Category Archives: Mythology

Thessalonica, by Harry Turtledove

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Harry Turtledove's "Thessalonica" first appeared in 1996.

Harry Turtledove’s “Thessalonica” first appeared in 1996.

This alternate history, Thessalonica, recounts how George, a simple shoemaker who lives in Thessalonica in the 7th century A.D., attempts to rescue his home city from historical invaders. George is a Christian, as are most of the city’s residents, but remnants of the old pagan religion and its creatures are known to still exist in the hills. George happens upon a satyr, who warns him of a new danger approaching Thessalonica. The danger turns out to be the invading Avars and Slavs, who have at their command bats with gleaming red eyes who dive on the soldiers who patrol the city walls and giant wolves whose howls chill the souls of the besieged. Rumors of worse threats abound as well, such as the fire goddess the invaders can summon. Even the satyr, nymphs, centaurs, and other remnants of the Greek pantheon lurking in the mountains around Thessalonica are frightened.

Within days the city is surrounded, and though the strength of their Christian God enables the population to keep the warriors at bay, George realizes they may need additional help to finally defeat their enemy. With the help of the pious Priest Luke, George convinces the satyrs and centaurs to come to the aide of Thessalonica.

This alternate history of the Byzantine Christian interaction with the Slavs and other pagans of the 7th century is wonderfully written and I am happy to recommend it!

Elizabeth, the Feminist Vampire for Women’s History Month

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Looking out from Castle Annaghs in Waterford, Ireland. This is the area in which the dearg-due is reportedly buried.

Looking out from Castle Annaghs in Waterford, Ireland. This is the area in which the dearg-due is reportedly buried.

Elizabeth, the dearg-due in the Come Hell or High Water trilogy, has a starring role as the central Bad Guy in CHoHW, Part 2: Rising. She stalks the streets of Prague, killing–only!–men and helping reawaken the 1350’s curse that will threaten to destroy the city.

The dearg-due (Gaelic for “red blood sucker”) is an authentic character from the folklore of Waterford in the southeast of Ireland. Although the original story does not identify the dearg-due by name (I gave her the name “Elizabeth” and any Gaelic speakers will know something is amiss about the character from the moment we meet her in Part One: Wellspring because her surname is the Gaelic for “hag” or “witch”). In the original Irish folktale, a young woman in the countryside outside Waterford was in love with a local shepherd-boy and they wanted to marry. The girl’s father, however, struck a bargain with the local landlord and insisted his daughter into the arranged marriage with the landlord who was much older, as well as more wealthy. The landlord was an abusive husband (as we would now call him) and beat his young wife on several occasions, finally beating her death on one occasion.

Following her burial on the landlord’s estate — and the story is very specific that she was buried under or near the great oak tree that had stood on the estate near the river since the 1100s and was the site of the wedding of Strongbow [the first English knight to occupy Irish territory] and the daughter of the local Irish king — the girl rose from the grave to kill both her husband and her father (who had no doubt received great benefits from the marriage of his daughter to the landlord) and she continues to seduce and kill men — only men! — in revenge for the way she was treated in life. She kills the men during sex and laps up their blood or eats their organs, to sustain her own existence as one of the Undead.

The tale also stresses that the dearg-due is not effected by sunlight or garlic and cannot be destroyed but only forced back into her grave and pinned beneath the earth by the construction of a small cairn (“tower” or “pile”) of stones on her grave. The cairn will pin her under the earth until someone removes it, allowing the dearg-due to escape her grave and begin her rampages again.

There could well have been a young girl forced into an arranged marriage by her father and beaten to death by a rich, abusive husband near Waterford and that this gave rise to the legend. However, the story is also easily read as a shorthand version of Irish history: the young girl (poor, Irish, a Roman Catholic) is forced into an abusive relationship with the landlord (wealthy, English, a Protestant) in the very place where the English occupation of Ireland began centuries ago. She can be temporarily subdued but never destroyed and continues to rise again and again to attack her tormentor.

The dearg-due is a killer aligned with George and Fen’ka in the CHoHW trilogy but she could easily become a heroine in her own book or series, still coming to the aid of women in abusive relationships and slaying their abusers. What better way to honor both Women’s History Month and St. Patrick’s Day than by remembering the Irish female vampire, the dearg-due of Waterford?

Imbolc: The first day of Spring

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Snowdrops at a creek announce Imbolc. The first blooms of snowdrops or blackthorns or the first birth of the new lambs were often considered the announcement of Imbolc's arrival. (photo by Tony Eaglehart)

Snowdrops at a creek announce Imbolc. The first blooms of snowdrops or blackthorns or the first birth of the new lambs were often considered the announcement of Imbolc’s arrival. (photo by Tony Eaglehart)

Blackthorn blooming at Imbolc.

Blackthorn blooming at Imbolc.

The Celtic — and magical! — festival of Imbolc, celebrated February 1-2, was considered the first day of spring in Celtic cultures and across Europe in general during the medieval period. Although we nowdays generally consider the soltice or equinox the first day of a season (December 21 as the first day of winter, March 21 as the first day of spring, June 21 as the first day of summer, and September 21 as the beginning of autumn), those days were previously considered the mid-seasons. (That is why we can sing Christmas carols about “midwinter” in December and have Midsummer night dreams in June!) The traditional changes of the seasons were the “quarter days” which marked the midpoints between the mid-seasons. So we get the Celtic/magical festivals of Samhain (October 31, the first day of winter), Imbolc (February 1-2, the beginning of spring), Beltane (May, the first day of summer), and Lammas (August 1, the beginning of autumn). 

Because Imbolc is the beginning of spring, it is often associated with various means of predictng the coming weather which is so crucial during the planting season of agricultural societies. Hence, we consult the groundhog to determine if he sees his shadow or not in order to know if cold and snow will last another six weeks or not. In Serbia, a bear who wakes from his hibernation to stumble out of his cave and see his shadow will know whether to go back to sleep for another six weeks or not, based on whether he sees his shadow.Imbolc was believed to be when the Cailleach—the divine hag of Gaelic tradition—gathers her firewood for the rest of the winter. Legend has it that if she wishes to make the winter last a good while longer, she will make sure the weather on Imbolc is bright and sunny, so she can gather plenty of firewood. Therefore, people would be relieved if Imbolc is a day of foul weather, as it means the Cailleach is asleep and winter is almost over. At Imbolc on the Isle of Man, where she is known as Caillagh ny Groamagh, the Cailleach is said to take the form of a gigantic bird carrying sticks in her beak.