Stop. (War) Hammer time!

That lovely pun was brought to you by our friends MC Hammer and Thor (whose iconic hammer Mjǫlnir lends itself well to such jokes). The pun is obviously the best introduction I can drum up for the Norse myth you're about to read, enjoy:

The Goddess Vakker

     In the halls of Asgard, there lived many gods and goddesses, but none quite so beautiful as Vakker. No matter where she went, gods and goddesses alike could not help but stare. She grew comfortable with this life, and thoroughly enjoyed each day she lived. That is, until one day. The notorious trickster god Loki had gazed upon her beauty, and fell in love. He asked her immediately for her hand in marriage, but, not interested, she denied him. His heart broken, Loki craved revenge, as he is wont to do.

     Contemplating how to best exact his revenge, Loki realized that his typical route (public shame and slander) would simply not work in this situation, as all of Asgard was too taken by her beauty to listen to such drivel. He decided to do something far more drastic. Having honed his forging skills many years ago, he made Vakker a beautiful amulet. The next time he saw her, he gave her the jewel as a gift, apologizing for his advance towards her. Assuring him that it was quite alright and thanking him for his gift, Vakker excitedly put on the amulet.

     As she walked Asgard, however, she noticed that she was no longer getting looked at by passers by. Distressed, she ran to the nearest reflective surface, a pond. Upon gazing at her reflection, she found herself hideous. She let out a scream as she attempted to remove the amulet which had fused itself to her skin. Her attempt was unsuccessful, and she soon found herself running to find Odin, for no one else could keep Loki in line.

     After hearing the actions of Loki, Odin was infuriated, and immediately called him to back to Asgard to force him to remove the amulet. Odin had succeeded in summoning Loki, but received resistance from the tricky god about the amulet's removal. Angry at the lack of respect for himself and Vakker, Odin locked Loki up and called the finest smiths he could find. Despite all their efforts, none of them could successfully remove the amulet. Odin then called warlocks, in attempts to remove the curse from the amulet, again with no avail. Finally, completely upset at the thorough waste of his time, he brought Loki into his chambers once again. With no patience for Loki's tricks, Odin hung him from a rope, and tied Thor's mighty hammer Mjǫlnir to his feet. Being incredibly heavy, Mjǫlnir pulled down on Loki, stretching him and causing him much pain.

     Finally, after what seemed to him an eternity, Loki told Odin how to remove the amulet, which Odin then did. Upon its removal, Vakker was beautiful once again and satisfied with her justice. Odin, however, had had enough of Loki's tricks and decided to teach him a lesson, casting him down to the earth, where the first thing he did was start a war: Ragnarok.

Chinese Myth- Let's Do It!

Happy Memorial/Myth day! Today you'll get your hands on both my Chinese and Norse myths. Sounds yummy, right? Waaay better than a barbecue. Anyways, here's my Chinese myth:

The Young Lizard and His Foolishness

     Many years ago, deep within the Sichuan province, there lived an eager young lizard. He was brought up to be caring and trusting, but had received little education, and was very gullible. It was the Lizard's belief that it would be in no one's interest to hurt him, because he was merely a simple lizard, someone without consequence. This philosophy to trust in others had so far done him well as he explored the land around him, receiving help from those kind enough to offer it.

     One day, as he ventured around the forest, he met a great dragon. The dragon greeted him warmly and offered to let him stay in his palace for the night. Being very excited and never having met a dragon before, the Lizard responded with a resounding yes. Upon arriving at the dragon's home, the Lizard saw many young lizards, like himself, working to cultivate the dragon's land. As the dragon showed the Lizard the inside of his home, there were others, cleaning the palace and working in the kitchen. Becoming curious about the dragon's house staff, the Lizard asked the dragon, “Why is it that you have so many lizards working on your estate?”. The dragon replied, “With much hard work, young lizards like yourself can become mighty dragons, like me!”.

     Never having heard this before, the young Lizard jumped with joy at the thought, for it had been his life's goal to be a strong and mighty dragon. “How can I become a mighty dragon?”. “It is simple” the dragon replied, “you just sign a paper, stating your desire to become a dragon and work on my estate for a few months”. The Lizard again jumped in excitement, as the dragon drew up the papers. “All I have to do is sign? Should I read the part above my signature?” the Lizard asked. “No, no. That is not important.” stated the dragon dismissively.

     With that, the Lizard signed and sealed his fate. The effects were immediately noticeable. The Lizard was no longer able to jump, bound to the floor by magic. “What happened? You didn't tell me I could no longer jump!” “You didn't ask” the dragon sneered. What the young Lizard did not know was that he signed his life away, promising to work away on the dragon's estate until his death. The foolish trust the Lizard placed in the dragon cost him his freedom, and instead of exploring the country, like he had set out to do, the Lizard worked all day, eagerly anticipating the day he would become mighty.

As Promised (I know you were excited)!

Here it is, my brief African myth. If you were present in Endicott's 3rd hour during the Feast of the New Yams, you may have heard it already, but here it is written:

The Origin of Palm Wine



     At the beginning of times, there lived a lonely palm tree named Egwebe. As of yet, he had no brethren and spent his days and nights alone. Frustrated with his loneliness, he left his home in search of other trees to talk to. After walking a long distance he met a young sugar tree named Adeola. She waved at him in the wind and he instantly fell in love. They lived happy lives and came to make young seedlings together. Their existence carried on this way for some time, raising seedlings and sending them across the countryside on their own journeys. One day, however, a strange man came around and violated their home, chopping down Adeola.

     Filled with sorrow and longing, Egwebe struggled to hold back tears from his children, instead allowing himself to become full of them. Just as normalcy seemed to return once again to Egwebe and his children, the same strange man returned again and began to chop down Egwebe. But as he chopped, he saw something. He stopped himself and examined the gashed bark. there was a sap the man noticed; they were Egwebe's tears. Feeling their father's death, all of Egwebe's seedlings also filled with tears. The man felt their sorrow, but enjoyed the taste of their tears. He then developed a humane way to tap palm tears and told all of his tribesmen of this method. A tradition was born.

• •  

Ah, the end of AP Testing

Finally, we arrive at the best part of the season: the end of AP testing and subsequent rushed blog posts. Congratulations on making it this far with me (the only one of you I can assume has made it this far is Endicott, so I congratulate you, sir). From here on out, you'll be receiving quick updates and will later this evening, get to finally read my African myth, huzzah!

After that, we've got a Norse myth and a Chinese myth lined up for you (once I, you know, write them).

FUN FACT: Did you know that the Maya and the Aztec people shared mythological beings? A prime example is the god Quetzalcoatl, who's name literally meant "feathered serpent". The name contains the prefix "quetzal" which is a type of bird in Latin America. The quetzal is so important to the Guatemalans that their currency is called a "quetzal" and contains pictures of the bird (as seen in the image below).

Looking forward to updating for you guys in an hour or so.

Reading "Things Fall Apart" is Rather Inspiring...

As the majority of you know (because the majority of you are likely Endicott), we're reading Things Fall Apart right now in AP 12. I can't help but find it very relevant to the research I'm currently doing on the subject of African mythologies. A lot of the Proverbs they cite in the dialog are actually the very type of thing I'm studying (the turtle whose shell gets broken when he fell from the sky is a perfect example). In addition to those, the gods and goddesses they worship are also points of interest for me. This is exactly the kind of thing I needed to get me fired up about this project once again.

Mythy fun fact: The god that Akunna and Mr. Brown discuss, Chukwu, is also called Chuku or Chineke, and he is the "first great cause" "or creator" for the Ibo people (the tribe Achebe writes about). They often offer him sacrifices in groves in hopes that he will extend his power of goodness to them by offering them help

Fun fact #2: Ani, the goddess of earth that the Ibo often worshiped in Things Fall Apart, is actually often called Ala and is the earth goddess of fertility, and is said to make the seed in women's wombs grow. She also ruled over the Underworld and as the bodies of the Ancestors became one with her (by being buried in the soil), the their souls entered the Underworld, and stayed under her rule.

Hopefully more to report back later, and as always, thanks for reading,
Allie

All Caught Up, and Things are Going to Happen!

It's an exciting day for me, as I realize that third quarter has come to a close and I am now all caught up on work that I've missed because of my Acdec trip. This means that things are really going to get going in terms of my project! Research and drafts are in the works. In the mean time, some fun facts about Egyptians!

Did you know that, according to Egyptian religion, only the ocean existed at first, until Ra, the sun God, rose out of an egg which appeared on the surface of the water?

He was also depicted with the head of a hawk, because of its quick flight across the sky.

The more you know.

So, Some Big Stuff Happened this Week

Instead of working on my project like a diligent student, I instead, competed in the Academic Decathlon State Competition! With little to report in terms of myths, here's how we did: 3rd in Super Quiz Relay, 1st in our Division, 3rd in the State! Morgan won six medals (excluding the ones we all won as a team), Rhianna won two, and so did Rachel. All in all a very good turnout. Not to mention the fact that we, as a team, have been asked to participate in Nationals online! This means that I will STILL be putting a little less work into everything than I should, but it's worth it. Any worthwhile mythy information will be unlikely to be coming very soon. So I guess that's the update.