Winter Spirits

This is the time of year when accounts are reckoned in terms of naughtiness and niceness. I thought it might be interesting to look at different countries to see what superstitions abound in the darkness of winter.

AUSTRIA has some gruesome figures:

Krampus is a half-goat, half-demon who plays the part of Santa’s counterpart and instead of presents he doles out punishment to naughty children.

                                                             

 Frau Perchta is a gruesome witch who also metes out punishments, said to be brutal, during the 12 days of Christmas, but she also bestows gifts on the deserving. For all that, she looks a bit icy!

GERMANY

Belsnickel arrives two days before Christmas, clothed in rags. Not so severe as the others, he merely dishes out warnings to the naughties and sweets to the good dudes.

                                                  

ITALY

The La Befana character, shared with Russia and known as Baboushka, may be an old broomstick-travelling witch, but she is gentle and leaves cookies for children.

ICELAND has an imaginative cast of personae, the most scary of which is Gryla whose name means ‘The Growler’! A giant troll, she lives in a cave, kidnapping and feasting on naughty children who have not obeyed their parents. A useful discipline tool, that concept!

                                                                 

Associated with her is the Yule Cat who feeds on anyone who hasn’t received new clothes for Christmas. So, a kind of Consumer Cat, then? 

The Yule Lads are the 13 sons of Gryla, who are known for playing tricks. They are identified by their pranks – e.g. The Spoon Licker, The Window Peeper and, my favourite, The Sausage Swiper!

 

These lads seem to me to resemble the Greek Kallikantzaroi. They are believed to live underground, sawing the trunk of the World Tree so that it will collapse. However, at Christmas time they’re allowed to come to the surface in order to cause trouble for mankind.  By Epiphany, January 6^th, they return home to their underground sawing, but during their absence the tree has self-healed, so they must begin their Sisyphean task all over again.

 

As for their appearance, the general perception is that they are small black imps, humanoid with long black tails. They are nocturnal beings who like to annoy people – things getting broken or lost can be blamed on these mischievous little beings. Burning the Yule log for the duration of the Twelve Days was seen as a form of protection against their naughtiness.

 

I think our Kallikantzaroi are preferable to the Krampus and Gryla- they feel more like cheery wee leprechauns who just like to cause a little mischief. So, the following depictions of them are appropriate as little devils                                                             

or

 little monkeys!

 May your kallikantzaroi be benign and may 2023 bring you health, joy and good fortune!

May your kallikantzaroi be benign and may 2023 bring you health, joy and good fortune !

Spider Designs

 

Spent some time recently with a long-handled brush trying to reach all the little crevasses containing cobwebs, and got to thinking ..…. spider. Not a life-form that inspires admiration and affection, in fact, generally speaking, it gets pretty poor press. It is not known for the beauty of its design as are the butterfly and dragon fly.                                                 

At our mother’s knee we learn how poor little snowflake Miss Muffet was frightened away by the spider who innocently came to sit down beside her. Recently when we celebrated Hallowe’en, the spider is ubiquitous, associated, as it is, with being an evil companion of the witch, along with black cats, bats and owls. Haunted houses and graveyards can often be represented in horror films as festooned with cobwebs to give them an additional, creepy atmosphere.

 Believe it or not, we have evidence from web encapsulated in amber, that spiders were around 100 million years ago. They feature in superstitions: being seen as a harbinger of misfortune or rain, but also good fortune and money.  Generally speaking, the spider is regarded as a mystical creature because of its weaving skills and in folklore is depicted as storyteller, oracle of fate, wealth – and sometimes, death!

 It’s interesting to see how they were perceived in different cultures. Ancient Egyptians worshipped the spider as the Goddess Neith, the spinner and weaver of destiny. The Sumerians worshipped Uttu, their Spider Goddess of weaving. It is clear to see that man may well have developed weaving abilities thanks to observing spider skills. They were certainly seen in a positive perspective.

  There are even tales of spider as saviour!   While the prophet Mohamed, travelling with his companion, Abu Bakr, was pursued by soldiers, he sought refuge in a cave. Similarly, David, being chased by King Saul, hid in a nearby cave. In each case, a spider helpfully spun a web at the entrance of the cave, thus causing the pursuers to believe that there had been no recent entry there so they departed, leaving their prey safe.

Certainly, spiders are known to inject venom to kill insects to feed on. You can see the poison gland marked in the diagram below.  But more than anything else, she   – for it is mainly female spiders who spin – is renowned for her silk production This is produced by silk glands seen at the back of her body.                              

                                           

Spiders weave different types of web and, in fact, are often classified according to the web design they produce.

Spiral orb web – perhaps the one most commonly seen. To create this, the spider produces a sticky thread and lets it drift in the breeze from one object- say a branch - to the other. When the silk sticks on the second branch, the spider draws in the line to tighten it, then walks along it, strengthening it with a second strand.  This is repeated to form 3  Y-shaped outer radials, then the rest is filled in.

                                  

      Sheet webs            

As the name suggests, these are large time-consuming structures to create, covering, as they do, a large area with thick silk. As an insect trap this blanket of sticky substance must be most effective!

                                                                

                                            
 

Funnel webs

This is a highly stylized conical shape which, for the prey, must offer an entry into the trap from which there is no return.

                                              

Tangled web

This web is a messier affair, here forming a wall between two branches. They are probably faster to produce but just as effective as traps. 

                                           

They have even inspired writers. Here in his poem, Marmion, Sir Walter Scott advises:

 Oh! what a tangled web we weave

When first we practise to deceive.

We still have much to learn from the spider!

We still have much to learn from the spider!