The Askafroa ( sv, wife of the ash tree) also known as the Danish Askefrue and German Eschenfrau, is a type of

legendary creature A legendary creature (also mythical or mythological creature) is a type of fictional entity, typically a hybrid, that has not been proven and that is described in folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses ...

in Scandinavian and

German folklore German folklore is the folk tradition which has developed in Germany over a number of centuries. Partially it can be also found in Austria. Characteristics It shares many characteristics with Nordic folklore and English folklore due to thei ...

, similar to the Greek

Hamadryad A hamadryad (; grc, αμαδρυάδα, hamadryáda) is a Greek mythological being that lives in trees. It is a particular type of dryad which, in turn, is a particular type of nymph. Hamadryads are born bonded to a certain tree. Some maintain t ...

s. The Askafroa is the guardian of the ash tree. The Askafroa was thought be a malicious creature which did much damage, and to propitiate her it was necessary to make a sacrifice to her on

Ash Wednesday Ash Wednesday is a holy day of prayer and fasting in many Western Christian denominations. It is preceded by Shrove Tuesday and falls on the first day of Lent (the six weeks of penitence before Easter). It is observed by Catholics in the Rom ...

. The Swedish scholar Hyltén-Cavallius recorded in his ethnographic work ''Wärend och Wirdarne'' a belief of a female creature living in the ash tree, in Ljunit

Hundred 100 or one hundred (Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 and preceding 101. In medieval contexts, it may be described as the short hundred or five score in order to differentiate the English and Germanic use of "hundred" to de ...

. The elders used to sacrifice to the Askafroa on the morning of

. Before the sun had risen, they poured water over the roots of the ash tree. While doing this they said: "Nu offrar jag, så gör du oss ingen skada" meaning "Now I sacrifice

o you O, or o, is the fifteenth letter and the fourth vowel letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''o'' (pronounced ), plu ...

so that you do us no harm". Hyltén-Cavallius further writes that they believed that if anyone broke branches or twigs from the ash tree, they would become ill. The Askafroa is, by any name, quite obscure, and consequently not prominently featured in modern fiction, although the

online role-playing game A role-playing video game (commonly referred to as simply a role-playing game or RPG, as well as a computer role-playing game or CRPG) is a video game genre where the player controls the actions of a character (or several party members) immers ...

Dark Age of Camelot ''Dark Age of Camelot'' is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game released in October 2001 in North America, and in January 2002 in Europe. The game combines Arthurian lore, Norse mythology, and Irish Celtic legends with high fantasy. ...

'' features enemies in the form of Askefruer/Askafroa.

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* * * Scandinavian legendary creatures German legendary creatures Germanic legendary creatures Female legendary creatures {{legendary-creature-stub

See also

References

Bibliography