Category Archives: Supernatural
Kim-un Kamuy
Etymology: Kamuy (god), Bears and Mountains
Also Known As: キムンカムイ, Metotush Kamuy, Nuparikor Kamuy
Alternate Spellings: Kim-un Kamui, Metotush Kamui, Nuparikor Kamui
Among the Ainu people of ancient Japan, Kim-Un-Kamuy is the god of bears and mountains.
Kamuy
In the Ainu language, the kamuy is a spiritual or divine being in Ainu beliefs and mythology. This term refers to any supernatural entity made of or having spiritual energy.
Bears
It should be noted that bears hold a very prominent place in Ainu beliefs and mythology. Among the Ainu, bears were seen as very benevolent.
Ritual Sacrifice – One important ritual held by every village is that they would go out and capture a bear cub. This cub would be fed and taken care of as well as the village could for the period of a year. At this time, a ceremony would be performed in which this bear would be shot to death with arrows. The flesh of this ritually slain bear would be eaten, this would free the bear’s spirit so it could return to the heavens where it would tell Kim-un Kamuy of the humans’ piety in gratitude.
Many of the stories that follow all share a commonality of the bear being killed and eaten so its spirit could return to the heavens.
Ararush –
There are exceptions to the rule, there are stories of Ararush or monstrous bears that do appear.
One story tells of a bear maiden who was particularly mean and went to a human village and killed a woman. The bear maiden was punished by the Kamuy Fuchi and restored the human woman back to life. The bear maiden was to then entertain the villagers before leaving her earthly body behind as she returned to the spirit world with gifts of wine and inau. The bear maiden told of the human’s generosity and villagers feasted on the flesh of her earthly form.
First Story –
This story explains the origin and purpose of the Ainu’s bear ritual.
One day, the bear god, Kim-un Kamuy is told by Crow that his wife has left the heavens to go down to a human village and hasn’t returned. Alarmed, Kim-un Kamuy rushes home to collect up his child and hurry to the human village.
There, Kim-un Kamuy is greeted by Kamuy Paseguru, the goddess of the hunt. She invites Kim-un Kamuy to visit the goddess of the hearth, Kamuy Fuchi. As they are talking, a fox comes in, bewitching Kim-un Kamuy and Kamuy Paseguru seizes the chance to knock him out.
When Kim-un Kamuy comes to, he is hanging up high in the branches of a tree. Below him, Kim-un Kamuy can see the body of an old bear laying down and its cub playing close by. As he watched, he saw humans come to worship the dead bear and make offerings of wine, dumplings, and inau (sacred rods). Eventually, they took the bear meat and the cub back to their village.
Back in the village, the people give the cub more offerings. Kim-un Kamuy finds his wife at the human village sitting near the hearth. They spend several days feasting with Kamuy Fuchi before returning back home to feast with the other kamuy. Kim-un Kamuy’s cub returned a year later with gifts of wine and inau when another feast would be held.
Second Story –
In this story, a young mother is out with her baby collecting herbs and forest bulbs. When the mother was down at the river washing the bulbs, she began to sing and attracted the attention of a bear.
Frightened, the young mother jumped up, leaving her baby and clothes behind as she ran. Disappointed that the woman had run away and ceased her singing, the bear went over to investigate the pile of clothing and found the baby. The bear cared for the baby for several days, feeding it the saliva from its mouth.
The men from the woman’s village came down to the river and found the baby still alive. They were convinced that the bear had been none other than Kim-un Kamuy. The men followed the bear’s tracks and proceeded to shoot it dead. After that, the men then held a feast of the bear’s meat and raised the bear’s head up on a stand offering it wine and inau. By holding this ritual, the men freed the bear’s ramat or spirit to return to the heavens.
Third Story –
Once, in ancient times, there was a couple, husband and wife. One day the husband fell ill and shortly after, died, leaving no children.
As the case was, there had been a decree made that the woman would bear a son at some future date. When that day drew close, the people of the woman’s village began to talk among themselves that surely the woman had married again while others said the husband had risen from the dead.
The woman herself said it was a miracle and related how one evening, when she had been sitting there alone in her home, a man came to her, dressed all in black. When the man turned toward her, he said that he was the god of the mountain, Kim-un Kamuy. That he had come to her in mortal form to let her know, with her husband gone, she would bear a child. That this would be his gift to her and when her son had grown, he would be great, eloquent, and wealthy.
After this, Kim-un Kamuy left her and the woman bore a son. In time, when the child had grown, he became a mighty hunter and indeed a great, eloquent, and wealthy man. He also went on to become the father of many children. Many of the Ainu who live among the mountains claim to be descended from a bear. This bear clan is called Kimun Kamui sanikir, the “descendants of the bear.”
Members of Kimun Kamui sanikir are proud to declare: “As for me, I am a child of the god of the mountains; I am descended from the divine one who rules the mountains.”
Credit Knife Man
Also called: “Buying Man,” “Credit Men,” “Credit Swordsman,” “Divine Sale,” “Divination Sellers,” “Knife Man,” “Seller,” and “The Person who took the Knife”
This is an interesting piece of Chinese folklore and divination. When the Credit Knife Man appears, it isn’t just to sell knives, it is to sell these knives on credit with a vague or cryptic prophecy about the following year. When the prediction comes true, the Credit Knife Man returns later to collect the money. The Credit Knife Man is said to appear every time there is a disaster, giving out hints of what is to come.
While the current name is fairly new, the tradition itself is very old. Back in ancient China, the Credit Knife Man, Divine Seller or Buying Man as they were known then would show up, walking through villages as they passed out kitchen knives or other household items on credit while giving prophecies for the following year. No charges, just that they would return when the prediction was fulfilled to collect on the wares, often times knives.
Prophet Or Charlatan?
While there are many folktales regarding the Credit Knife Man, there are some who think the whole idea is made up of charlatans and liars going to villages to deceive and scam people out of their money.
Then you have others who believe that these Knife Men are legit as every year before a disaster happens, they show up, and make a prophecy that turns true.
Seeming to add credibility to all of this is that Credit Knife Men are said to have shown up in 2020 around the Central Plains area of China with a prediction for 2021
Professional Knife Man?
Going back about thirty years ago to the 1980’s and 1990’s groups of people could be found going around the streets and alleyways in China’s rural areas. They would be carrying an array of kitchen knives, scissors, iron pots and other household items. These people didn’t just sell the knives outright, they would sell the knife on credit, giving them to people in need in exchange for a seemingly bizarre or cryptic prophesy.
The “Divine Seller” would keep a registry of names for those whom they had made a prediction to when selling a knife or other household item. As people tended to stay or live in the same village, it would be easy for the “Divine Seller” to return later and collect any money owed on a prediction that is fulfilled.
Where the Credit Knife Man is potentially related to cons and scammers, these people show up in rural, remote villages where people are likely to be less educated, living simpler lives. Such predictions will be given relating to personal, ordinary things and events. The scammer may show up in one village claiming the price of wheat will rise while in another they say it will fall and depending on the outcome, the seller returns to the village in question to collect. As these Sellers travel, they’re more likely to be connected to the world, regional events of what’s happening in the area and how it will affect the local economies before any price drops or rises reach a particular village.
Nor is it hard if you’re paying attention to the trends and events around a person to make some fairly accurate guesses and seeming predictions of what’s coming or could come.
It certainly seems like Confirmation Bias and enough people seeing the “predictions” coming true would certainly double down and pay, ignoring any predictions that didn’t come true and getting a free knife out of the deal.
Historical Connections?
It appears that the Credit Knife Man or Men belong to the Daoist School of thought and may be a disciple of Guiguzi. As a form of divination, the Credit Knife Man makes predictions involving life and death. They notably appear every time there is a disaster to give hints and warnings.
Just who is or was Guiguzi?
The Guiguzi is a collection of ancient texts written and compiled during China’s Waring States era and towards the end of the Han Dynasty. The author credited with writing these tests and treatises of diplomacy is Guigu Xiansheng.
By folk traditions, Guiguzi has become the name of a legendary and mysterious figure, known as the “eternal stranger.” They are well versed in strategies and diplomacy and influenced people like Sun Bin, Pang Juan, Su Qin, Zhang Yi, and Shang Yang with promoting justice and saving the world from the Chinese world view.
“The Knife of the Tao” – Giving such divinations and predictions of connecting them with a commodity such as the knife may have been the way that Fortune Tellers and Diviners kept their trade going. Give the prediction while also selling something tangible and needed.
Plus, a business savvy person paying attention to the market trends and events happening around them can seem to easily make predictions. Especially for earlier eras with the slowness of news to reach rural areas.
Supernatural Connection
Adding more mystique and interest to the stories of the Credit Knife Man is a story set in the remote village near the base of the Daxingan Mountains in the northeast. The story tells how there is a person who appears in the village, selling their knives on credit. When asking the older people of the village, when they were young, this person selling knives was middle-aged. Now that they are old, this person has remained the same age and still giving his prophesies. No one knows this person’s name, their real age, only that his knives are sharp and that he doesn’t need money. Every time they show up, they leave a knife and a prophecy and when that prophesy is fulfilled, the person returns to collect the knife. There was one time the village faced a severe drought and the person who received the knife showed up in time to help solve the dilemma.
Another story of the Credit Knife Man is in July 1878 during the Guangxu era. A person buying the knife on credit received a prediction of the price of wheat would drop from 80 cents to 18 cents. The price of wheat did drop all the way down to 18 cents, but there is no record if the Credit Knife Man returned to collect the money.
Presumably he did or there wouldn’t be the story.
Another element of the seeming supernatural nature of the Credit Knife Man is that they seem to appear anytime there is going to be major changes that affect the region or country.
Knife Divination
One of the alternative names of “Divine Sale” refers to the divination aspect of the Credit Knife Men. The predictions that the Knife Men often make are bizarre and seemingly cryptic. Anything from the ordinary to the future of the world. Some examples given are how the price of rice and wheat will rise to one yuan, pork rising to ten yuan a catty and how the fields won’t be planted. More examples include how no one is living in a house, people taking off their clothes, beasts walking in clothing, and even more strange ones such as pigs will have a thousand oxen and the bridal price or costs to marry a daughter-in-law being 180.
It’s enough to make one think they’re getting a fortune told from a Fortune Cookie or looking at the Daily Horoscope at first glance. Much like a party game. But after the fact, you see how it applies to not worrying about the price of rice and other food stocks, the societal changes of young people moving away from their hometown in rural areas as they seek work, the way people treat their pets with dressing them and dying their fur, the price of cattle and the steep price of marriages. All stuff that in a way seems very common sense after the fact and seeing the social and societal changes.
Credit Knife Currency
During the Song Dynasty, these Credit Knife Men were known as “Credit Swordsman” and could be found wandering various towns and remote mountain villages. The knives that they sold were not for sale but being sold on credit as a means or excuse to make predictions and prophesies to each other for free. If such a prophesy comes true later, the Credit Swordsman would return to collect on the prediction.
Looking at the Warring States era of China’s history, it makes sense knives would be used for currency and given out on credit during a time when money was hard to come by. So, a good, sharp knife would have a high value and be useful to trade or sell on credit for later. It would also be an act of integrity and honor to pay or repay when the Credit Knife Man managed to return and collect or have a free knife in the event of a failed prediction.
Actual Knife Coins and currency were used during the Zhou dynasty between 600 and 200 B.C.E. These were large, bronze-cast knife-shaped coins or currency used throughout various governments and kingdoms that are now modern China. One story holds that a prince running low on money allowed his soldiers to use their knives in place of currency, for barter and trade with villagers. Another story has the same prince accepting knives as payments for small fines in place of the current, legal ring coins. It is also possible that the knife money is something that came from the Indian Ocean by way of trade routes with barter and trade.
Similar are the Qi Knives found in the Shandong region in the State of Qi that were use in that area. Archaeology places them having been in use during the Waring States era. These knives were also known as Three Character Knives, Four Character Knives and so on based on the number inscribed on them. Depending on the number of the Qi Knife would be how much of a copper and tin alloy they were made of. With higher number Qi Knives having a higher percentage of copper.
In 1932, a veritable treasure hoard of Needle Tip Knives were found at Chengde in the Hebei province. These are similar to the Pointed Tip Knife currency that have been discovered and unearthed in the thousands all with various inscriptions of numbers, cyclical characters and others that haven’t been decoded or translated on them.
There has also been spade money and Ming Knives which are smaller than the Pointed Tip Knifes found. A Mint for Ming Knives was found at Xiadu, southwest of Beijing. This place had once been the capital city Yi during the Yan dynasty around 360 B.C.E. Coinage for the Ming Knives have been found as far away as Korea and Japan.
If you ever have a chance to visit the Qi Heritage Museum in Linzi, Shandong, many examples of these Qi Knives on display.
Modern Predictions?
During World War II and Japan’s occupation of China, the legends of the Credit Knife or Sword Man rose up with them saying they would return to collect the money when the Japanese were driven out. This angered the Japanese soldiers who went and killed the Credit Knife Man. Before he died, the man said his descendants would come to collect. When the Japanese left China, the Credit Knife Man’s prediction does appear to have become true.
October 2020 – A Credit Knife Man in the Central Plains. After selling his knife on credit, they left the prediction “No money will be collected this year.) Referring to 2020 and that he would return next year in 2021, saying: “Give money if you are alive next year, if you don’t have it, you’ll be gone.” As every knows, 2020 is a year we’d like to have a do over with due to the Covid-19 pandemic that swept the globe along with other natural disasters.
July 7th, 2021 – After a flood happened, there is a father living near the edge of the Dabie Mountains of northern Hubei who reports on WeChat having met a person who’s not seen a kitchen knife or scissors for decades. A prediction was made that the Credit Knife Man would come to collect when it snows. “No snow, no money!” And of course, the mountain regions got snow in August, a full month ahead of schedule.
It’s noted that for two consecutive years in a row that Credit Knife Men and their predictions have made appearances in Henan and Hubei.
With a faster speed of technology and communication, such predictions that Credit Knife Men would make seem harder to do if all one was doing is paying attention to the market trends and world events happening around them. For the superstitious or spiritually minded, it does seem that the heavens are angry. Those more science-minded see the effects of climate change and global warming with some of these natural disasters.
There is also a prediction set for August 2022 where the red boat will sink.
Shadow People
Also known as: Black Mass, Shadow Beings, Shadow Figure, Shadow Men
The appearance of Shadow People seems to be an offshoot of the Boogeyman. Instead of parents using the Boogeyman to frighten children into good behavior, the appearance of Shadow People appears more tied to, just as the name says, a dark, shadowy figure or mass where something might be. Appearing at the foot of the bed, in a corner of the room, in the closet. Wherever a darkened shadow appears, and the imagination fills in the blanks. For the believers, this extends to possibly seeing something from the corner of your eye with nothing there when you turn your head to look.
Researchers of the Paranormal and Supernatural have latched onto the idea of Shadow People as inter-dimensional beings or aliens. This tends to go into a lot of potentially pseudo-scientific ideas of what they could be and explanations. In terms of modern folklore and Urban Legends, it’s certainly a way to expand upon the classifications of potential ghosts and spirits, along with what they might really be.
Description
A Shadow Person is essentially nothing more than a dark, shadowy figure that is vaguely humanoid in appearance or just a formless mass, sometimes it has tendrils, sometimes it doesn’t. Usually there are no other discernible features, though in some cases, red eyes have been noted.
Further descriptions mention where there is one main tall shadowy figure with numerous smaller hooded shadow figures. Reports say these types of Shadow People are not see-through. That this type is more prone to be drawn towards an individual than a particular place.
As the stories and accounts of Shadow People persist and grow, the descriptions begin to really vary. Ranging from small, child-sized figures, to tall with a jack-o-lantern head, and those of a tall figure wearing a hat.
Some of the sightings of Shadow People are reported to be mainly in Rhode Island and North Carolina in the United States. Some people claim they have been attacked physically with scratches and burns. Others will tell how they have been choked or attacked in their sleep during a sleep paralysis attack.
The Hat Man – This type of specific Shadow Being is described by some people as wearing a top hat and suit. This one is generally seen as being more demonic or evil in nature. This being was identified by the author Heidi Hollis who says that this being and others like it are trying to build an army for the dark side.
It is also strongly likely that the appearance of this Shadow Man is influenced by pop culture in terms of movies like the Nightmare on Elm Street series and the perpetuation of Urban Legends and similar stories.
Guardian Spirit – Some forum sites dedicated to the Paranormal & Supernatural Phenomenon will claim that a Shadow Person could be a guardian angel or spirit watching over a person. Given how often so many of the reports and stories have a negative view of Shadow People, this is not really likely.
Ancient History!?!
There are claims that Shadow People have existed for thousands of years, found in every culture and religion. Which only makes sense with stories of spectral, shadowy beings and shades. The use of the term Shadow People would be more modern and expand the ways in which such entities of folklore and mythology are classified.
One story pointed out is “Le Horla” (“The Horla”), written in 1887 by French author Guy de Maupassant. In this story, shadow beings live on milk and water, they bedevil the human mind and stalk the unwary.
The specific term of “Shadow People” first appears on September 21st, 1953 as the title to a radio drama from the “Hall of Fantasy” broadcast on Chicago’s WGN-AM station. Later, on April 12th 2001, the late-night radio show, Coast to Coast AM would bring back and modernize a belief in Shadow People. On the show, the host, Art Bell interviewed a Native American elder by the name of Thunder Strikes, also known as Harley “Swift Deer” Reagan. Listeners to the show were encouraged to submit drawings of Shadow People and those drawings, in turn, were posted to the show’s website.
Later that year, in October 2001, author and researcher Heidi Hollis published her first book, “The Secret War,” where she goes into more information on Shadow People. The book details Shadow People having many traits that cross over to folklore with the Nightmare attacks and imagery of ghostly or spectral figures. Hollis goes on to say that Shadow People may be related to the alien entities of Greys and Reptilians. Hollis details how Shadow People don’t like to be spotted and as such, she does provide several means by which to decrease encounters with these beings.
Master your fear and don’t let it control you, focus on positive thoughts, hold your ground, use the name of Jesus to repel them, keep a light on and bless your room or house.
Side note: Given the whole alien Reptilians and the conspiracy theory around them, I do find much of what Hollis says, suspect. Plus, the name of “Hall of Fantasy” for the radio drama, gives the whole Shadow People as real, as being just made up. Especially if anyone is trying to assign them any significant power.
Ghosts
Not quite…
Most will agree that ghosts are spirits of the deceased who have not moved on for any number of reasons. Most ghosts often have descriptions of appearing as balls of light, being misty white, and having a distinctively human form to them, such as clothing, facial features, and other details that can be described.
Djinn
This Arabic entity has been suggested for what Shadow People might really be, especially if you are leaning towards Shadow People being demonic in nature. The Jinn are usually invisible to humans, but some descriptions say when they do appear, it is that of black smoke that may or may not have a vaguely humanoid outline.
Spirit
If Shadow People aren’t the ghosts of the deceased, their ethereal and incorporeal natures do say that they belong to the broader category of Spirits. As to what type of spirit, it’s hard to say. Some speculate that Shadow People may be a type of demon. What is it that they want, other than to frighten people, remains unknown.
Native American Spirits – Taking the “Hall of Fantasy” interview with elder Thunder Strikes or Harley “Swift Deer” Reagan, I can see, while researching Shadow People, that some of the sites I looked at concluding that Shadow People are Native American in origin. When looking at the Hat Man Shadow, his description fits just enough to suggest the Stovepipe Hat Bigfoot from the Tall Man Spirit in Lakota lore. It’s also easy to see a connection to the Urban Legends of Slender Man.
In some of the older Lakota lore, they have stories of bad spirits or giants that once wandered the Earth. They had become prideful and arrogant to the point that they challenged the thunder and lost to it. These stories lend themselves to the Tall Man Spirit and if we’re looking at more than one entity, they could account for some of the Shadow People stories and sightings that people claim.
Thought-Forms
Also known as Egregores or Tulpas. Whether intentional or not, the negative thoughts and energy can or could create and manifest an entity identified as a Shadow Person. A strong enough belief and enough people believing can also cause manifestations. Especially if people believe, want to believe, say they saw something, jumping the “me too” bandwagon. This would explain easily why there’s an increase in the number of people claiming to see Shadow People or just having another term of what to call previously known folklore and mythological figures.
Inter-Dimensional Beings
This certainly leans more into Pseudo-Science. After all, mainstream science acknowledges and speculates about there being more than three dimensions to as many as 10 spacetime dimensions and how the laws of physics would work differently in those dimensions where these different dimensions interact. Add in too, psychics claiming they can sense the vibrational frequency of these other dimensions and beings.
In Paranormal studies, the idea then is that these beings who live in other dimensions can sometimes, partially cross over, interact or be seen. That how we might perceive these beings who live in these other dimensions is as shadows.
Ufology & Aliens
Some people claim that Shadow People might be aliens, extraterrestrial beings abducting people. Those who claim to be the victims of the alien grays say these beings can pass through walls, closed windows and have advanced technology that enables them to appear and disappear quickly.
Fear Is The Mind Killer
I will not fear.
“I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.” – Frank Herbert, Dune
The existence of Shadow People seems to thrive on a fear of the unknown. These entities show up and hang around, feeding off the fear and dread they cause by their unsettling appearance.
Anywhere with strong negative associations and energy could easily attract the presence and sightings of Shadow People. It’s only in movies, video games, and books that such entities get to have any “extra powers” or abilities.
Even if a case got chalked up to an overactive imagination, human beings are pattern seekers, we’re prone to letting the mind fill in the blanks on vague shapes and patterns, putting a recognizable form or image to something. This tendency is called Pareidolia, to think we saw something out of the corner of our eye and then to fill in the blanks on what it might be.
Possible Reality Behind The Myth
Overactive Imaginations – To shine a light on things, figuratively and literally, you do have to rule out possible overactive imaginations involved. I know I’m repeating myself, human beings are prone to pattern-seeking and if we see a vague human outline in the shadows, we are likely to fill in the blanks to see something that isn’t there.
I know that explanation puts a damper on many people who claim to have seen Shadow People or study the paranormal and believe.
Apply a little bit of the Scientific Method here. Is it the active imagination of a child who is having trouble going to sleep at night? Everybody loves a good ghost story and stories of encounters with Shadow People tend to be remarkably similar. As such, these accounts can also be very anecdotal and subjective with no real good way to verify them.
Hallucinations – Are you sleep deprived and not getting enough sleep? Is there a particular substance or drug that was taken known to cause hallucinations? Mental Illness?
Electromagnetic Fields – There are theories that in the right conditions, electromagnetic fields can mess with human perceptions, causing both audio and visual hallucinations. It could allow for people to believe they saw any manner of things from ghosts, to spirits, aliens, fairies, Elvis.
Any old buildings with substandard wiring, power plants nearby, a place with strong magnetic fields? Researchers have been able to recreate in laboratories the experiences that people have had with such hallucinations, including those of seeing Shadow People.
Rule out the possible causes before whatever remains, no matter how improbable is taken as the truth.
Pareidolia – I’ve mentioned it before, humans are wired and have a tendency to see patterns, mostly faces and other human characteristics.
Sleep Paralysis Attacks – This can be frightening for those who have experienced one. It is when you wake or have a lucid dream and are unable to move while sleeping, especially during REM sleep. Some people will claim terrifying images of dark, shadowy beings surrounding them, in the room or trying to attack them.
From the folkloric view, the description of a Shadow Person trying to choke or suffocate someone in their sleep matches the classic Nightmare and Hagging Attacks.
Sleep Walking – This is close on the heels of the Sleep Paralysis Attacks, only instead of being paralyzed, the person sleeping is getting up and moving around. Some sleepwalkers report dreams where they’ve seen shadowy figures or beings as they move around the house.
Substance Abuse – Is the person using drugs known for causing hallucinations?
Mental Illness – I’m not trying to make light of this, is it possible that a person claiming to see Shadow People prone to seizures and other mental health issues such as delusions or hallucinations?
Substance Abuse and Mental Illness can be why some of the descriptions of Shadow People are inconsistent.
Protection
For small children, night lights work wonders and don’t underestimate the power of a favorite stuffed animal or other toy to comfort them as they sleep. If it is an overactive imagination at work, many children will outgrow this stage or learn to control it so this overactive imagination isn’t getting the better of them.
If there is an entity there, like the Boogeyman, such entities tend to only be able to feed a fear, again something children grow out of or once you confront it, it goes away.
A Dream Catcher; try hanging one above the bed where you sleep. Especially if you know you are prone to sleep paralysis attacks and nightmares. Depending on your religious affiliation, prayers, crystals and other protective charms can be effective.
Tall Man Spirit
Also known as: Big Man, Stick Men, Stovepipe Hat Bigfoot, Tall Man, Walking Sam
The Tall Man Spirit is a dark figure from Native American beliefs, particularly of the Dakota and Lakota people in the state of South Dakota. The belief and stories surrounding the Tall Man date back decades if not centuries where it has become linked to the tragic history that many Native Americans have endured.
This tragic history is very prominently linked to 1890, when the U.S. cavalry came in to put a stop to the spiritual movement known as the Ghost Dance. What would follow is a confrontation that led to U.S. soldiers open firing on unarmed Lakota Sioux, many of whom were women and children. This site would become known as the Battle of Wounded Knee. It would, a century later, be the site of a 1973 protest that would turn into a months-long standoff between Native American activists and law enforcement.
With this history, add to it the widespread poverty, homelessness, drug abuse, alcoholism, child abuse and other crimes such as rape and murder so prevalent on the Pine Ridge Reservation. It’s understandable that one of the most prevailing problems in Pine Ridge is that of suicide, especially among the youth, would, at the very least, see the personification of an entity called Tall Man Spirit or Walking Sam manifest.
Description
The Tall Man Spirit has been described as having a similar appearance to Slender Man and is likely one of many sources for Slender Man’s inspiration. The Tall Man is said to be tall, exceeding seven feet in height, slender, long thin legs and arms, lacking a mouth and nose, and wears a black stove top hat. Much like Slender Man, Tall Man is said to have the ability to control people’s minds.
Other descriptions place the Tall Man as being between 12 and 15 feet in height, covered in hair, with red eyes and smelling horrific like a sewer. That sounds more like a classic description of Big Foot. Over among the Oglala Sioux, a very similar entity is mentioned, that has hooves.
Big Man – Going by the more correct translation of this entity, the Big Man spirit seems to be more of a local protector of the forest than any dark malevolent spirit tied to death. It seems to be more a spirit of the land. In that respect, it’s taking on a much darker aspect is likely just a reflection of the history and how it has affected the Lakota. As if a connection has deeply gone wrong and soured.
Slender Man – The figure of Slender Man is relatively new to the Urban Folklore landscape, making it a 21st century Bogeyman. This being’s first appearance was on June 10th of 2009, having been created by Eric Knudsen, using the name “Victor Surge” in the Something Awful forums for a photoshop contest. The idea had been to create an Urban Legend so believable it would take on a life of its own, which it certainly has. It has been noted, after researching The Tall Man Spirit, that Slender Man draws on a lot of the same imagery motifs.
Stovepipe Hat Bigfoot – This is one name for the Tall Man when people describe sightings of seeing it wearing clothing. Stovepipe Hat Bigfoot is notable for being mentioned around the Pine Ridge Reservation. As the name indicates, this is also people misidentifying Big Foot or Sasquatch with Tall Man.
Walking Sam – This is another name for the Tall Man Spirit as it is known around the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. It did make local news and even the New York Times a few years back in 2015 with a high rate of suicides occurring on the reservation, especially among the youth. As a result, Walking Sam is considered a suicide spirit, one that is rather dangerous.
There is one notable incident where several teenagers were planning a mass suicide. They had planned to head out to an area where there were mostly trees where they would hang themselves. The local pastor, John Two Bears learned of what was to happen and was able to head off this group attempt.
More modern manifestations of this entity show it making appearances on the internet, taking advantage of vulnerable people, particularly youth, telling them to end their life. Situations have to be particularly dire if it can seem capable to do that.
Walking Sam is reported to have the ability take control of peoples’ minds, telling them to kill themselves so that it can collect their soul that will then join the others hanging from his long, spindly arms. One comment made is that Walking Sam was sent to earth as punishment and by claiming the souls of suicides, it is looking for company.
“In The Spirit Of Crazy Horse”: Written by Peter Matthiessen in 1983, he makes mention of Walking Sam as a supernatural entity that is both spirit and real, able to slip through the forest as if the trees weren’t there.
Folklore & Urban Legend
At first glance, yes some could approach the story of the Tall Man Spirit as some sort of spooky campfire story told in the same vein as that of Bigfoot and other Urban Legends. It could explain too one name of “Stovepipe Hat Bigfoot” that I came across. That is a disservice to this entity and what it is. Unless you want to try diminishing it’s power by making light of it, to be less scary or intimidating.
It is very likely people have confused two different entities together based on possible mistranslations from the Sioux languages into English. In the Lakota or Western Sioux language, they call Big Foot by the name “chive-tanka” meaning Big or Great Elder Brother. In English, the term gets translated to be “the Big Man.” It’s easy to see why Big Foot hunters and enthusiasts would glom onto a potential mistranslation to embrace it.
On the Oglala reservation, sightings of Big Foot or Big Man are seen as ill omens and warnings of potential tragedies. Where there seems to be sightings and claims of more than one creature or entity, some have put forward the ideas that this entity is a local forest spirit and protector of the land.
Remembering to keep the two separate, Tall Man is found in older stories of bad spirits or giants that once wandered the Earth. They had become prideful and arrogant to the point that they challenged the thunder and lost to it.
Big Foot or Sasquatch by themselves are in an entirely different category belonging more towards cryptids and cryptozoology. The Tall Man Spirit fits more towards a broader category of supernatural beings like the Bogeyman and Shadow People. A portent of ill omen and tragedy.
Mind-Control
This is one of the powers attributed to the Tall Man Spirit, to make a person or even a group of people do things they normally would not otherwise. One of which is to whisper to people, commanding them to commit suicide.
I don’t know if I’d call that a power, as this entity, particularly Walking Sam seems to prey on and target those already vulnerable, feeling the extremes of depression, despair, powerlessness and hopelessness. That all it seems to do is give people that nudge to push them over in that direction.
Superstition
The belief in Tall Man is very prevalent on the Pine Ridge Reservation. While many will call it mere superstition that people use to blame the causes of suicide. The harsh reality is that even if the Tall Man is chalked up to superstition, what it represents or is a manifestation of, is not. Suicide is still a very real thing that many Lakota, especially their youth are having to confront with the deeply root despair, depression, and potentially overwhelming helplessness.
While it was easy to take apart Slender Man and analyze him, given how new to the folkloric and urban legend scene it is. Tall Man is harder as it’s had longer to seep deeper into a local region and people’s culture. Of course, it’s easy for the Tall Man spirit to seem as powerful as its portrayed when the helplessness and despair is that deeply rooted.
Nor does it help when some gruesome images associated with the Tall Man are that of nooses. Sheriffs, law enforcement and other people report having found them hanging from trees. Comparisons have been made to found footage films like Blair Witch Project. Even if we go with the simple explanation of someone leaving nooses to be found, another comparison is made to Japan’s infamous “suicide forest,” Aokigahara.
That is all rather disturbing.
Reservation Dogs
The Tall Man Spirit makes an appearance in episode six when Willie Jack and Leon go hunting. This episode does lean more on treating Tall Man as a protector of the Forest.
National Suicide Hotline
If you’re in the United States and you need help or someone to talk to, there is this link,
https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/
Herne The Hunter
Etymology – Horn (Old English)
Suffice to say, Herne is a well-known figure in British and Modern folklore. At first glance, it’s easy to say that Herne is one of the names for the Horned God in Wicca and Modern Paganism. A slightly more knowledgeable response would say that Herne is who leads the Wild Hunt. Or perhaps that he is the ghostly specter of a Games Keeper with antlers who haunts Windsor Forest.
It does get a bit tricky on trying to get into what’s concrete for the figure of Herne.
Description
Many descriptions of Herne will agree that he is human either wearing antlers or has antlers. Sometimes he is on foot others he is on horseback and may or may not be accompanied by hunting hounds or other animals of the forest.
Ghost – The version of Herne that appears in Shakespeare’s play, clearly terrorizes the forest animals and people alike, blasting or withering the trees of the forest as he shakes his chains. The alternative lines say he can take on the shape of a stag. Later descriptions of Herne will have him riding a horse as part of the Wild Hunt.
The Merry Wives Of Windsor
The earliest known mention that we have of Herne is in William Shakespeare’s play The Merry Wives of Windsor written in 1597.
That certainly is a case for having been around for quite a while just based off that alone.
In Act 4, Scene 4, we have the characters Mistress Page and Mistress Ford deciding that they will play a trick on Sir John Falstaff because of his unwanted advances. The two ladies convince Falstaff to disguise himself as a ghost and meet them out under an oak in Windsor Forest at midnight. The two ladies also convince and get some children to show up at the same time who are dressed up as fairies to pinch and burn Falstaff.
“There is an old tale goes, that Herne the hunter,
Sometime a keeper here in Windsor Forest,
Doth all the wintertime, at still midnight,
Walk round about an oak, with great ragg’d horns;
And there he blasts the trees, and takes the carrle,
And makes milch kine* yield blood, and shakes a chain
In a most hideous and dreadful manner.”
Milch kine? Yeah, milking cows.
Bogeyman?
There is a set of alternative lines from 1602 that hint that Herne was a local ghost story used by mothers to get their children to behave.
The alternative lines are as follows:
“Oft have you heard since Horne the hunter dyed,
That women, to affright their little children,
Says that he walkes in the shape of a great stagge.”
Whether the character of Herne existed before the creation of Shakespeare’s play or is a creation of it, isn’t clear. What is clear is that this play is for certain where the figure of Herne enters British folklore and onwards to a larger, global audience… at least the West.
Cuckold’s Horns – With an Elizabethan audience, they would know that a cuckold is a name given to a husband with an unfaithful wife. A cuckold like the cuckoo bird that lays its eggs in the nests of other birds. So, a husband is likely raising a child who is not his own. The horns were likely a theatrical device of the Elizabethan stage to inform an audience of a character’s role.
Herne’s Oak
In Windsor’s Home Park, there have been a few different oak trees since the mid-1800’s that people have claimed to be either Falstaff’s Oak or Herne’s Oak.
The main oak that people pointed to as Herne’s Oak fell in 1796 due to declining botanical health. The other oak was blown over during a windstorm on August 31st 1863. The logs from this tree were burnt in order to exorcise the ghost of Herne. One log was kept to carve a bust of Shakespeare from and is on display in the Windsor and Royal Borough Museum in the Guildhall.
Later, Queen Victoria planted another oak to replace the one that fell in 1863. Later, King Edward VII would have the tree removed in 1906 during a landscaping project. Still, another oak would be replanted to replace the fallen tree from 1796 and named Herne’s Oak.
All’s well that ends well.
Growing Fame
As the legend of Herne continues to grow and expand, the 20th century sees Herne’s ghost now appearing shortly before national disasters and before the death of monarchs, much like a Banshee.
At the very least, because people expect to see something, more and more people claim to have encountered Herne’s ghost or to have heard the sounds of hounds or a horn blowing in Windsor Forest.
Truth In The Telling
With the authenticity of Herne being lost to history and up for debate, there are enough people who believe that Shakespeare must have been using a local legend. To this end, people have been trying to add some historical veracity and authenticity to legitimize Herne’s legend. If nothing else, the legend and imagery of Herne have succeeded at capturing people’s imaginations for centuries and has well earned a place in folklore.
The Restless Gamekeeper – This is the next literary source, written by Samuel Ireland in 1791 in his Picturesque Views on the River Thames. In the story, Herne is to have been based on a historical figure by the name of Richard Horne, a yeoman who lived during Henry VIII’s reign. Horne was accused of poaching and as a result, he hung himself from an oak tree. As this was a suicide death, Herne’s spirit is believed to be barred from entering either heaven or hell and is doomed to haunt the place of their death.
Shakespearean scholar James Halliwell-Phillips found a document where Herne is listed as a hunter and confessed to poaching. Plus, early versions of The Merry Wives of Windsor spell the name as “Horne” instead of “Herne.”
There are of course, a couple variants to this story.
Variation 1 – In this version, Herne is the huntsman to King Richard II. After some local men grew jealous of Herne’s status, they conspired to accuse him of poaching on the King’s land. Falsely accused and outcast, Herne hung himself from an oak tree.
Variation 2 – In this story, Herne saves King Richard II from a stag. Fatally wounded, Herne is healed by a magician who takes Herne’s skills in forestry and hunting as payment. Part of this being cured involved having the dead stag’s horns tied to Herne’s head. Distraught by the loss of his skills, Herne hung himself from a tree. As a result, his spirit is doomed each night to lead a spectral hunt through Windsor Rest.
Windsor Castle – Written by William Harrison Ainsworth in 1842. This novel aims to be a historical drama set during the reign of the Tudors and follows Henry VIII’s pursuit of Anne Boleyn. Herne features throughout the novel as a ghostly figure haunting the nearby woods of Windsor. This version of Herne is somewhat sinister as Harrison Ainsworth created a history where Herne was gored by a stag. Herne makes a deal with the Devil to spare him. Part of the deal is that Herne would forever wear antlers. This version of Herne had served Richard II and likely the source of the two previous folkloric versions of where he originates from.
The Wild Hunt
The Wild Hunt is a phenomenon found in many different European countries and cultures. It is a nightmarish, supernatural force led by some dark spectral hunter on horseback and accompanied by a host of other riders and hounds as they chase down unlucky mortals, either until they drop dead of exhaustion, are caught and forced to join the Wild Hunt or able to evade the Hunt until dawn.
Just exactly who it is that leads the Hunt does vary country by country in Europe. The Wild Hunt is known for making its ride during the Winter Solstice or New Year’s Eve. Jacob Grimm of Grimms Brothers fame makes a connection of Herne to the Wild Hunt due to the epitaph of “the Hunter.” That does seem to work, a Huntsman, connect him to the Wild Hunt and for Britain, the idea really jells of a local person who becomes a lost soul, doomed to forever ride with the Hunt.
Of course, the point is brought up that as a ghost, Herne is connected to one locality whereas the Wild Hunt wanders, moving from one place to another, seemingly randomly.
Ultimately, just who leads the Wild Hunt will vary from country to country. In Welsh mythology, it is Gwyn ap Nudd or Annwn who lead the hunt with a pack of spectral hounds to collect unlucky souls. The Anglo-Saxons of Britain hold that it is Woden who leads the hunt at midwinter. Wotan is very similar to Odin (just another name for the same deity really), Herne has been linked to them as both have been hung from a tree.
Pagan Deity
With Wicca and many modern pagan religions, Herne is frequently identified with the Horned God. As a Horned God, Herne is seen as a god of the Hunt, the sacred masculine, animals, nature, crossroads, sacrifice, fertility, virility, forests, hunters, and warriors.
Close on the heels of a horned deity, Herne has been connected to the Celtic deity of Cernunnos. Most notably, Margaret Murray made this connection in her 1931 book, “God of the Witches.” She sees Herne as a manifestation of Cernunnos and a very localized god found only in Berkshire. Take that as you will, for as much as Margaret Murray is hailed as the Grandmother of Wicca, many of her ideas and theories have been discredited and contested or challenged as they often appealed to emotional desires didn’t fulfill proper scrutiny and criteria for research. She is still very important in getting the ball rolling for those who follow Wicca and Paganism.
Archeological Discoveries – Of note is that a headpiece made from the top part of a stag’s skull with antlers still attached was found in Britain at Star Carr near Scarborough. This headpiece is thought to date back to around 8500 B.C.E., dating it to the Mesolithic era. The headdress is thought to have served shamanic rituals to ensure a successful hunt.
Cernunnos – Gaul
It’s not just Margaret Murry who sees Herne as being very similar to or an aspect of Cernunnos, it is also R. Lowe Thompson in his 1929 book “The History of the Devil – The Horned God of the West” who makes the connection.
Thompson makes the connection of Herne to other Wild Huntsmen, looking for a connection of all of these horned deities being really the same being or aspects of each other. He goes on how Herne and Cernunnos are the same, just as the English word “horn” is a cognate of the Latin word “cornu.”
So… “cerne” and “herne.” It’s enough for many Wiccans and Pagans to accept Herne as an aspect of Cernunnos just on the fact that both have horns or antlers.
Depending on the source and who you ask, Herne hunts and destroys nature and wildlife where Cernunnos seeks to protect it.
Pan – Greek
While we’re at it, the Grecian rustic gods of the wild, Pan is also seen as a syno-deity who can be equated with Herne and other Horned Gods.
Woden – Anglo-Saxon
Also spelled Wotan.
Because so many have tried to make connections, I already touched on this above with the Wild Hunt, Herne as been connected to Wodan as well. Both Herne and Wodan hung from a tree. Herne out of shame and suicide and Wodan as he was seeking knowledge of the runes. Herne is also bandied about as being derived from one of Wodan’s titles, Herian (“Warrior-Leader”), a titled used when leading his fallen warriors, the Einherjar.
The Play’s The Thing!
Even if the origins of Herne are rooted in a Shakespearean play solely as a creation of the great bard himself. People assume that Shakespeare must have drawn on some unverifiable local myths and folklore.
While we can argue and aren’t completely sure, Herne has more than earned a place in folklore. Afterall, Herne continues to inspire and find his way into literature and modern media.
There are numerous books and T.V. series where Herne has a part or features and continues to be a character people readily draw inspiration from.
Such as a British show, Robin of Sherwood where Herne is a pagan priest and spirit of the woods. Books such as Susan Cooper’s The Dark Is Rising and Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series.
Baba Yaga
Alternate Spelling: Баба Яга (Russian)
Other names: Baba Cloanta (“Old Hag with Broken Teeth,” Romanian), Baba Jaga (Czech, Slovak, Polish), Baba Jaha, Baba-Jahinia, Baba Roga, Baba Ruta, Baba Yaha, Baba Yaga Kostianaya Noga (“bone legs”), Babcia (“grandmother” Polish), Babushka (Russian), Baka (Croatian), Boba (Lithuanian), Jezi-Baba, Yaga-Baba, Bobbe Yakhne (Yiddish), Ježibaba (Czech & Slovak), Vasorrú (“iron-nosed”)
Etymology: Baba means an elderly woman or grandmother, Yaga is uncertain, but may likely come the words: “jeza” meaning: horror, shudder or chill, “jezinka” for an evil wood nymph or dryad, “jeze” meaning: witch, “jedza” another word meaning: witch, fury or evil woman and lastly, “jeza” meaning: anger or disease and illness.
At its heart, the stories of Baba Yaga are used in Russian and Slavic folklore as a legendary bogeyman type monster to scare little children into behaving. Depending on your source, there is either just the one, terrifying Baba Yaga or there are several.
What’s In A Name?
In the Slavic languages, Baba Yaga’s name is understood to be composed of two parts. The first part of her name, Baba is generally understood to mean an elderly woman or grandmother. The second part of her name, Yaga is thought to be from a Proto-Slavic word “eg” and likely related to a Lithuanian word of “ingis” meaning: lazybones or sluggard. Other suggested words are the Old Norse word of “ekki” meaning pain and the Old English word of “inca” for doubt, scruple, grievance, and quarrel. Yaga might also derive from the feminine name of “Jadwiga.”
A Sergei V. Rjabchikov suggests that Yaga derives from the word Aga meaning: “Fiery” or “cauldron” saying that it refers to a solar deity of the Scythians and Sarmatians. Mainly as the suggestion connects Aga as a cognate to the Sanskrit word “agni” meaning: “fire” which is also the name of a fire god. Other cognate words that get linked are the Russian word “ogon” for fire and the Ossetic word “ag” for cauldron. Another scholar, Alexander Afanasyey proposes the ides of a proto-Slavic word “ož” and the Sanskrit word ahi for serpent may be a source for where the word Yaga comes from.
The earliest references to Baba Yaga, or “Yaga-Baba” is found in the “Of the Russe Common Wealth” by Giles Fletcher, the Elder. As “Yaga-Baba” she is found in the section for Permyaks, Samoyeds and Lopars where a Finno-Ugric influence is suggested.
Depending on the region and local dialect, Baba Yaga is known by slightly different names. In the Czech, Slovak and Polish regions, she’s called Baba Jaga, though Jezibaba is also used. In the Slovene language, the name is reversed to Jaga Baba. Where the term Jaga is concerned, there are numerous variations from different Slavic languages that connect it to the word jeza meaning: “horror,” “shudder,” and “chill.” There is the Slovian word jeza for “anger” and then the Old Czech word of jeze for “witch” or any legendary evil female being. The modern Czech word of jezinka refers to any evil nymph or dryad.
In Belarussia, Bulgarian, Russia and Ukraine, the names Baba Yaga and Baba Jaga are both used. Belarusia and Ukraine both have variant spellings of Baba Yaha and Baba Jaha. In the South Slavic languages of Bosnia Croatia, Macedonia and Serbia, she is known as Baba Roga. Finally, the Romanians, even though they’re not Slavic, know of her as Baba Cloanta, which roughly translates to “the Old Hag with Broken Teeth.”
Suffice to say, Baba is well known, revered, respected and feared. So much so, that some will say that Baba is the Devil’s own Grandmother. In Russian, Baba can sometimes get used as pejorative for women and men who are seen as unmanly, too timid and lack character. In the Polish language, the term Baba is also a pejorative as it can refer to a particularly nasty or ugly woman.
Description
The descriptions of Baba Yaga vary from region to region. Most are very similar in that she is a small, ugly old woman who’s very fierce or an ogress. Consistent details include mentioning her long nose and long teeth, long bony legs. Whichever details let a person know how hideous to look upon that Baba Yaga is and there’s no mistaking her for anyone else. She is a cannibalistic witch who lives in a hut in the forest. Where most witches of folklore are said to ride brooms, Baba Yaga is known for flying around in a mortar & pestle, using a broom made of silver birch to sweep away any traces of her passage. Much like the Wild Hunt, a host of spirits followed after Baba, these are most likely the spirits of her victims.
Aging: Baba Yaga is said to age one year for every question that she is asked, which, given that, could explain why she is often reluctant to help any who cross paths with her. With a tea made from a special blend of blue roses, Baba Yaga is able to undo the effects of this aging.
Chicken Hut: Baba’s Chicken Hut is notable as it walks and moves around chicken legs. The hut will move when Baba recites a specific rhyme. The keyhole to the door is a mouth full of sharp teeth. Sometimes this door will open with the following phrase: “Turn your back to the forest, your front to me.” When the house has roosted for the day, a fence with the skulls of Baba’s victims surrounds the hut.
Mortar & Pestle: Where most witches use a broom to fly around on, Baba rides around in a giant mortar & pestle, the same mortar & pestle that she can use to grind the bones of her victims then and there.
Servants: Baba will often be served by invisible servants inside her hut. If any ask about the servants, Baba is known to kill them.
Three Riders: Usually found in the Russian folklore, Baba can be associated with three riders, each of whom rides a different colored horse. White is the Day; Red is the Sun and Black is the Night. If any ask about who the riders are, Baba will explain who they are.
Hungarian Folklore
In the folklore and tales from Hungary, Baba Yaga began as a fairy, a good fairy. With the procession of time, she becomes a witch, one who drives a hard bargain and threatens to eat those who fail to uphold their ends of agreements.
Polish Folklore
Many Polish stories featuring witches often name them Baba Jaga. Much like the Brothers Grimm story of Hansel and Gretal, these Baba Jaga sometimes live in Gingerbread huts. When Baba Jaga’s hut isn’t described as being made of Gingerbread, it will be described as having only one chicken leg it moves around on.
Baba Jaga also flies around on a mop instead of a broom or in a flying mortar and pestle. She is further described wearing a black and red striped cloth that hails from Swietokrzyskie Mountains. For those wanting a bit of further trivia, this cloth is a symbol of the Kielce region and has a connection with a legendary witches sabbath on the Lysa Gora mountain.
Russian Folklore
This is the folklore that I at least was familiar with and knew Baba Yaga to hail from. It is these tales that the fearsome Baba Yaga flies through the air in flying mortar and pestle. The stories where the protagonists will discover Baba’s House that walks or dances on giant chicken legs. A house surrounded by a fence made of human bones with skulls on the posts. The keyhole of the front door is a mouth full of teeth.
Slavic Folklore
In Slavic folklore, Baba Yaga is often the antagonist of many tales. Often, she is sought by other characters who come seeking her for wisdom. Rarer is when Baba will offer guidance to wayward travelers and souls.
Dark Nature Spirit
There have been numerous, various folklore and tales about Baba Yaga over the years. Her tales often show her as a dangerous antagonist while other times she is just a tad more benevolent where she will help out others on their quests while devouring others instead. Given the location of where Baba Yaga is likely encountered most, it is out in the dark forests where she would easily represent the more wild, unknown and unpredictable force of nature.
In some stories, like Vasilissa the Beautiful, the heroine likely crosses over into the Otherworld when she is tasked by her stepsisters to go and get more light from Baba Yaga. Later traditions say that when meeting with Baba Yaga, one needs to prepare themselves spiritually and have a proper purity of spirit in order to survive an encounter with her.
Faerie – The Hungarian connection of Baba Yaga as a fairy really seems to fit given that the fae operates by rules. Baba Yaga strikes a bargain with Vasilissa the Beautiful who comes to get some fire from her in exchange for some labor. The old crone can’t hurt or eat Vasilissa so long as she full-fills her tasks and gets everything done. In the end, because Vasilissa has the aid and blessing of her mother, Baba Yaga sends the girl away. Just as many fae are known to have a trickster side to them, Baba Yaga displays hers, however dark with the skull she gives Vasilissa that burns up her stepfamily in flames. One can also argue that’s Baba Yaga acting as a bit of a dark fairy godmother to Vasilissa to aid her like that. But a bargain’s a bargain and many fairy gifts do often come with a price that’s up to the recipient to decide if that was a curse or blessing.
Good Witch Or Bad Witch? – Whether Baba Yaga will be helpful or try to eat someone really depends on the story told of her and what era of folklore for ancient or more modern. The ancient stories really home in on her dangerous nature and that she does eat people. More modern stories that feature Baba Yaga will still show her dangerous side, but as someone who’s mellowed with time, she seems to take on a more helpful nature.
More Than One? – As a supernatural being, some stories will mention a trio of sisters or witches who are all Baba Yaga, much like the idea of three fates? The good news is, that when Baba is encountered as three individuals, they’re much more likely to be benign and helpful.
Family – Some folktales will mention Baba Yaga having a daughter, sometimes she is given the name, Marinka.
Similar Folkloric Figures
There’s a number of other figures from myth and folklore of Europe that may have some cultural influence from the Eastern Slavic people’s beliefs or just the fact that similar ideas and concepts will pop up no matter what.
Baba Korizma – Serbian
Baba Pehtra – Slovenian
Baba Roga – From Croatia and Bosnia, she is used to scare children into behaving. The name Roga suggests that she has horns.
Babice – Serbian
Chlungeri – Switzerland
Gorska Maika – The Forest Mother of Bulgaria.
Gvozdenzuba – Meaning “Iron Tooth,” Serbian
Holda – Or Holle from Germany
Jezibaba –Western Slavic, she is very similar in function to Baba Yaga, though her appearance and specific stories differ from the Eastern Slavic stories.
Mama Padurii – Forest Mother, Romanian
Perchta – Alpine region
Sumska Majka – The Forest Mother, Serbian
Ancient Slavic Earth Goddess
That’s very likely possibility given the strong connections of her as a fairy in Hungarian folklore and her connection as a dark, wild and unpredictable force of nature. She could be connected to an ancient matriarchal religion. Some sources have said that the Baba part of her name connects her as being female and that there could very well be a male counterpart to her.
There are also scholars who suggest that Baba Yaga is influenced by the Eastern Slavic people’s contact with the Finno-Ugric and Siberian people. The Finnish stories have an ogress by the name of Syöjätär who is the source of diseases and in stories, she often takes the role of a wicked mother. Contrasting with Syöjätär is Akka, a female fertility spirit or deity found in Estonian, Finnish and Sami mythology and shamanism.
The first distinct references to Baba Yaga or Iaga Baba appear in 1755 with Mikhail V. Lomonosov’s Rossiiskaia Grammatika (Russian Grammar). In this book, Baba Yaga is mentioned a couple times alongside other Slavic figures and traditions. The second mention has her in a list of Slavic deities and their assigned, roman syno-deities.
Feminist Icon
It’s no wonder, after looking into the folklore and mythology behind Baba Yaga, that in many Wiccan and Modern Pagan practices and even those who aren’t would seek to reclaim and take Baba Yaga back as a feminist icon. When incoming Christianity couldn’t tame Baba Yaga, they vilified her.
After all, centuries of persecution by Christian beliefs and she has endured in the imaginations and of those who examine her stories; see the quintessential, untamed wild old woman who does as she pleases with no one to tell her otherwise. Baba Yaga is a fierce, dark force of magic, who when approached with caution, can help or destroy.
Triple Goddess
In New Age and Wiccan practices, Baba Yaga fits very easily with the role of the Crone.
Baba Yaga In Folklore
There are a lot of stories in Slavic and Russian folklore that feature Baba Yaga, so much so, she is considered a stock character by authors of modern Russian fairy tales. There are whole articles and commentary that go into exploring Baba Yaga’s role and place in folklore as sometimes, she’s not always an antagonist or even protagonist, she’s a feature or obstacle that the heroes must overcome and get past on their journey. Is she a threat? Does she really prove helpful as a dark and dangerous fairy godmother or guide?
She does seem to come off as a trickster figure, one who can often be bested and outwitted by use of trickery and using her own sense of propriety and rules for manners and etiquette to escape her.
With her continued use in more modern, contemporary literature and media, Baba Yaga’s nature at times, depending on the needs of the narrative and author, her demeanor can soften, though she’ll remind people she can still be very dangerous.
Vasilissa The Beautiful
This is perhaps the most well-known story with Baba Yaga that was recorded by Alexander Afanasyeye in 1862. It begins as any story does, with a merchant who had married for twelve years before he and his wife were able to conceive and have a baby, a little girl whom he called Vasilissa the Beautiful.
Unfortunately, tragedy struck, and the mother became ill when Vasilissa was eight years old. Before she died, Vasilissa’s mother called her daughter to her bedside where she presented her Vasilissa with a small wooden doll. The mother explained that she was dying and that she was leaving her this little doll. She was not to show anyone this doll and to always be sure to carry it with her everywhere she went. If ever she had any sorrow or threat to her, Vasilissa was to go to a corner and take the doll from her pocket, giving it an offering of food or drink. Once it had drunk or eaten, Vasilissa would then able to tell the doll her troubles and it would aid her or give advice on what to do. With that, the mother kissed Vasilissa on the head and died soon after.
That first day, Vasilissa grieved for her mother’s loss. So much so, that when night finally came, she couldn’t sleep. As she lay there in her bed, Vasilissa remembered the tiny doll and pulled it out from her pocket. Then she found a small piece of bread and something to drink, these Vasillisa placed before the doll, saying: “There, my little doll, take it. Eat a little, and drink a little, and listen to my grief. My dear mother is dead, and I am lonely for her.”
The doll came to life, its eyes glowing as it ate a bit of bread and took a sip of drink. When the doll had finished, it told Vasilissa not to cry, that grief can be at its strongest during the night. That she should lay down and try to sleep for in the morning things would be better. Vasilissa did as the doll advised her and went to sleep and found that in the morning, her grief as not as deep and sorrowful as before.
After a period of mourning, Vasilissa’s father decided that it was right to marry again. Being a merchant, it wasn’t difficult for him to find and attract a suitable wife given his status with having a fine house, horses and his charity for giving to the poor. The merchant found a widow close to his own age with two daughters and thought that she would make for a good foster mother to his own little Vasilissa.
Such was not the case, as many of these stories show, the widow was a cruel and cold-hearted woman who only wanted the merchant’s wealth. Nor, did the widow harbor any love for Vasilissa.
Take a page right out of Cinderella, the widow and her two daughters envied and hated Vasilissa for her good looks and gave her all manner of tasks and errands to run in an effort to try and were Vasilissa out. Despite this, Vasilissa persisted, never complaining of what happened to her.
The key to Vasilissa’s success and enduring where others might have failed, is that she still had the little doll. Every night, while everyone else slept, Vasilissa would bring out the doll, while locking her door, she would feed the little doll. After the doll had eaten and drunk a little, Vasilissa would tell the doll of her troubles and the work her stepmother would task her to do.
After the doll came to life and listened to the girl’s plea, it would comfort Vasilissa and send her off to sleep. While she slept, the doll would perform all of the tasks set before Vasilissa and get all of her work and chores are done for the next day. This wouldn’t leave much left come the next morning for Vasilissa to do besides rest and play.
Time passed and Vasilissa grew up, becoming a beautiful young woman of marrying age. All the young, would-be suitors in the village came knocking, seeking out Vasilissa’s hand in marriage. None of the young men ever had an eye for the stepmother’s two daughters. This angered the stepmother to the point of being enraged. The stepmother would tell every young man who arrived at their door that the youngest would never be wed before the older ones. When the young man left, the stepmother would then beat and berate Vasilissa.
More time passed and Vasilissa’s father, the merchant left for a business trip. Barely was the father gone when no sooner did the stepmother have the house sold and packed everything up so they could move to the far side of the village near the dark forest. While the stepsisters worked indoors, the stepmother would task Vasilissa with more errands that would take her out into the dark woods.
The plot thickens!
The stepmother it seems was well aware that out in this dark forest, in a small clearing, Baba Yaga’s hut could be found. The stepmother had high hopes that Vasilissa would encounter the old witch that was known to eat people. She hoped that with each errand, it would be Vasilissa’s last as she would get eaten. Such was not to be, for the little doll of Vasilissa’s would guide her to where the berries and flowers grew and kept her well away from Baba Yaga’s hut.
One night, the stepmother brought all three girls together and tasked each of them with a job. To one of her daughters, they were to knit a piece of lace. The second daughter was to knit a pair of hose. As for Vasilissa, she was to spin a basket of flax. The tasks given out; the stepmother proceeded to put out all of the fires except for one candle before then heading off to sleep.
The girls worked for hours. The older of the girls eventually got up and went to straighten the wick on the lone candle. Instead of straightening the wick, the girl “accidentally” put the candle out. Now the girls panicked, for what would they do without any light to work by? The only house close enough to get a light from was that of Baba Yaga’s. The two daughters of the stepmother bade that Vasilissa be the one to go out and get the much-needed fire as she knew the nearby forest better. Nor, would the girls allow Vasilissa to return to the house without any light or flame.
Out a distraught Vasilissa went and sat on the front steps of the house. She pulled the small doll from her pocket and some food from the other. As she gave the food to the doll, saying: “There, my little doll, take it. Eat a little and listen to my sorrow. I must go out to the hut of Baba Yaga in the dark forest to get some fire and I fear that she will eat. Tell me! What shall I do?”
The doll came to life, eyes glowing as it ate. When it had finished, the doll replied that Vasilissa should not fear, to go to where she had been sent and that while he was with her, no harm would come to her from the witch. Hearing those words, Vasilissa placed the doll back in her pocket and headed out into the forest.
After a time, walking through the dark forest, Vasilissa soon heard the sound of horse hooves pounding the ground and shortly after, a white horse and rider dressed all in white passed by her. Soon as rider and horse were gone, it became twilight.
Vasilissa continued further on and again, she heard the sound of horse hooves pounding the ground as presently, another horse and rider passed by her. This horse and rider were blood-red and once they had gone, the sun arose.
On, Vasilissa continued her journey within the Dark Forest and it became very clear that she was now lost and there was no longer a path to follow. Nor, was there any food for Vasilissa to take out and bring the little doll to life to ask for help or advice.
Finally, as the evening came, Vasilissa found herself standing before a green lawn where a peculiar hut stood on chicken legs. Around the hut, a wall made of human bones with skull atop each post. It was a very unsettling sight for Vasilissa to take in.
While standing there, Vasilissa once more heard the sound of horse hooves and sure enough, a third horse and rider thundered into view. This time horse and rider were all in black. As horse and rider pounded the ground up to the gate to the hut, they disappeared, and night fell upon the forest as everything became dark.
The only place not dark within the forest was the lawn as all the eyes of the skulls on the wall lit up, illuminating the place. Vasilissa didn’t have long to stare for a loud noise boomed from the forest as trees groaned and shift. The source of the noise was Baba Yaga flying in riding in a large mortar with a pestle steering it. As Baba Yaga moved through the forest, behind her, she swept her trail clear with a broom.
Up to the gate, Baba Yaga flew and stopped, reciting the following: “Turn your back to the forest, your front to me.”
With those words, the hut turned on its chicken legs, facing towards Baba Yaga and stood waiting. Before going in, Baba Yaga sniffed the air and cried out that she smelled someone present and asked he was there.
In fear, Vasilissa stepped out, bowing low before Baba Yaga. “It is only me, Vasilissa, grandmother.” And explained how the daughters of her stepmother bid her come to borrow some fire as it had gone out at home.
Baba Yaga knew of whom Vasilissa spoke off and bargained that if she gave her some fire, that she was to stay a while and work for it. If Vasilissa didn’t, then Baba Yaga would eat her. The bargain struck, Baba Yaga with Vasilissa following behind, entered the hut.
Once they were inside, Baba Yaga sat down on her stove and stretched out her skinny, bony legs as she spoke: “Go and fetch the table and place everything in the oven on it. I’m hungry!”
Hearing this, Vasilissa hurried and pulled out from the oven, enough cooked meat for three big men. Then Vasilissa brought out from the cellar, honey and red wine. All of this Baba Yaga ate and drank with gusto, leaving only a small bit of cabbage soup, a crust of bread and a bit of pork for Vasilissa to eat.
Her hunger satiated, Baba Yaga grew tired and went to lay down on the stove. Before falling asleep, she instructed Vasilissa that on the morrow, when she left, that Vasilissa was to clean the yard, sweep the floors and cook her supper. Vasilissa was then to take a quarter measure of wheat from Baba’s storehouse and pick out all of the black grains and wild peas. Failure to accomplish all of this would see Vasilissa eaten by Baba.
Now Baba Yaga turned over, facing towards the wall and promptly fell asleep as evidenced by the snores. Scared, Vasilissa went to a corner and took out her tiny doll from her pocket. She fed it a bit of bread and a little bit of cabbage soup that she had saved. Then, bursting into tears, Vasilissa told the doll to eat a little and drink a little and then told it how she was in the house of Baba Yaga, that the old witch had given her a difficult task and if she did not complete it all, that Baba Yaga would eat her. What was she to do?
The little doll’s eyes glowed as it came to life and ate the bread and drank the soup before it responded, telling Vasilissa not to be afraid. To say her prayers and go to sleep, that things would look clearer in the morning. Trusting her little doll, Vasilissa did as she was told and went to sleep.
The next morning, Vasilissa awoke early while it was yet dark. Peering out the window, she the skulls on the wall glowing still. As she continued to watch, Vasilissa saw a man dressed all in white ride away on a white horse ran past and as they pounded by, it became light. The glowing eyes of the skulls went out with the light. Baba Yaga went out to the yard and whistled for her giant iron mortar and pestle that came. Climbing in, Baba Yaga flew away. Shortly after she left, a man dressed all in red riding an equally red horse appeared, signaling fully the arrival of dawn.
Alone now, Vasilissa looked about the hut as she took in everything that had to be cleaned and all that she was tasked to do. As she turned attention back to the yard, Vasilissa was astonished to find the yard already clean along with the floors of the house when she looked back inside. Looking around, Vasilissa spotted her little doll sitting in the storehouse as it picked the last of the black grains and wild peas out from a quarter measure of wheat.
Vasilissa took up the little doll in arms to thank it. That now all she had to do was cook Baba Yaga’s supper. The little doll bid her to that task which Vasilissa did after the doll went back to her pocket. Laying out the table for supper and getting the meal ready, Vasilissa needed only to rest and wait the rest of the day.
As she waited, Vasilissa heard the sound of horse’s hooves and soon saw a rider all in black on a black horse ride up the gate and disappear. Once the black rider vanished, it became night and the eyes of the skulls began to glow. Not long after that, the forest began to shake and branches tremble as Baba Yaga flew back to hut.
On entering her hut, Baba Yaga looked around, sniffing the air. Baba Yaga then asked the girl if she had done all that was asked of her or was Baba Yaga going to get to eat her? Vasilissa replied for her to look.
Baba Yaga looked around the hut and yard. Try as she might, Baba Yaga was unable to find anything amiss which angered the old witch. Still, the tasks were done, and Baba Yaga clapped her hands together, calling for her faithful servants to take her wheat. Instantly, three pairs of hands appeared and hauled away the measure of wheat.
Then Baba Yaga sat down at the table as Vasilissa placed before her all the food that she had cooked along with kvass, honey and red wine. Baba Yaga ate with much gusto, enough for four men. Finished, Baba Yaga stretched out her bony legs on the stove and told Vasilissa that tomorrow, she was to the same as she had done today and in addition, that she was to take a half-measure of poppy seeds from the storehouse and clean them, one by one. It seems that someone mixed earth with the seeds to cause old Baba Yaga some mischief. With that, Baba Yaga turned over towards the wall and began to snore.
Just as she had the night before, Vasilissa crept to a corner to pull out her little doll. She once more placed a small bit of food before the doll to ask its advice. Like always, the doll’s eyes glowed as it came to life and ate. Finished, the doll replied for Vasilissa not to worry, to say her prayers as she had before and to sleep. Vasilissa did as she was bid and went to sleep.
The next morning, Vasilissa awoke to the sound of Baba Yaga’s whistling. Vasilissa got up and ran to the window, just in time to see the old witch take off in her giant mortar and pestle. Just as she had seen the day before, the man in red appeared on his horse, riding away to signal the dawn. Like the previous morning too, as Vasilissa looked around, she saw that all of the tasks had been accomplished by her doll and all that remained was to cook the supper.
Vasilissa had everything for dinner prepared and ready on the table when the man in black on his horse return to signal nighttime and Baba Yaga’s arrival. Baba Yaga came into her hut, peering around, seeing for herself that all the tasks and supper were accomplished. Angry, Baba Yaga clapped her hands, calling for her servants to come take the poppy seeds. Again, three pairs of hands appeared to take the measure of poppy seeds away.
Baba Yaga sat down at the table devouring the meal with the zeal and gusto of five men. Vasilissa stood nearby, quietly waiting as the old witch ate. The quietness annoyed Baba Yaga who snapped at the girl, asking why she stood there as if she were dumb.
Vasilissa replied that she didn’t dare speak, but if she was allowed, could she ask grandmother some questions.
Baba Yaga allowed it, cautioning Vasilissa to remember that not every question had good answers and that knowing too much could lead a person to prematurely growing old.
Vasilissa then inquired, asking about the white rider. Baba Yaga said that was her servant, Bright Day. Then Vasilissa asked about the red rider to which Baba Yaga responded that was her servant, the Red Sun. Lastly, Vasilissa asked about the black rider and Baba Yaga replied that was her servant, the Dark Night. That none of her servants couldn’t harm Vasilissa.
Going silent, Vasilissa sat there and Baba Yaga wanted the girl to ask more questions. Why not ask more? What about the three pairs of hands? Vasilissa answered that three questions were enough and that she did not want to grow old too soon if she knew too much.
Old Baba Yaga laughed and said that well for her if she had asked about the hands, they would have appeared and seized Vasilissa to carry away to become Baba Yaga’s next meal. Now that Vasilissa had asked her questions, Baba Yaga wanted to ask questions of her own.
Namely, how was it that Vasilissa had been able to accomplish all the tasks in the short time allotted. Frightened, Vasilissa nearly brought out her doll, but thought better of it in time, replying instead that she had the blessing of her dead mother helped her.
Enraged, Baba Yaga told Vasilissa to get out of her house, she would have no one in her house who bore a blessing to cross her threshold. As Vasilissa got up to leave, running from the house, Baba Yaga grabbed a skull from a post on her wall and threw it at the girl. Saying that she was to take the skull, that’s what the stepmother’s daughters had sent her for.
Grabbing up the skull, Vasilissa placed it on the end of a stick and carried it with her out of the forest, running as fast as she could. She ran until morning when the glow of the skull dimmed just as Vasilissa exited the edge of the forest before her stepmother’s house.
Surely, by now, Vasilissa thought, the sisters would have found another light. Vasilissa thought to throw the skull into the hedge, but it spoke saying not to throw it away, to take it to her stepmother. Vasilissa picked up the skull again and carried it with her to the house.
In all the time that Vasilissa had been gone, the stepmother and daughters had had no fire or light for all of the house. Whenever they would strike flint and steel, the tinder wouldn’t catch and any fire brought in from a neighbor’s would immediately out as soon as it crossed the threshold of the house. Such was the state of three to have no light or warmth for themselves or to cook food. This made it the first time that the presence of Vasilissa was ever welcomed for when she carried the skull across the threshold, it’s light did not go out.
The stepmother insisted on placing the skull in the best room on a candlestick. As the stepmother and her daughters admired it, the eyes of the skull began to glow red like coals. Whenever the three would look or go, the eyes of the skull would follow, growing larger and brighter until the eyes burned bright as a furnace, growing hotter and hotter so that the stepmother and her daughters burned to ashes. Only Vasilissa was spared this fate.
What every poor abused stepchild wants, freedom from the wicked stepparent and siblings.
The next morning, Vasilissa dug a hole and buried the skull and locked the door to the house. She then set out of the village where she went to live with an old woman who was childless. There, Vasilissa lived, waiting for her father’s return from his journey.
After a few days of nothing to do, Vasilissa asked the old woman for some flax to spin, that she could at least do. The old woman went out and got Vasilissa some flax of the best kind and Vasilissa sat down to spin. So fine was the thread, even and fine as hair, eventually there was enough to work with to weave. However, so fine was the thread that there was frame that could weave the thread.
As she had done before when needing help, Vasilissa took out her little doll and giving it food and drink, told it of her need for a frame to weave her thread on. As always, the little doll came to life, eating and drink and when it had finished, it instructed Vasilissa to bring it an old frame, an old basket and some hairs from a horse’s mane and that it would make the frame needed. Vasilissa did as she was instructed, getting all the items and bringing them back.
The next morning, Vasilissa found a frame suited for the needs of weaving her thread on. It would take Vasilissa several months work weaving, throughout the winter, until she had at last a piece of linen as fine that it could be passed like the thread it was made of through the eye of a needle. Spring came and Vasilissa bleached the linen, making it as white as snow. Vasilissa then bid the old woman take the linen to market and sell it for the money made would pay for her food and lodging. The old woman returned from the market, saying that no one would buy the linen and that no one would wear it except for the Tsar himself. That tomorrow, she would carry it to the Palace.
The next day came and the old woman carried it to the Palace, and she spent her time walking up and down the walkways of the Palace. Servants would come up and ask her what brought her to the Palace and the old woman would say nothing. Presently enough, the Tsar opened his window and called down to the old woman what she wanted.
The old woman replied that she had a marvelous piece of linen and that she would show it to no one but him. The Tsar bid the servants bring the old woman in who showed off the linen to him. The Tsar was so taken with the finery and beauty of the cloth that he asked the old woman what she wanted for it. The old woman replied that there was no price for it, it had been brought as a gift. So pleased was the Tsar that he couldn’t thank her enough and sent the old woman away with many gifts.
Numerous seamstresses were brought in to make shirts for the Tsar out of the marvelous cloth, but they found that when it was cut up, that none of them had skill to sew it. The Tsar found himself calling the old woman back, saying that if she knew how to spin such linen, surely, she would know how to sew shirts from it.
At this, the old woman confessed that it wasn’t her who wove the cloth, but her adopted daughter who had done so. The Tsar bid the old woman to bring the cloth back to her daughter to sew into shirts. Bringing the cloth home, Vasilissa replied that it was just as well that she be the one to sew the shirts as she made the cloth.
Vasilissa took the cloth and went to her room where she returned later with a dozen shirts for the Tsar. The old woman brought all of these back to the Tsar who was so delighted with the craftsmanship that he sent a servant to fetch Vasilissa and bring her back to the Palace.
For the Tsar, it was love at first sight when he saw Vasilissa enter his Palace. So beautiful was Vasilissa that the Tsar asked her to marry him. The two wed and shortly after, Vasilissa’s father returned from his journey and he and the old woman went to live with Vasilissa in the Palace. As for the little doll, Vasilissa kept it with her always in her pocket all her life.
Christianized Version –
There is a Christianized version of this story where, when Vasilissa is sent off to Baba Yaga and ends up being captured by the old witch, it is Baba Yaga’s servants, a cat, a dog, a gate and a tree that all help Vasilissa escape her fate as she had shown them each kindness. At the end of this story, Baba Yaga turns into a crow.
Baba Yaga And The Peasant Children
This is a story I came across that is very similar to the Christianized version of Vasilissa’s story above. It also, after I finished reading it, that it sounds a lot like the Brothers Grimm story of Hansel and Gretel. You go over to Poland and these Gingerbread dwelling witches are all over the place.
The story starts off with two children who have a cruel stepmother. One day, the stepmother decides she no longer wants the children and contrives a way to send them off into the forest to get lost and eaten by the infamous Baba Yaga.
The children do find their way into Baba Yaga’s clutches and while there, they are able to escape her cannibalistic nature first from a black cat who helps them as they had fed it when Baba Yaga wouldn’t. Secondly, the children are aided by the gate slamming shut on Baba to slow her down because the children had mended the gate when Baba Yaga had neglected it. Finally, the very trees of the forest aid the children in evading Baba Yaga due to how she had mistreated them. The children are able to get home safely where their father kicks out the stepmother and welcomes his children home.
Prince Danila-Govorila
This is another story involving Baba Yaga that I came across and it reads in many ways, like a modern horror story. In it, there is an old woman who’s a princess and she had two children, a son and daughter. Entering the story is an old witch, Baba Yaga who doesn’t want the woman or her children to be happy. She turns into a fox and appears before the woman, presenting her with a ring and tells her that the ring is for her son, that he will be rich and generous, and he can only marry the woman whose finger will also fit the ring.
The old woman or princess believes the fox has given her a blessed gift and bestows it on her son. Time goes by and the son grows up and he beings to look for the woman whose finger will fit the ring. He finds many women whom he likes and fancies, but none of them are able to wear the ring. At long last, the son, Danila laments to his sister Katerina how he is unable to find a wife as no one is able to wear the ring.
Katerina asks to see the ring and Danila pulls it out. As it’s a ring, Katerina does the most natural thing and tries it on. To both siblings’ astonishment, the ring fits and Danila declares that Katerina is meant to be his wife. This can’t be so Katerina cries out, that’s incest and against God’s will. But Danila is so elated he runs off dancing and singing.
Katerina goes outside to cry her misfortune and as she does so, some elderly woman pass by and ask her what the matter is. They listen to her story and tell Katerina not to worry. Make four dolls and places them in the corners of her room. When Danila calls her to marriage, she should go and when it’s time to go to the bedroom, take her time. That Katerina should put her faith and trust in God to work things out.
Katerina does as she’s advised with making the dolls and placing them. Soon after, she and her brother are married. That night, when Danila called her to bed, Katerina took her time with getting ready and heading to bed.
This is where it gets to sounding like a horror story, as Danila is calling for Katerina, the dolls come to life, calling out how Prince Danila is marrying his sister and taking her to bed, for the earth to open up and Katerina to fall inside.
The more Danila calls, the more the dolls cry out, the more the earth opens up beneath Katrina and she sinks down within it. Eventually Danila can’t hear Katerina responding and he rushes into the room where she was supposed to be getting ready for bed. Only he finds the dolls calling out for the earth to open up and sister fall inside and there’s no sign of his sister. Danila flies into a rage and chops off the heads of all the dolls.
Meanwhile, Katerina finds herself beneath the earth and eventually she comes across a small hut that stands on chicken legs. A voice calls out from within for the hut to: “stand as before, rear to the forest and face before me.” The chicken hut turns, and Katerina is greeted to the sight of a beautiful maiden sitting alone inside.
The maiden invites Katerina inside to visit for a while. The maiden warns Katerina that her mother is a witch and when she shows up, she needs to hide. However much this frightened Katerina and with nowhere else to go, she went inside to visit and talk with the maiden as she knitted and made a wedding towel.
I can see where this is going…
The maiden knows when her mother will return, and she turns Katerina into a needle that she hides in her broom. No sooner done, then in comes the old witch who declares that it smells of a Russian having been in the hut.
The maiden says that some passersby had come through, looking for water. When the old witch asks why the maiden didn’t hold them, the maiden says that they were too old and tough for the old witch’s teeth.
The old witch instructs the maiden to call people into the yard and to keep them there next time. Now she was going to head off and get some booty. The old witch leaves and the two girls resume their talking and laughing.
The old witch returns again, Katerina is turned into a needle once more before she enters the house and the maiden tells a story to her mother how she couldn’t detain and keep the people there.
Third times the charm and the old witch isn’t fooled, she takes off again, but doesn’t go far for just when the girls are back to their antics of laughing and talking, where Katerina will hide this time and what story to use, the old witch enters the hut, revealing herself to be Baba Yaga to the frightened Katerina.
Delighted that her daughter has finally caught dinner, Baba Yaga tries unsuccessfully to get Katerina to sit on a paddle to be placed in the oven. Katerina makes it difficult as she keeps moving her legs to keep from getting pushed in. Baba Yaga is angered and when she tries to push Katerina in, the maiden takes her opportunity and instead, shoves her mother into the oven.
As the two girls ran, Baba Yaga got free of the oven and chased after them. First, the maiden threw down her brush that turned into a marsh that Baba Yaga had difficulty crawling through. On the girls ran with Baba Yaga still giving chase. Now the maiden tossed down her comb and a dark, thick forest sprang up that slowed down the old witch, causing Baba Yaga to lose sight of the two for a time.
Eventually, she was nearly caught up with the girls and the maiden now threw down her towel which turned into a vast fiery lake. Baba Yaga tried to fly up over this fiery lake, no matter how high Baba Yaga flew, the heat of the lake got to her and she plunged to a fiery death.
The two girls made it back to the world above but didn’t have any idea of where they were at. As they sat to rest, catching their breath, a man came up to the two. Both Katerina and the maiden were very alike in appearance and the man knew that they both matched the description of the missing Prince’s sister and wife, Katerina.
Finding themselves getting brought before Prince Danila so he could figure out which was his sister, Katerina refused to speak a word. As they couldn’t get either girl to speak, the man who was a servant of Danila’s came up with a plan to have the Prince hide a bladder full of blood under an arm, he, the servant would come up and stab him and that would get the sister to speak and thus reveal herself.
The plan is put into motion, the Prince with blood bladder under his clothing comes back out. The servant goes to stab the Prince. The Prince falls down as if dead, Katerina cries out in fright and goes up to hold the body of her brother, only to find, surprise! He’s not dead. Danila hugs his sister and marries her off to a good man and he decides to marry the maiden as the ring he has fits her finger too.
And I find that ending very wow? All that work and Katerina and the maiden are both married off like property, the Prince is reward for…pretending to die and takes the friend who shows up seemingly out of nowhere.
However that’s not the scope of retelling these stories, just that they’re ones that feature Baba Yaga that I came across and showcase her as a very scary, unpredictable being, whom with a bit of luck, cunning, one’s own magic or minding manners when dealing with someone very old, they can survive an encounter with Baba Yaga.
More Stories
I could go on for quite a while trying to give quick run-through of all the different folktales involving Baba Yaga, there are just that many. It would be my luck to still miss one or two. She even continues into the present day with continued use in literature and media.
At the very least, I can try to mention some of these other stories. There is: “The Feather of Finist the Falcon,” this is one story where the hero meets up with three Baba Yagas. There is also “Teryoshechka”, “The Enchanted Princess,” “The Silver Saucer and the Red Apple,” “The Maiden Tsar,” “The Tale of the Three Royal Divas”, “Ivashka, The Priest’s Son,” “Baba Yaga and Zamoryshek,” “By Command of the Prince Daniel,” “Marya Moryevna,” “Realms of Copper, Silver and Gold,” “The Sea Tsar and Vasilisa the Wise,” and “Legless Knight and Blind Knight.”
Reality Behind The Myth
The description of Baba Yaga’s hut that stands on chicken legs, with no windows or doors, likely has a place in the local cultures of the Siberian region. Similarly built cabins and huts have been observed with the early hunter-nomadic peoples of Siberia (namely the Finno-Ugric) and Tungusic families. To keep wild animals from getting into food supplies while they have gone, they built cabins with no doors or windows up on supports from trees. From a distance, these supports with the tree roots still attached would look like chicken legs. The only access to these huts would be by way of a trap door.
Siberian Paganism
Smaller, similar constructs were used in the old Siberian pagan religion to hold figurines of their deities. The idea has put forth of a late matriarchy where a bone-carved doll dressed in rags is placed in a small cabin that the doll can barely fit in.
The last idea is a funeral tradition used for cremating the dead in huts built on poles. Russian archaeologists, Yefimenko and Tretyakov found small huts containing the cremated remains of corpses and circular fences places around them in 1948.
Nanaue
At its simplest, Nanaue is the son of the Shark King, Kamohoalii and a mortal woman, Kalei. He is something of a bogeyman in Hawaiian mythology.
Family
Father – Kamohoalii, King of the Sharks
Mother – Kalei, a mortal woman
Aunt – Pele, a volcano goddess, which makes sense as some retellings list Kamohoalii and her being siblings.
Siblings – Unauna, a brother, a mountain demigod.
The Legend
Picture if you will, many years ago, the Big Island of Hawaii. A tale old as time. It is here, our story begins in the Waipio Valley where a beautiful young maiden by the name of Kalei lived. Every night, Kalei loved to go walking along the beach, down to where the mouth of the valley would open up to the sea to collect a particular type of shellfish that she loved to eat.
Going out late and alone one night, Kalei’s beauty caught the eye of Kamohoalii, the King of the Sharks. Being a shape-shifter, Kamohoalii was able to change to a human, one whose role was chief as he came to land to seek out Kalei.
In this guise, Kamohoalii was able to move among the humans as he searched. Eventually he found Kalei whom he was able to court and marry. In time, Kalei would become pregnant.
Now, Kamohoalii was careful not to ever reveal his true identity to Kalei. However, given that he would leave in the morning and come home late in the evening, eventually Kamohoalii does reveal his true nature to Kalei.
Not keeping secrets is healthy in a relationship and that would make it easier for the fact that Kamohaolii has to return to the sea. That means Kalei is going be alone and with a half human, half shark son on the way, it will help that she knows what to do.
Kamohoalii was careful to give instructions to Kalei to give birth alone and that she always keeps an eye on their child. The final instructions were that she never allow their son to eat meat from any. Kalei vowed that she would follow Kamohoalii’s words. It is a reluctant Kamohoalii who returns to the sea, leaving his lover behind, never to see her again.
The time came, during the night that Kalei gave birth to her’s and Kamohoalii’s son. She was gladdened and then became afraid when she saw on the baby’s back a deformity like a large open hole or slit as if it were some fish mouth.
Kalei covered her son, whom she named Nanaue, with a blanket and later a shirt to hide his deformity from other people. At first, all goes well and Kalei is able to raise her son and follow Kamohoalii’s instructions.
This works until Nanaue is three or four years old and is taken to go eat in the Mua house with the other men. There, Nanaue’s grandfather fed him some meat. Instantly, the child developed an insatiable appetite for meat. The mouth on Nanaue’s back grew sharp rows of teeth.
As Nanaue’s shark nature developed, Kalei discovered that her son would turn into a young shark whenever he bathed in a stream. Kalei counciled her son to be careful not to reveal his nature to anyone else.
This worked for the most part, Nanaue busied himself working in his mother’s taro patch when he wasn’t fishing or bathing. This earned him something of a reputation as a loner and a recluse. This had more to do with that as Nanaue grew, so did his voracious appetite as a shark. People did pass by his mother’s place and they’d see Nanaue whereon he’d engage in some small talk. Mainly the question of what they were doing. If people said bathing or fishing, Nanaue would bid the people to take care.
Now, if it were just one person going off alone, this is whom Nanaue would pick to eat and soon enough, the individual would go missing. Pretty there’s a habit of missing people and what all do they have in common?
Hmmm….
The people of Waipio Valley began to get suspicious of Nanaue. Why was he the only one never harmed by this monstrous shark that would appear. There wasn’t any proof yet.
Eventually, King Umi sent out a proclamation for all the Hawaiian men of Waipio to come and put in some work on tilling his plantation. On the first day of work, Nanaue was the only man who hadn’t shown up.
Word reached King Umi about a man who hadn’t shown up for work and men were sent to bring Nanaue before the king. When questioned why he didn’t show up, Nanaue replied that he didn’t know he was to show up.
Hmmm….
Seems legit as King Umi accepts this answer and tells Nanaue to show up tomorrow. Bright and early the next day, Nanaue shows up for work with all the other men. Unlike them, Nanaue is still wearing a shirt to cover the shark mouth on his back. This puzzles the other men who wonder why Nanaue doesn’t go shirtless like they do in the heat as they all work.
After a few days of this, some of the other younger workers decided to accost Nanaue as they surrounded him and ripped his shirt off. This revealed the gruesome shark mouth on Nanaue’s back. In anger, Nanaue turned his back to bite several of the young workers.
Some of the workers ran and reported to King Umi what had happened. It didn’t take King Umi much to put two and two together as to who and what was the source of so many of his people vanishing when going swimming. King Umi ordered Nanaue’s capture and that a large fire be built in which Nanaue would be burned alive.
See what fate held in store for him, Nananue called upon his shark father, Kamohoalii to aid him. As an answer to his pleas, Nananue found himself with superhuman strength that allowed him to break the ropes holding him. Using his new immense strength, Nananue broke free of Umi’s warriors that tried to seize him. Nanaue ran with all his might to rock edge and leapt into the ocean with numerous people to witness his change into a shark.
The people were greatly upset with Nanaue’s escape, such that they wanted to kill his mother and relatives for having raised such a monster. Kalei and her brothers were caught and brought before King Umi. Not giving into the people’s immediate demands for execution, Umi questioned Kalei about her son and she confessed to everything about Kamohoalii’s courtship and the warning he had given her concerning raising their son.
Hearing Kalei’s tale, Umi wisely surmised that any actions taken against Kalei and her kin would likely arouse the Shark King’s wrath. If not that, surely the wrath of Nanaue.
Instead, Umi decreed that Kalei and her brothers be released. A request was given to the priests and shark kahunas to make offerings and invocations to Kamohoalii to ask what to do about his son Nanaue. The spirit of Kamohoalii appeared and told how it was the boy’s grandfather who had fed him meat. If it had not been for this action, he would order his son killed. As it was, Kamohoalii informed the priests and kahunas that his son was to be exiled from Hawaii and if he appeared again, his shark soldiers would kill Nananue. Before leaving, Kamohoalii obtained a promise that Kalei and her family would be held blameless for Nanaue’s actions.
As to Nanaue, he swam to the Hana side of the island of Maui. Here, resumed his human form again and married a chiefess. Nanaue tried for a while to suppress his voracious appetite for human flesh. This only worked for so long and Nanaue’s hunger grew so great and desperate that he grabbed a young girl and ran with her out to the ocean where he changed back into a shark and ate her. One or two legends state that Nanaue does have descendants of his on Maui.
The worst part to all of this, is that everyone saw it. Saw Nanaue grab the girl, take off with said girl to the ocean where he changes into a giant, monstrous shark and devours her. Enter the mob with pitchforks… well, spears and the people of Maui chase after Nanaue in their canoes, doing their best to try and kill him.
The story continues and Nanaue manages to escape, making his way towards Molokai. Once more Nanaue tried to keep his real nature a secret and resumed a normal life. However, stories of a dangerous man-shark are now making the rounds. The people of Molokai are on alert as their people are now being eaten by a monstrous shark and with a stranger in their mist, it doesn’t take long for them to suspect Nanaue. A local kahuna told people that the next time that Nanaue appeared after such an attack, to have some strong men grab hold of him to pull off his shirt to reveal the shark mouth underneath.
Given Nanaue’s voracious appetite, it’s not long before he succumbs to his carving for humans. The men are ready, and they seize hold of Nanaue after the latest monstrous shark attack. Ripping off his shirt sure enough reveals the shark mouth on his back.
Having been found out, Nanaue uses his superhuman strength to overpower the men and break free. Or so he tries. The men’s determination not allow the monster get away is what enables them to finally subdue Nanaue enough as they beat him mercilessly with clubs.
Unconscious, the men now bound and tied up Nanaue while they prepared to build a big fire. As the men gathered brush and firewood, Nananue came to. Realizing he was bound, Nanaue struggled to make his way towards the ocean. Once he touched the water, Nanaue turned back into a shark. The men had returned and seeing that Nanaue had turned into a shark threw nets over him to drag him further up on the shore, coupled with some more beatings with their clubs to knock him out again.
If Nanaue is so strong and he’s escaped before, why not now? That’s because the people of Molokai had called on upon a young demigod, Unauna to help them. Demigod versus demigod and Unauna, despite being young, had the advantage over Nanaue who’s a fish out of water.
Up the slopes of Kainalu Nanaue is hauled. It is said that the shallow ravine seen on Kainalu Hill marks the passage that Nanaue was dragged along. This place is known nowadays as Puumano or Shark Hill.
To make sure that Nanaue would finally be defeated once and for all, Unauna instructed the people to cut the shark’s body to pieces as they burned it. Bamboo from the sacred grove of Kainalu was used in the process of cutting and burning the large shark.
In a slightly strange twist, the god Mohoalii who preceded over the sacred grove of Kainalu was angry over the desecration of his grove. Interestingly, Mohoalii is another name for the shark king Kamohoalii. Further, he’s also the father of Unauna, not just Nanaue. Angry, Mohoalii caused that the bamboo of this grove would no longer be able to keep edge or stay sharp.
At any rate, Nanaue is finally dead and the people of the Hawaiian islands no longer had to fear his insatiable appetite for human flesh.
Akua
At its simplest meaning, this is the Hawaiian word, that when used as a noun, means either a god, demigod, any supernatural entity or an idol. As a verb, it describes anything supernatural or divine. It tends to be a catch all word and has a few variations for rankings.
Manohae
Meaning “ravenous shark,” this is a nickname that derives from Nanaue’s story when describing anyone who’s a glutton, especially for meat.
Tourism! Kaneana Cave
When visiting Hawaii, many of the sacred places are off limits and only native Hawaiians are allowed to visit them.
There is one exception, Kaneana Cave, here it is believed that the spirit of Nanaue is still present and will devour the unwary and unsuspecting. Even better, tourists are allowed to visit!
I can only surmise that local Hawaiians had hoped that Nanaue was still around and would take care of unwanted tourists in their loud, bright Hawaiian shirts and snapping pictures of everything.
It’s good for business! Who doesn’t love a bit of a ghost story and potential danger?
King Shark – DC Villain
As King Shark, Nanaue does appear as a villain for Superboy in 1994. In his original version, it does follow his Hawaiian origins with other characters dismissing it as just superstition and believing instead that Nanaue is just a mutation. However, further storylines in Aquaman confirm the mythical Hawaiian origin as valid and true for DC.
From there, King Shark makes other appearances in the DC Universe of comics, video games and animated movies. His most notable appearance at present is as a reoccurring villain on CW’s The Flash where they alter and mix up his origins a bit, but still largely the same character. Marine biologist turn giant, mindless monstrous Shark Guy during a particle accelerator explosion who then goes on a rampage and is extremely difficult to beat. I suppose that works.
Raiju
Etymology: Rai (“Thunder”) and Ju (“Animal” or “Beast”)
Pronunciation: Rye-Gin
Other Names and Epithets: 雷獣, らいじゅ, Raijuu
Raiju is a curious mythical creature from Japanese mythology sometimes viewed as a type of demon or yokai. It’s best known for being a companion animal to Raijin, the god of storms and lightning.
Description
The descriptions of Raiju vary greatly in description as it is sometimes described as having a body made of electricity and resembles either a badger, cat, monkey, tanuki, weasel or even a wolf. Sometimes Raiju flies about as a ball of lightning. The cries of a Raiju are said to sound like thunder.
Thunderstorms
Normally peaceful, Raiju becomes agitated and active during thunderstorms, leaping from one tree to another. After a storm is over, any lightning marks on the tree were believed to have been caused by Raiju ripping it open.
Raiju! I Choose You!
That sounds like the name of a pokemon. There are a couple, Raichu and Raikou, a legendary pokemon who is based on Raiju and other thunder gods.
In Japanese mythology, raiju is the name of Raijin’s animal companion that is described as a blue and white wolf or a wolf wrapped in lightning.
It doesn’t stop there as Raiju is referenced in a number of different Japanese animes, manga and video games.
More Than One?
That might seem to be the case with some of the articles that I looked up and likely an evolution to the mythology of Raiju. Instead of one animal companion, that there are multiple of this creature. It could serve too to explain why the descriptions of Raiju and what animal it really looks like varies so much.
Raikiri – Lightning Cutter
As legend holds, a samurai by the name of Tachibana Dōsetsu was taking shelter beneath a tree during a storm. When lightning struck the tree, Dōsetsu drew his sword swiftly enough to block being hit by the bolt. Once the smoke cleared, Dōsetsu saw that there was a dead raiju laying on the ground. Dōsetsu named his sword Raikiri or “Lightning Cutter.”
Possible Reality Behind The Myths
That’s very typical of human nature to try and explain the universe around us and to try to make sense of events and occurrences. Especially with natural phenomenon, like lightning strikes, that they’re caused by the gods or oh, this tree looks like it has scratch marks where the lightning hit it. Must have been a beast of some sort.
Ball Lightning – A ball lightning, when they’re reported, are balls of lightning or electricity that occur during thunderstorms. Given how rare these are, the science behind what causes them and what’s being seen is and can be disputed. Some reports say the ball lighting glows like a 100-watt lightbulb with tendrils of electricity. The balls vary in color from yellow, orange, blue and red and size from a grapefruit to a beachball. Other reports say the ball lightning explodes, leaving behind a sulfurous smell.
Traveling Shows – During the Edo period of Japan, reportedly “real raiju” would be caught and put on display as sideshow attractions. Much like “real kappa” and the mummified remains of mermaids, the mummified and stuffed taxidermy of animals ranging from cats to badges, tanuki and monkeys would-be put-on display for people to view. The descriptions of caged raiju would match those of other captive animals during a thunderstorm as they get agitated and try to flee the confines of their cage.
As scientific knowledge and advances progressed in the Meiji period, as people better understood what was going on with lightning and electricity, the belief in raiju began to taper off, becoming a rather minor figure that still shows up in pop culture references.
Hide Your Navel!
It’s believed that Raijin is found of eating human navels. It was common practice for Japanese parents to tell their children to hide their belly buttons during a thunderstorm lest Raijin come eat it.
If it’s any minor consolation, according to some beliefs, it’s not really Raijin who eats children’s belly buttons, but his animal companion Raiju who actually does. Or if Raiju isn’t eating your navel, he’ll curl up inside to sleep during a thunderstorm. Of course, you only manage to get Raiju sleeping in your navel if you were sleeping outside. If you must sleep outside during a storm, try sleeping on your stomach to keep Raiju from curling up in your belly button. Raijin is said to hurl to shoot arrows at Raiju to wake up, which getting hit by arrows or lightning will hurt.
Okay then…
Jólasveinar
Other Names: Jólasveinar, Yule Lads, Yuletide-Lads, Yulemen
These mischievous pranksters are the present bringers in Iceland, not Santa Claus. Not one Santa Claus, it’s thirteen! How exciting is that!
Though, the Yule Lads didn’t always start off so friendly. These lads used to work for their mother, Grýla to help her hunt down naughty children as well as wreak all sorts of havoc and mischief during the long, dark winter days. The oldest versions and stories of the Yule Lads come from East Iceland.
Dimmuborgir
This is reportedly the home of the fierce some Grýla and the Yule Lads. It is a labyrinth field of lava in North Iceland.
Reykjavik – This is another place that the Yule Lads can be spotted around in December. This place serves more a tourist destination where there’s a game to find all the Yule Lads and visit the local Troll Garden to sit in Grýla’s cauldron.
Descriptions
The descriptions of the Yule Lads have varied over time. In their pre-Christmas descriptions, they are troll-like beings who have no torsos.
Later, when they became more associated with Christmas, the Yule Lads would dress much like the American and European Santa in all red garments. Another push was made to have the Yule Lads dress in a more traditional medieval Icelandic garments in an effort to push away from the often overly commercialized versions of Santa and Christmas that are seen.
Family
Grýla – The infamous Icelandic Christmas Ogress or Trolless is the mother of the Yule Lads, it would explain so much of their behavior. Grýla is known for eating misbehaving children and goes out in search of them at Christmas time.
Leppalúði – He is Grýla’s current husband and the father of the Yule Lads. Leppalúði is known for being very lazy. He lives in their cave found in the Dimmuborgir lava fields. Aside from the Yule Lads, Grýla and Leppalúði also have twenty other children.
Leppalúði had an affair with a girl by the name of Lúpa while Grýla was very ill and bedridden for an entire year. The girl, Lúpa was to play nurse to Grýla while she was sick. It’s no small wonder then, that when Grýla finds out that Leppalúði and Lúpa had an affair, resulting in a son by the name of Skröggur, that the trolless would become enraged and drive the girl and her son off from the cave.
The last children Grýla had with Leppalúði, when she was 50 years old, were twins. The twins died very young, still needing a crib.
Dark Winter Spirits
This ties into why Grýla is said to have so many children. As it concerns the Yule Lads, in the beginning their number varied wildly. The Yule Lads and their mother, Grýla in their pre-Christmas traditions, represented the dark, dangerous and capricious spirits of Winter. This time of the year, the weather is colder, the nights longer and it’s just more treacherous to go out into the wilderness if one is not prepared or wary.
Jól – The midwinter holiday that predates the modern Christmas, marks a time of people gathering together to feast and celebrate family both living and deceased. This older holiday is generally darker as elves, trolls and other mystical creatures that inhabit the Icelandic countryside are also out and would sometimes come to visit homes and farms, often as masked figures.
The Yule Lads at this time were portrayed as being trolls with no torso who would come down to the various villages and towns to cause havoc and chaos with their pranks or to outright carry off naughty children to their mother to feast on. The Yule Lads were just some of the many dangerous, unpredictable spirits and supernatural entities that wandered the countryside during winter.
Christianity – This religion was introduced to Iceland around 1000 C.E. after the King of Norway made a decree that everyone should convert to Christianity and sent out missionaries to the island nation. As with many ancient customs and traditions, the people weren’t that ready and willing to give up all their beliefs. As the Icelandic traditions and those of the introduced Christianity began to merge, one of the many points of note was a change to the calendar that shifted from the old Julian Calendar to the Gregorian Calendar.
Sometime during the 1500’s and up to the 1700’s, the Julian Calendar was beginning to fall out of step and the celebration of the Winter Solstice was occurring on December 13th. As more European countries made the shift to the Gregorian Calendar, it placed the Winter Solstice back to the 21st. The change of calendars also so some 13 to 14 days getting removed.
For Iceland, many people didn’t like this and still wanted to celebrate December 13th as the Winter Solstice or Jól. To have the two traditions Iceland and Christianity merge more easily, the thirteen days of Christmas with the Yule Lads coming to visit began to form, starting from the eve of December 12th and stretching out all the way to the 25th and beyond to January 6th with Epiphany as the Yule Lads come visiting and then depart, back up to the mountains.
In the 16th century, a law was put into place that: “All disorderly and scandalous entertainment at Christmas and other times and Shrovetide revels are strongly forbidden on pain of serious punishment.” Parents still used the stories of Grýla and the Yule Lads coming to carry away naughty children during Wintertime and at Christmas. Things got so bad that in 1746, parents were forbidden and banned from using these stories to scare their children. It’s shortly after this, that the imagery of the Yule Lads would begin to further change.
Huldufólk – According to folklorist, Skarphéðinsson, the Yule Lads are the Huldufólk or the hidden people who live in Iceland right along humans, just another dimension that can’t be seen.
If you go for the Christian connection to religion and folktales, the Huldufólk were the dirty, strange and unusual children of Eve that she hid from God. When they were discovered, these children were sent to another world or dimension. Other ideas are that the Huldufólk are actually Fallen Angels.
Christmas Associations
Once the Yule Lads began to be associated with the celebration of Christmas, their image softened so that instead of being more malicious troll spirits that cause havoc and chaos, they became more benevolent. They’re still pranksters and the imagery saw them become more humanized to be half-troll figures.
The Thirteen Days Of Christmas – Yes, instead of one day of presents, children in Iceland get eight thirteen crazy nights!
The Yule Lads arrive during the thirteen days of Christmas, coming one at a time. Once December 25th comes, the Yule Lads depart back to their mountain home in the order that they arrived until the last day of January 6th, Epiphany.
Borrowing from Dutch tradition, children place a shoe out on their window sills during the thirteen nights of Christmas leading up to Christmas Day. In the hopes of receiving a gift or treat, children leave out small snacks for the Yule Lads such as laufabrauð (“leaf bread”), this is a thin, crisp flatbread. If a child has been good, they will receive a present or treat in their shoe. If a child has been particularly naughty, they will receive a rotten potato in their shoe.
If you ask me, that’s much better than getting carted away to their mother, Grýla to be eaten.
The Thirteen Yule Lads
The number of Yule Lads has varied over the years with as many as 82 and in more recent times with the 20th century, that number settled on there being thirteen. As the stories go, the Yule Lads live up in the mountains and come down in December during the Thirteen Days of Christmas. As there are thirteen of these lads, the various names they possess also speak of their particular quirk, feature or talent they have.
Jólasveinarnir – The Yule Lads Poem was written by the poet, Jóhannes úr Kötlum in 1932, this poem is still a popular piece recited each year in many homes and schools during December. This poem is where the Thirteen Yule Lads were made cannon for Iceland’s Christmas Tradition. The English translation of the poem is done by Hallberg Hallmundsson.
The sections below in italics are Kötlum’s poem in English.
Stekkjastaur – Sheep-Cote Clod (Or Stiff Legs)
Arrives: 12 December
Leaves: 25 December
The first of them was Sheep-Cote Clod.
He came stiff as wood,
to prey upon the farmer’s sheep
as far as he could.
He wished to suck the ewes,
but it was no accident
he couldn’t; he had stiff knees
– not too convenient.
Giljagaur – Gully Gawk
Arrives: 13 December
Leaves: 26 December
The second was Gully Gawk,
gray his head and mien.
He snuck into the cow barn
from his craggy ravine.
Hiding in the stalls,
he would steal the milk, while
the milkmaid gave the cowherd
a meaningful smile.
Stúfur – Stubby
Arrives: 14 December
Leaves: 27 December
Stubby was the third called,
a stunted little man,
who watched for every chance
to whisk off a pan.
And scurrying away with it,
he scraped off the bits
that stuck to the bottom
and brims – his favorites.
Þvörusleikir – Spoon-Licker
Arrives: 15 December
Leaves: 28 December
The fourth was Spoon Licker;
like spindle he was thin.
He felt himself in clover
when the cook wasn’t in.
Then stepping up, he grappled
the stirring spoon with glee,
holding it with both hands
for it was slippery.
Pottaskefill – Pot-Scraper
Arrives: 16 December
Leaves: 29 December
Pot Scraper, the fifth one,
was a funny sort of chap.
When kids were given scrapings,
he’d come to the door and tap.
And they would rush to see
if there really was a guest.
Then he hurried to the pot
and had a scraping fest.
Askasleikir – Bowl-Licker
Arrives: 17 December
Leaves: 30 December
Bowl Licker, the sixth one,
was shockingly ill bred.
From underneath the bedsteads
he stuck his ugly head.
And when the bowls were left
to be licked by dog or cat,
he snatched them for himself
– he was sure good at that!
As a side note, askur is a type of dish that Icelanders would eat from and keep under the bed as a means of storing it.
Hurðaskellir – Door-Slammer
Arrives: 18 December
Leaves: 31 December
The seventh was Door Slammer,
a sorry, vulgar chap:
When people in the twilight
would take a little nap,
he was happy as a lark
with the havoc he could wreak,
slamming doors and hearing
the hinges on them squeak.
Skyrgámur – Skyr-Gobbler
Arrives: 19 December
Leaves: 1 January
Skyr Gobbler, the eighth,
was an awful stupid bloke.
He lambasted the skyr tub
till the lid on it broke.
Then he stood there gobbling
– his greed was well known –
until, about to burst,
he would bleat, howl and groan.
Skyr is a type of yogurt found in Iceland.
Bjúgnakrækir – Sausage Swiper
Arrives: 20 December
Leaves: 2 January
The ninth was Sausage Swiper,
a shifty pilferer.
He climbed up to the rafters
and raided food from there.
Sitting on a crossbeam
in soot and in smoke,
he fed himself on sausage
fit for gentlefolk.
Gluggagægir – Window-Peeper
Arrives: 21 December
Leaves: 3 January
The tenth was Window Peeper,
a weird little twit,
who stepped up to the window
and stole a peek through it.
And whatever was inside
to which his eye was drawn,
he most likely attempted
to take later on.
Gáttaþefur – Doorway Sniffer
Arrives: 22 December
Leaves: 4 January
Eleventh was Door Sniffer,
a doltish lad and gross.
He never got a cold, yet had
a huge, sensitive nose.
He caught the scent of lace bread
while leagues away still
and ran toward it weightless
as wind over dale and hill.
Ketkrókur – Meat-Hook
Arrives: 23 December
Leaves: 5 January
Meat Hook, the twelfth one,
his talent would display
as soon as he arrived
on Saint Thorlak’s Day.
He snagged himself a morsel
of meat of any sort,
although his hook at times was
a tiny bit short.
I’m a told a favorite meat is lamb. The 23rd is also St. Thorlak’s Day, the patron saint of Iceland.
Kertasníkir – Candle Beggar (Or Candle Stealer)
Arrives: 24 December
Leaves: 6 January
The thirteenth was Candle Beggar
– ‘twas cold, I believe,
if he was not the last
of the lot on Christmas Eve.
He trailed after the little ones
who, like happy sprites,
ran about the farm with
their fine tallow lights.
Candles at this time, were once made of tallow and thus edible. It is little wonder that Candle Beggar is often the most favorite of the Yule Lads and seen as being the most generous as he comes on the last day just before Christmas. Some children will leave a candle out for Kertasnikir next to their shoe.
Lost Yule Lads & Lasses
More recent times sees the Yule Lads numbering as thirteen in all. This wasn’t always so and there were a few others, that were once part of their number.
Flórsleikir – His name translates as “dung channel licker.” Luckily this has something to do with the channel in the cowshed.
Flotsokka – One of two sisters who would place a piece of fat on a half-knitted sock or stuff a piece of fat up her nose. Eww!?!
Flotnös – The second of two sisters who would place a piece of fat on a half-knitted sock or stuff a piece of fat up her nose. Eww!?!
Lampshadow – He would go and put out all of the lights.
Litlipungur – His name translates to mean “small balls”. What he did, I’m not sure I want to know.
Lungnaslettir – Or Lung Flapper, he gets his name from his penchant for walking around with a set of still wet sheep lungs and hitting anyone who gets in his way.
Smoke Gulper – He would sit on the roof and swallow the smoke coming from the chimney.
Bunch of weirdos.
Grýla
Etymology – “Growler,” “Threat” or “Threatening,” possibly “Bugbear”
Grýla is the name of a popular and famous Christmas Witch, Ogress or Troll found in Icelandic traditions. Stories and imagery for Grýla can also be found in the Faroe Islands. She is used by parents to scare naughty children into behaving.
The earliest translation for Grýla’s name, likely comes from the Sverris saga in the late 1100’s where the author has a section titled Grýla and goes on to explain that it means: “Bugbear.”
Dimmuborgir
This is reportedly the home of the fierce some Grýla, Leppalúði and the Yule Lads. It is a labyrinth field of lava in North Iceland.
Descriptions
This ogress lives up in the mountains of Iceland. She is said to have hooves for feet and thirteen tails. Always in a foul temper with an insatiable hunger, especially for children, Grýla will descend from her mountain in search of bad children. She will put the children into a large sack to carry back up to her mountain cave to boil alive in a stew.
The descriptions for Grýla vary widely as some accounts saying she is half troll, half animal, that she has 300 heads with three eyes on each head. Other accounts will say she has bad nails, fangs, eyes in the back of her head and horns like a goat, that her ears hang down to her shoulders and are tied to her nose. Further accounts will say her chin is bearded and that her teeth are black like charcoal.
Grýla is described as having the ability to detect naughty children all year-round. It is during Christmas time that she will come down from her mountain home to find naughty children in local towns to take back and boil alive in her cauldron. Those children who have behaved or who have repented of their misdeeds, Grýla is unable to take or must release.
Snorri Edda – Written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson, Grýla is among the names of female trolls listed in his saga. Grýla is a cannibalistic mountain ogre or troll. Even in this early writing, Grýla is used to scare bad children into behaving lest she come down from her mountain cave to devour them. Sturluson’s Sage, Grýla has fifteen tails and on each tail, there are a hundred ballons and each balloon holds twenty children.
Þjóðsögur Jóns Árnasonar – “The Folklore of Jón Árnason” gives a description of both Grýla and her husband, Leppalúði. Both of these fiends are cannibalistic trolls who mostly prey on children. Found within the Folklore of Jón Árnason, is a poem that mentions both Grýla and Leppalúði having nineteen children.
Family
Spouses
Grýla has had three different husbands. Out of boredom or spite, she killed her first two husbands.
Gustur – This is the name of Grýla’s first husband whom she killed and ate out of boredom.
Boli – This is the name of Grýla’s second husband with whom she bore many children with. Boli is noted as having been a cannibal and died of old age. Sometimes Grýla kills and eats him too.
Leppalúði – He is Grýla’s current and third husband and the father of the Yule Lads. Leppalúði is known for being very lazy. He lives in their cave found in the Dimmuborgir lava fields. Aside from the Yule Lads, Grýla and Leppalúði also have twenty other children.
Leppalúði had an affair with a girl by the name of Lúpa while Grýla was very ill and bedridden for an entire year. The girl, Lúpa was to play nurse to Grýla while she was sick. It’s no small wonder than, that when Grýla finds out that Leppalúði and Lúpa had an affair, resulting in a son by the name of Skröggur, that the trolless would become enraged and drive the girl and her son off from the cave.
The last children Grýla had with Leppalúði, when she was 50 years old, were twins. The twins died very young and still needing a crib.
Children
Having been married a few times, Grýla has some 72 children who are responsible for a variety of mischief and trouble. All ranging from harmless pranks to outright murder.
Jólasveinarnir – The Yule Lads, in the 17th century, when Grýla became associated with Christmas, she was assigned to be the mother of the Yule Lads. There are 13 Yule Lads who started off causing all sorts of mischief and trouble. Overtime and influenced by the American Santa Claus tradition, the Yule Lads became associated with gift giving and will leave either a gift of sweets ore a rotten potato in a shoe left on the window sill depending on a child’s behavior.
Jólakötturinn – The Yule Cat, as if children aren’t enough, Grýla also has a monstrous giant black cat for a pet. The Yule Cat will prey upon children and adults alike who have not received the gift of a new article of clothing. The Yule Cat will swell to a monstrous size before tearing apart its victim. So make sure your Nana or favorite Aunt has sent you a new article of clothing for Christmas. Even if it’s a pink bunny outfit, it will keep the Yule Cat from eating you!
Dark Winter Spirits
This ties into why Grýla is said to have so many children. With Grýla’s pre-Christmas traditions, she and all her numerous children are the dark, dangerous and capricious spirits of Winter. This time of the year, the weather is colder, the nights longer and it’s just more treacherous to go out into the wilderness if one is not prepared or wary.
Jól – The midwinter holiday that predates the modern Christmas, marks a time of people gathering together to feast and celebrate family both living and deceased. This older holiday is generally darker as elves, trolls and other mystical creatures that inhabit the Icelandic countryside are also out and would sometimes come to visit homes and farms, often as masked figures.
The character of Grýla was certainly one of these dark, spooky spirits who would come down from the mountains as a personification of Winter and the danger that comes with it. Another point of note, given Grýla’s insatiable appetite, is that she is closely related to the fear of hunger that the long, dark winter months can bring.
Christmas Associations
Grýla became associated with the Icelandic celebrations for Christmas in the 17th century. At this time, she was given the role of being the mother of the Yule Lads who bring either a gift or a rotten potato. When children get so frightened of going out for fear of being eaten that the government has to step in and ban parents from using Grýla as a fear tactic, you know you have a really scary badass that you just don’t mess with.
It has been suggested by Terry Gunnell that the tradition of Grýla may come from that of the Julebukk or Yule Goat and that her name may mean “threat” or “threatening.”
In her role as a Christmas Ogre, Grýla still hunts out misbehaving children to kidnap and eat. Later stories will sometimes have Grýla and Leppalúði die from starvation as they’re unable to find any naughty children. Though occasionally the two aren’t averse to eating adults either.
A more modern convention of the twentieth century, Grýla’s sons, the Yule Lads image softened and became more friendlier, adopting some of the Dutch tradition of leaving a shoe out so that the Lads could leave a gift if a child was good and a rotten potato if a child was bad in the thirteen days leading up to Christmas.
The Onion
A satirical news site, The Onion blamed the 2010 eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano on Grýla.
Brickthology 