LL-L "Folklore" 2002.12.12 (03) [E]

Thu Dec 12 17:28:12 UTC 2002

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               V=(West)Flemish Z=Zeelandic (ZeÃªuws)
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From: robert bowman <bowman at montana.com>
Subject: LL-L "Folklore" 2002.12.11 (05) [E]

On Wednesday 11 December 2002 14:44,  Richard wrote:
> (if any readers of this list know of any books or
> journal articles dealing with the etymology of Pelznickel, please let me
> know).

I didn't find anyhting for 'Pelznickel' but went off on a tangent with
'Pumpernickel'. Several etymologies claim that is "to break wind" + goblin,
or 'devil's fart'.

bob

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From: fr.andreas at juno.com <fr.andreas at juno.com>
Subject: LL-L "Folkore" 2002.12.11 (08) [E]

Ron,
     Surely the etymology for the Yiddish "shed" could be found instead
in the Babylonian "sheddu."
Yours,
Fr Andreas Richard Turner.

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From: Marcel Bas <mrbas_26 at hotmail.com>
Subject: LL-L "Folkore" 2002.12.11 (07) [E]

Sandy Fleming s:

>Another very common name for the Devil in Scots is "Nickie-ben".
>Can anyone offer any enlightenment on where the "ben" part comes
>from? "Ben" in Scots means "through in another (or the inner)
>room", but I can't make sense of it with that meaning in "Nickie-ben".

Dit herinner my aan 'n woord in Afrikaans, "nikker", wat ook "duiwel" kan
beteken. In Nederlands is "nikker" egter 'n diskriminerende benaming vir 'n
swart persoon, maar ek vermoed dat di  Nederlandse vorm 'n vorm van "neger"
is.

Groetnis, Marcel.

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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Folklore

George M Gibault gmg at direct.ca:

> If pelznikel relates to goblins in some dialects - could it relate to
pilz?
> Some mushrooms - such as amanita muscaria - are extremely hallucinogenic -
> when not actually lethal. I gather reindeer eat them in Lapland and
> Lapplanders make fun of the antics of these "stoned" reindeer. I have also
> heard that "petit chaperon rouge" - Little Red Riding Hood - is a secret
> name for the same mushroom. Could we be bumping into some pre-Christian
> plan worship lore disguised in fairy tales?

Even though I still prefer the theory that this _Pelz_ in _Pelznickel_
refers to "fur" rather than to "mushroom" (because _Pelznickel_ mummers wear
shaggy fur suits (looking like Bigfoot or the Yeti), and Standard German
_Pilz_ 'mushroom' tends to have equivalents like _Schwammerl_ in Bayuvarian
German dialects, thus "little sponge"), I can confirm that hallucinogenic
mushrooms used to be ingested in pre-Christian religious circles (also after
introduction of Christianity).  You will find this sort of information in
cultural anthopological literature, and I guess there are reasons why it is
not disseminated in the popular media.

In many religious practices the world over -- particularly well known with
regard to Africa, Siberia, and the Americas, also South Asia, Central Asia
and Korea -- altered (supposedly heightened) states of consciousness are
sought, sometimes only by the shaman (who mediates between this world and
another, heals and "channels" spirits of the deceased), oftentimes by select
groups of participants or indeed all participants.  This was (and is)
clearly the case in various indigenous religions of Europe as well.

Commonly used methods (used by themselves of in combinations) of achieving
altered states of consciousness are as follows:
* entrancing music/percussion and/or dancing, or simply repetitive
  movements, such as bowing or twirling (African, Afro-Caribbian, Siberian
and
  American shamans, twirling continued by Islamic Mehlevi Sufi dervishes)
* physical hardship ("approaching the brink of death"); e.g., ...
  - pain to a level of semi-consciousness, trance or unconsciousness (e.g.,
    certain self-imposed practices of Hindu Sadhus, Lakota youths hanging
    from hooks piercing their flesh, perhaps continued in some forms of
    penitence practices by Christian monks and in Spanish and Filipino
    Easter processions)
  - extreme exhaustion and/or sleep deprivation (as in Native American
    vision quests and certain self-imposed practices of Hindu Sadhus)
  - exposure to extreme temperature (as in Native American vision quests,
    and in Siberian and American sweat lodges [probably also the origin of
    the sauna])
* ingestion of mind-altering substances; e.g.,
  - ingesting alcohol (by way of fermented fruit or brews)
  - inhaling smoke from tobacco or other herbs (as in Native American pipe
    rituals [which are rarely performed; thus tobacco has the first-time
   smoker effect])
  - ingesting plants with halucinogenic properties (commonly herbs and
    roots, also mushrooms [e.g., American peyote (_Lophophora williamsii_)],
    including mushrooms that would have lethal effects if taken in larger
    quantities, in Europe especially the "magic mushroom," the red-capped
    fly agaric [_Amanita muscaria_, German _Fliegenpilz_, _Narrenschwamm_,
    Dutch _vliegenzwam_, Danish  _rÃ¸d fluesvamp_, Norwegian _rÃ¸d
    fluesopp_, Swedish _rÃ¶d flugsvamp_, Finnish _punakÃ¤rpÃ¤ssieni_,
    Estonian _Punane kÃ¤Ã¤rbseseen_, Hungarian _LÃ©gyÃ¶lÅ‘ galÃ³ca_,
    Polish _muchomor czerwony_, Russian _Ð¼ÑƒÑ…Ð¾Ð¼Ð¾Ñ€ ÐºÑ€Ð°ÑÐ½Ñ‹Ð¹_,
    Turkish _sinek mantarÄ±_, Spanish _falsa oronja_, _agÃ¡rico pintado_,
    _oronja pintada_, _oronja matamoscas_, Portuguese _, Chinese æ¯’è …å‚˜,
    Japanese ãƒ™ãƒ‹ãƒ†ãƒ³ã‚°ã‚¿ã‚±])

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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