![Elwetritschen-Brunnen in Neustadt 09](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0b/Elwetritschen-Brunnen_in_Neustadt_09.jpg)
The Elwetritsch (a.k.a. Elwedritsch, Ilwedritsch and so on), plural Elwetritsche or Elwetritschen, is a birdlike
legendary creature which is reported to be found in southwest Germany, especially in the
Palatinate. The Elwetritsch can be seen as a local equivalent to mythical creatures of other regions (e.g., the Bavarian
Wolpertinger
In German folklore, a wolpertinger (also called wolperdinger or woiperdinger) is an animal said to inhabit the alpine forests of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany.
Description
It has a body comprising various animal parts – ...
or the
Thuringia
Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million.
Erfurt is the capital and lar ...
n
Rasselbock
The rasselbock or rarely raspelbock (in America called a Jackalope) is a mythological animal, often depicted in such locations as hunting lodges. It has the head and body of a rabbit, and the antlers of a roe deer. The female counterpart of the ...
).
The Elwedritschen had been forgotten for a while, until a
gentleman named Espenschied "rediscovered" them. He began to organize "hunting parties" which were harmless pranks. One of the
Bavarian Kings was once served roasted, small birds for dinner, which were declared to be Elwetritsche (
quail
Quail is a collective name for several genera of mid-sized birds generally placed in the order Galliformes. The collective noun for a group of quail is a flock, covey, or bevy.
Old World quail are placed in the family Phasianidae, and New ...
).
Appearance, origin and descendants
![Elwetritsch](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Elwetritsch.jpg)
The Elwedritsch is a fictional creature that supposedly inhabits the
Palatinate of
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
. It is described as being a
chicken
The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adu ...
-like creature with
antlers. It also has scales instead of
feathers. However, it is said that their wings are of little use. That is why they live mainly in
underbrush
In forestry and ecology, understory (American English), or understorey (Commonwealth English), also known as underbrush or undergrowth, includes plant life growing beneath the forest canopy without penetrating it to any great extent, but abov ...
and under
vines
A vine (Latin ''vīnea'' "grapevine", "vineyard", from ''vīnum'' "wine") is any plant with a growth habit of trailing or scandent (that is, climbing) stems, lianas or runners. The word ''vine'' can also refer to such stems or runners themselv ...
. Sometimes Elwetritschen are depicted with antlers of a
stag and their
beak
The beak, bill, or rostrum is an external anatomical structure found mostly in birds, but also in turtles, non-avian dinosaurs and a few mammals. A beak is used for eating, preening, manipulating objects, killing prey, fighting, probing for foo ...
s often appear to be very long. In the second half of the 20th century, artists increasingly portrayed Elwetritschen as female by adding breasts. Elwetritschen supposedly originate from crossbreeding chickens, ducks, and geese with mythical wood creatures such as
goblin
A goblin is a small, grotesque, monstrous creature that appears in the folklore of multiple European cultures. First attested in stories from the Middle Ages, they are ascribed conflicting abilities, temperaments, and appearances depending on ...
s and
elves
An elf () is a type of humanoid supernatural being in Germanic mythology and folklore. Elves appear especially in North Germanic mythology. They are subsequently mentioned in Snorri Sturluson's Icelandic Prose Edda. He distinguishes " ...
. Being a fowl, they naturally lay eggs, which as a result of descending from forest spirits, grow during breeding season. Eggs in various sizes are artistically depicted at the ''Elwetritschenbrunnen'' in Neustadt an der Weinstraße.
Geographical distribution
The area in which tales of the Elwetritsch are spread expands from the Palatinate Forest in the west of Germany towards the east across the
Upper Rhine Plain
The Upper Rhine Plain, Rhine Rift Valley or Upper Rhine Graben ( German: ''Oberrheinische Tiefebene'', ''Oberrheinisches Tiefland'' or ''Oberrheingraben'', French: ''Vallée du Rhin'') is a major rift, about and on average , between Basel in the ...
to the southern parts of the
Odenwald. The mythical creature also appears in the north of
Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...
. In the
Main-Tauber-Kreis
Main-Tauber-Kreis is a ''Landkreis'' (district) in the northeast of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Neighboring districts are (from northwest clockwise) Miltenberg, Main-Spessart, Würzburg, Neustadt (Aisch)-Bad Windsheim and Ansbach (all in Bavaria ...
, where they are known as “Ilwedridsche”, the children are told that at night the creatures sleep in the crowns of the willow trees standing next to the river Tauber. In
Neustadt an der Weinstraße, which is said to be the “capital” of the Elwetritsches, there is an Elwetritsche-fountain, created by Gernot Rumpf. Other sources consider
Dahn
Dahn is a municipality in the Südwestpfalz district, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated in the Palatinate Forest, approximately 15 km southeast of Pirmasens, and 25 km west of Landau. It is part of the ''Verbandsgemeind ...
in the southwestern Palatinate, which also has an Elwetritsche-fountain, Erfweiler or other villages as secret capitals of these creatures.
Pennsylvania
In Pennsylvania among the
Pennsylvania Dutch, the Elwetritsch is known as the Elbedritsch. The lore concerning the Elbedritsch is similar to that of the Elwetritsch in that the victim of the trick was set out with a bag to catch one and left abandoned.
The
Pennsylvania Dutch are convinced that Palatinate people—their biggest group of ancestors—had taken some “Elbedritschelcher” (diminutive of Elbedritsch) with them “so dass sie kenn Heemweh grigge deede” (so that they wouldn't become homesick). Tales of the Elbedritsche are also documented in
Amish
The Amish (; pdc, Amisch; german: link=no, Amische), formally the Old Order Amish, are a group of traditionalist Anabaptist Christian church fellowships with Swiss German and Alsatian origins. They are closely related to Mennonite churc ...
communities. The newsletter of the
Pennsylvania German Society
The Pennsylvania German Society is a non-profit, educational organization dedicated to studying the Pennsylvania German people and their 330-year history in the United States and Canada. The Society works to preserve and promote the history, cultu ...
is ''Es Elbedritsch''.
Hunt
![Elwetritschjagd](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/eb/Elwetritschjagd.jpg)
The idea is very similar to the "
snipe hunt
A snipe hunt is a type of practical joke or fool's errand, in existence in North America as early as the 1840s, in which an unsuspecting newcomer is duped into trying to catch a nonexistent animal called a ''snipe''. Although snipe are an actua ...
." The Elwetritsch is supposedly very shy, but also very curious. A hunting party consists of a "Fänger" (catcher), equipped with a big potato sack and a lantern, and the "Treiber" (beaters). The catcher is led into the woods where the Elwetritsch is supposed to live, instructed to wait in a clearing with his sack and lantern, while the beaters go off, supposedly to flush out the Elwetritsch. The light of the lantern is said to be attractive to the curious creature, so it will come to investigate and will then be caught by the catcher. While he waits, everyone heads back to the pub or wherever the party had previously assembled, to wait for the catcher to realize that he has been fooled.
Like the
jackalope
The jackalope is a mythical animal of North American folklore described as a jackrabbit with antelope horns. The word ''jackalope'' is a portmanteau of ''jackrabbit'' and ''antelope''. Many jackalope taxidermy mounts, including the original, ...
, the Elwetritsch is thought to have been inspired by sightings of wild
rabbits infected with the ''
Shope papilloma''
virus
A virus is a submicroscopic infectious agent that replicates only inside the living cells of an organism. Viruses infect all life forms, from animals and plants to microorganisms, including bacteria and archaea.
Since Dmitri Ivanovsk ...
, which causes the growth of antler-like
tumour
A neoplasm () is a type of abnormal and excessive growth of tissue. The process that occurs to form or produce a neoplasm is called neoplasia. The growth of a neoplasm is uncoordinated with that of the normal surrounding tissue, and persists ...
s in various places, including on the head.
Traditions
There are clubs in several Palatinate towns and cities that promote the myth of the Elwetritschen. Th
Elwetrittche-Club in Landau formed in 1982, is the oldest club. A square dancing club from the same city calls its annual 'Dance-Special' the „Landauer Elwetrittsche-Jagd“ (Landauian Elwetrittche-Hunt). There is also an Elwetritsche Academy in Pirmasens, a college for „Tritschology“ in Dahn and an exhibition with figures of the mythical creatures in the Landauian zoo as well as in the zoo in Kaiserslautern.
Elwetritsch monuments
There are several monuments in the
Palatinate:
* Dahn:
** Elwetritsche fountain
** Elwetritsche educational trail
** Elwetritsche hiking trail
** Elwetritsche monument in municipal park
** Local
carnival club uses Elwetritsche as mascot
* Neustadt an der Weinstraße:
** Elwetritsche fountain (illustrated)
* Wernigerode:
** Elwetritsche fountain
* Winnweiler:
** Local brewery Bischoff uses Elwetritsche as mascot
See also
*
Skvader
The skvader () is a Swedish fictional creature that was constructed in 1918 by the taxidermist Rudolf Granberg and is permanently displayed at the museum at Norra Berget in Sundsvall. It has the forequarters and hindlegs of a European hare (''Lep ...
*
Jackalope
The jackalope is a mythical animal of North American folklore described as a jackrabbit with antelope horns. The word ''jackalope'' is a portmanteau of ''jackrabbit'' and ''antelope''. Many jackalope taxidermy mounts, including the original, ...
*
Jenny Haniver
*
Dahu
*
Wolpertinger
In German folklore, a wolpertinger (also called wolperdinger or woiperdinger) is an animal said to inhabit the alpine forests of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany.
Description
It has a body comprising various animal parts – ...
*
Snipe hunt
A snipe hunt is a type of practical joke or fool's errand, in existence in North America as early as the 1840s, in which an unsuspecting newcomer is duped into trying to catch a nonexistent animal called a ''snipe''. Although snipe are an actua ...
References
''Ollivia Moore'': ''Elwetritsche im Speckhemdchen'' in ''Verborgene Wesen 2'' (German Edition), Twilightline-Verlag Wasungen (2012).
{{Authority control
Fictional flightless birds
Legendary birds
Culture of the Palatinate (region)
German legendary creatures