Today, I want to introduce you to some creatures from Swedish traditional folklore. Some of them are pretty harmless while others are violent and scary. So if you have young kids within hearing distance, or if you are easily scared yourself, you should proceed with caution beyond this point.
Tomte
Let’s start with tomten, which is not to be confused with jultomten, Santa Claus. Tomten is a small bearded prankster, living on the farm or homestead, and he is responsible for the protection and the welfare of the farmstead.
He looks like a little old man, about three feet high, wears gray, brown, or navy-colored clothes, boots, and a red, often pointy, hat.
If you offend the tomte in any way by being rude, not cleaning the outhouse or house to his satisfaction, or mistreating your creatures, he would play all kinds of pranks e.g. binding all cows’ tails together or turning things upside down or even breaking things.
All you need to do to protect yourself from those pranks is to show them respect and trust and serve them a bowl of porridge with butter on Christmas Eve.
Troll
There are mainly two types of trolls, the huge almost giant-like ones, living in the mountains and forests, and the short and stubby ones with a more round built, living underground and in caves.
All trolls are powerfully strong, have huge noses and sharp teeth, and some even have multiple heads and tails. Trolls were also said to have the magic of shapeshifting.
Trolls were believed to kidnap maidens, eat children, and cause all kinds of mischief. And even though trolls are dangerous they are not very clever. If you could outwit a troll, keep it out in the open but away from you until sunrise they would turn into stone as soon as the sunlight touched them
Älvor
Älvor, or elves, looks like small women dressed in white dresses or wearing white shawls. If you watch the fog sweep in over some wetlands you can see the elves dancing in the fog. The älvs are quick-witted and vindictive and are said to be able to infect humans.
Small, unbaptized children were especially vulnerable, and they became thin and miserable as the älvs sucked on their fingers and toes trying to suck the life out of them.
To protect yourself and your children you have to go to a river mill, find some small, round, bowl pits, and make sacrifices for the elves in them. You can sacrifice grease, coins, needles, magic dolls, and other small items.
There is usually no direct contact between the elves and humans, but if you actually see the elves dance you might be attracted to join them and you might be caught dancing for years without noticing.
At the places where the elves have danced, you might find a ring of mushrooms called elf rings. These are magical and dangerous. If you relieve yourself inside such a ring you might get blisters all over your body or even start urinating blood.
Vittror
A vittra is a nature spirit whose main task is to protect and support nature against humans and dangers. Vittror lives in the northern parts of Sweden, underground, and they are invisible most of the time. They usually don’t meddle in human affairs, but don’t enrage them in any way, they will be furious. For example, if you don’t warn them before you pour out hot water or urinate by calling out “look-out” so they can move out of the way. Or even worse if you build your home on top of theirs.
Vittror, when angry, can be dangerous. They will do anything to drive you away, even arrange accidents that might harm, or even kill you. But if you are respectful and don’t bother them they might even reward you by “borrowing” your cattle, and after returning them they will produce more milk as a sign of gratitude.
Lyktgubben (the lantern man)
Lyktgubben is a small, gray, old man with old-fashioned clothes carrying a lantern. He is said to be the un-blessed soul of someone who has tricked his way to someone else’s land.
Lyktgubben can be both helpful and a problem depending on the situation. If you are walking in the forest and get lost, lyktgubben can show up to help you find your way out of the forest. If that is the case you better pay him or he will lead you to stray and you will never find your way.
If you are not lost and get lured to follow his light, you will get lost, and maybe even get led into a mire and lose your life.
Näcken
Näcken is a shape-shifting water spirit. Most often depicted as a man playing the violin sitting in the water of a stream, waterfall, or lake, often naked. He plays enchanted songs on his violin luring women and children to drown in the water. Näcken is sometimes said to play other instruments, and some say that you can make him teach you how to play by giving him a black cat or three drops of your blood. It is also said that he could play to force people to dance, and if so they couldn’t stop dancing, and sometimes they would even dance themselves to their death.
To protect yourself from Näcken you should stay away from bigger streams, waterfalls, and rivers by sunset and during the night. You can also spit in front of you before bathing, or put a knife in the sand on the beach.
If you meet someone that you suspect might be Näcken in one of his shapes you can say “Goddag herr Näck” or “Goodday Mr. Näck” and he will disappear.
Mylingen
Mylingen is the soul of an abandoned unbaptized child who was never given a proper burial. These children were often born out of wedlock, or into a household with too many mouths to feed, and they were given to an “angle-maker”, a woman who for a fee was to find a good home for them, but the infant was instead murdered, often by drowning.
Mylingen appears to be pale, dirty, and malnourished, at the age of between six and twelve. It is said that they take the form of what they would have looked like later in life.
They will stalk lone travelers in the area where they were abandoned and try to leap onto their backs. If they succeed you can’t get them off and they demand to be brought to the nearest graveyard for a proper burial. As they get closer to the graveyard the myling gets heavier and heavier, and if the victim stops and can’t carry them to the graveyard the myling will get furious and kill them. They will then go on to find their next victim to carry them.
Sometimes the myling would appear to its mother complaining about being hungry. If the mother feeds the myling child she will soon die, with a hole ripped in her chest, and the child will finally be at peace.
Mylings are extremely hard to see if they don’t want to be seen, and are immune to most types of attacks.
Skogsrået
Skogsrået appears as a small beautiful woman with a friendly temperament. That is if you see her from the front. If you see her from behind she looks either like an old tree trunk or has a hollow back and a tail. She is said to lure men into the forest for sexual intercourse, rewarding those who satisfy her while killing those who don’t.
Skogsrået is very proud and easily offended, and she will make life miserable for those who offend her, especially those who saw and made fun of her tail. If you happen to meet a skogsrå, and see her tail, just ask her to tuck it in without using the word tail, you can say something like “you need to tuck in your skirt”. Another reason for anger from a skogsrå is if you disrespect the forest. She can also be a very helpful being and is known to warn charcoal burners if their piles start to burn or help children lost in the woods to find their way back.
A common belief to protect yourself from the skogsrå is to never give her your name. If she doesn’t know your name she doesn’t have any power over you.
If you are lost in the forest you should turn your jacket inside-out or backward to break the skogsrå’s power over you or prevent you from meeting her. Another protection is to swear or to mention God, which both will break her enchantment. Skogsrået is also afraid of fire.
Maran
Maran is a terrifying female being that haunts people in their sleep. They are said to be the souls of unmarried women who have died and returned to take the essence away from the living. A woman can be cursed to become a mara during the night. If a woman uses sorcery to prevent pains during childbirth her daughter will be cursed to become a mara at night. If she gives birth to a son he will be cursed to become a werewolf.
The mara will crawl up on your chest as you sleep, suffocating you and sucking the life force out of you. If you wake up you will be breathless and feel smothered.
The mara can enter your home through the smallest of openings. You can protect yourself by singing hymns and say blessings before going to bed. You can also collect as much cow hair as possible and place it in the window. The mara would be forced to count every single strand of hair before entering the home giving you time to wake up. Or you can spread flax seeds around your bed, and if the mara enters your home she has to count all the seeds before crawling upon you.
If a woman is cursed to be a mara at night you can see thick smoke coming out from her as she falls asleep taking the shape of the mara. This curse can be broken if you tell the woman she is a mara at the exact moment she returns to her body in the morning. But be careful, if you tell her too soon before the body has not fully transformed back she might lose a finger or a toe.
Next episode
In my next episode, I will once again take a look at some Swedish history. We will take a look at the Stockholms bloodbath or as it is also called the Stockholms massacre from 1520.
And don’t forget to join us at Discord, link can be found in the description of this episode and on the web site A Swedish Fika.
