Here’s another Scandinavian folk figure for you zombie fans–the draug or drowned dead. Imagine a nice scene of undead draug stumbling up the beach at Normandy…
I promised some commentary on Scandinavian folklore about the devil. I find these stories almost as captivating as those about milk!
The devil is blamed for pretty much everything in Scandinavia. Of course, he teaches witches. He has a black book which he writes names of the dead in. He causes miscarriages. He gives wild rides to hitchhikers. He shows up at dances playing his magic fiddle, and dancers dance their feet off, literally. Yup, the devil. He’s everywhere, whether he’s called Satan, Old Nick, or the Devil.
But fear not. There are ways to exorcise and/or banish the devil. A clever person can outsmart the devil as well. Sometimes, holy people can rid you of the pesky devil.
What strikes me about this is how much the devil is a part of the folk legend. Kvideland and Sehmsdorf (the authors of my primary text) suggest that the devil is both a religious and folk figure in Scandinavia, suggesting that religion has been taken to the people in a way they understand and can interpret.
This is actually backed up, because there are both old and modern “Jesus sighting” stories in the culture as well. My personal favorite is about the driver who saw Jesus hitchhiking on the side of the road, and it’s current day.
That pretty much wraps up my interesting Scandinavian folklore highlights. I’ll try to spend some time this week sorting through my Vesterheim pictures, and discussing some of the cultural things Bryon and I learned there.
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And, I did write.
10705 / 90000 words. 12% done!
It doesn’t look like much of an increase, but I moved yesterday’s research out of the Scrivener manuscript portion, so it’s quite a bit.
Tonight, I sketched some place marker scenes. My organization skills kicked in and I added more detail to my master outline for part one. I think I will revisit the parts I have sketched, and think them through, and then continue into new turf. You may remember from HH:PW that I do this recursive thing. It all works out.
The scheme is to write the kid story for 45K, and then switch over to the adult story for another 45K. That’s the plan.
See you all tomorrow.
Catherine
