Hello, Myth Lovers! To celebrate International #MuseumDay, we'd love to see your posts about #museums! Which museums have great mythological art? Which are your favourite artifacts? Do you have a favourite #museum? Where have you seen an amazing work of art related to mythology? Use the hashtag #MythologyMonday for boosts!
This #MythologyMonday entry on brewing is a folk tale from the Southeast of #Korea about a deeply pious son whose mother was very sick. Told that human liver would cure her, he took a knife into the hills where he ran into a scholar reciting poetry and killed the learned man before removing his liver.
The son then came across a shaman climbing the hill and killed her, too, thinking more would be better, and also took the liver. Then he noticed a mad dog hanging around the area and killed it for safety, before remembering someone saying that dog liver was similar to human liver so he took that, too.
He buried all three bodies on the hillside and took the livers home. His mother made a full recovery on eating them, but the son was consumed by guilt for the murders he had committed. He went regularly to the graves to pull weeds and otherwise maintain the burial site.
One day, noticing strange seeds by the graveside, he brought them home and planted them in his home garden, whereupon a plant with pretty fruits came up. He brewed the fruit into a drink and threw a party to congratulate his mother's recovery. But the villagers who drank the beverage acted strangely--first, they drank quietly like learned scholars, then they danced like shamans, and at last they would fight and shout like dogs. It is said that these spirits are the reason drunk people act like scholars, then shamans, then rabid dogs.
It is said to give the gods their immortality/longevity & our guy Ganymede (of #Aquarius mythology fame) is one of the servers of ambrosia for the gods (after Zeus, you know, kidnapped him...😬 )
#Celtic#MythologyMonday: „The names of the #Irish goddess #Medb and the #Gaulish goddesses #Meduna and the #Comedovae may be derived from an Indo-European word *médhu– signifying ‘honey’, ‘intoxication’, and designate the fermented drink extracted from honey, that is ‘mead’. If this etymology is correct – other possibilities have been suggested -, their names may be therefore glossed as ‘Goddess of Intoxication by Mead’ or ‘Mead Goddess’.“
#Celtic#MythologyMonday: Dandelion flowers can be used in beer-making, added to cordials, and used to flavour vodka. In medieval times a brew was made with mead and fermented dandelion and burdock roots.
Source: Ali Isaac from H A G <aliisaac@substack.com>
For this week’s #MythologyMonday theme, Brews and Potions, an excerpt from Marlon James’ The Book of Night Women:
“Homer send her to the man lodging to rob a spoonful of gunpowder. Then Homer send Gorgon up to the hill with no tree and she come back with a cup of dirt from Massa Patrick Wilson grave. Homer mix the two in a glass and fill the glass with rum...
Homer prick Lilith thumb and she wince. Homer stick Lilith thumb in the glass until the potion start to turn red.”
Love potions are said to help attract love or strengthen existing relationships, love potions are typically made from ingredients with aphrodisiac properties, such as rose petals, vanilla, and cinnamon.
#Celtic#MythologyMonday: Both the warrior-queen #Aoife and #Scathach had raised an army & were about to fight each other. Scathach didn't mention this to #CúChulainn, for the handsome youth had become dear to her, so she gave him a sleeping draught to make him slumber through the battle, as she believed Aoife too much for any man to defeat. Although the potion would have conquered the senses of anyone else, CúChulainn lay asleep for but an hour before stirring.
Source:https://emeraldisle.ie/the-trials-of-cuchulainn
How was the Mead of Poetry brewed? Cruel dwarfs slit the throat of the god of wisdom Kvasir, and used it to make honeyed mead that made their words into gold, a skill coveted by the giants and gods, and eventually gifted to humanity too. #MythologyMonday
#MythologyMonday: The #TuathaDéDanannrefined the art of brewing until the ale of their smith and brewer #Goibniu was strong enough to endow the drinker with immortality. #Irish epics connect ale with the festival of #Samhain, when the boundaries between this world and the #Otherworld were blurred.
Source: P. Monaghan Encyclopedia of #Celtic #Mythology and #Folklore
Hello, Myth Lovers! Join us for Monday's theme: Brews and Potions. Write out a story that talks about brewing beverages or potion making of special liquids and use the tag #MythologyMonday for boosts!
#mythologymonday It's less of a folklore and more pure alchemy, but I was always taken with the variation between practical and philosophical alchemy, and I think the former was brilliantly epitomised by Thomas Norton's Ordinalle of Alchimy, where he tries without thermometers to define effects like "the temperature at which duck fat melts"
I heard a fascinating talk about Santa Muerte a few months ago. I only a know a little bit, if anyone knows more, please share.
Santa Muerte seems to be a syncretic creature. Indigenous death beings presided over various aspects of life; they were often pregnant and gave advice. These combined with the grim reaper introduced alongside (enforced) Spanish Catholicism. By the 18th century, Santa Muerte was her own entity, presented as a skeletal figure.
Women pray to Santa Muerte, and she is often associated with the poor and marginalised groups. She doesn't judge, and anyone can follower her; she has no ordained priesthood.
She was first worshipped in northern Mexico, but now also found in southern Mexican celebrations of Dia de los Muertos. This revival might be connected to an increase in poverty, e.g., following NAFTA.
In one of the Nahua creation myths, “The giant earth monster Tlaltecuhtli (“Earth Lord”), a crocodile-like creature, swam in the sea searching for flesh to eat. The gods turned themselves into serpents, entered the sea, and tore Tlaltecuhtli in half. The upper part of her body became the land, and the lower part was thrown into the sky to become the stars and heavens.” (Michael E. Smith, The Aztecs (Oxford: Blackwell, 1996)
Nagual are shapeshifters, human tricksters born with shamanic powers and familiars they can use for good or evil: the person must choose. Found across Mesoamerica with evidence stretching back millennias, modern Mexican naguals are often associated with brujería. #MythologyMonday
La Llorona is a popular ghost story that is prominent on Día de los Muertos. Having drowned her own sons out of despair over an abusive, cheating husband, or neglecting them and so they drowned by accident, a woman named Maria, aka "La Llorona" --"the weeping woman"-- is forced to wander the Earth searching for her lost sons. La Llorona's siren-like wails are said to lure adults and children to their untimely deaths: “Mis hijos! Mis hijos! ¿Dónde están mis hijos?” (Britannica) #MythologyMonday
Chaneques are child-sized beings that act as protectors of the forest in indigenous Mexican mythology. They are known for being mischievous and frequently play tricks on those that enter their domain, such as leading people astray or hiding their belongings. #MythologyMonday
Originally from Tlaxcala, Mexico, The Thlahuelpuchis are vampiric witches with lycanthropy powers. Her name comes from Nahuatl and means luminous incense burner. She is a type of vampire who lives with her human family, she sucks the blood of infants at night.
Greetings, myth lovers! To celebrate #CincoDeMayo, today's theme is: #Mexican and Mexican-American myths and legends. Write out a story and use the hashtag #MythologyMonday for boosts. See you all soon!