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Remember your ancestors

Keep Saturn in Saturnalia

Merry Christmas from Mythology Worlds! This year, my gift to all of the viewers of this website is this cartoon of mine representing Saturn, the Roman god of crops and agriculture, and the festival associated with him: Saturnalia The Ancient Roman precursor to Christmas This is yet another one of my work downtime projects. The title of this cartoon (as well as of this blog post) is a Roman-themed parody of the slogan "Keep Christ in Christmas". That itself started as an idea

jamespederson5

Dec 25, 20251 min read

Would you let Mari Lwyd into your house?

Mari Lwyd is a tradition in Welsh culture. At Christmastime, groups of people wander around town--led by a person hidden under a sheet, carrying a decorated horse skull on a pole. Mari Lwyd and its entourage travel door to door. At each house, Mari Lwyd requests entry through song. If one does not wish for this holiday zombie ghost horse to enter, they have to say so through song. If Mari Lwyd wins this song battle, then it and its entourage are allowed inside to join into t

jamespederson5

Dec 1, 20251 min read

The South African Dragon Slayer

While still on the subject of gift-giving for the holiday season, I present this new drawing I made for Mythology Worlds. It depicts a monster-slayer story from the BaSotho people from the African countries of Lesotho and South Africa... which I first learned from a mythology-based podcast on Spotify. The monster-slayer in question is Thakane, and her story goes like this: After her chief father died, Thakane was put in charge of raising her two little brothers...who weren't

jamespederson5

Nov 19, 20252 min read

Italy's Epiphany Santa Claus

Ciao, mythology fans! Even as I have come home from Italy, my Italian vacation still touches my soul. This year, Mythology Worlds kicks off the holidays by presenting... Befana The witch of Italian folklore who flies around on her broom, delivering presents every year on Epiphany (the 6th of January) Epiphany commemorates the visit of the magi to the newborn Jesus. The Bible does not say there were three, though. This is yet another one of my work downtime drawings. Befana is

jamespederson5

Nov 13, 20251 min read

Guamanian Spirits of the Olden Times

One of my friends at work spent her childhood in Guam, a U.S. territory in Micronesia, in the South Pacific. Perhaps the one entity from Guam's indigenous Chamorro mythology that stands out the most to me are the Taotao Mo'na , the spirits of the ancient ones who live in the trees and will not let you into the jungle without permission. They are morally ambiguous, and their actions are based on how they are treated. Their behavior in traditional stories makes them almost fair

jamespederson5

Oct 13, 20251 min read

Updated Six Invasions Portrait

Happy Saint Patrick's Day, mythology fans! For this festive Irish-filled holiday, I have decided to upload this image of the Six Invasions of Irish mythology. In my opinion, they should assign the Lebor Gabala Erenn in high school literature classes. This portrait is an update of my original picture of the Six Mythical Invasions of Ireland. Following my tradition of depicting mythical figures as their Dungeons and Dragons equivalents (hence why the Fomorians are portrayed as

jamespederson5

Mar 17, 20252 min read

Mythical Love Stories: A Comparative Analysis

I'm sorry that I wasn't able to make a post in so long. There was a software issue that prevented me from making any blog posts. Fortunately, I have found a way to work around this issue. Thank the gods I was finally able to post something here on Mythology Worlds! This post was supposed to be timed for Valentine's Day, but it is still February, so... Here is my post about mythological love stories For as long as humankind has lived on Earth, human beings have expressed their

jamespederson5

Feb 23, 20253 min read

Holiday Season Updates

As holiday season approaches, I have made some updates to the holiday season webpage here on Mythology Worlds. Be sure to check it out directly via this link! Some of the changes I have made to the webpage on holiday season folklore include: New drawings of more Christmas folklore characters A text box on the history of Santa Claus Additions to the text box on the history of Christmas As the holidays continue to evolve, expect new holiday traditions to evolve and adapt to ne

jamespederson5

Dec 14, 20241 min read

Pride Mythology

Happy Pride Month, mythology fans! To start off the month of June, I present instances of homosexuality, gender non-conformity, intersexuality, asexuality, and agenderism in world mythology. In both Chinese and Aztec mythology, the deities Tu'er Shen and Xochipilli oversee same-sex relationships. Some scholars believe that the friendships between Gilgamesh and Enkidu in Mesoptamian myth, Achilles and Patrolcus in Homer's Iliad, and David (of "and Goliath" fame) and Jonathan

jamespederson5

Jun 1, 20242 min read

Why I depict Irish mythology the way I do

Happy St. Patrick's Day To celebrate this joyous, Irish-filled holiday, I shall now present a thorough explanation for my depictions of Irish mythology here on Mythology Worlds. As a mythology lover, I long for the moment when Irish myths and legends finally get the spotlight outside of Ireland. However, with fame comes a lot of misconceptions...so I don't even know. With that said, here is why I portray Irish mythical characters and stories in my own creative way: Balor an

jamespederson5

Mar 17, 20244 min read

Why I Draw the Bunyip Like This

Since Halloween is approaching, I may was well discuss my depiction of a certain water-dwelling terror of Australian Indigenous folklore. This creature, known as the Bunyip, has many different physical descriptions as to what it looks like (depending on who you ask). This is my own idea of what a Bunyip looks like. Here's why I draw the swamp monster down under the way I do: This version of the Bunyip was initially based on the physical description in a book called the Crypto

jamespederson5

Oct 20, 20231 min read

My Experience with Native American Myths and Cultures

For Indigenous Peoples' Day , I would like to share with you my life experience learning about the first inhabitants of the good ol' U.S. of A. My introduction to Native Americans and their cultures came from an elementary school lesson about the Pueblo peoples of the American Southwest. My intro to Native American mythology came from my high school junior year English class. The stories we looked at were The Earth on Turtle's Back (Iroquois of Upstate New York), When Grizzl

jamespederson5

Oct 9, 20233 min read

Monster Name Confusion

For Indigenous Peoples' Day weekend (and Halloween at the same time), I have started to research terrifying monsters from Native American mythology for upload onto Mythology Worlds. I have an interesting theory on one monster in particular... Many Native American peoples have legends of terrible people-eating beasts who were turned into mosquitoes. The Pacific Northwest peoples have an especially gruesome variant on the theme. Here, the original monster (Mosquito Man) zips in

jamespederson5

Oct 8, 20232 min read

Biblically Accurate Satan

Since Halloween is just around the corner, I may as well showcase my own interpretation of the Occidental personification of evil , based on the anecdote given in the Abrahamic traditions. Satan (or the Devil) is typically depicted as a red, horned man with cloven hooves and a pointy tail. However, in Abrahamic traditions, Satan was once an angel who rebelled against God's authority. For that, he was banished from Heaven and into the depths of Hell. In this way,... God creat

jamespederson5

Oct 6, 20232 min read

All credit for the myths and legends represented on this website goes to the cultures that produced them.

I do not intend to mass market any of these stories; I simply want to present them in a way that is both engaging and educational.

"Myth" is often taken to mean "not real" even by current-year academia; but in reality, "myth" means "imaginative story".

Mythology is the traditional stories of the different cultures in the world; it is ultimately the story of humankind.

Remember who you are Remember your ancestors

Keep Saturn in Saturnalia

Would you let Mari Lwyd into your house?

The South African Dragon Slayer

Italy's Epiphany Santa Claus

Guamanian Spirits of the Olden Times

Updated Six Invasions Portrait

Mythical Love Stories: A Comparative Analysis

Holiday Season Updates

Pride Mythology

Why I depict Irish mythology the way I do

Why I Draw the Bunyip Like This

My Experience with Native American Myths and Cultures

Monster Name Confusion

Biblically Accurate Satan

​

Mythology is the traditional stories of the different cultures in the world; it is ultimately the story of humankind.​

Remember who you are

Remember your ancestors

Mythology is the traditional stories of the different cultures in the world; it is ultimately the story of humankind.