The Monstrefact: Thiuime, the Black Squirrel

In this episode of STBYM’s The Monstrefact, Robert discusses Thiuime, the goddess of war of the Tabasco people of southeast Mexico…

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
Hi, my name is Robert Lamb and this is The
Monster Fact, a short form series from Stuff to Blow
Your Mind, focusing on mythical creatures, ideas, and monsters in time.
In the Stuff to Blow Your Mind Core episodes, we
recently returned to a favorite topic of listeners, that is
the topic of squirrels, which prompted me to finally cover

(00:33):
a mythic squirrel from Meso American traditions here on the
Monster Fact. This entity stems from the traditions of the
Tabasco people of southeast Mexico, whose roots go back thousands
of years to the old Mech civilization. To you, it
may is described in the Encyclopedia of Religion, second Edition
as a goddess presiding over women who died in childbirth

(00:56):
within the region of Uruchao or place of women. In
contrast to some of the emaciated death entities of the
Mayans and the Aztecs, to Um takes on the form
of a black squirrel. You'll find a captivating modern interpretation
of this goddess by Mexican engraver and painter Echo in
the twenty twenty book, a pre Columbian bestiary by Elon Stevens,

(01:20):
a black squirrel perched upon a human skull, a traditional
Makwait weapon toothed with obsidian teeth in its forepots. Stevens
describes to Uma as a goddess of war who roams
the battlefields, and includes a contemporary account from a veteran
of Mexican descent who claimed to have experienced a visitation

(01:41):
of to Uma during the Iraq War following an experience
with a land mine. The black squirrel appeared to him,
but the soldier pleaded with to Uma to let him
live in The goddess indeed moved on. Does the tradition
of to Um at all connect with Objuru of squirrels
as occasional scavengers or even hunters of flesh. It's hard

(02:04):
to say, but surely not impossible. Black squirrels certainly do
exist as a rare melanistic subgroup in various squirrel species,
with possible advantages for thermoregulation in northern climates or camouflage
in dense forests, and some researchers think this adaptation may
also aid squirrels in urban environments as well, And of

(02:24):
course even in places where black squirrel morphs are not
found or in the absence of their observation, humans are
still certainly capable of dreaming up black squirrels. After all,
Black Swan theory ties directly into such considerations, either in
reality or within the imagination, and indeed, in the realm
of the imagination, black squirrels have been associated with magic,

(02:47):
such as in a Celtic folklore, and indeed, in the
writings of J. R. R. Tolkien, we are told that
the squirrels of the haunted Forest of Mirkwood are in
fact black furred and not good to eat, to say
nothing of the various traditions concerning black dogs, black cats,
and other such animals. To you and may would seem

(03:09):
to be another example in human traditions of the dark
furred animal being positioned as a unique entity, an avatar
of the night and mysteries of the other world. Tune
in for additional episodes of the Monster Fact each week.
As always, you can email us at contact It's Stuff
to Blow Your Mind dot com.

Speaker 1 (03:37):
Stuff to Blow Your Mind is production of iHeartRadio. For
more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app
Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to your favorite shows,