#and it’s Faith because it’s peasant folklore beliefs

[secretmellowart]

“Give to this dog son of a wolf a human face, and the result will be Javert.”

I think a lot about the folkloric story that Victor Hugo describes (or invents) in Les Mis, that uses dogs/wolves as a metaphor for that way that Inspector Javert betrays his own social class. It feels very fairytale-like, so here’s a Lotte-Reiniger style adaptation. Many thoughts, many emotions. I may animate this eventually. (And thanks to @valvertweek for the motivation!)

[shalebridge-cradle]

Historical References in What Are You Going to Do With Your Life - Chapters 7-9

Chapter 7

All of the queens would know the basics of football (soccer) – what they would be confused by is that there are only eleven a side and no-one is allowed to beat up members of the opposing team. The first recorded pair of shoes specifically for football were ordered by Henry VIII in 1526, and Edward VI would ban the game in 1548 because it incited riots (and was, in itself, a riot).

“Why, sweetheart, I would you no hurt!” “No, my lord, I think so…” A recorded exchange between Thomas Seymour and Catherine Parr, as Catherine was dying of suspected puerperal fever. Parr’s friend Elizabeth Tyrwhitt, who reported these comments, claims Parr spoke “with good memory”, though “Her mind was far unquieted”.

‘Car’ is a word that dates back to around 1300, meaning ‘a wheeled vehicle’. Catherine of Aragon would likely know of it, just not in the modern context.

“Did you remain dignified?” Sixteenth century priorities. Ars moriendi, or the art of dying well, was a big thing during this period. This was the idea that death is a test of both faith and morals, and a person’s reaction towards it was a demonstration of their character – to be calm in the face of death was to show their faith in God, and a show of confidence that they had followed the doctrine well enough to receive mercy. To despair was considered a sin; you’re going to heaven! Why are you scared? Are you not as good of a Christian as you pretend to be? This is the reason why you see some medieval artwork where people are getting murdered and just not caring, like these. They’re dying well.

Chapter 8

The Tower of London was an observatory for six months in 1675, while the Greenwich Observatory was being finished.

The prayer is indeed from Catherine Parr’s personal prayer book, with some added words to make it somewhat understandable (such as ‘that’ ‘and’ & ‘my’). It was given to Lady Jane Grey after Parr’s death.

Every one of Catherine Parr’s marriages was horrible in some way. Her first father-in-law, Thomas Burgh, was reportedly prone to violent rages, she was taken hostage during her second marriage, her third was to Henry VIII, and her last reported words were angrily lambasting her fourth and final husband for his misdeeds.

“It is not my thing. My thing is making a fat old man realise he wasn’t the catch he used to be.” Henry VIII was quite taken by stories of chivalric romance. One of these is where a ruler rides out to meet his fiance dressed as a peasant – the fiance is supposed to recognise her future husband through the power of true love. When Henry dressed up in motley (ragged clothes) to meet Anne of Cleves and tried to kiss her, she quite understandably pushed him away. This blow to Henry’s fragile ego is probably what led to complaints of her supposed ugliness, because if there was one thing Henry liked to do, it was blame others for his own failings.

One of the musical instruments Katherine Howard reportedly learned was the virginals (or virginal), a keyboard-type instrument belonging to the harpsichord family. During the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods of English history, any stringed keyboard instrument was referred to as a ‘virginals’, so this may be true of the preceding Tudor eras as well.

Chapter 9

The death penalty in the UK was officially abolished in 1998. The last execution (for murder) was carried out in 1964, but capital punishment remained the sentence for crimes such as espionage, piracy with violence, treason, and some purely military offences (like mutiny) until this later date.

The German word for ‘zombie’ is still ‘zombie’. Weidergänger (German for ‘one who walks again’) is a collective term for a number of undead creatures from European folklore, including headless horsemen. In addition, the phrase Anna uses to describe her property (ghost-house) is a fairly literal translation of the German word for haunted house, geisterhaus.

Coffee was introduced to England in 1637, and tea was first popularised by Charles II in the 1660s. Hot chocolate (just ‘chocolate’ at the time) was fashionable around the early-to-mid 16th century, and was particularly popular in the court of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and amongst Spanish nobility. However, it was prohibitively expensive at that time, as cocoa beans were only grown in South America.

The Blue Cross is a short story first published in 1910, and is the first appearance of Catholic Priest/Detective Father Brown. It was adapted four times – twice for the big screen, in 1935 (Father Brown, Detective) and 1954 (Father Brown, featuring Alec Guinness of Star Wars fame), and twice for television, in both English (Father Brown, 2013) and Italian (I Racconti Di Padre Brown, 1970). There are spoilers in Anne’s and Catalina’s conversation.

The first pleasure vessel in England was built by James I of England for his son Henry in the early 1600s. They became known as yachts, from the Dutch jachten, during the reign of Charles II, who spent time in the Netherlands during his exile following the English Civil War.

Catherine of Aragon was appointed as the Spanish ambassador to England in 1507. This made her the first woman recorded to hold such a position in Europe.

...Who had evangelicals and conservatives across the continent in support of her unshakable belief. ‘Evangelicals’ and ‘Conservatives’ were the words used to describe the two groups who would later become known as ‘Protestants’ and ‘Catholics’ respectively. Some notables who supported Catherine’s assertion she was the rightful Queen of England were Thomas More (who was later canonised by the Catholic church), Mary Tudor, Queen of France (Henry’s sister), and the reformers Martin Luther and William Tyndale.

[mask131]

How people use the word“paganism” rubs me a bit in the wrong way

BEWARE: This is just some mussing and talking about something I noticed recently. It wasn’t a planned post, and nor is it an organized one. I just throw away my thoughts here

There are a lot of people out there that treat “paganism” as a religion. Like, an existing religion, an existing folklore, with specific sets of rituals, myths and legends. 

But... do these people know what the words “paganism” and “pagan” mean? I mean, truly mean? I think people got mixed up because they mix “paganism” with the neo-paganism movement, which is one “unified” thing (well sort of, but anyway, we’re not here to talk about that now). 

Paganism was a word invented by the Christians to define every religion or belief that wasn’t linked to the Christian or Jewish faith. Then it evolved a bit, “pagan” meaning “non-Christian” or “non-baptized”, while “Paganism” was just “everything that the Christian church denies or reject”. 

So, basically, Greek mythology was pagan. Egyptian mythology was pagan. Norse mythology was pagan. Paganism never was one unified religion or culture. It was just everything that wasn’t part of the Judeo-christian faith/folklore/religion/lore. It was a big, enormous puzzle made up of very different and sometimes unrelated pieces. 

Heck, “pagan” was even at one point a way to call the countryside folks, a sort of “insult” uttered by the people living in the cities, because the countryside wasn’t as Christian as the urban areas. So basically, “pagan” was at one point an insult for “uneducated superstisious unbaptized peasant”. 

Anyway, I’m drifting away. All I want to say is that, while talking of pagan gods or pagan myths or pagan religions makes sense, when people say “He was a worshipper of paganism” or “The murder was done in a pagan way” I can’t help but wondering if they truly know what they are talking about. Do they truly imagine that paganism is a religion with a specific style when it comes to rituals and human sacrifices? 

But, to be fair, I can’t blame them, because the idea that “paganism is one big thing” is what the Church tried to put in people’s mind, and succeeded to do. Christian religion, at one point, treated everything “pagan” on the same level and as the same threat/thing that makes you waste your life. So, they started to only refer to “paganism” without making any difference between cultures and religions, and preached that “paganism” was basically a counter-culture whose only purpose was to oppose the Church (and yes, there were links to devil-worship and such). Of course, this was all things Christian authorities made up. 

But  I have to admit that they kind of won the game, because it seems to me that, today, some people still think about “paganism” as a religion in itself. 

[norsesuggestions]

The one I’m asking about is the whole Peasants sleeping with the Näcken one. What is it called so I could write a story about it?

there are many exemples. the court of swedish history are notorius in sweden for being so damn detailed, and preserving every single detail. here are some which i could find in english.

here are some i could find quickly in english via googling. a note: the difference between sjörå, skogsråm bergsrå and näcken, but they are also very similiar. it is complex yeah. i lacked energy to find intances of 100% näcken, but it should be known that the rå:s (skogsrå, sjörå) are very closely related to näcken as mythological creatures.

Peder Jönsson

Peder Jönsson (died 1640), was a Swedish hunter and fisherman from Söderköping, who was executed for having confessed to sexual intercourse with a Sjörået (a lake-nymph; a mythical female creature of the lake). Though they are other cases of the same kind in 17th-century Sweden, his was the only case were the sentence is confirmed to have been executed.[1]

Jönsson was from Söderköping, where he was employed as a member of the staff at a church. In 1640, his wife alerted the authorities about him. Before the court, he admitted to having had called upon the sjörå with a magic chant. She appeared to him as a beautiful woman with horsetail, feet like a cow and legs with fur. She promised him good fortune in hunting and fishing. In exchange, he would provide her with sex and refuse his wife in bed. He agreed. The wife of Jönsson confirmed his story. This story was interpreted as witchcraft by the authorities, and Peder Jönsson was sentenced to death by the local court. His sentence was confirmed by the high court, and he was thereby executed. Though his case is not the only one in the 17th-century Sweden were a human is sentenced to death for having had sex with a mythological creature (not counting Satan or a demon), his is the only sentence confirmed to have been executed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peder_J%C3%B6nsson

Sven Andersson

Sven Andersson (1668-1691), was a Swedish farmhand from Vättle in Västergötland, who was executed for having sexual intercourse with a bergrå (a mountain-nymph; a mythical female creature of the mountain).[1] The case is often quoted to illustrate the cases were humans were sentenced to death accused of having sexual relations with mythical creatures, and was likely the last one of such cases in Sweden. It also provides a good illustration of the phenomena known as berggtagning (Literary: Taken by the mountain), which is a well known phenomena in old Scandinavia.

Andersson was a farm worker. In 1690, he was observed by the parish vicar Petrus Magni Kellander to be pale and exhausted. The farmer Lars Jonsson informed Kellander that Andersson was often: “abducted by the bergrå and remained with her for days”. When Andersson was questioned by Kellander as to the truth about these occurrences, he answered: “God help me, so it is!"Sven Andersson stated, that he had fallen asleep in the woods one autumn day when searching for a missing goat, when he was taken in to the mountain by a woman in white.

She gave him food and drink and had sexual intercourse with him. Kellander had him watched, gave him religious instruction and made him promise to stay away from the places were the supernatural woman used to meet him and take him away.Shortly after this, Andersson was arrested because of the rumors. Before the court, Andersson described his first abduction in greater detail. He claimed that he had fallen asleep inside an hollow oak tree. During the night, he woke up, and discovered the woman in white before him. She promised to give him the missing cattle if he followed her. He agreed, and they passed inside the mountain as if through a door. Inside the mountain, there was a great hall of light with beds on one side and a fireplace to the left, filled with idle and beautifully dressed men and women. The women who took him there sat down with him alone at one of the tables and fed him. Thereafter, the lay in one of the beds and had sex.

By contemporary law, there was no bergrå, but there was a firm belief in the devil, and a female spirit of this kind was legally interpreted as female demon, a succubus. The court had him examined, and the examination of his body was claimed to have resulted in proof of supernatural intercourse. Andersson was sentenced to death by the local court for his confession. This verdict was reportedly confirmed by the higher court. Thereby, it would have been executed, though this has not been confirmed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sven_Andersson_(farmworker)

Skogsrået, näcken och Djävulen : erotiska naturväsen och demonisk sexualitet i 1600- och 1700-talens Sverige- Mikael Häll

This dissertation examines conceptions of erotic nature spirits and their association with demonic sexuality in 17th and 18th century Sweden. Its purpose is to reconstruct the various cultural and symbolic meanings which such notions had for the society of the day. Cultural history and the analytical concepts culture(s), liminality and figures of thought provide the general framework of the study. The primary sources are judicial records, folktales, ballads, sagas, and works of theology and natural philosophy. For example, the trial records, although sparse, show that people could be sentenced to death for alleged sexual contacts with nature spirits.In the storytelling tradition of tales and ballads, the themes of erotic nature spirits often represented a seductive, unbridled and bewitching sexuality. Nature became “the Other”; a counter-image or dark mirror image to cultural order. The beings, envisaged as personifications and/or mediums of the superhuman powers of nature, were associated with liminal experiences relating to crucial circumstances in people’s lives – magic, marriage, betrothal, sexuality, pregnancy, gender-roles, alienation, deformity, disease, death, and so forth.In the 1600s, the Swedish authorities strove to consolidate the Reformation by making orthodox Lutherans of their subjects. As the battle between God and the Devil was emphasized, popular magic and extramarital sexual acts were severely prohibited and prosecuted. According to most theologians, sleeping with a nature spirit meant abominable copulation with a demonic apparition; an incubus or a succubus. While, for example, certain natural philosophers had different ideas about nature spirits, this notion was considered plausible well into the 1700s.

Folktales and trial confessions show more ambiguous conceptions of such beings. Individual worldviews informed by popular mythology and the necessities of survival were more malleable than the prescribed Christian faith. When it came to magically influencing nature, or taking the blame for misdeeds and misfortunes, nature spirits (and devils) could be perceived as more appropriate allies, or scapegoats, than God. Copulating with them could be envisioned as sealing a bond or pact with the magical powers of nature. Lacking express laws on such intercourse, Swedish courts summoned theologians as expert advisors, cited foreign legal commentaries addressing fornication with the Devil as a “sodomitical” vice against nature, and occasionally judged the crime according to existing laws on bestiality. During the 1700s, scholars gradually adopted a more sceptical approach to folklore and confessions of supernatural encounters, ultimately resulting in the authorities rejecting professed contacts with nature spirits and demons as mere superstitious delusions.

https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/publication/e24f411b-f441-4632-a30d-0043a6179606

[wesenthatgobumpinthenight]

Wesen’s Hope For Salvation: An Observation on the World of NBC’s Grimm

The one thing that Grimm hasn’t really addressed that I would be sort of interested in seeing is how Wesen who are religious go about their lives. We saw a Wesen church in “The Good Shepherd,” but there it was more of a visual gag than anything (Seelenguter being lead by a Blutbad), and the episode was more concerned with the scam/murder that was going on in the church.

In “The Believer,” we saw a Wesen that used his powers to convert people to Christ (claiming that he was taking the Devil into him, when he was really just woging) and Monroe mentions that that same Wesen--- the Furis Rubian--- was used by the Catholic Church as propaganda to instill fear of the Devil in peasants in the Middle Ages. And we see in the same episode that other church-going people also saw said person as a demon, leading credence to the idea that Wesen were what sparked a lot of witch hunts. On a sort of side note, the episode “Stories We Tell Our Young” had a couple whose son became a Grausen (a human infected by a parasite that gave them a corpse-like appearance and super strength), but due to their religious beliefs (and lack of knowledge of the Wesen world) they simply thought the child was possessed by a demon (and who can blame them, he was pretty scary when he sort-of woged).

What I’m trying to get at is that throughout the show we have seen Wesen who are conflicted about being Wesen. Rosalee’s backstory is that she got involved with the wrong people because of how distraught she was over being a Wesen, and Juliette’s friend Alicia wasn’t willing to woge in front of Juliette even when the latter said she knew about the Wesen world. And then there are the Lebensauger’s like Ryan the intern, who are so hideous to the rest of Wesen society that even they don’t want to woge, or acknowledge they’re Wesen.

But these are all general cases of angst, like you’d see on any show involving people with supernatural powers. What I am wondering is how religious Wesen deal with their existence. It has been mentioned in both the pilot and the book The Icy Touch, and the aforementioned episode “The Good Shepherd” that Wesen do go to church, despite historically being perceived as demons. There are also other Wesen of other faiths, like the Bhari Kadama in India (an elephant-type Wesen), who were harassed by villagers who believed they were demons that insulted Ganesha. And presumably the Inugami and Kitsune we see in Season 5 would have practiced Shintoism in some form.

Working off of Christianity (because that’s what I am more familiar with), there is a whole genre of folklore that deals with creatures trying to be saved and accepted by Heaven, only to be turned down by priests and humans. What if in the Grimm world these were loosely-based on actual encounters between Christian humans and Wesen? Do modern-day Wesen who attend church carry a sense of self-loathing due to their nature? Do they actively deny the part of them that is more animal-like in order to feel accepted by their beliefs? And how do they interact with other Wesen of other faiths who do not necessarily believe the same things they do regarding their non-human nature? (The show implies that Wesen are a separate evolutionary branch from humanity, but just like the real world, not everyone may believe in that, and since Heaven and Hell exist in Grimm, clearly there is more going on than just hard science... The fact that the show uses ghosts and demons sparingly more than proves that.)

With the show ending in a few episodes, it’s doubtful that there will be any real focus on this plot point, but it is a pretty interesting idea that I would like to see explored in some official capacity in the near future, maybe in some tie-in stories.