Deildegast
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Norwegian folklore Nordic folklore is the folklore of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Iceland and the Faroe Islands. It has common roots with, and has been mutually influenced by, folklore in England, Germany, the Low Countries, the Baltic countries, Finland and Sapmi. ...
, a deildegast is a type of
ghost A ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to rea ...
connected with the sanctity of boundary stones, and what happened to those who dared to move them. The deildegast-tradition was most prevalent in the southern parts of
Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
and is also connected to the
gjenganger A Gjenganger ( no, Gjenganger, ' or '; da, Genganger or '; sv, Gengångare) in Scandinavian folklore was a term for a revenant, the spirit or ghost of a deceased from the grave. Etymology ' has two parts; the prefix is related to "again" or "ag ...
phenomenon. A deildegast, it was said, does not receive peace in the
afterlife The afterlife (also referred to as life after death) is a purported existence in which the essential part of an individual's identity or their stream of consciousness continues to live after the death of their physical body. The surviving ess ...
as a result of enlarging his own territory while alive by moving the boundary stones dividing his own and his neighbour's territory. After dying, the deildegast was forced to haunt the area near the boundary stones until he was able to lift it back to its correct place. This feat proved impossible, however, as the stone would always slip, causing the deildegast to emit a sorrowful scream before trying again to no avail.


Etymology

In Norwegian, "gast" approximately means "ghost", but ghosts in Norwegian and
Scandinavian folklore Nordic folklore is the folklore of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Iceland and the Faroe Islands. It has common roots with, and has been mutually influenced by, folklore in England, Germany, the Low Countries, the Baltic countries, Finland and Sapmi. ...
differ greatly from the modern perception of ghosts, often having a corporeal body and being violent in nature. "Deild" is an archaic word for "border-stone". The approximate translation of deildegast then, is "border-stone ghost".


Description

The first mention of a deildegast in literature comes from ''
Draumkvedet "Draumkvedet" ("The Dream Poem"; Norske mellomalderballadar, NMB 54, The Types of the Scandinavian Medieval Ballad, TSB B 31) is a Norway, Norwegian visionary poem, probably dated from the late medieval age.Knut Liestøl: "Draumkvedet. A Visio ...
'', written near the end of the Middle Ages. The belief itself quite likely predates this (and is documented by the Draumkvedet), though no proof exists. The deildegast was also said to be able to transform into a bird, most often an
owl Owls are birds from the order Strigiformes (), which includes over 200 species of mostly solitary and nocturnal birds of prey typified by an upright stance, a large, broad head, binocular vision, binaural hearing, sharp talons, and feathers a ...
, called ghost (''gasten'') by the local people. In human form the deildegast looked like a normal human, except for his clothes. Often having died many years ago, the deildegast wore the clothes of its own days, which often meant that they looked very outdated to those that saw it. As a
social phenomenon Social phenomena or social phenomenon (singular) are any behaviours, actions, or events that takes place because of social influence, including from contemporary as well as historical societal influences. They are often a result of multifaceted pr ...
, the deildegast served different social functions. The threat of becoming a deildegast deterred any attempt at tampering with border stones, keeping land disputes under control. It might also have prevented people who suspected that their border stones had been moved from enacting physical revenge on their neighbours, in safe knowledge that they would get their metaphysical revenge when the wrong-doer died.


See also

* Deildegasten Ridge


References


Bibliography

* Hodne, Ørnulf (1995) ''Vetter og skrømt i norsk folketro'' (J.W. Cappelens forlag ) * Sivertsen, Birger (2000) ''For noen troll'' (Andresen & Butenschøn) {{Scandinavian folklore Scandinavian folklore Corporeal undead