Obscure Mythology Chapter 26: Zya

A figure in Shamanism, Siberia.

     Here we are! The final chapter! After 26 entries and almost six months we have finally come to the end of this project! The last entry comes from the frozen lands of Siberia and was the third to the last entry in the Dictionary of Mythology. It was this dictionary that inspired me to find these 26 strange and awesome examples of great myths and legends from around the world. I also wanted to mention that Siberia has been a gold mine for archeologists studying ancient man as the frozen land has preserved many specimens of not just ancient man but ancient animals such as the woolly mammoth. In fact, there is one baby mammoth so well preserved scientists believe they could clone it! That controversy s for another post though!

I enjoyed this little endeavor a lot and can’t wait to do something like this again in the future. Speaking of the future, I have a lot of cool stuff to share, some that I have been working on since before I started this mythology project! Anyway, let’s get on with our finally entry in the Obscure Mythology project.

Zya, Siberian, a figure in shamanism.

It is said that if one draws the figure of an enemy on cloth or paper and hides it in that person’s house, he/she will fall ill and die.

Yikes! The first thing that came to mind my when I read this was an image of me frantically searching my house for crudely drawn pictures of me every time I came home from anywhere. I’ve made a few enemies in my time since I have no filter when it comes to things I truly believe in, so I would spend the extra ten minutes a day searching! Just try to imagine for one second that something like this actually worked, I don’t think I’d be the only one paranoid. I could see someone starting a business where they would place your enemy drawings for you for a small fee. It would be absolute chaos and kind of interesting. I may have to file this away for future short story ideas! When I first stated this blog I posted a story about Bone pointing, an Aboriginal shamanistic practice that “kills” someone with psychic energy, and in a way Zya may have worked the same way. If the tribe or society believed that it worked then chances are when an individual did find a picture of them drawn by their enemy in their own homes perhaps it did make them ill and eventually die because of the psychological effects of those beliefs. That’s what this whole project was about, finding obscure or forgotten mythology and not only sharing them but also finding the commonalities among them no matter where they came from or who first believed them.

In conclusion, this has been an awesome journey and I want to thank you all for sticking with me this long and I can’t wait to share new mysteries, myths, legends, etc with you all! Have a great week and a Happy Thanksgiving (if you celebrate it) and as always….PEACE!!!!!