I can not stop thinking about Paparuda. I retread chapter 4 of The Dancing Goddesses by E W Barber, and I started to follow the notes & explore the bibliography. Here's what I have so far-
Paparuda can give rain, that makes her a rain goddess(?). Her name is spelled Pepeljuga in Serbian, and she is Cinderella. Another variation on the spelling gives Baba Ruga, which came out as Mother of Prayer when I put it into Google Translate (which language was that?)
I started to look for Eastern European fairy tales at the library. There wasn't much time. I found a book of tales from Checloslovakis. In a rare moment of peace, I read the story of the 12 Months out loud. It's almost a Cinderella story. I'm wondering who is the evil stepsister? Could she represent times of crop failure? That's all I can come up with.
What about Cinderella's 3 beautiful dresses? Could they have a meaning? The dresses seem to represent the sky - one is moonlight blue, one is white, and the last one is golden..
This is kind of crazy but what if the Latin name, Papaver, (the name of the poppy plants) means "Papa's worm/dragon"? All I know now is that there's a lot of research ahead, tons more to do. And I'm starting from nothing, I'm reinventing the wheel because I haven't seen what was done before. I can't wait to get back in the library and try again.
