The Differences Between East and West

This is a great video that I found that demonstrates the differences in Indian mythology and western culture.  It is not just a comparison of gods, it is an explanation of thought.  Check it out and let me know what you think of it.

The Saucy Boy

There is a great web site that has all of Aesop's fables on it.  It is cryptically named aesopfables.com.  I was reading some to my boys when I discovered that this site doesn't just have Aesop's fables, but other authors as well.  It even had some of Hans Christian Anderson's fairy tales.  I thought I would read a short one to the boys. I picked one titled, "The Saucy Boy."  I figured in good fairy tale fashion it would have something horrible happen to some boy who was disrespectful.  Instead, I found a mythology tale.  Here it is lifted straight off the Aesop's Fables.  Warning - there will be a spot where you will lift your eyebrows and get a little worried where it is going.  Never fear, I was able to read the whole thing to my kids.

THE SAUCY BOY


    ONCE upon a time there was an old poet, one of those right
good old poets.

    One evening, as he was sitting at home, there was a
terrible storm going on outside; the rain was pouring down,
but the old poet sat comfortably in his chimney-corner, where
the fire was burning and the apples were roasting.

    "There will not be a dry thread left on the poor people
who are out in this weather," he said.

    "Oh, open the door! I am so cold and wet through," called
a little child outside. It was crying and knocking at the
door, whilst the rain was pouring down and the wind was
rattling all the windows.

    "Poor creature!" said the poet, and got up and opened the
door. Before him stood a little boy; he was naked, and the
water flowed from his long fair locks. He was shivering with
cold; if he had not been let in, he would certainly have
perished in the storm.

    "Poor little thing!" said the poet, and took him by the
hand. "Come to me; I will soon warm you. You shall have some
wine and an apple, for you are such a pretty boy."

 And he was, too. His eyes sparkled like two bright stars,
and although the water flowed down from his fair locks, they
still curled quite beautifully.

    He looked like a little angel, but was pale with cold, and
trembling all over. In his hand he held a splendid bow, but it
had been entirely spoilt by the rain, and the colours of the
pretty arrows had run into one another by getting wet.

    The old man sat down by the fire, and taking the little
boy on his knee, wrung the water out of his locks and warmed
his hands in his own.

    He then made him some hot spiced wine, which quickly
revived him; so that with reddening cheeks, he sprang upon the
floor and danced around the old man.

    "You are a merry boy," said the latter. "What is your
name?"

    "My name is Cupid," he answered. "Don't you know me? There
lies my bow. I shoot with that, you know. Look, the weather is
getting fine again- the moon is shining."

    "But your bow is spoilt," said the old poet.

    "That would be unfortunate," said the little boy, taking
it up and looking at it. "Oh, it's quite dry and isn't damaged
at all. The string is quite tight; I'll try it." So, drawing
it back, he took an arrow, aimed, and shot the good old poet
right in the heart. "Do you see now that my bow was not
spoilt?" he said, and, loudly laughing, ran away. What a
naughty boy to shoot the old poet like that, who had taken him
into his warm room, had been so good to him, and had given him
the nicest wine and the best apple!

    The good old man lay upon the floor crying; he was really
shot in the heart. "Oh!" he cried, "what a naughty boy this
Cupid is! I shall tell all the good children about this, so
that they take care never to play with him, lest he hurt
them."

    And all good children, both girls and boys, whom he told
about this, were on their guard against wicked Cupid; but he
deceives them all the same, for he is very deep. When the
students come out of class, he walks beside them with a book
under his arm, and wearing a black coat. They cannot recognize
him. And then, if they take him by the arm, believing him to
be a student too, he sticks an arrow into their chest. And
when the girls go to church to be confirmed, he is amongst
them too. In fact, he is always after people. He sits in the
large chandelier in the theatre and blazes away, so that
people think it is a lamp; but they soon find out their
mistake. He walks about in the castle garden and on the
promenades. Yes, once he shot your father and your mother in
the heart too. Just ask them, and you will hear what they say.
Oh! he is a bad boy, this Cupid, and you must never have
anything to do with him, for he is after every one. Just
think, he even shot an arrow at old grandmother; but that was
a long time ago. The wound has long been healed, but such
things are never forgotten.

    Now you know what a bad boy this wicked Cupid is.

                            THE END

Beware the Ides of the New Year????

O.K., I know this should be a post about the Ides of March, since it is, well, the Ides of March.  However, Today is another Roman holiday.  It is the day to honor Anna Perenna, the Roman goddess of the New Year.  Never heard of her?  Well shame on you!  There is a lot of stuff out there about her.  The following information comes from OGOD - The Obscure Goddess Online Dictionary - a very powerful reference that we here at Bubo's Blog have voted as the best compilation of obscure female deities anywhere.  Check it out for the full story!

Anna Perenna is the Roman Goddess of long life and renewal, health and plenty. Her two names both make reference to the year: anna means "to live through a year", while perenna means "last many years" (still seen in the English words annual and perennial). She seems to be concerned with cycles of renewal, and connecting the past to the present; She Herself is described in some legends as old, and in others as young. Sacrifices were made to Her with the intent "that the circle of the year may be completed happily".

 In one legend, Anna Perenna is an old woman who brought the plebeians cakes and kept them fed. For these reasons She was always popular with the common people, and after Her death She was considered a Goddess.

In a later legend Anna is a young woman, the sister of Dido, Queen of Carthage. After the death of her sister, Anna fled to Rome, where the hero Aeneas had settled. Here she ran afoul of his wife Lavinia, and in despair she killed herself by drowning in the River Numicius. Afterwards she was said to have been given the surname Perenna, and worshipped as the nymph of the river.

In yet another tale, She is again an old woman. The God of War, Mars, was in love with Minerva, the Goddess of War and the Arts and a sworn virgin. He asked Anna Perenna to intercide on His behalf; instead She dressed Herself up as Minerva, and, veiled, came to Mars. When He tried to kiss Her She laughed and laughed at Him in scorn. Minerva's main Roman festival, the Quinquatrus, was held just 4 days after Anna Perenna's and this is usually the explanation given for why they are linked in this legend.

The Festival of Anna Perenna on the 15th of March was beloved by the common people, though it was also an officially recognized holiday. On the evening of the 15th, people would gather at the 1st milestone on the Via Flaminia in Her sacred grove of fruit trees (in bloom at that time of year) by the banks of the Tiber, and camp out, some bringing tents, others making little shelters from leafy tree branches. There they picnicked merrily into the night, feasting, dancing, singing, and celebrating with much wine, toasting to health and long life. It was believed that one would live as many years as the cups of wine one could drink, and so it was of course traditional therefore to get very, very drunk.

Well, sounds like a winner holiday to me!  Thanks again to OGOD.  Happy celebrating!

Artemis

Artemis (Diana to the Romans) - goddess of hunters and wild things, childbirth, crossroads, and sometimes the moon.  She is the sixth most popular deity on my highly scientific poll (just scroll down and look to the right to vote).  She has also taken on new life recently in the Wiccan beliefs.  I'm not well versed in Wicca, but I'm sure that some of my readers can explain her role in a comment to this post.

(link)

I find it very interesting that she is a childbirth goddess since she never had children.  Despite this, many females in Greek and Roman times spent quite a bit of time worshiping her.  She was fiercely protective of her virginity and if you happened to say, look in the wrong direction, or try to deflower her, you would be lucky if she used one of her Hephaestus-special arrows to strike you down.  don't believe me?  Just ask Actaeon.  Oh yeah, you can't.  He's dead.

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She's so serious about her virginity that she only hangs out with virgins and even asked her father (Zeus) for eternal virginity.  She was three at the time.  Some stories say that Orion tried to rape her and she created Scorpio to kill him.  That's why you'll never see Orion and Scorpio constellations in the sky at the same time.  Orion is still running from him even in death.

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There's another story involving Orion.  This one says that Artemis and Orion fell in love.  She was spending too much time with him, so Apollo tricked her with an archery contest.  They kept picking targets farther and farther away until Apollo picked Orion swimming about a mile away.   Artemis did not know it was a person she was shooting at much less her beloved, so she let loose an arrow and killed him instantly.

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Niobe bragged to Artemis' mother, Leto, about having more children than Leto did.  Leto complained to her children so Apollo went out and shot all of Niobe's sons and Artemis shot all the daughters.  You would think people would have learned to stop bragging to gods and such, but well...

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Agamemnon ticked her off by killing a deer in a place sacred to her.  She punished him by stopping the winds from blowing when he wanted to sail off and attack Troy.  In order to get favorable winds, she said he woudl have to sacrifice his daughter.  Agamemnon, being a great dad and all, refused.  So... wait a minute...  Scratch that.  Agamemnon, being a dead beat dad, killed her and got the wind he needed to go play with the Trojans.

(link)

In Sparta, they held a festival in her honor.  Cheese would be placed on the altar and young boys would try to sneak up and steal the cheese.  When they did so, they would get whipped. Nobody knows why anymore and for some strange reason, we don't still celebrate it.  What a shame.  Sounds like fun (of course speaking from the adult side, and not young whipped boy side).

Read 'Em and Weep

My friend, Nick, the mythology teacher down the hall, came up with a clever idea to teach his class about gods and titans.   Here is the sheet


The Posse- Gods and Gangsters

You are to make a gang of gods... Think "Mafia." Your gang should be well balanced. You
need leadership, minions, the "muscle," the "brains," and a code. Your Mafia should have a
coat of arms. Any good organization knows its strengths and weaknesses. Using any of the
gods from the Greek creation onward (Greco-Roman only), create your Olympian Mafia.

The following are your parameters:

• You may only have one (1) Olympian (Head of the "Family") and you must sign up for which Olympian you will have. There may only be two of each Olympian in the class at max.
• You may choose up to three (3) Titans
• You may have up to 7 minor gods and goddesses.
• Each member of your “family” should have a card with a description that defines his/her/their role in the family and ranks that member’s strength
• The total strength of all your family members may only be 50 “strength pts.”
• The “muscle” may be strong, but he cannot evade attack.
• The “brain” may be weak, but he is smart and can evade attack.
• Minions have no special skills. They do what they are told.
• You must draw your coat of arms.
• Be prepared to face off with another family in the class. There may only be 1 ruling family. We will be playing a strategy-card game with these cards next week.

Rules of the Game:

• Each play faces off head-to-head with another player.
• Each player chooses a card to begin the attack. Choose who goes first by rolling a die.
• Each player then determines the winner by difference of strength points (highest wins).
• Each player takes the amount of damage determined by subtracting the strength of the opponent from his own strength. That player then retains the strength left after calculating damage.
• The “muscle man” does not take damage except from other muscle men and the Olympian. When facing another muscle man, a die is rolled to determine damage. High number wins. A tie yields equal damage.
• The “brains” may evade damage, and this is determined by the roll of a die. A high number yields evasion. A tie yields equal damage.
• The Olympian takes the amount of damaged determined by the strength points divided by the role of the die except when attacked by a "muscle man" or "the brains." The muscle man and the brains inflict true damage on an Olympian. The Olympians inflict true damage on each other.
• Each card must be played until the family member dies or the game is over.

The winner of the game is the one who survives after all the opponent’s family members
are dead.


The tournament is over when the only one family remains.

The kids were all into it and it forced to to know a handful of deities very well.  Their cards were all hand made and they looked great.  I saw that one kid had a deity with a Pac Man head and asked him who that was.  His reply - Cronus - because he ate his children.  I thought that was pretty ingenious.  It also could easily be modified to include other pantheons and maybe even combine cultures.

This could also be a good time to introduce Abundantia, the Roman goddess of luck and success.  She even had her own coins!

Thanks, Nick!

Don't Fly Like My Brother

I love the radio show Car Talk on NPR.  They are supposed to say before a commercial break, This is NPR."  But since they are constantly making fun of themselves (and anything else they can find to laugh at), they usually say it in a way that shows people can't stand the fact that such an awful show would be on NPR.  For example, the other week they said, "Even though Van Gogh lops off the other ear when he hears us say it, this is NPR."

They had a mythology one recently, "And even though Icarus heads back for the sun when he hears us say it, this is NPR."

I love mythology allusions!

The Eleven Labors of Hercules - Labor # 5

Eurytheus is in a bind.  He has tried to come up with impossible tasks, but it seems that Hercules doesn't quite understand the whole point here.  When I think of Eurytheus constantly saying that this task is impossible, that task is impossible, etc, he really must look like this guy:

You keep using that word.  I do not think it means what you think it means.

However, I think Eurytheus is onto something this time.  Instead of having him kill this monster or catch that animal, tasks that Hercules is clearly good at, he gives him something completely different.  He must clean up the Augean Stables in one day.

Now, let's get a few ground rules set up here so that you understand the problem.  These stables had not been cleaned in 30 years.  The stables house 1,000 cattle.  Are you starting to see the problem?  Let's go even further.

The average cow produces 150 pounds of manure per day.  There are 365 days in a year, so we are looking at 150 x 365 = 54,750 pounds per year per cow.

Thirty years of not cleaning means that each cow has produced 1,642,500 pounds (because 54,750 pounds x 30 years = 1,642,500).

There are 1,000 cows each producing 1,642,500 pounds each which equals 1,642,500,000.  That's right - 1 trillion, six hundred forty-two billion, five hundred thousand pounds of manure.

If 1 ton = 2,000 pounds (which it does), then we are talking about 821,250 tons of crap (or for our metric friends - 745,025 metric tons).

Now I figure some of that weight is water which will drain out over time and some of it will disintegrate as well, so lets just say he probably has at least 700,000 tons of poop left to move.  I'm ballparking here.

Let's say that Hercules has access to his dad's 1952 Chevy truck.

It's possible that he had one of these.  This is mythology, you know.

Well, this truck can carry about 4 tons of manure.  That would be at least 175,000 loads.  Not to mention, where is he going to take this to dump it?

You see what I'm saying here?  This is obviously an impossible task.  However, Hercules, as arrogant as he is, not only thinks it is possible, but also asks King Augeas and tells him that he'll clean it out in one day if he gets a tenth of his cattle.  The king just laughs at him (usually a dangerous thing to do) an says sure.

As we have already stated, this is going to take a heck of a lot of truck loads.  However, Hercules has a different idea in mind, one that is going to be horrifying to you eco-friendly types out there.  He grabs a shovel and begins digging - not manure, though.  He digs trenches from the stables to two rivers close by and diverts their course so that they will wash out all the manure.  Then he just diverts the rivers back into their normal course.  This is all fine and dandy, but no myth book ever thinks of where all that water and manure went.  How many small villages were wiped out by the flood and the resulting diseases?  Oh well.  Those sorry saps are not our concern.  Hercules is.

And speaking of Hercules, he has a little problem collecting his reward.  It seems the King Augeas started citing EPA regulations and what not and refused to pay.  Hercules took the matter to a judge and the King's own son testified that Augeas promised to pay him.  The judge sided with Hercules and the King, in a rage, paid Hercules and kicked him and his own son out of the kingdom.

This is actually one of Hercules' best showings.  Unfortunately, Eurytheus claimed that since he got paid for his work, it doesn't count.  So, what was once ten labors is now up to twelve.

By the way, if you've ever want to practice shoveling manure like Hercules but you don't have a cow hanging around, here is how to make cow manure without a cow - http://www.motherearthnews.com/Organic-Gardening/1978-07-01/How-To-Make-Cow-Manure-Without-a-Cow.aspx

Till next time!