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midori
Unregistered User
(12/2/00 7:03:59 am)
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occupied
It's been awhile since anyone posted (can you say end of smester!) so I thought I would just try a quick post to test whether it was just our hectic schedules or problems with the board. I am trying to get through the next two weeks, and three deadlines...but I gotta say I miss the usually lively banter of ideas here...hope all is well with everyone else.
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Kerrie
Registered User
(12/2/00 4:11:58 pm)
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Bazaar, and brainwashing...
Hello, Midori!
Board's been up and fine on my end- I've been trying to play catch-up
just reading everything! I was out of work sick a couple weeks ago
and had low motivation, then my computer was dismantled so another
could be brought into the family. (I now have the old one with a
few new parts) I'm also working hard at preparing for a holiday
bazaar at work, including a mini-book/ chapbook/ ? of about 24 of
my poems inspired by fairytales, folklore and the such, dolls made
of scrap fabric (many ended up being armless maidens), bookmarks,
and fairy beds (from jewelry and other small boxes). Whew! Just
writing it is a mouthful! Making all of it is a pain in the patootie!
Drivers, scraps and glue in the bed (apartment is way too small!),
donated supplies in bags- ugh! I hope everyone's holly days are
going well! Off to listen to the Nutcracker for the 100th time (this
season, that is- j/k)!
Sugarplum dreams,
Kerrie
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Terri
Registered User
(12/3/00 2:54:21 am)
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Deadlines, deadlines, deadlines
I've been lurking and reading but not posting, swamped with deadlines and getting ready for my annual migration from England to Arizona at the end of the month. But I'm missing the discussions too, Midori...so we'll just have to come up with a provocative subject that gets it moving again!
Edited by: Terri at: 12/4/00
12:24:07 am
| Carrie
Unregistered User
(12/3/00 7:14:54 pm)
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coyotes and the home
I've been lurking and trying to get some deadlines met myself. Although nothing as interesting as Terri and Midori are working on I'm sure. Right now I'm finishing up my research on a story I'm writing for Arizona Highways. It's a mixture of fact and folklore but boy is there a lot of material to get through. I wrote a similar story on the roadrunner but there aren't the volumes of research and the enourmous collections of literature and folklore as there is with the "prarie wolf." What a great animal. I've discovered quite a bit of folklore on the coyote. The scattered patterns of the stars are attributed to him as well as the reasons humans die. He also invented intercourse and gave humans fire. In Mexico they believe that coyotes have energy that comes out of their eyes that they use to entrance animals and men. And so on and so forth. It's definately been lots of fun. After this I was hoping to do some more work on superstitions attached to the home and hearth. Did anyone ever come up with anything?
Carrie
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Terri
Registered User
(12/4/00 12:46:41 am)
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Re: coyotes and the home
Ah, coyote lore...that's one of my favorite subjects! I particularly like the fact that he invented sexual intercourse, which seems apt to me. It's both serious and ridiculous, just like Sr. Coyote.
As for hearth and home tales...hmmm...do you have an idea of what kinds of things you're looking for? There are plenty of tales about household spirits -- brownies, etc. They are usually helpful, if treated courteously or (if they're terribly shy) discreetly ignored, but they can also be noisy pests. (There's the famous story of a family driven from their home by the attentions of a particularly obnoxious household brownie. They day that they leave, the wagon is all packed -- and there's the brownie sitting on top, all prepared to come too, saying, 'Ah, but it's a fine day to be movin'!") Also lots of tales and rituals regarding hearth fires. In some plarts of Russia, for instance, you're supposed to carry coals from your old fire when you move to a new house with which to start the new fire. This allows the domovik to come with you, a household guardian who lives behind the hearth -- and since he's the one who keeps the house from burning down, this is a good idea. In old Celtic tradition, the hearth fire has to be smothered on All Hallows Eve, and re-lit from a torch carried from the community bonfire, which insures protection from the fairies for another year.
Here's a little snippet of info I wrote for Brian Froud's Good Faeries, Bad Faeries book (where it was my job, among other things, to add faery lore from around the world to the text): "In Lithuania, the faery of the hearth is called the gabija, and when the fire is banked for the night, country people petition him with these words: 'Dear little fire, dear little fire, you are nicely covered, so sleep, please, and do not walk in this house.' "
In the Roman tradition, there are various spirits for hearth and home, such as the Lares, and it was common to have a shrine to them within the home itself. Ellen S. may know more about this than I do.... (Ellen, are you here?)
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Gregor9
Registered User
(12/4/00 6:13:31 am)
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Coyote and household guests
Well, with Coyote, I once again have to recommend Lewis Hyde's interesting book
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Gregor9
Registered User
(12/4/00 6:15:13 am)
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Coyote and household guests 2
Let me try this again (not sure why ezboard only took the first line...)
With Coyote, I once again have to recommend Lewis Hyde's interesting book "Trickster Makes the World." But I have all sorts of books on Coyote stories, many if not most of them Navajo in origin. Books on coyote are pretty easy to come by.
Sorry I've been dormant here, too, of late. Probably will be more lurker than participant for awhile longer. I'm digging into 19th century NY fingerlakes research in what laughably passes for my spare time.
GF
| Carrie
Unregistered User
(12/4/00 8:48:13 am)
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coyotes throughout the continent
"A Coyote Reader" by William Bright has some interesting tales such as "How her teeth were pulled." I find it fascinating that the story of women having vaginas with teeth is in Native American folklore. I'd read about it with the Fir Bolg. Very interesting. Old Man Coyote took care of the problem by knocking their teeth out. It seems men owe him quite the favor. The piece I'm writing has to have its focus on Arizona lore so stories in Mexico and the rest of the U.S. make interesting reading. Unfortunately it's making my research drag on. The Hopi and Navajo seem to have the most Coyote tales in AZ but the White Mountain Apache and Tohono Oodham also have tales. Frank Dobie's book "The Voice of the Coyote" has some wonderful information and for biology "The Clever Coyote," as old as it is, has been a wonderful resource -- if anyone has an interest in reading materials. Terri-- are you using the coyote figure in "The Moon Wife?" Your shapeshifters in "The Wood Wife" were delightful. They really are impressive creatures.
Thanks for the home superstitions. I haven't really gotten much gathered yet, but I think it will be a fun topic to explore.
Cheers.
Carrie
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Helen
Registered User
(12/6/00 6:38:13 am)
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Re: Hearth myth ...
Dear Carrie;
Terri mentioned the Roman Lares ... another possible topic might include the goddess Hestia, the Olympian goddess of home and hearth and general domesticity who gives her place among the gods upon the arrival of a thirteenth deity (Dionysus) in order to avoid strife and contention. Maybe something concerning either the practicality associated with the day-to-day activities of life (was it Dorothy Parker who said "Some consideration for others is necessary in community life.", emphasizing the necessity aspect ... or am I thinking of someone else?), or possibly the shift in the value attatched to the role of women that occurs when this goddess, whose actual role does not change in the slightest, voluntarily accepts a demotion in status in order to preserve tranquility ... stream-of-consciousness at its gotta-go-to-work-finest.
Edited by: Helen at: 12/6/00
6:39:21 am
| Carrie
Unregistered User
(12/6/00 6:59:44 am)
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lore
I've been thinking also. Thirteen is still shunned as an unlucky number -- think of the many highrise buildings missing the 13th floor (on the elevator panel anyway). Does anyone know why you can "get up on the wrong side of the bed?" Or why it is unlucky to pass someone on the stairs or to walk under a ladder? I'm also wondering why brides are carried over the threshold -- it must have something to do with luck and the home. Don't you think?
Carrie
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