Latest Posts by reaperrayven - Page 2
The thing with the Mari Lwyd, though, is that it's being... I don't know, 'appropriated' is the wrong word, but certainly turned into something it isn't.
Thing is, this is a folk tradition in the Welsh language, and that's the most important aspect of it. I feel partly responsible for this, because I accidentally became a bit of an expert on the topic of the Mari Lwyd in a post that escaped Tumblr containment, and I clearly didn't stress it strongly enough there (in my defence, I wrote that post for ten likes and some attention); but this is a Welsh language tradition, conducted in Welsh, using Welsh language poetic forms that are older than the entire English language, and also a very specific sung melody (with a very specific first verse; that's Cân y Fari). It is not actually a 'rap battle'. It's not a recited poem. It is not any old rhyme scheme however you want.
It is not in English.
Given the extensive and frankly ongoing attempts by England to wipe out Welsh, and its attendant cultural traditions, the Mari is being revived across Wales as an act of linguistic-cultural defiance. She's a symbol of Welsh language culture, specifically; an icon to remind that we are a distinct people, with our own culture and traditions, and in spite of everyone and everything, we're still here. Separating her from that by removing the Welsh is, to put it mildly, wildly disrespectful.
...but it IS what I'm increasingly seeing, both online and in real world Mari Lwyd festivals. She's gained enormous pop-culture popularity in recent years, which is fantastic; but she's also been reduced from the tradition to just an aesthetic now.
So many people are talking/drawing about her as though she's a cryptid or a mythological figure, rather than the folk practice of shoving a skull on a stick and pretending to be a naughty horse for cheese and drunken larks. And I get it! It's an intriguing visual! Some of the artwork is great! But this is not what she is. She's not a Krampus equivalent for your Dark Christmas aesthetic.
I see people writing their own version of the pwnco (though never called the pwnco; almost always called some variant on 'Mari Lwyd rap battle'), and as fun as these are, they are never even written in the meter and poetic rules of Cân y Fari, much less in Welsh, and they never conclude with the promise to behave before letting the Mari into the house. The pwnco is the central part to the tradition; this is the Welsh language part, the bit that's important and matters.
Mari Lwyd festivals are increasingly just English wassail festivals with a Mari or two present. The Swansea one last weekend didn't even include a Mari trying to break into a building (insert Shrek meme); there was no pwnco at all. Even in the Chepstow ones, they didn't do actual Cân y Fari; just a couple of recited verses. Instead, the Maris are just an aesthetic, a way to make it look a bit more Welsh, without having to commit to the unfashionable inconvenience of actually including Welsh.
And I don't really know what the answers are to these. I can tell you what I'd like - I'd like art to include the Welsh somewhere, maybe incorporating the first line of Cân y Fari like this one did, to keep it connected to the actual Welsh tradition (or other Welsh, if other phrases are preferred). I'd like people who want to write their version of the pwnco to respect the actual tradition of it by using Cân y Fari's meter and rhyme scheme, finishing with the promise to behave, and actually calling it the pwnco rather than a rap battle (and preferably in Welsh, though I do understand that's not always possible lol). I'd like to see the festivals actually observe the tradition, and include a link on the booking website to an audio clip of Cân y Fari and the words to the first verse, so attendees who want to can learn it ahead of time. I don't know how feasible any of that is, of course! But that's what I'd like to see.
I don't know. This is rambly. But it's something I've been thinking about - and increasingly nettled by - for a while. There's was something so affirming and wonderful at first about seeing the Mari's climb into international recognition, but it's very much turned to dismay by now, because she's important to my endangered culture and yet that's the part that everyone apparently wants to drop for being too awkward and ruining the aesthetic. It's very frustrating.
if you're worried about the new ToS for AO3, please remember that you are primed to distrust because of the way politics are intertwining with the internet right now. remember to look into definitions yourself, fact check, and look through the logic lense before jumping to conclusions.
AFAIK right now, the update clarifies terms that have already existed. it's not changing as much as it is clarity-rewriting. i'm still looking through the legalese (law student, i'm learning as I go) and I will be checking in again later, but don't despair.
however, don't get lax. download fics, connect with the authors, build out your communities. comment and bookmark and save, and please don't stop writing.
Likes to charge reblogs to FUCKING cast
if I had a nickel for every time I voted for the potential first female president over trump and trump won I’d had two nickels and it’s really fucking fucked up that it happened twice
20 million votes have been uncounted
Link to this Tweet here
Link to the tweet here for the image above
Link to the White house
If you need further help in a quick format, here is one, but i urge you to also add in the details for requiring an investigation, not just recount.
I know its a shitty situation and were tired but we still have to try to fight for a life that's worth living.
If you can blaze this post, GO FOR IT!!!
Please, spread this for those who might need it right now
U.S. suicide hotline: call or text 988 (available 24 hours)
U.S. trans lifeline: (877) 565-8860 (when you call, you’ll speak to a trans/nonbinary peer operator. full anonymity and confidentiality)
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) National Helpline: 1-800-662-HELP (4357) – provides 24/7 confidential support and referrals for individuals and families facing mental health and substance use disorders, including panic attacks and anxiety.
LGBT National Help Center: (888) 843-4564
Trevor Project: Call (866) 488-7386, text START to 678-678, or chat online.
Take care of yourself and each other. Please stay safe ♡
Hello, tumblr user. Before you is a tumblr post asking you to name a female fictional character. You have unlimited time to tag a female character, NOT a male one.
Begin.
reblog if you’ve read fanfictions that are more professional, better written than some actual novels. I’m trying to see something
Thank you for this
one of the hardest things to learn as a depressed former Gifted Kid™ is that half-assed is better than nothing. take the 50%, 40%, even 20% job. scrubbing your face is better than not taking a shower at all. picking up your clothes is better than never cleaning. nibbling on some bread is better than starving.
DO THINGS HALFWAY. NOW YOU’RE 100% BETTER OFF THAN YOU WERE BEFORE.
look at this cutie!
Please take good care of them!
About a week ago I posted this.
I’ve been getting horrible messages like this in my ask for months, including:
and my personal favorite
After getting the message saying “Just go kill yourself” I was completely done dealing with this person’s horrible messages and replied with just an “Okay.” and logged off tumblr.
About a week later I logged back on with 17 messages in my ask, most of them from the anon. I scrolled down and at first when I logged off, the anon messaged me things like
I scrolled up more and all of a sudden they started sending me more and more messages like
This was extremely surprising to me. I thought “After all those horrible messages you sent to me for MONTHS about hating me and wanting me dead, you say ‘sorry’ and that you ‘cant be responsible for someone’s suicide’?”
But I guess the lesson goes like this:
DONT TELL ANYONE TO KILL THEMSELVES UNLESS YOU ARE PREPARED FOR WHAT MIGHT ACTUALLY HAPPEN
Due to current world events, you may be experiencing depression or severe anxiety. If that’s the case, I am sorry. You are not alone, and you DO matter, even though you may not feel that way right now. It’s good that you’re in the world, I promise.
Okay non-European tumblr, I’m gonna explain to you why ‘white’ isn’t as simple here as it is in the rest of the world
- Shades of white in Europe range from ‘freshly fallen snow’ to ‘I am frequently mistaken as being from the Middle East’
- White European is a thing. When you fill out a form, under ethnicity, there are several options for white; white British, white European, white other. Because people make that distinction
- There are Europeans who don’t class their ethnicity as their skin colour, but as their nationality. I have family who don’t think of themselves as white, they just think of themselves as Italian and don’t really give much thought to their skin colour
- People here in Britain always question if darker skinned white Europeans are ‘actually white’. I get it a lot myself. My response is always ‘well I’m not anything else, so obviously I must be’
- Despite being white, a lot of Europeans from Italy, Greece, Spain etc, don’t feel white in the traditional sense. We’re not white like white British people. We’re not white like white Americans. We’re our own white. White British is one thing. White Italian is another thing. White Greek is another, etc
- Which is why we have this notion here in Europe of ‘nationality over race’. Being white isn’t as important as where you’re from
- So this really only becomes an issue if you’re an immigrant
- So being white in Europe doesn’t save you from racial discrimination, because sure, you’re technically white, but you’re not white white. Not the right white
- Here in England, Europeans with really blatantly foreign names, such as myself, find it more difficult to get job interviews, because they take one look at our name and don’t bother reading the rest of the CV. A guy I know was actually told by his boss to reduce the pile of CVs he had by ‘chucking away any with a name you can’t fucking pronounce’
- And then even when you do get an interview, half the time you walk into the joint several shades darker than everyone else and feel like you’ve walked into the ‘Swedish supermodel’ clubhouse and you just know you’re not getting hired
This is all basic stuff and it’s very much taken for granted here. Race and ethnicity are not as clear cut, so it can be very confusing for non-Europeans to wrap their heads around. Which is fine. But I implore you to stay in your lane, because when you say things like ‘no white person anywhere in the world ever knows what it’s like to face racial discrimination’, it’s really fucking offensive to all of the European immigrants who are denied jobs, harassed by the police and beaten by racists, because foreign is foreign to these people, and they don’t give a shit if you’re technically white. So when you mean white American, say white American.
* love ♥ starters
‘ want me to stay? ’
‘ we’re almost home. ’
‘ you should be in bed. ’
‘ we can share it.’
‘ stay there. i’m coming to get you. ’
‘ shh, shh. you were dreaming. ’
‘ grab my hand. ’
‘ i’m just going to pick you up. ’
‘ everything okay? ’
‘ i won’t leave you behind. ’
‘ don’t worry. better out than in. ’
‘ who did that to you? ’
‘ sit down and rest. ’
‘ sweetie, i would never think that. ’
‘ come lay down in my lap. ’
‘ i know you think you’re all alone out there, but you’re not. ’
‘ call me when you get home. ’
‘ we should change those bandages. ’
‘ you’re safe here. ’
‘ honey… ’
‘ of course we love you. ’
‘ wait here. i’ll go run a bath for you. ’
‘ take my bed for tonight. ’
‘ i promise. ’
‘ you’re always welcome here. ’
‘ don’t talk like that. ’
‘ bad dream? ’
‘ talk to me. ’
‘ it’s okay to cry. ’
‘ you need to be more careful.’
‘ we should hug this out. ’
‘ i worry about you. ’
‘ can i hold your hand? ’
‘ because i care about you. ’
‘ it made me think of you. ’
‘ take care of yourself. ’
‘ put your seatbelt on. ’
‘ where did you go? ’
‘ i didn’t mean to worry you. ’
‘ i made breakfast. ’
‘ sing something for me? ’
‘ open it and find out. ’
‘ how long have you been like this? ’
‘ you look nice. ’
‘ here, take my jacket. ’
‘ close your eyes and try to get some rest. ’
‘ focus on my voice. ’
‘ i meant every word. ’
‘ i was here all night. ’
‘ look both ways before you cross. ’
‘ you don’t have to talk. ’
‘ this is your favorite, right? ’
‘ you’ll feel better in the morning. ’
‘ you have a nice laugh. ’
‘ here, take my jacket. ’
‘ you could stay here. with me. ’
‘ we’ll figure it out together. ’
Platonic Requests for Affection
“I’m so tired… ”
“I don’t want to be alone.”
“My hands are shaking.”
“Don’t get up. I’m comfortable like this.”
“Please stay. I’d like some company.”
“Could I get a hug?”
“Would you pet my hair?”
“Will you sing something for me?”
“I just want to be close to someone for a little bit. Is that okay?”
“Can I lay my head in your lap?”
“You can touch my hair but don’t mess it up!”
“Here, lay down in my lap.”
“You know, you’re pretty comfy.”
“Come here, ya big lug/small fry.”
“Just take my hand. It’ll be better, I promise.”
“I’m not letting go.”
“I’ll hold you as long as you need.”
“It’s okay to stay, you know.”
“I’m so happy you’re here with me.”
“Your hugs are warm. We should do this more often.”
Reblog this.
If you do not care what gender your roleplay partner identify themselves as.
Be they male, female, trans, or whatever else is out there.
If you are a friend, you are a friend. If we ship our muses together, we ship the heck out of our muses. I don’t care if you are a female playing male, a male playing female or whatever is inbetween.
You are precious no matter what you are. And I love you.
This was awesome when I first saw it, it’s only gotten better
So there’s this huge dudebro in my class, who, yesterday, sat next to me. And I’m sitting there sweating because like… I’m wearing my shirt with the lesbian flag on it, and he’s the most popular jock in school, and always has this look on his face that say ‘I can and will kill you’. He looks me up and down, stares at me for a minute and then goes, “So. Girls in skirts and long socks, am I right?”
To which I nodded solemnly, both out of agreement, surprise and also a healthy amount of awkward fear. He nodded and went, “You get it.”
I said, “Yep.” He fistbumped me, and on went our lives.
I’ve always been a Page of Space, but the canon Page outfit is… less than ideal. However, I saw a really nice, fanmade Page outfit by @turkii and immediately wanted to draw my trollsona in it; so now I don’t have feel weirded out about my God Tier class!
Please check out Turkii’s art if you’re into Homestuck, it will not disappoint!
EDIT: Additionally, the wings were inspired by an original set created by Bats-Sprites on DeviantART, please check them out as well!
COMMISSIONS ARE ALWAYS OPEN! REBLOGS > LIKES!
this is gold
Was just informed by my mom that I do in fact have ADHD and the reason I thought I didn’t was because ever since I was seven whenever I got super energetic my mom would have me go chop wood so now when I’m feeling The ADHD I go chop wood and I thought it was just some sort of routine I started when I was little and wanted to blow off steam
I live in fear of people like this; no matter what gender they lay claim to
rb if you’d wipe all pedophiles off this earth
Timeless (2016) S1E012 - The Murder of Jesse James
Bass Reeves, protrayed by Colman Domingo. Rufus Carlin, protrayed by Malcolm Barrett.
Watch it here , get Bass Reeves: Tales of the Talented Tenth here
[Follow SuperheroesInColor faceb / instag / twitter / tumblr / pinterest]
“Why do you beat yourself up so much over little mistakes?”
Please don’t do this kind of shit. It’s not cool
Some assholes have been putting nails in cheese and treats in dog parks in Chicago and Massachusetts. Also adding antifreeze to water bowls.
Please watch out for your dogs. And if you find out the address of someone doing this, give me the address and tell no one. I will disembowel them.
reblog to add +10 haunting power to your ghost when you die
mood
