Forever Folklore

Deerskin, by Robin McKinley

Fri, 15 Jun 2012 15:41:00 -0400

I just finished rereading Deerskin by Robin McKinley. It’s a retelling of Donkeyskin/All Kinds Of Fur, but I should include a *TRIGGER WARNING* on the book for rape, incest and PTSD. (although the rape/incest is fade to black, it is a major role in the book)

The basic gist of All Kinds Of Fur, is that king is married to the most beautiful woman in the world, who dies, but not before making him promise to only remarry to someone as beautiful as she. Some time later the king looks to the princess, daughter of him and the late queen, and sees her resemblance to her mother and decides to marry her. The princess is understandably freaked, and asks for impossible gifts, before she’ll marry him such as a dress made of the fur of every kind of living animal, but he gives her such a dress. She flees before the wedding, runs to a foreign kingdom where she lives as a servant and disguises herself, and then meets a prince in a Cinderella-esque way, and they fall in love, and are married.

Deerskin had a few changes from the classic tale. There’s the above trigger warning for one, for another dogs played a major role in the book. But the biggest change was that the book centered around an in-universe folk-tale, which drew parallels to the protagonist of Deerskin’s tale, but at the same time offered a fairy-godmother type character.

http://www.robinmckinley.com/books/#deerskin Click on the picture of the book to go to Amazon’s page for it

http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm065.html

Sleep Paralysis an Explanation for Certain Demons?

Thu, 14 Jun 2012 12:28:00 -0400

A few years ago I woke up unable to breathe, as if a heavy weight were on my chest. My first thought was We better put that cat back on a diet and I went to push him off, only to find that my arms couldn’t move. I opened my eyes. There was no cat. I couldn’t move. I struggled to no avail. I couldn’t even scream. I tried to get to the phone less than a foot away from my head, to call 911, but being unable to move it didn’t work. I remember thinking that one of two things was going to happen, either I was going to die or my mother would find me in the morning and it didn’t matter what I did. Soon after that I lost consciousness. In the morning I woke up perfectly healthy, which alone was enough to convince me that it had all been part of some bizzare dream.

Years later I learned that what I had experienced is called Sleep Paralysis, and is what happens when you regain consciousness during the REM cycle. During REM cycle, your body is paralyzed to prevent you from acting out dreams. Normally, being woken up snaps you out of REM cycle and you wake up free from paralysis, however in instances of sleep paralysis, you remain in REM cycle and thus are paralyzed. Hallucinations are incredibly common during sleep paralysis, as the brain is in it’s dreaming state, and the most common hallucinations seem to involve an intruder.

Across cultures there are stories of creatures that come while you’re sleeping but how many can be explained by sleep paralysis? Let’s list defining features

1. Visits the sleeping

2. Causes heaviness on the chest

3. Paralysis the victim

How many creatures fit this profile?

Offhand I can think of Nightmares, certain legends about demonic cats, some stories about succubi and inccubi, and of course, the modern form of these, which would be aliens.

Skin-Walkers

Wed, 13 Jun 2012 08:08:00 -0400

Another dark version of the animal skin shape-shifter motif is the Skin-walker. I’m not very familiar with the Skin walker legend, (or indeed, Native American legends in general), so I thought I’d reblog this informative post about it.

anxiety-anxieties:

Skin-walker

             In some Native American legends, a skin-walker is a person with the supernatural ability to turn into any animal he or she desires, though they first must be wearing a pelt of the animal, to be able to transform. Similar lore can be found in cultures throughout the world and is often referred to shapeshifting by anthropologists.

             Possibly the best documented skinwalker beliefs are those relating to the Navajo yee naaldlooshii (meaning literally “with it, he goes on all fours” in the Navajo language). A yee naaldlooshii is one of several varieties of Navajo witch (specifically an ’ánt’įįhnii or practitioner of the Witchery Way). Technically, the term refers to an ’ánt’įįhnii who is using his (rarely her) powers to travel in animal form. In some versions men or women who have attained the highest level of priesthood then commit the act of killing an immediate member of their family, and then have thus gained the evil powers that are associated with skinwalkers.

             The ’ánt’įįhnii are human beings who have gained supernatural power by breaking a cultural taboo. Specifically, a person is said to gain the power to become a yee naaldlooshiiupon initiation into the Witchery Way. Both men and women can become ’ánt’įįhnii and therefore possibly skinwalkers, but men are far more numerous. It is generally thought that only childless women can become witches.

             Although it is most frequently seen as a coyote, wolf, owl, fox, or crow, the yee naaldlooshii is said to have the power to assume the form of any animal they choose, depending on what kind of abilities they need. Witches use the form for expedient travel, especially to the Navajo equivalent of the ‘Black Mass’, a perverted song (and the central rite of the Witchery Way) used to curse instead of to heal. They also may transform to escape from pursuers.

             Some Navajo also believe that skinwalkers have the ability to steal the “skin” or body of a person. The Navajo believe that if you lock eyes with a skinwalker they can absorb themselves into your body. It is also said that skinwalkers avoid the light and that their eyes glow like an animal’s when in human form and when in animal form their eyes do not glow as an animal’s would.

             A skinwalker is usually described as naked, except for an animal skin. Some Navajos describe them as a mutated version of the animal in question. The skin may just be a mask, like those which are the only garment worn in the witches’ song.

             Because animal skins are used primarily by skinwalkers, the pelt of animals such as bears, coyotes, wolves, and cougars are strictly tabooed. Sheepskin and buckskin are probably two of the few hides used by Navajos; the latter is used only for ceremonial purposes.

             Often, Navajos will tell of their encounter with a skinwalker, though there is a lot of hesitancy to reveal the story to non-Navajos, or (understandably) to talk of such frightening things at night. Sometimes the skinwalker will try to break into the house and attack the people inside, and will often bang on the walls of the house, knock on the windows, and climb onto the roofs. Sometimes, a strange, animal-like figure is seen standing outside the window, peering in. Other times, a skinwalker may attack a vehicle and cause a car accident. The skinwalkers are described as being fast, agile, and impossible to catch. Though some attempts have been made to shoot or kill one, they are not usually successful. Sometimes a skinwalker will be tracked down, only to lead to the house of someone known to the tracker. As in European werewolf lore, sometimes a wounded skinwalker will escape, only to have someone turn up later with a similar wound which reveals them to be the witch. It is said that if a Navajo was to know the person behind the skinwalker they had to pronounce the full name, and about three days later that person would either get sick or die for the wrong that they have committed.

             Legend has it, skinwalkers can have the power to read human thoughts. They also possess the ability to make any human or animal noise they choose. A skinwalker may use the voice of a relative or the cry of an infant to lure victims out of the safety of their homes.

             Skinwalkers use charms to instill fear and control in their victims. Such charms include human bone beads launched by blowguns, which embed themselves beneath the surface of the skin without leaving a mark, and human bone dust which can cause paralysis and heart failure. Skinwalkers have been known to find traces of their victim’s hair, wrap it around a pot shard, and place it into a tarantula hole. Even live rattlesnakes are known to be used as charms by the skinwalker.

             According to Navajo myth, the only way to successfully shoot a skinwalker is to dip bullets into white ash. Often people attempting to shoot a skinwalker find their weapon jamming or frozen. Other times the rounds fire but have no effect.

Carrie Vaughn did a book about a Skin-Walker in one of the Kitty Norville books, it included the interesting (POSSIBLE SPOILER) problem of trying to explain to the cops why there’s a dead girl with an animal skin, once you’ve successfully killed the Skin-Walker. The Mercy Thompson series mentions Skin-Walkers, although they are never seen and it is specifically stated that Mercy herself is something entirely different, but that the English name is the similar due to European’s inability to tell the difference.

Werewolves, and the use of skins in shapeshifting

Tue, 12 Jun 2012 17:06:00 -0400

Darker uses of skins by shape-shifters show up in tales of skin-walkers and werewolves. This post will be primarily on the later (the title should probably have given that away).

The modern depiction of the werewolf could be defined as a shape-shifter with these three elements: 1) it is created by the bite of another werewolf, 2) controlled by the moon, 3) especially (perhaps only) vulnerable to silver. However none of these are commonly present in the medieval legends of the werewolf.

There are numerous stories on how to become a werewolf, such as drinking water from the footprint of a wolf, or sleeping outside with the moon on your face. However the method that is of most interest as it relates to the use of skins, is the werewolf belt. Some stories say the belt is made of wolfskin, however others merely state that the only way to get a belt is to make a pact with the devil (I did hear one story in which the belt given by the devil was made from the skin of a hanged man). The use of a wolfskin belt seems like a very practical substitute for the entire wolfskin.

(If you’re wondering why anyone would want to be a wolf, many stories mention stealing sheep as a motive. Given poaching laws, it may have also been to allow the werewolf to hunt on the lord’s land)

Their body wasn’t always the only think that transformed when they put on the belt though, several stories also mention extreme hunger, appearing the moment the belt is buckled. This seems similar to the savagery that is described in some modern werewolf stories.

Two methods to return a werewolf to they’re human form are to call out their Christian name, or to throw something shiny above their head.

Interestingly, the vulnerability to silver first shows up in a retelling of the story of the Beast of Gevaudan, in which the beast was killed by a silver bullet blessed by a priest. The story of the beast is true, however the tidbit about the silver bullet was first recorded in a novel, 169 years after the fact in 1936.

And I’m back and will be posting for reals soon.

Tue, 12 Jun 2012 16:31:00 -0400

And I’m back and will be posting for reals soon.

I'm back

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 22:38:15 -0500

For reals this time. I’ll be using this blog as a personal exercise to keep my research skill up to snuff.

Fuck Yeah Fairy Tales: NBC Orders Brothers Grimm-Themed Drama

Mon, 31 Jan 2011 22:11:09 -0500

Fuck Yeah Fairy Tales: NBC Orders Brothers Grimm-Themed Drama:

fuckyeahfairytales:

Former Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel auteur David Greenwalt’s next TV show is going to be Grimm (yes, with a capital G).

NBC has just greenlit a pilot for the Greenwalt-produced Grimm, a fantastical cop drama about a world in which characters inspired by Grimm’s Fairy Tales exist….

I’ll actually be back and write those posts I said I’d write sometime this week.

Shapeshifters' Skins Part 1

Sat, 25 Dec 2010 00:03:10 -0500

The idea that a shapeshifter requires a special skin in order to change shows up in a lot myths. Some, such as selkies and swan-maidens take their skin off when they turn into humans and must put the skin back on in order to return to their true form (seals and swans, respectively). Others, such as skinwalkers and werewolves (in some lore) are humans who must put a skin on in order to transform into another form.

Selkies and swan-maidens are usually female and are found in Animal-Wife tales. The stories of selkies and swan-maidens are almost identical. An unmarried man finds a group of women either dancing on the beach (selkies) or bathing (swan-maidens). Nearby are a collection of skins or cloaks. He steals one and all the women save one take their skins/cloaks and leave, either swimming away as seals, or flying away as swans. The man forces the lone selkie or swan-maiden to marry him and hides the skin away to keep her from leaving him. One day, their children are playing and find the skin, they bring it to their mother and she immediately leaves her human family to return to the life she’d been forced to leave behind.

There are occasional versions of the selkie story where she decides to stay with her family, but they are few and far between. In other versions she looks after her children when they are fishing, and some just end with her diving beneath the waves.

Part 2 coming tomorrow.

Plans

Thu, 23 Dec 2010 23:05:40 -0500

So I’m thinking about my plans for this blog, and so far I’ve able to come up with several ideas for kinds of posts.

1. Posts about myths/motifs that show up in many different cultures. Especially if there is a suspected reason for why this is the case.

2. Posts about specific myths or mythological creatures.

3. Comments about media (books etc) either non-fiction or fiction about/featuring myths and folklore.

I’ll start with a real post tomorrow.