Myths and Folklore

IanExMachina

(Inspired by Alex's thread.)

I really love reading about all the different myths and folklore from different places.

Anyone have any interesting ones from where they are? Or Any interesting ones at all?

I know that where I currently live, when a church was being built North of the river every night the devil demolished the work done by the villagers, they then built a stone cross on that spot and built the church on the south of the river with no worries.

In all likelihood it was probably villagers resisting the introduction of Christianity in the area who destroyed the church being built near them rather than the devil doing the work. 

MadassAlex

in b4 Anne

This isn't "folklore" as such, but it's a cool little fact.

The Germanic tribesmen of the Classical/Ancient era(s) were the first to create quality steel swords via a process known as "pattern welding", where high-carbon steel and pure iron were twisted together to produce a blade with evenly spread deposits of carbon. Later, a process of acid-etching brought out beautiful, natural patterns in the blades that flow along the blade.

Before that, though, small bits of moisture could reveal such patterns, such as if one breathed on the blade. The Nordic folk that used such swords called this "the serpents in the blade", and may have believed that such forging techniques brought arcane or divine strength to the weapon. Unlike just about any culture, almost every sword had an individual inscription and name, so there was certainly a deific relevance to such weapons.

I'm sorry to say that I can't elaborate further than that. Given the lack of written resources left by such folk, we can only guess at further legends that surrounded their pattern-welded swords. All the same, I find it a fascinating basis for extrapolation. "The serpents in the blade". That answers just enough to leave us with even more questions.

Damn those Nordic folk.

carbonmantis

There's a spot on a river a few miles down the road from me that was said by the native Cherokee to be the home of a giant face-eating leech. 

Hmm, there's also some folktales about fairy-like creatures living in a nearby mountain range. They're said to transform themselves into tiny balls of light whenever humans approach. Interestingly enough, I've come across small groups of an unidentified [well, I can't ID them, at least] species of fly several times when I hiked through the area. It has a tiny body, but carries a glittery-pale blue egg sac about the size of a small berry under its abdomen. From a distance they look like tiny blue pearls floating through the air. Whether or not the two are related, I can't say.

MadassAlex

Clicky for more vampire stuff by the same guy. NSFW because of the ads, but otherwise clean I think.

Gelzo

Seems to me that old religions that almost no one adheres to, fall under the scope of mythology, whereas no one refers to any current religions as mythological.

I wonder if that's related to the delusion that present day religions are more likely true.

ClockworkUniverse

no one refers to any current religions as mythological

>.>

Gelzo

You know what? Fuck you. I'm going to leave it like that.

ClockworkUniverse

I don't consider that an insult to the religions. I just don't particularly make a distinction based on age (or even whether they're true) when referring to religions as mythologies.

Gelzo

Uh, I thought you were referring to the grammar of that part? Seems ambiguous the more I look at it.

ClockworkUniverse

Ah, no, can't see any problem there.

Gelzo

I've decided there isn't one. I thought there was some agreement issue, and I was about to change it before you said something.

Okay, I get what you mean. I think a lot of people avoid using it to refer to anything a lot of people take stock in because one of the definitions of "myth" is something that isn't true.

ClockworkUniverse

Yeah, that is one of them, but not the one I tend to use.

Icalasari

I don't know of any local legends, but research for creatures for my game brought up the North American creatures Baykoks - warriors who give up their bodies to evil spirits to protect their people from a threat. They would then flee after saving them so as to prevent themselves from cannibalizing the people they sought to protect

Malkavian

no one refers to any current religions as mythological.

There is so much wrong in this statement I don't even have a macro for it.

In any case, my favorite myth was always the one where Thor's hammer got stolen and Loki had him crossdress to get it back from the trolls.

http://www.chivalry.com/mikal/thorshammer.html

ClockworkUniverse

Mine is the technicality that got Baldur resurrected.

Gelzo

^^Hm. Well I what to say about that first part, but I'm reasonably certain the word mythology has a greater association with "obsolete" religions.

Malkavian

Terms like 'Jewish Mythology' and 'Islamic legends' aren't rare.

Gelzo

I'm not really a student of these fields, so I can't do much other than shrug. It's possible that I've just forgotten hearing them used very often.