4 ms·
Elder Mother
- JasonFruit 4y agoI'm sad that the article doesn't even begin to suggest a period of time where this belief was current. Nonetheless, it gives me a great idea for an inscription on musical instruments I make from elder wood.
- simonh 4y agoGiven that these beliefs are very similar over large swathes of northern Europe, they must have been around for a very long time to have propagated so far through population migrations.
- paganel 4y ago> The Elder Mother is thought to be the guardian of the elder trees, a Must be something with old Indo-European roots (or even older than that), because we have something very similar in Romanian folklore, it's called Muma Pădurii (literally translated as Forrest Mother). From wikipedia [1] (very rough translation by me): > Muma Pădurii is a Romanian mythology character which is often present in Romanian fairy-tales. According to Romanian folk tradition she is an ugly witch, who lives alone, deep in the forrest and she scares people. It looks like she is also present in the Slav folk-tales under the name of Baba Yaga As that wiki quote says, the Slavic people have something similar under the name of Baba Yaga [2] [1] https://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muma_P%C4%83durii https://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muma_P%C4%83durii [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baba_Yaga https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baba_Yaga
- sprak 4y agoInteresting, that one does sound more similar to "Skogsrået"[1]. With the possible exception that Skogsrået was very beautiful, as long as you didn't see her from behind. Apparently there were many different creatures watching over the forest in Scandinavia and the rest of Europe. [1]: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skogsr%C3%A5 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skogsr%C3%A5
- phillc73 4y agoThe creatures are still there, it is only that we have closed our eyes, ears, hearts and minds to them. And so we destroy their homes because we no longer hear, see, love or understand them.
- emmelaich 4y agoReminds me of the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Man https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Man
- legerdemain 4y agoIs elder wood unusually sappy, knotty, or hard to cut? I can easily imagine people blaming the supernatural when a woodcutter's axe sometimes gets stuck or a whittler's knife slips in his hands.
- _a_a_a_ 4y agoAFAIK it's very low grade weak stuff. Barely wood at all. (edit: But elderflower cordial diluted with fizzy water is stunningly good IMO)
- legerdemain 4y agoI know the flavor of elderberry. I was just surprised by there existing folklore for collecting elder wood. In my experience, elderberries grow on a bush that isn't much good for anything other than being a garden plant.
- JasonFruit 4y agoMy understanding is that elderberry is not really the elder referred to in European folk stories.
- grafelic 4y agoElder wood does have some uses, it is perfect for creating homemade turntable unipivot tonearms, since it grows straight, has a hollow core and is very stiff when dry.
- _a_a_a_ 4y agoHuh! And light weight. Actually makes sense too. The things you learn here... Incidentally, reminded me, I'd heard opuntia spines (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opuntia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opuntia AKA prickly pear) were used for the needles waaaay back. Can't find a ref but heard it on a TV program. FYI. Edit: can't play this but see if this is informative https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxuPDTlIofY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxuPDTlIofY "Making Phonograph Needles from a Cactus"
- aimor 4y agoThe wiki page originally cited some sources that were since removed. I think they're more interesting than the wiki. https://www.rollrightstones.co.uk/articles/category/folklore-and-legends https://www.rollrightstones.co.uk/articles/category/folklore... https://hedgerowmobile.com/elder.html https://hedgerowmobile.com/elder.html http://www.whitedragon.org.uk/articles/respect.htm http://www.whitedragon.org.uk/articles/respect.htm