Showing posts with label Folklore. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Folklore. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 8, 2015

Reviewing A Folklore Calendar

Desk Calendar For The Word Lover And Folklore Enthusiast

Not only am I a fan of the folklore of the world but I also like to stay organized so one of my favorite calendars is Forgotten English.


I enjoy keeping my tasks in check each day but I also love the words which have vanished from our vocabularies that are given to me on a daily basis. Yes, I'll admit I am kind of a time management junkie but I guess that I am also a word junkie. Since I read a lot of historical fiction, sometimes these calendars have come to the rescue when I wasn't sure what a word meant. Besides getting the definition, I also got an explanation of why the word was used and how it came about being a part of language in the first place.

Take the word "fragor" for instance. It means a strong or sweet scent. From the explanation I would guess that just about any human being in rural Britain during medieval times would have had quite a strong and nasty fragor about them. You see, many folks reserved one day a year for their annual bath. That is right! They bathed once a year whether they needed it or not! Ewwww! Tradition at the time was to have that bath on the first Saturday of June which was the day before Sweetening Day when many a couple were wed. Some historians believe that King Henry VIII was bathed when he was born and not again until he died.

That is one of the things that I love about this calendar each year! I get an archaic word but I also learn about the culture of the peoples who used that word in their daily lives.

An instance of a word that really hasn't disappeared from use but is just spelled differently now, is the word gaol. Often times when reading a book that is a fictional story taking place in an era long past we will run across this word. A person might have gone to gaol or someone might go talk to the gaoler. We spell this word jail today. It is pronounced the same just spelled differently. Now, isn't that just fascinating?

If you are a lover of trivia, folklore and words in general; I do believe you will enjoy this desk calendar. It might also be something to think of as a gift for someone on your list that enjoys these topics. What a great idea for a gift for an English teacher! Don't you think?


Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN) and/or Esty (Awin) Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”


Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Reviewing The 13 Original Clan Mothers

The Feminine Legacy From Ancient Teachings

As the Folklore contributor, I have chosen to review The 13 Original Clan Mothers , a book that literally changed my life when I discovered it several years ago. It is a book that I refer to often throughout the year, one that was written with teachings from our ancestors for the Sisterhood of humankind.


The lessons of these Spirit teachers might have been lost forever if not for the courage of families who refused to give up their traditional ways and left their homelands. These men and women rejected the notion that they should be enrolled and moved to the reservations being set up by the U.S. government and instead moved to Mexico where they could continue to live their lives as they had been taught to by their ancestors. Fortunately, two Kiowa Grandmothers lived long enough to teach Jamie Sams the lessons of women's medicine in the early 1970's. Jamie wrote this book to pass on to the Sisters of our time, teaching us to embrace our legacy of feminine wisdom with lessons to live by.

Women Do Not Have To Follow The Warrior Way 

One of the messages in this book that resonated with me almost immediately was that women have a different spiritual legacy from men. We are the nurturers, the healers, and the teachers for the generations that come after us. We, as women, do not need to be hostile or angry; we just need to embrace our feminine energy and be good role models for both male and female children. The Spirit Teachers known as the Original Clan Mothers are aspects of Mother Earth and Grandmother Moon because all things are born of the female. 

Each Clan Mother represents the moons of the year. As I write this post, we are in the 6th moon of the year (June). Storyteller is the grandmother spirit to learn from during June. She teaches us that we should tell the truth to all around us but not in a hurtful or prideful way. We can often times teach the lessons of life through stories from the past. Pointing out the proper way to solve a problem in the form of a story allows teaching without scolding or pointing fingers. The students, whether young or old, don't feel put on the defensive but can learn from the story what someone else did in the same circumstance. In a fun and sometimes humorous way, we can teach through the stories of the past in a loving and gentle way. She is only one of the 13 Ancient Mothers to learn from in the book.

How Did This Book Change My Life?

Growing up in the generation whose anthem became "I Am Woman" (hear me roar), I was torn as to how to be a proponent of women's rights and not give up my femininity. Yes, I believe we are equal to men, yes I believe women can do anything they set their minds to do and yes we have been discriminated against. What I struggled with for a long time was that I didn't feel comfortable being a "warrior" of the cause because that is just not in my soul to be that way. I am not a man, I am a woman and I needed desperately a form of women's medicine. That is what this book gave me! A way to grow spiritually by embracing my feminine soul and to progress through life in a way that was not foreign to me or confusing. After reading and studying the teachings of The 13 Original Clan Mothers, I suddenly felt more liberated than I ever had. I could see that my role as a woman did not have to give up on the principles of equality but could be obtained by embracing the teachings of the ancient ones in a way that I felt comfortable with. I could walk my walk, talk my talk and still honor my beliefs not pretending to be a warrior but living as the teacher, nurturer and lover of all mankind that I am. Living this way does not make me less than a man, it helps me to be his equal with the talents and wisdom of my womanhood. 

I recommend this book for all women to read. It really does not matter what ethnicity you come from or your spiritual beliefs, I think it will speak to you. The teachings come from Native American traditions but the messages resonate for all women of the world.  



Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN) and/or Esty (Awin) Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”


Monday, April 13, 2015

Thrilled To Be The Folklore Contributor

Bev Owens photo
Hi, I'm Bev Owens and I am thrilled to be the Folklore Contributor here on Review This! I plan to share ideas from our modern society that have a connection to folklore from around the globe.

At a very early age, I loved to hear stories and the ones that held my attention the most were the ones that explained traditional beliefs of a culture or a custom that they had. I didn't understand at the time that I was developing a passion for folklore. I just knew that those were my most favorite types of stories to hear. Later, as I began to babysit for young ones and then had children of my own it was the legends and lore that I most liked to share with the children.

About 7 years ago, I decided to share the knowledge that I have accumulated over the decades about my own ancestry and created my first blog. Native American Totems is the space on this huge world web that I explain the teachings that my people have passed on to each other from generation to generation for thousands of years.

Besides my passion for folklore, I am sort of a "Jane of many trades" who has mastered a few of them. One of those would be gardening which has been a love of mine since I was 8 years old and my beloved Grandmother let me help put out her garden. At Indiana Garden I share my experiences with growing plants in my own region along with tools that I have found helpful over the decades of gardening in my home state. From time to time, you might find me reviewing something pertaining to gardening here on Review This.

I adore my five little grandchildren so you might find me reviewing items for children, occasionally. That is the beauty of this site, we are not restricted to just one area of expertise. I know that when I was a first time Grandma, I was a little baffled as to what products and toys were good to consider for children. It is why I sometimes review toys and gifts for children from infant to pre-teen.

My hobbies are varied with my favorite being crochet and counted cross-stitch. I am an avid reader and after retiring from my day job have become quite the bird enthusiast.

I look forward to getting to know you over the coming weeks and months!




Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN) and/or Esty (Awin) Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”


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