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    Perchta

    Mod note--Split from the Heathen Calendar Thread:

    Originally posted by Wednesday View Post
    Another thing I should probably mention is cultic practices, which can be seasonal even if they're not necessarily holidays. It's customary in Germany during the winter season/Twelve Nights to leave food uncovered in the kitchen for Perchta and her ladies.of abundance. They'll eat the offerings while never depleting them and in return bless you with plenty in the coming year. They only enter well-kept homes, though, and punish those who haven't maintained their household duties. Fasting cakes were another practice associated with Perchta on certain nights, and if you ate anything other than her foods she would cut open your stomach and fill it with rocks and hay. Leaving a bowl of oats out for Sleipnir is another practice during the winter/ wild hunt/ harvest that cane be added to your traditions, as well as making Frey boar shaped pastries. So, basically, looking at those cultural customs can add to your seasonal celebrations as well as the focus on dated holidays.
    Originally posted by Dez View Post
    It's funny you mention the oats thing...years and years ago, my MIL latched onto the idea of "Shoe Day" in early December(leaving hay in the shoes for the wise men's camels). I tracked that tradition down this year because we didn't want to toss it entirely, and so on the night of the 8th, we left hay for Sleipnir! My kids loved it, and I think they got more out of it then they ever did before.

    I hadn't heard of the Frey boar pastries before, I'm going to need to look into that. We do things for St. Lucia day, though, and since it's ripe with solar imagery and her little pastries are sometimes referred to as kattr it opened up dialogue about Sunna, as well as Freya with her cats and associated fertility and fecundity wishes.

    It sounds like I need to find more information about Perchta, too. I've only ever heard that name linked to the name Frau Holda, and a couple of concepts like the Wild Hunt and the Krampus or Perchts as creatures to encourage the children to behave. What you're mentioning is new to me.
    I am also interested in this 'Perchta', your information seems comes from wikapedia, which lists its sources, I own books of the sources mentioned, but there is no mention of this person at all, can you help me in identifying any sources you may have in books.

    Kind regards in advance
    Last edited by Dez; 20 Feb 2012, 21:22.
    Gunnarr Sandisson
    "A man should look for what is, and not for what he thinks should be." Albert Einstein
    Five Boroughs Hearth

    #2
    Re: A Heathen Calendar?

    Which information are you interested in specifically?

    Comment


      #3
      Re: A Heathen Calendar?

      Originally posted by Wednesday View Post
      Which information are you interested in specifically?
      All of it in relation to Perchta, I like to read from source.
      Gunnarr Sandisson
      "A man should look for what is, and not for what he thinks should be." Albert Einstein
      Five Boroughs Hearth

      Comment


        #4
        Re: A Heathen Calendar?

        Originally posted by Gunnarr View Post
        All of it in relation to Perchta, I like to read from source.
        Sure. I was just hoping to narrow it down for you.

        The Origin of the German Carnival Comedy Maxmillian Josef Rudwin

        Phantom Armies of the Night: The Wild Hunt and the Ghostly Processions of the Undead Claude Lecouteux

        Frau Holle and the Marchen Beyond: An Analysis of the Frau Holler Figure in the Grimm's Fairytales and Mythology Kerby Lynn Boschee

        The Winter Goddess: Perchta, Holda, and Related Figures Lotte Motz

        Teutonic Mythology Jakob Grimm

        Odin's Wife: Mother Earth in Germanic Mythology William P. Reeves

        Codex of Augsburg 15th century church

        Edit: What you generally see accepted by the academic circles is that Perchta/Berchta is the S.German/Austrian equivalent to Holle. Unfortunately, when it comes to continental heathenry (which was converted by the 7th c.), there isn't a lot of source material, and if there is, it's written by outsiders and/or after the conversion. Unlike the Icelandic Eddas that have a recorded (though.questionable) mythological document. What happens then, is that scholars have to reexamine the local.folklore, fairytales, church decrees, artifacts, customs, etc to gain a more complete picture of what heathen practices consisted of.

        There is a theory that Perchta is an ammalgamation of German goddesses, created after the conversion to retain the feminine ideal that they held so sacred. (In S.G. we see hundreds of cults centers for the matronae, but only a handful of examples pertaining to male deities.) It's thought by some that a unified Perchta arose as the state became more nationalized, and that this local legend enabled the people to transfer their worship of their mother goddesses into a central figure.
        Last edited by Wednesday; 19 Feb 2012, 09:46.

        Comment


          #5
          Re: A Heathen Calendar?

          At first glance it seems that most of it is 15th century onwards, with some dubious source's, but your post has opened up a research for me that shows asking questions and having answers for them leads to knowledge,I thank you for your knowledge that you shared.

          I have found some other knowledge about Perchta that you have not mentioned and it seems you have a passion for her, I have a book called 'The Religion of the Teutons' by' P.d. Chantepie de La Saussaye & Bert J. Vos, in it is two pages devoted to Perchta, here are the pages;

          In the oral tradition of the people, we meet, in all parts of
          Germany, with a large number of names of the goddess (or
          goddesses) that rides through the air in the Twelve Nights,
          shows favor or disfavor toward spinners, blesses marriage, and
          performs many other functions. Their names are : Fru Freke,
          de Fui, de oil Frie, Fru Wod, Gode, Fru Harke, die Werre,
          Frau Stempe, and at times also Herodias, Diana, Abundia.
          It is as erroneous to derive some of these names from Frija, as
          to regard these figures of popular belief in the light of variant
          forms of the great goddess.

          This error has gained the widest acceptance in the case of
          Holda and Perchta. These two names are derived from helan
          and bergan, respectively, both words that signify " to conceal."
          They accordingly seem to indicate a chthonic goddess of death.
          Holda is more frequently met with in Northern and Middle
          Germany, Perchta or Bertha in Southern Germany. Both are
          usually regarded as forms of Frija, and in support of this view
          Burchard of Worms (tenth century) is cited, who mentions a
          Frigaholda. The theory is, however, untenable. Holda and
          Perchta belong to folklore even in the early Middle Ages,
          and popular belief and custom have ascribed to them all
          manner of attributes, which mythologists have in vain sought
          to reduce to a unity. We know that in names of places in
          Alemannic territory, the two words occur as early as the fourth
          or fifth century. 2 The church inveighed especially for the
          days of the nativity against such customs as processions,
          preparare mensant domine Perthe? and against those who
          " on the eighth day of the nativity of our Lord go about with

          1 De Temporum R attorn, Chapter 13.

          2 Hauck, Kirchengeschichte Deutschlands, I, 90.
          8 " Preparing a table for Lady Pertha."



          274 THE RELIGION OF THE ANCIENT TEUTONS

          incense, cheese, a rope, and mallets." l In modern folklore we
          meet our goddesses on every hand. Holda leads the host of
          the dead in mountains, and during the ride through the air ;
          she brings babes from the wells, and is also active in bad
          weather, for when it snows people say : " Lady Holle is shak-
          ing her bed " or " is plucking geese," and when it rains
          she " is washing her veil." In Upper Germany, Perchta is
          surrounded by the Heimchen, the children that have died,
          and in her train is at times the little girl with the jug of tears,
          a poetic motif that is full of pathos. In the Twelve Nights,
          food is left standing for both Holda and Perchta. The wild
          procession called the Perchtenlanfen in Tyrol and Switzerland
          falls in the time of the carnival ; when it is especially uproari-
          ous, the harvest will be good. For this reason the two god-
          desses are frequently brought into connection with fruitfulness,
          be it of women or of the soil. A similar connection exists
          with woman's work, such as spinning : au temps que la reine
          Berthefilait' i -z.s the French saying has it. The same Bertha
          is also accounted the ancestress of families. She is not fair of
          form, but has a long nose and a large foot (pedaued). At
          times she is represented as causing calamity and disaster, in
          the person of the black Griet or the wild " iron Bertha." It is
          clear that these various forms cannot be reduced to a unity.
          With its exuberant imagination popular belief has developed
          these conceptions on all sides, and we are not warranted in
          inferring from them the existence of an ancient and primitive
          pagan belief, even though certain individual features may
          remind us of an ancient Teutonic goddess, and may have been
          actually borrowed from her, an observation that applies with
          equal force to Venus and the Virgin Mary. These creations
          of the popular fancy are, therefore, at present justly eliminated
          when the elements of Teutonic paganism are being considered.

          1 Usenet, Religionsgeschichtliche Untersuchungen, II, 86.

          2 " In the time when queen Bertha span."


          Hope this helps you, I will also add this is a great book and worth having in your book hoard.
          Gunnarr Sandisson
          "A man should look for what is, and not for what he thinks should be." Albert Einstein
          Five Boroughs Hearth

          Comment


            #6
            Re: A Heathen Calendar?

            Thanks for sharing that, Gunnarr.

            It's not a passion solely for Perchta, but just part of the greater passion for continental Germanic heathenry. As you know, there isn't as much available, so you have to read everything hoping for small details and theories.

            Comment


              #7
              Re: A Heathen Calendar?

              This is some very useful information, would either of you be upset if I made this portion it's own thread?
              Great Grandmother's Kitchen

              Comment


                #8
                Re: A Heathen Calendar?

                Works for me! I was feeling a bit guilty anyway for straying so far off-topic.

                Comment


                  #9
                  Re: A Heathen Calendar?

                  Ok with me as well, that is assuming it was me you found usefull ;-)
                  Gunnarr Sandisson
                  "A man should look for what is, and not for what he thinks should be." Albert Einstein
                  Five Boroughs Hearth

                  Comment

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