Friday’s Mythological Creature of the Day – Brownie

Brownies or brounies are mythological creatures from English/Scottish folklore, comparable to the Scandinavian tomte, the Slavic domovoi and the German Heinzelmännchen. The first mentions of Brownies are found in the documents of the 16^th century where they are described as small humanoid creatures with wrinkled faces, covered in short brown fur and wearing deep-brown clothes. Brownies are considered to be household creatures, but are also known to live in dead trees and forgotten dilapidated dwellings. Sometimes Brownies become very loyal to a certain family, generation after generation, and move with them from house to house, but typically, they are loyal to the house itself ( you know, like Maesters in Game of Thrones – they were loyal servants of a Castle, no matter which king wannabe claimed its possession at this or that point of time).

Brownies are known to be friendly creatures. When they are treated with respect, appreciation and timely treats (although some sources point that any type of a reward for the job well done could be considered offensive to them), Brownies enjoy helping the families they’ve adopted with running the household. It is considered lucky when a family has a Brownie’s help. Brownies enjoy cleaning the house (I wish I could befriend one to help out with the inevitable spring cleaning ;-)), mending socks quietly at night, washing that tea cup you left in the sink, gathering the clothes you left on the floor and folding it neatly. They pride themselves on running the household in a proper manner and probably giggle quietly and roll their eyes at their adopted family’s inability to handle such seemingly easy pleasurable tasks on their own. Their passion for order and tidiness doesn’t stop by the walls of the house. Brownies are known with helping milking the cows, tending the bees, and harvesting as well. In Scotland, they are also responsible for helping with brewing the perfect ale. Brownies are mostly nocturnal creatures and prefer not to be seen, but some are known to become advisers and a shoulder to lean on in difficult situations to those whom they love.

However, when one offends a Brownie, he might wish to leave the household immediately. Evil pranks, poltergeist-like behavior and cruel mischiefs would be the Brownie’s revenge. The Brownie will go all Boggart at you! ;-) And that’s not a good thing.  (BTW, It’s not like Humphrey Bogart, it’s more like a malevolent creature trying to get you by crawling into your bed and covering your mouth with its clammy hand. Yikes!)

So, next time when you see the Girl Scouts selling cookies, you’d better buy a pack from them. After all, their junior branch is named after these legendary creatures, and your support  will get you some “brownie points” as well.

This is it for today!

Come back and spread the word!

Aglaya

Friday’s Mythological Creature of the Day – Naglfar

Well,  Naglfar is not a creature, but a weirdly cool transportation vehicle that carries a bunch of dead warriors’ souls to the final battle. Why post about it today? Because I can ;-) And because my imagination went berserk when I read the description of it, so I had to learn more about it and share my findings with you. I also ran across some delightfully creepy images of this legendary ship on the web, like this one by Jeff Fairbourn.

Without further adue, it is my honor to introduce Naglfar -- the morbid ship from the Norse mythology, made entirely of fingernails and toenails of the dead,  sailing through oceans, realms and mists of time. It carries the dead Scandinavian warriors from Hel (yes, that’s the correct spelling), the kingdom of the Underworld, to engage in the final battle before Ragnarök, a.k.a. Armageddon, a.k.a. the End of the World.

“From the east comes Hrym with shield held high;

In giant-wrath does the serpent writhe;

O'er the waves he twists, and the tawny eagle

Gnaws corpses screaming; Naglfar is loose.

O'er the sea from the north there sails a ship

With the people of Hel, at the helm stands Loki;

After the wolf do wild men follow,

And with them the brother of Byleist goes”

from Völuspá, Translation byHenry Adams Bellows

According to some Norse myths, it is the one and only Loki, the trouble-maker god,  who steers and governs the ship to bring the reinforcements of Evil to expedite the end to the world and rule whatever is left of it. C’mon, not again!  Hasn’t he watched “Thor” and “Avengers” recently?........Geeesh!

But according to other myths Naglfar is steered by Hrym, who is actually a jötunn, a Giant from the far-away Ice Lands, sailing with a crew of other jötunns, to confront the gods of Asgard.

In any case, if you see the Nagflar landing ashore near you – run away. That ship is nothin’ but a trouble!

This is it for tonight. Come back soon and spread the word!

Friday’s Mythological Creature of the Day -- Manannán mac Lir (Celtic Mythology)

Is it Friday already? What a busy week it’s been... that would be my lame explanation for the lack of posts ;-))).

Last weekend we took a drive along the scenic coast of California via Highway 1 (I vote it for the most beautiful highway in the country!)

I opened my favorite mythological encyclopedia right in the middle today and, ironically, it was the Manannán’s entry that first caught my eye.

Manannán mac Lir comes from the Celtic myths. Not only he is a sea/ocean deity, but also connected to the Underworld of the Dead and often portrayed as a psychopomp. He is described riding a horse, named Enbarr, among the waves or traveling through the ocean on his chariot. Manannan’s land ownership has been often connected to the Isle of Man in Great Britain, where he has been worshipped at least till the end on the 19th century. He is usually associated with the Goddess Tuatha Dé Danann or Dana, (who I’d love to research more!) but a lot of scholars consider Manannán even older than her.

After the battle by the tribes of Dana (aka fairies) versus the Mil’s sons or Fomorians, (close to the Greek Titans), the fairies retreated and hid in the magic hills or sidhens. It was Manannán who gave the lost tribes the three gifts: invisibility magic, eternal youth and his pigs, that would always be there, in spite of the fact how many of them had been eaten.

Here are a couple of fun resources to check out:

"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manann%C3%A1n_mac_Lir">

"http://faoiltiarna-wolf.deviantart.com/art/Entreaty-to-Manannan-MacLir-145714092"> -- a beautiful poem by Faoiltiarna-Wolf

http://www.manannan.net/whois/index.html">

Enjoy!!!

Friday’s Mythological Creature of the Day -- Amazon

I thought it would be appropriate if today I will describe Amazon, the real/mythological woman -worrier of Ancient Greece. The main reason for my choice is -- my novel 2.18 went live on Amazon Kindle on August 31st!!!

You can’t imagine how excited I am. And to share my joy and happiness I lowered the price to .99 for the next two weeks. This is my way to show my deep appreciation to all the people I’ve met through Twitter, GoodReads and blogs. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! This is the beginning of the road, and I wouldn’t wish for a better company -- you know, who you are!

But back to the Amazons -- in my Mythological Encyclopedia, it’s mentioned that, allegedly, the Amazons were born through the union of Ares and his daughter, Harmony. They lived in Minor Asia, or near Azov Sea or Libya. They would consent to sex with men only for the procreation. If a girl was born -- she would be raised within the tribe. If a boy was born -- he would be sent to his father or killed.

Amazons were supposed to have excellent archery skills and were equally skilled with battle axes and light shields. Allegedly, the name of the tribe came from a ritual of cutting of or burning their left breast for a more convenient way of handling the weapons. Though, through the historical artifacts, we’ve learnt that both breasts were intact, but they would ride into the battle with one breast exposed to distract the male armies.

It’s also hard to say if they were of myth or actual tribes. Among others, there are extensive mentions by Pluto that Alexander the Great visited the warrior women clans...

Here are a couple of links for you to check out. Please let me know what you think. Myth or Truth?

http://www.mythindex.com/greek-mythology/A/Amazones.html

http://www.pantheon.org/articles/a/amazons.html

http://www.theoi.com/Heroine/AmazonPenthesileia.html

And why was Amazon.com called Amazon? Here is the answer from Wikipedia.org:

“Jeff Bezos founded Amazon.com, Inc. in 1994 and the site went online in 1995. The company was originally named Cadabra, Inc., but the name was changed when it was discovered that people sometimes heard the name as "Cadaver". The name Amazon.com was chosen because the Amazon River is one of the largest rivers in the world and so the name suggests large size, and also in part because it starts with "A" and therefore would show up near the beginning of alphabetical lists.”

So it doesn’t deal with Amazons at all! Though judging by its warrior style, I would say that there might be some relationship!

Enjoy and have a great weekend!

Friday’s Mythological Creature of the Day -- Kim Qui, The Golden Turtle God

Kim Qui (The Golden Turtle) comes from the Vietnamese culture.

There are quite a few interesting stories about Kim Qui.
One of them is associated with the construction of defenses for the ancient capital of Co Loa. Evil spirits were causing a lot of nuisance during its construction. Kim Qui appeared before King An Dương Vương (257-207 BC) and gifted him its nail to use as a trigger, for a magical cross-bow, that massively rained arrows upon the invaders in only a single shot.

Another one talks about a giant turtle that taught people how to build houses on stilts.

My favorite legend is about a magic sword. A peasant named Lê Lợi obtained a magical sword named Heaven's Will that a fisherman had pulled out of the lake. Lê Lợi used this sword to lead a rebellion against the Chinese armies that were in occupation of Vietnam in 15th century. After overthrowing the Chinese rule and establishing Lê Dynasty, the now emperor Lê Lợi returned to the lake and Kim Qui emerged then asked Lê Lợi to return the sword. The King drew the sword and hurled it toward Kim Qui. Kim Qui quickly caught the sword by his teeth then submerged. Lê Lợi afterwards named the lake 'Lake of Returning Sword', or Hoan Kiem. Reminds me of the King Author’s legend...

And I came across a very interesting article that claims that“the legendary turtle in Vietnam may prove to be true!" Check it out!

Friday's Mythological Creature of the Day -- Baba Yaga

In Slavic mythology, Baba Yaga is a witch and a hag that lives in a forest and devours people. In most Russian folktales, she resides in a log cabin that stands on chicken legs (!). The hut is surrounded by a palisade made out of human bones with a skull on each pole. The keyhole to her front door is a mouth filled with sharp teeth.

She is old, one of her legs can be an artificial one, she is blind (or losing her eyesight) and has huge breasts. (I feel sorry for her!)

She flies through the air in a mortar, using the pestle as a rudder and sweeping away the tracks behind her with a broom made of silver birch. She kidnaps kids and tries to fry them for dinner in her large clay oven.

Baba Yaga is usually portrayed as an antagonist, i.e. when an unfortunate hero drops by and Baba Yaga finds him in her cabin, snooping around, she cuts out skin from his back to make herself a belt (sounds like she had a quirky sense of fashion). Sometimes she is portrayed as a Mother of all Snakes (who are typically the main foes of the hero). But in some tales she supplies the hero (sometimes unwillingly) with something necessary for the further quest.

She is one of the most popular characters in Russian fairy-tales. She has also made an appearance in Shrek Forever After.

If you want to read more here is a link to a Wikipedia article: And here is my favorite song by a band of Baba Yagas in a famous Russian cartoon “A Flying Ship”.


Enjoy!

Friday's Mythological Creature of the Day -- Mardagayl

I have this wonderful Mythological Encyclopedia in Russian from 1991. I like to open it at a random page, select an article and discover/reintroduce a creature/place/etc.

Why?

1) I like to learn things 2) It helps in writing 3) I’ve always suspected that there is a reason why certain creatures/monsters/beliefs are common across the globe. Just haven’t figured it out yet ;-)) So, I thought, I’d share with you what I can find from my Encyclopedia and a 30-minute search on Internet during lunch break. If you come across a related article, fun fact, please share!!!

Drum roll please! I am thrilled to introduce a Mardagayl --an Armenian werewolf with a twist.

a) Typically, it’s a woman.

b) It is believed that if God decides to punish a woman, he makes her to eat the food intended for a Mardagayl (the food usually falls from the sky, like hail). After a woman snacks on these kibbles, a wolf skin falls upon a woman and turns the unfortunate foodie into a Mardagayl. At night she hunts with a wolf’s pack, devours corpses, kidnaps children and tears them apart. (Huh? Fascinating…)

c) During the day, the Mardagayl takes the wolf skin off, hides it in a secret place and goes along with her life until nightfall! (I found this part slightly disturbing. So does she actually enjoy the transformation??? I mean, all that devouring and killing the innocent kiddies! Otherwise, why would she go through the trouble of hiding the skin? If she can take it off, why put it on again, voluntarily… And then like a typical sociopath she happily trots through her daily routine, like she did nothing wrong. )

d) The punishment typically lasts seven years, then the wolf skin returns to the sky, and the Mardagayl becomes a regular woman again. (After seven years of nightly gore and pillage how can she go back to being normal???)

e) The creation of the Milky Way is associated with Mardagayl. When a Mardagayl was trying to snack on a visitor, the visitor cut the monster’s breast with a knife, & the milk from her breast spilled over the sky.

I also found a few cool sites for those of you who enjoy the werewolves’ legends.

http://www.ilovewerewolves.com -- this one has a list of various names the werewolves are known in different cultures

http://www.werewolves.com -- a bunch of interesting articles

Enjoy!