This is not a reference to the Big Chill in the winter of 2013/4 but to a period of very cold weather that is recorded in the myths of different people around the world. Whether the big chill occurred contemporary in all those different places is another question, or whether it was cold in one place at one time and in another place at another time is an unknown. Anyway, Rens Van Der Sluijs can be read at www.thunderbolts.info/wp/2014/03/11/muddy-memories-2/ … looks at different accounts by people from around the world. The Cherokee have a myth about the origin of fire, and warmth – which was absent until lightning brought it. Australian Aborigines refer to the very cold times of long ago. Funny thing is that the Ice Age is not thought to have affected Australia too much – so how far back was the big chill in the Outback. The SE corner of Australia may have been somewhat colder, with mountain glaciers – yet humans were living in Tasmania, which is closer to the Antarctic, all that time.
It was also very wet – and muddy (hence the post title). According to the Yoruba tribe the world was nothing but mud until the Sun dried it out, bringing warmth. There was also darkness associated with most of the creation tales and mythology – which adds another dimension. The inference made is that the cold dark and soggy times coincided with the Ice Age – and the melting ice sheets. However, he also recognises that in some instances such myths refer to events in the sky rather than on the surface of the Earth, plasma based events.
Rens Van Der Sluijs has written a number of books that can be purchased via his web site at www.mythopedia.info