Week 7 Famous Last Words

SNOW DAY!!!

Photos taken outside of my apartment today, 2/28/15

I made it home just in time on Friday, just before the roads really got bad. I spent a few hours in Oklahoma City for my weekly supervision with my practicum instructor, some volunteering with Valir (I got to meet a new patient!), and a meeting with my faculty liaison, practicum instructor, and fellow practicum student, Michelle. It was a busy morning, but really fun and Rita took me home a back way so we could escape traffic. She's the best! 

Anyway, I the snow came on so fast and fell really hard. I loved it! The flakes were giant! Plus, I got home and snuggled up for a seriously wonderful nap with my BooBoo Kitty girl before hanging with my roomie for a while. We smoked some hookah, watched Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1, and I made some fresh guacamole for us to munch. It was really nice to just relax for a while. Then, my boyfriend Rafy came over and we all played Call of Duty for a long time. I wont lie, i'm so pleased that it snowed and got all icy because being snowed in has been so relaxing. I think I needed some chill time because I've just been going and going for weeks (it seems). I've been so busy and even planned to be busy this weekend, but WAS NOT going to drive down to Texas this weekend in the snow and ice. 

Aren't We Beautiful?

Snuggling up with BooBoo today

My roommate and I have been going back and forth on whether or not we hope Monday's classes (and our grief groups) will get cancelled. On the one hand, sleeping in is seriously amazing. On the other, we've had 2 Mondays off in a row and I only have class on Monday so we are getting pretty dang behind. Plus, one of those classes is Research Methods II AKA statistics, which is hard enough when it's taught regularly. I also feel like I don't want to get too used to being lazy and relaxed because soon i'm really going to have to buck up and get some stuff DONE! I have to do my capstone paper and my research proposal, plus two research papers for my practicum site, and a qualitative methods journal critique. I have been trying to do them all in sections instead of procrastinating and leaving it until the last minute (like I've been known to do). I'm pretty proud of myself for starting them early, but still wonder if I have done enough in a quick enough time frame. 

Indian Epic Untextbook

For this week's untextbook feedback, i chose to read The Bride of Yama which was taken from Sacred Tales of India by D. N. Neogi, with illustrations by P. Ghose (1916). The reading was opened from the archive on Open Library. I chose to read this story because it was starred and bolded, which I assumed meant it was one of the stories you really wanted us to look at. My initial thoughts upon opening this link are that I do not like how it's presented. The text on each page is too light and seems to almost blend in with the color of the paper on the screen. It is difficult to read and made my eyes strain which made me have to take multiple breaks while reading just one story. This was made a little better when I zoomed in, but I still really wish the text was darker so I could see it better. I liked that I could switch between pages with the arrow keys on my keyboard. I didn't like that because I zoomed in, I had to scroll up and down to see the whole page and could not use the arrow keys for this. It was a minor annoyance, but seemed silly that the arrow keys didn't work for moving up and down on the page. As for the story itself, I liked it. The beginning was a little strange and seemed kind of all over the place, but overall I thought it was a neat story that I enjoyed reading. I liked that this story involved Parvati, she's one of the most interesting females in Indian mythology (in my humble opinion).

Yama on Buffalo

found on The British Museum's online archives

Week 7 Essay: Magic and the Supernatural

This week's essay topic: 

Magic and the Supernatural. Magic and supernatural elements are important for many mythological and folktale traditions. What examples of magic and supernatural elements did you see in this week's stories? What kinds of characters used magic? What did they use magic for? Were there supernatural characters or events in this week's stories? What role did these supernatural characters or events play in the plot of the stories? Would you say that magic and supernatural motifs were dominant elements in this week's readings?  

Shia LaBeouf Magic Gif

Found on Gifs of Things 

This week's readings came from the Tales from the Congo unit, which were taken from Notes on the Folklore of the Fjort by Richard Edward Dennett (1898). Themes of magic and the supernatural had a heavy presence in this week's readings, and was even featured in the story I chose for this week's storytelling assignment. They featured "fetishes" which are spirits as well as physical objects infused with their powers. Stories featuring these include The Fetish Sunga, The Fight Between Two Fetishes, and The Fetish of Chilunga.  In The Fetish Sunga, a female fetish gets involved with the narrator's uncle and makes him a huge meal which he has trouble interpreting and says the smell alone satisfies him. However, when she presses him to eat and drink, he only drinks the wine which hurts her feelings so she deprives him of his ability to speak. In The Fetish of Chilunga, a male fetish named Boio who speaks both human and bird. One day, when a woman is out and about, she tells Boio to quiet down, angering him. He binds her hands in invisible rope, this leads to a strange practice of binding the hands of women who are sold as brides to ugly men until they consent to he marriage. They also involved women with powers of vision through dreams, guidance, and necromancy. The stories also feature gods and goddesses with supernatural powers. It seemed that all sorts of objects could be imbued with magic or supernatural powers, also many different types of characters could use magic. Characters like regular wives, gods/goddesses, and animals could all have powers. Many used their powers for good, it did not really seem that there were many stories involving a lot of black magic or evil-doing associated with those powers. Sure, some tomfoolery went down and some bad was done, but overall I felt like the stories this unit used magic and the supernatural to add to the fun of the story. It was great.

Week 7 Reading Diary B

This week I decided to read the Stories from the Congo unit from the un-textbook which includes stories taken from Notes on the Folklore of the Fjort by Richard Edward Dennett (1898). The following for my favorites from this week's overall readings so my reading diary B for this week will be focusing on these.

How The Wives Restored Their Husband To Life

• So, there's this guy named Nenpetro and he has 3 wives: Ndoza'ntu (the Dreamer), Songa'nzila (the Guide), and Fulla Fulla (the Raiser of the Dead)
• Nenpetro kills an antelope and gives it to his wives who gobble it up. Soon, however, they are complaining of hunger again. Nenpetro then goes out and kills a monkey for them, they eat it, but are still hungry. He can't believe their hunger so he goes out to hunt an ox for his wives for surely an ox will satisfy their hunger. He finds a group of 3 oxen eating and picks one out of the bunch. He shoots the ox and is reloading when one of the other oxen charges Nenpetro and kills him.
• Back in town, the wives grew hungry and began calling out for their husband but he never came back. Ndoza'ntu had a dream that Nenpetro had died after killing an ox. Soon enough they set out and found his body. Fulla Fulla gathered herbs and plants to raise Nenpetro from the dead then the 3 wives began quarreling. They wanted to know whose hut he would go to first after rising from the cold grip of death. They decided to settle the quarrel by each cooking a pot of food and letting him choose which pot of food to eat first. Whoever's food he chose, would be the wife whose hut he visited first. 2 of them used chicken, but Fulla Fulla used pig. Nenpetro chose Fulla Fulla's food and explained to the them that Ndoza'ntu dreamt of his death and Songa'nzila showed them the way to his body, but without Fulla Fulla's gift he would not be able to eat anyone's food so her gift was the greatest. Many agreed with him, but the wives said he should have taken food from each pot and combined it all into one bowl instead of choosing. 

How Gazelle Got Married

My Hat is a Very Good Hat

from Animal Capshunz, found on Vayagato

• Now Nenpetro has 2 wives and they both give birth to girls. Because they were wealthy they decided to give their daughters to the two men who could figure out their names (Lunga and Lenga). 
• This dude Nsassi and his dog come up and he asks for their hands in marriage. He is rejected because he does not know their names. The dog feels hella bad for him so he stayed behind when Nsassi left and heard Nenpetro call his daughters by their names. He runs back to his master and says he will tell him if he pays him. Nsassi kills a pig and gives it to the dog who tells him the daughters' names. 
• They celebrated fully then set out to claim the prizes. However, they got too drunk and forgot the names so the dog had to go back but then it's all good and Nsassi gets his brides.

Week 7 Storytelling

The Three Witch Wives 

Witch Paper Dolls

by BirdandFlower on Live Journal

Once upon a time there was a wealthy hunter named William who lived happily with this three wives, Doza (the Enchantress of Dreams), Song (the Spirit Guide), and Fulla (the Necromancer). His wives were three of the most powerful witches in all the land. They were known far and wide for their abilities and William loved them very much. To him, they were the most beautiful women of all, but they did have one flaw...

They ate like a pack of lions! These women could EAT! Each day William was tasked with procuring food for his hungry harem. It was a timely task that took much of his day and all of his energy, but he did not mind because he loved them and the food he caught was cooked into amazing meals he was welcome to enjoy. 

One particular day came to pass that William was particularly drained and worn out from his hunting that he thought he simply could hunt no more. He flopped into a chair and guzzled water, sweat pouring down his face from the day’s hunt of a particularly large deer and a cow. He had shot and carried the creatures from miles away so his wives could sate their hunger, yet still they pleaded for more and complained of their aching bellies. Taking pity and hoping to please them, William mustered up the strength for one last hunt. Surely, an ox would satisfy his brides! 

Musk Ox

By Jonathan Woodward, found on his studio website

William spent hours tracking a small group of oxen up and down the hills of the countryside before finally they stopped to graze. William stalked the group, studying them and picking out which ox to take home. He made his choice, aimed his rifle, and pulled the trigger… BANG! The gun went off and his target fell to the ground, a perfect shot. William was so elated and the rush of endorphins and exhaustion made him fatally slow as he realized he was about to be charged by the alpha male of the ox trio. He reached for his gun and floundered as his trembling hands tried to load the bullets, but it was too late and the ox ran him down, goring him, and throwing William 5 feet into the air. William’s body laid broken on the dirty ground.

Back at their shared home, the witch wives begin to worry. 

“Where is William? He’s been gone for hours!”

“I’m starving! He never takes so long!”

“What should we do?”

The wives tried not to panic; maybe he was just resting for the night, after all, he’d been out all day hunting for them. They slept, though not well, and as the sun came up, Doza rose from her bed crying and screaming, “William is dead! I saw him! I saw him in my dream! He’s been killed by an ox!” After gasps and shock, the three quickly got everything together and headed out to find their husband. This is where Song’s gift came in, as soon as the trio stepped foot on the open road, her third eye opened and she could see the way to their husband. Song led them directly to their husband and they fell on their knees around him in sorrow. 

However, Fulla knew they cried in vain. She began gathering plants and herbs and she laid them all around William. She then gave him a bouquet of herbs and began chanting over his body. In no time, William was back to his old self and the trio embraced happily before retiring, ox in hand for a grand banquet in his honor. 

Author's Note:

This week I began reading the Tales from the Congo unit which takes its stories from Notes on the Folklore of the Fjort by Richard Edward Dennett (1898), but only read the first two stories before the due date. However, I really enjoyed the story of How the Wives Restored the Husband to Life. It was a lot of fun to read and unlike many of the stories I've read lately, actually ended on a positive note. I did change some of the original story, but not much. The only thing I really changed is the end, in the actual story the wives end up quarreling over whose hut their husband should visit first when he awakens. They decide that in order to settle this fairly, they would each cook a pot of food and present it to him. Then, he would choose which to eat first and therefore choose who to visit first. He chooses Fulla Fulla's food because without the Dreamer, they might not have known what happened to him and without the Guide, they might not have found him, but without Fulla Fulla's gift, he wouldn't be able to eat any of the food they'd made. The wives could see his point but wished he would have taken a bit of each and put it into one bowl before eating it. Anyway, I made mine more kid-friendly and like a storybook. I hope it seemed easy and fun to read!