The Kallikantzaros: Creepy Christmas Monsters that Punish Sinners!

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In the trend of shining the spotlight on the creepy side of the holidays, let’s talk about the Kallikantzaros…or the Kallikantzaroi (plural). What is interesting about this legend is that it also has a connection with the dates December 25th-January 6th. If you read my blog about Frau Perchta, her active dates were the same. Since we’re officially in the 12 days of Chistmas, let’s wrap up this series with a lesser known monster.

The Legend

In case the name didn’t give it away, the legend of the Kallikantzaros comes from Greece. You can also find the legend in other countries like Bulgaria, Serbia, Albania, Bosnia, and Cyprus. They are malevolent little goblins that spend the rest of the year underground trying to saw the World tree. If this collapses, Earth goes with it. But when the 12 days of Christmas comes around, they are able to come to the surface. The Kallikantzaros abandon their tree-cutting plans, if not totally forget them. You see, the Kallikantzaros refocus their energy on terrorizing the mortal world. 

When Epiphany happens on January 6th (and the sun starts moving again), these Christmas goblins return underground. In their absence, the World Tree healed itself. So, the Kallikantzaros start over with their sawing, doomed to repeat the tradition every year until the end of time. Actually, they’ve not considered THAT evil. Instead, they’re seen as more impish and stupid, which is why they can come to Earth for a short time.

The Origins

“Bacchanalia” by Alessandro Rosi (circa 1670)

It is believed they were inspired by annual festivals in both Greek and Roman culture. In ancient Rome, the winter festival of Bacchanalia had people wearing beast-like costumes and masks. They were often rowdy, drunk, and engaging in quite in “active” physical adventures with more than one person at a time. In ancient Greece, the festival took place in March and was more centered around theatrical performances. It was in honor of Dionysus, who also happens to be my favorite Greek god.

What Did the Kallikantzaroi Look Like?

Depending on what region you were from, the Kallikantzaros had a variety of different looks. In some places, they were envisioned with hairy bodies, boar husks in their mouths, and horse legs. Sometimes they were big, and sometimes they were smaller humans that smelled horribly. Other parts of Greece say they have red eyes, huge heads with tongues that hang out, and goat or donkey ears…and they had protruding male parts. But the most popular belief is that they are small, hairy little creatures with long black tails…looking like little Devils. What I also found interesting is they are portrayed as mostly blind and love to eat small creatures like worms and frogs…plus they speak with a lisp.

Where Did the Kallikantzaroi Come From?

This is fairly interesting. If a baby was born during the 12 days of Christmas, it was at risk of transforming into a Kallikantzaros during the holiday season once they reached adulthood. There’s another legend that said that any baby born on a Saturday was also at risk. This sounds like a weird Christmas werewolf type of legend. A way to combat this was to bind the baby in tresses of garlic and straw and singe the baby’s toenails (ouch!).

How to Avoid the Kallikantzaroi?

According to lore, there were a few things people did to avoid the wrath of the Kallikantzaros. One of the simplest ways was to leave a colander on their front doorstep. Apparently, the Kallikantzaros were not only creatures of the night, but were also idiots and couldn’t count higher than two because three was considered to be a holy number. If a Kallikantzaros were to say the number three, it would kill itself. By leaving a colander on the front door, the creature can’t help itself but try to count all the holes throughout the night. Thus, wasting time until sunrise. 

Another way was to burn a fire every night so that the Kallikantzaros couldn’t enter through the chimney. Sometimes, it was a yule log that would burn throughout the 12 days of Christmas. Marking a black cross on the door and burning incense would also help protect you against these creatures. If you threw in your stinky shoes in the fire, the smell would be enough to sway the Kallikantzaros to keep going, since they would be repulsed by the smell.

In Other Countries

In Albania, the Kallikantzaros were known as the Kukuth. But they were undead creatures that tormented you in January while carrying chains. They were known to have very bad breath.

In Serbia, the Kallikantzaros was called the “karakondžula.” They came out during the 12 Days of Christmas as normal. But at one point, in Serbia, it was believed that the 12 Days of Christmas were once known as the “unbaptized days”, thus making them less holy. Because of this, demons and monsters were more active and dangerous. Serbians were told to not do anything to attract their attention, like going out late at night. The karakondžula was a short, heavy-set creature that would jump on its victim’s back and demanded to be carried wherever it wanted. This would continue until the rooster crowed the next morning and the sun came up.

Serbian lore mainly targeted adulterers, because those committing adultery would do their sins in the quiet of the night. It was even believed that a karakondžula would hang out on the door frame of the lovers’ home, or even a brothel, and jump on the back of the adulterer as they were leaving. The karakondžula would dig their nails into the person’s skin and make them run around the forest until dawn.

In Anatolian folklore, the karakoncolos were Sasquatch-like creatures that appeared during the 10 days of Zemheri, also known as the “dreadful cold.” They would stand on murky corners and ask questions to passers-by. As long as you answered the questions, you were safe. These creatures were more troublesome, harmless, and rarely evil. They could also call out people by mimicking the voices of their loved ones.

Finally, in Bulgaria, the karakondjul or karakondjo is a shapeshifter-type creature that can transform itself into a man, dog, goat, sheep, or calf. In its normal form, the humanoid has a large head with horns, a tail, and a hairy body. It could also only have one leg or have the legs of a horse. It typically lives in caves, abandoned water mills, and rivers. The kukeri is a traditional ritual to keep these evil creatures away

What do you think of the Kallikantzaroi? Have you heard of this legend before?

Sources

http://www.hellenicaworld.com/Greece/Info/en/Kallikantzaros.html

Kallikantzaroi – Greek Christmas Goblins – Greek Christmas Customs & Traditions

Grýla: The Child Eating Monster That Makes Christmas a Little Scarier

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When we think of the holidays, we think of cheerfulness, merriment, and nothing scary. Well, if you find Santa Claus scary, then I don’t know what to tell you.

But not everyone thinks of the holidays as a positive time of year. Many see it as just another day of life. Others see the time as a season of painful memories and feelings. Some folks see it as a time to get children to behave. 

We have Krampus and Frau Perchta. But do you recall the Icelandic legend of Grýla and her Yule Cat and Yule Lads?

Instead of Santa Claus coming to town, Icelanders are treated to mountain-dwelling monsters who come down for the holidays. What is endearing about this folktale is the fact that they all live together in a cave in the mountains. These mountains are known as the Dimmuborgir lava fields.

Yes, these Christmas monsters are a family. They even have a house cat named Jólakötturinn! Yes, it joins in on their reign of holiday terror.

The Legend

Let’s start with Grýla, whose name loosely translates to growler. She is an ogress who has a rather large appetite for eating naughty children. That’s right, kids. If you’re naughty, you’ll get eaten by Grýla. She has this talent of detecting naughty children year-round. When she comes down from the mountains, she knows who to find. She collects them in her large sack and carries them back to her cave. Then, cooks them in a large pot, making a “naughty children stew”, for which she has an insatiable appetite.

She has a husband named Leppaludi who is your typical TV-house husband. He’s depicted as lazy and doesn’t really leave the cave. Leppaludi is also Grýla’s third husband, which I thought was interesting. Apparently, she ate her previous husbands after she became bored with them.

If you’ve been good, and you think you’re safe, think again. Remember that house cat I told you about? Maybe it’s actually a cave cat. The Yule Cat, named Jólakötturinn, is Grýla’s kitty. It roams the countryside during Yule and eats people who haven’t gotten new clothes before Christmas Eve.

The Yule Lads

Let’s not forget the kids! Grýla and Lappaludi have 13 sons known as the Yule Lads. First, I guess we know what Grýla and her husband were up to in the cave during the off-season. Second, the Yule Lads sounds like a name for a street gang of kids. On the 13 nights leading up to Christmas, the Yule Lads come into town one by one. They bring about mischief, mayhem, pranks, and murder. Kids leave their shoes on window sills. If the kids were good, the Yule Lads bring presents to leave in these shoes. If the kids were naughty, the Yule Lads left a potato in their shoes. That’s not a terrible thing.

The History

The legend of Grýla and her family date back centuries. The earliest mention of Grýla can be traced back to the 13th century. You can find her in a compilation of Norse mythology called, Prose Edda. She is described as a giantess that is repulsive and hideous.  Some other early depictions of Grýla have ranged from describing her as a beggar with parasites as well as a troll. What is creepy about her as a beggar is that she would go door-to-door asking parents to give her their naughty children. It wasn’t until the 17th century that she was associated with Christmas. 

The earliest mention of the Yule Lads goes back to the 17th century in the poem called, “The Poem of Grýla.” In the most popular depictions, they were Grýla’s sons. In other versions, they were her brothers. Depending on where you were from, the Yule Lads did different things from harmless pranks to painting the town red…with blood. What is even more interesting is that the King of Denmark wasn’t a fan of using the Yule Lads as a method of scaring children into behaving. They were formally named in 1862 by Jon Arnason. He was a 19th-century author, collected his own folktales after being inspired by the Grimm Brothers. The 1932 poem, The Yule Lads by Jóhannes úr Kötlum, became canon with their names and personalities because it was so popular. You can find it in the book, Christmas is Coming.

Creepy Christmas Kitty

Now, where did the Jólakötturinn, the Yule Cat, come from? As if Grýla and her family weren’t terrifying enough, let’s add in a cat to make it extra scary. And this giant kitty judged you on whether or not you got new clothes by Christmas Eve. The earliest depiction of the Jólakötturinn is the 19th century. But why clothes? Farmers to put pressure on their workers to finish processing the autumn before Christmas. If the workers finished, they were rewarded with new clothes. Those who didn’t finish got nothing. The idea of the Yule Cat being this giant, monstrous beast was popularized by Jóhannes úr Kötlum. Other depictions included the Yule Cat merely eating the food of those who didn’t have new clothes, which is less dramatic.

To tie all of this up in a neat little bow, basically, you should behave yourself and make sure you have new clothes by Christmas Eve. Otherwise, you might get a visit from Grýla, her Yule Cat, and the Yule Lads. Oh yeah, don’t forget to leave your shoes on the window sill!

What do you think of Grýla, the Yule Cat, and the Yule Lads? Tell me what you think in the comments! Don’t forget to follow this page and subscribe to my YouTube channel!

Like Krampus? Then You’ll LOVE Frau Perchta the Christmas Witch

I’m a diehard fan of Krampus. I think “Elf on the Shelf” is way too soft for kids. Why make them think a creepy-looking doll is spying on them when you can use a terrifying half-goat/half-demon creature to scare them into behaving? If you don’t know the story behind Krampus, he is basically one of Santa’s buddies who punishes misbehaving children. His origins draw from German and Alpine origins. He carries chains and birch sticks to literally beat kids into shape. Some other variations include Krampus sticking children in a sack or basket, dragging them to hell, or just beating them with the birch sticks while they’re in the sack/basket in the process. Basically, I would behave if I knew Krampus was waiting in the wings to kick my butt. By the way, Krampusnacht is December 5th.

But…Krampus isn’t alone. There is a female counterpart to Krampus that is much more terrifying than our male half-goat/half-demon hybrid. And she’s much more terrifying than you can ever imagine.

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The History

Let me introduce you to Frau Perchta. She comes from Eastern Europe, German and Alpine lore, and famously known as the Christmas Witch.

If you’re into the old school fairytales, like the Grimm Brothers, then you might already know about Frau Perchta. She came into prominence thanks to the eldest Grimm brother, Jacob. According to him, Perchta was originally known as Berctha, or Bertha in the 10th century. She is believed to be the female equivalent of Berchtold, who is the leader of the Wild Hunt, a group of soldiers of mythical creatures like spirits, fairies, and elves.

Frau Perchta’s Traditions

But why exactly should we be fearful of Frau Perchta? She is the upholder of cultural taboos, like the prohibition of spinning during the holidays. During the 12 days between Christmas (12/25) and Epiphany (1/6), Perchta would roam the countryside in the middle of the night. She enters people’s homes and knows immediately if the children have been naughty or nice. She also required that the women had the flax spun by the 12th night of December. Perchta would also know if you adhered to her traditional meal of fish and gruel on her feast day.

Frau Perchta bears a striking resemblance to the Scandanavian goddess, Frigga. Both entities obsess over spinning as well as whether or not your house was clean. Jacob Grimm was convinced that Perchta was Frau Holda since she is also into spinning as well as wearing white robes.

Frau Perchta’s Appearance

Frau Perchta has been known to appear as a beautiful young woman in white robes, or an elderly and haggard-looking woman, depending on which culture you are studying. What is notable about her appearance is that she has a foot that is larger than the other. It has been known as a goose or swan foot, which could indicate that she is a shapeshifter of some sort. If you behaved, you would see Perchta as a beautiful woman. But if you weren’t, then you saw her scarier side.

If you did what you were supposed to do, then you might get a nice coin the next morning. But if you neglected to be a well-behaved child, spun your flax, and ate your fish and gruel, there was certain hell to pay. Frau Perchta would slit your stomach open and stuff you with straw and garbage.

Krampus is sounding a little more PG now, doesn’t he?

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The Performance of Ghost Hunting Part I

This is a two-part post about my studies into the relationship between performance and the act of ghost hunting.

A performance is typically defined as an event where there is someone who is presenting something, and there are a group of people observing. This definition of performance is not limited to only theatres or television and movies. A performance can take place at nearly any time of day at any kind of location. Performances can happen at school with the popular crowd, and they can happen at ghost hunts. Scholars have written thousands of book on performance studies and there are even degrees dedicated to the discipline. As a society that is ever growing and changing on a regular basis, there are so many different types of performances out there that appease almost every person out there. From traditional musicals that warm the heart, to the heart-wrenching dramas that influence someone to call their mother to tell them they love her, to the soul shattering avant-garde performance that makes you analyze what it means to be human….performance is an essential part of our existence that is necessary in order for us to survive and thrive.

Before we dive into the performance of ghost hunting, let us take a moment to consider the relationship between performance and spirituality. The earliest roots in theatre lie in ancient Greece in something called, “ritual reenactment”. Back before theatre and performance was established, the ancient Greeks wanted to honor the gods by telling stories of their greatness. This initially began as “oral tradition” where someone would dramatically tell stories of the gods, with an audience watching. The audience would then become performers themselves and spreading the stories around like wildfire. With ritual reenactment, these early performances including singing hymns and performing some kind of movement.

To keep this along the lines of being the abridged version, the villages and tribes began to compete with each other by adding costumes, live music, and written texts in their performances for the gods. One could argue that the original audiences were the gods, and the transition from performing for them to performing to fellow humans was one of the breakthrough moments in the creation of live theatre. Overall, theatre is a very spiritual experience, which the philosopher Aristotle argued that it was needed for the purposes of catharsis, meaning the purging of emotions. If you have ever cried during a movie, you had a cathartic experience. Catharsis was seen as a necessity for cleansing the soul.

With the thought in mind that theatre was originally intended to be spiritual and for the gods as a gift, is it a surprise that there are rumors about theatres being haunted in the first place. Some of my favorite cliché ghost stories come from the urban legend of haunted theatres from the spurned woman in white who lost her chance to be on the stage to the Macbeth curse causing shenanigans in each production, there is a strong connection there. Until the media came into existence with television and film, theatre was the vehicle for expressing society’s belief in the paranormal, and you can watch that belief evolve over time by just analyzing the plays from each time period.

I suppose that the title of this article can be misleading, as it is not an article on how to perform a paranormal investigation or ghost hunt, there are enough of those books out there on the market. Instead, it is a venture into a theory that theatre people, whether they are actors, tenant, directors, dancers, etc. they are inadvertently capturing the attention of the ghosts and causing a performance from both the living and the dead. Artistic people are interesting enough on their own, and I would not be surprised if a ghost chose to attempt communication with an artistic person over someone whose not. I will say that artists are very open-minded to the world around. Could they be lifting a psychic wall around them and making them more vulnerable to having some sort of communication with the other side? If you were dead, and you couldn’t find a way to communicate with the living, and you found someone who could hear you, wouldn’t you do whatever you could muster up to catch their attention? The answer is probably yes. But this isn’t a performance. That is the lost seeking out a solution. When the situation is reversed, and there is someone trying to communicate with a deceased person, the ghost isn’t able to communicate in the way that they used to in life, so they have to pull out the dramatic displays in order to get their point across. I would imagine that this is an extremely frustrating endeavor.

The most obvious example of performances in ghost hunting is in paranormal reality shows that became increasingly popular in the early 21st century. It is a far cry from ritual reenactment and the once cathartic experience that was the performance space. I think perhaps the reason why for this widespread popularity was the fact that the paranormal is an unknown area of knowledge. You can’t get a college degree in paranormal studies and many people who do come forward with experiences in the public eye are portrayed as being insane and not to be taken seriously. At the end of the day, these production companies need to make money. You make money by drawing in an audience, and you keep that audience by continuing to make your show entertaining. I won’t say that the “paratainment” business has sullied the investigation field, but instead, has brought exposure to the paranormal and hopefully making people more open-minded about the existence of ghosts. In the last ten years, there has also been a dramatic rise in the number of ghost tours at numerous haunted locations, where a group of people will go ghost hunting for a night while locked in a building with a guide. The paranormal reached a new height when it came to monetizing the potential interactions with the dead, which many people pay big money for. But because the factor of money is now included in the experience, I have to wonder if along with tickets being paid, if there was an expectation of goods to be delivered (such as a paranormal experience). In turn, does this turn ghosts into entertainers? And if so, what does this mean for the ghosts at the Tenth should Jeff decide to move forward with the guided ghost tours?

I would like to say that my investigations and research into the building have not subjected the ghosts into being put into a situation where they are being asked to perform tricks, since I don’t expect them to ever perform for me. If they choose not to communicate, while I may be disappointed, I acknowledge that it is their right to not talk. But another researcher from the outside looking in may have a different opinion. Where is that fine line between requesting communication and asking the ghosts to essentially perform tricks? I suppose that it is all in the eye of the beholder and the ghosts that are being placed in that situation. If you were to ask me what my long-term goal was for the Tenth, it would be that someday the most prestigious researchers in the paranormal and psychic phenomenon visit the Tenth. It would be great to be able to secure the building for a weekend (at the very least) and let these researchers loose in the building and see what comes of it.

Performers, in terms of actors, dancers, musicians, and artists, seem to be completely different people compared to business professionals or those who don’t consider themselves to be artistically minded. For example, let us go back to the Ganzfeld experiment, which is the sensory deprivation experiment that leads to the altered state of consciousness. There was a study conducted in 1992 where the American Society for Psychical Research used twenty of the most gifted students from the Julliard School in New York City and put them through the sender-receiver experiment. The results were extraordinary because there was a success rate of 50%, which was double the success expectation rate. The facilitators of the experiment, Charles Honorton and Marilyn Schlitz then used eight musicians for the remainder of the experiment. Six out of the eight students either had direct hits or a 75% success rate. Again, these are extraordinary results. The theory behind this success rate was due to the participants; especially the musicians have a dissociated state of mind. Very much like meditation, being dissociated is very much like the feeling of being on autopilot and disconnecting from the outside word. According to John G. Kruth, the executive director of the Rhine Research Center, jazz musicians who often improvise their music will go into this state as they play, channeling the environment around them as they make up their own tune. What would happen if we allowed a bunch of actors to go in and ghost hunt for a night? What kind of results would come up from the night? If we go by the results of the study of the Julliard students and the Ganzfeld experiment, it seems as though there could be potential of a productive interaction with the ghosts.

Ready for more? Here’s Part II.

Calphurnia and Portia: Rome’s Unwanted Women

Okay, back to business.  No more paranormal for a while and back to research!

julius-caesar-portia-woundJulius Caesar is a play that is suspended between the realms of history and tragedy.  The play is maledominated, with only two women roles: Calphurnia, Caesar’s wife, and Portia, Brutus’ wife.  The lack of female presence is noticed in comparison to other Shakespeare plays where female roles are favorable, such as Twelfth Night, As You Like It, and The Merry Wives of Windsor.  David Mann discusses in Shakespeare’s Women, “Why should one play, say As You Like It, seem so sensitive to the minutiae of a woman’s feelings, and yet another, say Julius Caesar, be so cursory in its treatment?  The answer surely is that it depends entirely on the focus of the play, which, with the exception of a small group of romantic comedies, is generally on the male characters, and always reflects the male point of view”  (Mann 23).  Shakespeare created the absence of a strong female role in order to prove the tragic flaw of an ambitious, male dominated world in terms of Julius Caesar.

It is important to analyze the actions and choices that are made by these men in their world. Gail Kern Paster elaborates in the essay, “In the Spirit of Men There Is No Blood: Blood as Trope of Gender in Julius Caesar,” “The conspirators can only remake themselves, it would seem, by regendering Caesar; they can throw off the appearance of womanishness by displacing their own sense of gender-indeterminacy onto the body of their adversary and renegotiating the differences between themselves and Caesar in diacritical terms of the bodily canons” (290).    This quote touches on a common insecurity among the men of the Senate. They are envious and fearful of Caesar’s growing power.  In relation to the weak female roles of the play, the men themselves do not want to appear weak and feminine because then they will be overpowered. There is also the fear of being overruled by emotions and not being able to think rationally because of these emotions.  As Cassius states:

Let it be who it is: for Romans now
Have thews and limbs like to their ancestors;
But, woe the while! our fathers’ minds are dead,
And we are govern’d with our mothers‘ spirits;
Our yoke and sufferance show us womanish.I, ii, 79-83. Emphasis Added.

This is also proven when Caesar is being attacked over his inability to impregnateScreen shot 2013-01-21 at 4.11.35 PM Calphurnia and even requests Antony to brush by her to make her more fertile, “Forget not, in your speed, Antonius, /To touch Calphurnia; for our elders say, /The barren, touched in this holy chase, /Shake off their sterile curse. (I, ii, 10-13).  Paster also explains an interesting point that the more Caesar grows, the conspirators (or the Senate) shrink.  They must assassinate Caesar in order to secure their own masculinity.

When analyzing Caesar and Brutus and their own personal downfalls, one must look at their wives and their relationships with them.  These two ladies serve as a point of reasons and foundations for their husbands even though their warnings are not heeded.  Also, this play conveys an interesting point of view into a world without a female presence.  Or to be put more plainly, a civilization without women.  In this play, it seems that the two marriages are related into more of a partnership, as shown in the strength of these two women.  Calphurnia is so alarmed by her dream that she strongly urges Caesar to stay at home.  She is outspoken and clearly has a personality and self-made identity.  She warns Caesar and tells him to not go to the Senate. Her statement, “You shall not stir out of your house today”  (II, ii, 13) is written as a direct order and not a request.  Instead, Caesar listens to Decius’ alternate interpretation of her dream, which leads to his downfall.  Juliet Dusinberre elaborates in her book, Shakespeare and the Nature of Women, “Shakespeare’s women dream and see visions in vain, surviving to suffer the devastation they predict.  Decius interprets Calphurnia’s dream to flatter Caesar, and sketches the scorn which would attend his hearkening to his wife’s fears…” (Dusinberre 281).

To Caesar, he doesn’t heed Calphurnia’s warnings and nightmares because they are subjective.  Based on her womanly role and femininity, she is working primarily from emotions.  Instead, he believes in Decius’ interpretation and chooses to not lie to the Senate or the people regarding the condition of his health. He is murdered due to this choice.  But another reason why Caesar considers Decius’ interpretation of the dream is because it flatters his own personal confidence.  If he [Caesar] followed Calphurnia’s orders and lied to the Senate and stayed home, Caesar would have seen this as him not following through with his appointed role.  Decius’ interpretation was not only more persuasive, but also encouraged Caesar to continue to the Senate and walk into his own death sentence.

Similar to Calphurnia, Portia is determined to make sure her voice is heard and understood.  Portia goes a step further as she expects Brutus to be completely honest with her.  She desires a partnership with her husband and wants to be involved in his life.  Not only do these two share a partnership, but also Portia considers herself to be an extension of Brutus himself.  But he ignores her at first, thinking that she could not handle the real truth of his life and work. But Portia is extremely intelligent and has the ability to use language to aid her to get what she desires:

BRUTUS:  You are my true and honourable wife,
As dear to me as are the ruddy drops
That visit my sad heart

PORTIA:  If this were true, then should I know this secret.
I grant I am a woman; but withal
A woman that Lord Brutus took to wife:
I grant I am a woman; but withal
A woman well-reputed, Cato’s daughter.
Think you I am no stronger than my sex,
Being so father’d and so husbanded?
Tell me your counsels, I will not disclose ’em:
I have made strong proof of my constancy,
Giving myself a voluntary wound
Here, in the thigh: can I bear that with patience.
And not my husband’s secrets? II, i, 287-301

BrutusPortia challenges Brutus’ love for her.  If Brutus sees Portia as a comfort from his troubles, then he should be able to tell her of the conspiracy.  But he doesn’t and Portia uses logic and reason to explain her position as the wife of Brutus.  Portia’s voluntary wound is a representation of her strength and endurance as a woman in a man’s world.  Paster explains the voluntary wound as, “Portia calls attention to this bodily site not to remind Brutus of her femaleness, her lack of the phallus, but rather to offer the wound as substitute phallus” (294).  She purposely inflicted pain and injury onto herself in order to prove a physical strength that was masculine and the physical cut would serve as that proof, just as a male sexual part is proof of “manliness”.  She considers herself to be nearly like a man from her strong father who raised her, to Brutus, her husband.

Portia intentionally wounds herself to prove that she is just as strong as a man. Paster discusses that, “Later in the same scene, Portia’s self-wounding and voluntary self-display corroborate the same significance of bodily intactness as an ideological format of gender. Portia stakes her claim to knowledge of the conspiracy by seeking to efface the physical difference that separates her from her husband, difference that Brutus himself is intent upon marking”  (292).   This means that Portia’s desire to know about the conspiracy is so strong, that she intentionally wounded herself to rid herself of any signs of being a woman.  She is attempting to mutilate herself in order to be physically just like a man.

The actual action of this self-wound is significant because she is attempting to prove a point to her husband.  Paster goes on to explain that, “But Portia, unable by talking to prove her ability to keep still, turns to self-mutilation.  The gesture seems intended to imitate in little the suicides that Roman patriarchy valorized as the supreme expression of personal autonomy”  (293).  But Portia desires more than just to know about the conspiracy, she desires an equal partnership with her husband.  If she can prove that she can physically handle pain and to literally carve herself into a man, it will grant her that partnership.  Unfortunately, only so much can be done physically when her emotional state does not change genders.

Her emotional and mental state remains feminine.  Similarly, Brutus himself Portiademonstrates a flawed understanding of human emotion. Honor Matthews explains in Character and Symbol in Shakespeare’s Plays, “Both before and after the assassination he suffers sleeplessness typical of a troubled conscience […] Nevertheless, he strives to be honest with himself and others; he is idealistic, a loving husband an adored master.  Indeed Brutus’ true ‘sin’ is never wrongful self-assertion.” (Matthews 43).  This statement is interesting because it puts Brutus in more of a heroic position rather than a troubled conspirator who doesn’t know how to handle loss or failure.  This is supported by Antony’s speech in the end of the play where he regards Brutus as the only assassin who killed Caesar with Rome’s best interest at hear, “ This was the noblest Roman of them all;/ All the conspirators save only he/Did that they did in envy of great Caesar…” (V, v, 76-78).

There is an interesting point to consider in the scene where Brutus finds out about the suicide of his wife.  The news is delivered twice and both times Brutus is emotionally distant and unattached to the event. And Cassius is more affected by Portia’s death than Brutus himself.  Portia’s suicide, however, is not a sign of weakness.  David Mann explains that, “The values of the Roman matron are held up for admiration in many of the plays and are closely related to the willingness of such to commit suicide to maintain their reputations” (Mann 138).  This is supported by Brutus’s suicide after he has begun to lose the war.  Could this mean that Portia ultimately failed in attempting to be her husband’s partner and equal?  But the absence of Portia supplements a catalyst for his spiraling downfall into his own death.

Thomas Clayton explains in his text, Should Brutus Never Taste of Portia’s Death but Once, “The latter part of the play shows him characteristically and nobly enduring the consequences of his earlier folly even as he compounds it” (Clayton 244).  Brutus’ slow deterioration is due to his actions.  His initial motivation for taking part in the assassination of Caesar involved a patriotic act but soon realized the consequences both mentally and physically.  As seen in his unaffected reaction to Portia’s suicide, Brutus does not have a good handle on his own emotions.  Dunsinberre explains that, “Nevertheless, commanding his own emotions, Brutus underestimates the way in which other men are swayed by theirs.  Brutus may have more integrity than Antony but he is obtuse about passions which Antony understands”  (Dusinberre 290).

78941_juliuscaesar_mdBrutus’s disconnection from stable human emotions is his tragic flaw.  As those around him are reacting [healthily] to the events around them, Brutus does not comprehend which emotion to use.  Could it be that he emotionally shut down as soon as Caesar was killed?  Or did he disable his emotions to thwart the efforts of Portia’s insistence of knowing her husband’s secrets?  Clayton goes on to say, “There is no mistakening Brutus’s dissembling, and yet it does not register as discreditable, because of the mood and level of exchange, the residual effect of Brutus’s grief manifested to Cassius when Brutus told him of Portia’s death, and Brutus’s evident – it is more apparent – sincerity” (Clayton 251).

There are only two small roles for women in the play.  Calphurnia only makes a brief appearance and sternly tells her husband to stay home because of her vivid (and prophetic) dream.  Caesar simply puts Calphurnia’s concerns aside and instead listens to Decius’ alternate interpretation of the dream because it was more appealing and positive.  Listening to Calphurnia would have resulted in moral repercussions in his role as a leader and his reputation.  But not listening to Calphurnia resulted in his assassination by the Senate.

Meanwhile, Portia attempts to prove her role as an equal to Brutus.  Her desires to know the conspiracy of the Senate are much more than the pursuit of knowledge.  It is an attempt to become the extension of her husband and to have that partnership that her emotional state hungers for.  Even though she is attempting to prove her worthiness by physically mutilating herself into becoming a man, her emotional state remains as a woman.  Her suicide is resulted from Antony and Octavius’s rise to power and realizing that the Senate’s conspiracy plan has ultimately become a failure.  Even though she commits suicide first, Brutus is not too far behind her. Both husband and wife demonstrate an emotional disability and to preserve their honors, they commit suicide.

Shakespeare wrote Julius Caesar as a way to convey the absence of a strong female role in a male dominated world and the consequences of ambition.  Calphurnia demonstrates strength in her when she demands that Caesar lie to the Senate and stay home with her to ensure his safety.  But the attempt is counter-argued by a stronger male presence in her life.  This ignorance on Caesar’s part leads to his death.  Portia desires an equal relationship with her husband, and while she can handle the physical pain and demands of a man, she cannot handle the emotional demands of being a man.  Even though she may self-mutilate a phallus onto herself, she cannot change on the inside.  Both women are neglected and ignored.  They are unwanted women.  No matter what actions they may have performed or words they may have spoken, they did not have the power to change the story or fate of their husbands.

 Bibliography

Clayton, Thomas. “‘Should Brutus Never Taste of Portia’s Death but Once?’ Text and Performance in Julius Caesar.” Studies in English Literature (Rice) 23.2 (1983): 237. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 27 Apr. 2010.

Dunsinberre, Juliet.  Shakespeare and the Nature of Women.  New York:  St. Martin’s Press. 1996. Print.

Mann, David.  Shakespeare’s Women.  New York: Cambridge University Press. 2008. Print.

Marshall, Cynthia. “Portia’s Wound, Calphurnia’s Dream: Reading Character in Julius Caesar.” English Literary Renaissance 24.2 (1994): 471-87. Print.

Matthews, Honor.  Character and Symbol in Shakespeare’s Plays. New York: Cambridge University Press. 1962.  Print.

Paster, Gail Kern. “”In the Spirit of Men There Is No Blood”: Blood as Trope of Gender in Julius Caesar.” Shakespeare Quarterly 40.3 (1989): 284. Print.

Rebhorn, Wayne A. “The Crisis of the Aristocracy in Julius Caesar.” Renaissance Quarterly 43.1 (1990): 75-111. JSTOR. Web. 6 Apr. 2010. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/2861793>

Shakespeare, William. Riverside Shakespeare. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1997. Print.

Smith, Warren D. “The Duplicate Revelation of Portia’s Death.” Shakespeare Quarterly 4.2 (1953): 153-61. Print.

Yotsuya Kaidan and Japanese Ghosts

I will start off by saying that the Japanese really know how to tell a good ghost story.  Merely listening to a Japanese ghost story sends shivers down my spine and makes the hair on the back of my neck raise on end.  Being a quarter Japanese, I’ve had a fascination with this part of my heritage, and I’ve been wanting to learn more about the Japanese culture.  I’ve decided that for my next project, I’d like to adapt a popular Japanes ghost story for the stage in a contemporary Western theatre style, but also pay homage to the kabuki style in which it originated.  I love kabuki theatre as a whole.  I can’t really explain why except that I love the artistic form and how it communicates character and story on stage.

If you need a visual on “kabuki 101”, here is a handy YouTube video:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67-bgSFJiKc]

While on my journey into looking into more kabuki plays, I ran into this Japanese horror story by Tsuruya Nanboku IV, written in 1825, called Yotsuya Kaidan.  He tells the tragic story of Oiwa and Tamiya lemon.  This is my attempt for a brief summary, without revealing too much (and depending on which version you read), lemon and Oiwa are married.  lemon is unsatisfied with his life with Oiwa and their baby.  Oume, another woman, is in love with lemon.  lemon desires the wealth of Oume and wants to marry her instead. To get Oiwa out of the picture, she (or lemon depending on the version) sends a disfigurement cream to Oiwa, which disfigures half of her face and makes her hair fall out.  lemon decides to leave Oiwa and forces a masseur named Takuetsu to rape Oiwa so that he has a legal reason to divorce Oiwa and marry Oume.  Oiwa tries to fend Takuetsu off with a sword and accidentally punctures her own throat and dies, cursing lemon’s name.  In other versions, lemon gives the posion to Oiwa, but not enough to kill her and the poison slowly kills Oiwa in a violently gruesome way.  Her face becomes disfigured, her hair falls out, her eye droops and in her madness, falls on one of lemon’s swords.  lemon returns home, and dumps his wife’s body in the river and the death is deemed a suicide.

lemon and Oume marry.  Oiwa comes back and haunts lemon and makes him lose his mind and a lot of people are brutally murdered.  Throughout the rest of the play, Oiwa haunts lemon with her demonic laugh.  In life, Oiwa was a model woman of nobility, humility and virtue.  But in death, she is a vengeful spirit known as an onryō.  Why is this story still so popular today? At the time of its production, the Bunsei period of a time of repressed women and there was tension all around.  Oiwa was a character that the audience could relate to in terms of being out of control and unable to have any power in their circumstances.  Also, the play consisted of special affects that audiences had never seen before.  Disfiguring makeup and hair falling out along with violence was a good combination for a well attended play.  Even after Nanboku died, Yotsuya Kaidan remains popular today with numerous adaptations, including film.  There is even a curse associated with this story.  And the curse is what attracts me to this impending project I have brought upon myself.  This story also brings me to think of the Greek tragedy, Medea, which is one of my favorite pieces of classical work.

The curse is associated with bad luck, injuries and death.  Much like the curse of Macbeth, the curse Yotsuya Kaidan was blamed for the death of an actress, stage lights falling and injuring actors, deaths of directors, etc.  In order to avoid the curse, one must visit Oiwa’s grave and pay their respects.  I know what you’re thinking, “Wait a minute, this is a true story?”  To answer simply; yes and no.  Yotsuya Kaidan is based on two murders that took place in the 1600’s.  There is a grave that is believed to hold the remains of Oiwa, whose death is marked as February 22, 1636.  If you visit her grave out of curiosity, it is said that your right eye will begin to droop just like Oiwa’s did from the poison.  

Now, Nanboku has a knowledge of paranormal folklore in Japanese culture.  He wrote Oiwa as an onryō.  An onryō is a spirit that seeks vengeance.  Onryō spirits mainly consist of women (especially in kabuki theatre) who are powerless in the physical living world, but after they die, they become powerful.  Onryōs are revenge spirits to right the wrongs that happened while they were alive.  The traditional of the Japanese spirit world consists of the world of the living and the world of the dead.  I’m still fresh in my research, but from my understanding thus far; when you die, you go to Yomi, which is an underworld guarded by horrifying spirits and you rot for eternity.  In contrast to Yomi, Takamagahara is the shinto view of heaven.  I’ll elaborate more on another posting more dedicated to Japanese mythology because now I’m starting to ramble.  Where was I?  Oh yes.  An onryō becomes so powerful that they can cross the boundaries between the two worlds.  

What will my adaptation be like?  As of right now, I’m just writing.  I’m currently looking for the earlier translation of this piece that I can find since I don’t speak Japanese and reading the original would be a moot point.  It’s still in the baby stages.  Hopefully I will have a tangible piece of work ready for readings by spring 2012.

I will close this blog with an anime adaptation of Yotsuya Kaidan that explains the curse in full detail and presents the conclusion of the story as well.  It’s a bit graphic and might scare you in the end.  The reason why I’m including this video is because it makes two strong statements.  Nanboku begs Oiwa to stop the curse and instead put the curse upon him since he is the one who created the story.  And finally, Nanboku states the Yotsuya Kaidan is cursed because people want it to be cursed.  It’s amazing how powerful thought and beliefs can be.  Thanks for reading!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3xsUBQcv9o]