LL-L "Folklore" 2002.01.01 (01) [E]

Wed Jan 2 01:06:23 UTC 2002

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 A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian L=Limburgish
 LS=Low Saxon (Low German) S=Scots Sh=Shetlandic Z=Zeelandic (Zeeuws)
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From: Holger Weigelt <platt at HOLGER-WEIGELT.DE>
Subject: LL-L "Folklore" 2001.12.28 (01) [A/German]

Hello Carina !
I believe You are right. That story contains similar elements as You
find
in many of the Walriederske-tales. What we know for sure about these
creatures is that they are associated with the experience of a physical
appearance of paralysis in humans during sleep and with horses suddenly
being exhausted and damp in the stable. Humans are protected when their
shoes point away from the sleeping. There are also some possibilities to
catch a Walriederske. If you just hold her clothes she can escape but if
you catch her hair she must follow your will.
Away from these essentials in the tales the Walriederskes are mixed up
with
witches and other creatures. They ride on a broom or change shape to
appear
as animals. These folk-tales follow a restricted number of patterns the
figures have to be bound to. This sometimes make it difficult to decide
on
the character of such a creature.
These tales with an often obvious erotical moment tend to give
explanations
for physical experiences as well as a base for apologies or absolution
under restrictive rules of morality to protect people from destructive
doubt in themselves.
But now I'll take this opportunity to give an addition or slightly
correction to one of Ron's postings on this subject: In Eastern
Friesland
witches normally are referred to as "heks" (Hex) = witch. On some
occasions
you also find "to:werske" or "tÃ¶Ã¶werske" = female magician. But beside
these there is a special class called "wikkerswi:f" (Wickerswief) - or
in
some exceptional cases "wikker" (Wicker) the male pendant. In contrary
to
witches these are real persons who 1) have knowledge of popular medicine
using herbs and sometimes a kind af magical practise like laying hands
on
etc. and 2) have the ability to "wikken" i.e. the gift of prophecy. They
don't use their knowledge to harm anybody. Sometimes they are told to
have
helped people finding out who was a witch having caused calamity or
illness
on them. In former times such persons were the medicals of the poor
rural
people. In our days however they are just left folk-lore. But to some
extent their role was taken over by so called "Heilpraktiker" who beside
verifyable knowledge yet refer to a magical aspect of medicine.

Kind regards
Holger

----------

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

Holger,

I don't see any contradiction between what you wrote and what I wrote,
apart from the fact that you added dialectal forms that I hadn't known.

I am aware that the remnants of European folkloristic heritage are
jumbled and tend to fuse separate entities.  However, I don't think I
myself have ever confused or simply fused the female apparitions or
demons with "witches."  Please read below what I said about it.

I don't think there should be any doubt that the "witches" of yesteryear
were simply what with regard to Asia, especially Northern and Central
Asia as well as Korea, are referred to as "shamans," a term that in
modern anthropology has come to be applied universally, i.e., also to
what used to be called "medicine men" and "witchdoctors" in other parts
of the world.  I also agree with you that those "witches" are in part
predecessors of today's natural medicine practitioners (whose craft,
strangely, has come to be called "alternative" in America, as though it
was a more recent invention than modern, now mainstream allopathic
medicine).

However, healing is/was only one aspect of a shaman's craft, including
that of the European "witch."  Medical practices included more than just
herbal remedies and are/were inseparable from more general religious
belief systems, systems that did not distinguish between "real" and
"spiritual" concepts most of us now do.  Typically, a shaman is/was
believed to be able to transport him- or herself to the realm of the
spirits, and such trance-induced journeys are/were oftentimes aided by
hallucinogenic substances (usually fermented = alcoholic brews, more
typically poisonous mushrooms or herbs).  One of the desirable effects
is/was a sensation of flying.  Europe's traditional maypoles are clearly
related to the Siberian and Central Asian poles from which a shaman
ascends into heaven, usually as a bird.  I think it is fairly obvious
that the mythologized forms of the European female witches' flight by
means of broomsticks or _wals_ (staves) has something to do with this,
also the nocturnal apparitions' erotic twist.  This, no doubt, has
helped in the fusing of demons and "witches."  Some time ago I read
about someone's theory -- unfortunately I forgot whose -- that entangled
with this is an old practice of introducing such hallucinogenic drugs
not orally by vaginally in certain ancient European traditions.
Remember that during the European holocaust known as the "witch hunts"
perverse sexual practices, nocturnal "visits" to sexually assault
unsuspecting "victims," and the ability to fly or in some other way
rapidly transport oneself over long distances counted among the typical
allegations in witch trials.  So, the said fusion in people's minds may
go back a long way, probably to the beginning of the Christian churches'
persecution of the indigenous religions it aimed (or aims) to replace.

Regards, and Happy New Year!
Reinhard/Ron

> À propos Sandy's mention of "witch" ...
>
> In some Low Saxon (Low German) dialects the word is _Hex(e)_ ~ _He(c)ks(e)_
> ['hEks(e)], and in others the word is _Tööversch(e)_ ['t9.Iv3S(e)] ("(female)
> magician").  However, there is also the use in many dialects of _Wickersch(e)_
> ['vIk3S(e)], _Witsch_ [vItS] and, in Eastern Friesland, _Wickwief_.
>
> Besides in English (_wicce_ > _witch_), Scots (_witch_) and Low Saxon (see
> above), are there any other Lowlandic language varieties that preserve such
> pieces of reference to the Wicca religion that came to be maligned and
> suppressed under Christian domination?  Is there a common Saxon connection, or
> is this more widespread?

> > From: "Dawn Work" <dawn_work at uswest.net>
> > Subject: Folklore
> >
> > All of the "white lady" stories I've seen on Lowlands-L have been so
> > grisly! :-)  I wonder if the White Lady brought to Missouri by our
> > ancestors was also thus, or had been previously conflated with the Virgin
> > Mary, or was perhaps one of the ubiquitous spirits that brought both weal
> > and woe!

> From the reading I have done about developments of mythological figures
> in Europe, I gather that by and large this is the result of what in
> German is known as _Verteufelung_, i.e., "demonization" (lit.
> "devilization").  It began with conversion to Christianity, which had
> less to do with missionary activities than with political power and
> expansion, conversion of entire tribes or nations by decree and force,
> usually as a part of colonization (such as Charlemagne's Frankish
> conquest of the stubbornly "heathen" Saxons, and Germanic conquests of
> "heathen" West Slavs in today's Eastern Germany).  This, at an age when
> "church" and "state" were virtually synonymous and had absolute power,
> brought in its wake denigration of those elements of the previously
> dominant religions that could not be converted to Christian
> equivalents.  The old religions went underground and were handed down in
> secret, mostly among women, especially among women that were socially
> ostracized and/or economically disenfranchised (e.g., those that were
> widowed or had never married) and lived in seclusion where, usually for
> a living, they perform Shamanist rituals, healing practices (including
> herbal medicine) and midwifery skills that were parts of the old
> religions.  In Northern Continental Europe and on the British Isles,
> these previously revered shamans and those accused of being such came to
> be persecuted by the church (=state) as "witches" ("white witches" and
> "black witches"), and the witch hunts went on for centuries and turned
> into one of the greatest holocausts in recorded European history.

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