Global Mythologies

[Bobriha]

One of the habits they couldn't beat out of us, even in the modern times: when we say something about supposed success or strong hopes (for example: "Oh, I'm sure you win that race." or "I hope I can get that job, so I can pay the bills"), we "knock it off" on wood, with the left hand, three times, from the underside to chase bad luck away. I'm not afraid of black cats, but sometimes one need some extra guarantee to keep her peace of mind, so I also often do this without stopping to think about it.

Btw, we do this knock-on-the-wood thing either And some others habits, like to sit down for a while before to go out for long way, or to look at the mirror if you forgot something (the tickets, for example ) at home and had to return to take it.

[Sharion]

In literature they were indeed beatifully discribed by Nicolay Gogol in his collections of short stories "Evenings on the farm near Dikanka" and "Mirgorod", which I hardly recomend to everyone interested.

Wow. I have to say, it's ultra rare. We have about a million different editions of Dead Souls, The Mantle and The Nose, some of Taras Bulba, but it appears, "Evening on..." got translated into Hungarian only once, in the 1920s. I could only find it in two editions, both of them complete collections: one of them published in 1962, the other in '71. I was searching the net for almost an hour until I found a copy in an acceptable state that I could order. Thank you for the recommendation. At least it's decided what am I going to read after finishing Surface Detail.

we do this knock-on-the-wood thing either And some others habits, like to sit down for a while before to go out for long way, or to look at the mirror if you forgot something (the tickets, for example ) at home and had to return to take it.

I heard something similar, but I have never seen anyone doing it: if you turn back from the door before a journey, you leave your luck at home, so then you should sit down for a little before setting out again.
As for mirrors, I just know the usual "breaking it means seven years of bad luck", but that saying is hardly a local thing. Okay, habits are hard to follow if they are originally coming from a particular culture's past or not, so I'm curious who finds these superstitions familiar:
If I see a chimney sweeper, I shall grasp a button. (It's said to be almost as good as finding a four-lettered clover, so why not?) Spiders also mean good luck. Oh, and so does one of my favourites: if you accidentally dress up with at least one of your clothes turned inside out. (Well, the last time it happened to me, I could find a safe spot where I could turn my T-shirt, so I guess it worked...)
We also often remind each other, that one shouldn't say thanks for medicine, if they want it to work. Itching right palm means money (so don't scratch it); left palm means losing some. If your nose is itching, you'll be angry. If someone sneezes more then one time at once, after saying the local version of "bless you", it's not rare that I hear the sentence "Someone's surely speaking about you." (Well, some say it after just one sneeze.) Sitting by the corner of the table means you'll never get married. When guests arrive, we usually try to avoid that place or give them to someone already in wedlock.
Not that we would truly believe in these things - more like... "you may never know".

People, who read this: do you also have some more known (and possibly "alive") superstitions you deem as worthy of mentioning? (Although, I'd be glad for reading about "dead" customs as well.)

[Fen Shen]

If someone sneezes more then one time at once, after saying the local version of "bless you", it's not rare that I hear the sentence "Someone's surely speaking about you." (Well, some say it after just one sneeze.)

Although a bit different, this reminds me of a traditional "explanation" for a bad hiccup that won't go away: "She (or he) is thinking about you, but kissing someone else" (meaning you partner is cheating on you right now).

[Bobriha]

If I see a chimney sweeper, I shall grasp a button. (It's said to be almost as good as finding a four-lettered clover, so why not?) Spiders also mean good luck. Oh, and so does one of my favourites: if you accidentally dress up with at least one of your clothes turned inside out. (Well, the last time it happened to me, I could find a safe spot where I could turn my T-shirt, so I guess it worked...)

I heard, they have this chimney sweeper superstition in Baltick countries either.
And you know, it looks like "turned inside out clothes" thing really works:-) Today I was out in our kitchengarden, and the weather was nice (what itself is uncommon for this september) and butterflies were flying. One of them, the peacock butterfly, sat down on cabbage and was sitting so quietly I'we managed to make several shots of it from rather close distantion. Was I not lucky for today? And guess what I'we found out when I came back home and changed Luckily it wasn't warm enough to take off jacket so no one noticed.

[Pessi]

You mentioned that you have many-many legends about bears. Care to share some of your favourites?

We have more like many-may variations of one legend. According to it all people - or all Finns at least - are descendants of a heavenly bear. Shortly told the story goes like this: The bear was lowered onto earth from heavens (remember, in our ancestors worldview the world consisted of many layers, humans living on the middle one). On earth he married a human woman, and their children were the ancestors of us all. Then the bear was killed and a ritual held so it was able to return to the heavens.

The details of the story vary: who lowered the bear onto earth and how, how it came to marry a human woman, how many children there were, how and why and by whom the bear was killed and how it's ascend back to heavens was made certain. But the tradition of kahunpeijaiset, "funeral of the bear", lived long and strongly among hunters, and in the old times the feast after hunters had killed a bear was long and included lots of rituals from the wedding of the bear to sending it's spirit back home.

There is also a children's book, Amalia, karhu (Amalia, bear), which takes it idea straight from the old tales. It begins when Amalia bumps against the window of a little boy called Posse while she is being lowered from the heavens by her godly parent. She has come not just to see closer the lands she has been curiously watching from up there but also to wake up the old spirits and gods who walk the earth as lunatics and homeless people and to close the mouth of a stone giant who is throwing up all kinds of weapons on earth. She is well spoken and civilised and soon recruits both Posse and his mother as her help. After she has done her work she starts turning more and more like a wild bear, forgets how to speak, soon moves from Posse's home to the forest and finally gets shot by hunters. So she returns to her home in the heavens. 

Also, do you know any "trustable" pages about Nordic myths in english?

Unfortunately no. What I know I've learned mostly from books, and they have been mostly in Finnish though some things I've read in Swedish or (rarely, when there was no other alternative) in Norwegian. Of course there must be a whole bunch of sites dedicated to Norcid myths, but I have no idea af their trustworthiness.

By the way, the belief about clothes put on backwards bringing good luck is known as a proverb in Finland: "Nuttu nurin, onni oikein", approximately "Coat wrong side up, luck right side up".

[Lenny]

Eudachloris has mentioned it in the SSSS comments - the South African tokkelossie. It's a demon/monster/devil sort of thing. It lives under your bed, and to keep it away, your bed should be lifted off the ground by bricks, and you need to sprinkle salt. My grandmother used to tell me stories about it.

Unfortunately I don't know many other ones. My parents aren't superstitious at all, I've never known Australians to be particularly superstitious or to have any mythologies (barring the bunyip and Aboriginal tales/beliefs - but I'm in Tasmania, where most local Aboriginals were obliterated by disease and killed off), and I've never been in my home countries long enough to be able to study/notice any tales or superstitions.

Oh, there are quite a few tales on animals in South Africa, though. Why certain animals got the way they are, pecking order, things like that. I remember the very much younger me reading the similar Aboriginal tales from the Dreamtime, and thinking it was weird how all countries have the same habits. Ah! Another one from South Africa. It's said that when there's mist covering Tafelberg, Jan Van Hunks is having a smoking contest with the devil. It's an old tale (considering the country's age), from the 1700s, or perhaps slightly earlier.

Hmm, this has started me thinking on things I haven't thought about in years. Slightly sad things, too. Ah well. I have an urge to go and rediscover all the folk-tales I knew well when I was younger. There were some very interesting ones.

I've also noticed there are few decent sources of mythology on the internet. I can find more decent books on the subject than decent websites.

[Bobriha]

Here is a Soviet animated film after Chuukese cosmogonic wyth about Kutkh the Raven http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-n1Pm8bjvw

[Sunflower]

I'm looking for references in a couple of areas of Finnish folklore, superstition, and/or nursery rhymes or popular song.  (For... a thing I'm working on.  For Valentine's Day.  Look for it in the Scriptorium next week.)  All ideas or online references are welcome.

1) Anything relating to wild birds beyond the "birds' path" or "birds' land" ( = warm, pleasant, imaginary place) that has been already discussed here and in the context of aRTD. 

In particular, anything relating to the images of particular birds, e.g. if crows = ill omens, sparrows = humility, swans = good advice (totally making this up, but hopefully you see my point). 
Also, anything relating to birds and romance, e.g. lovebirds, wild geese mating for life, etc.

2) Any traditions or superstitions relating to romance and/or marriage, like the American tradition that if you take a slice of someone else's wedding cake and sleep with it under your pillow, you'll dream of your future spouse.  In the English-speaking world, there used to be lots of "see your future husband" superstitions, especially at Halloween and/or New Year's Eve. 
... or in Keats' poem "St. Agnes' Eve":
       ...As she had heard old dames full many times declare:
       They told her how, upon St. Agnes' Eve,
       Young virgins might have visions of delight,
       And soft adorings from their loves receive
       Upon the honey'd middle of the night,
       If ceremonies due they did aright;
       As, supperless to bed they must retire,
       And couch supine their beauties, lily white;
       Nor look behind, nor sideways, but require
       Of Heaven with upward eyes for all that they desire.

Of course, I'd rather draw from actual Finnish tradition in this area, if there is any.

[Rainy]

I'm looking for references in a couple of areas of Finnish folklore, superstition, and/or nursery rhymes or popular song.  (For... a thing I'm working on.  For Valentine's Day.  Look for it in the Scriptorium next week.)  All ideas or online references are welcome.

----

2) Any traditions or superstitions relating to romance and/or marriage, like the American tradition that if you take a slice of someone else's wedding cake and sleep with it under your pillow, you'll dream of your future spouse.  In the English-speaking world, there used to be lots of "see your future husband" superstitions, especially at Halloween and/or New Year's Eve. 

Oh, interesting, I look forward to seeing that thing, whatever it turns out to be, next week!

There are a lot of similar See your future husband -type superstitions in Finland, mostly centered around summer and particularly Midsummer. These are probably the most well-known ones:
(This may be something that has already been discussed earlier, sorry if I'm repeating something like that.)

- On Midsummer's eve you should pick seven or nine different types of flowers from as many different locations and sleep with them under your pillow. Then you'll dream of the person you will marry. (I actually did this once, but to my defence I was 12 at the time.)
-If you hear a cuckoo, count how many times it calls. That's how many years you have until marriage. Or if you're already married, until you die.
- Also on Midsummer's eve: If there's already someone you're interested in, you should roll around naked in a field or meadow by their house. Then they'll fall in love with you.

Similar supertitious rites, if that is the right word to use here, are also popular berofe marriage. Like morsiussauna, or bridal sauna, which is often combined with a bachelorette party these days. There the bride is symbolically purified of her past life and made ready for her new, married life. For example, the bride's friends might wash her with salt, so that she wouldn't "become thistry from old salt," i.e. remember her previous boyfriends.

These are all very widely known things, and I don't know if there is anything left of the actual pre-Christian traditions they may be based on. But hey, if they're popular knowledge today, they may well have survived in year 90! Some other forumers will likely know more (there seem to be very knowledgeable people around, having read some earlier posts in this thread).

[DzigaWatt]

I bring you an urban legend from my country http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/30/opinion/first-bite.html?_r=0

Also, in recent years there has been another sighting of a new one, but that's just to draw in tourists. Right?

[Pessi]

Happy Hiisi Day everyone! Taivaannaula ("Sky's/Heaven's Nail", an old name for the North Star), a Finnish society promoting  the so called suomenusko ("Finland's faith", the old pagan beliefs), has declared March 28th the official Hiisi Day, aka the day to yearly remember and visit the old pagan sacred places.

[wolfie]

This is a story from the Netherlands. These kind of stories are not something people still believe in, or something that is connected to customs, like leaving bread for creatures. It is a story I learnd in school as a part of my countries history in storytelling, it is pretty wellknown withint the genre of Dutch 'saga', which are stories about certain places with elements of fantasy mixed with historical facts. It is an eerie story, but it fascinated me as a kid and to me, the place where the story is situated become a lot cooler. I apologize for wonky english, if I actually have to write an entire story I might make a lot of mistakes.

Long ago, on the Nienoord estate, near the Leekster lake, lived a rich lord who had a secret cave in which he kept all kinds of treasure, pearls, diamonds, crowns and jewelry. One of his maidservants one day discovered the existence of the cave. Overcome by curiosity she wanted to peek into the cave, but the cave was locked. One day, the lord and his wife went on a trip and tasked this maid with babysitting their yound daughter. The maidservant cooked up a plan and convinced the young girl to fetch her fathers keys to take a look inside the cave. The plan succeeded and upon seeing all those treasures, the maid was struck by awe. She hung pearls around her nick and put bracelets on her wrists. Completely absorbed in the treasure, the maid did not notice the young girl becoming bored. After some time, she walked out of the cave, closing the door behind her. The maid was trapped. The lord found his maid indulging in his riches and overcome by anger, he punished the maid. He relocated all his treasure to an unknown place and locked the maid inside the cave with a basket of colorful seashells. He ordered her to decorate the walls of the cave and told her she would not be released before her work was gone. The maid worked for twenty years. When her work was done, the cave was covered in beautiful seashell mosaic of the most fantastical images: mermaids, angels and more. As promised, the maid was released from the cave. Her face and hands dirty, she went to the Leekster lake
to wash herself. As she arrived at the lake, she stared down in the still water and saw her reflection. She had become an old woman, wrinkled and gray. Realizing she had waisted so much of her life in the cave, the girl became so struck with terror that she fell into the water and drowned. (As you allready guest) the story says that you can here her wail if you visit the lake at night, she grieves over her fate and regrets ever entering the cave.

A picture of the actual seashell room: http://www.verhalenbank.nl/files/original/3b8ac2aaf17233ae82db498d8c9f871f.jpg
What makes it fun is that there is a room with seashell mosaic on the estate, but not a cave. This is probaly because of language confusion: The italian world 'grotto' which means mosaicroom was mistaken for the dutch word 'grot' which means cave.
Hope someone found it interesting, I have some more of those stories, mostly with ghost in them. Sagas never end happy, for some reason. 

[asdasdasd2]

I don't think you'd call this 'mythology' but there's kind of a legend about a Sikh warrior Baba Deep Singh where he get's decapitated in battle, but catches his head in mid-air and fights through enemy ranks and only lets his head fall when he reached the golden temple. Why? Because he made a promise that his head will only fall at the Golden temple. I think this can't be true but I can't be sure since this just happened in the 1750's I think. He also has a movie made on him.

[snotra]

Most mythologies I know are heavily christianised, so the stories are probably if a mythology at all, incorporated in local saint's lives.

One name buzzes through my head though, 'de bokkenrijders' (Goat riders), no idea what it is about, though.

One other local aspect I'd like to mention is Zwarte Piet. Whether or not it is racist is a different discussion entirely, but the same concept of disguising a person and harassing the local community is present in other forms in Europe as well, as Knecht Ruprecht and Père Fouettard in Germany and in France. Most, of not all of these iterations I know of are connected to Saint Nicholas, somehow.
This concept reaches furhter, though. I believe there is a Bulgarian/ Hungarian (forgot which one) tradition where the youngstes dress up in a very elaborate monster costume making them look a bit like the monsers from 'where the wild things are'. Anyone got more info on this phenomenon? Considering the variation on the same theme and the wide spread I'd reckon this might be a pre-christian tradition having been absorbed into saint's traditions.

[kapitod]

I don't think you'd call this 'mythology' but there's kind of a legend about a Sikh warrior Baba Deep Singh where he get's decapitated in battle, but catches his head in mid-air and fights through enemy ranks and only lets his head fall when he reached the golden temple. Why? Because he made a promise that his head will only fall at the Golden temple. I think this can't be true but I can't be sure since this just happened in the 1750's I think. He also has a movie made on him.

Reminds me of Edward Teach to be honest.  There's lots of similar stories from around the world though, the recurring theme being that if you're a stone cold badass you die when you're ready and not a moment before.

Case in point:  Cuchulain the Irish hero tied himself to standing stone with his own guts just so he could die on his feet, exactly how he wanted to die.