Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary

not that i have long, but ill try and get through this nursery rhyme.
"Mary, Mary quite contrary,
how do your gardens grow?
with silver bells and cockle shells
and pretty maids, all in a row."

Mary is believed to refer to bloody Mary, or queen the Mary the first of England. She was known for her brutal punishments, and the many tortures she conducted. The "gardens" she was growing was more a metaphorical reference to all the people she was killing, and how the graveyards were filling up quickly. Amongst the common folk of England during this time, a Silver bell was a slang term for an instrument of torture, which applied great pressure to the thumbs and/or fingers, and completely crushing them. The cockle shell was another used term for another instrument which was believed to inflict genital torture. A Maid, or a maiden was the name that people used to speak of the guillotine, which was the official instrument used for the be-heading of people.

Aswang!

This fascinating being originates from the Philippines. While it is mythological, it is the most predominately talked about and the most feared being for many of the people in this country. There are about five sub-types of this creature, so ill give you a rundown of the most common ideas and characteristics, without confusing you about different types.
This creature appears mostly human, it is often seen to have a combination of vampiric and undead elements. they are also shape shifters and Self segmentaters.
A shape shifter can change their physical/visual appearance at will to fit in with their surroundings, often they pretend to be ordinary people. Although of course at night, they no-longer look human. When they are in their natural form, they are said to have large wings that protrude from their backs, have long tongues that are very thin (proboscis like), they look much paler, bonier and generally barbaric. It is also said they often turn into animals such as dogs, pigs and birds at night. Overall, they are though to be beautiful women by day and incomprehensible horrors by night. A Self Segmentater is a being or creature who can detach their head, arms legs etc; from their torso.
Like many paranormal/supernatural creatures, they do have a predator/prey connection with ordinary people. They are so truly feared by people in the Philippines as they believe that the feed off fetus, placenta, young children, phlegm etc, with their long thin tongue, the tongue is inserted through one of the many entry's of the body (mouth, nose, ears, genitals.)
Their lifespan cannot be complete until they find someone to take their place. This is done when consuming phlegm, some kind of spawn (which i don't know much about) is placed inside the body, which phases them into a replacement aswang. until this operation is complete an aswang cannot completely die.

Overall, i love this creature, its dark, vampiric like and Incredibly morbid!

Ghouls, halloween creatures!

the next Halloween related life-form on the list is the ghoul! I don't know about you but i think they are quite interesting. The ghoul is an ancient Arabic folklore and has many characteristics similar to a zombie or undead being. most of the differences are probably visual, They are said to have black teeth and skin which is tainted silver, and does not rot like an ordinary zombie. Like zombies, they have a morbid obsession for death and are known to hang around graves, and eat flesh. It is believed that ghouls are created by vampires. there are many types of ghouls, but to keep it simple, they are divided into three main groups: Vassals, independents, and reverends. Vassals are ghouls who serve for a vampire, and most likely the one who aided them to undergo change. Independents are quite self explanatory, but if you don't know, they are Solly independent. Reverends are ghoul clans who have a steady and efficient society.
Sadly all the images i found of ghouls were really boring, and so i wont bother posting one.

The Jackalope

The Jackalope is believed to be a fictitious creature, (of course that is up to you to decide however) and the first species I'm am going to write about in regards to Halloween. Mostly, i am writing about this interesting creature, due to the band we know as "jakalope".
According to North American legend for the most part, a jackalope is a jackrabbit crossed with antelope, and commonly referred to as the horned rabbit. supposedly, they can mimic any sound, including human voices. (i suppose this would be like a very talented lyre bird) Many cowboys believe that they are lured by wiskey and easier to hunt once they have drunk this, or on full moon, when they mistake the moon for the sun, making them behave rather peculiar (people have accounts of them walking backwards rather than forwards.) They are supposed to be very aggressive and so fast the human eye cannot trace them. the milk of a female jackalope has very medicinal properties in their milk, which can only be retrieved when she is on her back. (due to aggression) It is believed that this milk can cure everything, from baldness to disease.
Not that i believe this is right, considering they are so close to extinction (if they exist of course) however, in the town famous for jackalope, Wyoming, you can get a license to hunt jackalope, although of course there is really no point as it is only eligible on June the 31st. any other day it is illegal.
There is a huge debate to weather or not they exist, with many ideas being used to explain why they are very rarely seen. Some even say that Jackalopes only breed in electrical thunderstorms, meaning that they are very close to extinct and that is why there a very few sighting reported. Others say they are fairly nocturnal, and that no-one ever sights them due to their speed. It is also believes that this creature was mistaken for rabbits which had a disease, resulting in horn like tumors. who knows? maybe this was the case!
Anyway, they are rather a peculiar animal, which no really knows weather or not they exist. If you really want to go and hunt one, you only have one day of the year to do so!


here is a winged jackalope. Sadly however, if you look closely at this pic,
 you will notice it has been edited/photo shopped.



Fairytales, Traditional Cinderella

We all know and love fairy tales, and we all have our favourite ones that we've been hearing since early childhood, but do we really see the meanings etched in to the story lines? Some of these fairy tales are so old that they have changed over time, not to mention people have taken out gore to keep it appropriate for young children. Sometimes i wonder how accurate these tales are, and what parts we have missed. Anyway today I'm going to share some of the unmentioned parts of Cinderella.


Here she is cleaning a floor, and talking to the
animals who talk back. If you look closely, you'll see her
reflection is wearing the gown and jewelry


the Modern/current storyline encourages us to believe that a young girls mother dies, leaving her in the care of her evil step-mother, during her childhood, her step-mother uses her as a slave and she would scrub the floors, and clean up the cinders by the fire (hence the name CINDERella, she was an Ella.) When she was starting to become a young woman the prince was having a masquerade ball to find his true love. The step-mother refused to let her go. This is when the fairy god-mother appeared. She made Cinderellas rags turn into a gown, and a pumpkin for a coach and some rats for white stallions. the only condition was that at midnight she would turn back to her normal state. So she went to the ball and her sisters and stepmother didn't recognize her, in fact they envied her. The prince danced with Cinderella and soon fell in love, but it was then midnight came to be. Cinderella ran away, and her glass slipper came off, and was left for the prince. The next day the prince started searching for the mysterious girl, and decided that he would put the shoe on every girls foot in town to see who fitted it perfectly. Cinderellas stepsisters tried and miserably failed, Cinderella was locked away by her stepmother so she could not prove herself, and her stepmother did not even know she had attended the ball. In the end the Prince find her, tries the shoe on her foot and then they get married and live happily ever after.

the original Storyline is traced all the way back to ancient Greece, 1 BC. Originally, an eagle had taken off with Cinderella's sandal and dropped it in the kings lap. Here he fell in love with the shape of her foot and searched far and wide until her found the wearer.
In some places, the story conveyed the idea of older siblings being jealous of younger rivalry. This idea can also be read in the christian bible, the story of Joseph. They are certainly not the same story, however, considering that Cinderella is traced back to Greece, and The story of Joseph supposedly happened in Egypt (he became Pharaohs assistant) so perhaps the two stories are loosely linked. (although i am not religious, it is possible some of the bibles events happened.) Another Variant of the tale where siblings have rivalry even ended on a bad note, where the youngest was even poisoned, and died, rather than "and they all lived happily ever after" (what a pleasant change! i wish i could find more on that variation for you.)



unfortunately, i cannot find a godmother
fish or crab, but this is a nice pic

 Meanwhile in china the story went that Cinderellas mother was betrayed and killed by the stepmother, and Cinderella saved her mothers bones (which are magic) and they reincarnate as a fish (fairy god mother)who created her dress, coach, shoes, and horses. In the Filipinos, a similar story was told, but talked about the mother reincarnating as a crab. This could possibly be because in China, and the Filipinos, the astrological (horoscopes) meaning for a crab (the Cancer star sign) is Prosperity and success, in reference to the shell which crabs shed. Perhaps the reincarnation as a fish was more popular as fish fertility, depth of knowledge and more importantly in many cultures and religions, change. which is precisely what the fairy godmother gave to Cinderella. which is precisely what the fairy godmother gave to Cinderella. In Buddhism, a fish is seen as freedom and this was also given to Cinderella in the few hours that she danced that the ball. (common in Asian countries such as Japan)

Over time, the ideas changed, to that being of a slave girl who went to a ball, the pumpkin was brought in by the early expression of "pumkinification of Claudeus" which meant after midnight i turn into a pumpkin, and actually meant to be tired, rather than being a carriage believed to have been made by a fairy godmother out of pumpkins.
Elements of the tale we know as Cinderella have also been spotted in another story called "the history of the kings of Brittan" (suggested by authors of wikipedia) Click here to read an exert. In short, the elder sisters take ownership of land given off by the dead king and leave the youngest sister with nothing, until she marries a prince and owns a whole kingdom, as well as killing her selfish sisters. The tale was later re-told by Shakespeare and known as "King Lear" His re-telling of the story had a much more tragic ending, and was seen as one of his best works.

Another aspect not mentioned in the modern Cinderella (and probably the best part), is the ways in which the step sisters tried to make the shoe fit. It is mentioned in the modern tale that they made their feet fit. however it doesn't state how exactly they did it. in earlier versions of the modern tale, the sisters even went to the length of cutting parts of their feet to fit, the first sisters toe was to large and the step-mother insisted she cut her toe off, the truth was only given to the prince when pigeons chirped about the blood pouring from the shoe. the second sisters heel was to large, and she was demanded to cut her heel off. Again, the pigeons chirped, telling the prince of the blood inside the shoe. Eventually, the prince found Cinderella, his true bride and upon their wedding two pigeons pecked and eye out from each sister.

Overall, there are allot of glorious and tragic variations of the tale we now know of as Cinderella, some more interesting than others. Over time this story has undergone drastic change! it started off as a girl who's she was taken by a bird and dropped into the kings lap and the product has become much more glorified! I hope this was interesting for you to read, in the future I'm happy to write about more fairy tales and probably some nursery rhymes (they have some interesting concepts behind them to!)