Forwarded from Wild Folk
Whittlesea Straw Bear
An ancient custom of the fenlands, the Whittlesea Straw Bear is a tradition celebrating the start of the English agricultural year. Each year, one member of the plough work force would be selected, garbed in the finest of the yield and called the Straw Bear.
With great lengths of straw woven and bound around his arms, legs and head, the wearer would struggle to see and move in the costume that weighed over 5 stone.
Together with his ‘Keeper’, the Straw Bear would perform for offerings of money, beer or food. He was paraded through the streets with a concession of bards, dancers and entertainers before the Bear Burning, occurring on the following Sunday.
Over time, the tradition fell into decline until 1909 when it was forbidden and declared a form of cadging. In 1980, the Whittlesea Straw Bear custom was revived by locals where it continues to this day.
An ancient custom of the fenlands, the Whittlesea Straw Bear is a tradition celebrating the start of the English agricultural year. Each year, one member of the plough work force would be selected, garbed in the finest of the yield and called the Straw Bear.
With great lengths of straw woven and bound around his arms, legs and head, the wearer would struggle to see and move in the costume that weighed over 5 stone.
Together with his ‘Keeper’, the Straw Bear would perform for offerings of money, beer or food. He was paraded through the streets with a concession of bards, dancers and entertainers before the Bear Burning, occurring on the following Sunday.
Over time, the tradition fell into decline until 1909 when it was forbidden and declared a form of cadging. In 1980, the Whittlesea Straw Bear custom was revived by locals where it continues to this day.
http://www.alternativefinland.com/alternative-kalevala/
Good article on the need for the Kalevala to be dechristianized, as quite a few of our myths are written down by monks, or people that want to cover up our lore with “gospel”.
Oh, and info on Finnish pre-christian bear cults from the region.
Good article on the need for the Kalevala to be dechristianized, as quite a few of our myths are written down by monks, or people that want to cover up our lore with “gospel”.
Oh, and info on Finnish pre-christian bear cults from the region.
Alternative Finland
An Alternative Kalevala?
Juha Pentikäinen aims to compile an alternative Kalevala in the form of a shamanic epic based on the ancient bear cults of northern europe and asia.
The “bamburci" from the village of Ratevo belongs to a widespread European tradition of impersonating the forces of nature as a means of symbolically killing winter, so the rebirth of the world takes place.
Bamburci from the village of Ratevo in Macedonia, very close to the Bulgarian border.
Vosegus
The god of the Vosges mountains in eastern Gaul which personified the spirit of the mountains and was also a god of hunting who was a protector of the people of the Vosges forest.
Images of a local nature god may represent Vosegus in which some of them portray him wearing a wolf-skin over his shoulders and with his hand on a stag.
He carries a spear, hunting knife, chopper and an open bag containing fruits of the forest such as acorns, nuts and pine cones.
In other portrayals, Vosegus wears a heavy Gallic cloak and carries a piglet under one arm.
The god of the Vosges mountains in eastern Gaul which personified the spirit of the mountains and was also a god of hunting who was a protector of the people of the Vosges forest.
Images of a local nature god may represent Vosegus in which some of them portray him wearing a wolf-skin over his shoulders and with his hand on a stag.
He carries a spear, hunting knife, chopper and an open bag containing fruits of the forest such as acorns, nuts and pine cones.
In other portrayals, Vosegus wears a heavy Gallic cloak and carries a piglet under one arm.
Despite the warnings of his father Daedalus, Icarus flies too close to the sun, leaving his father to grieve.
Art:
Maxfield Parrish (1870-1966); Charles Robinson (1870–1937); Svetlin Vassilev (b.1971, Bulgaria)
Art:
Maxfield Parrish (1870-1966); Charles Robinson (1870–1937); Svetlin Vassilev (b.1971, Bulgaria)
The Seven Ravens is a tale in which a father curses his sons and turns them into ravens. Their little sister travels to the sun, the moon, the morning star and the Glass Mountain to save them.
Art by Oskar Herrfurth
Art by Oskar Herrfurth
‘Myths and Legends of Ancient Slavs’, Illustrations by N. Bukanova, 2007