#san people

[dieletztepanzerhexe]

A feature of many groups like the San that include shamans is the wearing of the heads and skins of animals with which these people have a ritual relationship  and on whose powers they draw. Animal or bird caps and/or masks and/or costumes are, or were, worn in a range of societies by ritual functionaries whose role is, or was, to mediate between the living and the spirit world, including the realm of the dead. Animal masks and costumes covering the head and/or body of the wearer include masks made from the entire heads of donkeys (Fig. 7). Other costumes were made from the skin and head of a jaguar, with gloves made from their paws, so that the costumed person assumes the form of the animal (Saunders 1989) (Fig. 8). The ritual dress of Siberian shamans included masks with horns (Hoppall 1992), masks made of bears' heads with skin attached (Eliade 1964), wings hung from the shaman's shoulders (Eliade 1964; Waite 1966; Hoppall 1992), and a bird, such as a raven or eagle, on the head (Waite 1966; Hoppal 1992).

Bogoras (1909) relates a Koryak myth in which a woman transforms herself into a bear by putting on a bear-skin and describes the metamorphosis of trancing Chukchee shamans into animals, aided, in some cases, by their wearing the skin (including head and claws) of the animal concerned. The wild and uncontrolled behaviour of the shamans described by Bogoras (1909) is similar in many respects to that exhibited by San trancers, which suggests that the Chukchee described here went into trance with the aid of animal masks and dress:

“The shamans also imitate the voices of animals and birds, stamp ground with their feet, and jump about violently, foaming at the mouth, and even breaking such things as may come within reach of their hands. A shaman whose body is entered by a (spirit) loses the faculty of human speech, and may express his wishes either by gestures or by gibbering, unintelligible noises. He crawls on all fours, grunting and gnashing his teeth. I was told several times that some of the shamans even put on a bear or a wolf skin, taken off with the claws and the skull.” (Bogoras1909:442)

Therianthropes in San Rock Art by Pieter Jolly

[blackdiasporanews]

Have you heard of the San or Nilotic people?

[panafrocore]

San Rock Art: A Window into the Lives of Southern Africa's Indigenous People

The San people, also known as the Bushmen, are the indigenous inhabitants of Southern Africa, known for their rich cultural heritage and deep connection to the land. One of the most distinctive and captivating aspects of San culture is their rock art, which provides a fascinating window into their lives, beliefs, and traditions. Spanning thousands of years, San rock art can be found in numerous…

[sheltiechicago]

Safari guide, Kane, is wearing the traditional clothing of his tribe, the River San. The San people are thought to be the oldest race of humans alive.

Photographer: Levison Wood

[shigayokagayama]

happy one year anniversary to the most insane week in internet history

[yeehawpim]

[cookinguptales]

the funniest thing to me about this whole tumblr sexyman debate is that it's being presented as like "tumblr veterans" who love cecil vs. these new young interlopers who love sans when like

but

girls, girls. you're both elderly.

[cynthiabertelsen]

A Meditation on Elizabeth Marshall Thomas's "Growing Old: Notes on Aging with Something Like Grace"

I grow old … I grow old … I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled. ~ T.S. Eliot, “The Love Song of Alfred J. Prufrock“ Like it or not, once you’re born, you grow old. (If you’re lucky.) The end is inevitable. Think taxes. And Western society views growing old like figures representing the famous saying, “Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil”: Invisible, too. In the first few…

[planet-theia]

tgcf as text posts

[alpacacare-archive]

day twoe ah haha

[min-play]

IT IS DONE LET'S GOO

Bonus:

Also the answer is 2 mirrors to make a periscope

[dieletztepanzerhexe]

i just love this fantastic creature, with this kitty tail and boar face <3

“Hybrids with a combination of human features and those of more than one kind of animal probably signify the fusion of a human with an imaginary, hallucinatory creature that combined the features of more than one species of animal. It is likely that San shamans in dreams and trance fused not only with real animals but also with imaginary, composite beings. Creatures that combine the features of mammals and/or birds and/or reptiles, but have no human features, may, at least in some cases, represent the end result of successive trance-related transformations and fusions of humans with animals or reptiles. Certainly, their hybridity of form links these beings in San religious thought to the more common therianthopic beings that combine human with animal features. For example, antelope-headed or -eared snakes may representt he transformationo f a San shaman first into the more common human-antelope form then, in a further transformationo f this being, into an antelope-snake. Where antelope-snakes are shown bleeding from the nose or with emissions from the mouth, as occurs in several paintings, these features probably link the latter composite being to the earlier, part-human, shamanic form from which it originated. Particularly deep trance would have engendered hallucinatory sensations of the human body not just merging with animals but undergoing a further process of dissolution, as depicted in those therianthropesw here parts of the body are shown transforming into completely imaginary forms unrelated to any living creature( e.g. Fig. 5c).”

Therianthropes in San Rock Art by Pieter Jolly

[xenolinn]

He wants to show off his husband real quick.

[zeravmeta]

im reading this manga abt this divorced woman who falls in love with her neighbor and i really love the artists style because the way the artist draws her makes it apparent that theres not only something deeply wrong with her but it veers into looking like a horror manga at points

this lady has a schoolgirl crush and is a total crybaby and she looks like a creature from a junji ito manga

[akanemnon]

Wait, that's NOT supposed to be under there...

FIRST - PREVIOUS - NEXT

MASTERPOST (for the full series / FAQ / reference sheets)

[zarla-s]

We move forward, 'cause we can't go back...

It's the EIGHTH anniversary of Handplates, and the first one after I finished the comic back in July! I decided to dig up a very old wip that I never finished and finally do it. I've always loved WeMoveForward by The Midnight, and I think it applies not only to the comic itself but also this period after it... there's no way to go back to when I was doing it, only moving forward after it's done.

Even more appropriately, since I did this wip, these characters all moved forward even further... even as this sat in my files, they moved forward, in a sense. I don't know, the song gives me a sort of plaintive, longing, bittersweet feeling... it's hard to explain.

I had a very insistent voice in my head that always made me do a Handplates page over the years I was working on it, no matter what happened. I wasn't sure if that voice would ever stop, even when it's done, but it has! It's gotten quieter now, mostly only nagging me about other projects I should be working on (Defrag, the Ace Attorney/Frozen fic, web design, fic ideas, art ideas...) whenever I'm doing something, much like it did before I started the comic.

How I feel about Handplates finishing though is strange. At times it doesn't feel like it's over, even if I don't feel like I need to do another page. At other times I get sad thinking about it and I miss it, and other times I look back on it with amazement that I was able to do it. Sometimes I look back on it and think about what was happening in my life at that time, and sometimes when I look at it it's unreal and it's hard to believe I even did it, like someone else did the whole thing. It's like it's there but it's not, it's present but it isn't. It's a very strange feeling, it's hard to describe or pin down. I know it'll always be with me in some way, but it is strange to be able to focus so much attention on other things without that feeling of having to set aside a few days to do a page every two weeks... not bad or anything, but I'm not used to it still.

I don't know! When I read the comments on the last page a lot of them made me cry, especially those talking about how the comic had been their childhood, and now their childhood is over. It was sad to think that I had a part in something like that ending... but it ends for everyone, no matter what you do. We, you and me, everyone... we move forward, 'cause we can't go back. That line was so evocative for me that I even used it as a chapter title for the penultimate chapter on Comicfury.

I don't know, just nostalgic thoughts! I don't know if that's the right word for it... but thank you to all of you who read it and enjoyed it. Even now I hear from new people coming to it and reading through it again now that it's done. Even if it's finished, it's still new to people just finding it. It's still "living" in a sense. And thanks to those of you who stuck around even though it's done, I appreciate it. |D

(As a note, the Gaster ukagaka has a surprise if you boot him on the anniversary after seeing the brothers, if you haven't done that)

[index] [patreon]