I finished it!
After so many weeks!!! This personal proyect was a bit ambitious for me as I had never made a book jacket before.
I haven't printed it yet, probably I'll do it by the end of the week and test if I made the good decisions on measuring lol.
I measured a sketch of mine for this, so I could actually use it.
If it fits perfectly I'll put it on Gumroad to download, if you like it.
I'll tell you something about this proyect:
When I was little I had like an obsession with my country, I used to dress up in folcloric clothes and dance to the music that was deep in my country traditions, I used to love to play with the toys we made, to sing the songs we wrote and to rejoice in the folclore because I was so proud of being Venezuelan and I felt my country mine indeed.
Today the story is different: I don't feel anymore that that country is mine or that I want to go back to it. But don't get me wrong I don't feel sad for that. I like the land, but I no longer feel connection to it... It's weird for me to explain.
But the stories I used to listen to, those stories I find powerful yet. I still love the magic in them, I find they trascend borders and cultures and I just enjoy them so much.
So I wanted to do someting with them, I have like a collection of my favourites and I chose 5 of them to make a six month proyect to improve in some areas I really need to work and to share with you this part of my childhood.
Here's the line up:
1 - Maria Lionza - Book Jacket DONE
2 - The owner of the Fire - Zine Comic
3 - The 5 White Eagles - ?
4 - The owner of the Light - ?
5 - The owner of the Water - ?
Most of them are origins stories, or stories that explain how things got to be on the first place. I love those, it's something I adore of the colective imagination and the folclore.
The other ones I chose them because I always have found some kind of connection to the characters, maybe because is not so easy to find these characters in an ancient story.
I still don't know what I'll do with the rest of the stories (the ones with the *?* in them), I'll figure it out in the road, but the main theme is to have fun! hehe. I sure know I want to do a silent book with one of them tho! That's really hard!
So who was Maria Lionza?
Here's the translated text:
Please note I'm not a writer and this is an edited text of some version of this legend.
"Yara was a Nivar maiden, daughter of one great Nirgüa's Cacique.
Her eyes were clear as the water and her hair smooth and so long it reached her waist, the village's Chaman predicted when she was born that the God of The Rivers and Waters would fall in love with her and keep her forever. Her father decided then that she would live then enclosed in a cave and so during 16 years she lived like that.
Until one day, a powerful yet misterious enchantment made the 22 guards that kept Yara safe fell into a deep sleep and she could came out of her confinement for the first time, so she looked herself in the river and was delighted with her reflection.
But in doing so she woke up the God of the River who emerged as a giant Anaconda snake and rapted her into the water.
Upon learning this, the Spirits decided to punish the God of the Water by making Him swell, explode and die.
Yara was never again seen in the realm of the living. But the Spirits were sorry for her and named her the Goddes of Love and the Forest.
Today, by the Sorte mountain, on days that are specially warm and when the dew is yet in the air, She can be seen passing by Her reigns mounted on a Jaguar or on a Tapir.
-The cult that surrounds Maria Lionza is very strong in Venezuela, thousands of believers go always to Her to make them offerings during Easter and Columbus day.-"
A Note: when the Spanishs came, they "converted" Yara into the catholic religion and named her: María de La Onza del Prado de Talavera de Nivar* or María Lionza.
*I know
I'll keep you informed on the next part of the proyect: The owner of the Fire and its zine comic. So far I just have a very vague lining of the pages...
It's a very fun story.
I send hugs :D,
Natha.
https://www.patreon.com/posts/root-stories-17779724
