▪︎ 福音書皮雕書套:長34公分,寬21公分,厚7公分
▪︎ 太魯閣族 以白色為主色,紅色不會成為主色(搭一點就可以),黃、綠、黑線條也可以。
▪︎ Vangelo 四部福音:福音 gospel(聖經中的四部福音)基督的生活與教導 (one of the four descriptions in the Bible of) the life and teaching of Christ
▪︎ 四活物/默示錄 四章7節
▪︎ 雖然"���灣藍鵲"是臺灣原住民鄒、邵、布農等族的神鳥,鄒語稱為teofsi'za、邵語稱為fitfit、布農語稱為lalinutaz(郡社群)/qaipis,另排灣語稱tjikaikai。在南島語族共有的大洪水神話中,很久以前族人因大洪水瀕臨滅族,臺灣藍鵲犧牲自己帶回火種挽救族人(有些故事的版本則認為犧牲自己帶回火種的神鳥是紅嘴黑鵯。)但我想將神話般的神鳥精神代表台灣帶入這福音壁畫之中,神氣活現的,是吧! 哈哈哈!!! 😁 🤣
eBird:臺灣藍鵲 Urocissa caerulea
Kijimuna are legendary small tree spirits from the Okinawa Islands in Japan, who live in trees (generally old banyan trees). They are said to look about 3 or 4 years old and have red hair.
Another name for the kijimuna is bungaya, which means roughly large-headed. The Kijimuna are known to be very mischievous, playing pranks and tricking humans. One of their best-known tricks is to lie upon a person's chest, making them unable to move or breathe such as sleep paralysis. Even though the Kijimuna are tricksters, they have been known to make friends with humans.
They are skilled fish catchers and only eat the left or both eyes of the fish they catch. Therefore, if you become friends with a Kijimuna, you can always get a fish and become rich. They are good at diving and fishing and catch a lot of fish in seconds. But all the fish they catch have no eyes. They can also run around on the water surface and can stand on the water while carrying people.
They are extremely hatred of hot pot lids, octopus, chickens and human farts, and it is forbidden to let them near the Kijimuna. They also die (or are forced to move to another tree), if a nail is driven into the tree in which they live. They will take terrible retribution, including murder, against anyone who breaks these prohibitions.
Nevertheless, as long as one do not break these prohibitions, they are basically harmless to humans, and many lores say that they are "good neighbours" with humans.
[History of Ryukyu Islands (collective name for Amami Islands, Okinawa Islands, Miyako Archipelago and Yaeyama Archipelago)]
The Ryukyu Islands are known to have been inhabited by humans for about 32,000 years.
The Ryukyu Kingdom was a monarchy, existed in the southwestern islands of Japan for about 450 years, from 15th century to 19th century. It developed through diplomacy and trade with China, Japan, Korea and Southeast Asian countries, and the castle of the Ryukyu dynasty, Shuri Castle, was the political, economic and cultural centre of its maritime kingdom. In the late 19th century, the Japanese Government, dispatched troops to oust King Shoutai from Shuri Castle and proclaimed the establishment of Okinawa Prefecture (Ryukyu Disposition). Here, the Ryukyu Kingdom was destroyed.
Genetic studies have shown that populations in the Ryukyu Islands (Okinawa Islands, Miyako Archipelago and Yaeyama Archipelago) have no direct genetic link to mainland China or Taiwanese populations and have identical paternal lines to mainland Japan, and nuclear DNA analysis in 2018 showed that genetically, Ryukyuans are the most closely related, followed by mainland Japanese, from the Ainu (Ref) perspective.
Furthermore, in 2021, a paper on archaeogenetics published in the journal Nature stated that DNA analysis of prehistoric human bones excavated from the Nagabaka (lit. Long graveyard) site in Miyakojima City showed that they were "100% pure Jomon", a research finding that indicates that prehistoric archipelago people came from the Okinawa Islands.
And like the moon, we must go through phases of emptiness to feel full again.
And then ~
Hello, Master Gibran who is far away in heaven, I must say frankly: this is a great "ideal", it is almost "fraternity", the "love of humanity" beyond common sense, I am in awe and learn its part Spirit, but I don't want to do it, and I don't want to carry that sacred love again! Private love is private, I don't want to share it with others, and I'm not a dog who wears a crown and goes around making love and preaching "love is freedom"! ─ Your rebel student - Chu Lan
(你好,遠在天堂的紀伯倫大師,我必須坦承的說:這是種偉大的"理想",它幾近乎已然是"博愛",超越常理的"人性之愛",我敬畏且學習它的部分精神,但我不要做到,也不想再度承載那份神聖的愛! 私密的愛就是私密的,我不願意與他人分享,我又不是戴著王冠到處做愛卻闡揚"愛是自由"的狗! ─ 你的反叛學生-朱蘭。)
Then said Almitra, “Speak to us of Love.”
And he raised his head and looked upon the people,
and there fell a stillness upon them.
And with a great voice he said:
When love beckons to you, follow him,
Though his ways are hard and steep.
And When his wings enfold you yield to him,
Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.
And When he speaks to you believe in him,
Though his voice may shatter your dreams as the north wind lays
waste the garden.
For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you.
Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning.
Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest
branches that quiver in the sun,
So shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to
the earth.
Like sheaves of corn he gathers you unto himself.
He threshes you to make you naked.
He sifts you to free you from your husks.
He grinds you to whiteness.
He kneads you until you are pliant;
And then he assigns you to his sacred fire,
that you may become sacred bread for God’s sacred feast.
All these things shall love do unto you
that you may know the secrets of your heart,
and in that knowledge become a fragment of Life’s heart.
But if in your fear you would seek only love’s peace and love’s pleasure,
Then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness
and pass out of love’s threshing-floor,
Into the seasonless world where you shall laugh,
but not all of your laughter,
and weep, but not all of your tears.
Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself.
Love possesses not nor would it be possessed;
For love is sufficient unto love.
When you love you should not say,
“God is in my heart,”
but rather, “I am in the heart of God.”
And think not you can direct the course of love,
for love, if it finds you worthy,
directs your course.
To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night.
To know the pain of too much tenderness.
To be wounded by your own understanding of love;
And to bleed willingly and joyfully.
To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another
day of loving;
To rest at the noon hour and meditate love’s ecstasy;
To return home at eventide with gratitude;
And then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart
and a song of praise upon your lips.
Then Almitra spoke again and said, “And what of Marriage,
master?” And he answered saying:
You were born together, and together you shall be forevermore.
You shall be together when the white wings of death scatter your days.
Aye, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God.
But let there be spaces in your togetherness.
And let the winds of the heavens dance between you.
Love one another, but make not a bond of love:
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.
Fill each other’s cup but drink not from one cup.
Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf.
Sing and dance together and be joyous,
but let each one of you be alone,
Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the
same music.
Give your hearts, but not into each other’s keeping.
For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.
And stand together yet not too near together:
For the pillars of the temple stand apart,
And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other’s shadow.
[Image above+below: works of an Estonian artist, Kaljo Põllu (28 November 1934 – 23 March 2010) ]
Legends and myths about trees
Forest myths, Estonian traditional beliefs (2)
The world of the Estonians’ ancestors - Proto-Estonian mythology
The world of the Estonians’ ancestors is believed to have turned around a pillar or a tree, to which the skies were nailed with the North Star. The Milky Way (Linnutee or Birds' Way in Estonian) was a branch of the World tree (Ilmapuu) or the way by which birds moved (and took the souls of the deceased to the other world). These myths were based on animistic beliefs.
Some traces of the oldest authentic myths may have survived in runic songs. There is a song about the birth of the world – a bird lays three eggs and starts to lay out the nestlings – one becomes Sun, one becomes Moon and one becomes the Earth. Other Finnic peoples also have myths according to which the world has emerged from an egg.
It has been suggested by ethnologist and former president Lennart Meri and among others, that a Kaali meteorite crater which passed dramatically over populated regions and landed on the island of Saaremaa around 3,000 - 4,000 years ago was a cataclysmic event that may have influenced the mythology of Estonia and neighboring countries, especially those from whose vantage point a "sun" seemed to set in the east.
There are surviving stories about Kaali crater in Finnish mythology (Description of indigenous paganism by Finns who always believed in spirit beliefs).
In the Karelian-Finnish folk epic, the Kalevala, cantos (songs) 47, 48 and 49 can be interpreted as descriptions of the impact, the resulting tsunami and devastating forest fires. It has also been suggested that the Virumaa-born Oeselian god Tharapita is a reflection of the meteorite that entered the atmosphere somewhere near the suggested "birthplace" of the god and landed in Oesel.
Estonian mythology is a complex of myths belonging to Estonian folk heritage and literary mythology, and the systematic documentation of Estonian folklore had only began in the 19th century.
Therefore, information on Proto-Estonian mythology before the conquest of the Northern Crusades, Christianisation and incorporation into the European world and during the medieval era, is only scattered in historical chronicles, travellers' accounts and in ecclesiastical registers.
It can be difficult to tell how much of Estonian mythology as we know it today was actually constructed in the 19th and early 20th century. Friedrich Robert Fehlmann, one of the compilers of the Estonian national epic, Kalevipoeg in the introduction to Esthnische Sagen (Estonian Legends), states.
"However, since Pietism has started to penetrate deep into the life of the people...singing folk songs and telling legends have become forbidden for the people; moreover, the last survivals of pagan deities are being destroyed and there is no chance for historical research."