myth – SJB Teaching

May 16, 2019May 21, 2019

Echo and Narcissus

Echo was a chatterbox. She was a beautiful nymph, lively, and generally good-spirited, but she could talk and talk.

Zeus, always one with an eye for the ladies, enjoyed spending time with the nymphs. Hera, his wife, didn’t enjoy him spending so much time with them. She felt he should be spending more time with her and doing little jobs around Olympus.

“You’ve got to help me!” he groaned to Echo one day. “Hera is driving me mad – on at me to fix a leaky tap and redecorate the kitchen. I’m a god – and the king of the gods at that. I shouldn’t be expected to do the decorating!”

From then on, whenever Hera passed by, Echo kept her talking, giving Zeus chance to slip away. “Hera! I love what you’ve done with your hair… What divine earrings! Where did you get them from?… You simply must give me the recipe for your nectar cookies – the other nymphs and I were all talking about how delicious they were were…”

Hera, enjoying the attention and flattery, would stop to chat twirling her hair and whispering about her secret ingredients. Eventually, however, she realised what Echo was up to, and cursed her. She took away a Echo’s gift of endless chatter, and condemned her to a life where she would only ever be able to repeat the last word she had heard.

No longer so much fun to be around, the other nymphs didn’t spend so much time with her and she took to wandering alone through the woods.
One day she saw a handsome young man sitting by a pool, and she fell instantly in love with him…

Narcissus knew he was a handsome young man because everybody told him so. People stopped and stared as he walked past, and all the girls secretly hoped that he would notice them. He never did. No mere girl was good enough for him – not such a handsome man as he was. Only a goddess could ever make him a suitable wife.

One warm summer’s day, he sat at the side of the pool to rest and to enjoy the feeling of the sun on his face. As he glanced around, he saw the most beautiful creature he had ever seen. Surely this must be the goddess he was destined to be with.

Echo stepped out of the woods and walked slowly towards Narcissus. Once upon a time she could have captivated him with her wonderful stories; now she could only hope he would be equally captivated by her face. She gazed at him longingly.

Narcissus felt her presence behind him and turned. “Who are you?” he demanded, irritated at being dragged away from the beautiful face in the pool behind him.

“You,” replied Echo, smiling hopefully.

“Don’t be ridiculous!” he snarled.

“Ridiculous!” repeated Echo, smiling rather less hopefully. This wasn’t going well .

“Oh go away and leave me alone!”

“Alone!” cried the heartbroken Echo, heading back to the cover of trees to hide her tears.

Peace at last. Narcissus turned back to the face he had fallen in love with. “Will you be with me forever?” he asked.

Although he saw the lips moving he heard no reply from the beautiful face. “Can’t you speak?” he asked, and he reached out to touch it. The water rippled and stirred, and the face disappeared. “Oh don’t go!” begged Narcissus. “I promise not to try to touch you again.”

As the water settled, the face returned, and Narcissus settled down to gaze at it. Unwilling to leave without his true love, Narcissus stayed by the pool, never eating, never sleeping, until he took his last breath and expired.

Soon there was nothing left of him, but on the land where he had lain, beautiful white and yellow flowers sprung up, and these flowers still bear the name of Narcissus as a reminder of that vain young man who fell in love with himself.

As for Echo? She has never been seen since that day, but she can still be heard, repeating the last words of passers-by. You may have heard her yourself… yourself… yourself…

February 11, 2016August 3, 2015

The Story of the Dragon Nian

Once upon a time in China there lived a terrifying dragon called Nian. His home was under the sea, but once a year, on New Year’s Eve, he came to a nearby village where he ate their grain, their livestock and any young children who happened to be outdoors.

Not surprisingly, the terrified villagers used to run and hide in the mountains on this date leaving their homes behind.

One year a wise old man visited the village just as the villagers were fleeing, and he asked them why they were leaving. “The terrible dragon is coming!” they said. “You must come and hide with us for he may eat you.”

The old man said he wasn’t afraid and that he knew how to deal with the dragon, and so he stayed behind in the village.

When the villagers returned there was no sign of Nian, and amazingly their grain and animals were untouched. The old man said that he couldn’t protect the village every year, but he could show them how to protect themselves. “The secret,” he said, “is that the Dragon is frightened of the colour red and of loud sounds and bright lights.”

Now every New Year, the Chinese dress up in red clothes, hang red decorations in their doors and windows, and they set off fire crackers so that the noise and the lights will scare away the Dragon.

It must work because the dragon Nian has never been seen again since this wise old man’s visit.

St Patrick’s Day

Tomorrow is St Patrick’s Day, and here with a post about the day and why we celebrate it, is my lovely husband Ian, who works as a Blue Badge Tourist Guide.

Around the world, 17^th March is one of the year’s biggest celebrations, and it’s all thanks to the Irish. The day is their most important national festival and it’s a time for everyone (Irish or not) to dress in green, get together, sing, dance and, of course, enjoy a pint of Guinness. But although the modern celebration is known as a huge party with everyone invited, its origins, as the name suggests, are religious. It is the traditional feast day of Ireland’s Patron Saint and for centuries was a day of prayer and contemplation.

So who was St Patrick and why was he important? Like many early saints, his origins are somewhat obscure and clouded in legend, but it is generally accepted that Patrick lived in the 4^th to 5^th Centuries AD and was born in Britain, with modern Scotland the most likely location. Most stories of his life tell us that he first went to Ireland after being captured by Irish pirates at the age of 16. During his captivity, he became a Christian and studied to become a Priest after he escaped back to Britain. Returning to Ireland as a missionary, he played a major part in strengthening and expanding the Christian community in the country and became one of Ireland’s first bishops.

Out of all the legends associated with him, there are two that are particularly famous. The first is that he used the three leaves of the shamrock, a common plant in Ireland, to teach people about the Christian holy trinity – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The idea was one plant but three distinct leaves, just like one god with three distinct forms. The shamrock became one of the symbols associated with Saint Patrick, and as his importance as a revered figure in Ireland grew, the emblem was adopted by the country itself, which it remains to this day. The plant’s green colour also became recognised as the national colour of Ireland. The second legend is more of a myth, namely that Saint Patrick banished all snakes from Ireland. While it is true that there are no snakes native to the country, scientists are fairly certain that this was the case many thousands of years before Saint Patrick stepped ashore. The story is more likely to symbolise his missionary work, bringing a new faith and strengthening the Christian church, banishing “primitive” beliefs and helping people feel more secure in their community.

After his death, Patrick was venerated as a Saint by Irish Christians, although this status was not officially confirmed for many centuries. His feast day, which falls on the date of his death, was set aside to remember his life and works. Over time, especially as Ireland became politically and culturally dominated by Britain, Saint Patrick took on a different status, as a symbol of the Irish nation and traditions, and this was really how his feast day started to become secularised as it is today. Celebrations that we recognise today – parades, festivals of music and dance, wearing the shamrock symbol – increasingly established themselves.

These days, the day is essentially about celebrating Irish identity, and has been strengthened as Irish people have migrated throughout the world, taking their culture, traditions and festivals with them. While Dublin has the largest St Patrick’s Day festivities in the world, next come New York and Birmingham, as Irish immigrant communities everywhere have ensured that the day is marked in style. It is not a public holiday, so the major events generally take place on the closest weekend to 17^th March. Cynics might say the date has become little more than a marketing tool for Guinness and other Irish drinks manufacturers, but there is no doubting the joy and pride that is so obviously on display wherever Saint Patrick’s Day is celebrated. And the best thing of all – you don’t have to be Irish to enjoy it.

November 2, 2013September 7, 2017

Who was Mictecacihuatl?

Mictecacihuatl (pronounced Meekteckaseewadl), also known as the Lady of the Dead, was the Aztec goddess of Death. I haven’t been able to find out for certain whether she died as her mother gave birth to her, or was sacrificed to the gods as a small child, but either way she died young and grew to adulthood in the Afterlife.

According to Aztec legends, the human race was created from the bones of a previous race, which had been stolen by the gods. To prevent this happening again, Mictecacihuatl, who was now the Queen of the Underworld, was tasked with guarding the bones of the dead so that they could never be stolen to create a future race.