For questions about how ancient mythology influences today's traditions.
Questions tagged [modern-influence]
10 questions
13
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2 answers
What is the origin of the story that Santa Claus lives at the North Pole?
Can the traditional location of Santa Claus home and workshop be traced to older folklore stories, or is it a modern invention, a piece of fakelore?
Girsan Virlee
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What is the link between Odin and Santa Claus?
What is the link between Odin and Santa Claus? How does Santa trace his origins to the Norse god?
Vixen Populi
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4
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Why do ghosts mess with electricity?
The concept of ghosts (shades in the sense of spirits or phantoms) predates the understanding and harnessing of electricity by humans.
But, in modern folklore and mythology electric lights often flicker when a ghost is in the room.
Why is this?…
Andrew Johnson
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4
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Does Angela Merkel's use of her distinctive "diamond" hand gesture have any folk-historical or other oral-traditional background?
Angela Merkel, chancellor of Germany, is known for using a distinctive hand gesture.
Does the Merkel rhombus (Merkel-Raute), which has been heavily used by the Christian Democratic party in its electoral campaigning, have any folk-historical or…
user1618
4
votes
1 answer
Can mermaids shapeshift and grow human legs to walk on land?
I've seen movies and tv shows that feature mermaids shapeshifting to grow legs (Pirates of the Caribbean) and I'm wondering if this has any ancient myths behind them?
Orionixe
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3
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Skagganauk abyss?
In Roger Zelazney's Creatures of Light and Darkness, he imagines the Egyptian Typhon, brother of Set, as a void that often takes the form of a stallion. He calls this entity "Skagganauk Abyss", which I always took to be a form of Ginnungagap, the…
DukeZhou
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Is it the Muses depicted on the façade of 100 Broadway, Manhattan?
The American Surety Building (also known as the Bank of Tokyo Building) is at 100 Broadway in Manhattan, in New York City. The building's façade is designed to look like the front of a Classical Greek temple (in similarity to a lot of other…
Adinkra
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Who is the woman portrayed atop a pillar at UCT's Upper Campus?
On top of a pillar that was about two or three storeys tall, I once saw this sculpture of a woman looking out toward the woods of Devil's Peak on Table Mountain in the City of Cape Town. This being nearly a decade ago, I'm somewhat fuzzy on the…
Adinkra
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Perseus as son of Poseidon?
It's been a long time since I looked at the Perseus myth, and became confused debating with a child who asserted Perseus was the the son of Poseidon. This led me to read the Percy Jackson series, which also initially confused me because I was sure…
DukeZhou
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Is there a deliberate symbolic relationship between the Rockefeller Plaza Atlas statue and St Patrick's Cathedral?
The International Building, part of the Rockefeller Center, stands in Midtown Manhattan. In the building's courtyard, at Number 630 on Fifth Avenue, its entrance is guarded by the dark and imposing 45-ft-tall bronze statue of a character from Greek…
Adinkra
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