#historical implications

[consuetudinari0]

Understanding Anglo-Saxonism in American History

Race and Manifest Destiny: The Origins of American Racial Anglo-Saxonism by Reginald Horsman (1981) Introduction Race and Manifest Destiny: The Origins of American Racial Anglo-Saxonism by Reginald Horsman is a critical work that examines the roots of the racialist ideology that dominated the United States during its territorial expansion in the 19th century. The author provides a comprehensive…

[taakitz]

ATLA (zukka….) au where everything is mostly the same except that the phrase “friend of the Avatar” is a euphemism for being gay, a la the phrase friend of Dorothy

(the phrase started towards the start of the 100 year war because in this universe Avatar Roku was some flavor of gay, then Sozin canonically banned gay marriage after their situationship went downhill. so people had to be more subtle about communicating their identities, something something something, the phrase became semi-commonplace throughout the fire nation and later the earth kingdom. maybe it started even earlier because of bi queen kyoshi. who knows!)

miscommunication and self-discovery ensues throughout the events of ATLA:

early on into his banishment and search for the avatar, Zuko runs into someone who casually mentions that they’re a “friend of the Avatar” and he’s immediately like “THE AVATAR IS ALIVE? WHERE ARE THEY. TELL ME”

…he learns a new phrase that day! perhaps he didn’t even know gay people existed until that awkward encounter (bc sheltered fire nation royal.) maybe he does some self reflection at this point, or perhaps he puts off his sexuality crisis in favor of his avatar hunting mission. who’s to say?

(the next time he hears someone say they’re “a friend of the avatar” he asks if they’re gay or if they actually know the avatar. you know, just in case they actually do.

….and the next time after that, too.

but after that he catches on pretty quickly that, no, it’s REALLY just a turn of phrase, and he does not repeat the mistake again.)

+ early into the series events sokka runs into some confusion when he mentions to a stranger that he’s a friend of the avatar while aang isn’t around—

sokka: hey so uhh i’m actually a friend of the avatar… think i can get a discount for that??

kindly ally shopkeeper: oh! i love that for you!! you know, i have a cousin who’s gay, real swell guy. anyways about the discount—

book one sokka, canonically sexist and with perhaps a fragile masculinity: what wait a sec, IM NOT GAY??????

shopkeeper: oh that’s okay, you don’t have to explain yourself or put a label on it to me (:

(sokka does in fact get a discount.)

he walks back to katara who was waiting for him and overheard the whole conversation, and she says “you know, sokka, it’s fine if you like boys.” sokka responds as you’d expect he would at this time.

(some amount of time later, sokka comes up to katara and aang very nervously and says “hey guys. i think i might. um. be a friend of the Avatar.”

and aang, confused but enthusiastic, goes “aww buddy, we’re already friends!!!!”)

at some point they’re fighting Zuko and during a back-and-forth exchange, Sokka proclaims “i won’t let you hurt him, the Avatar is my friend!” or something to that effect

Zuko, who has learned from his past mistakes in misconstruing this phrase, says “love is love. but your sexuality will not stop me from capturing the Avatar”

[lukashaaa]

Patho fanart of varying quality

[serpentface]

A witch of the Naig-Troibadnnas (Yellowtail river valley) people, resting and enjoying a smoke of the mild stimulant brolge leaf on a hot summer day.

Witches are a small part of the everyday cultural framework among the Hill Tribes. They are individuals considered born possessed by a virgranul, a type of disembodied wild spirit that seeks to inhabit human flesh, either entering the body at the moment of conception, or entering the body at the moment of death. The latter is a dire circumstance that requires significant intercession to fix (the dead body may wander off without rites, leaving the person's soul trapped and liable to warp into the dangerous fuldaigh spirit), while the former circumstance is what causes a person to be born a witch.

In the case of those afflicted in the womb, possession by virgranul is lifelong, and is both a curse and blessing- it divides and isolates them from the human world and causes other wild spirits (both benevolent and malicious) to be perpetually drawn to them, but also allows for them to be attuned to the subtleties of spirits, and able to work magic and divination that the everyday person is incapable of.

Witches are usually recognized from a young age due to marked behavioral differences or atypical development, though are sometimes simply identified as such without obvious behavioral indications, by other witches having read signs of their coming. Their occurrence is not frequent, usually once in a generation for any given tribe. An identified witch child will be taken from their family (the timing varies by tradition, though is usually upon puberty) and into mentorship by an established witch, who will impart their accumulated knowledge and skill and teach the child how to best harness their condition.

One can be a witch regardless of their gender, with the only commonality being that they must remain unmarried, and are expected to never have children (deemed too dangerous, unavoidably placing a child in the path of potentially harmful wild spirits). With no spouses or children to support them in holding a household and herds, witches are instead supported by their communities as means of payment for their services. They typically live in semi-isolation in the boundaries between the village and wilderness (a reflection of their own division between the world of people and of wild spirits, and a protective measure for their communities), and will periodically be brought needed supplies. They do not commonly enter villages unless summoned, or for the sake of certain holidays and festivals, and live most of their lives in seclusion aside from any given mentee (who will in turn care for their mentor in old age).

The societal function of witches is as intermediaries between people and their ancestors, people and wild spirits, and as especially skilled performers of practical magic (most commonly weaving protective spells into worn items, such as clothing or the nose rings of cattle). Forms of practical magic and intercession with ancestors and spirits are performed by all members of society, but a witch has intimate, detailed knowledge of such things and tremendous natural skill that makes them an invaluable asset.

Witches personally discern the identities of the spirits living in any given area and will attempt to familiarize themselves with them, learning in depth about their ways, giving warnings of where the particularly dangerous (or mischievous) ones are, and giving recommendations on which will be receptive to offerings in return for boons. When a village needs to commune with a particularly powerful or dangerous spirit (such as a wildfolk witch), they will commonly send their own witch as an intermediary.

They are ascribed have the ability to directly summon ancestors (who otherwise come and go of their own volition, and rarely ever deign to come at the call of one who is not their descendant). This is of great use when a person finds themselves punished by their ancestors with no certainty as to why, or cases where an orphaned child's ancestry must be identified to gain them proper spiritual support.

They are also regarded as having innate qualities of divination, particularly in reading birdsign (itself generally acknowledged as communication from ancestors, and occasionally gods). The average person has basic knowledge in reading omens of birds and a learned repertoire of key signs, but a witch can divine the messages of birdsign in immense and specific detail, through a vast knowledge system of the meanings of the species, sex, flight direction, gaze, prey, number, and songs of birds. It is common for people to approach a witch for a reading of the skies before undertaking a significant venture or life change, in order to receive detailed and specific advice.

Witches are always literate (and will be taught to read and write by their mentor if they cannot already) and will record their repositories of knowledge in tomes. These are items of absolute secrecy and taboo for a non-witch to touch (the consequences can be severe, you really don't want a witch ancestor-spirit upset with you). Witches can often become competitive about the knowledge stored in these tomes and are known to organize heists amongst themselves in order to gain access to each other's secrets. Most people avoid getting themselves entangled into the complicated rivalries of witches, as these competitions can get ugly and result in many a petty curse if one gains a witch's ire.

---

The only visual cue distinguishing this man as a witch is the tattoos on his forearms, otherwise usually regarded as inappropriate to mark in the contemporary Hill Tribes cultural sphere (the face, upper arms, and sternum is reserved for important clan/tribe/ancestry identification, hands and forearms are reserved for witches, and the rest of the body is appropriate for decoration). These unique forearm tattoos indicate his ancestral connection with a lineage of witches, not blood ancestry but rather the generations of mentors that have produced him. The lines extending down to his fingers are the newest, indicating that he has fully mentored another witch and gained a place in this ancestral line.

The rest of the tattoos here are tribe and blood ancestry identifiers (on the face and upper arms respectively, worn by all members of society), and purely decorative imagery (visible here is a deer, horse, eagle, and a dragon). He also has a snake on his forearm, applied decades ago in an act of youthful rebellion, which has since gotten in the way of critical open skin space.

His clothing is otherwise typical wear for warm seasonal conditions- a man's wool shawl and woven belt, short trousers, decorative deer hide (distinct to the Naig-Troibadnnas), and sandals (these are imported Wardi style sandals, which have been modified with preferred elevated heels). The horn shaped torc on his forearm identifies him as an esteemed elder.

[the-merry-otter]

Posy Rings

With the rise of courtly love in the late medieval period came a range of different tokens to demonstrate such love. Jewellery was a popular choice - as it still is now!

Posy rings are a ring for the finger, sometimes plain, sometimes with a jewel, that contains a phrase of devotion or love as an inscription. These were sometimes in Latin, but most often in French, which was considered the language of courtly love, and was pretty widely spoken in the upper classes.

(Left: pense de moy - “think of me” c. 1400-50)

(Right: de tout mon coer - “with all my heart” c. 1400)

Love inscriptions were often repeated, indicating there were “stock phrases” for jewellers to use.

ANYWAY so I was explaining this to my boyfriend bc I enjoy infodumping (you may have noticed), and he promptly decided to kill me by going “oh like the one ring from Lord of the Rings 😁”.

Like, sure I GUESS

[pumpkin-spike18]

Ryuubowl Week - Day 5 Reunions / Soulmates

The background is Meiji shrine, which originally finished in 1920, but I didn't end up looking too deep into when it was first opened to the public.

I was already sad that it took them about 20 years and a Great War to reunite u_u

[sir-adamus]

having some thoughts on the "all myths and fairytales have some element of truth to them" angle RWBY operates on in regards to Faunus origins, because where they factor in to the re-emergence of humanity is incredibly vague

i had a thought though, that we know that somewhere in Vacuo, two children accidentally stumbled into the Ever After, and that was relatively recently compared to the mass of history that's gone relatively unexplored

so what if Faunus originate from some early Humans 2.0 stumbling into the Ever After (presumably at an early enough point that the Cat hadn't quite gotten to obsessing over why the Brothers left them), ascending and gaining animal features (so the Blacksmith is that God of Animals we saw in both Faunus origin tales) and returning to Remnant, and then things spiraling from there

[radyo-kabaw]

Apolinario Mabini, Revolutionary, Cesar Adib Majul

he was so fucking funny for this

I had actually spent a long time recreating the interior of his house for that first panel before I remembered he was exiled in guam when this happened lmao. the other guy in this comic is his brother, prudencio, who accompanied him into exile!

speaking of houses, let's talk about his glasses. he had them, and I get emotional whenever I see photos of his personal belongings.....

photo taken from the NHCP Museo ni Apolinario Mabini

also the citation given in the screen cap!! I don't have access to Mabini's La Revolucion Filipina, but if you do and you want to read further: [8] 'Las memorias de Guam' La Revolucion Filipina, Volume II, p233

🍊 twitter 🍊 bsky 🍊 pixiv

[banefort]

Already seen a lot of people use the Cain and Abel archetype to describe Aegon and Aemond’s fratricidal relationship, when more importantly I’d argue that they represent an inversion of the trope.

Traditionally, the tale represents settled lifestyles (Cain the farmer) overcoming nomadic Neolithic customs (Abel the shepherd) through the allegory of fraternal murder- aka, the Cainist cultural revolution defeating Abel’s tradition. Given Aemond is the one who, possessed by jealousy over his brother and a desire for control, turns to fratricide, one would expect him to be characterized as the homicidal Cain-figure, and Aegon as the unsuspecting Abel-figure. However, due to Aemond’s continual fulfillment of tradition and the status quo, and reliance upon Valyrian tradition as the basis for his claim, ideologically-speaking he’s a closer match to Abel. Not to mention, given he also flaunts the qualities which his father continually attempted to emulate (dragon-rider, scholar, fluent Valyrian speaker, pious, etc) - he closer matches the image of the father’s ‘prized son’, we can argue that the Viserys-Aemond bond closer matches the God-Abel dynamic.

Conversely, Aegon is constantly affirmed to be a break from ruling tradition - from a psychological standpoint he departs from the archetypal image of the ruler by being shown to be melancholic and tempestuous, not to mention alienated from his paternal culture and language; whilst from an ideological standpoint, he openly argues against the practice of Valyrian sibling incest and advocates for an embrace of monarchial socialism, departing from the wishes of his advisors, and the traditional customs of the kingdom. Thus, Aegon embodies a cultural revolution, and aligns better with Cain.

The Cain-Abel reading of Aegon and Aemond’s actions doesn’t work out because their fratricidal actions align Aemond with Cain as an antagonist, and Aegon with Abel as a victim - but their ideologies match Aemond with Abel as traditionalists, and Aegon with Cain as revolutionaries. One can make the argument that the analogy still works, due to it being a deliberate inversion of the tale, with tradition striking down any act of upheaval, as opposed to revolution destroying tradition, but I feel that there isn’t enough evidence to support that decision. Naturally, creatives always reflect on Cain and Abel to some extent due to its prevalence as a touchstone of fratricide in the arts, but due to caveats like the action-ideology dissonance and the lack of a father figure endorsing Aemond (or either of them for that matter), amongst others, I think it’s a tenuous stance on its own.

[chaos-of-the-abyss]

selim only being responsible for two pregnancies and both of those by the same woman..... would not typically be a high bar but he is a sehzade in magnificent century and as a sehzade in magnificent century that is a truly impressive feat

[awkward-sultana]

"I wake up in the morning just to see your face, Sultanım."

[the-golden-vanity]

I'm reading an Aubrey-Maturin book again (Post Captain), and after having watched the Hornblower TV series, I think I have a new appreciation for Patrick O’Brian's choice to give the patriotic Royal Navy himbo main character a best friend who’s an ex-member of the United Irishmen. Is it the most historically likely thing? Probably not, but man, nothing makes me appreciate a non-imperial perspective in a work of fiction like experiencing a similar story that didn't have one.

[blueshistorysims]

April 1940, Henford-on-Bagley, England

“Do you think the baby will be a boy or a girl?” Amalia asked her best friend.

“Well, I know you want a sister, but Aunt Eleora says she thinks she’s having a boy. Something about the way she’s carrying the baby.”

Amalia frowned. “I want a sister.”

Miranda nodded. Even though she was the oldest of the girls, Amalia was definitely the leader. When Amalia wanted to play outside, they played outside. When Amalia wanted to play with their dolls, they played with their dolls. Many people, including Simon-Elliot, called Amalia extremely bossy, but Miranda didn’t mind—as long as Amalia was happy, she was happy—though she couldn’t explain why.

“My teacher told us about victory gardens yesterday,” Miranda said thoughtfully. “She said that during the Great War, people planted their own gardens so all the food could go to soldiers.”

Amalia nodded. “Miss Bryce told us about that yesterday too. I wonder if Aunt Giselle planted a victory garden when Papa was in the Great War.”

Miranda shrugged. “I don’t think she’s gardening type. Neither are you.”

“Well, Miss Bryce said you don’t have to be a great gardener to plant a victory garden.”

“Why don’t we plant our own victory garden?” Miranda suggested. 

Amalia was quiet for a moment before crying out, “I know! Mr. Hilton comes tomorrow to fix the roses, so let’s ask him for help to plant a victory gardenhouse.”

Miranda nodded, ignoring the fact Amalia had taken credit for her idea. “It can be a surprise for your mama and papa!”

“Maybe the vegetables for when the baby comes, and we can make baby food from it!”

“You mean Mrs. Granger will make it?”

Amalia rolled her eyes as the girls laughed.

beginning/previous/next

[aroaessidhe]

2024 reads / storygraph

The Forbidden Book

YA historical fantasy

the daughter of a wealthy businessman in a small shtel under Russian rule is about to be married off, so she runs away and pretends to be a boy - but the name she chose turns out to be the name of a real boy, who’s missing and wanted dead

along with some other teens, they try to unravel the mystery of what happened to him and where he might be, and are drawn into the underbelly of forgery, illegal political pamplets, dybbuks, and angels

genderqueer lesbian MC

arc from netgalley, out oct 1

[imissthembutitwasntadisaster]

Underrated artful dodger bit Belle saying "if you mean my house it's an estate"

[goldendiie]

hypnotizing the new cars animation team. you WANT to make sarge and fillmore disney’s “first” canon gay couple. you will do this. i am chasing you with hammers.