Showing posts with label Carnival. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Carnival. Show all posts

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Killing the Wild Man and Burying Demon Winter in Fairy Tales



In my last two blog posts I have tried to describe the connection between the folk customs of Shrovetide or Carnival and European fairy tales and saga.

Some of the very earliest historical references to dancing concern Shrovetide processions, where the dancers are described as wearing clothing “torn to bits”.   (See Remnants of Ancient Dance Found in Fairy Tales).

It is possible that this phrase was not pejorative in its original usage, but only a simple observation: the dancers wore torn clothing. Their garments might have become ripped as a result of their wild gesticulations or they may have purposely put on tattered clothing to give themselves a wild appearance, especially if the performers were taking on the role of wild man or wild woman (See Dark Nights of the Fairy Tale: the Wild Man and Wild Woman).  In European tales and saga the phrase “torn to bits” has survived, and is primarily used in conjunction with all manner of fairy tale dancers. In the versions of the tales we now have, the dancing has become something quite unnatural. (See The Farmers of Kolbeck Dance on Christmas Eve).

There are other references to ancient carnival traditions in fairy tales, but when taken out of their cultural context, they are difficult to recognize.  The wild man and wild woman, who first appeared at the end of November or beginning of December as wintry demons, are now ritually killed during the carnival celebration. This rite coincides with the first inklings of spring. But the first signs of springtime are usually observed on different days each year with broad regional variations. That is probably why the carnival tradition of killing the wild man could happen any time between February and April in the different areas of Europe. The first budding of a certain tree or the arrival of a migratory bird might have been the original trigger of the celebration.  In the 18th century in parts of Italy, France and Austria, a death certificate was even issued. Descriptions of these demonic beings abound in Grimm’s Saga,, but other references are also of interest. According to Grimm, these creatures are primarily characterized by their keen sense of smell enabling the wild man to sense the approach of human flesh.  These forest beings often cry “I smell the blood of man approaching!” or “The scent of human flesh is in the air!” We find this supernatural sense of smell  in fairy tales as disparate as the German Hansel and Gretel (the witch, Grimm), the English Jack in the Beanstalk (the giant) and the French Petit Poucet (the ogre, Perrault).

Another popular carnival character is the harlequin.  Said to be a black-faced emissary of the devil, and a frequent character in French passion plays, the harlequin was said to chase damned souls through the forest.  The harlequin is usually an athletic dancer and scholars have tied him to Woton (or Odin), also known as the Wild Huntsman. He is a popular character in many Grimm’s sagas, one example being The Wee Mossy Wife (Grimm’s Saga No. 47). There is also a harlequin-like Woton character in The Pied Piper of Hamelin (Grimm’s Saga 245) June 29, 2008, who wears the traditional parti-colored coat. The Pied Piper's Wotoness has been explored on this website in Reading the Pied Piper.

Further Links of Interest:
Killing the Straw Bear or Wild Man:

Killing Winter in Romania:

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Carnival Celebrations in Fairy Tale Land: Death by Dancing or the Ship of Fools


(Click on picture to enlarge).

Carnival Celebrations in Fairy Tale Land: Death by Dancing or the Ship of Fools

In 1483 German chronicles of the city of Eger mention a “procession of plows” and “a ship of fools” that were part of the carnival celebrations that year.  But this was not the first time a “ship of fools” was mentioned rolling across the landscape.  In 1474 such a ship was reported to be part of the Shrove Tuesday traditions of a guild of cloth makers.  Further research by Jakob Grimm tied this “ship of fools” to the overland procession of a ship, first described by Monk Rudolf in his Chronicles of St. Trond in 1133. The priest frowned on this custom because he considered it a vestige of a pagan rite tied to the arrival of spring.  The custom involved a ship being placed on wheels and pulled through a number of villages in the Lower Rhine Valley, where the local population greeted the parade with music, loud cries and dancing. The fact that only cloth makers accompanied the ship and were the only ones allowed to touch it reflects how early such old cult traditions were transferred to handworker guilds. Monk Rudolf not only complained about the noise the villagers made when the ship passed by, but also about the groups of women, stripped bare or wearing only a shirt, mingling and dancing with the fools accompanying the ship. After dancing for some time, the monk witnessed things he felt were better forgotten in silence and anguish. These “ship of fools” parades were originally based on spring fertility rites and magic, even when the festivities later became more of a “game” celebrated by the guilds. These customs were ultimately incorporated in Sebastian Brant’s medieval text “Ship of Fools” (1494) which depicted  the ship as bringer of luck. This belief was popular from the 15th – 17th centuries and became part of the lively New Year’s celebrations of villagers, who saw the Christ Child as a bringer of gifts travelling on a ship of fortune. In 1530 such ship parades were prohibited during the carnival celebrations because they were associated with actions that were much too crude in the minds of missionary priests. Along with the abolishment of the Nuremburg Bearded Mask Runs and their enactments of “hell”, the ship of fools custom also ended abruptly (1539). Oddly this tradition was most popular in regions that did not lie close to any body of water.

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Remnants of Ancient Dance Found in Fairy Tales


 Grotesque Masked Dancing during Carnival, "Morisken Type" or Morris Dancing,
characterized by finger snapping, black hoods, white shirts and bells attached to the legs.

Dancing as Cultural History: Remnants of Ancient Dance Found in Folk Tradition and Fairy Tales

Dancing, running and leaping are all part of carnival traditions in Europe. These wild pre-Lenten dances are sometimes referred to as “running” (German: “Laufen”) in the broadest sense of the term, for all types of movement are meant: running, hopping, jumping, racing, stamping/stomping and finally dancing. These dance moves are also called the “Shrove Tuesday Run”, the “Carnival Mask Run” or in some areas in Germany one even speaks of the “Perchta Run”.  Whoever has seen the wild racing, dancing and leaping as part of the carnival celebration in the Black Forest area of Germany (Elzacher Schuddig) can easily believe he has witnessed a remnant of one of the earliest forms of dance. Masked dancing and running are also found in many other places in Germany, the Swiss Alps and the Austrian mountain regions. In many parts of Swabia, the Thursday before Ash Wednesday is referred to as the “Gumpige” day (Jumping Day). In Allgaeu, Bavaria it is referred to as “Running Thursday” or “Raging Thursday”. It is also called “Fool’s Whit Thursday”. “Perchta Runners” in Austria also purportedly like to say “Wild Berta herself runs with us!” The oldest literary reference to such cult dancing was provided in the Indiculus Superstitionum et paganiarum from the 7th century. Here the pagan custom of running across fields in clothing “torn to bits” is condemned.  The idea of being possessed by a dancing frenzy that tears clothing and shoes to bits is found in many a fairy tale (Sweetheart Roland, The Shoes that were Danced to Bits).  In Sweetheart Roland dancing destroys more than shoes and clothing; the dancer herself is torn to bits by her uncontrolled movements.
The original beliefs associated with this wild dancing have survived to this day; namely, that the fertility of the fields could literally be “stomped” out of the earth. Forcefully stamping on the ground purportedly promoted plant growth. It was believed that flax, hemp and grain would grow faster and taller the higher the runners leaped and the more numerous their numbers.  It was commonly accepted that only wild persons danced, but those who converted to Christianity abandoned the practice.