilege of being “twice born”, meaning they were religiouslyinitiated and educated; by using the concept of reincarnation, the elite classspread the belief that the top castes were closer to the spiritual release ofthe soul in the reincarnation cycle, and thus had to be higher up in the socialscale. Coincidentally enough, thisconcept also reinforced the racial separation within India, being the reasonwhy the elite class was mainly made up of light skinned Aryan descendants,while the sudras, who made up a bigbulk of the population, consisted of descendants of dark-skinned indigenousIndians. Aiding the formation (and longevity) of the social structure was theconcept of dharma. While the concept of karma itself ruled the reincarnationscycle (by either obtaining negative or positive karma), dharma taught that inthis world every single soul has a duty one must perform regardless of karma–the king rules, the warrior kills, the mother nurtures, the slave obeys – andthat only by following this law one could break free from the reincarnationcycle. This notion gave everybody adhering to Hinduism the mentality that one’ssocial status (and everything that came with it) was not only divinelydeserved, but also one’s role and position in this world.

The social structure of ancient India was not a unique onein Asia. In ancient China, just like inthe Indian jati system, the residentsof a whole village or town were identified as a single clan; unlike the varna, both systems were based oncommunity. Around 1700 B.C.E, the Shang dynasty rose up, and social classesgradually became differentiated; interestingly enough, this time is within timegap between the fall of the Harappan civilization, and the arrival of theAryans. Over the course of the next few centuries social classes in both Indiaand China would become highly structural, developing a central kingship,aristocracy, and lower classes. At the western edge of the Asian continent, theSumerians also gathered up in cities starting in the 3^rd millenniumB.C.E. These city-states probablycontained four major social groups: elites, dependent commoners (the elite’sstaff), free commoners, and slaves; however, unlike the jati, but much like the varnasystem that would develop a millennium later in India, religion played an keyrole, with kingship being viewed as divine in origin.

In conclusion, the jatisystem of ancient India before the Aryan flooding has much resemblance withancient china’s clan system. Meanwhile, the Sumerian city states of that roseup at the same time as the Harappan civilization resemblances the Aryan-broughtsystem of varna, using religion dogmaas the backbone of social status. While jatifunctioned as a concept of community and welfare, varna was much more structural, and power-driven, allowing racialand social domination over the indigenous Indian population by indoctrinating themin a belief system that told them to accept their way of life.

Fairy Folklore and Mythology in "A Midsummer’s Night Dream"

2011-11-15T10:22:00.001-08:00

Oberlin Opera Theater's "A Midsummer Night's Dream". 2007

Thought to be written in 1594 or 1595, “A midsummer’s Night Dream” is one of the most well-known plays of the literary world, perhaps due to celebrated fame of its author – William Shakespeare. Born in the mid 16th century, today Shakespeare is regarded as the greatest writer of the English language, with a repertoire of poems and plays that has achieved worldly prestige and has made him a literary figure. “A Midsummer’s Night Dream” tells the story of Lysander and Hermia’s unpermitted love, along with Demetrius’ struggle to woo her despite him being the subject of Helena’s amorous obsession (Wells and Taylor XV, 401); however, the plot’s entertainment is attributed to a different set of juxtaposing characters that intervene in the affairs of these young lovers – the fairies. Drawn from European legend and folklore, Shakespeare took inspiration from a variety of fairy lore and mythology that makes itself present throughout the play.

This magical influence is referenced before one even reads the play; Midsummer’s Eve is a celebration of pagan origins intended to coincide with the summer solstice. In Gaelic folklore, the hours between dusk and dawn are said to be closer to the underworld and a special time when fairy activity is at its peak. This time was also said to be a period for witches to harvest magical plants (Illes 212); correspondingly, it is during this time that Oberon asks Puck to fetch him that love-bewitching flower that turns the play into a love comedy. Oberon and Titania are the king and queen of fairy land who are introduced as having a personal dispute with each other; both entities are depicted as each keeping a multitude of servants: “Enter Oberon […] with his train, and Titania […] with hers” (Shakespeare 406). They seem to mimic and contrast the uncaring Athenian aristocratic society; falling under the category of trooping fairies, these entities can be “subdivided into the Heroic Fairies [who] are the aristocracy of fairyland. They have as a rule a king and queen, and they pass their time in the manner of the medieval nobility” (Biggs 270).

The characters of Oberon and Titania are rooted in deep mythological origins. Oberon sees its origins during the 5th- 8th century as a translation for Alberich, a sorcerer in Merovingian mythology; however, he can also be referred as Freyr or Ing, the fairy king god of Norse and Germanic mythology, a figure far older than Alberich (Swarthmore college). Titania, on the other hand, is associated with the goddess Diana, as Thomas R. Frosch writes:

Titania is a name Ovid uses for Diana. Another of Diana’s names appears in the lovers’ plan to escape into the forest “when Phoebe doth behold / Her silver visage in the wat’ry glass”. The moon goddess Diana, in addition to being a virgin goddess of the forest, was also a goddess of childbirth, and she was originally one of the great Near Eastern mother goddesses. (Frosch 489)

Going beyond the role of royalty, Oberon and Titania are also portrayed as semi-primordial beings, as demonstrated on act 2 scene 1 where their discord causes imbalances in nature, causing the wind to rise, the river to overflow, and the harvest to rot (407). Additionally, Titania mentions an Indian women who was “a vot’ress of [her] order”, alluding that she and Oberon are capable of human devotion, placing them beyond the role of simply fairies to that of gods and goddesses (407).

Bacchus by Caravaggio 1595

Titania was very close to this Indian woman, as she narrates to Oberon how “in the Indian spice air by night/ full often hath she gossiped by [her] side/ and sat with her on Neptune’s yellow sand/ […][and how] her womb then rich with [a] young squire would […] sail upon land./[…] But she, being mortal, of that boy died/ and for her sake does [she] rear up her boy” (Shakespeare 407). This Indian boy is the reason why Titania and Oberon are in a dispute, for “she never had so sweet a changeling, “causing jealously in fairy king (406). Occurring in almost every folklore in the world, a changeling is a term describing a human (usually a child) stolen away by the fairies, as well as the creature left instead of the human; in some cases, the child left could either be a sick fairy baby, or a piece of wood enchanted to look like a child (Illes 445). Furthermore, just as Oberon and Titania seem to have been inspired by ancient mythological figures, the Indian changeling boy is also thought to be of a similar origin; Thomas R. Frosch writes about the boy’s similarities to Bacchus – The Roman God of wine, celebrations, and ecstasy:

Pyramus and Thisbe, in the 1567 Golding translation of Ovid that Shakespeare used, live in “the East”: “So faire a man in all the East was none alive as he, / Nor nere a woman maide nor wife in beautie like to hir”. Their story is embedded in the story of Bacchus and is told by three sisters who would not countenance “The Orgies of this newfound God” and even denied his divinity. Ovid calls Bacchus “puer aeternus”, or as Rolfe Humphries translates, “A boy forever.” Golding also tells us that “all the East” obeys him “as far as Ganges goes,” and he calls him Niseus, the one from Nysa in India, where the god spent his infancy; Humphries calls him “The Indian”. Here is another meaning of the Indian boy of Shakespeare’s play. Bacchus is, in Golding’s rendering, “Twice borne, the sole and only childe that of two mothers came”; after his original mother, Semele, was destroyed by the glory of Zeus, the fetus was sewed into Zeus’s thigh, and after his birth he was cared for by Semele’s sister and the nymphs of Nysa. In having two mothers, Bacchus is like the Indian boy, who has both birth mother and Titania. (Frosch 506).

Robin Goodfeelow (Puck). 1639

Finally, perhaps the figure most depicted as a traditional fairy, is the character of Puck; it is him who, at Oberon’s orders, plays out the role of cupid (The roman god of Love) by enchanting the young lovers and Titania with the droplets of a magical flower. We are introduced to Puck in the beginning of Act 2 scene1 as Robin, short for robin goodfellow, a mischievous sprite who “frights the maidens of the villag’ry” (406). The term robin goodfellow is recorded as early as 1531; however, etymologically, the name Puck derives from Puca, an old English term for a woodland sprit with many variant names throughout Europe. The Puca is a respected and feared fairy; in fact, Pouk was a medieval term for the Devil, and “Pouk's Pinfold” was synonymous for hell, putting in perspective the kind of presence the Puca imposed (Wright). This association with the Devil makes one believe that the Puca, and thus Puck as well, is rooted in the pagan figure of the horned god, an archetype covering deities such as Satan, Bacchus (Dionysus), Pan, Hermes, and Freyr. This idea is also supported by the fact that outside of Shakespearean work, robin good fellow was sometimes depicted as a “hairy goat-man, horned and hoofed, […] and son of Oberon [also known as Freyr- the horned Fairy King]” (Illes 579).

Modern Puck

Shakespeare’s Puck, just like the folkloric Puca, is also a shapeshifter: “Sometime a horse [he]'ll be, sometime a hound, a hog, a headless bear, [or] as fire” (411). Coincidentally enough, very much like what Puck turns the character of Bottom into, The Irish Phouka was sometimes depicted as a terrifying creature with the head of an ass (Wright,); Puck alludes to this, saying that sometimes he is a “bean-fed horse beguile”(406). His transformation into “Fire […] sometimes mislead[ing] night wanderers, laughing at their harm,” refers to the fairy’s depiction as a will’o wisp figure, leading travelers to disorientation or even death (411). In some storytelling circles, this folkloric figure was also depicted a house fairy, such as the Pwwka from Wales (Reynolds 25). This domesticity is reflected in the fact that Puck “skims[s] milk, and sometimes labours in the quern [grain-gridding stone],”and lastly when he sweeps the floor after the wedding (406). The figure of robin goodfellow and Puck seem to be the result of the folkloristic morphology of the Puca fairy and its variants, combining the archetypes of a wild solitary being, a domestic figure, and trooping fairies belonging to the high courts of fairy aristocracy, yet still holding on to dark trickster attributes.

In analyzing the fairies of “A Midsummer’s Night Dream”, we are able to dig up the inspiration that Shakespeare used. This inspiration was directly taken from the fairy folklore of Europe, made with characters rooted in deep mythological archetypes. From Oberon’s origin as Fairy king, and Titania’s assimilation with Diana, to the Indian boy and Puck as derivations from previous deities, it is remarkable to see how literary elements can survive the test of time.
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Works cited

Brigg, K. M. "English Fairies." Folklore 68.1(1957): 270-287. Web. 18, Oct 2011

Frosch, Thomas R. “The MissingChild in A Midsummer Night's Dream.” American Imago 64. 4(2007): 485-511.Web. 19, Oct 2011.

Judika Illes. The ElementEncyclopedia of Witchcraft. London: Harper Element, 2005. Print.

Marriot, Susannah. The UltimateFairies Handbook. Great Britain:Octopus Publishing, 2008. Print.

Reynolds, Roberto Rosapini. ElMagico Mundo de Los Duendes. Buenos Aires; Ediciones Continente, 2001,Print.

Shakespeare, William. The Oxford Shakespeare: the Complete Works.Ed. Stanley Wells and Gary Taylor. 2nd ed. Oxford: Clarendon, 2006. Print.

Swarthmore College Computer Society ."Oberon.” Swarthmore College. Web. 18 Oct. 2011. <http://www.sccs.swarthmore.edu/users/08/ajb/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Oberon.html>.

Wells, Stanley and Gary Taylor (ed). "A Midsummer’s Night Dream."Preface. The Oxford Shakespeare: the Complete Works. William Shakespeare.Oxford: Clarendon, 2006. Print.

Wright, Allen W. “Puck through the Ages." boldoutlaw.com. RobinHood Bold Outlaw of Barnsdale and Sherwood, n.d. Web. 19 Oct. 2011.

Deconstructing Seid: A Form of Magic in Norse Paganism

2011-11-10T14:04:00.000-08:00

Völva from Fredrik Sander's 1893 Swedish

edition of the Poetic Edda

Seid, or seiðr in Old Norse, or seidhr, seidh, seidr,seithr, or seithis in its anglicized versions, is a type witchcraft associated with women belongingto the pagan culture of the Norse in pre-Christian times. Mythologically, inthe Ynglinga saga, written in 1225, it is stated thatFreyja – the goddess of love, beauty, fertility, and war – is the one who introducesseid to the Æsir (the first gods), when she and the Vanir (the second gods)join pantheons. An example of seid magic appears in Völuspá, the first poem of the Poetic Edda, written sometime in the 10thor early 11th century; it depicts a vision of the creation of the world, andits approaching end as narrated by a völva addressing Odin – the ruler god.[1] Mainly known by its Icelandic term,a völva, or vǫlva in Old Norse, orvala in English, was a type of female prophet/shaman throughout Norse paganism.[2]Alternatively, the term spákona or spækona were also used to describe apractitioner of spá (prophecy).[3] Völvaswere workers of various forms of indigenous magic and divination; mostimportantly, völvas were famous forbeing seiðkonas – practitioners of seid.[4]By analyzing the the mythology, archeology, and sociology of the North, one can try to conceptualize what this mysterious form ofwitchcraft known as seid was all about.

At first glance, there is much temptation to link the term seid to sidh (or sith), term used for the legendary fairies of Ireland who once inhabited the surface of the land but now live hidden from humans; however, we now connect the Sidh fairies to the Tshuds, a supernatural race of creatures also vanished from the lands among the the Finnish, and Arctic Circle.[5] The etymology of the word “seid” is officially unknown;however, it is clear that there are etymological equivalents known from Old High German and Old Englishwords meaning ‘cord, string’ and ‘snare, cord, halter’; in fact, there is aline in verse 15 of the 9^th century skaldic poem Ragnarsdrápa, which uses seid in thatcontext.[6]Subsequently, giving itsconnection with the word “string”, scholars argue that seid was about spinning,which could support the abundant presence of the distaff in Norse mythology; Norwegian Scholar EldarHeide defends this argument, noting clear examples throughout Scandinavianfolklore:

“With a cord, one can not onlybind, but also attract things, and this is characteristic of seiðr. In perhaps half ofthe prose sources, the eﬀect of seiðr is that desired objects, persons orresources, like fish, are drawn to the sorcerer.The clearest example is Saxo’s version of the seiðr séance in Hrólfs saga kraka[a 13-15^th C. manuscript depicting events in the late 5^thand 6^th C]. The prophetess’s task is to see where two boys arehiding, and Saxo says that they are ‘drawn out of their recess by the weirdpotency of the enchantress’s spells and pulled under her very gaze’. InIcelandic seiðr tradition, from recent times, attraction dominates and most ofthe sources have the ﬁxed expression seiða til sín – ‘attract by seiðr’. In someof the sources, it is as if the victim is pulled by an invisible rope. As faras this kind of seiðr is concerned, the etymology ‘cord’ makes very good sense".[7]

Woman with distaﬀ and spindle. Norway, 1717.

This cord/string theory actuallyholds a lot of validity. Norse people, just like the Greeks, believed that fatewas controlled by three supernatural mythical völvas, the Norns - Urðr(Wyrd), Verðandi and Skuld – who controlled everybody’s life through a seriesof threads, making the cord/string theory culturally accurate. Many distaffshave been excavated from völva graves,along with wands and weapons.[8] Therewas even an instance in which a warrior and a woman were buried together, with theman holding a spear, and the women holding a wand.[9] Thisputs in perspective the power that the Norse people held magic up to. Eventhough the men fought wars with their blood and sweat, women were equallypowerful in a spiritual level, being able to practice seid. This status ofwomen as passive holders of amazing power is reflected in Nose Mythology. Odinis the ruler of the gods, and from his throne in Asgard (the world of the gods) heis able to observe the nine worlds of Nose Cosmology. He is a warrior and afrequent traveler, and he’s with no doubt the most powerful of gods, but thenyou have Frigg, Odin’s wife. She’s is not a warrior, she’s not associated withwar, and unlike in Greek mythology, where Hera never tolerates Zeus’s multiplelove affairs, Frigg never confronts Odin about his. She plays an extremely silentpassive role, and yet Frigg holds the power to see everyone’s fate, but cannotreveal what she knows. In the Prose Edda (13^th C.), Odin hasto sacrifice his eye at Mímir's spring (Mimir – the wise one) in order to gainthe Wisdom of Ages, a knowledge that Frigg already knows. Frigg is as powerful as Odin, but in a different way, inwardly,magically; this kind of power holds the same caliber as Odin’s physical strength,for she’s the only otherdeity able to sit on Odin’s throne, with her distaff by her side.

Whilethe conceptual origin of seid might have come from spinning and weaving, themethodology by which this magic was performed was far more radical, presentinga different school of thought about seid. According to various historicalaccounts, völvas sat on platforms, reciting various galðrar (galðr is a singing incantation),until she, and sometimes the people present, transcended into a state ofecstasy where she was possessed by the spirts, and could work magic and predictthe future.[10]This is definitely supported by the archeological finding of henbane seeds in völvagraves, along with seeds of cannabis.[11]Henbane (hyoscyamus niger) is knownfor its psychoactive properties that include visual hallucinations and asensation of flight. Seid could have also easily incorporated drumming sounds alongwith shamanic techniques taken from the Indigenous Sami people of the North. Thatis certainly the case presented by many scholars, who link seid magic toFinnic-Baltic origins, comparing the practice to that of the noaidi, the shamansof the Sami people. [12]However, there is an element of seid magic that is purely unique to the culturein which it was practiced, and that is the answer to the questions many askwhen they first learn about seid – Why is it a woman’s art?
.

Freja by John Bauer (1882–1918)

In Lokasenna, apoem from the Poetic Edda, we learn from Loki (trickster god) that Odin oncepracticed seid on the island of Samsey(Samsø, Denmark), accusing him of being unmanly. Loki himself is also accusedof being an ergi (unmanly), suggesting that he was willing to take the role ofa passive partner in homosexual sex . It was implied that for a man to become aseiðmaðr (male practitioner of seid),one had to “become” a woman; this was extremely looked down in society, forseiðmaðrs were considered ergi. An example of this comes from the saga ofEric the Red (13^th C.), which narrates how RagnvaldrRettilbein, one of Harald Fairhair's sons by the Sami woman Snæfrid, was aseiðmaðr.The king had him burnt to deathinside a house along other male practitioners.[13]There’s no subtlety here; if seiðmaðrswere considered homosexuals because they had to assume a woman’s role in orderto practice seid, it is my belief that seid magic called for sexual rituals involvingfemale intercourse – something a male could mimic though anal intercourse. Many source do indeed link völva rituals with sex, but never flat out describe it (perhaps for fear of persecutions). Since seid magic and völvas fell under the jurisdiction of Freyja – goddessof fertility and sex – this is also culturally accurate; as demonstrated by archaeology,phallic symbols were worshiped all throughout the Norse lands in the form of statues.In Old Norse, vǫlva means"wand carrier" or "carrier of a magic staff”; even though mostwands excavated from völva graves are distaffs, and regular wands(which are phallic by nature anyways), there has been findings of wands clearlyshaped as phalluses.[14]Perhaps these were ritualistic phalluses used in seid magic. It is not a surprisethat the term völva is phonetically similar to vulva; both terms originate fromwords of similar meaning: walwōn (Germanic) and volvere(Latin), meaning “to roll”, obviously referring to the labia of the vagina. With a combination of hallucinations, along with the transcendental power of what the french call la petit morte ( the spiritual release that comes with orgasm), völvas opened themselves up to the the spirit and magic realm.

Seid magic, and any other forms of witchcraft disappeared in the Norselands with the Christianization of Scandinavia, which took a bit longer thanthe rest of Europe. In an example of common law by the Catholic Church, Edgar I, king of England in the 10^thcentury, also known as Edgar the peaceful, enacted the following laws:

"If any wicca (witch), wiglaer(wizard), false swearer, morthwyrtha(worshipper of the dead) or any foul contaminated, manifest horcwenan (whore), be anywhere in theland, man shall drive them out".

"We teach that every priestshall extinguish heathendom and forbid wilweorthunga (fountain worship), licwiglunga (incantations of thedead), hwata (omens), galdra (magic), man worship and theabominations that men exercise in various sorts of witchcraft, and in frithspottum (peace-enclosures) withelms and other trees, and with stones, and with many phantoms".[15]

Toughmostly unpracticed for centuries, today, seid magic, along with Norse paganism (andmany other traditions) have been revived during the Polytheistic reconstructionism movement that started in the 60’s and 70’s,raising momentum in the 90’s, and bringing Neo-paganism and traditions such as Wiccaas the fastest growing religions of the 21th century. Today Norse paganism is compiled within Germanic Neo-paganism (contemporary Heathenism), and even though it's not as big a other Neo-pagan paths such as wicca, and even though themovement has branched out in many groups (Ásatrú, Odinism,Germanic Wicca, etc), their goal is one - to reconstruct the spiritual ways of theold Scandinavia.

Amongthe leading contemporary authorities of Norse reconstructionism and magic is Freya Aswynn. Irecommend her book “Northern Mysteries and magic: Runes, Gods, and FemininePower” for anyone interested in runes, and Norse magic. The following recording from her CD “Songs ofYggdrasil” is perhaps the only recording available of a reconstructed galdr(chanting incantations used by völvas and other Norse shamans) invoking the gods:

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[1] Kathleen N. Daly, Nose Mythology A to Z.(New York: Facts On File books, 2004), 27, 108.

[2] Elof Hellquist, Svensk etymologisk ordbok.(Lund, Norway: Gleerups förlag, 1922) 1081

[3]Elof Hellquist, Svensk etymologisk ordbok, 851.

[4] AndreiA. Znamenski, The Beauty of the Primitive: Shamanism and Western Imagination.(New York: Oxford Press, 2007), 311.

[5]David Mac Ritchie (1893). Notes on the Word "Sidh" The journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, 3 (4), 367-379

[6]Eldar Heide, “Spinning seiðr” (paper presented at the international conferenceOld Norse religion in long-term perspectivesOrigins, changes, and interactions,Lund, Sweden, June 3–7, 2004).

[7]Eldar Heide, “Spinning seiðr”

[8]Dick Harrison, and Kristina Svensson, Vikingaliv (Värnamo: Fälth & Hässler,2007) 72

[9]Dick Harrison, and Kristina Svensson, Vikingaliv, 62.

[10]Heilan Yvette Grimes, The Norse Myths, (Boston: Hollow Earth Publishing,2010) 296

[11]Dick Harrison, and Kristina Svensson, Vikingaliv, 62.

[12]Alaric Timothy Peter Hall, “The Meanings of Elf and Elves in Medieval England”(PhD diss., University of Glasgow, 2004).

[13]“The Saga of Erik the Red”, Icelandic Saga Database, accessed November 2, 2011.http://www.mcdonalds.com/corp/about/factsheets.html.

[14]Dick Harrison, and Kristina Svensson, Vikingaliv, 75.

[15]Sharon Turner, The history of the Anglo-Saxons, (London: Longman, Hurst,Rees, Orme, 1807)151

Bibliography

Daly,Kathleen N. Nose Mythology A to Z. New York: Facts On File books, 2004.

Grimes,Heilan Yvette. The Norse Myths. Boston: Hollow Earth Publishing, 2010.

Hall,Alaric Timothy Peter.“The Meanings of Elf and Elves in Medieval England.” PhDdiss., University of Glasgow, 2004.

Harrison,Dick, and Kristina Svensson. Vikingaliv. Värnamo: Fälth & Hässler, 2007.

Heide,Eldar .“Spinning seiðr”. Paper presented at the international conference OldNorse religion in long-term perspectivesOrigins, changes, and interactions,Lund, Sweden, June 3–7, 2004.

Hellquist,Elof. Svensk etymologisk ordbok. Lund, Norway: Gleerups förlag, 1922.

IcelandicSaga Database. “The Saga of Erik the Red.” Accessed November 2, 2011.http://www.mcdonalds.com/corp/about/factsheets.html.

MacrRitchie,David."Notes of the word 'Sidh.'" The journal of the Royal Society ofAntiquaries of Ireland 3.4 (1893): 367-79

Turner,Sharon. The history of the Anglo-Saxons. London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme,1807.

Znamenski,Andrei A. The Beauty of the Primitive: Shamanism and Western Imagination. NewYork: Oxford Press, 2007.

Drakes: The Fairy Dragons of Europe

2011-10-12T19:34:00.000-07:00

Salamander, early 16th C.

Also known as kratchens in Belgium and Holland, orkrats in Scandinavia, or drachens in Germany, or feu draks in France andSwitzerland, drakes are a Eurpean supernatural entity that mixes the characteristicsof a dragon, and the fairy folk. When it comes to the depiction of drakes, they’re extremely heterogeneous and vary according to the local folklore. In the gypsy folklore fromthe Balkan states of South Eastern Europe, they are described as enormoushumans with the heads and feet of a dragon; it said that they live in fantasticplaces with their human wives and be can be seen riding a giant horses. This description,however, changes further up north, where the term drake became synonymous with themyth of the legendary salamanders, but most importantly, with the fire-drakes, atype of dragon in Norse, Teutonic, and Celtic mythology who are said to guardtreasures, such as the creature that kills Beowulf in the 8^th/11^th century Englishepic poem of the same name. Most recently, in an early 19^th century account,Sven Magnus Johansson was wonderingaround Lake Sodreg in Sweden, andstepped onto a log only to see it move and slither away into the lake. Eventhough the creature resembles the Swedish lindorm (linworm in Britain), a typeof sea serpent or wingless bipedal dragon, the local people told him it was a drake.


Ghost lights, a natural phenomenon behind the lore of will o' wisps

Contrastingly, drakes have also come to be described aslittle fairy beings who smell like rotten eggs, wear red caps and white tunics, exceptfor when they fly, for it is then that they become a will o' wisp figure,changing into a tiny flaming ball with a big head, and a long trail, giving theillusion of a tiny dragon. An exemption occurs with the Finnish krat, who isalways depicted as a miniature dragon with flexible wings, and a long tail thatends in an arrow. Unsurprisingly, the termfire-drake has also come to describe these tiny will o' wisp characters,also being associated with guarding treasures. Additionally, the drake, verymuch like the English Brownie, is also a house fairy; Author Anna Franklin writes about their lore:

"They are house fairies and move into a house and keep thefirewood dry and bring gifts of gold and grain to the master of the house. Thebond is between the male head of the house and the male drake, and is a seriouspact, often written in blood. The drake takes care of the house, barn andstables, making sure that the pantry and money chest are well stocked. They cantravel the world in a split second, and bring their masters a present back fromfaraway places. In return, the master keeps the drake fed and treated withrespect. Should the drake be insulted the house will not be there long. If yousee a drake on its travels, take shelter, for they leave behind a poisonoussulfurous fug. If you quickly shout "half and half" or throw a knifeat the creature, then the drake may drop some of its booty in your lap. If twopeople together see a drake, they should cross their legs in silence, take thefourth wheel off the wagon and take shelter. The drake will then be compelledto leave them some of his haul".

As a house fairy, drakes can be extremely loyal, even to the point of sacrifice justlike the following story narrates, . There was once an old marriage of Finnishfarmers who found themselves one night on the brink of desperation; surroundedby a horrible snow storm, and with their young son extremely ill, his life was disappearingbreath by breath. That same afternoon, a doctor had prescribed a life-saving medicine,but the parents couldn’t get out of the house in the middle of the tempest. Suddenly, after a few seconds of seeinglightning outside the window, the woman noticed a small package wrapped inpaper on top of the shelf. When she opened it she was surprised to find thelife-saving medicine for her son.

Remembering the lightning,the parents understood that the drake of the house had flown in search of the medicine,maybe to the end of the world. After giving the son the medicine it becameevident within minutes that he was going to be fine. That’s when the father wentoutside in the deadly snow storm and worked his way through until he reachedthe barn house where the small child (the drake) rested when he wasn’t flying.When he found him agonizing on the brink of death, the father took him to thehouse where he was nurtured back to health along with the son. Since theparents were so happy that the drake saved his son’s life, they raised him likehis own child.

--------------------------------------------------

Sources

Franklin,Anna, Working with Fairies. Franklin Lakes:Career Press, 205.

Hazlitt, William Carew, and John Brand, Faithsand Folklore,Vol 1. London: Reeves and Turner, 1905.

Matthews,John, and Caitlin Matthews, The ElementEncyclopedia of Magical Creatures. London: Barnes and Noble, 2005.

Raynolds, Robersto Rosaspini. El Magico Mundo De LosDuendes. Buenos Aires:Ediciones Continente, 2001.

Exploring The Qoyllur Rit’i Festival of the Peruvian Andes

2011-10-02T20:44:00.000-07:00

Qoyllur Rit’i procession

Originating in the 18^th century, Qoyllur Rit’i (SnowStar in Quechua) is an annual Peruvian festival that takes place on the Sinakaravalley southeast of the Cusco region, near the Ocongate province at 4,800meters above sea level. Being a melting pot of Catholicism and Andean beliefs, the festival attracts large numbers of Amerindian farmers,peasants and workers from different clans, mainly from the Paucartambo Quechuas from the agricultural regions to thenorthwest of the Qoyllur Rit'I shrine, and Quispicanchis Aymaras from the pastoral regions to thesoutheast.

Lord of Qoyllur Rit

The origin of the festival was recorded by a priest of thetown of Ccatca between 1928 and 1946. On1780, an indigenous boy named Mariano Mayta used to care over his father's herdon the skirts of Mt. Colquepunku. Ill-treated by his brother, he ran away the snowytop of the mountain, where he found a mestizo boy named Manuel. They becamegood friends and Manuel gave Mariano and his herd food and shelter. WhenMariano's father found his son, he found out his herd had increased. As areward, he sent Mariano to Cusco to get new clothes for both of them, soMariano took a sample of Manuel’s clothes to buy the same kind of fabric inCusco. Mariano could not find thattype of fabric in Cusco because it was only used by the bishop of the city. Thepriest of Ocongate, a town close to the mountain, sent an inquisition forManuel. On June 12, 1783, the inquisition ascended Mt. Colquepunku with Marianoand found Manuel dressed in white and shining with a blinding bright light.Unable to come close to Manuel due to blindness, they came back with morepeople, this time being able to reach him. However, on touching him, he becamea tayanka bush (Baccharis odorata)with the body of an agonizing Christ hanging from it. Mariano thought they hadkilled his friend, and died instantly. He was buried under the rock whereManuel was last seen. The tayanka tree was sent to Spain, as requested by KingCharles III, but it was never returned. The indigenous population of Ocongateprotested, making the priest have to order a replica, and became known as theLord of Tayankani. The rock where Mariano was said to be buried attracted quitean amount of devotees who lit candles for him, and so, in order to Christianizethe site, the church painted the image of a crucified Christ on the rock, andbecame known as the Lord of Qoyllur Rit’i.[1]

The colorfulness of the festivalis attributed the dancers and musicians that that spring about representingtheir main roles. Every dancer's costume varies according to their clan, however,their style still persist; every style is rooted in deep cultural symbolism in Andean culture. The Qhapaq Qolla represent the legendary merchants of the Altiplano, the highplanes of center-west South America, where the Andes are the widest; they wouldbring products from the outside world to people of the Andes, and the nearbyjungle. The dancers wear a knitted woolen masks called a "waq'ollo"(usually white) and a beautifully adorned square flat hat called an"aqarapi" which usually has antique coins hanging from its borders.From their backs hang a dried vicuña (q'epi) and as they dance they can be seentwisting strands of wool into thread. The Qhapaq Qolla also represents themestizo class and elegance. There is also the Qhapaq negro who wears a black mask, and representsthe slaves brought by the Spanish.

Qhapaq Qolla

Thenthere’s the Qhapaq Ch'unchu, who represent the native inhabitants of thejungle and the Andes .They wear brightly colored headbands adorned with jewels and feathersfrom jungle birds. They wear kilts (unkus) and carry a spear made from nativechonta wood. Sometimes they wear brightly colored masks as well. Their dances are considered wild. Thereis the also the Machulawho represents the ñaupa machus,the mythical first inhabitants of the Andes. They wear long coats, and awalking stick, and they can be said to reflect shamanistic culture.

Qhapaq Ch'unchus marching

Qhapaq Ch'unchu

Machula

And perhaps the most important figure of the Festival is theUkuku; these are mythological figures who are the offspring of a spectacle bear, and ahuman woman. They are the protector of the Lord of QoyllurRit’i. The Ukuku is a trickers figure in Andean mythology, known for kidnapping, and devilish attributes. The Ukukos are depicted speaking in a high pitched gibberish voice. The role of a Ukuku can only be played by an unmarried young man, which represent raw untapped energy. Usually joking around with the crowd, making sexual innuendos, whipping each other from time to time, and even pretending to be angry with the crowd, Ukukus are the considered the "keepers" of the festival.

Ukuku whip fighting

View of Campsite

The festival attracts more than 10thousand pilgrims every year, and a handful of growing tourists, among them beingthe Peruvian middle class. The arrangements start on the feast ofthe Ascension when the Lord of Qoyllur Rit'i is carried in procession from itschapel at Mawallani to its sanctuary at Sinakara. On the first Wednesday after Pentecost,a second procession carries a statue of Our Lady of Fatima from the Sinakarasanctuary to an uphill grotto. Most pilgrims arrive by Trinity Sunday when the BlessedSacrament is taken in procession through the sanctuary; the following day theLord of Qoyllur Rit'i is taken in procession to the grotto of the Virgin andthen back. On the night of this second day, dancers perform around the shrine.At dawn on the third day, ukukusgrouped by clans climb the glaciers on Mount Colquepunku to retrieve crossesset on top, they also bring back blocks of the ice, which is believed to havemedicinal qualities. They undertake this becausethey are considered the only ones capable of dealing with condenados (cursed ones), the spiritsof those who have committed unforgivable sins who are said to inhabit thesnowfields.According to oral traditions, ukukus from different clans used toengage in ritual battles on the glaciers but this practice was banned by theCatholic Church, however the tradition still survives with arranged theatrical whipfighting instead. After a mass celebrated on the same day, the majority ofpilgrims leave the sanctuary except for a group which carries the Lord ofQoyllur Rit'i in procession to Tayankani before taking it back to Mawallani,where it would stay until next year’s festival.

Ukukos carrying crosses across the Andean Glacier

Thefollowing video documents the journey of the Qoyllur Rit’i festival. The film shows the massiveness of this event.

[1] Sallnow, Michael. Pilgrims of the Andes: regional cults inCusco. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1987. 207-209

The Fairy Faith: A Documentary depicting the belief in fairies

2011-10-01T22:33:00.000-07:00

Released in 2001, and directed, andnarrated by Canadian award winning filmmaker John Walker, “The Fairy Faith” remains up to this day the mostnotable, if not the only, documentary depicting the belief in fairies. The filmtakes us on a journey through the old Scottish, English, and Irish country, withmultiple interviews about fairy encounters, both from old folklore, and firstperson accounts, along with visits to alleged fairy sites. It alsonarrates how the fairy faith fits in these communities, along with the role itused to play. The film is an excellent introduction to fairy folklore, and anamazing piece of cultural heritage that is quickly disappearing in modernsocieties.

Me at the Zoo: A Documentary about Chris Crocker

2011-09-24T20:27:00.000-07:00

Last year I watched a presentation by Dr. Michael Wesch, assistant Professor of Cultural Anthropology and Digital Ethnography for KansasState University, about the anthropology of YouTube, and I instantly becamefascinated with the anthropology of media as a subject study, specially the internet. It is for such reason that I instantly became intrigued when I found out about the new documentary "Me at the Zoo", which chronicles the online adventures of Chris Crocker from the beginning, to the present.

Chris Who? I must admit that such name does not really ring a bell among a certain group age (30+), and that is because Chris Crocker is (or was?) an online celebrity, hence the name of the documentary; "Me at the zoo" is the name of first video uploaded unto YouTube on 2005. His gender-bending viral videos are well known among internet user throughout the world, and they have become an staple of internet virality, most notably, Leave Britney Alone! which took Crocker from a small audience, to the mainstream. From an anthropological perspective, this documentary is so much more than a "Where are they now?" episode. Chris Crocker is the first internet celebrity who was able to get out of our computer screens, and into the mainstream; he appeared on television, on commercials, radio, gossip blogs, magazines, paparazzi photos, and he was almost even given his own TV show. He inspired such a collected set of emotions among internet users - love, confusion, hatred - that it was one of first instances that the internet was visualized as a mass community. Subsequently, Chris was the fist person to drop from the face of the planet after such fame. Whether people think it or not, Chris Crocker is a revolutionist of the digital era.

"Me at the Zoo is an intimatelook at a controversial young video blogger, regarded by millions as theInternet's first rebel folk hero.

"Chris Crocker was bullied outof school in the 8th grade and was, by his account, raised on the Internet.Crocker's online videos have been viewed over 270 million times to date. He isarguably the first internet celebrity to cross over into mainstream media andis part of the first wave of young people coming into adulthood under constantself-surveillance.
In 2007 Crocker made theinfamous YouTube video declaration "Leave Britney Alone!".

At thattime, all media outlets had photographers glued to Britney Spear's every move.Photos of the young pop star were being sold for upward of a quarter milliondollars. Her very public breakdown was the moment when Chris Crocker's fateintersected with his icon; Crocker offered an emotionally raw video defense ofhis pop idol and became a whipping boy in mainstream media. To this day hisname calls to question the authenticity of that video

Chris Crocker is now one ofthousands selected into the YouTube partnership program. Youtube Partnershipallows individuals to make an income through Adsense and Revenue Sharingprograms. Everyday more users are signing on to monetize the content of theirdigital lives.

Over 48 hours of video areuploaded to YouTube every minute. Our film takes its title from the first everYoutube video uploaded by the young founders of the site. Me at the Zooexplores how video sharing and social platforms have shaped the way we tell ourstories and mediate our lives. When we "Like" and '"Share"a video we are creating a market for that specific type of content.

This unconventional documentaryexcavates a personal story that is written on the Internet. It follows a linethrough Chris Crocker's public videos, response videos and the echo chamber offans, friends and haters." - MeatheZoo.com

Sappho's "Like the very gods in my sight is he"

2011-09-23T23:08:00.000-07:00

Born about 630 B.C on theGreek island of Lesbos, Sappho was one of the most prominent and recognized poetsof ancient Greece. Her work contains themes of marriage, love, sexuality,and most notably, lesbianism between young girls. The word “lesbian” isactually derived from Lesbos, her homeland. Many find surprising that a womanin ancient Greece could be able to achieve muse status writing works of high eroticism;additionally, if she, a woman, became so widespread, then how come she is oneof the only ones? Well, much of Sappho’swork remains lost; all of what we can gather from her life is taken from thefragments of her recovered poetry, and comments made by critics and historians.Athenaeus, a Greek rhetorician, wrote that Sappho often praised Larichus (heryoungest brother) for pouring wine in the town hall of Mytilene, an office heldby boys of the best families;[1]this would indicate that Sappho was born in aristocracy, making it easier forher to become recognized by the masses, and winning priority over the commonpeople.

Despite being well knownfor her homoerotic work, Sappho wrote about men as well, as seen in thefollowing fragment of a recovered poem.

Like the very gods in mysight is he who

sits where he can look inyour eyes, who listens

close to you, to hear thesoft voice, its sweetness

murmur in love and

laughter, all for him.But it breaks my spirit;

underneath my breast allthe heart is shaken.

Let me only glance whereyou are, the voice dies,

I can say nothing,

but my lips are strickento silence, under-

neath my skin the tenuousflame suffuses;

nothing shows in front ofmy eyes, my ears are

muted in thunder.

And the sweat breaksrunning upon me, fever

Shakes my body, paler Iturn than grass is;

I can feel that I havebeen changed, I feel that

death has come near me.[2]

Analyzing the poem, itbecomes evident that it is a narration of sex: “Like the very gods in my sightis he who sits where he can look in your eyes”. The speaker becomes speechless,her voice dies, and she feels helpless, but “underneath [her] skin the tenuousflame suffuses.” She starts breaking sweat in the last stanza, and suddenly,she feels death coming towards her. The imagery of death is what the French call“La petite morte”, the short spiritual, transcendent, and life-draining momentthat comes with orgasm. Sappho’s metaphor of the man as a god adds to the transcendentalmeaning of her climax.

[1] D.A. Campbell. Greek Lyric: Sappho Alcaeus. (Cambridge: HarvardUniversity Press, 1982) p 189.

[2] Sappho.“Like the very gods in my sight is he.” Trans. Richmond Lattimore. The NortonAnthology of World Masterpieces, Eds. Maynard Mack et al. 1 vols. (NewYork: Norton, 1995) P 505-506.

Cry Baby Lane: Lost Film Found

2011-08-14T15:31:00.000-07:00

On the night of October 28,2000, Nickelodeon, an American cable channel aimed towards kids and young adults,aired a 96 minute TV movie titled “Cry Baby Lane”. The movie revolves around a pair of youngbrothers, Andrew (Jase Blankfort) and Carl (Trey Rogers), who cannot get theirfill of the spooky ghost stories told by local undertaker Mr. Bennett (FrankLangella). The boys are particularly fascinated by the legend of a brace oflong-deceased Siamese twins -- one good, one evil -- who were literally tornapart at the time of their funeral. Intending to learn more about the twins,the adventurous Andrew conducts a séance, only to get more than he bargains forwhen he releases a horrifying demon, which promptly wreaks havoc upon thecommunity. It is up to Andrew's mild, unassuming brother Carl to undo thedamage. [1]

The film was supposed to mimicthe style of Nickelodeon’s classic 90’s show “Are You Afraid of the Dark?”,however, the movie only aired once “due to an unprecedented number ofcomplaints from parents who believed it was too frightening for a kid'snetwork. Since then, Nickelodeon has refused to release it to the public in anyform and continues to [unofficially] deny its existence.” [2]Up to a few days ago, no known private copies of the film were known to exist, exceptfor a short 3 minute clip in the popular video sharing website YouTube. Thismakes for an interesting subject in the field of film studies, and visual anthropology;“Cry Baby Lane” is the first and only lost film (or at least partially lost) ofthe 21th century, however, given its youth (in comparison with most lost films),it is no surprise the film has been rediscovered. On August 10, 2011, a personby the pseudonym Firesaladpeach on the popular discussion and forum websiteReddit replied to a post regarding the movie, and its state as a lost film. Theuser claimed to possess a VHS tape of the movie, and later uploaded it as a torrent on the internet, making it available and downloadable to the public today, August 14, 2011.[3] The torrent is quickly going viral.

[Update: the movie is now on YouTube]

The film and its circumstancesare also a great example of modern folklore origination that has occurred overthe almost 11 years of its disappearance, achieving status as an Urban Legend.First of all is the idea that Nickelodeon denies “Cry Baby’s Lane” existence. This cannot be officially confirmed, as thenetwork has never made a public statement regarding the film, but strong cluesexist such as the picture below showcasing Nickelodeon’s denial in an e-mail response.

(click for bigger image) [source]

Secondly, because the movie hasa small following, and much of its content is vaguely remembered, allegationshave surfaced that the movie didn’t even exist in the first place. We know this isfalse since the rediscovery of “Cry Baby Lane”, but completely understandablesince a similar situation has occurred before. Candle Cove is allegedly a TV children’s showthat ran from 1971 and 1972 and was locally produced, and broadcasted inIronton, Ohio. The controversy started when the story was posted on Creepypasta.com,a website collecting frightening stories. The story at first glance appears to be a forumdiscussion about old children’s show that aired briefly back in the 70's andwas never seen again. As recollections of the show are traded back and forth,it becomes clear that beneath the show's cutesy and disarmingly low-budgetappearance is something dark and disturbing, and by the end, it's implied thatthe show is something much more sinister than a half-remembered childhoodmemory. Many people have come forward claiming they remember such show, yetthe only videos available online are completely filled with static, which raises thequestion if there was even a show at all, and everyone claiming memory of it isin some form of conspiracy. [4]Contrastingly, many fans fought back such allegations by gathering knowledge of“Cry Baby’s lane” complete plot in detail, gathering proof of its existence,and even a launching blogs in the search for the lost film.


Evidence of its existence - TV guide screening.

Another tale surfaced claimingthat Director Peter Lauer had some weird fascination with morbid stories unfitfor children’s television, describing his obsession with themes such as violence,death, torture, cannibalism, rape, incest, etc, and how they were the inspirationand the underlying themes of all the shows Nickelodeon has created after “Cry Baby Lane.”[5]Even though tales like these could have been easily fabricated, that is what makesan urban legend.

[1] “CryBaby Lane,” IMDb, Last accessed August 14, 2011. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0221097/

[2] ^ “CryBaby Lane.”

[3] “TILNickelodeon released a TV Movie in 2000 that was so scary that they only airedit once. It is now considered a lost film,” Reddit, Last accessed August 14,2011. http://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/jedpc/til_nickelodeon_released_a_tv_movie_in_2000_that/

[4] “CandleCove,” Ichor Falls, last accessed August 14, 2011. http://www.ichorfalls.com/2009/03/15/candle-cove/

[5] “CryBaby Lane Creepy Pasta – as seen on /x/,” The Hunt for Cry Baby Lane, last accessedAugust 14, 2011. http://huntforcbl.blogspot.com/2011/02/cry-baby-lane-creepy-pasta-as-seen-on-x.html

I've been published

2011-07-19T17:22:00.000-07:00

I love myths, legends, fairy tales, witchcraft, literature, magical creatures, and everything in between. I do not have a degree in folklore, nor in cultural anthropology, or anything related to the field for that matter. I'm a college student, yes, but my major is communications. Why? Because am I'm realist, and I wanted a chance at a job. Otherwise I would have stuck by my first college major decision, art.
The whole reason I started this blog was because I wanted to study folklore, on my own. I wanted to use this blog as a way to self-publish articles and information I liked. I dreamed of someday being an independent scholar, and I knew it was going to be hard without a university standing behind me. About 4 months ago I started working on a paper (Supernatural Abductions: UFO & Folklore Narratives) and I told myself that this piece was going to one day get published. The manuscript sat half done in my computer for about 2 months before I finished it. Soon, it caught the attention of Jack Hunter, founder of Paranthropology: Journal of anthropological approaches to the paranormal, and he asked me if I wanted to contribute the article to the July issue of the journal. Today, the journal was published (pg 8).
Another of my articles was published 2 weeks ago on Cabinet des Fées, a web magazine that publishes fairy tales and academic works about them. Though both of my publications have been online, they are run by distinguished individuals on their corresponding fields. I'm so glad my work is getting recognized by academics around the internet, and it inspires me to actually keep perusing and studying the field of folklore. Who knows? Perhaps I'll even go to graduate school for it, once I'm have a regular job and all that. Years from now perhaps

"A Fortune Teller Told Me" Trailer

2011-06-21T20:12:00.000-07:00

Directed by Jose Gomez and Brendan Mc Donnell, and inspired by the journey of Tiziano Terzani. For updates regarding this documentary refer to their Facebook Page.

Shamanic Initiations: A Hidden Theme within the Fairy Tale of Hansel and Gretel

2011-05-29T23:30:00.000-07:00

The fairy tale of “Hansel and Gretel” was first recorded by the Brothers Grimm in 1812 around the south western corner of Germany. The tale features a brother and sister who while lost in the forest, encounter a cannibalistic witch, but at the end, Hansel and Gretel rise victorious. The tale actually belongs to a group of European tales popular in the Baltic regions about children outwitting ogres after they have fallen into their hands.[1] While the story is often regarded as symbolizing a rite of passage,[2] there are underlying elements that mimic the universal concept of shamanic initiations, hiding the true nature and origin of the story. To say that by defeating the witch, one becomes a witch would be a paradox, especially in the genre of fairy tales that often demonizes witches, however, given the ambiguity attributed to folk tales, and their controversial pagan origins often suppressed by the Abrahamic religions, it is no surprise such elements are present.

"Hansel and Gretel". Arthur Rackham, 1909

The story tells that Hansel and Gretel were the children of a very poor woodcutter that could not afford much to eat. After an immense famine settles over the land, the woodcutter’s second wife, a cruel woman, convinces his husband to abandon the children in the middle of the woods in order to have fewer mouths to feed. Hansel and Gretel overhear their plans, and say God will help them. Next morning, they start collecting small white pebbles, in order to form a trail leading to the house as they are abandoned into the forest so they can find their way back home. The siblings follow through the plan and come back home after being deserted. The stepmother orders his husband to desert his children in the middle of the forest once more, so they can die. This time, the siblings form a trail out of bread crumbs, but when they decide to follow them back they find out the crumbs have been eaten by birds. After days of traveling, they follow a beautiful snow white bird and discover a cottage built of gingerbread and cakes with window panes of clear sugar, but as they start eating the rooftop, the witch comes out and lures them inside. The next morning, Hansel is locked inside an iron cage, and is fed regularly so he can become fat and be ready to be eaten, meanwhile, Gretel is made a slave. This goes on for weeks, until the witch decides to eat both of them. As the witch demonstrates Gretel how to check if the oven fire if hot enough to cook them in, she pushes her in, burning her to death. They later return home to their father with the witches’ precious jewels, and find out their stepmother died of an unknown illness. [3]

A shaman is an anthropological term for a trained and very often spiritually selected individual that is in touch with the spiritual and magical world, thus witches fall within the shaman realm. In most shamanism-practicing cultures, before a person becomes a shaman he/she must be initiated, such as the Native American practice of vision quest, or the Aboriginal walkabout, where the adolescent must venture into the wild, and into a spiritual journey. Joan Halifax, an American anthropologist who has researched spiritual experiences, describes these elements:

“In collecting and analyzing first-person narratives of shamans' initiatory experiences, I have delineated some broad stages of the archetypal journey: (1) an experience of separation or isolation from society and culture; (2) an encounter with extreme mental and physical suffering, including experiences of being eaten or dismembered by local wildlife, or being burned, cooked, or afflicted with disease; (3) an encounter with death; (4) an experience of nature-transmission with creature, ancestor, spirit, god, or element; (5) a return to life, sometimes by way of the celestial realm with the World Tree or bird flight being featured; and (6) a return to society as healer.”[4]

Note should be taken that some of these aspects take place on the astral level – a subconscious and spiritual plane of existence.


An Amazonian Yanomami man being initiated by a shaman by taking a hallucinogen.

The experience of isolation happens when the shaman-to-be “reaches a specific age, usually seven or older, and an older member of the shamanic society appears, and begins their training;”[5] this is clearly illustrated in Hansel and Gretel’s abandonment in the forest, the place where wicked witches lurk. Them coming back home following the white pebbles after the first night might represent their desire to not continue with their initiation. It is only after the birds eat the second trail that they made that they are forced to continue. It is said that a person destined to be a shaman does not need to seek to be initiated, the initiator will find them and they will be called.[6] This is depicted in the beautiful snow white bird that the children follow after wondering the woods, because “following an animal in a forest and being led to a confrontation with an evil being occurs in other tales. [Since] the bird represents salvation, joy, and peace through its color, […] the children are supposed to meet the witch with positive results. The encounter is for their good.”[7]

Then the psychic battle begins. With hallucinations created by exhaustion, a deep sense of enlightenment, or in the case of Peruvian Amazonian Shamans, the psychoactive effects of the Ayahuasca plant,[8] the initiate must fight another shaman or psychic entity.[9] As stated earlier, Joan Halifax described one of the stages of shamanic initiations as experiencing physical pain, often being chopped, and cooked up. In the fairy tale, the witch fattens Hansel in order to eat him, while Gretel is made a slave, but then decides to eat them both. Psychic experiences of initiates being cooked up by magical entities have been reported worldwide, from the Australian Aboriginals, to the Inuit people of the North Pole, and Siberia.[10] Documentation of such experiences in Europe appears among the Sicilian shamanic healers known as Ciarauli, the tales of the Hungarian Táltos, and the Kresnik of Istria and Slavonia, and Inquisition records made during 1575 to 1647 about the Benandanti, a shamanic society in northern Italy.[11] This traumatizing experience allegedly occurs in order “to teach [the initiate] the art of shamanism”.[12]

In the fairy tale, the witch is simply trying to cook and eat the children. She is a cannibal, and probably depicted as so in order to demonize witches, but one must look at the underlying references. The witches’ attempt to cook them up is her attempt to initiate them into the craft, just like in shamanic initiation narratives, where one emerges as a shaman after being killed and cooked. Additionally, Gretel is fed nothing but crawfish, and crab shells. Originating in ancient Mesopotamia, and working its way through Egypt, Greece, and Rome, the image of the shellfish has always been associated with the Moon, which is why the astrological sign of Caner is ruled by the it.[13] Given the natural association of the Moon to witchcraft, Gretel’s shellfish diet is preparing her to fulfill the initiation, however, the siblings refuse. They refused first when they found their way back to their home the first night they were abandoned, when they refused to be eaten, and when Gretel pushed the witch into the fire; they refuse to be initiated, and become a witch just like her. They kill the witch, and she is the one that experiences death, not them. Note that an experience with death is another stage of the shamanic initiatory practices mentioned earlier.

The wicked witch of “Hansel and Gretel” is in many ways similar to the Russian fairy tale figure of Baba Yaga. Being featured in countless folk stories, she is perhaps the most famous figure in Slavic folklore; she’s a hag/witch who just like the witch in “Hansel and Gretel”, lives in the middle of the forests in a very strange house, this time described as standing in chicken legs, having a fence made of human skulls, and containing all sort of witchy items. Many of her stories, in fact, resemble that of the Grimm’s “Hansel and Gretel”:

“The lovely maiden looked at the witch and her heart failed her. Before her stood Bába Yagá the Bony-Legged, her nose hitting the ceiling . . . . Then the witch brought wood, oak and maple, and made a fire; the flame blazed forth from the stove. Bába Yagá took a broad shovel and began to urge her guest: 'Now, my beauty, sit on the shovel.' The beauty sat on it. Bába Yagá shoved her toward the mouth of the stove, but the maiden put one leg into the stove and the other on top of it. 'You do not know how to sit, maiden. Now sit the right way.' The maiden changed her posture, sat the right way; the witch tried to shove her in, but she put one leg into the stove and the other under it.
Bába Yagá grew angry and pulled her out again. 'You are playing tricks, young woman!' she cried. 'Sit quietly, this way-just see how I do it.' She plumped herself on the shovel and stretched out her legs. The maiden quickly shoved her into the stove, slammed the door, plastered and tarred the opening and ran away.”[14]

The witch in the Grimm’s tale is just a subtle version of Baba Yaga, who has achieved goddess status as the ruler of the underworld in Slavic folklore. Baba Yaga is burned alive just like the witch in “Hansel and Gretel”, however, no matter how many times she dies in these tales, Baba Yaga reappears in countless other ones as the same wicked witch, or sometimes as a benevolent wise woman, giving life-saving advice to heroines. Her death is transformation, just like how shamanic initiates rise from the dead being able to call themselves wise, shamans, or healers.

Baba Yaga - Ivan Bilibin (1902)

Gretel, in particular, seems to be the witch’s main apprentice, this is observed in the fact that she isn’t locked up like her brother, but she’s made a slave. In the epic saga of “Vasilisa the Wise” (also known as a the Beautiful or Brave), Vasilisa, a beautiful maiden, is purposely sent by her evil stepmother to Baba Yaga’s house to get a lantern, and once inside, she must perform the witches’ impossible tasks in order to come back home. Although she accomplishes so with the help of a magical doll, Vasilisa passes the witch’s test and completes her initiation.[15] Just like Vasilisa, Gretel must perform every command the witch asks her to do. Additionally, in the Russian story, Vasilisa asks Baba Yaga about the three dark riders outside her house, and she responds by saying they are the day, the Sun, and the night. But we are missing another being – the Moon. Baba Yaga is obviously the Moon, after all, she’s a witch/folk-goddess, and this is connected to Gretel being fed shellfish – lunar food.

When Vasilisa comes back home, the lantern she brings back from Baba Yaga burns the evil stepmother and stepsisters to ashes, which frees Vasilisa from their torture. It seems that whether the witch dies or not, the protagonist always emerges victorious. As Dr. Laura Strong, a mythology scholar, writes, the Baba Yaga archetype represents the shamanic journey that Vanisila and Hansel and Gretel go through:

“[Baba Yaga] dwells in a magical hut that is surrounded by a fence made from the leftover bleached-white bones of her victims […][,which] is a clear signal to anyone who would dare to pass through its gate that they must be prepared for an initiatory underworld experience.[…] ‘Baba Yaga's hut is the place where transmutation occurs; it is the dark heart of the Underworld, the dwelling place of the dead ancestors who are symbolized by the grinning skulls around her house’. From such bones, she also brews new life and her home is a great source of abundance.”[16]

Coincidentally enough, Baba Yaga is also depicted as the guardian of the Waters of Life and Death. The Water of Death kills, but is also often part of a healing process. In many Slavic folktales, the “Water of death heals the wounds of a corpse or knots together a body that has been chopped up. The second, the Water of Life, restores life".[17] Because the witch of “Hansel and Gretel” steams out of Baba Yaga’s figure, just like her, she is also a figure of enlightening resurrections, a part of shamanic initiatory rituals, just in a more subtle version.

In “Hansel and Gretel”, notice how the snow white bird that the children trusted on to follow, is the same type of animal that ate their bread crumb trail, making them lost, and thus sealing the initiation. It’s obvious the birds wanted them to go into the house, and be initiated; the birds in the story have done nothing but to seal the children’s fate towards the wicked witch. Nevertheless, after the children kill the witch, they take her precious stones and talk to a big white swan that helps them cross an enormous lake. The white swan, although it has another from, it’s the just a reappearance of the snow white bird that they followed earlier. Also notice how traveling by bird when returning home is a stage in the narratives of shamanic initiations mentioned earlier They were meant to kill the witch, it was destiny, just like one is destined to be a shaman, and by killing her, they assume the witch’s role. At the end, the children come home and are victorious. They find out their stepmother has died, and so they end the last stage of the shamanic initiation; they emerge from the wild, and into society with an amazing experience. They completed all the stages, and Hansel and Gretel are now witches, not literally, but symbolically. Notice should given that the siblings were not depicted as being able to talk to animals before killing the witch, yet Gretel is able to talk to a swan, and both of them were able to miraculously, considering how lost they were before, find their way home. These are the results of completing the magic journey. Additionally, since the siblings do mention trusting in God in the tale, it can also be said that the story is a Christian version of pagan shamanic initiations, with Hansel and Gretel being able to achieve the same results of magical enlightenment without having to give in to the thought-to-be evil pagan practices of the past by actually destroy it (killing the witch), and that's the twist of the story.

The tales of Baba Yaga, the more detailed version of the witch in the Grimm’s story, expresses the deep shamanic roots within the story. “Hansel and Gretel theme of shamanic initiatory rituals had to be deeply hidden within the story in order to sneak through the serious religious laws of pre-modern times. Yes, the story is about a rite of passage, but not just of physical maturity, but a spiritual one as well, a ritual that is unquestionably of pagan origins. With the oven (or cauldron) being a symbol for death, birth, and renewal,[18] it does not matter if the shaman initiate gets cooked by a psychic monster, because he/she will be emerge a new shaman. And just like Baba Yaga’s many reappearances in folk tales despite her many deaths in the oven, it can be assumed that the witch of “Hansel and Gretel” still lives as well.

Notes

[1] Iona Archibald, Classic Fairy Tales, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1974) p119.

[2] Katherine M. Faull, Anthropology and the German enlightenment: Perspective on Humanity,(Bucknell: Bucknell University Press, 1995) p82.

[3] Jacob Grimm, and Wilhelm, Grimm Grimm's complete fairy tales (New York: Barnes & Noble, 1993) p101-107.

[4] Joan Halifax (1990). The shaman's initiation ReVision, 13 (2) : 9607292149

[5] Judical Illes, The Element Encyclopedia of Witchcraft, (London: Harpers Element, 2005) p 466.

[6] ^Judical Illes, The Element Encyclopedia of Witchcraft. p466

[7] “Annotations for Hansel and Gretel”, SurLaLune.com, accessed May 28, 2011, “http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/hanselgretel/notes.html

[8] Luis Eduardo Luna, Ayahuasca Visions: The Religious Iconography of a Peruvian Shaman (Berkeley: North Atlantic Books, 1991) p30.

[9] ^Judical Illes, The Element Encyclopedia of Witchcraft. p466

[10] Mariko Namba Walter, Eva Jane Neumann Fridman, Shamanism: an encyclopedia of world beliefs, practices, and culture, Vol 2 (Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2004). p154

[11] ^Judical Illes, The Element Encyclopedia of Witchcraft. p466

[12] ^Mariko Namba Walter, Eva Jane Neumann Fridman, Shamanism: an encyclopedia of world beliefs, practices, and culture, Vol 2 (Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2004). P

[13] Jules Cashford, The Moon: myth and image, (London: Cassel Illustrated, 2002), p112.

[14] Aleksandr Afanasiev, Russian Fairy Tales. (New York: Pantheon Books, 1945) p 432

[15] Marina Balina et tal. Politicizing magic: an anthology of Russian and Soviet fairy tales ( Evanton: Northwestern University Press, 2005) p 34-41

[16] Laura Strong, "Baba Yaga's Hut: Initatorry Entrance to the Underworld", Mythicart.com, accessed May 29, 2011, http://www.mythicarts.com/writing/Baba_Yaga.html

[17] ^Laura Strong, "Baba Yaga,s Hut: Initiatory Entrance to the Underworld".

[18] Lady Sabrina, Exploring Wicca: the beliefs, rites, and rituals of the Wiccan religion, (Franklin Lakes: Career Press, 2006) p 83.

-------------------------

Bibliography

Afanasiev, Aleksandr. Russian Fairy Tales. New York: Pantheon Books, 1945.

Archibald, Iona. Classic Fairy Tales. New York: Oxford University Press, 1974.

Balina, Marina et tal. Politicizing magic: an anthology of Russian and Soviet fairy tales. Evanton: Northwestern University Press, 2005.

Cashford, Jules. The Moon: myth and image. London: Cassel Illustrated, 2002.

Faull, Katherine M.. Anthropology and the German Enlightenment: Perspective on Humanity. Bucknell: Bucknell University Press, 1995.

Grimm, Jacob, and Wilhelm Grimm. Grimm's Complete Fairy Tales. New York: Barnes & Noble, 1993.

Halifax, Joan. “The Shaman’s Initiation”. ReVision 13 (1990): p53.

Illes, Judical. The Element Encyclopedia of Witchcraft. London: Harpers Element, 2005.

Luna, Luis Eduardo. Ayahuasca Visions: The Religious Iconography of a Peruvian Shaman. Berkeley: North Atlantic Books, 1991.

Strong, Laura. “Baba Yaga's Hut: Initiatory Entrance the Underworld”. Mythicarts.com. Accessed May 29, 2011. http://www.mythicarts.com/writing/Baba_Yaga.html

SurLaLune.com. “Annotations for Hansel and Gretel”. Last accessed May 28, 2011. http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/hanselgretel/notes.html

Walter, Mariko Namba, and Eva Jane Neumann Fridman. Shamanism: an encyclopedia of world beliefs, practices, and culture. Vol 2. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2004.

Magical Clothing in Folklore

2011-05-19T17:22:00.000-07:00

Throughout history, supernatural beings, whether fairies, spirits, or gods, have been attributed with multiple powers, including flight, invisibility, and even shapeshifting.

Selkie Woman by Arthur Rackham

However, there is an element found in folklore that deviates from this theme of natural power, and creates dependency in order to obtain them – magical clothing. A perfect example of this characteristic is reflected in a narrative told by the 19^th century poet Lady Wilde, form the Sligo region of Ireland:

A young peasant was crossing an alder forest one night when he became tired of walking. He decided to ask for shelter in a humble hut. When he knocked the door he was received by a small man of old appearance who kindly invited him in; when he went in he discovered another man as little and the other one, but younger, sitting by a table. Later, after an abundant dinner, the human fell asleep, but was later awakened in the middle on the night by the sounds of movement and whispers. He saw that the two men were putting on some weird white tunics and the older one said:

- “Here I go!”

- “I’ll follow you!”- replied the younger one, and immediately the two little men disappeared flying though the window. Intrigued by what had just happened, the peasant put on a third tunic that was on the table, and said:

- “And I’ll follow you both!”- and suddenly, he saw himself sitting on a barrel, from which the two little men had already drunk several jars of whisky. Imitating them, the peasant quickly felt on a drunken state. The next morning he was discovered by the workers of the brewery, and was arrested, and sentenced to hanging. The day of the hanging, right when execution was about to take place, a white-bearded man who was wearing a weird white tunic emerged from the crowd. He asked the judge if the peasant could wear a tunic. The judge accepted, but as soon as he put it on, the fairy-man exclaimed: “Here I go”. To which the peasant responded: “And I’ll follow you!” And then both of them disappeared from the crowd.[1]

Fairy creatures have long been identified with supernatural powers, but as one can see, such powers often depend on some kind of garment that grants them to them. The white tunic in the story just told is a parallel the broomsticks in witch-lore, which are also used for flying. The use of magical clothing for traveling purposes is a common theme in many cultures. In Taiwanese folklore, the ndejeni is a creature that helps fishermen by submerging in the ocean with the help of vests, to which they attach fish scales and shark skin; this helps them survive underwater.[2] Similarly, in the folklore of southern, and south-eastern Ireland ( Kerry, Cork and Wexford county) merrows (fairy-mermaids) wear a small red cap made from feathers, called a cohullen druith, which they use to propel through the water. In order to come ashore, merrows abandons their caps, so any mortal who finds these has power over them.[3] Further up north, in Faroese, Icelandic, Irish, and Scottish folklore, around the Orkney and Shetland Islands, the myth changes. The selkie, also known as silkies, selchies, or roane, are seal people that are able to shapeshift into humans by shedding their seal skin. Just like their southern counterparts, the merrow, the selkie is vulnerable to anyone that takes possession of their garment.[4] This motif of transformation through skin coats are found all throughout the world[5], such as the Russian swan maiden,[6] the Croatian tale of the She-Wolf, [7] the Italian fairy tale of “The Dove Girl”, [8] the Native American (Lakota and Sioux) myth of the white buffalo women,[9] the Japanese legend of Hagoromo, which shows a swan maiden motif,[10] and many more. All of these characters represent an archetypal figure in folklore, a supernatural being dependent on their skin clothing to perform their natural abilities, but at the same time are at risk if someone takes possession of them.

Perhaps out of all the abilities attributed to supernatural beings, the power of invisibility is the one humans fear most; it’s what makes these magical beings unseen, thus mythical. Throughout mythology, one of the most popular pieces of clothing that grants such power is the cap of invisibility. Originating in Greek Mythology, this item, also known as the Cap of Hades, Helm of Hades,or Helm of Darkness, is a helmet that grants the wearer invisibility, even from supernatural beings. It has been said to have been used by Hermes, the messenger god, Athena, the goddess of wisdom, and the Greek hero Perseus.[11] Interestingly enough, the icon of the magic cap worked its way down to common folklore. The famous German folklorists and famous fairy-tale collectors known as The Brothers Grimm once said that that “we don’t usually see dwarfs – not because they live underground, but because, when abroad, they generally sport protective, invisible making ‘fog hats’”.[12] Similarly, near the Italian Alps, exists the myth of the Aguane, a race of female fairy nymphs who wear a red cap that grants them invisibility.[13] In fact, the invisibility cap motif still exists all throughout European folklore, and have become an staple of fairy lore, especially in the color red. From the Italian folleti,[14] to the malicious redcap goblins inhabiting ruined castles along the border between England and Scotland,[15] and the Irish merrows that were mentioned earlier, the theme persists. The red cap motif still lives today solidified in garden gnome statues across gardens in the western world. Another solid, yet rare staple found in folklore similar to the invisibility cap is the cloak variant. Perhaps mostly known for its appearance in modern fiction, the invisibility cloak appears in folktales of the UK, China, Japan, Philippines, Native Americans,[16] and was even featured in the Germanic epic poem of Nnibelungenlied, written in about A . D. 1200.[17]

There is no way one can trace the origins of clothing as a magic tool. Clothing has existed for as long as humans have, and is older than language itself. Clothing is a representation of the individual; it is a huge element of society. People just took that ideology and applied it to their tales. The narratives of supernatural beings using magical clothing just reflects our own human society, where clothing is used as a reflection of our inner psyche[18]. It’s an attempt to make these magical beings more human-like.

[1] Robersto Rosaspini Raynolds, El Magico Mundo De Los Duendes (Buenos Aires:Ediciones Continente, 2001), p 28.

[2] ^Robersto Rosaspini Raynolds, El Magico Mundo De Los Duendes, p 29.

[3] William Butler Yeats, Fairy and folk tales of Ireland (New York: Touchstone, 1998) p 60.

[4] Orkneyjar.com,“The Selkie-folk”, last accessed Tuesday, May 17, 2011. http://www.orkneyjar.com/folklore/selkiefolk/index.html

[5] Juliette Wood (1992). The Fairy Bride Legend in Wales
Folklore, 103 (1), 56-72

[6] University of Pittsburg, “Swan Maidens”, last accessed Tuesday, May 17, 2011. http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/swan.html

[7] Sacred-texts.com, “The She Wolf”, last accessed Tuesday, May 17, 2011.

http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/sfs/sfs72.htm

[8] Italo Calvino, Italian Fairy Tales (Torino: Giulio Einaudi editore, 1956) p 591.

[9] Livingmyths.com, “Native American Myths”, last accessed Tuesday, May 17, 2011, http://www.livingmyths.com/Native.htm

[10] University of Virginian Library, “Hagoromo”, last accessed Tuesday, May 17, 2011. http://etext.virginia.edu/japanese/noh/PouHago.html

[11] William Hansen, Classical mythology: a guide to the mythical world of the Greeks and Romans (New York: Oxford, 2004), p 325.

[12] Susannah Marriot, The Ultimate Fairy Handbook, (London: Octopus Publishing Group, 2008), p 274.

[13] Monstrous, “Italian Fairies”, Last accessed Wednesday, May 18, 2011. http://faerie.monstrous.com/italian_faeries.htm

[14] Raffaella Benvenuto, “Italian Fairies”, Last accessed Wednesday, May 18, 2011.

http://www.endicott-studio.com/rdrm/rrItalianF3.html

[15] Katherine M. Briggs, The Fairies in English Tradition and Literature, (London: University of Chicago Press, 1967) p 57.

[16] Jane Garry, Archetypes and motifs in folklore and literature, (Edmonds: M.E. Sharpe, 2005) p 162.

[17] University of Pittsburg, “The Nibelungenlied”, Last accessed Wednesday, May 18, 2011. http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/nibelungenlied.html

[18] Carole Scott (1996). Magical Dress: Clothing and Transformation in Folk Tales Children's Literature Association Quarterly, 21 (4), 151-157Children's Literature Association Quarterly, 21 (4), 151-157

Supernatural Abductions: UFO & Folklore Narratives

2011-05-06T15:55:00.000-07:00

Arthur Rackham's Illustration to J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan in Kensington Garden

You don’t know what’s going on. You feel sedated, numb, yet you still hold on to the little bit of consciousness you have going on. As you look up, strange blurry figures are looking down on you, figures which disproportionate unhuman appearance fade against the blazing bright white background. You struggle, in the inside, as your frozen body does not allow you to move. You don’t remember how you got there, and last time you were somewhat conscious you were about to fall asleep in your own bed. Sometime later on you wake up in your room, realizing you had a horrible dream, but as you look down you see little marks on your body, as if someone had been operating on you. A UFO enthusiast would tell you that you’ve been abducted by aliens, but take that same scenario and place it sometime in the 15^th century; you had been abducted by fairies

Introduction

Ever since oral tradition has been part human society, stories of kidnappings and abductions on a supernatural level has been passed down through folklore. In pre-modern folklore most stories of such kind revolve around a supernatural being or monster, entities mostly known to the modern folklorist as fairies, because “even in folklore that uses the term ‘fairy’ there are many definitions of what constitutes a fairy. Sometimes the term is used to describe any magical creature, including goblins or gnomes: at other times, the term only describes a specific type of more ethereal creature”.^[1]However, there is a new folkloric entity that has pretty much taken over that role in these modern times, aliens. The concept of extraterrestrial life was first scholarly discussed around the time of the Greek philosopher Thales ^[2], around 600 BC, but it wasn’t until the mid-1930’s that aliens started appearing in mainstream publications, and not until the 1960’s that stories of alien abductions became widespread. A comparison of both fairy kidnappings throughout historical folklore and modern alien abduction experiences contain terrifying parallels. It is the similarly of both folkloric entities that “has forced UFO researchers such as John Keel and Jacques Valee to the conclusion that medieval fays [fairies] and modern aliens are expressions of the same underlying reality.”^[3]

When does it all start? Fairy abductions are as old a religion itself. Supernatural kidnappings have been recorded for centuries; in Greek mythology, for example, Zeus is portrayed as a deity fond of kidnapping mortals. The fuzz with alien abductions started mainly with the landmark case of Antonio Villas Boas, a Brazilian farmer who claims to have been abducted in 1957, and had the following happen to him:

“He was taken abroad a spacecraft where beings in spacesuits undressed him, took a blood sample from him and then covered his body in a thick, odorless liquid. He was left alone and shortly thereafter, a naked alien ‘woman’ came in, manually aroused him, had sex with him twice and stored some sperm in a container before exiting. Villas Boas also claimed that before she left, the woman pointed to her belly, and then towards the sky; he interpreted this to mean that he had impregnated her and that his child would be born somewhere in outer space.” ^[4]

Note should be taken that this is not the first recorded UFO sighting but the first international widespread case of an alien abduction.

“By 1985, some 1200 North Americans abductions were filled under the names of the abductees […] 300 of these were carefully studied by folklorist Thomas E Bullard and 103 were considered by Bullard ‘high information cases.’ […] [His] comparative studies suggest that there is a persistent structure to Abduction Report, with the same episode reoccurring in invariant order in 80% of the ‘high information’ narratives […][–] Capture, Examination, Conference, Tour, Loss of time, Return, Theophany and Aftermath.”^[5]

Spirited Away

All reports of Alien Abductions start with the first encounter. People claim to have been abducted from a variety of places, forests, while driving, even in their own homes and while sleeping, but there is an element in the way they are captured that unites almost all cases, a change in their state of consciousness. “The abductee experiences an intense blue or white light, a buzzing or humming sound, anxiety and the sense of an unexplained presence. He or she is then transported or ‘floated’ into a craft,”^[6]just like how in renaissance times “witches supposedly were taken into the air for meetings with the devil.” ^[7]The abductee then either loses his memory, or remembers moving in a trance-like state; the environment is often surround with blinding lights and/or mist. British researchers have called it the “Oz Factor”^[8], a shift in the state of mind where the environments seems to fall of perception, one becomes introspective, and transitions to a state of limited self-willed mobility.^[9]In fairy folklore the “Oz factor” also plays an important role when it comes to kidnappings. “According to Romanian data, fairies ‘charm’ their men with their song, [and] lull them to sleep. […] Let us quote from a lively Hungarian memorate from Gyimes about a young man who fell into a trance under influence of the dancing and singing fairies: ‘[…] a whooshing wind came and three woman […] made him dance, and dance, and dance forever.’ ”^[9]The act of mystical creatures using mind altering powers to “abduct” humans is a universal pattern, a few examples can be found in the folklore of the Scottish selklie – a deadly water horse, mermaids, the Greek sirens, British fairies, the list could go on and on. The Oz factor seems to just be a new academic term for fairy Charm.

Out of all alien abduction cases, perhaps the most common or widespread scenario takes place while sleeping. Psychology’s “main alternative theory is that abductions are associated with sleep paralysis,”^[10]a highly unexplored sleep phenomenon when one basically wakes up while the mind and body are still in dream mode, creating a perception of distorted reality. A folkloric comparative approach will reveal that aliens, the source of these nightly episodes according to modern perception, run parallel with the fairies of the past, this time through the concept the boogieman, “the scary figure that would ‘get you’ if you were bad or left you bed at night.” ^[11]In both, the tales of the boogieman and the alien abduction narratives, we have scary visitors that terrorize us at night. The concept of the boogieman is said to have its origins in the stories of the Boggart,^[12]a malevolent English fairy that hides or appears from under the bed or in the closet and scares its victims. The archetype of the Boggart is universal, in German folklore, for example, a type of fairy called Alp, “presses upon sleeping people so that they cannot utter a sound. These attacks are called Alpdrücke (nightmares),” ^[13]and have been theorized as a folk explanation for sleep paralysis, which, as I mentioned before, is the psychological explanation for Alien abductions. Not only is the similarity between Fairy kidnappings and Alien abductions fully comparable on a folkloric level, but it’s reinforced by psychology, as you can see by the Sleep paralysis theory.

The Experience

This is perhaps the most interesting part in the abduction narrative, because its gives us an insight into “the other world(s)”. As I mentioned earlier, when folklorist Thomas Bullard explored the narratives of the Abduction phenomena of the late 20^th century, after the capture, he classified the abductees’ experience as Examination, Conference, and Tour, with the examination being the highlight of the experience, and the last 2 being less common hazy elements.

Among modern abductees, sexual encounters are a common theme among the examination recollections, as reflected on Antonio Villas Boas’ case (the Brazilian farmer) a few paragraphs ago, where he had sex with the alien twice. While in Villas Boas’ case, and many others, intercourse does occur, alternatively, author Joan d’Arc says that:

“It is reported that males are forced to ejaculate semen by means of masturbation, induction of female imagery, by the use of a special instrument, or by introduction of a ‘female’ alien abductee. Conversly, female alien abductees are reportedly impregnated by sperm donor without actual sex. This allegedly follows the painful extraction on the fetus, which occurs at about 3 month’s gestation” ^[14]

Whether the encounters actually involve intercourse or not, they do belong to a sexual nature, showing a common theme, crossbreeding, and folklore is no stranger to it. The Book of Genesis tells us that “the sons of God [angels] saw the daughters of men that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose.” ^[15] European folklore tells stories about “the amorous relations between fairies and humans, to human wives stolen by fairy husbands [and vice versa], […] [such as] the poetic story of a bride desired by a fairy husband and carried off into Fairy land, […][that is] the Irish Legend of Mifhir and Etain.” ^[16] Deviating from Eurocentric folklore, the same concept can be found in Native American myths, such as the apache story of “The girl, and the water sprit” where a girl is abducted, and taken as a wife, by a water fairy.^[17]Another example comes from Chinese mythology, which depicts fairies (or animal spirits) usually taking same-sex partners, such as the tale of the "Old Farmer and a Dragon", in which a sixty-year old farmer is forcibly sodomised by a passing dragon.[18]Researcher Dr. Richard L. Thompson explains that:

“Just as we find in UFO cases, it seems that sex desire and genetic considerations are involved in these abductions. In support of this, Vallee [UFO researcher] cited Edwin Hartland, a scholar of fairy traditions, as to the reasons people in Northern European countries gave for this abduction of children: ‘ The motive usually assigned to fairies in Northern stories is that of preserving and improving their race, on the one hand by carrying off human children to be brought up among the elves and to become united with them, and on the other hand by obtaining the milk and fostering care of human mothers for their own offspring.’” ^[19]

It is strong similarities like these that make the case of UFO and fairy/supernatural comparisons.

Unlike the examination pattern in UFO narratives, the themes of Conference, and Tour are extremely hazy and vague. The “conference” part of the narrative consists of interaction between the abductee and the aliens, while the “tour” aspect consists of the exploration or showing of the surrounding. Because in supernatural adductions in folklore the act of interaction and/or viewing of the surroundings are given elements, comparing it to UFO narratives would be redundant.

Coming Back

Bullard’s 5^thnarrativeelement is “Loss of time”, most commonly known as the phenomenon of missing time. “Many people have come forward telling of perplexing experiences wherein they have seen a UFO […] only to find out later an hour or two has escaped them, and no memory of the “missing time,” ^[20]such as thefamous, highly documented, and investigated case of Barney and Berry Hill. On the evening of September 19, 1961 around 10 p.m., the Hills were driving through the isolated U.S. Route 3 in New Hampshire, when they saw a light in the sky move frantically. Having stopped the car to walk their dog, Barney got a closer view of the light with a pair of binoculars and swears to have seen a flying saucer. They continued driving as the object got closer to them, until it descended 80–100 feet above the Hills; Barney got out of the car, but when he realized their intentions of capture, he got back and stated driving at fast speed. Almost immediately the Hills found themselves 35 miles from where they originally were, with no memory of what had happened, or how they got there. The last thing Mrs. Hill remembers is the car vibrating and the sound a microwave beep. ^[21] Hundreds of documented cases have shown the same pattern, but of course this is nothing new. In a Welsh folk tale, Rhys and Llewellyn were two servants that were walking home from work at night, when all the sudden Rhys started hearing a sweet melody; he decides to follow the music, while Llewellyn decides to go home. Months pass without Rhys being seen, and Llewellyn decides to look for him in the spot where the alleged music was playing. Rhys was found dancing within a fairy ring, later claiming that he had only been there for 5 minutes. ^[22]A similar story comes from the Chinese Western Jìn Dynasty. Two cousins went out searching for food, but soon forgot their duties; among the forests they found a cave with two elderly fairy creatures playing chess. They watched until the match was over, but when the two cousins turned around and started going back, one of the old fairies told them things were going to be different. When the two cousins went back to their village, they found out 500 years had actually passed.^[23]It is common belief that humans, upon entrance to “Fairyland”, or any other type of other world, suffer from time dilatation, and the UFO abduction phenomenon is the perfect example of it.

The missing time experience also accompanies certain side effects. The 6^th element in a UFO narrative is known as the return. This deals with the state in which abductees are returned to earth, both physical and mental. Abductees are often returned in different locations, such as in the case of Travis Walton. On November 5, 1975, Travis was abducted in the middle of the forest in the small town of Snowflake, Arizona. Travis and his fellow logging crew were driving through the forest, when they encountered a weird light a few yards off the side of the dirt road. When Travis got out of the car and tried to approach the light, he was hit with a blazing light that completely paralyzed him, and threw him several feet back into the air. His crew drove away in fear, but later went back the same night with help; Travis wasn’t there anymore. An intense search party was organized; Travis later reappeared 5 days later, unaware or the missing time, 30 miles where he had been abducted. He later remembered strange beings looking down on him while semi-conscious. ^[24]Japanese folklore tells us a similar case:

On the evening of September 30th 1907 a child in a village in Aichi prefecture disappeared just as everyone was busy preparing the white rice cakes to be offered to the god at a festival the next day. When the celebrations were over and the child was still found to be missing, a frantic search was made throughout the village. For some hours all efforts proved fruitless. Then suddenly a loud thump was heard on the ceiling of the child's own house. They climbed up to see what had caused the noise, and found the child stretched out unconscious, his mouth covered with white rice. When at length he recovered his senses he told them that he had been standing under the big cedar tree in the shrine precincts when a stranger had appeared and taken him away. ^[25]

In Japanese folklore, is was assumed that if a person suddenly disappeared he/she would have been taken by a god for a short journey, however, if all search for the missing person was fruitless, then it was assumed he/she had been carried off by a fairy creature. In addition, it was common for such abductees to end up in inexplicable places. ^[26]In both types of narratives we get individuals that have experienced missing time, and come back telling stories of supernatural beings, but don’t actually know how they got to where they were.

Right after an alien abduction, it is common for abductees to find something wrong with their bodies, often finding bruises, or strange marks on their skin. For example, in the case of Mr., and Mrs. Hill that was explained earlier, warts popped up in a near-perfect circle near Mr. Hill's groin”,[27] five months after his abduction. Surprisingly enough, Dr. Gregory L. Little states that “according to fairy lore, fairies create a circular cluster of small bruises as their mark. The phenomenon is known as ‘fairy bruising’ and is a sign of either favor or disfavor. The ring of bruises is often found around the genitals. They did this, according to various 17th century accounts, by pinching their victims.” [28] A fairy bruise is an alternative form of a witches’ mark. It was believed that witches were marked by the Devil himself, usually in private or unseen parts of the body; the marks were a catalyst for the Devil’s influence. In alien abductions, these marks are assumed to be scars from experimental operations, or perhaps a way for aliens to stamp their victims, such as in the case of Jesse Long. In 1957, Jesse claims to have been abducted at the age of five, along with his younger brother. He says that during his capture a small item was surgically inserted into his left shinbone, which not only caused pain throughout his life, but also claims to be linked to the several abductions he experienced after his childhood. After 34 years, Jesse had the foreign item surgically removed in 1991. While some dismissed the item as simply a small sharp of glass, when it was brought for testing, the material was identifiable and had unique characteristics.[29] Just like witches were controlled by the Devil through marks, modern alien implants serve the same purpose, allegedly.

Theophany & Aftermath

A rarer, yet solid element in the abduction narrative is the pattern of theophany, a manifestation or mystical experience regarding deity to a human relations. While the majority of alien abductees describe the experience as terrifying, there are those who think of it as enlightening, and a religious experience. Anthropologist and researcher Jack hunter writes:

“An example of how such a personal and spiritual transformation can develop from a highly frightening and negative experience comes from an informant with whom I have been in contact. Referring to her terrifying life-long abduction experiences she writes: ‘I'm sure it's had some impact on me ... It has made me more aware of the differences in what is truly God and what isn’t.’ She interpreted her abduction experiences as manifestations of evil, and through this discovered a greater faith ‘in what is truly God’ […][Contrastingly], the Betty Andreasson abduction case of 1967 provides a fascinating perspective on the blurring of distinctions between religious and abduction experiences. Betty Andreasson interpreted her abduction experiences as visitations from angelic beings (the opposite reaction to the abduction case mentioned earlier)” ^[30]

It is understandable how one could take this as a spiritual concept. In folklore and mythology, gods have been known for similar encounters of enlightenment as well, such as the Japanese story told earlier, and in fact “in the Middle Ages abductees would experience some new revelation, uncanny knowledge or a new skill, modern abductees often report returning with psychic powers or messages of impending ecological disasters”. ^[31]Though cases of enlightenment or future-seeing are rare in both folklore and UFO narrative, they have occurred, such as the 1979 case of Filberto Cardenas, a Cuba exile living in Florida. Kidnapped in front of his family, Cardenas recalls being shown images of the future. Among the messages, transmitted by one of the aliens named Kiostros, highlighted the event that came next, the tragic end of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat. That would happen in 1981. An even more surprising is that a movie star and his wife would become president and first lady of the United States, which occurred in January of that year when Ronald Reagan and his wife (Nancy Reagan), both movies actors, went to the White House. He also announced a war in the Middle East, which would involve Saudi Arabia and Israel. In addition, the disappearance from the map of one of the oil producing nations, the small nation of Kuwait. The most significant of these predictions is that it was made years before when hardly anyone had heard of Kuwait.^[32]

Whether real or not, the elements of both types of narrative, folkloric and modern, are without question subject to crucial similarities. The phenomenon of fairies, gods, and UFO abductions are reflections of the same underlying reality. What that reality is, is still in question.

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Notes

Gertrude M. Faulding, Faeries (London: B.T. Batsfors, 1912), VII.
Philip M. Parker, Harbouring: Webster's Quotations, Facts and Phrases (San Diego, ICON Group International, 2008), s.v “Cosmic Pluralism.
John Michael Greer, Monsters, An Investigators Guide to Magical Beings (St. Paul, MN, Llewellyn Publications, 2001), p.90.
Stephen J. Spghesi, UFO book of lists (New York, Citadeal Press, 2000), p77.

Jonathan Z. Smith, “Close encounters of Diverse Kinds.” In: Religion and Cultural Studies, ed, Susan L. Mizruchi (New Jersey, Princeton University Press, 2000), p.5
Susan Blackmore and Marcus Cox, “Alien Abductions, Sleep Paralysis and the Temporal Lobe.” In: European Journal of UFO and Abduction Studies,( 2000) , p113 -118
Gregory L. Little, “UFO Abductions Through The Ages.” Think about it. Last accessed Friday, January 14, 2011. http://www.think-aboutit.com/abductions/AlienAbductionsThroughTheAges.htm
Joe Nyman, "A Composite Encounter Model." In: Pritchard, Andrea & Pritchard, David E. & Mack, John E. & Kasey, Pam & Yapp, Claudia. Alien Discussions: Proceedings of the Abduction Study Conference (Cambridge: North Cambridge Press, 1994) p. 83-85.
Éva Pócs, “Possesion Phenomena, Possession Systems. Some East-Central European Examples.” In: Demons, Spirits, Witches Vol. 2, ed, Gábor Klaniczay, Éva Pócs (New York, Central European University Press, 2005) p103.
^ Blackmore & Cox, “Alien Abductions, Sleep Paralysis and the Temporal Lobe”, 200.
Simon J. Bronner, American children's folklore (Little Rock, Arkansas, August House, 1988) p.143
Chris McNab, Ancient Legends/Folklore. New York: Scholastic, Inc., 2007.
Monstrous.com. “Faerie A-E,” Last accessed Saturday, December 25, 2010. http://faerie.monstrous.com/faerie_a-e.htm.
Joan d’Arc, Phenomenal World (Escondido, CA, The Book Tree, 2000), p 12.
Gen. 6:1-4 (King James Version).
Katharine Briggs, The fairies in tradition and literature (London, Routledge Classics, 2002), p147.
Harry Hoijer, “The girl and the water spirit” in: Chiricahua and Mescalero Apache Texts. University of Virginia Library. Last accessed Thursday, December 30, 2010. http://etext.virginia.edu/apache/frames/ChiEn37.html
Xiaomingxiong, "Chinese Mythology " in: GLBTQ Encyclopedia. Last accessed Thursday, December 30, 2010. http://www.glbtq.com/literature/chinese_myth.html.
Richard L. Thompson, Alien Identities, (Alachua, FL: Govardhan Hill Publishing, 1995)
James L. Thompson, Alien Encounters, (Horizon Publisher, 1995). p84
^ James L. Thompson, Alien Encounters. p87
Wirt, Sikes, British goblins: Welsh folk lore, fairy mythology, legends and traditions, (Boston, James R. Osgood & Company, 1881) p 70-71.
Roberto Rosaspini Reynolds, El Magico Mundo de Los Duendes (Buenos Aires, Ediciones Continente, 2001) p22.
Weird Travels. Episode no. 6, first broadcast January 27, 2006 by Travel Channel. Directed by Emre Sahinand.
Blacker, C. (1967). Supernatural Abductions in Japanese Folklore Asian Folklore Studies, 26 (2) DOI: 10.2307/1177730
^ Carmen Blacker, “Supernatural Abductions in Japanese Folklore.” p 111
Jerome Clark. The UFO Book: Encyclopedia of the Extraterrestrial (Detroit, Visible Ink, 1998). p 282
^Gregory L. Little, “UFO Abductions Through The Ages.”

29. Encounters of the Fourth Kind, first broadcast in 1989 by NBC. Directed by Drew Cummings

30. Jack Hunter “Paranormal Experience,” Paranthropology, http://paranthropology.weebly.com/paranormal-experience.html (accessed January, 15, 2011).

31. Jenny, Randles. Alien Contacts & Abductions (New York City: Sterling Publishing Group, 1994) p 151.

32. Ufoevidence.“Filiberto Cardenas Abduction and Contact Case”. Last accessed May 6, 2011. http://www.ufoevidence.org/cases/case695.htm

Analysis: Katherine Anne Porter

2011-05-06T12:11:00.001-07:00

Born on May 15, 1819, in Texas, today Katherine Anne Porteris one of the most celebrated authors in American Literature. She is mostlyknown for her collection of short stories, for which she won a Pulitzer Prize,often writing about themes regarding justice, betrayal, and the unforgivingnature of the human race (PBS). Porter lived “in Greenwich Village duringits cultural and literary heyday, and [later in] Mexico during its culturalrevolution of the 1920s. In the early thirties, she experienced Berlin duringthe years when Nazism was on the rise, after which she moved to Paris during atime of impending war. She then returned to the United States and lived there throughoutthe years of the Cold War” (University of Maryland Libraries). Her travels gaveher a diverse pool of inspiration. The following paragraphs will discuss theinfluence that Porter’s life had on her works, the depiction of her writingstyle, themes and symbolism, and analyses of her writings through the eyes ofcritics.

Throughout her life, Porter made many “long-lastingfriendships with many of the literary lights of the era, including Robert PennWarren, Flannery O’Connor, Eudora Welty, Sylvia Beach, Glenway Wescott, andMalcolm Cowley” (University of Maryland Libraries). First published in 1914, Dublinerswas a collection of short stories written by James Joyce; it had been documentedin an essay that Porter once wrote, that Joyce had made a great impression onher (Ryan). Even though Porter’s stories are extremely diverse, one can see howJoyce’s work could have inspired her; Marjorie Ryan from Arizona StateUniversity believes it is evident, and writes:

A dominant theme in [Porter’s] work […]is the theme of Dubliners: the hopelessness and futility of many lives […] andsome of her stories of trapped people, only dimly, if at all, aware of anyother kind of life and struggling only feebly, if at all, to escape-notably"A Day's Work," "The Downward Path to Wisdom," and"The Cracked Looking-Glass"-are Joyceian in technique as well as intheme. Another group of stories are variations on the theme of Dubliners,though quite different from any of Joyce's stories in technique:"Theft," "That Tree," and "Rope" (Ryan).

When one reads Porter’s biography one can see how it mimicsher fiction. In fact, Darlene H. Unrue, a distinguished Professor of English atUniversity of Nevada, says her life was the main source of inspiration for herstories where betrayal and disillusionment played a role, specificallyspeaking, self-betrayal, the failure of romantic idealism, and the never-endingand unsuccessful search for home, and love. Unrue hypothesizes that the deathof Porter’s mother at the age of 3, the denial of her father, and theidolization of her grandmother (her caregiver) caused Porter to sanctifymotherhood. Porter’s idealized concept of motherhood and her failure to fulfillit after an abusive marriage and two other fruitless ones, multiple affairs, amiscarriage, and an abortion resulted in Porter’s frustration, loneliness, anddisappointment reflected in her works. This is mostly represented in “MariaConcepcion”, Porter’s first published adult fiction, written a year after herabortion (Unrue).

Beyond being a writer in search for love and motherhood,Porter was also a political activist; she was moderate liberal, acivil-libertarian, and an avowed Democrat. In 1920, she was offered a jobwriting for a magazine in Mexico, where she took interest in the localpolitics, and social issues. She was motivated by “her concern for the poorestof the oppressed Mexican people, the Indians. This […][is] clearly evident inthree early essays […]’The Fiesta of Guadalupe,’ first published in 1920; ‘TheMexican Trinity,’ first published in 1921; and ‘Where Presidents Have NoFriends,’ published in 1922. In all three she emphasizes class antagonism”(Stout).

When it comes to the writing style of Katherine Anne Porter,she is known for her use of stream-of-consciousness, a method which involves“trying to mimic a person’s chaotic thought process, bringing in the things wehear, see and think all at once”(Wang). She uses this method in her short stories“The Jilting of Granny Weatherall”, and “Flowing Judas”. In the first story,Granny Weatherall is a semi-conscious and mentally decaying woman on herdeathbed with chaotic thoughts about death, God and her family, a plot in whichthis technique emphasizes the nature of the mental state of a moribundold person. The stream-of-consciousness is “especially well-suited to the storybecause it reveals Granny’s alternating confused and clear thoughts during herfinal moments as she moves from lucid consciousness to confusesemi-consciousness” (Wang). “Flowering Judas” is the story of Laura, anidealistic woman who travels to Mexico from Arizona at the age of twenty-two toassist the Obregon Revolution, and from time to time Porter usesstream-of-consciousness to express the free-flowing thoughts of Laura (Wang).

“Ship of Fools” was Porter’s only novel, and a best seller,a story in which ethnically and nationally different character travel fromMexico to Europe in the same ship. In the story, she explores the origin ofhuman evil through the allegorical use of characters, who represent variousnational and moral types. The story juxtaposes the Nazi belief that disabled,ill or ethnic people are genetically inferior, and it “represents Porter’slife-long attempt to sort out her—and her era’s—beliefs about health, illness,ethnicity, genetics, and their relationships to morality. The noveldemonstrates the ways in which common, seemingly banal assumptions andbehaviors about health, not exclusive to the Nazis or even Nazi era Germans,formed one of the underpinnings of the Holocaust.” (Roney). Porter was not onlypolitically, but personally motivated towards the subject of eugenics, as shetoo was victim of a socially stigmatized disease – tuberculosis.

“The Grave” is one of many short stories written by Porter.It tells the story of Miranda and Paul who are hunting in the fields, anddecide to search for treasures in an empty grave. There Paul finds a gold ring,while Miranda finds a silver dove figurine, and exchanges for the ring. Thedove in the story is thought to symbolize “innocence, love and peace, and ithas been proposed that the dove’s emergence from the grave suggests innocenceborn from experience” (Wang). As they continue hunting, Paul shoots a rabbit inthe head, and as he starts skinning it they realized the rabbit was pregnant.Ru Wang at the Harbin Medical University says the rabbit and the grave conveyone single meaning:

A grave without a coffin is just a holein the ground. The grave is death. But the rabbit is life. As the gravesprovided treasure for the children, they began to kill and skin the pregnantrabbit. Miranda, “excited but not frightened,” exclaims “I do not want theskin…, I won’t have it.” “Paul buried the young rabbits again in their mother’sbody, wrapped the skin around her, carried her to a clump of sage bushes, andhid her away,” then returned to swear Miranda to secrecy. Cycle of life in thestory appears when the reader sees at least two graves---the literal grave andthe rabbit.” (Wang)

In 1930, Porter published her first short story collection,“Flowering Judas and Other Stories”; an expanded edition of this collection waspublished in 1935 with such an amount of critical response that it assured hera place in American Literature (Ryan). “Flowering Judas” is perhaps her mostfamous, critically acclaimed and symbolism-filled short story, a genre she isknown for. The narrative tells the story of Laura, an American who hasmoved to Mexico “with certain preconceived, romanticized ideas about therevolution and the makeup of a genuine revolutionary. [However,] these notionshave been shattered by the crude manners and ‘gluttonous bulk’ of Braggioni[her boss, revolutionary leader, and suitor ] who has become a ‘symbol of hermany disillusions’” (Bloom 15). With multiple suitors trying to serenadeLaura hopelessly, the disappointment of Braggioni as leader, due to hisruthlessness to those who do not coincide with his beliefs, and the manyprisoners who blindly rely on him for hope, Laura feels like a stranger to thepoint of regretting her situation.

Unlike Laura’s expectations before coming to Mexico, she’splaying an inactive role in the revolution; running errands for Braggioni, she“is the passive being in a man's world, both consciously and unconsciouslycatering to the world of masculine urges to power and dominance; thus she is a‘Judas’ figure in full bloom as the story unfolds” (Bloom 19), this statementcan also be supported by the fact that Braggioni left his wife in order topursue Laura. Laura, scared to defy Braggioni, fulfills his every desire,and as a virgin, mentally alienated from men, is fearful of his romanticpursuit, afraid of his sexual intensions. In fact, Laura's “oiling ofBraggioni's guns has been seen as a masturbatory image” (Bloom 23), and perhapsa foreshadowing of how this relationship might have ended.

Porter once said that “her symbolism was not conscious ordeliberate, and that she could only see it after the work was completed. […][Yet she used] a great deal of religious symbolism in my stories because [shehad] a very deep sense of religion” (California State University StanislausEnglish Department). This aspect of her creative process will always berepresented in “Flowering Judas” through the symbolism of the Judas tree, which“name originated from the belief that Judas Iscariot, the betrayer of Christ,hanged himself on one of them”(Wang). Towards the ending of the story, Laurahas a dream in which she’s visited by Eugenio, a deceased political prisonerwho viewed Braggioni as his only hope of liberation , yet was unaware Braggioni’s apathy towards people like him. In the dream, Eugenio asks Laura tofollow him, rips a flower from a Judas Tree, also known as redbud tree, andpasses it softly across Laura’s lips. She then eats the flower symbolizing the“betrayal of her own spirit and of humanity” (Wang). Porter’s use of religioussymbolism also juxtaposes with what was stated earlier, that Porter reflectedher own sense of self betrayal throughout her writings, with “Flowering Judas”being a great example.

Porter‘s works show a raw reflection of a person’s demons,such as her themes of self betrayal, and life disillusions. She is an“important writer of the modern period, not only because of the quality of herfiction, but because she was at the center of so much of the artistic andpolitical activities of the 1920s and 1930s” (Stuckey). Sadly, Porter is slowlyfading into obscurity, as her works are not as popular as they were before.Single, and without children, she died on September 18, 1980, at the age of 90;her ashes were buried next to her mother.

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Works Cited

Bloom, Harold. Katherine Anne Porter.Broomall, PA: Chelsea House, 2001. Print.

California State University StanislausEnglish Department. "PAL: Katherine Anne Porter (1890-1980)"California State University Stanislaus English Department. California StateUniversity. Web. 4 Mar. 2011.

PBS. " Katherine AnnePorter." PBS.org. 28 Sep. 2002. Web. 20 April 2011.

Roney, Lisa. “Ship of Fools: AnInterrogation of Eugenics”. Papers on Language & Literature 45.1(2009):82-107. Web. 04 April. 2011.

Ryan, Marjorie. “Dubliners and theStories of Katherine Anne Porter”. American Literature 31. 4 (1960):464-73. Web. 04 April. 2011.

Stout, Janis P. “Something of aReputation as a Radical’: Katherine Anne Porter's Shifting Politics” SouthCentral Review 10. 1 (1993):49-66. Web. 04 April. 2011.

Stuckey, W.J.. “The Letters ofKatherine Anne Porter (review)”. MFS Modern Fiction Studies 36.4(1990): 568-569. Web. 26 April. 2011.

University of Maryland Libraries.“Katherine Anne Porter Society.” University of Maryland Libraries. Universityof Maryland. Web. 20 Apr 2011.

Unrue, Darlene “H. UHV/ABR ReadingSeries - Part 1”. Youtube.com. 4 May 2010. Web. 4 Mar. 2011.

Wang, Ru. "Stream-of-consciousness of Katherine Anne Porter’s short stories." US-ChinaForeign Language Journal 8.4 (2010): 61-64. Web. 4 Mar. 2011.

Wang, Ru. "Symbolism---The MainArtistic Style of Katherine Anne Porter’s Short Stories." EnglishLanguage Teaching 3.3 (2010): 95-97. Web. 5 Mar. 2011.

The History of the Tarot

2011-02-27T17:18:00.000-08:00

Paul E. Gipp, Tarot Expert and author of the Tarot for Common Folk, discusses the the History of the Tarot in this You tube Series.

Analysis: "I Heard a Fly Buzz – When I Died" by Emily Dickinson

2011-02-25T21:22:00.000-08:00

I heard a fly buzz when I died;
The stillness round my form
Was like the stillness in the air
Between the heaves of storm.

The eyes beside had wrung them dry,
And breaths were gathering sure
For that last onset, when the king
Be witnessed in his power.

I willed my keepsakes, signed away
What portion of me I
Could make assignable,-and then
There interposed a fly,

With blue, uncertain, stumbling buzz,
Between the light and me;
And then the windows failed, and then
I could not see to see.

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The poem” I Heard a Fly Buzz – When I Died”, by Emily Dickinson, is a poem about death. Having already died, the speaker tells us how at the last moments of
his life, right when he is about to reach the light, a fly shows up. The small insect and its buzzing sound places itself “between the light and [the speaker]” (Dickinson line 14), when the poem suddenly ends in blackness. The reader is then left questioning whether the narrator has actually reached the light or not. The Fly represents everything that goes against what the persona believed in, and hoped for (that he would be greeted by God), death, and the thought that God might not be real.

Emily Dickenson

As the persona lies in his in his deathbed, he awaits the coming of a supernatural presence, and simply assumes it will be God who receives him. The eternal judgment is done by the Divine, not by the mortal, because no one is free of sin; Dickinson knew this very well. Going against conservative Christian values, many of Dickinson’s poems allude to earthly desires, such as her poem “Wild Nights – Wild Nights”, which is described as “a poem of unrestrained sexual passion and rapture” (Brooklyn College English Department). Additionally, many of her “poems and letters seem to illustrate lesbian affection” (Freeman 185). No one knows for sure if they deserve God, though many, like the speaker, believe they do. However, for every positive there is a negative, and it could be that the fly in the poem stands for “Beelzebub [a mytho-biblical devil], who is also known as lord of the flies. Sometimes Beelzebub is used as another name for Satan” (Brooklyn College English Department). Perhaps Dickinson did not mean the persona to reach Heaven, but Hell, playing on the disappointment of assuming God would be there instead.

As the narrator dies, he prepares for that moment when “the king [will] be witnessed” (Dickinson 7-8). It is safe to assume that the narrator is referring to God, but when the fly shows up instead, the “windows failed” (Dickinson 14), and we immediately get a sense of blackness; this illustrates physical death. When “Dickinson deliberately rhymes ‘me’ with ‘Fly’ over the last two stanzas, everything Changes. The dying speaker realizes the insignificant fly is herself. Her death-emblem is no winged Psyche-soul rising like a butterfly from the discarded body, but rather a fly, a mocking (and songless) sign of mortal dissolution” (Vendler 268). The fly is indeed a King, a supernatural entity, but it is neither God nor Satan; the fly could be the personification of the narrator’s death.

Tough raised by Orthodox Congregationalists (Protestants), Dickinson was always an individual thinker when it came to faith (Myers). Not much is known about her spirituality, even though she often wrote about faith. In a letter to her friend and sister-in-law, Susan Dickinson, Emily says that “faith is doubt” (Smith); this reveals she might have had agnostic views. In “I Heard a Fly Buzz – When I Died”, when expecting a meeting with the King (god), all the narrator gets is a fly. Author Paula Bennett explains it’s sad and cruel meaning:

'[The] windows' 'fail' and speaker is left in darkness--in death, in ignorance. She cannot 'see' to 'see' (understand). Given that the only sure thing we know about 'life after death' is that flies--in their adult form and more particularly, as maggots--devour us, the poem is at the very least a grim joke. In projecting her death-bed scene, Dickinson confronts her ignorance and gives back the only answer human knowledge can with any certainty give. While we may hope for an afterlife, no one, not even the dying, can prove it exists. (Bennett)

The narrator was jilted by God, and it is not what the Fly represents that matters, but what it does not. There is no significance to the Fly other than truth, and reality. Reading the poem Dickinson seems to allege there is no God. The Fly is nothing more than just a regular and ordinary fly that just happens to be there. The Fly causes the realization that God is not there, and perhaps he never was. This does not particularly mean that God does not exist, but that he might just not be real, because faith is indeed doubt.

The poem, being about death, played on the irony of life, and faith. What we think it is real might not be, even if we truly belief it is. The narrator, exited about meeting God, and finally reaching heaven, is left blank, doubtful, and unsure of what awaits him, or if this is the end. Going against everything the narrator believed in, and hoped for, God did not show up; the narrator did not reach the light, if there was even a light to reach, or if there is even a God to go to. Left in darkness, what followed we will never know.

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Works Cited

Bennett, Paula. “On 465 ("I Heard a Fly Buzz--when I Died--").” Department of English, College of LAS, University of Illinois. University of Illinois. Web. 17 Feb. 2011. .

Brooklyn College English Department . "I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died." Brooklyn College English Department. Brooklyn College. Web. 18 Feb. 2011. .

Brooklyn College English Department . "Wild nights! Wild nights!." Brooklyn College English Department. Brooklyn College. Web. 18 Feb. 2011. .

Dickinson, Emily. “I Heard a Fly Buzz – When I Died.” Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing, Forth Compact Edition. Ed Edgar V. Roberts. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2008, 742.

Freeman, Kimberly. "Dickinson, Emily." Reader's Guide to Lesbian and Gay Studies. 1st ed. Ed. Timothy Murphy . Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn, 200. 185. Google Books. Web. 21 Feb. 2011.

Myers, Micheal. “Biography of Emily Dickinson”. Virginia Commonwealth University English Department. Virginia Commonwealth University. Web. 17 Feb. 2011. .

Smith, Martha Nell "Omissions Are Not Accidents: Erasures & Cancellations in Emily Dickinson's Manuscripts." Writings by Emily Dickinson: Mutilations. Dickinson Electronic Archives. Web. 17 Feb. 2011. .

Vendler, Helen. Dickinson: Selected Poems and Commentaries. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2010. Google Books. Web. 21 Feb. 2011.

A Fairy Encounter in the Peruvian Amazon: An Interview

2010-12-28T17:34:00.000-08:00

This is my first conducted interview as an amateur folklorist, I'm exited. To view this post as a document click [here]
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        On December 27, 2010, I interviewed a long time friend, and fairy believer, Lili Noemi Castillo via chat, regarding her supernatural encounters with duendes (a generic Spanish term for fairies/elves) during her childhood. I have known about these stories for quite some time, for Lili was my family’s nanny when I was growing up. I decided that as a folklorist, I had to officially record her experience. Lili claims that her stories are 100% real, and that she did not make them up; she tells me these stories as vividly as she remembers.

       She and her family lived in the province of Tocache, a rural undeveloped community in the region of San Martin, located in the upper part of the Peruvian Amazon rainforest. Lili tells us about two incidents that happened in 1987 when she was 7 years old. “It happened every time my little sister felt asleep under a banana plant, especially in the afternoon,” says Lili, referring to Iris Castillo, who was four years old at the time. Every time, she would wake up crying and complain that someone was pinching her, and of course, no one was. One time, she woke up, and immediately stood up in a bench and flapped her arms as if wanting to fly, however, the most terrifying occasion happened when the duende actually tried to take Iris. “She was crying a lot, saying someone was taking her. It looked as if someone was pulling her hands, but we didn’t see anything,” says Lili. She said that her little sister described the entity as an old man. When I asked her how her family managed to get rid of it, she told me that they used garlic or placed culantro on the eyes (not to be confused with cilantro, though both herbs are cousins) because the smell drives away the duendes. Additionally, she tells me of another method involving painting the face black.

        The second story told by Lili is much more detailed, involving a face-to-face encounter with a duende. When she was seven, everyday about 3P.M., she and her younger sister Iris would accompany their mom to their chacra (farming ground) within the dense vegetation of the forest to feed their ducks, turkeys, etc, but one day was different, as she narrates:

“Me and Iris would play around and climb trees and pick their fruits. One day, I found myself alone up in a mango tree. I became bored and decided to climb down. That’s when I saw it behind the banana plant. I hid, thinking it was my little sister and wanting to scare her. I saw her from the back. She was naked and had long blonde hair down to its butt crack. ‘What was my little sister doing naked?’ I thought. I got closer, and I pulled her hair, and then I laughed because I quickly hid behind a plant. That’s when I noticed that she wasn’t my sister. I wanted to see its face to know whether it was a boy or a girl, and what it was doing in my chacra, but every time I tried to look, it hid. Then, I saw it—hideous with an old man’s face. I laughed because he was so ugly, and he got angry and grumbled. He was small and had rotten teeth, and I then noticed he had no feet. He was floating. I quickly turned around at the shock, but when I turned back he wasn’t there anymore. I looked for him because I wanted to ask him about his feet but didn’t find him.”

Cross-referring Lili’s story with Amazonian folk belief, there is an entity with matching characteristics. The chullachaqui is an Amazonian duende that presents itself to people that are alone, or walking through the forest, and that at first glance is not recognizable due to the fact that they generally appear transformed as a person who one knows. Additionally, it has also shown to have child-like qualities, and people who have had the chance to see him say that it’s shaped like a small human (1 to 1.5 meters tall). Few have managed to see its face because it is covered or seen from behind, but those who have claim that it has a big nose, is a bit hairy, and wrinkled like an old man. Surprisingly, the reason why it is called chullachaqui is because in Quechua, the main indigenous language of the Andes, chulla means false, and chaqui means feet. [1] Though the reason behind the name is because they say the entity has one human leg and an animal one, and not, as in Lili’s description, because it lacks feet, however, the concept of “false feet” is still relevant.

Lili Noemi Castillo
Born 11/15/1980
Lima, Peru

References

1. Victor Velásquez Zea, “El Duende del Bosque y la cosmovisión forestal,” Monografias.com, http://www.lib.umd.edu/guides/citing_chicnotes.html

The Girl and the Water Spirit

2010-12-09T22:20:00.000-08:00

In the southern boarder of the Unites States exists an extremely arid region known as the Gila Desert, which springs, according to Apache Legend, are inhabited by water monsters, that, just like the following tale narrates, are not "the monsters" the myths paint them to be.

There once was a young sixteen year old Chiricahua woman of exceptional beauty. One day she walked towards the springs near her tribe's camp to fill up a pot of water. Having done so, she covered the pot with a few leaves and started walking back to her tribe, where she never returned. After a while her father, the tribe's Chief, started worrying, and put together a brave search party, but the only thing that they found was the pot floating near shore, and the marks on the ground where she had kneed to collect water.
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Once nightfall came, the father and the rest of the tribe begun the preparations for the funeral ritual and dances, except for the young woman's grandmother who stood behind next to the spring for a whole lunar cycle mourning the death of her granddaughter day and night . But soon her patience and perseverance paid up, for the first night of the new moon something unknown approached the old mourning woman from the waters and said:
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"The girl that your are crying for is perfectly fine, but now she lives in a cave with her new husband, in the deepest part of this spring. Go back and tell your people the good news, and tell them to change their funeral ritual to that of a marriage festivity, a festivity worthy of a chief's daughter wedding."

Filled with joy, the grandmother went back to her tribe and delivered the message, and a fabulous celebration was organized almost immediately. A well known shaman from a neighboring tribe was invited to direct the festivity.

"Let us dance and sing for two full moons, and after we are finished something will tell us what to do!" said the shaman. And so it happened, two months later, as soon as the second full moon appeared, the messenger that had previously spoken to the old woman emerged among the tribe, and spoke with such a powerful voice, that seemed to eminate from every rock and bush in the campsite.

"Go to the spring's shore and wait there, when the sun touches your heads, something will emerge from the water" said the watery person.

The young woman was so loved among its people that next morning the whole tribe waited ashore for the prediction to come true. And so it happened, when the sun reached the middle of the sky, a young, tall and slim man with long luscious black hair emerged from the waters. His eyes shined like stars in a night without moon, and next to him, holding hands, was the young maiden.

"Father!" exclaimed the girl. "I'm fine father, I now live in a better land with this man, who is my husband, by choice, not against my own will. I hope you understand I cannot go back to you, but I ask the tribe to please remain in these mountains for the rest of your lives. My man and I will help you and give you long lives, and your descendants will grow strong and happy. My people will make sure you prosper and that no one ever hurts you."

As he said goodbye to his daughter the Chief knew that he will never see her again. The tribe decided to stay near the spring, but years later the increasing advance of the Mexican Army scared away the tribe's families one by one. The Chief, being the only one left, decided to flee west as well, but was killed by the invading Mexican troops. Perhaps if he had listened to his daughter the water people could have defended him from the enemies.

The anthropology of the Internet

2010-11-28T12:13:00.000-08:00

Dr. Michael Wesch, Assistant Professor of Cultural Anthropology and Digital Ethnography for Kansas State University explains a very interesting subject. A look into Digital Media Culture.

Indigenous People of the Americas: Racism and Struggle.

2010-11-22T16:03:00.000-08:00

“Racism has been an integral component of American culture since its founding upon the genocide of Native Americans.” – Oprah Winfrey

It must be hard to think one can be mistreated, ignored, and discriminated in one’s own land. This is the problem nowadays concerning the lives of the Indigenous people of the American continent, which from now on I will refer to as Native Americans. From Canada to Argentina, Native Americans live a life of poverty, racism, and discrimination. This is a survey of their struggle.
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Map of Indigenous People in Bolivia

Let’s start with the country with the highest percentage of Native Americans, Bolivia. With a population of about 55% Native American It just so happens that 60% of Bolivia lives below the poverty line. It is safe to assume that 99% of the native population is under such standard. Why is that? Well, Bolivia’s poverty could be the result of its history of corruption, wars, and the fact that it lost its coast to Chile in 1884, becoming a landlocked country. But how does this explain the fact that nearly 100% of the native population lives in poverty? According to the white Bolivian elite, the reason is because the country is SO poor and that it cannot support everyone as middle class citizens.

It is amazing how white Bolivians have managed to take over the entertainment business, politics, and private sector in a country where they only account for 15% of the population. The sad part is that this is not exclusive to Bolivia, all throughout South America whites have managed to take over the mainstream world. Racism in South America is subtle but strong. In countries such as Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, and Venezuela, which have high numbers of Native Americans, there is clear representation of white power, even though they make less then 25% of their population. A simple trip to the a capital's most luxurious and popular places will show almost no trace of a person with ethnic facial features (unless he/she has money which is almost never the case). Private clubs and schools sometimes even deny entrance to someone with slightest trace of indigenous roots. And don't even get me started about the government.

What's even worse is that because the majority of Native Americans are born into poor families they hold little chance of being successful. Because of the extreme poverty that South America has, these people are forced to leave their land, and rural towns to big cities, where they'll probably be discriminated. The continent adversities itself as a land of diversity, and melting pot of cultures, yet it is highly segregated. The following video by Al Jazeera illustrates the situation perfectly.

Other countries have taken different measures. I few months ago I translated a piece of Argentinian History titled "How Argentina became White" which narrates the Argentinian version of the American Manifest Destiny. It might be hard to imagine but Argentina is also is home to Native Americans. As a country that in the past has presented itself as a fully white European country, Argentina is slowly taking its step to desegregation, however racism is still pretty alive in the nation. Just like anywhere in south America Argentinian natives suffer from the same fate, but in a country that is allegedly 85% white and 1% Native the situation might be worse. Unlike they neighboring countries that hold enormous native populations, Argentinian natives live in isolated communities in remote areas of the country, pushed as far back as the Andes and as far away from the capital as possible, because the elite white prefer it that way. Up to this day there are Argentinians that claim their country has 0 native Americans.

The invisibilization of the indigenous people has been a popular strategy in the past. Another great example would be the the country of Chile, which claims to have an indigenous population of 5%. Just like Argentina, there are some Chileans individuals that claim that their blood is "clean" and that ALL Chileans are white. And while Chile did have a greater European migration than their Andean neighbors, the fact is that most Chileans are mixed. Racism in Chile has even been fomented and encouraged by the Media. With recent migration waves from indigenous people from the Peruvian and Bolivian Andes, defamation, name calling, stereotypes and humiliation of such people has been proven popular in the Chilean Media. The government of Chile has even been accused of altering their Census count to appear more white, and it even lowered its poverty line to appear more rich. Again, the same pattern can be observed, where the poor is mostly made up of indigenous and mixed people with indigenous traits.

Racist Republican Illegal Alien ad [watch]

America's representation of "The Illegal Mexican" is also a Native American archetype, per say. People fail to realize that 95% of immigrants crossing the boarder illegally into the US are actually decedents of Native Americans. Putting aside the whole issue of Illegal immigration, there is no question racism against these people exist. When someone says they discriminate against Hispanics, they usually mean that they discriminate against Hispanics with indigenous traces, as a Hispanics can be white, black, Native American, Asian, or in most cases mixed. Illegal immigration and border crossing is usually the result of the oppression and discrimination these people are exposed to in their native countries, countries such as Mexico, Guatemala, and El Salvador, which are where most Illegal Immigrants come from. Born in a status of poverty, these people see no escape of overcoming white power in their homeland and prefer to move to the States where their social status can be improved.

While in the United states we cannot compare the Native American population to that of their southern neighbors, we still are guilty of the same treatment. And just because they make up less than 0.8% of the population, does not mean these issues are not important. Approximately 1.5 Million Native Americans live in designated lands on America and Alaska today. All but a few of these reservations are plagued with poverty, unemployment, homelessness, and lack of medical care. The per capital earning averages $4,500 with unemployment reaching 70%. On top of that 50% of Native American reservation homes lack phone services, and 1/5 lack kitchen facilities. Due to severe weather they often lack fire wood, food and electricity. They are forced to face increased risks on illness, asthma, frostbites, and cold-induced deaths. Poverty in Indian reservations includes homes with no ovens and children without appropriate seasonal clothes, and every night thousands of Native American children cry themselves to sleep.

Why do we not hear about these issues? Because in today's western society Native Americans have become invisible, even in countries like Bolivia where they make up over the half of the population. With a history of exploitation, abuse, and simple denial of their existence the Native American Struggle, and success of white power is a shame to humanity. And despite that fact that societies are changing, change cannot come fast enough.

“They made us many promises, more than I can remember, but they kept only one; they promised to take our land, and they did.” - Red Cloud

Daddy, Why did we attack Iraq?

2010-11-19T08:49:00.000-08:00

A child interviews his conservative father about the current war.

Q: Daddy, why did we have to attack Iraq?

A: Because they had weapons of mass destruction, honey.

Q: But the inspectors didn't find any weapons of mass destruction.

A: That's because the Iraqis were hiding them.

Q: And that's why we invaded Iraq?

A: Yep. Invasions always work better than inspections.

Q: But after we invaded them, we STILL didn't find any weapons of mass destruction, did we?

A: That's because the weapons are so well hidden. Don't worry, we'll find something, probably right before the 2004 election.

Q: Why did Iraq want all those weapons of mass destruction?

A: To use them in a war, silly.

Q: I'm confused. If they had all those weapons that they planned to use in a war, then why didn't they use any of those weapons when we went to war with them?

A: Well, obviously they didn't want anyone to know they had those weapons, so they chose to die by the thousands rather than defend themselves.

Q: That doesn't make sense Daddy. Why would they choose to die if they had all those big weapons to fight us back with?

A: It's a different culture. It's not supposed to make sense.

Q: I don't know about you, but I don't think they had any of those weapons our government said they did.

A: Well, you know, it doesn't matter whether or not they had those weapons. We had another good reason to invade them anyway.

Q: And what was that?

A: Even if Iraq didn't have weapons of mass destruction, Saddam Hussein was a cruel dictator, which is another good reason to invade another country.

Q: Why? What does a cruel dictator do that makes it OK to invade his country?

A: Well, for one thing, he tortured his own people.

Q: Kind of like what they do in China?

A: Don't go comparing China to Iraq. China is a good economic competitor where millions of people work for slave wages in sweatshops to make U.S. corporations richer.

Q: So if a country lets its people be exploited for American corporate gain, it's a good country, even if that country tortures people?

A: Right.

Q: Why were people in Iraq being tortured?

A: For political crimes, mostly, like criticizing the government. People who criticized the government in Iraq were sent to prison and tortured.

Q: Isn't that exactly what happens in China?

A: I told you, China is different.

Q: What's the difference between China and Iraq?

A: Well, for one thing, Iraq was ruled by the Ba'ath party, while China is Communist.

Q: Didn't you once tell me Communists were bad?

A: No, just Cuban Communists are bad.

Q: How are the Cuban Communists bad?

A: Well, for one thing, people who criticize the government in Cuba are sent to prison and tortured.

Q: Like in Iraq?

A: Exactly.

Q: And like in China, too?

A: I told you, China's a good economic competitor. Cuba, on the other hand, is not.

Q: How come Cuba isn't a good economic competitor?

A: Well, you see, back in the early 1960s, our government passed some laws that made it illegal for Americans to trade or do any business with Cuba until they stopped being Communists and started being capitalists like us.

Q: But if we got rid of those laws, opened up trade with Cuba, and started doing business with them, wouldn't that help the Cubans become capitalists?

A: Don't be a smart-ass.

Q: I didn't think I was being one.

A: Well, anyway, they also don't have freedom of religion in Cuba.

Q: Kind of like China and the Falun Gong movement?

A: I told you, stop saying bad things about China. Anyway, Saddam Hussein came to power through a military coup, so he's not really a legitimate leader anyway.

Q: What's a military coup?

A: That's when a military general takes over the government of a country by force, instead of holding free elections like we do in the United States.

Q: Didn't the ruler of Pakistan come to power by a military coup?

A: You mean General Pervez Musharraf? Uh, yeah, he did, but Pakistan is our friend.

Q: Why is Pakistan our friend if their leader is illegitimate?

A: I never said Pervez Musharraf was illegitimate.

Q: Didn't you just say a military general who comes to power by forcibly overthrowing the legitimate government of a nation is an illegitimate leader?

A: Only Saddam Hussein. Pervez Musharraf is our friend, because he helped us invade Afghanistan.

Q: Why did we invade Afghanistan?

A: Because of what they did to us on September 11th.

Q: What did Afghanistan do to us on September 11th?

A: Well, on September 11th, nineteen men, fifteen of them Saudi Arabians hijacked four airplanes and flew three of them into buildings, killing over 3,000 Americans.

Q: So how did Afghanistan figure into all that?

A: Afghanistan was where those bad men trained, under the oppressive rule of the Taliban.

Q: Aren't the Taliban those bad radical Islamics who chopped off people's heads and hands?

A: Yes, that's exactly who they were. Not only did they chop off people's heads and hands, but they oppressed women, too.

Q: Didn't the Bush administration give the Taliban 43 million dollars back in May of 2001?

A: Yes, but that money was a reward because they did such a good job fighting drugs.

Q: Fighting drugs?

A: Yes, the Taliban were very helpful in stopping people from growing opium poppies.

Q: How did they do such a good job?

A: Simple. If people were caught growing opium poppies, the Taliban would have their hands and heads cut off.

Q: So, when the Taliban cut off people's heads and hands for growing flowers, that was OK, but not if they cut people's heads and hands off for other reasons?

A: Yes. It's OK with us if radical Islamic fundamentalists cut off people's hands for growing flowers, but it's cruel if they cut off people's hands for stealing bread.

Q: Don't they also cut off people's hands and heads in Saudi Arabia?

A: That's different. Afghanistan was ruled by a tyrannical patriarchy that oppressed women and forced them to wear burqas whenever they were in public, with death by stoning as the penalty for women who did not comply.

Q: Don't Saudi women have to wear burqas in public, too?

A: No, Saudi women merely wear a traditional Islamic body covering.

Q: What's the difference?

A: The traditional Islamic covering worn by Saudi women is a modest yet fashionable garment that covers all of a woman's body except for her eyes and fingers. The burqa, on the other hand, is an evil tool of Patriarchal oppression that covers all of a woman's body except for her eyes and fingers.

Q: It sounds like the same thing with a different name.

A: Now, don't go comparing Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia. The Saudis are our friends.

Q: But I thought you said 15 of the 19 hijackers on September 11th were from Saudi Arabia.

A: Yes, but they trained in Afghanistan.

Q: Who trained them?

A: A very bad man named Osama bin Laden.

Q: Was he from Afghanistan?

A: Uh, no, he was from Saudi Arabia too. But he was a bad man, a very bad man.

Q: I seem to recall he was our friend once.

A: Only when we helped him and the mujahadeen repel the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan back in the 1980s.

Q: Who are the Soviets? Was that the Evil Communist Empire Ronald Reagan talked about?

A: There are no more Soviets. The Soviet Union broke up in 1990 or thereabouts, and now they have elections and capitalism like us. We call them Russians now.

Q: So the Soviets, I mean the Russians, are now our friends?

A: Well, not really. You see, they were our friends for many years after they stopped being Soviets, but then they decided not to support our invasion of Iraq, so we're mad at them now. We're also had at the French and the Germans because they didn't help us invade Iraq either.

Q: So the French and Germans are evil, too?

A: Not exactly evil, but just bad enough that we had to rename French fries and French toast to Freedom Fries and Freedom Toast.

Q: Do we always rename foods whenever another country doesn't do what we want them to do?

A: No, we just do that to our friends. Our enemies, we invade.

Q: But wasn't Iraq one of our friends back in the 1980s?

A: Well, yeah. For a while.

Q: Was Saddam Hussein ruler of Iraq back then?

A: Yes, but at the time he was fighting against Iran, which made him our friend, temporarily.

Q: Why did that make him our friend?

A: Because at that time, Iran was our enemy.

Q: Isn't that when he gassed the Kurds?

A: Yeah, but since he was fighting against Iran at the time, we looked the other way, to show him we were his friend.

Q: So anyone who fights against one of our enemies automatically becomes our friend?

A: Most of the time, yes.

Q: And anyone who fights against one of our friends is automatically an enemy?

A: Sometimes that's true, too. However, if American corporations can profit by selling weapons to both sides at the same time, all the better.

Q: Why?

A: Because war is good for the economy, which means war is good for America. Also, since God is on America's side, anyone who opposes war is a godless un-American Communist. Do you understand now why we attacked Iraq?

Q: I think so. We attacked them because God wanted us to, right?

A: Yes.

Q: But how did we know God wanted us to attack Iraq?

A: Well, you see, God personally speaks to George W. Bush and tells him what to do.

Q: So basically, what you're saying is that we attacked Iraq because George W. Bush hears voices in his head?

A. Yes! You finally understand how the world works. Now close your eyes, make yourself comfortable, and go to sleep. Good night.

Good night, Daddy.

An Anti-Bullying Message From the NOH8 Campaign

2010-11-13T20:56:00.001-08:00

Legalize Gay. Support Civil Rights. Don't be an ASS

This week: Anchor babies are rats, and should not be given natal care

2010-11-12T18:04:00.000-08:00

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Yet again, a horrendous statement done by, I hate to say it, a republican. People keep telling me that I should stop being so biased, and just focus on candidates instead of parties. I will do that.

A few days ago, Curry Todd, a Tennessee State Representative, who just happens to be republican, was discussing prenatal healthcare with state officials and other state representatives during a fiscal review committee hearing. During the meeting Todd asked about exerting citizenship checks for pregnant immigrants. He was answered with the following:

"Under the guidance that was provided to states, under the previous administration, there is a technical guidance letter that states that for covering the unborn child, we are not permitted to determine citizenship, because the child, once born, is a U.S. citizen.”

To which Todd replied:

“Well, they can go out there like rats and multiply, then, I guess.”

I don't even know where to start. Forget the fact that Illegal immigration is down dramatically, but to compare undocumented immigrant mothers-to-be to rats, thus referring to them as filthy and disgusting, just comes to show how much of an asshole this Todd guy is.

I understand being anti-illegal immigration, but how could someone deny a pregnant woman access to childlabor care, regardless of their status. Sure, let's just let her have the baby in the streets and hopefully she will die of brain hemorrhage three days later. You don't do this to people regardless of much you hate them. I don't see how any doctor, nurse, woman, or HUMAN BEING could support this.

Additionally, Todd said:

“I don’t want to see any child not have care, but I feel they are abusing our system here because they know they can get these kids services, and the taxpayers in Tennessee are the ones having to pay for this, it's not them.”

This just adds to the misconceptions that illegal immigrants do not pay taxes, because they do! [gasp] SHOCKER! Read it and weep. In fact, they pay more taxes than they receive benefits. Billions of dollars in federal income are accounted to illegals, paycheck withholding collects much of the federal tax from illegal workers, just as it does for legal workers. 70% actually do income taxes in hopes that if they get a chance to apply to citizenship they could be seen a morally good person. One rough estimate puts the amount of Social Security taxes alone at around $9 billion per year. And lets not forget property tax and the sales tax that illegals pay everyday.

Maybe it's just because I'm a human being that I think everyone should be treated humanely

[Source] [Source]

Intelligent people are attracted to drugs?

2010-11-05T21:53:00.000-07:00

Smart people do more drugs, because of evolution. that’s what Evolutionary psychologist Satoshi Kanazawa is saying according to his Savanna-IQ Interaction Hypothesis. The article has been circulating the internet for about a month, it came to attention when several people posted it on Facebook (Go social media!)

Let' me explain how this allegedly works. According to Kanazawa's hypothesis, based on his Savanna Principle, when the human brain was evolving sometime in the past 4 millions years, it did so to accustom to tasks, thus the human brain has difficulty comprehending and dealing with entities and situations that did not exist in the ancestral environment. He also uses the The theory of the evolution of general intelligence that suggests that general intelligence evolved as a psychological adaptation to solve evolutionarily new problems. So far everything seems normal.

But how do drugs fit into this? He claims that because drugs are a "new invention" (new in terms of evolution) they are "pretty" to the mind of an intellectual human being, thus smart people are more likely to try them. My personal opinion is this has to be one the most ridiculous statements in psychology that I've heard.
Kanazawa also says that his theory is backed up by research done by the National Child Development Study, in the UK, which say "Very bright" individuals (with IQs above 125) are roughly three-tenths of a standard deviation more likely to consume psychoactive drugs than "very dull" individuals (with IQs below 75)." Taking into account that an IQ under 75 is considered mental retardation, the study has no relevance. Compare anything to a child with mental retardation and you always win, not only that but studying people by just graphs is a very bad idea, as it gives us a narrow vision, without taking into consideration other factors.
The study is also somewhat contradictory. Again, the Hypothesis predicts that more intelligent individuals are more likely to consume all types of psychoactive drugs than less intelligent individuals. However, the fact that the consumption of psychoactive drugs has largely negative health consequences and few (if any) benefits of any kind is irrelevant to the hypothesis, because it does not predict how many intelligent individuals are intelligent enough not to use them, only that they are more likely to engage in "evolutionarily pretty" behavior.
But let's look at the other side. It is no secret that "drugs" can stimulate the mind. Vincent Van Gogh drank Absinthe to stimulate his paintings, in fact in a recent 2008 poll done by nature.com, out of 1,427 American scientists, 20% said to use brain enhancing drugs like methylphenidate to be more focused. I understand how a drug like marijuana can stimulate the mind (I'm not claiming that I've done it), regardless, I'm flabbergasted how the study says that "intelligent individuals are more likely to consume alcohol, tobacco, and psychoactive drugs." Trying out a cigarette, or taking LSD to experiment I understand. However I would assume, and I think everyone would, that an intelligent person is intelligent enough to not make a habit out of it, unless the individual has no trouble with a short lifespan, to know the consequences of the drug, and to not depend on it. Show me a smart, sane cocaine user? The problem with the hypothesis, I think, is that besides the fact that there are way too many different kinds of drugs as variables, it claims that smart people take drugs to deal with something that the brain hasn't evolved to deal with. And while I could understand how medial marijuana works this way, last time I checked most drug users are the kind of "feel good" users. It's no different than sex, or cutting yourself (if that makes you feel good). Drugs might attract smart people, just how they attract stressed people, desperate people, and yes, dumb people too.

What has Obama done so far?

2010-11-04T09:01:00.001-07:00

This brilliant video from the Rachel Maddow Show explains:

Witches: Depiction through Art History

2010-08-20T20:51:00.000-07:00

One of the most often depicted subjects in art, witches & witchcraft hold a spell over history. Since their roots in ancient paganism, witches have gone through a very interesting journey. They have been popularized, hated, romanticized, and even depicted as horrible and repulsive beings.

This is their evolution through art history.

Medieval Art

We start here because this is when the meaning of the word "witch" was born. Before the middle ages paganism ruled, thus making the word "witch" irrelevant. During this time (5^th-15^thC.) the depiction of witches in art was mostly illustrative. While we do encounter certain depictions of "witch hunts", most of which appear around the end of the Medieval ages with the rise of witch persecutions , we mostly see appearances in the storytelling realm, both biblical and mythological, such as the case of Arthurian Legends.
During the Late Middle Ages, with the rise the Renaissance (late 14^thC), we also see an increasing interest in the occult. Perfect examples of this are the alleged creation of Tarot cards, and fascination with mythical creatures, such as dragons & unicorns. However, while the symbolism of fantastical beings were accepted in this Christian era, witches were not.

The Burning Times

Ironically enough, with the beginning of the Modern Age, in the 16^thC, came the Witch trials in Early Modern Europe. Anti-witch laws has been around as early a Ancient Greece, however, it wasn't until now that the hysteria that malevolent satanic witches were operating as an organized threat to Christianity spread through Europe and its colonies. Most of the Art from this time, which lasted until the end of the 17^thC, is propaganda, accounts, and images of how a "witch" really looks like.

Grotesque figures were emphasized. Witches were depicted engaging in sexual acts, having meetings with the Devil and performing spells.

Post 18^thCentury: A look back at witches

By this time witch hunts and trials had completely vanished from society; there were still laws against witchcraft, but there weren't any hangings and horrendous deaths. The 18^thcentury was the time of enlightenment and reason. Starting from this period artwork begun depicting witches in the historical events that had taken place in the past two centuries. This was part of the Neoclassicism movement in the 18^th & 19^th Century.

Romanticism & Victorianism: Witches make a come back
A complex artistic, literary, and intellectual movement that originated in the mid-18^thcentury, Romanticism gained strength because of the contrast of the Industrial Revolution and the era of enlightenment. Among one of the many characteristics of this movement is the involvement of the supernatural. This is when witches starting changing; having been previously depicted in horrendous ways, witches were now taking a more feminine figure. While the imagery of the "ugly witch" was still present, witches were now being portrayed by good looking, modelesque women, as if their beauty and grace captivated people into a world of evil. Art from this time often, but not always, was based on literature, mythology and story telling. Some say that Romanticism died in the mid-19^thcentury. Whether it did not not, its influence was obvious during the Victorian Era and early 20^thcentury. The Arts and Crafts movement, the aesthetic movement, Anglo-Japanese style, and Art Nouveau style have their beginnings in the late Victorian era.

It was, also during the Victorian era, that the Golden Age of illustration came to be (1880 - World War I). In a time when wood engraving was the predominant method by which an illustrator's work was reproduced, many Artists and illustrators working at the turn of the century took full advantage of the developments in new printing processes. It is during that time that Fairy tales took a more mainstream role; an example of this is the publication of "Children's and Household Tales" in 1812, also known as the Grimm's Fairy tales". It was this genre of literature, followed by Drama (Shakespeare), from where most witches were depicted.

The Modern Witch.
Today's witch enjoys from a variety of positive attributes, in fact, much of today's entertainment is based around the concept of witchcraft. While the "Ugly witch" imagery remains a major archetype (that perhaps will never go away), we leave behind the grotesque images of the 16^thcentury. At the same time we don't focus on the overly sexualized figures of the romantic era. Today's witch is surprisingly human, taking inspiration from different sources, gothic, fantasy,etc. One thing is certain, they sure have come a long way.