#folklore

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And the blog series has officially started!

First up: the Buryat epic of Agu-Nogon-Abakha.

It is about a girl whose brother is killed by a monster, so she puts on his clothes, and goes on a quest to find a way to bring him back to life.

It turns out there are three princesses with magic powers who can save him... she just have to get them to marry her first.

Read here:
https://multicoloreddiary.blogspot.com/2025/03/a-is-for-agu-nogon-abakha-womens-epics.html

So, the Swedish folktale Andersen based Princess & the Pea on has the exact opposite message. It's a "Puss in Boots" tale about a girl who pretends to be a princess dainty enough to feel the pea in her bed. To prove she's worthy of the prince's hand.

I see a lot of people criticize this tale for the girl "being a liar." Which kinda surprises me.

If royalty really wants to decide a woman's worth by being dainty enough to be bruised by a pea... joke's on them.

Every year I come across a bunch of people saying blogging is "dead" or "not viable anymore." And yet, every year we have 100+ bloggers sign up for the , creating wonderful long-form content that is fun to read and follow.

There are topics that you just can't do justice to in a 10-second video format. And I am happy that my blog can be a static resource for and , while others write about other topics they are passionate about.

On the South Island the Maori speak of Tūrehu, the Pale Skinned Walkers of the forests of New Zealand. With red hair and hooved they can be quite friendly, mending nets when you aren't looking, but careful if you do look: pink eyes hypnotize.

A rainforest on the South Island of New Zealand

Conservative folklore peeps in Hungary: "Folktales carry our Traditional Values and the Ancient Wisdom of Our Ancestors. They follow a strict set of Traditional Rules"

Literal Hungarian folktales I found in archives:

- Princess Rosalia Lemonfarts

- The Diamond Prince in a Rubber Suit

- The Magic Flying Penis

- Rapunzel, but it's a bloke who makes a rope from his body hair

- Saint Peter got drunk and puked the first 🌈

- The Princess who became a Prince

March 24: Is there a particular reader you keep in mind when you write?

Beyond the expected enthusiasts, I am also writing my books for gamers.

Think about this: Folk tales are an oral storytelling tradition... and so are tabletop role-playing games! I've found that while the cultural traditions might differ, the mindset is often surprisingly similar - from assorted "dirty tricks" when killing dragons to capturing will-o'-wisps as a cheap, permanent light source - the creativity of folk storytellers shares a lot with their modern successors!

The Tatzelwurm ("paw worm") is a mythical creature said to live in the (the image, however, is based on an alleged encounter in Sicily in 1954)

Reports about this creature go back to the 1920s and vary

Sometimes simply described as a small snake with paws

Also reported as a bizarre hybrid of a / wildcat and a huge snake like an anaconda, strong enough to attack mature pigs

The Tatzelwurm is basically the of the Alps and part of Bavarian and Austrian

painting of an encounter of the so called Tatzelwurm ("paw worm") in Sicily in 1954 a bizarre hybrid of a wildcat and a huge snake like an anaconda is attacking a mature pig by biting and scratching into the pig's neck in the background are two frightened men, one is leaning back and raising his left arm into the air while the other one is running away

Revealing my A to Z blogging challenge theme one day early, because it is very fitting for 😊

It's not exactly a surprise: is finally here!

I read 26 epics from around the world. All of them have women heroes. In April, I will blog about each one in detail.

Today I put up a Theme Reveal post with the details of this project, and an intro to women's epics in general.
Read here:
https://multicoloreddiary.blogspot.com/2025/03/a-to-z-challenge-theme-reveal-2025.html?m=1

In Central and Eastern Europe there were numerous reasons why people might become vampires, often through no fault of their own. These could include having red hair (like Cain and Judas apparently had), being born with a caul or being born with teeth. Eating a sheep that had been killed by a wolf or having an animal, especially a cat, walk on your grave could also place you among the undead. For this reason, pets were often kept indoors during funerals. Vampirism could result from being born a seventh child or being born to a mother who neglected to put salt on her food. Having blue eyes in areas where brown eyes were more common - or vice versa - also boosted your chances of becoming a bloodsucker.

Bela Lugosi in vampire costume opening his cape in front of a blond woman in a purple dress.