Perchta
Frau Perchta or Frau Percht is a legendary figure who can be found in various ways in continental Germanic and Slavic mythology . It is believed to have emerged from the Nordic goddess Frigg with the assimilation of Celtic substrates . In central Germany, she corresponds to the legendary figure of Frau Holle . The name is possibly derived from Old High German peraht , 'bright, shiny' and therefore means "the shiny one". Other suspicions are that the name Perchta or Percht is of Celtic origin.
Occurrence
The legendary figure of Mrs. Percht occurs mainly in the East Upper German language area and to a lesser extent in Slovenia and the Czech Republic . It is unknown in the area of the Low and Central German dialects . Frau Holle dominates there, as well as - further north - other figures such as Frau Fricke or Frau Gode or Wode . There is little overlap between the Percht and Holle areas.
Together with name variants, alternative forms and pre-existing substitution forms, legends and other references about Perchta fill the entire Upper German-speaking area. Name variants and alternative forms are z. B. Bercht, Berchta, Pertica, Per (ch) tiga, Stampfe, Paxto-Stampfo or Sperchta . However, these names are only found in small areas and mixed up with the actual name Perchta. Occasionally, legendary motifs from the mid-winter tradition related to the Perchta have been transferred to Christian saints . So is z. B. Perchta not to be found in the Passau area , but in the legends Saint Lucia assumed many of her attributes. This can be explained by the fact that in the 14th and 15th centuries December 13th - the feast day of the saints - was the shortest day of the year due to the application of the Julian calendar . In relation to Perchta, St. Lucia is therefore a “pre-existing substitute figure”.
The earliest reliable written evidence of Perchta comes from the 13th, a probable evidence from the 12th and a worth considering from the 11th century. Linguistic geographic studies show the probability that the name Perchta goes back at least to the second phonetic shift .
Say
Perchta punishes laziness and violations of the festival food law. Punishment can range from simple nightmares to slitting the abdomen. The victim's stomach is then filled with stones to sink it into a well . In addition, Perchtas breath can kill or blind.
Conversely, it rewards hard work and helpfulness. In addition to full bobbins, golden threads and bundles of flax for spinners, she also gives away coins that maids find in buckets (mainly at the well). But it should also be responsible for the growth of the grain. Wells or ponds are also the places where Perchta tends the souls not yet born. In this sense, she is also considered to be the leader of the host of unborn and unbaptized children. Under the name Butzebercht , Perchta is also represented as an old woman with a crippled foot (which has grown too large from spinning or is also duck- or goose-shaped), like the old women in the fairy tale The Three Spinners .
Perchta occurs mainly in the Rauhnächten , i.e. the time between the winter solstice and January 6th. Their day is mainly January 6th ( Epiphany or Epiphany or Alemannic High New Year ). Perchta is said to be flying through the air during this time. The similarity of names between Frau Perchta and Knecht Ruprecht suggests a connection between the two figures. This is also supported by their rewarding or punishing behavior and that both tend to occur in the winter months.
interpretation
When describing the Perchta, the iron and nose attributes are strongly emphasized. The ax with which she hacks into the bodies of her victims is also made of iron. In many stories she also rattles an iron chain. This conspicuous emphasis on iron could indicate a pre-Germanic substrate. The Celtic Noricum was the largest iron supplier to the Roman Empire . There the goddess Noreia was very much worshiped. She was u. a. also as the goddess of mining . It is also almost always emphasized that Perchta has a big nose. The nose motif can be interpreted as a bird's beak and presumably points to an ancient bird goddess who was worshiped in numerous variants in Southeast Europe.
The Germanist Erika Timm suspects that those Germanic groups who moved to southern Germany brought a female numen there with them that was still very similar to the corresponding Central German - that is, the later so-called Frau Holle. Soon they would have equipped it with elements from the customs of the old inhabitants of these areas. This can explain the common elements of Ms. Holle and Perchta, but also the particularities of each.
The Perchtenlaufen , on the other hand, seem to be much younger than the legends about the numen. They are first attested in writing in 1582. Also in the anti-superstition literature from the period between the 13th and 15th centuries, evaluated by Erika Timm, which condemned even minor food offerings to the Percht as mortal sin , the Perchten runs are not mentioned. However, comparable moves are known in numerous areas of Europe. B. the Graubündner stopper and the Klöpfler from the Bavarian-Austrian area.
This could indicate that earlier existing customs in the 16th century were justified by the desire to hunt the Percht, which was tolerated to some extent, since the custom was directed against the "demon". But it was probably not an actual Perchta tradition. This tolerance was only over in the age of the Counter Reformation , and the Perchtenlaufen was rigorously suppressed by the Catholic Church and the secular authorities.
See also
literature
- Jacob Grimm : German Mythology . Olms-Weidmann, Hildesheim 2003, ISBN 3-487-09817-2 .
- Peter Kremer: Where horror lurks. Bloodsuckers and headless horsemen, werewolves and revenants on Inde, Erft and Rur. PeKaDe-Verlag, Düren 2003, ISBN 978-3-929928-01-3 .
- Erika Timm : Frau Holle, Frau Percht and related figures. 160 years after Jacob Grimm from a German point of view . Hirzel, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-7776-1230-8 .
- Nikita Tolstoj (ed.): Slavjanskie drevnosti: Ėtnolingvističeskij slovar ʹ . tape 4 . Institut slavjanovedenija RAN , Meždunarodnye otnošenija, Moscow 2009, ISBN 978-5-7133-1312-8 , p. 18–20 ( Slavic Antiquities: Ethnolinguistic Dictionary; Russian).
- Paolo Zammatteo: Il bosco sacro di Luserna In: Vox Populi (PDF; 1.7 MB), September 2009 (article)
