The Kraken and the Maelstrom:
Sea Creatures from deep water rarely surfaced or were seen unless they were running away from natural disasters - their presence heralded looming destruction, from intense weather patterns or deep sea earthquakes that triggered tsunamis. Being a sailor was like being an Astronaut, going away for years and returning home with fantastical tales of their journey.
The Kraken was most likely formed from Giant Squid that washed up onshore along the Norwegian/Scandinavian coastline. There are also dangerous natural whirlpools that were believed to be related to massive creatures underwater like the Kraken - the whirlpools often have lots of fish that get sucked into them. Norwegian fishermen often took the risk of trying to fish over them, since the catch was so plentiful (hence the saying "You must have fished on Kraken"). However, there was also the danger to seamen of being engulfed by the whirlpool when it submerged. Norway's famed Moskstraumen is often known as "the Maelstrom".
Guabancex is the deity of chaos and disorder of the Taíno natives in Puerto Rico, Hispaniola, Jamaica, and Cuba as well as Arawak natives elsewhere in the Caribbean. She was described as a mercurial goddess that controlled the weather, conjuring storms known as "juracán" when displeased. The term was later used to name the climatological phenomenon that is now known as a hurricane in the Western Hemisphere.
Today, many descendants of Boriken, Kiskeya (Dominican Republic) and Cubanacan (Cuba) Taíno live in New York City. Before hurricane Katrina, some meteorologists predicted that “The Big One” will be a huge hurricane that may do incalculable damage to New York City in the future.
Stories that shape our Cultural Behaviors:
Kelpies of Scotland:
Almost every sizeable body of water in Scotland has an associated kelpie story, but the most extensively reported is that of Loch Ness. The kelpie has counterparts across the world, such as the Germanic nixie, the wihwin of South America and the Australian bunyip. The origins of narratives about the creature are unclear but the practical purpose of keeping children away from dangerous stretches of water and warning young women to be wary of handsome strangers has been noted in secondary literature. The stories were also used to enforce moral standards, as they implied that the creatures took retribution for bad behaviour carried out on Sundays. The intervention of demons and spirits was possibly a way to rationalise the drowning of children and adults who had accidentally fallen into deep, fast flowing or turbulent water.
*Historian and symbologist Charles Milton Smith has hypothesized that the kelpie myth might originate with the water spouts that can form over the surface of Scottish lochs, giving the impression of a living form as they move across the water.
Godzilla is a prehistoric reptilian monster awakened and empowered by nuclear radiation. With the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Lucky Dragon 5 incident still fresh in the Japanese consciousness, Godzilla was conceived as a metaphor for nuclear weapons. Others have suggested that Godzilla is a metaphor for the United States, a giant beast woken from its slumber which then takes terrible vengeance on Japan. As the film series expanded, some stories took on less serious undertones, portraying Godzilla as an antihero, or a lesser threat who defends humanity. Later films address disparate themes and commentary including Japan's apathy and neglect of its imperial past, natural disasters, and the human condition. Gojira (ゴジラ) is a portmanteau of the Japanese words gorira (ゴリラ, "gorilla") and kujira (鯨クジラ, "whale"), owing to the fact that in one planning stage, Godzilla was described as "a cross between a gorilla and a whale", due to its size, power and aquatic origin. Art director Akira Watanabe combined attributes of a Tyrannosaurus, an Iguanodon, a Stegosaurus and an alligator to form a sort of blended chimera, inspired by illustrations from an issue of Life magazine. To emphasise the monster's relationship with the atomic bomb, its skin texture was inspired by the keloid scars seen on the survivors of Hiroshima.
Much of our folklore involving interactions with the ocean are warnings, messages of staying alert to stay alive, and offering poetry/prayers/gifts to appease an angry and uncompromising host of spirits who speak for the ocean.
+ What do you think the ocean might want to tell us?
+ What makes something scary? Why might that be?
+ How do creatures underwater protect themselves?
+ Does scary or dangerous mean something is bad?
+ Is Godzilla a bad guy/villain? How can you tell?
+ What things should we combine to make our own Sea Monsters?
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