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Halloween High Flyers
Art Dolls /Stick Dolls : copyright Wilma Simmons
I confess to being a fan of Angry Birds and challenging myself to a game of Angry Birds Ham'O'Ween will be about as far as I will go to celebrating Halloween here in Australia. However it did start me thinking about how birds became associated with this celebration with its Celtic origins. I can understand spiders, bats and even black cats and wolves associated with spookiness, but birds?
Halloween Art Tag : copyright Wilma Simmons
It appears that the black raven has long been considered rather ominous, in spite of a harmonious history of sharing the environment with human beings. Associated with wizards and witches, the raven supposedly inherited some secret powers "to carry magic across long distances and collect secrets to bring back ... " (from natureworldnews.com) Add this information to its throaty territorial "kraa" call and scavenger habits, it is no wonder that the raven might seem rather spooky on an eerie night. And if you have been watching the BBC series 'Wolf Hall", you might be interested in this piece of historical trivia. It is said that if anything happened to the six ravens kept in the Tower of London, then some terrible fate would befall the Crown of England.
However, it seems hard to imagine with currently so much "pretty" owl merchandise for clothing and home decor, how the owl has become such a popular Halloween symbol or maybe not?
Art Doll - Owl : from the collection of Marcia Griggs , copyright Wilma Simmons
Portrayed typically as a companion to witches and Hedwig's popularity as Harry Potter's pet, the owl's connection with Halloween may be a little more obvious. Its screech in the dead of night has been likened in many stories to a witch's cackle. Perhaps a more prosaic explanation for owls being considered rather scary at this time of the year is that it is Autumn in the northern hemisphere. In Autumn, tawny owls in particular stake out their territory by their nightly screeching and swooping, so it's not hard to imagine being terrified on a black night by those piercing eyes and a rushing advance of wingspan. So, besides Halloween, what do these two high flyers have in common? Their intelligence?
Owl Woman and Owl : from the collection of Marcia Griggs, copyright Wilma Simmons
The owl's association with Athena, the Greek Goddess of Wisdom, has helped to make it a symbol of enlightenment, cleverness and wisdom. While owls are extraordinary creatures with amazing hunting ability and super eyesight, they are not any more intelligent than other birds. Why then "wise as an owl" - they look smart ! Its fixed large eyes give an owl an intelligent probing glaze. The truth is that the owl uses its brain to process information from the optic nerves to allow it to filter light and to develop the super powers of phenomenal peripheral night vision. So perhaps from a human perspective, owls may not be wise, but there is an awful lot going on its brain. (fromwww.scienceiq.com). The raven, on the other hand, is really smart and named in scientific studies as the most intelligent bird, displaying an aptitude for using logic in problem solving, imitating other bird calls, interacting with other animals, performing multi-task sequences and managing a highly complex social lifestyle. This often maligned bird has the largest bird brain and lives a long life both in the wild and in captivity. Interesting? Here is a video of some clever ravens.... Happy Halloween!
Wrapped wire and fabric bilby sculpture : Wilma Simmons 2016 Over the years I have been fascinated with the plight of the bilby and it has inspired quite a few of my cloth creations... With long pinkish-coloured ears and silky, blue-grey fur, the Bilby has become Australia’s version of the Easter Bunny. Unlike the rabbit, bilby numbers are falling rapidly. There were originally two species but the Greater Bilby is now commonly referred to simply as ‘the Bilby’ as the Lesser Bilby (Macrotis leucura) is thought to have become extinct in the early 1950s... Bilbies are nocturnal, emerging after dark to forage for food. Using their long snouts, they dig out bulbs, tubers, spiders, termites, witchetty grubs and fungi. They use their tongues to lick up grass seeds. Bilbies have poor sight and rely on good hearing and a keen sense of smell. To minimise threats from predators they’ll mostly stay within 250m of their burrows, but sometimes roam further afield depending on the food...
Background Information: Temari (literally translated “hand ball”) is a Japanese folk craft that is alleged to have originated in China and was introduced to Japan five or six hundred years ago. Traditionally, the balls were constructed from wrapped kimono fabric remnants and silk threads. They were made by mothers and grandmothers for children to play with. Nowadays, decorative embroidered temari represent a highly valued and cherished gift symbolizing friendship and loyalty. Recently I've wondered if your don't use traditional techniques whether you should call what you create "temari". That is an ongoing debate but today I share what I do to make a "non-traditional temari".... 1.I start with a polystrene ball ( traditionally the balls were wound silk scraps or other organic materials) and begin to wrap with approx 4 ply wool, turning the ball as I wrap. 2. I then wrap another layer of wool in a similar fashion , this time a 3 or 2 ...
There are many songs about fruit cakes - not all of them referring to the Christmas cake we know and love.It is really surprising to learn via Google that there are 89 listed songs with references to Christmas cake or fruit cake - not all of them complimentary. Probably one of the most famous folk songs about Christmas cake is Miss Fogarty's Christmas Cake (a favourite sung by The Irish Rovers). This first recorded comical Christmas song was written by C Frank Horn in 1883 in Pennsylania, as a variation of an Irish folk song, 'Miss Mulligan's Christmas Cake' . The chorus might give you the hint that Miss Fogarty's cake was not for the faint hearted or those who suffered from a weak stomach. Chorus : There were plums and prunes and cherries, There were citrons and raisins and cinnamon, too There was nutmeg, cloves and berries And a crust that was nailed on with glue There were caraway seeds in abundance Such that...
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