Te Wheke-a-Muturangi

New Zealand mythology (Maori) speaks of a giant octopus called Te Wheke-a-Muturangi. This beast is a pet and guardian of Muturangi (a high priest of Hawaiki (the mythical land that pretty much all of Oceania mythology says is the root of mankind)).

Kupe got tired of constantly going out fishing, only to have his bait eaten off the line. He noticed a slimy substance all over it. Being a bright guy, he puts two and two together and realizes it must be Te Wheke-a-Muturangi and goes off to find Muturangi. Muturangi is less than sympathetic saying that he does control his pet and refuses to do anything.

Kupe then decided to kill the beast. The village joins in building a huge ocean going canoe, big enough to house much food and several of the villagers (no, not the Village People).

Once out in the ocean, Kupe kept his bait dangling just above the water in order to draw out the octopus. As soon as it did, he sliced a chunk out of the beast and cast a spell preventing it from diving deep. Wheke swam off. A chase ensued and weeks later, they come across an island. This was Aotearoa, the island that Maui pulled up from the ocean floor last time he went fishing. As they explored, their footprints became stone and are still there to this day.

Chase resumed and lasted for several more weeks until finally, Wheke was cornered. As the octopus fought back, the canoe was in danger of being sunk, so Kupe came up with a plan (I told you he was pretty bright). He threw some gourds into the ocean.

Now if you can't see the brilliance of this plan, then obviously you are not as smart as he. The octopus attacked the gourds thinking they were people. This brought his head above the water and Kupe chopped at it and killed it. He did save the eyes, though, and placed them on a nearby rock as a memorial (the thing did lead them to the lost island of Maui, after all).

Kupe's women, waiting back home were so sure that he had died that they slashed their breasts and turned the rocks red with blood.

Modern day association? France has just displayed the world's first plastinated squid (six-and-a-half metre-long) in their Natural History Museum. It was donated by New Zealand and called Wheke. By the way, plastination is a means of preserving and animal by replacing parts with a substance that pretty much makes the animal turn into a plastic fossil.

Also there was a giant octopus guardian at the entrance of the Mines of Moria in Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring. It wasn't called Wheke, though, only The Watcher in the Water.

Drop that into conversation and I'm sure everyone will just wonder in amazement the extent of your knowledge.

Baby Names

The following mythology in the news story came from the BBC News:


Mythology inspires six baby names

A Welsh couple have taken a mythological approach to naming their five children by taking inspiration from Greek, Roman and Egyptian heroes. Elaine Romaeo, 35, and her husband Tony, 51, wanted to give their brood more exciting names than their own.

The eldest is Romeo Casanova Valentino, 12, next is Venus Valentine, 11, then Angel Aphrodite, 10, Isis Ise, 3, and Achilles Spartacus Mars, 2. The couple are calling their next boy Caesar Augustus Constantine.

Mrs Romaeo said: "There's enough boring normality in the world so we decided to draw inspiration from Roman, Greek and Egyptian history to name our children. The look on the registrar's face is always a picture when we tell them the names we've chosen.

"Instead of getting an A-Z of baby names I bought some history books and found some of the most famous names ever.

"At first we chose a love theme with Romeo and Venus Valentine but now we have widened it a bit."
"That's got to be better than names like Jack, Oliver and Daniel which are okay, but a bit too popular for us."

"But every time I get pregnant my family ask: "What are you going to call this one?"
"The only downside is that we can't get pencils or mugs with their names on but we can live with that."

You can read the whole article at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/7309581.stm

The Lightning Thief

The book, The Lightning Thief, is the first book in a series called Percy Jackson and the Olympians. All mythology lovers, young and old, need to read these books.

I got started reading it to my son, but I enjoy it myself. The premise? The gods are real. The monsters are real. Most people just don't see them or believe in them. That doesn't make them any less powerful. True to form, the gods are also "blessing" people and making babies, which turn out to be great heroes (and sometimes great villains). Percy Jackson, our protagonist, is a half-blood and is learning the hard way of what it means to be a son of a god.

The author, Rick Riordan, does a good job keeping true to the myths as he updates them. Medusa has a garden statue business. Hermes has a delivery service. Dionysus, well, you would expect him to be hanging out on college campuses, but instead he is currently being punished and cannot make wine. He is , however, stuck on Diet Coke.

The mythological places move with Western civilization. Now Mt. Olympus is over the Empire State Building and the underworld? Go no further than Los Angeles. Monsters? they don't every really die, but it might take them a while to come back. That way heroes always have monsters to fight.

The chapter titles are even hilarious. My personal favorite is, "Three Old Ladies Knit the Socks of Death."

I would love to hear from anyone else who has read the books.

Clash of the Titans Remake

Yes, that glorious movie from the early 80s will be coming back. O.K., O.K., I agree. The lack of mythologically sound plot was a bit irritating; however, I remember it being the gateway into my love for mythology. I was just a kid when it came out, but I remember it looking so real (then again, I also remember the old Hulk shows as looking so real, so my kid views are not entirely reliable). Anyway, should be a good movie.

The script writer seems to be Lawrence Kasden. He's the guy who wrote The Empire Strikes Back script. There is already a script for the remake, Kasden is rewriting it. From what I've been able to glean, the basic plot will be followed, pegasus and all. It is supposed to be darker and more realistic (yeah, it was hard typing the word realistic with this post without laughing too much).

The director has been announce by Variety to be Steve Norrington, who directed Blade and League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Both of these were a bit cheesy (I still liked LXG) so should do well with this movie!

Harry Hamlin (the actor for Perseus in the original) does not think this should be made. He said that they would never be able to assemble the type of cast that they had so it will never be as good.

The Internet seems to have mixed emotions about it. Some say that CGI technology will make it better, some say that without the claymation, way bother? Me? I'm looking forward to it. We'll have to wait until 2010, though. Just as long as they keep Bubo...

Tribute to the Unknown Gods

Every so often on this blog we will have a tribute to a god that is not known very well. This one is dedicated to Priapus (also spelled Priapos):

If somebody asked him, "Who's your daddy?" He might would have a hard time answering. Many myths have different fathers for him. The candidates are Zeus, Hermes, Adonis, and Dionysus, with Dionysus being the most popular. Most of the stories have Aphrodite as the mother.

Whoever the father, Hera doesn't like Aphrodite being pregnant. If Zeus is the father, that's understandable. If it is one of the others, Hera is upset because either Aphrodite's promiscuity is detestable, or because this takes place after the famous beauty contest between the Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite (the one that started the Trojan war). Whatever the reason, Hera touches Aphrodite's belly before she gives birth and when she does, the baby is ugly and ill tempered. As a result, Aphrodite kicks him off Mt. Olympus.

A shepard finds this creature and at first is repulsed but then begins to see that the area around him is growing wildly. Flowers are blooming, grass is greener, trees are bearing fruit, and male and female animals are enjoying each others company in an intimate way. The shepard recognizes that this must be a fertility god and gives him the credit he is due. His cult of worship spreads.

People begin to put little statues of him in garden pots and place them in their garden (or bedroom *wink wink nod nod*) to make their flowers grow better or to have children. Now before you go and make one fore your garden, there is a reason that I have not put his picture up here. Here is what he is generally described as:
* He has a dwarfish body
* He has a huge head
* He has big hands and feet
* He has a particular piece of male anatomy that is so large that it curves backwards over his shoulder.

The only other myth about him other than his birth that I found was when he tried to rape Hestia. A donkey brayed loudly and alerted her he was coming so that she could get a way. Priapus beat up the donkey to get his aggression out.

I found on one web site that in some places as Christianity began to take over, many people were willing to give up all the gods but Priapus. They still made loaves of bread in the shape of, well, you know in a tribute to him. According to my source, the church O.K.ed it as long as the loaves were marked with three crosses and this may have been the start of hot cross buns.

Tribute over!

March Mythology Madness

Its that time of year again and basketball is the thing to watch. How does this play into mythology? Many colleges use myth based mascots.

Here are a few of the cooler ones:
Argonauts - College of Notre Dame (the one in California)
Centaurs - Purdue University
Griffons - Missouri Western State College
Phoenix - Wilson College
Here are the most over done ones:
Spartans, Trojans, and Titans

The most unusual?
The Athenas - Scripps College
Vulcans - University of Hawaii-Hilo

I guess they could have picked some worst ones. I think it would be cooler the be the Hydras or the Cerebi (I guessing the plural for Cerebus).

At least nobody is the fighting Bubos.

Gnomes

Think of all the scary things in life. Get a top ten. Do gnomes make the list? If not, then you do not live in South America. More on that in a moment.

The gnome comes from German folk lore. Most likely Paracelus (a Swiss alchemist from the 1500s) came up with the term. The original term was Zwerg (in German of course) which can be used to mean dwarf as well, thus one of reasons people do not know the difference between them. The more modern term is gnome.

The common idea is that gnomes are fairly friendly beings that like to help out people for whatever reason (you know, making shoes and such).

Still not scared? Well, in South America there was a gnome incident:

From THE SUN March 11, 2008

A TOWN in South America is living in fear after several sightings of a 'creepy gnome' that locals claim stalks the streets at night.
The midget - which wears a pointy hat and has a distinctive sideways walk - was caught on video last week by a terrified group of youngsters.

You can see the video and read the rest of this story at http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article902014.ece

My guess? The Travelocity gnome was just going around checking on the hotels and such. Or maybe it was an evil twin.

Better think twice about that little guy in your neighbor's garden...

Inventive Mythology Corporations

We know that many companies use myth names to advertise their products. Nike being probably the most famous with its referrence to the goddess of Victory. You also have Ajax cleaner, Venus razors, and the florist company that uses Hermes to show how fast they are. Here are a few of the more inventive ones I have found:

Phidippides - this in reference to the guy who ran all the way to marathon shouting "Nike!" to let the king know they had won. He died upon arriving. What do they sell? Running shoes, of course! And they specialize in long distance running.

Medusa Corporation - they make cement and cement statues.

Minerva Olive Oil - what a better spokesperson for your olive oil company than the goddess who invented olives?


There are many more. Post ones that you know!

Hermaphroditos

Might as well start this blog out with a bang! Here is one crazy myth -

The Greek dieties Hermes and Aphrodite got together and, well to put it delicately, held hands. Their child was a young boy who was beautiful, talented, and all around a nice guy. Many parents like to name their child after themselves (the whole junior phenom) and the gods and goddesses are no different. Both wanted to tag their name to this handsome youth so they merged their names together into Hermaphroditos (poor kid, alas his name is the least of his worries).

Well the boy grows up to be a great archer, hunter, charioteer, poet, runner, and pretty much anything that he wanted. He had women throwing themselves at him hoping to get his attention. One young nymph in particular was fascinated by him, but Hermaphroditos was not interested in love. He was having too much fun being single.

Well our little nymph-stalker was not one to give up easily, so she goes to a local river god and asks for help. She said, "I want to be with him forever. If I can't, I feel as if I may die!" The god granted her wish. He told her to wait by a certain pool of water that Hermaphroditos was known to frequent. As soon as he gets in to cool off from a long day's worth of hunting, jump in and grab him. Your wish will be granted.

Sure enough, she stakes out the pool and when he gets in, she leaps in after him and grabs him. As soon as she does, she is instantly merged into him. Now Hermaphroditos might not have noticed much since she completely merged into him. he kept his own thoughts. Her voice was not heard in his head. She was one. They literarly became one. One problem - he gained her womanhood parts and became the first female boy or male girl or, well hermaphrodite, which is, of course, where we get that word.