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ryin-silverfish · 2 days

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One nerd's musing about Chinese religion and "respect"

-I try to stay away from fandom discourse, but, much like how you can smell the stench from a dumpster fire without walking into said dumpster fire, I've noticed something that seemed to come up a lot in western JTTW + adjacent fandoms: "respect Chinese religion".

-Usually as a reason for why you shouldn't ship a character, because of fucking course it's shipping discourse too.

-And my first reaction is "Man, you are taking Chinese religion too darn seriously, more than people who are born and raised in China."

-My second reaction is "I mean, most of us are atheist/agnostic by default anyways, with a good number of what I'd call 'atheist/agnostics with superstitions': people who said they were not religious, yet believed in Fengshui or divinations and burnt incense at temples for good luck."

-My third reaction: "But why do I get the feeling that when you mention 'Respect', you are thinking about something completely different?"

-Then I reread an essay from Anthony C. Yu, "Religion and Literature in China: The "Obscure Way" of Journey to the West", and the metaphorical lightbulb just lit up over my head.

(Everything below applies more to Daoism + associated folk religions, but by the time most classic Chinese vernacular novels were written, the blending of the three religions had become well and truly mainstream.)

(The conception of gods differs from dynasty to dynasty. What I'm describing here is mostly based on Ming and Qing ones; if you went back to Han or pre-Qin times, most of these would not apply.)

(I am one of the "atheist/agnostic by default" people. I just have an interest in this kind of stuff. I am also just one Chinese person, and an actual Daoist/Buddhist/Religion Studies researcher would probably have a lot more valuable information and perspective to offer when it comes to contemporary practices and worship. Like any people on the internet: take my words with a grain of salt.)

-Even in the past, when society was far less secularized, Chinese gods are not omniscient, perfect beings whose worship is a solemn, humorless affair. Some's worship are Serious Business, but that has more to do with the sort of gods they are and the patronage they enjoy, not godhood in and of itself.

-And even the ones that you are supposed to "treat seriously" are still very human. To use an analogy I've used plenty of times before: you respect and fear them in the same way you'd respect and fear an emperor's official, or the emperor himself, because if you don't, you are not gonna like the consequences.

-However, unlike Jesus, the emperor & his officials were capable of being temperamental, flawed, or an outright asshole, divine or not. Ideally, they wouldn't be, and if you were one of the "serious" believers——people who actually got an official permit, became ordained clergy, and went to live in a temple, you were unlikely to think of your gods in that manner.

-But it wasn't a complete, utter impossibility. The lower you go in the pantheon, the closer you get to popular religion, the less "serious" the gods and their worship become. By that, I mean general attitude, not sincerity of faith. You still shouldn't be rude to them, but, well, they are more likely to take a joke in stride, or participate in the "vulgar" pleasures of commoners because they weren't as bound to Confucian moral standards or religious disciplines.

-To stretch the same analogy further: you should still respect your village head, they could still give your ass a good spanking for being a disrespectful brat, but you were not obligated to get on your knees and kowtow to them like you would do in front of a provincial magistrate, the emperor's minister, or the emperor himself, nor did they have the power to chop your head off just because you were rude.

-On the other hand, the emperor would never visit a random peasant just to help them fix their broken plow or treat them to a nice meal, but your village head could, and your relationship would probably be warmer and a lot more personal as a result.

-Your respect for them was more likely to stem from the things they actually did for you and the village as a whole, instead of something owed to this distant, powerful authority you might never get to see in your lifetime, but could change its course with a single stroke of a brush.

-Now exchange "village head" for your run-of-the-mill Tudis and Chenghuangs and friendly neighborhood spirits (because yes, people worshipped yaoguais for the exact same reasons), emperor + his officials for the Celestial Bureaucracy, and you'd have a basic idea of how Chinese religions worked on the ground level.

-This is far from absolute: maybe your village head was a spiteful old bastard who loved bullying his juniors, maybe your regional magistrate was an honest, upright man who could enjoy a good drink and a good laugh, maybe the emperor was a lenient one and wouldn't chop your head off for petty offenses. But their general degree of power over you and the closeness of your relationships still apply.

-Complicating the matter further, some folk gods (like Wutong) were worshipped not because they brought blessings, but because they were the divine equivalent of gangsters running a protection racket: you basically bribed them with offerings so they'd leave you alone and not wreck your shit. Famous people who died violently and were posthumously deified often fell into this category——shockingly enough, Guan Yu used to be one such god!

-Yeah, kinda like how your average guy could become an official through the imperial examinations, so could humans become gods through posthumous worship, or cultivate themselves into immortals and Enlightened beings.

-Some immortals aren't qualified for, or interested in a position in the Celestial Bureaucracy——they are the equivalent of your hermits, your cloistered Daoist priests, your common literati who kept trying and failing the exams. But some do get a job offer and gladly take it.

-Anyways, back to my original point: that's why it's so absurd when people pull the "Respect Chinese Religion1!!1!" card and immediately follow up with "Would you do X to Jesus?"

-Um, there are a lot of things you can do with Chinese gods that I'm pretty sure you can't do with Jesus. Like worshipping him side by side with Buddha and Confucius (Lao Tzu). Or inviting him to possess you and drink copious amount of alcohol (Tang-ki mediums in SEA). Or genderbend him into a woman over the course of several centuries because folks just like that version of Jesus better (Guan Yin/Avalokitesvara).

-But most importantly, Chinese religions are kinda a "free market" where you could pick and choose between gods, based on their vicinity to you and how efficient they were at answering prayers. You respect them because they'll help you out, you aren't an asshole and know your manners, and pissing them off is a bad idea in general, not because they are some omnipotent, perfect beings who demand exclusive and total reverence.

-A lot of the worship was also, well, very "practical" and almost transactional in nature: leave offerings to Great Immortal Hu, and he doesn't steal your imperial seal while you aren't looking. Perform the rites right and meditate on a Thunder General's visage, and you can temporarily channel said deity's power. Get this talisman for your kids at Bixia Yuanjun's temple, and they'll be protected from smallpox.

-"Faith alone" or "Scripture alone" is seldom the reason people worship popular deities. Even the obsession with afterlife wasn't about the eternal destination of your soul, and more about reducing the potential duration of the prison sentence for you and your loved ones so you can move on faster and reincarnate into a better life.

-Also, there isn't a single "canon" of scriptures. Many popular gods don't show up in Daoist literature until much later. Daoist scriptures often came up with their own gigantic pantheons, full of gods no one had heard of prior to said book, or enjoyed no worship in temples whatsoever.

-In the same way famous dead people could become gods via worship, famous fictional characters could, too, become gods of folk religion——FSYY's pantheon was very influential on popular worship, but that doesn't mean you should take the novels as actual scriptures.

-Like, God-Demon novels are to orthodox Daoism/Buddhism what the Divine Comedy is to medieval Christian doctrines, except no priests had actually built a Church of Saint Beatrice, while Daoists did put FSYY characters into their temples. By their very nature, the worship that stemmed from these books is not on the same level of "seriousness" as, say, the Tiantai school of Buddhism and their veneration of the Lotus Sutra.

-At the risk of being guilty of the same insertion of Abrahamic religion where it doesn't belong: You don't cite Dante's Inferno in a theological debate, nor would any self-respecting pastor preach it to churchgoers on a Sunday.

-Similarly, you don't use JTTW or FSYY as your sole evidence for why something is "disrespectful to Chinese religion/tradition" when many practitioners of said religions won't treat them as anything more than fantasy novels.

-In fact, let's use Tripitaka as an example. The historical Xuanzang was an extraordinarily talented, faithful, and determined monk. In JTTW, he was a caricature of a Confucian scholar in a Buddhist kasaya and served the same narrative function as Princess Peach in a Mario game.

-Does the presence of satire alone make JTTW anti-Buddhist, or its religious allegories less poignant? I'd say no. Should you take it as seriously as actual Buddhist sutras, when the book didn't even take itself 100% seriously? Also no.

-To expand further on the idea of "seriousness": even outside of vernacular novels, practitioners are not beholden to a universal set of strict religious laws and taboos.

-Both Daoism and Buddhism had what we called "cloistered" and "non-cloistered" adherents; only the former needed to follow their religious laws and (usually) took a vow of celibacy.

-Certain paths of Daoist cultivation allow for alcohol and sexual activities (thanks @ruibaozha for the info), and some immortals, like Lv Dongbin, had a well-established "playboy" reputation in folklore.

-Though it was rarer for Buddhism and very misunderstood, esoteric variants of it did utilize sexual imageries and sex. And, again, most of the above would not apply if you weren't among the cloistered and ordained clergy.

-Furthermore, not even the worship of gods is mandatory! You could just be a Daoist who was really into internal alchemy, cultivating your body and mind in order to prolong your lifespan and, ideally, attain immortality.

-This idea of "respect" as…for a lack of better words, No Fun & R18 Stuff Allowed, you must treat all divinity with fearful reverence and put yourself completely at their mercy, is NOT the norm in Chinese religious traditions.

-There are different degrees and types of respect, and not every god is supposed to be treated like the Supreme Heavenly Emperor himself during an imperial ceremony; the gods are capable of cracking a joke, and so are we!

TL;DR: Religions are complicated, and you aren't respecting Chinese religions by acting like a stereotypical Puritan over popular Chinese deities and their fictional portrayals.

#chinese religion #chinese mythology #chinese folklore #fandom discourse #journey to the west #xiyouji #investiture of the gods #fengshen yanyi

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mask131 · 2 months

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There is one thing people should get more accustomed to: when talking about a piece of folklore, of legend, of superstition, of anything - it should become to norm the add a brief explanation about the "why" of the folklore or superstition. The cultural, religious or historical context that explain it. Because there are a lot of people who just repeat some specific facts about myths or legends without explaining why it was so in the context, and as a result people lose a lot of background info needed to understand it.

For example, I'll invent an example: In France, an actor, a theater-performer, a comedian had much higher chances to become a vampire, just like people committing suicides. (I made this up, except for the suicide part, it was indeed believed people who died by suicide had a likely chance to return as vampires).

If people repeat this fact again and again because it was in the legend, in turn other people are going to say "Oh yes, being an actor was what caused the vampirism". When in fact no. Why would actors be more likely to become vampires? Because for centuries and centuries, in France, actors were not considered Christian people, were refused any right to be part of the Church or partake in religious rituals, and as such they were denied a proper grave in Christian soil, or a place into a cemetery. And thus just like suicides, they were buried in un-sacred, non-consecrated earth, outside of any proper funeral ritual - hence the threat of returning as an undead monster. [Note: While I invented the part about actors being vampires, the whole burial thing is actually true. Up until the late 18th century in France, actors were considered mortal sinners by virtue of doing theater, and thus they were refused all Christian rites and rituals, from weddings to funerals, and even the greatest and most beloved actors were thrown into large corpse-pits and unmarked crossroad-graves like vulgar criminals]

This is just an example, but this shows how an important thing when dealing with folklore and legendary beings and other traditions of various cultures is to place it back into the religious, social and historical context that explains it. Today a lot of people consider that blacksmiths should have been "good" people in terms of folkloric beliefs - because media popularized the idea for example of how iron was used to protect from fae, and how legendary blacksmiths forged the weapons of great heroes, and thus there is this tendency in folkloric-fiction to depict blacksmiths as these positive, helping figures. But a lot of people don't know that in some parts of Europe during specific centuries, blacksmiths were rather seen with suspicion, fear and dread if not hate - because due to them being these massive, powerful men wielding dangerous tools, due to them living by heat and fire and soot, due to them knowing a mysterious and hard craft some associated with things such as alchemy, there is a recurring belief that smiths were sorcerers, warlocks, or associated with the devil, or that they would return after their death as vampires.

But if you just say randomly "Oh yes, it was believed blacksmiths could return as vampires", people might read this as "It was the job of being a blacksmith that caused the vampirism", when in fact the real reason behind this belief was the smith's association with devilish/hellish elements like fire and flames and soot, and the equation of his secretive and marvelous craft with other mysterious prodigious arts like "magic". Hence a tradition of blacksmith-warlocks...

I have been using European vampire beliefs here, but the same can be applied to anything. Someone who doesn't know about the concept of "hubris" will misunderstood half of Greek mythology. Someone who doesn't know what is wrong with being "effeminate" in Old Norse society will miss half of the subtext of Norse mythology. Someone who doesn't know about the tradition of "Jack tales" will be quite puzzled upon finding so many folktales involving a "Jack"...

#folklore #legend #mythologies #vampires #explaining folklore #vampirism #superstitions #beliefs

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vickyvicarious · 1 year

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Now that Dracula Daily is over, I decided to go through my copy of the novel (Norton critical edition) to look for interesting footnotes and read the various essays/etc. at the back.

Here's some of my favorite footnotes:

An enlarged thyroid gland resulting in a swollen neck; one symptom of iodine deficiency; particularly common in some mountainous regions; may cause brain damage.

—Page 15/May 5, after Jonathan mentions seeing a lot of people with 'goitre' as he is driven out of town and up towards Castle Dracula. Didn't notice this detail at all, but it plays around with possible signs of being fed upon, mundane medical causes, and also maybe an association with madness and superstition. A neat touch.

The word strange in late Victorian England was often suffused with homoerotic undercurrents.

—Page 30/May 7, after Jonathan says "It may be that this strange night-existance is telling on me". Did not know that 'strange' was apparently a gay word in a way 'queer' (or even 'gay') was not at the time. Gives that line a kind of different possible reading... and now I kind of want to search up where else in the text that word is used.

A port city in Yorkshire, on the North Sea coast of England; in the 1890s, a vacation resort where Bram Stoker spent many summers. Whitby's eerie charm is a good setting for the ensuing action. It shares the harsh beauty of nearby Bronte country; moreover, in Victorian England its best-known product was the black stone worn as part of the mourning costume - mourning stone, or jet - a local industry now displaced by Dracula tours.

—Page 63/July 24, after the location is mentioned. Love the detail about the mourning stones.

"Not only Mr. Swales' preoccupations, but even his name, associate him with living death. The English Dialect Dictionary (1898) provides a revealing North Yorkshire definition of the verb "swale": "to consume or waste away; to melt or gutter as a candle in a draught."

—Page 66/July 24, after Mr. Swales' big speech on death. I can't believe he was actually named "Mr. Is-Dying".

Seward distributes his medical reports profigately.

—Page 105/September 2, in response to the line: "I reminded her that a doctor's confidence was sacred;" - I'm just laughing at the snarky footnote here.

This is the first and last we hear of Van Helsing's third career (he is also a physician and a professor). Characteristically, he uses his legal expertise to circumvent the law.

—Page 148/September 20, after VH says he is a lawyer. Characteristically indeed, ahaha.

Various late Victorian tonics used the advertising slogan "The Blood is the Life." Renfield might be referring to Hughe's Blood Pills or Clarke's World-Famed Blood Mixture. Both claimed to vitalize the body by purifying the blood.

—Page 207/September 30, after Renfield tells Mina that he tried to kill Seward while inspired by the Biblical phrase 'the blood is the life': "'Though, indeed, the vendor of a certain nostrum has vulgarized the truism to the very point of contempt.'" I just never really put together that this quote had been used as an advertising slogan and it's making me crack up. Imagine your mental patient attacking you and slurping your blood off the floor, then shouting "Ba-da-da-da, I'm loving it!" while being dragged away. (I know that's not the most direct comparison but it's the one that popped into my head and it's very funny.)

Again, the British characters have more difficulty communicating with each other than with the Romanian vampire.

—Page 231/October 1, after Jonathan is misled by phonetic/dialectic spelling. Even the footnotes are getting fed up with this dialect nonsense, Bram.

#dracula daily #jonathan harker #mr. swales #renfield #jack seward #van helsing #norton notes #i'm gonna add any interesting bits from the other sections as well if i find them. so this'll be the tage used for that

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blairstales · 10 months

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The Scottish Folklore of Using Juniper Smoke to Sain

Within historical Scottish folklore, juniper (also called: mountain yew, Iubhar-beinne, or aiteal) is often mentioned as being protective against supernatural forces, which is why it is one of many ways someone might sain(cleans or protect) people, places, or things. However, when gathering juniper, you weren’t supposed to take a clipping, but instead pull up the whole plant. For obvious environmental reasons, I have to strongly advise against murdering a slow-growing (and endangered) protected plant.

“This plant is a protection by sea and land, and no house in which it is will take fire. It must be pulled by the roots, with its branches made into four bunches, and taken between the five fingers…-“ “The History of Witchcraft in Europe” by Various Authors

You would want to smoke to drift over whatever it is you are trying to sain, so where you burnt them was very important. As well as that, on certain festival days, sains were thought to be more powerful(such as a quarter day), so people would be very likely to partake in juniper saining on those days.

"A fire was kindled in each byre on Christmas morning, and in parts of the country the byres were purified by burning juniper in them." “Notes on The Folk-Lore of the North-East of Scotland” by Walter Gregor (1881)

Since the cleansing and protective effects were believed to fade, it was often redone several times throughout the year.

While likely not great for people with raspatory problems, smoke does have some science-backed benefits. The oil in juniper is antibacterial and antifungal, while the smoke itself is antibacterial, can help kill/dry out mold, can help keep away insects(including harmful ones, such as ticks, and house-munching ones, such as carpenter ants). This could be part of the reason that smoke finds it’s way into cleansing rituals around the world. Despite these benefits, it is harmful to breathe in any kind of smoke, so please keep that in mind.

One final (but less mentioned) use for juniper was boiling the juniper, and using the water to sprinkle on cattle.

“When a contagious disease enters among cattle, the fire is extinguished in some villages round; then they force fire with a wheel, or by rubbing a piece of dry wood upon another, and there with burn juniper in the stalls of the cattle, that the smoke may purify the air about them; they likewise boil juniper in water, which they sprinkle upon the cattle this done, the fires in the houses are rekindled from the forced fire.”“ Observations on the Popular Antiquities of Great Britain: Chiefly Illustrating the Origin of Our Vulgar and Provincial Customs, Ceremonies, and Superstitions, Volume 1.” by John Brand

#juniper #lubhar-beinne #aiteal #juniper saining #juniper sain #saining #sian #sain #sianing #juniper smoke #scottish folklore #scottish mythology #folklore #scottish witchcraft #Folkmagic

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somethingclevermahogony · 2 months

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Happy STS! You asked me this yesterday, so I'm going to get you back; are there any fun swears in your world? Or any otherwise innocuous customs that are considered rude in certain parts of the world?

There are many different curses and swears, however for the interest of brevity, I will be focusing just on a few used around the southwestern shores of Lake Shebali in the land of Kishetal, more specifically the area around Labisa, homeland of Ninma, Narul, Zatar, Suru, etc etc.

This will in essence just be a list of insults and swears and their appropriate uses within Kishite society.

Note that insults and swears are different from curses, which are specifically meant to elicit harm through some sort of ritual. While most curses are mere superstition, with the proper funds and access to sagecraft, certain curses may actually provide the desired effect. As a result, "cursing" or other forms of dark magic are strictly banned within Labisa, though this has not stopped the proliferation of underground "curse mongers". An example of a curse: hum akir shukalaf tiwaz kadaf er akir tatunuf alpanunuf (hoom /ahk-eer/ shoo-kah-lahf / tee-wahz /kah-dahf/ er /ahk-eer/ taht-oon-oof/ ahl-pah-noo-noof) May his spear be broken and his arrows dull A fairly common curse, usually carved on things like broken pottery, meant to cause impotence.

Before you continue reading CONTENT WARNING: PROFANITY AND ADULT REFERENCES YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED

To keep this short I will only address the words Tuk, Sush, and Balka with a few variations (though certainly not all) as well as a couple of rude gestures and some random swear words:

Tuk/Tuki/Tukut: Fuck/ Fucking/Fucker (specifically in an animalistic or barbaric manner)

Shabalic origin, identical to that used in Shabala. Seshit/Seshiti is the more polite/proper way of saying this

Tukipahut: Father-fucker (more accurately "daddy" fucker, paha being the diminutive version of pa or father. This particular insult is typically used in reference to people who are spoiled, rich, or bratty, in some sense it can be thought of as a nepotee, someone that relies on a more powerful relative or partner.)

Tukimahut: Mother-fucker (similar to above, though without the nepotism angle, typically much more generally used)

Tukikihut: Child-fucker (The reverse of Tukipahut, an insult applied to nepotists, those that favor their own children. Can also be used in the more literal sense.)

Tukizubut: Pig-Fucker (A filthy or disgusting person, pervert, or literally what it means. Pig, Zubu, is a popular insult itself and is interchangeable with the word Balka below)

Tukijabut: Sheep-Fucker (derogative word for people that do not live in cities/ "hillbilly")

Tukisaramukut: Butter-Fucker (Specifically used in reference of Makurians and Kishites who live on the other side of the mountains, this is the even more insulting version of Ukishut Saramuk "butter eater")

Naholitukut: Dead Fucker (Literally a fucker that is dead, when written or spoken as a single word this is used to refer to someone that is impotent or otherwise unable to perform thus "dead")

Tukwa Dab/ Tukwa Dabub: Fuck you / Fuck yourself

Sush/Sushi/Sushut: Shit/Shitting/Shitter (Specifically human)

Shabalic origin. Duz/Duzi is the more polite way of saying this

Ukishut Sushub/Ukisush: Eater of Shit (A general insult, a disgusting person, a jerk)

Ukishwa Sush!: Eat shit

Akkut Sushub/Akksush: Speaker of Shit (A particularly vulgar way of saying "liar")

Mishuzut Sushub/Misusush: Kisser of Shit (A suck-up, sycophant)

Pabakazut Sushub/Pabsush: Hunter of Shit (A poor person, someone who digs through refuse on the street for scraps or other valuables)

Balka- Dog (unwanted, feral, dirty, not quite equivalent to the English use of the word bitch closer to something like mutt.)

Shabalic origin. Kuba is the polite equivalent.

Balka-Duwushut: Stupid Dog (Someone that is uneducated and typically poor, the more vulgar version calling someone Duwushut/Duwush: Stupid)

Balka-Maluwut: Dirty/Filthy Dog (What it sounds like)

Ushbalkut: Dog food (Typically used to refer to an enemy, someone that is going to be killed and thus "eaten by dogs" this can also be used as a threat or a curse)

Sushbalkut: Dog shit (a nuisance, an annoying person)

Kip Balkub: Child of a dog (What it sounds like, when Balkub is replaced with Zubub, thus Child of a pig, this is used to mean, bastard)

Random Swears/Insults

Kunpu/Kunput: Ass (Either the body part, a person acting in an annoying matter, or on rare occasions a "bottom" though this is more often hurpu/hurput literally "hole")

Ikuwa: Ass (animal)

Pibisa: Piss

Olbi: Drunkard (stemming from Olibis meaning wine)

Gur: Ugly

Nahsha: Barbarian/Savage/Forestfolk (Literally no bread)

Duwush: Stupid

Kip: Child (Context)

Luya: Prostitute/Whore (Used for people of any sex or gender, the more polite or even dignified version of this is Luluya)

Bushku: Cock (The more dignified version of this would be Uluku)

Yusha: Cunt (The more dignified version of this is Uluma)

Kiluki: Rat (Thief, a sneaky person)

Kilukuki: Weasel (Popular pets/pest control, name is used to refer to a foolish person)

Pefu: Fart

Rude Gestures and Actions:

Holding the index and middle finger up with all other fingers tucked in and the palm facing a person (The peace sign) is the equivalent of calling someone Luya or else an adulterer, the two fingers being representative of multiple phalluses. Two thumbs up has a similar meaning.

Showing a person the bottom of your foot at any time is rude as it implies a disparity of status.

Sticking out one's tongue is considered vulgar, and may be used by prostitutes as a way of attracting customers.

Covering one's head while indoors is considered highly rude, the exception being helmets and if status permits, crowns.

Hissing (like a cat or snake) is considered a sign of deep disrespect if done between adults, as this is typically associated with grabbing the attention of naughty children.

Always greet the oldest person first when making formal greetings, addressing someone else is considered rude.

Mixing wine or pouring beer only for oneself is considered rude, it is customary to offer to pour for at least one other person, and only after they accept or refuse can you prepare some for yourself.

When eating if a person takes a bite off of a piece of food and then sets the rest of said piece back on the serving dish from whence it came this is considered incredibly disrespectful, thus why Kishic food is served in a manner that allows for it to easily be either eaten in bite sized pieces or broken into pieces without the use of teeth. Basically if the food leaves the plate, it cannot go back, even if that means you must hold the food until you finish eating it all.

#writeblr #writing #fantasy #worldbuilding #fantasy writing #testamentsofthegreensea #fantasy world #conlang #profanity #constructed language #world building #sts asks #sts #fantasy worldbuilding #narul

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ouroboros8ontology · 5 months

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It is reported that as early as the fourteenth century the ceremony called Hollekreisch was widely observed in Jewish circles in Germany. The Jewish boy receives his Hebrew name on the occasion of his circumcision; the girl child usually upon the first Sabbath after her birth. Since the earliest days of dispersion, however, Jews have also borne names drawn from the nomenclature of the people in whose midst they reside—names we may term secular or vulgar as distinguished from the Hebrew, the classical name. These secular cognomens usually correspond in one way or another to the Hebrew, whether as colloquial forms or translations, or related only by the sound or appearance. The ceremony of the Hollekreisch, which marked the bestowal of its secular name upon the child, comprised these features: the baby (or the cradle containing the baby) was lifted into the air three times, usually by the children especially invited for the occasion, and each time the name was shouted out by the guests in unison. Often this shouting followed a formula. In modern times such formulas as “Hollekreisch! What shall this child’s name be?” with the appropriate response, or “Holle! Holle! This child’s name shall be…,” have been employed. In the seventeenth century the custom of Hollekreisch was observed in naming boys and girls only in South Germany, while in Austria, Bohemia, Moravia and Poland it was not used for boys at all, and only rarely for girls.

Joshua Trachtenberg, Jewish Magic and Superstition: A Study in Folk Religion; The Powers of Evil: “Foreign” Demons

#jewish magic and superstition #joshua trachtenberg #jewish magic and superstition: a study in folk religion #the powers of evil #‘foreign’ demons #ashkenazim #the pale of settlement #jewish folk practices #jewish folk naming #hollekreisch

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dangertoozmanykids101 · 10 months

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TOOZ PROMPT...

Venus and Mars are so close! They look like a super super bright star. Isn't the Crab cute?

Below are two screenshots using the Skyview Lite app (Free!) on my android phone. The red line is the horizon. I did these screenshots about 20min later. That's the moon below my thumb. One is showing the trajectory of Mars and the other shows the trajectory of Venus.

I know nothing about Astrology and honestly have zero interest, but I am always eager to sit and listen to someone talk about Astronomy.

Tonight, however, I have the urge to research as much as I can within the framework of Astrology, looking for specifics about planetary conjunctions or any astrological events that may correspond with alignments in some way. My hope is to come up with a storyline creating an uncomfortable, inescapable, dreadfully awkward, and devastatingly pleasurable predicament caused by an event in the sky or described of an old folk tale? Or referencing regional ghost stories or legends; cautionary tales; mythology; superstitions; ancient artifacts; sky charts; celestial predictions, ...

Okay I just threw those two words together. I don't know if that's actually a thing. "Celestial Predictions" ?? Sounds good though, eh? *snicker

What stories might start to form in your minds if you look up at the night sky tonight?

What possible shenanigans will your muse suggest in a whisper against your ear tonight? The possibilities are as infinite as the stars above your head?

So y'all know by now that my brain can - and will - turn almost EVERYTHING I encounter into some sort of story - often on a path to smut. I confess that even a cherishable moment, like looking up at the evening sky with my family, is not immune to the vulgar thought patterns my brain will churn out at a shockingly efficient pace once the gears start turning. Even if I NEVER finish anything or post anything, I'm always writing notes or blurbs or outlines or plot points

I started this post two days ago. The planets are still super close!! Y'all should check it out. :-)

So this Tooz Prompt is something to do with the alignment of celestial bodies.

@nildespirandum @caffiend-queen @latent-thoughts @boredbrooder @fictive-sl0th @acidcasualties @talklokitome @so-easy-to-love-me @redfoxwritesstuff @alexakeyloveloki @ladyoftheteaandblood

#tooz prompts #tooz writing prompts #toozmanykids

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bongsuvn · 2 years

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Art by Not A Starchild

MOTHER GODDESS WORSHIP AND QUEER SPIRITUALITY

(Tiếng Việt ở dưới)

Mother Goddess Worship, also known in Vietnamese as Đạo Mẫu, is the worship of Goddesses and Saintly Mothers popular throughout Vietnam with a deep historical origins. Đạo Mẫu is an indigenous belief mixed with foreign influences from Daoism and Buddhism, worshiping Mother Goddesses as powerful idols who protect and save the people.

In Đạo Mẫu, mediumship (known in Vietnamese as lên đồng, hầu đồng, hầu bóng, or đồng bóng) is an important ritual. In essence, lên đồng allows the supernatural to communicate with the people through mediums (or thanh đồng in Vietnamese). People believe that gods can enter the bodies of mediums (including shamans and priests) in order to transmit their words, eliminate evil spirits, cure diseases, give blessings, and bestow wealth to believers. When the gods possess a medium’s body, they are no longer themselves, but are the embodiment of the gods.

There is a strong sense of theatricality and a great deal of cross-dressing as well as gender-crossing exhibited in this popular religious practice of trancing for spirit possession. To the accompaniment of ritual music and laudatory chants before an altar, the medium goes into a trance to impersonate a hierarchy of popular deities (from Mother Goddesses to Grand Mandarins, Holy Princes, Holy Courtiers, Holy Mistresses, and Holy Masters) parading down quite spectacularly in an elaborate series of physical embodiments, vividly characterized by gendered and role-specific costumes and choreographies. By means of prayers and flatteries, occasionally verging on flirtation, devout followers in the audience interactively seek favors, both spiritual and material, from the various deities being impersonated by the mediums.

Even though a medium can impersonate a wide range of deities in a trance session, each of them seeks to establish a spiritual identity whereby to cultivate special affinity for a particular patron deity, in whom they are said to have spiritual root (or căn đồng in Vietnamese), and whose characteristics are often carried on into real life. Particularly temperamental are the gender-crossing spiritual roots in the lesser gods of Masters and Mistresses, referred to as bóng cậu and đồng cô in Vietnamese. By extension, these terms have become the rather derogatory slang words for those in drags (as well as transgender individuals) and implied homosexuality in modern Vietnam.

However, the term “bóng” (meaning shadow and reflection, denoting the mirrored reflection of the shadowy spirit possessing the medium) in particular has been slightly transformed from the usual appellation of gender-crossing female mediums spiritually rooted in the masculine Holy Masters, into a generic slang word for effeminate gay men, as an abbreviation of the more gender-specific variant “bóng lại cái” (Vietnamese for feminine-contaminated shadow and reflection).

By the early 20th century, however, ideas of Western progress had prompted many Vietnamese to look down on spirit possession as a shameless embodiment of vulgarity, superstition, and backwardness. With the rise of documentary novels as vehicles for social criticism, this practice was mercilessly ridiculed by Lộng Chương in the satirical novel Serving the Saints published in 1942. Around the homewrecking adventures of Madam Sính, the wife of an honorary academician, the author provided a wealth of colorful details about the bizarre “social world of spirit mediums with many a bunch of half-wit half-crazed people.” Of particular note are several references to same-sex marital pairings between spirit mediums of complementary spiritual roots, called spirit bonding.

An exemplary case was the widow Đào, a school teacher’s wife, who abandoned her family and children “to seek the affectionate caress of a bizarre love with another woman,” in spite of the fitful jealousy and domestic abuse from this “female husband,” a spirit medium named Châu. Could the refuge in spirit bonding with a same-sex partner in “a coupling to soothe two cold hearts” be a psycho-physiological solution for this young widow to “satisfy her inner stirrings” against the social prohibition of remarriage? A less happy coupling was that between the Chinese widow Năm and her housekeeper Hai, who turned out to be a con artist and money-stealer, preying on the affection and trust of a gullible widow. Ironically enough, the female-dominated world of the novel reserved its harshest judgments yet on the effeminate male spirit mediums, “who also twisted and spun in sissy and girly nature, also paired up as ‘husbands’ and ‘wives,’ also showed jealousy, and sometimes even dressed up as women,” for “they only used the deities’ names to fool the world.”

Despite all this, Đạo Mẫu had long been a safe space for people of the LGBT+ community to express their true selves, cross-dressing and gender-defying against social norms under the protection of gods. The practice’s image was only altered and twisted against them after Western colonization. The word “bóng” had also been reclaimed by the Vietnamese LGBT+ community, much like the English word “queer.” Both were originally derogatory, but have become words the community is proud to use to describe themselves.

==================

ĐẠO MẪU VÀ ĐỒNG BÓNG

Tín ngưỡng thờ Mẫu, còn gọi là Đạo Mẫu 道母, là việc tôn thờ Nữ thần 女神, thánh Mẫu 聖母 xuất hiện khá phổ biến tại Việt Nam với nguồn gốc lịch sử sâu xa trên toàn cõi đất nước. Đạo Mẫu là một tín ngưỡng bản địa cùng với những ảnh hưởng ngoại lai từ Đạo giáo 道教, Phật giáo 佛教, lấy việc tôn thờ Mẫu làm thần tượng với các quyền năng sinh sôi, bảo trợ và che chở cho con người.

Trong Đạo Mẫu, việc lên đồng (còn gọi là hầu đồng 候童, hầu bóng, đồng bóng) là một nghi thức quan trọng. Về bản chất, đây là nghi thức giao tiếp với thần linh thông qua các thanh đồng 清童; trong đó, tín đồ trở thành phương tiện linh hồn cho các vị thần khác nhau. Người ta tin rằng các vị thần linh có thể nhập hồn vào thân xác các ông đồng 翁童, bà đồng 婆童, cô đồng 姑童, cậu đồng 舅童 nhằm phán truyền, diệt trừ tà ma, chữa bệnh, ban phúc, ban lộc cho các con nhang, đệ tử. Khi thần linh nhập vào đồng thì lúc đó các thanh đồng không còn là mình nữa, mà là hiện thân của vị thần nhập vào họ.

Thói lên đồng tại Việt Nam lại thể hiện tính sân khấu rất đậm, và thường xuyên có sự đảo trang và vượt rào giới tính. Theo tiếng nhạc và câu hát chầu văn trước điện thờ, người đồng cốt ngồi nhập vai tuần tự theo thứ bậc các vị thần thánh trong tín ngưỡng dân gian (từ các thánh Mẫu đến các Quan lớn, các ông Hoàng, các Chầu bà, các thánh Cô, và các cậu Hoàng) lần lượt giáng hạ rất ngoạn mục qua một loạt hiện thân sống động với đầy đủ trang phục và vũ điệu được phân định cụ thể đúng theo giới tính và vai trò của từng vị. Bằng những lời khấn vái và nịnh nọt, thậm chí đôi lúc còn là tán tỉnh, các tín đồ xung quanh chủ động tương tác để xin lợi lộc cả vật chất lẫn tinh thần ở nơi những vị thần thánh khác nhau đang nhập đồng.

Mặc dù một thanh đồng có thể nhập vai một loạt các vị thần thánh trong buổi hầu đồng, mỗi người bọn họ đều xác định cho mình một căn cước tâm linh ngõ hầu chăm vun cho căn đồng theo thiên hướng đặc biệt của vị thánh quan thầy, mà lắm khi tính cách riêng được thể hiện không ngừng tận ra đến ngoài đời. Đặc biệt, bốc đồng là những căn đồng vượt rào giới tính của các đồng cô và các bóng cậu. Suy rộng ra thì những danh xưng như đồng cô và bóng đã trở thành tiếng lóng miệt thị những người đảo trang và ngầm hiểu là đồng tính trong tiếng Việt hiện đại.

Tuy nhiên, danh xưng “bóng” (chỉ hình bóng phản chiếu trong gương của vị thánh đang nhập đồng) đã được cải biến đôi chút từ nghĩa gốc “bóng cậu” để chỉ các bà đồng cải nam trang theo căn các các cậu Hoàng, thành tiếng lóng đại trà để chỉ những người đồng tính nam ẻo lả, viết tắt từ “bóng lại cái,” là một biến thức mang đặc thù giới tính rõ rệt hơn.

Sang đến đầu thế kỉ 20 thì những khái niệm về sự tiến bộ của Tây phương đã khiến cho nhiều người Việt khinh miệt thói lên đồng như là một hiện thân trơ tráo của sự thô tục, mê tín và lạc hậu. Theo đà phát triển của thể loại tiểu thuyết phóng sự là phương tiện phê phán xã hội, hủ tục này đã bị châm biếm không thương tiếc bởi Lộng Chương 弄章 trong cuốn tiểu thuyết trào phúng Hầu thánh 候聖 xuất bản năm 1942. Xung quanh câu chuyện tan cửa nát nhà của bà Hàn Sính, tác giả đã cung cấp rất nhiều chi tiết đặc sắc về “cái xã hội đồng bóng với những nhúm người dở dại dở điên.” Đặc biệt đáng lưu ý là những dẫn chứng về hiện tượng “vui vầy đôi lứa” (hay nôm na mà nói là việc “kết nghĩa vợ chồng”) cùng giới của những người đồng cốt kết căn với nhau.

Trường hợp điển hình là bà giáo Đào, một goá phụ đã rời bỏ gia đình và con cái để “tìm sự ve vuốt âu yếm của một cái tình yêu kì dị với một người đàn bà khác,” bất chấp cả “những sự dằn vặt ghen tuông, có khi cả sự hành hạ” của người “chồng cái” là bà đồng Châu. Phải chăng việc kết căn nơi cửa thánh để “sánh đôi cho hai cõi lòng đỡ lạnh” với một người bạn đồng cùng giới là một giải pháp tâm sinh lí để người goá phụ này có thể “tự ý chiều cái thắc thỏm của lòng bà” khi xã hội không cho phép tái giá? Một đôi lứa kết căn bất hạnh hơn là bà Năm Khách và người quản gia là bà Hai, một kẻ lừa lọc đã lợi dụng tình cảm và lòng tin của người goá phụ nhẹ dạ để ăn cắp tiền. Mỉa mai thay, cái thế giới đồng bóng do phụ nữ chiếm đa số trong cuốn tiểu thuyết này lại dành những lời phán xét nghiệt ngã nhất cho giới đồng nam, “cái bọn đàn ông õng à õng ẹo, cũng múa may quay cuồng, cũng kết căn làm ‘vợ’ làm ‘chồng’, cũng ghen tuông và có khi lại ăn mặc làm đàn bà,” bởi lẽ “chúng nó chỉ lấy nê thần thánh để lừa thiên hạ.”

Dù sao đi chăng nữa, Đạo Mẫu từ lâu đã là một không gian an toàn cho những người trong cộng đồng LGBT+ để thể hiện tính cách thật sự của bản thân, chỉ sau khi Việt Nam bị thực dân thì mới có sự thay đổi. Từ “bóng” trong tiếng Việt hiện giờ cũng đã được cộng đồng giành lại, như từ “queer” trong tiếng Anh. Cả hai đều vốn là từ để miệt thị LGBT+, nhưng sau này đã trở thành từ mà người trong cộng đồng rất tự hào mà sử dụng.

__________ Tham khảo: talawas.org/talaDB/showFile.php?res=1056&rb=0503 talawas.org/talaDB/showFile.php?res=1055&rb=0503 vi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tín_ngưỡng_thờ_Mẫu_Việt_Nam vi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lên_đồng

__________ Tác giả: Nguyễn Quốc Vinh

__________ *Đồng tính nam (gay): người đàn ông có bị hấp dẫn về mặt tình cảm và tình dục đối với những người đàn ông khác

#LịchSửLGBTViệtNam #VietnamLGBTHistory

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selinkamayer · 1 month

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Venus in Furs (Vulgar Superstitions), September 2023

patreon - print shop - everything else

#analog photography #analogue photography #film photography #i still shoot film #selina mayer #vulgar superstitions

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myuntoldstory · 23 days

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1, 4, 5, 7 , 10, 13, 27!

JAYNE HAHAHAHAHAHAHA THANK YOU THANK YOU all of these questions are thought provoking im gonna try to answer as best i can

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1. favourite place in your country?

BICOL

omg. okay so you know i went home last year. part of the itinerary was going back to my dad's province in bicol. and, no joke, the 2 days i spent there literally made me hurt about migrating to australia, and not making an effort to go back often (circumstances about this was always out of my hands, but i don't know, i saw it as a "if there's a will, there's a way" kind of angle), and not remembering as much about the place as i felt i should (again, out of my control like i was super young during the times i went) and everything was beautiful, and peaceful, and genuinely i felt hiraeth.

when i was driving around with my aunt and uncle, we went through the general area of where their old house used to be and it was a place i kind of grew up in, having spent a lot of time there during my younger years. i could not remember anything, which made sense because it's been years, but what really threw me was how normal sized everything was sdlkfjldfskj back when i was younger everything was tall and big and gigantic, but yeah now it's just normal town-sized things. that really threw me off lol.

4. favourite dish specific for your country?

i've always loved puto bumbong??? i dont know what it is about it; i think it's the toppings they add that makes it super delicious. like i know it's "seasonal" but dude if i can eat that all day every day 365 days im sold.

special mention to scramble omfg that shit was bomb when i was a kid. i don't know if that's because it's really good or if i've put the food on a childhood pedestal lmao.

but just kakanin in general and those really rice flour-based snacks in general so love puto, love kutsinta, love biko, all the rice/rice flour-based things.

ALSO SPECIAL SHOUT OUT TO RICE JUST WRAPPED IN BANANA LEAVES WITH THE ULAM ON TOP OMFG FOR SOME REASON THAT JUST MAKES EVERYTHING TASTE SUPER GOOD???

im hungry now ffs.

5. favourite song in your native language?

ohhh like bruh opm??? lskdjlksjfljldfs or folk songs?

i genuinely have no real answer with this one lksdfjldsjlk im terrible with favourite music-type questions.

i guess the closest is "ang huling el bimbo" by eraserheads because that song just haunts me whenever i remember it exists dslkfjsdl and it haunts me now and i just came back from watching and singing along to the music video lol 7. three words from your native language that you like the most?

kilig, masiram, tampo 10. most enjoyable swear word in your native language?

ohhh not in tagalog/filipino.

not necessarily enjoyable, bicolano swears are hardcore because when i hear family say it, it's usually in anger lol. also the fact that most of the swears i've heard refers to genitalia makes it extra vulgar.

like buli/buray, which means kitty (iykyk). 13. does your country (or family) have any specific superstitions or traditions that might seem strange to outsiders?

i guess "tabi, tabi po" (excuse me) is one?

so we say that when we venture into places where spirits may be dwelling. i suppose seeing a person very loudly say "tabi, tabi po" while entering a random place may seem strange to outsiders? i remember doing it all the time when i was younger so it was normal to me then, but also still normal to me now.

whether spirits exist or not, i reckon it's always good to show and express respect to any place you enter. 27. favourite national celebrity?

omfg. okay.

well when i was much younger rico yan was a huge crush of mine. favourite national celebrity??? can we still count sandara park dklfjlsdjf like look i was there with the whole nation when she became pambansang krung-krung of the philippines but also they made fun of the poor girl so i was rooting for her. like i watched her in star circle quest with hero and joross and roxanne like, and this is gonna sound weird, they had that vibe of the hp golden trio where you kinda grew up with them BUT NOT REALLY BECAUSE STAR CIRCLE QUEST SEASON 1 WAS IN 2004 AND IT WASNT A WHOLE CINEMATIC/LITERARY SERIES.

#replies #jayne #not from the us ask #sorry for the emotional tmi #but yeah look #this is great im reall happy i did this #thanks jayne! :D

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lecritoire-victorien · 1 month

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Liste de plantes utilisées en médecine au Moyen-Âge

1. Mandragore (Mandragora officinarum) : Utilisée comme sédatif et anesthésique. Associée à de nombreuses superstitions, on lui attribuait des pouvoirs magiques.

2. Angélique (Angelica archangelica) : Considérée comme une plante protectrice contre les maladies et le mal. Utilisée pour traiter les troubles digestifs et les infections respiratoires.

3. Consoude (Symphitum oficinale) : Utilisée en cataplasme pour accélérer la cicatrisation des plaies et des fractures. Soulage la douleur et réduit l’inflammation.

4. Chélidoine (Chelidonium majus) : Employée pour traiter les verrues et autres affections cutanées. Également utilisée pour ses propriétés détoxifiantes pour le foie.

5. Fenouil (Foeniculum vulgare) : Utilisé pour faciliter la digestion et comme remède contre les troubles respiratoires.

6. Millefeuille (Achillea millefolium) : Employé pour arrêter les saignements et traiter les blessures, ainsi que pour ses propriétés anti-inflammatoires et analgésiques.

7. Tanaisie (Tanacetum vulgare) : Utilisée comme vermifuge et pour traiter divers maux, y compris la migraine et les rhumatismes. Attention, à fortes doses, elle peut être toxique.

8. Véronique (Veronica officinalis) : Employée pour ses propriétés expectorantes et comme tonique pour les troubles respiratoires et digestifs.

9. Absinthe (Artemisia absinthium) : Utilisée pour stimuler l'appétit et améliorer la digestion, mais aussi comme vermifuge. L'absinthe est également connue pour ses effets psychoactifs lorsqu'elle est consommée en grandes quantités dans la boisson du même nom.

10. Pulsatille (Anemone pulsatilla) : Utilisée pour ses propriétés calmantes et contre les troubles nerveux, mais elle est toxique et doit être maniée avec précaution.

#creative writing #my writing #writers #writerscommunity #writers on tumblr #writingprompts #writing ideas #writing prompts #writing inspiration

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theycallme-thejackal · 2 years

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someone watching midge and lenny’s dynamic and realizing just how *perfect* they are (rose, abe, or noah,,etc)

Pairing: Lenny Bruce & Midge Maisel Rated T

She knows her daughter is seeing someone.

She's entered the apartment to hear Miriam say a quick goodbye on the phone. She sees a brighter sparkle in the younger brunette's eyes on certain nights, and those nights are usually followed by mornings where she obviously did not wear her curlers to bed - likely because she was out all night and snuck in just before Rose awoke.

She knows her daughter is seeing someone. And she knows it's serious.

So one night, when she suspects Miriam will be seeing this man, she slips the doorman a five to learn where exactly her daughter is going and to immediately tell her. When he looks nervous, she slips him another bill, and he agrees.

Several hours later, she has an address.

When she arrives, it's a comedy club, and Rose is annoyed that she has to sit through her daughter's vulgarities - airing her dirty laundry for the world to hear and laugh at. And the fact that Miriam wants them to laugh about it is what really bothers Rose.

She expects to sneak in, catch a glimpse of this man, determine what kind of match they are, and leave undetected. But when she spots her daughter sitting at the bar alone, she's confused. Is Miriam simply here to watch a comedy show?

But then the emcee announces 'the one, the only Lenny Bruce!"

Oh, no.

He is a handsome man, certainly, but in no way is he suitable for her daughter. He's vulgar and messy, and she knows that night at the apartment he was afflicted by something much stronger than liquor. She recognized that glazed over look in his eyes from her youth in Paris. There is no way this man is a worthy match.

"Now if the bedroom is dirty to you," the comic says, holding the microphone in his hand, "then you are a true atheist. Because if you have any of the mores, the superstitions, if anyone in this audience believes that God made his body, and your body is dirty, the fault lies with the manufacturer."

It's an interesting argument, to be sure, and as she listens to the ending of his set, she can't help but think that perhaps Abe was right about him. He really is brilliant on stage. Rose may not be an intellectual like her husband and son, but she has lived a life and seen things that give her a unique perspective, and she knows this man has valid points.

That does not, in any way, make him a suitable husband for Miriam.

Her daughter is watching him in rapt attention, sipping her martini and laughing, and there's a point where Rose notices the comic's gaze find her. It's for the briefest moment, and she could swear she sees the faintest blush find his cheeks.

When his act is over, Rose watches him exit the stage, a few moments later joining Miriam at the bar. He greets her with a smile, she responds with a joke, and Rose watches him laugh, clapping his hands once as he takes the stool beside her.

Sitting at a bar for a date? She thinks disapprovingly. Her intent was to see the man, determine his suitability, and leave, but she finds herself unable to look away from Miriam and her date as they chat comfortably, exchanging meaningful glances and laughing together.

Rose would have expected a man like Lenny Bruce to be handsy, but he appears to be a perfect gentleman with her daughter. Completely respectful. If anything, Miriam is the one being indecent, her hand touching his leg a bit too high or her fingers brushing a crumb from his lip.

But the thing that makes Rose the most nervous is that she looks happy. Happier than Rose ever saw her with Joel or Benjamin. And Lenny looks healthy. A little more meat on his bones than when he'd been dragged into their apartment after midnight just a few months ago. His cheeks aren't so sunken. And he looks at Miriam like...

Like Abe looks at me.

She watches for a few moments longer before she leaves a few bills on the table for her drink and slips out of the club. She had never expected it, had prayed against it, but she saw for herself that they're a perfect match.

And if anyone knows about perfect matches, it's Rose Weissman.

#midgelenny #midge x lenny #midgexlenny #tmmm fanfic #marvelous mrs. maisel fanfic #writing prompt #otp: more important than god #jackal fics #answers #outsider pov #sweet

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mask131 · 9 months

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Fantasy read-list: B - 2.5

And to conclude this season’s fantasy read-list section, I will list down there some additional works and references (taken from various articles of the same vein as those I previously quoted).

# When talking about the Pentamerone, one of the articles wrote about Rabelais’ work, and I have to introduce him here. Rabelais is one of the 16th century most famous French author, still famous to this day for his series of four books detailing the adventures of the giants Pantagruel and Gargantua. These books (Pantagruel, Gargantua, Tiers Livre, Le Quart Livre) are parodies of knighthood novels, medieval adventures and various fantastical stories, depicting the extravagant, convoluted and hilarious lives of two giants, Pantagruel and later his son Gargantua, in medieval (and early Renaissance) France. Parodying knight adventures and Arthurian fiction by having as a hero extravagant and goofy giants excessive in everything they do, these books are prone to all sorts of vulgar behaviors (sex, food, piss and poop are everywhere in these very organic books, where sometimes entire civilizations grow inside the giant’s body) and to all sorts of cartoonish shenanigans opposing the giants (and various trickster friends, such as Panurge) against caricatural, grotesque or dreadfully ineffective enemies. But these books also served as actual satire and scientifico-social criticism: Rabelais being a physician, a man of letters, an humanist and an anti-cleric, he used these books to expose the most ridiculous medicine theories, to denounce and caricature the various cultural institutions of his time, and bring forward all sorts of humanist ideals through allegories and metaphors, mixing high-minded preoccupations about civilizations, educations and humanity, among all sorts of medieval grotesque farces. Just as an example – the very fact of choosing giants allows for the farcical content (they stop wildfires by pissing on it, they gorge themselves on an impossible long list of foods and drinks in “gargantuan” meals, their mothers are described giving birth to entire zoos of animals and entire caravans alongside their baby…), but also reflects what the humanists wanted men to become, “giants” of culture and arts, who knew everything about all domains, be it politics, medicine, sports, war, literature, and were able to do anything and prepared for any situation, towering over things such as superstitions, ignorance and vices.

# When talking about Rabelais, another name must be brought up alongside him – another great parodist of knight-and-adventure novels, another great satirist author of the 16th century, but Spanish this time, not French: Cervantes, who by himself destroyed the whole knight-novel genre with his now classic El ingenioso hildago don Quixote de la Mancha, while also deconstructing and denouncing an obsessively strict and essentially absurd Spanish society.

# One article talking about the 1001 Nights evoked the great Hindu epic, the Mahabharata, and since I am not sure if I included it in previous lists, I will place it here.

# The same article detailed and highlighted the differences between the four great “historical” translations of The One Thousand and One Nights. The first translation, in French by Antoine-Galland, is noted to belong to the fashion of “fairy tales” of the time, a la Perrault and madame d’Aulnoy. As a result this translation focuses on the wonders, magics and supernatural forces of the tale, while removing all the more gruesome, shocking or vulgar elements to fit an upper-class, aristocratic, elegant audience. Then came the first English translation, by sir Richard Burton, which rather focused on the sexual elements of The One Thousand and One Nights, insisting on these oriental tales as erotic ones. This was a focus taken back by the second historical French translation of the text, by Joseph-Charles Mardrus, who him went even further and on top of putting back all the sex Galland had removed, also highlighted and insisted on homoerotic tonalities, especially on all the “saphic” elements. The last historical translation, presented as an in-between between the “marvel” and the “vulgar” traditions, is the French one of René R. Khawam, which forms a just balance between the “poetry of wonders” and the “bacchanals”.

# In an article about Perrault, two very important texts of French literature are mentioned. On one side, Les Fables de La Fontaine. La Fontaine was one of the great authors of the 17th century France, admired notably by Perrault himself, and today all French kids know him by his fables. If English-speakers know Aesop’s Fables, French-speakers know La Fontaine Fables – the latter often rewrites or remakes of the former, all depicting talking animals having short adventures with a moral at the end, but with the meaning of fables usually updated to a more modern context and the monarchic society of Renaissance France. They are still considered today one of the great classics of French literature. The other work, which was greatly renowned during the 17th century, but is quite forgotten today, is L’Enéide Burlesque, the Burlesque Aeneid, by “the brothers Perrault”. This is one of the many famous “burlesque” parodies of the time – another one, more remembered today, is “Le Virgile travesti”, “The transvestite Virgil” of Scarron, one of the great humorist writers of the 17th century. The whole idea of the “burlesque” humor was to take a work of a given genre, and write it in a language that didn’t fit this genre by the standards of the time. In the case of these parodies, they both took the Aeneid, a classical Roman epic, and retold it in the language most opposed to this noble and admired genre – they are basically vulgar retellings of the Aeneid filled with insults, colloquial terms, humoristic nicknames, and other “common” expressions and “lowly” terms usually found in the mouth of peasants and the like.

# Among the various stage works, music and movies adapted out of Perrault’s fairytales, I found explicit mentions of Rossini’s Cinderella opera, Prokofiev’s Cinderella, Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty, Maurice Ravel’s Ma Mère L’Oye, Disney’s Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty, Méliès’ Little Red Riding Hood and Bluebeard, Tex Avery’s parody of Little Red Riding Hood, and Jacques Demy’s Peau d’Âne (Donkey Skin). With a special mention for Tahar Ben Jelloun’s work, Mes contes de Perrault (My Perrault fairytales), where the Franco-Moroccan author rewrites the stories of the Perrault in the Arabian fashion of The One Hundred and One Nights (Riquet with the tuft becomes Hakim with the tuft, Little Red Riding Hood becomes Little Red Burqa, etc…).

# While I will probably talk more of nursery rhymes in the next section of this read-list, a brief mention should be made here of Mother Goose as a character, and her association with nursery rhymes – all things invented by the British! I talked about it previously, but the “Mother Goose” in the title of Charles Perrault’s fairy tales, Contes de ma Mère l’Oye, is not an actual character of literature or folklore. “Tales of Mother Goose” was just a common folk expression for fairy tales and folktales in France (similarly people talked of “old woman’s tales”, of “wolf’s tale”, of “sleeping-while-standing tales”, of “donkey-skin tales”…). But when these stories were translated into English, “Mother Goose” because a character in its own right, brought to life by some specific English editors for a series of books that on top of covering fairytales, also started collecting and spreading nursery rhymes. The oldest nursery rhyme book involving Mother Goose would be 1764’s Mother Goose’s Melody, or Sonnets for the Cradle, which was the work that would associate forever Mother Goose with nursery rhymes. Mother Goose’s popularity was also helped by several stage shows in the early 19th century that made the literature figure a famous pantomime character: one of these shows being the notable Harlequin and Mother Goose, or the Golden Egg.

# In an article covering women who wrote fairytales (such as those I detailed in my fairytale post previously), a particular insistence was made on one of the “first generation” female authors, alongside d’Aulnoy and such: Catherine Durand, who wrote several fairytales throughout her works. For the “second wave” generation, the 18th century authors, the focus was more on the Comtesse de Ségur, which I already mentioned as the author of in French “Nouveaux Conte de Fées”, (New Fairytales) ironically translated in English as “Old French Fairytales” – though the article notes that from this first generation that built and invented a true “faerie” (it notably invoked Durand’s story The Origin of Fairies, where she gives a mythological explanation to the existence of the fairies of fairytales, and her “Le Prodige de l’Amour” where she highlights the supreme magical power of love), the comtesse de Ségur denotes herself by depicting in her fairytales all sorts of gratuitous horrors and hopeless fights against a crushing world filled with hatred and treachery. In the article’s words, her fairytales are less about marvels than about “modern terrors”. Finally, to mention a more modern wave of fairytale authors, the article concludes with the 19th century’s Delphine de Girardin, who wrote “Fairytales of an old maid, written for her nephews” – noted to be very cynic and bitter fairytales, despite their apparently fantastic and childish titles (for example one is about a boy having his wish granted of owning a flying dog… only for said dog to ends up dissected by scientists trying to understand how it could fly at all). By comparing these three authors work, the article wanted to highlight a certain “evolution” of the female fairytale throughout the centuries.

#fantasy read-list #fantasy literature #fantasy fiction #fairy tales #fairytales #french literature #the one thousand and one nights #rabelais

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