Niflheim

Niflheim ("mistland" ou "reino da névoa") o mundo do frio, da névoa e da neve, situado acima da fonte Hvergelmir, no nível inferior de Yggdrasil e ao lado de Hel e Muspelheim.Participou juntamente com Muspelheim, o reino de fogo, da criação de Midgard, do vazio primordial de Ginungagap. Será de lá que, no Ragnarök, sairá o navio dos mortos, Naglfari, conduzido pelo deus Loki. Local onde a neblina se condensa aquecida pelos ventos quentes soprados diretamente de Muspelheim. A névoa faz de Niflheim um mundo de ilusão, um estado indefinido entre o tangível e o intangível, o real e o irreal, o repouso antes do começo. Em Niflheim existe um dragão chamado Nidhogg. Ele roe as raizes mais fundas da árvore do mundo, Yggdrasil, com o objetivo de a destruir, aguardando o Ragnarök. Em alguns trechos da mitologia nórdica é dito que as raízes mais profundas da árvore Yggdrasil estão enterradas nesta região. É também em Niflheim que reinam os Nibelungos.

Mélusine de Lusignan

Mélusine de Lusignan is a well-known figure of French folklore. According to the legends, Mélusine was the daughter of the fairy Persine and her husband, the king of Albanie (or Scotland, according to Jean d’Arras) Elinas. Persine asked her husband to swear he wouldn’t try to see her during or soon after she gave birth. But Elinas’ first son, jealous of his stepmother’s happiness, lured him into breaking his promise. Persine flew the country and her three daughters (Mélusine, Mélior and Palestine) grew up on the isle of Avalon. Persine eventually revealed the truth to her daughters, who decided to punish their father by keeping him locked inside the mountain of Northumberland. But their mother, furious at them, cursed all three. From that day on, each Satursday, the bottom half of Mélusine’s body would turn into a snake’s. The curse could only be broken if Mélusine married a man who would never try to see her on Satursdays. So Mélusine wandered, alone and desperate, until she reached the region of Poitou. There, she saw a young aristocrat hunting with his men; but the man, Raymond of Lusignan, accidentally killed his uncle, Count Aymar of Poitiers. Touched by his distress, Mélusine offered to help him hide the truth and to make him a powerful lord, if only he would marry her and never try to see her on Satursday. Raymond gratefully accepted. Their marriage was happy: Mélusine kept her promise and soon the Lusignans became one of the most powerful French families. Mélusine gave Raymond ten beautiful and strong sons, most of whom would grow up to become kings and dukes. According to the legend, she even built the château de Lusignan in one night by using her powers. But Raymond’s brother, the Count of Forez, jealous of his brother’s success, told him tales of his wife meeting secret lovers on Satursdays. Consumed by doubt, Raymond decided to see by himself what Mélusine was actually doing. He went to her tower and drilled a hole in her bathroom’s door. But the woman he saw through the hole was the cursed Mélusine: only her upper half was human, the bottom was that of a giant snake. Horrified and sorry to have betrayed his wife’s trust, Raymond pretended not to have seen anything. But years later, during an outburst, he called her a “vile snake”. Mélusine understood he had disobeyed her; blinded by distress, she threw herself out of the tower and disappaered. The legend of Mélusine is still well-known in the region of Poitou, especially in the city of Lusignan

Barbe bleue

Barbe bleue (Blue Beard) is a famous character of French folklore. According to the most famous version of the tale, written by Charles Perrault in his Histoires ou Contes du temps passé (1697), Barbe bleue was a cruel and ugly aristocrat whose wives always disappeared soon after marrying him. But he managed to talk the daughter of a neighbour into becoming his new wife. After the ceremony, Barbe bleue announced he has to leave for a few days and gives his wife all the keys of the castle. “You must,” he said, “discover your new house and its treasures, and enjoy yourself while I am away. However, you are not to enter, under any circumstances, the small room beneath the castle.” His wife swore she would never betray his trust, and Barbe bleue left. But with each passing day the woman felt her curiosity grow until she couldn’t control it any longer: one day when nobody was around, she took the key and opened the forbidden room. There, she saw an appalling scene: the corpses of the former wives leaned against the walls, and the floor was spattered with blood. She finally understood where her precedessors had gone and the fate that awaited her. Terrified, she told her dear sister Anne her husband’s murderous secret. The two girls sent a message to their brothers asking them to come right away and planned their escape. But Barbe bleue suddenly returned. Seeing the blood staining the key, he unerstood his wife had done what he had forbidden and went to kill her. But she managed to get a quarter of an hour by asking for a last prayer. Barbe bleue locks her in the highest tower, along with her sister. There, the two sisters anxiously wait for their brothers to come and save them. Again and again, the wife asked her sister: “Anne, ma soeur Anne, ne voies-tu rien venir ?” (“Anne, sister Anne, do you see anybody coming?”. “Je ne vois,” said Anne, “que le ciel qui poudroie, et l’herbe qui verdoie” (“I see nothing but a cloud of dust in the sun, and the green grass”). But when the wife was losing hope, Anne said: “I see two horsemen.” They were the brothers running to their sisters’ rescue. Barbe bleue went to defend his castle but was beheaded by the brothers, just like his wives had been. He left only his wife to inherit his great wealth, and she used it to reward her brothers and sister for their fidelity. The story says she married a gentleman who helped her to forget the horrifying Barbe bleue.

the Krampus

fun Austrian folklore fact II~ the Krampus is seen as a devil counterpart to Santa Claus; stealing the naughty children and choosing their fate: beatings, drownings (in icy lakes), or even being dragged straight to his lair-hell