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[[Category:Demon Names]]
[[Category:Demon Names]]
[[Category:Definitions]]
[[Category:Deities, Spirits, and Mythic Beings]]
 
''For other uses of the word [[Succubus]], see [[Succubus (disambiguation)]].''
''For other uses of the word [[Succubus]], see [[Succubus (disambiguation)]].''
[[File:John Henry Fuseli - The Nightmare.JPG|thumb|300px|''The Nightmare'', by Henry Fuseli]]
[[File:John Henry Fuseli - The Nightmare.JPG|thumb|300px|''The Nightmare'', by Henry Fuseli]]
A '''mara''', or a '''mare''' is a kind of malignant female wraith in Scandinavian folklore believed to cause nightmares. She also appears in Slavic folklore, but rather as a wraith type, not the specific (named) person. She appears as early as in the Norse Ynglinga saga, but the belief itself is probably even older (see below). "Mara" is the Old Norse, Swedish, Finnish and Icelandic name, "mare" is Old English, Norwegian  and Danish. In Polish the word mara (female ghost or wraith) is linked to the verb "marzyć" (to wish). However, the positive meaning of dream is rather new, as in the past the word had negative connotation: "to have a nightmare" or as a noun - "the bed of a man in agony". This meaning is still present in old proverb ("idziesz na dzika, szykuj łoże, idziesz na niedźwiedzia, szykuj mary") which means: planning a boar hunt, prepare a bed; planning a bear hunt, prepare a deadman's bed. The '''mara''' gave also birth to female demon of winter Marzanna. To this day, there is a folklore ritual still played in Poland: Marzanna (mara) straw dolls are thrown into rivers at the first day of the spring. "Mareritt" is the Norwegian word for nightmare, meaning "ride of the mara".




== Etymology ==
A '''mare''' or '''[[nightmare]]''' (Proto-Germanic: *marōn; Old English: mære; Old Norse: mara; German: Nachtmahr; Ukrainian: Мара) is an evil spirit or goblin in Germanic folklore which rides on people's chests while they sleep, bringing on bad dreams (or "[[nightmare]]s").<ref name=BJORVAND719>Bjorvand and Lindeman (2007), pp. 719–720.</ref>
The word "mare" comes (through Middle English ''mare'') from Old English ''mære'', ''mare'', or ''mere'', all feminine nouns. These in turn come from Common Germanic ''*marōn''. ''*Marōn'' is the source of Old Norse ''mara'' (from which come Icelandic, Faroese, and Swedish ''mara'', Danish  ''mare'' and Norwegian ''mare/mara''), Dutch (''nacht'')''merrie'', and German ''Mahr''. The ''-mar'' in French ''cauchemar'' ("nightmare") is borrowed from the Germanic through Old French ''mare''.<ref>Bjorvand and Lindeman (2007:719–720).</ref> The word can ultimately be traced back to the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European root ''*mer-'', "to rub away" or "to harm".<ref>"[http://www.bartleby.com/61/roots/IE326.html mer-]" in Pickett et al. (2000).</ref>


In Norwegian and Danish, the words for "nightmare" are ''mareritt'' and ''mareridt'' respectively, which can be directly translated as "mare-ride". The Icelandic word ''martröð'' has the same meaning (-tröð from the verb troða, "trample", "stamp on", related to "tread") , whereas the Swedish ''mardröm'' translates as "mare-dream".
The mare is often similar to the mythical creatures [[Succubus (Traditional)|succubus]] and [[incubus|incubus]].




==Origins==
== Etymology ==
The mara was thought of as an immaterial being – capable of moving through a keyhole or the opening under a door – who seated herself at the chest of a sleeping person and "rode" him or her, thus causing [[nightmare]]s. In Norwegian/Danish, the word for nightmare is ''mareritt/mareridt'', meaning "mareride". The Icelandic word ''martröð'' has the same meaning, whereas the Swedish ''mardröm'' translates as "maredream". The weight of the mara could also result in breathing difficulties or feeling of suffocation (an experience now known as ''sleep paralysis''). This phenomenon is present in the Finnish word for nightmare, ''{{lang|su|painajainen}}'', which is derived from the verb ''painaa'', meaning "to press/to apply pressure". In the Finnish folklore, a ''{{lang|su|Painajainen}}'' was originally a malign creature that climbed on the chest of a sleeping person, paralysing or even suffocating the sleeper.
The word "mare" comes (through Middle English mare) from Old English mære, mare, or mere, all feminine nouns. These in turn come from Common Germanic *marōn. *Marōn is the source of Old Norse: mara, from which are derived Swedish: mara; Icelandic: mara; Faroese: marra; Danish: mare; Norwegian: mare/mara, Dutch: (nacht)merrie, and German: (Nacht)mahr. The -mar in French cauchemar ("nightmare") is borrowed from the Germanic through Old French mare.<ref name=BJORVAND719/>


The concept of the mara has very old roots in the folklore of the Germanic peoples, possibly the belief was shaped as early as in proto-Indo-European religion. According to the American Heritage Dictionary, the word can be traced back to an Indo-European root *''mer'', meaning to rub away or to harm.<ref>[http://www.bartleby.com/61/roots/IE326.html mer- The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> The Slavic nightmare spirit ''[[Mora (mythology)|mora]]'' is likely to have been derived from this root as well, and possibly also the Irish deity ''Mórrígan'' and the Buddhist demon ''[[Mara (demon)|Māra]]'' (< PIE *mor-o-). The proto-Germanic name is *''marōn'' (< PIE *mor-ōn-), and its Old English derivative is ''mære''. The Anglo-Saxon belief in this creature still echoes in the word ''nightmare''. In later English folklore, hags and witches took on many of the roles of the mara, producing terms such as ''hagridden'' and ''haglock''. In Germany the activities of the mara (''{{lang|de|mahr}}'') were shifted to the elves (nightmare in German is ''Albtraum'' or "elf-dream"). According to ''Dictionnaire de l'Académie française'', the French word ''{{lang|fr|cauchemar}}'' ("sleep-mare") entered the French language from a Middle Dutch ''mare''.<ref>http://atilf.atilf.fr/Dendien/scripts/generic/affiche.exe?76;s=1437207030;d=1;f=1;t=1;r=4;</ref>
The word may ultimately be traced back to the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European root ''*mer-'', "to rub away" or "to harm".<ref>"[http://www.bartleby.com/61/roots/IE326.html mer-]" in Pickett et al. (2000). Retrieved on 2008-11-22.</ref> Hungarian folklorist Éva Pócs endorses an alternate etymology, tracing the core term back to the Greek μόρος (Indo-European *''moros''), meaning "death".<ref>Devereux (2001), Haunted Land, p.78</ref>


Similar mythical creatures are the [[succubus]]/[[incubus]], although the belief in the mara lacks the fundamental sexual element of these beings.
In Norwegian and Danish, the words for "nightmare" are ''mareritt'' and ''mareridt'' respectively, which can be directly translated as "mare-ride". The Icelandic word ''martröð'' has the same meaning (-''tröð'' from the verb ''troða'', "trample", "stamp on", related to "tread"), whereas the Swedish ''mardröm'' translates as "mare-dream".




== Beliefs ==
== Beliefs ==
The mara was also believed to "ride" horses, which left them exhausted and covered in sweat by the morning. She could also entangle the hair of the sleeping man or beast, resulting in "marelocks", called ''marflätor'' "mare-braids" or ''martovor'' "mare-tangles" in Swedish. The belief probably originated as an explanation to the Polish plait phenomena, a hair disease. Even trees could be ridden by the mara, resulting in branches being entangled. The undersized, twisted pine-trees growing on coastal rocks and on wet grounds are known in Sweden as ''martallar'' "mare-pines" or in German as ''Alptraum Kiefer''.
The mare was also believed to "ride" horses, which left them exhausted and covered in sweat by the morning. She could also entangle the hair of the sleeping man or beast, resulting in "marelocks", called ''marflätor'' "mare-braids" or ''martovor'' "mare-tangles" in Swedish or ''marefletter'' and ''marelokker'' in Norwegian. The belief probably originated as an explanation to the Polish plait phenomenon, a hair disease.


According to author and researcher Paul Devereux, mora included witches who took on the form of animals when their spirits went out while they were in trance. Animals such as frogs, cats, horses, hares, dogs, oxen, birds and often bees and wasps.<ref name="Haunted Land 2001, p 78"/>
Even trees were thought to be ridden by the mare, resulting in branches being entangled. The undersized, twisted pine-trees growing on coastal rocks and on wet grounds are known in Sweden as ''martallar'' "mare-pines" or in German as ''Alptraum-Kiefer''.


According to a common belief, the free-roaming spirit of sleeping women could become maras, either out of wickedness or as a form of curse. In the latter case, finding out who the cursed person was and repeating "you are a mara" three times was often enough to release her from this condition.
According to Paul Devereux, mares included witches who took on the form of animals when their spirits went out while they were in trance (see the Icelandic example of Geirrid, below). Animals such as frogs, cats, horses, hares, dogs, oxen, birds and often bees and wasps.<ref name="Haunted Land 2001, p 78">Devereux (2001), Haunted Land, p.78</ref>


Like other trance practitioners, mora witches traditionally owed their abilities to being born with a caul. In their metamorphosed form they could fly through the night, walk on or hover above water and travel in a sieve. Dead mora witches were said to return as ghosts.


==By region==
== By Region ==
===Scandinavia===
The mare is attested as early as in the Norse ''Ynglinga saga'' from the 13th century.<ref>''Ynglinga saga'', chapter 13 (and quoted stanza from ''Ynglingatal''), in Hødnebø and Magerøy (1979), p. 12</ref> Here, King Vanlandi Sveigðisson of Uppsala lost his life to a nightmare (''mara'') conjured by the Finnish sorceress Huld or Hulda, hired by the king's abandoned wife Drífa. The king had broken his promise to return within three years, and after ten years had elapsed the wife engaged the sorceress to either lure the king back to her, or failing that, to assassinate him. Vanlandi had scarcely gone to sleep when he complained that the nightmare "rode him;" when the men held the king's head the it "trod on his legs" on the point of breaking, and when the retinue then "seized his feet" the creature fatally "pressed down on his head." <ref>{{cite book|author=Snorri Sturluson|others=Hollander, Lee M. (tr.)|title=Heimskringla: History of the Kings of Norway|publisher=University of Texas Press|year=2010|origyear=1964|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=71U7xXIBbUgC&pg=PA16|isbn=0292786964}}</ref>


===Poland===
According to the ''Vatnsdæla saga'', Thorkel Silver ({{lang|is|Þorkell Silfri}}) has a dream about riding a red horse that barely touched ground, which he interpreted as a positive omen, but his wife disagreed, explaining that a mare signified a man's fetch (''fylgja''), and that the red color boded bloodiness. This association of the nightmare with fetch is thought to be of late origin, an interpolation in the text dating to circa 1300, with the text exhibiting a "confounding of the words ''marr'' and ''mara''."<ref name="kelchner">Kelchner, Georgia Dunham (2013) [1935]. Dreams in Old Norse Literature and their Affinities in Folklore. Cambridge University Press. pp. 20–22. ISBN 1107620228.</ref>
In Polish folklore, ''mora'' are the souls of living people that leave the body during the night, and are seen as wisps of straw or hair or as moths. In certain Slavic languages, variations of the word mora actually ''mean'' moth (such as in Slovak language mora or another example is the Czech word ''můra'').


===Croatia===
Another possible example is the account in the ''Eyrbyggja saga'' of the sorceress Geirrid accused of assuming the shape of a "night-rider" or "ride-by-night" (''marlíðendr'' or ''kveldriða'') and causing serious trampling bruises on Gunnlaug Thorbjornsson. The ''marlíðendr'' mentioned here has been equated to the ''mara'' by commentators.<ref>Morris, Eiríkr; Magnússon (1892), The Story of the Ere-dwellers (Eyrbyggja Saga), B. Quaritch, pp. 29–, 274, 348</ref><ref>Du Chaillu, Paul Belloni (1890), The Viking Age: The Early History, Manners, and Customs of the ancestors of the English-speaking Nations 1, Scribner's Sons, p. 433</ref><ref>Ármann Jakobsson (2009), "The Fearless Vampire Killers: A Note about the Icelandic Draugr and Demonic Contamination in Grettis Saga", Folklore, Volume 120, Issue 3: 307–316 doi:10.1080/00155870903219771</ref>
In Croatian, "mora" refers to a "nightmare". ''Mora'' or ''Mara'' is one of the spirits from ancient Slav mythology. Mara was a dark spirit that takes a form of a beautiful woman and then visits men in their dreams, torturing them with desire, and dragging life out of them. Other names were ''nocnica'', "night woman" in Polish, or ''éjjeljáró'', "night-goer" in Hungarian.<ref>[http://books.google.gr/books?id=jULuimp0lksC&pg=PA46&lpg=PA46&dq=ejjeljaro+hungarian&source=bl&ots=lqTe40rSYh&sig=N8ynZvE-ZgP1V-8iNJhOl9Oq21Q&hl=el&ei=UwwZTIihM8KJ_gbi9IWaDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CBwQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=ejjeljaro%20hungarian&f=false ''Between the living and the dead'', Éva Pócs, 1999, p 46]</ref>


===Germany===
As in English, the name appears in the word for "nightmare" in the Nordic languages (e.g. the Swedish word "mardröm" literally meaning mara-dream, the Norwegian word "mareritt" and the Danish "Mareridt", both meaning Mare-ride or the Icelandic word "martröð" meaning mara-dreaming repeatedly).
In Germany they were known as ''mara'', ''mahr'', ''mare'', in Romania they were known as ''Moroi''. In Slavic countries the terms included ''mora'', ''zmoras'', ''morava'' and ''moroi''; in France, such a witch was the ''cauchemar''. Hungarian folklorist Éva Pócs traces the core term back to the Greek word μόρος ''moros'', death.<ref name="Haunted Land 2001, p 78">''Haunted Land'', Piatkus, 2001, p 78</ref>


==Mara in popular culture==
=== Germany ===
*In ''Romeo and Juliet'', a fairy with similar, if not identical, tendencies appears, but is known as ''Queen Mab''.
In Germany they were known as ''mara'', ''mahr'', ''mare''.


*Several Mara appear in the book ''The Weirdstone of Brisingamen'', although the creatures as described have more in common with trolls.
German Folklorist Franz Felix Adalbert Kuhn records a Westphalian charm or prayer used to ward off mares, from Wilhelmsburg near Paderborn:


*The Mara appear in the ''Doctor Who'' serials ''Kinda'' and ''Snakedance''.
<blockquote>
{|
|
: Hier leg' ich mich schlafen,
: Keine Nachtmahr soll mich plagen,
: Bis sie schwemmen alle Wasser,
: Die auf Erden fließen,
: Und tellet alle Sterne,
: Die am Firmament erscheinen!<ref>{{cite journal|last=Kuhn|first=Adalbert|title=Indische und germanische Segenssprüche|journal=Zeitschrift für vergleichende Spruchforschung|volume=13|year=1864|page=12|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=A0lKAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA124}}</ref>
: [Dazu helfe mir Gott Vater, Sohn und heiliger Geist. Amen!]<ref>Last line supplied from "541. Mahrsegen" Kuhn 1859, vol. 2, p.191</ref>
|
: Here I am lying down to sleep;
: No night-mare shall plague me
: until they have swum through all the waters
: that flow upon the earth,
: and counted all stars
: that appear in the skies.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Mahr|first=August C.|title=A Pennsylvania Dutch 'Hexzettel'|journal=Monatshefte für deutschen Unterricht|volume=27|number=6|year=1935|pages=215–225}}</ref>
: [Thus help me God Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen!]<ref>Last line of translation supplied by {{cite web|last=Ashliman|first=D. L. |title=Night-Mares|work=Folklore and Mythology Electronic Texts |url=http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/nightmare.html|accessdate=May 2013}}</ref>
|
|}
</blockquote>


*In the ''Torchwood'' episode ''Small Worlds'', Jack Harkness states that he thinks the evil, sadistic "fairies" are part Mara, which he describes as "kind of malignant wraiths" that suffocate people in their sleep.
Such charms are preceded by the example of the ''Münchener Nachtsegen'' of the fourteenth century. Its texts demonstrates that certainly by the Late Middle Ages, the distinction between the ''mare'', the [[Alp]], and the ''trute'' (drude) was being blurred, the mare being described at the alp's mother.<ref>Hall, Alaric (2007), Elves in Anglo-Saxon England: Matters of Belief, Health, Gender and Identity, Boydell Press, pp. 125–6, ISBN 1843832941</ref>


*In White Wolf's ''Exalted'' RPG, there is a Second Circle [[Succubus]]-like Demon named Mara.
=== Slavic Countries ===
In Polish folklore, ''mora'' are the souls of living people that leave the body during the night, and are seen as wisps of straw or hair or as moths. Accordingly, Polish ''mora'', Czech ''můra'' denote both a kind of elf or spirit as well as a "sphinx moth" or "night butterfly".<ref>Grimm 1883, TM 2, 464, note2</ref> Other Slavic languages with cognates that have the double meaning of moth are: Kashubian ''mòra'',<ref>Bernard Sychta. Słownik gwar kaszubskich na tle kultury ludowej, Ossolineum, Wrocław - Warszawa - Kraków 1969, tom III, pp. 102-105</ref> and Slovak ''mora''.


*In ''The Elder Scrolls'' series, Mara appears as one of the Goddesses in the pantheon of the nine divine.
In Croatian, ''mora'' refers to a "nightmare". ''Mora'' or ''Mara'' is one of the spirits from ancient Slav mythology. Mara was a dark spirit that takes a form of a beautiful woman and then visits men in their dreams, torturing them with desire, and dragging life out of them. In Serbia, a mare is called ''mora'', or ''noćnik/noćnica'' ("night creature", masculine and feminine respectively).<ref>Pócs 1999, p. 33 gives the feminine form.</ref> In Romania they were known as ''Moroi''.


*In the Blizzard RPG Diablo 2, a unique amulet bears the name "Mara's Kaleidoscope". Mara is the name of NPC in Rogue Encampment.
It is a common belief that ''mora'' enters the room through the keyhole, sits on the chest of the sleepers and tries to strangle them (hence ''moriti'', "to torture", "to bother", "to strangle"). To repel ''moras'', children are advised to look at the window or to turn the pillow and make a sign of cross on it (''prekrstiti jastuk''); in the early 19th century, Vuk Karadžić mentions that people would repel ''moras'' by leaving a broom upside down behind the door, or putting their belt on top of their sheets, or saying an elaborate prayer poem before they go to sleep.<ref>Karadžić, Vuk (1898) [1818], Srpski rječnik</ref>


*In the Swedish RPG DoDT ({{lang|sv|Drakar och Demoner Trudvang}}) it is possible to attract a mara to haunt one's dreams when getting scared enough.
=== Other ===
In Éva Pócs's native language, Hungarian, the creature is known as ''éjjeljáró'' or "night-goer."<ref>Pócs 1999, p. 46</ref> In Estonia the mare-like spirit is called Painaja (presser) or Külmking (cold-shoe). In Turkey the mare is known as Karabasan(ominous-presser).


*A character in ''Oh My Goddess!'' is a female demon (first class) named Mara.


*The rap group ''Insane Clown Posse'' often refers to the Mara in their lyrics, calling it "The Witch on your chest."  Visitations of the "Witch" are often accompanied by the inability to move, and a crushing feeling on one's chest, preventing them from breathing.
== See Also ==
 
* [[Alp]]
*In the manga ''Alice 19th'' by Yuu Watase, mara is the darkness that lives in people's hearts and causes them to say or do hurtful things.
* [[Nightmare]]
 
* [[Sleep paralysis]], medical term for the condition the mare is thought to cause.
*In the popular Space simulator ''Freespace 2'', the Mara is a very powerful Fighter used by the main enemy of the game, the Shivans.
* ''[[Marianne (2011 film)|Marianne]]'', a 2011 Swedish horror film featuring mares.
 
*The progressive/power metal band Pyramaze has a song called "Touched by the Mara" on their 2008 CD "Immortal".
 
*The Russian black/doom metal band Butterfly Temple have a CD entitled "Vremya Mary" ("Time of Mara"), which was released in 2005. The albums also contains a song of the same name.


==Notes==
{{reflist}}


== Notes ==
{{reflist|2}}


==References==
== References ==
{{refbegin}}
* Bjordvand, Harald and Lindeman, Fredrik Otto (2007). ''Våre arveord''. Novus. ISBN 978-82-7099-467-0.
* Bjordvand, Harald and Lindeman, Fredrik Otto (2007). ''Våre arveord''. Novus. ISBN 978-82-7099-467-0.
* Devereux, Paul (2001). ''Haunted Land: Investigations into Ancient Mysteries and Modern Day Phenomena'', Piatkus Publishers.
* Grimm, Jacob (1883), "XVII. Wights and Elves", Teutonic Mythology 2, James Steven Stallybrass (tr.), W. Swan Sonnenschein & Allen, pp. 439–517
* Hødnebø, Finn and Magerøy, Hallvard (eds.) (1979). ''Snorres kongesagaer 1'', 2nd ed. Gyldendal Norsk Forlag. ISBN 82-05-22184-7.
* Hødnebø, Finn and Magerøy, Hallvard (eds.) (1979). ''Snorres kongesagaer 1'', 2nd ed. Gyldendal Norsk Forlag. ISBN 82-05-22184-7.
* Kuhn, Adalbert (1859), Sagen, Gebräuche und Märchen aus Westfalen und einigen andern andern, besonders den angrenzenden Gegenden Norddeutschlands, Brockhaus, pp. 18–22, 191
* Pickett, Joseph P. et al. (eds.) (2000). ''[http://www.bartleby.com/61/ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language]'', 4th ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0-395-82517-2.
* Pickett, Joseph P. et al. (eds.) (2000). ''[http://www.bartleby.com/61/ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language]'', 4th ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0-395-82517-2.
* Paul Devereux, ''Haunted Land: Investigations into Ancient Mysteries and Modern Day Phenomena'', Piatkus Publishers, London, 2001
*Pócs, Éva (1999), Between the living and the dead: a perspective on witches and seers in the early modern age, Central European University Press, ISBN 9639116181
 
 
==See also==
* [[Mara (demon)|Buddhist Mara]]
* [[Nightmare]]
* [[Sleep paralysis]], medical term for the condition the mara is thought to cause.




== External Links ==
== External Links ==
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mara_(folklore) The original source of this page at Wikipedia]
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mara_(folklore) The original source of this article at Wikipedia]

Latest revision as of 09:35, 20 October 2014

For other uses of the word Succubus, see Succubus (disambiguation).

The Nightmare, by Henry Fuseli


A mare or nightmare (Proto-Germanic: *marōn; Old English: mære; Old Norse: mara; German: Nachtmahr; Ukrainian: Мара) is an evil spirit or goblin in Germanic folklore which rides on people's chests while they sleep, bringing on bad dreams (or "nightmares").[1]

The mare is often similar to the mythical creatures succubus and incubus.


Etymology

The word "mare" comes (through Middle English mare) from Old English mære, mare, or mere, all feminine nouns. These in turn come from Common Germanic *marōn. *Marōn is the source of Old Norse: mara, from which are derived Swedish: mara; Icelandic: mara; Faroese: marra; Danish: mare; Norwegian: mare/mara, Dutch: (nacht)merrie, and German: (Nacht)mahr. The -mar in French cauchemar ("nightmare") is borrowed from the Germanic through Old French mare.[1]

The word may ultimately be traced back to the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European root *mer-, "to rub away" or "to harm".[2] Hungarian folklorist Éva Pócs endorses an alternate etymology, tracing the core term back to the Greek μόρος (Indo-European *moros), meaning "death".[3]

In Norwegian and Danish, the words for "nightmare" are mareritt and mareridt respectively, which can be directly translated as "mare-ride". The Icelandic word martröð has the same meaning (-tröð from the verb troða, "trample", "stamp on", related to "tread"), whereas the Swedish mardröm translates as "mare-dream".


Beliefs

The mare was also believed to "ride" horses, which left them exhausted and covered in sweat by the morning. She could also entangle the hair of the sleeping man or beast, resulting in "marelocks", called marflätor "mare-braids" or martovor "mare-tangles" in Swedish or marefletter and marelokker in Norwegian. The belief probably originated as an explanation to the Polish plait phenomenon, a hair disease.

Even trees were thought to be ridden by the mare, resulting in branches being entangled. The undersized, twisted pine-trees growing on coastal rocks and on wet grounds are known in Sweden as martallar "mare-pines" or in German as Alptraum-Kiefer.

According to Paul Devereux, mares included witches who took on the form of animals when their spirits went out while they were in trance (see the Icelandic example of Geirrid, below). Animals such as frogs, cats, horses, hares, dogs, oxen, birds and often bees and wasps.[4]


By Region

Scandinavia

The mare is attested as early as in the Norse Ynglinga saga from the 13th century.[5] Here, King Vanlandi Sveigðisson of Uppsala lost his life to a nightmare (mara) conjured by the Finnish sorceress Huld or Hulda, hired by the king's abandoned wife Drífa. The king had broken his promise to return within three years, and after ten years had elapsed the wife engaged the sorceress to either lure the king back to her, or failing that, to assassinate him. Vanlandi had scarcely gone to sleep when he complained that the nightmare "rode him;" when the men held the king's head the it "trod on his legs" on the point of breaking, and when the retinue then "seized his feet" the creature fatally "pressed down on his head." [6]

According to the Vatnsdæla saga, Thorkel Silver (Þorkell Silfri) has a dream about riding a red horse that barely touched ground, which he interpreted as a positive omen, but his wife disagreed, explaining that a mare signified a man's fetch (fylgja), and that the red color boded bloodiness. This association of the nightmare with fetch is thought to be of late origin, an interpolation in the text dating to circa 1300, with the text exhibiting a "confounding of the words marr and mara."[7]

Another possible example is the account in the Eyrbyggja saga of the sorceress Geirrid accused of assuming the shape of a "night-rider" or "ride-by-night" (marlíðendr or kveldriða) and causing serious trampling bruises on Gunnlaug Thorbjornsson. The marlíðendr mentioned here has been equated to the mara by commentators.[8][9][10]

As in English, the name appears in the word for "nightmare" in the Nordic languages (e.g. the Swedish word "mardröm" literally meaning mara-dream, the Norwegian word "mareritt" and the Danish "Mareridt", both meaning Mare-ride or the Icelandic word "martröð" meaning mara-dreaming repeatedly).

Germany

In Germany they were known as mara, mahr, mare.

German Folklorist Franz Felix Adalbert Kuhn records a Westphalian charm or prayer used to ward off mares, from Wilhelmsburg near Paderborn:

Hier leg' ich mich schlafen,
Keine Nachtmahr soll mich plagen,
Bis sie schwemmen alle Wasser,
Die auf Erden fließen,
Und tellet alle Sterne,
Die am Firmament erscheinen![11]
[Dazu helfe mir Gott Vater, Sohn und heiliger Geist. Amen!][12]
Here I am lying down to sleep;
No night-mare shall plague me
until they have swum through all the waters
that flow upon the earth,
and counted all stars
that appear in the skies.[13]
[Thus help me God Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen!][14]

Such charms are preceded by the example of the Münchener Nachtsegen of the fourteenth century. Its texts demonstrates that certainly by the Late Middle Ages, the distinction between the mare, the Alp, and the trute (drude) was being blurred, the mare being described at the alp's mother.[15]

Slavic Countries

In Polish folklore, mora are the souls of living people that leave the body during the night, and are seen as wisps of straw or hair or as moths. Accordingly, Polish mora, Czech můra denote both a kind of elf or spirit as well as a "sphinx moth" or "night butterfly".[16] Other Slavic languages with cognates that have the double meaning of moth are: Kashubian mòra,[17] and Slovak mora.

In Croatian, mora refers to a "nightmare". Mora or Mara is one of the spirits from ancient Slav mythology. Mara was a dark spirit that takes a form of a beautiful woman and then visits men in their dreams, torturing them with desire, and dragging life out of them. In Serbia, a mare is called mora, or noćnik/noćnica ("night creature", masculine and feminine respectively).[18] In Romania they were known as Moroi.

It is a common belief that mora enters the room through the keyhole, sits on the chest of the sleepers and tries to strangle them (hence moriti, "to torture", "to bother", "to strangle"). To repel moras, children are advised to look at the window or to turn the pillow and make a sign of cross on it (prekrstiti jastuk); in the early 19th century, Vuk Karadžić mentions that people would repel moras by leaving a broom upside down behind the door, or putting their belt on top of their sheets, or saying an elaborate prayer poem before they go to sleep.[19]

Other

In Éva Pócs's native language, Hungarian, the creature is known as éjjeljáró or "night-goer."[20] In Estonia the mare-like spirit is called Painaja (presser) or Külmking (cold-shoe). In Turkey the mare is known as Karabasan(ominous-presser).


See Also


Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Bjorvand and Lindeman (2007), pp. 719–720.
  2. ↑ "mer-" in Pickett et al. (2000). Retrieved on 2008-11-22.
  3. ↑ Devereux (2001), Haunted Land, p.78
  4. ↑ Devereux (2001), Haunted Land, p.78
  5. ↑ Ynglinga saga, chapter 13 (and quoted stanza from Ynglingatal), in Hødnebø and Magerøy (1979), p. 12
  6. ↑ Snorri Sturluson [1964] (2010). Heimskringla: History of the Kings of Norway, Hollander, Lee M. (tr.), University of Texas Press.
  7. ↑ Kelchner, Georgia Dunham (2013) [1935]. Dreams in Old Norse Literature and their Affinities in Folklore. Cambridge University Press. pp. 20–22. ISBN 1107620228.
  8. ↑ Morris, Eiríkr; Magnússon (1892), The Story of the Ere-dwellers (Eyrbyggja Saga), B. Quaritch, pp. 29–, 274, 348
  9. ↑ Du Chaillu, Paul Belloni (1890), The Viking Age: The Early History, Manners, and Customs of the ancestors of the English-speaking Nations 1, Scribner's Sons, p. 433
  10. ↑ Ármann Jakobsson (2009), "The Fearless Vampire Killers: A Note about the Icelandic Draugr and Demonic Contamination in Grettis Saga", Folklore, Volume 120, Issue 3: 307–316 doi:10.1080/00155870903219771
  11. ↑ Kuhn, Adalbert (1864). "Indische und germanische Segenssprüche". Zeitschrift für vergleichende Spruchforschung 13. 
  12. ↑ Last line supplied from "541. Mahrsegen" Kuhn 1859, vol. 2, p.191
  13. ↑ Mahr, August C. (1935). "A Pennsylvania Dutch 'Hexzettel'". Monatshefte für deutschen Unterricht 27: 215–225. 
  14. ↑ Last line of translation supplied by Ashliman, D. L.. "Night-Mares". Folklore and Mythology Electronic Texts. http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/nightmare.html. Retrieved May 2013. 
  15. ↑ Hall, Alaric (2007), Elves in Anglo-Saxon England: Matters of Belief, Health, Gender and Identity, Boydell Press, pp. 125–6, ISBN 1843832941
  16. ↑ Grimm 1883, TM 2, 464, note2
  17. ↑ Bernard Sychta. Słownik gwar kaszubskich na tle kultury ludowej, Ossolineum, Wrocław - Warszawa - Kraków 1969, tom III, pp. 102-105
  18. ↑ Pócs 1999, p. 33 gives the feminine form.
  19. ↑ Karadžić, Vuk (1898) [1818], Srpski rječnik
  20. ↑ Pócs 1999, p. 46

References

  • Bjordvand, Harald and Lindeman, Fredrik Otto (2007). Våre arveord. Novus. ISBN 978-82-7099-467-0.
  • Devereux, Paul (2001). Haunted Land: Investigations into Ancient Mysteries and Modern Day Phenomena, Piatkus Publishers.
  • Grimm, Jacob (1883), "XVII. Wights and Elves", Teutonic Mythology 2, James Steven Stallybrass (tr.), W. Swan Sonnenschein & Allen, pp. 439–517
  • Hødnebø, Finn and Magerøy, Hallvard (eds.) (1979). Snorres kongesagaer 1, 2nd ed. Gyldendal Norsk Forlag. ISBN 82-05-22184-7.
  • Kuhn, Adalbert (1859), Sagen, Gebräuche und Märchen aus Westfalen und einigen andern andern, besonders den angrenzenden Gegenden Norddeutschlands, Brockhaus, pp. 18–22, 191
  • Pickett, Joseph P. et al. (eds.) (2000). The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0-395-82517-2.
  • Pócs, Éva (1999), Between the living and the dead: a perspective on witches and seers in the early modern age, Central European University Press, ISBN 9639116181


External Links

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