The Migration Patterns of Imaginary Birds

Imaginary Birds: Jesus (or the holy spirt?)

Don't have a huge amount of time to post right now, but I wanted to throw something up.

Below is St. Francis receiving the stigmata, from a very odd type of bird .

The original is in the Louvre.

Kotengu

From wikipedia:

In the Genpei Jōsuiki, written in the late Kamakura period, a god appears to Go-Shirakawa and gives a detailed account of tengu ghosts. He says that they fall onto the tengu road because, as Buddhists, they cannot go to Hell, yet as people with bad principles, they also cannot go to Heaven. He describes the appearance of different types of tengu: the ghosts of priests, nuns, ordinary men, and ordinary women, all of whom in life possessed excessive pride. The god introduces the notion that not all tengu are equal; knowledgeable men become daitengu (大天狗, big tengu^?), but ignorant ones become kotengu (小天狗, small tengu^?).^[16]

A special class of Tengu turns into bird like creatures

Kotengu may conversely be depicted as more bird-like. They are sometimes called karasu-tengu (烏天狗, crow tengu^?), or koppa- orkonoha-tengu (木葉天狗, 木の葉天狗foliage tengu^?).^[19] Inoue Enryō described two kinds of tengu in his Tenguron: the great daitengu, and the small, bird-like konoha-tengu who live in Cryptomeria trees. The konoha-tengu are noted in a book from 1746 called the Shokoku Rijin Dan(諸国里人談^?), as bird-like creatures with wings two meters across which were seen catching fish in the Ōi River, but this name rarely appears in literature otherwise.^[20]

Japanese ghost culture is one of the great treasures of the world. The concept of denying ghosts exist really never occurred to anyone until the 17th century, and didn't gain wide acceptance until the 19th. The true stories about things that were accredited to ghosts are all rather amazing. Back in the 10th century one person who was unjustly accused of wrong doing by an enemy, committed suicide and then came back as the plague. People would occasionally show up at the palace claiming to be possessed by the ghost of the former emperor, and they would have to do a battery of tests before the current palace residents determined they were just crazy. And there was of course one time when a ghost had killed three of the children of the most important man in Japan, so they had to summon the ghost and try to explain to him that he was really in the wrong.

What's most charming about the actual ghost stories, is how they still partake in that inexplicability that was the defining character of a society that cares about whether something exists, and not what something means. Usually this attitude is lost in the early years of literacy, as people try to determine the spiritual meaning of what are in reality rather odd texts (Hebrew scriptures and the Odyssey are the two best examples, both rather odd books that people were intent on giving meaning later), the Japanese for some reason, lost that attitude quite a bit later (and you still see traces of it). The result was a series of "oddity" stories, where the only thing a bizarre creature represents is the fact that something horrible and mysterious exists.

Below is a picture of a Cryptomeria tree.

The White Bird of Yamato-dake

Now Yamato-dake no Mikoto, taking the shape of a white bird, came forth from the misasagi [upper class tomb], and flew towards the Land of Yamato. The Ministers accordingly opened the coffin, and looking in, saw that only the empty clothing remained, and that there was no corpse. Thereupon messengers were sent to follow in search of the white bird. It stopped on the plain of Kotobiki in Yamato. Accordingly in that place a misagari was erected. The white bird flew on again until it reached Kahachi, where it rested in the village of Furuchi, and in this place also a misasagi was erected. Therefore the men of that day called these three misasagi "the white bird misasagi." At last it soared aloft to Heaven, and there was nothing buried but his clothing and official cap. The Emperor, wishing to perpetuate the fame of his services, established the Takeru Be. This was in the 43rd year of the Emperor's reign.

From the Nihongi (the second oldest book of Japanese Mythology)

I mainly wanted to put this in, because Japanese mythology is, I think, some of the most interesting in the world (this has a lot to do with the sudden introduction of writing in Japan, which made the transition from oral to literate society quicker than in most places).

The piece brings out the largely varying role of the bird as a symbol of death. In Irish mythology the role is quite dark, in Akkadian mythology its baffling, here the role seems to be mostly positive, despite the fact that the afterlife in Japanese mythology is fairly horrific:

Thereafter, Izanagi no Mikoto went after Izanami no MIkoto [who had died], and entered the land of Yomi. When he reached her they conversed together, and Izanami no Mikoto said: 'My lord and husband, why is they coming so late? I have already eaten of the cooking-furnace of Yomi. Nevertheless, I am about to lie down to rest. I pray thee, do not thou look on me.' Izanami no Mikoto did not give ear to her, but secretly took his many-toothed comb and, breaking off its end tooth, made of it a torch, and looked at her. Putrefying matter had gushed up and maggots swarmed . . . Izanagi no Mikoto was greatly shocked and said: 'Nay! I have come unawares to a hideous and polluted land.' 

Later on, when the Emperor attempts to move the guards of the empty tomb from guardianship into labor, one of the guards turns into a white deer and runs off.

Japanese mythology is so amazingly awesome, unfortunately they aren't big into bird myths.

The Cinnamon Bird

The way they get cinnamon is even more extraordinary. They cannot even say where it comes from and where in the world it grows (except that some of them use an argument from probability to claim that it grows in those parts where Dionysus was brought up). But they say that the sticks which the Phoenicians have taught us to call 'cinnamon' are carried by large birds to their nests, which are built of mud plastered on to crags on sheer mountainsides, where no man can climb. Under these circumstances, the Arabians have come up with the following clever procedure. They cut up the bodies of dead yoke-animals such as oxen and donkeys into very large pieces and take them there; then they dump the joints near the nests and withdraw a safe distance. The birds fly down and carry the pieces of meat back up to their nests - but the joints are too heavy for the nests. The nests break and fall to the ground, where the Arabians come and get what they came for. That is how cinnamon is collected in that part of Arabia, and from there it is sent all over the world.

-Herodotus

The Histories

The Cinnamon bird is early form of explanation for the mysterious presence of cinnamon in Arabian merchant caravans. Though Pliny the Elder guessed as early as the 1st century AD that the Arabs came up with this story in order to have an excuse to charge more, the story was still widely believed until the 13th century, when place of origin for the spice (Sri Lanka) was published.

The most used source for this story is Aristotle, who said that the bird collected the cinnamon from an unknown location, and that the traders brought down the nest using arrows with leaded weights attached to them. The bird seemingly made its nest in locations only on the slenderest of branches.

Cave Swiftlets are a non-imaginary bird whose nest is considered to be a delicacy. Used in the creation of birds nest soup.

The Alicanto

Overworked at the moment, so this one is going to be short, and hopefully expanded later.

The Alicanto is a Chilean/Andean bird that lives mostly in mine shafts. It eats only gold and silver, and its diet leads to it being luminous, or in some cases "reflect light." The bird will lead miners to gold veins if they do not realize the miner is following them, or will lead them off a cliff if they know they are being followed.

I have a particular fascination in creatures that reflect light, as from a cinema studies perspective the reflection of light is the primary identifying aspect of existence.

The Owlbird

The countries of Owlbird and Falconbird are nearby. The birds there are green and yellow. Whichever kingdom they pass over, that kingdom will be destroyed. These countries lie north of Girl Sacrifice country. The Owlbird has a human face and lives on a mountaintop. One author says: 'These are the bind-birds; some birds are green, and some birds are yellow. This is the place where birds flock."

A Friend of mine complained that I didn't write enough about the Jingwei, which might be true (I might add some to that post). So I promised that I'd write a follow-up piece on another ornithographic myth in the Classic of Mountains and Seas.

The Classic of Mountains and Seas is one of the oldest books of Chinese geography, and it's notable for having absolutely no correlation with real geography. The world is set up with four poles, at each pole there are high mountains, outside those mountains there is a large sea, and across the sea is more land and "great wilderness." The book spends 5 chapters describing medicinal properties of things within the four seas, and 13 chapters describing the cultures outside of China. The animals are often unrecognizable (foxes with nine tails, snakes with a human head), and the people are often animal-human hybrids)

Scholars are pretty sure that there was some sort of place that all the stories refer to. Tai Shan is mentioned (in Shandong province), and certain cultures are historically identified, though usually cultures placed at the Western pole would actually be Eastern cultures, etc. Most of the corresponding literature that would help places be identified though was lost in the giant palace library fire during the overthrow of the Qin dynasty in 300 BC. 

The animal hybridization is thought to have something to do with a national totem, but the Owlbird though is more confusing than most. Other people/bird hybrids (Chinese mythology is bird heavy) the animal/person is clearly a hybrid: 

The country of Feathered Folk lies to the southeast. It's people have long heads and feathers grow from their bodies.

Bawlhead county lies to the south. It's people have a human face, with wings and a bird's beak, which they use to catch fish. 

Whereas the Owlbird, though it has a human face, is mostly referred to as a bird, though with its own country, and the power to destroy other countries (I.e. it could signify a war-like tribe).

The term "This is the place where birds flock" also has a somewhat intense connotation.

My favorite Chinese artist, Huang Yongping, did a piece called "one man, nine animals" for the 1999 Venice Biennale that put nine creatures from the Classic of Mountains and Seas on high pedestals so you could see them all at the same time. The sight of each one is supposed to imply oncoming death, famine, conquest, drought etc. etc. etc.

Jingwei

Two hundred leagues further north is a mountain called Mount Showdove. Dye Mulberry trees are numerous on its summit. There is a bird on this mountain which looks like a crow, but it has markings on its head and it has a white beak and scarlet feet. Its name is the Sprite Guard. When it sings, it calls itself 'Jing-wey.' This is the great god Flame's youngest daughter. Her name is Girl Lovely. Girl Lovely was sporting in the East Sea when she drowned and did not come back. That is why she became Sprite guard. For eternity she carries wood and pebbles in her beak from the West Sea to dam up the East Sea. The River Brocade rises here and flows east to empty into the Great River.

-Classic of Mountains and Seas, Penguin Edition

I'm rather fond of this one. 

In Chinese mythology Jingwei was a princess that drowned in the East sea. After death she transformed/reincarnated into a small bird that drops twigs and small stones into the sea in order to eventually fill it up. Depending on where you hear the story, her motivation is either to save others from drowning, to recover her body, or revenge against the ocean.

The above version, which I believe is the oldest recording of this story, doesn't give a rational to the character at all, its actually presents its story as rather logical "she drowned and did not come back. That is why she became [a bird]." As though that's the logical conclusion of all women/goddesses drowning. 

In the oldest versions of the story, there is a fairly strong connection to the flood myth. While you can see the controlling the flood aspect of the Classic of Mountains and Seas sysiphean tale, according to "The Flood Myths Of Early China" the other account which competes with the Classic of Mountains and seas, the HuaiNanzi "The Masters of Huainan," is more explicit in its connection:

In ancient times the four limits of the world collapsed and the Nine Provinces split apart. Heaven did not completely cover the world, nor did the earth support all things. Fires raged without going out, and water surged on without ceasing. Fierce beasts devoured simple people, and birds of prey carried off old and young alike. Thereupon Girl Lovely smelted the five-colored stones to patch up the azure sky, cut off the turtle's legs to re-establish the four limits, and killed the black dragon to rescue Ji Province [Central China]. She piled up ashes from reeds to halt the rampant waters,. Thus the azure sky was patched, the four limits corrected, the rampant waters dried up, Ji Province restored to order, and the treacherous creatures died.

The downside of this account is that it lacks birds. But it does clearly show her function into someone who used natural resources, to (sometimes without success) control nature.

Jingwei took on a whole separate meaning in the late 19th Century. One popular fiction story "Stones of the Jingwei bird," was about women escaping their family to pursue an education in Japan. And it has since became both a Chengyu (a four character "saying") - jingweitianhai 精卫填海 - meaning to do something with dogged determination (there are a lot of Chengyu about that, as it was a favorite theme of Chinese revolutionaries).

Retellings of the story are now increasingly targeted towards children, and try to accentuate the hope and determination involved in the quest. I personally am fond of the story because it presents and answer to hopelessness in unending rage.

A gene has recently been named after the bird.

Huginn and Muninn

More Ravens. These two, translated as "thought" and "memory," are information gatherers for Odin:

The whole world wide, every day

fly Huginn and Muninn

I worry lest Huginn should fall in flight

but I worry more for Muninn

-Grimnismal

As mentioned last week, ravens have somewhat morbid implications, but I've heard somewhat similar ideas put forth less morbidly. Townes Van Zandt's interpretation of the folk song, "if I needed you" preludes with the mention that "Loup and Lil are Parakeets," referring to the verse that goes:

Loup and Lil agree

she's a sight to see

and a pleasure for the poor to find

The Irish Raven

 " . . . craving for carrion, the dark raven shall have its say, and tell the eagle how it fared at the feast, when, competing with the wolf, it laid bare the bones of corpses."

- Beowulf

In Irish mythology, the raven is said to take the souls of the dead, and is the form several goddesses take on the battlefield. The source of this myth is clearly the presence of ravens after a battle, eating the corpses of those left behind.

Source: Mary Jones Celtic Encyclopedia, ravenfamily.org

Imaginary Birds: The Akkadian dead

To Kurnugi, land of [no return],

Ishtar daughter of Sin was [determined] to go; 

The daughter of Sin was determined to go 

to the dark house, dwelling of Erkalla's god, 

to the house which those who enter cannot leave, 

On the road where travelling is one-way only, 

To the house where those who enter are deprived of light,

Where dust is their food, clay their bread. 

They see no light, they dwell in darkness 

They are clothed like birds, with feathers. 

- "The Descent of Ishtar to the Underworld" 

From Myths of Mesopotamia, Oxford World Classics,