Creepy Christmas characters (part 8)

Straggle

During the Yule season from December and into January, across much of Europe, it's a dark and sinister season. It isn't full of the benign magical and friendly elves, tree fairies, reindeer and jolly Santa. There are countries with creepier figures that appear over the holiday and they're a lot nastier than other creepy Christmas character I've posted about. Imagine the evil White Witch from "Chronicles of Narnia" but dwells here on this world. Also imagine La Befana ten times scarier and has a horde of monsters.

Straggle are Christmas monsters. They are big, horned and very snarly, almost half animal but not human at all. These monsters called Straggle punish children for being badly behaved. What they do is steal their belongings and kill them. The Straggle are also called Perchta's little helpers but they're no elves. Perchta is a beautiful goddess although in folklore she's regarded as Frau Perchta or Berchta the witch. She resembles an old woman in part of the lore but looks like a young beautiful woman in another section. They also call her Holda or Mother Holle.  Described as having a large food like that of a swan, or a goose.

Perchta checked in on every house to make sure that children were well behaved. She would do this between Christmas and Epiphany. She was interested in finding out if people worked hard, so that she would reward them with silver coins. If anyone didn't work hard and if any child was bad, Perchta would mutilate them and fill their bodies with straw and stones. The church was unhappy that people were liking the celebration and custom of Perchta and her dangerous Straggle gang.   

We hope you enjoyed reading these creepy posts.

Have a fun day and ENJOY the rest of the holiday/

She Wolf Night team

Creepy Christmas characters (part 7)

La Befana

This is a Christmas witch who delivers gifts to children, and comes from Italian folklore. She appears after the Yule feasts have done, when Santa has returned home after travelling all over, and in the New Year, around the 6th January, La Befana does her magical detour. She drops presents down chimneys, and is treated as a welcome and loveable guest by everyone. Wine, cookies milk, sausage and broccoli. is put aside for her just as it is for Santa. 

This might be the friendliest, and not creepiest character so far. There is a dark side to her. While Santa travels on a sleigh pulled by reindeer, Befana uses a broomstick to fly around. Befana dislikes being noticed, and anyone who looks at her will be punished, by getting a whack across the face by the broomstick! So if anyone witnesses her, look away. The background to her, in many sources, is that Befana lived over 2000 years ago and was grieving the loss of her son. She then turned to witchcraft and magic. La Befana believed that the birth of Jesus was her son reincarnated. Some say that she gave all of her son's belongings to Jesus, and in return, Jesus blessed Befana with the gift of being loved by children for many years on. 

It's also believed that La Befana might be the Sabine goddess Strenua, a goddess of the new year who gave gifts to many. Despite the title of this post, La Befana is benign and sounds like a sweet elderly lady. I think this is a really nice "creepy character".    

She Wolf Night group

Creepy Christmas characters (part 6)

Mari Lwyd 

I was almost going to finish this Creepy Christmas Characters topic at part 5 but I plan to keep going until part 8. It was brought to my attention, which I almost forgot, some more subjects that I will cover in this theme. This one is about Mari Lwyd, (the word "Mari Lwyd" is Welsh, and could be translated as either "Grey Mare" or "Grey Mary.")

This rather strange looking character is a hobby horse using a skull of a horse, dressed in white linen, and decorated with tinsel, holly and colourful ribbons. Sometimes its empty eye sockets are filled with baubles. There would be companions of the Mari Lwyd dressed in Punch and Judy costumes, going from door to door, offering to sing songs. Villagers that allowed the Mari Lwyd and party into their houses could offer food and drink. The Mari Lwyd would be let loose, snapping at people and chase kids around the house. The tradition was during the Christmas and New Year season, mainly it's a custom full of goodwill. Despite that, the Church tried to ban it. The Mari Lwyd has links with ancient wassailing throughout Britain. 

She Wolf Night

Creepy Christmas characters (part 5)

 

Krampus

This is a sinister figure of the season. It's a scary version of Santa, with large horns, sharp teeth and cloven hooves. Its long tongue is often outside of its mouth. It's part of the Alpine legend for Yule, and many believe Krampus appears on the night of 5th December holding birch braches. He visits the houses of naughty children and punishes them instead of delivering nice gifts. The birch branches are used by Krampus to beat misbehaving kids. Sometimes badly behaved unruly kids are put into his basket that he wears across his back, and carries them to his dwelling to eat them. 

At some time in the past, the church wanted to ban references to Krampus as it was seen as a demon. Today the scary Krampus character is changed to that of a fool, as people have been celebrating Krampus parades in Austria and other countries for many years. It's a parade that has many costumes of horned Krampus demons. It's often a child's favourite event! 

This was the final of the Creepy Christmas characters. I wish you all a fantastic holiday!

She Wolf Night group

Creepy Christmas Characters (part 4)

 Yule Lads

They are the children of the frightening giantess troll Gryla. In total there are thirteen of them. In the past, centuries ago, there was a lot more of them, but since then they've been reduced in size (perhaps the potent number 13 was decided to be very significant). So who are the Yule Lads?

They're part of Icelandic folklore. These Yule Lads today are seen as benign Winter spirits who are similar to Santa, but they have a dark side, or they used to, and at one time the Yule Lads were banned by the government. 

The Yule Lads were often mischief making, but they left sweets in the stockings of children. If children were naughty, the Yule Lads would put rotten vegetables in the stockings as punishment. There are also scary sides to them, as these Yule Lads tend to be quite thuggish in nature. 

Let us introduce each of the Yule Lads:

Stekkjarstaur - frightens and torments sheep. He has wooden legs.

Giljagaur - is a thief who steals milk.

Stúfur  -  the shortest boy who steals pans and eats pie crusts. 

Þvörusleikir - steals spoons and also licks spoons.

Pottaskefill  - steals scraps of food from pots and pans.

Askasleikir  - Hides under the bed, licks bowls and scares people. 

Hurðaskellir - rudely wakes everyone up by viciously slamming doors.

Skyrgámur - a yoghurt thief.

Bjúgnakrækir -  hides beneath the rooftop or in the attic, stealing sausages.

Gluggagægir - thief who looks through windows.

Gáttaþefur - long sniffy nose looking for bread to steal.

Ketkrókur -  grabs meat with a hook that he then steals.

Kertasníkir - candy thief.

More creeps soon...

She Wolf Night gang

Creepy Christmas characters (part 3)

Art by Phineas Jones

 Gryla 

The owner of the Yule Cat is a troll giantess called Gryla. This is part of a very big family linked to the Yule tradition in Iceland, so I shall focus on the matriarch. Gryla was mentioned in the Prose Edda, although she has much older tales about her taking naughty, poor and disabled children. Described as having hooves instead of feet, she has tails, horns and she eats humans.

She always knows when children are being badly behaved, naughty and rebellious. She lives in a mountain cave, possibly near the volcanic region of the Dimmuborgir ("Dark Castles"). Every Yuletide, she wanders down to the villages and looks around for the children. Whenever she finds them, she puts them in a sack and carries them off to her dwelling. There she makes stew in a large pot, and eats the poor, disabled and naughty children. 

This vile monster has been married three times. Her latest husband is called Leppaludi. She has many children who all live with her. To complete the monstrous family unit, there is the pet cat who is none other than the infamous Yule Cat. To learn more about the Yule Cat, read "Creepy Christmas Characters (part 2)."

More on the Creepy side of Christmas characters soon...

She Wolf Night team

Creepy Christmas characters (part 2)

 

Yule Cat

There is a legend in Iceland of a monstrous cat who lives in the forests and mountains. It's called the Yule Cat because it looks for people to eat over the Yuletide season. If people have not been given clothes as presents for Christmas, then the Yule Cat will find them and devour them. This giant cat knows who hasn't had new clothes by Yule. People make sure that they've got new warm clothes by Winter solstice to avoid being dinner for the Yule Cat. Children were always warned to do as they're told and to finish chores otherwise the Yule Cat will get them. 

Going by the description of Yule Cat in a poem by Johannes ur Kotlum, the Yule Cat is enormous in size with unknown dwellings. Its eyes are glowing bright, its teeth are very sharp, and the Yule Cat is so scary that even grown men shudder. It has very sharp whiskers and terrible claws. This monster cat prowls through the snowy landscape. Everyone stays indoors when the Yule Cat roams the streets. People feel so afraid that Yule Cat will growl or even snatch someone. Worst of all the Yule Cat peeps through the windows with lights on, spying on everyone inside and checking to make sure that people are wearing new garments. The Yule Cat's victims are usually poor people who don't have new clothes. The poem suggests that people with plenty should help those poor families without anything to keep the evil Yule Cat away. 

This certainly is scary. To read the full Yule Cat poem: Go here

More coming soon...

She Wolf Night team      

Creepy Christmas characters (part 1)

 The White Witch

Of all the creepiest characters of Christmas/Yule/Winter, the White Witch appears on top. She appears in the Chronicles of Narnia series, written by C. S. Lewis. And before anyone asks, no, she is not the Snow Queen of fairy tale legend by Hans Christian Andersen. The Snow Queen in the tale by Andersen is a neutral force of nature, almost a goddess, and not an antagonist or a protagonist. The White Witch is very different to the Snow Queen. The White Witch character is a tyrant of Narnia and an evil sorceress from an alien world. 

She put Narnia under a spell, so that it is always Winter. She hates Christmas and every type of enjoyment so she banned Santa from entering Narnia. Her most powerful weapon is a golden wand that she used to turn anyone she didn't like to stone. Everyone in Narnia felt terrified of her. The White Witch didn't come from Narnia, but she ended up there and took over the entire world. 

She has many nightmarish allies and servants who supported her and helped to oppress the Narnians. Among these White Witch loyalists was Maugrim, the captain of the secret police, Otmin the army general and Ginarrbrik. Also her friends include many creatures of horror, such as werewolves, ogres, ghouls, incubi, demons and other monsters as well as brainwashed sprites, dwarves, poisonous plants, evil apes, gigantic bats and vultures. Among her associates are witches, hags, giants and ghosts. The White Witch put Narnia under her complete control. Only Aslan the lion can stop her.

The background of the White Witch is that she's Queen Jadis from the planet Charn. She dabbled in very dark magic and learned the forbidden spell that was kept in guarded secret for centuries. Once she discovered it, she used it to destroy the whole world of Charn, so that she was the only one alive there! She remained alone and in a very long sleep, until she was woken by children who got there after they travelled through a dimensional portal. Jadis was led through a portal to Earth, where (luckily) her magic was useless. After she wanted to return to the ruins of her home world, Jadis entered a portal but unfortunately she ended up in Narnia instead. 

All of this is within the book series Chronicles of Narnia.

She Wolf Night team

Villains of fairy tales (part 6)

Baba Yaga

This is the sixth and last of my Villains of Fairy Tales topic. I often save the best until last although in this subject's series, I saved the most creepiest last!

Ever since I was a kid reading these stories, Baba Yaga was the most scariest. Who is it? She appears n Russian folk tales, and is an old crone witch that eats children. Baba Yaga has scared kids for centuries all over the East but her tales reached the West in the late 20th Century and she is nightmarish. She lives in a small house that stands on chicken legs. There are fiery lanterns made from skulls. This location is found in a swamp by the forest. 

Although she appears to some as a benign forest dweller who cares for wild animals, and helping those that are lost, it's also known that she has a dark side. She's also a type of predatory being. In some stories she's maternal but then deceitful. There is a level of malice about her.

She travels on a broomstick, and sometimes she uses a flying mortar and pestle to get around. She appears in many stories and Slavic folktales going back centuries. Inside her dwelling, she can be found stretched out from one end to the other. She may have her long nose attached to the ceiling because of her acute ability to sense. Her sharp teeth are made of iron. There could also be more than one Baba Yaga. Most gruesome of all, Baba Yaga eats humans.  

She Wolf Night team