Obscure Myth Allusion Award - Yggdrasil

Let's play a game - tell me what you think of when you hear the words "finger puppets"?

Was it Yggdrasil?  You too? 

Evidentally the good people at Purciful's Magical Toys thinks along those lines.  You can see the tree puppet to the left.  Here is there sales copy for it:

In Norse Mythology, Ygdrassil, the World Tree, shelters the planet between roots and branches. Folkmanis has its own great tree, this 17" Sequoia, safely holding the forest animals--finger puppets ready to be an entire puppet show or combine with other Folkmanis creations.



Go Purciful!  I hope that the puppets sold like hotcakes and the copy guy got a raise.

Dionis

Swim team season is almost over (tomorrow!) and then I can get back to posting on a somewhat regular basis. These last few weeks have been crazy.

I was a Cracker Barrel restaurant and for those of you who are not familiar with them, they have a store of country related goods that you must go through to get to the restaurant.  My oldest son is 10 and has decided that he wanted to get him mom something really nice for Valentine's day.  So he gets me (since I have the money, I guess) to walk over with him toward the scented candles.  While there, I see some goat milk soap products made by a company called Dionis.

You know by now that I am a bit of a nerd and wondered between having to smell various Yankee Candle scents (kind of liked the Strawberry Buttercream) if this was something related to Greek mythology.  The name just had a ring to it, but I couldn't place it. 

So here I am, looking on the internet and I find that it is an obscure alternate spelling for Dionysus (Mr. D to you Percy Jackson fans).  Even alphadictionary.com which searches 1065 different online dictionaries only had it as a girl's name from a baby name dictionary.

I was a bit afraid of looking at the connection between Dionysus and goats.  I mean, this is Greek mythology and all.  I've never been a big fan of Dionysus.  My students, however, think that he is the greatest.

Turns out that the connection is not one to worry about and I am ashamed that I had not remembered this myth.  The goat connection comes from his birth.  Hera, constantly jealous (with good reason) finds out that Semele is carrying Zeus' child.  She disguises herself and goes down to convince her to ask Zeus to see him in all his glory to prove he really is who he says he is.  After making a stupid promise to give her anything she wished for, Zeus ends up shining brightly and completely destroying her in the process.  He saves the baby (Dionysus) by sticking him into his thigh. 

When the baby is born, Hera comes after him.  At first Zeus hides him by dressing him as a girl.  That didn't work.  Then he changed Dionysus into a goat.  This worked like a charm and Dionysus grew up as a goat.  When he got old enough, Zeus turned him back at which Hera literally drives him crazy.

I think that naming the goat milk products after this is worthy of an Obscure Myth Allusion Award.  Looking at his picture, I guess it is lucky for him that most women around him were a bit intoxicated.

A Not So Obscure Myth Allusion, Just an Odd One

I typed in mythology into Google news just to see what was out there and got this odd headline"

Outrage: NBC Will Get the Masturbating Bear in the Conan Divorce


"Because all recurring characters like Pimpbot and The Masturbating Bear, and sketches like "In the Year 2000" are NBC's intellectual property, they'll be keeping them if and when they reach a settlement with Conan O'Brien and he moves on to another network. And by keeping them, we of course mean killing them. If NBC were a creature of Greek mythology, it would be Medea."

This is the article in its entirity; however, if you want to see the picture of the bear you can see it here.  I choose not to include it. 

What an odd thought.  When I think of Medea, I think of many things.  Bears doing things to themselves that they shouldn't is not one of them.

For those that don't know Medea, she is a little pyscho that was used by a loser named Jason.  She is such a weird character in that you really want to feel bad for her and root for her but she just doesn't let you (especially if are reading Hamilton).  Everytime you get in that place, she goes and chops up some poor person, like her brother or her children.  True, she does chop up some people that deserve it, but she just can't be liked.  Then you can't like Jason either because even though she was a bit pyschotic when Jason found her, he didn't exactly make things better by constantly using her and telling her that he would marry her only to be dating a princess on the sly.  That's pretty much Medea in a nutshell.  What an odd reference for NBC.  Well, come to think of it, maybe not.

Another Obscure Myth Allusion Award!

The winner of our third Obscure Myth Allusion award (the first going to a news article to subtly drop the name Ratatosk and the second, which is currently under review by the Obscure Myth Allusion Oversight Committee for not truly being obscure went to Sisyphus) is Padarn Red-Coat.  The following site quickly drops in Padarn Red-Coat right there with Hermes and Aphrodite as mythical beings who have pretty cool clothes.  

The Red Suit Enthusiasm - Their slogan is, "Kicking butt and taking names since Moby Dick was a minnow," which tells you something about them right there.  Apparently they try to get a lot of people to exercise in this spandex red suit and attribute mythical powers to it.  Check it out.

What?  Did you say you don't know who Padarn Red-Coat is?  Shame on you.  Everyone knows this guy.  He has this red coat, you see.   Actually it is more of a tunic / early sweat shirt.  This is not just any red garment, mind you.  It is the ninth treasure of England!  That's right.  Otherwise known as Pais Badarn Beisrvdd (the coat of Padarn Red-Coat) can only be worn by a noble person.  If you are of such high birth, then it would fit you perfectly.  If you were just some punk, it would not fit at all.    

This is not an uncommon idea.  Many times, like in Macbeth, we show people who do not belong in their position by the fact that their clothes do not fit.  Heck, even the Disney movie The Santa Clause does this by showing Scott Calvin not fitting into the Santa Claus suit until he fully becomes his new persona.  Watch a few movies this weekend and I'm sure you'll run across another one.  This is an especially popular image when you have a story about a king or some other nobility that is not the rightful heir.  Of course, those readers here in America are experiencing ill fitting clothes right now, but that is less of being punkish and more of eating too much turkey for Thanksgiving.  Mmmmmm......

Now, interesting enough, Padarn Red-Coat is not the only Padarn walking around.  Apparently the name Padarn was all the rage back then.  Maybe if my wife and I have another kid, we'll name him Padarn (or Padarna if it is a little girl).  I'm sure my wife will approve.  Anyway, there is a St. Padarn.  St. Padarn had established a monastery and is an actual historical figure.  His history, however, runs into mythology as many of the early saints tend to do.  This saint, just like Padarn Red-Coat, has a run in with Arthur.  This run-in involves a tunic.  So you can see that the two stories must have a common origin.  In the saint's story, Arthur tried to steal his tunic.  Some of us may see this as uncharacteristically Arthur; however, Arthur stories have been written by many people who have portrayed him in many lights.

When Arthur tries to take the tunic, Padarn causes the earth to swallow Arthur up to his neck.  Arthur then sees the error of his ways and the awesomeness of God and begs forgiveness.  Padarn, being a saint and all, forgives Arthur and the earth spits him back out.

So have a happy Thanksgiving (even if you are in a part of the world that doesn't celebrate it) and remember to only wear clothes that fit so that no one will think you a churl.

FFBP

Not exactly an obscure allusion, but this news article will have to do:

3.5 percent tax hike still won’t cut it 

EAST PROVIDENCE - “In Greek Mythology, Sisyphus is condemned to an eternity of rolling a boulder uphill and then watching it roll back down again. This, it seems, is a fitting metaphor for budget and financial management in Rhode Island as we developed this budget.”

The rest of the article was sadly enough not about Sisyphus.  It is about some boring budget that I'm sure I would care about if I lived in Rhode Island.  But since I don't... (no offense at all meant toward Rhode Islanders, I'm sure it is a great place to live)

While we're here, let's discuss Sisyphus.  Most of us know the name and are familiar with the rock pushing guy.  But why is he doing this?

Well, this Sisyphus was a king.  Not just a king, mind you, but the king and founder of the city of Corinth (the same Corinth that has a book of the Bible written to it).  He was well known for being clever and tricky.  He was also the grandfather of Bellerophon.

When he died, he was so important that Hades himself came to collect him.  Now, Sisyphus was not quite ready (who is, right?) and must have been on good terms with the gods because he began to talk to Hades.  The conversation went a little like this:

Sis "Hey!  Good to see you, I've been meaning to call and all, but you know how things get."

Hades "Let's go." (Hades has never been one for small talk)

Sis "You know, I've always been interested in how you make people come with you.  Let's say that I don't want to go and wish to put up a fight, I wouldn't, you know, but let's just pretend for argument's sake.  What would you do about it?"

Hades (reaching into his back pocket) "Well, that's why I have these handy dandy handcuffs."

Sis "Man those sure are nice, but what would you use against a big guy?"

Hades "These things are stronger than they look.  They could hold Hercules himself."

Sis "Strong?  Those things?  No way."

Hades "I'm serious.  Why I bet they could even hold me they're so strong."

Sis "Now you're just teasing me.  I bet ten (whatever would be an ancient Greek dollar) that they couldn't hold someone as big and strong as you are.  Why I bet you couldn't even get them over your wrists."

Hades "You're on!"

Well, after Hades locked himself up, Sisyphus pushed him into a conveniently located closet and went on with his life.  While Hades was gone, nobody could die (which reminds me of a Piers Anthony book I read a long time ago called A Pale Horse which was about Death.  Not a bad book if I remember, but I read it in high school or jr. high, so it has been a while).  That might sound col and all, but think about the poor sap that gets trapped underwater and can't drown - lungs still scream for air and all, or the poor sap that drives his chariot over a cliff and lies in a mangled mess at the bottom, still alive.

Eventually Hades gets free and immediately sends for Sisyphus.  Sisyphus, however, was having great fun and decided that Hades was a push over.  He told his wife not to bury him when he died.  So, here he stands before Hades, ready to receive his punishment for making Hades look like a fool in front all of his god buddies and he complains to Persephone that he wasn't properly buried.  Plus, he had no coin to pay for his spot in the underworld.  Persephone, feeling sorry for him, lets him go back up to tell his wife to bury him properly.  Letting him go back up for a few moments is akin to me letting some of my students leave to go use the bathroom.  They may or may not come back.

Finally, (after another good several days) they get him back.  He is charged with various crimes (one being that he snitched on Zeus for having an affair with Aegina and another for using magic) and receives one of the most famous punishments in the world - pushing the rock up a hill for all eternity.  I bet when he gets near the top he can even see Tantalus, one of the other FFBP (Famous For Being Punished).  You know, he may even be able to see Rhode Island.

This picture below is titled, "Sisyphus Resigns!"

Ratatosk

Question for today: What do squirrels, Norwegian Forest Cats, snot, and the Red Sox have to do with each other?

Allusions to mythology are everywhere - product placement, names, references in books and movies. The following links takes you to a news story about the recent hexing attempt on the New York Yankees stadium by the Red Sox fan who buried a Red Sox jersey in the concrete.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/04/17/sports/JERSEY.php

He talks about the burial of Egyptians and how they (well, at least the rich ones) buried objects to help them in the afterlife. O.K., that point is somewhat close.

He also mentions the ancient Iranian art of hexing people by burying object with their name on it. O.K., that is closer. Allusions begin to fly just to have allusions. Achilles's armor is invoked. The most absurd (and what wins the author The Obscure Myth Allusion Award) is bringing in Ratatosk.

What? You don't know who/what/where Ratatosk is? Why it is every one's favorite Norse squirrel, the one that runs up and down Yggdrasil, the world tree, delivering insults to the great eagle that sits at the top of the tree from the great dragon Nidhogg, who lives in the roots of the tree (and vice versa). Along the way he spreads gossip and mischief among the gods and men. Alas, while Nidhogg will survive the holocaust caused by Ragnarok, Ratatosk is not mentioned.

Ratatosk does live on today in the publishing world. Yes, there is a business out there called the Ratatosk Publishing company that publishes such excellent works as The Snot Book. Bound to be a classic.

There is also a Ratatosk network for Scandinavian shamans. You can't underestimate the need for shamans to be able to communicate with each other. (By the way, if you are a Scandinavian shaman and have not yet joined this network, you can at http://www.multiart.nu/ratatosk/aboutratat.html - Native American shamans need not apply.)
There is also the Ratatosk Norwegian Forest Cats, a cattery for Norwegian Forest Cats. What do cats (forest or any other variety) have to do with immortal Norse squirrels? Well, according to the website (http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Ridge/5176/) these cats have bushy tails that look like squirrel tails.

There is even a video game called Knights of Ratatosk. Sounds cool until you realize that it means Knights of the Squirrel.