Prompt: Of Man, Lamia, and Goddesses (Holiday Special: Part 17)

Summary: In a parallel universe much like our own, a series of divine mishaps creature a world where lamia replace human females as the eternal partners for men. What follows is a series of vignettes of how this world evolved over time. Commissioned by downhillrabbit6.1 for the month of December 2023

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The History of Saasaa Maria, Patron Saint of the Winter Solstice

There is a commonality amongst different cultures to develop the mythos of legendary figures and stories, who serve the purpose of providing stories to both entertain and educate, and to impart a strong moral backbone for the children. More succinctly put, it is a means to scare children into behaving. Historically, many iterations of the same idea manifested across different cultures, but as lamians encroached across the broader landscape and dominated human culture as a whole, most of these disparate threads began to blur together.

Saasaa Maria, as we know today, is a beloved figure among children across the world, a timeless lamian known for slithering down chimneys, bringing presents and toys if they were good that year, and devouring naughty children whole... Though in the modern age, this idiom was replaced with more recent traditions of leaving candy wrappers strewn about, signalling that Saasaa had made off with all their treats and candy. Though Saasaa has had many depictions in popular media, a red cloak and a satin stocking riding their entire white tail makes for the most traditional portrayal.

Saasaa Maria is an amalgamation of historical figures from centuries ago, though modern portrayals have scrubbed out more of the violent details. We will briefly touch on some of these anecdotes.

Accounts from the 1600s in modern-day Germany describe a noble lamia, Marie Dietrich. As this individual was elusive and secretive in life, first-hand accounts are scarce; however, based on historical artifacts recovered from her castle estate (in the forms of diaries and journals), researchers determined that Marie possessed a staunch, uncompromising sense of justice. She would often break into homes in the dead of night, devouring evil men whole, but not before leaving keepsakes and presents for their widowed spouses and offspring.

Another founding myth concerns the fortress town of Constantinople. In the 1300s, the impressive city was under constant siege from centauress and mermaid forces, to the point that the flow of goods and supplies was utterly cut off. While many starved under these harsh conditions, an underground network of lamians established an impressive tunnel network, bringing food and supplies to households, and toys for the kids. This underground network inspired more than a few myths of its own, such as the ceremonial practice of snake hunting via stabbing at the ground with long spikes, but one story around this historical anecdote explains that the children would misread the letters left behind by agents of the resistance movement: it is believed that this is the basis for the name "Saasaa". Over time, the myriad versions of these origin figures would be blended together and synthesized into a common moral figure.

The winter solstice celebration itself takes its origins from various myths surrounding the transition from fall to the winter season, where the nights get colder and increasingly inhospitable. In Europe during the 1500s, gatherings of lamia would snatch up human males from nearby villages, whisking them away to the depths of the woods; there would be sumptuous feasts, a partner for every man and lamia huddling for warmth, before the men would be devoured whole for both energy and body heat. In modern times, the banquet of humans has been adjusted for contemporary sensibilities; a single man is to be selected and consumed during the hour where the moon is highest in the sky, and released from the lamia's internal workings as the capstone of the night's celebrations.

In modern times, the popular portrayal of Saasaa Maria portrays her as a youthful lamian sprite, and something of a glutton for both adventure and regional delights, popularized by classic Christmas movies as a master of breaking-and-entering who makes herself at home, and brings a little solstice magic to the exasperated home owner.

While this is the most popular portrayal, countless holiday movies feature Saasaa Maria as the central character, with different explorations on the character. One major franchise concerns the transformation of a no-nonsense lamia who, after devouring the original Saasaa Maria (who she mistook for a house burglar), realizes a transformation from a stern businesswoman, into a jovial, carefree solstice figure, upending her life in the process. Another movie franchise reframes the iconic character as an action hero, defending her home at the center of the earth from would-be terrorists, eager to take the Winter Solstice itself hostage (for an incredible ransom).

As the solstice is increasingly commercialized, more interpretations of Saasaa Maria have come to the fore, ranging from a slithering-disaster of a lamia engaging who seduces toy-making elves, to a space traveller bringing the spirit of the solstice to faraway planets. Despite it all, Saasaa Maria remains a fixture at shopping malls across the world, letting children rest on her stocking-wrapped tail, eager to listen to their requests and to pose for a photo.

One interesting aside with regards to the history of Saasaa Maria concerns an amusing trend of disasters specifically surrounding scaled-up homages to the character. There is a superstition regarding Saasaa Maria that bad luck would befall any sufficiently large depiction of the character, and the trend of unfortunate incidents have lent some credence to this myth. Large For example, Saasaa Maria snow and ice sculptures would bring unseasonably warm weather, inviting their collapse. The myth has perpetuated far enough that Saasaa Maria seldom appears as a balloon or as a float in parades, for fear of disaster following suit; an errant lighting bolt, a sinkhole emerging in the ground, all manner of ills have befallen the character.

Some theologists speculate that Saasaa Maria herself invited the wrath of the goddesses above, as an idol curated by mortal hands and elevated to godly status herself, without having ever been a goddess herself; the shows of disasters, then, could be explained as physical manifestations of the goddesses' invoked ire. This period of inquiry faded away in recent years; As more daring enterprises aspired to reintroduce Saasaa Maria back to the public eye. This effort was headlined by the largest, and longest parade balloon ever in the Snaby's Solstice Parade) and, as it reached the end of the parade route without catching fire, it seemed as though the goddesses above were, finally, silenced, in some way.

Thus, the myth of disaster following Saasaa Maria became little more than a source of historical curiosity, and the character was pushed more aggressively into the public consciousness.