Planning a trip to China? Want to see mythological sites associated with the Monkey King, Taoist trickster god Nezha, or Guan Yin, Goddess of Mercy? Then you better do your homework ahead of time. It seems the lucrative tourist trade in China has spurred many communities into claiming to be the “hometown” of various legendary and mythological figures in order to profit, and the Chinese government isn’t too happy about this turn of events.

“The Ministry of Culture (MOC) and the State Administration of Cultural Heritage (SACH) have called time on the controversial, and sometimes vulgar, competition of some local authorities claiming to be the hometowns of mythological and historical heroes, and even sometimes villains. The measure came after a host of news reports highlighting the disputes over the birthplaces of almost every renowned name in the country. According to a circular jointly released by the MOC and the SACH, local tourism and cultural heritage authorities are urged to restrain their appetite for exploiting the fame of well-known figures. What’s more, the commercial development of evildoers, no matter whether they are real, fictional or mythological, will be banned. The circular also criticized some local governments for competing to name their places as the hometowns of an eminent person in an effort to profit from tourism.”

However, the lure of tourist revenue seems to be trumping government admonitions against exploitation, and a total ban on utilizing “evildoers”. Two regions are currently competing to be the “home” of notorious folkloric adulterer Ximen Qing, one complete with an adultery-themed site.

“Both of them have proclaimed themselves the hometown of Ximen and each announced an ambitious investment plan to build sites celebrating his exploits. ”It is improper for local authorities to use real or fictional figures to attract attention,” said Li Xiaocong, a history professor with Peking University.”

Of course, trying to stop towns and communities from laying claim to famous historical and legendary figures is like trying to grasp water. Just examine any tourist route in almost any country, and you’ll see a proliferation of “hometowns” and sites of heroic (or vile) deeds allegedly perpetrated on that very spot. I fear that a government that prides itself on control may find this task of regulating folklore a bit too big to handle.

Top Story: The Amarillo Globe-News reports on a freshman choir member who is sitting out two Christian-specific songs at her school’s Christmas concert, and the church-state issues concerning religious songs being sung at secular schools.

“Fifteen-year-old Katarina Keen won’t sing along to “Silent Night” or “Listen to the Stars,” two Christian songs planned for her choir’s upcoming Christmas concert at Borger High School. But she will sing “Jingle Bells” and “A Carol in Winter.” Katarina and her family are Wiccan. The Borger High choirs have given a concert every December, with traditional religious Christmas songs, but this is the first time in director Johnny Miller’s 23-year career that any Borger student had issues with the religious themes in the music, he said … “We’re doing our best to accommodate everyone’s wishes,” Miller said. “It’s just difficult, because it’s a complete 180 of what I have always done.” … The Keens also have raised concerns this year about prayers in class and a prayer board posted in the choir room.”

The officials at the school seem to be chafing at having to actually make accommodations for non-Christian students, saying they “bent over backwards to be cooperative”, though I don’t see how allowing a student to sit out two songs and inserting some more secular holiday songs can be construed as bending over backwards. As for Christian prayers before class, and a “prayer board” in the choir room, they refuse to stop them because they are a “student-led activity”. Student-led perhaps, but allowed by school officials, and would no doubt be stopped if other non-Christian religions wanted the same consideration.

In Other News: Kris Bradley, from the Confessions of a Pagan Soccer Mom blog, has posted to her Examiner.com account regarding whether UK celebrity chef Nigella Lawson is Pagan (or at least Pagan-friendly).

“In Nigella Christmas: Food Family Friends Festivities, Nigella Lawson makes multiple references to Pagan ideals, traditions and history.  In the introduction to the book, she speaks about how Christ’s birth actually happened 6 months earlier, on Passover.  She also touches on the subject of Saturnalia and the rebirth of the sun being linked to the birth of Christ.  She goes as far to say “But my greatest love, my deepest feelings, are for the pagan rituals that underpin the contemporary Christmas.  In fact, I’d go further and say that my approach to the festival is ultimately pagan.” In another part of the introduction, Lawson describes Christmas as “not just a time when the Domestic Goddess comes into her own but a moment to conjure up the Domestic Druid as well.” She comes back to the subject of Paganism later in the recipe section when discussing her Yule Log, saying that the cake is a “cake-emulation” of the log that Norsemen would burn “in celebration of the winter solstice and to honor the gods”.”

Lawson seems to duck Pagan accusations, saying she “adhere[s] to the Judeo-Christian morality”, and direct questions regarding her religious beliefs on her web site have been removed by the administrator. So, Pagan? Pagan-friendly? None of the above? It remains an open question. For more on Nigella, who seems to be something of a cooking sex-symbol in the UK, you can check out her official web site.

Brand X magazine offers a profile of Santeria, including the reporter receiving a traditional spirit cleansing from a Santero.

“At this point, he addressed the recipient of the limpia, in this case, the reporter writing this story. “Tell Elegguá what you want,” he commanded. “Beg your pardon?” “Tell Elegguá,” he repeated. “Tell him what you need.” “Um, I want to be a good writer. I want to be healthy. I want my mother to be happy.” The santero knelt down, shaking the cowrie shells in his hands, and chanted in Lucumí — a mixture of Spanish and Yoruba, a Nigerian dialect. He released the shells in a spray across the floor and examined them closely. Apparently satisfied with the instructions he’d received from the spirits, he turned his attention to the softly clucking bag in the corner of the room.”

The article also tries to estimate how many adherents to Santeria there are, though I think Ernesto Pichardo’s estimate of 5 million in America alone is something of stretch (maybe 5 million in the “Americas” collectively). In any case, it’s a fairly decent article, talking with experts, other reporters, and adherents about the faith. Now if only the mainstream press can do as well as pop-culture magazines we might get somewhere.

Now for a bit of new-media talk, the Financial Times has an article about  MySpace’s downward spiral. The once-dominant social networking site, once touted as the future of music and media on the web, is now losing its luster, hip cache, and millions of users to sites like Facebook.

“…by the beginning of 2008, things began to sour. Facebook, a rival social network that was simpler and easier to use, was gaining momentum and starting to grow more quickly than MySpace. Murdoch confidently told the world that MySpace would make $1bn in advertising revenues in 2008 – but the company missed its target. Users began to desert the site, which had become cluttered with unappealing ads for teeth straightening and weight-loss products … Since then, MySpace has shed 40 per cent of its staff, closed many of its international offices and publicly given up trying to match Facebook in the race to become the world’s biggest social network. (MySpace has more than 100 million regular users, Facebook more than 300 million.) A move by MySpace and other News Corp digital businesses into the biggest new office development in Los Angeles was scrapped – after the $350m, 12-year lease had been signed – leaving the company paying more than $1m a month for an empty building. The number of people using the site has also dropped precipitously this year: MySpace’s share of the social networking market has tumbled from 66 per cent a year ago to 30 per cent, according to the online research company Hitwise. The situation is so dire that MySpace recently revealed that it had failed to attract enough online traffic to meet targets set in its advertising deal with Google and as a result would lose $100m this year. An acquisition that had initially covered Murdoch in glory and offered so much promise was becoming an embarrassment to the News Corp chairman and a liability for his company.”

As for folks who do use MySpace (like me), they’ll have noticed that they have rolled out many Facebook-like features trying to recapture some of what they’ve lost. However, I don’t think it will work. The site is too ugly, slow-loading, and teen-focused to ever really compete with the multi-generational and (by comparison) simpler Facebook. So what? Why am I mentioning this here? Because, many Pagan entrepreneurs/organizers have emulated the MySpace model. This includes Covenspace,  PaganSpace.net, and PaganSpace.com (this doesn’t even get into the dozens of Pagan Ning sites).

While I’m a big believer in Pagans creating their own resources, I do wonder if Pagan-focused social networking sites are any better than the Christian-focused networking sites that many of us like to poke fun at. Also, no offense to the Pagan social sites, but when I think of promoting a new project, like Pagans at the Parliament, I don’t immediately think of going to a Pagan MySpace clone to promote it. I think of Facebook, or Twitter, both of which seem to have much larger and active Pagan populations than any Pagan-run start-up. I think the first rule of creating a Pagan resource is finding a place where there is a need and then filling it. Do we have a need for a Pagan MySpace? Especially when it seems increasingly likely that people don’t have much use for the original MySpace?

In a final note, Marvel Comics Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada talks about religion in comic books, why pagan myths work so well in comics, while the Christian god/devil doesn’t.

“…the gods of mythology lend themselves more to the superhero genre. They’re much more colorful, they are imperfect and their exploits were really more akin to the exploits we’ve seen done by heroes like those within the Marvel U. All the classic heroes we see in many ways share many traits with the gods of mythology, so it’s an easier transition. Also, in most monotheistic religions, you’re dealing with an all powerful and infallible deity, which, from a dramatic storytelling point of view, really handcuffs you because of their perfection and ability to solve problems as they desire. And there is the sensitivity issue. These are religions that are practiced by the majority of the planet, regardless of where you fall, whereas the gods of mythology are not. I think it’s a sensitive issue, but more than anything, it’s just that the construct of the mythological gods makes for better dramatic storytelling within the pages of a comic book.”

While I agree that pagan myths make great story fodder, I do question his note about “sensitivity”. He does know that millions of people around the globe do indeed worship pre-Christian gods and goddesses doesn’t he? I mean, this is the company that named a super-hero “Wiccan” (he’s the son of the Scarlet Witch), so they must have some inkling.

That’s all I have for now, have a great day!

Mythical and Arcadian motifs in opera, classical music, and ballet are nothing new, but it’s always nice to remember that choreographers and composers have been mining these rich themes for generations. For instance, The New York Times reviews the American Ballet Theater’s revival production of “Sylvia” (aka “Sylvia ou La Nymphe de Diane”) and revels in the pure pagan pageantry of it all.

“The crescent, the moon, the horn and the hunt all tie brilliantly into Act I of “Sylvia,” which Ashton choreographed in 1952 and which American Ballet Theater has revived this week at the Metropolitan Opera House. The score is by Léo Delibes. Blow that horn! Or rather, those horns! None of the many hunts in music-drama prepare us for the full blaze that comes with the entrance of this ballet’s huntresses and, finally, Sylvia herself … No character in all ballet — and few in music drama — enters to more splendid music than Sylvia. She and her friends leap and do whipped (fouetté) turns, and the ballet moves into a new kind of scale and energy. Nobody has time to think what this says about gender stereotypes. The huntresses and pastoral hero of “Sylvia” were conceived not by Ashton in 1952 but by Delibes and his Paris colleagues in 1876, when Degas was painting ballet dancers and when, most of us tend to think, ballet stereotypes were thick on the ground.”

This ballet of pagan huntresses in love went on to inspire other works, including the more well-known “Swan Lake”. It’s lovely to see this unique gem get some attention (especially with themes that would delight the Pagan soul), if you’re in New York and want to see experience “Sylvia”, it’s running through Saturday at The Met.

Betty Sue Flowers, poet, mythology expert, Jungian, and consultant for “Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth”, is making headlines in Texas as she steps down from her position as director of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum to start a new life with her current partner, former Senator Bill Bradley.

“Sometime in July, Flowers — award-winning teacher of English and religion, expert in mythology, past director of Plan II, confidante of PBS journalist Bill Moyers, consultant to NASA and corporations around the world, author of three poetry volumes — will move away from her home in West Lake Hills to commence a personal and romantic adventure with Bill Bradley in New York City.”

In honour of her leaving, the Austin American-Statesman has reprinted a profile of Flowers from 2002, shortly after she was named as the new director of the LBJ Library. In it, Flowers recalls how the goddesses of ancient myth, specifically Demeter and Aphrodite, helped spur her forward into becoming a powerful woman, and sparked a lifelong love of myth.

“Sometime before the sixth grade, the Bookworm of Abilene happened upon the beauty of mythology. To her delight, Flowers discovered that the women in Greek myth were star players in moral drama. While not always virtuous, the Greek goddesses were spunky and brazen. They wielded power. They were the focus of stories. “The Greek myths were the only stories I could find, in fact, that involved powerful women,” says Flowers. “These goddesses: They throw their weight around! Demeter blasts the world! Zeus has to beg her to stop!” Flowers was so enthralled by the Greek myths that she carried a personal copy of Edith Hamilton’s “Mythology” back and forth to school with her throughout the sixth grade. But since this was West Texas, circa 1958, shy Betty Sue Marable covered her book of myths with aluminum foil — concealing the cover illustration of the naked Perseus, sword in hand, hoisting up the head of the slain Medusa.”

I encourage reading the entire profile, for while Flowers is no Pagan in the formal sense of the term, she lives a life that sings with the virtues of the ancient world. A powerful personal example that refutes the idea of Christianity or moral chaos. An individual who embodies some of the best qualities of the emerging post-Christian cultural reality.

Blogger and classicist Mary Beard reports back from the annual Classical Association conference and relates her experiences at a talk by noted author Richard Seaford concerning the ancient Greeks and what they can teach us concerning wealth, our environment, and global warming.

“The modern world had bought into the idea of the limitlessness of money, he suggested. The Greeks warned about just that aspect with instructive mythological exampla. What is the myth of Midas except the terrible story of a man whose whole aspirations are focussed on the ‘sign of money’. Greek culture, as Seaford sees it, insisted on the culture of limit. And that has implications for environmental issues too. The modern disregard for the signs of global warming is reminiscent of Greek stories of those who allow their limitless desires to bring about their own destruction (sometimes even when they know what the consequences of their desires wlll be). One of these is the myth of Erisichthon, who first of all destroys a tree in the grove of the nymphs, in such a way that it brings down most of the grove — and then, in punishment, is afflicted with insatiable desire for food in the midst of a famine and ends up consuming his own body. So what can Greek culture do for us in our present dilemmas? It can allow us to see alternatives to our own culture (and cult) of ‘the unlimited’?”

These attitudes shouldn’t surprise anyone familiar with ancient Greek culture and religion, after all, the temple of Apollo at Delphi bore the inscription “Meden Agan” (nothing in excess) and the ancient myths are full of punishments for those who are overly greedy or unthinking in their acquisition of wealth, land, or power. Certainly there were/are permitted times of excess, but these are again placed within certain limits, and balanced by forces of order and sobriety. The question remains if we can embrace a new narrative of “limit” regarding our environment in order to avoid a future straight from a Greek tragedy.

ADDENDUM: More on this talk from The Guardian.

If you’re around my age, and you had cable television, you have probably seen the 1981 film “Clash of the Titans” around a thousand times. Based very (very) loosely on the legend of Perseus, the story was truly epic, featuring a wide array of Harryhausen monsters and glowing, berobed gods and goddesses meddling in human affairs.

Harry Hamlin as Perseus

So imagine my surprise (and, I must admit, delight) in learning that not only are they remaking “Clash of the Titans” but the film is in direct competition with another film steeped in Greek myth and legend entitled “War of Gods”.

“The race for “War of the Gods” and “Clash of the Titans,” two rival projects set up at Relativity and Warners, is quickening. Both are close to casting their leads, with “Stardust” topliner Henry Cavill set to star in “Gods” and “Terminator Salvation” star Sam Worthington in negotiations to climb aboard “Titans,” which Thunder Road is producing and Legendary Pictures is co-producing.” In addition, the projects have set start dates. “Gods” would seem to have the edge — it’s tentatively planned for a February shoot, while production on “Titans” is slated to begin in April.”

What is interesting about both of these films, especially from the perspective of Pagans and Greek myth fans, is that they will directly address and involve mythological beings and deities. Breaking a recent trend to secularize or demean pre-Christian religion in films like “300″ or “Troy”.

“‘War of Gods’ concerns the battles waged by Theseus, a warrior from Greek mythology, who leads a fight against the imprisoned titans. Among the hooks is that, unlike some mythological tales, gods fight alongside mortals.”

While I sincerely doubt either film will hew close to actual Greek myth (Theseus never fought Titans alongside the gods), I’m not adverse to seeing new myths constructed for new times. Plus, with today’s green screen technology, you can expect some truly spectacular effects (though Harryhausen monsters will always hold a special place in my heart). Both films are scheduled to be released in 2010. It should be interesting to see who triumphs at the box-office, the son of Zeus, or the son of Poseidon?

If you’re a fan of “Oh My Gods!” and wish there were more Pagan-friendly comic strips, why not check out Mark Weinstein’s “Prometheus”, the wacky adventures of a Titan who was cursed by Zeus to have his liver eaten by a eagle on a daily basis.

The strip is published three times a week, and runs in two Greek publications. To read every strip in order, click here.