'IF ONLY...' - IN MEMORY OF MY MOTHER, MARY SHUKER (1921-2013)

(Above and below) Mom and I at Hong Kong's Cat Street Markets/Galleries, summer 2005 (© Dr Karl Shuker)

Please click: Star Steeds and Other Dreams: IF ONLY...

TRACKING THE TURUL – HUNGARY'S PREMIER MYTHOLOGICAL BIRD

Sepia postcard dated 1927, depicting a statue of the turul bearing the crown of Attila the Hun and located near Tatabánya in Hungary (Dr Karl Shuker)

Back in the good years of my life, when my dear mother, Mary Shuker, was still here with me, we visited together countless antique and book fairs, bric-a-brac markets, car boot sales, and suchlike, both here in Britain and overseas, and spent many happy hours browsing through the assorted paraphernalia in search of that special something. During those times, I seemed to develop what others have jokingly called a gift, a talent, or even an 'eye', for spotting unusual items of a cryptozoological or zoomythological nature, many of which I purchased if reasonably priced, and I have documented a number of these little 'treasures' on ShukerNature (see here, here, and here, for instance) and elsewhere in my writings.

Since Mom passed away, on Easter Monday 2013, however, my interest in such events has dwindled almost to nothing, as I feel so abjectly sad to be walking around them without her, and on the few occasions when I have visited one, I've never come upon anything relevant to my zoological specialities. Which has made me wonder: perhaps I didn't possess a gift, a talent, or an eye for finding such items after all – perhaps, just as she was in so many other areas too, Mom had been my muse, my inspiration, for uncovering them.

Mom and I amid the treasures and tranklements (a favourite local-Midlands-dialect word of Mom's) in Hong Kong's famous Cat Street antiques and curios markets, summer 2005 (© Dr Karl Shuker)

And then, yesterday, while visiting a local town to do some ordinary shopping, I unexpectedly came upon a tiny indoor book fair, which I hadn't known about as it was only visiting temporarily. Wandering around the stalls, I came to one that had a large box of old picture postcards, priced at 50p each, and numbering well over a hundred cards in total. In the past, I'd have laboriously perused each and every one, in case any of them depicted something of zoological or mythological pertinence, as I've found a number of hitherto-obscure illustrations from such sources before, and have been able to include them in my writings. Yesterday, however, no longer fired with such enthusiasm, I simply flicked through a dozen or so at random in a desultory, disinterested manner – thereby making it all the more surprising that out of such a small number glanced at by me, one of them should just so happen to depict a statue of a little-known but fascinating bird of mythology – the Hungarian turul.

Turul depicted on a 60-filler postage stamp issued by Hungary in 1900 and overprinted in 1904 (© Jacquesverlaeken/Wikipedia)

Recognising it immediately (my wildlife stamp collection contains several early Hungarian stamps featuring the turul), I naturally purchased the postcard, and its picture opens this present ShukerNature article. On its reverse was a handwritten note dated 21 September 1927, so the card had evidently been produced sometime prior to this – but there is no publisher name or any other details regarding the card's origin or age printed upon it.

Researching its photograph, I discovered that the statue it portrays is made of bronze and is located on top of Gerecse Mountain overlooking the major city of Tatabánya in northwestern Hungary, and the turul is depicted bearing the crown of Attila the Hun (not the Holy Crown of Hungary, as sometimes claimed). But what is the turul? What is its history, its symbolism, and why is it so important in Hungarian mythology?

Modern-day photograph of the turul statue overlooking Tatabánya (© Gajárszki László/Wikipedia)

More than 260 statues portraying the turul can be found in Central Europe, of which 196 occur in Hungary itself, with the others present in regions of Austria, Romania, Slovakia, Serbia, and Ukraine that had once been part of Greater Hungary. The most recently-created of these is a beautiful example located in Hungary's Ópusztaszer National Heritage Park, and which was officially unveiled on 29 September 2012. Moreover, boasting a stupendous wingspan of 49 ft, the Tatabánya turul statue depicted on my picture postcard is reputedly the largest bird statue in the world, and is certainly the largest bronze statue of any kind in Central Europe (there had been two other turul statues of the same size in what had formerly been Greater Hungary, but both of those are now destroyed) – all of which emphasises just how significant this mythological bird is deemed to be in traditional Magyar lore.

Spectacular turul statue at the memorial to Hungarian World War II heroes at the southern Hungarian town of Bácsalmás (public domain)

Perhaps the most famous, celebrated turul statue of all, however, is the magnificent sculpture standing high above the River Danube on a plinth over the Habsburg Steps at the Buda Palace (formerly called the Royal Palace) at Budapest, Hungary.

The Buda Palace's frontage, showing the turul statue at top-right of the photograph (public domain) – click picture to enlarge it

It was created by Gyula Donáth in 1904, as was the ornate Neo-Baroque rail surrounding its plinth. Tragically, both the plinth and the rail were seriously damaged during the Siege of Budapest in the 1940s, but were restored in 1981. So too was the broken Kingdom of Hungary coat-of-arms on the plinth.

Close-up of the Buda Palace's turul statue (public domain) – click picture to enlarge it

Its appearance as represented by the many statues still in existence indicate that the turul is meant to represent an eagle-like or even a giant hawk-like or falcon-like bird of prey, and is sometimes identified specifically with the very sizeable saker falcon Falco cherrug (certain writers have likened it to a griffin, but the turul is entirely avian in form, lacking any representation of a griffin's leonine aspects). Indeed, 'turul' is an ancient Hungarian word for falcon.

Saker falcon, a popular identity for the turul (public domain)

A divine messenger believed to perch upon the biblical Tree of Life, the turul symbolises the power and will of God and is often depicted carrying God's flaming sword. In addition, it personifies the Huns that gave rise to the Magyar nation, and is said in lore to be the ancestor of Attila himself (who died in 453 AD but is deemed in legend to be the first king of the realm that in later centuries would become Hungary).

Turul statue in Nagykanizsa, a medium-sized city in southwestern Hungary (public domain)

According to 9^th-Century Magyar historical mythology, as daughter of Prince Önedbelia of Dentumoger, mother of High Prince Álmos, and wife of Ügyek (descended from Attila the Hun), Emese was the ancestress of the Árpád dynasty – the dynasty that founded the modern-day Hungarian kingdom. She supposedly had a dream in which she was symbolically impregnated by a turul, causing a great stream of crystal-clear water to flow from her womb, transforming into a mighty river that signified her child (the future High Prince Álmos) would give rise to a lineage of great rulers, which he did – beginning with Árpád, celebrated leader of the Magyars, who founded Hungary and whose founding dynasty is named after him.

A somewhat ghostly-looking turul statue (and two pigeon friends!) in Budapest, Hungary (public domain)

Álmos himself allegedly had a portentous dream too, in which huge eagles came and attacked some horses belonging to the various tribes of which he was leader, but they were saved by a turul that drove the eagles away. Álmos's dream supposedly inspired his leading a migration of his tribes into the land that is now Hungary, with their journey guided according to lore by the turul.

Turul monument in the village of Tiszabecs, eastern Hungary, as depicted in a vintage illustration from 1903 (public domain)

However, the turul is certainly not a legend confined to bygone times, for in addition to the numerous statues depicting it, this highly symbolic, iconic bird even today appears on the coat-of-arms of the Hungarian Army and the Office of National Security. (It was also used as a symbol of radical right-wing student organisations between the two World Wars, but the politics in which this played a part lie outside the scope and intention of the present article.)

Budapest's 'ghostly-looking' turul statue photographed in a beautiful autumnal setting (© Laika ac/Wikipedia)

Reflecting upon my fortuitous find of the turul postcard yesterday, which in turn inspired me to research and write this present ShukerNature article today (and thereby bring – I hope – the turul to attention far beyond its traditional Central European domain), I have wondered whether my supposed talent or gift, my 'eye', for locating such items of interest has not vanished, has not become blind, after all. Then again, as I have also reflected, perhaps I had not been alone at the book fair. Perhaps, just like in the good old days, Mom had been wandering around it with me, no longer seen or heard by me, but there beside me nonetheless, just like she had always been, and that it had been she who had guided my fingers when I was idly flicking through the box of postcards, in order for me to find, out of over a hundred tightly-packed cards, the one that she knew would be of interest to me. I hope so, so very much. Thank you, Mom.

Beautiful vintage hand-coloured picture postcard from 1906 depicting the Buda Palace, with the turul statue at the top-right of the picture (public domain)

DID I SEE AN UNDISCOVERED SPECIES OF GIANT PRAYING MANTIS IN SOUTH AFRICA?

19^th-Century engraving of a praying mantis

The longest species of praying mantis currently known to science is the giant stick mantis Ischnomantis gigas. Brown in colour, enabling it to blend in with the bushes upon which it lives and lies in wait for unwary prey to approach, this mighty mantid is native to Senegal, southern Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Mali, northern Nigeria, Cameroon, and Sudan. The longest specimen on record is an adult female collected in Kankiya, northern Nigeria, which measured a very impressive 17.2 cm long, and is now preserved in London's Natural History Museum.

Ischnomantis media, a smaller relative of I. gigas (public domain)

Africa is also home to the world's largest mantis species, the aptly-named mega-mantis Plistospilota guineensis, native to Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Guinea, Liberia, and Ghana. Adult females grow up to 11 cm long, but are bulkier and heavier (weighing up to 10 g) than those of the giant stick mantis. They also have much larger wings; the wings of females belonging to the giant stick mantis I. gigas are so small that the females are rendered flightless.

But could there be even bigger species of mantid still awaiting formal scientific discovery and description? The reason why I ask this question is that a few years ago I had a first-hand encounter with a mysterious giant mantis, one that I was unable to identify and which has puzzled me ever since. So I am now documenting it here – as an online ShukerNature exclusive – in the hope that someone reading this post of mine may be able to offer a solution.

Mantids of many kinds (public domain)

In November 2008, my mother Mary D. Shuker and I spent four days at the private Shamwari Game Reserve, situated just outside Port Elizabeth in South Africa's Eastern Cape. On the last day of our stay there, just a few moments before the car arrived to take us and some other Shamwari guests back to the airport at Port Elizabeth, one of the safari guides walked over towards where we were all waiting, and squatting on the outstretched palm of his right hand was what I can only describe as an absolutely enormous praying mantis.

Brown in colour and very burly, this extraordinary specimen was so big that it was easily the length of his entire hand, and it was very much alive. Its 'praying' front limbs were moving slightly, and its head turned to look at us as we gazed at it in astonishment. As it made no attempt to fly away, however, I am assuming that it was flightless.

Frustratingly, my camera was packed away in one of my cases, so I couldn't take any photographs of this amazing insect. Nor could I question the guide about it, because at that same moment the car arrived to take us to the airport, so the guide walked off, still carrying the huge mantis on his hand.

19^th-Century engraving illustrating a selection of mantids

Needless to say, I have never forgotten that spectacular creature, and I have sought ever since to uncover its taxonomic identity, but I have been unable to reconcile it with any mantis species recorded from South Africa (or, indeed, from anywhere else for that matter!).

So what was this mystery mantis of truly monstrous dimensions? If anyone can provide an answer, I'd love to hear from you!

Mom (on right) with a fellow guest in front of Long Lee Manor, our place of residence while staying in Shamwari Private Game Reserve, South Africa, November 2008 (© Dr Karl Shuker)

REMEMBERING MY MOTHER

Mom, wearing the beautiful protea-decorated coat that she purchased in Cape Town, South Africa, in 2008 (© Dr Karl Shuker)

Today it is one year since, on Easter Monday (1 April) 2013, my dear mother, Mary Doreen Shuker, passed away, leaving me totally devastated at the loss of the most wonderful, loving person in my life. During the days, weeks, and months that have followed this traumatic event, I have sought to put into words just how much she has always meant to me, how profoundly influential she has been throughout my life, and how grief-stricken I remain by her passing. Here is a selection of what I have written and compiled.

Whatever good there may be in me came from you.

Thank you for blessing my life by being in it

as my mother.

You were, are, and always will be quite simply

the best person I shall ever know,

and I love you with all of my heart.

God bless you, little Mom,

please wait for me,

watch over me in this lonely existence of mine now,

and come for me when my time here is over.

Au revoir, Mom, until we meet again.

My tribute to Mom, posted on my Facebook wall on 1 April 2013 when announcing her passing; and it is also my Dedication to her in my book 'Mirabilis' (Anomalist Books: New York, 2013).

"Beauty was hers in all its brightness and she was determined to embrace every shape, line and color imbued in her spirit."

Quotation on the lid of the memory box (pictured here) that I bought for my Mom a few hours ago; it describes her perfectly - indeed, it could have been written specifically for her.

God bless you, little Mom - how I wish you were still here with me.

Posted on my Facebook wall on 8 April 2013.

God bless you, Mom.

Thank you for everything that has ever been good in my life.

How I wish that you were still here with me, fit and well,

ready to set off with me on our next adventure together.

I love you, little Mom, always.

The concluding words in my eulogy to Mom, which I read aloud at her funeral on 16 April 2013 (and which can be read in full online here on ShukerNature).

13 weeks ago this evening, my dear little Mom passed away -

a whole quarter-year has somehow gone by,

during which time I have found myself locked inside a strange and very sad new life.

I can never return to the past,

except in dreams,

and the future is as ever opaque.

And so I live life now a moment at a time,

and dream...

Posted on my Facebook wall on 1 July 2013

A hand-coloured photograph of Mom in her 20s during the 1940s (© Mary D. Shuker/Dr Karl Shuker)

I attended my Mom's Memorial Service tonight at church,

and I placed a candle for her on a table before me,

where its light gently flickered until the end of the service, after which, once I had left the church, it would be extinguished.

But the candle of love that my Mom had lit inside my heart on the day that I was born,

and which now burns there for her,

is infinitely brighter, warmer, and will never be extinguished.

And although the memorial service for my Mom in church is over now,

the memorial service for her that has been performing inside my mind every moment of every day since she passed away will never come to an end –

it will continue in perpetuity for the rest of my life.

God bless you Mom - I love you, always.

 Posted on my Facebook wall on 21 July 2013 following my attendance of my Mom's Memorial Service earlier that evening.

One part of the show that really registered with me was the song

 'They Live In You',

when the shaman-type mandrill Rafiki was telling the adult Simba that his father will always be a part of him,

will always live in him,

and that when he looks into the mirror of a forest pool,

he will see his father in his own reflection,

looking back at him.

I'd never thought of that before.

Also, several people have told me that I have my Mom's eyes,

different colour but same shape and depth;

and Mom often joked that I had her squat, pudgy nose,

and I do.

So now, whenever I look into a mirror,

I'll see Mom there in my reflection,

spiritually and physically,

looking back at me,

and I'll know that she is part of me,

is with me still,

forever.

Posted on my Facebook wall on 10 August 2013 after attending a performance of Disney's 'The Lion King' stage musical at the Birmingham Hippodrome that afternoon.

This evening marks exactly 26 weeks = 6 months = half a year since my mother, Mary Shuker, passed away, leaving behind an aching void inside my heart that I have papered over with memories but which can never be filled and will never heal. I recently came upon the following words while browsing online, which encapsulate so many of my own thoughts, feelings, truths, and beliefs. God bless you Mom, how I miss you and wish you were here with me still. With all my love:

 

Posted on my Facebook wall on 30 September 2013.

This morning, I visited the newly-completed gravestone of my mother, Mary Doreen Shuker (1921-2013), which has taken 6 months to prepare. Standing there in the solitude of the cemetery, it all still seemed so unreal, that the vibrant little lady always so full of life, of living, and of love was gone, her time in this world marked only by the stone and grave there before me, beautiful and elegant though they were, just like she had always been. Come the closing of December, I shall not grieve the passing of 2013, but I shall forever grieve the passing within it of my mother, whose light is gone from my world until that joyous day when we will be reunited forever.

From the introduction to my composition 'The Chained Gates' (click here to read it in full on my Star Steeds blog), written by me on 22 October 2013.

2013

I shall not mourn the passing of this year,

Nor shall I mourn its months of grief and strife.

All I shall mourn is that one person dear,

My mother, whom it stole out of my life.

God bless you, Little Mom - I love you always.

Happy New Year - may we be together again one day.

One of my framed photographs of Mom (© Dr Karl Shuker)

Composed by me and posted on my Facebook wall on 31 December 2013.

Happy Birthday in Heaven, Mom

- how I wish that I could share it with you.

God Bless.

Posted on my Facebook wall on my mother's birthday, 29 January 2014.

To my dear mother, Mary D. Shuker (1921-2013), whose lifelong interest in wildlife guided and encouraged my own from my earliest days. Thank you for filling my world with wonder, joy, and love for such a long and very happy time. How I miss you, and how I wish that you were still here with me today and always. God bless you, little Mom.

"The mother's heart is the child's schoolroom."

   Henry Ward Beecher – Life Thoughts

My Dedication to my mother in my forthcoming book, 'The Menagerie of Marvels: A Third Compendium of Extraordinary Animals' (CFZ Press: Bideford, in press; due for publication in summer 2014).

Mom, wearing one of her favourite and most beautiful jumpers (© Dr Karl Shuker)

"Remembrance is the only paradise out of which we cannot be driven away."

   Jean Paul Friedrich Richter

The above quotation, chosen long ago by my mother, is inscribed upon the tombstone of the first of my family's two three-person grave plots. Here lie her parents (my Nan and Grandad), Gertrude and Ernest Timmins, and her first husband, Harold Hooper - who died aged only 30 as a result of serving in the armed forces during World War II.

How very true is that quotation, which must have been such a source of comfort to her in the face of her great losses, and which is now of equal comfort to me in the face of mine.

"God gave us memories so that we may have roses in December."

   Adapted from a line in a rectorial address given by James M. Barrie on 3 May 1922 at St Andrews University, Scotland.

The above quotation, also chosen long ago by my mother, is inscribed upon the tombstone of my family's second three-person grave plot, situated alongside the first one. Here is where my little brother André (who passed away in 1955) and my mother lie, and where, when it is my time, I too shall lie, reunited at last with my family and never to be parted from them again.

Time waits for no-one, for nothing, not even for grief. Tomorrow will be 52 Saturdays since Mom and I set off on what would be our last outing together, though mercifully we had no realisation of that at the time, and had a lovely afternoon. On Sunday it is Mother's Day this year, and it will also be 52 Sundays since Mom was taken ill late that evening. Monday will be 12 months to the day since she gently slipped away early that evening in hospital, with me beside her, holding her hand and telling her how much I loved her. And Tuesday will be 12 months to the date since that most traumatic of all events in my life happened - the event that I had always dreaded most throughout my entire time here on earth. So, wish me well during the next four very momentous days for me, as they revive all of those mixed memories, and bring to a close the worst year of my life - a year which, if I am honest, I may not have survived had it not been for the kind words and continuing support of so many friends here on Facebook. So thank you all - I am truly grateful.

Mom in our garden (© Dr Karl Shuker)

Above is a photo of Mom in happier times, wearing one of her beautiful, vibrant coats that she loved so much, epitomising her own lifelong love of Nature's wonders and beauty, and which she nurtured in me too from my earliest days. Thank you, little Mom, how I wish that you were still here.

Posted on my Facebook wall on 28 March 2014.

 

The card that I bought for Mom for Mother's Day this year, 30 March 2014, continuing a tradition that shall last for as long as I last.

Can it be just a year ago today since you passed from my life, my little Mom?

Sometimes it seems but a heartbeat away, other times a thousand lives, a thousand worlds, from where I am now.

People try to show sympathy and understanding when they learn that you have gone, but they have no concept of the true nature of my loss - the immeasurable breadth and limitless depth of the black chasm created in my life and within my heart by your passing. Yes, I have indeed lost my mother - a loss that in itself would be all but unbearable. But I have also lost my best friend, my ever-present housemate, my constant travelling companion, my most trusted confidante, my number one supporter, and my entire family. You were all of those persons, Mom, and so much more besides. Is it any wonder why I grieve without ending, why my life is now but a paltry, meaningless existence, a mere shadow of its former state, why I look only to the past for happiness and security now, and to the future with only loneliness and fear?

I never cried as a child, because I'd never give the school bully, the playground tormentor, the satisfaction of seeing my tears. Instead, I'd save them all, each one a precious pearl of emotion, only to be released in my darkest of all hours some day. Well that day and that hour finally came, a year ago today, the hour in which I lost you, Mom. The tears flowed, and have continued to flow ever since - every tear that I've ever saved throughout my life, torrents of tears that even now after a year of unbroken outpouring continue in unabated profusion, threatening to drown my very being in their salty, burning despair, or to carry me away, borne upon a veritable ocean of tears to who knows where.

. . .

This first year of being without you, of being alone in this world, knowing that wherever I look, whichever street I walk along, whatever shop I walk into, I shall never see you again, shall never hear your voice speaking to me again, shall never see your face in the crowd looking for mine again, has been the worst time of my life. Nothing else ever will, ever could, be as devastating, but I shall miss you always, all the days of my life. I now stand on the brink of entering my second year alone, and I can only pray that acceptance will at last be mine, that grief will lift and give me a measure of release, of peace, and that I shall be worthy of you, Mom, that I shall go on to achieve all that you have ever hoped and dreamed for me.

God bless you, little Mom. Please always stay beside me where you always used to be when here, please always give me hope and encouragement as you always used to do when here, and, above all else, please always love me as you always did when here. If you will do these, I will do the rest – this I promise you, Mom, with all my heart and with all my love, always.

Excerpts from my composition 'A Year Ago Today', which was uploaded in full here on my Star Steeds blog today, upon this first anniversary of my mother's passing.

Happy days: Setting off on another adventure together – Mom and I on our outward-bound Emirates flight to Dubai and the Far East, 2005 (© Dr Karl Shuker)