X is for Fairy Crosses (Gemstone Folklore)

Welcome to the 2022 A to Z Blogging Challenge! My theme this year is Gemstone Folklore. Because I love stories about shiny things. Read the introduction to the project here.

STAUROLITE

Staurolite (lit. cross-stone) is a type of mineral that often crystallizes twinned, forming a natural cross shape. These crystals are often found in Georgia and Virginia, and generally well known in Appalachia.

"Fairy crosses"

Cherokee legend

There are legends among the Cherokee that claim that they knew about Jesus Christ before the first white people landed on their continent. One of these stories claim that the news arrived through the Aniyvwi Tsunsdi, the Little People (often translated as "fairies"). They gathered one day for a day of dancing and celebrations, when one of them arrived late, bringing the news from far away that Jesus had been crucified. At the news the Little People wept in sorrow, and their tears transformed into the small cross-shaped crystals one can still find on the ground today. They are believed to bring good luck, and ward off evil.

Sources: Read about the legend here, here, here, or here.

Have you ever found a natural fairy cross?

Or another stone of peculiar shape?

U is for Uktena Stones (Gemstone Folklore)

Welcome to the 2022 A to Z Blogging Challenge! My theme this year is Gemstone Folklore. Because I love stories about shiny things. Read the introduction to the project here.

MICA, QUARTZ, DIAMOND

Diamonds and quartz have already been discussed earlier in the challenge. Mica, the third mineral featuring into the Uktena legends, is a group of minerals known for their special structure that lets them split into flat plates or sheets.

The Uktena and its gem

Cherokee legend

According to Cherokee tradition, the Uktena was a giant serpent with deadly powers (and many descendants). It had a brilliant gem on its forehead called Ulstitlu that could blind anyone trying to attack the serpent. Even when sleeping, the Uktena could bring death to a person's whole family; even the scales it shed retained their dangerous power.

There is a legend that says that once a medicine man captured by the Cherokee offered to bring them the magic crystal from the Uktena's forehead. He spent a lot of time seeking the serpent. When he finally found it, he first prepared a shelter for himself, then shot the Uktena through the seventh spot on its back (where the heart is hidden). The dying Uktena spouted venom and poisonous blood, but the medicine man had his ring of fire and shelter ready. Once the serpent was dead, he called on the birds to clean the carcass - then climbed a tree and recovered the magic stone from where a raven had discarded it. Taken from the serpent the magic gem was now called Ulunsuti, and it had the power to bring good weather, success in hunting, and help its owner see the future.

(One drop of blood did hit the medicine man - so he had a small snake growing out of his head for the rest of his life.)

According to researchers, Ulunsuti stones owned by medicine men were most often quartz crystals (sometimes the rutilated kind), or other transparent stones. In Cherokee mound burials quartz crystals (Ulunsuti stones) and mica flakes (the Uktena's scales) were often included.

Sources: Read the story here. Read about mound burials here. Read about medicine men and their use of minerals here. Read about more accounts of the Uktena and its crystal here. Read about the Uktena's place in indigenous astronomy here.

There is also a belief recorded from the Delaware Nation that placing Uktena scales (mica) on a rock can help bring rain.

Would you chance a fight with a large serpent for a magic gem?