Moor

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Die oder der Mahrt or Mahr, Maar or Nachtmahr, Low German Moor or Moort , describes a legendary figure in Low German that appears as a mostly female personification of a nightmare that causes nightmare or sleep disorders. The verbs morriden or morrieden derive from their name, which express a restless sleep partially interspersed with shortness of breath, a feeling of pressure on the chest and nightmares.

Surname

In the Low German-speaking area, the designation Mahr or Mahrt is used for the alp (compare Old High German, Old Norse, Swedish mara or Frisian Nachtmerje , North Frisian Nachtmähr , Danish mare, English nightmare , French cauchemar ); outside of Germanic , it corresponds to the old Slavic, Russian mora , which also stands for "Alp", but mainly a female one.

Links to the Germanic mark for “mare”, such as that used by the Grimms, are controversial .

The subsidiary form of the term Mahr, with the Mahrt, is based on an alignment with the dialect name of the marten . In this form it can be found several times.

In the Mecklenburg dialect , the two forms Moort and Moor appear. With Fritz Reuter , Wilhelm Heyse, Friedrich Cammin and John Brinckman , the term Moort was established.

Appearances of being

The sex is usually opposite to that of the victim. Often, however, a female Mahrt and a male victim are reported. A majority can also be neuter, but then one rather assumes that it is not human.

Often, however, the mahr is described as a beautiful, partially naked and slippery person (see also succubus ) . In the Low German legends, they are not only the cause of poor sleep, which they cause by riding on the moor (nd. Moorrieden for "alb pressure"). It sits on the sleeper's chest or back and squeezes his throat or puts uncomfortable pressure on his chest.

It is widely accepted across Germany that godparents can turn children into Moortrieder . Even pastors can it be responsible or other relatives.

In the legends, it first enters the bedroom in a different shape through a tiny hole, never through windows or doors, but through cracks, keyholes or even smaller holes that are missing a nail, etc. Sometimes it appears in the shape of an animal as a caterpillar , weasel , cat or white mouse, but also as a swimming swan and as objects such as apple and pear or straw and needle. It also appears as smoke. In contrast to other European notions of the night alb , it is not documented as a black, hind-legged, marten-like animal of the devil in the Low German region .

Victim

Most of the time people are victims of the march and its ride. Nightmares associated with shortness of breath were not only attributed to the mahr, but also to thickened juices in the blood, as well as thoughts - such as erotic thoughts in young people in particular, but also telepathic powers and the thoughts of other people in older people.

But horses can also be tormented by them and the next morning they have so-called bog slats - matted hair.

In addition, the mahr should be able to push trees and leave mahr tassels there. These can be found in the birch tops and resemble a broom. Moorquast means the witch's broom in Low German.

Fend off

By plugging up the hole through which the marsh comes into the house, one catches it, because a mare always only gets out on the same route as it came in. Sometimes this is followed by the motif of mahr marriage and the ridden man marries the beautiful mahr. However, this marriage often turns out to be problematic because the man is not allowed to open the closed hole again or show her, but he does so, and she thus escapes. She then only comes back regularly to look after her children, the husband usually does not see her again afterwards.

By shouting the name of the victim or the mahr itself, she can be forced to end her ride. Some of her victims also wake up while she is riding them and grab them, but due to their smooth skin they sometimes need gloves so that it does not slip away from them.

A mahr often looks for a certain victim, which it rides more often. Various ways of dealing with the captured mahr can help ensure that she has to show herself in her true form (e.g. if you only hold her as a straw between your hands) or that she completely abandons her victim. What you do to the mahr as a straw or the like, the person who is the mahr also gets from it. Occasionally a lover or fiancé rides his future partner, but is mistreated as a mahr and therefore dies as a person as a result of the injuries.

Engelland

Only in the case of the female Mahrt is it said that she came across the sea from Engelland. She swims on a molle , uses a sieve edge as a sail and a swing arm as a rudder. If her boat, which she also uses as a vehicle on land, is knocked over, she cannot straighten it up herself and is dependent on the help of others. She often has to complain in sagas that someone has hidden her travel accessories when she wants to leave. She often complains that she hears her mother calling from England and wants to go home. She often promises linen and lots of clothing to those who get her items back for her.

Engelland can only be interpreted as England to a limited extent . Engelland is also considered a wonderland. In this way, Mecklenburg has raised the Mahrt legend to higher levels, namely those of the belief in elves , instead of in the lowlands, where the witchcraft is more likely to be encountered .

filming

In September 2017, ZDF broadcast an episode of SOKO Wismar , which was named after the legendary figure.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Norbert Reiter: The Faith of the Slavs in the European Union . Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2009, p. 162 .
  2. ↑ Advantic Systemhaus GmbH: The "Moort". Retrieved September 19, 2018 .
  3. ↑ imfernsehen GmbH & Co. KG: SOKO Wismar Season 15, Episode 1: The Moort. Retrieved on September 19, 2018 (German).