Blog Archives

BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR

6/30/2017

IN SEARCH OF GIN JINN
No! I didn't mean that kind of gin; I mean the genie kind.

Before I wrote the short story, Time In A Bottle, everything I knew about genies I'd learned from the original book One Thousand and One Nights or Walt Disney movies. When I researched the topic, I was in for a surprise.

Actually, jinn or djinn (both plural), which means genies, predate Walt Disney by quite a few thousand years, and also they predate Islam in the form of Arabian Mythology.

The word Jinn comes from the Arabic verb Janna and means "hidden from sight." Jinn refers to any class of spirits, lower than angels, capable of appearing in human and animal forms and influencing humankind for either good or evil.

The English word genie comes from the Latin word genius, which means a guardian spirit thought to be assigned to each person at birth. The French translators of One Thousand and One Nights used the word genie as a translation of jinn or jinni because it was similar to the Arabic word in sound and in meaning. And it stuck.

IN ANCIENT MYTHOLOGY
Throughout history, humans have been attracted to the supernatural and unseen. The spirit world has always held a fascination for people everywhere, from prehistory through modern times. Just look at the popularity of the paranormal genre.

It doesn't come as a surprise that the belief in invisible spirits existed in Arabian, Greek, and Roman mythology, as well as in the primitive beliefs of many other locations from Africa to the Canary Islands.
   ● In ancient Greece, Daemons were benevolent or benign spirits who served humans, at the will of Zeus, like spirit guides but who were invisible and known only by their acts. Nature spirits.
   ● The Roman equivalent of a Greek Daemon was a protective spirit call a genius. In ancient Roman religion, the genius was the individual instance of a general divine nature that is present in every individual person, place, or thing. Every man had a protective spirit, or genius, assigned to him, every woman, a juno. In reading the descriptions, it seems to be regarded almost like the soul of a person or place.
   ● In Arabian mythology, preIslamic beliefs of the Arab people, the jinn or djinn were one of a myriad of gods, demigods, and other deities. They were not gods, but supernatural spirits of free will who could be good, benign, or evil. These spirits had the ability to possess human beings, both in the sense that they persuade humans to perform actions (good or bad), and like the Christian perception of demonic possession.

There were several types of djinn in the preIslam beliefs. I found references to eleven types in general, but only two in relations to mythology. My guess is that all of them are found in mythology, but that's only a speculation.

Marids – The most powerful, with the ability to grant the wishes of mortals, but that usually required battle or a lot of flattery to accomplish.
◄ (Drawing by Lisa Brown)

Ifrit or Effrit– Spirits below the level of angels and devils, noted for strength and cunning. They were large winged creatures of fire who lived underground. They generally married among themselves but could also marry humans. Ordinary weapons could not kill them but they were susceptible to magic. They were also good or evil, but are most often depicted as wicked and ruthless.
(Drawing by Lisa Brown) ▼

Ghoul — This tribe traveled to the northwest and is known in English as an "undead monster" or "undead." In the ancient Arabic myths, ghouls are zombie-like Jinn for limited intelligence who haunt graveyards and eat human flesh. They were considered demons and incapable of goodness.
◄ (All drawing by Lisa Brown - aliftheunseen.com/the-five-types-of-jinn/ )

Vetla — This Jinn is the original vampire. Vetla are malevolent spirits from Indian folklore. They can possess human corpses and prevent them from decaying and convince other human into believing they are ordinary people. They can change shape at will, and believed to be able to tell the future, gain insight into the past, and read minds.
◄

Sila — Sila are believe to be shape-shifters more tolerant of human society than ▲
other tribes of Jinn. They don't correspond to the Arabic root pattern, and are more likely northern European. The name may be derived from the Middle English word seelie, which means good faerie. They are often portrayed as female, are very intelligent, and are the rarest of the Jinn who only appear occasionally in folklore. They do not seek to do harm to humans, but are fond of meddling in an attempt to help. (Drawing by Lisa Brown - aliftheunseen.com/the-five-types-of-jinn/)

GOD CREATED ANGELS, JINN, AND MANKIND
In mythology, there is a belief that every human has a jinn (called a qareen or quarin which means companion) like the roman genius, assigned to the individual at birth.

According to my research, neither the word nor the concept of jinn is found anywhere in the original Hebrew text of the Bible, but the word is used in old Arabic translations of the Bible. In Isaiah 6, the seraphim (which are described as burning, fiery ones) appear as creatures with their six wings used to cover their bodies, face, and feet (the description of the Ifrit). Also, in other scriptures, Jesus drives demons out of humans that are possessed. While not called jinn, these are spirits that possess the characteristics of jinn.

As I understand the references, in Islamic theology the jinn are creatures created by God (Allah) from smokeless fire just as humans were created from the clay of the earth. They are spirits, just as angels are spirits, but a lower order than angles.

They are physical beings with free will, just as humans have free will, and are able to interfere physically with mankind and objects and, likewise. can be acted upon. They are believed to inhabit an unseen world beyond the dimensions of the visible world occupied by humans.

Then, of course, there is the Hollywood interpretation of where they live.

They are believed to live in social communities, with government, courts of law, weddings, mourning rituals, etc., and they have the ability to travel long distances at incredible speeds. They even die, but are much longer lived the mankind. Jinn are usually invisible to humans, but they can see humans clearly. Like mankind, they will be judged on the Day of Judgment and be sent to Paradise or hell according to their deeds.

EAST MEETS WEST
Culture shock!

In Muslin cultures, some people still believe that Jinn exist. It is part of the Muslim religion that God (Allah) created three kinds of beings: Angels, Jinn, and humans. And according to the Quran 51:56 "I did not create the Jinn and mankind except to worship me."

I found it interesting that the article on www.islamreligion.com/ indicated that, because of their free will, "Jinn can thus be Muslims or non-Muslims. However, due to their fiery nature, the majority of them are non-Muslim." However, those are considered by Muslims as part of the army of Satan.

The Jinn were given greater powers and abilities than humans as a test. Among other things, they have the power to take over the minds and bodies of other creatures. This however, has been prohibited as it is a great oppression to possess another being.

WHAT WOULD YOU WISH FOR?
If you had your own personal genie, a qareen or quarin, what would you wish for?
Below is the genie I want for a gareen.

Resources
http://genies.wikia.com/wiki/Jinn
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jinn
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/jinn
http://aliftheunseen.com/the-five-types-of-jinn/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seraphim
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah+6&version=KJV
http://cryptozoologycryptids.wikia.com/wiki/Jinn
http://strangeworldofmystery.blogspot.com/2010/02/genie-jinn-or-djinn.html
http://www.jinndemons.com/jinn-in-quran/
http://www.islamawareness.net/Jinn/hyjinn.html
http://thedivinefire.wordpress.com/2012/11/21/ancient-arabian-mythology/
http://www.islamreligion.com/articles/669/
http://shaikhsohail.wordpress.com/2011/12/20/belief-in-the-jinn/

This blog by R. Ann Siracusa was originally published on Romance Books 4 Us blogsite August 10, 2014

0 Comments

VICTORIA FALLS: one of the Seven Natural Wonders Of The World

6/23/2017

0 Comments

Readers always want to know where authors get their ideas. The answer is everywhere. Newspapers, TV, things people tell you about, things you see and experiences first hand. Just keep your eyes and ears open, and ask "What if?"

The last book in my humorous romantic suspense series, Tour Director Extraordinaire, is set in southern Africa. I outlined the novel in 2008 while I was traveling in South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, and Namibia. This blog is about one of the most outstanding sights I saw there.

Victoria Falls is an amazing waterfall located on the Zambezi River, at the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe in southern Africa. It is named as one of the seven natural wonders of the world on the 1979 CNN list. On the map below, the falls are located about in the center, where Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Namibia come together. Botswana is slightly to the west.

The first white man known to see this amazing work of nature was Scottish explorer David Livingston, in 1855, who named it in honor of Queen Victoria. The native name is Mosi-oa-Tunya. Victoria Falls was designated as a UNESO World Heritage Site in 1989. And, in my opinion, it's one of the Must See locations in the world.

MOSI-OA-TUNYA
THE SMOKE THAT THUNDERS
There's a good reason why it carries that name. The falls are not the highest or widest in the world, but Mosi-oa-Tunya is the largest falling sheet of water in the world. In the wet season, the full width of the Zambezi River (5,604 feet – over one mile wide) plummets straight down for 354 feet in a single sheet.

GEOGRAPHY
The Zambezi River, the fourth longest river in Africa, flows through six countries from central Africa to the Indian Ocean. Along the central plateau of Africa, the wide river moves through a shallow valley over a level sheet of basalt bounded by low sandstone hills far in the distance. There are many islands, increasing in number as they approach the falls.

Photo above by Mike Myers ▲
Where are the mountains? This is the part of the uniqueness of the falls. There aren't any mountains or deep valleys as you would expect. Just flat land with a wide river…and then you see a billowy column of what looks like white smoke.

It's not smoke. It's a plume of water spray, rising sometimes a mile high and visible for 20 Kilometers, as the river drops into a deep horizontal chasm carved by the river along a fracture zone in the basalt.
Well, heck. Where does it fall to?

It plummets into a deep vertical chasm caused by water erosion over thousands of years in the fracture zones. Underneath the plateau of hard basalt, lies much softer sandstone. Where the fractures exist in the surface material, the cracks have filled with sandstone which the river has eroded.

Water pours over the edge into the first gorge, which varies in depth from 260 feet to 354 feet at the western end. The outlet is only 360 feet wide. The fracture and resulting chasms zigzag across the central stretch of the plateau. The falls are considered the dividing line between the upper- and the central-Zambezi zones. Considering that during the wet season, 540 million cubic meters of water per minute fall into the first of the Batoka Gorges, that's very restricted outlet.

From the air, during the dry season, the gorges look like this. When I was there, the river was about as dry as it gets and not that much of the width was covered with water. It was still impressive.

The Zambizi River from helicopter in dry season ▼ Satellite view of the river, the falls, and the gorges.▼

JUST A BEAT MORE
Sometimes the unpleasant places and experiences are as important in our writing as the beautiful ones. Although Victoria Falls is mentioned in the book All For A Blast Of Hot Air, the part that got the most attention was the awful airport at Victoria Falls (the name of the town) in Zimbabwe.

It may not look too bad in this photo, but I describe what it's really like in the excerpt from one of my novels: All For A Blast of Hot Air – Book 5 of the Tour Director Extraordinaire series coming out in print December 2019.

Excerpt
     We arrived at Victoria Falls an hour and a half later, unprepared for the long wait to come. After two hours inside the worst airport I'd ever experienced, waiting for our luggage, we were tempted to abandon the bags, return immediately to South Africa and forget the safari.
     At best, the airport smelled like an unwashed armpit and rotting fruit. The rest rooms were so filthy even the insects avoided them. Instead, the annoying little creatures buzzed around our heads and flew into our eyes, noses, and mouths. Another set of angry passengers swarmed the airline officials, complaining about their bags being broken into after they were checked in by the airline.
     If the building had air conditioning at all, the near-hundred degree heat and ninety percent humidity rendered it useless. Oh, the fans rumbled and groaned—yes, they did. Loud enough to be distracting even above the high-pitched incessant shouting and yelling, but they did nothing to move the stale muggy air.
     In seconds my clothes were more than moist and my hair assumed the appearance and texture of steel wool struck by lightning.
     The facility offered no seating for passengers while the Zimbabwe customs officials went through every bag looking for anything they could tax, which took forever. Every inch of the building was old, worn, and beyond depressing.
     Welcome to Victoria Falls, seventh natural wonder of the world!
     "I'm not overly impressed." I panted the observation as we hauled our bags outside after the unbearable hours of torture. No luggage carts or baggage handlers to be seen anywhere. Neither one of us carried much although, for this flight, we'd packed all our electronics in our carryon bags. I'd been warned not to check such items if we ever wanted to see them again, that is. "It looked better in the photos."
     Will frowned, his lips thin, and shook his head slightly, unwilling to go there.
     "You think? Pfft." He spit a bug out of his mouth and held the exit door open for me while I shoved our bags through to the outside.
□
Resources
http://www.zambiatourism.com/travel/places/zambezir.htm
http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/countries/zambezi-river-africa-photos/
http://www.africanworldheritagesites.org/natural-places/earths-crust/victoria-falls-zimbabwe-and-zambia.html
http://www.victoriafalls.com/
http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/509

0 Comments

iNVASION OF THE BODY SHAPERS

6/16/2017

3 Comments

TIME TO SHAPE UP FOR SUMMER!
While most women yearn for an awesome, modelesque shape, most of us are real people. We weren't born that way or we didn't stay that way, and the ideal images set by celebrities are unrealistic for many of us. But humans, being the innovative creatures that we are, have come up with a solution of sorts.

SHAPEWEAR! YAY!

Ah, but it's not a modern innovation we're talking about. Both men and women have been using various sorts of shapewear under their garments for about 5,000 years.

THE RISE AND FALL OF THE CORSET
In Ancient Times
The first evidence of a corset-like garment for women originated in the Bronze Age Minoan civilization on the island of Crete. There, a cupless bra was first worn around 2500 to 3000 BC. Based on surviving artifacts, the bodice of a dress was constructed of a stiff fabric, tight enough to hold in the waist and emphasize the bare bosom.

Body shaping in the Minoan culture wasn't only for women. Men wore codpieces in that culture as well.

Minoan Greek Toga Roman Toga

In ancient Greece, women wore corsets of leather bands to define their hips and busts under the Greek Chiton. From birth, girls were swaddled for six months, their legs and arms bound to restrict their movement and keeping limbs straight. Greek girls were forced to keep trim and mothers used woolen bands to keep the developing bodies slim. -- Pauline Weston Thomas for Fashion-Era.com

In Rome, loose fitting robes (togas) and shapers similar to the Greek leather bands were worn. The more elaborate the layers of cloth of the toga, the richer the wearer. To provide shape, both men and women added pins and sashes (called girdles).

Fast Forward to the Middle Ages
Women of the Middle Ages were covered from head to foot, since the religious beliefs taught that the body was sinful. Donning underwear was something to be ashamed of, even underpants.

Legend has it that in 1370 the Roman Empire issued the following edit: "No woman will support the bust by the disposition of a blouse or by tightened dress." By the end of the 14th century, clothes were cut and shaped to the body. The corset, now designed to cover and flatten the breasts, was reborn. Eventually, the garment was remodeled to lift the bustline and push it outward and cinch in the waist.

16th Century Iron Cage C.De Medici corset 1590

The 16th Century Iron Cage
The funnel-shaped "iron cage" corset was brought from Italy to France in the 1500's by Catherine de Medici when she married King Henry II of France. She is often (and mistakenly) given credit for inventing the corset. The women of the French aristocracy soon deemed it an indispensable garment.

By the 1600's, the iron instruments of torture were softened and fashioned from silk and other fabrics stiffened by stays of whalebone, other bone, and wood. Freed from being a part of the dress bodice, the now-stand-alone corset was demoted to the status of underwear.

During the Renaissance, men, as well as women, sculpted their silhouettes with padding, including fake calves, paunches (why, I can't guess), doublets that puffed up a man's chest, and codpieces. The codpiece was a sign of virility and wealth. Some waistcoats, designed to be corset-like, were worn by men as an outer garment. And speaking of padding, let's not forget the codpiece (cod meaning scrotum in middle English). This was a man's "signature piece".

To the left, Denis Bruna holds up reproduction codpiece by Hollis Bernhart.

The corset stays made it very difficult to move, so I assume these garments were worn mostly by aristocrats who didn't need to move around much. Working people didn't have that luxury.

In fact, corsets all but disappeared during the French Revolution in 1789 when it became unpopular to be identified with the aristocracy. If wealth equaled corset wearing, and corset wearing equaled aristocrat, and wealth equaled guillotine, then corset = headless aristocrat. ( http://www.bigbustsupport.com/history_of_the_bra.html)

Perhaps that's the reason for the advent of the high-waisted empire style of the 1790's which deemphasized the natural waist and the need for the tight corset.

The Corset Slides Downward: A Near Death Experience
When the waistline returned to its original position in the 1800's, women's waists again needed narrowing, and the corset was back in style. This time, instead of ending at the waist like a funnel, the garment was more curvaceous and went below the waist -- the corset slid downward, so to speak -- and was not laced as tightly. A thriving market of mass-produced corsets made them cheaper and more accessible to everyone.

Nonetheless, by the late 1800's and early 1900's, the corset also slid downward in popularity as well as shape.

The straight-front corset -- called the S-bend corset or the health corset -- was worn from circa 1900 to the early 1910s. It was designed to be better for a woman's health because it exerted less pressure on the stomach area. Unfortunately, that benefit was offset by injury to the back due to unnatural posture forcing the torso forward.

At the same time, the bustle became popular. It didn't shape the body in the same way as the corset, but instead expanded and supported the fullness at the back of women's dresses.

The woman's movement in the early 1900's led to more women in the job market and participating in outdoor activities, and the popularity of the corset and bustle slid. WWI dealt a near-death blow in 1917 when the U.S. War Industries Board asked American women to give up corsets to save the steel for war production. According to Wikipedia, this step freed up 28,000 tons of metal, enough to build two battleships.

Girdles made with elasticized materials that ran from the waist down to various lengths and garters or garter belts persisted through the 1950's but, by the 1960s Hippie era, the girdle had slid all the way down and off the modern woman's body.

REVIVAL
After nearly a hundred-year breathing spell (or at least fifty) we can thank current celebrities for the remarkable revival of modern shapewear.

The first honor goes to Oprah Winfrey for declaring, in 2000, Spanx as one of her favorite things. In eight years, the market tripled to $750 million in annual sales in 2008. – NPD Group, Market Research

According to Lindsay Putnam, we "have the Kardashians to thank for making a torture device from the 16th century relevant in 2014." The waist-cincher. http://nypost.com/2014/11/19/how-to-get-waisted-like-a-kardashian/

Today women no longer have to put up with ominous names like "the iron cage" and can enjoy wearing: It Figures!, Yummie Tummie, Feel Foxy Shapewear, Squeem Shapewear, Bare Necessities, InstantSlim, Her Room, Va Bien's, ResultWear, Not Your Daughter's Jeans, Whatsawaist, Spanx Bod-a-Bing!, and Spanx Hide & Sleek.

I found a more limited list of brands for men. I'm sure there are others: PowerSlim, Durafit, Leo, Hoter, InstaSlim, Zero Body, Ardyss Abdomen, etc.

KNOW YOUR COMPRESSIONWEAR
The fact that the industry calls shapewear by the name of "compression clothing" might give a hint to what we're actually doing to our bodies. Fortunately, knowledge and technology have come a long way since the days of the iron cage, and the industry claims that "Today's body shapers are comfortable, effective, and give a natural-looking shape." Yeah, right!

So What's Your Problem, Lady?

Shaper Type            Areas Shaped
Minimizer bra                   Bust, upper back

Control brief                     Abdomen, rear, hips; sometimes waist if extends upward and thighs if extends
                                        downward

Slip shaper                      Abdomen, rear, hips, thighs

Shaping top                    Upper and lower back, stomach; waist if long enough and bust if bra is
                                        included

Waist cincher                  Waist, abdomen if extends downward

Thigh slimmer Abdomen, rear, hips, thighs

Bodysuit                          All-over shaping for upper and lower back, waist, abdomen, rear, hips, and
                                        thighs; bust Included if the shaper has a built-in bra

Note that this chart doesn't account for the fact that not everyone wants to smooth and minimize. There are those who want to add … where it counts. We all know about padded bras but padded undies for men and women, butt lifters, compression T-shirts, you name it. They are all shapewear.

The Dos And Don'ts Of Shapewear

Make the most of your shapewear by focusing on the problems you want to ameliorate and by knowing how to select and take care of it. The following dos and don'ts come from several sources.

●    Don’t buy a piece of shapewear without having the answers to three questions
      1) The specific problem area(s) on your body you’d like to address, 2) How often you’d
      like to wear the garment, and 3) Which level of control will bring you the greatest
      satisfaction given the piece’s combination of comfort and performance.

●    Don’t fall for the tricks in Before-and-After Shapewear Ads

●    Do know which shapers help which body parts.
      Zone in on target areas, and decide how much control is needed (for all garments or
      just a specific garment). Do know how often the garment will be worn.

●    Do try on shapewear before committing to buy, and don't avoid the fitting room
      Don’t be complacent about vpls, ride-up, or roll-down.

●    Don’t forget to consider the call of nature when selecting a new piece of
      shapewear

●    Don't buy shapewear that is too small or too large
      1) Don’t size up or down; 2) Don’t wear waistline styles if you’re larger around the
      middle: 3) Don’t wear a Bodybriefer, or any garment providing extra-firm control, if
      you’re tall.

●    Don't be afraid of seams
      Don’t wear seamless shapewear if you’re looking for the best shaping results.

●    Do pay attention to care instructions
      Shapewear (and anything with spandex) is not dryer-friendly. Don’t ignore care labels.

●    Do learn how to put on shapewear correctly
      Don’t put shapewear on over your head; step into it.

●    Do wash new pieces before wearing

●    Don’t choose elective cosmetic surgery over shapewear
      Don’t sacrifice your favorite bra for control of upper body problem areas, and Don’t rely
     on shapewear as a substitute for watching your diet or an exercise regimen.

Where Does The Fat Go?
That's the big question. Experts tell us body fat can move into spaces where muscle is compressed, such as the abs. It can also be moved directionally toward more desirable places. The flab is made more compact by shapewear which can compress up to 1 or 2 inches. Shapewear is designed so the fat comes out in more sexy and appropriate places.

Are There Some Downsides?
Absolutely. Just remember the saying "Beauty knows no pain." Suck it in and suck it up. Here are some quotes from various articles on the subject.
● "It's too hot."
● "There's no graceful way to take this thing off."
● "I have to get completely undressed just to go to the bathroom."
● "You can trap yourself and get stuck trying to get out in a hurry."

SMOKE AND MIRRORS: The Industry Today
Today our psychological desire to feel confident, to be accepted socially, and to attract good mates fuels a multi-billion-dollar industry which includes makeup, skin and hair care, fragrances, cosmetic surgery, health clubs, diet products, and fashion. The industry presents to us the promise of an idealized image that is new and improved.

“People have been conditioned over the years to believe that achieving a certain level of success is only possible if you also attain a certain level of beauty and physical attractiveness,” says Lisa Amans, department chair of Advertising and Fashion & Retail Management at The Art Institute of Washington, a branch of The Art Institute of Atlanta. “Since that surrounds so many of us, both men and women easily fall into the trap of believing that if they are not beautiful they will not be successful.”… The beauty industry has had an influence on how people view attractiveness. – Darice Britt, A Revealing Look At Beauty Advertising
https://www.artinstitutes.edu/blog/a-revealing-look-at-beauty-advertising

DO YOU HAVE A "SHAPEWEAR" STORY TO TELL?
In all this research, I read some very funny experience women have had in relation to shapewear. Please make a comment.

Resources
http://www.beautybend.com/shapewear-body-shapers/
https://www.artinstitutes.edu/blog/a-revealing-look-at-beauty-advertisinghttps:/www.artinstitutes.edu/blog/a-revealing-look-at-beauty-advertising
http://www.npr.org/2015/05/09/405029054/shake-what-your-mama-didnt-give-you-shapewear-through-the-ages
https://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2011/03/20/bodyshapers-give-you-latino-curves/
http://www.ebay.com/gds/The-Dos-and-Donts-of-Wearing-Shapewear-/10000000177630036/g.html
http://blog.cupidintimates.com/2011/03/15/15-shapewear-%E2%80%9Cdon%E2%80%99ts%E2%80%9D-to-beware-in-march-and-every-other-month/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_corsets
http://www.thehealthsite.com/diseases-conditions/8-reasons-you-should-avoid-wearing-shape-wear-everyday-po0115/
http://www.shape.com/lifestyle/beauty-style/science-shapewear
http://www.historyextra.com/lingerie
http://www.marquise.de/en/themes/korsett/korsett.shtml
http://www.spsp.org/news-center/blog/category/meeting/
http://www.angriesout.com/family6.htm
http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704328104574515481839938404
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/19/fashion/fashion-underwear-victoria-and-albert-museum.html?_r=0
http://nypost.com/2014/11/19/how-to-get-waisted-like-a-kardashian/

3 Comments

THE PHANTOM ISLAND OF HY-BRASIL: HISTORY OR MYTH?

6/2/2017

0 Comments

IN SEARCH OF A SETTING?
Ireland is a favorite setting for contemporary, historical, and fantasy novels as well as for legends, faeries, and leprechauns. No place is more magical and mysterious. What could be a better venue for a novel than a phantom island off the west coast of Ireland? A mass of land in the Atlantic that is hidden by mists, unreachable from the shore, and only appears once every seven years?

HY-BRASIL: HISTORY OR MYTH?
Is the mysterious island of Hy-Brasil history or myth? Let's see.

The Legend/Myth
The name of this island – Hy-Brasil – is believed to derive from Uί Breasail, which means "descendants of Breasal", an ancient clan of northeast Ireland.

Most of the ancient Irish legends describe Hy-Brasil as divided into two realms. One was ruled by the Sidhe (a mythological people of the Otherworld who lived under mounds).

The lands of the Sidhe were characterized as being subject to the same emotions (love, hate, jealousy, power, death, etc.) as the mortal world and filled with strife. The other realm, ruled by Manannán, God of the Sea, was a land of peace and beauty, the land of the ever-living, ever-young. Therefore, Hy-Brasil was not accessible to anyone unless invited by the king Manannán or his daughters.

When the Sidhe were defeated by invading Milesians (the final race to settle in Ireland), and forced the live in a different dimension, Manannán aided them and shrouded their underground mounds with fog to hide them from unwanted attention.

Other legends, perhaps later ones, described Hy-Basil as inhabited by priests [or Druids] who knew the secrets of the universe and could call on ancient powers. The Celts believed it to be a place of plenty and happiness. The tale placed the island "where the sun touched the horizon or immediately on its other side".

Definitely myths, but what about reality?

Written History
The island was first identified on the nautical charts in 1325 prepared by cartographer Angelino Dalorto (Dulcert) and, unlike the more-famous island of Atlantis, between 1325 and 1872 its existence and location were documented in detail by many firsthand accounts. [Atlantis is mentioned only in a work by Plato.]

The Venetian Andrea Bianco, Italian sailor and cartographer, included the island on nautical charts produced in 1436, renamed as Insula de Brasil. In 1480, a Catalan chart show it as two islands, one to the southwest of Galway Bay where the mythical island is supposedly located and one south of Greenland.

It appeared on maps and charts up through 1865 and, by then, was called Brasil Rock. On all the charts and maps, the island was depicted as roughly circular with a river or strait of water running east-west.

THE SEARCH IS ON
In both 1480 and 1481, expeditions departed Bristol in search of the island. A letter from Pedro Ayala, apparently a member of John Cabot's expedition in 1497, reports that the land discovered by Cabot was the same as that found by expeditions from Bristol.

In 1674 the island was sighted by Captain John Nisbit on his way from France to Ireland. He and some of his men rowed ashore and returned with gold and silver given to them by the inhabitants. He reported the island was inhabited by large black rabbits and a wizard who lived in a stone castle who gave them the precious metals. This prompted another expedition headed by Captain Alexander Johnson who also found the island.

So where is it and why doesn't it show on maps today?

The last sighting of the island was in 1872 by Robert O'Flaherty and author T.J. Westropp, who had visited the island twice before. On this trip they brought members of their families to see the new land. Logs and accounts from that trip indicate that shortly after they sighted the island, it disappeared before their eyes. It has not been seen since, in spite of the legend that it appears every seven years.
    Published 1635

A GRAIN OF SAND ON THE BEACH OF HISTORY
So, were all these people who claimed to have seen or visited Hy-Brasil liars or delusional? Intentionally deceitful in order to claim credit for some discovery?

Perhaps in some cases these explorers were inventing the stories, even if they believed them to be true. However, there are too many reliable sources to write it off completely. In most myths and legends, there is a grain of truth behind the story. The challenge is to find it.

It's a fact that the island of Hy-Brasil no longer exists, so the previous sightings can be explained by three theories.
     1. The island was mistaken for another still-existing island.
     2. The island existed but actually disappeared as a result of natural phenomenon.
     3. The sightings were an optical illusion.

A fourth would be that you believe in faeries, leprechauns, and magic, but I'm writing this off for now.

A Case of Mistaken Identity
Some Hy-Brasil experts believe that when explorers sighted the island, they were observing an area of the Atlantic called the Porcupine Bank. This is a portion of the Irish shelf, around 200 km west of Ireland where the seabed is raised between two deep-water troughs. The northern and western slopes of Porcupine Bank host cold-water corals. It was suggested as early as 1870 that during times of extreme tides the surface of the banks were exposed, appearing to be an island.

Others believe this island is actually Baffin Island. The theory is that through the years the round, bifurcated island in the North Atlantic shifted to the west as maps became more sophisticated. Baffin Island is one of ninety major islands in the Arctic Archipelago between mainland Canada and the Arctic Circle and west of Greenland. This is one theory which supports the reports of explorers actually landing on Hy-Brasil.

Unfortunately, I could find no verification that Baffin Island was ever inhabited by large black rabbits and a wizard.

Baffin Island Baffin Island when covered with snow

Geologic Shifts
Twenty thousand years ago, during the last Ice Age, sea levels were as much as four hundred feet lower and could have exposed both the Porcupine Bank as well as the now-sunken ridge under the Aran Islands. Today that location is a raised seabed about 200 km west of Ireland which might have been above sea level during the times it Hy-Brasil was sighted.

Optical Illusion
The island may have never existed at all, and its sightings were mere tricks that nature plays on us when light and climatic conditions are right. Mirages are produced when layers of hot and cold air refract (bend light rays). The light bounces off the surface of clouds, water, or ice and creates these illusions.

LITERARY REFERENCES
Using Hy-Brasil as a setting for a novel wouldn't be unique. It's already been used as the location in several books, films, and video games, but it's no cliché either. References I could confirm are Margaret Elphinstone's novel Hy-Brasil and Mary Burke's short story Hy-Brasil in The Faber Book of Best New Irish Short Stories.

The few descriptive features and the legends associated with the phantom island are enough to spark ideas for a great story.

IN WHAT KIND OF BOOK COULD HY-BRASIL BE USED AS A SETTING?

Resources
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lF8j9FVPG_w (YouTube history)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuSbd6JdweQ (YouTube history)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazil_%28mythical_island%29
http://altereddimensions.net/2012/lost-island-of-hybrasil
http://blog.strangenewsdaily.net/2011/01/the-mysterious-island-of-hy-brasil-the-other-atlantis/
http://celticmythpodshow.com/blog/the-mythical-island-of-hy-brasil/
http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2013/11/legendary-island-hy-brasil/
http://www.therendleshamforestincident.com/Hy_Brasil.html
http://lightworkers.org/blog/151143/mysterious-island-hy-brasil-other-atlantis
http://www.shee-eire.com/magic&mythology/fairylore/Sidhe/page%201.htm
http://biography.yourdictionary.com/st-brendan

0 Comments

BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR

VICTORIA FALLS: one of the Seven Natural Wonders Of The World

iNVASION OF THE BODY SHAPERS

THE PHANTOM ISLAND OF HY-BRASIL: HISTORY OR MYTH?

Author R. Ann Siracusa

Archives

Categories