#french folklore

[lulubelluleart]

[GOD OF WAR AU] where Týr open realms to visit french folklore/mythology for fun cause im French and need more gow content

not a mythology nerd so may have errors but I did my research and know my folklore so don’t worry about correcting me or telling me something is not French for you cause it’s not worth it have a great day lads <3

[mask131]

I was thinking about the difference between the British "fairy" and the French "fée", and suddenly the perfect comparison struck me.

The "fairy" from British folklore is basically Guillermo del Toro's take on the fair folk, trolls, goblins and other fairies in his movies, from "Pan's Labyrinth" to "Hellboy II". You know, all those weird monsters and bizarre critters with strange laws and customs, living half-hidden from humans, and coming in all sorts of shapes and sizes and sub-species and whatnot. Almost European yokai.

But the "fée" of French legend and literature? The fées are basically Tolkien's Elves. Except they are all female (or mostly female).

Because what is a "fée"? A fée is a woman taller and more beautiful than regular human beings. She is a woman who knows very advanced crafts and sciences, and wields mysterious unexplained powers. She is a woman who lives in fabulous, strange and magical places. She is a woman with a natural knowledge or foresight of the past and the future, and who can appear and disappear without being seen. Galadriel as she appears in The Lord of the Rings is basically the best example I can use when trying to explain to someone what a "fée" in French folklore and culture actually is.

(As a reminder: the fées of France are mostly represented by the Otherwordly Ladies of the Arthurian literature - Morgane, Viviane, bunch of unnamed ladies - or by the fairy godmothers of Perrault or d'Aulnoy's fairytales, to give you an idea of how they differ from the traditional "fae" or "fair folk". All female, and more unified, and so human-like they can pass of or be taken for humans. The "fées" are cultural descendants of the nymphs and goddesses and oracles/priestesses of Greco-Roman-Germanic-Gallic mythologies. That's why they are so easily confused with witches when they turn evil, and when Christianity arose most fées were replaced by the figure of the Virgin Mary, the most famous "magical beautiful otherwordly woman" of the religion)

[laurasimonsdaughter]

Of a Wolf and a Gift

A folktale from Mégevette, France

One day, in the village of Cez, a husband and wife were just taking their baking of bread out of the great communal oven, when an animal appeared and sat down, looking at them. It looked like a dog, bit its head was far more like wolf’s and there was hunger in its eyes. The man took pity on the starving beast and tore a piece off a freshly baked loaf to offer it to them, but his wife prevented him. She took up a stick and shouted at the creature: “Get away you stupid thing! We barely have enough to feed ourselves!” And the animal fled.

Winter came, and because there was no other work to be had in that season, the husband did as he usually did and went off as a travelling merchant. He sold a great deal of his merchandise to a family in Alsace and to his surprise they told him that they knew Mégevette and were acquainted with his wife.

“She is the kindest, most generous lady who ever lived,” said the grandmother of the family. “Please take back this gift for her, to wear on Sundays.” And she handed the man a fine vest, knitted from the softest wool.

When the husband returned to his wife he presented her with the gift at once, but to his surprise she regarded it with great suspicion. “I know no one in Alsace who would give me a gift,” she declared and before her husband could say another word she took the vest and flung it out of the window.

It caught on a branch of the cherry tree beside the house and there it remained. But the following year, that tree did not bear fruit. Little by little it wilted and withered, until it eventually died. And the same would have happened to that woman, if she had worn the vest that her husband brought back for her, because the person who sent it to her was the very werewolf she had chased away.

Translated and retold from the French given in Joisten & Chanaud’s Les loups-garous en Savoie et Dauphiné; tale 20 (told by Louis Bron in 1965), which is a variant of tale 22 “Le don au loup” (told by Gustave Chevallier in 1965).

[r-aindr0p]

Are there any fae-like creatures in french myths?

I know about the story of a giant black wolf that terrorized France back in the day, but that’s all I can remember.

Legends and stories including wolves are in fact really widespread in european culture since middle age ! But yeah the most well known in France is the Beast of Gévaudan which was described as massive ! (and the one from Le petit chaperon rouge/Little red riding hood)

Concerning other creatures and fairies/faes in french legends and stories, we do have

Mélusine : fairies mentioned a bit everywhere in France, they are mostly described as women with a scaly tail lower body and are sometimes associated with mermaids or vouivres. (far from how they look like in genshin impact)

Vouivre : not to be mistaken with wyverns, vouivres are creatures described as snakes with bat wings, sometimes they are depicted having rear legs and wings (and they look very goofy like that imo). These creatures can be aquatic and in some descriptions, possess a big jewel on their forehead.

Tarasque : a creature from provencal legends, which lived in a swamp near Tarascon and terrorized and ate people. It's most popular description was of a big creature with a spiked turtle shell, six bear legs, horse ears, bull chest, lion head, a human face and a twisted tail. Legend says Ste. Marthe tamed the beast. (I swear they were just being attacked by bowser this is the same creature)

These are the one I depicted roughly in the pic above but there are many more creatures depending on the different regions of France ! (There's a lot of fairies and fantasy like creature in stories from bretagne/brittany) Some others that I find either fun or cool are :

Meneurs de loup : which translates to wolf leaders are people told to be able to talk to wolves and even transform into one, either because they are werewolves or they made a pact with the devil. (it's kinda giving spice and wolf vibes and I love that story sm)

Jambe crue/Came-cruse : Roaming in the Pyrénées at night, this thing is a single leg with an eye on the knee that eats people and runs very fast. (Idk why this one is so funny to me but oddly terrifying as well)

[atalanteart]

So I've seen people in the fandom do it for their country, I loved so much the idea I did the same (i'm very influencable).

(Based on the lore/maps of the webcomic "Stand Still Stay Silent")

Even if I did know it could not fit the canon, I tried my best to do the more accurate (non-canon) lore for french territory.

I will maybe do a part 2 but not now, I will talk more about the infected and the Basques language.

The Tarasques are the french equivalent of the Trolls, I didn't have the energy to add other pages of information. (one day maybe)

I also wanted to mention the Dahu in the type of infected beast. (Yes there are Dahus, and that's is the best thing to know about infected beast, THERE ARE DAHUS INFECTED BEAST PEOPLE.)

______________________________________________________________

(Also can't spell in english so that's not very well written lol)

(Please note I'm just doing this for fun and it's a very rough/sketchy idea and I didn't take time to well adapt everything or even have a stylise coherence)

[oncanvas]

Genoveva, Ludwig Richter, 1820-84

Watercolor on paper 12 ¼ x 7 ¼ in. (31.1 x 18.4 cm) The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, NY, USA

[adarkrainbow]

So, recently @drachenwiki has done a very nice reblog of one of my posts (thank you!) and evoked something very interesting. I didn't want to just answer in a simple reblog, so I'll make a new post about it. Here is what drachen said:

I noticed an interesting connection here. In Greek fairy tales, there is a character that’s pretty similar to the ogre, but is called Drakos (Δράκος). The name is obviously derived from Drakon (δράκων), which means serpent and is the origin of the word “dragon”, but the Drakos is a supernatural humanoid, like the ogre sometimes fully human-looking, sometimes with monstrous traits, but almost never with the serpentine traits that define dragons.

I unfortunately do not have enough knowledge about Greek fairytales as a whole to be able to fully answer or react o the character of Drakos - even though I can say, as someone who studied ogre, that there is a very obvious general connection and "family link" between ogres and dragons, the same way there is one between ogres and giants. Ogres and dragons, are the two sides of the "devouring fairytale villain", whose main threat is eating the character ; both of them dwell in usually hostile landscapes such as deep forests or grottos ; and both of them are usually said to have great riches and treasures.

But what I originally wanted to say is this. I don't know if you had heard of it, but in French folklore there is a character that sound very similar to the Greek Drakos, and seems to be very clearly some sort of cousin. He is frequently found in French folktales and oral fairytales collected in various regions of France - and in fact he is one of the most prominent and well-known monster of French legends. It is the Drac.

Long story short...

The Drac is a folkloric being of Southern France. It is a water-dwelling entity that is most commonly said to inhabit rivers and lakes, sometimes streams and wells - some folktales even make him sea-dwelling, though most of the time he is a being of fresh water. There were several dracs around France corresponding to the various important bodies of water - though folktales like to always refer to "THE" Drac.

The Drac obviously comes from the same etymological and cultural roots as the dragon. "Drac" comes from the Latin "draco/draconis", itself from the Greek "drakon" and it is all the same family as "drakkar" for example. If it wasn't enough of proof we have in the Occitan language words such as "dracmarin" for "sea dragon" (marin meaning "of the sea" in modern French). As a result, the Drac is considered to be a reptilian being... But the exact nature of the Drac is unclear.

You see, sometimes the drac is described as a dragon-like entity dwelling at the bottom of the lake or sea (a winged, enormous lizard-being) ; or as a giant water-snake. But that's only sometimes because one of the main features of the Drac is that it owns a power of shapeshifting, meaning one can never be sure of what shape the Drac will appear as. Most often, the drac takes the shape of a beautiful young man (to lure his victims or better wander among humans, as we'll see later), but there are many tales and legends claiming the drac can turn into various animals (black donkey, red she-horse, bunnies, lambs...) or even into objects (like a log, or a basket). Given the two shapes of "reptilian being" and "beautiful human" are the most famous and widespread, it often results in depictions of the drac as a scale-covered humanoid or as a dragon with the head of a beautiful boy.

The other main trait of the drac is that he is known to keep luring and dragging humans under water, off into his under-river or under-lake lair. But the how and the why of it all keeps changing depending on the regions and time. It is most agree that the Drac targets, out of all humans, women - especially pretty young girls (making him more similar to the traditional "dragon haunting damsels"). Washer-woman were heavily warned about the drac, and were depicted as his easiest victims due to being women spending so much time by the water-shore. Sometimes the drac uses his face of a handsome young man, or his beautiful singing voice, to attract his victims (some regions even call him a "male mermaid"); other times, the drac is known to let float at the surface of water gold coins, jewels, mirrors and other precious items. All in all - you are lured into the water, and once far away enough, the drac snatches you and takes you underwater.

Here's however where your fate changes depending on which "aspect" of the Drac you face.

In popular beliefs and superstitions, the drac is a water bogeyman in the same way as Jenny Greenteeth and the other water-hags of England. As such, he is depicted as a man-eater who lures humans to drown them and devour them. (Sometimes he doesn't even eat them, and he is just a demonic and evil being who drowns them for pure fun).

In folktales however the Drac can become more alike to the traditional "capture-maidens dragon", or to the general archetype of the monstrous husband. There is a very famous Gascogne fairytale (precisely the one that, to my knowledge, is the only depicting the drac as sea-dwelling rather than fresh-water-dwelling) that paints him as some sort of elemental spirit, a "king of water" that commands the winds and the storms - he steals away a maiden with which he fell in love to force her to become his bride, but she refuses. He still keeps her trapped in his beautiful underwater palace and gardens - and only allows her to walk for a limited time at the top of the waves and the surface of the waters, with a golden chain tied to her ankle. A hero has to break the chain and gets her to shore as fast as possible - because the drac has no power on land.

The most famous incarnation of the drac however is the drac of the Rhônes, illustrated in stories such as the legend of the drac de Beaucaire. This drac is much more akin to the fair-folk and "good neighbors" of the British Isles - as in, in various stories and tales he is described as stealing away a nurse from the human world so she can take care of his babies and breast-feed his children for seven years. Once she had done her work, the drac allows her to return to the human world above the waters - but something happened. The nurse got one eye "enchanted" so that not only does she see clearly in the water, she also can see the Drac's true appearance even under his human disguises. For some she mistakenly got some of the fat of one of the "snake-cakes" of the Drac into her eyes ; for others, the Drac offered her a box of enchanted human fat (because the dracs are still man-eaters in these tales) that would give strength and health to her baby, with the clear instruction to always wash her hands after using it - and she gets it in her eye... Anyway, all in all she ends up spotting the drac in the middle of her town or village, and she politely salutes him with his real identity. The drac, surprised at having been recognized under his disguise, asks her with which eye she saw him. She tells him, and the drac promptly gouges out the enchanted eye.

And these are just the main aspects and appearances of the drac based on his main "underwater magical being" persona. But you see, the "drac" is actually a bit like the "bogeyman" as in, you have an iconic name, some key traits, but everybody has a different version of it. Same thing for the drac - antagonist sea-prince of fairytales, child-eating water-bogeyman, aquatic "good neighbor" and fair folk... But in some regions the name "drac" will be use for werewolves! Everything in these stories clearly describe a werewolf, except the name. But this seems to be because as France was Christianized there was an habit of making the drac of demon - which is why many tales describe this being as a "water demon", as a "bird-hating demon", as "the son of the devil"... And in the Pyrénées, the drac even got an alternate identity fusing himself with another famous folklore archetype. The magical-but-deadly-horse ; the devil's donkey that snatches children. This creature exists in other regions of France as its own thing, its own being, but in the Pyrénées sometimes it gets fused with the drac into one being. A magical donkey or enchanted horse - sometimes white, sometimes red - that will invite tired travellers or innocent children on its back. It can extend its back to carry as many children as it needs ; or it can enlarge its body to fit the weight and girth of any rider ; but once you are on the beast's back, it will take you on a wild and terrifying ride that will end in a body of water where you will drown.

Usually this identity as the "magical horse" or "magical donkey" is thought to be just one of the various "tricks" of the drac - tricks and "pranks" typical of fair folk and other supernatural beings of Europe. Remember when I evoked his shapeshifting? The "lamb" part comes from a local legend claiming the drac likes to turn into a cute little lamb, but if you try to carry it in your arms or on your back, it will become heavier and heavier until it crushes you. Other local tales evoke stories of the drac turning into a ball of thread, and allowing a girl to weave a dress out of him - but once she wears the dress in public, the thread will disappear, destroying the dress and leaving the girl naked in front of everybody.

Again this all seems tied again to the "demonization" of the Drac - who was considered to be part of those nasty lutins, demonic imps and other annoying little devils that spent their time harassing everybody with cruel or disgusting pranks. But anyway my main point stays - a humanoid man-eating being with dragon roots, and an obvious dragon name despite ending up not looking like a dragon at all...

[reno-matago]

Is there anything in French folk magic or French traditional magic about a new home/home protection?

I don't have a specific ritual but ingredients and methods yes!

RURAL FRENCH MAGIC ELEMENTS

You can make crosses to have at the doors! The plants vary according to the regions: houseleek, cross-benites with lavender, immortelles, according to the folk religious holidays however, traditionally it is on dates of specific religious holidays.

We do a fumigation in the home, certainly with prayers, with plants depending on the region: laurel, juniper... we can burn protective plants, make bouquets of them, especially elderberry. All pungent or strong-smelling plants will be protective (elderflower, garlic, hellebore, holly, hawthorn) For protective bouquets: artemisia, foxglove, meadow iris, mint, St. John's wort, walnut branches, fern, verbena, the Queen of french witchcraft.

We can do a ritual where we will pass the plant through the fire to strengthen its power. The cross is the ideal symbol. The perfect day will be Saint John's Day.

Be sure I'll return to you if I find anything else out! Finally if you need a spell to banish negativity from the house I can give you one by messenger too!

HORSHOE

I think a horseshoe would be ideal ( just like garlic). It is not ''french trad craft'', just a method I would use, but I would purify it, dedicate it to the 4 elements, fumigate it, then recite by hanging it or nailing it:

''Vigilavi, et factus sum sicut passer solitarius in tecto'' (Terese d'Avila, Psalm 102)

But it is my own creation! Otherwise there are these spells from The Witch's Almanac by Katherine Quenot, unfortunately her sources are rarely cited. Some are ancient, others modern...

Here is one of these spells that seems interesting to me because it contains verbena:

TO ATTRACT PROTECTION INTO YOUR HOME Make a purple sachet 18 centimeters on a side and put rosemary, verbena, and a lock of hair from each of the inhabitants, and a picture of the house. Close it with a purple cord, put everything in a secret place in the house and never open it.

TO KEEP YOUR HOME HEALTHY

Make a braid with two green laurel branches, then hang it on a red cord above the interior door of the house or gate.

This talisman will also preserve your family from jealousy, backbiting and the evil eye.

And this one which seems to be modern but inspired by traditional principles:

TO PRESERVE YOUR HOME FROM HARM

You will need coarse salt, cracked pepper, an egg and sticky paper.

Take the egg that you will pierce at both ends to empty it of its contents. Mix the coarse salt with the same quantity of crushed pepper.

Fill the egg with this composition after stopping one end with the paper.

Place everything in a closet or wardrobe in your main room. The egg should be changed every three months. When you get rid of it you have to throw it outside the house in a trash can saying:

''Hexes, evil spirits, in this egg I locked you, now you are thrown.

Never come back to my house,

To the world of junk return''

Sources: Christophe Auray - l'herbier des paysans, des guérisseurs et des sorciers • L'almanach de la sorcière de Katherine Quenot

[sixminutestoriesblog]

the Red Man of Tuileries

It was late in May of 1871 that a motley group of workers, under the orders of Jules Bergeret, took barrels of pitch, tar and other accelerators and marched up the steps of the Palace of Tuileries. All day long, fighting had raged in front of the grand building as the French army fought the Paris Commune. What had started off as a dream for a better world, or at least a better Paris, only a few short months ago was coming to an end and like hell were the men and women of the Paris Commune going to retreat without burning everything, and everyone, to the ground behind them. Into the beautiful hallways that had once housed royalty and ambassadors from around the world, marched the team of workmen, painting everything with turpentine, petroleum and tar as they swept through, moving from carved room to carved room. In the center dome of the palace, more men laid explosives. It was evening and the growing shadows stretched long and flickering in the approaching darkness of the night. Breaking up into smaller and smaller groups to reach each of the rooms, the workers heard footsteps on the stone floors behind them that moved when they weren't, echoes, dry and dusty that skipped strangely through the hollows of the rooms they roamed through. More than one of them caught glimpses from the corners of their eyes, right on the edge of their vision, the flicker of red cloth, dark as old blood, there and gone in a blink. The evening air was cool and the work had the sweat trickling down their backs but that didn't account for all of the chills that went down their spines. Jobs finished, they tried not to make it obvious how quickly they hurried out of the empty palace, tried not to show too much of their relief when they were once again outside of its walls, surrounded by their companions. The word was given, the first torch laid to beautifully decorated walls. Fire sprang up, as if it had always been there just waiting for this moment and engulfed the once majestic Palace of Tuileries, consuming it as if it were made of paper instead of stone. The fire burned for two days and if anyone saw a red dancing figure of a man watching them from its smoke and flames, they didn't share the story with anyone else. The Paris Commune was dead and its members had other, more immediate problems, like surviving, to deal with. The Red Man of Tuileries had, finally, stood watch over the last tragedy of Tuileries.

But not the first.

The Palace of Tuileries was built in 1564 by Catherine de' Medici, after her husband, Henry II, king of France, died. It was going to be her own personal residence, as a royal widow, and no expense was spared toward her future comfort. This was not to be the case however.

According to some legends, a man she employed named, aptly, either Jean the Skinner or Jean the Flayer, who carried out political assassinations for her found out a bit too much for his employer's comfort and Catherine had her assassin assassinated. When his killer went back into the Tuileries garden to retrieve the body for burial, it was missing however - and the Palace of Tuileries had a new ghost, one that appeared just before each new royal disaster.

In another branch of the same story, the Red Man had never served Catherine at all. When the palace had finally been nearing completion, Catherine, ready to move in and visiting for last minute decisions, had found someone else already living there. A small man, dressed all in red, cloven hooves for feet optional. Catherine wasn't about to share her home with someone like that and she left, never to return.

A civil war between the Protestants and Catholics that burst out and engulfed Paris in 1588 might have had something to do with that as well. Or perhaps it was just the first time the Red Man would reveal his purpose.

No matter where he came from, from that point on, the Red Man of Tuileries would show up just before disasters, glimpsed briefly in the halls of the palace only to disappear when noticed.

The Red Man was spotted in the halls of Tuileries just before Henry IV was assassinated in 1610. Several of Marie Antoinette's ladies were reported to have seen him only days before the August 10th Insurrection in 1792. He was spotted again right before Louis XVI's execution in 1793. The last recorded mention of the Red Man happened only days before the burning of the Tuileries in 1871, when the custodian of the place saw the figure standing in a pose of deep sorrow, not once, but twice in the same night before he vanished.

The Red Man's most talked about appearance however involved Napoleon Bonaparte. Stepping outside of his usual job of being a harbinger of doom, as well as actually leaving Tuileries for the first time, the Red Man apparently appeared to Napoleon three times. The first time was said to be just before the Battle of the Pyramids while France was invading Egypt in 1798. Legends say that the Red Man promised Napoleon ten years of success, later to be buffered by an additional five, but at the end of that time period, Napoleon would never again be successful in military matters. The Red Man was said to have showed up after the Battle of Wagram in 1809 to warn Napoleon against setting foot in Russia. In January of 1814 the Red Man appeared one last time to Napoleon, warning him that his time was running out. That was the last time legend says the Red Man appeared to Napoleon and it was also, shortly afterward, the end of Napoleon's rein.

The Red Man of Napoleon's contract and the Red Man of Tuileries seem to serve very different purposes and so I wonder if the stories surrounding the two became a mesh of two different 'red men with supernatural powers hanging around French leadership'. Rumors said that Napoleon often spoke of a 'red star' he was under that led him to victory. Either way, the Red Man of Tuileries hasn't been seen since the fire that gutted the palace in 1871. Maybe the destruction of the palace finally laid him to rest. Or maybe he's waiting for royalty to return to France so he can again lurk in their hallways, waiting to warn of danger and, perhaps, offer bargains of power to those egotistical enough to accept.

[luc3]

[Raven, Crow; A small anthology of superstitions from France /part 2.]

Ancient auspices were interested in the direction of their flight or the type of croaking they did.

Gaspar Peucer wrote in the 16th century, in his book Les Devins :

"If the crows were crying on the right, it was a bad omen just as the cry of the crows on the left was a sign of hope; if it was on the east side, a great delicacy was quickly expected. If the crows cackled on the western side, or on the left with a stifled cry, it was a sign of extreme misfortune."

(…)

We sometimes interpret their cry (...) :"I'll have you, I'll have you!" or : "I'll have you, I'm waiting for you, quack, bugger! bugger !".

In the vicinity of Rennes, the crow repeats "Corpse! Corpse!".

[It is even said], still in Brittany, that the crows saw off the caskets of the coffins.

-

OMENS :

When these birds are heard in the vicinity of a dwelling or if they hover above, a member of the family will pass away.

If the crow sings three times, it predicts the death of a man, twice that of a woman.

If they come near the house of a sick person, it means that he will not recover.

In many places, hearing the sound of a crow in the morning indicates that some misfortune is to be expected during the day.

In Lorraine, if the cry of the crows coincides with the death knell of the bells announcing a funeral, an imminent violent death will be deplored.

-

BRIDES :

- Of course, the crow that caws when the bride and spouse leave the church is a sign of misfortune.

- However, in Vosges, very late (19th century), the crows are invoked before a marriage to enjoy a perfect union, convinced that male and female will remain faithful all their lives. (Thiriat, 1878).

-

*Belief dating from the Middle Ages and present in "The Gospels of the Cattails."

[Excerpts arranged by me from Lacarriere + Delmas. Pic Source ]

[uh-beh-coullun]

Mother of Lusignan 🐍

[mask131]

When talking about the French Père Noël, one has to evoke a variation of his that is NOT Saint Nicolas. I already evoked several times the various names of the Christmas gift-giver (Père Noël, Bonhomme Noël) and how he was tied to the gift-giver of the beginning of December (Saint Nicolas). But there was also a gift-giver at the end of the year... A gift giver of New Year's Eve or New Year's Day. Remember when I talked before of "Père Etrennes" or "Bonhomme Etrennes"? The "étrennes" are a French tradition whose closer English equivalent would be the word "handsel/hansel".

The étrennes were originally gifts that were given to friends, family and other next of kind at the beginning of January to celebrate New Year. Today the tradition has massively evolved - étrennes are given at the end of December rather than early January, it is money rather than gifts, and they are now a gesture of kindness destined to those employed by you or that work for the community (the fireman, the mailman, the housekeeper, the garbage collector...). But despite this evolution, "étrennes" stayed associated with an appreciative and kind giving gesture around New Year. And where there's gifts, there's a gift-giver...

This website presents us with this picture, a 1930s postcard, and says it could be the Père Fouettard... or the Père Janvier (Father January).

In the French region of Bourgogne, there was no "Père Noël" or Father Christmas in the early 20th century: rather there was Father January, Père Janvier, who came around New Year to give the étrennes - the gifts. By the 1930s the tradition was still very strong, especially in the Morvan and the Nivernais - as well as in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais (Father January had moved to the North of France when in the mid 19th century a lot of people from the Morvan went to work in the mines there). And from the 1930s to the 1960s, in all those areas, there was a transition from Père Janvier to Père Noël, resulting in the children of those three decades to have the benefit of two mysterious supernatural benefactors coming at the end of the year... Before Père Janvier stopped coming by the 60s, definitively replaced by Père Noël (the Americanized one of course, remember post-50s Père Noël is just Santa Claus with a different name).

This other website goes into more details about the world of Père Janvier - or rather of Bonhomme Janvier (Old Man January/The January Man).

Le Père Janvier, or Bonhomme Janvier, existed for a very long time in the tradition of the Berry region, before the Père Noël was even introduced. Not just in the Berry, but also in the Morvan and in all of Bourgogne - and even in many others areas of France! Lyon knew of him, the Haute Marne, Saône-et-Loire, Ardèche - they all had records of Father January, this white-bearded old man that brought gifts to children on the 1st of January. In the Berry region, the Père Janvier usually left sweets inside in their slippers for New Years Day, and on New Years Eve chimneys were carefully cleaned up so he could enter the house unsoiled.

And just like Saint Nicolas or Père Noël, Bonhomme Janvier ALSO was followed by Père Fouettard, with his wicker basket filled with "martinets" (beating/whipping tools for naughty children):

While sometimes Bonhomme Janvier brought many toys or sweets (found in the children's shoes or "sabots" placed by the chimney), there was one tradition according to which Janvier only ever brought one item per person, not more - with sometimes a sweet or candy to accompany it (often it was a pipe made of sugar). Tradition claimed it was because Père Janvier hated greedy or gluttonous children - but more realistically, it was probably just a tale invented by poor families to justify the lack of gifts...

And of course, as Père Noël arrived in the 20th century, Bonhomme Janvier slowly faded away...

[laurasimonsdaughter]

Female werewolves

Werewolves are often seen as an exclusively male creature, but in folklore that is not the case. In my subjective opinion I do see more legends and folktales with male werewolves, but there are plenty of places where female werewolves are not hard to find. Germany is full of them! (This collection has some very fun examples). And, more importantly, they rarely behave very differently from their male counterparts. They can be caught with the same tricks and cause the same tragedy. For instance:

The Wolf of Magdeburg (Richman, 1985)

In this tragic legend a Prussian magistrate who is investigating the disappearance of several children catches and mortally wounds the wolf responsible. As soon as he strikes the killing blow, however, the wolf transforms into his wife. The townsfolk speculate that she drank from a mountain spring during a hunting trip the previous autumn, the water of which enchanted her and caused her to turn into a hungry monster at night.

A Female Werewolf (Coen Eggen, 1962-1965)

In a south-Dutch legend recorded in the 1960’s a workman means to prove his bravery by walking home alone after a night at the pub, even after he heard stories about a werewolf. He does meet the werewolf, but wounds it with his knife. The following week the landlady of the pub is sadly absent, she has had an accident and severely wounded her leg.

The Werewolf Wife (Kuhn & Schwartz, 1848)

In this legend from the island of Usedom a husband and wife are cutting hay when the wife uneasily warns her husband she must go away for a while and that if a wild animal comes up to him he should throw his hat at it and run, so that no harm would come to him. A little later a wolf approaches him. He throws his hat and the wolf rips it to pieces, but meanwhile one of the other harvesters sneaks up on the wolf and stabs it with a pitchfork. The dead wolf immediately turns into the farmer’s dead wife. (This one is particularly interesting to me because in the Netherlands the most seen werewolf legend is a young man telling his girlfriend he has to leave and that if she should see a wolf she should throw her handkerchief or apron at it.)

What does make things more complicated is that tales in which a woman transforms into a wolf, are often classified as witchcraft rather than werewolfism. For example:

The Werewolf of Auvergne (Mentioned by Montague Summers in The Geography of Witchcraft, 1926, but more easily read here.)

In this legend a French gentleman is told by his friend that during the hunt, he was attacked by a savage wolf and had cut off its paw to escape it. When he shows the paw to the gentleman, though, it is a female hand with a wedding ring on the finger. The gentleman recognises it as his wife’s, finds his lady missing a hand, and turns her over to the authorities who burn her at the stake.

A Witch as Werewolf (Karl Bartsch, 1979)

A German legend in which a witch takes “the form of a werewolf” to go bewitch a farmer’s cows. Her husband calls her by name, so she quickly changes herself back, but he can still see her eyes glowing like wolf’s eyes and she hasn’t lost all her fur yet, which is said to be red. (So, witch or werewolf, this still means she turned into a ginger wolf, incredible.)

Personally I am inclined to call someone a werewolf is all they do with their magic is turn into a wolf. (So, the first tale would be a werewolf legend, but the second wouldn’t.) What I find harder to put a name to is stories where the shapeshifter in question seems to be wolf first, human second.

This very selkie-like folktale from Croatia and this Chinese legend seem to have this situation, where the primary shape is clearly meant to be the wolf and not the human shape. Perhaps they ought to the “wolfweres”…

[blazescompendium]

Blaze's Compendium Entry #3: Do not try to steal from Vouivre!

The Vouivre is known to be a Draconic creature from the French folklore. Specifically from the Eastern part of France. The Vouivre is not to be confused with her fellow local dragons such as the Guivre, Wivre or the Melusine. Her differs herself for two key elements: Her almost always feminine humanoid looks (Although, sometimes shes also described as a fierce serpentine dragon) And the jewel in her forehead, called the Carbuncle. This jewel is precious to the Vouivre because it grants her eye sight, and also (according to some sources) heat. It could also be or not be her only eye, depending on the legend.

Vouivres are neutral beings. Generally they don't pick fights with humans, only if provoked or in self defense. Which is fairly common, since the greedy humans try to steal her jewel all the time, which is said to be more valuable than ''any mineral found in any Brazilian mine'' (Jenin Clement, 1884: ''Traditions Populaire de la Cote d'or'')

The jewel received it's name thanks to the Latin world ''Carbunculus'' which meant something like hot coal. That's because, according to the legend, the Vouivre's jewel was hot and bright like hot coal.

It does not help that the Vouivre is usually hoarding lots of gold and treasure in her lairs, which also attracts many unwanted attention. If, the Vouivre needed to fight, fortunately for her she was blessed with such strong flames that she could completely carbonize a human being to ashes. (Faune et Flore de la French Comtee, 1910- Beauquier)

But more often than they would like, the Vouivre would be hunted down during their most vulnerable period: When she had to take off the Carbunkle out of her forehead, and bath or drink water. That's the period she had to protect the Carbuncle, it should not fall into water, it would lose it's fire powers. And although there's few to no sources that state that this would kill the Vouivre, the Faune et Flore de la French Comtee book states at least one instance where removing it for too long would kill the creature. If you consider that the Carbuncle is destroyed after falling into water, it means she would also die.

In most of the tales, the Carbuncle serves as the Vouivre only eye. There's few sources where it is just a jewel embed into the creature's forehead, and in others it was part of a crown she wears. According to some sources as Jenin Clement, 1884: ''Traditions Populaire de la Cote d'or, looking directly to her Carbuncle (or her eyes) would cause confusion, panic and fear, making you completely immobilized.

According to a web page from the Fremch Comtee government, the Carbuncle is ''so valuable that not even all world's gold could afford it.'' This page in question is long dead, but there's some content of it available at the site Blackdrago. Not the most reliable source out there, but at least they saved this page's content. Also saved in Blackdrago, there's also a dead link to an article of the Fremch Comtee government about the origin of the Myth. This page is available at the wayback machine!

Fun fact: Carbuncle is also the name of the infection caused by the Anthrax. Anthrax has its own name meaning ''coal'' (ἄνθραξ) in greek. That´s because the infection causes skin damage that looks like coal. The relation with the Vouivre is probably none, but i thought it was cool enough to put here. Please i can't stress it as much as i want but do not google it!

For those more versed in Mythological beings, demons and mysterious fantastical beings, you may recall the name Carbuncle as another mythical creature from the South American Folklore. The Book of Imaginary Beings, 1975 edition (Jorge Luis Borges) Describes the Carbuncle as a mysterious creature that the 16th century Spanish Conquistadors painted as elusive. A poet-priest called Martin Del Barco claimed to have seen one in Paraguay, and has described it in its 1606 poem ''Argentina'' (If you asked me, it's weird that it was in Paraguay, but was featured in the Poem named Argentina... but, ok.)

The Carbuncle, not only for it's name shared an eerie similarity with the French Vouivre. Martin described it as a ''small animal, with a shining glowing object in it's head, like a glowing coal.'' It's jewel was also sought after, and supposedly very valuable. I wont dive too deep in this creature here and now. The point is that the Vouivre had some similar creatures, even such a distant ''cousin'' as the Carbuncle of South America.

Final Fantasy's interpretation of the (Creture) Carbuncle.

Back to the Vouivre:

The window of time to get the Vouivre in her vulnerable state varies according to the region, or tale. Some say is once a year, or even weekly. The book ''The Drac: French tales of Dragons and Demons'' (Felice Holman, Nanine Valen, Stephen Walker - 1975) Tells about a tale where the Vouivre comes out only once a year. Normally the sources agrees it's when there's an important mass, and the people are too busy to care about the creature. This could be at Easter or Christmass (Christmass would be specially told in the Audrey region). In deeply catholic societies, nobody would flee from the church just to hunt the Vouivre. (Oh boy some did)

In tales from Monthier the Vouivre would come out at the eleventh first midnight bell from the clock, during Christmas night. The common sense is that they are generally very intelligent, that's how they know the perfect timing to be alone.

But also on her weak spot was the fact that the Vouivre had very frequent habits, which could mean that someone smart enough would eventually figure out how to reach her. She also had the ability to stun foes, although i just found one source about this skill in the book Jenin Clement, 1884: ''Traditions Populaire de la Cote d'or' Honestly, she's just trying to be alone, hoarding her treasure and caring for her hygiene. I can relate.

According to the book ''Faune et Flore Populaires de la French Comtee'' The name Vouivre came from the Latin word Vipera, which means viper. Vouivre can also means just ''wyvern'' in a general term, and not specifically this tale. Going by the Indo-European root you get to the word ''Gwer'' which means something warm or hot. From there, the word Wyvern comes from. It was meant to refer a fire serpent, or a type of dragon. This relation with the warmth and heat could also explain the Jewel that the Vouivre has, and the relation of this creature with the fire element.

There's some speculation about her name influencing regional dialects. For instance, the Morvan Dialect Glossary has the word Vouavre. This could mean heat or something wet. If the translation goes for the first option, this could theoretically be another association, or even where the original name of this dragon came from. Morvan is a dialect of the region Burgundy and is a french derivative. But i could not find any translator for this dialect, nor any confirmation this word even exists, so take it with a grain of salt.

She could canonically use agi!

There's a lot of places in Eastern France that bears the Vouivre name, that's how popular the legend was there. Many of those places are described in books such as the ones mentioned above (sources will be in the end of the article) are simply too old, some are not even there anymore. But surprisingly you can use google maps to check, and see that still there are many places with the name out there.

During my research, i also found out there's a french movie about this legend, called La Vouivre (1989). Honestly, it seems pretty interesting. It's about a WW1 veteran who became obsessed with the legend. (Just as did i, when i wrote 40ish pages of research for this text) I will take my time to watch it some day, and i will probably post my thoughts here.

Because their tendency to get mugged by Humans, Vouivres tend to like isolated places, where they can live alone and in peace. This could be old monasteries, old castles, caverns, or deep woods. No matter the source, Vouivres always like to be alone, have regular habits and are (mostly) neutral. Some of those locations in Eastern France are so associated with this creature, that it has either named it or became a symbol of this place.

Take for instance The castle of Vaugrenans. (We will be back to it later) The place was destroyed in the 17th century, and now is just ruins in which people said a Vouivre lived. It got so associated with it, there's a sign near it telling about the legend. In this case, the Vouivre was also interpreted as a creature who controlled, and used snakes. This particular feature can be seen in Kaneko's design of the Vouivre, since she has a snake in her body.

This Picture was taken from Google Maps, you can check by yourself! It depicts the Vouivre from the Vaugrenans Castle ruins.

The Vouivre were also commonly associated with rivers and streams, where supposedly they took their baths and drank water. Some hills, falls and mounds also got associated with it.

At least in one Source they used their feminine looks to seduce the human assailant, and get out of the danger. (Jenin Clement, 1884: ''Traditions Populaire de la Cote d'or').

Most of sources agrees that the Vouivre has bat-like wings, and when flying through the night sky, lets out a flame trail, like a shooting star. The sources like the Faune et Flore de la French Comtee, 1910 states that the creature could reach 2 meters tall.

The book ''The Drac'' Describes some tales of people that tried to actually rob the Vouivre. One man actually succeeded in getting her treasure, but not the Carbuncle. He made home with gold, but ended up dying by a mysterious illness, and the fortune disappeared.

In the Faune et Flore de la French Comtee, 1910 book, there's a legend about a man that succeeded in stealing the Carbuncle and also killing the Vouivre. The man blinded the creature taking the jewel, and had prepared beforehand a pit full of spikes. The man made the dragon fall to her death, and took the Carbuncle. But the thing was so valuable he never managed to sell it, dying without seeing a single coin from it. The treasure vanished not long after his passing.

Another tale from this particular book tells the horrifying story of a poor and hungry family, that ended up trying to steal the Vouivre's treasures to survive. The mother has the not so great idea to invade the dragon's cave with her infant son, while the creature was absent. But they takes too long that the Vouivre gets back before they could leave. In a hurry the mother left the children behind, who got stuck inside the cave when the Vouivre closed it. The mother waited camped in front of the cavern getting help from her neighbors, crying for her son. Exactly one year later, when the Vouivre exited the cave, her children was unharmed and could escape. Honestly, who would invade a dragon's den with a toddler? That's on her.

The legend was also spread from all over Eastern France. Regions such as Burgundy, Niverneeis and Baurbonnais were also prolific Vouivre nests, according to legend.

In the book Faune et Flore de la French Comtee, 1910, the author also compares the Vouivre to two other mythical beings. First: The Basilisk. Some people made this association due to their similar habitats, but the Basilisk being actively violent towards people.

There's a piece direct from page 12:

''...It (The Basilisk) was believed to be close related to the Vouivre. But much more terrible. (...) It inhabited old walls, attics and old houses, and guarded treasures...''

There are some similarities, but those are generic traits of mythological monsters and demons. They could be attributed to any creature, but i found interesting.

The Basilisk, by Kazuma Kaneko.

The other mythological creature discussed in the book that could be related to the Vouivre is the Melusine. Another distant cousin? The Melusine are humanoid creatures, sometimes half fish and half snake. In this book, the author draws parallels to the Vouivre, due to Melusine some times possessing snake-like features.

Much popular in Europe during the 14th century, the myth of the Melusine ended up making appearances in many coat of arms around Europe. Like the Holy Roman Germanic Empire, Escandinavian and the Warsaw City. Although many times treated as a snake, the association with the Vouivre comes from some draconic interpretations. This could be one of the origins, but its unclear.

This was not the only mention of the Melusine relation with the Vouivre. In the book Jenin Clement, 1884: ''Traditions Populaire de la Cote d'or', this also mentioned. They do share similar bodies, but the Melusine lacks the distinct Jewel in her forehead.

The Melusine, as it is portrayed in Shin Megami Tensei: If... by kazuma Kaneko.

There are some surviving records of first hand accounts of people who swear that they saw the creature. According to Faune et Flore de la French Comtee, 1910:

-In 1835 a villager from Jura, in the Dole district was about to go inside a pit where he saw treasure. He supposedly ran away crying in horror and blacked out. He said he had met a Vouivre face to face. Other villagers from that place and time swear they saw the creature as well.

-In 1850 in Augeraus someone actually tried to shoot the thing. According to the account, the demon was naturally unharmed.

Again at the book Jenin Clement, 1884: ''Traditions Populaire de la Cote d'or', There's actual names of People that got involved with the creature, supposedly:

-A couple called Jaquot and Jaquette (There's no way this is real, this is some serious Wario and Waluigi stuff)

-A Man called Nicolas Broreau

According to legend, this man actually survived his encounter while trying to steal from the creature. The creature stunned and seduced him, using her brains to get her jewel back. She even gives him some of her gold, but since he did not made what she demanded, the gold turned into rocks. This was also one of the few instances of sources where the Vouivre had two eyes, and not only the Carbuncle.

Those were the more interesting ones, but there are a lot of cases, and a lot of legends, it's hard to put everything down here. But again, sources will be in the end.

But by far the most interesting story of the Vouivre came from the book Jenin Clement, 1884: ''Traditions Populaire de la Cote d'or'. Here we go back to the castle of Vaugrenans, a chateau in eastern France. We are presented to the owner of the castle, but she was ruined by her beauty and excesses. This turned her into the demon Vouivre, who terrorized the town. She had a son, a knight who fought her to put an end to her destruction. According to this legend, the archangel Michael helped the Knight named George, who ended up killing the Vouivre destroying her Jewel and crushing her with his Horse.

In depression for killing his mother, he asks the Archangel to be punished. Michael burns the man and spread his ashes. He later is reborn as a child again, and was supposedly canonized.

When i first read this story it caught my eye that this is too similar to the Saint George tale, of killing a dragon. The name and everything. This tale could be indeed be a rationalization of the saint's lore. As i said above, this place is indeed known for the Vouivre legend, but there's nothing there indicating that this Saint tale is really associated with it as far as i have gone.

There's also a city in north-western France, called St. Georges du Vievre. This city has a name very closely related to the Vouivre and also depict a Saint George. This village today has less than 1000 people living there, and was first shown in a map in 1164 with his latin name: ''Sanctus Georgus De Wevra''.

Supposedly, Vievra refers to neraby woods called Guevra. This was the name of the place at least at the 11th Century. The name indicates that there was a dragon who ate children living in that place, that according to legend was killed by Saint George. (Probably not the same of his legend, this could be a regionalization of the myth, but all indicates it was just a regular Wyvern) This dragon was a Wyvern, the original meaning of the name Vouivre. Simply a Wyvern. The word could predate Latin, maybe going for more indo-European roots, but honestly it's hard to know.

The emblem of the village is literally Saint George killing a giant snake, which take us back to the original meaning of Vouivre and Wyvern, coming from the Latin word Vipera.

This village, as far as my research has gone, lacks any Vouivre tales or legends. Instead, the name here is merely a recall to its original meaning as the word for viper and Wyvern. This was sourced by the book ''Gentillhomeires des pays de l´eure'' Franck Beaumont, 1999. I've only found articles about it, the book is quite elusive. If you have it, or ever found it let me know!

In conclusion:

As such any local folklore, it's almost impossible to pin down the origins for the myth of the Vouivre. The common theme here is that of ''Risk and Reward'' type of cautionary tale, but also the European fascination with dragons.

Dragon tales were not uncommon at France, and we even already told about the Wivre, Guivre and many others. What makes the Vouivre tales interesting is that she was almost always minding her buisness, when the humans are the ones who cause her trouble. It's also worthy to note how in almost all of the tales there's never a happy ending for those trying to steal from the demon, even when they seems to achieve success in their endeavors to get the treasures from the Vouivre, something goes wrong. It goes to show how some things are just not made for human hands, no matter how much our species try to go over it. There was never pressure to hunt the Vouivre, most of them were not doing anything wrong in their tales, but yet the Humans tried to conquer their power to themselves.

There are many other interesting draconian mythological beings in Europe, and the Vouivre is specially popular in the particular Eastern region of France. It's a good display on how folklore and cultural traditions can influence a community, becoming naming conventions and symbols of that place's history. Today there's many people that fight to preserve this history, and i believed that researching and posting about it would do it's part.

I hope you all enjoyed. Please reblog, like, or interact to the post to spread the Vouivre's tale.

And remember, never try to steal from the Vouivre!

Sources:

Jenin Clement, 1884: ''Traditions Populaire de la Cote d'or''

Faune et Flore de la French Comtee, 1910- Beauquier

The Drac: French tales of Dragons and Demons'' (Felice Holman, Nanine Valen, Stephen Walker - 1975)

About the South American Carbuncle:

The Book of Imaginary Beings, 1975 edition (Jorge Luis Borges)

Note: All the books are in french, and i used software translation to read it. I am not familiar with the French geography, so if i got any place or name wrong, let me know!

[gryphis-eyes]

I wanted to ask your opinion on this because you're French and know a lot about your country's folklore.

I am an American witch who has never been to France, though I'm going to change that someday. However, I am a francophile who has been studying French history, culture, language and folklore for years now. The only reason I ended up believing in magic was because of that sense of awe I got when I looked at pictures of French forests and read French history and folklore.

So I wanted to know, would it be wrong if I took inspiration from French folklore for my magic practice? I own a huge stack of books written in France, I'm learning the language and the history of the individual regions that the folklore comes from and I'm adding to my collection all the time. And if it's alright for me to do it, is there anything in particular I should know or keep in mind on my journey?

Merci beaucoup de votre attention.

Bonjour~

There is absolutely nothing wrong in wanting to take inspiration from our folklore and I would even say that you can as well call upon the fairies/witch and other "named entities"

Think of Melusine or La Vieille (an equivalent of Cailleach) nothing stop you from calling onto them

By named entities I'm not talking about fairy folk in general but more of the specific ones, like La Velue or Graoully. I'm part of the people who believe that the spirits are bound to their lands but nothing stops you from calling onto specific ones.

As for the extra advices I'd say that you can also check the folklore from Belgium since we share a lot (it's mostly centered around witches, one of the most famous is Quintine), the England one share a lot of similarities as well I'd highly recommend Gemma Gary for the practice.

I don't remember if I told you about him but Claude Lecouteux made a lot of books on the folklore and I think a lot of his books have been translated in english!

For that last advice I don't think I have to say it because it's kinda obvious lol but stories from Bretagne will be your best friends !

Bon courage 🌹

[briefbestiary]

Rumoured to be the origin of gargoyles, the powerful gargouille. When not out causing devastation, the dragon had made its home in the swamps off the left bank of the Seine.