@luigirenna@greenspindle@juergen_hubert@germany@folklore hailing from Italy? The alpine region, including the nowadays Italian parts, knows a distinct spirit / deity with 'perchta' who is a close relative to Holle/Hel.
According to some highly intriguing theories maybe even the older and original form (Hel is a rather late addition to the Norse pantheon anyway).
A few years ago, I spent some time trying to find folk tale collections in the public domain. If you know of any additional ones about Italy, please add them!
(Also, if you know of any Italian-language folk tale collections in the public domain, then I am interested in those as well. They might make for good reading material a few years down the road...)
@juergen_hubert@KonchogTenzenSangpo@greenspindle@germany@folklore not in the public domain yet, but Italo Calvino's collection of Italian Folktales from 1956 is my go-to. He was inspired by a similar effort by Gianfrancesco Straparola in the 1500s, and that one should definitely be in the public domain
I am a bit curious about the fact that there seem to be a number of English-language collections of Italian folk tales that precede Calvino. Were they translations of existing collections, or did the authors collect the tales themselves and then immediately translate them? I need to investigate this further...
@luigirenna@juergen_hubert@greenspindle@germany@folklore Italian lore - as is Spanish - still carries pre-Roman elements, including hints of ritual possession.
Oh, I guess you are familiar with the 'Benadanti'? I think most of Ginzburg's books were translated into Italian language (or even originally published, IIRC he was fluent).
Ironically, in northeastern German folklore, children born with a caul have a less happy fate - they are doomed to return as revenants after death who kill everyone in the area unless precautions are taken.
@luigirenna@germany@folklore Well, there's a small myth complex on Mutter Gauerken/Frau Gauden/Frau Gaur etc. in Mecklenburg. She is effectively the local leader of the Wild Hunt, possibly intermixed with some Hulda/Holle elements.
@juergen_hubert@luigirenna@germany@folklore in that specific region - do you recognize syncretism with Slavic elements? I am verily amazed by the richness of the Baltic mythologies and how they also inspired storyweavers like O. Preussler, but it seems to me from the books & papers I am aware of that Gernanic & Slavic are still treated as being very distinct (funny, considering for example the origin Bajuvarian tribes ^^)
@KonchogTenzenSangpo@luigirenna@germany@folklore I haven't researched Slavic folklore much yet, which is definitely something I want to rectify. But it would not surprise me - I've already noticed some overlap between German and Slavic folklore regarding "fern flowers". And, of course, "vampire"-type stories are most common in Eastern Germany.
@juergen_hubert@luigirenna@germany@folklore that’s interesting in the Swiss folklore I have stumbled thru and upon the wild hunt is Oden’s if it’s any named one who leads it.
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