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Corn Dolly
Corn dollies or corn mothers are a form of straw work made as part of harvest customs of Europe before mechanisation. Scholars of the 18th and 19th centuries theorized that before Christianisation, in traditional pagan European culture it was believed that the spirit of the corn (in American English, "corn" would be "grain") lived amongst the crop, and that the harvest made it effectively homeless. James Frazer devotes chapters in ''The Golden Bough'' to "Corn-Mother and Corn-Maiden in Northern Europe" (chs. 45–48) and adduces European folkloric examples collected in great abundance by the folklorist Wilhelm Mannhardt. Among the customs attached to the last sheaf of the harvest were hollow shapes fashioned from the last sheaf of wheat or other cereal crops. The corn spirit would then spend the winter in this home until the "corn dolly" was ploughed into the first furrow of the new season. Background James George Frazer discusses the Corn-mother and the Corn-maiden in Norther ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gdańsk
Gdańsk is a city on the Baltic Sea, Baltic coast of northern Poland, and the capital of the Pomeranian Voivodeship. With a population of 486,492, Data for territorial unit 2261000. it is Poland's sixth-largest city and principal seaport. Gdańsk lies at the mouth of the Motława River and is situated at the southern edge of Gdańsk Bay, close to the city of Gdynia and the resort town of Sopot; these form a metropolitan area called the Tricity, Poland, Tricity (''Trójmiasto''), with a population of approximately 1.5 million. The city has a complex history, having had periods of Polish, German and self rule. An important shipbuilding and trade port since the Middle Ages, between 1361 and 1500 it was a member of the Hanseatic League, which influenced its economic, demographic and #Architecture, urban landscape. It also served as Poland's principal seaport and was its largest city since the 15th century until the early 18th century when Warsaw surpassed it. With the Partition ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Puck (mythology)
In English folklore, The Puck (), also known as Goodfellows, are demons or fairies which can be domestic sprites or nature sprites. Origins and comparative folklore Etymology The etymology of ''puck'' is uncertain. The modern English word is attested already in Old English as (with a diminutive form ). Similar words are attested later in Old Norse (, with related forms including Old Swedish , Icelandic , and Frisian ) but also in the Celtic languages ( Welsh , Cornish and Irish ). Most commentators think that the word was borrowed from one of these neighbouring north-west European languages into the others, but it is not certain in what direction the borrowing went, and all vectors have been proposed by scholars. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' favoured a Scandinavian origin, while the scholarly study by Erin Sebo of Flinders University argues for an Irish origin, on the basis that the word is widely distributed in Irish place-names, whereas ''puck''-place-names in Eng ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saint Eligius
Eligius (; 11 June 588 – 1 December 660), venerated as Saint Eligius, was a Frankish goldsmith, courtier, and bishop who was chief counsellor to Dagobert I and later Bishop of Noyon–Tournai. His deeds were recorded in ''Vita Sancti Eligii'', written by his friend Audoin of Rouen. Born into a Gallo-Roman family, Eligius found success as a goldsmith at the Merovingian royal court of Clotaire II and served as chief counsellor to Dagobert I until Dagobert's death in 639. Under the subsequent regency of Nanthild, the queen consort, Eligius was ordained a priest and campaigned against simony in the Church. Appointed Bishop of Noyon–Tournai in 642, he founded many monasteries and churches while working to convert the pagan population of Flanders to Christianity. Despite his background as a goldsmith, Eligius became increasingly ascetic during his time at the royal court and used his influence to ransom captive slaves and care for the poor. A legend emerged of him once he ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flanders (county)
The County of Flanders was one of the most powerful political entities in the medieval Low Countries, located on the North Sea coast of modern-day Belgium and north-eastern France. Unlike the neighbouring states of Brabant and Hainaut, it was within the territory of the Kingdom of France. The counts of Flanders held the most northerly part of the kingdom, and were among the original twelve peers of France. For centuries, the economic activity of the Flemish cities, such as Ghent, Bruges and Ypres, made Flanders one of the most affluent regions in Europe, and also gave them strong international connections to trading partners. Up to 1477, the core area under French suzerainty was west of the Scheldt and historians call this "Royal Flanders" (Dutch: ''Kroon-Vlaanderen'', French: ''Flandre royale''). Aside from this, the counts, from the 11th century onward, held land east of the river as a fief of the Holy Roman Empire, and this is referred to as "Imperial Flanders" (''Rijks-V ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Germanic Paganism
Germanic paganism or Germanic religion refers to the traditional, culturally significant religion of the Germanic peoples. With a chronological dating, chronological range of at least one thousand years in an area covering Scandinavia, the British Isles, modern Germany, the Netherlands, and at times other parts of Europe, the beliefs and practices of Germanic paganism varied. Scholars typically assume some degree of continuity between the beliefs and practices of the Roman era and those found in Norse paganism, as well as between Germanic religion and reconstructed Indo-European religion and post-conversion folklore, though the precise degree and details of this continuity are subjects of debate. Germanic religion was influenced by neighboring cultures, including that of the Celts, the Roman people, Romans, and, later, by Christianity. Very few sources exist that were written by pagan adherents themselves; instead, most were written by outsiders and can thus present problems for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vetula
Vetula means "old woman" in Latin connotation being more like witch than other and may refer to: * Vetula, a 7th-century name for corn dolly Corn dollies or corn mothers are a form of straw work made as part of harvest customs of Europe before mechanisation. Scholars of the 18th and 19th centuries theorized that before Christianisation, in traditional pagan European culture it was be ..., a form of straw work See also * Ortalis vetula, a species of bird * Saurothera vetula, a species of cuckoo * Balistes vetula, a species of triggerfish * Muscipipra vetula, a species of bird {{disambiguation ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Latin
Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area around Rome, Italy. Through the expansion of the Roman Republic, it became the dominant language in the Italian Peninsula and subsequently throughout the Roman Empire. It has greatly influenced many languages, Latin influence in English, including English, having contributed List of Latin words with English derivatives, many words to the English lexicon, particularly after the Christianity in Anglo-Saxon England, Christianization of the Anglo-Saxons and the Norman Conquest. Latin Root (linguistics), roots appear frequently in the technical vocabulary used by fields such as theology, List of Latin and Greek words commonly used in systematic names, the sciences, List of medical roots, suffixes and prefixes, medicine, and List of Latin legal terms ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Squire
In the Middle Ages, a squire was the shield- or armour-bearer of a knight. Boys served a knight as an attendant, doing simple but important tasks such as saddling a horse or caring for the knight's weapons and armour. Terminology ''Squire'' is a shortened version of the word ''esquire'', from the Anglo-French itself meaning ("shield bearer"). Other terms include ''scutifer'' and the Latin ("arms bearer"). Use of the term evolved over time. Initially, a squire could be a knight's servant that fought with his lord. It could also refer to sub-knightly Men-at-Arms and was used interchangeably with valet. Over time it referred to a broad social class of men, just below the rank of knight. Eventually, a lord of the manor might come to be known as a "squire". Duties A squire was typically a young boy, training to become a knight. A boy became a page Page most commonly refers to: * Page (paper), one side of a leaf of paper, as in a book Page, PAGE, pages, or paging may also ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wreath
A wreath () is an assortment of flowers, leaves, fruits, twigs, or various materials that is constructed to form a ring shape. In English-speaking countries, wreaths are used typically as household ornaments, most commonly as an Advent and Christmas decoration. They are also used in ceremonial events in many cultures around the globe. They can be worn as a chaplet around the head, or as a garland around the neck. Etymology The word ''wreath'' comes from Middle English ''wrethe'' and from Old English ''writha'' 'band'. History Ancient Etruscan wreaths Wreaths were a design used in ancient times in southern Europe. The most well-known are pieces of Etruscan civilization jewelry, made of gold or other precious metals. Symbols from Greek myths often appear in the designs, embossed in precious metal at the ends of the wreath. Ancient Roman writers referred to Etruscan ''corona sutilis'', which were wreaths with their leaves sewn onto a background. These wreaths rese ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
