#FolktaleWeek2020 - Day 4 Picks: Solstice

by Amy June Bates (@amyjunebates)
I love folktales. -- I love the feeling I get when I read or hear a good one. The spine tingle of familiarity. Somehow our bones remember the old stories long after our minds have forgotten. At some time these stories were our truths.

 The fourth prompt

(from Thursday - so we're slightly behind here)

was SOLSTICE.

by Sojung Kim-McCarthy
A tiger tried to eat a granny working on a field of red beans. The granny begged him to wait until the winter solstice when she would have harvested the red beans and made soup out of them. So the tiger came to tea on the solstice day! -- The tiger went into granny’s kitchen. As he tried to taste the red bean soup, baked chestnuts popped out from the furnace and burned the tiger’s eyes. He put his head into the water bucket to cool down his eyes, and a turtle bit the tiger’s nose. -- Retreating from the bucket, the tiger stepped on cow dung and slipped. Then a punch poked his bumhole! The tiger took a big fright from all these attacks and tried to run out of the kitchen. One last blow came from a grinding stone that jumped and fell onto the tiger’s head. -- A mat wrapped the tiger who passed out, and a timber carrier took him down to the river and threw the tiger away. Then the granny, chestnuts, turtle, cow dung, punch, mat and timber carrier had a red bean soup party! 

by milanka_reardon
(from an ongoing story) Solstice - Although this year, the winter solstice did not turn out to be a day of celebration, the birth of this mystical creature gave a ray of hope to bears everywhere! But how can a tiny dragonbunny save them from this? 

by Silvia Vanni (@fantafumino)
The San Giovanni night closes the celebrations of the summer solstice. On this night, witches gather to harvest nuts and prepare nocino (a liqueur made with nuts).

by Karlan Tam (@karlen_tam)

The Cypress Tree Fairy (see text above for story)

by Camille Witcher (@milly_of_bunston)

by Laura Chamberlain Illustration

You would think that on the longest day of the year, the residents of the town would spend the day outside. Instead, the day is spent indoors, so as not to disturb the mothers of the mountains who wake just once a year to sunbathe and catch up about the year. -- It is thought that this belief came about following a landslide one solstice and the theft of an entire seasons' worth of wine from a local vineyard which was later found empty in a valley.

by Ofride's Garden

"Solstice" - "The masked creature introduced himself to Sofia, informing her that the letter and the flowers were destined for Marchesa. One of the gods of his land, s'Urzu, had fallen in love with her and had decided to declare his feelings. Sophia, displeased, said that Marchesa gifted her powers over to her, and that she had decided to end her life, having taught her all about her magic. -- Boes, the masked creature, was very worried, but still decided to inform his god about the fate of his beloved Masca. Thus, they both went to a sacred place, struck by the sunlight. The god, there, manifested itself in the form of a silhouette of light, shaped like a bull's head. Boes and Sofia, desolate, informed s'Urzu of the fate of the Marchesa. -- In the end, the divinity only speaks these words - if she has decided to leave this world, I will follow her too.-" -- In Sardinia there are ancient megalithic edifices called nuraghi. On the day of the winter solstice, inside the nuraghe of Villanova Truschedu, the sun rays, entering through the window of the nuraghe, form a bull's head on the wall of the nuraghe itself. The bull was probably considered a divinity by those peoples of the past.

by Tanja Stephanie (@tanja_stephanie)
On that special day, the princess’s imagination grows into a big tree. - At this time awakening all of their little fantasy creatures and give the world magical stories.

by Debra Styer (@debrastyer)
For today's illustration, I was inspired by the Inuit folktale, "The Raven Steals the Sun". It is the story of the Raven who was sick of living in the darkness. He finds that a old man is the keeper of the light (sun). He disguised himself as a baby, grows into a nice trustful boy and when no one suspects he steals the sun, turns back to a Raven and flies away with the sun making the first Day.

by Laure Allain (@laure_illustrations)
day 4: solstice - The previous winter had been terrible. Thumbelina had nowhere to go and was always freezing. She tried to cover herself in leaves and made an acorn hat, but it didn’t help much against the bitter cold. Anything was better than going through that again, even marrying the mole. Another poor creature, a lonely swallow had missed the call of the south.

by Marta Dorado (@martadorado)
(from an ongoing original story) …At first, no one noticed the curse; however, come the winter solstice, the little princess suddenly transformed into a terrifying beast before the horrified eyes of the entire court! For years, her parents tried everything to heal their daughter, but nothing ever worked, and what worried them the most was that the princess didn't seem to be bothered! People were wild-eyed of her and her feral ways, and as the princess grew up, she also grew more and more lonely…

by Kristina Kister (@nichtlicht)
Solstice - Sending your wishes out and hoping for the best. Also creepy ghosts just for the sake of it.

by @mandyhiggsart
Day 4: SOLSTICE #folktaleweek2020 - Inspired by Greek Mythology & the story of the rise of Persephone from her time with Hades.

by Johanna Lohrengel (@the.dreamers.front)
A Sámi tale of hope and community. - There used to be a land that was called the Land of Darkness as the sun never rose. The hut dwellers of the land were cold, scared and sad. There was one place however, on the top of a steep mountain, where a tribe of shadow beings lived in a comfortable log house, hoarded reindeers and had more at hand than they needed. - One day a tall man appeared riding on a reindeer and told them that out there was light, a big ball called the Sun, and that he could lead the way to that place. The hut dwellers did not believe him and chased him away. - There was only one boy among the villagers who believed the stranger and who kept thinking that maybe indeed there was a sun to be found out there. One day he said: "How can I find the sun?", and a reindeer appeared in front of him and took him to the tall stranger. That man told him that he would need to collect one hair from each of the villagers and weave a basket from them to fetch a piece of the sun. Upon returning the hut dwellers trusted the boy and so it was done. With the help of the reindeer he fetched a piece of the sun after a long journey and brought it back to his people. - Just imagine how it must have felt for the to see the light for the first time! But so did the shadow people and came running from their mountain to steel the basket full of sun. - Everyone defended the boy and a great battle began. But just in that moment the sun started to leak from the basket and such a warmth and light started to appear that the shadow people vanished. - The hearts of the villagers then open up to the sun and the boy told them to ask the reindeers of the shadow beings to bring them to the big sun. The reindeers agreed and took them on their backs to the sun and when they saw it a ray of sunshine crawled into their open hearts. They were now filled with light and strength for a new beginning.

by Trudi Murray (@trudi_murray)
Today’s word is SOLSTICE, and my Shakespeare book cover is, of course, A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
- It’s strange to think of it in these darkened, short Winter days, when getting out for a walk must be done well before 4pm. The longest day of the year does seem a world away: Summer dresses and long grass and a cold glass of white wine among the flowers... ah. One day. Maybe when we get there, in 2021, we will find players making mischief, fairies falling in love with the wrong people, and unwitting humans making an ass of themselves. - Maybe we will, maybe we won’t! The sweet joys and loves of high Summer are - maybe - all but a dream.

by Imogen (@imogenfoxell)
Winter #solstice for #folktaleweek2020. The time when old Mother Holle makes it snow by shaking out her feather bedclothes.

Additional late entries for Day 3: COURTSHIP

by Freya Hartas (@freyaHartas)
The White Cat (a French fairy tale) - 'In a few moments the door was opened yet he perceived nothing but twelve hands in the air, each holding a torch. The most melodious voice he had ever heard sang the words ' Welcome, Prince, no danger fear, mirth and love attend you here; You shall break the magic spell, that on a beauteous lady fell' He was then beckoned through a door of coral, which opened of itself onto a splendid apartment built of mother of pearl, he imagined he must be in an enchanted palace. His attention was suddenly caught by a small figure not a foot high which had on a long black veil and was supported by two cats dressed in mourning with swords by their sides. They were followed by a numerous retinue of cats, some carrying cages full of rats and squirming mice. The little figure now approached, and threw aside her veil. He beheld a most beautiful white cat.' -- I feel like my drawing and short Instagram caption doesn't do this beautiful fairy tale justice so you must research it yourself! It begins with three princes who are sent on a mission to bring their father the King three gifts, the son who brings the best gifts will inherit the crown. The youngest prince stumbles across a beautiful enchanted palace owned by a beautiful white cat, who of course is actually a princess under a spell. The nicest thing about this story is that the cat (or princess) is portrayed as a kind and highly intelligent character, she and the prince discuss politics over dinner, and the prince respects her immensely (not just as a trophy, as often is the way in fairy tales) She also rides a magic yellow monkey at one point which is just pretty cool imo! 

by @daryamorozz
“...The Dzhigit ordered to build a yurt and settled in it with a white she-wolf. During the day she lay at the entrance, and as soon as evening came and the fire was extinguished, the she-wolf turned into a girl and with her extraordinary beauty illuminated the yurt. --Dzhigit spent all the time with his wife. He rarely appeared in public. Soon the neighbors began to laugh at him. - Look, he married a wolf. Now he himself has turned into a beast. -- And when the Dzhigit came out of the yurt, they shouted after him: - Hey, wolf’s husband! - Hello, wolf’s husband! -- It was hard for the Dzhigit to listen to the ridicule of people. He completely stopped leaving the yurt. Finally he could not stand it — on the thirty-seventh night, as soon as his wife threw off the wolf's skin, he tore it apart and threw it into the fire. The wife got scared and says: - Well, now you will be suffering. You broke your promise. -- You did not wait for the forty days bequeathed by my mother...” -- An excerpt from the Kazakh fairy tale "Dzhigit and She-wolf"