Nure Onna

 

 

 

 

                                Nure onna



Nure Onna means .. wet woman
She is also called  nure yomejo:

Nure Onna live in water on coasts, rivers, and other bodies of water; native to Kyūshū.

She is a dangerous vampiric sea serpents who hunts along the shores and rivers looking for humans to prey.

 

 They are most often found on the shores of the island of Kyūshū, but there are stories of nure onna encounters as far north as Niigata Prefecture and as far east as Fukushima Prefecture. 

There are two variations of this yōkai: one without arms, which resembles an enormous sea serpent with a woman’s head, and  one with   arms.

                                          

 

                             

 Aside from this difference, the two act in exactly the same way. Their faces are hideous and betray serpent-like features such as a forked tongue. They have long black hair which sticks to their dripping bodies. Their name comes from the fact that they always appear soaking wet.

 

 While physically much stronger than a human, nure onna prefer not to rely on brute force and use trickery and guile to catch their prey. 

 

They most often appear near the water, on a coast or by a riverbank. Nure onna magically disguise themselves as a distressed woman carrying a bundled up baby. They cry out for help from fishers, sailors, or anybody passing by. When the prey approaches, a nure onna will plead with their victim to hold her baby for just a moment so that she can rest. 

                                       

If he agrees and takes the bundle, the “baby” becomes as heavy as a boulder. The victim is unable to move. 

 

The nure onna is then free to attack her helpless victim, feeding by draining his blood with her long, serpentine tongue.

Nure onna frequently appear together and cooperate with ushi oni, as they inhabit the same environments and share the same diet.

“The Vampire” by Henrich August Ossenfelder:

 

 

 

🦇 “The Vampire” by Henrich August Ossenfelder:🦇

    My dear young maiden clingeth
    Unbending, fast and firm
    To all the long-held teaching
    Of a mother ever true;
    As in vampires unmortal
    Folk on the Theyse’s portal
    Heyduck-like do believe.
    But my Christine thou dost dally,
    And wilt my loving parry
    Till I myself avenging
    To a vampire’s health a-drinking
    Him toast in pale tockay.

    And as softly thou art sleeping
    To thee shall I come creeping
    And thy life’s blood drain away.
    And so shalt thou be trembling
    For thus shall I be kissing
    And death’s threshold tho’ it be crossing
    With fear, in my cold arms.
    And last shall I thee question
    Compared to such instruction
    What are a mother’s charms?

Babuska and the Three Kings.

 

 

                                              Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 

Babushka lived in a small peasant village in Russia. 

 

She always worked hard cleaning and keeping her house tidy; it was the cleanest house in the whole village. But Babushka’s talents didn’t stop there. Her garden was full of flowers and her cooking was fantastic.

One evening she was busy dusting and cleaning away, she was so engrossed in her work that she didn’t hear her neighbors outside talking about a bright new star in sky. She had heard about the star but thought it was a lot of fuss about a star. “I don’t have the time to look because I’m so behind with my work.” she said. “I must work all night!”

She missed the star as it shone in the sky, and she missed the little line of twinkling lights coming down towards the village at dawn. She didn’t hear the sounds of the pipes and drums playing music, and she missed her neighbors whispering in wonder at what the lights were.

                               

 

And she finally missed when all the villagers went quiet, and didn’t hear when the sound of footsteps came up the path to her door. But she didn’t miss the loud knocking on her front door moments later! “What is that?” she wondered. When the door opened, Babushka’s mouth dropped in amazement. 

 

 

There were three kings at her door with one of their servants! “My masters need a place to rest,” said the servant, “and yours is the best house in the village.” “You want to stay here?” asked Babushka. “Yes”, replied the servant. “It would only be until night falls and the star appears again.” Babushka was nervous, and gulped. “Come in, then.” she said.

                             

 

As soon as they walked across the threshold, the three kings were delighted with all the food they saw: home-baked bread, pies and cakes. Babushka dashed about, serving them and offering the best of her hospitality, asking lots of questions.

“Have you come a long way?” Babushka asked. “A very long way”, sighed the first king, Caspar. “Where are you going?” she continued. “We’re following the new star”, said the second king, Melchior. “But where?”, Babushka wondered.

 

 

The three kings said they didn’t know, but they believed that the star would lead them to a new-born king, a King of Earth and Heaven. “Why don’t you come with us?” asked the third king, Balthazar. “You could bring him a gift like we do. I bring gold, and my colleagues bring spices and perfumes.”

“Oh”, said Babushka, “I’m not sure that he would welcome me” she said. “And what could I bring for a gift? Toys! I know I could bring a toy. I’ve got a cupboard full of toys.” she said sadly. “My baby son died when he was small.”

Balthazar stopped Babushka as she went to tidy the kitchen up. “This new king could be your king too. Come with us when the star appears tonight”, he said. “I’ll think about it”, sighed Babushka.

As the kings slept, Babushka tidied up as quietly as she could. “What a lot of extra work there was!” she thought, “and this new king, what a funny idea, to go off with the kings to find him.”

Babushka shook herself. There was no time for dreaming, all this washing-up and putting away had to be done. “Anyway,” she thought, “how long would she be away? What would she wear? What about the gift?” She sighed. “There is so much to do. The house will have to be cleaned when they’ve gone. I couldn’t just leave it.”

Suddenly it was night-time again and the star was in the sky. “Are you ready, Babushka?” asked Balthazar. “I’ll come tomorrow,” Babushka called, “I must just tidy here first and find a gift.”

The kings went away sadly. Babushka ran back into her house, keen to get on with her work. Finally, she went to the small cupboard, opened the door and gazed at all the toys. But they were very dusty. They weren’t fit for a baby king. Babushka decided that they would all need to be cleaned, and she polished all of the toys until each one shined.

Then Babushka looked through the window: it was morning! The star had came and gone. She knew the kings would have found somewhere else to rest by now, and that she could easily catch them up, but she felt so tired and soon she fell asleep.

The next thing Babushka knew, she was awake and it was dark outside. She had slept all day! Babushka quickly pulled on her cloak, packed the toys in a basket and ran down the road, the same way the kings had gone before her.

Everywhere she went, Babushka asked “Have you seen the kings?” “Oh yes,” everyone told her, “we saw them. They went that way”, as they pointed further down the road. Babushka followed the trail of the kings, as the villages got bigger and became towns. But Babushka never stopped, and soon she came to a city.

“The palace,” she thought. “That’s where the royal baby would be born.” But when Babushka got to the door, she was disappointed. ”No, there is no royal baby here,” said the palace guard when she asked him.

“What about three kings?” she asked. “Oh yes, they came here, but they didn’t stay long” said the doorman. “They were soon on their journey.” “But where to?” asked Babushka. “Bethlehem”, the doorman replied. “But I can’t imagine why. It’s a very poor place.”

Babushka set off towards Bethlehem, and by evening she had arrived and had been traveling for a long time. She went into the local inn and asked about the kings. “Oh yes,” said the landlord, “the kings were here two days ago. They were very excited, but they didn’t even stay the night.”

“And what about a baby?” Babushka asked. “Yes, there was a baby” said the landlord. “The kings asked about a baby, too.” When he saw the disappointment in Babushka’s eyes, he stopped. “If you’d like to see where the baby was,” he said quickly, “it was across the yard there. I couldn’t offer the couple anything better at the time. My inn was really full, so they had to go in the stable.”

 

 

Babushka followed him across the yard. “Here’s the stable.” he said, and left her. “Babushka?” Someone was calling her from the doorway. He looked kindly at her. She wondered if he knew where the family had gone. She knew now that the baby king was the most important thing in the world to her. “They have gone to Egypt, and safety,” he told her. “And the kings have returned to their countries. But one of them told me about you. I am sorry to tell you, but you are too late.”

Babushka was very sad that she had missed the baby. It is said that Babushka is still looking for Jesus today….

 

 Baboushka and The Three Kings is a children's picture book written by Ruth Robbins, illustrated by Nicolas Sidjakov, and published by Parnassus Press in 1960

 

                    

Namahage the new years oni..

 

 

                                         

                                                              Namahage




生剝
なまはげ
Namahage


Japan is full of fascinating legends and folklore, yokai, oni, fox spirit's and so much more.



Today's post is about a norther mountain dwelling creature called  Namahage.

While the name namahage is unique to Akita Prefecture, very similar yōkai are known by many different local names in neighboring regions: in Yamagata Prefecture they are known as amahage, in Ishikawa Prefecture they are known as amamehagi, and in Fukui Prefecture they are known as appossha. What they are called just depending on the region the story is being told,


                                             
They are  Oni like yōkai that  live in the mountains along the northern coast of the Sea of Japan.


They look like oni, with bright red or blue skin, wild hair and eyes, large mouths full of sharp teeth, and usually have horns coming from their forehead.


They wear straw leggings and raincoats, and carry large blades.

             


Once a year, during koshōgatsu the first full moon of the New Year the namahage come down from the mountains to scare villagers.
                               
They go from door to door and brandishing their knives, saying things like, “Any bad kids here?”

They particularly enjoy scaring young children and new brides.

Despite their frightful appearance and behavior, they are actually well-meaning yōkai.

They are sent down from the mountain as messengers of the gods to warn and chastise those who have been lazy or wicked.



The name namahage comes from another taunt the namahage use: “Have your blisters peeled yet?” In the cold winter months, a lazy person who spent all of his or her time in front of the fireplace would get blisters from being too close to the heat for too long.

Namomi is a regional name for these heat blisters, and hagu means to peel.



The combination of those words became namahage.



Today, the namahage play a major part in New Year’s festivities in Akita Prefecture (old Dewa Province).

Villagers dress up in straw raincoats and leggings, wear  oni masks, and wield large knives. They go from house to house and play the part of namahage.
     

Residents visited by these namahage give presents such as mochi to their “guests,” while the namahage chastise kids and warn them to be good. Newlywed couples
 are also harassed by these namahage.

They are expected to give an account of all of the evil deeds they did during their first year together, as well as serve sake and food to the namahage before  sending them off.

Frau Perchta, Christmas Witch.

 

Frau Perchta


Frau Perchta was also known as Berchta, or Bertha, and has also been called “Spinnstubenfrau” or “Spinning Room Lady.”
 

She is often depicted with a beaked nose made of iron, dressed in rags, sometimes  carrying a cane, and usually resembles a  old woman.


In some descriptions, she has two forms; she may appear as either a beautiful young woman with skin and hair as white as snow, or as elderly and haggard.

In the Tyrol she appears as little old woman with a very wrinkled face, bright lively eyes, and a long hooked nose; her hair is disheveled, her garments  tattered and torn.

In many old descriptions, Perchta had one large foot, sometimes called a goose foot or swan foot.

Grimm thought the strange foot symbolized her being a higher being who could shapeshift to animal form. He noticed that Bertha with a strange foot exists in many languages (Middle German "Berhte mit dem fuoze", French "Berthe au grand pied", Latin "Berhta cum magno pede",  Italian " Berta dai gran piè", title of a medieval epic poem of Italian area): "It is apparently a swan maiden's foot, which as a mark of her higher nature she cannot lay aside...and at the same time the spinning-woman's splayfoot that worked the treadle".


Perchta had many different names depending on the era and region: Grimm (The Brothers Grimm) listed the names Perahta and Berchte as the main names
followed by Berchta in Old High German, as well as Behrta and Frau Perchta.

In Baden, Swabia, Switzerland and Slovenian regions, she was often called Frau Faste (the lady of the Ember days) or Pehta or 'Kvaternica',
in Slovene. Elsewhere she was known as Posterli, Quatemberca and Fronfastenweiber.


Percht and other variations, was once known as a goddess in Alpine paganism in the Upper German and Austrian regions of the Alps. Her name may mean
 "the bright one" Perchta may also come from an  Old High German verb pergan, meaning "hidden" or "covered



She also bears a resemblance to the Scandinavian goddess Frigga, and both of them share a common trait: spinning, specifically, and domestic neatness  general.

Other legends equate Frau Perchta with the legend of the Wild Hunt, and say that she flies through the night sky followed by an army of lost souls,  including the demonic-looking Perchten, her army of servants who are almost identical in appearance to Krampus.

The only difference is that Krampus rides abroad at St. Nicholas Eve while the Perchten travel  closer too Epiphany, and the last three Thursdays before Christmas, also known as Berchtl nights or Knocking nights.


Also among her army of the night are the souls of unbaptized children. Legend has it if you hear the wind and thunder roaring and rumbling through the  mountains on the Berchtl nights, you’re really hearing the sounds of Perchta leading the Wild Hunt.

Another one of Frau Perchta’s names is Holle, a winter goddess who’s name means “shining” or “bright” — hence her association with Epiphany, the “Shining Night” on which the star of Bethlehem shone down.

 

 

 
Her dual nature is expressed in the fact that there are both “Evil” or “Ugly” Perchten and “Pretty” Perchten, both of whom you might find in a typical “Perchtenlauf” or Perchten run in the Alpine regions of Europe.

                                                

In Austria, particularly Salzburg, where she is said to wander through Hohensalzburg Castle in the dead of night,  the Perchten are still a traditional part of  holidays and festivals (such as the Carnival Fastnacht). The wooden  masks made for the festivals are today called Perchten.

In the Pongau region of Austria large processions of Schönperchten ("beautiful Perchten") and Schiachperchten ("ugly Perchten") are held every winter.

Beautiful masks are said to encouraging financial windfalls, and the ugly masks are worn to drive away evil spirits.


Other regional variations include the Tresterer in the Austrian Pinzgau region, the stilt dancers in the town of Unken, the Schnabelpercht or Schnabelperchten  ("trunked Percht") in the Unterinntal region and the Glöcklerlaufen ("bell-running") in the Salzkammergut.

A number of large ski-resorts have turned the tradition into a tourist attraction drawing large crowds every winter. 

 

 

In southern Austria, in Carinthia there is  a male form of Perchta called  Quantembermann, in German, or Kvaternik, in Slovene (the man of the four Ember days).

Grimm thought that her male counterpart or equivalent is Berchtold.

Regional variations of the name include Berigl, Berchtlmuada, Perhta-Baba, Zlobna Pehta, Bechtrababa, Sampa, Stampa, Lutzl, Zamperin, Pudelfrau,  Zampermuatta and Rauweib.

                    

Perchta was the upholder of cultural taboos, such as the prohibition against spinning on holidays.

In  Bavaria and Austria folklore, Perchta was said to roam the countryside at midwinter, and to enter homes during the twelve days between Christmas and Epiphany (especially on the Twelfth Night).

She would know whether the children and young servants of the household had behaved well and worked hard all year.

If they had, they might find a small silver coin the next day, in a shoe or pail.


If they had not, she would slit their bellies open, remove their stomach and guts, and stuff the hole with straw and pebbles.
                                             

She is manly focused on whether or not  girls had spun the whole of their allotted portion of flax or wool during the year.

 
She would also slit people's stomachs open and stuff them with straw if they ate something on the night of her feast day, other than the traditional meal of fish and gruel.

There was even a  cult dedicated to Perchta, the followers would leave food and drink's for Frau Percht and her followers in the hope of receiving wealth and good fortune, it was later condemned in Bavaria in the Thesaurus pauperum (1468) and by Thomas Ebendorfer von Haselbach in De decem praeceptis (1439).






Later canonical and church documents characterized Perchta as synonymous with other leading female spirits: Holda, Diana, Herodias, Richella and Abundia


According to Jacob Grimm and Lotte Motz, Perchta is Holda's southern cousin or equivalent, as they both share the role of "guardian of the beasts"  and appear during the Twelve Days of Christmas, when they oversee spinning.


Grimm says Perchta or Berchta was known "precisely in those Upper German regions where Holda leaves off, in Swabia, in Alsace, in Switzerland, in Bavaria and Austria."



Perchta is  a "rewarder of the generous, and the punisher of the bad, particularly lying children".

The Yule Log 🎄

 

                                          

                       🎄The Yule Log🔥

 

 

Norway is the birthplace of the Yule log. 

  The ancient Norse used the Yule log in their celebration of the return of the sun at winter solstice. “Yule” came from the Norse word hweol, meaning wheel. 

The Norse believed that the sun was a great wheel of fire that rolled towards and then away from the earth.

 

The Yule log was a long oak tree carved with runes (early norse/germanic letters) to wish for the protection of the gods and burned for the duration of the celebration. To let it go out was said to be a dark omen and a sign of bad luck to come.  

The Vikings would save a piece of the log for next year's fire.

 

 

The UK Tradition.

 

The Yule log, Yule clog, or Christmas block is a specially selected log burnt on a hearth as a winter tradition in regions of Europe, particularly the United Kingdom, and subsequently North America. 

The origin of the folk custom is unclear. Like other traditions associated with Yule (such as the Yule boar.

 

                                 

 The Christmas practice calls for burning a portion of the log each evening until Twelfth Night (January 6th. 

 

The log is subsequently placed beneath the bed for luck, and particularly for protection from the household threats of lightning and, with some irony, fire. Many have beliefs based on the yule log as it burns, and by counting the sparks and such, they seek to discern their fortunes for the new year and beyond

 

 the Yule log, Yule goat, and Yule boar (Sonargöltr) are still reflected in the Christmas ham, Yule singing, and others, which Simek takes as "indicat[ing] the significance of the feast in pre-Christian times.

 

 

The Holly King and Oak King

 

 

                              

                                 

 

❆The Holly King and Oak King 🌳

The  tale of a never ending battle between light and dark.

The Holly King and Oak King represent winter and summer, light and dark and life and death.

They are the personification of the seasons.

The two kings engage in an  endless battle.


During the warm days of Midsummer the Oak King is at his strongest; the Holly King regains power at
the Autumn equinox, then his strength peaks during Midwinter, at which point the Oak King is reborn, regaining  power at the Spring equinox, and this cycle continues year after year.