"F" is for Folklore (Mythological Creatures) - A to Z 2024

 

An Idiot's Guide to Randomness.

I know! I'm a bit "all over the place" currently. My goal was to post daily, starting with A and ending with Z. IN ORDER! That hasn't worked out. I will catch up but in the meantime, I'll be jumping out of order to do so.

The random word generator is throwing me some doozies.

"Cosmic terror appears as an ingredient of the earliest folklore of all races and is crystallized in the most archaic ballads, chronicles and sacred writings." H.P. Lovecraft

Not long ago, I volunteered to assist Shannon Lawrence in publicizing her new work entitled, Myth Stalker: Wendigo Nights (Hit the link, buy the book. Yay! Free pub!) and for my entry, I was asked to share a post concerning a cryptid or a figure of mythological folklore (I chose Mothman) and while researching the topic, I found myself becoming more interested in others that I had heard of but was not familiar with. Here are two.

Folklore, as defined by Marriam Webster is as follows:

1. Traditional customs, sayings, tales, dances, or art forms preserved among a people. 2. An often unsupported notion, story or saying that is widely circulated.

There are three main genres of folklore, material folklore (physical objects), verbal folklore (common sayings, expressions, stories and songs) and customary folklore (beliefs and the way of doing things).

Folklore is a broad topic, with several examples from a plethora of cultures, which have their own unique twist on the stories of the past, but what I found common in most is that they all have tales of mythological creatures, cryptids and gods.

The Wendigo (Of course I started here)

The Wendigo originated in Algonquin folklore and is said to be a malevolent spirit that possesses human beings, filling them with an insatiable hunger, driving them to eat other humans. Being possessed by a Wendigo indwells the unfortunate soul with a propensity to commit murder.

Basil H. Johnston described the Wendigo as such:

"The Wendigo was gaunt to the point of emaciation, its desiccated skin pulled tightly over its bones. With its bones pushing out against its skin, its complexion the ash-gray of death, and its eyes pushed back deep into their sockets, the Wendigo looked like a gaunt skeleton recently disinterred from the grave. What lips it had were tattered and bloody. Unclean and suffering from suppuration of the flesh, the Wendigo gave off a strange and eerie odor of decay and decomposition, of death and corruption."

Charming fellow, if I say so myself!

The Phoenix

The Phoenix is an immortal bird that cyclically regenerates, or is born again by rising from the ashes of it's predecessor. It has ties to several mythologies (Greek, Persian and Egyptian, too name a few) and it's origin is heavily debated. Today, the Phoenix signifies rebirth or the beginning of a new life. Being one that enjoys written work and poetry, I found the excerpt below interesting: (Precepts of Chiron, attributed to the Greek poet, Hesiod)

"A chattering crow lives now nine generations of aged men, but a stag's life is four time a crow's, and a raven's life makes three stags old, while the phoenix outlives nine ravens, but we, the rich haired Nymphs daughters of Zeus the aegis holder, outlive ten phoenixes." (I guess, if your in to math, would equal a lifetime of 972 times the span of a humans.)

Who's a pretty bird?

The myth of these creatures is entertaining, if nothing else. If you find that you are interested in mythology and cryptids, you should check out Wikipedia's link on the subject.

Creedence Clearwater Revival - Bad Moon Rising (Cuz, American Werewolf In London. Duh!)