Browsing the archives for the animals tag

Brave: “The Bear and the Bow”: Bear Mythology

Having just watched the Disney / Pixar movie Brave, I’m pondering the vaguely Scottish-Irish-Celtic-European mythology and motifs buried in this film. There’s a lot of bear + mother goddess symbolism which I find fascinating.

Science May Explain Why Egyptians Worshiped Dung Beetle as Sun God

My mother sent me a link to a fascinating Scientific American article about zoologist Emily Baird’s research on dung beetles. Egyptologists give these poo-pushing champions the more dignified name of “scarab,” after an ancient Greek word for beetle. Dr. Baird’s specialty is insect vision, flight and navigation (see her profile at Lund University). She wrote her thesis […]

The Curious Myth of Groundhog Day

Groundhog Day Ceremony Photo Credit: Aaron E. Silvers, CC America’s Groundhog Day, February 2nd, is a puzzling, fascinating, contradictory calendrical festival whose roots may go back to pre-Christian European traditions — and then again, they may not. What fascinates me about Groundhog Day is that it seems to follow the same pattern as many ancient […]

The Myth of Arion and the Dolphin

My retelling; based mostly on accounts by Ovid and Herodotus, with a few original additions. There was a youth in ancient Corinth who played the lyre with such skill that many said he was taught by the legendary musician Orpheus, for he had the power to charm beasts with his songs. Once upon a time, […]