Vendredi: Chthonian Histories

Today of all days, with Krampus behind us, Yule upon us and Frau Holda just about to come in for supper, seems the best choice for a discussion of The Wild Hunt. This mythology spreads from Eastern Europe, down through the Mediterranean, up to Celtic and Nordic lands and clear across the Atlantic to North America. If you've ever heard the famous Stan Jones country hit "Ghost Riders in the Sky," you know how the legend has been kept alive to this day.

The Wild Hunt is a tricky myth to pin down. Because there are legends about swift riding, death-dealing hunts blackening night skies all over Europe and Russia, it is hard to say where exactly the story originated. Most anthropologists now settle on a Teuton/Viking origin, probably due to the fact that the Vikings took their mythology over almost half the earth. Here the leaders of The Wild Hunt are usually Woden/Odin and/or his wife Frigg.

In the stories, which are uncannily similar, a maelstrom of hunters straddling ghostly horses and accompanied by baying hounds rides either across land or, more often, sky at a pace that proves they have no human origin. Sometimes the Hunt was actually seen by humans, sometimes witnessed only as a violent storm and on other occasions never seen but only heard. Almost always, people were advised to hurry for shelter or at least avert their eyes when the Hunt approached. One story tells of a Briton father, caught in an open field with his daughter when the Hunt swooped down, telling his little girl to lift her apron up over her face. By this gesture, the girl was unknowingly giving respect to the Old Gods and - more importantly - avoiding their deadly gaze.

As Christianity infiltrated the pagan nooks and crannies of the North, Woden and Frigg were replaced by  Satan as the leader of the Hunt. It was said that those in the open without proper protection - consecrated medals, crucifixes, or recent communion - would be swept up by the Hunt, carried away breathlessly through the air and dumped in a strange place with no way of knowing how to find home. The Hunt was also a collector of souls; those who saw it sweep over graveyards swore they saw some of the recently dead pulled up and along by the riders. No doubt these were the evil doers, on their way to their just punishments in Hell.

This remaking of godly hunt into a carrion collection party may stem more from Celtic than Teuton myth. It was the Morrigan, that beautiful, blood soaked goddess of sex and death, who collected the fallen souls in the aftermath of battle. She may have been confused with Hel, the Teutonic queen of the Underworld, in the post-Christian mind and the idea of a hunt that featured spectral Amazons may have been thought to include a sort of reaping of souls.

In later centuries, when the fear of Hell was overtaken by more scientific anxieties, the Wild Hunt became something of a children's story that came out particularly around the end of the year holidays. By the 19th century the leader of the Hunt was not the Devil but the devil-esque figure known as Krampus. Krampus was the helper of Saint Nicholas who brought switches to parents to punish their less-than-good children while the good kids got gifts from the saint. In cases of unrepentant bad behavior, Krampus would bundle up the child in his black bag and drag the mischief maker back his cave.

The Hunt is also loosely associated with Frau Holda, a Baba-Yaga type figure who will put children who fall into her magickal well to hard work in her home. Capable children will be sent home with gold; lazy monsters will return to their parents covered in pitch. Holda is often compared to the Italian whitch-lady La Befana who, something like Santa Claus, brings presents to the children of families who feed her when she shows up for supper on Christmas Eve.

As to that American Wild Hunt mentioned earlier, click over and listen to the immortal Man in Black sing it as only he can. Here's Johnny Cash with "Ghost Riders in the Sky" live. Enjoy! And a Happy Yule/Solstice to you all.

Header: Asgardsreien by Peter Nicolai Arbo 1872 via Wikipedia

Jeudi: Great Spirits

Today's mythic figure was probably one of the original deities of the ancient Celts.  The stories that have come down to us about him are mostly from the Irish branch of that Western European clan, where the Dagda is known as a father god among the much revered group of deities known as the Children of Danu; the Tuatha de Danaan.

The Dagda (also spelled Dagdha or Daghdha) is usually referred to as a god of wisdom.  He is particularly linked with Druidism and with the bardic tradition through one of his later symbols, the harp.  This harp was sometimes imagined as having the body of a blindfolded woman – much like the harp in the fairytale “Jack in the Bean stock” – and it was tuned to the Dagda’s voice.

In Celtic Gods/Celtic Goddesses, R.J. Stewart says that the Dagda’s name meant “Good God” and that he was also known as the “Great Father” and “Mighty One of Knowledge”.  In this he is similar to the Norse god Odin, known as “All Father” and “Bringer of Knowledge”. 

Probably before the Druids tacked on the harp, the Dagda’s symbols were the cauldron and the club.  The cauldron, which was also linked to the mother/destroyer goddess known as the Cailleach in Ireland and Cerridwen in Wales, provided an unending flow of nourishment and satisfaction, both physical and spiritual.  The club in particular to the Dagda was both an instrument of creation and of death.  One end brought forth life; the other end snuffed it out.  A god of the Gauls, Sucullus, also carried a club and was known as the “Good Striker”.  His relation to the Dagda, if any, is lost in large part due to the systematic genocide carried out on his worshippers by Julius Caesar.

The Dagda was envisioned as a giant.  Due to his large size, he was often imagined as wearing tunics that were too short for him; he wandered the land with his buttocks and genitals humorously exposed.  Because of his enormous size he was a particular concern of the enemies of the Tuatha de Danaan, the Fomhoireans.  These giants would lay traps for the Dagda before their battles with the sons and daughters of Danu.  With these traps, the Fomhoireans hoped to remove their most powerful enemy from the field. 

One story tells of the Fomhoireans leaving a giant pit full of delicious, meat-spiked porridge where the Dagda could easily find it.  Always hungry, the Dagda ate the entire pit-full and then fell into a stupor.  The plan appeared to work perfectly until the Dagda was awakened from his sleep by a curious and beautiful Fomhoirean maiden.  The two took a liking to each other and made love.  So impressed was the giantess by the Dagda’s abilities that she agreed to turn her Fomhoirean magick on her own people.  The Tuatha won the ensuing battle handily.

The Dagda’s most important role, ensuring the fertility of the land, was played out every Samhain.  This ancient New Years Eve of the Celts, which has come down to us as Halloween thanks to the refusal of the Irish to give up their old ways, was their most important festival.  On the night of October 31^st, when the veil between the worlds was very thin, the Dagda made love to the fertility/battle goddess known as the Morrigan at the Unius River in Connaught.  In this way the Dagda turned the battle goddess away from her summer/fall focus on war and toward her winter/spring task of germination and rebirth.  Without this coming together of two great spirits, the land would wither and the Celtic people would die.  Speculation has been made repeatedly that this myth sparked the enduring story of Arthur, Guinevere and their relationship’s effect on their land.

Header: The Dagda by The Unknown via Mythicalarchive.com