Rabbits Everywhere and More Rabbit Lore

Since I am talking about rabbits today, Rabbits Everywhere by Alicia Ezpeleta is a great book about rabbits in general, not just the Easter variety. It discusses a lot of folklore and traditions. I'm including its original cover (which I own) and the newer one which may appear too precious to those wanting a reliable book about rabbits although it's not. To date, it is the best book about rabbits in world history that I have found. It is a coffee table book more than academic text, but the inside is not twee. Instead it is informational and beautiful with many wonderful images.

At once clever and foolish, brave and cowardly, cute and frightening, chaste and sexual, rabbits have represented almost every strength -- and weakness -- known to humankind. Rabbits Everywhere gathers some of the most cuddly, speedy, procreative, and ferocious rabbits ever seen. Alicia Ezpeleta explores the surprisingly complex lore and mystique surrounding rabbits, placing the animals in cultural, artistic, and popular context. The illustrations bring to life all the great hares of history: the Easter Bunny, the March Hare, Br'er Rabbit, Bugs Bunny, Roger Rabbit, and Harvey, to name but a few. Rabbits are also pictured in Egyptian hieroglyphs and medieval tapestries, on Roman coins and Art Deco posters, in fine jewelry and contemporary paintings -- and on carousels, all sorts of toys, and in classic children's books.

Also visit The Three Hares Project:

The Three Hares Project is researching and documenting an ancient symbol of three hares or rabbits running in a circle and joined by their ears which form a triangle at the centre of the design. The symbol is a puzzle for each creature appears to have two ears yet, between them, they share only three ears.

The Project has revealed the motif to be an extraordinary and ancient archetype, stretching across diverse religions and cultures, many centuries and many thousands of miles. It is part of the shared medieval heritage of Europe and Asia (Buddhism, Islam, Christianity and Judaism) yet still inspires creative work among contemporary artists.

The images shown here reveal the beauty of the design in varied contexts. The accompanying text highlights the remarkable story of the three hares.

And for a great online article, see The Symbolism of Rabbits and Hares by Terri Windling at Endicott Studio. (She references the Ezpeleta book, too.)

Rabbits have always been one of my favorite animals, if not my favorite, for reasons I'm still somewhat unsure of since the pop culture explanations do not fit me very well. I know they never frightened me as many other animals did due in part to my petless childhood home. I collected ceramic ones as a child and am still susceptible to those long, floppy ears. These days I appreciate the dichotomy of their symbolism and their rich history in folklore, too.

Easter Hare, Easter Bunny Origins & Eostre

"Madonna with Rabbit" by Titian

Yesterday I offered information about Easter Eggs, today we can read more about the Easter Bunny...

From Wikipedia:

The Easter Bunny is not an Easter symbol. Bringing Easter eggs seems to have its origins in Alsace and the Upper Rhineland, both then in the Holy Roman Empire, and southwestern Germany, where the practice was first recorded in a German publication in the early 1600s. The first edible Easter Bunnies were made in Germany during the early 1800s and were made of pastry and sugar.

The Easter Bunny was introduced to America by the German settlers who arrived in the Pennsylvania Dutch country during the 1700s. The arrival of the "O_ster Haws_e" (a phonetic transcription of a dialectal pronunciation of the German Osterhase) was considered one of "childhood's greatest pleasures," similar to the arrival of Kriist Kindle (from the German Christkindl) on Christmas Eve.

According to the tradition, children would build brightly colored nests, often out of caps and bonnets, in secluded areas of their homes. The "O_ster Haws_e" would, if the children had been good, lay brightly colored eggs in the nest. As the tradition spread, the nest has become the manufactured, modern Easter basket, and the placing of the nest in a secluded area has become the tradition of hiding baskets.

More from Wikipedia:

Eggs, like rabbits and hares, are fertility symbols of extreme antiquity. Since birds lay eggs and rabbits and hares give birth to large litters in the early spring, these became symbols of the rising fertility of the earth at the Vernal Equinox.

The saying "mad as a March hare" refers to the wild caperings of hares as the males fight over the females in the early spring, then attempt to mate with them. Since the females often rebuff the males' advances before finally submitting, the mating behavior often looks like a crazy dance; these fights led early observers to believe that the advent of spring made the hares "mad." This bold behavior makes the hares, normally timid and retiring animals, much more conspicuous to human observation in the spring.

Rabbits and hares are both prolific breeders. The females can conceive a second litter of offspring while still pregnant with the first. This phenomenon is known as superfetation. Lagomorphs mature sexually at an early age and can give birth to several litters a year (hence the sayings, "to breed like bunnies" or "multiply like rabbits"). It is therefore not surprising that rabbits and hares should become fertility symbols, or that their springtime mating antics should enter into Easter folklore.

From About.com:

Some of the confusion is dispelled by looking at the origin of the very word, "Easter." For all the pagan traditions associated with it, "Christmas" is at least easily recognizable as a Christian holiday, from its name alone. But Easter is named after Eastre, a pagan Saxon goddess!

Eastre (earlier, Eostre, derived from the Saxons' Germanic heritage) was the Anglo-Saxon name of a Teutonic goddess of dawn, spring and fertility. Our word, "east" is related to this deity's name. Her male consort was the Sun god, and the sun does rise, after all, at dawn and in the east. Rites of spring were celebrated in her honor at the vernal equinox (first day of spring). The first Sunday after the first full moon succeeding the vernal equinox was also sacred to her, and this pagan holiday was given her name -- Eastre. The full moon represented the "pregnant" phase of Eastre -- she was passing into the fertile season and giving birth to the Sun's offspring.

Eastre's symbols were the hare and the egg. Both represent fertility and, consequently, rebirth. Since rabbits are more common in most lands than hares, over time the rabbit has been substituted -- not without merit, since rabbits are notorious for their fertility. Thus was born the "Easter Rabbit" tradition.

And since we are all rather familiar with Jacob Grimm, you can read more about his writings about Eostre on Wikipedia, too, which I'll blockquote here:

In his 1882 Deutsche Mythologie, Jacob Grimm cites comparative evidence to reconstruct a potential continental Germanic goddess whose name would have been preserved in the Old High German name of Easter, Ôstarâ. Grimm is willing to take Bede's account at face value with the reasoning that "it would be uncritical to saddle this father of the church, who everywhere keeps heathenism at a distance, and tells us less of it than he knows, with the invention of these goddesses. There is nothing improbable in them, nay the first of them is justified by clear traces in the vocabularies of Germanic tribes."

Specifically regarding Eostra, Grimm continues that:

We Germans to this day call April ostermonat, and ôstarmânoth is found as early as Eginhart (temp. Car. Mag.). The great christian festival, which usually falls in April or the end of March, bears in the oldest of OHG. remains the name ôstarâ [...], it is mostly found in the plural, because two days [...] were kept at Easter. This Ostarâ, like the [Anglo-Saxon] Eástre, must in heathen religion have denoted a higher being, whose worship was so firmly rooted, that the christian teachers tolerated the name, and applied it to one of their own grandest anniversaries.

Grimm notes that "all of the nations bordering on us have retained the Biblical 'pascha'; even Ulphilas writes paska, not áustrô, though he must have known the word [...]." Grimm details that the Old High German adverb ôstar "expresses movement towards the rising sun", as did the Old Norse term austr, and potentially also Anglo-Saxon eástor and Gothic áustr. Grimm compares these terms to the identical Latin term auster. Grimm says that the cult of the goddess may have worshiped an Old Norse form, Austra, or that her cult may have already been extinct by the time of Christianization.

Grimm notes that in the Old Norse Prose Edda book Gylfaginning, a male being by the name of Austri is attested, who Grimm describes as a "spirit of light." Grimm comments that a female version would have been Austra, yet that the High German and Saxon tribes seem to have only formed Ostarâ and Eástre, feminine, and not Ostaro and Eástra, masculine. Grimm additionally speculates on the nature of the goddess and surviving folk customs that may have been associated with her in Germany:

Ostara, Eástre seems therefore to have been the divinity of the radiant dawn, of upspringing light, a spectacle that brings joy and blessing, whose meaning could be easily adapted by the resurrection-day of the christian's God. Bonfires were lighted at Easter and according to popular belief of long standing, the moment the sun rises on Easter Sunday morning, he gives three joyful leaps, he dances for joy [...]. Water drawn on the Easter morning is, like that at Christmas, holy and healing [...]; here also heathen notions seems to have grafted themselves on great christian festivals. Maidens clothed in white, who at Easter, at the season of returning spring, show themselves in clefts of the rock and on mountains, are suggestive of the ancient goddess [...].

Call for Papers: Anti-Tales: The Uses of Disenchantment

Anti-Tales: The Uses of Disenchantment

Call for Papers

“…most intellectual development depends upon new readings of old texts. I am all for putting new wine in old bottles, especially if the pressure of the new wine makes the old bottles explode…” - Angela Carter

An interdisciplinary research forum and subsequent publication of proceedings (Cambridge Scholars Publishing) based around the currently under-researched notion of the "anti-tale" to be held at the University of Glasgow, Thursday 12th - Friday 13th August 2010. Our confirmed plenary speaker is Dr. Anna Kérchy (Senior Assistant Professor, University of Szeged), and our resident artists will include Robert Powell (Edinburgh College of Art).

The anti-fairy tale has long existed as a shadow of the traditional fairy tale genre. First categorized as the "antimärchen" in Andre Jolles’ seminal Einfache Formen (c.1930), the anti-tale was found to be contemporaneous with even the oldest known examples of fairy tale collections. Rarely an outward opposition to the traditional form itself, the anti-tale takes aspects of the fairy tale genre and re-imagines, subverts, inverts, deconstructs or satirizes elements of them to present an alternate narrative interpretation, outcome or morality. Red Riding Hood may elope with the wolf. Or Bluebeard’s wife is not interested in his secret chamber. Snow White’s stepmother gives her own account of events and Cinderella does not exactly find the prince charming. The anti-fairy tale takes many forms. Some revisit and deconstruct familiar narratives (as above) or formulate new stories, characters and ever-afters, relying on and subverting familiar archetypes and plot devices. Following Jolles’ seminal, respected text, the subgenre of the anti-tale has become dominant, as writers such as Angela Carter, Neil Gaiman and Phillip Pullman, artists such as Kiki Smith, Anna Gaskell and Kara Walker, and filmmakers such as Matthew Bright and Jane Campion have produced a diverse collage of anti-tales. However, despite this creative surge, there has not been adequately attendant academic engagement with the genre. Respected academics such as Wolfgang Meider, John Pizer, Jack Zipes and Cristina Bacchilega, have all touched on the concept without developing it further – the concept being outside the parameters of their usual research interests. Following our current use, revival and redefinition of Jolles’ nomenclature we invite others to consider their research material through the critical lens of the anti-tale. We believe the concept to be exciting and under-developed, and that this project will stimulate a rich new investigative field of study.

This project is interdisciplinary in its scope, and our call goes out to a diverse range of disciplines including, but not limited to, scholars and students from: Literature, History of Art, Media/ Film Studies, Psychology, Creative Writing, Music. Our call for new research on "anti-tales" is intended to provoke creative, imaginative responses, though we are particularly interested in contributions on the following topics:

• The use of the anti-tale and disenchantment in children’s and/or adult’s literature
• Rewritings/ re-readings of the fairy tale
• Narrative voice in anti-tales; authorship and authority
• Dialogues between the creative and the critical
• Morality versus immorality
• Feminist interpretations
• Decolonizing the fairy tale; culture versus anti-culture? Context and politics
• New perspectives: new writers, new illustrators
• Pedagogy (lessons unlearnt)
• After “ever after”?

Please email abstracts of 300 words (max.) for 20 minute papers and C.V. to David Calvin (University of Ulster) and Catriona McAra (University of Glasgow): antitales@googlemail.com by 30th April 2010.

The website should be up and running in the next few weeks at http://www.gla.ac.uk/faculties/arts/graduateschool/events/anti-tales.

The Easter Egg Artists by Adrienne Adams

Since I posted about easter eggs today, I just had to reminisce with you over one of my favorite books as a child: The Easter Egg Artists by Adrienne Adams. I checked this book out over and over again from the library. The only book that rivaled it for my checkouts was Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans. Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst would have perhaps surpassed both, but I owned that one and didn't need to check it out. Now you know my three favorite picture books as a child. I had decent taste since two of these are still in print and the third, The Easter Egg Artists, should be! Fortunately, I own a copy and it takes place as the first book I ever special-ordered when I learned that was possible, once again long before the days of Amazon and such.


The short description: "The Abbotts, established Easter egg artists, let their son develop a style of his own when he shows interest in painting."

If you're not familiar with the book, the son ends up painting more than trees, such as a car, an airplane and a bridge. The decorations are intricate and fascinated me as a child. They still warm my heart today.


The illustrations are borrowed from a blog I follow, Vintage Kids' Books My Kid Loves, that also recently posted on the book. There are a few more pictures there, so click through to see them.

Easter Egg Folklore

Many children today are out hunting Easter Eggs which has inspired me to offer up the folklore of Easter Eggs.

From About.com:

Easter falls in the spring, the yearly time of renewal, when the earth renews itself after a long, cold winter. The word Easter comes to us from the Norsemen's Eostur, Eastar, Ostara, and Ostar, and the pagan goddess Eostre, all of which involve the season of the growing sun and new birth. The Easter Bunny arose originally as a symbol of fertility, due to the rapid reproduction habits of the hare and rabbit.

The ancient Egyptians, Persians, Phoenicians, and Hindus all believed the world began with an enormous egg, thus the egg as a symbol of new life has been around for eons. The particulars may vary, but most cultures around the world use the egg as a symbol of new life and rebirth. A notation in the household accounts of Edward I of England showed an expenditure of eighteen pence for 450 eggs to be gold-leafed and colored for Easter gifts. The first book to mention Easter eggs by name was written five hundred years ago. Yet, a North African tribe that had become Christian much earlier in time had a custom of coloring eggs at Easter. Long hard winters often meant little food, and a fresh egg for Easter was quite a prize. Later, Christians abstained from eating meat during the Lenten season prior to Easter. Easter was the first chance to enjoy eggs and meat after the long abstinence.

From The Holiday Spot which argues somewhat against the pagan attributions:

It is the influence of the traditional spring rites that made Easter so egg-special. And myths coming down to us from an incredibly distant past have shown man's relationship with the egg to be very deep seated one. This is caught in old Latin proverb: "Omne vivum ex ovo". This means "all life comes from an egg". Not just the Latin saying, eggs are just laid well over all corners of the world. From ancient India to Polynesia, from Iran, Greece, and Phonecia to Latvia, Estonia, and Finland, from Central America to the west coast of South America, there are reports of myths of the whole universe created out of an egg. Thus, it is not unusual that in almost all ancient cultures eggs had been held as an emblem of life. The concept of all living beings born from an egg is also a foundational concept of modern biology.

But how did eggs come to be associated with Easter?

Despite claims being made that Easter Eggs were originally pagan symbols, there is no solid evidence for this. It was not until the 18th Century that Jakob Grimm theorised a putative pagan connection to Easter Eggs with a goddess of his own whom he named Ostara, a suggested German version of Eostre.

At the Passover Seder, a hard-boiled egg dipped in salt water symbolizes both new life and the Passover sacrifice offered at the Temple in Jerusalem. The ancient Persians painted eggs for Nowrooz, their New Year celebration falling on the Spring Equinox. This tradition has continued every year on Nowrooz since ancient times.

In Christian times, the egg was a symbol of new life just as a chick might hatch from the egg. The Easter egg tradition may have celebrated the end of the privations of Lent. In the Medieval Europe, eggs were forbidden during Lent as well as other traditional fast days. During the strict Lenten fast of forty days no eggs were eaten. It was traditional to use up all of the household's eggs before Lent began, which established the tradition of Pancake Day. This was because, in Christian times, the egg was a symbol of new life just as a chick might hatch from the egg. Eggs were viewed as symbols of new life and fertility through the ages. It is believed that for this reason many ancient cultures, including the Ancient Egyptians, Persians, and Romans, used eggs during their spring festivals. In Eastern Christianity, both meat and dairy are still prohibited during the fast, and eggs are seen as "dairy" (a foodstuff that could be taken from an animal without shedding its blood). That is the reason why eggs laid during that time were often boiled or otherwise preserved.

It was during Easter that the consumption of eggs resumed after the strict Lenten fast. Eggs were thus a mainstay of Easter meals, and a prized Easter gift for children and servants. And this is probably the reason why eggs came to be associated with Easter.

From InfoPlease:

Different Traditions

Orthodox Christians in the Middle East and in Greece painted eggs bright red to symbolize the blood of Christ. Hollow eggs (created by piercing the shell with a needle and blowing out the contents) were decorated with pictures of Christ, the Virgin Mary, and other religious figures in Armenia.

Germans gave green eggs as gifts on Holy Thursday, and hung hollow eggs on trees. Austrians placed tiny plants around the egg and then boiled them. When the plants were removed, white patterns were created.

Artistic Creations

The most elaborate Easter egg traditions appear to have emerged in Eastern Europe. In Poland and Ukraine, eggs were often painted silver and gold. Pysanky (to design or write) eggs were created by carefully applying wax in patterns to an egg. The egg was then dyed, wax would be reapplied in spots to preserve that color, and the egg was boiled again in other shades. The result was a multi-color striped or patterned egg.

For further reading, An Egg at Easter: A Folklore Study By Venetia Newall is out of print but available used or perhaps through your favorite library.

(The image came from Southern Mamas.)

Off Topic: Free Download of "Stole My Heart" by Little & Ashley

This is off topic, but it's free and won't take long. The song featured on Amazon's Kindle commercials (I've seen them during Big Bang Theory the last few weeks) is "Stole My Heart" by Little & Ashley. The song is free for downloading off Amazon (where the MP3 isn't DRMed like it is on iTunes) for a short time, I don't know how long.

I like the commercial and the song myself, so I was happy to find it a free download. I love the way different reading "adventures" are portrayed. I love my Kindle, too. I was reading a regular paper novel last night and wishing it was on my Kindle instead when I was marking text and trying to find a comfortable reading position.

Kindle or not, these commercials promote reading in a fun way. Wish we had more like these...

And here's the commercial with the song:



And the first one using the same theme:



And this is another video--not a Kindle commercial--using the same stop motion technique that has some fantasy imagery that is quite fun:



And while we're here, don't miss this one:

New Book: Beyond Adaptation: Essays on Radical Transformations of Original Works

New this month: Beyond Adaptation: Essays on Radical Transformations of Original Works edited by Phyllis Frus and Christy Williams.

Description from the publisher:

Some film and novel revisions go so far beyond adaptation that they demand a new designation. This critical collection explores movies, plays, essays, comics and video games that supersede adaptation to radically transform their original sources. Fifteen essays investigate a variety of texts that rework everything from literary classics to popular children’s books, demonstrating how these new, stand-alone creations critically engage their sources and contexts. Particular attention is paid to parody, intertextuality, and fairy-tale transformations in the examination of these works, which occupy a unique narrative and creative space.

And as always, because this is what I usually find the most important information before I buy a book like this, here is the table of contents:

Acknowledgments vii
Introduction: Making the Case for Transformation 1

1. Borrowing a Melody: Jane Campion’s The Piano and Intertextuality
PHYLLIS FRUS 19

2. Adaptation, The Orchid Thief, and the Subversion of Hollywood Conventions
DEVIN HARNER 31

3. Historical Figures Transformed: Free Enterprise and I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem
MARNI GAUTHIER 42

4. Post-Colonial Transformation: The Rejection of English in Gavin Hood’s Tsotsi
ANNE M. REEF 56

5. Transforming Great Expectations: Dickens, Cuarón, and the Bildungsroman
ANTJE S. ANDERSON 69

6. A Fuller Statement of the Case: Mary Reilly and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
LAURIE F. LEACH 83

7. Transforming Shakespeare: Neil Gaiman and The Sandman
JULIA ROUND 95

8. On the Trail of the Butterfly: D. H. Hwang and Transformation
DEBORAH L. ROSS 111

9. Wicked and Wonderful Witches: Narrative and Gender Negotiations from The Wizard of Oz to Wicked
ALISSA BURGER 123

10. “Wonderland’s become quite strange”: From Lewis Carroll’s Alice to American McGee’s Alice
CATHLENA MARTIN 133

11. Stories to Live By: Re-Framing Storytelling in the Arabian Nights Miniseries
JENNIFER ORME 144

12. Mulan: Disney’s Hybrid Heroine
LAN DONG 156

13. Mass-Marketing “Beauty”: How a Feminist Heroine Became an Insipid Disney Princess
MARC DIPAOLO 168

14. Four Times Upon a Time: “Snow White” Retold
STELLA BOLAKI 181

15. Mermaid Tales on Screen: Splash, The Little Mermaid, and Aquamarine
CHRISTY WILLIAMS 194

About the Contributors 207
Index 211

Thankfully, I received a review copy of this title from the editors since I was unaware of it until they contacted me. I am delighted that with so many fairy tale movies in production and near release, there is also a new peak of scholarship on fairy tale (and fantasy) films. I'm also sure many students can rejoice, too, as they search for resources and topics for papers.

The last five articles were of particular interest to me. I just rewatched Aquamarine a few weeks ago with my niece and was more attuned to the Little Mermaid influences than I had been previously for some reason. I haven't seen Splash in years and years, but reading the article made me want to again just to search for the Little Mermaid nuances.

Also, to be clear, not all of the articles are about film adaptations although many of the article titles and even the book cover may give that impression. The article on Snow White discusses four Snow Whites in print: Snow White by Anne Sexton, Snow White by Olga Broumas, The Snow Child by Angela Carter and The Tale of the Apple by Emma Donoghue.

Of course, the article on Belle from Disney's Beauty and the Beast (which will be rereleased this fall on DVD and Blu-ray) will be of particular interest to many SurLaLune visitors. The article discusses the dichotomy between the Belle in the film and the one mass marketed as part of the Disney Princess money making machine. (Wonder if Rapunzel will join the ranks although she's now Tangled?)

The Mulan article also specifically discusses Disney.

Finally, as a reminder if you are interested in film studies and fairy tales, Jack Zipes's The Enchanted Screen: A History of Fairy Tales on Film will be available this summer.

The Beastly Bride

Today is the release day for The Beastly Bride: Tales of the Animal People edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling.

I haven't seen a copy yet--I just received the email that my copy has shipped--but I try to be mostly timely with the reminders and announcements of new titles.

Here's the publisher's description:

What do werewolves, vampires, and the Little Mermaid have in common? They are all shapechangers. In The Beastly Bride, acclaimed editors Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling bring together original stories and poems from a stellar lineup of authors including Peter S. Beagle, Ellen Kushner, Jane Yolen, Lucius Shepard, and Tanith Lee, as well as many new, diverse voices. Terri Windling provides a scholarly, yet accessible introduction, and Charles Vess’s decorations open each story. From Finland to India, the Pacific Northwest to the Hamptons, shapechangers are part of our magical landscape—and The Beastly Bride is sure to be one of the most acclaimed anthologies of the year.

A Kirkus Review:

Readers of a Datlow/Windling anthology have certain expectations: that the thick volume will include stories by writers both known and new; that headpieces for each tale will be Vess's sinuously evocative drawings; that a fully formed introduction will lay out the collection's parameters; that notes and a bit of biography will follow each story; and that an excellent bibliography will be included. The 22 writers include Jane Yolen, Ellen Kushner, Midori Snyder, Tanith Lee and Peter S. Beagle, among others. Delia Sherman's "The Selkie Speaks" allows a seal maiden to tell her own tale; Terra L. Gearhart-Serna brings a trickster's sly voice and a little Spanish into her first published writing, "Coyote and Valarosa." Marly Youmans turns to glassmaking and the Blue Ridge Mountains for the intensely romantic "The Salamander's Fire." The three interwoven motifs of these tales, inspired by many cultures, are beings who shape-shift between animal and human of their own will, who are transformed as a curse or enchantment and who are both human and animal yet wholly neither. Rich reading that meets the editors' high standards. (Fantasy/short stories. 12 & up)

Table of Contents:

The Beastly Bride and Other Tales of the Animal People
Preface by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling
Introduction by Terri Windling

Island Lake by E. Catherine Tobler
The Puma’s Daughter by Tanith Lee
Map of Seventeen by Christopher Barzak
The Selkie Speaks by Delia Sherman
Bear’s Bride by Johanna Sinisalo
The Abominable Child’s Tale by Carol Emshwiller
The Hikikomori by Hiromi Goto
The Comeuppance of Creegus Maxin by Gregory Frost
Ganesha by Jeffrey Ford
The Elephant’s Bride by Jane Yolen
The Children of Cadmus by Ellen Kushner
The White Doe Mourns Her Childhood by Jeanine Hall Gailey
The White Doe’s Love Song by Jeanine Hall Gailey
The White Doe Decides by Jeanine Hall Gailey
Coyote and Valorosa by Terra L. Gearheart
One Thin Dime by Stewart Moore
The Monkey Bride by Midori Snyder
Pishaach by Shweta Narayan
The Salamander Fire by Marly Youmans
The Margay’s Children by Richard Bowes
Thumbleriggery and Fledglings by Steve Berman
The Flock by Lucius Shepard
The Children of the Shark God by Peter Beagle
Rosina by Nan Fry
Further Reading

This is the fourth volume in the Mythic Fiction series by Datlow and Windling, following The Green Man: Tales from the Mythic Forest, The Faery Reel: Tales from the Twilight Realm and The Coyote Road: Trickster Tales.

But these are not all the books they've edited. To see a more complete list, visit Fairy Tale Anthologies edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling.

Happy All Fool's Day

No April Fooling here today. I'm either not creative enough or don't wish to fool you, but I didn't want to ignore the day either. So we'll take a folkloric approach to it.

From Wikipedia:

April Fools' Day or All Fools' Day is a day celebrated in various countries on April 1. The day is marked by the commission of hoaxes and other practical jokes of varying sophistication on friends, family members, enemies, and neighbors, or sending them on a fool's errand, the aim of which is to embarrass the gullible. Traditionally, in some countries, such as the UK, Australia, and South Africa the jokes only last until noon, and someone who plays a trick after noon is called an "April Fool".[1] Elsewhere, such as in France, Ireland, Italy, South Korea, Japan, Russia, The Netherlands, Brazil, Canada, and the U.S., the jokes last all day. The earliest recorded association between April 1 and foolishness can be found in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (1392). Many writers suggest that the restoration of January 1 as New Year's Day in the 16th century was responsible for the creation of the holiday, but this theory does not explain earlier references.

From Infoplease:

Ancient cultures, including those of the Romans and Hindus, celebrated New Year's Day on or around April 1. It closely follows the vernal equinox (March 20th or March 21st.) In medieval times, much of Europe celebrated March 25, the Feast of Annunciation, as the beginning of the new year.

In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII ordered a new calendar (the Gregorian Calendar) to replace the old Julian Calendar. The new calendar called for New Year's Day to be celebrated Jan. 1. That year, France adopted the reformed calendar and shifted New Year's day to Jan. 1. According to a popular explanation, many people either refused to accept the new date, or did not learn about it, and continued to celebrate New Year's Day on April 1. Other people began to make fun of these traditionalists, sending them on "fool's errands" or trying to trick them into believing something false. Eventually, the practice spread throughout Europe.

There are at least two difficulties with this explanation. The first is that it doesn't fully account for the spread of April Fools' Day to other European countries. The Gregorian calendar was not adopted by England until 1752, for example, but April Fools' Day was already well established there by that point. The second is that we have no direct historical evidence for this explanation, only conjecture, and that conjecture appears to have been made more recently.

********

It is worth noting that many different cultures have had days of foolishness around the start of April, give or take a couple of weeks. The Romans had a festival named Hilaria on March 25, rejoicing in the resurrection of Attis. The Hindu calendar has Holi, and the Jewish calendar has Purim. Perhaps there's something about the time of year, with its turn from winter to spring, that lends itself to lighthearted celebrations.

Another site that explains well for the elementary and middle school set: April Fool's Day although it doesn't offer alternate possibilities, it's well-written with what it offers including some extras about "kick me" signs and the like.

And for your reading humor, The Top 100 April Fool's Day Hoaxes of All Time. (I have to agree with the masses that the spaghetti harvest is one of the best of all time.)

The Problem with Fairy Tales by Kirsty Logan

This article recently appeared on The Millions, The Problem with Fairy Tales by Kirsty Logan. Here's an excerpt:

There are two ways to retell an old story: just tell the same story again, or try to subvert it. The problem with fairy tales is that they are more than just old stories. They’re mythic cultural knowledge: they have been removed from their sociological roots to float in a timeless limbo, seeping into all of us since childhood. In order to subvert something, we must be able to analyze it. But writers cannot simply step outside the mythic framework of cultural knowledge. If they cannot upend the entire myth, can they subvert it at all?

Three contemporary retellings approach the fairy tale of Snow White in interesting ways: Neil Gaiman’s story “Snow Glass Apples” from his collection Smoke and Mirrors, Emma Donoghue’s story “The Tale of the Apple” from her collection Kissing the Witch, and Francesca Lia Block’s story “Snow” from her collection The Rose and the Beast. They all twist the old story, but do they subvert it?

The rest of the article discusses the works mentioned above and their usage of Snow White. I confess I don't care if they are "subversive" versions of the tale or not as the article explores them, but the analysis is interesting unto itself whatever the thesis. In other words, whether or not you care if the retellings are subversive versions of the tale, the article is interesting and lucid. It would make a fine resource for a student paper, for example.


My favorite part of the article is the final paragraph which briefly addresses the usage of "fairy tale" today as a synonym for a "perfect fantasy."

A prevalent idea today is that “fairy tale” translates as “perfect.” A Google search for “fairytale wedding” produces 130,000 results. We relate fairy tales to romance, perfection, childhood innocence and magic. It may not be easy for writers to give up romantic ideas of fairy tales as magical stories for children and admit the unsavory side of the myth. Perhaps we simply can’t bear to see Snow White without her prince. It may not be easy to step outside the mythic framework, but if writers are to subvert the myth they must first come to terms with it.

I think most writers and readers for young adults and adults fully embrace the unsavory sides of fairy tales, by the way. It's the rest of the population who depends on the pop culture perception to make their definitions.

I don't care if fairy tales are "subverted" or not, implying that we shouldn't explore them unless they are since they don't always fall into our politically correct perceptions these days. I approach them as elements of our cultural being and how we treat and handle them continues to represent our modern sensibilities, some of which have changed drastically and others which haven't so much whether we admit it to ourselves or not.

Isn't that enough fly-by-night philosophy for today from me? :) It's a good article so please click through and read it.

Finally, if you are interested in reading more Snow White interpretations, see Modern Interpretations of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs on SurLaLune.

Little Blue Riding Hood?

Found this article last week and although its not new information it, provides an opportunity to think about the importance of red in fairy tales. From Marketing and the colour red:

So what does marketing have to do with one of the most common colours used in sport and on national flags? The answer is: everything! In brand conversations , colour matters. In a frenzied world where your advertising must shout loudest, red is the surest way to hit the decibel level, visually that is. Market research indicates that over 80% of all visual information is related to colour. Brands with legacy colour constructs like Marlboro and Coca-Cola take their colours very seriously. In fact, according to Cokelore, Santa Claus wore green until the cola giant began to promote Santa in red garb in the 1950s. [Not true, plenty of red Santas before Coke did it.]

But red’s popularity is its menace. Human predisposition for all things sangria red, candy apple, sassy cherry, crazy plum, raspberry glow and straight-up red, means more red in logos, packaging , web-sites and advertising. Take the telecom sector for instance, Vodafone, Virgin and Airtel, all scream red. When Hutch left, its pink stars left with it. However for Shripad Nadkarni of MarketGate Consulting at least Hutch had different colour point of view. “Colours have their own vocabulary. A brand must not associate itself with the entire spectrum of emotions the colour evokes,” he says. Problem of plenty particularly in new markets say design experts like Sujata Keshavan, MD, Ray & Keshavan. “Red is one of the most practically reliable and stable colours and no client rejects red. It is a mass colour and that’s a challenge. One can end up using the 134th shade of red.”

A colour, which one associates with all from Saint Valentine to Ernesto Guevara, marketers must use with caution. While the fiery colour works for Bono’s (Product) Red, the Red Cross and Red Bull and brands that want to send a strong message, it might not be suitable for a company in a slump. Although nowadays colours in marketing mainstream are hues of eco green, purity blue and calm pink, red still boasts some serious power when it comes to brands. For one it’s the quickest way to get eyeballs. Latika Khosla of Freedom Tree design says, “Red is an advancing colour. Marketers have traditionally used the colour because it conquers. However, if not used correctly it can cause dissonance and unwanted contrast.”

Now if only little Red Riding Hood had known what marketers know today the tale wouldn’t have had a Grimm end.

So the question is: Would Little Blue Riding Hood have been as effective a story? Red with the emotions and associations it induces is of course critical to the tale. Even in most of the pastiches of the tale, the red hood is rarely tampered with, sometimes the only recognizable element. Our ancestors knew this without market research. Weren't they a smart bunch?

No Beast So Fierce by Patrick Garson

I've been dealing with spotty internet connection all week. Which means that several items I've had in draft have not received final edits and been published. Most were not time critical so I'm bumping them to later this month. This explains late posts and my random timing, if anyone is noticing.

A recent post on Tor.com discussed Beauty and the Beast as well as some of its illustrations. See No Beast So Fierce by Patrick Garson.

In writing on fairy tales, there’s often a functionalist bent to the analysis. This means that tend we view fairy tales as fulfilling societal need: they contribute to the stability of a group or culture. In this way, characters and predicaments become allegories: practice for situations we may face ourselves in real life, or a form of ‘safe’ role play. Red Riding Hood is not about hiking in the forest; it’s a warning about wolves, about prostitution, a tale of sexual awakening, and so on, and so on.

I like this kind of analysis. It’s important because it dives under the smooth-looking surface of fairy tales, and stirs up a surprising turbidity. It makes us question unspoken assumptions (why is the youngest child always the special one?), and highlights the significance of story-telling in learning. However, I don’t think it’s always perfect. By our very framing of fairy tales in this way–somewhat didactic way, orientated around adherence and cohesion—I think we sometimes lend them a static quality that they don’t always deserve.

And, of course, you may explore more images of the Beast in the Beauty and the Beast Illustration Gallery on SurLaLune. To be candid, searching for different renditions of the beast was part of my motivation in gathering illustrations to share so many years ago. It is still one of my favorite galleries to explore.

(And Gypsy at Once Upon a Blog has also referenced this post this week. I am glad things are going well, Gypsy. You're in my thoughts and prayers!)