Wild Hunt & Wandering Jew

[catseye]

Love that picture eburacum. I live not all that far from the Starr Carr site and I often wonder about the people who would have lived alongside the lake that filled the dip.

But there are a lot of theories about the skull 'masks'. We still don't know why they were made, or even quite how they were worn.

 

[Frideswide]

21 antler head-dresses, a find that may indicate that the Mesolithic people wore them in groups.

Or we have found the Imelda Marcos of antler head-dresses?

 

[Yithian]

Following on from this very broad mention, I've found a specific article on the Wild Hunt by Hutton here.

Hutton, R. E. (2014). The Wild Hunt and the Witches' Sabbath. Folklore, 125 (2), 161-178.

The Wild Hunt and the Witches’ Sabbath
Ronald Hutton

Abstract:
Recent writing on the medieval origins of the concept of the witches’ sabbath have emphasized the importance to them of beliefs in nocturnal processions or cavalcades of spirits, known in modern times by the umbrella term of the ‘Wild Hunt’. This article suggests that the modern notion of the ‘Hunt’ was created by Jacob Grimm, who conflated different medieval traditions with modern folklore. It further argues that a different approach to the study of medieval spirit processions, which confines itself to medieval and early modern sources and distinguishes between the types of procession described in them, results in different conclusions, with regard both to the character of the ‘Hunt’ and to its relationship with the sabbath.

Full Article:
https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/files/38162196/WildHunt_first_edit.pdf

Following on from that follow-on, there's a 2017 lecture by Hutton on this subject over at the Folklore Podcast:

As we pass Walpurgis Night, the Folklore Podcast releases from its archives a public lecture given in 2017 by the eminent and popular historian Ronald Hutton. Written just before the publication of his book, 'The Witch', in this talk Ronald picks apart the mythology of the Wild Hunt and argues that its origins come from a melding of various folk tales, rather than the traditional shamanistic pagan roots often attributed.

CLICK HERE:
https://blubrry.com/thefolklorepodcast/59783295/episode-74-the-wild-hunt-and-the-witches

 

[Bad Bungle]

As I've previously mentioned in the Superstitions thread, my mother mildly disapproved of me hanging out washing on a Sunday because it was 'disrespectful'. To whom ? I enquired and eventually got the story of Odin on horse-back leading the Winter Huntsmen through the skies, looking for Freia (ran away or kidnapped ?), as told to her as a little girl by the old women of her village. Given the geography and culture (Prussia, Baltic Germany) of her village I'd say this was Viking in origin, although maybe not related to the Wild-Hunt.

 

[Comfortably Numb]

I enquired and eventually got the story of Odin on horse-back leading the Winter Huntsmen through the skies, looking for Freia (ran away or kidnapped ?), as told to her as a little girl...

If of interest, highly recommended is a particularly detailed background to the fascinating legend of Freya, online here:

https://norse-mythology.org/gods-and-creatures/the-vanir-gods-and-goddesses/freya/

 

[EnolaGaia]

As I've previously mentioned in the Superstitions thread, my mother mildly disapproved of me hanging out washing on a Sunday because it was 'disrespectful'. To whom ? I enquired and eventually got the story of Odin on horse-back leading the Winter Huntsmen through the skies, looking for Freia (ran away or kidnapped ?), as told to her as a little girl by the old women of her village. Given the geography and culture (Prussia, Baltic Germany) of her village I'd say this was Viking in origin, although maybe not related to the Wild-Hunt.

The Wild Hunt legends weren't compiled as such until the 19th century, and they represent a blending of diverse tales from multiple traditions that share some elements.

Especially in Sweden (and presumably other places around the Baltic influenced by Sweden) it is Odin / Wotan / etc. who is identified as the leader of the Wild Hunt.

There are multiple traditions in which the Wild Hunt leader is identified as a legendary or historical figure who has been condemned to hunt for all eternity as punishment for hunting on Sunday / the sabbath. In western Swedish tradition it is the Odin / Wotan figure who is both the Wild Hunt leader and the figure doomed to hunt forever.

My guess is that your mother was told a cautionary tale about violating the sabbath, leveraging the Odin / Wotan Wild Hunt curse as an example of what such behavior might bring down upon one's head.