busy"A Forest at War"
The humans who first walked upright
on the plains of Africa have
always feared the trees.
On the hilltops of ancient Greece,
Demeter decreed Her holy groves to be
sacrosanct against the hand of man, and
whosoever cut down her sacred trees,
she would blight his fields and
blast his belly with hunger.
This has come down to us in
the Gaia Hypothesis, which states
that the Earth is a living organism
capable of self-regulation ... of which
one example is that cutting the trees
from Mediterranean hilltops causes
the fine soil to wash off the slopes,
rendering the fields barren.
The goddess and her terrible,
vengeful trees are remembered still.
From Cad Goddeu to
the march of Great Birnam Wood
on high Dunsinane Hill, what
humans have feared most
is a forest at war.
* * *
Notes:
Demeter is a goddess of agriculture but also famine. She placed her sacred groves on hilltops and was notorious for blighting anyone who dared to damage them.
The Gaia Hypothesis posits the planet as a living organism with the ability to make changes in its own interests. It has been noted that if you cut the trees off the top of the hills in Greece, the light Mediterranean soil swiftly washes away, leaving your fields barren. In this regard the goddess Demeter may be viewed as a personification of the positive and negative forces of the biosphere.
Cad Goddeu is the Battle of the Trees from welsh legend.
Macbeth shall never vanquish'd be until
Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane Hill
Shall come against him.
-- Macbeth
Angry, mobile trees also appear as a horror trope.
Re: Thank you!
January 27 2017, 10:46:40 UTC 4 years ago
Re: Thank you!
January 27 2017, 16:10:37 UTC 4 years ago
I mention stuff that I consider A-B-C level in Biology or traditional cooking (like making jelly, pickles, bread, or sauerkraut) and I see people's eyes glaze over! I'm amazed at how many adults who claim to know how to cook, don't know how to pre-soak beans for cooking. And absolutely no one under the age of 50 knows how to use a sewing machine well enough to even sew a pillowcase much less make a shirt.
In the 4-5 years before I discovered fantasy and science fiction, I checked out and read every folk and fairy tale our local library had. (I was less than interested in reading the "girls' books". Let's face it, you read one book about a young girl trying hard to become popular at school by improving her looks, clothes, and make-up, you've pretty much read them all.)
:^}
Re: Thank you!
February 13 2017, 21:19:39 UTC 4 years ago
I would certainly need further pattern research and/or instruction to make any shirt more complicated than a sack tunic though, and I still haven't figured out how to darn socks without making them uncomfortably lumpy.
Re: Thank you!
February 13 2017, 21:32:05 UTC 4 years ago
A sack tunic is literally just two rectangles, like a tabard or surcoat sewn mostly up the sides but the armholes.
Similarly, one of my favorite bottoms is a curtain skirt: two or more panels hemmed around the edges with a channel at the top for a drawstring. Three yard-panels make a very full skirt, and it's all straight seams.
The most basic T-tunic goes like this.
The bliaut uses rectangles and triangles to make a fitted garment with minimal fuss and maximum use of fabric.
Here you can see some of the many variations on T-tunics.
>> and I still haven't figured out how to darn socks without making them uncomfortably lumpy. <<
Darning is different from sewing. It creates a nearly flat patch out of new thread, rather than pulling the edges together to make a seam.