Tag Archives: mythology

February 20, 2016 · 2:49 am

PELE AND HI’IAKA: EPIC OF HAWAII PART NINE

island of mauiBalladeer’s Blog continues its examination of the grand and exciting Hawaiian epic about the goddesses Pele and Hi’iaka.

PART NINE

By nightfall Hi’iaka had secured passage for herself and the mortal woman Wahine in a craft bound for the island of Maui. That vessel set off the next morning. In some versions the boatman and his son refuse to take the ladies so Hi’iaka punishes them by using her powers to make their craft sink. After swimming to shore the two men were more than happy to take the ladies in their other ship. Continue reading →

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February 16, 2016 · 10:10 pm

SI’U: SAMOAN DEITY

SamoaBalladeer’s Blog’s look at Samoan myths has long been one of my biggest hits. Since the love keeps coming for this pantheon here’s an entry on a deity I didn’t cover before. 

SI’U – The patron god of the Samoan village of Faleasi’u on the island of Upolu.  Continue reading →

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February 13, 2016 · 4:53 pm

PELE AND HI’IAKA: EPIC OF HAWAII PART SEVEN

hiloBalladeer’s Blog continues its examination of the grand and exciting Hawaiian epic about the goddesses Pele and Hi’iaka.

PART SEVEN

Hi’iaka, the fern goddess Pa’u’o’pala’e and the mortal woman Wahine arrived near Hilo. A very rickety bridge across a broad chasm seemed the only available path over the Wailuka River far below. The bridge was erected and guarded by Piliamo’o and Nohoamo’o, two evil sorcerors who had so thoroughly mastered dark magic that they had achieved partial godhood.      

Regarded as actual deities by the locals, the sorcerors extorted valuables from the people who lived near Hilo and from anyone else attempting to cross their bridge. If anyone refused to pay the pair of sorcerors the price they demanded then the evildoers would cause one of the planks in the bridge to give way during crossing, plunging the victim to their death on the jagged rocks far below. Continue reading →

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February 12, 2016 · 9:34 pm

YI: THE CHINESE EPIC OF THE DIVINE ARCHER

 I.WHAT’S UP WITH YI?  – Yi the Divine Archer from Chinese mythology deserves to be remembered in one breath with some of the other great heroes and monster slayers from belief systems around the world. Most people are only familiar with his feat of shooting down multiple suns that appeared in the sky one day, but this article will provide a light- hearted look at all of his fantastic adventures.  Continue reading →

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February 11, 2016 · 11:17 pm

THE NINJA GOD EN NO OZUNU

En No OzunuRegular readers of Balladeer’s Blog know that I consider all religions to be mythology, which people are usually fine with unless it’s their own personal religion I’m examining. At any rate En No Ozunu is revered as the founder and most active mythical figure in the belief system called Shugendo, and in some offshoot cults of Shugendo as a virtual patron deity of ninja practices and ancient weather forecasting.

Practitioners of the Shugendo faith are called Yamabushi and their belief system fuses elements of Shinto, Ainu, Buddhism and Taoism along with features of shamanism and the ancient Japanese reverence for mountains, all of which are considered sacred ground in Shugendo.

The ninja connection is very big in popular culture but actually the Ainu are more technically the originators of many ninjutsu practices. For an even bigger pop culture tie-in there are versions of the En No Ozunu myth in which he is the father of Sadako (Neil Sadako?), the female figure in the Ringu novel plus its Japanese and American film adaptations. 

En No Ozunu supposedly began his existence on Earth when he was born to a mortal woman who was Continue reading →

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February 6, 2016 · 5:51 am

PELE AND HI’IAKA: EPIC OF HAWAII PART FIVE

Pele and Hi'iaka valleyBalladeer’s Blog continues its examination of the grand and exciting Hawaiian epic about the goddesses Pele and Hi’iaka.

PART FIVE

The morning after their battle with Pana-Ea and its legion of monsters Hi’iaka, Pa’u’o’pala’e and Wahine resumed their journey. Around mid-day the path they were following suddenly ended at a precipice. Wahine suggested they all descend the cliffside to reach the base, where the waves pounded the jagged stones and from there swim across to the other side. Continue reading →

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February 3, 2016 · 10:38 pm

PELE AND HI’IAKA: EPIC OF HAWAII PART FOUR

big-island-hawaii-map-for-tourists.gif (350×350)Balladeer’s Blog continues its examination of the grand and exciting Hawaiian epic about the goddesses Pele and Hi’iaka.

PART FOUR

The goddess Hi’iaka and her companions continued making their way on the Big Island in their quest to meet and escort Prince Lohiau of Kauai to the fire goddess Pele’s home on Mount Kilauea. Accompanying Hi’iaka were the fern goddess Pa’u’o’pala’e, a Pele worshiper named Wahine and Pa-Pulehu, a girl in her early teens whose wealthy family had hosted the travelers. 

The four ladies had two paths to choose from: one would lead safely around the Pana-Ewa Rainforest (named for the demonic creature who ruled it) and the other would lead directly through that rainforest. That second path would be fraught with danger every step of the way, not just from Pana-Ewa itself but also from the legions of monsters in Pana-Ewa’s service. Hi’iaka chose to go straight through the rainforest, intent on destroying many of the vile creatures who preyed on the ancient Hawaiian people.   Continue reading →

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February 2, 2016 · 12:37 am

IT’S JAMES JOYCE’S BIRTHDAY!

jamesjoyceHAPPY BIRTHDAY TO JAMES JOYCE! His works got me hooked in my teens when I really related to his character Stephen Dedalus as he rejected his religion and indulged what I call his “young and pretentious side” in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. I wore out my copy of Joyce’s novel Ulysses and continue to mark Bloom’s Day to this very day.

Over the years Finnegans Wake replaced Ulysses as my favorite Joyce novel and I’m fonder than many people are of his play Exiles, his “epiphanies” in Dubliners and, poetry geek that I am, even Pomes Penyeach and Chamber Music. So, if you live in Ireland, say hello to Anna Livia Plurabelle for me today!   Continue reading →

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January 30, 2016 · 3:42 pm

PELE AND HI’IAKA: EPIC OF HAWAII PART THREE

HawaiianislandsBalladeer’s Blog continues its examination of the grand and exciting Hawaiian epic about the goddesses Pele and Hi’iaka.

PART THREE

The goddess Hi’ika set off for Kaua’i to retrieve and escort Pele’s chosen mate Prince Lohiau back to Pele’s home on Mount Kilauea. In some versions she is first granted some additional divine power by Pele to help her fight her way past the countless menaces that lay in her path.  Continue reading →

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January 25, 2016 · 10:10 pm

ALEI AND PATA: SAMOAN DEITIES

SamoaThere’s been a great surge in interest recently in Balladeer’s Blog’s long-ago examination of the gods of Samoa. In honor of that here’s a look at a male and female pair of deities from that same pantheon.

ALEI & PATA – Two ancient culture deities of Samoa. Alei and Pata taught the Samoans about home construction, laying out a village and various funerary practices, including embalming. The figures were worshiped jointly as the patron deities of these undertakings, just as the goddesses Taema and Tilafaiga were jointly considered the patron deities of tattooing.

Alei and Pata did not come down to Earth in their godly bodies like their fellow divinities usually did. Continue reading →

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