LL-L: "Mythology" LOWLANDS-L, 05.OCT.2000 (03) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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 L O W L A N D S - L * 05.OCT.2000 (03) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: david strommen [si00924 at navix.net]
Subject: LL-L: "Mythology" (was "Help needed") LOWLANDS-L,04.OCT.2000 (02) [E]

Moin everyone,
In Norwegian we have a female mythical creature called a "huldra" or "huldre"
who
is very beautiful and lures men to fall in love with her.  After the marriage
it
is too late for escape and she takes him away to the underworld.  She can be
found
out by lifting her skirt to see if she is sporting a cow's tail.  I wonder if
her
name is connected to the elder tree also?  But in my grandparents day to call
someone a huldra was quite a statement indeed.
Greetings
David

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From: john feather [johnfeather at sceptic1.freeserve.co.uk]
Subject: Mythology

Ron wrote:

>Ringel-rangel Rosen/Schöne Aprikosen/Veilchen und Vergissmeinicht/
Alle kleinen Kinder setzen sich/setzen sich in'n Holderbusch/
machen alle husch, husch, husch.

>(Ring around the rosies,
lovely apricosies,
violets, forgetmenots.
All little children sit down,
sit down in [= under] the elder bush,
and they all go whoosh, whoosh, whoosh<

I have a feeling that "Ring around the roses" (or something like it) is a
North American version of the English rhyme which starts:

Ring a ring o' roses
A pocket full of posies
Asha, asha
All fall down.
(or something like that, I don't remember ever seeing it written down) and
supposedly refers to the bubonic plague (first line), a prophylactic remedy
(second line), sneezing and pneumonic plague (third line) and finally Death,
that is - taken as a whole the Black Death (which I think Americans call the
Black Plague).

Interestingly (but possibly irrelevantly) a "ring posy" is a motto written
inside a finger-ring, common in Britain in the 16th to 18th centuries.

Regarding rings, what are the rules for wedding rings in "Lowland" cultures?
In Britain women wear wedding and engagement rings on the third finger of
the left hand. I believe that in at least some other European countries the
same ring is first worn on the third finger of the left hand as an
engagement ring and then on the same finger of the right hand as a  wedding
ring. As far as I know both Christians and Jews follow the custom of the
country in which they live. It is only relatively recently that Englishmen
have worn wedding rings and I believe the habit was imported from the USA.

I think "Mother Holle" (Lone's "Frau Holle"?) turns up in one of the Grimm
fairy tales. ("Fairy tales", of course, are rarely about fairies.)

John Feather johnfeather at sceptic1.freeserve.co.uk

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From: R. F. Hahn [sassisch at yahoo.com]
Subject: Mythology

John,

That's an interesting theory about the Black Death connection!  I wonder if
the German rhyme (which has the same tune as the American one, by the way) has
a connection with it too, bearing in mind the attributed curative power of the
elderberry bush and its association with shelter -- thus the children hiding
or being cured from the plague and then emerge healthy and jumping.  Just a
thought ...

> I think "Mother Holle" (Lone's "Frau Holle"?) turns up in one of the > Grimm
> fairy tales. ("Fairy tales", of course, are rarely about fairies.)

Indeed.

I wrote:
> The elder is considered a magic plant and appears to be connected with
> an ancient goddess figure that is often referred to as "Holler"
> or "Holle", apparently also to the kind fairy godmother "Frau Holle"
> (who is
> responsible for making snow) in one of the fairytales recorded by the
> Brothers Grimm.

I wonder why Frau Holle (related to the Danish Hyldemor) produces snow.  Could
it be connected with the falling (i.e., snow-like) elder blossoms?

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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