Folkrealm Studies - Folkrealm tidings

Celebrating the Winter Solstice Around the World

19/12/2019

This article was first published on the #FolkloreThursday,com website as Top Five Winter Solstice Celebrations Around the World by zteve t evans on 19/12/2019

The winter solstice has been celebrated in some form all around the world for centuries. Individual human cultures often mixed magic with religion in acknowledgement and celebration of this important astronomical event. Here we briefly look at five of these festivities from around the world, before discussing why they were so important to our ancestors and concluding with what science has to say today.

Yalda Night

For many Iranians and people living in central Asia, “Yalda Night” is a time when family and friends come together to eat and drink. They stay awake all night and traditionally eat nuts, watermelons and pomegranates. Eating watermelons on Yalda night is believed to be especially beneficial for health, well-being and in warding off disease. For entertainment, the poems of Divan-e Hafez and other poetry are read. There is a belief in the Khorasan region that eating pomegranates, carrots and green olives protects against scorpion stings and the bites of insects, while eating garlic on Yalda night protects against joint pain. In some parts of Iran it is customary for a young engaged man to send gifts and an arrangement of seven kinds of edible fruit to his fiancé. In some areas the girl and her family send gifts in return to her young man.

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The Welsh legend of the Drowned Town Under Lake Bala

19/12/2019

First posted on #FolkloreThursday.com by zteve t evans, March 9th, 2017

Alphonse Dousseau [CC0]

Lake Bala is also known as Llyn Tegid, and in Welsh folklore is known for its legend of having a sunken town beneath its surface. It is situated in Gwynedd, Wales, and the modern day town of Bala lies on its eastern shore. There are two different legends that give different accounts of how the flooding took place. One concerns the spring of Ffynnon Gower or Gower’s Well, and the other involves the wickedness of a prince named Tegid Foel. This article looks at the legend of Tegid Foel.

The Legend of Tegid Foel

According to legend, Tegid Foel had a fine palace in the town now underneath Lake Bala and lived a life of opulence and excess. He had a reputation for cruelty and greed, and oppressed his people. The gods had sent several warnings and provided opportunities for him to change his ways, but still he unheedingly persisted in his greed and excesses. When his first grandson was born, he decided he would celebrate the birth with a lavish feast. He sent invitations to all the important princes in Wales and beyond, and invited all of his family to join him in the banquet at his palace in Bala. Now, they say a man is known by the company he keeps, and there were many who would not attend the celebration because they refused to associate with this cruel and barbaric prince. Sadly, like attracts like and the banquet was still attended by many powerful men of ill repute and behaviour.
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The Legend of Maria Makiling in Philippine Folklore

12/11/2019

Mount Makiling – Ramon FVelasquez (Own work) [CC Mount Makiling – BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Maria Makiling

As is often the case in many parts of the Philippines and around the world, mountains and volcanoes became associated with legends, myths and ancient traditions and Mount Makiling is strongly associated with a mythical female entity named Maria Makiling. She is also known as Mariang Makiling and is considered to be a spirit or forest nymph known as a diwata or lambana in Philippine folklore. Before the Philippines were colonized she was known as Dayang Masalanta or Dian Masalanta who could be called upon to stop or prevent natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods, or storms. She is also identified with the amount of fish caught in Laguna de Bay which is part of her realm and appears to be a spirit of abundance influencing the functioning of the natural world. She was seen as a benign spirit of nature that poor people could approach and ask for help whenever they needed it.

It is said that it is Maria who goes through the forest after a storm fixing broken branches and trees and repairing the nests of birds that have been damaged. She walks through the forest healing the broken wings of butterflies and clearing away debris from the forest floor and streams. Wherever she walks the sun shines and the birds sing and the flowers bloom and the animals frisk and play as she tidies up the forest after the storm.

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The Legend of El Sombrerón in Guatemalan Folklore

23/10/2019

Melvin Callejas [Public domain]

In the folklore and of Guatemala, El Sombrerón is a legendary bogeyman figure who also appears in other Latin American countries such as Mexico. He also is known by other names such as Tzizimite, Tzipitio, and the goblin, but generally appears as a short male dressed all in black. He wears a thick black, shiny belt and black shiny boots that click when he walks. On his head, he wears a large black sombrero hat.
He often has a horse and will braid its mane and tail. His favorite occupation is to court young ladies who have large dark eyes and long black hair which he likes to braid for her. He will serenade and play his guitar for her but will also place soil on her plate and she will have problems eating and sleeping.

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The Legendary La Patasola in Latin American Folklore

14/9/2019

Rafael Yockteng [Public domain]

La Patasola

In Latin American folklore La Patasola, or one-foot, is a predatory supernatural woman preying on those males who tend to live or work on the edge of civilization close to the wild such as hunters and forest workers. La Patasola has only one foot or leg and appears to her victims as a beautiful woman often taking on the likeness of a victim’s loved one. She will choose a victim and try and separate him from his companions and enticing him further and further into the jungle. Once she has led him to a remote place she will change into a terrifying, one legged vampire-like creature that lusts after the blood and flesh of humans.   She will suck the blood from her victims until they are dry and then eat their raw flesh.

La Patasola haunts the remote mountains and dense untamed forests and other thickly wooded places with lush verdant vegetation.   She is seen as a guardian of the wild animals and the jungle and the enemy of those who kill animals or destroy the jungle environment that she lives in.

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Legends and Folklore of Devils Tower, Wyoming, USA

14/8/2019

Devil’s Tower in Wyoming has a familiar look about it for many people who watched the classic 1974 sci-fi movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind. That is because it was the place that people desperately tried to reach to rendezvous with the giant alien spacecraft.

It is situated in Crook County in the Bear Lodge Mountains which is part of the Black Hills and not far from Sundance and Hulett in the north eastern part of Wyoming and rises to a height of 5,112 feet above sea level. In 1906 President Theodore Roosevelt declared it a national park.

It was named Devil’s Tower in 1875 when an interpreter working for an expedition led by Colonel Richard Irving Dodge who mistakenly interpreted a Native American name for it as “Bad God’s Tower”.   The Native Americans have several names for it including, Bear’s House, Bear’s Tipi, Bear’s Lodge and many others and features in many myths, legends and traditions.

Native American Folklore

The Kiowa and the Lakota people have a legend that tells how it originated. This tells how a group of young girls were out playing when they came across several gigantic bears who on seeing then gave chase.

To escape the bears the girls climbed to the top of the summit and got down on their knees and prayed to the Great Spirit.   The Great Spirit heard their prayers and caused the rock to rise up from the ground towards the sky out of the reach of the bears.

The bears tried to climb up to get them and dug their claws in the rock to gain a grip but kept sliding down because it was too steep for them to climb. Their claws scratched the straight vertical marks that are seen to this day in the sides of the massive rock tower. As the tower reached the sky the girls were transformed into a group of stars that are now called the Pleiades.

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The Grateful Dead and the Man of Honour - A Breton Folktale

3/7/2019

Image by JL G from Pixabay

Breton Folktales and the Grateful Dead

Breton folktales often have magical and supernatural elements interwoven with death and tragedy in the story line which creates a dark, sombre but compelling story.   Death is ever present in the world and there are many chilling tales of the evil or resentful dead but there are also some that tell of the grateful dead. These are the dead who return from the afterlife to help a living person who helped them in some way after had they died. How can the living possibly help a person who is dead?   In answer to this question, presented here is a folktale from Brittany that is a retelling of a story collected by Lewis Spence (1) and tells how a living man was repaid for paying off the debts of a dead man as well as paying for his funeral to ensure he received a Christian burial.

The Man of Honour and the Grateful Dead

The story begins in a coastal town in Brittany with a maritime merchant who traded with many foreign ports so successfully that he built up a massive fortune. This merchant had a son named Iouenn who also wanted to make his way in life in the same way his father had.   His father was delighted and set him up with a trading ship and filled it with all kinds of valuable merchandise from Brittany. He gave his son plenty of good advice and Iouenn sailed off to foreign ports to trade and make his fortune and then return home with his profits.

The ship had a safe voyage and after many days sailing docked at a port where Iouenn intended to sell his goods. He went ashore carrying letters of introduction from his father and very soon sold his merchandise at a good profit and found himself in possession of a large sum of money. He decided to spend a few days in the port looking around and sightseeing and one day as he strolled through the narrow streets he came upon a pack of stray dog such as are often seen roaming the streets of many towns and cities unchained. They appeared to be snarling and growling and biting and pulling on an object that was laid in the street. Curious as to what they were doing he cautiously approached and was horrified to see they actually worrying at the corpse of a man.

This shocked Iouenn greatly and he went round making inquiries about the fate of the unfortunate person. He was told that the man had died owing a great debt and as there was no money to pay for a good Christian funeral and burial the custom in those parts was that the corpse be thrown into the streets for the dogs and other beasts to scavenge. Iouenn was shocked that such a terrible indignity could be inflicted upon the dead and after chasing the dogs away, out of the kindness of his heart he paid the debts and for a proper Christian burial.

The Black Ship

After this he resolved he would not stay in the port a day longer and bid his captain make the ship ready for voyage and sailed for home.   They had not sailed far when one of the sailors cried out the presence of a strange ship on the horizon heading their way and from it they hear a terrible wailing of many souls. The ship was attired all in black and had a most sinister appearance prompting Iouenn to remark to his captain, “This is a most curious vessel! Why is all attired in black and why are those on board setting up such a wail.”

As the black ship approached Iouenn hailed it asking those on board what troubled them. “Sir, we are charged with a most grim and unhappy task. There exists not far from this spot an island occupied by a gigantic serpent. For seven years our people must have had to pay an annual tribute of a royal princess and her you find us in the process of transporting yet another poor victim to her doom!”

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The Indonesian Legend of Malin Kundang

8/6/2019

The original uploader was Geoethno at German Wikipedia.(Original text: Amsterdam, Buffa) [Public domain]

Petrifaction myths and legends appear in human cultures all around the world. Very often they carry a warning or are the result of a punishment. In many cases they can be either inspired by a geological feature such as a rock formation or the name given to the feature is inspired by folklore. Presented next is a retelling of a folktale from Sumatra, Indonesia that carries an important warning about how grown up children should respect their mother.

Malin Kundang

The story begins in a poor fishing village on the coast of Sumatra where a poor widow struggled to bring up her young son whom she had named Malin Kundang. They existed on a meager living scraped from fishing. Nevertheless the mother loved her son very much and worked hard to give him the best that she could. Thanks to her hard work, love and dedication Malin grew into a healthy and clever boy who was always willing to help his mother to earn some money. However, no matter how hard they worked they could not escape poverty. One day Malin had an idea and went to his mother and said, “Mother, if I stay here I will never have a life. I don’t want to spend all my life in poverty and I want to be a rich and successful man. What would you say if I told you I wanted to leave the village and sail away to find my fortune?”

Although his mother was devastated at the thought of her only son leaving her alone she swallowed her bitter tears and told him, “My son, If that us your heart’s desire I cannot stop you. Although it breaks my heart that you are leaving I will pray that you find happiness and your heart’s desire, but promise me that when you have found every thing that you dream of you will not forget me and come home again to your mother who will be waiting patiently for your return.”

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The Folktale of the Origin of Multnomah Falls, Oregon

17/5/2019

Multnomah Falls

The Multnomah Falls is a waterfall situated not far from Portland in Oregon. It is a local beauty spot which many people visit to see torrents of cool, crystal clear, water cascade over the edge of a cliff to fall over 611 feet in a spectacular cascade. A legend is associated with its creation that tells a story of love, devotion, faith and sacrifice.

Chief Multnomah

Many, many, years ago there was a Native American chief called Multnomah who had a beautiful daughter that he loved more than anything. Having lost his sons in wars he loved and cherished her even more and wanted to be sure when the time came she would have the best possible husband. To meet this goal he spent a lot of time looking over the young men of his own and neighboring villages for the best possible match. At last he decided that the best husband for his daughter would be a young chief from the Clatsop people who were neighbors. It proved to be very good match and the two quickly developed a deep rapport and fell in love with one another.

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The Legend of Lludd and the Three Plagues of Britain

30/4/2019

Cropped image of Two Dragons Image from History of the Kings of Britain by Geoffrey of Monmouth – Public Domain (Cropped)

King Lludd

King Lludd appears in the Mabinogion in the story of Lludd and Llevelys as King of Britain. This is a tale that tells how with the help of Llevelys, his younger brother, he overcomes the Three Plagues of Britain that had caused his people great anxiety and fear. It is thought that Geoffrey of Monmouth in the History of the Kings of Britain refers to him as Lud and it may be the case that the Mabinogion tale owes much to Geoffrey.

After the death of his father Beli the Great, as his eldest son, Lludd became King of the Island of Britain.   Lludd was a great and generous king and a mighty warrior and leader of men. He was generous in giving food and hospitality to any who sought it from him and cared for the welfare of his lords and subjects. During the reign of Lludd the island of Britain prospered greatly. Lludd rebuilt the city of London that Brutus the Trojan, the legendary first King of Britain was said to have founded. He surrounded it with strong walls with many towers to defend its citizens and called upon his subjects to built fine houses within those walls and London became the finest and richest city on the island of Britain.

King Llevelys

According to the Mabinogion, Lludd had three brothers and the youngest named Llevelys was his favourite. He was extremely fond of Llevelys who grew up to be a very wise and discreet man whom he could always trust.   It so happened that when the King of France passed away and having no male heirs to the throne he had left his kingdom to his daughter. Llevelys sought her hand in marriage and after a successful courtship married her and became the ruler of France.   He was to prove to be a good and just ruler who governed with great wisdom for many years and had a long and happy life.

The Three Plagues of Britain

The island of Britain ruled by Lludd continued to prosper as did France ruled by Llevelys. There came a time in Britain when the situation changed for the worse and the people grew fearful and troubled. Three plagues had descended upon the island of Britain that caused the people great distress and anxiety.   The first of these plagues was a people called the Coranians, the second was an unearthly Shriek heard throughout the land and the third was the theft of Royal provisions.

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