Frogs in Myth & Legend (and the Leap into Books Giveaway Hop!)

LEAP DAY (Feb. 29) is a natural time to talk about FROGS (well, it seemed like it to me, LOL). Research turned up some great myths, legends and stories about these creatures. But my own fascination with frogs and toads began when my Welsh grandmother gave me a ceramic frog for my apartment when I left home. She told me that I should always have a frog in the house for good luck.

Stone frog in garden

Turns out that the ancient Romans thought house frogs were lucky too, and kept live frogs as mascots. Many cultures consider it a sign that money is coming to you if a frog enters the house. Finding a frog outside is lucky too, and if frogs live in your garden, good fortune will come to the house and all its occupants. In Scotland today, frogs have been considered lucky since Celtic times and there are often stone frogs kept in the garden. Frog figurines have traditionally been given as housewarming gifts there and in many other parts of the UK as well.

   

The Amazing Life Cycle of a Frog

Both the Egyptians and Greeks believed frogs possessed a creative force – they were symbols of inspiration (as a writer, maybe I need more frogs…) and many cultures equate them with great transformative powers and even reincarnation. After all, frogs and toads are every bit as amazing as butterflies. They go through vastly different phases in their lives – from eggs they hatch into gilled tadpoles that can only live underwater, and then gradually transform to air-breathing land creatures. It’s not surprising that frogs are also associated with personal growth and achievement.

A common toad

The ultimate achievement is shown in an old story about a toad who had fallen in love with the moon and wanted to go there more than anything. Everyone told the toad that it was impossible to leap so high. But the toad decided not to listen and began jumping. Each time it jumped, it went a little bit higher. After many, many jumps, it finally reached the moon! While western cultures perceive the shape of “man in the moon”, the Chinese point to the “toad in the moon” instead. In some Asian tales, eclipses occur when the toad tries to swallow the moon itself.

Heket, frog goddess

Since frogs lay enormous quantities of eggs, it’s only natural that they would become a fertility symbol. The Egyptians depicted the water goddess, Heket, as a frog or as a woman with the head of a frog. She ruled conception and birth, was the goddess of midwifery and protected new-born babies. Egyptian women seeking to conceive often wore amulets which depicted Heket as a frog sitting on a lotus flower. Women in childbirth also wore these amulets. It’s interesting that in ancient Mesoamerica, many tribes worshipped a corn goddess who took the form of a frog or a toad with many udders – just like Heket, she was the patron of childbirth and fertility.

Frogs also became potent symbols of abundance. They appeared in vast numbers during the annual flooding of the Nile and it wasn’t long before the Egyptians adopted the frog as their hieroglyph for an immense number – 100,000. In Chinese folklore, it was said that frog spawn fell from heaven, and so frog meat may be still be referred to as "heavenly chicken", especially in rice-growing areas!

Frog brings fire to humans

Frogs and toads have appeared in ancient stories as heroes and benefactors of the human race. In Native American legends of the Southwest, the Frog is usually depicted carrying a piece of wood in its mouth, because the Mojave people believe it was the Frog who brought fire to humans. In some stories, Australia’s Aboriginal peoples credited the frog with bringing rain to make the plants grow. In Aztec folklore, the god Quetzacoatl assumed the form of a little blue frog in order to bring “the food of the gods” to humans – cocoa!

Frog soup?

Frogs and toads have often been associated with healing powers. A supposed cure for thrush, sore throat, and colds was holding a live frog with its head in the patient's mouth! As the frog breathed, it was said to draw the illness away from the patient and into itself. Warts were said to be cured by rubbing a frog or toad across them (which is odd, since there are so many old wives tales about frogs and toads causing warts!) Eating frog soup was said to cure whooping cough.

Chan Chu, the money toad

By the way, frogs and toads were usually interchangeable in myth and legend. A three-legged toad named Chan Chu is the traditional pet of the immortal Liu Hai, Chinese god of wealth. The toad is usually pictured with red eyes and a gold coin in its mouth, and is usually sitting on a pile of coins as well. Figurines of Chan Chu are used in the practice of Feng Shui in order to attract wealth both at home and at work. Businesses often keep a statue of Chan Chu near their cash register, and in the home, Chan Chu is never placed facing the door. The frog is to be placed as if he has just entered the home, bringing abundance with him!

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LEAP INTO BOOKS GIVEAWAY HOP

OVER 200 BOOK-RELATED BLOGS ARE PARTICIPATING!!! That means lots of chances for YOU to WIN! Each blog on the list hosts a giveaway and all hosts are linked up so you can HOP from one blog to another!  (You don't have to visit them all - each has their own giveaway that is separate from all others.)

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED

Congrats to June M!  Her name was drawn from the big blue mixing bowl as the winner of my giveaway.  Thanks to EVERYONE who stopped by and left a comment. I really enjoyed reading them. :) 

My next giveaway will be during the Feelin Lucky Giveaway Hop beginning March 7!

Like this post? Please share by clicking one of the links below.

FOLKLORE AND FORETELLING LOVE ..... (Part of the Random Acts of Kindness Giveaway Hop)

February is the month of love, and people have attempted to foretell their future partners for centuries. I remember skipping rhymes and folded paper games as a kid, and Saturday afternoon sessions with Ouija boards as a teen! But there are many other methods of divination. I’ve collected a number of myths, folklore, traditions and superstitions to share with you! (But remember these are just for fun, okay?)

The apple has been associated with love for centuries. In ancient Greece, tossing an apple to a woman was a proposal of marriage – and catching it was equivalent to saying yes! Both guys and gals use the humble apple to tell the future in many European countries. One method is to twist the stem of an apple while reciting the alphabet. Whatever letter you’re on when the stem pops off is said to be the first letter of your true love’s name. 

You can also peel an apple, making sure to keep the peeling all in one long strip. Throw the peeling over your left shoulder onto the floor. Now go and look straight down at it – whatever letter the fallen peeling most resembles is believed to be the first letter of your true love’s name.

Tradition tells us that if you eat an apple at midnight while looking into a mirror, you’ll see the face of your future wife or husband. And if you need to decide between lovers, folklore says to name an apple seed for each one. Get the seeds wet and throw them at the ceiling. Whichever one sticks is the one you will be happiest with.

Four-leaf clovers are lucky according to tradition, but they’re also associated with love. If someone finds a four-leaf clover, they’ll meet their future spouse on that day. Dreaming of a four-leaf clover implies a happy and prosperous marriage in your future. And in Ireland, if a woman eats a four-leaf clover while concentrating on the man of her affections, it’s said that he’ll eventually be hers!

There are many methods which are said to invoke nighttime visions of the one you will marry. Rubbing the headboard with lemon peel before bed or wearing your nightclothes inside out will cause you to dream of your future lover. Sleeping with a piece of wedding cake under your pillow will also do the trick – and so will a handful of daisies, a mirror, a silver coin, five bay leaves or a wedding ring from a happy marriage! Efforts to dream of marriage partners are said to be most effective on Valentine’s Day (of course!) but also on the eve of St. Andrew’s Day (November 30). In addition to his other jobs, St. Andrew is the patron saint of unmarried women! In old Austria, young women would drink wine and then recite the Andreasgebet (St. Andrew's prayer), while naked and kicking a straw bed. This was supposed to cause the future husband to appear in her dreams. 

On this day in Poland, melted lead was poured into cold water – the shape that the metal took was said to provide clues to the true love’s occupation. In Slovakia and the Czech Republic, names of potential husbands were written on slips of paper and rolled into balls of dough on St. Andrew’s Day. The dough balls were then boiled like dumplings. Whichever piece of dough cooked first, floated to the surface -- with the name of the future spouse inside.

Birds have often been used to foretell future spouses too. Seeing a goldfinch on St. Valentine’s Day was said to mean you’d marry a wealthy man. A sparrow indicated a poor but happy marriage. The sight of a robin flying overhead means you’ll marry a sailor. A flock of doves?  A happy marriage is in store for you. If you hear the coo of a dove on the first day of Spring, the next person you meet of the opposite sex is said to be your ideal mate. And last but not least, if you want to know if you’ll marry within a year, stand outside a chicken coop at midnight and knock on the door. If you hear a rooster, tradition says the answer is yes. If you hear a hen, the answer is no.

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RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS
GIVEAWAY HOP


170 BOOK-RELATED BLOGS ARE PARTICIPATING!!! Each blog on the list hosts a giveaway and all hosts are linked up so you can HOP from one blog to another!  

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED

Congrats to Jaime Lynn!  Her name was drawn from the big pink mixing bowl as the winner of my giveaway.

Thanks to everyone who stopped by and left a comment. My next giveaway will be during the LEAP INTO BOOKS BLOG HOP beginning Feb. 29th!

Like this post? Please share by clicking one of the links below.

A PARANORMAL VALENTINE -- 5 GHOST STORIES (Follower Love Giveaway Blog Hop)

Ghost stories aren’t just for Halloween, and happy endings don’t produce restless spirits. 

Love lost, love spurned, love betrayed – such things produce powerful emotions that just might be strong enough to cause spirits to linger instead of moving on. 

The following are five tragic tales of love gone terribly wrong....

The Missing Lovers

The Castillo de San Marcos is a fortress in St. Augustine, Florida. Built by the Spanish in 1695, it has a long history of ghostly manifestations. Many of these center around a woman, Dolores, who was the young wife of the fortress commander, Colonel Garcia Marti. The couple arrived at the fort in 1784. As the story goes, it was an arranged marriage and the harsh and ill-humored Colonel ignored his bride. It wasn’t long before Dolores took notice of the Colonel’s handsome and charming assistant, Captain Manuel Abela.

Actual dungeon where the fake wall was discovered.

Dolores wore a distinctive perfume, and one day the Colonel smelled it on Abela’s uniform! Shortly afterwards, both Manuel and Dolores disappeared, never to be seen again. The Colonel explained to the soldiers that Manuel was on special assignment to Cuba. To Dolores’ many friends, he claimed she had returned to Spain because the Florida climate was having a detrimental effect on her health.

The truth wasn’t discovered for 50 years, after the fort was in American hands. An anomaly was noticed in a dungeon wall and the bricks were removed – revealing a hidden room and a pair of skeletons, male and female, chained to the wall. Since that time, many people have reported cold spots, floating orbs of light and the sudden overpowering scent of sweet perfume in the dungeon area!

Ghosts in Paris

The Eiffel Tower is the site of many tales, and it's no surprise that one of them is a ghost story. A young couple who had been dating for a while agreed to meet at the top of the Eiffel Tower to talk. The woman wanted to end the relationship, while the man was intent on proposing. The man became so enraged that he threatened to kill her if she didn't marry him. She refused and he pushed her from the tower. It's said that the ghost of the young woman haunts the site, and her screams can sometimes still be heard.

Arc de Triomphe, Paris, France

The Arc de Triomphe in Paris has several ghosts, one of which is named Rose. After quarreling with her lover on Bastille Day (July 14) in 1914, it's said that she climbed the 284 steps to the top of this stone monument and threw herself off, narrowly missing the throngs of people below who had gathered for the holiday festivities. Sightings of Rose repeating this sad act have been reported, usually when there's a crowd gathered for a parade or other event. 

The Rejected Suitor

During the War of 1812, a Canadian lieutenant named Muir had fallen in love with Marie McIntosh, daughter of a local trader who lived near the Detroit River. She was very fond of the handsome young soldier, but he was terribly shy and the girl became annoyed with his timid wooing. He visited her every week without ever expressing his feelings for her until the very day he was leaving on a dangerous assignment, when he asked for her hand. To his shock, she laughed and teased him. Her expectation was that he would try even harder to win her and she would eventually relent and say yes.

Muir, however, thought she didn't love him and he was heartbroken. He rode off to his regiment without another word and Marie regretted her cruel actions. During the night, she was terrified by a visit from the young man's ghost. Muir told her he had died honorably but wanted his body brought back to the settlement. Then the spirit seized her hand, causing her to scream and faint.

Marie rode the next day and secured help from her father's friends at Fort Malden. Together they found the body where the spirit had said it was, and took it back to be buried at the Canadian settlement.

After that experience, it was said that Marie was no longer a carefree young girl but had aged into a serious woman. The story also says that she forever wore a black glove on the hand that the ghost had touched because the spirit had left a mark upon it. As for Lt. Muir, his ghost has been sighted many times over the years, particularly around the date of his death, August 9th.

The White Lady

Huntly Castle in Scotland is famous for its legend of a woman in white. The apparition has been reported wandering both the rooms of the castle and the grounds of the estate since the 17^th century.

Huntly Castle today

The castle was owned by the Lyon family at the time and one of their daughters had an affair with a servant. She was imprisoned in the bedchamber in the high castle tower, but was so distraught at being separated from her lover, she leapt from the window. At least that’s what the family said -- it was widely rumored that she was pushed because the family wished to minimize the scandal!

The Bride on the Bridge

"Emily's Bridge" in Stowe, Vermont

In Stowe, Vermont, a woman in a bridal gown is said to have haunted the covered bridge there since the 1800s. The woman, named Emily, was left waiting at the altar for a groom who never came. She left the church and took her carriage, intending to go to the groom’s home. When she arrived at the bridge, something spooked her horse and she was killed in the ensuing accident. Ever since, sightings of a woman driving a carriage have been reported in the hours after midnight. Those who have seen the ghost, say that she looks extremely angry and many believe she is still hunting for her would-be groom. 

Another version of the story says that Emily and her lover intended to elope and they were to meet at the bridge. She waited there for many hours with her bridal clothes in a suitcase, but her intended never came. Heartbroken, she hung herself from the bridge. It’s rumored that crossing the bridge at night will cause Emily’s ghost to leave long scratches on the car!

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Here's the fun part.  
From February 7th to 14th, 2012, it's the
"Follower Love Giveaway Hop ".


THIS EVENT IS NOW CLOSED. 


Congratulations to Proserpine whose name was drawn as the winner of my giveaway. 


Don't forget there'll be a BRAND NEW BLOG HOP beginning on Feb. 17th!