- Joined
- Nov 20, 2002
- Messages
- 1,073
- Reaction score
- 23
Prospero año nuevo a todos los amigos, amigas, y calamares....
Inspired by an exchange with Fujisawas Sake (John) on another thread, I thought it might be fun to add a new one for 2003 dealing with cephs in traditional (as opposed to pop) culture, folklore, arts and literature.
I'd like to kick it off with an excerpt from a book that should be especially close to Steve-O's and Kat's hearts -- PACIFIC MYTHOLOGY: AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF MYTH AND LEGEND by Jan Knappert, 1995 edition, Diamond Books, London. Surprisingly, I could find no entries under Cephalopod, Cuttlefish, Nautilus, or Squid. However, when I looked under Octopus, it said "See Kupe." Here is what I found under the latter entry:
KUPE: According to legend, a man named Kupe was fishing near his home on Raiatea when an octopus stole his fishhooks with its many arms. Enraged, Kupe jumped into his canoe and pursued the beast for 35 days. By that time he had covered 2,400 miles to the south-west and there he sighted an island larger than any he had ever seen before: North Island, New Zealand. He sailed back and invited his compatriots to follow him to the new found land. They did so and became the Maoris.
-- from PACIFIC MYTHOLOGY, page 162 (paperback)
I don't know where Raiatea is, or whether there really was such a place, but perhaps our Antipodean contingent can fill us in as to whether there is some historical truth about the geographical origins of the Maori in this legend.
TONMOers, feel free to add to this thread with any ceph symbolism, legend, lore, and myth that you can find, online or otherwise.
(And if you don't mind some off-topic factoids every now and then, PACIFIC MYTHOLOGY also contains entries for Kat, Tangaroa, and Taniwha.)
Let's see if we can expand this thread into a GOLDEN BOUGH of teuthophilia!
Tani, Transmitter of Teuthsome Tales
Inspired by an exchange with Fujisawas Sake (John) on another thread, I thought it might be fun to add a new one for 2003 dealing with cephs in traditional (as opposed to pop) culture, folklore, arts and literature.
I'd like to kick it off with an excerpt from a book that should be especially close to Steve-O's and Kat's hearts -- PACIFIC MYTHOLOGY: AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF MYTH AND LEGEND by Jan Knappert, 1995 edition, Diamond Books, London. Surprisingly, I could find no entries under Cephalopod, Cuttlefish, Nautilus, or Squid. However, when I looked under Octopus, it said "See Kupe." Here is what I found under the latter entry:
KUPE: According to legend, a man named Kupe was fishing near his home on Raiatea when an octopus stole his fishhooks with its many arms. Enraged, Kupe jumped into his canoe and pursued the beast for 35 days. By that time he had covered 2,400 miles to the south-west and there he sighted an island larger than any he had ever seen before: North Island, New Zealand. He sailed back and invited his compatriots to follow him to the new found land. They did so and became the Maoris.
-- from PACIFIC MYTHOLOGY, page 162 (paperback)
I don't know where Raiatea is, or whether there really was such a place, but perhaps our Antipodean contingent can fill us in as to whether there is some historical truth about the geographical origins of the Maori in this legend.
TONMOers, feel free to add to this thread with any ceph symbolism, legend, lore, and myth that you can find, online or otherwise.
(And if you don't mind some off-topic factoids every now and then, PACIFIC MYTHOLOGY also contains entries for Kat, Tangaroa, and Taniwha.)
Let's see if we can expand this thread into a GOLDEN BOUGH of teuthophilia!

Tani, Transmitter of Teuthsome Tales