Celebrating WORLD FOLK TALES and FABLES WEEK

As long as there have been human beings, there have been stories.

Every culture in the world has its folklore and fables, fairy tales and tall tales, myths and legends, epics and urban legends.

In a word: fantasy.

Cinderella is a great example – this is one of the oldest folk tales we know of, with countless variations in many countries. The shoes change (fur, gold, glass, leather, even sandals) and the names change (Aschenputtel, Katie Woodencloak, Yeh-Shen, Rhodopis, Domitila and Rushen-Coatie), but the bones of the story endure. 

Although most of us experience stories through reading—and in the last century, via television and movies—many tales were originally passed down through generations as oral traditions. That always makes me think of the ghostly campfire stories that held me fascinated as a child, or my Welsh gramma telling me about the faery man who lived in her garden….

But regardless of the method of delivery, the point of any fantasy story is its underlying message. Wikipedia describes the theme of Cinderella as "unjust oppression and triumphant reward". In many versions, however, Cinderella didn't win simply because she was pretty under all that dirt, or because someone felt sorry for her. She chose to be patient and kind in a situation where others were not, and that is what brought her the reward in the end.

The following, from author Neil Gaiman, is one of my favorite quotes.

"Fairy tales are more than true – not because they tell us dragons exist, but because they tell us dragons can be beaten." 

All readers, myself included, want a good story, something that takes us out of our own little world for a while. We need characters we can care about enough to root for. Add to that a sense of wonder, a little mystery and magic, and voilà, we have entertainment.

But whether we realize it or not, we're often longing for one more small but vital thing: HOPE.

One of the most appealing things about fantasy stories is the promise of hope. Hope that evil doesn't prosper forever, hope that good is eventually rewarded, hope that truth matters, that courage and honor make a difference, hope that kindness, compassion and love can win the day. 

It doesn't matter if it's The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien, or The Avengers by Marvel, or the Kate Daniels Series by Ilona Andrews, or even Aesop's fable of The Crow and the Pitcher. If the characters overcome differences big or small, if they prevail over minor struggles or overwhelming obstacles, it makes me feel that I can too.

May you discover a story this week that brings you hope.

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Note:  World Folktales and Fables Week is celebrated each year during the third week of March. 

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THE GRIM SERIES by Dani Harper

The fae are cunning, powerful and often cruel. The most beautiful among them are often the most deadly. Hidden far beneath the mortal world, the timeless faery realm plays by its own rules—and those rules can change on a whim. Now and again, the unpredictable residents of that mystical land cross the supernatural threshold…


In this enchanting romance series, the ancient fae come face-to-face with modern-day humans and discover something far more potent than their strongest magic: love.

Storm Warrior, Storm Bound, 

Storm Warned, and Storm Crossed

HERE BE NEWS for Sept 23, 2019

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Monday, September 16 - 
"HERE BE NEWS" - All the latest from the gang at Here Be Magic.

Tuesday, September 17 -
“THE REAL HEADLESS HORSEMAN” – Did you know that the story didn’t start with Sleepy Hollow? Author Dani Harper explores the legends behind this famous apparition. 

Thursday, September 19 -
“WHO CHANGED MY TOILET PAPER?” – It’s the little things that count… Whether you’re on Team Under or Team Over, a closely held belief like this can make a story character more 3-dimensional. Author Maureen Bonatch tackles the TP topic. 

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AUGUST is the month of HUNGRY GHOSTS

Don’t whistle.
Don’t go near the water.
Don’t stay out late.
Don’t take selfies.
Don’t buy a house.
Don’t wear clothes with your name on them.
And definitely DON’T get married…

These are just a few of the precautions that may be taken during Ghost Month, which follows the Chinese lunar calendar and occurs from August 1 to August 29 in 2019. At this time of year, the gates of the lower realms of the afterlife are thrown open and the unhappy spirits of the dead are free to wander among the living. (And you thought October was the scariest month!) 

According to traditional Buddhist and Taoist beliefs, Hungry Ghosts may be those who left no descendants behind to remember them or whose family failed to hold the proper rituals for them when they died. These troubled spirits may also be people who died by violent means, or they may be the malevolent ghosts of those condemned for their own acts of greed and cruelty. 

Hungry Ghosts are not depicted as they appeared in life, but are distorted, ugly and frightening, with long narrow necks and large empty bellies. This emphasizes that these spirits are perpetually subject to powerful desires that they can never satisfy on their own. 

During the month of August, they wander the living world in search of food and drink, entertainment and other worldly pleasures, a little respect and reverence – and many also look to cause mischief and misfortune.

In Western culture, ghosts are usually associated with indoor hauntings. But in Eastern culture, the unquiet souls are generally roaming the streets. This is why so much effort is put into appeasement of them with offerings, in hopes of avoiding the curses and bad luck they might bring to one’s home. In fact, the ghosts are usually politely referred to as “Good Brothers” or “Good Sisters” in order to avoid offending them.

Throughout the month it’s common to see plates of food and small cups of tea or wine set out at the curb to feed these wandering spirits. Incense is burnt next to the meal, and paper money (called “hell money” or joss) is set alight as well. The currency may not be legal tender in the realm of the living, but it’s apparently quite useful in the otherworld, and the fire transfers it into the hands of the ghosts. 

The hell money is traditionally printed with very large denominations and folded into elaborate shapes (some are even printed to resemble US dollars). Paper effigies of luxury items like TVs, cars, houses, etc. may also be burnt to make the deceased more comfortable in their world. There are even paper cell phones!

Superstitions abound like the ones listed at the beginning of this post. The main premise is to avoid attracting the attention of a Hungry Ghost. Here are just a few of the many, many taboos:

• Singing and whistling are frowned upon in case a ghost is tempted to answer you. 
• Don’t wear your name on your clothing lest the ghost find out who you are, and don’t call a friend or family member by name. 
• It’s considered dangerous to be outdoors at night, especially for children and the elderly, because some of the nastier spirits might attack them. Hungry Ghosts are at their strongest at night.
• Most people avoid swimming during this month because a ghost might pull you under and drown you. In fact, don’t go near any body of water, even a stream – that means no fishing! 
• Umbrellas should be left outdoors or not used at all. To bring one inside is to accidentally invite spirits into your house, especially if you open the umbrella to dry it out. Ghosts apparently like to hide inside them.
• Don’t ever take the last scheduled bus of the night or a ghost may be tempted to join you on your journey home. 
• Cameras are believed to be able to trap spirits, so no selfies this month unless you want a ghost to hang out with you indefinitely.
• Red and black are thought to attract ghosts, so don’t wear these colors this month.
• Don’t leave clothing hanging on the line overnight. Ghosts may be tempted to try them on and come back into the house with them when you gather the clothes the next day.

Ghost Month is considered highly unlucky for weddings and also for the purchase of big ticket items. In Taiwan for instance, car sales typically plummet in August and property prices drop!

The 15th of the month is reserved for the annual Ghost Festival, which is celebrated not only in China and Taiwan, but in Japan, Indonesia, Korea, Singapore, Cambodia, Thailand and more. 

Both public and private feasts are laid out on tables along the streets or on altars in front of temples for invisible guests. Buddhist and Taoist rituals are performed to redress the spirits’ sins, hopefully freeing them from their current misery so they can move on to a better place in the afterlife. Outdoor performances of Chinese opera, plays and music are held on Festival Night, with the front rows of chairs always left empty for the ghosts. These events are often quite loud as spirits are believed to be attracted to noise!

During the mid-month festival and again at the end of the month, thousands of lotus-shaped lanterns are lit and placed into rivers and lakes. 

As the lanterns float away, it’s believed they guide the spirits back to the otherworld. When the flames go out, the ghosts are gone.

At least, until next year…
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TEA EGG RECIPE:  https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/51326/chinese-tea-leaf-eggs/

YULE - The ancient traditions live on

The shortest day and longest night of 2018 falls on Friday, December 21st.

We call it the Solstice, and it marks the point at which the days begin to lengthen. Our ancestors rejoiced in the return of the sun, seeing it as a rebirth of life as well as light. We get pretty excited about it too! 

The Solstice also marks the beginning of Yule or Yuletide, which will run for 12 days until January 1st, 2019. The word Yule is likely from an old Nordic word for wheel. With the coming of Yule, the “wheel of the year” has rolled around to its beginning once more.  

We still refer to the Christmas season as Yuletide. Many of the old traditions associated with the solstice have lived on, although some have evolved to better fit modern life. There are too many to list, but I've touched on a few favorites. See if you recognize them!

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THE YULE LOG

In ancient times, the Yule Log was not a tidy piece of wood but a whole tree! Selecting it was governed by a number of customs - sometimes the tree had to be a gift from someone else, sometimes it could be a tree already growing on your land. It could never, ever be bought. 

Once chosen, it was dragged into the house with great ceremony, and the wide end would be set in the fireplace, leaving the remainder of the tree extending far into the room! 

A piece of last year's log would be used to kindle the new one. And slowly the massive log would be pushed into the fire over the course of twelve days. Afterwards, the ashes were scattered over fields to ensure a bountiful harvest in the year to come. Some of the ashes might be kept to be used in medicines for both man and beast.

Medieval tradition favored a large ash or oak log rather than the entire tree. It was often decorated with evergreens, and pouring ale or wine on the log was customary. So was sprinkling flour or breadcrumbs on it, or even placing coins on the log. All were said to bring good fortune, and the blackened coins were later given as gifts.

In Victorian times the size of your fireplace dictated the size of your Yule log. As large fireplaces fell out of fashion, smaller logs were decorated and holes were bored into the wood to hold candles, which would then be burned for 12 nights. 

The French were the first to create an edible Yule log, calling it "Buche de Noel", and Victorian confectioners made these Yule cakes famous. You can still find them in bakery departments today.

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THE YULE TREE

The Celts were just one of many peoples who believed evergreens to be symbolic of immortality, of continuing life in the midst of death. In the coldest, darkest and dreariest of winters, evergreens held forth hope of returning spring. Throughout many cultures and over countless centuries, homes and barns have been decorated with evergreen boughs and other bright winter greenery. The branches were often believed to provide protection for both people and livestock from dark spirits, faeries, and other supernatural beings.

The practice of decorating actual trees originated long before what we know as Christmas today. Druidic customs called for the adorning of sacred trees, especially oak, which were leafless at this time of year.

The trees were never cut down and brought into the house, but left alive and decorated wherever they grew with offerings of trinkets, trophies, sacred plants such as holly and mistletoe, bits of metal and sometimes replicas of gods and goddesses. 

The Romans later adopted this tradition of decorating trees for their own solstice celebration called Saturnalia.


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THE YULETIDE WREATH

Wreaths have symbolized the wheel of the year since ancient times, and the word wreath comes from the Old English writhen, meaning "to twist".  In many European countries, evergreen wreaths were lit with candles during the darkest winter days, symbolizing hope that light would return. 

Holly wreaths were said to ward off the evil spirits that abounded during the darkness of midwinter, and holly might be kept near the door all year long to invite good fortune.

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THE YULE GOAT

The Yule Goat or Julbock was central to solstice traditions in Scandinavia and northern Europe. A human dressed in goatskins and wearing long horns acted out a skit in which he “died” and returned to life. This was symbolic of the sun’s resurrection at solstice. (The goat guise was chosen because the Norse thunder god Thor had two goats which drew his chariot across the sky. He would occasionally kill the goats and use them to feed guests, then would restore them to life with a blow of his magical hammer.)

Goats were originally slaughtered as offerings during Yule, but later, goats made of straw were created annually as both decorations and effigies. Since 1966, a 42-foot straw goat named Gävlebocken - who weighs 3 tons! - has made the town of Gävle, Sweden, famous. 

(PS - You can keep track of Gävlebocken on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Gavlebocken , and see if he makes it through the season this year. Many "Friends of Gävlebocken" watch over him and try to keep him intact, because a tradition has emerged to burn the giant straw goat to the ground in the middle of the night!)

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YULE GHOSTS

The Victorians were famous for telling ghost stories during the holidays, but they didn't invent it. The practice actually goes all the way back to pagan times, when the coming of Yule was believed to bring about a thinning of the veil between worlds as the death and rebirth of the sun occurs. 

Not only ghosts, but evil spirits, trolls, witches, faeries, werewolves, and many other supernatural beings were said to wander freely. Even the Wild Hunt was more active during the 12 days of Yule. 

In Scandinavia, gifts were often left outside at this time – bowls of pudding and cream, clothes, tobacco and even ale – in order to appease some of these creatures. The most perilous time occurred between cock’s crow and dawn, when supernatural beings were at the peak of their power. To go outside meant risking death or being carried off by them, never to be seen again.

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YOUR TURN - Do you follow any Yule traditions in your family? Do you know of any customs surrounding Yuletide that haven't been mentioned?
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This full-length novel is Book One
of The Haunted Holiday Series

THE HOLIDAY SPIRIT

A Yuletide Paranormal Romance 
by Dani Harper


COUNSELING GHOSTS DOESN'T LEAVE ROOM FOR A LOVE LIFE...

Shopping for Christmas, author Kerri Tollbrook is more annoyed than startled when a ghost tells her a gift she's about to buy will end up in the nearest donation bin. He's right, and well... gorgeous with those haunted brown eyes and self-assured bearing. Unlike most men, he's not afraid of her unusual gift. And the connection she feels surprises her. But even she can't date a dead man.


INVISIBLE FOR A YEAR...

Firefighter Galen McAllister is stunned the petite redhead can see and hear him. It feels almost normal to talk to another human again, but if things were truly normal, he'd alread be asking her out. The woman is a triple threat – smart, funny, pretty, even if she's insisting he needs to "cross over". He can't, not after an ancient evil ripped him away from his body. And he refuses to leave as long as the creature is free to do the same to others.

A RITUAL TO PURGE EVIL...

There's no time to kiss under the mistletoe. The demon with a taste for human life force is coming back for a final feast. Helping ghosts is one thing, but Kerri is determined to banish the monster by any means necessary, even if Galen only wants enough "answers" to help him take the demon down himself.

She can't let Galen die for real. He can't bear to put Kerri in the creature's path. But if they don't work together on this, they aren't the only ones who will die just in time for Christmas.


The Holiday Spirit is available in ebook and paperback on Amazon 
https://www.amazon.com/DP/B013Z0F31M

WISHBONES - A History of Lore and Luck

Thanksgiving is coming up fast, and many families will choose a turkey as the center of their holiday feast. And after dinner comes the well-known tradition of breaking the wishbone.

But what IS a wishbone? And why on earth would we want to break one?

First of all, you won’t find one in humans. We have two separate collarbones. But a bird’s collarbones are fused into a single Y-shaped bone known as the furcula, or “little fork” in Latin. The collarbones of bipedal dinosaurs like the T-Rex and the Velociraptor were also fused into one. In fact, the presence of a furcula was one of the clues that helped us figure out that modern-day birds—especially chickens and turkeys—are the closest relatives to many dinosaurs.

Two hundred and fifteen million years ago, there weren’t any humans around to make wishes on giant dinosaur furculas. But fast forward to around 700 BC, when the ancient Etruscans lived in what is now Italy. They believed that in addition to tasting good, chickens had a mystical connection to the future that bordered on the sacred. After dinner, the furcula was carefully separated out and dried in the sun. After three days, it would be retired to a safer place in the home. Family and friends would run their fingers over the bone while asking it for favors.

You might have noticed that the Etruscans did not break the bone. That little flourish was added by the Romans when they conquered the Etruscans and adopted the furcula tradition. No more could a bone be wished upon by more than one person! Competitors would each crook a finger around a leg of the wishbone and pull. Then as now, whoever got the bigger piece was said to have their wish granted.

The practice of making wishes on a furcula found its way across Europe to Britain. Chickens seemed to decline in popularity for a time, and the bones of geese and partridge were substituted. The birds may have changed, but the ability to divine the future was still attributed to their bones. Writings from 1455 show that geese eaten on St. Martin’s Night (November 11th) were used to predict the severity of the winter. Their breastbones, with wishbones carefully left attached, were dried overnight and examined by the oldest and wisest person available. Armies actually planned their campaigns based solely on the thickness of a goose’s wishbone!

By the 1500s, the furcula custom acquired more rules. Each person would balance the wishbone on their nose like a pair of spectacles and make their wish beforehand. But the game wasn’t necessarily over after the traditional breaking. The winner would often secrete their portion of the bone in one of their outstretched fists, and ask the loser to choose. If the loser picked the hand that held the bone, they could also have their wish come true.

Written records from 1598 show that the wishbone was most often called a merrythought, and whoever won the break would be the first to marry. Among bachelors, the meaning was often a little more carnal – whoever won would be the first into the marriage bed. Small wonder that the breaking of the wishbone was frequently associated with the loss of virginity!

The tradition of the wishbone traveled to the American colonies from England. And America had an abundance of turkeys, which meant bigger wishbones. 

No matter which bird was used in the USA, its Y-shaped bone acquired more folklore. In 1890, it was recorded in Adams County, Illinois, that both the winner and the loser of a wishbone pull would hang their portion over their doorway like mistletoe. The first man or woman through the door was predicted to be the future husband or wife of the wishbone owner.

The 1910 Edition of the American Poultry Journal affirmed that using chicken wishbones to foretell a spouse was a widespread tradition. A variation on the custom was that the first single woman who walked under a wishbone after it was hung would marry soon. Women who were already married might hang a wishbone over the door in order to conceive a child, or in some cases carry a wishbone in their apron pocket.

Victorian jewelry was often designed around good luck charms, and wishbones were as popular as horseshoes and clovers on pendants, pins and brooches. It was about this time that the classic V-shaped wedding ring emerged. Its shape was a streamlined version of a wishbone, and was immediately popular because of the wishbone's association with true love.

By 1900, the wishbone was appearing regularly in postcards and greeting cards for every occasion.

Surprisingly, despite the lengthy history surrounding the humble furcula, the first known use of the word wishbone wasn't until 1847 in the USA. That's according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Bartlett's Dictionary of Americanisms included the word in its third edition in 1859.  It’s also thought that the term “lucky break” might have come from wishbone pulling.

But whatever the word, whatever the occasion, and whatever the bird, remember this:  The next time you pluck a wishbone, you’re holding nearly three thousand years of tradition in your hands!

Oh, and don't forget to impress your relatives with the word furcula...

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THE GRIM SERIES by Dani Harper

The fae are cunning, powerful and often cruel. The most beautiful among them are often the most deadly. Hidden far beneath the mortal world, the timeless faery realm plays by its own rules—and those rules can change on a whim. Now and again, the unpredictable residents of that mystical land cross the supernatural threshold…

In this enchanting romance series from Dani Harper, the ancient fae come face-to-face with modern-day humans and discover something far more potent than their strongest magic: love.

See ALL Dani's novels on her Amazon Author Page

Are you afraid of Friday the 13th?

Are you a triskaidekaphobe? 

Blame it on the Vikings.

That ten-dollar word refers to someone who is afraid of the number 13. And the Vikings apparently regarded 13 as a sinister number because their trickster god, Loki, once crashed a party for 12 at Valhalla and caused the death of beloved Baldur, god of joy and light. (No doubt this is also the origin of the term “party-pooper”)

The number 13 is bad enough, but add it to a Friday and the bad luck just gets worse. For one thing, you’ll have more big words to deal with – if you’re afraid of Friday the 13th, then you have friggatriskaidekaphobia, also called paraskevidekatriaphobia.

Think about it. Even if you don’t believe in luck or bad karma or cosmic forces, do you still hesitate before buying a lottery ticket on Friday the 13th? Or starting an important project? Or traveling? You might brush it off and carry on with your plans, but the day is so ingrained in our culture that few of us are immune. 

A calendar year may have 1 to 3 “thirteenths” occurring on a Friday, like 2012 and 2015. Fortunately for the fearful, the triple threat years don’t happen very often. This year, 2018, has two – the first one was in April, and the second in July.

Image: Bigstock.com

Superstitions about the number 13 or Friday the 13th

• If you cut your hair on Friday the 13th, someone in your family will die. (Does it depend on how good the haircut is?)

• A clock striking 13 portends a death in the family. (Again with the family!) Or it may signal paranormal activity.

• If you’re born on Friday the 13th, you’ll be unlucky for life. Not to worry, apparently it’ll also be a short life!

• It’s bad luck to marry on this day. (In Middleton, New York, in 1913, a pastor offered to marry couples for free on Friday the 13th to counteract the superstition.)

• Some folklore claims that if you’re passed by a funeral procession on Friday the 13th, you’ll be the next to die. (So is everyone the procession passes doomed? You could wipe out most of a town in one fell swoop!)

Image: Bigstock.com

• Leaving on vacation? Bad karma to do it on the 13th. Historically, mariners have declined to set sail on that day.

• Thirteen stairs? Bad news. (My knees think so too.) In British history, tradition held that a gallows had 13 steps, and Friday was known as “the hangman’s day”. Literally.

• Never have 13 place settings at the dinner table; it’s said that one guest may die within a year. Since the 1700s, tradition has held that there were 13 people in attendance at The Last Supper. In France, you could once hire a professional quatorzieme, or 14th guest to balance your dinner party and avoid calamity.

• Many airports still don’t have a Gate 13. Ronald Reagan National in Washington is on that list. So is Chicago’s Midway. Tall buildings and even hospitals still sometimes skip having a 13th floor (in name at least – the floor is still there of course, just renamed). Hotels have known for years that customers dislike rooms with the number 13 in them.

Can you escape Friday the 13th?

No matter how enlightened we think we are, a lot of us exercise caution on this calendar day. In fact, it’s estimated that the US probably loses millions of dollars in business on Friday the 13th, because so many people postpone major purchases and reschedule trips. And that doesn’t count the number of workers who call in sick.

Image: Bigstock.com

The town fathers of French Lick, Indiana, tried to be proactive in October, 1939. They decreed that all black cats in town wear bells on Friday the 13th so that people could avoid them. This practice stayed on the books through 1941. After a particularly bad Friday the 13th (no mention of what happened), the law was reinstated for 1942. The person with the worst luck in all of this was probably the town marshal, whose job it was to bell all those cats!

Of course, you can always fight superstition with superstition. To counteract Friday the 13th, folklore says you can climb to a high place (mountain or skyscraper, whatever’s handiest) and burn all of your socks that have holes in them. Or you can walk around your house 13 times on Friday the 13th and hang your shoes out the window.

It goes without saying you should avoid anyone wearing a hockey mask.

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THE GRIM SERIES by Dani Harper

The fae are cunning, powerful and often cruel. The most beautiful among them are often the most deadly. Hidden far beneath the mortal world, the timeless faery realm plays by its own rules—and those rules can change on a whim. Now and again, the unpredictable residents of that mystical land cross the supernatural threshold…

In this enchanting romance series from Dani Harper, the ancient fae come face-to-face with modern-day humans and discover something far more potent than their strongest magic: love.

See ALL Dani's novels on her Amazon Author Page

Is There a Monster in Your Lake?

Ah, summer! Flipflops, swimsuits, and picnics by the lake. If you decide to take a dip, however, do you know what might be swimming below you?

My friend, Angela Campbell, wrote a wonderful post on Here Be Magic about her fascination and affection for the Loch Ness Monster. And this month scientists will be sampling the dark waters of that mysterious lake, hoping to tease out a DNA sample. Personally, I’m cheering for them – as a fantasy and paranormal writer, I can’t help but love a good monster!

While we wait for those results, let’s talk about Nessie’s possible relatives. Did you know there are several other legendary water beasts scattered throughout the British Isles? And here in the United States, approximately 22 Nessie-type creatures have been reported! That's enough to give a person pause before swimming in deep waters...

As a Canadian, I can attest that the Great White North has its share of aquatic monsters too – over a dozen, not counting the ones that share waters with the U.S. I've been lucky enough to visit a few of the lakes, and one more than once: Lake Okanagan in British Columbia. About 80 miles long and surrounded by steep-walled mountains, it’s been compared to a coastal fjord with depths of nearly 1,000 feet in some places. 

It certainly seems like an ideal home for the most famous fresh water monster in Canada: “Ogopogo”.

First Nations peoples told stories about the “water demon” or “snake in the lake” long before European settlers arrived, and some native pictographs (rock art) have been found that are said to represent the beast. The Salish people in the area called the lake monster N'ha-a-itk, or “lake demon”. The Chinook peoples called it "wicked one" and "great-beast-on-the-lake." 

In 1924, however, a Vancouver newspaper reporter parodied a British song, “Ogo-Pogo, The Funny Foxtrot” in order to make fun of the reported sightings of the time:

His mother was an earwig, his father was a whale;

A little bit of head. And hardly any tail.

And Ogo-pogo was his name.

Unfortunately, the original native names for the monster were promptly forgotten or ignored, and the mysterious creature has been called Ogopogo ever since!

Reports of the Okanagan monster by Europeans predate the first sightings of Nessie in Scotland by about 60 years. In 1854, settler John MacDougall was in a canoe, swimming his team of horses across the lake. Without warning, the horses were dragged under by forces unseen. He was forced to cut the lead ropes to save the canoe from being pulled under as well, and narrowly escaped. The horses disappeared without a trace.

The first recorded sighting of the creature was by author Susan Allison in 1872. She was watching the lake for signs of her husband returning from a canoe trip, when suddenly she spotted an unusual animal swimming against the waves. And in 1880 a shipment of timbers was going to be floated to Osoyoos. As the hand-sawn timbers were being made into a raft, the monster was seen to raise its head from the water and watch! In 1890, Thomas Shorts was captain of a steam ship on the lake and claimed to have seen a finned creature about sixteen feet long with a head like that of a ram. It disappeared when he turned the ship in its direction.

Sightings have occurred ever since—including some by large groups of people at the same time! On September 16, 1925, a large creature was seen swimming in the lake by about 30 cars of people parked along a beach. (The government subsequently announced that the new ferry being built for travel across the Okanagan Lake would be equipped with special "monster repelling devices".) On July 2, 1947, several boaters reported seeing the monster . On July 17, 1959, a number of people claimed to have seen a huge creature with a long neck for about three minute before it submerged.

Most witness accounts describe a serpentine creature from 12 to 70 feet long. It's usually glossy black or brown and undulates through the water. It isn’t clear if the creature actually has a number of humps or if it just looks like that because of its method of locomotion. The Ogopogo is described as having a goat-like or horse-like head on a very long neck. And sometimes the creature has been spotted emerging from the water and onto the shore!

So is it possible that Okanagan Lake has an undiscovered animal, or “cryptid”, living in it?

Maybe. In 1989, a fisheries scientist named Jim Walker drafted an amendment to British Columbia’s Wildlife Act (http://www.kelownadailycourier.ca/news/article_e2a5f54a-5c88-11e7-92c9-2b85dc01e30b.html ). The result was that Ogopogo enjoyed protected wildlife status for several years.

Meanwhile, each summer brings thousands of tourists to the beautiful shores of Lake Okanagan for waterpark fun, for camping and fishing, for beautiful scenery – and maybe, just maybe, a glimpse of its most famous non-human resident.

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LEGEND ∙ LORE ∙ LOVE ∙ MAGIC

  

STORM WARRIOR, STORM BOUND, STORM WARNED, STORM CROSSED

The fae are cunning, powerful and often cruel. The most beautiful among them are often the most deadly. Hidden far beneath the mortal world, the timeless faery realm plays by its own rules—and those rules can change on a whim. Now and again, the unpredictable residents of that mystical land cross the supernatural threshold…

In this enchanting romance series from Dani Harper, the ancient fae come face-to-face with modern-day humans and discover something far more potent than their strongest magic: love.

THE GRIM SERIES

See ALL Dani's novels on her Amazon Author Page

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Are Frogs and Toads Lucky? Legends and Lore

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Late last night the "spring peepers" gave a concert in my yard. Toads trilled under the porch, as enthusiastic bass and tenor sections of frogs in the garden competed with a shrill soprano chorus of tiny tree frogs amid the lilac branches. 

The sound of these creatures is the surest sign that the warm weather is here to stay. In fact, frogs and toads are also called spring cheepers, and even pinklewinks and pinkwinks, depending where you are in North America.

I’ve been fascinated with amphibians ever since I was a kid scooping up tadpoles into a jar from the creek near my house. When I grew up and left home, my Welsh grandmother gave me a ceramic frog for my apartment and told me that I should always have a frog in the house for good luck. That was a long time ago, but I still keep a statue of a frog near the door, and there are always a few frog and toad figurines in my home.

Just in case...

The ancient Romans thought house frogs were lucky too, keeping live frogs as mascots. Both the Egyptians and Greeks believed that frogs possessed a creative force – they were symbols of inspiration (Hmmm … as a writer, maybe I need some frogs on my desk!)

Chan Chu, the Toad of Wealth
Image: Bigstock.com

FROGS AND WEALTH

Many cultures consider it a sign that money is coming to you if a frog enters the house. Figurines of frogs are used in the practice of Feng Shui in order to attract wealth both at home and at work. 

A three-legged toad named Chan Chu is the traditional pet of the immortal Liu Hai, Chinese god of wealth. The toad is usually pictured with a gold coin in its mouth, and often sitting on a pile of coins as well. 

Businesses often keep a statue of Chan Chu near their cash register. In the home, however, Chan Chu is never placed facing the door. The toad is to be placed as if he has just entered the home, bringing abundance with him.

FROGS AND ACHIEVEMENT

Many societies have equated frogs and toads with great transformative powers and even reincarnation. After all, they're every bit as amazing as butterflies. They go through vastly different phases in their lives:  From eggs they hatch into gilled tadpoles that can only live underwater, and then gradually transform to air-breathing land creatures. It’s not surprising that frogs are also associated with personal growth and achievement.

Image: Bigstock.com

The ultimate achievement is shown in an old story: A toad had fallen in love with the moon and wanted to go there more than anything. Everyone told the toad that it was impossible to leap so high. But the toad decided not to listen and began jumping. Each time it jumped, it went a little bit higher. After many, many jumps, it finally reached the moon!

Speaking of the moon, it’s interesting to note that while western cultures perceive the shape of “man in the moon”, the Chinese might point to the “toad in the moon” instead. And in some Asian tales, eclipses occur when the toad tries to swallow the moon itself.



FROGS AND FERTILITY

Frogs and toads are ideal symbols 
of transformation and change!
Image: Bigstock.com

Since frogs lay enormous quantities of eggs, it’s only natural that they would become a fertility symbol. The Egyptians depicted the water goddess, Heket, as a frog or as a woman with the head of a frog. She ruled conception and birth, was the goddess of midwifery and protected new-born babies. 

Egyptian women seeking to conceive or those in the midst of childbirth often wore amulets which depicted Heket as a frog sitting on a lotus flower. It’s interesting that in ancient Mesoamerica, some tribes worshipped a corn goddess who took the form of a frog or a toad. Just like Heket, she was the patron of fertility and childbirth.

Frogs also came to symbolize abundance in general. They appeared in vast numbers during the annual flooding of the Nile and it wasn’t long before the Egyptians adopted the frog as their official hieroglyph for an immense number: 100,000!

FROGS AS MEDICINE 

Vodka or whiskey with frogs in it is
considered good for you in Vietnam.
Image: Bigstock.com

Many cultures associated frogs and toads with healing powers. A supposed cure for thrush, sore throat, and colds was holding a live frog and placing its head in the patient's mouth! As the frog breathed, it was said to draw the illness away from the patient and into itself. Maybe this is why laryngitis is still sometimes described as "having a frog in your throat". You could also drink the water that a frog had been swimming in. 

Although it was often believed that frogs and toads caused warts, it's also been claimed that warts could be cured by rubbing a frog or toad across them. Eating frog soup was said to cure whooping cough.

The ancient Celts venerated natural bodies of water, and springs and wells were sacred. The presence of frogs in the water was highly desirable since they associated frogs with both purity and healing. Bathing in such water or drinking it was thought to cure illness. Many such wells still exist, and one in Shropshire, England, is allegedly guarded by three frogs who are actually faeries in disguise!

Incidentally, there’s an old story about how frogs came to have only four toes on their front feet while their back feet have five. A group of young frogs ignored the advice of their elders and hopped into the midst of what they thought was going to be a sumptuous feast of bright fireflies. Instead, they found themselves in the midst of the faery court. The faery queen was so outraged by this interruption that she used her magic to remove a toe from every front foot of every frog – and threatened to remove more if they ever came back!

Frog brought fire to Man by carrying a burning stick.
Image: Bigstock.com

FROGS AS HEROES

Frogs and toads have appeared in ancient stories as heroes and benefactors of the human race. In Native American legends of the Southwest, Frog is usually depicted carrying a piece of wood in its mouth, because the Mojave people believe it was the Frog who brought fire to humans. 

In some stories, Australia’s Aboriginal peoples credited the frog with bringing rain to make the plants grow. And in Aztec folklore, the god Quetzacoatl assumed the form of a little blue frog in order to bring “the food of the gods” to humans – cocoa!

Good frog!

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LEGEND ∙ LORE ∙ LOVE ∙ MAGIC

The fae are cunning, powerful and often cruel. The most beautiful among them are often the most deadly. Hidden far beneath the mortal world, the timeless faery realm plays by its own rules—and those rules can change on a whim.

Now and again, the unpredictable residents of that mystical land cross the supernatural threshold…

In this enchanting romance series from Dani Harper, the ancient fae come face-to-face with modern-day humans and discover something far more potent than their strongest magic: love.

THE GRIM SERIES by Dani Harper

  

STORM WARRIOR, STORM BOUND, STORM WARNED, STORM CROSSED

Note: Every book in this series is designed to stand alone.
It's fun to read them in order, but you won't get lost if you don't!

See ALL Dani's novels on her Amazon Author Page