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Re: vomiting creation
Karen Szala-Meneok (a7526003@MCMAIL.CIS.MCMASTER.CA)
Thu, 20 Jan 1994 14:59:42 -0500
REGARDING YOUR INQUIRY ON GASTROINTESTINAL ORIGINS OF THE WORLD
(AMAZING THAT THE ANSWER TO ONE OF LIFE'S THORNY QUESTIONS "WHY AM I
HERE?" COULD BE EXPLAINED AS JUST A BAD CASE OF INDIGESTION, EH?)
MAY I SUGGEST EITHER THE DICTIONARY OF FOLKLORE OR THE DICTIONARY OF WORLD
MYTHOLOGY. CHECK OUT THE "ZGR" SECTION OF THE REFERENCE
DEPARTMENT OF YOUR LOCAL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY.
(Sorry for the "all-caps" I wasn't shouting the cap lock was accidently
pressed.)
You might also pick the brains for our Folkloric colleagues viatheir very
interesting and lively discussion list
at <FOLKLORE@TAMVMI>
This e-mail address comes from the "Directory of Electronic Jounals,
Newsletters and Academic Discussion Lists" (lib of Cong. # z286.E43D57)
Other discussants on the Anthro-l might have a more complete address for
the folklore list...
Let us know how you fare...
Regards,
On Thu, 20 Jan 1994, WP Anderson wrote:
> Dear fellow subscribers,
>
> During my preliminary research for a novel that has in
> part been funded by the Alberta Foundation for the
> Arts, I ran across an intriguing reference to 'vomiting
> creation,' a belief, apparently held at one time in
> parts of (East?) Africa, that the universe had been
> vomited into creation ...
>
> Now, o nightmare of nightmares!, I have failed to find
> the original reference ... Was it in E.A. Wallis
> Budge's _OSIRIS, The Egyptian Religion of
> Resurrection_?
>
> Thing is, even if it was, I don't recall much more than
> this casually tossed off mention. So the
> trail is now cold, and was probably pretty faint to
> begin with.
>
> Would anyone reading this list be familiar with this
> variant of (East?) African creation myth?
>
> Would you happen to know who I might best turn to for
> further information? An accessible (and patient)
> authority?
>
> Sketchy though it is, the image is richly ...
> evocative.
>
> Was the universe vomited from some more primitive
> stuff? Perhaps ingested in some earlier time?
> Who/what did the vomiting? Out of (sea) sickness, fear, a
> desire to regurgitate food ... to feed someone /
> something? ...
>
> Something vaguely avian there, a bird feeding its young
> ... swallows and nests ...
>
> In what way does the cycle (presumably) continue ...?
> Was the vomitus evolved stuff, or more like mud, was it
> living, or just waiting for breath ...
>
> Speculation warmly welcomed, particularly if stated as
> such. Documentary evidence preferred ... a trail ...
>
> Thanks, sorry to take up so much space / time with
> this.
>
> regards,
>
> WP Anderson isis@sail.cuug.ab.ca
> OR, secondarily:
> andersop@cuug.ab.ca
>
> --
> andersop@sail.cuug.ab.ca (WP Anderson)
> Writer/educator: Calgary, Canada.
>
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