Intro to Chinese Mythology

I hope everyone had a happy Lunar NewYear!  I certainly did - I've been playing a ton of Overwatch's holiday event, and I got to test out For Honor.  In keeping with the holiday, today we're going to begin a series on Chinese mythology. Without further ado, let's start the Intro!

Chinese mythology has a very large number of deities. These deities have a hierarchy, with one god – the Jade Emperor – at the top, and everyone else falling into various ranks of importance beneath him. Within this hierarchy there are also smaller divisions of gods. For instance, the gods of the storm – lightning, thunder, etc. – form their own cabinet of sorts, with varying ranks of importance.

Because China is so large, and there are so many dialect variations, the gods have been called by numerous names throughout time. There are a lot of spelling variations, but I'll do my best to go with the most commonly used name.

Within Chinese mythology there exists an elixir that grants immortality, made with peaches grown by a goddess. This elixir has allowed several beings who were not originally gods to attain immortality. Perhaps the best known of these beings is the Monkey King. Originally a regular monkey, he was able to steal some of the elixir and gain eternal life – much to the dismay of much of the pantheon! He went on to have many adventures; some of them helped the gods, while others must have caused the deity version of a facepalm.

 

(My favorite representation of the Monkey King is from the movie The Forbidden Kingdom. I grew up watching a lot of Jet Li's older, more serious action movies – so to see him smiling and laughing was really strange for me! The movie is a gorgeous portrayal of Chinese mythology; plus, Jackie Chan and Jet Li!!! I'd recommend giving it a watch if you haven't.)

 

Outside of the gods, two other sorts of inhuman beings are commonly found in Chinese mythology.

 

Shapeshifters make frequent appearances. There are foxes who can turn themselves into human form, much like the kitsune of Japanese mythology. Heavenly maidens (beautiful celestial young girls) turn themselves into cranes as easily as slipping on a robe (literally). Some of these beings are benevolent and aid mankind, while others seek their own benefits.

Spirits of one sort or another are also common. They can take many forms, and serve many functions.  They're similar to shapeshifters in that they can also assume human form, in addition to whatever their natural form might be.  Rivers and other bodies of water are associated with dragons in Chinese mythology, who are the spirits of that water.

 

(Haku from Spirited Away is a gorgeous animated example of this.)

 

Much like the shapeshifters, the spirits can be good, self-serving...or evil. There are many folktales about shrines or abandoned houses possessed by dark spirits who terrorize and haunt the surrounding area. Sometimes these spirits are manifestations of animals such as scorpions. I'll cover one such tale in a couple of weeks.

 

There are three themes which are exceptionally prevalent throughout Chinese mythology. They are as follows:

Tales of valor in battle.

Tales of duty to family.

Tales of devotion to the gods.

All three of these traits were considered important in ancient China (and, to some extent, in modern China as well). As such, many myths and folktales reinforced them.

Much like Japanese mythology, the Chinese myths eventually see a significant change – one that occurred when Buddhism entered the country and gained popularity. The Chinese pantheon of gods remains, but is frequently superseded in the stories by Buddha and his devotees. Pious monks become popular characters in stories after the introduction of Buddhism. Characters who follow the noble principles are placed on high pedestals, particularly those who are willing to sacrifice of themselves to help others.

I'm very much looking forward to diving into Chinese mythology with you guys! I hope you've enjoyed this introduction. See you next week with our first story!

Chinese New Year

Greetings, all!

As promised, I've got a special holiday post for you today. It'll be a little shorter than intended, because I've injured my wrist and typing is rather painful at the moment. Still, I'll do my best to give this wonderful festival the post it deserves.

 

This coming Saturday, January 28^th on the Roman calendar, kicks off the beginning of the Chinese New Year. I say the beginning because it's a lunar month's worth of festivities. Preparations for this festival began towards the end of December on what is called the Little New Year. The celebration will conclude this year on February 11^th with the Lantern Festival.

(An important note before I begin – the Lunar New Year is celebrated in a number of countries, including Taiwan, Malaysia, and Tibet. However, since I'm beginning my series of posts on Chinese mythology next week, and since Chinese celebrations of the Lunar New Year are what I'm most familiar with, I'm going to be focusing on that this post.)

Let's start with the Little New Year.

One of the most important deities in China is the Kitchen God. This god is one of the oldest in Chinese mythology, and so has been worshiped under many names. Nearly every house has a shrine to him in their kitchen. He serves a purpose much like the Greek Hestia, for the Kitchen God watches over the family from his hearth, which is regarded as the center of the home. The stove is regarded as the Kitchen God's dwelling.

The Kitchen God has a very special responsibility. Throughout the lunar year he observes the family from his stove. Then, on the night of Little New Year, he travels to heaven to report on the family to the Jade Emperor – the greatest god in China. Offerings are made to the Kitchen God before he goes on his journey. In reality, these offerings are often bribes. Honey and wine are given to him to sweeten his tongue, in the hopes that his words will be kinder than the truth. If a family worries that this may not be enough, more drastic measures are taken. Sticky, gooey foods are offered to the Kitchen God before his departure, which serve to glue his mouth shut. When he is asked by the Jade Emperor how his family has acted throughout the year, all he can do is nod.

Firecrackers are lit off during Little New Year to speed the Kitchen God on his way to heaven. These fireworks are a common theme throughout the Chinese New Year. They are set off during all three stages of the festivity. Part of the reason for this is that fireworks make a lot of noise, and both light and loud noises are supposed to help ward off evil spirits.

There are a lot of traditions in the celebration of the Chinese New Year. I'd like to briefly talk about three:

The Gate Gods are often hung as paintings on the panels of front doors during the Chinese New Year. They are protectors of mankind and are viewed as guardians of the home. These dual gods have many stories revolving around them, but the most popular is as follows. The Gate Gods are said to be two famous Chinese soldiers from the Tang dynasty. During that time period there was an emperor who was plagued by demons during his sleep. Hearing of this, two brave soldiers volunteered to stand guard outside the emperor's bedchamber, so that no demons could possibly disturb him while he slept. The demons were so afraid of the soldiers that they never saw them, and the emperor was able to sleep peacefully for the first time in weeks. He ordered likenesses of the soldiers to be painted and hung outside his bedchamber, allowing the soldiers to return to their duties...and the emperor to continue to be protected.

The Chinese New Year is a time for paying off one's debts. There are three festivals in China which include debt-paying as part of their traditions. During the Chinese New Year, debt-paying allows one to literally start the New Year with a clean slate.

Lastly, birthdays! While some families choose to celebrate birthdays on the day a child was born, much of China celebrates during the Chinese New Year. Every New Year, everyone in China becomes a year older. All birthdays are celebrated on the same day.

Beginning with the Little New Year, the Chinese New Year ends with the Lantern Festival. The Lantern Festival has a number of festivities that are unique to it, though it continues the trend of fireworks, feasting, and the color red (which is considered lucky) that its two counterparts share.

Part of the celebration of the Lantern Festival, as you might have guessed from its name, includes decorating with and lighting lanterns. You know the scene from Tangled, where the entire kingdom lets loose a lantern into the sky? It's absolutely gorgeous, but I've always found the Chinese Lantern Festival even more breathtaking.

Often confused by Westerners, the Lantern Festival is also when both the Dragon Parade and the Lion Dance take place. The Dragon Parade is lengthy – one of my source books makes mention of a Dragon Parade in San Francisco that stretched 160 feet long. The dragon is made of brightly colored cloth and held up by wooden rods. Men carry it throughout the streets, their movements making it appear to flow and glide.

In contrast, the Lion Dance is composed of only two people. One wears the front half of a lion suit, the other its rear.

Why these two animals? The lion is not native to China, but animals were sometimes sent to emperors as gifts from the Persians. Given its association with the emperor, the lion was regarded as an animal of protection. Dragons in China are associated with water, often streams and rivers. It is also tied to rain. The Chinese New Year marks the end of winter and the beginning of spring, and so the dragon represents the coming of spring showers.

Chinese New Year is this Saturday. Happy Year of the Rooster, everyone!
 

I'll be back next week to begin my Intro to Chinese Mythology!

Snow White and Rose Red

Hey guys!

Today's fairy tale is the story of Snow White and Rose Red. It's worth noting that it has absolutely nothing in common with Snow White other than a character sharing her name. If you'd like to read the Grimm Brothers' version of the story, you can find it here.

Once upon a time there was an old woman who lived with her two daughters in a small cabin in the woods. Outside of the cottage there stood two rose trees, one of which bloomed white, the other red. The girls were named after these trees and were called Snow White and Rose Red. They were good daughters, honest, kind, and innocent. (Their innocence is a recurring theme throughout the original fairy tale; some examples include an angel coming to watch over such good children in their sleep, and a lot of symbolism with lambs and doves.)

The two girls went everywhere together, and were always seen hand-in-hand. They swore to never be parted, and that they would share everything. One thing they shared was the keeping of their home. During the summer Rose Red tended to the cottage and helped take care of their mother; during the winter it was Snow White's job.

One winter the girls and their mother had boarded the door and sat reading around the fireplace, for there was a fierce snow storm outside. There came a great pounding at the door, and the mother had the girls open it, thinking it must be a traveler lost in the storm. The girls were horrified to find a giant black bear standing at the door instead! But he spoke kindly to them as they hid, and their mother invited him into their home to grow warm. The girls were reassured, and soon began to brush the snow off of the bear's coat, and to play with him.

He spent the night by their fire, and left in the morning when the storm had died away.  The bear soon became a regular fixture in their little home, for he returned each night. They were all quite fond of one another.

When winter fled and summer began, the bear announced that he must leave the family. During the winter he was able to roam freely, for dwarves hibernated below ground in the cold. However, now that the earth was warming up he needed to go stand guard over his treasure – for dwarves were both greedy and cunning, and would try to steal it. The family watched him go sadly.

Not long after, Snow White and Rose Red were wandering together in the forest. They heard a great struggle, and soon came across a little man with a beard down to his waist. The beard had become stuck in a tree. They tried and tried to help him pull it free, but the beard was quite stuck. Eventually Snow White pulled a pair of scissors from her bag and cut his beard, freeing the dwarf.

Instead of being grateful, he began to curse the two girls for their foolishness. They had cut his beard! His beautiful, beautiful beard!

He hefted a huge sack of treasure over his shoulder and disappeared into the forest, grumbling all the way.

Over the next several days the girls ran into the dwarf several times, each time caught in some dire predicament. Once his beard had grown tangled with his fishing line, and a fish he had hooked was dragging him into the river.

Another time, a giant bird had seized the dwarf by the coat and was trying to carry him away. Each time Snow White and Rose Red saved the dwarf, and each time he railed against them and strode off with a bag of treasure, not even bothering to thank them.

On their way home from town one day, the girls again came across the dwarf. This time he was not in any danger – instead, he had spread his treasure out over the ground so that it sparkled in the sun. They stood and stared in awe, for it was quite beautiful. The dwarf noticed them and immediately grew angry with their presence. He was berating them when suddenly a growling sound filled the area.

The dwarf turned white with fear, for behind him stood an enormous black bear. He tried to weasel his way out of danger, insisting that a small, stringy man such as he would make a poor snack. The bear really shouldn't eat him – why, especially since there were two tasty morsels standing right over there!

But his attempts to convince the bear to eat Snow White and Rose Red instead of the dwarf only served to anger the bear. It stretched out one massive paw and clipped the dwarf's head. He fell to the ground, dead.

Snow White and Rose Red had tried to run, but the voice of the bear made them stop. They recognized it as belonging to their winter house companion. However, when they turned around they found a man standing where the bear had been! He was richly dressed and wore a crown. The man explained that he was a prince, and that the dwarf had cursed him to become a bear. Now that the dwarf was dead, the curse was broken.

The prince married Snow White. True to their promise to never be parted, and to always share everything, Rose Red married the brother of the bear/prince.

Their mother moved to the castle with them, and brought the two rose trees with her. They continued to bloom every year, on with white blossoms, and the other with red.
 

I hope you guys enjoyed the story! The prince and his curse always make me think of East of the Sun, West of the Moon. What did you guys think?
 

I'll see you next week with a post about the Lunar New Year, and after that I'll start my series on Chinese Mythology (which I've been having a blast researching, by the way!). Take care!
 

Snow White

Hey guys!  Before we get to today's story, let me give you a quick rundown of my tentative schedule for the next several weeks

As I mentioned in my previous post, January 28th is the Chinese New Year.  As such, I'm planning on beginning a series of posts about Chinese mythology, starting on the 23rd.  Both this week and next will be fairy tale fillers to tide us over until that series begins.  (I'll admit, this is in part because I'm rewatching Once Upon a Time and am therefore in a fairy tale mood!)

With that said, let's begin!

I had thought that I had done a post about Snow White, but I was mistaken!  I feel a little silly, having skipped over such an iconic fairy tale.  Let's remedy that, shall we?

The story of Snow White is a little bit (okay, a lot) darker than the Disney version.  The Queen is considerably more evil, and it's made all the more disturbing by the fact that Snow White is very young indeed in the stories.  Did you know that Disney made Snow White fourteen?  Having a fourteen year old fleeing attempted murder by her jealous, vain stepmother is really just a creepy story.

Once upon a time, there was a king and queen who were happily married.  During one winter's day the queen was sitting by an open window, sewing.  She pricked her finger on the needle, and three drops of crimson blood fell to the ground below.  As she looked on them, the queen wished with all of her heart for a daughter with skin as white as snow, lips as red as blood, and hair as dark as ebony.  The queen's wish eventually came true, for she had a daughter who looked exactly as she had wished - but the birth was difficult, and the queen died not long after.

Years passed, and eventually the king remarried.  His new wife was most beautiful, but also exceptionally vain.  She had a magic mirror, and she questioned it daily as to who was the most beautiful in the land.  The mirror always responded that the queen was, and so she was pleased.

Yet as the years passed and Snow White grew up, she also grew more beautiful.  One day the queen asked the mirror who the fairest in the land was, and he responded that it was Snow White, and not the queen.  The queen was furious!  She flew into a rage, and when she had finally calmed down, she did the logical thing...she plotted Snow White's murder.

(Okay, so maybe that isn't the logical course of action.)

The queen ordered the huntsman to take Snow White into the woods and kill her.  He complied with the first part, but was so taken by Snow White's beauty that he found himself unable to murder the girl.  Instead he warned her of her stepmother's plot to kill her.  The huntsman told Snow White to run as far as she could.  Hoping to deceive the queen, he killed an animal and brought her back its heart, lying and saying that the organ had belonged to Snow.  The queen fell for his deception and was pleased.

Snow White found sanctuary in a tiny cottage in the woods.  There were seven plates of food laid out on the table, and, being hungry, she ate from them.  Tired, the girl then wandered into the bedroom, where seven tiny beds were laid out.  She tried them out until she at last found one which was comfortable, and then she lay down to sleep.

When the owners of the house returned, they found everything moved from where it had been when the left.  The seven dwarves began to speak, asking who had eaten their food, and who had been in their beds.  Then the dwarf in whose bed Snow White was sleeping called them over to look - there was a girl in his bed!

The dwarves awoke Snow White, who told them her story.  They were compassionate fellows, and quite moved by her story.  They offered the girl sanctuary in their home, but warned her that whenever they were gone, she was not to open the door for anyone.

The morning after Snow White's "murder", the queen asked the mirror her customary question.  "Mirror, mirror, in my hand, who's the fairest in the land?"  To her wrath, the mirror responded that it was Snow White who was the fairest of them all - meaning that the girl yet lived!  Realizing that the huntsman had betrayed her, the queen decided to take matters into her own hands.

(This is where the story gets really interesting.  Most versions of it leave out the first two murder attempts, sticking instead to the poisoned apple.  But no, the apple was the queen's third attempt at killing Snow White!)

First the queen disguised herself as a peddler of corsets and ribbons.  The dwarves were away for work when she arrived at the cottage, and Snow White foolishly let herself be lured outside to look at the pretty lacy things the queen carried.  Now, Snow had fled the castle in a bit of a hurry - what with the whole running away from murder thing and all - and so she wasn't properly laced into a corset.  The "old woman" pretended to be horrified at the lack of propriety, and offered Snow White a lovely ribbon for free, and even to lace her up!  How kind of her.

But it was not kindness at all, for no sooner had Snow White agreed than the queen laced her so tightly that she could not breathe.  The queen ran away laughing as Snow lay collapsed on the ground, believing the girl to be dead.  Luckily, the dwarves arrived home soon after and cut the laces, revealing that Snow White had simply been in a dead faint.

(I couldn't help it, this scene always makes me think of Pirates of the Caribbean!)

 

The next morning, the queen was again enraged to hear the mirror respond that it was Snow White who was the fairest in the land.  She again disguised herself and set out for the cottage.  The dwarves had all left for work, but not before warning Snow White (again) to not open the door for anyone.

 

Snow White isn't the brightest apple on the tree.

 

Along came an old peddler, this time a woman selling hair combs.  Again she was able to convince Snow White to exit the cottage, and again she offered the princess a gift - a small hair comb.  Snow White was enamored of the comb, and agreed to the let the woman comb her hair with it.  But - surprise, surprise! - the woman was actually the queen, and the comb was poisoned!  No sooner had its tines touched Snow White's hair than the girl fell to the ground as though dead.  The queen fled, cackling with her success.

 

Shortly thereafter the dwarves arrived home.  Finding Snow White on the ground, they quickly removed the comb from her hair.  As soon as it had been taken away, the girl awoke.

 

Rinse and repeat - the queen wakes up, the mirror tells her Snow White is still the fairest of them all.  The dwarves leave for work, telling Snow to not, under any circumstances, open the door for anyone! (You'd think she'd listen by now, right?)

 

But this time...this time the queen didn't hold back.  She turned to dark magic, and created the perfect weapon - an apple.

 

Now, this time Snow White was a little more wary when a strange woman selling things arrived at her door.  She at first resisted.  But the queen was cunning, and had created the apple so that one side was white, another red.  The white side was harmless to eat, but the red was poisoned.  She offered to split the apple with Snow White, to prove that it was safe.  The girl relented when she saw the old woman bite into the white side of the apple.  She left the cottage, took the red half, and took one bite -

 

- at which point she promptly fell to the ground, dead.

 

This time the queen's glee knew no bounds, for she knew she had won.

 

When the dwarves came home, I'll imagine they weren't too surprised to find Snow lying on the ground outside their cottage.  They tried everything in their power to wake her up, but nothing worked.  At last, they were forced to realize that the sweet young girl was dead.  They buried her in a glass coffin.

 

Some time later, a prince happened to be passing through the forest.  He came across the glass coffin, and the girl he saw inside was so beautiful that he instantly fell in love with her.  He asked the dwarves if he could take the coffin with him and return it to his kingdom.  It took some convincing, but at last the dwarves relented and agreed.

 

Modern adaptations have probably left people expecting a kiss at this point - but there was none.  Instead, it was the jarring of the coffin being pulled to the horse which saved Snow White.  The movement made the piece of apple which had been wedged in her throat fly loose, and she found that she could breathe again.  The dwarves were delighted to find the girl alive - and the prince loved her just as much awake as he had asleep.  He asked her to marry him, and she agreed.

 

The next day, the queen asked her mirror her usual question.  She was horrified when it said that there was one fairer still than she - a new queen.  Snow White's stepmother had been given an invitation to a royal wedding, but she had no idea who the bride was.  Determined to see who it was who was more beautiful than she, the queen decided to attend the wedding.

 

When she arrived, she was stupefied to find that the bride was Snow White.  The queen was frozen in place, too horrified to move.  However, the prince was not - and he knew exactly what the queen had done to his beloved.  A pair of iron boots had been warming next to the fire for just this purpose.  They were brought over with a pair of tongs, and the searing-hot shoes were latched onto the evil queen's feet.

She was then forced to dance in them until she dropped dead...And that is how the story ends.

 

I hope you guys enjoyed Snow White! I've always been curious as to what happened to Snow's father.  Did the queen murder him to gain power?  Or was he alive, and just sitting back in his throne while his daughter fled from his murderous new wife?  I'm not sure which is worse.

 

I'll see you next week!

New Year and Resolutions (Including a book announcement!)

Hey guys!  Welcome to my first post of 2017!

Most cultures around the world celebrate some form of new year festival.  These celebrations have been around for thousands of years.  Originally it wasn't so much the coming of a new year that was celebrated, but the changing of the seasons.  I was introduced to this concept thanks to the Redwall series, where events are said to have happened "four summers ago", or a cask is said to have aged "for three falls".  A more recent example can be found in the A Song of Ice and Fire series, where characters are asked how many winters they have lived to see.

As human societies became more intellectual, calendars were invented.  The most widely used nowadays is the Gregorian calendar, which marks the new year as beginning on January 1st.  However, not every country and group uses this calendar; for instance, the Chinese New Year is celebrated on a lunar cycle, meaning that it falls on January 28th this year.  Rosh Hashanah, a Jewish New Year festival, begins on September 20th.  There are many other variations throughout the world, falling on dates all over the calendar.

When many Americans think of the new year, resolutions are often associated with it.  Interestingly enough, New Year's resolutions are not practiced all over the world.  Most countries have their own unique spin on New Year's practices; for instance, the Japanese have small shrines called kadomatsu which act as a sort of temporary housing for the kami during the transition to the new year.

It is hoped that the family whose kadomatsu the kami stay in will be blessed by the grateful spirits.  I haven't been able to look into why Americans seem so fixated on making resolutions for the new year, but it is certainly a tradition we have embraced.

With that having been said, I thought I'd make my resolutions for 2017 here.

It is my goal to:
1. Finish Lips as Red as Blood, my current work in progress.
2. Get ahead on blog posts before the semester begins.
3. Publish Sleeping Love, a book I wrote in 2016 as a Christmas present for my mom.

(She's already read it, and it met with her approval!)

And since this is the official announcement of Sleeping Love, let me give you guys a sneak peek at what the story is about!  It's Sleeping Beauty...with a twist or two thrown in!

Justin's kiss may have awoken Rosalie, but it left the rest of her kingdom asleep.  Worse still, Rosalie has no memory of her life - she only knows her name because of Elliot, Justin's gruff and taciturn guard!
Seeing no other options, Rosalie agrees to let Justin take her home and wed her...but at night, she dreams of playing with a boy with green eyes - eyes almost precisely the same shade as Elliot's.
Are these only dreams, or are they remnants of her memory?  Is Elliot more than just a wandering knight?  Can Rosalie find a way to unlock her past...before her future is sealed?

Sleeping Love will be out fall 2017!

How do you guys celebrate the New Year?  Any fun resolutions made, or things you hope to try?  Let me know in the comments below!