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Hernando de Soto (c. 1495 – May 21, 1542) was a Portuguese explorer working under the Spanish Crown who led the first European expedition deep into the territory of the modern-day United States (Florida, Georgia, Alabama and most likely Arkansas), and the first documented European to have crossed the Mississippi River. Both Badajoz and Elvas are cities in Portugal. Hernando de Soto’s expedition into Florida occurred at a time when Portugal and Spain were one kingdom. Hernando de Soto’s chronicle of his voyages was written in his native Portuguese, and translated into English by Richard Hackluyt. — Orly https://theorly.com/shards/hernando-de-soto-in-florida

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As far back as the #Palaeolithic there is evidence of a bear cult in which the #bear was seen as lord of the animals, a god, and even the ancestor of humans. The #Cherokee hold the bear in special reverence, and their #myths often reference the bear, cf the legend of the bear man,

https://theorly.com/legends/the-bear-man

Artist: Attributed to Norval #Morrisseau (Canadian, 1932–2007), the Picasso of the North

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Attitude of power is conveyed by a wide stance, outward extended elbows, and hand placed upon hips. The#Veracruz style challenges our ideas of formal #Mesoamerican #art with its wit and levity rarely seen in other cultures.

Headdress is suggestive of the dragon #Quetzacoatl.

For related puzzles of Veracruz culture cf. https://theorly.com/shards/smiling-figure-veracruz

The Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection, Gift of Nelson A. Rockefeller, 1963 Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/310532

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While the exact purpose of the Mesoamerican #Ballgame - entertainment or ritual - remains open to debate and interpretation, the supposed ritual side has strong evidence for death being the end game. The great #ballcourt at Chichen #Itza makes this abundantly clear: https://theorly.com/shards/sacrifice-in-the-ballgame #Maya #Aztec #indigenous #ballcourt #Ballgame #Sacrifice #RitualSacrifice #religion

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In Mesoamerican folk #religion, a #nagual or #nahual (both pronounced [na’wal]) is a human being who has the power to transform either #spiritually or physically into an animal form: most commonly #jaguar and #puma but also other animals such as donkeys, birds, dogs or #coyotes.

Daniel G. Brinton, linguist, amateur #anthroplogist, student of native American cultures, explores the meaning of the #nagual: https://theorly.com/shards/the-nagual-and-nagualism

#magic #humanhybrids #Nagualism #Mexico #Chiapas #Guatemala #transformation #chimeras

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Magic and Religion a work by Andrew Lang, Scottish poet, novelist, literary critic, and contributor to the field of anthropology. Chapter III his book Magic and Religion, looking at magic in the context of Australian aborigine culture: https://theorly.com/shards/magic-and-religion. — Orly

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Hernando de #Soto (c. 1495 – May 21, 1542) was a Portuguese explorer working under the Spanish Crown who led the first European expedition deep into the territory of the modern-day United States (#Florida, #Georgia, #Alabama and most likely #Arkansas), and the first documented European to have crossed the #Mississippi River. His memoirs are a precious witness to the richness and diversity of cultures present in these lands before the devastation of european diseases. https://theorly.com/shards/hernando-de-soto-in-florida

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The two principal themes, #totem and #taboo, which give the name to this small book are not treated alike here. The problem of #taboo is presented more exhaustively, and the effort to solve it is approached with perfect confidence. The investigation of #totemism may be modestly expressed as: “This is all that psychoanalytic study can contribute at present to the elucidation of the problem of totemism.” A work by Sigmund #Freud. https://theorly.com/shards/totem-and-taboo

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The earth is a great island floating in a sea of water and suspended at each of the four cardinal points a cord hanging down from the sky vault, which is solid rock, so begins the #cherokee #legend of the #creation. https://theorly.com/legends/cherokee-how-the-world-was-made

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In #Anishinaabe #aadizookaan (traditional storytelling), particularly among the #Ojibwe, #Nanabozho also known as #Nanabush is a spirit, and figures prominently in their storytelling, including the story of the world’s creation.

An exploration of this personage. https://theorly.com/legends/ojibwe-nanabozho

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Giants Mont'e Prama. Municipal Museum of Cabras. Dated to 4000 bce, they are a rare masked goggle representation suggestive of cultural contact with the Americas. https://theorly.com/shards/tlaloc

TheOrly.com | Legends | Insight

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A prayer to Tlaloc

O our Lord, most clement, liberal giver and lord of verdure and coolness, lord of the terrestrial paradise, odorous and flowery, and lord of the incense of copal, woe are we that the gods of water, thy subjects, have hid themselves away in their retreat, who are wont to serve us with the things we need and who are themselves served with ulli and auchtli and copal. They have left concealed all the things that sustain our lives, and carried away with them their sister the goddess of the necessaries of life, and carried away also the goddess of pepper. O our Lord, take pity on us that live; our food goes to destruction, is lost, is dried up; for lack of water, it is as if turned to dust and mixed with spiders’ webs. Woe for the miserable laborers and for the common people; they are wasted with hunger, they go about unrecognizable and disfigured every one. They are blue under the eyes as with death; their mouths are dry as sedge; all the bones of their bodies may be counted as in a skeleton. The children are disfigured and yellow as earth; not only those that begin to walk, but even those in the cradle. There is no one to whom this torment of hunger does not come; the very animals and birds suffer hard want, by the drought that is. It is pitiful to see the birds, some dragging themselves along with drooping wings, others falling down utterly and unable to walk, and others still with their mouths open through this hunger and thirst. The animals, O our Lord, it is a grievous sight to see them stumbling and falling, licking the earth for hunger, and panting with open mouth and hanging tongue. The people lose their senses and die for thirst; they perish, none is like to remain. It is woeful, O our Lord, to see all the face of the earth dry, so that it cannot produce the herbs nor the trees, nor anything to sustain us—the earth that used to be as a father and mother to us, giving us milk and all nourishment, herbs and fruits that therein grew. Now is all dry, all lost; it is evident that the Tlaloc gods have carried all away with them, and hid in their retreat, which is the terrestrial paradise. The things, O Lord, that thou wert graciously wont to give us, upon which we lived and were joyful, which are the life and joy of all the world, and precious as emeralds or sapphires—all these things are departed from us. O our Lord, god of nourishment and giver thereof, most humane and most compassionate, what thing hast thou determined to do with us? Hast thou, peradventure altogether forsaken us? Thy wrath and indignation shall it not be appeased? Hast thou determined on the perdition of all thy servants and vassals, and that thy city and kingdom shall be left desolate and uninhabited? Peradventure, this has been determined, and settled in heaven and hades. O our Lord, concede at least this, that the innocent children, who cannot so much as walk, who are still in the cradle, may have something to eat, so that they may live, and not die in this so great famine. What have they done that they should be tormented and should die of hunger? No iniquity have they committed, neither know they what thing it is to sin; they have neither offended the god of heaven nor the god of hell. We, if we have offended in many things, if our sins have reached heaven and hades, and the stink thereof gone out to the ends of the earth, just it is that we be destroyed and made an end of; we have nothing to say thereto, nor to excuse ourselves withal, nor to resist what is determined against us in heaven and in hades. Let it be done; destroy us all, and that swiftly, that we may not suffer from this long weariness which is worse than if we burned in fire. Certainly it is a horrible thing to suffer this hunger; it is like a snake lacking food, it gulps down its saliva, it hisses, it cries out for something to devour. It is a fearful thing to see the anguish of it demanding somewhat to eat; this hunger is intense as burning fire, flinging out sparks. Lord, let the thing happen that many years ago we have heard said by the old men and women that have passed away from us, let the heavens fall on us and the demons of the air come down, the Izitzimites, who are to come to destroy the earth with all that dwell on it; let darkness and obscurity cover the whole …

https://theorly.com/shards/tlaloc

TheOrly.com | Legends | Insight

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Bol­ivar county #Mis­sis­sip­pi #mounds are a collection of #pyramids within an enclosure, and other works. The fascination with the site lies in its obvious disjunctive nature - at the time of contact with Europeans the native inhabitants of the lands did not live in settlements that respected strict #geometry or had pyramid structures at their centre. The ancient works at Bolivar county, Mississippi defy all explanation.

https://theorly.com/shards/bolivar-county-settlement

TheOrly.com | Legends | Insight

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When we look at #Maya #ruins it is difficult to imagine that the bare stone we see was once glorious colour. This replica is the famous #Palenque temple of the cross.

https://theorly.com/shards/temple-of-the-cross-palenque

TheOrly.com | Legends | Insight

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The #Adena and #Hopewell cultures challenge our ideas of the #history of the Americas north of Mexico, from their outstanding trade goods, their #metallurgy, their complex urban settlement, their #pyramids, all these things make us wonder how they came to be and how they came to disappear.

The artifact here is an example of trade good production that defined the social and cultural life of this #lost #civilization of the Americas.

https://theorly.com/mound-builders/ TheOrly.com | Legends | Insight

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#Cohoba and Ritual. Throughout the ancient Americas, rulers and shamans used #hallucinogens to connect with the #spirits of the #otherworldly. We have an idea that only those in touch with the supernatural realm could heal the sick, predict the future, ensure the fertility of the world, and resolve the larger problems of existence. The #Taino and #Arawak were no exception to this tradition. https://theorly.com/shards/cohoba-and-ritual

TheOrly.com | Legends | Insight

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TEOTIHUACAN: CITY OF WATER, CITY OF FIRE: 

EXPLORE the magnificence of Mesoamerica’s largest city in the book Teotihuacan: City of Water, City of Fire. https://goo.gl/WqZQvT