1. The Trickster

2. Tricksters May or may not be god-like
“liminal”: at the edge, on the border
Appetites and reason
Morally problematic
Greedy manipulator
Culture hero
Destroy in order to recreate (354)

3. Raven Myth of Sitka: cosmology
“no one knows”; “all sorts of ways”
Creation of light
Needs to get into house where there is light
Impregnates daughter asexually
Keeps crying for objects that contain light
Stars, moon, sun
Exposes light to fishers of “eulachon”

4. Raven Myth at Wrangell: Background and Birth
“only high-caste people knew”
“Nas-ca’kiyel” (“Raven at the head of the Nass”)
To whom…formerly prayed; no one had seen = “deus otiosus” = “idle god”
Discuss other titles
Daughter of unknown origin
No children
Possible quasi-sociological explanation
Eats hot pebble: discuss names

5. Raven: creation of humans
Paratactic description (top and middle)
Humans created twice
Nas-ca’ki-yel is both father and son
Both Raven & Nas-ca’ki-yel want light
Raven gives birth to himself
Humans made from leaves: would you rather be a leaf or rock?

6. Common themes of two Raven stories
Light (“noise” in 2nd version)
Drops water to make bodies of water (301 bot.; 304 middle)
Different land and sea animals (302 top; fuller story 304 top)
Connection between hunter and hunted
Caught in smoke hole and turned black
Later in the Wrangell account
Fire, witches

7. Why the raven? 301 middle: “that old manuring raven…”
“crying for the moon” (301, 303 bot.)
Why are people afraid of light?
Sacralize trickery and embarrassment (301)
What are the characteristics of the raven?
Why are these valued or seen as culture-forming?
Life’s gifts as unexpected, as coming out of reversal and upheaval

8. Eulachon [“OO-li=kan”]
Small migrating fish
Excellent for oil; can be dried and used as candle
Caught at night?

9. African Trickster Tales
“Why the Hare Runs Away”: note problem
Common problem & response of rabbit
The “image” & birdlime: Why does the hare salute the image?
The Ant’s Burden
The dwarf, the sticks, the song
What do the big sticks of Anansi represent?
Why is the father put in the position of the trickster?
What is the moral of the exchange between father and son over the dwarf’s body?
How does the story finally evaluate Anansi?
Birdlime a sticky substance made from a plant to trap birds

10. African-American Trickster Tales: “Why They Name the Stories for Anansi”
What trait does Anansi need?
How does the snake defeat Anansi at first?
What character trait of the snake does Anansi use against him?
What does this strategy tell us about being “the wisest and cleverest (347 bottom)”?
Does the story approve or disapprove of Anansi? The snake?

11. “Tricking all the kings”
First king: “Massa King”
The well and the tar-baby
What does the story leave out? Why?
Why is the sea better than being shot? What is the trickster always able to do?
What is Buh Nansi’s home?
Second king: the shark
How does Buh Nansi appeal to the shark?
Uses the “small fish” to catch the shark (Buh Nansi “leverages” his catch)

12. “Tricking all the kings” (2): the lion
Why does Buh Nansi invite the lion?
What saves Buh Nansi?
Does Buh Nansi tell the truth to his wife?
The lion tries to become the trickster but lacks the skill
What is the purpose of the dance, baby, & sheet scene?
The peppers and the meal
Does the story really teach the moral it gives us?

13. Prometheus as Trickster
Paratactic
Both bound and freed
Zeus binds and approves release
“Clever Prometheus was bound by Zeus” (l. 1; also see ll )
Deceit of sacrifice
Hides meat in stomach and bones under fat
Zeus “chooses” bones
Thus people always burn the bones (l. 46)

14. Crafty Prometheus and angry Zeus
If Zeus “was not deceived,” why does he “rage within” (ll. 39, 43)?
How human existence always is
Zeus’ denial of human needs
“gatherer of clouds” (l. 47); “thunders” (l. 58)
“crafty” [=“cunning”] Prometheus (l. 50) & the “craft” [=“wisdom”] of Zeus (l. 51)
(Denies the fire because of the deception)
See l. 62

15. (l. 48) Son of Iapetos, cleverest god of all
Ἰαπετιονίδη, πάντων πέρι μήδεα εἰδώς,
Son of Iapetos of all counsels knows
plans, arts
So friend, you do not yet forget your (l. 50) crafty tricks
ὦ πέπον, οὐκ ἄρα πω δολίης ἐπιλήθεο τέχνης.
crafty art, skill,
deceitful
So spoke the angry Zeus,(l. 51) whose craft is everlasting
ὣς φάτο χωόμενος Ζεὺς ἄφθιτα μήδεα εἰδώς: 
 imperishable counsels knows

16. Prometheus in Aeschylus
Discuss the implicit evaluation of Zeus’ rule in ll. 1-21
List the skills Prometheus claims he gave man.
In what sense is “pro-metheus” the author of these skills?
What does Prometheus’ defense tell us about the nature/efficacy of Zeus’ rule?
What is the “irony” of Prometheus (ll )?

17. Loki: the Norse Trickster God (pp. 444-445)
Assists the gods in their tricks and machinations
Thor’s “maid” to regain hammer
As mare, draws away the horse of the giant making Asgard
Keeps gods from having to pay the giant
(Snorri) In mare form gives birth to Odin’s steed, Sleipnir
Mocks/insults the gods in Loki’s Quarrel
As Utgard-Loki (?): “sight-deceiving magic”

18. Loki’s Quarrel [=Lokasenna], introduction
1. ‘Tell me, Eldir,… / What the sons of the glorious gods here inside/ Are talking about over their ale’ 2. [Eldir] ‘They discuss their weapons and their prowess in war, … / Among the Aesir and of the elves who are within, / No one has a friendly word for you 3. [Loki]…before the end of the feast quarreling I’ll bring to the Aesir’s son’s / and thus mix their mead with malice.’
The Poetic Edda, Carolyne Larrington, trans. (Oxford Univ. Press)

19. Loki and Idunn
17. ‘Be silent, Idunn, I declare that of all women You’re the most man-crazed, Since you place your arms, washed bright, About your brother’s slayer’ (Idunn) 18. … I quietened Bragi, made talkative with beer; I don’t want you two angry men to fight.’
The Poetic Edda, Carolyne Larrington, trans. (Oxford Univ. Press)

20. Loki and Odin
22. ‘Be silent, Odin, you never know how to / apportion honour in war among men; / Often you’ve given what you shouldn’t have given, / Victory, to the faint-hearted’ [Odin] 23. ‘…yet eight winters you were, beneath the earth, / a woman milking cows, / and there you bore children, / and that I thought the hallmark of a pervert [=“womanish ways,” i.e., effeminate].’ [Loki] 24. ‘But you once practiced seid on Samsey, / and you beat on the drum as witches do, / in the likeness of a wizard you journeyed among mankind, / and that I thought the hallmark of a pervert.’
The Poetic Edda, Carolyne Larrington, trans. (Oxford Univ. Press)

21. Loki and Freyia
30. ‘…of the Aesire and that elves, who are in here, Each one has been your lover.’ [Freyia calls Loki a liar] … 32. ‘Be silent, Freyia, you’re a witch And much imbued with malice, You were astride your brother, all the laughing gods surprised you, And then, Freyia, you farted. [Finally Thor returns, threatens Loki with his hammer, and Loki says he knows Thor means it.]
The Poetic Edda, Carolyne Larrington, trans. (Oxford Univ. Press)

22. Loki as source of destruction
Responsibility for Balder’s death may be Snorri’s invention
Bound, under “hot springs” with entrails of son (Völuspa, 33-34) (source of earthquakes)
Ragnarok
Impregnates the giant-woman with the 3 monsters that will destroy the world
Steers ship that brings inhabitants of Muspell

23. Ritual

24. Characteristics of Ritual: Rites of Passage
Rituals that take a person from one state of life to another
Liminal period: “in-between”
Liminal person is socially (=structurally) invisible: may act or play dead
“ritually polluting”
Those sharing the liminal experience are equals

25. Ritual as Play Life is reconstructed, acted out in new ways
Symbols, designs, masks (≈“dress-up”)
E.g., Kachina masks or dolls (see p. 101)
Communicates beliefs, ideas, enactments through action
This is as much a part of life as “work”
I.e., work and “ritual” are not separate parts of life (see 378-9) (contrast American religion)
One must participate (see 381 bottom)
Liminal periods allow “invention” of “new reality”

27. The “Luminoid” (see bottom 379)
Contemporary society is only like a liminal society
Separation of religion and state
Separation of morality and community
Separation of play and work
Contemporary “play” is optional (380 bot.)
Levels of cultural sophistication
Irony (satire) as “pseudo-liminal”
“individualized” (382 bottom), “plural”(-ism)

28. Demeter and Persephone: the Story (1)
Persephone = Kore (“girl”)
Abducted by Hades (l. 19)
In accordance with will of Zeus
Abduction only viewed by sun and moon
The withdrawal of Demeter
To Eleusis, offers services as old nurse
“aw, reverence, pale fear” (190)
Iambe and the cup of barley-meal
“man must take the gifts of the gods” (216-7, 147-8)

29. Demophoön and Demeter’s Wrath
Demophoön, ambrosia, and cleansing by fire
“immortal…would I have made your son” (ll )
“Propitiate my mind” (ll. 274, 292; also ll )
Men and gods punished (ll )
Give up the dead…lest men die! (ll. 345 ff.)
Return of Persephone
How does death “grab” and “trick” humanity?
“do not nurse unrelenting anger” (ll )
The mysteries revealed (ll )

30. Outline of the Mysteries (p. 386)
Procession to bring sacred objects to Athens
Proclamation
Ritual bathing, for purification
Procession of initiands to Eleusis
Fasting, ritual bathing
“obscene lyrics” (p. 395, l. 205), for women
“Telesterion” [“completion”]: barley drink, opening of “Anaktoron”

31. Dionysus: basic characteristics (459-61)
“outside” but not an “outsider”
animal passions and vitality
“sap, juice, or lifeblood element in nature” (EB)
Ecstasy: ec-stasis: to stand outside
Dissolution of boundaries (461)
Wine, nature, consumption of raw meat
Myths may not describe actual rituals (460)
“Transgressive;” “subversive”
Carried out by city officials, people of high status

32. Major Characteristics of the Myth of Dionysus
Semele wants proof of divine love, dies
Madness
Step-parents, kill children
Dionysos himself
Lycourgos (464), Theban women, Pentheus
pirates
“Insult[ed] and expell[ed] (why?)
“shown…he was a god”; “men came to know he was a god”

33. Major Characteristics of Dionysian Rituals =Orgia (462)
Drinking parties & competitions, drunkenness
Obscenity, cursing, phallic images, cross-dressing
The dead walk among us
“Pitchers” and “Pots”
Torchlight processions
Dramas (“City Dionysia”), retelling of myths
“wild cries that combined grief and joy” (462)

34. Phallic Image

36. Norse Gods and Norse Rituals: Odin
“lord of hosts”
Fills Valhalla with warriors
Both gives and withdraws his favor (433)
“stirs up warfare” (434)
The self-dedication of Odin (also see 443)
Hanging and spearing
Norse replacement of Germanic “Tiwaz” = “Tyr”
Valkyries: “ravens,” hanging over the battlefield
Beserkers: the madness of battle

37. Havamal: the self-sacrifice of Odin
138 Wounded I hung on a wind-swept gallows For nine long nights, Pierced by a spear, pledged to Odhinn, Offered, myself to myself The wisest know not from whence spring The roots of that ancient rood 139 They gave me no bread, They gave me no mead, I looked down; with a loud cry I took up runes; from that tree I fell.

38. Havamal: Odin gains power and wisdom
140 Nine lays of power I learned from the famous Bolthor, … 141 Waxed and throve well; Word from word gave words to me, Deed from deed gave deeds to me, 142 Runes you will find, and readable staves, Very strong staves, Very stout staves, Staves that Bolthor stained, Made by mighty powers, Graven by the prophetic god,

39. Funeral Human Sacrifice (Ahmad Ibn-Fadlan)
(a servant girl volunteers to “join” her dead master) “They gave her strong drink and admonished her to drink it quickly. After this, the girl seemed dazed. At this moment the men began to beat upon their shields, in order to drown out the noise of her cries, which might deter other girls from seeking death with their masters in the future. They laid her down and seized her hands and feet. The old woman known as the Angel of Death knotted a rope around her neck and handed the ends to two men to pull. Then with a broad dagger she stabbed her between the ribs while the men strangled her.”

40. “Tollund Man”

41. Tollund man 2

42. From Njals Saga (quoted in Gods and Myths of Northern Europe, Kindle Location 1104-1111)
We weave, we weave the web of the spear, as on goes the standard of the brave. We shall not let him lose his life; the Valkyries have power to choose the slain. … All is sinister now to see, a cloud of blood moves over the sky, the air is red with the blood of men, as the battle-women chant their song.

43. Norse Gods and Ritual: Thor
Physical vitality and strength
Easily angered
Huge appetite
“Son of the earth”
Thor’s hammer
Required against the giants: Thrym’s Poem
“sign of the hammer”: birth, and maybe death
See 439 top, 2nd paragraph

44. Day soon became evening, and ale was brought to the giants' table
Day soon became evening, and ale was brought to the giants' table. There Thor ate an ox and eight whole salmons,… [and] drank three measures of mead. Thrym, the lord of giants, said, "Have you ever seen a bride eat and drink so heartily?” The maid-servant wisely answered thus: "Freyja was so eager to come to Jotunheim that she has eaten nothing for eight nights.” Thrym stooped beneath his bride's veil, wanting to kiss her, then jumped back the whole length of the hall. "Why are Freyja's eyes so fearful?" he said. "I think that fire is flaming from her eyes.” …"Freyja …has not slept for eight nights.”

45. Then a poor sister of one of the giants came in and dared to beg a gift from the bride. "If you want my love and friendship then give me the gold rings from your fingers," she said. Then Thrym, the lord of giants, said, "Bring me the hammer to bless the bride. Lay Mjöllnir on the maiden's lap, let the two of us thus be hallowed in the name of Vor, goddess of vows!” When Thor saw the hammer his heart laughed within him, and he took courage. He first slew Thrym, the lord of giants,…. Finally he slew the old giantess …. Instead of rings she received the mark of Mjöllnir. Thus Thor won back his hammer.

46. Fertility Gods Freyr Freyja (sister-spouse of Freyr) Human sacrifice
Dancing (sexually suggestive/cross-dressing?)
“make love not war” (440 top)
Freyja (sister-spouse of Freyr)
Fertility goddess ≈ Aphrodite, Ishtar
Volva (female shaman, see 441)

47. Norse Shamanism Volva: the female shaman Odin as shaman
Seidr: “witchcraft” (?)
Incantation and ecstatic states
Bird-form: fly over the land
Odin as shaman
Link between worlds
The “world-tree” (=Yggdrasil)
The head of Mimir

48. Death Rituals Death as a journey Thor’s hammer/swastika on urns/stones
Ship
(Lord of the Rings: last ship to the west)
Thor’s hammer/swastika on urns/stones
Mound, the “holy hill” (444)
Odin, war, cremation