Sunday, Sep. 07, 2008

'Hurricane' is god's namesake

Q. Why do they call those huge storms in the Atlantic Ocean "hurricanes"?

-- Sylvia Hammitt, of Belleville

A. No matter how much research I do, I'm continually amazed by how similar many creation stories are all over the world.

Christians, of course, are familiar with the biblical account from Genesis in which God creates the universe from nothing, forms Adam from dust, destroys civilization in a flood, mixes up the languages at the Tower of Babel, etc., etc.

Well, in the Western Hemisphere, the Mayans had an amazingly similar account that they recorded in their "Popol Vuh," a sacred book that contained their mythological narratives along with the genealogy of the rulers of the post-classic Mayan kingdom that thrived in the highlands of present-day Guatemala.

Just like Christians, the Mayans had a three-in-one type of god they referred to as Heart-of-Sky or Heart-of-Heaven. The triumvirate consisted of ChipiCaculha, Raxa-Caculha, and Caculha Huracan, the god of storms or bad weather.

Together, they created mankind not once, but three times. Like Adam, Heart-of-Sky first tried to make man from mud and earth, but, according to one English translation of the Popol Vuh, "It doesn't look very good ... It only speaks nonsense. It cannot multiply. So Heart-of-Sky lets it dissolve away."

Next, Heart-of Sky tries carving man from wood, but what results has no blood, no sweat and no brain. Blockheads, as Lucy van Pelt might say. But here is where the story gets interesting:

"And, so it is decided to destroy these wooden people," the Mayan account continues. "Hurakan (Hurricane) makes a great rain. It rains all day and rains all night. The wooden people scatter into the forest. Their faces are crushed, and they are turned into monkeys."

Reverse evolution aside, this apparently explains how those fearsome storms acquired their name. As more native tribes -- including the Caribs -- encountered the Mayans, they, too, adopted Hurakan (or variations) as their god of bad weather or simply the god of evil.

Eventually, it wound up in the Spanish language as "huracn" as European explorers made their way here in ever-increasing numbers. Just when, however, is open to question because its first appearance in written language has not been uncovered. Some credit Christopher Columbus himself, who encountered both terrible storms and the Carib and Arawak languages on his voyages.

"Nothing but the service of God and the extension of monarchy would expose me to such danger," he wrote in 1495 after a monstrous tempest sank three of his ships during another trip to the West Indies.

Others, however, speculate the Spanish may have first encountered the term when they met Mayans face to face around 1517. Either way, there seems little doubt that five centuries later, we still live in dread of that loathsome Mayan god.

By the way, if you're wondering how the Mayan creation myth turned out, it eventually became history's first successful ethanol experiment -- Heart-of-Sky crafted their third and final batch of humans from corn. And, hopefully without getting too windy, may I add that "typhoon" -- the Pacific Ocean equivalent -- may ultimately come from the Greek "tuphon," a monster responsible for hot gusts, or the Chinese "tung fung," meaning East wind.

Q. I use downtown parking meters in Belleville a lot, but I have no idea what hours they are in effect and there are no signs on the meters anymore. Can you give me your 2 cents on the subject?

-- Marsha Voss, of Belleville

A. Oh, if only it were like years ago when those two pennies would buy you 24 minutes, if I recall correctly from the days when my dad would drive around the block looking for a meter with time on it. Now, according to the city treasurer's office, you have to feed dimes and quarters into those one-dial bandits from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Q. Can you give me some leads on how to go about learning the value of a collectable book I own? It's a First American Hardback edition of "Harry Potter & The Sorcerer's Stone" by J.K. Rowling once owned by the St. Louis County Library system.

-- L.U., of Belleville

A. I'm not a book expert by any means, but from the description you include, I'd say you'd need Harry's special wand to make it worth more than even a few bucks.

Now if it were a mint copy from the initial London run (there were only 1,000 printed at first), you might be looking at as much as $50,000. If it were signed by Rowling herself, you can bump that up considerably.

But you have two huge strikes against you. First, it's a library copy, which likely means it's in anything but pristine condition. Like cars, books, unless you immediately put them in a vault, start losing value once you drive them out of the shop. Yours sounds like it may have seen more than a few trips around the block.

From the numbers you sent me, it's a 25th edition of the American version, which means it's nothing special and that there are likely thousands like it out there. I'm betting people would sooner buy a dog-eared, book-sale version for a buck than pay any premium for a used 25th edition.

But, again, I'm no expert, so you might want to contact maybe two or three bookstores or collectors either online or through the Yellow Pages and see if they can work more magic than I could.

Q. How can you keep birds out of a Bradford pear trees? They make such a mess, and it's hazardous to a person's health!

-- R.M., of New Baden

A. I guess you don't sing "The 12 Days of Christmas" with much gusto, do you? Well, I wish I could give you an early present this year, but I can't. Unless you want to go to the trouble of throwing a net over it every year, there's probably nothing that will shoo off your bird-brained pests, including the tried-and-not-so-true practice of hanging rubber snakes or aluminum pans and strips in the branches.

"That may keep them away for about, oh, maybe two or three days," says News-Democrat gardening expert Charles Giedeman. " But after a while they become accustomed to the fact that it's all fake, and they're right back in there."

So, you have to decide whether netting is worth the hassle.

"It's pretty effective," Giedeman said. "But it's the problem of getting it completely over the tree. Then you have to take the thing off, allow the shoots to grow out in the spring and re-cover it each year. Most people, unless it's for the fruit, they won't go out and do it."

Send your questions to Roger Schlueter, Belleville News-Democrat, 120 S. Illinois St., P.O. Box 427, Belleville, IL 62222-0427 or rschlueter@bnd.com.