JLfromNH

Trickster – the oldest of them all

Images of Coyote the trickster in his animal form — Trickster Coyote

In last month’s posting, I mentioned Coyote and Spider (also called Anansi) who are two trickster characters. For those who aren’t familiar with the concept of the trickster, he (very rarely she) is an ageless being who, depending on the story being told, is clever, sly or clumsy and dim-witted. He’s always breaking social rules, violating the laws of physics, pulling practical jokes and cheerfully ripping off stuff. He also performs acts which are beneficial such as stealing fire and giving it to humans, showing them how to plant crops, even how to have sex!

This curious immortal who can take the form either of a human or animal, can be found throughout the world under various incarnations. In North America he is seen as Coyote, Rabbit or Raven. In West Africa, he is Anansi, the spider. Norse mythology had Loki as the trickster. Pacific Ocean cultures had the divine being Maui as the trickster and native Australians had a character Bamapana notorious for his bad language, crude jokes and general upsetting of the cultural applecart.

That such a being can be found in traditional cultures all over the world suggests he arose very early in human history. The human global diaspora dates back many tens of thousands of years, with native americans coming in waves, probably as early as 30,000 years ago. Native Australians arrived on the island continent 50,000 years ago.

So the trickster certainly dates back before then, perhaps as much as 100,000 years ago or more. When did our ancestors start telling stories? Probably when they started talking and preserving oral traditions as a way to survive. Part of this oral tradition involved social rules, where to find food, how to get along with neighbors both human and non-human. Relations with the spiritual Otherworld no doubt arose at the same time. And whenever you have rules, there is inevitably a rule-breaker. If there’s a rule, Trickster is sure to break it.

Tricksters are not noted for their physical strength. No Heracles or Atlas here. Instead they rely on their wits, scheming and tricking people to get what they want, whether it’s food, money, sex, what have you. They’re chronic shapeshifters, constantly altering their forms and occasionally even their genders! His antics range from bumbling (think Wile Coyote) to outright malicious (think Loki). Reading over many of the myths about Trickster, he come across much like an amoral sociopath. Yet at the same time he makes it a point to right certain imbalances. The most common form this takes is the theft of fire. Usually fire is being hoarded by certain divinities who refuse to share this gift. So the trickster devises a scheme to get fire away from its owners and into the hands of humans.

Some stories have Trickster having a hand in creating the world. His reasons for this? Well, it’s not for the joy of creation or vaunting himself as a creator to be worshiped. It’s for the very practical reason of giving people a place to sit. It’s the same with fire theft. The goal isn’t to perform a noble deed but just to get light in a place of darkness, for warmth and to cook food (Trickster’s always hungry).

Even the chronic rule breaking serves a purpose. Trickster loves to turn things upside down and inside out if possible. The effect of this is to break people out of rigid patterns so new patterns can be developed. He mirrors the forces of nature which can do the same thing; volcanoes spewing out molten lava and hot ash which breaks down becoming fertile soil, hurricanes which redistribute moisture and heat, forest fires which burn out old dead vegetation and create ashes which nourish new plants and lightning bolts which contribute to the nitrogen cycle so critical for growth. Destructive? Yes! Creative? Also yes!

The trickster has lost none of his allure in the 21^st century. A popular character in the current Marvel Comic movies is Loki, the mischievous, malicious yet charming troublemaker who plagues the heroic Thor. Another is the cartoon character Bugs Bunny always getting the upper hand on his foes and having fun doing it. Wile E Coyote is often mentioned as a trickster character but I’m more inclined to think it’s really the Road Runner who consistently outsmarts his pursuer and pulls off more than a few tricks of his own. I can’t imagine their appeal ever fading. All these tricksters embody the chaotic side of life, ever changing, sometimes destructive but definitely never boring.

Bugs Bunny - a modern day trickster — A modern day trickster

Giants and their brethren

This summer I have been working on the first draft of a magical realism novel tentatively named The Age Of Dionysus. Right now I am trying to develop various characters, both human and divine. The divinities (one of which of course is Dionysus) populate the novel though I am trying to keep Their numbers in check as I don’t want this to become a literary Cecil B Demille epic with a celestial cast of thousands.

One way to avoid divine overpopulation was to float the idea that many of the divinities have ‘transcended’ to a different plane of existence, perished when They lost their worshipers or simply dwindled into insignificance which is why we no longer see or worship Them.

A few of the more familiar divinities still linger; Odin, Athena, Pele along with a few less well known figures such as Mannanan Mac Lir and Sethlans, an Etruscan precursor to Vulcan/Hephaestus. The notorious Trickster Coyote makes a brief appearance and I may bring in His ‘cousin’ Anansi, though I am not likely to do too much with Him as Neil Gaiman has already published a novel about Him.

One divinity I briefly show is a water divinity called Takannaaluk, probably better know as Sedna. She is known by a variety of different names among the Inuit and many origin stories involving Her falling into the sea, sometimes thought of as the Underworld, losing Her fingers either by having them chopped or frozen off. One version of the story describes her as being a giant, so hungry all the time that She attempts to eat her own parents. Takannaaluk’s severed fingers become the sea creatures native to the Arctic Sea and since they were once part of Her, She has the power to control them. Inuit had to follow strict hunting rules laid down by Her if they wished success in catching anything.

I put my own spin on Her while hopefully staying true to the legend. Here are two characters in my story having a brief conversation regarding Her:

Coyote: Is it true She threatened to eat you?

Mannanan Mac Lir: She did hint I was a tasty looking morsel. She’s like the other giants; the Jotnar, Gigantes, Nephelim – all with vast appetites and all very old. She remembers how it was before humans. If She thinks Dionysus will bring any of that back with His new Golden Age, then yes, she’s going to help Him no matter what I tell Her.

While researching Sedna and other mythic beings, the topic of giants caught my interest. Legends of giants are world-wide. They are generally described as being somewhat human in appearance, although they can have extra heads, long hair on their bodies, a single eye (as in the case of the cyclops) or snaky legs (occasionally in Greek legends). Their most obvious characteristic is their enormous size as well as their great hunger.

Their stories probably arise out of dim memories of childhood when everybody towered over you and was significantly stronger. Also the environment, with its powerful storms, volcanic explosions and earthquakes, must have made early humans feel very small indeed compared with what they saw as vastly powerful beings.

The Jotnar (singular, Jotunn) were primal beings from Norse mythology. While they might be described as not much bigger than their rivals, the Aesir, they could often be gigantic in proportion. One adventure has Thor and some companions take shelter during the night in what they perceive as a large building, only to discover it is in reality one of the gloves of Utgard-Loki.

The Gigantes, from Greek mythology, are children of Gaia and Uranus along with other giant-like beings such as an early version of the Cyclops, and the Hundred-handers. Like the Jotnar they could be fairly normal in proportion or very large. They were often portrayed with snake-like legs.

The Nephelim were very similar though by the time the Old Testament stories were finally written down, they had been redacted enough to remove any mention of them being children of a divinity such as Gaia. Instead they seem to be more a race of large humans, though some Jewish writings refer to them as fallen angels. For the purposes of my novel, I’ve gone back to the likely older meaning of them as giants.

Sadly tales of giants have faded from more recent folklore. The figure of Paul Bunyan is about the only recent giant to emerge out of folk tales told at lumber camps and he is more a creation of popular culture rather than mythology. Perhaps in the future, after our civilization has passed, people will look at the ruins left behind and compose new stories about the fabled giants who built them.

In my novel, I picture the races of giants (Jotnar, Gigantes et al) as ancient divine beings who predate humanity and are older than more recent gods such as Athena or Odin. They are largely indifferent to humans, though Takannaaluk resents the environmental destruction done by people and is hostile to their spread. Her domain is confined to the Arctic Sea, so Her ability to oppose what humans are doing is limited. Hence Her threat to eat Mannanan, who is sympathetic to them.

Since my novel is still in the first draft stage, there are likely to be minor changes as I develop the plot but Takannaaluk and Her kind are keepers. Stay tuned.

Old Man of the Mountain face on Cannon Mountain — Giants in the mountains

Northern Pass – Last Call

This past Thursday, Eversource, the company attempting to building Northern Pass as a way to funnel electric power into the New England electric grid finally threw in the towel and issued a statement indicating they were removing the project from the table, after the New Hampshire State Supreme Court upheld the project’s 2018 rejection by the state Site Evaluation Committee.

Now does this mean the project is a dead duck? Probably not. Like the undead from a bad movie sequel, Northern Pass may get revived some time in the future under a different name and return once again in an effort to uglify New Hampshire. But for now it has bit the dust.

Eversource really has no one to blame but themselves. Watching their perpetual efforts to ram the project through, in spite of the vehement protests by residents in the northern half of the state, it was clear this was strictly a project for the benefit of the shareholders, not for the benefit of anyone who actually lives here. All too often residents’ efforts for their concerns to be heard were treated as a minor nuisance, soon to be overcome in the name of ‘progress’. Demands for the line to be buried received a token nod at best.

One of their selling points was the ‘need for abundant energy.’ They touted the project as being the most advanced project to bring low cost clean energy for their customers. The customers in question were for the most part not people in New Hampshire but residents of Massachusetts. No one up here in northern New Hampshire wanted to see huge transmission towers marching through the countryside delivering little if any benefits to compensate for the disfigured landscape.

But aside from the pros and cons of Northern Pass, the issue that never really gets addressed is whether or not this project is really the clean energy it’s touted to be or even if it is really needed. Efforts to reduce energy usage are certainly doable and save money in the long run. Shutting lights off when not needed, constructing houses which are smaller and energy efficient, using cold water for laundry, all these nickel and dime efforts add up over time, particularly if everyone does them.

Was the project sustainable? Not really. Our ongoing mania for interconnectivity has turned the electric grid so many depend on into a ginormous interlaced network that is tricky to maintain and is highly vulnerable to hackers or just plain breakdown. The recent massive black out in South America which affected at least three countries clearly reveals the domino effect that can occur when failure happens in part of the network. Interestingly Tierra Del Fuego was not affected as it was not connected to the grid. If this isn’t a big hint from the Fates, I don’t know what is. We’ve clearly overbuilt to the point the systems we create are too fragile to last for long and keel over at the least excuse.

Like it or not, we are going to need to swallow the bitter pill of downsizing as resource shortages make these projects harder to build and nearly impossible to maintain for any length of time. Let’s keep our projects small, local and easy to maintain. Instead of waiting until we’re hitting the wall and forced to make these changes, in a panic, in hysteria, let’s do it now while we have a bit of wiggling room and have time to see what’s workable and what isn’t.

Spring into Summer

Here in northern New Hampshire, spring was late coming and grudging as it spread across the landscape. Rain was a big feature with April and May. It was cloudy most of the time with the sun making occasional appearances teasing us into thinking finally some decent weather, then disappearing behind clouds which pelted us with raw chilly rain. Over the past decade or two, weather was often abnormally warm and dry, enough so it seemed like the new normal. Hard to say if this spring will be the next ‘normal’. We’ll just have to wait and see.

One benefit of the heavy rains is a very lush growth of greenery. There are the usual wildflowers such as bunchberry, forget-me-nots, star-flowers and so forth. But garden flowers come popping up one at a time as well: snow-drops, crocuses, daffodils, iris and lily-of-the-valley.

Many years ago I bought a small seed packet containing a handful of seed from a variety called Russian Comfrey. I don’t know which cultivar it was but it has since prospered. It has never been necessary to fertilize it as this plant can put down roots as deep as six or more feet and suck up its own nutrients.

It can be used as a cover plant and will (at least for me) grow to Brobdingnagian proportions providing plenty of greenery to add to the compost pile. The ones pictured above are over five feet tall. Bumblebees love the tiny flowers and will squeeze themselves into one to get at the nectar, buzzing cheerfully all the while. Comfrey will reseed itself though it has not really been invasive. Some studies seem to suggest the leaves may contain carcinogenic compounds but if they do, the deer and woodchucks obviously don’t read the literature as they happily chow down on the leaves. One time I watched a woodchuck nip off an enormous leaf bigger than a dinner plate and placidly sit down to eat it all at one sitting.

Rhubarb also is doing well this year. The above plant is the last survivor of a small patch managed by my late father who had it tucked in a shady corner of the garden. It never grew that big for him but he would gather the leaf stalks to cook up and eat. I found the smell of cooking rhubarb revolting and would rapidly flee the vicinity of the kitchen. After he passed away, the patch went neglected, dwindling until only one scrawny plant was left. Finally taking pity on it, I moved it to a more sunny part of the old garden. This clearly did the trick and now it is growing more than triple the size it did for my father. This year it produced a flower stalk. The stalk towers over me and had a huge cluster of seeds on it. I have no idea if the seeds are fertile but will plant them to see what happens.

Sometimes when I have left over flower seeds and no room to put them, I will toss what is left on the bank out in front of the house. If they grow, fine; if not also fine. Apparently some of the seed I tossed was Sweet William and I was pleasantly surprised to see some dark pink blossoms peeking through the weeds on the bank the other day.

Swallow-tail butterflies, bumblebees, and even a few honey bees have been making their appearance visiting the different flowers. Mindful of the recent reports of drops in the number of insects, particularly pollinating ones, I avoid the use of insecticides except for naturally derived ones such as neem oil for spot use use on lily beetles. Interestingly enough I have not seen any Japanese beetles for a number of years especially after using a beneficial nematode in the front lawn to chow down on beetle larvae. It must have effective as the beetles disappeared in subsequent years. I don’t use the beetle traps hawked in various gardening catalogs as these are really beetle magnets and will draw in every beetle in the neighborhood. Your neighbors may like this but not you.

Since summer has only just gotten underway, it will be interesting to see what else pops up.

Memorial Day 2019

As is customary in many towns here in New Hampshire, Memorial Day was observed with a small parade in the late morning. The town newspaper billed it as a ‘procession’ but since it had a small marching band, I believe that elevates it to the level of a parade. Granted it was quite modest compared with the more extravagant celebrations elsewhere but still enjoyable to watch. The weather was clear if a bit crisp so it was perfect for the memorial procession.

The parade culminated with a ceremony held at the Veterans Memorial Bridge honoring current and past veterans.

The origins of Memorial Day stem from observances made both in the North and in the South to honor the fallen. It was often called Decoration Day as it didn’t commemorate any particular battle. It wasn’t until 1968 that Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act which officially made the last Monday in May as a federal holiday.

Memorial day isn’t just for remembering veterans however. Many, including myself, use it as a way to recall loved ones now no longer with us. Granted we should remember them whenever possible but Memorial day serves as a more solemn means of honoring those who mattered in our lives, as well as those who sacrificed their own lives to keep ours more livable.

Lest we forget.

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