Balladeer’s Blog takes a look at the Hittite myth involving a mountain god and a deer.
Zaliyanu, the god of the mountain which bears his name, was kind enough to shelter a deer that was fleeing hunters. The pursuit had begun on a neighboring mountain whose god didn’t dare risk the wrath of the hunting god Kurunta by sheltering the terrified creature. Zaliyanu, the greatest of the mountain deities, had no such compunction. Continue reading
Filed under Mythology
Yes, it’s the 16th of June, better known to James Joyce geeks like me as Bloom’s Day. The day is named in honor of Leopold Bloom, the Jewish advertising sales rep and Freemason who is one of the major characters in Joyce’s novel Ulysses. The novel also brings along Stephen Dedalus, the protagonist of his earlier novel Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.
For those unfamiliar with this work, Ulysses is Joyce’s stream-of-consciousness novel in which he metaphorically features the events from the Odyssey in a single day – June 16th, 1904, in Dublin. (The day he met Nora Barnacle, the woman he would eventually marry after living together for decades) Bloom represents Ulysses/Odysseus, Stephen represents Telemachus and Leopold’s wife, Molly Bloom, represents Penelope.
The novel is jam-packed with Continue reading
Filed under Mythology, Neglected History
THAN GIONG – Vietnamese god of war and 1 of the 4 main deities in their mythology (often called The Four Immortals). The mother of Than Giong once fell into one of the enormous footprints left from long ago by Khong Lo, the primordial giant. She thereby became pregnant (you know mythology!) and gave birth to a baby who was always silent and unmoving for the 1st several years of his life. At length during an invasion by China the reigning member of the Hung Vuong Dynasty sent messengers around the kingdom asking for any help that could be given against the invaders.Filed under Mythology
For my full list of Norse deities click here: https://glitternight.com/2011/04/10/the-eleven-most-neglected-deities-in-teutono-norse-mythology/
AEGIR – The god of the sea who brewed the ale that he would share with the other Teutono-Norse deities when they would get together at his hall on the island of Hlesey. Many poetic references are made to Continue reading
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Gods of Pegana
Lord Dunsany’s 1905 book The Gods of Pegana and its 1906 followup, Time and the Gods, are forgotten masterpieces of comparative mythology which introduced the author’s pantheon of fictional deities. Though neglected today Dunsany’s work inspired authors from H.P. Lovecraft to J.R.R. Tolkein to C.S. Lewis. (But oddly, NOT e.e. cummings, A.A. Milne or J.K. Rowling.)
LIMPANG-TUNG – The god of comedy, drama, music and all the other creative arts. Limpang-Tung thrived on providing humanity with distractions to take their minds off the inevitability of death. The sky was his canvas on which he painted forever-changing patterns of clouds and the events of the world were both a tragedy and a farce depicting the ultimate futility of human endeavor. Continue reading
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My item about Ainu deities has proven so successful here’s a quick take on three of the lesser deities from the Ainu pantheon, the three brothers named Seremak, Urespa and Usapki.
SEREMAK – The patron god of vigor, vitality and general physical fitness. He had a flattened belly (“Six-Pack abs of the Gods!”), nine pairs of wings and wielded a sword and a spear made of mugwort. Continue reading
Filed under Mythology
Balladeer’s Blog concludes its examination of the grand and exciting Hawaiian epic about the goddesses Pele and Hi’iaka.
PART TWENTY-EIGHT
As the previous installment ended Pele was furiously proclaiming that she would kill Prince Lohiau and destroy her sister Hi’iaka for falling in love (ish) while Hi’iaka was escorting the prince to the Big Island to become Pele’s husband. Hi’iaka had spitefully consummated her love for Prince Lohiau right at the base of Pele’s home atop Mount Kilauea. She had done this to punish the fire and volcano goddess for her savage slaying of Hopoe, the goddess whom Hi’iaka had placed in charge of her beloved forests of lehua trees.
Pele’s explosive temper was unleashed at the sight of her younger sister and her intended husband coupling publicly. As she caused a flood of lava to flow down the mountain and encircle Lohiau and Hi’iaka she had cried to all the gods in the Hawaiian pantheon that any of them who sided with Hi’iaka would be declaring themselves an enemy of Pele and would risk destruction or banishment. Continue reading
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Balladeer’s Blog continues its examination of the grand and exciting Hawaiian epic about the goddesses Pele and Hi’iaka.
PART TWENTY-SEVEN
And so, as Hi’iaka’s revenge on her sister Pele, the volcano and fire goddess, she made sure that her first coupling with Prince Lohiau, the man both goddesses loved, took place right within Pele’s sight at the base of Mount Kilauea. All of Pele’s other sisters had gathered around her to see the beautiful man named Lohiau. The fern goddess Pa’u’o’pala’e and the mortal woman Wahine, whom Hi’iaka had sent on ahead, entered Pele’s tempestuous presence.
Pele raged at the two women, demanding to know why the quest to reach and return from Lohiau’s home of Kauai had taken so long. Pa’u’o’pala’e, as a sister goddess, replied to Pele that no matter what had caused the delay Lohiau had arrived and was at the foot of Mount Kilauea with Hi’iaka. Continue reading
Filed under Mythology
Balladeer’s Blog continues its examination of the grand and exciting Hawaiian epic about the goddesses Pele and Hi’iaka.
PART TWENTY-SIX
The ship carrying Hi’iaka, Prince Lohiau and Wahine arrived at Iloli on the island of Molokai. The generally barren nature of the area prompted the trio to remain with the ship’s crew when they soon put off for Maui. Continue reading
Filed under Mythology
For Balladeer’s Blog’s article on other Ainu gods and goddesses click HERE
MOSHIRI – Also called Moshiri-Kara. This Ainu deity falls under the global mythological category called Divine Geographers like Inugpasug from the Inuit pantheon, Khong Lo from the Vietnamese pantheon, Halmang from the Korean pantheon and Rapeto from the Merina pantheon in Madagascar.
Moshiri was dispatched to the Earth by Kando-Koro, the sky god and supreme ruler of Kamuikando, the heavenly home of the gods. Kando-Koro sent Moshiri down to form the amorphous mass of the Earth into separate continents, then form mountains, rivers, lakes and islands. Moshiri’s crowning and most important work of geographical structuring was the lands to be inhabited by the Ainu people. (Again we see that this type of ethnic chauvinism is a universal human foible) Continue reading
Filed under Mythology
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