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Trickster
In mythology and the study of folklore and religion, a trickster is a character in a story (god, goddess, spirit, human or anthropomorphisation) who exhibits a great degree of intellect or secret knowledge and uses it to play tricks or otherwise disobey normal rules and defy conventional behavior. Mythology Tricksters, as archetypal characters, appear in the myths of many different cultures. Lewis Hyde describes the trickster as a "boundary-crosser".Hyde, Lewis. ''Trickster Makes This World: Mischief, Myth, and Art''. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1998. The trickster crosses and often breaks both physical and societal rules: Tricksters "violate principles of social and natural order, playfully disrupting normal life and then re-establishing it on a new basis." Often, this bending and breaking of rules takes the form of tricks and thievery. Tricksters can be cunning or foolish or both. The trickster openly questions, disrupts and mocks authority. Many cultures have ta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anansi
Anansi or Ananse ( ; literally translates to ''spider'') is a character in Akan religion and folklore associated with stories, wisdom, knowledge, and trickery, most commonly depicted as a spider. Anansi is a character who reflects the culture that he originates from. The Akan people are a close-knit people from present-day southern Ghana who rely on social order, which translates through the stories that come out of their culture. In many ways, Anansi is a paradoxical character whose actions defy this social order, but in incorporating rebellion and doubt into faith, his folkloric presence strengthens it. Taking the role of a trickster, he is also one of the most important characters of West African mythology, West African, African-American folktales, African American and West Indian folklore. These spider tales were spread to the Americas via the Atlantic slave trade. Anansi is best known for his ability to outsmart and triumph over more powerful opponents through his use ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hermes
Hermes (; ) is an Olympian deity in ancient Greek religion and mythology considered the herald of the gods. He is also widely considered the protector of human heralds, travelers, thieves, merchants, and orators. He is able to move quickly and freely between the worlds of the mortal and the divine aided by his winged sandals. Hermes plays the role of the psychopomp or "soul guide"—a conductor of souls into the afterlife. In myth, Hermes functions as the emissary and messenger of the gods, and is often presented as the son of Zeus and Maia, the Pleiad. He is regarded as "the divine trickster", about which the '' Homeric Hymn to Hermes'' offers the most well-known account. Hermes's attributes and symbols include the herma, the rooster, the tortoise, satchel or pouch, talaria (winged sandals), and winged helmet or simple petasos, as well as the palm tree, goat, the number four, several kinds of fish, and incense. However, his main symbol is the ''caduceus'', a wi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Br'er Rabbit
Br'er Rabbit ( ; an abbreviation of ''Brother Rabbit'', also spelled Brer Rabbit) is a central figure in an oral tradition passed down by African Americans, African-Americans of the Southern United States and African descendants in the Caribbean, notably Afro-Bahamians and Turks and Caicos Islanders. He is a trickster who succeeds by his wits rather than by brawn, provoking authority figures and bending social mores as he sees fit. Popular adaptations of the character, originally recorded by Joel Chandler Harris in the 19th century, include Walt Disney Pictures, Walt Disney Productions' ''Song of the South'', in 1946. African origins The Br'er Rabbit stories can be traced back to trickster figures in Africa, particularly the African savanna hare, hare that figures prominently in the storytelling traditions in West Africa, West, Central Africa, Central, and Southern Africa. Among the Temne people, Temne people in Sierra Leone, they tell children stories of a talking rabbit. Oth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Culture Hero
A culture hero is a mythological hero specific to some group (Culture, cultural, Ethnic group, ethnic, Religion, religious, etc.) who changes the world through invention or Discovery (observation), discovery. Although many culture heroes help with the creation of the world, most culture heroes are important because of their effect on the world after creation. A typical culture hero might be credited as the Theft of fire, discoverer of fire, agriculture, Folk music, songs, tradition, law, or Religious founder, religion, and is usually the most important legendary figure of a people, sometimes as the founder of its ruling dynasty. Culture heroes in mythology History of a culture hero The term "culture hero" was originated by historian Kurt Breysig, who used the German word ''heilbringer,'' which translates to ''savior''. Over the years, "culture hero" has been interpreted in many ways. Older interpretations by Breysig, Paul Ehrenreich, and Wilhelm Schmidt (linguist), Wilhelm Sch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clown
A clown is a person who performs physical comedy and arts in an Improvisational theatre#Comedy, open-ended fashion, typically while wearing distinct cosmetics, makeup or costume, costuming and reversing social norm, folkway-norms. The art of performing as a clown is known as clowning or buffoonery, and the term "clown" may be used synonymously with predecessors like jester, joker, buffoon, fool, or harlequin. Clowns have a diverse tradition with significant variations in costume and performance. The most recognisable clowns are those that commonly perform in the circus, characterized by colorful wigs, red noses, and oversized shoes. However, clowns have also played roles in theater and folklore, like the court jesters of the Middle Ages and the jesters and ritual clowns of various indigenous cultures. Their performances can elicit a range of emotions, from humor and laughter to fear and discomfort, reflecting complex societal and psychological dimensions. Through the centuries, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Loki
Loki is a Æsir, god in Norse mythology. He is the son of Fárbauti (a jötunn) and Laufey (mythology), Laufey (a goddess), and the brother of Helblindi and Býleistr. Loki is married to the goddess Sigyn and they have two sons, Narfi (son of Loki), Narfi or Nari and Váli (son of Loki), Váli. By the jötunn Angrboða, Loki is the father of Hel (being), Hel, the wolf Fenrir and the world serpent Jörmungandr. In the form of a mare, Loki was impregnated by the stallion Svaðilfari and gave birth to the eight-legged horse Sleipnir. Like other gods, Loki is a Shapeshifting, shape shifter and in separate sources appears in the form of a salmon, a mare, a Fly (animal), fly, and possibly an elderly woman named Þökk (Old Norse 'thanks'). While sometimes friendly with the gods, Loki engineers the death of the beloved god Baldr. For this, Odin's specially engendered son Váli binds Loki with the entrails of one of his sons, where he writhes in pain. In the ''Prose Edda'', this son, Nar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Odysseus
In Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology, Odysseus ( ; , ), also known by the Latin variant Ulysses ( , ; ), is a legendary Greeks, Greek king of Homeric Ithaca, Ithaca and the hero of Homer's Epic poetry, epic poem, the ''Odyssey''. Odysseus also plays a key role in Homer's ''Iliad'' and other works in that same epic cycle. As the son of Laertes (father of Odysseus), Laërtes and Anticlea, husband of Penelope, and father of Telemachus, Acusilaus, and Telegonus (son of Odysseus), Telegonus, Odysseus is renowned for his intellectual brilliance, guile, and versatility (''polytropos''), and he is thus known by the epithet Odysseus the Cunning (). He is most famous for his ''nostos'', or "homecoming", which took him ten eventful years after the decade-long Trojan War. Name, etymology, and epithets The form ''Odys(s)eus'' is used starting in the epic period and through the classical period, but various other forms are also found. In vase inscriptions, there are the varian ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
ǀKaggen
ǀKaggen (more accurately ǀKágge̥n or ǀKaggən, sometimes corrupted to Cagn and sometimes called Mantis) is a demiurge and folk hero of the San people of southern Africa. He is a trickster god who can shape shift, usually taking the form of a praying mantis but also a bull eland, a louse, a snake, and a caterpillar.Bleek (1875A brief account of Bushman folklore and other texts/ref> Shapeshifting ǀKaggen is a trickster who is able to shape shift into the form of any animal.Stookey, p.184 He is most frequently represented as a praying mantis but also takes the form of a bull eland, a louse, a snake, and a caterpillar.Hastings, p.522Meletinsky, p.169 His wife, ǀHúnntuǃattǃatte̥n (sometimes spelled as Coti), is represented as a marmot or rather a Cape hyrax and is known as the mother of bees.Moore, p.113Lewis-Williams (2000), p.143 Their adopted daughter is represented as a porcupine. Eland myth One of the first animals created by ǀKaggen, and his favourite, was the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shapeshifting
In mythology, folklore and speculative fiction, shapeshifting is the ability to physically transform oneself through unnatural means. The idea of shapeshifting is found in the oldest forms of totemism and shamanism, as well as the oldest existent literature and Epic poetry, epic poems such as the ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' and the ''Iliad''. The concept remains a common literary device in modern fantasy, children's literature and popular culture. Examples of shapeshifters are vampires and werewolves. Folklore and mythology Popular shapeshifting creatures in folklore are werewolf, werewolves and vampires (mostly of European, Canadian, and Native American/early American origin), ichchhadhari naag (shape-shifting cobra) of India, shapeshifting fox spirits of East Asia such as the huli jing of China, the obake of Japan, the Navajo skin-walkers, and gods, goddesses and demons and demonesses such as the Norse mythology, Norse Loki or the Greek mythology, Greek Proteus. Shapeshifting to th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Archetype
The concept of an archetype ( ) appears in areas relating to behavior, historical psychology, philosophy and literary analysis. An archetype can be any of the following: # a statement, pattern of behavior, prototype, "first" form, or a main model that other statements, patterns of behavior, and objects copy, emulate, or "merge" into. Informal synonyms frequently used for this definition include "standard example", "basic example", and the longer-form "archetypal example"; mathematical archetypes often appear as " canonical examples". # the Jungian psychology concept of an inherited unconscious predisposition, behavioral trait or tendency ("instinct") shared among the members of the species; as any behavioral trait the tendency comes to being by way of patterns of thought, images, affects or pulsions characterized by its qualitative likeness to distinct narrative constructs; unlike personality traits, many of the archetype's fundamental characteristics are shared in common with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anthropomorphism
Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics to abstract concepts such as nations, emotions, and natural forces, such as seasons and weather. Both have ancient roots as storytelling and artistic devices, and most cultures have traditional fables with anthropomorphized animals as characters. People have also routinely attributed human emotions and behavioral traits to wild as well as domesticated animals. Etymology Anthropomorphism and anthropomorphization derive from the verb form ''anthropomorphize'', itself derived from the Greek ''ánthrōpos'' (, "human") and ''morphē'' (, "form"). It is first attested in 1753, originally in reference to the heresy of applying a human form to the Christian God.''Oxford English Dictionary'', 1st ed. "anthropomorphism, ''n.''" Oxford University ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Praying Mantis
Mantises are an order (Mantodea) of insects that contains over 2,400 species in about 460 genera in 33 families. The largest family is the Mantidae ("mantids"). Mantises are distributed worldwide in temperate and tropical habitats. They have triangular heads with bulging eyes supported on flexible necks. Their elongated bodies may or may not have wings, but all mantodeans have forelegs that are greatly enlarged and adapted for catching and gripping prey; their upright posture, while remaining stationary with forearms folded, resembling a praying posture, has led to the common name praying mantis. The closest relatives of mantises are termites and cockroaches (Blattodea), which are all within the superorder Dictyoptera. Mantises are sometimes confused with stick insects ( Phasmatodea), other elongated insects such as grasshoppers ( Orthoptera), or other more distantly related insects with raptorial forelegs such as mantisflies ( Mantispidae) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
