Kolterman Mound site, a premier petroform and archeoastronomy site overlooking the vast Horicon Marsh, is located 20 miles (32 km) south and east of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin (USA). Viewing of the long anticipated 2006 lunar maximum moonset... more
Kolterman Mound site, a premier petroform and archeoastronomy site overlooking the vast Horicon Marsh, is located 20 miles (32 km) south and east of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin (USA). Viewing of the long anticipated 2006 lunar maximum moonset event from this site enabled the author to connect the singular bear effigy mound at Kolterman with other (lunar) aligned bear effigy mounds in the area. Looking farther afield in Ohio by extension of known bear cult imagery and lunar maximum alignments, combined bear and moon symbolism was also established at the prominent Newark giant earthworks site with links to another at High Banks, the two sites connected at one time by the “Hopewell Road”. Physical expressions on the cultural landscape, the sites are likely related to ancient bear cult shamanistic traditions and inherent cosmologies, and although modified by time and distance, appear to exhibit shared beliefs and function of design. Keywords: moon, bear, effigy, mound, Milky Way
This article is an ethnomythological analysis of the group of standing stones of Les Bondons (Lozère,France) through their relationship with folklore stories of the giant Gargantua and,most of all,the mythical old lady and rituals that... more
This article is an ethnomythological analysis of the group of standing stones of Les Bondons (Lozère,France) through their relationship with folklore stories of the giant Gargantua and,most of all,the mythical old lady and rituals that are still performed in traditional carnivals of southern France
Bear was one of the most important beings for Ainu. Bears were not only named kamuy, but were considered as true kamuy by the Ainu. And bear ritual iomante was one of the most significant rituals in the system of Ainu rituals. In the... more
Bear was one of the most important beings for Ainu. Bears were not only named kamuy, but were considered as true kamuy by the Ainu. And bear ritual iomante was one of the most significant rituals in the system of Ainu rituals. In the system of Ainu religion inaw is a universal sacrifice, i.e.: a bridge between the world of people and the world of kamuy, a bridge through which ramat can flow from the world of kamuy to the world of people. And the iomante ritual serves to establish a connection/bridge with the world of kamuy, and grace from the world of kamuy flows over the bridge into the world of people: people become more successful in hunting. And thus, bear in the iomante ritual can be considered as a kind of inaw.
Medeina originally was a deity of forests in Lithuanian mythology, later in the 13 th-14 th centuries she became also a deity of war. The fact that a deity of forests became one of the central deities in the mythology of medieval society... more
Medeina originally was a deity of forests in Lithuanian mythology, later in the 13 th-14 th centuries she became also a deity of war. The fact that a deity of forests became one of the central deities in the mythology of medieval society is rather unique. Also a fact pointing to the archaism of Medeina is her connection with the bear cult. The character of Medeina seems to be a relic of beliefs of a substrate ethnic group. The name of Medeina/Medeinė is derived from Lithuanian words medis "tree" or medė "forest"; which have no reliable Indo-European etymology. The root mede "tree" / "forest" can originate from a language of the Neolithic people of the East European plain, these people spoke a language related to Yeniseian, Caucasian, and Hattic. The root mede "tree" / "forest" correlates with Proto-Northwest Caucasian form *m "pine-tree". The name Medeina/Medeinė originally could sound like Maede/Maedə.
The Ainu bear ritual iomante, in our opinion, began when hunters killed a she-bear and brought her cubs to their settlement, raised them, and then killed them to get their meat; this happened in a very distant past, perhaps even before... more
The Ainu bear ritual iomante, in our opinion, began when hunters killed a she-bear and brought her cubs to their settlement, raised them, and then killed them to get their meat; this happened in a very distant past, perhaps even before the Jōmon period. While the cubs were raised, the people began to treat them as beings that had ontological status close to human beings. These bears already were not just prey, and so the killing of such bears should have implied an apology for the murder. Gradually the practice of propitiating the souls of bears developed, and the rites became more elaborated. Bear rituals could exist at least in the late Jōmon: in some sites attributed to this time were found clay figurines depicting bears. These figurines mean that there were certain special notions about bears, and so it is possible to suppose the existence of some bear rituals.
