Midday woman
The midday woman is a nature spirit in female form in the Slavic world of legends.
Appearance
The midday woman appears on hot days at midday, especially at harvest, and confuses people's minds, paralyzes their limbs, asks them to death or kills them by cutting off their heads with a sickle . Those who were haunted by the midday wife can only save themselves by telling her about the farm work, especially the flax processing , until one o'clock . After the hour of rest between twelve and one, the midday woman loses her power.
“The pŕezpołnica had the serp (sickle) in her hand and said when someone was out in the field at noon:“ Serp a šyju, sickle and neck ”. And if you couldn't talk for an hour, she cut off your head "
Obviously, the midday woman appears in various forms: either as a black-haired woman with horse feet or as a whirlwind . The whirlwind has another personification as Wichor (Lower Sorbian). In descriptions, for example by the Lower Sorbian pastor Bogumił Šwjela , she is described as pale as death, hollow-cheeked and with sunken features. In many pictures you can see them wrapped in a white robe or cloth. This also gives an indication of their connection to the mythical realm of the dead - traditionally in the Lower Sorbian costume women in deep mourning wrap themselves in a large white mourning cloth .
It shares features with the Vilen . Both like to steal children and exchange them with changeling . In the minds of the Sorbs and Czechs, a woman who has recently given birth should not leave the house at lunchtime. As a whirlwind, the midday woman is also related to the sisters of the Bulgarian storm spirits Vichri and probably with the ancient Indian wind god Vayu .
Emergence
The legend probably originated because during the harvest time many servants and maids were sent to the field in the midday heat and suffered heat damage there.
Names
In Upper Sorbian her name appears in two variants př ez poł (d) nica and př i poł (d) nica , in Lower Sorbian it has many names, one of which is p ś ezpoł d nica with ř changed to ś according to the law . Other Lower Sorbian names are serpownica or serpašyja. In Poland it is known as Południca . In the Czech Republic it is called Polednice; This is also the original title of the symphonic poem Die Mittagshexe by the composer Antonín Dvořák.
literature
- The noon ghost. In: Johann Georg Theodor Grasse : The treasure trove of legends of the Kingdom of Saxony. Volume 2, Schönfeld, Dresden 1874, p. 187 f. ( online ).
- The Pšezpolnica. In: Edmund Veckenstedt: Wendish legends, fairy tales and superstitious customs. Leuschner & Lubensky, Graz 1880, pp. 105–111 ( online ).
- City of Cottbus , district of Bautzen , Foundation for the Sorbian People (ed.): The legacy of the midday woman / Wotkazanstwo psezpoldnice. Contemporary Sorbian Art. Exhibition catalog Cottbus / Bautzen 2003, Domowina, Bautzen 2003, ISBN 3-7420-1957-0 .
- "The midday woman" and "The midday woman with the sickle". In: Council of the City of Bischofswerda (ed.): Of road robbers and courageous women and other weird things around the town of Bischofswerda. Lessingdruckerei Kamenz, Kamenz 1987, pp. 53–54.
- "The midday demon on Slavic soil". In: Dietrich Grau: Das Mittagsgespenst (daemonium meridianum). Studies of its origin, distribution and research into European folklore. Dissertation, University of Bonn 1965, pp. 98-108.
- Willibald von Schulenburg : Wendish folklore in legend, custom and custom. Berlin, Nicolai, 1882.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ "The Midday Woman" and "The Midday Woman with the Sickle". In: Council of the City of Bischofswerda (ed.): Of road robbers and courageous women and other weird things around the town of Bischofswerda. Lessingdruckerei Kamenz, Kamenz 1987, p. 54.
- ↑ "The Midday Woman" and "The Midday Woman with the Sickle". In: Council of the City of Bischofswerda (ed.): Of road robbers and courageous women and other weird things around the town of Bischofswerda. Lessingdruckerei Kamenz, Kamenz 1987, p. 53.
- ↑ Norbert Reiter: Mythology of the Old Slavs. In: Hans Wilhelm Haussig (Ed.): Gods and Myths in Old Europe (= Dictionary of Mythology . Department 1: The ancient civilized peoples. Volume 2). Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 1973, ISBN 3-12-909820-8 , p. 187.