Initiation: What Have We Gained and What Have We Lost?

We went through various types of initiation in class. Luckily, girls don't have to be locked up in a dark room to be acknowledged as a woman, and a boy doesn't have to get raped to prove be a real man. The world has evolved by civilization. However, people today are gradually losing the tenaciousness to fight for themselves in adversity.  

Even though people in the ancient times had to go through a series of pain for approval, the honor and pride they received after the pain were priceless. People nowadays are taking the technology and all the conveniences for granted because they are born with them. We are so used to having norm materials just provided for us that we lose the morale to battle.

Think about giving birth, as an example. Has anyone ever wonder why it is so nature for mothers to love their children? Since the ancient times, women have always had this fear of someone may steal away their children. This is why when babies burst out crying at night the mothers are always awakened, while the fathers are deep asleep. In my opinion, one of the reasons why women treasure their babies so much is because they had to go through the pain of giving birth.  

Also, the society does not expect much from the young generation any more. Teachers praise their students so easily they even say “Good job!”when the kid gets a C. The educators try to make every child feel confident by giving them the same prizes. Children who actually work hard don’t see the need of trying, and students who are lazy just stay the way they are.

I am glad that males not longer have to go through humiliation and unbearable torment in order to get married, but because we can marry someone so easily today, many look at marriage as a trifling matter. The divorce rate is incredibly high in every culture, and I wish people can start concerning marriages more seriously.

The Hero Pattern

I looked up the 22 patterns of mythological heroes and found this site. Incidents that often happen in heroic myths including No.1 hero's mother is a royal virgin; 2. his father is a king...etc.
http://department.monm.edu/classics/courses/clas230/mythdocuments/heropattern/

The Storyteller

People judge others by their physical appearances, everyone does. Some do it purposely and some do it without even knowing. Admit it or not, almost everyone judges people by the first impression. We certainly know nothing about someone when we first encounter this person. Thus, we use all the imagination, to frame a background, a story, or an assumption upon this pure figure. We often cast the scenes from the movies on someone we don't know. This is what happened to Saul and the Machiguengas culture he loved.

"But I was really thinking about his birthmark. Why had he suddenly alluded to it while explaining to me his feelings about the Amazonian Indians? (Llosa 29)"

Many can't really understand Saul's act of leaving a good job to be a professional "Storyteller". Maybe as his father says, one of the reasons is the fact he is Jewish. Maybe he understands the importance of a non-mainstream culture; a culture that has been doubted and unaccepted in history. He could connect with the Machiguengas. Maybe deep down, Saul pities himself for being born the way he is. Saul is a kind-hearted person who never gets angry at anyone or anything, yet always being misunderstood because of his ugliness. And the Amazonians are often misunderstood because of the clothes they wear, their beliefs, and their rituals. People in the "real world" only recognizes that the Machiguengas are different, but don't realize they are just normal people like them.

"A picture sque horro, an aberration that other people ridiculed or pitied without granting is the respect and dignity deserved only by those whose physical appearence, customs, and beliefs were 'normal.' (Llosa 30)"

Even though Saul himself denies it, but I suppose that is why Saul wants to help these people who are being misunderstood as monsters like him. By doing so, maybe he hopes the society and history doesn't repeat their mistakes.

However, in my opinion, culture is a complicated thing mixed with good and bad. There are various dimensions to each culture. A custom doesn't have to lose its purity to civilization, and traditions are not necessarily burdens to the modern world. There has to be a compromise in order to keep a culture a live and  to keep up with the progress of the times.

(Sorry if I misunderstood anything, this book was way hard for me to read...)

American Horror Story Season 03 Witches and History

So I started watching American Horror Story season three yesterday, and I have to say boy this is my favorite season of all! It connects the figure of Delphine Lalaurie, known as Madame Lalaurie, with America's witch history. She was a socialite, and also a serial killer who tortured her African slaves to death. In the very beginning of the episode, she tortured an African slave by transforming him into a half man half bull because of her obsession of Minotaur. She put on a bull head on him and stitched it as a part of his body. Her torment to this guy also led to her own death. The reason why I like this show is that there is a series of initiation, but they are all volt lines, and at the end you'll realize, they are all somehow connected.

    

Calasso Page 8

      Calasso began the book by telling Europa's story, and traces back to many other stories which most of them are about abductions. This relates to the three levels of relationships with the gods. Violence and rape are wrong, but without abduction and rape there would be no story, however, question is, why are these mythologies led by abductions instead of other forms of violence, or couldn't these mythologies be more romantic? In other words, why couldn't people make these stories sound like the women fall in love with their kidnappers and willingly have their children, then become gods?

      In fact, I think these women actually more or less fell in love with their kidnappers, either consciously or unconsciously. In page 8 of "The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony," Herodotus noted: "To abduct women is considered the action of scoundrels, but to worry about abducted women is the reaction of fools." He stated that, any man who is smart wouldn't give a thought about the women who were abducted, because clearly if they didn't want to be abducted, they wouldn't have been.

      I certainly agree with this idea, because I think back then, women cherish their virginity so much(at least in Asian culture) that they would even kill themselves if they get raped. I believe in the ancient time, many women would rather be paragons of chastity than to live with a corrupted body. However,despite anyone who is mortal would have the fear of death, Greek stories often focus on revealing the ugly side of human beings, thus the gods were portrayed human-like. Rape, abductions, and violence are the essential elements to make these mythologies special and eternal.

      I think what Herodotus was also trying to say was, men who were concern about those abducted women could cause troubles. For example, the abduction of Helen led to the Trojan War, and the abduction of Persephone caused the season of winder, darn winter!    " “

Trees--The Connection Between Heaven and Earth

Today, my roommate was playing a Chinese video game called Legend of the Ancient Sword. I asked her what the story plot was. She said:"in the ancient world, Tianzhu collapsed and caused this big chaos, so everyone had to move..."
"Wait wait, what is Tianzhu?"
She rolled and eyes, "Well, tian means sky...and zhu means pillars..."
"No! I don't need you to teach me Chinese! I know Tianzhu means a pillar to the heaven, but what does it mean in specific?" I cut her off.
"Trees! A heaven pillar stands for trees, you know? Those ones we have in front of our aparment?"
Even though my roommate treated me like a three year old, I did all of a sudden realize that the concept of "trees are the connection between heaven and Earth" isn't only used in Greek or western mythologies.
And I also realized I forgot to post something...

And the legend of the Ancient Sword ↓

Happy MoonCake Festival

Today, Chinese people all over the world are celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival, AKA the MoonCake Festival. This is a holiday which people get together with their families, enjoy the moon shine, and share their mooncakes.

 ←This is a picture shot at my hometown. People gathered with their loved ones by the riverside to appreciate the moon.It is a holiday to thank, appreciate, and pray.

  

       ↓And this is what mooncakes look like.

The Chinese have been celebrating this holiday since Shang Dynasty, which is 16th to 10th Century BCE. I feel like there is always a story behind every holiday, such as Christmas and Thanksgiving. So of course there also is a myth behind this Mid-Autumn Festival.

There were originally ten suns in the sky. The lands were very dry thus people hardly had anything to eat. There was a strong man called Houyi, he was so strong that he took aim and shot nine of the suns. He left only one sun so there was enough light for everyone. The gods were happy, so they rewarded Houyi with an elixir so he could have an immortal life. Which means if he took the elixir, he would fly to the heaven and become a god. 

Houyi did not want to become a god, though. He had a beautiful wife and he just wanted an ordinary life. However, the emperor heard about the immortal pill and wanted it badly, so he sent assassins to Houyi's house. When the assassin arrived, only Chang'e, Houyi's wife was home. She fought with the killer but she was too weak;among confusion and panic she swallowed the exlixir. That was when Houyi came home, and helplessly saw his wife flying off to the moon. Chang'e flew further and further until her husband could no longer see her. 

Ever since then, Chang'e, the beautiful goddess had been living in the cold palace of the moon. Every August 15th, Houyi always brought flowers and cakes to his wife, but he had no where to go. He always talked to the moon and hoped that one day his wife would return.