Lodos & Poyraz

via hurriyetdailynews.com

Last week's Hurriyet Daily News headlines read:Storms Paralyze Life Across Turkey. Even CNN picked up the story with a video feed (below) highlighting the destruction.

So I was reminded of this post, which I wrote last June: Which Way The Wind Blows

I've heard of the Sirocco and even used the Mistral in one of my chapters. It got me to thinking about the winds of Istanbul. There are two major ones. Lodos (Notus) comes up from the south. In the winter, it cancels the ferry schedule it's so rough. Poyraz (Boreas) comes down from the northeast. Both are named after Greek wind gods.

Care for another one of my adventure stories?

This time, I'm a naive young woman on Büyükada. DH and I borrow a Zodiac (inflatable boat w/ an outboard motor) from a family friend and take it out fishing one day.

The owner says to us: Make sure you come back before the wind picks up in the afternoon.
DH: Absolutely!

So we head off on our merry way, enjoying our little outboard cruise around the island.

Me: checking out all the houses on the shore from a new perspective. Picnic lunch, etc. We anchor on the back side of the island in the forested park area. There's a pretty steep rock face on that side. (read: no safe place to hide) lalalalalala. No fish anywhere. It is the middle of the day. Well, we catch one rock fish. Ugly as sin.

Loose track of time and guess what....the wind changes. The sea just up and does the cha-cha underneath us, slapping me around in the boat like the fish I'm supposed to be catching.

Me: fear for my life. That rocky shore is getting awfully close. No houses in sight on this side of the island. It takes three times as long to get back. Almost run out of gas. Worst. Fishing. Trip. Ever.

That was not even Poyraz. Not even close.

Now in Mersin there are winds of a different sort. There you want the north/south dynamic. Winds from the south bring air through the house during the day. Winds from the mountains in the north bring cooler air down at night. If you're buying an apartment, direction is one of the the first things you check. If the house faces east/west? Too bad. How sad. Lowball offer.

On a hot summer evening, we joke about the heat: "Don't worry, in a little while the wind will come down from the mountains." We even have a special word for the sea when its waiting for a wind, reflecting the moon like a mirror - Yakamoz.

Which way does the wind blow for your hero?

Istanbul Winds Battle Over the City

The Wind Gods

Death to Winter - Hittite Purulli

"Let the land grow and thrive, let the land be secure!- and when it grows and thrives, then perform the festival of Purulli." ("The Anatolian Myth of Illuyanka". Beckman, Gary)

The Hittite festival of Purulli celebrates the destruction of the serpent dragon, Illuyanka, by the sky god,Tarhun. Each spring, the festival is held in honor of the mother goddess, Hannahannah, who is tempermental like Demeter and disappears for the winter.

She gets a new a new king.  Illuyanka just gets it.

The stone depiction of Tarhun slaying Illuyanka above is from a temple at Hattusa.Take a closer look at Tarhun and you'll notice he's got a lightning bolt and a hammer, because he's the Hittite version of Zeus, altough I don't know why he's got Thor's hammer.

So the story goes like this:

Illuyanka and Tarhun get in a fight. Tarhun loses his heart and eyes to Illuyanka. (Enter Winter, I think.) Illuyanka retreats to his world under the sea/earth (depends on the version), but then Tarhun's son (by a mortal) marries Illuyanka's daughter. The son of Tarhun demands the heart and eyes of his father from the bride's family (in the underworld). Whole once more, Tarhun goes after Illuyanka and slays the serpent. (Welcome Spring!)

There are similarities to other myths like Shahmeran, Typhon, Chimaera...I can keep going...it's the battle of good and evil. But also remember, the snake is a symbol of rebirth, because it sheds it's skin, so this is probably why this myth is associated with spring.

And don't forget:

"The Illuyankas is an enemy in Final Fantasy VI. Like most enemies in Umaro's cave, it frequently inflicts the Imp status using its special attack, Friendmaker. It only has a hundred MP and dies when it runs out, so a single cast of Rasp against it will quickly kill it. It may drop a White Cape, a useful Relic for the cave as it makes the wearer immune to Imp. (finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Illuyankas_(Final_Fantasy_VI)

Can't wait for Illuyankas to show up in one of my stories. ;)

Eyes Like a Snow Leopard

Snow Leopard Trust

I was resistant to describing eyes in the beginning. Then my betas set me straight. Some readers these days insist on knowing the color of a character's eyes.

Fine. BUT I want to get more out of the description than "blue like the depths of the ocean - that you could get lost in, yada, yada...", if you know what I mean. So I started thinking in terms of animals, which somehow people automatically characterize.

Example-

For green, if I say: "sharp as a snow leopard's", you get a picture of stealth and strength. Yes? I hope you do.

Anyway, my internal editor had to think on that detail for a moment.

"Big cats have yellow eyes - don't they?
No. The leopard has green eyes. I'm sure.
Why am I so sure?
Better Google it. -
Yes. Unlike most big cats, Snow Leopards do have green eyes."

This descriptor may sound off to you in a contemporary fiction, but I write fantasy, and it works for me. Snow leopard eyes also bring in another detail of my setting. My main character lives in the mountains, where people respect the animal, and may occassionally see one. The snow leopard is also known as a "ghost cat" because of it's coloring and it's reclusive nature - another detail that I apply directly to my character. He isn't with the "in" crowd, but he is independent and capable.

Here are some interesting myths from the Snow Leopard Conservancy:

In the northerly societies of Nepal many indigenous beliefs and shamanistic practices, reflecting local pre-Buddhist traditions, were incorporated and subsequently reworked into the Buddhist pantheon and ritual system. One such ritual in Manang connected to the snow leopard and its depredation forbids alpine herders to roast meat, for otherwise the mountain god will send its “dog”, (i.e. snow leopard) and one has to suffer livestock losses.

In Dolpo there are stories of great lamas frequently making trips to Tibet in the form of snow leopards, in search of rare medicinal herbs. Other folklore describes the snow leopard as a “fence” for the crops, meaning that in the absence of snow leopards livestock would be free ranging and thus would invade crop fields.

Local inhabitants still believe that snow leopards (and domestic cats) are considered to have taken birth particularly to remove the sins of their past lives, and killing these animals means having their sins transferred to your own life.

In Mustang, killing a snow leopard is considered to be more sinful than its prey species (for instance blue sheep), because all sins it has committed during its lifetime by killing its prey will then be transferred to you.

A ha! This info is appropriate for my main character too, because he IS atoning for something.

Even if I never mention the myths to my readers, all these implied attributes solidify Taner's character in my head.

I went through this process with Haydon in BURNT AMBER too, but he was a Red-Footed Falcon.

Now, if you write contemporary, or historical, or any sort of fiction other than fantasy, I think this fun exercise can also work for you. The trick might be to get as specific (and indigenous) as possible, because the additional facts make a difference. And find something other than a Red-Footed Falcon, or Snow Leopard, because someone's already done that. ;)

Djinn Wishes & A Blogfest

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With regard to your three wishes: get an attorney to word them- poorly articulated wishes can lead to undesirable results. And ixnay on the wishing for more wishes. :)

You might get a djinn to help you out with something if they think it's a good idea too. I wouldn't bank on that though, hence the binding. Djinn must do what you ask if you control the talisman they're bound to...so why the three wishes? Well, the long and short of the story is that the djinn don't grant wishes, except in tales that are teaching us a lesson.

First, lets look at the number three.

We need to rub the lamp/bottle/ring three times. We get three wishes. Both examples suggest the wishes can give us power over any of these three things:

The three worlds - human, djinn, heaven
Spirit, Mind, Body
Past, Present, Future
Creation, Destruction, Sustainance

In these stories, wishes are an enticement for us to release unsavory desires we've bottled up. A way to get us to cross over to the dark side, where the djinn/demon dwells. To have mastery over things that, free will aside, only God is supposed to control. This thinking is why the character who does the wishing ends up in a sorry state (dead/trapped/disfigured/insert horrible circumstance here).

Following that train of thought...it's probably better to stay away from djinn wishes and stick to the dandelion. :)

Now, if I won the lottery...

On to Nicole Duclerior's  Bernard Pivot Blogfest. Ten questions. Here goes:

1.What is your favorite word?

Zephyr (Been my favorite since High School - Dare I ask if anyone remembers the poem I wrote for English?- way before I actually discovered Mersin (my home in Turkey) was Zephyrium in the ancient world. Cool, huh? Is this supposed to be a one word answer? Sorry!)

2.What is your least favorite word?

Seriously 

3.What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?

Ruins (Sorry, I'm odd that way. History speaks to me...)

4.What turns you off?

Loud noises.
 5.What is your favorite curse word?

My new one is frexing. Thanks, Beth Revis!

6.What sound or noise do you love?

Birdsong

7.What sound or noise do you hate?

The sound my dog used to make when she was sleeping, licking her chops. Incessantly.

8.What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?

Is this a trick question? I'm attempting to be a writer.

9.What profession would you not like to do?

Anything Mike Rowe does. Except maybe the Ford commercials. Those are OK.

10.If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?

Welcome!

Goddess Culture

Image via Wikipedia

Field trip! We leave Turkey today to visit Scandinavian mythology and Damascus, Syria?  Yes, the two are related and here's how:

It's my belief that most religions have things in common, no matter where in the world they originated. The idea of a goddess culture, or worship of a female deity struck me first when I read The Red Tent and I've seen it in so many places ever since. Anat, Isis, Rhiannon, Tlazolteotl, Aphrodite... all can and most have been translated into a version of the Virgin.

For Burnt Amber, the Queen of the Valkyries kept presenting herself. She is the Scandinavian goddess Freya, also known as Vanadis or The Lady. The goddess of love, fertility and beauty but also of war and death, she fits right into a story with all of those problems.  Her hair is strawberry blond, she drives a chariot drawn by two cats and wears a cloak of falcon feathers to cross the worlds. The tears she cries for her lost husband turn to amber. All of these physical attributes really work with Sybil's story.

I allude to many aspects of Vandis in the story. Most were inadvertent until I strengthened them with a stronger focus. Perhaps my simplest reference to the goddess is the blue wildflower, specifically the common milkwort known as Freya's hair, but the type imagined by the reader is not important as the color. There's more though.

Vanadis has lent her name to many things on earth, the most important being the heavy metal Vanadium. The ore was used in Damascus Steel, to give strength to metal and form beautiful, swirling patterns at the same time. The technique was a specialty of Middle Eastern sword making about the time of Queen Zabel and the Crusader states. Damascus being close to Cilicia, I naturally included the long swords in my book. But there's more...

Vanadium is also found naturally in Sea Cucumbers, creating yellow blood in some. The sea cucumber is used in oriental cultures for healing and studies suggest it accelerates tissue repair.  You see, you don't always need unobtanium, there are plenty of things to get inspired by right here on terra firma.

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• A Few Ancient Goddesses With Four Aspects (beliefnet.com)

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