The one constant throughout visual and literary representations of the werewolf is the willing – or unwilling – consumption of human flesh. This trope is drawn directly from the ancient origin of the werewolf myth.
Through myth, fairy tale and legend, powerful women are depicted as dark, cruel and calculating, and they are often naturally associated with winter – a season where all warmth withdraws, and the land is covered with snow and ice, and life is no more than a battle of survival against the elements.
The most famous wolf myth is the one of Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome. The story has evolved through the ages, but the best-known version claims their mother was a virgin and that their father was the war god Mars. In typical Greek-Roman fashion, their great uncle – the king – abandoned them on the River Tiber in an attempt to avoid a prophecy of his death. Tiberinus, the god of the river, spared the twins. A wolf suckled the boys until a shepherd adopted them. Eventually, Romulus and Remus helped their grandfather retake his thrown and kill their great uncle.
Antiquity, with inscrutable dead languages, some still indecipherable, pulls us close with epic monuments and inscriptions.
Mother goddesses are present in all kinds of mythology around the world. They all bring the archetypical mother qualities: giving birth, nurturing, taking care, and teaching their offspring, for example. In Brazil, we have the influence of three big –- and totally different –- cultures that shaped customs and beliefs we have today.
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