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Comment
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Elizabeth
Unregistered User
(3/19/02 12:41:16 pm)
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Sleeping beauty
I recently read in the endicott studio that in the tale of sleping beauty the roses have something to do with fertility symbols in druidic tradition. I would like to know more on this subject, but when searching the net all I can come up with are florist sites and wiccan services. If anyone has any info they can give me my e-mail is twa_corbies@hotmail.com.
Thanx,
Elizabeth
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swanchick
Registered User
(3/19/02 5:19:33 pm)
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roses and Sleeping Beauty
I don't recall having heard anything about roses and Druids, but I do recall that roses were considered the supreme flower in the middle ages, and therefore considered a symbol of the Virgin Mary. Also, the symbol of the enclosed garden was a metaphor for virginity. So, the hedges of briar roses may have symbolized maidenhood...*shrug*
swanchick
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Elizabeth
Unregistered User
(3/20/02 1:10:04 pm)
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Thanx
Thats very interesting I had never heard that before. I must say that Sleeping Beauty does not seem to be very popular as a fairy tale.
One thing I do think is interesting though is the fact that a sleeping beauty story can be found as an ancient greek folktale called The Monk. Its about the prince though not te sleeping princess. Maybe this is why the story isn't a favorite. We're looking at it from the wrong perspective.
Liz
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swanchick
Registered User
(3/20/02 5:49:38 pm)
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the unpopularity of Sleeping Beauty
I think the reason Sleeping Beauty gets a bad rap is because the heroine is the very ultimate in passivity--she spends most of the story unconscious, after all. Someone, I think it was Midori Snyder, wrote an article on it at the Endicott Studio; it was about different versions of the tale where the princess has a bigger part. Personally, I find the story really interesting since it's so chock-full of symbols--hedges of briar-roses, old ladies with spinning wheels, the kids she bears in some versions being named Sun and Moon (just like Rapunzel's kids, oddly). It's not a feminist story, for sure, but there seem to be a lot of layers in it that make it feel like a much older myth.
swanchick
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Jane Yolen
Unregistered User
(3/21/02 3:38:20 am)
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symbols
One way of looking at SB and passivity is that up until the moment she is put to sleep, she has been very active, even breaking through the bonds of princess-ness by climbing the stairs and trying her hand at a forbidden activity.
Bettleheim and others see this as a story of sexual awakening, and surely all the symbols for that are there, including pricking her finger, the blood flow, the prince coming through the briar hedge.
But it could also be read as an active and engaged heroine being punished for such activity, then being set free again to be herself.
Jane
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Terri
Registered User
(3/21/02 7:54:45 am)
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Re: symbols
Elizabeth: Which article on the Endicott site refers to roses as druidic symbols? I'm pulling a blank.
-- Terri
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oaken
mondream
Registered User
(3/21/02 11:13:38 am)
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Re: symbols
random question, I can see a princess embroidering and sewing, but would a princess spin her own thread? Was spinning ever considered to be something beneath the class of royalty and therefor the princess was also being punished for ignoring her class standards? (or am i just pulling something completely out of thin air here?)
thanks,
jill
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Elizabeth
Unregistered User
(3/21/02 1:20:01 pm)
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druid explanation
Well Terri I belive I read it in the essy section of the studio under your essay on Women and Fairy Tales or under your essy on Beauty and the Beats. I went back to check and I honestly couldn't find it, but I'll keep looking I have a couple of your essays printed off and I'm going to reread them today. I'll let you know what I find.
Elizabeth
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Elizabeth
Unregistered User
(3/21/02 4:24:19 pm)
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mistake
Thats Beauty and the Beast not beats.
Liz
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tanaise
Unregistered User
(3/21/02 8:42:39 pm)
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Sleeping Beauty remakes
Personally, I was intrigued enough by the story to redo it. And,
though I hadn't thought about that way before, I suppose it is a
reaction to the passivity of the princess--my sleeper dreams, and
has dreamed long enough that they're solid--she essentially sleepwalks
and interacts with her setting. Well, okay, and I made parts of
it second person, set it in the US, and haven't finished it yet.
But that's the theory anyways.
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swanchick
Registered User
(3/23/02 10:37:21 am)
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OT--humorous aside for Elizabeth
Of course, Elizabeth, now that you've typed "Beauty and the Beats", I'm dreaming up a humorous story about a debutante and a rock musician. If I ever write it, I will dedicate it to you. LOL! Thanks!
swanchick
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Elizabeth
Unregistered User
(3/23/02 5:35:23 pm)
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whatever
Swanchick,
totally not my intention, but good for you. That would make a very interesting story. Ha Ha.
To Terri, I haven't been able to find where I read this druid thing, but I did find something interesting. That the blackthorn tree is related to the rose and was very important in druidic rituals at Beltain.
Liz
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