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The Epic of Darkness (traditional Chinese: 黑暗傳; simplified Chinese: 黑暗传; pinyin: Hēi Àn Zhuàn) is a collection of tales and legends of primeval China in epic poetry, preserved by the inhabitants of the Shennongjia mountain area in Hubei. It is composed of numerous Chinese myths relating to the creation of the world, containing accounts from the birth of Pangu till the historical era. It dates back to the Tang Dynasty of China. It was translated and published by Hu Chongjun after the discovery of a manuscript in 1982.

Like the Homeric epics, the written poem was likely preceded by an oral tradition dating back to at least the Tang Dynasty. Wooden copies of Darkness are said to have survived to the Ming Dynasty but none have been found today.

Source: Epic of Darkness – Wikipedia

Féth fíada (Old Irish: féth fíada, féth fiada, feth fiadha, fé fíada, faeth fiadha), in Irish mythology is a magic mist or veil which the Tuatha Dé Danann uses to enshroud themselves, rendering their presence invisible to human eyesight.[1] Féth denotes this mist in particular, and fíada originally meant “knower”, then came to mean “lord, master, possessor”.[2][3]

Source: Féth fíada – Wikipedia

The prayer is part of the Liber Hymnorum, a collection of hymns found in two manuscripts kept in Dublin[1] and published in 1903 in the Thesaurus Paleohibernicus. The document gives this account of how Saint Patrick used this prayer:

“Saint Patrick sang this when an ambush was laid against his coming by Loegaire, that he might not go to Tara to sow the faith. And then it appeared before those lying in ambush that they (Saint Patrick and his monks) were wild deer with a fawn following them.[2]”

The description concludes “fáeth fiada a hainm”, which the Thesaurus Paleohibernicus translates as “Its name is ‘Deer’s Cry’. However, the phrase ‘fáeth fiada’ is used elsewhere in Irish mythology to mean a mist of concealment.[3]

Source: Saint Patrick’s Breastplate – Wikipedia

Since this time, however, Ovarion had sat empty, as following the taboo after additive modifications are made to the landscape by the Changer. As the songs taught: On grounds newly laid, one must wait for the Dweller to enter the Palace. This dictum served a both potentiating mystical reflection on intent and purpose and an utterly practical use: in case the Changer should reappear and happen to change his mind, and reclaim what had been called forth. The songs told it had happened before, but not in recent living memory.

Source: The Coming of Ovarion – Quatrian Folkways – Medium

“The four Vedas (Rig, Yajur, Sama and Atharva) are not ‘books’ in the usual sense, though within the past hundred years each veda has appeared in several printed editions. They are comprised rather of tonally accented verses and hypnotic, abstruse melodies whose proper realizations demand oral instead of visual transmission. They are robbed of their essence when transferred to paper, for without the human element the innumerable nuances and fine intonations – inseparable and necessary components of all four compilations – are lost completely. The ultimate authority in Vedic matters is never the printed page but rather the few members … who are today keeping the centuries-old traditions alive.”[2]

Source: Vedic chant – Wikipedia

Balor is described as a giant with an eye which wreaks destruction when opened. The Cath Maige Tuired calls it a destructive and poisonous eye that when opened, permits an entire army to be overwhelmed by a few warriors[4]. It was said that four warriors had to lift the eyelid, which became poisonous after Balor looked into a potion being concocted by his father’s druids. Later folklore says that he has only one eye and describes it as follows: “He had a single eye in his forehead, a venomous fiery eye. There were always seven coverings over this eye. One by one Balar removed the coverings. With the first covering the bracken began to wither, with the second the grass became copper-coloured, with the third the woods and timber began to heat, with the fourth smoke came from the trees, with the fifth everything grew red, with the sixth it sparked. With the seventh they were all set on fire, and the whole countryside was ablaze!”.[2]

Source: Balor – Wikipedia

In Irish mythology, Luchtaine (or Luchta) was a son of Brigid and Tuireann and the carpenter or wright of the Tuatha Dé Danann; elsewhere he is described as the son of Luachaid[1]. He and his brothers Creidhne and Goibniu were known as the Trí Dée Dána, the three gods of art, who forged the weapons which the Tuatha Dé used to battle the Fomorians. Specifically Luchtaine agrees to make all the shields and javelin shafts required for The Second Battle of Moytura.[2]

Source: Luchtaine – Wikipedia

The hymn was sung by a chorus of twenty-seven maidens and the same number of youths on the occasion of the Ludi Saeculares (Secular Games), which celebrated the end of one saeculum (typically 110 years in length) and the beginning of another. The mythological and religious song is in the form of a prayer addressed to Apollo and Diana; it especially brings to prominence Apollo, functioning as a surrogate for and patron of the princeps (Augustus), for whom a new temple on the Palatine had recently been consecrated.

Source: Carmen Saeculare – Wikipedia

“Hallelujah” (which was written by Leonard Cohen in 1984, but only became famous when John Cale covered it in 1991) has since been called perhaps the quintessential secular hymn[1][2] despite the lyrics containing strong Jewish themes[3].

Other songs that are sometimes mentioned as secular hymns include “Many Rivers to Cross” by Jimmy Cliff, “I Can See Clearly Now” by Johnny Nash, “Joy to the World” by Three Dog Night, “Hey, Jude” by the Beatles, “Big Yellow Taxi” by Joni Mitchell, “No Woman, No Cry” by Bob Marley, “Going My Way” by Bing Crosby, “Blowin in the Wind” by Bob Dylan, “Like a Prayer” by Madonna, “Both Sides Now” by Joni Mitchell (famously covered by Judy Collins), “Show Me Heaven” by Maria McKee, “Lean On Me” by Bill Withers, “Stand by Me” by Ben E. King, “You Can Close Your Eyes” by James Taylor, “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” by Judy Garland, “Imagine” by John Lennon, “Free Fallin'” by Tom Petty, “What a Wonderful World” by Louis Armstrong, and “Million Reasons” by Lady Gaga, and many others.[1][4]

Source: Secular hymn (genre) – Wikipedia

Peddlers have been known since antiquity and possibly earlier. They were known by a variety of names throughout the ages, including Arabber, hawker, costermonger (English), chapman (medieval English), huckster, itinerant vendor or street vendor. According to marketing historian, Eric Shaw, the peddler is “perhaps the only substantiated type of retail marketing practice that evolved from Neolithic times to the present.”[3] The political philosopher, John Stuart Mill wrote that “even before the resources of society permitted the establishment of shops, the supply of [consumer] wants fell universally into the hands of itinerant dealers, the pedlars who might appear once a month, being preferred to the fair, which only returned once a year.”[4]

Typically, peddlers operated door-to-door, plied the streets or stationed themselves at the fringes of formal trade venues such as open air markets or fairs. In the Greco-Roman world, open-air markets served urban customers, while peddlers filled in the gaps in distribution by selling to rural or geographically distant customers.[5]

Source: Peddler – Wikipedia