sixminutestoriesblog
folklore and fic
feeling cute. might write some stories, might fuck around and find out. An avid collector of old superstitions, folklore and dusty stories. Sometimes I write my own. Working on having a cottagecore life in a rented apartment. Well passed the age of consent no matter what country is asking.
193 posts
Don't wanna be here? Send us removal request.
Last Seen Blogs
wave2earth
𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 ⋆ ｡ ⊹ ˚
tiinytulip
tiny tulip
the-lord-cooler
The Illustrious Lord Cooler
tropicbeverleykaye
TROPIC with Beverley-Kaye 🏆🌴💚🌸🐰
Text
bloodstone
I wasn't aware before I started poking around but apparently March babies have one of the most METAL birthstones I've ever heard of.
There's the more standard birthstone which is the Aquamarine.
And then there's the Bloodstone.
Because March doesn't do anything by halves.
Bloodstones are officially called heliotrope, a word that comes form ancient Greek meaning 'to turn the sun'. In fact, in ancient times, there was a belief that submerging a bloodstone in water would actually turn the sun red in response. Or perhaps that it just turned the stone blood red, like the sun, when those rays reflected off of it. Bloodstones are a type of cryptocrystalline quartz, which means that the quartz crystals that make up the stone are so small that even with a microscope they're hard to see. As such, bloodstones can be either opaque or transparent. The most popular form however is a dark green stone with red specks throughout. The red is hermatite which is an iron oxide compound.
Remember that.
Back to the story - obviously with a name like that and a long history of being around, the bloodstone is going to have some superstitions that go with it. Let's dive in.
The bloodstone has been used both to carve seals on and as amulets from ancient times. The red of it was said to represent blood and thus it was considered good for health and strength, making it a favorite with athletes and soldiers. It was also supposed to help with blood issues. For instance the Romans believed that pressing a cold bloodstone to a wound would help staunch the bleeding. Remember the iron oxide in bloodstones - well, it turns out the Romans weren't entirely wrong. Iron oxide is an astringent. This same belief is found in India as well. Pliny the Elder wrote that magicians used the stone to turn themselves invisible. Ancient Greeks and then Romans believed that wearing the stone would make people more likely to grant you favors and it was said to open doors for its wearer. The Assyrians and Babylonians used bloodstones to make their signet rings and seals. During the Middle Ages, Albertus Magnus, also known as St. Albert the Great, and well known for his studies of Aristotle, even called the gem 'the stone of Babylon' in his writings and said it was known to have several magical properties from Antiquities. The prominent belief in the Middle Ages however, was that the drops of red were the blood of Christ, falling from him while he hung on the cross to stain the stone underneath. Because of this it is sometimes called Christ's Stone or the Martyr's Stone. The Gales in Scotland believed the red drops were also blood that had fallen on the stones but they believed the blood came from the 'Nimble Ones', giants that fought across the sky at night.
Associated with March, and the god of war that the month is named after, the bloodstone is thought to bestow vitality and bravery. It is also said to promote good health and longevity as well as good fortune and wealth. Anyone with legal matters going on should wear one to bring favor to their cause, prevent deception and bring them victory. Bloodstones are supposed to allow their wearer to summon storms or grant them protection from lightning. They can supposedly be used as an antivenom to snake bites as well as to cure tumors. The Gnostics believed the gem could strengthen the stomach and alleviate melancholy and the Middle Ages believed it could help with animal husbandry.
And lastly, in modern times, in some Asian countries like India, its believed that swallowing the ground up stone will help with blood circulation, hence making it a powerful aphrodisiac for its ability to increase blood flow. Because of this, jewelers say it is hard to find high quality stones on the market these days.
5 notes
·
View notes
Text
st. patrick's day
Saint Patrick's Day! Green beer, green clothes, parades and corned beef and cabbage for all! In America, we have a lot of traditions associated with St. Pat's Day and a pleasure in celebrating them whether we're Irish or not - heck, even whether we understand them or not.
So let's take a look at some of the ways we celebrate and what we get wrong - and right.
To start with the man himself, Saint Patrick wasn't Irish. Patrick grew up on the Britain side of things. This doesn't make him British however. At the time, the Isle of Britain was run, mostly, by the Romans and letters from Patrick that have survived see him not only writing them in Latin but signing them as Patricius. Whether he was Roman by birth is still a mystery to this day but his family is believed to have been part of the Roman aristocracy. At sixteen, he was kidnapped and ended up in slavery as a shepherd in Ireland before eventually escaping back to Britain. After receiving training however, he returned to Ireland as a missionary and the rest is - well, not history but certainly lore.
There's some speculation, in fact, that the Saint Patrick of myth was actually two men. Saint Patrick the escaped slave and a bishop sent by Pope Celestine in 431 named Palladius to support the 'Irish believing in Christ' that already lived there.
Did he, or they, at least drive out the snakes? Legend says that St. Patrick drove all the snakes out of Ireland and the island has been slither free since. The truth is - according to fossil records, Ireland never had any snakes to drive out. Ireland was under an ice sheet up until the last glacial period and after that it was safely surrounded by water. To save a little bit of the story, some historians believe 'driving out the snakes' was more of a metaphor for driving out the pagan religions of that time instead.
But we totally wear green to avoid getting pinched! Right? Actually - yes. Though the pinching is supposed to come from mischievous leprechauns, not your over-enthusiastic siblings. Apparently, leprechauns can't see you if you're wearing green and therefore, they can't pinch what they can't see. Given our decorations featuring the little people dressed all in green, you'd think that would make it hard for them to find each other but - not really. You see, traditionally - leprechauns wore red.
The pot of gold, sometimes at the end of the rainbow though - that's real(ish).
So is the leprechauns' strange blind spot with green why everything's green on St. Pat's Day? Not really. Green is associated with Ireland, the Emerald Isle, these days but for most of its history, Ireland, and St. Patrick's, color - was blue. Green recently came into prominence during Ireland's struggle with England. Green came to be associated with the Irish side of things and wearing green was a way to show which side of that you were on. The green beer/food though? That's entirely an American thing.
Speaking of green beer, the drinking is an American thing as well. Or, at least, the 'this is a traditional part of the holiday'. In Ireland, Saint Patrick's Day has long been a Catholic religious holiday - and it also happens to fall in the middle of Lent. Originally, the day had a lot more to do with going to church than to the local pub. Which isn't to say no one in Ireland celebrates the holiday with a drink. 'Drowning the shamrock' involved pouring whiskey over a shamrock in the bottom of a glass. The whiskey is then drunk and the soaked plant is thrown over your left shoulder to complete the tradition - and get you some extra luck.
Shamrocks being considered lucky is a part of the holiday. Called 'seamroy' by the ancient Celts, the shamrock was considered a sacred plant. St. Patrick was also supposed to have used the three leaves of the plant to explain the Trinity during his sermons. Like the clover, finding a four leaf shamrock is good luck and five leaves promises a future of vast wealth!
So, yes, a lot of our St. Pat's Day traditions aren't exactly... traditional. Don't discount them or their importance however. Many of the ways we celebrate St. Patrick's Day today are the direct results of Irish immigrants to America. The parades, the corned beef and cabbage, the celebration of Irish traditions - those were all created in the mid to late 1800s by Irish Americans that wanted to celebrate their heritage. So don't feel bad for indulging in a day of parties and eating your favorite food.
Just remember to cut a cross in your soda buns to 'let the devil out' before putting them in the oven to bake for the holiday.
#st. patricks day#saint patrick day#folklore#superstition#wearing the green#irish#irish history#st patrick#ireland
15 notes
·
View notes
Text
ides of march
well, its tumblr's favorite holiday and who can blame us? The assassination of Julius Caesar is probably one of the only group projects that ever went down the way it was supposed to with, well, not complete group participation (there were said to be upward of 60 people involved but only 23 stab wounds - obviously someone was not carrying their weight) but at least a good effort was made at it. But lets take a moment, between our jokes about salad and Animal Crossing butterfly nets to look at what else has happened in history on the Ides of March. For instance, did you know, on March 15th:
1493 - Columbus returned to Spain after 'discovering' the new world.
1580 - Phillip II of Spain put a bounty on the head of Prince William I of Orange for 25,000 gold coins for leading the Dutch revolt against the Spanish Hamburgs
1744 - King Louis XV of France declares war on Britain
1767 - Andrew Jackson, who would go on to be the seventh president of the US, was born.
1820 - Maine became the 23rd state in the US
1864 - the Red River Campaign, called 'One damn blunder from beginning to end' started for the Union Forces in the American Civil War
1889 - a typhoon in Apia Harbor, Samoa sinks 6 US and German warships, killing 200
1917 - Czar Nicholas II abdicated the Russian throne, bringing an end to the Romanov dynasty
1955 - the first self-guided missile is introduced by the US Air Force
1965 - TGI Friday's opens its first restaurant in New York City
1991 - in LA, four police officers are brought up on charges for the beating of Rodney King
2018 - Toys R Us announces it will be closing all its stores
2019 - a terrorist attacks two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, killing 51, and wounding 50 others
Oof! Pretty bleak, isn't it? It would almost make you think that the day is just bad luck, start to finish and its probably just as well, we're all focusing on assassination instead of other horrors. But wait - its not all bad news! The Ides of March has some tricks up its sleeve yet (joke intended). I'd be telling you only half the story if I didn't add:
1854 - Emil von Behring is born and will eventually become the first to receive the Nobel Prize in medicine for his discovery of a diphtheria antitoxin, being called 'the children's savoir' for the lives it saves
1867 - Michigan is the first state to use property tax to support a university
1868 - the Cincinnati Red Stockings have ten salaried players, making them the first professional baseball team in the US
1887 - Michigan has the first salaried fish and game warden
1892 - the first automatic ballot voting machine is unveiled in New York City
1907 - Finland gives women the right to vote, becoming the first to do so in Europe
1933 - Ruth Bader Ginsberg is born and will go on to become a US Supreme Court justice
1934 - the 5$ a day wage was introduced by Henry Ford, forcing other companies to raise their wages as well or lose their workers
1937 - the first state sponsored contraceptive clinic in the US opens in Raleigh, North Carolina
1946 - the British Prime minister recognizes India's independence
1947 - the US Navy has its first black commissioned officer, John Lee
1949 - clothes rationing ends in Britain, four years after the end of WWII
1960 - ten nations meet in Geneva for disarmament talks
1968 - the Dioceses of Rome says it will not ban 'rock and roll' from being played during mass but that it deplores the practice - also in 1968, LIFE magazine titles Jimi Hendrix 'the most spectacular guitarist in the world'
1971 - ARPANET, the precursor of the modern day internet, sees its first forum
1984 - Tanzanian adopts a constitution
1985 - symbolics.com, the first internet domain name, is registered
The Ides of March turns out to just be a day, like any other day in history.
Unless you're us. In which case -
#ides of march#happy ides of march#julius caesar#today in history#please take some of my 'bad' dates as tongue in cheek#we love you maine#and a few of my dates fit both the good and bad side of the things so I just went with whichever I was on at the time#feel free to wiggle them around to a more appropriate column
14 notes
·
View notes
Text
leap year
The years go by and the world turns and time moves on. Yet - once every four years - we get to do a little bit of a reset to put things back in balance. Not a bad idea on a less meta level either. In a perfect world, leap day would be a time to rest, relax and recharge. In our world its just another Thursday. But it wasn't always that way and humanity has come up with plenty of ways to mark Leap Day as different from all its brothers and sisters on the calendar.
Let's start with possibly the most well-known. Every four years, on Leap Day, women are allowed to switch rolls and propose to men! Which, granted, isn't as exciting these days when the answer is 'duh' but was back in 5th century when it got started in Ireland. Saint Brigid, so the legend goes, saw too many women stuck waiting on their beaus to propose to them so she had a talk with Saint Patrick about it and it was decided that, every Leap Day, women could turn the customary on its head and do the proposing, something that was referred to as Ladies Privilege. This turned out to be such a popular solution that it spread across much of Northern Europe. Queen Margaret of Scotland made Ladies Privilege into law in 1288 with the stipend that the proposing woman had to wear a red petticoat while she did. The tradition lasted too. In a toned down version, some places in the US still have a Sadie Hawkins Dance on February 29th in which the girls are expected to ask the boys to dance.
Back to the marriage bit though, it could get expensive to turn down a proposing lady! The gentleman was required to give money or a gift to the lady he was refusing. This usually took the form of clothing but one man is recorded as having to juggle on Easter Sunday. In Denmark the fine was twelve pairs of gloves to cover her ringless hand and in Finland it was enough cloth for her to make a skirt from. If the woman's proposal is accepted however, don't set the date any time soon. In Greece and the Ukraine its considered bad luck to wed in a Leap Year and anyone that does is supposedly doomed to an unhappy marriage or even the death of their spouse.
That's not the only bad luck associated with Leap Day. For the Romans, February was the month of the Dead and an extra day just mean even more of that to go around. A German saying goes that 'Leap Year will be a cold year' and in Scotland 'Leap Year will never be a good sheep year'. People born on Leap Day are called 'leaplings' and are said to be set for a life of difficulty in Scotland (only getting a cake and presents every four years can be hard on a person).
In the US however, leaplings are invited to join in a four-day party that takes place in the town of Anthony, on the border of Texas and New Mexico each Leap Year. The festival has gotten so big that leaplings come from around the world these days to join the party.
Leap year is also lucky if you're a whale - thanks to the old folklore that whales only give birth in a leap year (at least that's according to Buzzfeed so take that as you will).
Leap year is considered a dangerous year for the elderly in Taiwan as they're considered much more likely to die during that time. In response, on Leap Day, most daughters will make a special visit to their parent's home to cook pig trotters, which are supposed to help with long life and health.
And lastly, in 1980, La Bougie du Sapeur launched its first newspaper run in France. La Bougie du Sapeur only publishes once every four years. On Leap Day. This year you'll finally get the answers to the crossword puzzle it ran back in 2020.
10 notes
·
View notes
Text
butterflies
I was not aware, when I started digging around on the internet, just how MANY superstitions there are when it comes to butterflies.
A lot. There are a LOT.
So I'm going to try to catch some of them here - gently and only for a moment - but please be aware that there are many more I am simply going to miss. The world is full of butterflies and their stories and so we can only find so many before our story runs out.
The ancient Greek word for butterfly was psyche. Psyche was also their word for 'soul'. The thought was that, symbolically, the caterpillar dies when it enters its cocoon and the butterfly is its soul once it emerges. To this day, many cultures around the world believe that a butterfly lingering nearby after a death is a sign that the deceased has come back to check on their loved ones. Even without a known death nearby, butterflies are often considered to be carrying the newly released souls of the dead on their wings and it is very bad luck to harm or kill one of them while they are about their business. White butterflies are said to be the souls of children that died too early. In Mexico, migrating Monarch butterflies begin to arrive just as el Dia de Muertos, the Day of the Dead, is taking place and can be viewed as the souls of the land's ancestor's returning to visit. In Mesoamerican culture, the butterfly was the soul of a warrior that had died in battle (women that died during childbirth were counted among these warrior souls). In fact, the butterfly was one of the symbols many of the gods shared. Itzpapalotl was a death goddess known as the Obsidian or Clawed Butterfly of the Aztecs. The butterfly was also one of the symbols of Xiuhtecuhtli, the Aztec god of fire. Butterflies were often associated with fire in quite a few mesoamerican cultures in fact. The idea of a short, brief 'flame' of life that bursts into color and then quickly dies.
Even when they're not ferrying souls, the magic of butterflies carries over. Some Native American tribes say that if you catch a butterfly without hurting it and whisper your wish or prayers to it before releasing it, the butterfly will carry your words directly to the Great Spirit. The Shoshone have a dance called the Fancy Shawl Dance that represents the butterfly's wings and the twirling path of its flight. In Japan, folklore says that if you find a butterfly perched in your guest room, you'll soon receive a visit from the person you love most in the world. In the Appalachian mountains, there's a butterfly that, if you're fast enough to count the spots on its wings, just as much money will come your way. In Louisiana, a butterfly getting into your house means fortune is on its way.
Not all butterfly superstitions are positive however! To see a butterfly flying at night means approaching death. A butterfly with closed wings means bad news is coming since the closed wings are 'hiding' the secret. Seeing three butterflies resting on the same leaf is bad luck and if the first butterfly of the year that you see is yellow, it means there will be sickness -
unless you're Zuni, in which case it simply means there is bright, sunny weather ahead.
The Russian word for butterfly is babochka, which means 'little old woman' since there's a belief that butterflies are actually witches in disguise. In Ireland, the butterfly can easily pass back and forth between worlds. And finally, in Devon, England, you must kill the first butterfly you see in the new year or all the rest of that year will be bad luck.
Just be aware, in most other cultures, killing a butterfly is what brings on the bad luck.
11 notes
·
View notes
Text
violets
February is the smallest month and often the least favorite of some people. In the Northern hemisphere it balances the line between the grey winter months and the raucous spring ones that will follow. But being a little month caught between louder ones does not mean February isn't hiding its own sparkles of magic with a holiday dedicated to emotion and an extra day up its sleeve every four years. So its only fitting that one of the birth flowers for this month is the indomitable violet.
How long has the violet's magic been around? Well - we could ask Sappho, the ancient Greek poet whos work was so well-known and admired that she was sometimes called 'the tenth Muse'. She mentions her lover wearing wreaths of violets and in a different poem a crown of them. Sappho's poems often speak of her romantic love for other women and so the violet often does too. In 1926, one of the first modern plays to depict the love between two lesbians, La Prisonnière, used a bouquet of violets to signal their relationship.
Most violets are edible and so they were (and still are) added to an array of foods and drinks. Modern France is known for its violet syrup. Eating this flower goes back to antiquity in fact. Ancient Persians thought violets were calming and could sooth away headaches. The Greeks, and therefor the Romans, believed violets were good for fertility and made love potions with them. In fact, Athens was known as the 'City of Violets' for its abundance of them.
The idea of violets and love carried over too. The very same Saint Valentine, who happens to have a holiday named for him in this month, is said to have ground up violet petals in order to make the ink he wrote his letters with.
In medieval European art, the violet is often shown in paintings with the Virgin Mary. Because it grows close to the ground with a lowered flower head despite its royal color, it represents modesty and humility.
In Victorian times, the purple violet represented modesty, faithfulness and fortune. Folklore said wearing violets in your hair could help you combat inebriation. Carrying violets could ward off evil spirits too (perhaps because sickness was still thought to be caused by evil smells and many violets are very fragrant). Make sure you carry a lot of violets when you do carry them however. Another English superstition said that carrying less than a full handful of the flowers in to the house lead to bad luck and a single violet would be the death of all the ducklings and chicks on the farm! If violets bloomed in the autumn, whoever owned the land they bloomed on would experience a death in the family (there are flowers in the violet family that do this often however so fear no harm on this account).
These days the sweet violet is the symbol for consistency in the UK. In Australia and New Zealand, violets were sold on 'Violet Day' (the date of which varied from year to year) to help raise money to commemorate the dead soldiers from World War I. The violet is the state flower of New Jersey, Illinois, Wisconsin and Rhode Island. The humble little flower is also being tested for medicinal uses in modern medicine.
So you see, like February and February babies, this little flower packs quite a punch.
#violet#herbology#the language of flowers#february#birth flower#st valentine#cottagecore#folklore#superstition#herbalism#love potion#victorian
12 notes
·
View notes
Text
vinegar valentines
It's February 14th, Valentine's Day, and love is in the air. Today is the day to send flowers, share chocolates and, perhaps most famous of all, to find the perfect card to express your deepest feelings to the ones who have been on your mind forever.
Welcome to yet another tradition of the Victorian era that lasted from the 1840s to the 1940s.
That's right, for the price of only a penny, you could send scathing 'valentines' to the people you felt deserved it. Some friends took advantage of this to send joking cuts to their fellows. Most Victorians took it a bit more seriously however.
The nicknamed 'vinegar valentines' were usually printed like postcards, single-side on cheap paper and could be sent through the mail. There were occasions when a postmaster or mail carrier would refuse to deliver them but that was rare.
Anyone that didn't fit into society's expectations of the time was subject to them, bullying through the mail long before doing it online was available.
Granted, sending the valentines was often considered outside of polite society too, so most of these cards were sent anonymously. One would hate to get a 'valentine' of their own for being catty.
Eventually, the tradition fell out of favor and then out of the public's memory. These days any salty valentines we send to our friends are usually done in good humor.
The anonymous ridicule is saved for online.
#valentines#valentines day#valentines cards#vinegar valentine#happy valentine's day#victorian era#cards#hate mail#just remember#love comes in many forms#today is the perfect day to share it with all the many ways you love others
21 notes
·
View notes
Text
lunar new year foods
In the last Chinese New Year post we talked about some of the traditions that accompany the new year's celebrations. We did not, by any means, cover all of them. A quarter of the world's population celebrate the Spring Festival and that's a lot of room for a lot of different traditions. For this post, I'd like to talk about some of the dishes eaten for the festival that have meanings that go a little deeper than simply being tasty, though they are that as well. I am not going to be able to mention all of them so I hope that everyone feels absolutely free to include them in the notes, tags or reblogs.
One can never have too many delicious food suggestions.
Let's start off with a familiar one. In many parts of Northern China, dumplings are front and center when it comes to meals. This is because the Chinese symbol for dumpling 饺子 sounds like 交子. 交 means 'exchange' and 子 is 'midnight'. So this play on word-sounds means to exchange the old with the new at midnight. In some areas the stuffing in the dumplings needs to be egg for prosperity in the coming year. The dumpling itself is reminiscent of silver ingots and the egg therefor adds gold to things as well. Alternately, you can add meat and bamboo strips which will make sure that everything you will need in the coming year will come your way. Don't use anything pickled however as this might lead to a difficult future. And lastly, don't forget to add a coin or a long thread to one of the dumplings. Whoever is lucky enough to find the coin will have good fortune and the thread is for long life (as long as no one chokes on it!).
Don't forget the fish either. The symbol for fish sounds a great deal like the symbol for 'extra'. Make sure to eat the middle of the fish but not the head or the tail. This will help you finish everything you start, from 'head to toe (well, tail)' so to speak. Also you shouldn't eat the whole fish in one sitting. Stretch it out into two meals so that your prosperity and extra will stretch out for the whole year as well. Have a business you want to thrive? Add red peppers to the cooking fish. Not only is red a lucky color, the spiciness of the meal will lead to a lively future for your business as well.
Nian gao is a must. Originally reserved for the gods and ancestors as offerings, these rice cakes have since become a tasty treat for everyone. Gao sounds like the word for 'higher'. Hence, if you want to go higher in the new year, you've got a very good reason to tuck into these delicious cakes.
You also want to keep an eye out for turnip cakes. They're made of shredded Chinese radish. 'Radish' sounds similar to 'good luck and fortune' so this is a tasty way to bring exactly that into the new year. These cakes are especially popular on the seventh day of the festival as a reminder that the goddess Nu Wa created humans on the seventh day.
Don't turn up your nose at unprepared food either. Oranges, kumquats and tangerines have a golden color that is sure to bring in prosperity in the coming year. Peaches will bring longevity and health. Muskmelon and grapefruit symbolize family and hope. And if you want a large family, start eating pomegranates.
#chinese new year#lunar new year#spring festival#year of the dragon#dumplings#fish#nian gao#turnip cake#folklore#superstition#word play
12 notes
·
View notes
Text
widdershins wednesday
The inventor of Coca-Cola, John Stith Pemberton, created the original recipe because he was addicted to morphine thanks to the chronic pain he was in due to a wound he'd received fighting on the Confederate side during the Civil War.
Because a drink made with cocaine is absolutely A way to combat morphine addiction.
22 notes
·
View notes
Text
Chinese New Year
What's better than one new year's celebration?
TWO new year's celebrations!
While most of the Western world marked the beginning of the new year on January 1st, most of Asia celebrates the the Chinese New Year, also known as the Spring Festival or the Lunar New Year, that can fall anywhere from January 21st to February 20th. The reason the new year falls on different days is because it uses the lunar calendar that marks holidays not by set days but by stages of the moon. This year the new year will fall on the 10th of February. An estimated quarter of the world's population celebrates this new year. Are you ready to celebrate too?
The first thing to know is that, if you're celebrating the new year traditionally, most businesses will be shut down, usually for at least a week, sometimes more. Not only does this give everyone plenty of time to prepare and celebrate the days of the new year, it also gives people time to go home to visit their relatives. The Lunar New Year is the cause of the largest annual migration of humanity each year. Family is a large part of the celebration and that includes the dead as well as the living. Graves are visited, offerings are made, memories are shared. On New Year's Eve a family reunion dinner is held, with family coming from far and wide to gather together to welcome in the new year. There's plenty to do for people who can't visit family as well because visiting friends is an important part of the holiday. And lets not forget the festivals themselves with delicious treats, fireworks, dragon and lion dances and floating lanterns. This is the biggest celebration of the year and there's no doing things by halves.
Let's talk about some of the traditions and folklore of the celebration.
First off, the legend is that the new year is celebrated the way it is because, long ago, there was a monster called the Nian that would come out every new year's eve to hunt and devour helpless villagers, creating destruction wherever it went. The Nian had a special fondness for the taste of children too. Finally, one year, everyone decided to hide from the beast. As they were gathering to leave, an old man approached them and said that he would stay behind while they hid and he would get their revenge on the monster when it came. While they were away, the old man hung up red papers in the windows of the village and set off firecrackers during the night. When the villagers returned, their village was unharmed but the old man had disappeared. Realizing that he was a deity that had come to help them and show them the way to defeat the Nian, the grateful villagers followed his example and hence the tradition of firecrackers and the brilliant color red became a tradition.
In some stories, its a brave boy that sets off firecrackers to drive away the Nian instead of an old man. In others, its an old beggar that a poor woman gives shelter to for the night.
No matter the story, firecrackers are still set off during the new year's festival, their loud sounds thought to drive off evil and to welcome in good luck. They're set off again during the Lantern Festival that ends the New Year festivities.
Red is still used everywhere too. It's the color of prosperity and energy, driving off the negative. Evenly paired couplets like:
Yīfānfēngshùn niánnián hǎo, wànshìrúyì bùbù gāo
"Smooth sailing with each year; success with each step."
are hung or painted on double doors or to either side of them in red as even numbers (the characters of the couplet that match length on both sides of the divide) are considered lucky as well as warding off evil spirits. Sometimes pictures of gods or heroes are hung in pairs on doors for the same reason. Red lanterns get hung up and much like some people cut snowflakes out of paper, symbols for luck, prosperity and health in the new year are cut out of red paper and hung on windows. There are even red diamond paper decorations with the Chinese character 福 (fú /foo) hung so the symbol is upside down. This is because 福 means luck and when it is upside down over a door the luck pours out over the entire household.
If you want to keep that luck in your house, make sure you do a full spring cleaning just before the new year. This will sweep all the bad fortune out and have your house ready for new blessings to come in. Once the new year arrives though, don't wash yourself the first day. You don't want to wash all that good luck down the drain. For the same reason, there's no cleaning, and especially no sweeping or throwing out trash, until after the fifth day of the celebration. You want to start the new year the way you want it to go on. As such, don't get into fights, say negative words, swear or try to rush people around. Don't use sharp objects like scissors because it will cut off your good luck; for the same reason, don't cut your hair either. Treat yourself to new clothes for the festival, red is best, avoid black and white which have unlucky connotations. Don't buy shoes as the word for shoes sounds a lot like 'evil' or 'bad luck'.
Don't forget the red pockets either! These are red envelopes with money in them. Elderly family give them to the younger generation as a way to symbolically pass on their wealth and blessing and the younger generation gives them to their elders to show appreciation and wish them prosperity and longevity. These are so standard that there are even phone apps these days so you can give them electronically. Remember, an even amount of money is lucky so don't give out an odd one.
And let's not forget the Chinese zodiac. The upcoming new year will be the Year of the Green Wood Dragon. The dragon represents power, success, honor and luck and will bring a creative and auspicious year of progress. People who were born in the year of the dragon however should be careful to wear red underwear every day of the year to keep bad luck from settling on them. And, if you can, be sure to watch the dragon (and lion!) dances as these too chase away the bad and bring in the good with them!
#chinese new year#lunar new year#spring festival#year of the dragon#folklore#superstition#nian#lion dance#dragon#there was really too much to fit into one post#I may do another post for food and the lantern festival#and we didn't even get into the kitchen god
26 notes
·
View notes
Text
Porphyrios
Since 2020 there have been over 400 run-ins with orca whales off the coast of Spain. So far, they've sunk at least three ships and damaged dozens more. A ship's skipper, Daniel Kriz, who has had the orcas damage rudders on two different boats he's been on, says they're getting better at it too.
“In 2020, the attack lasted almost an hour and was not as organized,” Kriz said. “This time we could hear them communicating under the boat. It only took about 10 to 15 minutes.”
Why are whales suddenly going after boats with such determination and for such a long span of time? Scientists are unsure, leaning between the whales retaliating for harm a ship did them previously or simply becoming brave enough in their curiosity to unintentionally damage ships. Perhaps I am a bit too influenced by stories I've read but I would tend to believe the orcas know exactly what they're doing.
I also know this isn't the first time a whale has attacked, or sunk, a ship.
Perhaps the most modern famous one is the sperm whale that sunk the whaling vessel Essex in 1820, an incident that inspired Herman Melville to write Moby Dick in 1851.
But we can go further back than that.
Much further.
Let's go back to sixth century Constantinople. According to Procopius, a historian of the time from Caesarea, a great whale, 45 feet (13.7 meters) long and fifteen feet (4.6 meters) wide haunted the Strait of Bosporus and the waters around it. This whale wasn't just there to sight-see either. The whale attacked and sank ships it came across.
The sailors of the time named the monster Porphyrios.
There's debate what the name was derived from (other than the gut kick reaction to shout 'oh shit!' the second you saw the whale hove into view) but most scholars think the whale's name came from prophyra which meant a deep, purple color. This could have been referring to the color of the whale's skin or perhaps imbuing it with some of the terrifying, regal nature that nobles of the time, the only ones allowed to wear the purple, implied. Whales weren't well known in that area of the world at that time and we have no way of knowing what kind of whale it was. Speculation based on size leads many to believe it was a lost sperm whale a long way from home but it might have also been a large orca. Iberian orcas hunt the Straight of Gibraltar, following the bluefine tuna every year and they're the ones responsible for the recent ship attacks off the coast of Spain of the past few years. It's not hard to imagine one of them wandering east, deeper into the Mediterranean Sea, instead of heading back north when the tuna left. And Porphyrios didn't just set up shop anywhere. He decided that the Strait of Bosporus was his new hunting ground.
Here's the thing. The Strait of Bosporus was the main trade route for that part of the world. Goods flowed down to the Black Sea, crept through the narrow Strait of Bosporus which let out into the Sea of Marmara. One more strait, this one the Dardanelles, where the city of ancient Troy once controlled all trade out of the East, and then it was out into the Aegean Sea and then on to the Mediterranean. Trade goods could pass by on land but it added both dangers and time to the business and, most importantly, took all that sweet, sweet toll to use their water passage right out of Constantinople's hands. Having what amounted to a sea monster living in their main money-maker and convincing merchants to find other ways to bypass the strait, and therefor the city sitting on the edge of it, was disastrous for a country that was trying to restore itself to its former glory. Emperor Justinian I, also known as the Great, put out a bounty on the monster's head and did everything in his power to encourage its capture or eradication.
The tools of whaling used centuries later to drive many whale populations to the brink of extinction however were unknown at the time. Porphyrios shrugged off the arrows and spears lobbed at it and went on sinking ships, sending simple fishing vessels to the bottom of the ocean just as steadily as it did merchant and war ships. There was even a story that Justinian's famous general, Belisarius, loaded a catapult onto a ship to hunt the deadly whale, though this seems to be just a story and one which also failed to killed the great monster of the strait.
Porphyrios becoming a terror that merchant captains probably saw in their nightmares even when they were on dry land. Long routes far out of the way were taken to avoid waters he swam in. There would be lulls. For unknown reasons, Porphyrios would disappear for long periods of time, lulling ship captains and their crews into thoughts that the monster had died. It never lasted though and for over fifty years, Porphyrios hunted the ships of the Bosporus and its surrounding waters, damaging some and sending many more to the bottom of the ocean.
Nothing lasts forever though. One day, the story goes, Porphyrios was chasing dolphins in the Black Sea and ran aground. Struggling to get back to deeper water, it only churned up the dirt, sinking itself more completely into the mud. Locals that lived nearby saw what was happening and ran out to kill the great beast but their axes did little damage against its tough hide. In the end, they lashed ropes to to the whale and, using horses and wagons, dragged its great bulk to higher ground. There they finally managed to kill the beast, eventually hacking it to bits and eating the pieces. Porphyrios, killer of men and sinker of ships, terror of the Bosporus, was no more.
It was the first recorded case of a whale attacking ships.
It hasn't been the last.
Perhaps the Iberian orca, social animals that can teach each other how to disable and sink ships, tell stories, late at night when they rest in the waters off the coast of Spain, with the bright lights from the shore twinkling above the water like electric stars. Perhaps they tell stories of an ancestor who hunted strange waters -
and taught the humans in their noisy ships above what real fear was.
#porphyrios#whale#whales#orca#sea monster#history#constantinople#justinian#killer whales#orcas#turkey#bosporus strait
10 notes
·
View notes
Text
widdershins wednesday
Victorian England had to deal with, among other things -
exploding toilets.
Methane gas would build up in the sewers and then leak upward into homes.
All it took was one lit candle.
#widdershins#widdershins wednesday#plumbing#victorian#victorian era#exploding toilet#hardcore cottagecore
7 notes
·
View notes
Text
cardinals
In the dead of winter, surrounded by monochrome colors for months on end, there's something about a little bird bursting with song, vigor and the most obnoxious red color he can wear that can't help but lift even the darkest of moods. These cheery little chaps, duded up in reds that would make Santa feel embarrassed of his drab colors are year round residents who don't migrate, picking one spot and adapting to the ecosystem there, so they're one of the few birds that don't head south when the cold weather starts to set in. They also don't molt their flashy summer feathers in exchange for drabber colors that will blend in with the winter foliage. Because of this, the bright red cardinal has become a symbol of winter and winter holidays, unabashedly popping past the empty colors filling up our windows and doorways, splashing his vibrancy for all to enjoy. Well, the male does. The female cardinal is a much softer brown, busy blending in with the scenery while her flashy husband is out drawing all the attention. As the one nest sitting, this works out better for her. Flashy though her mate may be, he's loyal to her and cardinals are known for staying together once they're paired up for the rest of their lives, raising their children as a couple and even staying together out of mating season. Not all cardinals, mind you. These feisty little birds can split up to chose someone else if it suits them and there's no guarantee that the bright boi caring for his lady's chicks is caring for his own kids. Cardinals are social creatures though and once they find a group they like, and a mate they like, they're usually very content to stay put that way.
Cardinals are native to the Americas, ranging from southern Canada all the way down to central America. They've also been introduced to Hawai'i and Bermuda. As such, most of the folklore surrounding them comes from the Americas. I did find some for other countries, like China, Japan, Italy and England but given the lack of them having even heard of these birds until later as well as the fact that they have their own 'red birds' that aren't cardinals but people might confuse, I'm just going to focus on what developed in the Americas when it comes to superstitions and folklore for the cardinal.
The first of these is that when settlers came to the New World from the old they saw these jaunty little fellows and immediately went religious. Cardinals are named 'cardinals' after the Roman Catholic priests of the same name. Europeans saw the bright red feathers that matched the color of the priests' robes and the little tufted 'mohawk' the bird sports that seemed to resemble the red hats the priests wore and from that point on the bird was an official member of the Catholic clergy!
Birds in general have long been associated with the afterlife and there's a saying that "when cardinals appear, angels are near". Cardinals are also believed to be the souls of ancestors by some groups or send by the spirits of the dead and in parts of the US to see a cardinal meant that a loved one was letting you know they had died and you could expect a call to inform you of it soon. Unlike some harbingers of death however, cardinals were meant to offer hope and comfort during this time, promising that the living were loved by the newly departed. The Cherokee believed that cardinals carried the souls of the departed to the afterlife.
Cardinals signaled more than a loved one passing however. The Choctaw tell the story of how a red bird helped a man woo his love. Since cardinals are often monogamous they've come to stand for love and loyalty and their red color associated them with passion. Seeing a cardinal while you're single could mean that love is just around the corner for you. If you're not interested in romance, hearing the song of the social little cardinal means that you'll have a visitor soon.
Both certain Native American tribes and Appalachian folklore say that cardinals have the ability to predict rain with their singing. Hearing a cardinal's song in the morning, meant rain by that night.
The Cherokee tell the story of how the cardinal got his brilliant red color by helping Wolf pick off the hardened dung that Raccoon had smeared across his eyes while he slept, making him unable to open them. Once the helpful bird had picked away at the hardened mess enough for Wolf to finally see, Wolf told the bird of a nearby stone that had red streaks of color on it that the bird could go and paint himself with. Red paint symbolized war, success, strength and spiritual protection. In other Cherokee stories, the red bird was the transformed daughter of the Sun, who had died from snakebite but was brought back from the land of the dead in a box. While inside the box, she begged the men carrying her back to the land of the living to give her food or water but they ignored her because they'd been ordered not to open the box until they were safely back. Then the girl said she was smothering and, fearing she might die again, they cracked the box open. The second they did, a bit of red flew swiftly out of the box and away. The Sun's daughter had become a cardinal. In some of the stories, humanity lost their immortality because they let her escape.
Cardinals are symbols of hope, life, energy, love and family. This cheerful little bird really does do it all.
#folklore#cardinal#bird#superstition#cottagecore#birb#red bird#choctaw#cherokee#appalachia#birds#cardinals#northern cardinal#backyard birds
18 notes
·
View notes
Text
barbegazi
High up in the Alps, where the border of Switzerland and France meet, winter has come and the temperature has grow cold enough to drive even the hardiest indoors, whether mountain climbers or animals seeking their den. There is one being though, that has been waiting all year for winter's chill to finally arrive.
Living in tunnels that run through the highest peaks of the Alps, is a strange creature called the barbegazi. While the rest of the region is enjoying warm spring and summer weather, the barbegazi hibernates, tucked safe and sound with their families in their mountain homes. Come winter though, once the temperature has dropped below zero, the barbegazi awake and slip out of their cleverly hidden tunnel entrances, slipping past the icicles that serve as camouflage to enjoy the season.
Barbegazi, according to Swiss folklore, is a winter gnome that lives so far up in the mountains that they never even dip as far down them as the treeline. The barbegazi love the snow and, from all appearance, the snow loves them as well. Its said that a barbegazi can dig through the winter white so quickly that they can disappear into it in only seconds, leaving humans who might have ventured up the mountains mystified as to where they went. Barbegazi don't just dig down into snow. It's said that if one is ever buried under snow, no matter how deep, they will be able to easily dig themselves back to the surface again. Handy in a region where avalanches are always a danger.
Don't think barbegazi are afraid of avalanches though! Quite the contrary. You see, these gnomes are all born with excessively large feet. These large feet act like built-in-snowshoes and allow the barbegazi to run across the snow faster than rabbits, leaving hardly any trace of their passing. What's more the barbegazi also use their big feet like skis and there's nothing a barbegazi loves more than ridding the chaotic, surging snowfall of an avalanche as it plunges down the side of the mountain.
These mountain gnomes aren't malevolent and its a good thing for hikers, skiers and mountaineers that they aren't. Just like the tommyknockers of a previous post, barbegazi can warn of soon-to-be danger. Any experienced human going up the mountains, once the temperatures drops, knows to listen carefully for a whistling sound. The barbegazi might have a need for speed but they know humans don't and if one of them is around just before an avalanche is set to come crashing down the mountainside, it will whistle its warning if it sees anyone in danger of being in the rushing snows path. Even more, barbegazi have been said to dig people trapped by avalanche snow out again. This kind of care-taking extends to all the creatures of the mountain the barbegazi lives on and it will protect its mountain friends from the worst of the winter as well as guide lost sheep back to their flock during snowstorms.
Other than their large feet and small stature, how can you recognize a barbegazi? They've got icicles where their beards and eyebrows should be! In fact, its thought that their name is actually a corruption of barbes glacées, which means 'frozen beards'. They also all wear suits made of white fur that cover them entirely from the neck down to the ankles. Beyond whistling, they're known to use hoots to communicate across distances to each other, a sound that's often mistaken for the howl of the wind.
So, next time its winter and you're out treaking through the Alps - good Lord! what is wrong with you? Get inside! - just remember to keep an eye out for the icicle-haired barbegazi and to take them very, very seriously if you hear them start to whistle.
#folklore#switzerland#france#barbegazi#avalanche#snow#ice#icicles#skiing#alps#swiss#mythical creatures
10 notes
·
View notes
Text
the Regent's Park skating disaster
It was a cold day on January 15, 1867 and a large number of London's population was out taking in the icy air in Regent's Park. Along with the regular snowball fights and snowmen building, there was a decent crowd out ice skating on the frozen-over lake that was used for boating during the warm months. Yes, just yesterday the ice on the lake had broken, sending twenty-one skaters into the frigid water but they had all been pulled out safely and besides, the lake had frozen over again in the night. Now, all morning and into the afternoon, skaters had been out on it, flashing by in pairs or alone, children and adults both enjoying the freedom of all but flying while only kept on earth by the thinnest strips of metal. All told, there were an estimated 500 skaters gliding through the frigid air across the frozen lake and an estimated 2,000 more people wandered the snowy park or watching the skating from the shoreline. The day was clear and despite the cold, there was a festive atmosphere. Treat sellers, offering oranges and roasted nuts, joined the skaters on the ice, plying their wares. Ice skating was one of London's favorite past-times and one that welcomed skaters of every class, a rarity in the stratified Victorian city.
And then, late that afternoon - the ice near the shore cracked.
Almost half the skaters disappeared.
Dressed in heavy winter clothes, with metal on their feet, surrounded by icy water, the skaters sank fast. The crowds on the banks leapt into action. Branches were pulled from trees and stretched out to desperately reaching hands. Upturned recreational boats that had been little more than benches only moments ago were righted and launched for the parts of the lake too far from shore for helpful hands and stretching tree branches. Many of the victims were lucky. Mr. Duton of Frederick Street held his two sons above the cold water while he stood in it up to his chin for almost half an hour before they were all rescued. Another man found himself safely on a piece of ice and waited until he was the last survivor to need rescue before accepting a seat on one of the rescue boats and taking up an oar himself to help get everyone to shore. But the lake was as deep as twelve feet (3.7 meters) in some areas and not everyone was a good enough swimmer, or simply lucky enough to be in the right place. Given the number of skaters and the size of the lake, it was amazing that almost everyone was saved.
Almost.
Thirty-nine people drowned that day and one more died of hypothermia after being rescued.
To add to the horror of the tragedy, it was hard to recover the bodies of the dead as well. The lake froze again and again, trapping its victims in its embrace and even when it wasn't holding the dead in its icy grip, divers had to risk the brutal cold of the water to reach the ones that had sunk into the deepest, darkest parts of the lake. Eventually, the last body was recovered but it was the worst weather-related disaster up to that time and the public demanded answers.
There were no answers, other than Nature, to give.
While there had been some workers breaking ice close to the small islands in the lake so that the waterfowl had a place to swim, or to keep people from accessing the islands, they hadn't been near the shore where the ice had broken. There was no one to blame. It was just Winter.
You can still visit Regent's Park, and its lake, today. It would be hard to drown, in winter of otherwise, these days though. The spring after the disaster, the lake was drained and its bed was leveled off and filled with concrete. These days the lake is only about four foot (1.2 meters) deep. If you fall in now all you need to do to avoid drowning is to simply stand up.
#history#regents park#london#ice skating#tw: death#drowning#england#britain#disaster#victorian era#victorian
10 notes
·
View notes
Text
garnet
Unlike most of the other months, January babies only have one birth stone. But oh - what a birthstone it is!
Garnets come in a variety of colors, including the ultra rare blue ones, but the most well known and well loved is the deep rich red. Red garnets are one of the oldest recorded gems for humanity and one that stretched across continents. Garnets can be found in jewelry as far back as the Bronze Age and ancient Romans and Greeks were fond of it as well. The carbuncle gemstone on the High Priest's breastplate in the Old Testament might have been a garnet. They were often found on the jewelry of ancient pharaohs. In fact, archeologists have used garnets to trace historic trade routes, with the 7th century Staffordshire Hoard and the Winfarthing pendant of England both containing garnets from as far away as ancient Sri Lanka. Garnets featured frequently in Migration Period art, a style that arose across Europe and Britain after the collapse of Rome, during the 3rd century, that relied on small, intricate interlocking patterns like the above sword hilt piece.
In modern times, garnets are more than just a pretty face. With a hardness on the Mohs scale from 6 to 7.5, they are often used for their abrasive properties. Garnet grains added to a jet of water can cut through steel!
Just remember, January babies, you're made of tough stuff!
Having such a long history across so much of the world, garnets have netted their fair share of superstitions over the centuries.
In Persia, the garnet was good for protection from natural dangers, like storms and their lightning. In some stories, while there was no light from the moon or the sun during the storm that brought the flood, Noah's ark was lit with the light from a brilliant garnet. Many cultures saw garnets as protection against physical harm and wore them into battle. In fact, during the Crusades, both Christian and Muslim soldiers wore garnets for the exact same reason. Garnets were good at signalling danger since they would grow pale as it approached. They were also supposed to help protect travelers going on long journeys to ensure they came safely home and parting friends would exchange garnets in the belief that the stones would ensure they would meet again. In ancient Egypt, garnets could ward off depression and bad dreams.
The garnet's red color associates it naturally with blood and the stone was supposed to be a cure against inflammation. Too much blood could make you hot-headed, and the garnet was supposed to soothe anger and help with mental clarity and peace of mind. It was also associated with love and friendship. Many older engagement rings were set with garnet as it was supposed to represent loyalty and unchanging affection.
In Medieval Europe, dragon's eyes were sometimes said to be made of garnets. Garnets were also associated with the deep red pomegranate seeds Persephone ate while trapped in the underworld.
Garnets were popular through the Victorian times and are starting to return to popularity as different colored garnets are coming into vogue. Demantoid garnets are a beautiful green color while mandarin garnets are a brilliant golden orange. The iridescent garnet changes color, from red to purple under different lighting. And, as already mentioned, the blue garnet is a deep teal color and was only official in 2017. Garnet lovers have more choices than ever -
but there's something to be said for the classic red garnets that have entranced humanity down through the centuries.
12 notes
·
View notes
Text
The island of Poveglia: Haunted or simply historic?
youtube
The urban legends of Poveglia's haunting is fun but it turns out the actual history of the island is even more intriguing.
Maybe.
Since this isn't really in my wheelhouse, I could only do the most superficial of information searches. My internet was taken up with pages and pages about the haunting of Poveglia. We've run into this problem before though with one site putting up something and every site after simply copying without checking for themselves so I can believe Poveglia has become a telephone game of urban myth. It was hard to find anything that said otherwise though.
I did find the book by David Basato and Paola Sfameni on Amazon. Unfortunately it was in Italian and out of print. I couldn't find any website run by David Basato in english about the island (unless it was on Facebook which I don't have). I had better luck when I searched for Poveglia per Tutti (Poveglia for Everyone). While the articles I found were about modern day problems and the attempt to buy the island for Venice instead of for cruise ships, one of the articles mentioned the 'haunting' and that it was a recent fabrication.
So - Poveglia, still mysterious and veiled even when simply trying to fact check it.
#poveglia#poveglia island#ghosts#urban myths#superstition#ghost story#italy#simon whistler#poveglia per tutti#poveglia for everyone#places#fact check time#history#Youtube
5 notes
·
View notes