Posted by invizweb on January 4, 2009
(C) BBC via TV Guide
TV Guide and BBC News report that the new Dr. Who has been named. And, as expected, it’s . . . wait, who is this guy? Twenty-six year old Matt Smith becomes the youngest of the 11 Doctors when his episodes begin to air in 2010.
Smith starts filming during the summer. Present Doctor, the very popular David Tennant, will appear in four specials that will run throughout the year before Smith assumes the role on-screen.
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Posted in Current Events, Internet, Mythology | Tagged: David Tennant, Doctor Who, Matt Smith, The Doctor | No Comments »
Posted by invizweb on January 1, 2009
Thanks to Rich Tate of GeorgiaWrestlingHistory.com. Catch my good friends Ric Gillespie of The Canvas Chronicle and Casey Trowbridge of Combat-Hooligans podcasting for that site every Sunday starting this January.
Effective midnight tonight, those with Time Warner Cable systems will no longer have access to Viacom networks, which includes SpikeTV, the home for Total Nonstop Action’s iMPACT. Apparently a deal between the two companies, which has been negotiated over several months but recently stalled, could not be reached. Among the other networks that will be lost to TWC customers are the various channels from MTV, VH-1, Nickelodeon, as well as Comedy Central, CMT, and TV Land.
Update: The channels are staying on the air. See this report on the Wrestling Observer.
Posted in Combat Sports, Current Events, New York, Podcasts, Pro Wrestling | Tagged: Viacom, Combat Hooligans, Ric Gillespie, Casey Trowbridge, Time Warner Cable | No Comments »
Posted by invizweb on December 31, 2008
In the Chitral district of Pakistan, overshadowed by the Hindu Kush mountain range, live the Kalash. Kalash’s polytheistic indigenous religion is the one of the last of the original Indo-European religions. Although it is related to the other two survivors, Hinduism (which some would call a misnomer as its various branches traditionally thought themselves to be separate from the rest) and Zoroastrianism, this religion has its distinct Gods, tales, rites, and rituals. The Kalasha religion has only approximately3,000 adherents left in the world .
(C) Rosetta Kureshi on Flickr
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Posted in Geopolitics, Mythology, Philosophy & Religion & Spirituality | Tagged: Winter Solstice, Balumain, Dezao, Kalash, Chitral, Pakistan, Chaomos | No Comments »
Posted by invizweb on December 29, 2008
A falcon in Queens
WARNING: The following story is explicit for real. Some communities may consider it lascivious. Do not blame me; blame the Egyptian scribes who originally transcribed the story in the Papyrus Chester-Beatty, and the two translators (alright Chester-Beatty was one guy; seriously, why was the hyphen used when it was both surnames of one man who did not use it officially)?
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Posted in Mythology, Neo Paganism, Philosophy & Religion & Spirituality | Tagged: Horus, Osiris, Set | No Comments »
Posted by invizweb on December 28, 2008
(C) Wikimedia Commons
” There were beautiful Perchten with colorful clothes and glittering ornaments, and the Schiachperchten - bold forms, ghostly apparitions with masks of wood or bark, enveloped in furs, moss, lichen…demons represented by the inhabitants. ” (Michael Moynihan and Kadmon, Lords of Chaos New Edition, “Oskoriei,” 382)
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Posted in Mythology, Neo Paganism, Philosophy & Religion & Spirituality, Urban Legends | Tagged: Christmas, Winter Solstice, Perchta, Bertha, Perchten, Holda | No Comments »
Posted by invizweb on December 25, 2008
With 86% of Americans having a belief in Santa Klaus until age 8 (AP-AOL, 2006), Jolly Saint Nick is perhaps one of the most recognizable figures in the USA. The story goes that from the North Pole, Santa emerges from his House each year to dispense gifts to children who are obedient to their parents each year. His house according to North American lore is located in the North Pole, where he lives with his wife “Mrs. Klaus.” In workshop hidden from the world, meek elves in his employ make toys and other presents to the believing, which are delivered to Jolly Old Sat Nick some time before Christmas. When Christmas Eve arrives, Santa and his team of eight reindeer fly across the world. Santa enters home through chimneys and eats cookies left by children.
As written in the past few days, this tradition is not universal; i.e. reindeer do not live in the North Pole, factually, so many European traditions locate the Reindeer of Santa in Lapland, Finland. Originally, the figure celebrated for bringing holiday cheer for the British whom would colonize the US, was traditionally Father Christmas, whose origin was the 17th Century when The Protestant ban on Christmas feasts was lifted. He was a man draped regally as if he was royalty. The modern interpretation of Santa Klaus, a large jolly man full of spirit was only popularized in the mid 19th Century, but was iconized by the drawings of former Playboy illustrator Haddon “Sunny” Sundblom as ads for the Coca Cola Company in the 1930s. This was after Father Christmas and the legendary Bishop of Lycia, Turkey, Saint Nicholas of Myra were syncretized. Nicholas was a holy man reputed to have resurrected three children butchered and paid for the dowry of three women, thus preventing them from entering a life of slavery.
Knight Rupert, or Knecht Ruprecht, as he was named originally in German folklore, protects Santa Klaus with staves. He also uses his rod to discipline “misbehaving children.” Contrasting with Santa, Rupert wars dark colored clothes and has generally uncouth hair and facial hair. Due to his strong resemblance to Odin, he is believed to be a modernization of the Highfather so much to the extent that the NAZIs attempted to replace Santa with Rupert believing him to be a corrupted form of the ancient deity. In some traditions, Rupert and Santa have been merged (something like the fusions in Dragon Ball Z and the combining in Transformers I guess) into one entity: Ru Klaus (Eng: Rough Nicholas), who is both the giver of gifts and the dispenser of punishment. Knight Rupert is also linked with Saint Rupert in Switzerland.
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Posted in Magic(k), Mythology, Philosophy & Religion & Spirituality, Urban Legends | Tagged: Belsnickel, Doctor Who, Knight Rupert, Odin, Santa Claus | No Comments »
Posted by invizweb on December 25, 2008
There is a story about a woman. On one night each year she goes searching for her lost child. Sounds like La Llarona? It isn’t. It is the tradition gift giver of rural Italian winter holiday celebrations: La Befana. La Befana is described as a frightening crone whom “is as kind as she is ugly.” She wears a scarf and has a large mole on her nose. On Epiphany, January 6th, in Urbania (of Central Italy) and other towns in Southern Italy, she flies into homes on her broom stick (through keyholes where there are no chimneys) giving “good” children a “bag of goodies,” which include but is not limited to candy. She also gives children coal (and perhaps a bop with her broom). In return, families leave her a stocking filled with fruit (oranges, again?) and a glass of vino.
The name La Befana first appeared in a poem in 1594. Legends of La Befana place the woman to the Biblical Era. In one tale, the three magi who were searching for the soon-to-be born Jesus receive shelter and food from her when she cannot provide directions to Bethlehem, or her accompaniment on the journey due to the need of sweeping. She realizes her mistake too late, and thus wanders the world searching for Jesus to this day. In another variation she continually searches for Jesus due to sadness in losing her own child. Yet in another version, she is a widowed Princess who retreats to the wilderness and becomes a witch. In this telling, Jesus searches and finds her and offers her the role of “the Mother of All Children,” which she accepts.
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Posted in Mythology, Neo Paganism, Urban Legends | Tagged: Christmas, Strenia, Strenua, La Befana, Epiphany | No Comments »
Posted by invizweb on December 24, 2008
The Santa Klaus’ most renowned companions are the reindeer who make up his team. This was not always the case as the official animal mascot of the Winter Solstice in most of the Euro-Western world was the Yule Goat. Originally two goat whom were named Tanngrisnir and Tanngnjostr were the mounts of Thunder God, Thor and his hammer Mjonir. It is theorized that these two are the origins of the Yule Goat (note I do not claim Santa is Thor). The function of the goat is to signify the coming feast when a goat (suprise~!) would be sacrificed to diners via roasting. The iconography of the goat lost its prominence since supposedly the tradition of men dressed as a goat for the Yule celebration, knocking on doors to sing carols, spooked small children. Thus the goat is mostly an ornament or a straw effigy to be burned nowadays.
And he whistled, and shouted, and call’d them by name:
“Now! Dasher, now! Dancer, now! Prancer and Vixen,
“On! Comet, on! Cupid, on! Dunder and Blixem;
“To the top of the porch! To the top of the wall!
“Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!”
excerpt from “A Visit from Santa Klaus (aka, Twas the Night Before Christmas),” Anonymous (1823)
The above poem marked the rise in the reindeer as Santa’s steed of choice in popular culture. As stated yesterday, as there are no reindeer to be found in the North Pole, in Europe, many traditions hold that Santa’s reindeer reside in Lapland, Finland. In Australia, the traditional story is that Santa unreins the reindeer for a team of kangaroo as reindeer would overheat in sub equatorial running.
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Posted in Comics/ Graphical Prose, Neo Paganism, Philosophy & Religion & Spirituality, Urban Legends | Tagged: Chopper, Christmas, reindeer, Rudolph, Yule, Yuletide Goat | No Comments »
Posted by invizweb on December 23, 2008
There are legends of a man long ago who lead lost children into his meat shop in France. Even though it is not explicitly stated in all versions of the tale, it needn’t be said of how these kids ended up the Christmas dinner of Pere Fouettard.
In one modern version of the story, Fouettard and his wife lead three children they believed to be rich enrollments to the local seminary into their shop where the boys were drugged, had their throats slit, stripped naked, put in the camel clutch (OK I made that part up), seasoned, and stewed. The wife would soon answer a knocking on the door which revealed itself to be the workings of Father Christmas. Enraged, he resurrected the three lads whole, and chained the Butcher. Hence that day Pere Fouettard was a servant to Papa Noel, and became analogous to the Boogeyman in France.
In a Medieval variation to the story the three kids were hungry, poverty-stricken, and lost in a field until they were attracted by the single Pere’s house lights. In this version, he cooked them because pork meat was scarce and in demand (whereas he and his wife were cannibals in the other version). Apparently this version took place recently after Saint Nicholas’ death as he was scared shitless when the old man forced his way into his home shortly after the kids were salted and thrown into the brine. After resurrecting the three whole in this version, Pere Fouettard throws himself at Santa for repentance, which the Jolly One offered as “God allows all to redeem themselves.” From that point on, he assisted Santa in dispensing spankings to the “weak of spirit.”
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Posted in Philosophy & Religion & Spirituality, Urban Legends | Tagged: Christmas, Father Whip, Pere Fouettard, Santa Klaus | No Comments »
Posted by invizweb on December 22, 2008
Since the 19th Century, there has been a tradition that elves are little people that work for Santa Klaus (or some mass production food companies) who live inside trees. Those who are familiar with folklore and fantasy know that is not the always case; in fact, when Lord Dunsany wrote his celebrated, The King of Elfland’s Daughter, the first modern tale which elves appear, they still live in the legendary Alfheim (of Norse Heathenism, albeit with an Anglicized name), and they are tall enough and capable of mating with humans. Tolkien, however, would be the one to bring elves into their current level of popularity with The Hobbit (1937), followed by his Lord of the Rings Trilogy.
One of the antecedents of pint sized elfs was the short story, “The Elf of the Rose,” of fabled storyteller Hans Christian Andersen. In this tale, the namesake elf was in fact the size of a blooming rose and had wings. In 1933, Snap, Crackle, and Pop made their debuts for Kellog’s Rice Crispies ads. They were however, originally identified as gnomes. Note the spellings used in this paragraph; elf aficionados have made a case that the original regular sized are elves, whereas the smaller ones are the “elfish” of the “Elfen race.” The guys clad in green who assist Santa in making (or in some stories, importing) are Elfen. In some traditions, they also works on logistics year round for the Saint’s one-day journey circumnavigating the globe. According to some folklorists including noted archivist of Scandanavian stories, Viktor Rydberg, they are headquartered somewhere between the Arctic and Lapland, as their are no reindeer for Santa to ride at the Pole itself (more on this at another date), in a secret, may be even camouflaged, village.
The first mention of elves historically is in Norse tales perhaps dating back before the Aesir and Vanir House of Norse Gods. The Light Elves were said to be tall, eternally youthful, and fairer than even Nordic peoples. They lived in heavenly Alfheim. Their cousins, the Dark Elves, however, live in the bowels of the Earth similar to Dwarves. The last known monarch of the elves was Gandalf, who like his counterpart in Middle Earth, wielded a magic wand to protect his kin. Humans and Elves can have kids together with the most famous being the Half-Elf sorceress princess of Norse legends, Skuld, being the most notable. Elves similar to other preChristian entities were later demonized and thus the term “Little People” today. They were believed to cause mischief such as replacing human children with their own (though Changelings were more famous for this) to improve their bloodlines. Modern day philosophers of the metaphysics such as Robert Anton Wilson, note the similarities between alien abductions and the “spiriting away” attributed to “fairy mounds.” Wilson in fact, classified Mr. Spock, “the little green man” of Star Trek as being of the same archetype as Elves.
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Posted in Civil Liberties and Social Justice, Magic(k), Neo Paganism, Philosophy & Religion & Spirituality | Tagged: elves, Iceland, Robert Anton Wilson | No Comments »
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