#odd fellows

What does it mean to be a "custodian of craft"? 🧵✨

In our latest episode, Alicia sits down with the heritage crafter, conservationist, podcast host, and Odd Fellow Willow Polson for a journey through the hidden corners of history. From the secret symbolism of the Odd Fellows to the year-long process of weaving baskets, Willow shares what it’s like to hold traditions in your hands.

We’re talking:

The delicate art of restoring 100-year-old silk collars.

The ethics and honor of holding traditions for other cultures.

The essential Victorian tool modern sewists overlook

Grab your knitting bag, embroidery hoop, or spindle, and settle in for a relaxing conversation about crafts, history, and heritage. 

Odd Fellows Hall and tilting water tower, Elliott, Illinois

Basically, (almost) all antiques cited in the show have some kind of reference to something that exists in the real world and/or in folklore.

All pictures are from Katayama Shuu's official twitter account.

First off we have the Fang of Flauros, フラウロスの牙.

This was quite easy to work with as 牙 quite literally translates into fang. What caught my interest was the Flauros part.

Flauros is a demon mentioned in the Ars Goetia, one of the five books inside the Lesser Key of Solomon, a 17th century grimoire. According to it, he is one of the Dukes of Hell. If summoned into a specific magic triangle, he will answer truthfully to all questions about past, present, and future.

His appearance is described as that of a "terrible and strong leopard", who if requested can turn into a "man with fiery eyes and an awful expression". (source)

Hence, the fang mention and the leopard miniature applied onto the pen. Nice detail.

Next up, the Mask of the Odd Fellows, オッドフェローズの仮面.

Again, easy translation, but I couldn't quite put down what they might be referring to with the Odd Fellows thing, so I did some research.

The Odd Fellows is a (once secret) fraternal society whose origin dates back to 18th-century London, later spreading on to the US as well. It still exists today, and it seems to have developed branches into other non-English-speaking countries as well.

It was founded with the intent to promote ideals of friendship, love and truth -- and its rituals involved the use of masks and costumes (not sure if they still do).

Fun fact about the mask seen in the show: it is a real Odd Fellows mask, as there are some still in circulation as antique pieces. It was borrowed for the duration of the show from a real antique store. Apparently Katayama Shuu, the manga artist for Unreal, has been in contact with this store since beginning her work on the manga. (source)

The Scale of Grotesque Meals, 悪食の天秤.

Now, this one was hard to translate, and I'm still not sure if I like the outcome.

悪食 (akujiki), from what I found out through dictionaries and translation forums, means something along the lines of: eating strange/bizarre things. It's not necessarily bad, but it's not necessarily good as well.

One example I found in a forum was: when someone eats insects, or frogs, and foods like those, that's 悪食. It is not inherently bad, many people have been doing it for a long time, but your first reaction will still be "what? they're eating that?!".

I pondered for a while with different options for translation, but the only things that came to mind were bad eating, strange eating, and stuff like that which took a lot away from 悪食. I switched to meals eventually to be able to work with a noun and not a verb. The alternatives were something like diet, nutrition, but none of that fit well in my opinion. At first I went with bizarre meals, but eventually ended up changing the adjective into grotesque, since I thought it fit better with the vibe of Unreal and the indeed grotesque side effect of the Scale.

Interesting reference: in the show, they mention that the Scale belongs to Beelzebub, who is known in popular culture as one of the seven princes of Hell, specifically the one representing gluttony and envy. While I haven't been able to find anything on any scale that might belong to Beelzebub, it's still a clever move to have this specific Scale linked with the name of Beelzebub.

Another nice little detail: Beelzebub is also known as the Lord of Flies, hence the insect-like wings on the back of the demonic miniature that's present on the Scale.

Last but not least, an honorable mention: the Hand of Madam Haze, ヘイズ夫人の手.

Sadly, there is not much to say about her. I haven't been able to find a reference to any real-life or fictional woman known as Haze/Hayes, or variants thereof, who would be known for her enchanting beauty and/or her jealousy.

The only half-plausible connection I could find was Charlotte Haze, the mother of Lolita in Nabokov's book. Her jealousy is indeed a major plot point for her character. Still, this doesn't convince me that much.

In terms of translation, I decided to go with Haze instead of other possible transcriptions for ヘイズ because I enjoyed the idea that while the other surnames are just surnames, haze is also an actual word with its own meaning. I thought it did a good job of keeping the mysterious vibe surrounding Unreal and the true powers of its antiques.

I translated 夫人 as madam partly because to me, it sounds more elegant than lady, and partly because I've encountered another 夫人 before (Madam Mo in MDZS), and those same ideograms in Chinese have been translated into madam for years and years by someone with more knowledge than me, so I thought I'd rely on that.

Antique Independent Order of Odd Fellows ceremonial tunic