Representation of Gender & Sexuality in Literature

Queering Mythology

An exploration of sexuality, ethnicity and mythology by

Ryle Faustino Souto

Mythology was never heterosexual to begin with. It is important to understand the fluid nature of mythological characters and Gods. In some cultures, identifiers for heterosexuality and homosexuality, and gender did not even exist. In other cultures, they were written into their stories, culture and practices. A lot of our understanding of these queer characters gets lost in translation over time and we are left with the notion of them being 'close friends'. This is done to make mythology more streamlined with heterosexuality, to propagate procreation etc. The few stories that are told end tragically and are the most popular ones which intentionally or unintentionally act as cautionary tales of the 'dangers of homosexuality' even when they are not. There are plenty of queer stories across different cultures and societies such as Achillies and Patroclus (Greek), Xochipilli (Aztec) and so many more, but for the sake of conciseness, I picked three stories. Through explaining three stories here today i.e. the story of Apollo and Hyacinthus, Hi'iake and Libulan, I want to shine a light on queerness in mythology across cultures.

APOLLO AND HYACINTHUS

It is no secret that gender and sexuality very secondly concern when it comes to the Gods and even the local characters. These include Athena, the goddess of war, one of the only gods that Aphrodite goddess of love did not have any power over, the other two being Artemis (commonly known to be in the company of women) and Hestia (commonly seen as asexual).

Other characters in mythology that are seen through a queer lens include Dionysus (God of wine and ecstasy) who is seen as the patron god of hermaphrodites and transgender individuals, Eros, the god of love and sex, Himeros, god of sexual desire, Pothos, the god of sexual longing, yearning and desire, and so many more. But perhaps the God most popularly known to have a long list of same-sex partners is Apollo, the god of the Sun.

Apollo, was the god of the sun, light, bow, music, divination, often times associated with beauty, life, healing, the arts etc. Apollo was the son of Zeus and Leto, the twin brother of Artemis. One story states that Leto was afraid of revenge from Zeus's wife Hera (Zeus was known for his promiscuity and illicit affairs). So she chose to go to Delos, a barren land which was considered the safest retreat she could find. While being there his first taste of ambrosia transformed him from a baby to a man.

But one of the major known facts obout Apollo is that he was not very lucky in the romance/love department. While it is known that Zeus is the Greek god with the most lovers, Apollo is the God who is directly responsible for the demise of his lovers. This can be seen by his long and extensive list of lovers which not only included divine figures, semi-divine figures such as nymphs, and mortal lovers which included men and women of different social statuses (click here for the whole list). Most of his lovers either jumped off cliffs or turned into local flora or were cursed. However, one of his most notable lovers and probably one of his most stable ones were considered to be Hyacinthus.

Hyacinthus was a young Spartan prince. Hyacinthus was the son of Pierus of Magnesia and Clio the muse of history. Hyacinthus was known to be extremely pretty to the point where other interpretations of Hyacinthus saw him as a pre-Hellenic diety. Apollo, of course, gets enamoured by Hyacinthus and to Apollo's surprise, instead of being rejected or their encounter ending badly, Hyacinthus gets along quite nicely with Apollo. But unfortunately, another god catches the eye of Hyacinthus, that god being Zephyr or Zephyros, God of the West wind. So while Apollo and Hyacinthus love each other and move around, Zephyr becomes growingly jealous. So one day when Apollo throws a discuss, Zephyr causes the wind to change direction and the discuss hits Hyacinthus in the head. The iconic image of this story is Apollo holding the dying Hyacinthus in his hand as can be seen in several images and paints. Apollo turns Hyacinthus into a flower to preserve his life and beauty. The flower is said to have been inscribed with poetry written by the God himself.

Other versions of the story state that unfortunately, Apollo is responsible for Hyacinthus's death by hitting him in the head with a discuss by throwing it a little too high...

Funnily enough, the flower that Hyacinthus gets turned into is not a hyacinth but what we now know to be an iris plant. The yellow markings on the plant are said to be the inscribed sadness of the Greek God, otherwise known as the sound of grief called Ai, Ai.

The story of Apollo and Hyacinthus is a tragic one and one of the most popular ones. However, it doesn't end badly for the character as Hyacinthus is now a renowned figure.

Hyacinthus became an important religious figure, who was particularly worshipped in Sparta during a three-day festival, called Hyacinthia. The festival included mourning rites for the youth’s death, then celebration of his rebirth as a flower. (Madeline Miller, n.d.)

Apollo would also go on to have other relationships with mortals that do not end badly. Some end with the gifts of prophecy, immortality etc. During a year in exile, Apollo worked as a herdsman for King Admetus of Pherae. While doing so he becomes extremely smitten with him. The story of the two ends with Apollo helping him win a chariot race to win a lady's hand in marriage. While this story is fondly remembered, the story of Apollo and Hyacinthus is remembered as a loving tragic tale of a god falling in love with a human.

HI'IAKA

Before the arrival of the missionaries in Hawaiian and Polynesian areas, the significance of gender and sexuality played very little role in society as a whole. There were several acceptable factions of society such as the Aikane or the same-sex relationships and the Mahu which now come to be known as the transgender community. Moreover, the Native Hawaiian language never had any distinguishing pronouns such as 'he' or 'she'. These institutions and groups of people were honoured and revered and openly accepted in society. This is backed up by the stories of the various gods and mythical characters that highlighted these facets of Hawaiian culture. One such God is Hi'iaka.

Hi'iaka is primarily known as the patron God of hula dancers, chants, sorcery and medicine. She, like most gods, was born in a very weird way. One iteration of her birth states that she was born in the bussom of Pele traditional known as Hi'iaka-i-ka-poli-o-Pele, Other iterations view Pele as a sister to Hi'iaka, as it was believed that she was not born in Hawai'i but came from other Polynesian islands across the ocean. This story tells us that Pele was carrying an egg from her mother and that egg hatched into Hi'iake who became her favourite sister. However, the development of Pele and Hi'iaka's relationship gets very interesting as time progresses.

Hi'iaka was known to be courted by a mortal by the name of Hopoe. Based on local tradition, their relationship is described as Moe aikāne or Aikāne which was used to describe a close and intimate sexual relationship between men or between couples of the same sex. While historians describe them as 'close friends' and often times 'buddies'. It was safe to say that they were married. In one tale, Pele sends Hi'iaka to find her a husband. In return Hi'iake makes Pele promise to protect her wife and her groove. However, Hi'iake struggles through a quest that is often described as something greater than The Odyssey and Pele beings to grow impatient. Pele's growing impatience makes her extremely angry and begins acting out violently by spewing lava. In the aftermath of Pele's anger, Hopoe is turned to stone from the lava and the entire groove is destroyed.

In another version of this story, Pele sends Hi'iaka to Kaua'i to find Lohiau who Pele was in love with. Hi'iaka's companions for travel were all women and had to fight several supernatural entities and go on a very long and extensive complicated quest and by the time Hi'iaka reaches Kaua'i, Lohiau has died. She ends up bringing him back to life and returns back to Pele, only to find that Pele has destroyed everything. And in an act of revenge, Hi'iaka embraces Lohiau. But sadly, Pele turns him also to stone by burying him in lava along with all her companions.

The tale of Hi'iaka is one that is considered very brave and powerful. And the ending to her relationship with Hopoe is seen as one of pure love and devotion. Her story allows gives room for scholars to look at more epics and legends that are carried out by women.

...I think it's a story that deserves a place alongside male-centric legends like The Odyssey. (Jessica Mason, 2021)

LIBULAN

The story of Libulan is a very fascinating one. But what is even more fascinating is the presence of an entire canon of mythological figures that are not discussed in popular media even though it gives us a much better representation of characters and people within the LGBTQIA+ community. When it comes to Filipino mythology, a lot of it gets lost in translation as it is more often than not oral tradition that has been passed on for generations. With the dawn of Spanish colonisation of the Philipines, a lot of these translations were lost or taken away. The change in perception of these characters and their loss post-colonization can be understood by a quote from Neil J. Garcia in Male Homosexuality in the Philippines: a short history:

"To the Spanish, they were astonishing, even threatening, as they were respected leaders and figures of authority. To their native communities, they were babaylan or catalonan: religious functionaries and shamans, intermediaries between the visible and invisible worlds to whom even the local ruler (datu) deferred." (Garcia, pg 13)

With the advent of social media and the ability to share being bought to the mainstream, mythological figures such as Libulan can be bought to the forefront and can be shared with the world.

The story of Libulan starts with his unconventional origin. The story of Libulan comes from the Visayan island, one of the three main island groups of the Philippines. Libulan was one of the four children born from Lihangin god of the wind and Lidagat, goddess of the sea. Their children included Likabutan, Liadlaw, Libulan and Lisuga. Libulan was characterised by being shy, timid and soft as compared to his other brothers Likabutan and Liadlaw. Tradition also describes Libulan to be made of copper, a detail that is of greater importance later on in his story. Due to Likabutan's greed and ambitions to overtake the sky world, Libulan's grandfather Kaptan punished them by throwing lightning bolts at his grandchildren turning them into melted versions of their metallic selves. In a fit of grief, he turned them into various celestial beings and that is how Libulan, the now moon god became associated with the moon.

Another creation myth that is associated with Libulan is the story of Batala (the prime God) who created seven moons to illuminate the earth. In this version of the story, a particular dragon by the name of Bakunawa, wanted to have the moons all for themselves. Within this story, we learn of the love between Libulan and Sidapa.

Sidapa, the god of death, was also enamoured by the seven moons ordering birds and other creatures to serenade them and most famously, have firewires light a pathway for the moons to reach him. One of the moons who went to meet Sidapa was Libulan, who showered him with love and gifts. In a fit of rage/jealously, the Bakunawa decided to swallow all the moons one by one because he wanted to consume them all for themselves. In one version of the story, it was Sidapa who ends up rescuing Libulan from the dragon and they both end up living happily ever after as husbands.

In another version of the story, Batala realised that the dragon had eaten his moons and the gods decided to protect the last remaining moon, and another version of the story is that the people fought the dragon off by making so much noise that the dragon hastily retreated and Batala planted bamboo on the moon to protect it. This phenomenon of the Bakunawa consuming the moons is commonly known to us now as the 'lunar eclipse'

The followers of Libulan were seen as feminine village shamans. These cross-dressing shamans were very mystic in nature and under the description provided by Native American people could be described as 'Two-Spirit'. However, the advent of Spanish colonisation viewed these shamans as evil or even possessed. There have also been records where these shamans were considered useless because all they did was pray to Libulan. What we are able to learn from these records is that Libulan is considered a patron to these ostracised men and a patron god of homosexuality.

To conclude these queer mythological stories we can see how much of them were lost to colonization, invaders, missionaries and the indoctrination of Christianity. The rediscovery of these myths allows us to look at couples and pairings in mythology through a lenses that isn't clouded with heterosexuality. In doing so we are truly able to grasp the nature and relations that are described in mythology and find something that is essentially, very beautiful.

WORKS CITED

“A Brief History of Hawaii’s Ancient Gay Culture.” Gayety, 4 Feb. 2019, https://gayety.co/a-brief-history-of-hawaiis-ancient-gay-culture.

Cartwright, Mark. “Apollo.” World History Encyclopedia, 2019, https://www.worldhistory.org/apollo/.

Chan, Harriette. “Queer Mythology in the Philippines —.” Making Queer History, 19 Dec. 2018, https://www.makingqueerhistory.com/articles/2018/12/19/queer-mythology-in-the-philippines.

Emmy. “Madeline Miller - Myths - Myth of the Week: Hyacinthus.” Madelinemiller.Com, 11 Dec. 2011, http://madelinemiller.com/myth-of-the-week-hyacinthus/.

Garcia, J. Neil C. “Male Homosexuality in the Philippines: A Short History.” IIAS Newsletter, Nov. 2004, p. 13.

Liana, C. Courted by Death: Libulan, Filipino God of the Moon and Homosexuality. YouTube, 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgFB06DcWws.

Mason, Jessica. “Let’s Talk about Hi’iaka: The Queer Hawaiian Goddess with an Epic That Puts the Odyssey to Shame.” The Mary Sue, 5 Apr. 2021, https://www.themarysue.com/mythology-monday-lets-talk-about-hiiaka/.

Overly Sarcastic Productions. Miscellaneous Myths: Hyacinthus. YouTube, 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxEWO7Uc7D0&vl=en.

---. Miscellaneous Myths: Pride Tales. Youtube, 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-gd3H789Zc&vl=en.

Phillipines, Luzviminda. “LIBULAN MOON DEITY.” Visayan Mythologies of Philippines, 8 May 2013, http://vizayanmyths.blogspot.com/2013/05/libulan-moon-diwata.html.

Theoi.Com, https://www.theoi.com/Olympios/ApollonLoves.html#:~:text=The%20most%20celebrated%20of%20his,see%20the%20Apollo%20pages%20sidebar. Accessed 21 June 2022.

RYLE FAUSTINO SOUTO

AU190021

SEM VI

REPRESENATION OF GENDER AND SEXUALITY

ryl001@chowgules.ac.in

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