Saturday, October 7, 2006

A snake by any other name...

Ms. Snakey-poo (who’s currently trying to find a way to escape her cage—good luck with that) finally has a name. So which of the aforementioned names did we decide upon? None of them.

Since she kept her dinner in her stomach, where it belongs, I decided the time had come today to make a decision; or at least narrow down the field. I wasn’t terribly keen on any of the names that were in the running, so I went on a hunt looking for a name that was more suitable. Something exotic and colorful, a name that wouldn’t sound as if it were intended for a pampered cat, a cuddly puppy, or worst of all a pet hamster.

I had found the Ancient Egyptian name Kepi (meaning tempest) before, which I thought was on the right track, so I started my search looking through the Egyptian pantheon…

I have an insatiable interest in Egyptology. The lure of digging in the hot Egyptian sands is what led me to pursue a degree in Anthropology and Archaeology. Of course I think every Anthropology student has a love of everything Ancient Egyptian, it doesn’t take a student long, however, to learn that it’s nearly impossible to get a position working on an Egyptian dig. So dreams and desires confront reality, and new ones are formed. In my case, when I’m lucky enough to get back to school, I’ll pursue a career as a Biological Archaeologist, and study human remains found on dig sites, and if I’m really lucky those sites will be located in Mexico and South America. So dreams change, but the love remains, and Egypt will always hold a place in my heart.

Anyway, back to snake names… The Ancient Egyptians had more gods and goddesses than you could possibly imagine. They had a deity for every animal, emotion, career, and occasion. Part of the reason was because their empire lasted a very long time, and mythology grows with the civilization it’s attached to. Another reason for the plethora of deities was that any time the Ancient Egyptians conquered another nation, in order to smooth the transition and prevent unrest and upheaval, they just added that nation’s deities to their own pantheon, associating some with established Egyptian deities that had similar mythology, but in a lot of cases they just added the new god or goddess to the ever expanding list. People could also become gods themselves, Pharaohs and their wives were living gods on earth, but priests and priestesses could also obtain that status as well. Take approximately 5000 years of stacking up deities in this manner, and well… Let’s just say the heavens are full at night.

So I knew that if I searched for “Egyptian,” “snake,” and “goddess” I’d find at least one name to add to the list. So I did just that and the first site on the list provided this little blurb:



Pay dirt! Four Egyptian goddess names to choose from with just one mouse click. So I thought about the names and picked the one that I thought best suited my slinky little nocturnal baby.

Now I decided to circumvent the inevitable debate (argument) with my two oldest children and name her without their agreement. She’s my snake after all, and I don’t feel like waiting until they come back home on Monday only to have them boo and hiss at my choice, and ultimately draw out the snake’s naming even longer because none of us can agree. So instead I made a sticky note, and stuck it to the snake’s tank for them to read when they get home. It says:

Hello,
I’m the Egyptian primeval snake goddess of darkness.
My name is Kauket
Now go ahead and complain to your mother.

It won’t do them any good though, what’s done is done.

Take care,
Anne

No comments: