Post by Deleted on Dec 11, 2014 12:12:52 GMT -6
whitealice, that's twice now that you've mentioned female skinwalkers. As a matter of fact, both of the ones you've posted specifics of were female. I presume there are also male skinwalkers, but how is this made obvious? Do these people just say "I don' need no stinkin' clothes - I got rotting critter skins to hide in!" or something like that?
Now, I'll be the first to admit that I would find a nearly stark naked woman standing in my yard wearing nothing but an uncured rotting hide, who was also screaming at me, to be a little unsettling.
One doesn't normally associate women with a "warrior society", but it's not unprecedented - neither here nor in other places. Japanese ninjas had their "kunoichi" component, the Briton tribes had such women as Boudicca, Vikings had women like Freydis, wife of Thorvald, who so frightened the "Skraelings" during the attempted settlement of Vinland that they ran away in terror (similar circumstance - she shucked off her clothes, snatched up a sword, and slapped her breast with it, screaming at them - I'd probably have run like hell too!). The list goes on, but they are usually (not always) exceptions rather than an integral component.
There are stories that the Shawnee had a secret society that engaged in cannibalistic ritual that was both male and female. They were somehow associated with the "witches" as well. I've heard it said that Tenskwatawa (AKA "The Shawnee Prophet") was a member of it, but have never seen any kind of confirmation of that, so it's just whispered rumor. The animal most often associated with Shawnee "witches" is the owl. Now, one would think that it would be awfully difficult to mimic an owl, but I saw a painting one time done by a Shawnee named Ernest Spybuck that showed a human-sized owl, a "witch", harassing a family outside their home.
Old prejudices die hard. I still get occasionally creeped out when an owl just shows up out of nowhere and stares at me, coming without a sound. Had one do that a couple months ago, three nights running.
Now, I'll be the first to admit that I would find a nearly stark naked woman standing in my yard wearing nothing but an uncured rotting hide, who was also screaming at me, to be a little unsettling.
One doesn't normally associate women with a "warrior society", but it's not unprecedented - neither here nor in other places. Japanese ninjas had their "kunoichi" component, the Briton tribes had such women as Boudicca, Vikings had women like Freydis, wife of Thorvald, who so frightened the "Skraelings" during the attempted settlement of Vinland that they ran away in terror (similar circumstance - she shucked off her clothes, snatched up a sword, and slapped her breast with it, screaming at them - I'd probably have run like hell too!). The list goes on, but they are usually (not always) exceptions rather than an integral component.
There are stories that the Shawnee had a secret society that engaged in cannibalistic ritual that was both male and female. They were somehow associated with the "witches" as well. I've heard it said that Tenskwatawa (AKA "The Shawnee Prophet") was a member of it, but have never seen any kind of confirmation of that, so it's just whispered rumor. The animal most often associated with Shawnee "witches" is the owl. Now, one would think that it would be awfully difficult to mimic an owl, but I saw a painting one time done by a Shawnee named Ernest Spybuck that showed a human-sized owl, a "witch", harassing a family outside their home.
Old prejudices die hard. I still get occasionally creeped out when an owl just shows up out of nowhere and stares at me, coming without a sound. Had one do that a couple months ago, three nights running.
