Much has been written about the alpine Frau Perchta within the recent years. Early folklorists suspected that she may have been a pagan goddess, similar to the greek goddess Artemis. Additionally, Frau Perchta was equated to another mysterious Germanic goddess, Holda.
Frau Perchta is, of course, the mythological character that plays a role in the Perchtenlaufen along with other characters such as Krampus and Berchthold.
The similarities of Perchta to other mythological characters and deities are many, for example Diana in Roman mythology or Frau Holle in the northern German regions. Due to the widespread phenomenon of the Wild Hunt myths, and the Wild Hunt myths playing a role in fertility/restorative rituals, historians and ethnologists alike have suspected that there might be ‘shamanistic’ elements to these myths and the worship of these female deities. (see disclaimer below).
The Wild Hunt (Motif E501 in Stith Thompson’s Motif-Index of Folk-Literature) is a widely distributed mythical event across Europe and beyond (M.M. Banks, 1944). In its alpine variant, the mythological deity Perchta has been historically equated to mythological deities such as Diana and Artemis, both of them functioning as a mistress of animals and the hunt (L. v. Schroeder, 1894, p. 250).
According to the Italian historian Carlo Ginzburg (1989), the myth of the Wild Hunt promotes fertility in nature and on acreage, as well as ‘good luck’ for the upcoming new year (see also James Frazer, 1913, p.245).
In addition, other notable scholars have argued that female mythological characters such as Perchta, Artemis and Diana resemble a widespread myth of a Guardian of wild game and of nature which is often found and recorded among north Eurasian hunting cultures (Lotte Motz, 1984).
However, the problem hereby is that such common similarities can not propose a historical connection between Perchta, Artemis and Diana to the many variants of the master of game motif among indigenous Siberian hunters (Ginzburg, 1990, p. 136).
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Upon examination of the narratives regarding the Wild Hunt myth of Frau Perchta, it becomes apparent that Perchta was a venerated mythological character and that her Wild Hunt emphasizes the relationship of humans to animals and the wild. Early scholars such as Grimm suspected that Frau Perchta had the rank of a minor deity but transitioned to a witch after Christianization (Grimm, 1835, p. 17).
The medieval text ‘Thesaurus pauperum’, for instance, banned the cult of Frau Perchta in Bavaria in the year 1468. The cultic worship of Perchta was clearly condemned by Christian authorities at that time. The text mentions the importance of its followers to leave food and drink for “Fraw Percht” in exchange of wealth and abundance.
The same practice was condemned by Thomas Ebendorfer von Haselbach in “De decem praeceptis” (1439). Later canonical and church documents characterized Frau Perchta as synonymous with other leading female spirits: Holda, Diana, Herodias, Richella and Abundia.
Frau Holda-Perchta as a mythic figure and a representation of values expressed in her name, such deities and the stories about them derive from ideas regarding divine forces of fertility (Thomas Leek, 2008). Johannes Herolt, Dominikanerprior of Nuremberg, Bavaria, wrote in 1418, that the Goddess of Diana is the equivalent of Frau Perchta and Holda, additionally emphasizing their non-Christian, pagan origin.
Perchta herself was declared to be a celestial sky-queen, or Himmelskönigin in German.
Perchta as a celestial deity, a Himmelskönigin, is attested in the text called umma fratris Rudolfi de confessione discretione, dating back to 1235 and 1250 (Ulrich Kleinhempel, 2017). The word Percht was first mentioned in the eleventh-century Monseer Glossen, hereby regarding processions that take place around the time of epiphany, rather than an actual deity. Thus, Perht was first mentioned in the Mondseer Glossen as an event, instead of a mythological character, the so-called Gepirchtenacht (Rumpf Marianne, 1990, pp. 1-2).
However, as we know now, Perchta was indeed a mythological character of tremendous importance to the Austrobavarian cultural sphere and beyond.
A text from the year 783, entitled Synode zu Liftinae, mentions a so-called Yriaslaufen where masquerades in animal hides and masks take place. It remains uncertain if the Yriaslaufen is related to the so-called Perchtenlaufen, however, masquerades in animal-hides have been sought after by several Bishops, such as the Bishop of Worms and the Bishop of Würzburg. (see e.g. Eduard Hoffmann-Krayer und Hanns Bächtold-Stäubli, 1931, p.44)
They, too, speak of food offerings that were placed in honor of Perchta’s hunt. As recorded by folklorists such as Mannhardt and Grimm, the myths of Perchta show that there was a belief in a celestial deity that leads a hunt along with a hunter, hereby with the name Berchtold.
Southern Germanic tribes may have engaged in Hirschmaskeraden, (elk-masquerades) throughout midwinter and in particular during New Year’s.
From the archaeological record, it should be noted that there are two Alemannic runic artifacts from southern Germany that might be interesting in this context of animal-spirits among Germanic tribes, and perhaps, the continuity of these agents in the folklore of southern Germany and Austria.
The first artifact is the Nordendorf fibulae, which was found north of Augsburg along the Lech River at an Alemannic cemetery. The fibulae contains the runic inscription ‘little bear and elk’.
The other artifact is the so-called Pforzen buckle from the Allgäu region. This artifact bears the runic inscription ‘Áigil andi Áilrun | élahu[n] gasókun, which was translated by Düwel as ‘elah(h)o meaning ‘elk, stag’, finally as Aigil and Ailrun damned the stags’.
In this context, Düwel further writes that southern Germanic tribes may have engaged in Hirschmaskeraden, (elk-masquerades) throughout midwinter and in particular during New Year’s. (Klaus Düwel, 2016, pp. 63, 20).
The Burchard Bishop of Worms and Bishop of Rouen also condemned the practice of said masquerades, ervulum seu vitulum facere (i.e., to dress as a stag).
It becomes apparent in the writings of Burchard of Worms and the Bishop of Würzburg, the masquerades incorporating animal-like costumes, particularly as elk in animal hides were condemned and judged harshly (Marie Andree Eysn, 1910, p.175)
To dress as elk and other animals was widely distributed across Europe, for example in Sweden but also in the Roman sphere where said masquerades were conducted in order to worship the half-animal, half-human god Faunus (Heino Pfannenschmid, 1878, p. 579).
Perchta and Berchthold may appear in both human form, and in animal form.
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The aforementioned Die node in Auxerre ( 573—603 ) prohibits the wearing of elk-masks during the new year masquerades.
In Silesia, Poland, the wild hunter Berchthold was also known as Bartel, ‘wilder Bär’, wild bear (Friedrich Vogt, 1901, p. 115). The importance of elk and bear masks appear multiple times across early ethnological literature in regard to Perchta and her wild hunt, i.e., the mythological characters appear and/or shapeshift into these animals.
It therefore has been argued that the origin of the Wild Hunt masquerades such as the Perchtenlauf may derive from processions which preceded Christianity in these regions of Europe, i.e. the animal-hides and animal-masks reenact the narrative of a mythological event that informs them. German scholar Wilhelm Mannhardt, for instance, interpreted these animal masquerades as (pagan) spirits of vegetation (1875).
It has been previously argued that the mythological origins of this elk can be also found in its Norse equivalent, the mythological deity Eikthyrnir
It has been previously argued that the mythological origins of this elk can be also found in its Norse equivalent, the mythological deity Eikthyrnir, who was first associated with storms and weather but would later transform into a sun-stag. Perchta, too, is associated with storms and weather.
Around midwinter, as Simrock writes, the wild hunter kills Eikthyrnir, i.e. Odin riding on a white horse, the so-called Schimmelreiter in German folklore, slaying the elk.
Other Norse equivalents suggest that Berchthold could be equated to Wodan or its Norse equivalent to Odin. For instance, Wotan, Fro is Berchthold. Perchta could be Freya or Frigg and if we take the norwegian its variant, Huldra could be thus Frau Holda. However, such comparisons should be taken with a grain of salt.
However, Simrock further emphasizes, the hunt itself may be directed at the female deity of winter and the storm, whilst the wild hunter is chasing the elk who is also an old woman. The celestial skyqueen Perchta, Simrock writes in this context, is a harbinger of fertility, she is what Roman historical Tacitus referred to as Nerthus. (Germania, ch. 40, Karl Simrock, 1853, p. 57, 1874, p.282).
Perchta, for instance, has a distinct, dual character, that of Schiach- and Schönpercht, and it depends on her shapeshifting capabilities from human into animal form and vice versa. In many old descriptions, Bertha had one large foot, sometimes called a goose foot or swan foot.
Grimm thought the strange foot symbolizes she may be a higher being who could shapeshift to animal form. He noticed that Bertha with a strange foot exist in many languages (German “Berhte mit dem fuoze”, French “Bertha au grand pied”, Latin “Berhta cum magno pede”): “It is apparently a swan-maiden’s foot, which as a mark of her higher nature she cannot lay aside…and at the same time the spinning-woman’s splayfoot that worked the treadle”. (Grimm 1835:13:08, 33:02).
In order to understand Perchta and her Wild Hunt, it may be of importance to look at the Wild Hunt processions and animal-masquerades from a pan-european perspective.
As has been shown by Charles Freger’s ‘Wilder Mann’ (2012), such customs and processions are widely distributed and can not be regarded as a geographically isolated phenomenon in Europe.
There are several sub-variants of Perchta’s myth and appearance. For instance, Perchta appeared as a wild wood-woman who needed help in repairing her broken wagon and/or plough. During a storm, the wagon of the wild huntress takes damage, and the lightning strikes turn to gold. The storm is a harbringer of (unborn) spirits, awaiting their journey back to birth and finally, life. (Wilhelm Mannhardt 1875, p. 85, 86).
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Grimm mentions that Perchta journeys the landscape on a wagon and asks farmers to repair the wagon. She turns the wood dust into gold as a currency.
Behind her is a horde of unborn human souls, the furious horde. The carpenter repairs the plough in order for Perchta to carry over the crying unborn souls, sometimes across a river (Jakob Grimm 1854, pp. 257, 256, 253).
Mannhardt equates the plough and her appearance to the Eastern European custom of dragging a plough, called Opaktiovanie, where an old woman dressed in white around the time of epiphany. The woman, therefore, carries the plough 3x around the village in order to give fertility back into the fields and acreage.
Additionally, there was a ban of similar custom in Germany, written in the Synode zu Lestines from the year 743 described as a “de sulcis circa villas”, where the first time of ploughing the soil took place on the day of epiphany. As mentioned previously, in the tradition of Mannhardt’s interpretative framework, these masquerades as animals represent the spirit of vegetation that brings back fertility into the soil (Wilhelm Mannhardt 1875, p.563).
Furthermore, Grimm mentions the milky way as a celestial component of the Wild Hunt (Jakob Grimm, 1835, p. 532). In this instance, Perchta uses the milky way as a pathway to journey through on her wagon.
In Tyrol, there was a widespread belief that it is on this night that souls from soon-to-be born children are thrown down from the sky, where the unborn souls during the Wild Hunt must pass through. Muthis might stem from the word Muete, for Mother.
This descent, called Perchtennacht in Tyrol, Austria, and Muthisheer in Swabian-Alemannic areas of southern Germany.
In Aargau, Switzerland, there is a proverb : De mueth Mit de breit huet hat meh goestweder der Wald taennaest, the latter meaning ’starry sky’.
It is said that Perchta travels down the milky way in order to feast with her guests on the Perchtennacht, when food-offerings were traditionally prepared for her in return to receive fertile acreage, plentiful crops and wealth. In Anglo Saxon folklore, the milky way was known as the Earmingstrete, Irmingstraet.
In Westphalia, western Germany, it was known as the Iringsstrasse. The Dipper Stars of Ursa Major is known as Irmins Wagon and in the Netherlands, the milky way is known as Vroneldenstaert, Frau-Hildenstrasse, Frau Holdas pathway. It is from this pathway that the unborn souls must travel.(Menzel, 1861, p . 134, 1870, p. 159).
Therefore, Perchta would be projected onto the dipper stars as either the plough or the wagon in order to traverse the milky way to assist the rebirth of souls and to prepare the fields for spring. (Wolfgang Menzel, 1861, pp. 133, 134).
Perchta is also said to wear a large dress during midwinter, which has been associated with Friggetenen, i.e., the spindle and the skirt of Frigg. Again, souls are following Perchta during midwinter. These unborn souls must water the ground in preparation for sowing seeds into the ground whilst following her footsteps.
In the cases mentioned above, Perchta’s appearance suggests a belief in a restoration of fertility in nature, a seasonal revival through ritualistic processions while reenacting her Wild Hunt.
Disclaimer:
I’d like to point out that the project Hexenkunde is aware of the problematic use of the term ‘shamanism’ outside of the Eurasian sphere, and also that the hypothesis of a ‘shamanistic substratum’ is quite difficult to assess, particularly when applied to European pre-Christian cultures and their ritual specialists. Currently, a theoretical framework for the cognitive and cultural evolution of European healing-systems is still in need of further study/development and much more work needs to be done, e.g., applying the ontological turn to the western cultural sphere, from prehistory to the present. There is promising research from the field of New Animism (a relatively new approach in anthropology) that may address these issues at some point.
Therefore, Hexenkunde tries to avoid the term ‘shamanism’ when it comes to European prehistory and ethnographic research. In my own opinion, an in-depth investigation of the above mentioned cognitive and cultural evolution of European cosmological belief-systems is needed in order to address the issues regarding a ‘European shamanism’. This would also include an accurate and in-depth investigation on the cosmological ideologies of European hunter-gatherers (see e.g. Marek Zvelebil, 1997), how these ideologies were reframed, shaped and formed during and after the Neolithic/advent of farming (e.g. Zvelebil, 1998, Nowak, 2013) and many, other societal and ecological factors involved, from the Metal Ages to the 4th and 8th Centuries in Europe. Again, Hexenkunde is committed to honest research and I feel the need to address the fact that the term ‘shamanistic’ should not be applied so easily within Western/Central European cultures.
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