The timeless brilliance of the Hindu epic Mahabharata, illuminated by the mysterious art of Balinese shadow theatre, enacted to the percussive metallophones of traditional gamelan ensembles.
Rituals and Traditions
WilderUtopia celebrates world culture with a frame of environmental sustainability. Our inspiration sources from ethnically-based indigenous arts, myth and storytelling, as well as dance and music, played out in the rituals, customs, and traditions of the many peoples of the planet.
Forest Spirits ‘Induce Confusion’ in Native Vancouver Island
Facing cultural genocide at the turn of the 1900s, the Kwakwaka’wakw (Kwakiutl) people’s way of life in northern Vancouver Island were protected and preserved by the work of anthropologist Franz Boas and photographer Edward S. Curtis.
Journey of Grandmother Rain – World Creation of the Wixáritari (Huicholes)
Here we re-tell the story of Takutzi Nakawe, Grandmother Rain, and how the world was created, according to the Wixaritari (Huicholes) of the Western Sierra Madre Mountains of Mexico.
Myth: The Crow Who Visited the Land of the Seven Cranes
The original lands of the Crow or Apsáalooke peoples were east of Yellowstone National Park in Montana/Wyoming, the Absarokas, across the Basin to the Big Horn Mountains, and southeast to the Wind Rivers. This story, recounted to anthropologist Robert Lowie at the turn of the 20th Century, reveals the esoteric visionary experience of a young Crow, and his interest to visit the Land of the Birds.
Yaqui of Mexico: How the Sorcerer Cricket Saved the People
The traditional Yaqui story of the Sorcerer Cricket, made into a video short by Gabriela Badillo, tells how he saved the people from a serpent monster, only to face the prophesied coming of the Spanish conquistadores.
Labor Taskmaster: The Yule Cat Monster of Iceland
Christmas legends make the freezing nights pass faster and the children – and laborers – behave. Iceland’s Jólakötturinn, or Yule Cat, warned lazy children would be eaten by a monster cat, which has roots hundreds of years back, and popularized by a poem by Johannes ur Kotlum.
Krampus, Wild Nature Spirit, the Christmas Daemon
Krampus, a half-goat, half-daemon of centuries-old Bavarian-Alpine lore, appears prior to the celebration of the benevolent giver Saint Nicholas on December 6th, where Central European communities have a Krampuslauf, or Krampus Run, the night before.