samedi 9 mai 2009

Galadriel


Galadriel is a modern mythical figure, who inherited from Circée and Cassandra.

Circée is a character of the Odyssey. She is a magician who works with drugs, in the story she lives in Aïa island. (With Médée, she is the only wizard in the greek mythology). She turns the Ulysses (or Odysseus) sailors into pigs. But she falls in love about Odysseus, so she gives backs their original appearence to the sailors. So she is good and bad at the same time.

Cassandra is a princess of Troy. In exchange of the power of being an oracle, the deus Apollon wants to seduced her. At the last momment, she refuses. So to avenge himself, he gives her a spell: she will have the oracle power, but no one will never believe her. So before the fall of Troy, she sees the future, and the tragedy occurs.

Galadriel, the elfic witch in the lord of the rings, was created by Tolkien, but she inherits a lot fom greek mythology.She is described like a witch who was good but with an obscure part, like Circée in the Odyssey. Moreover she's got a magic object: a fountain wich could be a mirror of future. So like Cassandra, she's an oracle, she can have visions in water. When Frodo meets her in the book, she tells him: "The mirror shows thigs that happened, things that are, things that should be", and after Frodo has got a vision of the devil Soron's eye. So we can see that often Modern mythology finds her roots in Antic mythology.

jeudi 16 avril 2009

The Mistletoes (gui): The Chinese supernatural spirits




Chinese people always believed to spirits and to supernatural creatures. The Mistletoes are spirits and ghosts of Chinese legends. These characters attack human people taking animal, human or monster’s appearance. If you die violently, you become like these spirits and your curse(malediction) consists to stay eternally at the place where you died.
Sometimes there is a particular link between a mistletoes and the human world, creating a mistletoes-monster. This one isn’t obligatory hostile. They can use different forms (human, animal…) but a mirror always shows his true identity. Moreover they cannot approach an object which received a Buddhist consecration.
If rites for the mistletoes aren’t satisfying where if offerings don’t please, he’ll torture you, creating diseases, desolation and disasters. If a person doesn’t have shade, it surely is one of this spirits.
We advise to people to hang talismans on house’s doors for preventing spirits to disturb the inhabitants, principally family’s members.
Offerings are obligatory for they let you quiet. Indeed, if they want to find the eternal rest and they need nothing, you must prepare food or burn counterfeit money but you must know that Mistletoes don’t like fire and water.

vendredi 6 mars 2009

Djinns


I have a Moroccan neighbour and once, he told me about Djinns. I found the subject interesting so I now write some words about it.

The Djinns, according to the Koran are invisible creatures made with fire by Allah. They live with humans on Earth (but they rather stay in remoted places), they eat, have a social life (family etc...) and like humans, they can be muslim, christian, jewish, atheistic, whatever.
More, there are two kinds of Djinns: the good and the bad ones, linked to the way they act with humans. Indeed, those creatures can adopt many shapes and appearances and, of course, they can influence people decisions or acts.

The belief in Djinns is connected with many superstitions. For example, in the past and even nowadays in some countries, people believed that when a person had an epileptic crisis, he was possessed by a Djinn. So, the madness (and generally physical or mental disorders) is sometimes linked to a Djinn's intervention and then, people must use invocations to cure them or just to prevent them from these negatives effects. This aspect leads us to the wizard's part. Indeed, if some of them are healers, others link up with mad Djinns to put curses. Finally, this belief also affects people's life insofar as they observe some rules in daily life. For example, they avoid as much as possible stagnant waters as Djinns seem to appreciate it (as the Hammam Djinn). In literature, Djinns are the equivalent of genies, which depending on the story, can be mad or good. The reference is of course the "Mille et une nuits", known all over the world.

Sources: * http://fr.ca.encarta.msn.com/
* http://fr.wikipedia.org/
* www.sajidine.com/
* my moroccan friend

mercredi 4 mars 2009

Parallel World in Iceland

Iceland is a country who still has a strong link with the past, at least the olders and those who live closed to the nature. Thus, they keep on propagating the old faith. keep on propagating the old faiths.the society has made few advances on believes or industry...
There is always a link between the inhabitants and the nature. Of course, it isn't all the population who kept this link mainly there are the olders or those who continue to propagate the old faiths.
In Iceland the population can see the elfs, the gnomes, the fairies and also ghosts even if the people are little numerous because the society evolues and theses people are considered as madman. In this country they considered that there are parallel worlds with these creatures.
The most formidable,......... Iceland is the only country in the world who has had a minister of the elfiques affairs.
When the population want built roads or make others works. Mediums come on the ground to prevent cretures otherwise the gnomes act to surround the situation to survive because they live here. Lots facts were postponed to prove their existences.

I am sure that it is possible but I am very sad to see that people destroy and throw back all wich is not explicable or without answer of the science. In France if somebody says that he sees creatures he can be considered as mad, and be rejected of the society which is very open minded compared to Iceland where people want to preserve theirs believes.
The magic desepeares, even if we are in parallel worlds we act on the others.

sources:
http://inrees.com/films/Enquetes-sur-le-Monde-invisible/
magazine stargate

mardi 3 mars 2009

The end of the mystery concerning the Easter of island


The second hypothesis that I know is that the population disappeared because of their statues, which, as we can see, are huge and kick out, so that the population had some trouble moving them to the entrance of the island.
They finally managed to do it by using wooden logs (which facilitated movements) but this solution led them to their self-destruction as almost all the trees had been cut. Knowing how important are the trees for the ecosystem (animals and so humans etc...), their disparition brought disastrous consequences which finally led to the population's death by lack of food. Even if aware of the situation, they couldn't do anything, it was too late.

The third hypothesis involves the colons. When they discovered Easter island, they came with ships full of rats which invaded the island and caused a disaster: they decimated the vegetation and its productions and transmited diseases to the population who finally dissappeared by lack of food and antidotes againts new diseases.

We can see many similarities between the various hypothesises. But according to you, what is the most probable? Sometimes It is good to forget science who wants to be so rational.

dimanche 25 janvier 2009

Nian Shou, the Chineese new year's monster


In the Chineese tradition, Nian Shou is an malefic animal with a lion head and a bull corp which gave his name to the year (Nian=year ; shou=animal). His legend is linked to the customs of chineese new year. He’s represented like a lion.


In the ancient time, legends told that there was a wild animal who, one time per winter, went down of mountains for approaching villages. He came the night and left in the morning. After a lot of years, populations found weaknesses about that animal and they prepared resistance. Indeed Nian Shou fhrightened light, red color and noise. So, each winter, people hung red rags on doors, they closed animals and persons inside in houses and ate chated about dishes they had prepared for this night. When they were hearing Nian Shou near houses, they did sound for he return in mountains. After, Ziwei(a chineese god) went down on earth for attaching Nian, who definitivey stopped disturbing human people.


Nowadays thoses customs are against repeated the revillon of the new years with firecrackers, fireworks, Fires of Bengal, and traditionnals signs( Chun Lian) written on red papers and sticked on doors.

mercredi 21 janvier 2009

The mythical disappearance of the population


The subject of my article is the mystery of the disappearance of the inhabitants on the Easter Island.
This island is certainly the most isolated place of the world. It was discovered in 500by seven sons of defeated king Hotu Matua who was looking for a new country.
There were twelve tribes but they always were in war and this caused lots of deaths.
Furthermore, the tribes became two populations very differents , "the long ears" and "the small ears".
The small ears were the slaves of the long ears and they built the statues that you know (the statues of giant in front of the sea).
One day, the slaves rebelled against the long ears and accordind the legend ate them. The principal problem on this island was the lack of food so the cannibalism became very important and caused the disappearance and the loss of the population.
It was the first legend and in a short time I will share you others about this subject.

dimanche 18 janvier 2009

LITTLE STORY

I went back to Tahiti four weeks ago and I remembered a story, among others. Characters are my family and it begins around the beginning of the 19th century. My great-grandmother lived, with all her family in Rurutu, an island in the south of French Polynesia. One day, she left and came to Tahiti where she met my great-grandfather. They decided to get married in Rurutu and it is what they did. Well, nothing very interesting for you, even for me. But, something happened there, and despite all my questions about it, I've never managed to know what. So something happenned and after that, my great-grandmother decided to leave definitively Rurutu to never come back. More, she said that her children and then the grandchildren of her children etc etc would never, well at least should never go there. Apparently, some of us had been cursed that day. Thus, my grandmother and her brothers and sisters were concerned and so are we now, sisters, cousins and I. My mother can go to Rurutu but she recommended that we should not do it, because of the curse. It would be kind of risky, I don't know why, it's impossible to have informations about it. For me, not to go there was not a problem and I forgot this story and I would probably not have had to think about it anymore if one of my cousin hadn't decided to visit Rurutu and hadn't had some health troubles, pretty serious, when she returned. I don't know if both are linked and I would probably never know but aunts and uncles seem to think that she got sick because of the curse.

Personnaly, I don't believe in such a thing, but learning about family's whole history and more, about tahitians' history, I know that word given, curses or blessings were always considered with serious. Still now. And I think that, even if Rurutu is a beautiful island, even if all this may seem outdated, I won't go to Rurutu, respecting great-grandmother's will and family's believes.

Well, this was just a personnal story, which for me, illustrates how a curse, above all, the belief in this curse, can inluence our life. Indeed, my grandmother had never known her family and it seems that we are cut from this part of our origins, at least for the moment.


Source: Relatives