Monday, April 16, 2012

Gilgamesh's Grave


Gilgamesh was a legendary character of ancient middle eastern lore.  He was a giant and a tyrant king in ancient Iraq who was said to have survived "the Great Deluge."  The people prayed for help and the gods sent Gilgamesh a wild man named Enkidu to take him on a journey and teach him a lesson.  A while back, there was an article stating that the grave of Gilgamesh had been found.  Then there was nothing else said about it.


Was a skeleton or mummy found?  Was Gilgamesh real?  Was he a giant?  Perhaps that information will never be known.

Gilgamesh is a demigod of superhuman strength who built the city walls of Uruk to defend his people from external threats, and travelled to meet the sage Utnapishtim, who had survived the Great Deluge. He is usually described as two-thirds god and one third man.
Sources:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilgamesh

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Kapara_relief_Gilgamesh_winged_sun.jpg
Archaeologists in Iraq believe they may have found the lost tomb of King Gilgamesh - the subject of the oldest "book" in history.
 

The Epic Of Gilgamesh - written by a Middle Eastern scholar 2,500 years before the birth of Christ - commemorated the life of the ruler of the city of Uruk, from which Iraq gets its name.
Now, a German-led expedition has discovered what is thought to be the entire city of Uruk - including, where the Euphrates once flowed, the last resting place of its famous King.
'I don't want to say definitely it was the grave of King Gilgamesh, but it looks very similar to that described in the epic,' Jorg Fassbinder, of the Bavarian department of Historical Monuments in Munich, told the BBC World Service's Science in Action programme.


By Rita Jean Moran (www.thelibrarykids.com)


Source:  http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/2982891.stm



Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Red-Haired Giants

The stories are abundant regarding the giant people.  They range from red-haired giants in China, Europe, America, Polynesia and Africa.   There are stories that they were as tall as 12 feet with some even taller than that.  Many bones have been dug up that indicate a very large headed people with  tall statures existed not too long ago.   Some of these heads are conical (conehead) in shape.  I will include some embedded videos of giants with coneheads and their mummies below.


The Tarim mummies in China were found recently and are from a tall Europeon race of people that lived in the area.



The Tarim mummies are a series of mummies discovered in the Tarim Basin in present-day Xinjiang, China, which date from 1900 BC to 200 AD. Some of the mummies are frequently associated with the presence of the Indo-European Tocharian languages in the Tarim Basin,[although the evidence is not totally conclusive.
Research into the subject has attracted controversy, due to ethnic tensions in modern day Xinjiang. There have been concerns whether DNA results could affect claims by Uyghur peoples of being indigenous to the region. In comparing the DNA of the mummies to that of modern day Uyghur peoples, Victor H. Mair's team found some genetic similarities with the mummies, but no direct links, stating that "modern DNA and ancient DNA show that Uighurs, Kazaks, Kyrgyzs, the peoples of Central Asia are all mixed Caucasian and East Asian... the modern and ancient DNA tell the same story." He concludes that the mummies are basically Caucasoid, likely speakers of an Indo-European language; that East Asian peoples "began showing up in the eastern portions of the Tarim Basin about 3,000 years ago... while the Uighur peoples arrived after the collapse of the Orkon Uighur Kingdom, largely based in modern day Mongolia, around the year 842."



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarim_mummies








The Pharaohs of Egypt were shown as very tall with conical heads as compared to the average human.





http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Aten_disk.jpg


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akhenaten








The tale of Finn McCool from Ireland tells the story of two giants who fought each other with one out-smarting the other.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fionn_mac_Cumhaill




One more intersting thing is that the Hawaiians considered the goddess Pele to be a tall white woman with red hair, who was killed by a jealous sister and was burried on an island off of Mauii.


In one version of the story, Pele is daughter of Kanehoalani and Haumea in the mystical land of Kuaihelani, a floating free land like Fata Morgana. Kuaihelani was in the region of Kahiki (Kukulu o Kahiki). She stays so close to her mother's fireplace with the fire-keeper Lono-makua. Her older sister Nā-maka-o-Kahaʻi, a sea goddess, fears that Pele's ambition would smother the home-land and drives Pele away. Kamohoali'i drives Pele south in a canoe called Honua-i-a-kea with her younger sister Hiʻiaka and with her brothers Ka-moho-aliʻi, Kane-milo-hai, Kane-apua, and arrives at the islets above Hawaii. There Kane-milo-hai is left on Mokupapapa, just a reef, to build it up in fitness for human residence. On Nihoa, 800 feet above the ocean she leaves Kane-apua after her visit to Lehua and crowning a wreath of kau-no'a. Pele feels sorry for her younger brother and picks him up again. Pele used the divining rod, Pa‘oa to pick her a new home. A group of chants tells of a pursuit by Namakaokaha'i and Pele is torn apart. Her bones, KaiwioPele form a hill on Kahikinui, while her spirit escaped to the island of Hawaiʻi.[2]:157 (Pele & Hi'iaka A myth from HAwaii by Nathaniel B. Emerson)



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pele_(deity)


As with the Little People, the giant red-haired people have been all over the Earth and probably exist in one form or another, today.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_hair



By Rita Jean Moran (www.thelibrarykids.com)

The Little People

One of my favorite characters in my series, The Library Kids, is Liam who is a 15,000 year old Leprechaun.  He is very loyal and loving but if you get on his bad side, you'll be sorry because he is a very clever leprechaun with magical powers.

The story of little people around the world is a global phenomenon.  From Ireland to America to Polynesia, the stories of little people go way back.  In ancient Egypt, one of the ancient gods named Bes, was said to be a dwarf.  He was a god of war and a protector god in childbirth and of the home.  He was well known for protecting women and children.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:S_F-E-CAMERON_EGYPT_2006_FEB_01385.JPG


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bes


The other obvious place of little people is Ireland.  The leprechauns of Ireland are well known and are often said to be in possession of gold and precious jewels.  Many can grant wishes according to legend.




http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leprechaun



The Twa or pygmy people of the Congo in Africa, still exist today. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twa_people














The Native Americans have many stories of the little people that existed all over America.  Many were specifically located in Montana and Wyoming.  Sometimes the little people would play tricks on the Native Americans, but they never wanted their existance to be known and would beg a person who saw them to not say anything about their existance.


Native American little people
  • Nimerigar - Shoshone
  • Yunwi Tsundi - Cherokee
  • Nunnupi - Comanche
  • Nirumbee or Awwakkulé - Crow
  • Geow-lud-mo-sis-ing
  • Menehune - Hawaiian native
  • Memegwesi/Memegawensi/Memengweshii/Pa'iins - Anishinaabe
  • Mannegishi - Cree
  • Ishigaq - Inuit
  • Pukwudgie - Wampanoag



The Polynesians talk of the Menehune who existed on the islands before the ancestors of the Polynesians came to islands.  The Menehune are said to be master builders.

There are even archaeological finds today regarding the "Hobbit" people of Indonesia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homo_floresiensis


So you can see the little people have existed all over the world and still exist, today.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_people_(mythology)



By Rita Jean Moran (www.thelibrarykids.com)

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

The Alamo





I have visited the Alamo, near San Antonio, Texas a few years ago and I was surprised at how small the building was, but the history of the place was quite well known.  The Battle of the Alamo  (February 23 – March 6, 1836) was a very important time in Texas history.  After a 13-day seige, the Mexican  President General Antonio López de Santa Anna attacked the Alamo Mission and all but two of the Texan defenders were killed.

Because of this, Texans were determined to seek revenge and become independent of Mexico.  The Mexican Army was defeated at the Battle of San Jacinto, on April 21, 1836, thus ending the Texas Revolution.

Texas was admitted to the Union on December 29, 1845.






By Rita Jean Moran (www.thelibrarykids.com)


Monday, April 2, 2012

World War II Veterans

I've had the honor of meeting several World War II vets in my life.  Many of them were from my family.  My father was in the Army during World War II and was stationed in the Philippines and then sent to Japan.  In my third book, The Library Kids Cry of the Banshee, I cover some of his experiences during training and active duty.  The following are a couple of pictures from his time during World War II.







I've also done some research on the Women's Air Service Pilots of World War II.  They were having a reunion at Piper Memorial Airport in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania (around 1995).  I went out and interviewed them and watched them climb into old planes to fly them once again.









Lastly, I was lucky enough to meet two Pearl Harbor survivors in Hawaii,  when I visited the Pearl Harbor Memorial last year.  They were very nice men and still full of a lot of spunk.





On the left is Sterling Cale and on the right is Al Rodgrigues


Arizona Memorial and Battleship Missouri


One thing I can say is thank you to them, once again.  The generation of people from World War II were very tough, independent and tenacious people.


By Rita Jean Moran (www.thelibrarykids.com)

Sunday, April 1, 2012

There are many things to see and do in South Dakota!

I've been to South Dakota twice and I would highly recommend it as a place to visit at least once.  First you can visit Mt. Rushmore and Custer State Park in South Dakota.





Nearby, you can see the ongoing carving of the Crazy Horse Memorial.



The above photograph is a model of what the finished product is supposed to look like.  The following picture is what the memorial looked like back in the 1990s:





http://www.nps.gov/moru/index.htm

http://gfp.sd.gov/state-parks/directory/custer/default.aspx


I wrote about Mt. Rushmore and the importance of messages in stone in my fourth book, The Library Kids Talking Stones.  The idea behind carving images and information in rock or stone is that these recordings of information can hopefully withstand the test of time and weather, whereas paper copies of written information tend to fade, be burnt or the language they are written in, is forgotten.  An image is a better and quicker way to convey information across the span of time and putting this image in rock or stone is an even better way to ensure the information is transferred to future generations.


You can drive up to Deadwood and find some Old West history.  The stories of Calamity Jane, Wild Bill Hickok, Buffalo Bill, Preacher Henry Weston Smith, Sheriff Bullock and many others that tried to tame the west is recorded there.










The following machine was in the Deadwood Library and is a machine that old time doctors used to administer a small electric current to patients in hopes that it would cure their ailment:





http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deadwood,_South_Dakota






I also went to visit a sacred mountain/hill called Bear Butte.  It's a hike up and many Native Americans give prayer at this place.  The above is an offering left at a prayer site on Bear Butte.





By Rita Jean Moran (www.thelibrarykids.com)