Gothic Secrets Revealed! (fun)

Warning! Goth humor ahead! 

Funny by YouTube goth-chick LeahMouse. Enjoy! ^^

 

Exploring the music

Usual mini-post about my (BallerinaDark) favorite music which I hope will help you to explore better the dark and mystical side of music.

Above is the video to the opening song of Donnie Darko movie (post coming soon!) by Echo &The Bunnymen called "The Killing Moon". Darkness and melancholia fused together with a The Cure touch. Just lovely. Also the song "Head Over Heels" by Tears For Fears, always out of the Donnie Darko OST is something magical. --> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AJlfdKck7I

The following are a complete different kind of tracks. Steampunk genre or so they call it. I'm proud to present you the Vernian Process band with a song that will make you want to go to the nearerst wicked circus in town! It's called "Something wicked (that way went)":


 Also I found out about Abney Park another steampunkish band. I had already heard about them before but I never stopped listening to them carefully. My favourite track so far by them is called "Building Steam". --> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLokoA915fg

Last but not least, Vermillion Lies band with "Circus Apocalypse" taking you in the world of dark cabaret (lovers of The Dresden Dolls will surely appreciate!)

Other few songs with dark twist that I'm adoring at the moment are:

Rammstein - Haifisch
Blue Oyster Cult - Don't fear the Reaper 
Aural Vampire - Cannibal Coast
Nachtmahr - Ich Bin
Bat For Lashes - Siren
Depeche Mode - Home
Apocalyptica feat. Ville Valo - Bittersweet
Exilia - In the Air Tonight (cover)
Kate Bush - Wuthering Heights

♥ 

..and the Banshees

How many times have you pronounced the goth band name "Siouxsie and The Banshees" without knowing what actually a "banshee" is?

I made a little research out of curiosity and found out what it is:

The banshee ("woman of the sídhe" or "woman of the fairy mounds") is a female spirit in Irish mythology, usually seen as an omen of death and a messenger from the Otherworld.

In legend, a banshee is a fairy woman who begins to wail if someone is about to die. In Scottish Gaelic mythology she is known as the bean sìth or bean-nighe and is seen washing the blood-stained clothes or armour of those who are about to die. Alleged sightings of banshees have been reported as recently as 1948. Similar beings are also found inWelsh, Norse and American folklore.

The story of the banshee began as a fairy woman keening at the death of important personages. In later stories, the appearance of the banshee could foretell death. Banshees were said to appear for particular Irish families, though which families made it onto this list varied depending on who was telling the story. Stories of banshees were also prevalent in the West Highlands of Scotland.

The banshee can appear in a variety of guises. Most often she appears as an ugly, frightening hag, but she can also appear as a stunningly beautiful woman of any age that suits her. In some tales, the figure who first appears to be a "banshee" is later revealed to be the Irish battle goddess, the Morrígan.

The Morrigan - Celtic Goddess

Although not always seen, her mourning call is heard, usually at night when someone is about to die and usually around woods. In 1437, King James I of Scotland was approached by an Irish seer who was later identified as a banshee who foretold his murder at the instigation of the Earl of Atholl. There are records of several prophets believed to be incarnate banshees attending the great houses of Ireland and the courts of local Irish kings.

In some parts of Leinster, she is referred to as the bean chaointe (keening woman) whose wail can be so piercing that it shatters glass. Her keen can be experienced as a "low, pleasant singing" or as "the sound of two boards being struck together". Sometimes also as "a thin, screeching sound somewhere between the wail of a woman and the moan of an owl".

The banshee may also appear in a variety of other forms, such as that of a hooded crow, stoat, hare and weasel - animals associated in Ireland with witchcraft.

In later versions, the banshee might appear before the death and warn the family by wailing. When several banshees appeared at once, it indicated the death of someone great or holy. The tales sometimes recounted that the woman, though called a fairy, was a ghost, often of a specific murdered woman, or a mother who died in childbirth.

Banshees are frequently described as dressed in white or grey, often having long, pale hair which they brush with a silver comb. This comb detail is also related to the centuries-old traditional romantic Irish story that, if you ever see a comb lying on the ground in Ireland, you must never pick it up, or the banshees (or mermaids — stories vary), having placed it there to lure unsuspecting humans, will spirit such gullible humans away. Other stories portray banshees as dressed in green, red, or black with a grey cloak.

Another version of what a banshee is and does.

Funny Goth Dancing Tutorial

A friend of mine shared on her Facebook page this viral funny video that teaches how to dance goth.
It made me die..
 laughing!!
 Here's the video for those of you who still has to see it:

♥

Frozen Charlotte Dolls

A few days ago I went to an antiques/second hand thrift shop looking out for new books to read during this winter holidays. I got 2 books from Christian Jacq about Egypt called "The Black Pharaoph" and "The women of ancient Egypt" which is a great find for an Ancient Egypt lover like me!

Anyway, while I was waiting in line at the checkout I was immediately attracted by a little collection of little glazed porcelain dolls exposed nearby. They were a collection of rare FROZEN CHARLOTTE DOLLS and their history is very interesting:

"Frozen Charlotte" commonly refers to a doll, made from either china or bisque with immovable or "frozen" limbs, manufactured from about 1850 to 1920. The dolls ranged in size from an inch to 18 inches or more, and being charms in Christmas puddings, or occupants for doll houses, were amongst their many uses. 

The name is believed to have originated from an American folk ballad called 

Fair Charlotte or Young Charlotte, by William Lorenzo Carter. The song was based upon a poem called A Corpse Going to a Ball, by Seba Smith, written around 1843. The poem and ballad are cautionary tales, thought to pertain to a true incident, about a girl called Charlotte who ignored her mother's request to cover her fine clothes with a blanket, and then froze to death on a snowy sleigh ride to a ball with her intended husband. The story was meant to discourage such vanity in young women. 

photograph by Kalliope Amorphous

This is part of the ballad:

They reached the place and Charles jumped out and held his hands for her, 


"Why sit you there like a monument, have you no power to stir?" 

He asked her once, he asked her twice; she answered not a word. 


He asked her for her hand again, and yet she never stirred.

He took her hands within his own -- oh, God, they were cold as stone. 


He tore the mantle from her brow, the cold stars on her shone. 


Then quickly to the lighted hall her lifeless form he bore; 


Young Charlotte was a frozen corpse and never spoke no more.

He sat himself down by her side, and the bitter tears did flow, 


He said, "My dear intended bride, I never more shall know."

He threw his arms around her neck and kissed her marble brow

And his thoughts went back to the place where she said, "I'm getting warmer now."

He put the corpse into the sleigh and quickly hurried home, 


And when he reached the cottage door, oh, how her parents mourned! 


They mourned for the loss of their daughter dear, and young Charlie mourned for his bride, 


He mourned until his heart did break, and they slumber side by side.

A great collection of this rare dolls has been found in the ruins of an old doll factory that operated between 1890 and 1913 in Thuringia, Germany. That makes them over 100 years old! 

info taken from: littlegothichorrors.blogspot.com & speckled-egg.blogspot.com

HAPPY NEW YEAR