Mabel McKay
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April 25 – An Important 2 for 1 Italian Holiday! by Kathy Eastman
Easter Monday in Italy is known as La Pasquetta and is recognized as a national holiday. This year Easter Monday is April 25. Examples of festivities include some cities holding dances, free concerts, or unusual games often involving eggs. My favorite is cheese rolling in the small town of Panicale – followed by tasting and…
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Medea: Framed by Patriarchal Successors? By Kathy Eastman
Was Medea dethroned as the Great goddess as patriarchal religions overtook matriarchal cultures? One example supporting this hypothesis of dethroning may be illustrated by the murder of Medea’s children. There are several versions of Medea’s life over a wide and culturally diverse spectrum of time. The murder of her children in the classical story may…
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Awakening Civility by Mark Compton
Beauty and the Beast is second only to Cinderella in international appeal and number of variants. In the Aarne-Thompson Tale Type Guide, Type 425 is “Searching For A Lost Husband.” Beauty and the Beast has its own subgroup: 425C. One outstanding feature of B&B which gives it distinction is that the Beast must go through…
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Modern Wild Swans by Cheryl Rutherford
The Seventh Swan by Nicholas Stuart Gray and The Swan’s Wing by Ursula Synge are two very different stories about what happened to the brother left with the swan’s wing in the fairytale ”The Wild Swans.” The Seventh Swan is a charming story of a shy boy who can’t accept his fate and the two friends who help him on…
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The Fairies of Brittany by Cheryl Rutherford
The fairies of Brittany are not known as either “the good people” , “the wee folk,” or by other endearing names. Indeed they seem to be among the meanest and most malignant of Europe. They are cold and hostile, and vent their displeasure at being interrupted in their activities by humans in a most vindictive…
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A Retelling of Rapunzel – Reviewed by Kathy Eastman
The book, Zel by Donna Jo Napoli, is a retelling of the folktale Rapunzel. Although promoted and cataloged with teen books, this novella explores mature themes. The story is presented from three different perspectives – the mother’s, Zel’s and the handsome young male’s. Napoli explores the motives of the characters, thus changing the story from…
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The Name of the Helper by Laura Rutherford
D.L. Ashlilman defines Rumplestiltskin as belonging to the tale type known as the Name of the Helper. It is the game of “guess my name” that is the important characteristic for these tales. Many cultural traditions hold that to know someone’s name is akin to having power over them and this is reflected in these…
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Facts and Trivia about Beans by Wendy Miller
1. Bean is a name used for the seeds of leguminous trees and shrubs, and for plants that have edible seeds or seed pods 2. All beans are high in protein. Next to grains, they are the most common source of food in the world. 3. There are many kinds of beans: broad beans, soybeans,…
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Early History of Jack and the Beanstalk or One’s Desire to Ascend to the Sky by Wendy Miller
The first literary version of the tale "Jack in the Beanstalk" appeared in England in the 1734 reprint of Round About our Coal-Fire:or Christmas Entertainments (1730). The tale added to this 1734 reprint was called "Jack Spriggins and the Enchanted Bean". Jack Spriggins was written in the form of a skit. The story did not appear in print in any other…
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Bringing Stories to Life by Sulé Greg Wilson
“What’s the meaning of that story?” is always a multi-layered answer to a seemingly innocent question. For me, the answer could change, depending on the state of mind I’m in at the given time. For anyone, it depends on your life experiences and, of course, your outlook. All this is vital, pithy stuff if you…
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The Promised Child by Kathy Eastman
The promised child is a motif of folktales found thorough out the world. Often times a child is promised to a witch or other supernatural being in exchange for help (Rumpelstiltskin) or for payment in a wrong doing (Rapunzel). In earlier versions of the “Rapunzel story, it is the mother herself who steals from the…
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Where Did Those Twins Come From? by Kathy Eastman
In 1956 Italian Folktales by Italo Calvino was published. It is a collection of stories that Calvino refers to as hybrid, because he combines collected versions of tales with his own personal touch. Several authors, including Calvino, point out that the Grimm Brothers acculturated the folktales they prepared and recorded. In fact later editions of…