She attacks someone whose house is messy? I'm going to be disemboweled for sure!
As always, an interesting and informative post. I was especially interested in her association with the wild hunt. Typically, it's male figures who lead it (Odin, Gwyn ap Nudd, King Arthur, even Satan--quite a diverse crew). It's nice to know the women weren't left out completely.
this was such an interesting article! thank you! I love a bit of folklore! have you heard of bunyips? i am always intrigued by this mystical being since childhood but i cannot recal how i ever heard of this a
aboriginal beast when i grew up in the NE of england! perhaps one day you will write about it 😀
So glad you got something out of it. I honestly hadn’t heard of bunyips. What a fun name. I had to go research them a bit. So interesting! I may have to write about them sometime. Thanks for mentioning them. They were part of a mythic creatures exhibit at some point - https://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/mythic-creatures/water/mutating-myths
This was so well done! I love the stories Frau Perchta (and the Krampus). Regarding Krampus and the abduction of children as the evil brother of Saint Nicholas, there’s a really interesting theory about that. There is a little-known hagiographical account about St. Nicholas that was popular in medieval times. It was called “The Tale of St. Nicholas and the Three Pickled Children”. According to this story, the saint saved three children who were murdered by an evil butcher and pickled to eat for meat during a time of famine. He resurrects them right out of the barrel of brine their bodies were preserved in. This was depicted in a lot of medieval art at the time. There’s some speculation that this loose association with the three pickled children might be why he became the patron saint of children in Catholic tradition. What’s really interesting though is that, because there were so many medieval depictions of him standing over barrels, he also became the patron saint of brewers. But going back to that story, it was also common for these religious scenes to be depicted in folk art. There would have been images of the evil butcher kidnapping the children and/or carting them off in the barrel he pickled them in. I wonder if it is this person (the butcher) that was the model for the Krampus; and perhaps his association with the three pickled children might have contributed to folk traditions concerning him. I actually wove this theme into a chapter of my werewolf novel in which the main character (who is a Catholic) is dwelling on a wall mural painted on the side of a brewery in northern Germany in 1870 that depicts this episode, and he’s speculating that the Protestants celebrating in the town square nearby are probably unaware of this grim story associated with Saint Nick: https://danielwdavison.substack.com/p/the-werewolf-of-mariahilf-am-inn-c0f
I do know that French story and depiction - Pere Fouettard or the Father Whipper. It for sure gives a Krampus vibe. There is such a strong urge to both give blessings to children and another to punish them excessively that exists in our cultures. That urge comes through in our stories. We still threaten kids with coal which is less excessive and more boring than one of these nefarious characters coming for you but we haven't stopped threatening them with punishment. I think this character is for sure the French adaptation of Krampus. Back in the day, someone thought - Krampus is cool, I'm going to make up my own version of that, and it stuck. Early substack. That's cool about your werewolf novel. I'll check it out.
She attacks someone whose house is messy? I'm going to be disemboweled for sure!
As always, an interesting and informative post. I was especially interested in her association with the wild hunt. Typically, it's male figures who lead it (Odin, Gwyn ap Nudd, King Arthur, even Satan--quite a diverse crew). It's nice to know the women weren't left out completely.
Right? We are all doomed. Thank you, Bill! I do want to do a post on the wild hunt. Hopefully this next year!
Well, I should have been disembowelled a long time ago then! Good article!
Me too! Gruesome death ☠️
this was such an interesting article! thank you! I love a bit of folklore! have you heard of bunyips? i am always intrigued by this mystical being since childhood but i cannot recal how i ever heard of this a
aboriginal beast when i grew up in the NE of england! perhaps one day you will write about it 😀
So glad you got something out of it. I honestly hadn’t heard of bunyips. What a fun name. I had to go research them a bit. So interesting! I may have to write about them sometime. Thanks for mentioning them. They were part of a mythic creatures exhibit at some point - https://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/mythic-creatures/water/mutating-myths
i like the mishepishu!
I love folklore like this... thank you 😊
Me too! You are welcome. Glad you enjoyed it.
This was so well done! I love the stories Frau Perchta (and the Krampus). Regarding Krampus and the abduction of children as the evil brother of Saint Nicholas, there’s a really interesting theory about that. There is a little-known hagiographical account about St. Nicholas that was popular in medieval times. It was called “The Tale of St. Nicholas and the Three Pickled Children”. According to this story, the saint saved three children who were murdered by an evil butcher and pickled to eat for meat during a time of famine. He resurrects them right out of the barrel of brine their bodies were preserved in. This was depicted in a lot of medieval art at the time. There’s some speculation that this loose association with the three pickled children might be why he became the patron saint of children in Catholic tradition. What’s really interesting though is that, because there were so many medieval depictions of him standing over barrels, he also became the patron saint of brewers. But going back to that story, it was also common for these religious scenes to be depicted in folk art. There would have been images of the evil butcher kidnapping the children and/or carting them off in the barrel he pickled them in. I wonder if it is this person (the butcher) that was the model for the Krampus; and perhaps his association with the three pickled children might have contributed to folk traditions concerning him. I actually wove this theme into a chapter of my werewolf novel in which the main character (who is a Catholic) is dwelling on a wall mural painted on the side of a brewery in northern Germany in 1870 that depicts this episode, and he’s speculating that the Protestants celebrating in the town square nearby are probably unaware of this grim story associated with Saint Nick: https://danielwdavison.substack.com/p/the-werewolf-of-mariahilf-am-inn-c0f
I do know that French story and depiction - Pere Fouettard or the Father Whipper. It for sure gives a Krampus vibe. There is such a strong urge to both give blessings to children and another to punish them excessively that exists in our cultures. That urge comes through in our stories. We still threaten kids with coal which is less excessive and more boring than one of these nefarious characters coming for you but we haven't stopped threatening them with punishment. I think this character is for sure the French adaptation of Krampus. Back in the day, someone thought - Krampus is cool, I'm going to make up my own version of that, and it stuck. Early substack. That's cool about your werewolf novel. I'll check it out.
Full disclosure: When you said “one guess,” I guessed “the Church.”
Who else? right?
Doesn’t even matter which Church