An Easter Special

This week we will be looking at the history of various icons in Easter such as the easter bunny, and the entomology of the word itself.  I feel like it is worth sharing these stories because with many of them I would never have guessed how they came about without first doing research on it.

Etymology
The English word of Easter is believed to be derived from the name of the Pagan Goddess Ēostre She is believed to have been a germanic deity who presided over either spring and fertility or the sunrise. On the germanic calendar Ēosturmōnaþ the rough equivalent of the month of april was named in her honor. It is interesting to note that while it is widely accepted that the name of Easter comes from this goddess some scholars believe that she was actually invented after most people in the regions she would be worshiped in were converted to christianity. It is also worth noting that outside of English few languages use Easter(or similar terms) to refer to the holiday and instead use words derived from the Greek and Latin Pascha meaning Passover.

Easter Eggs

Comparatively Easter eggs have a simple history the practice began as early as the 4th century. In the beginning the eggs would only be died red to represent the blood that christ shed and his resurrection. This practice became officially part of the holiday in 1610 as the work of Pope Paul the fifth. Since then the coloring and use of Easter Eggs has expanded to the variety that we find in our modern culture. 

The Easter Bunny

The Easter Bunny originated in Germany with him taking a role very similar to that we find in Santa Claus today. He would judge if children were good or bad and if they were good leave them presents and colored eggs in the night for them to discover come morning. The first mention of the tradition comes from a book written in 1682. The choice of a hare as the symbol of Easter is believed to stem from the false belief in ancient times that hares were hermaphrodites and as such could reproduce without losing their virginity which created an association between them and the Virgin Mary. They were also seen as symbols of fertility showing the better fertility of soil that came with spring. The idea seems to have spread quickly as there are records of it having reached America as early as the 1700's.

Skin-walkers

A little known legend of the Navajo people is that of the Skin-walkers, people with the power to transform themselves into animals. They are quite similar to the legends of werewolves popular in European mythology with a few key distinctions. The biggest difference between the two is that the skin-walkers are completely in control of their actions while werewolves are compelled by the curse. The other difference is that werewolves only become wolfs while skin-walkers are able to become any animal they chose depending on the job.

Creation of a Skin-Walker

Skin-walkers are said to be witches who have preformed some kind of dark ritual in order to obtain the power to transform into an animal by wearing its pelt. The rituals to gain the power of becoming a skin-walker include crimes such as incest, killing of a blood relative, necrophilia, and cannibalism. It is believed that committing these crimes was such a heinous act that it would destroy your humanity allowing one to gain supernatural powers. The vast majority of these witches are said to be men though they can be women as well, some stories say that only women without children can become a witch. It is said that if a person encounters a skin-walker and knows who they are they can later say their full name and doing so will cause the person to fall gravely ill or die three days later.

Rituals

The rituals preformed by the witches are often very similar to those the tribe healers would preform only changing a few things such as using ash rather than sand to change it from a blessing to a curse. Another similarity to European traditions is that the rituals would often be a blessing chanted backwards to make it into a curse.  One important ingredient in these rituals was the ground bones of a dead infants fingers and skull. It was believed that by having another inhale these they would go into convulsions and die. 

Purpose of the Myth

Much like the wendigo story we looked at earlier it appears that the skin-walker legends are warnings against breaking cultural taboo. A notable difference though is that while the wendigo myth is specific to one taboo one can become a skin-walker through breaking one of many taboos. 

Modern Influences

Skin-walkers have appeared in a variety of television shows, most notably The X-files, Supernatural, and Smallville. They also appear in several other lesser known series and books, and a similar character is featured in the Mortal Kombat video game series.

Leviathan, Behemoth, and Ziz

These three mythological creatures are primordial entities found in Jewish mythology. They are each associated with either the air, sea, or Earth. It addition to being giant monsters they were also metaphoric representations of their respective domains.

Leviathan
Leviathan was said to be a giant sea serpent that was large enough that his tail was always inside his mouth because he could not fit into the oceans of the world and that he would eat a whale every day. It was said god created Leviathan with a wife along with all the other sea creatures during creation week but fearing that if they reproduced they would consume all other life on the planet killed the female. Some scholars believe that the Leviathan may have been inspired by exceptionally large crocodiles though a major problem with this theory is that Leviathan was known as a creature that lived in the deep sea while crocodiles usually stay closer to land. During the middle ages Leviathan was assigned the role of the demon representing the deadly sin of envy. It was said that after the death of its wife it became envious of all other living creatures who had mates and became a demon as a result.

Behemoth
A giant monster that dwelled on land as a counterpart to the Leviathan. It is said that in the end times he will fight with the Leviathan and God will slay them both to hold a great feast. There has been a great deal of dispute over what could have inspired such a creature as it is described as having "a tail that moves like a ceder" making it difficult to identify. It is said that along with Leviathan it is beyond human control and as such can only be tamed by God.

Ziz
The least known of the three Ziz is also the most unique. Like the other two Ziz was a massive creature similar to a griffin in appearance and as large as the Leviathan. Its name was said to come from the many tastes that its flesh had when eaten. While the other two behaved much like animals unintelligent and without purpose Ziz was created as the guardian of small birds. It was said that without him hunters and predators would kill all the small birds so God tasked him with the job of protecting him. Another unique factor of Ziz is that he was not an aggressive creature and as long as you did not harm other birds it would not harm you. The final unique thing about Ziz was that unlike the other two it was immortal. Like the others it was to be eaten in the end times however it would give its flesh willingly and would be recover fro-+m it so quickly that it would be as if it was never cut.

Gilgamesh

When discussing mythology it is my belief that the story of Gilgamesh should always be brought up at some point, if for no reason other than how old it is. The Epic of Gilgamesh is considered to be one of the oldest pieces of writing in the world dating back to as early as 2150 B.C. It was recorded on a series of twelve tablets though most historians believe that it gradually was added to rather than having been written all at once as a single piece. The story chronicles the life of the fifth king of Uruk Gilgamesh and involves many elements of magic and divine intervention.

Birth of a hero

Gilgamesh was said to be born of the goddess Ninsun and the king Lugalbanda and was said to be born two thirds divine and one third man. He was said to be wise and strong as a meteorite and perfect. He also built the walls of Uruk said to be the greatest in history. The epic states that no man has or will ever match his greatness and was said to be a great protector of his people. He was however a very oppressive king known for forcing himself on women when they were wed and as such his people prayed to the gods for something to protect them from his wrath as no man could match him, hearing their pleas the gods created another man to be equal to him Enkidu. Enkidu was born into the wilderness as an adult and lived there for a time before word of him reached Gilgamesh and having had dreams saying this man would become his close friend and advisor had the Enkidu brought to his palace. From that point on it was said that Enkidu would restrain Gilgamesh whenever he would oppress the people.

The flood myth

The most well known part of the Epic of Gilgamesh is his interaction with the flood hero Utnapishtim. Gilgamesh sought out to find the hero after the death of Enkidu made him realise that one day he too would die so he sought a method of achieving immortality from Utnapishtim who had been made immortal by the gods. After finding Utnapishtim he is told that there is a flower at the bottom of the ocean that could make him immortal which he then set out to retrieve. He tied cement blocks to his legs to allow himself to reach the plant and upon picking it cut the blocks off and floated to the surface again. There he decided that he would test the flower first by having an old man try it and if it worked he would use the rest for himself. On his way back to Uruk Gilgamesh decided to stop by a spring and bathe and set the flower beside him. When he looked away a snake ate the flower though shedding it skin as it left having became immortal. After this Gilgamesh returned to his city in despair until he reached the walls he had built and realized that even if he could not live forever by virtue of his achievements he could be remembered forever a form of immortality itself.

Origin of the myth

Most scholars believe that Gilgamesh was in fact the name of one of the ancient kings of Uruk and did have the cities walls built. No record has been found supporting that his fathers name was Lugalbanda though. Other achievements in the epic are believed to have been  done by other kings of the era and later attributed to him. 

Modern Influences

Gilgamesh has became quite popular in modern media being referenced in everything from books to movies and even games. Some notable ones being his appearance in the fate series(foreground of the above picture), The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series, several operas titled Gilgamesh, and the Final Fantasy series of video games.

You can read a translated copy what has been recovered of the epic here.

Some other Greek Myths

So last week we looked at the twelve greek olympian gods, to follow that up this week we will be looking at other gods and monsters of note in greek mythology. Even dividing the topic into two posts I am not even scratching the surface of all that is encompassed in Greek mythology but I hope to give a good overview of the topic between these two posts.

Hades- The greek god of the underworld he was the firstborn child of Cronus and Rhea. In spite of his importance he is not included in the olympian gods because managing the dead in the underworld was a full time job so he could not live in Olympus. He became the ruler of the underworld when Zeus, Poseidon, decided to divide up control of the sky, seas, and underworld. To do this the three drew lots and Hades received the underworld and was very strict in keeping the souls that entered it from leaving. Aside from this though he was generally a very passive god who rarely interfered with things outside his domain. Those who did try to leave his realm were often punished immensely as we see with the story of Sisyphus. Sisyphus was a greek king and is said to have founded the city of Corinth he is most well known for the stories of his cheating death once. It was said that before he died he asked his wife to throw his body naked into a public square if she truly loved him. Then after his death he went to Hades wife Persephone and told her that his wife had disgraced his corpse and he sought to return to life to scold his wife for not giving him a proper funeral. Persephone agreed but after he scolded his wife Sisyphus refused to return to the underworld so the gods took him there by force. As a punishment for his deception he was then forced to roll a boulder up a mountain and every time he got it to the top it would fall down again and he would have to start over for the rest of eternity.

Cerberus: Not a god but rather the loyal pet of Hades Cerberus was a three headed hound with a mane of snakes and serpents tail as well as the guardian of the underworld. He was the child of the monsters Typhon and Echidna. He is featured in many greek myths as the heros would have to defeat or sneak past him if they wanted to enter the underworld while still alive. One of the most famous stories about him is part of the twelve labors of Heracles as his final task to redeem himself for killing his family Heracles had to capture the monster bare handed and bring it back to Eurystheus. When Heracles did so though Eurystheus was so afraid of he monster that he jumped into a large piece of pottery and begged Heracles to return it to the underworld.

Typhon: Known as the father of all monster Typhon was a being feared even by the gods. He can be seen on the right above facing zeus as having many serpents in place of legs and giant wings he was also said to have hundreds of serpents for heads though. He was said to be the father of the chimera, hydra, Ladon a serpent like dragon, and the sphinx among many others. The most famous story about Typhon himself though is that he once challenged Zeus and the other olympian gods and won forcing them to flee to egypt where they hid themselves by taking the forms of animals. Athena provoked Zeus to fight back against Typhon by calling him a coward and in their second battle Zeus was able to win by trapping Typhon under a mountain.

Thanatos: The god of death and twin brother of hypnos the god of dreams. He shared the duty of guiding dead to the underworld with Hermes. He also played a important role in the events leading up to Sisyphus' escape from the underworld. Prior to his death Sisyphus had bound Thanatos in order to escape death however doing so prevented all people from dying which angered Ares as he could no longer kill people. As a result Ares freed Thanatos from Sisyphus' binding and Sisyphus used this time to tell his wife to leave his corpse in the public square.

The Greek Olympian Gods

The greeks had a large number of gods that they worshipped each governing its own part of the world. An interesting thing to note about the greek gods was that they were themselves created by the universe, a stark contrast to the modern view of a god as something that created the world. Of the many greek gods twelve of them were considered most important and labeled the "Olympian" gods. These were Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Ares, Aphrodite, Hephaestus, Hermes, Hestia, and Dionysus.

Zeus
Zeus is most well known for two things, first he was the king of the gods, and secondly he used lightning bolts as his weapon. He was the youngest child of the titans Cronus and Rhea but in spite of this became the king of the gods because all of his siblings were eaten by Cronus and lived in his stomach until he lead a rebellion against his father and saved them. Zeus' lightning bolt was actually made by the cyclops for this very purpose and is what allowed Zeus to overcome the Titans. An interesting thing about Zeus is that his rule among the gods was not actually very popular to the point where they rebelled against to at one point. In spite of this he was able to easily crush this rebellion using his lightning bolt.
Hera
Hera was the wife and sister of Zeus and queen of the gods, she was the goddess of family and marriage. She is most noted for her hatred of those Zeus had affairs with and their children. One of the most famous stories about this involves Heracles the greek equivalent of Hercules. It was said that at one point Hera drove him insane and as a result he killed his wife and children, which prompted him to seek repentance by completing his famous twelve tasks.
Poseidon
Poseidon was the god of the oceans and earthquakes and brother of Zeus. The things he is most well known for was the sinking of the city of atlantis, and keeping Odysseus at drift for many years in the story of the Odyssey.
Demeter
Demeter was the goddess of fertility and agriculture. She is most well known for working with the people to tend to farms and not really having any special powers.
Athena
Athena was the goddess of wisdom and strategy in war. She is well known as being the patron deity of Athens and daughter of Zeus. There are many stories of her birth but one of the most interesting one involves Zeus' first wife. The story says that before he married Hera Zeus was married to another woman named Metis the titan god of wisdom. This ended though when a prophecy was spoken saying that Zeus would have a child with her that would one day overthrow him as the ruler of the gods. When Zeus heard of this he ate his wife in the same manner Chronus had eaten his siblings. It is said that some time later Athena sprouted from Zeus' forehead fully grown and in armour.
Apollo
Apollo was the god of the sun, music, and the arts. The most famous story involving him is the trojan war as recorded in the Illidan. In this story he aided the Trojans in killing Achilles by guiding the arrow that struck his heel and allowed him to be killed. He was also the patron god of Troy.
Artemis
Artemis was the goddess of the hunt, archery, virginity, and the moon. She is well known for killing the greek Adonis after he boasted that he was a better hunter than her by sending a boar after him.
Ares
Ares was the god of war and bloodshed and child of Zeus. Surprisingly in spite of his being the god of war Ares was actually rather weak for a god having been defeated by mortals on several occasions. In one case he was even trapped in a copper jar a myth that some people believe may be the source of stories of a genie in a bottle. He also had a hobby of killing humans he saw as they passed by him making him disliked by many of the other gods for his bloodthirst.
Aphrodite
Aphrodite was known as the goddess of love and beauty some stories say that she was born of the sea while others put her as the daughter of Zeus. She was the wife of Hephaestus though it was an arranged marriage in order to prevent the gods of olympus from fighting over her beauty. In spite of this she was known to frequently have affairs with Ares.
Hephaestus
Hephaestus was the god of fire and forges, a well known blacksmith god and the son of Zeus and Hera. In spite of this Hera threw him off of mount Olympus when he was just born in shock of how ugly he was. As a result of this he was crippled and lost the ability to walk. Other accounts say he was thrown from Olympus because he was a cripple. He was renowned as a great craftsman and it was said he and Athena taught craftsmanship to humans.
Hermes
Hermes was the messenger of the gods as well as the god of commerce and thievery. He was the son of Zeus and stole cattle from Apollo when he was an infant which Zeus found funny. He is known for wearing winged sandals and helping Odysseus on several occasions during the odyssey.
Hestia
Hestia was the goddess of the hearth and family as well as Zeus' sister. She was well known for being the kindest of the olympians but did little as she always had to attend the hearth which is obviously immovable.

Fairies

When most people hear the word fairy the think of a small cute creature that wants nothing more than to be helpful, however for a long time this was not the case. In spite of the appearance the media frequently gives them fairies were once an object of great fear in western Europe. There are many different kinds of fairies in legends but most stories agree that they looked like humans and had at least some level of magic powers. Their size varied from the tiny sprites that are now popular to being as large as the average person though many of them were said to be capable of changing their size to whatever they wish. Another deviation from modern depictions is that fairies rarely were said to have wings, but rather would fly using magic. There are many different stories saying what exactly a fairy is some say that they are spirits of nature or the dead while others say they are demons, angels, or something else that is entirely separate from either. Entrances to the land of the fairies was said to be found deep in caves where unsuspecting explorers could easily end up if they weren't careful. It was said that time flowed differently there with one day in the land of fairies becoming seven years outside or people spending years there only to emerge and find almost no time had passed at all.

What were they known for?

While fairies were known for many things one of the most popular stories was their kidnapping of children and replacing them with changelings. Besides newborns fairies were known to abduct other people as well with the reasons and duration of the abduction varying by story. Similar to the greek stories of the underworld it was said that if you ate anything while in the land of fairies then you would be trapped there for all eternity. Generally speaking fairies were seen as dangerous and to be avoided whenever possible. The most popular way recorded to protect oneself from them was said to be iron which was said to be a very potent poison to them even if it only touches them. They are also well known from Arthurian legends in which the lady of the lake(a fairy) gives king Arthur the legendary sword excalibur after he breaks the Sword in the Stone. It is also said Morgan le Fay from the same legends had a connection with the fairies as her name implies.

Purpose of the myth

Just as stories are unclear what fairies are it is unclear why the myth itself exists. Some people say that it is what became of minor deities in various pagan religions when Christianity took over a region. Others see them as being nature spirits fulfilling a role similar to that angels and demons have in Christianity.

Modern Influences

The most obvious modern influence of fairies is their namesake that is seen in many children's shows and stories. Also as with many creatures found in ancient stories sightings of them continue to this day.A more interesting modern relation though is their relation to alien abductions. While the two appear dissimilar at a glance closer inspection has revealed that modern reports of alien abduction are quite similar to ancient stories of fairy abductions. Both phenomena involve time flowing at an abnormal rate though alien abductions are said to last a much shorter period of time and the time said to be lost is also shorter. Both are said to have a particular interest in abducting pregnant women and newborns as well and some stories give them similar appearances too.

Starting Locally

The Wendigo

Since this is the first detailing actually mythology on this blog I believe it would be best to start with a story based in the area where I live and the most famous of these I know of is that of the wendigos. The word itself and all its variations can be roughly translated to "the evil spirit that devours mankind." According to the legends wendigos are a monster found around the great lakes region that hunt and eat humans out of both gluttony and famine, as they grow every time they eat a wendigo's hunger can never be satisfied. The monster was described as being exceptionally tall being at least 15 feet, a few rarer stories even reporting them to grow larger than mountains, being extremely malnourished as if the creature had not eaten anything in weeks. They were said to be superior to humans in all physical aspects being much stronger and faster than the average man. The creature was also reported to give off a smell of decay and appear to be rotting away while still alive. Wendigos hearts were said to be made of solid ice and the only way to kill them was to pierce the heart with a silver weapon which would render it stunned and then burn the monster to death.

Creation of a Wendigo

According to the legends Wendigo's were created when someone participated in cannibalism or was possessed by a evil spirit known by the same name but sometimes spelled as Windigo instead. In some less popular versions of the legend simply being excessively greedy could result in transforming into one. In all cases the resulting was the same less than human creature that would then stalk the forests until someone killed it.

Purpose of the myth

 The story would serve as a powerful deterrent against cannibalism if a group of native americans ended up without enough food to survive a harsh winter. This was especially true as the monsters were said to be eternally hungry living every moment as if starving for the rest of eternity or until killed. It also served as a warning against being overly greedy and a reminder of the importance of cooperation with others.

Modern Influences

Wendigo sightings were most popular in the early twentieth century when many settlers reported seeing them in and around communities often just before a death would occur.While rare wendigo sightings have continued into the modern day and there are even a few people who are self proclaimed "wendigo hunters." Additionally there is a rare medical condition referred to as Wendigo Psychosis in which the afflicted person has a strong craving for human meat even if other foods are available. The condition is extremely rare and believed to be a culture bond syndrome. The myth is also extremely popular in the media with references to them in many television shows and games such as Charmed, Grimm, Supernatural, The X-files, Hannibal, and Warcraft.

Why I'm writing about mythology

Many people would wonder why someone would write about mythology of all things, after all it's just a bunch of old stories that have no meaning anymore right? I however disagree with this as I believe that myths are eternal pieces of art that give us a glimpse at the cultures of long ago. These myths can cover a variety of topics but frequently depict a valiant hero rushing to save something they care about from destruction much like modern hollywood movies, or monsters and disasters that serve as a warning of what will happen if you break cultural taboos. These stories are interesting because they often depict the darker side of human nature that many people are happy to pretend doesn't exist. I also believe it is interesting to see how some themes found in mythology are still relevant today and how similar myths appear in areas separated by vast geological distances. A good example of myths appearing across vast geologic distances is the story of a god flooding the entire planet at one time or another. While most people are familiar with this from the Bible it is a story that appears across almost every culture and around the world, Greece for example has a story where Zeus does it after observing humans participating in cannibalism. Another major influence in me choosing this topic is one of my favorite television shows Supernatural follows a pair of brothers who hunt down various gods and monsters from mythology in the modern day. This show rekindled a love of mythology that I had lost since my childhood and watching it has reminded my of many stories that I had long forgotten before and provided unique twists on classic stories. Since finding it I have done a significant amount of research into mythology and learned a lot, however the great thing about this topic is that no matter how much you already know about it there is always more to learn, and another places culture to explore. This vast amount of content is a probably one of the biggest reasons that I chose this topic because even if I find I story I don't like I can just pass over it to the next one that will be more interesting and not have to worry about it. Over the course of writing this blog I hope that you the reader will also come to learn more about mythology and enjoy it the same way I do.