Kate MOSS, yes, she sounds familiar and related to us, all waifish, skin all lichen-like (crepey).
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Don't look at me. I'm not a Moss!
Trees are greening, flowers are blooming, birds are nesting – why? Spring is in the air! Despite the happy days this brings, be wary of what else may be lurking in deep, dark forests. From German folklore, let's explore the world of the moss people.
In German folklore, moss folk resemble dwarves (called kumbhandas in Buddhistcosmology and gnomesin much of Europe), nearly the size of human children. But they are covered in green moss, with skin that looks gray, and a lot of hair like lichen.
Their arms and legs appear as “knotted maple bark.” Centuries ago, humans considered them part of the fairy realm dedicated to trees and the forest in general.
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For unknown reasons, the moss people population consisted mostly of females. These “fairies” were known to borrow things from humans and, at other times, ask for help from them.
Maiden (Kettle Quill/Deviant Art)
Occasionally, they would ask humans for breast milk to feed their own moss babies. They repaid their benefactors with good advice or bread.
However, one had to be wary of their quick tempers. If one gave them caraway bread, for instance, they would become very angry and cry, “Caraway bread, our death!”
Some tales describe them as behaving like changelings in that they would sometimes steal very small human children. Female moss people, called Mossfraulein (“moss women”)... More: Moss People creeping out of forests
(PBS SoCal) Sept. 12, 2012: Everywhere we turn in California, there's something to eat -- if we know what to look for. Wild foragers and chefs Pascal Baudar and Mia Wasilevich of Transitional Gastronomy shop at the grocery store, but they also head out into the woods regularly, carrying backpacks and knives and compasses, finding edible plants scattered across public lands. They like it so much they've turned it into a business, with Pascal leading interested food nerds out into the woods to collect wild plants like mugwort, elderberries, lambs' quarter, cattails, purslane (verdolagas), wild radishes. and more, while Mia cooks up a feast using these wild ingredients.
KCET.org/socal/food/california... Eli Newell went out on one such veggie hunt with Pascal and learned about native versus invasive plants in Southern California's parks. (Which would you guess peaches are?) We ate flowers and asked Pascal why exactly he makes a habit of rubbing poison oak on his hands and face. Enjoy the video. And be cautiously hungry out there! Music: "Petit talibé" instrumental version, Löhstana David.
(Suzanne Joy Teune) Oct. 28, 2023: Hello! This month is the month of foraging. It is a full moon as I upload. I am calling it the "moon of colored trees." This is a very special moon, for this season does not last long. Foraging is something I began doing for art when I attended the Burren College of Art, Ireland. I have been doing it and incorporating items gathered into my art ever since. This video is to show that it's not just about gathering supplies from nature. It's far deeper than that. It's a sacred spiritual practice. This is why I am in awe and inspired by the Indigenous people of the Americas and their art. I don't know how to put this into words.
Music: "If You Wonder" by Nebulae. I reference the short film The Great Kind Mystery by artist Ella Morton (ellamorton.com). Thanks to the late Alice Ladas who died at age 102 for her pink tights.
It started around 1900 with Ajahn Mun Bhuridatto, who wanted to practice Buddhist wandering asceticism and its meditative practices like the Buddha, according to the standards of pre-sectarian Buddhism.
After studying with Ajahn Sao Kantasīlo and wandering through the northeast of Thailand (Isan), Ajahn Mun reportedly attained the stage of enlightenment known as non-returning and started teaching in Northeast Thailand.
He strove for a revival of Early Buddhism, insisting on a strict observance of the Buddhist Monastic Code known as the Vinaya and teaching the practice of meditative absorptions (jhāna) and the realization of nirvana (Pali nibbāna) in this very life.
(Anyone who attains even the first stage of enlightenment called stream entry glimpses or touches nirvana).
Initially, Ajahn Mun's teachings were met with fierce opposition, but in the 1930s his group was acknowledged as a formal faction of Thai Buddhism, and in the 1950s the relationship with the royal and religious establishment improved.
In the 1960s, Western students started to be attracted to this back-to-basics movement, and in the 1970s branch monasteries of the tradition began to be established in the West.
Underlying attitudes of the Thai Forest Tradition include an interest in the empirical and verifiable effectiveness of Buddhist practice, the individual's cultivation and development, and the use of skill in practice and living. More
Rewilding a Forest | Artist and Poet Maria "Vildhjärta" Westerberg
(Campfire Stories) Feb. 23, 2024: This film is part of a series called "Something Beautiful for the World,” which is a collaboration between Reflections of Life, Campfire Stories, and Happen Films.
Maria was a romantic, animal-loving, dreamy child who, growing up, had a hard time conforming to the demands associated with the trajectory towards a "normal" life. As a young adult she became depressed and was encouraged by her therapist to go for walks in the forest.
The myriads of funny-looking twigs and sticks she found along the way immediately put her on a path to recovery. Now, 25 years later, she's a celebrated "twig poet," whose art is shown in galleries throughout Sweden.
When a climate-related crisis strikes the forest where she lives and works, she's forced into a new type of creativity in order to save the place that once upon a time saved her.
Production
Filmed in: Värmland, Sweden. Featuring: Maria "Vildhjärta" Westerberg and Johannes Söderqvist (vildhjarta.net) and Martin Jentzen (jentzen.se). Produced, filmed, and edited by: Mattias Olsson for Campfire Stories (campfire-stories.org). Sound mix: Boris Laible (borislaible.com).
The films of the series "Something Beautiful for the World" explore how small acts of love and kindness have the potential to ripple out and change the world, touching hearts and minds in ways that we could never begin to imagine.
We'll be sharing a total of 12 short films, from across five continents -- releasing one per month for the whole year of 2024 -- four from each filmmaker.
More information about the three production companies:
A huge thanks to the following brilliant people, who gave so generously of their time to help with translations, enabling us to provide subtitles for this film, in the following languages:
Invicta History, 10/31/20; Dhr. Seven, Pat Macpherson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
Misunderstood Moments: The Celtic Origins of Halloween
(Invicta) This is a history documentary on Celtic origins of Halloween, a documentary that explores another one of the Misunderstood Moments in History which has to do with the origin of "Halloween."
We have the world's greatest diaspora.
This dates back to the Celtic traditions from the Bronze Age Hallstatt and later La Tene cultures. There's a seasonal importance to Samhain, which occurred in late October as a means of commemorating the coming of winter and a new year.
It was a time when the Celts brought in their cattle and grain, which was rotted and slaughtered into alcohol ferment and bloody flesh for grand feasts.
Great bonfires were lit by Druids, which helped ward against evil spirits and ensure that good fortune would follow in the new year.
As part of these Celtic traditions, early ideas of masks, costumes, and trick-or-treating emerged.
The original Celtic festival of Samhain evolved (or devolved) over the years into the modern Halloween of today beginning with Celtic mythology. #History
#Celts#Halloween
The History of Halloween 🎃
(Ryan Reeves) Oct. 3, 2023: This video discusses the long history of Halloween from the Celtic practice of Samhain, to the medieval Catholic observance of All Saint's Day, to Victorian Gothic, and finally the modern practice of trick-or-treating.
Pink Floyd, "Gnome" 1967 with co-founder Syd Barrett
Explore Your Youniverse thumbnail by Michael Dubois (davidpatrickharry.com), Instagram: @dpharry, Facebook: Fractal Youniverse, Pinterest: @dpharry3, Twitter: @realDPHarry.
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