#sorbian legend

[itsagrummel]

just a normal day on german twitter with this tweet by El Hotzo

Harry Potter:

arrogant celeb

goes to a posh school in a castle in England

did not learn something proper

needed 7 books to kill the villain

Krabat:

normal dude

works at a mill in Lusatia

based apprenticeship as a miller

1 book, quick work with the villain

[thatswhywelovegermany]

Das Irrlicht

An Irrlicht (stray light, also called a stray wisp, swamp light and ignis fatuus) is a certain luminous phenomenon that is supposedly occasionally sighted in swamps, moors, mires or in particularly dense, dark forests and (more rarely) in cemeteries. It is the same phenomenon commonly called will-o'-the-wisp in English.

In folklore and superstition, Irrlichter are usually seen either as the malicious work of supernatural beings or as the souls of the unfortunate deceased. According to popular belief, following Irrlichter or even trying to catch them brings bad luck. In the natural sciences, their existence as independent entities is fundamentally rejected. Reports of alleged sightings are nevertheless investigated, however, because in nature there are both living creatures and gases that can produce lights that are very similar to descriptions of an Irrlicht. Scientists therefore suspect that reports of an Irrlicht are simply due to confusion and optical illusions. In art and poetry, as well as in modern subculture, Irrlicht motifs are widespread and popular.

Descriptions of Irrlicht sightings vary; they are usually described as small flames, but more rarely they are said to be fireballs the size of a fist or even a head. Their colour is usually described as bluish, greenish or reddish. There are also different reports about how the Irrlicht moves. They are said to either remain motionless in one place or to light up wildly and then immediately go out again. Less credible reports tell of an Irrlicht moving away from the observer or actually pursuing them, as if they were being controlled by someone else or were intelligent beings with a will of their own.

Irrlicht sightings can be scientifically explained by life forms capable of bioluminescence such as glow worms (Lampyris noctiluca) or fungi such as the bitter oyster (Panellus stipticus). Marsh gases consisting of methane, hydrogen sulfide, and phosphanes or phosphines may combust spontaneously if they reach a critical concentration, causing luminous phenomena.

In folklore and superstition, Irrlichter are said to have an ominous or even malicious nature. In many myths and legends, they are the souls of the deceased who were either evil during their lifetime and must now walk the earth forever as punishment, or who cannot find peace after death and are looking for redemption. Similar stories are told about the souls of stillborn children. Some legends interpret them as the sad souls of murder and accident victims who drowned in the moor.

Most of the time, however, they are understood to be the work of evil goblins, nature spirits, ghosts and/or demons. These are said to summon an Irrlicht or transform themselves into one in order to then deliberately harm people. The light is said to lead travellers, adventurers and the curious to their doom: the victims, who have already ventured dangerously close to the swamp or forest, are lured even deeper by the Irrlicht until they sink into the mud or get lost in the deep forest and die there.

From Sorbian folklore there are stories about the Blud, who are said to appear as Irrlichter. According to tradition, these are the souls of children who died without being baptized. Now their souls are said to wander around weeping in the form of an Irrlicht.

Irrlichter have often been referenced in art and poetry. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe had them appear in his epic work Faust during Walpurgis Night. Hermann Hendrich painted the dance of the Irrlichter for Walpurgis Hall at the Witches' Dance Floor near Thale in the Harz mountains, where according to the legend the witches are having a dance party every year at Walpurgis Night.

Irrlichter are a recurring motif in modern subculture in fantasy and science fiction cartoons, movies, and games. The Pokémon Vulpix, for instance, can conjure an Irrlicht.

[witchblood-if]

Story Ideas (TW: long post incoming but there's poll at the end and every participant gets a sticker)

As was decided by about 100 people: here are some ideas I had for IFs (all in different degrees of "worked-out" and at the end, you can vote on which ones you find the most interesting.

1

The first one basically makes the MC a teacher at a prestigious high school (although they might make you do classes at the also very prestigious elementary school) and it involves planning lessons and dealing with usual teenage shenanigans. The ROs would be other teachers, the odd parent maybe, and perhaps someone from maintenance? Who knows... It's meant to be a cute slice-of-life thing because I eat that shit up.

2

For this one, I pretty much only wrote down "It was a beautiful day at court and you are a horrible jester". ROs would be Prince/Princess, maybe a foreign visitor with Oberyn Martell vibe.

3

The MC is part of a big mafia family but is mostly trying to live a somewhat normal life. Now, you are acquainted with the family business but you don't play an active part in it. But if someone was to mess with you, well, your family would do anything for you. This one is inspired by the song "Bust Your Kneecaps" by Pomplamoose.

Now to my three favorites:

4

Are you familiar with the novel "Krabat"? We've read it in school and I thought it was really cool, even though it is a little dark, to be honest. It's based on a cluster of Sorbian legends and follows the story of Krabat, a poor orphan boy becoming an apprentice at a mill, where the miller is also practicing and teaching black magic to his twelve apprentices and every year one boy dies in mysterious circumstances. The title I'd give this would probably be "Rapaki", which is Sorbian for ravens, which play a role in the story as well. It could prove to be a challenge to make this historical setting as inclusive as I want it to be (and also since there's a specific character I'd love to have as a RO, but he's an adult and the apprentices are pretty much all teenagers).

5

You were kidnapped by aliens. Now, it's been a couple of months since you arrived at the space station. They don't really seem to want to do anything with you except study humans and you happen to be one of the subjects. You are given spacious living quarters, activities for enrichment, food (they sometimes test things by giving you weird stuff and see if you eat it or not) and even many opportunities for socialization with the other human subjects. Honestly, it's not bad. Beats scrambling for money to pay rent. The newest addition to the human sample group though seems to be very discontent with their new abode. Are you helping them to escape, are you just tagging along for the ride, or are determined to stay in your cozy lab?

6

You are perfect nobility. Your family is hosting a ball to which all the most important members of the ton are invited. There's good food and drink, entertainment and music. You socialize and dance. You even go for a secret midnight swim in the deep fountain in the gardens. Many days are like this and you enjoy it. But one day something very peculiar happens: The ball is in full swing when you notice a person in very strange clothes just striding through the dance hall, never acknowledging the guest or the music but looking at a strange... device in their hands. When they aim to go upstairs towards your private living spaces you decide to follow them but they simply disappear. Were they a ghost? Are you hallucinating? For several days you see more strange figures, some of them in strange clothing, some of them in garments from the past. They never seem as ... corporal as the first one and at this point you fear you have lost your mind. Then the first intruder comes back and you can confront them. They seem awfully aghast when you politely ask them to leave.

Turns out, you are a ghost, reliving the last day of your life, and they are a ghost hunter from the future. The whole manor as you know it seems to crumble, polished floors become broken wood, the furniture disappears and the big chandelier lies demolished on the ground. You learn that the other figures are ghosts, like yourself, former inhabitants of the manor before and after you. And you meet them. They are as flabbergasted by this revelation as you were. The ghost hunter explains that they've been chasing a haunting spirit for some time now and they actually weren't intending to call forward you or the others. Do you all help them catch the evil ghost?

Inspired a little by the bbc chow "Ghosts".

[axl-ul]

Names Meaning Tag

Thanks a lot to lovely @shellyscribbles <33

Rules: List the meanings of your OCs’ names.

I haven't created an intro post for everyone but for the sake of doing this tag properly (and also, I really enjoy researching the suitable names for my original characters and then talking for eons about them, hehe).

BTW, I will not include characters such as Wukong or Loki since 1) I haven't created them, they're based on/inspired by/alternative versions of already existing deities and folklore legends and 2) meaning of their names has already been explained or is still being speculated on (and you can research this in the libraries or on the Internet).

I'm including (open) tags right here in case somebody wants to avoid some spoilers which will be featured at the end of the post. So, here are my lovelies <33 (+ anyone who wants to join in - as I said, the tags are open^^): @toribookworm22 @dogmomwrites @faelanvance @frogqueenofmirkwood @aalinaaaaaa @aohendo @verba-writing @vanessaroades-author @emberlyric @toribookworm22 @arijensineink

I also include the animal companions and minor/side characters who play quite an important roles in short stories. Here we go:

Ulfrika - from the Old Norse 'úflr' = 'a wolf'

Márgerdra - from the Old Norse 'marr' ( 1) 'a sea', 'a ocean', 'a lake', 2) 'a horse') and 'garðr' ('enclosure', 'protection'), it was also a name of a giantess/sorceress in the saga of Hjálmþér and Olvir

Kogar - no meaning, a made up word, I went with a sound that seemed the most cool to me

Udra - from Lithuanian 'ūdra' = 'an otter'

Lešij - a name of a Slavic forest demon/entity, = 'a leshy'

Meluzína - from the Slovak 'meluzína' = 'a howling/wailing wind'

Krabat - a name of a Sorbian folk hero, there's also a novel version of Krabat where a boy of the same name becomes a disciple of a warlock and is capable of transforming into a raven

Tiru - a made up name, no meaning, though a name of a real doggo inspired it

The Merchant - well, that's it, he's literally a merchant. Or is he?

Faust - a name of an alchemist Johann Georg Faust who's (in)famous for making a deal with the Devil thus selling his soul

Ivan - a name common in Slavic languages (I've heard some people translate it as 'John' but it's not the same name, though the ethymology is quite similar => comes from the greek Ioannes)

Zmej Milošovič - zmej/zmij (English version 'zmei') is a type of a Slavic dragon/snake (or a hybrid of those two, depends on the story), Milošovič can be used either as a surname (not at all that common), but it can also be translated as 'a son of Miloš (Milosh)'

Barbora - a Slovak, Czech and Lithuanian version of Barbara, named after a witch who was said to ride a hellish dog (literal Satan) at midnight

Kmotra - from a Slovak 'kmotra' = 'godmother', a nickname for Death Ulfrika gave her when she was a child

Krcho - from a Czech word 'krchov' = 'churchyard, graveyard'

!!!SPOILER PART!!!

Ruta - Ulfrika's second/real name given to her by Kogar when he took her under his protection, from a Slovak, Czech, Lithuanian (also other languages) word for 'rue'

[muka-rapak]

Just watched a short documentary about the Sorbs/Wendish, maybe give it a watch! 🤍❤️💙

But Muka, why are you posting about Sorbs on your Krabat blog? Krabat is a sorbian legend!

[mintoxhitsuji]

Lusatia‘s hallucinations. Ah yes, I forgot to mention that he is schizophrenic because I cannot hold myself back with making my favourites suffer the same fates that I suffered. Lus‘ hallucinations are all based on things from the Lusatia region in Germany. So be it cities or creatures from folklore. Let me just go over the people real quick from left to right. Wróna (Sorbian for ‚crow’) is a crow man, the embodiment of Lusatia‘s fear. He is not based on anything because I AM STUPID AND NAMED HIM WRÓNA INSTEAD OF SROKA (Sorbian for ‚raven‘). He was originally supposed to be a bit symbolic of Krabat, the most well-known legend of the region, but now he just symbolises fear. He is harmless however. Lutki are like, small, humanoid creatures. Like dwarves for lack of a better word. The lutki are a group of hallucinations that Lusatia sees from time to time, but mostly he sees the one pictured. Mainly nice but can be mischievous. Chóśebuz (also known as Cottbus) is one of Lusatia‘s sisters. She is the second oldest of the sisters. She is, as all three are, really mean to him, in like a belittling and babying sense. Especially Chóśebuz herself is at fault. Zły Komorow (Also named Senftenberg) is the oldest and probably overall meanest sister. She doubts her little brothers powers and often tells him that he will never succeeds in his eternal life. Lubin (also known as Lübben) is the youngest sister. She is also the „kindest“, the only thing she does to Lus is that she tells him from past experiences they had together, just to make him sulk in the good old times. Připołdnica, Přezpołdnica or just Lady Midday seems like the scariest hallucination but she is one of the kinder ones. She often seems threatening but unlike her legend counterpart she only checks in with Lusatia and talks to him in the most unfitting moments. The snake king (don‘t even force me to write the Sorbian name because I can barely read it) is just a little guy. Very much harmless. A Błudnik is similar to a wil-o-wisp. And this one is very mischievous. Last up is Quark, the Quarkdrache (quark dragon). Some sort of zmij. She is by far the kindest hallucination.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk about Lusatian folklore figures.

[toscrollperchancetomeme]

The Oldest Game

If you enjoyed The Oldest Game in The Sandman, you might like this version of a similar battle. It’s a song by the German band ASP, from a concept album about the legend of Krabat, depicting a duel between a dark wizard and one of his enslaved students. The lyrics are translated in the video.

And if you are into dark mythology (you like Sandman, of course you are!) you should probably check out Krabat. It's a sorbian legend about a young man who makes a deal with a dark magician, becoming one of his 12 pupils. Unfortunately the magician has a deal with the devil and has to sacrifice one of the boys every year. It's a beautiful and dark tale, the most famous version is the one by Otfried Preußler, but there is also a beautiful old Czech cutout animation movie.

[bernhard-schipper]

Šćipata Marata / 1993/1994

Video about the sorbian legend 'Šćipata Marata'.

The Šćipata Marata is in the sorbian heritage a so called 'wild woman'.

The video was recorded in summer 1993 around Bautzen in Upper Lusatia.

The video was made by a team around artist group 'Riefenstahl'. The artist group was related to NSK (Neue Slowenische Kunst / Neue Sorbische Kunst).

The artist group was able to win Majka Kowarjec and Karl Kranzkowski as leading actors.

Sorry for the poor quality the video was digitized from a nearly 30 year old tape.

[newtafterdark]

It's getting closer to October... so it's obviously time to draw my rendition of Krabat again- the sorcerer legend from sorbian folklore.✨

[graveyarddirt]

In January "The Magpie Takes a Husband" in Lausitz, a small area in the east of Saxony. The Vogelhochzeit, a centuries old tradition followed by Sorbs, a western Slavic ethnic group and national minority of about 60,000 who cultivated the land more than 1400 years ago.

Scarcely has Christmas finished with its Stollen and Lebekuchen when planning begins for the traditions and 'goodies' that accompany the "Bird’s Wedding", Vogelhochzeit, between a magpie and a raven.

A unique custom quite unlike any other it involves birds, marriage, children and food, and is only found in this part of Germany, or with Sorbs, formerly known as Wends, who have emigrated and taken the tradition with them.tradition with them.

Lausitz, (Lusatia), is a region that is only 80 kilometers, 50 miles, to the south-east of Berlin but has an individuality, language and traditions that set it apart from any other area of Germany, and the Sorbs are very attached to their old folk customs with this one celebrating the approaching end of winter.

Its origins are shrouded in mystery and myth however.

The tradition seems to have roots in the pre-Christian era where people gave offerings of food to their ancestors' ghosts, hoping to favorably influence the gods of nature, however as time passed, and confidence in the power of ghosts decreased, this became gift-giving to children.

Another theory is that, once again in pre-Christian times, the Sorbs believed the souls of their dead entered birds, so shortly before birds began mating they would increase the food they gave them to make sure that their 'ancestors' were satisfied.

In pre-Christian days especially Sorbs were very superstitious.

While a folk tale tells us that January 25th is the wedding anniversary of a magpie and a raven, and so the day is filled by 'wedding' celebrations, with children dressing up as miniature brides and grooms, processions, performances, special songs and 'wedding dances'.

The 'bridal couple' wear traditional costumes, the bride is the magpie, die Elster, and her groom a raven, ein Rabe, while other children are dressed as different 'birds'.

The night before dishes filled with breadcrumbs are placed outside, high out of the reach of any dogs or cats who might be around, and overnight the birds fill them with gifts for the following day's wedding, such as baked figures of magpies or bird's nests, different candies, nuts and apples.

One of the legends is that this is their way of thanking the children for having fed them, especially through the winter.

Another that as the birds were celebrating their wedding they want to share their gifts with their neighbors, who just happen to be human.

But where does the name 'Vogelhochzeit' come from?

Despite years of research into the past no one really knows because, although nest building might begin in January in years with a mild winter, even for ravens and magpies the mating season still doesn’t usually start as early as the end of the month but a few weeks later.

Nevertheless it is a beautiful folk custom that shows no sign of dying out, continuing to be followed as enthusiastically by adults as it is by children and helping preserve the Sorbian language and culture.

* Adapted from "The Bird's Wedding, Vogelhochzeit" by Francine McKenna.

See also: #corvid, #january, #magpie

[bismarckczorneboh]

'Ceci n'est pas un chancelier du Reich.'

The sorbian giant Sprejnik. Sprejnik isn‘t chancellor of the Deutsches Reich and its germans - but he is The Creator of the sorbian settlement Budyšin and the sources of the river Spree in the Lusatian Mountains.

I took the famous illustration of Sprejnik by sorbian artist Mercin Nowak Njechornski and added a variation of René Magrittes legendary sentence "Ceci n’est pas une pipe" from his work 'The Treachery of Images'.

The following legend has been preserved in the Upper Lusatian treasure trove of legends about the origins of the three sources of the Spree: The giant Sprejnik, who in ancient times ruled the land between Bautzen and the Upper Lusatian mountains, once carved a large and strong arch so that he could better protect his empire and its inhabitants. To test how far his arrows flew, he shot some to the southeast. When his subjects searched for them, they found the arrows far up in the mountains in a valley. They couldn't be pulled out of the ground with your hands, but had to be dug out. Fresh water began to flow from the holes. The three sources of the Spree were born.

[itsagrummel]

"Have you read Krabat? Did you know it's actually a sorbian tale? Yeah yeah, it's strangely progressive in tone for coming from the 16th century."

[thatswhywelovegermany]

Das Poplitzer Popelmännchen

The booger manikin of Poplitz

The Poplitzer Popelmännchen is a legendary figure, a goblin or house spirit of Poplitz Castle.

Nobleman, secret council, and astronomer Bernhard Friedrich von Krosigk had Poplitz Castle built on the foundations of an older building. He had a cornerstone from the previous building with a strange stone figure — popularly known as the Popelmännchen (booger manikin) — placed at a height of about six metres in the north-east corner of his castle.

According to legend, the construction of the castle was seriously hampered by a goblin who every night partially destroyed the day's work. Finally, a man dressed in a cowl advised the builder to dedicate part of the building as a chapel in order to put an end to the mischief. After this had happened and the goblin appeared again, an invisible force hurled him against the corner pillar and turned him into stone. All attempts to remove this strange figure of a climbing cat failed. But construction work now progressed quickly.

At midnight, the goblin, enchanted in stone, descends and at the witching hour wanders through Poplitz in the form of a small, grey man with fiery eyes and short, crooked legs.

Ethymology: In fact, the name of the figure has nothing to do with boogers. Since it is derived from the name of the place, one has to look at the origin of that name. Poplitz originates from the Sorbian word for ash, so Poplitz means "ash place".

[luxury-of-insanity]

I recently found an old song (Krabat by ASP), and the lyrics of the refrain really fit to my three favorite OTPs with Jim, especially Molliarty and Sheriarty. In fact, there's a Molliarty story I work at currently, based on the Sorbian legend Krabat. A raven's feathers sprout on me, and I'm flying incognito, above all borders into life, as fast as wind over our earth. And I break all rules to be with you tonight. Feel my raven heart, it's beating fast and for you only. I gave you a feather, pledge of our love. Think of me, I'll come back. Remember me, holding it in your hand.

[itsagrummel]

Antisemitism in Krabat

Obviously I like the tale about Krabat a lot, including all it's retellings. And since i love it so much, I need to point out flaws in it so that it can be enjoyed in a more honest and reflective way plus allow people to make their own choices about interacting with old tales like it.

Jewish life in central-European regions like Lusatia faced somewhat continuous oppression and persecution. This antisemitic hatred is coded in literature as well, which shows up in the Krabat tale as an old tale carrying those rather classical antisemitic markers:

The antagonist is an evil black magic sorcerer who mistreats, kills and oppresses the otherwise as christian presented characters.

Vulnerable kids and young adults get recruited into the study of black magic. There is also the ritualistic killing of these kids by black magic for the benefit of the antagonist to prolong his life which is a version of the blood libel trope.

The first thing the antagonist teaches the protagonist Krabat is how to dry up a well. That is the antisemitic well poisoning trope.

The antagonist has a secret book called the Koraktor which is the invert of a regular book: it is black with white writing. In it are records on how to do black magic. In the context of the otherwise christian society it is noticeably marked as a bad book, drawing parallels to the depiction of the Tora by medieval Christians.

The antagonist uses his magical powers to be a secret political influence to a king, which leads to the as pointless and just out of evil desires portrayed continuation of a war. This fits the (international) jewish conspiracy trope of as jewish coded people or in this case characters just wanting to harm the good (christian) people out of no reason.

The antisemitic coded antagonist is shown to be greedy, never sharing his wealth with those he is expected to help out, which is another antisemitic trope. Also he orders his students to trick and lie to get him money.

I am sure there are more codes I missed since Antisemitism and both fear of and fascination for the occult go hand in hand in many more facets. Looking at the massive amount of fantasy literature with the same antisemitic tropes as Krabat (eg Harry Potter) it's clear that we need to keep looking at these pieces of literature to learn how to tell great stories without including harmful tropes.

[itsagrummel]

Otfried Preußler: Krabat's parents died from the pest. He is a beggar boy now. It is winter. Jurij Brězan: There once fell a stone from the sky and the stone burst into pieces and out of the pieces came Krabat and Krabat was a human who came to do what had to be done.