Tag: mythology

High school DEI office accuses students of ‘white supremacy’ over senior gift of Thor mural in Washington State

Student council members at a Washington state high school were accused of promoting white supremacy after proposing a mural of the school’s unofficial mascot, the hammer-wielding Norse god Thor, be painted as their senior gift. 

The school district’s diversity, equity, and inclusion office raised concerns that the painting represents white supremacy and would need to be accompanied by women and people of color to meet the Evergreen Public School district’s racial and gender equity standards, KTTH reports. Klarissa Hightower is the Director of Equity and Inclusion at Evergreen Public Schools.

Student councilors at Mountain View High School in Vancouver proposed the artwork because their school’s mascot is The Thunders, and the name “Thor” translates to “thunder.” There is already a statue of Thor at the school’s main entrance, which added further confusion among the student body government.

Members of the council were summoned to appear before district staff, including the equity advancement specialist. “They had an issue with the image not being racially and gender inclusive, as well as upholding an image of pure colonization, white power, white supremacy, and even going as far as to say that it was alluding to racist and anti-black imagery in the south,” student council member Tara told KTTH. Tara said it was a “very uncomfortable position for a bunch of high school students to be put in.”

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The Tuatha De Danann: Were they Irish gods or aliens?

It’s little wonder the Tuath Dé or the Tribe of the Gods were mistaken as the stuff of nonsense, but we as mere mortals today can make our own conclusions. 

When I came to live in Ireland, it did not take long for me to fall in love with its misty landscape and scattered ancient ruins. They drew me in; I felt at once connected and intrigued. Leaving behind the realms of accepted Irish history I plunged into the shadowy domain of Irish mythology, and that was where I first encountered the Tuatha de Danann.

Stories of the Danann were passed down through the ages into legend via the ancient oral tradition of the poets. Later, Christian monks began assembling and recording them in an effort to produce a history for Ireland. Inevitably, these texts were influenced by their beliefs and doctrines, their translation skills (or lack of), and the desire to please their patrons. What we are left with is impossible to distill into fact and fiction.

These myths are so fantastic, so bizarre, that no scholar or historian worth his salt would ever entertain them as anything other than pure fantasy.

But I am not a scholar, and I don’t have to worry about academic reputation, and I say there is no smoke without fire.

Who were the Tuatha de Danann?

Tuatha de Danann (pronounced Thoo-a day Du-non) is translated as ‘tribe of Danu.’ Scholars are agreed that Danu was the name of their goddess, most probably Anu/Anann. However, that is unproven, and I believe could equally have referred to their leader or king, or even the place from which they originated.

They were a race of God-like people gifted with supernatural powers, who invaded and ruled Ireland over four thousand years ago. According to an ancient document known as the Annals of the Four Masters (Annála na gCeithre Maístrí compiled by Franciscan monks between 1632-1636 from earlier texts), the Danann ruled from 1897 BC until 1700 BC, a short period indeed in which to have accumulated such fame. They were said to have originated from four mythical Northern cities Murias, Gorias, Falias and Finias, possibly located in Lochlann (Norway).

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Irish giant folklore might be explained by genetic study

Genetics research published in 2016 could help explain the legend of giants in Irish folklore.

The study, led by Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, in collaboration with the universities of Exeter, Belfast and Dublin and University College London as well as 17 other Institutions, studied patients with the hormonal disorder acromegaly and tested DNA samples from the general public to identify carriers of a gene predisposing to childhood-onset acromegaly often leading to gigantism.

They undertook an ambitious and widely collaborative study, enlisting the invaluable help of patients and the general public to set the study up in Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland.

They identified a particular mutation in Irish patients and now searched for carriers of this gene in Ireland.

The frequency of the AIP mutation (R304*) was found to be surprisingly high in Mid-Ulster, Northern Ireland.

The data suggest that all Irish patients with this particular mutations (18 families and 81 carriers) are descendants from the same ancestor, who lived in the area 2,500 years ago.

Out of the identified 81 carriers 31 had developed acromegaly and over half of these had gigantism (18 patients, 58%).

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