Forgotten Sisters: A Novel by Cynthia Pelayo

Author:Cynthia Pelayo [Pelayo, Cynthia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Published: 2024-03-19T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 15

Rivers are often connected to the supernatural.

It’s believed that fairies and sprites live in rivers and tributaries. They’re often benign—helpful, even—but they’ve been thought to generate listlessness in people, depression, and it’s usually among young men.

This is what my research tells me.

These winding bodies of water are regularly tied to the divine feminine, with many being named after goddesses, such as the Osun River in Nigeria, named after a Yoruba goddess; Ireland’s River Shannon, named after Sionann, the granddaughter of the Irish sea god Lir; France’s Seine named after the goddess Sequana, and more. The Chicago River is named after the city for which it runs through. The city then takes its name from the Indigenous Miami-Illinois word shikaakwa, which was the name of the fragrant leeks that grew all along the lake, streams, and river.

Water is fluid, transformative. It’s nurturing. Rivers provide a means of travel, food, and, of course, drinking water. A river is powerful. It is not stagnant or still like a pond or lake. A river is active. It is always moving and alive.

Running water has long been venerated, and the flowing water offers a protective boundary. It is thought that crossing a watercourse ensures one’s safety from supernatural forces. The protective power of running water has long been thought to keep strange mythical creatures, vampires, and more at bay. Folklorists believe that evil spirits cannot cross running water.

What’s interesting, however, is that the Chicago River flow was changed in the 1800s. Where the water used to naturally flow east, through the city and emptying into Lake Michigan, it was reversed to flow west and eventually south to the Gulf of Mexico. While that water flow contributed to the cleanliness of the river and helped the city grow, something about human beings directly manipulating the flow of what is natural to unnatural felt, well, supernatural in a way.

Chicago started out as a small frontier settlement centered on the Chicago River and was later established as a port. The river served as an important factor for fur traders in the area, and later lumber and meatpacking, as I noted to Peter at the remains of the Union Stock Yard.

I’ve found little folklore about the Chicago River, perhaps because so much has been lost to time. Still, I did find that when the first French explorers came to this area, they were warned by the Indigenous people to avoid proceeding to the mouth of the river. Also, no Indigenous people lived along the banks of the Chicago River year-round, like many Chicagoans do today, including Jennie and me.

I wonder, then, if it is true: If rivers are really inhabited by fairies, does the reversal of our river confuse the fairies that occupy that underwater world? Does this switch anger the fairies? Does changing the flow disrupt the spiritual realm somehow, and have we been paying the price with all of these drownings? How long has this been going on until more people began noticing?

I stare at my computer screen, knowing that none of this can or will help me.

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