Showing posts with label unicorns. Show all posts
Showing posts with label unicorns. Show all posts

October 5 - Unicorn Questing Month on Mackinac Island, Michigan


  Posted on October 5, 2021


This is an update of my post published on October 5, 2010:




October was considered Unicorn Questing Season on this resort island for many years. A publicist named Bill Rabe issued thousands of questing licenses and held Unicorn Follies at Mackinac's Grand Hotel.

Note that questing for unicorns isn't necessarily *hunting* unicorns. However, Rabe's group was sometimes referred to as Unicorn Hunters, and the license doesn't make it absolutely clear whether hunters and questers were allowed to actually kill unicorns or merely to take them home.


To quote from the regulations:

Unicorns may be taken with:
Serious Intent
Iambic Pentameter
General levity
Sweet talk

However, elsewhere in the regulations is the ominous note that, in October, bows and arrows may also be used to “take” unicorns.

Although Rabe retired from his position as Lake Superior State University publicist in 1987 and has since died, the university still allows people to download unicorn hunting regulations and licenses from its website.


Symbol and heraldry...

The mythological unicorn has been thought of as either fierce or gentle, depending on the source, but the creature is always good, a symbol of purity and innocence. The single horn is sometimes considered to be an antidote to poison.




In medieval times, unicorns were sometimes emblazoned on shields or embroidered on banners. These kinds of decorative identifiers put onto armor and banners is part of heraldry. Unicorns in heraldry usually have, in addition to a horse head and body and a spiral horn, a goat's beard and cloven hooves, and a lion's tail. A lion and a unicorn support the United Kingdom coat of arms.


Found in cabinets of curiosities...

Although the thousands of unicorn questers of Mackinac Island and the millions throughout history and from all over the world have never caught a live unicorn, nor brought into the public eye a dead one, many people do own “unicorn” horns. Natural history displays called cabinets of curiosities, for example, often proudly exhibited beautiful spiral horns said to come from unicorns. Most of these have been proven to be the tusk of a narwhal.

Above, Narwhal Tusk
Below, Narwhal




Celebrate unicorns!

Unicorns are usually portrayed as white, so you might want to color a nice background for the unicorns on these coloring pages.

Or learn how to draw a unicorn yourself. 


Here is arguably the most famous unicorn song in the English language. 

And here is another song, this one with animation.


 


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April 9 - National Unicorn Day in Scotland

Posted on April 9, 2020


Did you know that the unicorn is Scotland's national animal?

A symbol of purity, of magic, and of rare things, Scots also think of the unicorn as a symbol of grace, strength, and freedom...

Way back in the 1300s, the unicorn appeared on the Scottish Coat of Arms (mandated by William I), and the next century, under James I, unicorns were depicted on gold coins. 

When England and Scotland were joined to make Great Britain, in 1603, the national animals of the two appeared together on the Royal Arms: the lion, representing England, and the unicorn, representing Scotland...


Scots sometimes take the time, today, to "hunt" for unicorns carved into decorations on old buildings or fountains or monuments or even gateposts. The rest of us can play along, too, although we might have to look at fairy tale books, children's toys, and myths and legends websites!

If you love unicorns, you could actually collect them. Stationery, posters, books, calendars, stuffed toys, pencil tops, clothing and accessories, mugs, salt and pepper shakers, and much more!



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May 13 – Happy Birthday, Ole Worm

Posted on May 13, 2014

Okay, can just say right off the bat that I really like this guy's name?

Sometimes you will see the Latinized form of his name, Olaus Wormius—but he was Danish, so I vote we don't use that here!

Ole Worm, born on this date in 1588, was a doctor—he was even the physician to King Christian IV of Denmark! He was known for doing the unusual thing of staying in Copenhagen to tend to the sick during an epidemic of the Black Death, and he contributed to the scientific knowledge of embryology—which is the study of the growth of animals from fertilized egg to full-grown baby. 

 He also studied runes, early literature in the Scandinavian languages (Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, etc.) written in early Germanic alphabets.
Rune stone

Worm is known for having created one of the best “wonder-rooms” in Europe.

A “wonder-room” is another name for a “cabinet of curiosities.”

Early museums were private collections of rare objects—natural things and artifacts from far away or long ago—that the collectors displayed in a room or cabinet. Worm collected everything from taxidermed animals to fossils, from bones to narwhal horns, from minerals to rune stones, from antiques to native items brought from the “New World.”

A Contribution to Modern Thought

 One thing that Worm did was question some of the claims of "experts" from ancient times or of general "knowledge." He questioned whether lemmings really could be formed inside clouds—and he dissected a lemming to gather more information to make his best, most educated guess about the supposedly cloud-born creatures. He was skeptical about the horns of unicorns that so many people displayed in their own wonder-rooms. They looked an awful lot like narwhal tusks to Worm, and he wondered why an entire skeleton of a unicorn had never been found. To find out more about Worm and his skeptical side, check out this short video.
Narwhal tusks
By the way...

 If you look up Ole Worm or Olaus Wormius on Google, you will find some mention of his Latin translation of the Necronomicon. However, the Necronomican is just a fictional book that was never written, let alone translated. Wormius-as-translator was an invention of the early twentieth-century horror author H. P. Lovecraft, and another horror writer, Anders Fager, mentioned Worm's translation several times, as well—but it is just a myth.

Worm could've been a translator, though. He had an excellent education in many different fields, and he taught Latin, Greek, physics, and medicine.

Also on this date:





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