Tag Archives: mythology

October 7, 2015 · 9:55 pm

MWINDO: EPIC MYTH OF AFRICA PART FIVE

Balladeer’s Blog continues its examination of this epic myth of the Nyanga people.

PART FIVE

Nyanga river 2Mwindo now stood before Mukiti, the serpentine river god himself. The semidivine hero still held his conga-sceptre (a riding-crop sized club made from an antelope tail) in one hand, his axe in another and had his pouch of magic implements slung around one shoulder.

Mwindo and Mukiti exchanged challenging words with Mwindo’s being the most overstated and foolhardy. (Remember, part of the point of this epic is that Mwindo eventually learns to be humble and to be a good ruler, similar to Gilgamesh in Sumerian myths.) Before the two powerful figures could engage in all-out combat they were interrupted by the arrival of the woman Iyangura, who was Mwindo’s aunt and Mukiti’s ritual wife.  Continue reading →

6 Comments

Filed under Mythology

Tagged as , , , , , , , ,

October 3, 2015 · 2:04 pm

MWINDO: EPIC MYTH OF AFRICA PART FOUR

Balladeer’s Blog continues its examination of this epic myth of the Nyanga people.

PART FOUR

Nyanga riverThe evil Chief Shemwindo believed Mwindo was now dead and he rewarded the men who entrapped the child in the drum and tossed him in the river to drown. He gave each one of them a new bride to show his appreciation.

Mwindo’s mother Nyamwindo was inconsolable at the thought that her baby had been slain. Shemwindo warned her to stop being upset or he would kill her, too. Immediately Nyamwindo went from being the favored wife to being the despised wife of the chief’s seven wives. Continue reading →

10 Comments

Filed under Mythology

Tagged as , , , , , , , ,

September 26, 2015 · 2:22 pm

MWINDO: EPIC MYTH OF AFRICA PART THREE

Balladeer’s Blog continues its examination of this epic myth of the Nyanga people.

PART THREE

Nyanga mask

Nyanga mask

One day six of Chief Shemwindo’s seven wives gave birth. Their babies were female, thus saving the child from the villainous chief’s threat to kill any male child. Only the preferred wife remained pregnant and as her pregnancy dragged on she became the object of hushed whispers and ridicule from the Tubondo villagers.  

One morning the preferred wife woke up and was prepared to go fetch her firewood when she noticed an entire pile of it was already waiting for her inside her hut. She was puzzled by this but did not yet know that Mwindo -her unborn, semidivine male child – had slipped out through her vagina while she slept, gathered the firewood and climbed back into her uterus before she woke up. Continue reading →

10 Comments

Filed under Mythology

Tagged as , , , , , , , ,

September 23, 2015 · 10:53 pm

MWINDO: EPIC MYTH OF AFRICA PART TWO

Balladeer’s Blog continues its examination of this epic myth of the Nyanga people.

PART TWO

Nyanga territoryMukiti the serpent god of the river reached the village of Tubondo, ruled by Shemwindo, father of the yet-unborn Mwindo. Mukiti arrived in his human form and Shemwindo extended a formal greeting to his relative (as is often the case all around the world the Nyanga people believed their rulers to be descended from the gods and therefore family members of those gods). Per Nyanga tradition no business would be discussed until the arriving guest had rested and eaten so Chief Shemwindo had Mukiti put up in an icumbi (guest house).

After a period of rest and a twilight meal Mukiti made plain to Shemwindo that he desired the chief’s sister Iyangura as a wife. Again, per tradition, Shemwindo, as the male guardian of the prospective bride, told the suitor Mukiti that the formal answer would be given the next day. However, Shemwindo gave Mukiti the gift of a rare black goat as an unofficial sign that his request would be granted.   

The next morning Mukiti made himself “as clean as a snail’s anus” to use a Nyangan idiomatic expression, and dressed extravagantly including a belt made of bongo antelope. Shemwindo and his sister Iyangura likewise dressed in their finest and Shemwindo went forth to greet the river deity. Shemwindo summoned all the royalty of the village, including his seven wives, all pregnant and all still living under his threat of death if any of them gave birth to a boy.  Continue reading →

22 Comments

Filed under LIBERALS AND CONSERVATIVES

Tagged as , , , , , , , ,

September 19, 2015 · 2:41 pm

MWINDO: EPIC MYTH OF AFRICA

Balladeer’s Blog begins a new serialized feature – the neglected epic myth of the Nyanga people of Africa.

PART ONE

MwindoMwindo is yet another semi-divine hero from global mythology. This epic will explore his unusual birth, his heroic deeds and victories over various monsters and hostile gods.

Many of the myths from Africa survived mostly in oral form until comparatively recent decades, so there are even more variations of African epics than readers may be used to. To cite just one example: Mwindo himself is usually referred to by the epithet Kabutwa-kenda, “the little one just born yet walking”. However there are a few versions of the myth in which Mwindo and Kabutwa-kenda are TWO SEPARATE FIGURES and are half-brothers. Continue reading →

25 Comments

Filed under Mythology

Tagged as , , , , , , ,

September 16, 2015 · 3:07 pm

BAYBAYAN: PHILIPPINE EPIC MYTH – THE CONCLUSION

Balladeer’s Blog concludes its examination of this epic myth of the Bukidnon people of the Philippines.

PART EIGHT

Bukidnon mapAlisngaran, the favorite disciple of Baybayan, stood beside the woman he loved and continued wielding his kampilan sword against the trio of attacking giants. Whenever his kampilan – so heavy no other mortal man could lift it – sliced off the head or one of the limbs of the giants the other two would intensify their attack until the head or limb of the third could grow back. 

Meanwhile, on board the flying ship the Salimbal the demigod Baybayan, whose divine senses could see what was transpiring back on the Earth, again caused a mental image of himself to appear to Alisngaran and his beloved. (The names of many of the women in Philippine myths are unknown because their “holy men” considered the names too sacred to share with outsiders.) 

Baybayan pleaded with his favorite follower to abandon his battle with the giants and join the rest of his hundreds of surviving disciples on the trip to Skyland, the home of the gods. Alisngaran complied, grabbing his woman with one arm as Baybayan tried levitating the couple upward toward the faraway Salimbal. The weight of Alisngaran’s mighty kampilan prevented the pair from rising very far, however. Continue reading →

12 Comments

Filed under Mythology

Tagged as , , , , , , , ,

September 12, 2015 · 3:16 pm

BAYBAYAN: PHILIPPINE EPIC MYTH PART SEVEN

Balladeer’s Blog continues its examination of this epic myth of the Bukidnon people of the Philippines.

PART SEVEN

Philippines Map 3With the menace of the giants and the dragons now behind them, Baybayan and his hundreds of surviving followers continued their journey toward Skyland, the home of the gods. The ship transporting them was the Salimbal, the divine craft sent down by the supreme deity Magbabaya.

The demigod Baybayan was looking back at the faraway Earth by way of his godly senses. He noticed the granary that his industrious disciples had filled with rice and did not want the precious food to go to waste.

Selecting a pair of the saliyao bells that lined the Salimbal, Baybayan threw them back to the Earth, transforming them into the very first male and female Maya bird. These birds and their young would feed on the rice in the granary. Since that day Maya birds have fed on rice from Philippine rice fields. (Until 1995 Maya birds were even the National Bird of the Philippines.) Suddenly danger reared its head.   Continue reading →

14 Comments

Filed under Mythology

Tagged as , , , , , , , ,

September 9, 2015 · 10:01 pm

BAYBAYAN: PHILIPPINE EPIC MYTH PART SIX

Balladeer’s Blog continues its examination of this epic myth of the Bukidnon people of the Philippines.

PART SIX

Modern-day view from the top of Mt Palaopao, created by Baybayan in this chapter.

Modern-day view from the top of Mt Palaopao, created by Baybayan in this chapter.

The divine ship called the Salimbal rose ever higher, bearing the demigod Baybayan and his hundreds of surviving followers toward Skyland, the home of the gods.

Eventually the craft entered the realm of the giants, three-eyed man-eating beasts with upturned lips. The giants shook the Salimbal and tried to reach their greedy hands through the windows but the kampilan and balarao swords that hung above those windows as if on hinges came to life and sliced off any hands that were thrust into the divine ship. 

Soon the giants were all left behind, howling in pain because of their amputated hands. From there the Salimbal journeyed on to the realm of the dragons, who emerged from the clouds within which they lived to attack the ship and the pilgrims inside. Continue reading →

2 Comments

Filed under Mythology

Tagged as , , , , , , ,

September 5, 2015 · 3:12 pm

BAYBAYAN: PHILIPPINE EPIC MYTH PART FIVE

Balladeer’s Blog continues its examination of this epic myth of the Bukidnon people of the Philippines.

PART FIVE

Philippines Baybayan 2The massive craft called the Salimbal at last arrived and landed on the mountaintop where Baybayan and his hundreds of surviving followers had gathered. The bells which had signaled its approach were saliyao bells, the same bells worn by Philippine dancers on their ankles and neck. 

Music from the Salimbal filled the air and sprites from the Skyland home of the gods hovered around the ship sent down by the supreme deity Magbabaya. The craft shone even more brightly than the sun itself and could be seen for miles around.

One by one Baybayan invited his disciples to approach the entranceway to the divine craft. Two kampilan swords hung above that doorway and as each of the pilgrims sought entrance to the Salimbal the swords remained motionless for the truly pure of spirit. When any disciples who were judged unfit to reach Skyland tried to enter the craft the kampilans would turn on their hilts like on hinges and slice that would-be passenger in two.   Continue reading →

6 Comments

Filed under Mythology

Tagged as , , , , , , ,

September 2, 2015 · 7:49 pm

BAYBAYAN: PHILIPPINE EPIC MYTH PART FOUR

Balladeer’s Blog continues its examination of this epic myth of the Bukidnon people of the Philippines.

PART FOUR

Philippine IslandsThe demigod Baybayan led his hundreds of followers up the mountain atop which would land the Salimbal – the divine craft sent down from Skyland by the supreme deity Magbabaya. The Earthly realm, in its fundamental evil, made a concentrated effort to lure Baybayan’s followers away from their quest. The impure world sought to prevent as many of the demigod’s followers as possible from reaching the land of the gods.

First all the rocks then the very ground itself turned to gold, to tempt the followers into staying behind to collect the gold and live the comfortable and pleasant life of the wealthy. Some of Baybayan’s disciples yielded to this temptation and stayed behind to accumulate wealth. Vile nature intensified its attack as even the leaves on the trees and the grass turned to gold in order to tempt away a few more of the disciples. Continue reading →

5 Comments

Filed under Mythology

Tagged as , , , , , , , ,