Monday, December 1, 2008
- Vikings: norway, Finland, Sweden; pre-christianity=pagan, heathens; cold harsh climates, sea culture; pessimists/fatalists
- Ginnungagap: dark void
- Nifleheim: land of fog and ice.
- Muspellheim: land of fire.
- Yggdrasil: world ash tree (the universe) has three worlds or different sections to it.
- Asgard: home of the gods; very top of the tree.
- Midgard: middle section where the humans lived.
- Hel: home of the dead.
- Bifrost Bridge: known as the divine bridge it connects the humans to the gods; often depicted as being a rainbow.
- Ymir: frost giant who was wild, fierce, and evil. He was the one that was killed or sacrificed and his body parts became the different parts of the earth.
- Odin: oldest and greatest god. God of gods and humans. Valhalla- Great hall. He is like Zeus and Jupiter.
- Frigg: Odins wife, cloud spinner, most beautiful, Domains= love, destiny and marriage. Is like Hera and Juno.
- The Valkyries: Daughters of Odin, "Choosers of Slain."
- The Norns: Fate maidens, Urd-past, Verdandi-present, Skuld-future
- Thor: The Warrior Son; Strongest son of Odin. Domains= thunder, battle, and fertility. Fierce temper. Mjollnir is his hammer. Chariot pulled by goats.
- Balder: Beloved son. God of radiance, rebirth, justice, and light. Beautiful. Killed by Loki.
- Njord: Domains= wind and sea. Patron of sailors. Resemblance of Poseidon and Neptune.
- Frey: God of Fertility, Prosperity, Sun and rain. (Apollo)
- Freya: Goddess of Love, Fertility, Beauty, magic, War, and death.
- Idunn: Odins daughter-in-law. Goddess of youth. Keeper of the golden apples (youth)
- Loki: Son of Giants. Half blood god: mixed blood with Odin, magic powers. Trickster: cunning and deceitful, many disguises. Evil.
- Fenrir: child of Loki. "The Wolf Destroyer."
- Jormungandr: World Serpent. Child of Loki.
- Ragnarok: Final Battle. Loki and his children vs. the Gods of Asgard, humans. Good will fail.
- Runes: symbols engraved in peices of wood or rock. Used to answer questions about ones journey or life.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Demeter and Persephone
Peoples’ perspectives on events and things, or this case characters or symbols in a mythological story, range from a variety of ideas. From reading other peoples views on things you can learn new things and see things in a different light. In this assignment, using the myth we chose we had to break down the three interpretations of three characters or symbols in the myth. The natural interpretation of the characters is how they are in the myth naturally, like who, why, what, where, and when. Then the social part is the part where we tell how the characters relate to us as a family or community and the psychological part is how we can relate to them or how they are emotionally. Everyone’s perspectives may be different, but all in all in the end they should relate or be somewhat the same. The myth I chose was the myth about Demeter losing her daughter, Persephone, to Hades, who steals her to be his wife.
There is Demeter, who naturally is a mother who loses her daughter, Persephone, to Hades, who steals her. Now on a social level, Demeter is like any mom who has a daughter. She is also kind of the backbone and/or structure to the family. But when tragedy strikes everything changes. So, psychologically after Persephone is lost, she is in grief and suffering; she becomes depressed.
Then we have Persephone, who is daughter of Demeter and she is stolen or kidnapped by Hades who wants her as his wife. After a while she eats a pomegranate seed, which is like her accepting her fate of being with Hades. Then every spring she is able to come back home and she brings with her life, and makes everything come alive and when she goes back down everything dies. That is like the seasons. When she is up it is spring through fall and everything is green and lush, but then it becomes winter and all the plants lose everything when she goes back down. That is her natural state.
On her social state she is a youthful daughter, unmarried and a virgin. At the same time on a different level she could be a girlfriend who is in love, which could change how others see the myth as it goes on. And she is stolen or kidnapped to become a young bride or in the case where she is a love struck girlfriend she could have gone willingly, except the fact that they say she was stolen could relate to being forced into a marriage or relationship which would account for the mother grieving as well.
Psychologically she is lost and confused and, maybe even though she was kidnapped, might grow to be in love. Along with that after she is stolen and married possibly, then when she comes back people know she is soiled, dirty or been deflowered. And then she is unwanted by any other person and may see herself as the guilty one and be afraid of everyone being ashamed of her.
Hades naturally is god of underworld and has stolen Persephone from her mother, Demeter, and made her his wife. He gives her a pomegranate seed that she eats as if accepting her fate to be his and stay with him. Socially, he is pretty bad because he is seen as a rapist, a kidnapper, thief and stranger. On the other side he can be unknown to the naked eye. For all we know he could be a lover, boyfriend, and husband and not bad especially if you think about his psychological side. Lonely, yes. Creepy, at first, but you can look deep and maybe find a loving and caring side of him that people may not portray because he is seen as God of the Dead, which really doesn’t sound like the person with that job would be all that great of a character.
So there are a few of the main characters of this myth. With Demeter and Persephone there could be a few more other ways of relating them to us. But when it comes to Hades someone could lose themselves in so many ways of depicting him. And reading the diverse way others do would open your eyes to new ways of seeing the myth.
There is Demeter, who naturally is a mother who loses her daughter, Persephone, to Hades, who steals her. Now on a social level, Demeter is like any mom who has a daughter. She is also kind of the backbone and/or structure to the family. But when tragedy strikes everything changes. So, psychologically after Persephone is lost, she is in grief and suffering; she becomes depressed.
Then we have Persephone, who is daughter of Demeter and she is stolen or kidnapped by Hades who wants her as his wife. After a while she eats a pomegranate seed, which is like her accepting her fate of being with Hades. Then every spring she is able to come back home and she brings with her life, and makes everything come alive and when she goes back down everything dies. That is like the seasons. When she is up it is spring through fall and everything is green and lush, but then it becomes winter and all the plants lose everything when she goes back down. That is her natural state.
On her social state she is a youthful daughter, unmarried and a virgin. At the same time on a different level she could be a girlfriend who is in love, which could change how others see the myth as it goes on. And she is stolen or kidnapped to become a young bride or in the case where she is a love struck girlfriend she could have gone willingly, except the fact that they say she was stolen could relate to being forced into a marriage or relationship which would account for the mother grieving as well.
Psychologically she is lost and confused and, maybe even though she was kidnapped, might grow to be in love. Along with that after she is stolen and married possibly, then when she comes back people know she is soiled, dirty or been deflowered. And then she is unwanted by any other person and may see herself as the guilty one and be afraid of everyone being ashamed of her.
Hades naturally is god of underworld and has stolen Persephone from her mother, Demeter, and made her his wife. He gives her a pomegranate seed that she eats as if accepting her fate to be his and stay with him. Socially, he is pretty bad because he is seen as a rapist, a kidnapper, thief and stranger. On the other side he can be unknown to the naked eye. For all we know he could be a lover, boyfriend, and husband and not bad especially if you think about his psychological side. Lonely, yes. Creepy, at first, but you can look deep and maybe find a loving and caring side of him that people may not portray because he is seen as God of the Dead, which really doesn’t sound like the person with that job would be all that great of a character.
So there are a few of the main characters of this myth. With Demeter and Persephone there could be a few more other ways of relating them to us. But when it comes to Hades someone could lose themselves in so many ways of depicting him. And reading the diverse way others do would open your eyes to new ways of seeing the myth.
A myth is a societies belief of occurrences in the past or present that cannot be proven. They may also be religious tales or moral stories. An example of a myth is the creation of earth and the heavens that they cannot prove exactly how it was created but they have different beliefs that it comes from an egg being split.
A hero is the founder of something new like a new age, city or way of life. Heroes are depicted as being imperfect, unique, and in a sense are somewhat human. Hercules is an example of a hero.
On a hero journey a hero is being sent on a journey that has trials, battles, and obstacles in it. There are stages in a heroes journey that involve his or her call to adventure, their initiation into another world, companions and friends along for support and advice. They also have a supernatural guide to turn to, and then at the end there is an ultimate battle that is followed by a transformation of some sort, a death and rebirth, and then a boon. For example Hercules 12 trials is a hero journey.
For something to be universal it has to be representative to everyone or be known worldwide. The thought of entertainment is universal because everyone has there way of being entertained.
An archetype is a structure of foundation or the original model. There are three archetypes of a hero and they are cultural, trickster, and human. There are also three archetypes of creation and they are a watery abyss, void, and egg.
To be cyclical means something runs in a continuous pattern or in a cycle. The Sun God Ra was cyclical he had a continuous pattern that he followed every day and night.
Duality is the quality of opposites existing in a whole. Like everything has its pros and cons. For example, love, when you are in love you feel great and alive and that nothing could go wrong but love can also hurt when you have a broken heart.
Creation is the start or the beginning or origin. In most myths the beginning is sometimes portrayed as a dark, watery abyss or an egg that splits in two and the top and bottom form the heavens and the earth.
Cosmology is the study of the world or universe.
Life from death means that when one thing dies something else is born or given life. A modern example is when a mother dies in childbirth and her baby lives or a mythological example is when one god dies or is sacrificed his or her parts are sectioned off to create other beings.
Matriarchal is the foundation of female power or mother rules. An example of mother rule is with the mother earth.
Patriarchal is the foundation of male power or father rules. An example of father rule is father sky.
A sacrifice can be a tribute to a god or giving something up for the greater good. For example if you go without eating high sugar foods so that you don’t die.
A hero is the founder of something new like a new age, city or way of life. Heroes are depicted as being imperfect, unique, and in a sense are somewhat human. Hercules is an example of a hero.
On a hero journey a hero is being sent on a journey that has trials, battles, and obstacles in it. There are stages in a heroes journey that involve his or her call to adventure, their initiation into another world, companions and friends along for support and advice. They also have a supernatural guide to turn to, and then at the end there is an ultimate battle that is followed by a transformation of some sort, a death and rebirth, and then a boon. For example Hercules 12 trials is a hero journey.
For something to be universal it has to be representative to everyone or be known worldwide. The thought of entertainment is universal because everyone has there way of being entertained.
An archetype is a structure of foundation or the original model. There are three archetypes of a hero and they are cultural, trickster, and human. There are also three archetypes of creation and they are a watery abyss, void, and egg.
To be cyclical means something runs in a continuous pattern or in a cycle. The Sun God Ra was cyclical he had a continuous pattern that he followed every day and night.
Duality is the quality of opposites existing in a whole. Like everything has its pros and cons. For example, love, when you are in love you feel great and alive and that nothing could go wrong but love can also hurt when you have a broken heart.
Creation is the start or the beginning or origin. In most myths the beginning is sometimes portrayed as a dark, watery abyss or an egg that splits in two and the top and bottom form the heavens and the earth.
Cosmology is the study of the world or universe.
Life from death means that when one thing dies something else is born or given life. A modern example is when a mother dies in childbirth and her baby lives or a mythological example is when one god dies or is sacrificed his or her parts are sectioned off to create other beings.
Matriarchal is the foundation of female power or mother rules. An example of mother rule is with the mother earth.
Patriarchal is the foundation of male power or father rules. An example of father rule is father sky.
A sacrifice can be a tribute to a god or giving something up for the greater good. For example if you go without eating high sugar foods so that you don’t die.
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